Brahma Upanishad Lecture 14 on 12 May 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

In our last class, we started the fourth mantra of the Brahma Upanishad. So 4.3 and the talk was about the sacred thread and the tuft of hair. And what is the symbolism? The sacred thread as well as the tuft of hair. It is to indicate what is spiritual practice. Complete control of both the body and mind. Or we should be aware of our true nature in the form of thought, of course, during the waking dream as well as deep sleep. Is it possible to be aware while dreaming that we are witnessing the dream? Yes, usually we do not practice even in the waking state. We become completely absorbed in whatever we are doing. But at the same time, the mind is so restless that it not only forgets its real nature, it also forgets what it is doing. When we are eating, we should pay attention to eating. When we are walking, we should pay attention to walking. When we are talking, we have to pay attention to what we are talking, why we are talking, with whom we are talking, etc. This is called being aware of whatever we are doing. Buddhists have a beautiful term, sitting meditation, walking meditation, working meditation, etc. So if we are aware, if a student, for example, is aware what for he has gone to this school or college, university, then he would pay more attention to whatever he has done. So what is the point? Even though we say we are not aware of our true nature, even we are not aware of what we are doing, and if we can be aware, and that is the first step in any progress, whether it be worldly or spiritual, even worldly greatness requires a tremendous amount of concentration. And that is why Swami Vivekananda used to tell, the very essence of education is to train the mind so that it can be aware, it can be focused, it will not do anything but pay attention to whatever it is doing at this moment. So these Ignopavita and Taftapher, they are there to remind us, you have led a restless life all this time, but now you are spiritually reborn, so you should remember how to control the body and mind. And this sacred thread and the Taftapher should be able to remind us what we are about. This continuous practice of being aware slowly merges our mind completely in that pure awareness which is called Chaitanya. And when we practice this one and progress to a great extent, then we don't need the reminders. As we mentioned, reminders are needed until we do not forget. After that, it is unnecessary. So this is what we discussed earlier, idam ignopavitam tu pavitram yath prayanam sa vidvan ignopavitesya sayajnaha sacha yajnavit So this idam ignopavitam tu, this Ignopavita leads to purity until we become pure. And this takes us to the highest reality, Pavitram. So Chaitanyam is Pavitram. And earlier we discussed what is Pavitram. When two objects come together and not necessarily unclean object, but both objects, even if they are very clean, very pure, when they get mixed up and these two objects, two or more, that is called Dwandwa, duality. Then that is called impurity. So Brahman is only Ekam Sat Vipraaha Bahudhaavatanti. So Brahman is only one, Ekam Eva Advaitiyam. There is no second. And therefore, a question of Brahman becoming contaminated, becoming impure, unclean doesn't arise at all. So in what is called Mayik world, in the world of Maya, we forget our true nature and we think we are somebody else. That identity with Anatma, that is called impurity here. So when we practice this awareness and we feel we are that Chaitanya and that is how we become pure. And it leads us to the Parayanam, the highest reality. And whoever practices this is called Vidwan, truly learned person. In fact, Gita uses a word Pandita. Those who see nothing else excepting Brahman, excepting God, he is called a Pandita. And even the word Panda, Krishna chastises Arjuna, you are talking like a Pandita, but you are behaving like a fool at the very beginning itself. So those who grieve either for the living or the dead, Panditas do not grieve. Who is a Pandit, he never grieves. Why doesn't he grieve? Because nothing is lost. Grief comes because we lose something or we don't get what we expect to get. These are the two causes of unhappiness. Grief and grief always is the result of delusion. That is why the very first chapter of the Gita is called Arjuna, Vishada Yoga, the sorrowful state of Arjuna. Yoga, he has become one with Vishada. But he was fortunate, he must have done a lot of Tapasya from the ordinary point of view we are discussing. So God himself sat in his Buddhi and that is the symbolism of Krishna becoming a driver and God himself is guiding us. Nobody can go wrong. So if you are sitting in a car or a train or a plane, who is an expert pilot or driver, then we are in safe hands when God himself is driving, He is guiding us. So there is no room for suffering, for