Drg Drsya Viveka Lecture 06

So friends, I am very happy that we are here. Volume has to be reduced a bit. Too much echo is coming.

Just sufficient so that we can hear the minimum that is necessary. Isn't it, Rajesh? So it is said that satsanga is a very rare thing in this world. Usually people do not hear of this word sat.

Sat means that which is good, that which is real, that which is true and that which is God. And God is nothing but that which is true, that which is real and that which is good. Expressed in western value system, it is called satyam, shivam, sundaram.

Goodness, truth and beauty. This is what we are all seeking. Truth, goodness and beauty.

This is the nature of God. And whichever promotes these three is called satsanga. Satsanga means the company of the pure, the real, the true and the beautiful.

Could be achieved in so many different ways. It could be a place like holy places. It could be a person like holy persons.

Or it could be an event like very devotional pujas etc. Or it could be scriptures by reading which our minds get elevated. Anything, how do we judge what is satsanga? There must be criteria.

How do we judge? By the effect. How do we judge food? Usually we only judge by the taste. But taste is highly individual.

What one person likes another person doesn't. That's not the criteria at all. In fact, if you try to analyse, taste is a way of ramming the food down our throat.

That which rams us very quickly, that is called taste. That which takes a long time is called distaste or bad taste. Is it not? So the criteria is not that.

What could be the criteria? Only one criteria. What is that? That which promotes health and happiness. That is called food.

In that sense, food is again not merely the rice or bread or things that we take. Whatever goes in is food. Ahara means that which goes in.

So there are five mouths. Each one of us has got five mouths. What are those five mouths? The eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the skin.

Through these five mouths, we are taking five different types of foods. Shabda, sparsha, rupa, rassa and gandha. So whatever goes inside is ahara.

How do we judge what is really good food? So that which promotes three things. What are those three things? That which promotes sattva. That which promotes chitta.

That which promotes ananda. That is why the name of God according to Hindus is Satchitananda. Every living being, irrespective of what it is, how much intelligence it has, only consciously, mostly unconsciously, it is seeking only these three things.

First, it wants to be, survive, live. It will never wish to die or in any way get harmed in the form of threat of death, sattva. And it always seeks, why does something want to live? There must be a purpose.

Living must be a purpose. We don't live merely. We don't want to live like vegetables.

We want to accomplish something, consciously or unconsciously. What is that? What is the next thing? We want to be happy. And what is happiness? Do you know? We use different words, sometimes not understanding what they mean.

Health is such a word. So, do you want to be healthy? Yes. Nobody would control that, isn't it? What does it mean to be healthy? Healthy means just to be one's own self.

Swastha. We use the word swastha. Swasti.

The word swasti is derived from the word swastha. They say the monographs, swastika, is derived from the symbolism. Swasti means that which is peace, that which promotes happiness.

It is a symbolism, swastika. Though people have perverted it to the just opposite way, some people have perverted it, not knowing what it is. So, if you are asked, do you want to be healthy? Yes, because if you are not healthy, what are you? You are unhealthy.

If you are unhealthy, you are not happy. If you are healthy, you are happy. But we don't understand very often, you know.

We don't even remember that we are healthy. The sign of health is what? Absence of consciousness. So long as your tooth is working very nicely, you don't remember it.

But the moment toothache starts, immediately you feel it. But what is the way out? You become Vedanta. Immediately you are transported into the seventh heaven.

Do you understand what I am talking about? Get rid of the troubles on tooth and you feel very happy. Now you understand what is the meaning of Vedanta? When we become, we remove all the teeth. Your happiness is absolutely perfect.

Do you see the point? In future, you will never have any problem at all, because you have no teeth. What a marvellous thing it is. And it is a wonderful thing, because it is said, if you go to hell, you have to gnash your teeth.

But since you are a Vedanti, Vedanti and no teeth, you don't need to gnash your teeth. See, how wonderful Vedanta is. What is the point we are talking about? Every being seeks these three things.

What is it? Seeks to be, seeks to be happy. But these two, being and happiness, is to be known only through knowledge. When you are asleep, you are alive, but do you know you are alive? No.

Only when you wake up, then you know, I am alive. Similarly, you may be having all the happy conditions, but until you feel, I am happy, you will never become happy. You are what you feel.

You are what you feel. Suppose you are eating ordinary food, but you are extraordinarily happy inside. Or you are eating exotic food, but you are worried.

What is the good of it? You are not happy. You must feel happiness. So that feeling is called knowledge.

Is it possible to promote that feeling? Yes, that is what Vedanta proposes to do. So, what is it that is threatening our existence? What is it that is threatening our happiness? What is it that is threatening our knowledge? The opposite of Sat is Asat. The opposite of Chit is Achit or Ajnana.

Chit means Jnana. The opposite of Ananda is Dukkha. Not only Dukkha, the opposite of Ananda is Sukha.

Because Sukha always can change. When Sukha changes, it becomes Dukkha. When Dukkha changes, it becomes Sukha.

Therefore, that which changes is the enemy of changelessness. In that sense, Sukha and Dukkha. That is why we are advised to transcend both Sukha and Dukkha.

Immediately our stupid logic starts to work. If I go beyond Dukkha, that is fine. But if I go beyond Sukha, am I going to be like a stone, a piece of carpet? The carpet doesn't experience Sukha or Dukkha.

Am I going to be like that carpet? No. We are asked that you will enter into the realm of Ananda. So, we want to be how long? Forever.

Why? Because that is our nature. Not to be is not our nature. Not to know is not our nature.

Not to be happy is not our nature. Our nature is Sat, Chit and Ananda. How do we know? Logically speaking, realistically, practically, we don't know that.

But logically speaking, we are all intelligent people. We know we are not going to live for a long time. And we know that it is not possible to know everything.

And we also know that it is not possible to be happy all the time. In fact, it is a logical fallacy. How do you know you are happy? A few years back, many years back, a beautiful book came out from USA in pursuit of excellence.

At the very beginning, the author is a very intelligent author and he has written. So, if everybody is excellent, how do you know who is excellent? There must be some people who are not excellent. Then only you will know in contrast, isn't it? So, how do you know you are happy unless you experience its opposite? So, is it not illogical to expect these three things? In any case, practically, we never see a single person who lives forever, for eternity, and who knows everything and who is always happy.

We will never find practically anybody. Why do I say practically? Because yes, we can find persons like saints, Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, or Jesus Christ, or Buddha. But the point is, do we find them always happy? Do you follow what I am talking about? They may be happy eternally, but do you know they are eternally happy? Ramakrishna comes and says, I have toothache.

What would be your first impression? This man is not a happy man. What would be your advice? Get rid of the tooth. So, how can you say? He knows whether tooth is there or not there, he is happy.

But do you know that he is happy? That's why I said, we have to trust them. You don't know that they are eternally happy. That's what the scriptures tell.

You are eternally happy if you have knowledge, if you have God-realisation. Can you imagine a God who is unhappy? And if you come across a being called God who is sometimes happy and sometimes not happy, would you consider him as a God? Would you pray to him for eternal happiness? A person who is not himself happy all the time, would you pray? Our concept of God is, he is eternal, he is infinite, and he is eternally, infinitely happy. That means his existence, his knowledge and his happiness is not limited by time, space or causation.

Such a concept we all have. Why do we have this concept? It is not going. Even an atheist, he has a concept of God.

Only he doesn't accept that there is a being called God. That is all. But if you ask him, how long do you want to live? He will say, for eternity.

And do you want to be happy? Do you want sometimes to be happy, sometimes unhappy? He will say, no, I want always to be happy. And do you want to know everything? I asked him, do you want to know everything? He said, no, no. I am quite happy with what I know.

I don't want to know. Then I asked him, do you want to know what your wife is thinking about you? He said, yes. One man, Gogol, Gogol, you know? He said, how to tackle a wife? Immediately the answer came, only one answer.

Good day sir, we are also searching. Don't you want to know what is the share value going to be next day? We all want to know, but we do not cherish the hope to know everything, because instruments with which we want to know are severely, severely limited. Limited by time, limited by space, and limited by causes, causation.

But we have the desire, and we will never give up the desire. Why is this contradiction? We know it is not possible, and yet we don't want to give up hope. Why is this contradiction? Vedanta gives the answer.

That's because you are that, even though you do not know. So what does Vedanta give? What science and other things cannot give us? It tells us our true nature. But if you question, how do I know what you say is true? You say, have faith.

Why does it say, why do we need faith? Even in our day to day life, we need faith. For example, you tell a child that there was such a person called Einstein. He had a wonderful brain, and it is possible to become Einstein-like.

Do you think the child will ever say, yes, I will be like Einstein? The child knows, at this stage, I cannot be Einstein. But I hope to be Einstein. So that hope is based upon what? If you analyse psychologically, logically, whenever you use the word hope, that word hope is preceded by another word.

What is that? I have faith. If you don't have faith, hope becomes logic. Hopeless.

You will never hope. If you don't have faith, the moment you say, I hope to have this, that means you have faith that it is possible for you to achieve that. See the point.

Though unconsciously we use many words like that. So Vedanta says you must have faith. One of the most degrading diseases of the modern human mind is, which is called losing faith, loss of faith.

It is a wonderful subject, but it is a separate subject. I won't go into it, but I will just give a hint. Usually we use the word faith in the sense of religion.

Religion is faith, interfaith meeting, etc. Whatever you call it, faith. Faith means religion.

Religion means having faith in God. Having faith in God means God is a future possibility. God is a future possibility.

And logically any possibility is embedded in its seed form. That is why we call it seed. You see the point? The seed of an apple has the possibility of becoming an apple tree.

If it doesn't, then the seed is completely worthless. Is it not? A fried seed. Yes.

One fried, one two. Two fryers were eating in a restaurant. And they ordered fried eggs.

So one fried egg is talking to the other fried egg. Tough luck. From the frying pan into the fryer.

So whenever we use that word, hope, we use faith. Faith means that something is already there as a possibility that is called potentiality. So the seed has 100% potentiality of becoming a wonderful tree provided it is given an opportunity.

That opportunity is what we call satsanga. Any opportunity that helps us to manifest our potentiality is called satsanga. So without faith it is never possible to live for a minute.

Why? Because next second, next millisecond, what is going to happen we do not know. The roof may fall or we may have some brain haemorrhage. So many things, anything can happen.

Unpredictability is there. And yet what sustains us, you know it won't fall. Hopefully it has been constructed by a good contractor.

Or if you are a devotee, God is protecting me. If you don't believe in God but law of karma, I read only good karma. It's not going to fall.

It's a wonderful thing. Law of karma is such a wonderful thing. After witnessing some events, I can't but believe in the law of karma.

In Haiti, one fellow fell into a room full of beer and chips. He survived for seven days and then he was rescued. I have a doubt now whether he really wanted to be rescued.

After seven days, after everything was finished, he might have wanted to be rescued. But at that point whether he wanted to be rescued, I have doubts. Anyway, the point is our hope is a sure indication that there is a possibility within.

Otherwise, for long it won't stay. But whole life we are cherishing this wish. Even if you say, I just want to be happy, but you are pulling in the other two things.

I want to be and I want to know that I am happy and that is what makes me happy. So, this beautiful analysis which we have gone through helps us to clarify what is the meaning of human life. Everybody wants, even worldly person, we make a false division.

This is a spiritual person, this is a worldly person. Usually we mistake. A spiritual person wants God in Satchitananda.

A worldly person doesn't. But that's a completely false conclusion. A worldly person wants eternal life, eternal happiness as much as any spiritual person.

In the desire of spiritual person and worldly person, there is absolutely no distinction whatsoever. Where does the distinction lie? It is in the instruments that one uses. A worldly person wants to have infinite happiness through a finite thing.

Just imagine, hundred beautiful dishes are there and it is all free and is the best food, but you are given only a small saucer. Take as much as you want. This is what I call Indian conception of health.

Yes, that's what you know. A Christian missionary once came and challenged, Swami, your Hindu health is hopeless health. He said, what do you mean by hopeless health? Hindu health is the best health.

Oh, can you illustrate? Yes, you know, supposing a glutton goes to hell, he will not be barbecued, roasted and dried and turned over by the fire. No, nothing of that sort. God will never torture you.

Hindu God will never do that. He is a God. He does it in a very, like a cultured gentleman, refined way he does it.

He says, you want to eat my friend? I will provide you mountain high food. First class food. Mountain high body also he will give.

From mouth to the legs, it is only stomach. This much leg and this much, you know, the rest is only stomach. The food is there.

Eat as much as you like. But the mouth is like the needle, the eye of a needle. Eat as much as you want.

This is Hindu concept of health. So a worldly person, he doesn't say I want less happiness. But the means he adopts, that is limited.

Whereas a spiritual person thinks he has better instrument. Or at least tries to better the instrument. What is that instrument? There is only one instrument.

What is that instrument? Mind. Culture the mind. Cultivate the mind.

Manre krishikas janana. Then what was next? If only you had cultivated, you would have harvested gold. Ram Prasad's one of the most beautiful songs.

So we need guidance how to cultivate the mind. In this process of cultivation, the single most important aid for us is called viveka. Viveka means how to separate the worthless from the essential.

Even if you wanted to solve a problem, you must have a discriminating mind. I am not talking about solving problems. I am talking about the instrument which solves the problem.

You must select the best instrument. Such an instrument according to Vedanta. Whichever path you are following, whichever religion you are following, it doesn't matter.

That is called viveka. Viveka means separating the real from the unreal. The useful from the useless.

The practical from the impractical. What is that instrument? Only knowledge. Viveka means ultimately right knowledge.

When the mind is in the right condition, then the knowledge automatically develops. In the last few days, we have been taking a very interesting Vedantic text called Dhrit Drishya Viveka. I will come shortly.

Just let me announce. I think most of you have heard that today's talk should focus upon the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita called Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga Yoga. But exactly that is what Viveka also tells.

It is only different names. Instead of using Kshetrajna, here the word used is Drishya. Instead of using Kshetra, the word that is used is Drishya.

But it is exactly the same. Now let me... We have continued already quite advanced. We have come almost to two-thirds of the book.

And we are about to enter into the most practical part of this book. So I thought let us continue this one. And I will give the essence of the 13th chapter as soon as we finish this.

So let me give a brief introduction which I already had hinted at. What is this? We all want to be Sat, to be Chit and to be Ananda. We want to be God-like.

Is there such a thing? Yes, there is such a thing. How do we know? Because the scriptures tell us. This is what Swami Vivekananda, the great Vedantic propagator came and told us.

Each soul is potentially divine. It is a beautiful word. Each soul is potentially divine.

Swami Vivekananda summarised Vedanta as no one else literally summarised it in four sentences. Let us recollect them. Perhaps some of you know about it already.

The first sentence runs, each soul is potentially divine. It is a very significant word. Don't jump to conclusions.

We are divine, not yet. We are potentially divine. We are like seeds.

So if someone gives you a good seed, it doesn't mean that immediately you start eating mangoes or apples. You have to cultivate it in the right way. Wait patiently.

So unfold. The second sentence, if you are potentially divine, the goal of life is to manifest this potential divinity and be free. That is the goal.

What is freedom? Freedom is to manifest one's potentiality. You don't have any freedom. Let me give you an example because all these words are loaded words.

Don't forget, he is summarising what Vedanta has been trying to explain in God loads of books. We all use the word freedom. I want to be free.

Let me give you an example. What freedom does an apple seed have? Has it the freedom to become a mango? So it has freedom only to become an apple. So a mango seed has only freedom to become a good mango.

That's all. Now you see, what is the meaning of the word freedom? Freedom means to become only oneself. Freedom means only to express to be and to remain completely as oneself.

You see, not whatever I like to be. Because if you are not what you are, then you will suffer. If you manifest, express your freedom in any other way other than what you are, you will suffer.

I will give you a practical example. Supposing a scientific minded person takes literature class to literature class. Wants to be a poet or somebody else like that.

What do you think happens to that person? If he tries to be in a class which promotes his mentality, then he manifests. But if he tries, no I like to be a poet. Suppose he doesn't have poetic talents, then what happens? It will be counterproductive, don't you see? So this is the word we have to understand.

We have only freedom to express, to become fully whatever is our nature. And do any one of us know what is our true nature? We only desire our nature, but we do not know for certainty that is our nature. I already indicated, what is that? We all want to be divine.

To live forever, to know everything and to be happy forever. What is it? To be God, to be divine. That's what we all desire to be.

But do we know whether that is possible? We do not know. We know what we desire. We do not know whether we can achieve that.

That is where these great souls come and tell us, you are what you really desire to be. So that is where you have freedom. Each soul is potentially divine.

Wonderful issue. If we are all divine, do we have any problems? You have no right to be divine. Only I have the right to be divine.

Can we quarrel like that? It is not possible to quarrel. It is counterproductive. Because my divinity is possible only when I stop quarrelling with you and start loving you.

Is it not? Because to look upon yourself as my own self is called divinity. Otherwise how am I going to be infinite? That is logically I am trying to put it. So what is freedom? Freedom is only to express, trying to be what one is, and once having attained that, to be without slipping down, to maintain that position.

Is that point clear? Anything that we do that goes counter to express our own real nature is counterproductive. But for some reason we all do what we do not wish to do. We all want to be happy but make tremendous efforts to be unhappy.

We go out of our way to do actions, to produce. This is why most of us suffer. Karma phala we call it.

The moment you entertain, you cherish a negative idea, what are you trying to do? Go against your own nature, counter to your own nature. But we know it intellectually many times, and yet we do not seem to have any control over it. We know what we should be, we know what we should do, but as Oscar Wilde has once expressed it, I can resist anything except temptations.

What else do you want to resist? We know it. Something as it were is covering our eyes, winding our hands and feet, not allowing us to do what we want to do. So Vedanta has to give some name for that.

This demon, whatever you call it, they call it Maya. This strange wonderful power, what is this power? Maya. What does Maya mean? Do you know what Maya means? Maya means ya ma, that which is not there.

It is not there, yet it is there. If you know, it is not there. If you don't know, it is there.

As long as you do not know, it is there. But the moment you come to know, it is not there. You wonder, where has it gone? Where has it gone? Because it is called ajnana.

When jnana comes, where does ajnana go? It has gone somewhere. We don't know where it has gone. It has not run somewhere here and there.

So, unable to understand this, we have become paramanandaya shishyas. This is the tragedy of life. In Telugu, paramanandaya shishyas is a very popular story.

So, there was one guru. He was called paramanandaya. He had shishyas.

That's why they are called paramanandaya shishyas. So, what happened? One day, the shishya came. It is night and it is dark.

He said, Guruji, it is so dark. What shall I do? I am frightened. He said, light the lamp.

So, he lit the lamp. And then he asked Guruji, where shall I place this lamp? He said, wherever there is darkness, place it. So, he saw.

He said, here is the lamp. There is darkness. So, he ran there.

Because Guru told him, where there is darkness, you place it. When he went there mysteriously, the darkness has come here. Very soon, he died of heart attack because he was trying to place his lamp where there is darkness.

So, we should never become paramanandaya shishyas. We should be intelligent. So, intelligence starts with the first step called faith, called shraddha.

Because you don't know. You have to place your faith in somebody. You can't go on doubting.

You will first prove and then I will follow you. Supposing there is darkness and you ask somebody, how can I get rid of darkness? And that person tells you, light the lamp. You prove to me first that lighting the lamp will then remove the darkness.

If he proves, where is the need for him to light the lamp? So, first proof will not come. What does come first? Faith. You do this and how do we know that that is going to be the result? Again, doubts.

We are full of doubts. We don't doubt a drunkard. We don't doubt a cheat.

You go on putting your pension funds in every Tom, Dick and Harry's fund because they promise 8% interest and all that but you don't have faith in the scriptures. What a pitiful condition it is. We must have faith.

Faith is what defines a man. And if a man has faith, he can never be cheated because faith itself is manifestation of God. Do you see the point? Faith is not something which has to prove something else.

Faith itself is the proof of something which we cannot see. That is why Shri Ramakrishna says when a man achieved faith, he has achieved everything. When a person has faith that I am a happy person, you don't need any other proof.

If he is happy, what is your headache? So, this is our answer to atheists. Atheist says there is no proof of God. He says there is no need for proof of God.

If a person has faith, then that faith affects him. What is the nature of faith? Faith totally affects a person much better than a drug or a drink. Supposing, just as an example, a person says I see a ghost.

No one else sees it. Only one person says I see it. And you laugh and say you are a stupid fellow, you are out of your mind, there is no ghost.

That is not the point. The point is he is affected. Whether ghost is real or unreal, true or untrue, that is not the point.

The point is he believes he is seeing the ghost. Do you get my point? He gets frightened, it is coming to gobble me up and all those things. Similarly, if a person says I believe in God and he gets consolation, he gets peace of mind, he is quite happy, he is able to counter the problems of life very nicely, what is your headache? In fact, that is exactly what is faith.

Faith transforms a person. Do you see what the point is? I am not talking about God, I am talking about faith in God. If a person has that faith and his idea of God is since God is looking after me, I am a very happy person and only a person who has faith, whether his conditions are favourable or not, he remains happy.

If he is happy, that proves God exists. Don't you see? Faith itself is a proof of God's existence or whatever a person believes. That is why faith is the very first step and for faith you can't again seek proof.

That is foolishness. Faith itself is the proof. Either you have it or you don't have it.

Having faith, then you approach the scripture or a wise man or a holy man and you tell, I want to be happy. Tell me, how can I be? He says, yes. If you go to a doctor with a problem, what does he do? First, he tests.

Second, he diagnoses your problem and then he prescribes a medication. These are the three steps. If you approach the scripture also, first it analyses your problem.

Already it has analysed your problem. Long before you were born, it analysed your problem and it knows what is the remedy and it prescribes how to use that. Very important.

Not only to get a prescription, but how to use the prescription. It is even more important than getting the right prescription. A fat woman had gone to a doctor.

I am very fat. Make me thin. So, the doctor prescribed a diet.

You eat this, you eat this. Diet prescription. So, the woman went and the doctor told her, come back after one month and let me see how my prescription is working.

So, after one month, this woman left. Now, she doubled in her fatness. The doctor said, are you taking my diet prescription? She said, yes, doctor.

You know, you put me in a very difficult position. I have to eat my normal diet and then eat also the prescribed diet. It is very important how to follow the prescription.

Without giving up your old habits, you try to develop what you know is never going to be working out. So, what is the diagnosis? The diagnosis is called Maya. What is Maya? Misunderstanding, wrong understanding is called Maya.

We see things and we mistake their nature. So, what is it that we are really seeing? Which soul is potentially divine? What is the goal of life? To manifest this divine nature. So, the first tells us what is the remedy to our problems and how we can get what we really seek.

It tells us, you want money. What for? You want to be living long. Can money make you live long? One man went to a doctor.

Doctor asked him, What for did you come? He said, Doctor, I want to live a long time. Doctor said, Go and get married. The man was surprised.

If I get married, do I live long? Doctor said, No, but you feel you are living a long time. More than long. So, each soul is potentially divine but potential divinity has to be brought up.

That should be made the goal of life. That is what this Dhrit Drishya Viveka says that you have mixed up two opposite things and always you are in trouble because you are unable to separate what is real and what is unreal. Why? Because the power of maya is not allowing you to practise this discrimination.

So, what is the way? The way is there are called religions. What is the third sentence that says that manifest to this divinity either through work or worship or psychic control or philosophy by one or more or all of these put together and be free. So, you can take any one.

Any one will do. Or if you wish take two or all the four. How many paths are there? Only four.

What are they called? Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Na Yoga. Take any one or two or all the four. It doesn't matter according to your capacity.

Follow sincerely and you will be free. The last sentence, summarization of Vedanta, very important, even more important than the other three sentences says this being free is the only thing that counts. This is the whole of religion.

Doctrines, dogmas, churches, books, ceremonials, rituals, all these are but secondary details. Don't focus on them. They are necessary but take their help.

Like crutches, you know, if you are injured you take the crutches or if you are building a house then you get the scaffolding but don't keep the scaffolding. As soon as the building is constructed remove them otherwise that itself will become an obstruction. In these four marvellous words, Swami Vivekananda summarises Vedanta.

The last is even more important. Why? Because we are all clinging to the crutches and never getting out of it. That is counterproductive.

You take the help, they are necessary but you must know when to give them up otherwise you are not going anywhere. So this viveka, let us come back to the viveka. What is it? We seem to be bound.

That is the key word. Seem to be bound. Not really bound.

It is all in our mind. So the bondage is a feeling. A feeling is an idea.

Idea is a thought. This thought is in the mind. Therefore, get rid of the thought.

It is not the reality. So Vedanta gives us a beautiful illustration to make this point clear. In semi-darkness you see something and you mistake it for a snake.

Actually it is nothing but a rope. So mistaking a rope for a snake doesn't make it a snake. It is only a snake.

The rope exists there. Where does the snake exist? In our mind. In the beholder's mind.

It is an idea. It is not a reality. Get rid of this idea.

To get rid of that idea you can't simply say I will get rid of this idea and it goes off. No it won't go like that. How will it go? You bring the light then you see.

Then you say oh this is not a snake. This is a rope. Then your fear goes away.

That is the only way your fear goes away. You have to do, the point here is that the wrong idea is in our mind and the right idea also should come into our mind only. You go on beating that snake rope.

Will the snake die any time? Never. For eternity you go on beating. It is not going to happen.

But bring the light. Light means knowledge. Immediately the snake disappears.

The idea of the snake doesn't disappear. What disappears? The idea of the snake disappears. And correct understanding of what is there comes.

So how to bring about this? Now this bondage is manifested in two forms, internal and external. Internally we are identifying constantly with our ideas. Our ideas are like objects outside.

Our mind is like ourselves seeing outside objects. So internally there are two. There is one observer and one observed.

The seer and the seeing. Every time you see. But every time we are getting mixed up.

For example, just to give an example, internally. Externally I give you the idea. You see something.

You can't say it is a rope. You can only say it is a rope after you bring light. Until that time you only start seeing the snake.

You don't say, first I saw the rope, then the rope became a snake and now we will get rid of the snake. That will not happen. First the wrong idea has come because you didn't have the right idea.

We are unfortunately born with this. So internally an example is given. Suppose somebody utters harsh words towards you.

What happens? Those words enter in the form of sounds and creates a wave in the lake of the mind. What is it? Just as when the boat goes the whole lake breaks into. So our calm mind, we are very calm, enjoying beautiful daylight.

Suddenly somebody says, you rogue. Something like that. You dumb, like that.

You, even you say, you people. One man lost his presidential candidate just by saying you people. You know that? A few years back that fellow immediately resigned because he was addressing the black people.

Should not say you people, we people. We only say we people only one time. That is the advantage of the team work.

When something goes wrong, you can blame everybody. If you are a boss, he says you people. If you are a team worker, say we people.

Never say I have gone wrong. We have gone wrong. That is the only time you use we very nicely.

So a wave comes into the mind. It is a beautiful incident. It is good to remember, you know.

Once my predecessor Swami Bhaviyaranda was talking with somebody who came to see him. Swami was talking about the power of mantras. You know mantras? Mantras are nothing but words.

But they are not mere words. They are mantras. So the power of the mantra.

He said that man, he said, no Swami, I don't believe there is any power in the mantra. Swami's face became red and he said, you rascal. That man was not even a devotee.

First time perhaps he was coming. The moment Swami uttered you rascal, immediately that fellow's blood pressure rushed up. His face became red.

Immediately Swami laughed and said, see, even when I said you rascal, how much power these words have. And mantras, don't you think they have power? What a wonderful thing it is. How words are making us slaves every moment.

Honey, I love you. Even if that fellow is trying sharpening the knife. Honey, I love you.

And immediately, you know, your whole face blooms like a lotus. How foolish we are. We are slaves to words, not even to sincere feelings.

So we should not be really influenced by them. Some people praise us, some people criticise us, and this is going on all the time. Nobody is praised all the time, nobody is criticised all the time.

But I'm giving this example. This word comes, you rogue or something, and immediately the chitta becomes agitated. There is nothing wrong with that also.

You are observing, but quickly you become that vritti. What happens then? There is a thought of anger, and now you are observing before, before you knew it, you became one with it. Instead of saying, there is a thought of anger in my mind, what do you say? I am angry.

You are not saying, your whole face, your heart, your muscles, your adrenaline, everything is showing in a second. That's an example to show that you have the control and say, okay, there is a bad thought in the mind. First you do that, and then afterwards decide what to do, what not to do.

That is what masters do it. The slaves immediately they become identified. But there is also a wonderful point, there is a wonderful point for illustrating something else, which is wonderful.

People often come to me and say, teach about meditation. I say, I don't need to teach because you are a master of meditation. What is, am I a master of meditation? Yes.

What is meditation? To become completely one with any thought that arises in the mind is mastery of meditation. And whenever somebody says you are a rogue, immediately you become one with that thought. You have developed the technique.

Any wrong thought, you are completely become identified with it. Or sometimes good thoughts also. Usually, the children are unmanageable, not so loving.

You go and say, I love you, I love you, apply, apply, no reply. But come 24th December, how many times they tell you, Mom, I love you, Mom, I love you, Dad, I love you, my God, until you are tired. But it also creates a frightful, that love is a very frightful love.

Because the moment he embraces you and says, Mom, I love you, your heart is going to tap at and in your eyes the checkbook balances that. So, we are already masters. There is a point, we are identifying with the wrong end of the things.

We know the technique, how to identify now, use that technique with the good things. That is where spiritual practise is necessary. Our mind is ready, but it has to be directed.

Hiram Krishna used to say, you somebody asked him, when would I realise God? What did he say? He said that the love of a chaste woman for her husband, the love of a mother for her only child, the love of a miser for worldly things, if these three loves are combined and directed towards God, then immediately you will realise God. This is the truth also. What does it mean? It means this world is created for us to develop love.

So you love your partner, your husband or your wife, you love your children, love to the extent that is possible. But do not stop there. Do not stop there because stopping there is called worldliness, putting a limitation, I won't love anybody else, love to the extent that is possible.

And now what should you do? It is like sharpening an arrow or a knife, this practise, loving wife, loving husband, loving children, loving other people. It is like sharpening the knife. That means the instrument is trained how to love.

But now the purpose is to direct it towards your own self, true self. That is why God has created this world. Not for anything, it is not meaningless, it is not obstruction.

This is a wonderful school. If someone is criticising you, it is a wonderful lesson. Though it is not a pleasurable thing, it is a very painful thing, but that is the purpose.

If you can stand this criticism and not only not be affected adversely, but remain very happy, then nothing in this world, no adversity, no negativity can ever affect you. Once you learn a lot of things, internal enemies, six internal enemies, karma, krodha, loka, moha, mother, we suffer from one or other of these sixfold negative emotional reactions. It is one and the same, but expressed in six different ways.

Karma turns into krodha, krodha turns into loka, loka turns into moha, moha turns into mother, mother turns into matsarya, again matsarya turns into any one of these things depending on the occasion. If we can stand them, then that force also can be added to our positive force, and then the purpose is not merely gathering them, but to redirect it towards God. So internally we have to separate drik and drishya.

Externally we have to separate the divinity which is behind every object. For this purpose, six meditations are given as directions for our internal and external all-round development. Briefly, what are these six? Very briefly, I will elaborate tomorrow morning and that would be the best thing to do.

So, first of all, we have Savikalpa Samadhi and Nirvikalpa Samadhi, two categories, Savikalpa and Nirvikalpa. And secondly, internal and external. Then, Drishyanavitha and Shabdanavitha.

Internal Drishyanavitha, external Drishyanavitha. Internal Shabdanavitha and external Shabdanavitha. Don't get confused, I am going to clarify it in simple words.

First of all, what is the meaning of Savikalpa? It means there is a division between the meditator and the meditator. Nirvikalpa means that such a division doesn't exist. Then, internal and external.

Internal is of two types, Drishyanavitha and Shabdanavitha. What it means is that Drishya means any thought that passes through our mind. So, I gave just now one example.

The moment somebody criticises us, then there is a negative wave in the chitta or mind and immediately the I which knows definitely this is a thought, but it doesn't stop there, it jumps into the lake and becomes one with the agitation. I am angry instead of saying. So, what is the first Savikalpa meditation, internal meditation? You remain separate and say, Oh, what is the thought that is coming? Oh, there is an angry thought, that fellow uttered this information.

It is all information. That fellow uttered this information that you are a bad fellow and then there is an anger emotion called anger rising and the mind is agitated, the body is agitated. So, separate the drishya or these thoughts and do not identify.

That is why in English they say, before you react, count ten. So, one fellow was insulted. Who got this sermon that you count to ten before you react? So, somebody had uttered something, he had to count to ten.

There is a way of counting. He couldn't wait enough time. He counted.

But, before anybody can, you know, even what he is uttering, he went and gave one big slap. That's not counting. You have to count very slowly and leisurely.

That means you are watching. Oh, there is a thought, there is a thought, there is a thought. I am about to react, I am about to react.

No, no, no. If you practise, it will happen. So, this separation of witnessing, previously we are becoming one with the thoughts, now we want to separate the observer with the, from the observed, separate.

It's called Drik and Drishya. Drik is the seer, Drishya is the seer. Here, Drishya means all the thoughts, internal thoughts.

It is actually Drishya only. Why it is Drishya? Because, we can never think abstract thoughts. See, if you see a banana, for example, in your thought, banana, how does that thought appear to you? Yellow, and this big, and if you are hungry, it appears to be quite ripe, but if you are planning to eat tomorrow or day after tomorrow, it will be greenish.

Then it will appear to be a little bit greenish. See, how wonderful it is. Separate.

This is called Drishya, Anuvidya, Antarika, Savikalpa, Samadhi. Drishya. Now, you have separated.

You practise this meditation. This is the first step. It takes a long time.

Then you say, I am the witness, and these are the things I am witnessing. The Drishya is separated from the Drishya. The Drishya is still there, but the Drishya is not getting identified with the Drishya.

Now, it is called Drishya, Anuvidya, Samadhi, because you are taking the help of the Drishyas to separate the Drishya. Because if there are no thoughts, how would you separate yourself? Then progress to the next step. What is the next step? Shabda, Anuvidya, Savika, Antara, Savikalpa, Samadhi.

What is that? Now, I am Idrik. I can see that there are thoughts in front of me. That means, if I can see, whatever I can see, whatever I experience, I am different from it.

This is the point. In English language we use the word I and my. The moment you say my, it is not I. I and my are totally separate.

My book? I am not the book. I have a book. So I don't say I am a book.

Otherwise it is dangerous. So I have a donkey. Immediately, you know, that is what we become all the time.

You know, if you love your donkey, if anybody touches your donkey, you feel more than the donkey they touched you. That is what happens. So, what is the next? Shabdan Vidha.

What is Shabdan Vidha? I can see. I am the observer. What is my nature? Who am I? Do I know about myself? I don't know because all the time, what am I doing? I am identifying myself.

I am a man. I am a woman. I am young.

I am old. I am beautiful. I won't see the other one.

Until now, you agree. After that, you won't agree with me. So, you see, I know I am separate, but I don't know what is my nature.

How will I know? That is when Shabdan comes. What is Shabdan? Not sound. Shabdan means not sound.

Shabdan means Shabda Pramana we call it. Veda Pramana. Shastra Pramana.

Scriptural teaching. What is the scripture telling? That you are God. It comes in the book itself.

I am Asanga. I am not associated with anything. I am Nirvikaraha.

I am Nityaha. I am Janma Mrutyurahitaha etc. etc.

etc. Descriptions. Take one by one these descriptions and focus your meditation upon them.

That is called Shabda Pramana. How wonderful it is. Then Nirvik Antarika Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

What is that? Very briefly what it means is this. You know supposing you go on doing Kepa. Let me give an example.

There is a potter. Potter is making a pot and he uses a wheel. So what does he do? Now and then he goes on moving it.

Then after he moves, continuously he is not moving it. Then he throws away the stick. What happens to the wheel? It goes on rotating.

In the same way, if you go on saying Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama for some time, then you stop saying it, but your mind is still continuing saying it. If you practise enough, it is saying all the time. Do you see the point? Now in the first meditation, you are separating yourself from the thoughts.

In the second meditation, you are saying, I am Asanga, I am Nirvikalpa, I am Nityaha, I am Janmabhruti Rahitaha, etc. By doing this japam, after some time you stop doing japam, but by itself the thought is moving forward like a wheel which is moved. That which is moving without our doing any effort, that is called Antarika Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

If you do it long enough, then you will never forget it. That is why we are asked to do Bhagavan Nama Japam. So how long can you do it? You can't do it for a long time, but if you do it sufficiently long time, it takes over.

You know what we call it? In the old times, or even now also in a different way, if you want to start a car, what do you do? Self-starter is there, isn't it? In the old times, you know, there is like this, you put it in the front and then you go on doing like this. After some time, you know, you go on doing. How long? Until it catches the wheel and it is self-moving.

It becomes self-moving. So our doing japam is like self-starter. But if you do sufficiently, because there is sufficient petrol only, it goes on moving by itself.

This is called Ajapa Japam. So it goes on. I am Asangaha, I am Nirvikalpaha, I am Janma Mrityurahitha.

It goes on. So that is called Nirvikalpa, because there is no drishya, there is no conscious thinking, but the thought process is going on and on and on. Another example I will tell you.

Some children, they can't sleep alone. You know, they are afraid. So the mother sits by them.

How long? It goes on telling a story and sitting by the bed and doing like this and the child slowly falls asleep, but it doesn't merely fall asleep. It is, my mother is here, I have nothing to worry about. When it goes to sleep, happily, it doesn't know the mother is there or gone, but happily that thought continues until it wakes up suddenly and finds there is no mother and it starts bawling.

Then immediately the mother comes, I am here darling, you don't worry. So this way, this Nirvikalpa Samadhi means a thought movement that goes on all by itself after a lot of japa and other things. That is called Antarika Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

Same process is applied in the external world. Why? I will very briefly tell you, but let me describe. Now, Bahya Savikalpa Samadhi.

Again it is of these two folds, Drishyanvitha and Shraddhanvitha. What is Drishyanvitha? In the internal world, it is thoughts, that is Drishya. Drik and Drishya.

In the external world, it is called Jagat. I am seeing you, you are seeing me, you are seeing all these things, this is called Jagat. World, Prapancha.

But don't identify, I have the body, I can see my body. I have the body, I can see my hands, my feet, all those things. But what did we study here? Every object that we encounter has five elements.

What are those five elements? Sat, Chit, Ananda, Nama and Rupa. So every object our eyes or our ears are encountering has got these five characters. But what are we focussing upon? Only Nama and Rupa.

We are not focussing on the Sat, Chit, Ananda. Now you shift the balance and say that I have a body and I am the body and I have a soul. No, shift the focus now and say I am the soul but I have a body.

So focus, behind this carpet there is something, it is existing. And you are knowing it and it is giving great happiness. You know, cold, this floor, you sit for some time, then it starts pinching you.

And then somebody brings that, Ki Ananda. See, Asti, Bhati, Priya. So suddenly my happiness has grown a lot.

And then I see what is the cause of my happiness? First I see there is the cushion. The second I see how soft it is, knowledge. Third is, not only it removed my pain, how wonderfully it is helping me.

So sometimes you are trying to sleep and suddenly you feel cold. You have not woken up but you are not deeply asleep. You are tossing.

Then somebody, your mother or somebody, what is it, a nice blanket they will put. Then immediately you see there is something very soft. Something very cosy and warm.

And then what Ananda it is giving me. This is how, this is called Bahiya, Savikalpa, Drishya, Anuvidha Samadhi. That means every object you encounter, first you say you are divine, potentially divine.

But you are divine, you are God manifest. But God coming in this particular Nama, Rupa and Nama. It is difficult because we are accustomed only the ulta, opposite.

First we say Nama, Rupa, afterwards we say about God. This is nice, sweet and then nice looking and all those things. So much we are obsessed with Nama, Rupa.

What is inside we don't know, package is called packaging. What is inside the packaging God alone knows. But packaging is most important.

You know this is our modern culture. That is why the packaging costs much more than what is inside. Recently somebody has written an article, you know, about this Amazon sending gifts.

You ordered one USB stick, it is only this much. But a huge packet has come. It is a big headache, you know, where are you going to throw all those things.

Packaging, what is packaging? Nama and Rupa. That is not important. What is important is what is inside the Nama, Rupa.

It is again another subject because even we, we never mistake Nama, Rupa. We are seeking what is inside the Nama, Rupa. That is really what attracts us.

That is a different subject, I am not going into it now. Now what is the Drishyanvidya Vahya Savikalpa Samadhi? Any object that you see, according to scriptural directions, every object contains five elements. Focus on the Satchidananda elements which belongs to Brahman.

Nama, Rupa which belongs to Jagat. So ignore or make it secondary, Nama, Rupa. But primary should be Satchidananda.

That is when morality starts. What is morality? Doesn't matter whether it is a human being or living a dog or a tree, whatever it is, it is alive. And if it is alive, it has sensations.

If it is having sensations, I should not cause any hurt to it. People have become extraordinarily aware of this type of morality. You see what I am talking about? Previously morality means whether a person's behaviour, especially sexual behaviour, is called moral.

But now a survey has been taken, a reversalization. They say if a man and woman is misbehaving, do you consider it as immoral? Or if some trees are cut, do you consider it as immoral? Everybody pointed out, if somebody cuts a tree, that is the worst immoral act anybody can do. Afterwards, the other things.

Shifting of the values. Shifting of the values. So this is what is happening.

Now you shift to the value and say, not Nama Rupa, but Satchidananda. That is most important. This is God, this is God, this is God.

Everything that I see is Satchidananda, Brahma. But Nama Rupa is something, Brahman is appearing as a dog, Brahman is appearing as an insect, Brahman is appearing as a carpet, that is a Nama Rupa. But within this, all the three things are common.

What are those three things? Satchidananda and Nama Rupa. This is called, what is this called? Bhashya, Drishyamvitta, Savikalpa Samadhi. Exactly in the internal meditation, LI, there is another, what is called? Shabdhan.

What is Shabdhanvitta? Yes, I see that there is an element of Satchidananda. What is the nature of that Satchidananda or Brahman? Again, here Shabdha means? Scriptural teachings. What is, who is Brahma? Exactly the same thing.

Brahma is? All these qualities? Take these qualities, some of these qualities and focus, what is this Brahman? That is called Shabdha, Anuvitta, Bahya, Savikalpa, Samadhi. And if you go on doing like this, then after, this is usually taught in the form of Aham Brahmasmi, Tattvamasi, etc. So when you go on meditating upon it consciously, after some time that meditation becomes unconscious and continuous.

That is called? That is called Bahya Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Vikalpa means you are trying to think something. Nirvikalpa means you the agent are absent.

The thought process is going on. You are only identifying with the resultant of the thought. You are not trying to do that thought.

Now, as an example, the scripture gives us that we are all human beings. I am a man, I am a man, I am a woman, I am a woman. Are you trying to do japa of this? Or is it continuing in every state? Continuing.

How did it come to know? Now, it is an interesting point, how much we are brainwashed. You see, forget about I am man, that is a common example, difficult to understand. I must tell that joke, you know.

Some comic was telling, until I was 13 years old, I thought my name was shut up. Do you get it? The parents and others, whenever he tries to open his mouth, hey, shut up. So, he came to believe that his name was shut up for a long time until he understood that was not his name.

They were trying to shut his mouth. So, take this example. Suppose you are born somewhere, say Christian family, Muslim family, whatever, as an example.

But you are being brought up in a Hindu family. And from the beginning, your parents, we are Hindus, we are Hindus. So, if you are asked, somebody asks you, who are you? What do you say? I am a Hindu, I am a Hindu, I am a Hindu.

Were you born Hindu? No. Then how did you come to say I am Hindu? Because you have been hearing constantly, you are saying that I am a Hindu. Similarly, I am an Indian, I am an Indian, I am an Indian.

And I am this, I am this, I am this. How do you know exactly in the same way, somebody is telling you that you are a human being, you are a human being, you are a human being. You are a man, you are a man, you are a man, you are a woman, you are a... How do you know it's not the same process? It's exactly the same process.

Anyway, funny example would be, supposing the names are reversed, man is called woman, woman is called man. From the beginning a man is called, you are a woman, you are a woman, you are a woman. Afterwards if he asks what will he say? See habit, it makes us.

What is the point, Vectorling, if you train the mind to go on thinking some noble thought, afterwards without your effort also, the thought will continue without any interference and if you do sufficiently, it goes on whole life, like I am a man, when do you think it will stop? So long as I am conscious, the thought will automatically be there. In fact, if somebody says you are not a man, you get very angry, is it not? So that is the example to show, if we go on meditating, first to separate, what is it? You are not a human being, but you are Sachidananda in the Rupa and Nama of a human being. That is the Vahya Drishyanavidya Savikalpa Samadhi.

Samadhi means meditation here. Then next, if you say I am Sachidananda, what does it mean? What do these words mean? What is the meaning of Sachidananda? Take the help of scriptural descriptions, you know in the Bhagavad Gita, what it says that the fire doesn't burn him, the water doesn't wet him, no weapons. Description is there for meditation.

So take these scripture taught words and apply them to understand what is called Brahman. That is called Vahya Shabdamidha Savikalpa Samadhi. And if we do that sufficient amount of time, a time will come without your knowledge, that thought process continues.

And when it continues, then you will say Aham Brahmasmi. So how does these two, we said internal meditations three and external meditations three. Internal final meditation is I am Asanga Drik Seer.

Externally I am Asanga Brahman. So then at that point, I as the Asanga Drik is exactly the same as the Asanga Brahman. Then Aham Brahmasmi.

Inside and outside both are exactly the same. With that sadhana becomes complete. Then what happens, the author brings in a very beautiful Upanishadic statement to illustrate this.

What does he say? When this knowledge comes that I am Brahman, then what happens? All the ignorance is destroyed. All the doubts are totally destroyed. Then all the Karmapalas come to an end.

Only when I realise I am Brahman. These are the six ways of harmonising the internal and the external. Purify the internal, purify the external.

Then inside pure, outside pure. The inside purity becomes one with the outside purity. And that is the culmination of spiritual sadhana.

Then only we realise that our manifestation, we are not potentially divine, we are divine. That is the goal of life and that beautiful truth has been brought up in this book. In some more details tomorrow morning I will deal with it.

And then we will take up the Bhagavad Gita teaching. And I will try to summarise because it is exactly the same subject but presented in slightly different words. Kshetra and Kshetrajna.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti