Mandukya Karika Lecture 036 on 02 February 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMU OM BADRAM KANNE VISHRUNAYAM DEVAH BADRAM PASHYAM AAKSHABHIRYA YATRAH STHIRAI RANGAYE STUSHTU VAGUM SASTANUBHI VYASHEMA DEVAHI TANYADAYU SWASTHINA INDRO VRIDDHA SHRAVAHA SWASTHINA PUSHA VISHRAVEDAHA SWASTHINA STARKSHYO ARISHTANIMI SWASTHINO BRIHA SPATIR DADHATU OM SHANTE SHANTE SHANTE HARE HAI OM OM O Gods, may we always hear with our ears what is auspicious. O worshipful ones, may we with our eyes always see what is auspicious. May we live our allotted life, hale and hearty, offering our praises unto Thee. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on us. May the all-nourishing potion 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 have been discussing the 6th mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad. In our last class, we have discussed the 5th mantra. 5th and 6th mantras will be speaking about, describing about a state called Sushupti. It is completely separate, but it is not an enlightened state. Merely, just as a dream is separate from waking, so deep sleep or Sushupti state is merely another state, and it is also a bondage. There is some difference there. So in the 5th mantra, the Sushupti state is described from the individual viewpoint. The individual who enters into the Sushupti state is called Prajna. What is this state? Yatra suptaha nakanchana kamam kamayati This is the 5th mantra we are talking about, which we had already discussed. Yatra kamam nakamayati Indicating the waking state. Yatra, in which state, Kanchana swapnam na pashyati That he doesn't dream also. That is the dream state. And in opposition to these two states, Jagrat and Swapna, that is called Tat Sushuptam. That is called Sushupti state. So, what happens in the Sushupti state? First, Eki Bhutaha The subject and the object, entire world, as well as the person who is experiencing, the experiencer, as well as the experienced, both become Eki Bhutaha. That means you cannot distinguish it. And why can't we distinguish? Because, not that they have become really one, but they seem to have become one. And Shankaracharya gives a beautiful example. There is a tiger and there is a goat. They are side by side. And it is deep darkness. The goat also fearlessly sleeping. And the tiger also doesn't know that such a Rasagulla is by its side. Don't take my words literally. Because seeing is mainly for the human, poor human beings. Actually, these animals, they live by smell. This is only an illustration. So, supposing there is a murderer. He wants to murder somebody. This probably is a better example. And it is pitch darkness. And they are nearby. But the fellow cannot kill him because he can't see. And this person is blissfully having a nice sleep because he doesn't know that the murderer is nearby. So, this kind of covering of both the experiencer and the experienced, that means the Vishwa as well as the Virat. Remember, Virat means the entire experienced as well as experiencing all the selves together is called Virat. Universal. So, it is not clear at all. These two, Taijasa and Hiranyagarbha, these two, and then this Prajna and then this Avidya or Ishwara. Everything seems to be completely indistinguishable. That is called Ekibhutaha. Prajnana Ghanaha. A mass of consciousness means anything that can be distinguished. I see a table. I see a door. I see a man. This is called individual separate knowledges. Separate consciousnesses. Whenever we experience an object, that object presents in the form of thought to our minds. So, we don't know what the object is. The sense organs present some data and that data is collated, harmonized through all the data sent by all the five sense organs or as many sense organs as possible. This is collated in the form of what we call thought. That is why it is called Vritti and this is the Vritti or it is also called Pratyaya. Both are thoughts. Thoughts means illumined by the Chidambasa. It is called Gnanam, knowledge, Artha, meaning. That is why an object is very aptly called Padaartha. Pada means this knowledge. Artha means that which is about which this knowledge comes. So, both these, all these as if they have become one. Really not become one because, simple reason, if they have really become one, then the person will enter into Samadhi. He knows that there are no two things. But here what happens? As if he has become. And that is why it is said ignorance is bliss. So, Pragnana Ghanaha, Ghanapragnaha. If you reverse those two words, Ghanapragnaha, that means there is a mass of consciousness. What is the consciousness? That I am happy. Why are you so happy? Because I did not know anything. That means I do not experience any duality. And that is why it is Ananda Mayaha. As if that state, Sushupti state is called Ananda Mayakosha. Anybody who manages to enter into that state will become Ananda Maya. Even though we discussed, I just want to remind you. A mosquito enters into Sushupti. An elephant enters into Sushupti. A human being enters into Sushupti. There is no way to differentiate and say these mosquitoes, elephants and human beings, Ananda, are three different types of Anandas. Why? Because the subject as if he becomes completely soaked in that blissful state. And this state, the nature of that state is like that. And that is why that state is called Ananda Maya. And this person who is experiencing, that means whichever Jeeva, mosquito or man or Deva, anybody who enters into this state, he becomes Ananda Bhuk. He experiences untrammeled, undivided Advaita Ananda but temporarily. And then he is called, this is the fourth characteristic, Ekibhutaha is first, Prajnanagana is second, Ananda Maya state is called third, Ananda Bhuk. Bhuk means he enjoys, he becomes as if one with that Ananda, Ananda Bhuk. So that is what happens when we experience something, a nice sweet if you eat, there is a time when you become one with that sweet and you don't know the difference between you and then that sweet. And that is called Ananda Maya Kosha. That is called experience of Ananda. After that what we remember, Smriti, that is what we call, we should really say, I am experiencing happiness. No, I was happy for a second because time, space, causation come in the full force. So that is fourth characteristic is Ananda Bhuk. Fifth characteristic is Cheto Mukha. It is the doorway. What is the doorway? Sushupti state is the doorway because once the Sushupti state comes to an end, where does he go? He enters into either the dream state on the right side door as an example or he enters into the left side door which is called the waking state. He cannot go through the not the sequence will not be a Sushupti and then dream, Swapna and then Jagrat. No, it is not like that. Neither Sushupti, Jagrat Avastha and Swapna Avastha. Neither like that. As if this Sushupti state is poised in between these two. Jagrat and Swapna are as if two rooms completely separate and one is on the left side, another is on the right side or one is in the front, one is below or one is above, one is below. Whatever model you want to take. The idea is every time when we want to enter from one state into the other state, we have to shed completely all the identity with that state. For example, in the waking state the waker has to shed that waking dress and enter into Sushupti state and then enter into Swapna state. Similarly, a person who is dreaming, he has to give up his dream dress and enter into the sleep dress and then again change the sleep dress into waking state dress. Like a experienced actor, he goes into the green room and then he sheds all the things, nothing remains and completely new dress and he appears with a new name or in such a way that the persons, of course people understand them but as if he doesn't know anything about the previous state of acting. That is how this continuously one after the other, not simultaneously but continuously sequentially it's going on. That's what these are the five characteristics we have discussed. Now, this is from the individual point of view. Now, we are going to discuss from the universal point of view, Ishwara's point of view and only an Ishwara can fulfill all the characteristics that we are going to read in the sixth mantra. We enter into the sixth mantra, Eshaha. Eshaha means Turi Atma who has entered into the Sushupti and now identifying with the universal called Ishwara he is Sarveshwaraha Sarvagnaha Antaryami and then he says Eshayo Sarvasya Prabhavapya Yauhi Bhutana So, four characteristics are describing the Ishwara status and every Prajna, he becomes an Ishwara. Naturally, the question comes, how does he become an Ishwara? If he becomes an Ishwara, is not Ishwara completely free from the thralldom, from the bondage of Maya? Is he not? Yes. So long as this person really identifies himself, that is so. But it is not like that. I will give you a crude illustration and that is how we have to understand. There is a huge river, Ganga for example, it enters into the ocean. What happens? Nama Rupe Vihaya It gives up its taste, its form, its colour, its name, everything. What does it become? Samudra. So, if it can become, remain like that, it is a Mukta Purusha. But what happens next time? The sun, the free what we call water separating element, distillation plant. 24 hours the sun is working so that the creatures can be sustained. It lifts the water, that means pure water. The salt will remain behind and it carries it in the form of with the help of the air, Vayu and in the form of watery cloud to a very high place in the mountains and there it again makes it so that it is reconverted into the water and then the water slowly trickles down and becomes a small stream, then rivulet, then river and it fulfills the needs of its creatures, the mother, the Panchapothas or the Devatas and this Jala Devata. Slowly, it again enters, this process is continued. Same thing, that this Jiva Atma, it goes until it becomes enlightened, it goes through these three states but temporarily as it were, it became an Ishwara. How does it become an Ishwara? Because at that stage, there is no Dvaita. At that stage, he is only completely blissful. That state is full of bliss and when we wake up and analyse, then only it is not Brahmananda, it is only Sushupti Ananda. All this analysis comes when not in the Sushupti state but in the Jagradha Vastha. That point we will see soon. So, it becomes as if it is Ishwara. Now, one more point which I have mentioned umpteen number of times is even when we are experiencing Jagradha Vastha, waking state, we are completely aware. We have got two I, Aham. One is I, the participant, the experiencer. Another is I, the witness. I, the participant is bound. I, the witness is completely separate and it is witnessing and it remembers what it has witnessed and it keeps it in memory and that memory comes Oh! I had that dream. I slept so wonderfully well. That memory cannot be created by the participant but only by the witness. So, here in the dream state also, continuously there are two I's. One is called Taiyasa. Taiyasa means made up of light as it were because it is the world created by purely by thought, by consciousness, by knowledge. But at the same time, Hiranyagarbha, he is part of the universal mind just as our body is part of the universal body called Virat. Virat, by the way, is not merely body but it is also all the Jivatmas, waking Jivatmas and their experiences together is called Virat. Similarly, all the dreams of everybody and all the dreamers, individual dreamers combined together is called Hiranyagarbha. Similarly, all the Jivatmas who are experiencing Sushukti called Prajna, all the Prajnas along with everybody's individual experience is also called Eshwara. So, this Eshwara is being described. That is to say, every Jivatma has two aspects. I am the Jivatma, I am the Paramatma. Continuously, not that after some time, after Sadhana, I suddenly give up my Jivatma hood and then put on another hood. It is called Paramatma hood. No, no, it is not like that. It is there. So, this Eshwara has got four characteristics. What is it? He is the Lord of all. He is the ruler of all. That idea is being given here. So, how can he be an Eshwara? Because Moolakarana, this is a wonderful point you have to keep in mind. Here is clay and any number of pots or products made out of the clay is ruled by this clay because all the products are nothing but Nama Rupa. Only forms, only name. What is a pot? One particular form of clay. Therefore, one particular name. Therefore, one particular utility. So, you can extend this example with your imagination. There is no pot. There are no pots. There is only clay. You touch it, it is clay. You taste it, it is clay. You smell it, it is clay. You give a tap, that is the sound of the clay. So, you taste it, it is the taste of the clay. So, that which is the essence, that is called the rulership. Not like a dictator. He will say, you do my job. Here, Eshwara means that alone exists and nothing else exists. If anybody thinks there is something other than Eshwara, that is going to be a delusion. That is the idea. Sarva Eshwara means he is the Moolakarana. He is the only reality. Everything else is a bhranti. Esha Sarvajnaha. Who knows better about the pots except in the clay? Because the clay knows, I am the clay. And once it knows I am the clay, anything made out of the clay is nothing but the knowledge of the clay. That was the main subject in the Mundaka Upanishad. By knowing one, one knows everything. Teach me, O Guruji, that one thing. That was the question and rest of the Mundaka Upanishad is an answer to it. So, here also we are talking about exactly the same thing. This Sarvajnaha. Sarvajna means knower of everything. Ramakrishna is a beautiful example. Ramakrishna's gospel is nothing but pure Upanishad teaching just like Bhagavad Gita. Say, somebody is cooking. A new girl was married and entered into her mother-in-law's house. Mother-in-law told my child, now you must learn how to cook and then you must serve your husband. So, this girl probably has not much experience. So, she put the rice and then she came running. How do I know the rice is cooked properly? And the mother-in-law says, my child, just take from any part of the pot. Of course, she can't put her finger in the middle of the pot. It will simply burn. Take a small one grain and press it or taste it and if it is cooked well, you know that the whole rice is cooked. Put it for a few minutes there and then you remove that water. So, by pressing one grain, a person has knowledge of everything. This is also Chandogya Upanishad. Chandogya Upanishad gives the example of Mrith. So, if you know about clay, Mrith means clay, you know all the things that were made, that are being made and that are going to be made in future because any Karya or effect is nothing but only Karana. So, Esha Sarvai Maha, Esha Antaryami, same idea is being described in four different ways. Antaryami means the indweller. So, what is outside the pot? Clay. What is in the middle of the pot? Clay. What is inside the pot at the bottom most? Clay. Now, is there anything other than clay? No, no other object is there. That is the idea. Antaryami, we will talk about it just in a short time. And then Yo, this Ishwara Sarvasya Prabhava Apiyayau. Apiyayau. So, Prabhava means birth, origin. Apiyayau means destruction, Laya, Srishti and Laya. If we are talking about Srishti and Laya, inevitably we have to bring the idea of Stithi also. Srishti, if something is created, it remains for some time. That is called Stithi. Whether it is 1 second or 100 years or 1 billion years, doesn't matter. Every product stays for some time because product means it was not there before, it is now and Laya means it will not be there after some time. So, so many cells in the body, they are just or so many atoms, they are just born. Within biliseconds, they are also dead. But even that measurement of time in bilisecond, that is called Stithi. So, Prabhava means birth or even better word, it is manifestation. From the unmanifestation, whatever becomes experienceable, that is called manifestation. And then, it has to come to an end and that is called Apyaya, Bhutana. Bhutana means everything including living, non-living. Remember, according to Vedanta, there is no non-living. Simply like Einstein who is sleeping. As long as he is asleep, you may call him Einstein, but you should not think of him as a world class physicist. You have to think of him as completely ignorant fool. Only when he wakes up, when he becomes completely aware, then only you have to call him a physicist. Otherwise, there is no difference between a fool and Einstein. In the same way, even mountains, rivers, etc., which the non-Hindus consider as non-living is nothing but Sat, Chit, Ananda. Only the Sat aspect is manifest. Chit and Ananda aspect are not yet manifest. And when they become manifest, that is called the beginning of evolution or beginning of life. That is what they call evolution. But, Swamiji had given a blow and he said, evolution means... Do you know what is evolution? Before it becomes evolved, there is something called involution. Involution means it was something and it had spread out or fallen down from that state. What was that original state? What was the beginning of the involution? God. And when God has forgotten that he is God and he thinks, I am not God, that is called Srishti, Stithi and Laya. But a time will come when the Prana will come and then slowly the Chaitanya consciousness will also become more and more and more manifest. Better and better knowledge will come. Rationality will come. Everything will come. And this Ishwara like the clay is both the Srishti Karana, Stithi Karana and Laya Karana. And because there is nobody besides the Ishwara, there will be nobody besides the Ishwara, all the time there is only that one called Brahman. Brahman is the root cause of Srishti, root cause of Stithi, root cause of Laya. That is what this sixth mantra wants us to understand. Ishaha, this Prajna, when he becomes identified with Ishwara, he is no more a Prajna, he is only Ishwara. So in both senses, when he becomes completely identified by separating himself from these three states, he becomes Aham Brahmasmi, real Ishwara. But until that time, so long as he is here, he will have these four qualities but very temporarily. How is he going? Because the seed is nothing but future tree. The seed, there is nothing outside the future tree and full future tree, everything is in the seed. So Srishti is like the seed, Cheto Mukha and then the seed under certain conditions, slowly sprouts, becomes a plant, grows up and manifests its full potentiality but all that potentiality we take for granted, it is there already, not one percent has come anywhere from outside, so what was inside, that but has to manifest. That's why, that is the Ishwara, that is the Sarvajna. Ishwara means ruler, it is Sarvajna, all knowing because a seed knows, just as Einstein knows. I am Einstein and I know so much about this physics. As an example only, Einstein is not Sarvajna. Only in one particular area his knowledge is comparatively better than other people but real Ishwara, he knows everything. When does Einstein know become Sarvajna? When he becomes identified with all the waking states, with all, that means Virat, with the Hiranyagarbha, with the Ishwara, then he will become Aham Brahmasmi, then Brahmavit, Brahmaiva Bhavati, he becomes Brahmavit, Sarvavit. So Sarvajna, knower of everything, Antaryami. Antaryami means inside, outside, everywhere, it is only, just like clay is the inside, outside, in the middle, everywhere, it is clay only. And then Sarvasya Prabhava Apyayau. Apyayau means the Laya and Prabhava means origin. Origin and dissolution, he is the just like, as if the clay has become something different. So it has not become something different. It is only clay all through, but because it assumes a particular form, assumes a particular name, serves a particular purpose, Rupa, Nama and Prayojana. So it can be distinguished and that is what we mistake. A small pot is different, a big pot is different, a round pot is different, a conical pot is different and all these differences are only in the Rupa and therefore a different name has to be given to distinguish one pot from the other so that some Prayojana has to be fulfilled. Otherwise, for example, I want a glass of water and bring a glass of water and somebody brings a huge tank and then pours on me. No, the tank is also made up of clay, a tumbler is also made up of clay. When I want a tumbler of water, I want that particular object made up of clay only which holds a small quantity of water which is more than sufficient for fulfilling my needs. But if ten elephants come and they have to be watered, then you require a huge tub where you go on filling the water. So a tub is needed. This is how to distinguish the utility. We create the form, give it a special name for the sake of convenience of communication and we mistake what we have created. A tumbler is different, the table is different from the chair, chair is different from the cot, cot is different from the door, door is different from the floor, floor is different from the roof, etc., etc. Now that one being is inside, outside, he is all-knowing, he is the ruler and he is antaryami and he is the origin, he is the cause for the stithi or sustenance and ultimately when a pot is broken or one pot, ten pots, billion pots, all will be called only clay, clay, clay. That is the meaning of it. Now we will go into Shankaracharya's commentary briefly. So these four characteristics Shankaracharya is elaborating a little. Eshahahi means this prajna when he is merged as Ishwara, we have to call him Ishwara. This Ishwara the prajna as Ishwara is swaroopa avasthaha in his real nature is Ishwara. He is Ishwara, the Lord, the ruler of everything. Why? That is to say he is the ruler of the participant, he is the ruler of that which is experienced. He is the experiencer, he is the experiencer as if the Ishwara splits himself into two. The experiencer and that which is experienced. There are only as I mentioned earlier two objects I and everything else. This is the experience of everything else. We can somehow distinguish this is a tree, this is a dog what we are experiencing, an object, but subject I, I, I. We by mistake think I am separate because my body is separate. You are separate because your body, mind are separate. X, Y, Z. Each is separate. A mosquito is separate. A dog is separate. An elephant is separate. A Deva is separate. Everything is separate. This is called Maya. This is called Maya. So this Ishwara what is his real nature? Swaroopa avasthaha real state. What is it? Sarveshwaraha. Sarveshwaraha means he knows I am the Mola Karana and not even Karana. Only for the beginners he is a Karana because when we see Karya an effect, we think there must be a Karana. We can't think of Karana without a Karya. We cannot think of an effect without a cause. It is impossible. You can try it privately. Sarveshwaraha because he knows everything. Sa-Adhida Adhidaivikasya. So the whole world is divided into Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika. And all the three are only seeming manifestations, divisions of one Ishwara. Vedajatasya. Let there be a billion so called differences between objects. But they are all just as there are billion parts. They appear to be billion separate objects from one point of view. What point of view? From utility point of view. But from the Karana point of view they are nothing but pure clay. Sarvasya Ishwaraha. Sarveshwaraha. Sarvasya means everything. Everything means the experiencer and the experienced. That is everything. And He is the Ishwara of both these. So this Ishwara in His natural state is the Lord of all. All that is to say of the entire physical and super physical universe. Super physical means Adhidaivika. We believe that there are Adhishtana Devatas. For the eye Surya is the Adhishtana Devata. For the hand Indra is the Adhishtana Devata. For the stomach there is Vaishvanara is the Adhishtana Devata. For the mind Chandra is the Adhishtana Devata. Like that there is Pancha Pranas, Pancha Karma Avayavas or Indriyas, Karma Indriyas, Pancha Gnana Indriyas and then Manas, Buddhi as well as Chitta and Ahankara. Everybody has got as it were Adhidaiva. A ruling presiding deity. What is a presiding deity? That power which divides into all the minds is the ruling deity of the mind. That power which acts through every hand in the world is the ruling power of the ruling deity, ruling Shakti, ruling power of the hand. And every seeing power through the eyes is Surya for example. So he is manifesting in the form of the seeing power, perceiving power through every eye and he gives light for that purpose and that is why Surya is called the Adhishtana Devata. Like that every part of our personality has got an Adhishtana Devata. This seeming division that is the Adhishtana Devata and what I experience is what is called Adhibhautika and the person who is experiencing is called Adhyatmika. This triangular division is only a seeming division, not real division. It is coming from one and that's why he is Sarveshwara, a ruler of everybody. Not only that Naitasmat Jatiyantarabhuto Anyeshamiva that is to say Asmat that means from the Ishwara Na Eitasmat Eitasmat means from the Ishwara. Jatiyantara, another something a second Ishwara, second object doesn't exist. Na. Therefore, Antarabhuto Anyeshamiva. As if he is the only one at the bottom, at the middle at the top, inside outside, just as a clay pot, there is no division. Above is clay and below is something such a division is unthinkable. Everything is clay and that is why there is nothing else but clay. So the whole universe that we are experiencing through the waking state, dream state as well as dreamless state is nothing but we are like so many pots and every pot is going through three states but it is the Ishwara who is enjoying by creating as if he is dividing. As if, as we when from the waking state we enter into the dream state, we are going to divide exactly same way, we become the Adishtana Devata, we become the, what is called Adibhautika, everything and we become the Adhyatmika also. I will just dwell on it for one or two minutes to make this point clear. See, each one of us, we always experience through dreams. What happens in the dream? So before dream, who am I? The waker. How many wakers? Each one of us, only one waker. I go to dream that I one waker. What do I do? I first of all create the entire dream world just like the waking world and in just like in the waking world, I am one of the objects and I have my own special identity even though my mind only created the entire dream world, I don't identify with anything else excepting that me in that particular small individual body that is Adhyatmika but I also understand like me, my neighbor is also an Adhyatmika, my friend is also Adhyatmika, my enemy is also an Adhyatmika and UK people, American people Australian people, Chinese people Russian people, everybody is as if an individual Adhyatmika because I have the idea that I am an individual so I cannot think the other person as non-individual this is called Adhyatmika and then I am going and then suddenly it is noon and there is the sun shining, beautiful music is going on and beautiful fragrance, a breeze is moving on and nearby there is a very beautiful jasmine gardens are there and beautiful fragrance is coming and the climate is quite just right it is spring season like that, shabda, sparsha, roop, parasa, gandha, everything the sun, the moon, the wind, the sky, the vayu and the agni and the jala and the prithvi these are called Adhishtana Devatas, in their cosmic form, all those things are called Adhi Daivika, so I created Adhi Daivikas I created individual objects called Jagat I created individual experiences called Adhyatmika and I am suffering, I am separate from you, this water is separate from fire and then this sweet is separate from bitter everything now what happens as soon as I wake up the entire Adhyatmika Adhibhautika and Adhi Daivika which I have created, what does it become we say it is destroyed it is made an end, no there is no such thing called non existence they all merge in my waking nature and again to manifest again some other time, so this is how Ishwara is playing as the Jagrat Avastha, as the Swapna Avastha, as the Sushupti Avastha both as the individual as well as the universal finally after getting tired what does he say, oh now I am tired now I must remain as myself, that is called waking up to spiritual life and realizing that all the states are only I am playing, I am the Sarveshwara etc, this is how we have to understand then Shankracharya gives a quotation 6th Dhyaya 8th section, 2nd Mantra Shruti so this is the Shruti, Shruti means always, Upanishads Vedas that is called Shruti Bhagavatam etc called Smritis, Mahabharata is Smriti Bhagavad Gita is Smriti and then a book called Brahma Sutra is called Nyaya Prasthana Shruti always means Upanishads keep that in mind so this Shruti, which Shruti are we talking Chandogya Upanishad, there is a statement, oh Saumya means good looking one young man, that means one with a good mind pure mind Dharmic mind, because Upadesha cannot be given to Miss Universe or Mr. Universe, it can only be given to a Adhikari Sadhaka, nobody else Prana is that in which the mind is bound, see sometimes these terminologies, they give some different understandings, but I will explain to you, here Prana Prana means here Ishwara and is in which the mind is bound mind is inextricably bound with the Prana, Prana means Ishwara mind means Jeeva Jeeva and Ishwara they are inextricably bound because just as the Prajna is inextricably bound as the dreamer self inextricably bound as the Prajna self it is only the waker you call it waker, you call it dreamer, you call it sleeper, all these three are inextricably connected with Ishwara, that means Ishwara is dreaming in one state he says my name is Ishwa, another state I am Taijasa another state I am Prajna from the individual point of view from the universal point of view I am Virat, I am Hiranyagarbha I am Ishwara remember, even the name Ishwara is also inextricably related to the dream this