The great mystery that 'Om' points to || Acharya Prashant, on Katha 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: Month of Awakening, 24.07.2019, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India   Context: Nachiketa said: That which you see as other than righteousness and unrighteousness, other than all this cause and effect, other than what has been and what is to be - tell me, That. ~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 14)  Yama said: The goal which all the Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at and which men desire when they lead the life of continence, I will tell you briefly: it is Om. ~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 15)  This syllable Om is indeed Brahman. This syllable is the Highest. Whosoever knows this syllable obtains all that he desires. ~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 16)  This is the best support; this is the highest support. Whosoever knows this support is adored in the world of Brahma. ~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 17)  ~ What is the sound of OM? ~ How does it take us to peace? ~ Can is the real meaning behind this sound? ~ What do Rishi's refer to as OM?  Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00The first question comes from Jaime, he has quoted from the Kathopanishad.

00:24Naciketa said, that which you see as other than righteousness and unrighteousness, other

00:37than all this cause and effect, other than what has been and what is to be, tell me that.

00:49Yama said, the goal which all the Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which all

00:58men desire when they lead the life of continence, I will tell you briefly, it is Aum.

01:08This syllable Aum is indeed Brahm, this syllable is the highest, whosoever knows this syllable

01:17obtains all that he desires.

01:22This is the best support, this is the highest support, whosoever knows this support is adored

01:30in the world of Brahm.

01:34So Jaime is asking, Dear Acharya ji, can you please elaborate on what that issue refers

01:48to as Aum, and what he means by Aum being the best and highest support.

01:54Thank you for your guidance.

02:30Aum is used as a powerful symbol of transcendence.

02:56It consists of three sounds, Aum and Ma.

03:08These correspond to the three states of consciousness.

03:27Aum begins where one currently is.

03:36Obviously there can be no other place to begin with.

03:41You can only begin from where you are.

03:46So Aum begins with A, which is your current state of consciousness.

03:58What is your current state of consciousness?

04:04The one in which you perceive the facts of the world, the one which you call as the waking

04:17state of consciousness, the one in which you perceive yourself as the body, our body identified

04:33and the body is the consumer of the various objects in the world, that is A. A is the

04:47beginning, whether in the alphabet Varnamala or in Aum, A pertains to your current state

05:10of consciousness.

05:13So the journey begins from A. Then Aum says transcend A, and how do you transcend A?

05:29You transcend any state of consciousness only by knowing it well.

05:39That is the way of the seeker.

05:44Know your waking state of consciousness, know the material, know the facts of the world,

05:54know your gross actions because they are the easiest to know.

06:06The world is perceivable, your actions too are perceivable, know them.

06:13A refers to your most easily accessible layer of consciousness, the most superficial layer

06:28of consciousness.

06:31And hence A is most easily available to be known.

06:43And then you move to U. U refers to that state of consciousness which remains unavailable

07:01to your usual conscious self, but nevertheless deeply impacts your functioning, your life,

07:11your mind.

07:16This is the state of consciousness that manifests itself when you go to sleep.

07:27In the Upanishadic parlance, U would pertain to your identity as Tajas.

07:39And obviously that means A pertains to your identity as Vaishwanath.

07:46Or you could take a slightly different route and you could say A pertains to all that which

07:55is Sthul.

07:58A pertains to the domain of Sthul Sharir and correspondingly U pertains to the domain

08:07of Sukshm Sharir.

08:12Whichever way you look at it, one thing is obvious.

08:17The domain of U, which is the deeper level of mind, is more difficult to know than the

08:24domain of A. It's easier to watch your actions than to watch your thoughts.

08:33It's easier to watch your thoughts than to watch your dreams.

08:41One who has transcended A enters U.

08:49And if you can transcend the U mind as well, then a greater challenge awaits you, Ma.

09:02Which is the Karan Sharir.

09:07Which is the domain of the mind in which your identity is that of Pragya.

09:17Which is the level of consciousness in which the world is gone.

09:26The various branch, vrittis, tendencies are also transcended.

09:33And all that remains is the Mool Aham Vritti, the deepest I instinct.

09:46So in the course of Aum, in his journey through Aum, what is the seeker doing?

09:55The seeker is penetrating to deeper and deeper levels of his mind.

10:00He started off from where he was, which was the most superficial level, the waking state

10:04of consciousness, in which the Sansar is there, the world is there, the Vishu is there and

10:10the Vaishvanar is there.

10:13And then he went deeper into his mind and what did he encounter?

10:17U.

10:18What does U refer to?

10:20All the stuff that you do not usually come to see, it remains hidden and it presents

10:29itself sometimes only in dreams and then you are shocked.

10:33Don't your dreams surprise you sometimes?

10:38You say where did this come from?

10:42It didn't come from anywhere outside of you.

10:46It was always present in your mind.

10:48It's just that it existed a bit deeply.

10:57So you were not cognizant of it.

11:01When the state of consciousness changed, when you went to sleep, then that which was a little

11:06deeper in the mind presented itself.

11:11What is the symbol used to represent that?

11:17U.

11:21A says watch your visible actions, watch your gross thoughts, U says now come on, can you

11:37be a watcher of your various latent tendencies as well?

11:45What are the latent tendencies that you usually cannot watch but show up in dreams?

11:51Anger, fear, lust, insecurity, greed.

12:00Many of these remain suppressed in the conscious mind.

12:04But once they find that the guard of consciousness has been lowered, then they merrily come forth

12:14and start dancing.

12:19So U says now overcome that which is deeply hidden in your mind and then the challenge

12:28is M. M says now encounter the fundamental problem, the final challenge, which is the

12:41pure I-tendency itself.

12:45I-tendency bereft of everything else.

12:51The moment the I-tendency does not have anything else, you start enjoying.

12:59You know what is happening as you are graduating from U to M, you are leaving the world behind.

13:09When you come to M, the world has indeed been left totally behind.

13:16In deep sleep, there is no world at all.

13:21However, the potential for the world to spring back still exists.

13:28That is why Sushupti is not Samadhi.

13:32That is why Sushupti is not final.

13:35That is why that enjoyment does not last.

13:39You are woken up and the world comes back to you and grips you and arrests you.

13:46Nevertheless, it gives you a taste of what it means to be world-less.

13:55That is why deep sleep is so relaxing.

13:57You become world-less.

13:59The world is gone and because the world is gone, you are in bliss.

14:09Uma says overcome this bliss also.

14:13Because this bliss is deceptive.

14:15Why is it deceptive?

14:19It is not going to last.

14:22Every night you experience that bliss, does it last?

14:25It deceives you.

14:26So, Uma says that even the blissful experiences that you get in the path of spirituality have

14:33to be overcome.

14:37All great experiences are a barrier.

14:43Ma is the most blissful experience you can ever get.

14:52There is no experience more relaxing, more soothing, more tempting than the experience

15:02of deep sleep.

15:09You can craft and design the most alluring experiences for yourself, whether through

15:18the worldly route or through the spiritual route, but no experience can beat the experience

15:24of deep and relaxing sleep.

15:27Uma says overcome that as well.

15:33You cannot stop at Ma.

15:35Ma is a great and final hurdle.

15:39You cannot stop there.

15:41So even Ma has to keep petering away and then you enter the fourth beyond these three.

15:55That is the message of Om.

16:00Om is both the method and the destination.

16:07When you say Om, you are on one hand reaffirming your commitment to move beyond a and at the

16:17same time you are journeying as you utter Om.

16:24Every time you say Om, you are actually saying I am starting from a, going to Ma and then

16:32leaping beyond.

16:36That beyondness, that transcendence is the purpose of all spirituality.

16:43Go deeper, deeper, deeper into yourself and then disappear.

16:47That is Om.

16:49A, O, Ma and then gone, nothing.

16:57So Om resonates, resonates, resonates.

17:00There is an echo, there is an echo, there is an echo and then nothing is left.

17:04The echo keeps getting fainter, fainter, fainter.

17:07The world is going, going, going, going, going, going, gone.

17:12That is Om.

17:14A, O, Ma, gone.

17:18Now nothing remains, not even Ma remains, not even the final shred of I remains.

17:26You have gathered what Ma stands for.

17:30Ma stands for Aham, Ma, Mai, Aham, the final I tendency.

17:38That does not just disappear usually in one stroke.

17:43How does it go?

17:45Om.

17:51This is you melting away.

17:55This is your own disappearance.

17:58Om.

18:03Om.

18:07It is you who is now.

18:22That is the reason why the worship of Om and repeated recitation of Om has so much been advised and favoured.

18:45Every time Om disappears into nothing, something about you also melts and disappears.

18:54Om.

18:59Where did the sound go?

19:03Where did the sound go?

19:05Om.

19:12It's not the sound that is fading away.

19:16It's you who is fading away.

19:27You are asking what does the Rishi refer to as Om.

19:31I spoke on it.

19:33And then you ask what does he mean by Om being the best and highest support.

19:39When you are stuck in Ah, what does Ah refer to?

19:46The state of consciousness you are contained in.

19:50The state of consciousness you are identified with.

19:54The world that you live in.

19:56That's where you start from, Ah.

19:59So when you are contained and arrested, withheld, chained in Ah, then what is your only hope?

20:15Freedom.

20:19Om is the song of that freedom.

20:24Om says freedom in three steps.

20:27Ah, Om and gone.

20:30Ah, Om and free.

20:34Therefore the Rishis are saying that Om is your best and highest support.

20:39Because after all what support does a prisoner need?

20:44What is the only support that a prisoner wants?

20:50That which will take him to freedom.

20:53So, Om is the root.

20:56Om is the method.

20:58Om is the way.

21:00Om is the reminder.

21:03You are at Ah, but you need not stay at Ah.

21:10Move deeper into yourself.

21:12The more you will know yourself, the more you will be free of yourself.

21:18Knowledge of self is freedom from the self.

21:22And finally, the knower of the self himself vanishes.

21:28Dissolves away.

21:33Getting it?

Category

Transcript

Recommended