Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 029

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

I bow to the eminent sage Patanjali, who removed the impurities of the mind through yoga, of speech through grammar and of the body through medicine. We have been discussing about the Samadhi as explained by Patanjali Rishi and we have dealt with the first part of the Samadhi which is called the lower Samadhi also and it consists of an object, first external objects, next the mind or the thought itself as the object, then the feeling, the experience of bliss or joy, that is the third type of object and the last type of object is the feeling I am, aham vritti it is called. All these have got one common factor and that is there is an object and unless we go beyond this object we would not be free from the transmigration or the way of being born and also of dying. This cycle of births and deaths can be overcome only when we are free from every object. Now the last part of it is I, that is also an object and every time we experience that, we feel that, how do we know, oh I did not do well, I have done very well. Every time we do something we ourselves are analysing and who is the analyser, ourself and who is the analysed, our own self. Now one example is if we do something wrong we feel guilty, who feels the guilt? It is the I and who is the person or being that tells yes you have done something wrong, you should not have done that. What does that mean? It means that I have not done anything. If I have done something good also, say oh you have done well, so there is something within each one of us which says either you have done well or you have not done well. So that second something which is the cause of our getting either credit or debit, either happiness or unhappiness, even that is an object. That had to be broken. So the next higher step is called a Sampragnata Samadhi, a Samadhi in which there is no object at all. How do we attain it? I mentioned last time it is something which we cannot attain. Why can it not be attained? For two reasons. One reason is if we have to attain something it must be different from us. So that which is already our own self there is no question of attaining it. The second reason is that because it is already there it need not be attained but all that we need to do is to remove the obstacles and be one's own self. So all spiritual practice is only to remove the obstacles and not to attain something. This is agreed by not only Vedanta, not only Sankhya, by every philosophy. I also mentioned incidentally something very wonderful. There is a law. Let me give an example. If there is an apple seed and you sow it, what does it become? Only an apple tree. It will not become anything else. Supposing it wants to become a mango tree, will it become? It will never succeed. So what is the law? We can only become what we really are and not what we wish to be. That is never possible. So that is what Swami Vivekananda said. Each soul is potentially divine. We are already that. How hard it is to believe that we are divine. How much divine? Little? No. 10%? 50%? 90%? 98%? 99%? 100%? Why? Because in divinity there is no degree. Then why is it we do not feel? We do feel a little bit. That is because the obstruction allows us to experience our own being only in a small way. Like light, you cover with a thick curtain, practically you don't get any light. As you start removing the curtain, then more and more light comes. So Patanjali is telling us how to attain to that highest state you cannot attain. This is where we have started but before we go there, again we have to remind ourselves of something very wonderful and it is this. First of all, there should be no object because object means duality. Duality means bondage, fear. Second point, the distinction between knowledge and knower. In our ordinary state of ignorance, and this is a state of ignorance, what is this state of ignorance? I am a Swami and you are the audience and you are also listening to me. This is sheer ignorance. If we understand true spirituality, there is no speaker, there is no listener, there is nothing of this relationship can ever exist. Now, usually what is ignorance? I know something, for example, I know Swami Vivekananda, I know Vedanta center, to whom does this knowledge belong? Does it belong to the self or does it belong to the mind? An object belongs to whom? An object always belongs to the mind only and mind is part of non-self, prakriti, therefore this idea of knowledge has to be removed from our mind, so we use the term self-knowledge. This person had attained self-knowledge, Swami Vivekananda attained self-knowledge, Sri Ramakrishna had seen God, we know that, we have discussed it, but still you know we have to remind ourselves that do not forget this, Sri Ramakrishna had seen God, had he seen God? He had not seen God, because God cannot be seen, God can only be become, he is already there, you don't become God, you realize you are God, God cannot be seen, God cannot be heard, because if a God can be seen, he is worse than us, why is he worse than us? Because a knower is always superior to the object which knows, who depends upon whom? Does the object depends upon the seer or the seer depends upon the object? I know these are a little bit confusing subjects, but I have to go through this in order to understand this 18th aphorism. Look here is a book and I am looking at the book, who is superior, the book or