View source for Mandukya Karika Lecture 005 on 23 June 2021

== Full Transcript(Not Corrected) ==
Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum
Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Muhur Muhur
Om Bhadram Kanne Vishrunuyama Devaah Bhadram Pashye Maakshabhirya Jatraah
Sthirai Rangai Stushtu Vaakum Sastanu Bhi Vyashema Deva Hi Tanyadayu
Swasthina Indro Vriddha Shravaha Swasthina Poosha Vishwa Vedaha
Swasthina Starkshu Arishta Nimi Swasthino Brihaspati Dadadu
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
Swamiji is being muted, please unmute Swamiji
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om
So we continue to delve deep into this Mandukya Upanishad
and what did we discuss in our last class?
The last point, why does man seek liberation?
First answer is, that's because it is his real nature
and everybody seeks to know himself and to be himself
that's called Moksha, liberation, freedom
Second reason is, until there is a lot of background noise going on
I don't know who is making that blessed noise
Will you please mute yourself?
Have you all muted yourself?
Alright, hope it will not come
Oh my God, is it alright?
First reason why man seeks liberation is because that is his nature
and what is his nature? Complete freedom
Parama Sukha Brahmananda
Therefore he seeks it, he is helpless
Today or tomorrow, whether he tries or not, he is going to attain it
but until he attains it, he has to go through all the sufferings
that are endemic, natural to what he is not, Anatma
What is Anatma? Deha, body, mind and then the entire universe
along with the body and mind complex
and we discussed that man seeks freedom
Freedom is sought only for one reason, bondage
Without bondage, there is no need
If one is free, he doesn't seek it
If a person is rich, he will not want to be rich
If a person is not hungry, he doesn't want to eat
That is the nature
Now we talked about two sources of, types of bondage
Sufferings due to prarabdha, our own karma done in the past
Second, existential suffering
One of the important points we have to clear here is
what is the relationship between what we call
between the existential suffering and also prarabdha karma
Is existential suffering only suffering?
No, here suffering means both sukha and dukkha
but mostly it is bondage
Prarabdha karma also, it means only both happiness and unhappiness
They all come together
One cannot be understood without the other
So what is the relationship?
Existential suffering, if it is hot summer
If it is cold winter
If it is heavy, insect infested, heavy rains
This is common to all people
wherever it occurs, all over the globe
Then what is the relationship with the prarabdha karma?
Well, if somebody has done a good karma
If it is too hot, he will have AC
If it is too cold, he will have a heater
and he will have all the comforts
which a person who doesn't have, who can't afford
he cannot be having
and this amount of sukha and dukkha
that is called prarabdha
It is inevitable, unavoidable
and that comes with birth
and it goes only with birth
Now we have to understand
prarabdha karma, each one's prarabdha karma
is limited only to that particular life
Next birth, again it depends upon
what this person has given
utilizing the opportunity he has given
So this is what the scriptures give us
the answer
Each soul is potentially divine
but for some mysterious power of maya
you come to consider yourself as non-atman, anatma
considering I am the body, I am the mind
I am an object, I am subject to change
I am limited, alpanya, alpashaktimaan, etc
So the nature doesn't allow a person to keep quiet
He has to go, move forward
and that is what I said
the evolutionary escalator
We are all this inescapable evolutionary escalator
Then where is the place for self-effort?
Well, you have seen escalators
Some people will be sitting
Some people will be standing
Some people will be running up and down
because they have to catch their earlier plane
So we have got a limited amount of freedom
within the escalator
and if we can utilize it
then mysteriously the escalator will give us much more freedom
so that we can reach our goal in a better way
And how to do it?
That's where the scriptures step in
Today I am going to talk about scriptures
and there is some partial or misunderstanding about scriptures
I am going to talk about them
Indian scriptures are called Vedas
Veda at the beginning was only one vast collection, mass of knowledge
So many Rishis
and in Satya Yuga
so many more Rishis seems to have been produced
their realizations are being propagated at that time
and a vast mass of knowledge had gathered in
it became too much for ordinary people to digest
Now what is a Veda?
The word Veda comes from the root Vid
Vid means to know
To know what?
To know something which is beyond our five sensory knowledges
In fact I will be talking about this most wonderful topic
What is knowledge?
How is it properly obtained?
And how do we know we have obtained it?
And what are the means through which they are obtained?
And in brief they are called Pramanas
So there are six Pramanas
only I am telling you briefly now
and the last Pramana is called Shabda Pramana
means Vedas
Shabda means the expressions of the experiences of realized souls
that is what has come to be known as a scripture
Unfortunately at some point of time
our ancient Rishis had drawn a line and said
those who had really realized this truth
that is partial first of all
secondly it cannot be expressed
and so they have put a line and said
in future we don't know what is going to happen
we will draw a line
and from now onwards
even if a realized soul's experiences are there
we will only categorize them, classify them
under Smriti not Shruti
So at some point of time this mass became too much
for any one particular individual
at that time God incarnated himself
Narayana incarnated in the form of Veda Vyasa
Krishna Dvaipayana
He was called Krishna because he was black
jet black in fact
and he was called Dvaipayana
Dvaipa means an island
because he happened to be born in an island
His father was Parashara Rishi
and he was one of the most respected Rishis at that time
So this Parashara Rishi had brought up his son
and endowed him with all the knowledge
that was available at that time
He was in fact a living, moving encyclopedia
That's why we see him appearing and reappearing
in the scenes of Mahabharata again and again
just to advise the Kauravas
on the path of what is righteousness
and what is not righteousness
This Krishna Dvaipayana
looked at and realized
that I have a mission to fulfill
What is that?
I must first of all gather all the knowledge
Why?
Because so much of knowledge
because of selfishness
because of natural disasters
because of untimely death
so many people had
before they could share it with others
it was lost forever
So Veda Vyasa like Max Muller
collected all the knowledge
available at that time
and divided it into four parts
Why four you may ask?
Because he had four disciples
and then one-one part imparted to one-one disciple
and commanded them
you go and distribute it among your disciples
who will be even less receptive
and capable than you
So they started distributing it
breaking it into pieces
and in course of time
we have lost so much
I will also come to that point
Now
these four Vedas
are originally only one
and each Veda
was divided into four parts
The first one is called Mantra
second part is called Brahmana
third part is called Haranyaka
and the fourth part is called Upanishad
What is the methodology
followed for dividing
every Veda into four parts?
Mantra is the original realization
and expression of the Rishi
Brahmana
nothing to do with modern Brahmin
who is born in the family of a Brahmin
Here Brahmana means
that which elaborates the mantras
gives it practical shape
and indicates methodology
how we can worship gods
or contemplate gods
how a fire
in those Vedic days
fire ritual was very very popular
how each mantra has to be utilized
in what order
and what needs to be offered unto the fire
etc. all these elaborated details
plus what does a person gain
by performing any particular ritual
all these are comprised
in what is called Brahmana
and then comes a third part
when a person had fulfilled his desire
as I mentioned earlier
he had crossed
the necessity of Artha
distress and the stage of Artharthi
I am lacking something
I am unhappy
I want to gain something more
a person has sufficient happiness
from within himself
and then he says
I want to know
what is that by knowing which
I can be completely freed
from the thralldom of the Samsara
I can know what I am
because that's what he learnt already
so that inquiry state is called
Jignasa
and that is when a person
slowly withdraws
from all externalities
and focuses his mind
upon contemplations
of the highest truth
remember here a Vanaprasthi
is not contemplating
like Grihastha
Grihastha also contemplates
he is not contemplating on
the fulfillment of worldly desires
but is contemplating on aspects of God
in order to gain self-knowledge
and become free
and a time will come
these Vanaprasthis
usually used to retire into solitary places
and they are called Aranyakas
and in those days
it was full of forests
solitary spaces
where it is not easy to find them out
or to disturb them
or they will not be disturbed
is called Aranyaka
so big Upanishads like
Prahedaranyaka, Chandogya
in fact Prahedaranyaka
only because it was taught in the forest
because it was such a huge Upanishad
even to teach it
a person has to live in the forest
for many many years
and that's why
they used to go there
live with the Guru
now spiritual Guru
not ordinary Gurukula Guru
and then they used to learn these things
such a person is called
Vanaprasthi
and these sacred Upanishads
used to be taught
and when sufficient faith is developed
and yogyata, fitness is developed
then they used to completely
renounce the world
and society honoured them
provided for them the minimal needs
and then they are called Sannyasins
and what they do is
study, meditate
and come to know
what they are
that is called Upanishads
now Vedas
are also called Shrutis
and here is some mystery
I would like to
place it before you
now Shruti means
that which is heard
that which is heard
is called Shruti
now what does it mean?
when a person sits
when a Rishi sits in meditation
does he
someone whisper him
or does he
God hear
the voice of God
yes that is what we say
but that is not the complete explanation
now I will tell you what it is
each one of us
have got five sense organs
and within each one of us
all of us
in all of us
every sense organ
is not dominant
usually in some
the eye is dominant
usually they become painters
and they recognize faces
very quickly
and they enjoy natural sceneries
etc.
that is their speciality
unfortunately or fortunately
some people are endowed
not with the eyesight
but with the power of hearing
they can remember names
they can remember the telephone
numbers very easily
they can remember the quotations
from the scriptures profusely
and instantaneously
they can become great
musicians
remember music doesn't depend
upon seeing
it depends only upon
hearing mainly
whether it be instrumental
or vocal
now these are the two things
when a Rishi
had that deep spiritual experience
we have to understand
he doesn't sit there
and experience somebody coming
and revealing something
showing something
or somebody shouting something
that's not what happens
so what experience
a Rishi had
in the depths of, in the caves of
his heart through
prolonged contemplation
on Bhagawan
in different forms
such a person becomes absorbed
and he has an experience
this is called
ineffable experience
ineffable means inexpressible
it is beyond mind
beyond speech
much less beyond what we can express
so such a person
when his mind
comes down from
that highest state
to the lowest state
then either it
comes through the channel
of sight or it comes
through the channel of the ears
that is to say
his experience
coalesces into memory
and that memory
is either
remembered either
in the form of sound
or in the form of sight
if it is in the form of sound
it is called Shruti
if it is in the form of sight
it is called
Darshana. In any case
that knowledge
remains in the memory
in the form of certain sounds
that's why
it is not a proper context
for me to go into
Tantra has
dealt with these
things very beautifully
and see maybe
a few of you are familiar
with these words but I will just
maintain. Whenever
a Tantric deeply contemplates
on these Yantras
symbols
symbolizing the highest truth
so whenever there is a home
Kunda either done on a
piece of sand or
on a copper plate
or a silver plate
golden plate etc.
for example Sri Chakra
you will see a lot of triangles
and squares
and then rectangles
and then half lotuses
etc. you will see all of them
but if you observe
carefully there will be a triangle
at the middle
of it and in that
triangle there would be a spot
that is called Bindu
and that is the origin
from there the
entire what you call
this spot
this sound comes it
and when this sound
emerges and the
first thing that comes is
called Para, supreme
it is beyond the mind
it cannot be expressed
the second stage is called
Pashyanti, it is
in the form of very
abstract idea
and it further grossifies
and enters into the
mind in the form of
thoughts, in the form of
ideas and
that is called Madhyama
and when
someone is capable of
expressing it, it is called
Vaikhari
that is in the form of
uttered speech and
there also conditions are there
the person must utter the
correct words and they must
be pronounced properly
that is why if you notice
in the Gurukula
the first thing the Guru
teaches is how to pronounce
without the slightest mistake
that's why
our Vedas which are of
1000 years old are
coming down through Karna Parampara
not
Mahabharata Karna
here Karna means the year
Guru utters it
into the ears of the
student and
when the student is capable
of becoming a Guru in his own right
then he utters it in the form
of sound to
his disciples so this is
called Karna Parampara
a tradition of passing knowledge
from the mouth of the teacher
into the ear of the student
etc. it has come
unchanged and the secret
why it was not changed
is that there is a
verse if you change
even half a syllable
then your 14 generations
will go to the other place
and then will be roasted
again and again not once but many
times and
of course I am making too much
of it but really what it means
is this
kind of fear is put into
the hearts of people and they had
sufficient Shraddha in their Gurus
so unbrokenly it is
coming down, you cannot simply
learn it by reading a book
because notations are there
there is Udadtha,
Anudadtha, Anuswara,
Swaritha, everything is
there but you have to hear
it at least for some time
from a qualified Guru
and that's why it sounds so marvellous
and this
is called Samaveda
chanting most often
I will come to that point but
this is called Gregorian music
and when a Mulla
is uttering prayer
it has a relationship
with this kind of
music which is
very uplifting in effect
if somebody utters it
solemnly. Anyway, what are we
talking about? I am talking about
Shruti and then
the disciple hearing it
and many people hear it
from the mouth of the Guru
and some of them may not be qualified
so they will either
forget or they do not realise
what the Guru told them
so they remain maybe
a bit advanced but not
much but there are some
who understand it better
and they feel an urge
to explain it further
so what they heard from
their Gurus, they try to explain
in the form of stories,
parables, historical
incidents, trying to
illustrate them so that
people who read them or listen
to them will be able
to understand properly
in fact that's what I am trying
to do right now through all
these illustrations etc
is meant only for that purpose
facility of understanding
that's one thing I always
insist upon when you talk
to somebody whatever be the subject
first you have to know
and then you must have that capacity
to address
whomsoever you are addressing
so that there is no doubt is left out
in the minds of the
hearers, otherwise your time
his time, everybody's time
is completely wasted
so then this
disciple basing
having complete faith
he elaborates it
and then expands it
and that came
to be known as Smriti
Smriti means memory
what does memory has got to do
with it, first of all
the Guru tells him, you commit
it to memory, whatever I
utter to you and in the olden days
his disciples used to
commit memory, their
portion of the Veda
and which would be their main stay
for participating in the rituals
and for recitation
and also for
teaching to
their own students
now this Smriti
means memory and
memory was very sharp in
those days, again for two
reasons, one reason is
there was not so much
distracting sounds
and other types of
knowledge, that is one
reason, second
because even if they are clever
even if they are rich people
the number of
objects which they can enjoy
at that time are totally
limited, therefore
they tended to be
more philanthropic, distribute
their wealth, keep only what
is necessary, so
their memories used to be
fresh and very
accurate and
Sriram Krishna's memory
is called Ekashruti
Dhara, also Swami Vekananda
so we can infer
whether it is Jesus, Buddha
Krishna, Rama
they all
had that tremendous
memory, I am just citing
a curious instance
Shankaracharya had tremendous
memory, that's why
when you study Bhashya's
commentaries
you will see, you know in that
Satchand, Satcha Upanishad
and it is mentioned here
in Mahabharata it is
mentioned, Bhagavad Gita is mentioned
vast are the number
of scriptures he had studied
kept in memory
and we have to wonder how
he remembers as though
it is just one paragraph
earlier, even page has
not been turned, he is just looking
at it and quoting it
such is the power of this
Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya
Madhvacharya, etc.
great souls we have to admire
now coming back to our subject
so this Smriti was
very fresh and Smriti
or memory is
intimately connected with
other four things, I have mentioned
it earlier but
the memory
being what it is
I am going to repeat it, first of all
interest
if there is a proportionate
to the interest only will be
the memory, memory will be
proportionate to the
interest, second will be
concentration
the more we are interested
the more will be the distraction
the less will be the distraction
and the more will be the concentration
third will be
the joy that comes
out of it, so
these four aspects
interest, concentration
joy
of course memory
whatever we are interested in
that will be firmly
impressed, deeply impressed
in the mind
and these ancient people
most of them, they had
no other goal
excepting God realization
and therefore their
memory was very
strong and they are joyful
they are interested
and thanks for that
they are getting what we are getting today
because of all these things
and they did not have any copyrights
sometimes we do not even know
their names etc
so this is one type of literature
it is called secondary literature
it is called Smriti
and under the broad
category of Smritis
Puranas are there
Dharmashastras are there
Dictionaries are there
Etymologies are there
Vedas are there
so many things are there
all fall under what category
very important thing is
even professions
which householders are supposed
to learn from their gurus
they are also included in the
Vedas because the ultimate
goal of any profession
is to
live a happy life here
to be a good householder
successful householder
progress in life
become a successful Vanaprasthi
a successful Sanyasi
and a successful
God realized soul called
Athyashrami
so this is very important point
we have to keep it in mind
Shruti and Smriti
Shruti is a direct experience
expressed through the mouth
of the Rishis
such a person who had such kind of
realization they are called
Rishi
it comes from the root
Rishati means
he who knows not by hearsay
but by direct realization
he is
also called Shrotriya
he is also called Mantravit
so he is the
real Gnani
in fact I tend to call him
like to call such a person Vignani
he is not merely learning
from somebody but he directly
perceived it, proved it
to be true and then
propagated it out of
infinite compassion because he
becomes like God
by knowing about God
Shruti and
Smriti are there
then afterwards there are other
type of Itihasas
etc have come
and then we know all those things
I will not go into deep
details of these things
by this time you should be knowing
there are 36 Puranas
and Veda Vyasa was supposed to be
the author of
all these things, 18
main Puranas and
18 Upa Puranas
or smaller Puranas
and all these Puranas
in a general way
have been divided into 3 categories
those who extolled
Shiva called Shaiva Puranas
those who extolled
Devi, they are called Devi Puranas
and those who extoll
Vishnu, they are called Vishnu
Puranas, so one Purana
or the other will be extolling
one of the aspects
of the God, remember
that anybody can reach
God realization
through any
aspect of God
even if somebody is worshipping a snake
or a tree
or a bird
or a piece of stone
if a piece of stone can take
one to God realization
why not a living bird
a living mouse, a living
lion, a living cow
etc.
so this is what we have to understand
now I am going to tell you
something
very very important
before that I want to add something
so this
Smritis in course of time
gave birth
of course Smritis
they are not primary scriptures
they totally depend upon
the primary scriptures called
Smritis and if any Smriti
departs
or it differs
from the Smritis or Vedas
we have to discard
it mercilessly as worthless
Smriti is the
absolute authority
everything that is called
what is called
the knowledge
that can be obtained only
through direct realization
when it comes to the
discussion about Pramanas
I am going to come to that point
now
first I said Vedas
are vast, are they really
vast and Swami Vekananda
helps us in this respect
no Vedas are
not at all vast
ok now
Swami Vekananda's complete works
as
of date
we have got nearly 10 volumes
and there is material
probably for another
one or two volumes more
I don't know but in course of time
it may expand also
so this is all Veda
Smriti, is it? No
is it all Smriti? No
so what is the Veda here?
Swami Vekananda clarifies that
point to us
let me first give you
a little example
the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
runs to more than
1000 pages
each complete work of Swami Vekananda
is around
500, 550, 60 pages
etc. so that means
two volumes
of the complete works of Swami Vekananda
form one
complete Gospel
the whole Gospel is the
talks, the conversations
is the advice
that Sri Ramakrishna had given
to his various devotees
accepting a little bit of descriptions
it is evening
so many people are present
temple servants are hurrying
to prepare for the evening Arathrikam
such kind of details
if we exclude
I am sure at least
6 to 700
pages of pure
teachings of Sri Ramakrishna
would come to our
rescue
now, there is a curious fact
at one time
Swami Sarvagatanandaji
was the head of our Boston
Centre in USA and
he has specially
contributed some money to publish
a special edition of the Gospel
of Sri Ramakrishna which is
called Red Colour
Highlighted Gospel
what is its speciality
only the words of Sri Ramakrishna
have been printed in
red colour and everything
else is in normal colour
and if we extract
all those reddish coloured
highlighted
teachings then
we will get 5 to 600 pages
I am sure about it, something like that
now
the entire
teaching of Sri Ramakrishna is
stemming from
his own realizations
even though he studied
he heard, not studied
but he heard from many people
he understood, he had that capacity
to understand, all these things
were there, but
the most important thing
for us to understand is
that he expressed it
in contemporary language
and changed its
practicability to
suit the modern needs
that is important
out of these 500 or
600 pages of
pure teachings of Sri Ramakrishna
how much can be considered
as Veda, as I mentioned earlier
whatever falls from
the mouth of these great
souls, it is called
Veda, and to understand
this, I will give you
again, take you back to Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda's complete
verse consists of more than
6000 pages
and then
he had a special
delivery of Raja Yoga
talks, and then this has
been transcribed and
published as a book
and in the very beginning
of this book, there are
four sentences
each soul is potentially
divine, the goal is to manifest
this divinity within
by controlling nature external
and internal, do this
either by work or worship
or psychic control or philosophy
by one or more of these
and be free, this is the
whole of religion, doctrines
dogmas, temples, churches
books, ceremonies, all
these are secondary
details, four sentences
now, the first three
sentences, first sentence
is called
Tattva, second sentence is
called Purushartha
third sentence is called
Hitha, this is the essence of
Vedas, should be
the essence of the Vedas
what is Tattva, what is
the truth, this truth cannot be
obtained by the five sense organs
therefore only a Rishi
whose mind
is left far behind
and his soul alone
travels and
experiences itself
and then by God's will
comes back and again
through the instrumentality
of the mind, expresses
his experience
they are called Vedas
and that is what this is, these three
truths are, each soul is
potentially divine, no amount of
sensory knowledge
five sense organs
can never give us the knowledge
that we are all potential
on the contrary
the more we depend upon them
the more they reinforce Mahamaya
and say you are the body
you are the body, you are the mind
you are the body, you are the mind
so this is first
Vedic truth, second
Vedic truth is if this
is true, what should be the only
goal of life or inevitable
goal of life, inescapable
goal of life, you are helpless
like a mighty stream
carrying small twigs
on its surface
we are all helpless and that
is called the second
Purushartha
Purushartha gradually
first you
cater to your body, cater to
your mind, do only righteously
but there is only one
Purushartha really speaking
and that is called Moksha
and that is what
the second Mahavakya
of Swami Vivekananda
which I call Vedic
Vakya, Shruti
first is Shruti, second Vakya
is also Shruti
then there must be a way
any amount of sensory knowledge
will not tell us
then who can tell us
one Rishi comes and tells I followed
Karma Yoga, I reached the goal
another Rishi comes and says
I followed Bhakti Yoga
reached the same goal
realized God, third Rishi
comes and says I followed
Jnana Yoga and realized God
fourth Rishi comes and says
I followed the path of Yoga
and realized
the same goal, another Rishi
modern Rishi comes and says
I followed
all the devotional paths
that are enumerated in Hinduism
I followed Tantras
I followed Vedanta
I followed Bhakti Marga
I followed also Dvaita
Vishishta Dvaita
and Advaita, I followed
Christianity, I followed Islam
and through all
these paths I
have realized God
this authoritative statement
cannot be made by a person
who has not reached the goal
that is why that is also
part of the Vedas
so this is how we get these
three things, with this introduction
I am going to quote
from one of the most
marvelous talk
Swami Vivekananda has given
at the Parliament of Religions
and there he compares
Sri Ramakrishna to something
unique, I better
read out so that
we all enjoy it, this is from
Hinduism and Sri Ramakrishna
by the word
Shastra, scriptures
the Vedas without beginning or end
are meant, in matters of religious
duty the Vedas are the
only capable authority
the Puranas and other religious
scriptures are all denoted
by the word Smriti
and their authority goes
so far as they follow the Vedas
and do not contradict them
Swami Vivekananda continues
truth is of two kinds
one, that which is cognizable
means obtainable
by the five ordinary senses of man
and by reasonings
based there upon
right knowledge even in worldly
affairs also and that is
called science, science means
irrefutable
knowledge we derive
through our five sense organs
why? because sometimes
our five sense organs can also
mislead us and many times we
it is
misled and second type of
truth is there, that which is
cognizable by the subtle
super sensuous power
of yoga, knowledge acquired
by the first means is called
science and knowledge acquired by
the second is called the Vedas
the whole body
of super sensuous truths
having no beginning or end
and called by the name of Vedas
is ever existent
this is very important
that means
truth is eternal and that
is why when we
study further, I am going to
deal with it when I start
the Upanishad, all the
knowledge that we get
is of limited knowledge
depends upon the instrument
and the knower
modified, limited by time
space and causation
and then it is ever changing
but the truth
is ever existing
it has no beginning
no end and called by
the name of Vedas is ever existent
that's why Vedas are Anadi
that's why Vedas are called
Apaurusheya
Apaurusheya means that which
has been created
by the human mind
human intellect
Apaurusheya means no
a human being merely
made himself a proper
conduit and by the grace of
God, the truth
a little bit of that truth
reflected itself in the
purified intellect of this
sadhaka or saint and
that is his particular
contribution to the
world of pure knowledge
the whole body of super
sensuous truths having no
beginning or end and called by
the name of Vedas is ever existent
the creator himself
that means Brahma is creating
preserving and destroying the universe
with the help of these truths
so what was Swamiji
talking about is four
Vedas, who is the creator?
Brahma, why Brahma?
because four
Vedas are called Brahma
another name for Veda is Brahma
that's why Brahma has got
four faces
representing four Vedas
so the person
the creator, how is he
creating this world?
by the help of the truths
which are manifest now
in the realm of duality
in the form of these Vedic
truths, preserving and
destroying the universe with the help
of these truths, the person
in whom this super
sensuous power is
manifested is called a Rishi
and the super sensuous
truths which he realizes
by this power are called the
Vedas, what does it
mean? only when a person
is a Rishi and when we say
here is a saint, you
must mean that he is a realized
soul and such a person
can be called he is a Yogi
he is a Sanyasi
he is a Rishi, so
a Rishi is a mantra
drashta, mantra means
truth, a seer of
truth is called
Rishi, vishati
janate through anubhava
through experience, anubhuti
and what type of anubhuti
not paroksha anubhuti
aparoksha anubhuti
direct experience
and this point also I will elaborate
because we say I saw
with my own eyes and
then in between there is
atmosphere, there is
light and there is
what is called the health
of the eyes, then the nervous
system, then the
distorted, colored, impure
mind, so many things
are there, by that time the mind
interprets and presents it to
us, it is not
once paroksha but
100 times over it becomes
paroksha, indirect
but Rishi
he goes beyond the mind
and then when he comes down
he becomes
one when he experiences that
and when he comes down
that highest truth
which is himself is now
reflecting in his
purified mind so that
he should be able to express
it to other
struggling,
wending their way to God, human
souls, so Swamiji continues
this Rishihood, this
power of super sensuous
perception of the Vedas, that is
the real religion, what is religion?
Religion is the realization
of God, religion
is the realization of the
super sensuous truths, religion
is the realization that
I am Brahman
and there is no other
other than me and the whole
world is also Brahman
and that is called
religion, the authority of the
Vedas extends to all
ages, climes and persons, that
is to say their application is
not confined to any particular
place, time and persons
I am giving my commentary because
these are profound truths
one Rishi is expressing
about the himself and
other Rishis, the authority
of the Vedas, see the authority
of science, what is that?
There are certain things called
axiomatic truths
2 plus 2 is 4
3 plus 3
is 6, 3 into
3 is 9
nobody can change them
these are given truths
the whole modern science
in fact is based upon
this mathematics
which is expressed in the form of
these axiomatic
truths, ok, that is
a different issue altogether
this is the highest truth
and truth never changes, therefore
truth is the authority
100 billion years
ago, now
or a billion billion years
hence in the future
because that which never changes
is the only authority
and what is it that never changes?
God, another name
for truth
Sathya is God
therefore the authority of God
nobody will deny
nobody can deny
the Vedas are the
only exponent of the universal
religion and those
who follow the Vedas in the right
way, study them in the right
way, study them under
the guidance of a right teacher
and understand
them rightly, they
are exponents of universal
religion, what is universal religion?
All paths
are leading to God
a brahmachari, a
brahasta, a vanaprastha, a
sanyasi, a christian, a
hindu, a buddhist, a
muslim, a jio
everybody is only running
towards, moving towards only
God, karma yoga,
bhakti yoga, raja yoga, jnana yoga
are also taking
one to that God
only, so every
stage of development is
a path that is taking
every creature to its real
swaroopa, that is
the grace of God, that is called
prakriti and I call it
evolutionary escalator
The Vedas
being the first, the most
complete and the
most undistorted collection of
spiritual truths, deserve
to occupy the highest place
among all scriptures,
command the respect of all nations of the
earth and furnish the rationale
of all their respective
scriptures, every other scripture
whether it is Koran,
whether it is Bible, whether it
is Guru Granth Sahib,
they all have to bow
down to the highest truth
which is called the
Veda, but nobody
should mistake these sentences
to mean, by Veda
it means Hindu scriptures, every
scripture has come from God
by Veda is meant
God, therefore God is the highest
authority and the moment
they deviate it and try
to interpret it according to
their peculiar
constitution of the minds
they can distort
and then they can destroy people
they can become fanatics
and they can mislead people
and they can bring about
rivers of
blood, wars
in the name of God
in the name of religion and all these things
there are so many points to be
told, I will stop here
so that as agreed
as the license agreement
is there, we can
have some clarification
but please be very brief
your question itself should not
take such a long time, if
you are taking long time, it means
you have not even
thought about the problem
and much less, if you have thought about
the proof is, you should
be able to put it in the simplest
terms, shortest
terms, words
that's possible
May Ramakrishna
Holy Mother and Swami
Vekananda bless us all
with Bhakti
anyone?
go ahead

[[Category:Mandukya Karika]]