Transcript
[0:02] Omar
[0:14] for
[0:16] he
[0:35] swast
[0:39] the name
[0:46] Om shanty shanty shanty.
[0:57] Good. Welcome back. So we are currently
[1:02] on the seventh mantra, the most
[1:05] important mantra, the main mantra of
[1:08] this uh brief text. And we we've
[1:12] actually spent two classes on this. We
[1:15] have one more class today. We will
[1:17] finish this uh this extremely important
[1:21] mantra. And there's a a lot more to be
[1:24] uh seen.
[1:25] So let us return to the text. Repeat
[1:30] after me.
[1:39] No bayam
[1:56] adam
[1:59] of yearam
[2:03] aam.
[2:05] Action
[2:08] aent
[2:10] of
[2:14] a
[2:22] propam
[2:26] shantam sham
[2:31] adam.
[2:49] Good. So in the prior class we had a
[2:53] long and very important discussion about
[2:57] negation and what we've seen in the
[3:01] first part of the mantra is all
[3:03] negation. Negation, negation, negation.
[3:07] That consciousness is not antyam.
[3:10] It's not the consciousness present in
[3:12] dream is notam. Consciousness present in
[3:16] waking state.
[3:19] Not consciousness in between the two
[3:22] states.
[3:24] Not the consciousness present in deep
[3:26] sleep.
[3:28] Not simple consciousness.
[3:31] Not not unconsciousness.
[3:34] can't be seen of yeaharam. You can't
[3:36] interact with it. A graium you can't
[3:39] grasp it with your with your organs. A
[3:42] luxenum you can't infer it or use logic
[3:46] to determine it. A chintentium. It can't
[3:49] be an object of thought of we joked
[3:52] about it. Can't be taught. What are we
[3:55] doing
[3:57] exactly?
[3:59] can't be taught as an object is is what
[4:02] we saw before.
[4:05] So we had a long discussion about the
[4:07] purpose of all this negation. We said
[4:10] since atma doesn't have the qualities
[4:13] that can be unfolded by words. Remember
[4:18] our discussion jati ka sambha we said
[4:22] that words are good for revealing those
[4:24] four. I don't want to go over all that
[4:26] again. That was our subject for our last
[4:28] class. Since words are good for telling
[4:31] you about jati, gona, ka and sambha. And
[4:35] since atma has no jati, no gona, no
[4:38] kria, no sambha, words are useless.
[4:42] Careful now. Words are re useless to
[4:47] reveal
[4:48] atma. Now in our uh question answer
[4:51] period, we we made that point very
[4:53] clearly. Words cannot reveal atma. And
[4:58] fortunately, words need not reveal atma.
[5:05] You only need to reveal something that's
[5:08] not present.
[5:11] Something present in your experience
[5:14] need not be revealed. Atma is present in
[5:18] this experience as consciousness.
[5:20] Therefore, atma need not be revealed.
[5:23] Words need not be used to reveal atma.
[5:27] Words cannot reveal atma. Then what are
[5:30] we doing? Why are we teaching? We're not
[5:33] teaching atma. We're teaching you
[5:39] to destroy the wrong thinking about
[5:43] atma.
[5:45] That's really what vdanta is all about.
[5:46] Again, as we said in that in the
[5:48] question answer session. So all of this
[5:50] negation is then to
[5:54] negate what is not atma. And that's why
[5:57] we gave that very powerful arundi dashna
[6:00] naya that metaphor of finding that
[6:02] particular star. What a brilliant
[6:04] metaphor it is. That star is present in
[6:08] your field of view but you don't know
[6:10] which it is. So that very precise
[6:14] methodology of negation leads you to
[6:17] discover the particular star. In the
[6:20] same way, consciousness is present in
[6:23] this experience, but it's not recognized
[6:26] as what it is. Therefore, we have all
[6:29] these words of negation to negate what
[6:32] consciousness is is not and lead you to
[6:35] appreciate the true nature of the
[6:38] consciousness which is already present
[6:40] in your experience. This is a summary of
[6:43] uh the last class.
[6:46] With that summary, we can proceed.
[6:49] So far, every every term we've seen has
[6:53] been negative.
[6:55] Most of the terms that are about to come
[6:57] are also negative even though they sound
[7:00] positive. We'll see them in just a
[7:01] moment. But in this whole statement,
[7:03] there is one statement. There's one word
[7:07] for atma that is surprisingly positive
[7:11] in nature and not negative and it's
[7:13] where we left off. So we saw this whole
[7:16] vakya this whole statement except for
[7:18] the last compound.
[7:23] This is where we left off in the last
[7:25] class. That's where we continue tonight.
[7:28] This is the only word in this vakya
[7:30] which is absolutely positive in meaning.
[7:34] Let's see what it refers to. Prata sum s
[7:40] means there by the way there are several
[7:42] ways of resolving this compound. I'll
[7:44] give you the way that I think is most
[7:46] helpful. [clears throat]
[7:48] S is the essence of something.
[7:52] Pratya is a thought. Pratya is the
[7:56] essence of a thought.
[8:00] What is the essence of a thought? What
[8:02] is the content of a thought? It's like
[8:06] asking what is the content of a wave?
[8:10] Water. What is the content of a pot
[8:14] clay? What is the content of a thought?
[8:18] Consciousness.
[8:21] And that consciousness is ama.
[8:25] It is the one self.
[8:29] The oneness self which is pratya
[8:34] which is the content of every pratya
[8:38] every mental activity. What mental
[8:40] activities are we referring to? The
[8:43] mental activities right now in
[8:45] jagratasta.
