Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 10 on 23 June 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Chandogya Upanishad. We are going through the certain preliminaries necessary not only to this particular Upanishad, not only to all the other Upanishads, but to every script. And I would go so far as to say, not only any scripture, any material science also. They are also scriptures. They are only called lokika shastras. Because the happiness that we are deriving, and especially in some fields, I would say every field, but particularly in the field of medicine, that is also right knowledge to diagnose the right disease, find out the right type of medication, cure, cure. That is also Divine Mother only. So we require to fulfil certain conditions. In that context, we are studying, rather we have studied, what is called Shabda Pramana. Of the six Pramanas, the first Pratyaksha and the four that are dependent upon Pratyaksha are very useful in acquiring the worldly knowledge or objects of the world. But with regard to that which is Atheendriya, which is a beautiful world beyond the senses, any knowledge, we require the sixth Pramana called Shabda. And this Shabda Pramana is unique because it doesn't deal with any objects of the world. The objects of the world are many. But how many objects are left out? Only one. That is called the subject. Objects are many. The subject is only one. Bhagavan Krishna made this point absolutely clear in the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. I am the Kshetragna. Infinite number of Kshetras. But only one Kshetragna, one Atma. Called the subject, the experiencer, the only knower. This sixth Pramana, Shabda Pramana, deals only with this subject, knower. Now there is something very special about this Shabda Pramana. Our Vaidika Shabdas do not merely carry the knowledge, but they produce fresh knowledge, which knowledge can never be generated by any other method. We discussed quite elaborately. Our sense organs are limited, so they cannot give us Atindriya Jnana, what is beyond their capacity. Even in the world we see that you can't take a big needle that is used to sew the gunny bags to sew a patient after operation. Every particular experiment or knowledge requires its own very particular type of instrument. So even to weigh what is called very very infinitely small objects. Don't use the word subtle. Subtle means beyond the senses. But the smallest microscopic objects, we can see them. But some of them we can weigh, and for that we require the finest of the instruments. So what to speak of is that the object, which is God, which is the knower, or even about the other world, we require extrasensory instruments. So these special Shabdas not only reveal about God, I also mentioned about life after death, about other worlds, whether they are of inferior called hells or heavens, different types of heavens etc. This word, English word heaven, is a very misleading word when we are studying the Vedanta Shastra. The kingdom of heaven means it has nothing to do with Swarga. It means it is like Vaikuntha or the realm of God. That is the special note we have to take. So these Vedic Shabdas not only give us a new type of knowledge, but it cannot be produced first of all by any other type of Pramana. And not only that, when these Shabdas produce a new knowledge, they give us also a higher type of happiness. So this is called Swatantra Pramanam. No other instrument can give us this knowledge. Independent, valid and giving of the highest type of result. That is the beauty of this Shabda Pramana. Somebody had coined a beautiful shloka, what is called Veda. The very word Veda means knowledge. But we have to understand, this knowledge is not confined to worldly knowledge. It is only Atheendriya, beyond the sense organs. Therefore this beautiful definition, Pratyakshena, direct experience. Anumitya, by inference, comparison, presumption and absence of an object. There is no way to know whether God exists, afterlife is there or other worlds are there. No, no way. Only those who experienced, called Rishis or Mantra Drashtas, only from them this knowledge comes. And this knowledge is obtainable only through Vedas. That Pramana is called Veda. Veda is called Veda because it is independent and valid source of unique knowledge, which cannot be produced by any other source. So sometimes we use the word, the sixth sense organ, Intuition. And this Vedic knowledge is purely an intuition. So we should not say that it is an imagination. Whereas imagination is far from truth. But intuition is nothing but the truth. And if we don't have the faith in this Veda, and if we don't believe it, it is our misfortune. But we should never doubt. So what do our Rishis do? To convince us rationally, they employ a particular type of knowledge, scripture. It is called Mimamsa. That Mimamsa means deep analysis. And through that Mimamsa Shastra, which is summarized in the form of Shadlingas, six characteristics or pointers, Upakrama, Upasamhara, Abhyasa, Purvatha, Phalam, etc. They tell us any rational person should be able to find this out. I give an example. You see a person, always happy, absolutely selfless, loves everybody equally, treats everybody on par as himself. And this is what anybody can see, whoever comes into contact with a God-realized soul. So therefore, what does our reason say? This person is exhibiting all these effects. And every effect must have a cause. And that cause is called God. This is how rationality should help us in trying to understand what is not understandable through ordinary means. Now we come to the definition of the word Upanishad. Upa means near. This word Upanishad, Shankaracharya, the brilliant teacher that he was, divides into three parts. Two are called prefixes. One is called the root. Upa and Ni, these are the prefixes. What is a prefix? Before any word, if we put any one of them, sometimes this prefix enhances the word, sometimes it deepens, gives much wider meaning, sometimes it can also give just the opposite meaning. So for example, we take this word Shoka. Shoka means suffering or despondency, unhappiness. Ashoka, you know, the great emperor Ashoka. That means he is free from all Shoka. Himsa, injury. Ahimsa. So like that, this prefix always either enhances or gives the opposite meaning and it has to be used to emphasize a particular word. So here Upa and Ni are the prefixes. Upa means near. So it has been commented in at least three different ways. What is the first one? Upa means an earnest student approaches near a qualified teacher. Approaches near. Upa Sameepam. So this is one meaning. Upa means near. So we use the word Upasana. Usually it is translated, mistranslated as fasting. Fasting is not the meaning of Upasa. What is called Upavasa. What it means is that generally when we eat less, then we pay less attention to the body and so our mind is free to think about higher things. So not eating is not the meaning of Upavasa. Upa means near. Vasa means to stay, to live nearby. That means to live nearer to God, nearer to the scripture. And that is one of the meanings. This is the second meaning. Nearer the Guru or nearer the teaching. But Upa means that which is nearest to us. What is nearest to us? Me. I am nearest to myself. So that means Upa means Atman. So to approach the Atman, because that is what happens, that as I approach, as I said, as a piece of dry paper, you take it nearer and nearer to the fire, first it becomes heated, it becomes very heated, then it starts emitting smoke, finally it itself becomes fire, like firewood, and it functions exactly like fire only. It burns, it boils, it gives heat, it gives light, etc. So as I approach the Atman, I become like Atman and I identify myself. I am the Atman. That is the meaning of Upa. It means gradually, through spiritual practice, approaching nearer and nearer with the aid of the scripture and also the Guru's blessings, encouragement, explanation. That is the meaning of Upa. What about Ni? Shankaracharya gives three meanings. First meaning is that approaching near. Second meaning is, Ni means completely. Completely what? To loosen or to destroy. So there is something which is standing in between me and God. What is standing? That is ignorance, Maya. So he who destroys or whatever destroys, knowledge destroys ignorance. Light destroys darkness. So like that, that knowledge of the Atman completely destroys my ignorance about myself. Because God, myself, there is no difference. Because of ignorance, I am different, God is different, God is far, I am here, God knows everything, I know very little, Alpagnathvam, Sarvagnathvam. So that is the ignorance. But there is no difference because if I say, if we use the word God, God means everything. God is everywhere means what? I do not exist, you do not exist, nothing else exists. But we don't take it that way because we are frightened of getting destroyed ourselves. Individuality, we don't want to get destroyed. So who is closest to me? Myself. And what is that myself? My true self is called Atman. So Atman is the closest to myself. And there is something, even though that is what the scripture is telling, there is some obstruction. I am not able to understand it. And that is called in general ignorance of myself. But I don't call it ignorance in the initial stages. I say you are ignorant. I know I am a person. I am not God. Absolute knowledge. But as we go on practicing, perhaps the scripture is right, the Guru is right. So everything is none other than that Brahman. So even though we don't understand, we start with faith. So Ni means completely, without the least bit of remnants, that which destroys. First it loosens, then it destroys. Destroys what? That which separates every one of us from our true self, which is called Maya, Agnana, ignorance. And Ni means, without the least bit of doubt, nothing remains, total destruction. Nishchita roopena. Then Sat means me. Sat, that which is, destroys. Ignorance, like light destroying darkness. So what does Upanishad mean? Samsara, Nivartaka, Atma Vidya. That self-knowledge, which destroys ignorance about myself, totally, completely, so that never again we