|| Our Real Nature || by Swami Sarvapriyananda

Summary

In this insightful lecture, Swami Sarvapriyananda delves into the Vedantic teachings of Swami Vivekananda, focusing on our true nature beyond physical and mental identities. Highlighting the inadequacies of modern scientific and philosophical approaches in addressing fundamental questions of life and death, he emphasizes the transformative power of Vedanta. Swami Sarvapriyananda discusses how embracing our real nature, which is beyond time and space, can lead to spiritual enlightenment and a greater understanding of our unity with the universe.

Highlights

• Swami Sarvapriyananda embarks on a journey through Swami Vivekananda's Vedantic teachings. 🎢
• He explores the significance of understanding our true nature beyond physical existence. 🕉️
• Discusses the harmony between Western philosophy and Indian spirituality. 🤝
• Reflects on Swami Vivekananda's idea that the fear of death influences human culture. 💀
• Conveys how spiritual realization can transcend pain and suffering, offering ultimate bliss. 🌈

Key Takeaways

• Vedanta teaches us that our real nature is beyond our physical and mental identities. ✨
• Swami Vivekananda's teachings emphasize the harmony between reason and spirituality. 🧠🙏
• Understanding our true nature can lead to a transcendence of fear, especially the fear of death. 💪
• The realization that we are not bound by time or space can provide immense spiritual freedom. 🕊️
• Ethics and morality have a firm foundation in the Vedantic concept of oneness. 🌍🤝

Overview

Swami Sarvapriyananda begins by dedicating this lecture to exploring Vedantic philosophy through Swami Vivekananda's lenses. He shares insights on the teachings of Vivekananda and highlights the significance of understanding our real nature—an entity that exists beyond the physical and mental realms.

Delving deeper, Sarvapriyananda contrasts modern scientific views with Vedantic teachings. He dissects the hard problem of consciousness and reflects on Swami Vivekananda’s ability to bridge Eastern spirituality with modern rationality, thus providing a holistic approach to existential queries.

He concludes with an empowering message about self-realization and unity, urging listeners to recognize their oneness with the universe. Swami Sarvapriyananda emphasizes that understanding this non-dualistic perspective can lead to profound inner peace and wholeness in life.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:30: Introduction and Purpose The chapter titled 'Introduction and Purpose' begins with a morning greeting and sets the context for the discussion. The focus of this chapter is to explore and understand our real nature.
• 02:30 - 05:00: Focus on Vivekananda's Teachings The chapter titled 'Focus on Vivekananda's Teachings' introduces a new initiative where the speaker will reflect upon the Vedantic teachings of Swami Vivekananda. The speaker mentions that this will be a series of lectures beginning with today’s discussion. The inspiration for this series came while reading the bylaws of their Vedanta society, marking the start of an exploration into Swami Vivekananda's insights and philosophies.
• 05:00 - 07:30: Harmony and Strength This chapter discusses the purpose of an institution dedicated to the study and teaching of Vedanta, as taught by Vivekananda and the early Swamis. Bylaws for the institution were formulated during the tenure of Swami Abhedananda, a few years after Vivekananda. The institution is actively engaged in studying classical Vedanta texts, including the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, with a current focus on the Mandukya Upanishad.
• 07:30 - 10:00: The Problem of Death and Philosophy This chapter discusses the intersection of death and philosophy within the context of Advaita Vedanta. It highlights the historical contributions of early masters such as Shankara and Vidyaranya, specifically referencing significant texts like Aparoksha Anubhuti and Dhrigdrishya Viveka. The narrative emphasizes the relevance of Swami Vivekananda, particularly in his role in establishing the first Vedanta society in the West, marking an important organizational milestone.
• 10:00 - 12:30: Theoria and Western Thought The chapter discusses the impact of Vivekananda's classics, such as Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Jnana Yoga, which were first published from a central location. It reflects on the significance of focusing on Vivekananda when studying Vedanta, as he restated these ancient teachings in a modern context.
• 12:30 - 15:00: Vedanta and Theories of Mind In this chapter titled 'Vedanta and Theories of Mind', the discussion revolves around the contributions of Vivekananda, who offered new insights into Vedanta. These insights were not merely a repackaging of old teachings, but rather reflected an integration of contemporary scientific and philosophical developments. Vivekananda is portrayed as a cosmopolitan thinker, well-versed not only in the Indian tradition but also in global intellectual currents.
• 15:00 - 17:30: The Subtle Body and Consciousness The chapter discusses the integration of Eastern and Western philosophies, highlighting the study of Vedanta which offers significant value. It features a teacher inspired by Sri Ramakrishna, known for advocating harmony between reason and religion, as well as among different world religions, both of which are crucial in contemporary times.
• 17:30 - 20:00: Philosophy, Death, and Happiness The chapter explores the concept of harmony within different faiths and philosophies, focusing on Vedanta. It highlights the diversity and sometimes conflicting views within Vedanta, including non-dualism, qualified non-dualism, and dualism, among others. The discussion is contextualized within the framework of the United Nations' world harmony of faiths week, emphasizing the importance of harmony both within and between different spiritual approaches.
• 20:00 - 22:30: Vedanta's View on the Self This chapter explores Vedanta's perspective on the self, highlighting the transformative power of Swami Vivekananda's teachings. It delves into the classical four yogas—knowledge, devotion, meditation, and service—that Vivekananda emphasized as pathways to personal development and harmony. The text underscores the invigorating strength and life-changing positivity that emanates from engaging with Vivekananda's philosophies, which provide a powerful boost to one's everyday existence and inspire a more vibrant approach to living.
• 22:30 - 25:00: Beyond Body and Mind The chapter titled 'Beyond Body and Mind' delves into the profound influence of Vivekananda and the spiritual power that is believed to work through him. The text discusses the idea that Vivekananda's power is essentially the avatar of Sri Ramakrishna's power, transmitted through him. The narrative is reflective, considering several reasons for Vivekananda's impact and importance. It suggests an exploration of Vivekananda's teachings and texts for deeper understanding and reflection on his spiritual contributions.
• 25:00 - 27:30: The Infinite and Non-Duality The chapter titled 'The Infinite and Non-Duality' begins with a reflection from a 21st-century perspective on the subject of our real nature. This discussion is based on a lecture by Swami Vivekananda included in Jnana Yoga, titled 'The Real Nature of Man.' The speaker indicates that our real nature transcends gender issues and suggests an exploration and reflection on this non-dual concept.
• 27:30 - 30:00: Evolution and Expression Swami Vivekananda addresses the fundamental problem of death, noting its centrality and beginning on an optimistic note. He refers to an interesting book he has recently read, 'A Brief History of Thought,' which serves as an introduction to Western philosophy and thought. His mention underscores the abundant literature available in Western philosophical traditions.
• 30:00 - 32:30: Ethics and Ontological Ground The chapter introduces Luc Ferry, a French philosopher and former education minister of France, as the author of a philosophical book that stands out due to its independence influenced by Ferry's French background. The chapter hints at the uniqueness of the book, differentiating it from typical Western philosophy texts, and notes that while Ferry's talks are available online, they are primarily in French.
• 32:30 - 35:00: Practical Application and Encouragement The chapter titled 'Practical Application and Encouragement' discusses the unique characteristic of the book's recommended reading list. Unlike many introductions to Western philosophy, which typically feature English authors like Bertrand Russell, this book does not include any English-speaking authors in its recommended readings. This distinction highlights a departure from conventional Anglo-centric philosophical teachings, suggesting an encouragement towards exploring diverse philosophical literature beyond the usual English philosophical works.
• 35:00 - 37:30: The Story of the Lion and Message This chapter discusses the initial perceptions of philosophy, particularly in English-speaking countries, where critical thinking on various issues is often considered its core. However, the author challenges this notion, proposing instead that philosophy is fundamentally about confronting and understanding the concept of death.
• 37:30 - 40:00: Conclusion and Blessing The chapter "Conclusion and Blessing" reflects on a person's mastery of the Western canon, describing the book as beautiful and worth reading despite its idiosyncratic nature and points of disagreement. The author acknowledges that while some may not agree with certain aspects, it remains original and brilliant. The text begins by highlighting three key considerations when discussing philosophy or human thought in general.

|| Our Real Nature || by Swami Sarvapriyananda Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Good morning. This morning our subject of discussion is our real nature.
• 00:30 - 01:00 You might think that's always your subject of discussion. But the angle I'm going to take today is a part of a new initiative. I'm going to be reflecting upon the Vedantic teachings of Swami Vivekananda in a series of lectures starting today. How I came upon this is when I was reading the bylaws of our Vedanta society, the first
• 01:00 - 01:30 thing it says is the purpose of this institution is to study and teach Vedanta as taught by Vivekananda and the early Swamis. These bylaws were formulated during the time of Swami Abhedananda, a few years after Vivekananda. You see, we do study Vedanta here, the classical texts, we are studying the Upanishads, right now we are studying Mandukya Upanishad, we study the Bhagavad Gita, these are the canonical
• 01:30 - 02:00 texts of Advaita Vedanta. We study the early masters, Shankara, Vidyaranya, the author of Panchadashi. We are studying texts like Aparoksha Anubhuti and Dhrigdrishya Viveka and so on. And we must, that is true. But Vivekananda is of special relevance to us. In this center of course, because this was where Swami Vivekananda first started his work, his organizational work in the West, the first Vedanta society.
• 02:00 - 02:30 This was where his classics, Raja Yoga and Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga also were in fact first published from this center. I was reflecting upon that and I was thinking, notice, why Vivekananda? When you are studying Vedanta, what is the speciality? Why should we focus on Vivekananda? Vivekananda restated in our modern context the ancient teachings of Vedanta.
• 02:30 - 03:00 He gave new insights. It is not just he gave the old teachings again, what is this, the old wine in new bottle, not just that, but new insights into Vedanta. Vivekananda was very much acquainted with the developments of science in his time, philosophy. He was a man of the entire world, not just the Indian context.
• 03:00 - 03:30 He was a unique synthesis of East and West. So from his perspective, studying Vedanta has unique relevance to us. He was the teacher, like his master, Sri Ramakrishna, he was the teacher of harmony. Harmony between reason and religion, so important today. Harmony between the different religions of the world, again of great importance.
• 03:30 - 04:00 In fact, last week was declared as the harmony of faiths week by the United Nations, world harmony of faiths week by the United Nations. So harmony within Vedanta, many people do not know about the wide range of views within Vedanta which are all conflicting with each other. Non-dualism, qualified non-dualism, dualism, there are at least ten major schools of Vedanta. But harmony between, within them, harmony of the different approaches to spiritual life,
• 04:00 - 04:30 knowledge and devotion and meditation and service, the four yogas, classical four yogas of Swami Vivekananda. So the teacher of harmony, that's another thing that we gain from studying Vivekananda. And more so, the first thing actually which comes to mind when you study Vivekananda is strength, is life transforming power, an immediate boost to our day to day life. You feel surcharged with positivity, you feel surcharged with strength to live our lives.
• 04:30 - 05:00 Life transforming power, I'm fully convinced that the power which works through Vivekananda is the power of the avatar of Sri Ramakrishna transmitted through Vivekananda. So these and there are many other reasons, I was sitting and reflecting why Vivekananda, so some of these reasons which came to my mind were these and there are other reasons too. What I will do is take up the teachings of Vivekananda, texts and I will reflect upon them.
• 05:00 - 05:30 I will summarize and talk about them and reflect upon them from our 21st century perspective. This subject which I have got today, our real nature, it's based on a lecture given by Swami Vivekananda which is included in the Jnana Yoga, it's called the real nature of man. So our real nature also sort of polishes over the gender problem there, the real nature of man. Our real nature, we are going to talk about that and reflect upon it.
• 05:30 - 06:00 Swami Vivekananda starts with the problem of death, cheerful note. But it is the central problem. I was reading a very interesting book recently, it's called A Brief History of Thought and it's an introduction to Western thought, Western philosophy particularly but Western thought. But why is it interesting? There are so many such introductions and I have read so many other books also which are
• 06:00 - 06:30 introductory books to Western philosophy and more detailed books but this was different. Why was it different? Well, first of all it's written by a French man, Luc Ferry, he is a French philosopher, he was at one time the education minister of France and he is a noted philosopher. After starting to read the book, I looked him up on internet but all the talks there are in French so I couldn't follow. This is a translation. Being French, he is independent, let's put it that way.
• 06:30 - 07:00 There is not a single work of any English author quoted there. When you read an introduction to Western philosophy by any English author, British or Australian or American or Canadian, you will find in the recommended reading a list of books written by Bertrand Russell and so on and so forth, all the great English philosophers. If you look at the recommended reading at the back of this book, not a single book by any English speaking author.
• 07:00 - 07:30 There are no philosophers of note in Britain or America or Australia. All the reading is French or German writers and finished. But that's not the point. He starts off, when we started learning philosophy, what is philosophy? He said the standard definition is critical thinking about issues of interest. He says that's nonsense. That is not philosophy. Critical thinking about something is essential for any subject. Why just philosophy? And he says what philosophy really is, is to grapple with the problem of death.
• 07:30 - 08:00 How interesting, he says. Here is a person who has mastered the entire Western canon and as I read the book, it's a beautiful thing. It's really worth reading. Idiosyncratic. I did not agree with quite a bit of what he said and you will not agree with it if you read it. But still, original and brilliant. He starts off, he says three things have to be considered when you talk about philosophy or thought in general, human thought.
• 08:00 - 08:30 One is theoria, the original Greek word from which theory has come. That was also an eye opener for me because theoria means, theo means the ultimate realities. Oro in Greek, apparently, I didn't know that. It means I see. So I see the ultimate truth. And what struck me, I was thunderstruck because the name for philosophy in India is darshana, to see the ultimate realities.
• 08:30 - 09:00 And when we studied philosophy, when we were novices, we were taught by our professors for philosophy that see, Western philosophy and Indian philosophy are different. Indian philosophy is realizing the ultimate truth, that is darshana, but Western philosophy is philosophy, a love of wisdom. It's about thinking. No, it's the same thing. It took me 30 years to come to this and thanks to this person who says the literal meaning of theory and the meaning of the Indian word darshana is exactly the same, literally the same.
• 09:00 - 09:30 Theoria, one. Number two, he says we must consider ethics. What is it that we have to do? So theory is your theory, is your speculation about the world, what the world is. What follows from that second is ethics. So what do we do about it? That question, what is good and what is bad? And the last one he says, every system of thought must have something to say about what he calls salvation.
• 09:30 - 10:00 How does it confront death? What is the solution given by that system of thought about death? The problem of death is fundamental. We may say no, I don't think about it. A modern psychoanalyst would say, more serious problem, suppression, repression, you are not thinking about it. When they say, I have no problem, very serious problem, you are repressing. Carl Jung, who also has an interesting history with this center because the beautiful dialogue
• 10:00 - 10:30 between him and Swami Pavitrananda. If you Google Swami Pavitrananda Carl Jung, a dialogue about spirituality and psychoanalysis. Carl Jung said, I have seen that most psychopathology, especially in middle aged people, people after middle age is because of the fear of death. We do not admit it, we do not see it, but it haunts us. Ernst Becker, the classic book, it won the Pulitzer award, The Denial of Death.
• 10:30 - 11:00 He says, humanity is, we are haunted by the fear of death. And all our, he calls them immortality projects. He says, most of human culture is a response to this deep seated fear of death. From having children, to art, to writing books, to founding institutions, to science, to making endowments, religion, religion, all of these are responses to the fear of death.
• 11:00 - 11:30 How can I exist, continue to exist? Of course, his take is that it is doomed to failure. You are going to die anyway. Swami Vivekananda points out, everybody dies. Saints die and sinners die. Kings die and beggars die. The learned die and the ignorant die.
• 11:30 - 12:00 Everybody dies. So this fear of death, what happens? Is this all that there is or is there something beyond death? The Katha Upanishad, the little boy who goes to the house of death and asks this question, what happens after death? And he asks death, the final authority. So that's how the Upanishad begins. Every system of thought has to say something about the problem of death. What is your response to it?
