Adhvaitha: Decoding Reality

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

How can we take control of our destinies? How can we actually live the life that we truly want to live? Can we take control of these various situations and circumstances of our lives? Whether it comes to health, wealth, relationships, abundance, and so on. And if we can take Control of our life and our destiny, how can we do it? And what is the spiritual science behind all this? Let us look at all this today. Before we dive into this topic, first of all, you need to Understand the nature of reality. You need to understand what this world actually is. The teachings of Advaita tell us that This world is not how it seems to us. This world, the way we perceive it is an illusion. It is Maya. And there is an absolute reality, an independent reality, and everything else is depending on that reality to exist.

Speaker A [00:01:11]:

And that absolute reality can be called by many names. It can be called God or consciousness or pure awareness and so on. But the nature of that absolute reality is that it is infinite, it is abundant, it is All powerful and it is all pervading. Now what Advaita tells us is that we are that ultimate reality. We are that pure awareness or consciousness. And what we need to also understand is that we do not Exist in this universe. This entire universe exists within our infinite awareness. But we have right now identified ourselves with this body and mind, and we have limited that infinite awareness into our body and mind.

Speaker A [00:02:05]:

And hence, we are struggling to live our lives in this material realm. But technically, there is nothing called as the material realm. Everything is spiritual. Everything is awareness itself. Just being modulated in infinite number of ways. And this universe is just a simulation or A projection within that one pure awareness. Now since we identify That infinite awareness with our body and mind, we experience the limitations of this body and mind as though they are true. Our mind, the way it is, has various limitations to it.

Speaker A [00:02:51]:

And the 3 primary limitations or parameters of our minds are time, space, and causation. Our mind can never go beyond time. It can never go beyond space or it can never go beyond causation. We can only operate and experience and live as a body mind unit Within the parameters or within the boundaries of time, space, and causation. Because for any experience to happen, Any interaction to happen, any activity to happen, there needs to be time and space and causation or causality. Now let us keep time space causation aside, and let us focus on the mind itself because this is key to understanding Destiny. Now our mind within itself has various tendencies to it. And these tendencies occur because of our past karma.

Speaker A [00:03:51]:

And in order to understand karma, you can look at one of our previous So where I had thoroughly covered the subject of karma. But because of various factors including Karma and the karmic memory, we have a certain kind of a mind today. And our minds within itself has various thoughts, emotions, tendencies, and belief systems to it. And the personality that we have, The attitude that we have right now, and it is because of the mind that I have, I have a certain kind of personality today. And this personality thinks certain kinds of thoughts, feel certain kinds of emotions, and holds Certain belief systems at the deepest level. Now the key here that we need to understand is that personality creates Personal reality. The way a person's personality is, it creates a certain kind of a reality for itself. And this universe, since it is all a projection in awareness, is just reflecting back Our own personalities and our own belief systems and our own limitations.

Speaker A [00:05:14]:

Now we are not only limiting that Infinite awareness or consciousness into a body mind unit, but we are also further limiting it based on the limitations of our minds. So there are various Belief systems that we hold within our minds. Some of them may be true. Some of them may not be true. Some people might believe that it is difficult to stay healthy after a certain age. This is a limiting belief. This is not true. But they hold these kinds of beliefs at a deep level.

Speaker A [00:05:55]:

Now what happens here Is the infinite awareness or consciousness is being limited by these limiting beliefs within our minds. And because of this, these limitations are being reflected back to us in the world around us, And we are experiencing our own limitations. This is happening because everything is connected and everything is one. All that truly exists Is that pure awareness or consciousness? Now to go back to the concept of karma again, our previous karmic memory has created a certain kind of a personality today. And this personality is controlling the direction of our lives, And it has created for itself a certain fixed destiny in the future. Now if we want to take control of our lives And if we actually want to live the way we truly want to live, we need to, first of all, understand the nature of reality. We need to understand how everything works. And also we need to be conscious of the thoughts and feelings that go through our minds and bodies every single day.

Speaker A [00:07:10]:

If we do not Tend to it. And if we are totally unconscious, they take control of our lives, and we cannot let that happen. So first of all, we need to be conscious and aware of our thoughts, feelings, and our belief systems. And we need to totally reject and discard the negative thoughts, negative feelings, and negative belief systems That are not helpful for us. And instead, we need to induce positive thoughts, feelings, and positive belief systems, And we need to have a positive world view in order to create positive things in the world. So whatever belief systems we hold within our awareness, The world will reflect it back to us. So it is very important that we do it consciously. And many people ask the question And whether our destiny is fixed or do we have any control over it? The answer for this question is very simple.

Speaker A [00:08:11]:

The answer is both Yes and no. The destiny is fixed for most of the people who are not conscious, Who unconsciously go through their lives without being accountable for their thoughts, feelings, actions, and belief systems. For such people, the destiny is fixed. As per their karma, as per their personalities, it is all fixed. But for those who can be conscious of their thoughts, of their personalities, of their belief systems, and so on, the destiny can be changed and it can be whatever they wish it to be. A simple example to understand all this is that of a ship in the ocean. Now a ship with a captain, with the right Kind of a map and a right vision to steer the ship. We'll have total control, and he will take the ship to the right destination.

Speaker A [00:09:05]:

Of course, there will be a lot of resistance. There will be a lot of resistance from the wind. There will be a lot of resistance from the water currents. But still, he will steer the ship in the right direction and he will take it to the right destination. Now imagine a ship without a captain. Such a ship will move wherever the wind takes it, and it will move wherever the ocean currents take it. And it might end up in a random destination. This is exactly how we need to understand destiny.

Speaker A [00:09:38]:

This is How? We need to understand that for some people, destiny will be fixed and for some others, Destiny will be in their control. So it depends on how we live our lives. And it is very important that we live our lives consciously in order to create our lives the way we truly want to live. And if you actually Are interested in conscious creation. We have a 6 weeks intensive program through which One can truly understand the nature of reality and understand various concepts in-depth To consciously create one's life the way they truly want to live. For more information on this, you can check out the Advaita The conscious society by visiting

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

The theory of everything. Is there a theory or a philosophy which can explain the entirety of this universe, which can explain everything from knowing ourself to knowing god, to knowing the universe and the world around us? Is there a theory or is there a philosophy like that? Is there a framework through which we can look at this entire universe holistically and come to a deep understanding of what it actually is? If such a theory or philosophy exists, what is it and where is it? We will look into this in today's episode. Scientists have been searching for the theory of everything for a very long time. Many people are seeking a holistic theory or philosophy that can explain the entirety of this universe and our place in it. And I think the answer to this lies in the ancient teachings of Hinduism, which are the Upanishads. Upanishads are one of the most sophisticated philosophical teachings that exist on this planet, and they give us direct teachings on the nature of reality. And they tell us our place in this universe, and they also tell us who we truly are. The most direct interpretation and the most clear interpretation of the opening shirts is Advaita Vedanta.

Speaker A [00:01:43]:

So Advaita literally translates to non dualism. And this philosophy tells us that whatever we are looking at in this universe is just a projection in consciousness. It does not truly exist. And everything is connected and everything is 1. That one ultimate reality, which is pure awareness or consciousness is experiencing itself through this projection of the universe. All this might seem complicated. So let me simplify this so that all of us can understand it. Now imagine nothing exists.

Speaker A [00:02:28]:

Nothing exists. There is absolute stillness, there is absolute blankness without any activity. But a fundamental force exists, which is unquantifiable, which is undescribable, which has no qualities to it, which is all pervading and which is formless. Let us call this pure awareness or let us call it god. Now, god existed before the creation of this universe when there was absolutely no activity as such, god existed. And then the creative potential of god was expressed and projected as this universe. And this universe was not a deliberate act of God, but a natural expression of God's creative potential. Just like how when we go to sleep, we dream different dreams without consciously creating them, this universe is just an expression of God's creative potential.

Speaker A [00:03:40]:

And this universe as it is, is just a dream of God. That one God that exists beyond time, space, and causation is dreaming this universe as we see today. And that ultimate reality or god has put himself into the position of an individual like you and me and is experiencing this world or this universe as a person with the limitations of body and mind. This is because an experience can happen only within time, space, and causation. And an experience can happen in a limited finite way. So that god or universal consciousness has identified itself with the body and mind to have an individual experience from an individual perspective in this universe. And like this, it has identified itself with different individuals, different objects, different animals of universe in order to have infinite variety of experiences and in order to project infinite variety of expressions. I know this sounds really strange and it sounds like a plot of a science fiction movie, but this is the theory of everything, this universe and all the other universes, any number of parallel realities that might exist and various different dimensions of existence from heavens and hells if such a thing exists, all of it together is a dream of God, that one ultimate God.

Speaker A [00:05:41]:

And that god is dreaming this entire existence as we see it and as we perceive it today. And that god is experiencing this universe that he has created himself through us from an individual perspective. Since he has assumed the position of an individual within the universe and since that universal consciousness, which is infinite, which is all pervading, which is abundant and powerful, has identified itself with the limitations of the body and mind, it is suffering the consequences of this. And it is suffering the limitations of body and mind. So to come out of our suffering, we need to realize our true selves as that pure awareness or consciousness, as god, we need to realize Aham Brahmasmi, I am that ultimate reality or god. This is us going back to the original position has got. And this is us completing the cycle of evolution. So this was what I could understand and pursue from the teachings of Advaita Vedanta.

Speaker A [00:07:03]:

Of course, this is sort of my own interpretation of it, but this is the theory of everything. So everything is connected. All of us and all the objects of the universe, although it looks like everything is different and it looks like everything is separate, is actually not separate. Just like within our dreams, different objects and different people with whom we are interacting will seem different to us. But once we wake up, we realize that it was that one mind it was our mind that was dreaming all of it, this universe and this world as it is is being dreamt by that god or by that pure awareness. And since all of it is just a projection or a dream in that awareness, it is all connected and it is all 1. And this is Advaita. It is nondual.

Speaker A [00:08:05]:

There is just one reality in which everything exists. I hope this was valuable to you. And if you want to dive deep into these concepts in order to truly understand the nature of reality and in order to consciously create the life that you want to live in this material world, you can join our community cum learning platform that we call the Advaita Conscious Society. You can visit advaita.com for more information on this. Thank you, and I'll see you on the next one.

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

This universe is simply a dream in consciousness. Everything

Speaker B [00:00:04]:

that we are

Speaker A [00:00:05]:

seeing around us is an illusion or it is not what it actually is. This is the greatest teaching given to us by the ancient Vedas and Upanishads. Now in this episode, let us understand how can this be possible. How can this universe that feels so real to us, and feels so self evident can be a dream or an illusion. First, let us understand our dream world. We all dream different dreams, and within our dreams, We experience a lot of things. We experience ourselves as the dream ego, and We interact with the dream world, we talk to different people, we interact with different objects in the dream, and we go through experiences like this every single day when we go to sleep and when we dream. And within our dream, we never realized that it is actually a projection in our Mind or it is an illusion or anything like that.

Speaker A [00:01:08]:

Whatever happens, we think that it is actually happening to us and it is actually real. Only once we wake up, we come to a realization that whatever we experienced in our dreams is just a mere illusion or a projection. Now with this perspective, let us look at our waking world. Once we wake up, we go through our day and we assume that the reality that we experience in the waking world is Actually real. It is actually happening. But what the teachings of the Upanishads tell us is that even this It's not true. You think that whatever you're experiencing is real because you have not woken up to Another reality, the ultimate reality, and this reality is called Brahman or pure consciousness. It is because you haven't waken up from this world in which you are living and which you think is real, You experience it as real just as you were experiencing your dream world as real when you were asleep.

Speaker A [00:02:22]:

The same thing is happening again. Of course, this world is much more real in terms of its sophistication, in terms of the various laws that govern this world and various other factors. But that does not mean this World itself is an absolute reality. We need to understand that there is another reality which is Pure consciousness or awareness and this dream and this world is just a dream in that consciousness. This is the understanding that we need to come to.

Speaker B [00:02:58]:

In order to understand this clearly, we need to understand the 3 levels of reality as explained by Vedanta. Vedanta talks about 3 levels of reality. The first level of reality is. This is pure consciousness or god or pure awareness. This is limitless. It is all pervading, and it is abundant. The 2nd level of reality is. This is the world that we live in.

Speaker B [00:03:29]:

Right now, you are in this level of reality. While you are experiencing this video, you are understanding different concepts. So our politics, Economy, religion, spirituality, everything happens at this level of reality. Then there is the 3rd level of reality, which is called as or illusionary reality. The dream experience that we looked at earlier comes under this level of reality. So the entire existence is segregated into these 3 levels of realities. But if we look closer, all these 3 levels of realities Have one thing in common, and that is awareness or consciousness. Whatever you experienced in the dream, You experienced it in your awareness itself.

Speaker B [00:04:15]:

Whatever you experience in the waking world as a man or a woman, You experience it or witness it in your awareness. And, hence, that awareness itself is that ultimate reality in which this universe is being experienced. I know for the people who are listening it to the 1st time, this kind of breaks their mind and This stretches the boundaries of our minds. This happens because our mind itself is limited. There are certain inherent limitations to our minds, and these limitations are time, space, and causation. So when we start talking about The true nature of reality and when we start talking about the teachings of the ancient Vedas and Upanishads, our minds will start to break because we are stretching our minds beyond its limitations. So what the Ancient Upanishads tell us is that there is 1 pure awareness or consciousness that is the ultimate reality. The Vedanta calls it Brahman.

Speaker B [00:05:18]:

This is God or pure awareness. And this awareness is dreaming this universe. And within the dream of this awareness is our reality that we are experiencing right now. Now why is this relevant and what should we take away from this? Let us look at this deeply. What the Upanishads tell us is that all of our suffering in this world is due to a misunderstanding or ignorance. We do not realize who we truly are. We think that we are limited. We think that we are finite.

Speaker B [00:05:52]:

And we believe that we are this body mind unit. So because we assume that we are this body and mind and because we limit that pure awareness Into a body mind unit, we suffer the consequences of this and we suffer the limitations of this body and mind. And we Suffer death, we suffer poverty, and we suffer various things in this world. If we only realize who we truly are, If we realize our true self as that infinite, abundant, limitless consciousness or awareness, All of our suffering will cease to exist in an instant. This is the promise of the Vedanta, and this is what we need to understand. Now with this, we can understand how this universe is a projection in that pure awareness or consciousness. But then we can ask, are we awake in a dream or are we unconscious? The answer is most of us are unconscious. Just like how within our dreams, We were unconscious of our waking reality, and we experienced ourself as the dream ego.

Speaker B [00:07:01]:

We are experiencing ourself right now as this. And we are experiencing various Things and objects of this universe, and we are interacting with the world around us. Once we realize who we truly are and once We realize our true nature as pure awareness. We will wake up to a higher level of reality. And from this perspective, Even this waking world will seem like an illusion or a projection. We are not there yet, but we are discussing it conceptually. So this is the framework given by Vedanta to understand the nature of reality. And by understanding these three levels of reality, We understand what this existence is and what is actually real and what is unreal.

Speaker B [00:07:47]:

Another way to look at it Is through this example. We all are now familiar with the virtual reality devices that we wear, and we play various Virtual reality games while wearing that headset. Now those headsets have a certain parameters to them. They work in a certain way. They have certain limitations, and they have certain boundaries within which they project a virtual reality for us to experience the Virtual world. And in that virtual world, we play different games. Just like this, we can understand the nature of reality also. This universe in which we are living right now is also just a game.

Speaker B [00:08:28]:

It is a projection. It is an illusion. But we have forgot who we truly are. We have been wearing this lens that we call the mind for a very long time, and this mind itself is a mask. And once we remove the mind, we can understand who we truly are. Most of us think that we are the mind, but we are Actually, not the mind. If we look at our experiences carefully, we will come to this conclusion. We are pure awareness and our mind is a filter or a lens through which we perceive this world.

Speaker B [00:09:02]:

And we have identified that pure awareness with our minds, and, hence, we are experiencing the limitations of our minds. So that pure awareness or consciousness or Brahman Has identified itself with a mask, with a mind. And through this mind, It is having an individual experience in this universe, and it is experiencing itself. Since the objects of this world are also consciousness And since the subject which is experiencing is also consciousness as there is nothing else apart from that consciousness within which This dream is being projected. Everything is consciousness, and that pure consciousness is experiencing itself within itself. This is the truth of existence. Once we understand this, we will Truly understand who we are, and we will come out of the self inflicted suffering that we have created for ourselves. If you Want to go deeper into these concepts if you want to truly understand the nature of reality and if you want to learn how to Consciously create the life that you truly want to live.

Speaker B [00:10:15]:

Then we have created a community cum learning Platform that we call the Advaita Conscious Society. You can join our platform by visiting advaita.com.

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

In this episode of the decoding reality podcast, we will be talking about is the theory of non creation. This is a radical theory, and it is mind bending. So today, let us look at what this theory tells us about the nature of reality. There is no god. There is no universe. No one has created this universe, and this universe technically does not exist at all. This sounds really strange, And this sounds like it is absolute nonsense, but this is the profound teaching of ajatawada, a radical concept in Vedanta, which is called as the theory of noncreation. This theory tells us that Universe has never been created.

Speaker A [00:00:53]:

And not only that, it says that there is nothing called as the universe. There is no god. There is no creator, there is no creation, there is no seeker, and there is nothing, says this teaching. The term ajatawada translates to no creation, No manifestation posting that the universe as we perceive it was never created. To understand this, we need to dive deep into the teachings of one of the strongest proponents of Advaita Vedanta, who is Sri Gaudapada Acharya. Gaudapada Acharya, who was a guru's guru of Sri Adi Sankaracharya was one of the strongest proponents of Advaita Vedanta, which is a school of Vedanta, which says that The true reality of the world is that it is nondual. There is just one absolute reality And everything else apart from that absolute reality is a mere illusion. Compared the universe to a dream, an idea central to ajatawada.

Speaker A [00:01:55]:

Just as a dream appears, changes, and dissolves without any substantial creation or dissolution, The universe appears to change without truly changing. Now all these teachings and concepts Might be really alien to some of you and you might be finding it really hard to digest. But bear with me here because This is a very profound teaching, and it goes into the heart of Vedantic teachings. And this explains to us clearly what this reality is about. Now we'll understand this with 2 simple examples. The first example is this. Now just assume hypothetically that this entire universe is made up of 1 substance. There is Just one thing in which this universe is made up of.

Speaker A [00:02:46]:

If this universe have to be made of Just 1 object or one substance, then there is nothing called time, space, causation. There are no different objects. There are no planets. There is nothing which is different from each other. There is just 1 pure substance with which the entire universe is made. Hypothetically, if that is the case, if that is how this universe actually is, Then there cannot be any activity. There cannot be any experience. There cannot be any movement.

Speaker A [00:03:20]:

There cannot be any activity because For an activity to happen, there needs to be a subject and an object. There needs to be different elements for an activity to take place. And there cannot be a moment because moment happens with respect to 2 objects. When there is a single object, there can be no moment or motion as such. And there can also be no experience as such because for an experience to happen, we need 3 things, the object of experience, the subject of experience, and the experiencing itself. If there is 1 single object, then an experience cannot take place. If, hypothetically, this universe was made up of 1 singular substance, Then technically the universe was never created. There was no creator.

Speaker A [00:04:13]:

There is no creation as such, and there is no object of creation, there is no subject of creation, and there is no universe itself since there is just one fundamental substance. But this is hypothetical. Of course, we have nowhere concluded that this is actually real. Now let us look at another example. This example is of a dream. Now we all dream different dreams. And within our dreams, We experience various things. We talk to different people.

Speaker A [00:04:46]:

We experience different objects within the dream. And within the dream, We experience the dream world as though it is real to us. We don't realize that it is a projection or an illusion. If a tiger appears in the dream, We run for our lives because we are trying to save ourselves. We think that it is actually happening to us. It is only when we wake up from that dream, we realize that it was a projection within our mind. Now observe this example really carefully because this Shows us the nature of reality as explained by ajatawada. When we are within the dream, we think that the people around us and the different objects within the dream have their own independent existence apart from us.

Speaker A [00:05:31]:

We think that we as the dream ego are different and the people whom we are interacting with within the dream are different. But once we wake up, we realize that both happened within our minds and both were the projection of our minds. And, hence, the substance of both of them were Actually, the same. There was no road as such. There was no sky as such. There were no different people as such. It was all an illusion within our minds, and there was 1 single substance which pervaded the entire dream experience since it was all a projection in our mind. It is not a substance as such, but it was all one reality within the mind.

Speaker A [00:06:20]:

We only experienced it at that point of time as something which was real to us. Now this is exactly how we need to understand the world around us. What ajatawada tells us is that this universe has technically never been created. It only seems to be creative from the perspective of our minds. Our mind is a consequence of maya, And our mind is a consequence of time, space, and causation. When we see this universe and when we perceive this world From the perspective of our minds, it seems like it is real to us, and it seems like a universe has been created. But technically speaking and from the perspective of that pure awareness, this universe has never been created. This universe is just a projection in that consciousness or awareness or in god.

Speaker A [00:07:17]:

So imagine that God is dreaming a dream and within his dream, this universe is projected. And that Ultimate reality or God has assumed himself the position of an individual and his experiencing various things in this world from an individual perspective. But technically, this universe has never been created. This is a dream or an illusion or a projection. In truth, God only exists without any creation. If you don't want to use the word God Because you can't relate to it, try using the word pure awareness or consciousness. So there is a pure awareness or consciousness, And this entire universe that we see all around us is a dream or a projection in that pure awareness or consciousness. That pure awareness of consciousness has assumed the position of an individual and is experiencing this world Through the instruments of body and mind, this is what we need to realize.

Speaker A [00:08:23]:

If we realize this and if we realize our bodies and our Minds are just an instrument. We will truly realize that we are that pure awareness or consciousness or god. This is the truth behind the statement aham brahmhasmi. When Vedanta says aham brahmhasmi, it is not saying that this body or this mind is god. It is saying that that fundamental reality which is the foundation for this universe is God. And I am that fundamental reality or consciousness. But right now, I have identified myself with this body and mind because of an illusion and because of ignorance. And this has happened because of maya.

Speaker A [00:09:07]:

And through meditation, through contemplation, and through the systematic study of Vedanta, We can understand who we truly are and we can realize ourselves to be pure awareness or consciousness. Now this can be a tough idea to imbibe since our sensory perception of the world is so deeply ingrained. In ajatawada, however, the world we perceive is considered as an illusion or maya, and the only reality is the unchanging, undivisible, absolute Brahman or pure awareness. Now let us look at one simple example before we close this video. This example is of a clay and a pot. If we look at a clay and a pot, both of them are fundamentally clay. A pot only appeals to exist. A pot is in and through clay.

Speaker A [00:09:59]:

There is nothing in pot apart from clay. So from the perspective of clay, Nothing has been created as such. The pot is clay alone because there is no thing called a pot apart from clay. Just like this, this universe is consciousness alone. There is nothing apart from consciousness. The world only appears to exist, but it does not. The true existence of this world is consciousness alone or pure awareness alone. And this It's the ultimate reality or Brahman.

Speaker A [00:10:35]:

Thank you for tuning in. I hope this was valuable. If you're interested to dive deep into topics like this and uncover the nature of reality and consciously create the life that you truly want to live. You can join our community cum learning platform, the Advaita Conscious Society, by visiting advaita.com. I'll see you on the next

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

What is the universe? Is this universe real, or is it an illusion? Today, let us understand this universe. Let us understand the world in which we are living in, and let us understand what is the reality of this universe. Before we go ahead, let us talk about our dreams. We all dream different dreams. Now imagine that you are in your dream, and you are walking in the forest. You are feeling the breeze on your skin. You're looking at the beautiful trees and plants and animals. You are looking at the sunrise, and you are enjoying the environment of the dream.

Speaker A [00:00:46]:

Everything is calm. Everything is serene, and you are totally immersed in the dream. Now suddenly, you hear a roar of a tiger, and you are afraid. And from afar, a tiger appears, and it is running towards you. And you are absolutely frightened, and you start running for your life. And you run and run and run, and you eventually wake up to your current reality, which is the waking state and consciousness. Now what really happened in the dream? When you were within that dream, whatever you were experiencing was actually real to you. Those trees were real trees.

Speaker A [00:01:31]:

Different people in the dream were real to you. The animals, the environment, and the tiger. They're all real to you. That is why you were scared. That is why you ran for your life. It was only after you woke up, you realized that it was all a projection within your mind. But when you were within the dream, you were totally immersed with the senses and you were immersed in the dream and you thought that it was an actual reality. Now what I start telling now might sound strange for some of you, but this is what the universe is also about.

Speaker A [00:02:12]:

This universe that we look at with trillions of galaxies within which there is our solar system, within which there is our planet and then there is our society, politics, religion, etcetera. All of this is just a projection. Today, we are talking about the 3 levels of reality as explained in Vedanta. The ancient Upanishads tell us that there are 3 levels to this reality. One is paramarthika satya, which is the ultimate reality. This is pure awareness or consciousness or God. Then there is which is the transactional reality. This is where our entire world exists.

Speaker A [00:02:56]:

Our world in its entirety and all of our experiences happen within this 2nd level of reality, which is the transactional reality. Then there is which is an illusory reality. The dream example that we looked at earlier comes under this level of reality. Now to understand this clearly, what we need to know is that just like how when we were within the dream, we thought the dream environment was real. And only after waking up to a higher level of reality, which is the waking reality, we realize that whatever we experienced in the dream did not actually happen. We also need to look at the waking reality in that way. The waking reality in which we are in right now is also an illusion, says Vedanta. This is a projection shun of maya and this is a projection in consciousness.

Speaker A [00:03:54]:

There is a universal consciousness, which is called as Brahman who is dreaming this dream of this universe. And once we wake up to that reality, to that ultimate reality, to the first level of reality, then we are said to be awakened. Until we wake up to that reality, we are stuck in the maze of samsara, which is birth and rebirth because of our identification with our bodies and our minds, end because of our identification with this level of reality. So this universe, no matter how real it seems with all of its complexity from a tiny atom to this magnificent galaxies. All of it is a mere projection. None of it truly exist. It is an illusion and it is an appearance to consciousness. So all of it is just consciousness itself.

Speaker A [00:04:55]:

That pure consciousness that Brahman is experiencing itself through this universe and through this world. So this entire world is an appearance in consciousness and it is a dream of consciousness and it is being experienced by consciousness. And this is the ultimate reality of this universe. I hope this was valuable to you. If you want to learn more about these teachings and if you want to learn these teachings in more depth. You can check out my book decoding God on Amazon. Thank you, and I'll see you on the next one.

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

In today's podcast, we are doing something different. I will first read out a translation of the Ashtavakra Gita, which is a very popular non dualistic text, which talks about the nature of reality. And then I will try to summarize it and explain the teaching of this text. So this text is a conversation between King Janaka and his guru, astavakra. And it goes like this. Oh master, tell me how to find detachment attachment, wisdom, and freedom. Astavakra answers, child, if you wish to be free, shun the poison of the senses. Seek the nectar of truth, of love and forgiveness, simplicity, and happiness.

Speaker A [00:00:47]:

Earth, fire, and water, the wind, and the sky, you are none of these. If you wish to be free, know you are the self, the witness of all these, the heart of awareness. Set your body aside. Sit in your awareness. You will at once be happy. Forever still, forever free. You have no caste, no duties bind you. Formless and free beyond the reach of the senses, the witness of all things.

Speaker A [00:01:15]:

Is so be happy. Right or wrong, joy and sorrow these are of the mind only. They are not yours. It is not really you who acts or enjoys. You are everywhere, forever free. Forever and truly free, the single witness of all things. But if you see yourself as separate, then you are bound. I do this.

Speaker A [00:01:39]:

I do that. That the big black snake of selfishness has bitten you. I do nothing. This is the nectar of faith. So drink and be happy. Know you are one pure awareness. With the fire of this conviction, burn down the forest of ignorance. Free yourself from sorrow and be happy.

Speaker A [00:01:59]:

Be happy for your joy, unbounded joy. You are awareness itself. Just as a coil of rope is mistaken for a snake, So you are mistaken for the world. If you think you are free, you are free. If you think you are bound, you are bound. For the saying is true. You are what you think. The self looks like the world, but this is just an illusion.

Speaker A [00:02:22]:

The self is everywhere. One, still, free, perfect, the witness of all things. Awareness without action, changing desire. Meditate on the self, 1 without 2, exalted awareness. Give up the illusion of the separate self. Give up the feeling within or without that you are this or that. My child, because you think you are the body for a long time you have been bound. Know you are pure awareness.

Speaker A [00:02:51]:

With this knowledge as your sword, cut through the chains and be happy. For you are already free without action or flaw, luminous and bright. You are bound only by the habit of meditation. Your nature is Pure awareness. You're flowing in all things and all things are flowing in you. But be aware the narrowness of the mind. You are always the same. Fathomable awareness.

Speaker A [00:03:17]:

Limitless and free. Serene and unperturbed. Desire only your own awareness. Whatever takes form is false. Only the formless endures. When you understand the truth of this teaching, you will not be born again for god is infinite within the body and without like a mirror and the image in a mirror. As the air is everywhere flowing around the pot and filling it so God is everywhere, filling all things and flowing through them forever. So like this, the gita.

Speaker A [00:03:53]:

I have just read a part of the translation of this text. Basically, what The guru Astavakra is telling Janaka in this text is simple. He's explaining the nature of reality. If you have been following this podcast from episode 1, you would have some understanding about consciousness about the nature of reality, about awareness, and about who we truly are. What this text is telling us is that we are not who we think we are and this world is not what we think it is. We are pure awareness. We are beyond body and mind. What we truly are never dies because it was never born.

Speaker A [00:04:41]:

And we have only temporarily identified ourselves with this body and mind. And that is why we are suffering the limitations of this body and mind. So what we need to do now is we need to take our attention from this world and from the objects of the world and from our identification with this body and mind and then be aware of the awareness itself within which All of these things are happening. So the entire world is happening within our awareness and our body and our minds are also happening awareness. And this awareness is who we truly are, and this awareness is the nature of reality. I hope this was valuable to you. And if you want to learn these concepts in-depth and if you want to consciously create the life that you desire and deserve, we have created a community cum learning platform that we call the Advaita Conscious Society. IT.

Speaker A [00:05:39]:

You can join the community by visiting advaita.com. Thank you, and I'll see you on the next one.

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

What is the hidden link between the law of attraction teachings and non duality or Advaita Vedanta? Today, we will look at these 2 seemingly different and isolated teachings or philosophies, And we will try to find their link, and we will try to understand the nature of reality holistically Basically, by understanding these 2 teachings. On the one hand, we have Advaita Vedanta or nondualism, which is the most sophisticated and the most direct teaching that has been given to the mankind, which shows us the true nature of reality. Basically tells us that the nature of this reality or universe is such that it is non dual. There is one fundamental ultimate reality and Everything else that appears to exist does not actually exist, but it is just a mere projection. Just like how we dream different dreams when we are asleep and how we see that those dreams are not real once we wake up, What non dualism tells us is that this universe and the life that we are living now is Also a mere illusion. And once we wake up from this reality to the absolute reality, We will see that even this reality is an illusion. The primary teaching of the Advaita Vedanta is At consciousness or awareness is this fundamental reality and everything else is an object of consciousness, whereas consciousness itself is independent and is permanent. We also understand from Advaita Vedanta that this consciousness is such it is Existence, consciousness, and pure bliss, it is absolute.

Speaker A [00:02:12]:

It is infinite. It is all powerful and it is limitless. There is nothing else in this universe apart from it. Now let us understand Advaita Vedanta with a simple example. We all dream different dreams, And when we are within our dreams, whatever we are experiencing within the dream seems to be real to us. We talk to different people. We engage with the environment and we do various activities within our dreams. And we think that The environment around us and the people around us within the dream have their own independent existence and have their own separate realities.

Speaker A [00:02:56]:

But only when we wake up, we realize that all those people and the entire universe that I was experiencing within the dream was just a projection within my mind and all of it did not truly exist. Now this is how we need to understand the waking reality also. What Vedanta tells us is that You are not your body and mind. Your body and mind are just like clothes that you wear. They are masks. Your true essence and your true self is that pure awareness or consciousness which is limitless, which was never born and which will never die and it is all powerful full and all pervading. You have identified yourself with this mask that you are wearing, which is your body and mind, and you are living your life within this limitation by assuming that you are this body and mind. That is why you are suffering.

Speaker A [00:04:03]:

That is why you're vulnerable to pain. It is because that you think that you will one day die, you are suffering. But once you realize who you truly are, once you realize your true self as that pure awareness or consciousness, All of your suffering will cease to exist. So just like how within the dream you thought the dream reality was real, right now You think that this waking reality is real, but once you wake up and experience yourself as pure awareness or consciousness. You will look at this waking reality also as an illusion, as maya. This is the primary teaching of Advaita Vedanta. Now how can we realize that we are pure awareness or consciousness. For this, let us do a simple thought experiment.

Speaker A [00:05:01]:

Now just close your eyes and try to empty your mind. 1st, remove everything that you know from your awareness. Remove everything from all the labels, from all the knowledge that you have and your parents, your family, your own name, your body and your mind, all the concepts and all the philosophies and every belief system, all of it. Remove all of them and then remove your assumptions about the things that you do not know. Remove everything that you do not know. You do not know a lot of subjects. You do not know a lot of languages, a lot of concepts, but you still have some assumptions about it. You still hold some deep beliefs about things that you do not know.

Speaker A [00:05:53]:

So take all of them and throw them out. So first, you have removed everything that you know And then you removed everything that you do not know. Now what is it that still remains. Think about it very deeply. What is it that still remains after you have removed everything. The answer is awareness or consciousness. You exist even after you removed everything that you know and all that you do not know. This you that exists after Every object of awareness or consciousness is removed is who you truly are.

Speaker A [00:06:40]:

This is the state of pure awareness or consciousness without any objects. This is infinite. This is abundant. This is limitless. This is what you need to realize and this is the teaching of. Now let us look at what the teachings on law of attraction, manifestation, and positive psychology tells us. The fundamental premise of law of attraction teachings is that our thoughts create things and we attract different situations and different objects in our lives because of the way we think and the way we feel. They basically tell us that our thoughts and our emotions are dictating our life and they decide the direction of our lives.

Speaker A [00:07:29]:

But what I think is that these teachings focus on a tiny spectrum of reality. They do not look at the reality as it is holistically. They are just observing a certain aspect of reality and they're ignoring the rest of it. So today, we will Holistically understand the reality for what it is. I'm not telling here that the teachings on law of attraction or positive Psychology are wrong. All I'm saying is that they are limited and they're missing a lot of things which we need to stand in order to make complete sense of what reality is and in order to truly live a fulfilled life. We can never attain absolute fulfillment by desiring something which is by nature limited. We only get limited joy from limited things.

Speaker A [00:08:27]:

So no matter how big of a desire or goal we hold, it is ultimately limited and it is temporary. So the joy that we obtain from it will also be limited and temporary. Now let us holistically look at The nature of reality with the understanding of non dualism or Advaita Vedanta and then looking at the teachings of law of attraction and how it actually works. What we now understand is that this universe is not what it seems. There is no objective reality as such. The universe as we see it exists within us. So we do not exist in this universe. This Entire universe exists within our awareness and our true nature is awareness and that awareness is infinite.

Speaker A [00:09:23]:

It is absolute and it is eternal, and it is also abundant since it is limitless. Now what we are doing is that we are We're identifying with a body mind unit and we are limiting that infinite awareness into a body mind unit. Now since we are limiting the infinite awareness, We become this personality. Even though our true nature is that pure consciousness, which is limitless and which is abundant, We are limiting it by identifying ourselves with a body and a mind and a personality. And this Universe that is around us is reflecting back to us what we hold within ourselves. So what we are seeing outside in this universe is just a reflection of what is there inside of us in terms of our belief systems and in terms of our thoughts and feelings. The primary teaching of nondualism is that there is no subject object split. So let's say you desire a certain amount of money, you believe that you are separate from that money and that money is something which is apart from you.

Speaker A [00:10:48]:

You believe that you are the subject and that money is the object. But as per nondualism, there is no subject object split. So you and the money and the world around you, everything else is just a projection in that pure consciousness. Everything is pure consciousness. So everything is connected and everything is 1. So whatever belief systems that you hold based on your personality, the world outside of you reflects it back to you. Now you are limiting that unlimited awareness or consciousness based on your belief systems and based on your personality, lity, and then you are experiencing the world around you, which is basically reflecting back your own limitations. So in order to come out of your suffering or in order to live your life consciously, abundantly, the way you truly want to live, You need to first of all come out of your own limitations that you have set for yourself.

Speaker A [00:12:01]:

You need to know who you truly are and you need to identify yourself as that absolute infinite limitless awareness. This is the field of infinite possibilities. Once you have identified yourself as this pure awareness, then your preferences will naturally unfold in your life with at most ease. It has to happen because Everything is awareness and you yourself are that awareness. So whatever You intend from that place of infinite possibilities and from that place of pure awareness will naturally unfold in the external world. This is how we can understand the teachings of Law of attraction with the foundational understanding and with the foundational knowledge of Advaita Vedanta, and I call this process conscious creation through which we are consciously creating the life that we truly want to live, which is a good life for us and for the society and for the world as a whole. This is why Jesus Christ said, seek the kingdom of God and all the things will be added unto you. Here, he was just pointing towards the nature of reality, towards who you truly are.

Speaker A [00:13:29]:

Once you seek and once you understand yourself As pure awareness or consciousness, as a field of infinite possibilities, Everything will be added unto you. You can easily bring about your preferences in this material world. And this is why I think that the teachings of law of attraction and manifestation, especially how it is talked about in the west are broken and they're incomplete. It will only be complete if we understand the basic nature of reality, and this will happen only if we understand Advaita Vedanta. And if you want to go deeper into these concepts in order to live your life consciously the way you want And in order to create your life consciously the way you want, we have created a community cum learning platform, And we call this the Advaita conscious society. You can join our platform by visiting advaita.com. Thank you, and I'll see you on the next

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

How can we understand the nature of reality, and how can we understand that we are awareness or consciousness and not our bodies and our minds? In the last episode, we talked about the concept of God. We looked at what God is, and we also talked about the nature of self. And we came to an understanding that we are pure awareness or consciousness, and we are not our bodies and our minds. So in this episode. Let us take this a step further, and let us investigate on this topic. Let us look at a method through which we can come to an understanding and a realization that we are that pure awareness and not this body and mind. The concepts that I'm going to talk about today comes from an ancient text called Drk Drishya Viveka. This is a small yet profound text which gives us a method to look at our own experience and to come to a realization about the nature of reality and to find out who we are.

Speaker A [00:01:11]:

Con let us step by step look at this teaching, and let us examine our experiences to come to an understanding of the nature of reality. Now this has to be listened to when you are alone and when there are no disturbances. But if you are driving or if you are within any activity, you can pause this episode here. Con talks about denying the scene. First of all, what we need to understand is the difference between a subject and an object. A subject is something which is experiencing, con and an object is something which is being experienced. This is basic grammar, and everyone understands this. And we also need to understand that a subject can never be an object, and an object can never be a subject.

Speaker A [00:02:07]:

Con these 2 are fundamentally different things. Now with this basic framework and understanding, let us look at how we can understand the nature of self. For this, I will step by step walk you through what you need to do, and you need to start doing this as we go along? Step 1, pick up an object. It can be anything. It can be a pen or a book or whatever, and just hold it in your hands and start looking at it. Now let's say you have picked up a book and you are holding it, and you are looking at the book. Now your eyes are seeing the book, which means that the book is an object and your eyes are the subject. This is level 1.

Speaker A [00:02:54]:

In level 2, your eyes will send the signals and impulses to the brain, and you will brain will process that information. In this case, your brain is the subject con and your eyes are the object. And since the subject and an object cannot be a same thing, in this case, your eyes are the object and your brain is the subject. Now let's go to level 3. Your brain itself is being experienced by the mind, and your mind is that which is experiencing the brain. Now in this level, your mind is the subject, and your brain is the object. Until now, it was simple, and most of us can understand this. Now let us go to level 5.

Speaker A [00:03:45]:

Here, you need to go a little bit deeper, and you need to look at your experiences carefully. What we need to understand here is that our mind is being witnessed. We are not our minds because our minds will change. The mind that we had when we were young is no longer the mind that we have right now, and this mind will change in the future. But I who is experiencing this mind, that witness, always remains constant, and it will always remain in the background untouched by the mind. So what we need to understand is that there is something which is behind the mind, which is beyond the mind, and it is witnessing the mind. It is being aware of the mind. This witness, peace, consciousness, or pure awareness.

Speaker A [00:04:39]:

This is who we truly are, and our mind itself, along with the body and everything else is being experienced or witnessed in that awareness. Con now here in level 5, that pure awareness or consciousness who we truly are is the subject. In fact, it is the ultimate subject, and everything else are objects. So this is who we truly are. God. This awareness itself is God, says Vedanta. This awareness is infinite. It is eternal.

Speaker A [00:05:16]:

It is permanent. It is unchanging. It is absolute. God? It is It is existence, consciousness, and bliss. And this is our essential nature. And everything else, our minds and our personalities, are just masked over this pure consciousness or awareness. And this entire universe that we see all around us is happening in this awareness. Just think about this.

Speaker A [00:05:45]:

Con whatever you experience in this world, it is a sense perception. Basically, you are receiving signals from your eyes, ears, nose, body, etcetera, and these perceptions are being experienced in the mind, and your mind is being experienced or witnessed in that pure awareness. So everything that you think that exists outside of you is technically not outside of you. You are experiencing them within your awareness. This world exists within our awareness. Con this is what we need to understand, and this method will help us to understand who we truly are. I hope this was valuable to you? And if you're interested in these teachings and if you want to delve deeper to learn these concepts, to understand the nature of reality, to talk to and to communicate with like minded individuals who have similar interests and attitudes, then you can join the Advaita Conscious Society. This is a community cum learning platform.

Speaker A [00:06:57]:

We have a beginner level membership and also advanced memberships where we go deep into conscious living and conscious creation. We also have a program which is an in-depth program, which explains the concepts on conscious creation, which talks about how we can create our lives consciously the way we desire and deserve and how to consciously manifest the life that we truly want to live. If you are interested in this, you can visit advaita.com to find out more information on this. And if you are enjoying this podcast, make sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review for it. Thank you, and I'll see you on the next

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

Does God exist? Who is God? Did God create us or did we create God? Who created this universe, and what is our purpose in this universe? Do you think about questions like this? Today, let us understand God and let us understand the nature of reality. I have been personally curious about the subject of God And the meaning of the word God for a very long time, and I started doing a lot of research on this topic. And I started reading a lot of texts and teachings about the concept of God from the past few years. As I studied more and more and as I started learning more about the nature of reality and about the concept of God according to various religions and according to various different perspectives. I soon came across the teachings of the Upanishads, And I soon came upon Advaita Vedanta. And this also led me to write my book, Decoding God. Man has been asking this question about God and about the nature of this universe for a very long time, and Man has tried to define God in various ways. If we look at history, gods were often associated With the forces of nature, whatever man couldn't understand or make sense of, he Associated such things or such phenomena with the concept of God in order to make a certain sense of this universe.

Speaker A [00:01:44]:

Hence, in the past, there were Greek gods of thunder, of fire, of water, etcetera. And later on, as civilization began to evolve the concept of monotheism, which said there is 1 all powerful god, And he is actively involved, and he seeks good things to his creation. So this kind of a concept came about. Various monotheistic religions emerged, but it is very fascinating when we talk about Hinduism And the that is prevalently found in India. In India, the approach towards questions like this And the approach towards God is very different. There are various philosophies and various Perspectives which people have within 1 religion or within 1 culture. Such diverse schools of thought and such diverse Philosophies coexisting harmoniously cannot be found anywhere across the world. This is one specialty of The Sanatana Dharma and of Hinduism.

Speaker A [00:02:58]:

If we discuss the definition of God and the meaning of God according to various scriptures Chosen various different religions, it would take forever because there are such diverse perspectives and Explanations when it comes to God and the nature of reality from different religions and cultures across the world. Today, I will talk about my understanding of God and the teachings of the ancient Vedas and Upanishads of India? This is Advaita Vedanta or what is called as nondualism in the West. And there is one simple, beautiful, elegant quote which was said by Rumi, which explains this concept really well, And it goes like this. I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God? Isn't this a beautiful quote? And this simple quote encapsulates The entire teaching of Vedanta. Just to give you a context, the teachings of Upanishads and Vedas were given to us More than 10000 years ago by the ancient Rishis and Yogis of India, and these teachings Talk to us about the true nature of reality. They explain to us what this reality actually is. They explain to us what God is, and they explain what created this universe and our purpose in this manifested universe? Of course, we will talk about all of this in the future episodes.

Speaker A [00:04:38]:

But to talk about God and the nature of reality, the simply tell us, which means you are it. You are God. Of course, for beginners, this doesn't make any sense, but there is a lot of depth to this statement. And this is a very profound statement that points towards the nature of reality. Now first of all, let us define god before moving ahead. Something which is god or something which can be called god is Omnipresent is all pervading, is infinite, is absolute, and is permanent. It Cannot be any other way. Something which is temporary, something which is limited, something which is not all pervading in the sense that it exists Only at a certain place, and it does not exist in some other place cannot be said as God or Cannot be called God because the notion of God represents something that is absolute, infinite, and permanent.

Speaker A [00:05:48]:

Now what the Advaita Vedanta tells us is that your own consciousness or your awareness, Which in reality, who you are is that which is infinite, is that which is absolute, is that which is All pervading and is that which is permanent without any birth or without any death. This is the nature of your own consciousness, And this consciousness itself is God. So don't try to find God anywhere else. Find it within yourself and realize it within yourself. And this is the ultimate goal for a human being, says the Upanishads. But this is not a living experience for us. We experience ourselves to be this Body, mind, unit. We think that we are a personality with a certain name, and we think that we are this body? But let us go a little deep here.

Speaker A [00:06:46]:

Let us try to uncover the reality. There are various ways to understand this, But one way of looking at it is this. When you were young, you had a certain kind of body. You had a certain kind of mind. And right now, You have a certain kind of body, and you have a certain kind of mind. And after a decade, you will have another Kind of body and another kind of mind. And when I say another kind of body, I mean that your body will change in a matter of years or decades? And your mind will change. The belief systems, the thoughts, the emotions that you were thinking when you were a kid are no longer the same right now, and it will not be the same in the future.

Speaker A [00:07:31]:

So your mind is constantly Changing, and your body is constantly changing. But if I show you 2 pictures of yourself, 1 from when you were a kid And one from right now. And if I ask you, who are you in this? You will say, I am both of them. But if we think about Right? How can we be both of them, and how can I say I am all of them or I am both of them? We need to think about this carefully, but If we do, we will come to a profound understanding. We will come to an understanding that there was a witness which was witnessing the body of a child And the mind of a child when I was a child, and there was a witness which is witnessing this body that I have right now, And the same witness will witness an older body in the future. That witness itself, that awareness itself is permanent. It is unchanging. It is eternal.

Speaker A [00:08:31]:

It is infinite. But the body that awareness is experiencing will constantly change, And I am not the body that is changing. I am not the mind that is changing, but I am the witness or the awareness Behind and beyond that body and mind, this is the teaching which is given to us by the ancient Upanishads, And this is how we need to understand the reality. And the Upanishads also tell us that this entire universe as we see it Today do not exist outside of you. You do not exist in this universe. Instead, this existence and this universe Exists within you, and this entire world that you're experiencing is within your awareness. This is what we need to understand. And this is God, not anything else.

Speaker A [00:09:28]:

We will try to understand this In more depth by looking at various examples and various teachings in the future episodes. I hope this was valuable to you. And if you are interested in these teachings, and if you want to go deeper to understand the nature of reality And the nature of God and the nature of self, you can find my book, Decoding God, Thank you, and I'll see you on the next one.

Speaker A [00:00:00]:

What is karma? And are we really free in this world? Do we actually have any control on our life and our destinies? This is a very important question. Karma is very loosely discussed, and it is talked about very commonly by a lot of people, but I don't think most of us truly understand what karma is. So today, we will go deep into the subject and understand what is karma and what is the nature of karma. The word karma comes from the Sanskrit word, tree, which stands for action. So every kind of action that you perform is karma? The physical action that you perform with the help of your body is karma. Whatever mental action that you perform in terms of your thoughts, feelings, emotions, etcetera, also constitute karma? At the same time, whatever action that you perform at the energy level, at the subtle level, also constitute karma? Now when we say karma, what exactly are we talking about? To understand this? We need to understand the nature of the human mind. Whatever we understand about the human mind And whatever the modern science understands about the human mind is very little. Our mind is very deep? It has various layers to it.

Speaker A [00:01:29]:

We are only familiar with the surface level of mind, which is the conscious mind which we use to think different thoughts and make different decisions and do different things in our life? But then there is the subconscious mind, which has deep seeded belief systems, deep seeded thoughts and conditioning, which is controlling our lives? And below that, there is something called as the unconscious mind, which is very difficult to understand and which is very difficult to describe. And it is said that this unconscious mind is connected to the universal mind, which has access to the memories of the entire cosmos? Coming to karma, What we need to understand is that whatever we do and whatever action we perform, It leaves a certain residue in our minds, and it creates a certain impression. A memory is created. If you perform good actions and if you perform good deeds, good memories and good impressions are created. And if you perform negative actions, negative impressions are created. Karma works on the basic principle of cause and effect. So throughout your life, you perform various actions, and each of these actions creates an impression in the deepest level of your mind. And according to Hinduism, we have various rebirths and reincarnations, and we are born again and again in different physical bodies, and we live different lives as different people? This is common to many cultures and many religions.

Speaker A [00:03:14]:

Now whether you believe in reincarnation or rebirths or not is a separate discussion, and it is a separate topic. But basically, what the ancient scriptures of, India and Hinduism say is that throughout the life cycle of the subtle body, which is the mind, which is called as the sukshma sharira in Sanskrit. It takes in the impression and the memory of all the actions performed by it throughout all its different lives, And all of it together forms a huge ocean of memory, and we call it the Sanchita Karma. So there are 3 aspects of karma that we need to understand here. 1 is the Sanchita Karma, second is the prarabdha karma. 3rd is agami karma. Sanchita karma is and ocean of memory that the subtle body or the mind has, which within itself contains the impressions and the memory of all its action throughout different lifetimes? And then what happens is when that subtle body comes to a new physical body, only a certain amount of Sanchita Karma is allotted for the settled body to live its current life. Now we all are living a certain life right now in a certain physical body, and a certain amount of memory is allotted to our system to live this life? This is prarabdha karma.

Speaker A [00:04:55]:

So our prarabdha karma is responsible for the parents that we have. It is responsible for the way we look, the way we talk, our default belief systems, our default personality, everything is because of the prarabdha karma. And then there is the agami karma, which is the new karma that we are creating in the current life, which is going on and adding on to the Sanchita Karma, which is the ocean of memory that we have from all of our different lives. So this is how the system works, and this is how it is explained in the scriptures. Now along with this, we also have something called as The evolutionary memory or evolutionary karma, which is the memory that we have because of the process of evolution biologically? So we are all familiar with the theory of evolution, which was explained by Charles Darwin, and we understand how we evolved from different species to become the Homo sapiens. Now within our system, we also hold the Evolutionary memory, which is the memory that we have because of evolution. Now think about this. When we were animals, the Circumstances and the environment around us was very different.

Speaker A [00:06:15]:

It was very scary. We were living in the forest. We had a lot of dangers coming in our way, so our survival was very much dependent on how careful we were and how quick we were in taking different decisions and in responding to different situations? So when we were animals, we had to be very careful about our lives, because Almost anything could kill us. There were a lot of animals which were trying to kill us, and we had to find Shelter, we had to find water, we had to find food, so there was a lot of stress that we had to take in order to live that life. Now all that memory is encoded and is embedded within us, and it is actually determining the way we in make decisions even today? Even today, most of us do not take risks, and we always want to be in our comfort zone, and we stress about different things because of that tendencies that we hold due to our evolutionary memory. Like this? The various kinds of karma that we have are directing our lives, Especially the karma that we have, which has been allotted from the Sanchita Karma to live this current life is very much controlling our lives, and it has created fault destiny for our lives? Now this doesn't mean that we cannot control our destiny, and we cannot take charge of our lives? But in order to do that, we need to break the momentum set by karma, and we need to come out of our tendencies and our default personality, and we need to move towards conscious living. We had spoken about conscious living a little bit in a previous episode, and we will talk more about it in future episodes. But if we live our lives consciously, and if we are conscious of our thought patterns and our feelings and our belief systems and change them the way we want them to be, then we can take charge of our lives, and we can take control of our destiny.

Speaker A [00:08:36]:

And when we talk about karma, we need to also talk about karma yoga. Karma yoga is a very big topic on its own, but to explain it in a simple way, karma yoga is performing action while being detached from the results of that action? This is what Lord Krishna spoke about in Bhagavad Gita. Whenever someone performs certain action without any expectation or by being detached by the results of that action that will not create an impression in the subtle body or the mind. So karma yoga is about detachment. Now this is actually very scientific. Imagine if we can live that way. Imagine if we can from a certain action while being detached from the outcomes of that action? Imagine the freedom that we would have if we can actually live that way? And I know it is very difficult to do it because the way society is and the way we have when conditioned and the way we have been brought up? We always think about the fruits of our action. We always do things with a certain goal in mind? But we can at least try to apply this teaching as much as possible.

Speaker A [00:09:53]:

We can have goals for our lives, But at least in the day to day activities, when we are performing small daily actions, if we can be a little bit detached from the outcomes and simply perform those actions in the best way possible? I think we can truly transform our lives. I hope you found this valuable, and if you are liking this podcast, make sure to give a review for it and make sure to subscribe to our podcast. And if you want to go more deep into learning these concepts and to take charge of your life and to consciously create your life the way you desire? You can join our community and learning platform, the Advaita Conscious Society, by visiting adhvaitha.com Thank you, and I'll see you on the next one.