Mandukya Karika Lecture 079 on 30 November 2022

Full Transcript

ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुं।

पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्‍मुहुः॥

Om Jananim Sāradām devīm Rāmakrishnam jagadgurum

Pādapadme tayoh shritva pranamāmi muhurmuhuh.

ॐ भद्रं कर्णेभिः शृणुयाम देवाः ।

भद्रं पश्येमाक्षभिर्यजत्राः ।

स्थिरैरङ्गैस्तुष्टुवागँसस्तनूभिः ।

व्यशेम देवहितं यदायूः ।

स्वस्ति न इन्द्रो वृद्धश्रवाः ।

स्वस्ति नः पूषा विश्ववेदाः ।

स्वस्ति नस्ताक्षर्यो अरिष्टनेमिः ।

स्वस्ति नो बृहस्पतिर्दधातु ॥

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ हरि ॐ॥

Om Bhadram Karnnebhih Shrnnuyāma Devāha |

Bhadram Pashyemākshabhiryajatrāha|

Sthirairangaihi Tushtuvāngasastanūbhihi |

Vyashema Devahitam Yadāyūhu |

Svasti Na Indro Vrddhashravāha |

Svasti Nah Pūshā Vishvavedāha |

Svasti Nastāksharyo Arishtanemihi |

Svasti No Brhaspatirdadhātu ||

Om Shānti Shānti Shāntihi || Hari 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 lives hale and hearty offering our praises unto thee. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on all of us. May the all nourishing Pūshan be propitious to all of us. May Garuda, the destroyer of all evils, be well disposed towards all of us. May Brihaspati ensure all our Welfare. Om Peace, peace, peace be onto all.

We have entered into the second chapter of the Māndukya Upanishad. Here it is called Māndukya Kārikā - called Vaitathya Prakarnam. The chapter proving that excepting Brahman, Ātman, everything else is just a mere appearance called Mithyā.

We have been discussing the fourth shloka of Gaudapāda -

अन्तःस्थानात्तु भेदानां तस्माज्जागरिते स्मृतम् ।

यथा तत्र तथा स्वप्ने संवृतत्वेन भिद्यते ॥ ४ ॥

antaḥsthānāttu bhedānāṃ tasmājjāgarite smṛtam |

yathā tatra tathā svapne saṃvṛtatvena bhidyate || 4 ||

As the dream objects are unreal in a dream, so also, because of that very reason the objects in the waking state are also unreal. But objects in the dream state differ because of their existence inside the body and because of the smallness of space.

Just as in the waking state, so also in the dream state, the nature of objects remains the same. It is exactly the same.

What does it mean? Whenever a person goes into a dream state, he sees things, he experiences things exactly as we experience in the waking state.

Absolutely no difference is there.

Now Gaudapāda wants to prove, through certain well-known principles, that to think that the waking state is real and the dream state is unreal, that is absolutely a false notion.

Just as dream state is unreal, the waking is also unreal. Many of us cherish this feeling and we say this class that is going on today, just now, is very real.

But if the same class is going on and you dreamt about it yesterday night, then upon waking up, not while we are experiencing the dream state, but upon waking up, say that was all my imagination.

Same logic must be applied to the waking state. What is that logic? The logic is just as we think that while dreaming that dream is real, we think the waking is real. When? In the waking state.

Similarly, while we are in the dream state, the waking state is thought about exactly the same thing.

Do we ever do that really? From the waking point of view, we can analyze the dream as well as the deep sleep. Can we do the same analysis in the dream also? Yes, we do that.

I will give a simple example. Suppose I am here in Vārānasi and yesterday night I dreamt that I have gone to Bangalore. And then in the dream state - 1) First point, it is not a dream. I do not say it is a dream so long as I am dreaming. I say this is the waking state.

2) Second, how come if someone asks me in the dream that ‘You are supposed to be in Vārānasi, Swāmiji, when did you come to Bangalore?’

I said, ‘Why? I came 10 days back.’ In the dream time does not exist in the sense that we think - like this.

( 05:37 mins )

‘No, no. Just now I went to sleep. Just now I had the dream. Just now in my dream I have come to Bangalore.’ No! As if, I have come so many days back. ‘Oh, I did not know about it.’

Okay! At that stage, if you are attending this class, then you can think, I was supposed to be in Vārānasi. How did I come here? All the wonderful logic is given. ‘Why? Don't you remember? You have been planning for months together. Then you bought a ticket well in advance, and then you came here 10 days back.’

So where was my body? In Vārānasi.

Where was my dream body? In Bangalore.

So from the dream experience point of view, I am no longer in Vārānasi, but I am in Bangalore. Then my stay in Vārānasi is absolutely unreal. If at all I remember, I say, ‘Oh, I was dreaming that I was in Vārānasi.’ Just think over it.

The only difference is - in the waking state the consciousness is more manifest. Therefore, we can analyze all the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep. But in the dream state, this power of analysis is much less reduced. Of course, it is completely nullified in the deep sleep state. But otherwise, things are the same.

In this fourth Kārikā, they are called Kārikās, we can interchange it as a shloka, as a Kārikā. These are all Gaudapāda’s Kārikās. And in this second chapter, there are 38 Kārikās or shlokas are there.

In this fourth Kārikā, Gaudapāda wants to prove for the next few shlokas, Kārikās, that our thinking that waking is real, while dream is not real, and by extension, deep sleep is also not real. He wants to prove even the waking state is also exactly of the same value. And for that he gives certain reasons. And very soon I will come to those reasons. This is what he says in the fourth Kārikā.

So when we are dreaming, we can dream we have gone to a faraway place. In the waking state, we go to bed in a particular place. And then there are two differences.

In the dream, our concept of space and time differ very much.

In fact, our experiences - though they are of the same value, but experiences differ. What is it? In the dream state, remember, when we are studying the dream state, we are comparing it with the waking state. While dreaming, we never do this comparison. We take it for granted that as we experience that most normal thing, the dream state is the most normal thing. There is no abnormality.

So a person has gone to America. And every dream, according to modern scientists, lasts only for one and a half minutes, two minutes, or even five minutes, or even ten minutes, it doesn't matter. Within ten minutes, we have toured the whole world, and we can go to Mars, to the moon, etc., and come back.

So, time is required, as well as long distances cannot be traveled in a short time. So not only that, we see mountains, we see oceans, we see huge ships, huge trains. They are all where? Inside the mind.

So, upon waking up, this is the false understanding, wrong understanding that we have about the dream. So, it is not possible within ten minutes to go to Mars and come back, and it is not possible to cherish huge mountains, etc.

( 10:05 mins )

And where do all these experiences take place?

In a particular Nādi, which is the minutest Nādi. Which is less than a thousand times, if you break a human hair into a thousand parts, this Nādi, this nerve, is smaller than that. In that nerve, we experience all these dreams. Of course, this is the explanation given by these Vedānta scriptures.

So this is what he is telling -

Antaḥsthānāttu bhedānāṃ - that all these different things that we experience- Where? Antaḥsthānāt - means in the dream state. But while dreaming, we think they are all real.

Tasmāt jāgarite smṛtam - Exactly in the same way, don't think upon waking up - that waking state, I have got my own concept of time and space, and it is very real in comparison with this state of time and space in the dream state. No!

Yatha tatra - that means just as in the Svapnā.

Tathā svapne yatha svapne tathā jāgariti. Saṃvṛtatvena bhidyate - So just as we see things in the dream state, how real they are, exactly same reality.

What does it mean?

Our concept of reality differs. As long as we are in the dream, that is real.

The moment we come into another state, it is unreal. Same law, same logic must be applied to the waking state. I will explain this one.

So from this 4th one until the 18th verse, Gaudapāda wants to establish that the Jāgrat Prapancha, the waking world, waking state of experience, is exactly like the dream world, like the dream state. For that, he is giving an introduction in this verse.

Just as we experience things in the dream world, the same Mithyatvam, that is a seemingly real experience, should be extended to the waking world. Of course by proxy to the deep sleep. That means none of these 3 states are real.

But just as one cannot experience a snake without the substratum of the rope. Had there been no rope, no snake could ever be experienced by anybody.

If there had been no Turiyam, no Brahman, these 3 states could not have been experienced. But these 3 states, comparative to each other, they are all Mithyā.

Mithyā because what is real for a short time, so long as we experience in a particular state, is completely unreal when we enter into the other state.