will be ignorant. That is the meaning of the Upanishads. So the Upanishad gives this self-knowledge. This self-knowledge is often given in the Vedanta, the essence of the Vedas. What is it? Upanishads. And the essence of the Upanishads is Bhagavad Gita. So many Upanishads. Why so many Upanishads? Because so many realized souls, in their own language, they have expressed. So sometimes they gave out these expressions and there seemed to be some contradictions. So Vedavyasa, who himself has collected, codified, classified, and distributed the Vedas into four parts and each part he imparted to one of his four disciples for further propagation. But sometimes, in the course of time, different Rishis seem to be speaking in contradictory terms. So Vedavyasa understood that can create confusion in ordinary people like us. So he wrote another book called Brahma Sutras. Brahma Sutra. Sutra means very pithy type of statement and which removes every kind of contradiction. That is, all the Upanishads with one voice are talking about only one and that is called Brahman and that is also called Atman. Self with a capital S. So these Upanishads or even the Bhagavad Gita for that matter is presented in the form of a dialogue. So why dialogue? Because of two reasons. Shankaracharya himself says why there are two reasons. One reason he says is if a teacher is speaking to a student, mother is speaking to the child, so you are holding a conversation with the other person and so we can clarify a lot of doubts. So instead of reading a book or trying to discover the meaning, if we can have a conversation, the easiest form of obtaining right type of knowledge. That's why schools exist, colleges, universities exist, etc. So what is the second reason? Second reason is it has to come from a Sampradaya and Vedas give a tremendous emphasis on this Sampradaya. This is called Guru-Shishya teacher-student tradition. Why? Because if I try to discover something, understand something without a tradition, sometimes it may be possible I understand in a new way but more often than not it could be a mistaken understanding and because of our egotism we might not want to deviate thinking that it will hurt my egotism. We don't want to give way to anybody else. But if we can sit at the feet of our teacher humbly and serve him, please him with complete faith in him then he will teach us through all those methods called Shadlinga mentioned earlier. Then if we doubt that the teacher is telling something, I am experiencing something, who is right? Then we say he is right. Why is he right? Because of one crystal clear reason. Look at his life. He is the most fulfilled person in this whole world. But modern psychologists following Viktor Frankl say that a search for meaning that alone can give us fulfillment in life. And here is a person who is giving that complete fulfillment not by giving teaching but by expressing, exhibiting all the characteristics of a fulfilled life. How is he doing that? Earlier I told you that four characteristics inevitably, invariably present in every realized soul. He is an embodiment of happiness. Even if he is sitting under a tree and eating a beggar's food or even some small pieces of some food obtained somehow or other but he is ever happy. In cold and heat, in honor and dishonor, in health and sickness, in every situation we never see him deviating. And if we study with this idea say Ramakrishna's life especially when he was when he was suffering from intolerable pain from the throat cancer and everybody used to forget sometimes only suddenly they are jerked to the oh my god how much he is suffering especially blood used to come out cup fulls of blood he used to vomit then they got alert but next second he will tell some joke he will tell in such a way that everybody forgot thinking that oh my god because he used to keep their minds so high and what was he getting from them absolutely nothing whether they serve him do not serve him, understand him do not understand him that's why every great soul suffers that is also a great lesson for us to learn so here we get a guru who is showing these four characteristics and he treats everybody same he loves everybody without any discrimination and he does if necessary he will offer his own life for the welfare of the other person without expecting even the least bit from that other person and whole life he will do it not for a moment of elation and when we see these characteristics and anybody can see then we have to conclude if these are the effects then what is the cause the cause is he sees he became God he sees God and he is only sporting with God that is the reason this is the second reason when a student goes to a teacher it is not only for knowledge, right knowledge but above all how we have to transform ourselves in order to realize that truth which he is teaching and he transformed his life under his teachers and so he realized so this is the second reason two reasons why dialogues are so very important and then we also have to ask why is this Sampradaya tradition let us turn to Ramakrishna we have to ask ourselves about Ramakrishna three questions Ramakrishna needs Sanyasa Ramakrishna never received Sanyasa would he have been any lesser Sanyasi than he was afterwards the categorical answer will be he was a Sanyasi he is a Sanyasi he will be a Sanyasi Guru or no Guru did he really need a Guru no he never needed a Guru because the Divine Mother herself guided him from the very beginning in his first Sadhana then why did he adopt a Guru in fact if you study carefully you will see something extraordinary he did not he was not in search of a Guru he did not even think oh Ma I require some Guru so will you please bring him no no no such thing in fact the Guru came in search of him without his own knowledge why he came and then he saw you seem to be a fit person Adhikari I will initiate you into Sanyasa as if he has got any option there there was no option because later on we know the Divine Mother tells I have brought him for this purpose so if Divine Mother herself had brought where is the question of whether I will initiate him into Sanyasa third he also came because of a very important first he gave a little bit of help to Sri Ramakrishna by initiating him into a Sanyasa so we have to ask about the question that why did Sri Ramakrishna or Divine Mother wanted Sri Ramakrishna who was already who had already attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi through intuitively and through intense yearning without the help of any scripture or any Guru solely guided by the Divine Mother because Sri Ramakrishna surrendered himself to the Divine Mother totally completely he prayed as we know Oh Mother I am a fool so be gracious and take my hand like a mother takes the hand of a child whatever you want whatever way you want me to dance to speak or to do make me do it I am a willing instrument so he already obtained it first time then why did he need a Guru because fools fools in this world their reason will be what is called rationalization rationality and rationalization are opposite meanings, rationality means thinking clearly logically correctly rationalization means making a false statement as if it is a very rational type of statement that is called rationalization so why did he do for people like us he may not, he may directly adopt the Divine Mother as a guide but we don't have that much of faith either in what is called Divine Mother or in our sense we require a human teacher to be in front of us to slap if necessary and to guide us and if we do not accept that one a day will come when we will be forced to accept so did he need a Guru he was a Jagat Guru, he did not need a Guru did Krishna need a Guru he did not need a Guru when Krishna was sent to Sandipani's Ashrama after the killing of Kamsa etc then Sandipani said I know who you are so you are coming to me as a student only to keep of the tradition but not because you needed my teaching you are a Jagat Guru you are a teacher of teachers you are the what is called Shastra Pravartaka the person who has started this tradition of teaching Brahma Prathamo Sambhava as we have seen in the Mundaka Upanishad so this is the answer did Ramakrishna need a Guru definitely no but if he adopts a Guru it is to keep of that tradition which is coming to us from at least 10,000 years and we should not deviate so that is why taking Sanyasa was not necessary but to be an ideal Sanyasi very interesting because even after Sanyasa he did not wear ochre cloth he kept his former wife with him as a disciple of course so why to establish idealism as an ideal husband as an ideal Seshya or disciple an ideal teacher an ideal brother ideal everything Ramakrishna is an ideal in every aspect and even if you want to tell a joke he is an ideal person he can tell you better jokes and it is not only jokes are better but especially the way he tells it is out of this world fantastic so he is a Guru in every respect even pickpocketing also he was an expert Guru how do you know sir? you may be surprised because it may not flash into your mind when his mother was worried immediately after marriage he assured don't worry she will not know I will remove all the ornaments and within 15 minutes he removed every single ornament that his mother borrowed from the neighbour later on if someone were to ask him how could you manage it so well because you see when we are cherishing something even in our sleep we will be acutely conscious of that something the slightest touch of what we are trying to guard will bring us to sleep so later on somebody if they were to ask how did you manage so he will smile perhaps he will say don't think it is just so I had practiced my whole life in my last incarnation and that is how I acquired this skillfulness so tradition is very important did he need to enter into Samadhi? no he had already entered into Samadhi there was no need to enter into Samadhi but it is to be an ideal as a brilliant example for other person so that is why Ram Krishna has not come to destroy in the Bible Jesus Christ says I came not to destroy Christ says I came to strengthen Ram Krishna also said I did not come to destroy whatever helped people in realizing God in the past and there are some wrong misinterpretations wrong actions that have joined somehow his pure paths I will remove all those clean them up and keep them up so Ram Krishna he cleaned all the old paths made them available discovered new paths so that those paths can be more suitable to people under changed circumstances for a long time to come but if these circumstances change drastically and these methods are not enough then he will come again and then he will discover new ones so no Avatar comes to destroy he comes to reinforce reestablish and not to destroy so the dialogical method is to show that a seeker should gain this knowledge only from a traditional teacher because a Guru also will use the right methodology to extract valid knowledge from the Veda this is called Guru Parampara so if we ask if somebody expresses a doubt so how do you know that this teacher is a right teacher and we have to say how did he get this knowledge he got it from his teacher and where from his teacher get it from his teacher this is called Guru Shishya Sampradaya the tradition it is also called Shruti Sampradaya the teaching in the form of instruction from the teacher to the disciple again from the disciple when he has realized to his disciples etc etc unbroken this tradition is coming for the last 10,000 years not only for the sake of instruction but even how to pronounce the Vedas especially in Hinduism is the change of one single syllable of the Vedas can bring a complete what is called unexpected opposite result so one has to pronounce it properly in the Taittiriya Upanishad the very first chapter is totally dedicated for this training of how to do and how language also indicates the culture of a person I will speak about it later on so the Guru learned from his Guru and how is he going how do we know he has learned because in the Ishavasya Upanishad we get this crystal clear statements Iti Sushruma Purvesham E Naha Tad Icha Chakshare Iti Sushruma thus we have heard from where Purvesham so from the teachers from very ancient time E and those teachers Naha to us Tad Icha Chakshare so they have explained to us without the least bit of ambiguity then how many Upanishads are there hundreds are there but at the moment probably around 200 Upanishads are available and in these Upanishads ten are called major why are they called major for two reasons so one reason why they are called major is because Vyasa Bhagwan who himself has divided the Vedas have to harmonize all the teachings of the Upanishads they are all talking about exactly the same Brahman and not anything else he used to take quotations from various Upanishads but most of the quotations he has taken from the ten Upanishads therefore that is the first reason why they are called major Upanishads the word major in Sanskrit is called Mukhya Dasa Upanishadah then what is the second reason because of Ved Vyasa's taking these quotations so also Shankaracharya has written elaborate Bhashyas and of all the Bhashyas Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is the best Bhashya all the Bhashyas without any contradiction oh there you said something here you said something no absolutely what is called Ek Vakyatha only one purport throughout the ten commentaries so because of Vyasacharya Shankaracharya also has taken ten Upanishads and had commented is the second reason and that is why this Brahma Sutra is called Vedanta Darshan because it is full of Upanishadic statements only now as we said we are talking what is the what does the Upanishads teach and what is the Sankshepa Uttara Samadhana very short answer is it wants to teach us the truth about our true self but it has to be elaborated and this elaboration comes in in the form of certain questions when we were studying the Bhaja Govindam Shankaracharya again who wrote that Bhaja Govindam clearly says so Kastvam who are you that is who am I and what is my nature where from have I come because if I am the effect and if I know what is my cause then I will be exactly like the cause so if I am coming from God I cannot be different from God this is the most fundamental principle we have to understand that the effect can never be anything other than the cause it is nothing but clothed in various colors with names forms qualities but underneath it is exactly the original cause example every bit of wooden furniture is nothing but wood every golden ornament is nothing but gold every pot made up of clay is nothing but clay the six questions we always have and six questions have to be dealt with by all these scriptures any scripture whether it is a bible or koran or vedas etc what are these questions the very first question is who am I now we have no doubt about it but who am I really a time will come and nature is slowly leading us to that state where we have to question ourselves am I really trying to fulfill life for that the first thing is who am I you see if a patient goes to a hospital a doctor simply take him and then say these are the medications you have to take he will first of all what is the nature of what is the disease diagnosis has to be done not only it has to be medicine etc and diet etc have to be prescribed so what is the question who am I do we know who we are of course we are cocksure we know who we are but we are not sure because we are changing all the time sometimes I am happy sometimes unhappy sometimes angry sometimes peaceful sometimes intelligent sometimes foolishness sometimes healthy sometimes unhealthy every time we are changing then as we discovered in the three states of human or the experience of every life including mosquito there is a wakeful state there is a dream state and there is a deep sleep state and each state experience contradicts the other completely not even one person resemblance is there therefore whatever is changing that cannot be me I must be somebody to say all the time I am so and so this is called the real nature of the self Jeevaswaroopam the nature of each one of us so the questions I feel I am helpless I am weak I am sick I am a limited being so the question comes am I really a limited being to be born to live to suffer and to die like a worm but the scripture is telling something totally different if you go to any worldly teacher he will tell you without the least bit of doubt yes you are just like any worm you are born and you are changing all the time and if you are not you will become old and one day you will die this is a common experience because that teacher doesn't know better than anything better than that so he will tell but if we come to this teacher spiritual teacher what is the first thing so even though I am the lord of the world even though I am unborn I seem to be born taking hold of my own prakriti I am I incarnate myself again and again is this not the nature of god yes then why are you equating with my nature because I am none other than brahman this is what the scripture tells this is what the teacher re-emphasizes of course made by his own realization this is called jivaswaroop and this we cannot get as I said if you use those five brahmanas I am the body I am the mind I am a changing being I am going through these three experiences that is the knowledge we get then where am I living jagat swaroop in this world and what is the nature of this world good is there evil is there all dualities are there sometimes happiness sometimes unhappiness evil people are there and we commit so many mistakes and this is also called by different names maya samsara mithya agnana doubts etc so why do I make so many mistakes all the time more importantly can I ever become completely happy for all time can I ever get out of this world so crystal clearly the scripture through the teacher has to tell us what is the nature of this world why do we have to know because only when we come to know the nature of a disease and nobody wants to identify himself with that disease so this is the second question what is this world who am I what is this world third is is there a God does God exist really if so why do I see so much of difference in this world and so who is really a God what is his name if we are given to think ourselves without the aid of the scripture we think he is a very partial fellow as Swami Vivekananda Narayana said to Sri Ramakrishna that had God God called me to give him advice before creation I would have created a much much better world than him later on he admitted his mistake and he said that that was foolishness you know what he said the world is perfect even though we don't see perfection he said a perfect being cannot create an imperfect world he is perfect so does God exist yes and so who is this God he is the cause of all this world so if God is divine we cannot be anything else that's why each soul is potentially divine and what is his nature what is his nature divine so if I am coming from him what should be my nature so if an ornament is made out of gold what would be its nature the nature of the gold only it will be shiny it will be the most valuable mineral in the whole world etc. and he is who is God Ishwara Swaroopa Brahma Swaroopa Sat Chit Ananda he is beyond death he is beyond ignorance and he is the very embodiment of Ananda so if I am coming from him I cannot be anything other than Sat Chit Ananda therefore by coming to know about Ishwara my ancestor I can claim to my real nature then what is the what is called Bhanda Swaroopa what is the nature of the bondage so am I aware that I am bound most of us 99% of us we think we are so intelligent we are not bound especially in the democratic countries we are not bound so if we are not bound then why are people suffering you know there was a black death in the 17th or 18th century I don't remember so practically 70% of the world population has died because of that and that is a horrible type of thing just like your what is called COVID and if somebody releases some kind of virus for which there is no remedy and instantaneous almost instantaneous death and somebody is ready to do it already why do I say such a thing because there are so many countries who cannot afford these nukes nuclear weapons but this