Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.20.18. Five Coverings of Ignorance

Invocation and verse recitation

0:00Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva nārottamam, Devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet.

0:35naṣṭa- prāyeṣv abhadrēṣu nityaṁ bhāgavat-sevayā, bhāgavate uttama-śloke bhaktiḥ bhavati naiṣṭhikī. naiṣṭhikī, yaṁ pravrajantam anupetam apeta-kṛtyaṁ dvaipāyanō viraha-kātara ājuhāva putrēti tanmayatayā taru-

1:14sarvō hṛdaṁ tam munivardanam taday Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Mahāpurāṇam Canto Sri Chapter 20 Conversation between Maitreya and Vidura text number 18.

1:34Sasarja, Sasarja cāyāṁ avidyāṁ avidyāṁ pañca-parvāṇam ca, agrata tamisram, tamaḥ, mohaḥ, mahā-tamaḥ, sasarja ca vidyāṁ sasarja ca avidyāṁ sasarja ca avidyāṁ ca ca avidyāṁ pañca-parvāṇaṁ agrataḥ pañca- parvāṇaṁ agrataḥ, pañca pañca-tamisram andha- tamisraṁ andha-tamisram andha-tamisram tamaḥ mahā-tamaḥ, mahā-tamaḥ, tamaḥ mahā-tamaḥ mahā-tamaḥ, sasarja ca avidyāṁ, sasarja ca avidyāṁ, pañca-parvāṇaṁ agrataḥ agra- tamisram andha-tamisraṁ ca,

Five coverings of material ignorance

3:13mahā mahā sasarja created chāyayā with his shadow avidyām ignorance pañca-parvāṇam pañca-parvāṇam five varieties agrataḥ first of all tamisram andha-tamisram, andha-tamisraṁ, tamaḥ, tamas, mohaḥ, moha moha mahā-tamaḥ mahā-tamaḥ o mahā-moha translation

4:06First of all, Brahmā created from his shadow the coverings of ignorance of the conditioned souls. They are five in number and are called Tamisra and misra, tamas, moha and maha moha purport.

4:26The condition souls or living entities who come to the material world to enjoy sense gratification are covered in the beginning by five different conditions. The first condition is a covering of Tamistra or anger.

4:48Constitutionally, each and every living entity has minute independence. It is misuse of that minute independence for the conditioned soul to think that he can enjoy like the Supreme Lord, or to think, why shall I not be a free enjoyer like the Supreme Lord.

5:13This forgetfulness of his constitutional position is due to anger or envy. The living entity being eternally part and parcel servitor of the Supreme Lord can never by constitution be an equal enjoyer with the Lord.

5:33When he forgets this, however, he tries to be one with him. His condition is called tamistra. Even in the field of spiritual realization, this tamistra mentality of the living entity is hard to overcome.

5:53In trying to get out of the entanglement of material life, there are many who want to be one with the Supreme. Even in their transcendental activities, the slower grade mentality of Tamishra continues.

6:10And the Tamishra involves considering death to be the ultimate end. The atheists generally think that the body is the self, and that everything is therefore ended with the end of the body.

6:27Thus, they want to enjoy material life as far as possible during the existence of the body. Their theory is: as long as you live, you should live prosperously. Never mind whether you commit all kinds of so-called sins.

6:44You must eat sumptuously.

6:46Beg, borrow, and steal, and if you think that by stealing and borrowing you are being entangled in sinful activities for which you will have to then just forget this misconception because after death everything is finished.

7:04No one is responsible for anything he does during his life. This atheistic conception of life is killing human civilization. For it is without knowledge of the continuation. Andha-tāmisra ignorance is due to tamas.

7:27The condition of not knowing anything about the spirit soul is called Tamas. This material world is also generally called Tamas because 99% of its living entities are ignorant of their identity as a soul.

7:52Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Almost everyone is thinking that he is this body. He has no information of the spirit soul. Guided by this misconception, one always thinks, this is my body.

8:08And anything in relationship with this body is mine. For such misguided living entities, sex life is the background of material existence.

8:18Actually, the conditioned souls in ignorance of this material world are simply guided by sex life and as soon as they get the opportunity for sex life, they become attached to so-called home, motherland, children, wealth, and opulence.

8:38All these attachments increase moha or the illusion of the bodily concept of life. Janasya Mahoyum. And the illusion of the bodily concept of life also increases.

8:57Thus, the idea that I am this body and everything belongs to this body's mind also increases and the whole world is put into mire.

9:09Sectarian societies, families, and nationalities are created and they fight with one another. Mahamoha means to be mad after material enjoyment, especially in this age of Kali.

9:24Everyone is overwhelmed by the madness to accumulate paraphernalia for material enjoyment. These definitions are very nicely given in Vishnu Purana wherein it is said Tamoviveko Mohaqsyat Antahkarana vibra Maha.

9:43Maha mohas tu Viggy Yogramya Boga Sukaishana. Maanam Chyandra Tamishram Tamishram Crodha Uchyate Avidya Pancha Parvaisha Pradurp Butta Mahatmanaha. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jai!

10:07Sassarja Chaya Yavidyam Pancha Parvanam Agrataha Tamistramandata Mistram Tamomoha Mahatamaha first of all Brahma created from his shadow the coverings of ignorance of the conditioned souls. They are five in number, and they are called tamishra, andatamisra, tamas, moha, and mahamoha.

10:32Na mamvisnu padrisna preštay, butali Sri Mati Bhaktivin Paswami Hinamini. Namaste Sara Swati Devi Gura N Pracharny, Nirviche Sunyavadi Paschatades vanchakapatarubas Chakripasinduvi Vachapatitanam Pavaneby Namama Sri

10:56Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhunityānanda Śyādvaita Gadādhara Śivāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

11:13pravi mama bacchi, ma pra suctam sandji, vai da kila shapti daraswadam nanyam schahastacharna, shramatva gadim prananda mu bhaga depuru sha du.

11:42So I'm very happy and honored to be able to speak in front of all of you in this South Bangalore temple.

Ignorance as prerequisite for material enjoyment

11:55Narahari Chaitanya Prabhu is here to correct me if I say something wrong.

12:07And it's it's just natural to say something wrong because we're all in this condition of ignorance which is so nicely described by Srimad Bhagavad. Lord Brahma, by the order of the Supreme Lord, first of all created condition for us to live happily in this world. And the only condition for us to live happily in this world is to make us ignorant.

12:38Ignorance is a necessary prerequisite of our happiness in this material world. Without ignorance, we cannot be happy. Those who are stupid enough to be knowledgeable, they cannot be happy. All of you are in this category.

13:01You spoiled your material life.

13:05So first of all, very mercifully by the desire of the Supreme Lord, Lord Brahmā created the preliminary condition, prerequisites for living entities to enjoy this material world, to enjoy the sense gratification, and that's exactly the primary purpose by which we are coming to this material world.

13:28And this material world would not serve the purpose if the ignorance would not be created first.

13:35Therefore, it's very appropriate that this panchaparvani, these five coverings of ignorance, are being described or being created first of all by Lord Brahmā. Agrata this is the first creation.

13:53And in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam these five coverings of ignorance are described twice.

13:59The first time they are described in the 12th chapter of the 3rd canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where Śrīla Prabhupāda very beautifully also describes them in the purport. It's basically the same five coverings of ignorance,

14:20and at that time Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes also Patañjali Muni with his Yoga Sutra comparing these five universal creations by the Lord Brahmā with the five minute manifestations of the same ignorance within us.

14:41And I will try to explain this because it's very important for us to understand the anatomy of our ignorance.

14:51It's very important for us to understand the layers of ignorance which are there and how this ignorance perverts our consciousness, how this ignorance

15:02actually influences our every thought which we have, every action, every word which we speak. So this is extremely important information for

15:18us to understand and to assimilate very thoroughly how the conditions of this material life are being created by Lord Brahmā, and how we are all ransoms of these conditions, how we are all prisoners of this ignorance.

15:38Because every living entity, even though there're suffering, somehow or other they have the hope that I will enjoy. Even at the very last moment of life, this hope is still there.

15:54It is said there is a nice saying that the hope dies last. Everything else is already lost. Is already dead. You know, you are almost dead. But the hope is still alive.

16:09You still have the hope that I will enjoy, I will make it, I will prove that I am the best. I am the enjoyer of this world, somehow or other. So this starts from the early childhood.

16:24Every teenager has these great hopes, you know. I will be very special, I will have hopes.

16:30And every old man, you know, has some slightly diminished hope that despite of everything else he will somehow or other become happy and he will make it and, you know, sometimes they say, you know, I had such a good life.

Parallels with yoga sutras kleśas

16:51So let's get into it and let's see how it all works.

16:58Even though Śrīla Prabhupāda says that the first covering of ignorance is Tamisra, in the purport to the second verse of the 12th chapter, he compares, as I said, this verse he parallels this verse

17:14or this five coverings of ignorance with the five kleśas of Patañjali Muni from Yoga Sūtras. And there it is very clearly said that first

17:28the background of existence, and actually in this purport also he says that the background of the existence is tamas tamas. Using the terminology of Patañjali Muni, it's avidyā.

