Mandukya Karika Lecture 094 on 15 March 2023

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Adapadmetayo Shritva Pranamami Mohor Mohoho Om Bhadram Karne Vishrunayamadevaha Bhadram Pashyam Aakshabhirya Jatraaha Sthirai Rangai Stushtu Vagam Sastanubhi Yashemadevahi Tanyadayoh Swasthina Indro Vridhashravaha Swasthina Osha Vishwa Vedaha Swasthina Starksho Arishtanime Swasthina Om Brihaspatir Dadhato Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om Om Oh Gods, may we always hear with our ears what is auspicious. Oh worshipful ones, may we with our eyes always see what is auspicious. May we live our allotted life, whole 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 all of us. May Garuda, the destroyer of all evil, be well disposed towards all of us. May Brihaspati ensure all our welfare. Om Peace Peace Peace be unto all We are studying the second chapter of the Mandukya Karika. Mandukya Upanishad only contains twelve mantras. But Gaudapada had not only written commentary on the twelve mantras, which we find in the first chapter called Agama Prakaranam, but he has written three more chapters. The second chapter is aptly called Vaithathya, means the unreality or temporariness of the world in which we are living. That includes body, mind, our thoughts, our life, as well as the external world, including the waking state, dream state, and dreamless state. But Gaudapada wants us to remind us that the real state, that is my nature. When we say my doesn't mean anybody is excluded. It means only one. There is only one Atma appearing like if there are hundred mirrors in anybody's room, we see hundred images. So all this manifoldness is nothing but a reflection of the Atman in the mirror of body, mind complex, infinite. That's why we use the word I. What is my real nature? This is, he summarized it in this 32nd Karika. Na nirodhaha na ca utpatti, na ca paddhaha, na ca sadhakaha, namo mukshuhu navai muktaha, ityesha paramarthata. What is Gaudapada saying? Na nirodhaha na utpatti, there is no birth of a Jeeva. Na nirodhaha, there is no death of a Jeeva. Na paddhaha, nobody is bound. Na ca sadhakaha, nobody is a sadhaka. Namo mukshuhu, there is nobody who is seeking liberation. Navai muktaha, there is no one who is liberated. This is the ultimate truth, yesha paramarthata. We have discussed it. Remember only one point. This is the experience of a Atma Sakshatkara Purusha, a God-realized soul in that state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. But put it in human language, that is where the confusion will come. So I should not say, you should not say that I am not bound. I don't want to do any sadhana. No, every work, every action we are doing is only a sadhana. And every sadhana is only for one purpose. I am bound. I am limited. I am not fulfilled. I have lots of desires. I want to get rid of all desires. So I try and slowly I understand some desires are fulfilled. Some are not fulfilled. Some are partially fulfilled. But what is the truth? When I wake up to my real nature, that there is no other. There is no world. There are no objects. When there are no objects, there will be no desires. And when I am myself, I am sat. I am chit. I am parama ananda swaroopa. That is the highest realization described here. But so long as we are here in this world, I am separate. You are separate. The world is separate. Billions of objects are there. And we have to accept it. But we have to remember, this is what the scripture is telling. There is only one reality. And if you take the example of sahasranama, sahasrasirsah purushah, sahasrakshah, sahasrapah, sabhumim vishwato vrittva, atyatishtat tashangulam. That one supreme reality in the form of saguna brahma is manifesting himself like the examples given that one clay is manifesting in the form of any number of pots. We cannot put any limit. But all the pots, when they are squeezed or broken or destroyed, destruction of nama, roopa, guna, separatedness will go. Then no pot will say, I am this clay. And another pot says, I am that clay. No, clay is one. And that is the goal we have to remember. This idea is beautifully expressed in the 33rd karika. bhavaihi asabhih eva ayam advayena chikalpitaha bhavaha api advayena eva tasmat advayata shiva Anybody who understands reality is one, not many, that is the highest bliss. Shiva means auspiciousness that brings us, that frees us from three desires. May I not die. May I not be unconscious. May I not be suffering. asato ma sadgamaya tamaso ma jyotirga maya mrutyor ma amrutanga maya So only I want, I know I am sat, I know I am chit, I know I am ananda swaroopa. But what is it, all this I see just like one vekar. When this vekar enters into that special maya loka, kalpita loka, imaginary world, called the dream world, he imagines billions of things, just like we see billions of things in this waking state. We have discussed it collaboratively, the waking world is just like the dream world. What is the dream world? My own imagination. What is the waking world? My own imagination. So who am