me? I can the book even maintain its existence, if I am not aware of it, whereas I can ignore it, but I can never ignore my own self, I am my own self, even whether I am in the waking state, whether I am in the dream state or even if I am in the dreamless deep sleep state, I am there, because what do I say, when you ask where were you, I would reply I was in deep sleep, that I cannot be eliminated, you were not in deep sleep, I were in deep sleep, what are you doing now? I am in the waking state and after some time I would be in a dream state, this constant change of state is happening, but in every state, the state is changing, but I am never changing, I am moving from one room to the other room, the room, the scenery is changing, but I am not changing, now what is the point I was making, let us not forget it, knowledge belongs to the object and every object is non-self, so one has to go beyond the knowledge, then you may say what is that state where there is no knowledge, where there is no distinction between the knower and the knowledge, that is called a state beyond knowledge, then what do you call, what do we call that state, what do we call that state? You cannot name it, every day we are singing, what are we singing, O Lord, you are beyond the mind and the speech, Namo, Namo Prabho, Vakya, Mana, Atitha, and yet without that no thinking possible, no speech possible, no action is ever possible, action is possible only when that source is there, Kali, the goddess, Hindu goddess is the most marvellous symbol ever invented by any being in this world, always Kali stands, Kali stands on what? On Brahman, Mahakala, time stands on timelessness, have you ever imagined, one day mother Kali will say okay, I stood upon my husband for a long time, he must be getting tired of me, let me step aside, where will she step? If you get out of time, where will you be? You will still be in time only, but this time you will not be in our idea of time, you will be in timelessness, these are abstract concepts, we will have to be familiar with them, what is the point, there is a kind of Samadhi which is called Asampradnath Samadhi and that Samadhi cannot be attained, need not be attained, cannot be attained because we have already, we are already that Samadhi, now here is also a very very deep confusing concept, what is it? Who is experiencing this ignorance, you say Swami that I am divine, can the divine ever know that it is non-divine, can God ever forget his godliness and say I am not God, then who is it that experiences I am not God, only non-God can experience, but is there anything besides God, there is none, then where from this non-God or Maya had arrived, where from did it come, this is one of the greatest mysteries no one can ask, no one can answer, we have to just take it for granted because once you know Swami Vivekananda was asked, how did the infinite become finite, what can, the moment we use the word finite, we are always assuming that there must be an infinite, you understand, if you say this is day, you are assuming there is a night, if you say this I am happy, if you assume happiness, who do you know this is a state of happiness, you must be simultaneously aware of a state of its opposite non-happiness, so if you say finite, you must be aware of infinite, now do you see how much we have to convince our intellect, now you say there is an infinite and there is a finiteness, is it not illogical to say you are at the same breath you are telling here is infinite and here is also finite, how either there is all finiteness or there is how many infinites can be there, so if there are two, is it infinite, no, that is why these concepts you cannot even imagine because in the realm of duality we are unfortunately bound, we cannot go, even intellectually we cannot go, yes, I can think of infinity, can you, if you are thinking infinity, then who are you, you are the infinite and if you are the infinite, can you think of infinite, it is an impossible thing, but for our practical purpose, what is necessary is this Samadhi, highest Samadhi without any object and since it is without any object, it is beyond knowledge and what is that state which is beyond knowledge, is it a state of ignorance because we know only two states, either it should be knowledge or it should be ignorance, but this is a state both beyond knowledge and ignorance, there actually that knowledge though humanly, our lower state we call it knowledge, self-knowledge, no, it is not self-knowledge, it is only self, there is no mind there, just be, I am, the wonderful things we read in the scriptures and we are not able to really understand them, for example, Moses, he goes, I think what is Mount Sinai, he climbs and he sees a burning bush and what is that burning bush, God and he asks, what is your name, I am that, I am, no other answer, I am just, how can I describe myself to you, it is impossible to do that, so if any person realises God, it is impossible, Sri Ramakrishna uses, this profound thought is behind every statement of his, but he uses very simple analogies or metaphors, once a salt doll and there was a salt doll which had many friends and this salt doll was revered as the greatest guru and the disciple dolls, salt dolls, they requested, Guruji, we are ignorant, we want to know what is the depth of the ocean and the so-called knowledgeable salt guru said, do not worry, I know everything, so I will just go down, I will measure the ocean, I will come back and I