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Realisation of the Atma

A satsang discourse on Advaita Vedanta, self-realization, and modern spirituality.

"Ādi Guru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya—one of the German philosophers studied his literature and said, 'Such a great thinker and writer till now have not been on this earth.'"

"In this modern world, in this Kali Yuga time, one thing is a pity: that all ability of the human brain is directed outward, into the world, into technology."

He contrasts the limitless, inward-focused technology of yogic siddhis with today's outward, limiting material technology, which he says lacks ethics and spirituality. He explains the metaphorical four castes as parts of the human body, advocates for ātma cintan (self-inquiry) over worry (cintā), and stresses the necessity of the guru's grace for true vision and self-realization.

Om. Dīpa Jyoti Parabrahma Dīpam Sarve Mohanam Dīpana Sajjate Sarvam Sandhyā Dīpam Sarav Satyam Om. Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Good evening to everybody. Nice to see you again. Winter is still here. I was looking forward to seeing the winter this year. So, thanks to Mahāprabhujī, he kept the winter here still. Around the whole world, the climate is changing. It's not because of pollution, but because the earth is moving. Australia is thousands of kilometers away, but once it was connected to India; you could walk through. It means there was a land connection. Experts nowadays say that the Australian Aborigines are originally from South India. So it's changing, why not? The whole universe is moving. Everything is working. Our body is working; our cells are working and changing. It's nice to observe, but that observer should not change: knowledge, knower, and object. In this, that knowledge is not changing. The object, and who would like to see what it is, changes into what? Into the knowledge. Ādi Guru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya and his divine teachings, the Advaita Vāda, the Vedānta. Dvaita is duality, and Advaita is non-duality. So what is visible, what is touchable, is changeable. It doesn't count the time. Time is not counted in that reality. So the reality says that reality will remain reality. Ādiguru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya—one of the German philosophers studied his literature and said, "Such a great thinker and writer till now have not been on this earth." Śaṅkarācārya's teaching was for self-realization. Ātmā anubhūti means knowing of the ātmā. Anubhūti means the experience. When you experience something at once, only once, that will always remain. Such experiences, which we call self-realization, the worldly changes will always be. Many things we forget, and many things will come. But that experience of the divine Ātmā, the time we feel oneness, one with God, one with the universe—Ātmā Anubhūti. To get this knowledge, ātma cintan. Chintan means thinking over, studying. When you want to solve some problem, then you are thinking about how to solve it. The person who made the telephone, now these modern telephones, I have been doing chintan about this. Whatever we can get through this telephone, information, is the chintan of the modern man. Overthought. Went for a walk alone in the forest, on the beach, in the night. Always thinking, experimenting, then got exactly the result, and then it was given in our hands. So that was a human brain, chintan, thinking over. But in this modern world, in this Kali Yuga time, one thing is a pity: that all ability of the human brain is directed outward, into the world, into technology. Now, everyone wants to study something about techniques. They are successful, but it is limited. It made the human lonely. It made the human separated from human, an enemy. It made man just like a technique only. Two things are missing: the ethic and spirituality. Day by day you see that spirituality is becoming less and less. It doesn't matter from which religion you talk about. Many people feel ashamed to say that they are religious persons. So all that is developed in this modern world is a dry plastic apple. You can't eat it. Spirituality. Great saints in the past, great philosophers in the past, throughout the whole world, tried very hard to give the humans spirituality. Because humans, God has made them for another purpose, and that is self-realization. Therefore, Śaṅkarācārya said, "From where do I come, and where am I going? For what I came, and where will I go?" This question: "Ko'ham? Katam idam? Jātam ko vā? Kartasya vidyate?" So, think over: for what did God send us here, or give us such a brain? Those hidden powers in humans, those hidden abilities in us—we are wasting 100% towards technologies. Of course, at a certain level, technology is good. There's nothing to say against it. It's great. But it doesn't solve that problem, that aim of self-realization. If in this technology, if in this modern teaching, there would be spirituality and ethical education, yes, the man would be today like the great ṛṣis in the past. Yes, many things, many techniques, what they developed, were spoken by the ṛṣis or given by the ṛṣis. We call it Dūr Darśan. Dūr means distance, far away. And Darśan means to see. So it was those ṛṣis, yogīs, could see us thousands of kilometers far. The example, the evidence during the Mahābhārata battle, when in Kurukṣetra the Mahābhārata battle began, the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he couldn't go in the war because he's blind. But he would like to know each and every movement, what's happening. How is my son Duryodhana? My children and the Pāṇḍavas are doing. So, in order to give him this knowledge, his secretary got the blessing. His name was Sanjay, and Krishna gave him a blessing. That Sanjay can see in far distance, 300 kilometers distance, what's happening and informing him, the king. When it began, he got the vision, and evening when war was... In the evening there was law, in the night, no fight. And no one should kill someone by shooting from the backside or by standing behind the trees, hiding. If you are a hero, if you are a warrior, if you are not a coward, then you have to go to the battlefield with an open chest, face to face. And nowadays, they hide somewhere, they shoot, and they run away. Or far distance, pressing buttons, navigating, and killing some people. That was not allowed. Face to face, arm to arm. That's why in the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains about the four castes. And this caste is not divided from person to person. The Brahmin means the knowledge, and that is our brain, our head. All the jñānendriyas, the senses of the knowledge, are located above the shoulders in this part of the body, except the skin, which is going through the whole body, the touch. It means to hold all together. All the limbs of the body should be in oneness. And that's why the skin is informing each and every touch. Doesn't matter if it's small toes or fingers, any part of the body. That's called tvacā, it means skin, and it means touch. Even a little mosquito bites us, we know where and what happened. So the Brahmin is this part of our body, and warriors are the arms, the strength. They were fighting with the arms, with the open body, not closed. That is a warrior, and the stomach, the trunk of the body, which has all the organs, which are very important for life, they are protected in this part of the body, the trunk of the body, and supply the nourishment to the entire body: muscles, glands, joints, ligaments, everything. That's called the farmer, the vaiśya. Like a farmer is supplying the nourishment, food, and the legs, they are all the time ready to carry us anywhere. Doesn't matter if the floor is clean or not. It doesn't think if it's dirty or not dirty. The duty of the legs is to carry your body anywhere you wish. That's seva, service. And so this is called śūdra. Because they can touch, your foot can touch any dirt. They will carry you anywhere, to the protection also. These are the four castes, which are called the Brahmin, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, and Śūdra. All in one in your body. This was given in the śāstras, authentic old scriptures, the caste, what means the caste. There was no name of the caste. The caste name came when the British entered India and divided it in different ways, what they called touchability and untouchability. So that begins the last few centuries. So the human body, which has immense qualities and abilities, and they need to be awakened. So Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa gave the vision to Sañjaya, that during the war he could see, and he was telling everything to the king. Now, this chariot came. Who is sitting on this chariot? What dress do they have? What color of the dress do they have? Everything. And when the war was changed, ended, and Duryodhana was killed, and then he said, "The war is ended, and Duryodhana died," and Dhṛtarāṣṭra said, "And what happened?" He said, "I can't see anything. I can't tell you, King, anything. This divine vision is gone." So dūr darśana, to have the vision to the far distance, that was guru kṛpā. So when you lost the guru... Shiva, guru bhakti, then you lost that vision. It doesn't matter how good you are, how clever you are, how good you work, but that kṛpā is gone. Mokṣa mūlam guru kṛpā. So that kṛpā has to be there. Doordarshan, and also Doorswaran. Doorswaran means listening. You are sitting here, and your friend is sitting in a cave in the Himalayas and meditating, and someone goes to him and begins to talk. You know, you can listen to what they are talking about. Yes, that was it. They could hear everything, so that technology became a telephone, and the seeing far distance became television. Dūr darśana, vision. So that vision is to see, to be seen. So everything that is developed nowadays, nothing, till today, I have, at least myself, have not heard anything which is not described in the Vedas and old yogic siddhis. Okay, we developed, but there is a but. There is a difference between ātmā and body. Ātmā is immortal. Ātmā is everywhere. Ātmā cannot be stopped anywhere. And the body is limited, so the ātmā is unlimited. The abilities of the yogīs don't need to recharge a battery, don't need to change the SIM card. So this technology is limited, it's dependent, but spirituality's technology, the yogic abilities, are unchangeable and is not limited, one without second, beyond everything. And there is a chintan, meaning think over for what you are born. For a little different kind of joy or happiness, you destroy everything. All your doubts, which bring you much gossiping, and we like the gossiping. When you eat, good eating is on your table. In India, we eat some good chutney or a pickle. And always your hand goes to the chutney because it's tasty. And the taste is to our sense of taste. But the taste only, the border of the taste is only till the throat. When you swallow down, the stomach doesn't feel bitter, salty, or hot, chilly, but we don't think of our stomach; we think of our taste, and taste is something which moves us from our main aim, so that kripa is gone. Therefore, Śaṅkarācārya is telling chintan, ātmā chintan, meditation. And meditation automatically has to come to the subject of the Ātmā Cintan. Many yoga teachers in the world are learning meditation and teaching meditation. But they learn wrong, and they teach wrong. The first thing is that they think we don't need a guru. Because we are ourselves a guru, and now you see the work of such a guru, how it is. Now, you teach the meditation, and then you say, "Now, am I in the sun rising?" And someone doesn't like the sun rising. Are you sure that they want to see the sun rise? So, which kind of instructions are you giving? That is just a sun rising or a dawn or sunset; it is temporary, only to move yourself in a different direction. But ātmacintan with that mantra and Guru Kṛpā, it... It takes a long time to come to this knowledge. Long, long time. So when you do not have proper chintan, if you have not learned proper chintan, then you have a cintā. Cintan, cintā. My God, beautiful words, no? But it is completely opposite, completely opposite. Cintan brings you to perfection and to your aim. That's called chintan, and chintan means worry. Worries about many things, and that worry is the cause of the fear. That worry is the cause of the nervousness. That worry, that uncertainty, brings anger, hate, and jealousy. It is a very subtle power in it. That will make a lot of cracks inside, and it destroys your bhakti. You know, we have a big talāb in Jadam. This year, there was nearly seven meters of water inside, deep. And now it's only three or four. We can't find where the water is leaking. But there must be a case somewhere. So this is what we call cintā. Cintā makes many, many cracks. It means our belief, our trust, our certainty, our faith is all cracking. Cinta is the termite which can destroy the whole big tree. Therefore, no worry, no cintā. But chintan. Think over, you will find that mistake within yourself. The answer is within you, and the cause of that trouble is you. But you do not want to say that, yes, it is my mistake. Cintan, ātma-cintan. Now, there is another kind of cintan: worrying about study, to get a profession, work, get married. How to find a good partner. But you know, you found a partner many times. But you did not make cintā over. You went sideways. You had a cintā. You were worried about it. Therefore, Holī Gurujī said it nicely. And therefore, Holī Gurujī said it nicely. Never be worried about it. Don't worry. Don't worry. Take it as it is. Yes. What happens will happen, and what will not happen will not happen. Worrying about this will not help you. If something is wrong, then do work with the knowledge. But do not sit at home and wonder, "What should I do?" What should I do? What should I do? Ale neobávajte sa, neseďte doma a neobávajte sa, čo by som mal robiť? Čo by som mal robit? That's it. So, ātmā anubhūti, ātmā anubhūti, ātmā cintan, ātmā cintan, ātmā bheda, ātmā bheda, hat chod mana chal sang. Meditation, tell to thy mind. Hath chod mana, O my mind, give up your wrong ideas. Come with me, I will tell you what is the Ātmā. Mind said, "Come on with me towards the Ātmā Jñāna." So that is Ādi Guru Bhagwaṅ Śaṅkarācārya, whose philosophy was non-dualism. There is only one. There is no two, and where there is two, there is duality. And the duality is not reality. We are physically different. But as ātmā, we are all one. And when we realize this, Śaṅkarācārya said to see thyself in each and every entity. This is the first step of Self-Realization. There is reconciliation. There is reconciliation, forgiveness. There is forgiveness, there is to forget, and there is to become one. That's it. So we will continue tomorrow, and wish you a very nice evening. So sing the bhajana of Gurujī. Please stop at the windows.

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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