This is another day of Ashtavakra Gita. In these lectures we will introduce the lives of great saints, like Vivekananda, Ramana Marharshi, Rama Krishna, and Bhagavan. This is because spirituality is a character. It is not a search because whatever it is, it is, within us. So why don't we see it? Why don't we feel it? It is because the character of our past impressions always causes us to look outside. But this character changes as we listen to Vedanta and become engaged in this process. What is happening? Our character is changing. now through chanting, meditation and by listening to Vedanta we are trying to stop the mind from going outside, exactly at the place where the mind is. As we go on in this process we will see that the mind is going inside. When the mind goes inside, then only, it can discover the knowledge within itself.
So we have to know the character of the people who have gone through life in this way. As we go on I will try to tell you about the characters in the Bhagavatam also like Udav, like Nachiketa etc and this will help us to approach the subject in the right way. At the start of class I want to tell you a story about Rama Krishna. Spirituality is a journey from something to nothing. Whenever we are talking about Advaita Vedanta we are talking about, this is not this, this is not this....The body which I used to know myself is not me, The mind or the thoughts that I used to recognize are not me. As we negate and deny these things then something comes into my mind, that, there is nothing. It seems true now but as we go on negating we reach a point where we realize we have everything. Everything means what? Everything means everything divine, everything auspicious, everything eternal , peace, bliss, joy, love, Truth. But this joy, this love, this peace, this bliss, when it is see through the prism of maya or illusion, peace seems to be chaos. The same peace seems to be chaos. Bliss seems to be greed or sadness. But there is not two, there is only one. There is only one, Asthi Bhati Priya. Asthi means existence, existence of that self is there. There is existence you cannot deny this. Now I am saying "I am". This is an existence. But I am not conscious of it, which I is this I? I am only conscious of that I which is projected by me.It is apparent but it is not reality. I am seeing this but it might not be reality.
Reality is always beyond what we see. So when I am saying "I am" I have identified myself with my thoughts, my intellect, my mind and my ego, that which I see, that which I know. So whenever I have recognized myself I recognize myself as this. But the scriptures say, enlightened souls say, you are not this.Why? Because they have gone one step ahead of this. When they went one step ahead of this they found that these are not our identities. This is just an illusion. Our identity is beyond this and that identity can only be expressed as Brahman. Brahman is the Self, and that Self can only be expressed as absolute existence.That is why we have existence. We have not come from a void, we have not come from nothingness.We are not going to any place that we do not know. No there are places, everywhere there are places and I am there. So don't be scared. Don't be afraid that there is no place or that there is nothing beyond this. There is everything beyond this. But for that you have to go beyond this. Then only you will find this everything.
So first of all it is said that this state is existence, and then it is said that this state is knowledge. It is because that existence cannot be known. How do I say that I am not this? It means that I know something which is separate from this. When I say that I am not a body, I know that individual who is not a body. When I say that I am not an intellect, I am not an ego and I am not thoughts, this means that I know somebody who is beyond this. So that existence which cannot be known, which cannot be expressed can be felt. How? by a pure mind, a pure heart. What is a pure mind or a pure heart? A pure mind means a desire less mind. Why don't we see the Self? Because we are always moved by desires. What are these desires? Desires are those thoughts that always connect us to this world, those thoughts that make this world very true to us. These thoughts lead us to believe that all of our peace, our bliss will come from this outer world. Desire is that faculty of the mind which will always tell you that peace bliss, happiness, joy, liberation, whatever you are searching for can be found in this world. This is a basic need of man, to search for bliss. But if you have begun to search for bliss then you have begun a search for the self.
In my childhood I used to read one poem that said food, shelter, and clothing are the basic needs of mine. These are not basic needs of mine, they are the basic needs of my body. These are the basic needs of our body but our most basic need is peace. A man who does not have peace, he may steal, he may beg a million dollars but he will never be at peace. A man who sleeps on the roadside, he has peace. He sleeps and does not bother for anything. Money or any worldly things cannot give you peace. Peace is something extra, ti comes from the inside. So everybody in this world needs bliss and joy. Bliss means the continuous flow of joy and the divine from within. We are not peaceful, Why? because some of our thoughts are always mixed with desire. This means that our happiness is always dependent on what is outside.I f I love somebody and he or she acts according to my wish, according to my desire I am peaceful. But, if they do not act according to my desire I am restless. I am disturbed, frustrated. (Swamiji laughs) Give something to me, give something to me. But no, why should I expect anything from them? Peace is something that comes from the inside. That is why the peace and the bliss from Vedanta that we talk about is a spontaneous flow from the inside.
For those who have read the Bhagavatam, it gives a definition of God. What is the definition of God?
(That God is love unconditional by nature, without discrimination.)
He is always compared to a child who does everything indiscriminately. He gives away things to people he does not know. But we always calculate. So this peace this love this bliss that Vedanta talks about how does it come? It comes spontaneously from the inside without reason. If we do not get it, we have to reach up to that point. How? always by discriminating in the mind...not this...not this....
Today I want to tell you a story about something Thakur Rama Krishna, the Master of Vivekananda said. I am sure that this will help you in this path of enlightenment. Once there was a woodcutter. He used to go to the jungle and cut wood. One day he was coming back from the jungle and he met one saint in the forest. This saint told him to move forward, further into the forest. The woodcutter did not think much of it and went on cutting trees on the perimeter of the forest. But one day he remembered the words of the saint and he decided to go inside the forest. When he went into the forest he discovered sandalwood trees. Sandalwood is very very costly. So he cut that sandalwood and he sold it, becoming rich, instantly, overnight. After some days of cutting sandalwood and coming back he remembered that the saint said move forward. He did not say move forward and find sandalwood. So again, he followed the saint's words and moved further into the forest. There he found a silver mine. He mined and sold this silver and became even more rich.Days passed, and again he thought, the saint told me to move forward he did not tell me to stop at the silver mine.After some time, as he moved forward he saw a gold mine. As the owner of this gold mine he became the wealthiest man in his country. So, he was very happy and satisfied but again he thought, the saint did not tell me to stop at the gold mine. He said move forward, continue, march on. So he moved forward and crossed the river, and as he crossed the river he saw that there were precious stones everywhere. So this is the essence of Vedanta. There is a word in Sanskrit, Charivati. What does it mean? It means move on.
I am telling you that in reading the the lives of spiritual people one thing is very evident. They did not stop. Thakur Rama Krishna used to say, "Until I die, I learn." I have seen my Master Bhagavan who goes into samadhi every day and every day new knowledge comes out of him. He says that this is everything, this is the infinite coming out.So always I will tell you that on this path there will be many things that will happen to you. Sometimes you will see that you are very peaceful. Many things are coming out of you, from this peace. Many divine vibrations are coming out of you. Sometimes you will see that nothing is coming out and that you have become absolutely worldly. You will see that you have forgotten everything.It happens to everybody. This is very normal. This is called vikshep. It happened to me also. As a young man, I went to Bhagavan.When I went to Bhagavan I became so attracted to him that I began to realize within one or two days. But after two months or so I noticed that my mind was not as high as it was with Bhagavan. Sometimes this happens. Sometimes I did not feel that I liked Bhagavan. I wanted to go somewhere with my friends. I wanted to play somewhere else. Bhagavan used to call me and he used to ask, "How is your mind?" We used to say that it was not good and when it became good, we would come back. Bhagavan used to say if you don't come back your mind will never be good. In order to be good you have to come back. Why? because this is normal on this path. It also happened in the life of Swami Vivekananda.Why do we talk about Swami Vivekananda? Because his life is very practical.No other spiritual personality has a more practical life than him. Why? There was no miracle in his life. Many saints had some miracle in their life, somebody did this that the other thing.... But Vivekananda was a very normal human being. Bhagavan was a very normal human being.Everything seems very human and natural to us.
Whenever we used to say to Bhagavan I had this realization, I had that realization, he used to say, afterwards did you have samadhi? This is the benchmark, samadhi. It means that whatever you have realized you have to become completely merged with that. For instance I am feeling peace, but this is temporary. Now your mind is there now there is peace. But after some time it will move away from that state. Why? Because it is still vibrating. The mind is nothing but vibrating consciousness. Consciousness which is vibrating is called "mind". So Pavitranandaji, the Master of Bhagavan said: "The essence of this vibrating self consciousness is knowledge." This is very beautiful. It means you have been given everything. You are nothing but the Self. The mind is vibrating consciousness. What do you have to do? You have to realize the essence of this vibrating consciousness.Now the consciousness is vibrating and this is why it appears to be mind. The fan is moving. It appears as if there are a hundred plates on the fan but there are only three plates. How do we find out that there are only three plates? We stop the fan.We stop it and we see that it has only three plates. Self knowledge is nothing but the awareness of the vibration less mind. Why? because there is nothing more than pure consciousness. Pure gold is pure gold, pure silver is pure silver. But some of the ornaments that we use are not pure. Why? They are mixed with alloys.That is why they are not pure but pure gold is only gold pure silver is only silver, pure milk is only milk. A a pure mind is only a pure mind. Pure consciousness is only pure consciousness. So pure heart, pure mind, and pure consciousness are the same thing. It is only things from the outside that come and get attached. How does attachment occur? There is always a superimposition going on.
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