is very easy for them even any scientist from the biological scientist from their smallest countries in fact they are studying and they are developing of course they want to declare openly even they are not using it yet but there is no guarantee they won't use them for the simple reason if you are going to threaten us with nuclear weapon well if I have to die I will take you also along with me not only me I will not leave anybody if only I have to release this one and then you will see the fun so why are not people using nukes because that will bring destruction not only to the user not only those people upon whom it is used but it will also bring destruction sooner or later on the user himself so also these biological weapons very powerful weapons and even without any weapon do you think a man is always cavorting and jumping dancing with joy all the time how much of pain how much of misery how much of heart attack how many betrayals are there so human pain is incomparable to animal pain why because when animals suffer they don't imagine they only suffer but when human beings suffer they not only suffer physically they also suffer mentally adding to that physical disease physical pain so life is full of pain who says the greatest of all incarnations is greatest sage buddha let us remember life is full of suffering is the first ariya noble truth and the cause of that suffering is tanha trishna intense clinging to changing objects so that is the second statement what is the third statement is there any remedy yes there is a remedy and buddha discovered that remedy like any other rishi and fourth is what is that remedy the 8 fold way our thinking our speech our actions our intentions our concentration our meditation everything has to be completely brought under one umbrella there cannot be any deviation there will be 1% worldly and 99% spiritual it is impossible so we find and then in the life itself you know what we find so many people including all of us those who are good moral and their philosophy is give and take we don't want to make other people suffer neither we want other people to give us suffering live and let live and there are many people who live an ethical life and yet their family members may die or cruelly killed and history throughout history if you see history must open our eyes so Will Durant had dedicated 11 gigantic volumes a story of civilization in 11 volumes and after that he wanted to summarize or somebody suggested I don't know he wrote a beautiful book it is only around 113 or 115 pages it is called Lessons from History and then he says somewhere if we look for God in history we will not find him why because history is nothing but continuous warfare between two individuals between two communities two tribes two nations national or international nothing but pure conflict from the very known history of this world and then we also doubt about God not only because these great people tell us about it but we doubt also about God why do we doubt about God because you see we are living nice life and we are suffering so much and this rascal living next door he robs everybody and he cheats he lies he does everything that is possible never thinks of God and he is prospering day by day this kind of irrationality which goes in the name of rationality that because our scripture alone tells us so if he is prospering not because of his evilness but because he is more intelligent than you he knows what to do what not to do and if he is doing evil the effects the results of karma will follow his footsteps as Buddha says sooner or later but we don't want to accept any explanation that which comes sooner or later we want to see it right in front this fellow told a lie let a thunder bolt come and pierce him right now that is not going to happen so we have to become a little more wise therefore here is an evil person they are enjoying good people are suffering so why is it we cannot understand we cannot let go of that thought and so what is the nature of this bondage why are we bound why are we ignorant why is it troubling us what is its nature this is one of the questions that has to be decided and then is there any remedy can we ever get out of this limitation yes that is called Moksha Swaroopa there is Mukti Dharma Artha Kama and Mukti is there a freedom from this and what is the nature of that freedom is it like going to heaven or is it going to like Vaikuntha and sitting near Vishnu no it is complete freedom from all limitation and finally of we got so much of theoretical knowledge how to put it in a practical terms that is called Sadhana and that is the final topic and that means by adopting a particular pathway treading a particular path one slowly progresses and reaches self knowledge whereby he would become completely free from all limitations these are the six topics every script has to discuss we will talk further a few things are there in our next class Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Padu Padmetayo Saritva Pranamami Mohur Moho May Sri Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ramakrishna