Video 116

116. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 9 Verses 32-34 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Guru so we are studying the bhagavad-gita and we are on the ninth chapter towards the end of the ninth chapter if I'm not wrong we are doing the 20 uh welcome to 31 yes so 30 and 31 shows us the powerful transformative capacity of Devotion to God love of God so he says here up 30th foreign if a person is even if the person is given to evil Deeds not a good person not moral because you know morality ethics is the foundation for spirituality like I say often that you can be good without being interested in God but you cannot be spiritual without being good one can be good without being particularly spiritual and can be a good person but one cannot be a truly a spiritual person without being an ethical person but here he's saying just the opposite seems to be um a person who's not at all ethical given to all sorts of vices but if this person acquires bhakti devotion Devotion to God you should be considered as not only a good person a sadhu a spiritual person why first of all he says because he is rightly resolved here the importance of resolve is very important there are different words they are related to the same thing intent means intent resolve sankalpa resolve shraddha where is my faith it shows what we want one thing is important in life you know in spiritual life we keep saying you have to give up all desires give up all desires but be careful there desire is the engine of progress it's not just you see there is the philosophy of Manhattan of Wall Street yes yes it Powers our modern American economy and the world economy desire yes but personal growth also it's only because we want something that we make efforts it could be money it could be pleasure it could be knowledge it could be power this is all worldly and we we realize the limitations of these things and then we strive for goodness to do good to others and beyond that even Transcendence spirituality Enlightenment but you have to want it so one thing is the engine and that is expressed in vyavasaya intent resolved and all of us have results all of us we we have something that we've been driving towards but here he says samyak it reminds us of Buddha when he talks about Ashtanga Margaret not Ashtanga Yoga Ashtanga Marga the Eightfold way the first one is samyak drishti the Right View then the next one does anybody remember samyak sankalpa the right resolve now I've got this wonderful philosophy now I know God realization is possible that's the goal of human life yes that's what I want all right but now now what there could be two things one is well I learned something nice that's one more book I have read one more course I've attended one more YouTube talk I've heard now now nothing on to the next talk the next book the next lecture now the resolve that I shall act upon this if this is true if God realization is possible Enlightenment possible and that this will give me fulfillment then I shall act upon it and I'll I'll be up and doing so drishti the proper philosophy the Right View should be followed by samyak sankalpa the right resolve here the person is resolved right against Shri Krishna gives such a great importance to write this all because following this right resolve the person will be up and doing we will start practicing we'll start moving towards God so I remember the first of the Apostles to visit Athens just after the time of Jesus Christ was it Saint Paul or Saint Peter I forget there's a Paul in essence there's a beautiful painting Paul speaking to the Athenians there's a classic painting up there not at that time of course the painting was made a thousand years later but but it depicts that incident and it's in the New Testament that is in that description so you know the Greeks they were the Uber sophisticates of that of that time so here is somebody from from you know from from ancient Middle East from Jerusalem who has come to teach them something new and where do you go so vivekantha comes to Chicago to the United States and 2000 years ago Paul goes to Greece to Athens whether you get the best brains the most sophisticated philosophy and you go there and people gather around you can go and give a talk people will gather around and listen to you and the Athenians listen to him he himself writes in his description listen to him with great interest Paul gives them the good news that there is the savior has come Jesus Christ and all of that the teachings of Jesus Christ and they listen to him wrapped next day they don't come what happened didn't you like it I said oh you're great great then then nothing that's nice we'll go and listen to the next speaker tomorrow so they heard it was a nice Theory nice story nice teachings good aren't you going to do something about it aren't you going to become Christians and start practicing and be part of this new community and no no why should we we have we hear all these teachings you know every day there's our new teacher great that's it's good it's a good Pastime you know you culture yourself develop yourself intellectually you understand different points of view what do you do nothing don't do anything about it foreign whatever one wants internally it's not what one looks like externally not even what one says when you say what people don't look at what they say but look at what they do the French existentialist they got that one right don't listen to what words a person uses but watch what they do in life that shows what they are what they are is the intent the intent Within so says it's very important we must protect our core intent in spiritual life develop it light that flame and nurture it carefully that's the most valuable thing in life he says because you have the right he has the right intent this person you should be seen as a sadhu but really we say that a person who's doing doing bad things isn't it premature and the next Krishna says 31. very quickly he becomes righteous a good person and attains eternal peace or son of kunti Proclaim to the world that my devotee never perishes so all right this person very quickly is transformed by that intent and the practices following from that intent and the life no it changes his life and the person becomes transformed and very quickly he says so it's not when Krishna says a person who is given to all sorts of vices and you know immoralities it doesn't mean that a person will continue the vices and