17:47Avidyā is the background, avidyā is, as Patañjali Muni puts it in Yoga Sūtra, is the breeding ground of our karma.

17:58It's something where the seeds of our karma are all fructifying and giving us the experiences of this life. In the second chapter of Yoga Sūtra, it's very beautifully described there. So avidyā is the first covering.

18:18And a little later I will try to explain why in this particular verse it starts with tamisra. Why not with avidyā? Why not with Tamas?

18:28This avidyā or tamas, as Śrīla Prabhupāda said, 99% of the people of this world they are in Tamas. And it's definitely a very gracious proposal that 99% of people are in Tamas.

18:47It's actually 108% of people of this world are all in Tamas. Because what is tamas? What is avidyā?

18:57Very beautifully Vyāsadeva, the commentator of Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, he says that avidya is uh when is the condition of our mind when we take something which is not eternal, something which is not pure to be pure to start with.

19:19What is not pure is the body. But we look at the body of somebody else and we think, oh, such a nice body. You know, it's covered with pus and sweat and all kinds of abominable actions, uh, substances.

19:37But we look at somebody and we say, Oh, such a beautiful girl, such a beautiful boy, I want to enjoy this body. So, first of all, we don't understand that this body is actually dirty stuff.

19:52You know, if we would understand the extent of the dirtiness of the body, oh my goodness, we would not try to make this uh completely strange attempt to enjoy with this body.

20:08You know, can you enjoy with the piece of stool? You're going, you're going in the street and you see such a nice piece of stool. Let me enjoy it. How you can enjoy with a piece of stool? This body is not much different.

20:27Really speaking. It's all you know mucus and bile. And nevertheless, we have this very heroic attempt. Let me enjoy this body. And we think this is something worthwhile.

20:44So, therefore, in Yoga Sutras, the first ignorance, the first manifestation of ignorance is to take something which is impure by nature, by its constitution, and think it's pure.

20:57Think it's something really, you know so many poets they they write such a poetry, very Uttama Shloka poetry the choicest verses.

21:13Glorifying the enjoyment in this material world, glorifying this body and the by-products and sexual activities.

21:22And then it is said the next manifestation of ignorance which is there of, avidyā which is there, or tamas, is to take something which is not eternal to be eternal.

21:37And basically, that's our relationship with this material world, because somehow or other, and of course with this body, but somehow or other we want to live in this material world.

21:52We want to continue living in this material world and we consider the situation in this material world, we, we always hope.

22:01It's amazing, it's an amazing manifestation of ignorance of the living entities, how everyone hopes that somehow or other in this material world the situation will become stable.

22:17Now the new year is coming, and everyone will be just wishing everyone, you know let this year was not right. Mat dens here will be definitely very happy. Happy New Year. It means obtain your stability in life. What is this?

22:44So get something stable, you know. Forget it. This world is not stable. This world is being destroyed at every moment of time. Everything is being destroyed. It's destined to be destroyed.

23:01It's Kshanika, it's Ksana Bhangura, it's today, now it's here, tomorrow it's not here.

23:08Therefore, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains when Krishna speaks about aśvattha, this tree of material world in the 15th chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that why he calls it aśvattha? Why not some other name?

23:27Why not some other name? Tulasi is also a tree. He says aśvattha. It's something which is here today, but śvaha tomorrow it's not there. there. Tomorrow aśvattha. It's already not there.

23:48Today I'm here, today I'm enjoying, but tomorrow it's not there. You know, tomorrow I look around, it's not the same Bangalore as it was yesterday. Something is else is there.

24:00You know, of course we don't notice it, and therefore we, think it's so nice.

24:04You know, but you know, you come some 10 years later or 15 years later to the place where you're born and you have this nostalgia, you know, it's such a nice place I was born, and you look there, nothing is there.

24:19I was born in Taskent. And I like as everyone else in this material world, every conditioned entity likes the place where he was born, I became attached.

24:31When I was 10 years old, there was a huge earthquake and everything was mercilessly destroyed. Nothing was there. My whole house was destroyed.

24:44I was somehow or other I escaped this, you know, everything was destroyed. Nothing was there. So that's the that's the nature of the material world.

24:56And that's the ignorance when we think that this material world will become stable. Happy New Year. Until we become a nice place. Therefore Krishna says, dukkhalayamashasam.

25:14The main characteristic of this material world is that it's ashashvatam. It's not eternal, it's temporary. And it's very difficult for us to grasp this idea because we revolt against it.

