Transcript
[0:08] There was some mentioning in the
[0:11] readings that
[0:13] mixed karma is more more dangerous than
[0:17] than uh than non-mixed karma.
[0:21] Like for example if we have Thomas every
[0:26] for everybody that's evident that that's
[0:28] Thomas or if we have Rajas then you can
[0:31] see like in their purest form that is
[0:34] something that is recognizable but when
[0:36] it's in regards to mixed mixed goonas
[0:40] then there's
[0:42] there's a harder way to distinguish what
[0:45] is good and what is bad and so
[0:49] uh how how would uh practitioners deal
[0:52] with that type of karma
[0:55] um and u how to to recognize it
[1:01] >> right well that's definitely where we
[1:02] have a a very strong edge in vdanta
[1:05] because it it starts out I mean it's
[1:07] vanta has been called almost the avoid
[1:10] of practice you know I some vanta at the
[1:12] highest level is just that you are that
[1:15] you know realize that and walk away from
[1:17] everything else um so it's hard to find
[1:20] a method in vdanta. That's why those of
[1:22] us who got vanta but weren't quite
[1:25] mature enough to to yet to uh comprehend
[1:28] it fully, we went to yoga. And that's
[1:31] also u advised by the Indian rishies uh
[1:34] true yoga not not the yoga that's out
[1:36] there today so much but that's these
[1:39] different four yogas and some of some of
[1:41] the powerful yogas that that are there
[1:43] for us. So basically and you know what I
[1:47] was talking about was the colors of the
[1:49] karma uh but you bring in the colors of
[1:52] the goonas which they're also can be
[1:54] colorcoded like that red and you know
[1:57] yellow and white is a nice nice color
[1:59] assignment for rajas and then
[2:01] combination of rajas and sauta and then
[2:03] pure sauta would be beyond yellow it' be
[2:06] pure white. Uh so anyway what
[2:09] [clears throat] I was going to say in
[2:10] direct response to your question was in
[2:12] mudatantu we have that powerful edge
[2:14] that that gives us vivika and that's why
[2:17] swami vivikananda was the first on the
[2:19] scene in America and England because
[2:23] what do the westerners need you know
[2:24] they really need a good strong dose of
[2:27] discrimination between the unchanging
[2:29] and the changing because materialism and
[2:33] sensuality and even worse hedenism and
[2:37] outright delusion and war and violence
[2:39] have come upon them in a big way because
[2:41] of power. So they're not even
[2:43] discriminating between real power and
[2:46] false power. That is the power of God
[2:49] and the power of the occult. So there's
[2:51] so much swept into the power of the
[2:53] occult that they're getting mixed up in
[2:55] metaphysics. Uh you could probably color
[2:58] code all that too, but basically the
[3:00] real power is that intelligence we've
[3:02] been talking about and the vivika is
[3:04] what get gets you there. So in the case
[3:07] of a devity like you're talking about
[3:09] basically they really need to get a hold
[3:11] of that sort of discrimination that
[3:14] mother collie holds and sharpen it you
[3:16] know polish it every day practice
[3:18] lifting it practice swinging it just
[3:21] like any swordsman would young boy would
[3:23] as he as he took on you know knighthood
[3:26] you might say so basically getting a
[3:29] hold of that power of ikananda and then
[3:31] applying it to the complexities of maya
[3:34] and the wheel of samsara is the way in
[3:37] which uh the vidantas work on that. So
[3:41] that's if there's any practice to be
[3:43] cited really in vidanta would be the
[3:47] those uh sadna chhatushtai it's called
[3:50] the four aspects of true sadna true
[3:53] practice you know that's basically
[3:56] vivika vraa shats and uh and uh then at
[4:01] the end of course the the moia part of
[4:04] it
[4:06] um so viva and vyra come first as the
[4:09] two two great jewels in the casket uh of
[4:13] of this treasure. And um they they need
[4:17] to be vivaced first so that you can
[4:20] really tell the difference between
[4:21] what's confusing and what's clarifying,
[4:24] what's true love and what's false love,
[4:27] what's changing, what's unchanging,
[4:28] what's essential to your life and what's
[4:30] non-essential and can be rejected and
[4:33] renounced outright.
