Mandukya Karika Lecture 077 on 16 November 2022

Full Transcript(under review)

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.

By the grace of God, we have entered into the second chapter of the Māndukya Kārikā. And this second chapter and third chapter and fourth chapter are compositions of Gaudapādāchārya. The Māndukya Upanishad which has 12 mantras is over. That is why the first chapter along with the 29 Kārikās of the Mandukya Kārikās of Gaudapāda is over. Second, third and fourth chapters are completely explanations by Gaudapādāchārya.

This second chapter is called Vaitathya Prakarana. Prakarana means chapter, or dealing with the subject called Vaitathya. It has 38 Kārikās. So what does Vaitathya mean? We should recollect what I have discussed in my last class as an introduction.

In our experience, we use words Sat, Asat and Mithyā. Now Sat means whatever exists. Whatever exists always exists. And whatever doesn't exist never exists. We are using words called Asat but such a thing is not there as a fact, as an object of experience. Examples, the horns of a hare, the child of a barren woman, the waters of a mirage. We can use big words, we can write books but such a thing doesn't exist at all.

But there are certain things under certain uncertain conditions. They appear to be existing for a short time. Like in semi-darkness, we see a snake but the snake is totally dependent upon the rope. So three conditions I hope you remember.

1. There must be insufficient light.
2. and we must have experienced the object called snake before
3. and there must be similarity between the original object and what we superimpose upon it.

And that object which is mistaken, that is called Mithyā. Mithyā is a temporary phenomenon. We experience it not because it is real, because of insufficient light under certain, what we call uncertain conditions.

( 05:06 mins )

So this Mithyā, Vaitathya. Tathya means Sat, what is real.

Vitathya which becomes Vaitathya means it is seemingly real, not Asat, not Sat but seemingly real, totally dependent upon what is real. And this entire chapter is called Vaitathya Prakaranam, the subject dealing with the seeming experience of this world.

So there is a teaching Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithyā is conveyed by the words Advaitam and Prapanchopashamam. Where do we get these words? In the seventh mantra of the first chapter, the original mantra, seventh mantra of the Māndukya Upanishad.

Advaitam means there is no second. It means Brahman alone is real.

And Prapanchopashamam means all duality which is this world.

1. First of all, the world is different from me.
2. Secondly, everything is different from everything else.
3. Thirdly, everything depends upon everything else. So if I have to see you, your existence depends upon me and if you have to see me, my existence depends upon you. Thus that is the third characteristic.
4. What is the fourth? That without a real observer or experiencer, a Mithyā object cannot even exist.

And that was a point very nicely brought out in the 16th verse of the second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita.

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सत: |

उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभि: || 2.16 ।।

nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ ।

ubhayorapi dṛiṣhṭo ’nta stvanayos tattva-darśhibhiḥ ।।

So to reveal this particular Mithyā status of the world, Gaudapādāchārya in the second chapter called Vaitathya Prakaranam takes the example of the dream, analyzes the dream state.

And what is the dream state? During the dream state, we experience the dream world as absolute reality. When we are experiencing, when we are the dreamers, we don't call it a dream but absolute reality like the waking. The dream world is really existent for us as long as we are dreaming. But the dream world itself is temporary.

Then we come back to waking. As we know Māndukya Upanishad, waking, dream and deep sleep go on changing in time by every Jīva and from birth to death. So upon waking up, we find that our dream world is gone and know that it was never separate from me. What is that? What does it mean? It means I imagined, I became, I became the entire Svapna Jagat. I became the experiencer, I became the experienced object, I became the instruments of experience like the eyes, ears, etc. It is only an imagination in my mind.

And is it possible that it is exactly our waking state is the same thing? Yes, that is what Gaudapāda wants to say. Just as so long as we are in the dream, we don't think it is a dream, we think it is real. But when we are in the waking state, there is a speciality.

That speciality, what is that speciality? I already mentioned to you several times, but we have to keep it in mind, so I am reminding you once again. Because we wake up to the same house, same place, same objects, same states, same seasons. We never say, unlike dream, dream every day and every night and every dream is totally different from other dreams. Same house, same place do not exist. But there is something very rational about it. We don't ask that question, that dream is always changing, waking state is continuous - We don't say that in the dream state.

