March 29, 2025 • 47 mins
Rahul explores the fundamental differences between the Law of Attraction and Advaita Vedanta, revealing why manifestation practices often hinder rather than help spiritual seekers on the path to lasting happiness.
• Law of Attraction focuses on fulfilling ego desires while Advaita Vedanta aims to transcend them
• The world in Advaita is seen as a projection upon Brahman, not something to manipulate for personal gain
• Desires are viewed as the cause of bondage and suffering, not as tools for happiness
• The notion of "I am the doer" in Law of Attraction strengthens ego identity rather than dissolving it
• True Ananda (bliss) is our inherent nature, not something to be achieved through external objects
• Guidance from a qualified guru is essential in Advaita, whereas Law of Attraction promotes self-reliance
• Permanent happiness comes from realizing our true nature as formless awareness, not from manifesting desires
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Bearded Mystic Podcast, and
I'm your host, rahul N Singh.
Thank you for taking out thetime today to either watch or
listen to this podcast episode.
Today we're going to be lookingat the Law of Attraction and
how it relates to AdvaitaVedanta.
Now, this is an aspect ofspirituality that a lot of
(00:23):
people practice.
I mean, one of the biggestspiritual books out there is
called the Secret and I thinkit's a documentary as well, and
I remember many, many years agothis is probably at least 15, 16
years ago first coming acrossthings like law of attraction
(00:46):
and the secret and all thatstuff and manifestation.
Now, obviously, I now have adifferent view.
But I wanted to kind ofunderstand how does all this fit
in Advaita Vedanta if it doesat all the Vedanta, if it does
(01:10):
at all and and why I find thatthe law of attraction is more
beginner level spiritualityrather than someone who's really
deeply interested and deeplyinvolved in having a spiritual
life.
Now that's I hope I made thatclear.
Like you can, you can playaround with spirituality and
that's kind of like the firstlevel where you just like kind
of checking out what it is.
(01:32):
But once you are fully alignedto the understanding that you
are awareness, then there's verylittle room for kind of things
like attracting things.
(01:53):
You become more interested inbeing just within yourself,
centered in yourself.
In being just within yourself,centered in yourself when I say
self, the true self, theformless awareness, brahman, the
Atma, what we truly are, andjust resting in that, just being
(02:17):
aware of that and remaining inthat awareness, obviously the
person who created the secret,she, has come to this opinion
that non-duality is the absolutetruth.
I think it's in her book thegreatest secret.
I personally haven't read ityet, but I've heard that she um
(02:38):
got a lot of slack for actuallykind of abandoning the law of
attraction and what shepreviously did, but anyway.
So let's look at I want to lookat ways in which Advaita
Vedanta does not actuallysupport the law of attraction,
because a lot of people in thesespiritual circles I see on
(03:00):
discord.
A lot people talk aboutmanifesting law of attraction.
You can attract anything inthis universe and all this type
of wonderful fluffy stuff.
But is that really truespirituality?
And I'm not saying it's notspirituality.
What I'm saying is, is it thespirituality which the sages
(03:20):
spoke about?
Yeah, is it exactly what therishis of the upanishads, the
seers of the upanishads.
Is that what they spoke of?
Is that what they're interestedin?
You just have to, like, read atext and understand that law of
attraction is for the babies inspirituality, if one has to use
(03:43):
that word, or the infants.
And that's not a bad thing,that's actually, it's necessary.
We all have to grow and law ofattraction may do that for
people.
So but let's look at how AdvaitaVedanta differs from the law of
attraction and why Iparticularly do not follow law
(04:03):
of attraction.
Nor do I ask anybody topractice this.
In fact, I more or less tellpeople to avoid it because it's
more harmful for spiritualgrowth than conducive.
Okay, so, but again, that'sjust based on people who
approach me for helpingspirituality.
(04:25):
They, they are serious seekers.
So I I see them in a differentlight.
But, for example, if somebodywas practicing law of attraction
and they were happy with it,I'll just be like, continue what
you're doing, like, so there'sno.
What I want to show you, thatis there's no, um, there's no
negativity towards that path.
(04:46):
It's fine, um.
But anyway, that's my fewminutes spiel on that.
So let's have a look at this.
So, first of all, advaitaVedanta teaches us that the
individual self, the, the ego,the amkara, the jiv is actually
(05:06):
ultimately mithya.
It's neither real norabsolutely unreal.
So it's not absolutely real,nor is it absolutely unreal, and
that true liberation, truemukti, comes from actually
transcending desires andrealizing that the self, this
Atman, is Brahman.
So explaining this a bitfurther is that we may, the Jeev
(05:32):
thinks it's the body and mind,right, so it's whatever it's got
associated with, identifiedwith, it becomes that, so it
thinks it's that, not that itbecomes that, it thinks it's
that, so it thinks it's the bodyand mind.
But when we get this knowledge,this Brahm Gyan, that actually
you're formless awareness, youare the Atma, you know Tathamasi
(05:52):
, you are that, you are thisBrahman, you're not the body and
mind.
So when we have this knowledgeand we abide in it, we live in
it, we address it, we kind of wedo our manana with it, we check
our doubts, we, you know, kindof see it from all angles, then,
(06:13):
naturally, because weunderstand that this body and
mind is only for a temporarytime, yeah, the jiva will only
house this body and mind for atemporary time.
It's not eternal, but somethingin that temporary body and mind
is something eternal.
Yeah, there's something eternalthere.
What is that eternal aspect?
(06:34):
And that's what's called theAtma.
Now, the Atma itself is thesame as Brahman, it's not
anything different.
So what Mithya really means isthat neither is it absolutely
real, meaning that, you know,obviously the body changes, it
decays, we have to let go of thebody after physical death and
that body no longer remains ours.
(06:56):
So we know that it's notabsolutely real from that
standpoint.
Then, from the standpoint ofbeing real while we're in the
body and mind, there is sometruth to it.
When I feel hungry, my bodyfeels hungry, so my hunger is
real.
So Advaita Vedanta doesn't tellus to live in some fantasy land
(07:18):
, that everything is Maya, likeeverything is an illusion.
There's no such thing asillusion in in alvaita vidanta,
and that may be some news forsome people who've studied
alvaita and think that mayameans illusion.
Maya means mithya, if we haveto say it's the creative power
of uh, of existence, of ishvara.
(07:41):
So once you realize your trueself, once, once you realize
your Brahman, then there'sautomatically fulfillment.
Now, if you're fulfilled, areyou going to be desiring things
left, right and center, notreally right.
We're going to be more or lesscalm, centered, collected and
(08:03):
not saying that desires do notappear or desires will not be
attained.
But desires do not define us.
We do not identify with thedesire like, oh, I need to get
that car, the need has gone, thewant has gone.
It's oh, if I get the car cool,if I don't get the car cool.
It's that type of desire, sodesire where it doesn't stick to
(08:27):
you.
Now the law of attraction,however, is different.
It centers around fulfillingthe ego's desire.
So whatever the ego wants, it'slike you know, you can achieve
it, you can get it.
You want that house, you thinkabout it, you picture it, you'll
get it, you'll attract it.
And so by visualizing it, byattracting those external
(08:48):
objects, whether that's wealth,success, relationships, whatever
way, you know, ultimatelythat's what it's about.
It's fulfilling whatever theego wants.
So we're not addressing theactual ego here, nor are we
addressing desires here.
In fact, we are creating moreof a, a bond with desires,
(09:10):
therefore getting more bound inthis world, and therefore the
question of whether we are theatma will not occur, whether
what is our true self is notgoing to occur if we're chasing,
if we just imagine, if you canvisualize and attract whatever
you want, do you think thatyou're just going to stop at a
(09:31):
simple house that you visualizefor, or a car or a job.
No, you're going to go biggerthan that, and there's no end to
desire.
As long as there's no end tothe world, there's no end to
desire.
So we have to look at that fromthat perspective, how law of
attraction can actually blind useven more, and that's what's
(09:52):
dangerous, right?
That's my biggest gripe aboutit.
So, as you can see that the theconflict here is that the law
of attraction strengthens theego's identification.
Oh, you know, I visualized thathouse, I attracted that house.
I visualized that car, Iattracted that car.
I visualized that job, I gotthat job.
(10:14):
Do you see how it builds uponthe ego identification and
therefore everything is towardsthe body and mind complex.
Whatever the mind wants,whatever the body body wants,
that's what it chases.
And Advaita Vedanta says youknow what you need to dissolve
your desires.
That's what's hindering youfrom being in awareness, being
in your true self.
(10:34):
And actually, the interestingthing is, the moment you
transcend desires, is when youare truly happy.
And this is something what alot of people do not understand.
They think oh, if I give up mydesires, what's the point of
living.
Honestly, you see, everythingis beautiful in life.
(10:54):
Yeah, there's no need toattract anything or visualize
anything.
Everything is here right now.
You don't have to like,visualize it, you don't have to
attract it.
Everything is here right now,you don't have to visualize it,
you don't have to attract it.
Whatever it is, it is, andthat's the beauty.
Why ask for existence to besomething else?
And that's where AdvaitaVedanta really stands out, in my
(11:16):
opinion.
All of this is my opinion, soyou know.
That's one point, then.
Now this is an interesting one,because you could say this is
what kind of defines thedifference in philosophy.
Advaita will say that thisworld, this jagat, is not
(11:41):
ultimately real.
As we mentioned just before,it's a projection upon Brahman.
So it's superimposed, like asnake superimposed on a rope.
It's not something tomanipulate for personal gain.
In fact, the world is not therefor your personal gain, and
neither is the world going to bemanipulated.
(12:01):
And so what this means is thatthis, this world that we see, it
superimposes itself ontoBrahman, our true nature.
So we are this true nature.
But because we see this grossobjects, these physical objects,
we ultimately think that's realand that's the only thing
(12:23):
that's real.
But when we have that knowledge, that direct realization that
actually you know whatever is,whatever changes, is not
ultimately real, then weunderstand in that moment that
this is mithya.
So, just like when you have asnake that's superimposed on the
(12:49):
rope, it's always a rope, butwhen you don't have the
knowledge that it's the rope,you think it's a snake.
Same thing you think theknowledge that it's the rope,
you think it's a snake.
Same thing.
You think the world is separateto Brahman, but actually you
realize this world is none otherthan Brahman.
But when you think it'sdifferent, you treat it
different.
Now, what I mean by that also isyou no longer want to
(13:14):
manipulate the world.
You see it for what it is andagain, like I said, there's
great joy in seeing it as it is.
But law of attraction assumesone thing and this is where it
becomes really worrying forpeople like me that the world is
a manipulable reality.
You can manipulate this realitybecause it changes according to
(13:36):
your thought vibrations orfrequency.
You know people can talk aboutvibrations and frequencies.
They do it a lot.
You know I'm feeling thevibrations of this person, I'm
feeling the frequency of thatperson, not saying that these
things don't exist.
But again, all that is in yourown mind, the vibration you feel
(13:59):
, is coming from your own mind.
You say you superimpose how youfeel onto the other person, but
you'll claim the other personis making you feel this way or
the frequency that other personis giving to you.
Is that all of this is made upin our own mind.
Once you realize all this ismade up in your own mind, you
drop it.
And that's where law ofattraction fails, because then
you can't manipulate reality.
(14:21):
Now think about it.
If somebody's not, for example,if you do not get what you want
, then that means your thoughtvibrations weren't as strong.
And think how that will makethe ego feel.
The ego will feel inferior.
It was not able to manipulatereality to what it is.
You could not get what youwanted, and so that's why in
(14:47):
Advaita Vedanta, it does notlook to change the world.
In fact, you just see the worldfor what it is and you see it
as Brahman.
You see it as this ultimatereality.
You see it as this ultimatereality and you understand that
this ultimate reality is whatstands.
This world will disappear.
It's a projection.
So therefore it's an appearanceand this appearance, just like
you have a screen and you have amovie.
(15:09):
Once the movie ends, the movieends, you don't look for the
images in the screen.
The screen is blank and thescreen was always blank.
(15:38):
It was never.
It never had images printedonto it, it was just projected
onto it.
Realize that.
You realize actually, yourawareness is what you are and
think.
Does this awareness have anyboundaries?
No, it's absolutely boundless.
Is there any limit to this?
No, it's absolutely limitless.
Is it?
Is there any forms to this?
No, it's absolutely formless.
It's never ending, neverbeginning.
There's no start to it,there's's no end to it, it's
infinite in nature.
(15:58):
And just by abiding in thatawareness, just relaxing into
that awareness, automatically wefeel fulfilled and we feel
happy.
It's so easy to feel happy onceyou understand non-duality,
trust me, it's like the easiestthing, the most natural thing to
(16:23):
do.
And so again, advaita's goal isnot to change the projection,
but it's to realize that thesubstratum is Brahman, so what's
behind it is Brahman.
So you don't get caught up inthe world.
In fact, you've already beencaught by your own true nature,
which is Brahman, which is thisultimate reality.
(16:46):
Then, obviously, desires are acause of bondage.
They are what maintains theindividual ignorance that we
have and most of all, is whatkeeps us into samsara.
If we want to be jivan mukta orwe want to attain moksha from
this birth and death cycle, theonly way is to understand what
(17:13):
is binding us here.
So in Advaita it's cleardesires are born of ignorance,
which is avidya, the individualignorance that I am this body
and mind, and it keeps the jivatrapped in samsara.
So we constantly want to haveanother life because we didn't
get to complete all the desiresin this life, in this current
(17:36):
life.
So it's going to be passed onto the next life.
But the moment we say, actually,jeev, you're not this body and
mind, you are this Atma, you arethis Brahman, and the Jeev
accepts it and startsassociating itself with
awareness, with consciousness,then it breaks away from samsara
(17:58):
and you and you, you actuallyfeel this.
You feel the breaking away ofthe ties with the world, and
what happens is you understandthat the whole world is within
you, it's not separate to you,and neither do you need to
change the world.
The world is going according toits natural order, as Ishvara
(18:18):
wants it to be, as God wants itto be.
So here the most importantaspect is desires, obviously are
what keeps the individual alive.
So the individuality, sorry.
So you are constantly wantingsomething, because it
perpetuates the ego, perpetuatesthe individual, and therefore
(18:39):
what we need to have isdetachment.
And so you know what I need tohave this passion, this
detachment to the world, andbecause these desires are not
going to end and they're notgoing to fulfill me.
So think about it logically.
You have a desire.
Once you achieve that desire,how long does it keep you happy?
(19:00):
For I give a classic example webuy a new car and we've got
this car, we feel so happy aboutit.
But what happens in two, threeyears?
I'm being very like, kind ofnice with the number two, three
years it's a lot shorter thanthat these days.
But how, how long do you feelhappy with that car?
(19:22):
Does it give you the same joythat you got as you had it the
first day?
If it isn't, then that meansthat joy changes.
And if that joy changes becauseof the, the external object,
that means the desire does notgive absolute fulfillment, it
does not give absolute happiness.
(19:42):
In fact, the happiness isfleeting.
So Advaita would say you needto go for that where happiness
is not fleeting, but a permanent, you're a permanent resident,
you're a citizen of happiness,and that's what we should aim
for.
So if we're able to detachourselves from desire and say
(20:04):
you know what, if the desiregets completed, fine, but it's
not going to define who I am.
It's not going to define I'mnot going to lose sleep over
what I desire.
And this is something we needto keep checking ourselves,
especially in today's day andage where there's so much
presented to us through socialmedia, through TV, through all
(20:28):
types of you know, we're driving, we see adverts, our desires
are being pulled left, right andcenter.
New ones are being born, oldones are being pulled left,
right and center.
New ones are being born, oldones are being put to sleep for
a bit.
But the thing is, desires willalways appear until you break
away from them.
When you say you know what?
I'm not living for my desires,I'm living for happiness itself.
(20:49):
And to live in that state whereyou just want happiness itself
is when you're living inawareness, because you get that
taste, you get that glimpsefirst, and once you've had that
glimpse, you're not going to goback.
Trust me.
There's no way you can go backto the world and be back into
the cycle of desires.
There's just no way it canhappen.
(21:10):
It's like once you get a tasteof this bliss, just a taste of
this amrit, this nectar, you'renot going to want anything else.
You want to keep going, youwant to stay in that.
And that's when the journey ofspirituality begins, when you
realize that this is what you'vebeen experiencing, this is what
(21:31):
you've been for eternity.
You have been happiness foreternity.
You're not someone that getshappy.
You been happiness for eternity.
You are not someone that getshappy.
You are happiness and you areblissfulness.
You are fulfillment, you arecompleteness, you are burn them,
and that's the point ofspirituality.
That's when it all begins.
But the law of attraction, aswe've discussed, it's all about
(21:54):
indulging and multiplying thedesires, because you need to
keep attracting new things anduh, and you believe that this
will lead to happiness.
But what happens is thathappiness is short-lived.
Then you need a new desire tofeel complete again.
So it's like a dopamine hitthat you keep getting again and
again and again, but all it'sdoing is stamping samsara more
(22:15):
and more and more and more.
And is that really what we wantto do?
Non-duality says you can befree from all this.
So you know and for me?
I've always said this I'drather have permanent happiness
over transient happiness.
It's just common sense.
(22:36):
Um, so clearly Advaita Vedantaviews that desire is like a fuel
.
It's for the cycle of birth anddeath, for rebirth.
It gives the energy towardsthat, but it's not a path to
fulfillment, and that's theclear difference.
(22:58):
Then there is the uh, illusorynature, or the appearance that
there is a doer.
Now, in Advaita Vedanta be thenotion that I am the doer is
part of the false identificationwith the ego.
So, realization, brahmagyan,this ultimate understanding
(23:25):
leads us to understand thatactually we are not the doer.
The bhagavad gita is about youare not the doer.
Yes, sri Krishna does say toArjuna to pick up the sword and
fight, but he says you're not incharge of the results.
And at the same time, you knowand he says do not see yourself
(23:47):
as the doer, you're not the doer.
Prakriti is the doer, you'rethe Atma.
Yeah, and so the notion that Iam the doer, you know, I'm the
karta, that's just part of theego.
If you see yourself as a doer,then obviously you're doing the
karma.
Then if you're doing the karma,you're gonna have to face the
(24:09):
results of that karma becauseyou are the doer, so you take a
personal agency to it.
But if you say I am thenon-doer, I am not the one doing
anything, it's prakriti.
It's the body and mind that'sdoing I am the atma.
When you keep going back to Iam the atma one, your actions
become pure.
That's the first thing, whichmeans that your thoughts are
(24:31):
pure, your intentions are pureand it leads to the result that
is more favorable to everyoneand to yourself, whatever can
give happiness to yourself andto others.
With that in mind, any actionlike that is good karma, in my
opinion, and it also removes thedoership, because you no longer
(24:55):
see yourself as the one actingin the world.
The world is just continuing,your body and mind is just
continuing and it's continuingbeautifully.
There's a Zen saying beforeenlightenment, chopping wood,
fetching water.
After enlightenment, choppingwood, fetching water.
That's literally the worldcontinues, the body and mind
(25:18):
continues, but you yourself arein awareness.
You are the awareness, you arepure consciousness.
And so, with the law ofattraction, it's clear, right.
If you're desiring something,what is it perpetuating?
It's saying that you are anindividual.
(25:38):
If you want to get something inthe world, you have to attract
it, you have to visualize it,you need to get it, and so you
are the central creator of yourdestiny through thought.
If you think it, you'redestined for it.
You create your own destiny.
And in Advaita Vedanta it'sclear you're not in charge of
(26:00):
destiny.
Ishvara is in charge of destiny, if one is going to go that way
.
But you can say, destiny isgoing to unfold by itself
whether you do something or not.
Destiny does not need yourindividual interference or your
individual kind of perspective.
Destiny is destiny.
(26:23):
But if you keep thinking you'rethe creator of destiny, then all
you're doing is stamping yourplace in the world more and more
.
And you're saying that I am thedoer here.
So you see, there's adifference in the two.
So Advaita would always teachsurrender of the doership to
realize your true nature, whilethe law of attraction says you
(26:47):
know what?
Let's magnify this doership,let's build upon it, let's
expand it.
And the opposite is done inAdvaita Vedanta it's contract
the doership and expand the self.
It's not that the self needs tobe expanded, your awareness of
(27:10):
the self needs to expand,because maybe your awareness is
just limited to the body andmind.
So now you need to expand that,to have the whole universe.
Now, if the whole universe isyou, if the whole universe is
contained in you, are you goingto be selfish by getting what
you want?
No, why is it that the peoplethat talk about law of
(27:33):
attraction cannot end wars?
Why is it that the people thattalk about law of attraction
cannot end wars?
Why is it that the people whobelieve in law of attraction
cannot cure COVID?
All these people and a lot ofthese people were against
(27:55):
science who believe in thisstuff, that means they are not
with reality.
Advaita Vedanta believes inbeing in reality.
Law of Attraction means there'sreality, but I can change it, I
can manipulate it, I can changethe destiny of this world.
So that doership aspect is takenout.
(28:18):
Then there's the uh, the natureof moksha versus material
fulfillment, and this isimportant in advaita the supreme
goal, the ultimate goal, theone that is really, really one
that we find the most importantthing to us.
For years it's been my biggestthing.
(28:40):
I want Jivan Mukti and Idesired Jivan Mukti because we
want to be free from theidentification of the body mind.
We see the limitations of it,we understand that it's not
going to last.
So what is it in me that'ssaying there's something that
can last, but it's not this bodyand mind, because I see that
(29:03):
people die.
I've seen my loved ones die.
I've seen that the wholeidentification of that person is
gone as soon as the jiv leavesthe body.
You know that person, body, youknow that person.
You know I often talk aboutthis my brother Amit, who died,
(29:24):
when, as soon as he died, Iremember literally within
seconds, talking about what areyou going to do with the body?
I no longer said what are yougoing to do with my brother?
What are you going to do withthe body?
I no longer said what are yougoing to do with my brother?
What are you going to do withthe body?
I asked the nurse that question.
So, automatically, weunderstand that.
(29:49):
So if the physical death causesthat freedom from identification
of body and mind, that wedisassociate the jiv to the body
and mind, then why can that nothappen while we're alive?
Now I'm not saying that you goaround saying this body and mind
, this body and mind.
I'm not, you know, utilizelanguage properly, but the
(30:10):
understanding can happen whereyou can, in this moment, in fact
, disidentify with the body andmind.
When I say disidentify, I donot mean that you disassociate
with the body and mind that youstart saying, well, this is not
who I am.
No, you're still the body andmind, but you understand that
(30:33):
your true nature is formless.
Awareness is Brahman body andmind but you understand that
your true nature is Formless.
Awareness is Brahman.
So what happens is you don'tsuperimpose the body and mind
being formless awareness.
There's a subtlety, like thesnake and the rope.
So, again, that can be done inthis life, where, in this moment
(30:56):
, in fact, that you say you knowwhat this body and mind is,
something I have temporarily.
It's a gift from nature, it's agift from Ishvara and I'm going
to utilize it with respect.
And, most of all, I know mytrue nature.
I know who I am.
(31:17):
Now, this appears to bedualistic, but it's actually not
, because you're not saying thatthe body and mind is something
separate.
You're, this is also part ofyou, but it's not the complete
you.
So the whole point is to mergewith Brahman.
Whenever we say merge, it meansyou understand that you are
(31:41):
always Brahman and merging isjust a way of saying that the
individuality dissolves into thewholeness.
Now, the thing with law ofattraction is that the goal is
implicitly about fulfillment inthe world.
It's about success,relationships, possessions,
getting more and more and more.
(32:02):
The so-called word they use isabundance.
And trust me, you can have, youcan be a billionaire, you can
have everything you want, but itdoes not mean that you will be
happy.
It does not mean that you willbe a fulfilled person, it does
not mean that you will becontent.
It does not mean that you willbe a person with a good
(32:27):
character, and we see this today.
It's not something that ishidden from us.
We see it in broad daylighttoday.
So it's not about fulfillmentin the world.
So, if you look at it, advaitaVedanta is clearly saying the
(32:50):
pursuit to enlightenment isdifferent and the pursuit for
the world is different.
One is transcendental, one isworldly.
If you want happiness in theworld, law of attraction may
give that to you and may be so.
But if you're wanting totranscend this world because you
(33:11):
see that it's not going to last, then there's a transcendental
fulfillment and that is moksha,that is jivan mukti, liberation
while you're alive, and this isaccessible to everyone.
Once you get absorbed in the,the more and more you get that
(33:32):
connection with consciousness,with your true self.
And, yes, it starts dualistic,but once you start then
dissolving your ego identity, itall makes sense.
Then the next one, which is animportant one actually the role
of Shraddha and Guru In AdvaitaVedanta.
(33:54):
Faith in the scriptures isimportant.
It's very, very important, andfaith in the Guru is also
important for innertransformation.
If we are to transform ourunderstanding from body and mind
to attrinate to being pureconsciousness, formless
(34:16):
awareness, then we have to havefull faith in the scriptures and
in the Guru for that innertransformation.
And that it's not about our ownwill, our personal willpower.
That's not important, andneither is our vibrations
important.
There'll be no talk ofvibrations or frequency here.
(34:38):
You know.
It's all about understandinghow to learn more and more about
how a true nature is, pureconsciousness, and therefore
dissolving any misidentificationor any superimposition.
A diasa, and then again the lawof attraction, is about
(34:59):
promoting self-reliance based onone's thoughts, emotions and
visualizations, and vibrationsand frequencies and so on.
You see my point.
It's all based on that, and soif you think bad, you get bad.
If you think good, you get good, and it's rather simplistic,
but that's what it does.
(35:19):
You don't rely on a guru tohelp you, you don't rely on
scriptures to help you, so youjust think that your thoughts
can do it, your emotions can doit, your visualizations can do
it and therefore you don't needanything else, you know.
So Advaita Vedanta clearlyviews knowledge or jnana from a
(35:40):
guru as essential, as essential,as necessary, and not something
optional.
So this is a clear differenceas well.
A guru is absolutely necessaryin Advaita Vedanta.
Then you have Satchitanandaversus external joy, and we've
hinted towards this now andwe'll go into a bit more now.
(36:02):
We went into it a bit before.
So, ananda, bliss is yourinherent nature.
This Atma is Sat Chit, ananda,it's this existence, this pure
being, and that is of pureconsciousness and it's full of
(36:23):
Ananda, it's complete, it'sfulfilled, it's content.
And once that's realized andonce we understand that we are
this self, this atma, thisBrahman, this nirguna Brahman
that has no attributes, thennaturally, when we rest in that
(36:49):
formless awareness, into thatformless consciousness, then
here there is no look, there'sno quantum, there's none of that
stuff.
Yeah, there's no frequency, novibration, there's no energy, no
energetic stuff, because whenour mind is quiet, there is not
a flicker of any movement andawareness does not move,
(37:14):
consciousness does not move.
Existence may move, pure beingmay move, but in fact pure being
will not move either.
It's static, it's everywhere,it's all pervading, same thing
as consciousness's all pervading, same thing as consciousness
all pervading, same with anandaall pervading.
So is there a moment when you'renot in bliss, when you're not
(37:35):
in happiness, when you're not inananda?
Absolutely not, you're alwaysin it.
That's your natural state.
So, yes, you, you will getchallenges in life.
You will get sad news, bad news, things that may upset you.
You may grieve even for a fewseconds, you may feel sad about
certain things, but that doesn'tmean that your true nature is
not bliss.
(37:55):
So what I mean by that is, veryquickly you see the transient
nature of those emotions andagainst Ananda it does not stand
.
They simply dissolve away oncethey touch ananda.
So once you remind yourself ofyour true nature and you let go
(38:18):
of that minor uprising whirlpoolof individuality that was
necessary, feel Like if you losea loved one.
You're meant to feel that griefand that sadness.
But once you realize that, oh,that person wasn't the body and
mind.
They're also me, they're withme right now.
They are this formlessawareness, then ananda, Then
(38:41):
there's gratitude that you gotto spend time with that person,
and that's how I viewed my timewith Babaji also.
Babaji is no longer in my lifein a physical way, but he's
right here, because thisconsciousness cannot die and in
my opinion he showed in his ownlifetime that he is pure
(39:04):
consciousness.
When you have that level offaith in the Guru, that you see
the Guru as pure consciousness,then naturally it becomes very
easy for you to become pureconsciousness, or to accept the
idea that you are pureconsciousness, at least the
concept in the beginning.
But once you experience this asreality and you see it clearly,
(39:25):
then one is indescribable andone you can never break away
from it.
At that point.
So, but with law of attraction,you know that happiness is by
acquiring those externalconditions that you've put up,
and so if you get it, you'rehappy, if you don't, you're not
(39:46):
happy.
And so, as I say, you know,once bliss is discovered within,
by negating thoughts away, bynegating desires, by negating
emotional states, by negatinganything that moves, anything
that changes, when you get tothat centered, formless
(40:06):
awareness that is oneness witheverything, and you realize
there's nothing to gain here,there's nothing to lose here.
It's all you meaning, thisformless awareness, this Brahman
, this Nirguna, thisattributeless one, then you're
at peace, you're in Ananda,you're in joy, unbreakable joy,
(40:30):
and while you have possibly theother path, which is you know
what, let's manipulate thoughtand get happy, but remember,
even remember, one thing thoughtcan never make you happy.
Thought cannot lead tohappiness.
Thought can only lead you tomore suffering.
(40:51):
So what I mean by that isthought that is not based in
awareness.
If thought is based on theworld, there is only suffering.
Thought based in awareness,happiness, because then every
thought is directed towardsgoodness, towards happiness for
(41:12):
not just yourself, but for thewhole of humankind, and that's
something we should aim for.
I think that's a good episode tojust end on this moment, and
there's obviously a lot moredeeper aspects that we can look
at, and maybe we will do thatnext time.
(41:33):
In fact, I do have a few thingsto discuss that are more deeper
.
So maybe on Monday we'lldiscuss that and, you know, let
me know your thoughts.
You know, do you agree with me?
Do you disagree with me?
Your thoughts?
You know, do you agree with me?
Do you disagree with me?
It's an open discussion.
And do you like this video?
Do you comment?
Do you subscribe?
(41:54):
But most of all, did you used topractice law of attraction and
then it didn't.
You saw the fallacy and thenturned to Advaita, or or even
that you followed Advaita andthen you went on non-duality and
then you went to lowerattraction.
Because you know one thing Iwill say is that anybody that
(42:19):
perpetuates the idea that thisbody can give you happiness does
not understand one clear thingthis body does not last and it
will decay, it will deplete andtherefore it can never bring
permanent happiness.
It will get ill, it will havebad days.
(42:43):
So how can we transcend thosemoments?
And even when the body ishealthy, when it's happy, when
it's in good health, in goodspirits, even then can we go
through the highs and lows or dowe want to be centered, highs
(43:05):
and lows, or do we want to becentered?
And, in my opinion, advaitaVedanta spirituality, deep
spirituality, helps you toremain centered because it
allows you to connect to one,that which does not change, that
which is permanently here, andsecond, it gives you the gateway
(43:26):
to permanent Ananda, permanentbliss.
And all this is done with thegrace of the Guru.
I would say, even if I look atmy own life, it's the grace of
the Guru that I have achievedwhatever I've achieved in
spirituality, and if there isany improvement, it's because of
(43:47):
that grace of the Guru that Ihave achieved whatever I've
achieved in spirituality, and ifthere is any improvement, it's
because of that grace of theGuru, and I've personally
experienced how the Guru canshow you your true nature.
I got it from a hug and,ironically, it was my guru's
(44:09):
birthday and instead of megiving a gift well, I don't know
, you can see it this way thegift was that I remember before.
You know, I bowed down to myguru to give my salutations.
I remember my thoughts beforethen.
You know I bowed down to myGuru to give my salutations.
(44:29):
I remember my thoughts beforethen.
My intention was like you know,I'm surrendering everything to
you.
Whatever I have is yours.
Nothing is mine.
This body is mine.
Nothing is mine.
I'm letting it go.
And I remember my guru huggingme and that moment where there
(44:55):
was nothing but this pureawareness, and I didn't even
know it was awareness untillater, once I and it's amazing
how things and from that momentI remember it was 23rd of
February 2014.
I'll never forget that day.
I remember that was my firstexperience of Absolute
(45:18):
dissolution, where the ego hadnowhere to go.
Literally, I saw the ego panicLike where does it go?
Where can it go?
There's no body, there's nomind that he can associate with
what is going on here, and andall I remember was just being in
this absolute peace and um, andit's like I could sense my
(45:45):
guru's heartbeat and it was likethe sound of the universe, it
was like Aum, and that's all Ifelt and it was phenomenal.
So I didn't attract that, I hadto let go.
I didn't attract that, I had tolet go.
(46:06):
And All I know is that from thatmoment my spirituality went
from Small progress to A speed ICannot reconcile with and
understand.
But everything is the grace ofthe guru and you know, my, my
(46:31):
whole being is just full ofgratitude to that one that is
continuously making sure that Ido not step away from this.
And the funny thing is I don'tthink I can.
I don't know of life other thanthis.
I don't know how to live in theworld anymore.
(46:56):
I'm living in grace.
That's literally my life andthat's how I feel now and that's
why I'm living a householderlife too, and you know that's
I'm just full of gratitude forthat, just full of gratitude.
(47:17):
But anyway, thank you very muchfor listening.
I hope this episode was goodfor you, but but yeah, we'll
look forward to the next episode.
Take care, namaste, everyone,bye.
Hello and welcome to the Bearded Mystic Podcast, and
I'm your host, rahul N Singh.
Thank you for taking out thetime today to either watch or
listen to this podcast episode.
Today we're going to be lookingat the Law of Attraction and
how it relates to AdvaitaVedanta.
Now, this is an aspect ofspirituality that a lot of
(00:23):
people practice.
I mean, one of the biggestspiritual books out there is
called the Secret and I thinkit's a documentary as well, and
I remember many, many years agothis is probably at least 15, 16
years ago first coming acrossthings like law of attraction
(00:46):
and the secret and all thatstuff and manifestation.
Now, obviously, I now have adifferent view.
But I wanted to kind ofunderstand how does all this fit
in Advaita Vedanta if it doesat all the Vedanta, if it does
(01:10):
at all and and why I find thatthe law of attraction is more
beginner level spiritualityrather than someone who's really
deeply interested and deeplyinvolved in having a spiritual
life.
Now that's I hope I made thatclear.
Like you can, you can playaround with spirituality and
that's kind of like the firstlevel where you just like kind
of checking out what it is.
(01:32):
But once you are fully alignedto the understanding that you
are awareness, then there's verylittle room for kind of things
like attracting things.
(01:53):
You become more interested inbeing just within yourself,
centered in yourself.
In being just within yourself,centered in yourself when I say
self, the true self, theformless awareness, brahman, the
Atma, what we truly are, andjust resting in that, just being
(02:17):
aware of that and remaining inthat awareness, obviously the
person who created the secret,she, has come to this opinion
that non-duality is the absolutetruth.
I think it's in her book thegreatest secret.
I personally haven't read ityet, but I've heard that she um
(02:38):
got a lot of slack for actuallykind of abandoning the law of
attraction and what shepreviously did, but anyway.
So let's look at I want to lookat ways in which Advaita
Vedanta does not actuallysupport the law of attraction,
because a lot of people in thesespiritual circles I see on
(03:00):
discord.
A lot people talk aboutmanifesting law of attraction.
You can attract anything inthis universe and all this type
of wonderful fluffy stuff.
But is that really truespirituality?
And I'm not saying it's notspirituality.
What I'm saying is, is it thespirituality which the sages
(03:20):
spoke about?
Yeah, is it exactly what therishis of the upanishads, the
seers of the upanishads.
Is that what they spoke of?
Is that what they're interestedin?
You just have to, like, read atext and understand that law of
attraction is for the babies inspirituality, if one has to use
(03:43):
that word, or the infants.
And that's not a bad thing,that's actually, it's necessary.
We all have to grow and law ofattraction may do that for
people.
So but let's look at how AdvaitaVedanta differs from the law of
attraction and why Iparticularly do not follow law
(04:03):
of attraction.
Nor do I ask anybody topractice this.
In fact, I more or less tellpeople to avoid it because it's
more harmful for spiritualgrowth than conducive.
Okay, so, but again, that'sjust based on people who
approach me for helpingspirituality.
(04:25):
They, they are serious seekers.
So I I see them in a differentlight.
But, for example, if somebodywas practicing law of attraction
and they were happy with it,I'll just be like, continue what
you're doing, like, so there'sno.
What I want to show you, thatis there's no, um, there's no
negativity towards that path.
(04:46):
It's fine, um.
But anyway, that's my fewminutes spiel on that.
So let's have a look at this.
So, first of all, advaitaVedanta teaches us that the
individual self, the, the ego,the amkara, the jiv is actually
(05:06):
ultimately mithya.
It's neither real norabsolutely unreal.
So it's not absolutely real,nor is it absolutely unreal, and
that true liberation, truemukti, comes from actually
transcending desires andrealizing that the self, this
Atman, is Brahman.
So explaining this a bitfurther is that we may, the Jeev
(05:32):
thinks it's the body and mind,right, so it's whatever it's got
associated with, identifiedwith, it becomes that, so it
thinks it's that, not that itbecomes that, it thinks it's
that, so it thinks it's the bodyand mind.
But when we get this knowledge,this Brahm Gyan, that actually
you're formless awareness, youare the Atma, you know Tathamasi
(05:52):
, you are that, you are thisBrahman, you're not the body and
mind.
So when we have this knowledgeand we abide in it, we live in
it, we address it, we kind of wedo our manana with it, we check
our doubts, we, you know, kindof see it from all angles, then,
(06:13):
naturally, because weunderstand that this body and
mind is only for a temporarytime, yeah, the jiva will only
house this body and mind for atemporary time.
It's not eternal, but somethingin that temporary body and mind
is something eternal.
Yeah, there's something eternalthere.
What is that eternal aspect?
(06:34):
And that's what's called theAtma.
Now, the Atma itself is thesame as Brahman, it's not
anything different.
So what Mithya really means isthat neither is it absolutely
real, meaning that, you know,obviously the body changes, it
decays, we have to let go of thebody after physical death and
that body no longer remains ours.
(06:56):
So we know that it's notabsolutely real from that
standpoint.
Then, from the standpoint ofbeing real while we're in the
body and mind, there is sometruth to it.
When I feel hungry, my bodyfeels hungry, so my hunger is
real.
So Advaita Vedanta doesn't tellus to live in some fantasy land
(07:18):
, that everything is Maya, likeeverything is an illusion.
There's no such thing asillusion in in alvaita vidanta,
and that may be some news forsome people who've studied
alvaita and think that mayameans illusion.
Maya means mithya, if we haveto say it's the creative power
of uh, of existence, of ishvara.
(07:41):
So once you realize your trueself, once, once you realize
your Brahman, then there'sautomatically fulfillment.
Now, if you're fulfilled, areyou going to be desiring things
left, right and center, notreally right.
We're going to be more or lesscalm, centered, collected and
(08:03):
not saying that desires do notappear or desires will not be
attained.
But desires do not define us.
We do not identify with thedesire like, oh, I need to get
that car, the need has gone, thewant has gone.
It's oh, if I get the car cool,if I don't get the car cool.
It's that type of desire, sodesire where it doesn't stick to
(08:27):
you.
Now the law of attraction,however, is different.
It centers around fulfillingthe ego's desire.
So whatever the ego wants, it'slike you know, you can achieve
it, you can get it.
You want that house, you thinkabout it, you picture it, you'll
get it, you'll attract it.
And so by visualizing it, byattracting those external
(08:48):
objects, whether that's wealth,success, relationships, whatever
way, you know, ultimatelythat's what it's about.
It's fulfilling whatever theego wants.
So we're not addressing theactual ego here, nor are we
addressing desires here.
In fact, we are creating moreof a, a bond with desires,
(09:10):
therefore getting more bound inthis world, and therefore the
question of whether we are theatma will not occur, whether
what is our true self is notgoing to occur if we're chasing,
if we just imagine, if you canvisualize and attract whatever
you want, do you think thatyou're just going to stop at a
(09:31):
simple house that you visualizefor, or a car or a job.
No, you're going to go biggerthan that, and there's no end to
desire.
As long as there's no end tothe world, there's no end to
desire.
So we have to look at that fromthat perspective, how law of
attraction can actually blind useven more, and that's what's
(09:52):
dangerous, right?
That's my biggest gripe aboutit.
So, as you can see that the theconflict here is that the law
of attraction strengthens theego's identification.
Oh, you know, I visualized thathouse, I attracted that house.
I visualized that car, Iattracted that car.
I visualized that job, I gotthat job.
(10:14):
Do you see how it builds uponthe ego identification and
therefore everything is towardsthe body and mind complex.
Whatever the mind wants,whatever the body body wants,
that's what it chases.
And Advaita Vedanta says youknow what you need to dissolve
your desires.
That's what's hindering youfrom being in awareness, being
in your true self.
(10:34):
And actually, the interestingthing is, the moment you
transcend desires, is when youare truly happy.
And this is something what alot of people do not understand.
They think oh, if I give up mydesires, what's the point of
living.
Honestly, you see, everythingis beautiful in life.
(10:54):
Yeah, there's no need toattract anything or visualize
anything.
