Mandukya Karika Lecture 003 on 09 June 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Sharadaam Deivim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Siddha Nani Mohur Mohur Om Bhadram Kanne Vishnu Yamadevaha Bhadram Pashye Maakshabhiraya Jatra Sthirai Rangai Stushtu Agam Sastanu Bhe Vyasema Deva Hi Tanya Dayo Swasthina Indru Vruddha Shravaha Swasthina Pusha Vishwa Vedaha Swasthina Starksho Arishta Nimi Swasthino Brihaspatir Dadaato Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om We will be continuing the introduction to the Mandukya Karika In my last class two very important points have been dealt with One is the four pillars of Hinduism The whole thought that has influenced Hindus since thousands of years are based upon these four pillars That is very important for us to keep in mind Second important point is there has been a lot of misconception about the relationship between Us, God and that which comes in between Me and God, Us and God which is called Maya, Avidya etc Millions of Hindus have been misinformed and misunderstood the very concept of Maya Sriram Krishna's greatest contribution is that Maya is a Shakti Another side of the same coin, Brahman and Shakti are one and the same I will give you some quotations also So what did Sriram Krishna do? Maya means it is inimical to human beings It is destructive but fools that we are We do not understand that how can our mother after all she who constantly is engaged in Srishti, Stithi and Vinasha creating maintenance and then taking us back into her lap into her unmodified form How can she be so queer? And what is the relationship between Maya and Brahman? Brahman manifesting with names and forms is called Shakti or Maya Maya without names and forms is called Brahman Every day we sing Srishti, Stithi, Vinasha, Shakti, Bhute, Sanatani, Gunashraya, Gunamayi, Narayani, Namostu What are we talking? We are not talking Mahamaya We can use that word Narayani, Namostu Narayani comes out of Mahavishnu, Narayana Narayana and his power, they always go together Brahman and Shakti always go together How can she be such an inimical thing? So Sriram Krishna had sublated this idea He said it is not Maya, it is Leela, Bhagavad Leela A few points are there, I would like to talk about them So here I am going to quote extensively from the Gospel of Sriram Krishna Under the topic Reasoning of Gnanis Sriram Krishna is pouring Vedic wisdom into his listeners and thereby fortunately for us M was there, how do we know? Because these words were recorded in the Gospel of Sriram Krishna and he records most of the time what he heard directly from Sriram Krishna So the master, the Gnanis who adhere to the non-dualistic philosophy of Vedanta say that the acts of creation, preservation and destruction the universe itself and all its living beings are the manifestations of Shakti, the divine power If you reason it out, you will realize that all these are as illusory as a dream Brahman alone is the reality and all else is unreal Even this very Shakti is unsubstantial like a dream Having said this, Sriram Krishna continues But though you reason all your life, unless you are established in Samadhi I repeat it, though you reason all your life, unless you are established in Samadhi you cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of Shakti Even when you say I am meditating or I am contemplating and I am thinking about Maya, I am thinking about Brahman still you are moving in the realm of Shakti within its power Then Sriram Krishna continues Identity of Brahman and Shakti Thus Brahman and Shakti are identical If you accept the one, you must accept the other It is like fire and its power to burn If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also You cannot think of fire without its power to burn nor can you think of the power to burn without fire You cannot conceive of the sun's rays without the sun nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays Now a little bit of comment is necessary here Earlier Sriram Krishna says the whole world is unreal like a dream Yes, but what does it mean? It means when we are dreaming, at the time of dreaming so long as the dream lasts, we have no right to call it dream We do not call it mere imagination in our brains It is as real as the waking state These statements are very important for us because Gaudapada takes a lot of these analogies about the dream Upon waking up, if you find all your dream experiences as unreal then similarly you have to take the experiences of waking state also exactly in the same value, that means unreal Why? We will discuss it when the time comes There is a profound meaning there But what is relevant is, Sriram Krishna continues so long as a person is not in Samadhi We have no right to say it is unreal But what right do we have to say? We can only say it is temporary That is why in the very first chapter of the gospel Sriram Krishna was advising him Always practice discrimination What is discrimination? That which is permanent and that which is temporary He did not use the word unreal He used the word temporary We all know very well, everything is moving The presidents are elected and they are maintained for some time They are removed, then every baby grows in course of time into adolescence, youth, middle age, old age This is the nature of everything Mountains are also born, mountains also will disappear Rivers are born, rivers will disappear This is our actual experience We are not talking, imagining something Every day of our life, we see in front of our eyes how many millions of people have died Of course, we give the name Corona Within the one year, how many people's death has come to our notice So this is what we have to keep in mind when Sriram Krishna says that the world is like a dream It's a dream upon our waking up because anything limited is unreal Brahman is infinite, indivisible, partless, unchanging and that is the reality Let us keep those words in mind Second, in Vedanta, Ishwara is also unreal Just as Jivatva, the limitedness of Jiva is unreal and Ishwara is nothing but a collection of this limitedness He is also unreal Jiva is unreal, Ishwara is also unreal So Shakti is a manifestation of Brahman What Tantrics call Shakti, Vedantins call Ishwara But Ishwara is none other than Brahman One manifestation of Brahman with name and form is called Ishwara The same manifestation of Brahman with name and form is called Shakti Sriram Krishna explains further that you can never separate them because Brahman is inseparable, Brahman is partless If Shakti is some other reality that means Brahman becomes limited, he is limited by Shakti Shakti in technological terms is called time, space and causation So if Brahman is conditioned, limited by time, space and causation he is no better than any object in this world and anything that is limited by time, space and causation is called an object and it is experienceable and there is somebody who experiences it and that subject is completely opposed, completely different from the object A subject is pure consciousness, object is inert Subject is changeless, object is always changing Subject can never be objectified, object is always experienced and one of the fundamentals of Vedanta is whatever we experience that is not what we are This is very simplest of the truths and yet profoundest truth and very little understood by us So if I am seeing a table, I know I am not a table Unfortunately, if you are seeing a donkey, you never consider yourself that This is all we know, we are separate from our house, from our bank balance from our books, from everything outside but the problem comes when we come to the body and even more problem comes when we come to the mind Body and mind both because we have been living 24 hours from birth to death, from innumerable lives suffers for such a long time Therefore this association almost as if I am the body, I am the mind and yet at the same time every millisecond proves that we are not the body because the body is in constant flux change Mind also is constantly fluctuating So we are experiencing, I am saying my body is changing I am saying, my mind is saying, not only that whenever we use language, language vitreous this the moment you say my house separate from you my child separate from you, my husband, my wife, my job my colleagues, my religion, my country everything including my God also separate from us but when it comes to the body, what do we say? We say my stomach is upset, my head is aching that means what? whatever we say my, that tense my can be used only with regard to something not I, an object Okay, what about the mind? My mind is restless, my mind is happy I am happy, my mind is happy my mind is restless, I am restless we are interchanging I and mine even though the language doesn't permit such a thing in language, anybody's language I and my can never be understood in the same way I see a table, that is my table and no language will permit I am the table because of our identity we go on saying so what am I leading to? that whatever we experience is not us whatever I experience is not me and I constantly experience body-mind so it's not me but coming back to Shri Ramakrishna's words Brahman and Shakti if they are two one must be a subject, another must be an object if subject and object are there it is called duality and if there is a duality then Brahman can never become a subject Brahman can never become consciousness Brahman becomes an object because by definition whatever is conditioned by time, space and causation is what we call vastu or an object so Shri Ramakrishna says just as you cannot think of fire without its burning power you cannot think of burning power without a fire you can't think of whiteness without milk and milk without whiteness one example remember a white cloth or a white house or a white flower these are all separate examples you cannot separate mentally you can distinguish but physically you cannot take a knife and separate them so the sun and the sun's light you cannot separate them all these examples are given Brahman and Shakti are not two separate things then what is the fire like Brahman what is the burning power like its burning power what does it mean the creative, protective and the destructive power is called Shakti, is called Maya, is called Vidya whereas that which doesn't do any activity that is called Brahman so they cannot remain separate because it is only pure consciousness which can do something an inert thing cannot even know I am an inert thing a table will never say that I am an inert table it cannot say I am knowledgeable table I am a beautiful table it cannot even say I am a table much less I am an inert table not only that nobody will address any such objects nobody will address and say hey table you are very ignorant I see you are very ugly you don't say even if you say it makes no difference to the table but here is something very subtle when we meet another person when a scholar meets an idiot he says you are a fool you are an idiot now when the scholar is telling you are an idiot whom is he really addressing is he talking about the body is he talking about the mind so the scholar is not addressing the body not addressing the mind but that consciousness which is manifesting through that mind that means the consciousness is not really that much manifesting only this much I am that is manifesting I am a fool that much it is manifesting but much more than that it is not manifesting that is why we have dealt with in our Thursday classes Manisha Panchakam Shankaracharya was lacking he had to be completed so Lord himself appeared in the form of a chandala here I have some remark to make we need not think that Shiva himself has come because many followers of Shankaracharya they are so blindly devoted to him that they don't want to accept a normal what is called chandala low caste person can give this kind of knowledge these fellows are really really stupid most fellows in the whole world who says which religion says that an academically lacking person need not be cannot be a wise person a chandala may be low caste person he might not have gone to a school but thus is he denied the grace of God the wisdom of Saraswati what did Swami Advaitananda he could not even distinguish between Ka and Ka however number of times Ramakrishna was trying to tell Ka Advaitananda latu mana says Ka fine then next is Ka Ka Ka Ki Ki Ku Ku no he will say Ka he will say then Sri Ramakrishna stopped him and said enough both of them started laughing uproariously because this alpha prana and maha prana is small what is called one syllable oval and two syllables oval oval the difference between these two could not be understood by latu manas really was it impossible such an intelligent person do you think he will not be able to understand or my faith is he could understand hundred a thousand percent but Sri Ramakrishna wanted to uphold an ideal you don't need to go to school you don't need to know alphabet you can just become wisest person by one way of the grace of mother Saraswati Sri Ramakrishna proclaimed from your mouth from your mouth the highest truths of Vedas and Vedanta will be coming out and that turned out to be later on in life I am just giving a sample because our devotees should meditate upon these things much later on there was a discussion going on between Latu Maraswamy and Bhutananda and some of his Bengali devotees and then there was they thought he cannot know much of psychology so one of the topics was so where from the thoughts are arising can you tell me where from the thoughts are arising Swami Adbutananda asks the devotees the devotee was arguing until that time at the moment Latu Maras asked her the question okay everything stems from thoughts but can you tell me where from thoughts are arising he had to shut his mouth up and while returning he was soliloquizing within himself oh my god I thought we were all educated people we are more intelligent than this unlettered person as a thought even such things the origin of the mind the origin of thoughts so coming back academic education was not necessary anyway I was quoting that story which he brought about Manisha Panchikam later on Shankaracharya was full of brahminical pride how can a brahmagnani be full of brahminical pride even though it was said by the time he had completed writing commentaries on Prasthanatraya Bhagavad Gita Brahma Sutras and the Upanishads and in the Bhagavad Gita the description of a Samadarshi a Pandita true Pandita Pandita means he who has got Panda Panda means Atma Gnana self knowledge he is called a Panda and he who has got this Pandit he is called it is called Panditya he is called a Pandita Vidya Vinaya Sampanne Brahmane Gavi Hastini Shunichaiva Swapakecha Panditaha Samadarshinaha Panditas Brahmagnanis they become Samadarshis Samadarshi means what? they see only Brahman Bhagwan Isavasyam everywhere where? they learn it at the same time humble Brahmana Vidya Vinaya Sampanne Brahmane Gavi in a cow Hastini in an elephant and in a dog and then an eater of a dog who is called Chandala this Shankaracharya he had given big commentary I am sure about it and this man how dare he say Dhoram Pasarare Chandala this event has not happened after what is called this person has written before Shankara had written commentaries this must have come much after that but some Ahankara was there anyway what was my point? my point was this incident happened most people agree because the outcome of this experience was Shankaracharya had composed a beautiful Manisha Panchakam which we had elaborately dealt with on our Thursday classes now this incident what was the origin? that a Chandala with some dogs he was coming and the path was narrow Shankaracharya involuntarily uttered these words that you get away from me and that Chandala addressed him whom are you talking about? are you talking about the body or are you talking about the consciousness? if you are talking about the body what is your body and my body? if a hungry tiger encounters you and me then it doesn't make any distinction I put in bracket most likely the tiger will prefer only the Chandala because there is more substantial food than this lean and thin Advaita Vedanta who cannot digest even water anyway so are you talking about Chaitanya? is the Chaitanya conditioned by time, space and causation? Shankaracharya came to his senses fell at the feet such wisdom whoever has got he is a Brahma Jnani he is Brahma Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati that was the story but the followers of Shankaracharya are so fanatical some of them most of them they say Kashi Vishwanath himself had taken that form to teach this profound lesson to Shankaracharya my question is suppose a real Chandala a low caste man had come with dogs and other things in any case if God comes also in the form of a that kind of low caste person with some dogs you should not think of God as divine and the effulgence is coming from every pore of his body you have to look exactly at that figure presented to us what does it matter? it is somehow a Brahminical pride doesn't allow these people to admit that less than God will not come and be equal to Shankaracharya anyway what is my point? what are we trying to tell? Ramakrishna even he bowed down before a dog one day he saw a dog when he was returning after answering calls of nature at Jyotala saw a dog on the way sitting on its haunches and he stood with folded hands later on he said who knows mother may want to tell me something about it anyway what are we talking about here? that Brahman and Shakti God and his power various terms Maya Idea etc cannot be separated if Maya belongs to Brahman can God's power be really diabolical? can it harm? does any mother want to hurt? here is something very wonderful for us in our day to day life this is a common experience a child is the result of father and mother uniting together the father's contribution unfortunately or fortunately is very less it is the mother who nurtures the baby who carries the baby who brings him out with suffering so much and with all that the child will be nearest to the mother whom do you think the mother loves? she is ready to give up her life for the sake of the child if we understand and apply this analogy to the Divine Mother who is doing Srishti Sthiti Vinasha Narayani Parvati Divine Mother call her Mahamaya don't call her Maya of Gnanis so this Mahamaya plays with us the whole chindi is a marvelous explanation of what we are talking about why do we go on getting attached to those very things to those very people to those very experiences which bring us again and again intolerable pain it is it is the king and the Vaishya go to the Rishi Medha and they put this question and then he replies it is the power of the Mahamaya Gnaninama Vijetanshi bala akrishya mohaya Mahamaya prayakshati even if they are Gnanis for Divine Mother it doesn't take any time one simple this one and they are caught like fish are caught on the hook very sharp hook and then they are dragged down kare koloma adhogami kare dhoma brahma podho kare koloma adhogami kare means same persons sometimes she keeps them highest place sometimes she pulls them down if their ahankara tries to raise its head so what is our point Brahman and Shakti are one Shakti belongs to the Brahman Brahman without Shakti without activity is called Brahman Brahman with activity is called Shakti and they they cannot be separated they are one and the same so if anybody says Maya deludes Maya destroys then they are very much in ignorance but that is also the grace of God which we will talk about a little later on thus Sri Ramakrishna continues one cannot think of Brahman without Shakti or of Shakti without Brahman one cannot think of the absolute without the relative or of the relative without the absolute my comments why? why can't we think? the prime word the catch word is think thinking is done by whom? by the mind what is the nature of the mind? first it is highly limited by time, space and causation and so whatever we think about God or devil it is a thought and every thought is limited and if it is limited then it only thinks in reality it is relative and absolute so white and black you cannot think of a single substance at any time that is the very nature of the mind Sri Ramakrishna continues this primordial power is ever at play it is a very important word this primordial power is ever at play in Bengali there is a very beautiful song is there Khelicho Ebishalaye Anamone so O Lord you are playing you are creating and you are destroying like a child builds sand castles and destroys them and again builds them Anamone as if in play and there is no purpose what a beautiful song God doesn't have a purpose we who are limited we have a purpose so our purpose is that I am lacking something I want my stomach is empty I want food I am thirsty I want water I am lacking money I want money there is no purpose at all Anamone just you are playing all alone what is the material God who is the creator God what is created God he is playing himself like we play ourselves we create the entire green world there is a marvelous God we will come to that so play in play as it was this power is called Kali Kali is really Brahman and Brahman is really Kali so we have to understand Sairam Krishna he uttered at last moment what did he say Kali Kali so he was always remembering Kali and so he passed away uttering the name of God as Kali but if Kali is as we think it is like Rama or Krishna an individual will be very much mistaken and then Holy Mother when she heard about Sairam Krishna has just passed away she ever came into the presence of other people openly and then she uttered Oh Mother Kali where have you gone now mother is uttering the word Kali and Sairam Krishna is uttering this Kali what does it mean here is the answer Kali is Brahman Brahman is Kali incidentally today I think in 1857 Sairam Krishna worshipped Holy Mother on the day of Phala Harini Kali Puja Kali Puja is usually done at night and on this in the Kali Puja main Kali Puja comes in the month of October November usually but this is called Phala Harini Kali Puja Phala Harini means what out of her independent grace the Divine Mother Kali she destroys all the Dharma Dharma Punya and Papa these are called Kalma Phalas and once Dharma Dharma destroyed a Jeeva becomes completely free that means mother gives Mukti on this particular day if anyone worships her and Holy Mother Mother Kali in the form of Sri Ram Krishna and Holy Mother bless us all with Bhakti with Jnana let me tell you now itself before I forget sometimes this disease called forgetfulness is coming so this is a very holy day what are we talking about if Sri Ram Krishna had uttered the word Kali it doesn't mean that you would image or image having four what is called uncooked hands and legs and other things but it is the Brahman pure consciousness Sri Ram Krishna's first vision when he started doing the puja to Mother Kali was pure consciousness like huge tsunami came from all the four sides overwhelmed him and he became unconscious what a paradoxical language the what is called consciousness made him unconscious means what the duality is broken I see I became merged in pure consciousness that is what it means now I will proceed so this power is called Kali Kali is really Brahman and Brahman is really Kali it is one and the same reality when we think of it as inactive that is to say not engaged in the acts of creation preservation and destruction then we call it Brahman but when it engages in these activities then we call it Kali or Shakti the reality is one and the same the difference is in name and form then Sri Ram Krishna continues a very profound truth in the Vedas there is a wonderful statement of truth about Srishti usually according to Hinduism Srishti is what is called endless Ananta there is no beginning there is no end that which has no beginning will have no end that which has no end will have no beginning it is an axiomatic truth so here is something about the Vedic words Kali with the Vedic words so it is yatha porvam akalpayat so Brahma upon waking up sahasra yuga pariyantam ahariyat brahma vidhoho ratrim yuga sahasrantam te aho ratra vidho janah at the radhaya he wakes up and then he starts creating what does he mean does Brahma create this world or Brahma is like an instrument for us to create ourselves for that Ramakrishna is an example I will discuss about it after quoting Ramakrishna after the destruction of the world he is like the elderly mistress of the house who has a hot pot in which she keeps different articles for household use all of oh yes house wives have gold and so on they take them out when they want them in the same way after the destruction of the universe my divine mother embodiment of Brahman gathers together the seeds for the next creation after the creation the primal mother takes out her pot and bag and then all the seeds of various things and she takes out her pot and bag and then all the seeds of various things are kept ready after drying them and then she just sows them in the soil and sees that they get adequate rain and then slowly they become plants and start growing and again start yielding vegetables fruits etc. So what is this analogy for? Brahma here remember this grandmother like woman my mother my divine mother so she is compared to Brahma in the Gita the word Brahma is used not Brahman but be careful in the time of creation like in Puranas Brahma is the creator Vishnu is the maintainer Vishnu is the maintainer of law also and Shiva is dissoluter or again it makes them go back to our seed state that's why in Gita what happens that this Brahma what we call Puranas called Brahma and this Shakti which Tantrics call Shakti is or what Vedanta calls Ishwara are one and the exactly same so now the answer given all in the Puranas or in the Tantras or in the Vedanta is no Brahma is like that grandmother at the beginning of the what we call Shasti Kaala after the Pradaya is over like summer season is over when the rainy season comes and that in that soil the seeds are given this world is like that soil we are all like these seeds so Brahma doesn't make brinjal it is the seed of the brinjal which manifests as brinjal Brahma doesn't make brinjal into a mango bush mango tree and in course of time provided everything is favourable it yields it is appropriate some mangoes yield sour some sweet very sweet etc etc so what is the purpose of the karma we are the Brahmas we are the creators we create through our past actions so we create we are going to create ourselves in future without our present actions that's why we have to be aware of what is right or wrong why am i discussing all these things because i have to come to that word shastra and how do i know whether i am doing right karma or wrong karma for that reason what is the point we concluded each one of us are Brahmas we are the architects of our own destiny that is what Swami Vivekananda categorically declared that is what Sriram Krishna is i quote Sriram Krishna after the destruction of the universe there will be a lull then my divine mother embodiment of Brahma who is the divine mother is none other than Brahma Brahma Mahi gathers together the seeds for the next creation of a human being we are all the seeds and then for the next creation after the creation then what happens the primal power dwells in the universe itself she brings forth this phenomenal world and then we have to understand clearly there is no substance there is no object called pot it is nothing but clay it is entire pot there is nothing but clay and if we do not understand this truth about the pot it is nothing but clay and what is clay alone is the only substance then what is the clay which has become means a particular shape a particular size for a particular period small pot big pot square pot round pot etc etc or a cover of a pot all these things are nothing but pure clay so having made the pot as if the clay has entered into it pervades into the pot words they can drip us that's why I am explaining and then entered into the pot became the pot remained the pot as a pot and then sustained the pot and when the pot is destroyed it just goes back to its own clayness what had happened clay in the form in a particular form with a particular name form and utility has been destroyed and so the clay previously now also after destruction also clay nothing has happened in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad there is a marvellous chapter it is called pravesha pravesha means like a somebody has constructed a house and he enters into it it is like a clay having created the pot has entered into it as it was is it two separate things is it like a man having constructed a house entering into it not at all because or he can remain outside it but the clay cannot stop entering as it were cannot get out because the pot is nothing but a clay only we have to understand in that particular sense so the Divine Mother, this is Pravesha Sutra this is called Sutra, Pravesha Sutra and Shankaracharya writes a huge commentary on it it is called Ghatabhashyam, Ghata means pot and that itself mind-boggling we will come to that when the appropriate time comes so here my Divine Mother so garners together seeds and then at the time of creation as if she created as if she entered into it everything one point, important point we need to understand here is that even though as if here is an old woman she is separate and the plants were separate the seeds were separate and she was instrumental in sowing the seeds these are all for our explanation literally we should not take them as truths it is Brahman before creation was there Brahman after creation what was there? Brahman and after destruction what would be there? only Brahman so everything Brahman is ever present and without undergoing any change seemingly a change has come that's an important point in the Vedas creation is likened to the spider and it's well, it's a beautiful topic I will close today's talk here Om Jananem Sharadaam Deveen Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Parva Padme Dayo Sridhva Namah Shivaya