When we are dreaming, as if it is just like waking state and there is no break. Continuously we are continuing, waking up in the same place, etc. The question of yesterday, or last dream, it was different, I was in a different place and a different world. I never say that. But only this question comes.

( 10:23 mins )

So Gaudapāda, Shankarāchārya, all thinking people say, this comparison is only to say the unreality of both dream as well as waking states, but not to prove the dream state alone as unreal.

So this seemingly real world is existent for how long? As long as we are in the waking state.

For whom? For the waker.

See the beauty of it. In the same room, I am awake, a child is asleep, and the child may be dreaming, he is in the dream state. Another child may be in deep sleep. So all the three states are going on at the same time, in the same room and for all the different people. That is what we have to understand.

This world is seemingly existent for the waker, so long as he is in the waking state. But upon enquiry, he says, ‘Yesterday I dreamt, and now I know it is all my imagination. Could it not be so that when I am in the dream state, if I become an enquirer…’

And it is absolutely true, if I become a thoughtful person, deep thinker in the waking, I also find myself a deep thinker in the dream And I say, maybe that state called waking, what we now call waking, is not called waking in the dream. In the dream state, waking state is considered, taken for granted as a dream. Maybe this state of waking, (I am talking about the dream state), this state which I think is a waking state, may it not be as unreal as the dream state, compared to our waking state. So that is what thoughtful people should arrive at.

• So from the standpoint of waking, dream is an unreal state.
• From the point of the dream state, waking state is unreal.
• But from the state of Brahman, both the dream state as well as waking state are completely unreal.

What a marvellous idea this Māndukya wants to tell. And what do you think Sri Rāmakrishna is talking about all the time in the Gospel? He is exactly telling Brahma Satyam, and everything is Brahman. That is a different point. I will come to that in the course of time.

But to illustrate this waking state is as unreal or as real as the dream, as Gaudapāda and Shankarāchārya both want to prove, as every Jnāni wants to prove to us, Sri Rāmakrishna is illustrating very simply, so that we all can understand. But our understanding should be a bit deep thinking.

What is that story? There was a farmer. He was married. He had a son. He used to cultivate fields. And his only son died in the waking state. And then his wife sent news, because the man was cultivating his field. and he came, but there was no sign of grief. Then his wife got angry. ‘You don't love your child’. Because you are not weeping. You are not suffering.

Then he told this, ‘Yesterday night I had a dream. I dreamt that I was a king. I had a beautiful wife.’ (I am adding a little bit of fun) ‘And I had seven beautiful, intelligent, very powerful, capable princes. When I woke up, my kingdom is gone. My beautiful wife is gone. All my seven children have gone.’

And now is the story Sri Rāmakrishna tells with deep meaning. ‘Shall I weep for those seven children, and beautiful queen, and wonderful kingdom, where I need not work so hard like in this waking state?’

So that is the marvelous story. But we have to enjoy it by adding lot of spices. How do we add? Now this man was a real jnāni. We have to understand this man is a real jnāni. For him, he understood this Gaudapāda’s Māndukya Kārikās thoroughly. Not necessarily, but he must have understood through experience.

( 15:21 mins )

Comparatively, both dream and waking state, both are unreal. We have to add the deep sleep state also to that. All the states - whichever state we are experiencing, as long as we experience, is real. All other states are unreal.

So then what is real? I, the experiencer, alone is real.

Why am I real? Because I don't change. Trikāla abādhitam satyam. That I know whatever remains the same. There is no past, present and future. That which never changes. Remember, time means change and timelessness means changelessness. And whatever doesn't change, that is called truth. That is called reality.

This person must have experienced it. And so he says that I am a farmer, I am a cultivator, I am married, I have a son, is as unreal or as real as I was a king, I had a kingdom, I had a beautiful wife and children - When that is gone.

This is also of the same nature. And that is the profound truth that Sri Rāmakrishna wants to convey. If we understand that story of the farmer, we understand this entire second chapter very well. Of course, it doesn't mean you should not attend my classes. It means that the point is very clear.

And sometimes I have mentioned also one story. There was King Janaka and one day after nice dinner on a royal bed, embracing his beautiful wife, he fell asleep. Why am I adding all this masala? Because when he goes to dream state, he was not a king, he doesn't have a beautiful wife, he was not sleeping on a royal bed, he did not eat royal dinner. All these things we have to take into consideration. But because dream can be anything.

But then what happens is, he dreamt that the neighbouring king declared war, and this King Janaka was defeated. And the other king, the enemy king was chasing him. And for three days continuously this man was on the run, and fourth day at noon, King Janaka found himself, in the dream, that he reached a village which is in the next kingdom. Naturally, the enemy had stopped at the border.

And he was ravenously hungry. King Janaka was ravenously hungry. He reached a place where they were distributing food. He stood in the queue. When his turn came, completely the food was finished. But then he saw some burnt remnants sticking to the bottom, and he requested. And then the man took pity upon him, seeing his condition, scooped up all those remnants, over burnt etc., put it in a leaf plate, gave it to him. When we are hungry, we don't see all those things. He took it, something to eat. Suddenly a big bird came, scooped up the whole thing, and in the process, the food had fallen in the dust which could not be eaten. And the king, weeping, suddenly woke up. And then the dream was so real.

He woke up. He found himself on his bed. And then he had only one question. ‘Was that real? Is this real?’ And for three days he was questioning. People thought he went mad. And on the third day, a great sage happened to pass by. And then he was requested to come and face the king's question. Then the Rishi came, and then the king asked him, ‘क्या वो सच है? क्या ये सच है?’ (Kya vo sach hai? Kya ye sach hai?) ‘Was that real?’ That means what I saw, the enemy king chasing me. And the bird came and spoiled my last meals. I could not get. I was starving. Or I woke up from a full stomach because I have eaten. I see my wife. I see the ministers. I see my servants. I am the king.

‘What is real? ये सच है या वो सच है? (Ye sach hai ya vo sach hai?) And then the sage said, ‘O king, वो भी सच नहीं है, ये भी सच नहीं है। तुम एकमात्र सच है।’ (Vo bhi sach nahin hai, ye bhi sach nahin hai. Tum ek matra sach hai) ‘O king, that state which you saw in the past, that is not real. This state which you are experiencing now, it is also not real. But you who experienced that state, who are now experiencing this state, you have not changed anything. You alone are the reality.’

( 20:38 mins )

And that is what Gaudapāda wants to establish here. Only Brahman is there.

Then what about after realization? If a person is called Jīvan-mukta and still he has body and mind, he is called Jīvan-mukta, for him this world is also Brahman. Not Jagat, but Brahman in the form of names and forms. So, so long as we have not realized Brahman, Brahman is not real. Jagat also is not real. But for the sake of sādhana, that which never changes is called Brahman, and that alone is real. And we have to do sādhana, spiritual practice, and after realisation two things happen

1. We know that I am Brahman. There is no second object I am experiencing called Brahman.
2. But not only that. If I happen to come back into this body and mind, I will be called Jīvan-mukta.

But a Jīvan-mukta doesn't say I am a Jīvan-mukta. He says I am Sadā Mukta, if at all he has to say. And this world is not a Mithyā. It is only for the sake of spiritual practice we say Brahma Satyam, Jagat Mithya. After realization - Brahma Satyam, Jagat Satyam, Sarvam Satyam, Aham Satyam, Tvam Apisatyam, Sarvam Satyam - Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma.

This second chapter wants to establish this status of Mithyā of the world because remember this is not true. The world is not a Mithyā from the viewpoint of Brahman. It is real because there is no world after God realization. But there will be world but same Brahman with Nāma Rūpa. Just as we recognize same actor was acting in that drama with that name, with that dress. Same actor is acting another role in this drama with another name but everybody is the same. That is the fun of it.

Most of the cinemas that we see same actors, and story also more or less the same, and same actors with different names and different slightly dissimilar situations they will be playing, but we understand this is nothing. But the truth is the actor is real, actress is real, but the drama is not real. So the same actor with different form, different name, different role.

Same Brahman - different form, different name, different role.

Like we enjoy the cinema knowing fully well it is only seeming appearance not real. And if you understood this, you understood the entire second chapter.

So this statement, something is seemingly existent, like the snake is seemingly existent. When we say seemingly existent… When do we say? Only when we come to know after getting the knowledge of the rope.

But once we get the rope knowledge will the snake remain? Well, in this well known example of Raju-Sarpa, when once we come to know it is only a rope, Raju, we will not see the snake.

But then I add something. Suppose there is a seemingly plastic electronic snake, even after knowing it is only plastic electronic snake, it is harmless, but still the appearance will be 100% real. This is an addition you have to note down.

This is called Vivarta-vāda - when we are seemingly existent. So an ignorant person should not say seemingly existent. Only a knower through faith in the scriptures, ‘Guru told me it is seeming.’ But factually also it is seeming.

How is it factually seeming? Because from another point of view everything is changing. I was very young, I was middle aged, now I am old, and everything is changing. Everyday I am changing, you are changing, the world is changing. Nothing is remaining exactly the same. This is a fact and we all know it, and we at least try to accept that fact. So that which is changing is not really real but seemingly real

( 25:45 mins )

But when we realise Brahman we go beyond time, nothing is really changing, all fear goes away. So this is called Vivarta-vāda. And then, after realisation, when we come to realise, I was never born, it is called Ajāti-vāda.

So Vivarta-vāda when we are practising, Ajāti-vāda after realisation.

But both are two ways of looking at the seemingness of the world. And when we repeatedly study these kind of scriptures we may develop a misconception. We should not… What is the misconception? Since the world is unreal… and there was an incident about this also which illustrates.

What is that incident? When Sri Rāmakrishna was at Dakshineswar, He heard of a Sādhu who was immoral and then Sri Rāmakrishna cannot bear, ‘If you want to be immoral, be a worldly person and be immoral. But you are donning the dress of a monk, and you are shamelessly misbehaving.’ So with His wooden slippers He went to that Sādhu and said, ‘Is it true that you are having an affair with a woman?’ Sri Rāmakrishna never minced words because He can never speak the seeming truth, He speaks directly. And the Sādhu, not a bit shaken, boldly he says, ‘Well I can prove to you that what I am doing is not immoral.’ How? ‘He says the whole world is Mithyā. So if the whole world is Mithyā, me the Sādhu is also Mithyā, me the immoral person is also Mithyā, so there is… nothing is real. How do you call me immoral?’ And Sri Rāmakrishna said, ‘I spit upon this kind of hypocritical Vedānta.’

So we have to remember when we are practicing we should not say this world is unreal. What we should say…What do we say then? We say until I realize God, this world is real to me.

So in this world there are rules and regulations, there is Dharma and Adharma, there is truth and untruth, there is good and evil, there is righteous and unrighteous behavior. I should never become a hypocrite saying something and behaving in a different way. Let us behonest, truthful. If we make a mistake, let us admit the mistake.

So this is what - if the dream world is unreal (because we all say that) the waking world is equally unreal.

This is the summary of what we are going to study in this second chapter. If we understand, what I said just now, it will be easier for us to go through this second chapter.

So what is the connection between the first chapter and this chapter?

Shankarāchārya is commenting though it is declared in the first chapter Āgama Prakarana that there is no duality, Brahman alone exists. Yet it is all done through the scriptural statement Āgama Shruti Vākya.

But the second chapter is written to support that this world is illusory, not only because the scripture tells, but through reason and logic also we can come to the same conclusion. Therefore this Prakarana is called Vaitathya.

And Gaudapāda tries to establish through reasoning that the illusory nature of all duality -

• World means duality
• Reality means illusory
• Illusory means changefulness
• Changefulness means subject to time space and causation

That is what he wants. So how does he do it? The attempt in this chapter is to compare the waking state of experiences with the dream state. And to draw the logical conclusion, that there is in fact no difference, whatsoever, between the seeming experiences of the dream and same experiences in this world.

( 30:21 mins )

Why? Because we are all thinking, dream is a dream, but waking state is very real.

When do we say that? In the waking state.

Do we say the same thing in the dream state? No. In the dream state, dream state alone is real.