will tell you and it jumped into the ocean, this was what Sri Ramakrishna said, I am adding some spice to that, so being devoted disciples, he said, our guru is not coming, maybe something happened to him, let us also, let us find him out, so they also jumped and then they knew the depth, what is the depth, how much is depth, there is no depth, there is no ocean at all, when there is no ocean, how deep it is, who is going to ask, who is going to answer, that is why in Vedanta, there is only one method, you all know it, what is that method, neti, neti, not this, not this, this is the only method, is this Ramakrishna God, neti, not so, then Ramakrishna's mother, divine mother, is she God, neti, neti, no, then who is, you go on saying that, ultimately you become, what do you become, if you go on thinking I am not, I am not, what do you become, you also disappear and when you disappear, I know now what I am, that is what he is talking about in this Samadhi, let us come back, the point is we have to know the distinction between the knowledge and knowledge and we are frightened of it, we are frightened because first of all you lose company, good company, you find I am alone, what shall I do with myself and secondly it is your vase, but this is again human imagination because when we attain that state, it is the state of the very highest bliss, 18th aphorism says, Virama pratyaya abhyasa porvaha samskara sesaha anyaha, this is a very, one of the toughest aphorisms and I have to translate it and explain it, so the question is what is the means of attaining this highest Samadhi called Asampragnath Samadhi and what is its nature, what is its nature, it can never be described, but what is the point of attaining it if we cannot describe it because the result is marvellous, you go beyond all bondage, you become blissful, you attain Sat, Chit and Ananda, you will not know what is death, you will not know what is ignorance and you will never know what is pain or suffering, now the nearest analogy to understand this, what is there such a state which is beyond death, beyond death means beyond change, what is death, it is a change, now see how much we are frightened, we are not frightened about certain changes, but we are frightened about some other changes, even though all states are states of change only, human life goes through a minimum of six changes, let us find, birth is a change, what is the change, you were not there, suddenly you are there, one fine day, that is why you celebrate birthday, according to Vedanta you should never celebrate birthday, you know why, because every birthday you are becoming older and older, that is why how old are you, even a baby, how old is the baby, we go on asking ourselves that question, so parents are happy, a baby is also happy, I hope happy, I don't know, because when I was a baby I never knew whether I ever wanted to be born, but helplessly I have come and then playing, growing, every day we are changing, are we frightened, you know, if I ask you one simple question, very practical question, mind you, we are not discussing anything only merely theoretical, did you change from yesterday, did you change from today morning, did you change one minute before, before you entered into this, now you got a new knowledge, after entering into this auditorium, after listening to my talk, you have got a great knowledge, what is that knowledge, before coming here you were very certain of your knowledge, now you are no longer so certain about your knowledge, you previously you thought I am very certain, now you are confused, what is this Swami talking about, what little I know, that is also he has upset us, so there is a change, did it cause fear in you, it did not cause, so becoming changeful, youth, becoming youth, we are all eager to become, but after youth we are all frightened, we never want to remain youthful, they say one day you go there, very happy person, you go to bed very happy and you get up, go to the bathroom and look yourself and there is one streak of grey hair, so we never want, we are frightened of old age, jara it is called and we are frightened of death, we don't want to die, why are you not afraid to be born, why are you not afraid to become a youth, an adolescent, a youth, but after that you are frightened, then you know when you are in youth you are in the very prime of energy, memory, ambition and the capacity to enjoy, but what happens when old age comes? The ability to enjoy gets reduced and you go on not understanding that, you go on blaming your wife, previously your cooking was so good, now it is not so tasty, the trouble is not with your wife's cooking, she improved much more, but the trouble is your organ of enjoying taste is becoming duller and duller, this is what happened, this is what, I am not saying this, this is what Nachiketa said to Yamadharma Raja, Yamadharma Raja to test him as offered all the enjoyable things in the world and Nachiketa being a wise man he replies all these enjoyments they wear off the capacity of happiness, because the more we are dependent upon anything other than ourselves it wears us off, keep your own self and how long can we enjoy even if your organs are in the prime, how long can you enjoy, there is always the sword, sword of Damocles hanging, so what is that sword, death, constant fear of death, now interesting question, you know how much we are unaware of all these things, are you frightened of death now, are you thinking of death, are we thinking of death now, no, we think maybe it will come, for two reasons it is very foolish type of behaviour, according to Sri Ramakrishna the sword of death is always running behind us, what does that mean, that means death can come any second, anywhere, in any condition, you may be in the prime of health, example is I think 2-3 months back one young lady who was to be Olympic swimmer if you remember, she went, had a good swim, came back, enjoyed her food and then she never got up again from the bed and everyone was shocked and say in the prime of youth, death doesn't respect, you don't know what is the cause, we give some cause, there is a cancer, accident or some aeroplane crash, earthquake, etc., etc., according to Vedanta that is not the real cause, the real cause is we all come into this world by our very birth with an expiry date, shelf life, we all have shelf life, don't forget it, who fixes it, our own past life, nobody else is sitting there, the greatness of Vedanta is it doesn't say there is a God sitting high in the heavens and he fixes arbitrarily and how long one person lives, how long the other person, no, it is all fixed by the law of karma, then what is the role of God, the role of God is, he is like a hard disk, he is like a hard disk, all these things are recorded, this person has done so much of job, that's all, anyway, coming back to our subject which is very important, God cannot be seen or heard or experienced, there is no need, we are already that, then how do we attain it, yes, because we have not attained it, we have to attain it, you can never practice asampragnatha samadhi, then what can you do, you can remove the obstacles, so let us see virama, virama means you know in Sanskrit, virama means cessation, cessation of all mental modifications, pratyaya means the cause, cause, the reason, the way, how to make all the mental thoughts cease, what is the cause of mental thoughts, ideas etc., how do they cease, there is only one way and that is called para-vairagya, intense dispassion, such a marvellous idea, what is that idea, you know, every day we see thousands of things, maybe millions of things, from morning till evening, how many cars, how many birds, how many trees, how many people, how many dresses, millions of things, we cannot count, how many things do we remember, how many things do we really remember, only few things and why is it that we do not remember, because we have absolutely no interest in them, but if there is something in which we are interested, we will remember, what is the point we are making here, if we have intense dispassion, to the extent we have a dispassion, to that extent, that object will not come, even in memory, even if we see it, it won't interest us, if we are not interested, a thought will not be retained, if the thought is not there, it will not come out as a memory, memory always depends upon, you remember things when they have affected you and what are those things which affect you, only that in which you are interested and what are the things that interest you, there are only two, either they lead to intense pain or they lead you to intense pleasure, my favourite example, how to develop memory, because we are all having memories, good memories, we don't lack the slightest power of memory, it is what type of memory, a person says old age, oh I am an old person, I don't remember so many things, but what about when you were a child, do you remember what, oh, crystal clear, the whole scenario comes with whom I fought, how I punched his nose, etc., etc., as we grow older, the recent memories fade away and the old time memories come back, always like that, so a young man comes to me and then he tells me, Swami, my memory is very bad, and why is it so bad, in what way, I read so much and when I enter into the examination hall, I forget everything, how to improve the memory, so I talk this and that and then I suddenly ask, with a purpose, say you know that 10 years back, that fellow who scored 120 runs, immediately the 14, that cricketer's 14 generations history, he will just recite like that, what a memory, there is nothing wrong with the memory, or if someone had insulted, somebody hurt, even 50 years back, you don't forget, you see, the memory is as though etched there, so there is nothing wrong with memory, what is wrong, lack of interest and I said, what did I say, interest is aroused only for 2 causes, either it brings you intense pleasure or it brings you intense pain, memory remains, so if we do not have any interest, then it neither brings pleasure nor brings pain, this is what Patanjali is talking about, practice intense dispassion and how can we practice intense dispassion? Because look back and say, in this whole life, forget about previous lives because we don't even remember what previous lives are there, but they are there, we don't remember, just because we don't remember, do not say, they do not exist and it's not necessary to remember them because it will be too much of burden on our poor, puny brains. Now what is in this life itself, how many, if you ask honestly yourself the question, how much time, time wise, measurement wise, time measurement wise, how much time did you really enjoy your life, how much time did you feel the pain in life and how much time has passed, neither pleasure nor pain, it's a most important question in life, then what would be the answer, let me first quote, once I think it was Bernard Shaw, Bernard Shaw, a lifetime