The Happiness Guarantee: Insights from Vedanta | Dr. Janki Santoke

[Music] Good morning everybody and welcome. It is my pleasure to introduce to you today the subject of this wonderful video you have just seen. Dr. Janke Santoch. Dr. Santoch is an author, public speaker and a scholar of a Danta philosophy. She holds a PhD in philosophy and is a senior disciple of the renowned guru Swami Partisaru Te. Over the last three decades she has dedicated her work to making ancient Indian wisdom, accessible and practical for modern life. She is the founder and managing trustee of a Danta wisdom trust which you just saw, which focuses on teaching the timeless principles of a Danta and is leading the trust effort to establish the world's first Vedanta university. She is the author of several books focused on applied philosophy, including, how do you know what you know, focused on correcting thinking for successful living. And the happiness guaranteed trilogy that you just saw on the screen. Dr. Santoch conducts regular online classes, public talks and corporate workshops. Her teachings emphasize that while modern education helps one to make a living, wisdom, specifically Vedanta, teaches one how to live. She often discusses topics such as the Law of Karma, Mental Clarity and Self-Discovery. You can follow her latest updates and lectures on her official website, Vedanta Philosophy or her YouTube channel, Team Janki Sound Talk. The subject of her talk today, which we're very much looking forward to, is the happiness guaranteed insights from Vedanta. You're so welcome. Thank you for coming. Okay, so today we're going to speak about the happiness guaranteed. What in this world will guarantee us happiness? All of us, all the time, are doing nothing, but trying to become happy. But so rarely do we even posit the question, what if I do, will I be happy? We chase careers, we chase relationships, we chase money, we chase hell, well then we get, well, not completely satisfied, then we chase spirituality. We do all sorts of things in this world to find happiness. Can't find it, except in brief patches. So, none of these can give us happiness, not spirituality. We believe that if we go to spirituality, we'll be happy. No, nobody can give you happiness, no teachings, no guru, no ashram, no Vedanta university, nothing can give it. Only one person can give you happiness. And that is your own self. To talk about getting happiness from all these other places is like saying, I bought all the best tools of the world, they're all in my garage, but not all the tools of the world can give you a table. That you have to make yourself. So, all the rest is just tools. Happiness we're going to create ourselves. But how? First we've got to understand what on earth it is. So far we're just chasing something. We think that if I get that object, I'll be happy. My whole life has gone in that. Remember when we were in school, if we only got a certain percentage, we'd be happy. If we only got admission to Ivy League, we'd be happy. If only we got that great job, we'd be happy. If only my startup works, I'll be happy. If only, if only, if only. And then finally, if only I get grandchildren, I'll be happy. If only my grandchildren speak to me, I'll be happy. All that time, if only, goes on. We've chased and chased and chased, and it seems to just go further away. So, let's examine this. What is Vedanta? Is the art of examining things? Let's just examine it. Is there an object in the world that is capable of providing any happiness? I'm not talking about infinite happiness. Any happiness. Is there such an object? You know, you see a person smoke. It's the most incredible thing. I'm going to watch it. There is a man. He hasn't smoked for a few hours. He's longing to smoke. We don't allow them to smoke around us. So, there are some places we've designated. At the airport, you can go there and smoke. You know, there are designated places. He goes there. Watch it. He goes there. He lights up. And it takes a breath of. I don't know what Nirvana it looks like. And I like so. I watch this. I'm just fascinated to see them do that. That same secret causes immense irritation to my mind. Insuritation to the rest of us. You see a guy light up next to you. You want him to throw him out. Go away from here. Right? The object being the same causes pleasure to one and pain to another. My husband has motion sickness. I love going on cruise. So, sometimes he has to accompany me. So, we go on though. You know, we go outside Mumbai. You can go to. You all have been to Mumbai? Yes. Well, come again. Come to our campus. But we'll take you on this beautiful cruise that goes to Elephantar. Or the Elephantar? Elephantar caves. So, the beautiful thing. You go on that cruise and that beautiful breeze. And it's so wonderful. And I'm thinking, wow, this is heaven. And my poor husband, he is throwing up. He's so miserable. He said, "It's a dog. It's cussing him. Sir, he's cussing me." The object remaining the same causes joy to one and displeasure to another. How is this happening? If that object had that pleasure, then everybody should get it. Fire is hot. Anyone of us going here, that will feel the heat. Should there be a sweet? Anyone of us putting it on our tongue. The experience that sweetness, the cause of the heat is the fire. The cause of the sweetness is the sugar. And we will all experience it like that. But the happiness in an object, how come we don't experience it? Not only different people don't experience it. The same person doesn't. What was happiness to you one day? Is not happiness to you another day? Remember that toy you wanted in childhood. You were longing and craving for it. And you got it. Suppose I come to