Transcriptions
Dev Priyānanda Svāmī Bhagavān
Video Link: YouTube
Namaste, and welcome to another episode of the Esoteric Teaching.
You know, it’s not a secret. We’re very open, isn’t it? posting these things on YouTube where everybody can view them. But yet, so many of the people, even the ones who watch our videos, don’t get it.
It’s, like, a head-scratcher for me, because I really put a lot of time and effort into making things clear, as clear as possible, considering the abstruse nature of the subject.
But what we’re trying to do, of course, is to reinterpret the ancient tradition for today’s reality. And so that’s another reason why I encourage questions, because, you know, it’s hard for me to understand sometimes how people think. And I don’t just want to impose the way I think, because thinking itself is the problem. The mind, words, are the problem. That’s how we cover over our original consciousness.
So, well, let me read the second part of Matt’s question.
He says:
The answer to my question has something to do with positivity and positive mental attitude, does it not? Because people who can’t maintain this attitude lack the ability to be assertive and become angry and frustrated. The resulting mental condition is not suitable for the level of meditation you are talking about.
And he goes on to say he’s thinking about positivity and right thinking in terms of, like, Andrew Carnegie and Napoleon Hill type stuff, Think and Grow Rich, manifest your dreams, and stuff like that.
Well, you know, the Buddha said there are four types of questions:
“Do you still beat your wife?” So this is the kind of question that demands an explanation.
I’m going to have to take a step back and briefly describe the Advaita ontology, the background. The background that we have is that only things that are eternal, unchanging, and without boundaries or differences are real.
Why is that? Because if something has a boundary, that means it’s not the fundamental substance. It’s not the origin. It’s not the cause of everything else. And it certainly could not be the universal root of everything. And that’s what we’re looking for.
So the other thing is, if something is temporary, if it’s impermanent, if it changes, then it can’t be real. And the reason it can’t be real is that at one time it’s one thing, and then another time it’s something else. It changes.
Just like these bodies. These bodies are made from food. And like that nice salad and soup that I had this afternoon is going to become part of my body. And then my body is going to exist for some time, and then it’s going to fall apart. We call that death. So the body can’t be real.
Similarly, the mind is always changing. At different stages of life, we have totally different ideas about things, totally different desires, and so on. So the mind can’t be real.
The “i”, the personality, the identity always changes as well. We describe ourselves in different ways. Maybe we even have different names at different times of life. Or we just see ourselves as acting in a different role, or whatever it is. In any case, the identity also changes. So that’s not real either.
Even consciousness. Consciousness changes because it has different objects at different times. Consciousness cannot be separated from its object. It is a phenomenon of awareness coming into contact with objects.
The only thing that never changes is awareness itself. So awareness is real. Awareness is present in all stages of consciousness. So therefore, the reality is awareness.
Everything that we know, experience, and think, and feel, including our consciousness, happens within awareness. Awareness is the big context that gives everything else meaning and existence. You see what I’m getting at?
Even the world actually exists within awareness. Even God exists within awareness. What to speak of the mind, the ego, the body, and other phenomena. So this is the Advaita point of view.
The Advaita point of view is there is one awareness, one universal Being with a capital B. That is Brahman. That is the Self.
So this Self becomes covered over and reflected in a mind and body. And then we create an ego, which is just a thought. And then we start to identify with this mind, body, ego, phenomena, and so on. Possessions, relations, actions, and all this. And because of that, we become trapped.
Why?
Because the actions that we perform cause distress and harm to others. And because those others, just like ourselves, are only reflections of the universal being, those are crimes against God. And because of that, they create karma. And then we have to take birth again and again and receive the results.
That means suffering.
So there is a thing called enlightenment, mokṣa, release, escape from the wheel of saṁsāra. But in order to approach that, first of all we have to adopt the background ontology, the view of jñāna.
The view of jñāna is given by the sages, the Buddhas, the avatars, various representatives who speak with the voice of the Self, of Brahman, and who support and express His point of view.
So what do they say? They say, “Look, you’re suffering. The only way to get out of it is to attain enlightenment, mokṣa, self-realization—whatever you want to call it—Buddhahood.”
And then they give a series of activities and thoughts that you should adopt. And so they begin with selfless service. Selfless service means work without attachment to results: charity, religious work, building things that are of benefit and use to the whole society, to the public, to the community.
And then gradually that leads into bhakti, which is worshipping God in eight different features: the five elements and then the different beings. So that, if it is successful, will give rise to love. Love means admiration, respect and affection for others. And in the highest concept of bhakti, ananya-bhakti, we see all those others as ultimately the Self. And we see the Self in us and everyone else.
So, yes, there are some mental attitudes and some actions also that are more favorable for development of bhakti. And certainly being positive is being better than negative.
But if by positive you mean selfishly positive, that is the antithesis of love: “I’m going to do the best I can for myself. I’m going to get whatever I can, regardless of what anybody else does.” That’s selfishness.
“I’m going to attain enlightenment and the rest of the world can go to hell.” That could be viewed as being positive in the sense of Think and Grow Rich, right? Think and grow rich spiritually. But actually, it’s completely the opposite of bhakti.
That’s why bhakti begins from love and worship of the guru. Then gradually one comes to love and worship God in any form or any name. And finally, one begins to see God as the Self in oneself and others.
That leads naturally to meditation, because it’s such an attractive vision. It’s such a beautiful thought that one forgets all about the ego, the body, the mind, possessions, selfish activities and work and so on. One just lets all that go because the beauty of being in love is so all-encompassing, so overwhelming. Without this love, without this open-heartedness, this generosity to all, then whatever positive activities or attitudes one may have are pretty much useless.
So the positive attitude we should have is that all is the Self. Everywhere, everyone, everything is only the Self and nothing else. And if we see it as different, if we see it as separate, that means we are covered over. We are deluded. We are wrong. And we have to work on that.
That’s the actual positive attitude that leads to perfection of spiritual life. So in that view, there’s no room for sectarianism. There’s no room for denigrating others or condemning others because they’re different.
It’s wonderful that they’re different. It’s amazing that the power of the Self is such that it can manifest such a bewildering variety of phenomena. It’s amazing, really. All the more reason why we should hold the Self in such regard.
And not only the Self in ourselves, but the Self in all. And that’s the real meaning of a positive attitude.
ĀŪṀ Tat Sat. ĀŪṀ Hariḥ ĀŪṀ.