[8:47] The mental activities in swapna.
[8:51] And
[8:53] can we really speak of a prata
[8:57] during deep sleep? A thought during deep
[9:00] sleep. If we get a little theoretical
[9:03] about it, we can think how about a
[9:06] thought in the form of pure ignorance.
[9:10] How's that? Deep sleep can be explained
[9:14] as a presence of one thought whose form
[9:19] is pure ignorance. A little theoretical
[9:22] but just to to explain this this
[9:25] teaching. So each of those pratayas each
[9:29] of those thought conditions
[9:32] consciousness is present as the content
[9:36] of each and every one of them.
[9:39] There's another interpretation of this.
[9:41] So, so sodum can also be in Shankr's
[9:44] commentary he says anus
[9:48] as that which literally that which
[9:51] follows.
[9:53] So that which is following with all the
[9:56] pratyas that which is continually
[10:00] present and this is how shankara
[10:02] explains it that which is continually
[10:04] present in all the three states of
[10:07] experience. waking, dream and deep
[10:10] sleep. Something is continually present.
[10:15] And we we went when we analyzed the
[10:17] three states of experience, we saw that
[10:19] again and again. Who is the one who
[10:24] undergoes the three states of
[10:26] experience? The three states of
[10:28] experience are for some conscious being.
[10:32] Who is a conscious being that undergoes
[10:34] these three states of experience? Who is
[10:37] the conscious being observing the
[10:39] alteration alternation of these three
[10:42] states? Remember the movie theater
[10:44] analogy? That's it. Who is the one
[10:47] sitting in a comfortable chair eating
[10:49] popcorn watching the waking dream and
[10:52] deep sleep states come and go just like
[10:56] features on a movie screen. So anusam
[11:00] shank explains the one that continually
[11:03] follows the one that's continually
[11:05] present through all the all the states
[11:08] of experience.
[11:10] Does this statement reveal atma?
[11:16] Well, it's already present. It's if if
[11:20] you say oh yeah it reveals you could
[11:23] think it reveals atma but it reveals
[11:25] atma in this way
[11:29] this is swami traatatmaandanda
[11:31] I'm pointing to myself
[11:34] is that necessary
[11:37] you already see me you already know me
[11:40] so it's utterly unnecessary to point out
[11:43] that swamiatanandanda is sitting here in
[11:46] the same way this expression
[11:49] Um, ama
[11:51] is unnecessary to point out the
[11:54] existence of consciousness.
[11:57] But then what does it do?
[11:59] It actually
[12:02] is negation in disguise.
[12:06] There are certain words, in fact, the
[12:08] remaining words sound positive, but
[12:12] they're negation in disguise.
[12:16] Prata is negation and surprise. It's
[12:19] negating
[12:21] that atma can come and go.
[12:24] That atma might not be present or might
[12:27] not be the same in the three states of
[12:31] experience. So this statement even
[12:34] though it looks purely positive in it's
[12:37] so to speak in disguise it's negating
[12:40] the possibility that atma can come and
[12:43] go that atma in some sense is
[12:46] inconsistent or variable.
[12:50] We'll continue with the uh anything more
[12:52] to do on that one?
[12:55] No.
[13:01] So once again that which is already
[13:04] present and the word the nice Sanskrit
[13:06] word to use is
[13:09] siddha siddha means established
[13:12] established
[13:15] through one's own self. There are very
[13:18] few things in life which are swat siddha
[13:22] selfestablished.
[13:25] What is self-established? Is the world
[13:28] self-established to you?
[13:31] You need your powers of sight, hearing,
[13:33] taste, smell and touch. Without which
[13:36] the world would not be established for
[13:39] you. So therefore the world around you
[13:41] is not siddha. It's pres knowing it
[13:46] depends on something else. Similarly
[13:48] your body is not siddha. Even your mind
[13:53] is not siddha because your mind and its
[13:57] activities are known through
[13:58] consciousness.
[14:02] So what is selfestablished
[14:05] in your own experience
[14:08] and the only thing that's
[14:10] selfestablished
[14:12] siddha is that I am a conscious being
[14:18] simple
[14:20] I am I exist as a conscious being so you
[14:25] don't have to prove it you can't figure
[14:27] it out you don't need your senses to
[14:31] discover it and you certainly don't need
[14:33] vanta
[14:34] to tell you that you are you exist as a
[14:38] conscious being then what does vanta do
[14:42] it destroys your wrong ideas about that
[14:44] conscious being you might you might
[14:47] think that that conscious being is
[14:49] finite is limited is subject to
[14:51] suffering and pain but these teachings
[14:54] can help free you from those wrong
[14:58] concepts about the self-established
[15:00] conscious being that you are and thereby
[15:02] put an end to suffering. Okay, now we
[15:06] can proceed. Yeah, already up. Next word
[15:10] that describes
[15:12] atma is propancha. Upam
[15:16] this is clearly negative. Upam
[15:20] that which is the sessation
[15:22] of propancha.
[15:25] Propanchia literally means that which is
[15:27] made five-fold. But it's a common way of
[15:30] referring to the world because the world
[15:33] is made of five elements. In fact, five
[15:36] elements which have undergone a
[15:38] five-fold kind of transformation called
[15:41] panchi kara. So five elements changed in
[15:44] five different ways. This is propancha.
[15:47] The world is called propancha. Propancha
[15:50] sham.