So certain fundamental principles of Advaita Vedānta should be derived from this. And once we understand these fundamental principles, then I can say very well, at least 9 fundamental principles I am going to summarize. So when we understand these 9 fundamental principles, then we can as well understand, with the light of these principles, that anything that we experience, any division between the subject and object, seer and the seen, both are Mithyā.

Not only what is seen is Mithyā, even what the seer is, is also Mithyā.

Do not be surprised! Do not be shocked!

Until now I have been talking, whatever is experienced is Mithyā.

Now I am talking, whoever experiences is also Mithyā.

And I will tell you why it is so before we proceed.

What is it?

Supposing you are experiencing an object. For example, you are experiencing a mountain. You are seeing a mountain. When I use the word experience, you have to understand that anything experienced by the five sense organs -

-         You see colors.

-         You hear sounds.

-         You smell smells. Your nose smells fragrances - good or bad.

-         And your tongue tastes - sweet or bitter.

-         And your skin touches - soft or hard, or is hot or cold.

So whatever is experienced, that is what we say ‘see’. That's all. The word means experience.

( 15:19 mins )

So, you are seeing a mountain. And then after hearing this talk, you say, ‘Since I am seeing the mountain, the mountain is Mithyā.’

And who can experience a Mithyā mountain? Only a Mithyā seer. Because for a real seer, only a real object is real.

What is my point?

The point is the moment the scene disappears, the title called seer also disappears.

Take another example to make this point very clear. Suppose you are a teacher. When are you a teacher? When you are at home you are not a teacher. When you are sleeping you are not a teacher.

When you are eating you are not a teacher.

When you are eating, who are you? You are the eater.

When you are sleeping, who are you? The sleeper.

When you are dreaming, who are you? The dreamer.

When you are smelling who are you? The smeller.

When you are touching something, who are you? You are the toucher.

So, shabda, sparsha, rūparasa, gandha - You are the seer, you are the hearer, you are the smeller, you are the taster, you are the toucher.

But supposing there is nothing to see, then your seership will go. For that, I was giving the example, you are a teacher and then you retired from teaching. And you are not going to the school or to the classroom and you are not teaching. When you are not teaching, are you still a teacher or are you just a person who had teaching skills? You should not be called a teacher.

A doctor who is not practicing medicine is not a doctor. So on and so forth.

What am I trying to tell you? When you are not doing something, then you are not the doer of that something. Because as soon as that doing vanishes, your doership etc. also vanishes.

Therefore, when you are not experiencing the world, you are not the experiencer also. Then what remains? That being who was thinking, I was a teacher, I was an experiencer. That feeling is there only in the mind.

Once you go beyond the mind, then you don't experience, you are not a witness, you are nothing. This is a profound idea, you will have to understand.

Now I will come to the fundamental principles of Vedānta, which I have repeated so many times. But I have brought all of them together and any number of times I might revert to them. So that we understand these things properly.

The first, what did I say?

Fundamental principles of Advaita Vedānta -

1)      First, whatever I experience is not me.

I gave the examples. I see a tree. No fool will ever think I am the tree. And I see a house, now a car. No fool, even a fool will not think I am a car.

Suppose a fool is walking on the street and he sees two cars dashing against each other. Because he is seeing that accident, he never says I am the cars and I am dashing against myself.

But our problem starts as soon as we come to the body, we identify so deeply that it requires tremendous effort to say since I experience my body, my hands, my legs, my nose, my eyes… That's why we complain that my eyes are not able to see, my ears are not able to hear, my tongue is not able to taste etc. and we blame others. But actually we identify ourselves. Our purpose is to dis-identify.

Since I experience a tree, I am not a tree, as an example.

Since I experience a donkey, I am not a donkey.

Since I experience my body, I am not the body.

Since I experience my thoughts, I am not my thoughts.

After all, you know, being happy - I am happy, I am unhappy, I am excited, I am depressed, and I am elated, and all these things are nothing but thoughts, emotions.

So if I am not what I experience, I have nothing to do with body, mind. This is what is called the अवस्थत्रय विलक्षण: (avasthā traya vilakshanaha)  पञ्चकोश विलक्षण: (Pañcakōṣa vilakshanaha) आत्मा अहम् (ātmā aham) this is the first principle. Whatever I experience is not me.

( 20:20 mins )

2)     Second, every object is experienced in terms of qualities only.

I have explained it but I will explain again. Suppose you see a tree. You say I see a tree. What do you mean by tree? It is an object resembling some tree qualities - green colour, and yellow flowers, and fragrant flowers, and sweet fruits etc. etc. This is not the object but these are the qualities.

So all these qualities belong to that particular object, not to the experiencer.

So if the tree is green, I am not green.

If the tree has a sweet fruit, I am not a sweet fruit.

If the flower is smelling nicely, I am not smelling nicely.

So, no person, no being can ever experience any object without any qualities

and every quality is there to distinguish one object from every other object in this world.

So what is the second principle?

That every object is experienced only through the qualities.

3)      Third principle, the qualities of any object belong to that object not to me.

The sweetness of a mango belongs to the mango.

The fragrance of a rose belongs to the rose.

The bitterness of bitter gourd belongs to that.

The blueness of a wall belongs to the wall not to me.

So the qualities of any particular object… And every object is only experienced through the medium of the qualities. They belong to that object and not to me.

Now extend it to the body. Let us say I experience my hand. My hand is paining, and so, my hand is a long hand. This longness belongs to whom? To the hand.

And one day this hand has touched some hot object, gets burnt, has pain. And who is experiencing the pain? The hand is burnt, the hand is burning, the hand is… So that quality of being burnt belongs to the hand. I am only seeing it or experiencing it. It doesn't belong to me. But it creates a reaction.

That reaction is that my hand is burnt and then it is painful. This thought - it is burnt, it is a hand, it is burnt, it is painful. These are thoughts arising about that object in the mind and I am experiencing the thoughts.

So, even though very soon I identify myself with those thoughts, but before I identify, I experience those thoughts.

And what is that called? Mind! Mind is the inner organ. And this inner organ like any other object cannot be experienced without qualities. Just as you cannot experience the sweetness or the greenness of a mango, so also I cannot experience the mind without - ‘O, it is pleasant’, it is unpleasant, it is green, etc., knowledge, etc.

So this pleasant, unpleasantness, it is good or evil - these are all thoughts. The thoughts are qualities of the mind. And it belongs to the mind.  I experience the mind

So I am not the thought. I am not hot, I am not cold, I am not burnt, etc., etc.

So this is the third, that the qualities of an object belong to that object. That is the third fundamental principle of Advaita Vedānta.

4)      Fourth, very important!(all these are very important) Every object depends on the experiencer for its existence.

Again, I have illustrated it but for the sake of reminding us, I see a tree and if I don't see a tree so far as I am concerned the tree doesn't exist. That means the existence of a tree totally depends upon me, the experiencer. And if I don't experience it, that tree doesn't exist, so far as I am concerned, until I experience or I notice, I start to experience it.

( 25:19 mins )

Very difficult for us to understand. Oh, somebody else is… Yes, if somebody else is, that object exists for that person. But what is the principle here? That only when I am conscious of an object… and only a conscious being has consciousness. And only when the conscious being is conscious of an object, that object's existence is proved by that.

Until the experiencer, the subject to the experience, the knower, the seer, notices that through his consciousness, that object doesn't have any existence at all.

That means it depends for its existence upon the cognitive quality of the experiencer. So this is total dependence. Otherwise, it doesn't even exist.

That means no object can exist independent of the experiencer. This is a fundamental principle, the fourth fundamental principle.

5)     Now fifth, Whatever is dependent in Advaita Vedānta, whatever is dependent is called Mithyā.

I see a tree. If I never see any tree, that tree has no existence at all so far as I am concerned, don't bring the argument of others. So that tree, for its very existence, depends upon me, so that I can take notice of it and say, ‘Oh, you are there. I am seeing it. It is… you are existing.’ If I don't say that… it is totally dependent for its very existence upon my cognition. And whatever is dependent is called Mithyā.

Why is it called Mithyā?

Because the moment I don't take notice of it, it doesn't exist. So whatever exists for a second when I take notice, and the same thing doesn't exist when I don't take notice of it, that is called Mithyā.

We have to understand this concept of Mithyā properly. Mithyā means that which is dependent. Not only that. The mind has an ability. What is that?

6)     This is the sixth fundamental principle of Advaita Vedānta - I can only experience, only one object at any given time.

There is an object and that object is noticed by me. That object is outside,

but I cognize it in the form of a thought. So the existent object is outside,

but its cognition in the form of a thought is within me.

So the world is outside. The cognition of the world is inside me.

This is a fundamental principle. Very, very important. I will tell you also why it is important.

But here is a law - I cannot experience two objects at the same time. One object should go because one thought should go - ‘This is a tree’. Then I see a mountain - ‘This is a mountain’. So before I take cognition of the mountain, there is only one thought. It may be for a millionth of a second. But then there is a previous thought. Any number of thoughts have disappeared. I see a tree. I see a mountain.

So when I see the tree, nothing else exists. Only one object at a time. And that thought ends. And then I happen to notice a mountain. The moment the thought of the mountain comes - this thought of the mountain replaces the thought of the tree. And the tree is not even remembered so long as I keep thinking.

And the same rule applies to memory also. I cannot keep memory of two objects at the same time. When I remember the tree -‘it is the tree’. When I remember the mountain - ‘it is the mountain’. When I remember a donkey -

‘That is a donkey’.

So you extend it, this principle. I can only experience, everybody, anybody can only experience only one object at any given time.

( 30:00 mins )

7)     It means principle number seven. This means that all other objects I think I am experiencing at the same time, do not exist for that observer so long as that one thought remains in the mind.

How do we know? This is called Ekāgrata. Ekāgrata means concentration.

What is concentration? One thought alone rises again and again to the exclusion of all other thoughts. This is called Dhyāna.

When you say I am meditating, the thought of God, it slowly, gradually excludes all other thoughts.

Same thought, it goes down, again it comes up, again it goes down, again it comes up. That is the seventh fundamental principle.

So only one object. That means all other objects do not at all exist for that particular observer, so long as there is one single object in the form of a thought, in the mind of that observer.

8)     Eighth, it means objects come and go.

I see a tree, and it is replaced by a mountain.

I see a table, the mountain is replaced by the table.

I see a river and the river replaces the table.

So each existing thought replaces every other thought.

That means what? Thoughts come when I notice, thoughts go when I do not notice. Thoughts represent objects.

That means what? Every object in the form of a thought is totally dependent upon me, when I take notice of that object. It exists so long as I take note of it. The moment my attention wanders to another object, then it changes.

So whatever changes, whatever comes and goes, and whatever is dependent for its very existence upon me.

Three qualities.

-         An object which is dependent upon the observer, the experiencer.

-         An object which changes as soon as the observer thinks of something else.

-         And that which comes and goes - आगमापायिन: (āgamāpāyinaha)

This is called Mithyā.

And now you examine, with the light of these 8 fundamental principles of Advaita Vedānta - I see any number of things in the waking state, and they all are experienced by me. In what form? In the form of thoughts.

So the entire Jāgrat Prapancha, waking world, consisting of billions and billions of objects for me, only when I take notice of any particular object.

I can't take notice of a hundred objects. But you may say, at one glance, I see the tree, I see the branches, I see the leaves. I see… No! It is just like a motion. And many times I gave this example. There is no such thing called motion.

What is motion?

If you observe 24 frames a second, anything stationary, 24 times a second, it appears as though there is a motion. Motion is an illusion.

Similarly, this world is totally dependent upon me. It is continuously changing. And our Rishis knew it. That's why it is called Jagat. Jagat means Gati, continuously like a river moving. But the river appears as one river, even though the water is changing all the time.

So every object is changing, but we observe that changing, only very, very slow change. So, if 10 years pass by before I observe, ‘Oh, you are aged. And now you have become a middle-aged person. I see some streaks of gray on your head.’

Until that time, it doesn't mean there was no change. You know, After 10 years once, or within a second, the person has changed to this present state.

It's not like that. Every millisecond, the person is changing. But it is difficult for us to take notice.

That is why we are under the delusion, same person, I see you day after day.

I do not take notice. But after 10 years, ‘Yes, yes, I also have changed. You also have changed.’

So what does this mean?

That the whole, what is called world, let it be Jāgrat Prapancha. Let it be Swapna Prapancha, dream world. Let it be the waking world. What about sleep? Let it be sleep world. Because I experience it!

( 35:14 mins )

How do I experience it?

I have slept. Upon waking up I say I have slept. But what happens when I am sleeping? I am experiencing myself as the sleeper.

And what do I… ‘I don't know anything’. Not that you don't know. You are, 100% you know, ‘I am sleeping now, but there is no object for me to experience.’

Experiencing an object and not experiencing an object, both are dependent upon the observer, the experiencer.

But there is nothing to experience in deep sleep. Just as thousands of things are there in a room, but in deep darkness, I don't see a single object. It doesn't mean objects are not there. It means I cannot experience them. That is what is the meaning of ‘I did not know anything'. But I am, all the time, experiencing. I don't see anything; I don't see anything; I don't see anything, and that is why I am so happy.

Why am I so happy? Because even if a ferocious tiger is sitting and stroking my body while I am asleep, I am completely ignorant of that, I do not take notice. Just like you don't see a poisonous snake poised to strike you in deep darkness. Next second, it may strike you, you don't take notice.

It doesn't mean the object doesn't exist. It only means you don't take notice of it. But to take notice of it in light and not to take notice of it in darkness, for both, you must be completely awake. You are the observer of both the known and also unknown objects.

So all the three states are changing. So what is taken as real during the waking becomes unreal during the dream. And what is taken to be real in the dream happens to be unreal when we sleep. They completely disappear.

And what is taken to be real in the, what is called, waking state is completely unreal in the dream state.

These are the fundamental principles in the light of which we can understand that about both - waking experience that means waking world, Jāgrat Prapancha, and Swapna Prapancha, and Sushupti Prapancha, are no different at all.

With this background, we go into the fifth Kārikā.

स्वप्नजागरितस्थाने ह्येकमाहुर्मनीषिणः ।

भेदानां हि समत्वेन प्रसिद्धेनैव हेतुना ॥ ५ ॥

svapnajāgaritasthāne hyekamāhurmanīṣiṇaḥ |

bhedānāṃ hi samatvena prasiddhenaiva hetunā || 5 ||

That is, the thoughtful persons speak of the sameness of the waking and dream states on account of the similarity of the diverse objects perceived in these two states and on the well-known grounds already described.

Svapna sthāna -That is dreaming experience

Jāgaritasthāna - The waking experience

Ekam- There is no difference between them whatsoever.

One is real, another is unreal. No! Are they both…  or is there any difference that one is 90% real, 10% unreal; the other is 10% unreal or 90% real? Absolutely no! They are 100% exactly the same.

Why?

First of all, in comparison, compare and contrast, whatever is real in the waking state is unreal in the dream state. And whatever is real in the dream state is completely unreal in the waking state. Same thing also, both of them are unreal in the deep sleep state.

So, Svapna, Jāgarita - in both states of experience,

Manīṣiṇa - only thoughtful person.

Manīṣi means what? A wise person. Manīṣi means what? A person who can think rightly.

For such a person, when he comes and compares, ‘there also I have been experiencing, here also I have been experiencing, both are equally unreal.’ Not both are equally real. Both are equally unreal.

And now you recollect the story of Sri Rāmakrishna.

Marvelous story of a farmer who was married, who had his only son, and one day he got the news that his only son died, and he came. There was not a sign of grief. Then his wife forgot all about it, became angry. See the beauty of this parable. When his wife, who was weeping copiously, non-stop weeping,

shedding tears, until her husband came, observing the state of the person's reaction to the death of his only son, she got angry.

( 40:40 mins )

Now exercise your brain. When this wife got angry, do you think that she was thinking of the son? In the light of what we discussed, now she forgot her son. She was only thinking of her husband and she was very angry. What type of man you are?

And then we know the story. ‘Yesterday night I dreamt I was a king’ (not a farmer, stupid farmer here cultivating), ‘I had a beautiful wife, queen’ (means not like you), ‘and I had seven wonderfully intelligent, very well behaved, and very beautiful princes, and I was very much in love with all of them. But when my dream broke, I know it is all unreal. I know exactly in the same way this waking state - you are unreal, our son is unreal, my being a farmer is unreal, everything is unreal.’

So this is what a deep thinking, a sādhaka, manīṣiṇaḥ, such a person is called Manīṣi, a wise person. And they make no difference between the waking, dream, and deep sleep state. By extension, we have to add, all the time, both of these things.

Prasiddhena hetunā - Then he says - because of a well-known reason.

That is what he wants to say.

Prasiddhena hetunā manīṣiṇaḥ bhedānāṃ hi samatvena

That is, this bheda - which we think there is a difference - waking is real and sleep is, dream is unreal.

Why? I told you earlier. You must recollect. What is that recollection? That when we come to the waking state from the dream state… Every day we don't dream the same dream. Every night we don't dream the same dream. One after the other, which lasts for a few minutes, each dream is completely different. And when we dream a second dream, the first dream has completely disappeared.

Even comparing various dreams in the dreaming state, we have to come to the conclusion none of them are real because in one dream, I find myself in America. Another dream, I find myself in Kailasa. Another in Vārānasi. Now which dream is real? Because you cannot be at the same time, within seconds, in such vast distant places. It is impossible.

That is why we think the dream state is completely unreal. Even if you have a thousand dreams in a night, they are all different from each other.

But what happens when we wake up? We wake up, we see the same house, see the same place, same country, same religion, same family members, same everything.

Is it real? Is it true? No, it is not true. Because every second, everything is changing. Like a river, you stand there for a second and the water which you touched, one second, it has already flown down. New water has come. But such is our foolishness, we think it is the same river, it is the same water.

So no object in this world is exactly in the same place. Even from a scientific point of view, the Earth is rotating at mind-boggling speed, and it is going around the Sun, and it takes 24 hours. You are not exactly in the same position. If you measure yourself from, what we call, the Sun's point of view, you stand above the Earth, you will see the whole Earth is moving. And you may feel you are exactly in the same place, but from the viewpoint of the person who is observing from the sky, from the space, you are completely moving at mind-boggling speed every millisecond. Just see. But we still think we are in the same place at the same time like that.

So only wise people, thinking people, rational people only understand,

Ekamāhu - There is absolutely no difference.

( 45:09 mins )

Now I will bring another point which is very important. What is that point?

The point is, you see, whatever you experience is not important. Whatever we see is not important. Suppose ten people are eating the same sweet. Ten, of course, different sweets but same, let us say, laddu. Do you think the experience of all the ten people is exactly the same?

Each one of us is living in our own world. Our experience is different. It differs how hungry we are. It differs how angry we are. It differs what type of state of mind we are in. Even the same object doesn't give the same result

everytime we experience it. Everything is changing. I am changing. Earlier I was happy. Now I am not so happy. When I experience the same sweet I will not be experiencing it in the same state.

So, the dream world and the waking world are the same from the standpoint of their reality. That is they are unreal. But then, the person who is experiencing temporarily, the witness, he is the only reality.

So from the utilitarian point of view whether you experience a dream, whether you experience waking or sleep, that is not the important point.

What is the effect of it? Is it making you wonderful? Is it making you wiser?

Is it taking you really to God?

If something is taking you to God, towards a higher… towards your own real nature then that experience is a good experience. It is helping us to move forward. If it is not, if it is making us go back, distancing ourselves from God, that is not a good experience. So that should be the judgment not otherwise.

So, just as I outlined all those things, we will have to understand that

- Everything that we experience is not me.

- And whatever I experience, I experience with qualities.

- And every time I experience, I don't get the same effect.

- And they are all changing from each other and whatever is changing is called Mithyā.

But as I said for a Mithyā to be experienced there must be a substratum. And who is that substratum? It is the Experiencer endowed with Consciousness!

And that Consciousness is borrowed by the mind, and the Experiencer is experiencing with that borrowed Consciousness of the mind. And then that Experiencer alone is real.

In simple words when I am experiencing the waking world, my mind with the borrowed Consciousness from my Ātman is saying I am in the waking state. That experience of the mind - ‘I am the waker’, and that waker alone is real. From the dream point the dreamer mind is real. From the sleeper point of view the sleeper is real.

But as I said - the sleeper is changing, dreamer is changing, waker is changing

That pure Consciousness, disassociated, without reflecting in the mind, That alone, That unchanging Consciousness alone is real, and that is the lesson we have to learn.

Now we move on to the 6th verse. And Gaudapāda, his wonderful reason, earlier he promised Prasiddhena hetunā . What is it he says in the verse number, Kārikā number 6 -

आदावन्ते च यन्नास्ति वर्तमानेऽपि तत्तथा |

वितथैः सदृशाः सन्तोऽवितथा इव लक्षिताः || ६ ||

ādāvante ca yannāsti vartamāne'pi tattathā |

vitathaiḥ sadṛśāḥ santo'vitathā iva lakṣitāḥ || 6 ||

That which did not exist before it comes into our experience, and that which goes out of experience - when it dies or goes. So that which is experienced for a temporary period of time that is called - vitathā, unreal or Mithyā

that is seemingly real.

Marvelous experience. What is it? Here is a baby. Where was this baby 6 months before? Just now born. Where was he 1 year before? Did not even…

The parents did not even conceive. We don't know anything about that baby.

Then the parents, they mated, they conceived, and the baby for 9 months or so… let us take it for granted is born. The baby is born means everybody can experience the baby. And the moment we experience we say the baby is born.

Before that we have not experienced so for us the baby is not… and we experience for maybe 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 year, 100 years, 120 years, it doesn't matter. And then death will come. Then we don't experience that man, that person only.

( 50:25 mins )

This is what he is telling. Whatever has not been experienced before, and whatever cannot be experienced later, whatever is experienced in between

that is as good as non-existent.

But don't take… we are not talking absolute non-existence, we are talking about mithyā.

What does it mean? It means in this example of the baby - the baby was there in unmanifested condition. And when it becomes manifested…

How do we know it is manifested? Because anybody can experience it.

When we experience - we say the baby is born, or a tree is born etc. And then he lives for some time, grows up, and then becomes old or whatever, dies.

And then we don't see anymore.

It doesn't mean it does not exist. What does it mean? It means the unmanifest became manifest through our five sense organs. And the same manifest has again gone back into the unmanifest so we cannot experience it.

So non-experienceability, non-objectifiability is the condition for saying

it is not real.

Now extend this one to the whole world. Before I observe an object, it was not there. When I observe, so long as I observe, it is existing. And when I see another object then this previous object, as previous thought, had disappeared. That means it is gone. Its existence is not there. ‘Oh it was there’- you don't even think about it.

So this is the one reason, well known reason, that is whatever was not found to be existing - so yannāsti vartamāne

Ādau - in the beginning whatever is not there

and yannāsti ante - in the end whatever doesn't exist

and in between even if we experience that something - vartamāne'pi tattathā

Tathā means what? It is as good as non-existent.

Everything in this, every object in this world is from that sense of point of view non-existent. That is called Samsāra. That is called, what is called, this world Jagat.

Jagat means Gati.

And then Samsāra means sarati - continuously changing.

And that is that our bodies are changing, our minds are changing.

What is not changing? That pure Ātman, which is witnessing, that is not changing. So, that alone is the real truth

And if we understand it then we will not be there. What does it mean? Practical terms - when I am happy… That means what? I say I am happy. Notice these words, ‘I am happy’. That means before this thought came, ‘I am happy’ was I happy? No!

If I am not happy what was that state? I was unhappy. Then I am happy, and something else happens, and soon I become very unhappy. This happy thought is sandwiched between two unhappy thoughts.

Similarly two unhappy thoughts are sandwiched between two happy thoughts.

They are continuously changing, and whatever is changing, whatever is seemingly real, not really real, that is called mithyā.

And to take the familiar example, so I see, under inadequate or wrong conditions, I see a snake. But this snake cannot appear, first of all, if there were to be no rope.

Then what happens? Conditions are made aright. Then light is brought, I see that it was appearing like a snake. I mistook it for a snake but there was no snake

So this snake was not there, it appeared and it disappeared. But what is it that never appears, that never disappears?

-         The rope was there, whether I notice it or not

-         The rope is there, whether I notice it or not

-         The rope will be there, whether I notice it or not

So also Pure Consciousness will be there for all time - that alone was in the past, in the present, and in the future. And not anything else.

This is the essence of what we are talking about.  I will stop here and then we will talk about, if any questions are there we will discuss for a few minutes.

ऊँ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुं।

पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्‍मुहुः॥

Om Jananim Sāradām devīm Rāmakrishnam jagadgurum

Pādapadme tayoh shritva pranamāmi muhurmuhuh.

May Sri Rāmakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swāmi Vivekānanda bless us all with Bhakti and great understanding.

Jai Rāmakrishna!

( 55:39 mins )