25:28It's repulsive for us to think that this is all very temporary. We still somehow or other, ahany ahani bhutani gacchanti yamalayam, yam yam sthavaram icchanti, yam yam sthavaram icchanti. Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja says that

25:44you know it's the most amazing thing. Kim āścaryam ataḥ param? The most amazing thing is that everyone knows that everyone goes Yamaalayam to the abode of Yama. Yam yam sthavaram icchanti.

26:00And nevertheless, everyone wants sthavaram icchanti. Everyone wants to be stable in this world. Congratulations. Welcome to the material world. Welcome to this world of ignorance.

26:12How this ignorance is deeply penetrating our consciousness. It has such a deep root within our consciousness.

Material enjoyment as cause of suffering

26:21And then the next manifestation of ignorance or tamas, what is this avidyā, is that we take something which is actually the cause of suffering to be the cause of enjoyment. That's another perversion of our consciousness.

26:40We think that material enjoyment is enjoyable. Material enjoyment is sufferable. That's what you're supposed to do with the material enjoyment. And again, our consciousness actually revolts against this.

26:59Our heart doesn't like to hear this. We want to hear something nice, you know, why these Hare Krishna people are so pessimistic. Why? Why? But that's but it's a fact, it's a fact of life.

27:14You know, material enjoyment is the cause of suffering. Because and Patanjali Muni very beautifully proves it. He says, why the material enjoyment?

27:26There are four reasons, so he gives four or five reasons why the material enjoyment is the cause of suffering. Okay, you enjoy. Fine. No problem. You enjoy material enjoyment. What is the result?

27:40You get attached to this material enjoyment.

27:43And then when you lose this material enjoyment, and sooner or later you will lose this material enjoyment because the nature of this world is that you lose you will lose everything.

27:53So, because you will lose this material enjoyment, you will suffer more if you are not attached. If you're not attached to material enjoyment, okay, you lose it, no problem. But if you are attached, you will suffer more.

28:08And then because you are attached, you become addicted to it. You start suffering because you're not supplied with this material enjoyment.

28:19All these people, you know, drugs are they enjoyable? I don't really know, but they say they are. You know, all these heavy drugs, all these narcotics, this stuff, people get some enjoyment, but what is the result?

28:39They suffer like, you know, like like hell. You know, they they take alcohol, they take this, and then you know, they they become addicted to it. They become totally dependent on it.

28:55And, you know, this is how Patanjali Muni, I will not get into all the details,

29:02but this is how Patanjali Muni proves that actually, and what to speak of the, how to say this, the very detrimental nature of material enjoyment or overenjoyment to the material body.

29:19Actually, when we overenjoy these facilities are given to us by this material body. We, mmm, we're nearing our death because the resources of this body are limited and when you enjoy sex life.

29:37It's actually the sex life, enjoyment of the sex life, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Bhagavatam compares with the enjoyment of your own blood.

29:47Like a camel is enjoying the blood which is coming from his own tongue by chewing these thorny bushes. And he thinks these are such nice bushes. He's actually enjoying the taste of his own blood.

30:05And he thinks this is the bushes which give me enjoyment. No, this is your own blood. When you enjoy sex life, you enjoy the taste of your own blood. Literally. Because what is semen or whatever? It's your blood.

30:24Transformation of your blood through the, you know, according to Ayurveda, the, you know, if you get from so many, you know, amount of your blood, you you get one drop of semen. And if you uh if you do it, if you try to enjoy it, you enjoy your own blood, literally.

30:43It's not it's not just a poetic metaphor. It's a medical fact. It's a scientific fact.

30:54So when we think that, you know, there is enjoyment in this world, there is ananda in this world, there's no doubt about it. You know, it's there. But uh it's actually causes of suffering.

31:11And if we try to find happiness in the material enjoyment, we're making tragic mistakes. The happiness is there. We're meant to be happy. There's no problem. By nature we are blissful.

31:26But when we mistake the material enjoyment with the happiness, when we think that the material enjoyment is the cause of happiness, that's a very big ignorance.

31:37And then the last thing is that the last manifestation of your ignorance of tamas, the background off our existence in this material world is that we take something which is not me to be me.

31:57Something which is actually not I am to be myself. I am this body.

Bodily identification and false ego

32:06So that's the that's the tamas. And this tamas, uh the next covering of ignorance according to this scheme is Moha, which is illusion. I'm this body.

32:25When you get this general understanding of ignorance, when this general when your consciousness is generally perverted by this ignorance, you get the most specific manifestation of ignorance.

32:42I am this particular body, not his body, not Naragari Chaitanya's body. I somehow rather I cannot enjoy his body. But I have my body. I am this. So Asmita. Avidya Asmita Ragad Vesha Abini Vesha.

33:00This is the five clashes, five causes of ignorance.

33:04According to Patañjali Muni and this is exactly corresponds to these five coverings of ignorance which are nothing but five causes of our sufferings in this material world. Because what is Klesha?

33:19Kleśa is something which creates klishṭa saṁskāras. There are aklishṭa saṁskāras and klishṭa saṁskāras. Saṁskāras which cause sufferings.

33:35What happens actually, it's a very important point to understand when we have this ignorance, the general ignorance within our consciousness, within our heart, then this ignorance creates certain waves, certain thoughts in our mind which are the cause of suffering.

34:02It creates certain mentalities, certain while interacting with this world, if we are ignorant, we will necessarily, 100% guaranteed, we will interact with this world, with the people of this world, and so on and so forth, in the way which will create some suffering.

34:26Does anyone of you experience sometimes some suffering? Some agitation in the mind, some unhappiness in the mind.

34:36It's because of this akliṣṭa saṁskāra, kliṣṭa saṁskāras, the bad saṁskāras in the mind, which creates certain sort of interactions, you know you you you enter into some interaction with some people and uh it becomes very unpleasurable, very unhappy as a result.

34:58So this is the the clashes are cause of kliṣṭa saṁskāras within our mind and there is some akliṣṭa saṁskāras some good saṁskāras which we actually create when we engage in sadhana and spiritual practice, it actually gives you happiness.

35:20It really gives you a lot of enjoyment and happiness. So coming back to this asmita, asmita which corresponds to moha here, to the illusion, as Prabhupāda explains here, Asmita means I'm this body. Asmi, asmita.

35:43Asmi means ayiness. Or sometimes it's called ahaṅkāra. In Sāṅkhya it's called ahaṅkāra in, uh yoga it's called Asmita. Uh Aynus, I'm uh the the conception that I'm I'm this body, uh the forgetfulness of the soul.

Covering and projecting functions of māyā

36:07It's actually very interesting. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, while commenting on the verse from the 12th chapter of the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He asks the question: how these five

36:25coverings of ignorance correspond to two functions of māyā. We all know that māyā or avidyā, avidyā vṛtti of māyā, avidyā function of māyā has only two functions.

36:40The first function is āvarātmikā śakti, the śakti which covers over our consciousness.

36:49And the second one is prakāśātmikā śakti or vikṣepātmikā śakti, as Prabhupāda very interestingly translates it, slaying potency. It's basically projecting potency.

37:07First our consciousness is covered and then it's projected on the body. First we forget, first we have to forget that we are spirit soul. First, we forget that I am eternal spirit soul, which is being born,

37:24we forget about our previous life, about previous experience, about previous death. We have to start anew. You know, how would you enjoy the life if you would remember all your death.

37:38And if you would know that you will die again and again and again and again by doing this. You know, there is no chance of your enjoyment.

37:47So therefore, the ignorance is there, the first thing your consciousness is covered, āvaraṇātmikā śakti. And then not only you forget that your soul, then you have to identify with something.

38:01So the vikṣiptātmikā śakti comes into play and projects your consciousness into the body. We're so tightly connected with this body. It's a nice theory, I am not this body.

38:16You know, but we when we come to the mirror, uh we immediately forget about this nice theory. That's me. That's me. Yes, I recognize myself. That's me. This is my nose. This is my ears. This is this is my beautiful lotus eyes.

38:37This is me. This is this is the second function of māyā, avidyā-śakti of māyā, avidyā-śakti of māyā, vikṣiptātmikā, or prakṣiptātmikā. We identify with Maya. So you know, literally speaking, that's it.

38:56There is no need for five five coverings of ignorance. The two are enough, right?

39:05But Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, he is quoting Viṣṇu Svāmī, the founder of Rudra-sampradāya, who explains very interestingly that yes, these two functions, they are first functions of ignorance.

39:22First of all, your consciousness or your mind is covered by this āvaraṇātmikā śakti, or this avidyā which we just described. Then it is projected uh on the matter.

39:37The uh you identify with the matter, you completely totally uh completely identifying with the matter and try to enjoy this.

39:50But then the three others they are further manifestation of further development of this prakṣiptātmikā śakti or vikṣiptātmikā śakti. This vikṣiptātmikā śakti doesn't stop there.

40:06First, vikṣiptātmikā śakti āvaraṇātmikā śakti makes you forget that you're the soul. Which we still don't remember.

40:15You know, we all know the Siddhānta, we all preach it, but we don't really identify ourselves with the soul. It's just a nice theory for us. Why? Because vikṣepa-śakti so strongly makes us to identify with the body.

40:36But the further development of this further functions of this vikṣepa-śakti is rāga, dveṣa, abhiniveśa, or after moha there is mahā- moha and after mahāmoha there is tāmisra and after tāmisra there is andha-tāmisra.

40:54So this is all this four, the first one is the function of āvaraṇa-śakti, the covering potency of avidyā. The four other ones, they're the different manifestations of, yes, different functions of vikṣepa-śakti.

41:14How this identification with the body works, how it really takes place in our life. So what is happening, you identify with the body,

Attachment to physical pleasure and rāga

41:29asmita, I'm this body, and then uh raga comes. Raga means attachment. Attachment to the enjoyment, the attachment to the happiness, attachment to this experience, pleasurable experience, which we have.

41:47And this body, you know, it's it's it gives us a lot of pleasurable experience. You know, you can just you can pet yourself. You can you can do so many things.

42:01You can smell nice smell, you can see beautiful images in the internet, you know, it's so attractive, you can hear a nice voice. Somebody sent to me some pop singer recently and I listened to him.

42:21It's just a really amazing some Russian singer. You know he he sings by by male voice, beautifully sings by male voice. And all of a sudden he goes really high.

42:36And the same person starts singing by total beautiful female voice. It's so amazing. I was I was listening and I was thinking, you know, so nice. So this is how it is.

42:49You know, the body gives you facilities to enjoy, and you become attached to this. And we all are attached. We're all attached.

42:59Of course, hopefully we're attached to prasāda, but honestly speaking, we're attached to pizza, whether it's offered or not offered, though I don't know. dosas being in South India giving the gesture to the local culture.

43:24You know, whether it's soft or not, it's a detail. The main point is to have nice dosas. So this is how we're attached. We are attached. This is raga.

43:40We are attached to these experiences which the body gives to us. And that solidifies our attachment to the body. We already think I'm this body. And all these experiences when we say, oh, so nice, so nice, so nice.

43:57You know, and we already think we take 10 doses and you know then it becomes the cause of suffering. So anyway what I want to say is that your identification with the body becomes solidified by this raga.

44:18But even more so the identification with the body becomes solidified or becomes fixed by Tamisra, or dvesha. Ragi is there. First is Avidya, then is a smita or moha, then maha moha. It's beautifully called here mahamoha.

44:47What is this ignorance? You know y moha you identify with the body, but then when you identify with the enjoyment which body gives, it's maha-illusion. When you just identify with the body, it's not so bad.

45:05But when you start identifying with the enjoyment which body brings, with all these nice pleasurable things, and you absorb your consciousness in this enjoyment. That's mahamoha.

Destructive anger born from blocked desire

45:21That's great illusion. But then tamisra comes.

45:26Tamisra means, Prabhupada explains it here, when you encounter the anger, he explains it in in that purport in this for the second verse from the 12th chapter of the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

45:44Śrīla Prabhupāda explains what is anger. Anger is the energy which is automatically generated in our consciousness when we encounter some obstacle to our enjoyment. You get raga.

46:01And inevitably, in this material world, this material world is created in such a way that you will get some obstacles. You attach to certain enjoyment, but then you'll get some obstacles to this.

46:16And to destroy this obstacle, to contract this obstacle, to get your way to the enjoyment, the energy of anger is being generated within the mind. It's a destructive energy.

46:33How dare he can, you know, how dare he be an obstacle to my enjoyment? How dare he said to me this? You know, he said to me this this is this is this is I

46:48mean oh she said to me this, this is ridiculous, this is so bad, you know, this energy of destructive energy which is generated within our consciousness is this Tamishra.

47:05And you know, when we analyze honestly and sincerely what is going on within our heart, we can very sadly

47:17understand that we are attached to anger, to negative emotions more than to the pleasurable emotions, to the positive emotions. You know, we can get some nice enjoyment and we are happy because of this enjoyment.

47:38But for how long it lasts? Few minutes. You have the nice mood, you enjoy something.

47:47But when somebody creates an obstacle for your position in this world offends you, says something which is which you don't want to hear, or inflicts some pain, especially mental pain to you, or say something that you're stupid or something.

48:09You know, you will you will be attached to these negative feelings for months and months and months, or at least for days, or at least for one day, you will only for one day and one night.

