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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Today we will be continuing on with a series called Wisdom of the Mystics and as you know, last month we looked at the teachings of Namdev Ji, and today we will be looking into the teachings of Ravidas Ji, or Raidas Ji, and he is the famous guru of Mirabai, who we will be looking at next month, so we are looking forward to learning from both of them.
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So, Ravidas Ji is the one that blessed Mirabai with this wisdom to see her Sri Krishna as the Lord.
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Now, we will get started with Ravidas Ji's poems and let's start with the first one.
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Between you and me, between me and you, what difference is there?
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The same as between gold and the bracelet made from gold, between water and its ripples.
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If I do not commit sin, O Eternal One, then how you should have gained the name of purifier of sinners.
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You are the Lord, who possesses the faculty of knowing others thoughts.
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The servant is known from his master, and the master from his servant.
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Grant me the wisdom to worship you with full concentration of mind and body.
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Some rare saints may explain to me about the unity in diversity, says Ravidas.
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Very beautiful teachings, a lot to grasp, again, these poems...
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Always have something of nature if you notice in them, but also they give us some analogies which we can relate to and which we can then decipher going forward.
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So he first begins with between you and me, between me and you, what difference is there?
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So initially Brahman.
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But, ultimately we know that when we realise this truth, we realise there's always been this eternal oneness.
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And that's why he says, between you and me, between me and you, what difference is there?
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Is there a difference?
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The answer obviously is no, it's a rhetorical question, somewhat.
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So this is a question, someone who's realized will always ask and will always guide you into thinking about oneness.
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Then he says, the same as between gold and the bracelet made from gold, between water and its ripples.
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Now think about it, the gold is not different to the bracelet that's made from the gold.
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It's still gold.
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You know, I can have a bracelet, I can have a chain here, a necklace, a ring.
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It can be made out of gold.
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It may be a bracelet, a ring, necklace, whatever, but ultimately, it's all made from one same substance, which is gold.
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It's just a modification of gold.
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But it's still the same thing.
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We just call it something different.
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Same thing between water and its ripples.
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The ripples are water itself, it's not anything different, it's not anything separate to it.
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So this is something we can understand as well, that there's no...
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Separation.
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Yeah, although there's multiple, there's a multiplicity of name and form, but ultimately it's just the one.
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Yeah, it's the one that's playing this game of name and form.
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Then he says, and this is an interesting one, because you know, when people who are in duality, this may say, or there's some philosophies that believe that, oh, I'm a sinner.
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I have done a lot of bad things in my life.
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I've done bad karma in my life.
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Who knows what I did in my past What then?
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You know, so, Ravidas Ji goes a step further.
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He says, if I do not commit sin, O Eternal One, then how should you have gained the name of purifier of sinners?
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It's an interesting line.
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So he says, if I do not commit sin, if I do not commit bad deeds, then you cannot be called the purifier of sinners.
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The purifier of bad karma, right?
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You only have that name because of sin, so it's okay.
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Again, it's a very subtle line, a subtle leap you have to take to understand this.
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So he's saying, because of my actions, you, you have been given a name.
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Again, remember between me, you and me, and between me and you, what difference is there?
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Then he says, you are the lord who possesses the faculty of knowing others thoughts.
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So, if it's the same one, then it knows the thoughts of everyone, because everyone is the one itself.
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So, anyone who thinks they have a separate thought out of this one, is misguided, there's only the one.
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Then he says, the servant is known from his master, and the master from his servant.
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Let's translate the servant to disciple and master to a guru.
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The disciple is known from his guru and the guru is known from his disciple.
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If you think of it in this way because I feel this is what Ravidas Ji is trying to say.
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The disciple is as good as the guru, and the guru is as good as the disciple.
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So you know sometimes we think that there are false gurus.
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Most likely, if you deeply look, there are false disciples there.
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And whenever there's a good guru, there's a guru that you respect and you like, you'll notice that there are disciples there that are good.
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I'm not saying that everyone is good, or everyone is bad.
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In, in any case, what I'm saying is, you'll find that the majority is of that.
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So, a good guru, a decent guru, a genuine guru will have genuine disciples.
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And between the disciples and the guru, they know they're one and the same.
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They know, the ultimate understanding is that they're one and the same.
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And they, there's only this one reality.
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There's no need to entertain this difference when it's met its course, yeah.
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There's a...
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There's a beautiful relationship you get with a Guru when there's a oneness there, when there's a true unity and these, the idea of separation and difference, when that ends, then I believe the Guru is born in that moment.
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Before they're just a teacher that you learn from, but the moment you become one with the Guru, that's when the Guru is born, that's when the relationship really blossoms and it becomes a deep leveled friendship, deep deep leveled friendship.
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Then he says, grant me the wisdom to worship you with full concentration of mind and body.
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So again, of this one, grant me the wisdom, give me the viveka, give me the discernment to understand that you are the only real one.
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So that with the full concentration of mind and body, my whole body and mind should be able to concentrate on you.
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When we sit down for meditation, sometimes we're aching, sometimes our mind is going elsewhere.
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Now he's saying, allow me to have that discernment, that strength to just concentrate fully on you.
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No other thoughts should enter, no other feelings should enter, nothing else should enter, only the remembrance of you.
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Then he says, some rare saints may explain to me about the unity in diversity, says Ravidas.
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Only rare people talk about unity in diversity.
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How many people understand that even though there's diversity, there's a single thread going through that diversity.
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That there's unity, that there's oneness in that diversity.
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How many people accept it?
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How many people really practice it?
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Only a rare few discuss it.
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Everybody else is telling you how you're different.
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There's only one unique you, everyone else is different.
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You're unique to everyone.
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You know, if you ever get into the, uh, trap of...
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This um, law of attraction, get whatever you desire, whatever you dream, you know, you're Tony Robbins and all these type of people.
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When you fall under their trap, I'm not saying it's not beneficial, I think it's beneficial for some.
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But once you fall under their trap, they always say that you're different to everyone.
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Their fundamental message is that you're different.
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They're saying you're different.
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I've done this.
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I'm, think about it.
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They're saying they're rich.
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How are they rich?
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They've, they've put these seminars for thousands of dollars.
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You pay for it.
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Who's made them rich?
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You.
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But a lot of people don't see this.
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They'll say to you, Oh, yeah, I've got successful businesses.
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Which business?
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They're talking about this one.
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And because they're successful here, they invest in other businesses.
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But guess who gave the money?
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You.
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So they're not rare saints, those people.
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The rare saints are those who are spiritual, who say that you are not different to the Lord, you're not different to God, you're one and the same.
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Do not fall under the trap of the appearance of the world, that diversity, even that is held by the One.
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That has arisen from the One, that's the reflection of the One.
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This diversity is united.
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So, it's pretty simple, right?
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If you think about it.
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But only a rare few ever talk about it, and even today, the takers of truth are extremely rare, very, very rare, and that's the way it is.
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It's always been this way, it's never been different, it's always been this way.
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So that's the end of the first quote.
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Now let's get to the second one.
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He says, and we'll read the whole poem, then we'll go line by line.
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All souls are a part and parcel of the Atma who is true and self illuminated.
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He is self existent, continuous and sustains without food.
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The man, creation of five elements, remains busy in the imagination of God.
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He is the beginning, middle and end of this world.
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He is eternal authority and constant.
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He is independent.
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He remains present in the elements of earth, insects, moths, etc.
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He is absorbed in everything.
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He is the lord of everyone, and is complete in all respect.
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He is the creator.
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He is neither auspicious nor inauspicious.
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He is himself in the master, and himself is the servant.
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He is above duality.
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He is the abode of God.
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There is neither religion nor irreligion.
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Neither freedom, nor enslavement, neither old age, nor death.
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Ravidas says, the God is present in all visible and invisible objects.
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He is the only one on this earth who is to be known.
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He is only self illuminated.
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We'll go through this together and we'll...
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discuss what it means.
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All souls are part and parcel of the Atma.
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If you notice here, he says part and parcel.
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So once that's established, he's saying they're one.
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It's the one same Atma, which is Brahman.
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So he says all these souls that you see, that you claim are different, they're all part of the One.
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In fact, they are the One.
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And that one is true.
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Because, remember, it's ultimately real because it's changeless and it's self illuminated.
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It doesn't need anyone else to shine the light upon it.
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It is light itself.
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So, it is self existent.
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It does everything by itself, it doesn't need somebody to shine their light upon it, even their light is shining from Its light, so that's what that means, he is self existent, nothing has created it, nothing can destroy it, it's continuous, it's everlasting, and sustains without food, it doesn't need food for sustenance.
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It doesn't have a body, therefore it doesn't need food.
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The man creation of five elements remains busy in the imagination of God.
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We are all just a dream of God.
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You can see it that way.
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Once you see it that way, you also start realising, well, if this is all the imagination of God, why should I take this too seriously?
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Yes, take one task seriously, and that is, one must become jivan-mukt.
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That is the only task to be taken seriously, but everything else with a smile.
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Even that task, if you do it with a smile, but with seriousness and sincerity, then, you know, you're going to achieve what you need to achieve.
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In fact, you'll realize you've attained already what you had to attain.
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Then the other way you can interpret this is that sometimes man just imagines things about God.
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Doesn't know what God is, but imagines what God is.
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Oh, God must be up there.
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God must have a big beard.
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God must be compassionate.
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God must be this.
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God must be that.
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But do they know what God is?
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Have they experienced what God is?
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That's the question.
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Have we experienced God?
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Have we truly experienced the oneness?
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Have we experienced that unity and diversity?
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Have we experienced that it is self existent and continuous and eternal?
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Have we experienced that we are part and parcel of the Atma?
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Have we?
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Then he says he is the beginning, middle and end of this world.
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Because it is the world.
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It is, we are living in its imagination.
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It is the beginning, middle and end.
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He is the eternal authority.
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And constant.
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Everything happens according to His will.
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Basically, that's what that's saying.
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And it's constant.
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It's continuous.
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He's independent.
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He's not dependent upon anyone.
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If the atheist denies Him and the believer believes in Him, it doesn't matter to the One.
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It doesn't matter to Brahman.
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What is Brahman going to do with belief or disbelief?
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Nothing.
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He remains present in the elements of earth, insects, and moths.
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So even though, you know, as Ravidas Ji says, he's absorbed in everything.
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Even though he's absorbed in everything, he's present in all elements of the earth, in all living beings, despite this, he's independent.
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He's beyond that too.
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So, he's trying to tell us that he's both the transcendent and the imminent.
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Then he says, He is the lord of everyone and is complete in all respect.
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He is the creator.
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So, ultimately, He is the lord of everyone.
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Why?
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Because He is everyone.
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And He is complete in all respect.
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Remember, if you say that God, we are a part of God, that means we are separate and God has lost something.
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But God is one.
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Therefore, and since he's absorbed in everyone, he's complete in all respect.
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So the part, it doesn't mean that it's separate, but it's still united.
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Then, he says, he is the creator.
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Now this is interesting, because in traditional Vedanta, God is seen not simply just as the creator.
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We tend to see, only in Advaita Vedanta, we see that this Brahman is actually manifested in Maya.
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And it is maya itself, because there's only one reality.
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So, in that way, we say he's the creator, yeah?
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And then, he's neither auspicious nor inauspicious.
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You know, people think about, oh, there's auspicious timings.
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He's neither that, or they say God says that this is the auspicious time.
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And then God says it's an auspicious time.
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And then when did he say it's an inauspicious time?
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If you do this, this will happen against you.
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You know people believe in horoscopes.
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If you believe in horoscopes, you don't believe in this One.
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Maybe you do.
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But you should know that the horoscopes is only of nature, not of the One.
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If you understand that, then it's all good.
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Then we are all fine.
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But if you believe that God created horoscope, then no.
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He himself is the master and himself is the servant.
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This one is the master and this one is the servant.
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This One is the guru and this One is the disciple.
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He is above duality.
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Do not try to bring this One into duality.
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Do not try to bring this one into separation, in ignorance.