Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 49 on 09 November 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Chandogya Upanishad which belongs to the Sama Veda. In our last class, we completed the sixth chapter which is called the Sadvidya chapter. In the Chandogya Upanishad, there are eight chapters and the first to fifth chapters are full of Upasanas or preparatory steps, preliminary steps. Every Upasana, as we discussed in both Chandogya and Taittiriya classes, is a gradual expansion of our identity and thereby losing our finiteness, limitedness until we become one with the Infinite which is called Bhuma or Brahman. Now according to Vedanta, Brahman is defined as Sat, Chit and Ananda. So in this Chandogya Upanishad, the sixth chapter is called Sadvidya or dealing with the explanation of Sat. Sat means pure existence and Sat, Chit and Ananda are not three separate qualities but three ways of describing the same reality. In the seventh chapter, the discussion is all about Ananda that is Brahmananda but instead of saying Brahmananda, the name given here is Bhumananda. Bhuma means infinite, unlimited and Brahman also means unlimited and in the eighth chapter, it is Chitvidya that is to say how knowledge is Brahman and that Brahman is our nature and that is why it starts with Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam, Brahma. Definition of Brahman at the beginning of the second chapter. So the rest is exposition of what is this Chit or what is called Jnanam. So Satyam, Sat in the sixth chapter, Ananda, Anantam both are same is in the seventh chapter and Jnanam is in the eighth chapter. Slight variation. So this is how it goes. Now we have to enter into the seventh chapter. It is called Bhumavidya. The sixth is called Satvidya. Seventh is called Bhumavidya. Bhuma means it has got two meanings actually. So Bhuma means, first meaning is Brahman, Brahma Vidya and that is the first meaning. Second meaning is Bhuma means Anantam or supreme happiness, Anantam and the conclusion according to reason is Na Alpe Sukham Asti. In the limited, there is no Sukha. It is all nothing but Dukha. So one way of defining what is called Sukham is removal of Dukham. Sukham is not defined in itself but every Sukham, so supposing you are carrying a huge weight and you reach home and you unburden or keep that whatever you are carrying and then you sigh a long sigh, oh now I am relieved whether you are walking etc. Including when you have slept too long, you get tired of and so you wake up. So that is waking up from Dukham of too much sleep to Sukham. Everything is limited. That limitation is called Dukham and everything other than Atman is completely limited. Bhumaiva Sukham. Bhumaiva Sukham. Bhuma, the limitless, alone is true happiness. So this chapter especially focuses on the last characteristic that is called Swaroopalakshana called Ananda, Brahmananda here in called Bhumananda. So what is the relationship between the 6th and 7th is related in this way. Sadhvidya or the knowledge of supreme reality as pure existence or pure being has been elaborated in the 6th chapter called Sadhvidya. So therein it is established that all this perceived or conceived by every human being or any being is nothing but in reality pure being. Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. But there are modifications which are the lower manifestations of that supreme reality that has to be described. So the previous chapter that described Sadhvidya, the present chapter proposes to show that by following the grades of reality which is called lower reality. In the 7th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita says this Prakruti is my lower nature thereby bringing a harmony in the Sankhya system of philosophy where Purusha and Prakruti are eternal principles, eternally existing principles but diametrically opposite to each other. Purusha is consciousness, Prakruti is Jidam. There is a dichotomy but by the time of Bhagavad Gita the understanding capacity of human being has improved definitely wherein the person realizes Prakruti is not a separate principle but my own lower nature, lower manifestation. What does it imply? It implies that every Sukha we obtain in this world is nothing but a reflected Sukham of that Brahmananda only. Why do we call reflected? Because just as we can never see our face but the only way we can see our face is to bring a mirror and look at the reflected face. So everything is reflected in this world through every object. This is a wonderful point we have to keep. So Mithya is the word used Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya but many people misunderstand this word Mithya as non-existence or opposite to Brahman. That is not true. Even Vedanta uses the word Aparavidya and Paravidya. Apara means Anatma, Anatmavidya. So why is it called Mithya? Anything that is changing, anything that is dependent for its very existence on somebody cognizing it, that is called Mithya. It is not non-existent but it is partial knowledge of Brahman, finite knowledge of infinite Brahman or Brahman with Nama and Rupa and that is called this world, Jagat. After all, all the three elements in Chandogya or five elements in the Taittiriya are only manifestations of Atman and nothing else. And what is it that every living being is striving for? Only for Ananda. What is Ananda? Here something very wonderful has to be noted down. Ananda is my nature but I think I have lost it. I think I am mistaking that I have lost it. Just like a person forgets who he is and assumes that he is somebody else. So I am not the Atman, I am somebody else. What is that somebody else? Anatma. Therefore, Atma is Brahmananda but Anatma is Alpananda. Alpananda means same Brahmananda but as if I am deriving it from an object. Here in this seventh chapter, the knowledge is given to us. Whatever happiness, rather let me put it this way, whatever existence we perceive in this world, I exist, you exist and infinite number of things exist. They are all deriving their existence from pure being, pure Sat and that was expounded in the sixth chapter. So that's why it is called Satvidya and here same Brahmananda, Ananda means Brahmananda is also being experienced not directly as myself, me being the Ananda Swaroopa but indirectly. I want to be happy and so I eat palatable food. I think food is giving the happiness but no, food acts like a mirror. So every form is a mirror, every sound is a mirror, every smell is a mirror, every touch is a mirror. So every, all the five sense organs, whatever shabda, sparsha, roopa, prasa, ganda are all mirrors. A mirror as we know doesn't have the object but it can reflect the object and we are mistaking what we are seeing in the mirror as our own selves and that is what we are doing literally in this world. What do I mean? So we are all people, the whole universe as it were has become a gigantic mirror. My neighbor is a mirror, my child, my son is a mirror, my mother is a mirror. So do they approve me? Are they happy to see me? So we are looking for their opinion. We are dependent upon their opinion. Foolish thought, even they do not know who they are, much less they are capable of expressing, judging other people. A person who cannot judge, this is a very important role. If I don't know who I am, I will never know who anybody else is. If I cannot judge myself objectively, I can never judge anybody else objectively. So we have to keep this in mind all the time. The whole world, what is fashion? Fashion is a mirror. How do the other person think about me, man or woman, even a dog? Yes, I love my dog and the dog also loves you. How? How do you know? Because the moment it sees, it comes and licks your cheeks and you think stupidly that the dog loves you. You don't understand. The dog is not loving you. The dog is expecting food from you as in the wild when its mother hunts and kills and eats and comes back home. By the time it reaches home, sometimes traveling 40-50 miles or kilometers, then it half digests the food and it is exactly suited like milk is suited to the babies and then all the puppies, they rush and start licking the cheeks of the mother and that provokes a harmonic reaction of vomiting that pre-digested food and this is what your dog is doing exactly to you. Only thing is you cannot digest your own food. Let other people's food. So we are looking for happiness from the other people and that is wrong. That is what this seventh chapter wants to prove very rationally. So how to attain to that Bhuma or Brahmananda? Bhumananda, remember, is another name for Brahmananda. So just merely wishing will not do. Profound psychological truths have been exposed in this seventh chapter. I cannot tell you how much even I am learning from this seventh chapter psychologically. So everything in this world is nothing but Nama and Rupa. Everything that has got a form, we give a specific name to identify it so that I can convey this is what I mean. You bring that particular object, small, big, round, square, whatever, high, low, etc. So step by step, what is the point? Find out where you are. This is what Yathirushamana Maharaj very often used to say. If you want to progress in any field of life, first you understand where you are standing and from there you map out how to progress further. That is what GPS or Guru Parampara system always guides us to that level. So there are 15 steps to reach that Bhumananda. And what does it do? It takes right from our ignorant state and as Sri Ramakrishna says, what is ignorance? It is not absence of knowledge. Ignorance or avidya is not absence of knowledge but it is very influential presence of wrong knowledge. That is called avidya. I know I am so and so. That is avidya. I know you also. That is avidya. I know many other things. That is all avidya. And avidya starts with a particular lowest step and that step is called nama. So you see a tree. Oh, that is a tree. That is a name. The name is for specifying a particular thought. So that is the subject. But how did this nama come out? That is, how do we get names? Because if there is a name and if nobody opens the mouth, we will not know what is it called. How do children, how do we as babies learn how to speak our language? You just try to learn a foreign language, German or English or whatever. You will understand how difficult it is. Why? Because previously you have been inured as it were through your previous knowledge. Now you have to forget those names. Your Hindi, your Bengali, your Telugu, everything you have to forget. But again and again the old demons spring forward. So how does a baby absorb? So naturally like a sponge because the brain is fresh. Mind is old but brain is fresh. So this fresh brain like a sponge very soon it observes this is mama, this is papa, this is uncle, this is brother, this is sister, this is a dog, etc., etc. So whether perceptions or even conceptions, this is called fear, this is called joy, this is called unhappiness or suffering, everything has a name. So the whole world is inundated with names. And another name for this profound ignorance, if you are very little ignorant, you are called ignorant person. If you are profoundly ignorant, you are called a scholar. This is how it goes because you know only that one. Why am I saying that one? Because the very beginning of this chapter, that is how a great sage comes to another great sage and he says that I know I am a great scholar but I am as foolish with regard to real knowledge as anybody else. I know better than anybody else. So this particular seventh chapter is dealing with Bhoma Vidya. What does it want to teach? That our evolution starts from external happiness and if we practice spiritual sadhana then we will evolve and as we evolve we approach nearer and nearer to Atmananda, Brahmananda, here in called Bhumananda and to evolve we have to give up the lower, expand ourselves in the process. The more we expand, the more is the Ananda, that is we become containers. But finally the lesson we have to learn is you are not getting happiness from outside. The whole outside or externality is only a mirror. Actually you are seeing your own face which means I am Atmananda. So there is a Vishayananda, that means any happiness which is limited, which is changing, which is dependent upon an object being present under the right circumstances, that is called Vishayananda. But what is reality? We are only reflecting our own Ananda to a limited extent and that is called Vishayananda. A Vishaya, every Vishaya only reflects our own Ananda depending upon the object. Say for example, a small food material or a piece of dress reflects very little Ananda. But our chosen deity, Ishta Devata or Saguna Brahma reflects very greater happiness. But it is only, still there is a duality is there. But when I become one with my Ishta, that is called Brahman, then I realize that I am Sat, Chit, Ananda, Shivoham, Shivoham. So step by step we have to progress and which step we are, that depends upon our starting point. So we have to find out how do I find out where I am standing right now. Impossible as I said for self-objectification, we need just like to understand our psychological status, we have to pay money and then go to a psychiatrist, trained psychologist or psychiatrist and he has been taught how to find out my psychological status. Such a person is called Guru or Bhava Roga Vaidya. This is a beautiful word because ignorance is compared to a disease. So how much deeper is the disease and how, since how long it has been, whether it has become chronic etc. how deep it is and then how to cure that person gradually, slowly, gradually but surely for that Bhava Roga Vaidya. So like that stage by stage the Guru is necessary. In this seventh chapter, it is a dialogue just like Kato Upanishad is a dialogue. Most of the Upanishads, all Upanishads are dialogues between a realized soul and an aspiring sadhaka. So this is a dialogue between Sanat Kumara and Narada. I want to give a small introduction about this Sanat Kumara. So in our mythological lore, Pauranic lore, it is said that the Supreme Brahman, Saguna Brahma has three functions. Srishti, Stithi, Laya. Creation, sustenance and dissolution and the same Saguna Brahma, when he does creation, he is called Brahma, long oval. When he is maintaining, he is called Vishnu and when he is dissolving us into the materials from which we have been made, that is called Shiva or Parameshwara, etc. So these are the three. Every action, all actions are only Srishti. Some action starts and it continues, it comes to an end. So not only Brahma is creating, Vishnu is maintaining, Shiva is dissolving, every millisecond, whatever actions we are doing, that is also every action has a point of time to start and then it continues for some time and then it disappears. Srishti, Stithi, Laya, Srishti, Stithi, Laya, like this is called Brahma Chakra. It continues, it goes on and on and on. So here also we have to evolve. Evolution is always towards our own selves. Evolution means giving up our limitedness, gradually expanding ourselves and every expansion includes what we have given up. A bigger thing includes a smaller thing like a rupee. Many people give that example. It has got 16 annas. If you take paisa also, it will have 100 maya paisa. So in the olden times, 16 annas, then 4 annas, then 8 annas, then 12 annas, then 1 rupee. So 1 rupee contains everything there. So this Poornam contains what is called segmented reality. Everything is a segmented reality. So what is evolution? Slowly attaining to that oneness, Poornam, infinity and that is achieved only by gradually giving up our limitedness of time, space and object. Desha, Kaala, Vastu, Parichcheda and then the higher includes the lower. Finally evolution ends when we understand we are the infinite because there cannot be anything beyond the infinity. But this is not an intellectual exercise. Really we have to identify ourselves with everything on the way. So the story goes here and this story is very illustrative of each one of our state. There was a great sage called Narada and there are different Naradas are there. So popularly Narada is known as Kalaha Bhojana. His food is creating wars between people. No, Narada means, the highest definition given of Narada is Naram Dadhati Iti Naradaha. Naram means knowledge. When he gives knowledge that you belong to God, you are God and that knowledge whoever gives is called Narada. So we can call our Guru also as Narada only because Narada is a Guru and Narada has been made a special instrument to propagate Bhakti. Ram Krishna always teaches people, instructs people, Kali Kaale Narada Bhakti. In this age of Kali where people are identified so much with the body, especially body and less with the mind, the only way, easiest way or most suitable way is through the Bhakti as inculcated shown by sage Narada. This Narada you can say was a Brahma Gnani. Sri Ram Krishna says after realization of God, this Narada saw the ocean of Satchitananda from a distance and then he became the greatest devotee. Shukadeva saw it or touched it, not even drunk and he became one of the greatest Gnanis. Shiva just took three handfuls and drank and he became intoxicated. This is what Sri Ram Krishna beautifully describes. So Narada was one of the greatest devotees. God kept him with the ego of Bhakti so that he can be a teacher of Bhakti. But how did he become a Naira Brahma? As I mentioned many times in this very Chandogya, in the last chapter that is next chapter that is the 8th chapter, Indra and Virochana, they became what is called Brahma Vidyarthis, seekers of Brahman and they approach Prajapati which is another name for Brahma again. In Mundaka also we get the name Brahma because Brahma means Vedas, Brahma means knowledge and every knowledge is included in the Vedas. That is why there is no Veda, there is no knowledge which is left out by the Vedas which we will not get anywhere outside and a glimpse of it we get in this 7th chapter. So this Narada not even the quarrels that he creates this Narada will always bring only auspiciousness to the quarrelling people. Their egotism is crushed, their devotion increases, they become less egotistic, more humble and the more humble a person the nearer he approaches God or his own nature. So always Narada wants to help people and if they don't listen in a nice manner he will teach nevertheless the same lesson in an unpleasant manner which is called quarrel. But he is the greatest devotee and a devotee will always wish the welfare of the world only, not to speak of the greatest devotee. Anybody who becomes a devotee he or she should wish only because he understands the other doesn't exist. I am the other. So he approaches but what type of Narada was he? So the story goes and every story is only a peg to hang the highest teaching like Kato Upanishad, the story of Vajashravasa and Nachiketa and like that Munnako Upanishad and every other Upanishad. Practically every Upanishad is a teaching and teaching means there must be a teacher and a taught. Without that teaching cannot progress. So this Narada approached Sanath Kumar and then he simply said, teach me about Brahman. Guru said, you have not told me what you know so far so you must be knowing something even to wish something. Nobody can go, even a child can say, Ma, I want to eat a sweet but the child must have eaten the sweet before. He liked it very much. It made him a happy baby and he has a longing to become happier