00:00Next question.
00:13So somebody asks Ramana Maharshi, how do the triple factors that is the knower, the known
00:23and knowledge which are absent in deep sleep, samadhi, etc. manifest themselves in the self
00:34in the state of waking and dreaming?
00:41Maharshi says, from the self there arise in succession, first chidabhas, reflected consciousness
00:56which is a kind of luminosity, second jiva, the individual consciousness or the seer of
01:07the first concept, third phenomena that is the world.
01:18I'll repeat it for you.
01:21The question is how do the knower, known and knowledge that are absent in deep sleep arise
01:32in the waking state and in the dreaming state?
01:37So they don't really exist, from where do they come?
01:41This triad of jnana, gata, ge, knower, known, knowledge, from where do they come?
01:47Maharshi says they come in a succession, what's a succession?
01:50First of all comes the chidabhas which is reflected consciousness, Maharshi calls it
01:57a kind of luminosity, secondly the jiva, the individual consciousness which is the seer
02:06or the first concept, the one that stands at the center of all perception, all illusion,
02:15then phenomena which is the world.
02:18It's a sequence that is being described here.
02:21How does it happen that from nothingness so much suddenly appears?
02:27You were in deep sleep and there was absolutely nothing and then you find that you are there
02:33and the entire world is there, how does it happen?
02:36Maharshi is putting that in words, giving some kind of a sequential framework.
02:46Then the second statement from Maharshi, just as the lamp illumines the lens etc. while
02:57remaining unaffected, the self illumines the ego, chidabhasa etc. while remaining unaffected.
03:07Acharyaji Pranam, when we are presented with various descriptions about self and how from
03:16self everything springs up, typical tendency of the mind is to create a mental concept
03:22about the self which is not in one's own experience and reach a conclusion about who am I.
03:27Yes, nice.
03:28As I understand that this question has no answer, just the questioner has to ultimately vanish.
03:36Please help me understand how this tendency of the mind to conceptualize can be overcome.
03:45How these descriptions about self or Brahma should really be used in the Jnana Marga.
03:53You see, it is because the mind is in perpetual appetite for concepts that sometimes concepts
04:05have to be fed to it.
04:08If you will ask the Maharshi, does it really happen this way?
04:13He will say the way it happens is not available to description.
04:22But look at your question, if you will ask me this question, then I have only two options.
04:28Either to keep mum, totally silent, which is the best response to your question, best
04:39but not useful.
04:42Because you will not be able to know my silence.
04:46My silence is an alien thing to you.
04:50Ramana Maharshi put so much value on silence and yet you see he has spoken so much.
05:03In some sense he was made to speak this much.
05:08Because his silence, in spite of containing everything, being very eloquent, was incomprehensible
05:14to us.
05:16Only silence can comprehend silence and therefore silence has no need to comprehend anything.
05:23Therefore silence will not be usually effective as a tool of communication.
05:29In special cases it would be.
05:31Usually it would not be.
05:38So the Maharshi has to speak.
05:39Therefore he has presented this sequential order.
05:41What is he saying?
05:42He is saying so you are deeply asleep and there is nothing.
05:44There is just a blissful emptiness, Sushupti.
05:51You are in the Anandamayakosh, the zone of unmitigated bliss, that is Sushupti.
06:04And then somebody comes and just shakes you up a bit and maybe slaps you.
06:11And then the world returns.
06:13How has the world returned?
06:15Maharshi says first of all there is a general illumination in which nothing is there except
06:19the illumination.
06:21You do not know whether the world is or whether you are.
06:26And then you come.
06:30And then the world comes.
06:31That's the sequence.
06:34The fact is Maharshi is telling stories to kid a kid.
06:46It's almost like you have in the movies, you know, the fellow is unconscious.
06:51Have you seen the sequence in movies?
06:55It's a very familiar sequence.
06:58The fellow is unconscious and then he very gradually opens his eyes and what's there
07:04in the frame now?
07:06Lazy light, nebulous frame in which nothing is particularly clear.
07:16This the Maharishi is calling as general illumination.
07:21First of all this comes, as they show in the movies.
07:25So the frame has become illumined.
07:28And then the camera moves to the face, the eyes of the fellow.
07:37And he is opening his eyes and he is becoming self-conscious, self-conscious.
07:49And then he rolls his eyes and now in that vague, illumined, nebulous frame objects start
08:01appearing in a blurred way.
08:04Somebody's face appears, very blurred face and there is as if the camera is not able
08:10to properly focus.
08:16The sounds are there but sounds are not clear.
08:21It's as if a 150 rpm record is being played at 60 rpm.
08:36An incoherent mixture of sounds.
08:42Those of you who enjoy Saturday night parties know what I am talking of.
08:48I am just describing your state when you wake up on Sunday afternoon.
09:00That's what Ramana Maharshi has described in a more sophisticated way.
09:05First of all there is just general illumination.
09:07You feel something is there, some light.
09:11Then self-consciousness returns, okay, I am there.
09:14And then gradually the world also returns.
09:18That's all that is being said here.
09:22Get it?
09:26And then the next part is based on another gem from the Maharshi.
09:38Just as the lamp illumines the lens etc. while remaining unaffected, the self illumines
09:43the chidabhas while itself remaining unaffected.
09:51So the questioner says, you know, all this is there and my mind quickly turns it into
09:58a framework, a concept.
10:00How do I avoid this tendency?
10:03Avoid this tendency by seeing that this is a tendency.
10:09This is a tendency, not the truth.
10:11We tend to do this with the truth.
10:17We know that we do this, so we better be cautious of ourselves.
10:22That's the thing about tendency.
10:25It comes to you forewarned.
10:29It comes to you not as a surprise, but with a forewarning.
10:39You know how you are, don't you?
10:44Then how dare you trust yourself?
10:57Tendency has this great limitation.
11:00It is stubborn, very strong, it does not change.
11:05And that's how you can detect it.
11:10It does not change.
11:12It is the same today as it was yesterday.
11:16Then why entertain foolish hopes?
11:20The mistake you committed yesterday is bound to be repeated today.
11:26So it's easy to avoid becoming a prey to tendencies.
11:33Tendencies don't change.
11:40But man is special.
11:43We fall in the same hole, 20 times one after the other.
12:00Tendency laughs.
12:02The 21st time, the tendency itself comes and tells you, you know, I am tendency.
12:10And I warn you, you'll be falling in the hole.
12:13And I tell you, in spite of the warning, you'd still be falling in the hole.
12:18And you go ahead and fall.
12:28Has there ever been a new mistake?
12:37How funny.
12:45That which peaks you today, is it not the same thing that brought you down five years
12:56back?
12:57The names, forms change, faces change, situations change.
13:04Has the tendency changed?
13:09The place where you fell, the time of the fall, the apparent reason of the fall, all
13:16these have changed.
13:17But has the tendency to fall changed?
13:22That's the thing with tendency.
13:31It's almost like playing an open hand.
13:35Such a confident player is she.
13:37She does not hide her cards.
13:43She says here, this is what I have, this is what I have, this is what I have.
13:49No.
13:52And you will still lose.
13:55You very well know how we are.
14:02And we still trust ourselves.
14:03We are still confident of ourselves.
14:34Remember, that's the advice, remember, not God, remember her.
14:54God is not an object to be remembered.
14:57It's foolish to remember God.
15:02Remembrance of Maya is what is meant by remembering God.
15:08God is not an object to be remembered.
15:10God is remembrance itself.
15:13If you can constantly remember how foolish you are, that's Godliness.
15:22You don't have to remember the greatness of God.
15:26The greatness of God is immeasurable, unthinkable, inconceivable.
15:36You don't even have to bother going into it.
15:42Don't try to remember this and that and stuff about heaven and God did this, God did that.
15:53Kiddish.
15:55God never does anything.
16:01Remember who we are.
16:04And it's easy to remember because we remain the same.
16:10It won't tax your intelligence to remember who you are.
16:17It won't even tax your memory.
16:21It's obvious.
16:40Remember if there is one trait that is like poison to the lover of truth, it is confidence.
16:54Nothing brings you down like confidence.
17:01The day you start feeling assured of something is the day you have lost it.
17:18And the worst assuredness is called either self-assuredness or assuredness about truth
17:30or God.
17:43The true lover of truth has to be an unrelenting sceptic.
17:55He has to be uncompromisingly ruthless.
18:02What is it that he must be sceptical of?
18:04Everything.
18:05Everything that comes from him.
18:07If his God comes from him, then he must be sceptical even of his God.
18:12Because it's not God you are talking of.
18:15It's your God you are talking of.
18:19Your God is your creation.
18:22You have to be very, very cynical of him.
18:29That's the one trait that characterizes the true seeker, a total absence of confidence.
18:45He keeps asking, probing, never concludes.
18:52He never stops at something.
18:54He never says, I found a center, I found a destination.
18:57He never says, the end has arrived so I can conclude.
19:01Conclusion means ending, right?
19:07He never ends.
Comments