Everything is here right now.
You don't have to like,visualize it, you don't have to
attract it.
Everything is here right now,you don't have to visualize it,
you don't have to attract it.
Whatever it is, it is, andthat's the beauty.
Why ask for existence to besomething else?
And that's where AdvaitaVedanta really stands out, in my
(11:16):
opinion.
All of this is my opinion, soyou know.
That's one point, then.
Now this is an interesting one,because you could say this is
what kind of defines thedifference in philosophy.
Advaita will say that thisworld, this jagat, is not
(11:41):
ultimately real.
As we mentioned just before,it's a projection upon Brahman.
So it's superimposed, like asnake superimposed on a rope.
It's not something tomanipulate for personal gain.
In fact, the world is not therefor your personal gain, and
neither is the world going to bemanipulated.
(12:01):
And so what this means is thatthis, this world that we see, it
superimposes itself ontoBrahman, our true nature.
So we are this true nature.
But because we see this grossobjects, these physical objects,
we ultimately think that's realand that's the only thing
(12:23):
that's real.
But when we have that knowledge, that direct realization that
actually you know whatever is,whatever changes, is not
ultimately real, then weunderstand in that moment that
this is mithya.
So, just like when you have asnake that's superimposed on the
(12:49):
rope, it's always a rope, butwhen you don't have the
knowledge that it's the rope,you think it's a snake.
Same thing you think theknowledge that it's the rope,
you think it's a snake.
Same thing.
You think the world is separateto Brahman, but actually you
realize this world is none otherthan Brahman.
But when you think it'sdifferent, you treat it
different.
Now, what I mean by that also isyou no longer want to
(13:14):
manipulate the world.
You see it for what it is andagain, like I said, there's
great joy in seeing it as it is.
But law of attraction assumesone thing and this is where it
becomes really worrying forpeople like me that the world is
a manipulable reality.
You can manipulate this realitybecause it changes according to
(13:36):
your thought vibrations orfrequency.
You know people can talk aboutvibrations and frequencies.
They do it a lot.
You know I'm feeling thevibrations of this person, I'm
feeling the frequency of thatperson, not saying that these
things don't exist.
But again, all that is in yourown mind, the vibration you feel
(13:59):
, is coming from your own mind.
You say you superimpose how youfeel onto the other person, but
you'll claim the other personis making you feel this way or
the frequency that other personis giving to you.
Is that all of this is made upin our own mind.
Once you realize all this ismade up in your own mind, you
drop it.
And that's where law ofattraction fails, because then
you can't manipulate reality.
(14:21):
Now think about it.
If somebody's not, for example,if you do not get what you want
, then that means your thoughtvibrations weren't as strong.
And think how that will makethe ego feel.
The ego will feel inferior.
It was not able to manipulatereality to what it is.
You could not get what youwanted, and so that's why in
(14:47):
Advaita Vedanta, it does notlook to change the world.
In fact, you just see the worldfor what it is and you see it
as Brahman.
You see it as this ultimatereality.
You see it as this ultimatereality and you understand that
this ultimate reality is whatstands.
This world will disappear.
It's a projection.
So therefore it's an appearanceand this appearance, just like
you have a screen and you have amovie.
(15:09):
Once the movie ends, the movieends, you don't look for the
images in the screen.
The screen is blank and thescreen was always blank.
(15:38):
It was never.
It never had images printedonto it, it was just projected
onto it.
Realize that.
You realize actually, yourawareness is what you are and
think.
Does this awareness have anyboundaries?
No, it's absolutely boundless.
Is there any limit to this?
No, it's absolutely limitless.
Is it?
Is there any forms to this?
No, it's absolutely formless.
It's never ending, neverbeginning.
There's no start to it,there's's no end to it, it's
infinite in nature.
(15:58):
And just by abiding in thatawareness, just relaxing into
that awareness, automatically wefeel fulfilled and we feel
happy.
It's so easy to feel happy onceyou understand non-duality,
trust me, it's like the easiestthing, the most natural thing to
(16:23):
do.
And so again, advaita's goal isnot to change the projection,
but it's to realize that thesubstratum is Brahman, so what's
behind it is Brahman.
So you don't get caught up inthe world.
In fact, you've already beencaught by your own true nature,
which is Brahman, which is thisultimate reality.
(16:46):
Then, obviously, desires are acause of bondage.
They are what maintains theindividual ignorance that we
have and most of all, is whatkeeps us into samsara.
If we want to be jivan mukta orwe want to attain moksha from
this birth and death cycle, theonly way is to understand what
(17:13):
is binding us here.
So in Advaita it's cleardesires are born of ignorance,
which is avidya, the individualignorance that I am this body
and mind, and it keeps the jivatrapped in samsara.
So we constantly want to haveanother life because we didn't
get to complete all the desiresin this life, in this current
(17:36):
life.
So it's going to be passed onto the next life.
But the moment we say, actually,jeev, you're not this body and
mind, you are this Atma, you arethis Brahman, and the Jeev
accepts it and startsassociating itself with
awareness, with consciousness,then it breaks away from samsara
(17:58):
and you and you, you actuallyfeel this.
You feel the breaking away ofthe ties with the world, and
what happens is you understandthat the whole world is within
you, it's not separate to you,and neither do you need to
change the world.
The world is going according toits natural order, as Ishvara
(18:18):
wants it to be, as God wants itto be.
So here the most importantaspect is desires, obviously are
what keeps the individual alive.
So the individuality, sorry.
So you are constantly wantingsomething, because it
perpetuates the ego, perpetuatesthe individual, and therefore
(18:39):
what we need to have isdetachment.
And so you know what I need tohave this passion, this
detachment to the world, andbecause these desires are not
going to end and they're notgoing to fulfill me.
So think about it logically.
You have a desire.
Once you achieve that desire,how long does it keep you happy?
(19:00):
For I give a classic example webuy a new car and we've got
this car, we feel so happy aboutit.
But what happens in two, threeyears?
I'm being very like, kind ofnice with the number two, three
years it's a lot shorter thanthat these days.
But how, how long do you feelhappy with that car?
(19:22):
Does it give you the same joythat you got as you had it the
first day?
If it isn't, then that meansthat joy changes.
And if that joy changes becauseof the, the external object,
that means the desire does notgive absolute fulfillment, it
does not give absolute happiness.
(19:42):
In fact, the happiness isfleeting.
So Advaita would say you needto go for that where happiness
is not fleeting, but a permanent, you're a permanent resident,
you're a citizen of happiness,and that's what we should aim
for.
So if we're able to detachourselves from desire and say
(20:04):
you know what, if the desiregets completed, fine, but it's
not going to define who I am.
It's not going to define I'mnot going to lose sleep over
what I desire.
And this is something we needto keep checking ourselves,
especially in today's day andage where there's so much
presented to us through socialmedia, through TV, through all
(20:28):
types of you know, we're driving, we see adverts, our desires
are being pulled left, right andcenter.
New ones are being born, oldones are being pulled left,
right and center.
New ones are being born, oldones are being put to sleep for
a bit.
But the thing is, desires willalways appear until you break
away from them.
When you say you know what?
I'm not living for my desires,I'm living for happiness itself.
(20:49):
And to live in that state whereyou just want happiness itself
is when you're living inawareness, because you get that
taste, you get that glimpsefirst, and once you've had that
glimpse, you're not going to goback.
Trust me.
There's no way you can go backto the world and be back into
the cycle of desires.
There's just no way it canhappen.
(21:10):
It's like once you get a tasteof this bliss, just a taste of
this amrit, this nectar, you'renot going to want anything else.
You want to keep going, youwant to stay in that.
And that's when the journey ofspirituality begins, when you
realize that this is what you'vebeen experiencing, this is what
(21:31):
you've been for eternity.
You have been happiness foreternity.
You're not someone that getshappy.
You been happiness for eternity.
You are not someone that getshappy.
You are happiness and you areblissfulness.
You are fulfillment, you arecompleteness, you are burn them,
and that's the point ofspirituality.
That's when it all begins.
But the law of attraction, aswe've discussed, it's all about
(21:54):
indulging and multiplying thedesires, because you need to
keep attracting new things anduh, and you believe that this
will lead to happiness.
But what happens is thathappiness is short-lived.
Then you need a new desire tofeel complete again.
So it's like a dopamine hitthat you keep getting again and
again and again, but all it'sdoing is stamping samsara more
(22:15):
and more and more and more.
And is that really what we wantto do?
