Hear, Concentrate, Meditate, Dissolve || Acharya Prashant, on Adhyatma Upanishad (2019)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...  ⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates? Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work? Contribute: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/contri...   Want to work with Acharya Prashant? Apply to the Foundation here: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/hiring...  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi Live, 15.07.2019, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India   Context: 'To listen', thus is to pursue by means of sentences their import. On the other hand, 'thinking' consists in perceiving its consistency with reason. ~ Adhyatma Upanishad (Verse 33)  'Meditation' is indeed the exclusive attention of the mind fixed on (the import) rendered indubitable through listening and thinking. ~ Adhyatma Upanishad (Verse 34)  'Concentration' is said to be the mind which, outgrowing the dualism between the meditator and meditation, gradually dwells exclusively on the object (of meditation) and is like a flame in a windless spot. ~ Adhyatma Upanishad (Verse 35)  ~ What is concentration? ~ How does meditation come after concentration? ~ Are these the four stages for enlightenment? ~ What it means to listen?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .

Transcript

00:00Verse 1, I am simplifying as I read these out, says, listening is to pursue by means

00:17of sentences their import.

00:21Listening has been defined.

00:23Listening is to pursue by means of sentences their import.

00:27Then thinking has been defined.

00:29Thinking consists in perceiving the consistency of sentences with reason.

00:45Then meditation has been talked of.

00:48Meditation is indeed the exclusive attention of the mind fixed on the import rendered indubitable

00:59through listening and thinking.

01:01So listening has happened, thinking has happened.

01:04Now that which has become indubitable, credible, certain through listening and thinking has

01:17to be attended to.

01:20So meditation is the exclusive attention of the mind on that which has been proven through

01:29listening and thinking.

01:32Then concentration and has been defined this way.

01:42Meditation is said to be the mind which outgrowing the dualism between the meditator and meditation

01:49gradually dwells exclusively on the object of meditation and is like a flame in a windless

01:59spot.

02:04And then he has quoted me.

02:07Intelligence is that which enables you to simply see.

02:10Intelligence is that which reduces the whole clutter and wipes away the dirt.

02:13Intelligence is a fundamental nature.

02:16Intelligence is the settlement of the mind, live in intelligence.

02:20And he says, explain everything.

02:27How do these activities of mind lead to its settlement?

02:34How does intelligence take over?

02:36First of all, Abhilash, the translation is not quite accurate.

02:48That which is being talked of as concentration here is not really concentration.

02:54If the topic of the course is Advaita Vedanta, I don't know how the readings have been decided

02:59and which particular books are being referred to.

03:04In fact, why only Adhyatma Upanishad is there, I don't know how the readings have been selected.

03:23The topic is Advaita Vedanta, go to the principle of Upanishads, Khatken, Ish, Chandogya, Pradaranyaka.

03:37I am not sure why these particular readings are being dealt with.

03:56Now what are you asking?

04:05Please help me understand all these better.

04:07How do these activities lead to their own settlement?

04:19In the verses from the Upanishads that you have quoted, so these four things have been

04:25talked of, listening, thinking, meditation, concentration.

04:35Concentration that is being talked of here is actually Samadhi.

04:42Listening that is being talked of here is actually just hearing.

04:47So hearing is to pursue by means of sentences they report.

04:54Hearing simply means taking the sentence, taking the gross word.

05:03Let the sound wave strike your eardrums, let your brain receive the signal that is hearing.

05:14Let the sound wave strike your eardrum, let your consciousness receive the signal that

05:23something has been communicated to you, that much is hearing.

05:28Obviously hearing has to be there, without that things can't even begin.

05:35Then there is thinking.

05:37So hear, then think about it.

05:41What does it mean to think?

05:42The Upanishad says to think is to measure the consistency of the heard sentence, the

05:55heard input with reason.

06:01See whether what is being said is logical.

06:09See whether what is being said is factual.

06:16See whether what is being said abides by the law of cause and effect.

06:24See whether what has been said is self-contradictory.

06:36That is then thinking.

06:40And then meditation is being talked of.

06:44Exclusive attention of the mind fixed on the import rendered indubitable through listening

06:49and thinking.

06:50So now that the heard word has passed the test of reason, so you believe in it.

07:02It has obtained for itself a certain credibility.

07:07You heard it, you examined it, you find it reasonable.

07:15So it has some weight.

07:20Therefore you can give yourself to it even more.

07:25Meditation then is to concentrate on, focus on what that sentence is saying.

07:33And because all of this is being referred to in a spiritual environment, therefore the

07:39sentence that you are hearing obviously has truth as its import.

07:47What else do you hear in a spiritual milieu?

07:51All sentences that deal with truth.

07:54So truth is the import of the sentence.

07:59Meditation is the mind attending only to the truth.

08:06So a sentence about the truth came to you.

08:10You first of all made yourself physically and sensually available to hear.

08:21If you are not physically available, if your ears are not open, then the beginning itself

08:27won't take place.

08:28So first of all you let the sentence be heard.

08:33Then you critically examined the sentence and you said at the level of reason, the sentence

08:40appears important, worthy, good enough to be taken forward and then you meditated.

08:55You said right, the sentence is talking of truth.

09:00What is this truth?

09:06I see its importance.

09:08I see its total importance.

09:18How do I be available to it?

09:25And the more you proceed on this line, the more you find that you are insufficient.

09:33So you give more of yourself to this process.

09:38Pursuing the truth demands all your resources and when all your resources are demanded,

09:42then you withdraw your resources from elsewhere.

09:51Pursuing the truth is a giant enterprise.

09:59You will need to pull in everything that you have.

10:03So you'll have to call back your forces from the various fronts they are deployed at.

10:08You'll say you to come in, you to come in, all of you are needed here.

10:11Something very important is happening here.

10:13You know, we are pursuing the truth and it requires everything that I have and much more.

10:22So the attention is then exclusive.

10:26All your other affairs drop.

10:30You cannot be parallelly, simultaneously be engaged with truth and something else.

10:42If you are engaged with truth and something else, then you will not have the energy to

10:47do justice to the truth.

10:51And in the competition between truth and something else, the something else will always prevail.

10:59There is a clear reason.

11:02That something else is little.

11:04So it can survive even with your little dedication.

11:10That something else is small, mediocre.

11:17So how much attention does it need?

11:19Small, little.

11:23How much does truth need?

11:26Everything.

11:29Let's say you have 10 units of resources and there is truth and there is something else.

11:39Something else needs just one unit of your resources.

11:52It is small, frugal.

11:57Truth requires all 10 units that you have and you say, I am greatly dedicated towards

12:04the truth.

12:05I will give 9 units to the truth and 1 unit to something else.

12:12In your own calculation, you have greatly favoured the truth.

12:15Have you not?

12:16You are giving 9 units to truth and just 1 unit to something else.

12:21You are saying, you see, I love the truth, 9 is to 1.

12:25But what have you actually done?

12:27That something else will survive because 1 unit is sufficient for it.

12:31Truth will die down.

12:33Your pursuit of truth will be aborted.

12:38Because truth requires all 10, even 9 is highly insufficient.

12:48That little thing requires only little, give it 1, it will keep prospering.

12:56Therefore the Upanishad says, exclusive attention.

13:00It cannot be truth and something else.

13:10Then Samadhi.

13:13The duality between meditation and meditation is gone.

13:17The duality between the subject and object is gone.

13:21The duality between the ego and truth is gone.

13:24The ego has become so enamoured of the truth that it is prepared to lose its own identity.

13:36I want that.

13:37I am looking continuously at that.

13:40So I have lost all track of myself.

13:44Do I exist?

13:45I exist now only in relation to that.

13:50So first of all, the other relationships are cut off.

13:52You say, I exist only in relation to that, that is my only identity.

13:56Who am I?

13:58Something related to that.

14:01Everything else drops off.

14:04And slowly you even stop saying that you are related to that.

14:13There comes a point when you say, I am that.

14:18To begin with, how are you and what do you say?

14:22You keep saying, I am related to this, I am related to that, I am related to that.

14:25I have a thousand relationships.

14:31That's the stage to begin with.

14:38What happens when after hearing and thinking and meditation, you remain related only to

14:54that.

14:56The other relationships fall off.

15:01Because if you are to pursue that, then that requires everything that you have.

15:06If you give everything that you have to that, then the other things will obviously be disappointed.

15:16And they will all just get switched off and walk away.

15:29So now you have only one relationship.

15:31From hundred relationships, you are left with one.

15:36And finally, even that one relationship no more remains a relationship, it becomes a

15:40union.

15:41So I am not related to that, I am that.

15:49I am related to the hundred.

15:54Then I am related to just one.

15:58Then I am the one.

16:02That's the process.

16:14And then, Avinash, you have quoted me, I forget, it's not worth commenting on.

16:28I speak so much.

16:31So, it's already a bad situation.

16:38Don't make me speak upon myself, it would be worse.

Category

Transcript

Recommended