Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 08 on 16 June 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Chandogya Upanishad which belongs to the Samaveda. A very important point we have to keep in mind when we learn by hearing statements like TAT TVAM ASI. You are that highest reality. We should not question the scripture or the Guru. But we must question our conclusions. Especially since we know that we feel 100% that we are the very opposite of Brahman. So we discussed yesterday there are worldly people who never find out the truth about the world which is it consists of many defects classified into three called Doshatrayam. But having faith in the scriptures, here in this case Veda, he follows a Vedic way of life and at the beginning only Karmakanda and his mind becomes purified so that his intelligence correctly understands that the problems of the world can never be solved so long as we are in the world. There will be defects even if God comes down. That is to say if God incarnates or even after realization a person comes back into this world since there is the body and mind operating they have to go through their particular nature which is change, becoming old, becoming decrepit, becoming weak and getting all sorts of diseases and finally death. So there is a beautiful Bengali saying that Brahma when caught in the net of the five elements weeps. Weeps means suffers. Of course when Brahma is caught in the net of the world we are not talking about the consciousness, we are talking about the instruments through which he operates. In our case body mind complex. So such a person what should he do? He understands there is only the very Veda which he has been following for many many lives perhaps will teach him that there is no solution in this world and there is no problem in Brahman. Brahman is defect free so he wants to know how to realize that Brahman or how to attain that Brahman. For that purpose the scriptures strictly tell us we must take refuge under a qualified Guru who must fulfill three conditions. He must be strict adherent of the scriptures. He must be completely pure, no impure life and he must not have any motive. If the disciple is sincere the grace of God comes in the form of such a Guru but it doesn't mean to say that we all require realized soul. As a Sufi saint so beautifully puts it even a person who is one foot ahead of me is qualified to take me to that higher one foot. So we should not think is my Guru a realized soul? Most often more often than not he is not but is he sincere? Is he struggling? Is he leading trying to lead a pure life? That is the criteria we have to accept. Then the Guru as we discussed yesterday accepts such a disciple and the disciple has to fulfill three conditions laid down by Bhagavan Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. He should surrender himself that means he should never doubt the teachings of the Guru and he should serve him and then he has to put appropriate questions. Then out of compassion God only through that body complex which we now choose to call as Guru teaches him. What does the teacher do? He initiates the person assuring him into a new life and he does it most commonly through four popular Mahavakyas. Yesterday we discussed these things so please recollect them. But what about a person who is a contemplative of Saguna Brahma, personal God? For that also God comes in the form of the teacher only. He initiates in the mantra of that particular chosen deity which the aspirant can love wholeheartedly and then we are talking here the traditional methodology. So first of all the Guru ascertains the fitness of the enquirer then he initiates into one of the Mahavakyas. Earlier I mentioned what happens to a devotee is only to exclude the misunderstanding that we are only followers of Jnana Marga. No. Then there is a step-by-step guidance Shravana. He teaches him after initiation the Guru teaches the disciple appropriate meaning every day perhaps or as often as possible or whenever necessary he takes classes and then he tries to answer all the problems, doubts, clears the doubts in the process called Shravana Manana Vidhi Tyasana. Having heard from the teacher a disciple has to continuously contemplate and try to get rid of every possible doubt until all the doubts are completely eliminated and then he will come to the conclusion. What the Guru taught is absolute truth and he wants to get that knowledge then he does transform his life and that transformation of life is called Vidhi Tyasana. That deep contemplation for getting rid of all doubts is called Manana. So this is a process that has to go on until one realizes God. We also discussed that if we want to obtain knowledge then we have to go through certain processes. How this knowledge comes to us? In four beautifully clearly defined words we have seen. So the person who wants to have right knowledge is called Brahmata and the object about which he wants to know and in this case not only worldly objects but even God is an object. Remember until we realize God he is only an object of our mind, a thought, a vritti including that is what is called Brahmakara Vritti. So that is called Prameya, the object about which we want to know but for that purpose if we want right knowledge we have to employ the right methodology which is called Pramana. Pramana means right means of right instrument so that we can get right knowledge. If we want correct knowledge the instrument must be the right knowledge, right instrument that is called Pramana and if all these three are right then the result is called Prama. Prama means right knowledge, not any knowledge but right knowledge. So Pramana leads to the acquisition of the Prama or knowledge and the one who wants to have that knowledge, acquire that knowledge is called Pramata. Pramata, Pramanena, Prameya that is Prama, knowledge, Prapnoti. Pramata the subject obtains correct knowledge called Prama by using a right instrument called Pramana about the specific object called Prameya and in this case we are talking about Praman. So there are by implication two types of knowledge, worldly knowledge and knowledge of God and to have knowledge of the world there are according to our Vedantic teachers five Pramanas are employed. So what are those five but before that I would like to mention the teacher also to make our desire for Brahman very strong he also analyzes what is called Shariratraya, three types of bodies. My son you say I am so and so. What do you mean by so and so? Because you are undergoing, you are using three types of bodies for experiencing three types of, three states of experience and for each state of experience you are becoming a different person. So there are three states from birth to death, from creation until we obtain knowledge of Brahman everyone whether it is a mosquito, amoeba or a spiritual aspirant has to go through these three. The Guru explains clearly what is it that there are three states of experience, a waking, a dream and the deep sleep. We have thoroughly analyzed these things by the grace of Gaudapadacharya in the Mandukya Karikas. How are these three states experienced through three different instruments because the state is different, the instrument also is different. This waking state can be experienced with the help of the body and also this along with the help of the mind but through the body mainly consisting of the five sense organs. This is called the gross body and the name of this person is called Vishwa, waker but when he lies on the bed or by sitting also on a sofa more often than not or traveling in a bus or aeroplane or train, walking, any state he can fly through the imaginary world that is called dream state and there the gross body will not help us. It is only the subtle body called Sokshma Sarira and there he obtains a special name called Taizasa and then there comes another state which is continuous, the very opposite of restlessness for several hours. The measurement is from the waking point of view because we really go beyond time, space and causation in deep sleep. That is called deep sleep, that is called Sushupti. There he gets a name that is called Prajna. So this is to experience three states, a living creature, a Jeevatma must go through, must take the help of three types of bodies, the gross, the subtle and the causal and this is the Vichara. Why does the Guru want to explain this? Because your concept of reality in the waking state is completely overridden in the state of dream which is again negated totally in the state of deep sleep which is again negated in the waking state. Continuously you are changing your identity. Then you say I am so and so, tell me now who are you and the disciple for the first time understands that I do not have any proper identity because every world is changing continuously first. Secondly, each state negates the other two states continuously. Third, very important Vedantic principle, whatever I experience is not me. If I am seeing you, I am not you. If you are seeing me, you are not me. If I am seeing a tree, I am not the tree. So whatever I am experiencing that I am not. Apply this not only external objects but including this body, I am experiencing the body. This is my hand, I am able to see it etc. Then by this principle I cannot be the body because the subject and the object are diametrically opposite. The knower and the known, the experiencer and the experienced are totally, thoroughly, completely opposite to each other. So if I am not the waker, dreamer or sleeper then I must be somebody else. So this is a Vedantic principle though we forget often that I am not my house, I am not my car, I am not my bank balance, I am not my job, I am not the body, I am not the mind. Then what is my description? Just the opposite of body and mind. Whatever the body and mind are, I must be just the opposite otherwise I will fall into that category only. But no, I am not like that. So this is a very important analysis and in Bhakti Marga this is explained in a different matter. God created you and therefore you are different from God. But if you want to be free from all trouble you have to go to heaven and Jesus Christ says unless a man dies and is reborn many people misunderstand it and many people even don't understand it. What is this death? We have to die to the knowledge I am the body, I am the mind. Then only he will enter into the kingdom of heaven that is complete oneness with Brahma. So we have studied this Avastha Traya, Sharira Traya and the same concept has been explained in another Upanishad especially the Taittiriya in the second chapter called Brahmananda Valli but more importantly in the last chapter, third chapter called Bhrigu Valli. So this is what he is trying to explain. Then the Guru comes to this that how do I obtain knowledge and I have given the hint they are called Pramana. Pramana means I must employ right Pramana. Supposing I want to see a tree, I have to employ my eye. I want to experience a sound, eye will not work, nose will not work, tongue will not work, skin doesn't work, only one instrument works. So the eye cannot do the function of any of the other four sense organs and similarly so if I want to smell something only nose can work. So five sense organs are authority only for that particular experience but as I said all these are harmonized by the mind inside our mind. So a particular Pramana again I want to clarify. The eye is an authority only with regard to forms, colors. Then ears are authority only for the sounds, the nose is the authority for the smells, the tongue is the authority for the tastes and the skin called Tvak, Sparsha is authority only in knowing whether it is cold or hot or whether it's something is soft or something is hard. So our knowledge becomes incomplete if we lose any one of these sense organs and there are some people who have defective, some people cannot see, some people cannot smell but all these organs become including the mind become totally useless when we are in deep sleep. So the point is if we want to get right knowledge even about the world, partial knowledge, doubtful knowledge or wrong knowledge all these can be a result if the Pramana, right instrument is not employed properly. So these Pramanas for the sake of obtaining worldly knowledge are five. Actually Pramanas are six but the last sixth Pramana is called Shabda Pramana. It is also what is called teachings of the Upanishads. I will come to that but these six Pramanas are there. What are they? Very briefly I want to go through. What is the purpose of the Pramanas? So to have the right knowledge about the world or about Brahman but the last Pramana called Shabda Pramana. Shabda Pramana also means the words of a realized soul which is the only authority and Veda means the direct experience of a Rishi called Mantra Drashta and about God, about afterlife, whether there is life after death of the body, whether there are other worlds like this earth. That knowledge can be obtained only through the Veda not through the other five Pramanas. So to seek this knowledge I need the right instrument called Pramana and I must use the right Pramana for any particular type of knowledge. If I want to see colors for example I must use the eye but before we go into the detail we have to assume or presume that there is sufficient, my sense organ is working perfectly, the object is also, it has its own light and when I am talking about light, the light of the eye, the light the eye requires is separate from the lights other sense organs require. For example if I want to have right knowledge after hearing a sound my ears must be functioning very well and there must not be any distortion of the sound so the sound must clearly reach and the source of the sound must not be deceptive, incomplete etc. is a big Shastra. I am not going to go into it but I will just give you a hint. Suppose somebody is shouting, first I will give you a small example, so you are walking in the darkness on a big motorway and suddenly you hear a horn from behind you and then you are not seeing it but that is a right means of knowledge, oh there must be a car behind me and then you hastily go to a safe place on the pavement etc. But supposing somebody is there and he is shouting that Mr. Williams is, you can clearly understand Williams is a person, is also you can understand but you can't get knowledge because that sentence is not complete, for a complete sentence there must be a subject, an object and a verb only then Mr. Williams is seeing a beautiful star then the meaning is clear. So everything must be appropriate, our instruments must be appropriate, the objects must be clearly in the field of our particular sense organ and there must not be any distortion, person must not be a drunken person and there should not be other disturbing or distorting disturbances, we have to presume that one, then only the knowledge will be right knowledge. So what are these Pramanas? Why we have to analyse? Because after analysing about these five Pramanas we come to know that these five Pramanas may be good in giving us the knowledge of the world but completely useless in the acquisition of who am I or Brahman or Atma Vidya, Atma Jnanam or Brahman, God. So now coming back every student of Vedanta is taught about these six Pramanas and he is also given the teaching that the first five Pramanas are useful only so far as worldly knowledge is concerned but so far as spiritual knowledge is concerned only the last Pramana called Shabda Pramana is available. Just see how our Rishis made such a depth study of everything when thousands of years ago Vedas are supposed to be at least according to our calculation Vedas are eternal but according to our historical knowledge more than 10,000 years back there was a civilization on the banks of the Saraswati river now in Punjab now it is underground and the Vedic civilization had flourished. At that time these people have employed all their body and minds to find out these marvelous things so that they can pass on these specific knowledge to people like these tools. Let us call all these tools for us to accomplish our purpose. Now we will talk about what are these Pramanas. The very first is called Pratyaksha. I am able to see, I am able to hear, I am able to smell, I am able to taste, I am able to touch directly. Not somebody's description. It is called Pratyaksha. Aksha means an eye. Pratyaksha means direct perception but it is a misnomer to say that is a direct perception but for the moment we will leave that subject. Pratyaksha means I am seeing you directly or some object and that is the most authoritative instrument of knowledge of that particular object which I am perceiving. So we have five sense organs and all of them can have Pratyaksha, direct experience in the form of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching. Shabda, sparsha, rooparasa, gandha and this is the basic and only instrument of knowledge so far as the world is concerned and there are other four Pramanas, an instrument of knowledge which are based upon this Pratyaksha Pramana. What are they? Anumana, Arthapatti, Upamana and Anupalabdhi. What are these? So first of all, the second Pramana. It is not actually second, third, fourth, fifth. All what is called subtitles we have to put A, B, C, D. Under 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D. What is the first one? Anumana, inference and we do it all the time. What is it? It is to know something indirectly when it is not in the range of direct experience. So as I said, when I hear the sound of a bus, horn of a bus, then I infer and why does that fellow do sound the horn? So that maybe I am walking in the middle of the road, I must quickly hasten to the side of the road. That is the purpose to avoid the accident or the classical example is you get up in the morning. Imagine you are in a place where there are some hills. Suddenly you see smoke billowing towards the sky and then you are not seeing the fire. But your previous experience in the kitchen and elsewhere, wherever there is fire, there must be smoke. So you infer, I am not seeing the fire, but there must be fire because the smoke is always associated. Never is there any instance where there is smoke but no fire. Wherever there is fire, there would be smoke. So this is what is called direct relationship. If this is there, that is there. If fire is there, smoke is there. So that relationship is called Vyapti. Connections like if there is a horning sound, then there must be a car or a truck or a bus or something like that. So this knowledge of this connection between these two, one which we are able to experience but not the other one, that is called Vyapti nana. So there are the famous examples, just now I quoted, we see the smoke but not the fire. But we must infer that since where there is fire, there is smoke, then I see the smoke, so there must be fire even though I am not directly witnessing it. This is called Anumana, inference. And the next one is called presumption. I presume, but based upon Prateksha, directly. This is called Arthapatti. Artha means some object and I get the knowledge of it. So one of the classical examples is I have some cows at home and I go to a forest and I see another animal resembling my cow. There are some clear differences are there. It is not a cow but it is called in Sanskrit Gavaya, not Gau but Gavaya. The Sanskrit word Gau is used in English language as cow. So it looks like that. So it must be a similar Jati species like my cow. So my cow, I know something about my cow. So this also must be like that. So its behaviour also must be like that. So this is called Arthapatti, I presume. Or they will give also some other example. So I go to bed and I wake up after sound sleep and I look through the window and I see all the streets are full of water. And then I presume, I have not heard the rain but I must presume it must have rained quite heavily. So otherwise it is not possible. Maybe it is possible in India some places where the municipality water tank is leaking all over and the water has inundated my whole street, possible. But anyway there must be a source. So this is the classical example that I saw water all around. I have not experienced any rain but I have seen many times when it rains then invariably the earth gets wet and even watery or even flood. So I infer it must have rained quite nicely during the night time. So this is presumption. And then another also we give a beautiful example. There is a fellow, nobody had ever seen him eating during day time but he is growing fat day by day. Deva Datto is a classical example. Divana bhoomte dathapi varthate. There was a person called Deva Datta, nobody had ever seen him eating during day time but still he is growing fat. How is it possible? Nobody can grow fat without eating but he is not seen to be eating during the day time. So my presumption is he is stuffing himself during the night time. These are the three examples of presumption called Arthapatti. And then we have seen Upamana. Upamana means I have seen an animal in the forest. Like Upamana means comparison, analogy. I have a cow at home and I see an animal and then I compare, looks similar but not same. Therefore it must be some animal like the cow, no different. So this knowledge of the new animal obtained by comparing it to something which I already know even though there is some dissimilarities that is called Upamana comparison and this is also a beautiful instrument for obtaining knowledge. Then we see Anupalabdhi, a very marvellous type of pramana. Upalabdhi means direct experience. Anupalabdhi means absence. So for example, you have read a book at night or day time also, kept it in a familiar place and after some time you come looking for it and you don't see it. But what do you see? You experience the absence of the book. That absence of the book tells you somebody must have kept it somewhere else. It is a very valuable thing. Every day we use it. So for example, we go to a doctor because we are sick. He gives a medicine and it is not functioning, working and then the doctor observes for some time. So this medicine is not working. This non-working of the medicine leads to further knowledge. So since this is not working, something else we will try. So absence of things, that is wonderful. So much of knowledge is obtained only because of this that every day we are using it. I don't see something. So immediately it is not here. So I go on searching for it. Why do I search? Because of the experience of absence of this. This is called Anupalabdhi, not seeing where something is, the absence. So whether we see something present or whether we experience something absent, both are experiences. But this is a very peculiar type of experience and this leads to so many discoveries. A scientist is doing experiment after experiment and then we see that this person is failing, is not getting. So this particular experiment is not yielding the result. So that leads to, so that I need not waste my time repeating that experiment. I must work in a different way. So it is said Edison was trying to discover the light bulb, what is called that fuse and 10,000 experiments he did and they did not work. So some of his staff got disheartened. They came and said, let us stop this particular search. He said, no, we got so much of knowledge. Now we know how it will not work in 10,000 ways. So let us start to try and very soon it is said he stumbled upon this one and mostly we stumble only upon it. So these are the Pancha Pramanas. Pratyaksha, Anumana, Arthapatti, Upamana, Anupalabdhi and as I said Pratyaksha is the only basis. The rest are dependent upon it. If I had not had a previous experience, all these four will not work at all. But here is the point is all these five Pramanas will work only where? In this world. What do you mean? Because there are five sense organs. That means there is a body, there is a mind. Mind also is also one of the Pramanas which harmonizes all these five different channels of knowledge into one harmonious whole. So they will work with regard to the worldly knowledge absolutely. But anyway I can't see what happens after death, whether a person is alive. I can't see whether there is another world where this person has gone and I don't know whether God exists or not. So these five Pramanas are completely useless with regard to what is called spiritual knowledge. So we mentioned earlier six Pramanas. There is a sixth Pramana that is called Shabda Pramana. What is Shabda? A word. But this communication that is an experienced person who communicates his experience through words, appropriate words and passes on that knowledge which cannot be obtained through any of the Pancha Pramanas. That is called Shabda Pramana. That is why Vedas are also called Shabdas. Shabda Shruti. Shruti Parampara. The tradition that is coming, the realized soul passes that knowledge to his feet disciple and this disciple practices and then verifies it and passes it on to his disciple etc. etc. etc. So Ramakrishna realized and he passed it to his direct disciples and they passed it on to their disciples and they passed it on to their disciples and we are passing it on to our disciples etc. This is called Guru Parampara. But what we are passing is not what is called the knowledge of the world. It is only knowledge of Brahman, Atman, other world, life after death etc. So when we have to use Shabda Pramana that is the experience, the teaching and there is only one way until we experience what we are hearing through Shabda Pramana. We must have total faith that they are absolute truth. That process is called Shraddha. That attitude is called Shraddha. Shraddhavan Labhate Gnanam Tat Paraha Sanyatendriyaha. Bhagavan Krishna beautifully puts it. Only a Shraddhavan. So now the question arises how do we know that what the scripture is telling? What is the scripture? In Hinduism the scripture is called Veda or Shruti. How do we know the Shruti is talking about? Just to remind you as we discussed earlier that Hindu scriptures are divided into two that is the experience of the direct perception but conveyed through words that is called Shruti and hearing from a realized soul and perhaps that has been explained in various ways by others in the form of Puranas, Mythologies, Tantras through Bible, through Quran etc. and that is called Smruti. Shruti is a direct experience conveyed. Smruti is not experiencing it ourselves at that time but not contradicting the Shruti but passing it on to other people with complete faith in the scriptures as well as in the teacher and that is called Smruti memory. Memory based secondary. Shruti is the primary. Smruti is the secondary. So the question comes that okay Shruti is fine. It is telling what is truth but the Guru is trying to interpret it but how do we know? His interpretation is a correct interpretation. Even it is said if 10 people witness a particular shocking scene and they are asked later on, all the 10 people differ and give 10 different descriptions. This is an everyday affair. That is why what is called evidence in the court cases, direct evidence. So if two people are telling two opposite things, the lawyers both are emphasizing different views but the judge can get confused. So how do we know that our teacher is interpreting it in the proper way because the Guru is telling what he has faith, is telling the truth but he has to express it in his own words and his words is his interpretation, his understanding. Like my talk here is my interpretation, my understanding after reading the commentaries by other people etc. etc. So how do we know? For that also our scripture called Mimamsa. Mimamsa means a particular type of scripture which enumerates how to find out the real purport of any book that wants to tell. For that there are six indicators are there. When all the six indicators are seen in any particular interpretation then we must take it for granted that particular interpretation is the right interpretation. So this is called Shat, Linga, Nirnaya. Nirnaya means the certitude. How? By applying these six indications. So what are these six indications? Shat, Linga. Shat means six. Nirnaya. For the correct conclusion of what is the Tatparya, the purport of the scriptures. We are only talking about the scripture. Six indicators are indicated. What are they? So any good writer will tell this is what I am going to write and in the end he should say this is the subject about which I started and I conclude here. So the Vishaya, the subject must be stated crystal clearly. This is called Upakrama means beginning. Upasamhara means ending. Both must give clearly without any ambiguity what is the subject matter and then and again and again they should and this knowledge should not come from any other source excepting through this source only and why do we want to know? What is the result? What do I gain? What profit do I obtain? And then a lot of praise. If you do this you will be a blessed person and you will escape all these things and Upaparthi reasoning is also employed giving certain examples. That is where the scripture which says you should not employ reason that is absolutely unbelievable. We should never believe. Every scripture says that reason cannot prove God but to understand the scriptures we must not be irrational. We must be very very rational. So these are the Shadlingas and briefly let us talk about them. Upakrama Upasamhara, the summary at the beginning and the end of the Upanishad is the central message because it is difficult to understand the scriptures especially the spiritual scriptures called Upanishads in our case through self-study. I don't want anybody's help. I will sit, I will purchase. Nowadays they are available in the pdf form, e-book format. I don't need to go into any unintelligent person and waste my time. I am more than intelligent to understand these things. No, even worldly knowledge as Swami Brahmananda used to say even to become an expert pickpocket we require a guru practically speaking. So because a peculiar this Shadlinga methodology is used to communicate this knowledge. So normally our words are called Laukika Shabdas, objective knowledge. That is all worldly knowledge is objective knowledge not knowledge about myself, about everything other than me but here we are talking about subjective knowledge. Even normally we need to go to a psychologist or psychiatrist to obtain this knowledge and heavily we have to pay because we can misunderstand, we do misunderstand and we insist that I know myself very well and that gives so much of laughter for other people. Yes, yes I know we all know how stupid you are but the Upanishads they have to be understood only sitting at the feet of the person who knows what he is talking about. Even then he will not say I am telling you. He will say my son you have intelligence. This is the rational method and through rationality I am trying to prove look this is how the Upanishad starts and this is how the Upanishad is ending. So clearly this is what the Upanishad wants to tell us. That's why this is the essence of the summary of the Tatpari of the Upanishad. So therefore I am not able to see or hear or taste. Kena Upanishad beautifully talks about that which cannot be seen, cannot be heard, cannot be smelled, cannot be tasted, cannot be heard, cannot even be thought about but without which seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thinking or deciding what to do, what not to do is impossible but through these instruments a subject can never be understood and therefore we have to employ these Shraddh Lingas. So Vedanta should never be studied. In fact no scripture should be studied of any other religion excepting through a person who knows what he is talking. That's very important. So this is what is called Upakrama and Upasamhara. This is very important for us. Then what is the other thing we have to talk about. So the Shruti begins in the beginning for example. So in the Chandogya Upanishad, this Chandogya Upanishad itself in the sixth chapter. In the beginning there was Brahman in the form of existence alone. One only without a second and concludes all this has its being in it. Everything that we see that is its being only in that existence. It is the true, it is the self and the award to that. So both the beginning and the end of a section refer to Brahman alone. There should be agreement between the commencement and the conclusion. This constitutes Upakrama, Upasamhara, Ekavakhyata. One linga or mark. They should not differ. Beginning one and end is opposite. No. Then Abhyasa, the second indicator. What is it? Frequent repetition. That's the award. That's the award. Here in this case in the sixth chapter of the Chandogya present Upanishad, nine times it is repeated. The sage Buddhalaka repeats this nine times to his son Shweta Ketu in order to produce a deep impression. Then the third is called Apurvata. Revelation is the sole authority regarding Brahman. Brahman is but knowable only through the Upanishads or the Vedas. So the Shruti expressly denies other sources of knowledge. Apurvata are unprecedentedness. That is it has never been revealed by any other means, any other Pramana excepting Veda Pramana. Consists in Brahman being inaccessible to any other Pramana excepting the Shabda Pramana or Shruti. Brahman has neither color nor taste. It doesn't come within the scope of any sensuous perception. It is not endowed with attributes invariably associated. So it cannot be known through inference. It is not similar to anything known called Upamana. Therefore, it cannot be known through comparison. It can be known only through the Shruti and that is called Abhyasa, Phala. Then we come to the Phala, fruit. What is the Phala and what the scripture teaches? What do we get? Moksha, liberation, destruction of the ignorance about my own self or becoming one with Brahman and then we come to the Arthavada. So what is this Arthavada? Consists of explanatory statements. They explain that Brahman creates, sustains, destroys, enters into the and then governs this universe. Brahman, if you pray, listens to your prayers, answers your prayers. So this is all clearly laid down to encourage each one of us. That is called Arthavada. I am forced to use the Sanskrit words. There is no other way. Then comes Upapatti. What is Upapatti? It is that which is supported by logic. In the name of faith or Shraddha, we should never sacrifice our intellect and reasoning power. So we have to use this Upapatti also. Through these six indicators, if we use them properly with clear mind, with complete faith in the scripture, the teaching of the Guru, then we can understand what he is trying to convey is absolutely right which will lead us in course of time to a deep desire, intense yearning for the realization because we understand there can be nothing more desirable, profitable than the realization that I am Brahman. Then all problems are completely overcome and all my desires will be fulfilled and I become the very nature of Ananda. We will talk about these beautiful subjects. Continue the next class.