Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 83 on 08 March 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAKPRANASYAKSHUH SHROTRAM ATHO BALAMINDRIYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAMA BRAHMANIRAKARO ANIRAKARANAM ASTVANIRAKARANAM ME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHAD SU DHARMA TE MAI SANTU TE MAI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HA RE HE OM OM May my limbs, speech, vital force, eyes, ears, as also strength, and all the organs become well developed. Everything is the Brahman revealed in the Upanishads. May I not deny Brahman. May not Brahman deny me. Let there be no spurning of me by Brahman. Let there be no rejection of Brahman by me. May all the virtues that are spoken of in the Upanishads repose in me. I am engaged in the pursuit of the Self. May they repose in me. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL In our last class, we were studying the 23rd section called Bhumananda and there is only one mantra in this section and it goes like this. YO VAI BHUMA TAT SUKHAM NA ALPE SUKHAM ASTI BHUMA EVA SUKHAM BHUMA TU EVA VIJIGNAASI TAV YAHA ITI BHUMANAM BHAGAVAHA VIJIGNAASA ITI There is only one source of Anandam in the whole of creation and that is called Bhumananda, Brahmananda, Atmananda or Anantananda, whatever we say. And then Sanat Kumara says SUKHAM ALPE NA ASTI In any finite object, let it be the world, let it be any object, let it be our body, our mind, our family members, there is no happiness at all. And there is only one source of Anandam and that is called Bhuma, whether we call it our objective pleasure or the happiness in the mind, joy or whether it is infinite happiness. There are no two types of happinesses, only one. Then what is it that we experience? We are going to explore that one. Bhuma means that which has no limit, unlimited, infinite, otherwise also Brahman, Atman, etc. And so here Sanat Kumara is telling us, teaching us, the infinite alone is really Sukham. Does it mean to say that there is no happiness in this world, in our body, in our mind? He is not saying no. He is trying to dispel the idea in our minds that the happiness belongs to anything in this world. My world means ourselves and everything else. Then what is the happiness we are experiencing? It is nothing but reflected happiness. Just like it is said if you put a number of mirrors in front of a temperamental dog, then immediately it jumps forward and then tries to bark and fight. It doesn't seem to recognize whatever I am seeing. Not if it is one mirror, one dog. There are as many mirrors, so many dogs. No, they are all nothing but reflected reflections of that one being. How do we know? Because as soon as a mirror is broken, that particular reflection will disappear. If all the mirrors are broken, all the dogs will go. But what remains? The original dog. If we can try to understand this, what it means is every object in this world is like a mirror and that Atmananda, Brahmananda, Bhumananda, Paramananda, Infinite Ananda is only reflecting it. And I also explained the psychology of it. Once more I will explain it when the time comes. So all the Upanishads, as we have seen, they are trying to tell us only three things. Not only Upanishads, every scripture tells us only three things. What is our nature? What is our goal of life? And how to recollect what we really are? That is what Swami Vivekananda had put in the three sentences. Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest that divinity. That is called evolution. And there are methods. How many methods? Method means ways. How many ways? Since Brahman is infinite, infinite ways are there. So every Upanishad is trying to describe different Rishis, different languages, different words. But the essence, the substance is one and the same. So this is what we find in the Taittiriya Upanishad, in the third chapter, Rig Valli. अनन्दो ब्रम्हेति इजानात अनन्धा धेवा कल्वेमानि भूतानि जायन्ते अनन्धेन जातानि जीवन्ति अनन्धं प्रेन्ति अविसंभिषन्ति थी That is everything, the whole universe is born out of Ananda and it is sustained by Ananda and it goes back to Ananda. That is the highest truth. परम सत्यम् So find it out. How? There in Bhrigu, Varuna teaches to Bhrigu, a fit aspirant, अधिकारी सिष्य, what does he say? तपसा ब्रह्म विजिग्ना सस्वा So you try to realize that I am Brahman. How? Through Tapasya. What is Tapasya? Intense effort to remove the misunderstanding that I am not the Brahman. I am not Brahman. I am not the Atman. That is the misunderstanding. What is right understanding? That I am Brahman. So one need not actually even try to attain. One only has to recollect like a prince who has been kidnapped when he was a baby and being brought up by beggars or thieves, thinks he is a beggar, thinks he is a thief. But when somebody recognizes him and then tries to teach him, you are not a beggar. You are prince. You own this whole kingdom. At first it is disbelief. Second step, maybe that is truth. Third, yes I know now. Aham Brahmasmi. So that is we say. And this Brahman has got three epithets, Sat, Chit and Ananda. And they are one and the same. Therefore Sanat Kumara says that actually this whole universe also is nothing but Brahman. But because I do not know that, I say that I am different, the world is different, everything is different, everything is changing. So I have to come to the truth. So that is what Sanat Kumara is trying to teach. There is no finite object, no finite body, no finite mind, no finite thought which contains happiness as its nature. So happiness is not a part of anything in this creation. And therefore some wise people have formulated there are five features of happiness. What are these five features of happiness? So we have to apply these five features to Sat, pure existence, to Chit, pure consciousness, and to Ananda, pure bliss. So Sat, Chit, Ananda, pure existence, pure knowledge, and pure bliss. What Swami Vivekananda had put it, absolute existence, absolute knowledge, absolute bliss. These are not three separate qualities but these are the three descriptions of Brahman. And wherever there is one, for example a tree exists, therefore it is Brahman. Why? Because existence cannot be separated from Chit and Ananda. So that is what. What are these five features that were found out by the wise people? The first feature is happiness is not a part or a product or the production or a property of anything in creation. Why do we say? That is why Upanishad is trying to tell us, So what is this? Here we are talking about happiness. Apply, as I said, same thing to Chit and Sat also. So pure existence, for example, is not a part or a product or a property of anything in this world, in this creation. Similarly, Anandam or happiness is not a part or product or property of anything in creation. Similarly, pure consciousness is not a part or a product or a property of anything in the creation. Why? How do we understand? Because if happiness is finite, then as soon as the medium, the instrument through which we are supposed to get happiness, such as food, cloths or any object that is experienced through the five sense organs, as soon as they change, our happiness also will change. Not only happiness will change, it changes into its opposite unhappiness and that is not desirable and Upanishad never accepts this. So happiness, because we are talking about happiness, Bhumananda is not a part or a product or property of anything. It's not a part of a sweet or a product. It is sweet. It gives happiness. It is bitter. It doesn't give happiness. No, it's not a product or it is not a property like red rose, green rose, fragrant rose, big rose, etc. Neither a part nor a product nor a property. And what is the second feature of happiness? Happiness is absolutely independent which pervades certain objects. Remember, mind also is an object at certain times. Please remember it. Happiness is an independent entity. It is pure. It is absolute. It is pure happiness called Brahmananda. Brahmananda is even two words, not necessary. Brahman is happiness, not Brahman's happiness. Happiness is not a property of Brahman. It is Brahman. So this happiness pervades or manifests at certain times because of certain circumstances, at certain times and manifests as what we call happiness. It is called Pratibimba Ananda. Brahman as happiness is called Bimbananda. And when this happiness reflects in any object, that is called Pratibimba, reflected joy, reflected happiness, reflected and an object becomes a mirror. So whenever we are happy at that moment, that for some reason, such a combination of circumstances, that Atmananda manifests or better reflects. One example is given. So when we see full moon, beautiful light is coming, very soothing, very cool and we know that the moon doesn't have any light, but it is only a reflection of the sun upon the moon, upon the earth, upon everything. And if we go to the Taittiriya Upanishad, again there is what is called Priya, Modha and Pramodha. What are these? When a person thinks of an object and becomes happy, it is called Priya. And when a person gets it actually in hand and he has to enjoy it, that is called Modha. So thinking, the object is far away. Obtaining the object, it is right. The sweet, for example, is right in my hand. How much happiness? Because only the cup on the lip, that is the only distance. But when that sweet touches my tongue, that is called Pramodha. All these, remember, are nothing but thoughts in the mind. Oh, that is a beautiful object. Oh, in front of me is that object. Now I am enjoying that object. These are all higher and higher manifestations of happiness and at times we experience it. But we have to understand, this is what Sanat Maharaj wants to teach, that this infinite Ananda is only reflecting through this sweet. And just to remind you again and again, so I feel hungry, so I get this sweet. So what does this sweet do? It takes away my hunger and that hunger is called Dukha, unhappiness. It acts like a curtain hiding my own reflection. If you put a curtain in front of you, even if you are looking at the mirror, only the curtain is reflected, not me, not you, not anything. But remove that and you will get it. So what does the object do? It removes an obstruction that has risen earlier. What was this person before hunger came? With regard to food, he was a happy person. So like that, if the person is suffering from cold, with regard to cold, there is a covering, there is an obstruction. And by putting on warm clothing or entering into a heated room, that obstruction called coldness is removed. Then he feels, I am happy. What happened? The psychological obstruction in the form of suffering, which indicates a desire, that is removed. When the desire is removed, we experience what we are and that is called happiness, Ananda and that is called reflected. And of course, we have to understand every type of happiness as its own, what is called level, which we have seen in the past classes, the five laws of happiness, you have to remember. So what does the second law of happiness say? That when that Brahmananda or Bhoomananda in this chapter is reflected through any object, it is only that Bhoomananda alone is being reflected and that is not the original happiness. It is called Pratibhimananda. Now we come to the third feature. Happiness is not limited by the limitations of either our mind or body or thought or by any object. Happiness is infinite. It extends beyond this world. That is the third law or third feature of happiness because happiness is all-pervading, just as consciousness, Chaitanyam is also all-pervading. So in the sixth chapter, which we have studied, the very first teaching is So Shweta Ketu was taught that there is nothing else except pure existence. Sat means pure existence and that is becoming reflected through the body-mind. So because we are experiencing happiness through a limited object, we call the tree exists, the table exists, the man exists, etc. But remove that the man, the tree, the table, what remains is, is, is. So that pure existence without any covering up, that is called pure existence. So Devasoumya Itam. Itam means this whole universe was nothing but Brahman in the form of pure existence. Then we have to add in the form of pure consciousness, in the form of pure bliss. But as soon as we limit, our mind is the instrument which limits. Therefore, mind is called consisting of time, space and causation. Therefore, we have to understand if we are talking about happiness, we are also talking about existence, we are also talking about bliss and we are also talking about existence, consciousness and bliss. So when, now we go to the fourth feature, what is that? That pure happiness continues to exist even when the happy thought in the mind ends. Let me rephrase it, that pure happiness continues to exist even when we feel unhappy. When we feel unhappy, we try to remove it by taking appropriate measures, then that obstruction is removed. But even when that unhappiness is there, but the happiness continues to exist even when this happy thought comes to an end. And when the thought comes to an end, happiness or unhappiness are nothing but thoughts, then that happiness also seems to be coming to an end. But even when our thoughts of misery or unhappiness ends, the pure existence continues to survive. Like when a person is alive, he is conscious, but when the person is dead, consciousness is not dead, but like a bulb which becomes fused, electricity is always there, but the bulb is not able to light up because the connection, the power of the instrumental fitness has disappeared. So what has ended? Only this reflection of happiness or existence or consciousness in our minds, that is called Pratibimbananda has ended, but the pure Chidananda continues. Chidananda is also called Bimbananda, Argumananda, Atmananda, Brahmananda, etc. Infinite Ananda. So in the Taittiriya Upanishad, we get it that Brahman is described as Raso Vaisaha. He is the very nature of Rasa. Rasa means Ananda. Here Bimba means original happiness. Pratibimba means reflected happiness. So pure consciousness, reflected consciousness, pure existence, reflected existence. So even if anything dies in this world, everything dies, both living and non-living. Mountains were not there, mountains came into being. Then rivers were not there, rivers came into being. So everything comes into being whether they manifest life or not. Another point always we have to keep in mind is when we divide this is living and this is non-living. Non-living means here is a stone. A stone is what we call non-living. There is no vital force there, but it is existing because we say the stone is. And wherever there is existence, it cannot be separated from the Chaitanyam, Chit and Anandam. But they are not able to manifest because to manifest all the three, we require a mind. That's why a rock, a stone exists. Who says a stone exists? The stone doesn't say I don't experience consciousness or Ananda, but I experience existence because I am. There is no consciousness. Therefore, the stone doesn't say, cannot say, will never say that I am. It is only a living creature. The living creature means there must be life and where there is life, there is consciousness. That alone can say yes, I am existent, I am conscious and I am also very happy. So this is the fourth. Even when the medium is not there, but the infinite because it is infinite and infinite doesn't know what is called an end and what ends seemingly is called finite. Actually, according to Upanishad, there is no finiteness. That is also nothing but infinite only. Only we are not aware of it. So even when unhappy thoughts or happy thoughts both come to an end, pure happiness, pure existence, pure consciousness always exists. That brings us to the fifth feature. Even when the happy thought ends or even when the mind is dissolved, the surviving pure happiness is not accessible to us. What is the example? When the waking state comes to an end, when the dream state comes to an end, that means the mind stops functioning. The mind doesn't die but it becomes dysfunctional, non-functional for the time being. That is called a state of Sushupti and how much experience we have. How do we know? Upon waking up, we say I was very happy. You don't say somebody was very happy. That means what? I was there. I was experiencing this state and it is a very happy state because for the time being all duality has completely come to an end. So these are the five features of happiness, consciousness and existence and this pure happiness is known as Bhoma. And supposing a person says when I am eating a sweet, I get so much of happiness. What will you say? A sweet doesn't produce happiness but it removes an obstruction to our own nature and we experience Anandam from our own Anandam, not that is coming from any other object. What is the example? Ramakrishna gives two examples. A dog chewing a dry bone. A camel eating thorny bushes. Therefore, Sanat Kumara says Bhuma Tuyeva Jigna Stavyam. I hope, O Narada, I have explained. You are an intelligent student. You must be understanding. Therefore, the only happiness that exists, that will forever, that is called infinite happiness, that is called Bhuma. Therefore, understand it and contemplate it and become one with it and I am going to help you and how? Through imparting knowledge and that knowledge is called Bhuma Vidya and Narada instantaneously understands and unhesitatingly replies. So I would like to become one with that, not experience happiness but become happiness. So Sanat Kumara is going to define what is that Bhuma, Anandam, that which is infinite. We already spoke about it but he wants to now describe that Bhumananda trying to use what we call negative language, Neti Neti, not this, not this. Therefore, this is the essence of 23rd section. Now we are entering into the 24th section. This is where Sanat Kumara is trying to define though even though it is not definable, Bhumananda, Brahmananda, Brahman, Atman, not definable but through using like in Brihadaranyaka, Neti Neti, not this, not this and that is what is going to come here. So we are going to read it. So this is the second mantra in the 24th section. What is it? First he says the negative characteristics and then he elaborates it a bit further and then so he is going to describe in negative terms. Beautiful description is there. When a person through Tapasya, through intense Sadhana, he negates not this world, not the body, not the mind, not the waking state, not the dream state, not the deep sleep state and that is what What is that state? Yatra, in which state? Anyat na pashyati. It doesn't see a second. That means it is infinite, not finite. There is no second object and so if there is a second object, one does see it and this is what we are doing all the time. But that state in the state of Brahman, in the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, there is no second for me to see. There is no other for me to hear. That means through these two, Sanat Kumara is negating all the experiences that we get and we are living through the five sense organs. Shabda, Sparsha, Rupa, Prasagandha. They are not mentioned here but we have to say that we have to add them to understand and then what about the mind? And what the mind also doesn't know because even knowing, I am the knower and the subject is to be known and there is an instrument of knowledge. This is called Triputi. Wherever we use a meaningful sentence in English language, supposing I say, for example, that I see, that makes no sense. What do you see? I see a tree. I see a tree. So I is the person who is seeing subject. Tree is the object and through the instrumentality of the mind and sense organs, this person sees. I smell. I taste. I touch. I hear. All these, I am separate and everything is separate. Remember that Vedantic principle, whatever I am experiencing is not me. But that means there is a state where I don't hear, I don't see, I don't taste, I don't smell, I don't touch. Why? Because body is not there and when body is not there, we have to take it for granted. Mind also is useless without body. Body is also useless without the mind. How do you say so? Am I not seeing dreams? There is no physical body. But even what I see in dreams are the impressions I am playing with only when I experience them through the gross physical body. Without the body, there is no mind. That's why physical body is called Sthula Sarera and subtle body, the mind is called subtle mind. That's all. So all the three states, reality is there. But this state called Turiya Vastha in Mandukya and here it is called Brahman or Bhuma. So there is nobody to see. There is nothing else to see. Everything is Brahman. In other words, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. So Yatra Na Anyat Pashyati Where one doesn't see anything. Why? Not because he is blind but because there is no second object. Same law. So not because there is some object called sound. No, there is no object. So also through the mind. Na Anyat Vijayanati Sabhuma. Atha Yatra Anyat Pashyati Anyat Srunoti Anyat Vijayanati Tadalpa. Now he is putting slightly positive language. Who is putting? Sanat Kumara. To whom? To Narada. He says Atha. Now I'll put this same teaching in slightly different words. Yatra Anyat Pashyati. If somebody is seeing something else. Anyat Srunoti. When somebody is hearing something. Anyat Vijayanati. Somebody is trying to know, is trying to have obtained knowledge of something else. That is not Bhuma. That is not Brahman. Tadalpam. That is finite. That is to say, the duality exists only in finiteness, not in infinity. And then in the third statement, in the second mantra, what is Sanat Kumara telling? Yomai Bhuma. Yomai Bhuma. That which is infinite. Tad Amrutam. That alone is immortal. Immortal means eternal. Eternal means beyond birth, growth and death. Atha Alpam Tanmarthyam. But whatever is finite. Alpam means small. Alpam means limited. Tatmarthyam. That is martyam means that is maranasvabhava. That which comes to an end. So whatever is finite, that comes to an end. And in simple words, it means whatever is subject to time, space and causation, that comes to an end. That is why if there is birth, there is death. If there is a what is called production date, date of manufacture, date of also, we should not use it any longer. They always go together. So original sat and happiness, both are also in the same way. So therefore, Chideva Anandaha. Pure consciousness is that Bhumananda, that pure sat. And happiness is sat. Chit is happiness. Ananda is sat and chit. Three words. Chit, chit eva, anandam and sat. Anandam eva, both sat and chit. And sat also is chit and ananda. Three different names. But they are talking about one and the same thing. And that is called Brahman or Atman. But when these three characteristics, sat, chit and ananda are manifest in the world, we call them Pratibimba Anandam. That's all. So what is this Pratibimba Ananda reflected consciousness? We have to say since there are three characteristics of Brahman. When sat reflects in our minds, that is called Sat Abasaha. When chit reflects in our mind, that is called Chit Abasaha. When ananda reflects in the mind, that is called Ananda Abasaha. Abasa means reflection. If you can understand the difference between Bhuma and what is Alpam. So this original Sat, Chit, Ananda alone is called Satyam, Gnanam, Anandam. Instead of using Ananda, Sat, Chit, Ananda, this Taittiriya second chapter called Anandavalli says Satyam, Gnanam, Anandam. Anandam means infinite. So let me put it this way. Infinite existence, infinite consciousness and infinite bliss. That is called Anandam. And they are not three, they are one expressed in three different ways. And that is called Brahman, that is called Atman, that is called Bhuma. So therefore Sanat Kumara, a wonderful teacher, so he is telling that Bhuma, Brahma, that one who has become one with Bhuma, he doesn't see, doesn't hear, he doesn't know. Bhuma is non-dual Brahman. But where a person sees, person hears, person comes to know, that means a person is experiencing and he is called subject. Inevitably, wherever there is subject, there is an object. And inevitably, where there is an object, there is a subject. Now a very important point that but we are experiencing so many things. Yes, but our experience is not the ultimate knowledge. It is not even worldly knowledge. Experience has to be very carefully understood as different from knowledge. What is the example? Then you will understand what I am talking about it. So we experience sunrise. So what is the time now? It is 5.30. The sun is just risen. It is a universal experience to everybody, every creature in the whole world. But that is an experience. But what do the scientists say? That the sun neither goes down nor goes up. It is continuously moving and everything else is moving around it. There is no sunrise or sunset. How? If somebody in the East is experiencing what he calls at six o'clock, that means as we move further west, so one hour behind, two hours behind, eight hours behind. So what is the day in the East? Maybe will be night in the West. And what is night in the West? Will be day in the East. But we are experiencing day and night. There is no day. There is no night. It is all an illusion. But still we are experiencing it. We are experiencing a dream. But upon waking up, we understand that it is nothing but our imagination. There is not the slightest resemblance with what is called truth, knowledge. So we are experiencing Ananda in this transactional world. But just like we experience sunrise, sunset, it is not there in anything. But it is totally independent. It is not limited. It is unlimited. And you are also not limited. You are also unlimited. So Sanat Kumara says that whatever you are experiencing is not the truth. What is it? Tad alpam. So it is finite. So that is what he says in Vidyaranya. He beautifully explains this. So when we look at the world, Vedantic technology, it says the world consists of five things. What are they? Sat, Chit, Ananda plus Nama and Rupa. Adhyatrayam, Brahma Rupa. That is Asti means existence. Bhati means Chit, that which is consciousness. Priyam, that which is Anandam. These three. These are called Adhyatrayam. The three words that come at the beginning in this sentence. Brahma Rupa. That is the real nature of Brahman. Then there are two words left out. So Nama and Rupa, they belong to the world. So Brahman plus Nama Rupa is the world. This is what Vidyaranya Swami says. So it alpam, tat martyam, pratibhim anandam. Reflected happiness is alpam because remember whatever is reflected, call it Sat, call it Chit, call it Ananda. Tat alpam, it is very little, finite. Tat martyam, martyam means it will die also. What comes, it will die. Jo aata hai, jata hai. So with this definition of Brahman as Ananda is over. Now Narada having understood it is asking another question. What is he asking? Bhagavaha, Bhagavaha, O Guruji, O Sanatkumarji, Bhagavan means Guru, Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo, Maheshwara, your Lord Himself because pure knowledge is called Guru. So O Bhagavan, Sah, that Guruma about whom you are telling, Kasmin Pratishtitaha, so where is it established? Iti. Sve Mahimni iti va na Mahimna iti. So Narada's doubt was, so he is addressing and still please tell me where is that Brahmananda located? Why is this question? Because that is our experience. Where is Ananda located? In his feet. Where is what we call suffering located? That is also it could be what is called uncomfortable weather, hot, cold or enemies or bitterness etc. So who supports this Brahmananda? So what is the source? How is it supported? Is it really supported or is it not supported? Why this question comes? Because the happiness that we get which Sanatkumara had termed as Vishayananda, Alpananda, Martyananda just now. So this is experiential happiness in this transactional world. Everything has a support. What do you mean? So I want happiness and happiness is associated with a sweet for example. Sweet supports this Ananda. So when it is very cold, a heater supports my Ananda. When it is very hot, an air conditioner supports my Ananda. So for every bit of Ananda or Dukkha or suffering what we call, there is some medium. That medium supports either food or a sound, all the five objects of the sense organs, a form, a sound, a taste, a touch and a smell, all these things. So every experiential Ananda, every Ananda we are deriving from through the medium and that medium is the support. If there is no sweet, there is no sweet Ananda. If there is no heater, there is no heat, what is called cool Ananda. When there is no air conditioner, there is no cool Ananda. So we can apply it from birth to death. Everything will depend for a medium. But so Narada wants. For whose sake? For our sake. Narada is also teaching for our sake. Every Pratibimba Ananda, reflected happiness, there is a support called Ashraya. But Bimbananda, original happiness, Brahmananda, Atmananda, does he also depend upon somebody? So if so, Pratishtitaka, what is its support? Sanat Kumara says, what a unintelligent question you are putting. No, because Brahman is infinite, remember. Pratishtitaka, Brahman is supported by its own glory or in its own glory. And then he also says, na mahim na, perhaps even it doesn't help. Very briefly what it means is, just as we always derive some happiness or unhappiness, for both we need support. So the happiness of Brahman, does it also have a support? That support is called here mahim na, glory. So what is its glory? And what is the meaning of glory? In brief, when we say this human being, so a king, a president, a prime minister, they are glorious. A great musician is glorious. What do you mean by that? Actually speaking, the riches are separate, the power is separate and the possessions are separate. When a rich man minus riches, he is not glorious. When a president, when he is removed or when he retires or when he doesn't win, he will not have the power. A musician, when he becomes old or he might become, even lose his memory, then he is no more a great musician. In this world, because we all depend upon something else, when that something else disappears, we lose the result of it. Is Brahman like that? No, because Brahman is pure existence, pure knowledge and pure bliss. This is what he says. Brahman doesn't require a support because Brahman is supported by its own glory, by its own sat, by its own chit, by its own ananda. So this is the answer he gives. And then secondly he says, perhaps there is no glory. Why? Because as we understand in the world, the glory of each one of us lasts only when there is a body that is an instrument, when there is a mind that is an instrument, when we have knowledge that is an instrument, when we have ignorance because we can be glorified also. He is the greatest fool I have ever seen. He is the ugliest person that anybody has ever seen. So we are dependent. This is called dependent existence. This is one of the most important philosophical points in Buddhism. Everything has only a dependent existence. But Brahman is one, infinite. You cannot even say it is dependent upon something else. You cannot even say it is dependent upon itself. These are all words, descriptions that can be used only in the world of duality, transactional world. With this I will stop now and if there are any questions, we will talk about them. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti.