Mandukya Karika Lecture 009 on 28 July 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADME TAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHUR OM BADRAM KANNE BISHRUNAYAM DEVAH BADRAM PASHIM AAKSHABHIRYA JATRAH STHIRAYI RANGAYE STUSHTU AAKUM SASTANUBE VYASHE MA DEVAHE TANYATAYUHU SWASTHINA INDRU VRUTHAR SHRAVAHA SWASTHINA PUSHA VISHWA VEDAHA SWASTHINA STHARKSHYO ARISHTANIMI SWASTHINOMBRIHASPATIRDADHATU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTIHI HARIHI OM OM O Gods, may we hear auspicious words with our ears, may we see auspicious things with our eyes, worshipping the Gods with steady limbs, may we enjoy a life that's beneficial to all, may Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness upon us, may the all-nourishing potion be propitious to us, may Garuda, the destroyer of all evil, be well disposed towards us, may Brihaspati ensure our welfare, OM, Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all. In our last class of the Mandukya Upanishad, along with Gaudapada Karika's and Shankaracharya's commentary in brief, we had discussed the very first thing is Vedanta. To arrive at right knowledge, Vedanta, Advaita Vedanta, except six Pramanas. And we have discussed that the first five Pramanas can give us only the worldly knowledge. It's very good as far as worldly knowledge is concerned, but it can never give us any knowledge about what is beyond the senses. Therefore, all these five Pramanas, they can give right knowledge. But does that mean that this right knowledge can give us completely right satisfaction, right happiness? No. Why? Because every object in this world has five distinct defects, doshas. What are they? First thing is it is material. There is a concreteness. And anything that is concrete is liable to be destroyed. Second, every object is experienced by us, seen through the, perceived through the five sense organs. Drishyatvam. First is bhavutikatvam, concreteness, materialness. Second is drishyatvam. That means any object that we see exists for us so long as we fix our attention upon it. The moment our attention turns to something else, that object is as if dead until it is again reborn when we pay attention to it. Third, sagunatvam. Every object, because there are many objects, every object can be separated, distinguished from other objects. It must have some special qualities, gunas. This is called sagunatvam. Smallness, bigness, yellow, fragrant, sweet, soft, etc., etc. Then every object in this world is ever undergoing change. There is a birth, there is a growth, there is a decline, decay, and death. This is called savikaratvam. Then agamapahitvam. Every object is subject to arrival, departure. The person who is born, he is dead. The person who is dead, again he will come back to life. This knowledge we get only from the scripture Shabda Pramana. So these are the five defects of objective knowledge. Therefore it might give us some small amount of temporary happiness, but no more than that. But always it is accompanied by three defects as we discussed earlier. First, every object, it is incomplete in satisfying us, and it always brings up, comes along with its counterpart. Sukha comes with Dukha, Dukha comes with Sukha. Third, every object, if we are attracted to it, produces a desire to have it again and again. That is how all the three are bondage to us. Those are the defects. Then what is the way, what is the Pramana? For us to know about Brahman, Atman, for that the only Pramana is called Shabda Pramana, Agama Pramana. These are the Aptavakya, Vedas, Upanishads, Shabda. Shabda means what? Scriptural teachings, because the scripture is the expression, verbal expression of what every sage experiences. These scriptural words are of two types. The first part of the scriptural word tells us, gives us knowledge which cannot be obtained from the five sense organs. There is a heaven, there is a hell, Dharma and Adharma accompany us. There is no death for the Jeeva and Jeeva is none other than Paramatma. All this knowledge it gives. And if somebody doesn't want God but only wants higher happiness, Swarga Loka Sukha or Brahma Loka Sukha, then there are means and they are absolutely right, as we quoted from the Mundaka Upanishad, Aithat Sathyam. And then the resultant of these rituals welcomes us. So they speak to the Jeeva who has given up this body. You are most welcome, sir. We will conduct you to the place you deserve. Like when we enter into a hotel, depending upon what type of room we have rented, so somebody will take us there but all with a welcome news only, welcome words only. So we are left with Jnana Kanda which alone can give us Atma Jnana. But it's not easy to understand because it is amazing, it is contradictory to our experience, something all-knowing, all-pervading, which has no beginning, no end, no death, no birth, and it is ever blissful. Such an object we have never come across in this world and therefore it is very difficult for us to believe, even very difficult for us to understand. So a teacher is very necessary for self-enquiry. Anybody who undertakes a spiritual enquiry without the help of a teacher is bound to come to grief. Then you may ask, what about Sri Ramakrishna? At the beginning, he never had any guide. That's a wrong statement. He had a guide. That guide was the Divine Mother, born of the intense yearning prayer Sri Ramakrishna made to the Divine Mother. Then this teacher, especially in the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, he employs a very special method. It is called Adhyarupa and Apavada. What is it? Suppose there is somebody who mistakes an innocent rope for a snake and then he becomes frightened and then somebody comes and says, first thing they do is they never say, there is no snake. He says, yes, yes, you are right. There is a snake. But you know, though it is a snake, it is not a poisonous snake. It's a very good snake. He says, but I know this kind of, it is a water snake. And thus removes the fear. And then this fellow looks at the snake and slowly that Apavada, that superimposition is gradually removed. This is called the famous Adhyarupa Apavada methodology of conducting the ignorant jiva, disciple who surrendered to the guru ultimately to his own self-realization that I am none other than the Paramatman. Therefore, we have to be aware that there are five types of languages used. What are they? Dialectical, normal language, rational language. This will not work in the Shabda Pramana. Some descriptions are there. The Atman is bright, it is all-pervading, it is eternal, etc., etc. Though imbued with deep meaning, these words have to be interpreted by the teacher so that we can understand their real meaning. Then there is ironical languages there. So here is an example from Kena. He who thinks he knows Brahman doesn't know. And he who thinks he doesn't know Brahman, he alone knows. This kind of ironical language is there. Then paradoxical language. So the Atman moves and at the same time doesn't move. The Atman is here, but it is everywhere. The Atman is inside, but at the same time also outside. Then there is a... Poets use this evocative language. What is it? He is a Purusha Vyagra. He is a tiger among men. He is not a real tiger, but he has tiger-like fearlessness, ferociousness, tremendous strength, cunning. All these qualities are there. That is what we call it. Then there is a famous negative language, Neti Neti. Yajnavalkya uses this. Neti Neti Ho Vacha Yajnavalkya. So this is how a teacher employs all these Upanishadic languages and then explains their meaning to us and that's why we need a teacher. Anybody without a teacher, he will never be able to progress. Then we have to understand every Upanishad leads the disciple gradually, slowly but gradually to one inevitable teaching. It is called Mahavakya. How many Mahavakyas are there? Hundreds, thousands are there, but four have been picked up for the sake of convenience from each Veda and here in this particular Upanishad we have got Ayam, Atma, Brahma. When the time comes, we will explore about it. Then we have to understand what these Mahavakyas are. What does this Mahavakya do? Of all the four chosen Mahavakyas, Tattvamasi is the most famous. The Guru teaches finally when the teacher is ready with Sadhana, Chaturthi, Sampathi, etc. What does he say? Tatt means that divine reality, Paramatma, Tvam and You who are under the delusion you are the Jivatma. They are not two separate things. You are Paramatma, Paramatma is You. Only then you have to remove certain extra phrases to make meaning out of it. So for that we have got two types of understanding. Every Mahavakya has got a Vachiyartha or Lakshayartha, even ordinary words also. I gave an example. One day you meet a person and he has a car and he is about to start. He may be your neighbor and you say that are you going to the market? And he says no, no, no, I am not going to the market but I will drop you. It is on the way. Please come. Now when you ask are you going to the market? The Vachiyartha is are you going to the market? But the Lakshayartha is if I want a ride please give me a ride. That is the real intended meaning. Every single day we use this kind of expressions to convey others understand, we also understand so we react appropriately. Then to understand Vachiyas correctly to arrive at the Lakshayartha the intended meaning the meaning which the teacher wants to convey to us sometimes we have to use three types of what is called Lakshanas. Example we have given Jahat Lakshana, Ajahat Lakshana Jahat, Ajahat Lakshana So what is this Jahat Lakshana here the direct meaning is completely rejected as it is invalid and another meaning we bring in to add, to make that sentence complete. For example Gangayam Gramaha there is a village on the Ganges. There can be no village on the Ganges. So we have to understand not on the Ganges but on the banks of the Ganges. So the words on the Ganges is removed and the words on the banks of the Ganges is substituted. This is called Jahat. Jahat means to give up. Then Ajahat Lakshana where the word is not completely removed but without removing. In the first one we completely evicted the Gangayam on the Ganges and brought in another word on the banks of the Ganges. In this Ajahat Lakshana without giving up the word which is already there but we add bring in some other word to make it really meaningful. For example you know the red runs Lohitaha Daavathi. Lohitaha means red. Daavathi means runs. It makes no difference. Nobody has ever seen any colour running but the red horse is running. That makes a complete meaning. So we did not give up the word Lohitaha red but we added another a red a red is there and then we added a red horse. A horse with red colour is running. Now it makes a meaning. So these two are not very useful for understanding, arriving at the intended meaning of this Mahavakya. So there is a third one Jahat Ajahat that means we give up something and we add something and then we arrive at the right conclusion. What is Jahat Ajahat? So one example we have already discussed. I am just reminding it as a background. Soyam Devadatta This is the same Ramu I have seen 50 years back. This is the same Ramu. How can a Ramu who was seen 50 years back, at that time he was a young boy and he looked completely different. Now he is more than 50 years old and he looks completely different. How can they be the same? Meaning that place where you have seen, this place where you are seeing him now that time when you have seen him in the past, this time when you are seeing him in front of you and that time when he was lean and thin and a student, this time when he is fat and his hair has gone grey or white purely and his stomach also is bulging all these things you remove extraneous things, time place, certain qualities but the harmonious personality integrating personality remains the same. So you keep the integrating personality and remove all these things, then you get, it is exactly the same person. So the example is Tat tvam asi Tat means Paramatma Paramatma has got two words Parama and Parama and Atma Jivatma has got two words Jivatma and Atma Jiva means endowed with associated with body and mind. Paramatma means not associated with anything infinite etc Jivatma is finite Paramatma is infinite Jivatma is bound Paramatma is free Jivatma has little knowledge Alpagnanam and Paramatma has got Samporna Gnanam all-knowing Sarvajnaha Jiva has got Alpashaktiman, only very little power. Paramatma has got Sarvashaktiman So Jivatma is only here at this time Paramatma is everywhere at all the times These are completely contradictory descriptions So remove from Jivatma, Jiva From Paramatma Remove Paramatma Atma and Atma There is no difference Everything is absolutely the same. This is called Jahat, Ajahat Lakshana. So this is the example we have here When a student is ready, he goes to the teacher. What does the teacher do? He will first of all determine two things What are those two things? First of all, Anubandha Chatushtaya That means Teacher says, my child I am going to teach you But there should be four things made clear Are you an Adhikari fit person? Then what is the subject you want to learn? What is the subject I am going to teach you? Thirdly What is the textbook that we take? That is the object of knowledge you are seeking, I am going to teach And then what is the relationship between the knowledge I am going to teach and the book which seems to convey this knowledge. So who is an Adhikari? Sadhana Chatushtaya Sampannaha That is, he is endowed with discrimination We elaborately saw in the Vivekachudamani and he is endowed with tremendous detachment renunciation, dispassion He doesn't want anything of the world, anything belonging to the body and mind. He wants only to become completely free He desires only Moksha And then he has perfect control Shama Dama De Shat Sampat Sampat Sampatti. He is endowed with six qualities Shama, Dama, Titiksha Uparati, Shraddha and Samadhana Finally, his desire is Momokshu. I don't want anything excepting Moksha Moktum Ichcha Momokshuta Teeram Momokshutvam is there. Such a person is the Adhikari And what is the subject? Paramatma. And what does this person want? Moksha What is the relationship? Paramatma knowledge that I am Paramatma alone I can make this person completely free And what is the book that teaches? Upanishad And what is the relationship? Upanishad contains Atma Jnana and this teacher takes these Upanishadic teachings and either puts it directly with the teachings of the scriptures or puts it in his own words but he never deviates from the scripture So, first Anubandha Chatursthaya that means who is an Adhikari Prayojana, what is it you want Vishaya, what is the subject which will give you what you want and what is the instrument or book which teaches only, contains only that particular knowledge These are the Anubandha Chatursthaya Having determined these things then the teacher understands, here is a Sadhana Chatursthaya Sampanna Adhikari, I have got that Atma Jnanam and I will teach him with the help of the Upanishad with various illustrations etc But it will take for most people long time So, for that the teaching is divided into or progress is divided into three parts Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana First, the student has to sit with complete faith in the teacher and the scripture listen with all attentiveness for a very long time systematically consistently and then whatever he understood he has to meditate upon and remove the least bit of doubt if it is remaining and afterwards try to do Upasana and attain Atma Jnanam These are the three steps Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana Now we will come to the word Upanishad and then we will talk a little bit in general about Upanishad What is the meaning of Upanishad? Why do we use the Sanskrit word Upanishad? Why do we use it? So what is the meaning of the word Upanishad This meaning has been taken from Shankaracharya's commentary in the Upanishads So he divides this word Upanishad into three Upa plus Ni plus Sad and he gives beautiful meanings Upa means near and go nearer, still nearer still nearer with every physical object there is a barrier you may reach, you may touch that object you can't go any more nearer than that So there are three types of what is called nearness So yes a stone doll in the water it's most near this is one type of unity which we will not do for our purpose second example sugar or salt etc has been mixed in water now sugar and salt are invisible but we know they have not become water they just melted and sit a little bit more near than the stone there so that is much better than the first one or last one but still there is a separation How do we know? Because anything that is separate can be separated if we take appropriate means for example to boil the sugary water or salt water then the pure water comes out in the form of distilled water and whatever remains is either sugar or salt Our Surya Devata unceasingly day and night is working to remove the good water from the sea and then it carries it with him in the form of clouds and pours it on distant mountains so that through the force of gravity it flows down and ultimately meets merges in the sea but meanwhile billions and trillions of living beings they get their sustenance, their life because of this water Okay, Ramakrishna gives this beautiful, three beautiful examples in the form of a doll to illustrate to us the type of unity that we need What are the three? Imagine there is a salt doll and imagine there is a stone doll. Imagine there is a cloth doll. Put all the three in the sea The stone doll sinks to the bottom will be submerged in the water but will never be separate from water This is the first type of unity Second type of unity is the cloth absorbs quite an amount of water sinks to the bottom but still remains separate and the third type water, the salt doll the moment you put it it becomes one with the ocean without the least bit of distinction What are we talking about? The stone doll is the philosophy of Dvaita and the cloth doll is the philosophy of Isista Dvaita and the salt doll is the philosophy of the Dvaita Vedanta So, now what is the meaning of the Upanishad? Upa plus Upa means nearer. Nearer means what? Like the salt doll Ni means Nisesha Absolutely Even one billionth of distance is not there Complete separation Then Sat, Sat means which makes us unite with Paramatma, Jivatma into Paramatma or which destroys the that which is boundary that which is making us separate The separating factor is completely destroyed Call it Maya, call it Adhyasa, call it Agnana call it Avidya whatever it is. Sat means it loosens and if you loosen something it will be, can be removed If somebody ties you with a huge rope, if it can be made loose, then you will come out of it free. Then it completely destroys or it will lead you, Nayati That's why Nayana means that which leads you to the right object. Nayati means it takes us slowly to that understanding that you Jivatma are not Jivatma you are none other than Paramatma So Upa plus Ni these two are called prefixes. You know in language, that which is put in front of a word is called prefix. For example post office and that which is put at the end, for example walk walk is a verb You put one suffix suffix means that which comes at the end er. So a person who is walking now becomes a known walker Of course a cook doesn't become a cook unfortunately So anything a sitter, a stander and the weaver etc. etc. So these prefixes and suffixes are quite meaningful As I said, only one example I will give you. If you want to negate something, just put Akara in front So Shokaha Ashokaha Himsa Ahimsa. It gives completely different meaning So that is how these prefixes suffixes enhance the meaning or it will give completely opposite meaning, makes the language much more flexible so that we can convey what we want to convey better way Now every scripture is an Upanishad Quran Bible, Tripitaka Vedas Upanishads, Puranas all are scriptures For us, the Gospel of Ramakrishna or the Gospel of Holy Mother are no less than a Upanishad because what is an Upanishad? That which destroys our ignorance and leads us to our real nature and makes us free and that's what the Gospel does it. Gospel means actually good news That's what the Gospel does. Gospel of Holy Mother, Gospel of Buddha Gospel of Ramana Maharshi Gospel of Shankaracharya etc. But when we say every scripture the Bible, the Quran etc. the Vedas etc. We have to remember what we discussed in this introduction What did we discuss? Only those teachings which tell us the knowledge which we cannot otherwise obtain through our five sense organs in other words worldly knowledge that's not Veda Only what teaches us what these five sense organs cannot give which is what happens after death Is there life? Is there God? Are there other worlds? Are there other lives there in other places? These Upanishads are found in all the four Vedas and this teaching of every Upanishad practically is in the form of a dialogue between a Guru and Sishya The Upanishads do not introduce a new factor but only lead us to a unknown factor called Paramatma So what does it mean? Brahman or me, my real nature is not something new I am not going to attain something new. I am only discovering what I am really because I have been mistaking myself as somebody else So Vedanta does not question our existence but only challenges our understanding of our nature and we think, we all claim that we are Jivatmas limited souls scripture categorically denies it and says you are completely wrong you are not really Jivatma that is so beautifully illustrated by Sri Ramakrishna's beautiful parable of the sheep tiger. I will not remind you it is a marvelous story Swamiji was so much impressed he used that illustration of Sri Ramakrishna many times the grass eating tiger so now how many Upanishads are there? It is said we don't know. There may be thousands because so many parts of the Vedas have been lost because of accident because of untimely death because of selfishness of the Gurus because of forgetfulness in old age because of lack of transmission etc but supposedly 1180 and that is the information we get some of the Upanishads but now about 200 or so are available but then out of all these 200 Shankaracharya had chosen to comment upon 11 though many people tell only 10 Upanishads so the problem that comes is that nobody tells he commented upon 11 they only tell it is only 10 but it is not true. That is why these 10 Upanishads upon which Shankaracharya commented very beautifully in depth but for him we would never have understood them in the proper way so they are called Mukhya Upanishads primary Upanishads. It doesn't mean other Upanishads are wrong it is only because Shankaracharya did not comment. So what are those Upanishads? 11 Upanishads 10 important Upanishads Isavasya Kena, Katha, Prashna Mundaka, Mandukya Taithriya, Aithareya Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka. And what is the 11th? Shweta Shwetara Upanishad. Now this Mandukya Upanishad belongs to the Atharvana Veda and it is called Mandukya because it is associated with a Rishi by name Manduka Manduka means frog. What does that mean? Why this peculiar this thing? It is said the word has the meaning frog and some people call this Upanishad frog teaching or frog Upanishad because just like a frog which remains dormant as soon as rain descends it leaps up in joy and goes on calling millions of frogs are seen What is the idea? The dormant Jeeva who has been dormant, unaware of his real nature as soon as he is because of his good karma in the past a Sadguru is available and he developed faith in scripture faith in God and then suddenly after meeting the Guru he leaps up in joy and goes on telling I am saved I am saved A small example I am giving Suryananda used to think deeply and he used to feel that what is the purpose of life what is the purpose of life then he said suddenly one day I read Shankaracharya the purpose of life is to achieve Moksha and he said whole day I went on leaping up in joy just hearing life is meant for Moksha that I could not jump up and down a whole day and dance people might have thought he has gone mad because he understood for the first time what he should do with his life so like Upanishad teaching this a big leap a Sadhaka will take a big leap for a long time he is crawling and suddenly like a Hanuman crossing over the ocean and reaching to Sri Lanka he leaps in like a frog that is why it is called frog Upanishad anyway this is the meaning we are telling this is one of the smallest Upanishads only having 12 mantras and for this 12 mantras but profound mantras we will come to know how do you know because even after our class also it is not very easy to understand but for this there was a great Acharya called Goudapada Goudapada is not a name Goudapada Acharya the grand guru of Shankaracharya Shankaracharya's guru was Govinda Acharya Govinda Acharya's guru was Goudapada Acharya as I said Govinda is a name Shankara is a name Goudapada is not a name Gouda means West Bengal so the person who is born in that West or Bengal and who became so great therefore his feet are very great so he has been known as the most revered what we say in English Goudapada Acharya now this Goudapada has written something called Karika a Karika is not a commentary but an analysis in verse form this independent analysis is called Mandukya Karika written by Goudapada Acharya so this Mandukya Karikas are 215 verses and this Mandukya Upanishad or Mandukya Karikas has been divided into 4 parts that's why Mandukya Upanishad becomes a little bit hidden, it is only the Prakarana in fact Prakarana means a smaller Vedantic text so each verse is called a Karika and 215 verses but so great is the meaning of the Karikas Shankaracharya has written commentary on the 12 mantras of the original mantras of the Mandukya Upanishad plus commentary on these 215 Karikas because he considered this is the very essence of this entire verse form so Upanishad how many mantras? 12 how many Karikas? 215 215 plus 12 227 all together and this whole Upanishad, Mandukya Upanishad along with Karikas is divided into 4 chapters the first chapter is called Agama Prakarana and it is mostly contains quotations from the scripture to support the Karikas of Gaudapada and Shankaracharya this is called Agama Prakarana the second chapter is called Vaithathya, in this chapter there are 38 Karikas but the purpose of the second Prakarana is to prove the unreality of this world, comparing our three states Jagrat, Swapna, Sushupti etc the third chapter is called Advaita Prakarana there are no two, that God individual soul and the world, there are no three there is only one pure Advaita Shantam, Shivam, Advaitam so this has got 48 Karikas and it is called Advaita Prakarana because the essence of everything is Advaita Brahman is Advaita that is established in this then the fourth chapter is called Alatha Shanti Prakarana Alatha Shanti means a light created circle created by a light you light up a torch and go on waving it a beautiful circle will be there, but it is not true, it is only one point is light and when it is waved it makes various patterns so it is a false thing and this is the longest Prakaranam called Alatha Shanti contains 100 Karikas full and here it summarizes and refutes many opposite schools of philosophy and that is why it is such a long thing Alatha Shanti complete extinction of the burning fire of this Prapancha and this is the four Karikas now what is the essence of Mandukya? supposing I happen to die tomorrow I want to know what is the essence? if we understand this essence everything is understood Brahman is the only reality and what is the conclusion out of this corollary? everything else is unreal this entire universe consisting of the whole such a huge cosmos with myriads of galaxies suns, moons, stars earths, planets this whole cosmos and all our experience from birth to death from many many births to many many deaths is a long dream Nithya, there is no reality as we have a long dream and upon waking up we know it is all, nothing but my Kalpana, my imagination so this Mandukya Karikas ultimate essence has been summed up by Gaudapada in the Vaitatya Prakarana 32 Karikas there is no dissolution no birth, none in bondage none aspiring for wisdom no seeker of liberation and non liberated this is the absolute truth fourth the Mandukya is specialized in the three states of human or any living being states of experience every living creature in this world including amoeba once held creature mosquito, a fly, an ant birds, plants everything has got a rest period that's why there is a rule among Hindus never pluck any leaf any flower at night do it before sunset never do it after sunrise before sunset never during the night like us, when the sun goes down not only they sleep the moon nourishes them much better way so every creature undergoes continuously like a revolving wheel three states jagrat avastha, swapna avastha sushupti avastha and this wonderful analysis of these three states to prove that every state proves the unreality of the other two states so each one proves the unreality of the other state but there is one who is witnessing all the three states he gives that beautiful statement I was the waker he was the dreamer I was the sleeper etc. that means he was separate because the experiencer and the experienced ever remain separate I gave that most wonderful vedantic truth what you experience can never be you if you are experiencing a tree you are not a tree if you are experiencing your body you are not the body if you are experiencing your thoughts that means your mind, you are not the mind you are completely separate from the external world, from the body from the mind etc. so this Mandukya Parsad is specialized in analyzing the three states of experience of every human being specially, it analyzes the entire range of human consciousness in the three states of waking, dream and dreamless sleep which are common to all living creatures specially men this Upanishad asserts unequivocally that the absolute reality is non-dual and attributeless then the most wonderful point, the glory of OM as Swami Vivekananda put us so beautifully like peeling a ripe banana and giving us that ripe banana to eat taking away the skin so beautifully so it has a unique method of approach to the truth so what does this OM do it has three syllables A, O and M but there is one unsounded sound OM OM OM OM that OM is the Sakshi Paramatma Akara stands for waking state, Ukara stands for dream state and Makara stands for Sushupti state deep sleep state and what is life? nothing but these three states are there so we have completed by God's grace that long introduction in these nine classes now the Upanishad starts with a Shanti Mantra today I will just give you chant it and then close it then we will have question and answers if there are any OM Bhadram Karne Vishwanyama Devaha Bhadram Parshe Vishakshavirya Chatra Stirairanga Estushthu Agum Sastanuvi Vyaseema Devahitayadayuh Svastina Indro Vrithashravaha Svastina Poushavishvavedaha Svastina Starkshu Arishtanimi Svastino Brhaspati Ridadhato OM O ye gods, may we hear with our ears what is auspicious, O worshipful ones, may we with our eyes see what is auspicious. May we live the entire length of our allotted life, hail and hearty, offering our praises to all of you. May Indra, the ancient and the famous potion, the all-knowing, the lord of swift motion, who saves us from all harms, and Brihaspati, who protects and the spiritual wealth in us, bless us. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all. There is a beautiful meaning to this Shanti Mantra. What is the purpose of a Shanti Mantra? What is the meaning of this particular Shanti Mantra? There is wonderful meaning is there, we will discuss in our next class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swamiji bless us all with Bhakti. Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Dayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur