Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
Mental wellbeing is an escalating global challenge having serious impact on the quality of life, productivity in workplace etc. Our approach to wellbeing fundamentally depends on our perspective of ourselves. Are we just human beings, not much different from animals or something more? Over thousands of years the Vedic spiritual seekers dived deep within themselves to explore the inner space and they repeatedly verified that we all, without exception, are in essence really spiritual beings having human experiences. Their discoveries form Vedanta philosophy - the 'science of human excellences" - which explain in detail and with much clarity how we have multidimensional physical, mental, emotional and ethical layers of personality covering the fundamental Pure and eternal spiritual being. Along with this, the Vedic seekers developed systematic Yoga techniques to purify our minds and "dis-cover" our true Self.
The Vedantic conception of ourselves and Yogic mind-management techniques offer an alternative approach to address the mental wellbeing challenges. Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Auckland has taken up a project to make available these Vedanta-Yoga teachings to empower individuals with the knowledge and skill-sets to better manage their minds, emotions, values etc. to live meaningful, peaceful and productive lives.
Ritam is the Vedic principle responsible for maintaining order, harmony and rhythm both in the macrocosm and the microcosm. Stress, tension, dis-ease etc arise when we lose this balance at different levels of our being and around us. We have limited capacity to influence change outside us but we can definitely integrate our mind to our inner Self to gain greater poise, balance and rhythm in life. Meditation is the art of turning the mind inwards and anchoring it to our eternal, omniscient, blissful and pure Self. The more we are integrated with our inner Self, the greater will be the influence we can cast around us. This is the spiritual way to freedom from the slavery to the eternal world and internal body, senses and mind.
Ritam - Being in Balance is our series of conversations with Swami Tadananda wherein we explore the Vedanta-Yoga teachings and practices to promote our wellbeing.
Ritam - Being in Balance. A Podcast on Wellbeing
18. Wellbeing - Embracing the Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita
Discover the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita as Swami Tadananda offers insights into finding balance amidst chaos, a quest as relevant today as it was on the ancient battlefield of Kurukshetra. Our conversation traverses the depths of 'sthita pragna,' the art of poised mindfulness, and its application beyond the realm of ascetics—speaking directly to those of us facing our own modern-day battles. Swami Tadananda unveils Krishna's timeless guidance to Arjuna, revealing how understanding our spiritual nature can be the key to performing our worldly duties with grace and detachment from overpowering emotions.
Venturing beyond mere philosophical discourse, we tackle the interplay between the mind and the brain, likening them to software and hardware charged with a 'spiritual electricity.' In this transformative dialogue, Swami Tadananda and I peel back the layers of self-identification, from the material to the spiritual, and illustrate how embracing our inner divinity equips us with unshakeable strength and peace. We share practices like satsang and meditation as tools to nurture this spiritual connection—guiding you to a more harmonious existence by aligning everyday actions with profound spiritual truths. Tune in for an episode that promises to nourish the soul and elevate the spirit through the art of spiritual practice and self-awareness.
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Namaste Aritam listeners, my name is Sunil. I'm with Swami Tadananda from the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre of Auckland, new Zealand. How are you, swamiji? I'm very good, sunil, thank you. How are you? I'm good, very good, thank you, swamiji. In the last episode you introduced a concept from the Bhagavad Gita, stitha Pragna, which meant being poised in a higher self, where the world cannot touch us. This is quite a wonderful concept which I'm pretty sure our listeners would want to know more about. Can you please tell us more about it?
Speaker 2:Yes, sure, that is the theme of the Bhagavad Gita, the theme of all spirituality, really, and it's very, very useful and practical. Just putting in context this teaching of the Gita, it is actually not taught to somebody a swadhu or monk sitting in the mountain cave. It is actually taught to somebody in the battlefield, you know, in a crisis situation where all his training and education is found to be insufficient, and at that moment when that person is confused about his duties and responsibilities, about this great challenge where his duty requires him to kill his own kith and kin, whom he loves so much. So how do we discharge our duty without getting overwhelmed by the environment, relationships and all those things? Those are the crises. Everyone goes in life in different measure. And then so, if you look at Sri Krishna, he's a great psychiatrist and Arjuna is a man who is not depressed, confused.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Just to give some more background maybe to the listeners we could just get that story right, just on what's happening.
Speaker 2:So the Bhagavad Gita is a part of the Mahabharata epic and the story of Mahabharata. There's these five brothers, pandavas and who are not in very good terms with the other Kauravas as they fight over the kingdom and all that, and they have been short-charged by by the not so good Duryodhana and others. The all means of trying to find some reconciliation failed and finally they have gathered in this battle to fight it out, which is the battle of the Mahabharata at Kurukshetra. So the armies gather. It's not like the modern day where you shoot things from far away, you confront each other. There are rules and laws, rules to be followed for warfare from this hour to this hour, from dawn to dusk and all that. So they have gathered and the main warrior from the Pandavas is Arjuna and his charioteer is Sri Krishna. Pandavas is Arjuna and his charioteer is Sri Krishna. And before the actual war starts, arjuna requests Krishna, can you please take me in the middle and let me have one good look at who are the people I'm going to fight? And Sri Krishna takes the chariot and parks it right in the middle. And when Arjuna looks across, he sees his cousins, his uncles, his spiritual teacher, his grandsire, grandfather, confronting him. And he said, oh my God, I'm going to kill them all. This is what this war will. And he saw in his vision how many people, what the bloodshed would entail. There'll be so many orphans, so many widows, and this and that. And at that moment, when he sort of the anonymity of the consequences of that war hit him, he lost his balance and he said I can't do this. You know, I don't want to have this bloodshed on my hands. I better go into the forest and live as a beggar and then have this. And at that moment he was just the most admired warrior, was a man on his knees, shaking, shivering, sweating, trembling. So all this mental agitation has begun to express itself in the physical way, where one feels extremely weak, confused, and he tries to talk to Arjuna Krishna, justifying his decision not to fight. And at that moment, even though Sri Krishna was his good friend all the time and he could have taught him all these things much earlier also.
Speaker 2:But unless one is ready to receive, and when that openness of heart and mind is there, the teacher, even if he teach, teach us. It will not be accepted. So this is a great thing. In life, you'll find that when grace comes, the ego will be knocked down, okay, so that otherwise you'll say I'm all good, I don't need any advice, instruction or help from anyone. So divine grace comes, it will knock you off and show you that you are totally insufficient your wealth, your strength, your power, your position and all those things.
Speaker 2:It can come in different forms, in form of disease or some misfortune, and all those things sometimes we look at in a very negative way, that God is not so gracious to us. You know why is it happening to me? But suffering is a sign of divine compassion. Look from the spiritual perspective. We'll talk about perspectives in the future. So, from that point of view, sri Krishna is trying to get him ready to receive this higher teaching. Uh, sri krishna is trying to get him ready to receive this higher teaching, and so, right in the beginning, he just chastises him. You know, you seem to be talking to like a smart man, intelligent man, giving all wonderful rational exam explanation to justify your weakness, your cowardice. But I can see you know you are not strong enough. That's it, that's why you're in this miserable condition.
Speaker 2:And then he talks about this wonderful concept of the self, the true nature of a human being, not the physical being, not the mental being, not the, but something beyond that. There is a spiritual dimension of each and every one of us and he introduces the, the nature of that. He discusses that, this self, the spiritual being that we are, which has become a human being. That means we have embodied ourselves as a human being black, brown, white, male, female, whatever. But we'll. This is a temporal thing, we'll take off, like clothes we put on, we We'll take them off. But I am a spiritual being, an eternal, immortal, pure, perfect, the very essence of infinite knowledge, beauty, purity, goodness, freedom, fearlessness, strength, all those wonderful things in infinite measure. It's my true nature, it's your true nature, it's everyone's true nature, it's my true nature, it's your true nature, it's everyone's true nature. That knowledge was missing in Arjuna's understanding of himself and his understanding of others. He thought he was killing others, but Sri Krishna is saying no, not only the body will go, the soul is eternal and immortal. So in our battles of life, that idea too needs to be a part of our understanding of ourselves and others.
