Bhagavad Gita Ch13 part 07 on 06 February 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM VASUDE VASUDAM DEVAM KAMSA CHAANURA MARDANAM DEVAKI PARAMANANDAM KRISHNAM VANDE JAGADGURUM SARVO PANISHA DOGDHA DOGDHA GOPALANANDANA PARTHO VATSHA SUDHIR BHOKTA DUGDHAM GEETAM RITAM MAHAT MOOKAM KAROTI VACHALAM PANGUM LANGAYATHE GIRIM YAD KRIPATAM AHAM VANDE PARAMANANDA MADHAVAM We have started studying the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. We have already dealt with two shlokas. Arjuna's question was, I want to know. In this world, only there are two things, I and everything else. Everything else called the world, the universe, including body and mind is called Kshetram. Because it can be cultivated, it must be cultivated. And he who cultivates, who experiences, who has the control to do what he likes, that conscious being is called Kshetragna, the one who knows the Kshetra. The Kshetra cannot know itself. It is always cognized by others. So Bhagavan is trying to tell us in response to Arjuna's question. What was Arjuna's question? PRAKRUTIM PURUSHAM CHAIVA KSHETRAM KSHETRAGNAMEVA CHA E TAD VEDITUM ICHCHAMI GNAANAM GNAIINCHA KESHAVA Prakruti and Purusha, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and that which is to be known. All this, O Keshava, I desire to learn from you as an answer, in answer to this Arjuna's question. The Lord has started. IDAM SHARIRAM KAUNTEYA KSHETRAM ITI ABIDHIYATE E TAD YOVETI TRAM PRAHUKHU KSHETRAGNA ITI TAD VIDAH There are people who know both, the distinction between both the field and its knower, the body-mind, the universe and the cognizer, the experiencer, the knower, which is pure consciousness. In other words, the experiencer is pure consciousness and everything that is experienced is called non-conscious or anatma, atma and anatma. This is the answer he gives, O Arjuna, this body is called the field because this body is the instrument through which the whole world is experienced. Let us keep a very important point here. The mind gets all its knowledge, likes and dislikes, good and evil and happiness and unhappiness, profit and loss and winning and losing, everything, only that which happens through the instrumentality of the body. Minus the body, mind cannot function at all. But we combine both and say body and mind both are the instruments. So by Shariram, Kshetram, both the body and mind, though the Lord uses only in the second one, Shariram, only one he said. Then the Lord also says something that this is called knowledge. So what is the knowledge? There are people who know something about the field. There are people who know something a little bit about the knower of the field. But the true knowers, the rishis, the realized souls are those who know thoroughly. What do they know? About the field as well as about the knower of the field. And what do they know? First they know the knower of the field is consciousness and everything is inert, jada, chaitanya and jada. It is only, let us remember, the first stage of spiritual development. And so why is it necessary? Because I neither know I am the pure Atman nor do I know the inertness of things. Inert means it is unreliable. Inert means constantly changing. Bodies are changing, minds are changing and the entire universe accordingly is changing all the time. And that which is changing cannot be permanent. And that which is not permanent is foolish to consider it as permanent. But for some reason it is none other than the power of maya, ajnana. We take this field, the eternally evolving, eternally changing kshetra, field, as permanent, as real. Permanent means real. Somehow we mistake it. And the knower is also impermanent. He is also just like this body, even though the mind. That means the consciousness thinks I am the body, I am the mind and I am permanent, I am real. But experience teaches us that this opinion is completely false. You don't need scriptures for that. Every day we see children are born, they grow up and they suffer, they become old and they die. Especially this COVID has brought this truth nearer to our eyes, highlighting it everywhere without distinction between religions or countries, nationalities or language or differences in power, position, etc. So there are people who understand that the entire universe is an appearance, temporary and the pure consciousness is pure consciousness. It is Paramatma, God. It is Brahman. But this is only, as I mentioned, a temporary state of knowledge. It is not full knowledge. After some time, we come to know that this entire universe is created by God. Therefore, that law which we had been discussing earlier in the Dakshina Murthy Stotram, there cannot be any difference between the cause and the effect. If the cause is limited, the effect will be limited. If the cause is real, the effect also will be real. If the cause is pure consciousness, the effect means body, mind and the world must be only conscious