Karma Philosophy for a Brighter Future (five-part series) VID 20241110 101018

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
With a, brief introduction.
So, before we do that, let’s, try to, take in the atmosphere, you can close your eyes, take three deep breaths. Thank you. So, and you can open your eyes, if you like.
We will, do a little bit more of, the VHL meditation, as we move forward. But, so I said, we can discuss about, three things right now, to start off. Introduce ourselves, how we come here, to GK specifically, generically, and to this retreat.
more or less your spiritual journey, to some extent. And then, finally, some way we pursue, the speciality, or spirituality, or just the difference of the, ambience of the place, that we are in. So, my name is, Chaitanya Charan.
You can call me Charan, or Chaitanya, or monk, or whatever you like. So, Charan, and, I have been studying, and, practising, and, trying to share, yoga, especially bhakti yoga, for about 25, 30 years now. So, I, stumbled across it, when I was doing my engineering, in the 1990s.
And, it answered, many questions that, I stumbled across, Bhagavad Gita, specifically. And it answered, many questions I had, and many questions, I didn’t even know, that I had. And, since then, I felt that, the way, it enriched my consciousness, the way, it gave a deeper meaning, to my life, I felt, sharing, it would be the best, way I could contribute.
So, that’s what, I’ve been trying to do, in some small way. And, especially for me, the intersection, between, psychology and philosophy, is of great interest. Philosophy is more about, the nature of reality, and, psychology, is nature of the self, nature of the, inner world, of the mind, and the self, and whatever is there inside it.
So, I try to, whatever, wisdom I have learned, I try to share it, in this, understanding of, intersection of, psychology and philosophy. So, that’s what, we are going to discuss today, in terms of, self-transformation. And, when I look at this mountain, and the, river, actually, I’m feeling, really unfair to me.
I cannot see, any of the beauty. Unfairly, you win. So, two-thirds, sublime and serene.
So, the sound of the water is so, peaceful and serene, and the majesty of the mountains, that’s sublime. Thank you. Who would like to start? I’ll go, this way, this way.
Everybody has to, at some time or the other. So, would you like to start? So, my name is Steffi. Steffi.
Steffi. Steffi, yeah. I’m from Austria.
I’m also working, in the health field. And, I had the call, to come to India. So, it was kind of, a heart’s call.
Sorry, heart? From my heart. Heart’s call, okay, sorry. To come to India.
Yes, you can see, all these colours around me. It’s very, beautiful. Okay, it’s beautiful colours, right? You can distribute this, to the others, when you are speaking.
Okay. Okay. Yeah, so, is it working? So, just, is it working? Okay.
Steffi, just one more thing, can you add? So, how did you come to know, about Bhakti Yoga Rishikesh, or what inspired you, to come specifically, for this retreat? So, how did you come here, to Kuldeep Rishikesh, and also to this retreat? Is there anything particular, you are looking for, or what has inspired you, to come? So, a friend took me, to the Kirtan, on Saturday, last week. Okay. And then, I really liked the energy, I liked the community, and then, I decided to join, the Sunday, so the hike.
And, yes, and then, I went to the workshops, and wisdom talk, and I was like, yes, I want to know more, about this, I want to learn more, about this, I want to get more, into this topic, and that’s why, I’m here. Thank you. Oops.
Yes, thank you. My name is Maureen. Sorry, Laurie.
Maureen. Maureen. With M, yes.
Yes. And, what brought me, to Rishikesh, I, when I was in Bali, I had a vision, and I saw, many pictures, of, yeah, after a while, I found out, it’s Rishikesh, but, there was a voice, and said, and I said, why, why? And, I live in Kuppangan, I don’t want to leave, come to India, and then, so I followed this call, and, after a couple of days, I found out, it’s Rishikesh. I saw the pictures, in my vision of Rishikesh, and I’ve never been, to Rishikesh before.
I’m, what was the next question, what brought me here, to this retreat? I took a tarot card, and it was, transformation, and, the explanation of it, was, I was, I know, it was past life, that was the card, past life, and, to look, on your patterns, of your behaviour, and, to find out, what, makes you, yeah, behave like that, and, so I, I joined the classes, the workshops, with you before, and I said, this is exactly, what I need to do, and, that was also, a part of my vision, that I’m here, to find out, about my, my patterns, and my, my behaviours, and to change, yeah. Okay. Yeah, so that’s it.
Quite a journey you had. I’m sorry? Quite a mystical journey you had. Thank you.
Yeah. Okay, anything about, the place here, experience, what you? This place? I just, what do you feel about, just, if already you had a vision of Vishikesh then? Yeah, I felt the, I felt the power of the, the water, of the Ganga. I felt this also, in my vision.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
The power of the water. Yeah. beautiful flow, thank you.
So, my name is Shashi, and, I’m yoga teacher, I’m living in Vishikesh, since last, one year, I’m settled with, my husband, so I’m living in India, and. Can you hear them? No. I think the mic is not working, I’m not sure.
No, that’s not the mic, sorry. Actually, this is only connected, with the, oh, okay, okay. This will be, the other one, so we make it, you can give it to her wife, because her voice is a little softer, and that will make it ready, until then.
So you’re, assuming her voice is louder? Okay, now he, he knows already, as I’ve been here, for some time. Okay, sure. My name is Elisa, and, and I came, to Rishikesh, to connect more, to myself, and find my, my true self, and, yeah, I came here, five months ago, about five months ago, and, I’ve been learning more, about yoga, the, well, not only the asanas, the philosophy, pranayama, everything, which has been, a really good journey, and I, love to dance, I feel like, my, my heart, fills up, full of love, each time, I join a kirtan, and, yeah, and I met, this group, a month ago, and, I’ve been joining, many events, and I just love, being around this group, and I feel like, I’m already part of it, and yeah, so that’s why, I joined this, the, the retreat today, because, I knew it’s going to be good, and it’s going to fulfil me, yeah, in many ways, and when I, came, when we just arrived here, I felt very drawn, to look at the Ganga, also the flow, of the river, so I’m feeling, yeah, very good, thank you.