Speaker 2:So we all, when you are young, body, strong and healthy, we don't bother about the consequences of old age and disease and death. But sooner or later we will find things are happening around us. Grandparents are going, parents are becoming old. Disease, old age and all the problems of infirmities will come. And sooner or later we also realize tomorrow there's no guarantee I'll get up.
Speaker 2:You know so, when the reality of the transience of life hits us seriously, that nothing can be taken for granted. That's what life has been trying to tell us all the time, from childhood. But we thought that with our knowledge and understanding we'll somehow outsmart it out, manage it and still survive and continue to live forever, almost like. But the truth is that you know, you have to face and confront the truth. Everything in this world is transient, nothing is permanent. Nothing is permanent. But there is something permanent beyond this changeful body-mind, complex, and unless we have a good understanding, even intellectually, of that aspect of our being, then we are on very shaky ground.
Speaker 2:We are identified with something that is transient, little change, and we think that our existence also will cease when this body ceases. On the other hand, if our identity with our spiritual dimension is established, then we say well, the body will come and go, but I am eternal, immortal, I will not die. And that gives a tremendous amount of strength. You look at death in a very different way, don't you? Yeah, you say. Then you speak more accurately. You say death of the body, not me. Yes, okay, because I have changed my identification from the body to my spiritual self. As a spiritual being, I'll be there, I'm eternal and immortal. That's very, very strengthening. You can confront death, yes, and that's wonderful.
Speaker 2:So you see, this teaching of the Bhagavad Gita is not meant for only spiritual people or religious people. It is a practical manual, so to say. In real life. Wonderful teachings are there that should be taught to us at a young age. No point learning these things at the age of 60, 70, when the battle of life is over. These are things to be taught beforehand. So, and then also, not only learn that, but find out practical ways of applying them in everyday life.
Speaker 2:So this series of talks that we're having on rhythm is sort of based on the spiritual ideas, not just intellectual understanding of or philosophical understanding of these concepts, but our whole thing is about applying them. Swami Vivekananda beautifully said my mission is to teach, and to mankind, the divinity, the spiritual, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life. The second part is very important how to make it manifest, how to apply it to practical life In every movement of life. It doesn't mean that you are just when you go to the church or temple, that's when you're going to be religious. Or this Vedanta is useful. No, in whatever duty, responsibility or station of life, these things can be applied. He says, if a student knows his spirit, he will be a better student. If a farmer knows his spiritual being, he's a better farmer. If a fisherman knows his spiritual being, everything that we do gets transformed with this injection of the spiritual knowledge, of our spiritual being. And rhythm we talked about in the last episode is about being poised in that spiritual dimension.
Speaker 2:So Sri Krishna introduces this concept called sthita, prajna. Sthita means to be established, sthapana, what comes there? Prajna means wisdom, not knowledge. Wisdom, information, knowledge, wisdom, information, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom these are different degrees of refinement. Information is just data, knowledge is how to interrelate different pieces of information and get a meaningful, some meaning out of it.
Speaker 2:But intelligence is something superior to knowledge. It is that which processes the in the knowledge, so to say, and say I make choices, decisions. But there's something, even behind that intelligence, which is of a like a crystallized, extracted thing out of so many experiences and which, which sort of guides, um, the essence of the whole life of experiences makes a person a wise person. Yes, okay, that wisdom original has its source in that spiritual dimension of our being and so being established in that all the time, consciously, not some tidbits, a little bit of trickling of wisdom sort of comes through that, but having a direct, strong, uh connection so that wisdom flows through us, yes, flows through in our decision making through, flows through our knowledge of things, flows through how we interact with the world, how I interact with myself. I'm aware of the various dimensions of my own inner being, that I am not just a physical thing.
Speaker 2:That will be a very, very superficial understanding of yourself, even mental being. You know people, all of us have a mind. We use it. We ask somebody so what is the mind? And you'll find that they will say it's thoughts, it it's emotions, it's feelings, and then you ask a few questions Is it different from the brain? And some people will say maybe it's a product of the brain. Then you ask the question can the mind exist without the brain? It requires the brain to express itself. But does it still exist? Can it exist? Like when you die, somebody is cremated. Do you this disembodied state? Does it still exist? Can you exist, like when you die? Or somebody's cremated? Do you the this disembodied state? Does it have a mind? You'll find that most people and those I'm talking about, even people who are well educated, even medical people, doctors, they'll begin to get a little confused, not have that clarity in there. And if you don't have that inner clarity, how do you deal with mental health issues? At least some deep clarity, understanding should be there. So we're trying to through this work in that direction.
Speaker 2:Okay, that mind is in a space in which there are thoughts, ideas, emotions, feelings, intellectual understanding, reasoning, decision making and all that. But it doesn't exist, it doesn't run on its own. If you say, the physical body is like a computer, the mind is like the software that is loaded on the hard disk. But if there's no electricity, okay, it doesn't work. Something has to energize that, boot the computer and load the system and then it runs through the computer, through the robot. That higher dimension is the most important part. So electricity is the spiritual dimension, it is the spiritual dimension, we might say the intelligence. But the highest thing is that source, that energy which is manifesting as electricity. Yes, okay, there are many layers of it.
Speaker 2:So sthita prajna means having our identity, point of identification, I am-ness anchored in that spiritual aspect of our being. All of us have a point, a locus. Locus is this root word where the word location comes from. So I am something. When I ask you who you are, you give me your name. That's the label given by your parents. You tell me about your age, but basically, you're telling me not about your age of it, telling me about the age of your body. And you might tell I'm male or female. Okay, the atman, or the mind, is neither male or female. Nowadays. It's a bit confusing. Some people say I identify myself mentally, but the body looks otherwise. You see, okay, this is a little bit of conflict between the physical and the mental thing. Okay, okay, that's interesting things happening now, and so these are points of identification.
Speaker 2:We and different people are identified at different levels. Okay, that's the different thing to keep in mind. Some people are very, very body centered. So you see, they're all about the physical appearance and all those type of things. Some people are more identified with things outside. That's the worst condition. Like you know, my house, my money, my car, my position, all those things, and they're very, very transitory. One moment they're there, tomorrow they're gone. Others are there at the physical, body level. So I'm beautiful, I'm strong, I'm Mr Universe. You know how I dress, how I look. Others are more identified with the mind level. So I'm a doctor, I'm a scientist, I'm a philosopher, I'm a thinker. They're identified with that, or the states of mind. Okay, I'm happy, I'm unhappy, I'm confused. I'm have a lot of clarity, calm and peaceful.
Speaker 2:But the best one is to be identified with the highest spiritual dimension. And what does that look like? What does that feel like? So, a person who is established in that spiritual dimension, the personal experience this is not a description like when I say I'm a body, I feel I'm the body. It's not like body something outside me, I'm identified with it at that time.
Speaker 2:So a person who is identified with that spiritual dimension which is present in all of us, here and now, he feels I'm eternal, I am of the nature, I'm omniscient, I'm all-knowing. There's no ignorance in me. I'm omnipotent, I'm all-powerful, there's nothing that I cannot do there, no limitations for me. I'm of the essence, of supreme beauty. That beauty expresses itself in my word, sections and things, but at the spiritual dimension, it is infinite. The moment it begins to manifest, express it, it gets limited, so to say. It feels I am absolutely peaceful, nothing can touch me, all the changes that are happening on the surface, but they do not touch me, they cannot disturb me and as such, I'm infinitely strong, fearless, fearless. So imagine all these adjectives that we are using, multiply them with infinity and for a moment in your own imagination, if you feel wow, what would that wonderful state be?
Speaker 1:So humans that identify themselves in this way, is it easy to identify them, to see them, Because they behave in a different way all the time. They're not as you say. They don't get touched by everything that's happening around them, so much they are very calm. They keep their balance.
Speaker 2:So only when we attach by everything that's happening around them, so much they are very calm, they keep their balance. Yes, so only when we attach ourselves to something that we empower that other thing to have some influence or cause it to react. Yes, okay, if you're not attached to anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you're not attached to a position or something tomorrow, somebody says hey, I want to, you know change. He says fine, that's alright yeah.
Speaker 1:So example if I get attached to my car and somebody happens to the car, I'll be sad and disappointed, right? Because oh, my car, it was in a crash and you crashed it even somebody scratches your oh sorry, then I won't feel anything.
Speaker 2:It's just a car. It's just a car. That's it. Similarly with humans, our attitudes to other humans, so there are different. What this type of discussion should make us reflect is to no point trying to judge others. These things are there for self-reflection, and so if you want to make a list of things and make different layers so these are the external level one, then physical, then mental and emotional and then spiritual, and you say, in my 24 hours, as a shuttle, wake up and go, where does my identity reside at in time? Okay, and just we write it down. Okay, it's a very interesting exercise that gives you an idea where we dwell.
Speaker 1:Yes, are we dwelling in a very physical state, and it could be very external.
Speaker 2:So you know I'm just thinking about money or business or house or position and you know I think I'll change the world whatever. So it's all about the external world and I give my mind to that, but I also surrender my freedom to that. When it happens the way things happen the way I want, people become very happy. But if it doesn't happen, then the pendulum swings the other way and we are at the mercy of that external world and the world is never stable there. So it's like a slavery to the world, if you want to use a very honest term. That means we don't have the freedom.
Speaker 1:Yes, we are attached.
Speaker 2:It could be to somebody else, another person. Okay, you like somebody and that person. Okay, you like somebody and that person is nice to you, you are very happy. Then the person changes and people will change and the next moment you say you know, I feel miserable because that person doesn't like me anymore. Okay, it could be attachment to your pet, even who doesn't talk to you okay the pet is good, you are happy wagging the tail and this and that If he becomes old and sick, then you are miserable also.
Speaker 2:It could be even your name and fame, how people think about you. Something even very fine. People praise you nicely and then somebody criticizes you and say you feel hurt.
Speaker 2:So these are still all external. At the physical level, your own well-being, body is good, good health is good, no pains and joints and no disease. But if something happens and puts it off balance, now you're not feeling, you're feeling out of sorts, you're not yet happy. But then the internal level, their internal conflicts. If they're all the inner ideas, that means what I, my inner values and my actions, they are in harmony, then I'm at ease. But if I ask to do certain things at work that does not really gel with how my values and principles, then some internal conflict is there, you see, and that works inside. It doesn't express itself, but from inside it's like beginning to eat and make you weak and unsettled, and all that. So they're all things that later on begin to express themselves as symptoms in the physical body. Okay, anxiety might not be getting enough sleep. Okay, palpitating People hear about that. You know that means mental cause, but bringing about a change in the physical level. So all these things are there.
Speaker 2:Knowing all these things, one should make a constant effort to integrate oneself to the real being that we are. So in Vedanta, the Vedanta is called the science of human excellences, that all excellences in the infinity are available to us at that spiritual dimension, the Atman dimension. And if we as, the more we approach that Atman principle within us, the greater that power of the Atman will begin to express itself in our thoughts, words and deeds. But the further we are away from it, there's less of that power manifesting. We ourselves sort of shortchange, because we have we're not sort of integrated in there. Because we have we're not sort of integrated in there. So any smart person, intelligent person, okay, should have this more holistic idea of the total human being that we are, that there are multiple dimensions. External world is there, but then there's a physical, there's a mental, there's emotional, there's a moral and the spiritual, of which the primary, the most fundamental, the essential, the unchanging, is the spiritual dimension.
Speaker 2:This type of knowledge, if it's taught to us by our parents and by our teachers again and again and reinforced in such a way that that becomes the abiding understanding of what we are, who we are, I am a spiritual being having a human experience. This time I am born in this particular country, in this place, like that. But this is not the first time I have come here, okay, and every time I have lived had so many experiences, I, as the spiritual being, am the traveler. I put on different masks, different roles, and I play this game. That's it. Don't get too much carried away by the reality of this world, as if this is the whole thing. This is only a changing game. Okay, that means some degree of detachment is there, and only when we can detach ourselves from the changing that we can approach the unchanging being inside us. That unchanging is a spiritual dimension.
Speaker 2:So it's very, very important to at least have a intellectual, philosophical understanding, this vedanta concept of it, yeah, and and then reflect, introspect and say, okay, this is how I'm going to carry myself All the time. I'm going to remind myself as a spiritual being. I am pure and perfect. It doesn't matter what people say. Fortunes and misfortunes will come, you know. Victories and defeats will come. All those things will come and go. I am the eternal witness of all these things.
Speaker 2:So and I think this might be new ideas to some people but we are not talking about some God sitting in the cloud dictating things to us. We are talking about our own self. That's why it's called the science of human excellences. And what is it? The human being is essentially a divine being. Now, when we hear this type of things and you feel good. See, this is the beauty about this Vedanta teaching is that it has got a wonderful self appeal. Because if you go and tell somebody the nature of the Atman, my friend, it doesn't matter, you might be old in body, you might have fortunes and misfortunes and all those things are there, but at the core of the being, I tell you, you are the most beautiful, wonderful being in the whole universe. I don't think anyone said I don't want to hear that, please don't tell me. He said tell me more about it, this is so nice. So when we hear that Shravan and we think about it, that was so nice, I would rather think of myself in that way than a miserable human being.
Speaker 2:Churn that idea in your head. It leaves an impression in the mind. It's called a samskara. Remember, from childhood we have been collecting the other type of samskaras. I'm a physical being, I'm a mental being type of thing, and that has accumulated. Most of the content of the mind is like. 99% is about the wrong identity, misidentity, yes, okay.
Speaker 2:So in the early days of spiritual thinking and study we have to consciously cultivate this until we get a certain sufficient amount in your mind space, understanding and feeling that comes to your forefront and say, hey, all right, I'm a spiritual being. That idea should be, you know. Know, at least five percent or ten percent of samskaras have come. Then they come to your help. But remember, this is not the first time we are hearing this. We have been listening to this previous lifetimes also.
Speaker 2:But those thoughts and ideas might be deep in the subconscious mind. When we start associating with this spiritual knowledge, those wonderful ideas that we had collected, invested in from our previous lifetime, they will rally forth and come and, you know, give you the push, but they need to be called, you know. And so this type of discussions, satsang, spiritual retreats and all those things were in an intense way. We try to marshal these wonderful ideas that are already in a deeper mind and if they have been plentiful, you'll find suddenly you wake up and say, wow, that is good. And you'll find some action is happening. So Shravan Manan is the Hasan and we'll take this now from here on and say try to bring in that idea of the divinity, but more about its application in our everyday life.
Speaker 2:So we'll say always to be mindful that I'm a spiritual being having a human experience. The human experience is controlled by so many factors. External factors, external factors, weather, government people, boss, family members, you know COVID, whatever is there. We've got very little control In the big equation. There are so many variables and I'm just one variable. Therefore, I should not claim all the credit for something that happens very nicely or discredit for things that did not work out our way. I am realistic that I just have a little part to play and there are other players in the things. That means I detach myself out there and begin to reinforce my strengthen, my identification in my spiritual nature. I want to do that again and again. So the question would be Okay, this is all nice, intellectual, how do I actually do this? And the method is practice, practice. And so In episode 8.
Speaker 2:Of this series, we introduced a very simple, short guided meditation and I hope Our Ritam listeners have been practicing it. All these ideas can be just intellectual ideas if we do not practice them. You know, food is just good If you don't eat and digest them. One does not get nourished by them. Yes, okay, so we have to.
Speaker 2:Ideas are food for the mind.
Speaker 2:You have to consume them.
Speaker 2:You have to process them. You have to. Ideas are food for the mind. You have to consume them, you have to process them, you have to digest them and then they begin to express in the, in your activities. So meditation is more of a practice that we cannot explain it and no one will ever understand what meditation is unless they personally practice it. I can give you a very nice book on how to make yourself very strong, but unless you go to the gymnasium and pump the iron, you will not feel the strength. Yes, okay, it has to be an experience, personal experience. So I hope our Ritam listeners have been practicing that sincerely, morning and evening, without making any excuses. I don't have time. In this you are the most important person and you have to learn how to take care of yourself. Create time yeah, create time. Create space for that. Not make excuses that are just too busy or this on that you know, at the end of the day you just fool yourself in that way. So in we have created a more elaborate, detailed meditation, which let us share that with our listeners in the next episode. In that there's no talk, so people should be able to download it, put it on their phone and you'll find that the basic process is still the same. We sit down properly, we breathe, we feel our connection with the whole universe. The universe, our individuals, are different waves in that wonderful ocean of the supreme being or universal consciousness, and because we are part of this whole thing, I want to feel my connection, just not to be limited to my small family, but the whole universe belongs to me and I am one with that whole universe, the ocean's perspective. That's what we want to feel. But in this particular detailed meditation, what we do is we try to take you through a process of integrating ourselves to that spiritual dimension. So you'll see that we say that in this meditation and we'll discuss this in the episode further, in more detail, what it really means, why we have made this little change in there. But basically the essence is, I want to say, just like ice melts into water, water melts into dissipates, into water vapor. That goes into its original course, in which this, you know, it's just pure energy, so to say. And then we retrace out of that pure energy how it materialized as water vapor, how it became, became condensed as water, how it froze as ice. So the physical body is like ice, the mind is like the water vapor and the is like water, the water vapor is like the intelligence. We'll use the word spiritual intelligence, but they all come from something much deeper.
