Aparokshanubhuti Lecture 02 Intro on 28-October-2026

Invocation

ॐ जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम्।

Oṃ jananīṃ śāradāṃ devīṃ rāmakṛṣṇaṃ jagadgurum।

पादपद्मेतयोस्त्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः।

pādapadmetayos tritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ।

ॐ श्रुतिस्मृतिपुराणानां आलयं करुणालयम्।

Oṃ śrutismṛtipurāṇānāṃ ālayaṃ karuṇālayam।

नमामि भगवत्पादं शङ्करं लोकशङ्करम्।

namāmi bhagavatpādaṃ śaṅkaraṃ lokaśaṅkaram।

Introduction

We have taken up the study of one of the secondary scriptures called Aparokṣānubhūti—direct experience that I am Brahman alone. That is called direct experience.

As I mentioned in my last class and many other classes, every experience that we have in this world is indirect, parokṣa. The Sanskrit word parokṣa means that which is indirect.

Why is it indirect? Because first the picture, for example, comes to the eye, then that eye presents it to the mind, and the mind presents it to the consciousness or buddhi, and then we will understand, oh, I see an object.

It is like, as I said, watching a football match on a monitor. But there is another kind of experience. Sri Ramakrishna gives a beautiful example that we see—somebody heard about sugar, somebody has seen sugar, but somebody has tasted sugar.

Hearing and seeing fall under indirect experience. Of course, some knowledge has come, but he doesn't know what is the nature of the sugar.

But the moment even one grain of sugar touches the tongue, immediately that is direct experience, aparokṣa anubhūti. Parokṣa means indirect, aparokṣa means direct.

And what is this knowledge? We are thinking that what we see is parokṣa, what we do not see, that is aparokṣa—what we see is direct, and that alone is the truth.

This world is real, God is unreal, because nobody sees or hears him, etc., and accepting for a few people called saints saying we have experienced God, nobody had done so.

So that is what most of us think, that God is indirect, we are not experiencing him directly, we are hearing about him, we are being taught about him, whereas we see things very directly.

That is the impression we get. On the contrary, every scripture tells us that whatever you experience through the five sense organs, through the body, through the mind, is indirect experience.

But in reality, since you are Brahman, whenever you say 'I' in ignorance, or ignorantly, we say I am the human, I am a human being, I am so and so, etc.

On the contrary, it is Brahman who has become the entire creation, but unfortunately we are not feeling him. Every liberated soul, jīvanmukta, feels that he is Brahman.

He is Brahman means there is no one separate from him. He knows it directly. But these ideas are very difficult to understand.

The Prasthāna Traya and Prakaraṇa Granthas

That is why there are two types of books, main books, which are called Prasthāna Traya—Upaniṣads, Bhagavad Gītā, and Brahma Sūtras.

And it is very difficult to understand them. Upaniṣads are very difficult, Bhagavad Gītā is much simpler, and Brahma Sūtras is created by Vedavyāsa to resolve the apparently seeming contradictions that we come across various Upaniṣads.

And that is what he wants to say in the first four chapters called Samanvaya Adhyāya. Samanvaya means harmony. There is no disharmony between any given two Upaniṣads.

So these are the three books. All the three books have massive commentaries, taking from the simplest word meaning to the highest difficult commentaries by great ācāryas like Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Madhva, etc.

So they are called the main scriptures, Prasthāna Traya. But to make these scriptures understand properly, a different type of scriptures have been written by people. They are called Prakaraṇa Granthas.

We can translate them roughly as easily understandable textbooks. Of these textbooks, there are two types.

One type gives all Vedānta completely, but in a very shortened form, and also in very easily understandable language.

But there are beginners who may not be able to understand them. For that kind of people, very beginners, they have written another type of book, secondary type of Prakaraṇa Granthas, which some of them, they give the basic terminology.

If you want to study physics, you must be familiar with certain words. Without that, you will not be able to understand. In mathematics, addition, multiplication, etc., they are the basic terms.

And instead of using long words, they have invented some symbols: plus, minus, into, and divided, etc., etc.

So the basic etymology, that is you are reading this word Brahman. What does Brahman mean? What does Ātman mean? What does Māyā mean?

So there are few books are there to explain these preliminary or introduction to the words that are used, terms that are used in these tough Vedāntic scriptures.

For example, one of the simplest introduction to this terminology to understand Vedānta is Tattvabodha. Tattva means truth, bodha means teaching.

So what is Brahman, what is Ātman, what is Māyā, what is the body, what are the sense organs, what are the three types of experiences—waking, dream, deep sleep.

What are the Pañcakośas, five coverings that every prāṇī has got? And what does it mean to say 'I am Brahman' or 'You are that Brahman', etc.

So this is the simplest one. And I think anybody who is interested in Vedānta should first go through this terminology, otherwise later books will be difficult to understand.

But one who has thoroughly grasped these simplistic terms, it will be very easy for that person to wade through this beautiful teaching.

I say 'waded' because literally it is very confusing, and especially Hinduism seems to be too much confusing for many people.

So the whole Vedāntic teaching is so huge. Many ācāryas have decided to present these teachings in an easy format, and they are called Prakaraṇa Granthas.

So as I said, some give a more elaborate explanation. So, for example, Vivekacūḍāmaṇi. It gives all the concepts, etc.

But as I mentioned, Tattvabodha is an introductory book to enter into the Vedāntic teaching. This is one definition.

And also, some of the secondary scriptures, Prakaraṇa Granthas are called secondary scriptures, they focus on a particular topic and then go into greater details.

Aparokṣānubhūti: Direct Experience

For example, this Aparokṣānubhūti. So we are all Brahman. According to Vedānta, there is no doubt about it.

God is the creator and we are the created. Every religion accepts it. But what type of creation is it?

Is it like a potter taking clay and fashioning pots, or is it like a wax garden where the wax is shaped into many different objects?

So this Aparokṣānubhūti wants to talk especially a few things. I will come to that.

But anubhūti means experience, aparokṣa means direct experience. It is not that after some time we are going to have a direct experience.

We are already Brahman. We do not need to see Brahman to experience Brahman. We are Brahman all the time.

We are Brahman. But unfortunately, we think we are not Brahman. We think we are something other than Brahman, like I am the body and the mind.

Why are we using different sentences like 'I think I am the body, I am the mind'?

Because the way we lay emphasis, if I am too much aware of the body, then I am the body.

If I am identified with my thoughts, whenever we identify our thoughts, I am happy, for example, I am unhappy, I am elated, I am a genius, I am a dull person.

These terms do not apply to the body. Body doesn't indicate. These are certain qualities of the intellect.

So when we feel happy or unhappy, momentarily we are experiencing our identity with the thoughts in the mind.

These are all thoughts. I am happy, I am unhappy, I am a man, I am a woman. These are all thoughts in the mind, vṛttis in the mind.

So one of the greatest of these Prakaraṇa Granthas is Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, and this Tattvabodha, etc., we are advised that you must start with this basic terminology.

Like any technical terms for understanding any technical subject are needed, like that.

But Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, overall it gives the essence of everything. This Aparokṣānubhūti, which we are studying now, it is a Prakaraṇa grantha secondary scripture, and it wants to do a few things.

And this book, which we have taken up for study, is consisting of 144 verses. This book is attributed to Ādi Śaṅkara.

But I am quite familiar with Śaṅkarācārya's language. So whenever I read some of the ślokas here, I feel a little bit difficult to believe that such kind of writing, which is in a way compared to Śaṅkarācārya's writings.

Which are poetical, almost poetical, lyrical, exquisitely beautiful, almost like poems, not a prose, and so easily understandable terms.

But here tough words are not so tough. So I personally feel it is not Śaṅkarācārya's work.

But you know in our country how many thousands of books are attributed to the authorship of Vedavyāsa, every purāṇa, 36 purāṇas and all the division of the Vedas and the great what is called Bhagavad Gītā, the whole Mahābhārata.

Excepting Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Bhagavad Gītā, Upaniṣads, they are all works of Vedavyāsa.

But I feel I think some of the works might be the works of the creations of some other authors.

And for two reasons, they attribute it to the great Vedavyāsa. One, these people are truly humble, only after studying the works of Vyāsācārya.

They have understood, and they want to dedicate: this is indirectly, it is a work of Vyāsācārya only.

So I don't want name and fame. I want people to benefit just by reading. I tried my best to simplify these Vyāsācārya's teachings.

So out of great humility and as a mark of reverence for both reasons, this Prakaraṇa, many of these works have been attributed to the authorship of Vedavyāsa.

Similarly, Śaṅkarācārya also, so many people: this is Śaṅkarācārya kṛta, written by Śaṅkarācārya himself.

And also, when we attribute it to somebody, if that somebody is accepted as an authority, these works also gain the same level of authority.

So for various reasons, but I think mostly out of great humility, 'I don't want, I don't care for my own name and fame, but I want to do some good, I want to serve myself to these people.'

Like that, many people attribute their authorship directly to Vedavyāsa or Śaṅkarācārya, etc. It's a very common thing.

So this is called a Prakaraṇa grantha which we had taken up. So even there also there are some small works, some big works, etc.

So this book is named Aparokṣānubhūti, direct knowledge that I am Brahman.

Direct vs. Indirect Knowledge

But of course, whenever we say it is direct knowledge, only until we realize that I am Brahman, it is not direct knowledge, it is indirect knowledge.

And whatever we experience in this world is definitely indirect knowledge. There is no such thing as direct experience, as I mentioned earlier.

And we have to keep that point all the time in the mind to get 100% knowledge of any object, we must become one with that object.

So until even though we are Brahman, because of ignorance, we think we are not.

Therefore, the conclusion is the consequences are nobody is ever going—I am going to God, I want to see God.

God dwells somewhere else, is separate from me. Although the ideas are completely mistaken notions.

What we have to say, I have to believe my teacher tells the scripture tells that I am Brahman.

But I am unable to comprehend because of my ignorance. Ignorance means identifying or denying my true nature and claiming I am something else.

So now, at this moment, when we are in the state of ignorance, Brahman's knowledge, the knowledge of Brahman, is parokṣa only.

Brahman as Sat-Cit-Ānanda

But Brahman is sat-cit-ānanda. Brahman is satyam, jñānam, anantam, and there is nothing in this world which is separate from Brahman.

Therefore, everything is Brahman. When I look at something, that is Brahman. The looker is also Brahman.

The seer is also Brahman, the scene is also Brahman, the experiencer is Brahman, the experienced is Brahman, the subject is Brahman, the object is also Brahman.

But we do not know it, so we have to start seeing, to follow the footsteps of a great mahāpuruṣa, great soul, and that is what is called following a teacher.

Therefore, we have to remember something very, very important. Brahman, or in simple terms God, is nitya aparokṣa.

If God is everything, then everything is God only, and nothing exists separate from him, because he is anantam, is infinite.

Then the question comes, if I am Brahman, how come that the scriptures tell us, Sri Ramakrishna tells us, you have to realize God, aparokṣa jñānam?

Parokṣa means remember in Sanskrit, indirect knowledge.

No, we never have direct knowledge either of any object in this world, but then from the Brahman's viewpoint, there is nothing excepting Brahman.

So I am Brahman, and what I am experiencing is also Brahman.

But this knowledge will come only after what we say, we progress in spiritual life.

Remember Taittirīya Upaniṣad, there are three types of joy: moda, pramoda, and ānanda.

When I desire some object, think that object can make me very happy, the knowledge of that object is called moda.

And I become certain that object is existing, that is called moda.

When I experience or see that object directly in front of me, I touch it, I smell it, I see it, I hear it, I touch it, etc., that is called pramoda.

Still, both these moda pramoda are indirect experiences only.

But as soon as I said one grain of sugar touches my tongue, then that is the direct experience, we call it ānanda.

So in this Aparokṣānubhūti book, both direct knowledge and indirect knowledge, both are analyzed in detail.

God as Everything

What we need to understand is, according to Advaita Vedānta, or even Dvaita Vedānta, God is everything. That is why whenever we chant Puruṣasūktam or Nārāyaṇasūktam, etc.

सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः।

sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ।

Whatever we see, some head we see, that is God's head, some hand God's hand, some eye God's eye.

So some leg God's leg only. So who is seeing? God is seeing, who is hearing? God is hearing.

And who is experiencing? God is experiencing. Whom is God experiencing? God is experiencing God only.

So if Brahman is infinity, then there is no question of me separately existing from anything infinite which is Brahman or God.

But Brahman manifests in the form of consciousness. Whenever we get any type of knowledge, it is only because of awareness, consciousness.

And without awareness, the world doesn't exist at all. When we say I see or hear, it means I am conscious, there is something there, and that consciousness is modified in that particular five-fold manner: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, etc.

And mind also is nothing but Brahman. Remember, Brahman manifested first as the five subtle elements called tanmātrās, then they became grossified and divided and mixed up.

That is, combination of both these is what we call life, both the mind as well as the body.

So no one is away from Brahman, no one can be away from Brahman. It is not possible.

But still, it is not our direct experience, for that we have slowly give up our identity.

As we saw in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, every time we give up identity with the grossest covering, then we are including it as myself in the next level.

That is like climbing a staircase. A house has got five stories, I have to reach the roof.

Then as Ramakrishna says, the same material which is with which the roof is made is also the same material with which the whole house is made.

That is called direct experience, aparokṣa anubhūti.

So do not get confused between parokṣa and aparokṣa. Parokṣa means indirect, aparokṣa, not indirectly, directly. That is called aparokṣa, anubhūti means experience.

Self-Ignorance and Self-Knowledge

And at this moment, we are not aware of it. Why? Because we are having self-ignorance.

What is self-ignorance? Ignorance of who I am, who you are, one's own self. And this ignorance has come in between.

It is not our nature, somehow it came like a cover, it hides the sun of knowledge, therefore we have to remove it.

And ignorance can be destroyed, can be removed only by right knowledge, that is called self-knowledge, and that is called Brahma Vidyā—knowledge of the self, knowledge of Brahman.

So the point is, nobody lacks Brahma experience. We are experiencing only Brahman.

Rather, I better put it this way: Brahman alone is experiencing Brahman. But because of ignorance, I am thinking I am not Brahman, and what I am experiencing is also not Brahman.

Because once I come to know who I am, I will come to know the entire creation is not different, separate from me.

So actually, some of the teachers tell us, there is no need to work for Brahmajñānam. We don't want to acquire knowledge, we want to destroy the ignorance.

It's a funny way of putting: when a room is dark, if many things are there, I cannot see because of darkness.

As soon as light is brought up, you are not bringing things, things are already there.

So what does the knowledge do? It doesn't give us the knowledge of the objects, it drives away darkness, and that is it.

So we are Brahman's nature is consciousness, and we are conscious of everything: our body, our mind, external world.

Therefore, it is Brahman, another name for consciousness, which is sat-cit-ānanda.

The Role of the Guru

But why this book then? So one Swami gives beautiful example: so you have heard of a great person, and you have never seen him.

So one day he comes along with your friend, and then your friend, you are already remember a fan of that person, maybe a great actor, actress, musician.

So one day he comes along with your friend, you see him, but you may not recognize him. But you have a friend, what does he do? This is so and so.

Ah, I have heard about you, and I have read what you have spoken, what I understood, I agree with that. I am glad.

So an already known knowledge, but indirectly, is through the introduction of the guru.

Guru is our friend, God only comes in the form of the guru. And scripture comes in the form of the guru.

There is no difference between scripture, guru, and God. We have to remember: Gurur Brahmā, Gurur Viṣṇuḥ.

So instead of saying that, we say consciousness is everything, and because of consciousness, I am aware of this is me, I am aware this is you, etc.

Therefore, direct experience of Brahman is not a new experience, but like an introduction: oh, now I know whom I am seeing, now I know I am Brahman.

So that is what the book wants to introduce to us. Which book? Aparokṣānubhūti.

Important Themes

So there are certain important teachings, themes. What are they? Identity of Ātman and Brahman. That is one of the most important things.

You are that Brahman. If you are not, you will never have direct knowledge of Brahman.