Is Meditation ITSELF the Key to Enlightenment? One Guru's Struggle. 

😇 I was blessed to be taught Vedanta in Singapore by your Guru Swami Dayananda. Later when I was back home in Australia, I wrote a letter to him when he had returned to his ashram in India. My question was, "How will I know if I'm enlightened?" His written reply to me dated 25th April 2005 is framed & in my kitchen. I look at his letter daily & reflect on the meaning of his words. I am so fortunate to have now found a student of this great Guru. May you continue to follow in his footsteps, teach & instruct in simple but clear ways to remove our ignorance & give us the KEY to enlightenment. Thank you for your profound teachings. Hari Om Tat Sat. Om Shanti.

Beautifully Explained. My takeaways: 1) Meditation ALONE will NOT lead to enlightenment 2) Meditation and Scriptural studies as pedagogy will NOT lead to enlightenment (Swami Dayananda's decade-long unsuccessful effort) 3) Scriptural Studies and experiencing/practicing the world through the scriptural lens will lead to enlightenment (example of microscope, minute 33) 4) Meditation in conjunction with No.3 above will help assimilate the experience of enlightenment (My addition)

One of the best most important lectures I’ve heard in my life.

Swami Tadatmananda: I have always appreciated that you teach from this perspective and I thank you for sharing the story of Swami Dayananda's ordeal with us. It's so easy to see the influence he had in your life. I'm very grateful that you have taken the time to record these videos.

Thank God I never studied Vedanta as an academic subject. What a waste! As an individual, I was at the end of my rope, suffering and trying so many different spiritual/self-help paths. I was lucky enough to have been introduced to Vedanta in a way that it was simply useful. The teacher/guru that I found always stresses that Vedanta is for practical use, and it's definitely not meant for just academic study. Anyway, I've done more than my share of academic study in life, that I would not be silly enough to embark on an academic study of Vedanta. On the other hand, being brought up in western (Christian) society, I would love to know all of the scripture and stories that those raised Hindu do. Anyway, I heard from someone who passes himself off as a guru/Vedanta teacher, that it's best to avoid Swami Chinmayananda, who was Swami Dayananada's guru. His reasoning to avoid Chinmaya was that Swami Dayananda did NOT become enlightened under him. Apparently, he wasn't enough. However, this doesn't sit with me well. It seems like Swami Chinmayananda has a lot to offer us, that he was enlightened, as were many of his followers, perhaps tens of thousands of enlightened followers. Thank you, Swami Tadatmananda for this video. I never quite understood the statement that Vedanta is a means of knowledge, but this makes it clearer. Actually, at this point, it seems like all the Vedanta I take in is simply extra information. I know who I am. I know I am not the body, mind, or senses, that I'm not the physical or subtle bodies. I have never really had any major samadhi, which sometimes bothers my mind, yet I am not my mind, and samadhi is only experience, and all experience comes and goes. I think the biggest shift for me as an individual has been accepting that it's OK for the mind to be crazy. It's OK to feel bad. It's even OK to believe and feel that I am unenlightened, because those are simply the body, mind, and senses, not who I am. Another thing that I don't get caught up in as much as I used to was getting too stuck on any given guru's words that seem to contradict other things they say. I can recognize that I'm upset by the apparent contradiction and just let it be. ॐ

Hearing the story of your guru's search for truth is a valuable blessing and was beautifully conveyed. Thank you.🤲💐

Sastanga pranaam🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Dear Swami Tadatmananda ji Namaskaram 🙏, This lecture of yours about Adwait Vedant being Pramana has dispelled many a doubts I too had. Thanks for your efforts it’s bringing joy to many like me. Naman once again to you. 🙏

This is one of the most important thing to understand and remember, else one will become a theoretical ecpert only. Many thanks, Guruji.

Excellent presentation on Pramana

What a beautiful and powerful lecture! Thank you so much for these insights, Swamiji!

