May 7, 2025 • 16 mins
We continue our series on Vedanta Sara, exploring verses 15-16 which distinguish between the permanent (Brahman/consciousness) and the transient (everything else), a fundamental teaching for true spiritual understanding.
• Discrimination between permanent and transient as essential spiritual practice
• Only consciousness/awareness is truly unchanging and permanent
• The formless cannot transform into form; forms appear and disappear within formlessness
• Renouncing attachment to the fruits of actions as taught in Bhagavad Gita
• The six spiritual treasures supporting the path to realization
• Making Jivan Mukti (liberation while living) our primary spiritual goal
• Importance of surrendering material attachments while continuing worldly activities
• Understanding that Brahman alone is permanent, unlimited by time and space
• Confronting our mortality as necessary for understanding immortality
• Accepting our infinite, formless nature beyond the body
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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 another episode of the Bearded
Mystic Podcast, and I'm yourhost, rahul N Singh.
So let's continue on with ourseries on the Vedanta Sara,
which is an importantpreliminary foundational text
that can help us understand theUpanishads, the Brahma Sutras
(00:23):
and even the Bhagavad Gita.
Now it's very important that wehave particular definitions and
that we understand what thingsmean.
So when we come acrossteachings, our understanding is
clear.
What can happen when we readtext or when we read
(00:47):
interpretations?
We can sometimes get confusedon what they mean.
Sometimes some words aretranslated differently and, for
example I'll just give one veryquick summary the Bhagavad Gita.
Now, the ISKCON version of theBhagavad Gita is actually
(01:09):
different.
They change certain words inthe Bhagavad Gita, so, as much
as they say it's Bhagavad Gitaas it is, it really isn't and
it's been manipulated withwhilst if, and there's evidence
(01:30):
of this as well.
So when it comes to um, youknow that from.
In my opinion, the ramakrishnamath has the best translations
and they are true to the meaning.
They don't give theirperspectives.
Some people accuse them ofbeing left-leaning and so forth,
(01:50):
or giving Marxist perspectives,but you don't see that in the
translation and that seems to bebiases from particular people.
So it's very important tounderstand that translations
should be kept as translationsor interpretations.
That's fine, as long as we knowthe intention.
So in chapter 1, which isobviously the preliminary, and
(02:14):
we are on verse 15.
We've already discussed theprevious 14 verses.
If you want to recap them,they're on the playlist on the
on youtube, so it's very easyfor you to go through them.
And then, just in general, Iwould say that's the best way to
(02:38):
to do that.
Now.
Verse 15 says the means to theattainment of knowledge, or
jnana, are discriminationbetween things permanent and
transient, renunciation of theenjoyment of the fruits of
actions in this world and,hereafter, the six treasures,
(02:58):
such as the control of mind andthe desire for spiritual freedom
.
Now we need to know thedifference between nitya and
anitya, so that which ispermanent and that which is
impermanent or is transient.
This is very important.
Now some people will say well,you know this formless, it's
(03:24):
contentless.
Therefore, if we imply thatthat is permanent and then you
know, then we are defining it insome way, we are binding it in
some way.
That's not necessarily the case.
You're being pointed to herethrough words, but the actual
(03:44):
experience will be beyondpermanence and impermanence, and
so that has to be understood.
But initially you need to knowwhat is permanent now.
What is permanent?
That which does not change.
So whatever is changeless isessentially only consciousness,
it it's only awareness.
(04:05):
That's the only thing that ischangeless.
Same thing with the formless.
The formless cannot change.
The formless cannot just modifyinto a form.
For that to happen, that meanswithin the formless.
If we truly look into theformless, that means that
(04:25):
somewhere there is a form in theformless that would imply that
it was never formless to beginwith.
So this needs to be understood.
Now, the formless remainsformless.
Now, because of theformlessness, you can say it
gives the room for forms toappear.
(04:46):
You can say that that's fine,but remember that will be
impermanence, that will betransience, because forms will
appear and forms will disappear.
Then the renouncing the fruitsof actions and any other
pleasures that will come by fromthe world.
(05:08):
You know this is a massivething.
In the Bhagavad Gita it's oneof the biggest teachings and one
of the things that is easy topractice.
You know, you do your actionsand you don't think about the
results.
You let the results be as theyare your actions and you don't
think about the results.
You let the results be as theyare and you don't need to say
whether this result was deservedor undeserved, or you should
(05:30):
have done better.
No, that's.
That's then going into the mindand then getting manipulated by
what the mind thinks.
So, whatever the fruits of youractions are, just let them be,
you know.
You don't have to say you knowI did this or because of this,
I'm enjoying the fruits.
That may be the case, butremember to Be as Beyond the
(05:55):
fruits of those actions.
Good things appear good, badthings appear good.
No need to be either way,swayed either way.
Yeah, the whole point is tohave our mind centered on
formless awareness.
That's the whole point.
Then there's the six treasures.
The six treasures will bediscussed in a bit, but remember
(06:20):
one thing that those are, likeyou know, the control of the
mind, the control of the sensesand all, and the diksha,
endurance and so on.
You know shraddha, faith and soon.
So those are the six treasures.
And then the desire forspiritual freedom.
As I always say, unless we aretruly desiring jivan mukti, we
(06:43):
are not really ready for thespiritual journey.
So to be truly spiritual is tobe truly desiring Jivan Mukti.
I often say this, you know,whether that's in satsang,
whether that's in the podcast,jivan Mukti has to be your
number one goal, and it's bestif you understand this earlier
(07:08):
than later.
I, when I was maybe in my 30s, Idesired Jeevan Mukti, but I
wish that I desired it earlieron.
I always wanted to connect withGod, you know, connect with the
formless, connect withconsciousness.
That was always there.
But to actually be liberated,to be free to be boundless, that
(07:33):
was something that came inafterwards.
So I wish that I was able tohave those feelings, these
feelings of Jivan Mukti, when Iwas earlier, when I was able to
have those feelings, thesefeelings of Jeevan Mukti when I
was earlier, when I was, youknow, in my university days, you
know, to be free, to be trulyfree, not free from just, you
know, the mental construct, notjust that, you know, that's one
(07:56):
aspect, but to be truly freefrom even the Idea of Atman and
Brahman yeah, where thoseconcepts don't Drive me down.
Or the concept, that Ofnon-duality, you know, sometimes
people can get stuck on.
Well, if it's not non-dual,then I don't want to know it.
(08:16):
And what they don't realise,that very thought Brings you
back into duality.
Yeah, yeah, and this is animportant teaching to remember.
So one should really desire,jivan Mukti, that in this life,
(08:38):
I want to be free.
The problem with this nowbecomes that you then have to
reduce or remove the desire forworldly things.
Now, some people may want to bemillionaires, you may want to
be self-sufficient.
I want to be self-sufficient,but does that desire appeal to
(09:05):
me more than Jiva Mukti?
No, jiva Mukti has to besomething I can't compromise
with.
So that has to be the approachof the devotee.
That's how, you know, in myapproach to spirituality today
is that I've surrenderedeverything that is material to
(09:27):
my Guru, now to Narankara, tothe formless.
None of what I have is mine,and that is freedom.
You know, just even practicingletting go of that, that's
(09:53):
freedom.
But, yes, does that mean that Istop working?
No, does that mean I stopfocusing on my job?
No, does that mean that I don'twork on my course, that I'm
creating, that I don't work onmy course, that I'm creating?
No, yes, the course that I'mcreating is there not just to
(10:14):
make people ready for Brahm Gyanand ready for the wisdom, but
it's also there to help mecreate a secondary income which
will eventually become a primaryincome, and that's very clear,
because there's going to be acost to it.
So I can do things like thisthat I enjoy, yeah, and there's
(10:42):
no need for me to Pretendotherwise.
Yeah, the authenticity has tobe there.
So this happens when we areTruly connected to spirituality.
We then become very clear inwhat we want, and that can only
happen if we are desiring theultimate freedom, which is to be
(11:04):
in the.
To understand that our truenature Is formless consciousness
, it is Nirakar, it is God.
To understand that our truenature is formless consciousness
, it is Nirakar, it is God.
And not to shy away from that.
Yes, I acknowledge that.
You know, I'm initially a souland what I didn't realize was
(11:24):
that this soul was actually Goditself, that the Atman is
Brahman itself, and that onlyoccurs when we have truly
understood what spirituality is.
Now, yes, so the next verse,verse 16, discrimination or
(11:49):
discernment between thingspermanent and transient.
This consists of thediscrimination that Brahman
alone is the permanent substanceand that or things other than
it are transient.
So basically, what does it meanby permanent?
It's unlimited by time andspace, etc.
(12:10):
Nothing can limit it.
That's what's permanent.
So if we know consciousnessdoes not belong to space.
It's not limited by space, it'snot limited by time, it's not
limited by name or form oranything like that.
Consciousness can remain aslimitless as it wants, anything
like that.
