Video 101

101. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 8 Verses 11-14 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] guru we are in the eighth chapter and the last time we did the tenth verse i think we were on the 11th verse if i remember correctly at the time of death physical death of the body what does this devotee do this person concentrates the mind on god that means concentrates means unwavering mind manasa chalena means unflickering concentrated on god not on the illness not on other people not on the bank balance being left behind or whatever not on medical insurance fixed unclickering mind on god how bhaktiya won by devotion so all emotion is has been throughout a lifetime cultivated and channeled to god see all the desire that we have which flows in a thousand streams to the world i want this this this this i want the world the world has been swept away and in there it is god so this is bhaktya by devotion all my emotions flowing to god how else yoga balance by the power of yoga by the power of meditation so cultivated regular power of meditation regular meditation or lifetime so the mind gets fixed on god as a master of controlling the prana bravo so the prana life forces are concentrated there is an intense focus at the heart center then the prana is taken up through what is called the sushumnandi to the um the agnya chakra in between the eyebrows and from there at the time of death it will exit at the top of the head there is the chakra called the brahmarandra so it and the person leaving this where does this person go at the death of the body satan param purusha muppet attains the transcendent consciousness which we call god or whatever so what is going on here to quickly recapitulate in advaita vedanta there are these two paths to liberation liberation from what liberation from samsara liberation from suffering attainment of fulfillment liberation from the cycle of birth and death now these two paths are one is sadhyo mukti instant liberation right here in this life how does that happen you realize you are liberated that you are brahman you are infinite existence consciousness place not this little body mind you realize that how do you realize that through gyan as a path through knowledge which knowledge knowledge that i am brahmana that should become not just something we read it should become absolutely living reality clarity from that perspective there is no more bondage you never were born let alone cycle of birth and death you are born you are liberated you are brahman so you know this um somebody said so or which version it doesn't matter i'm reading from this but whichever version you've got if you've got the original verses and an adequate translation that will do multiple translations are available so i'm reading in chapter 8 verse number 10 chapter 8 verse 10. this this version i'm reading from just using this but i keep using different versions this is a small bhagavad-gita just the original verses with an english translation um translated by swami vireshvaranandaji it was the 10th president of the ramakrishnamuttan mission it's published from the ramakrishnamutt chennai that is madras but then it's all right i mean you can use any other version i use multiple versions so this is one path of liberation i realize i'm brahmana and i'm free not even multiple buds and deaths not even one birth i i realized that samsara was an appearance whole idea of bondage was an appearance the truth is that i always was am and will be brahman this is called satya mukti direct liberation i get what i always had and what is the purpose of this liberation to get what you already had that you were brahman you just realized that to remove what was never there this is samsara which was ultimately not there ultimately only brahman was there but that delusion is removed that there is a terrible thing called samsara that is that is removed this is direct mukti what happens after this one remains the body will remain this appearance of this life and body will continue for a while and this is called jivan mukti liberated while living that's one the other kind of liberation that is talked about is more conventional more in the religious sense that by a lifetime of devotion to god even if one does not get enlightenment in this life after death one will not be reborn again one will not come into the wheel of some samsara again and yet one retains one's individuality one does not it has not yet realized that i am the absolute reality and i'm not this little personality no one continues to be the little personality but now it's a purified personality it is a devoted personality entirely surrendered to the will of god what we might call a saint and this saintly person goes to brahmaloka variously defined in different religions in vaishnavas we'll call it vaikuntha the shaivites will call it kailasa devi loka or the christian heaven or the muslim heaven the the highest realm where you live in the presence of god and that's also a kind of liberation though advaita vedanta will not consider it complete but the kind of liberation because you are beyond suffering you are safe and you will not come back into samsara anymore but there's still separation there's still spiritual progress to be made and one becomes enlightened there so that is called krama mukti krama mukti means sequential liberation sadhyamukti gramma mukti instant liberation here and now gramma mukti sequential liberation more conventional what you find religious language god salvation heaven and all of that and vedanta agrees advaita vedante greece that's also there that's still within maya but what might be called the maya of knowledge vidyamaya be a spiritual maya so now here in this chapter the second one is being talked about the first one