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Video Information:
Month Of Awakening, 14.3.20, Greater Noida, India
Context:
¬ What is Brahma?
~ How to attain Brahma state?
~ How to act in the manner of sacrifice?
~ What is the meaning of Adhayatm, Karma, Adhibhut and Adhidaiva?
~ Why do they prefix Adi here?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video Information:
Month Of Awakening, 14.3.20, Greater Noida, India
Context:
¬ What is Brahma?
~ How to attain Brahma state?
~ How to act in the manner of sacrifice?
~ What is the meaning of Adhayatm, Karma, Adhibhut and Adhidaiva?
~ Why do they prefix Adi here?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Srimad Bhagavad Gita chapter 8, verses 3 and 4.
00:16The blessed Lord said, the immutable is the Supreme Brahman.
00:23Lord is said to be entirely present in the individual plane.
00:30By action is meant the offerings that bring about the origin of things.
00:38That which exists in the physical plane is the mutable entity and what exists in the
00:45divine plane is the person, person with P, referring to the Supreme Purush.
00:54O best among the embodied beings, I myself am the entity that exists in the sacrifice
01:04in this body.
01:09I will translate it a little more clearly for you.
01:14We will come to the verse.
01:17The questioner says, when Arjuna asks what is Brahma, Adhyatma, Karma, Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva,
01:31Adhiyagya, Shri Krishna's response is presented in the verses above.
01:41I want to understand the meaning of Adhyatma, Karma, Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva, Adhiyagya and
01:49why do they prefix Adhi here.
01:57So to complete these two, we must also go to the two verses that precede these.
02:10I will read them out for you.
02:13Arjuna said, this is the opening verse of the chapter, chapter 8, verse 1.
02:18Arjuna said, Krishna, what is Brahma, what is Adhyatma and what is Karma?
02:28What is Adhibhuta and what is Adhidaiva?
02:37Second verse, Krishna, who is Adhiyagya and how does he dwell in the body?
02:49And how are you to be realized at the time of death by those of steadfast mind?
02:59Then comes the reply of Krishna in the next two verses.
03:04Shri Bhagavan said, the supreme indestructible is Brahma.
03:16One's own self, by self here is meant the individual self, not the supreme self.
03:28One's own self is called Adhyatma and the primal resolve of God, Visarga, which brings
03:41forth the existence of things is called Karma.
03:46We will take these three first.
03:52What is Brahma?
03:55Brahma cannot be known by affirmation or positive instruction.
04:11All that we know of has characteristics.
04:19And we know a thing by its characteristics or properties.
04:26That's the defining thing about a thing, its characteristics.
04:35Remove the characteristics and it will be very difficult to talk of the thing at all.
04:42Is there a thing without its characteristics?
04:49So that's the world we inhabit, a world of properties, a world that can be named, pointed at, described as a story, pictured, projected.
05:11That's what this world is, right?
05:17Unfortunately for us, this world does not take our inner well-being too far.
05:29We exist in the world alright, but we never quite find absolute peace in the world.
05:38And the world means the one that has characteristics, the one that comes and goes, the one that
05:47is within the scope of time.
05:53Is there a world without things?
05:57And everything arises at a certain point and disappears at another point.
06:02That's the world, right?
06:04So there comes a point of time when the thing with all its names, properties, etc. suddenly
06:12comes into being.
06:14Not even suddenly, there is a cause-effect chain.
06:20So there always are causes behind everything, even if the thing seems to appear at once
06:26abruptly, right?
06:28And then there comes another point in time when the thing disappears.
06:37Brahma is for the ones who no more assign great value to these things because they are
06:50experienced enough, probably intelligent enough, to have tested these things, penetrated
06:59these things and discovered that they can only do so much good and nothing beyond that.
07:09Things are useful in our day-to-day business.
07:15We require this mic, right?
07:17We require clothes.
07:20The body is there.
07:21The body is in itself a thing.
07:23How can we say things are all useless, correct?
07:28We need food, we need water, all things, right?
07:33Even thoughts are subtle things.
07:40So things have their utility.
07:43Maybe things have great utility.
07:47Maybe things take you as far as the 99th milestone.
07:56But if the 100th is the destination, things somehow fail in reaching there.
08:06That's when adhyatma kicks in.
08:11That's when you realize that you need to have something beyond things.
08:20For things, the world cannot be totally relied upon.
08:30And somehow the mind seeks perfect security.
08:36The mind doesn't come to rest until it is assured of total security.
08:49Therefore we need Braham.
08:54Therefore we need something that is indestructible.
09:01What is Braham?
09:02A reality?
09:03Braham is not real.
09:07From where I look at Braham, Braham is our utmost need.
09:16Braham is our utmost need.
09:19Now call Braham unreal at your own peril.
09:25All our life, all we deal with and encounter is destructibles.
09:32And all destructibles betray us at some point or the other, don't they?
09:39That's their name, that's their nature.
09:41To come, to go, to arrive and then perish.
09:48Now at our own risk, can we deny something that never destructs?
10:02For if there is nothing that never destructs, then we are condemning ourselves to a hellish
10:09life, aren't we?
10:12Are you getting it?
10:16We live in constant restlessness because nothing lasts.
10:23Therefore we require something that lasts.
10:28Braham is that.
10:31Therefore Braham cannot be something within the universe because there is nothing in the
10:35universe that lasts.
10:38Therefore Braham has to be beyond.
10:42Therefore the word transcendental.
10:46Now you could say, argue that Braham could as well then be a childish fantasy.
10:58We want something and that we are not finding available in this world.
11:02So maybe we are just fantasizing that thing.
11:05We are saying we want perfect security.
11:08We want something that is reliable, indestructible.
11:14Therefore we are just conjuring the concept of Braham.
11:19The argument has substance.
11:22But then the argument is defeated by the accomplishments of those who are able to achieve rest.
11:34That's the final proof.
11:36Are you getting it?
11:38If Braham is a mere concept, a childish fantasy, then the peace associated with Braham too
11:48would be merely an illusion, correct?
11:55But what if there are people who did attain to that peace?
12:02If even one person managed that, it proves that the stuff is doable.
12:14But is there proof that even one person reached there?
12:19Well, the proof here lies in the comprehension of the one who seeks the proof.
12:36You have the words of Krishna.
12:42You have the life of Jesus.
12:47You have the songs of the thousands of fakirs and saints.
12:58You have the revelations that came to Muhammad.
13:05If you want to assert that all of this is self-delusion, then alright.
13:12But if you go through what those people have said and are left awestruck, even by a single
13:24verse, then it means that the beyondness is indeed possible.
13:32And if beyondness is possible, then you better not dismiss Braham.
13:40To dismiss Braham is to dismiss the possibility of your own peace.
13:53There is no other proof.
13:58When you are going through the scriptures, there comes a point when you just ask yourself,
14:03but this can't occur to a normal mind.
14:08How did this person dream this up?
14:14It is simply not possible that this kind of stuff can occur even to the sharpest kind
14:22of mortal intelligence.
14:25Then where did these lines come from?
14:29Did some aliens come and teach these things?
14:35But then what kind of supremacy or speciality do you want to associate with aliens?
14:43At most a higher IQ?
14:47What if you clearly see that the words in front of you are not a function of IQ at all?
15:00Instead those words are coming from an extremely metaphysical insight.
15:10It is so incisive, it is so rare that one clearly hesitates in calling it a usual worldly
15:22phenomena.
15:25It is something else.
15:27It just can't occur to a normal man or woman.
15:31Are you getting it?
15:35That's the only proof.
15:39Otherwise everything is destructible.
15:42Otherwise everything is ephemeral.
15:44And if everything is ephemeral, then we are condemned to live as mental patients.
15:59People with mind-related disorders.
16:16Then adhyatma.
16:21Going into one's own mind is adhyatma.
16:36Going into one's own mind is adhyatma.
16:44Going into the nature of one's self is adhyatma.
16:51Remember I said one's self, not the self.
16:56And one's self means the personal self, the mind.
17:06You are not inquiring into the atma or brahman.
17:09No inquiry is possible into atma or brahman.
17:15Brahman or atma are the end point of all inquiry.
17:23All inquiry stops at them.
17:25You don't inquire into them.
17:28Having inquired for long, when you come to the peaceful end of your inquiry, that is
17:35brahman or atma.
17:38Therefore adhyatma is not at all about inquiring into atma.
17:44Adhyatma is an honest exploration into the facts of one's own daily life.
17:59How do I live?
18:00How do I think?
18:01How do I relate?
18:02How do I eat?
18:03How do I earn?
18:04That's adhyatma.
18:09Getting it?
18:10Adhyatma therefore is no mumbo-jumbo.
18:16Adhyatma is not about some esoteric practices or cult-based rituals or verses in arcane
18:33languages.
18:34Adhyatma is the simple curiosity that makes you ask, hell, what did I just do?
18:50Is that too much?
18:58You are roaming around, let's say in a shopping mall and thoughts are roaming around in your
19:06head and you suddenly pause and say, wait, what's going on?
19:15That's adhyatma.
19:18Wait, what's going on?
19:23That's adhyatma.
19:28Therefore adhyatma has to be real time.
19:34Therefore it has to be like the light that shines on your regular daily usual activities.
19:44Therefore it cannot be something special.
19:50It cannot be something divorced, separated, bifurcated from the rest of your life.
20:07There's nothing greatly complicated about the phrase know thyself.
20:12Know thyself is adhyatma.
20:14And know thyself does not mean that you have to earn a doctorate in the complicated business
20:22of self-knowledge.
20:23Who are you?
20:30The one that you right now are, the one who is listening attentively, the one who is scratching
20:37his back, the one who feels intermittently interested in the neighbour rather than the
20:46lecturer.
20:51That's the one we are.
20:56Figuring this out and acknowledging this is adhyatma.
21:01What does adhyatma have to do with Brahm?
21:08In the realm of adhyatma, we keep hearing of Brahm so frequently, don't we?
21:13We just talked of Brahm, now we talked of adhyatma.
21:15How are the two related?
21:24Brahm we said is the end point of all enquiry and adhyatma is the enquiry itself.
21:34Do you see this?
21:36If you are really adhyatmic, Brahm is what you will get.
21:41I am using the word loosely, you don't really get Brahm.
21:45But just to make the point clear, Brahm is the end point of all enquiry.
21:54Poetically said, that's the end point at which even the enquirer vanishes because the enquiry
22:02is resolved.
22:04Now what will the enquirer do?
22:06When the disease is cured, does the patient exist at all?
22:15If the disease is gone, would you still be called a patient?
22:19You are gone, right?
22:21That's Brahm.
22:22You are gone.
22:25The process that makes you go away is called adhyatma.
22:35Is that clear?
22:38Then karma.
22:44My karma is meant the offerings that bring about the existence of things.
23:07The world does not just exist.
23:13It exists to somebody.
23:18Therefore, when Arjun asks, what is karma, Shri Krishna will not give him a merely theoretical
23:28reply.
23:30What he is telling Arjun is, what is the right karma for you?
23:38What is the right karma for you?
23:44Or rather, what is the very definition of right karma?
23:51Except for that, all other action is bad action.
23:56When somebody asks you, what is action?
23:59And if you are a well-wisher to that person, you would want to tell him the highest possible
24:07definition of action, right?
24:08That's what Shri Krishna is doing here.
24:12Krishna is saying, that which you do in order to come to the right state of universe is
24:28karma.
24:33Sacrificing that which is not needed by you, sacrificing that which keeps you in illusion,
24:46that alone is karma.
24:50All else can be called as vikarma, or distorted karma.
25:00Getting it?
25:03We all act, right?
25:05All our life, we have to compulsorily act.
25:11Shri Krishna is telling Arjun how to act.
25:16Act in the manner of sacrifice.
25:23That's a gold standard.
25:25Act in the manner of giving up, not in the manner of taking in, absorbing or accumulating.
25:36Every action of yours has to be an action that reduces you, that makes you give up some
25:47part of the essential self that we carry.
25:52That alone is karma.
25:55Getting it?
25:59But that's not the kind of action we find ourselves or others doing.
26:06Others engaging in usually, then those actions do not deserve to be called as karma either.
26:17When Shri Krishna says karma, by default it means nishkama karma, right karma.
26:25Remember who is using the word.
26:28The word is colored by the one who is uttering it.
26:38So act in a way that reduces you.
26:41Now tell me how are adhyatma and karma related?
26:50Adhyatma is the inquiry into your form, your shape, your structure, your composition.
27:02And karma is the positive intent, the change that you bring about to give up all that is
27:15seen as useless in the process of self-inquiry.
27:23You looked into yourself and you found a lot of stuff that is needlessly present.
27:31Then right action is to get rid of those things and it's not quite easy.
27:39It may take some effort, some doing to tear those things away from your inner personality.
27:50Those things have been a part of you since long.
27:52It's not easy to drop them.
27:54They have to be torn apart.
27:58That is action.
28:00Just as action for Arjun in the battlefield is fighting his relatives.
28:09Not easy at all.
28:11Krishna tells him very clearly, it's not about killing somebody outside of you.
28:24You have to fight your own inner weakness.
28:31As far as those people are concerned, who you see present in front of you, they are
28:34already dead.
28:36They are already gone.
28:37So it's not about killing Duryodhana or Dushasan.
28:41It's about fighting your own attachment that is making you subvert dharma itself.
28:50You very well know Arjun that the right thing to do at this moment is to put the right man
28:55on the throne of Hastinapur.
28:57You very well know who that right man is.
29:01You very well know whether Yudhishthir is a worse candidate compared to Duryodhana.
29:10You know which of these two should occupy the throne and you also know the repercussions
29:16of the wrong man occupying the throne.
29:20We are talking of monarchy, not democracy.
29:23In monarchy, the personality of the monarch decides the fate of an entire population.
29:30You know Arjun who should be the monarch.
29:35But you see, your inner entanglements are not allowing you to fight.
29:41Therefore, karma for you is to fight.
29:47Do you see what karma means?
29:50Something that makes you get rid of your inner weaknesses.
29:55Whenever you are acting and you always are, keep asking this question, that which I am
30:01doing right now, is it liberating me of my weaknesses or is it consolidating, even decorating
30:10my weaknesses?
30:13Getting it?
30:20Then it's a long question.
30:25In itself, it contains the gist of the entire session.
30:33Then the question moves over to the next verse and asks about the meaning of Adhibhut.
30:57What is Adhibhut?
31:00Bhut refers to the primal elements.
31:12In classical literature, when we say Bhut, it means the fundamental, primal elements.
31:19So what is Adhibhut then?
31:21All that you see around yourself, this is Adhibhut.
31:28All that you see around yourself is Adhibhut.
31:33And all that which therefore relates to this world or arises from this world is called
31:40as Adhibhautik.
31:42Do you get this?
31:46This is Adhibhut and anything arises from this is Adhibhautik.
31:53Then Adhidaiv.
32:01What is Adhidaiv?
32:05And Shri Krishna says, the shining Purush is Adhidaiv.
32:15In the translation, it is mentioned that the shining Purush, the Adhidaiv, is Brahm.
32:26I beg to differ with the translation.
32:28No.
32:29Adhidaiv does not refer to Brahm.
32:31Adhidaiv refers to Ishwar.
32:35There is a great difference between these two.
32:42For example, when troubles come to you, scriptures will want to differentiate between Adhibhautik
32:52and Adhidaivic troubles.
32:58That does not mean that the Adhidaivic trouble has been sent upon you by Brahm.
33:08If Adhidaiv is Brahm, then Adhidaivic stuff is operated by Brahm.
33:15But Brahm is a non-operator, non-doer.
33:18Brahm does not do anything.
33:20Adhidaiv is not Brahm.
33:23Adhidaiv is consciousness itself.
33:31So by Adhibhaut, you refer to all that which is unconscious.
33:40And by Adhidaiv, you refer to consciousness itself.
33:47The one that watches everything that is unconscious.
33:53Jada and Chetan.
33:55Jada is Adhibhaut and Chetan is Adhidaiv.
34:03Then what is Adhiyagya?
34:13Adhiyagya now refers to Brahm.
34:18Adhiyagya refers to Brahm.
34:21The one to whom you offer all your sacrifices.
34:31The one immeasurable ocean into which all currents of your offerings and your actions
34:40vanish.
34:42That is Adhiyagya.
34:44That is Brahm.
34:46Krishna does not mention Brahm here, instead he says, I am Adhiyagya.
34:52But then who else is the Krishna of Bhagavad Gita except Brahm?
34:59When Krishna says, I am Adhiyagya, verily he means Brahm.
35:04Are you getting it?
35:07So there is Adhibhaut that you could think of as the Aparaprakriti of the previous chapter.
35:21There is Adhidaiv that you could take as Paraprakriti of chapter 7.
35:29And then there is Adhiyagya that you could take as the supreme truth, Atma or Brahm of
35:36chapter 7.
35:39The same model holds good here as well, though explained and referred to in a different way.
35:58Are all these terms clear?