48:23Because you will not sleep this night. If somebody offends you really seriously, you will the whole night you will quarrel with him. You will try to prove that he's stupid himself. And that he's bad. And he's so bad.

48:41And he's terrible. You know, so this tamisra, tamisra meansra means, very bad ignorance. You know, moha, you're bewildered. Maha moha, you're more bewildered. Tamisra, you're blinded.

49:04You know, literally, people when they uh experience very strong emotion of anger, they become blind. Temporarily, when we have, you know, people when they experience this anger that can kill anyone.

49:23Even if it's their own wife, even if it's their own husband, you know, because of this blinding power of anger.

49:33Anger has certain neurotransmitters created in the mind, and literally it creates an experience of total forgetfulness.

49:44Therefore, Krishna says that krodhād bhavati saṁmoha. From krodhād bhavati saṁmoha, complete forgetfulness is coming to you. Krawda blinds you. Therefore, it's called Tamishra here.

50:01You know, when people become, they forget everything, they, you know, they have to satisfy this emotion of anger. And it becomes a very big problem. You know. So and you know again it's a very important point.

50:21We become attached to this body more through negative emotions than through the positive emotions. And therefore, you know, people when they die, they

50:35think about, you know, usually people, when they become old, they're more concentrated on the negative emotions which are accumulated in their life. I didn't do this, this was so bad. And therefore, they start fantasizing.

50:53If it was not like this, I would be happy. And that's how they are creating their next life. That was so bad.

51:04I failed here and I failed there, and because of this failure, and because of some obstacles and about this, that becomes the cause of their meditation.

51:16The negative emotions are much more powerful causes of our absorption of mind, meditation. We are basically in samadhi about all the bad things which we experienced in the life.

51:31We constantly think about that, especially when we become old. You know, I experience it myself. You know, when you're young, you're so positive. But later in life you become more and more negative.

51:48And all these negative emotions are being accumulated and built up, built up, built up in your psyche, in your consciousness, in your heart, and become really the cause of suffering and the cause of false identification with the body.

52:07And you cannot remember about Krishna and you cannot chant his holy name when you're concentrated on the negative emotions. Just try to chant the holy name when somebody offended you.

52:19Yes, you will chant the holy name, but you will think about him, not about the Krishna. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma. You will not be able to think about that.

Fear of death as ultimate ignorance

52:32And but then the worst thing is happen.

52:37So we have uh we have tamas, the general darkness of our consciousness, the general unclearness of our consciousness, then we have moha, then we have more severe maha moha, then we have even more severe layer,

52:55which completely forces us to identify with the body, which is the Tamishra, and ultimately the crown jewel of ignorance is Andhisaṁśra. Complete total blindness of identification with the body and the fear of death.

53:18This fear of death, Abhinives in Yoga terminology, in Patanjali's terminology, Abhinivesha is the most dangerous thing.

53:31There was one, I believe it's Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of America, said there's nothing to fear in this world. There's only one thing which you should fear in this world. You should only fear the fear.

53:51The only thing which is really fearful is the fear itself. Because when you become fearful, oh, this is the most bewildering, the most ignorant condition in the world.

54:06And when you become fearful of losing your body, you cannot really think about God. Because you become so attached through this negative emotion of fear. You know, fear is a very fearful, fearsome thing.

54:24There is actually, you know, uh there is a nice story I I have to finish now. I'm really sorry for being so. So nice little story at the end.

54:39It's a real story real reinkarnation story, one can say, or near death experience story, about one lady, Indian lady who lived abroad, Anita Murjani, you can find her story in the

54:55net, who became fearful of cancer because her friend died of cancer in a rather young age. And she started meditating on this because of the fear. Fear is so absorbing. She couldn't get out of your system.

55:14She was just meditating on the fear of cancer, and sure enough, she got cancer. Because you get what you meditate upon.

55:23If you meditate upon yam yam bhadiswaram bhavam, tja jatan te kadevaram, even during the lifetime if you meditate on something very deeply you will get it. It's not a problem, you know.

55:36If you want cancer, you will get cancer. Just think about cancer all the time. No problem.

55:44So she got cancer and she was, I mean she was really she was suffering like anything for she was fighting with this cancer and becoming more and more fearful and panicking and for four years she was suffering and ultimately she became a skeleton. Fourth stage of cancer, she became completely, you know, there was no life in her.

56:12And you know, she was admitted in the hospital, and the doctors, it's a very well-documented medical case, her case. Doctors said there's absolutely no chance for her to leave. She has maybe a few minutes to leave.

