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Video Information: Month of Awakening, 24.07.2019, Advait BodhSthal, Greater Noida, India

Context:
Nachiketa said:
That which you see as other than righteousness and unrighteousness, other than all this cause and effect, other than what has been and what is to be - tell me, That.
~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 14)

Yama said:
The goal which all the Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at and which men desire when they lead the life of continence, I will tell you briefly: it is Om.
~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 15)

This syllable Om is indeed Brahman.
This syllable is the Highest. Whosoever knows this syllable obtains all that he desires.
~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 16)

This is the best support; this is the highest support. Whosoever knows this support is adored in the world of Brahma.
~ Katha Upanishad (Chapter 1, Valli 2, Verse 17)

~ What is the sound of OM?
~ How does it take us to peace?
~ Can is the real meaning behind this sound?
~ What do Rishi's refer to as OM?

Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~

Category

📚
Learning
Transcript
00:00The first question comes from Jaime, he has quoted from the Kathopanishad.
00:24Naciketa said, that which you see as other than righteousness and unrighteousness, other
00:37than all this cause and effect, other than what has been and what is to be, tell me that.
00:49Yama said, the goal which all the Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which all
00:58men desire when they lead the life of continence, I will tell you briefly, it is Aum.
01:08This syllable Aum is indeed Brahm, this syllable is the highest, whosoever knows this syllable
01:17obtains all that he desires.
01:22This is the best support, this is the highest support, whosoever knows this support is adored
01:30in the world of Brahm.
01:34So Jaime is asking, Dear Acharya ji, can you please elaborate on what that issue refers
01:48to as Aum, and what he means by Aum being the best and highest support.
01:54Thank you for your guidance.
02:30Aum is used as a powerful symbol of transcendence.
02:56It consists of three sounds, Aum and Ma.
03:08These correspond to the three states of consciousness.
03:27Aum begins where one currently is.
03:36Obviously there can be no other place to begin with.
03:41You can only begin from where you are.
03:46So Aum begins with A, which is your current state of consciousness.
03:58What is your current state of consciousness?
04:04The one in which you perceive the facts of the world, the one which you call as the waking
04:17state of consciousness, the one in which you perceive yourself as the body, our body identified
04:33and the body is the consumer of the various objects in the world, that is A. A is the
04:47beginning, whether in the alphabet Varnamala or in Aum, A pertains to your current state
05:10of consciousness.
05:13So the journey begins from A. Then Aum says transcend A, and how do you transcend A?
05:29You transcend any state of consciousness only by knowing it well.
05:39That is the way of the seeker.
05:44Know your waking state of consciousness, know the material, know the facts of the world,
05:54know your gross actions because they are the easiest to know.
06:06The world is perceivable, your actions too are perceivable, know them.
06:13A refers to your most easily accessible layer of consciousness, the most superficial layer
06:28of consciousness.
06:31And hence A is most easily available to be known.
06:43And then you move to U. U refers to that state of consciousness which remains unavailable
07:01to your usual conscious self, but nevertheless deeply impacts your functioning, your life,
07:11your mind.
07:16This is the state of consciousness that manifests itself when you go to sleep.
07:27In the Upanishadic parlance, U would pertain to your identity as Tajas.
07:39And obviously that means A pertains to your identity as Vaishwanath.
07:46Or you could take a slightly different route and you could say A pertains to all that which
07:55is Sthul.
07:58A pertains to the domain of Sthul Sharir and correspondingly U pertains to the domain
08:07of Sukshm Sharir.
08:12Whichever way you look at it, one thing is obvious.
08:17The domain of U, which is the deeper level of mind, is more difficult to know than the
08:24domain of A. It's easier to watch your actions than to watch your thoughts.
08:33It's easier to watch your thoughts than to watch your dreams.
08:41One who has transcended A enters U.
08:49And if you can transcend the U mind as well, then a greater challenge awaits you, Ma.
09:02Which is the Karan Sharir.
09:07Which is the domain of the mind in which your identity is that of Pragya.
09:17Which is the level of consciousness in which the world is gone.
09:26The various branch, vrittis, tendencies are also transcended.
09:33And all that remains is the Mool Aham Vritti, the deepest I instinct.
09:46So in the course of Aum, in his journey through Aum, what is the seeker doing?
09:55The seeker is penetrating to deeper and deeper levels of his mind.
10:00He started off from where he was, which was the most superficial level, the waking state
10:04of consciousness, in which the Sansar is there, the world is there, the Vishu is there and
10:10the Vaishvanar is there.
10:13And then he went deeper into his mind and what did he encounter?
10:17U.
10:18What does U refer to?
10:20All the stuff that you do not usually come to see, it remains hidden and it presents
10:29itself sometimes only in dreams and then you are shocked.
10:33Don't your dreams surprise you sometimes?
10:38You say where did this come from?
10:42It didn't come from anywhere outside of you.
10:46It was always present in your mind.
10:48It's just that it existed a bit deeply.
10:57So you were not cognizant of it.
11:01When the state of consciousness changed, when you went to sleep, then that which was a little
11:06deeper in the mind presented itself.
11:11What is the symbol used to represent that?
11:17U.
11:21A says watch your visible actions, watch your gross thoughts, U says now come on, can you
11:37be a watcher of your various latent tendencies as well?
11:45What are the latent tendencies that you usually cannot watch but show up in dreams?
11:51Anger, fear, lust, insecurity, greed.
12:00Many of these remain suppressed in the conscious mind.
12:04But once they find that the guard of consciousness has been lowered, then they merrily come forth
12:14and start dancing.
12:19So U says now overcome that which is deeply hidden in your mind and then the challenge
12:28is M. M says now encounter the fundamental problem, the final challenge, which is the
12:41pure I-tendency itself.
12:45I-tendency bereft of everything else.
12:51The moment the I-tendency does not have anything else, you start enjoying.
12:59You know what is happening as you are graduating from U to M, you are leaving the world behind.
13:09When you come to M, the world has indeed been left totally behind.
13:16In deep sleep, there is no world at all.
13:21However, the potential for the world to spring back still exists.
13:28That is why Sushupti is not Samadhi.
13:32That is why Sushupti is not final.
13:35That is why that enjoyment does not last.
13:39You are woken up and the world comes back to you and grips you and arrests you.
13:46Nevertheless, it gives you a taste of what it means to be world-less.
13:55That is why deep sleep is so relaxing.
13:57You become world-less.
13:59The world is gone and because the world is gone, you are in bliss.
14:09Uma says overcome this bliss also.
14:13Because this bliss is deceptive.
14:15Why is it deceptive?
14:19It is not going to last.
14:22Every night you experience that bliss, does it last?
14:25It deceives you.
14:26So, Uma says that even the blissful experiences that you get in the path of spirituality have
14:33to be overcome.
14:37All great experiences are a barrier.
14:43Ma is the most blissful experience you can ever get.
14:52There is no experience more relaxing, more soothing, more tempting than the experience
15:02of deep sleep.
15:09You can craft and design the most alluring experiences for yourself, whether through
15:18the worldly route or through the spiritual route, but no experience can beat the experience
15:24of deep and relaxing sleep.
15:27Uma says overcome that as well.
15:33You cannot stop at Ma.
15:35Ma is a great and final hurdle.
15:39You cannot stop there.
15:41So even Ma has to keep petering away and then you enter the fourth beyond these three.
15:55That is the message of Om.
16:00Om is both the method and the destination.
16:07When you say Om, you are on one hand reaffirming your commitment to move beyond a and at the
16:17same time you are journeying as you utter Om.
16:24Every time you say Om, you are actually saying I am starting from a, going to Ma and then
16:32leaping beyond.
16:36That beyondness, that transcendence is the purpose of all spirituality.
16:43Go deeper, deeper, deeper into yourself and then disappear.
16:47That is Om.
16:49A, O, Ma and then gone, nothing.
16:57So Om resonates, resonates, resonates.
17:00There is an echo, there is an echo, there is an echo and then nothing is left.
17:04The echo keeps getting fainter, fainter, fainter.
17:07The world is going, going, going, going, going, going, gone.
17:12That is Om.
17:14A, O, Ma, gone.
17:18Now nothing remains, not even Ma remains, not even the final shred of I remains.
17:26You have gathered what Ma stands for.
17:30Ma stands for Aham, Ma, Mai, Aham, the final I tendency.
17:38That does not just disappear usually in one stroke.
17:43How does it go?
17:45Om.
17:51This is you melting away.
17:55This is your own disappearance.
17:58Om.
18:03Om.
18:07It is you who is now.
18:22That is the reason why the worship of Om and repeated recitation of Om has so much been advised and favoured.
18:45Every time Om disappears into nothing, something about you also melts and disappears.
18:54Om.
18:59Where did the sound go?
19:03Where did the sound go?
19:05Om.
19:12It's not the sound that is fading away.
19:16It's you who is fading away.
19:27You are asking what does the Rishi refer to as Om.
19:31I spoke on it.
19:33And then you ask what does he mean by Om being the best and highest support.
19:39When you are stuck in Ah, what does Ah refer to?
19:46The state of consciousness you are contained in.
19:50The state of consciousness you are identified with.
19:54The world that you live in.
19:56That's where you start from, Ah.
19:59So when you are contained and arrested, withheld, chained in Ah, then what is your only hope?
20:15Freedom.
20:19Om is the song of that freedom.
20:24Om says freedom in three steps.
20:27Ah, Om and gone.
20:30Ah, Om and free.
20:34Therefore the Rishis are saying that Om is your best and highest support.
20:39Because after all what support does a prisoner need?
20:44What is the only support that a prisoner wants?
20:50That which will take him to freedom.
20:53So, Om is the root.
20:56Om is the method.
20:58Om is the way.
21:00Om is the reminder.
21:03You are at Ah, but you need not stay at Ah.
21:10Move deeper into yourself.
21:12The more you will know yourself, the more you will be free of yourself.
21:18Knowledge of self is freedom from the self.
21:22And finally, the knower of the self himself vanishes.
21:28Dissolves away.
21:33Getting it?
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