• 12:00 - 12:30 Another thing is question of happiness. Even within this life, even before we are dead, we suffer. There is unhappiness. There is dissatisfaction. We want so much and yet we get so little. Our senses are limited. We try to enjoy. We want much more happiness. But how much can we eat? How much can you party?
• 12:30 - 13:00 How much can one drink? How many movies can you watch? Somerset Maugham says, if you single-mindedly chase pleasure, very soon you find nothing pleasing anymore. Somerset Maugham. He wrote that book, The Razor's Edge. There is something called the hedonist trap. Modern psychology is talking about it.
• 13:00 - 13:30 Notice how when you buy something, it may be a gadget or it may be a house, it may be a dress, whatever you buy or whatever you go into to enjoy something, the expectation of happiness that we have and the actual experience, the actual experience we get actually much less happiness than we expected. And this has been, it's not just anecdotal. They have done psychological surveys on it. Grade the amount of happiness you expect from this new iPhone. Then you go out and buy it.
• 13:30 - 14:00 Then a week later, how much grade it? How much happiness are you getting from that iPhone? Always less than what you expected. And modern psychologists say this has to be so. This is the way nature has programmed us. Why? This expectation of happiness is what makes us do things which nature wants us. To eat and to reproduce and to have families. Nature wants us to do that for the propagation of genes and so on. How will it make us do? By promising pleasure and happiness.
• 14:00 - 14:30 But there is a but included there. If you actually, if nature actually gives us the amount of happiness which seems to be there, we will be satisfied. We wouldn't want to do that again. So nature gives you some happiness and promises you better luck next time. Try it again. And we keep trying it. Even after knowing this, I learnt it from Robert Wright's book. He has written a book called Why Buddhism is True. So he is an atheist.
• 14:30 - 15:00 He is a neo-Darwinian. He says even after understanding all this, I couldn't resist it. That's when I began to look at spirituality, meditation. That it actually enables us to put our insights into practice. The insights I got from positive psychology, from evolutionary psychology, from Darwinism, those insights, understanding, that same understanding now I can apply to my life because I am meditating regularly. So anyway, the problem of happiness, we are unhappy. We are not satisfied. How can we find fulfillment?
• 15:00 - 15:30 So these are some great, these are the two great questions. At the back is the great question of death. All ends. So what is the meaning in all of this? And in this life also, when we are here, it's still not over. In this life also, when we are here, it's still not very satisfactory. Now there are two possible responses to this. One is the ever so fashionable response of modernism and post-modernism.
• 15:30 - 16:00 During Swami Vivekananda's time it had already started. He called it nihilism. Nothing can be known. There is no real answer to all of this. Religion is false anyway. Philosophy never gets anywhere. And science simply just reveals that we are material beings. We are going to perish within a few years. That's it. There's nothing more. So what can you do? There's no point to any of this. That seems to be the answer. And it's become more and more and more fashionable.
• 16:00 - 16:30 Nietzsche. That was before Vivekananda. But after that, whether it's Freud or Marx, this author whom I was quoting, French philosopher, he calls them the masters of suspicion. That all the idols have feet of clay. You have to question and criticize everything and find that everything is horrible. That's one way. But that is no solution at all. Swami Vivekananda says it's easy to talk.
• 16:30 - 17:00 I've never met a person who is really a nihilist. A real deep thinking nihilist will commit suicide. The myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus, the first sentence, the only serious question facing us is why should I not kill myself right now? He says. And the other way is to have this quest of thought, of philosophy, of spirituality. What is the reality about ourselves?
• 17:00 - 17:30 What is the reality about life? What is our real nature? Look at ourselves and question. The quest starts. And this quest is what we're going to talk about today. Because there is an answer. There is a solution to it. By the way, the philosopher I was talking about, Luke Ferry, at the end of the book, he considers the four great movements in Western thought. Starts with Greek thought and how it was overwhelmed and replaced by Christian thought.
• 17:30 - 18:00 How that was overwhelmed and upturned by modernism. You know, science and rationality and democracy and things like that. How that was again threatened by our postmodern thinking. So from Greek thought to Christian thought to modernism to postmodernism. And then he says at the end, if you ask me, the solution to the question of death, which one will you prefer? And he goes through the answers given by all four. He says I would definitely prefer Christianity. But except for one thing, I don't believe it.
• 18:00 - 18:30 He said, I don't believe it. It's not true. That is the place where most educated thinking persons are stuck. Religion seems to promise a solution. But how can we believe that if you are intelligent and educated and smart? It seems difficult to believe. Richard Dawkins was asked once, atheist, militant atheist. You keep speaking about atheism, but only a tiny percentage of human beings are atheists.
• 18:30 - 19:00 Most people believe in some religion or the other. He said, yes, but if you consider, you know, 99% of humanity is they believe in some religion or the other. But if you consider, say, scientists. In fact, he said there was a poll conducted of Nobel Prize winners. And among Nobel Prize winners living now, more than 90% are atheists. And so he says, yeah, I just leave it to you.
• 19:00 - 19:30 What is the conclusion? The smarter you are, the less likely you are to believe in religion. The dumber you are, the more likely you are to believe in religion. You decide. The devastating answer. So that is where we are stuck. What is the answer? You see, the great answer provided by Vivekananda and Vedanta is that there is a solution. And a solution that is acceptable, perfectly acceptable to our most modern rational minds. It was not for nothing that Nikola Tesla used to come to this Vedanta society.
• 19:30 - 20:00 To listen to Vivekananda and then to Abhidhananda. It was not for nothing. Not this building. It was not there at that time. We have it in the lists of people who attended the talks. It was not for nothing that William James was attracted to Harvard University. Some of the leading intellects at that time who found it difficult to believe in religion. They found that possibility of real, acceptable, rational spirituality here.
• 20:00 - 20:30 So what is this quest? Starts with the body first. What are we? The question is, what am I? What is our real nature? Is it just this little body? And immediately we see this body is a mass of changes. It is born and it dies. And while it is existing, it is changing continuously. From babyhood to childhood to teenage to youth to middle age to old age and death. Is this our real nature? Then we are trapped.
• 20:30 - 21:00 We are little bodies born to suffer and then perish in a vast and uncaring material universe. But immediately we notice one thing. All of us without any religion or spirituality. We notice one more thing. There is a second aspect to our nature. What is that? When we look inside. When we look inside, each of us, when we look inside, we find thoughts, emotions, feelings, memories, desires, ideas. The inner person, the first person experience.
• 21:00 - 21:30 Now Vedanta makes a distinction between these two. The outer shell called the physical body or the gross body. Our early Swamis translated the Sanskrit sthula sharira into gross body. Not knowing what the meaning of the word gross would change in America over the years. But gross body simply means physical body. The other term, the name for our inner person is sukshma sharira, the subtle body.
• 21:30 - 22:00 A body where we look inside. Why would you distinguish between the two? Clearly you have to distinguish between the two. Because the physical body is a public entity which is visible to the doctor. It can be measured and weighed and identified. It is the one which is named and which is located in time and space. Here you are in the Vedanta society in that particular chair. It's a physical entity in a physical universe.
• 22:00 - 22:30 And this internal thing going on, first person experience is not like that at all. No scientist in the world, no doctor in the world has direct access to your thoughts unless that person is a telepath. Only you have direct access to your thoughts, feelings, memories. Is it not true? Immediately the question will be, and it's amazing if you read the original text which I'm talking about, the real nature of man, Swami Vivekananda anticipated these questions.
• 22:30 - 23:00 The question immediately will be, oh wait a minute, wait a minute. This physical body, the brain and nervous system are producing what you are calling the subtle body. Your thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, they are all in the brain and they are produced by the brain. They are not anything separate. Don't make them separate. This is a trick. This is where we are right now. It's called the hard problem of consciousness.
• 23:00 - 23:30 David Chalmers, I'm sorry for bringing it up ad nauseum but it's very interesting. More than 125 years after Swami Vivekananda who raised this in this particular talk itself. Prove it that the mind and intellect and memories are generated by the brain. Prove it. How? Where is the connection? The last thing that occurs, there is a correlation, remember. There is a correlation. When I'm thinking something, feeling something, imagining something, remembering something or failing to remember something,
• 23:30 - 24:00 there is an electrical activity going on in my brain, no doubt about that, there is a correlation. But modern neuroscience which is talking about the mind and the brain, it's a science of correlations. You report something and I the doctor, I'm entirely dependent on your reporting. Unless you report a thought or a feeling, I can't do anything. At the most I can do an MRI scan, I can see something is happening in your brain. Where science is stopping and is bound to stop is with the brain, with the delicate electrical activity in the neurons of the brain.
• 24:00 - 24:30 Science is bound, in principle it is bound to stop there. Where can it go after that? Where can it go after that? That's the only physical thing there. Science has to stop with the physical. And yet what you are talking about is not physical. What are you reporting? A pain. What are you reporting? A smell, a taste, a touch, a memory. You are not reporting a burst of electricity. The two things are different.
• 24:30 - 25:00 And I'm not saying it to make a case for spirituality. In NYU right now David Chalmers is saying and making a huge mess out of modern psychology and philosophy and neuroscience. It's a huge controversy raging right now. If you Google it, the hard problem of consciousness. 125 years ago, Swami Vivekananda, you will see there is a passage there in that where he says, What comes first? What is the link between mind and the brain?
• 25:00 - 25:30 So the subtle body is not exactly the physical body. There is a link between the two, definitely. Just as the software is not exactly the hardware. If your computer crashes, your data is backed up to the cloud, so it's still there. It's not the same thing exactly. Though it uses the hardware to work, without the hardware you cannot access it. We were reading the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna a few days ago here.
• 25:30 - 26:00 And devotee Shyam Basu, he asks Sri Ramakrishna this very question. Sir, what is the subtle body? Can it be demonstrated that when the physical body dies, the subtle body exists and goes on? See the question is, when he is asking what is the subtle body, we might say, But don't you feel it? Don't you have thoughts, feelings, emotions? We just learned from the Vedanta society that's what's called a subtle body. Yes, but his question is sharper than that. He is asking, are they really separate?
• 26:00 - 26:30 And the proof that they are really separate is when the physical body dies, the subtle body should continue to exist. That is where right now, spirituality and mainstream materialist science will not agree. Materialist science will say, we can't explain it, but give us time. It's called promissory materialism. I promise I will explain it, but give me 20-25 years.
• 26:30 - 27:00 Vedanta says, you cannot explain it in this way unless there is a paradigm shift in science. Why? Because it's not one more material thing requiring an explanation. We will go into it later in the question and answer session, but let me go ahead with the talk. And Sri Ramakrishna's answer to Shyam Basu was, first he scolded him. He says, a true spiritual seeker has no interest in demonstrating these things to you. He wouldn't care a fig whether you accept his conclusions or not.
• 27:00 - 27:30 And then he goes on to explain what is the subtle body. Vedanta has a very clear classification of subtle body. If you understand this, remember this is not speculation. Immediately do a checklist within yourself. Just as I say you have hands and feet and a head and a tummy and you look at it and you tick, yes, yes, check. It's not theory, not philosophy or speculation. Similarly, check the subtle body here. The subtle body according to Vedanta has actually 19 parts in one way of classification.
• 27:30 - 28:00 The way it is put is the five sense organs, not the physical organs. The powers of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, the five motor organs, walking, grasping, things like that. The five pranas, pancha prana, the physiological functions which keep this physical body alive. But most importantly and Ramakrishna mentions only the last four. Mind, intellect, ego and memory. mano buddhi chitta ahankara
• 28:00 - 28:30 This is the subtle body. Check, do I have thoughts? Unless I am a zombie, I have to have thoughts. Do I have memories? Of course. Do I say I? I just did. That I is the ego. So memory and thoughts and emotions and intellect and understanding, all of this is there. That's the subtle body. Clearly there.
• 28:30 - 29:00 Swami Vivekananda points out that the first step in religion was the discovery that there is this thing, the ancients used to call it in different religions, that there is a bright body. Here is a body which dies and there is a bright body, there is a subtle body which continues to exist after death. That is the beginning of religion. Going back to prehistoric times, notice one thing common to all religions of the world. They all believe in an afterlife. Every religion, you cannot have religion without an afterlife.
• 29:00 - 29:30 But you ask afterlife of what? Not afterlife of the body. The body is burnt or buried and decomposing, it's gone. Afterlife, every religion will say afterlife of the soul of course. But then what is the soul? It can't be the body. If the body is gone, then what remains? What continues after the body is gone, that is the one which has the afterlife. And that is what Vedanta calls the subtle body.
• 29:30 - 30:00 So this is the big claim, so far science will not sign off on this. But they cannot explain it either. So that's the thing. The subtle body continues to exist, sukshma sharira continues to exist after death. Even religions like Buddhism and Jainism which do not talk about God, they talk about an afterlife, they talk about a subtle body, sukshma sharira. So subtle body continues. The most prehistoric religions, there also you find burial customs and the idea that there is some kind of a ghost or something like that.
• 30:00 - 30:30 Ancestors accept offerings. Most primitive of religions also have this concept of something beyond the physical body. In early forms of religions, they used to think that the subtle body and the physical body retain a connection. So it's important to bury the physical body, to put it in a pyramid or a tomb or something like that. But very soon you realize that the soul which departs, the subtle body which goes on,
• 30:30 - 31:00 has no interest in the physical body. So you need not keep it, it's not particularly important to preserve it perfectly and keep all sorts of food and drink. Kings were buried with their servants, poor servants, so they can serve the subtle body of the king. Vedanta says, notice one thing about the subtle body. It's also a body, it's not you. It also encases you. Notice that the physical body is a stream of changes.
• 31:00 - 31:30 Classical Vedanta or Sanskrit literature talks about the sixfold changes. It is born, jayate, and being born it comes into existence, asti. You put your name on the census, a baby is born. And then vardate, it develops, matures. And then viparinamate, it reaches a mature state of middle age where the plateau is reached. And then, unfortunately, apakshiyate, ages, deteriorates.
• 31:30 - 32:00 And then finally, nasyati, dies, is destroyed. Sixfold changes, it talks about sixfold changes. In classical Sanskrit literature, the body undergoes sixfold changes. The mind waxes and wanes. In Swami Vivekananda's own language, he says, the mind waxes and wanes too. How much the mind changes in the course of one day, this morning, from morning when you woke up till now.
• 32:00 - 32:30 How many times happy, how many times irritated, how many times bored, how many times curious, how many times eager, how many times frustrated, desiring, satisfied. Mind, how many times you remember things, how many times you try to remember and forgot. Within one day, in half a day, the mind has undergone so many changes.
• 32:30 - 33:00 And imagine our minds when we were teenagers. Imagine our minds when we were little children. What we liked, what we thought, what we wanted. And we cannot even imagine the mind when we were babies. It would be an alien mind to us. The mind changes so much. Yet, I am the one which was in that baby body, in the child's body, in the young person's body. I am the one who had the mind of the baby and the child and the teenager and this mind.
• 33:00 - 33:30 From the morning till now, so many changes. I am the one who was happy, who was irritated, who was excited, who was bored, curious. Which mind am I? You see, all of them. So if they change, then I am changing continuously. But we don't think of ourselves as that. We think of ourselves as a subject who experiences boredom, excitement, anger, peace. Isn't that how we experience ourselves?
• 33:30 - 34:00 Then what is the nature of the subject? Irrespective of the changes of the mind, irrespective of the changes of the body. What is the nature of that subject? Vedanta says the body, physical body is also a body, a shell, a hard shell encasing you. A limitation. The mind is also a softer shell, a subtle shell encasing you. These are what we experience. We are none of them. Vedanta is full of very sharp analytical tools, tools to separate you.
• 34:00 - 34:30 Don't worry, not physically separate you. Analyze and see that you are actually not the body or the mind. For example, Nitya-Anitya. Anitya means that which is impermanent. Body is born and it dies. And I am the same one who observes, who was there before, hopefully, the birth of the body,
• 34:30 - 35:00 and will continue after the death of the body. Continuous change of the body, Savikara and Nirvikara. The body changes. I am the unchanging observer, experiencer of a changing body. The mind changes. Savikara and Nirvikara. Savikara means the mind is subject to change and modification continuously. I, the observer, I do not change. Follow carefully. You will say that I change. No, you only change. What are the changes?
• 35:00 - 35:30 If you enumerate your changes, what you subscribe to yourself, you will see that's a change of the body. I was so slim and fit, now I have put on weight. Body. I was so energetic, now I feel tired easily. Prana, the vital forces. I used to remember my memory was just like that, sharp. And now I can't remember, recollect so well. Memory, mind. I am the same experiencer of all of these. Of the healthy body, of the failing body, of the sharp memory, of the faint memory.
• 35:30 - 36:00 I am the experiencer of all of these. I am not them. I am not literally them. No more than I have a cloth here and a shirt within. I am not the cloth. I am not even the shirt. Then what am I? I am the unchanging observer of a changing body-mind. I am the experiencer, drashta, of things which are experienced. Drishya.
• 36:00 - 36:30 Notice a very subtle point. The mind changes, we experience it. So the mind is an object of experience. The body changes, we experience it. The body is an object of experience. Object of experience is called drishya, what you see. And you the experiencer, you are called drashta, seer. The knower, experiencer, seer. Drashta and drishya, they cannot be the same thing. Changing and unchanging, they cannot be the same thing.
• 36:30 - 37:00 Another difference, another analytical tool. Consciousness and its objects. On which side is consciousness? You are experiencing the world now. You are aware. Is awareness there or say here? You are watching this. Where is the awareness? You will say, I, here. Take it one step further. Look at the body. I am experiencing the body. I am seeing it, I am touching it. Where is the awareness? Here or there?
• 37:00 - 37:30 I am aware of it. Do you understand the question? You ask simple question. Who is aware? Is the body aware of the hand or is the hand aware of me? Is it saying hello? How is it going? No. That would be so weird. We don't even consider. It is a simple fact. But we don't notice it. We don't notice it. Vedanta, it draws our attention to what Swami Vivekananda had another talk, the open secret. It is right here.
• 37:30 - 38:00 Not before our noses, behind our noses. It is right there. But we don't notice it. We don't notice it. Consciousness is always on your side. Not on the side of the object. Now apply this. Is the body an object or not? Yes. I can see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, touch it. It is an object. Is the mind an object? Yes. When there is happiness, are you not aware that you are happy? When there is pain, do you not feel it? Yes.
• 38:00 - 38:30 When you remember or try or forget, trying to remember, that experience, are you not experiencing it? Yes. Then experience is on your side, consciousness is on your side. Not on the side of the mind. I always give a simple thought experiment. You can try it. But the result is stunning. Think a simplest thought. Two plus two is four. If you are thinking that, now ask yourself a question right there. What is conscious? Am I conscious of two plus two four or is two plus two four conscious of me? Obviously I am conscious of it.
• 38:30 - 39:00 It is a thought. That means the thought is not conscious. You are conscious of the thought. So you have taken a step which most philosophers and scientists today are confused about. They cannot distinguish between mind and consciousness today. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You have just now demonstrated a thought is an object, a mind is an object, consciousness is apart from that, is the experiencer of that object.
• 39:00 - 39:30 It is like a light shining on an object. What is this? You will say it is a clock in your hand. But it is actually light reflected of the clock in my hand which is going into your eyes. You are experiencing reflected light. Similarly, consciousness shining on the object gives you the experience of the object. You are that consciousness and the object is something that you experience apart from you, including the mind, let alone the body, even the mind is not you. We are not bound by the body.
• 39:30 - 40:00 We are not bound by the mind. The conclusion of this is grand. If you apply these analytical tools, three I have given you. Savikara, Nirvikara, changing, unchanging. I the unchanging experience changing body, mind. Second, Drashta and Drishya. I the experiencer experience mind and body as objects. Chit, Jada, consciousness and I would say insentient. I am conscious and mind and body are things I am conscious of.
• 40:00 - 40:30 They are objects. So use these three. The result is you begin to now see our real nature is not a physical nature. It is not even a mental nature. I am not the physical body. I am not even the subtle body. Physical body dies at death. Subtle body does not die at death and I do not die at death. Subtle body also keeps on changing.
• 40:30 - 41:00 From childhood to old age it keeps on changing. From morning till afternoon and night, from waking to dreaming to deep sleep, the subtle body changes continuously. I am the unchanged experience of the subtle body, changing subtle body. I am ever conscious and body and mind are what I am conscious of. Now, if you think that is fantastic, it is just the beginning. Now we are beginning to get warmed up in Vedanta.
• 41:00 - 41:30 Time and space and causation are in the mind. Without subtle body, without mind we have no experience of time. Time continues whether you experience it or not. Forget that. From your first person perspective, it is only when the mind is functioning that we are experiencing time. Proof, when we fall asleep, in deep sleep, we have no experience of time.
• 41:30 - 42:00 When we are dreaming, there is time dilation. There is an entirely distorted from our waking state, entirely different experience of time. We may say hours and days have gone by in our dreams. But it might have lasted 2 or 3 minutes from the waking perspective. There is a famous story of Narada and Krishna. Where Narada wanted to see what is Maya. And Krishna said, go and fetch me water. Narada goes to a village and there he meets this pretty girl who is drawing water from the village well.
• 42:00 - 42:30 He falls in love with her, proposes to her, gets married, then they have children. And then he leads a very happy life. And then one day a flood comes and his wife is drowned, he loses his children and he is devastated. He is thrown up on the banks of the river and he is weeping bitterly and he looks up and he sees Krishna standing there and he says, Narada, where have you been? I have been waiting for quite half an hour for the water. Half an hour! And here 30 years of his life have gone by.
• 42:30 - 43:00 That's the dilation of time caused by from waking state to dream state for example. And you go further, deep sleep state, time must have a stop. Shakespeare. Time stops for you from your first person perspective. Space and time, space is also experienced in the mind. You will say, what do you mean Swami? I give the example of a monk in the Himalayas, we were attending classes and the teacher was saying,
• 43:00 - 43:30 you are the all pervading consciousness. And the simple monk, he said, wait a minute, the simplest questions which are most important. And usually children and innocent people, which includes monks, who are both children and innocent, they ask the most difficult questions. That monk asked, you say I am everywhere as consciousness, but I am here, I am not even there.
• 43:30 - 44:00 How can you say I am everywhere? I am just here, I am not even there. How am I everywhere? In Hindi he said, sarvabhyapi, all pervading. How am I sarvabhyapi, all pervading? Main yaha hoon, waha nahin hoon. I am here, I am not there. And the answer of the monk was, ah, but here and there, are they not both being experienced in your mind? Where is here and there? Yaha or waha, kaha hai?
• 44:00 - 44:30 Here and there, where is it? To understand this more clearly, think about a dream. When you are standing and watching something, say I am looking across the lake in Central Park, and suddenly I wake up, I am sitting on my bed. Oh, I dreamt all of that, all that distance from the west side of New York to the east side of New York. I was watching, all that distance was where? Here.
• 44:30 - 45:00 Was I on the west side and seeing the east side? No, both I on the west side and the east side at a distance, the whole thing was in my mind. Was it not true? That's what we experience. Notice the same thing in the waking state right now. All this is experienced in awareness. Why do we feel located in time and space? It's only because of our identification with the body. I think I am this one. Certainly the body is located in time and space.
• 45:00 - 45:30 Because I think I am this one, I feel located here. I feel limited here. But if you change your perspective to the mind, you will see in the mind you are experiencing a body and a world. It's a little difficult to change the perspective, but not impossible. It's pretty easy. Think of the dream example, you see, it's not at all difficult. Time and space are in the mind. If time and space are in the mind, causation is also in the mind.
• 45:30 - 46:00 Causation means cause and effect. Cause comes first, effect comes next, sequential. Sequence requires time. If time is in the mind, causation is also in the mind. If I am not the body and not the mind, I am the witness of body and mind, I am beyond time and space and causation. I am not the real I. I am not limited by time and space and causation. Not limited by time. Have no beginning in time, no birth in time, no creation in time,
• 46:00 - 46:30 have no end in time, no death or destruction in time. I am immortal. The Atman is immortal. I have no limitation in space. Space appears and disappears in me. In my waking, dreaming and deep sleep. Therefore, I am all-pervasive. I am not limited in space means I am not located in a particular space. Space is located in me or space appears in me. I am all-pervasive. Sarva-vyapi.
• 46:30 - 47:00 And further, I am beyond causation. I am neither the effect, not created by Big Bang, God or something else, nor am I the cause. I am not the creator, not the created. Karya karana vilakshanatma. The self is beyond cause and effect. Those who are in the Mandukya class, you will recognize. We have been struggling with this for the last few weeks. Beyond cause and effect. Karya karana vilakshanatma. Beyond cause and effect means I am not born of anything else,
• 47:00 - 47:30 nor is anything born of me. There is no second apart from me. No second. Na dvaitam. Non-dual. Advaitam. Non-dual. The Atman, they use the Sanskrit which is very precise, is desha-kala-vastu-pariccheda-shunyam. Not limited by space, not limited by time. I said not limited by causation.
• 47:30 - 48:00 Upanishad says not limited by object. That means we are not separate objects. We are one reality appearing as many. So there is no second thing apart from you, the pure consciousness. But I see so many things, millions of people and things. If there is no second thing apart from you, the pure consciousness, then all the millions of things that you see, hear, smell, taste and touch and interact with, love and hate, all of them are not apart from you.
• 48:00 - 48:30 You are all of them. I am indeed all of this. This is spiritual. Brahman or Atman is all of this. This is spiritual. Or all of this is an appearance in me. This is maya. It's all maya and appearance in me, the consciousness. This is also spiritual. But I am a body-mind separated from all of you, interacting with you, love and hate and samsara, birth and death. This is not spiritual. This is duality. This is samsara.
• 48:30 - 49:00 If you think this is grand, wait, next. Our real nature which is not limited by time, hence immortal, not limited by space, hence all- pervasive, omnipresent. Not limited by causality or by object, hence non-dual. There is no second thing apart from me. This is called infinity. Infinity in Sanskrit is anantam, not limited.
• 49:00 - 49:30 But there can be no two infinities. Vivekananda is big on this. There can be no two infinities. Why not? I am one infinite and you are another. Aren't there many infinites in mathematics? In mathematics there are many infinites. But the infinity that Vedanta talks about is the one true infinity. Why? Because all other infinites are different from each other. So the infinite set of real numbers or the infinite set of negative numbers and the infinite set of positive numbers in mathematics,
• 49:30 - 50:00 both are infinite sets and yet they are different from each other. The infinite set of real positive numbers does not include negative numbers. Vedanta would say in that case it's not a real infinite. There is something which limits it. Two infinites means I am something and there is something apart from me. Then how am I an infinite? Infinite because the Sanskrit word is more precise. Anantam, no limit. If there is something apart from me, then there is a limit to me.
• 50:00 - 50:30 There is somewhere where I stop and the other thing starts. Do you see where I am going with this? If there is no limit to me, if I am truly limitless, there can be only one of me. There cannot be another. So the Atman consciousness, this immortal consciousness is only one in all of us. We are all one. Not as rhetoric. We are all the brotherhood or sisterhood of all beings. Not just rhetoric.
• 50:30 - 51:00 Literally, really Vedanta with utmost seriousness says we are one reality. All of us are this one immortal being consciousness bliss. You say Swami you are smuggling in bliss. Where did the bliss come in from? The bliss is here. Because it is infinite, because it is the vast, it is also complete. It stands in need of nothing. When I am identified with the body I need. I need air to breathe.
• 51:00 - 51:30 I cannot exist without a few breaths of air. I need food to eat. I need clothes to protect this body, a shelter for this body. I need nutrition. When I am a mind, I need entertainment and relationships and knowledge and education and art and culture. I need. But when I am that infinite in which body and mind appear, grow, change, age, decay and disappear. I am that consciousness. In that consciousness what does that one need?
• 51:30 - 52:00 Nothing. It is complete in itself. It is only when you are limited to a body and mind, the needs come. You can still have a body and mind but when you are centered in that awareness, then you know deep inside you have no needs. Bill pointed out to me an important statement of Vivekananda, Bill Conrad. He said, Vivekananda's statement is that, remember I am God is not a statement which is applied to the sense world.
• 52:00 - 52:30 To this physical world, from this point of view I am a body. From the mental world I am a mind, a personality interacting with other personalities. But the truth is beyond all of this, all of these appear and disappear in one consciousness which is my real identity. Which never changes. This is our real nature. This is beyond suffering. It is one in all beings. It is not born, it does not die.
• 52:30 - 53:00 It is never in bondage. It is ever free. It is free right now. The fact that we do not know it is the only bondage. We are not bound by karma. We are not bound by sin. We are not bound by matter or even by thought. We are not bound by our actions also. We are already free. The only thing is to know this and to assert it in our thought, word and action. Already free, never bound.
• 53:00 - 53:30 In the words of the Mandukya Karika, Gaudapada. Na baddho na ca mukta ha. Na sadhaka, na utpattih. He says, Na nirodho na ca utpattih. There is no cessation of the universe, there is no creation of the universe. Na baddho na ca sadhaka. There is no one who is bound, no one who is a spiritual practitioner trying to get freedom. Na mukta na ca mumukshu Not anyone who is freed, enlightened person freed.
• 53:30 - 54:00 We say enlightened beings are there. It says no. Nor anyone trying to get freedom. Swami, we are all here trying to get freedom, enlightenment. He says no. None of that. Then what is the truth? ityesha paramarthatha This is the ultimate truth. What is this? This is our real nature. This infinite awareness, infinite existence and forever complete without any want at all. With this in mind, centered in this, when we look back upon our little lives, body and mind,
• 54:00 - 54:30 when you live out the remaining life of this body and mind, then you are called jivanmukta, enlightened, free while living. But a question comes. The question of individuality. We react in fear. There are people who are terrified of this. They say, wait a minute, I don't want that kind of oceanic being one with everybody else. I want to be enlightened and free and immortal and all powerful,
• 54:30 - 55:00 like Superman or Spiderman or something like that in this body. This individual. I want to continue as Mr. X or Mrs. Y. And also be all of what you are. That's what you said. Me and mine. First, this one must be glorified. Individuality. The question of individuality.
• 55:00 - 55:30 Swami Vivekananda is very harsh on this. He says, what individuality? Where is this individuality? Are we individuals yet as this person? Which is the individual? Is the baby an individual? Would you want to remain as babies? No. Teenagers? God forbid. Young people, middle aged. Which one is the individual you want to remain as? Body an individual? Are the organs are individual?
• 55:30 - 56:00 Organs die. A hand is lost. Is the person gone? No. There is a story of a man who fell in love with this woman. This is a story the monks tell. And this lady, a wise lady, she looked at the young man and said, what is it that you love attracts you to me so much? Oh, your hair is so beautiful. Oh, you like it? Here, take it. The wig. He was a little taken aback.
• 56:00 - 56:30 And he said, no, your teeth are so beautiful. Oh, okay, you can take it. The dentures. But there is a point there. This is a conglomeration, ever changing. Which one is the individual here? There is no individuality in the organs of the body. Especially in the modern age, almost everything is replaceable. So which one is the individual? Personality. We think we are the person, that's the individual. The personality is in continuous flux and we read so many cases.
• 56:30 - 57:00 One blow to the head, some tumor somewhere. Tremendous change in personality. Alzheimer's. Tremendous change in personality. Memory. So I am an individual, I have a personal memory, a bio data, a biography. But then there is so much of my babyhood I don't remember. So is that not me? Just because I don't remember it? So much of my childhood and my teenage life which has sort of gone.
• 57:00 - 57:30 I am sure it is deep down there somewhere but it is very difficult to recover it now. So am I not that? Memory does not define individuality. And as we age, a stroke or Parkinson's or Alzheimer's can wipe out most of our memory. Oh, my mother or father has lost all memory, can't recognize me, so the individual is gone. I don't want to take care of that person, he is not anymore my mother or father. Do we ever say that? No.
• 57:30 - 58:00 They may not recognize me at all. It's a memory. So we also know deep inside, memory is not the person. Personality is not the person. I read the word personality, it comes from the Greek persone, which means when they used to have those in ancient Greece, when they used to have those dramas, those plays, they would go in the amphitheater and they would have these masks. Sona means sound. Persona through which the sound comes. So the actor would recite his or her lines.
• 58:00 - 58:30 I don't know if women acted in those days. I am not sure. They would recite their lines out loud through that mask. And that mask was called the persona. Personality means the mask we put on or masks we put on. Not us. Even the word personality means it's not you. Where is the individuality? Swami Vivekananda says we are not individuals yet. We are evolving, moving towards individuality. As we spiritually realize ourselves as that one universal identity,
• 58:30 - 59:00 as existence consciousness place, in that real nature we are truly individual for the first time. That's our real nature. In that real nature that is our individuality. That oneness is the individuality with the capital I. Sometimes I had a little dilemma. Vivekananda's original words have a unique power.
• 59:00 - 59:30 They are like mantras. I am giving you the gist of what he said. But really, not I am just saying individuality is that ultimate oneness. You know what he says? He says the more our life is in the universal, the more immortal we are, the more our life is in the little, the faster we go towards death. Fear of death comes when our life is in the little, in the body, in the mind, then fear of death comes. Recognize the witness behind, live in that oneness of this entire universe.
• 59:30 - 60:00 In every life that lives, I live. Not rhetoric, you really feel it. I am one with everything. So in everything that lives, I live. As long as there is one living being in the universe, I am still living there. Because I am not identified. I am not identified with one body-mind. That is real individuality. Then the question, so this, that is the real nature, our real nature,
• 60:00 - 60:30 then what is the apparent person, this apparent person, this personality? It's an expression of that real nature. Question will be, if that is my real nature, then what is this? What is this now? It's an expression, a manifestation, an appearance of that, a limitation of that infinite. It's an expression of that infinite. We are trying to express that infinite through the limited medium of the body-mind. There are lower expressions which we call evil and sinful and bad.
• 60:30 - 61:00 There are higher expressions which we call moral and good and noble. And there are the highest expressions which we call spiritual. So we are continuously trying to express it. The question is raised about evolution. See, Swami Vivekananda says that in every culture of the world there is this idea that what we are now is actually a degeneration of our real nature.
• 61:00 - 61:30 So the fall of Adam and Eve or in Hindu cosmology the vast cycles, the age of truth, Satya Yoga, Treta Yoga, Dwapara Yoga, the age of iron, Kali Yoga, so this is like the worst age to live in. But it's a degeneration. Modern evolution says no, it's just the opposite. We have evolved from primitive beings to more and more sophisticated beings. So how do you deal with the question of evolution?
• 61:30 - 62:00 That's the central plank of the modern atheists today. Whether it's Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris or the late Christopher Hitchens, the main plank of argument against religion is evolution. Material evolution explains how life has evolved from primitive forms to this human being. And we don't need any kind of spiritual explanation for that.
• 62:00 - 62:30 It can explain itself. Swami Vivekananda gives the Vedantic response to that. He says that, he calls it the evolution of nature and the appearance of the absolute. That absolute reality, Brahman or Atman is shining forth as this universe and this universe is evolving from the primitive matter to life or to higher forms of life. That evolution is there. Sanskrit, it's a very old Vedantic doctrine.
• 62:30 - 63:00 The original Sanskrit is very precise. Brahma vivarta prakriti parinama. Brahma vivarta prakriti parinama. What does it mean? An appearance of Brahman. Like the rope appearing as the snake. Rope has not become the snake. Brahman or the ultimate reality has not become the universe. It's not pantheism. God has not actually become tables and chairs. No, it shines forth as this universe.
• 63:00 - 63:30 And within this universe, evolution and everything is accepted. All the laws of science. You see, that's one of the greatest attractions of Vedanta. It does not conflict with science and reason. All the laws of science operate within nature. But the whole of it is what? It's an appearance in consciousness which you are. So, nature evolves and Brahman or the Atman, you shine forth. The evolution of nature, it just reveals the real self within more and more.
• 63:30 - 64:00 Swami Vivekananda gives this example. I can imagine him standing in front of an audience like this and saying, Here I am. Imagine a screen is put in front of me and there is only a small hole. I can see a few faces. These are his exact words. As the screen is rent wider and wider, more of you come into view. And when the screen is gone fully, I can see the whole vista. Not that you are created or you appeared. You are already there.
• 64:00 - 64:30 More and more was manifested, more and more was revealed until it was perfect. Similarly, the Satchitananda, you, the Atman, you are revealing yourself in this nature. And nature is evolving. You are not evolving. You are perfect already. Better and better mirrors come and reflect your perfection better and better. The mirrors are evolving. The face is not evolving. So, evolution of nature and appearance of the absolute.
• 64:30 - 65:00 Prakriti Parinama or Maya Parinama and Brahma Vibharta in Sanskrit. Now question arises, almost the last, I promise. How much he could pack into one talk, I just imagine. And all without microphones. He would walk back and forth on the stage and talk. What is the utility of all of this? What good does it do?
• 65:00 - 65:30 First Vivekananda's answer. His answer is, first of all, why should it have any utility? Truth is truth. In those days, electricity was the latest invention. So if a baby asks, what good is electricity? Will it give me lollipops? No. Truth is truth and should be learned and accepted and realized for its own sake. But then he goes on, having said that, there is the greatest utility in this.
• 65:30 - 66:00 There is the greatest utility in this. Remember the questions we had started with. Death. Happiness. What is the solution? What is the salvation theory according to the philosopher Luke Ferry? What did Vedanta say? This realization takes you forever beyond death. Indeed, it shows you, you cannot die, you have never died. Never have you been born with the birth of the body, nor did you ever die with the death of the body.
• 66:00 - 66:30 No matter how many bodies you have taken up and how many bodies have gone. Happiness. Your happiness does not depend on the little satisfactions the world can provide. Your happiness does not depend on the handouts that the world can provide. You are not here to beg for pleasure from the world. You are here to give. You are ever complete. Not as rhetoric. Look inside. Not to the body. Not to the mind. But beyond the mind, the witness consciousness in itself.
• 66:30 - 67:00 Is it not perfect? Is it not complete? What does it need? What do you need? Rather, being fulfilled, being complete, we are here in this life so that we give and we serve. This is the solution. Swami Vivekananda says, identified with the little, terror comes. And we go through life like, like he says, hunted animals. Chased through life. Anxious, scared. What will hit us next? Financial problem, health problem, parking problem. What will hit us next?
• 67:00 - 67:30 We run through life like hunted animals. Unfulfilled, terrorized. Because we think we are little bodies and minds. The problem is solved at one go. At one blow when you realize yourself as this Atman, the infinite consciousness, the absolute beyond body and mind. This is the great utility. In Vedantic terms, complete transcendence of sorrow.
• 67:30 - 68:00 I'm using words carefully. Transcendence. It's not an anesthetic. That if pain is there, you take a medicine and pain will go away. No. You transcend. It is there and yet you are not affected by it. You find a greater dimension within yourself, which is not affected by the physical or mental trauma this world inflicts. Complete transcendence of sorrow and attainment of ultimate bliss. Atyantika dukkha nivritti paramananda praptischa.
• 68:00 - 68:30 This is the promise. This is the utility. And this again is the utility. Vivekananda's words. If even a few, a small portion of the world's humanity, men and women today, realize this truth, really realize it and manifest it in life, this world would be turned into a heaven on earth. Where would be this fierce cutthroat competition, this dissatisfaction, this fear and terror of the other, this unwillingness to share.
• 68:30 - 69:00 The beautiful ideals the United Nations is founded on. It would become an easy job, not continuous conflict. We are one. Those ideals are all reflections of this Atman ideal. That we are truly one. Not being forced to be one. We realize ourselves as one. Even a small section of humanity would be able to realize this.
• 69:00 - 69:30 Not going to happen, but it is the utility. The more we realize this in life and express it in our day to day life, in thinking, in speaking and in doing, the more societies change for the better. The solutions we are looking for, they are here. Deeply in the underlying spiritual truths common to all the religions of the world, which Vedanta puts forth so beautifully, so clearly. Ethics.
• 69:30 - 70:00 Why should I be good? Vivekananda again says, and herein lies the reason why you should be good. I will give a talk later on, someday, on a separate subject. Swami Vivekananda's theory of ethics. Swami Vajanandaji wrote a 25 page article on that. Fantastic. Very quickly, why should I be good? The utilitarian theory says maximize happiness. So maximize happiness, I can maximize my own happiness at the cost of others. Or my own community's happiness at the cost of others.
• 70:00 - 70:30 Or my own nation's happiness at the cost of other nations. Why not? Utilitarian theory tells me it is true. You can do that. Or suppose there is what is called the deontological theory. I will explain all that in the next promised lecture. But why should I be good? Because the law says it. I can break the law. Why should I be good? Because the religious book says it. My book doesn't say it. Your book may say it. I may not believe in your book. All the theories of ethics have this problem.
• 70:30 - 71:00 They call it that you cannot, in philosophical language, axiology or values is not grounded in ontology or the real. What is real here, can you derive your ethics from it? Modern science says no. Science is ethically neutral. Sam Harris has written a book trying to say how you can derive ethics from science. Doesn't work. Robert Wright has written a book, The Moral Animal,
• 71:00 - 71:30 where he does the opposite. All the things which seem to be ethical, now he shows there is actually a Darwinian evolution working underneath that. In Vedanta, you find the ontological ground of ethics. To put it simply, these are my words, Vivekananda never used such complex words. He just simply said the ground of ethics, the ethics is we are one. Why should I not cut my neighbor's throat if it is to my advantage?
• 71:30 - 72:00 Because we are one. If I harm the least amongst you, I am harming myself. We are one reality. As I work for fulfilling my own goals, making myself happy, the enlightened person sees that I have to do that for the entire community because I am the entire community. Even selfishness there comes with a capital S. That you realize we are one existence. This is the surest foundation for ethics. He says that every religion, ethics is self-abnegation,
• 72:00 - 72:30 where the self is sacrificed, smaller self is sacrificed for the whole. If you seriously think about it, how much of the wealth and facilities that we have do we truly need or truly deserve? Why should I deprive even the least of people outside who are suffering? Why should I have more than anybody else? I just leave you with a hint. Vivekananda mentions this, but Derek Parfit who passed away few, I think last year.
• 72:30 - 73:00 Parfit, P-A-R-F-I-T, if you look him up. He is not well known in the public. Among philosophers he is regarded as probably the most significant philosopher in the western world in the last 50 years. He passed away, he was in Oxford I think. His entire work was on ethics, most of it. And it was very similar to a buddhistic idea of the self. But his work on ethics was self-abnegation.
• 73:00 - 73:30 That there is logically if you look at it, there is no way to justify accumulation for one person. That since we are literally the same, then everybody has a right to it. That the community has a greater right to it than I personally have and so on. So self-abnegation, sacrifice of this lower self for the greater self that flows directly from the Vedantic idea of ethics. In Bhajanandji's article it's called Swami Vivekananda's ontological ethics.
• 73:30 - 74:00 How he has grounded ethics in Vedanta. Final question, is it practical? Is it practical? Can it be done? People say it's too difficult. Swami Vivekananda was just of the opposite thing. Not only is it not difficult, it can be done, it must be done. Our own unhappiness, the terror of death will drive us towards it. Here is the solution.
• 74:00 - 74:30 He says fill your mind with the highest thoughts, the noblest thoughts day and night, keep this before you. He says there is too much stress on action in America. In India he said do something. In America he literally says there is too much stress on action. Thought first and I was reminded of something I saw, it says don't just do something, think. The reverse of what we normally say, don't just think, do something.
• 74:30 - 75:00 Don't just do something, think. Vivekananda says that. First fill your mind with the noblest and highest thoughts, then action will come from that. The greatest and noblest and unselfish action will come from the mind filled with such thoughts. We have hypnotized ourselves into littleness. I must tell you the story which Vivekananda loved. He told it in this talk that there was a lion cub who was born and in giving birth the mother, the lioness died
• 75:00 - 75:30 and the cub fell in the midst of sheep. It was brought up by the sheep and it grew up thinking it was sheep, a lamb or something and it started eating grass and making friends with the little sheep. Years later it was fully grown, a big lion came hunting and it was astonished to see in the midst of the sheep a fully grown lion who was eating grass. So this lion stalked that young lion and chased it and jumped on it and grabbed it.
• 75:30 - 76:00 And this young sheep lion, the young lion was so terrified it started bleating, he said let me go, you are scaring me, you are scaring me. And he said no, you are not sheep, you are a lion. No sir, you are scaring me, let me go, let me go back to my friends. And it was bleating. And this big old lion dragged him to the pool of water and said look at my reflection. He got even more scared, oh my god, it's terrifying. Now look at your own reflection.
• 76:00 - 76:30 Looks and says, see you are a lion as much as I am. Roar like me and he realized that I am a lion. And so are we. We are spending so much time with the sheep of body and organs and mind and the littleness and the material nature we have reduced ourselves to materiality, to material nature. We are the lion of the spirit. We are pure consciousness, immortal, nothing can touch us. Nothing ever has, nothing ever will.
• 76:30 - 77:00 This entire life is an expression of our glory. So with that spirit realizing that I am that lion of Vedanta, let us live this life. Swami Vivekananda says tell yourself again and again, I am he, I am he, soham, soham, I am that, I am that Brahman, I am that Brahman. Aham Brahmasmi, Aham Brahmasmi. Tell yourself again in happiness and in misery, at the point of death, tell yourself I am Brahman.
• 77:00 - 77:30 If you have realized it, if you have seen, if you have understood it, it's a fact for you and you are in bliss. If you have not understood it, even just telling yourself that, bringing to mind these teachings, it's such a tonic. I remember a great Swami whom I joined under. He used to serve Swami Premeshananda, who was a disciple of the Holy Mother. And that Swami was regarded as an enlightened person, but he was very sick towards the end of his life. And one night this old Swami was lying in the bed and the young monk who was serving him
• 77:30 - 78:00 saw that the old Swami was groaning with pain. And he said I didn't know what to do and I asked the Swami, what can I do to lessen your suffering? And the Swami said, get out Swami Vivekananda's Jnana Yoga, switch on the light and start reading. And he starts reading and the Swami goes into a deep and restful, I don't know, sleep or meditation or quiet. No all sign of pain goes away from him. Now what was happening there?
• 78:00 - 78:30 That Swami knows the real nature. He just needs a little reminder. Like Sri Ramakrishna would need a little reminder to go into Samadhi. Somebody closed an umbrella in front of him and his mind went into Samadhi. Gathering in the mind, you know, closing an umbrella and his mind goes into Samadhi, absorbed in the self within. He transcends pain by centering himself in the real nature. Tell yourself again and again, I am that self. Vivekananda concludes with his famous exhortation, arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.
• 78:30 - 79:00 From the Kathopanishad, the original mantra is utthishtatha jaagrata praapya varaannibhodata kshurasya dhaara nisita duratyay durgam patastat kavayo vadanthi Arise, the commentator Shankara, so beautiful, he says, O sentient being, he is calling us, O sentient being, arise from the beginningless sleep of Maya. Awaken, awaken into your real nature as the pure consciousness.
• 79:00 - 79:30 Praapya varan nibodhata is, how do you do that? Go to those great teachers who can give you this knowledge. Nibodhata, become enlightened. That Vivekananda adapted into, arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached. The next part is also interesting. I will end with that. kshurasya dhaara nisita duratyaya, Kshurasya dhara means, the path is like the razor's edge.
• 79:30 - 80:00 This is what Samarset Maum in his book, so the beginning of the book he quotes from this verse, Kathopanishad. He says the path is as narrow and sharp as the razor's edge. That's the name of the book, the razor's edge. Kshurasya dhara nishitaduratya, durgam patastat kavayo vadanthi, the great sages. Even the name for the sages is so beautiful, it's called the great poets. The great poets say the path is difficult.
• 80:00 - 80:30 Because it's so subtle. That's why you need the teachers, you need the knowledge to realize our own nature. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hari Om Tat Sat Sri Ramakrishna Rupanam Astu I pray to Sri Ramakrishna, the holy mother, Swami Vivekananda,
• 80:30 - 81:00 all the great ones of all the religions, great masters of spirituality throughout history, may they bless us that this knowledge may dawn in our lives in this very life itself.