delusion, etc. So such a person is called Vidvan, true knower of Brahman. And then it is, He becomes Ignopaviti, he is the true wearer of sacred thread. Not only that, So Yajneha, he himself becomes Yajna. Not only Yajna, such a Yajnavith. He is the true knower of Yajna, he becomes Yajna and he is the true Ignopaviti. That means there is no more need for any reminder. He has become free. And this word Yajna is a most marvellous word. So when we hear about it, read about it, Yajnas, Rama performed Yajnas, Yajnas and Kauravas, Pandavas performed Yajna. Many kings performed Yajna. Vishwamitra performed Yajna because the demons were obstructions. So he took Rama along with him. That is to say where God is, there everything becomes complete. There cannot be any more obstacles. That is the idea. And then that is why there is a beautiful saying, Yajnavai Vishnu, who? Who is Vishnu? Yajna. What does it mean? Generally when we do Puja, so I am separate, the God I worship is separate and the action that I do in the form of worship is also separate. But no, if we perform Yajna, properly and we keep on progressing, a time will come when we ourselves become the deities. A beautiful illustration from the life of Sri Ramakrishna. He started his spiritual sadhana as a Pujari of the Divine Mother. Now look what had happened. Just a few months afterwards, Sri Ramakrishna progressed in his Puja so much. One day a cat entered into his room, a Puja room and he said, Ramakrishna, did you drive away the cat? No. What did he do? He simply holded his hands and said, Mother, today you fancy receiving the worship as a cat. Okay, here is I am worshipping you, worshipping the Divine Mother in the form of a cat. And he progressed further. And he felt he himself was the Mother. So one day he himself was blurting out, Mother, you want me to eat the food offering here. I have tasted, now you taste. And one day he said, I went, I took some flowers in my hand and I went forward to worship the Divine Mother to offer these flowers. But without any intention, that is, I had no power, but my hands automatically went and put all the flowers on my own head. Whom was he worshipping? Himself. Not the body-mind, but the real Sri Ramakrishna who is none other than the Divine Mother Herself. That is how a sadhaka, be he a bhakta or a jnani or a yogi or a karmi, he becomes one. That duality is destroyed and duality is ignorance. And when ignorance is gone, duality is gone, differentiation is gone. That is indicated in this fourth mantra of the Brahma Upanishad. So the sacred thread is only a reminder for progressing in spiritual life as well as the tuft of hair. Such a person, in the course of time, he realises the Supreme Brahman and he becomes ignorant. He is the greatest knower of ignorance and he is the greatest knower in this whole world. Such a person, the Brahma Upanishad is elucidating that he is a real ignorant Upaviti. What about the others? As we said about the tuft of hair, only those who wear long hair, that means whatever little buddhi they have, that is also covered up. Now, what is that supreme reality? This Upanishad is going to talk about. Earlier also it gave the description, but again and again, every scripture has only three things to talk about. What is the goal of life? That is to say, realise your own nature, your own true self and be, after realisation, yourself only. Second, that should be the goal of life because we don't make it the goal of life. In fact, just the opposite. We want to live, keep this body healthy and satisfy all the sense organs. So the body should be healthy, the mind should be happy, but whatever happiness we can get in this world is temporary and limited. These are the two factors we have to keep in mind. So nobody is going to enjoy in this world what is called permanent happiness and even though it is temporary, but it is incomplete. So that is the highest goal, is God realisation, Brahman realisation, Atma Jnanam, Brahma Jnanam. So sadhana, what should be done to progress and to manifest this divinity. Swamiji expressed this idea in four sentences, but the first three sentences are very very important. So who are you? Even though you do not know who you are, each soul is potentially divine. You are potentially divine. You are divine, but you are not aware that you are divine. That is the first sentence. What is the second? What is the goal of life? Manifest this divinity within by controlling nature external and internal. The purpose of life, life after life, anybody's life, everybody's life, the very purpose of evolution is to realise what is one's nature. Who am I? Kastvam, Koham, Kutaayataha, Tatvam, Chintaya, Tadehabhrathaha. Bhaji Govindam, we have seen this beautiful composition of Bhagawan Shankaracharya. And incidentally, today is the Jayanti, birthday of Shankaracharya. So that is the second one. You are divine, but you have forgotten. So the goal is to remember who you are and for that you have to follow a particular discipline called Sadhana. And that is what Swamiji expressed. Do this either by work or worship or psychology or philosophy by one or more or all of them together and be free. And this is the whole of religion and everything else is secondary. So these are the three things that every scripture has to tell. Remind us who we are. We have come from God, even the dualistic religions. God created you, means God became you and so you have forgotten now. You think you are different from God. So therefore through religion, actually the very meaning of the religion is to bind. Bind what? Yoga. To attain union with God is called binding. So all Sadhana is meant that for that purpose baptism or investing with sacred thread etc. had to be done. So now a Upanishad having given us some hints because this is the most beautiful Upanishad, it is calling as it were the best teachings of many of the Upanishads and bringing them together even though it is not very big. But of course it is much bigger than what is called Mandukya Upanishad as well as Isavasya Upanishad and it is considered as a minor Upanishad only but every Upanishad truly speaking speaks the same thing. Every Upanishad speaks of these three things and by Upanishad, I don't mean only Upanishads, I mean Bible, Quran, Tripitaka or Guru Granth Sahib, whatever we call it. So we enter into the next mantra and these mantras we have seen so we can pass quickly through them. एको देवः सर्वभुतेषु गोड़ः सर्वव्यापि सर्वभुतान्तरात्मा कर्माध्यक्षः सर्वभुताधिवासः साक्षि चेता केवलो निर्वनस्चा A beautiful description of the goal to be attained. What is the goal? आत्मग्ञानः or ब्रह्मग्ञानः which means the same. So the one Lord, self-effulgent in all beings, remaining hidden, He is all-pervading and He is the Self of all beings. He is the controller. He is controlling and watching over all, every action that we do, good or bad. He is manifest, living in all creatures and at the same time, He is the witness of every creature, neither the doer of any acts nor the enjoyer. He is both the doer, He is the enjoyer and He is also the witness. He is the supreme intelligence, the one without a second and He has no attributes. We will discuss very briefly how many Gods are there. Only one. A beautiful discussion comes in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Yajnavalkya was challenged by one of the Brahmanas. How many Gods are there? So he says three crores. How many Gods are there? Same thing. He says three thousand. How many? Three hundred. How many? Three. How many? One and a half. How many? One. That is to say, slowly Yajnavalkya was guiding the person from the highest multiplicity, slowly reducing. So let us also do a brief analysis which we have been doing. Actually, we are repeating whatever we have discussed many, many times. In this world, there are billions of creatures. How many mosquitoes are there? How many flies are there? How many birds? How many animals? How many trees? How many human beings? Nobody can count. How many nakshatras are there? Stars are there? How many galaxies are there? Billions and billions of galaxies. Nobody can count. No scientist can count. But at the same time, some scientists are also positing a parallel universe. So if we think we are unique in this world, maybe there are other planets, other people. So we are searching for life. Sometimes some flashes of information comes. So what is that? So after so many years, billions of years, recently scientists have received a coded electronic message. God knows what it is. But I am just mentioning. And Hinduism believes God is called Ananta Koti Brahmanda Nayaka. Ananta Koti Brahmanda. How many Brahmandas? Each universe. Koti Koti Brahmanda. And they are Ananta, infinite. Because God is infinite, creation is also infinite. What is the point? That God created. And what is the material? There is no other material other than God. Every ornament is nothing but gold. Every furniture is nothing but wood. Every pot is nothing but clay. So it is nothing but God. But because of some special power which covers our knowledge and makes us believe something else like we do in dreams, etc., or in our imaginations. So this is what is said. Eko Devaha. Even though God is only one. But Sarvabhuteshu. Both in all beings. Not only those which have life but which are without life. So called seemingly lifelike. Because you take a cloud of earth. According to Hindus it is nothing but Bhudevata. Consciousness is vibrating there. Ramakrishna once appeared before Swami Akhandananda. Swami Akhandananda was roaming in the Himalayas. So one evening he came across a spot where there is a huge mountain, sloping mountain but not parallel to him but what is called horizontal. He is seeing, he was in such a place he was seeing both sides of the sloping mountain and the sun was setting and at the same time it was cloudless sky and the full moon was rising. So on the eastern side the mountain because it is snow clad so it is shining like silver. On this side like burnished gold and it was so absorbing and this Gangadhar Maharaj Swami Akhandananda had a highly developed aesthetic sense. He went into ecstasy and then suddenly Ramakrishna appeared there and he said this is Hara Gauri. These are not mountains. This is Shiva himself and Parvati herself. Parvati is having Gauri means golden hued and on the other side Shiva pure white. That is of course our Hindu's imagination but the point is they are not mountains but they are manifestations of God. In fact if we give, if we are asked to define what is a God then we will be forced to define. So that which because of which I am living, I am healthy, I am enjoying, I am living all this because of whom? He is God. So if the Bhu Devata doesn't supply us food, if the Jala Devata doesn't supply us water, if the Agni Devata doesn't supply us warmth, heat, certain amount of heat and if the Vayu Devata takes leave for a few minutes, see what happens. Our very breathing will stop. Life will be extinguished and we will not be able to move even one millimetre if the Akasha Devata was not present. That is why the puja done to these Pancha Devatas that is they are nothing but the greatest manifestations of God. The whole universe is made of them. Not only that, that is called creation and who is sustaining all these Pancha Devatas and where do we go in the end? Into those very Pancha Devatas. So without them we will not even exist and they are called Gods, Goddesses. This simple understanding when we have, then we will have reverence for everything in this world. Everything is there for a purpose. We may not understand it. How scientists are now regretting how human beings have extinguished so many species which are but not able to understand that we do not know what we have lost by extinguishing them, exterminating them and we are suffering also because of this unusual heat, too much of rain. So what is called El Nino effect. El Nino effect. All over the world, our world, so many climatic changes are taking place and it is nothing but irreverence to these Pancha Devatas. So we have to suffer the consequences. That is going to be told here. So this divinity is hidden. That is what Swami Vivekananda said. Each soul is potentially divine and Sarva Bhuteshu in all beings, Sarva Vyapi. He is all pervading. What does it mean? The first one is only the lowest step. So I see a tree. Oh, there is life in the tree and God is in the form of the existence and Chit in the form of life. Life means existence, Sat, Chit and Ananda. As we get more and more scientific knowledge, we are able to see even plants have beautiful language. They can communicate with each other. Jagadesh Chandra Bose had found it out so many years back. So not only God is hidden, immediately when we hear the word hidden, we get the idea. So somebody is hiding something in a box. Box is different and that which is kept in the box is separate. That is the idea we get. God is within me but body is different, mind is different. To counter that, here is the Upanishad, the Rishi is telling Sarva Vyapi, God is all pervading. Means what? Whatever is all pervading, like clay is pervading everything that came out of it, that is called pot, as gold is pervading in all the ornaments, as wood is pervading in all the furniture. So that means what? Accepting wood, there is no furniture. Accepting gold, there is no ornament. Accepting clay, there is no pot. That means whatever exists, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. But in different words, Upanishad is trying to explain to children like us. Sarva Bhuta Antaratma. So Antaratma, there is somebody who is sitting inside and he is beyond the Panchakoshas but he is using these Panchakoshas, deeply hidden. Angusta Matra Purusho Jananam Hridaye. So he is there in the hearts of, in the cave of the heart of everybody in the size of an angusta. It doesn't mean it is small. It means in a very subtle form. That's all. So Thambu doesn't mean only just a small sized something. And not only that. Karmaadhyaksaha. What is whenever we do something? I am breathing. I am sitting. I am listening to this talk. Then I eat food. I am sleeping. So what do we say? We attribute every action to ourselves. But no, the body is serving. Sarve Devaaha Balimavahanti. As the Upanishad says, so the eyes are seeing for the pleasure of the Divine Lord. The ears are hearing for the sake of the Divine Lord. Devaaha here means all the sense organs are functioning. The whole body-mind complex is functioning for the sake of serving He who is within. There is a beautiful incident. Many such incidents are there. But one