I? I am the atma. As if atman, brahman is imagining as this vekar, as the dreamer, as the sleeper. But he is only manifesting in three states and every state is a limitation. The unlimited is what we call puriyam, advaitam, advitiyam, that is brahman. That is what in this 33rd karika, asadbhih bhavay eva ayam cha advayena kalpita. This, the atman is imagined both as unreal objects that are perceived and also as the non-duality in the form of the subject. So in this world, this is our experience. I am seeing, I am hearing, I am smelling, I am tasting, I am touching. And I am in the waking state, I am in the dream state, I am in the deep sleep state. I am is unchanging, but what I am experiencing, the waking, dream, dreamless and billions of objects, that is all creations of my own mind. But when I withdraw myself in samadhi, then as if the external world is dissolved, the dream world is dissolved, the sleep world is dissolved and what remains is only one. In fact, this is what happens in our deep sleep state, the subject and object division. That is the most important point in this 33rd karika. Both these become one. Look at the fun. I want a sweet. I want a fragrant flower. I want to listen to beautiful, very sweet sounding music. I want to see beautiful objects and I want to touch. That is, the climate should be neither hot nor cold, very comfortable, which would not remind me that I am my body and that is the condition. So, if there is an outside object, it creates a desire and desires may be fulfilled, may not be fulfilled, which results in either happiness or unhappiness. But when I become one, all the imagined happiness that belongs to all the objects, it becomes me. That is why the deep sleep state is such a happy state because there is no duality at all. This is what is meant that this Atman is imagined by whom? By our mind that I am the Atman, I am also all the objects, I am the subject, I am the object. I am the object. Look at this fun. I am the waker and I am all the waking world. I am the dreamer. I am also the dream world. I am the sleeper. I am also the sleeping world, avidya. So, all these are becoming indistinguishable advaita. I become everything. Therefore, what remains to be desired because a desired object is always distinct and it is at a distance and I want to become one with it. Now just imagine for the sake of understanding, I desire a sweet and the sweet is separate from me. What is the desire? Desire is to make that sweet one with me. How do I do that? By eating it up. Once I eat, the sweet becomes me. Once I smell, the fragrance becomes me. Once I touch, it becomes me. Once I hear, it becomes me. So, all the five sense organs and the desires are fulfilled. That means I destroy the objectivity. I become one with that object and what is that state? Advaita state. So, a desire is to become, to remain one and the obstruction is the objects and by making that object one with me, by removing that division between subject and object, I am attaining to my own real true state and I am becoming what we call Brahman. Therefore, whatever is we are experiencing in all the three states is experienced by that Advayam only. This is what Gaudapada is telling. But I will substitute the word Advaya as awareness. I am aware, therefore I am aware of the waking world. I am aware, therefore I am aware of the dream world. I am aware of my deep sleep state, Sushupti and therefore I experience it in the form of Ananda. Just remember, minus that awareness, there is no waking, dream, dreamless state. Therefore, who creates this division? That awareness. That awareness is called Chaitanyam. That awareness is called Jnanam. That awareness is called Atman. That awareness is called Brahman. Whatever name you want to say, this is here. Gaudapada uses the word Advayena. Advayena means this pure awareness. It imagines. What does it imagine? So all these bhavas. What do you mean by bhava? I told you Gaudapada could have used simple words but he confuses. Here bhava means objects. Objects means objective world. So waking is an objective world. Dream is an objective world. Sleep is also an objective world. Don't forget it. Only Turiyam is objectless world. So you may get doubt. I discussed it threadbare. Even when we are in deep sleep state, I am aware that I am experiencing the indescribable, that state that is called Avidya or the world of Karana, Karana Prapancha. Through Karana Sharira, I am experiencing Karana Prapancha which is called Sushupti. So there also there is a very subtle division but the division is so subtle that it seems as if the body is gone, the mind is not gone. They are in the form of the Karana, that is bija, seed form. How do we know? As soon as I wake up, immediately like Brahma waking up and manifesting the world, we are the Brahmas, we manifest our waking state, then after sometime dream state, after sometime deep sleep state and I am the Brahma creating the waking dream, dreamless and I know that I am the creator indirectly. Now our business is to realize that fact directly. That is why everything is created, what is called imagined to be. Why do we say imagined kalpita? Because if something is real, that is not imagination. So I am imagining there is a snake. Really there is no snake but there can be also real snake. That classical example you have to remember, in semi-darkness and I am frightened of snakes and I see a snake there. So we empty number of times we heard this example being given, immediately even before I explain, open my mouth to explain further, immediately, oh Swami is going to tell if there is no snake. But how do you know that there is no snake? Maybe a snake is also there, maybe somebody has taken away that rope and then a snake comes, occupies its place, oh I have seen this rope in the daytime and now it is appearing as a snake and you go near and then to hang yourself maybe and the snake definitely will assist you in doing what you want to accomplish. So what I am trying to tell you, everything is nothing but your imagination is different from reality. Reality will remain reality whether in darkness, semi-darkness, full light. Imagination will be an imagination whether it is in full light, semi-light or complete dark light, that is the difference. So but what is that, who is that imaginer? Pure Consciousness, that is what I said, this is what we call Awareness, that is the key. You can call it knowledge, the waking experience is knowledge, a dream experience is knowledge and the sleeping experience is also knowledge, the whole world is nothing but knowledge. That is what we need to understand it. So this Atman is imagined by whom? By the mind endowed with awareness, both as unreal objects that are perceived and as the non-duality. The objects, that is bhavas, are imagined in the non-duality itself, therefore what is the truth? That Atman, Pure Consciousness in the form of what we call Awareness is the only reality. Awareness, Awareness, Awareness, Chaitanyam, Chaitanyam, Chaitanyam. This is the special teaching of Zen Buddhism. So one disciple approached, how can I progress? Be aware and he said, please explain, what do you mean by be aware? He said be aware means to be aware. The disciple did not understand, you please explain further and patiently the master explained, be aware means you be aware, means you be aware. If the disciple understood, blessed is he. If he has not understood, blessed is the Guru because the fellow will never come back again. Everything is Pure Consciousness. Minus Consciousness, nothing is there and that is what is continued. Then we will continue. So what Gaudapada through many reasonings wants to convey, just as upon waking we know the dream state as my imagination, there is another state called awakened state. When we awake to that state, we understand I am the Atman. This so called waking state is also nothing but your imagination. This is the methodology of Gnanam. Not only Gnanam, it helps in Bhakti also. What is Bhakti? Very interesting. Swami Vivekananda had given beautiful talks on Bhakti and in that Bhakti Yoga, he says, there are Bhakti, path of Bhakti can be divided into two stages. The, what is called preliminary sadhanas, which are the rituals, japa, etc. This is called Gauna Bhakti, Vaidhi Bhakti, Karmika Bhakti, but the higher state is called Para Bhakti. And he says, what is Bhakti? Bhakti is knowledge. What is the knowledge? That I belong to God. So what does the Gnani say? He has knowledge. What does he say? God is myself. What does the Bhakta say? What does the Gnani say? God belongs to me. What does the Bhakta say? I belong to God. Whether I say God belongs to me or I say I belong to God, the end result is exactly the same. We have a saying in Telugu, whether the sharp knife falls on a pumpkin or pumpkin falls on a sharp knife, the end result is the pumpkin gets destroyed. And who are we? We are all the pumpkins, nothing but pure pumpkins. So Sri Ramakrishna, we are discussing how profound he is explaining in simple words what Gaudapada is struggling, confusing with so many words. Sri Ramakrishna says, I accept all, but for my part, I accept everything, Turiya, and also the three states of waking, dream, and deep sleep. I accept all the three. Then it may confuse. What does he mean? So very simple. When I am in the state of Samadhi, there is nobody to explain, there is nobody to understand. There is no teacher, there is no student. But when I am not in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, in what Samadhi I am? Vikalpa Samadhi. That means this waking world. Then what do I say? That I myself have become the waking world, dream world, deep sleep world. But what is the difference? Now in this state of ignorance, I, you, anybody, we all think I am separate, everything else is separate. But what Sri Ramakrishna is explaining, if the words, scriptures are explaining, what do they explain? That when I am in that state, where I do not see anything, that means there is no body, there is no mind, then I am Brahman, and it is inexpressible. But when, if the person becomes Jeevan Mukta, by God's will, then he sees everything as only Brahman. That is what Sri Ramakrishna is telling, that whether I open my eyes, I close my eyes, I am Brahman. I open my eyes, I see Brahman everywhere. That is what he says, I accept all the three states. I accept all, Brahman and also Maya. What is Maya? What is Maya? These three states. Waking state, another name for waking state is Maya, another name for dream state is Maya, another name for deep sleep state is Maya. And so the universe and its living beings. If I accepted less, I should not get the full weight. What does it mean? It means, if I say this world is Mithya, my knowledge is Mithya. If I have correct knowledge, everything is Brahman. Because if I open my eyes, it is nothing but Brahman. Then why do I see the universe? It is not that I see the universe, the mind sees the universe. Through the prism of time, space and causation, I will be seeing the same Brahman and through the prism of the mind, it appears as I am separate and the world is separate. I am separate, all the three states are separate. That is what Sri Ramakrishna categorically says, the Nithya and the Leela belong to the same reality. So Sri Ramakrishna continues, a mere Jnani regards everything as illusory like a dream, but the Bhaktas and thereby indirectly he is telling, a Bhakta is far superior because a Bhakta knows God is only one, Narayana is only one, Shiva is only one. But he wants to enjoy Leela and so he gives a very funny example that in the case of a Jnani, the milk flows only in driblets. What is this? Jagan Mithya, Jagan Mithya, Jagan Mithya. Only Brahma Satyam, Brahma Satyam. It is like a driblet. Nobody understands, nobody is satisfied. But a superior devotee of God accepts both the absolute and the relative because even this division is absolute and relative is only a division made by the mind. Therefore, a Bhakta is able to enjoy the divine even when his mind comes down. And so he gives the example of a cow that a devotee, he eats anything and everything and gives torrents of milk. A Jnani eats only very selected amount of food, very little. Why does he eat very little? Not because little food is available, because he cannot digest and therefore only dry thing comes out of his mind. So that is why this Mahima Chakravarti being what he is, he doesn't have any Mahima and that's why he says that the cow which gives a lot of milk, that milk smells a little bit. And then Sri Ramakrishna says, but there will be no smell whatever if you boil the milk over the fire of knowledge. So Sarvam Karma Akhilam Jnane Pari Samapyate. Marvelous words. That is a Bhakta is one who has a true knowledge. Therefore his experience doesn't smell. If at all it smells, it smells marvelously. It will just like vanilla perfume, it will attract you. So he is giving this one and Sri Ramakrishna is explaining this further by another story. Just look at marvelous stories. All of you I am sure have read it, but to bring them together at the appropriate place is great grace of God. This is the illustration of Sri Ramakrishna through the story of Vyasadeva helping Gopis cross Yamuna river. Sri Ramakrishna continues. He was a wonderful storyteller. Swami Vivekananda was also like that. Once Vyasadeva was about to cross the Yamuna. The Gopis also were there. They wanted to go to the other side of the river to sell curd, milk and cream. But there was no ferry at that time. They were all worried about how to cross the river. When Vyasa said to them, I am very hungry. The milkmaids fed him with milk and cream. He finished almost all their food. I will come to the funny side. Then Vyasa said to the river, prayed, O Yamuna, if I have not eaten anything, then your waters will part and we shall walk through. And so it happened. The river parted and a pathway was formed between the waters. Following that path, the Gopis and Vyasa crossed the river. Vyasa had said, if I have not eaten anything, that means the real man, the real eater is pure Atman. Atman is unattached and beyond Prakruti. It has neither hunger nor thirst. It knows neither birth nor death. It doesn't age nor does it die. It is immutable as Mount Sumeru. Now this story comes a few more times in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, but there is a problem here. I have, at least I have a problem with this story. First of all, the Gopis, they had full pots of milk, curds, butter, ghee, etc. or maybe sweets also. I can imagine. And they were all about to cross. For what purpose? To sell. That is what Sri Ramakrishna says. Now the Yamuna river is in full spate and there was no ferry. So they were wondering how to go and sell. And then Vyasa also happened to be there and he wanted also to cross. And he said, I can help you cross. So but the payment is, you give all your materials you are about to sell, free of course, because I have no money. And what type of person? He was like Swami Trigunathi Thananda. He could eat 14 persons food and he has finished practically everything. Now here is where I have the problem. If all the materials were completely gone, what for do the Gopikas want to cross the river? I don't know. If you can solve the problem, you can help me. It is completely useless. And what is the second point? If this Vyasa, who was supposed to be a God-realized soul, he says, I don't eat. If a person who says, I don't eat or I eat very little, finished the whole lot, then what about a person who could say, I could eat a lot? You can imagine, in those days people would. But what was Sri Ramakrishna telling? That every sadhaka should say, I am not eating, I am feeding, I am offering to the Divine Lord in the form of Vaishvanara Agni, who is God-manifest inside the body of everybody. So this Vyasa, he was a man of realization. What was it? Sri Ramakrishna is explaining. I have not eaten anything. Who ate? Then the body has eaten and the Vaishvanara was satisfied. I have nothing to do with it because I am the Atman. Atman doesn't have a body. Where there is no body, there is no hunger, there is no need of any food. We have to understand. He was a perfect Jnani and he was one of the greatest devotees, you have to understand. How do we know? Because through his Jnana, he did not understand anything. But he was not having peace of mind and he has written this Mahabharata and so many other things. And then Narada Rishi comes and then Vyasa asks him humbly, I have written so many books, but I don't have peace of mind. What shall I do? Then Narada Rishi said, you will not get peace of mind by following the path of Jnanam. You will get only peace of mind by worshipping the feet of the Divine Lord as it so happened in the case of the 64,000 Rishis who met Sri Ramachandra in Dandakaranya. Jnana, the path of Jnanam is completely dry. Don't even turn that way. But you can walk a little bit and then come back quickly to the path of Bhakti. Because if I tell you 100 times, you will not believe. And you go on telling Jaganmithya, Jaganmithya and until what time? Until breakfast time, until lunch time and until dinner time. After that, you have to become the greatest devotee. Oh God, please descend onto me in the form of Idli, Dosa, in the form of in the form of first class lunch, in the form of first class dinner. The path of devotee starts with Anandam, increases in Anandam, ends in Anandam. That is why the Rishis had taken shelter. They were reborn as Gopis. And what I am telling is perfect truth. But a true Jnani is only a Bhakta in another form. Let us not forget about it. He will have Bhakti, but he will call that Paramatma as my Guru. That's all. And Sri Ramakrishna is continuing to Mahima because Mahima was a devotee who used to have one stringed instrument and then he used to say Soham, Soham or Aham Brahmasmi like that. Om, Om, Om like that. That's why Ramakrishna is addressing Mahima. You explain Om with reference to A, U and Ma. A, U and Ma means creation, preservation and destruction. But I give the illustration of the sound of a gong. Tom. It is the merging of the Leela in the Nithya, the gross in the subtle and the subtle in the causal, merge in the great cause, waking dream and deep sleep, merge in Turiya finally. This is what I mean by Omkar Upasana. A striking of the gong like the falling of a heavy weight into a big ocean. Waves begin to rise. A relative rises from the absolute. The causal, subtle and gross bodies appear out of the great cause called Mahakarana which is Turiya and from Turiya emerge the states of deep sleep, dream and waking. These waves rising from the great ocean merge again in the great ocean from the absolute to the relative and from the relative to the absolute. Therefore, I give the illustration of the gong's sound Tom. I have clearly perceived all these things. Ramakrishna is telling something marvellous. Not only he is explaining these beautiful concepts, Nithya is the Mahakarana and the world is not the world but Leela. Leela means as if real. The cinema screen, you will see the whole world but we enjoy. We enjoy murder, we enjoy love, we enjoy separation, we enjoy again the lovers meeting, we again enjoy after they get married, Kurukshetra war starts, we enjoy everything. We means hope. We means the realised souls. Ordinary people, they can never enjoy. That is why the illustration of a drama, when we watch a drama, it is called Soundarya Ananda, Kalananda. Everything appears to be absolutely real as if it is real but we know it is only appearance. That enjoying the good and evil, the happiness and unhappiness, the birth and death, the profit and loss, victory and defeat, success and failure, everything that is called Leela. The Ramakrishna, what is his philosophy? From the Nithya to the Leela. I accept Leela, I also accept Nithya but with one condition, caveat. What is that caveat? We can only enjoy Nithya and Leela only once we reach the roof which is called Nithya. Once we reach the roof, we know the whole house is made up of the same material. So profound meaning is there in the words of the Ramakrishna. So everything is nothing but the Brahma Chakra. That is what we are going to discuss in the Shwetashvatara Upanishad, Brahma Chakra. Instead of saying Maya Chakra, Samsara Chakra, the Rishi uses the word Brahma Chakra. Millions of Brahmandas rise in that Chidakasha and merge in it again. All this has been revealed to me. I don't know much about what your books say. I am not saying by reading your books but I am saying because the Divine Mother has revealed this to me. So all worship and spiritual discipline are directed to only one end, Param Purushartha, namely to get rid of worldly attachment. Ramakrishna's words as I said many times are nothing but pure Upanishadic words. What is he telling? You are bound and you are going to be released. No. He says that nobody is bound but this Maya is what appears to bind, cannot really bind. Who can bind the infinite? So why we are not able to see the truth? Because of our attachment, Raga and Dvesha which Patanjali Rishi had outlined. Avidya, Asmita, Raga, Dvesha and Abhinivesha. The more you meditate on God, the less you will be attached to the trifling things of the world. So what is the way? Pray to God, take refuge in Him and the more we succeed in this, then the less will be our attachment. How can we lessen the attachment? Because remember, every meaning of attachment is, I am hoping to derive some happiness. But when we start deriving better happiness, more happiness in God, automatically the scales of the paying balance will tip over and that is beautifully illustrated by the Sri Krishnatulabhara. The more you love, the lotus feet of God, the less you will crave the things of the world. You less pay heed to creature comforts. Why? As I said, because our purpose is not anything. Our purpose is to get happiness. Though you may still have to live in the world, you will live as a Jivan Mukta. This is beautifully expressed. I don't know by whom. Some people attribute it to Madhusudana Saraswati. But many people, we never find this in the works of Madhusudana. But this is how it goes. Dvaitam Mohaya Praak. Jathe Bodhe Maneshaya. Bhaktyartham Kalpitam Dvaitam. Advaitadapi Sundaram. So before our bondage is destroyed, the duality binds us more and more. What is duality? I am the subject, everything is the object. That is called duality. But Jathe Bodhe Maneshaya. Once we obtain that wisdom, our buddhi becomes refined, sattvika, and then true knowledge dawns. Jathe Bodhe. When true knowledge dawns by the grace of God, then what happens? Deliberately, this Jnani, Bhaktyartham Kalpitam Dvaitam. Dvaitam. I am separate. You are separate. I want to play with you. This is imagined. This Dvaitam is imagined deliberately before we think it is real and it is the master. Now I know I am the master and I am imagining the duality and this kind of my imagination, me as the master, Advaitadapi Sundaram. It is even more beautiful than Advaitam. We will move on to the Karika 34. This manifold universe consisting of billions and billions of cosmoses does not exist as identical with Atman nor does it ever stand independent by itself. It is neither separate from Brahman nor is it non-separate. This is the statement of the wise. Again, once more, a most marvelous Karika. This world that we see, is it completely one with Atman? No, because if it is Atman, I do not see any manifold. And is it separate from the Atman? Because it cannot be perceived without the Atman. It is neither one nor separate. How? A small example is given. Supposing somebody mistakes in semi-light. He sees a snake. Now this is called, this is one of the classic examples we all know. So this snake, what we call the snake, is it real or unreal? If it is non-existing, we can never experience. Whatever is non-existing is non-experienceable. We know that. Is it then existing? No, it is not existing. Then what happens because of the light? Temporarily, we mistake one thing for the other thing. As I said, mentioned earlier, the light should be sufficient just to see something. Then there must be a similarity between what is superimposed upon and what is the object which we superimpose upon that original object. So the rope must be there. You remove the rope, there would be no snake also. You keep the rope, then we can imagine it not only as a snake, as a garland, as a bent stick, as a streak of water, as a crack in the earth, anything else, as a piece of cloth, anything that you can imagine. So what is it? The snake is neither one with the rope. If the snake is one with the rope, we will not see the snake. We will say, I am seeing a rope. If it is completely separate from the rope, then the rope should not be there. When the light is brought up, what happens? The snake as if disappears. In fact, it is neither appearing nor disappearing. So what is appearing? My thought that it is a snake is appearing and again when light is brought out, the thought that I thought I saw a snake that disappears. It is the incomplete knowledge which comes into my mind in the form of a thought that has a birth, that has a death, but in reality nothing happens to that rope. Now what Gaudapada wants to illustrate and that is an example to be applied to this world experienced in the form of waking, dream and dreamless. You try to understand this example of rope and snake. Is the snake different from the rope? Then there must be two. When light is brought up, the rope must be there. The snake also must be there and obviously in this example, the snake will not be there. Only rope is revealed. So long as there is semi-light and I have a fear of snakes, I see only a snake. So is it one with the rope? Then I should be able to see the rope. Is it separate from rope? Then I should be able to see both the rope and the snake also. But what happens at any given time, I see only one. But in the case of semi-darkness, that means partial knowledge, I see only the snake. When full light comes, that means full knowledge comes, right knowledge comes. I see only the rope and not the snake. I hope I am able to convey this idea of Gaudapadacharya. So also, if I, the Chidavasa is not there, I cannot experience the waking state and the dream state and the dreamless state. This is what we call world in three forms. Now the point is, what is the analogy with this rope snake? That is, is the world one with Brahman? No, it is not one. Is it separate from Brahman? No, it is not separate. Neither one nor separate from Brahman. Why? Because if there is no Brahman, that is to say, if I am not aware, if my awareness is not there, if I am unconscious, I will not see neither Brahman nor the world. But I am seeing the world. When I am seeing the world, I am not seeing Brahman. When I am seeing Brahman, I don't see the world. So but, that means what? That means without Brahman, there is no world. But world continues forever, separate from the Brahman? No, because it is mistaken Brahman, partially recognized Brahman. That is what the world is. That is why I give an illustration. Try to experiment. You one day go for a walk in a huge garden. Then you put your two fingers together and a small crack opening in between two fingers. Put it in front of your eye and look at the scenery before you. Even though vast scenery is there, you are able to see only that one particular part. Supposing in this illustration, you are able to see only one tree. And then if somebody asks you, what is this whole scenery consists of? One tree. If you see two trees, it is consisting of two trees. But you will never describe. It is vast. I see thousands, millions of things. You will never say that. But remove those two fingers. Open your eyes. See everything. Then you will see everything as it is. What is this illustration for? Brahman seen through that, like that crack in between two fingers, seeing through the prism or opening of the mind and sense organs is what we call Prapancha. And if you remove that, that is called Maya. If we remove that fingers, that Avidya, means that mind and that sense organs, what is, is nothing but Brahman. So the Brahman and world. Brahman appearing as the world because of my way of seeing it through the prism of time, space and causation. And that is what I choose to call the world. And the world consists of the waking state, dream state and dreamless state, deep sleep state. And I am the witness without my consciousness. I can never experience all these three. And when I enter into Samadhi, the whole world disappears because there is no prism through which I am seeing my own self. I will now extend this. Imagine the beautiful, clean mirror in front of you, huge mirror. You stand in front of it and you put on green coloured specks. You will see your reflection as green coloured, blue coloured specks as blue colour and black coloured specks as black colour. Or I will just change the analogy. So a white coloured specks, your reflection appears as white. Red coloured specks, the reflection appears as red. And dark coloured specks, the reflection appears as dark. What is this illustration for? If we look through the Tamoguna Paripoorna Manas, it appears as Nidra. Through the red coloured appears like a dream. And if it is your white coloured, the Sattva Guna, we can see the truth. And that is why waking state is the root, the foundation for understanding I am in bondage, for understanding I have to do Sadhana, for understanding that I have to progress in spiritual life and for surrendering myself to God. And when I reach God Realisation, even to understand that the world is nothing but Brahman seen through the prism of Maya. And once I remove, once I know what is Brahman, this Maya itself becomes Leela. It will be through the specks of Leela, I see Brahman. But I never get bound again. With this, I will stop and further things we will discuss in our next class. Om Jananem Sharadam Deve Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Adapadmetayoh Sritva Pranamami Mohonmohoho May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Om Jananem Sharadam Deve Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Adapadmetayoh Sritva Pranamami Mohonmohoho