Speaker 2:So in this meditation process, before we begin to concentrate on that inner light, we want to take ourselves through that spiritualization, those stages right, yeah so we visualize that the physical body merges into the mind and the mind merges into intelligence, intelligence into the spiritual being that we are, and that's where all that infinity, beauty, purity, purity, goodness and everything is there. I want to get a feel of it. What would it be like just to be in this space, in a spiritual space? Imagine I'm infinite, pure, perfect, and then, since I have to come back to this world, I'll refabricate a pure mind and a pure body, okay, okay, free from any imperfections, and in that temple of the divine, so to say, we visualize a divine presence which is again that same pure consciousness, but now concretized, manifest, incarnated, you might say, as a form, because we need some tangible support, and that's where we focus on the divine light. So this part was not taught in that earlier, but if people have been meditating, they would naturally move, transition from that simpler one to this advanced one, and use your visualization very powerfully it's not intellectual understanding the more we can visualize each stage without rushing through.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that new identity of who we are is constructed. We fabricate that you know. Of who we are is constructed. We fabricate that you know, and then always remind ourselves this body, this human experience and your things. Yeah, some things will happen according to our way, some will not. It doesn't matter. At the core of who I am, I am pure and perfect. Remind myself, you know, and that's where you'll find the drooping shoulders and the confused men and the anxiety and stress and depression, all those things. They just disappear. It's like you bring in that light and darkness disappears. And that is the method, the spiritual method of of addressing mental wellness challenges that we have. So I think we'll be talking about this concept of the Atman more and more and more. This is a good introduction.
Speaker 1:I hope. Yes, that was very good, thank you. And the next episode will be the advanced meditation, so we'll load that up as well, and then, after that, we'll continue to talk about the upwards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Maybe we'll just talk a little bit more about that. Meditation, the visualization, exactly how I've talked very briefly here. Yes, you know. So when you're sitting down there without any distraction, you know, how do you, how do we conceive or how do we feel ourselves? Not conception, it's a mental activity, it's more of a feeling type of thing. When we say knowledge probably this is what we'll discuss Knowledge is you cannot know yourself, because knowledge is objectification, but you can feel yourself. That's why it's called realization. Yeah, okay, so we'll understand you. You know what's the difference between meditation and just philosophy understand in intellectual and in meditation we are trying to feel more than know as an idea, concept, and we'll do this. And then I suppose one of the natural thing would be so how do we perceive this world? Different perspectives are there.
Speaker 2:Human perspective? Physical perspective or emotional, intellectual or spiritual? And what does it look like? And you see, in the Bhagavad Gita, sri Krishna is trying to change the perspective. He's not trying to change the world. He's not trying to stop the war. He's not trying to change the world. He's not trying to stop the war. He's not trying to change people around. He's saying you change yourself. And that subjective change is a secret. How do we lift ourselves from the or detach ourselves from the external, from the physical, from the thoughts, ideas, emotions and feelings? We are just observers of those things and I sit back in my own original self as a witness of everything. The movie is rolling on, I'm the screen on which everything is being played, but all the sceneries, good or bad, don't touch me really. That is the idea that is represented by the word sthata prajna.
Speaker 1:Excellent Swamiji. Thank you very much. We will carry on in the next few episodes. Thank you Most welcome.