Thank you so much Swamiji! Aside from all the incredible teachings you give us through scripture I also very much like to hear stories from your life or in this case your guru's life. The possibility to learn from experiences other people had and the incredible and profound wisdom they gained. This is so incredible valuable. And I feel immensly blessed to have access to your teachings Swamiji. I wish you all the blessings of Bhagavan and the very best. Thank you!

What a tribute to our beloved Guru Pujya Swamiji! This beautiful video is extremely important and useful gift for modern students of Vedanta since it clearly presents the crucial points for its understanding. I remember very well this "pramana story" told by Swamiji himself. Therefore, it was really a great pleasure to see this tremendously valuable work done by you Swami Tadatmananda ji. With gratitude and best wishes to successfully continue the work you do, Swamini Umananda, Russia. Om Sri Gurubhyo namaha.

OMG this is it, nothing else is needed. Thank you Swamiji.

Most excellent tribute to Pujyasri Swamiji!

thank you swamiji your intention to inform others is truely noble!!! im indebted to Vedanta and instructors like yourself!

Thank you Swami ji for this very informative video 💗🙏🏼💗

Thank you Swamiji ...had me smiling remembering Pujya Swamiji so much. 🙏🏻💥🙏🏻

Thanks again swamy🙏 Even though, I live 60km from gudiwada, I never knew about swamy pranavananda or his ashram. My salutations to guru chinmayananda and guru Dayananda for bringing vedantha knowledge to public.🙏🙏

It was this key that Jesus of Nazareth was pointing to … only through me can u enter the kingdom f heaven . The me being the Atman that you can now be aware of …as the knowing. Thank you Swami ..u are a great teacher.

Swami is an amazing teacher. It makes everything so clear and understandable.

Thank you very much for this video. You have answered some of the questions I had about the purpose of meditation and scriptures lately. I was skeptical in why I should trust words such as the teachings of the Vedantas, but now I understand their purpose well. 🙏

Thank you🐣✨, so much Swami Tadatmananda🌟. Blessings, from Chile.🍁💖🍁💖

Many thanks for great insights again🙏knowledge without actually applied is merely a fact(key)... True knowledge must be dwelled/lived in our life (similar to how a key is used to unlock, a key is useless when not used and without using a key it is difficult to unlock) .. Microscope metaphor is indeed awesome to help us remember this 🙏

Beautiful explanation... Such a seemingly complicated meaning, expounded in so simple manner... Only a true enlightened being can explain in such manner ... Can't thank you enough 🙏

Swamiji, you have been the guiding light in my life. Om Shanti

Vedanta tells us that we are Atma...a source of happiness ourselves ...we don't need any experience (intraction with anything other than ourselves)to be happy. In meditation (vipassana or witness meditation), we learn to be indifferent (not to react) to each & every experience and as we do so, we feel happy. This proves vedanta...that we are that entity whose nature is happiness itself.

This is what zen/chan master thought in south east Asia. Thanks for your teaching. The same text/knowledge was translated through time and space got distorted and end up break into too many schools. Blessed few got it.

Gracias, swamiji, tus palabras son una inmensa fuente de conocimiento e inspiración! 💓🙏

I would never make it through a week without your Videos. The help me balance out of the programming and world languages I study. Mostly romance languages and Python, but the kids tell me JS is a good one to learn too.

Gracias infinitas, tuve la gracia de recibir las enseñanzas de Swami Dayananda cuando venìa a Argentina cada año, y cada semana concurrìa a escuchar su enseñanza de parte de un discìpulo de èl, quièn seguìa con mucha luz sus clases y las trasmitìa, asì pasè 4 años en ese estudio. Ahora , me alegro de encontrar aquì la misma enseñanza de Swami Dayananda de parte de Usted con tanta lucides y claridad. Namaste. Om Shanti !

Dear Swamiji. Thanks for giving us clarity on this matter. I did experience your devotion to your master too in your presentation. Greatly valuable. 🙏

It is very enlightening ! It removed so many doubts in my mind! Thank you my true Guru!

Blessed to have a great people around us to share the knowledge to make our lives meaningful 🙏🙏🙏

Swamiji your crystal clarity of vedanta and spiritual wisdom truly helps the spiritual seeker in great ways. You are a boon to the mankind and are doing a great service to clarify great spiritual wisdom of Bharat.

The key to wisdom by Sri Ramakrishnam is the Mother, he said to his disciple Swami Vivekananda: you attain Virmikalpa samadhi, now go farther and attain the Mother, only Kali can give you what you waited

Beautifully done, Guruji. Thanks very much for your hard work and inspirational teachings. Very pleased to hear Pujya Swami Dayananda’s experiences in his spiritual growth during this anniversary of his attaining Maha Samadhi. Salutations.🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼Om Shanti.

I love to see how the production value of this channel has increased over time. Well done! 👏🏼

What a wonderful teaching. I learned so much from this video and from your other videos. Thank you.

Pujya swami ji, I studied Buddha, swami Vivekananda, J. Krishnamurti, maharishi Raman and many others. But your method is outstanding.

So beautiful. Swamiji Pranam 🙏🏽🙏🏽

As always, your videos are a true lesson for the spirit!

Grateful thankyou

THANK YOU VERY MUCH SWAMI JI 🙏💓 ... It is a Great and Very Important Knowledge 🕉🐜 ... Swami Dayananda Ji must be seeing with happiness that his work has multiplied thanks to your noble service, Swami Ji ... 😊 I want to share with you the translation and dubbing that I made into SPANISH of your series of videos of The Journey of Enlightment... I just shared the First part, in a couple of days I upload the Second ... it is very important for the Spanish-speaking community to be able to listen your knowledge, including the Meditation Course that is so necessary for everyone ... With much respect and with all the Love I feel for you and for what you have done for my life, I made these translations ... I hope you can see them 😊 Your video is the first in a series that I started on Great Spiritual Masters In Spanish, translation and dubbing, among whom are, in addition to you, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Tatwamayananda, among others ... I would also like to translate and dub THIS Precious video 💓😊🌻 ... Thank you very much Swami Ji ... Om Hari 🙏 Om Namah Shivaya ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FnnMheiuUwo.html

Amazing clarity and so encouraging 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻sahasra pranam Swamiji.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to create this video! It is a priceless gem. Your clarity, understanding and wisdom go straight to what we need for realization and recognition of atma - the nature of our true self.

Thank you so much Respected Swamiji for explaining clearly the most difficult subject in simple but perfect rational words. Namaskar swamiji.

Very insightful 🌹

🙏🙏 very profound

Hari Om. Om Sri Dayanandayeyi Namah.

Pranam guruji

Shanti, shanti , shanti 🙏.

So beautifully explained Swamiji! Pranam 🙏

Swamiji, what a brilliant lesson. Thank you!!!

Swami Pranavananda (S.Narasimham before sannyasa), uncle of Dr. S.Radhakrishnan, former President of India, was a munshi in Police Training College and taught local languages to Europeans. Among others, he wrote Ramana Maharshi Charitramu, Sri Ramana Stutipaatalu and Sri Guru-Anugraha Avataramu. He was the first to translate Who am I? into Telugu.

🌱Thank you

Thank you swamiji for clearly explaining the crucial aspect of vedanta. My 🙏🙏🙏🙏

This is gold

Gaining enlightens idue solely to Gods grace. Our efforts make the ground fertile for that grace.

Thank you. This answered alot of questions I had. Thanks for everything you do and share. Namaste

Thanks

Swamiji, this is the topic I was searching intensely to understand with Clarity. Exactly This.... Thank you for teaching a very important Topic. Hari Om and Pranaam.

Swamiji Recently I read a book written by an Enlightened master.... " Give up Meditation and Get Enlightenment"... the fundamental of the book is that meditation is not the to route to Enlightenment.

This points out the incredible importance of lineage as the basis for spiritual realization, because the lineage provides the authority that turns hearsay into pramana. There is a fourth pramana that I was taught however, so-called "yogic direct valid cognition", and I wonder what the Swami might say about this? Thank you!

Beautiful!

