Mandukya Karika Lecture 086 on 18 January 2023

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARATAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHUR MUHUR OM BADRAM KARNE VISHNU YAMA DEVAHA BADRAM PASHYE MAKSHA VIRYA JATRAHA STHIRAY RANGAYE STUSHTU VAGAM SASTANUBE YASHE MA DEVAHI TAYYADAYO SWASTHINA INDRO BRIDHASHRAVAHA SWASTHINA PUSHA VISHWA VEDAHA SWASTHINA STHARKSHYO ARISTANIMI SWASTHINO BREHASPATIR DADHATO OM SHANTE SHANTE SHANTE HARE 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, whole and hearty, offering our praises unto Thee. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on all of us. May the all-nourishing potion be propitious to all of us. May Garuda, the destroyer of all evil, be well-disposed towards all of us. May Brihaspati ensure all our welfare. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL We have entered into the second chapter of the Mandukya Karikas. Upanishad is over. Second chapter is called Vaitatya Prakarana. This has got 38 Karikas. And the very title of this second chapter is The Nature of Unreality. Vaitatya Prakaranam. The chapter dealing with the unreality. Everything is unreal. Whatever is experienced is unreal. And the experiencer is also unreal. And that is the point, for this Gaudapada divides human experience into three states. The waking, the dream and the deep sleep. Mainly he takes here two particular states. The waking and dream. We have the understanding, we have the conviction that everything in this world, in the waking state is absolutely real. Our whole aim, goal, our ambitions, our disappointments, our happiness, unhappiness, everything is centered around this particular waking state is real and dream is unreal. For this Gaudapada or Shankara or the scriptures are not necessary. Because we are all 100% convinced that waking state is real whereas the dream state is completely unreal. We discount the deep sleep state because it looks as if nothing is happening in that state. It is a state neither real nor unreal because we do not experience anything. But Gaudapada according to our Upanishadic teaching, he is not talking anything different. The only problem with Gaudapada is he could have used simpler words. But he uses peculiar words, confusing words. In my opinion he could have made things very clear. But what Gaudapada wants to convey to us that everything in this world, in the waking state is equal to the dream state. That means just as we consider dream state as unreal, we should consider waking state as unreal. And when we really feel the waking is equally unreal then a great transformation will take place within us. Then what is real? Everything is unreal. What is real? No man can live in a world which is not real. The moment we are convinced something is really temporary then we become very anxious. What is permanent? This is the whole point. So when Gaudapada wanted to speak that the waking state, my dear sir, that means he is not addressing any opponent. He is addressing all of us that you know very well a dream state lasts for a very short time. It is changing. It is created by you and it is experienced by you. Everything looks like waking state but upon waking up you understand it is all completely your own imagination. There is not a shred of reality in it. Alas, if we can have the same idea, exactly the same idea about the waking state everything would have been very nice. But our what is called unconscious mind here depicted as the opponent it raises some objections. What is the objection? You cannot, O Gaudapada, that means O scripture, that means O punisher, cannot simply convince me because I am an intelligent person. I can reason many things out. What are the things I can reason? The first thing is that waking state is continuous. Waking state, there is a utility. I run after what I think is going to give me happiness and I run away from what I believe to be giving me, going to give me unhappiness. And I have unique experiences just as in the dreams and whatever is in front of me, a tree, a hill, a river, everything in front of me, that is called objective experience, is absolutely real. Even if I close my eyes, everybody is experiencing. I may be sleeping, I may not be experiencing, on that account don't come and tell me that the objective world is unreal because when I am sleeping the world continues and wars are going on. People are dying, people are getting married, people are getting children, everything is happening. There is a great utility. Objective existence is absolutely real. But when I go into a dream state, that is called subjective experience. Whatever I do with my mind, my thoughts, my imaginations, whether they be dream, day dream or night dream, they are all unreal because it is thought. Thought is not real. So this is one of the objections raised by each one of us. And whereas waking state is sputum, very clear. Dream is not a sputum. We have seen how Gaudapada squashes all these arguments saying. But what is the real summary of all these things? First of all, whether