Seeing God in Everything | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] mmm esatto Mossad gamma-gamma so macho to commemorate your mom written Kamiya ohm shanthi shanthi shanthi ohm leaders from the unreal to the real leaders from darkness unto light lead us from death to immortality Oh peace peace peace good morning this morning the subject of the lecture seeing God in everything is actually based upon a talk which Swami Vivekananda gave in 1896 in London which forms part of his Ghana yoga the lecture series on the way of knowledge Ghana yoga so seeing God in in everyone are seeing God everywhere that was the original talk and

the talk is based on the ishow punishment so this today's talk forms a part of a series of talks which we are having on swami vivekananda's gann yoga swami vivekananda of course he is the founder of this Vedanta Society the first of the Vedanta societies but his approach to Atlanta was unique and powerful and modern so it deserves to be we should focus upon it directly that's the purpose of this lecture series in this talk swami vivekananda begins with the most obvious problem of life that we suffer suffering he calls it the problem of evil

or in Indian terms dukkha suffering and that seems to be a constant condition of life you overcome one type of suffering either that one Comes back or something else comes there is physical suffering there is mental suffering there are problems in families and societies in nations the problems with our natural environment global warming is a is the problem of our day so all of these problems we suffer and we try to solve it in worldly ways religion offers us a solution religion comes along and says that there is an ultimate reality beyond this world of

Suffering try to get that realize that find that attain that and you will go beyond suffering some call it God some call it Allah some call eg Hova in Vedanta it is called Brahman so there is religion offers a solution to suffering in fact this is a common promise of all religions you attained Nirvana moksha salvation whatever it is called in the different religious traditions but the common factor is you go beyond worldly suffering but then Swami Vivekananda Points out this doesn't is not really a solution at all when you look closely what it seems

to say is here is this world there are problems in this world give up this world and attain something called God so this world with which V is so real to us in fact is the only reality to us it seems we are being asked to give this up for some vague promise for something that we take on faith that is not yet real to us I know it God might be a Reality to sri ramakrishna or to the same sense ages of different religions but to me right now it's something it's a matter of

faith or it's a matter of of a belief system of philosophy whereas this world presented by the senses seems to be very real and it has the funny story of a man who was being troubled by a mosquito and his friend came to help him and gave him gave the poor man such a blow that it did kill the mosquito but it kills the man too And he says that religion seems to be offering such a solution if you look closely at it what is being demanded all that seems to be fun you give that

up and sometimes they say eat healthy and want one characteristic of healthy food is it it should not be tasty it's not true healthy food can be very tasty but that seems to be the general idea so if you are religious and spiritual you cannot have fun in the world and that's the general idea of religion in across The different traditions whether it's here the moment you hear somebody is a regular churchgoer and very seriously interested in practicing his faith you immediately get the idea of a sour-faced person who is not interested in being interesting

and fun and so on in India if somebody becomes very interested in religion and spirituality will immediately say oh you're going to become a monk you're going to go over to the mountains that's the general idea That somehow you're going away from life Arjuna had the same idea in the bhagavad-gita when he decided that his worldly pursuits are not for him so he wanted to give it all up and go away of course Krishna persuaded him otherwise so what is the secret of religion Swami Vivekananda says they're the religions of the world are right but

the way it is presented does not quite appeal to our our reason it seems like an unreasonable demand what should be There is a religion which is equally heart and head reason and feeling and then Swami Vivekananda says I would beg to state that Vedanta is the rational religion for this age what Vedanta says will be acceptable to the rational minds of this age before we go on let me just say when I read that I was reminded of Einstein you know a letter he wrote to one Eric good kind or Goodkin was sold last

year you know Christie's the auction house Sold that letter for 2.9 million dollars and what's in that letter Eric good kind I researched this he was a Jewish philosopher and a Jewish teacher in the early 20th mid 20th century he wrote a book number of books one of which about was about a new presentation of the Jewish faith and he sent a copy to Einstein who was in Princeton at that time in 1952-53 here and Einstein read that book and he wrote back to Eric Goodkin he says in that Letter he says I considered the

Word of God to be nothing other than a collection of human weaknesses to me and goes on but the basic thing he says at the end to me the Jewish faith along with all other religions is a collection of childish superstitions he says that so does that mean Einstein was atheist not at all he says very clearly elsewhere written the God I believe in his Spinoza as God he writes a poem to Spinoza the great philosopher who lived About 300 years ago 200 to 300 years ago in Amsterdam he wrote the book ethics very talks

about a god why does Einstein say I believe in that God because it's not a God set apart from nature not an anthropomorphic God somewhere else it is God who's revealed in the impersonal workings of this vast universe and Einstein writes what is in common parlance called pantheism God in this universe not a personal deity involved in the Day-to-day lives of human beings so I don't believe in that this pantheistic God if you actually study what Spinoza wrote about in a very rational his book is like a book of geometry with axioms and derivations from

it you know so if you read about it it sounds a lot like Vedanta I would say the the chance a lot like wished Advaita Vedanta there is a one divine unity of which we are all parts well registered waiter Vedanta Actually not pantheism there are subtle differences and a more sophisticated version of that is advaita vedanta non-dual vedanta which Vivek Anand is going to talk about I daresay if Einstein had read this lecture of Swami Vivekananda he would have been very very happy he would have him delighted at this conception which is probably a

more refined conception of what Spinoza was talking about so what is Swami Vivekananda's answer to this great Problem of religion and renunciation he says the answer is the deification of the world and he quotes from the ishow punishment the first verse of the first mantra of the issue opposition you know the Upanishads are the root texts of Vedanta and you open assured is one of the more well known Upanishads one of the smallest only eighteen mantras one of the most important and in the issue open assured the first mantra is the most important in the

first month of the First line is the most important Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi this year is also the 150th anniversary of mothma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi said if all of Hinduism where to disappear all the books and temples and everything just the first verse the first line of the first verse of the issue open assured remains all of Hinduism would remain it's that important and Swami Vivekananda takes that as the solution to this problem of religion and renunciation what is that That mantra the first this grand-opening mantra of the issue open Ishod Ayesha of Assam legumes

are buying yet kimchi jjigae conjugate they attacked in a bun Jetta Margret a Casillas with Dunham to take the first line what does it mean this entire universe of moving and non-moving beings living and non-living beings all this universe cover it by God covered it by the Lord Ayesha Shankar Acharya interprets ishes Paramatma as the Lord of this entire Universe cover it by God Swami Vivekananda says not cover it with a false kind of optimism trying to say oh it's all God no but he says really open your eyes and see that it is indeed

God what we taught is the world is actually we need seen in reality it is God in what sense in the commentary on each opening shot Shankar Acharya 1400 years ago writes a wonderful commentary he says it's not so much a question of covering it with God rather God that Ultimate reality which religion speaks about exists right here so it's not a question of covering so much as uncovering and how do you uncover you discover so covering is equal to uncovering is equal to discovering how do you discover Shankar Acharya gives another convoluted example which

anyway let me tell you the example but I'll go on later the example he gives is he says Chandana guru Adi he says sandalwood which is used in temple worship in in Hinduism it used to come in blocks and it seems I don't know but it seems if you if it's kept in water it develops a certain layer which has a foul smell and the press process was before you use it for the worship you rub it and rub it the swaroopa Nagar Serena by bike continuous intense rubbing the layer the artificial layer which had

formed incidental layer which had formed on top is rubbed off and the natural and the the natural fragrant fragrance of Sandalwood comes out it's there to get his point is to get the fragrance of sandalwood you don't have to spray sandal spray on it if you that's artificial whereas if you rub it the real inner inherent fragrance of sandalwood is manifested exactly in the same way we are under error and Shankaracharya the points out something there if it is true that Brahman alone is the reality here men and women and children and plans and And

stars and planets quasars and quarks if it is in reality none other than this existence consciousness bliss at its core if the universe is actually Brahman then what about the universe that we seem to think it is this world of living non living men women children good and bad and evil it becomes it necessarily becomes an appearance what we thought was the reality what we took to be the reality so far in which we suffered that becomes an appearance it's not the Ultimate reality there is an underlying divinity which is the ultimate reality which is

to be discovered covered uncovered discovered this whole idea of jagat mithya the world is an appearance this has to be understood properly it is not mean it does not mean dismiss this here itself is the divinity so if you dismiss this and say that some other divinity is there you missed it Swami Vivekananda powerfully says he who plunges headlong into the foolish Luxuries of this world has missed the way he who runs away from this world to meditate and die in a Himalayan cave and who hates the world who scorns the world he has missed

away both of them has missed away if you catch hold of this reality you've missed the way if you let go of this and go run off somewhere else trying to find a God elsewhere you missed the way but it's very strange either you take the world or you give it up but there is the third option Swami Vivekananda says find God here here itself wherever you are with whomever you are with there itself you can find got it because God is there you know the example of the ornaments and gold suppose there are elements

made of gold so there's a nice story many little stories which are used by the monks in the Himalayas to illustrate this point one is the story of a jeweler so he has a little son and the jeweler would keep all the his his materials and Ornaments locked up in a safe once it has his my son go to the safe here's the key open it and get some gold from there I have to use it in my work and the child runs off and he opens the safe and then he comes back and says

there's no good and this process is what there is go and take a good look comes and says no there is no good what did you find oh there are necklaces and bracelets and Tiaras but no gold this father says look What you think is a necklace is a bracelet is a tiara is actually gold so bring any of that that will do notice them but the child thought was there is some reality called gold which my father wants me to seek and here are these things which are not which are this is of course

a necklace this is of course a bracelet it can't be gold the gold must be something apart from this big mistake give it up look for gold elsewhere You'll never find it take the necklace itself to be gold no because the moment the necklace is melted and made into a bracelet you will think gold is gone you see that other story of the of the man who goes to a pawn shop of a businessman who has fallen on hard days and goes to a pawn shop and gives his image of Ganesha to the pawn shop

owner and says give me some money and the pawnshop owner weighs the image and gives him some money this is the rate at which I Will give you money for the image of Kenisha and you know Ganesha comes with his ride which is the mouse so all the deities have their own vehicles Durga has a much more glamorous vehicle the lion but Ganesh has a mouse and the businessman says to the pawnshop owner so that's this is the money for Ganesha how much for the mouse and the shop owner says that it's the same rate

take it or leave it it's the same rate and this Businessman is outraged he says what man do you have no religion giving the same rate for Ganesha as for a mouse is Ganesha a mouse is a shameful you and this drop cover keeper says with a smile sir look for you it may be Ganesha for you it may be a mouse for me it's gold and I wait and treat it accordingly so there is an underlying reality if you toss away the the whole of it then you have missed God if you take only

the Name and the form then you're holding on to some sorrow not to God so seeing God in everything some Vivekananda powerfully says then what becomes of renunciation do you have to give up your husband and wife and children no to become spiritual no he says find God in the husband in the wife in the children that there is a old tradition in India of naming children be giving the names of gods and goddesses to children that was the original purpose to remind you That it is a divinity right there so find God in every

person it with the people you are working with in the believing and the non living in the environment it's not imagination Vedanta says that it is that one reality such as Ananda with names and forms which appears as this world before us now what happens to renunciation the old teaching give up the world if you want God notice then there is a deeper meaning to renunciation what is renunciation in This paradigm it is - renunciation true renunciation the highest renunciation is to see God in everything that itself is renunciation the second line of the mantra

Dana Dana bungy ha Margaret huh Casillas with Dunham protect this knowledge this insight you have by renunciation what does it mean once you get this insight the Lord that I love the divinity God is here in everything in and through everything now live your life according to that you see what is The problem Brooke the found out long ago 2500 years ago our real source of suffering dukkha is desire Trishna desire I want this is nice this is good I need it why with that my life will be fulfilled and there are certain things which

are bad and it's disturbing me it's horrible I want to get rid of this I want to get hold of that desire and once that starts there is suffering now We understand why there should be suffering why is this wrong because it puts us in a false position if it is the same reality everywhere same brahman and this Brahman is Atman you yourself Shankar Acharya in his commentary he says cover everything by the Lord Yama shamans the Lord means God cover everything by God and then see how he transmutes the term yah means Paramatma the

soul of everything Paramatma is your own Atma is your own Own self so cover everything by God God alone is everything what it means is I alone am everything ah-hum a vitam serve 'm i alone my real nature who i really am that alone is expressed in all these ways now if I alone am expressed in all these ways I am all of this what could I want I am that already what will it what will it avail me if I shift some property from that body to this body because I am that one and

this one too From that point of view from the Atman point of view with this this feeling of that universal self I am the self in all then the whole question of particular desires to fulfill myself it disappears immediately that beautiful story of the princess of kashi where some of you know there was a dramatic performance in the court of an ancient Indian King and one of the characters was supposed to be the princess of kashi who's a little girl kashi not Banaras The holy city of the hindu so that was a character that was

a role in that in the drama and the Queen said who will play that role well the prince of that Kingdom he was five years old at that time he's a cute little boy you can dress him up as a princess and he can play the role and that was done and he looked so nice the Queen said paint a portrait of the prince in the dress of the princess of Kashi and that was done a nice portrait was made and was signed And dated years later when the Prince grew up maybe fifteen years later

one day while exploring the palace he goes to the cellars and among the old stuff is rummaging around he finds this old portrait he rubs the dust of it and sees the princess of Kashi she looks at the date oh she must be my age she fifteen years ago and he was my age and he falls in love with her and he says I must marry her otherwise he'll never be happy again but his little shy can tell his Parents he mopes and soon the father the print king and the Queen note that something is

wrong with the prince but he won't say finally a wise old minister takes him aside and asks him what is the prince tell me you can confide in me and the prince says I am in love and the minister says very good who is she she is the princess of Kashi Oh princess very good you'll be suitable bright for you where did you meet her I haven't actually met her but I can show you her picture and it's an old picture painted fifteen years ago but anyway she's obviously my age the minister said wait a

minute old picture fifteen years ago where did you see this can you take me there and the prince takes him to the cellar this is the picture and the minister looks at it and says Prince you need to sit down this is not the princess of Kashi well whoever she is I'll marry her No Then he tells the prince the whole story of the dramatic performance and how he was dressed up as a little kid as the princes of Kashi how the portrait came to be painted when says Prince that thou art that - Amma

see now what happened to the princess desire for the princess of Kashi it disappears immediately why does it disappear because the princess married off and he/she cannot have her anymore no mr. princess is dead no because the princess does not exist not Quite he himself is that princess he forever that princess and he were one and the same there's really nothing other than him outside himself which he can get for his own fulfillment he is that princess is himself and his ever fulfilled this world is our princess of kashi this world is our princes of

kashi the issue openshot says margarett huh cuz just with Dhanam do not covet for whose is wealth whose is wealth that's the original statement of the Opposition and commentators after commentators have interpreted that you see whose is wealth a devotional approach to errant they will say all wealth belongs to God whatever can be nice and desirable in the world belongs to God not to us including our bodies and minds so that's a from a devotional approach from a guiana approach the knowledge approach Shankar Acharya comments whose is well what wealth is there apart from the

Atman the self Brahman that alone appears as all wealth what where are the jewels apart from the gold where are the part of is the pottery apart from the clay where are the waves apart from the ocean similarly where is the universe apart from Raman what is there to be coveted because you are that Brahman not part of it there is no part and whole here it's only one reality and you are that entire one reality what is there to be coveted so knowing this now Live your life seeing God in everybody very kind is

eloquent there seeing God in happiness and in misery the so called happiness and misery necklace and bangle but two things made of the same goal so no no no Swami misery is very nasty a happiness is nice but I tell you when you see the underlying reality when you see the same divinity underlying of an unpleasant occurrence and the most pleasant thing you will you'll have what is called summer Drishti again and Sabah Drishti means an evenness of vision the way it is translated it sounds like a ophthalmic defect or something like short-sighted even sighted

they will translate it short-sighted long sighted even but what it means is you see a oneness everywhere in this universe seeing that oneness and that oneness you are seeing that oneness the so-called good things of the world and the so-called miserable things of the world and neither so good anymore Neither so miserable anymore you find a light in the worst of circumstances you see the same constant light is shining and in the most nicest of things where good things happen you find it is the same light appearing and as that a certain from that comes

real renunciation you are no longer pursuing things the products of Maya for your fulfillment it can never fulfill you so I'm very kind I said we are sitting near an ocean of nectar and dying of thirst We are sitting next to heaps of food and dying of hunger what we seek for fulfillment is right here within us we don't see it at all we mistake it again and again what is the mistake we see it as the world out there I am this that is the world and the world has two phases attractive tempting or

fearful terrifying tempting and terrifying so I'm awake and I said these things are dead in themselves we breathe life into them then we run Towards them or we run away from them and that becomes samsara for us margarita Casillas with Dunham do not covet well because whose is welt after all in fact he says there is no wealth there is what do you consider to be attractive things is all like the princess of kashi it's an appearance of you yourself projected out there a product of maya then how do you how does one live how

does one live in this world what becomes Of work activities of the world do you have to give them up not at all it is the enlightened person who can work how the person in samsara driven by hope and temptation driven by fear and anxiety and the great fear of death how can this person work really truly it is the enlightened person it is the sage and the saint who can do good work entirely working completely out of a sense of fulfillment for the world not for personal fulfillment personally Always fulfilled always happy the next

verse the next mantra of the Upanishad kurvanneveha karmaani GJ yva chit-chatted gum Samaha a120 naanyathethoaasthi na karma lipyathe nare a work in this way seek to work in this way seek to live a hundred years so I'm Vivek on this translation seek to live a hundred years a blessed life of happiness and fulfillment your whole life will be a blessing to the world around you working in this way seeing God in everything and thus working that's working you will fulfill your life be a blessing to others and it is only in this way you will

not be trapped by karma na karma lipyathe nare e otherwise what happens is the law of karma works and traps us in samsara good good bad bad and none escape the law that is the law of karma when we see out with me see samsara but when we see brahman that one reality within us the divinity then you escape from the law of Karma it does not touch you anymore here is an interesting thing Shankar Acharya wrote his famous commentary on the issue open Ishod 1400 years ago and Swami Vivekananda gave this talk in 1896

in the first mantra it's very interesting in the first month or the most important mantra cover everything by the lord yahwah SIA madam sir balm Shankar Acharya and Swami Vivekananda agree absolutely in the second mantra Swami Vivekanand Shankar Acharya disagree completely I'll first tell you what is the traditional interpretation Shankar Acharya is given it's very interesting what Shankar Acharya has done is the 18 mantras of the issue opposition he has neatly split into two parts open assure itself has two parts one part is for the one on the path of knowledge the enlightened one the

one who is already enlightened or seeking enlightenment path of knowledge the Second part of the issue of initial according to Shankar Acharya is the conventional religious life good moral life ethic 'el moral life in the Vedic sense so what Shankar Acharya does is up to now whatever I've said what we can in this is Shankar Acharya says the same thing 1400 years ago absolutely no disagreement divine eyes your life see God in everything your life turns into a blessing there itself is renunciation Not actually giving up the dualsun looking for gold elsewhere there itself seeing

the gold in the chills and varrick honor is very clear have your prosperity and he would say have your Manhattan have your jobs have your vacations have your cars whatever it is but see the one divinity in that don't see that your fulfillment in these don't those things and in the lack of those things you are unfulfilled no no no you are ever fulfilled but coming to the Second mantra Shankar Acharya says it Orazio he says for those who are enlightened that is the first mantra for those who are seeking enlightenment that's the first mantra

Eater Asiya for others anat McGirt anot makatea not those who are not north of the real self that I am Brahman they don't know this ah Magana a shock to see who are incapable of knowing who are incapable of doing yoga mu padishah t mantra these are the Instructions what are the instructions if you are not walking on the path of enlightenment if it does not appeal to you if this world appeals to you I will be happy here in this world and after death I will go to higher worlds in a circle heaven then

what is the way then the way is is another track track to track one for the smart kids track two for the rest track two is guru Venera karmani the same mantra performing all religious acts Here karma means Vedic religious acts the fire sacrifice we again the fire sacrifice there really what what a traditional religious Hindu would do in Vedic times performing those acts seek to live out your full span of life be a religious person ritualistic person moral person and in this way live your life so that at the end of your life you

have this accumulated merit you have good karma and a purified mind and therefore and then you will and Interpret several mantras hisses by following that path you will go on to higher worlds and ultimately be ready for enlightenment also you will go to and come to the same enlightenment but you will take the scenic route you live this life maybe other lives go to heaven may be multiple heavens and I'll type ultimately end up in what was called the world of the brahmaloka the world of Brahman where you still retain an identity but you are

now then on the Fast track to enlightenment there how many lifetimes later we do not know but that's so this was called krama Mukti sequential path to sequential path to liberation and this first mantra seeing God everywhere right here right now Satya Mukti instant liberation here and now and forever I think the first one is Shankar Acharya says this mantra is meant for those who want the second path and then he says the rest of the Upanishad from mantra number three to Mantra number eight mantra number three to mantra number eight is a development of

Brahma Hagana or the teaching about I am Brahman seeing Brahman in all beings that teaching is developed in mantra number three to eight and then again from mantra number nine to eighteen till the end of the open Ishod is the second path of Vedic ritual ISM and Vedic rites and a ritualistic religious lifestyle leading to higher worlds and and and a kind of moral Religious life and not enlightenment so that's how he divides it that's what makes this open is sure the difficult to finish it but there is a sudden switch off of tone suddenly

in the middle of the opposition what does Swami Vivekananda do he interprets the entire Upanishad from beginning to end in the same tone it's all about enlightenment in cenotes instead of saying that this is for the people seeing God in everybody is for those who are seeking Knowledge and enlightenment the next one is for people who want to lead a conventional moral life he says no no seeing God in everybody seeing God in everything this is real renunciation now with that guard vision of seeing Brahman inside and outside seek to live a blessed life that

is the interpretation of the second mantra but as Shankar Acharya makes a clean division there this is not for you you are all without the society mantra One fast track and for the rest of them out there mantra - suppose you say that moral ritualistic religious lifestyle most people out there are not interested then what happens then this is what happens is dangerous then if you do not take recourse to morality and ethics in today's world nobody wants you to perform I'll is asking you to perform fire sacrifices in Central Park but but a moral

religious ethical lifestyle if you do not do that the next option is Analytical lifestyle uncontrolled lifestyle and with the consequences the law of karma will teach you then the result of an unrestrained Unruh Dickel lifestyle so that is Shankar Acharya smidgeon Swami Vivekananda's vision is the whole thing is one integrated message see God in everything and thus live your life very beautiful mantras are their trauma Vacanti gives a free translation of the second just imagine in London 1896 Interpreting the a free interpretation of the issue Upanishad mantras he says the opening shot talks about Anita

they come - Oh Joey or naina diva up knowin poor warmer shut da da Vuitton Yana Katie tasted the spin up Oh mater issue authority this is the fourth mantra it says that without moving this Brahmin this existence consciousness bliss without moving it is faster than the mind see the whole it's a very poetic way of putting it parallel this Upanishad is full of paradoxical language but it's pointing to one thing what does it point to all our experiences are in brahman in consciousness and in existence when it says this Brahman this Atman is faster

than the mind without moving it's faster than the mind what does it mean whatever you can think of whatever you think feel experience you know perceive remember love hate all of the activities of the mind are in consciousness that's what it Means that it is faster than the mind even without moving because whatever the mind does is within consciousness wherever the mind and the senses go he says consciousness has already reached as he sets up a race the open here the race between consciousness mind and sense organs which is faster the eyes are faster the

mind is faster all consciousness is faster he says bronze metal the sense organs silver metal the eyes the day the mind but gold metal by Far consciousness yet Dee yet the amazing thing is the Atman consciousness does not race at all it stands right there on the starting block and has won the race already da da da vato an eon it'sh tip this that it is staying at staying put the admin stays put where can it go it is all pervading it's one reality that da matta the other sense organs are rushing forth eyes are

going to their forms years are going to sound Tongue to the taste they are rushing forth to their objects as if it is the machineries five sense organs rushing to their objects and the mind has already is faster because it is already conceived of those objects it knows what it is but all of that is possible because of this one all-pervading existence these forms and this the sound and the taste which your the senses are rushing towards do they not exist do they not share in existence then Existence is already there it is in consciousness

that these objects and their senses appear it is in consciousness that they are all experienced so that's a philosophical way of putting it the poetic and rather humorous way of putting it is it's a race and in the race consciousness always wins without racing dish touch standing still and then the open assured goes on the age at eternity Doug do rated on TK doesn't interest you service Yeah to do service xie xie by I had a paradoxical language it moves not and it moves it does not move at Atman and all movement is because of

it it is the closest of the close it is further than the farthest that do ray that one thinking it is within everything it is beyond everything paradoxical language but what does it mean it's actually very easy to understand what it means if you take it from the Brahman the Atman perspective today is your Eternity it doesn't age it means to vibrate to move company to to to vibrate to move to shake it does not move it's absolutely the same all the time yet all movement all action is due to it take the example of

say electricity electricity we know the bulb is shining the fans are going round and round giving us air the microphone is amplifying sound let me ask you does electric electricity shine does it go round and round and give you Air does electricity amplify sound you will see no and yes no in itself electricity does not shine in itself electricity does not go round and round and give you air in itself electricity does not amplify sound but but in association with that little device the bulb electricity certainly is shining there through the bulb in association with

that device electricity certainly giving you air going round and round and magnifying sound of amplifying sound Here in the same way that Atman existence consciousness place your nature it does not walk it does not talk it does not say hello and shake hands and yet that same Atman in association with the body and mind it is the Atman itself who is walking around it is the Atman itself who shakes your hand and says hello who else is there another example do you wear a wear gold on your neck or on your bracelet or on your

head you say it depends Gold in itself you Don't wear anywhere but if you make gold into a necklace you can bear it on your neck if you make it into a bracelet you can wear it on your wrist of as a tiara you can wear it on your head so with a particular name and form Gold fulfils all those functions not only gold fulfils all those functions without gold follow this carefully without gold can you wear a necklace on your neck and golden necklace no it would disappear you can't wear a bracelet or a

tiara Because they would they don't exist without God similarly existence consciousness plays pure being pure awareness that structured are and the which is the Atman or Brahman that alone appears as body and mind all those things as the car which is rushing along on the street all those things which move when shake and vibrate this entire madly whirling universe that is that's implement with name and form an activity Nama Rupa Viva Hara today Asia tea Tunisia tea it vibrates it moves not the do auntie K it is farther than the farthest nearer than the nearest

very simple explanation you know how it works it's a Shankar Acharya comments there to the one who does not know it it seems very far away it seems very far away I don't know where it is in which heaven this so-called God or it's so theoretical so abstract isn't it Swami We are right here seriously sitting in chairs you're standing there and talking where is Brahman here it's like saying suppose you are in a dream and you are sitting and taught and listening to a Vedanta talk it'll be more I don't dream or nightmare right

another Vedanta talk is it still going on sir and somebody comes and tells you it's a dream no here I am sitting here is the Swami talking how can it be a dream it's all your mind where is the Mind here is a chair I'm a body sitting here there is a Swami there is a microphone and it's a Hall where is the mind and yet when you wake up suddenly you sit up maybe in a cold sweat on your bed then you realize oh that Hall and those people and the Swami and all of

it was in my mind it was truly my mind appearing in all those forms seeming to be waking living solid experience truck de-rated 1tk it seems very far away to call this reality to call it it's a Dream it's a mind appearing in all these forms what do you mean mind it's a solid world but it seemed do you realize it's the mind when you wake up taranta gate is closer than the closes Shankar Acharya says to the one who knows it it is closer than the closest what closest to you in this place what

is the even closer my clothes what's even closer my body what's even closer my thoughts what's even closer I me myself yes ah Hum Rahm has me Thomas see that thou art if you truly knew yourself Vivek and would again and again say if only you would truly know yourself then everything would be solved it is closer than the closest to the one who knows it it's further than the farthest to the one who does not know it the one who does not know it it sounds theoretical it's not theoretical it's more solid than the

most solid thing one of them my ancient Vedantic text says where can the Universe exists if Brahman is the only reality you know what kind of reality it is it says it is more dense than the most dense rock when we talk about consciousness pure being sounds abstract he says no no no the universe is abstract compared to Brahman Brahman is absolutely more concrete than concrete it is so dense there's not the slightest space there for the universe to exists it is Brahman and Brahman throughout God and God throughout where is the scope For a

world to exist what you think of as the world is an appearance of God talent ek that intarsia sarvasya it is within everything and yet beyond everything very easy to understand rope which is mistaken as a snake can't we say where is the rope when you are seeing the snake which is not a snake where is the rope then where is the rope right there right there dr. Shah is saying it's me yes that's the way that is the correct Way don t cancer I am Brahman not a rope I am Brahman it's right there

where you are seeing the snake the rope is right there in fact what is the purpose of saying the world is an appearance world is an illusion world is Maya in AD weight of Iran teaching what purpose does it serve two purposes world is an appearance one purpose is in spiritual life one purposes it generates vairagya dispassion if it is not real I don't Want it right if it's a dream if it's a fiction I dreamt I won a million dollars in the rod lottery nowadays it's a hundred million dollars Powerball are some things I

dreamt I won a hundred million dollars in the lottery but soami I am full of renunciation I give you the hundred million dollars donation to Vedanta Society why because it's not real I have no attachment to it I can give away as much as I want that which Is not real has no pull on us no matter how attractive let's dressed up if it is not real it becomes the princess of Kashi so that is the first purpose but real masters of Iran today tell you that you know Hindi David say jagat mithya to Vairagya

Kalia he took a severe ante Bolton and that the purpose of the teaching of the falsity of the world is to generate vairagya dispassion this is the teaching of superficial Vedanta suffer of those who are don't real you Were not really well-versed in Vedanta the real purpose of the teaching of the falsity of the world you know what it is it's dramatic the real purpose is pointing out where Brahman is where is God where is Brahman where is that ultimate reality where is the Rope there itself where you are seeing the snake what you think

is the snake when you awaken to it you'll see it's the Rope what you think is the world and samsara and good and evil when you awaken to it You'll see it's God through and through always was always will be not after enlightenment even now even when we are not enlightened so we think we don't know but even now it's that once Arduino Tariq and is just I still remember in will sit at his feet and study old monk more than 80 85 at that time you Punjabi Cindy he came to the Himalayas at the

during the partition of India 1947 so straight he came from sin danced across India to the Himalayas and stayed There for the last 50 60 years anyway I still remember he had a big face of looking down at me and chuckling and saying well Mahatma ji well Swami what a strange teaching whether you know it or not whether you accept it or not you are God Tom atmaji yeah very old is it Dante Tom Gianna Jana John oh no mano ya na mano Tom Hyrum you are you are none other than God whether even if

you don't accept it you don't have to believe in It for it to be true you don't have to be a Hindu oh what a coincidence today's Ram Navami Tom Hyrum in this context let me say something that Swami Vivekananda pointed out in that lecture itself very important so in this way see God in everything and then he says or if you cannot or if you cannot see God in one thing and then go on from there see God in one thing just one line he has added There the whole of bhakti Shastra the way

of devotion is hidden in that line if it is too much for me to ask me to see God in in my boss or in my poodle Swami guarding the dog its dog do G not G OD how can I say just the opposite it's too much then Swami Vivekananda says then see God in one thing love and revere and worship that one thing and then go on from there what is that one thing the personal God the god of the Christians the God of the Jews the God Of the Muslims Vishnu and Shiva and

Devi the divine mother all the incarnations of this personal God like Rama like Krishna or Christ or Rama and have reverence faith that here is divinity it's much easier in one sense some some mentalities find it much easier why because this wonderful qualities are there they are divine they are all loving merciful for the endlessly wise and compassionate and especially in the case of the Incarnations like Buddha or Rama or Krishna or Christ Rama Krishna there are historical figures in some sense there especially in cinema Krishna is absolutely fully documented so it feels real to

us for that mentality then worship God find God in one thing and then go on the whole of dualistic religion of devotional approaches there I'm reminded of Gopal's mother the old lady who is - widow who used to come to Sri Ramakrishna she worshiped Krrish the God as the baby Krishna Gopala in an image she starts with that then experiences has a vision of Gopal it becomes a living experience and she's flooded with ecstasy and devotion and then goes on she finds that same Gopal everywhere then she finds Gopal and everything in everybody and she

calls everybody go polish is to call so Ramakrishna Gopala and then she comes and tells - Ramakrishna I see this what should I do now should I continue with My practices repeating the name of Krishna Allah and he gives a very beautiful sweet advice he says you don't need to do anything anymore mother you have attained everything but for the welfare of Gopala keep on your spiritual practices repeat the mantra now you are doing it for the good of God not for your own good and that's not interesting once Shri Ramakrishna put her in debate

with Narendra not vacant and who was rational who did not accept all these God with uniforms and imagens and things like that and this simple old lady said how she sees God everywhere and everybody and with and tells Narendra and Narendra is supposed to take the skeptical side by the time she has finished narendra's in tears and the lady simply asks my child is it true or is it just you know my hallucination I'm just maybe hallucinating and Narendra says no matter it is all true what you have seen Is true what you are seeing

is true start with one you will end up with the same thing seeing God in everything now that derated torrontés just service it is within all and Tudou service xie xie bejita it is beyond everything why is the teaching of of the snake and the rope that the snake is false not only it removes your fear of the snake but it points out where the rope is right where the snake is where is the gold right where the tiara or the necklaces Where is the water right where the wave is where is God right here

in the man in the woman in the husband in the wife in the Sun in the daughter in friends and even in so-called enemies in living and non-living in the high and mighty and in the low and despised it is one divinity everywhere and one can actually see this then it is done liberation some do mock tea enlightenment and liberation here and now why don't we see it why don't we see It the Upanishad itself says third mantra the opposition asourian amedeo oka and Dana Thomas ah Britta targum stay prett job he got Chang tak

chat Mahajan ah the mantra means those who do not know this ignorant it is hidden by not knowing they go to the demonic worlds asourian amedeo oka what are they like the covered in blinding darkness under Dana Thomas elaborate ah after death you these Souls they go on to such words the demonic words what is the Demoniac world it is nothing other than the world we are living in the world of not knowing God and Sami I'm fine you know I can I'm okay it's not a demonic well it's Manhattan after all it's nice yes

but what it means is this cycle of birth and death this coming to this life and growing up and then pursuing things in life getting something being frustrated in other things then aging decaying dying and then leaving the stage of life whether Victorious or defeated we know not and it goes on in Swami Varrick and they would say and this is my the opening shot says this is the demonic world being whirled on from thing one thing to another thing to another thing it was in the seminar recently it was a seminar on the unknown

and the different people physicists mathematicians philosophers psychologists historian so the historian said what is what is the definition of history he said the best definition of History is it's one damn thing after another and that's true that's true of individual life also one thing after another this goes on to what end - what fulfillment we know not a sensitive soul notes it very quickly and then it first reaction is despair the first reaction is like Camus said the only important philosophical question is why should I not kill myself the myth of Sisyphus first line why

should I not kill myself You might think that's a bit little too dramatic but a sensitive soul will feel it that what's the point of it there is a point the reality there so that that Swami said that the teacher said right here what you think is the world what you think is terrible right there is the reality that is the deeper teaching why we say the world is false to create vairagya dispassion 0.1 but the deeper reason is to point out God directly if this is false the four Cannot exist without the real a

false snake must have a basis in a real rope so the reality is right there Brahman is right there where where you are looking smelling tasting touching what you're thinking all that we think is samsara in ignorance is Brahman in knowledge then what is the way out what is the way out so I'm a very kinda says it is all good to talk about this he says from my childhood I've heard that all is God but it really is not helping so much what is The problem as we go out into life a few knocks

then all his God is forgotten I go out into life and there's a man approaching and I think ah here is God coming in this form and he punches me in the nose figuratively or verbally or whatever really and all idea of God goes away and the blood blood rushes to my head and I retaliate with two punches so what happened what happened to all this is God Shankar Acharya in his introduction To the brahma sutra Basha is one of the most profound essays on Vedanta is called a dasa Basha they come into the on

super imposition Jerry says practically speaking even people in even he says those who are well versed in Vedanta in day-to-day action he says peshwaji official there is no difference between them and animals and then he gives an example he says as a cow how did the three know pool now if you take green juicy grass and hold it In front of the cow and the cow is attracted it comes to eat the grass and then he says done doubt death a girl with a red stick if you threaten the cow the cow runs have it

thinking it's going to be beaten exactly like that temptation and tribulation and trials we almost human beings are attracted towards what it seems at the moment Pleasant and nice and scared away by what seems terrible and scary that is samsara it's because of ignorance What Vedanta says is a very high ideal but just because it's a high ideal does not mean it's false it's true right now does not mean it's impractical it's practical right now Swami Vivekananda says it's a high ideal and then one of his famous quotes which we have quoted often it's in

this lecture he says if a man with our ideal makes a hundred mix makes ten mistakes a man without an idea will make a fifty thousand mistakes it's always better to Have an ideal the higher the better pursue it he says we miss Atman is to be heard about reasoned about meditated upon schroeder be amunt up the unaided Dossett appear again and again tell yourself read about it hear about it is these highest truths that's why so many open shots and so many texts are there if you get bored the same issue open assured again

alright here is the cane open it up here is the chandogya i've read all the open assured here is the Bhagavad-gita and then there are so many so many texts and this truth is found in the core mystical traditions of all religions all over the world so hear about this again and again in a hundred different ways sing about it talk about it express it in worship in philosophy think about it reason it out and once you have got clarity live not just meditate upon it try to live life according to it and I have

what seemed difficult and impossible at first very Soon very soon it becomes much easier and giving great joy as it becomes much easier you don't have to wait until you become a Brahma Gani enlightened person liberated while living Jeevan Mukta no even before that to the extent that we practice to that extent we are saved shri krishna says so album appeared Hermosillo try at a maha to obey art even a little practice of this teaching saves one from great fear saves one from great fear that monk I told you about Who said whether you know

it or not whether you accept it or not you are Rama the one in the Himalayas he was sick he was old at that time and they called a doctor now this monk he is huge well-built but in Punjabi he was overweight and that time and sitting in this chair and the doctor comes and says Swami what do you eat yet so you become so fat and the monk replied I'll tell you in English and then the original Hindi he said doctor The doctor was skinny the doctor I I eat up all my worries and

tensions no junk food so I'm fat and the worries and tensions are eating you up yes so skinny in Hindi actually he said it in Hindi doctor Sahab hum chin tuck watch a budget a her chin top kochava attea there's the old sanskrit saying cinta means anxiety worry tension what is what do you tension manhattan you're surrounded by hit all the time that's a staple food Here there's the old Sanskrit verse cinta cheetah it is sama kata Tjuta in Indian languages means the funeral fire when a Hindu dies the body is cremated ceases anxiety or

tension is called a funeral fire cinta cheetah it is a macchiato tin Tata Tata Poetica tension or our anxiety is worse than the funeral fire see Tom Cheetham written he died he ot the funeral fire burns up the dead and you know the rest whereas anxiety burns up the living give It immediate agenda the hottie cinta so I burn up all anxieties this is the result this is the result of of this so Swami Vivekananda he quotes from the sixth and seventh mantras very beautiful mantras of the open assured it goes like this yes to

sarvani bhutani at mavin opposite at man even opacity server booth sorry Babu Testament a tonne of yaqoob city the one who sees all beings in One's own self everybody is in me and I am in all beings I am in all beings Atmaram so sarva bhootheshu cha aathmaanam and doing thus to results come the word video coups attained in sanskrit has two meanings one is does not hate cannot hit literally how can you hit you can never hit your own children they're very close to you the closest and here these are your very Atman your

very self so they are one with you there's no question of hitting Another thing another meaning is does not protect so there is no desire in the enlightened one to protect this single person you know we are we we devote so much of our energy first of all to physical protection of this body why why I am this one can you really protect it no in the Bible itself who can with all our efforts with all efforts add one day to once a span of life grass of the fields here today and gone tomorrow that's

our life you cannot protect it Jesus was absolutely on target when he says and those who try to save their lives they will die and those who give up their lives for me they get eternal life what does it mean he speaks in that language but the meaning is very clear in Vedanta those who give up their life for me means what you commit suicide no you realize that Brahman alone is the reality my own reality is Brahman not a body let the body go nothing to me it will go anyway then we seek not

only to Protect the body but to protect our personality is our egos which seek to protect our image psychoanalysts know this a great deal of psychic energy Freud noticed that you noticed it a great deal of psychic energy is used to present a facade to the world what I think of myself and what I want you to think of me to present that I put a lot of energy into it one sign of enlightened persons is just the opposite they really do not care what You think of them not that they have a contempt for

you they are absolutely full of love for you and what you think of them they're perfectly alright aid they really don't think of themselves there's a funny story about Ramana Maharshi somebody wrote an article criticizing him and sent a copy to him and ramanamma she'd read through it very carefully collected the grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes and sent it back Somebody said but he's criticizing you marshy no no she said no he's criticizing some fellow called Ramana he's so impersonal he has no connection with this no no question of trying to protect oneself it sounds

like a terrible way of living that's the most wonderful way of living most wonderful you'll see the great freedom like an enormous burden falls of your of your head when you devotion you put it at the feet of the Lord or in Ghana you say I Am one with the Lord what can kill you what can harm you let the world say what it will the world is nothing but you tell them say what will you think about me don't worry nobody really thinks about you people are really full of their own lives once in

a while they may think about you not much need of the praise of the world is important now the criticism of the world is important so this oneness yes min sarvani bhutani at me Bob who'd Be John Atta dr. Cuomo hoc Ashoka a katomina pasha Taha where the entire world becomes the self the universe becomes the self dr. Ikuma what delusion is there delusion means I am this much that is different samsara and I know it is oneness that trachoma cachaca very soft suffering anymore where is all where is the sting of sorrow and suffering

it's all gone for whom a cut to a manoeuvre shatter the one who sees oneness here we are all one one divinity Everywhere so I'm moving under in stock he says this is the great theme team-teaching of atlanta this oneness of all existence all is one existence and that one existence you are so this is to be realized he goes on it's very interesting to read that the rest of that talk because the other verses of the Upanishads starting from 9 to 18 which are entirely interpreted by Shankar Acharya in terms of Vedic ritual ISM

are interpreted may be awakened under in terms of the life of an enlightened person just give one short example and an end there is a particularly difficult verse comes up next when Shankar Acharya makes a sharp break up to this is the teaching about othman finished if you cannot a shortest you those who aren't incapable of this come here I'm giving you not the fast-track the the general root for everybody is the scenic Route now that starts and there's a big break there very beautiful verses which end which end that teaching on the Atman superior

god chakra Nakayama Brenham us now the ragam should dhamma papa victim career money she Perry who swayambhu yatta that Couture town the others are charged with impure some are pure beautiful what does it mean I'll give a running translation Vaikunta he also gives the running translation that reality Atman your reality is All-pervading is beyond the physical body it's not a body physical body it's not a mind subtle body it's beyond the causal body ignorance also it is chakram which is pure consciousness it is beyond good and bad that is Dharma Dharma which is beyond the

law of karma a pop of atom the original Sanskrit is not not struck by sin the sinless self curvy curvy literally means poet the ancient open assured Cubbie was a reference to the Rishi And curvy ultimately means Brahman the ultimate reality of this universe in the Rig Veda you find a beautiful expression pashya davis jakob geum look upon the poetry of the lord i heard it first from a monk in the himalayas of 10,000 feet up surrounded by snow peaks and the other forests and the Ganga the Ganges running several hundred feet below rushing in

a little torrent stunning picturesque and a little hut where the Swami was sitting First time I heard this he threw his arms like this and showed me this vast and a panorama a range of the range of mountains snow-covered it was summer the peaks were snow-covered and those are the real Giants going out - as if to infinity and the vast blue sky above and surrounded by pine forests by day our forests and he says look upon the poetry of the Lord Basha Davis Sahab yym yo nigiri Athena mama which needed decays nor dies what

is the poetry of the Lord It is the universe so kawaiii menisci the one controller of all our minds and because of that Lord the law of causality functions and summarizing it's long verse so all this works all is all of it it works because of the existence of that divine and then there's a big change the second part of the open assured kicks in as it where according to Shankar Acharya so for example where is the difficulty the difficulty is this the Upanishad says next very Mysteriously and there are multiple commentaries on this in

the very ninth verse it says those who are dedicated to avoid the ignorant they enter into darkness those who are dedicated to with their knowledge they enter into greater darkness but combined combining ignorance with knowledge are it the iron vidya by ignorance one overcomes death by knowledge one gets immortality ninth 10th 11th words mantras what does it mean and if you are puzzled you are In good company centuries after centuries so many commentaries were produced I remember approaching a very revered monk afar order swami prabhavananda ji was now the vice-president saying that oh look Swami

Vivekananda says this first time I discovered this I was a young monk and Shankara says this and he chuckled and he said and I have got 11 other commentators who say 11 other things also What does Shankara say Shankara gives of an explanation which made very good sense if you look at the way the context in which he was saying it but today it seems strange to us it seems we can't relate to it what he says is Ovid they are ignorant ignorance is not the right term for a video of Idi Amin's Vedic rituals

and with dia means Vedic meditation so those who are dedicated only to ritualism they enter into darkness those who give up the rituals And only dedicate themselves to Vedic meditation they enter into greater darkness what does it mean he says not that they enter into darkness or greater darkness this whole thing is a call for combining rituals and meditation with dion vidya and rituals there stands for a Vedic lifestyle so look at the language by these rituals you overcome death what is death he interprets death as an immoral life now it begins to make sense

by a moral religious lifestyle you Overcome an immoral unrestrained lifestyle and by a higher spiritual practices based upon a moral life you go to immortality but there he by immortality he means the higher worlds the path to the scenic route so this is how interprets it what does Swami Vivekananda say he says the one who plunges into the foolish luxuries of this world when vanities of this world that is of India ignorance he takes literally as this world and says this is All that there is and I will enjoy this he enters into darkness suffering

and the one who gives up all this who scorns the world and retreats into a cave thinking of finding something beyond that person also he says missus the way that is going into another kind of darkness but he who swam very Candice's understands nature understands the working of nature the law of karma using the law of karma to transcend the law of karma attains to the Atman remar Immortality now this interpretation can see now they're not entirely different but this one what Vivekananda gives us is more relevant to us and we relate to it directly

and so on vivek and it goes on even the last verse which is very beautiful there here on my in a path trainer suggests a pietà mukham the the face of truth is hidden by the golden disc of the Sun that is the poetic expression as if there is a reality but There's a shining light which covers the reality what is the shining life samsara right behind it is the reality and the prayer is the marishi is praying to the Sun you withdraw view harush means a move at Asia we draw your blinding brilliance let

me see the truth which is behind thee with the yours also Purusha so how much meaty does the reality behind this universe is the reality within me and with a kundus is this is the reality which Upanishad points Towards in the the shanti mantra the introductory prayer to the open Ishod it's a famous one that is infinite this is infinite from that infinite this infinite has come recognizing that infinite in this infinite the infinite alone remains Poornima Daha poornamidham poornaath poornam Udacity poonacha Pune Maha Pune me Vava Shetty home shantih shantih shantih hurry he owned

that said sri ramakrishna Aparna must [Music]