was already talked about in the first six chapters but now the second one has been talked about sequential liberation and there bhakti is important yogic practice regular meditation is important bhakti is important of course a moral life is important basic moral life then devotion and surrender to god regular meditation yoga plus devotion plus of course the initial preparation of moral ethical life this person whom we might call a genuinely religious person genuinely spiritual person yet from an advertising sense may not be enlightened this person attains to this kind of liberation sequential liberation fine now before i go any further i mentioned something earlier that this person will you know at the end of life will be absorbed in god and the subtle body will leave the physical body um through the there's an aperture at the head the crown of the head called the brahmarandra and it passes through the the heart center in the vishuddha chakra here in the throat center and then the um the chakra at the eyebrows the chakra and then through the sahasrara so clearly there is a change in movement which advaita vedanta immediately will question any change in movement means that you're still not perfect but anyway and this person will go to brahma okay there's a clear one experience will be replaced by another experience of course a much much more extraordinary wonderful sublime blessed experience now the point is that these visions of god this absorption in god extraordinary either extraordinary devotion devotional moods at the end of life or deep meditation at the meditative end of life it is not necessarily just these persons will have those experiences a fully realized person person who is a brahmagyani fully realized sadhyamukti already attained brahmacharyana may have certain experiences like this already knows i am brahman but see the mind of such a person is always absorbed in god maybe in a devoted way devotional way or in a yogic way maybe the person is cultivated meditation all lifelong and is fully enlightened so such a person who is fully enlightened at the time of the death of the particular that body may still have some such experiences which are being mentioned here if the person has such experiences does not mean oh he's on a path of sequential liberation so person is not yet fully enlightened no person may be fully enlightened and yet have these experiences so just to give up instead of just talking in theoretical terms let's just see two glorious examples one passing just like this in in full meditative awareness that is swami vivekananda the other one passing just like this in full devotional awareness swami brahmananda we'll read their their passing the last few last days last few hours and exactly what happened when they passed when they left this body i'm reading from swami caitanya is magnificent book god lived with them so this is the life stories of the 16 monks the first generation of monks the direct disciples of sri ramakrishna vivekananda and others so the passing of swami vivekananda first and you know that is the date which has been pretty close 4th of july and he selected it he asked towards the end of his life he asked one of his disciples look for an auspicious date you know in a hindu almanac is there auspicious days as he kept on looking when he came to the date corresponding to the english fourth of july when vivekananda said stop that's it of course you didn't explain why but then later they realized he had selected a date so the passing of swami vivekananda on his last day 4th july 1902 now before this summer of course was ill his health was failing he was only 39 he used to say i won't live to see 40. when he passed he was only 39 years old um and the government of india has declared that his birthday the 12th of january as a national youth day he always stands as an icon of youth you know in 39 years he passed a couple of days before this sister nivedita had visited balurmat the monastery where swami vivekananda was staying the room you can still go there the room very past in meditation and it still has has a very powerful a very thick spiritual atmosphere you can feel it palpably there it just radiates from that room um so sister nivedita had visited his disciple she had visited the monastery two days before second june and so he behaved very affectionately with her and gave her lunch and then chatted with her at the end of the meal he poured water over her hands too so that she would wipe her hands and and dried her hands with a towel whenever it was embarrassed she said it is i who should do these things for you swamiji not you for me but his his answer was salem swing vivekander said jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then sister navidita says that something within me was about to say that the answer that that was the last time the last day when jesus washed the feet of his disciples but i couldn't um say those words and she got on a boat and she left and she remembers that that day vivekananda stood on the bank of the river and watched until the boat disappeared over the horizon you know as if later she realized bidding farewell on his last day july 4th 1902 vivekanthe got up very early in the morning as usual he would go get up before sunrise went to the shrine for meditation he was not sick at all during breakfast he was in a jovial mood teasing premananda recalling many events of old times he had fruit milk and tea in 8 a.m he again entered the shrine for meditation when at 9 30 am primarily entered the shrine to perform the daily worship swami vivekananda asked him to carry his meditation mat to the master's bedroom so he into went so and shut all doors and windows swamiji dusted the master suramar krishna's bed with his own hand and again sat for meditation