[15:52] When when the propancha becomes upasha
[15:57] when the world goes away
[16:01] when jagratasta
[16:03] goes away what remains when swapna when
[16:08] your dream world goes away that's also
[16:11] propancha when your dream world goes
[16:14] away what remains that's what's being
[16:17] taught here in the absence of any
[16:20] propunch Propunch will then exist. The
[16:23] world in some way will exist in a waking
[16:25] state and in the dream state. Can't
[16:28] really apply to deep sleep. But in
[16:30] awakening and dream states, when the
[16:32] waking state is absent, when a dream
[16:35] state is absent,
[16:38] such atma remains unchanged. So clearly
[16:44] another form of negation
[16:47] going back to the movie theater analogy
[16:50] when you're you are in the theater
[16:52] watching whatever is happening on that
[16:54] screen in the same way you are the
[16:58] conscious being watching whatever
[17:01] happens in your mind and something we've
[17:03] talked about before propancha the world
[17:08] is only accessible to you through your
[17:12] mind. We've had this discussion before,
[17:16] long ago perhaps, but the only world
[17:20] that you directly experience is a world
[17:24] that has been reconstituted in your
[17:27] mind. We gave that I think when we
[17:29] talked about the movie theater analogy,
[17:31] we we got into this. We said your eyes
[17:34] pick up information about the world
[17:36] projected on the screen of your mind.
[17:38] Your powers of hearing, smell, taste,
[17:41] etc.
[17:42] pick up information about the world and
[17:45] project it on the screen of your mind.
[17:48] Therefore, the world that you experience
[17:50] directly is not the world outside we
[17:53] discussed before. But the world that you
[17:56] experience directly is the world in your
[17:59] mind.
[18:01] Propancha upam the sessation of the
[18:05] world in your mind
[18:09] takes place
[18:12] in deep sleep.
[18:15] Correct? The world in your mind is
[18:18] present now in the waking state. The
[18:20] world in your mind is present in dream
[18:23] state. Present in a different way but
[18:25] absolutely present during dream. So the
[18:28] world in your mind is utterly absent in
[18:31] deep sleep in sushupti.
[18:35] Are you present in sushupti? Is
[18:38] consciousness present in sushupti?
[18:41] Absolutely. That's what this term refers
[18:43] to. So propancha sham in the absence of
[18:47] the world in the absence of any
[18:50] experience in your mind you remain as a
[18:54] conscious observer like I we had the
[18:58] metaphor uh several classes ago standing
[19:01] in a dark closet with your eyes wide
[19:04] open
[19:05] you see even in that utter blackness in
[19:08] the closet you see nothing to be seen
[19:13] Yet you see. All right. Then the next
[19:16] word shantum.
[19:20] Shanta or shanti we think as of as
[19:24] positive words. Peace peacefulness.
[19:29] Negative. Absolutely negative. Though
[19:33] the word shantam or shanti has come from
[19:36] the same root sham. Sham means to be
[19:41] quiet.
[19:44] Huh?
[19:46] And you may have heard me discuss this
[19:47] in some other class, some other context
[19:50] that a very literal translation for
[19:53] Shanti could be quietude.
[19:56] We translate it as peace and it should
[19:58] be translated as peace. But if you want
[20:00] to be very close to the root meaning of
[20:04] shanti be quietudeed. And what's
[20:07] significant about that is quiet is not
[20:09] the presence of something. Right?
[20:13] Quiet is the absence [snorts]
[20:17] of something. Quiet is not a presence.
[20:19] Quiet is an absence.
[20:22] When the kids who are running around the
[20:24] house screaming and crying, when you get
[20:27] rid of the kids, you have shanti.
[20:33] Shanti is an absence. And even when we
[20:37] use shanti in a vantic sense,
[20:41] it's really tapatry
[20:44] uh bada. It's the in the absence of
[20:48] tapataya in the absence of three kinds
[20:51] of affliction
[20:54] adatika.
[20:57] This is not the time or place for a long
[20:59] discussion about shanti but three
[21:01] sources of affliction in life. Some
[21:04] kinds of affliction come from
[21:05] withinatika.
[21:07] Some kinds of affliction come from the
[21:09] world around us.
[21:12] Some kinds of affliction come due to
[21:14] karma due to destiny whatever we want to
[21:17] say come to unknown unknown
[21:20] unpredictable factors we call adi dvaka.
[21:24] So three sources of affliction we pray
[21:29] you know this most of you know this well
[21:31] we pray shanti three times
[21:34] for the absence of these three kinds of
[21:37] affliction.
[21:39] So you're getting it that the word
[21:41] shanti is a negative word. When you're
[21:44] praying for shanti you're not praying to
[21:47] get something
[21:49] you're praying to get rid of something.
[21:52] It's absolutely true and I've joked
[21:55] before if you pray for Shanti Bhagavan
[21:58] cannot give you shanti absolutely cannot
[22:02] give you shanti why if anything shanti
[22:05] is your surupa your true nature you
[22:08] already have shanti you already are such
[22:11] ananda atma bhagavan can't give you what
[22:14] you already are can't give you what you
[22:17] already have so clearly shanti is
[22:22] removal. Three times shanty we pray for
[22:25] the removal of three sources of
[22:27] affliction. Three kinds of affliction.
[22:30] So the word shantam here
[22:34] literally means quiet
[22:38] silent translated here silence.
[22:44] Silence is definitely an abs is a
[22:46] negative word right? Quiet or silence is
[22:49] an absence.
[22:54] But atma is not absent.
