1 hr 14 min
#204 From Death to Immortality - (From Darkness to Light – Part 3) Yoga Wisdom with Acharya das
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- Spirituality
In this final talk in the series, we continue the exploration of the famous mantra: asato mā sad gamaya tamaso mā jyotir gamaya mṛtyor māmṛtaṁ gamaya Oh Lord, lead me from illusion into the eternal reality. Lead me from darkness into the light. Lead me from the realm of death into the nectar of immortality. - Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.3.28
We have previously examined the two sets of opposites; sat/asat (ultimate reality or truth/untruth or illusion) and tamas/jyotis (darkness/light). Now we examine mṛtyu/amṛta or death/immortality. In this world the only thing you can guarantee – death. Yet people don’t like to discuss or consider death and naturally there is little or no preparation for our own death.
Some of the authoritative and enlightening Vedic texts I quoted: Yudhiṣṭhira Questioned by Dharmaraja - What is the most wonderful thing? The most wonderful thing is that although every day innumerable creatures go to the abode of death, still a man thinks he is immortal. - Mahābhārata
Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality. - Śrī Īśopaniṣad mantra 11 From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again. Bhagavad-gītā 8.16
In a dream one can see his own head being cut off and thus understand that his actual self is standing apart from the dream experience. Similarly, while awake one can see that his body is a product of the five material elements. Therefore it is to be understood that the actual self, the soul, is distinct from the body it observes and is unborn and immortal. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.5.4
A person does not actually take birth out of the seed of past activities, nor, being immortal, does he die. By illusion the living being appears to be born and to die, just as fire in connection with firewood appears to begin and then cease to exist. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.22.46
Because the conditioned soul is always disturbed by the bodily necessities such as hunger and thirst, he has very little time to cultivate attachment to hearing the nectarean words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.29.41
Even a moment's association with a pure transcendentalist (devotee) cannot be compared to being transferred to heavenly planets or even merging into the Brahman effulgence in complete liberation. For living entities who are destined to give up the body and die, association with a pure transcendentalist is the highest benediction. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.30.34
O ultimate truth, one without a second, You are realized as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān and are therefore the reservoir of all knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.16.19
There are three kinds of spiritual processes for understanding the Absolute Truth—the processes of speculative knowledge (jñāna), mystic yoga (yoga) and bhakti-yoga (bhakti). According to these three processes, the Absolute Truth is manifested as Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 20.157
Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself is the one undivided Absolute Truth, the ultimate reality. He manifests Himself in three features—as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 2.65
The great sage Maitreya said: O warrior, the inquiry made by you is just befitting a saintly person because it concerns the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead. He is the source of liberation from the chain of birth and death for all those who are otherwise destined to die. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.14.5
See Youtube for full description.
In this final talk in the series, we continue the exploration of the famous mantra: asato mā sad gamaya tamaso mā jyotir gamaya mṛtyor māmṛtaṁ gamaya Oh Lord, lead me from illusion into the eternal reality. Lead me from darkness into the light. Lead me from the realm of death into the nectar of immortality. - Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.3.28
We have previously examined the two sets of opposites; sat/asat (ultimate reality or truth/untruth or illusion) and tamas/jyotis (darkness/light). Now we examine mṛtyu/amṛta or death/immortality. In this world the only thing you can guarantee – death. Yet people don’t like to discuss or consider death and naturally there is little or no preparation for our own death.
Some of the authoritative and enlightening Vedic texts I quoted: Yudhiṣṭhira Questioned by Dharmaraja - What is the most wonderful thing? The most wonderful thing is that although every day innumerable creatures go to the abode of death, still a man thinks he is immortal. - Mahābhārata
Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality. - Śrī Īśopaniṣad mantra 11 From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again. Bhagavad-gītā 8.16
In a dream one can see his own head being cut off and thus understand that his actual self is standing apart from the dream experience. Similarly, while awake one can see that his body is a product of the five material elements. Therefore it is to be understood that the actual self, the soul, is distinct from the body it observes and is unborn and immortal. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 12.5.4
A person does not actually take birth out of the seed of past activities, nor, being immortal, does he die. By illusion the living being appears to be born and to die, just as fire in connection with firewood appears to begin and then cease to exist. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.22.46
Because the conditioned soul is always disturbed by the bodily necessities such as hunger and thirst, he has very little time to cultivate attachment to hearing the nectarean words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.29.41
Even a moment's association with a pure transcendentalist (devotee) cannot be compared to being transferred to heavenly planets or even merging into the Brahman effulgence in complete liberation. For living entities who are destined to give up the body and die, association with a pure transcendentalist is the highest benediction. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.30.34
O ultimate truth, one without a second, You are realized as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān and are therefore the reservoir of all knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 6.16.19
There are three kinds of spiritual processes for understanding the Absolute Truth—the processes of speculative knowledge (jñāna), mystic yoga (yoga) and bhakti-yoga (bhakti). According to these three processes, the Absolute Truth is manifested as Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 20.157
Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself is the one undivided Absolute Truth, the ultimate reality. He manifests Himself in three features—as Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi 2.65
The great sage Maitreya said: O warrior, the inquiry made by you is just befitting a saintly person because it concerns the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead. He is the source of liberation from the chain of birth and death for all those who are otherwise destined to die. Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.14.5
See Youtube for full description.
1 hr 14 min