never before had he performed such meditation in the monastery what transpired there no one knows he finished his meditation at 11 am that's been several hours then and he began to sing a song about kali i mean he's sang for a long time so um is kali my mother really black the naked one though black she seems lights the lotus of the heart it's a very well-known kali kitten very mystical song now she is white now red now blue now she appears as yellow too i hardly know who mother is though have pondered all my life now purusa now prakriti now the void she seems to be very beautiful purusha's pure consciousness prakriti's nature material nature the universe and then she says he says sometimes consciousness sometimes this entire material nature sometimes just emptiness to meditate on all these things confounds poor kamala kanthas which is a song by the poet saint kamala kanta after singing this song he descended the stairs of the shrine he walked back and forth in the courtyard of the monastery he appeared withdrawn as if traveling to a distant land suddenly he said if there were another vivekananda then he would have understood what this vivekananda has done and yet how many vivekananda shall be born in time his statement was overheard by premaranda um i'm skipping ahead um so he discussed the sushumna the one the nerve current in which the prana flows through this body at the time of the death of the yogi so he discussed this with his disciples that was also quite indicative this suggests that he was thinking about at this time he was planning to give up his body like a true yogi passing through the six centers of the sushumna and merging the paramatman in the sahasrara at the crown of the head at noon he heartily enjoyed his lunch with the monks in the dining room because of his illness he usually took meals in his room um after 15 he went to his room to rest for a while 15 minutes he came out of his room and told primary let us go and study day sleep is not good for a monk today i did not get any sleep i got a little headache because of a long meditation then he went to the library and called the brahmacharyans the novices to attend a class on sanskrit grammar one who attended the class wrote the class lasted for nearly three hours one to four pm but no monotony was felt for he swamiji would tell a witty story and then to lighten his teaching as to lighten his teaching as was his practice sometimes the joke would be with reference to the wording of a certain aphorism or he would make an amusing play upon its words knowing that the fun would make it easier for recollection then swamiji wanted each disciple to be original and not to follow him blindly warning against false prophets who might come in the future he said to the boys if any man ever imitates me kick him out do not imitate me he went for a walk with primand bazaar and then he walked back to the monastery he had actually pointed out a place to briman and the few days earlier in the monastery that when i pass cremate my body here he was only 39 years old he was ill that's true but nobody expected that he would leave the body so fast so primary did not take too serious take that too seriously but that's where he was eventually he was cremated there that's that's the spot where the temple stands at 6 30 p.m oh before this uh swami primary talk swami swamiji talked to pramana and other monks about the history of european civilization and also colonial history india is immortal he said if she persists in her search for god but if she goes for in for politics and social conflict she will die he also talked to ramakrishnan and his father for some time at 6 30 p.m when he found that some monks were taking tea he went to them and said will you give me a cup of tea he enjoyed the tea with them when the whisper bell was wrong at seven pm around this time he got up and went to his room bodhananda who was swamiji's secretary and who kept some cash he said i was standing by the stairway down on the ground floor it was month of july mosquitoes are so numerous and so dangerous if you get malaria from them and no one can sleep in bed without the curtains so swami vivekananda descri had discovered that the mosquito curtains of some monks were torn and his command last command to me was see that they all get new mosquito curtains even in his last moments vivekananda showed his great love and concern for the monks by the way swami bhudhananda later came to america and he was the head of this center where i am now and he actually lived in this room and he passed in this room where i'm sitting now he was saying vivek on the secretary uh this was fine buddha swamiji said to his attendant brahmachary brajendra my body is very light today i feel fine please give me my rosary to do japa to repeat the mantra he sat facing the ganga so you can see the river in front from his room it's beautifully placed just over the river before he began his meditation he asked prajendra to go to the other room and instructed him wait and meditate till i call you after an hour at 8 00 pm the swami called rajendra and asked him to fan his head swamiji told him to open all the windows of his room because he was feeling hot then he laid himself down on the on his bed there's a lower bed on the floor he still has had the rosary in his hand after a while he said to him all right no more need for fanning it would be better if you give a little message to my feet soon he seemed to fall asleep and one hour passed in this manner vivekanda was lying on his left side and the brahmacharyan was messaged massaging his feet he then moved and lay on his back shortly after that he cried out like a baby cries for its mother towards the end swami vivek brazhendra noticed that swamiji's right hand trembled a little