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Make sure to subscribe to our channel to stay connected with this incredible journey. Click the subscribe button below. The nature of ultimate reality in Advaita Vedanta. Metaphysically, epistemologically and from an axiological perspective it is silence.
I'll explain that more as we go along. And the teaching is also in silence. I am reminded of Adi Shankara in his sublime Dakshinamurti stotram, him to the Dakshinamurti, the south facing Shiva.
There he says the teaching is in silence. Monam vyakyanam. The highest teaching of Advaita Vedanta is its silence.
And if that doesn't work, then there can be one word for the ultimate reality, which is Aum. And if that doesn't work, then a short sentence, that you are, Tattvamasi. And if that doesn't work, you can expand a little further.
Brahman is reality, the world is an appearance of Brahman, and you are Brahman. Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya. Jeeva Brahma evanapara. And if that doesn't work then there are all the Upanishads and the Gita and the Brahma Sutras and the vast literature of Advaita Vedanta but all of it pointing towards silence.
So the subject which we have chosen is silence and though it seems little sacrilegious to speak about silence but let's see what we can do. Let's Enter into it progressively. This is an approach to Advaita Vedanta, non-duality, in the framework of silence. I was just thinking that ethics is silence.
One does not think about ethics in that way. So a preliminary pass at the subject of silence, let us begin with ethical life. Somebody said, there are a hundred ways of...
falling down but there is only one way of standing up straight. That means truth is one. Lies can be a hundred or a thousand.
So notice in the silence of the noise of lies and untruth and dishonesty that silence is truth. So silencing the multifarious forms of unethical behavior, unethical talk, unethical thinking. That silence is ethics and that ethics is a form of silence too. When we come to action, our own, what we do in life, there is action prompted by desire.
I do things because I want something. I want more money, pleasure. I want more appreciation.
I have ambition, desire for power. All of these desires can be considered noise. And the silence of these desires, when our action comes from a one-pointed intention to be compassionate to all beings, to be of service to all beings, then that action is actually silence.
The action prompted by desire, by the noise of our inner being. So when we... work in the world outside to get things which we want. That's all right, but that does not lead to happiness.
That does not lead to peace. That does not lead to silence. When we silence desires and yet continue to act, continue to act as the saints have acted, as the Jeevan Muktas, those who are free while living, as they have acted, we convert karma into karma yoga.
So karma, if you consider it to be noise, Subtitles by the Amara.org community Then Karma Yoga is silence. Notice however, action continues. Our work in the world continues.
But it is silence compared to work prompted by desire. Then if we go a little further, you know, in one way there's the word or samsara and there is another term for it in Vedanta, vyavahara. Vyavahara means transaction, you know, dealing with the world, whatever we do in the world. And that's reduced to two kinds of transactions. One is verbal transaction, talking.
Another one is thinking. So thinking is a kind of transaction with the world, talking is a kind of transaction with the world. And the silence in speech and the silence ultimately in thought, both are deeper levels of silence. So Vyavahara, stopping this transaction.
Now stopping the transaction cannot be done immediately. First of all, one must purify the transaction. So when our speech is rude, and disrespectful and negative then it is noise and when we convert make an effort to convert our speech into and respectful speech into truthful speech into helpful speech then it becomes silence it's closer to silence it's we are purifying our transactions in Sanskrit we move from impure transaction to pure transaction at the level of speech and at the level of mind whenever we see for example if we see um you know other people who consider other people to be this is such a bad person this is such a despicable person um you know we look upon people with dislike and hatred that's noise mental transaction it becomes impure you know it's very interesting that whether that person actually is bad or despicable, we don't know really.
But our heart becomes polluted when we think such thoughts about others. So that's noise. And when we convert that noise into pure thoughts, positive thoughts, loving thoughts, compassionate thoughts, that's actually moving towards a pure vivahara, pure transaction.
Impure transaction, pure transaction. Transaction at the level of speech. Transaction of the level of thought.
Speech which is negative, rude, disrespectful, loud, that is noise. Speech which is peaceful, compassionate, truthful, helpful, that is pure transaction and that helps you to go towards silence. Similarly, once speech is purified, thinking.
So negative thinking, especially thinking badly of other people, thinking of others, people, situations. Issues with negativity, with anger, with hatred, with disgust. The thing which happens is, first of all, we make our hearts impure. And when we purify our thinking about others, we think positive thoughts, that is pure thought.
And that is a step towards silence in thought. So we move from impure speech and thought to pure speech and thought. To silence in speech and silence of thought. That brings us to the next level of silence, which is called yoga, in the sense of the Patanjali tradition of yoga. In that tradition, the Patanjali tradition of yoga, which is not Advaita, but which is an ally of Advaita, in Patanjali yoga, silence is spirituality.
The definition of yoga, yoga is silencing the movements of the mind. So the very definition of yoga in the sense of meditation is the silencing the movements of the mind. Think of the mind as a lake. You know Finland is a land of lakes.
So think of your beautiful beautiful lakes. So think of the mind as one such vast beautiful lake. Now, sometimes there are some people who are waves on the surface of the lake and sometimes the water may not be so clear. So when the water is pure and clear and the waves on the surface of the lake are silenced then you can see through to the bottom of the lake.
Similarly when the mind is silenced and the mind is clear so we move from impure mental transaction to pure mental transaction so the lake of the mind is clear. And then you silence it. Stop.
When we silence it, seeing through to that which lies beyond the mind, the bottom of the mind or behind the mind, beyond the mind, that is our nature as awareness, as consciousness, pure consciousness. So silencing the mind is meditation. Silencing the mind as not as when we are asleep.
When we are asleep also the mind is silenced. into a seed state. That is not helpful in meditation.
In meditation, just like we are awake now, but we are awake now and we are transacting with the senses. We're seeing, Hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and then our mind is processing all this information but if we can silence it and while remaining awake not falling asleep then that is meditation and then we see that which lies right here real nature, what we are, but beyond the mind. So silencing the mind is a way of seeing what lies beyond the mind or deeper than the mind. Now this silencing it has to be done not all at once, but moving from multiple movements.
The movements of the mind, cogitations, they are called vritti. So, moving from multiple vrittis, first to a single vritti, moving from distraction to concentration, to focus, and then dropping that vritti also. So, one cannot jump from a very restless state of the mind to samadhi. One must focus, settle down, silence it, and then the deeper silence of samadhi.
Samadhi. So we start by first, you know, still and quiet environment. Then we settle the body down in stillness and it helps to keep the body straight. If you invent, you find that mental processes are also affected. But if you sit straight, then you are alert but also quiet.
Then we still the movements of the body. The body is always moving. We learn to still the movements of the body.
And then make the breathing rhythm. That means gentle, not forced, but deep. Then we quieten the senses.
As the body is stilled, then we either close the eyes or keep it half closed. Sometimes people close their eyes and fall asleep. So half closed.
If you keep it open, you'll be distracted. Modern neuroscience also tells us a great deal of the activity of the brain, it kicks off when the eyes are open. So eyes, heart, mind, and mind are open.
half closed or fully closed and then we sit quietly. If it's a silent environment it's very helpful and the senses become neutral. Then we follow the breath and then we focus on one vritti, one movement of the mind. Here for example a mantra may be helpful.
Some people chant om. In Vedanta there's a practice it is called dirgha pranava ucharana, chanting of the prolonged Om. So you chant for a long time, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, a low prolonged When you go on making it lower, it will continue in the mind.
This will quieten the mind. And then you drop that AUM also. Drop it from the physical sound, you're repeating mentally. the mental repetition.
That is one way. So we take the support of one sound. Something holy and profound like Om is very helpful. Or it could be a mantra. It could be Om Namah Shivaya or some mantra which you are using.
Or it could be visualized. of a deity if that is your practice. The thing to do is to move from impure vrittis to a pure vritti, from multiple vrittis to one vritti. And that will take time because the mind will again and again break out into different vrittis. So you pull back.
You pull back again and again. Samadhi, the quietness, the silencing of the mind, it depends on two things. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, Abhyasa Vairagya Abhyam Tan Nirodhaha Silencing of the mind is done. through first the term is a Biasa which means practice and way Raja which means dispassion or detachment practice why the essence of practice even the the Sanskrit word Abhyasa.
Abhyasa. Asa means to settle down, to put in one place. Not to walk around, one place.
That is settle it down. As the mind goes out to walk around you pull it back and put it down here. So in one vritti, to put it, to make it settle down. And how do you do it? Abhyasa.
Again and again and again. Why again and again and again? Because the mind will go walking out again and again and again.
So you bring it back. One good way of doing it is what is called space lock, time lock, object lock. Space lock means, all right, I will focus on this.
The mind should not think about anything. ...thing outside this space, the space of the heart. This could be your place of meditation.
It's a good place for meditation, the heart. Time lock. So from now for the next 15 minutes it will not think of anything else.
Yes, mind, you have thought of many things before this and you will again think of many things after this. But 15 minutes only, here only for 15 minutes you will not think of anything else. Anything else means object loss.
Lock the mind into one object. It could be Om Namah Shivaya or Om. So three kinds of locks to focus the mind. From many objects to one object. How?
Object lock. And from all over the world to one space. Space lock.
And flickering around through time to time lock. That this period of time, this space, this object only. That will lead to slowly one vritti.
This is called abhyasa. Subtitles by the Amara.org community repeated practice. The essence of it is repetition.
Again, again, again. But this also must go with another complementary practice called Vairagya, detachment. It's like Sri Ramakrishna is to give the example of a group of drunkards. They wanted to go home after a night of merrymaking and they were crossing a river. They sat on the boat and they started rowing.
And in the morning they found they were exactly where they were. where they had started, where they had forgotten to untie the boat. So the detachment, if I have strong attachments, projects in the world, you know, I'm invested, we're in the world, we will be in the world. You have a job, you have personal health, you have your own home.
So these things you have to take care of. But the world should not be our object of focus that this is everything for us. No. is everything for us. Enlightenment is everything for us.
The Atman, the real nature of the spiritual nature of everything, that is our goal, not the appearance. So that detachment is essential. So these two together, Abhyasa Vairagya, these will lead to Abhyasa Vairagya Bhyam Tan Nirodha, that is the Sanskrit, by the combination of practice and detachment, the mind is silenced.
Many vrittis to one another. One vritti, one vritti, drop it also. And then remains awareness by itself. Again vrittis will come.
Go through the process. Many vrittis, do one vritti, drop it. This is silence of the mind.
This is the practice of yogis. The devotees, the lovers of God, they don't like this silence. They say, what is the use of sitting quietly in silence? We will love God.
But I will say, I will sing the name of Krishna. I will worship Christ in the church. I will sing, I will pray, I will read.
That's also wonderful. Remember, that's also a kind of silence. It's the silence of the world.
The world is drowned out in your love of God. So that's also a silence, a practice of silence. It's a divine silence. You fill that silence with divinity. Now we come to non-duality.
All of these are on the side of duality. In non-duality, the nature of ultimate reality, non-dual, Brahman, existence, consciousness, bliss, that is silence itself. In the Mandukya Upanishad, the name of the self, our real nature, is called silence. We probably did not know that your nature, your name, my name, our name is silence. In the Mandukya Upanishad, Shantam peace or silence is the very nature of the self that is the self that has to be realized we now know ourself as I am this guy that is apparent knowledge real knowledge is my nature is silence in what sense silence silence Sat Chit Ananda Being, Consciousness, Bliss Being, meaning existence, not the existence of certain things.
It's not a cup or a plate or a table or a man or a woman. Those are particular objects or entities. It's not even a collection of all entities.
The ultimate reality Brahman is not the collection of everything in this universe. It includes everything and yet it's not a collection. It's one thing. It is one way where there is no distinction beyond the distinction of the agent.
of action and the action. Karta and Karma. Beyond that is where both are one.
It is Brahman. It is existence itself. It's not a thing which exists but it is existence itself. It is not, it is consciousness in the sense that it's not a particular conscious experience.
It's not the experience of seeing something or hearing something, thinking something. enjoying or suffering something or of waking, dreaming, deep sleep. Rather it is that one unflickering awareness in which all these experiences are possible.
It is that awareness in which the distinctions between knower, known object and knowledge. This three-fold distinction. I am the knower, that is the known and I am knowing through this.
So it is one consciousness which appears as the knower and the known object and the instrument of knowledge. The cup and the eyes which are the instrument of knowledge and I the knower. I am the knower with the instrument of knowledge, eyes, I am knowing the cup. This is Samsara.
But that consciousness which appears as all three. A question might arise here, what do you mean that consciousness which appears as all three? After all, I understand in some sense that I am aware, but then I have eyes and there's a cup outside.
What do they have to do with consciousness or awareness? It's like this. Consider, in our dreams, when we don't know that we are dreaming, you could be sitting and enjoying a cup of tea with your friend, and you see your friend, you see the cup of tea, you see yourself, and you've got eyes. and you are seeing. But when you wake up, when we wake up, we realize that world of the dreams.
The whole thing was the mind. The dreamer's mind appeared as the friend, the cup of tea, the eyes, the person seeing, the seer, object of knowledge and the instrument of knowledge. All were the dreaming mind. One mind by itself in our dreams.
This is nothing extraordinary. I'm not making an extraordinary claim here. It is just our common experience.
The mind by itself appeared as you the knower, the cup of tea which you saw in the dream and the eyes with which you saw the cup of tea. So the knower, instrument of knowledge and object of knowledge all are actually the dreaming mind. That's a dream. Where Advaita, non duality claims that here also it's exactly the same thing. It is one consciousness appearing with a body and a mind as a knower and using instruments of knowledge.
like the eyes and again appearing as the object of knowledge. So silencing the distinctions of these three is called pure consciousness. And pure consciousness is also bliss, ananda. You know the connection between silence and bliss. I was just thinking.
I was feeling it yesterday when I'm in Finland. It is the you know if you look it up it's the happiest country in the world. And I noticed it's also a very quiet country.
It's also a very silent country. And that struck me. Yesterday I was sitting in silence and thinking that silence and happiness, they go together. Noise and unhappiness, they go together. So silence is also bliss.
And when there is a limitation, particular objects, this is a cup of tea. I am enjoying the cup of tea, that's a kind of happiness, but that's like noise. But when you remove the limitations of the time, space and object, just unlimited, the Upanishad defines that unlimited awareness as happiness.
There is a saying in the Chandogya Upanishad, That which is the vast, that which is the unlimited, that is happiness. There is no real happiness in the limited. We keep seeking happiness in the limited.
limited. Actually our unlimited nature, our nature which is silence with a capital S, from that only happiness comes. And we mistake it that it has come from the limited objects. So being, consciousness, bliss, Sat, Chit, Ananda, they are all silence in the sense of the capital S silence. And notice the difference between silence and silence.
between the yogic silence and the Advaitic or non-dual silence. The yogic silence is an actual physical silence, verbal silence, mental silence. Then you appreciate that which is the witness of the silence.
In Advaita Vedanta, in the middle of activity, whether there is activity or not, the silence which is the real nature, the Atman, Atman itself is silence. So the real nature is always there in the midst of the noise and activity. activity of your life and in meditation and in sleep in life and in death underlying it all is the spiritual silence this one luminous awareness limitless awareness so that's the ultimate nature of silence and that you are that to a Massey become Swami Vivekananda's messenger share the video with three of your friends