Kaivalya Upanishad Lecture 22 on 31 December 2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We have been enjoying the Kaivalya Upanishad. We have come to the end of this Upanishad. The great Rishi Pashvalayana had obtained instructions how to realize God, how to realize Brahman. This Kaivalya Upanishad containing gems from the thoughts of every other Upanishad, containing only 26 mantras, is a most marvelous thing. In our last class, we have been talking about the glory of Shatarudriyam. And today, I would like to give a small introduction to this Shatarudriyam. What is the mantra telling? It is the 25th mantra. The person who regularly does Parayanam, chants this particular text called Shatarudriyam, what does he gain? He gains the grace of Lord Shiva. Because Rudriyam is all about the glory of Shiva, containing two beautiful texts called Namakam and Chamakam. And what does Shiva's grace do? Whatever defects, whatever shortcomings a sadhak has, because of which he is not able to progress further in spiritual life, all of them will be completely removed. That is the first benefit by the grace of Lord Shiva. Shiva himself washes his child, cleans him, makes him pure. Second, he himself firmly plants Pramagnanam into the heart of such a person. And he need not do anything else. Just surrender himself with complete faith. Just pray for the grace of Lord Shiva. That is the essence of this 25th mantra. And what is the fallow? He attains Brahmagnanam, which is explained in the next and the last mantra, 26th mantra. But we will just go through the word meaning, simple word meaning. He who everyday chants this Shatarudriyam, how many times? Any number of times. But for whatever reason, one is not able to do it with Shraddha Bhakti. They are the prior conditions. Just at least once. So if a person is unable to chant, at least listen. Suppose a person is not capable of listening also, what should he do? He should remember, if he had heard it once, go on saluting and just do the Japam of Panchakshari, which is called Om Namah Shivaya. Namah Shivaya. What does he gain? First of all, purification. Shiva purifies him, makes him pure. From what? Any negligence in day-to-day activities, especially Vedic rituals, Karma Kanda. So Shiva purifies him. Any faults that are occurring in the performance of Agni. Agni here represents Vedic Karma Kanda. Vayu puto bhavati. That is, if we have not paid special reverence to the Vayu Devata, if we have not used Pancha Pranas, Vayu represents Mukhya Prana. Or we breathe in foul smell on things to be offered or people who should be respected. Even talking loudly in front of a saint, in front of an elderly person, in front of anybody for that matter, that is a great sin. I have painful experiences. Many devotees come, sit just a short distance from my place and go on shouting in front of a sadhu as if that sadhu is sitting a thousand miles away. These rascal devotees have acquired such a bad habit. They do not understand how much they are disturbing people. They do not have even that sense, common sense. Their brains are absolutely dead. That there is no need. The person is very near. Of course, if he is deaf, one can speak a bit loudly. But when the person is in front or by the side, it could be a friend, it could be a wife, it could be family members, but it has become a bad habit. All these Papas, they come under Vayu. So Vayu puto bhavati. Shiva graciously purifies him. Atma puto bhavati. Whatever harm we do to ourselves, here atma puta means that we kill ourselves by not doing what is supposed to be done, what scripture indicates, vidhi and nishedha. But Shiva, out of His grace, purifies such a person. And of course, there are horrible sins like surapana. Once a person is accustomed to surapana, becomes a drunkard or drug addict, and he might beat the family members. He might even kill people. He might even steal. How many even family members kill their elders? We get these stories in the newspapers which are eye awakeners. All because they want to get or somebody spoke something. So this is called any addiction which is wrong addiction. Shiva washes us and makes us absolutely pure. And even if somebody committed brahma hatyaya, that is a brahmana and a virtuous lady or any lady or a bruna, a fetus or any saintly person, if such a person happens to be harmed, not necessarily killed but even harmed, because sometimes killing is a lesser sin than harming. You throw acid into some person's eyes, make the person blind, make the face very ugly, spotted and ruin that person's life. So all these come there. Brahma hatyaya utah bhavati. Anything that harms. Why? Another meaning is everybody