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Jñāna Svarūpa, Śaṅkarācārya asks: How does the knower, the wise one, think? What is knowledge? What is the form of knowledge? Jñāna Svarūpa—what is knowledge like? What is a knower? Here, it concerns Ātmajñāna, how Ātmajñāna is described. In this, Śaṅkarācārya speaks of the Self. The Self exists within us as the divine Self. Earlier, he explained the difference between the Self and the body and so on. How does one think, the knower? Or how should one think? What should one realize? How should one use one's Viveka? We spoke of this yesterday, and now we say it again. Nirvikāra We have often spoken about Vikāras. What is Vikāra or Nirvikāra? Vikāra means impurity. Vikāra is that which is not eternal. Vikāra means that one is mortal. Consider a fruit that is rotting. It is rotten, no longer edible. It is destroyed; it is in a state of decay. Śarīra, this body, is only a vikāra. The Dharma of the body, according to Bodhidharma, is to be born, grow, and die. This śarīra is full of vikāra. All of us sitting here, none is completely healthy. It is full of vikāra. Some have a cough, some a cold, some have lung problems, one has intestinal issues, another muscular, another bone, nerve, or glandular problems. So somewhere there is vikāra. This body is full of vikāras. Your śarīra, vikāra, is inherently impure. Is it not so? Vikāra. This body is full of vikāra. Therefore, Śaṅkarācārya says that this sheath, which is full of vikāra, cannot be the divine Self. Thus, it is said: Nirvikāra. Nirvikāra means purity, the pure. So I am the Pure One. I am not filled with vikāras; I have nothing to do with vikāras. I am Nirvikāra. I am completely healthy and pure. Ātman is pure. Spotless, clean, pure is Ātman. The body is ill, sick, in pain, born, changing, growing, becoming sick again, and dying. But Ātman is not born; there is no change in your Ātman, and it will not die either. Nirākāra Formless, without form, with form and without form. Sākāra is the body, and Nirākāra is the Ātman. Ākāra here means a form. The body has a form, and this form will also come to an end. Whoever has assumed a form will one day have that form destroyed. What is created will be destroyed. That is the nature of things. Whoever is born will die. Everything we see in this world, everything visible that has form, will eventually change its form again. All mighty mountains that have existed for millions of years will one day be transformed. They will be cast into the oceans. But the Ātman has no ākāra. Therefore, death can only attack, alter, or take away a body, a form. But if you have no form, what can death do to you? If you have no form, what can disease do there? Illness permeates a form. You are not an ākāra. There is no solid matter there, not at all. It is like the sky, heaven. No one says the sky is sick. We only say there is so much pollution, so much environmental contamination. Everything that exists within it can be destroyed, but the sky itself cannot. And so, your essence is pure breath. Why are you crying? Why are you afraid for your body when you are ill, and so on? From the day you receive this experience or realization that "I am the Ātman," your body may even begin to become healthy again. Suddenly you say to your body: "Enough, it does not define me at all. Now I want to become healthy again," and we show that "I am here." So breathe deeply. The best medicine is to breathe deeply. The best medicine is self-thought. "Who am I?" That means practicing Self-Inquiry Meditation. Self-Inquiry Meditation: "Who am I?" So, Nirvikāra, Nirākāra. I am free from all diseases. Only the body is ill, but I am not the body. And Nirākāra, because I have no form. I am formless, and I am within everything. I am everywhere. There is nowhere in the entire universe, not even a small corner, where I am not present. These experiences are Self-realization; this is God-consciousness. That comes. That comes through healthy thinking, not through negative thinking. Nirmala Nirvikāra, Nirākāra, and Nirmala. I am completely pure. Malarāhita. Impurity exists only in the body. Impurity exists only in matter. In divine consciousness, there exists no impurity, no pollution. This dust flies or lies around, but the essence is spotless, pure prāṇa. And so, when one is sad, one should think: even this sadness is your emotion, your feelings, your body's state. You are not that. And so, when one is sad, one says: Ānandoham, Ānandoham, Ānandam Brahma. Oṁ sac-cid-ānanda, Oṁ sac-cid-ānanda... Oṁ sac-cid-ānanda... Oṁ sac-cid-ānanda. So, I am Nirvikāra, I am free from diseases, I am not this disease. I am formless, and I am purity. Avināśī Nirākāra and Avināśī. We are all afraid of something. This is the best means to get rid of this fear: Avināśī. Avināśī means the Immortal. Avināśī means Eternal. Everlasting. Avināśī is Everlasting. What exists in this world, whatever is always there, is nothing [permanent]. But there is One, and that is the Ātman. That is the divine Self, and that is your Self. You are Avināśī. So if you are Avināśī, no one can destroy you, no one can take you away; then why are you afraid? How foolish it is that we fear losing the body. How ridiculous it is to be sad, thinking, "Now I am sick, what am I supposed to do? That hurts me here, and that hurts me there." That is clear anyway, because this is the body. The body is the vikāra, it is said. Vikāra is the body; the body is the vikāra of disease. That is clear anyway. But I have already said before: in nature, it will be so. Therefore, do not complain about your fate. Is that in my destiny? Yes, it is in your destiny. It is in the destiny of all of us. But that is not your destiny, your Ātman's; rather, it is a process in nature. And that is nature. The body is born, grows, falls ill, and dies. That is all. So Avināśī is that everlasting one. Avināśī. No one can ever destroy it. It will always be there, forever and ever. It was, it is, and it will always be there. And who is that? Your Self. You were, you are, and you will always be. So how many millions of times have you changed your body? You have passed through this body millions of times. So, overcome fear. Whoever has this fear should read this from Śaṅkarācārya: Prakāśa, Anubhūti. But read it in such a way, think about it, that every word, each word has a meaning. Study it, understand it. These three belong together: Svādhyāya means reading. Manana means reflecting afterwards. And Abhyāsa means practice, or living accordingly. According to the mind. And how to think sometimes? Nira, Nirvikāra, Nirākāra. I am Nirvikāra, I am Nirākāra, I am Nirañjana, I am Avināśī, I am Nirmala. So, I am Nirvikāra, Nirākāra, and Avināśī. Asat and Satya I am not the form of the unreal. And I am nothing of this falsehood of the cotton [?]. Asat and Satya. Satya is truth and Asatya is untruth. The body is Asatya. So this untruth of the body, I am not that. As long as you think and identify your own Self with your body, that "I am the body and this is me," then you will always be sad. Always, always, and always. Not even God Himself can come and say, "My child, be happy." So, happiness, joy, victory—everything lies within you. And indeed, through your thoughts. That is why God has given us this Buddhi and Viveka. Think like this, do not think like that. And from that, according to these thoughts, through this teaching, even those—psychologists or psychiatrists or whatever they are called, all therapists—have adopted this teaching. They just left out the word "Yoga." That is all. These are the teachings of the masters, great masters, the Upaniṣads and so on. "I am healthy. I am not ill. I am happy. I am well." So every day they think, but they have lost the essence. When you accept these thoughts and help others in this way, it will suddenly become clear. But the problem is that most of it comes from the right side, and the words go away to the left side. Upare sebāre, nice sejāre, Gurumārasa skhyākyakāre. From above, the Master pours. But below, everything is dripping out. What is the master supposed to do? Down there it is broken. There is a hole. And this hole must be filled. Exactly. And that means a hole signifies that one does not take the words of the Master seriously, but forgets and does not reflect. This one mantra, one version, is so clear, such a clear indication. A meditator needs nothing more. They need nothing more. Who can understand, that is enough. They possess the entire teaching of everything—the teachings of Yoga, the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, and all sacred wisdom. They have already received it in one word, when one will understand what is being said. In an argument, when someone says something, then one says, "Aha, okay, I understand everything, I have understood, thank you." In disputes or such, to suddenly say a word, "I understand everything"—what you want to say or what feelings you have. "I had already thought it was like that, but I didn’t want to accept it as truth," he then says. Often people call me at 3 o'clock in the night and say, "Everything is clear to me now." I say, "Well, not yet for me, because I, you cannot sleep, but I have a little yoga missing, I must sleep." And so the spiritual, in one word, śabdabāṇa—shot with an arrow, just one arrow—everything is clear. Śabdabāṇa is what he says. We call that Bhajan. The bhajan is by Śrī Lālā Nanjī: "The arrow of the word struck so deeply that the proud mind was destroyed. Do you know my condition, Satguru Mārīyā Tīra? Do you know my condition?" And then he said, "Master, what do you tell me, what do you know about me, my state?" My Gurudeva opened me with an arrow. And this arrow is a word, a sound, a word of truth. There are disciples, many of them, who have received only one word, like a mantra or a single word, and they have meditated on all their suffering through that word and attained Self-realization. And so the Master tells him: "You are not this body, you are not this form, you are not this disease, you are not this impurity; you are the purity." And so, "I am nothing of this Asat-Śarīra-Deha, I am nothing of this unruly body. I am Ātman." This is the thought of a realized one; this is the thought of the wise. And only he can realize his goal. What goal? For Self-realization. Please, I need to respond a little here. It is clear, and so. Niramayo Nirābhāso Nirvikalpo Niramayo nirābhāso nirvikalpo yamātata / Nāhaṁ deho yasādṛūpo janaṁ ittyucyate buddhe. Medhukīna, the Śaṅkarācārya said, Medhukīna, Niramayo: I am free from all worries. How beautiful. Duḥkha. Duḥkha means difficulties; Duḥkha means pain; Duḥkha means suffering; Duḥkha means problems. Duḥkha, Duḥkha. When one experiences pain, then Duḥkha says, "Oh, Duḥkha." No, when one has pain—"Do you have pain?" Then it says, "Yes, Duḥkha, Duḥkha. Hey, now Duḥkha." Like this, Duḥkha is everything. Everything we have is Duḥkha. This Saṁsāra is Duḥkha. This Saṁsāra is Duḥkha. Duḥkha says, "Hey, in this Saṁsāra there is only Duḥkha, nothing else." And the Ātman is beyond the Duḥkhas. So Śaṅkarācārya said: I am without duḥkha. There are no worries, no pain, nothing, nothing. I am beyond that. I know that this body suffers. I know that this body experiences pain. But I am the Chaitanya-svarūpa Ātman. I am beyond this duḥkha. And that is why we always sing: O Prabhupādā, Nirañjana, Śabaduḥkha. May Mahāprabhujī liberate me from this duḥkha of saṁsāra. May Mahāprabhujī awaken in my consciousness this feeling or knowledge that I transcend this Duḥkha. Sabba Duḥkha Bhañjana. All kinds of Duḥkhas. Tāpa-traya is also Duḥkha. Tāpa-traya is also a form of Duḥkha. Duḥkha. So, to remove all kinds of Duḥkhas. And so I am free from Duḥkha. Free from Ābhāsa, and I am also free from these feelings and hopes and all this Ābhāsa. I have no intention of adopting these types of consciousness, false imaginations, or false feelings. But did you say, "So I have no attachment, I have no hope, I have no such Duḥkha, I do not suffer; I am free from this"? Nirvikalpa and Vyāpaka And like Kalpa hin. Kalpa and like Kalpa. What is like Kalpa and Kalpa? Kalpa is attachment, taking something. And what Kalpa is, is to stand above these things, to stand above all attachments. Kalpa and Vikalpa. I am Nirvikalpa and Vyāpaka as well. And I am everywhere, eternal. Omniscient. I am omniscient and omnipresent. I am everywhere. I am everywhere, yet I am free. As I said, I belong to no one. No one can catch me; I am like the wind. And no one can possess me; I am like the sky. But still, I will not leave you alone. I will always be one with you. That is Ātman, that is Jñāna. So, Vyāpaka, all-pervading. I am everywhere. I exist in every atom. This is such a beautiful feeling. Then it is divine. Then there is no other. Then it does not say "God." It no longer says "God," because He is God. He is One. This consciousness is a comprehensive unity on every level, everywhere. Sun, Moon, stars, or our Earth, planet, or anyone. Everything that is movable and immovable in this universe, visible and invisible—in all of it, He is Vyāpaka. Vyāpaka, Viśvame, Jyoti. In this prayer, Viśvame, charācar, Prabhu, Chetanā, Jyoti, Tumārī, in the prayer we say: "O Mahāprabhujī, Vyāpaka, Viśva. Vyāpaka means this world that is created, that exists. Viśva is the universe. Chetanā is the consciousness. Jyoti is the light. Charācar, all living beings—you exist throughout the entire universe. Everything that we can see, everything that exists, living beings in every heart—you are, Mahāprabhujī, your light. Your light pervades the entire universe, both the moving and the unmoving. O Lord, your divine light is in all realms, everywhere. You are." Yes. And therefore, I am nothing of this unreal body. I am nothing of this body. I am nothing of this form. I am nothing of this sadness. I am nothing of these worries. I am the Happiest One. I am the purest divine Self. I am the light. I am everywhere, eternal. I am nothing separate. It is your ignorance that makes you feel separated, that you feel you are not connected—what is that? Separation, feelings, worries, and loneliness—these feelings last as long as you bind yourself to this body. When you transcend this body, then you are in unity. And these feelings of having unity are the most beautiful feeling. And to feel separated, to feel lonely, to feel abandoned—that is a painful, terrible feeling. And this feeling can never be fulfilled, no matter who it is. Eventually, separation will come again someday. If you do not accept death, you take away a person or something from which you feel separated. Develop your feelings, sorry, unity—unity in the planes, in Ātman. "I am always one with you, always." This feeling will give you such joy, such love, such a beautiful sensation, a light. Otherwise, we will always suffer. And so thinks a knower, a self-realized one.