Saint Kabir Session 2 - Kabir's Path: Bhakti Or Advaita

Listen to Ektaji talk about Saint Kabir's teachings on non-duality. These teachings are aimed at the experiential understanding of the true nature of the self and are focused on the idea of the oneness of everything.

Transcript

If We will move on to the first Doha.

Ek Ram Dashrat Ka Veta Duja Ghat Khat Me Bhetha EJ Ram Ka Sakal Pasara Jotha Satsenayara Is he talking about Dashrat's son Rama?

He is saying that is just one Ram and that is the Ram that most of the sadhus in that time were chanting and I am telling you that has continued through the ages even today many of us just keep chanting mechanically Ram Ram Ram.

So Kabir is saying,

Oh there is a higher possibility of Ram.

Move towards the higher possibility.

He is not condemning in any way.

He is not saying anything wrong.

He is not against religion.

He is helping that religious person to rise to a higher level of spirituality.

Very gently,

Very lovingly he is doing it.

And just like a little kid,

He first goes to kindergarten and then mom helps that little kid to come on now,

Go to primary school and then from primary school,

Come on you need to move higher.

A parent looks out for the best of their child.

With that kind of love Kabir is telling this religious person who is only stuck at that first level of Ram which is Lord Rama or the Murthi,

The idol of Ram.

He is saying move higher.

There is a second Ram.

What is that Ram?

Dhat ghat me baitha,

Who is sitting here in that person,

In that person,

In that person.

He is in everybody.

Dhat simply means a pot.

In many of Kabir's Doha's,

He very beautifully describes this body mind complex as a pot.

And we are all filled with only the same thing,

That one water,

All of us.

So he says in every ghat,

In every pot,

There is the same thing.

That is the second Ram.

Now the people who had already recognized,

Oh I am that witnessing consciousness,

I am that Brahman,

They were very happy.

Yes,

This is what he is talking about.

But people who did not understand,

Who were stuck in Dvaita,

They used to look at things as living which is called Chitta Amsha,

Living beings or sentient beings and non-living beings,

Insentient beings.

He said,

Look carefully,

There is that same witness in every Chitta,

In every living being,

Each of us,

He is talking to the sadhus,

Each one of us has this witness inside.

You might be listening to Ekta right now,

The mind is probably repeating what words Ekta is saying,

But there is a witness behind knowing that your mind is talking or there is a witness behind knowing that the mind is not talking.

Yes,

That witness is calling as Ram,

The second Ram which is in every ghat which is sitting in each one of us.

You don't have to make an effort to know this witness,

This witness is there.

All the time it is there.

Even in your most angry moments,

The witness knows that I am angry right now.

How do you know you are angry?

There is just an emotion boiling and there are some nasty words going on inside you,

But there is a quiet background that knows that there are these words and these emotions.

That quiet background is the witness.

Each one of us has this.

In fact,

That is who I really am.

I am not the body.

I am not the mind.

I just have a body and the body is actually insentient.

It is by its nature,

Body does not have consciousness.

The body is not conscious.

The body seems conscious because it borrows consciousness from that witness consciousness.

We did this in the Advaita session last month.

The body borrows its sense of being conscious from the witness consciousness.

Similarly,

A thought in the mind,

It is nothing but words.

Words of their own accord are not conscious.

I am the one who is conscious of the words or the thoughts.

Now Ekta is saying something.

These are words that are falling on your ears.

They are probably echoing in your mind.

The words are not conscious by themselves.

I,

The witness consciousness,

That quiet silent background,

That is the one that is lending its consciousness to these words.

What is the meaning of lending consciousness and how can the mind and body borrow consciousness?

Just like light.

This light in the room is on.

The light is falling on this object or it is falling on this hand.

When it falls on this hand,

Then this hand becomes luminous.

It has borrowed the light from the lamp.

It does not have a light of its own.

It shines in that light.

Is that clear?

So that light that it has borrowed,

It does not belong to the hand.

It is a borrowed light.

Similarly,

The body and the mind borrow light from the witness consciousness.

Again,

Light is used just as a metaphor to explain something to you.

Now you don't go sit and close your eyes and start looking for a blue light or yellow light.

This is where also people got lost on the path.

We are not looking for any light here.

We are making an attempt to understand the meaning of light while light was used as a word in the scriptures.

That witness consciousness just shines its conscious feeling or the sense of being conscious on the mind and the mind feels conscious.

Similarly,

The mind shines its light of being conscious on the body and the body feels conscious.

In the night when I go to sleep,

The mind withdraws its light from the body.

That is why the body lies down on the bed and it is like a corpse in deep sleep.

For some time,

The mind is alive and awake.

It has a little bit of light but its light is dim.

That is why I have some dreams but dreams are not sequential.

They are not very reasonable.

They don't make sense.

This light also finally dims and I go into a deep sleep state.

In that deep sleep state,

Only the pure light of witnessing consciousness is there.

Oh,

But I don't experience the pure light.

That's fine.

When you wake up in the morning and I ask you a question,

How did you sleep last night?

I had very sound sleep.

No dreams bothering me.

Very well I rested.

Who knows that you rested well?

There has to be some knowingness,

Some element of you that knew that the body was asleep,

That the mind was asleep.

Yes,

That pure knowingness,

That pure witness does not sleep.

That same witness is listening right now.

That same witness is listening.

The same witness is seeing through these eyes.

That same witness is understanding and grasping this jnana.

You don't need to work very hard to recognize the witness.

It is always there.

Always there.

Whether the situation is very calm and pleasant and quiet and full of jnana like right now or the situation is all turbulent in the family,

It doesn't matter.

That witness is always there,

The quiet background.

When you know that,

Something in you is watching.

That is the second Ram.

Very clear.

Is everybody very clear?

So Duja Ghat Ghat Betha.

TJ Ram Ka Sakal Pasara.

The third Ram is all pervading.

It is everywhere in everything in the trees,

In the window,

In the houses,

In those people,

In the mountains,

Everywhere in those fields.

It is everywhere,

All pervading.

Sakal Pasara means it is all pervading,

All over this creation.

How I don't understand.

Now I understood witness consciousness is here in me.

How is the same witness consciousness outside or is this different and that different?

He says it is the same Ram.

That is why he is using the same word for you.

If he was talking to a sadhu who was a Hari bhakt,

He would say Hari in this.

Ek Hari Duja Hari TJ Hari Chota Hari.

He would bring up all four Haris.

He would come up with references that would pertain to the person sitting in front of him.

So now he is explaining how this third Ram is not different from the second Ram.

I am that witness consciousness.

That witness is absolutely quiet.

It's like a quiet energy.

Now can I say that this quiet energy in me that is witnessing my mind,

That is witnessing my body,

Is that quiet energy personal to me?

Is it private?

Is it only mine?

Do only I have it?

He she they don't have it?

Not possible.

I have a physical body.

That person has a physical body.

I have a mind.

That person has a mind,

Has a subtle body it is called.

I have the same witness consciousness,

The same background that is witnessing my body and mind.

That person also has the same kind of witness consciousness.

That is witnessing his body,

His mind as well as witnessing everything outside.

Oh even she has it,

Even he has it,

Even he has it,

Even he has it.

We all have that same witness.

Now if we all have that same witness,

Let's look carefully at this witness consciousness.

Can I find an end?

Does it end with the border of this body?

No it feels like a background which is witnessing everything and it does not seem to have a limit.

So the word that Kabir uses for it is Anhad.

Anhad is limitless.

So he says,

Oh it is Anhad,

It is limitless.

I can't say it ends here or it ends there.

It is limitless.

Wow this is amazing.

Now if it is limitless,

How many limitless spaces can there be?

Can you have your personal limitlessness and I have my personal limitlessness?

It doesn't make sense.

How can we have two limitlessnesses?

Not possible.

Oh it is one big field.

It is one big Anhad.

So it is one big Anhad.

Yes and we are all in this Anhad.

It is everywhere.

It is not just in living beings.

It is everywhere.

The same limitlessness exists in the trees,

In the birds,

In the mountains,

In nature.

So that is how the third Ram is all pervading.

Sakal Pasara.

Now okay I understand second Ram is inside me.

Third Ram okay the limitlessness,

The all pervading energy.

I can understand this.

Now what is this fourth Ram?

Oh it is indescribable.

That which has created everything.

That is indescribable.

Why is it indescribable?

Because it is beyond the capacity of my mind and my intellect to comprehend.

It is beyond the capacity of this little body-mind-intellect complex to comprehend the Supreme.

If I comprehend the Supreme,

I become bigger than the Supreme.

Then the Supreme is not Supreme anymore.

So that is indescribable.

That can only be tasted by again and again resting in the witness consciousness.

By again and again resting in the Doja Ram.

So this makes it very clear.

This we studied in Advaita Vedanta.

But Kavir's path was the path of Advaita Vedanta.

Advaita Vedanta in English is the non-dual path.

No two.

No I and no you.

If there is an I and you,

There will always be conflict.

There will always be division.

The path is the path of love and love cannot have conflict.

That is why Kavira's path was so endearing for everybody.

In that time you have to understand that India was going through Mughal Raj.

The Mughals had captured India and they were ruling over India.

So for the scenario in the country,

There was a lot of conflict between the two religions of Hindus and Muslims.

He saw that conflict around him and he had only one pure intention that they all come together.

That is why he only taught the path of love,

The path of oneness.

That is Advaita,

The non-dual path.

And very clearly I have told you why people thought it was the path of Bhakti.

Because he kept using the words that the Sadhu who came to him used just to help him understand.

Very clear.

So we will do these two very popular Doha's which you have definitely heard.

Mala japu na kar japu aur mukse kahu na ram.

Ram hamara hume jape hum pa yo bissa ram.

He says to the Sadhu that I don't sit and chant with the rosary bead.

It has 108 beads and they keep chanting Ram Ram Ram Ram going through the beads.

He says I don't do that.

I don't do the Mala and I don't keep chanting the name of Ram through my lips.

Ram chants my name.

I have attained ease.

I am at peace.

How Ram chants his name?

Simple.

He has just surrendered into the witness.

When you are chanting some name,

Even if you are saying Ram,

Who is chanting?

The mind.

Now Kabir has reached that level of the witness.

So obviously when you go to post graduation,

You have to drop school.

So he dropped school.

He has gone to the postgraduate class.

He is in the witnessing consciousness and he is resting there.

He is at ease.

Hum pa yo bissa ram.

When you are in the witnessing consciousness,

There is no speech.

There is no thought.

If there is speech and if there is thought,

Where are you?

You have jumped out of it and you are again in the mind.

Clear?

Yeah.

So the only way that you can be at peace is when you are in the state of no mind.

That is the witness.

Right now we can all go to the witness.

The witness is always there.

You don't even have to really try.

Just relax from the thought.

Just relax.

Take a step back from the thought and see the background of quietness is already there.

The background of witness,

Absolute silence is already there.

Then you will attain the same bistram,

The same rest that Kabir had attained.

So he is telling that sadhu to rise from the regular ritual of chanting to a higher level of resting in the witness.

Again let me clarify.

He is not against any religion.

He is not condemning any religion.

He is not saying anything bad to anybody.

He is just helping you rise higher.

He is saying now primary school is done.

Now you have to let go of that old uniform and the old school bag and move higher.

Move on to college or university.

The next one is Jab mein tha tab hari nahi.

Ab hari hai mein naahi.

Prem gali atti saankari.

Taame do na samahi.

Again he is talking to the sadhu who has come to him who constantly says Hari Hari.

So he explains it to him that till the time you are lost in a ritual who is doing the ritual,

The mind,

The mind and the body are doing this ritual.

He is saying graduate to a higher level where there is the witnessing consciousness,

Where Hari himself is.

When you are in this witnessing consciousness,

Is there an I?

Is the ego there?

No it's just that background of witnessing consciousness.

Just that silent background.

You stay there.

When you are there,

There is no I.

Yes,

I,

I,

I happens only at the body and mind level.

Still the time you are in this fake I,

You will never realise the real I.

You have to give up the fake I to get established in the real I.

That is the meaning of Jab mei tha tab hari naahi.

Ab hari hai mein naahi.

Very,

Very clear.

Prem gali atti saankari.

The path of love is so narrow there is no space for two over there.

Only one can fit in.

Yes,

Only one.

Yes,

And that is Hari or Ram or Om or God or for the jnani,

The witness consciousness.

Super clear?

Yeah,

Both of these are very,

Very clear.

Prepaplenet n Allow2000 Intersh Estate 2020