there was perspiration on his forehead and he breathed the deep breath and his head rolled down by the pillow there was silence for a minute or two again he breathed in the same manner his body became still it was 9 10 pm rajendra thought that the swami was in samadhi but he was scared and puzzled he rushed downstairs and told swami advaitananda about swamiji immediately the old swami went to swami vivekananda's room placed his hand on his heart and checked the pulse there was no breathing then advaithananda asked bodhananda who has just arrived and was cooking swamiji's meal to check the pulse after doing this for a while he stood up and cried aloud advaitananda then told nirbhayananda alas what are you looking at hurry to dr mahindranath baranagar and bring him as soon as you can within a couple of minutes premananda arrived and found swamiji motionless he nisha ananda ramakrishnan and his father began to chant ramakrishna loudly into swamiji's ears hoping he would return from samadhi swamiji's eyes were fixed at the center of his eyebrows with his here and his face had assumed a divine expression with a sweet smile the monks crossed the ganga at night and went to the doctor at baranaga another monk went to calcutta to inform swami brahmananda swami saradananda both arrived late in the night at 10 30 pm the doctor arrived the doctor found there was no sign of life he still tried artificial respiration there was a little blood in his nostrils about his mouth and in his eyes according to the yoga scriptures which we will see just now according to yoga scriptures the life breath of an illumined yogi passes out to the opening on the top of his head causing the blood to flow in the nostrils and the mouth swami vivekananda passed away at the age of 39 years 5 months and 24 days thus fulfilling his own prophecy i shall never live to i shall never see 40. he had said i am a voice without a form towards the end he said it may be that i shall find it good to get outside of my body to cast it off like a disused garment but i shall not cease to work i shall inspire men everywhere until the world shall know that it is one with god so that's how swami vivek and the past but it is notable that he passed in deep meditation and the discussion about the sushumna and the accumulation of blood and the nostrils and the in the eyes we'll see what krishna says about passing in this way so that's one um a little a humorous side to this once i told this story to a visitor in our ashram in deokar he was a very senior police officer and so he was listening very carefully he was quite inspired by all this but the moment i came to the little accumulation of blood at the nostril and his eyes immediately he perked up and he said oh was a proper autopsy performed he thought it who knows it might be murder or something like that you know so it's a police officer you know so he immediately starts suspecting foul play let me read the relevant verses here from the gita then we'll go to swami brahmananda eleventh verse so that imperishable principle which the knowers of the vedas describe into which the experience bereft of all desires enter desiring which one lives the abstinent life of a student that goal i shall tell you in brief this is basically a paraphrase of a upanishadic mantra so krishna is saying yet aksharam what is the goal here to attain to an eternal reality brahman atman whatever you call it who talks about it veda vidanti the knowers of the vedas those of the upanishads they talk about it and shankaracharya says they talk about it in two ways as the god of religion brahman with all the attributes the lord which controls this universe are beyond that the same lord is also the nirguna brahman the absolute reality is existence consciousness please which is our own reality in in both of these ways the knowers of the vedas speak about it for which the monks monks here means a monk formerly like swan vivekananda or it could be someone who is monastic in the quest for spiritual realization as many are we tara who have transcended worldly desires raga means pulls towards the world this whole idea is craving that the things of the world people of the world things of the world activities in the world will fulfill me they will not fulfill me you can continue but you will not fulfill me god realization will fulfill me desiring which realization people go to a guru and become a brahmacharya literally it means brahmacharya means a celibate life but shankaracharya says the whole thing about being a disciple of a guru and in order to become enlightened that realization that ultimate state i'm going to talk up talk to you in brief now the next few verses almost sort of exactly describe what we just read so [Music] [Music] what does this mean concentrating all the organs controlling all the organs confining concentrating the mind to the heart fixing the life breath in the head that means pushing it into the sushumna the spiritual current from the heart to the throat to the chakra in the head to the top of the head absorbed in yogic meditation repeating the monosyllable om repeating om which is brahman and thinking of me he who departs leaving the body attains the highest goal so this departure of the um of the prana through the sushumna the top of the head that is only these uh yogis who attain um they say the sequential liberation drama mukti their departure is of this form now why vivekananda would do this he's already liberated so he's fully liberated so this is the maybe that his choice he passed in this way not because he was not liberated not because on the path of sequential liberation or it just might be like he himself said and so i'm sriramakrishnan also mentioned about him that he chooses to retain his individual identity he passes and still