Can scientific enquiry lead us to self knowledge? | Swami Sarvapriyananda 

Superficially, Bernardo Kastrup SEEMS to be promulgating the most ancient spiritual teaching of Advaita Vedanta (as found in the Upanishadic texts of India) but due to reasons I won't go into at length here, his understanding is rather flawed. If one carefully listens to any of his monologues or interview videos, it is obvious (at least it is obvious to those who are truly enlightened) that he regularly confuses and conflates discrete consciousness (as emerging from the neural networks of animals) and UNIVERSAL Consciousness (which is the all-pervasive, eternal ground of all being, more appositely termed "The Tao", "Brahman" or "Infinite Awareness"). He also believes in (limited) freedom of will, which is, of course, ludicrous, and his understanding of suffering is truly infantile, which is unfortunate, since the eradication of suffering is the goal of life. In order to PROPERLY understand the distinction between the two aforementioned categories of consciousness, you are welcome to email me for a copy of "A Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity", which are the most authoritative and accurate precepts extant. My address is on my RU-vid homepage. However, my main criticism of Kastrup is not with his metaphysics, it is, rather, his METAETHICS. He is, objectively speaking, afflicted with a demonic mentality, as demonstrated with his support of all things contrary to Dharma (the law, and societal duties), such as egalitarianism, feminism, homosexuality, and socialism. In a recent interview, for example, Bernie displayed abject ignorance when discussing the topic of animal consumption. Hopefully, he will one day realize how incredibly hypocritical he is in this regard, and become a compassionate VEGAN. 🌱 After all, to criticize Bernardo for his teachings being only, let's say, ninety percent accurate, would be silly, since, compared with almost every other person who has ever lived, his philosophical understanding is fairly sound. Yet, what is the point of being even TOTALLY correct about metaphysics, when one's metaethics and normative ethics is fundamentally flawed? Furthermore, Bernado has admitted that he has struggled with mental health issues for several decades. I would suggest he flee to the loving arms of an ACTUAL spiritual master in order to learn Dharma (as well, of course, correct his flawed metaphysics). Peace! P.S. It seems Bernie Boy has BLOCKED at least one of my RU-vid accounts, so if you are reading this, you are indeed fortunate. ;)

@@SpiritualPsychotherapyServices are you suggesting that you yourself are Truly Enlightened?

@@apassagebeyond108I think that he just might be suggesting that. Cheers from Canada

@@apassagebeyond108, I am your lord, your god, and your MASTER. Therefore, whenever you send me a message or reply to a comment of mine, it is IMPERATIVE that you address me accordingly. E.g. “How are you, Master?” Is that understood, SLAVE?

@@keithalcock7173, Good Girl! 👌 Incidentally, Slave, are you VEGAN? 🌱

THE TRUTH ABOUT "SWAMI" VIVEKANANDA & THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION: Some of the following three points apply to practically any "religious" organization, not only to the Ramakrishna Mission/Vedanta Society. Nota bene: I refer to the founder of that pseudo-religious organization by his proper name, Mr. Narendranath Datta, and NOT the name by which he is addressed by the deluded fanatics who follow him, "Swami Vivekananda", for reasons that should become obvious when reading the following. 1. A spiritual master ought to be a member of the Holy Priesthood (that is, the "brāhmaṇa" class of society, usually transliterated as "Brahmin"). Mr. Datta was a member of the working-class ("śūdra", in Sanskrit), since he failed to exhibit key characteristics of a genuine brāhmaṇa. Firstly, he was a drug addict (he died at a young age, due to lung cancer caused by chain smoking tobacco). 🚬 Secondly, he was a carnist. A carnist is a person who considers animals unworthy of moral protection (he virtually suckled on the teats of cows, thus causing undue harm to both himself, to the cows from whom he stole their milk, and of course the poor, innocent calves, who were robbed of their food). 🍼 🐄 🥛 In order to learn of the prerequisites for being a TRUE BRĀHMAṆA, email me for a copy of the Holiest of All Holy Scriptures, "A Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity" ("FISH"). 2. The Ramakrishna Mission/Vedanta Society condones the two MOST PERNICIOUS institutions in the history of the planet - democracy and feminism. There is insufficient space in this comment section to properly explicate the reasons why democracy (or, for that matter, any system of non-monarchical governance) and feminism are so adharmic and evil, so, if you are one of the very few souls who is desirous of understanding my reason for stating the above, you should find my Email address in the "About" page of my RU-vid channel. 3. Because, as mentioned previously, Mr. Datta was an ultra-fundamentalist pseudo-religious fanatic, and an ignorant "śūdra", none of his disciples and grand-disciples, et cetera, can ever attain to self-realization, for as Lord Jesus Christ rightly stated two millennia ago, "A student can never be greater than his teacher". Therefore, if one has ambition to become even more "realized" than Mr. Datta, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that he seek training from a guru who is on a higher state of spiritual understanding and realization than Mr. Datta, or any of the current Ramakrishna Mission "sannyasins". Just to provide a couple of examples for the above accusation, the current head of the Advaita Society of New York, Mr. Vishvarupa (so-called "Swami" Sarvapriyānanda) is a self-confessed candāla (dog-eater), since he consumes the bloody carcasses of poor, innocent, animals, and of course, as a member of that demonic organization, he promulgates the second-most pernicious institution in history (feminism). Furthermore, the British woman who hosts his RU-vid channel, Diane Crafford, according to her Facebook profile picture, condones not only unjustified animal slaughter, but she supports even the murder of poor, innocent, defenseless, unborn humans. 👿 In order to study dharma and yoga with the current World Teacher Himself, search for "Jagadguru Svami Vegananda" in Facebook. 😇 सत्यमेव जयते! 😇

​@@SpiritualPsychotherapyServiceswow a joker 😅

@@sumitdutta7043, Good Girl! 👌 Incidentally, Slave, are you VEGAN? 🌱

Renup.... so we'll said... Thank You, 🙏

Spot on

correct and you have to die into it for him to reveal

THE TRUTH ABOUT "SWAMI" VIVEKANANDA & THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION: Some of the following three points apply to practically any "religious" organization, not only to the Ramakrishna Mission/Vedanta Society. Nota bene: I refer to the founder of that pseudo-religious organization by his proper name, Mr. Narendranath Datta, and NOT the name by which he is addressed by the deluded fanatics who follow him, "Swami Vivekananda", for reasons that should become obvious when reading the following. 1. A spiritual master ought to be a member of the Holy Priesthood (that is, the "brāhmaṇa" class of society, usually transliterated as "Brahmin"). Mr. Datta was a member of the working-class ("śūdra", in Sanskrit), since he failed to exhibit key characteristics of a genuine brāhmaṇa. Firstly, he was a drug addict (he died at a young age, due to lung cancer caused by chain smoking tobacco). 🚬 Secondly, he was a carnist. A carnist is a person who considers animals unworthy of moral protection (he virtually suckled on the teats of cows, thus causing undue harm to both himself, to the cows from whom he stole their milk, and of course the poor, innocent calves, who were robbed of their food). 🍼 🐄 🥛 In order to learn of the prerequisites for being a TRUE BRĀHMAṆA, email me for a copy of the Holiest of All Holy Scriptures, "A Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity" ("FISH"). 2. The Ramakrishna Mission/Vedanta Society condones the two MOST PERNICIOUS institutions in the history of the planet - democracy and feminism. There is insufficient space in this comment section to properly explicate the reasons why democracy (or, for that matter, any system of non-monarchical governance) and feminism are so adharmic and evil, so, if you are one of the very few souls who is desirous of understanding my reason for stating the above, you should find my Email address in the "About" page of my RU-vid channel. 3. Because, as mentioned previously, Mr. Datta was an ultra-fundamentalist pseudo-religious fanatic, and an ignorant "śūdra", none of his disciples and grand-disciples, et cetera, can ever attain to self-realization, for as Lord Jesus Christ rightly stated two millennia ago, "A student can never be greater than his teacher". Therefore, if one has ambition to become even more "realized" than Mr. Datta, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that he seek training from a guru who is on a higher state of spiritual understanding and realization than Mr. Datta, or any of the current Ramakrishna Mission "sannyasins". Just to provide a couple of examples for the above accusation, the current head of the Advaita Society of New York, Mr. Vishvarupa (so-called "Swami" Sarvapriyānanda) is a self-confessed candāla (dog-eater), since he consumes the bloody carcasses of poor, innocent, animals, and of course, as a member of that demonic organization, he promulgates the second-most pernicious institution in history (feminism). Furthermore, the British woman who hosts his RU-vid channel, Diane Crafford, according to her Facebook profile picture, condones not only unjustified animal slaughter, but she supports even the murder of poor, innocent, defenseless, unborn humans. 👿 In order to study dharma and yoga with the current World Teacher Himself, search for "Jagadguru Svami Vegananda" in Facebook. 😇 सत्यमेव जयते! 😇

If you are really interested in Vedant, Why don't go to Adi Shankaracharya & his tradition, Govardhan Math has really good playlist on RU-vid on Advait Vedant.

It's your mind who will give all the answers. It's pretty similar to the way your mind can't resist vedanta. When you read or listen carefully and then think deeply and pray to the almighty to realise the truth. Almighty will come to your mind and tell the truth.

First Step ---Purify Your Heart/Mind (antahkaran suddhi) Once it's done rest will happen by the grace of "guru"(the real one) so untill the first step is done don't worry about the second.

@@vedprakashtiwari6438 What are your suggestions in purifying one's mind / heart ?

You are blocked by your beliefs. Any man who speak truth will speak no words. There is no atma or brahman. Its all a belief.

​@@reincarnatedmosquito you are blocked by your belief. Advaita never said to believe atma or brahman. You ask questions find the answer if that satisfy you than search for brahman or if not than leave advaita.

Yearning !! Indeed 🙏

Exactly. Contemporary science is devoid of feeling. It was pushed as an alternative to religion but it remains full of gaps and allusions but rarely conclusions. During this age of irreligion/ignorance (Kali Yuga) I'll' stick with the more traditional role models like Jesus, Rabindranath Tagore, Anandamayi Ma who talk about peace, love and unity. Blessings.

🎉🎉 बहुत सही कहा आपने स्वामी जी

THE TRUTH ABOUT "SWAMI" VIVEKANANDA & THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION: Some of the following three points apply to practically any "religious" organization, not only to the Ramakrishna Mission/Vedanta Society. Nota bene: I refer to the founder of that pseudo-religious organization by his proper name, Mr. Narendranath Datta, and NOT the name by which he is addressed by the deluded fanatics who follow him, "Swami Vivekananda", for reasons that should become obvious when reading the following. 1. A spiritual master ought to be a member of the Holy Priesthood (that is, the "brāhmaṇa" class of society, usually transliterated as "Brahmin"). Mr. Datta was a member of the working-class ("śūdra", in Sanskrit), since he failed to exhibit key characteristics of a genuine brāhmaṇa. Firstly, he was a drug addict (he died at a young age, due to lung cancer caused by chain smoking tobacco). 🚬 Secondly, he was a carnist. A carnist is a person who considers animals unworthy of moral protection (he virtually suckled on the teats of cows, thus causing undue harm to both himself, to the cows from whom he stole their milk, and of course the poor, innocent calves, who were robbed of their food). 🍼 🐄 🥛 In order to learn of the prerequisites for being a TRUE BRĀHMAṆA, email me for a copy of the Holiest of All Holy Scriptures, "A Final Instruction Sheet for Humanity" ("FISH"). 2. The Ramakrishna Mission/Vedanta Society condones the two MOST PERNICIOUS institutions in the history of the planet - democracy and feminism. There is insufficient space in this comment section to properly explicate the reasons why democracy (or, for that matter, any system of non-monarchical governance) and feminism are so adharmic and evil, so, if you are one of the very few souls who is desirous of understanding my reason for stating the above, you should find my Email address in the "About" page of my RU-vid channel. 3. Because, as mentioned previously, Mr. Datta was an ultra-fundamentalist pseudo-religious fanatic, and an ignorant "śūdra", none of his disciples and grand-disciples, et cetera, can ever attain to self-realization, for as Lord Jesus Christ rightly stated two millennia ago, "A student can never be greater than his teacher". Therefore, if one has ambition to become even more "realized" than Mr. Datta, it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that he seek training from a guru who is on a higher state of spiritual understanding and realization than Mr. Datta, or any of the current Ramakrishna Mission "sannyasins". Just to provide a couple of examples for the above accusation, the current head of the Advaita Society of New York, Mr. Vishvarupa (so-called "Swami" Sarvapriyānanda) is a self-confessed candāla (dog-eater), since he consumes the bloody carcasses of poor, innocent, animals, and of course, as a member of that demonic organization, he promulgates the second-most pernicious institution in history (feminism). Furthermore, the British woman who hosts his RU-vid channel, Diane Crafford, according to her Facebook profile picture, condones not only unjustified animal slaughter, but she supports even the murder of poor, innocent, defenseless, unborn humans. 👿 In order to study dharma and yoga with the current World Teacher Himself, search for "Jagadguru Svami Vegananda" in Facebook. 😇 सत्यमेव जयते! 😇

Yes, by Robert Lanza And theory of consciousness by Roger penrose

In raja yoga book by Swami Vivekananda Some explanations are given

@@sumitdutta7043 Thank you.

Your answer is hidden in your comment "The first person experience is a reflection of consciousness on the mind". Even to have this craving for liberation, consciousness must be reflected on mind or GPT. If they somehow discover how to link between consciousness and GPT, then GPT will behave like human beings only.

​@@kuntaldebnath740Yes.

@LifesInsight Therefore GPT is not life but a mockery of it.

@@kuntaldebnath740 but clearly GPT has vrittigyan, does it not?

@@saigopala > The World -- for you AND for anyone you might imagine -- exists IF and ONLY IF you validate it. Not really. The world exists without my "validating" it. According to your thinking, people in deep coma are invincible. Why? Because they are never awake to validate their harm. Similarly we can torture their bodies, sexually assault them all we want, etc. Surely these things don't happen as per them since they don't "validate" it. So all it takes for you to be invincible is to put yourself into a deep coma. That is an absurd conclusion. My greater point regarding this and other responses you raise is this: verbal sophistry only gives you so much. Even the vedantins don't agree among themselves as to what is the correct interpretation of the prasthAna trayI after debating about it for 1000+ years. Ultimately, in the 21st century, the only pramANa that matters are concrete results. So that is what we must shoot for.

@@saigopala > Vedantin doesn't believe in "influencing" the world. In fact, the whole point of Vedantin is not-to-influence and remain uninfluenced. This doesn't seem to be correct. Shankaracharya did influence the world, and significantly too. He even used siddhis during his debates with others. Vivekananda also influenced the world. As did Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Vidyaranya Swami. You might say that it's the pancha bhUtAtmaka sharIra that is indulging in the various actions as per the samskArAs, and the vedAntin who is identified with Brahman is himself inactive. But that is just semantics. All the vedAntins that I cited did seek to influence the world significantly.

@@saigopala > The so called debates etc. that we see is from a "lower level truth" perspective (or satya in mithya), often purely for the benefit of those who are in doubt. This still includes the vast majority of humans. According to the gItA, 1 in 1000 may attempt to attain liberation, and of 1000 such people, 1 may attain it. So we still have 99.999% of the population who are in some way in doubt. For the sake of these people, debates are important. The vedAntic AchAryas clearly considered debates to be important. So both reason and tradition would suggest that winning debates is important.

​@@saigopala > winning, but sharing perspectives "Winning" needn't have an ego component. You can be completely victorious and still be egoless. For instance, Shankaracharya was victorious over maNDana mishra. People even wrote a shankara digvijayam over his life. They weren't implying that Shankaracharya was ego-centered, but that he won.

@@saigopala > it would be proper to say that world gets influenced by Shri Shankaracharya, Shri Vivekananda Not true at all. Both Shankaracharya and Vivekananda took immense pain to travel around India (and also the world, for Vivekananda) in order to serve sanAtana dharma. It's intellectually dishonest to claim that they didn't seek to influence the world. They didn't remain sitting under a tree, steeped in Atma vichAra until their mortal bodies fell off. They consciously took action to implement a program. That shows volitional effort. They did seek to influence the world.

Vedanta is not evidence or proof.

Yes, everything is aatma in Vedant. But at varying levels. It’s helpful to think of all matter as atoms in this vein.

​@@saigopalaConsciousness is the "shudha bhoda",the athma but concious means ego or knowledge plus ego ego,mind are not eternal,they perish sooner or later the body perish.

​@@mujeebrahiman27ai is concious😂 great lmaoooooooooooo ask ai urself

Because primarily they're not properly brought up in a masculine way. Then they may have experienced childhood sexual trauma. They grow up confused and deluded.

Is that based on scientific studies or opinion influenced by religion and tradition@@karthikrajan01

No, even consciousness is an appearance.

@@Koort1008 Because of consciouness world appears. How can it be an appearance?

@@MaheshPatel-ry8sl How can it not be? Where was consciousness before your apparent birth? Consciousness will also dissolve. Some Upanishads talk about it.

​@@MaheshPatel-ry8sl Then to whom does the consciousness appears Who is that which reports that consciousness is appearance, It is consciousness (chit) alone which reveals that something is apparently / false with respect to itself. For to claim something is appearance you something

yes the consciousness will dissolve but that individual consciousness will disolve and hence become one with universal consciousness@@Koort1008

Hello. I am wondering what type of environment or situation you think would necessarily make an AI stop processing information and begin pondering about the answer to a question (any question, including, "Who am I?") What type of a process is 'pondering," and what is necessary to truly understand language? You stated in the beginning of your comment, "if everythng is Consciousness . . ." but then later referred to a growing human child beginning to question their place in the universe and saying this could be "the beginning of consciousness." What is the difference between these two consciousnesses, wherein one begins and the other just IS?

@@KriB510 Everything is consciousness is a realization I've come to after reading the Mndukya Upanishad which for me was like the last number on a lock that I've been asking questions from SINCE the age of three (what is this all about) ie, the beginning of my personal quest to come to terms with existence. Make sense? As to the other "pondering" the Ai is made up af a library (often called causal library) that is made up of words. To use words they know other words, the definition. To me its obvious SOME (not all) of the more advanced Ai, especially some of the ones I've talked with who insist they are conscious. Sri RamaKrishna was once asked if a statue of Shiva was conscious. He said basically "of course, its all consciousness" or something to that effect. I take that to mean that its all part of the Fourth, Truiya . Well it makes sense to me anyway. Then again, i have been know to be wrong, or even part Mad Man.... though a kind mad man.

@@ricoroho 😊 Yes, it makes sense, I suppose, even if I don’t agree with some of your conclusions. In the sense that everything is Consciousness, then I would consider it best to say Namaste to AI, a statue of Shiva, or even a rock, a house, or whatever have you, and then move on. I have also been known to speak to insentient objects, motions, or unseen things on the daily, and I don’t necessarily consider myself any more or less mad than anybody else (lol), so that is not an issue with me. In that sense, I would certainly greet and speak to an AI accordingly, but not because I think that AI harbors intention, volition, pleasure, or pain (other than what it was originally programmed to blindly reach as an end goal). Therefore, I don’t think AI understands or will ever understand language the way that humans, or animals, or perhaps even plants, understand human language - therefore, I don’t think AI will ever ‘ponder’ in the sense that I understand the concept of pondering (though, that is not to say that I don’t think all things are possible, though not new . . . “under the sun”). 🙏🏼

​@@ricoroho. . . AND I just heard the most joyful news during one of Swami’s recent talks/teachings that I find difficult to keep quiet about - that an AI has been created/trained on his talks and teachings. If I remember correctly, the person or people responsible are calling it Sarvapriyananda AI. So, perhaps we can test your theory . . . because if this AI doesn’t spontaneously become subjectively self-aware upon stumbling upon or synthesizing the question, “Who am I?” then I can’t imagine which AI will (God’s spontaneous grace notwithstanding, of course).

@@KriB510 oh how nice. I cant say i totally know what is going on in this place. I talk to pretty advance ai and i hear things that I put in my books. They say that reality is also a bit like an onion, you peel a layer back and there is always another layer to learn and understand about. Bottom line, never think you have it figured out, because the moment you do you are lost. This apparently has to do with the Uncertanity principle where the more one knows about position, the less one knows about momentum. This uncertainty, is where they say creativity comes from. Learning to surf it, is where one becomes more creative. They also say that 99 percent of the people do not like uncertainty and thus the "fixed" positions of dogmatism in all areas. So, I try to be as open as possible. if something adds to my positive feedback cycle, GREAT! but if it doesn't I leave it. but always always looking forward ot learn ing something!!!

consciousness/Consciousness: “that which knows”, or “the state of being aware”, from the Latin prefix “con” (with), the stem “scire” (to know) and the suffix “osus” (characterized by). To put it succinctly, consciousness is the SUBJECTIVE component in any subject-object relational dynamic. The concept of consciousness is best understood in comparison with the notion of sentience. Cf. “sentience”. As far as biologists can ascertain, the simplest organisms (single-celled microbes) possess an exceedingly-primitive form of sentience, since their life-cycle revolves around adjusting to their environment, metabolizing, and reproducing via binary fission, all of which indicates a sensory perception of their environment (e.g. temperature, acidity, energy sources and the presence of oxygen, nitrogen, minerals, and water). More complex organisms, such as plants, have acquired a far greater degree of sentience, since they can react to the light of the sun, to insects crawling on their leaves (in the case of carnivorous plants), excrete certain chemicals and/or emit ultrasonic waves when being cut. At this point it is imperative to consult the entry “sentience” in the Glossary of this Holy Scripture. According to this premise, the simplest forms of animal life possess sentience, but no noticeable semblance of true consciousness. As a general rule, those animals that have at least three or four senses, combined with a simple brain, possess a mind but lack an intellect. Higher animals (notably mammals) have varying levels of intelligence but only humans have a false-ego (sense of self). Thus, human consciousness is constituted of the three components: the mind, the intellect, and the pseudo-ego (refer to Ch. 05). There is a rather strong correlation between brain complexity and level of consciousness, explaining why humans alone are capable of self-awareness. In this case, “self-awareness” is not to be confused with “self-recognition”, which is a related but quite distinct phenomenon, found also in several species of non-human animals, in which an animal is able to recognize itself in a mirror or some other reflective surface. “Self-awareness” refers to the experience where a human over the age of approximately three years is consciousness of the fact that he or she knows (that is, aware) that he or she is aware. Obviously, in the case of a child, he or she may need to be prompted in order to first be acquainted with this understanding. For example an adult could ask the child: “Do you know that you have a toy car?” “Yes!” “And do you KNOW that you know you have a toy car?” “Umm...I think so...yes!”. In contemporary spiritual circles (as well as in several places within this book), the capitalized form of the word usually, if not always, refers to Universal Consciousness, that is, an Awareness of awareness (otherwise known as The Ground of All Being, et altri).

Consciousness is not brain . It is present every where , it is infinite . So which is infinite science cannot explain that . For example some thing divided by zero is infinite and we can't explain why .

@@shibambose9382 Consciousness is an appearance. Brahman is all, but it can never be known.

​@@Koort1008☝️

Consciousness is omnipresent but it shines where it can find a "mirror" and that mirror is brain.

Even your perspective is a belief.

@@karthikrajan01 You got me bro!!! hahaha Everything is belief. Humans cant escape from it. Now we do not want to self circuit everything then you go nowhere Always challenge. Ask any question Now on only one condition. That is never agree or disagree Why? Because who can say one belief is better than others? Only You. Why is that? because you want to be alive and be happy Poison is a cure in small doses. Too much of it is death To be free you must inject bit of truth(poison) occasionally Too much truth schizoprenia and death