of happiness unbearable, I didn't understand when I read that, everyone wants to be happy, a lifetime of happiness, it is too much to bear he said and then I think you recall, you must have recalling his photograph, does he look a happy man, Bernard Shaw, does he look a happy man, not at all, sunken cheeks and all those tall and sunken, genius, but what is the point I am making here, very important point, he said if I count my happiness in my whole life, it is only just few hours duration, but the amount of pain we have gone through, but Maha Maya, we forget how much we are going and then how much time has passed is neither painful nor pleasurable, another question, from the time you started going to school, that includes me also, all of us, only I am using the word you, from the time you started going to school until this moment, from morning till evening, what are you doing, work, work, work, work, it is only how many moments of pleasure you have, you get married and after that do you go to office or not and if you don't go to office, even that little happiness also will disappear, I should not say that, it is that which makes you really happy, otherwise 24 hours going still looking at each other's face, you get bored, anyway what is the point, how much time just goes to make a little bit of happiness possible, you have to slog like you know morning till evening, I don't want to use the word and ultimately you get a little bit of money, with that you have a house, with that you have some nice food, whatever and then also you can't enjoy all the time and then when the children come, what are children called in English language, bundles of joy, for whom, they are bundles of joy, no doubt about it, because someone else is taking all the burden but what about the parents, the truth is there is some joy, no, it is wrong to say there is no joy, there is some pleasure, some joy, some happiness is there but how much is the payment for that little type of joy, that's why one day after so many births, so many millions and millions of births, we evolve, tell me what is the evolution from now onwards, from the, according to the science, biological evolution, a small creature with the least amount of complexity in both brain and body, it goes on evolving or according to Hinduism, how many, Churashi, lak janma, then he attains human being and how many, how many lives we are remaining as human beings going through this rigmarole of pain and pleasure and then being born and growing up and dying and all those things, I shudder to think, suppose I am reborn, again I have to go to school, again I have to come to the Ram Krishna mission, again my senior swamis go on treating, hey you fellow come here, message my feet and all those things, my God, I shudder to think about it and you also have to think, again I have to be reborn as a devotee, again I have to attend this Raja Yoga class, if you don't want to attend, there is a way, that is develop intense dispassion and know who you are and there will be, until you get that knowledge through intuition, through intuition, you will have to go through this tuition, so what is the way, develop intense dispassion, so he says, virama means cessation, pratyaya means cause, the cause of developing cessation of any type of thought, abhyasa means repeated practice, accompanied by repeated practice, that is called asampragnath samadhi and Patanjali doesn't name it in that way, but he says anyaha, the other samadhi, what was the previous samadhi, lower samadhi, naturally what is the other than the lower samadhi, higher samadhi, how is it to be accomplished, by the development of intense dispassion and meditation is the way for it, so what is meditation, I would like to discuss briefly about meditation, we use the word meditation, we practice meditation, we read books about meditation, do you know what is meditation, first of all, you know it, only I am putting it in an easily understandable terminology, you know what is meditation, it is like taking one big thorn and removing many many smaller thorns, that is to say, take up one important thought and focus on that thought and with the help of the focus on that thought and so long as our focus concentration is on that thought, then the other thoughts will not arise, ultimately there should be no thoughts excepting one thought, what happens to that one thought when it has finished the mission of removing every other thought because its very purpose in life is to remove the other thoughts, when there are no other thoughts what does it become, very simple logic is supposing you have a tool, say an iron tool and you are using it for doing some jobs and all the jobs are finished and that tool is laying down, you know what happens after some time, it develops rust and then after that it breaks down, is an analogy, similarly when there are no other thoughts to be removed, that thought with the help of which you are able to remove every other thought, what happens to it, automatically it falls away because it is useless at that stage, then what happens, nobody can tell, nobody can describe, one can only experience but one cannot describe about it, so what is the important point we are discussing, there is the highest type of Samadhi, it is called Asampragnatha Samadhi which means it is a Samadhi or Samadhi means cessation of every mental modification which means cessation of the mind itself, when there is no mind then who remains, according to Vedanta, according to Sankhya, let me briefly discuss, according to Patanjali which we are discussing for the last so many classes, this is the 29th class, there are two realities according to Patanjali, one is called pure consciousness called Purusha, another is called non-consciousness called Prakruti, so what is the problem, somehow these two come together, then the Prakruti thinks non-self thinks I am the self and the self thinks I am the non-self, that is the cause of bondage, now through the practice of yoga what happens, the self remains as self and it is the non-self which was behaving all this time as if it were the self, it thinks I am in bondage and then I will practice yoga, I have attained the highest state of yoga and I have become liberated, really nothing is happening because it is all an imagination, that is why it is called illusion, a non-existing thing, we think it is existing, again I will give an example, you go to bed, you have a dream, in the dream somehow you have been dragged into a jail and you have been thrown into a dungeon and you are suffering intensely and you are aware I am a quite a good person, I haven't done anything wrong, why was I unnecessarily, irrationally, unreasonably brought into this dungeon and thrown mercilessly, then of course you know you phone some people or you get some lawyers whatever it is and then after some great effort, so much of pain and expenditure of time, money, energy you are, the judge says you are released and then you wake up, this is the analogy, what happened now, so long as you are dreaming, were you in the dungeon or were you on the bed all the time and yet in your mind everything is real, if you understand this analogy then you will understand what Patanjali wants us to tell, who is in bondage, it is the non-self assuming that it is the self, who practices this yoga, it is the non-self which is called mind and what is it, which is it that feels I am now free, it becomes, it says when, here is something very wonderful but very subtle, after attaining Asampragnata Samadhi the mind, I am free, I am free, is that freedom, freedom or is it also part of the mind, this is the point I was labouring to tell you all the time, does the self feel that I am free, why? Because it was never in bondage, it will never feel, it cannot feel, there is no need to feel, it was I am alright, but somehow for some reason something happens, we don't know why, how, but there is also a way out of it, what a mind boggling thought, Swami all your lectures are only imaginary, yes, they are all imaginary, but your attendance is also imaginary only, morning I told a nice joke, most of you are not here, I am repeating it, there was a Vedantic teacher, he was in a forest and so many disciples, they were all gaga looking, adoring and the teaching was everything is Maya, this world is Maya, I am teaching you is Maya and you are listening is Maya, so do not be deluded, suddenly as he was teaching us, a ferocious tiger jumped into their midst and the guru was the first person to run away, after some time the tiger went away, then the guru, disciples, all of them gathered, then the guru started about to resume his teaching, then the disciples said, we have a doubt, just now you were teaching, everything is illusion and why did you run away, when the tiger came, he said, you dunder heads, you don't understand what I have been teaching you, again I am telling you, everything is illusion, my teaching you is an illusion, your seeing the tiger is an illusion, your seeing me run away also is an illusion, do you understand now, is that the truth or is it a joke, according to Vedanta, that is the truth, but we can never understand it in this stage, so in this highest Samadhi, it is an objectless Samadhi, you cannot practice it, but you can be, you are already that, just remove the ignorance and that ignorance can be removed only by intense dispassion, that is all that can be told about this Samadhi, but I will add only two things, one thing is whatever we have been discussing, it is absolute truth, it is the Vedantic truth, whether you are Christian, non-Christian, it doesn't matter, it has nothing to do with religion, truth is truth, but at this stage of our understanding, we cannot understand it is the truth, so we have doubts, we are bound, that is a truth, we have to practice spiritual disciplines, that is a truth and we feel we are going to be released, that is a truth, we must have faith in these teachings, that is a truth and ultimately when we attain to that state, what happens, we do not know, until we attain that state, our bondage is real, our spiritual practice is also real, our spiritual progress is also real and our feeling that I am going to attain soon, God Realization is also real, but let us not worry, I am only talking theoretical part of it. Now, if we do not have that highest dispassion, intensest dispassion, what happens? The next aphorism says, it is a beautiful aphorism says, Bhava Pratyaya Pideha Prakruti Layana, this idea is if we do not have that intense dispassion, the mind had attained to such a high degree of concentration already, you must remember the lower Samadhi is already achieved and we are talking about the highest type of Samadhi, so with that intense focus of our mind on an object and on the most subtlest of object, then what happens, if our body drops off without attaining this intense dispassion and our own nature, we attain to that state about which or where