Non-duality says you can befree from all this.
So you know and for me?
I've always said this I'drather have permanent happiness
over transient happiness.
It's just common sense.
(22:36):
Um, so clearly Advaita Vedantaviews that desire is like a fuel
.
It's for the cycle of birth anddeath, for rebirth.
It gives the energy towardsthat, but it's not a path to
fulfillment, and that's theclear difference.
(22:58):
Then there is the uh, illusorynature, or the appearance that
there is a doer.
Now, in Advaita Vedanta be thenotion that I am the doer is
part of the false identificationwith the ego.
So, realization, brahmagyan,this ultimate understanding
(23:25):
leads us to understand thatactually we are not the doer.
The bhagavad gita is about youare not the doer.
Yes, sri Krishna does say toArjuna to pick up the sword and
fight, but he says you're not incharge of the results.
And at the same time, you knowand he says do not see yourself
(23:47):
as the doer, you're not the doer.
Prakriti is the doer, you'rethe Atma.
Yeah, and so the notion that Iam the doer, you know, I'm the
karta, that's just part of theego.
If you see yourself as a doer,then obviously you're doing the
karma.
Then if you're doing the karma,you're gonna have to face the
(24:09):
results of that karma becauseyou are the doer, so you take a
personal agency to it.
But if you say I am thenon-doer, I am not the one doing
anything, it's prakriti.
It's the body and mind that'sdoing I am the atma.
When you keep going back to Iam the atma one, your actions
become pure.
That's the first thing, whichmeans that your thoughts are
(24:31):
pure, your intentions are pureand it leads to the result that
is more favorable to everyoneand to yourself, whatever can
give happiness to yourself andto others.
With that in mind, any actionlike that is good karma, in my
opinion, and it also removes thedoership, because you no longer
(24:55):
see yourself as the one actingin the world.
The world is just continuing,your body and mind is just
continuing and it's continuingbeautifully.
There's a Zen saying beforeenlightenment, chopping wood,
fetching water.
After enlightenment, choppingwood, fetching water.
That's literally the worldcontinues, the body and mind
(25:18):
continues, but you yourself arein awareness.
You are the awareness, you arepure consciousness.
And so, with the law ofattraction, it's clear, right.
If you're desiring something,what is it perpetuating?
It's saying that you are anindividual.
(25:38):
If you want to get something inthe world, you have to attract
it, you have to visualize it,you need to get it, and so you
are the central creator of yourdestiny through thought.
If you think it, you'redestined for it.
You create your own destiny.
And in Advaita Vedanta it'sclear you're not in charge of
(26:00):
destiny.
Ishvara is in charge of destiny, if one is going to go that way
.
But you can say, destiny isgoing to unfold by itself
whether you do something or not.
Destiny does not need yourindividual interference or your
individual kind of perspective.
Destiny is destiny.
(26:23):
But if you keep thinking you'rethe creator of destiny, then all
you're doing is stamping yourplace in the world more and more
.
And you're saying that I am thedoer here.
So you see, there's adifference in the two.
So Advaita would always teachsurrender of the doership to
realize your true nature, whilethe law of attraction says you
(26:47):
know what?
Let's magnify this doership,let's build upon it, let's
expand it.
And the opposite is done inAdvaita Vedanta it's contract
the doership and expand the self.
It's not that the self needs tobe expanded, your awareness of
(27:10):
the self needs to expand,because maybe your awareness is
just limited to the body andmind.
So now you need to expand that,to have the whole universe.
Now, if the whole universe isyou, if the whole universe is
contained in you, are you goingto be selfish by getting what
you want?
No, why is it that the peoplethat talk about law of
(27:33):
attraction cannot end wars?
Why is it that the people thattalk about law of attraction
cannot end wars?
Why is it that the people whobelieve in law of attraction
cannot cure COVID?
All these people and a lot ofthese people were against
(27:55):
science who believe in thisstuff, that means they are not
with reality.
Advaita Vedanta believes inbeing in reality.
Law of Attraction means there'sreality, but I can change it, I
can manipulate it, I can changethe destiny of this world.
So that doership aspect is takenout.
(28:18):
Then there's the uh, the natureof moksha versus material
fulfillment, and this isimportant in advaita the supreme
goal, the ultimate goal, theone that is really, really one
that we find the most importantthing to us.
For years it's been my biggestthing.
(28:40):
I want Jivan Mukti and Idesired Jivan Mukti because we
want to be free from theidentification of the body mind.
We see the limitations of it,we understand that it's not
going to last.
So what is it in me that'ssaying there's something that
can last, but it's not this bodyand mind, because I see that
(29:03):
people die.
I've seen my loved ones die.
I've seen that the wholeidentification of that person is
gone as soon as the jiv leavesthe body.
You know that person, body, youknow that person.
You know I often talk aboutthis my brother Amit, who died,
(29:24):
when, as soon as he died, Iremember literally within
seconds, talking about what areyou going to do with the body?
I no longer said what are yougoing to do with my brother?
What are you going to do withthe body?
I no longer said what are yougoing to do with my brother?
What are you going to do withthe body?
I asked the nurse that question.
So, automatically, weunderstand that.
(29:49):
So if the physical death causesthat freedom from identification
of body and mind, that wedisassociate the jiv to the body
and mind, then why can that nothappen while we're alive?
Now I'm not saying that you goaround saying this body and mind
, this body and mind.
I'm not, you know, utilizelanguage properly, but the
(30:10):
understanding can happen whereyou can, in this moment, in fact
, disidentify with the body andmind.
When I say disidentify, I donot mean that you disassociate
with the body and mind that youstart saying, well, this is not
who I am.
No, you're still the body andmind, but you understand that
(30:33):
your true nature is formless.
Awareness is Brahman body andmind but you understand that
your true nature is Formless.
Awareness is Brahman.
So what happens is you don'tsuperimpose the body and mind
being formless awareness.
There's a subtlety, like thesnake and the rope.
So, again, that can be done inthis life, where, in this moment
(30:56):
, in fact, that you say you knowwhat this body and mind is,
something I have temporarily.
It's a gift from nature, it's agift from Ishvara and I'm going
to utilize it with respect.
And, most of all, I know mytrue nature.
I know who I am.
(31:17):
Now, this appears to bedualistic, but it's actually not
, because you're not saying thatthe body and mind is something
separate.
You're, this is also part ofyou, but it's not the complete
you.
So the whole point is to mergewith Brahman.
Whenever we say merge, it meansyou understand that you are
(31:41):
always Brahman and merging isjust a way of saying that the
individuality dissolves into thewholeness.
Now, the thing with law ofattraction is that the goal is
implicitly about fulfillment inthe world.
It's about success,relationships, possessions,
getting more and more and more.
(32:02):
The so-called word they use isabundance.
And trust me, you can have, youcan be a billionaire, you can
have everything you want, but itdoes not mean that you will be
happy.
It does not mean that you willbe a fulfilled person, it does
not mean that you will becontent.
It does not mean that you willbe a person with a good
(32:27):
character, and we see this today.
It's not something that ishidden from us.
We see it in broad daylighttoday.
So it's not about fulfillmentin the world.
So, if you look at it, advaitaVedanta is clearly saying the
(32:50):
pursuit to enlightenment isdifferent and the pursuit for
the world is different.
One is transcendental, one isworldly.
If you want happiness in theworld, law of attraction may
give that to you and may be so.
But if you're wanting totranscend this world because you
(33:11):
see that it's not going to last, then there's a transcendental
fulfillment and that is moksha,that is jivan mukti, liberation
while you're alive, and this isaccessible to everyone.
Once you get absorbed in the,the more and more you get that
(33:32):
connection with consciousness,with your true self.
And, yes, it starts dualistic,but once you start then
dissolving your ego identity, itall makes sense.
Then the next one, which is animportant one actually the role
of Shraddha and Guru In AdvaitaVedanta.
(33:54):
Faith in the scriptures isimportant.
It's very, very important, andfaith in the Guru is also
important for innertransformation.
If we are to transform ourunderstanding from body and mind
to attrinate to being pureconsciousness, formless
(34:16):
awareness, then we have to havefull faith in the scriptures and
in the Guru for that innertransformation.
And that it's not about our ownwill, our personal willpower.
That's not important, andneither is our vibrations
important.
There'll be no talk ofvibrations or frequency here.
(34:38):
You know.
It's all about understandinghow to learn more and more about
how a true nature is, pureconsciousness, and therefore
dissolving any misidentificationor any superimposition.
A diasa, and then again the lawof attraction, is about
(34:59):
promoting self-reliance based onone's thoughts, emotions and
visualizations, and vibrationsand frequencies and so on.
You see my point.
It's all based on that, and soif you think bad, you get bad.
If you think good, you get good, and it's rather simplistic,
but that's what it does.
(35:19):
You don't rely on a guru tohelp you, you don't rely on
scriptures to help you, so youjust think that your thoughts
can do it, your emotions can doit, your visualizations can do
it and therefore you don't needanything else, you know.
So Advaita Vedanta clearlyviews knowledge or jnana from a
(35:40):
guru as essential, as essential,as necessary, and not something
optional.
So this is a clear differenceas well.
A guru is absolutely necessaryin Advaita Vedanta.
Then you have Satchitanandaversus external joy, and we've
hinted towards this now andwe'll go into a bit more now.
(36:02):
We went into it a bit before.
So, ananda, bliss is yourinherent nature.
This Atma is Sat Chit, ananda,it's this existence, this pure
being, and that is of pureconsciousness and it's full of
(36:23):
Ananda, it's complete, it'sfulfilled, it's content.
And once that's realized andonce we understand that we are
this self, this atma, thisBrahman, this nirguna Brahman
that has no attributes, thennaturally, when we rest in that
(36:49):
formless awareness, into thatformless consciousness, then
here there is no look, there'sno quantum, there's none of that
stuff.
Yeah, there's no frequency, novibration, there's no energy, no
energetic stuff, because whenour mind is quiet, there is not
a flicker of any movement andawareness does not move,
(37:14):
consciousness does not move.
Existence may move, pure beingmay move, but in fact pure being
will not move either.
It's static, it's everywhere,it's all pervading, same thing
as consciousness's all pervading, same thing as consciousness
all pervading, same with anandaall pervading.
So is there a moment when you'renot in bliss, when you're not
(37:35):
in happiness, when you're not inananda?
Absolutely not, you're alwaysin it.
That's your natural state.
So, yes, you, you will getchallenges in life.
You will get sad news, bad news, things that may upset you.
You may grieve even for a fewseconds, you may feel sad about
certain things, but that doesn'tmean that your true nature is
not bliss.
(37:55):
So what I mean by that is, veryquickly you see the transient
nature of those emotions andagainst Ananda it does not stand
.
They simply dissolve away oncethey touch ananda.
So once you remind yourself ofyour true nature and you let go
(38:18):
of that minor uprising whirlpoolof individuality that was
necessary, feel Like if you losea loved one.
You're meant to feel that griefand that sadness.
But once you realize that, oh,that person wasn't the body and
mind.
They're also me, they're withme right now.
They are this formlessawareness, then ananda, Then
(38:41):
there's gratitude that you gotto spend time with that person,
and that's how I viewed my timewith Babaji also.
Babaji is no longer in my lifein a physical way, but he's
right here, because thisconsciousness cannot die and in
my opinion he showed in his ownlifetime that he is pure
(39:04):
consciousness.
When you have that level offaith in the Guru, that you see
the Guru as pure consciousness,then naturally it becomes very
easy for you to become pureconsciousness, or to accept the
idea that you are pureconsciousness, at least the
concept in the beginning.
But once you experience this asreality and you see it clearly,
(39:25):
then one is indescribable andone you can never break away
from it.
At that point.
So, but with law of attraction,you know that happiness is by
acquiring those externalconditions that you've put up,
and so if you get it, you'rehappy, if you don't, you're not
(39:46):
happy.
And so, as I say, you know,once bliss is discovered within,
by negating thoughts away, bynegating desires, by negating
emotional states, by negatinganything that moves, anything
that changes, when you get tothat centered, formless
(40:06):
awareness that is oneness witheverything, and you realize
there's nothing to gain here,there's nothing to lose here.
It's all you meaning, thisformless awareness, this Brahman
, this Nirguna, thisattributeless one, then you're
at peace, you're in Ananda,you're in joy, unbreakable joy,
(40:30):
and while you have possibly theother path, which is you know
what, let's manipulate thoughtand get happy, but remember,
even remember, one thing thoughtcan never make you happy.
Thought cannot lead tohappiness.
Thought can only lead you tomore suffering.
(40:51):
So what I mean by that isthought that is not based in
awareness.
If thought is based on theworld, there is only suffering.
Thought based in awareness,happiness, because then every
thought is directed towardsgoodness, towards happiness for
(41:12):
not just yourself, but for thewhole of humankind, and that's
something we should aim for.
I think that's a good episode tojust end on this moment, and
there's obviously a lot moredeeper aspects that we can look
at, and maybe we will do thatnext time.
(41:33):
In fact, I do have a few thingsto discuss that are more deeper
.
So maybe on Monday we'lldiscuss that and, you know, let
me know your thoughts.
You know, do you agree with me?
Do you disagree with me?
Your thoughts?
You know, do you agree with me?
Do you disagree with me?
It's an open discussion.
And do you like this video?
Do you comment?
Do you subscribe?
(41:54):
But most of all, did you used topractice law of attraction and
then it didn't.
You saw the fallacy and thenturned to Advaita, or or even
that you followed Advaita andthen you went on non-duality and
then you went to lowerattraction.
Because you know one thing Iwill say is that anybody that
(42:19):
perpetuates the idea that thisbody can give you happiness does
not understand one clear thingthis body does not last and it
will decay, it will deplete andtherefore it can never bring
permanent happiness.
It will get ill, it will havebad days.
(42:43):
So how can we transcend thosemoments?
And even when the body ishealthy, when it's happy, when
it's in good health, in goodspirits, even then can we go
through the highs and lows or dowe want to be centered, highs
(43:05):
and lows, or do we want to becentered?
And, in my opinion, advaitaVedanta spirituality, deep
spirituality, helps you toremain centered because it
allows you to connect to one,that which does not change, that
which is permanently here, andsecond, it gives you the gateway
(43:26):
to permanent Ananda, permanentbliss.
And all this is done with thegrace of the Guru.
I would say, even if I look atmy own life, it's the grace of
the Guru that I have achievedwhatever I've achieved in
spirituality, and if there isany improvement, it's because of
(43:47):
that grace of the Guru that Ihave achieved whatever I've
achieved in spirituality, and ifthere is any improvement, it's
because of that grace of theGuru, and I've personally
experienced how the Guru canshow you your true nature.
I got it from a hug and,ironically, it was my guru's
(44:09):
birthday and instead of megiving a gift well, I don't know
, you can see it this way thegift was that I remember before.
You know, I bowed down to myguru to give my salutations.
I remember my thoughts beforethen.
You know I bowed down to myGuru to give my salutations.
(44:29):
I remember my thoughts beforethen.
My intention was like you know,I'm surrendering everything to
you.
Whatever I have is yours.
Nothing is mine.
This body is mine.
Nothing is mine.
I'm letting it go.
And I remember my guru huggingme and that moment where there
(44:55):
was nothing but this pureawareness, and I didn't even
know it was awareness untillater, once I and it's amazing
how things and from that momentI remember it was 23rd of
February 2014.
I'll never forget that day.
I remember that was my firstexperience of Absolute
(45:18):
dissolution, where the ego hadnowhere to go.
Literally, I saw the ego panicLike where does it go?
Where can it go?
There's no body, there's nomind that he can associate with
what is going on here, and andall I remember was just being in
this absolute peace and um, andit's like I could sense my
(45:45):
guru's heartbeat and it was likethe sound of the universe, it
was like Aum, and that's all Ifelt and it was phenomenal.
So I didn't attract that, I hadto let go.
I didn't attract that, I had tolet go.
(46:06):
And All I know is that from thatmoment my spirituality went
from Small progress to A speed ICannot reconcile with and
understand.
But everything is the grace ofthe guru and you know, my, my
(46:31):
whole being is just full ofgratitude to that one that is
continuously making sure that Ido not step away from this.
And the funny thing is I don'tthink I can.
I don't know of life other thanthis.
I don't know how to live in theworld anymore.
(46:56):
I'm living in grace.
That's literally my life andthat's how I feel now and that's
why I'm living a householderlife too, and you know that's
I'm just full of gratitude forthat, just full of gratitude.
(47:17):
But anyway, thank you very muchfor listening.
I hope this episode was goodfor you, but but yeah, we'll
look forward to the next episode.
Take care, namaste, everyone,bye.
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