Renunciation is not a practice it's a fact it's already true here and now and what I'll do is I'll walk you through a few arguments remember this is not to be believed you're not to take it on faith.

What is it that Swami Satchidananda recently quoted um who's that poet the wasteland T.S. Eliot and in another poem Hollow Man I forgot which poem but he said each one looking for the key each one affirming the prison you know each one looking for the key and in looking for the key affirming the prison

You know if the first two parts of the lecture weren't appealing if they didn't work then hope is not lost there is still room for us in spiritual life those of us who still seek legitimately and validly enjoyment in the world

The claim in advaita vedanta is this, this is the claim in the upanishads which by the way is the world's oldest spiritual philosophy and the world's most ancient extant living philosophy... it's a lack of understanding that is the root of all of our suffering.

So if your salvation is in time then there's a problem because anything that starts must end... it's a logical law and it's also anecdotally true if you examine your life you'll see that anything that had a start must have an end.

All of this stuff that we're going to discuss today but you don't yet achieve liberation in this life likely you will go through the devayana the way of the gods and you yourself will become a god or you'll be able to hang out with rishis siddha yogis you know all these great yoga masters and you'll be able to practice with them and learn from them in these elevated planes of spiritual practice.

If something is truly a value it must be true now as it was yesterday as it will be tomorrow it must be eternally true so it must be true all of the time and not only that it must be true in every place so whether you're in heaven or in the hells or right now right here in this material buloka it's true it's true all the same it's true in the hell realms it's true in the heaven realms and it's true here it's true everywhere and it's true every when.

You are aware of being a baby, aware of being a child, aware of being an adolescent, and so on. Despite all the changes, there is a felt sense of continuity.

You are nirvikara, without change, while the body and mind are savikara, with change.

You feel yourself to be the subject of your first-person experience, witnessing objects that change, but remaining unchanged.

The problem of objectivity concerns the relationship between the subject and the object. The subject is the one who is perceiving or experiencing the object. In this context, the problem of objectivity arises because it is difficult to reconcile the objective nature of the object with the subjective experience of the subject.

The body is not a separate entity that can be owned or possessed. Our experiences and thoughts shape our perspective on our bodies, but we cannot claim ownership over them.

The process of childbirth and the growth of a child in the womb are miracles of nature that are beyond human control.

The fact is, whether you like it or not, sickness comes. I don't care how healthy you think you are, you know there have been like super master raw foods vegans like living in the cleanest air in the world, um, and and they get super sick, they get cancers, they get you know all that happens to them and look at ozzy osbourne and keith richards, right, there could even argue unkillable, they're the best bet for the immortality argument, they've done every possible substance you could imagine, lived a hard and rough life, I can tell you they're not practicing raw foods vegan in the mountain, okay, they're like eating all but look they're like they have better survivability than some of those great health foods people do you not see that?

nothing can exist that's outside of awareness. You can't say the awareness is separate from the body and mind anymore than you can say the dream is separate from the waker, you know, without the waker that wouldn't be a dream similarly without awareness there wouldn't be waking dreaming or deep sleep there wouldn't be any possibility of experience at all.

So what does that mean then for you? It means if you really followed along with the lecture thus far you'd be able to see that I am not the body and mind so I can't become satisfied by satisfying the body and mind that should be your conclusion.

the world is a dream, it's got nothing to do with me.

i look to the world for pleasure, right, i look to external things for pleasure

The more you meditate the more control you will have over where your attention goes so if you resolve right now to commit to a meditation practice and every day meditate for an hour in the day morning an hour in the evening or at least 30 minutes in the morning 30 minutes in the evening if you learn the art and science of meditation and you apply yourself sincerely and rigorously to the practice and cultivation of meditation you will one day develop the ability the power to divert your attention away from places that you don't want it to go

Karma yoga is using activity and the dynamic movements of work and selfless service to slowly edge out those addictive behaviors that's what a karma yogi would do

The joys of bhakti are the sweetest most abiding types of joy you can have the joy of doing a beautiful puja when you wave lamps before a deity that you've identified as the source of all beauty and goodness

This is the second part of the lecture, a gradual type of renunciation where you slowly favor the spiritual life and edge out the worldly life

God, Shiva, desire to experience himself in this world, and even he enjoys all the horrible things that have happened

There are infinite ways to do spirituality, and there's nothing wrong with you wanting to party all night and also tomorrow going to the temple

In tantra, there are many levels, and people have different proclivities, some are more worldly than others

That which I can see is whole, that which I cannot see is whole, within the unseen hole appears the seen whole