Mandukya Karika Lecture 007 on 07 July 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHUR OM BADRAM KANNE VISHRUNAYAM DEVAH BADRAM PASHYE MAKSHABHIRYA JATRAH STHIRAYI RANGAYE STUSHTU BAGUM SASTANUBHI VYASHEMA DEVAHI TAMGADAYU SWASTHINA INDRO VRIDDHA SHRAVAHA SWASTHINA PUSHA VISHWA VEDAHA SWASTHINA STARKSHU ARISHTA NIMI SWASTHINOMBRIHA SPATIRUDDHA DATU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HARE OM OM Oh Gods, may we hear auspicious words with our ears while engaged in sacrifices. May we see auspicious things with the eyes while praising the Gods with steady limbs. May we enjoy a life that is beneficial to the Gods. May Indra of ancient fame be auspicious to us. May the supreme rich all-knowing Pusha be propitious to us. May Garuda, the destroyer of evil, be well-disposed towards us. May Brihaspati ensure our welfare. OM Peace, peace, peace be unto all. We are exploring Mandukya Upanishad along with Goda Padaskarika. In my last class, I have talked about Shruti and Smruti. Every worldly enjoyment has three defects in it. First, it is limited. Secondly, it always comes with its opposite. Third, it always binds us by increasing the strength of our desires. Is there any solution? Yes, there is only one solution and that is the Atma Jnana. When once I know I am immortal, I am of the nature of pure consciousness and I am of the nature of eternal and infinite bliss, Sat Chit Ananda. Then all the three defects are removed. Forever, I will become free. Every Upanishad takes us to that knowledge. Today, I am going to deal with something very important. What is that? We will have to know what is the Shastra Pramana. Just now, I told you that Upanishad, Vedas, Shruti is the only way out. Shruti alone can lead us to liberation by giving us our true knowledge, true nature. This is what we need to understand very clearly. We are not going to gain anything new but we are going to gain our own true knowledge thereby eliminating all desires because we are the very nature of Ananda, existence and consciousness. And why is it? If such a defect-free solution is there, why is not everyone seeking? The normal explanation is that Mahamaya. There is a beautiful shloka in the Durga Saptashati. It tells us, It is her sport. Even the most wise people, their minds are as if not even straw. Divine mother forcefully drowns them in the world of Mahamaya. Is it true? Not really. She never does that to her own children. But if there is any lurking, albeit unconscious desire, then she will do that in order to teach a lesson that this is how you will never again desire. Such unworthy desires excepting me. So what is that solution? Atma Jnanam. Where can I get this Atma Jnanam? In the scriptures. And how do we know that scriptures or scriptural knowledge is the right knowledge? So a whole branch of philosophy, Hindu philosophy by the way is called Darshana. A whole branch has come out. It's called epistemology. Epistemology means what is knowledge? What is right knowledge? And how does one obtain right knowledge? And how do we know whether we got right knowledge or not? So these are some of the subjects that are dealt with. So with regard to worldly objects, worldly instruments have to be used. This is one of the greatest principles we have to remember. If we want to have knowledge of the distant stars, microscope will not help. If we want to have knowledge of very minute things, then telescope will not help us. For every bit of knowledge, an appropriate instrument is needed. And that instrument is called Pramana. And that Pramana, if everything is okay, will give us the right type of knowledge so far as its sphere is concerned. For example, chemistry is a knowledge. Study of physics will not give us the knowledge of chemistry. The knowledge of biology will not help us in obtaining geography. So every bit of knowledge has its own appropriate Pramana. So four words are very important words. Please keep them in mind because it will come again and again in every Upanishad and of course in this Mandukya Karika also. So it all starts with Prama. Prama means knowledge. Pramana means the means, the instrument through which we can get knowledge. Prameya is the resultant, right knowledge. Pramatha is the knower who employs Pramana in order to obtain what he wants to know in the right way. He is called Pramatha, the knower. Pramana, the instrument of knowledge. And Prama is the right knowledge. So Prama, knowledge. Pramana, instrument. Pramatha, the knower. Prameya, the ultimate, doubtless, right knowledge. I hope you will keep these four in view. So how many Pramanas are there? How many Pramanas Vedanta accepts? That is what I am going to talk about. Vedanta means Advaita Vedanta. Because Vedanta means it could be Advaita Vedanta of Madhvacharya, Visishta Advaita Vedanta of Ramanujacharya and Advaita of Shankaracharya. We have to be specific about it. Advaita Vedanta accepts six Pramanas. These six Pramanas can be sub-classified into two Pramanas. Pratyaksha Pramana and Shabda Pramana. Just now I said six Pramanas. Again I said two Pramanas. What does it mean? It means there are five Pramanas of which the most important is Pratyaksha. Aksha means eye. Pratyaksha means direct perception. There is a tree in front of me and then I see the tree. This is what we call temporarily, let us accept it is the right thing, direct perception. Really speaking, I just insert the note here which is not probably that important, that maybe I have some prejudices. My eyesight is not alright. Light outside is not adequate. I am frightened of Bhuta, Preta, Vishacha. And when I perceive this swaying tree, I might as well mistake for the dance of a ghost. So certain conditions have to be fulfilled for this Pratyaksha Pramana, direct perception. Pratyaksha means seeing or experiencing directly. And it doesn't mean only what is experienced through the eye. Whatever is experienced through the five sense organs. Shabda, Sparsha, Rupa, Rasa, Gandha. The eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the organ of touch. Directly when we come into contact with an object, then that is called Pratyaksha. Let us temporarily agree everything is okay and there is nothing wrong. I am in perfect health. I can see, I can hear, I can smell, I can taste, I can touch. And the objects are crystal clear. All conditions are right. Then when we obtain that knowledge, that is called Pratyaksha. Now Pratyaksha Pramana is the number one. And this based upon the Pratyaksha Pramana, another four Pramanas have sprung. That's why I classified it as only Pratyaksha Pramana as one of the two. And important point to note down here is Pratyaksha Pramana can give us knowledge, only sensory knowledge, all scientific knowledge is only based upon our experiences, gathering data, classifying the data, analyzing the data and coming to the right conclusions. That's what science is. So this is called Pratyaksha Pramana. Direct experience through any of the five sense organs provided all the conditions of light, etc., of healthy body and mind, everything is presuming is absolutely right. Then that knowledge is called Pratyaksha Pramana. Based upon this Pratyaksha Pramana, four other Pramanas have come. Those other four Pramanas, which I am shortly going to enumerate, without Pratyaksha Pramana they cannot stand. They are based upon this Pratyaksha Pramana. So what is the second Pramana? It is called Anumana Pramana. Anumana means inference. For example, you see, this is the classic example Vedanta gives all the time. There is smoke. I don't see the fire. Perhaps from behind a hill a volume of smoke is coming into the sky. Then I presume there must be fire. Why do I presume? Why do I infer like that? I infer because I have seen in my kitchen that when fire is lit and if the fuel is not so dry, even if it is dry, inevitably smoke issues. So there is a concomitant relationship. Where there is smoke, there must be fire. Not the other way round. I don't go into those details, but this is enough for us to understand. When we see smoke, we infer there is fire because whenever we see smoke, it is our experience that we see fire inevitably associated with this smoke. This is called Vyapti. Vyapti means concomitants. Where there is smoke, fire is there. Without fire, there cannot be any smoke. So this is called inference and this helps us. You see a house, terrible smoke is coming out. You infer the house is on fire. Inside, it has not yet spread outside. So it is better that I get out of that house as far away as possible to avoid injury or even death. So this is how inference is used. This is called Anumana. Now in some languages like Telugu, Anumana means doubt. We are not talking about doubt. We are talking about inference. So this is the second Pramana but based upon Pratyaksha only. Then third Pramana also based upon Pratyaksha Pramana. It is called Arthapatti. It is called presumption, assumption, but based on data. Very funny example is given in our Vedanta classics. There is a fellow and he is like a Bhimsena and day by day he is growing fatter and fatter but nobody had seen him eating at daytime. So what do we presume? I don't see him eating but he must be eating. Daytime I watched him. I never found him eating. So he must be eating at night. Another example is one early morning I get up. I see the whole street is flooded but I did not know what happened. So I presume whole night it was raining, cats and dogs, maybe thunderstorm but I have not heard but upon seeing the vast body of water I presume, I assume that it must have rained all around. Sometimes it is also possible that the municipality truck supplying water is leaking all around. When it came to that area, the whole area is flooded but it cannot hold water because if you go out of your street everywhere whether it is a street, on the rooftop, everywhere you see water dripping. So we presume that there has been a rain. Seeing one fact. So here also association is there. What is the association? We have seen rain. We have experienced rain and if it rains for some time and it will inevitably make the whole place wet and if it is heavy rain it will also make it flooding. Therefore based upon our past experience we have not seen the rain but we have seen water so we presume. So that is right kind of knowledge. This is called Arthapatti. Arthapatti means we arrive at the right knowledge by experiencing something and assuming that in our past experiences it is always like that. Then the fourth Pramana is called Upamana Pramana. Upamana means similarity, comparison. I have a cow at home. I have not seen any other animal like a cow. One day I go to some far off place and there I see a strange animal. In Vedantic language it is called Gavaya and it resembles in every aspect like my cow. There is slight difference is there but it is having more or less similar characteristics like dewlap. Understand? You understand what is called dewlap? So Indian cows have got a heavy this thing here, a huge this thing will be hanging here. Skin, thick skin will be hanging here. So you compare I have seen that animal and this animal must be a close relative of that animal because practically in every respect it is similar to that what I had experienced. So this is called Upamana Pramana and it helps us to also presume. Suppose one day a man goes into the forest. He sees something like a huge cat. He has seen cat but he has not seen this big cat. So he understands this is a big cat and it is very powerful and it can kill him. So he understands this is a big cat. It may be a tiger, it may be a lion, it may be a leopard, etc., etc. So that is how this knowledge comes in very very useful to all of us. Then this is also based upon a fact. What is the fact? Pratyaksha, I have an animal at home and the other animal which I have never seen in my life resembles almost. So I compare and say this must be a similar species like that. Then we come to the fifth Pramana. This is also wonderful Pramana and it is called Anupalabdhi, not experiencing. Upalabdhi means experience. Anupalabdhi means non-experience. What does it mean? How does it bring right knowledge to us? I will give you one or two examples. Supposing you have three rooms and you have a, what is it called, a study room. You have kept lots of books and one particular book you have been reading and then you are called for some other work and you leave it there on the table. You have clearly seen that book you have left there went out. Out means inside the house into some other room and then after an hour or two or three, whatever it is, you complete the work, come back into your study room and do not find the book. You do not experience the book which you have left a few hours before and you know nobody has come from outside. Nobody, the book could not have been taken outside by anybody. So this knowledge, this book is not here, gives you the clue maybe your children or your wife or husband must have taken the book and taken to their bedroom for reading etc. And it so happens, I know funny stories that Harry Potter novels, children are very fond of it because it is full of magic, mantras, tantras. So you have bought it in the name of your son but you are reading it yourself because you are so much interested and when you are away, your son steals into your room, steals the book and runs into his bedroom and starts reading it. What is the point? The non-experience of the book in your accustomed study room is not available. Therefore you know it has not gone out. So it must be somewhere in the house and naturally your suspicion falls. Previously also my son has done such things so let me go and check. And to your delight or surprise or anger or annoyance you find your son huddled up with that book, glued to the pages. So this Anupalabdhi, non-experience of the book, where you have left it, has given you the right knowledge. It is somewhere within this house and there are many guesses are there so you go and find it out. So this is very very important for us to understand. If you are seeking a person, you go to an office, you want to meet somebody, a clerk perhaps, and you go there. The table is there, strewn full of files. You do not see him and you await patiently. This man must have gone to his manager for reporting something, etc. etc. Then one day, another day, you go to the bus stand and at the accustomed time the bus is not there. That experience leads you to guess. Perhaps the bus has not yet come so it will come in its own time. This is called Anupalabdhi. Absence of an object and our non-experience of that absent object gives us the right knowledge what to expect, where to expect, etc. This is called Anupalabdhi Pramana. But this is also based upon Pratyaksha. So, what have we talked so far? That there are six Pramanas. They can be classified into two. Pratyaksha is the most important and based upon, you get Anumana Pramana, Upamana Pramana, Anupalabdhi Pramana, etc. All of them will give you right knowledge. So, based upon Pratyaksha, Anumana, Arthapathi, Upamana, Anupalabdhi. What is the special point we have to keep in mind? That all these are based upon Pratyaksha. Pratyaksha means direct sensory experience. Sensory experience, if everything is right, gives correct knowledge of our body, our mind also, and outside world also. This Pratyaksha Pramana is again divided into two parts. One is external and another is internal. I see a tree, I see a man, I see a bird, I see a forest, I see an elephant, etc. This is something external. But what about the mind? I also perceive the mind is restless, mind is happy, mind is despondent, mind is unhappy, mind is full of desires, full of imaginations. I am directly perceiving all the changes that are taking within the mind and that also falls under internal perception and that falls also under Pratyaksha Pramana. And here also I see all the other four, I see again. I will give you a small example. For example, that one day I see my mind and then I see that a particular car, the thought of a car is flashing in my mind. Then why am I thinking about this car? Ah! I have seen a car and it appeared to be beautiful, beautiful means desirable and then now all of a sudden that thought is coming so that inference based upon Pratyaksha but this is an internal inference. Please keep that in mind. I am not talking about external Anumana Pramana inference. So what about Arthapatti? Very interesting. This leads us to so much of problem. I will give you a small example. Psychologists have once wanted to know why a particular young man or a young woman choose one particular man or woman to be the center of their attentions, objects. They call them my view, my girlfriend, my boyfriend, etc. So they sent out to thousands of people what made you attract and then the surprising conclusions have come. What are the conclusions? That inevitably there is some association. For example, here is a young man. He meets hundreds of girls. One particular girl attracts him and why was he attracted to that particular person? And he has to think very deeply why am I attracted? Does she resemble somebody? When I was a small boy my aunt used to come. Her face was like that. She always used to bring me chocolates, sweets, toys. Whenever she comes it is a matter of joy for me. I hear her voice from outside the house. My heart leaps out in joy. When she comes inside her nose is like that. Her hair style is like that. Some particular perfume is coming from out of her. Her voice is like that. And all these are deeply impressed because of the association experience of what is called happiness which this person brings and vice versa. Some persons come harsh because that person only brings me happiness. So when this man meets a girl and she resembles that unwanted aunt and then he instantaneously dislikes because he compares Oh, this person is like this because unconsciously he is associating with his past experiences. So this is called both Anumana Pramana as well as Upamana Pramana. Upamana means comparison. This person's hair style is like that. The nose is resembling my aunt's my joyful aunt's nose. The perfume reminds me of that. And incidentally when South Indians enter into temples a particular smell of camphor plus kumkum which is used inevitably and then of course several garlands etc. inevitably brings my mind uplifts my mind thinks there is a spiritual upliftment the whole place is vibrating with spirituality of course it is but I do not have the capacity to estimate that spiritual vibrations but I associate because every time I go there these smells assail me. So this is one some examples I am giving so Upamana Pramana resemblance Pramana then Anupalabdhi also I am very much interested in thinking about some subject and suddenly my mind forgot that subject and praying to Anjaneya very fervently then I thought if I am an analytical person I will be looking into it and I will be seeing why is it my mind is not so much attracted to God how come? suddenly I have been thinking about this why is my favourite object absent here? then I find that my familiar object gives me so much of happiness or unhappiness whatever it be it is absent because some fright has come may be a thunderbolt so the remedy for the fear caused by thunder is the remembrance of Anjaneya or Arjuna sometimes or Indra sometimes etc. so this brings us exactly the counterparts in the external world can also be found and if we are familiar with all these things then we can understand this is all how we get knowledge of things but what type of knowledge? sensory knowledge what is sensory knowledge? about objects whether they are external objects or internal objects called thoughts, imaginations dreams etc. I will talk about these dreams later on a devotee had asked it is a very important question but I will come at the end now this subject is not only interesting the whole Mandukya Upanishad is nothing but a thorough analysis which nobody in this world has undertaken excepting Indian sages at best psychologists analyze dreams to infer from there what is the source of trouble and how dream interpretation can help them if they could help the patient to become a normal patient excepting for that dream can be studied all by itself in order to progress in spiritual life and much less about deep sleep I will come to that point when the appropriate time comes so all this Pratyaksha then Anumana then Upamana, Arthapathy Anupalabdhi they can give us when everything is a right knowledge about things of the world in other words worldly knowledge but what we are seeking is not worldly knowledge we are seeking self-knowledge and self is completely opposite to worldly knowledge therefore worldly instruments five sense organs plus the mind, six they cannot help us here then what is the way so our ancient Rishis have posited what is called the second Pramana or sixth Pramana it is called Shabda Pramana it is called Agama Pramana it is called Veda Pramana it is also called Aptavakya I will first give definition so Veda we know Vedas and in our last class I dealt with what is Veda every nonsense every story every historical fact if it is history or every illogy of great saints etc that is not Veda only three questions what is Tattva what is Purushartha what is Hita and whatever knowledge the Vedas can give about these three subjects what is the truth what is the goal of life and how to attain to that goal that alone constitutes Veda that is what we understood a tremendous fact from Swami Vivekananda's talk on Hinduism and Sri Ramakrishna you please go back if you have forgotten about it now Shabda Pramana this is called Veda Pramana it is called Agama Pramana what is Agama Pramana Agama means Veda then Shabda Pramana Shabda also means here remember Shruti Shruti means Shabda Shabda means what the Rishis have heard in the depths of their meditation that's why it is called Shabda Pramana not any Shabda you can talk about dogs trees, ghosts heavenly worlds Brahma Loka that is not Shabda Pramana Shabda means that which answers those three highest truths Tattva Purushartha and Hita I will come to that point very shortly Shabda Pramana it is also called Aapta Vakya Vakya means the teaching Vakya means a sentence what sentence means here what what is the teaching teaching of whom realized souls Rishis Munis what we call Sant Mahatma whether it is Mirabai Tulasi Das Kabir Das Tyagaraja, Purandar Das Vijaya Das Basaveshwara India has produced thousands and thousands of Santas Mahatmas realized souls Realization means they know exactly what is the true nature of one's own self I am not the body this is our knowledge, I am the body I am the mind this is our present knowledge no, I am the witness of the body and mind I am separate I am conscious being everything else is unconscious so I must be separate no conscious being can be equated to an inert being, the subject and the object are poles apart like what we call day and night in fact you cannot ask a table who are you it is only a conscious being who points out a finger and says this is an object it is called a table all the table knowledge table doesn't have but the conscious being alone has that one he is called Drashta he is called Sakshi he is called the witness and that witness is not separated from anything else in this world that's why even scientists are forced to accept consciousness is always singular there is no nothing called my consciousness or your consciousness it can be separated by the Upadhi limiting adjunct the body-mind what I think, that is to say if there are two bulbs, one is 5 watt another is 500 watt the electricity cannot be differentiated but the light is differentiated because of the limiting factors of the fuse, the bulb 5 watt bulb 500 watt bulb but electricity itself is only one not only that if the fan is running if the heater is getting heated if the magnet is attracting and if there is movement motion everything is done by one entity that is called electricity I am just giving an example only so that consciousness can never be many of course there are some schools of philosophy like Sankhya says every Purusha every conscious being is separate because my happiness is different, your happiness is different consciousness is not different but the glow that comes out of my body or your body my mind or your mind depends upon how dull my mind is, how bright your mind is or anybody's mind is that fact we are not able to understand but later on these old schools of philosophy have become really redundant so now coming back to Shabda Pramana what is Shabda? it is what the great sages have after becoming one with that pure consciousness at that time there is no time, there is no space there is no causation therefore there is no question of hearing, seeing but once for some mysterious purpose reason that consciousness percolates into that purified mind either they behold a vision or they hear something either the Vedas are called Shrutis and that they pass through Karna Parampara so what issues from their mouth it is called Shabda and here every realized soul's teachings their sayings first of all it is nothing but truth, secondly when they talk they have only one purpose in mind the welfare of all people they don't distinguish this person is my enemy that person is my admirer I will pass this knowledge they will equally distribute their knowledge because they know whether other people know it or not that my brother I and you are the same, I and an animal is the same I and the tree is the same I am the mountain, I am the river I am the earth I am the fire, I am the air I am the space, I am everything Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma now I want to point out something very very important so every scripture emphasizes that you must have faith why is it so? Shraddha why is it so? because nobody can point out even Sri Ramakrishna cannot point out God why? to point out I mentioned earlier at least five things are necessary, this is called Shabda Pravaruthi suppose I want to convey something which I have seen and which you have seen, how can I do that? convey that information to you the first thing is Rudhi, Rudhi means well known, everybody knows about it, you see somebody asks at night so many thousands of stars are there and says, Dad what is the moon? where is the moon? then you point out and say do you see so many lights there? yes yes I see many lights, thousands of lights and you see what is the brightest light coming from? oh yes yes, that is called the moon and this is called Rudhi Rudhi means everybody will experience, there are no what is called, only one moon, one sun etc of course don't go on telling the Saturn has got 12 moons or whatever it is don't go on arguing, I am only giving an example, so far as we know we see only one moon so to point out to somebody who doesn't know what is the moon especially for a small child then we have to point out the brightest light emitting object that you see that is called the moon and day time of course we know the sun this is called Rudhi this is how you convey the knowledge what is the moon then what is the other one? Jathi I have seen a beautiful tree and you have not seen, I have to convey it to you, so I say what is it? is it an animal? is it a bird? is it something else? then I say no no, you have seen that tree, that everyday you are watering there, yes yes I know what is a tree well this also belongs, it is one of the tree, species called tree and then you give further description it is just like a bush and you have seen flowers, this also has flowers and it is a creeper and it yields most fragrant flowers like the Parijatha, Vriksha etc. that is what you go on telling it this is called Jathi then supposing you are talking with somebody suddenly somebody happens to see you and come near you, immediately introduce, oh this is my uncle this is called Sambandha relationship then one day you go to a restaurant and then a very tasty dish is presented to you and then you taste it and say oh what beautiful cooking, I wonder who cooked it then somebody brings that cook and say this is a cook what is it here? Kriya, the person he is a cook normally you know we add er for any noun verb walk, one who walks is a walker one who sits is a sitter one who runs is a runner and one who cooks I hope you guessed it he should be called a cooker but by convention we call him a cook so this is called Kriya then one day go and bring that flower uncle, which flower you want me to bring you know that red flower and there is a fragrant smell is coming, bring that flower this is called Guna so Rudhi Jathi Sambandha Kriya and Guna to describe anything we will have to employ these five types of descriptions but with regarding to the Atman he is not Rudhi, nobody sees him, there is nobody excepting one God so there is no Jathi he is Nishkriya so he is not associated with action he is Nirguna therefore there is no Guna at all he is Nishanga therefore he is not associated with he is not related to anybody Brahman is not my uncle, my aunt or my friend, my enemy none of these things how are you going to describe it only one way is there and that way is called what is it? Shabda Pravaruthi a realized soul out of his own experience he tells it Swami Vivekananda went and challenged Ramakrishna, have you seen God? yes I have seen God here we should not employ the word seen have you realized God? have you become one with God? that is the correct word yes I became one with God, I am God can you show me? there is no way to show I can make you become one with him, but I cannot point out to him because he is not an object to be pointed he is not an object to be described through any one of the five means in today's class this is very very important all Upanishads belong to this Shabda Pramana Veda Pramana Agama Pramana Aaptavakya Pramana Shraddhi Pramana, various names are there so I will stop here and then one of the devotees asked that what is this dream state let me very briefly explain but I will give elaborate explanation because the whole Mandukya Upanishad Mandukya Karika is a thorough analysis of the Jagrat, Swapna Sushupti, Avasthas so that we know we are none of that, but we are beyond that so what is a dream first of all, dream is a mental phenomenon, secondly I have to tell you there are four types of dreams are there but before that I will tell you what is a dream, during the day time we have experiences of thousands and thousands of objects whether we notice it or not if you just glance at the street at your room at your garden you will see thousands of things, you may not take notice of it, but these impressions are gathered out of that some particular type of experiences for some reason they impress upon you and when we go to bed the first thing that comes is this dream state so what does it do the mind as it were gathers all these experiences and then it mixes up so for example, during the day time you have seen a man walking, you have seen a bird flying, but in dream, in your imagination you cut off the wings of the bird and attach them to the shoulders of the man and you see him flying, I myself have seen many times how I have been flying and I tell you it is such a joyous experience so what is a dream it is mentally remixing his mind, it is called Sokshma Sharira Sokshma Sharira, Sthoola Sharira plus Sokshma Sharira plus Karuna Sharira is active in the waking state Sokshma Sharira plus Karuna Sharira are active during the dream state so the Sokshma Sharira whatever experiences are there they could be todays, they could be yesterdays, they could be previous lives or they could be also future events, all these they mix, mostly it is of the present experiences, not even 10 days experience but mostly it is todays experiences, so we go on mixing them up and replaying them with our own dream time dream space and dream causation for whatever reason, simply I will give a funny example a man fancies a woman and then he sees her walking by is very much attracted to her and then she never even looked at him and in the dream state he is confronting her and she is smiling she is talking or she is slapping him, whatever it is these are all the imaginations so the mind that gathers all the impressions from the waking state and selectively mixes them up this is what we call in brief a dream state and I promise to tell you there are 4 types of dreams are there first type of dream is what I described now repetition of whatever we have seen during the day time either today or yesterday or whatever it is even projecting, bringing the future into the present time, but these are all imaginations of the mind and there is nothing to be gained etc. there is a lot to be told about dreams we can create karma in dreams we can exhaust karma in the dreams, we can increase our vasanas from the dream, that's why people go on moaning in the form of singing dream girl, dream boy etc. so this is the first type of dream, very ordinary things most of the time and occasionally we experience deep seated past life experiences and when I say past life, it could be many many lives, thousands of lives there was a chap called Edgar Cayce and he was well known to diagnose people even 5000 years back what they did and he helped people whether he was right or wrong, I am not saying but Hindus definitely believe in many churasi, lak, janam, we say that those impressions have not disappeared they have all been zipped and kept in the karana sharira in the form of samskaras and it is those samskaras which produce our present body, present mind present social status our sukha, our dukkha etc so what am I talking second type, sometimes we experience something very weird, people whom we never met, we might have met them in the past lives with the second type of dream third type of dream is I myself have experienced quite a number of times, future events of course we do not know whether it is future event or not, until really that event takes place then we recollect what we have dreamt, oh this was what exactly I had dreamt so many days back, so many months back, even so many years back, what is the third type of dream, foretelling of the future and several examples are also there from the life of Sri Ram, Krishna etc I will talk about it when the appropriate time comes then there is a blessed fourth type of dream where our ishta devata gods, goddesses sages they can appear in our dreams and then they can hold conversation with them we can get their blessings even we can get physical objects from them in my next class I will give a few examples of them and if any devotee honestly prays his mind is full of rationality I am not having devotion, I am not worthy, this deep unconscious thought prevents us from accepting vision in the jagrat avastha but in dream time out of God's grace this type of irrational thinking is removed and God appears blesses us and we are blessed if we can have this kind of dreams that's why Sri Ram Krishna used to say if you have seen a sadhu even in your dream you are really a very blessed person like that so these are the four types of dreams I hope I have been able to expound to some extent but mostly as I said it is only ordinary things. I will stop here.