Avadhūta Gītā Retreat | Session 5 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Om Asatoma Sargamaya, Kamasoha Jyotiramaya, Mritya Dhamma Amritam Ramayana, Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Vee, Om, leaders from the unreal to the real, leaders from darkness to light, leaders from death to immortality. Om, peace, peace, peace. So I'm starting Om. You also start and I'm going to you at your own pace for a couple of minutes. Om. Vedanta recommends Deerga Pranavacharan in order to calm down the mind before Vedantic enquiry. The chanting of a prolonged Omkar, like this prolonged Omkar for several minutes, keep chanting. It's a very powerful way of calming down the mind, just the chant itself, the sound itself. And if one can focus on the inner meaning that is even more amazing, then it becomes non-dual meditation, the inner meaning, if you have studied Mandukya, Akara, Omkara, Makara, the All is the Waker and the Waking Word, the Waking State, it said. That is, then when it transitions into Om, that is the Dreamer, the Dream Word and the Dream State. And when it transitions into, that is the Deep Sleeper, the Deep Sleep, the Seed State, the Deep Sleep State, the Deep Sleep Word, the Seed State basically. All three, one after another. It's not Om. Little knowledge is dangerous. You were chanting it right the first time, before you knew it is Om. It is Om because Om and who together in sastra, it means Om. So Om is actually the correct pronunciation. But it includes the three sounds. So Om, if you chant it together, it becomes Om. Waking, dreaming, deep sleep, Jagad Swapna, Sushupti, Jagad Pramata, Vishwa, Sushupti Pramata, Prankyam, Jagad Pramata, Sushupti Pramata, all nine together. I'll translate, otherwise you'll think what's going on in Sanskrit and we'll seek all of it. But I just said all nine together. Waker, Waking, Waker, Dreamer, Deep Sleeper. Waking Word, Dream Word, Deep Sleep, Seed of the Word. They're Waking State, Dream State, Deep Sleep State. All nine. They are all meant by Om. Now when you do that, you realize the whole thing is appearing to you in you. What are you? Apart from the Waker and the Waking Word, apart from the Dreamer and the Dream Word, apart from the Deep Sleeper and the Deep Sleep Darkness, what are you? Apart from Waking, Dreaming, Deep Sleep. That underlying awareness existence which you are, that is the fourth. Apart from Waking, Dreaming, Sleeping or Waking, Dreamer, Sleeper. In you, these three words, the physical, the subtle and the causal are appearing, floating around and disappearing back into you. All that is meant by Om, all of Mandukya Upanishad is packed into Om. So if you chant it in a prolonged way and contemplate the meaning of it, notice the meaning of it, visualize Waking, Dreaming, Sleeping and you also notice the ground of that. That is the Om meditation. That is the Om meditation. Andhvaitik Om meditation. The Non-Dual Meditation. There is also Pradhika meditation. Om as the symbol of the ultimate and you meditate on Om. Most of us do it and it's part of every mantra and meaning. So very good. Prolonged chanting of Om. Now let us move on with our, let's go back to our Dhuddha. Daktantra. What does he have for us this morning? Number 7. First let's chant the first one, first verse. Ishwaranugraha Devam Lestwaragraha Veeva Humsama Dvaitavasana Humsama Dvaitavasana Mahadvaya Paritranat Ahadvaya Paritranat Vipranam Upajayate Vipranam Upajayate Through the grace of God alone, the desire for non-duality arises in the wise to save them from great fear. Now number 7. Aham eva bdayo nanta Shuddha vijjana vigraha Sukhandukham na janaami Katham kasyapi vadadde I am indeed immutable, I indeed am immutable and infinite out of the form of pure intelligence. I do not know how or in relation to whom joy or sorrow exist. Sometimes you find the translation as intelligent, sometimes as consciousness, sometimes as knowledge. They all mean the same thing. They don't mean by the intelligence, vuddhi here. They don't mean vuddhi means intellect. They don't mean by knowledge, the, you know, Brahma or Yana which we get, the knowledge which we get in the world. They all mean consciousness. There's no clear English word to translate it as. Now at least we have sort of settled on consciousness. But even when we use the word consciousness, remember, we don't mean consciousness as such as it is meant in dictionary sense. The operational consciousness which we have, which is lost in unconsciousness, which is lost in deep sleep or in Gemini, Anastasia and all, that is the reflected consciousness in Advaita Vedanta. Gita, it is part of Shedra, not Kedritya. Very interesting point. In the 13th chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna makes a division between subject and object, between self and not self. And he calls the self Kshetra-Gya, lower of the field. And the not self, what you are not, what we are not, he calls it the field. And if you look at the list of what we are not, he includes consciousness there. Chetana. But Chetana is different from Chitit or Chetanayan. Chetana is the consciousness we find in the mind. It's like the moonlight. Sunlight, it sense becomes the moonlight reflected from the moon. But even if there is no moonlight, new moonlight, but the moonlight is not seen, sunlight is still there. So in deep sleep, for example, Chetana disappears. In general, Anastasia, Chetana disappears. Mind is shut down, the reflector is shut down. But does it mean jit has disappeared? Chaitanya must disappear? No, no, no. The darkness itself is a human body. What is that line in Dashashloki? Sushupti ke eva lo, something in the first, third line of the first verse is there. Can you see? Third line of the first verse, Dashashloki. You chant... Anayi kaanti kattvar, Sushupti ekas is there. I think something like that is there. Anayi kaanti kattvar, Sushupti ekas is there. Anayi kaanti kattvar, Sushupti ekas is there. In deep sleep, pure consciousness remains as the witness of the deep sleep, as the Illuminer of the deep sleep, as the light pervading the darkness. We will say, but there is no light pervading the darkness. Deep sleep is just darkness, nothing. That's what we think. We are not seeing it. It's only light. I remember there was a conference on consciousness studies in the Ramadrishnameshan Institute of Kulgata, about more than 20 years ago. There were philosophers and neuroscientists around there, and they couldn't get on the same page, discussing what consciousness is. Finally, one of the philosophers, Professor Larsen, he has passed away, he is an American philosopher, a good philosopher of Sankhya. He has wonderful books on Sankhya. He finally asked the neuroscientist, doctor, according to neuroscientists, is there consciousness in deep sleep? The neuroscientist answered that, no, as we define consciousness, there is no consciousness in deep sleep. But it was 20 years ago. It has changed now. There are some new findings of that recently. He said, as we understand deep sleep, there is no consciousness in deep sleep. As we understand consciousness also, there is no consciousness in deep sleep. And Professor Larsen said, see, this is the difference between Sankhya Vedanta on one hand and modern neuroscience on the other. Sankhya Vedanta would say in deep sleep, there is only consciousness. There is nothing too reconcious. So the light, if the light is reflected, it doesn't only become aware of two things. You become aware of the object illumined by the light, but you become aware of the light also. If the object is not there, then it will of course not see the object, but you will not be aware of the light also. The light does nothing to reflect the light back to our eyes. At night, for example, the night sky is actually full of sunlight, but we can't see it until the moon comes on or some satellite flies, so then you can see the reflected. So in deep sleep, there is only consciousness is there. Now, so the point I was making is that even the word consciousness which we use is the best we can do in English. In multiple words, the word has to be chit, chaitanya, bovinda, samvid, chiti, vinyanta. Even Shiva, the word he uses, he uses it in the sense of pure consciousness only. Siddha-ananda-ruba-shiva-vam-shiva-vam. All right. Now, let us come to this verse, verse number 7. Vigyanavigraha-ha. Aham-a. The inquiry into myself. Aham-e-vab-vigyanavigraha-ha. Who am I? The inquiry starts with myself. Ultimately, we must come to this point. The understanding of who am I? Analysis of the world will give us knowledge of physics, chemistry, analysis of life will give us knowledge of biology, physiology, zoology, all of that. But analysis of the body is physiology. Analysis of the mind will give us knowledge of the mind, psychology. But beyond that, the sin, who am I? Until that, we get that business freedom for us. There is a nice anecdote about Ramana Maharshi. Somebody came and said, You know, your teaching about who am I does not really appeal to me. What appeals to you? I am very devoted to the Lord Narayan, to God, Vishnu Narayan. I like chanting the name of God. Is it enough? Ramana Maharshi said, yes, it's good, very good. Carry on. Will I go to heaven after that, to Vaikuntha? The Lord Vishnu said, yes, you can. Oh, I will. Yes, yes. Will I see Narayan there in Vaikuntha? Will I see God? Ramana Maharshi said, yes. I will see Narayan. Yes. Simple man, very happy. Will Narayan see me? Yes, yes, he will see me. He will look at me. Will he speak to me? Ramana Maharshi said, yes, he will speak to me. Oh, he will speak to me. What will he say to me? Ramana Maharshi said, he will say to you, find out who am I. Find out who am I. So, this inquiry starts with along. I, who am I? Tritanta really is not interested in the object. It starts with an inquiry into the subject. Finally, the secret of the object also will be revealed. But we must start our inquiry with our sense. Turn it to our sense and see who are what we are. Aham. And what is, what does dattatne say we are? Viggyana viggy praha. Viggyaha, faan. Faan. Generally, the image which is what is called viggyaha. This is viggyaha. This is viggyaha. That is viggyaha. What is viggyaha? What is the, what is the form of my, what is my real nature? It's not, it's not the physical body. What is it? Is it a physical form? Is it a psychological form? Spiritual form? What is it? What exactly is my real nature? He says, viggyana viggyaha. Viggyana by this, viggyana he means consciousness. Tere consciousness. Viggyaha. Murti. Murti. Image of form. In Uttarakhand and in Himalayas, you can refer to each person as a murti. In, aham, some monks, it's the top, the Tarnuji used among monks. Because you are all murtis of Ram. Ramana, appearing in this form as a living, walking, talking bee. But you are a murti of Ram. So they will invite, for example, there's a tradition that some ashrams, when they have a feast for monks, it's called the Bhandara. Monks are invited. So it's like a party of monks. And the inviting ashram will send around invitation. They have to know how many people are coming. How many? Not people. How many? How many? Murti. Ramana is only one in Nandual. But murtis are many. So they will come and ask. This is the line they use. They will come to the ashram. And from now, outside the ashram, the monk who is inviting everybody from that, from one particular ashram, they will go to each ashram. And at the gate or at the door and shout, How many murtis are going to come? So, Vigraha. But what is the Vigraha? What is my real nature? Is it physical? Is it a body? Is it a mind? Is it a person? He says, Vijnana Vijnakara. You are consciousness alone. There is a. Aham eva vijnana vijnakara. See, if you put these three words together, very powerful, it unlocks our real nature, the secret of self-realization. What am I? I am consciousness alone. Eva. I am consciousness. Aham vijnana vijnakara. Eva. Spurt star. Because we all agree that we are conscious. Put a light on. We say, yes, here I am. Body. Yes, body. Mind. Are you conscious? Of course I am conscious. What we mean is this bundle of body, mind and consciousness. We mean also, Caitanya, the respective consciousness. This is who I am. And Dattatra is emphatic. You are not. The body is a bundle of changes. It continuously changes. Sarikara. You, the self, are changeless. How can the changeless be ever changing? How can the never changing be identically never changing? Impossible. Sarikara cannot be equal to nirvika. Sarikara body. Nirvika of self. Then, the body is an object. Dhrishya. Like these objects. You can see them. Body can be seen. It can be touched. It can be smelt. It can be tasted. It can even hear the sounds in the body. Body is an object to all the senses. You are the subject. You are the drashta. The body is the dhrishya. How can you literally be the body? The body is there. Don't worry. It won't disappear. But you are not literally the body. You are drashta. The body is dhrishya. You are conscious. You just admit it. I am aware. But the body is not aware. Use that as a lever to separate yourself from the body. How? I am aware of the body. The body is not aware of its sin. I am aware of the body. There is no part of my experience which says the body is aware of itself. The body is not aware of itself. The body is not aware of anything else. The body is not aware of me. But I am aware of myself. I am aware of the body and I am aware of everything else. I am chetana. The body is jada. Incentiant. I am sentient. The body is a composite of many, many materials. So many objects, tissues, cells. Very complicated instrument. Very complicated biological machine. I was reading that more than half or 80% of the cells are not us. There are bacteria and others in this body. Except that the mass is much smaller than the rest of the body. So this body is a complex of many things. Millions and billions of cells. Thousands of tissues and many organs and so on. And I, myself, whatever I am, I am a unit. I am an identity. I am one. Psychology, look at yourself psychologically. How many do you feel? You feel you are a committee. No, you are one. Even people with multiple personality disorder, there are only one personality at a time. It's interesting. There is a wonderful public intellectual now, Bernardo Castro. I don't know if you have heard about him. A brilliant man. He is a PhD in philosophy, a PhD in computer science. He used to work for CERN at one time. Now he does research in consciousness and he's written some wonderful books. Very, very similar to Vedanta. But his idea of the individual, the ultimate reality is consciousness. It's like a field of consciousness, this universe. Now his idea of the individual is interesting. He said it's like a dissociative disorder. Psychiatry and psychology are dissociative disorder when people feel they have multiple different personalities. The dissociative, in the same being, multiple personalities are there. They are dissociated from the rest of the being. He said that is what it is like that. One consciousness, but it feels like we are all different. I was thinking this literally what Sri Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita, not dissociative disorder. He said, I am one in all beings but I appear to be the meaning. A vibhavitam chyamhuteyashu vibhavitam eva chyasitam. I am undivided out all beings, but I appear as if divided. Or in Bernardo Castro's language, undivided in all beings, I appear as if dissociated. So I am one. The body is a composite of many. How can one and the many be the same thing? Like it is many arguments that you can give. Same thing, same thing you can say about the mind also. The mind is culturally changing. Sarika Aadha. I am the self who is the real of the changing mind. I am the rika Aadha. How can I be the change in mind? The mind is jara. I am conscious. The mind is also jara. Jara means I am aware of the mind. The mind is not aware of itself. I always give you a simple example to prove it. Just to take up a thought in the mind. Any thought in the mind. A, B, C, D, 1, 2, 3, 4, ohm, whatever thought you take up. Notice, is that A, B, C, D conscious of itself? Is it conscious of you? Is it conscious of the next thought 1, 2, 3, 4, no. The thoughts are not conscious entities. They are more like mental thoughts. I am conscious of them. You the conscious self and the mind which is not conscious. How can I do the same? You are the witness of the mind. You are the experiencer of the mind. You look into your mind, you can experience your own thoughts and feelings. Of course you do. When you feel happy, you feel happy. You are aware of the happiness in the mind. So the mind is object. You are the subject. The mind is a composite of many entities, many thoughts, complexes, memories, complexes. But I am the singular experiencer of the complex mind. The singular and the complex. How can they be the same? The changing and the never changing. How can they be the same? The subject and the object. How can they be the same? The conscious and the not conscious. How can they be the same? Therefore I am not the mind. But I still am. One thing is sure. It exists. That is the surest fact of our lives. Projector Muslim Descartes said, I think therefore I am. The one thing that you cannot deny in all our experience in life. What we see here, what we think about, what we know through science and religion, even science, what we know today is discarded tomorrow. That's how science progresses. Somebody said, the corridors of science are littered with the skeletons of past theories. We are discovering. That's how science progresses. So it can be revised and it can change. But one thing never changes. Our knowledge of our own existence. I am. That is absolutely sure. So this absolutely sure. And yet, what am I? If I am not in the body, till now that question was not there. I was sure I am and I was also sure I know what I am. I am this. But if this is an object, this is a changing, ever-changing object, non-conscious, I am the conscious subject, never changing, then I can't be this. I can't be the mind also. Because of this kind of argumentation, I have come to the conclusion. Then I exist absolutely certain, irrefutably, intuitively. In science, this is called asandhigdham. Can't be doubted. Is asandhigdha existence, indomitable existence? And yet I don't know what it is. I can say one thing. That it does exist, the self, and it is aware of conscious because it experiences. So, satt and tith are different. So this is called vijjana vikrha. I am this consciousness. Now you go back to what we did. We explore this consciousness that I am. Use dhrigdhrishya vivega, pancha koshya vivega, avasthatra vichala. All of these methods are any one of them. To come to the clarity that I am consciousness alone. Aham vijjana vikrha eva. Not body, not mind. I am. Tade ka avashistha shiva kevalo anu. I am consciousness alone. I am Shiva alone. Shiva means this consciousness alone. Vijjana vikrha alone. You come to this conclusion that I am consciousness alone. Then body and not the body, not the mind. This becomes clear. Then use what we did yesterday, day, day, for yesterday. This consciousness which I am, explore it. What did we find? We found that this consciousness itself is the light of all our experiences. I can, I see, hear, smell, taste, touch, because of this one consciousness. I can think, remember, enjoy, suffer. My whole life's inner feelings, memories, everything is experienced because of this one consciousness. Every activity in my life, walking, talking, all the time I am conscious. I may not be self aware, but these are all experienced. That's why I say I have worked so long, I worked so hard. So all of these external bodily activities, our internal feelings and thoughts, our perceptual experiences, our entire waking, dreaming, sleeping, all because of this one consciousness. That's after I call it vijjana vikrha. And it is vijjana vikrha. What is the