1 00:00:00,950 --> 00:00:51,286 Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, 2 00:00:52,285 --> 00:01:17,157 Namo Narayanaya, Om Namo Narayanaya Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Namo Narayanaya, 3 00:01:17,157 --> 00:02:17,649 Sri Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, Sri Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum. 4 00:02:17,649 --> 00:02:22,190 Sri Krishna Bhagavan ki jai. 5 00:02:43,188 --> 00:02:51,478 Traividya mam soma-pah puta-papa yajnair istva svar-gatim prarthayante; 6 00:02:51,478 --> 00:03:01,935 te punyam asadya sur'endra-lokam asnanti divyan divi deva-bhogan: 7 00:03:06,935 --> 00:03:17,808 Those who perform elevated actions, which is the meaning of good actions, 8 00:03:17,808 --> 00:03:30,973 raise themselves up to the heavenly region and there, for a long time, 9 00:03:30,973 --> 00:03:39,472 enjoy the delight of the gods. 10 00:03:42,510 --> 00:03:54,179 But there is a corollary following from this. Te tam bhuktva svarga-lokam visalam ksine 11 00:03:54,179 --> 00:04:00,803 punye martya-lokam visanti; evam trayi-dharmam anuprapanna gatagatam 12 00:04:00,803 --> 00:04:12,010 kama-kama labhante: The coming and the going in a cycle of births and deaths 13 00:04:12,010 --> 00:04:21,519 becomes the fate of those people -- even those people who have spent their 14 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:33,174 life in those good deeds which are sanctioned in the ritualistic portions of the Vedas, 15 00:04:33,174 --> 00:04:42,320 whereby they appease the gods in heaven. 16 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:54,960 Reaching heaven has been the longing of humanity throughout history. 17 00:04:54,960 --> 00:05:01,600 All religions speak of heaven. 18 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:11,376 Sometimes heaven is considered even as the abode of the Creator Himself, as when we say 19 00:05:11,376 --> 00:05:13,950 God is in heaven. 20 00:05:13,950 --> 00:05:24,699 Here, in these cited verses of the Bhagavadgita, heaven is described in a different fashion 21 00:05:24,699 --> 00:05:40,400 altogether -- not as the location of the Almighty, but as a region of enjoyment. Since enjoyment 22 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:50,205 has been analysed threadbare in our earlier sessions and, from our point of view, 23 00:05:50,205 --> 00:06:03,287 or from anyone's point of view, enjoyment is unimaginable except through the coming of 24 00:06:03,287 --> 00:06:14,869 the sense organs in contact with the objects external to them, a person cannot rejoice 25 00:06:14,869 --> 00:06:18,993 in one's own self. That is the whole matter. 26 00:06:19,030 --> 00:06:29,919 You require something else outside you, some object to titillate the sense organs, whereby 27 00:06:29,919 --> 00:06:39,400 it looks that a principle of satisfaction is generated within oneself. 28 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:49,864 Now, speaking about gods in heaven and the possibility of reaching these heavenly regions 29 00:06:49,864 --> 00:06:57,780 by good deeds is something worth considering. 30 00:06:57,780 --> 00:07:10,778 Does one really go to heaven, and are there gods in such a realm? 31 00:07:10,778 --> 00:07:19,400 Is there a blissful region above this physical level? 32 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:28,580 Is it inhabited by divinities like Indra, Varuna, and others? 33 00:07:28,580 --> 00:07:39,389 How does it come about that a deed that is regarded as good propels a person's soul to 34 00:07:39,389 --> 00:07:42,800 the heavenly regions? 35 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:50,139 What is the connection between a good deed and the remote region called heaven, populated 36 00:07:50,139 --> 00:07:53,106 by the divinities? 37 00:07:53,106 --> 00:08:03,800 The constitution of the heavenly regions must 38 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:11,520 have some similarity with the constitution of the deeds performed in this world, in a 39 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:18,940 manner which is considered virtuous or praiseworthy. 40 00:08:18,940 --> 00:08:23,680 Now, what is a virtuous action? 41 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:27,599 What is a good action? 42 00:08:27,599 --> 00:08:37,800 Easily this question is not answered because we generally go by the principles of social 43 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:46,360 conduct laid down by us by the community of people in whose midst we are living. 44 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:59,111 The possibility of reaching a region above this 45 00:08:59,111 --> 00:09:12,350 physical level through a good deed implies that the so-called good deed also does not 46 00:09:12,350 --> 00:09:15,079 belong to this Earth. 47 00:09:15,079 --> 00:09:22,303 Earthly action cannot take a person to a non-Earthly condition. 48 00:09:22,303 --> 00:09:31,671 As is the cause, so is the effect. 49 00:09:31,671 --> 00:09:38,259 The perishable cannot take one to the imperishable -- taking for granted that 50 00:09:38,259 --> 00:09:45,950 the heaven of the gods is imperishable, from one angle of vision at least. 51 00:09:45,950 --> 00:09:52,760 Now, what kind of action should we perform in this world in order that we may be made 52 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,640 eligible to ascend to the heaven of the gods? 53 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:07,797 We do many good deeds. We do charity, we plant trees, we dig wells on the road, 54 00:10:07,797 --> 00:10:16,740 we construct temples, we feed the poor. 55 00:10:16,740 --> 00:10:23,970 Are these actions that take us to the heaven of the gods? 56 00:10:23,970 --> 00:10:31,336 For this purpose, we have to analyse the meaning of 'action' itself. 57 00:10:31,336 --> 00:10:33,335 What do you mean by 'action'? 58 00:10:33,335 --> 00:10:45,042 A movement of the limbs of the body in some direction -- digging, planting, giving, 59 00:10:45,042 --> 00:10:57,040 etc. -- do these physical gestures of the limbs of the body constitute action? 60 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:04,790 Evidently, it does not look that they can take us anywhere. 61 00:11:04,790 --> 00:11:13,164 A performance which is purely motivated by physical movement does not seem 62 00:11:13,164 --> 00:11:19,250 to be adequate to propel us above the physical level. 63 00:11:19,250 --> 00:11:27,870 Physical movements will be limited to the physical realm only. A super-physical realm 64 00:11:27,870 --> 00:11:34,036 cannot be reached unless there is some super-physical element in our action also. 65 00:11:34,036 --> 00:11:45,576 There should be some kind of harmony or similarity of construction between 66 00:11:45,576 --> 00:11:52,790 the means adopted and the end that is aimed at. 67 00:11:52,790 --> 00:12:00,033 What kind of heavenly character do we find in the actions that we perform in this world 68 00:12:00,033 --> 00:12:13,364 known as 'good'? Can anyone come to a decision that some actions that we 69 00:12:13,364 --> 00:12:16,530 perform have a heavenly content in them? 70 00:12:16,530 --> 00:12:25,579 We will shudder to hear even a question raised of this kind because to us, heaven seems to 71 00:12:25,579 --> 00:12:32,550 be so far away, remotely situated above us, that it is difficult to believe that the little 72 00:12:32,550 --> 00:12:39,030 acts that we perform, even with a good intention, have anything to do at all with 73 00:12:39,030 --> 00:12:42,070 that blessed region of the gods. 74 00:12:42,070 --> 00:12:46,240 What is the mystery behind this? 75 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:52,359 Why does the scripture say that good deeds will take you to heaven and make 76 00:12:52,359 --> 00:12:57,769 you rejoice, like Indra, the chief of the gods, and so on? 77 00:12:57,769 --> 00:13:08,149 The goodness of an action, therefore, does not seem to be definable in terms of social 78 00:13:08,149 --> 00:13:13,023 sanction. It has to be sanctioned by the gods themselves. 79 00:13:13,029 --> 00:13:19,600 It should be a good deed in the eye of gods, not in the eye of people only. 80 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:24,855 If all humanity says, "This is a wonderful thing that you have done," it need not 81 00:13:24,855 --> 00:13:26,390 necessarily be wonderful. 82 00:13:26,390 --> 00:13:37,120 It should be wonderful from the point of view of the structural pattern of the region higher 83 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:40,590 than the physical level. 84 00:13:40,590 --> 00:13:52,889 All glory that we earn on this Earth planet conditioned by human thinking, whatever be 85 00:13:52,889 --> 00:13:59,470 the imaginary greatness of this achievement, cannot be said to have any kind of heavenly 86 00:13:59,470 --> 00:14:10,090 content in it -- which would mean that nothing can take us to heaven, if a heavenly deed 87 00:14:10,090 --> 00:14:13,190 only can take us to the heavenly region. 88 00:14:13,190 --> 00:14:20,610 Actually, we must understand also the meaning of 'heaven' in this context. 89 00:14:20,610 --> 00:14:22,839 What is heaven? 90 00:14:22,839 --> 00:14:29,080 Is it so many kilometres away, above the Earth plane? 91 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:41,589 If we travel high in a rocket, far, far beyond in the distant sky, will we be reaching heaven? 92 00:14:41,589 --> 00:14:52,639 Even if you touch the border of the expanded space, heaven will not be seen there. 93 00:14:52,639 --> 00:14:58,170 The reason, heaven is a state of consciousness. 94 00:14:58,170 --> 00:15:04,540 It is not placed physically above the physical Earth. 95 00:15:04,540 --> 00:15:16,330 An elevated sensation arising from our own selves, lifting us above our physical personality; 96 00:15:16,330 --> 00:15:30,519 a longing that arises from the depths of our soul, lifting us above our physical needs, 97 00:15:30,519 --> 00:15:38,004 a condition not easy to understand and appreciate; a longing that cannot be 98 00:15:38,004 --> 00:15:42,854 equated with anything that is available in this world may be regarded as a 99 00:15:42,854 --> 00:15:46,503 heavenly longing. 100 00:15:46,503 --> 00:15:57,720 From that point of view, any physical or human achievement in this world cannot be regarded 101 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:07,870 as so good as to be capable of rocketing up to the heavenly region. 102 00:16:07,870 --> 00:16:16,440 A non-physical operation should take place from within our own selves. 103 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:22,399 Are we physical personalities, or is there anything non-physical in us? 104 00:16:22,399 --> 00:16:34,331 When we are enthused or in a state of intense rapture in what we may call an artistic fashion 105 00:16:34,331 --> 00:16:51,037 -- beautiful music, and delighting painting, or even an architecture and a sculpture -- 106 00:16:51,037 --> 00:16:58,579 can take us above the consciousness of our physical personality. 107 00:16:58,579 --> 00:17:07,380 There is an element in us which is not limited to this body, which is what it is that longs 108 00:17:07,380 --> 00:17:15,410 for achievements beyond the ken of this Earth, or human thought. 109 00:17:15,410 --> 00:17:23,459 Even to reach the heaven of the gods it is not easy, though Bhagavan Sri Krishna in these 110 00:17:23,459 --> 00:17:29,323 verses of the Bhagavadgita does not regard this achievement as anything worth the 111 00:17:29,323 --> 00:17:37,205 while. It is regarded by Him as a poor achievement, ending finally in a coming 112 00:17:37,205 --> 00:17:45,520 down from the heaven of Indra to the mortal realm of action once again. 113 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:54,029 Gatagatam kama-kama labhante: People who desire objects of sense enjoy the cycle 114 00:17:54,029 --> 00:18:05,380 of coming and going, even if it be going to heaven and coming back to the Earth. 115 00:18:05,380 --> 00:18:14,260 So, notwithstanding the fact that the Bhagavadgita here does not regard an 116 00:18:14,260 --> 00:18:21,900 achievement in the heaven is anything of any permanent value, still it is 117 00:18:21,900 --> 00:18:31,815 necessary for us to know where is this heaven. We always look up, above, 118 00:18:31,815 --> 00:18:39,450 opening our eyes to the skies, when we pray to a god in heaven because the 119 00:18:39,450 --> 00:18:48,690 concept of the above, from our physical point of view, is geometrical, 120 00:18:48,690 --> 00:18:58,770 distance-oriented, and spatially conditioned. But, the heaven of the gods is supposed to 121 00:18:58,770 --> 00:19:06,940 be not measurable in this manner. It is not in space at all. 122 00:19:06,940 --> 00:19:18,950 If you travel the endless space for ages, you will not reach the heaven of the gods 123 00:19:18,950 --> 00:19:30,539 because all these experiences, even in the distant space and time process, these 124 00:19:30,539 --> 00:19:32,750 experiences belong to the Earth level only. 125 00:19:32,750 --> 00:19:43,520 We have to be gods in our own selves, to some extent, in order that we may reach the gods. 126 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:53,830 Even to reach this heaven of the gods, which Sri Krishna considers as not of any much value 127 00:19:53,830 --> 00:20:05,360 -- even to reach that poor blessedness of the heaven, we have to be gods in our own selves, 128 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:10,590 because only from a god a godly deed can emanate. 129 00:20:10,590 --> 00:20:20,040 A thorny bush will not produce apples. 130 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:28,750 Likewise, a distracted mind tethered to the physical body, bothered much about family 131 00:20:28,750 --> 00:20:35,800 relations and connections with this Earth -- what kind of action can proceed from that 132 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:37,799 individual? Purely Earthly. 133 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:47,006 Have you seen a godly person anywhere whose deeds may be regarded as divine 134 00:20:47,006 --> 00:20:51,800 and motivated by nothing of this Earth? 135 00:20:51,800 --> 00:21:01,370 If such a person is available, that person may be regarded as fit for going to heaven. 136 00:21:01,370 --> 00:21:03,850 It is so difficult to reach the heaven of the gods. 137 00:21:03,850 --> 00:21:16,150 That is why the sacrificers of the Vedas take intense pain in performing these yajnas with 138 00:21:16,150 --> 00:21:22,835 meticulous care, because even a little mistake they commit in the chanting of the mantra 139 00:21:22,835 --> 00:21:35,010 or the arrangement of the sacrificial altar, will not be enough to push them up to the 140 00:21:35,010 --> 00:21:37,720 region above the world. 141 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:52,620 Questions as to the utility ultimate of a sacrificial action in converting the mortal 142 00:21:52,620 --> 00:21:59,483 into the immortal are raised in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, where one 143 00:21:59,483 --> 00:22:05,726 of the opponents of Yajnavalkya puts this question: "Yajnavalkya, as all actions 144 00:22:05,726 --> 00:22:11,370 are perishable, how will they take you to the imperishable?" 145 00:22:11,370 --> 00:22:20,059 To that, Yajnavalkya gives an answer: "All actions are perishable indeed, but there is 146 00:22:20,059 --> 00:22:24,559 one type of action which is not perishable." "What is that, Yajnavalkya?" 147 00:22:24,559 --> 00:22:35,701 "Generally, when we perform an action, we consider certain constituent factors like 148 00:22:35,701 --> 00:22:45,984 the performer of the action, the person concerned, the yajamana so-called; the 149 00:22:45,984 --> 00:22:54,940 method adopted, the means employed in the performance of the yajna or the 150 00:22:54,940 --> 00:23:06,330 sacrifice; and the intention there is behind in the performance of the sacrifice itself. 151 00:23:06,330 --> 00:23:18,150 All these are done with an idea that this type of action will satisfy the divinity whose 152 00:23:18,150 --> 00:23:24,390 name is taken in the chanting of the mantra of the Veda. 153 00:23:24,390 --> 00:23:30,550 That divinity, being far away, above the Earth plane, cannot make this action 154 00:23:30,550 --> 00:23:39,984 immortal, though the divinity itself is immortal. What is the answer, Yajnavalkya?" 155 00:23:39,984 --> 00:23:49,080 The answer is here: "All action should be considered as a spiritual meditation. 156 00:23:49,080 --> 00:24:02,390 It is not a performance of an externalised movement by a person, but a total concept 157 00:24:02,390 --> 00:24:11,860 that arises in the performer of the action, wherein the divinity also is included -- in 158 00:24:11,860 --> 00:24:19,080 which case, it will look that the action is performed by the divinity itself. 159 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:30,650 The yajamana, the performer, gets transformed into the divine power present in the divinity 160 00:24:30,650 --> 00:24:35,727 worshipped and adored through the action. And the means, the instrument, 161 00:24:35,727 --> 00:24:47,250 and the intention all get divinised because the meditation that 162 00:24:47,250 --> 00:24:55,520 is carried on together with the performance of this Vedic yajna brings the divinity also into 163 00:24:55,520 --> 00:25:04,390 the purview of this action, so that one, in this process of meditation, cannot know 164 00:25:04,390 --> 00:25:10,780 who is actually performing the yajna and who is meditating. 165 00:25:10,780 --> 00:25:18,340 The divinity itself enters the heart and the soul of the performer, or the yajamana, and 166 00:25:18,340 --> 00:25:25,012 takes upon itself the responsibility of seeing that the yajna is perfectly conducted." 167 00:25:25,012 --> 00:25:28,970 It was difficult to understand what this answer is given by Yajnavalkya to Shakalya, 168 00:25:28,970 --> 00:25:33,040 the sage who put this question in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. 169 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:37,094 However, here is a secret which has to be studied carefully. 170 00:25:37,094 --> 00:25:45,315 Heaven, therefore, is a region which is above the physical consciousness of 171 00:25:45,315 --> 00:25:53,550 humanity; therefore, actions that are not limited to the physical consciousness of 172 00:25:53,550 --> 00:26:00,370 bodily individuality can alone take a person to the heavenly region. 173 00:26:00,370 --> 00:26:09,010 An intensely holy person only can aspire to go to the heavens. 174 00:26:09,010 --> 00:26:14,010 There was a sage called Vajasravasa, as we have it in the Kathopanishad. 175 00:26:14,010 --> 00:26:16,090 He wanted to go to the heavens. 176 00:26:16,090 --> 00:26:23,890 He performed a yajna called Sarvavedas, in which he had to give in charity everything 177 00:26:23,890 --> 00:26:32,503 that he had. He gave all the wealth, all the land and property, everything that he 178 00:26:32,503 --> 00:26:39,461 had, to people so that it appeared that nothing was left with him. 179 00:26:39,461 --> 00:26:48,659 He had to give everything, but he did not give give everything, really speaking. He did 180 00:26:48,659 --> 00:26:51,850 not offer himself also because 181 00:26:51,850 --> 00:26:58,042 in this sarvatra, or all-inclusiveness of the charitable deed, the performer also goes with it. 182 00:26:58,042 --> 00:27:03,916 So the egoism of the performer of the Sarvavedas sacrifice maintained itself, 183 00:27:03,916 --> 00:27:08,490 and the story is very interesting, as you know, in the Kathopanishad. 184 00:27:08,490 --> 00:27:19,122 Yet, Sri Bhagavan Krishna says all this achievement is nowhere before another 185 00:27:19,122 --> 00:27:25,760 great achievement that is ahead of you. Gatagatam kamakama labhante, it is true. 186 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:35,789 After that, the great admonition of the Almighty Lord Bhagavan Sri Krishna follows: Ananyas 187 00:27:35,789 --> 00:27:41,161 cintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate; tesam nity'abhiyuktanam yoga-ksemam 188 00:27:41,161 --> 00:27:49,618 vahamy aham. Here also is a passage which prescribes the method of what you call total 189 00:27:49,618 --> 00:27:56,368 action, and total meditation. 190 00:27:56,380 --> 00:28:05,366 We have heard these things said many a time, but the mind is treacherously selfish and 191 00:28:05,366 --> 00:28:12,019 can connive ways and means of not allowing a person to succeed, that we don't know 192 00:28:12,019 --> 00:28:16,880 what is actually the meaning of this verse. 193 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:26,197 When the Great Lord says, "Everything shall be provided to that one whose mind and 194 00:28:26,197 --> 00:28:35,770 consciousness are united in Me or with Me," what does He actually mean? 195 00:28:35,770 --> 00:28:46,694 Now, where is this god, whose meditation or union can provide us with everything 196 00:28:46,694 --> 00:28:53,485 that we need? Far away is the god; that is what we generally think. 197 00:28:53,485 --> 00:29:02,570 Brahma is in Satyaloka, Vishnu is in Vaikuntha; Siva, Rudra, is in Kailasa. 198 00:29:02,570 --> 00:29:04,370 How far are they? 199 00:29:04,370 --> 00:29:10,679 How much time will they take to come to rescue us and provide us with our requirements? 200 00:29:10,679 --> 00:29:20,590 Our relationship to God also should be clear to us before we try to understand the meaning 201 00:29:20,590 --> 00:29:28,272 of this great promise given by the Almighty Himself: "Everything shall be provided to you. 202 00:29:28,272 --> 00:29:36,950 Not only your requirements will be given to you, these requirements granted to you will 203 00:29:36,950 --> 00:29:42,400 also be taken care of, so that you need not have the fear of losing them afterwards." 204 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:48,830 A gift is offered, and it is also protected for your sake. 205 00:29:48,830 --> 00:29:57,050 This is a wonderful, miraculous statement which will shake us from our roots if we can 206 00:29:57,050 --> 00:30:00,210 really understand what it implies. 207 00:30:00,210 --> 00:30:07,350 This is not like going to the heaven of the gods for some time, by the performance of 208 00:30:07,350 --> 00:30:11,800 a godly deed. 209 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,580 This is not a godly deed. 210 00:30:14,580 --> 00:30:19,599 Something more than, it is. What is it? 211 00:30:19,610 --> 00:30:31,570 It is unity with the very purpose of creation, the meaning of existence, the principle of 212 00:30:31,570 --> 00:30:33,910 eternity itself. 213 00:30:33,910 --> 00:30:42,779 A shopkeeper may take time to supply your goods, sending it through a vehicle, a cart, 214 00:30:42,779 --> 00:30:47,340 but God does not take that time. 215 00:30:47,340 --> 00:30:54,636 'Instantaneous' is also a poor word to describe the way in which God acts, 216 00:30:54,636 --> 00:31:02,920 because instantaneousness also has a tinge of the time process in it. 217 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,590 Timeless action is God's action. 218 00:31:05,590 --> 00:31:08,760 It is done before you say it is done. 219 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:16,100 You cannot even say it is just now, or here itself. 220 00:31:16,100 --> 00:31:22,424 It is more than that. Even the words 'here' and 'now' are poor to describe the manner 221 00:31:22,424 --> 00:31:24,870 in which God acts, because 222 00:31:24,870 --> 00:31:29,923 we think in terms of space and time, whereas this action comes from eternity, 223 00:31:29,923 --> 00:31:34,380 which is not in space and not in time. 224 00:31:34,380 --> 00:31:44,600 To deserve this blessing which is so great and grand even to conceive, we have also to 225 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:53,900 manifest from within ourselves the eternity that is within us and that we ourselves are. 226 00:31:53,900 --> 00:32:02,491 Mortal deeds, we said, do not take us to heaven; similarly, time-conditioned 227 00:32:02,491 --> 00:32:12,168 devotion, spatially limited actions, will not summon this protection that is 228 00:32:12,168 --> 00:32:18,167 promised to us in this Bhagavadgita: yoga-ksemam vahamy aham. 229 00:32:18,167 --> 00:32:27,090 The practice of yoga is essentially this much. 230 00:32:27,090 --> 00:32:36,529 It is a unity of the deepest in us with the deepest in the cosmos. 231 00:32:36,529 --> 00:32:38,289 What is the deepest in us? 232 00:32:38,289 --> 00:32:49,400 We are likely to think that this visible, photographed personality is what we are. 233 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:58,493 We know psychologically, for the way of saying, at least, that we have a mind, 234 00:32:58,493 --> 00:33:02,953 which is deeper than the body. 235 00:33:02,953 --> 00:33:14,950 There is an intellect and something very deep, but the 'I', the 'we', 'thisness', which 236 00:33:14,950 --> 00:33:26,950 is asserted through this personality basically even at the time of death, even in deep sleep -- 237 00:33:26,950 --> 00:33:31,241 that one is the deathless principle in us. 238 00:33:31,241 --> 00:33:37,840 That deathless eternal principle in us is what defies the consciousness of death and 239 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,580 tells us that we cannot die. 240 00:33:40,580 --> 00:33:47,197 That is the reason why we always feel that death is far away from us. Though we have 241 00:33:47,197 --> 00:33:53,080 seen people dying almost every day, the remaining people never think that 242 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:59,000 it is their fate, because the eternity that is within them tells everybody, "This is not 243 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,210 your fate because you are eternal." 244 00:34:02,210 --> 00:34:07,950 The eternity is not known, but it is inside, flashing forth in this conviction that, "All 245 00:34:07,950 --> 00:34:11,050 may die but I will not." 246 00:34:11,050 --> 00:34:17,629 This feeling arises due to the eternal principle operating within us. 247 00:34:17,629 --> 00:34:26,330 In this meditation, which is the requisition for the fulfilment of the promise of Bhagavan 248 00:34:26,330 --> 00:34:26,830 Sri Krishna -- yogaksemam vahamy aham -- we have to think perhaps as He would 249 00:34:26,830 --> 00:34:39,524 like us to think. If a friend can provide you with what you need, you have to think like 250 00:34:39,524 --> 00:34:46,356 a friend, and not like somebody else. If you turn your face away from the friend, 251 00:34:46,356 --> 00:34:52,564 the friend will not provide you with your requirements. 252 00:34:52,580 --> 00:35:01,030 Unity of purpose, identity of feeling, oneness of existence are implied in friendship. 253 00:35:01,030 --> 00:35:08,800 That friendship is to be found also between a devotee and the Supreme Almighty. 254 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:17,602 Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati: "Peace will be your blessing 255 00:35:17,602 --> 00:35:26,349 and your attainment when the time comes for you to realise that. "I am your true friend. 256 00:35:26,349 --> 00:35:32,460 I am the friend of all beings": Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati. 257 00:35:32,460 --> 00:35:40,343 So, there is a heaven above the heavens that we are given in a description: 258 00:35:40,343 --> 00:35:48,219 gatagatam kama-kama labhante. The ananyas cintayanto verse is a declaration 259 00:35:48,219 --> 00:35:55,780 of the eternal principle in the universe and in our own selves. 260 00:35:55,780 --> 00:36:01,847 While the temporal reality speaks in the earlier verses, the Eternal Being speaks in 261 00:36:01,847 --> 00:36:06,096 the subsequent verse: ananyas cintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate, 262 00:36:06,096 --> 00:36:11,220 tesam nity'abhiyuktanam yoga-ksemam vahamy aham. 263 00:36:11,220 --> 00:36:17,011 Difficult is this to think in the mind; more difficult is it to meditate like this. 264 00:36:17,011 --> 00:36:29,319 The mind is accustomed to think only in terms of what it sees or perceives outside; the 265 00:36:29,319 --> 00:36:35,069 eternal principle, the God element, always escapes its notice. 266 00:36:35,069 --> 00:36:46,240 It cries and weeps and expects something from somewhere, not believing that whatever one 267 00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:53,673 needs will emerge instantaneously from one's own self, provided the eternal 268 00:36:53,673 --> 00:37:04,297 comprehensiveness, which is the factor that provides our needs, is also present in our 269 00:37:04,297 --> 00:37:12,962 own selves. This is the meaning of "Thou art That". 270 00:37:12,962 --> 00:37:25,252 We have read this many times in Vedanta scriptures, but the 'art' in the middle, 271 00:37:25,252 --> 00:37:30,079 coming between 'thou' and 'That' spoils the whole thing. 272 00:37:30,079 --> 00:37:35,168 There is no 'art'. You should not use that word 'are'. 273 00:37:35,168 --> 00:37:44,670 That connecting link, the verb, spoils the actual relationship between 'thou' and 'That', 274 00:37:44,670 --> 00:37:50,249 because there is no relationship at all between 'thou' and 'That'. 275 00:37:50,249 --> 00:37:53,960 The 'thou' is the 'That', and vice versa is the case. 276 00:37:53,960 --> 00:38:00,040 In this ananta chintana mentioned in this verse, non-separate contemplation, 277 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:06,290 all blessing is poured upon the person. 278 00:38:06,290 --> 00:38:10,380 This is the highest devotion, bhakti, you can think of. 279 00:38:10,380 --> 00:38:20,920 Highest yoga and jnana -- by attaining which, we do not live like mortals any more, 280 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:26,630 but veritable moving gods on this Earth, which shall be our blessing. 281 00:38:26,630 --> 00:38:28,530 Hari Om Tat Sat.