Remember by Heart, and let the memory forget || Acharya Prashant, on Shri Ashtavakra Gita (2014)
Video Information: Shabdyog Satsang, 24.12.2014, Advait Bodhsthal, Noida, India
Context:
What is the meaning of live by heart?
What is the meaning of remember by heart?
What is there, which is lovable?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
आचक्ष्व शृणु वा तात नानाशास्त्राण्यनेकशः।
तथापि न तव स्वास्थ्यं सर्वविस्मरणाद् ऋते॥
~ अष्टावक्र गीता (अध्याय- 16 सूत्र-1)
Son! You may speak many times in many ways, upon the various scriptures, or hear them. But you cannot get established in the Self, unless you forget all.
~ Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter 16, Verse 1)
Context:
What is the meaning of live by heart?
What is the meaning of remember by heart?
What is there, which is lovable?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
आचक्ष्व शृणु वा तात नानाशास्त्राण्यनेकशः।
तथापि न तव स्वास्थ्यं सर्वविस्मरणाद् ऋते॥
~ अष्टावक्र गीता (अध्याय- 16 सूत्र-1)
Son! You may speak many times in many ways, upon the various scriptures, or hear them. But you cannot get established in the Self, unless you forget all.
~ Ashtavakra Gita (Chapter 16, Verse 1)
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Ashtavukta Gita, 16th chapter, first verse.
00:09 Son, you may speak many times in many ways, upon various scriptures or hear them, but
00:18 you cannot get established in the self unless you forget all.
00:25 Son, you may speak many times in many ways, upon various scriptures or hear them, but
00:36 you cannot get established in the self unless you forget all.
00:42 All scriptures.
00:45 The question is what does forgetting imply?
00:50 Whatever we have in the mind is related to the world.
01:15 Generally we think that forgetting means that what was there in the mind is no more there
01:29 in the mind.
01:34 It was an image of the world and the image is just no more there.
01:41 In a way it has gone back to the world.
01:45 It came from the world and it is no more there.
01:48 So it's gone.
01:49 Gone where?
01:50 Gone back to somewhere else.
01:53 It's no more in the mind, no more in the memory.
01:57 It's gone.
02:03 Here is another kind of forgetting in which what came to the mind is no more in the mind
02:15 because it has penetrated deeply to some other place.
02:24 See understand this.
02:30 You put soil in a tray, dry soil and you put some water over it.
02:48 You pour a little water on the soil.
02:50 The soil is in a tray and obviously the tray does not have great depth.
02:56 So it's only a thin layer of soil.
03:00 It does not have depth.
03:03 After some time you find that the water is no more there in the soil.
03:08 It is gone.
03:10 When you first put water on the soil, it remains on the soil.
03:18 This is called the state of memorization.
03:23 An input coming from the world and being registered by the mind.
03:29 The input is the water and the soil has absorbed the water.
03:37 This is memorization.
03:39 After some time you find that the water is no more there.
03:42 Now where has the water gone?
03:46 No, no, because the soil is just a thin layer.
03:54 So where has the water gone?
03:57 Water has gone back.
03:59 It is no more there.
04:00 It has evaporated.
04:03 This is loss of memory.
04:07 This is what we usually mean by forgetting.
04:10 This is our general usage of the word forgetting.
04:15 Is this clear?
04:18 Now contrast this with another situation.
04:23 You go to a field, go to a field and there you have dry soil.
04:32 And the soil in the field goes right up to the earth's core.
04:41 And you put some water on it and the soil is dry.
04:44 And when you are putting water, what do you see?
04:48 There is a mark, a wet patch on the surface of the soil.
04:52 So first of all it is becoming memory.
04:56 First of all it is becoming memory.
05:02 And after some time you find that the wet patch is no more there.
05:05 Where has the water gone?
05:09 The water has now gone towards the core because the soil is now connected to the core.
05:17 It is not thin.
05:18 It has depth.
05:19 Again there is forgetting, but this forgetting is not the same as the first forgetting.
05:32 Now it is no more on the surface.
05:36 It has gone deep.
05:37 It has gone deep.
05:42 Classically there have been said to be three stages of knowledge acquisition.
05:55 What are they?
05:57 Chintan, Manan and Nididhyasan.
06:05 Chintan is surface level.
06:11 The water has just come and thoughts are playing with the new information gained.
06:20 This is Chintan.
06:23 So some stimulus is there in the surrounding and the mind is now reacting to it.
06:29 This is Chintan.
06:30 Thoughts are going around.
06:34 What is Manan?
06:37 Now active thinking is not taking place.
06:43 The process has moved to the background.
06:46 Like a computer that is not showing any activity on the screen.
06:54 But still the processor is operating.
06:56 A background process, a background application is running.
07:00 That is Manan.
07:04 And when Manan is honest and the instrument of Manan, the vritti, that is the agent of
07:16 Manan, that is cleaned, then there is the possibility of Nididhyasan.
07:27 Nididhyasan means it has gone into the being.
07:34 It is no more a part of thought nor a part of deep memory.
07:40 It is a part of the being now.
07:45 It is similar to forgetting because on the surface you will not see it.
08:00 Here is a stavak.
08:01 You see, where is this Gita and there are 20 chapters and every chapter has number of
08:08 verses ranging from 5 to 100.
08:12 Correct?
08:13 Can you really remember all the verses and is it worth the effort?
08:24 Is it really worth the effort to remember hundreds of verses by Ashtavakta?
08:29 You cannot remember Ashtavakta's verses.
08:34 You need to forget them.
08:36 When you forget the verses of Ashtavakra, then you come to remember Ashtavakra.
08:44 Understand the difference?
08:51 Understand the difference?
08:52 When a Kabir speaks or when an Ashtavakra speaks, do his verses arise from his memory?
09:02 When he is not operating from memory, why do you need to operate from memory?
09:08 Are you getting it?
09:10 When even he did not memorize his verses or did he?
09:16 Does a Kabir memorize his verses so that he may come and speak a Doha in front of the
09:20 audience?
09:23 Does his Sakhi arise from his memory?
09:25 From where does it arise?
09:27 From the core.
09:29 So when even a Kabir does not memorize his own Sakhi, why do you need to memorize?
09:36 Why do you need to memorize?
09:39 You don't need to memorize and that is what Ashtavakra is saying exactly that.
09:45 You cannot get established in the self unless you forget all scriptures.
09:52 Unless you forget the words of Kabir, you cannot become Kabir.
10:02 Or let me put it more accurately, you cannot experience your Kabir nature, which is not
10:12 really a matter of becoming.
10:19 And memory depends on practice.
10:24 Even if you are greatly fond of one particular Ashtavakra Sutra, if you do not circuit it
10:35 again in your mind over and over, after a while you will find that you have forgotten
10:41 it, it is gone.
10:43 But does that mean that a part of your being is lost?
10:48 No, that does not mean that.
10:51 Even Ashtavakra will not remember all his Sutras.
10:53 Chances are he may not remember anything.
11:02 This is not a license to not read them.
11:05 This is not a license to not actually remember their sayings by heart.
11:19 This is actually an invitation to remember them not by mind but by heart.
11:29 Remembering by mind is remembering and remembering by heart is divine forgetfulness.
11:42 When you are blessed, then you become forgetful.
11:48 Have you heard these two phrases?
11:55 And how loosely we use them?
11:57 You often say, no, no, I remember it by heart.
12:00 And when do you say I remember something by heart?
12:02 When do you say that?
12:03 When you have crammed it, absolutely.
12:05 No, that is not what the expression remembering by heart means.
12:09 Remembering by heart means it has become a part of me.
12:13 It is no more there in the memory.
12:15 I may forget the words and that doesn't matter.
12:18 It is now sitting in the heart, in the Atma.
12:24 It has reached there.
12:26 That is what the phrase remember by heart means.
12:31 And when you remember by heart, often you find that in the mind you have forgotten.
12:37 So that is divine forgetfulness.
12:45 He is giving you a hint.
12:48 He is teaching you how to approach him.
12:51 He is saying I am not a matter of memory.
12:57 Do not make me an object of the mind.
13:04 What to do with me?
13:07 Bring me close to yourself.
13:10 There is only one place that is a befitting seat for me.
13:16 And what place is that?
13:19 The heart.
13:23 Ashtavakra and Kabir sit nowhere else.
13:28 The mind is an insult to them.
13:43 They will not sit there.
13:57 But the way to the heart sometimes passes through the mind.
14:01 So I am cautioning, do not make it a license.
14:04 Do not read them.
14:09 And when you read and if you have read with intent, memory happens as a by-product.
14:16 So you will inevitably come to memorize a few things.
14:19 It is good.
14:20 Do not start blaming yourself that, oh my God, I remember a few Kabir verses.
14:25 So that means that you know, it has not gone to my heart.
14:29 Darling, I remember your name.
14:33 You must be very away from my heart.
14:35 Because what is there in the heart cannot be there in the memory.
14:45 What to do of the logical mind?
14:47 It can raise any argument anywhere.
14:53 Isn't it dangerous for us as we had a patch of wet soil initially, but somebody who does
15:13 not water the soil at all, he is being told about watering the core.
15:22 Now, if you ask me at least, I do not correctly remember, not even 20-25 Dohas out of Inca
15:32 Nile.
15:33 Now, I can simply say, wow, Kabir.
15:38 I mean, I cannot even say wow, Kabir.
15:41 When somebody is reading Kabir, I cannot even feel good about the fact that he is reading
15:47 Kabir.
15:48 I do not know.
15:49 I must memorize them first.
15:50 Use it in my life.
15:51 For me, Kabir is a part of me only that I need to copy.
15:58 Initially, it has to be memorized.
16:00 It has to be.
16:01 Related to, like you said, relate it to the Bible.
16:11 So I talked of two situations.
16:16 One in which you have a thin slice of soil.
16:23 The other in which the soil is really deep.
16:26 But in both the situations, one thing is common.
16:31 Watering is happening.
16:35 Not watering is not allowed.
16:39 Watering has to be done daily and the tractor has to be filled.
16:46 Not watering is not an option.
16:47 Sir, you said that, like, for writing in this book, it would be remembering by heart and
16:48 in such a way that it would become a part of my being.
16:49 So, but when we are talking about the Bible, we are talking about the Bible.
16:50 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:51 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:52 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:53 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:54 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:55 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:56 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:57 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:58 So, we are talking about the Bible.
16:59 So, we are talking about the Bible.
17:00 So, we are talking about the Bible.
17:01 So, we are talking about the Bible.
17:02 So, we are talking about the Bible.
17:23 So, we are talking about the Bible.
17:46 It is possible that deep down, only as deep as it can go, at the level of the tray on
18:01 which the soil is set, you will get a pool of mud.
18:11 That is conditioning.
18:15 It gets accumulated.
18:20 Conditioning is never that deep.
18:24 That is the first thing.
18:26 Second, it gets accumulated.
18:28 So, on the surface you might see nothing.
18:32 But when you go a little deep into it, you find something there, something rotting there.
18:44 The nature of learning is totally different.
18:50 Firstly, it is very deep.
18:53 Secondly, it clears the accumulation.
18:58 Are you getting it?
19:04 Can you visualize this?
19:05 You are putting water and water and water and let's say the tray is kept in the sun.
19:10 So after a time, what do you get?
19:13 You get that the surface is dry because the surface is directly experiencing the sun.
19:22 But the water also cannot go anywhere else.
19:25 So what happens?
19:26 Alright, take a more clear example.
19:31 You have these pots in which plants are there.
19:37 Have you seen that at the bottom of the pot there is a hole, always given.
19:41 Have you seen that?
19:43 Have you seen that?
19:46 Now if that hole gets blocked, what happens?
19:53 The plant will die.
19:54 Do you know why the plant dies?
20:01 On the surface it appears that the soil is dry.
20:05 So what do you keep doing?
20:07 You keep watering.
20:10 But down there, water is accumulating and accumulating and killing the root.
20:15 This is what conditioning does.
20:19 It is only after the plant has died and you pull it out, then you see, oh my god, this
20:24 was happening.
20:27 It was blocked from the bottom.
20:30 When the words of saints go in, they do not accumulate.
20:38 They clear everything.
20:41 In fact, they are not at all sticky.
20:45 They clear whatever pre-exists in the mind and they are also so volatile that they clear
20:58 away themselves as well.
21:00 They don't stay.
21:08 They do not have the nature of attachment.
21:19 And that is one test through which you can measure what is really happening.
21:33 When an aphorism, a verse, a sutra comes to you, not only should it work and cleans the
21:44 pre-existing dirt, but it should also not become another new load upon the mind.
21:56 It must not accumulate.
21:59 Sing it, breathe it and then forget the words.
22:08 If it is really worth it, it will evaporate.
22:17 It will, in a word, sublimate.
22:23 It won't stay.
22:27 Gone.
22:31 It would leave its essence behind and disappear.
22:39 Magically even after disappearing, it never disappears.
22:50 You can call it back because it had never gone.
22:54 It would come to you again in a new form, in new words.
23:06 So you can let it go fearlessly.
23:10 You need not clutch at it, get attached to it, hold it.
23:14 There is no reason.
23:15 You can just let it go fearlessly.
23:26 Christmas Eve again, Jesus says to his disciples, "I am going to be killed soon.
23:36 I am going to be killed soon."
23:39 One of the disciples, Peter, he starts weeping and crying and he gets a good scolding from
23:51 Jesus.
23:52 Jesus says, "Had you had anything to do with God?
23:56 Had you learnt anything from me?
23:57 How could you have thought that I can be killed?
24:05 I can never go away."
24:09 He tells Jesus, "You are talking exactly like these worldly people who believe in death.
24:20 I cannot be killed.
24:23 They can kill my body but that's all that they can kill.
24:26 How can they kill Jesus?
24:34 So I can fearlessly give away the body.
24:37 Similarly, you can fearlessly forget the words because you very well know that the
24:41 essence will stay.
24:42 "I am going to be killed soon."
25:11 Remember means to make a part of.
25:35 Remember means, really means a state similar to yoga.
25:48 I had been dismembered.
25:52 You get this?
25:53 I had been dismembered.
25:55 Dismembered means cut apart and now I have been remembered.
26:02 So remembering really means going close to the centre.
26:09 That is what real remembrance is about.
26:12 It is not about adding something to the memory.
26:19 Real remembrance is going close to that, becoming again a member of that, to be membered.
26:31 Now, recognition, repentance, all of them imply the same thing.
26:55 You already had it and then you were stupid enough to lose it.
27:02 Now get it back.
27:10 Respect, same thing.
27:13 The way we used to find songs with tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tu, it is realisation as a result.
27:35 Not necessarily, you see, it is like this.
27:47 Your beloved has come to meet you.
27:49 It is a very sensual example, but take it.
27:53 Your beloved has come to meet you and because the beloved is coming from the world, so obviously
28:04 she is wearing a lot of clothes and when she meets you, obviously she does away with all
28:11 her clothes because meeting can always be only through nakedness.
28:20 Now in the state of union, is it necessary that the clothes should evaporate?
28:25 Now the clothes are there, they are kept on the table or they are lying somewhere.
28:31 They don't matter.
28:34 What matters is there with you.
28:35 The clothes are there.
28:36 All right, they are just there.
28:37 They may be there, they may not be there.
28:40 How does it matter?
28:43 It is possible that some rat comes and takes the clothes away.
28:50 Will that be an impediment to the union?
28:51 No, you are there with the beloved.
28:54 The rat is there with the clothes.
28:56 Let the rat take away the clothes.
29:00 It doesn't matter.
29:02 So you have the essence.
29:04 Now after that you remember the words, good.
29:07 You don't remember the words, equally good.
29:11 It is not a crime to still have the words in memory, just as it is not a crime to still
29:16 have the clothes around.
29:20 But to have only the clothes with the beloved missing is surely quite stupid.
29:27 Think of this, the beloved came, kept all the clothes with you and walked away naked.
29:32 And you don't know where.
29:35 Now that is a bit of a problem.
29:39 I am in the mouse.
29:45 And that is our situation.
29:49 That is usually our situation.
29:51 We miss the beloved and we keep his clothes.
29:57 Beloved is long gone.
30:01 We are worshipping the clothes.
30:02 Or we are with the wrong beloved.
30:03 There is only one with the rat.
30:04 You bite me with the rat.
30:05 And then you will call that.
30:26 I was remembering one line that we have exploited till date, Maya Mareena Mandara.
30:46 I was remembering a couple of times when I was singing it and it was so straight and
30:51 bad and there was so much bad smell in the room.
30:56 If we think about it, it is a new and good thing.
31:00 It is so stuck that the clothes are stinking now.
31:04 Melody also plays a great role.
31:24 In fact, you know, think of the process of recalling.
31:27 You will first recall the melody.
31:29 When you have forgotten the lyrics of a song, first of all you will recall the tune.
31:37 So what does that prove?
31:41 You are more with the tune than with the lyrics.
31:46 Essence is number three now.
31:48 First is tune, second is lyrics and now number three is essence.
31:52 But if you are recalling it, it has to be the tune.
31:55 You can't recall the lyrics, I mean the essence of it.
32:00 Recalling obviously means that essence is gone.
32:06 So now it is no more even the clothes of the beloved.
32:26 Just the thought.
32:28 Just as the lyrics sit on the tune.
32:32 Similarly, now you are worshipping the chair on which the beloved sat.
32:40 You don't even have his clothes.
32:42 [Music]