When Did Your Suffering Start? The Answer Will Shock You (Advaita Vedanta)

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-30

[00:00:03]30 7 When did it start?

[00:00:10]This reflection.

[00:00:11]Question should come. Here is the answer.

[00:00:43]When did it start? There is no start.

[00:00:46]Anadi kala from beginningless time without beginning, without any beginning.

[00:00:54]You're avoiding the question.

[00:00:56]You're escaping the question. When did this process start? Well, it's not avoiding the question because space and time are also projections of Maya.

[00:01:06]It's like asking what happens before time. Before and after are reasonable questions to ask only when you have time.

[00:01:14]Before the concept of time again, you cannot use the word before.

[00:01:18]And space, it's like asking what is there outside space? Well, outside and inside makes sense only in space.

[00:01:24]So, outside space does not make any sense. Similarly, before the beginning of time does not make any sense.

[00:01:30]So, anadi, beginningless, but the real thing is the important feature is it has an end.

[00:01:38]This process has an end.

[00:01:41]Time must have a stop.

[00:01:43]It has an end. What is the end? The end is realization, God realization, realization of yourself as pure consciousness.

[00:01:52]He says, starting from without start, without beginning, and yet with an end.

[00:02:00]Moksha purvam, up to moksha, up to freedom.

[00:02:04]There is enlightenment and then freedom.

[00:02:07]Up to that point, these two are continuing. Which two? The reflected consciousness and the world universe of its experience. Universe of experience, the name and form, everything around us. Stars and planets and people and our life and the reflected consciousness going through this plodding through this life after life.

[00:02:31]There's a beautiful song written by Girish Ghosh.

[00:02:35]Um the scene is the young prince who's going to become the Buddha is sitting and the Gandharva celestial beings are singing.

[00:02:45]The song is like this.

[00:02:47]Um from whence do we float on the stream of life?

[00:02:52]Where are we coming from? I don't know we do not know. Where are we going? We do not know.

[00:02:57]In endless time we float thus.

[00:03:01]Burdened with this huge burden of desire, sin, guilt, helplessness.

[00:03:10]This huge burden on us and we float along. From whence we come and to where we go we do not know. This is samsara and it has been going on since endless time, beginningless time, and it will go on till we get enlightenment like the Buddha got enlightenment. Till that point it will go on.

[00:03:29]Vyavaharika sthitam, since these are empirical matters of experience, both are called empirical.

[00:03:36]You, the the reflected consciousness and the universe of its experience are called vyavaharika. This is a term one should learn in Advaita Vedanta.

[00:03:44]Vyavaharika, relative, empirical.

[00:03:48]There is a cruder term for it which probably the author is not using for fear of hurting our sentiments. He's saying this world What is this world? It is empirical.

[00:03:59]Transactional. Vyavahara literally means transactional. Transactional, empirical.

[00:04:03]Well, Advaitins have another word for it, mithya.

[00:04:06]It's false.

[00:04:09]It's false. Jagat mithya.

[00:04:12]So, vyavaharika empirical, transactional, relative is equal to false also, appearance.

[00:04:18]And it has been going on since beginningless time.

[00:04:24]One young brahmachari asked a senior Swami once, "How do we prove that this is this Maya has projected all this, you know, because of ignorance all this is happening? How do we prove this ignorance?"

[00:04:35]He says, "Don't try to prove ignorance, young monk. Try to overcome ignorance."

[00:04:48]Trying to prove, you see, technically there's a fault in this question. Trying to prove something, you require a proof.

[00:04:54]To prove something, you require a proof.

[00:04:56]A proof is a source of knowledge, which establishes something.

[00:04:59]Every source of knowledge is opposed to ignorance.

[00:05:03]If you try to use a pramana to establish agyana, it'll never succeed.

[00:05:07]It's like trying to say, "By which light can I see darkness?"

[00:05:12]"By which light can I see darkness?" By no light, because the moment you switch on a light, darkness is gone.

[00:05:17]So, try to overcome ignorance, young monk. Do not try to prove ignorance, establish ignorance.