is none other than Brahma. So the harming of anybody becomes only brahma hatya. Not necessarily one has to kill only a saint. And then suvarna steyaha. Wealth belonging to somebody. Any possession belonging to somebody. That sin that occurs by depriving others of what legitimately, legally belongs to others. If one takes God's name, he becomes pure. And there are so many things that ought to be done. There are things which never should be done. Kritya means Vidhi, should be done. Akritya means Nishedha, should never be done. So they have to do what is called Pashyat Karma. So Pashyat is what it is called. One starts regretting. So how to get rid of them? Take God's name. If one sincerely does it. But with one condition. I mentioned it earlier. Lord, I have done knowingly or unknowingly out of ignorance from now onwards. I am never going to do it. And immediately. So as Bhagavan Krishna says, his resolve is absolutely spiritual resolve. I will forget everything. And I will wash him. And I will take him into my lap. Kritya, Akritya. So these are only just a few of the Papas mentioned. Any type of Papa. Papa means what? Papa means sin. And that which it takes us. Swami Vekananda had given a beautiful, marvelous definition of what is Punya and what is Papa. What is Dharma and what is Adharma. Whatever takes us nearer to God is called Dharma. Dharma produces Punya. Punya increases our Sukha. Because Brahman is Ananda Swaroopa. Brahmananda. So that which takes us nearer. Just as when we near fire, the amount of heat we feel increases. As we approach nearer to God, His Sat, purity. His Chit, wisdom. And His Ananda. We experience more and more. Similarly, what is Adharma? That which takes us, keeps us further away from God is called Adharma. Papa, that means Dukha. The further we are away from the heat, the less we suffer. Depending of course, in winter season. And in summer season, we approach more and more nearer to fire. That is called Papa. So any type of Papa that takes us, keeps us, makes us separate from God. And it increases the distance. But Punya brings us nearer. But if we understand we have done something wrong. And ultimately we have to approach God. God who takes us, forgives all our sins. Because He is Prema Swaroopa. He washes all of us. Provided we do not repeat it. And we completely try to surrender ourselves as much as possible. Complete surrender, remember, is possible only by the grace of God. And this is the essence of the 25th mantra. Here only comes that word Shatarudriya. I am going to give you a short introduction only. What we call normally, many people know it. Namakam and Chamakam. It is also called Rudram. It is also called Rudradhyaya. It is also called Rudra Upanishad. Various names are there. But popular names are, in YouTube if you go, Namaka and Chamaka. Why Namaka? Because most of the shlokas in this Namaka, Namaha. That is how they end. And in the Chamaka, Chame. So may I obtain such and such a thing. That has become Chama. Dhanam Chame, Kirtin Chame, Yashas Chame. Like that, Chame. That is why it is called Chamaka. So this is also known as Shatarudriyam. And I will tell you why it is called Shatarudriyam. Or the Shrerudram. Consisting of two particular sections called Namaka and Chamaka. This occurs in the 4th Kanda or chapter of the Taittiriya Samhita in the Yajurveda. And this has become most popular. Especially in South India it is said. Namaka, Chamaka and Purusha Sukta and Shri Sukta. They have to be chanted regularly for those who wish their own spiritual welfare. What is the content? Rudra to whom these prayers are addressed is not a sectarian deity. So as most of the people say, we are Shaivas. We are not Hindus. Stupidity can go no further. Shiva is not a sectarian. He is Brahman. But he is the supreme being who is omnipresent. And manifests himself in a myriad forms. Like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. For the sake of the diverse spiritual aspirants. Hence this text is also known as Shatarudriyam. Rudra in hundreds and thousands of forms. Manifestations to suit every spiritual aspirant. He is Vishnu. He is Brahma. He is Shiva. He is Shakti. He is everything. Brahman is everything. And another name is Rudra Upanishad. So Rudra reveals at its centre this Shatarudriyam. The great Panchakshari mantra. Namah Shivaya. Five letters. And the daily recital of this Namah Kanchamaka is said to confer on the aspirant all blessings, material and spiritual. That's all. There are only two. Prayaha and Sreyaha. Worldly and spiritual. That's all. It is also said, if Rudra is worshipped, all the other deities are propitiated. Just as we say, Ram Krishna. Who is Sarva