again. So he wants to think that I have to eat then I will be a happy person. That means what? He must have knowledge. So this Narada was not an ordinary person. If he is wanting, I want to attain Brahman. He must have known about Brahman. He must have faith that it is attainable. He must have faith that that is the goal of life. He must have been sure that there have been people to prove that it is possible. All these are implied and then only he also knows how to approach. Because the very story tells us how he approached Sanath Kumar. Just like in the Mundaka Upanishad we say, Samitpani. A Sishya approaches with Samitpani. That is a bundle of firewood on his head and we discussed that symbology. That means what? I am ready to burn all my pre-existing vasanas. So externally it means firewood. The Guru perhaps does some Yagnas and Yagas but a Brahma Gnani, he need not do any more Yagnas and Yagas because the purpose of doing the very Yagnas and Yagas is to progress, to evolve. But since he has reached Brahman, there is nothing more to do. He does not need all those things. That is why Karma Kanda is necessary only as a preparation. Once a person attains the highest result of Karma Kanda, he need not bother about it. He must straight away enter into what is called Jnana Kanda in his introduction to the Brahma Sutras and Shankaracharya about one and a half page introduction he writes. So that is an introduction of what is called Adhyasa Bhashya. A beautiful commentary on superimposition or you can say Avidya. And then only he goes into the Brahma Sutra. The very first Sutra in this Brahma Sutra, Atha Athaha Brahma Ignasa. Atha therefore Athaha. So I have completed all the things. Now I have to enter into an enquiry into what is the nature of Brahman, how to attain Brahman, more important. So the Purvapakshi or the opposition raises a question. So Atha here does not mean Brahma. It means Dharmashastra. Then Shankara gives a beautiful answer there. He says this person has practiced Karma Kanda, had reached the end of Karma Kanda, has gone beyond the need for Karma Kanda. Like as soon as a child, he requires the help of an apple and other objects to identify the alphabet A, B etc. And then only he can progress. But as soon as he masters that one, he does not need all these small representations made up of wax, apple etc. So he can start reading the books. Like that, a person who has already gone through this Karma Kanda, only for him the desire for Brahma Jnana will come. So Brahma Jnana cannot be desired by a person who is still in the Karma Kanda status or level. Because what is Karma Kanda? One who is full of Anatma desires, that is Apara, this world. I want to go to Swarga Loka, Indra Loka, Goloka and then Brahma Loka, Sathya Loka etc. For him only Karma Kanda is necessary. Because there is an invariable relationship between Kama and Karma. Avidya means ignorance, makes one feel I lack everything and yet I must make myself devoid of lacking. And that is called desire. And desire propels a person into action. Action brings the result which will satisfy but it can increase the thirst, Tanha, more and more. But a person who says that I have experienced these things and I know the worth of them, they are worthless. What is the worth of worldly objects? Worthless. Then only Tatha came. What then? Then only his mind turns towards Brahman. So this Narada was an embodiment in what is called a walking encyclopedia which we will see in the very first section. And this 7th chapter has got 26 sections. Earlier in the 6th one we have seen 16 chapters and this has got 26 sections. But don't worry, sometimes the mantras are very very small mantras. So what is meant? This Narada, he became restless. Why did he become restless? Because he wants to realize Brahman. Why does he want to realize Brahman? Because he has no worldly desires. And who can have no desire for worldly objects? One who had already experienced and one who understood the nature of. So you may, I and you may experience a sweet for a billion times. But until I realize that this is worthless in nature because this enslaves me and it doesn't give me anything new, so I want to get out of this bondage. Only then I am a real wise person. Until that time, even if I know this is a small object and this is its nature, but I desire it again and again and again and again, that is not knowledge. Such a person, if he is skillful in obtaining things, he is called a Pandita. And if he is not skillful, he is called a Pamara or an ignorant person. That is all the difference. Narada, he has gone beyond. He stood back. I know everything. I experienced everything. I enjoyed everything. What did I get? Did I get Ananda? No. I got temporary pleasure. Don't make any mistake that there is no temporary pleasure. Pleasure, but pleasure always comes with pain. Sukha, Dukha, they alternate all the time. So I experienced everything. That's what Sri Ramakrishna used to say that unless a person goes from the Jamedar to Jamindar, Jamindar means a lavatory cleaner and Jamindar means a landlord or a king, one cannot turn towards God because the curiosity will be there. If I become a president of a nation or a prime minister of a nation or if a king, an emperor, then what do you get? Same food. Here is a psychological fact beautifully illustrated that supposing there is a poor man at noon, 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock. After hard work, he becomes ravenously hungry and there is another rich man. He is in an air-conditioned room and he is sitting there whole day talking to people, managing business, etc. Do you think he will become hungry with that? No. And both of them are served food and most likely the poor person is to enjoy it much more because the happiness of enjoyment doesn't come from the object. It comes how much we are in need of that object. If I am very thirsty, even ordinary water will taste like nectar and if I am not thirsty, even best ice cream also only ends in scream. So people cannot understand these simple psychological truths. Narada understood. All this knowledge is worthless. We will come to what Ram Krishna has to say about these things later on. But this is the story. And then he approached his Guru in the proper way. That is, he is ready. First of all, he has faith. This teacher can take me across the bondage of this world. He can enlighten me first because he is a realized soul. He is an authentic person. Secondly, he loves me and he teaches me not with any motivation but purely for my own good. Because every realized soul looks upon every other thing as his own self. So this is the faith of the disciple. And he surrenders himself completely. Tad viddhi pranipatena. Pranipata means complete self-surrender. Then pariprasnena. He has to ask the question. Sevaya. So Narada simply did not come, knocked at the door, entered into this and then he met Sanath Kumara and then said, Sir, please teach me Brahma Vidya. This is only to be brief. But so many steps have been eliminated in the meanwhile. He must have come. He must have stayed. He must have observed. He must have practiced Brahmacharya or Tapasya. And then the teacher said that first thing is Sharanagati. Second thing is he pleased the Guru with so much of seva. And then only pariprasnena. Appropriate questions. That is very important. A right disciple never wastes either his time or other person's time only with useless questions. Just like many people come and we see even in the lives of direct disciples. One person, I was reading the life of Swami Advaitananda ji as we saw him, members of Swami Advaitananda. One person came and asked, what is the difference between bhava samadhi and chetana samadhi? And then of course patiently Swami Advaitananda ji answers everything. But the point is can you concentrate your mind for at least two minutes on any subject? If you are not able to do it, your question is like a child who does not know how to add 2 plus 2, wants to meet Einstein and ask his general theory of relativity. It will be foolish like that. No. So the appropriate questions and how can a person ask? Because he must be aware. This is where I am now and I need to go move forward. And what is the way to move forward? We have seen in the last sixth chapter, a person was brought from Gandharadesh. It is to illustrate the necessity of a guru. What is the right question? I am blindfolded. I don't know where I am but I know where from I have come and please guide me to reach my own place. The person is not completely ignorant. He is ignorant of the strange country. So much meaning is there in that. So Narada, he approached at the right time when the teacher is very receptive, very pleased, ready to answer his questions. Pariprasna. He said that teach me. But the teacher, he asked in his turn, you did not tell me what you have learned so far. Where you are? Let me first find out where you are. Then only I can guide you further. And then you know what Narada answers? I read all the Vedas. That means I read all the Upanishads. That means I have studied Chandogya Upanishad. And I don't know who was that Narada, who was the Sanat Kumara, whom this Narada had read about. Because this story comes in the Chandogya 7th chapter. So I read this. Not only that, I am aware of 60 according to Indian tradition. 64 Kalas are there. I know everything about material science. I know everything about aesthetic science, music, etc. I know how to predict the future. I know what treasures are to be found without digging. All those big lists, we are going to come probably tomorrow. And then Sanat Kumara asked him that you know so much. Then why did you come to me? Because maybe I myself don't know what you know. Then Narada says no. These are all information only. I am like an AI. So you feed all the Vedas. It becomes like Narada. You feed all the sciences to AI machine. And it digests everything. It gives correct answers also. It does so many things. What is it? Only a machine. So like that, I am only Kharas Chandana Bharavahi Bharasya Veda Natu Chandanasya. There is a Sanskrit saying, I am only a donkey carrying a bundle of sandalwood. I am completely ignorant about the fine fragrance that comes out of the sandalwood. Bharasya Veda. I know only how much weight is there. Natu Chandanasya. I know nothing about the sandalwood. So that is the condition. That is my condition, Narada says. This is all information. Only words and words and words and words. Every great Pandit, he knows how to quote and he can argue for hours together, days together. But does he know the meaning of it? That is the important thing. What does it mean? Even to know the meaning, it is an intellectual process. It is nothing. But what it means is, has your life become transformed by this information? That's a very important point. So Narada's life, he knew that he is an ignorant person. Exactly like Socrates. As you know, Socrates was declared by the Delphi Oracle, you are the wisest person in this whole world. And being a wise person, he questioned himself, am I really the wise person? People like us, we would be very happy. Oh, he declared, I am the wisest person. Oh, even this Oracle recognizes that I am the wisest person. Not only I am thinking myself, I am the wisest fellow. I gave certificate to myself, but even there is somebody to support me. So, Socrates, the story goes, he knew many people who knew more than what he knows. So he goes and interviews all of them, comes back and then he certifies himself. Now I know why I am the wisest person as the Delphi Oracle declared. Why are you, sir, the wisest person? And then he answers himself, I am the wisest person because I know that I am an ignorant person. Whereas the other wise persons I met, they concurred with me and said, yes, yes, you are right. We are all very wise people. So to know that I do not know is the beginning of wisdom. Then only the inquiry will come. Since I know definitely I do not know, then I want to know. So what is meant is that these books and books, AI, Artificial Intelligence is the greatest example we can give today. Google, research Google, many, much information will come and many professors, they write books also and they get PhD degrees also. Do they know what they are writing about? They are only gatherers of information, not really the truth. And then how do we know? That he says that I am very much grieving. I am a grieving person. I am an ignorant person. Who grieves? Only an ignorant person grieves. A wise person never grieves. That is how Bhagavad Gita starts in the eleventh shloka of the second chapter that the very first thing he says is that a pandita is one. So he never grieves, neither for the living nor for the dead. Why? Because he knows the truth. There is no living, no dead. Everything is the Atman. A wise man is one who is immersed in Atmanandam. Nanasocanti means they do not grieve. Who does not grieve? It is not a neutral condition. I am neither happy nor unhappy, but they are positively experiencing Brahmanandam. That is the truth about it. So this is how the whole thing beautifully goes. So this seventh chapter is about Bhumananda and Narada approached Sanat Kumara. That means none of us can dare presume that by reading books we are going to get a Guru. A teacher is absolutely necessary and we have to surrender to him. And then we have to accept his words as Veda. And then we have to put practice and we have to prove that our Guru is a wise man. Not by saying he is a wise man, but by experiencing in one's own life that transformation. That is the only proof whether my Guru is great or not. So this very introduction story, then Narada says, asked by his Guru, what do you know so far? I know so many things. But then why did you come? Because Aham Shocami and Bhavan Mam. So you take me out of this ocean of suffering. Bhavan Tarayatu. May you rescue me, take me out. How? By making me realize that I am not Narada, I am not a human being, I am not the body-mind, but I am Brahman. That is the only way. There is no other way. And then Sanat Kumara begins his teaching. What you yourself, oh Narada, have expressed just now, everything is information, but it is not wisdom. But then Sanat Kumara adds an addendum. What does he say? But information is the very first step. Without information, another name for information is Nama. Without this Nama, nobody can progress even one single millimeter. About this subject, we will talk tomorrow. Om Jananem Shardam Deve Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padmetayos Ritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna