Aitareya Upanishad Lecture 04 on 13 August 2023

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADAPADME TAYO SHRITVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU OM VAMME MANASI PRATISTHITA MANOME VACHI PRATISTHITAM AVIRAVIRMAIDHI VEDASYAMA ANISTAHA SHRUTAMME MAPRAHASI ANENA DETE NAHO RATRAN SAMDHA DHYAMRUTAM VADISHYAME SATYAM VADISHYAME TANMA AMAVATO TAD VAKTARAM AVATO AMA VAKTARAM AVATO VAKTARAM OM SHANTE SHANTE SHANTE HARE OM OM May my speech be fixed in my mind. May my mind be fixed in my speech. O Self-luminous Brahman, be manifest to me. O Mind and Speech, may both of you bring me the meaning of the Vedas. May what I study from the Vedas not leave me. I shall strive day and night to master what I have heard through this study. I shall think of the right. I shall speak of the right. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. OM PEACE PEACE PEACE BE UNTO ALL We are studying the Aitareya Upanishad, one of the most marvellous Upanishads. Mostly this Upanishad starts with a Srishti Krama. What is the point? The point is that if the cause is Atman, the Srishti, the effect must also be Atman. What is the meaning of creation? Why did God create it? In this world, we find something very peculiar. When a person is enjoying this world, he never thinks of anything else. He always gives credit to himself. I have worked hard and I have earned it. It is my divine right to enjoy it. But when the opposite happens, a person starts thinking, Who is responsible for my suffering? I don't want to suffer at all. Here the Upanishad is going to tell us, the Srishti is not created, never meant either for happiness or for suffering. What then is it meant? Both happiness and suffering, enjoyment and pain, they are meant only for one purpose. What lessons can we learn and get out of this place? Both are necessary, like two wings of a bird. A bird can never fly with only one wing. Perhaps it can, but it is so much more difficult. But it is impossible without the wings for a bird to fly. Without legs, man cannot easily travel. Now what is the point? Creation is meant for us, so that we can experience the world, we can learn the lessons. Very often I tell people, one of the best scriptures in the world is newspapers. You may be surprised, Thakur used to hate newspapers because it contains worldly things. But if we have the eyes of wisdom with one attitude, we should study anything, be it scriptures, be it newspapers, anything with one purpose. What is this going to teach me? What lessons can I learn? Scriptures also can tell us, but very often we are surprised. The scriptures tell us how to look at the world. For example, you are born and you grow up, one day you will die. Anything that is born is going to die. We know this, we experience it, we see it every day, but we don't learn our lesson. That is the way the scripture is trying to tell us, because the scripture not only tells us that God exists, we have come from God, the entire creation has come from God, and our goal is to go back from where we have come. Mano chalo nija nikethane, O mind, let us go back to our own abode, our abode, our birthplace. It is only God, but that fact we do not know. That is what the scriptures tell us. That is why they are called Apaurusheya. Apaurusheya means whatever we experience, so we can only convey what we know to other people. And what we know is this world only. And therefore, what can this world teach? It can teach us a lot. What is it that we want? We don't want to die. We don't want to become old. We don't want to suffer. Always we want to be happy. Can we get it in this world? Absolutely no. If we really analyze and compare, what is the proportion of suffering to the amount of happiness we get? Is it at least 50-50%? No. Swami Yathishanth Maharaj used to tell a beautiful story. Once a man went to a restaurant in England. At that time, the Second World War was going on. Food material was very scarce. And he had not tasted the flesh of rabbit for a long time. But suddenly, to his great delight, he found a restaurant announcing rabbit meat served here. So gladly, he rushed in to order a dish of rabbit meat. And he was served. He was eating. He knew what is rabbit's meat. But he was not getting. So he called the cook and said, Is there really rabbit flesh here? Cook said, Yes, sir. I don't get the taste. Then the waiter confessed, Sir, rabbits are very scarce. So we have to mix some horse flesh. Oh! So what is the proportion? He said 50-50. What is 50-50? One rabbit versus one horse. Naturally, he is not getting the taste of the rabbit. At least, if we can get 50% of happiness in this world, we can say that some justification is there. But truly, if we say 23 hours and 23 hours of a day and 58 minutes, we are laboring hard, maybe one second, two seconds, we get some experience of pleasure. How much time does it take to prepare a sweet? How much time does it take to really enjoy it? Before, there is hard work. Afterwards, we have to digest it. So many complications can come later on. But that moment, alone we count, forget everything, and the world is very happy. No. So as I was saying earlier, newspapers