Pratah Smaranam Lecture 3 on 21 November 2020

Uncorrected machine transcription

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जननीम् सारदाम् देविम् रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।

पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहरमुहुहु ।।

Oṃ jananīm sāradām devīm rāmakṛṣṇam jagadgurum |

Pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuhu ||

We are studying the Prathasmara Stotram of Bhagavan Shankaracharya. We have been discussing the very first shloka. What is that first shloka? Prathasmarami Hridhisamspurad Atma Tattvam Sachchit Sukham Paramahamsa Gatinturiyam Yath Swapna Jayagara Sushuptim Avaithi Nityam Tat Brahma Nishkalamaham Nacha Bhuta Sanghaha I remember in the morning the Self which shines in my heart, which is existence, consciousness and bliss, which is the goal to be attained by the Paramahamsa Sanyasis, which is also called the fourth state, because it is beyond the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep.

I am that Brahman which is indivisible and not the aggregate of the five elements that is Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Jala and Prithvi, Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. We have discussed the first line of this one Prathasmarami. Pratha means when the mind is very fresh.

Hridhi is a place where we feel more intensely the presence of the Atman. Atman is everywhere just as water is everywhere as Ramakrishna says, but it is easily available in a well, in a tank, in a river. So within our personality there is an Akasha called Chidakasha where the Lord is ever shining.

Not only He is shining, He is making everything also shine and without that Jyoti Rajyoti, light of the lights, external lights are totally useless because if we are unconscious we cannot recognize anything even if there is a midday sun burning, but He has to be obtained, easily communicated with in that particular place which is called the heart and that is Hridhi. Samspurat is shining by itself. Nobody need shine a light.

It always shines by itself. Then Sachitsukham paramahamsagathim turiyam. We will be discussing today from this second line onwards.

Now these are the words we use in major Upanishads. We do not get this word Sachidananda. We get it in the minor Upanishads and we also get it in the Puranas, Smritis like Mahabharata etc.

but never in the major Upanishads. What then do we get in the major Upanishads? We get in Taittiriya the most famous, most often quoted mantra portion Brahma Vidha Apnoti Param There Satyam, Gnanam, Anantam, Brahma. Satyam corresponds to the Sat, Gnanam corresponds to the Chit.

There instead of Anantam here, there it is used Anantam because whatever is Antam, Shantam, limited can be called Sukha, Dukha but never Ananda. Ananda is that which is beyond both happiness as well as unhappiness. And we will come back to this Sachitsukham.

This is also called Turiyam and it is also called Paramahamsagathim. According to Vedanta, Gathi means movement. We are all moving albeit unconsciously.

Prakruti in the form of evolution. It is taking us from a one celled life to the highest evolved saint who sees Brahman everywhere. This evolution is inevitable.

Sometimes we have to go through what we call round and round the bush but at last we will be attaining that highest state. So Gathi means both movement and also the highest state. And why we cannot stop going there? Because that's our nature.

24 hours a day we are trying to be ourselves. Trying to be means what? We think we are not our real self. How do we know? Because I want this.

Without that I am not complete. So this eternal longing has been beautifully classified into three prayers. Very very ancient prayer which springs from every living creature.

Specially of course from human beings. But this is so beautifully framed in our Upanishads in the form of three prayers with which we are all very familiar. Asato Maha Sadgamaya May I never die.

May I ever live. Tamaso Maha Jatirgamaya May I never be devoid of consciousness or knowledge. May I always be aware.

And may I always be ever blissful. This is the unconscious prayer. It has to be vocalized.

It has to be remembered. It has to be meditated upon. These three prayers Shankaracharya puts it here as Sat, Chit and Sukham.

And why should we follow it? Because that is the highest state which the realized souls called Paramahamsas ultimately attain. It is the Turiyam. That is the ever existing state.

There is no doubt about it. Sat, Chit, Sukham. Paramahamsagathim Turiyam.

Now these three words Sat, Chit and Sukham. This Sukham instead of saying Ananda Shankaracharya has used it. Why does he use it? Sometimes we have to use it for the convenience of making a meter.

Chandas. Sometimes the words we use do not correspond, do not fit in to the grammatical rules of a meter. So we have to use some other words equivalent giving the same meaning but at the same time fits into the grammatical requirements.

Sat, Chit, Sukham. What does Sat, Chit, Sukham mean? Sat means we say existence. Chit means consciousness or knowledge.

Ananda is a very Sukham is a word that is happiness. What do these words really mean? In Vedanta last class I have explained a little what are the characteristics of Brahman. In Vedanta we give two characteristics.

One is called Tatastha Lakshana. Another is called Swaroopa Lakshana. What were the Tatastha Lakshanas given? Srishti, Stithi and Laya.

These are the activities. Later on of course Vedanta completely abrogates, destroys the very idea of God is the creator, God is the maintainer and God is the destroyer. But that is for an advanced student.

What we have to know is this is the Tatastha Lakshana means the accidental characteristic. Oh you want to know God? Find out from where the whole universe has come and that is God. Suppose God doesn't create.

Suppose your mind is not working. Can you think about then all these things? No it is not possible. That's why we have to derive at some other definition.

Actually Brahman cannot be defined. He can only be pointed out. So there comes Swaroopa Lakshana.

What is this Swaroopa Lakshana? Sat, Chit and Ananda. How do we translate it? Sat means existence absolute. Chit means knowledge absolute.

Ananda means happiness, bliss absolute. What is the big deal of difference between existence absolute and existence? Because in our day to day life we see everything. A chair exists, a tree exists, a man exists, a bird exists, a mountain exists.

Everything is existence. Without experiencing existence there is no world at all. And world consists of infinite number of things.

Then what is the idea then? Absolute existence means, let me first give you an illustration. So there are 100 ornaments and every ornament is made up of gold. That is called relative temporary existence.

Why do we call it temporary? Because anything made up of gold can be melted, can be transformed, can be beaten up, the shape can be changed, anything can be done. But if you look at gold, there is no way you are going to change it. Whether it is flat gold, round gold, conical gold, angular gold, in whatever it is, gold is only formless gold.

Then the next thing is whenever we are talking about relative existence, please remember these two words because these two words we are going to apply to knowledge as well as to bliss also. So these two words, relative and absolute. What is the difference? Absolute is that which never changes.

Relative is absolutely changes. It can never remain exactly as it is. Again take the example, there is a ring made out of gold.

So when was it made? Only just today itself. So it has a birth and then tomorrow it becomes what? One day old. After one year, it becomes one year old.

A time will come, it will not be exactly in the same thing. Every millisecond, remember time means change, every millisecond it is changing. One day it may be completely useless.

So what do we do? We give to old smith. What does he do? He melts it. What does melting mean? Melting means removing the nama and rupa.

But the gold, remember, never changes. So absolute is that which is not subjected to time, space and causation. Whereas relative means always subjected to time, space and causation.

If you can understand this, apply it to any object that we experience. In the absolute, there is no I or you or it. There is no subject, object.

There is no knower, knowledge. The witness, witnessed. The experiencer, experienced.

In absolute, there are no two. Therefore, there is no time, there is no space, there is no causation. But in the relative and relative means that which is perceived through the framework of time, space and causation.

So here is a chair. It has a birth and it has a what is called shelf life and one day it has to be totally removed. It may be after 500 years, 1000 years, but it has to go out.

But the woodness that is called its real swaroopa never changes. So now coming back, tatastha means accidental. Wood has been made into a chair is an accidental characteristic.

It remains for some time an accidental characteristic. And one day it also goes back, that is to say, relatively into the state of wood. As wood, it never changes.

As shape and then form and then shine, newness, oldness, etc. It always changes. This is the difference between absolute and relative.

This is an example. Now come back. Here is a tree.

A tree is there. The moment we use the words was, is or will be, all the three words are referring only to existence. Rama was.

Now we say this person is and Bhagawan is going to incarnate in course of time as Kalki. That will be future existence. So whether it is avataras, where is Rama now? Where is Krishna? Where is Ramakrishna? And same fate will await even Kalki also.

Anything that comes into existence. This is called relative existence. That's why the Lord, this beautiful hint, My janma karma, see as an avatara, with the limitation of a body-mind, however great that avatara is, is absolutely relative.

It may last for a longer time. It may, the power may be tremendous. But that power also will come to an end.

Here we can also understand a very funny thing. So Krishna was considered purna avatara. Is Krishna most powerful now? Not really so.

Who is most powerful now? Ramakrishna. Why? Because in the power, the form, etc. of Krishna can only influence a few people.

Krishna's form can only influence. Ramakrishna's form, it will influence many, many people. And who is this Ramakrishna? You should not take his body-mind.

That's only for the facility of thinking, meditation. Ramakrishna in the form of idea. That is the greatest thing in this world.

Is Ramakrishna form and power really infinite? In this relative world, you forget about that word, infinity, absolute. After sometime, maybe after thousands of years, nobody will know about Ramakrishna much. Suppose there is a third world war.

Most people will not know about Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, etc. But the same power will come again when it is needed, when adharma increases in future. So that's why they are called yuga avataras.

Yuga avatara means an avatara that is absolutely effective only for one particular yuga. How do we know? Swami Vivekananda gave us that beautiful statement. I have given food for 1000 years.

There are two versions here. I have given food for 1000, I have given food for 1500 years. In one of his drawing room conversations, Swami Vivekananda issued a statement.

I have to come once more. And naturally the visitors were highly delighted. When Swami are you going to come? He said, I do not know.

Sri Ramakrishna said, I will be reincarnating in 200 years. And along with him, he will have to bring certain of his selected followers. Always he will bring someone or others at that time.

So next time he is going to bring me also. And if you remember, this was what many devotees remember. Sri Ramakrishna once asked Holy Mother, you will have to come again.

And Holy Mother said, I am not going to come again with you. Because she suffered most from him only. Then Sri Ramakrishna said, you see, we are like a kalmi saag.

It is a kind of creeper on the surface of water. And it spreads. It is a creeper.

One side of it if you pull, the whole thing has to move. It has to come like a net. You catch hold of a net and pull it towards you.

The whole net has to come towards you. And finally Holy Mother asked, why should I come? Because you have to carry my hookah. And at that time Holy Mother happened to carry his hookah.

He said, here is your hookah. I am not going to come again. This is a wonderful statement.

Swamiji had to come. Why? Is there any rational explanation? Yes, there is a rational explanation. Think, I don't know.

What is it? These have been already trained. These are called eternal companions always. Sri Ramakrishna coined a word.

These are called Ishwarakoti Nityamukta. A group of them will always be there together. So it is said that at the time of Jesus Christ, he brought only 12.

But this being Kalikala, he brought 16. And all the 16 direct disciples are not Ishwarakotis. Some of them, only about 6 of them he said are Ishwarakotis.

Of the 6, there was a householder, Poornachandra. He was the last one. Anyway, these are divine mysteries.

We will not understand it. What is important is that the power and the ideas and the ideals preached by any avatara will only last until that particular yuga lasts. A yuga is made up of certain what is called ideology.

Every yuga has got a particular name. Toynbee had done a marvelous job. He said the age of superstition, the age of faith, the age of rationality, the industrial age, like that every particular age has been divided into according to the particular type of spirit that is prevailing.

Spirit means that everybody will be mostly influenced by that spirit. What is our particular age? It is called age of reasoning. Even a child, you tell him God exists and why should he exist? Where does he exist? And why we are seeing so many things? Why I am not seeing God? Why is there so much of misery? Why, why, why? We all want to know why and how, understand through the intellect.

That's why Swami Vekananda had to preach Vedanta in the form of like in scientific language through rationality. You remember, if it is Upanishads, this is Aesha Adesha, Aesha Upadesha. This is Adesha, commandment because that was the age of faith.

As this scripture tells it and I have to do it. That is why the very meaning of the word scripture is Vidhi. Vidhi and Nishedha, Shastra.

It commands, it never requests, schedules, suggests. It just commands. Do this, do this, do this.

But coming back to our time for the next Yuga, this particular spirit of Sri Ramakrishna will prevail and they are talking about it. All this topic came because we are discussing that word Sat. What is Sat? Even an avatar becomes less powerful as time goes on.

Not only that, according to Vedanta, there are so many Kalpas. In the past Kalpa, so many avatars came. We also were there.

Do we remember any of them? Absolutely no. So Swami Vekananda had framed this particular idea, Jirumbhita Yuga Ishwara Jagadishwara Yoga Sahay. Jagadishwara, the Divine Lord.

What did He do? Jirumbhita Yuga Ishwara. He is the Lord of this particular Yuga which may last for 1000 years or at best 1500 years. We don't know what the world is going to be.

The world is changing very very fast. Coming back, existence we have to understand in two ways. Relative existence and absolute existence.

When here Shankaracharya is referring to Sat, he is not referring to the relative existence. Why? You have to remember what we discussed so far, even today itself. Relative existence is very relative.

It is temporary. It comes and it goes. Now, same thing you apply it to knowledge.

There is absolute existence and relative existence. And relative existence is a modification, an infinitesimal modification of the absolute existence. A tree, a man, a bird, a chair, a river, a mountain, etc.

And remember they have a birth date, they have a shelf life date, and they also what is called expiry date. Everything. Something may last for 1000s of years like a mountain.

But it will come to an end. For example, at one time there was this wonderful Saraswati river 11000 years back. Now we don't know.

But they say it has gone deep underground and sweetest water at least 5 to 10,000 feet underground near Allahabad, etc. That's why it is called Triveni. Ganga, Yamuna we can say Saraswati is underneath.

Triveni means through strands. Okay. Understand the same thing.

Chit. Absolute knowledge. It has no form, no name.

It is eternal. It never changes. But when it manifests, we call it relative knowledge.

For example, here is a scientist. Who is a scientist? A man who has got scientific knowledge. Here is a musician.

Who is a musician? He has got musical knowledge. Here is a cook. He has got knowledge of cookery.

He is a driver. He is a pilot. So for every activity there are specialists.

And the more a person has knowledge, the more specialized he becomes. There is a funny saying. Who is a specialist? A specialist is one who knows more about less.

For example, previously an eye doctor. He knows everything about the retina, about the eye and all those things. Now there is a super specialist.

Someone is specialized in examining the eye. Some are specialized in retina specialist. Some go even beyond that, the nervous system.

So a super specialist is one who knows everything about nothing. That is the definition of a super specialist. So this is an age.

The manifestation. Here is what is called eye specialist. Here is an ear specialist.

Here is an inner ear specialist. Here is a stomach specialist. So also here is a physics scientist.

Here is a biologist. Here is a zoologist. Like that more and more time passes on, more and more knowledge comes.

What are we talking about? This knowledge manifesting in the form of science, in the form of aestheticism or art or in the form of ruling, in the form of what is called statesmanship, in the form of interpersonal relationships, all these types of knowledge are but infinitesimal manifestations of that absolute knowledge. If we compare Brahman as the relative knowledge, it is not Brahman, it is Brahman, Brahma. So we have to remember he is the source.

And in Puranic terms, what is this source called? It is called Saraswati. Brahma is called pure existence. Saraswati is called pure knowledge.

A combination of both these are called Ananda, Purnananda. Sat, Siddha, Sukha. Same thing, relative happiness and absolute happiness.

Ananda. Here the word unfortunately used is Sukha. Because remember, if you remember cold, you are remembering heat.

Otherwise you will never know what is cold. If you say go to the sun and say good morning Mr. Sun, he will be wondering, good I understand what is morning. Because from the standpoint of the sun, there is no morning, he will be exactly the same.

The further he is, it is morning. He comes near, that is midday. And the further we are away, because he is also moving, we are also moving, earth is moving, sun is moving, we think his power is less.

Midday sun is terrible. So we divide it morning, noon and evening, and night when we don't see the sun at all. But if you go to the sun, there is absolutely no morning, no night, etc.

Absolute bliss, that means there is no Sukha, Dukha, there is absolutely only happiness. That is called Ananda. It is a technical word, don't use it for ordinary things.

I got Ananda eating a sweet, I got Ananda listening to music, etc. That would be a misnomer. So, Sat, Siddh, Sukham, that is absolute existence, and absolute existence is absolute.

There is no birth, there is no sustenance, there is no death. Similarly, that pure knowledge, that pure bliss. Let me give you, with regard to the bliss, another example.

Supposing you are very happy, early morning, the air is very cool, like spring, and it is beautiful. As the sun comes up, you feel the heat of the sun, and you become more and more little uncomfortable. When it is at noon, you will certainly not sit there, you will go inside and then take rest in the shade.

Towards the evening, again you come out because it is tolerable. This tolerable and intolerable is not the fault of the sun. This is how sometimes we are a bit happy, a little more happy, and all the time, what is called opposite unhappiness is trailing behind us.

Otherwise, even the cognition, I am happy, is only I am not unhappy, so it is called happiness, like a dimmer switch. So also, this Ananda, that's why deep sleep is called Ananda. It is called Ananda, Maya, Kosha.

There, we don't know what is Dukha, what is Sukha, even if somebody cuts us to pieces, of course, not deep sleep, but after giving anesthesia, we will never know anything about it. Absolute existence, absolute knowledge, absolute Ananda. They never change, they are eternal, there is no beginning, there is no end.

One more point, there are three epithets, Sat, Chit, and Ananda. We are dividing, here are three people, here are three chairs, here are three trees, etc. But when we are talking about absolute, Sat, Chit, and Sukham are not three different things, but that is the very nature, they are not the qualities, not that God exists, not that God has knowledge, not that God is happy.

They are the very nature, how that we usually use certain human words. The sun is shining, it is okay for the sake of our normal day-to-day life, but it is a wrong term to use because a man is walking. What is he doing? A man is walking.

That means if he chooses, he can stop walking, he can sleep, or he can do something else. He can jump or he can bury himself, but the sun cannot do anything else excepting to shine. That's why conventionally we say the sun is shining, but really speaking, the shining and the sun, there is no difference.

Milk is white, fire burns. You ask fire, why are you burning? It simply asks, if you have the intelligence to understand, what do you mean by burning? Because the fire never feels the heat. Because that is its very nature.

I hope you understand what I am talking. Fire will never burn fire. Fire burns everything else, but not fire.

So it doesn't know what is called burning. A light doesn't know what is called light. The sun doesn't know what is called light.

That is its nature. This is what we are talking. These three, existence, knowledge and bliss are not separate at all.

They are one in three and three in one. And they are not qualities. They are the very nature of that highest reality.

One more point and we are done with this. The point is when we use such thing, here is a tree exists. It is a positive term, the tree exists.

How do we know? Because anybody can experience it or somebody experienced it yesterday or 100 years back. So it has existed. But when we say Brahman exists, you are getting a positive idea.

What is the idea? With regard to any object in this world, something was not there before, it comes into existence, lives for some time and then goes back. A man is born 100 years back and then he lived for 100 years and then he died now. If you understand existence in that sense, then you are doing great justice to Brahman.

So what we have to say that Brahman is like fire whose very nature is existence. Brahman is like that. The knowledge itself is its very nature.

Ananda is its very nature. So to distinguish relative terms from the absolute terms, does God exist? No, He doesn't exist. Like a tree, like a man.

Then He doesn't exist then. No, no, no. Not that He doesn't exist.

So do you observe double negatives? Does God exist? Not that He doesn't exist. That means what? Positively we don't want to say God exists. Then you equate Him with a tree, with a man etc.

Does God have knowledge? No, no. Not that He is having knowledge. Not that He doesn't have knowledge.

Do you mean to say God has? No. Because every object in this world has only knowledge, is not knowledge. Similarly, does God have happiness? Not that He is not happiness.

That means what? The Vedanta is forced to use this what is called rational language to use double negative to indicate what we understand positively but thereby it avoids our ordinary understanding of what is Sat, Chit and Ananda. So God is existence. God is knowledge.

God is Ananda. Not relative existence, knowledge and bliss but absolute God is. Then He is not three.

He is when you see existence, you see the knowledge and you see the Ananda. When you see the knowledge, there is existence and Ananda. When you see Ananda, there is existence and knowledge.

These three are three different names for the same single Ekam Advithiyam Brahma. And this is the ultimate destiny Paramahamsa Gatim. If you see, here is a man, he wants to become a billionaire.

What is his goal? To become a billionaire. But here are great saints, Rishis, Munis from birth to death, life after death, life after life, they are going on striving for what? This one particular thing. What does it mean? Attain.

This word attainment again is a misnomer. Not attain but recognize I was Brahman, I am Brahman, I will be Brahman forever. So such a person who realized he is called Paramahamsa.

The word Hamsa is very interesting word as I explained in the book. This is the reverse. Hamsaha is Visarga.

Two small zeros at the end of the word is called Visarga. One is Anuswara, one is Visarga. This Visarga becomes, takes the form of O. Hamsa So, Saha becomes So, So, Ham.

When you put Saha plus Aham side by side by the grammatical rule. Of, what is called Sandhi. Two letters conjoining together.

Saha becomes So. But there is a Avaliptha. There is Avagraha we call it.

It is indicating one like reversed Yes will be there. And then afterwards we put Ham. So, Saha, Aham, So, then Avagraha, Ham will be there.

So, Ham, So, Ham. You go on repeating it. Ham, Saha, Ham, Saha, Ham, Saha.

So, this Soham is called Japa, Japa. From birth till death every living creature is going on experiencing doing this what is called continuous Japa going on. What does it mean? Ham, Saha means Soham.

What does Soham mean? Saha, Aham. I am He. I am He.

How does it go? Swamiji explains this in his Bhakti Yoga. Beautifully. So, what is this Soham? When you observe your in-taking breath So, and you observe the outgoing breath Ha, Ha.

So, Ha, Soham, Soham, Soham, Soham, Soham. Continuously it is going on Soham, Soham. If we pay attention to it then we have I am He.

Just join your mind pay attention your mind also will be attached if something is attached to a chain and which is moved by a machine you will also be moving so continuously this Soham is going on. Such a being who realizes is called a Hamsa and he is called a Paramahamsa who knows I am Brahman. So, these Paramahamsas when they attain to that state called Aham Brahmasmi they are called Paramahamsas and that is the highest state and that is the nature of Sat, Chit and Sukham that is called Paramahamsa Gati and it is called Turiyam.

Turiyam means the ground because of which all the three states were experienced by every living creature from morning to evening. Now, we will come to that part of it which is going to third line Yat Swapna Jagara Sushuptim Avaithi Nityam Nityam means constantly Avaithi means experiences and knows Remember these are the two words consecutive words you can never know something unless you experience you see a cow first and then you come to have knowledge this is a cow so what is human life it constantly from birth to death birth after birth goes through three states what are those three states waking state and dream state and deep sleep state this is what is being said Yat means that Brahman that pure consciousness which is called Turiyam Nityam Avaithi constantly witnesses and this word witness has got two implications which I will come to very soon what does this Turiyam witnesses Sakshatva Swapna Jagara Sushupti again for the sake of Chandas meter it is put this way the usual is Jagrat Avastha Sushupti Avastha Swapna Avastha and Sushupti waking dream and dreamless this is the consequence but actually it should be the other way round Sushupti Jagrat and then Swapna why is it why this particular one remember what is this waking state experienced through through physical body called the gross body what is the dream state experienced by the Sukshma Sarira or subtle body or the mind in simple words and the deep sleep experienced by Karana Sarira causal body now remember Karana means cause just as a seed contains the entire tree everything that we experience remains in a dormant state in the state of deep sleep that's why it is called Karana Sarira and the person who experiences as a special name he is called Prajna why Prajna Prajna means the Prakrishtena Ajnaha I do not know anything remember it is not a state of ignorance it is a state of witnessing the ignorance I am witnessing nothingness there is something I witness there is something in a room there is a man I see a man I witness that man that man goes away then I do not see that man to experience both the presence or absence of this person both there must be somebody who is witnessing so in deep sleep we do not lose consciousness we lose the external as well as the subtle world but Karana Sarira you will be there Karana Prapancha is experienced what is the nature of that Karana Prapancha there is nothing here there is nothing that's why you can't say I have seen something I know nothing you are experiencing that state called I know nothing so that is the first state logically then slowly this Sushupti sprouts that sprouting and growing is called Jagradhavastha waking state remember it in this order first deep sleep then waking state then comes again Swapna state then comes waking state then comes deep sleep state this is how the cycle goes on and on so why do I say so because remember what is a dream world dream world is nothing but all the memories and vasanas gathered during the waking state and remaining in that part of the mind called Chitta in the form of memory when we go to this dream state a part of our mind takes some of these memories and mixes them up like Khichdi and then makes it a man is flying I am flying so a horse is flying a flying bird and a running horse both are combined together a flying horse a walking bird like that any number of combinations is possible so the dream state cannot exist without the memories of the waking state that's why our scriptures tell first there is this Karana Sharira then from it comes the waking state from waking state comes the dream state again from after dream state we go back to the waking state and from waking state we go to the Karana Sharira like a tree which grows from a seed and then it gives flowers fruits and then again becomes a seed and then it goes back again to that state so that witnessing consciousness called Thuriyam what does it do it always bears witness Swapna the here because of the Chandas or meter it should have come actually Sushupti Jagrat and Swapna but first dream state then waking state then deep sleep state Nityam Avaithi so that Thuriyam state continuously witnessing the states are changing but the witness is not changing what does it mean first of all when you use that word state that brings is waking is a state dreaming is a state deep sleep is a state so this is a fourth state let us get rid of that idea Thuriyam is the continuously witnessing consciousness nothing to do with any state a state is always relative to each other it is temporary and it is everything is changing and it is experienced witnessed therefore it is an object Thuriyam is the very subject without getting involved so two points we need to remember here if you don't see something so far as you are concerned that thing doesn't exist only when you see something that thing exists first point second point whatever you are experiencing is totally different from you if you are witnessing a tree you are not a tree you are witnessing a house you are not the house you are seeing a car you are not the car that is the second point third point is whatever attributes or qualities the experience object is having a red rose or a green leaf or a big house those qualities belong to that object but not to you when you are looking at a red rose you don't become a rose you don't also become red or green or whatever it is these three points you remember you are a thuria state you are that pure consciousness you are witnessing what was the first point if you are not there if you are absent things do not exist and they exist only so long as you are witnessing it or experiencing it first secondly whatever you are witnessing doesn't belong to you you are not that thirdly whatever attributes you are witnessing because whenever you are witnessing an object necessarily you are witnessing also certain attributes small big green red fat thin etc they belong to the object not at all to you remember these three points so first point is if thuriyam is not there world itself will not be there second without thuriyam the world cannot exist at all it is existing means there is something who is lending existence to it consciousness to it ananda to it if we remember this yath nityam avaiti it illumines what illumines the three states of dream waking as well as sushupti or deep sleep and witnessing means it knows i am witnessing the waking state i am witnessing the dream state i am also witnessing the deep sleep state that is why i clarified am i witnessing the deep sleep state waking state dream state we can understand it but deep sleep we think we are not seeing anything that ability to know i am not seeing anything is also a state of witnessing because there is nothing for you to witness something is there in waking and dream nothing is experienceable excepting nothingness that is why without you you will never know how do you know upon waking up what do you say that you say that i slept well you don't say somebody else has come and slept and at the same time you also say that i know nothing you know nothing because there was no body there was no mind gross body gross mind subtle body and subtle mind is not there but seed body seed mind they are there in the in the way just as a seed is there away the constant it goes what why should we go through all this discussion because we are constantly identifying when you are in the waking state i am the maker when you are in the when i am in the dream state i say i am the dreamer when i am in the deep sleep state i am the sleeper continuously i am changing my identity and that is called insanity madness tell me really who you are now few hours you say i am a waker few hours i am a dreamer and few hours i am a sleeper tell me something which you always are that is this scripture tells us i am the tutorium so it is to remind i am not the waking state i am not the dream state i am not the deep sleep state what i am every morning i have to remember this yes jagrat svapna sushraktin avaiti nityam tat brahma i am that brahman nishkalam i am partless what does it mean in technical terms you say akhanda advaya means partless because anything that has a parts it will be broken apart anything that has parts will get destruction anything partless will never attain destruction because there is nothing that can make it destructive for example space is the greatest example always advaita vedanta gives that example what is the example space space is whether it is in a pot or without pot it is unbreakable so we will discuss this beautiful a few more that is to say i am not the body mind therefore if there is no body mind i do not have waking dream deep sleep then who are you i am turiyam i am the witness of all these three states for sadhana then you say tat brahma i am that brahman nishkalam i am partless nacha bhuta sangaha i am not made up of the five elements these beautiful ideas we will discuss next Thursday.

Oṃ jananīm sāradām devīm rāmakṛṣṇam jagadgurum |

Pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuhu ||

May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti.