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Jhankāśarūpa—Śaṅkarācārya asks: How does the wise person think? What is knowledge? What is the form of knowledge? This concerns Ātmajñāna, Self-knowledge. Śaṅkarācārya speaks of the Self, the Divine Self that exists within us. He previously explained the difference between the self and the body. So, how should the knower think? What should one realize? How should one use one's faculty of discrimination (viveka)? We spoke of this yesterday and now revisit it. Nirvikāra. We have often spoken of vikāras. What is vikāra and nirvikāra? Vikāra means impurity. Vikāra is that which is not eternal; it is mortal. Consider a fruit that has rotted. It is spoiled, inedible, destroyed, gone. Śarīra, this body, is only a vikāra. As Bodhidharma's teaching on dharma states, the dharma of the body is to be born, grow, and die. This śarīra is full of vikāras. All of us sitting here are in some way unhealthy. It is full of vikāras: some have coughs, some sneezes, some have lung problems, intestinal issues, muscle pains, bone ailments, nerve troubles, or kidney problems. This body is filled with vikāra. Therefore, Śaṅkarācārya said that this śarīra, full of vikāras, cannot be the divine Self. Hence, one says nirvikāra. Nirvikāra means purity, pureness. So I am pure; I am not filled with vikāras; I have nothing to do with vikāras; I am nirvikāra. I am very healthy and pure. Ātmā is pure, spotless, clean. The ātmā is pure, while the body is ill, sick, and in pain. The body is born, changes, grows, becomes sick again, and dies. But the ātmā is not born; there is no change in your ātmā, and it will not die either. Nirvikāra, Nirākāra. Nirākāra and Ākāra, Sākāra and Nirākāra. Sākāra is Kārya (effect, the created), and Nirākāra is the Ātmā. Ākāra here means a form. This Kārya has a form, and this form also ends. A statue, for instance, will one day be destroyed. What is created will be destroyed. That is nature. Whoever is born will die. Everything we see in this world, everything visible that has form, will someday change its form again. All mighty mountains that have stood for millions of years will one day be eroded and washed into the ocean. But the Ātmā has no Ākāra (form). Therefore, death can only attack an ākāra, a form, to change or remove it. But if you have no form, what can death do to you? If you have no form, what can disease do? Disease penetrates through and through. You are not ākāra. There is no solid matter there, not at all. It is like the sky. No one says the sky is sick. We only say there is pollution, environmental pollution. Everything that exists within can be destroyed, but the sky itself is nothing. And so your breath is a pure breath. Why are you crying? Why are you afraid when your body is sick? When you gain this experience or realization that "I am Ātmā," from that day your body may even start to become healthy again. Suddenly you say to your body, "Okay, you who never think of me at all, now I want to become healthy again and show that I am there." Ātmācintan—the best medicine is ātmācintan, the best medicine is self-thinking: "Who am I?" That is self-inquiry meditation. Who am I? Nirvikāra, nirākāra. I am free from all diseases. Only the body is sick, but I am not the body. And nirākāra, because I have no form. I am without form, and I am in everything. I am everywhere. There is no small corner in the whole universe where I am not. When these experiences arise—that is Self-realization, that is being conscious of God—it comes through healthy thinking, not through negative thinking. Nirvikāro, nirākāro, and nirmala—I am completely pure. Impurity exists only in the body. In the divine consciousness, there is no impurity, no pollution. Dust may fly about or settle, but this is the spotless, pure breath. Thus, when you are sad, you should think, "Oh, who is sad?" It is your emotion, your feelings, your body. You are not that. So when you are sad, you say: Ānando'ham, Ānando'ham, Ānandam, Rām, Ānandam. God bless you. Nirvikāra, nirākāra, nirvikāra, and nirmala. I am nirvikāra—I am free from diseases; I am not this illness. I am free from form, and I am purity. Nitya and Avināśī. We are all afraid of something. This is the best way to get rid of this fear: Avināśī. Avināśī means immortal, eternal, everlasting. What in this world is always there? There is nothing. But there is one, and that is the Ātmā, the divine Self. And that is your Self. You are Avināśī. So when you are Avināśī, nobody can disturb you. Nobody can take you away. Then what are you afraid of? How stupid it is that we are afraid of losing our body. How ridiculous it is to be sad that "now I am sick, and what shall I do? This hurts here, that hurts there." That is clear, because that is the body. The body is vikāra, as said. The vikāra's body is full of this vikāra's illness. That is clear. It has been said before: it is in nature. So do not complain about your facial expressions. Is that in my destiny? Yes, it is in your destiny. It is in the destiny of all of us. But that is not the destiny of your ātmā; it is a process in nature. That is nature: the body is born, grows, gets sick, and dies. That is all. So, Avināśī is that everlasting one. He can never be destroyed. He will always and forever be there. He was, he is, and he will always be there. And who is that? Your Self. You were, you are, and you will always be there. So, how many millions of times have you changed your body? Millions of times you have gone through this body. Therefore, overcome fear. And whoever has this fear should read this in Śaṅkarācārya's work, "Prokṣā Nubuti." But read it in such a way, thinking about each word, for every word has a meaning. Study, reflect, and practice—Svādhyāya, manana, and abhyāsa belong together. Svādhyāya means reading. Manana means reflecting upon it afterward. Abhyāsa means to practice or to think according to life. And how to think? Nirvikāra, nirākāra. I am nirvikāra, I am nirākāra, I am Nirañjana, I am Avināśī, I am Nirmala. So, I am nirvikāra, nirākāra, and Avināśī. And I am not this untruthfulness of the body. Asat and satya. Satya is truth, and asatya is untruth. The body is asatya. So this untruthfulness of the body, I am nothing. And as long as you think and identify your own self with your body—that "I am this body"—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 in you. And that is through your thoughts. That is why God has given us this buddhi (intellect) and viveka (discrimination). Think like this, not like that. Because of this, according to these thoughts, through this teaching, psychologists, psychiatrists, or whatever you call them—all the therapists—have taken over this teaching. They have only let out one word: yoga. That is sad. That is the teaching of the masters, the great masters, the Upaniṣads, and so on. "I am healthy. I am not sick. I am happy. I am doing well." So they think every day, but they have lost the essence. And when you accept this thought and help others in this way, it suddenly becomes clear. But the problem is that the Master pours from the right side, and the words leak out from the left side. Upar se bhare, niche se jhare, guru-mārasa kya kare? From above, the Master fills. But from below, everything drips out. What should the Master do? From below, it is broken; there is a hole, and you have to stop this hole. And that means the hole is that you do not take the words of the Master seriously, or you forget and do not think about them. This one mantra, this one verse, is so clear—such a clear indication that a meditator does not need anything else. He does not need anything else. He can understand; that's enough. He has the whole teaching of everything—the teaching of Yoga, the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, all holy wisdom. He has already received it in one word, when you will understand what he is saying. When someone says something, one says, "Okay, everything is clear to me. I understood, thank you." Without disputes or anything. Suddenly, one word says, "Everything is clear to me." What you want to say or what feelings you have. "I thought it was like that anyway, but I didn't want to have any truth." Doesn't he say that? Often people say it. They call me at 3 o'clock in the night and say, "Swamijī, everything is clear to me now." So I say, "Well, not yet. You can't sleep, but I have a little yoga nidrā. I have to sleep." And so is the spiritual life. With one word, Śabdabāṇa—with one arrow, just one arrow, everything is clear. Śabd tīr kī aisī mārī, mit gayā man magrūr. Kyā tum jāno hāl hamārā? Satguru māriyā tīr, kyā tum jāno hāl hamārā? Satguru māriyā, chotā hamārā, lāriyā kyā tum jānu? Halā hamārā vere, Satguru māriyā tī. And my Master said, "What do you say to me? What do you know about me, about my state? My Gurudev pierced me with an arrow, and this arrow is a word, a sound, a word of truth." So there are students—there are many, many who have only received one word, like a mantra or a word, and they have meditated on this word all their lives and attained Self-realization. And so the Master says to him, "You are not this body, you are not this shape. You are not this illness, you are not this impurity; you are the purity. Nirvikāro nirākāro nirvadhyo ahaṁ bhaya nāma deho yasadrūpo jñānam itty ucyate buddhe." And so, I am not this asat-śarīra-deha, I am not this striving body. I am ātmā. This is how a realized one, the wise, thinks. And only he can realize his goal. What goal? Self-knowledge. Please, you have to answer a little bit. Clear and so. "Nirāmayo nirābhāso nirvikalpo yamātataḥ, nāhaṁ deho yasadrūpo jñānam itty ucyate budhe." Medukhinahu, Śaṅkarācārya said, "Medukhinahu nirāmayo"—I am free from all worries. Dukha, dukha means difficulties, pain, suffering, problems. When you have pain, you say, "Dukhe, oh, dukhe." When you have pain, you say, "Yes, duḥkhe." So dukha, dukha is everything. Everything we have is dukha. This saṃsāra is duḥkha. This saṃsāra is duḥkha. Dukhas say, "Hey, in this saṃsāra there is only dukha, otherwise nothing." And the Ātmā is above duḥkha. So Śaṅkarācārya said, "I am without duḥkha." No worries, no pain, nothing, nothing. I am above that. I know this body suffers; I know this body has pain. But I am the Chaitanya Svarūpa Ātmā. I am above this duḥkha. And that's why we always sing bhajan: Om Prabhupāda Nirañjan. Sabha-dukha-bhanjan—may Mahāprabhujī free me from this duḥkha of saṃsāra. May Mahāprabhujī awaken in my consciousness this feeling or knowledge that I overcome this duḥkha. Sabha-dukha-bhanjan—all kinds of duḥkhas, also tri-tapas duḥkha. Tri-tapas is also a duḥkha. So take away all kinds of duḥkhas. And so I am duḥkhahīna, abhāṣī, and I am also free from these feelings and hopes and all this abhāṣ. I have no attachment, I have no hope, I have no duḥkha; I am free from this. Vikalpahīna, vikalpa. Kalpa and vikalpa. What is vikalpa and kalpa? Kalpa is to take something. And vikalpa is to stand above these things, above all things. Kalpa and vikalpa. I am omniscient and omnipresent. I am everywhere. I am everywhere, but still I am free. So, as he said, I belong to nobody. Nobody can catch me. I am like the wind. And no one can possess me. I am like heaven. But nevertheless, I will not leave you alone. I will always be one with you. This is Ātmā; this is Jñāna. So Vyāpaka, omnipresent. I am everywhere. I exist in every atom. This is such a beautiful feeling. Then there is the divine; then there is no other. Then he does not say "God." God no longer says that, because he is God. He is one. This consciousness is a comprehensive unity at every level, everywhere: sun, moon, stars, our earth, planets, everyone, everything—everything that is in this universe, movable and immovable, visible and invisible. In all, he is Vyāpaka. Vyāpaka viśvame jyoti ind ish unsre gepeet. Svame charme prabu chetan jyoti tumari. In the Gītā we say: O Mahāprabhujī, Vyāpaka viśva. Vyāpaka means this world that is created, that exists. Viśva is the universe. Caitanya is the truth. Jyoti is the light. Charāchar, all living beings. You exist in the whole universe. Alles, was wir sehen können, auch was existiert, Lebewesen, in jedem Herzen, Du bist Mahāprabhujī, Dein Licht. O Herr, Dein göttliches Licht ist in allen Ebenen, überall. Yes, and therefore I am nothing. This unreal body, I am nothing. This body, I am nothing. This form, I am nothing. This sadness, I am nothing. These sorrows, I am nothing. I am the happiest. I am the purest divine Self. I am the light. I am everywhere, eternal. I am nothing separated. Es ist deine Unwissenheit, dass du fühlst, dass du fühlst. Dich getrennt, und du bist nicht mit, oder das, das. Trennung, Gefühle, Sorgen und Einsamkeit, das Gefühl ist so lang, bis du dich mit diesem Körper bindest. Wenn du über diesen Körper kommst, dann bist du in Einheit. Und diese Gefühle, Einheit zu haben, ist das schönste Gefühl. Feeling separated, feeling lonely, feeling abandoned is one of the painful, painful feelings. And this feeling can never be fulfilled. No matter who it is, at some point, it will be separated again. At some point, when you are not dead, you take a person away or something away where you feel separated. Develop your feelings of unity, unity in the levels of the Ātmā. I am always one with you, always. This feeling will give you such a joy, such a love, such a beautiful feeling, a light. Otherwise, we will always suffer. And so thinks a knowing, Self-realized one.