Sushupti state but when the same Ishwara forgets goes out of time, space and causation goes out of the mind goes out of the Maya Maya is mind mind means time, space, causation when Ishwara loses Ishwara title and simply we call him Brahman there is no division at all why all this description? so that we know I am not the individual, I am Ishwara I am everything I am not Vishwa, I am Virat I am not the Taijasa, I am the Hiranyagarbha I am not the Prajna I am Ishwara and I am not even Virat or Hiranyagarbha or Ishwara I am beyond time, space, causation Aham Brahmasmi so here a little bit of this Chandogya Upanishad that is told here, it is beautifully told here just as a bird tied to a rope flutters here and there and when it cannot get any shelter anywhere it surrenders itself to the state of its bondage in the same way O Adhikari Sadhaka, O Soumya the mind runs in every direction that means in Jagrat, Swapna Sushupti etc and when it fails to get any resting place anywhere it surrenders itself to Prana the vital force Prana means Ishwara surrenders itself to Ishwara the mind O Soumya is tied to the Prana the Jiva O Soumya is none other than Ishwara this is the meaning, this is the example of a bird tied to a rope and this has become a wonderful story and Sri Ramakrishna narrates it he must have heard a lot of things from these wandering Sadhus and here is the reproduction of what in the Gospel we find Sri Ramakrishna a bird sat absent minded lay on the mast of a ship anchored in the Ganges slowly the ship sailed out into the ocean, when the bird came to its senses it could find no shore in any direction, it flew towards the north hoping to reach land, it went very far grew very tired but could find no shore, what could it do it returned to the ship and sat on the mast, after a long while the bird flew away again, this time towards the east then towards the west, then towards the south, when it found no sign of land in any direction it came back and settled down on the mast, it did not leave the mast again but sat there without making any further effort, it no longer felt restless or worried because it was free from worry, it made no further effort Captain who heard this story ah, what an illustration, now what is the antarartha, inner meaning this jiva jivatma is compared to this mind mind is the jivatma, because mind it is the mind which experiences waking, dream as well as dream state, that is why the mind is compared to the jivatma only, chidavasa now this mind it says I want rest, so it goes into the waking state and then it doesn't find rest, no no I don't get rest here, I am tired so it will come back to the sushupti state again it finds in another direction that means in dream state there also exactly the same experience, it doesn't find any shanti, peace then it returns to the sushupti avastha, then it finds even the sushupti avastha also, it is only having peace for a short time, then it becomes restless, like the chick of the homa bird, it flows towards its mother then it says at the end of all the sadhana sadhaka understands, I will not get any peace through either karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga jnana yoga, ultimately all these yogas have only one goal, complete surrender to the lotus feet of the lord and that sharanagati alone can give me and then it rests, it says oh lord you have rescued me, this is called mukti and this is the only way, sharanagati ultimately that is what Sri Ramakrishna says, mast here represents complete sharanagati and you just surrender to ishwara, ishwara means saguna brahma and saguna brahma will give you everything will enlighten you, that is the only way, there is no other way and then Sri Ramakrishna continues what a man seeks is very near him still he wanders about from place to place, as long as a man feels that god is there I have to go there he is ignorant, god is there means what ananda is there ananda is there means what, there is a sweet, god is that is my god, because that is where I get ananda, I want to get married, that is where ananda is there, I want to have money, that is where my god is there, but ultimately he understands everywhere it is only tiredness, no peace will be there, so he becomes ignorant, but these very sufferings ultimately awaken him, but he attains knowledge, when he feels that god is here here means me moko kaha dundere bandhe, mai to tere paas me hun, so the description of all these three states are over the only purpose is to say, I am the roaming from one state to the other if I am roaming from one state to the other I am not any state because if I am the state I cannot change from one state to the other state the very fact that I can move, leave one state and enter into the other state that shows I am completely different from all these states, three states if I am different from all these three states, then what am I I am the Eshwara then I am Brahman that knowledge will come, it is a beautiful idea, so we will discuss in our next class Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur Ramakrishna