00:00Arjuna is in a miserable position.
00:12That is not the position of Arjuna, the person.
00:16That is the situation of entire mankind.
00:19That is the conflict that we all face daily, every day.
00:22So first of all, it is not about Arjuna and Krishna.
00:26It is not about two persons.
00:28Arjuna and Krishna are both within us.
00:31Krishna is not standing in front of Arjuna.
00:35Krishna is the heart of Arjuna.
00:42Verse 4 and 5 of chapter 7.
00:47This Prakriti of mine is divided 8-fold thus, earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect
01:00and also egoism.
01:04So the five classical elements, right, plus Manubuddhi and Ahamkara.
01:12So that's 8-fold, Apara Prakriti.
01:18And then he says, O mighty armed one, this is the inferior Prakriti, Apara Prakriti.
01:26Know the other Prakriti of mine, which however is higher than this, which has taken the form
01:31of individual souls and by which this world is upheld.
01:40So he says, all these 8 should be known as lower Prakriti, inferior Prakriti, Apara Prakriti.
01:50And then there is that which is Prakriti, however higher than these 8 elements of the
02:01lower Prakriti.
02:03All these should be known, the 8 lower elements plus the higher element of Prakriti.
02:10And then the question says, when I compare these two verses with Sankhya Darshan, then
02:21all the elements stated under the Prakriti of Sankhya are listed as Apara Prakriti.
02:30Then please help me understand what is Para Prakriti and how is it different from Shri
02:38Krishna or Brahma.
02:42That which watches, that which watches is the Para Prakriti.
02:54The audience would remember yesterday we were talking of Kshetra and Kshetragya.
02:59All that which can be seen is Apara Prakriti.
03:06The one who sees is Para Prakriti.
03:12What is then the sense of Krishna or Brahma or Atma?
03:17That which neither sees nor can be seen but within which, in the light of which, all seeing
03:28happens.
03:29Are you getting it?
03:36Is it clear?
03:37Often we mistake Para Prakriti with the witness.
03:44Therefore we use words like I am witnessing my activities.
03:50The witness is one who is not at all interested in seeing anything.
03:56So when we generally use the term witness, what we are actually referring to is just
04:02Para Prakriti.
04:05And what is the Para Prakriti?
04:07It is nothing but the seeing consciousness.
04:11What is to be remembered here, what is to be noted here is that even seeing is a form
04:17of participation.
04:20Even seeing involves intent and where there is intent, there one is a participant, one
04:30is not a witness.
04:33In spiritual terms, the witness is not the one who sees something.
04:39In spiritual terms, the witness is the one who does not see anything.
04:44In spiritual terms, the witness is the one who is not at all interested in seeing anything.
04:50In spiritual terms, the witness is the one apart from which nothing else exists.
04:55Therefore, what is the question of seeing something beyond itself?
04:59Seeing something other than itself?
05:01Are you getting it?
05:03So generally all that which you mean by the witness is merely Para Prakriti.
05:12If all that which we usually mean by the witness is just Para Prakriti, what is the
05:16witness then?
05:17That which holds no meaning.
05:22That which you cannot talk of, that which you cannot even refer to.
05:26Are you getting it?
05:31Come back to the basics.
05:32So Prathvi, Agni, Jal, Vayu, Akash, the five classical elements plus Mana, Buddhi, Ahamkara,
05:42all this is a Para Prakriti.
05:44Why?
05:45Because all these can be seen.
05:48All these are the objects of the seeing consciousness.
05:56If you want to see, can't you see your own ego?
06:01Then I often say watch yourself.
06:04Does it not involve watching your ego as well?
06:09When you watch outside the limits of your body, when you see something that is beyond
06:16your body, then what do you see?
06:19You see the entire expanse of Prathvi, Agni, Jal, Vayu, Akash, the five elements, right?
06:25And equally when I say watch yourself, then what do you see?
06:29Then you see the entire expanse of Mana, Buddhi and Ahamkara.
06:33But what is common between these five plus three?
06:37All of them are available to be seen.
06:41And it's a good spiritual practice to watch all of them, observation.
06:47Looking outside, you watch the first five.
06:50Looking within yourself, when you look at the processes of the mind, you watch the other
06:54three, right?
06:56Who is the one who watches all three?
06:59Not the Atma.
07:00Not the Atma.
07:02Who is the one who watches these three plus five, all eight?
07:06The Paraprakriti.
07:08The Paraprakriti to his mind.
07:12The Paraprakriti you can call as the seeing consciousness.
07:17Shri Krishna says Paraprakriti is that which illumines the bodies of all.
07:26By that he refers to the shining consciousness within all of us.
07:32That consciousness which can see.
07:35That consciousness which illuminates everything and therefore watches everything, right?
07:40Now out of these eight elements of Aparaprakriti, which ones are easier to watch?
07:50The ones that are outside.
07:53Outside the body.
07:54They are the easiest to watch.
07:56So even the eight elements of Aparaprakriti can be divided into two.
08:02The first five that are easier to watch.
08:05So when I say observe, usually people begin with observing the game of the first five.
08:11So they will say we are watching that, we are watching that, something is happening
08:15there, something, all these things.
08:17All this is about watching the interplay of the first five classical elements.
08:23Then as your power to observe increases, as you become more penetrative, then what
08:31do you start watching?
08:33The next three.
08:34Man, Buddhi, Ankara as well.
08:35Then you start watching, oh I know now what is going on, right?
08:40And who is the one who watches?
08:42Dakshetragya, Paraprakriti, right?
08:47None of these is Brahm Tattva or Atma or Sakshi.
08:53We will not conflate that, right?
08:58That is beyond, not to be talked of, clear?
09:07So that was the question.
09:08Please help me understand what is Paraprakriti and how is it different from Brahma?
09:13It's a good question to ask because often people mistake Paraprakriti for Brahma.
09:22They mistake the seer for the witness.
09:25There is a difference between seeing and witnessing.
09:35In spirituality, the witness does not even see.
09:39In spirituality, the witness does not even see because even seeing carries a certain
09:46intent, a desire.
09:48Therefore I am saying the seer cannot be a witness because the seer becomes some kind
09:53of a participant.
09:54The seer develops a relationship, the seer is in engagement and thus witness can be no
10:01engagement.
10:02Don't you see that the Kshetragya is defined with respect to the Kshetra?
10:10So there obviously is an engagement.
10:13There is the Kshetra.
10:15And the very name of the Kshetragya is one who knows the Kshetra.
10:21Therefore there is an obvious relationship.
10:24The witness cannot enter into a relationship with anything.
10:28Atma is asang.
10:30Asang means it can never have a relationship with anything.
10:35Whereas the Kshetragya has a definite relationship with Kshetra.
10:42So that's the difference.
10:55What moves into Krishna, Kshetra or Kshetragya?
11:04The Kshetragya moves into Krishna.
11:06How does the Kshetragya move into Krishna?
11:13By watching the Kshetra and defining itself less and less with respect to Kshetra.
11:21The Kshetragya is related to Kshetra only as long as happenings in the Kshetra are of
11:30interest to the Kshetragya.
11:33As long as happenings in the Kshetra are of interest to the Kshetragya, the Kshetragya
11:39mind you will keep changing as per the happenings in Kshetra.
11:50Therefore the Kshetragya is being defined by the Kshetra.
11:56As long as he is engaged with the Kshetra, he will be defined by the Kshetra.
12:00The Kshetragya moves closer to Krishna by having progressively less and less to do with
12:10Kshetra.
12:12When the watching starts losing its purposefulness, then watching starts turning into witnessing.
12:31And that's the way the watcher, the seer, moves from his engagement with the scene to
12:41his submergence into Krishna.
12:46Watch but without intent.
12:49Watch but have very little to do with what you are watching.
12:54That's the way the Kshetragya rises above the Kshetra and moves up and up and sublimates
13:02into Krishna.
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