[22:58] In silence and this is one of the values
[23:01] of deep meditation. In deep meditation
[23:04] when your mind finally arrives at that
[23:06] point of silence. It can take time. It's
[23:09] worth being patient for. However, to
[23:11] arrive at that place of silence in that
[23:15] utter silence, when that chatter of the
[23:18] mind finally stops, that mind goes on
[23:20] and on and on and on and on and on and
[23:22] on and on. You ever get stuck in a
[23:24] conversation with someone who just won't
[23:26] stop? Your mind is like that. And when
[23:29] that person finally does stop, what a
[23:32] relief it is.
[23:37] In the same way, when your mind's
[23:40] chatter finally comes to a stop,
[23:45] it feels like such a relief because what
[23:50] remains in its absence, what remains in
[23:55] that silence is ananda.
[23:59] So shantam definitely a negative word.
[24:04] Absence of noise, absence of l in this
[24:07] context, absence of any kind of mental
[24:10] activity. In the absence of any kind of
[24:12] mental activity, what remains is sat
[24:16] chit ananda.
[24:19] Then sham
[24:22] careful shiva is both a noun and an
[24:25] adjective.
[24:27] Here it's an adjective
[24:30] and as an adjective it means that which
[24:32] is holy, that which is pure, that which
[24:34] is sacred.
[24:37] So that sounds positive. That which is
[24:40] pure.
[24:44] The word pure is a negative word. It's
[24:47] another negative word in dis in
[24:49] disguise.
[24:51] Pure water means what?
[24:56] no impurities.
[24:59] To get pure water, you have to remove
[25:03] all the impurities.
[25:06] We wouldn't have a word pure, unless
[25:10] there were such things as impurities.
[25:12] So when we say purified water, we're
[25:16] referring to water from which all the
[25:19] impurities have been removed. The word
[25:22] Shiva can in this context has that
[25:25] meaning of pure purity. So it means that
[25:29] which is free from defects that which is
[25:32] free from impurity.
[25:34] Again a positive word masquerading as a
[25:37] negative word really negating
[25:40] any wrong concept about atma. Looking at
[25:45] these words perpancha sham
[25:49] that which abides in the absence of
[25:52] worldly experience
[25:54] shantum this is what's being negated u
[25:57] atma is remains when the world goes away
[26:01] atma remains shantam when thoughts go
[26:04] away atma remains sham
[26:09] when impurities are gone atma remains
[26:12] atma remains free from purity. And the
[26:16] final word here adam
[26:19] clearly a negative word free from dwita
[26:24] free from duality. And remember uh in
[26:27] our prior text I think we had that
[26:30] discussion about adwita. Yeah in
[26:31] kalanishad
[26:33] we said adwita specifically means free
[26:36] absence of three different kinds of
[26:38] duality. Three different kinds of beta
[26:41] said there's absence of the swajatia
[26:45] ba there's no there's no presence
[26:50] swaty of this there's no second atma
[26:54] present there's no second consciousness
[26:56] present let's let's uh try to make this
[26:58] a little more rooted in your experience
[27:01] so when we say atma is adwita there's no
[27:05] swajia
[27:07] meaning there There is no second atma
[27:13] present. No second consciousness
[27:16] present. You have only one
[27:19] consciousness.
[27:20] Some of you may know of something called
[27:22] multiple personality disorder.
[27:28] And such an illness does indeed exist.
[27:32] But multiple personality disorder does
[27:34] not mean multiple consciousnesses.
[27:38] It means multiple personalities.
[27:40] Personalities which are part of your
[27:41] mind
[27:43] hosted by the brain. So those
[27:46] consciousness those personalities can be
[27:49] multiple. Consciousness cannot be
[27:51] multiple. Therefore there's no swajatia
[27:54] beta. There's no vijatia beta. There's
[27:57] nothing other than atma present.
[28:03] There's nothing other than consciousness
[28:05] present. Oh, we should do this briefly.
[28:09] Right now in this experience,
[28:14] there is nothing other than
[28:17] consciousness present.
[28:21] Now you might be thinking,
[28:24] what about
[28:26] the this chair? This chair is not
[28:29] consciousness.
[28:31] Correct? This chair that I'm sitting in
[28:33] is not consciousness. But the chair that
[28:36] you're experiencing is not the chair I'm
[28:38] sitting on.
[28:40] Following me? We talked about this
[28:43] moments ago. The chair I'm sitting on is
[28:46] not the chair you're experiencing
[28:48] directly. The chair you're experiencing
[28:50] directly is a chair in your mind. The
[28:53] chair in your mind is a form whose
[28:56] content is consciousness. Form is not a
[28:59] second thing. There's only
[29:01] consciousness. It is absolutely true
[29:04] that the only thing present in this
[29:07] experience right now is consciousness.
[29:11] Consciousness in the form of all your
[29:13] thoughts.
[29:14] Consciousness
[29:16] as such. Consciousness in both of these
[29:19] forms. We're going to come to that in
[29:20] just a moment. Consciousness in both in
[29:23] two forms. Consciousness as such
[29:27] and consciousness with all of these
[29:30] various forms.
[29:33] Is that two things?
[29:35] It's really one thing, right? It's like
[29:38] two. I [clears throat] need my need my
[29:41] prop.
[29:43] No, I don't need the light. I need this.
[29:53] So, here I have in my hand clay in the
[29:56] form of a pot and clay as such.
[30:01] two things,
[30:03] one thing.
[30:06] But language allows us two points of
[30:09] view. So we can talk about clay as such.
[30:14] We can also call it clay in the form of
[30:16] a pot. In the same way, what's present
[30:19] right now is consciousness as such and
[30:23] consciousness in the form of this
[30:25] experience.
[30:28] It's only one thing. That leads us to
[30:30] the last kind of duality which is um
[30:33] Swagata
[30:35] said there's no second consciousness.
[30:39] There's nothing other than
[30:40] consciousness. This is all what the word
[30:43] adwitas means. Adwita means there's no
[30:46] there's no shat
[30:48] there. There's no second consciousness.
[30:51] Adwita means there's no vijati. There's
[30:54] nothing other than consciousness. And
[30:56] finally adita means there's no swagata
[31:00] there's no internal differentiation.
[31:03] Internal differentiation which means
[31:06] cons your consciousness doesn't have
[31:08] parts and bits. In fact it's not your
[31:11] consciousness at all. There's not a your
[31:13] consciousness and a my consciousness.
[31:15] Consciousness doesn't get chopped up
[31:17] into yours and mine.
[31:20] Consciousness is one and
[31:23] undifferentiated.
[31:27] The pot has a bottom and a top.
[31:31] Does clay
[31:33] have a bottom and top?
[31:37] That's It's so simple. It's really that
[31:39] simple.
[31:41] Consciousness, which is the content of
[31:43] all of your thoughts, that consciousness
[31:46] has no internal
[31:48] variation whatsoever. Your thoughts are
[31:51] infinite in variation. But consciousness
[31:54] in and of itself has no details, has no
[31:58] parts, has no aspects, nothing
[32:01] undifferentiated.
[32:02] Therefore, there's no swag. All of this
[32:06] is indicated by the word adita.
[32:10] So these words,
[32:13] all of which are ultimately negative in
[32:15] meaning. All right. Now
[32:20] we're done,
[32:26] excuse me. We're done with the portion
[32:29] of the vakya that unfolds the nature of
[32:33] atma. Negation, negation, negation,
[32:36] negation. The only thing that sounded
[32:38] close to being positive was akatma
[32:40] pratia. But even that if we look at it
[32:43] closely enough even that can be
[32:45] considered
[32:46] to involve negation. So what is all of
[32:51] this forhate?
[32:55] How did our text begin? Om being broken
[32:59] up into four pasma
[33:05] and the silence. Actually didn't say
[33:07] that at the beginning. It just said auma
[33:10] at the beginning. But it said that there
[33:12] were four parts. So we've already seen a
[33:16] representing jagasta waking state. U
[33:20] representing
[33:21] uh swapna dream state. Makara
[33:25] representing sushupti ofasta deep sleep
[33:29] state. What is the fourth? Here we have
[33:32] it. Chhaturam
[33:35] manante.
[33:36] This one is the fourth. Fourth. This
[33:40] consciousness is a fourth.
[33:43] Be careful.
[33:46] This word forth chhaturum or tim also
[33:50] means fourth. These words are inter
[33:52] interchangeable. Atma is to atma's
[33:55] chhaturum. The fourth.
[33:58] We we saw we actually discussed this
[34:01] once before but we have to come back to
[34:03] that discussion here. Very important.
[34:06] Um, if you have
[34:10] an apple, an orange, a banana, and a
[34:14] grapefruit in a basket,
[34:17] you have four fruits in a basket.
[34:21] Is that the sense that this is a fourth?
[34:25] We have one jagraasta in the basket. One
[34:30] swapna ofasta, one sushuti ofasta and
[34:33] one atma in the basket.
[34:38] Utterly wrong metaphor. You get that?
[34:42] So what would be a better metaphor?
[34:45] We're we're going to see two of them
[34:47] here. Here's first first a simple one.
[34:52] I wish I had two more pops right now.
[34:55] because that would be perfect if I had
[34:57] pot number one,
[35:00] pot number two,
[35:02] and pot number three.
[35:05] I have one, two, three pots
[35:09] and one clay.
[35:13] In that sense, atma is the fourth. It's
[35:17] a trick, isn't it? [laughter]
[35:20] three pots
[35:22] and one clay. Again, we can count three
[35:26] from one perspective. We can count clay
[35:29] from a different perspective. And
[35:30] there's nothing there's no rule that
[35:32] says we can't add them together. After
[35:35] all, we add if you can add one apple
[35:39] plus one orange plus one banana, they're
[35:42] utterly unlike each other. And one
[35:44] grapefruit. If you can add those up and
[35:46] get four, then we can add one pot, two
[35:48] pots, three pots, and even though
[35:50] consciousness is utterly different,
[35:52] apples and oranges, nothing that
[35:54] prevents us from adding and coming up to
[35:58] four. So, chhaturamante,
[36:01] it's considered the fourth in that
[36:04] sense. It's not the fourth in addition
[36:08] to the three.
[36:10] It's the fourth because of which the
[36:13] other three exist.
[36:15] And to make this more clear, this is a
[36:18] there's a very important uh passage in
[36:20] Sri Shankara's commentary. Let's see
[36:23] that part.
[36:32] is param
[36:38] it's called the atma that we're talking
[36:41] about has four parts pot the atma we're
[36:45] talking about has four parts but
[36:49] paramarupa
[36:51] aparamarup
[36:53] what does it say no I'm sorry paramarupa
[36:58] these four parts
[37:00] some of them are param absolutely real.
[37:05] Some of them are a parama not absolutely
[37:10] real. Paramata means absolutely real. So
[37:14] these four fall into these two
[37:16] categories parama and aparama.