also you know do a little bit of prayer meditation and now this person is a bhakta devotee no nor does it mean the other way around is not giving license for a devotee to you know oh why did I give up all my past bad habits now Krishna is saying that you can be a not so nice person and be a devotee also so let me pick those up again no neither can a person given to Vices and practicing some bhakti that's not what Krishna is talking about nor is a devotee of God allowed to have vices or be evil in some way now what he's saying is such a person will quickly be transformed any time anybody plagued with a sense of guilt would come to Sri ramakrishna so it could come specially to the you know the direct Disciples of Sri ramakrishna Shivan and the preman and then there was one consistent advice they would give he's they would say that You Weep and you confess your sins your faults before the Lord don't even have to go to a Confessor you know in a church before the Lord in privacy just in in your own heart and then sincerely vow not to do it again these two things one is Wash It Away with tears and second don't do it again you see that's easier said than done I remember in our you know college days those were days where smoking was common nowadays luckily it's all gone New Generation doesn't even know what an ash tree is yeah we grew up with seeing ashtrays everywhere dad had won the cars had won I think at one time even airplanes had ashtrays can you even think about that today so uh at that time and in the I never smoked because I had decided to become a monk long ago so I decided I shouldn't take up anything that will be addictive so I can't give it up it would be a tragedy if I couldn't become a monk because I got addicted to smoking cigarettes I didn't know that monks were allowed to smoke actually but but those days are also gone because in general it's a reflection of society people don't smoke in society so monks also don't smoke anyway but I know among my friends there's this person who would claim I uh I have given up smoking and the other person would say that's nothing I've given it up so many times so one quickly changes one's life and decides not to do it again anything evil well one might say that's not so easy you can quit many times quitting many times means you relapse again well at least there's a sincere deep struggle that it's not okay I'm going to change I have promised the Lord I promise my Guru I'm going to change so even that is good enough so that's that struggle it will give rise to effects very quickly shipram very fast very quickly bhavati dharmatma becomes dharmatma here is a technical Point here normally when you say dharmatma especially in the context in which the Mahabharata was there you know the Arjuna another still immediately think dharmika means person who follows The Vedic ritualism a person who does lots of rituals not that kind of Dharma here Dharma means the person you know technically they call it bhagavata Dharma the Dharma of being a devotee of the Lord a spiritual person in that sense not a great ritualist a spiritual person and then Krishna makes this huge declaration you can declare with confidence o Arjuna he's not being a declaration Krishna is not saying that um I declare unto you my devotee does not perish it says you can declare with confidence there's a devotee of God does not perish that my devotee does not perish that means one will be transformed and one will become a spiritual person he says attains Eternal peace not only does this person become a good person very soon but also becomes a spiritual person attains Enlightenment and Moksha and freedom who this sinner now we might say all right but I'm not a villain doesn't apply to me he's talking about villains and terrible people but it applies to all of us because we all carry a certain burden of guilt so that guilt that's what he's also talking about that we can transform it by offering to it to to the Lord and vowing to change our ways and changing our ways and it will rapidly transform us so that's the power the transformative power of uh intent devotional practices and changing our ways there's a little like a side discussion about this when in he says pratijani he kante o son of kunti do you declare you can take it up and make up make a declaration before the world that the devotee of Krishna devotee of God does not perish so pratijani means a promise like a preposition a challenge now why doesn't he do that Krishna but doesn't he vow that my devotee will never perish so these Mahatma sadhus you know in Hindi when they teach they will make you know very interesting insights out of all of this but to understand that one needs to know a little bit of the stories behind all of this you know so for example one talk which I heard the sadhu in Hindi of course he was saying that Krishna does not say that I vow that my devotee will not perish because uh because he doesn't do that because he sometimes breaks his vows there are many cute stories about it Krishna says that I can wow I can promise but I break my promises when it comes to my own devotees that means for the sake of my devotees I can break my promises the story which that sadhu gave was that at the beginning of the Mahabharata award just before this war has started Krishna can say towards you know just before this War I started I look I vowed I will take part in the war on your side I'll just drive your chariot but I won't lift a weapon I won't fight I won't touch weapons I won't fight on your side I won't kill anybody on your side I mean fighting from your side I will not fight against your enemies and yet very soon I'm going to break that vow when the Terrible bhishma is going to attack you and you my beloved Arjuna you are on the point of being defeated and may be killed I won't be able to Bear it anymore I shall rush to defend you and attack bhishma she did the same thing for when karna for example so multiple times more than once he broke his own vow that he will not lift weapons but he can't bear it if his devotees are in trouble so if he easily breaks his own vow so he tells Arjuna you are firm of your word whatever you say you're going to do so you say I want you to say that the devotee of the Lord doesn't perish so that's the inner explanation just a way of interpreting but I thought it was very touching you know now going ahead so then the next verse is a controversial verse 32. mom um even they who are of sinful birth women wishes as also sudras taking refuge in me verily attain the highest goal so he is actually continuing a theme Here the power of devotion and here is saying that people who are born unfortunate Bad Karma who have deeply Bad Karma and births like animal births uh or uh he's saying people who are born index should in the vaishya cast the shudra cast and women they all also attain to Enlightenment and Freedom by taking uh refuge in me but I know it doesn't sound good at all very unfortunate phrasing in in today's language so what does it mean here because this is It's controversial and it's newly controversial sort of uh it was in the ancient and a medieval commentaries also with some controversies but the nature of the controversy is slightly different uh I'll mention that but here in today's context you can immediately see why it would be controversial feminists anti-caste activists you know um so They Are Up In Arms what do you mean even women or even sudras that the lowest of the forecasts or the vaishes what do you mean even they can attain attain Enlightenment and freedom so what would be the explanation I think the ancient commentators or medieval commentators also knew a little bit of this issue because they also uh ex gave different explanations I'll tell you what explanation this commentator gives and multiple explanations um but before I plunge into that let me just say that to me the verse is entirely positive because consider the alternative consider what religions have done since ancient times there are religions which say a woman cannot get Enlightenment not in this birth you have to be a very devoted person and serve spiritual people and next life you may become spiritual um people of of a different caste of a lower caste are people who are some religions would say people who are unbelievers in our religion they'll burn in hell some people would say you know people of other races cannot you know are not capable of being enlightened so this kind of language was there in religions all throughout and especially in a religion which was so a community like the ancient India which was so hierarchical and so cast based there if you look at it that way to me Krishna is saying the most you know Universal the most equitable thing possible he says everybody no matter whatever their station in life no matter what disadvantage they are put in the society we live in but I can tell you from my perspective God realization is possible for everybody and they can all attain peace as they are no question of um that be a good good boy or girl in the next life you're going to be this Pious Brahmin and then only you get Enlightenment no no right now whatever you are wherever you are whatever cast you belong to whatever gender you belong to just by Devotion to God you will get Enlightenment and freedom that seems to be the I mean the most radical kind of spiritual democracy that there can be open to everybody as they are and only condition is devotion love of God that's all now what are the objections and what what could be the explanations so from and one example of ancient objection in ancient explanation there is a description of of unfortunate births so a lower caste I don't think women were mentioned there but lower castes like sudras uh and the outcast out outside the traditional four main castes of Hindu Society um and whereas those who are brahmins khatriyas and vaishyas they are crafts which are privileged and they can get Enlightenment much more easily upanishad somewhere it's there and therefore one of the commentators says so the upanishad said that the vice chair cast is they can become enlightened by shares for those who don't know other is a broad head under which all business people trading people Farmers all of them they are all you know are mostly working class except the laborers they're put there so in the upanishad says they can become enlightened why are you saying why is Krishna saying here why is he including them under uh you know people who can also become enlightened as if it's a disadvantage to be a vaisha so there are discussions like that now one explanation could be you know the real problem is that does Krishna is Krishna saying that somehow women are lesser than men the vaishias and sudras are lesser than brahmins and shatrias is that what he's saying that's the main objection in some sense are the Lesser the answer to that would be that in the ancient Indian Society like or just about every other patriarchal society in the world women were disadvantaged there's no doubt about it and this language here just reflects the condition of women in society the condition of sudras in society why would it be a bar to but it would be a disadvantage well there were of course social and economic disadvantages vast amounts of Social and economic inequalities I remember reading this um that book you will Noah Hariri sapiens so there is talking about women's equality and this queen I think Victoria or Elizabeth the first one of the earlier Queens and he writes there just because the the monarch of England and the British Empire the early British Empire was a queen a woman that does not mean anything at all and then he goes in on a rant about one page he just all the sentences are like this under her majesty the queen all the capital all the generals of the army were men so where all the lieutenants and Colonels and all the Admirals of the Navy were men and all the captains were men and all the sailors were men all the people who designed the ships and worked on the ships were men all the people who traded um you know who who were merchants and who were laborers and loading and unloading the ships they were men all the people who tilled the farms and worked on the new factories which were coming up they were men and and so on and in her and the universities which were beginning to flourish at that time Cambridge Oxford all the dawns and the professors and they were all men all the students were also men and most of the staff were men all the doctors and so he goes on one whole page everyone in every profession just about everything except a few places which involved manual labor close to home and maybe a few things like a seam stress or like a teacher for children at home and they were women where allowed if they had no other option they could do that otherwise no and it was not see even seen as anything strange the whole idea was that man is made for the field and woman for the house you know when there was a I remember a very interesting debate in the British Parliament when they were first time talking about rights for women um James Mill John Stuart Mill's father he gave a powerful argument the usual arguments against women's rights were being given that no man is made for the field women for those why property for women why women rights why should women get the right to work on and so on and so forth God has made man and woman different then James Mill stood up and said gave a very powerful argument I think which applies to any kind of discrimination anywhere he said if it is true that God has made man and woman different then why should man make laws about it he said God has made The Lion and the deer different you don't have to make a law that since the lion is different and the deer are different the deer should only eat grass and the lion should only eat flesh you don't have to make a law about it because they're different and there is absolute freedom in nature they will do what they're designed to do and therefore he says there should be no law about it there should be absolute freedom equal freedom for everybody if they're different they'll do different things what a powerful argument and now it seems common sense but it didn't at that time I remember in one class introducing Western philosophy at Harvard University the professor started with um quoting from a book he was reading it out and there it is said an argument against giving women higher education University education how it will affect their health and it's very bad for them and so and so forth very well written in the clearly 19th century English then he read out the whole page and then he said can you tell me who wrote this so we are looking at each other who wrote this maybe some misogynist or somebody some fool said no he was a professor of physiology at Harvard University in the late 19th century the person who wrote This Book and the whole book on why women shouldn't be allowed into Harvard University who was this person lady a very famous writer in she went to Paris in the early 20th century Gertrude Stein I think no she was American and she went from America to Paris later settled down there Gertrude Stein was it graduation maybe go to church tonight as a young woman she attended vivekananda's greenacre lectures also she was the first medical student at Harvard University under William James Professor William James I think it's Gertrude Stein is to find out very famous person a lady of letters in American literature and so what happened medical student I didn't know that yes she was and she couldn't survive there she was treated so badly being the only woman at Harvard University she quit luckily she quit because then we got her as this great woman of letters of literature but see that was the condition and it was the condition across the world and definitely in India for centuries for millennia so that's what uh Krishna is saying it's also a very hierarchical Society cast casting society and so therefore if you if we were born in a sudra family uh it would be difficult to be you know enroll for a vedanta class it was meant you would have the right to study The Vedas was limited only to the three upper castes um and then right to become a monk was limited to three upper casts and later on to only brahmins and so on and so forth so so that's that's the first thing I would like to say why this kind of language this kind of language reflects the disadvantaged position of um some people some sections some genders in society in India definitely and across the world also but what he's saying is is uh is very equalizing because what he's actually what he's saying is that doesn't matter everybody can become enlightened and everybody can get Moksha and freedom um pressing a little further let's press this little further all right so it is an inequitable Society the certain genders certain classes certain groups of people have privilege and many others do not even not only in economically not only socially but also in religion also in religion so shouldn't we try to make a better Society can we just say all right say the indicative it doesn't matter be spiritual you're all equal fine shouldn't we try to make a better society that I'm I am speaking on behalf of I know this is I'm channelizing the activist so these are the questions you get actually so shouldn't we try to make a better Society we should there's no doubt about it and we have been trying in the last 100 or 150 years so the transformation has come only recently in the 100 Year 100 odd years 100 150 years I know I know I I take walks in Central Park just about every day and even in the height of the kovid I was walking there mostly abandoned at one time I saw this group of workmen putting up a statue three statues actually I thought what happened and they were putting up statues of the suffragettes the women who fought for the right of you know to get the right to vote so there's the most very beautiful statues very well made statues if you walk down the mall the literary walk there so you find it there and actually someone woke up to the fact that there's no statues of women in Central Park except Mother Goose so they finally got around to putting up those statues so this is something that's been happening across the world there's a big change and a good change if Krishna if as a result Krishna cannot find examples of disadvantaged people to say even they can become enlightened good the people we have a society when there are no disadvantaged people that's even better no doubt about it so anyway that's all I wanted to say those who take refuge in God those who have were born of lot of Bad Karma so here it would refer to animals for example one is one is exceptionally mischievous one gets born as a dog or a cat not a dog in Manhattan that requires a lot of good good karma yeah that requires a lot of good karma you just have to see it in Central Park even they by the by Devotion to God we're taking refuge in God will get liberation now one might question here if you are not so easily convinced wait a minute no matter how intelligent uh in a dog or a cat or a bird is how are they going to take refuge in Krishna how are they going to become do they join the iskcon or what how are they going to enchant Hare Krishna how it's not possible I mean there are stories you know I mean there are very beautiful touching stories of of animals and birds who had devotees in the mythology we find uh in ramayana the vulture who defended who tried to rescue Sita was killed by ravana the griddha the kagbusundi then of course Hanuman and and so many other animals who flocked to the cause of Rama and there are so many in Hindu mythology at least there's so many cases of animals who were who were devotees who in see from a Hindu perspective Hindu Buddhist Jain seek perspective it's not such a big deal because these bodies are just like cases they're just like equipment we are not these bodies so the same sentient being who was in a human body at one time can be in an animal body and then can again go to a human body it can happen and we probably it has happened we probably have gone through many bus some many of which were animal births I remember one Monk yeah he was telling me that he's so grateful to be a monk you know he says I know what I am I think I probably come straight from an animal but to being a monk without having gone through an interim period of human births but I am so grateful by the grace of God I am a monk today I'm straight from an animal but not just a human birth to becoming a spiritual person means sin or demerit or Bad Karma so those who have lot of bad karma in this life born in an animal body even they so women because of all the restrictions that they were put under in society in ancient times vaishyas probably because the commentator says always busy in you know profit and loss it says the commentator here says always busy in agriculture and business and Etc Christianity means agriculture Etc so you know stock price how it's doing Wall Street that's the main concern up and down and they will use and it's there you know in India you find they will come to a holy person and say which talks should I invest in so you are a holy person yes so you must have some special powers baby all right can you use that special powers for you know predicting the playing the stock market the whole point is to play the stock market and I met this monk in the Himalayas once he told me in some parts of India North India especially there is this thing about these wandering monks have superpowers so you if you ask them for an advice on buying a lottery ticket and they'll tell you the number which you can buy then that will is likely to win so this monk told me once he was going from mathura to vrindavan vrindavan place of Krishna on the way somebody offered him some gifts first they will offer you food and then next he said tell me a number you might be mystified what number but they know what what it means number means you tell them a number and they will take it with great respect and to go and look at the lottery tickets and the one which matches that number will buy that I said what did you do and that monk told me when I said I told him to wait you wait here I'll come back and I'll tell you the number I'm going to vrindavan so he took it as a spiritual practice that man you know sat down to wait there how long will it take few hours it's just nearby few hours one day two days maybe and then I said what what did you do he would be waiting for you he said yeah then I stayed in brindavan for eight years so if my attitude is always lost profit and loss in that case I will try to turn every occasion even a spiritual teaching into some way of making a killing on the stock market and so there are these attitudes and that might be an hindrance to spiritual life but even they if they have Devotion to God it will transform them and they will become not only good people spiritual people and enlightened shudra those who are the laboring classes um women's three years the highest goal that is Enlightenment and Liberation all of them so I don't know if you'll convince the activist in you but anyway that's the answer or these are the answers now he is he had this actually to set up a contrast he's actually talking to Arjuna this is Arjuna you are privileged why can't he's encouraging Arjuna you can attain God realization In This Very life if they can without all the disadvantages all the problems that they put under then why can't you so the 33rd verse [Music] [Music] not to mention virtuous brahmanas and devoted Royal sages having attained this ephemeral joyless body worship me so this is in Sanskrit called what to speak then of what to speak then of if people under great disadvantage they can attain Enlightenment and freedom in this life through devotion what to speak of a person with such great privilege like you who can attain and so that means you two can become enlightened and free I remember an exercise we as students were put through a few years back when you enter at Harvard University there's one orientation program so about intersectionality and privilege and you know how you are discriminated against so there will be big charts put up and then we are all asked which category do you feel discriminated against in you have to tick so there is gender there is sexuality there is uh economic status there is migration status I hadn't gotten my green card at that time I think migration status and then there is race then there is education what not so many charts were there so you have to take as many as possible to show that where you feel discriminated where you feel now they had great hopes of me I thought because here is a person is obviously Brown and he is a religious religion as well another thing religious minority is a Hindu and he is obviously strange because he's dressed in Orange bed clothes and of indeterminate gender at a couple of times I was called madam there so they thought I was at The Cutting Edge of the gender revolution yeah yes when you enter there they were you were given these buttons they they you know that will identify which gender series you belong to that like the he series entered the she series and the day Series so it'll tell people how to refer to you how would you like to be referred to as he him her his she her hers they them theirs zizer and they were yeah they were and there were a number of others somewhere blank you can put in your own thing there and I uh collected the whole lot to looks of universal admiration you know here is the person who is at The Cutting Edge of the gender revolution but I had to disappoint all of them because I said look I don't feel discriminated against I'm a man I am a Hindu in a Hindu majority from India I've come from India I'm a monk in a community where monks are highly revered I so in every category I seem to be privileged now if in this country here you're going to discriminate I'm sure somebody some would discriminate against me or try to I probably wouldn't even notice it I'm so privileged so I could see the disappointment in their eyes you know I could have been a poster child for discrimination so yeah I mean there's interesting discussions there they said and it's a fact they said that it's a fact actually if you it's a state of mind if you come from a privileged background that creates a certain confidence within you certain state of privilege you you you're used to it as a result you are not sensitive to Too Much discrimination even if it's leveled against you but the downside is you're not even sensitive to the actual case of discrimination where it's level against other people you don't see it also you find either you don't see it or if it's brought to your notice you feel ah it's not such a big deal because you have not suffered from it you have not suffered from it so that's one interesting thing to learn there it's a fact that right next to you there are people undergoing discrimination hurt trauma which um you wouldn't be aware of unless you were sensitized to it but in that way but here Krishna is saying you are privileged um what about what to say about you know the brahmins you are a royal you are you are a king you're a prince you're a katria a warrior a general an army well-born Highly Educated you have all privileges so why can't you become enlightened you can and so his conclusion is a powerful statement anity having come to this joyless world so specifically world he says is is being embodied loka here means being embodied born having taken birth it won't last all of this shall pass away all of it all the good all the bad time is passing away very quickly Embrace spiritual life he says literally bhajans for Mom worship me worship God in a general sense we would say Embrace spiritual life knowledge devotion love service Karma Yoga bhakti Yoga Raja Yoga Yoga take it up you can you can extend it in the broadest sense it's not just in vedanta or the different branches of Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Christianity Islam all the great religious traditions of the world have at their core spiritual paths don't waste time take it up anithyam impermanent and the commentator sridhar Swami says because it is ephemeral because time is flying very fast do not delay do not delay start start now um means sukhra pleasure joy happiness there is no real Joy No pleasure no happiness in this world since there is no joy this is a joyless world being embodied is a joyless condition you give up these vain attempts at reaching you know full fulfillment in this world full satisfaction in this world it's never going to happen nobody has ever attained it that was the Buddha's first Insight the Four Noble Truths there is suffering servantukkam the cause of suffering is desire Krishna the third there is a solution it's not a hopeless case so a cure is possible Nirvana is there freedom from suffering is possible and there is a course of treatment a course of practice so basically like a doctor doctor diagnosis the case what is the problem one um suffering is the problem what is the cause too third is a cure possible is it a curable or incurable Condition it's curable and what is the treatment for that just like that the Buddha very clear so I'm Vivekananda said the sanest man who ever lived no cobwebs in that brain similarly Krishna says here this world is a great fact about this world is that there is no deep lasting fulfillment possible here learn this fact very quickly then what's the point of this world this point of this world is to spell it practice spiritual disciplines should become enlightened and free that's the purpose and he makes it more clear World loka means world but specifically loka here means embodied and embodied means thinking I am the body mind see everybody is embodied in that sense even the enlightened ones they are in the body luckily that's why they can interact with us but they they don't think that they are the body mind so they see themselves as this Limitless awareness in which the body mind is experienced and you can they can use it but they don't think they're limited to that at all Vivekananda was reading he says are we upset when one hair falls from the body we no we are not that's all that is that's all that death is the dropping of a body is to you as nothing more than the loss of one hair so that is the attitude and that is the realization so that one must Attain worship me Worship the Lord in the last verse and it's a really important verse of this chapter 34th verse I was thinking of stopping here and taking up one whole class for this but anyway let's see what we can do with this verse 34th verse so how do we practice worship me how what are the practices he'll give all the practices in the 34th verse [Music] fix your mind on me be my devotee sacrifice to me and bow down to me thus fixing the mind on me and having me as the supreme goal you will attain me alone this is a path of Gyan of knowledge take up the path of vedanta Path of Knowledge listen to the teachings of the upanishads and all the associated texts from a competent teacher contemplated and then settle yourself down to meditate it meditate upon your understanding upon your declarity which is attained that is what is meant by give your mind to me your intellect to be that's a deep I'm giving a deeper interpretation that all of Ghana yoga comes in here the way of Ghana the way of knowledge too difficult and too academic for me all right be my devotee love me the path of devotion all right give give your heart to God love God feel the presence of God do things for God just as we have desire is basically a fallen in love with the world not in a good way a hundred different things I want I want I want collect that wanting the same one thing collect that one thing and direct it towards God that is bhakti so love God that's what it is a teaching of the ninth chapter fall in love with God bhakti yoga is given here but one thing you know we all think that oh I believe in God I am a devotee unless you think you're too cool to be a devotee so I'm I'm a devotee but not so fast that's also not so easy because it's not that I like God and I have a little bit of attachment to God and I have a you know little pull towards God that's not enough ananya notice in the 30th verse when he was saying even a person given to Evil Base even a person who's not good should be considered Asado if that person is devoted to me but the word you use was one pointed devotion stops wanting anything else in the world except God stops wanting anything else in the world except God I want God and Only God and nothing else at one point he says I am taking the name of in the name of the mother Divine mother I say unto you that I know nothing other than God my whole life is God and Only God that is devotion that's bhakti so we'll hesitate this also seems little difficult for me then the next one literally means sacrifice unto me remember that was the kind of worship that was done in those days Vedic fire rituals but here's sacrifice unto me with Karma Yoga convert all your activities your religious activities when you go to a temple or a church whatever you do the prayer and offerings you give there unto the Lord but the secular activities also in the office when you're completing an assignment completing a report completing a meeting even mentally offer it to the Lord as you would offer a flower mentally offer it to the Lord here is the report here is the meeting here the notes of the meeting and what not you have to do in the meeting you offer it to the Lord work in the family work in your garden work whatever work that you do for your personal maintenance all work can be done as an offering to the Lord sacrifice unto me not mine but dying I'm giving everything to thee again and again and again difficult and next one he says at least bow down to me once in a while he says namaskaru bow down to me do namaskara kneel down before the Lord bow down put your head down on the floor before the Lord namaha namah others asked what namaha means salutations from which Namaste has come namaskar has come namaskar this has come the deeper inner meaning is the two kinds of meaning two kinds of derivations one is foreign Ty my own lowness before the Lord the Excellence of the Lord I bow down to that Lord the guru so humbling oneself otherwise ego I am great that kind of person never you know it's the tree which stands stiff and strong against the Gale which is swept aside the one which bends With The Wind that that survives so one is to see the glory of the Lord in front of me you see I see the glory of the Lord and I automatically Bow Down vivekantha says humility does not consist in being a doormat it consists in seeing the greatness in the other person and if the other person is the Lord greatness obviously so that's one meaning of namaha I bow down before the greatness of the Lord the other meaning of namah is giving up everything that I thought to be mine all my positions mentally belong to thee my Lord all my activities I I give unto thee my Lord all my projects everything is designed so that I can worship you my Lord I'm giving it all apparently it might not be it might be a very worldly kind of life when mild think that this is the battlefield of kurukshetra my Lord you have put me in I I do not have the privilege of living in a temple or an ashram or in a mountain cave but I'm in the in a job in a family in the midst of society well very good all of this belongs to you literally does because you are the creator of this all of this and you have put me here so I keep on mentally offering all of this to you Namaste Guru and physically bowing down there's a whole science of namaskar you have to learn it from the vaishnavas all the parts eight parts of your body have to touch including speech and mind so flat on the ground before the Lord and speech is you repeat the Mantra of the deity you're buying down to mind is you should visualize the deity or your not that the mind is elsewhere and like this is done next I'm going to go and do that one no the Mind should be there it becomes a powerful practice I remember in our Monastery in the main Monastery at belur I lived there several years so every day the routine was that you know after morning meditations or after breakfast you'd go for pranam that means salutations to the Lord so you'd go to the Temple of Sri ramakrishna and bow down there and then circumambulate it and then come to the Temple of Swami brahmananda the Temple of the holy mother Devi the Temple of Swami Vivekananda and end with the place where the samadhi ghat where the direct disciples bodies were cremated that's then the ganga and then the sun Surya you complete this whole cycle of pranams now I've done it and different people do it in different ways different sequence but this is the sequence I did it in for several years and as a result it's a powerful meditation I can sit quietly I can actually feel the cool of the stone steps beneath my feet when I climb up the temple I can enter the door I can see the inner Shrine and the deity SRI ramakrishna sitting there I can feel the when I bow down I can feel the coolness of the marble steps on my forehead I can literally feel it every step of the way I know literally because I've done it for years and years and years in a meditative mood and the whole thing because I can visualize it from beginning to end so that is Guru I had an experience in a temple one of our ashrams after morning meditation what is namaskar salutation I'll tell you that and end with that in that Temple after the morning meditation everybody had gotten up and left I was about to get up after having finished the meditation for about an hour or so and the old Swami the head of that ashram he was still there he had come before every one of us and he would usually leave the temp meditation room after every one of us so you're sitting there when I opened my eyes he had also finished meditation he was bowing down namaskar but that I still remember I was stunned to see that bowing down he was sitting on his meditation mat and he was bowing down his head was touching the floor his hands hands were like this and he stayed like that the whole place as it is very quiet early in the morning nobody around but there was some kind of a deep presence there and I couldn't get up and I sat there looking at this old monk this old Swami in that posture of namaskar before the Lord and I know this person how dedicated all his life is like at this age of nearly 80s going endlessly just all he knows is the service of the Lord and you can see it in that namaskar everything in his life is given there to his beloved and you could feel it I don't know how else to explain it I sat there watching watching watching he's not getting up and I can tell you those minutes as the minutes minutes went by I was sitting there and watching my meditation actually deepened then not the one hour before which I was sitting with eyes closed doing Japan meditation those several not few minutes several minutes I sat there watching him that was one of the like in you know very deep meditations that I had actually feeling the presence of the Lord it deepened my bhakti I felt my bhakti my devotion had been refreshed by I am blessed to have seen that something he I'm sure he does every day but I'm blessed to have seen that I'll end with another example of namaskar this is Swami Pawan anandaji he was a disciple of Swami shivananda he's an Irishman he was a radio operator in Burma now it's called Myanmar in the inter Warriors after first world war before second world war and he read a book about Vivekananda he thought I'll go to India and become a disciple of this Vivekananda he didn't know vivekantha passed away long ago so he went to India he met Swami abedananda who was here in the vedanta society who was in Darjeeling at that time in that ashram and he went and studied under ravidanji when I met him he was 90 years old and he would pull my leg gently I was a newcomer absolute novice just few months into the order you pull my leg gently sometimes he'd say vishwarup can you teach me Sanskrit and the upanishads I said I don't know much I studied a little bit in school maybe I could try I thought he was being serious only later I found out he had studied the upanishads under Swami avedananda there's some famous Mysore studies are another great um vedanta teachers subramanyam nikhilananda gambiranji they were all students in that Mysore study Circle and this Swami was also there with them so he was pulling my leg obviously um and I as a blessed time for me I took many opportunities to serve him in his old age many many stories I could share but one I'll just say so every day in the evening after the evening arathi he would get up and I would walk with him slowly around the temple he would bow down to the pictures of the direct Disciples of Sri ramakrishna and he had seen many of them so that was quite amazing to go with him sometimes he would tell me a little bit I still remember him bowing down before the picture of Swami abedananda and saying I consider him my second Guru because his primary his Guru was Swami shivananda because when he was studying under abednandez this Irish man he learned about mantra diksha that you give me Mantra diksha said I am not your Guru your Guru is in Calcutta in belurumat you go there and then he came here whom would he meet none other than Mahindra Gupta the author of The Gospel of Sri ramakrishna who brought him to belur mat and introduced him to Swami shivananda where he got initiation anyhow he told me that I still remember bowing down to the picture of abhishanan I considered him my second Guru but what he would do is when he finished the pranams to all the direct disciples and and then the main Shrine to Sri ramakrishna masharagus then you'd go to the door I would accompany him he lived in a little cottage a long distance away so I would walk with him down to his Cottage in the evening the door and the stairs leading downstairs you'd stand there I would you know we would walk to the door he would turn around once toward the shrine and bow down just from standing I still remember first time I saw him do that it literally the hairs on my hand Rose because it's like actually seeing some somebody I mean no matter what we say it's a photograph I got such a shock I look back immediately I thought who is he looking at he was looking at sudam Krishna but you felt at that moment it was a living presence that is Guru bow down to me one Swami he told me and that's I said that would be the last story with little bit laughter one Swami he told me um many years ago he was a brahmachary in the main Monastery in belurumat and his duty was to wipe the uh the floor of the main Shrine by SRI ramakrishna's image is installed to wipe it and wipe it with a wet cloth so he was wiping it and uh he saw Swami vishuddhanandaji he was the president of the ramakrishna order standing there looking at the image of Sri ramakrishna and this brahmachary said he told me he's a very senior monk now he told me that I looked at the Swami and looked at the image and thought what's he looking and then the swamis vishudanji looked at him and said it's there can't you see him Swami Nirvana last one really really last one and the the importance of bowing down in this life Enlightenment in this life he rose to become the vice president of our order so this is somebody it's a small little story about him many years later Swami Nirvana the vice president of our order if those who have seen belurma they know where he stayed where Swami Vivekananda mango tree associated with Vivekananda is there next to it there is a room upstairs you stay there from there you can see the main Temple of Sri ramakrishna the new the big Temple now there's a ritual upstairs above the main Temple there is a room very few require special permission to go up there this is a bed so the whole idea is the deity sleeps there so the the pujari he invites the deity at night to come up and sleep there it's all very nicely done small very beautiful and very powerful atmosphere there in the morning you wake up the deity and the pujar invites the deity to come down to the main Temple now this is the background every day just before you know the Mangal arti at 4am before that they would see this Swami old Swami he is up from his bed not in the temple in his own room you know the little window is there holding onto the bars of the window and bars peering into the darkness there you can see the light shining in the bedroom of Sri ramakrishna above the main Temple he's watching um somebody asked him what do you see he said every day he comes down I want to see him coming down the downstairs you can see through the windows there he walks down yeah so this is a devotees you might be skeptical about it but this is what they experience mystically we might not see it that way we are not pure enough but you can I can guarantee this in the presence of such people you will feel it and even once or twice if we feel it and one sign of that it's something genuinely will never forget it our whole life it's something that you never forget every time you recall it every time you feel uplifted purified calmed centered foreign [Music]