thing. But this realization comes later on. So those who have this realization that from the highest point of view, there is only one Brahman, non-dual, one eternal pure consciousness, ever free. And they are called knowers. Such people know that temporarily most of us experience this world and we consider ourselves as part of the world. And this world is not permanent, not real. But that is how we have to first progress in spiritual life. But then there are no two things in this world. There is no one and there are many. There is no real plus there is unreal. There are no two such divisions. There is only one. So long as we are deluded by the power of Ajnana, ignorance, we divide the whole world, I and everything else. That is the most wonderful thing. I means the cognizer, the conscious being because of whom the whole world comes out alive. How do we know? As soon as we go to sleep, body is temporarily shallowed, mind is also temporarily shallowed. That's why we get a kind of non-dual state. So when there is no world, there is no temporariness, there is no unreality, there is no problem. So there is no solution required. But then everything is temporary. This state of sleep is also temporary. As soon as we come into the waking state, the same rigmarole starts. So those who know, they understand, they are trying to teach us that arise, awake and stop not. Till you realize that truth that you and what you cognize are just one, just one, there is no difference at all. For that we give the example of the dream. In the dream, we divide ourselves as two. But when we wake up, we know that there is only me and I myself divided. But I am the one, pure, whatever I have been imagining is purely temporary thing. So then the Lord goes on telling, This is what I have been talking just now. The final stage of pure knowledge is there are no two things. So that is what the Lord is trying to tell us that the fields are many. That means the bodies are many. The minds are many. The objects are many. The experiences are many. The results of the experiences are also many. But there are no different fields. Different fields are there but the cognizer of the field is only one. That means to say that great truth which is difficult to understand. I am the knower of my body, my mind, my world. You are the knower of your body, your mind and your world. No two person's world or body-mind are exactly alike. And this understanding is purely born of ignorance. Because the fields are at the beginning different. But the cognizer of the field, the knower of the field, the experience of the field is the same in me, same in you, same in every living being. That's what is being said. And know that I am the knower in all fields. Oh Arjuna, and only the knowledge of the field and its knower do I regard as true knowledge. So even the greatest scientists, they say I am Einstein, I am different from you, from everybody. I know many things and many people do not know what I know. I do not know what many people do. In fact, it is said of him that I have very little knowledge of music. I wish I had cultivated a little more music so that I could have enjoyed life even better. That is what Charles Darwin also stated. So there are people who know so many things of which I am totally ignorant. And many people do not know what I know. So I am different from you. Why? Because if the cognizer, the experiencer is one, then he should know what everybody knows. He should experience what everybody experiences. This is a big problem that we are unable to solve. So there are unthinking or those who are endowed with slightly deficient intellect who cannot think deeply. This question is immediately present if there is only one cognizer. How come? One person is very happy, another person is very unhappy. If there is only one, the first point is the same one subject cannot experience both diametrically opposed happiness and unhappiness, success and failure, heat and cold, defeat as well as winning the wars, etc. He cannot be both a rich person, a poor person, an old person, a young person, a dead person, a living person. He cannot be both at the same time. So every person is different and the knower of every body-mind is completely different. This is called common sense. Anybody who argues against this, that person is a stupid fellow, he is irrational, he is mad, he is insane. This is the objection raised. I have to inform you here now. I mostly follow only the commentary of Shankaracharya. To me it looks more rational and more understandable, more explainable also. So Shankaracharya for this, the God is one, the knower is one, but the fields are quite different. That's what the chapter begins with. But then in the end he says that there is nothing else excepting me. I am the pure consciousness which as we do in our dream as if it divides itself into the living and non-living, into the consciousness and unconscious or non-conscious