Thank you swami ji🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

"Pramana" well explained for my understanding. Thank u, thank u.🙏

Thank you Swamini salutation I’m ti puny a Seamiji . 🙏To you -Guru parumpara💐🕉

I can appreciate the difference between vedanta as an academic subject and as a pramana. The question still remains how to use it as a pramana.

Blessed to hear this. My two cents. Every experience that we have has to be interpreted through the lens of Advaita Vedanta. We have to question every experience we have, in the light of Vedantic knowledge and even if our experience is contradictory to Vedantic knowledge we give the benefit of doubt to Vedanta. For eg., regarding the feeling of hunger, we often say "I am hungry". Really!! I am hungry?? According to Vedanta, I am Atma (Consciousness) and can never be hungry. It is the body craving for some food (via the gurgling of the stomach). Then how do we interpret this experience? I the Atma(Consciousness) am the knower(witness) of the feeling of hunger arising in the body(stomach). Doing this when we are really hungry is a litmus test of our assimilation of Vedantic teaching, because when hunger arises Vedanta will be the last thing on our mind 😀 😀!!!!

Very nice explanation! It is interesting to note that Shakara himself declared that he would reject the sacred Vedic scriptures if they said that the fire was cold.

Humble pronam to you Swamiji 🙏🙏🙏🌻

Great teaching of true vedantha..

Wonderful session! We are glad that the knowledge of Vedanta is available for public through a Guru like You 🙏🙏

Third eye opening

How nicely explained. Cordial thanks🙏

Wonderful Guruji..

Priceless video. This video can save a lot of lifes.

Excellent presentation. Thanks so much

Thank you guruji 🙏🙏 thank you so much guruji

Interesting watch from a female perspective; thanks for sharing, confirms my views of 'back in the day' rishi's/gurus in general, enough said.

Thank you swamiji......🙏

Very precious

This opened up my mind to new possibility, thank you soon much guruji, if possible please provide some links to original Sanskrit texts... Of actual Vedanta

This a great discourse on the nature of upanishadic teachings, and a good infomercial for Arsha Bodh (and other advait) institutions. What is not clarified is: who experiences or realizes the Atma- the Atma itself, or our chitta, what is that experience or realization like, what sort of transformations attend the realization (or experience) that we are satchidananda? Also, minor note: Kunti telling Karna that he was her child isn’t direct knowledge to for Karna. She could’ve said so even if she did not bear him. In reality, she herself couldn’t have known, since she didn’t have a way to know where the basket floated to, or how many sons the Sun had running around with golden ornaments. If she herself cannot “know”, then she can scarcely share that knowledge. If I drink a sweet drink, and experience the sweetness, then I have direct knowledge of its sweetness. Of course, I might think I had a sweet drink due to some brain injury, etc. That just means even direct knowledge isn’t infallible. The point is, let’s say your Karna, if a woman comes to you and says you’re her long lost child, that is not “knowledge”. It is still a testimony, subject to verification.

Very nicely explained swamiji

🙏🙇‍♂️🙇‍♀️🙏

Beautiful 👏👏👏👏

Thank you swamiji

🙏

🙏🙏🙏💐💐

Wonderful, thank you 🙏

Thank you

Beautiful

1ST COMMENT

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Pranam, Swami Ji! As far as I know Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s teaching is also based on Advaita Vedanta?

Namaskara Pujya Swamiji. I heard you mentioned that you are going to start InPerson Satsang again in your ashram. Could you kindly make those Satsangs LIVE and interactive, please? This will tremendously help online people who may (will) have questions. Many thanks 🙏🏻 Namaskara.

So so good! Thankyou so much for this. 🙏❤️🧬❤️🧬❤️🧬❤️may all being be happy, safe and live with ease .

Thank you Swami T for this great episode, which is so beautifully conveyed through speech, music and visuals. Could one sum the video up like this (?): Vedanta's teachings are NOT the theory for the practice of meditation (as it is often wrongly taught by new Advaita teachers, because the scriptures have been mistranslated), but a Pramana (instrument of (direct) knowledge) which ALONGSIDE with meditation helps you to discover your true self (and become enlightened).