Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.1.6 Lecture 38 on 31 May 2026 Q&A

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Discussion on Creation, Vairagya, and Watching Movies

Question 1: Holy Mother as Mother of the Good and the Wicked

Participant: Pranams Maharaj ! In yesterday's class, you mentioned one point about creation.

Response (Swamiji): Yeah.

Participant: We love what we create, both good and bad characters equally.

Response: Yeah.

Participant: Is that so when Holy Mother says, "I am the mother of the good as well as the wicked"?

Response: Yeah.

Participant: Because she created everyone.

Response: Yes, the creator is a joyful being or unhappy, insufferable being?

Participant: Joyful.

Response: Because whatever you create, for example, as a child, you draw the picture of a tree – whether it is a tree or a piece of grass, we don't understand.

You see, there was a school; there was a drawing class. One day the drawing teacher wanted to test his pupils. So he asked them: "Take up a piece of paper and draw whatever you like." And he was going from student to student, trying to figure out what they were doing – small children. So he went to one small girl, trying to figure out what it was that she was trying to draw. He couldn't make head or tail. So he asked, "Child, what are you trying to draw?" She said, "I'm trying to draw God." He asked, "Do you know what God looks like?" She said, "No. When I complete my drawing, I will know what He looks like."

See, really speaking, this is the truth. Everything is the creation. The whole world – from one point of view, we say God created. You know, Advaita Vedanta never accepts this. God only created the five elements, and it is the jiva who created the entire universe for himself. Very meaningful, highly debatable, and at the same time, absolute truth. So if you are living, for example, under this particular government, who created that government? Who elected them?

Participant: Me only.

Response: Yes, as a citizen. Yes, citizens created it – more than 50% have voted for that government.

Participant: Yes.

Response: So, who created? I create – each one of us creates. So we get back. Enjoy now what you created. That is called spirituality. This is the truth. The whole world is created. Swargaloka is created. When you go to Swargaloka, you don't say, "I created Swargaloka; it already exists. I am only going there." That is your language. But actually, who created that Swargaloka?

Participant: I only created my thoughts.

Response: Yes, absolutely. Think over it; meditate upon it. You created it. So you are the creator of joy; you are the creator of unhappiness – everything. Advaita Vedanta never accepts that God created this world. That is why they don't want to answer. "Did God create?" No. "Then how is this world?" Oh, it is not that – it is coequal with God. Anadi – beginningless. Avidya – beginningless. Creation – beginningless. Suffering – beginningless. Yeah. So we created the entire world. Just now I pointed out – you have to connect these two ideas. He said the whole external world is nothing but what is experienced through our mind. And how do you experience it? Pure happiness, pure unhappiness. Each one of us experiences it in a peculiar way, isn't it?

Participant: Yes, Maharaj.

Response: That is called creation. That is called Drishti Srishti Vada. Yeah.

Participant: Thank you, Maharaj

Question 2: Vairagya as the Key to Pure Love

Participant: What an absolutely beautiful, lovable talk. And these key elements which you... there are quite a few actually today. Vairagya plays like: it is right to love alone, but not to expect. And... see, is it right to understand that vairagya is really the key to the way of really pure love – which is not bound by anything? You see, conditioned by anything.

Response: People have got many, many misconceptions about vairagya. Vairagya means "give up."

Participant: Yes.

Response: The thing is, you cannot give up the land on which you are standing until you get to a firmer ground for you to occupy and stand up.

Participant: True, right – true.

Response: So what is it we want to give up? We always want to give up what is less satisfying for what is more satisfying. Is it not? Yes, nobody says, "I want to give up what is less satisfying" without expecting higher satisfaction.

Participant: Yes.

Response: But you know what the psychology is? The moment I give up dukkha, automatically it is a state of joy, isn't it?

Participant: Yes.

Response: So think of it. Giving up means giving up the lesser value for a higher value.

Participant: For a higher value.

Response: And if we don't want to get upset, we need to change the setup, isn't it?

Participant: Correct.

Response: So yeah, that also you say.

Question 3: Watching Moving Human Stories as a Spiritual Practice

Participant (Marij): So, this is a very silly, silly question, but can I ask: if I enjoy, for example, deeply moving real human stories as movies – is that okay? Because it allows me to see how and where I am attached or not attached. Is that okay, or...?

Response: First, let me recollect a small joke. There was a tramp, a beggar, in front of a huge, magnificent hotel.

Participant: Right.

Response: He did not eat for three days. He was waiting for some compassionate soul to look at him and then give him something so that he could eat. Suddenly the doors of the inner doors of the hotel opened, and a gorgeous lady covered with diamonds and a mink coat came out. One look – "Oh, I cannot bear to look at the sight of these miserable creatures" – ran to her Rolls Royce, jumped into it, and disappeared.

If that is the kind of watching that we want to do, no, then it is not desirable. You demonstrate in your life that, yeah, you are translating your sympathy into concrete help. Yes, then it is okay. But even this dependency upon too many moving stories – that is also a kind of slavery. We want to feel sad, so we don't find any excuse to be sad; then we seek these kinds of movies, hoping against hope that they will move us. What is a movie? Whatever moves you is called a movie.

Participant: Movie. Yeah, I realized it – why it is called "movie."

Response: So, you have to be discriminative enough to say: am I watching just simply to give vent to my emotion and get satisfaction there? Why? Or does it really inspire me to do something concrete as a service to God?