your house with the same toy today. Will you be that excited? Can I argue with you and say, "Oh, when I gave it to you, when you were five years old, you were so happy. Why are you not happy today?" What caused me happiness at one time. Same thing will not cause me happiness at another time. Remember the day you got married. And now it's different. So how is it that we believe that an object will give us happiness when the happiness doesn't reside there? It is not the cause of happiness. So what is the cause of happiness? What is the cause of happiness? What is happiness? Happiness is defined as cessation of mental agitations. Where do these agitations come from? Why do we get agitated? Put two soft. Oops! Yeah, please tell me. Every time I give a lecture, people tell me, "How well you speak, how well you explained. Only difficulty was I didn't hear anything." I don't know. So please tell me when you don't hear. Are you good? Are you still good? One gentleman, where is our. Can you increase it a bit? Can't you? Can you hear now? Can you hear this one or this one? You want to come in front? Would you like to? So where will we? The situation of me. Thank you. What is happiness? Happiness is cessation of glintral additations. Where do agitations come from? All agitation is the cause of any agitation, which you have ever experienced in your whole life, is only desire. It is the single cause of agitation. So what is happiness? It is the absence of agitation. It is the absence of desire. We are chasing desires in the hope of being happy. Ain't happening. You cannot accelerate desire and hope to be happy. It can't be done. I guess I'm saying this in the wrong place in the world. New York is a complete opposite. Or maybe this is one small oasis where it's not. The whole world believes that that chasing or that desire is going to give me happiness. Really? Who's founded that way? What to anyone who has done this? Have they found it? Then what are we doing? When are we following a method that doesn't work? Have you so dived? You can see it doesn't work in your lives. You can see it doesn't work in other people's lives. Why are we doing this? It has never worked. Because happiness is equal to cessation of agitation. All agitation comes from desire. How can we get it living in desire? That's why every religion has warned us against desire. Every religion has personified it as the thing that stands between you and God. The Christians call it the devil. Islam calls it shaitan. Buddhism calls it mara. Hinduism calls it asura. All this bad stuff that stands between you and that divinity. That state of absolute tranquility and bliss. Desire is agitation. Absence of desire is peace. Do it yola all like. I don't know. Is that really true? Just think about it. Even when you get happiness out of full film and of a desire, it is just the absence of the desire that gives us pleasure. Suppose you're craving a chocolate. You eat a chocolate. You feel bliss. Where is this bliss coming from? Can you analyse that? You had a craving. You ate the chocolate. The craving, the desire went away. And therefore, we experience happiness. You can never experience happiness with desire. It's only when the desire goes away. That the happiness is experienced. Isn't that true? You want something. You get it. You think that that object is giving happiness. No, it's only the removal of the desire that's giving happiness. So we feel, 'Nur, get a better house. I'll be happy. Yes, you will be.' But the happiness is going to go away because. Desires no longer there. How will you get that contrast? That means five years later, you're going to be in the same house and no pleasure in it. So what do you do now? Get a bigger house. And when you get a bigger house, you find the happiness again. Because again, the drop of agitation took place. Then again, few years later gone. What do you do now? Get a bigger house and bigger house. And bigger maintenance bills. And bigger having two places to clean. And then people say, 'Why am I stressed?' How can we not be? You're getting the same sorrow at a higher price. So let's think about it because we're humans. We can think. So where is happiness coming from? Okay, let's see. What is the formula for happiness? Happiness is equal to the number of desires fulfilled. Upon. Can you read this? Number of desires entertained. The number of desires fulfilled upon the number entertained. So let's say that I had fulfilled and I have 20 entertained. What's my happiness? Right? Now, suppose I am a New Yorker. I'm very ambitious. I can do lots of stuff. So I fulfilled 20 desires. But while I do that, I increase my desires to 40. Now, what's my happiness? But still exactly where you are. It's not getting better, guys. It's not getting better. You've got to figure out what makes it better. So let's try it the other way. I have 10 desires. I mean, I fulfilled 10. And I had 20. And I left the 10 where they were. Okay, I had 10. I keep it at 10. But I reduce the denominator. I make this 10. Now, my happiness is. Okay, I work on this further. I keep this exactly where it is. And if I actually attain to Self-Realization, actually attain the spiritual goal, then what's my spiritual goal? That I bring this to zero. And now my happiness is. That's what this is. Simple, right? The nice thing about Vedanta is that it's all quite simple. All fits in beautifully. That's what we know. What a Self-Realization when we bring all desires to zero. Man minus desires is equal to God. God plus desires is equal to man. Man means human. Some polites. What is the confusion about? Now, what Vedanta does? Is it helps you in two ways? It helps you to fulfil more desires. While you are reducing the