[4:36] uh make some real positive strong
[4:38] decisions about that based on hone
[4:40] discrimination and then get yourself
[4:43] quickly to to the ability to to detach
[4:47] from anything and everything. When we
[4:50] reached that understanding then the
[4:52] swami that I learned under shashandanda
[4:55] gi maharaj peace and blessings be upon
[4:58] him always he started changing his tone
[5:00] a little bit for the older students and
[5:02] he was saying all right so now
[5:05] detachment you understand what's real
[5:06] and what isn't now let's let's hone in
[5:09] on that second jewel called vyogum
[5:13] detachment or discernment sometimes it's
[5:15] called in English so you need to
[5:18] practice your detachment and discern
[5:20] ernment. So he said remember then that
[5:22] uh the detachment at its highest level
[5:25] means that you know um you you're able
[5:29] to detach and attach at will. It doesn't
[5:31] just mean that I detach, renounce and go
[5:33] away and leave everyone you know devil
[5:36] take the hindmost kind of thing. You
[5:38] know you want vidantto wants freedom for
[5:40] everyone because purely everyone is free
[5:43] but just doesn't know it yet. So how to
[5:45] lift those veils so they'll come to know
[5:47] their atman is is is a matter of
[5:50] uncovering maya. It's not a matter of
[5:52] beating maya or or uh assuming that maya
[5:56] is real or unreal. It's why shankara
[5:58] defines maya as neither real nor unreal
[6:01] nor a combination of both or beyond
[6:03] both. I mean maya is just unspeakable.
[6:06] It's inscrable is the best English word.
[6:09] You cannot figure it. So back off from
[6:12] it. When you back off from it, then it
[6:14] becomes clear to you what's causing you
[6:17] your confusion and your delusion.
[6:20] Confusion of the mind, delusion of the
[6:23] body, that that you're a body. So, and
[6:27] delusion that the world is real in any
[6:29] way when it goes away for you every
[6:31] night in deep sleep. So you get this
[6:34] kind of detachment and you hone you hone
[6:36] it like you did the sort of
[6:38] discrimination uh and you start cutting
[6:41] away with this sword of of vivika
[6:44] everything that's um surplusiferous
[6:47] you know not not not applicable to your
[6:50] true life uh and to to the life of the
[6:53] spirit to the eternal life and you begin
[6:56] dropping things and weights on all sides
[6:59] uh I mean aasan does that swiftly and in
[7:02] a in in a major way. Uh other
[7:04] householder practitioners and so forth
[7:06] you're talking about, they'll do it by
[7:08] degrees as they're able to uh to live
[7:12] through the process of lightening up
[7:15] lightening up karma, lightening up some
[7:17] scars and um uh lightening up
[7:21] possessions. Uh all of those things
[7:24] apply to this great
[7:27] um
[7:28] uh
[7:30] principle of detachment leading to
[7:32] renunciation. Renunciation with a
[7:35] capital R.
[7:37] So this um this is very pertinent to the
[7:41] uh god blogs that were we were taking
[7:45] this last two weeks. Um because the the
[7:47] goddess you know we're talking about has
[7:50] this heft hefts the sword. there's some
[7:52] reason why it's there. It's not just,
[7:55] oh, please cut off my head of ignorance
[7:56] and that's be done with it. But
[7:58] basically, you need to do the cutting
[8:01] yourself. She she she will help you, but
[8:04] you you need to develop the strength to
[8:07] be able to to take on the weight of that
[8:10] great great um jewel of of of Vivika.
[8:15] Again, why Swami Vivikananda is amongst
[8:18] us again with that particular name.
[8:22] So apply that to the confusing ad
[8:25] mixture of goonas, karmas
[8:28] uh and um
[8:31] and color coding that you're doing with
[8:32] them. Uh so that you can pinpoint them,
[8:35] put your finger on them as they pass.
[8:37] Holy mother made that beautiful
[8:39] teaching. remember that that the reason
[8:41] you sit in meditation at the same time
[8:43] every morning uh you know is not just to
[8:46] see God and have that that beautiful
[8:48] vision open up that one specific
[8:51] meditation that's talked about but it's
[8:53] so you can see how the goas change dayto
[8:55] day and you can then pretty much see how
[8:58] cycles work you know one of the asapo
[9:03] was mentioning in her class on on
[9:05] Wednesday I brought out that teaching of
[9:07] one of the meanings of time is that It's
[9:09] the facilitator of cycles. Endless
[9:12] cycles inside of cycles. It's like a
[9:14] great watch or a great clock with all
[9:16] these gears in it. For everything you
[9:18] can think about has a gear that's
[9:20] turning. That's a part of the process.
[9:23] Um and and so in in terms of practicing
[9:27] sodna and and the the goonas and the
[9:31] karmas and that you have you you've
[9:34] pinpointed them and you see how they're
[9:36] passing in your mind. Pretty soon you
[9:38] get so good at that that you're not just
[9:40] doing it in meditation,
[9:42] you know, but you're doing it on the run
[9:44] in your life. You can feel the gona
[9:46] pass. Uh the three goonas pass in an
[9:49] hour. And you realize that's the mind
[9:51] that's that they're passing across, not
[9:53] my atman's, you know, mother's will is
[9:56] just keeping me going. I don't stop for
[9:59] the goonas anymore. I don't suffer them
[10:01] anymore. They just pass. And that's why
[10:03] Sher Christian holy mother favored that
[10:05] teaching of of uh you know the three
[10:08] three colors of thread wound on the
[10:10] spool of the mind. The spool is the mind
[10:13] and white, red and black thread, right?
[10:16] The spools constantly winding. I mean
[10:19] sorry the mind is the spool that's
[10:21] constantly winding these three colors
[10:23] types of karma or three kinds of goonas
[10:26] if you want. And it just winds him up
[10:29] till it gets so fat that basically you
[10:32] know it can't think anymore and move
[10:34] correctly. It can't take anymore. So
[10:37] spiritual practice discrimination varium
[10:40] and all that stops the spool in its
[10:42] tracks and then slowly it starts to
[10:44] unwind. And she says and then people say
[10:47] oh am I enlightened yet? She says no you
[10:49] have to unwind what you wound now. So
[10:52] you're going to feel all these things
[10:53] that you wound on in reverse order.
[10:56] That's what the description is like of a
[10:58] person who's who's feeling the goonas
[11:01] and the karmas go by them but it's not
[11:04] affected by them anymore. They're still
[11:06] in the mindest thoughts because you
[11:08] remember uh I don't know accumulating
[11:12] them but now you're rejecting them. Now
[11:14] you're renouncing them. So you have to
[11:16] feel it go off of you in reverse. The
[11:19] mind spins in the opposite way. It's
[11:21] actually kind of another good a good
[11:23] analogy to use for the wheel of samsara.
[11:25] that just spin it in a different way.
[11:28] And uh the fact that you still remember
[11:32] ignorance, you still remember lust, you
[11:33] still remember various passions, you
[11:36] still remember negative things that
[11:38] happened to you, you still have a memory
[11:41] of them. It just means that they're
[11:43] passing by you, but they're passing by
[11:45] you in the opposite direction. Now
[11:47] you're you're unwinding them until the
[11:50] spool of the mind ends up you know as
[11:52] pure mind original beyond the goonas
[11:55] free of karmas and without any samscaras
[11:58] except those samscars that are uh for
[12:01] holy things like remembrance of your
[12:04] guru remembrance of god dashmi you know
[12:08] you have you have all your mind is
[12:10] always on these beautiful memories you
[12:12] don't want to think anything negative
[12:14] anymore
[12:15] that's why van on to describe it. He
[12:17] says all all neg all positive, all
[12:20] positive. No more negative, he said. So
[12:23] um that that's a
[12:26] spiritual awakening and you have to be
[12:28] in mastery of it. You can't just let it
[12:33] go like aow field, you know, hoping that
[12:36] the good things will grow and the bad
[12:37] things won't.
[12:39] Uh constantly weeding and, you know,
[12:42] ending up with just the crops and and
[12:46] expedating the all the weeds and the
[12:48] unnecessary things. That's going to be
[12:51] what you do with that power of
[13:06] Julie Sharma Krishna used to sing that
[13:07] all the time. uh there's a song written
[13:10] about him uh rather that u said there's
[13:14] a a new man who's come if you want to
[13:16] see him come with me but when you see
[13:18] him don't be surprised he doesn't have
[13:20] any belongings he's not like big
[13:22] powerful rich with lots of powers and
[13:26] walking on water and shining with a
[13:27] light necessarily
[13:29] what he's got is a a just a shoulder bag
[13:32] over his shoulder and inside of if you
[13:36] open up there's only two things viva
[13:38] vyra His last two possessions are just
[13:41] discrimination and detachment.
[13:43] Discrimination and detachment.
[13:45] Uh so it's it's very advantic. It's very
[13:50] Zen Buddhist. It's very daoist, you
[13:53] know. It's it's it's it's that whole
[13:56] non-dual weightless effortless
[14:00] um
[14:02] caralous and strivingless
[14:04] uh state of enlightenment that is so
[14:07] hard to put your finger on and describe
[14:09] in words. But beings have attained it
[14:12] and so we see it written on their
[14:14] features. Uh that's that divine
[14:17] impression that's written on them.
[14:19] That's that intelligence we look for
[14:21] too. It shines off of them like ojas,
[14:25] like tjas
[14:27] and um you benefit in the light in the
[14:30] presence of that light
[14:33] and that teaches you how to uh become
[14:37] like them. I and my father are one. Be
[14:40] the as thy father in heaven is perfect.
[14:43] You become like them. And um there are
[14:47] dynamics to that. That's what we're
[14:48] saying. uh because otherwise people try
[14:51] and jump from the lowest step to the
[14:53] highest step and they forget what the
[14:55] middle steps are all about. So they come
[14:58] tumbling down eventually without any
[15:00] supports. But if you go go this step by
[15:02] step uh by avastas they're called stages
[15:06] and realize each step is made of the
[15:08] same thing as the last step and you
[15:11] convince yourself that all steps are
[15:13] taken in mother with her will with her
[15:16] wisdom and her service. Icha Gana and Ka
[15:20] then then you've found your way to that
[15:23] final enlightenment
[15:25] from which you will never fall again.
[15:35] Having seen her no other form can I
[15:37] enjoy
[15:39] one one song writer sacred songwriter
[15:43] sings. So you want that light of of
[15:47] mother essence
[15:51] shakta.
[15:58] I think um stopping as we were talking
[16:01] about at godblocks last over an hour I
[16:03] mean at s song an hour ago I said
[16:04] stopping and and taking some time to
[16:07] contemplate and ruminate is something
[16:10] that's missing in many people's lives.
[16:12] So maybe they can be very high when they
[16:14] meditate in the morning. They get into
[16:15] life, everything falls apart. Then they
[16:17] have to rush back to their evening and
[16:19] morning meditation to get balanced
[16:21] again. You shouldn't have to get
[16:22] balanced again. You should never lose
[16:23] your balance. So it it it says that it
[16:27] speaks to the fact that basic people
[16:29] aren't stopping uh to to really make
[16:32] sure that these teachings are are um
[16:35] pounded into the very ground of their of
[16:39] their mind. We used to use that. I was
[16:43] going across a bay bridge whenever I
[16:45] visited all of you many times a year in
[16:48] a car, right? And then they decided to
[16:51] rebuild the bridge and then they started
[16:54] building a new bridge right side of it.
[16:56] So for a while you're losing the old
[16:58] bridge and then when they opened up the
[17:00] lanes in the new bridge, you were going
[17:02] on that. You could see the old bridge
[17:03] off to the left when you were coming
[17:04] into San Francisco. And there's a whole
[17:07] couple of years it was like that. But in
[17:09] the meantime, I noticed
[17:12] uh how they were driving these huge
[17:14] pylons into the very bedrock of under
[17:18] underwater San Francisco Bay area, just
[17:20] pounding those down there with these big
[17:22] machines to get them as far down as
[17:25] possible, you know, and it always
[17:27] reminded me of what we have to do with
[17:29] with Ganam, you know, and in order to do
[17:32] that, we have to stop. And meditation,
[17:36] I've often been saying lately, is not
[17:38] enough. You have you have to have
[17:39] contemplation with it to make it stick.
[17:43] That's what Shramak Krishna said. Snow
[17:45] does not stick on a wet road. So you dry
[17:48] out the road of your mind by stopping
[17:50] and considering and then you drive these
[17:52] teachings deep in them in in in moments
[17:55] of uh moments, minutes, hours of deep
[17:59] rumination. I mean Krishna and others uh
[18:02] all say that find a quiet place go to it
[18:06] and uh think on me and the teachings. Um
[18:09] that's something that's got to be um
[18:12] brought back as as a as a a main main
[18:16] part of our sodna.
[18:18] [sighs] Uh so if you do that every day,
[18:20] you'll find that you're not you're not
[18:22] rushing to try and get balanced anymore.
[18:24] You're you're not even struggling to try
[18:26] and keep balance. uh you are in a yogic
[18:30] state all the time and the other things
[18:32] as I said are just like passing through
[18:34] your mind as memories.
[18:37] Um, Holy Mother also called that burnt
[18:41] rope, right? A rope the a rope that's
[18:45] burnt still looks like a rope. She said,
[18:48] "But it can't bind you anymore. A wind
[18:50] can pull it apart." So, she's talking
[18:53] about these thoughts that people
[18:54] complained about after they'd met her,
[18:56] got the mantra and practiced for a while
[18:59] and they didn't they didn't feel like
[19:01] they were fully enlightened yet. She
[19:03] said, "That's because you're holding
[19:05] these thoughts and you're thinking of
[19:07] them to be real, but think of them more
[19:09] like burnt ropes or burnt strings.
[19:12] They're still there as memories, but
[19:14] they can't bind like a like a burnt rope
[19:16] can't bind you anymore. So, a lot of the
[19:19] battle becomes psychological at that
[19:21] part of spiritual life. And you have to
[19:23] un like you had to unmake your your
[19:26] physical karmmas and your your karmas of
[19:29] desires and all those things. Now you're
[19:31] at a place where you have to unmake the
[19:32] mental
[19:34] uh psychological uh uh part of your
[19:38] being and convinced that that the thing
[19:41] many of the things the minds
[19:44] are holder must be subject to vivika and
[19:46] vyra they must be uh extated must be
[19:52] dissolved and dissolve them back into
[19:54] your into your uh great authority the
[19:58] great mother
[20:00] and uh come out free and clean. Like
[20:04] Sham Krishna said, you don't bathe an
[20:06] elephant in the morning. If you're an
[20:09] elephant driver, elephant owner, you
[20:10] don't bathe it in the morning. You know,
[20:13] you wait till night and bathe it. Then,
[20:16] you know, you put it in its hut in its
[20:18] stall and it's wet. You know, if you
[20:22] bathe it in the morning, it just rolls
[20:24] in the dirt and the bath has no effect.
[20:28] It's just all muddy and dirty again. You
[20:30] climb on it, you get muddy and dirty. So
[20:32] he said, "Never bathe an elephant in the
[20:34] morning. Bathe it at night, put it in
[20:35] its stall." He's talking about our
[20:37] minds. Make sure you give that mind its
[20:41] cleaning. Uh um and uh do it, you know,
[20:45] before uh uh the darkness comes. And so,
[20:49] you know, and it's it's put in its stall
[20:52] of deep sleep. It's put in its stall of
[20:54] meditation. and it's put in its stall of
[20:57] samadei. Um uh it's put in its stall of
[21:00] enlightenment and then it can't roll in
[21:03] its stall. It's all clean. It'll stay
[21:05] clean. They come out the next morning
[21:07] clean and not wet. Even if it does roll,
[21:10] it doesn't get muddy. So beautiful
[21:13] analogies the great masters given us for
[21:15] spiritual life. And I think many of them
[21:18] that are important to us in the west in
[21:20] this time uh are are those ones about
[21:23] spiritual awakening.
[21:26] Awakening and holding ground.