remains as vivekananda as a fully liberated being not with a physical body anymore but still available for helping and guiding and inspiring the world and there are actually i know of people who have actually seen him have had visions of him so this is maybe a way it demonstrates a fully liberated person might still choose to do this in order to retain some kind of individuality again this is you see how do you know this i don't i'm just putting two and two together which is remarkable vivekananda's passing and the similarity between this text and other such text which describe this kind of passing then another one we will read that is swami brahmananda very different and yet very similar here vivekananda in deep yogic meditation he passes brahman you'll see in the ecstasy of devotion he passes so we will read that now so in our order the first generation of monks vivekananda obviously was the chief he was the uh crown jewel of them all but next to vivekananda swami brahmaranda and srirama krishna actually considered swami brahmananda his spiritual son and vivekaranda said that swami brahmana there was a dynamic of spirituality the end swami on this life this comes in 1922. before swami brahmana came to sri ramakrishna long ago when swami ramananda was just a young boy srirama krishna had a vision two visions actually one vision was that the mother divine mother appears before him and puts a baby on his lap saying that this is your son and sriram krishna says how can i have a son because i do not have you know i don't live a conventional and married life and then the mother says to him that he's going to be your spiritual son he will come to you the day just before brahmananda came to sri ramakrishna that day he had a vision on the ganga he had his vision of a lotus blooming and he saw the child krishna playing with another child um so like a one of the boys the shepherd boys of brindavan little later brahmananda whose name was rakhal at that time akal comes rakhal by the way means a shepherd boy of brendawan so rakhal comes to suramar krishna with his relatives and sudama krishna immediately he recognizes this boy looks exactly like that little child i saw on the lotus in my mystic vision and he asks what's your name the boy says rakha rakha means shepherd boy of prindavan the playmate of krishna now this is what suramar krishna knew about rakha about brahmaran he said that in his earlier life he was a friend a child who played with krishna in vrindavan in so many thousands of years ago he so he is one of the select group of spiritual personalities who comes with god every time god comes as an incarnation so he has come with god earlier at krishna and meaning thereby suram krishna himself is an incarnation and rakhal has come again but he also warned that if rakhal ever knows who he is ever knows who he is he will not live long he will give up the body so this is the background now long fast forward the end of swami brahmananda's life 1922. sriram krishna had long ago passed in 1886 swami vivekan had passed in 1902 swami brahmananda was the president of the order srirama krishna had made a prediction about brahmananda to his close disciples when rakhal knows his real nature his body will not last anymore the master never told rakhala about this vision and he's forbade his disciples as well now swami saradananda was writing a biography of krishna the very well-known sudama krishna the great master which uh recently swami caitanya has made another new lucid translation um krishna the great master now when this was being written and published swami premananda went to visit him in ubudhan swami sadhana the read to pramana from this manuscript about the master's vision about swami brahman and by the way swami brahmananda was known among all the monks as maharaja simply as maharaja maharaj means my brahman all the monks are known as maharaj but specifically if you say maharaja it means brahmananda all the monks are known as swami but especially specifically if you say swamiji it means in our order swami premananda said what have you done maharaja is still living don't you remember what the master said when rakhal known knows his real nature his body will not last anymore immediately saradananda removed that part from his manuscript and called back the proof from the press and destroyed it immediately of course it was published later but at that time this is what happened one night maharaj was living in balaram babu's house he suddenly had a vision of srirama krishna sudama krishna appeared before maharaja and disappeared without saying anything brahmana sat on his bed and tried to understand the meaning of that vision he then said to his attendant suddenly my sleep broke and i saw the master standing near my bed he didn't say a single word i couldn't figure out the cause of his sudden appearance and disappearance pausing a little he gravely said i have no more desire i have no desire in my mind i don't even have the desire to chant his name only to surrender and surrender so once ramallah sri ramakrishna's nephew came to dakshineshwar to see swami brahmananda and flying ramahanda loved ramallah who was ramakrishna's nephew he was a very good singer so he asked they all asked ramallah to sing the monks even asked him so ramnal was decorated like a gopi you know you clothes of the females as one in and he sang a song a classical song so he clapped and gestured like a gopi and sang this song akbar bro let us go to raja for a few days if you like that place stay there please stay there or return quickly again previously you were a cowherd now you have become a king and so on now this song is stunned brahmana now those of you who know the the story of krishna that he was the cowherd boy in vrindavan and he played with the gopis and the boys and girls there then he went on to become the king you know went to mathura and then he became he became a king and so this the song is the cowherds of vindavan they have gone to krishna and says why don't you come back with us for a few days to vrindavan to raja and stay there if you like it you can stay if you don't like it you can come back to your kingdom after all you were a coward like us a coward boy like us playing in the dust of rindawan there now you are a king now what goes on like this is the word is you were a rakhal earlier now you have become raja king in our order swami brahmananda is known as rajya maharaja king because suramar krishna had said rakhal has raj buddhi he has the he has the intellect the intelligence of a king he can rule a kingdom and that's why swami vivekananda made him the president of the order and all the monks used to call him raja and i've seen i have myself seen swami brahman and his disciple swami nirvana used to call i mean vermonter's attendant so i mean ivan who has become the vice president of the order later on who was very close to swami ramahanda but the way he would address swami brahmana was interesting all the other monks including us we call him maharaja raja maharaj but his close attendant would call him rakhal raja the king of the shepherd boys of vrindavan now everybody called him raja raja means the king the line of the song is you were rakhal earlier now you are a raja which literally fit him because his name is rakhal and he was also a raja in that sense so when the song was when ramallah repeated the last line maharaja's smiling face turned grave the whole atmosphere changed the that line had reminded him of his real nature he realized what srirama krishna had seen in a vision long ago about his true nature he understood why the master had silently appeared before him maharaj began to prepare himself for his final journey fulfilling his unfinished mission [Music] so i'm going to skip ahead he went to balloon mart on 12th january 1922 sri ramakrishna's birthday celebration in below martin 28 february 1922. he said to a monk i shall initiate mantra diksha call whoever wants initiation giving mantra diksha his attendant on the remark he never speaks that way because ramananda was famously reluctant to give initiation he would make people run around for months years before giving into initiation but here is today he's saying the last year whoever wants i can i'll give initiation now he never speaks that way is he going to give up his body another day he said to one of his brother disciples i am relinquishing my responsibilities please take care of everything on 24th march maharaj contracted cholera at balaramas best physicians of calcutta attended him he recovered from cholera within a week but his diabetes took a serious turn all kinds of treatment allopathic homeopathic and ayurvedic were administered but do no avail he told his attendance take me to bhuvaneshwar which he loved and he had established a tash from there take me to bhuvaneshwar if i drink that well water i shall be all right i don't care for this polluted air of calcutta the air of bhuvaneshwar is clean take me there one attendant said to him maharaja you are too weak at present when kaviraj watchaspati who is a noted ayurvedic physician came to see brahmananda he was wearing a religious spark vibhuti ashes on his forehead maharaja remarked sir the mark of shiva which is on your forehead signifies that shiva alone is real everything else is unreal m the writer of the gospel of sriram krishna visited maharaja and said i asked him was he in any pain maharaja calmly replied pain takes to its wings when i think of how joyfully i passed each day with the master with sri ramakrishna at noon seeing the ladies of balarama's family crying maharaj said to them why are you so afraid i bless you all in the evening dr durga durga came and inquired about his discomfort maharaj answered with a line from the vivek churamani to endure all kinds of afflictions without caring to redress them that is my present condition sanam sarvadu khanam is a practice of spiritual fortitude to put up with all sorts of troubles physical you know around you whatever it is without any complaint without trying to set things right that is a practice all of a sudden his face glowed and he became absorbed in deep meditation at 9 00 pm he touched the hand of his attendant who was seated nearby and blessed him saying don't be afraid my son you have served me well be absorbed in god i bless you you will attain the knowledge of brahman i say to you you will attain the knowledge of brahman so i have known this attendant that was swami nirvanananda shuji maharaj who became the vice president of the ramakrishna order i've seen him when i was a little kid and there were other monks who asked him it's recorded that swami brahmananda blessed you you will be you realize brahman in this life have you and he straightforward said yes i have is the most remarkable swami extraordinarily powerful i saw him just once and i was what seven or eight years old i still i can just close my eye close my eyes i can vividly recall his face he had the most blazing big eyes and he peered deep into me and he said things he would always say things and they would always turn out right it just take 20 30 40 years for them to be to turn out right uh that was swami nirvana the disciple to whom so in brahmana said you have served me well i bless you you will attain brahman knowledge of brahman in this very life after a while he blessed the other monks never forget god and you will realize the highest good do not grieve i shall be with you always then he inquired about swami saradananda a monk immediately ran to dud buddha to bring sarah a deep silence pervaded the room the monks and devotees encircling the maharaja were anxious he opened his eyes again and he began to speak now listen to this i am floating on the banyan leaf of faith in the ocean of brahman imagine an ocean and there's a leaf and on that leaf he sees i'm i'm on that leaf like a little child floating this is a depiction of krishna um when the universe ends there's the waters of the deluge and there's a little leaf on which the baby krishna is there so that's a very cute description of krishna and it's amazing that he's having the same vision i'm floating on the banyan leaf of faith in the ocean of brahman vivek my vivek vivekananda dada is elder brother in bengali he's having a vision of vivekananda who had passed many years ago 20 years ago babur ramda that is pramananda jogin yogananda i see the feet of sri ramakrishna he saw he was seeing and addressing the deceased disciples of the master meantime swami saradananda arrived seeing him swami brahmaranda said brother sharath you have come my knowledge of brahman and vedanta are all getting mixed up you are a knower of brahman please tell me about it my goodness replied saradananda you are full of that knowledge the master gave you everything maharaja said the master is real and so is his leelah divine play i have almost reached brahman only a little veil is left he wanted to drink a little lemonade and then smiled he said look what is this i'm saying brahman brahman and again lemonade lemonade he continued father in heaven look this is a wonderful idea it is also a path of god he's talking about christianity when sadhananda suggested that he sleep a little after drinking a little lemonade maharaj said my mind is in the realm of brahman it does not come down all right poured lemonade into brahman after sipping a little he said aha brahman that reality that vast ocean om para brahmhani namaha salutations to the supreme brahman om paramatmani namaha salutations to the supreme atman maharaja described his experience of brahman all felt peace and serenity in their hearts he slowly calmed down his face was glowing with joy he gazed without blinking as if he were meditating or seeing something after a while he exclaimed in a sweet voice ah here is the full moon ramakrishna i want the krishna of ramakrishna i am the cowherd boy of vrindavan put anklets on my feet i want to dance holding the hand of my krishna krishna krishna krishna has come can't you see him you don't have the eyes aha how beautiful my krishna on the lotus of vrindavan it is not a sad krishna my play is over now look the child krishna is caressing me he is calling me to come away with him i am coming home vishnu om vishnu om vishnu saradananda said by by these times shivan and then swami abedan and the king saradananda said uh this time we shall not be able to keep maharaja anymore his vision of krishna on the lotus which the master forbade us to disclose to him has come out from his own lips so he's seeing exactly what sri ramakrishna saw been maharaj first came to him so seeing that the doctors expected him to fall into a coma but he was fully conscious till the very end boshin wrote in his memoirs an hour before he gave up his body he sees speaking and seem to have withdrawn to some distant realm beyond the reach of any of us i was very gently stroking his palm and wondering whether he still remembered the old playful pressure of his thumb at the same instant i felt it light but unmistakable maharaja's last blessing to me so srirama krishna's prophecy about his spiritual son rakhal proved to be true at 8 45 pm on monday 10th april 1922 swami brahmananda passed away the next day his body was carried from calcutta to bellurmut and cremated on the bank of the ganga later a temple was built on that spot and the monks and devotees lost their spiritual teacher but they preserved his precious verbal testimony a young monk had asked brahmananda does sri ramakrishna exist even now maharaja replied i see you have lost your mind having renounced earth and home why are we leading such a life he exists always pray to him day and night for his vision he will dispel all your doubts and will make you understand his true nature do you see the master sudama krishna do you see the master nowadays yes replied maharaja i see him whenever he shows himself out of his mercy anyone who has his grace can see him but how many people have that love and longing to see him so this is again a fully enlightened person but passing like the description given here but this was in a mode of bhakti intense devotion and full ecstasy of bhakti and full consciousness also till the very end so i'm very kind the inwards and leaving the body like that and so i'm brahmana outwards fully focused on a vision of god and leaving the body like that but both where noah's abraham and that's the thing both were jeevan mukthas so it's not sequential liberation for them i think in both cases they retain their individuality and this because these are they belong to the class of ever liberated persons who come again and again with uh god for the divine leela for the play of the avatar so these are two interesting very clear cases then number twenty number fourteen anonymous so those who how do you attain to this state it's marathi nitisha daily one who contemplates god that's last instruction given by brahmana to the monks never forget god dare sight call on god how ananya with the mind which is not anya which is not given to anything else except god given to anything else means don't let the mind dwell too much on worldly things i've seen senior monks they're doing so much work but work you gave them they will deal with it and then get back like a compass needle which is spun around it spins back to the magnetic north pole again similarly these monks their minds would you know like spin back to god again so ananya let it come back to god for such a person oh arjuna for such a person i am easy of attainment so i'm easily attained god is easily attained such a nithya yogina who is constantly in communion or focused on me for those who are focused on me and easy of attainment let me just look at the um all right the next verse i'll do next time let me just look at the comments and questions gaurav says swami ram suggests to define bhakti as i am part of paramatma i have no connection with matter yes remember this uh he is a vicious advaita so vishishtadvaitan is i am part of god i am not part of the material world so i am not the word i i'm not matter i'm not body not even mind and this immortal soul which is a part of god that is vishishtadvaita you and god have a part and whole relationship your relationship with god is god is the whole of which i'm a tiny spark and my relation is of love devotion so that's bhakti correct if i accept god as having no material form and as an awareness then i don't find any emotion flowing to god how can we define bhakti in this verse so bhakti in this verse is as ram suk dust is defined you define um god you you see god as god with form or formless but with qualities all of them you can have bhakti you can think of the beautiful form of krishna and a bhakti to krishna just like swami brahman in the head or devotees sriram krishna's devotees we have devotion to sri ramakrishna and the form is very important the name is important ramakrishna or you can have devotion like a muslim or a christian to god without form but god with many auspicious qualities and names so in these ways one can have bhakti just pure awareness you can't direct emotion to that you can have only identity with that but i am that and one can directly realize it rick says what little illness did soi vivekandar had his main problem was diabetes but a number of other things also um so rodrigo says they wanted to be like the buddha always available to seekers of freedom yes that always available even after the passing of the body rick says i've interviewed several people who had clear waking state visions of ramana maharshi before that even heard of him later they saw his photo and realized who they saw it seems he's still guiding inspiring people from the other side true the same thing i've heard of about sriram krishna the mother charade swami vivekananda swami brahmana and also vishwanath says i've heard this about swami tapo and maharaja people looking for his ashram and uttarkash and got lost had been guided by a monk and when they reached there they saw his photo and realized the same person who has cash on them their way yeah that sort of happened to me i was in uh in gango three i didn't have a vision of him but um i suddenly saw this extraordinary painting huge painting a small ashram and i met his attendant sundar ananda so he told me stories i didn't know about topper one swami but i guess i got it directly from the source before reading any books so sundar ranji served upon swami for most of his towards the end of his life and he has this very lifelike painting so i was sitting in front of the painting and talking to the attendant another monk came to meet me and he said he left because he thought it was not a painting he thought it was a person it was a real living person i was talking to a monk and he says there's such an imposing figure sitting there so this other monk who came to meet me saw me from a distance from the gate and he walked away thought i was talking to tabo and so then he didn't realize it was a painting of the bhuvan swami and that the sevak the attendant who was very old at that time when i met him he scolded me he said look you are all your disciples of vivekananda you have forgotten vivekanda but i have not forgotten my guru he he still serves the person swami that exactly the way the one swami was all those decades ago for example he um cleans the command of the water pot which the one swami carrick it is there the big water pot he cleans it and fills it with fresh ganga water every day sweeps the ashram he says whenever i look at the forest am i i feel that he's going to come just now and ask for water to wash his hands and have to give water from the water pot to wash his hands and he says just this thought sent brings goosebumps and he says feel my hat feel my hand i saw actually there was goosebumps his hair was standing on its end and you feel like looking back into the forest you get so scared is this monk actually going to stride out of the forest who passed every so many decades ago and truly in this old age that old monk his service is something i will not forget once there was a storm and everywhere there were leaves and branches all around and just a mess except that ashram the moment the storm stopped it was very high himalayan region moment the storm stopped i went to that ashram the small little cottage and span absolutely clean that means the old monk the moment the storm had stopped he got out and started cleaning exactly as he would have done when taku1 swami was alive anyway so yes i went to that place also and i saw the same painting gaurav says i'm not this body in this waking world if i'm not this body-making world how can i keep the same waking body after death you can't keep the waking body after death the body is gone so both in ramadan in this case in viveka in this case the bodies were cremated oh why would they appear the same body they appear in the same form and that's the form in which you recognize them so those forms are i guess it's part of the cosmic mind and so they appear in that same form but the actual body is gone wonderful all right let us conclude with a shanti mantra om [Music] namaste