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Satchidananda Atma is the Truth

A spiritual discourse on the nature of the absolute Self, Parameshvara, and the path to self-realization.

"Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā. The truth is that Sachidānanda; this world is unreality."

"The difference between you and me is that I know and you don’t know, and that’s why you are suffering."

The speaker delivers an extensive teaching on non-dual Vedanta, explaining the progression from the universal Parameshvara to the individual Ātmā. Using scriptural references, the story of Krishna and Arjuna, and a parable of a tiger cub raised by goats, he illustrates the mistaken identity of the soul and the necessity of Guru-given knowledge to realize one's true nature as immortal, blissful consciousness (Sat-Cit-Ānanda). The talk covers themes of ignorance, meditation, mantra repetition, and the pitfalls of judging spiritual teachers externally.

Filming location: Jadan, Rajasthan, India

Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa,... Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nara, Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nara, Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa... Dīp Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa... Deep Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa Satya Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa... Sathya Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Sathya Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Sathya Nārāyaṇa, Sathya Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Sathya Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān. Out of 8.4 million different creatures and out of millions of solar systems and countless stars and planets, our planet, or Earth, is that where living consciousness is residing. The Paramatmā, Īśvara, Parameśvara. Parameśvara is that consciousness which is governing the entire universe, the endless universe. That’s called Parameśvara. Governing means not with the ego, nor with emotion, nor what we call dictating, nor dictatorship. But it is that which is ever-present, called one without seconds. Though he is ever-present, he has given the liberty or freedom to everything which is visible or invisible. The same Parameśvara, when he begins to govern or influence a particular solar system, is called Īśvara. Our sun system, as far as the light of our sun reaches, is that one sun system. Within that, all planets or stars, whatever they are, are affected by this sunlight, the one sun. This sun is life, the sun which we see. It is Agni Tattva, the Pañca Mahābhūtas or elements. All created by one creator, Swayambhū, Eko’haṁ Bahusyāmi: I am one and will multiply into many. With this purpose, that awakening of particular consciousness is through the sound, Nādarūpa Parabrahma. That Swayambhū, that Parabrahma manifests first in sound, and out of that sound, Jīvanjyoti, Śivjyoti, Brahmjyoti, Ātmajyoti, Jñānjyoti, Netrajyoti. Jyoti means light, the flame. That is Śivjyoti. That Śivjyoti is the Brahmajyoti. That Brahmajyoti is the Ātmajyoti, meaning the same. There is no difference between that Brahmajyoti and Ātmajyoti. It is said, I am that pure consciousness, the Śiva. I am the immortal Ātmā. I am that Ātmā, Sat, Cit, Ānanda. Śat means the truth, means everlasting. No politics, no philosophy, no religion. Believe or not believe, no one, nothing can remove the truth. Truth is truth. Satya hi satya hai. That’s why Śivam satyam sundaram. That is the Śiva, that is the satyam, satya, truth, and that is the beauty, the eternal, sat. And that is chitta, consciousness. Ānanda is the bliss. Where the truth and consciousness are, there is the bliss, everlasting bliss. Ānanda and parama ānanda, that ānanda of these five bhūtas and ten indriyas, five karmendriyas and five jñānendriyas, the ānanda of these indriyas is limited. Therefore, it is said, "Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā." Brahma Satya, the truth is that Sachidānanda; Jagat Mithyā, this world is unreality. The reality and unreality: everlasting is the reality, and that which is changeable is not a reality. Na pānī na mṛtyu mīṭāve, bujhāve na pānī na mṛtyu mīṭāve, vahiyatam saccidānandame jise na śāstra kāṭe, no any weapon can kill or cut, ātmā is like a space, thousand times. You can move the knife in this room. Nowhere will you see this crisis. You can shoot thousands of bullets through this space. You will not see a hole in the sky. You can make as much fire as you want, but this space cannot be burned. Nor can water make weight, nor can death take away. Death also cannot. Death is also limited. Vahīyātmā, akhil viśvakā jo paramātmā hai, akhil viśvakā jo paramātmā, sabhī prāṇiyoṁ kā vahīyātmā hai. Sabhī prāṇiyoṁ kā vahīyātmā, vahīyātmā se amarātmā se, cidānandamehu, śivo’haṁ, śivo’haṁ, śivo’haṁ. Akhil Viśvātmā, Śampūl Brahmāṇḍa, Anant Brahmāṇḍa, endless universe. Within that Parameśvara, Paramātmā, Highest Supreme, that is Ātmā. No ichchā, no desires, no longing, nothing. Nir Ichchā Nirman. Without desire, still functioning, still working, creation begins. That Ātmā is within. Sabhī prāṇiyoṁ kī vahī Ātmā hai. So it means that universal consciousness as ātmā is within each and every entity. Doesn’t matter if it is even a bacteria. The bacteria are carrying the same light of that creator, God. And also, humans or animals. Sajīs kā jho vyāpak kan kan meṁ nahīṁ, tīn kāloṁ meṁ honā. Sajīs kā nahīṁ, tīn meṁ honā. Jiskā vahī ātmā ścidananda, amaryātmā ścidananda. Śivo’ham, śivo’ham,... Jo vyāpak hai kan kan mein, which is present in every atom, nothing is without him, and in all the three times can never be destroyed, past, present, and future. That’s called everlasting. That’s called nitya, immortal, everlasting. Akhand, they say the śāstra kate, that ātmā is that divine supreme which is in everyone. Ajar yor amar jīs ko vedon ne gāyā. Yahī gyān Arjun ko Hari ne sunāyā, yahī gyān, kyā sunāyā? Vahī ātmāsa, chidānanda me hu amar ātmāsa, siddhānanda śivo’ham, śivo’ham, ... śivo’ham,... śivo’ham. Ajar or amar? Ajar is anjanma, which is not born. Who is not born cannot die. Amar never will die, so it’s unborn, everlasting. Who is the unborn? Svayaṃbhu Śiva. Because he was not born, he manifested himself. That entire universal life, Jyoti, Śiva Jyoti. Ajara or Amara, jisko Vedāne gayā, which is spoken, where the glory in the Vedas about that Parameśvara. In Vedas there is no name of any individual God, in Upaniṣada there is no name of any manifested God, there is no personified God in Upaniṣada, is there? Hai kya? Nahī hai name of the ṛṣis, name of some like Nārasiketa and so, but not. And if then only Swayambhu Śiva, Brahmā, and Brahmā, Śiva. Ajara Amar jisko Vedo ne gayā, and yahī jñāna Arjuna ko Hari ne sunāyā. Bhagwan Krishna, this knowledge also gave to Arjuna, God Krishna, Bhagwan Krishna. Hey Krishna, Bhagwan Krishna said, "Hey Arjuna, I am that Ātmā, sat-cid-ānanda-ātmā, and you are the same." The difference between you and me is, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "Arjuna, the difference between you and me is that I know and you don’t know, and that’s why you are suffering." That’s why, O Arjuna, you are suffering and you are sad because you are attached to this ignorance. Arjuna, get up and take your Gāṇḍīva dhanuṣ and fight against what? Ignorance. My, my, this, neither your body is yours, nor your intellect is yours, nor your emotion, your ego, your feelings, nothing is yours because you are not that one. You are the different. So when you will realize thyself, then you will say, "Oh God, how many mistakes I did, or what I was thinking, what I am and what I am not." One shepherd, a Raika, a Rebari, a shepherd was in the forest, taking his goats and sheep with him and his camels. And you know how he is teaching them, how he is taking them away? You know this language, Yogīs? Śrīdharśan jī, you know this. That’s it, tuk tuk... tuk. That’s not how you do it. You know the wheel bearer? One day, a laborer came to Yogījī and said, "Bābājī, what should I do?" I have paddy fields, right? Where I take cement. I want to dig them. I want to make a sound. He would make a sound of khaṭ, khaṭ. Yogījī said, "Why? What should I do with the khat?" Yogījī said, "I am a bad man, go away." I said, "Why should I do that? Why did I take leave?" Yogījī said, "Go away." I said, "Why should I go? What should I do?" Yogījī said, "Go away." I said, why should I do that? He would make a sound of "thak, thak,"... that he does wrong. He had one big house and many, many sheep and goats. One day, he found a small tiger baby, very little. So the shepherd took the tiger baby with his goats and sheep and began to give it milk from the goat. Now, the tiger baby is drinking milk from the goat, sitting with the goat, going into the forest with the goat, running behind the goats. When the dog comes, the goat runs away. The tiger also runs away because that tiger baby was thinking he is also a goat. One day, a real tiger came, and all the goats were running, and the tiger baby was also running. The tiger was looking, "Oh, he is a tiger, and he is running like a goat." I wish I could liberate him from this fear. He should go with us; he belongs to our family, tiger families, cat families. So the tiger was running behind this goat, and the goat said, "Please don’t do this to me. Please, I am a goat, I am a goat." He said, "You are not a goat, I am a goat." It was troubling. Tiger said, "You are not a goat, you are a tiger." He said, "You are lying." I am not lying. No, I am not. Go, tiger, please go away. I am afraid. He said, "No, no, no. You are a tiger." I am not a tiger. He said, "Yes, you are. Come with me. I saw you." But you will kill me. He said, "No, I will not kill you." He took him to the water. There was a small pond, and I went to the water and looked at my face. How do I look? No, I don’t want to see. You are a crazy man. You are a crazy tiger. Are very dangerous. He said, "No, no... but look." He looked. Now look in the water. Is your face and my face the same? He said, "No, you are tricky." Is your face what I see? I am a goat. He said, "No, no, it’s your face. I go away, and now you look." And now you see how a goat is looking. The goat has horns, long ears like this, and a long beard. I am a tiger? He said, "Yes, I am a tiger. I am not afraid." Oh, goats, when they come, I will eat them. And he went with the tigers. Similarly, my dear, we think we are a mortal being. We will die. Is my body my thing? Am I afraid? Am I this? No. I am offended. I am fearful. I am angry. No. I am Ātmā. Nothing can touch me. That’s it. Satchidānanda Ātmā. So when you meet the Gurudev, Vedānta, that’s divine philosophy in the entire world. Highest philosophy, Yoga Vedānta, non-dualities, non-dualism. Means I am not the body, I am not the senses, I am not the intellect, I am not the mind, I am not emotion, I am not this consciousness. I am that divine Sat-Cit-Ānanda Svarūpa, and that is God. Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna. Get up and know that the problem is this between you and me: I know and you don’t know. On the day when you will know, Arjuna, then you will become the Krishna. Similarly, on the day when you will know Ātmā Jñāna, then you will be Brahman. And that’s why Brahmalin, when the saint dies or gives up the body, then we call Mahārāj Brahmalin ho gaye. Normally, people say, "Devlok chale gaye," they went to the world of the Devas, what you call heaven. But there is no heaven. Again, you will come back. So Brahma jñāna, śivo’ham, śivo’ham, vahiyātmā, saccidānandame. That is a Śiva jyoti, and so out of the entire universe, where millions of stars and sun systems, within our, this is governing. What we call Īśvara is the sun, and this Īśvara, this is the light. And that’s the Mr. Bhakta’s of Mahāprabhujī, Gurujī from Jaipur. He said he had a darśan that on the gate of the Brahma Jñāna, there is going only through the sun, no other door. And there is sitting Mahāprabhujī, he saw. And Devapurījī is that sun, which is, you know, the day before yesterday, principles have told you how many degrees of heat you have from the sun, four thousand. If this four thousand heat, only one little piece of iron lying in the pālī here, you will be sweating. So, ātmā, why that is Īśvara, Parameśvara? Īśvara, and now the ātmā within our body. So, our body is also like a solar system. So that’s why they say that billions of the sun systems means, first, on this planet, how many creatures are there? All like its own phenomenon, own phenomenon, own system. And within that sun, light is your ātmā. And when we realize that, then we are free. Otherwise, we are fighting, and we are angry, and we are sad, and we say "my" and "your," and "I" and "my caste" and "your caste." Now, there are so many castes: broad caste, web caste, so many, many castes. So, this is what it is. That is a fighting problem here in the world: "my" and "yours." "My" and "yours" is the problem. Therefore, meditate and meditate. If you can meditate, you come nearer to the Ātmā, and everything will be sinking down. So, like, imagine that you are stuck in mud, and from this mud you have to come out. So you are going with your legs up and again down and again up. It’s hard work, but try and try and try, and you will come out. Then you will dust everything, and off you go. Otherwise, we are stuck in this garbage of the kleśas of the saṃsāras. Vikṣepa and kleśa. Prapañca, jīvanakā prapañca. This soul, which came with suffering and will go while suffering, will suffer there too, and then again will come while suffering. This is a cycle of suffering, everlasting. Only one chance has the human. And that human, through the Guru’s grace, he may perform countless efforts, whatever he wishes. Nabhavāśyendu Tere, Mahāprabhujī said, "Thousands of things you can do, but you cannot cross this ocean of ignorance, the ocean of māyā." Gurudev bina karjanai sare, without Gurudev, you will not be successful. Guru Devabheena Karjanayasare, Guru Devabheena Koti Upayakare. Koi Chahe Koti Upayakare, Nabhava Sindhothire. Guru Devabheena Karjanayasare, antar jami bina karjanayasare. Bhūtonē to śiṣ namah, bhūton bheṭ dhare. Look how ignorant he is. Bhūtonē to śiṣ namah, bhūton bheṭ dhare. Agyānī bhātom pāpī nevenai sata-guru āge pāpī kasta aneka bhare. Gurudeva bhinā o kastā aneka bhare, Gurudeva bhinā. Arjanayasare, Gurudevabheena, Arjanayasare, koti upaya kare koi chahe, koti upa na bhava sindho tere Gurudeva bina jana sarhe, antar jami bina jana sarhe, bhutane sish namave. Dekhiyan jyotva rāsta māte bhūtane bhūti vāsya kāya. There was one lady in Jodhpur. She was about 85 years old or young, 85 years young. Guruji went there to her house because her grandson invited Guruji for bhajan, prasad, and eating. They were all bhaktas, Gurujī’s. Guru ji was sitting there, and this 85-year-old lady came and made a praṇām and sat down. Guru ji said, "How are you?" She said, "Good." She was talking a little bit occult. Then Gurujī asked, "Have you a guru?" No, no,... no Mahārāj. I don’t believe in Guru Pūru. Okay. Gurujī said, why? Because nobody was there. She was sitting there like a ghost, dear Gurujī. Why? No, yeah. I didn’t see the real guru. I want to make a gurujī, but I didn’t meet a guru. So Gurujī said, "What do you think? What is a real guru?" Guruji said she has very good knowledge. Because she knows, she wants to see the real gurus. So all gurus, whatever she has met, Gurujī asked, "Did you ever see some gurus?" She said, "Many." Then, "No, you see, they are eating also, they are drinking water also, they are taking presents, they have a cloth." Khave, pie, fir kya gurujī kare? Guruji said, "And what kind of gurujī do you want to have?" Who doesn’t need anything? Don’t eat, don’t drink, don’t wear anything, just. Don’t take any dakṣiṇā, no bed. Gurujī said, "I know one guru like that." You can have him. She said, "Swamiji, Guruji, I will be so thankful to you and great." My life will be successful if you can show me such a guru. Gurujī said, He doesn’t eat, he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t eat. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t drink. The body doesn’t require anything, such a guru. If you are searching, then go and make a stone as your guru. So as long as you are in this body, you have feelings, you have drink, hungry, this, that, cold, warm, heat, everything. Do not, do not judge the wise persons or saints from the body, but from the knowledge, when you see the master, don’t ask from which country you are or which caste you belong to. Ask the knowledge. Yes, knowledge. When you want to buy a sword, a sword, then ask the price of the sword, not the case of the sword, right? Doesn’t matter how nice it looks, but it’s not useful. The useful, real thing is what is inside. And similarly, what is the knowledge inside? That you should ask. Don’t look to the body. That’s it. Therefore, that is the truth. And that meditation, vikṣepa means disturbances. And Mahāprabhujī said, "Don’t dive when the high waves are there for the pearls." Don’t dive to search the pearls when the waves are too high. Wait, don’t take any decisions. Mahāprabhujī said, "Don’t dive into the ocean when there is a storm and the waves are too high. Wait. When the storm and waves are calm, then you..." Tell the divers to find the pearls. So emotion, motion is so high and you are inside, that’s called emotion. You are in the motion, so wait and wait and wait. So vikṣepa, disturbances. Kleśa, fightings. So, outer vikṣepa, the sound, what we call pollution, sound pollution. Somebody tells you, "You are stupid," and goes away. Now you go home, you go in your room, and you meditate. But you are thinking, she told me you are stupid. But you don’t see Maa Prabhu, you see that lady who told you that you are stupid. So that vikṣepa creates kleśa in you. Principles of that, right? And when the Kāleśvara is there, then it means when the peaceful forest fire begins. You saw the Australian fire? The bush fire? How many creatures are suffering? Birds, snakes, kangaroos, rabbits, and all. So Kāleśvara begins like a fire because of that vikṣepa, meditation, dhairya, dhairya, slowly, santosha, santosha, step by step, meditate. Think over, okay. She said, "You are stupid." Okay, it’s her opinion. For her, I am stupid, but for myself, I am not stupid. That’s it. Are you depending on that person who said you are stupid? You are not depending on that. And next time, the next day, that lady or that person will come and say, "I am sorry, what I told you yesterday was so stupid of me." Immediately your kalesha gives sound, so now you are excusing her. Now your mind is getting calm. Why you cannot balance the mind, the emotion. Therefore, mantra japa. Sumeran karo mantra japa. It is the best way. Therefore, it is said, Rām nām lene se hoī pāp kā nāś. Jaise aavat jaavat raste mein uge nahi ghaas. Good? Ram nāma lene se hoī pāpa kā nāś, God’s name repeating, name of the God Rāma, all sins will move away. How? Like every day you walk on that path, grass will not grow there. You will see the footsteps, that someone is walking all the time here. You see, from here we went to the hospital, there was a path, no grass is growing there. It’s not becoming one day, every day, slowly, slowly. So, Rāma Nāma japne se hoī pāpa kā nāś, jaise āvat jāvat raste pe hogī na ghaas. So mantra, śumiran, śumiran, śumiran. Nārāyaṇa, Bhajamāna Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Bhajamāna Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa,... Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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