and the subject and the object. This division is purely a false knowledge. That's what the Lord is wanting to tell us here. Every cognizable object, every object is a field, is a knowable thing. But I am the one knower knowing billions of things, infinite number of things, through infinite number of bodies, through infinite number of minds. And this knowledge, what is the knowledge? The fields may appear infinite, but the knower of every field is only one knower, not myriads of knowers. That definitive knowledge, he who has got that knowledge, that is the correct knowledge, that is the right knowledge, that is unsublatable knowledge. I hope you understand what is sublatable. I will give a small example for the facility of being able to understand better. Suppose you are walking in semi-darkness, there is very little light but more darkness. You see something at a distance and then you think this must be a stump of a tree and so a pillar maybe. So that is your knowledge at the moment. So you go a little bit nearer, by that time a little more light comes and you say, no, no, it is moving here and there, so it must be a living thing. So your earlier knowledge is sublated now into a bit more right knowledge. You are correcting as light comes more and more, you are correcting your knowledge, approaching real knowledge. Then is it an animal and is it dangerous? So as you cautiously approach near, more light, so it is a human being, so not much danger. Could be dangerous but not much danger. So it is a human being. Now this knowledge is nearer to the truth than what we started with. And then you approach near, do I know this person or do I not know, is it a stranger? As you approach, you say, is it a man, is it a male or female? Okay, it is a male and do I know him or not? Yes, I know him. So like that every time. Then by this time a lot of light comes, then you know, oh, my mother, my father, my brother, oh, I could not recognize you and this is unsublatable knowledge because that gives us correct knowledge. And what we do further depends upon this correct knowledge. Wrong knowledge gives to wrong reaction. Correct knowledge gives rise to correct action and reaction. So when we go approach the real truth, the nearer we come, the more holy we become, the more divine we become, the more what we call knowledgeable we become. This is how we slowly become and until then we know. The final knowledge is actually there is nobody. It is like planting a huge mirror and something is getting reflected and you approach nearer and nearer and then you see whatever you have been guessing as partial knowledge, ultimately you realize, oh, this is my reflection which I was mistaking as an inert thing, as an animal, as male or female and as known or unknown, it is nothing but me. There is no other object excepting me. When true knowledge comes, you always remember in brackets, example is not pure knowledge. It is only to make our understanding a better understanding. So you go nearer and then the mirror disappears in nothing but pure you. That was what definition of yoga. When the mind becomes pure, then it disappears revealing truth about our own selves. This is what is being said in this. We will take it for granted as the second verse. As I mentioned without Arjuna's question, if we do not count it as one, this is the second. So we will take it here as the second verse. This is what the Lord is telling, know that I am the knower in all fields and the knowledge, true knowledge of the field and its knower. That means I am the one knower first experiencing everything as different fields. The very first knowledge is I am a knower and everything is known. Everybody is a knower and everything is known. This is the first step. Even to cognize separate the cognizer from the field is a great achievement, great spiritual progress. I am a conscious being, everything depends upon me. That is a great spiritual progress. Then further we go. I thought you are different, the other person is different, X, Y, Z is different. Everybody is a knower in their own individual way. Then I say no, if I am pure consciousness, then I am separate from the body as well as from the mind. Then if pure consciousness is separate from body, mind, what is it that can distinguish? One consciousness as another and another consciousness. One light from another light. It cannot be separated at all. So that is how we come to know one consciousness is experiencing many, many things which is called the world. One word world means all the things that we experience in this world. Okay, that is only a middle stage. Then the final stage is that there is no different. Everybody is none other than me. And what is me? Pure consciousness. If I am pure consciousness, where is the place for inert thing? There is no possibility at all. There is no inert thing at all. This whole universe is nothing but pure consciousness and it appears to be this conscious as well as inert, separate from each other, living, non-living, male, female, good and evil, etc. That is the highest knowledge. That is what the Lord is telling this knowledge both about the field, about the knower of the field. What is it? Actually there are no two things, there is neither field nor the knower of the field, neither the dream world nor the dream individuality. How it happens, you know? We create the dream and we create so many bodies in the dream. But I happen to identify with one particular body in the dream. So also when we wake up, we identify ourselves with one particular body-mind. So brothers are different, sisters are different. Between brothers and sisters, each one is different. That is called ignorance. That is called maya. In the final stage, everything is my reflection. If, as I gave illustration many times, if your whole room is only surrounded with huge mirrors instead of walls, every wall is a mirror, then you will see yourself reflecting infinite number of times, infinite number of mirrors, infinite number of reflections in the mirrors and each mirror reflecting every other mirror, so it goes on and on. That is what he is telling that the field, the distinction between this is non-conscious, this is conscious. There are many things and I am the knower of many things. Everything disappears and that is called true knowledge. So what does this true knowledge do? That knowledge liberates us completely from everything in this world and that way we become free. Then is there any bondage for me? There is no bondage. So this is also reinforced in this very Bhagavad Gita in the 4th chapter, 14th verse. O Arjuna, no action can bind me. I am not attached to the result of any action. Why? Because if I have desire, then I have to do action. And every action produces its own specific result. Because I am the supreme divine, I am infinite, there cannot be anything besides the infinite and therefore there is no object desirable or undesirable. How? Because I am infinite, I am all objects. Because I am all objects, I already have every object in me as me and every object is not desired for its own sake. But for the sake of the pleasure or for the sake of that which destroys what is called unhappiness. That is why objects are desired. And since I am the pure happiness, I don't obtain happiness, I am happiness. Therefore nothing can bind me. Why? Because there are no karmas. And if there is no karma, there is no fruit. If there is no fruit, there is no bondage at all. He who knows me thus, he also realizes there is nothing excepting that Supreme Lord and just like me, that means he knows he is me and he becomes immediately liberated. Even to say he becomes liberated is a misnomer. He was never bound. But the notion, I am an individual, I am bound, I am experiencing happiness and unhappiness, that notion, that mind knowledge, I am limited is destroyed. Then here, I was never limited, I am the unlimited. That is that knowledge is called liberation. It is not an actual liberation. That's why every scripture proclaims with the greatest loudness. Every scripture is teaching again and again. Atma ekatva vidya, the knowledge that Atma is one. And to attain to that knowledge, every scripture tells us first, you are the only one, but at this moment you are ignorant of it, you follow this particular special spiritual activities, which is called spiritual practice, in course of time. The notion that you have been cherishing, that I am not the God, I am the bound, limited individual, going both through the dualities of heat and cold, happiness and unhappiness, that notion will get destroyed. Then you just remain what you are, what you are, what you will be. There is no change other than this. Then the Lord is telling, I will explain this further to you. In the third shloka, Five points. Here briefly, O Arjuna, from me, these six points, these six bits of knowledge, what is this? What is this thing called the field Kshetra? What is its nature? And what modifications it goes through? And from where it originated? These four. Then who is the knower? Who is its knower? And what are his powers? These six points I am going to elaborate. If you can know these six points, you will know, as mentioned earlier, complete knowledge you will attain, both about the field and about the knower of the field. What is the knowledge about the field? What is the field? What is its nature? What are its modifications? And whence it comes? So, O Arjuna, here briefly from me, these six points, four types of knowledge about the Kshetram or the field of experience. What is the field? What is its nature? And what type of modifications it goes through? And whence does it come? This fourth point is very important for us. Just as I was mentioning, whence does this world come? And every scripture, Hindu scripture, categorically tells us it is from Ishwara. From Ishwara or from Atma, space comes. आत्मन आकाश संभूतः आकाश अद्वायो वायो रग्निः अग्नेरापः अध्यः प्रतिवि प्रतिव्य ऊषदयः ऊषदिभ्यो अन्नम् अन्नात् रसमैह पुरुषः So, the whole universe is nothing but Ishwara, its modification. It is not at all different. So, we have to understand that one. Then, who is it? Who is the knower? The knower, from the knower, from Ishwara, pure consciousness, the knower, the whole universe comes out, just as the whole dream world comes out of the knowledge of the waker. Similarly, what his powers are? He does creation. He does maintenance. And he also takes us in. This is called true knowledge. This is what I am going to talk about. And then he says, तत्समासेनमेश्रुन I can expound it for infinite number of time. And you may not understand it also. You will not understand it also. But I will tell you very briefly. Brief means that, ब्रह्मसत्यम् जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्माईवनापरः Remember, this is a statement only for the beginners. Then what is the final statement? ब्रह्मसत्यम् जगत्सत्यम् जीवो सत्यम् एकम् सत्यम् ब्रह्माः ब्रह्मान् Alone and is, nothing else exists. एकम् सत् अद्वितियम् ब्रह्माः नेह नानास्ति किञ्चन Nothing else is there excepting the Atman. ब्रह्माईव इदं विष्वं सर्वं ब्रह्ममयं This is the final truth. Now, as I was mentioning, Shankaracharya's most intellectually stimulating commentary has been given to this earlier shloka that I am the one Ishwara as reflecting. Every mind is like a mirror and my light is reflecting in the form of this Jeevatma. Jeeva means Chidabhasa. Chidabhasa means reflection of the pure consciousness. Why do we say reflection? Because the mind is there. And the mind and this reflection are this little bit of this pure consciousness. The little bit is because of the mind. They seem to become merged and polished into one. The mind says, I am consciousness. Consciousness says, I am the mind. And both of them will tell, I am also the body, nothing else. So like that, it goes on acquiring an individual egotism. That is why it is called egotism. If it is pure consciousness, it is called ego. If it is associated with a particular body-mind, it is called Ism, like Hinduism and Islam, etc., Buddhism, etc., etc. So this Shankaracharya goes on. Two very important points are raised there. I thought they are very interesting, so I will mention them here. What we call, whenever these commentators write, they take the position, we are the Siddhantins. We are the great thinkers and you are a stupid fellow because you do not accept my opinion. That is why it is called Purva Pakshi. Pakshi means not a bird. Pakshi means a person who takes the opposite view. Purva means earlier. Very interesting word. Purva means earlier. Uthra means later. So the Siddhantin tells, every school of philosophy, every Acharya does the same thing. What I am telling is the highest truth. And what you are telling is only temporary truth. But later on, by the grace of God, when your intellect becomes more purified and more blessed with God's grace, then you will come to Uthara Paksha, my Paksha, my view. Then you will understand it. Of course, every Acharya claims it. So Shankaracharya himself raises all the objections that could come into the minds of those who are following Advaita path. Remember, so that their minds will be free from all possible, future possible doubts. So here Purva Pakshi says, this view that every knower of every field is exactly the same, it is irrational. Come on, explain to me, why is it irrational? The Siddhantin, the Advaitin asks, he says, look, here are two people, maybe in the same family, maybe two brothers, two sisters. One is happily married, another is unhappily married. One is incapable of marrying, another is capable of marrying. Whatever it is, one person is happy, another person is unhappy. One person is healthy, another person is unhealthy. One is rich, another is poor. One is powerful, another is very weak. These kind of qualities which are diametrically opposite to each other cannot exist in the same being. That is one. Second is, if somebody is happy, he is bound. If somebody is unhappy, he is also equally bound. When I say he, you have to understand he as well as she. So both are happy, both are unhappy. Sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy. If your Ishwara is the real witnesser, the real knower of everything in everybody, how can these diametrically opposed things can exist? There are two ways of putting it, that every individual soul is Ishwara. In which case, God becomes Mahasamsari, greatest worldly person. Because I only have as an individual, one single body, one single mind, and more than enough problems, more than enough worries, more than enough sufferings. If God becomes so many individuals, if only one God, then nobody can imagine, calculate how many unhappinesses, worries, troubles, problems, birth and death, he becomes a greater samsari, worldly person than anybody else. Then the other side also you take. Suppose you say there are not many knowers of the field. No, there are not many individuals, only one individual. And that individual is none other than God. So are you telling them that there is no bound person at all? Because me, you, everybody else is nothing but that pure God. Therefore God doesn't have any samsara, any worldliness. Both ways it is undesirable of this equating every individual as one Ishwara. I hope the point is clearer to you. If everybody is God, God has no world, no problem, no samsara, then every scripture is completely redundant. This scripture is meant only for a person who is completely bound, very unhappy, suffering greatly and desires to be free from it. For them, this scripture comes and shows gradually for every such person, every such individual, this is your path, this is your path, this is your path and for each person, this is the first step, this is the second step, this is the third step until one reaches. So if every individual is God, there is no world, there is no bondage, there is no samsara, there is no transmigration, no birth, no death, eternally happy and such a thing is completely irrational because our direct experience shows I don't think like you, I don't feel like you and my experiences are totally different from everyone else's difference. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. This is one problem. But from the other side, if God becomes every individual, then God is no better than anybody, at least I have only small bondage and God has to suffer from this bondage called entire world, entire maya. Both these are not tenable at all. Now Shankaracharya taking the viewpoint of the Advaita has to counter these things and he says, my friend, what I am telling you is, so the final truth is there is no world, there is no bondage, there is no I and you, there is no spiritual practitioner and there is no one trying to become spiritual. There is nothing called attainment of liberation or realization of God. That is the truth. But there are two views are there. What is the view? One is called Paramarthika view, another is called Vyavaharika view. What is Paramarthika spiritual view? From the highest standpoint which is, God alone, Brahman alone exists and nothing else. From that point of view, there is no samsara, there is no body, there is no mind, there is no bondage. That is what the scripture is trying to tell you through these words of the Bhagavan, Bhagavan Krishna. Remember, Krishna is not an individual, He is the Paramaguru, He is the realized soul, He is Parabrahman. So, this is the answer. But you are not able to understand. You, my opponent, are incapable of understanding the simple truth that the real purpose of the scripture is not to deliver you from real bondage into real freedom. It is to awaken you from a nightmarish dream to the waking state. But then, at this moment, where are you? Beautiful commentary, especially I think in the 13th verse, it says, are you a realized soul? No, I am not a realized soul. That's why I am telling you, I am an individual, I am suffering, I want to get out. So, this scripture is very useful to me. So, I am following this scripture, which you have completely upset me, saying that God alone is in everybody. Shankaracharya, that means the highest philosopher, highest rational thinker, gives this reply. So, this what I am telling has to be understood from the viewpoint of a realized soul, from the highest point of view, from the angle of the highest truth, there is no bound person, there are no individuals, there is no world. But this knowledge is obtained only after realization, not realization. Now you tell me, are you ignorant or are you a realized soul? And the opponent is forced to reply, yes, I am an ignorant person, I have not attained that realization. Okay, if you are an ignorant person, then the very first step for you is, I am an individual, then I have got my own viewpoint, but what is it doing to you? It is bringing greater misunderstanding with your family members, with your society, and what is called international war, is international war, not the great world war, but every country, take any country, any state, one state is in conflict with the other state, one family is in conflict with other family, one member of the family is in conflict with every other member of the family, one religion with another religion, one class with another class, everywhere there is conflict is there, because of what? Individualism. Common sense dictates to us, if you can understand, first point is, everybody has his own viewing angle, if I can understand it, I can accommodate it, then I can cooperate, I don't need to become you or anybody, but I can definitely expand my view, I can include you, to some extent harmony can be restored. So for that, that process of acquiring harmony, living in harmony, getting what we call relative peace of mind, getting what is called the whole world society, will be in relative peace, not warring and destroying each other, that there is a special name, it is called dharma, it is called morality. So morality, practice of morality, has the first point. Therefore, I am not telling, I am not giving you this teaching, for you specially, but then keep it in mind, that supposing, I am God, then will you look down upon anybody, will there be anybody some different from you, you will laugh, if by looking at your various reflections, here also some refinement can be made. Imagine, all mirrors are not the same, some are concave, some are convex, some are normal, some are small, some are big, some are bent, some are curved, some are colored, and some are like a radioscope, then your reflection, each one will differ from the other. As they say, if a dog is taken into such a room, then immediately it thinks, many dogs are trying to attack me, and if it is an aggressive dog, it will go and try to, and it will shout, and it hears every dog opening its mouth, and trying to bark, and come, and then this goes forward, the others also come forward, and it is said, sometimes these dogs attacking the glass, they will die in that process, and we are all like that dogs, we are all in the position of dogs, we are dogs, Vedanta assures us, so you can reverse yourself, instead of thinking DOJ, you can think yourself GOD, and that is how the scriptures can help us, so for that, don't temporarily you accept, temporarily you accept, what I am saying, that there is only one God, because when you become one with God, through intellectual conception of that God, certainly you don't accept, there are many Gods, there is only one God, and He is everywhere, if God is everywhere, who are you, who can be you, you yourself are proclaiming that one, or you want to go to heaven, there also what is your goal, you want to have better happiness, higher happiness, but what is the reality, it is like topping up, so your SIM card, as long as you pay, it goes up, then you have to renew it, so if you go to heaven also, you want to renew it, don't you get tired, don't you wish one half payment, and eternal happiness, that's what I am talking about, so for that, to understand what I am talking about, that Ishwara is one, He is pure consciousness, He is one without a second, He cannot be divided, because He is Akhanda, but from an ignorant point of view, that is called Vyavaharika Drishti, phenomenal point of view, not spiritual point of view, this individuality is true, individual life is true, everybody is different, whole world consists of many things, I am not denying it, from your standpoint, but there are higher steps, where gradually this diversity will merge into complete one unity, and for that you have to practice certain spiritual disciplines called developing spiritual qualities, which from 8th shloka, from the 12th shloka, beginning with Amanitvam, egolessness, that is the only way to progress in spiritual life, and the development of these spiritual qualities is called the practice of the presence of God, just to explain this one minute, tomorrow we will go into certain more details, now somebody asked me, what is called practicing the presence of God, it is said always remember God, remembering God always, feeling His presence always, is called practicing the presence of God, is it possible? Yes. Is it practical? No. What do I mean? It is practical, but in a different way, you can't go on remembering Jesus, Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, but what you can do is, let me give a small example, so you can sit and do japa with concentration, with devotion, shraddha for some time, but suppose you have to cook, or you have to do office work, or you have to drive the car, or you have to drive, pilot an aeroplane, and if you are thinking of God, then I will better not buy a ticket in the plane, it is most likely, you remember God, and you forget the plane, and the whole thing will come crashing down, killing everybody including yourself, that's not what is meant, what is meant is, suppose you are cooking, especially cooking, then you think, I am cooking for pleasing God, I am cooking, and how can I please God? Here is a guest, here is an honoured person, here is a Swami, here is a devotee, here is a monk, he has come, and if I consider him as God, and cook for him, and make tasty things, he will be pleased, through him God will be pleased, this is called practice in the presence of God, and how to convert our activities, our energy, our intellect into this, certain spiritual qualities have to be practiced, because the worldly qualities are the obstructions, for the continuous practice of the presence of God, so what those qualities are, how they are going to affect us, we are going to discuss in the future class, tomorrow. May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda, bless us all with Bhakti.