Let’s go to her again? No, next? No, no, just, I will give to her also, so now, you will be able, to be heard. Hello? It will just take a second. Hello? Okay, you can try.
Hello? I think, I’m, I’m just, eating the mic, Hello? Okay, sorry, I’m not used, I’m not used, to be interviewed, with a mic, it’s really impressive, for me. So, my name is, Shashi, and, so as I was saying, I, I’m settled, So your name was Elisa? Yes. Yes.
E or I? E. Elisa, okay, thank you. So I’m settled in India, since last, past two years, but especially in Rishikesh, since one year, and I’m feeling, of course, really lucky, to be here permanently, because it’s a, beautiful place, to live, to, live, your spirituality, to grow spiritually, this place, offer you so many things, and, it’s been also, a month, more or less, I’m connected, with the Bhakti Yoga, community, and, first, I, I was more attracted, by the wisdom talk, because I have, so much, craving, for this, spiritual knowledge, and they were here, to provide, beautifully, and, I just love, being connected, with them, and, especially, yeah, I’m really excited, about today, workshop, because I believe, it’s going to be, a great tool, for myself, to grow personally, to introspect, so, yeah, the word, that I can, use, to describe this place, is purity, and, Yes. Thank you.
Thank you. Hare Krishna. My name is Puneet, and, I belong to India, and, she is my wife, so, we are staying here, like, from last two years, and it’s like a, beautiful, phase, that is coming, in my life, these days, make much connected, like people, great people, like you, and, getting, like, more aware, about the goal of life, and, I’m a yoga teacher, so, it’s not about, only asanas, so, we also, like, getting upgraded, through these kind of, knowledge and philosophy, so, it’s a beautiful, experience, and I, hope that, today we can excel, and we can enhance, the knowledge, and, like, about this place, wherever, whenever, we just get close, to the nature, nature just, make us to think, better, make us to evolve, and, make us to, introspect, so, nature is always, like, bring our, intellect, to the, next level, so, I really appreciate, this place, I really appreciate, the moment, whenever I get close, to the nature, thank you, thank you.
Rishikesh has, that an abundance, yeah, proximity to nature, is consciousness, uplifting actually, thank you, thank you, thank you. My name is Harish, I am living here, in Rishikesh, from last three years, I came to Rishikesh, to be with this, divine, mother Ganga, she is considered, as the most, strongest, divine feminine, on this earth, I came here, so that I can, connect more deeply, with my own, feminine side, and I came in contact, with the, Bhakti Yoga, from last 30 years, like, I’ve been going to, Vrindavan, from last three decades, and I’m very much, attached to this, Kirtan, and this, Mahamantra, and the sound, of this chanting, and the company, of the Sangha, and while, sitting here, the, I am remembering, of one quotation, from Swami Sivanand, I feel like, the divine child, of the nature, and he used to say, that Ganga is my mother, and Himalaya is my father, so I’m reminded, of this, that I am also feeling, like the divine child, of the nature, sitting here, with Mother Ganga, and Himalayas. Beautiful, thank you.
Hi, my name is Matan, Matan, yeah, with an N, T, T or D? M-A-T-A-N. Matan, okay. Yeah, I came to India, actually, because Thailand, had monsoons, yeah, but here, I am here, so you are from Thailand, originally? No, no, I just wanted to go on a trip, to Thailand, and there was monsoons there, so I said, okay, let’s go to India, instead.
So, you are from where, originally? What? You are from where, originally? Israel, Israel, yeah. I came to Rishikesh, also, like I was just curious, about the city, here I came, because I saw your lecture, on Friday, well, it was Friday, okay, and like, I think like, the mind can be a bit crazy, sometimes, so it’s, it’s good to, to like, explore it, and see, what, how to work with it, and, I see, mostly green, yeah. We don’t see so much greenery, in the cities, it’s nice, always, to see the, beautiful greenery.
Thank you, Matan. Thank you. Hello, everyone, my name is Roy, and, I came to, Rishikesh, mostly, because of yoga, and, I practise, for some years, by now, and, besides this, I like, all sorts of, self-exploration, on the physical side, on the mind side, and, I was here before, so I also came, for the, beautiful nature, around, and, yeah, to, explore new workshops, to, gather new knowledge, and, that’s, mainly, I like, very much, the wild nature, here, and, I think it’s, the nature, of India, also represents, the vibe, and the mentality, and, the culture, as well, so, Thank you, Roy.
Thank you. Thank you. Haribo, My name is Sagi, Hi, everyone, Sagi, S-A-G-H-I, I’m from Canada, I’ve been in India, for the last month, it’s my first time, visiting, and, yeah, I came to, India, because, similar to what, others were sharing, it’s a call, that was very loud, I’m slowly learning, that it’s all, just part of a divine, arrangement, to be here, Rishikesh, was the first, specifically, yeah, just yoga, Rishikesh, just seems like, a good home base, I’ll be travelling around, a little bit, and, I come to your, offering today, on recommendation, of a dear friend of mine, who said, your offerings are amazing, so, it would be in my best interest, to attend, I just spent the last week, away in Mayapur too, so, to be in Sangha, and to be in community, is just, I think medicine, for integration, and, yeah, I feel, this environment, is very expansive, it’s just, growth, expansive, nice description, of the vastness, of nature, and the mountains, are vast, thank you, so, Sagi, S-A-G-I, S-A-G-H-I, Sagi, that’s an Indian name, or it’s a Canadian name, that’s a Persian name, Persian name, okay, thank you, so, hello Krishna, my name is Esther, I’m from the Netherlands, and, yeah, I came to India, because I feel like, in India, are the roots, of the spirituality, and, during my travels, learn more about, Krishna consciousness, and, I’m still, yeah, super curious, to learn more, that’s why, I also joined, the retreat today, yeah, so, I’m super grateful, for the knowledge, you want to share with us, experience, that we all can have here, in this amazing location, the energy here, from the Ganga, it’s amazing, so, I’m very happy to be here, yeah, thank you, and, I hope for everybody, it’s a joyful experience, thank you, ah, Namaste, my name is Raj, ah, so, this is my second year, living here in Rishikesh, ah, I’ve been running, some outdoor projects, ah, like, we were, ah, setting up an eco village, across the river, and, that also housed, a sweat lodge, ah, but when the monsoon came, so, the project was disrupted, ah, so, when the winter, now the winter is here, so I will restart, my outdoor projects, ah, I was also part of, a group that was, running men’s circle, ah, because, I think we also need men’s circle, ah, ah, I just came here two days back, and I saw your, ah, saw your presentation, ah, I was not sure if I would like to join, ah, honestly, today there was a marathon, it started like five in the morning, ah, I was actually planning for that, but I think, but I also thought that, that marathon is like, for outwards, and this marathon is inwards, so, yeah, so I came to this marathon, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, hopefully this marathon will not be that exhausting, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, I came to the Kirtan last day and the amazing, the energy was amazing, so I feel like, you know, it’s like family, so that’s the reason I’m here, so that’s all.
What do you feel about the place, the vibes? Rishikesh is just three days in Rishikesh right now, very new for me, so hopefully… And this particular place, being in the ambience… Yeah, this is amazing, that’s what I’m like, I was blown away, yesterday’s energy for Kirtan was amazing. We’re carrying it with you today. Yeah.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
Hey everyone, my name is George, I’m from the UK, I’ve just popped over for a wedding, which is on Tuesday-Wednesday this week, I’m living in Bali at the moment, I guess, well Kami brought me to this event, which is how I’m here, I think I’ve been on a real journey trying to understand yoga and surrendering a lot more in my life, definitely been pushing for a lot of things for a lot of years, and so, yeah, I guess here, today, it’s like continuing that journey, and also, yeah, I just feel that the energy of the place is very much that, there is a real surrendering energy, real calmness, and yeah, it’s really beautiful to be here. Thank you. Hi everyone, my name is Kami, or Kamila, yeah, I’m so happy to be here, so what brought me to Rishikesh was the intention to deepen my yoga practise, and also to share the wedding we’re attending this week, I’ve been here for less than a week, I went to Kyoto on Thursday, I think, or Wednesday, I love the vibe there, and I recommend the activities with you, I you talk, and it was awesome, all the knowledge you share, so I’m really grateful for that, I work in the health field as well, I’m a psychologist, so I’m always keen to understand how the mind works, and all the tools for self-empowerment, yeah, basically deepening in my yoga practise to share that with the world, and anywhere that I travel, or like, I will be, and what makes me feel grounded in here, it’s well, nature, but like, just how the wind moves like those things there, or like how the wind moves the trees, and the leaves, it’s just like, so beautiful, and makes me feel so grounded, and also, the sound of the river, it’s yeah, beautiful, the colours, like, yeah, pretty much everything, so, thank you.
Thank you. Hello, my name is Stevan, I’ve been invited here in Rishikesh by Preah Murti and Bhakti Yoga Rishikesh Centre to help them with kirtans, I was like, almost 7 years, I was always into philosophy and spirituality, but 6 or 7 years ago, I found out about Bhakti Yoga, and went deeper into Vedic philosophy, what I’m mostly like, interested here with your talks are actually now, because we dive deeper now, into psychological and maybe more practical ways of applicating the philosophy that we were talking about, I’m generally interested in samskaras, and how we can actually, in a sense, clear our lens of perceiving the reality as much as is possible, to have less, how to say, impurities in that medium, media, from how we perceive it, and what I perceive here is actually a very nice forest, which I really enjoy being in it, so, that’s for me. Namaste, my name is Lalita, and I come from Serbia, and I’ve been invited to Rishikesh by the amazing people Preah Murti and his wife Taruni, they saw me and Stevan playing, and they invited us here to serve and to explore and to uplift ourselves, and the most amazing thing in Rishikesh for me is the Ganga, of course, I dropped my heart there, and the energy, and I don’t know, everything, and that’s it.
Thank you. Hi, my name is Shyam, and I was always interested in spirituality, since I was a young boy, and somehow or other I could find all these answers somehow from the Vedas, so I was very drawn to this, so at one point I came to India, and then I met many, many advanced people, they were expanding this knowledge like this, and yeah, recently also I was in India, and Prem invited me to come to Rishikesh, that it’s a very nice place, very interesting people, all the people who are trying to find out the answer, just like I’m searching these answers, so he told me, come and we will have a nice fun, so I said, okay, and I’m here, and it’s very nice, like Prabhuji is coming, always someone is coming, giving amazing talks, and giving us more depth into spirituality, so I feel it was a really good decision to come here. I think so.
Maybe just, so my name is Prem, most of you know me, and I came here to Rishikesh because Prem invited me to assist in developing this Bhakti Yoga Rishikesh, and then me and my wife who is not here because she is sick a little bit, we came just to see the place, and then we loved the place so much, because we saw so amazing people here, so I love in Rishikesh mostly the people who are so sincere, coming here to discover themselves, coming here to like charge themselves spiritually, so this is actually what really attracted us here, and then when we came here, we loved it, and then the friend said, okay, can you just leave this centre, and then I said okay, and I delegated everything that I was doing back in Europe to other friends who were doing these things with me, and we came now full-time here to share these jewels actually that we got ourselves also before, so it’s very beautiful when you get something very precious, then to share that also to others, because this is Bhakti, this is love, giving and receiving, so we are very happy that we can do that here, and that we also have all of your association, so thank you so much. Thank you. As you know, the word Prema means love, he’s such a sweet and loving person, I’ve known him for the last few months, and every interaction warms my heart.
Before that, I only know him, because I was learning from him. Thank you. Hello everyone, my name is Filip Gor, I come from Croatia, I live in Belgium for the last four years, I’m a photographer and videographer.
I’ve been on the Bhakti path for about 17 years, and every year I spend a month or a month and a half in India, usually that’s in Vrindavan area for my personal retreat, but this year I feel I’m kind of on a crossroad, and Prema Murthy invited me to come here for a couple of weeks to assist with this beautiful initiative, so here I am, I’m going to Vrindavan in a couple of days, and yeah, I really like the surroundings, I think as far as I have experienced, this is outwardly the best India I have experienced, in the combination of this beautiful surrounding, the presence of the divine river, and such nice open-hearted, beautiful spiritual seekers, I really feel that my heart is also opening in this community of seekers in Rishikesh, and of course I love kirtans, and philosophy, and Prabhuji’s presentation of very very deep, many-angle, taught, scholarly presentations. Thank you very much. Someone else wants to go for a second time? Somebody wants to add something? So thank you all for sharing your heart, and I’ll do a quick recap of what we are going to do.
We have approximately four sessions, we could divide the morning into two, after maybe 45 minutes to one hour, we’ll have a short break, and we’ll have next one, and then we have two in the evening. So broadly we’re going to do it, first session, I’m going to talk about self-understanding. I’ll talk about a model of the self that is given in the yoga traditions, and how that can help us to or make more sense of the urges and the impulses that come within us, and the way we behave.
So first will be self-understanding, then in the second session I will talk about self-observation, that is where we’ll talk more about journaling, and how introspection and journaling can help us to understand ourselves better. So self-understanding, then self-observation, and then after that in the second half, we’re going to talk about self-improvement, the self-transformation. Within that, we’ll talk about two main things, that is boundaries and bonds.
So the Bhagavad Gita talks about these two things, avyasa and vairagya. So one session will be on boundaries, and one will be on bonds. So in this way, that’s the broad map of what we’ll be discussing, and throughout we will feel free to ask any questions if you have, and if anything is not clear, let us know.
And at the end of each session, we’ll also try to have some time for questions. So let us begin with self-understanding. Some of us may be interested in mysteries, or detective fiction, or adventure searches and mysteries.
There’s so much excitement in knowing something that is unknown. Probably the most important mystery that we will ever tackle is the mystery of our own selves, in the sense that we all sometimes act in ways that we ourselves can’t make sense of. Because when we see somebody else behaving strangely, you know, what’s wrong with you? We just speak one word and they explode.
I say, what’s wrong? What’s wrong? Why are you acting like this? So the behaviour seems unreasonable, and we try to understand people. So just as we can sometimes not figure out why others act the way they do, similarly, we can sometimes not figure out why we act the way we do. Have any of you ever experienced this? It’s something which we all, it’s a little self-observant, you see.
Why did I speak like that? Why did I do like that? Now sometimes it could be, we end up doing something positive, many times what we end up doing is somewhat negative. So sometimes we may act in such a way that we may think, like, I am a stranger to myself. Who am I really? For me, one of the incidents that started off my spiritual search, or it was not a spiritual search at that time, it was more like an inner search.
So I was doing an experiment when I was studying my engineering in a lab, and suddenly a friend told me, or called out, hey, there’s wildlife on your body. And even without thinking, my first words were, hey, don’t hurt it. I looked back and I saw there was a small insect on my shirt.
So then I walked up to the window, put my finger there, and then the insect crawled onto the finger, and I just gently let it out of the window. And I looked at my friend, I remember he was looking at me with big bemused kind of eyes. And that evening, he told me something while we were having lunch in our mess, and we are making a mess of things.
So he said that a few months ago, we had done a project together, and something had gone wrong at that time. And I thought I had made the mistake, and I had been held responsible. But he told me, actually, it was he who had made the mistake.
And he had let me take the fall. And I just became so angry. I just leapt up and raised my face, I’ll kill you.
And as I raised my fist, and raised my voice, suddenly, his eyes went wide. This was a shock. But somehow, when I saw those wide open eyes, I froze.
It reminded me of the afternoon. And it was almost like I was looking at myself from above. Which is the real me? The me few hours ago was not ready to hurt an insect.
And now this me wants to smash the face of his friend. Which is the real me? Or is the real me something different from both of these? So that started making me look like what goes on in our inner world. So I read books on psychology and spirituality, and that’s how I came across the Bhagavad Gita.
And therein, I found a model of the self that made a lot of sense to me. And I’m still understanding the model because it’s not just abstract theory. It’s something which we evolve in our appreciation or realisation of what it is.
So essentially, now this model itself can be very complicated. I’ll keep it very simple that there is inside us, there are two levels of reality. Basically, we could say reality is three level.
There’s a physical reality. So right now, you’re looking at me, I’m looking at you. That’s the level of the body.
Then there is the mental reality. That is the mind. And beyond that, there is a spiritual reality.
That is the soul. So body, mind and soul are three levels to reality. And these three levels interact in a very dynamic way.
So we could say that if you consider a computer system, there’s the hardware, the software and the user. So the body is like the hardware, the mind is like the software, and the soul is the user. So now, say if I have a phone here, there’s a flashlight.
Can you see the light now coming from it? So the source of light, the bulb that is there, whatever it is, that is like the soul. And the stream of light coming out from it, that is the consciousness of the soul. That is the capacity of awareness that we have.
So the soul is called Atma and consciousness is called, anyone knows the Sanskrit word? Chetana. So from the Atma comes Chetana, from the soul comes streaming out the light of awareness of consciousness. Now, if I put the shutter on, is the light still there? The light is there, but the light is not perceivable.
If I open the shutter, to the extent the shutter is open, then the light is perceivable. So this shutter is approximately like the mind. The mind is not just a shutter.
The mind is basically the passageway, the link. So if you can say the soul is here, the body is here, and linking the two is the mind. So when the mind functions, essentially the mind has two functions.
The mind is the transmitter of consciousness. Transmitter means that it is the passageway, it is the route, the pathway through which consciousness goes through. So we could envision this to be something like a pipe.
So now the mind is a very subtle thing and we will use different metaphors to understand it. But at the structural or functional level, at what it is made up of, the mind is basically what enables or disables the consciousness to reach the body. That’s why when we use the word, don’t be so absent-minded.
What does absent-minded mean? In the person, the soul is there, the body is there, but the mind is somewhere else. So for perception to take place, say I am looking at you, you are looking at me, so the soul is the seer. If I am looking at you, you are the object.
But for my eyes to actually see you, the mind has to be present. So the consciousness goes through. And reaches the soul.
So the mind is the pathway through which the soul’s consciousness goes outward. We take in information and then we decide to do some actions. So the mind is meant to be a transmitter of consciousness.
It is, however, not just a transmitter. Because, now I am using the word mind in a very broad sense to refer to the intermediate dimension. If you go deeper, we can talk about the ego, we can talk about the intelligence, but I am using the word mind as a shorthand for the intermediate level between the physical and the spiritual.
So the mind is meant to be not just a transmitter, it is also meant to be a transformer. Transformer in what sense? If I am speaking right now, what is coming out from my mouth is simply some sound vibrations. But it is inside the mind that the impressions are there by which you know the English language.
And so, the audio data that is coming in through the ears, that is transformed into some meaningful speech in the mind. Say, when I was coming here, which language were you speaking? Was it Croatian? Yeah, so the language sounded interesting and baffling to me. The sound was interesting, but because there are no impressions associated with that language in my mind, so I could not understand anything.
So the mind is essentially a meaning seeking thing. Whatever information comes in, it tries to make some sense out of it. So the mind is a transmitter, it gives information, but does not just give information, it also gives a meaning to that information.
Now, that meaning can be right or wrong, but so the mind is a transmitter and a transformer. These two functions the mind does. At any point, the first session will be a little conceptually, subsequent will become a little easier.
And we will revisit these concepts again as we go through. So if you do not catch everything, that is perfectly fine. So the mind is meant to serve these two functions, but the mind can go off in two ways.
One is that it can become a distractor and the other is it can become a distorter. So distractor, basically, if I consider here, is the internet good enough to have zoom? It may not be. So I am just drawing something, whatever I described over here, there is a soul, a mind, the body, and then there is the outer world.
So when the consciousness goes out, so I just send you something on the WhatsApp group. It is a basic level of visualisation. The internet seems to be quite poor.
It has not gone through till now. Okay, so from the soul to the mind to the body, consciousness goes through. For the next session, what I will try to do is, I will try to make some diagrams in advance and keep them ready.
So they will be sent beforehand. So these three are meant to be in one line. But sometimes when the mind acts as a distractor, distractor means what happens? That the three are meant to be in one line, but the mind goes off somewhere else.
When it goes off somewhere else, then our consciousness gets dissipated. Part of it is where our body is, part of it is where our mind is. And depending on how much we are distracted, then that much is the amount of information we take in or we do not take in.
So if the three are not in one line, sometimes they can be completely opposite line. That means the mind is taking us completely away. See, when there is no sync between the body and the mind, that is technically called as insanity.
So insanity, while it could be a pathological state, but essentially what happens is, the mental and the physical worlds become totally disconnected. Like when somebody is having a hallucination, they are hearing some voices when there is nobody there. They are seeing something when there is nothing there.
So basically, now spiritual visions can also be considered insanity, but there we are perceiving something higher, that is different. But in general, if the physical and the mental are totally disconnected, then it can become a problem. So one problem with the functioning of the mind is, it is meant to be a transmitter, but it can become a distractor.
The second is that it can become a distorter. Distorter means that the mind is not just a neutral transmitter of information. The mind is actually containing impressions inside, as I said earlier, and those impressions cause certain stimuli to become magnified and certain stimuli to become minimised.
So for example, say if we are sitting here and you hear some noise, okay, that is just people passing by. But if suddenly we hear the roar of a tiger, so that is one noise, hey, is there a tiger danger, so we have to run away from here. So then that should be magnified, because that indicates some danger.
And then the mind can magnify that and alert us to danger. But sometimes, so when some stimulus is coming in from outside, that stimulus becomes enlarged by the mind. And when it becomes enlarged, such enlargement can sometimes be helpful, but sometimes it can be counterproductive.
So, call this is a tiger distortion. So, the impressions in the dog, I am going to talk about the dog example right now, so I will come to that. So, what causes the mind to enlarge or minimise certain stimuli? That is the impressions within it.
And those impressions are called as samskaras. Samskara refers to the impressions that are there within the mind, which cause whatever perceptions, whatever information that is coming in to become either magnified or minimised. So, the mind is not just a neutral transmitter of information, it is a transformer.
So, samskaras themselves are not inherently good or bad, they are impressions, some impressions could be good. So, if we like you saw a dog and urge him to pet the dog, to fondle the dog. So, that is come from some positive impressions.
But say suppose somewhere someone in the childhood was bitten by a dog. And as soon as they see a dog, the whole dog gets reduced to the sharp teeth, even it is a small, cute. Okay, I will come to belief system.
Let us keep it at the simple level. It is impressions in the mind that can lead to belief system. But it leads to a lot of things also.
It is not just belief system. It is also a way we understand facts. Because once you start using the word belief system, then it involves a certain level of subjectivity.
And there is subjectivity, but it is not just subjective. Because there are objective realities, fire, for example, is dangerous. And if I see fire, and even without knowing that, okay, there is a fire, I feel something hot and I move away from it.
And we can say it is a biological urge to survive. But that is also comes from the impressions within us. So, it is just impressions, they can lead to beliefs, they can lead to many other things.
So, it is definitely belief system, but it is also much more than that. So, samskaras are the impressions, which cause the information that is coming in to be transformed. Either we seek some meaning within it.
But now, say, if say, somebody is here behind me, and they want my attention, so they tap my shoulder. And they tap my shoulder and if I scream, what happened, I just tap their shoulder. And I say, actually, you know, I had fallen on the shoulder, I have a sprain over here.
Okay. So, if there is a physical injury, then what happens is a small stimulus leads to a large response. And whenever there is a disproportionate response, a small stimulus and a large response, that suggests that there is something wrong.
There is some sprain over here. On the other hand, say, if there is some other injury, which makes a person numb. So, you touch them, nothing happens.
You slap them, nothing happens. You punch them, nothing happens. What happened, I am calling you, then you notice.
So, there could be a large stimulus and little or no response. That is also indicative of some kind of malfunction. So, in many ways, the mind is like the body.
So, in general, how do we know the presence of samskaras in the mind? It is by the disproportionality of the responses to stimuli. For example, we just speak some words to someone. Come on, can you please do it like that way? Why are you always getting on my case? Why are you yelling at me? Why do you hate me so much? I just made one polite suggestion.
Can you please take it over there? So, what is wrong with you? Maybe that person has some impression that people always boss them around or maybe the people think that we are authoritarian and whatever. So, the idea is when there is a small stimulus and a large response, the disproportionality of the response is indicative of the presence of some samskara. So, samskara also can lead to attachments.
So, for example, somebody is an alcoholic. Then they have gone for a very important meeting, maybe a corporate meeting in a big 5-star hotel. And while they are passing by to go to the boardroom, they see some drinks.
Oh, I want to drink it. And then after that, they are meeting their boss and they are talking with their boss. And their boss body changes into a bottle of alcohol in their mind.
So, what has happened over there? The impression, just a passing sight of a bottle of alcohol has led to a disproportionate response. Oh, I want to drink it and that is filling their consciousness. So, the point is that one way to understand the presence of samskaras is that whatever stimulus comes in, if there is a disproportionate response.
So, some people are hypersensitive. Now, if they hear some issue, some problem, they just get overwhelmed by it. So, for example, when there is PTSD and this post-traumatic stress disorder, that is an example of a particularly prominent samskara.
Somebody was in a place where there was a bomb blast and they saw maybe their colleagues or things around and just blown to smithereens. After that, they hear any loud sound, maybe an object falling down, maybe a firecracker, a balloon bursting immediately. What is happening with small stimulus, huge response.
So, samskaras are the impressions within us which determine how stimulus leads to response. They do not alone determine, but they play a significant part in determining. Samskaras are the inner impressions that stimulus comes in, response goes out.
So, how will that response go out? Now, if somebody is very desensitised to violence, maybe they grew up in a rough neighbourhood and they beat people up, they have seen other people getting beaten up. An ordinary person when they see maybe somebody with maybe a bloodied nose or a black eye, they get concerned, they get alarmed, what happened? But for somebody who has just grown around seeing that, the sight of blood may not affect them at all. So, what has happened is, again, the opposite side of it, some samskaras can make us desensitised.
So, the large stimulus, but no response. At an extreme level, there can be sociopaths and psychopaths, where terrible things can happen to them, they can do terrible things, and even basic human decency, basic humanity seems to be absent within them. So, samskaras, to a large extent, shape the way we perceive the world and the way we act in the world.
Now, the mind is the place where the samskaras are stored. The impressions are formed over there. And consciousness, which comes from the soul, goes through the mind.
And then it goes to the outer world. So, basically, the consciousness, so I will add one more concept, and then we will stop and then we will have some reflective discussion on this more. So, consciousness is basically associated with two broad functions, awareness and action.
So, we have the knowledge acquiring senses, and then we have the working senses. So, the eyes, ears, we acquire knowledge, through the hands, legs, we work. So, consciousness is required for both, for awareness and for action.
And in both of these, the impressions that are present in the mind, they affect how we function. So, when we are taking in awareness and taking in information, which information gets highlighted, which information gets emphasised, that is determined by the impressions in our mind. So, similarly, when we are acting, how we act, like some people, when they want to greet each other, they may gently shake hands, some people, they pat each other on the back, some will slam others on the back.
That is just the way they are brought up, that is the way their culture is. It may be true, but how is that, they may not consciously be thinking, I want to hit this person on the back. But just that is what they do.
So, even our actions are shaped by the impressions within us, how we pursue things and how we act. So, both of these are shaped by the impressions within us. And the impressions that are there within us, we most of the time are not aware of them.
We become aware of them only when things go off track. Say for example, all of you are sitting here and you are trying to hear this talk. Now, every one of you is confident that the person next to you is not going to suddenly turn at you and slap you in the face.
Now, is that a possibility? Well, you can say anything is possible. But if somebody is interested in the spiritual talk, somebody has come here, then it is quite likely that they have a certain level of discipline, a certain way of behaving and they are extremely unlikely to do something like that. So, based on the impressions that are there in our mind, certain kinds of behaviours are acceptable and certain kinds of behaviours are unacceptable.
And generally, we notice the samskaras when our behaviour starts going out of the acceptable range. So, like for example, for me, going back to the starting incident, when I was about to hit my friend. So, at that time, hey, such physical violence is not a good thing.
And when that behaviour started going out of the expected or acceptable range, that is when you start to say, what is going on over here? What is wrong over here? Is there something wrong? So, this could also be on the positive side. Like some kids, maybe just musical prodigies, there are some people who pick up an instrument and then they pick up an instrument and start playing it. Others are spellbound, small kid, 3, 4, 5 years old.
On YouTube, you see this India has talent, Britain has talent, all these talent shows are there. Some kids perform well, that is amazing, the amount of talent that they have. And there is something inside them, we can call them as prodigies, you can say it is in their genes.
But again, it is the impressions that can make a person perform or function in extraordinarily good ways. So, the impressions can be positive, the impressions can also be negative or counterproductive, destructive. But generally, when something goes out of the accepted parameters, that is when we notice it.
So, somebody may drink, but okay, a little drinking because I drink, but do not get drunk. And that is how most people may function. But there are times when somebody drinks and then drives and they almost hit someone.
My God, what did I do? This is something I never want to do. Then I have to pull myself together. I have to deal with this.
Maybe this habit has become destructive. Maybe that has become too strong. So, to the extent we have a certain parameter for acceptable way of functioning, to that extent, we can actually become aware of our samskaras.
If there is no accepted parameter for functioning, for behaving, then we may be, our behaviour may be going off. But we may not even become, we may not even recognise it. Like say, if somebody finds somebody attractive, they may look at them.
Even in ordinary society, staring at someone, that is considered a bit impolite. Now beyond staring, if somebody starts ogling, that is completely indecent. But the idea is that there is an accepted way of behaving and when those boundaries start going off, then we become aware.
Either we ourselves become aware or somebody else makes us aware. So, the disproportionality of the response, how will we know it is disproportionate? It is when there are some standards that determine what is proportionate. That is when we can decide what is disproportionate and then we become aware.
So, everybody experiences loss in life. Now, if we lose a job, if there is a breakup in a relationship, we all feel bad. But if somebody becomes utterly rejected and they become, they sink into a terrible depression or they become suicidal, hey, that is a warning sign.
No, these things happen. If such a severe reaction is coming, then you have to be careful. Something needs to be done about this.
So, that is why having a capacity for either self-observation or having others who observe us based on certain accepted parameters of functioning that helps us to become more aware of the impressions inside us. Otherwise, those impressions may be impelling particular kinds of behaviour within us, but we may not even recognise it. So, I will summarise.
I discussed three main points today in this particular session. First, I talked about the model of the self and inside us, there is the soul, the mind and the body. The mind is like the software which links the body and the soul.
It is like the passageway through which consciousness goes. So, with respect to the functioning of the mind, the mind is meant to be a transmitter and a transformer, but it can become a distractor and a distortor. And when this happens, why does it happen? The last part was the samskaras.
The mind has impressions inside it by which the information that is coming in that we give some meaning to it. Now that meaning can be valid and constructive. When we give some meaning means we put a certain set of stimuli together and we assign some understanding to it.
But sometimes, it can be invalid and counterproductive. So, generally, the presence of samskaras is inferred by the disproportionality of the response to the stimulus. So, either small stimulus, large response, large stimulus, small response.
And having some accepted parameters of functioning or behaving along with me observing us and other observing us can help us understand what samskaras are there and what samskaras are actually controlling or shaping my life and my behaviour. So, self-observation, how we can do it better, that I will talk in the next session. So, any reflections or questions at this point? Hello.
Okay. So, I was wondering when we just born, a new baby born. So, we are free from any samskara at the time when we born and just keep building up with the passage of time and the different experience of life that we are having or this is also something that we carry from our previous life? Yes, that is true.
Yes, it is something we do carry from our previous lives. Because if it is only from this life, then we can consider there are identical tools. They share the same genes entirely.
The genetic content is completely same and yet identical tools also differ in their behaviours, in their personality. So, our behaviour cannot be reduced to the genes that we get when we acquire a particular biological body. So, that is one factor, but we also bring impressions from a previous life.
So, among these three levels, the soul, the body, the mind and the soul. When we die, the body is left behind and the soul along with the mind goes to the next body and acquires the next body. And that is why I say when all babies cry, but there are some babies, they cry as if they will bring the whole house down unless somebody immediately pays attention to them.
So, newborn babies also have impressions. Those impressions, they become evident over time. So, we do carry samskaras from our previous lives also.
Sorry, I have a second question. Is it okay? I have heard, I have read some researches. They were saying that also some samskaras of the parents can be transmitted to the child.
What do you think about this? It is possible that we carry some trauma from a parent or like ancestor? Okay, definitely. In general, samskaras are not just something which are passive. They are being continuously formed and reformed.
And therein lies the hope for self-transformation, which we will discuss as we move forward. So, every action that we do, it creates some impression inside us. Now, depending on how much we are involved or how much we are impacted by that action, that impression becomes deeper.
Like, we also say that, in the word impression, we also use it, say if we go to a party, we meet 50 people. And we remember two or three people very vividly. Why? Because they made some impression on us.
This person was so brilliant or this person was so obnoxious, whatever. So, impression means some kind of imprint is created on our mind. So, at a conscious level, the way we are raised would be taken a lot from the conduct of our parents.
And that itself creates impressions. So, if somebody grew up in a home, which was dysfunctional, where the only way to resolve a conflict was a shouting match. Both start yelling at each other and whoever yells the loudest wins.
Then that person will grow up and think that is the way to resolve conflicts. So, that is the impression that is formed. So, there are impressions that are, you could say, consciously formed, like parents may model or try to model certain behaviour in front of their children.
Like even in ordinary society, people may use swear words, but if kids are present in front of kids, we should not use swear words. That is a common way of function. So, the idea is, we do not want kids to pick that up.
So, yes, the parent’s behaviour shapes us and it creates impressions. And one aspect of parenting is that we give good impressions to our children. Now, at a subconscious level also.
So, if say somebody had a parent who was very emotionally distant, very emotionally withdrawn, then that person may also, they may appear cold when they interact with others. But they may not be cold necessarily. They may not be intentionally cold.
But just that, that is the way they saw others behaving or they saw their family people behaving and that is what they internalised. So, yes. So, broadly speaking, the samskara that are present in our life right now, some have come from our past life and some have come from our present life till this point.
Okay. Thank you. Hiya.
I don’t know if it’s a question, but it’s more just I wanted your reflection on something I’m thinking, which is, I feel like we all or a lot of people think about how they avoid the impressions. Can you say the word, just so I say it correctly, the samskara? Samskara. Samskara.
Okay. So, samskara, you remember it in English as S-O-M-E-S-C-A-R. Everyone has samskara.
Okay. That’s nice. All right.
Samskara. Yeah. And also like the scars, it’s almost like scars are something that is negative that’s happened.
But to me, it feels more like it’s inevitable. Inevitable. You know, we are born, we live, these things happen, right? And it’s like, are we trying to, I guess I’m asking, are we trying to avoid these? Are we trying to protect our children? Make sure they have as little of these scars as possible? Or are we more saying, how do we empower people to live with the scars and move forward with them and live an empowered life in spite of those? You understand? Yeah, good question.
So, two points to this. You know, there is, if we are raising children, there is the love that guards and there’s the love that guides. So, especially if our children are very small, at that time, we have to protect them.
So, that is the kind of love that guards. If this kid is 2, 3, 4, 5 years old, he can’t just tell that, you know, terrible things happen in life. At that time, we have to protect them.
But parents cannot keep guarding the children for the entire life. Eventually, there’s love that guides. Okay, these things happen in life and how do we respond to that? So, with respect to samskaras, there are two things which we are trying to do.
First is, understand if some samskaras are unknowingly or even unintentionally shaping our behaviour in particular ways that we do not want. So, that’s why we are trying to understand the samskaras. That if I tend to be shock tempered or if I tend to be cold and I may not even be aware that I am being like that.
So, looking at our samskaras can help us make sense of the way we are behaving. So, in that sense, it is so that we can function better. Second is that while life will inevitably give us some scars, life will scar us in some way or the other.
But there are some unhealthy impressions that can and should be avoided. Say for example, there are some substances that are addictive. And if somebody starts taking those substances without knowing that they can be addictive and they get addicted, then they are hooked and they find it very difficult to get rid of this.
They are trapped even without their knowing it. So, what has happening is those impressions have already become formed. So, knowing that things do form impressions on us, we can become more careful about choosing what experiences we expose ourselves to or subject ourselves to.
But that does not mean we run away from all difficult experience. But there is unnecessary danger and trouble. See, it is like somebody wants to go hiking up, that is adventure, that is excitement, there is some risk, but that is fine.
But somebody deliberately goes to the edge of a slippery cliff and peers down, bending down as much as is safe and beyond what is safe, they slip and fall. That is dangerous and maybe that is unnecessary. You want to look at the mountain, that is fine.
But do we really need to code danger for that? So, understanding that impressions are formed ensures that we do not expose ourselves unknowingly or unintentionally to things that will affect our behaviours. Does that make sense? That was just two points. So, it is not to avoid.
Life will give us some hard knocks and we all need to learn to rise from those. But sometimes there is unnecessary trouble that arises from our unhealthy choices which compounds the trouble. So, for example, if there is an accident, if we fall and slip, I need to become panicky or somebody around us becomes panicky.
Instead of calling 911 or calling some ambulance for help, they just become panicky. A small injury can become far worse. So, stay calm.
And there are such times I tend to become panicky, then maybe I need to learn some behaviours or some practises by which I can decrease my panicky responses. So, that way, we can make healthier choices. The essence is not to avoid difficulties, but to make healthier choices.
Yes, it just seems like a real fine line between protecting yourself and then doing enough to learn the lessons. I guess that’s what you’re getting at here, which is understanding where that balancing point is. So many people are so protecting themselves and they don’t live their life because they’re so scared about what will happen.
And then the other side of it is the people that are jumping off the cliff and then something goes wrong. It’s like, how do you find that balance point where you understand how to push yourself enough to grow without, but also not put yourself in too much danger? Yes, it depends on what is important in our life. So, when something is important, we will take up danger and trouble for that.
Say, for example, if somebody has a newborn child, then taking care of a child is a 24 by 7 job. You can’t really say that I have regular sleep patterns and therefore, baby, you go to sleep now. If you cry at night, I’m not going to take care of you.
No. So, that is, if we have brought a child into the world, it is our responsibility. And then, okay, even if you have to wake up whatever time, sleep whatever time you can, we do that.
But in general, it is good to have some amount of regulation in our life. Okay, this is time I sleep, this is time I wake up. So, there is a regular pattern and it’s good to create that habit.
But we shouldn’t become so attached to the habit that when some higher purpose is available for us, at that time that habit limits us. Say, somebody is an emergency care doctor. And that person says, I sleep at this time, I wake up at this time.
But you are in emergency care. If an emergency call comes up, if somebody is dying, you have to go there. So, whatever habits we are forming, samskaras lead to the formation of habits also.
So, we shouldn’t, our habits should be aiding us, they shouldn’t be controlling and dominating us. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. So, one extreme could be that one, if you have a pendulum, one extreme is that we have no regulation, no pattern, no habits, we just do whatever, whatever urge comes up within us. And the other is we have such a rigid schedule that in the attempt to regulate our life, we miss out on life itself.
Yeah, you miss the detail. Yeah. So, we need to have some regulation, but our attachment is not to the regulation.
Our attachment is our focus, our priority is the things that bring meaning and value to our life. Okay. Cool.
Thank you. That’s amazing. Yes.
Hare Krishna. So, as you define and explain this self-understanding, so I would like to know more about in the context of Bhagavad Gita, how we can have better self-understanding by understanding of Bhagavad Gita, and please put more light on that. Thank you.
See, in the Bhagavad Gita 6.5 and 6.6 are among my favourite verses. So, 6.5 says that elevate yourself with yourself. Don’t degrade yourself with yourself.
For you can be your best friend or you can be your worst enemy. So, the idea of that there is a lower self and a higher self or you could say the soul is the observer and there is the mind. In the mind, the impulses keep coming up, all of them, based on samskaras.
So, the soul and the mind are working together. We need to act in such a way that the soul and mind combination rises upwards. Not that the mind impels us choices by which we go downwards.
So, in one sense, the whole purpose of yoga ultimately is to get the whole being to rise upwards, to link with the divine. So, we will discuss further practises about how we can go about doing this. So, the bonds and the boundaries, that is abhyasana and vairagya.
When we talk about that, that is entirely based on the bhagavad-gita itself. Thank you. So, should we take a 10-minute break now? So, we will what is the time now? 11.45. So, around 11.45 we will join back and then we will talk a little bit about self-observation and journey as a tool for self-observation.
Thank you.