denominator. That is why Vedanta has said to give you clarity and high performance. I mean, you must have all experienced this, right? If you take up your spirituals, Adna, well, you find you're doing better in the world. You don't want it, you're getting it. Others are craving for it, they don't want it. It's a strange thing. When you become a spiritual person, you become a loving person. You're not asking anyone to love you, but people love you. And those chasing people trying to get their love, ungetting it. The great sage Ramathirtha used to say, "Stop chasing shadows. Walk towards the sun. Your shadow will walk behind you." All the objects of the world will walk behind you. You walk to the sun. You walk to that eventual goal of Self-realisation, of Mutti. Everything else will come behind you. Just imagine this, okay? It is quite inspiring to be standing here today in the first society that Swami Vivekananda started. But if you just think about it, imagine he came here in the 1800s with nothing. Absolutely nothing. And yet, all the wealth followed him. Isn't it? How did he be? He built the sea came here with nothing, he built this whole place, he built a world by organization. How? He walked to his goal. The shadows walked behind. And he features to emulate that. We get everything. Not only all the spiritual growth, but the so-called material bubbles are there for whoever wishes. Whenever they need it, whenever they are needed, it's not that you want it. But if these tools help you create a better world for others. Sorry, you used them. Imagine Mother Teresa, she came to India many, many years ago from Europe, she just went to some God forsaken place called India. You can imagine right that her family must be saying, "What's India? Where's India?" What's the scale? That's where people around her must have said, "She went there with this goal. I will feed the poorest of the poor." Now feeding the poorest of the poor means what? You need money to feed them. You're all feeding our families, you know how much it costs. Now she's going to feed thousands and thousands. How? She needs the money, right? Walk towards your goal. All this will walk behind you. Don't be worried. Say that, "No, this is not for my personal welfare. My welfare doesn't lie in this." I'll walk towards my goal. So as the desires reduce, you find greater and greater happiness within. Then you don't need to do something in particular for happiness. Happiness is always a byproduct. When they start doing something particular, "Okay, I will sit in meditation today so that I'll calm down. Won't work. I will go to the pub today so that I calm down. Won't work. Means, won't work. Means you get a temporary solace. That's about it." Whatever we do as tools for happiness, they won't work. Because the law is. Law is. Come on now. Now don't say I couldn't hear anything at all. What's your goal? Go towards your goal. So what is the law? Sensation of the goal. Right. Sensation of agitations. Unless the desires come down, we are going to be in exactly the same position we always worry. So now the question before us is, how do we reduce these desires? The normal way that we talk about is. Is. As spiritual sardhana, what do we do? Remove this. This is clear, right? If you have any questions about this, we'll take this up in the end. What do we do with our spiritual sardhana? Spiritual sardhana, the goal of spiritual sardhana is. Self-realization. Self-realization is equal to. Hmm? Yes, that's true. Is equal to zero desire. The whole spiritual sardhana is only meant to bring desires to zero. So, how do we bring desires to zero? There are three parts to it. You're familiar with this, right? Everyone here is a student of Elanta, right? Okay, so you're familiar with this? I mean, me, me, not the diagram, but the idea. The three parts to self-realization are karmayoga, bhakti, yoga, and I'm not using this correctly, and nyanayoga. When you do karmayoga, bhakti, yoga, nyanayoga, what is karmayoga? What is bhakti, yoga, what is nyanayoga? Karmayoga means you're undertaking actions to reach the Self. These actions are actions of service. Like, I see everybody doing volunteer work all of that. These are actions that we undertake to reach the Self. When we undertake these actions, for any reason, other than the Self, it becomes karmaboga. So we do a lot of service, but that's not reducing our desires, because the intent in that service, and people also tell you this, "Oh, that makes me feel very calm." "Gives us a good community." So many, so many reasons to do it. But only when the intent is to reach the Self doesn't become karmayoga. Otherwise, it's merely karmaboga. We do these things, we enjoy them, and if you're very happy to do it. So then people say, "Oh, but there's a dichotomy between spiritual life and material life." "When I come to the center and so happy, then I'll go back home." Karmayoga is not the work that you do. It's the ability to have the same sense of dedication, sacredness, worship, which we have in the center, here, in this geographical location, everywhere. When we start feeling that same sense of sacredness, regardless of what we are doing, the washing dishes at home, gardening, going to office, when we have that same sense of sacredness, that becomes karmayoga. Bhakti yoga is a sense of gratitude, swita's all the time. Bhakti yoga is often understood to mean bhajans and also it's chanting and all that, but it's not restricted to that. That is a tool for bhakti yoga. Bhakti is really gratitude, love and surrender. That sense that I have received so much, which I am not able, I will never be able to respect. The person in this world who is the most deprived, has got more than he is ever going to be able to reply. Think about it, just as we are sitting here. What are you receiving? Right here, right now. You say, "Now what am I receiving? I am not receiving anything." Think about it. If the law of gravity was not working, you would be bumping up there. How would you listen to Vedanta lecture if law of gravity didn't function? Can you imagine? I am floating around you, floating around, I am like, "Jer is going on." How? How can this work? Have you not grateful for that law to that law of gravity? Have you not grateful for atmospheric pressure? How many things are operational before we can even say, "Hello." That sense of receipts is Bhakti Yoga. Currently, our sense is always of deprivation. I don't have, I don't have something. And I am stressing it. Never a sense of, "Thank God, thank God all this is here." And I would not be able to live without it. Second thing in Bhakti Yoga is, excuse me, is surrender. Surrender is our capacity, is the intellect's capacity to recognize what I don't know. And having recognized that stuff, fiddling around there. Imagine, suppose I feel that this hall is small. And I say, "I don't make this hall big, I just knock this wall down." What will happen to the building if I suddenly decide to knock a wall down? Long coming, come down on me. I am not joking, people actually do that. It's a real story. A man in Delhi decided that his living room was too small and he just knocked the wall off. The whole thing was done. This is called absence of surrender. Well, you don't know, you are using your head. Why are you using your head when you don't know? Either you know or you ask somebody who knows. Go study architecture. Or ask an architect. One of these two things you have to do. So surrender is our ability to not go and interfere in areas of ignorance. What is the biggest area of ignorance in my life is? I really don't know what's good for me. I really don't know. But I've been through this in life. Things have happened. I was very unhappy they happened. In a later point I thought, "Oh, that's a good thing that happened." Or something good had happened. And later on I felt, "Why did that happen?" Isn't it? I don't know what's good for me. There's this very famous Zen story about the horse. I will hear the story about the horse. Yes? All of you? No? No? Oh, please tell them. You go ahead. No. You came right that I don't know why you're left right. And these are nice people. They're not going to eat you up or anything. So far they've been good to me. Nobody has started throwing tomatoes or something. This is a story. The famous Zen story which goes that there was a man. He had a horse, a wonderful horse in the kingdom. And the king saw that horse and came to the Zen master and said, "Give it to me. I'm the king. I should have that horse." So the man said, "No. I can't give you that horse. It's like my son. I brought him up." So the king got very angry with the Zen master and went away. That night the horse ran away. So all the villagers came running to the Zen master and said, "Oh my God, what a sad thing has happened." Now the king is angry with you and you don't even have the horse. So the Zen master said, "I don't know whether a good thing has happened or a bad thing has happened. I know that the stable door is open and the horse is not there." And next night the horse came back with 12 more of its kind. And all the villagers said, "Oh my God, look what a wonderful happen. What a wonderful thing. Now you have so many of these horses." So Zen master said, "I don't know whether a good thing has happened or a bad thing has happened. I know that a 13 horses on the stable." And then the son of the Zen master started training the horses. And he fed and broke his leg. And everybody came and said, "How sad your son has broken his leg." So he said, "I don't know whether a good thing has happened or a bad thing has happened. I know my son has broken his leg." That time as they were talking, all the kings, Ami, people started coming in and taking all the able bodied men for war. None of us know whether a good thing has happened or a bad thing has happened. We just know the stable door is open and the horse is not there. Surrender is understanding that we don't understand. We don't understand how this whole thing works. Steve Jobs, you know, he said in one of his speeches that I was in a restaurant calligraphy. So I just did it. I didn't know why I was doing it. But later when he did the Apple products, that thing that he did in calligraphy helped us get beautiful fonts. You don't know. Stop behaving like you know, that's called surrender. And the third aspect of devotion is love. Universal affection. What is devotion? It is nothing but love applied to the higher. When we love equals, we call it love. When we love something higher, we call it devotion. We're devoted to our parents, we're devoted to the country, we're devoted to God. We love our spouses, our children, our pets, our furniture. Devotion and love is the same, only direction is different. So Bhakti Yoga is devotion. Love of the Lord means love of His creation. When a child brings you one of those silly things that all children since the beginning of humanity have drawn. Every child, you know, it comes in our genes or what? Every child will draw that. The thing, put a sun over there. Every child seems to draw this as a child. And then they go to their grandparents and say, and the grandparents put it up on the fridge and like they behave like this is Picasso is drawing over here. Why do they love that drawing so much? It's it. Terrible drawing really. So why do they love it so much? They love the creator of that drawing. That's why that drawing is precious. We love our creator. That's why this world is precious. If you believe we created it, then how can you not love it? That universality of affection is called love. So what was Karm yoga? The ability to be of service to work in cooperative endeavor. What is bhakti yoga? What is bhakti yoga? Number one. First one. First one. Graduate. Second one. Surrender. Third one. Very nice. See Vedanta, you actually have to work. You have to listen. You can't just get away with it. Oh, it feels so nice. No feeling nice. Hmm. I don't know if you're referring to actual definition. What's his definition? Hi. No, that's a book he's written. What is his definition? What is nyan yoga? What is knowledge? Hmm. Go ahead. Manifestation of good divinity within us. No, his definition of what is knowledge. You're talking about the result of knowledge. But what is knowledge? Removal of ignorance correct. That's not, that's also correct. But his definition, yes? It's real and not real. Nitta a nitta vivaika vicharam. I'm sure you've been heard this thing. Nitta. What is a nitta vastu? What is the permanent vastu? What is the permanent thing? Ernitta not permanent. What is not permanent? The vivaika, the discrimination on the difference between what is permanent and what is imparmanent. That is nyan yoga. So what is nyan yoga? It is our capacity at all times to know what is the permanent thing you're and what is the imparmanent thing you're. I have a fight with my brother. Is the fight permanent or is this relationship permanent? You come to the center. Somebody doesn't greet you. Is that absence of greeting permanent or are the values prevalent here permanent? Values for us to learn. So the constant discrimination that vivaika butti that tells us what is permanent and what is passing. When we practice the three yogas, our level of desires comes down into what is known as uparati. Uparati. Uparati is when the mind is naturally withdrawn from the world. Then we come to be able to do dharana. I don't think I know how to use this. So familiar with dharana? Dharana is concentration. When the level of desires comes down we can concentrate. What does concentration mean? When the intellect is able to keep the mind on a field of thoughts. Like what you're doing right now. At least hopefully doing right now. When your intellect is keeping your mind on a field of thoughts. It's called concentration. When your intellect is capable of keeping your thoughts on one thought. That becomes dharana. And first we have to reach uparati. Then we learn to concentrate. Then we can bring our thoughts to single-pointedness. And this finally is the gateway to the final truth, to the final happiness. So what gives us the guarantee is that we go down this and reach this. And that's your only guarantee. You don't have any other guarantee. If you have any other guarantee, please let me know. I would love to learn. But by logic, by experience, by the pramana, what we have been told, it's an authoritative source, this is the only way to do it. Do I sound fanatical? I can't help it. But this is the law. What can I do? I can't change it. This is how it is. Now what can we do? When practically speaking is, we need to follow two principles in life. That at all times we try to make our mind more pure and our intellect more sharp. If we can do this consistently in life, we will find ourselves happy people. It's just a practical application of the entire satsana. So now you know, nothing is going to help you unless those desires come down. And nothing can bring those desires down, except. Except. Except. Only one person can bring those down and that is. Yes, we ourselves and that is why the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna, the Lord tells us. Come on, you all know this verse. Only you can help yourself. Udharyadatatmanatatmanam You have to raise yourself by yourself, that commitment is yours, anyone can do you any lecture, any. We can build up universities, we can build up centers, but these are just tools. Each one will have to take that responsibility on their own selves to make themselves the kind of person they would like to be, which means a happy person. So that's it from me. Do you have a quick summary? Are you going to help me do the summary? What did we begin with? This what is the. what guarantees us happiness? Right? We have to see. Sations of mind and feelings. This, as long as there's a desire, you cannot be happy. We are chasing an object, because we believe that object will give us happiness. But an object does not give us happiness. No object is capable of giving us happiness because. Because. And don't be like that, then I fail this talk. Why can't any object give us happiness? Oh, happiness comes from like ourselves. But why can't the object give it to you? Okay, but why can't the object give it to you? Because it is not inherent in the object. Very good. Because it's not there in the object. You can't go to a desert and say, "I want water. I want to get it." All these objects are deserts. And they're going there and giving me water, giving me water. And then getting irritated with them because they're not giving. But there is no water. I will get it. So correct, that object cannot give it to you. How do we know it's not inherent in the object? It changes not to take. Because that same object does not give happiness to all. Fire gives heat to all. Should we give sweet? Sweetness to all. Does that object give happiness to all? Does it even give it to the same person all times? So it doesn't lie there. Where does it lie? Happiness is cessation of mental agitations. Where are the agitations coming from? Desires. So when will you be happy? When you come to zero desires. And just incidentally, as the desire levels goes down, your worldly success goes up. Haven't you seen people who've done miracles, are people who have not really wanted anything from themselves? All those people, Joan of Arc, she fought the British. Not because she wanted the power and position and lead the country, she just wanted to serve our country. That's why you remember her. Vivekananda did not come here to make himself an empire. That got added on. The shadows will find us. Don't worry about it. If you're walking towards the sun, the shadow just follows you. So what do we do? What do we do? Oh, please don't forget what we do. That's important. What do we do? Karmi yoga, bhakti yoga, nyan yoga. What is karma yoga? Action for a wider cause. What is bhakti yoga? And devotion. What is nyan yoga? Vivekananda. Nithya, nithya, Viveka, Vicharam. Please learn this the most fabulous definition of. If you don't know Sanskrit, at least learn this much. Nithya, Anithya, Viveka, Vicharam. Say it together. That Vicharam, that thinking on the Viveka, on the discrimination between Nithya, eternal, and Anithya, not eternal. It's temporary passing. When we do all this, we reach the state of operati, where the level of desires has come down considerably. You have become a peaceful person. You're not doing anything for peace. You are peaceful. In that state, we can learn to concentrate. Once we've learned to concentrate, we can do meditation. And meditation is the final gateway to Self-realization. The infinite happens. What is the difference between Dharana and Dehana? Very good. Concentration means your intellect keeps your mind on a particular area. Meditation means your intellect keeps your mind on one thought. Like, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, just a thought." Okay? Once we learn concentration, only then we can do meditation. We cannot do meditation to learn concentration. It can't be done. You can't say, "I will learn to shoot bull's eye so that I can shoot on the board." It can't be done like that. It has to go in the traditional order. Right? And then you reach that state that the sages have pointed out to us. But it has to be done by means. It's my responsibility. It's my commitment. And therefore the Lord says, says, "Help yourself, come yourself." Help yourself by yourself. For you alone are your friend, and you alone are your enemy. Everything else is a tool. So, like, this is it for today. I invite you all to come to our campus, near Mumbai, whenever you come to India next, or make a special trip. We have a PG diploma starting in June, a postgraduate diploma for systematic study, and living that knowledge. You don't want information. You have to be that person. Now you have all the information you need. But how do you live the knowledge? So that's why creating this so that go there, live it, get into the discipline, one full year, and hopefully we come out a changed person. I'm happy to take any questions. You had a question? What was the Haruna? I forgot. Concentration. Thank you. The word the Haruna means concentration. It's okay. Yes, sir. Let's ask a question. Put your hand up and be on the mic. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for your lecture today. I think it seems when we're trying to eliminate desires, when we have something happy or beneficial, like a sunset or something like that, it's easy to receive it and move on. But when you're going through something difficult, like poverty or physical pain in the body, it's very hard to remove the desire to want to get out of that pain or out of that situation. I don't know if I'm making clear the difference. So sometimes it's easier to get rid of desires than others, especially if you're going through maybe a difficult situation at the moment. Do you have any thoughts on one who would be going through a really difficult time in the immediate? Well, firstly, it is not possible to remove desires. No human being can remove a desire. It can't be done. What we can do is take up desires. When we take up a higher desire, the lower desire falls away. So if you carefully understand this, you will understand why we have these three parts. What is happening in Karma Yoga? You're thinking, something higher, something noble, but the service for everybody. That's why personal desires are falling. In bhakti yoga, your thoughts are gone to God. So worldly desires are falling. In nyanayoga, same thing, you're thinking what is permanent, what is not. So desires for the impominent have gone away. So you can't ever pluck a desire and throw it out. There was a story about this man who came to a sage and said, "Please help me. I have a problem. For some reason in India at least everybody believes you to go to the Swami, you go to the sage and they're going to solve every problem you have. So he went to the Swami and he said, "Please, please help me." So Swami said, "Okay, sure. What's your problem?" So, "Please help me. Okay, sure. What's your problem?" Swami said, "I need your help. Okay, but what do you want me to do?" "My lock the door. Kick lock the door." Swami ji, one request, "Okay, but by saying what is your request?" That's Swami ji. My hair is falling. Can you give me some upai? Yeah, sure he said, "I'll give you a mantra. You say this mantra every morning when you get up, say it 11 times. Okay, just say it 11 times every morning, first thing in the morning, say it and your hair will grow back." That's all, yeah, that's all. Just say it. Your hair will grow beautiful. Lashes hair, you laugh. Please everybody, I don't know this mantra. Do not ask me. No, it is. Is that you say this mantra and it will grow, okay? That's it. That's it. Oh, you said, "Thank you very much, Swami ji." And he was leaving. So, that's Swami told him, "See, this is a very powerful mantra, but if you lose all its power, if during chanting the mantra, you think of a monkey. If you think of a monkey, the power goes away." So, no matter what he thought of, how many times it is the mantra, monkey. So, what is he trying to tell us? If you say, "I won't think of something, that thought will come." So, you never say, "I don't think of it." What do you do? The thing of something else. So, that's, so you can't remove a desire. You can only get higher desire. This is just the base. I haven't come to your question as yet. Just correcting this idea that it's easy. It's not easy. It takes work. Now, what to do when there is a bad patch? Most important thing is to recognize this is a bad phase. This is not my life, right? I went through good patches. I will go through bad patches. In the future, there will be good patches and there will be bad patches. This is just life. I stand like a general to take salutes, you know? The general takes salute. The battalions are going by. One of those battalions may have his own Sunday. Does he do? It doesn't wave no to that Sunday. Just continues to stand there regardless of who is going in that battalion. So, once we, that's when Yani Yoga comes, I recognize Anitta Vastu. This bad phase, Anitta Vastu. The only question in front of me is what should I be doing now? Like, I'm not well. I'm in hospital. What should I be doing now? I have to follow the instructions of the doctor. I have to keep my mind peaceful. I have to do whatever, whatever it is that I have to do. I have to do my physiotherapy or whatever in the world I have to do. What do I have to do now? My entire being has to be focused at any point. Regardless of whether it's a good time or a bad one. Some people lose it in good times. Some people lose it in bad times. Our entire focus is what am I to do now? Now I'm speaking to you. That's my job to speak to you. Now, what will come out of this? What happened at a previous lecture? Oh, in that lecture, those people said this, that in future lectures, this is going to happen. That is, no. At this moment, the only thing that has to exist is this lecture and what I'm supposed to do now. So that way we take our minds away from results, from good bad. Why are we thinking good bad? I don't know whether it's good or bad. So what do I have to do now? That's the only question I have in front of me at any time in life. Thank you. Namaste, Janki Ji. And thank you very much for your initiative for the Vedanta University and all the work that you do. I was just curious if you can please share the inspiration behind starting a university like this and particularly of interest to me, why a place like Mumbai? Well, why start the university? Because we are standing at a crisis. There are wars going on for heaven's sake. I mean, as humanity not even learned this much so far, like, like what's wrong with us? There are wars going on. There is climate change going on. We stand at a crisis. Nobody can get along with anybody. Everybody is fighting with everybody. But we are, we are constantly escaping something or the other. You know, we have no work life balance. We are escaping. We say, okay, how do I have work life balance? I will not take your email after seven o'clock. And then we get very rigid about that. And call it balance. How did rigidity become balance? All sorts of weird things are going on. Our health is going down. Each one of us are getting lifestyle ailments. And nobody is asking the question, what should I teach my children so that they don't get lifestyle ailments? It's crazy. It's like lunacy. So if you think about it, this Swami Chenmanda is this beautiful talk on it. He says that there would be no problem in this world if human beings weren't here. You? Like you're saying, you are doing something to protect the environment. No, you're not. You're doing it to protect yourself. The environment takes care of itself. Now what are you talking about? Who are you trying to conserve the tiger? We don't need to conserve the tiger. You stop killing it. It will be conserved on its own. You know, so the problem is generated by us. So we can in our entire education system. Put it so that the children, the new generations will do it properly. They are developed individuals like how we heard of in India they were. In India we had the, we were the wealthiest country. Not for a short, two, three hundred period for thousands of years. And then we were looted and looted and looted. And at the time of independence, 1947, do you know what was the exchange rate? rupee two dollar. Now you have a one rupee to one dollar. We should have all bought rupee, a dollar is not at that time. One rupee to one dollar. And today is ninety two, ninety three. So we were the richest country. We were not only the richest country. We are the best philosophy, which we are studying even today. We are the best art, the best literature, the best science. We are the best metallurgy. We had sorts of things. We were also the most loving country, the most peaceful country. You know, I don't know if you were in India in school where we studied that all these Chinese scholars, different people came to our country and wrote about how they found the most loving people. We had it all. But why did we have it all? Because our education system was like that. Every kid learned it. And not even, they didn't even insist on everybody learning it. A small section haunted the country you stayed fine. It's amazing. Just a few people knowing this whole world will stay fine. Because everybody cannot study this. Few people will study it. But if they study it, we'll take care of the world. So it's, that's the inspiration. What's the inspiration that none of us know how to live. We are messing up a wonderful world. We are messing up our wonderful lives. If we can put this back on track, we'll be blessed to have this opportunity. So that's right. Bye, near Mumbai. Because I'm in Mumbai. Namaskar, Jan Giri. Thank you so much for this lecture. Well, kind of picking up from the last question, right? And that happens in their life as well. That you set goals for yourself, for your kids, spouse and all that. The moment you set goals, you get into the planning. The moment you get into planning, you deserve it. desires comes out, right? So going to the whole philosophy of no desires, conceptually all of us here within the serenance, we get it, we know it. But in a day-to-day life, it just becomes impossible, whether it's because of office, kids, desires, that's really not an easy thing to do, right? So, and anything that you want to say on that. The way to not have desires is by planning. It's because we are not planning that we inculcate desires. So when we say don't have desires, it means don't have craving, one thing, desiring, I don't know what one's to use. So every human being is capable, has thoughts. These thoughts are divided in Vedanta as Manas, the mind and Buddha, the intellect. Manas is our irrational side. Our likes and dislikes, our films and fancies, our emotions, love, anger, greed, hate, jealousy. All of this is the mind. Intellect is Buddha, reason, judgment, discrimination, all this is Buddha. So when the mind is longing, wanting something, you create a desire. You pick up that same thought and put it in the Buddha. It becomes a goal and aim and ambition. So this aim or ambition is very different from a desire. What happens with desire is that you want X and then you want Y and then one Z, it goes on. It's endless. And ambition is a very different thing. You have a target to be reached. You are adding to it. That is it. When you plan your life properly, you think in terms of what is my life year four. And based on that, you plan for the next, I mean however many years you have left, you are twenty for the next eighty years, let us say if you are fifty then for the next fifty years, whatever it is, think of that. What is that goal that my life is here to achieve? What's my purpose? And then work backwards. If in fifty years I have to achieve this and in twenty five years I have to do this and in ten years I have to do this, five years, one year, next six months, this month, this week, today, therefore now I am doing this. So this kind of planning is what helps keep the desires under control. Desiring increases desires, planning brings them down because now you are focused. You know, it's the best thing you can do is have the highest plan. Like I am going to reach self-realisation. If that's not possible, then self-development. If that's not possible, a higher purpose, something for the welfare of all. If that's also not possible, then at least a personal goal because a goal is better than a desire. Thank you so much. On the deep friends between Dharana and Yana, you mentioned that Dharana is focusing on this area while Dharana is focusing on a specific thought or point. Can you explain more what should be that specificity in Dharana? Can be anything. You can say, "Ohm, you can say Shiva, you can say Vishnu, you can say Christ, you can say Sky, you can say Chair, it doesn't matter." All that's important is that it's one thought. It doesn't matter what that thought is. Are you familiar with the story of Aikolavya? Aikolavya was a forest prince, a sort of prince of a tribal thing. And his whole focus in life was to become an archer. That's all he thought about. He went to Guru Dronacharya and said, "Teach me archery." So Dronacharya said, "I can't teach you, I'm teaching the princess, I cannot teach you." So what he did is he made an idol of his Guru, Dronacharya, placed it on front of him and started practicing and practiced and practiced and taught himself so much, he became the world's best archer. He was supposedly better than Arjuna. So once when these people found out that he is a better archer, so they thought, "Who is this? How is somebody better than Arjuna? Arjuna's goes to be the best." So Guru Dronacharya goes to find out who is this person. And he sees Aikolavya and the store, Aikolavya tells, "Bouse down to him, you're my Guru, thank you for teaching me. I haven't taught you anything. No, you're my Guru." Because of you, I have learned this. Okay? Then if I'm your Guru, give me Guru Taksana. And the story goes, he says, "Yes, of course, I'll give you whatever you ask for." So the Guru asks that he gives his thumb. You understand what that means, right? He can't pull it anymore. Yes, for the thumb. So archery is gone. So this is highly, highly criticized incident in the Mahabharata. That's see, this is how they look down on the outcast, those, that's so many things they say. Because everybody looks at it from their own perspective. Not incorrect. You shouldn't look down on people. But what is the show that any thought can bring you to single-pointedness. In the case of Aikolavya, it was just archery. That's all you could see. That's why he was so good at it. And the role of a Guru is always to take you to Self-realisation. So when he asks for the thumb, he's asked for his archery. That means he's able to give up that single thought. And that is samadhi. Thank you. You have given us a wonderful taste and great insight into what this university is. And on behalf of the Vedanta Society of New York, we wish you love and great success because something like this really dissolves that. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.