Mandukya Karika Lecture 041 on 09 March 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamami Mohor Moho Om Bhadram Kanne Vishrunyama Deva Bhadram Pashyam Akshabhirya Jatra Sthirai Rangai Stushtu Vagam Sastanu Bhi Vyasema Deva Hi Tanyadayo Swasthina Indro Vruddha Shravaha Swasthina Poosha Vishwa Vedaha Swasthin Astha Aarkshu Arishta Nimi Swasthin Om Brihaspati Hridadhatu Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om Om. O Gods, may we always hear with our ears what is auspicious. O worshipful ones, may we with our eyes always see what is auspicious. May we live our allotted life, hale and hearty, offering our praises unto Thee. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on all of us. May the all-nourishing potion be propitious to us. May Garuda, the destroyer of all evil, be well-disposed towards us. May Brihaspati ensure our welfare. Om. Peace. Peace. Peace be unto all. In our last class, we have been exploring the second karika of Gaudapada. As we recollect, after completing the six mantras depicting the four quarters of the Taittiriya or Brahman, now Gaudapada wants to summarize and place before us the essence. As I mentioned earlier, karika is not a bhashya. But Shankaracharya, he had written both bhashyas, not only on the original mantras, but also he includes in his bhashya Gaudapada karikas. In the first karika, Gaudapada had described that in the jagrat avastha, the Turiya puts on a peculiar dress, called the sthoola deha, aided by mind, etc. He is called Vishwa or Vaishwanara. Then he discards that dress, then puts on another finer type of dress, which is called sokshma deha, sokshma sharera, subtle body. He sports in the subtle world by taking up the name Taijasa and Hiranyagarbha. And then after some time, he again comes back, goes back, higher, still subtler, subtlest, the causal, taking up another dress where everything that is to be experienced becomes completely covered up, as it were, as though things are in deep darkness and he takes the name Prajna and there he merges in Eshwara also. That is what Gaudapada summarized, the six mantras that have been said. Then in the second karika, what does he want to show? This is the karika, Dakshinakshimukhe Vishwo Manasyantastu Taijasaha Aakashahi Hridiprajnaha Tridhadehe Vyavasthitaha. That one consciousness called Turiya, he resides taking up the gross body, taking up the name called Vishwa as well as Virat or Vaishwanara and mostly he is found in the drawing room called the right eye. And we also explored why only eye? Eye means not simply only eye but represents the entire, all the five senses or sense organs of knowledge. But most of our certainty of knowledge, experience is through the eyes and there also it is the right eye which we favor. But we have to understand if somebody favors left eye, that's also okay. But that's why I made slight fun, the right eye is that eye which is right for that particular person. So this same Vishwa after some time, that means same Turiya, discards this Vishwa dress and puts on the Taijasaha dress and then he sits in the dream state and dreams, taking all the memories that we have been storing by experiencing things in the so-called waking world. And after some time he discards that final dress, puts on the causal dress, Karana Sharira, and then he experiences what is called oneness, that which becomes completely one as it were. Doesn't become one but merely covered up, that's why it is called Avidya. And there he, as it were, sometimes he says, I am Prajna, the individual. Sometimes he says, I am Ishwara, the universal. And that is how it goes on even without consciously doing that one. And we also do that in the waking state. When I am selfish completely, I am the Vishwa. But when I love somebody and when I identify myself with somebody, that means with a larger whole, I am playing the role of Virat or Vaishwanara. Similarly, in the mind also, when I am completely focused upon my individuality, I am called Taijasaha. But exactly like the waking state, when I am focusing, thinking the good of everybody else, at least to some extent, then I am called Hiranyagarbha. Similarly, unconsciously, we also assume that Prajna and Ishwara state. Now this is being explored here. Now, three points we made with regard to this Shankaracharya's commentary. He specially notes down what is the point of Gaudapada's second Karika, that every experience takes place only in consciousness. Devoid of consciousness, no experience is possible. That is the first point. Second, this consciousness or awareness is more manifest. Manifest for a longer time. Manifest in a clearest manner in the waking state. And so that is why all these three states can be experienced in the waking state. I am not saying, if I understand Gaudapada as well as Shankaracharya properly, there is also one after the other, the waking, the dream, and then the sleep state. But in the waking state also, we experience all the three states. As an example, if I am completely focused, aware that there is an external object, then I am in the waking state. When I close my eyes and then recollect what I have been experiencing, think of that idea within the mind, I am as if in the dream state in the daytime. So it can be called more appropriately daydream. But sometimes for a short period of time, very short, brief period of time, I get tired, then I forget everything both outside and inside. And as it were, I am taking rest like the heart takes rest in between two heartbeats. That is called the sleep state. So this is the second. And third is, of course, one after the other. And the example is given like a great fish which always dwells in the middle of the big river because that is where it feels most comfortable. But sometimes it visits the left bank, sometimes to the right bank. So also the natural state of each one of us is the Karanavastha, that is the deep sleep state. And sometimes we go into the waking, sometimes we go into the dream state. And that is what he wants to tell us. And this is being elaborated here. So, Shankaracharya, again we are recollecting. Jagarita avasthayam eva. In the waking state alone. Vishwa adheenam. Vishwa. Adheenam means et cetera. Et cetera means Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna. Trayanam. Anubhava pradarshanartho im shloka. That means the waking state, the dream state and as well as the deep sleep state. All these three states can take place and do take place in the waking state alone. That is to show that this second Karika of Gaudapada is being said. Now, why is it? Again the topic is raised. Right eye is given so much of prominence when life cannot go on. Merely with the eye, but every single sense organ is necessary. It is only Dakshinam Akshyeva Mukham. Mukham means very important. So, most of our knowledge comes and then that's why we say, I saw something with my own eyes. That means there is no doubt about it. If I hear something, I may mistake. Smell something, touch something, taste something, I may mistake. But if sufficient light is there, my eyes are completely healthy, 20 by 20 vision. If I see something, thereafter, even if the whole world comes and says, what you saw is wrong, we will not accept it. Such is the certainty. That certainty comes through the eyes. But in the eye, just it is mentioned for Upasana, so the Vishwa, that is the place where he sits, that means in the waking state, most of the experiences are taking place in the right eye. That means mainly in the right eye, but in every part of the five sense organs of knowledge. Because of its importance in gathering knowledge, in acting and reacting, that external world is experienced by whom? By Vishwa. And so, about this right eye, there are several quotations in the scriptures. Now, as I mentioned many times, when Shankaracharya issues a statement, he doesn't try to prove it through just argument or logic. Logic is fine, but it must be supported mainly from the scriptures. So what Shankaracharya wants to convey, I am not telling anything on my own, I am only merely pointing out what the scriptures have already said, and I am trying to explain so that everybody can understand what the scripture really wants to tell. So this is what he is telling from I am Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Brihadaranyaka Shruti. So that Purusha, that consciousness of Duryodhana, which mostly functions through the right eye, his name is Indaha. So what is Indaha? Indaha means the luminous one, the bright one. What does it mean? That means the effulgent one. What does it mean? It means if the eye throws light upon any object, that object stands revealed, that means the knowledge of that object is obtained within us. For example, the eye, a drunkard in semi-consciousness, if he looks at a tree, at an animal, at a house, he can even mistake that this is my house and then try to enter into his house. You know sometimes in the cities, hundreds of houses are built exactly to the same model, and therefore very easy to mistake. If you can't see properly, the gate looks the same, the compound looks the same, the front facade also looks the same. It is possible. So that is not what we are talking. When there is sufficient light, when my eyes are okay, and I am in full consciousness, and when I function, everything is just as knowledge is undoubtable. When there is plenty of light to perceive it. So this eye throws light as it were. What is the light we are talking about? Consciousness that is borrowed by the mind, lent to the sense organs, and one of them is the eye, and this borrows this consciousness, awareness, because a dead body also can be looking with complete open eyes, but it doesn't have prana, and so it doesn't have energy, it doesn't have chaitanya, and therefore it cannot obtain any knowledge. So when we are talking about the eye, we are not talking when you take a photograph. These are beautiful eyes. These are not eyes according to Vedanta. They are just windows like the cameraman's camera's lens. The camera doesn't see, but the person behind the camera lens, with consciousness, he sees what is percolating through that camera lens. So these sense organs are called golakas, windows, mere just instruments. They do not convey anything, but they are just like when you open the window, then through your eyes you can see whatever can be seen. So that is the idea that the consciousness, and he is called Purusha, he is called Vishwa, he is called Vaishwanara, and he is called Indha, means bright, means awareness, means Turiya, putting on the Vishwa dress. When he is experiencing waking state, he sits in the right eye, as it were, and obtains the complete knowledge, which cannot be denied, because that is the Pramana. That is why Pratyaksha. Aksha means eye. Pratyaksha means every experience that percolates through the eye is called Pratyaksha, direct experience. Though not really direct, but we use that word direct. I saw with my own eyes, etc. Then this is also called in the scriptures, Vaishwanara Deepthi Gunaha. This Vaishwanara, the universal Vishwa, what is his characteristic? Deepthi. Deepthi means brightness, Jyothi. So he experiences through every gross body, whereas Vishwa experiences through one individual body, through one individual sense organs. This Vaishwanara experiences through universal. Every eye is his eye. Sahasra Akshaha. Sahasra Seersha Purushaha, Sahasra Akshaha, Sahasra Paat. That is what is being described. Deepthi Gunaha. He is also bright. And then further the scripture is telling, Aditya Antar Gatha Vairaja Atma Chakshu Shicha Drashta Ekaha. That Drashta, Seer, Ekaha, only one. And who is this Seer? He is there in my eye, in your eye, in every one of my sense organs, in every one of the entire, all the living creatures' eyes, or also all the sense organs. But Aditya Antar Gatha, he is also in the Aditya. He is called Vairaja, the Samrat, the Chakravarti. Aditya means the Sun. Aditya means he who illumines the whole light. Now when we are talking about the light that is Deepthi in the eye, it is the capacity of the sense organ to obtain the right knowledge. When we are talking, that is the awareness. But when we are talking about the light in the Sun, we are talking that without light, even if I am fully conscious, I cannot see. And I am fully conscious, there is no light, I can't see. There is light, I am not conscious, I can't see. The meeting of, there must be light, my sense organs must be fully functional, without any defect, and my awareness must be percolating through each one of these sense organs, then whatever is there outside, called Adipotha, that is experienced. So the Sun illumines the whole world, and he also resides in my eyes, especially right eye, and he gives me the awareness to experience the objects lighted up by the light that is in the Sun, in the Moon, in the fire, but all these derive their light only from the Sun. And this Vairaja is also called Hiranyagarbha. There is no difference. That means the person who is in our individual, in each individual, in the form of Jivatma, and he who is in the form of the Paramatma, who is the universal Virat or Vairaja, he is there, one and the same. There is no difference. That is what the second Karika wants to tell us. Now, a Purva Pakshi, that is an objector, that is Shankaracharya himself gauges our minds and tries to find out, there may be some people in whom these doubts may come. He raises the doubts before they can arise in our minds, and really, if we can have doubts, that is a compliment. But for most of the people, doubts will not come. So here is an objection. Sir, you are talking about two things. You are talking about the individual. You are talking about the universal. So here, Nano, Anyaha Hiranyagarbha. Hiranyagarbha means that which is the universal mind. He is separate, whereas Kshetragna, Dakshine, Akshine, Akshinoho, Niyanta, he who is controlling, sitting in the right eye of every individual, he is an individual. He is a Kshetragna. He is the Jivatma. How dare you connect, you identify Jivatma with Hiranyagarbha. Why do you say that this Hiranyagarbha and the Jivatma are one and the same? That is, I am the Drashta. I am identified with this body, and I am seeing it. Somebody else may not be seeing it. So I am Anyaha. I am the Dehaswami. I am the master of my body in the form of Jivatma, and I am different. Hiranyagarbha is different. And you are trying to equate both Jivatma, and that is to say, Taijasa and Hiranyagarbha, Vishwa and Virat, Prajna and Ishwara. This is illogical. That is the doubt Shankaracharya himself creates, and he himself answers. What is the reply? Your opinion, your understanding is debased. It is not correct. No, for in reality, there is absolutely no distinction between one and the other, between the Jivatma and Paramatma. And how dare you say that they are same? I will show you from the scriptures. I am not saying. It is scripture who is saying. I am only putting in plain words what the scripture is trying to tell. So let me