(12:30):
Consciousness can remain aslimitless as it wants.
And transient is that which iscontained in some way, limited
in some way.
Time erodes it.
Space contains it.
Space limits it.
You know, that is a thing.
The span of control is less so.
(12:52):
Here we have to understand thatBrahman alone is permanent.
Nothing else is permanent, justBrahman, just your Atma, just
consciousness, just awareness.
That alone is permanent.
Do not accept anything else.
The different energies of theuniverse although, yes, this is
(13:15):
controlled by Ishvara, but it isnot Brahman.
Ishvara also is temporary.
Yes, so everything other thanBrahman is transient.
Your job is transient.
(13:35):
This life is transient.
Tomorrow you may die.
Are we comfortable with our owndeath?
Are we comfortable thattomorrow could be our last day,
or today could be our last day?
This could be the last podcastI record.
This could be the last podcastyou hear.
Are you comfortable with that?
(13:57):
If we're not comfortable by ourown mortality, how can we get to
immortality when we haven'tdealt with mortality?
You know, when we think thatdeath is the end.
That means we do not know whatthe beginning is.
If we know what the beginningis, we know death is never the
(14:17):
end.
But this only happens whenwe've truly experienced what
Brahman is, when we understandwhat the permanent is, and this
makes us strong.
For this we have to spend timethinking about death, unless you
have faced death in in a one toone battle where you fully
(14:44):
understand what it is.
Until then life cannot be lived.
To be Jivan Mukti, to have JivanMukti understand what it is,
until then life cannot be lived.
To be Jivan Mukti, to haveJivan Mukti, one has to embrace
death, and for that you have todevour it.
The infinite has to devour thefinite.
(15:04):
For that to happen, you have toaccept your infinite nature.
You have to accept yourinfinite nature, you have to
accept your timeless nature.
So that is very important.
So this is, uh, what we'll keepwith today.
My, for some reason my throat isnot letting me continue on.
You can probably hear itthrough my voice, but if there's
(15:31):
one thing to understand intoday's episode is that you are
Brahman, nothing less.
So tonight, when you go tosleep, remember that you are
this formless consciousness, andthat is permanent.
This body is.
This body will dissolve away,it will die.
(15:52):
Nothing remains, only thisBrahman remains.
So with those few words, I takeyour leave.
Do follow me on social media,do follow me on Discord.
You can have conversations withme there.
Do like this video, do comment.
(16:12):
If you want to support me onPatreon, you can.
If you want to support me onYouTube membership, you can.
And look, I've started workingon the course again.
So back to the writing.
So that's happening, uh, andmore updates will be given in
(16:33):
the future.
Okay, take care, everybody,stay safe.
Namaste.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded
Mystic Podcast, and I'm yourhost, rahul N Singh.
So let's continue on with ourseries on the Vedanta Sara,
which is an importantpreliminary foundational text
that can help us understand theUpanishads, the Brahma Sutras
(00:23):
and even the Bhagavad Gita.
Now it's very important that wehave particular definitions and
that we understand what thingsmean.
So when we come acrossteachings, our understanding is
clear.
What can happen when we readtext or when we read
(00:47):
interpretations?
We can sometimes get confusedon what they mean.
Sometimes some words aretranslated differently and, for
example I'll just give one veryquick summary the Bhagavad Gita.
Now, the ISKCON version of theBhagavad Gita is actually
(01:09):
different.
They change certain words inthe Bhagavad Gita, so, as much
as they say it's Bhagavad Gitaas it is, it really isn't and
it's been manipulated withwhilst if, and there's evidence
(01:30):
of this as well.
So when it comes to um, youknow that from.
In my opinion, the ramakrishnamath has the best translations
and they are true to the meaning.
They don't give theirperspectives.
Some people accuse them ofbeing left-leaning and so forth,
(01:50):
or giving Marxist perspectives,but you don't see that in the
translation and that seems to bebiases from particular people.
So it's very important tounderstand that translations
should be kept as translationsor interpretations.
That's fine, as long as we knowthe intention.
So in chapter 1, which isobviously the preliminary, and
(02:14):
we are on verse 15.
We've already discussed theprevious 14 verses.
If you want to recap them,they're on the playlist on the
on youtube, so it's very easyfor you to go through them.
And then, just in general, Iwould say that's the best way to
(02:38):
to do that.
Now.
Verse 15 says the means to theattainment of knowledge, or
jnana, are discriminationbetween things permanent and
transient, renunciation of theenjoyment of the fruits of
actions in this world and,hereafter, the six treasures,
(02:58):
such as the control of mind andthe desire for spiritual freedom
.