particular incident which most of us know. Once Shri Ram Krishna had sat for taking His meals and there were several dishes. And one of His would-be monks, Swami Yogananda, and also on another occasion some woman devotee, probably Gulab Ma or Yogin Ma, I do not remember. They were watching. The thought came that Shri Ram Krishna loved many dishes. So that is why He is keeping so many dishes. So when Yogananda was thinking like that, suddenly Shri Ram Krishna, He was a Antaryami. He knows what is happening. So He took one handful of food and brought it near His mouth. Suddenly Shri Ram Krishna was explaining, Do you know why I keep so many dishes? I create artificial desires that let me today taste the bitter gold curry or the neem and brinjal curry, etc., etc. Why do you know? Because the natural tendency of my mind is always to remain in that Nirvikalpa Samadhi. But I have to create these desires as it were to bring down this mind. For whose sake? For the welfare of the world. But I think it was Yogin Ma. So she was thinking, This man loves food. Immediately Ram Krishna was smiling. He took some food and He brought it near His mouth. And suddenly a snake came out of His mouth, snatched it and went away. Then she understood, Shri Ram Krishna is not eating. He was offering this food to the Divine within. So whenever we eat, that is why we are supposed to do, Brahmaarpanam Brahmaavihi Brahmaagnau Brahmanaautam Brahmaiva This mantra we go on saying. Everything is Brahmaiva. Nothing else. So that is what is said. Karmaadhyaksaha So who is inspiring us to different actions? It is the same Brahman sitting within each one of us. Not our body, not our mind, not the Jeevatma, but Brahman. He is the Adhyaksha. He is the Master. He is the in-charge. He owns this body-mind. And body-mind are doing, but we unnecessarily attribute all these things to ourselves and say, I am eating, etc. So He is not only Karmaadhyaksha means what? So it is His sweet will. But when we forget and attribute it to ourselves, ascribe it to ourselves, then what happens? If we do good, we are given carrot, means reward. If we do something wrong, what is prescribed is what should be done. What is proscribed should be avoided. Vidhi and Nishedha. Then God will bring the stick. Stick means punishment. So according to our dharma ala dharma, reward and punishment, sukha and dukkha will come. So there is one who is sitting, who is watching, who is doing everything, for whose sake everything is being done. But we should be aware, it is not for me, Karmaadhyaksha. And then you know how this is worked. Ramakrishna, sometimes in a very beautiful way, the teachings come out. Teachings are beautiful, but the way they come out, in the form of language, in the form of usage, in the form of even something, examples, etc. And sometimes the devotees were overwhelmed. They used to thank Him and used to say, I know nothing, I only eat and drink and enjoy. It is my Divine Mother who knows everything. That is, He knows that it is the Divine Mother who is doing everything, who is speaking, Divine Mother. And Shri Ramakrishna used to tell further that whenever any thoughts become scarce, what am I supposed to talk? Such a state never comes. The Divine Mother supplies the ideas. So He used to give a beautiful example. There was a businessman and he is selling grain. And a huge heap of grain is in front. And as the customers come and demand, he is measuring it out. And soon the heap becomes smaller and smaller. And there is another man by the side. He has got a huge stock. As soon as the heap becomes smaller, then he pushes a big heap in front. So that this man need not stumble, need not hesitate, wait. Everybody will get. So the Divine Mother supplies, tells me, or She Herself, Vagroopini. We have seen this, what is called Suptam, Vaak Suptam. So it is like that. Saraswati is like that. And then we have seen Swami Vivekananda, when he had to give a talk, he had become trepidious. Because seeing that learned people, more than 4,000 people who were eagerly waiting, all that he said was, Ma Saraswati, you speak. And then he spoke. And sometimes Swami Vivekananda had to give three or four talks. So he used to be looked after by different hosts and hostesses. So once he was staying in a devotee's house, and then Swami Vivekananda, later on he said, I was out of ideas. I don't know what to do. Then Shri Ramakrishna appeared practically the whole night. He was telling, you will be talking about this. And next morning, the people were astounded, because the whole night they were hearing two voices, especially one voice. And they asked, with whom were you speaking? Swami just smiled sweetly and said, that I was only talking with myself. That is absolute truth also. Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda were not separate at all. So the Lord is Karma Adhyakshaha. And through Karma, He forges different types of relationships. Some are friends, some are enemies, some are indifferent, most of them are indifferent, etc. But not satisfied with these definitions, the Upanishad continues, Sarvabhuta Adivasaha. He is the indweller in every being. The same thing He said, Sarvabhuteshu Godaha, Sarvabhuta Antaratma, Sarvabhuta Adivasaha. Same truth. So one truth says that we do not see God. We think we are doing everything. And another says, everything is God only. Body is God, mind is God, and buddhi is God. All the panchakoshas are God. And He is Karma Adhyakshaha. And He is only guiding. Mayadhyakshena prakrutihi suyate saccharacharam The whole prakruti is able to perform its action. Means body and mind. Only because I, the Consciousness, am present. These are some of the epithets. How we should meditate on each one of them. Within me, first the Lord is hidden. But not only within me, He is within everybody. So whenever I talk, I must take care. I should talk only that which pleases the Lord. I must do what pleases the Lord. I must also think about others. What pleases the Lord. Otherwise, I will be hurting the other person. Sarvabhuta Antaratma. So whatever actions I do, that is what Bhagavad Gita, which is the very essence of all Upanishads, beautifully says, Pashyan, Shrunvan, Smrushan, Jigran, Ashnan, Swapan, Gachchan, Swapan, Srasan, Unmishan, Nimishanapi. Whatever we are doing, 24 hours a day, through this body and mind. So Sarvakarmani Brahmani Adhaya. Sangantyaktva Karotiya Lipyate Nasapapena Padmapatram Iva Ambhasa Astra is a lotus leaf which is always in the water but is never contaminated by the water. So whatever is done, we must think it is God who is doing. And for the sake of God, God Himself is doing for His own sake. He is doing His own worship. That is the essence of this particular mantra. Then same, it is continuing in the next mantra also. Eko Maneshi Nishkriyanam Bahunam Ekam Santam Bahudhayah Karoti Tam Atmanam E Anupasyanti Dheeraha Tesham Shanti Shashvati Na Itaresham The one intelligent, active being among the many inactive. He who makes the many from what is one. The wise men who find out the Self. Theirs is the eternal peace, not of others. What it means is that He who recognises this Brahman and that is the only reality. Such a person is a realiser of God. Such a person is called Vidwan. Such a person is called Pandita. And what does he get? Such people. Tesham Shanti. Eternal peace that passeth understanding belongs to them. That is called Shashvati. Shanti. That is eternal peace. What does it mean? It means they will be one with the Brahmananda. But those who are still stuck in the mire of duality, seeing multiplicity. They will not get this Shanti. But as we move towards God, we get lot of Shanti. So this particular mantra is again a beautiful mantra for meditation. Ekaha is the only one. And Manishi is manifesting. God is manifesting. Brahman is manifesting. Divine Mother is manifesting. In the form of right knowledge. Manishi means a person, an intelligent person. But here it means one who knows the truth. And what is the truth? The truth is it is only the Divine Mother and nobody else. God. Nobody else. And then Nishkriyanam. Ekaha. Nishkriya means those who are inactive. What does it mean? Is it ever possible for any living creature to be inactive? Bhagavad Gita explains this so beautifully. It is impossible for any creature to be without activity. So even during sleep, we are not aware. But the body is functioning very well. The heart is beating. The Agni is keeping it at the right temperature. And the whole body is working harmoniously. So that by the time we get up, we will be doing what we call complete refreshment. Not only that, what about the mind? All thoughts cease. That means what? They go to rest. Just as when we lie down completely relaxed, the body gets rest. But the mind may not be restful. But when we go into deep sleep, everybody will become completely restful. So even resting is an activity. We have to understand not only activity is an activity, resting is also an activity. We do both. So we think that we are not doing anything. But that is not true. But it is described here. What is Nishkriya then? Nishkriya means you are not the doer. I am not the doer. In fact, I have nothing to do. First of all, if I want to do something, I require the intelligence to decide what I want to do. Secondly, I need a purpose, a goal, a reason why I want to do something. And thirdly, I need some instruments for doing any action. So that is being beautifully described here. So we have nothing to do. It is only God. Body is God. Mind is God. Jivatma is God. Antaratma is God. So He is doing His own job. It has nothing to do with ourselves. So we are called Nishkriyas. And through Karma Yoga, the very purpose, the very goal of Karma Yoga is to know that we are Nishkriyas. We are without any action. We cannot do any action. Because everything belongs to God. Buddhi belongs to God. It is percolating into the mind. That is called God. And the same light is percolating into the sense organs. And it is percolating into what is called the sense organs of action. So whatever is being done, it is only God who is doing it. So that is called Nishkriyana Sakriyaha. He is the only one who is really living, who is acting, who is doing everything, who is enjoying, who is suffering. Everything is His only. And Bahonam Ekam. So even though we see multiplicity, we must be able to see only Ekam. Ekam Santam. Santam means existence. So what is the common thing? A tree exists. A table exists. A mountain exists. I exist. An animal exists. The common thing. So this is how we have to analyse. How to come to that final analysis? I told you there are billions and billions of objects out there. So we first divide the entire creation into two. Living and non-living. Without life and with life. And then we call it Prani and Aprani. Or conscious and not conscious. Or Jada or inert things. With consciousness and inert things. Then we divide all the human beings. So I am an Indian. I am a Hindu. I am a Muslim. And he is a Christian. This is America etc. etc. So first division is male-female. I am male or I am female. Slowly we have to say both of us are human beings. And the moment we come to that I am a human being, then wherever there is a human being, whichever country, whichever religion, whatever colour, everything, it is a human being. This is what is called humanism. The philosophy that forget all discriminations and then practice humanism. Here is a human being. That's all. Don't say he is black man, white man, Christian, Hindu, Muslim etc. So that is the next division. And then the final division is I am not only a human being, I am the living creature. Identify with every living creature. Whether it be birds or animals or insects or even plants or trees etc. So that is still further we are expanding our identity. But still the last identity is that I am living and something is not living. And then there is a mountain. There is that easiness is symbolized by existence or existence is symbolized by easiness. I am, mountain is, you are, bird is, animal is etc. So that is what unites. Everything that exists is nothing but God. Bahunam ekam santam. Bahudhaya karod. But God has a special power. So He created this kind of division and that is called Bahudha. Ekam satviprah bahudhava danti. So it seems Brahman, Isha, I am alone. Bahu eko and then Bahusyam. I want to become many. As if it is all in imagination, He is playing all this Leela. That is called Leela. And these are some of the definitions for the sake of contemplation. If we can do that, then we grow morally also. And such a person can never harm anybody. And internally our perception becomes sharper, better, righteous. Tam atmanam e anupasyanti. And who is that? Ekaha manishi nishkriyanam sakriyaha bahunam ekaha bahudhaya karoti. Who is that? Atmanam. So He is alone, the Atman alone, Brahman alone, God alone, Divine Mother alone. That is the only reality. And they who understand, I am not separate from this. E anupasyanti dhiraha. This truth has been so beautifully enumerated in the Durga Saptashati. Yad evi sarvabhuteshu chetana. The Divine Mother who is manifest in the form of consciousness. Buddhi roopena, kshante roopena, vidya roopena, lajja roopena, nidra roopena, kshudha roopena, krishna roopena, shante roopena, kante roopena, jate roopena. That means we do not exist. She is sleep. She is buddhi. She is hunger. She is thirst. In a sense, She is everything. Where do I come? No, I have nothing else to do. I do not even exist. But for some mysterious reason, we think we are separate, God is separate. So we want to forge a relationship with God. That is the idea. And those who recognize that it is God alone who exists and nothing else, such people are called Dheeras. Dhee means buddhi. Buddhi means right knowledge. And this is those who have this right knowledge. These people are called people of right knowledge. They are called people of discrimination. And what is the result of this knowledge? Tesham shantihishashvati na itaresham. For them, eternal peace will be there. Itaresham. And those who have not reached that state and up. These people who are others, they can be categorized as two. One, those who are not even trying to be spiritual. That is the worst example. But those who are sadhakas, who are slowly progressing but still quite far away from the truth, such people, even they do not get this shashvati shanti. Those who are worldly, they do not get peace of mind. Those who are sadhakas, they get limited amount of peace. But those who are realized, they get eternal peace. Beautiful mantras. We will discuss it in our next class.