Mandukya Karika Lecture 008 on 21 July 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Bhadram Karne Vishnu Yamadevaha Bhadram Pashyam Aakshabhirya Jatra Thirai Rangai Stushtu Vagam Sastanupe Vyashemadevaye Tanyadayo Swasthina Indro Vrithashravaha Swasthina Poosha Vishwa Vedaha Swasthina Starksho Arishtanime Swasthino Brihaspatir Dhadhatu Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om Om O Gods, may we hear auspicious words with our ears, may we see auspicious things with our eyes. Worshipping the Gods with steady limbs, may we enjoy a life that is allotted to us and beneficial to everyone. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on us. May the all-nourishing potion, the Sun God, be propitious to us. May Garuda, the destroyer of evil Tarkshya, be well disposed towards us. May Brihaspati, the God of wisdom, ensure our welfare. Om. Peace, peace, peace be unto all. We are exploring the Mandukya Upanishad along with Gaudapada's karikas. I have been giving a long introduction in my last class, last Wednesday. Because of the internet, it was not successful. So I will continue from where we left two weeks back. We have discussed about Pramana. What is Pramana? A right means of knowledge. We are living in a world of ideas, in a world of knowledge. We are receiving knowledge, we are giving back knowledge in the form of acting and reacting. Every action that we do, whether it is action, pro-action or reaction, it is all the outcome of knowledge, sometimes in the form of impressions of likes and dislikes. So we talked about our Vedanta, especially Advaita Vedanta has accepted six Pramanas. Of these six Pramanas, they are classified into two categories. One, that which gives us worldly knowledge. Second, that which alone can give us the supernatural Indriya Atitha Gnanam. So what are the five Pramanas? Pratyaksha, whatever we experience, direct experience, either through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, as well as the skin. So this is one. Then based upon this direct perception, Anumana, inference. One example they have given, classical example, no one has ever seen smoke without fire. Fire and smoke are seen always concomitant. Where there is smoke, there is fire. So if I see one, I can also infer the other. And this is how we also get knowledge in our day-to-day life. Suppose you have gone to meet a person, to his house, her house, the car is there, the shoes are there, but the person is not seen. But you, by seeing these objects, which are inevitably associated, you infer the person has not gone out, he must be inside the room, may be bathroom, etc. Or shrine room it could be, etc. This is called Anumana, inferring the right knowledge by taking the clue of what is always associated with that object. Then Arthapatti means, we have not directly perceived, but after, the classical example would be, early morning we get up, sound sleep whole night, we did not know what was happening. When we open our windows, the whole place is flooded with water. Then we presume it must have rained very hard while I was asleep. That is a valid piece of knowledge. Then Upamana, comparison. I have seen a special type of flower, I have seen previously many flowers, so I compare. This looks like a flower and I know what is a flower, so this must be a new flower, a new species, that's all. But we get some knowledge about it. This is the fourth one. Pratyaksha, Anumana, Arthapatti, presumption and Upamana, comparison. Then fifth, Pramana is Anupalabdhi. When we enter into our study room and we see that a book is missing, which I thought I have kept it there and I know I have not moved it and nobody has taken it outside the house. So the presumption, the right knowledge is someone has taken it from this room to some other room. Upon enquiry, the person will get. So what is it? We do not waste our time searching for this book in that room, but by the knowledge of the absence of the book, we come to know that the book must be elsewhere, not in this room. So we do not search. We use this all the time. We want to buy something, go to some shop and then ask what we wish to have and the person says sorry, it is exhausted, sold out, but next shop has still some left out. So this absence of this object which I want to possess has given me the right knowledge. Either the shopkeeper will tell or we ask where else can we get this. So this is how right knowledge can be obtained by the absence of things also and it is highly useful. So for example, every day you are walking, there is a bus driver who is rash. So whenever you see that fellow driving the bus, immediately you find out that it is dangerous, I have to be extremely careful. Then one day you come to know, you go out, somebody else is driving the car or the bus and then you infer this fellow must have taken leave for whatever reason and you give up a Dhirgha Nishwasa. Oh, I am saved today. I don't need to be so careful. All these five proofs of knowledge, means of knowledge are giving us what knowledge? Worldly knowledge because they are obtained from whom? From the five sense organs. Sense organs cannot give what is beyond them. Even every sense organ is limited only to its own field. The eye cannot give the knowledge of the other four organs. Every organ is specialized. For example, the eye can give only forms, colors, shapes, sizes, but cannot give the smell or whether it is hard or soft, whether it is tasty or not tasty, etc. But it is the mind which gathers all this information