Mandukya Karika Lecture 128 on 08-November-2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We have been studying the fourth and last chapter of the Mandukya Karikas. This fourth chapter is named as Alatha Shanti. And what is the main Gaudapada's argument? And Gaudapada's argument is nothing but Advaitic argument. When Shankaracharya condensed the entire Advaitic teaching into three parts. Brahma Satyam, God alone is real. Jagat Mithya, which means really there is no world at all. What we call the world is nothing but Brahman with Nama and Rupa. And therefore there is no world. Because there is no world, God is the creator and this world is the created one. This causal relationship that will be automatically negated. Then what about me? Well, you also do not exist as part of the world. Then is it complete annihilation? Complete Shunya? No. You are none other than Brahman. Brahman is alone there. That is the essence of Advaita Vedanta. Whereas according to Visishta Advaita, three things are absolutely real. Ishwara is real. His creation called Jagat is real. It is called Chit. And this objective world called Achit, that is also real. But this Chit and Achit are part and parcel of that one whole, which is Ishwara. So Ishwara contains both the individual soul, that is called Jeevatma, as well as the world which doesn't have, seemingly doesn't have consciousness. And so the waking state is also real. The dream state is also real. And the deep sleep state is also real. No state is unreal. That is why it is called Visishta Advaita. Advaita with certain parameters. Not one, but one in three, three in one. These are all opinions. But some of the arguments that are given are marvelous in Advaita Vedanta. In fact, whether it is Visishta Advaita or Advaita, these are all philosophical views. In other words, this is called world view. How one views the world. Is it real? If it is real, there must be a cause. Is it unreal? If it is unreal also, even to say something is unreal, there must be a substratum for the unreality to be experienced. We require a very sharp intellect to make this distinction. If anybody says, I see a snake, later on it proves to be there is no snake at all. But I have mistaken something else. In this case, it happens to be a rope. But there is a causal relationship. If there had been no rope, there would not have been any snake at all. But let us also not think that snake is the only example. Rope can appear as a snake, as a garland, as a streak of water, or even as a crack in the earth. Or if somebody is having better imagination, he can think of as anything else. So suppose a Frenchman, just now I made it up. You know, while bicycling, they will have a huge bread. It will be at least half an yard long. And they go on munching on one hand. So the fellow may be hungry, may be very fond of this kind of bread. And by the way, German bread is very hard bread. So they prefer it that way. Whereas Indians always prefer very soft bread, sweet bread, etc. Germans are very hardy people, you know. So what we mistake something to be depends upon what we imagine. So another example is just for our what is called enjoyment. A man was walking in quite an amount of darkness. Not merely semi-darkness, quite an advance of darkness. Still something can be seen. So a drunkard was walking. He saw and then, oh, I am much better. At least I am able to walk. This fellow is unable to walk. And then a thief is walking. Oh, I think the policeman got the news. They are waiting for me with a stick. And a lover is going. And he thinks, my beloved could not wait for me at the appointed place. So he is waiting for me right on the way. Only a person who knows all these things goes near and then he finds it is nothing but a stump of a tree. So imagination. Whatever we imagine to be, either we are frightened or we like it very much. We can mistake many things and that is what everyday experience is there. Just to add a bit of spice, suppose somebody is very fond of fried things, pakoda for example, and he is going by the street and the smell comes, a peculiar smell associated with pakodas. And he thinks pakodas are being made. He may be completely wrong. It may be some other thing being fried. Nothing to do with pakodas. But that is how our imagination works. And especially marriage works only with imagination. When imagination is removed, marriage breaks down. So better keep some imagination, kalpana, then everything will be swarga loka. The whole swarga loka is nothing but pure imagination. And the thing is, many times we see, I can't stop myself recollecting these things, when swarga loka, Rambha, Urvashi, Tilottam are there, Indra gets disgusted, comes to Bhuloka and to see some other woman. We are dreaming of swarga loka, swarga lokavasi is dreaming of Bhuloka. What a contrast it is. Anyway, what is the point? There is no world at all. It is all unreal. Now we are experiencing it. So the whole debate, if we have to squeeze the essence of all the four prakaranas, according to Advaita Vedanta, what is the essence? That there is no world. That means there is no bondage. That means there is no jiva. That means there is no sadhaka. That means there is no siddhi. That means there is no guru. There is no disciple. There is no God. There is no sadhana. Nothing. This is what in the second chapter, Vaitatya Prakarana, 32nd karika, I think. So there is, In that shloka, karika, Gaudapada summarizes. All these arguments that follow in the third prakarana, and now also fourth prakarana, and most of the fourth prakarana, is a rehashing, as we call it, of the earlier prakaranas. But the essence is this. Is this world satyam or mithya? And it is mithya. It is not satyam. So I am reminding you some of the basic arguments. What is it? Whatever is changing, that is mithya. Whatever never changes, that means beyond time, that is called satyam. Trikala abadhitam satyam. Trikala badhitam mithya. So mithya means, what is called, under the subjugation of time, there is a past, there is a present, and there is a future. And time means changing. So whatever we may experience, if it is changing, it is mithya. For example, a person sees a snake. He gets frightened naturally, so long as he knows it is a real serpent. But then when light is brought up, he understands there is no snake at all. So with that, all the effects of the mithyatva is gone. What is the point here? Point is, our seeing the snake as a beginning, and it continues for some time. How long? Until the light is brought up. And then we perceive the substratum. And once we perceive the substratum, then we see the changeful thing comes to an end. Because the substratum never changes. The rope, relatively speaking, as an example, speaking as an example, relatively, it is satyam. No change is there. But really speaking, rope also, what is it? Because it is made up of fibers. And fibers are made up of some basic raw materials from some plants. And the plants have their own birth, growth, death, etc. Then pancha bhutas are the cause. Pancha bhutas are always changing. And when pancha bhutas are changing, there must be a substratum. That substratum is Atman. What is Atman? Pure consciousness. What is pure consciousness? Awareness. That I am lighting up. There is a pancha bhuta. There is a mango tree. There is a person. Unless I cognize, and that cognizer is able to cognize only because of that endowment of pure consciousness or awareness, and without that cognition, power of cognition, person will not be able to cognize anything. So everything depends upon our cognition. Ultimately, we are cognizing the waking state, dream state, as well as the dreamless state continuously. So how do we know we are cognizing the dreamless state? Simple. We are for some time in the waking state. So waking state as a beginning. When does it begin? When the deep sleep comes to an end. When does it end? When our dream state starts, begins, and dream state continues. Then the dream state ends. How do we know? Then we don't dream anymore. So we go into deep sleep state. And then deep sleep has a beginning. And then there is an end. So there is an end of something. There is a beginning of something. So this continuous Brahma Chakra is going on all the time. So whatever is changing, that is called Mithya. Not non-existence, but Mithya. And now, how do we know that it is changing? There is a changeless witness called Consciousness. And that changeless Consciousness must be changeless because to cognize change, there must be unchanging power of cognition. This is the entire Advaita Vedanta Vada. What is it? Ultimately, pure Consciousness. Now, has pure Consciousness, has it a beginning? No, it doesn't have a beginning. Because if it is a beginning, there must be some other Consciousness which is witnessing a beginning, and a continuation, and an end. And that is why, by this time, we should be able to understand that the waking state starts, and the deep sleep state ends. And when dream state starts, the waking state comes to an end. And when the deep sleep starts, the dream state comes to an end. And again, when the deep sleep state ends, then the waking state starts. And I, the continuous witness, is witnessing the beginning, the end of any number of states. It could be 3, it could be 300, it doesn't matter. So, this is the main crux. Now, what is the point? The point is, we are witnessing everything is changing. I was born, then my body was changing, my mind is also changing, and death will come. We all know, there is no fool on this earth who says, I will be deathless. Everybody knows, sooner or later, death will come. And then things change. Sometimes I am happy, sometimes I am not happy. Sometimes I exist, sometimes I do not exist. That is to say, sometimes I am manifest, sometimes I am not manifest. So, everything is changing. This fact of changing is everybody's experience. Nobody can say, I don't see any change, unless the person is a dead person. So, this is the main argument of Gaudapadacharya. And this is very nicely presented in the second prakaranam called Vaithathya Prakaranam. Tathya means truth, Vaithathya, Vithathya, that is untruth, mithya. That is why, Bhagavan Buddha was called Tathagata. Tatha, that word came from this Tathya. Tathya means satya. That happened. So, he became enlightened, he became awakened. That is why, he is called Buddha. Buddha means an awakened person. Tathagata means, he reached that state of realization, Aham Brahmasmi. Call it Brahman, call it shunyam, call it nirvana, it doesn't matter. So, this is what has been. We have already gone through that. Gaudapada presented it. He is representing and representation is not a defect because until we are convinced, everything is changing and nobody likes a change. This is something extraordinary, psychological fact. If I love somebody, somebody loves me, I never want to commit to change it. What is the change? Change is, I stop loving and somebody else stops loving me. I was happy and I am not happy. I don't like this state but so long as this continues, I have to accept the fact. Even when I accept, my heart doesn't accept. I want to be continuously in a state of happiness. I was healthy, now I am not healthy. I was young, I am now old. So, many things are changing. Change is not welcomed by any one of us but one type of change is welcomed eagerly. What is it? When I am unhappy, I definitely want a change to this state of happiness. When I am unhealthy, I definitely want to be healthy. When I am ignorant, I definitely want to be knowledgeable. So, there is something called better. And that betterness is always welcome but if things are normally changing, this betterness also will become bitterness one day and it will definitely change. This is the essence of not only what we discussed but what we are going to discuss. And in our last class, we have dealt with what is called two karikas, 34th and 35th. What is it? Just very briefly, just to recollect for our memory. Perhaps a person is dreaming. This is a dream example. And he has gone to a distant country. It takes a long time. In dream also, it doesn't take a long time because from the waking point of view, the time measurement in the dream is very short. One can go to America, Australia, hopefully not to Canada or to Mars within a few seconds twinkling of an eye. When we wake up, not in the dream. In the dream, nothing is unnatural. When we wake up, what we have experienced in the dream is not rational, unreasonable because he has gone to America, Australia and came back. But Pratibuddhashya, that is as soon as he wakes up, enters into waking state. Sarvaha, anybody who is dreaming, Tasmeendeshe, the countries he visited and where somebody had woken him up or somebody slapped him in America and he wakes up. He doesn't find himself in America, fortunately for the other person. So this is what we have discussed. That is, time and space, they do not reflect our experience of time and space in the waking state. And then the next, 35th, Vitradhyayasaha Sambandhriya Sambuddhau Naprapadyate Vrihitanchapiyatkinchit Pratibuddhau Naparshati He is a waking person. And he just woke up from what? From dream state. And then what did he see in the dream state? He went and then had a nice time, quality time with his friends. It could be next door, next country, Mars, anywhere. Mitra Adhyayasaha Friends, what is Adhya? It could be inimical also. So they also had a quarrel there. A fellow who had quarreled in the waking state with his neighbor and he is still raging with him and he goes to dream state and there also there is a possibility he and the other fellow are still continuing the shouting match. So, Saha, Sambandhriya had beautiful time or worst time. Sambuddhau and as soon as the person wakes up, he does not see his friends there and then his friends also never recollect we have met anywhere. Naprapadyate It is not possible. Not only that. And when you are coming back after meeting your friends and out of love they give you something and you are very happy to bring it back as a loving token. And then when you wake up, you don't see that token at all. Pratibuddhaha Grihetanchapi Napashyate This is what we have discussed in our last class just for our recollection. Now we will proceed further. And it the argument goes in a similar way. So, it should not be difficult. But some of the most marvelous deeply penetrating reasonings are given which I find extraordinarily enlightening. That is what I will underline, highlight when we are looking. 36th Karika Swapnecha Avastukah Kayaha Pruthak Anyasya Darshanat Yatha Kayaha Tatha Sarvam Chittadrishyam Avastukam The body which is active in dream as soon as we wake up. So we perceive it that dream body as unreal because as the other body that is to say as soon as we wake up we find ourselves exactly where we were lying down before the we started dreaming quite distinct. So the body which was very active in the dream state was quite different. And this body which is lying like a log or a corpse is quite distinct from it. And that is what we see when we are lying down. So you go somewhere but you don't see yourself somewhere upon waking up. Like the body that means like our experience of the waking body and dreamer's body from the waking point of view everything that is experienced by the mind in the dream state is unreal. I want to give this analogy just like that the same thing happens when we end this waking state go into dream state so we don't see this waking state as real. For the dreamer waking world is unreal just as for the waker the dream experience is unreal. So upon waking up we perhaps can remember some of our dream experiences and then we look into that and say that is all unreal whatever happened. So you met somebody whom you love and you won a lottery ticket and then you are very happy I am very happy if you can dream such things at least I don't need to see your castor oil face in the waking state at least for some time you are made happy at least in your dream and that is why the stupid fellows go on singing dream girl waking state girl never gives them happiness only dream boy dream girl they only give happiness at least for some time let them be happy so this is what Gaudapada is telling the body which is active so long as the dream lasts can be clearly perceived as unreal when not in the dream but as the other body what is the other body waker's body and dreamer's body is compared here so the waker's body will be in the waking world in the same place on the same cot with the same family members etc it is quite distinct when it is perceived like the body body is only an example everything that we experience in the mind is unreal so what is the significance of this chapter this is what Shankaracharya sums up that even the waking experiences on account of their being similar to the dream experiences are unreal and Anandagiri's take extraordinarily enlightening to grasp the subtleties of these arguments what I just now explained is a very gross meaning and Anandagiri explains the body which is active in the waking state is lying motionless in the bed but when the dreamer perceives that he is wandering at various places so the dreamer's body is moving from place to place maybe went on a holiday and taken a camera hanging around his neck and he is taking every photograph that body is totally different when he suddenly wakes up at a dream he finds exactly where his dream began in the waking state therefore therefore from the standpoint of the waking state this dream body is unreal this is very important for us to understand so long as we are dreaming dream state is absolutely real just like waking state so similarly from the standpoint of the ultimate reality so why do we see why do we all feel dream when we wake up from the dream it is all unreal unsubstantial mere what is called imaginations but we never lose that sense that this what we see in the waking state is unreal we don't see that why we don't see that because there is a long standing an argument which I will recollect for you we have discussed it in earlier chapters what is it one of the that is the opponent says look you cannot compare dream and waking state and we ask asks why not why because when you are dreaming everyday the dream is different in the same night also one day you see you are in America and another day that is dreams day not waking day so you find yourself in Australia or Canada or anywhere else even neighborhood it doesn't matter but you are thinking it is all real so long as you are in the dream but everyday you may have any number of dreams as soon as you wake up you find exactly same house same place same family members same boring job same thundering perhaps nothing changes you see dream is changing waking is not changing this is the argument then what was the answer first answer given was sir when you are in the waking state do you ever pause and ask yesterday I found myself in another house in another bed but today I am finding myself in another house another bed do you ever question yourself absolutely you take for granted forever from your very birth you have been in the same house wherever you find even every two minutes if your dream changes you will never question that you are exactly in the right place with the right persons with the right everything is absolutely real because you consider it as real the question that something has changed that question will not come I hope you are getting what I am driving at what is it that what do we call real that which never changes is real this dream state that everything is changing that experience we never have when do we have that experience upon waking up oh yesterday's dream I saw myself in Pune and today's dream I found myself in Bangalore you never you always question this one upon waking up but this question doesn't arise in the same way this is the first answer second answer even more interesting supposing a person for whatever reason has exactly the same dream repeated he finds himself from the waking state in the same house with the same people suppose the dream never changes now you will have terrible problem so there the boss is so dear the wife is so endearing and your children are the greatest children in the world everything is absolutely swargaloka there and so is that real or is this real in this connection recollect that beautiful story several times I repeated there was a king and he went to bed after eating royal food royal dinner he went to sleep he had a dream and he found that the neighboring king had invited his kingdom and this king lost the battle and the other king was chasing him so this king ran and ran for two days and then he found himself in a village in the next kingdom where the of course the enemy king could not pursue he had no what is called he can't enter into the another country so this fellow terribly hungry dream hunger because he has been running in the dream for two and half days or three days so he entered into a village he found somebody was feeding poor people he also stood in the queue because a driven out king is none than a poor man and then when his turn came the whole food was finished and there was nobody left out behind him and then when he reached the server said sir I am so terribly sorry food is exhausted then this so called king now no more a king lost kingdom so he was a beggar he looked into the pot saw something what is called glued at the bottom burnt out food you give me that food I don't care I am so hungry so the other person took pity upon him scooped up a good lot and then put it I have to add a bit of masala mine supposing that food is prepared with first class cows ghee I think what is at the bottom the person who gets it is the most luckiest person in the whole world you have seen so many times the last remnant you are trying to scoop up with your big finger thumb and that tastes heavenly so this person scooped up gave it in a leaf plate and as the king was about to swallow it a big bird came from the sky and it wanted to take it away but unfortunately it fell into the dust and it could no more be eaten at that time at the same time that former person who lost his kingdom woke up and then it was so real what he saw waking up state and where his dream ended waking up state started he could not still distinguish so he started shouting is this real? is that real? the queen got up the ministers came and this went on for 3 days the king was only asking now he is the king because it was only a dream and then is that real? or is this real? and then fortunately a great rishi happened to be passing by and the ministers got the news and they brought him and then the king cried out is that real? or is this real? and then the sage replied oh king neither that is real nor this is real you alone you the experiencer of what you call that means dream state experience this means waking state experience both are unreal you who is the experiencer alone is the reality what a marvelous story so when we are in the dream state that is real when we are in the waking state that is real which is the reality if we are intelligent and we will not know this same doubt will come was that real? or is this real? and this is what Sairam Krishna is a beautiful example whether he heard it from somebody I will just briefly remind you there was a farmer he was a gnani and he had only one son and one day the son died and he was working at that time in the fields somebody came and informed him so he hurried home saw his only son lying dead and he was not shedding any tears and his wife got terribly angry what type of person you are your only son died there is not one tear in your eye and then the farmer being a gnani replied yesterday I had a dream I was a king I had not one but seven beautiful princess and then I woke up my kingdom gone my kinghood gone my beautiful wife gone I did not say that I am saying this and my children are all gone all the intelligent beautiful extraordinarily endowed children now shall I weep for those seven children whom I have lost or shall I weep for this one son a lot of masala can be added this is the story because he was a gnani both dream is equally unreal as the waking state waking dream there is no difference at all but for our consolation Shankaracharya says or Anandagiri adds that from the standpoint of the ultimate reality the waking state appears to be unreal but really it is even from our point of view what is the definition of unreality whatever is changing is unreal first try to fix in our minds this truth what is changing that should be considered as the definition of unreality so I was born long back I lived nearly 80 years and I am looking forward and I don't know when Shiva will give Moksha he is delaying dilly dally like our central government all our appeal for funds and donations etc anyway but we think this is the real waking state is real but no if we are intelligent if we analyze the dream state and compare it to the waking state the waking state is absolutely as unreal because things are different in dream and things are different in the waking state we don't need to wait for that ultimate realization this is what Gaudapada wants to drive into us so why all this that everything how is this world unreal so he says from the standpoint of the ultimate reality the body perceived in the waking state whether it is honored or insulted is also unreal how is it unreal because this body is also an idea in the mind of the perceiver body is an idea because this is a beautiful body who says, mind says but there may be people who may consider this very body as the ugliest body in this world or some things can consider this body the tastiest body in the whole world in the hands of a cannibal he says what a marvelous thing so as dream objects are unreal on account of their being perceived by the mind that is first argument we have discussed was whatever is changing and who is observing the change it is the mind and even when we observe do two people perceive any object exactly in the same way absolutely no at least do we perceive the same object exactly in the same way we may consider a person a friend for some time then deadliest enemy at other times we are also changing our opinion about every object the same object is a deer at one point same object we feel like killing or murdering at some other point of view so our perception is absolutely unreliable so Ananda Tirtha he gives Ananda Giri he gives a beautiful example whatever is perceived what was the first argument whatever is changing and change is perceived by whom by the mind because time, space and causation are the characteristics of the mind so whatever the mind observes whether it be dream state dreamless state is unreal for that matter of fact if you have a vision of God and the mind perceives the vision of God that is also unreal there is a beautiful story once there was a great soul called Krishna Premi he was a great sadhu a devotee of Krishna and once he met Ramana Maharshi and by that time he had several visions of Krishna and he wanted to be patted on the back you are a great devotee so he narrated very joyfully his experiences to Ramana Bhagwan and Ramana Bhagwan went on looking above his head through his head and at the end of the narration Ramana Maharshi this man was waiting for his remark and Bhagwan remarked whatever comes also will go and this man was telling, I was so disheartened by this remark of Ramana Maharshi what can be done, he returned home to his ashram somewhere in North India, Pune or somewhere or Meerut and then really it so happened all these visions started to fade away and he never had any visions then he understood the remark of Ramana Maharshi whatever comes it goes whatever is perceived that disappears, nothing is stable in this world so whatever is perceived by the mind waking, dream, visions of God visions of bhutas whatever it is that is the second definition what was the first definition that whatever is changing is unreal what is the second definition whatever is perceived by the mind is unreal because mind itself is in a constant flux state of change that is the reason whatever is experienced through a changing instrument that also is unreal we move on to the 37th now we are entering into deeper waters, what is it as the experience of objects in dream is similar to the experience of objects in the waking state, therefore it is thought by all of us that the waking experiences are the cause of the dream experiences on account of this reason the waking experiences supposed to be the cause of the dream appearances appear as real to the dreamer alone but not to others this verse really exercises our capacity to understand what is it telling why do we say why do we feel that dream experiences are real what is the reason because one of the most important reason is how do dreams arise because in the waking state we experience so many things all our experiences from the waking state are stored up in the form of memory and we never take our experiences in the waking state as unreal and therefore this concept that whatever we are experiencing in the waking state are very very very real, the same concept proceeds into the dream state and then while experiencing dream we feel these are all very very real and what is the subtlety of this argument this is called causal relationship you have to listen carefully try to understand I will try my best to explain this one see first of all we have to understand what is the relationship between cause and effect so if supposing milk is there and it is turned into curds what is the cause milk, the curds is called effect, milk is called cause and whatever be the material of the milk that is of the cause exactly will be the material, a golden ornament for example will be gold only, it will not be silver ornament, it will not be iron ornament, it will be golden ornament only so this is very important for us to understand so this is the cause and effect whatever the nature of the cause is and the effect also will be exactly the same apply this to the waking state, if the waking state is considered as real without any doubt we will have to consider the dream state also as absolutely real why? because waking state is the cause which produces the dream state so there is a causal relationship between waking state and dream state if the waking state is real we can't say the dream state is also unreal but what happens in our case while dreaming we have no doubt what we are experiencing is absolutely real how do we know it is real? another point we have to experience, I have discussed this many times but I am repeating this one, what is it? how do we know something is real? we have to infer what we think is real by our reaction supposing you are seeing a cinema and on the cinema screen you see that invaluable diamonds, gems etc a basket of them is our Kohinoor diamond on the crown in the UK you see it do you run to grab it? no you see a beautiful food in a restaurant on the cinema screen do you rush to order it and to grab it and to eat it? no, why? because you are completely aware this is only seemingly real, not really real so this is an illustration to find out the causal relationship between if we think the waking is real the dream also must be taken as real but then what happens when we wake up and then we say the dream is unreal so this is the crux of the argument but this leads us into the second argument what is it? just as upon waking up that is upon changing that state called dream into the waking state we consider what we experienced before in what we call the dream state as unreal because it bears no resemblance to the waking state similarly also when we are in the dream state the waking state also becomes exactly nullified like upon waking up how we consider the dream so while entering into the dream state, experiencing dream state we consider the waking experiences also exactly in the same light we don't need to wait for the ultimate reality and then sometimes you wonder also how did I come to America yesterday I was in Bangalore and today morning I found myself in United States how come? but we don't cherish think deeply about that thought but there also the question comes sometimes I thought that I failed in the examinations but now I find I went and saw that I have completely passed my examinations so today we have established this deeper thought dream is unreal upon waking up similarly waking is also unreal when we are in dream state from the dream state point of view because both do not tally and therefore to say that dream state is unreal upon waking up so dream state is real while dreaming unreal upon waking up waking state is real while we are in the waking state and when we are in the dream state waking state just like dream becomes unreal so comparatively one makes the other unreal but there is a deeper point there is a concept of reality and that is what we will discuss in our next class may Ramakrishna holy mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with Jai Ramakrishna