Mandukya Karika Lecture 017 on 22 September 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADME TAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM BHADRAM KARNE VISHNU YAMA DEVAHA BHADRAM PASHYE MAKSHA VIRYA JATRAHA STHIRAY RANGAYE STHUSHTU VAGAM SASTANUBHI VYASHEMA DEVAHI TANYADAYU SWASTHINA INDRO VRIDDHA SHRAVAHA SWASTHINA PUSHA VISHWA VEDAHA SWASTHINA STARKSHO ARISTA NIMI SWASTHINO BRIHA SPATIRGADHATU OM SHANTE SHANTE SHANTE HARE OM OM Oh 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 beneficial to all, may Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on us, may the all-nourishing potion be propitious to us, may Garuda, the destroyer of evil, be well disposed towards us, may Brihaspati ensure our welfare. OM Peace, peace, peace be unto all. We have been studying the Mandukya Upanishad with Yodapada Karikas and Shankara Bhashya. The very first mantra tells us everything is Omkara, the whole universe, creation, universe. We have to understand by the word universe, not only what our scientists call our cosmology, but there are so many worlds, invisible subtle worlds, Devaloka, Prajapatiloka, Indraloka, Gandharvaloka, Prajapatiloka, then Brihaspatiloka, ultimately the highest is called Brahmaloka. Everything, entire creation is nothing but Omkara. How could it be Omkara? That is the question. And for that, in our last class, I have quoted extensively, practically the whole chapter from the Bhakti Yuga of Swami Vivekananda, Om and its symbolism, significance. This is the explanation we have to put when we open the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. On the very first meeting of M, Sri Ramakrishna remarks that Sandhya emerges in Gayatri and Gayatri emerges in Omkara. So we have to understand merges means what? Removal of limitations is called merging. And when all the limitations, of which we are immediately aware of three, time, space and causation, but when we advance a little bit in spiritual life, ultimate Dvaita is the subject and object, I and everything else. And that is also nothing but Omkara. And Omkara is Brahman. I have suggested that you should have read that particular part of Swamiji's explanation of Om. But what is the summary of that entire thing is we can never separate the idea from the object. Padaartha means idea. And what is Artha? Artha here means external object. It is nothing but the only knowledge. What is outside, by proxy, we call it Sat, existence. And what is inside? When we divide ourselves into two, when I, the subject, experiences, like you know, we stand in front of a mirror and we see our reflection. Our reflection is like Sat. And we standing in front of the mirror, it is like Chit. If the mirror is fine, then it reflects exactly as it is. And in this world, that is how we have to behave. What is it? When the mind becomes Satvika, pure, then we see ourselves. Satvaguna also, we have to remember, means progressive control of the mind. And when the mind is completely controlled, then controlled means purified, full of Satvaguna. What does it do? It reflects, our mind becomes an unobstructed, pure mirror reflecting what we are. You see, there are some special machines called like X-rays. And when we take a photograph or whatever you call it, scan it through the X-ray, what the eyes cannot see, the X-ray can see. Similarly, ECG also. What is it? That it reveals to us the problems that are associated or there are no problems, whatever it is. That means it gives us right knowledge. And this attainment of the right knowledge is called the reflection. And then Tatha. When this state is attained, then what happens? The person knows, oh, I was thinking I was a human being, I was male, I was of such and such age, of such and such state of health, etc., etc., etc., etc. But divide up all those things, minus all those things, Upadhis. I am the pure consciousness. So there is no difference between me and what we call pure consciousness. When we understand this, then we ever remain in that state. Is there no possibility of falling down from that state? No. Why? Because this is the glory of right knowledge. Wrong knowledge appears to be right knowledge until it is sublated. But once it is sublated, once we know that this is sugar, this is sweet, until that time it is a white powder and it could be dangerous powder. But once we taste it, we know and that knowledge, right or wrong, it will guide our life. Our actions, reactions are according to our knowledge. But the scripture tells us we are really that Brahman, Atman, pure consciousness. If we are pure consciousness, that means there are no two pure consciousnesses, singular. Consciousness is always singular. Awareness is always plural. Awareness is plural. What is awareness? Consciousness limited by any object. Therefore, I have the knowledge of dog, I have the knowledge of a tree. This is called different spheres of knowledge, limited knowledge. They can be plural, any number. As many objects, so many knowledges. But the pure consciousness, which is being apparently seemingly circumscribed, limited by any of the Upadis, limiting agents, body, mind, our sense organs, our mind, etc. Then it is called awareness. Limited consciousness is called awareness. Unlimited awareness is called consciousness. That is the difference. But through perfect mind control, that means mind becomes pure, and the mind reflects nothing but that one vritti, aham brahmasmi vritti. An interesting question may be put here. Suppose a person has not gone beyond brahmakara vritti, what happens to him? The answer is nothing happens. Once that knowledge comes in the mind, 100% knowledge, that aham brahmasmi, which is called brahmakara vritti, or aham kalika asmi, I am Mother Kali, aham krishno asmi, ramo asmi, shivo asmi, then two things happen. Mano buddhyahankara chittaninaham. Simultaneously. As soon as the limited knowledge of the serpent is destroyed, and it can be destroyed only when the right knowledge comes and the sufficient light is brought, then the dawn of the knowledge of the rope and the destruction of the wrong knowledge take place simultaneously. This is called brahmakara vritti. So if that person has been practicing I am everything, I am everybody, everybody is me, everybody, everything is nothing but me. So it is as good as attaining to the highest state. But that vritti belongs to the mind just as when we break. This is a beautiful equation. Suppose you are standing in front of a mirror, and mirror is very good mirror, excellent mirror, and it is reflecting exactly as you are. Then bring a hammer and break the mirror. Now the question is, what happens to this reflection? Well, losing its limitations imposed by the mirror, it becomes resolved into the I, you, whoever is standing. Similarly, what happens to the serpent when right knowledge comes? Well, what is a serpent? Limited knowledge of rope is called serpent. So as soon as the full knowledge comes, the partial knowledge becomes merged in that full knowledge, full consciousness. Again, I am dwelling on it. We have to live with these things for a long time. I will give an example. I have given that one example. You have a beautiful big window, and it is capable of giving perfect light when there is light outside, daytime, but you have covered it with one single thick black curtain so that not a ray of light is coming out of that. Then what do you do? You take a scissor and place the cutout. Cutout means you have already cut a dog in that black curtain. What happens? You see light in the form of a dog. So also man, so also anything in this world. And that is what happens on a cinema screen. Everything is light only. Hero is light. Heroine is light. Villain is light. Heroes are light. Train is light. Fire is light. Everything we enjoy for more than two hours is nothing but pure light only. So as soon as the light is switched off, what happens? All the limited lights now, losing their limitation, become completely merged in the pure light. But why can't I see it? Because there must be some substratum for it to manifest. And that substratum in this example is the screen. But the light is put off. The screen is there. So all the limitations imposed by the screen is now resolved back into the pure light. So these three illustrations. Similarly, if you have experienced something in your dream, what happens? Well, as soon as you wake up, the dream world, the dream individual, the dream witness, everything becomes merged in the waker self. One waker by Nidra Shakti, that sleeping power, Nidra Shakti, projects into, divides himself into almost infinite parts of this world. That is called dream world. And as soon as you do that, then what happens? You go on thinking, this is reality. Why? Because you can't see what is beyond the limitation. But as soon as you wake up, what happens? The dream subject, the dream object, the dream world, everything becomes merged in the waker self. Oh, I have been imagining things like that. That is how you don't give any value because you have not lost any value. An extreme example is somebody discharged a terrible gun against you in the dream. The sound of the gun woke you up. And you found yourself falling after the sound of the gun. But actually that is not true because sound travels faster than even light as it were. And by that time you come to know you woke up. What happens? A vague memory, I was killed. But then that I was alive and I was killed. Both imperfect knowledges become merged in the waker knowledge. I am there before the dream, while dreaming, after the dream. No change has taken place in my mind. It is a kalpana. Same thing happens when we can also get into that state called turiya state. Actually it is a misnomer to call it a state. It is not a state. So waking is a state, dreaming is a state, sleeping is a state, turiya is another state. No. Without which waking, dreaming, sleeping is not possible which is the substratum of all but limited by the waking self, waking experience, waking world, dreamer self, dreamer, dreaming world, dream world and dreamer experience. Similarly sleeper and sleeping world, sleeping experience. Then we give different names such as Vishwa, Taijasa and Prajna in their individual capacity but in their universal capacity we give the names Virat, Hiranyagarbha and Ishwara. But let us not deviate from our point. What is the point? Whatever creation is there, first of all it is existing and secondly it is limited by time, space and causation. And therefore this word causation, we seek a reason who created it, when did he create it, how did he create it but then all these questions are only asked only in the waking state and sometimes in the dream state, rarely but yes sometimes. But when we are in the sleeping state, why? Prajnana Gana, both waking duality and dreaming duality become subsumed, merged, resolved. That is why there is only one unbroken consciousness. Unbroken means not broken by the waking state or dream state but here there is still ignorance is there because as soon as we wake up, definitely if I am undergoing a sleeping state, I have to wake up. So before going to sleeping state, I was in the other states. While I am in the sleeping state, I am not aware of both but as soon as the waking state comes, then I become aware I was asleep. Never can you say I am asleep. I was asleep. Anyway this is all introduction to what we are going to discuss and what is that we are going to discuss in this first prakarana or chapter of the Mandukya. 12 mantras are there and the karikas of Gaudapadacharya 215 and the Shankaracharya's commentary on these 12 mantras and then 215 karikas. So first 12 mantras, then Gaudapada karikas and then we have got Shankaracharya's commentary which elaborates many things but not everything and to clarify those points we have got Anandagiri Suttika. So with all these things we can really simplify what I am talking about. There is no inside-outside. There is Sathya is outside. Chit is inside. No. The Nama and Rupa, the object and its idea, knowledge, they are not separate. If we are looking from the viewpoint of the all the objects, we call it Brahman, ith Nama Rupa and if we are calling all these things and the one word, which represents every word just as 26 letters of English alphabet represent billions and billions of words of the biggest Oxford, Webster dictionaries, etc. So every object, when it loses its name and form and that final substratum is called Brahman and every word, when it loses its special characteristics, it is called Omkara and so Omkara and Brahman are Vagarthaviva Sampruktav. They are inseparable like speech and its meaning. Sound word and its meaning. Jagathah Pitarav. Like the mother and father, Parvati Parameshwarav. Taken our way, separate. That is what Ramakrishna was telling us. Brahman and Shakti are one and the same. So now, this is the central idea expressed in the very first mantra. Everything is Omkara. Or to put it in a better way, you can say everything is Brahman. Now observe carefully. What did I say? Everything is Brahman. When we say everything is Brahman, you just substitute that word Brahman is nothing but Omkara. You substitute that word Brahman with this word Omkara. Then the whole mantra stands completely revealed. Why? Because when you remember Omkara, you remember Brahman. When you remember Brahman, you remember Omkara. And the entire creation. Creation was in the past. Creation is now. And creation will be there. How long? How much back we can go? There is no back. There is no front. It is like a circle. Circle is a beautiful symbol representing infinity. So any point is a beginning point and any point is an end point. So you can turn to the left or right or above or below. It is nothing but one infinite circle. There is only symbolism. So to understand the first mantra in this, what is the mantra says? Call it this entire creation without Nama Rupa is called Brahman. And this entire knowledge of every single object when the distinction, for example, this is a tree. This is a dog. This is a man. This is a table. You can add any number of sentences like that. This is a dog. This is a man. This is a table, etc. What is common? After what comes, this is a. After that what comes is the limiting factor. Man, dog, table, tree, whatever it is. When we identify ourselves with that generalized substratum called existence, then that is called Brahman. And that is the first point. Second point is if there is something existent, it must be known by somebody. I already mentioned it several times, but again I am reminding you. You cannot argue. Oh yes, there is something. Have you seen it? No. Has anybody seen it in the past? No. Is anybody going to see it in the future? No. To talk of the existence of such a thing which has never been known, experience means to be known, such a thing doesn't exist. Existence cannot exist without knowledge and knowledge cannot exist without existence. Very slightly I will elaborate it. Supposing you say, I know all about this person. What are you talking about? I have knowledge about this person. Knowledge about whom? About this particular object whom I am calling a person. He may be my neighbor or known person or introduced by somebody and he is living on the other side of the Atlantic or Pacific. Whatever it is, you have known that person. Without knowing, you can never have knowledge. So this is what Omkara represents all the knowledge and Brahman represents all the Sat. So what happens? This Sat and Chit always go together. Now when the Sat and Chit becomes limited by the power of Maya in a particular way and through certain instruments, for example, mind plus body plus five sense organs, it is called Jagrat Avastha, state of waking. It is called Jagrat Prapancha, the waking world and it is experienced by the waker who is called Vishwa and so on. So that experience is the knowledge. So Vishwa, Jagrat Prapancha, Jagrat Avastha. And now slowly, this is the beautiful thing, naturally you are not thinking that I am tired, I must now become free from these external things. No. Nature itself has provided. Then you go into that subtle thing. That means what are you doing? You are merging your body, your external world and all the five sense of external, five sense organs, everything into the mind in the form of pure knowledge and with that knowledge you are recreating your world according to your Raga and Dvesha likes and dislikes and here only the mind functions and this is called Swapna Prapancha. This state is called dream state, Swapna Avastha and this is the person who experiences individually, he is called Tejasa. Tejasa means light. Subtle, anything subtle is always lighter, more pervading, more hard to understand because it is subtle. So this is the dream world. Then the same person comes into another state. He is tired. Remember always. We are not deliberately saying that we have to go into that third state called Nidra. No, no, no. It is called Sushupti. That is complete emergence of Jagrat and Swapna in its causal state. That is why it is called Karana Prapancha. The person who experiences it is called Pragnaha and the world it is called Karana Prapancha and this is called Sushupti Avastha. This is from the individual point of classification. But here is another very important point. You can never think of yourself as individual. I am so and so. I am X so and so. You forget the entire world and then say I am so and so. Can you think of yourself as an individual unless it is in the background, in the context, in the substratum of the entire universe? It is never ever possible. So you realize and we act also like that. You open your eyes and you will see. First of all you say I am a man. I am a woman. And when you grow up simultaneously when you come across another man or woman you say this is also a man like me and this is also a woman like me. How can man woman be like you? How can woman be like a man? Then you bring something which unifies both and that is called humanity. I am a human being and there children, old people and all living human beings, male, female, Indian, non-Indian, whatever language all become completely one. Without that background I cannot say I am an Indian. There is a funny joke was there that Indians is found mainly in India only. Unfortunately. What is it? In India there is not one single Indian. How? There are one and a half billion or so people are there. Are they not Indians? No, no, no. They are not Indians. They are only calling themselves Indians to take advantage of Indian government cheating Indian government cheating, bankers are cheating, customers are cheating the shopkeepers are cheating everybody is cheating each other. That is normal condition. So, who is living there in India? Here are Telugu people, here are Kannada people, Punjabi people, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamilians and Bengalis and Uttar Pradesh people, Madhya Pradesh people, Himalaya people, Kashmiri people. Yes. Where is the Indian? That patriotism has not yet come. So long as it doesn't come India is going to suffer terribly. Take it from me. Until at least some percentage of Indianism comes into our I am an Indian. I am proud to be an Indian as Swami Vivekananda used to say. Swami Vivekananda was criticized. Why are you eating this forbidden food in the western countries especially America? Swamiji wrote very sweetest, criticizing stinging terribly You know sir, I understand your concern. Please send an Indian cook along with all the provisions. Then I will eat only purest Indian food cooked by the purest Indian. But that is where the correspondence stops. So, this where as soon as a man says, I am a human being, all barriers of religion, of language, of class, of society, of this varna and of being small, everything will be in one stroke removed. My identity is with the humanity. What does it mean? What does it imply practically? It means if just as I feel myself, I am the whole body nobody ever says I am the hand, I am the leg, I am the ear, I am the eye, etc. Any part of the body, if it feels happiness, then the entire personality experiences happiness. Similarly, any part of the body, take a small pin, after all this is your leg. It is not very important. It is always coming into touch with dirt, etc. Rough surfaces, etc. Let me prick you, it doesn't matter. It will not pain you as much as it will pain you when I prick your hand. Now, equal amount of pain is felt because we are identified with the entire body. If this kind of feeling comes, any human being suffering, then I am also suffering. Any human being is happy, I am also happy, then I attained to the state of being one with, I can claim I am a human being, I belong to the human community. Swamiji, when there was an earthquake, without knowing where and how and how it ends, he felt terrible pain. Next morning, the telegraph came, nearly thousands of people died somewhere in Turkish land because of the earthquake. That is called humanity. But, even this is a limitation. Then the next upper, higher and broad generalization is what is called I am a prani. Whether it is a mosquito, and that is what Naga Mahasaya had attained to that state. So, this is I am a prani. Anything that has got prana, and that is me, and I am that prani, that prani is me. What a beautiful concept. Whereas, this great Shankaracharya, he saw a chandala and then he said, get out of my pathway. As if, he warned the entire Kashi, being a sanyasi, such a thing should never come. Why did not he get out with folded hands and say, maybe Lord Shiva is coming in this form. Anyway, very interesting episode. Then he wrote, his buddhi had come, and he wrote Manisha Panchakam. We discussed about it in quite an elaborated detail. Coming back, so, even this is a limitation, because there are some objects which do not exhibit or manifest. Remember, they do not lack life and consciousness. But, they do not manifest in that particular state. So, what is that state called? It is chara and achara, sthanu. So, everything is nothing but Brahman. A blade of grass is nothing but Brahman with nama rupa. And by the way, if there would be no blade of grass, there would be no chicken, no cow, no goat, etc., for people to eat. It is all nothing but pure prana is there. That's what Holy Mother says. I see even this ant, it is also nothing but Brahman crawling. If this jiva dies in Kashi, it will get liberation. Ramakrishna said, I see Brahman wriggling in the form of nama rupa limitation of this insect. Never even find fault with an insect, because the insect is fully manifesting its divinity according to what God had allowed through that particular body and mind. So, this enlightened person says, I am the mountains, I am the stars, I am the earth, I am the forest, I am all the rivers, I am everything. Then sarvam kalvidam brahma. Nothing is excluded from that. So, this is the goal. Now, why did I take such a long time? To emphasize the fact that nama and nami, ankara and brahman, object and its corresponding knowledge can never be separated. In fact, they are not two in one. They are one appearing from which angle you are seeing. If you are looking from the subjective side, it appears as the object. And if you are in the position of an object, then it appears that you are the object and somebody is observing you. So, very interesting, you know. I will give you a little bit funny example. And you are in a new room and there is no mosquito curtain and there is a mosquitoes and they are all your fans. They want to be near you. They want to become ekatva pratipadana. They want to mix up with you. So, they are coming nearer and nearer. Now, what is your position? Are you the subject or are you the object? From your viewpoint, mosquito is a ferocious object. From the mosquito's point of view, this person is a great mystic, is very sweet. I want to come and become one with him. So, both subject and object will be there. This is when we are identified as a subject. We see everything as object. That is Brahman with name and form. When we are identified as the object, then we are looking at the, this, I am the what is called this subject. etc. This is what 24 hours a day. When, supposing you are a small officer in your office and when you are looking at your officers, you are the object and your officer is the subject. And when you are looking down at your those who are below you and you are the subject, I can do whatever I like. I command them. Your voice changes. Your reaction changes. Everything changes. Every second, this interaction is going on. That is what the Upanishad wants to tell. You attain to the highest generalization where when you identify yourself both with the living and non-living and everything that is living and non-living had a past as a present and will have a future uninterruptedly, unbrokenly. So, then you will understand there is only Advaita. There is no Dvaita at all. Scriptural reading is in the state of not Advaita but Dvaita. Not to speak of Advaita, even when you are asleep also and many of my audience, they attain to that state even while listening to me. I am a great hypnotizer in that respect. Very refreshing Swami, my title has been. So, you see, the Upanishad wants to tell everything is Omkara. What do you mean by other Upanishads are talking about? Yes, other Upanishad is talking everything is Brahman. What the other Upanishad is talking everything is Brahman is what Mandukya Karika is telling. Yes, everything is Brahman and Brahman is Omkara. Omkara is everything. Everything is Brahman. Just imagine a triangle. Everything is Brahman. Brahman is Omkara. Omkara is everything. Everything is Omkara. Omkara is Brahman. Brahman is everything. You go from right to left. You go from left to right. Ultimately, that division will be there so long as we are struggling. But the moment that unity happens by the grace of Guru, God's scripture, then there is no mind to analyze to say whether this is one and that is the other. That is outside and this is inside. Such a thing will be totally eliminated. That is what we have to understand. Okay. So, now I will go into it. Even though I went through, I will go a little bit. Now I am answering to your question. This is assumed question. What is assumed question? Again, Knowing about the Omkara and deciding this is the nature of Omkara. Upayatva means instrument. means the nature of the Atman, self-knowledge. means attainment. How can this Omkara become an instrument in the knowledge, obtaining the knowledge of Atman? The answer to this question is, see, this is a we already discussed, but I am just reminding it to you. So, Rajju means a rope. So, Sarpa, Vikalpas, any number of Vikalpas, a bent stick, a streak of water, a garland, or a plastic material, bent material, any number of according to your past experience you can imagine, but the substrate of every one of these imaginations is nothing but Rajju. Remove the rope, all the Vikalpas will disappear at all. So, that is what it is telling. Remove the magician, all the different magics will automatically get removed. That means there must be a substratum. So, what is the substratum? Advayam Atma Paramarthatah. In reality, the highest truth is Advayam Atma Aspadham. Atma alone, one pure consciousness, which is called Sat-Chit-Ananda, is the Aspadham. Aspadham means substratum. Of what? Pranadi Vikalpasya. What is Pranadi Vikalpasya? Annamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha, and Anandamaya Kosha. And everything, living, non-living, everything, substratum. How do we say that? We already discussed, just now I have discussed that. What is it? A mountain. This is a mountain. This is a man. This is a animal. So, what comes after A? This is A. This is A. This is A. You remove that and what happens? Only this is. Even that A disappears. That A is useful only so long there we see many things. This is. And that's all. This is. That means only Satya is there. And this discussion is based upon the 6th chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad which I will come when the time comes. Tatha. Exactly in this way, Sarvopi Vakprapanchaha. Sarvopi. In its entirety. Vakprapanchaha means all the names and Pranadi Atmavikalpavisheha. All the objects. All the Panchakoshas. Sthula Sukshma Karana Shariras. The entire, what is called cosmos creation. Omkara Eva. Everything is nothing but Omkara. So is the non-dual Atman which is the ultimate reality. It is substratum of such imaginations as the vital breath, etc. Vital breath means what, you know? Vital breath means everything. The whole thing. Satya Atmaswaroopameva. And we said earlier, just now, everything is Omkara. And Satya, that Omkara is nothing but Atmaswaroopameva. Nothing but Atman. Whether you say this is a table or you touch the table and say this is a table, it makes no difference because there is no such duality called knowledge is separate from the object. When you have knowledge, you remember the object. When you experience the object, you remember the knowledge in the form of memory. I also mentioned that first time when you are experiencing something, then it is called cognition. Every time thereafter, it is called recognition, means you bring back the memory I know, I have seen this object. It is so and so. Like that. Everything is nothing but Atman. Omkara is nothing but Atman. Why? What is the reason? Because Om is really the same essential character as the Atman. Tat means Omkara. Tat Atmanah of the Atman Avidayaka. Atman is the object and Omkara is the name, the Shabda. Omkara Vikara Shabda Avidyescha Sarvaha. Similarly, Om is the substratum of the entire illusion of the world of speech. Everything, every word that we utter from Akara to Makara. So the entire 52 alphabetical letters of Sanskrit is nothing but they are all compressed within this, from the root of the throat to the end of the lips are U and Ma. You cannot produce to me one single name which is outside this what is called the sound box and that sound box is represented by completely A, U and Ma. Om that means the entire 52 letters are comprised in A, U and Ma and try and say I will invent a new word, new letter new sound which will be outside this and if you succeed then 50-50 we will become partners. So Omkara, Vikara Shabda, Abhidecha, Sarvaha So Om is the substratum because every time we utter a single word and we are taking the help of the Omkara only. Every time we say this is an object we are taking the substratum called Is. Without that Is there would be no object. So without Omkara there would be no name at all. Prana, Dehi, Atma, Vikalpaha, Abhidhana, Vyatrikena, Nasti. All illusions such as Pranamaya, Kosha, etc. Sthula, Sukshma, Karanava, Sariras, etc. having Atman for their substratum and denoted by such words which are but modifications of Om and so they cannot exist without names which are but the modification of Om having for its corresponding contents. Such illusory objects as Prana, etc. imagined in Atman for it is the name for Atman. What we discussed earlier entire object or if you remove Nama and Rupa that is called Sat and the entire names if you remove that Nama, Rupa of the name etc. knowledge then what remains is pure knowledge, pure consciousness. So every name is modification of consciousness. That's all. And that modification of consciousness in the form of Shabda is called Om. In the form of object that is called Prapancha or Jagat. So, Tad Asyaitam Vacha Tantya Namavihi Damavihi Sarvam Sitam Sarvam Hidam Namani. Now the Upanishad is quoting what we call the whole world is nothing but it is the warp and woof of Omkara. What is the first point? Name and its denoted object can never be separated. And every name is a modification of Om. And every object is modification of pure consciousness. So, if you remove the modifications from both, there is nothing to distinguish between Omkara and this Brahman or Atman. etc. So, how is it? Take a piece of cloth and your sari or a dhoti or a chaddar. What does it contain? Some threads are across, some threads are lengthwise. These are called warps and woofs. And if you remove warp and woof, what remains? Pure threads will remain. And the threads are depending upon cotton. And the cotton has come from tree. Tree has come from existence. Existence is another name for Brahman. So, everything is, the dress is nothing but so it has been limited by so many things but ultimately it appears for us to be nothing but a dress. And if you address the issue, the dress becomes dressless and that dresslessness is called Brahman. So, this is supported by such Shruti passages as all these are rendered possible in experience by names etc. Therefore, it is said and up to here we have seen what Shankaracharya is telling, the essence of what we discussed so far. Every object is modification of Brahman or Atman. Every knowledge in the mind is nothing but modification of Omkara. And ultimately if you remove all modifications from the objects, it becomes pure Sat. And if you remove all modifications from the sound, then it becomes Chit. And Sat and Chit, then you cannot make any difference because Shakti is not there which divides it into these two. One is outside, one is inside, one is there, one is here, etc. This is the truth. Then why are the Upanishads telling? Because it simply wants to say you meditate upon Om and you pray sincerely, focus your mind on Om and ultimately Omkara will take you in the beginning to that Brahman and Omkara merges in Brahman and you also, you merge in Omkara Omkara merges in Brahman. That is to say the rituals merge in you, in your mind and your mind merges in Omkara and Omkara merges in Brahman and ultimately what remains is only Aham Brahmasmi. So I will stop here. From next week onwards, we are going to take up the Upanishadic first mantra itself and then we will discuss about it. Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padmetayo Sritva Pranamami Namah Arnab.