[37:21] Well, into what category shall we put
[37:23] them? Absolutely real. Well, that sounds
[37:26] like what we're talking about.
[37:28] Chhatushpat. I'm sorry, the fourth part.
[37:30] Chhaturum. So this atma is the
[37:34] absolutely real one which means the
[37:37] other three jagna
[37:41] are a param not absolutely real. Why are
[37:47] they not absolutely real? This is our
[37:48] our question before uh class in satsang.
[37:52] That which comes and goes is not real.
[37:57] Satyam. Our basic definition of satyam
[38:00] real is that which is
[38:04] that which cannot be negated in the
[38:06] three periods of time past, present,
[38:08] future.
[38:10] That which is that which has always been
[38:13] present, that which is present now, that
[38:15] which will always be present in the
[38:17] future, which then implies therefore
[38:19] unchanging.
[38:22] This is real. Does that apply?
[38:25] unchanging
[38:28] and everlasting.
[38:30] Does that apply to jagra, davista,
[38:33] swapna, sushupti? Absolutely not. So
[38:37] these three are aparam and the fourth
[38:41] consciousness is paramata. And then
[38:43] Shankra goes on
[38:46] talking about the aparam
[38:51] of vidya
[38:54] for of these four the ones that are
[38:57] aparam
[38:59] which means jagritna and sushupti these
[39:03] and this is pure shankaria he says they
[39:06] are a vidyrum
[39:10] they are projected because of ignorance
[39:15] projected because of ignorance.
[39:19] How can that happen? After all, jagrat
[39:22] and sushupti are experiences in your
[39:25] mind.
[39:27] How are they projected by ignorance? You
[39:31] have to understand how shankara thinks.
[39:34] Why do you have a mind in the first
[39:37] place?
[39:39] Because you're born.
[39:42] Why did you get born? Because of some
[39:45] karma.
[39:48] Why did you do those karmmas?
[39:51] Ignorance.
[39:53] A vidya karma. Karma.
[39:56] And so I skipped one, I should say. So
[39:58] why did you do those? Why did you do
[40:00] those karmmas? Because of karma. Desire.
[40:05] We do the whole thing. Why do you have a
[40:07] mind? Because you're born. Why did you
[40:10] get born? Because of karma. Why did you
[40:12] do those karmmas? Because of desire.
[40:17] Right? If you had no desire, would you
[40:20] have come here tonight? If you had no
[40:23] desire, would you get out of bed in the
[40:25] morning? Karma drives karma.
[40:29] So you have because you're born, you
[40:32] have a mind. You're born because of
[40:35] karma. You did those karmas because of
[40:38] karma desire. Why did you have that kama
[40:41] that desire? If such ananda atma is full
[40:44] and complete perfect source of
[40:48] contentment, why did you do any karma in
[40:50] the first place? Ignorance.
[40:54] This is called the granti in vdanta. The
[40:58] three strands that bind us
[41:03] granti the three strands that bind us to
[41:06] a life of suffering. Avidya karma karma
[41:11] avidya ignorance of your true nature as
[41:14] such anandanda atma leading to kama
[41:17] desire leading to karma action leading
[41:22] to one life after another life after
[41:25] another life and in this particular life
[41:27] you have a brain and a mind
[41:31] and in that mind you are now projecting
[41:35] the waking state not projecting In your
[41:38] mind, the waking state is present. Why
[41:41] is the waking state present in your mind
[41:44] right now? Because of ignorance.
[41:48] Now, do you see how Shankaras thinks? He
[41:51] goes to this root cause. Because of
[41:55] ignorance, it's natural that in your
[41:58] mind, the waking state should occur, the
[42:02] dream state should occur later, deep
[42:04] sleep state should occur later. This is
[42:07] the way the minds work. But
[42:10] waking, dream and sleep states are
[42:16] are like the pot.
[42:20] The content of the waking dream and
[42:22] sleep states is consciousness. Right?
[42:27] So the waking dream and sleep states
[42:31] which are born of ignorance that's how
[42:34] you got a mind in the first place these
[42:36] are aparam marta and shri shankra just
[42:40] to make it absolutely clear raju
[42:43] just like the snake that's superimposed
[42:46] on the rope paratrialam
[42:50] this applies this defines the three
[42:54] states of experience
[42:56] The three states of experience in
[42:58] Shankara's words, they are as real as
[43:02] the snake superimposed upon
[43:06] the robe because Shankara takes a very
[43:09] absolute standpoint.
[43:12] Shank is focused on the clay. If you
[43:15] were to ask Shankara, if Shankarachi
[43:17] could could could join us here in class,
[43:21] he he'd say,
[43:23] "What pot are you talking about?
[43:26] [laughter]
[43:28] There's no pot
[43:33] Sri Shankara we use the term vast
[43:37] focused on the reality vast. So this is
[43:41] Shankara's orientation.
[43:44] Then one last statement which is going
[43:46] to get us into another discussion.
[43:48] Shankara finally says anuran
[43:54] he says there's a relationship between
[43:56] the two aaram and param a relationship
[44:00] between the three states of experience
[44:02] and consciousness. He says anuran
[44:07] just like the relationship between the
[44:09] seed and the sprout.
[44:13] He says that the seed
[44:17] gives rise to the sprout. In the same
[44:21] way, consciousness
[44:23] gives rise to the three states of
[44:26] experience. In one way, it's absolutely
[44:29] true, but it can be misunderstood.
[44:33] And I was very surprised. I was um
[44:37] going over my notes when I studied this
[44:39] with Puja Swami Diane in 1989
[44:44] we studied this
[44:48] and I still have my notes to this day
[44:49] and I usually don't don't refer to those
[44:52] notes but this is a rather challenging
[44:54] text so I thought it'd be interesting to
[44:56] go back and I found in this particular
[45:00] place Puja Swamiji actually going in a
[45:03] different direction than Adish Shankara.
[45:06] So here Adish Shankara gives this
[45:08] metaphor of Bjankstania.
[45:12] He says that the um it's just like the
[45:15] the clay is the source of the pot
[45:22] and in the same way consciousness
[45:25] is the source of the three states of
[45:28] experience. That's what that be jankurra
[45:31] the the seed and sprout means.
[45:34] But that's not exactly what Shankara is
[45:38] teaching. Did he give the clay and pot
[45:42] example in the earlier portion here? He
[45:45] gave the ropes snake example.
[45:50] That's a little different. There's a
[45:52] difference between clay pot
[45:55] and
[45:57] rope snake.
[46:00] Right.
[46:02] What is the difference between a clay
[46:04] pot and a rope snake? The clay pot
[46:09] is a pot
[46:12] is clay in the form of pot and the pot
[46:17] has this empirical reality to it. Is
[46:21] that true about the rope snake?
[46:24] We can in one way they're true. They're
[46:27] the same. Clay appears as a pot.
[46:31] Rope appears
[46:33] as a snake.
[46:36] What's the difference? The difference is
[46:38] more subtle than you think.
[46:42] Clay appears
[46:44] as pot. Rope appears as snake. What is
[46:50] the difference? When I tell you this is
[46:52] a clay pot,
[46:55] you do you still see the pot?
[46:59] When I tell you it's a rope, do you
[47:03] still see the snake?
[47:06] Ah, there's there lies a difference.
[47:10] When upon the rise of knowledge, you
[47:14] still experience a pot. But with
[47:17] knowledge of the rope snake, the snake
[47:20] is utterly destroyed.
[47:22] Now the the question is which of these
[47:26] metaphors
[47:28] is more appropriate for understanding
[47:32] the relationship between consciousness
[47:36] and your three states of experience.
[47:41] Intuitively, you might jump on this one
[47:45] that it is and every reason to to go in
[47:48] this direction.
[47:56] Oh gosh,
[47:58] I don't know if we want to get into all
[47:59] of that.
[48:10] And it'll be two more. If we get into a
[48:13] big discussion on this sataria and
[48:15] vivarada, we're we're lost for another
[48:17] class or two. So I don't I'm I want to
[48:20] pull this back a little bit just so so
[48:22] that we stay stay rooted with with our
[48:26] text a little bit more closely.
[48:45] The answer lies in understanding
[48:48] Shankara's view of reality. In Shankra's
[48:52] view,
[48:54] there is no pot. Shankra is focused as
[48:57] we said vast he's focused on the reality
[49:02] to Shankara the pot is about as real as
[49:06] the snake
[49:09] that's shanka's perspective that's a dwa
[49:11] vanta's perspective is to
[49:16] recognize
[49:18] that the world is not as real as it
[49:22] seems
[49:24] and fortunately we live at a time when
[49:26] modern science supports that perspective
[49:30] so brilliantly. When modern science
[49:32] tells us everything is particles and
[49:34] energy and what we see as a chair is not
[49:38] really a chair at all. It's just a
[49:40] certain configuration of particles and
[49:42] energy. It's not even solid. So modern
[49:45] science does a lot to tell us what you
[49:48] see is not what you get.
[49:52] [snorts] And in computer terminology,
[49:54] what you see is what you get is
[49:56] something they talk about on your
[49:57] display screen. But here, according to
[50:00] modern science, what you see is not what
[50:03] you get. The world is not as real as it
[50:06] seems. And what this shows us is that
[50:09] maybe we can't take the pot too
[50:12] seriously.
[50:15] And that's what we're leading up to here
[50:17] in this metaphor.
[50:20] In this example of the Bjankura,
[50:23] the seed
[50:25] and the sprout
[50:28] are equally real.
[50:35] That's not Shankara's main teaching.
[50:37] He's using it to show a logical
[50:40] connection, a logical relationship, a
[50:42] cause effect relationship. And he is
[50:45] correct in using it, but it can be
[50:47] misinterpreted. And this is what what uh
[50:49] my guru was pointing out. Don't
[50:51] misinterpret that bij jankura statement
[50:54] because the seed I'm sorry other way
[50:58] around. The sprout is as real as the
[51:02] seed. Correct.
[51:05] Is the pot as real as the clay?
[51:09] Is the snake as real as the rope?
[51:16] Is your experience as real as the
[51:20] consciousness which is its content?
[51:23] That's what we want to see
[51:26] is that the cons the experience is
[51:31] relative to consciousness. The
[51:34] experience is unreal. In fact, we shank
[51:37] use a term a paramarta as opposed to the
[51:41] paramata sata the absolute reality of
[51:44] consciousness with reference to that the
[51:48] three states of experience are a
[51:50] paramata with reference to the clay the
[51:54] pot is not real with reference to the
[51:57] rope the snake is not real with
[52:00] reference to consciousness
[52:02] your experience right now is unreal.
[52:09] That's it. It's like the pot. How real
[52:14] is the pot? If I have If I have 4 oz of
[52:20] clay,
[52:22] does a pot add anything to it?
[52:26] There's no pot. There's only 4 oz of
[52:30] clay. But I see a form. Fine.
[52:34] You see a form. The form is not a second
[52:38] thing. It is a paramata. Okay, enough
[52:41] said.
[52:42] As I said, we can get into a long
[52:44] discussion here, but we're going to rein
[52:46] it in a little bit. So, finally, the
[52:48] vakya concludes
[52:52] they consider this manante. They
[52:55] consider this to be the fourth that is
[52:58] the consciousness with all of these
[53:00] negating words to remove any possible
[53:03] confusion about consciousness. What
[53:05] remains after all of this negation? They
[53:09] consider that one to be the fourth. As
[53:11] we said before, it's not the fourth in
[53:13] addition to the three. It's the fourth
[53:15] because of which the three states of
[53:17] experience exists
[53:20] exist. And atma
[53:23] that is what we mean by atma the true
[53:27] self
[53:31] that is to be clearly known
[53:35] to be clearly known. Clearly known.
[53:38] Clearly known like the pot in my hand.
[53:44] No. Clearly known like the star in the
[53:48] sky.
[53:50] The star which was already present in
[53:52] your field of view but not known for
[53:56] which it truly is. In the same way, atma
[54:00] is clearly known as the consciousness
[54:03] which is already present in your
[54:05] experience. But you have a chance to
[54:08] understand it as it truly is. Saha.
[54:13] And how do you understand consciousness
[54:15] as it truly is? By negation. by negating
[54:19] everything that it is not. And Shankr
[54:21] comments here. He says
[54:25] abhava says when it is known
[54:29] when consciousness is known as it truly
[54:33] is
[54:36] then what dwa
[54:39] then there is no duality.
[54:43] And we'll see that last point here.
[54:47] Shankara's
[54:48] vision is a very lofty vision.
[54:54] What does it mean to experience
[54:57] nonduality? It really is what he is
[54:59] saying. Yan dwita bhava when such anand
[55:04] atma is known as it truly is duality
[55:07] comes to an end and we often we we can
[55:11] have some kind of naive thoughts about
[55:14] about what is it to experience
[55:16] nonduality
[55:18] and what did in some class I was in a
[55:21] silly mood and I and I said if if
[55:24] someone is enlightened and they
[55:26] experience nonduality
[55:28] how can they tell a doorway from the
[55:32] wall. If you can't differentiate between
[55:35] a doorway and a wall, you're never going
[55:38] to be able to leave the room.
[55:43] But to differentiate a doorway from a
[55:46] wall is duality.
[55:50] So, how silly is that? So, what does it
[55:55] mean? Let's get No, let's get real. What
[55:58] does it mean to experience nonduality?
[56:03] Your experience right now
[56:07] is nonduel.
[56:12] Why? The only thing you experience is
[56:15] consciousness in the form of your
[56:17] thoughts. Consciousness in the form of
[56:20] your experience.
[56:22] And while there's plenty of duality in
[56:24] experience,
[56:26] the consciousness, which is the content
[56:30] of the experience,
[56:32] is utterly nondual.
[56:37] This experience with all of its duality,
[56:41] this experience is made of
[56:43] consciousness. Just like the pot is made
[56:45] of clay, this experience is made of
[56:48] consciousness.
[56:50] And that consciousness happens to be
[56:53] non-dual
[56:54] in spite of all the details of this
[56:57] experience.
[56:59] The content of this experience remains
[57:02] nonduel. Therefore,
[57:05] this experience
[57:07] is indeed an experience of nonduality
[57:12] when it's properly understood.
[57:15] If you're focused on the details of the
[57:17] experience, duality.
[57:20] But if you shift your perspective to
[57:23] appreciate the consciousness underlying
[57:25] the experience, absolutely nonduel.
[57:30] Just like for this pot, this pot has
[57:34] dimension. It has diameter. It has
[57:36] height. It has weight. It has thickness.
[57:42] All these dimensions. Duality.
[57:45] What about clay?
[57:48] Does clay have thickness? Does clay have
[57:52] diameter?
[57:54] Does clay have height? You get the idea.
[57:58] So you experience the pot at one level.
[58:03] You can appreciate the duality involved
[58:05] in the pot. But by shifting your
[58:07] perspective, you can appreciate the pot
[58:10] as being non relatively speaking nondual
[58:14] clay. Clay is not non-dual. It's a
[58:16] metaphor. I'm mixing the metaphors
[58:18] apparently. So if you can appreciate the
[58:22] featureless
[58:24] clay because of which the complex pot
[58:28] exists, then you can appreciate the
[58:32] featureless nondual consciousness
[58:36] because of which this very complex
[58:38] experience exists. This is nonduality
[58:44] for real, not as people imagine it to
[58:49] be. So enough.
[58:52] All right. And that brings us to the end
[58:54] of this amazing passage, the uh seventh
[58:58] vakia of this text. And it's too late to
[59:01] uh continue. The um remaining mantras go
[59:05] back to om break it up into four parts.
[59:10] Earlier it was broken up in three parts.
[59:13] Now we're well three parts plus one. So
[59:17] we're going to revisit in the final
[59:19] verses all four parts. That'll be our
[59:22] next class. We may finish in the next
[59:24] class or we may take one more. A little
[59:26] hard to tell. We will take one more text
[59:29] after this which I'll discuss perhaps in
[59:31] the next in the next class. this it's uh
[59:36] very good to have finished this very
[59:38] important vakya in today's class. It'll
[59:41] conclude with our prayers.
[59:55] Yasha
[1:00:18] may
[1:00:20] shanty shanty
[1:00:23] shanty. See here. Oh, that's it.