56:27Please come to her, say goodbye to her, whatever it is. Her brother was flying and boarding the plane and you know trying to say farewell to her. And you know, this whole drama, her husband was there, children were there.

56:49And then she had near-death experience. She realized I'm not this body, she actually met or hurt her friend or something like this. I I don't remember the details, it's not so important.

57:02But she realized this simple thing, I'm not this body. And somehow or other she came back to this skeleton body.

57:11And miraculously, this skeleton body, which didn't have any chances to live, became healthy and healthy again. After some time, because of her consciousness changed.

57:24But very important episode of her life, she said, she explains it herself. You know, after a few days after this near-death experience,

57:37when somehow or other she survived, she was on a wheelchair because she couldn't move, she couldn't walk. And she asked the nurse to take her to the corridor and she saw the mirror.

57:53And she saw her own reflection in the mirror. Horrible reflection, you know.

57:59And she looked at this reflection and she said to herself, This is what you fear, this is what you did to yourself by your fear. This is the result of your fear. She realized it very well.

58:17So the point which I'm trying to make is that why fear is under tamas? Why does the most blinding thing which is there because it really makes us forget everything. It's a very strong emotion.

58:34It's a very... How to say? Animalistic emotion. Very deeply rooted emotion.

58:44The fear, the emotion of the fear, if you study the neurophysiology or the physiology of your brain, it's within the very deep roots of our brain. It's in the in the stem portion of the brain. That's where the fear is generated.

59:03The identification with the body, and therefore it's so strong. It's much stronger than all other emotions which we experience.

59:11And therefore, it's under tamas. It totally completely, miserably forces you to identify with the body without any chances. So before you experience this fear of death, it's better if you realize that I'm not this body.

59:32Dīraṁ syānnāmuhyati. At that moment, dhīra, who realized that he is not this body, he will not become bewildered.

59:40He will not become bewildered by this emotion, powerful emotion of avidyā-miśra, of this ignorance, of covering of ignorance. Anyway, I'm really sorry I'm already late.

59:55So I'll try to explain this according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura and Śrīla Prabhupāda and this other verse giving some other perspective on this uh meanings of the coverings of ignorance.

1:00:12Thank you very much, Śrīla Prabhupāda-kī jaya! Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva-kī jaya!

Eradicating ignorance through sound vibration

1:00:22Thank you very much for very nicely experienced by public moments and good examples and stories.

1:00:33But if you can also enlighten how to overcome this, uh, fair years of this question coming here also that what can we do to reduce negative emotions so that the whole

1:00:44class will be holding the Yes, we we have to understand that this is the root cause of all negative emotions of everything. The root cause is Avidya. The root cause is this general ignorance which we have.

1:00:59And we can try to work on the you know the outcomes, the fruits of this avidyā, but ultimately, and that's what people usually do.

1:01:11When they try to destroy the secondary fruits of avidyā, but hardly anyone is trying to destroy the root cause of all problems, which is avidyā. And ultimately, that's what we are trying to do by studying and

1:01:28by meditating, not only studying, but deeply meditating on the words of Śrīla Prabhupāda, on the words of scriptures, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, Again and again and again, because these words have power to destroy the ignorance.

1:01:44And therefore, Prabhupāda, he gave Sanskrit. Sanskrit is very important because Sanskrit, the vibrations of Sanskrit, Śrīla Prabhupada explains this. They have special power to destroy the ignorance.

1:01:57Therefore, we shouldn't only read the translation and purports, we should also read the verses themselves. Prabhupada beautifully put this for us.

1:02:09Not to neglect this, otherwise, he would just give some English translation. No, and they're all important because the holy name, the vibration

1:02:21of the holy name, and the vibration of the scriptures, and of course the association with the devotees, they have the power to destroy the root cause of all the problems which is ignorance,

1:02:32which is covering us the consciousness on a very deep level and forces us to forget that we're the spirit soul And we all know, you know, all of a sudden we uh at one point we hear something and then we have this wow experience. Yes, yes, I'm it it doesn't last long, but still we have this experience.

1:02:57Yes, I'm I'm the spirit soul, yes. There's nothing to fear. There's nothing to fear. I just have to take shelter of Krishna. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Kṛṣṇa Why should I fear?

1:03:13Krishna is kind, he is beautiful, he is so nice. And I'm trying to take shelter of him.

1:03:22This impetus comes where it's coming from, not from the ignorant mind, not from the rajasic intelligence, it's coming from the soul, from the soul proper.

1:03:36And when we chant in this consciousness, then we'll realize very soon. I have to go unfortunately, so I think I should s finish it now. I'm I'm still here for some time. So thank you very much.