Deva Devi Swaroopa. If he is worshipped, every God, who is nothing but his own manifestation, is worshipped. Exactly the same thing. Rudra is Sarva Deva Devi Swaroopa. He is Shiva. The most auspicious one. So, saluting the Lord with the voice and Namaha, that makes a person drawn to Lord Shiva and he will confer everything. Nobody is excluded from the grace of Rudra. And not only that. Of all the deities, especially Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara, Shiva is known as Ashu Tosha. Ashu means quickly. Tosha means becomes pleased. Just call him. Shiva, I belong to you, Lord. I am in distress. Please come and help me. Oh, my child is calling me. And he becomes readily pleased. And this secret was well known to the Asuras. So they always rushed to Shiva. So that they can obtain whatever they want. But whatever Shiva gives, at first appears to be a foolish boon. But very soon the persons understand that Shiva is auspicious. He can never, it is impossible for him to grant what is inauspicious. So also Divine Mother. Sarva Mangala Mangalye. So the first chapter of this Sri Rudram is a set of prayers to the Lord to give up His anger. Rouse and against those who transgress the Divine commandments. So the very meaning of the word Rudra is Rodayati. If somebody willfully starts travelling the path of Adharma, the consequences in the form of Karmaphala immediately come down. And that person feels like weeping even if it doesn't show weeping because nobody really wants suffering or hardships or difficulties. So the first chapter or Anuvaka is said. The second to the ninth chapter contain frustrations to His omnipotence. He is this, He is that. Including negative words. For example, Taskaranaam Pataye Namaha. We say Namaha. That is why Pashupataye Namaha. Rudraye Namaha. Taskaranaam Pataye Namaha. Salutations to Rudra. Salutations to Pashupati. We are all Pashus, Samsaris, bound people. He is a free person. Only one free being can liberate other bound people. No bound person, being, can liberate anybody else. So this is the salutations. And Taskaranaam Pataye Namaha means He is the emperor of thieves. Why is He called emperor of thieves? Because He steals all your Ajnanam, all your worldly possessions. But as soon as the Ajnanam is destroyed, immediately you become Shiva, you become Rudra, you become Brahma, Brahman. So the second to ninth chapters, that is eleven chapters, contain the frustrations saying Namaha. And the tenth chapter celebrates the munificence of the Lord and prays for prosperity and warding off of all evils. And in the last and eleventh chapter, we get the thanksgiving to the Lord's attendants, the Ganas. Eleventh chapter's first part, Namakam. What about Chamakam? So these first eleven chapters are popularly known as Namaka because most of the verses carry the refrain Namaha. As I mentioned, Rudraya Namaha, Pashupataye Namaha, Taskaranaam Pataye Namaha, etc., etc. And the next eleven chapters are known as Chamaka because the refrain here is Chame, Dhananchame, Gavaschame, Pashuschame, like that, Chame. This also, for me, this also, for me, this also. Chame means also. Me means for me. Oh Lord, grant me everything. How can He grant everything? Because infinite number of things are there practically. So He says, you become me and you will become the master of everything, master of everybody. You also become Sarva Deva Devi Swaroopa. So this Namaka and Chamaka together go by the name Rudradhyaya. And Shrata means the manifestation of this Lord, the glories of the Lord. That is why it is said, you know, in the Shiva Mahamana Stotram, even if Saraswati starts writing your glories, Asita, Girisamam, Siyat, Kajjalam, Sindhu, Patri, Sura, Taru, Arasakha, Lekhani, Patramurvi, Likhati, Yadigrihitva, Sharada, Sarvakalam, Tadapichatava, Gunanam, Isha, Paramnayati. Lord is infinite. His glories are infinite. Therefore, infinite glories can never be put down. Even infinite time, even if Mother Saraswati herself is doing it. That is why it is called Shrata. Shrata means infinite. I will just give you one or two examples. In the Prathamanu Vaka, the very first rik, Om Namaste Rudra Manyava Uto Uta Ishave Namaha Namaste Astu Dhanwane Bahubhyam Uta Te Namaha Om Namo Bhagvate Rudraya Salutations to Bhagwan Rudra. Then Namaste Rudra Manyava Uta Uta Ishave Namaha Salutations to the God who is Rudra and also to your arrow which is the kindliest of all and your bow which is auspicious. What can God kill? What can Gnanam kill? What can light kill? What can fire destroy? Fire can destroy cold. Light can destroy darkness. Gnanam can destroy Agnanam. What can Lord, who is Rudra, what can he destroy? Only Samsara Bandhana, Gnana. So, Salutations to you, to your bow that means to your grace which comes in the form of Guru, Sadhana, Shramana, Manana, Nididhyasana, Mahavakya. These are the bows and arrows employed by the Divine Lord. While discussing the Devi Suttam, I have already mentioned I am that power which strings the bow of Rudra so that he can destroy all the three Puras. Three Pura means the cross body, subtle body and causal body because there is nobody who is not Brahman. Even Asuras are Brahman. Only they are because of Lord's own Maya and Lord is responsible. Therefore, he himself will come, cleans us up and destroys our bondage, cuts off our bondage and then he grants us liberation. So, this is the very short introduction to this Shatarudriyam. As we have discussed yesterday as well as today, he who with complete Shraddha and with this determination Wow! Sankalpa. What is that Sankalpa? Anukulasya Sankalpaha Pratikulasya Varjana As Bhagawan Ramanujacharya so indescribably beautifully put it in the Sharanagati Gadhya that I will do only what pleases the Lord called Vidhi. I will never do anything which can bring even the faintest displeasure from Narayana. That is called Nishedha. Vidhi Nishedha. Then what happens? Tremendous faith as a gift of God enters into our mind, Buddhi. We are possessed of Buddhi. Like Nachiketa was possessed of Shraddha. What is that Shraddha? Rakshishya Seethi Vishwasaha The firm faith unshakable faith that only God can save me only Brahman can save me because other than Brahman is Anatma Anatma can never save me only God can save me and once that firm faith enters into the mind by the grace of God then what? What do we do? Then we choose the God. Then only we choose the God. This is called Gop Trutva Paranam Gop Trutva means you are my protector I choose you as my protector and that's it. Then having chosen what do I do? I transfer what is called Bhara I transfer my entire egotism to God that is called Atma Nikshepaha Nikshepa means completely take off our I-hood, I-ness, egotism and place it firmly on God's shoulders O Lord, I am your newborn baby I cannot do anything You have to carry me and He will do that So, five steps Anukulasya Sankalpaha Pratikulasya Varjanam Rakshasya Seethi Vishwasaha Gop Trutva Paranam Atma Nikshepaha Another word is Bhara Nikshepaha All my responsibilities comes but it is possible to do all these things only by the grace of God as Totapuri had learned after undergoing lot of painful experiences that it would never have been possible to cherish the wish to lead a spiritual life it would never have been possible to prove to obtain a Guru to obtain a human birth to obtain a Sadguru and to get real Upadesha and to practice Sadhana to get rid of all the obstacles and self-revelation of the Divine Mother is possible only by Her infinite grace from beginning to the end. It is nothing but Kripa, Kripa, Kripa and that what does happen as we discussed earlier Agni Puto Bhavate Vayu Puto Bhavate Atma Puto Bhavate Surapanat Puto Bhavate Brahmatyaya Puto Bhavate Suvarnasteya Puto Bhavate Kritya Akrutyat Puto Bhavate These are only just a few but there are so many things so we have to surrender and we can repeat as a test of our surrender this Namakam and Chamakam so that means what may everything come to me how can everything come to me when I become you whatever yours becomes mine whatever you, I become you that is the meaning and very briefly it is to say what does it mean Puto Bhavate all that is standing as obstruction for my approach to my own Shuddha Chaitanyam will be completely removed that is called Puta means I become one just as when we clean a stained mirror dirty mirror the more we clean the more whatever is in front reflected exactly without any distortion and just a few Paapams are mentioned Agni Puto Bhavate means what when performing any rituals normally what we call nowadays Pujas and we can do I have seen people unconsciously holding one's feet and touching Puja materials and our offering them to God I don't know whether God takes offence at that but we do consciously mostly unconsciously many Paapams while we are performing so Karma Kanda and Karma need not be only Pujas you are driving so do not do any Paapams that means pay attention otherwise accidents will happen but God can save or discharge your duties whatever you are a doctor be best doctor, student be best student you are a cooking you are a wife, mother cook so that everybody in the family will be pleased so you want to study study well, you want to sleep sleep well, you want to meditate meditate well so here just Agni means Karma so any Karma should be performed properly then Vayu Puto Bhavati Vayu means what? Air, so we should not for simple example is we should not blow our food which is to be offered to God with your what is called stained breath or foul smell many people's mouth will be smelling like corpses they are not aware of it and they come nearer and want to blow their what is called Puti Bhavati the very word Puti means decomposing smell but this is one example Vayu means Prana Pancha Pranas, Mukhya Prana Prana Vayu so we misuse all our Pranas through various undesirable activities if we have done that consciously or unconsciously and if we pray to God sincerely he will make us pure and he will pull us nearer into his lap then Surapanath Puto Bhavati if somebody is addicted it could be tea it could be coffee what happens? every addiction is bad supposing somebody has taken strong cup of coffee just before sleep it definitely disturbs the sleep which disturbs the entire next day's affair so not to speak of Sura etc that is drink, intoxicating drinks when a person is intoxicated that leads to all sorts of sinful activities so if we have done that and Ramakrishna's life we get quite a number of examples Girish Chandra Ghosh is the king of such persons then we also have got Kalipada and Suresh Mithra and there are so many other people who are there who drink drinking is very bad because drinking indicates a person is unhappy and he wants to forget himself and drinking is only a poisonous affair we are poisoning ourselves so any addiction is bad our goal is to become Mukta Mukta means freedom so addiction means bondage so we should be free from that then we also have discussed Brahma Hathya Hathya means killing worse than killing is hurting somebody so you cut off the heads or the hands or the legs or one organ some of the religions they torture their women not allowing them to enjoy normal life so many things are there so any harm done to any person any good person any decent person any respectable person he could be aged person he could be more learned person he could be a person of character he could be a person of knowledge any type of person even fetuses and innocent babies how some of them have been mercilessly butchered all in the name of God in recent events or killed a helpless woman how many husbands torture their wives by calling their names by torturing them by taunting them but nevertheless using them for their animal satisfaction animal instincts that is why Manu had laid down that where women are not respected their disasters will follow and you can see that one very quickly so pancha maha patakas are there this is one of them if somebody has done then sincerely regret take refuge in God that persons will become pure kritya kritya the scriptures prescribe something to be done we should not neglect something should not be done we should be very cautious not even to do that but we what is called transgress all these things but taking God's name is the greatest purifier surrendering to God's name of course always I have done wrong I confess it and I will try not to repeat them depriving others of their property family members even what is called tech companies what is called steal other good employees belonging to other companies rich people try to steal reputed good cooks by paying tempting them with higher salary etc. some men tempt women whose husbands are very loving husbands so what are you doing with that useless fellow all this any property belonging to somebody if they are leading a good life if we do any harm to them the thunderbolt will come sooner or later and we can see if you open your eyes and read newspaper you see it practically demonstrated every single minute in our lives so these are some of the pappas therefore avimuktam means Shiva so take refuse in Shiva so why is Shiva called avimukta you know Kashi is called avimuktapuri so mukta means freed person vimukta means vigatamukti that is not viseshamukti but a pashu an animal is completely bound and we are all pashus Shiva is called so we are all pashus so we are called vimuktas so those who know a bit of Sanskrit they can get confused vimukta means jivanmukta or videshamukta no no here it means completely bound we are pashus and Shiva is called pashupati and therefore we have to take refuse in him so those who do not follow that is called discriminate between dharma and adharma they are animals, they are called vimuktas and therefore Shiva is avimukta and one who surrenders himself to pashupati he gives refuse to it that is why this Varanasi is Kashi is called avimukteshwara avimuktapuri where Shiva dwells who is a lord of all those pashus everybody who is not a atmajna brahmajna is a pashu but if a person resides the shatarudriyam he becomes he takes refuse in lord Shiva and lord Shiva gives him refuse and then he becomes he is purified by lord Shiva's grace and he obtains the knowledge of brahman and then the second meaning even by a few people is that he becomes a refuse to all other pashus a person who gets the refuse under lord Shiva himself becomes a refuge, a shelter for everybody, every other person in other words he becomes a sadguru so it is the mantra is ending therefore atyashrami atyashrami means a sanyasi sarvada japet always he should surrender himself japet doesn't mean only a person who is chanting, doing parayanam of namakam and chamakam what is the, as Ramakrishna says what is the essence of sandhya Gayatri, repetition of the mantra of Gayatri what is the essence of Gayatri Om, once a person reaches that state in a natural way then he attained mukti so once you just take refuge because by chanting we come to know the glory of lord Shiva then we surrender ourselves to lord Shiva then we obtain his grace then he purifies us of all sins and then he takes us in his lotus feet and he makes us one with him and such a person becomes the refuge of many other people because shivajnane shivo bhavet so if a person cannot repeat this one then he should repeat it at least once in a while but as I just now mentioned the real repetition is to know that I took refuge under lord Shiva and he has given me shelter and that is the meaning of it so in this 25th mantra you just do this one then what is the Shiva blesses us by purifying ourselves but then what does he make he make us become one with him shivajnane na shivo bhavati shivoham shivoham mano buddhyahankara chittaninaham that is exactly the recomposition of this 26th mantra what does this 26th mantra say anena gnanam apnoti samsara navan ashanam those who obtain the lord's grace ultimately the grace of lord Shiva Shiva is the symbol of knowledge that is why when halahala visha had come out of the churning of the milk ocean Vishnu advised go to Shiva because Shiva is gnanaswaroopa and gnanam destroys any type of poison which is called a gnanam so that is described in the last mantra of this Kaivalya Upanishad anena gnanam apnoti samsara navan ashanam tasma devam viditvainam kaivalyam padam ashnute kaivalyam padam ashnute ithe so anena by taking by repeating shatarudriyam one understands the glory of Shiva by understanding the glory of Shiva one completely surrenders himself to Shiva by complete surrender to lord Shiva Shiva purifies him and after purification he grants him his own knowledge what knowledge thou art Shiva instantaneously this is called Taraka mantra that is what Shiva is supposed to utter into the ears of every Shiva every Jivatma and then that is how he becomes Mukta thou art Shiva that what is called Shivaha Asi and immediately Aham Shivosmi Shivosmi Shivoham Shivoham Shivosmi Shivosmi Shivosmi Shivoham Shivosmi Shivosmi this is the gnanam by the grace of god ultimately sarva dharman parityajya so by surrendering to lord Shiva supreme brahman that gnanam of supreme brahman aham brahmasmi and this gnanam as soon as light is brought the snake knowledge is destroyed and the rope knowledge stands there and all the consequences of that snake heart beat scaring, getting scared everything will disappear that is described here complete destruction without again recurring at all, it will not come back again Samsara means this I have got three bodies, gross body subtle body, causal body etc Tasmat evam viditva having known thus knowing what? surrender yourself to lord Shiva and having known it surrender yourself, practice it what happens? this word is being defined here one becomes means I am infinite aham shuddha chaitanyasmi so aham ajam, aham shashvatam aham nityam aham sarvagatam all those descriptions we have seen ultimately shivosmi, shivosmi kaivalyam padam ashnate kaivalyam padam ashnate so to emphasize definitely one gets this result also to indicate the end of this any particular text this repetition is given in most of the Upanishads that is what comes so by this knowledge which destroys the endless experience of samsara sagara therefore having experienced this that means having got this knowledge of Shiva having got this knowledge of Brahman one attains the fruit of liberation kaivalyam indeed one attains kaivalyam and with this the Kaivalya Upanishad is over and what type of knowledge paramatma roopam uahasheyam nishkalam adveteyam kaivalyam padam ashnate so I will just summarize a little bit, very short summarization so this Kaivalya Upanishad contains 26 mantras this Upanishad is known by its name as it gives kaivalyam or moksha or oneness with Brahman or advaita siddhi and there is no second thing, everything is Brahman and that knowledge is got and then the person realizes I am not the body I am not the mind I am not experiencing jagrat-sapna-sushukte I am avastha-traya-vilakshanaha so the first mantra gives us the question which we should ask what is it so please teach me Bhagavan Asvalayana approached Bhagavan Parameshwari says please give me that knowledge by which I obtain Brahma Vidya and it is the only Vidya which is that is what Sri Ramakrishna said I refuse all other types of Vidyas, I want only Brahma Vidya and every intelligent person only sadasadbhih samyamanam desired by every intelligent person and it is very deeply hidden not easy to obtain and then by knowing having realizing teach me how to realize God and then from mantra second to four three mantras you must obtain shraddha, bhakti dhyana, yoga and you must become a tyagi, in other words you must become a sanyasi you must become pure hearted then then what is the sadhana method, this is given in mantras five to ten you must go as Sri Ramakrishna says into solitude renounce everything control your mind and sit for meditation and having saluted your guru and by this meditation so that is what happens mantra eleven is you must meditate on your own soul aham is called lower arani and brahman is called upper arani this is the upasana this is how sadhana starts after becoming purified, this is the meditation on ishta devata so kaivalya recommends meditation on brahman or vishnu or shiva or ramakrishna any chosen deity because sarva deva devi sarupaha and then some academic questions come how did this samsara come for that twelfth to fifteenth mantras says it is the divine lord he felt like performing some leelas he covered his own eyes with his own hands as it were and then he created this one and he wants to perform his leela just as we do our leelas in what we call dream state and then certain hints are given from sixteenth to twenty three like you are not what you call and mantras twenty four to twenty six what does it say nishkala paramatma having known this paramatma through the purification of the buddhi and his nature is nishkala partless akhandam anantam secondless and in this world he is the that is by meditating he becomes he knows and as we just now discussed twenty fifth that surrender yourself to lord shiva becomes pure and as we discussed in the last samsara by the grace of lord shiva a person becomes completely free from everything so from next on week onwards i propose to take up another very very beautiful upanishad consisting of twenty two mantras amrita bindu upanishad amrita means nectar bindu means drops of amrita drops of beautiful knowledge is a small is slightly smaller than kavilya upanishad but it is a beautiful upanishad and our own ashrama has published it it is called minor upanishads what is a minor upanishad is not commented by shankaracharya is called minor upanishad otherwise there is no minor or major upanishads essence of every upanishad is by destroying the bondage one gets atma jnanam brahma jnanam that is the essence of every upanishad as shankaracharya explained by splitting the word upa plus ni plus sat to loosen the bonds to destroy the ajnanam and to lead one to one's own atma jnanam with this as i said from next saturday onwards we will be taking up amrita bindu upanishad we will enjoy it and we will repeat the shanti mantra once more because it is only by the grace of god it is possible for us to complete this shanti mantra oh gods may we always hear with our ears what is auspicious oh worshipful ones may we with our eyes always see what is auspicious may we live our allotted life hail and hearty offering our worship unto thee may indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on all of us may they all nourishing potion be propitious to all of us may garuda destroyer of all evil be well disposed towards all of us may brihaspati ensure all our welfare om peace peace peace be unto all om oh gods may we always hear with our ears what is auspicious oh worshipful ones may we with our eyes always see what is auspicious may we live our allotted life hail and hearty offering our worship unto thee may indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on all of us may they all nourishing potion be propitious to all of us may garuda destroyer of all evil be well disposed towards all of us may brihaspati ensure all our welfare om peace peace peace be unto all om jananim shardam devim ramakrishnam jagad gurum pada padme tayo sritva pranam ammohar moho may ramakrishna holy mother and swami vekananda bless us all with bhakti hey ramakrishna