can teach us a great lesson. Two such lessons we can learn. I am highlighting them. What is the first lesson? The very first lesson is that everything is fast changing in this world. That is the first part of the first lesson. The second part of the first lesson is people are the same. Life is the same from the beginning of creation until eternity. Nothing changes. There were good people, there were bad people, and the proportion is like 50-50. So this has not changed. Previously, we called them Rakshasas, Ravanasuras. Now we call them politicians, Hitlers. No difference at all. But the people who suffer are ordinary people. Even now, the same thing is going on. That's why Swamiji made a remarkable statement. There is no democracy anywhere to be found. Everywhere, people are ruled by a few number of selfish, petty, but very powerful, ruthless people. Call them politicians by whatever blessed name you want to call them. So this is the first lesson. What is the second lesson? If you have to read newspaper, then you read the obituary column. People you know, people you don't know, young, old, they are dead. It could be murder. It could be accident. It could be old age. It could be any, for any reason. If we read newspaper in this way, then we can learn a great lesson. Because I am in the world. I can also change. But the most important lesson we learn from the scriptures. Now I am discriminating between the newspaper and the scripture. The newspaper tells us what is the nature of the world very vividly. But the scripture alone can tell us. Is there any way out? Yes. Does God exist? Yes. What do I gain if I realize God? If I go to God? If I am with Him? Call it Moksha. Call it Vaikuntha. Call it attainment of Brahman. Let us not quarrel with words. What do I gain? For eternity, I will have no death. I will have only Sat. I will never be ignorant. I will be all-knowing. And I will be Paramananda Swaroopa. I will not have happiness. I will repeat. I will not have happiness. I become happiness. That is my nature. And in this world, whatever we are experiencing, this is called experiential happiness. It is all coming. That is called having mode of happiness, not being mode of happiness. This is the essence of every Upanishad. It wants to tell us what we should have learned. Without the aid of any scripture, the nature of the world, there is birth, there is growth, there is death. Nobody lives forever. And we cannot separate happiness and unhappiness. They come together. They also go together. But the world can never tell us where from the world has come and who is the originator or what is the nature of the cause, Karana. Sarva Karana Karana. And what is the nature of that Karana. And reminds us, Karana and Karya can never be different. If clay is the Karana, anything made out of clay will be only clay, etc. We discussed already about it. If I am coming from God, if you are coming from God, if the entire Loka is coming from God, then it must be God only because the world is effect, God is the original cause. This is the great lesson. But there are further lessons. I am telling you this because that we have many misunderstandings about creation. So the next misunderstanding about creation is that why God has created me. Of course, real answer we will never know. From our experience only, we can understand. God created the world, not for his sake, but for our sake. What is it? I have done Karma and therefore I create my own world to exhaust my own Purva Janma Karma. So who is the Brahma? I am the Brahma. Who is the Vishnu? I am the Vishnu. And who is the Shiva? I am the Shiva. I created this world. I am maintaining the world and I dissolve the world. How did I create the world? Because of my Purva Karma. And how am I maintaining? To exhaust my Purva Janma Karma phala. Purva Janma doesn't mean only the very last birth. No. It could be any of the millions of births I had previously. Then what am I doing? I am creating new Karma. I cannot have any power to change what has happened in the past. But God has given us that freedom. From this moment onwards, whatever can be done, I can do it consciously, purposefully, with thoughtfulness. That is the purpose. So, this is how we have to understand. Like Brahma also has a day and night. But that Brahma is like the grandmother. In Sri Ramakrishna's parable, there is a grandmother and she gathers different seeds from different vegetables after the harvest is over. And she dries the seeds and she keeps the seeds. When the next rainy season comes, what does she do? She just prepares the ground. But she puts the seeds. Where from the seed has come? From its past birth. And what does it grow into? Into its own nature. But this analogy has to be expanded. Human beings have the freedom. Slowly but surely. And by taking the advice of the teachers, the scriptures, our own anubhava, acharya, shastra, swanubhava, we can slowly become better people. But we have to struggle for it. That is why in the Bhagavad Gita, very first opening shloka, dharmakshetram kurukshetram. dharmakshetre kurukshetre. Dharmakshetram. Kshetram means a field. Field means that which is ready for cultivation. But it is called dharmakshetra. You sow poisonous seeds, poisonous plant will grow. You sow immortality, seeds of sweet mango, sweet mangoes will grow. That is why it is called dharmakshetra. It will not give a result which we do not deserve. But at the same time, it is kurukshetra. Kuru means do. You will have to cultivate it. If you simply sit, it is not going to happen. No result will come. But it is not true. If we do not do anything, no result will come. That is not true. If we do not do, we will become worse and worse and worse. Just like if we do not do exercise, we are going only to become worse and worse. This is the background. Srishti is good and if we are enjoying or suffering, we are responsible. Srishti is good because every millisecond is a new opportunity for us to learn our lessons. Our first lesson is what have I learned from this life until now. Second lesson is what can I do to better my situation. This is called evolution. And God is always ready to bestow His grace. With this background, we will start. Already I have started. The first mantra is telling an irrefutable fact. What is that fact? Om Atmava Idam Eka Eva Agre Asit Na Anyat Kinchana Mishat What does it mean? Om is for the sake of beginning something auspicious. Atmava So which Atma? Is it Jivatma or Paramatma? It is only Paramatma because Srishti has not started. Without Srishti, the question of Jivatma does not arise. So therefore, Atmava Idam means whatever was existing Eka Eva Agre Asit Only one Atman is there. Eka Eva Ekaha Eva One only. Why those words? Ekaha means there are technical reasons for that and we are thankful to Shankaracharya for expounding that technical reasons. What is the nature of this world? First of all, it is an effect. And this world has got three characteristics. What are those? It is full of differences. I, you, he, she, they, it, living, non-living and all the differences in the world are subdivided by Vedanta into three categories. They are called Vijatiya Bheda, Sajatiya Bheda and Swagata Bheda. What is Vijatiya Bheda? Two trees are there. As an example, two trees are there, mango tree and coconut tree or two animals are there. There is a cow and there is an elephant. Everything is, every species is different. That is called Jati. Vijatiya means different species, separate species and this world, everything is different from everything else. Then, not only that, having divided Vijatiya, in every Jati also, there is a Sajatiya. Two mango trees, two dogs, two elephants, two human beings. No two human beings are alike. It is said no two hairs on the head of a human being are ever exactly the same. There will be color difference, difference of size, difference of length, difference of color, difference of fragility, etc. Once I have seen a book, it is full of photographs. What are the photographs? Somebody had taken the snowfall. Snow is falling mostly in the western countries. In Himalayas also you can see snow is raining and when the snow is falling, this person had taken a very special camera, a very magnifying camera. Each of these snow drops can be magnified into a thousand or even more in size. And then this person was astonished. He started taking photos everywhere. And then what did he find? First of all, no two snow drops are of the same size. Secondly, every snow drop is of that delicate, intricate, inimitable design. It is astonishing. As if a goldsmith had designed these things. It is what they call nowadays designer cloths or designer snow drops. Only Bhagawan can do it. When we look at them on the ground, they all look the same. Here also looks the same. But when we look at each separate individual, no two leaves are alike, no two heaves are alike, no two snow drops are alike. This is called Sajatiya Bheda. Then, even if you take one tree, for example, both are coconut trees or both are mango trees, take any one tree, one mango tree, this is called Swagatha Bheda. There is a difference. This is the root. This is the trunk. This is the big branch. Big branch gives birth to so many smaller branches. And they give birth to still smaller branches. Then there are leaves. Then there are blossoms. Then there are fruits. Everything is different. Every part is different from each other. And a very marvelous fact is, on the same tree, there will be so many birds and all of them, some are eating the fruits, some are eating the leaves, some worms are eating, some insects are eating the bark, some are eating, burrowing into the, for example, there is a bird which pecks into the, this one makes a hole and sucks the juice out of it. It is called woodpecker. So, so many birds, every part of the tree is utilized. What is this Paramatma? He is Eka Ewa. There is no Vijatiya Veda, there is no Sajjatiya Veda, and there is no Swagatha Veda. Eka, there is no second one other than Him. And that is said, na anyat kinchana mishat. There is nothing. Mishat means, literal meaning winking. Mishat means what? That which is a second creature, a second object. That's why Eka Ewa. Nothing is there. Neither living. Mishat means winking. Winking means only a living creature. I am winking. You are winking. A dog is winking. Etc, etc. So na kinchana. Not even one. Mishat, winking creature. That means living. Shankaracharya adds, mishat means, also we have to take amishat, means there is neither living being nor non-living. This difference between the living and the non-living will come only after this rishti. So, what does rishti mantra mean? Only Paramatma was, but we have to extend the meaning and said even after this creation has come out, there is nothing else but only Paramatma. In order to make us understand it, Ikshata has been changed into Aikshata. Aikshata means he saw. He saw means he visualized. He visualized means he thought. He thought means he is, see, in this world whenever we look at any object, we find two causes. One is called material cause. Another is called intelligent cause. We can also add another cause that is called instrumental cause. Take the familiar example. A potter takes clay. Clay is the material cause. Then he takes a wheel that is called instrumental cause. And then he is the intelligent cause. Nimitta in Sanskrit intelligent cause is called nimitta karana and upadana karana means material cause. So with the help of some instrument, an intelligent cause fashions, creates something different but he requires a material. So here the Aitareya Upanishad is telling us that there is only Paramatma and He created this world. That detail will come later on. But we are forestalling what is to come. So he said that let me create the worlds. Then you know, Bhagawan is called satyakamaha, satya sankalpaha. Very beautiful words. What does it mean? First of all satyakamaha means He will never wish for anything which is asatya, mithya. That is which is changing, which is not useful, which is inauspicious, etc. Whatever He desires, it will be only satya. And there is a beautiful saying satyam eva jayate na anrutam. That is untruth can never prime. Only truth because untruth will change. Satyam will never change. So the technical definition of satyam is trikala abadhitam satyam. That which never changes in three times, past, present and future. That is defined technically as satyam. When Bhagawan wishes, He cannot wish anything else because even if He wishes something untruth, let me create, He cannot create because He is the Vishwabrahmanda. He is infinite. There is nothing besides Him. Ekameva agre asit. He cannot wish. And then He is also called satyasankalpaha. Whatever wish comes into His mind, immediately it gets fulfilled. We get this tenesisya as tremendous faith in these scriptures and in the Guru. That is called Shraddha. As an example of this Shraddha, many times I have quoted, maybe in other contexts, there was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He was called Nagamahasaya and one day he came to see Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineshwar or Kaushipur, I do not remember, and as he was about to enter the room, he heard I feel like eating an omelette as a sour fruit, a peculiar type of fruit. Immediately he left the place. That was not this. It is a seasonal fruit. It is impossible to get it practically at other seasons. You know many things when they are not seasonal, we human beings are intelligent. We pickle them. Every country does it, whether it is cabbage, cauliflower, or brinjal, tomato, and of course lemon and omelette, everything. But Nagamahasaya had that faith. My Guru's mouth uttered these words. It must be somewhere. He went and started searching in gardens continuously for three days without sleep. He searched. At last he found a few omelettes hanging and then with the permission of the watchman took those things, straight came back to Sri Ramakrishna. See the Uru Bhakti now. Sri Ramakrishna was very happy. Now you must have read this incident but what we have to understand is, did you think that there is any meaning behind this incident? Was Sri Ramakrishna like us, really longing for eating an omelette? A man of what is called Nirvikalpa Samadhi, do you think he cannot live? Strange thing is, when we are sick, we long for our body automatically longs for something which is useful for the body to repair itself because this omelette contains high quantity of vitamin C and so many other things I don't know but it is very health productive. Was it or he wanted to test, to show to other people the Shraddha or what were the other people doing? Sir, we are very sorry it is not available now. They did not have the Shraddha that means what? They considered him as an ordinary person. He simply had this desire and now unfortunately we would like to fulfill it but we know it is not possible. Naga Maharshi thought it is impossible that a word like that will come from a Satyavanta Purusha because Brahma with Brahmaiva Bhavati whatever comes from his mouth from the mouth of a realized soul must be real only. Satyakamaha Satyasankalpaha Remember the story of Satyakama Jabala he was Satyakama that is why he spoke the truth that is why the Guru also who was an enlightened soul he also has accepted him because he spoke the truth what was the truth? I am a bastard that was the truth but who can say I am a bastard only a Brahmana only who is a Brahmana a Satyavanta only who can speak truth Now Sri Ramakrishna took and he was very observant, his eyes are extraordinarily observant he noticed that Nagamashaya had not eaten already he was sickly looking and now even three days very tired but extremely happy I could fulfill my Guru's desire then Sri Ramakrishna immediately asked please go and take food Nagamashaya you know what he did he refused he did not say no he said sir I am fasting because today is Ekadashi and I was observing Ekadashi, I will not take what did Sri Ramakrishna do? he said ok he asked a devotee bring a big plate full of food from downstairs and it was brought and Sri Ramakrishna just touched a little bit to his mouth and said now you eat and without murmur Nagamashaya ate it, why? because Guru Prasada is even more sacred than any Prasada and fast can be broken what is the purpose of fasting? to obtain more devotion to God what is the purpose of eating Guru Prasada? to have more Guru Bhakti and Guru Bhakti is more of Divine Bhakti we have seen the very last mantras of the Shweta Shwetra Upanishad Yasya Deve Para Bhakti Yatha Guru Tatha Deve Yatha Deve Tatha Guru no difference between Ishta Devata and Guru Nagamashaya exemplified illustrated that tremendous Shriddha, these are the lessons we have to learn and here also we have to learn the lessons what is the meaning of Agra Eka Eva Agra means before creation only Paramatma was there therefore what is the implication? the whole creation must have come from Him because there was nothing else but what was the nature of Paramatma? He is what is called three types of Vedas Abhedaha Bheda Rahitaha is not having Ide Vijatiye Bheda Sajjatiye Bheda Swagata Bheda that is the one meaning of Eka because He is partless Akhanda He is also Ananta He was there and He is Nitya Shuddha Uddha Mukta Swaroopaha nothing else but that Agra Asit and nothing was there that means before creation He was alone there then what did He do? Sa Ekshata then He thought He visualized Lokannu Srija Iti may I become many let me create the worlds is the literal meaning Lokannu Srija Iti let me create the worlds now if He was like a potter He required material cause like a potter requires potter cannot make a pot out of himself he has to take another substance which is called clay a goldsmith gold a carpenter wood so also here Bhagawan there is nothing else that is said nothing else is there that means what He is the material cause then Ekshata means what He desired He visualized what is the meaning of visualizing previous Kalpa I have created like this so this Kalpa also I will create exactly the same thing this is one of the strangest truths Swami Vivekananda expounds this world you I this world is Russian war this slavery of India by the first the Turks then the Mughals then the French people then the Dutch people then the British people and then the slavery of India by our present enlightened politicians quarreling shouting at each other this was there in Purva Kalpa that was there exactly in the same way Purva Kalpa that was there exactly the same when Anadi Kala since beginning less time that is why Srishti is called Anadi oh then sir do I have to attend this Maya Upanishad class especially expounded by you again in next Kalpa also yes unfortunately yes I can't say no I am glad that I will be having you students eternally is it a compliment no it is not a compliment it is a derogatory remark because if I was a good teacher you would have understood it you would have surrendered yourself to God you would have become Mukta Purusha then you need not have attended then who is going to attend am I going to be there permanently no I am also going to attain Mukti you are also going to attain Mukti but the mould do you understand mould somebody prepares a mould we all do it at home especially Deepavali time we melt the sugar and pour it into the mould and it gives here is a parrot's head here is a horse's head etc etc so Bhagawan also more intelligent than us who is going to think 100 times about it I will create a mould and then every Yoga every Kalpa He will do the same things that is what He wants He thought let me recollect what I did and let me repeat so so He wanted to create now the problem comes where is the material He was the material He was the material cause He was the intelligence He was the intelligent cause He was the instrument His thought was the instrument His visualization was the instrument so He himself became instrumental cause intelligent cause and material cause that means what does it mean it means this whole universe is nothing but manifestation of Paramatma only nothing else in every way then what is all this Veda really there is no Veda so there are two views but a few more points are there I want how did He create now here is a potter what does he do he spends time he spends energy how he acquires first of all some raw material it is not even prepared material and then that should be appropriate material and he adds water and he goes on kneading it like we knead chapati dough or wheat dough etc etc etc or we prepare idli dough by pasting it in a nowadays it is done by electronic machines earlier they use it to what is called a stone with a hole and go on taking it round and round and round pouring little water but that taste is marvelous really speaking no electronic machine could give that so is it that way no because like a scientist what does he do he visualizes he has knowledge he is very knowledgeable the best illustration for understanding this we create our dreams best illustration what do we do prediction what happens each one of us become our dream world jagat dream people and a dream I, dream you dream everything dream world everything I have become through what instrument I am the instrument and how do I become I just imagine it is nothing but imagination so long as it is appearing we are under the illusion that it is real it is true like the waking state no so how do we know how do we know because that which is true can never become can never be destroyed it will be there for eternity truth will be there for eternity here what do we see that as soon as a person wakes up then the whole dream world we understand that is a dream world similarly in this waking state also we are thinking now it is real, is it really real no, is yesterday's world today's world, no so many things have changed I have become aged by one day so also you so also the whole universe everything in this world as if is a stream in a river whatever falls there it is moving slowly or fast it was never there in the original place that is why a great Greek philosopher had said no man steps into the same river twice so many meanings are there, what is it is this real world, no it is not real, there are two views some people say really it is a real world God has created, since God has created it can never be a mythia world, it can be only a real world but Advaitins non-Advaitins all Advaitins they take the view of Parinama Vada that is really God has become the world but Advaitins take the Vada, it is what is this one, only apparent, that is all it only is appearing it is not true at all, so that is the nothing, just like we have not changed in the dream world, this is called Vivarta Vada Vivarta means like a row appearing to us is a snake beautiful example many times we have referred many times we will refer a rope is there, it will be there for all time to come but where is the snake not on the rope not in the rope but in our brains so instead of trying to bring a stick and then trying to beat the rope it will be far easier so you just get one big blow to your own head then you will see you will fall unconscious by that time you come to it will be day time, then you look and say, oh it is only a rope it is like that so this is the Vada, doesn't matter, we are not going into controversy, which is right, which is wrong because I have my own view about it I will just mention it so that you also will benefit by it I have mentioned it earlier also just we have to remind it again and again, supposing you have a needle and you have done some needle work you have repaired some cloth something whatever it is and safely kept it there and after a few days you required the needed the needle but you have forgotten where you have hidden it so safely so what should you do instead of wasting time go and borrow from the neighbour or buy one new one from the nearby shop and bring it finish your work and then let me keep it this time very safely and you go to the place where you have thought and then you find the first needle also, what is the point of this illustration, the point is even if I know that there is a needle so long as I don't know where it is, it is completely useless so I will have to go and buy it Advaitins say you don't need to search for Brahman so it is like searching for a needle because it is there already, you are that but I don't know that and even if I know that, I don't know where that Brahman is, I don't have that knowledge, so long as I don't have, it makes no difference to me whether you teach Dvaita or Advaita I require to get enlightenment for that I have to do Sadhana, through Sadhana by whatever means by God's grace I will get enlightenment and then I know that there was no creation and that is all later on but for the moment it makes no difference for Sadhana whether you believe in Dvaita or Advaita, our beliefs do not count at all what counts? what transformation am I bringing in my life and if I can bring about 100's of a transformation in my life, I will be happy 100% right now and if I can bring 2% of transformation my happiness will double now from 1% to 2% so every step forward is an increase in 3 things every step forward increases my progress, manifests in me 3 things what are they? Sat Chit and Ananda what does that mean? just like you know Ram Krishna gives this example as you near the ocean you can hear the roar of the wind or you can feel the coolness of the breeze more and more similarly as we progress towards God and God's nature is Sat, Chit and Ananda and our Sat will grow our Chit will grow our Ananda will grow this is called progress what does it mean? it means first of all Sat means goodness, purity Sat means Satyam, I will be leading an authentic life I will be speaking the truth and I will be living a truthful life Satyam means Bhagwa I am approaching God, I am becoming more and more like God as we approach fire we don't remain separate from it, the fire becomes one with us, our body gets more heated what does it mean technically? it means we are becoming fiery, anyone who manages to touch us, we give the same effect as the fire that is the first effect, Sat and everybody can understand it this person is a Sat Purusha, good person trustworthy person and he is a person who is less selfish and he is a person whom I can trust, he is a person to whom I can open my heart he will not betray me he will not take advantage of me that is why Sri Ram Krishna used to say Sat Sangatya what does that mean? most often we don't think about them Sat Sangatya means association of the holy what does it mean? not simply go and sit like Sri Ram Krishna used to say that when the Malaya breeze blows, there are certain types of plants, trees which will never turn into sandalwood, but there are some who will instantaneously turn into sandalwood trees but there are some, there will be no transformation at all that means what? Sat Sangatya means we must become slowly slowly transformed it is not going, sitting listening to something, discussing something and having nice gala time and having a tasty prasada have you noticed? always prasada after the puja will be very tasty why? because God has tasted it and left it for us whatever is tasted by mother will be very sweet for the baby like that transformation, real transformation then chit what is the chit? our power of discrimination viveka buddhi will grow with viveka buddhi vairagyam will develop automatically when we come to know this is poison we don't need to think 100 times shall I give it up or not so automatically it should happen, if it doesn't happen that means my viveka is a defective viveka similarly my ananda by thinking about God by listening to God by reading about God by conversing with God Bhagavad Gita also tells devotees, true devotees address each other you talk about God, I will listen I will talk about God, you listen let us listen to somebody else let us meditate upon God whatever ways we can absorb God, let us absorb this is how they are highly satisfied not only that, they are never satisfied, the moment they taste it, they say we want more, we want much more they become addicted as it were like alcoholics only God alcoholic not workaholic not sweet alcoholic etc that is what I have to understand so, there are so many meanings are there that is, this world is created it is not created like a potter creating a pot, it is manifestation of God just as we manifest in the dream state and then who are all of us none other than God that is the meaning tat tvam asi the what, that I am Atma, Brahma your Atma this your Atma is Brahman in this Aitareya Upanishad, in the third chapter third part of this Upanishad, Prajnanam Brahma is one of the Rig Vedic Mahabhakyas Prajnanam your consciousness is nothing but Brahman that which you claim as your intelligence as your knowledge as your memory as your power of awareness is nothing other than God only only we don't give credit to that and that is what is going to come the whole world this is one of the other lessons we have to learn usually in this world we divide the world into living and non-living what is called with consciousness and inert jada but from this mantra we understand since Bhagwan only, Paramatma only is manifesting there is nothing called inert because Paramatma is Chaitanya Swaroopa Chit means Chaitanya Ananda Swaroopa even a rock today's talk I will complete the first mantra with this of course some points are there we will talk about it later on but Sri Ramakrishna used to very often quote you are none other than Brahman remove this limitation that limitation is called Ahamkara if you remove that Ahamkara everything is nothing but God and Sri Ramakrishna was one day walking on the banks of Ganges and then something is behind me he felt it, so he looked back there was a quite a sizeable stone was there and he thought oh that was a stone, it was not there before how did it come here so this time he was observing, when Sri Ramakrishna was moving forward a stone was jumping and following him, when he stopped it stopped when he started, it started Sri Ramakrishna rubbed his eyes and then looked back and then same thing continued to happen then later on he said who is going to put a line, draw a line and say this is living this is non-living, nobody can do it, for a person who knows everything nothing is a Sheela but you see, I will end this talk with reminder Gautama Rishi cursed Ahalya that may you become a stone really, if she becomes a stone will she be able to think about God, no what was she doing she became completely unconscious of the outer world only meditating upon Sri Rama and when her Siddhi perfection came, Sri Rama came, touched her, woke her up it is not that Sheela became a Sri, that she became conscious of the external world May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Ramakrishna