give you an example beforehand. Supposing there is a child, and then the child asks, Papa, where is our Swami? Where is your body? And then I lift my hand and say, This is my body. No, no, no. That is your hand. Okay, I show the leg and say, This is my body. No, no, no. This is your leg. Then I show my eye. No, no, that is your eye. That is not your body. Now how to convey that even though all these individual parts are there, you cannot separate them from each other, first of all. The totality of all these five organs of knowledge and five organs of action combined together with consciousness, that is Chidabasa, that is called body. How to convey that one to a child? This is what an ignorant person can ask. I see that I am this body. Even I cannot identify. A mother cannot say, I am the baby. Intellectually, yes. And emotionally, yes. But not physically. Nobody can say, I am this. But we are always talking. Just as you say, I am a human being, you mean I am man, I am a woman. Individually you say, I am a man or I am a woman. As humanity you say, No, I am a human being. I am every human being. Man, woman, child, literate, illiterate, rich, poor, learned, everybody. So like that, the moment you say, this is me, you are intellectually already separating yourself from everything else. This is the nature of the mind. If I don't know what is black, I will never know what is white. If I don't know what is called good, I will never know what is evil, vice versa. So if I don't know what is unhappiness, I will never know what is happiness. In fact, both are the same. Less happiness is called unhappiness. And less unhappiness is called happiness. This is how we have to understand everything. So Shankara is giving quotations. Ekodevaha sarvabhutesh gudaha Shetashyatra uparshat Ekodevaha God is one, but He is hidden. Hidden means He is not really hidden. For the ignorant people He is hidden. So ignorant people, when He looks at anybody, says this is a tree, this is a dog, this is a man, this is a woman, He doesn't understand. The body, the mind, the sense organs, everything is nothing but made up of pancha bhutas and their pancha bhutas is manifestation of God. So everything is God. Godaha means, like Hiranyakashipu asking, is your Narayana hiding inside this pillar? Prahlad was constrained to tell He is not hiding. He is inside the pillar, He is outside the pillar, He is the pillar. Where is this? If an ignorant pot is asking, where is this clay? Is it inside me? Is it outside me? You have to say, there is no you as a pot. You are inside, you are outside, you are everywhere. What exists is only clay. You don't really exist, but clay with a particular form, name and purpose is called a pot, small pot, big pot, etc. So ekodevaha sarvabhuteshu godaha. Godaha means hidden. Hidden doesn't mean that He is hiding, like a person is hiding in the basement or in the attic or somewhere in a mountain cave. It means it is open secret. Those who know, they know. Those who don't know, they don't know. There is something called spectrogram. So many meaningless lines will be there. And some people can never find out what is there. But some people, the moment they see, they look in a particular way and there is a man, there is a baby, there is a tree, there is a mountain, there is a river. Anything is possible, but it requires a special vision. Same Krishna was seen as the friend of Arjuna by Arjuna, but when Krishna gave him a special insight, immediately he saw He is not Krishna. He is Bhagawan. He is everywhere. So ekodevaha sarvabhuteshu godaha. Then in the Bhagavad Gita, 13th chapter, kshetrajnam chaapimam viddhi sarva kshetreshu bharata. Know Me to be the knower of this field. In every field. How many fields? So many. How many knowers of the field? Only one. Sarva kshetreshu ekam kshetram chaapimam viddhi bharata. Oh Arjuna, Me you should know to be the kshetrajna in every kshetra. So what does it translate into? Same consciousness is in Me as My ego, as your ego, as you say I see and you say you see and somebody says we see, etc. Then again Bhagavad Gita, avibhattam cha bhuteshu vibhattam ivachas sthitam. That is to say when guna overcomes a person. That is as if that one reality is divided into so many ways. And that is avibhattam. Really speaking, just as you cannot divide space, you cannot divide Bhagavan, consciousness. I told you many times, but just to remind you. Supposing there are two tables. They are separate tables. How do you know they are separate? Because one is on the left side, another is right side. One is above, one is below. One is small, one is big. One is blue, another is yellow. Like that there must be something to separate one from the other. So if you say there is only one consciousness in the mosquito, in the elephant, in the man, in the tree, in amoeba, in every living creature, how do we divide? Oh, it is the one consciousness. So how many consciousnesses are there? Only one. Because if you say to my consciousness and your consciousness, tell me, your consciousness is black or yellow or blue. Is it small, middle size or big size? Is it rich? Is it poor? Is it good? Is it evil? All these things do not apply. Just like saying that Akasha is pure, Akasha is impure. Left side Akasha, right side Akasha. That kind of stupidity should never work within us. So with that the answer is given. What is called Hiranyagarbha, what is called Vaishvanara, what is called Ishvara. So depending upon the Upadis point of view, one is called Prajna, another is called Taijasa, another is called Vishwa. There is no difference. They are always together. You cannot separate. Why? Because universal means universal. If you divide universal and say this is separate, this is number one universal and this is number two universal, then you should never use that word universal at all. I hope the point is well taken. Then again the same question is raised. Why is right eye more preferred than left eye or whatever it is? Because Sarveshu Karaneshu Avisheshu Swapi. Even though all sense organs are equally important, equally necessary, Dakshina Akshini Upalabdhi Patava Darshanat. Patava means great skillfulness, great manifestation. What Upalabdhi? Experience. That means gaining of knowledge. Where? Through the eyes. And of the two eyes, the right eye, Patava means skillfulness in gaining more knowledge. It is seen everywhere. Darshanat Tatra Visesha. Thereby eyes are more reliable, gives what is called better truthful knowledge than anything else. This is the answer. Then Nirdeshwasi Vishwasiya. And it is the right eye is pointed out, is mentioned as the most important organ of perception. That is all. So he gives again a quotation. Dakshina Akshigataha Drishwaroopam Nimilita Akshaha. Now Shankaracharya is telling, you see something. Here is a person. He sees something. What does he do? And he is enchanted. Let us imagine. There is a beautiful sunrise, or beautiful sunset, or a beautiful lake, anything beautiful, painting, beautiful music. Then he enjoys it. Then he wants to continue the enjoyment. Then he closes his eyes and then wants to enjoy through more contemplation. So when a person closes his eyes, as it were, he is getting out of the Jagradhavasta. And then he is remembering. Whatever he had experienced, he brings back like the cow. Whole day it chews, it swallows grass, and night leisurely it sits and unconsciously it brings again into the mouth because it has to gather a great amount. If it goes on chewing, it cannot fill its stomach. So it just gobbles and comes and sits. And it has the ability, they say the stomach of every cow has got four quarters. So it brings little by little, chews it thoroughly, swallows it, so that the prana can do its job of converting into energy and distributing it equally to every part of the cow. Like that this person, having stored his waking state experiences in the form of memory, he brings it out and then he goes on contemplating it. Aha! What a wonderful thing, I say. We all do that. You visit a sweetmeat shop, you see something, you do that. You watch a cinema and then you liked it very much, you go there and you recollect. A young man sees a beautiful young woman and then he returns home and he brings her in memory and goes on contemplating her presence again. This is called Swapna or dream while still awake. So Dakshina Akshigataha Roopam Drishtva Nimilita Akshaha Tadeva Tadeva means same scenery, same experience. So having experienced it primarily through the right eye, means right eyes, that means through all the sense organs, then closes the eyes, that means closes the sense organs and brings it to the fore and thoroughly goes on recollecting good or evil. Smaran Manasi Antaha Then remembering that experience inside the mind. Antaha Swapnaiva Tadeva Vasana Roopa Abhivyaktam Pashyatiyatha Tatra Tatha Swapne So now being described the condition of the Taiyasa. This Vishwa, what does he do? Closes his eyes and then he dons the dress of Taiyasa and closing eyes means he cuts himself off from the external senses and then puts on the subtle body, the dress and he brings back all the vasanas in the form of the memories. Abhivyaktam And as soon as he remembers, the whole thing stands in front of his eyes. Pashyati is his yatha. Tatra Tatha Swapne So exactly yatha in the waking state. Tatha Swapne As if he is experiencing again in the waking state but in the form of memory. And where does he stand to experience it? Therefore, Manasi Antastu Taiyasapi Vishwa Eva Vishwa Eva, the waker alone Manasi Antastu Sitting in the platform in the room called the mind, he recollects all his memories and then crystal clearly recollects all of them and goes on experiencing again second time. This is to tell in the waking state itself he closes his eyes and he can do it. Now what is he doing? So now memory also is thrown out after some time. Then what happens? The perceiver and the perceived. The waker and the waking world. The dreamer and the dream world. Everything becomes unified where? In the Akasha of the heart. Hridi Akasha That means the drawing room of the Prajna is called Hridakasha. It is also called Chidakasha. So if it is external world, it is called Bahya Akasha. If it is the internal world, subtle world, it is called Chitta Akasha. And if it is in the deep sleep state, it is called Chidakasha. That means the Chit. That means everything becomes just like when the light is put off, the projector, what does it do? Pure light on the screen. He sees only the screen. One minute before, the whole universe was there. Now as it was, it is not there. Why is light mentioned here? Because without light, you cannot even see the screen. Without consciousness, there are no three states at all. That is the point. So these are all Mano Vyapara Abhavat. There is no Stola Vyapara, gross transaction. There is no mind's transaction in the form of thinking, recollecting the memories, etc. As if the whole thing is withdrawn to get complete rest. So Darshana, Smarana, Evahi, Manas Pandita. And now Gaudapada wants to tell us something important. What is it? Darshana means experiences that we perceive in the waking state. Smarana means same experiences we recollect in the form of the memories. They are one and the same. Whether we experience in the waking state, whether we experience in the dream state, it is all nothing but vibrations in the mind in the form of thoughts. That is most important. It is very difficult for us to get rid of the idea, I am seeing a tree. I am seeing a mountain. There is a mountain. There is a tree. What are you talking? It is not my mere thought I see. But the same experience is there when you are dreaming and you are climbing a mountain. Do you say the mountain is inside my mind or do you say that the mountain is outside? In the dream state, even though from the waking point of view, the mountain is within the mind, while dreaming, the mountain is as it were outside. Can it be different in the waking state? Absolutely no. In other words, it is all Leela of the consciousness. That is the only point you have to remember. Consciousness, it enlivens the mind and mind goes out, brings back the impression and then chooses the cud of what is brought inside, but giving the impression as if, because of the sense organ, as if the object is outside. Outside also is inside. Inside is also inside. That is the point we have to remember. Now that topic is over. Another topic is coming here. What is it? What happens is when we are awake, prana is fully functional. And if prana is not functional, if prana doesn't energize either the five organs of knowledge or the five organs of action, they will be dead. So if there is no prana behind the eye, eye cannot function. If it is not there behind the ears, ears cannot hear, etc. If they are not behind the hands and legs, they cannot function. Therefore prana is working. Prana is working in the waking state. And what about the dream state? There also, without prana, you can't breathe. And if you can't breathe, your mind will not function, your memory doesn't function, and your brain will not function, your vasanas will not function. Therefore the prana is there. And we identify ourselves. When we are seeing, we are identified with the prana in the eye. When we are hearing, we are identifying with the prana in the ears. So extend it to all the other three organs of knowledge, sense organs of knowledge. Same thing you identify. When the prana is behind the hand, then I experience the movement of the hand, so also the leg, so also evacuation, etc. Without prana, it is impossible to experience the waking state. Similarly, without prana, it is impossible to experience this one. Now, talking about the deep sleep state, the question is, is prana also merging there, or prana is functioning? The fact is, the body merges, the mind merges, in deep sleep state, in avidya, but the prana doesn't merge. Prana is still functioning. Because if prana is not there, it is as good as we are dead, we have to wait until the next prana creates another body, another mind, etc. So this is the topic. This prana is also called Hiranyagarbha. Anyway, what is the point here? This prana, every sense organ, every organ action also, in the waking state, and all the mind, is also functioning, because of the prana only. Does the same thing happen in deep sleep state? Does the prana stop functioning? I hope you are getting the point. In the deep sleep state, the body, as it were, doesn't function. Your eyes may be open, you can't see. Your ears may be open, you can't hear. So, completely the physical body, you have no identity. Similarly, in deep sleep, there is no identity, completely with the mind. But, is there any, like this is called, the physical body resolves in the subtle body, and subtle body resolves in the deep sleep state, with the seed avastha, karana deha, karana sharira. And along with that, does prana also resolve? The answer is no, it doesn't. Because, if the prana resolves, the breathing will stop, the heartbeat will stop, and it cannot come back again to that state, because there is no prana. Because once prana is gone, it cannot come. So, excepting the prana, the whole physical body, the whole mind, is resolved in the, what is called, karana sharira. That is the topic. And then in the scriptures, it is said, this prana is Hiranyagarbha, and he is also Taiyasa, and he is also in the Chandogya Pranashyat, called Saguna Brahma. This is very intriguing, puzzling, confusing, because here prana means that energy. But Shruti uses this word prana in different contexts. Sometimes mind is called prana, sometimes prana is called prana, sometimes Hiranyagarbha is called prana, sometimes Saguna Brahma is called prana. That is why it is so difficult to understand, unless it is explained by great people, like Shankaracharya, etc. So here it is being said, that this tat abhave, means prana abhave, Taiyasa is identical with Hiranyagarbha, just as Vishwa is identical with Virat or Vaishwanara, on account of its existence being realized in mind. Manas tattva, mind is the characteristic indication. Characteristic indication in Sanskrit is called Lingam manaha, Prahdhanikopanishad. And then it is also said in the same Prahdhanika, Mano mayo ayam purushaha. This purusha is none other than pure mind. Ityadi shrutibhyaha. So this purusha, that means here, Hiranyagarbha is the mind. He is called Taiyasa. And in another form, he is called Vishwa and Virat. And prana alone, Shruti also says, withdraws all these within. Everything is resolved in prana. But as I mentioned earlier, is prana in deep sleep, does it become avyakruta, unmanifest, just as body and mind become unmanifest? I hope you are getting the point. The body is unmanifest in deep sleep because it doesn't function. The mind doesn't even recollect anything. Therefore, mind also is unmanifest in the deep sleep state. What about the prana? And avyakruta, prana, what do we see? Here is a man. He is in deep sleep. His lungs are expanding and contracting. His heart is beating. And his prana vayu, he is taking prana vayu, distributing, because that is the function of the pancha prana. And on one hand, you are telling it is avyakruta, unmanifest. On the other hand, you are telling that he is manifest. What is the truth? Tadatmakani karanani bhavanti. The sense organs at the time of deep sleep are merged in the prana. Then, why do you call it avyakrutata? That is to say, why do you say the prana is unmanifest? When it is manifestly manifest in the form of breathing, we know. Look at any sleeping person. He is very much alive. He is in deep sleep. I can see the prana working in the form of the lungs, etc. And you cannot call it avyakruta, because if it is avyakruta, unmanifest, it doesn't function. But I see it functioning. And the Shruti calls it avyakruta. This is the objection. And then, Shankaracharya has to bring it. They answer it. He says, Naishadoshaha. It is not faulty at all. Why? They call it visesha-abhavat. That is to say, when the jivatma is becoming the prajna, he goes beyond time, space, and causation. And therefore, as far as he is concerned, he is not even aware of the prana. Therefore, the prana is called avyakruta. But from the viewpoint of other people who are observing this person is alive, the prana is very much avyakruta. Remember, prana is manifest. But body, mind are as if it is not manifest, because they are not really functioning. A man may be in deep sleep. His eyes may be completely open. His ears are open. His nostrils are open. His mouth is open. His skin is open. You can touch him with fire. You can cut him with a knife. You can pass thunderous sound near his ears, but nothing touches him. So the question is, is the prana to be called unmanifest or manifest? And the answer is, from the viewpoint of the sleeper, it is unmanifest. From the viewpoint of everybody else, it is manifest. So at that time, when we are awake, a person identifies. Now I am moving. Now I am seeing. Now I am doing this. Now I am digesting food, etc. But at the time, all these things are going on. But the jivatma is not aware of time, space, and causation. He doesn't say, I am alive. He doesn't know whether he is alive. He doesn't know there is a body. He doesn't know there is a mind. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the sleeper, prana is unmanifest. From the viewpoint of everybody else, who is watching? And how is they watching? Very interesting. Other people are in the jagra davastha. Because if somebody is in dream state, he cannot observe the other person and say he is alive. This question itself will not come. So here is a person. He is in the waking state. He is seeing another person who is deeply asleep. And he says, his prana is alive. His prana is manifesting. That is what is his statement. But from the viewpoint of the sleeper, it is avyakruta. Because he is not aware of it. This is the answer. Most marvelous thing. We will talk about it in our next class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.