March 24, 2025
Vedanta Sara: Verses 13 - 14
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Exploring Vedanta Sara verse 13 and 14, we examine the purpose of spiritual actions and worship in preparing the mind for self-realization while distinguishing between practices that purify and those that lead to ultimate liberation.
• Daily rituals, austerities and penances primarily serve to purify the mind (chitta shuddhi)
• Worship practices directed toward Saguna Brahman help enhance mental concentration
• Even profound mystical experiences are insignificant compared to ultimate self-realization
• Secondary results like attaining higher realms still operate within duality, not liberation
• True liberation comes from recognizing our nature as formless awareness, not from rituals
• Western interpretations often overlook the crucial role of the heart and devotion in non-duality
• Self-realization requires both knowledge that points to awareness and surrender through devotion
• A guru helps by both paving the path and guiding you to walk it toward liberation
If you're striving for enlightenment, a better life, or any other goal, put your full faith and focus into it. Whatever brings you peace, may that be what you strive for and may it be fruitful.
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Transcript
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded Mystic podcast, and I'm your host, rahul N Singh.
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Thank you for taking out the time today to either watch or listen to this podcast episode.
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Today we're continuing on with our Vedanta Sara series, so let's get started with verse 13.
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With verse 13, so, if you remember, just briefly, we were looking at what actions and what worship rituals do people do beforehand and what was the point of those things.
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So you know, it was mentioned how mental activities directed towards the contemplation of reality with the attributes of Sogana Brahman are called worship.
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An example is the practice described in the Chandiliya Vidya and that is basically in the Chandogya Upanishad.
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And you know we can.
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You know, one aspect is to know that this, so Saguna Brahman, is all pervasive.
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But remember, saguna Brahman has attributes, so there's reality and then it's reality with attributes.
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So there's two different things.
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So right now, what's going on is Sadhananda Ji is talking about what is required, what are the actions and worship that one can do.
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So he says in verse 13, among these daily and occasional actions, along with penance, primarily serve to purify the mind, whereas worship primarily enhances the concentration of the mind.
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This is supported by both the Upanishads and Smriti texts.
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For instance, the Brihadranika Upanishad states Brahmanas seek to know this self by the study of the Vedas, by the fire sacrifice, and the Manusmriti asserts they destroy Bapam by practicing austerities or tapas.
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So here we can understand that there's a purification that happens.
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So when we do these daily actions, rituals.
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We may do a puja, we may do an arati, we may do so many things that may be fasting and mourn when we take a vow of silence.
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All these things are there to purify the mind.
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It's there to allow us to give the space to observe the mind and see what pops up, what conditioning pops up, what vasanas pop up, and that's's a perfect way.
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You know, when you're doing fasting although it's not about fasting will lead you to enlightenment, but fasting will help the conditions that can take you to that self-realization.
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So ultimately, that's one aspect.
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The worship aspect helps the concentration of the mind.
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Now, if you're concentrating or you're worshipping, say, saguna, brahman or Ishvara, then you're focusing on the attribute, maybe, of love, and therefore when we contemplate upon love, that stays for a longer time.
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And so ultimately, the mind is being used here, whether you do worship or whether you do austerities or the gurmagandha aspect, the rituals, even if you're doing bhakti worship, in the end it will help you Because, for example, when?
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Will help you?
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Because, for example, when you do namjapa, when we're reciting the name of the Lord, we're constantly remembering the Lord.
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So we're increasing that concentration and this is, and ultimately, you know, the only way to know the self is by lighting that fire of knowledge.
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And that's ultimately where we want to go to, is to be in touch with that knowledge, where this formless awareness is revealed to us and it becomes very obvious to us.
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And that only happens when we've done some practices that help prepare the mind.
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Jitta shuddhi, it purifies the mind to get us to that state.
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So that's what's needed.
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So here we can see that certain things are needed before we get to the main topic of discussion, which is Vedanta.
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Vedanta is the end of the Vedas, so remember, the Vedas contains a lot of occult practices, do certain austerities and penance, and to make one purify whatever activities of suffering or activities that lead to suffering that has occurred in one's life and in others lives.
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So that's one aspect to understand and in order to be ready to focus on this reality, which is super, super, super, super subtle, we need to have that mind that is ready for it.
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If the mind is still engrossed in chasing desires, chasing the world, chasing whatever Maya presents to it and wants to remain in duality, then this non-dual truth is not going to settle as easy as we think.
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And that's where a lot of people actually drop away from non-duality, because they are not.
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They're chasing something that is of very little substance compared to this ultimate reality.
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So, even if you're chasing a meditative state or a spiritual state, all good, but remember that against this ultimate reality, what is that experience?
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You can get mystical experiences, but will it?
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Will it take you anywhere?
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Will it lead you anywhere?
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And when you compare it to the ultimate realization, it's not even a flicker of a flame, it's not even a ray of that sunlight.
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And that's what we realize when we're absolutely resting in this formless awareness.
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Otherwise, it doesn't normally happen.
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We will chase one mystical experience as we go to another.
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We'll do one fast, we'll go to another, we'll do one arati, we'll go to the other, and not saying that these things are bad or these things have little value.
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No, but when we compare it, if we must, to the ultimate realization, these things are.
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They are not even a bubble on the ocean.
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Yeah, so you have waves, but there's not even a wave.
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Yeah, so that's an important thing to understand.
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So we'll go to the 14th verse.
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The secondary results of daily and occasional actions, as well as worship, include attaining the worlds of the ancestors and the world of Lord Brahma, satyaloka, respectively.
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This is confirmed in the Brihadranika Upanishad.
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By fire sacrifice, the world of the forefathers.
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By knowledge or worship, the world of the Devas deities is gained.
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So again, what we're saying here is that these actions that you do, that maybe will help your ancestors Again.
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Whether the ancestors truly get any benefit from what we do on this earth, who knows right?
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We don't know.
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It is faith, it's based on faith and even if we do those things and we meet our ancestors again, but ultimately, until we get liberation, we're going to come back onto this earth, maybe Satyalok, the abode of Lord Brahma.
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Maybe that's amazing, maybe that's beautiful there's no better heaven as that but ultimately it doesn't take us to this realization of the formless.
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It doesn't take us to the realization that there is only consciousness.
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There is only this non-dual reality, this absolute reality.
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So Whenever we do something for the afterlife, that means we're not doing anything about this life and that's, ironically, the truth.
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So, yes, if, say, one doesn't feel ready for self-realization in this life although there should be nobody that thinks that people have their set beliefs, the limiting beliefs, and we have to understand that then at least these practices will help them.
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And these practices will at least.
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You know it is something spiritual.
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At the end of the day it's still something they can gain from it, although I wouldn't like to call it spiritual, um, but it is.
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You know, it's gonna matter in the long run.
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Remember, even sri krishnan says that even if the whole world collapses and say, the universe contracts and the, and we go into that pralaya state where there is neither creation nor dissolution and in between, even in that, when this world gets created again, this universe gets created again.
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This universe gets created again.
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Whatever karma you accumulated in the previous time of the kalpa, of the yug, of the world, of the universe, it will continue on.
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So no action is ever forgotten by the universe.
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Unless you become self-realized, then you are free from karma and that's where we want to go to.
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That's the whole point.
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Why we're studying this is so we can get to that point.
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If we're here just to kind of speak about anything other than enlightenment, anything other than realization, then that person's not wanting you to go further, they're not wanting you to understand your true nature.
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But if these practices can help you, do them simple as that.
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Um so, and I would say, what is also better is if you do actions which purify the mind.
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So when you do tapas, when you do fasting, when you do mournvirt like vow of silence, when you meditate, when you do the arthis, when you do the fire sacrifice or you do a havan, all these things are good, as long as you know it's for this life, whatever can purify your mind in this life.
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When you can be aware of your vasanas, when you can be aware of your desires and you can be aware of when a thought is created.
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If you can do those things, that would be happy, that would be very good, because that would take you from you know.
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That can get you ready for self-knowledge, for the knowledge of the Atman for Atman board, for realizing who you really are.
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Now the thing is here is that if you want wealth, if you want fame, if you want better education, better memory, if you want all these things, then you got to be honest with yourself, want fame, if you want better education, better memory, if you want all these things, then you got to be honest with yourself and say you're not after self-knowledge, you're not after Atma board, you're not after the realization of your true nature, you're not after awakening, you're not after enlightenment.
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Then one has to be very honest, and it's best to be honest with yourself, best to be honest with your own spirituality, and there's best to be honest with yourself, best to be honest with your own spirituality, and there's nothing wrong with that.
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And we just have to understand that if we want to be a seeker, if we want to be ready for this realization, if we really want to go for this realization, if we want to put everything to be self-realized, then what do we need to have, what are the requirements, what is expected from us?
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And this is what's going to be discussed now.
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Because if you're after the higher worlds, if you're after heaven, if you're after a better life in the next one, then these rituals will help you, the certain worship that is prescribed by the bandits.
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They will help you, for that for sure.
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But if you want to go for self-knowledge, for Atma board, for enlightenment, then a different aspect is needed, and we're gonna look at that in the next episode, because we're gonna go into the four means of self-knowledge, and that will be a very important verse and one that we will go very deeper in, because, in the end, this is what the podcast that we do here, that's what it's about.
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It's about being prepared for self-realization.
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So right now, until this moment, all we've been doing is looking at what type of actions, what type of karma can help you get a better life in the future or now, but not necessarily, what gets you ready for self-realization today.
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These things can pave the way, they can create the path, but they don't necessarily help you to walk on the path.
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So you say this, for example say you're a laborer, say you are an engineer, or say you are a construction worker and you pave a path to, to the forest.
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Now you do the work, you pave the path, but you may go on to the next path and you may get a next job and you may be contracted there.
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So you go over there and you may never walk on the path that you've paved.
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So with self-knowledge, you not only pave the path, you have to walk the path, and most likely, assisting you in paving the path is the guru, and that's why guru is necessary.
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Even better, if the guru has paved the path for you, and then you go forward, you walk that path that the guru's prescribed, and the guru will make you get to self-realization.
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And with that, with self-realization, and you know, if you look at Ramana Maharishi's words, nisargadattaji's words, all these, these two sages, sri Ramakrishna, who've kind of inspired the West in spirituality, the one thing that the western world has not understood fully, and this is a very important point, yes, they taught the highest realization, the highest knowledge, the absolute highest knowledge that you can get to.
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They, they spoke about it, they at length, right, even their silence spoke it.
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But one thing that we do not see is the heart, the emotion, the bhakti.
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That element, and you know, a lot of people can get stuck on this path of non-duality without addressing the heart.
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And for non-duality to remain in our life we need the heart, we need to be able to rest in that formless awareness.
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And resting only happens, not with, not with knowledge itself.
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Knowledge points to the formless awareness.
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Resting happens when we, in the spirit of devotion, in the spirit of bhakti, we surrender to that formless awareness and in that surrendering, only awareness remains, then then there is no duality at all, there is just that state which, even if you point to it, it can take you away from it because you may chase after the pointing.
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It's beyond any description, beyond any image, beyond any form, beyond any characteristic.
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But to get to that state we need to utilize the heart, and sometimes then we may superimpose attributes, but remember, all these attributes will dissolve back into that formless awareness.
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It makes more sense as we go further, but I hope you enjoyed this episode.
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Let me know your thoughts, let me know if you have any questions.
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You can always email me, you can always send me a message on discord.
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You can join the discord server, you can comment underneath and I'll try and answer as well.
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And whatever brings you peace in life, may that be what you strive for.
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So, if you're striving for a better life, if you're striving for enlightenment, if you're striving for anything, if you're striving for the world, whatever your path may be, put your full faith in it, put your full focus on it, and may it be fruitful.
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May it be, may it be prosperous and may you achieve what you want to achieve in life.
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Okay, thank you.
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Take care, namaste.
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