obtained through these five sense organs and then makes a harmonious whole so that this is a beautiful rose flower. It is big, it is of such and such a color, highly fragrant, there is a lot of honey dew so that many bees are moving towards that and it is extremely soft and soothing. So, rose petals are spread all over the beds so that the person will think he is in Svargaloka after seeing some cinemas, etc. So, all these five pramanas can give only the worldly knowledge and every worldly knowledge has some problem. It has some good also. I will come to that later on. So, why not have worldly knowledge? It is not the question of why not have. We already have it. Since many, many, many births we are dealing only with nothing but the world through these five sense organs. Therefore, we have quite a good amount of information but not wisdom that the world is unreal, etc. So, this worldly knowledge, the point is cannot give us self-knowledge, who I am truly. And so, every object in this world exhibits, manifests five characteristics. First of all, it is bhautikam, that means material, experienceable. It is inert. It does not have consciousness or awareness. A table doesn't have. We think a human being has got. When we are looking at another human being who is alive, who has got prana, we don't say the consciousness is moving. Our experience is not of consciousness but only of the body and mind of that person. Even when we look at Sri Ramakrishna or Holy Mother or Swamiji, you don't know what is their nature. You only know their qualities, their behavior and infer this person is loving, joyful and he serves everybody with equanimity and with equal-mindedness. So, these qualities must have sprung as a result of some knowledge and that knowledge is spiritual knowledge. But we can never see the consciousness. Why? Because the subject sees everything, experiences everything. The object cannot make the subject an object. Subject and object forever remain completely separate from each other. So, what is the first thing? Every object in this world is material, what is called external, physical, concrete. Second is every object in the outside world is experienceable. Drishyatva means can be objectified, can be experienced but the object can never experience it. This is the second characteristic of any worldly object. Third is every object has got certain qualities. Why qualities? What is equality here? Equality is good and bad or good and evil or righteous and unrighteous, small and big, of various sizes, various colors, various forms, etc. So, what makes us distinguish? Suppose there are 10 copies of Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and you have been using one copy and underlining, annotating. One day you feel like annotating something important. You tell the person, bring the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He will naturally ask, there are 10 copies, which copy do you want? So, there must be something distinguishable and that distinguishable object is what we call through guna. That which is topmost, that which has got some bookmarks, some way to separate it, distinguish it from other copies. That is how every object is what we call sagunatvam, separate. And every object has got a unique guna, which the other doesn't have. Then the fourth characteristic is savikaratvam. Every object in this world is changing. What is not changing? The Atman. How do we know? In the course of these talks, I have to repeat many things and repetition is not a defect. It is for better comprehension as we go on listening, we get more and more. So, we will come to that point, but I will give a small summary. Every living creature goes through three states of experience from birth to death, from morning till from getting up time to going to bed time, 24 hours a day. We all know them, the waking state, the dream state, as well as the sushupti or deep sleep state. Each state denies the other two. When we are in the waking state, the other two are unreal. Waking alone is real. Similarly, when we are dreaming, dream alone is real. When we are in deep sleep, that alone is real. But the states contradict each other, are completely different and opposite to each other. But it is the same one person who claims, I was in the waking state, then I had dreams, then I fell into a deep slumber. I am experiencing one after the other, but I am separate because the experiencer can never become the experiencer. Always he must remain, he or she. I use he, not from the body point of view or gender point of view, from the consciousness point of view. Consciousness has no gender, male or female. That's why Ramakrishna sometimes used to call the highest reality Brahman, sometimes Shakti, sometimes my blissful divine mother, etc. Whenever he has talked about Rama or Krishna or Kali or Shiva, we should remember he is talking about nothing else but Brahman. So the last one is, what is the fourth one? Continuously changing from one state to another. We know that Shraddh Vikara, birth, growth, then old age, decay, disease and death. Six fold changing and they don't occur at some intervals. Every millisecond it's being carried on. This is called Vikara means changing. So the last one is Agama Paithvam, no object repeats itself. You have seen a person, your mind is diverted to some other object and only that object for the time being occupies the center of your consciousness. That means to see your mind and all others are completely forgotten until you turn your attention