it be a dream state or waking state or deep sleep state, they are experienced. First of all. Secondly, they are changing from one to the other. They are temporary. Thirdly, only when we cognize them, they are existing. And fourthly, our cognition of the objective existence is not being done by us objectively but a great influence by the subject. For example, the same thing is liked by somebody, disliked by somebody and a person is neutral, third person is neutral and we create our own worlds. So what do you mean by objective world? But what is the important point here? When I do not cognize anything, so far as I am concerned, it doesn't exist. Let alone not creating or creating an impression upon me, it doesn't even exist. And this is absolutely true. That means to experience waking or dream or sleep, there must be a consciousness, an awareness. And if the consciousness cognizes something, then it comes into being, that means it exists and then it can create whatever impression because the impressions depend upon how our body, sense organs, our past habits, our mind create. So to cognize an object externally, to think about that object in the form of thought, to react to it as deciding whether it is real or unreal, everything depends upon consciousness. My friend, if you are not conscious, whatever you are not conscious of, that doesn't exist at all. And when something doesn't exist, the question of discussion about that is completely useless. And nobody can counter this argument because this is what we are doing all the 24 hours a day. So we will come back to what Gaudapada says that one of the things is that when we dream, in the dream, it appears to be fine. Upon waking up, when we try to recollect, it is very, very unclear. And this is put in by Gaudapada, as I mentioned, in a very peculiar language. It is the 14th Karigraha. So for all the earlier objections raised by our own mind in trying to understand Gaudapada's proof that the waking is completely, 100% as unreal as the dream, we have mentioned five objections raised by our own mind, such as something is very clear and something, it is useful and it is continuous, etc. Then he is giving a sort of answer. Who is giving? Gaudapada. What does he say? You see, he says, when we are experiencing a dream, he says, it is called Chitta Kaala. That is, as long as we are experiencing a dream, so long the dream lasts. That is the sum and substance of Chitta Kaala. Chitta Kaala means dream time. Whereas the external waking state, what happens? Suppose you are sleeping in your room and you lie down on the bed after having dinner and you go to this state called dream and it lasts for some time, you come back. So the external world in your waking state is having a beginning of dream, end of a dream. So from the waking point at this time, this person went to bed and did not know anything and then he came back and we come back and we see the same house. We wake up in the same house, see the same house and continue. And if I am 50 years old, yesterday is my birthday, I am 50 years and one day old. Tomorrow 50 years and two days old. So before and after, this is called Dvaya Kaala. Forget about all this terminology. What it means is that there is a past and there is a future and whatever is in between is called the present. This is called Dvaya Kaala, sandwiched between the past and future. But that proves the reality of the waking state. But Gaudapada says, whether it is the dream time or whether what you call the waking state sandwiched between two times, I don't care. Kalpita eva te sarve. They are all your imaginations and there is no other reason. Forget about measurement as with one time or two times. Forget about all those things. When you take notice of it, then they exist. When you don't take notice of it, they don't exist. Everything depends upon your consciousness. This is the essence of the 14th. And then I already mentioned one of the objections. Waking state, everything is clear and dream state, everything is very hazy. This is stated by Gaudapada in the 15th Karika. avyakta eva eanta sthu, sputaya eva cha eva he he, kalpita eva te sarve, ishe shastu indriya antare. That is avyakta eva eanta sthu. That is when you are dreaming and whatever world you are experiencing in the dream, avyakta. Avyakta means not clear, very hazy, very indistinct. When we are experiencing dream, nobody can say it is unclear or hazy. It is very, very clear. When is hazy? Upon waking up. Similarly, sputaya eva cha eva he, whatever is in the waking state, very clear. I can remember what happened 10 years back. I can remember what happened yesterday. I can remember what is happening today, even 50 years back. So clear. Nobody can read. What does it mean? It means the waking state is real and dream state because of this stated reason which is it is hazy. It is for a short time. That is why it is hazy and that is why it is unreal. Dream is unreal. As I mentioned earlier, dream state, there is no need for any book to say dream is unreal. The point is can we say the waking state is also exactly unreal and for the very same reasons. What is that reason? Whatever we experience depends upon us and whatever we don't experience doesn't even exist. And therefore, what is the definition of truth? Whether we are aware of it or not. Whatever we are aware of, that is existence. When we are not aware, it is non-existence. Even if you are aware of something for a 5 minutes time, whether it is in waking state or dream state, it is unreal because it is changing. It is experienced. It is not experienced. It comes into being so long as you are aware and it disappears when you are not aware of it. This is the argument. But Gaudapada tells one thing that you, whatever you experience, waking or dream, both are experiences. Sleep also is an experience. All the avastri avastas, avastatraya are experienced. Whatever you experience, it is an object. It is changing. It is temporary. But to you, there is a law that there must be an unchanging consciousness which becomes aware of the changing objective existence. Objects are temporary but the unchanging conscious principle is eternal, trikala abadhitam satyam. That alone is real. This is the crux of all these arguments. That's why Gaudapada says kalpita eva teva sarve. Waking or dream experiences are nothing but thoughts in your mind. I am bringing so many ideas again and again because we must always remember them. What is it? Waking state is an imagination because you just don't know what is outside. Whatever you imagine about it, here is a beautiful person, here is an ugly person. What you say beautiful may be ugly to somebody. For example, an ugly woman is going and you call her ugly. Ask her child, yes my mother is the most beautiful woman in the whole world. Why? Because she is my mother and she loves me. Whoever loves me is beautiful. Whoever doesn't love me is ugly. This is the absolute truth, psychological truth. Whatever we love is very dear to us and whatever is dear to us that is the greatest truth. So this is how Gaudapada says it doesn't matter. You love or you don't love. Something gives happiness. Happiness is also your imagination. Unhappiness is your imagination. Likes and dislikes are also thoughts. Thoughts are no different from dream and therefore everything that your mind does is nothing but unreal. Why is it unreal? Because the mind doesn't function without your taking care of it. Even as I am imagining hundreds of things in my mind, in the waking state, my consciousness which is unchanging, which alone can cognize that here is a mind and it is thinking. Sometimes it thinks I like this object. Sometimes it thinks I don't like this object. But you remove that consciousness from the thoughts, from the mind. The mind itself loses its very existence. So whether it is waking state, dream state or deep sleep state, everything is changing relative to each other. But that unchanging witness, pure consciousness is never changing. This is what Gaudapada says Kalipita Heva Te Sarve. All the three states are just imaginations because you are aware of the changes taking place in the mind. This is absolute truth. Then why so many changes? We say Shastra Indriyantare. If you have got external organs, whatever you are experiencing, you call it waking state. If you are using only the mind and not the external body and sense organs, you call it a dream state. When you are experiencing without the sense organs, body as well as the mind, you call it deep sleep state. But there is someone who is witnessing all these three. Sarve Heva Kalpita. This is what exactly Ramakrishna is telling. Always practice discrimination. What is discrimination? God alone is real. Everything else is temporary. What is Ramakrishna saying? Exactly what Gaudapada is telling that your pure consciousness in the words of Ramakrishna God is alone is permanent because the law unless there is an unchanging witness, changes can never be known or understood. Therefore, God means unchanging consciousness called Chaitanyam. That alone is real and everything is a play in that Chaitanyam. When that Chaitanyam, your consciousness puts on some black colored specks, it is called waking state. When it puts on a little less black colored specks, it is called dream. And when it puts on still very crystal clear glasses without any color, that is called deep sleep. But without any specks, that is called real pure conscious state. It experiences itself. I am the pure consciousness. This is what Gaudapada's burden or burden of all that we have discussed, all that we are going to discuss. Now, what is the crux summary of what we discussed so far? That is our own mind which has clarified its thoughts to some extent is asking now, Sir, you are talking about that there is an unchanging witness that alone is real and there is something which is being continuously witnessed which are called popularly as the waking dream and dreamless state. So, who is this experiencer? Tell me about that experiencer. Tell me about that pure consciousness. Tell me about that Atma. And then that is what in the 11th Karika, the opponent means ourselves are asking, उभयोरपिपईतध्यम् भेदानान्स्तानयोर्यदि कैतान् बुद्यते भेदान् कोवैतेशाम् इकल्पकः At last, the student having understood a little better is asking the real question. If everything is witnessed or experienced, who is the real witness? उभयोरपिपईतध्यम् उभया means what? If all objects in both the states, both the states means the waking and the dream states be unreal, that means temporary, then there must be somebody who is unchanging and who is that who apprehends these objects, that means these states and who indeed is their creator? Because remember, another idea is projected here. First of all, not only who is witnessing and apprehending, but who is their creator? That means was there creation before and the consciousness is witnessing or the consciousness itself is both the creator and the experiencer? The answer is yes, he is the creator and he is the experiencer. For that we give, to make this point very clear, always the experiencer, the example of dream. Now you the waker, when you are in the waking state, you are called the waker and you spend your waking time and you feel a bit tired, then you go and lay your body on the bed and it is a particular time you are accustomed and then before going into deep sleep to get the real required rest and you go on thinking something, those thoughts, they assume realistic proportions. If it is a daydream, you are aware that they are thoughts, imaginations, but if it is night time or when a person is lying down and enters into that state called dreaming state, then what is the difference? Everything is imagination, but in dream these imaginations become very, very, very concrete as if it is really happening. I hope you are able to understand this point. In waking state, I sit on an easy chair, close my eyes, especially after lunch and I imagine I am in America, I am in Mars, I am with somebody whom I love, whom I cherish, etc., etc. I am at the same time aware that this is my own mind creating all these kind of imaginations, but when I enter into dream state, that sense that I am imagining that disappears as if they are all real creations and they were created and I enter into that world and I am experiencing it. I forget it is I who created, I forget it is I who is experiencing, only that I am the creator, that aspect is forgotten. I am the experiencer, that aspect is remembered. Because what is the difference? That suppose you are sitting and dreaming, somebody is coming and beating me black and blue, you don't suffer. Just like when we are looking at a cinema, we enjoy it, we suffer also. But suffering is an artistic, aesthetic experience, not a realistic making experience. So that is what happens, sad music, you feel sad, so sad scene, you feel sad, but it doesn't remain because you know it is a cinema, it is unreal, you are completely conscious that it is a cinema, it is something on the screen, there is no reality. But when we enter into dream state, those very imaginations, remember as imaginations they are not different, but they appear to be absolutely created by somebody else just as in the waking state and then we think somebody is coming and beating me up, it is very real, I am trying to run away, very real, somebody comes and helps me, very real, I wake up, then I know my being beaten, my being trying to run away and somebody coming, both, all these states, everything is my imagination only upon waking up. Gauda Pada wants to say, Ram Krishna wants to say, this waking state is also a dream, this is what I quoted from Holy Mother, She says that everything is a dream, even this waking state. But her disciple, I think Arupananda, just like this opponent says, dream is unreal, but don't say that waking state is unreal. But Holy Mother did not go into Gauda Pada's language, He says, Tabuthu, even then it is nothing but unreal. Why does she say so? He says, my son, whatever is temporary, you have to consider it as unreal. You may not consider it as unreal, you don't consider it as unreal. What do you consider? You say it is temporarily real, you are using it like hot ice cream, like that you are saying, this is temporary means unreal, real means permanent, unreal means temporary, that temporary means that which is changing. But Holy Mother is not a logician, she is not talking like that. What she meant is that life is passing away and a time will come and you become old and you may suffer and you will definitely die. There is no doubt about it. Have you found out a way how you can escape this fact of death? Nobody wants to escape the fact of birth, the fact of growth. But after some time, especially we want to be eternally youthful, after that we don't want any degradation from there. Until we reach youth, absolutely every change is most welcome. After becoming youth, then any change is most unwelcome. But the nature of the world is everything is temporary, that which is born is destined to die. This is called change. That change, we are not cognizing it. That is what Gaudapada is telling. Now the student has woken up a little, hopefully, and is asking, Sir, please tell me about who is the creator, who is imagining all those things and what is his nature. For that, Gaudapada is giving beautiful answers in 12th, 13th and 14th and very easy to understand. He says in the 12th Karika, Kalpayati ātmana ātmānaṁ ātmā devah sva-māyayā sa eva budhyate vedāṁ iti vedānta-niścayaha The self-effulgent self, svayam prakāśakah ātmā, that ātmā imagines itself. How? Through itself. By the power of its own māyā, the Self itself organizes all the objects. Such is the definite conclusion of Vedānta. What is in this stanza, 12th Karika, what is Gaudapada telling? He is answering. The ātman, the pure consciousness, gets itself deluded by its own delusion and by itself projects out the pluralistic, what we call Jagat world, which is nothing but itself, it being the all-pervading and eternal. Really, it is not difficult to understand because now project, extrapolate this Karika into the example I have given innumerable number of times, dream. Who goes to the dream state? The waker. What is the nature of the waker? He is aware of everything. And what is the dream? It is the thoughts of the waker. And in that dream world, who creates? Who is the creator? The waker. And how does he create? He divides himself into three. The individual with his waking form, waking name, waking identity in the dream also. And all the world, his native place, his house, other people's houses, etc. Or if he goes to America, it may be New York, maybe Detroit or Houston. So he imagines exactly three. Himself, every other living, non-living creature, which is called the world, and the interaction between himself and especially the living creatures, his neighbors, let us say. So he thinks, just as we think in the waking state, I am first, I am not the creator. This created world already exists. First point. Second, he doesn't say it is a dream world. He says it is an absolutely real world, just as we say in the waking state. Thirdly, he feels he is going through the same experiences, Sukha, Dukha, birth and growth, and old age and death. Everything, absolutely no difference. So, until the dream state lasts, the waker forgets his waking state that I am the waker, I am the Vishwa, and he puts on a special specs called Taijasa, looks at himself, finds himself as the individual, looks at the world, finds both the living and non-living, and goes through all the interactions through his mind, through his speech, through his dreams. He can even have any number of dreams in the dream state itself, and those dreams can be divided into two categories, day dreams and night dreams. So if it is night dream, he calls it what we can call as dream number two. Dream number one is the waker, forgetting he is the waker, and thinking he is the waker in the dream state, and this dream number two, what that first dreamer is dreaming. Second dream, maybe if you are very imaginative, in that second dream also, he can have a third dream, and all these things Mother Yashoda had seen in the opening mouth of Bala Gopala, and Jagat, within Jagat, within Jagat, within Jagat, like the barbershop mirrors, infinite number of reflections, infinite number of Krishnas, infinite number of Krishna opening his mouth, infinite number of Yashodas peering into it, and she fell down, fortunately unconscious, and I hope you will not fall unconscious during this Gaudapada Mandukya Karika class. So what is the answer? Who is the creator of the waking and the dream? That is the question. So he says Deva means pure consciousness, and it is called Atma. He is the pure consciousness, and he has a special power called Maya. When we go to dream state, it is called Nidra Shakti. When Eshwara pretends to be going to sleep, it is called Maya. So Nidra is individual Maya, and Maya is cosmic Nidra. Through this Shakti Kalpayati imagines Atmana by his own mind, Atmanam himself as if he had become Jeeva, Jagat, Chit, Achit and Eshwara. That is Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika. So it is all nothing but a play of pure consciousness. And he continues. Parika number 13. The Lord, that is the Atman, manifests diversely the mundane things existing in the mind. But the same Lord turning the mind outward, he creates the well-defined things as well as the undefined things. It's exactly the same thing that we discussed earlier. Yadu Pada is answering, when that Atman puts on a very thick black glass, it is called waking state. And he looks at himself. It's called waking state. Now a very interesting thing. I have given you this example earlier. I hope you will recollect. And I know that you don't have time. So I will recollect for you. Imagine you are in a room. Imagine there are a hundred small, small mirrors. And imagine further. Don't say I cannot imagine. So I cannot imagine. You are saying I cannot imagine. Imagine that each small bit of the mirror is of different convex or concave of different sizes, different shapes and different thicknesses and different colors. Just imagine. And then you are standing. So because they are small mirrors, one mirror reflects your finger, another mirror reflects your hair, another mirror reflects your stomach, some reflect your legs. That means part by part your body is reflected in all these hundred mirrors. But as I said, they are all of different thicknesses. So in sum, one part of the hand appears as blue, another hand appears as red, another as a small, another as a big. Imagine. And if you are not taught this Gaudapada class, you get frightened. What is this? I thought I was this single person. Now I see my reflection. And we get very much frightened of seeing our own reflection. This is a psychological fact that we get either happy or unhappy solely because of our imagination. Everything is an imagination. There is no doubt about it. So this is what Gaudapada is telling in this 13th Karika. But Atma, this Deva earlier called Atma, this Atman, by his Chitta Hasan, Antah Chitta Hasan, he divides his mind into outgoing and inward looking, outward looking and inward looking. And when he looks outwardly, all the waking state, what we call Jagat, experiences, he experiences it. And when the same Atman turns his own attention inside, putting on what we call Taizah aspects, then he experiences also what we call the dream state. What about the deep sleep state? Yes, when he puts on some other kind of specs, nothing becomes visible. He forgets even himself. And as if he is immersed in deep bliss, Anandamaya Kosha. And we are not talking about it because our point is everything is created, everything is temporary and anything temporary must be experienced. Then only that pure consciousness which experiences, it seems the object comes out to be alive. Otherwise, no. That is the point. Everything depends upon pure consciousness and the whole universe, what we call birth and death and everything, nothing but a pure imagination. What about Karmaphala? That is also imagination. What about your Svarga Loka, Naraka Loka? That is also imagination. What about God being the creator? That is also imagination. Everything is your imagination. It requires tremendous amount of courage to accept this fact. It's telling the Lord Atman manifest diversely. How? When he turns his mind inside, he creates entire Swapna Jagat and don't forget, you don't call it Swapna Jagat. When you are in dream state, it is waking state, means real state. When you are in the, he puts on outward specs, then it is called waking state and that is what you call the, what is called Jagat Prapancha. Thus does the Lord imagine and we see the same thing I quoted earlier also. Mayadhyakshena Prakruti Suyate Sacharacharam Hetunanena Kaunteya Jagadviparivartate Working under my direction, this material energy called Maya, Prakruti, brings into being all animate and inanimate, living and non-living forms. Oh Arjuna, for this reason, the material world undergoes the changes of creation, maintenance and dissolution. What is the, for this reason, that means everything depends upon, I imagine I am creating, I imagine I am maintaining it, I imagine that I am breaking it. Just imagine you are a child, your parents take you to the beach on which there is a fine sand and you start doing what is called making sand castles. Who are you? I am the creator and oh some part is falling and you take some more sand and prop it up. What do you call? I am maintaining the castle and after some time your parents say it's time to go home and enjoy our dinner and the child himself kicks the whole lot because he knows this is only sand. I can create it again any number of times tomorrow day after tomorrow. He is not worried about it. Similarly, the divine Lord is going through this creation, maintenance and dissolution. They are nothing but imaginations. Because it is God's imagination, it appears to be very real just as we are all that creators during our dreaming state. And then we continue in the twelfth karika. Again we are coming back. It says kalpayati aatmana aatmanam aatma devah somayaya fayeva budhyate vedan iti vedanta nishchaya We have already seen this one. That self-effulgent, that is the pure consciousness, Lord, in this case creator, imagines himself through himself by the power of his own maya. Instead of itself, I used the word himself. That divine Lord himself organizes the objects, living, non-living, being born, being growing up, becoming old and dying. That is called organization. This is living, this is non-living. These are human, these are non-human, etc. Such is the vedanta nishchaya. That is, this is the conclusion of the vedanta because as I said, dream, every single person, educated, uneducated. There is no controversy. Dream is a dream. Dream is unreal. And so we don't act as if this world is a dream. But when we come to the waking state, this is a permanent, there is a permanency, even though experiencing every second with change. Here is a person and he is walking. There is an accident. He dies. Where is the permanency? So same thing can happen to me, to you, to anybody. That is what is being said in the 13th karika. This is the important part of the sentence. Prabhoho means the self-effulgent Atman. This is how he imagines, just as each one of us, we are the Prabhos. Then our own individual dream is considered. So the Lord manifests diversely both the waking and the dream state universes with mundane things, all existing in the mind as in the form of thoughts. But turning the mind outward is thoughts. These are called outward thoughts. Not that there is any object outside. There is, thought is there. This thought is external thought. And if it is external thought, we call it waking state. If it is internal thought, we call it dream. If there is no thought, we call it deep sleep. So that Prabho creates the well-defined things as well as undefined things. That is, there are things which we know. There are things which we do not know. Both are thoughts only. How? For example, you ask me the Einstein's theory of relativity. I heard about it. I know such a theory is there. But I don't know anything about that theory. If I try to explain to you, it is not only I am doing injustice to myself, I am doing injustice to you also. A fellow who doesn't know is trying to explain something. This is the well-known definition of a modern art. The modern art, the critic never understands what is that particular art. Trying to sell it to an uneducated fellow, they say the most marvellous modern art. And if the, what is called the customer, loudly protests, I don't understand it. But if you understand, it is not modern. If you don't understand, it is the most modern. And it is the latest. And the more latest, the more costly it is. The less you understand, the more costly it is. That is how things go on. So everything known as well as unknown. It means some things we know, some things others know. What we know, others may not know. What others know, we may not know. There may be many things, Oh Horatio, as Shakespeare exclaims, there are things which are not even dreamt of by human beings in this world. And don't simply say they do not exist. Heavens are there. Hells are there. God's goddesses are there. And as well as demons are there. And what is called Preta, Bhuta, Pishacha, Eksha, Rakshasa, Gandharva, all these things are there. And we hear about them only in the Puranas. But don't say that they are all cock and bull stories. But it is the Divine Lord. It doesn't matter. It is all His thoughts. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the Divine Lord, it is all temporary. What is permanent? That pure consciousness. Shuddha Chaitanyam. That is the only reality. Now, the Godfather continues in the 16th Karika. First of all, the Divine Lord creates the I, Jivatma, Ahamkara. And then it is projected first. Because without I, I see, I hear, and I smell, I taste, and I touch. It is impossible. First there must be that self-conscious entity called Ahamkara, called I. This is called Jiva. How does the creation start? First with the Jiva. Then He cognizes everything in the form of this is waking state, this is dream state, and this is deep sleep state. Thereafter follow imaginations of the various entities, both objective and subjective. Imaginations, thoughts, various entities. Objective means what we call external world. And subjective means what we call the dream state. What about deep sleep? It is as if it is neither external nor internal. Even that thought, that it is either external or internal. That thought itself, it is a thought. This is external, this is internal. I am imagining all these things are thoughts. Our Godfather's Mandukya Karika is also a thought. It was a thought in his mind and then he put it in writing. That is another thought. When I look at it, I say it is a book, that is a thought. And this is the Karika, that is a thought. And this is what I understand, that is a thought. This is what I don't understand, that is also a thought. Everything is a thought. Nothing but a thought. But that one who is witnessing the changing thoughts, he alone is real. He alone is permanent. That is what Swami Brahmanandji says. During one or two days before He is giving up the body, a doctor had come with some Nama on his forehead and looking at him says, Doctor, the one whom you are indicating through your markings on your forehead, he alone is real. God alone is real. Everything else is unreal. This is how we will understand. We will continue it in our next class. What is the essence of what we discussed? That there is an Atma. And when He imagines, that is called creation and maintenance and dissolution. When He doesn't imagine, it is called Parabrahman. It is the essence of what we discussed so far. And we will continue in our next class. Now there would be, if at all there are some questions, we will discuss about it. Om Jananim Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranavami Mohur Mohuhu May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Ramakrishna