Mandukya Karika Lecture 058 on 06 July 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Oṁ jananīṁ śaraṇaṁ devīṁ rāma-kṛṣṇaṁ jagad-gurum pāda-padme tayo śrītvā pranamāmi mūru-mūhu Oṁ bhadram karne viśru-nuyāma devāḥ bhadraṁ paśyēm ākṣa-virya-jatrāḥ sthirai-raṅgaye sthuṣṭu-vāgum-sastanubhye vyaśema devahitanyadāyuh svasthina indro vṛddha-śravāḥ svasthina pūṣaḥ viśvavedaḥ svasthina-sthārkṣu ariṣṭa-nīmihi svasthinobhriha-spatirdadhātu Oṁ śānti-śānti-śānti-hare Oṁ Oṁ O gods, may we always hear with our ears what is auspicious. O worshipful ones, may we with our eyes always see what is auspicious. May we live our allotted life hale and hearty, offering our worship unto Thee. May Indra of ancient fame bestow auspiciousness on all of us. May the all-nourishing potion be propitious to all of us. May Garuda, the destroyer of evil, be well disposed towards us. May Brihaspati ensure all our welfare. Oṁ Peace, peace, peace be unto all. We have been discussing the seventh mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad and this is the most important mantra in the whole Vedantic literature. If we can understand this, we have more or less understood the essence of every scripture that was, that is and it's going to be in future. Now, what does this particular mantra tell? That every day, first point, every day, every jiva, a prani, undergoes three states of experience and every experience presumes that there is a conscious entity who is called the experiencer, who has to experience. Without consciousness, nothing happens. Point number two, the experiencer and the experience or the objects are totally dependent, changing, limited. Point number three, unfortunately, because of avidya, every consciousness, jivatma, identifies himself, I am the subject and I am the object. Point four, this is called bondage, this is called samsara and it entails three types of suffering, endless suffering, endless indicating, so long as we do not know who we are, this suffering from threefold sources continue. That is why the Shanti Mantra is there to protect us as much as possible from these threefold afflictions, sufferings. Point number five, is there any way out? Yes, by knowing our real nature alone, we can escape this bondage and bondage belongs to body and mind and actually bondage even doesn't belong to body and mind. Why? Because body and mind are inert, they do not feel that we are bound. It is the consciousness, awareness called jivatma, when it identifies, it feels I am limited and so I am suffering. Limitation means suffering. So there is a way that I need not identify, in fact what I identify with is not me, it is mithya, it is a temporary phenomena. Point number six, by understanding, by realizing through spiritual practice that we are pure divine beings, unlimited, ajam, shashvatam, nityam, we can enjoy our status to infinite degree for all eternity. So this particular mantra contains all these points that we have just now discussed. So what is the seventh mantra? na antah prajnam, na bahih prajnam, na ubhayatah prajnam, na prajnanah ghanam, na prajnam, na aprajnam, adrushyam, avyavaharyam, agrahyam, alakshanam, achyantyam, avyapadeshyam, ekatma pratyasaram, prapancha upashamam, shantam, shivam, advaitam, chaturtham, manyanthe, saatma, that is each one of us, savigneyah, this truth has to be realized. Turiya is not that which is conscious of the internal, nor that which is conscious of the external, objective world, nor that which is conscious of both, nor that which is a mass of consciousness, nidra, nor that which is simple consciousness, nor that which is insentient. Then it is adrushyam, unseen, avyavaharyam, not related to anything, agrahyam, incomprehensible, alakshanam, uninformable, unthinkable, therefore indescribable, achyantyam, unthinkable, avyapadeshyam, indescribable, but ekatma pratyasaram, essentially the nature of pure consciousness, constituting the Self alone, the one and only Self. What do we get out of it? Prapancha upashamam, that all these three states will be completely overcome. Shantam, we attain that state where there is no more any avidya, and therefore it is like a person who reached the goal and becomes extremely peaceful. Shivam, all bliss, and this is the real Shiva, and that is what Shiva means, and that is what Shiva gives for those who die in Varanasi. Advaitam, and there is no second, because if there is a second that is called limitation, that is called bondage. So this is the description of true Atman, true Turiyam, which is figuratively called Chaturtham, the fourth one. Sa-atma, the word is that. Savigneyaha, you should be realized. That means, as what? I am seeing a tree, I am seeing a house, I am seeing the Brahman, Atman. Not that way. I am that Atman, I am that Brahman, and besides I, there is nothing else. And to explain this in simple terms, Gaudapada has written shlokas from 10th to 18th. 9 shlokas are there. So we have dealt already with some of these shlokas, also called karikas. In our last class, we were dealing with the 14th karika. It goes here. Just to remind ourselves. Swapna nitrayatau adhyau prajnaha prajnastu aswapna nidraya na nidraam naivaja swapnam turiya pasyanti nishchitaha We have elaborately discussed, but just to remind ourselves. Gaudapada is repeating the same idea throughout until the end of this 18th karika and also further. And he elaborates this in the coming adhyayas. Vaitadhyaprakarana, Advaitaprakarana, and Alatashantiprakarana. Especially in the Alatashantiprakarana, the 4th chapter, which is the essence of all these 12 mantras of Mandukya Upanishad, including the 1st chapter, elaboration of the 1st chapter. So 2nd, 3rd and 4th chapters are elaboration. 2nd and 3rd are elaboration. 4th is, so to speak, the summary essence. But 100 karikas are there. Many ideas are repeated because repeatedly we have to hear, repeatedly we have to think until we have no doubt, then only the desire will come to know who we really are. So in this 14th karika, Adhya means that which has come before, before nidra. Before what? Before nidra. That is, before the state of pragnatva. What are those states? Vishwa and tayesa, waking and dream states. And they are endowed with what? Swapna and nidra. Remember, nidra means agrahanam, not knowing who one is, what one is. And swapna means 150% convinced that I am so and so. And Shankaracharya gives very beautiful descriptions. We will come to that later on. So both Vishwa and tayesa are bound by 2 things. What is that? Swapna and nidra. I would put it this way. 1st nidra, not knowing what one is, and swapna, thinking, knowing, 100% conviction, I am so and so. I am a man, I am a woman, I am a mosquito, I am an elephant, etc., etc. Pragnastu aswapna. But pragna is free from aswapna. Aswapna means anyatha agrahana. So Vishwa and tayesa, in these states of waking and dream, one suffers from 2 things. Not knowing the truth and thinking something else is the truth. But in the deep sleep state called pragna, the pragna doesn't suffer from one of them. What is it? Swapna. He doesn't say I am somebody else. But what is common, he suffers from nidra. That is why it is called nidra, nidravasta. What is nidra? We simply say sleep. Sleep means what? He doesn't know. Even in common parlance, a person neither knows himself nor knows the external or internal world, nor knows something else. So he suffers. He doesn't know. But he doesn't say I am somebody else. And that is why it is bondage. And that is why it comes to an end as soon as after some time period he wakes up and again dreams. And we are all having thus a dream. Here dream means not the type of imaginations we go through, our identity as something other than what we really are. That is called swapna. Like in our dreams we feel we are somewhere else, we are doing something else, we are meeting somebody else, etc. So three things, common things are there. Let us think about what is it. Swapna is specific to pragna and taijasa. But nidra is common to vishwa, taijasa as well as pragna. Pragna doesn't suffer from swapna, but he suffers from nidra. And therefore we have to understand nidra is common for all the three. Jagrat avastha, swapna avastha and nidra avastha or sushupti avastha, nidra is common. But here nidra means what? Not knowing who we are. Only vishwa and taijasa suffer from this misconception, wrong apprehension that I am somebody else. But what is the speciality of turiya? Turiya nishchitaha pashyanti. Nishchitaha means those wise people who have realized that aham brahmasmi, by the gracious teaching of a great guru, what do they see? Na nidram, nai vaca swapnam. There is no swapna, no nidra. What means what? They are not a turiya, a person who knows I am turiya. Turiya means what? I am the atma. I am atma, brahma. We have seen in the second mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad, which is considered as a mahavakya. So I am the atma. I am not vishwa, I am not taijasa, I am not prajna. Because neither nidra nor swapna exist for me. This is how we have to understand it. Now we will proceed to verse number, karika number 15. anyatha greenataha swapno nidra tattvam ajanataha viparyase tayoh kshine turiyam padam ashnute Swapna or dream and nidra. These two states are again being defined so that we keep it all the while in the mind. Swapna or dream is the wrong cognition of reality. That is, I do not know I am the atman. On the other hand, I know I am so and so. This misconception about oneself, wrong identity with oneself is called swapna. This is the definition of swapna. What is nidra? Nidra or sleep is that state in which one does not know what reality is. What is the swapna? Anyatha grahana, identifying as something else. Agrahana, I do not know who I am, but I do not suffer from I am somebody else. That state is called nidra. And through spiritual sadhana, through what is called shravana, manana, nididhyasana, with the grace of paramakarunika guru, when one goes on practicing the grace of God, the grace of guru, or we can even say the grace of knowledge, when this knowledge comes, the knowledge called swapna, the knowledge called nidra, both will break and in that order. What is the order? When a sadhaka is practicing spiritual disciplines, the first thing is that breaking of the dream. What is the dream we are talking about? Anyatha agrahana, through thinking that I am somebody else. So here is a person and he does not do any spiritual practice and you ask him, what is your CV? He says, I am a man, I am a woman, I am poor, I am an Indian, I am a Hindu, I am a westerner, I am a Christian, etc., etc. And then when he turns, after a lot of evolution, then he says, Oh Lord, I don't know who I am, but at least I know what I am thinking is wrong. Only when a person awakens to that reality, I don't know who I am, but at least I am convinced I am not what I think I am. And this is psychologically called desire. What is the desire? I want to be myself. What is the desire? If I get this object, I will be happy. What does it mean I am happy? I am myself. That is why in the deep sleep, what is called ananda swaroopa. Sat, chit, ananda roopa. So this first spiritual awakening comes, uttishtata. Uttishtata means what? There is something terribly wrong, but I don't know what is wrong. Jagrata. Now I know what is wrong. What is wrong? I don't know who I am, but I definitely know that what I have been thinking about myself is completely wrong. Let us take the analogy of Arjuna. The very first chapter is called Vishada Yoga. Arjuna's Vishada. Every one of us is an Arjuna. What is Vishada? Grief, suffering. What is the cause of suffering? Moha, delusion. So the delusion, Arjuna knows, I am a warrior, I am the senadhipati, I am the commander-in-chief. But when he saw Bhishma Drona, this moha has come, delusion. What is the delusion? I am the body, because Bhishma and Drona are looked upon by Arjuna as what? My grandfather, my guru. This is pure body and entity. I am Arjuna, I am the body. Bhishma is the body. So I am the grandson, he is my grandfather. Father, mother, wife, husband, child, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, these are bodily identities, not mental identities. So that identity has come. So he was 100% sure, I am right and I don't want to commit this sin, but then he was not happy. In the presence of what we call satsangatya, in the presence of sat, who is Bhagavan Krishna himself, as if Krishna worked like a mirror, Arjuna should have been happy, because if I know the truth that I am body, then no problem will come, because reality cannot be changed. If I am the body, if this world is real, it can never be changed. We will get that idea also here, later on. But Arjuna somehow felt, if I am the reality, what I am claiming, I am the body, but Bhishma is going to die, Drona is going to die, whether I am going to die, I am not sure. He himself says, these wars, battles, are not at all definitive. We don't know who is going to kill whom, who is going to die. Until one dies, there is no certainty, who is going to die, who is going to win, who is going to live. But then he understood. The first uttishtata, he awoke and said, I don't know who I am, but I know who I am not. I want to know. The moment we wake up, uttishtata, awakening will come, the quest, I want to know who I am, because I cannot stand in between, in a no-man's land. Either I am the body and mind, or I am somebody else. I know I am not the body-mind. Then who the hell am I? So that state has come because of the grace of Krishna, which I called satsangatya. And then he said, I know I am not body-mind, but I don't know who I am. Is there somebody else who can teach me? Remember, there are seven steps are there. First, find out the problem, accept the problem, and then accept that I don't know the solution, but I know somebody who knows the solution. And then accept that person, 100%, that I accept this person as the only person, the only person in the whole world who can break, who can bring me to that knowledge of myself. Surrender totally to him without the least bit of thinking, doubting, hesitation. And finally, practice what he has taught you. And these are the seven steps we have seen in the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. So Arjuna woke up and then he said, I take refuge in you. Sharanam prapadye. Sishya steham Shadhimam tvam prapannam. And then only, Bhagavan Krishna opened. What did He say? That you are right, you are grieving, because your identity is wrong. But why should not I grieve? Because neither you, nor Bhishma, nor Duryodhana, nor what you call your arch enemies, neither the entire world, living or non-living, whether it is conscious or inert, everything is one Brahman. The whole second chapter is devoted only to three subjects. First subject is your thinking is wrong. Second subject is this is your nature. Third subject is how to realize that truth in the form of sthita prajna lakshanas. And spiritual practice, which is included there. That's why it is said beginning from the third chapter until the seventeenth chapter, it is an elaboration of the second chapter beginning from the eleventh verse. Eighteenth chapter again is a recapitulation of the entire Bhagavad Gita. That is why there is also what is tyaga, what is sanyasa. Tyaga means what? Give up your delusion. So this is what one says. But let us recollect again that in both waking and dream we suffer from two problems. First, the root cause, karana, I do not know who I am. But on the contrary, I definitely know who I am which is wrong knowledge. But in deep sleep, I don't suffer from the wrong knowledge, wrong identification. But I suffer from not knowing who I am. How do we know? Because if the sleeping person knows who he is, then he would never get up. Even if he gets up, he would not say I am Vishwa, Taizasa or Prajna. I am the Atman. But that is not the case. As soon as Sri Ramakrishna says, the magician's tongue turns inward and then comes delusion, comes illusion as soon as he comes back to his normal consciousness. So turiya is completely free. So when does a person realize tayo means nidranda swapna, when these are totally destroyed. Viparyasa means destruction. Such a destruction where it is not like cutting down a tree where next day the roots will come out. No. It is once for all complete destruction of avidya and only vidya can do it. Tayo means swapna nidrayo, Srine and they are completely gone. Then he understands I was thinking I was the body-mind. Now I know I am the turiyam, I am the Atman, I am the Brahman. So both of them take place simultaneously. As soon as light is brought, light means knowledge, wrong knowledge disappears and the revelation of the snake that it doesn't exist but only the rope is there. It has never become. Not that you kill the snake and then you realize the snake has become the rope. Most subtle, very subtle ideas which we hope to come very soon. So this is the essence of the 15th. Swapna or dream is the wrong cognition of reality. Nidra or sleep is the state in which one doesn't know what reality is. When the erroneous knowledge in these two disappears, then automatically turiya need not be realized. Turiya stands revealed. As soon as light comes, I know what I am. I will read out Shankaracharya's Bhashya. So when is one established in turiya? This is our question. When am I going to realize God or when am I going to know I am the Atman? So for this the reply. During the states of dream and waking when one wrongly cognizes reality like the perception of the snake in place of the rope, he is said to be experiencing dream. Anyatha grana, nidra or sleep is characterized by the ignorance of reality. This is the common feature of waking, dream and sleep. Vishwa and Taiyasa on account of their having the common features of both dream and sleep, not knowing what one is and thinking one is somebody else form a single class. Whereas nidra which is characterized by wrong apprehension that means not knowing what is reality constitutes the state of inversion which is swapna. That means there is no swapna. There is only nidra. There is no anyatha grana. There is only agrana. But in the third state nidra alone what is it characterized by? The non-apprehension of reality. Not knowing who one is. So this is the second class implied in the text. Therefore, when these two classes of the nature of effect and cause karya, karana characterized by misapprehension and non-apprehension respectively disappear by the destruction characterized by effect and cause by the knowledge of the nature of the highest reality called turiya then one knows I am the atman. I am the turiya. Then one does not find in turiya these two conditions. What is it? The characteristics of swapna and nidra effect and cause karana and karya and one thus becomes firm in the highest reality which is turiya. In simple words, the summary is that when a person knows I am not the vishwa, I am not the taijasa, I am not the prajna then simultaneously when he knows who he is these three disappear. When these three disappear he knows. Just as when light is brought the snake disappears and the rope is cognized. This is the essence. We will move on to the verse 16. In this karika, 16th karika, elaborating the 7th mantra of the mandokya upanishad, again Gaudapada brings in the same idea. So we don't need to strain our intellect. Same ideas we discussed in the past four karikas are being repeated in different ways. So one of the questions that a disciple asks of the Guru is you are telling that I suffer from avidya. Avidya takes two forms. Just remember avidya has got, maya has got two powers. What are them? Avarana shakti and vikshepa shakti. Avarana shakti means that I don't know who I am. And vikshepa shakti means I definitely know who I am. That is, other than what one is. So then the question comes, Sir, you are talking about maya. And when did this first birth happen? When did... Previously I was Brahman. This is one of the most legitimate questions for which Shankarites have no answer, cannot answer in future also. When did this samsara start? That means when this avidya starts. It is like asking. These people evade the question. Instead of simply answering we just don't know. We know what we are now. But how it came about, we do not know. They are not frankly answering. They answer round about, beating round about the bush that this samsara is anadi. And they give a beautiful example. Very Tarkikas, you know. They are experts in logic. So they give an example. Say, when you start dreaming, do you know exactly when the dream starts? Can you take up a timepiece, stopwatch and press it exactly when the dream starts? It's impossible. Because if you are conscious of the time stop, stop timer, you are not dreaming. And if you are dreaming, you forget about all these things. So this is what happens. What is the answer? Since when am I sleeping? Suptaha. Means what? This nidra. First comes nidra, avarna shakti. Then comes only vikshepa shakti. So anadi mayaya. Maya is anadi. What is it? I don't know. That is the simple answer. But I use words to say, you are a dullard. You can't understand what I am telling. So I will use big, big words. Anadi maya. That is beginningless. Maya is beginningless. Like sleep is beginningless. So anadi mayaya suptaha. Suptaha means jivaha. This jivaha, yeha jivaha anadi mayaya suptaha who has been sleeping. Sleeping means what? Not the state of sleeping. Not knowing what one is. Suffering from wrong knowledge or absence of knowledge that he doesn't know who he is. Yada prabudhyate. So maya is anadi. But Advaitins will say, maya is not ananta. Logically, whatever is beginningless should not have an end. And whatever has an end, it must be starting somewhere. That is how time is calculated. When were you born on such and such a date? So you go on calculating. So when the end comes, from this date to this date and dash. This person is dashing from 1900 to 1970. 70 years he has been running, running, running towards this state of death. Dash. No, not like that. Anadi means it is impossible to understand but one can awake. That's what Swami Vivekananda also tells in a different way in his Jnana Yoga lectures. He himself raises the question how did the infinite become finite? That means how did Brahman become Jivatma? Simple equation. And then he says, if you put a question to me like that, I will not answer to you. He says, I will not answer. He is also cleverly escaping. I will not answer because how can the infinite become finite? So put a logical question, then I will give you a logical answer. Put an illogical question, I will give you an illogical answer but I will not say illogical. I will say it is highly illogical but your mouth will be shut. So yada when jivaha prabudhyate when the jiva suddenly wakes up after jagrata avastha then what is this quotation by Swamiji? His proclamation from Swamiji is from the Katha Upanishad and it continues. Trishnata jagrata then what? Praapya varahan nibodhata approach those who know and then you learn from them. Sravana then practice it and deepen your practice. One day the maya will disappear by itself because you can't remove maya because the instrument with which you are removing maya is like a thief who is your servant. You employ your servant. Every night somebody is stealing something from your house and you are given the impression that somebody is coming from outside and stealing and you employ a servant, a watchman who himself is the greatest watchman during the day time and the greatest thief at night time. I am reminded of a very funny incident. Swami Akhandanji was in search of Swamiji and he had to traverse a desert land for several miles and it is reputed to be full of these robbers, highway robbers like holy mother was caught. So Akhandanji was intelligent enough to understand supposing somebody catches me and then wants to kill me I want to save myself so tell me what is in your language these highway robbers can understand take whatever I have but do not kill me and they taught him and with this he was going and the police has been given as an escort for him to take and on the way Akhandanji saw some fellows moving apart now and then looking at them he got frightened he asked the police and then police assured him don't worry Swami so long as I am here they are not going to harm you why? not because I am the police I am one of those thieves so day time I will protect night time I will be robbing so those fellows know he is our man so they will not harm you so like that this Maya will be like that so how does he awaken? by the grace of God God will take pity says to his servant who is Maya that is why and then a Jiva suddenly comes out what does he say? he doesn't say I am Atman because to whom is he going to tell? this is human language expression is there he says I am Brahman really speaking Brahman doesn't go on saying I am Brahman for the simple reason he has no body so how is he going to talk? he has no mind so how is he going to think? therefore it is for our understanding Jiva Prabhudhyate what happens? Ajam Anidram Aswapnam Advaitam Tadabudhyate Ajam I have never fallen in Maya Ajam means being born being born means to think I am the body mind and once a person is born he has to go through Shraddhvikara six fold changes so Asti Jayate Varthate Iparnamate Upakshiyate Vinasyate death birth and death in between four states of change are there every millisecond the body is changing the mind is changing but he understands I am not the body mind I am free from all these changes Anidram he doesn't say I don't know who I am he knows who he is when? Yada Jiva Prabhudhyate he knows I am Brahman Aswapnam the question of thinking I am somebody else that doesn't arise then what happens? Advaitam Tadabudhyate he understands there is no second Brahman is one and I am that Brahman when the Jiva or the individual soul sleeping not knowing the reality under the influence of the beginningless Maya is awakened it then realizes in itself the non-duality, beginninglessness and dreamless Shankaracharya's Bhashya very beautiful that's why I am quoting I will not quote all the time one who is called the Jiva the individual soul and who is subject to the law of transmigration sleeping under the influence of Maya which is active from time immemorial without beginning and which has the double characteristics of non-apprehending and misapprehending reality experiences such dreams what is the dream? what is the dream? see when one doesn't know who one is he doesn't have dreams Agrahana is not a problem because when you are unconscious so-called unconscious neither happiness nor unhappiness neither gain nor loss neither victory nor defeat neither honor nor dishonor nothing, no desire will be there at all when there is no desire there is no question of being affected only when there is desire there is the question of being affected so these two non-apprehension and misapprehension is completely free now Shankaracharya is describing what is called Swapna Swapna means thinking I am the body I am the mind that is called dreams what dreams such as this is my father I am born of this father this is my son and this son is born of me and this is my grandson who is even more dear to me because I thought my son loved me but that fellow rascal he doesn't obey me any longer doesn't care for me any longer but this my grandson he can't live without me you stupid fellow when this grandson also grows up he will be worse than your own son so this is my property and these are my animals I am their master I am happy I am miserable I have suffered loss on account of this I have gain on this account you can imagine yourself add any number of things I am healthy I am unhealthy and I am not happy here I am happy elsewhere and I want this I don't want that everything is changing you can imagine Shankaracharya just gives a few lines when the Jiva remains asleep experiencing these dreams in these states he is then thus awakened by whom? this awakening doesn't come all of a sudden by itself it comes by the gracious teacher Parama Karunikaha a teacher who is extremely compassionate but who has himself realized the reality indicated by Vedanta thou art not this you are not the body mind of the nature of cause and effect that means Nidra and Swapna but thou art that Tattvamasi thou art that when the disciple, the Jiva is thus awakened from sleep he then realizes his true nature and what is his nature? it is birthless because it is beyond cause and effect cause and effect means Swapna and Nidra and Swapna and because it has none of the characteristics such as birth etc. described earlier and these things are inevitably associated with birth it is birthless divide of all changes associated with the object of relative existence it is Anidram sleepless because there doesn't exist in it Nidra Anidra means no Nidra sleep which is not knowing, forgetting who I am but he also doesn't suffer from Swapna what is Swapna? I am the body I am father I am son I am grandson I am grandfather etc. etc. described earlier it is because the self is free from sleep and dream therefore the Jiva by the great grace of the Guru realizes himself as the Turi Atman birthless and non-dual we move on to Karika 17 and here a beautiful logic is given let me tell you logic suppose one day in semi-darkness you see a snake and then you get frightened then somebody brings in the light the moment light is brought two things happen the non-existing snake which is in your brain rather than out there and at the same time the rope which is there not in your brain but there outside both of them simultaneously reveal themselves non-existence of the snake and the real existence of the rope both will take place now when you are thinking it is a snake and let us assume that you are very courageous person I remember an incident an African sheep was sitting with a western American person and suddenly a black mamba had entered the tent everybody seeing it ran away and this fellow did not move at all and after sometime the mamba ran away went out and everybody returned and the sheep started boasting look at me that I am completely fearless that is why you rogues cowards you ran away from this place look but then the American noticed he could not run away because he was rooted to the chair because of the fear he became completely unconscious anyway so when you are very frightened if you come across a big stick and you go on beating and after beating several times you are convinced that the snake must be dead by this time because you are not able to see whether it is getting killed or not but you notice now previously it was moving and now it is not moving at all then you come to know you become very brave and then somebody brings light or you yourself bring light or wait until light comes and then you realize that there was no snake your beating was totally completely useless type you thought there was a snake you thought you were brave you thought you can beat it out and then you did it and then when the light came all these things nothing happened then the question comes that did the snake disappear because of your beating no, it did not disappear because it never appeared in the first instance that is what Gaudapada wants to say very subtle point so listen carefully with attention if the perceived manifold that is samsara that is your body and mind remember always there is no world excepting our body-mind whatever we get through this body-mind alone is the prapancha whether in the waking state or in the dream state so the perceived manifold were real then certainly it would disappear if the snake were real you can beat it you can kill it and you can throw it out then you can be free from fear no because this duality is mere illusion just as the snake is an imaginary snake maya this world is also that means the body-mind I am the body-mind both are completely your illusion that means your mind your imagination playing tricks therefore any number of sadhana is not to remove the body-mind but to realize in the first place they did not exist at all only what existed supreme reality why? because if the rope were not to be there you will not see anything so if the supreme reality pure existence is not there it is impossible to mistake it for something else that is why if there is no desert there is no mirage if there is no rope there is no snake there is no garland etc if there is no what you call silver then mistaking a shell as a silver shell will never arise these are some of the classic examples what is called common examples given Shankaracharya is proceeding if the knowledge of non-duality turiya be possible only after the disappearance of the perceived manifold how could non-duality be said to exist while the perpetual manifold remains that is to say so long as the snake is there the rope cannot be seen but as I explained the snake is mere illusion and illusion cannot be removed because it is an illusion you realize it is an illusion that is called destruction of the illusion I hope you are able to get the point if the world really existed then there will be a process by which somehow you destroy the world and then you realize I am the turiyam but the case is there is no world you are thinking there is a world and I must get rid of it when the truth is known you know that I was mistaken there is no world at all I was turiyam I am turiyam I will ever be turiyam so this is explained this would have been true if the manifold really existed so this is in answer to some possible doubt by a purvapaksha the purvapaksha says sir, all this time you are talking swapna, nidra and if there were to be no real world why are you using so many words it is to make you understand that there is no world but right away if you say there is a world then it is not possible to understand so yes, yes, yes there is a world but it is dangerous nature and it has to be overcome until you get out of that and there is a place to get out you can go to Vaikuntha you can go to Kailasa you can go to Svargaloka you will have to suffer very much this is for the sake of the ignorant people really world doesn't exist therefore destroying the world also like destroying the non-existent imaginary snake if you have understood this point you have definitely understood this verse then we will proceed to karika 18 vikalpo vinivarteta kalipito yadi kenachit upadeshad aham vadho gnathe dvaitam na vidyate vikalpaha means imagination vinivarteta oh, I am imagining I can get rid of the imagination by imagining something else kalipito yadi kenachit if somebody is imagining then that imagination can be taken off how upadeshad I am by the upadesha given by the Sadguru and gnathe dvaitam na vidyate once a person understands the truth then dvaitam which is an illusion which is an imagination which is a vikalpah vikalpah means imagination na vidyate doesn't stand if anyone has ever imagined the manifold ideas such as the teacher this is my teacher and this is my disciple and this is the scripture I must listen to it and then they can be overcome but this explanation that everything is imagination imagination is an illusion illusion has no real existence excepting in your brain this explanation is only for the purpose of teaching we bring and say imagine take it for granted but there is no such thing so duality which is called a vidya implied in explanation is only for the sake of teaching if ceases to exist then the highest truth is known just as when light is brought you don't need to do anything to make the snake disappear because that snake is your pure imagination in your mind and if it is imagination it is not a reality if it is not a reality the question of removing it by some means doesn't arise but there are some beautiful points about it I will discuss about it in our next class Om Jananim Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamahame Mohur Moho May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ramakrishna