again to that object. But we think there is a continuous memory is there. That is one of the greatest illusions. This is called their subject. We have a body subject to change, that means departure and arrival. Since arrival is already there, now we have to focus upon the departure. So six fold characteristics. It is external, concrete, material, experience. Then second is it can be objectified, experienced. Third is it can be separated from many other objects in the form of certain gunas or characteristics. Then every object in this world is changing. There is nothing to say. The world is called Samsara. Last is subject to arrival and departure. But unfortunately we do not have that knowledge. It is only the scriptures which tell us. So why are we discussing this? Because these five pramanas which give us knowledge of the worldly objects. World means all the objects that we experience in the world. It cannot give us self-knowledge. Why? Because the Atman is free from externality or materiality or concreteness, experienceability. Then it has no gunas to separate. There are no two consciousnesses, hundreds of consciousnesses. Every person is having his or her own consciousness. That is not accepted by Advaita Vedanta. And then the Atman never changes because to witness something is changing. There must be an unchanging entity. And so it is unchanging. And finally the Atman doesn't come and go. It's continuously there. You are sitting in a cinema theatre. All the sceneries are changing. But you are exactly in the same place. So who is that? Is there such a thing? Yes, that is what the scriptures are here to tell us and that is called the Atman, Brahman, Paramatma, Ishwara, Kali, Rama, Krishna. Remember, these are not the names of certain aspects of God. That is, if we are thinking Rama is an aspect of God, Krishna is another aspect of God, Christ is another aspect of God. It is for the sake of developing our concentration, focus, devotion. But ultimately this Rama will go beyond form and beyond formlessness and something which is beyond and only that can be experienced by becoming one with Rama who is called Brahman. So we have to keep that in mind. So does such a thing called Atman exist? And the Upanishads, our scriptures categorically assert, yes. So then what is he called? He is called the Experiencer. He is called Drik. He is called the Seer. And he manifests these three states of waking, dream. He is the witness of all these and dreamless state. Now what is the relationship between that Paramatma and me? So we all know I exist. Nobody can deny, this is the most marvelous fact, nobody can deny my own existence because if somebody says I do not exist, if that person doesn't exist, he won't be able to make such a statement I do not exist. He must exist even to say I do not exist. That's why Ramana Maharshi a bit funnily used to say everything can be doubted but the doubter cannot be doubted because the doubter must exist before he can doubt. So we know we exist. What is the problem? None of us know what is the true nature of this I and that is where Shabda Pramana comes, steps in. What does Shabda Pramana do? Shabda Pramana gives us, slowly leads an earnest seeker. First he says you are not the body but you have a body. Next it leads to you are a witness of the mind. You are not the mind because two things I have repeatedly said, whatever we experience is not we. I experience a tree, I am not the tree. I experience an animal, I am not the animal and whatever qualities that I experience in an object belongs only to that object not to me. So why is this important? Because like children, a small child imagine and there are many relatives and there are many aunts and one particular, all of them visit the child regularly and cuddle him and take them in their laps but one aunt particularly always brings some nice eatables for the baby to enjoy, some dolls. So even though he is okay with all the other aunts, he develops a particular relationship, looks forward for the arrival. Why? Not because of the aunt because it makes him happy by what she brings. We are all like that. So why do we want to know? Because our desires are endless. We are seeking and we have spent our time seeking outside. Now we have to turn our attention inside and the scriptures, means Upanishads tell us, my friend, you are a fool. Where are you looking for me? I am with you. Do not search for me anywhere because I am by this side, I am inside you, I am outside you. In fact, you are none other than me. This is how a teacher slowly leads a disciple through the process of Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana, slowly, slowly. So that is where Shabda Pramana comes. Shabda Pramana means the experience of realized souls who know that they are not the body-mind, who know they are Paramatman and through direct experience they know it. Out of compassion they convey it through the Shruti Parampara or Sishya Parampara and our Guru represents that Shruti Parampara and through his mouth we have to correctly interpret the scriptures. Here I tell you something. There are many preachers of Advaita and some of them are absolutely fine but many of them are fanatical. Even today they don't care for Sri Ramakrishna, they don't care for Swamiji, they care only for Shankaracharya and they say accepting Jnana Marga, no other path exists. What they say, much of it is true but they inject, spread this poison against Sri Ramakrishna's teaching Jyotamat Tatopadam. Categorically Sri Ramakrishna declares one can reach the same goal of one's own true identity with Paramatman through Bhakti, through selfless activity, through control of the mind, Raja Yoga, of course through Jnana Yoga. We do not deny anything but we are inclusive of everything. So that is why we need a right teacher for interpreting and if we are very unfortunate to fall into the clutches of an idiotic Guru, of course it is not the fault of the Guru. We get what we deserve. This is an inviolable law. So Shabda Pramanam. What does the Guru do? He represents this Shabda Pramanam. It is called Agama Pramanam, means Vedic Pramanam. It is called Aapta Vakyam. Aapta means our most well-wisher, welfare-wisher like Buddha for the good of the world, for the welfare of the world. Go and preach this excellent teaching to my disciples. So Swami Vivekananda said categorically as Buddha had a message for the East, I have a message for the West and what was that message? Message of Sri Ramakrishna. And what is that message? First message is you are divine. You are child of my divine mother. Second, life is meant only for Moksha. Dharma, Artha, Kama, good, but only Moksha is the ultimate goal. Third is you require a Guru and only follow his footsteps. Develop unswerving love for him and faith in his words. And even if he tells you something wrong, God will not allow you to go wrong because it is only God who is issuing through the mouth of that Guru. So we are left with scriptural words, words coming through the revelation in the Veda. And the Upanishads are a unique form of mirror. It's a wonderful idea. So you have a wonderful mirror and you keep it in front. What does it do? It reflects you, what you are crystal clearly without any distortion. But the mirror is dirty, it's concave, complex and it will show you not as you are but something other than as you are. That is what some religions do. You are a slave of God. You are a creature of God. You have no relationship with God. Everything is God's will. These are all furile teachings. Only Vedanta gives us the right teaching. So what is the point we are saying? Even though Shabda Pramanam is there, Vedic teachings are there, it has to be accessed only through a teacher. So a teacher is necessary for acquiring Atma Jnanam and a qualified teacher. Shrotriya Avarijnaha Akamaataha If when we are ready, we can definitely get such a kind of teacher. But there is a law. Whatever we are getting is the right teaching at our stage of development. So don't worry. When I am ready, the teacher is also ready, God is ready. When I grow up, mother automatically will give me what Sri Ramakrishna says, spiced curry and more quantity, etc. So whenever the Upanishads describe Brahman or Atman, our tendency is to look for that Atman as another object. There is Rama. Where? Where? Where? So everything we want to objectify. Objectifying is a wrong thing. What does the teacher do? Like the Upanishads, he becomes a mirror and said, when you hear his teachings, he becomes a mirror and says, but where is that Paramatma? He says, look at me. I am the mirror. And what do you see? Oh, I am that Paramatma. Yes, of course. That's what I am trying to tell you. So to get rid of this tendency of objectifying even God and even at the beginning, Ramakrishna objectified his Divine Mother and that was what Totapuri Maharaj helped him to get rid of. Get rid of that objectification. You must become or God must become you. You must become God. Then only that is the right teaching. So this tendency will be broken by the Guru many times. There was a very interesting incident. Sri Ramakrishna had undertaken the training of Narendra Nath. So one day Sri Ramakrishna wanted to smoke Abul Babul. Narendra was nearby and Sri Ramakrishna smoked and Narendra by that time came to know that no impure touch should be allowed to Sri Ramakrishna. Suddenly Sri Ramakrishna put his hands with which he himself smoked near the mouth of Naren and said, now my child you smoke. Swamiji was hesitating. He knew he was not that pure. If Swamiji was not pure, what about people like us? Anyway, so Sri Ramakrishna got annoyed and said, even now this differentiation between you and me, that is the idea. Similarly when Swamiji asked, have you seen God? Sri Ramakrishna meant, I have seen God means I have become one with God and the only way you can know it when you become one with God and I will show him to you. So this is what the Guru tries to get rid of by the denial of waking state, dream state and dreamless state. We will come to that. And what does he do? In order to convey his message like a small baby in the nursery school, he has to first of all Adhyaropa. Adhyaropa means you know this world is not God. It is Maya. After some time, when the disciple develops sufficient amount of discrimination, dispassion and not anything that is limited, then the disciple is led. My child, this Adhyaropa superimposition is only temporary means. Really speaking, there is no snake. There is only rope. Rope alone is the real, not the snake. This is called Apavada. Having this denied Jagat Mithya, the same Jagat is now revealed as none other than Brahman, but seen through the prism of the mind which is Medappa, time, space and causation. So to convey this highest truth that I am Brahman, you are that Tattvamasi, Upanishad is forced to use several types of languages and in my previous classes I have dealt, but very briefly I will give you. Dialectical method. That means what? This is first, this is next. Rational method. Sometimes the Upanishads use this method. Then ironical method. So what is the ironical? Kena Upanishad is used. The one who says I know, he doesn't know. And the one who thinks I do not know, he alone knows. This what you call paradoxical way of saying, ironical way of saying to convey the idea that so long as the mind functions and is identified with person doesn't know the truth. But when he goes beyond the mind, he knows it cannot be expressed. Sri Ramakrishna puts it in a very beautiful way. He says there were two sons to a householder. Both of them were sent to the Gurukula. After several years, both of them returned back. He asked the elder one, what did you learn? So he went on cataloging. I learned this and the other one and Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Itihasas, Dharmashastras, Smriti, Bhagavad Gita. And then after some time the father cut him short. Otherwise he would have gone on and on and on like me. He asked the younger one and simply he bent his head and he didn't say anything. The father understood. He alone was wise person. He really understood the other man has intellectual information but not real wisdom. So this is ironical language. Then paradoxical language. ... ... ... ... The Paramatman, where is it? It moves, doesn't move. It is far, it is near. It is inside, it is outside. This is called paradoxical language denying. It is night, it is day at the same time, at the same place. So this is how our pre-concepts slowly will be destroyed. Then evocative. You see Narasimha this person is a lion among men. He is a, what is called Krishna Arjuna in Rishabh. You are a Rishabha, Narasimha. You are a bull. It did not mean Arjuna was a bull. It means you have the tremendous strength and agility of a bull. The quality indicating. This is one type of language called evocative language. Her face is like the beautiful moon. And nowadays women can get horrified and say, is it so fat and round that you don't know where it begins and where it ends. The idea is it is a poetical language. Poets use this evocative language. Then of course the most negative language, Neti Neti. So Neti Neti. Agnivalka tells, Neti Neti. Is it this? No. Is it that? No. Then what is it? When you exhaust not this, not this, what remains? Who remains? Only the seeker remains. And that is the truth. Then to convey this idea some Mahavakyas are there. Usually four Mahavakyas are there and in this Mandukya Upanishad, Yamatma Brahma, this will come here, we will discuss. What is a Mahavakya? That which conveys the absolute identity between the so-called Jiva, Jivatma and Paramatma. This Jivabhava and Paramabhava are limitations. For that they give an example. This is that Devadatta whom I have seen 50 years back. Now that Devadatta 50 years back was a small child and this fellow is now an old man. How can he be the same? So you remove that time and this time. That state of the body and this state of the body, but there is an identity. It is the same Devadatta. Similarly, remove the Jivabhava from the Jivatma. Remove the Paramabhava from Paramatma. What remains is Atma and Atma. There are no two Atmas. That is the idea. So to understand this one, again Vedanta uses certain prakriyas to understand this Mahavakya. What is that? Vachiyartha and Lakshiyartha. Vachiyartha means direct superficial meaning of a sentence Mahavakya which doesn't make meaning in several instances and Lakshiyartha means what it means. I will give a small example. Suppose one day a friend comes to visit you and he is taking leave of you and you have to go to the shop or some place and you ask him by the way are you going by any chance in that direction? He says I will give you a ride. You didn't say I want a ride but the man understood you are not asking in which direction he was trying to go. He understands that you want a lift. Says Swamiji it is not very far. It is only just a few meters distance from which I plan to go I will as well drop you there and I will go back. So this is the first one is called Vachiyartha means what you hear direct meaning which doesn't serve many times the purpose. For example another funny example is given I want to drink water please give me some water and then what do you say what do you do? You bring water in a tumbler now you didn't ask for a tumbler you asked only for water but what is it implied nobody can bring water unless there is a container there a utensil there so it is implied there so Vachiyartha means superficial understanding. The Mahavakya doesn't make any meaning but Lakshiyartha means what is meant, what is intended the Guru what does he want to convey this is called Lakshiyartha and for that purpose Nayaikas have developed a wonderful Prakriya what is the Prakriya? It is called Lakshana Jahad Lakshana Ajahad Lakshana and Jahad Ajahad Lakshana I will explain very briefly but you have to do Manana, this is only Shramana any word can have two meanings one is direct, superficial called Vachiyartha the second is Lakshiyartha or indirect meaning or intended meaning, what is meant to be conveyed which is sometimes completely different from the direct meaning so when the teacher wants to explain the scriptures we have to discard the Vachiyartha and accept through his interpretation only what is called Lakshiyartha so for that three things are there and our Vedanta will give that beautiful example I am quoting it the first is called Jahad Lakshana Jahad Lakshana means without giving up what you heard you add something bring in some other word and make the meaning complete for example Gangayam Gosha these are classical examples in Vedanta you get if you study introduction to Vedanta Gangayam Gosha Gosha means a village Gangayam, on the Ganga yes there is a village obviously there can be no village on the waters of the Ganga or any river what it means is it is on the bank of the river so we have to add it is not on the waters of the Ganga but on the bank of the Ganga so you will not give up that Ganga but you add bank of the Ganga so this is how this Jahad Lakshana sometimes is used and we all use it in our day to day language only so then Jahad Lakshana here direct meaning is not completely rejected but another word is introduced to make the meaning logical the example for this is Haritaha Dhavati Haritaha means something green, Dhavati means is running furiously how can green color run so here it is illogical to construct something green so we have to say something green what is that something a horse, a bird an animal which is green in color is moving very fast so this is how you bring in another word in the first Lakshana, I forgot actually I have to correct myself Gangayam Ghoshaha, a village in the means that Gangayam is discarded actually and Gangatheera is introduced Gangajala is discarded, Gangatheera is introduced the word is removed another word is substituted in this second example without giving up the first word, you bring it yes so Lohitaha Dhavati red is running Lohitahashvaha Dhavati a red horse is running now only you have to add that word Ashvaha, you have not given up Lohitah or this Harith, but at the same time you have introduced some other word horse, cow bird etc then only it makes something very important but Vedanta cannot make meaning from these two Lakshanas so it takes recourse to the third Lakshana which is called Jahat, Ajahat, Lakshana here the direct meaning is not rejected but indirect meaning is taken that is done by removing those qualities or attributes which are contradictory but take the essence or similarity only Jahat and Ajahat something is retained, something is given up to arrive at the intended meaning I will illustrate it as I already told you in today's class, you met somebody, Mr. Lal you have met him 50 years back now you are meeting and you could not recognize him and some of your friends who know him when you come there the friend will introduce do you remember, this is that same Lal with whom you went to school 50 years back oh but physically externally and even internally there is no resemblance body has changed, time has changed, the gunas have changed but then you give up all these unnecessary things both from you and from that person you can say he is the same Lal same person the personality is understood the person means the body and then time and then the dimensions, changes are discarded and this is how a Mahavakya Jiva means what? Jivatma it has got two words Jiva plus Atma Paramatma, Parama plus Atma Jiva means limitation Parama means non limitation so you give up these two Upadhis, limitation and non limitation and what remains? indistinguishable Atma so we will come across many times this one, I am just briefly giving so when a person is taught by a Guru this is how my son we will have to understand what I am going to teach you, how? because this is how my teacher had taught me so there are three stages in spiritual progress Shravana Manana and Nidhi Dhyasana, what is Shravanam? Shravanam is continuous and consistent systematic study of Vedantic scriptures for a length of time, under the guidance of a qualified teacher with deep Shraddha Shastra, Uruvakyeshu Satya Buddhi Avadharana so what does he teach? he says, taking that third, Jehat Lakshana Tattvamasi Tatt means that which is Paramatma Tvam means you Jivatma Asi, you are the same how can I be the same? because this small part contains small space, big part contains bigger space but when you break both these limiting adjuncts called Upadhis Upahita that which is inside space it doesn't know any breakage any limitation, any division because space is indivisible it only seems to be divided so this is how Shravana, then go on thinking deeply until every doubt is completely eliminated and you become 150% like Girish Chandra was convinced of the truth of the world that comes from the mouth of one's Guru and then afterwards develop certain qualities that is called Nididhyasana slowly you become that by giving up your false limited Upadhis which are the waking body Vishwa, dreaming body Taijasa and sleeping body called Prajna, which this Mandukya Upanishad is clearly enumerating so this introduction is very very important please keep your mind filled and then say once you understand these concepts it is very easy for you to understand and then what is the meaning of the word Upanishad how many Upanishads are there and what do they teach is there any conflict between them in our next class I will come to that point and hopefully it will be a short introduction and then we can plunge into this Mandukya Karika and whatever I have spoken in these 8 classes will be repeated whenever the occasion comes that is how even if it takes time don't worry what is important is do you understand every single idea that I have been speaking about or the Upanishad is speaking about, I will stop here Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagad Gurum Pada Padme Dayos Ritva Pranamam Imuhur Muhuhu May Sri Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti