Understanding is action only. Follow-by actions means effort only. You understand and act, that simple it is. That is how understanding operates.
You know the movement of your mind. Mind is the object. Don’t make it a subject. If you make the mind subject: one part of the mind knows the other part of the mind. But then who knows that one part is known by the other? The witness, the true self.
Doing is vikara, seeing and knowing is not vikara.
Avatara is a concept started in 10th - 11th century.
Word avatara doesn’t exist in Shankara’s Bhashya. Avatara means descent. Comes from the concept of an old guy sitting in heaven and fixing the world every now and then there is a major problem.
Rama and Krishna’s were not gods at their time. They were human beings who allowed their godliness to manifest. They became only later worshiped as gods.
Vanara - humanoid tribe.
Uttara kanda - fabrication. Not part of the original Ramayana.
Ramayana is a story of love. Like Titanic.
Vaishnavism is a sectarian religious movement which started sometimes 10/11th century AD.
Knowledge is very essential for the outer life. Understanding which is not knowledge is very crucial for the inner life.
Advice to youngsters: give importance to thinking, instead of believing. Questioning instead of following. What is life? You have to discover yourself. Question, study, discover and be wiser instead of believing, following etc.
Learn to pay attention. Attention deficiency is the problem of the tiktok-generation.
In life there are no responsibilities, there are only duties. Responsibility implies that you control the outcome.
Ambition is poisonous bread. An ambition centers around me and mine. An ambitious person marries his ambition. Love has secondary position.