Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 56 on 01 December 2024

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM APYAYANTUM AMANGANIVAKPRANASYAKSHUH SHROTRAM ATHO BALAMINDRIYANICHA SARVANI SARVAM BRAHMAHU PANISHADAM MAHAM BRAHMANIRAKURIYAM MAMA BRAHMANIRAKARO ANIRAKARANAM ASTVANIRAKARANAM ME ASTU TADATMANI NIRATE YAUPANISHAD SU DHARMA TE MAI SANTU TE MAI SANTU OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI HA RE HE OM OM May my limbs, speech, vital force, eyes, ears, as also strength, and all the organs become well developed. Everything is the Brahman revealed in the Upanishads. May I not deny Brahman. May not Brahman deny me. Let there be no spurning of me by Brahman. Let there be no rejection of Brahman by me. May all the virtues that are spoken of in the Upanishads repose in me. I am engaged in the pursuit of the Self. May they repose in me. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL We are studying the 7th chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad which belongs to the Samaveda. We are studying the 7th chapter and which deals with Bhumananda or Infinite Bliss. So far we have completed the 4th section which is called Sankarpa Brahma Upasana. Sankarpa Brahma Upasana. What is it? Each one of us have tremendous willpower, Sankarpa, determination, will, willpower. Will always means willpower. So a person with tremendous willpower he can do lot of things and with a weak will very little is accomplished. So what is the essence of this 4th section I will first of all recollect and then we will go into a few details. So this 7th section, 7th chapter of this Chandogya Upanishad explains that will is creative and directive and it is this will which makes each one of us what we are and this will precedes and is superior to ordinary knowledge called Nama, then speech, then mind. So the will is behind the mind. Mind is the organ of thinking. If we analyze closely we will not be thinking at random excepting mad caps and children but even it would not be right to say children because something great can be observed in the children. For example when a child is absorbed in playing his mind or her mind is not going here and there but unfortunately when we grow we develop terrible restlessness and our mind is filled and we are not able to determine what particular thought is good for us, should be the center of our attention. So we sit what they call multitasking. So from will alone arises every type of mental activity whether it is imagining, desiring, willing, action, everything. Not only our particular mental activity, the whole universe as it were willing. We get in the Upanishad, so Kamayata, he willed, he desired and then he became this entire universe. So this will alone precedes every type of mental activity and that mental activity grossifies, manifests a speech and speech expresses what the Sankalpa wants to express. For example if you are very angry, angry language will come out. If you are happy, happy language will come out. So O Narada, will is greater than mind and therefore you understand it properly, identify yourself which means develop tremendous will power. So this Upanishad emphasizes that will is not the property of a specific person. The whole universe is controlled by this will. He gives several examples also in every aspect of the creation right from the Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Jala, Prithvi and all the elements, all the elementals that means the whole creation is nothing but the resultant of will. I am what I am because of my will. You are what you are because of your will. What does it mean? Then Sanat Kumara says after convincing him through explanation that you worship Sankalpam Brahma Iti Upasva, contemplate will power and this a person with a tremendous will power, he is the master of the world and a person with a weak will power is a slave of any Tom, Dick and Harry. Ram Krishna very often used to say some people when I behold their minds are like something soaked in water that means they have no grit, no power, no strength and Swamiji echoes Ram Krishna what we want muscles of iron, nerves of steel and gigantic will. We want gigantic will which nothing can thwart and if he also says somewhere if we study the history of the world, the whole world is nothing but the story of a few people with gigantic wills. I quoted Hitler that Nazi philosophy had submerged the whole entire Germany, even German people individually they may be good and they were totally brainwashed through this philosophy and every Jew appeared to be a villain of the highest proportions and they were willing to get rid of these Jews by exterminating. If you study history this is not the first instance. Genghis Khan he had exterminated 100,000 prisoners and he was not an exception. So it is the will power. What is the cause? It is the will but will power by itself is not the determining factor. Is it good will power? Is it wicked will power? We have to be discriminative about it and that will come later on. So Narada is instructed now you develop your will power to the extent that is possible. What they call to degree Z that means the highest degree. Once a person acquires nothing can stop him in progressing physically, intellectually, aesthetically, morally, of course spiritually. So those who meditate in this way then they attain higher realms, higher lokas which are distress free. Higher lokas means the higher the loka the less distress, less unhappiness, less suffering, more joy we have to understand. So Narada must have done that and then he came back and said that is there something which controls the will power? Yes there is some and that we will enter into next section. We are still in the fourth section only, fourth khanda. So Sanat Kumara instructs. Sankalpa or a strong will power is greater than mind. Greater means subtler and which controls. So for example, simple examples to make us understand this concept. Supposing you are hungry or I am hungry, someone is hungry. So what do we do? Generally we say we are thinking about food. Are we thinking same type of food? No, we are thinking specific type of food. I would be very happy if I can get this specific type of food depending upon where he has been brought up, to what type of food he is accustomed and especially which type of food has made this person extremely happy. That memory will come and the next section deals with memory. I am foretelling what is about to come. So the next section we can apply here. I am hungry. I want food but then my memory stirs up. You know that particular curry, that particular sweet is very tasty. I would be very happy and then that memory makes a Sankalpa. How can I get that particular thing? This is called Sankalpa and I want to become for example a musician. I want to become a computer expert. I want to become a programmer. I want to become a chief minister or MLA or MP. So I want to become something specific which I believe, I imagine will make me very angry. So I want to get married. I want to get divorced. Everything is depending upon this Sankalpa, determination. The stronger the determination, the more will be the thoughts in line with that and the more the speech and the more the actual actions. Only after a person has a strong determination what he wants to do, then he starts thinking. It gives command as it were. This is what I want. So oh mind, think how am I going to fulfill my desire. Accordingly speech comes either to family members, wife or mother or sister or hotel, restaurant, anybody. And then depending upon that the Nama, the information is gathered. Where is it available? How far is it? How costly is it? How can I get it? These examples I am giving are only to make the point clear. But here being a Upanishad, it is dealing only primarily with spiritual life and spiritual people are of two types. They are called those who want pious, higher lokas or higher joy and those who want the highest joy. Higher joy means they want to go to higher worlds, Indra Loka, Prajapati Loka, Brihaspati Loka, Gandharva Loka or some people want to go to Brahma Loka. But there are Sreyo Margins. Sreyo Kamins. Sreyas means I want liberation. I want God. I want to see God. I want to talk to God. I want to realize God. So those people, all these things are available but I do not need them. I want only nothing but God. Remember, Sri Ramakrishna gives the example of Narada. Narada once had a curiosity to see Krishnamaya and he had gone through horrible experience and then Krishna brings him out. So time shrinks as it were as if whole lifetime has passed. He got married. He got children. He earned lot of wealth and then Monday floods came and swept away everything and as he was before marriage, he was left alone. All within just a few seconds, like our dream, Sapana Jyopare and then Krishna calls Narada, why are you delaying bringing water and then he was startled and he understood. He ran, fell at the feet of Krishna. Lord, you have shown me. Once it is enough, Krishna was pleased. What more do you want? He said, may I never be overcome by your world bewitching Maya. Lord was even more gracious. This is what we are talking about. Sreyo Arthi. Only I want Sreyas. The Lord asked. No, I am not happy. But you ask some more. One other boon. Narada says, if Maya is far away from me or doesn't exist for me, that means what? If Anatma doesn't exist, only Atman exists. If world doesn't exist, only Brahman exists. What more can a person want? But no, Narada has even greater desire. He says, oh Lord, if you are gracious to give me another boon, then may I have unmotivated ahaituki bhakti, unmotivated devotion to your lotus feet. I don't want anything else. I want just to have bhakti. That's all. Because I want to spend. I want to be a bit separate from you. Because oneness with Brahman and a bit separation from Brahman makes a lot of difference, which in Bengali language, I do not wish to become sugar. I want to enjoy sugar. So we are talking about spiritual people. And then whatever our desires, whatever our actions, whatever our speech, they all become one. That means they are inspired and they are caused by what? Sankalpa. They become one. That means our Sankalpa only is manifesting in that particular form. And their whole soul is nothing but behind everything. Every thinking, every thought, every speech, everything that we see is only Sankalpa is there. And they are firmly rooted. Sankalpe Pratishthitane. And then the Rishi Sanath Kumara goes on giving beautiful examples. Samakruptam Viyava Prithvi. So he gives an example that is everything is rooted in this will. Viyava means the heavens, the heavenly worlds. That means all the world. Prithvi and this earthly world. Vayuscha, the air. Akashancha, the space. That means he is trying to give the five elementals. So elements. What are they? Panchabhutas. Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Apaha and Prithvi. Vayuscha, Akashancha, Samakalpanti. Apascha, water. Tejascha, Agni. So all these things are only because of this Sankalpa. But whose Sankalpa? They are the Sankalpa of Brahman. And in their turn they also have to maintain the creation. Therefore what do they do? They create. They become. They themselves become divided into three. What are the three? First of all this what we call our body and mind. Each individual called Adhyatmika and each one of us experience the entire creation as an object that is called Adhibhautika. And he who contains both the Adhyatmika and Adhibhautika and presides over both facilitating this is called Adhidaivika. Of course this Panchabhutas etc. Of course later on Indra, Varuna, Vishnu and all these Chandra etc. etc. So what do they do? They desire the creation is okay but it has to be maintained. How is it maintained? Varsham Sankalpate. So they desire let there be plenty of water. Varsham means rain, means water. And then what is the result? Varshasya Sankalpate Annam Sankalpate. Then because of the rain plenty of food will come. Annasya Sankalpate means when there is food is available and it is consumed and it is digested and it strengthens the body-mind. That strengthening the body-mind is called Prana. Prana means energy. Pranaha Sankalpate. So we get energy. But what for? Pranaha Sankalpate. So the person says I have plenty of energy now and then Prananam Sankalpate Mantra. I have a lot of desires. So again this Sankalpa is there. I am a human being, I am a mosquito, I am an animal and I want to enjoy five sense organs. So what does this person do? These Pranas are necessary. Without Prana, without energy person may have desire but it will remain unfulfilled desire. It will never be possible. That's why in old age desires are strong, body is weak. So that is what they say beautifully in English language. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. That is exactly what happens in the old age. What happens when we are sick? What happens when we are worried etc. So what happens? Mantranam Sankalpate. Let me utter Mantras. What are the Mantras? Rig Mantra, Yajur Mantra, Sama Mantra, Adharvana Mantra. That is Vedic Mantras. Why? Because Mantra means the very definition of Mantra. Mananat Trayate Iti Mantra. By chanting, by thinking, by meditating that which fulfills. Sayus means what? Fulfills. And a baby is hungry, it wants food. So it does Mantra and sometimes it gets angry and then it discharges Brahmastra. What is the Brahmastra? It cries, stomach full cry, whole hearted cry and mother wherever she is, she comes running. Whether it is animal's offspring, human offspring. So that Sankalpa, I want food. If it is a grown up, then he will think whether I should cook or get it cooked or go to a restaurant or order through all the what is called international couriers. So etc. Sankruti, Karmani. So Mantras. Mantras have, they chant Mantras. That is called Mantra. That which fulfills our desires is called a Mantra and the fulfillment as we have been discussing either Prayaha for only happiness or Shreyaha or God Realization. So Mantranam Sankruti. These Mantras have to be used in a particular way. They are called Vaidika Karma Kanda. So in a ritual, Pooja for example. So Sankalpante. So immediately the person because of the Sankalpa, he becomes absorbed in performing those rituals. So Sankruti Lokaha Sankalpate. So what do I want? Do I want to go to Sargaloka, Brahmaloka or do I want to realize God? This is called Lokaha. So Lokasya Sankruti Sarvam Sankalpate. Everything, everybody in this world. There is nothing called even mountains. That remember according to modern scientists, these are all lifeless things. Not according to Hindu philosophy. According to Hindu philosophy, everything is nothing but Brahman endowed with consciousness and there is Himalayas. They say let me grow and it grows. But no scientist would ever accept. Oh, it is some physical phenomena. Some two tectonic plates, they clash and that which is in between is lifted up. Whatever be the explanation, the activity is seen of growth and decline of growth. That also a suffering man, an old man, he says enough of life. Let me withdraw. Let me close this drama. Let me wind up this ball. So everything is Sankalpa. So Sarvam Sankalpate. In this world, there is nothing left out which doesn't determine, which doesn't will. Such is the Sankalpa. Sankalpam Upasva. Worship Sankalpa means develop through the highest possible. And then Upanishad also says Sankalpe Ekayanani. And all, everything that we see, both the subject and the objects, they are the resultant of Sankalpa. And they are expressions of Sankalpa. Sankalpa Atmakani. Sankalpe Pratishtitani. They are firmly rooted. That means if you separate them from Sankalpa or will, they do not have any separate existence. So Sankalpiyatam. So Dhyava Pruthivi, Vayu, Akasha, all the five. Then they result in rain. Rain results in food. Food results in strength. Strengthens the prana and pranas. That there is a strength to chant the Vedic mantras and perform the appropriate rituals in the appropriate prescribed manner and they fulfil the person's desires. So we can also extend and say here is a computer expert and he desires, he wills, let me obtain a job, let me study for computer science. He becomes a computer scientist. Then he says let me apply for a job. He gets a job. Then let me earn money. He earns money and let me marry and enjoy. He marries. Let me have children. He will have children and let me bring up the children. He will bring up the children. He will bring up the grandchildren and sometimes great-grandchildren. It goes on and on and on. Therefore, the whole universe, life is nothing but Sankalpa. Therefore, O Narada, you contemplate Sankalpa as Brahman. As I mentioned earlier, so what does it mean? That Sankalpa Brahman means develop your willpower, of course with discrimination to the extent that is possible and he who becomes, who develops the greatest willpower, what is the result? He attains a very strong world. That means nobody can take away from him what he earned because of his hard work. Nobody, he not only attains, he will be firmly established in them. And then once he is established, that is he is not distressed. He is not subject to restlessness, peacelessness, joylessness, suffering, etc. Then with that joyful mind, that is to say he becomes fulfilled. Life becomes meaningful. So the resultant of this worshipping or developing willpower, that is called contemplating Sankalpa as Brahman, develop all the willpower and that's what Swamiji says, gigantic wills. Whatever is possible for the Sankalpa, that is willpower. And in that realm of whatever is possible within that willpower, he can, what is called, without any worry, roam about joyously. This was the teaching given by Sanat Kumara to Narada and as he mentioned earlier, so we don't know how much time he took, but being a person of great personality, great willpower, he developed and then he became great, but he got a doubt. Just like Bhrigu having identified himself with Annam Brahma. Annam, that means this body-mind, this gross universe is the highest reality. Before he became identified with this entire universe, he was only identified with a puny little individual body and mind and that gave him a lot of trouble. As soon as he became identified with the universal, so somebody is dying, somebody is getting born, so therefore he sees birth and death are meaningless because from unmanifest to become manifest is called birth and again from the manifest to go back into that unmanifest is called death. There is no real birth or death, therefore one need not grieve. That is what Bhagavan Krishna so beautifully tells. That has a connection with here. So you worship, contemplate this. That means willpower should be your step as God realization. Willpower is my God and this God realization of willpower or willpower realization is my greatest goal in life. Let me forget other things and develop willpower and then he attains tremendous power and is respected. He is free. He enjoys all the joys that are possible in this Sankalpa Rupa Loka. So then as usual Narada having attained and he sees but Sankalpa by itself is not the final. It is controlled by something. It is the resultant of something and what is it? What a beautiful analysis we are going through. And so he asks, Asti Sankalpat Bhuyo, Hey Bhagavan, there is something superior, higher, subtler, more pervasive, more powerful. Of course, Asti. What is that? He says Chittam Vava Sankalpat Bhuyaha. So Chittam, it is called Chittam and what is Chittam? It is called memory. Discriminative memory is much, much greater, means subtler, means the cause of even this willpower and I will give a small illustration. I will be going on giving illustrations even at the cost of repetition for the sake of facility of easy understanding. Supposing even we can see in the West a lot of children and in the East, in India, very few, but I have seen many people from the childhood. Their dream is I want to be a scientist. I want to be a musician, etc., etc. You can multiply any number of examples and their whole soul is fixed upon it. So the willpower is very strong. Yesterday I talked about that willpower. Now what does this person do? Supposing you have a desire, I am hungry and then you make up your mind, I will eat food. Then what will you do? Immediately, you know, I want to make myself happy if there is a choice. That is why Sadhus who go for Bhiksha, Madhukari, they don't have much choice. Whatever God gives through the instrumentality of the devotees or people, whatever the person has to accept. So here what happens? How does this strong willpower come? Remember, willpower comes only because of memory. Here Chittam means memory. That is why Chittam or memory is stronger than willpower. How come? So in this example, a person is hungry and he wants to eat food. That is common. But a South Indian wants Rasam, Bhojanam, Dehi, Rajendra, Ghritasobha, Samanvitam, Sharad, Chandra, Chandrika, Mahishancha, Dhavalam, Dadhi. Or a Mexican, he wants Mexican food. An Italian, Italian Pizza or Pasta, a Japanese Sushi, maybe. So an English person, frankly I am not sure what the English person really likes. Fish and chips, I don't know. I am not sure. So the will cannot operate unless there is a force behind the function of this thought. Because if there is a will, there are thoughts. But the will itself is caused. I want to eat. What? I want to eat South Indian food. I want to eat Mexican food. I want to eat Japanese food. I want to eat Italian food. Depending upon. How come? Because the memory is there. From the childhood, I have been eating it. I relish it. I cherish it. And it gives me great joy. And it suits my stomach. Often what we are habituated to eat, that stomach adjusts. If somebody is drinking little by little, drop by drop, poison, even the body tolerates. Previously, there were people called Vishakanyas. So some people deliberately, they develop some Kanyas. And if anybody touches them, they will attain, I don't know, Swargaloka or Narakaloka, whatever it is. But they themselves are immune. How come? Because they have been accustomed. So the will is stirred by memory. You know, I ate day before yesterday. I ate yesterday. I ate. I want to eat that today. Because it is so tasty. It is so joyous to me, happiness. After all, whatever we do, the ultimate goal is only to recover our own Bhumananda. That is where it is leading to. So the will cannot operate unless there is a cause, a force behind the will. What is that? This function of the mind, which we call will, is possible only because of memory. A person, that is why the section, the section is going to outline. I am foretelling, as I said, I am giving you the essence so that when we read the actual mantras, they will become very, very easy to understand unless you are already in the Swargaloka. So a person who has lost his memory, bereft of memory and cannot even remember what took place one second before, cannot divert the will in any particular manner because he gets confused. What am I supposed to think about it? Thought in the normal condition is controlled by memories, good, bad, whatever. I don't want to speak with this fellow. Why? So two years back, he insulted me. Oh, this person is my most beloved person. Why? Even from childhood, when I was a baby, this aunt used to bring me plenty of chocolates, lozenges and sweet pies, etc., etc. So without memory, our will will not work because the capacity of this remembrance or retention of experiences and the ability to maintain in one's own mind, awareness of the target, our goal towards which the will is to be directed, going to be directed. Both are necessary. We want memory and then that memory normally fixes what goal we want. So this function which is president to the eyes of the will is called Chittam. Chitta, Chittam, Memory. Keep it in your memory. There was a fellow who was supposed to be an expert in memory. So somebody asked, what is the secret of your wonderful memory? And he said, first of all, I have to repeat everything several times. That is the first condition. If you want to develop your memory, you will have to develop that. And what is the second condition? So pure concentration is the second step. Then only, with concentration only, the memory will develop. And I forgot the third step. What type of memory is that? So this is called Chittam. It is called the mind stuff. And this is what Patanjali is talking about. What is yoga? Chitta vritti nirodaha. So Chittam, we can say in a way, here Chittam means his memory. I am the Atman. I am Brahman. But I have forgotten. That is called smritir labdha tat prasadat maya achyuta. O Krishna, by your grace I remembered my real nature. What was I doing at other times? I was remembering my non-Atman nature. I forgot my real nature. Means I remember what is not my true nature. So it is the mind stuff. So this Chitta is there. Memory is there behind everything. This is my Ishta Devata. This is my Guru. This is my Gurubhai, Gurubhagni. Or this is somebody who hates me, who gives me pain. This is my mother. This is my father. Just imagine there are conditions in many people and they lose their memory. That is called amnesia. And in old age if a person loses that amnesia, he doesn't even know what is he. Because our identity is very closely connected with what we call our relationships. I am the child of so-and-so. I am the brother or sister of so-and-so. I am the father or mother of so-and-so. I am a citizen of such and such a country. I speak. This is my language. This is my state. So everything depends upon memory. And this is the memory. If we practice the remembrance of God, at the end it will come and say we can forget everything. Then we only have to remember God. So this is the greatness of memory. You want to be a worldly person. You want to be a spiritual person. You want to be a great man. You want to be a strong man. Memory alone is the secret behind everything. Then only that memory makes us think, makes us will, makes us determine. Then only we can speak. Then only we can express. Then only we can spread our knowledge which we acquired through our experience. So it is the memory of the mantras. Memory of what we call every sacred formula, that is karmas, sacrifices and other actions. How come? Because we remember. If I do this, it is mentioned in the scriptures. If I chant this name, if I do this Vedic ritual, then the Veda promises. For example, So a person who wants to, who desires of heaven, wants to go to heaven must perform a ritual called Agnihotra. So everything, names, mantras, sacred formulas, sacrifices, any action that we do. So I want to go to toilet. Memory should be there. I know I want to go. But where? Which room? Kitchen or toilet? I have to remember. Often the toilet and kitchen are side by side. So I have to remember and I have to remember many things. I have to remember which bus comes at what time, which train departs at what time, which plane comes and departs at what time. That is why we keep reminders or alarm clocks. Memory is the secret. And Shri Ram Krishna was Ekashruti Dhara. Swamiji was Vishruti Dhara. Bhuvaneshwari Devi was Ekashruti Dhara. So everything, our whole life is rooted in memory. All learning is ultimately memory. So you learn for 50 years and you forget. Knowledge is completely useless because it is the retaining that is called the memory. Otherwise memory has no meaning. Retention, the mind of whatever we have seen, heard, thought, learned, that is the most important thing. And then the Shruti goes to say, suppose somebody is there, he is very learned but there is no memory. And then when people hear, he says, what do they say? What do they say about this person? This person is nothing because without memory Einstein is no Einstein. So whatever be our education or acquisition of knowledge, if we have lost all memory, it is absolutely good for nothing. Whether we learned or did not learn makes no difference because all knowledge will practically vanish from us. So just imagine how important memory is. And if we have strong memory power, whatever we speak will carry conviction. So we are giving a speech and then we remember things and we remember the incidents in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swamiji. And when the appropriate occasion comes, this is what Sri Ramakrishna said, this is what Holy Mother did, this is what Swami Vivekananda experienced. That adds tremendously to that particular talk we are giving, for example, or reading. While reading also, that reading becomes very fruitful. So our whole personality is nothing but memory. We are the personifications of our memories. So the capacity of remembering which can retain, memory means retain, otherwise it is useless, meaningless. So all that is valuable in the form of one's learning or experience in life is useless. Therefore, O Narada, you have to hold that chitta. Memory is superior to will. Understand, memory is the most important thing. So contemplate the chitta which is superior to will, discussed in the last section. So what did he do? That this person of expansiveness of memory is the greatest person and one who meditates on the memory as Brahman, means he develops memory, attains all those realms which are capable of being reached by the operation of memory. And then enjoys identity of oneself with those realms. That means if a person has got remembrance, he can win all the debates and he can write every answer that the student who remembers. So at the appropriate occasion, Oh, yesterday I was traveling and this route was closed temporarily, there is a diversion. And if we forget, next day again we have to go back and take that diversion. But if a person remembers, it will be wonderful. So Narada must have practiced, developed extraordinary memory and then he comes and says, is there anything beyond chitta? Anathkumar answers, yes, there is something beyond that also. So this is what we call the essence of this fifth section. So we will read a little bit as far as it is possible. The mantra starts like this, In answer to the question of Narada says, Chittam or memory, remembrance is much superior, much subtler, much more pervasive and it controls our sankalpa or determination or willpower. Only when a person comes out alive through this memory, then he determines. That was a wonderful experience. So can I have a repetition of that experience? Yes, I don't want other thing because I have experienced the other thing. It was not giving so much of joy. So this memory controls our sankalpa, strong determination. And that is the root cause of thinking. Then he expresses it because of this memory. And when a person says, I know, you don't take that route, take this route. Once I traveled, it is much easier. You will find you can guide others also. Of course, he will do himself. So he spreads his knowledge, his experience. This is how human beings have become great among all the animal kingdom. Because our bodies are still animal bodies only. Don't think you are a special body. It is slightly more skillful body. No doubt about it. Like the five fingers, especially the thumb and standing erect, and walking, running, jumping, swimming, etc. All because there is no other difference between animal body as the wise says. So whether it is eating food, ahara, maithuna, bhaya, everything is equivalent. There is no difference at all. Then what is the difference? This wonderful faculty called memory. And what does memory do? The main function of the memory is to discriminate. What is the discrimination we are talking about? I ate, for example, both types of food. And this food is far superior to that food. I read two books and both are dealing with the same subject. But this particular author explains it so beautifully. Even for me, it is very easy. I need not work so hard. Whereas you read some authors, every sentence runs 20 lines. By the time you come to the end of the sentence, you have forgotten where you started and you even forgot what you have forgotten. So this is the root of every life. TAM U NAMNI IRAYATI And NAMNI MANTRAHA EKAM BHAVATI Repetition of the same thing. So we remember the mantras and we remember these mantras have to be expressed. And in this particular ritual, it has to be done like this. MANTRESHU KARMANI So intelligence or memory surely is greater than will. Verily, when one understands, then he wills. Then he intends in mind. Then he sends forth speech. And he sends it forth in a name. In the name, sacred formulas. And in sacred formulas, sacrifices become one. As I mentioned earlier, when one understands, then only he wills. Understanding comes. That means discrimination says this is much better than the other thing. That is called understanding. And viveka, if it is viveka, must be followed by vairagya. What is vairagya? We are not talking running away from family life. Taking, give up what is inferior and adopt to what is superior. That is called vairagya. Giving up unworthy thoughts, unworthy actions, unworthy paths. And adopting to superior paths, superior thoughts, superior desires. That is called viveka vairagya. They must always go together. So, whenever we say that a person understands or intelligence, means two. First, the person understands. Then that person, he remembers. Because after understanding, if we don't remember, that is completely useless. Therefore, they become completely one. The whole life becomes completely one with this intelligence or memory. A person is nothing but what he really remembers and becomes. He is his chitta or memory. And every reaction of his springs only from this memory. When this person, who has forgotten everything, he may be an encyclopedia of knowledge. But if he doesn't remember and doesn't know how to explain, people when they hear such a person, what do they say? Na, I am asti. This person doesn't exist. That means for all purposes that person is completely useless. Similarly, I am veda. This person knows. Or he is a great learned person. But he doesn't have that memory, least memory. So, he is completely achittaha, is a brainless fellow, is useless fellow. There is a person, he knows very little. He remembers everything. People say, okay, whatever little you know and you can remember it. And we want that knowledge from you because this expression of knowledge, propagation of knowledge is possible only through memory. Then only he thinks. Then only he utters the proper words. Then only people will understand it. Therefore, O Narada, the memory is the only embodiment of our whole life. I am memory, memory is me. I am rooted in memory and with that memory only I am living. Therefore, chittam upasva. Therefore, you contemplate chittam, means develop memory and then Narada must have done that. And then what is the result? If he is a worldly person, he says so far as memory goes, so far as memory rules, there he will be free, he will be happy, he will be the most successful person, happy person, fulfilled person in the realm of the memory. And then what happens? He will become a rejoiced person. He is not a worrying person and he attains whatever he wants and then he enjoys it. Therefore, contemplate, develop memory and you will also enjoy. Narada has done it, came back and asked as usual, is there anything greater than memory? Of course, there is something greater than memory. Memory is dependent upon something else about which we will talk in our next class.