“1st chapter, 1st section 17th sutra –”

Prayer. Welcome.

1st chapter, 1st section 17th sutra –

Bedha vyapateshaat cha

Gambhirananda: and because of the assertion of the diff between the individual soul and supreme self

Veereshwarananda: on account of the declaration of the difference between the two, the one referred in the passage the self consisting ….

Shivananda: on account of the declaration of the difference between the 2, the one referred to in the passage the self consisting of ….

Bedha vyapateshaat cha

There is a beautiful sutra in Taitri Upanishad. I wanted to bring to your attention. Very beautifully Swami Shivananda of Hrishikesh he very beautifully refers he is one of the great a very great acharya of the modern days. One of the great architect of Hinduism. I can say handful of people are responsible for what is know now as Hinduism being alive. Our Yoga, Upanishads, Vedanta - if this is part of a common man’s life in modern world today only handful of people are responsible – one is Ramakrishna, & Vivekananda – naturally, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, Osho, Srila Prabhupada and I will say in my experience I will put Swami Shivananda in that level. He is one of the great contributor to Vedic tradition.

Actually I am referring everyday many of his collections and selections on brahmasutra. He has written a very beautiful commentary on Brahma Sutras. He has collected curled out many of the beautiful Upanishads and references from various aranyakaas various beautiful scriptures. Very authentically he has collected and recorded. I wanted to tell all of you Swami Satyananda Saraswathi one of the greatest disciples of Swami Shivananda Saraswathi – I pay my humble respects to both of them. If I have to do all this technical work, I would have spent some 10 years. Lot of the technical work they have done. Swami Shivananda’s Brahmasutras translation will help you grasp what I am saying. They have done an amazing job on the technical knowledge. If you read Swami Satyananda Saraswathi’s book on Yoga, morning what I am sharing in the Yoga Sutra satsang you can grasp. Same way if you read Swami Shivananda Saraswathi’s Brahma sutras, you can grasp my Brahma Sutras more. See I am neither a Sanskirt scholar nor have technical expertise. Whatever I am commenting, i am basing it on the authority of my personal experience and the grace of my mentors – Raghupati Yogi, Kuppammal and all these teachers. But the technical job these masters have done a great job. I wanted to put this on record.

I want to make very clear. I never wanted at any time my organization evolve as an independent cult built on me. It should always be rooted in broad Vedic tradition which is source for many branches like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism, Tantra, etc. You may be surprised I mentioned even Hinduism as one of the names. Please understand, whatever you practice in name of Hinduism going to temples, rituals, yoga, praanayaam all of this evolved from Vedic Tradition. I wanted all of you to know it is not Vedic Tradition – it is from Vedic Tradition. Just like Buddhism is from Vedic tradition, Sikhism is from Vedic tradition, Jainism is from Vedic tradtion, the distance between Vedic Tradition & Buddhism, the distance between Sikkhism & Vedic Tradition, the distance between Jainism and Vedic Tradition, and the distance between Vedic tradition and modern day Hinduism is equal. No way modern day Hinduism is closer to vedic tradition than Jainism or Sikhism. I wanted all the rituals to be rooted in the broad Vedic tradition like a Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta – all these are broadly from the Vedic Tradition.

There is a beautiful reference by Swami Shivananda – Raso vysa rasam hevaayam latvaa nandi bhavati –Taitreya Upanishad, 2nd chapter, 7th sutra. If you don’t understand it is okay, I am just putting in on recored. But I will translate and give it in the course of the sutra – that which is attained and the attainer cannot be the same. Hence individual soul is not referred to with the passage that is describing

Lot of the sacred secrets embedded in this sutra you will be able to relate & understand if you have little bit of back ground of technical knowledge. How the truth is experienced & expressed and referred.

Raso vysa rasam hevaayam latvaa nandi bhavati –Taitreya Upanishad, 2nd chapter, 7th sutra. If you don’t understand it is okay, I am just putting in on recorded. But I will translate and give it in the course of the sutra. – that which is attained and the attainer cannot be the same. Hence individual soul is not referred in the passage which is under discussion.

Now let me enter into the sacred secret embedded in the sutra. The whole thing I can see boils down to pushing you towards the transcendental awareness happening in you. Constantly Vyasa - Baadaraayana is getting you back to the transcendental awareness. If I have to reveal the sacred secret, if I have to reveal what I am going to talk for the next half hour, for example if you say Swamiji I don’t have time can you tell me in one line what you are going to say in next ½ hour, I am going to say – get back to witnessing consciousness! That’s all which I am telling for last 10 years!! Basically Patanjali is telling – Oh morning I have to get into Patanjali mood, evening I have to get into the Vyaasa mood. Badaraayana Vyasa is basically trying to push you to the truth – do not be satisfied in the space where the attainer retains even a scratch of individual identity. I have a big difficulty. Because 1st time these sutras are taught to youngsters. Always they are taught to some old fellows who can’t do anything further.

Ramakrishna gives a very beautiful example. He goes to Rabindranath Tagore’s father Devendranath Tagore and he sees so many children running around the house. He asked some worker whose children are they? The worker just said all children are Devendranath Tagore’s children only. Ramakrishna was very angry. I don’t know why Ramakrishna was so fanatic about not having kids, I think these 2-3 things I got from Ramakrishna only – fanatic about not to get married and not to have kids. Once one of his close direct disciple Yogananda – in his family they were planning to get him married. He neither said yes nor no. he told Ramakrishna about this. In West Bengal those days the tradition is by age of 12 before the boy and girl reached puberty, before physical maturity through the ritual of marriage. Sharada Devi was 5 year baby when she got married to Ramakrishna! Even though Sharada Devi respected Ramakrishna, they had a very sweet life. She used to make fun of him left & right. Anyhow this Yogananda asks Ramakrishna that they are planning to get him married. Please tell something. Ramakrishna does not speak anything. He just takes him and goes to the devotee’s house for dinner. He had a very nice life. Every night he will go here & there meet people. Did not have an organization . so all the troubles associated with organization he did not have. Nice guy. As I said he lived like a Bhole Baba. There he saw one girl was playing with a key chain and rotating it on middle finger. He shouted for that boy suddenly – Yogen, come here! That boy was frightened, he felt did Ramakrishna have some heart attack or what! He ran and came to him and asked why did you scream, what happened, are you hurt or what? he said come see that girl. That guy just saw the girl playing with the key chain. He said you asked me whether to get married, you will be rotated in her hand like the key chain in that girl’s hand! Do you want to marry now? That’s it. That guy was completely shaken. He records this in his reminiscence much later! He says that scene was there in my inner space forever & ever. Not only I did not get married. I will never go to any marriage ceremony. He would say no, no, no Baba told me how I will be rotated.

So in Devendranath Tagore’s house when he heard all these kids are one man’s kids, he goes to Devendranath Tagore and says – do you at least now control your senses and practice meditation? And Devendranath Tagore very politely says yes, yes now I completely meditate and spend my whole night in different room. Ramakrishna says in very colloquial village Bengali language he says – In Bengal they will use neem stick and Bamboo stick for brushing the teeth. If you use it continuously for one month, it becomes numb and you have to throw it away - yes, yes after using one month what will you do with neem stick and banyan stick you will have to throw it in the Ganges – See in Bengali villages they will make neem stick and bamboo stick will be used to brush teeth till the soft end becomes hard and then it is thrown away. He says - it is like over used tooth stick and that is the way your renunciation is and you will not understand Brahman and nobody can reach Brahman with your mental set up! He says this directly. This Devendranath Tagore is very rich guy, well known. Devendranath Tagore felt very bad. Because he was a sincere seeker. He sends somebody to Ramakrishna saying that please tell Paramahamsa to show me some way. Then Ramakrishna says Brahmasutras cannot be taught to old people, even if we teach, they cannot catch it. When I use the word Brahmasutras, I use the word more like a process to awaken the inner space. Unfortunately, it is always taught to old people and it is almost their tiredness is taken as non-ego state. 1st time I am talking about Brahmasutras to youngsters. That is why so much of difficulty, lot of difficulty because the modern day youth have to live continuously asserting their ego. Every moment their survival itself becomes like asserting their ego. That is why even creation of wealth is more like grabbing! How much you have depends upon grabbing. Nothing else. It has nothing to do with creation. The modern day youngsters have to constantly be asserting their ego. But here in Brahmasutras constantly Vyaasa is pushing to be centered on awareness. Actually if you are centered on awareness, you will be able to create wealth out of creativity and have a deep satisfaction, fulfillment. But the big problem is almost your whole life has to be reshuffled. When you start living based on this sutra which says that be established on the space where the achiever and achieved is one & the same! Do not be in a space where the achiever and achieved are visibly felt as different, experientially felt as different. A continuous drive. See if you are a yogi, for example tomorrow many of you guys are taking up this vrata – samyama on Chandra – 16 days – when you take up these kinds of things, basically you are a yogi, your attitude is of a yogi. If you are a yogi because of your practices are constantly reminded to you and the raising of the awareness has become an independent mechanism in your system. Every day because you constantly push yourself, even if one day you are depressed, you feel a low, you stand up and you say no, you re-establish yourself. The re-establishment - I tell you that is a greatest thing in life. I had such a uncompassionate mentors and masters for me. I am really happy. No they will go on. See as far as the techniques and spiritual knowledge they are so compassionate. But they will never ever give me any support for my human weakness. You may be laughing what Swamiji had human weakness. When I use this word I want to define very clearly. It is like tomorrow we can do practice, later on we can do, no tomorrow I will do meditation - this laziness. They never supported. Whenever the ideological difference, the problems they never bent. They just stood strong. So the compassion - one side compassion, other side completely cruel. I am fortunate I am not supported. I had such beautiful mentors, again & again standing up became very easy. They will go on giving spiritual words, spiritual techniques. I tell you it will be very good if you have 2, 3 mentors in your life. Of course master can be only one. But mentors when you are in a spiritual community or group have 2-3 mentors. Then it will always be good Because then you will have 2, 3 perspectives. Objectively you will catch it. Because I had 2, 3 mentors I can tell you how much it added. Even though kuppammal is a great Vedanti she had a very powerful connection to the Bhakti dimension and same way Raghupati Yogi even though he was great yogi, he was amazing bhakta, he was an amazing devotee. So this different different people, different different juice, made me completely juicy. So you also try to have 2, 3 mentors then you will grasp more. Even in this vaada prativaada now I am seeing. Every day I am receiving so many emails with deeper clarity and understanding. This vaada prativaada is doing a very powerful job. This 21 days how and why we started from Shiva raathri, how much of doing to the world is secondary. How much good we are doing to other is another thing. How much good we are doing to ourselves I am surprised. All our centers have become so intense. I am shocked so much of sudden inspiration has happened in our sangha! Even in our Bidadi ashram itself some 60 fellows wanted to do this. But I was shocked so much of sudden inspiration has happened in our sangha all over. Everywhere the strong debates are going on, in the face book left & right I am enlightened, you are enlightened. Now I am feeling the ND is like huge sky with enlightened stars!

So even in your community have 2, 3 mentors. You will see you will be able to grow easily. You will be able to imbibe this understanding easily. So the thought trend for today’s sacred secret - be stable at the space where the achiever and achieved is one & the same. If you are not in that space, just be unstable that is enough. You feeling unstable is enough to push you into the stable consciousness. Actually you feeling you just hate who you are what you are is enough, nothing else is required. That is enough to push you to space where you need to be completely fulfilled, where you need to be completely in restful awareness. The problem is you don’t completely hate what you are. One part only you hate. Other part in you tells you no, no I am not that bad, these fellows are just saying it. Be very clear – you are completely bad or believe you are completely good. Then you will melt down like salt melts in water. That is also perfect. No problem. But the problem is you neither feel you are completely good, nor feel completely bad. You hold on to one part. That is where you are not letting the achiever and achieved to become one. Just the deep dissatisfaction of the source where you feel the individual identity is more than enough to awaken the non-mechanical parts of the brain and make you experience the transcendental awareness, transcendental consciousness. transcendental awareness and transcendental consciousness - these are all the words I am using but I mean one and the same – the source, existence or Brahman, or cosmos or original self – all are same things I am denoting with different words. So through this Taitri Upanishad sutra Swami Shivananda is trying to establish clearly the individual soul which still feels it has to achieve something cannot be the achieved the goal.

As long as that feeling I need to do something is there in you, you need to do something! You need to get into the space where that very idea I need to do something disappears! I am telling you if you just create wealth, don’t grab, create wealth - the moment you reach certain level you will feel completely fulfilled. Nothing else needs to be done. I have done enough. April 14, 2001 that was the day few people who lived around me, who gathered around me that time even before Ayya and Amma came – 2, 3 people gathered around me. They all have requested me to stay in one place, that they want to build a hut for me. I said I don’t know if I will be able to stay in one place. Then they said at least till you stay we will make a hut for you. I just laughed and said alright make it. That was the day the first hut they made for me on banks of Kaveri. That photos are still there. I had a Ramakrishna and Sharada Devi’s photos and they gave me a pot. That moment I got that pot, I had tremendous satisfaction – wow! all the wealth in my life has come! That’s all! I tell you after that I did not acquire anything. The greatest satisfaction that I have what I want means my prarabdha of accumulating money ended when I got the kamandalu. As I said I am a washing maniac. I keep myself very clean. So I wanted only the kamandalu to wash my feet after my bath. Because the bank is full of mud. So only think I needed was a kamandalu to wash my feet. I did not like to make my hut muddy. Of course that hut itself was in a samadhi! I used to sleep in a hut built on the Samadhi of a bulky guy. So when I come out of the Kaveri and reach the place where I used to lie down, my feet will become muddy, dirty. I want to wash my feel before I will lie down in that hut. So the moment I got that kamandalu I had such a deep satisfaction. I can tell you, when you create wealth, your prarabdha hits a space of that utter satisfaction. After that wealth was never in my mind. It was always around me, but it was never in my mind. My inner space never had wealth! It was always around me, but never inside me. So as long as you feel you need to achieve something, you need to achieve. The moment you feel the achiever & achieved has disappeared, you have achieved.

So the sacred secret in this sutra is if you are feeling you need to achieve something more, then let the dissatisfaction grow intensely and swallow your whole personality. It is capable of pushing you into existence. It is capable. This is the sacred secret I want you to do the debate today. How the feeling of not attaining can lead to the attainment. What should we do with that feeling of not achieving. When, how the feeling of achiever and achieved becomes one and the same! I am really happy because these great truths are never discussed especially to the mass like this. I know, I can challenge today whole Varanasi if you comb, you will not get even one tenth of people to talk about these great truths. I pay my humble respects to Vishwanatha. He has great respect for Varanasi. The whole Varanasi where Vedanta is supposed to be repeated by parrots you comb you will not get even one tenth of people to discuss these great truths. But go on drill this great truths in your inner space. Do the eNdebate. Don’t say – Oh, these are all not for me, this is too much for my head. No. Catch at least 2-3 people and start. Just because you failed in one debate don’t think you should not start again. Go on & on & on. So start the eNdebate, the vaada prativaada on this sacred secret – how the feeling not attained can lead to the experience of attainment. How to deepen it. When you have achieved attained how to know it means the feeling of attainment will disappear!

As you all are aware, today is Holi and Manmadha dahana. In all Shiva temples the manmadha will be burnt. It is a symbolic representation of Shiva opening his 3rd eye and destroying Manmadha it is a philosophical description of Shiva expressing his enlightenment and very beautiful description of Krishna initiating all his gopas and gopis into the bhaava Samadhi. Today is the day he did rasa – rasa poornima where he played with his gopas and gopis and gave the experience of bhaava Samadhi to all of them, experiencing oneness with Krishna. In all Vishnu temples they will have the holi. In all shiva temples they will have the burning of manmadha’s effigy like collective negativity, fantasies, delusions. That’s all. Now we are having both the celebrations today. That is the reason I am leaving the Brahma Sutras little early. Today we have a great news – Scarborough and Toronto is starting a new centre. My blessings to Toronto new centre. This place will experience my presence intensely! Let all of you experience intense Kundalini Awakening. Intensely my presence will be experienced in that place. Put my Paaduka there you will see Vibhooti coming from the Paaduka. Today is good day for Subramanya, Vaishnava tradition and good ay for Shaiva tradition. All three traditions today is a good day.

My blessings to all of you sitting with us around the world in 699 countries, 223 cities in 30 countries!