There is no illogic there. When we find ourselves in America, while we are lying down in India, we don't say it is illogical. We say I travelled a few days back and it took me so much time. So we should not compare from the waking state. How did you find in a minute to go?

But upon waking up, because we wake up in the same house, and by the same people, same objects, and our vyavahāra, day to day transaction, continues, so we think this is real. But the contention is what we call waking reality is not real.

Why is it not real? Because it is continuously changing. So many years passed. Every birthday is one year nearer or one second nearer to the chopping block, as I say.

So, this is what the summary - that waking state is no different from the dream state.

So he wants to say how the dream state is not real. From the waking state point of view (this is very important), from the waking state point of view, we are analysing the dream state and saying it is unreal, upon waking up. But we have to apply the same logic and say the waking state is also no different from the dream state. But analysed from the dream state point of view.

With this background let us enter into the first shloka in the second chapter called Vaitathya Prakaranam -

वैतथ्यं सर्वभावानां स्वप्न आहुर् मनीषिणः ।

अन्तःस्थानात् तु भावानां संवृतत्वेन हेतुना ॥ १ ॥

vaitathyaṃ sarvabhāvānāṃ svapna āhur manīṣiṇaḥ |

antaḥsthānāt tu bhāvānāṃ saṃvṛtatvena hetunā || 1 ||

Manīṣiṇaḥ - thinking people, wise people,

Āhu - they say. They don't simply say they are thinking people, they are logical people, they are rational people. And what they say is through observation, and that observation is absolute truth. And they say, they declare, what do they say?

Svapne tu - in the dream state

Samrutatvena hetuna - what is the Samrutatva? - that is within the confined body. Because of the reason, because whatever we experience in this body, in the dream state, is very confined, our body is very confined.

Antaḥsthānāt tu bhāvānāṃ - bhāvānāṃ means everything that we experience, every object we experience.

Samrutatvena hetuna - because of the reason, hetuna means by the reason.

what reason? Samrutatvena - everything is completely confined.

Then what is the conclusion? Sarvabhāvānāṃ Vaitathyam - or Sarvabhāvānāṃ, or sarva vishayānām, sarva anubhūtis, All the experience, of every single object, that we experience in the dream state, is what?

Vaitathyam - unreal!

The wise declare all objects of the dream as illusory!

Why? They all being located within the body. And also because of their being in a confined space.

Gaudapāda wants to show that the world that we experience in the waking state is also Mithyā. That is the real contention. So the attempt of Shankarāchārya also, in this chapter, is to prove the illusory nature of the world of plurality, purely using logical reasons. Unlike the previous chapter, where the same conclusions, were arrived at mainly through the scriptural declarations, Āgama Shruti, made by the Rishi's support.

• So this waking world appears real only in the waking state.
• It’s relevance and validity are only in the waking state.

In case you get confused, what does this first shloka mean? we are analysing the dream state, not in the dream state, but in the waking state.

( 35:04 mins )

And what is it? The state I am now in, this waking state is real, but the state I had experienced when I was in the dream state is completely unreal.

And why is it unreal? Because my this small body is lying on the bed, so I am in Vārānasi, I dreamt I went to America. First of all it is a long distance. It is not possible to travel, it takes at least some 20 hours, 24 hours, at least 12 hours. But not only that, that I find myself in that place, so place-wise, desha-wise and kāla-wise, everything!

Where did I go? I was here only, anybody who is waking up by my side, he knows I am there.

And another point is - the psychologist tells us every dream lasts only for one and half minutes. Within one and half minutes how many places I can visit. I can go to deva-loka, indra-loka, swarga-loka, naraka-loka, and then within one and half minutes, is it possible even? When I am old, even to go to bathroom, it will take 7-8 minutes. We all know that. When we are sick how much time it takes, and not to speak of going to the mars, going to the moon, going to America. Even if you take next room also it will take time.

And where am I experiencing? In this body, within this body, so that is why… But we think that so long as we are in the dream state, I really meant it is not unreal, and time and space - they become very real to me. It’s reality, only conditional reality. What is the conditional reality? The dreamer should be in the dream state, and so long as he is in the dream state, a dream state is more real than the waking state.

What is the condition of the waking world? We must be in the waking state. And as wakers, comparing dream experiences, it becomes unreal. So apply the same logic in the dream state. Waking experiences are unreal, and in the waking state dream experiences are unreal.

This is what Gaudapāda wants to say, that when compared to other states, when one state is to be proved as Mithyā, unreal, both states, all, not both, all the three states Jāgrat, Svapna, Sushupti all are changing.

1. That changefulness is the first point
2. what is the second point? That when we are in a particular state the other states are unreal.
3. What is the third point? That my experience of the waking state is totally dependent upon myself.

For example, I see a mango tree, I see a tiger, and that is enough example. That existence of the tree, that existence of the tiger, totally depends upon me the observer, the experiencer. If my mind is diverted to something else, the moment a second object comes, second thought will come. Second thought will destroy the first thought. And along with the first thought the object of the first thought also becomes what? Non-existent!

Not, not that it is kept like waiting persons in the next room. Until I remember it, every other object, excepting what I am experiencing right now, becomes completely non-existent. So the existence of an object, which depends upon the experiencer, observer - that is called Mithyātvatva.

What is reality then? Whatever remains, whether somebody observes or not, it is there all the time. And you cannot change it. That is called reality.

And what is that reality? In this example -

• I am in the waking state - I am real.
• The tree I observe - doesn't prove my reality.
• The tree's existence - depends upon my reality.

When I go into the dream state, I experience the reality. I see a tree one minute, next minute I see a house. So the house is changing, the tree is changing, and every object I experience in the dream state is changing. But I am not changing.

( 40:12 mins )

Similarly, I go into the deep sleep state, there I am not, I don't experience - that is a wrong statement really.

I experience the presence of an object - that is waking and dream.

But in the dreamless state - I do not experience because the instruments of experience, called the body and mind, are absent. So, for example, I see a tree. So the tree is the same, first of all through the eye, then through the mind. But without me, without my taking cognisance, without my recognition, power of awareness, the tree doesn't exist. The eye doesn't function, the mind doesn't function, the object doesn't exist - but I exist all the time without any change. This applies to all the three states.

Suppose I see you are there in my room. I experience you, I experience your presence in the room. Then you go out of the room, I experience the absence of you. You going out means the absence of you in the room. Your presence is experienced by me, your absence is also experienced by me. And this absence of experience proves that there is somebody who is the experiencer.

And that is what happens in dreamless deep sleep. That is I don't experience, (I experience the object of the world) and that is called deep sleep. But I am there to experience, either the presence of the Jāgrat or Svapna, or the absence of Jāgrat and Svapna. That is what truly is the deep sleep state.

But I am present equally, unchangingly, in all the three states. So compared to one state, both other states are changing all the time. And so every state is changing - Waking is changing. Dream is changing. Deep sleep is changing. Whatever is changing is Mithyā. That is one way of understanding.

So, this is an important point - many events and objects are experienced in dream, but they are only projections in the mind. This is an analysis of the, what we call, waking and dream.

And then second reason, remember Gaudapāda’s Kārikā. And Shankarāchārya comments is also to say from the time's viewpoint of you, he is telling. In the first verse, from the space point of view, I find myself, I see a huge elephant. Where do I see? Within myself. Where is the space? Can you ever dream that a mountain, Mt Himālaya you brought, you plucked it and put it in your money purse? Can you dream? Can you imagine?

The same way… But what happens, when you go to bed, you actually feel inside you. But this inside you is only an observation from the waking point of view, not from the dream point of view. From the dream point of view, you actually went to the Himālayas and you have seen it. That is from the space point of view whatever we experience cannot be because in this small body all the objects, even the smallest object, there is no space.

The second verse is from the time point of view. What does the second verse say -

अदीर्घत्वाच्च कालस्य गत्वा देशान्नपश्यति ।

प्रतिबुद्धश्च वै सर्वस्तस्मिन्देशे न विद्यते ॥ २ ॥

adīrghatvācca kālasya gatvā deśānnapaśyati |

pratibuddhaśca vai sarvastasmindeśe na vidyate || 2 ||

On account of the shortness of time, it is not possible for the dreamer, to go out of the body and see the dream objects.

For example. This is very easy to understand. You are in Bangalore, you dream that you have gone to Vārānasi, and you saw lord Vishvanātha, and you are… you have taken some prasāda, while you are touching lord Vishvanātha, and feeling blessed. Suddenly somebody wakes you up. Where do you find yourself? You find yourself in your own bed. And say, for example in this example, ‘In Bangalore’. So how much time? Only about a minute back you went to bed and you dreamt. In one minute is it possible?

( 45:06 mins )

One minute is not enough, even if you are traveling by plane, at least five six hours are necessary. And then there are, many other obstacles can happen. Your plane may be cancelled, or if morning flight, it may be afternoon flight, or night flight or next day's flight, three days flight. You might fall sick, and you might postpone. Anything can happen.

But then what do you see? You see, in the dream you reached Vārānasi, in a twinkling of a thought. And then you find yourself in the temple of Lord Vishvanātha, it’s the most marvellous thing, from that point of view. And you are touching Lord Vishvanātha, you are feeling how blessed you are. Suddenly your dream breaks up. Where do you find yourself? Only in your place. That means you have not gone anywhere. That means your… it is all a disturbance in your thought. It is your imagination.

And so time factor is taken. You can't find yourself, in a second, in Vārānasi. You can't again go back to your place in another second. But from these experiences… You don't find yourself in Vārānasi when you wake up. You find exactly where you have fallen asleep, it could be a bed, it could be a chair, it could be even when I am talking now in this…

This is what Gaudapāda wants to say. Adīrghatvācca kālasya.

Kālasya - means of time.

Dīrghatvācca - means longness

Everything requires time. If you want to go to the next room, it may take a minute. If you want to go to the next house, it may take five minutes. If you want to go to the, your market, it may take one hour, especially in Bangalore. If you want to go to America, it may take 24 hours, or even more.

But your whole dream lasts only for a few seconds. Remember, never forget, this is an analysis of dream state from the waking point of view, not from the dream point of view. From the dream point of view you don't find all this, what is called irrational confusion. It is absolutely rational.

You really came. And you came by train or plane, and you went to the temple, and you quarrelled with the pāndā, and you touched Lord Vishvanātha, everything is absolutely real, but from the waking point of view. So, within a twinkling of a second you went to mars, you went to moon, you went to the sun god, everything.

Deśān gatvā na paśyati - so, that person when he wakes up, he doesn't see. What doesn't he see? Where he went he doesn't see.

Pratibuddhaśca vai - When this same person, who was dreaming, wakes up

Buddhaśca - means waking up. Pratibuddha - means waking up.

Sarvaha - everybody

Tasmindeśe na vidyate - where you thought you were, in Vārānasi for example, you don't see yourself in Vārānasi. You see yourself in the same place where you are having this dream.

On account of the shortness of time, to go to distant places, it is not possible for the dreamer to go out of the body and see the dream objects. Nor does the dreamer, upon waking up, find himself in the place which he had been seeing a second back in his dream. Not only the objects in the dream are unreal, but all the events in the dream, every single event, are also unreal.

The time in dream is very limited. That is one reason given in the second verse, that the dreams last only, sometimes only few seconds. But you may find if you have children in America, you went, Australia you went. So many things you experienced. And you have eaten a big dinner in a restaurant. And then that is also a beautiful dream, and you are very happy and at the same time you feel, your stomach is bulging because of what you have eaten in the dream. But as soon as you wake up, after a few milliseconds you find yourself, perhaps, ravenously hungry. I have gone to dream straight without eating my dinner, and I am, especially after dreaming such a luscious dinner, you feel ravenously hungry. So this is another reason he wants to tell.

And then an objector comes, and this is not… ‘What you say, O Gaudapāda, is not true.’ So what we want to say, ‘O objector’… And he says dreamer is not seeing the objects of his dream within his bosom, but is actually experiencing them in distant places. For the dreamer often dreams of distant places, and objects of those localities. So if the dreamer can have easy access to unlimited space, then certainly the objects of the dream can be accommodated there.

( 50:33 mins )

The summary of what the objector wants to say is, don't compare waking and dream. So, waking state has its own concept of space and time. And in dream also, it has its own concept of space and dream. And I want to tell you that your analysis of comparing the dream experiences, (that they are unreal) because you are comparing them with the waking state experiences, that we don't accept.

And then, Gaudapāda, he wants to tell, to meet these objections he says, even if our experiences in dream are what we had gone far off etc., it is only an experience within our own mind. And naturally the dream must be unreal because already earlier he had given, if I dream I am in Vārānasi, I don't wake up in Vārānasi . I wake up in my own bed. Then that means the whole experience took place in the body. For that reason, ‘O objector, I don't accept this one.’

And then in the third verse what is Gaudapāda doing? So even though he has given the rationality, the reasoning. The dream objects, dream experiences, analysed in the waking state are all unreal, irrational, unacceptable! Therefore he says, ‘Not only I am giving trying to convince you through logic, but the Shruti also is supporting me.’ And here the Shruti quoted in support of Gaudapāda’s argument, (remember these are all Gaudapāda’s verses, not Shankarācharya's)…

And 38 verses are there in the second chapter. They are all his writings, his creations wanting to prove the changefulness of the dream world - that is the real point. if you grasped that point, then apply the same to the waking state - whether dream state is real, waking state is real.

The definition of reality is it should not change.

And what is our experience when we are dreaming? That is real. And there also things are changing, there also you become old, there also you see mirages, there also you see a seeming snake and start screaming in your dream, just as in the waking state.

Waking state also, we all become young, we become middle aged, old, and diseased, and death, and happy and unhappy. Everything is changing. Not only over a long time, within a second everything can change. In fact how much time does it take for somebody to die? Just a millisecond, that's all.

So here in this third verse, Gaudapāda wants to take the help of the Shruti. It is a very important point for us, because simply we don't want to establish a truth by logic. That is what modern philosophers, modern psychologists want to do, but Indian philosophy never accepts. First Shruti, then understand Shruti through logic, that is the process. Not that we establish the truth of the statements of the Shruti through logic, on the other hand, vice versa - we try to understand the reality, the depth, the truth of Shruti, scriptural statements, (so that for our own good) through logic, deep thinking.

For that he quotes the third verse -

अभावश्च रथादीनां श्रूयते न्यायपूर्वकम् ।

वैतथ्यं तेन वै प्राप्तं स्वप्न आहुः प्रकाशितम् ॥ ३ ॥

abhāvaśca rathādīnāṃ śrūyate nyāyapūrvakam |

vaitathyaṃ tena vai prāptaṃ svapna āhuḥ prakāśitam || 3 ||

“Following reason, (as indicated above) Shruti,” (here Brihadāranyaka Upanishad) “declares the non-existence of the chariots etc. (perceived in dream). Therefore it is said (by the wise) that scripture “itself declares the illusoriness (of the dream experiences,” And by proxy, by extension, illusoriness of the waking state, also illusoriness of the dream state. That should be firmly understood.

( 55:04 mins )

The Vedās, that means Upanishads, also confirm the Mithyātvam, the temporary reality of the dreams in Brihadāranyaka Upanishad. A person dreamsthat he is travelling by a chariot, chariot is drawn by horses, horses are travelling by roads and or there is a chariot here also like a taxi driver and he is travelling he sees various things in the dream we may dream like that but upon waking up we find that they were all our mental projections so strictly confirming to reason and logic Shruti also declares a non-existence of the chariots and so on perceived in the dream by the dreamer and in the dream the dreamer thinks they are all 100% real but as soon as he wakes up he understands that everything is completely unreal. Shankaracharya also supports this in one of his works called Brahma Manavali pointedly saying he says the whole world of things can be divided into two groups the world of objects perceived and the world of the perceiver and Vedanta declares that the perceiver alone is the truth and the perceived is the super imposition upon it this I will discuss in my next class but what I want to give a pointer here that is the whole world can be divided into two the experiencer and the experiencer and the experiencer is unreal the experiencer alone is real and why there are a few reasons for that which we will talk about in our next class Om Jananem Sharadam Deveem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Namaami Mohur Moho May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ramakrishna