Now we need to know thedifference between nitya and
anitya, so that which ispermanent and that which is
impermanent or is transient.
This is very important.
Now some people will say well,you know this formless, it's
(03:24):
contentless.
Therefore, if we imply thatthat is permanent and then you
know, then we are defining it insome way, we are binding it in
some way.
That's not necessarily the case.
You're being pointed to herethrough words, but the actual
(03:44):
experience will be beyondpermanence and impermanence, and
so that has to be understood.
But initially you need to knowwhat is permanent now.
What is permanent?
That which does not change.
So whatever is changeless isessentially only consciousness,
it it's only awareness.
(04:05):
That's the only thing that ischangeless.
Same thing with the formless.
The formless cannot change.
The formless cannot just modifyinto a form.
For that to happen, that meanswithin the formless.
If we truly look into theformless, that means that
(04:25):
somewhere there is a form in theformless that would imply that
it was never formless to beginwith.
So this needs to be understood.
Now, the formless remainsformless.
Now, because of theformlessness, you can say it
gives the room for forms toappear.
(04:46):
You can say that that's fine,but remember that will be
impermanence, that will betransience, because forms will
appear and forms will disappear.
Then the renouncing the fruitsof actions and any other
pleasures that will come by fromthe world.
(05:08):
You know this is a massivething.
In the Bhagavad Gita it's oneof the biggest teachings and one
of the things that is easy topractice.
You know, you do your actionsand you don't think about the
results.
You let the results be as theyare your actions and you don't
think about the results.
You let the results be as theyare and you don't need to say
whether this result was deservedor undeserved, or you should
(05:30):
have done better.
No, that's.
That's then going into the mindand then getting manipulated by
what the mind thinks.
So, whatever the fruits of youractions are, just let them be,
you know.
You don't have to say you knowI did this or because of this,
I'm enjoying the fruits.
That may be the case, butremember to Be as Beyond the
(05:55):
fruits of those actions.
Good things appear good, badthings appear good.
No need to be either way,swayed either way.
Yeah, the whole point is tohave our mind centered on
formless awareness.
That's the whole point.
Then there's the six treasures.
The six treasures will bediscussed in a bit, but remember
(06:20):
one thing that those are, likeyou know, the control of the
mind, the control of the sensesand all, and the diksha,
endurance and so on.
You know shraddha, faith and soon.
So those are the six treasures.
And then the desire forspiritual freedom.
As I always say, unless we aretruly desiring jivan mukti, we
(06:43):
are not really ready for thespiritual journey.
So to be truly spiritual is tobe truly desiring Jivan Mukti.
I often say this, you know,whether that's in satsang,
whether that's in the podcast,jivan Mukti has to be your
number one goal, and it's bestif you understand this earlier
(07:08):
than later.
I, when I was maybe in my 30s, Idesired Jeevan Mukti, but I
wish that I desired it earlieron.
I always wanted to connect withGod, you know, connect with the
formless, connect withconsciousness.
That was always there.
But to actually be liberated,to be free to be boundless, that
(07:33):
was something that came inafterwards.
So I wish that I was able tohave those feelings, these
feelings of Jivan Mukti, when Iwas earlier, when I was able to
have those feelings, thesefeelings of Jeevan Mukti when I
was earlier, when I was, youknow, in my university days, you
know, to be free, to be trulyfree, not free from just, you
know, the mental construct, notjust that, you know, that's one
(07:56):
aspect, but to be truly freefrom even the Idea of Atman and
Brahman yeah, where thoseconcepts don't Drive me down.
Or the concept, that Ofnon-duality, you know, sometimes
people can get stuck on.
Well, if it's not non-dual,then I don't want to know it.
(08:16):
And what they don't realise,that very thought Brings you
back into duality.
Yeah, yeah, and this is animportant teaching to remember.
So one should really desire,jivan Mukti, that in this life,
(08:38):
I want to be free.
The problem with this nowbecomes that you then have to
reduce or remove the desire forworldly things.
Now, some people may want to bemillionaires, you may want to
be self-sufficient.
I want to be self-sufficient,but does that desire appeal to
(09:05):
me more than Jiva Mukti?
No, jiva Mukti has to besomething I can't compromise
with.
So that has to be the approachof the devotee.
That's how, you know, in myapproach to spirituality today
is that I've surrenderedeverything that is material to
(09:27):
my Guru, now to Narankara, tothe formless.
None of what I have is mine,and that is freedom.
You know, just even practicingletting go of that, that's
(09:53):
freedom.
But, yes, does that mean that Istop working?
No, does that mean I stopfocusing on my job?
No, does that mean that I don'twork on my course, that I'm
creating, that I don't work onmy course, that I'm creating?
No, yes, the course that I'mcreating is there not just to
(10:14):
make people ready for Brahm Gyanand ready for the wisdom, but
it's also there to help mecreate a secondary income which
will eventually become a primaryincome, and that's very clear,
because there's going to be acost to it.
So I can do things like thisthat I enjoy, yeah, and there's
(10:42):
no need for me to Pretendotherwise.
Yeah, the authenticity has tobe there.
So this happens when we areTruly connected to spirituality.
We then become very clear inwhat we want, and that can only
happen if we are desiring theultimate freedom, which is to be
(11:04):
in the.
To understand that our truenature Is formless consciousness
, it is Nirakar, it is God.
To understand that our truenature is formless consciousness
, it is Nirakar, it is God.
And not to shy away from that.
Yes, I acknowledge that.
You know, I'm initially a souland what I didn't realize was
(11:24):
that this soul was actually Goditself, that the Atman is
Brahman itself, and that onlyoccurs when we have truly
understood what spirituality is.
Now, yes, so the next verse,verse 16, discrimination or
(11:49):
discernment between thingspermanent and transient.
This consists of thediscrimination that Brahman
alone is the permanent substanceand that or things other than
it are transient.
So basically, what does it meanby permanent?
It's unlimited by time andspace, etc.
(12:10):
Nothing can limit it.
That's what's permanent.
So if we know consciousnessdoes not belong to space.
It's not limited by space, it'snot limited by time, it's not
limited by name or form oranything like that.
Consciousness can remain aslimitless as it wants, anything
like that.
(12:30):
Consciousness can remain aslimitless as it wants.
And transient is that which iscontained in some way, limited
in some way.
Time erodes it.
Space contains it.
Space limits it.
You know, that is a thing.
The span of control is less so.
(12:52):
Here we have to understand thatBrahman alone is permanent.
Nothing else is permanent, justBrahman, just your Atma, just
consciousness, just awareness.
That alone is permanent.
Do not accept anything else.
The different energies of theuniverse although, yes, this is
(13:15):
controlled by Ishvara, but it isnot Brahman.
Ishvara also is temporary.
Yes, so everything other thanBrahman is transient.
Your job is transient.
(13:35):
This life is transient.
Tomorrow you may die.
Are we comfortable with our owndeath?
Are we comfortable thattomorrow could be our last day,
or today could be our last day?
This could be the last podcastI record.
This could be the last podcastyou hear.
Are you comfortable with that?
(13:57):
If we're not comfortable by ourown mortality, how can we get to
immortality when we haven'tdealt with mortality?
You know, when we think thatdeath is the end.
That means we do not know whatthe beginning is.
If we know what the beginningis, we know death is never the
(14:17):
end.
But this only happens whenwe've truly experienced what
Brahman is, when we understandwhat the permanent is, and this
makes us strong.
For this we have to spend timethinking about death, unless you
have faced death in in a one toone battle where you fully
(14:44):
understand what it is.
Until then life cannot be lived.
To be Jivan Mukti, to have JivanMukti understand what it is,
until then life cannot be lived.
To be Jivan Mukti, to haveJivan Mukti, one has to embrace
death, and for that you have todevour it.
The infinite has to devour thefinite.
(15:04):
For that to happen, you have toaccept your infinite nature.
You have to accept yourinfinite nature, you have to
accept your timeless nature.
So that is very important.
So this is, uh, what we'll keepwith today.
My, for some reason my throat isnot letting me continue on.
You can probably hear itthrough my voice, but if there's
(15:31):
one thing to understand intoday's episode is that you are
Brahman, nothing less.
So tonight, when you go tosleep, remember that you are
this formless consciousness, andthat is permanent.
This body is.
This body will dissolve away,it will die.
(15:52):
Nothing remains, only thisBrahman remains.
So with those few words, I takeyour leave.
Do follow me on social media,do follow me on Discord.
You can have conversations withme there.
Do like this video, do comment.
(16:12):
If you want to support me onPatreon, you can.
If you want to support me onYouTube membership, you can.
And look, I've started workingon the course again.
So back to the writing.
So that's happening, uh, andmore updates will be given in
(16:33):
the future.
Okay, take care, everybody,stay safe.
Namaste.
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