our mind is stuck, our mind is stuck. So, we will discuss these points later on, but suppose someone is thinking, I will go to heaven at that point and there is also something very very crucial for us to understand, I am talking about heaven, I am talking about hell, how many of us really believe that there is a heaven and there is a hell? We do not believe, we do not have that Shraddha, that faith, intense faith, because if we have that faith, if we have that faith, when you know there is something, there is a place, there is a state which gives us a million-fold happiness and without going through all these troubles, do you think we will be sitting here? Similarly, the opposite also, Ramakrishna again reminds, if we truly understand, we know it, but we do not understand, there are two types of understandings, knowing understanding, knowing non-understanding. What is knowing understanding? Death is a constant fact, is a known thing, is it not? We know that, but do we really understand it? Let me give you an example, suppose suddenly we all come to know, especially me, that there is a time bomb ticking, in ten seconds it is going to go off, whom will you see first running away? You see, I discover that time bomb and I inform you about it, I am asking you the question, from where do you think I will be informing about that? I discover it, from where do you think? First I will jump out, open the door and say you get out, there is a bomb there. If we are really feeling that death can come any moment, and is it an imagination that death can come any moment? Do we know death can come at any time? That's why the fourth commandment of Ramakrishna, what is it? Anything can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time, in any way. Anything can happen to anyone, at any place, at any time, in any way. This is what is happening, people just go about and they are dying, they are having accidents, they are losing limbs, anything can happen, good also can happen, one person may win a lottery ticket, another person may die, we don't know, this is not imagination, this is a statement of fact, and Maya is a statement of fact, but contradiction, Swamiji gives two definitions of Maya, most marvelous I tell you, two definitions of Maya. What is the first statement? Maya is a statement of fact. What is the second statement? Maya is of the nature of contradiction. What does that mean? That means Maya is a statement of fact, what is the statement of fact? Death is a statement of fact. What is the contradiction? We know it, yet we behave as though it is not true. Even though it is a fact, we behave as though it is not. If we really know it and really understand it, what is the sign that we understand a thing properly? What is the proof that we understand something properly? Do you know what is it? Immediate action, reaction. If we know something, immediate reaction will be there. If you know there is a time bomb, you will have reaction. If you think that there is something very nice there, immediately there will be a transformation. If we know it and yet no transformation, that means it is unfortunately, it is an intellectual knowledge, but not transformative knowledge. That is why Vedanta makes a very special type of statement, which we will come, but in this class I will give you just that example and close it. If we have to really attain intense dispassion, one of the first steps to it, it will immediately, we will come to the next verse, that Shraddha, we will be possessing of Shraddha. Shraddha means intense faith. Now, what is the difference between faith and belief? We all use, I have faith, synonymously we use as a belief, I believe in God, I believe in holy people, etc., etc. What is the difference between belief and faith? We discussed it quite a number of times. That which does not transform our character is called belief and that which transforms our character, that is called faith. This is the first difference. Second difference is, it is we control belief, whereas faith controls, like a madman. Have you seen, that is a very good example. There is a person, he says, someone is prosecuting me, just sitting here itself. One person says, this person is, what is it, persecuting me for the last 32 years. The lady herself, her age itself may be 36, 37 years old. And she says, this man is, just she saw this man only few times here. But you try to reason her out. No, she won't listen. Why? Something is possessive. This is called obsession. Psychologists know it very well, obsession. So, that controls it. As an example, when a person is endowed with Shraddha, he believes in the scripture, he believes in his or her Guru, teacher. And what does the teacher say? You are potentially divine. And this is the way to manifest your divinity and he will sit and he will do it. The greatest recent examples of this is Shri Ramakrishna himself. He is an embodiment of Shraddha. That's why you can never deviate him. Why? Because he is not controlling. He is being controlled by God. So, he says, I don't know anything. This is very interesting. Someone asks her, how did you do so much spiritual practice? She says, I did not practice. Something possessed me and it made me go through all these disciplines for 12 long years and she doesn't allow me to do what I want to do. What he meant? Whom did he mean? Divine Mother, Shraddha, intense faith, Divine Mother, knowledge. These are all synonymous terms. Perhaps we will discuss in our next classes.