Video 11

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna with Swami Atmajnanananda (06/12/20)

okay tabatha maritime dr. Jay Burnham Kaveri didn't cosmos album Sharona monk Aramis River dot Adam proven until topic Ekambaram your words are like nectar top Tegea venom bringing life to squirt souls kava berry eaten praised by poets calm is sharp ahem removing all sin sure Ravana Mangalam auspicious to hear shurima the autumn beautiful and exalted booby guarantee every dodging are those who would spread these words in this case the teachings words of sri ramakrishna or the most generous people in the world welcome everyone and we are continuing from our reading of the gospel of shri krishna those who were following along in the in the book we're on page 98 we got to the very end of chapter two last week and I discovered that the very final few words of Ramakrishna opened up a interesting and I think important new topic so rather than finish it last time and started with chapter 3 I wanted to save that so we'll start at the bottom of page 98 the very final section of the discussion that we have between Ramakrishna and it simply says one of the neighbors this is March 11th 1882 so the neighborhood asked you just referred to the instructions of the Guru how shall we find him master anyone and everyone cannot be a guru a huge timber floats on the water and can carry animals as well but a piece of worthless wood sinks if a man sits on it and drowns him therefore in every age God incarnated himself as the Guru to teach humanity sat-chit-ananda alone is the Guru then he continues what is knowledge and what is the nature of this ego then he quotes God alone is the doer and none else that is knowledge I am NOT the doer I am a mere instrument in his hand therefore I say Oh mother thou art the operator and I am the machine thou art the indweller and I am the house thou art the driver and I am the carriage I move as thou move east me I do is they'll make us me do I speak as thou makest me speak not I not I but thou but thou then it says from pran Krishna's house the master went to carnal Viswanath and from there to the lily cottage now Sri Ramakrishna is is quoting from a song by Ron Prasad the great poet st. and worshipper of the Divine Mother there's a similar songs kamalakanta and others that use almost the same language that I'm a mere instrument mother I do is you make me do if you make me sing I sing you make me dance I dance and so at awkward I would speak and in this sense many many times and we get the impression that this is a teaching for us to follow or why otherwise why would he say it so often but it's a bit of a trap we have to be very very careful about this make sure we understand what the song means and what taqwa wants us to get from it and this question of Adi Carter comes up again we qualified to say that and are we qualified to have that that firm belief in our present condition with our present sense of identification with the lower self and all these different things chacoly tomaría cha it chamoy Tara to me tomar coromoto me Karuma lo que bowl a quarry army the very beautiful song and I just to make a wild guess I would say if anybody knows one of the round Prasad songs they know that song and it was the first bengali song that I ever learned of course I don't sing it exactly but I always liked it punky Bordeaux category you keep the elephant mired in the mud you help the lame person cross the mountains then it goes on that I am the room you're the indweller I am the machine you're the operator I am the chariot you were the charioteer I do what you make me do it so everything is your will Oh mother we only think that we're doing things you're actually doing everything through us now what about this idea and that can we say it do we want to try to follow it the very subtle question this idea of agency and free will and who was control who was making decisions who was responsible there'll be so many discussions later about this but I just wanted to very briefly talk a little bit about this idea of claiming that the Divine Mother is the one who was doing everything or at least making us do things there's a very beautiful idea a very dangerous idea and we find that in the history of many religions that individuals and whole religions are justifying all of the things that they do by saying that it's this is the will of God they don't think that this is just that I'm not working on my own I'm a free agent this I'm an instrument in the hands of God therefore there is a perfect justification and in the history of the world this justification has led to some very horrible things it's led to this belief that people can invade other countries and they can convert people and they can even even destroy civilizations we look at the indigenous peoples of this country and other places that there were some belief that people had some divine mission so we we have to analyze who can say this now we were reading from the great master not long ago now there's one section I've mentioned many times the great master is really a companion to the gospel of ramakrishna the handbook that goes along with it they've they really need to be read together because they complement each other there'll be things in the gospel that we won't find there are things there that we won't find here but there's a very long and interesting section on sri ramakrishna in the state of bhava and this this bhava this condition that he was in Bhavan mukha they call it after his six months in the near bacopa Samadhi state now Swami shattered Ananda he makes a very interesting point in that after taqwa was in that state and he even mentions that it wasn't immediately afterwards that maybe within the next year certain things started to become clear to him what his mission in life was who and what he had been in previous lifetimes they call it JD's Maranatha Maranatha and he says that this conviction came to seroma krishna after that that he was a mere instrument in the hands of the divine mother now if Shri Krishna did not have that absolute conviction before that period we have to ask ourselves how can we have it now if this was something that dawned on him now we we have two different schools of thought one will say that the divine incarnation is always aware of his divinity born with some knowledge of his mission mission in life and the other is that he comes or she comes in a human body in mind and everything is so these things have to be gradually understood that there will be a little veil a little dust of Maya if there's no Maya in the in the mind of the avatar then there can't be human embodiment taco used to say that the even gold needs a little bit of a of a base alloy if we want to turn it into any beautiful type of jewelry otherwise it's too soft we can't do anything with it it's not it's not usable for us so my understanding is that we have to reach a state where this ordinary ego is completely gone either we get established in this servant ego or child ego if we're established in the servant ego then maybe we can say that but what what does it mean to be inspired to say to speak as a God makes us speak yeah this ordinary ego has to really be completely gone or completely transformed otherwise we can make a mockery of this type of teaching this says why did you do that don't ask me why who was the real doer I'm not the doer we read in the Gita constantly that and taqwa says this is real knowledge I'm not the court ah I'm not the doer or not the agent of my action now good this is a very high ideal if we can possibly reach that now I want to read something from the complete works of Swami Vivekananda this is in volume 7 conversations and dialogues this was a conversation that Swamiji had with one what was his name Priya not pretty not something you know bear with me so they're not seeing that okay okay Swamiji is saying that all right but you must take it make it more comprehensive who is responsible for every action you do every breath you take and every thought you think isn't it you yourself now not contradicting this other idea he's looking at it from the other angle from a very practical angle the friend yes and no I cannot solve this clearly the truth about it is that man is the instrument and the Lord is the agent okay so this is this is what the the parrot does when he memorizes some little thing where is the conviction and who is this person to say something like that but we also can do that yes I read in the Gospel taqwa says that it must be true that I'm I'm an instrument that God is the real agent it sounds very nice so when I am directed by his will I am not at all responsible for my actions so this is their logical conclusion and very often taqwa ask that it's as soon as people hear this they say then am I not responsible then I can do whatever I want then who was the one then why should any sin come to me if I'm not the agent then are not responsible then I shouldn't get the Karma for it so this is the logical train of thought that goes on now Swami ji makes a very important point here what I was trying to make about when taqwa got this conviction Swamiji says well that can be said only in the highest state of realization this is a this is a goal for us to be able to say that and it's I it can it can be an ideal for us whether it can be a spiritual attitude that we follow that will depend very much on how introspective we are if we want that as a spiritual attitude I am that we have to be like it is yeah if we if we wanted that spiritual attitude we have to ask ourselves every second am i doing this because I feel that this is a Divine Will or because I want to do it there's ego was there and the all Swamiji goes on that can be said only in the highest state of realization when the mind will be purified by work and you will see that it is he you will see so we're not denying the truth of this but if a high state you will see that it is he who is causing all to work then only will you have a right to speak like that otherwise it is all Bosch and Mir can't so just Big Talk question why so if one is truly convinced by reasoning that the Lord alone is causing all actions to be done so okay I don't feel it yet but that makes sense to me if it makes sense through reasoning then I should say there must be true Swamiji it may hold good one when one has been so convinced but only it only lasts for that moment and not a whit afterwards well consider this thoroughly whether all that you do is your every in your everyday life you are not doing with an egoistic idea that you were self or the agent how long do you remember that it is the Lord who was making you work but then by repeatedly analyzing like that you will come to a state when the ego will vanish and in its place the Lord will come in this is the this is the ultimate truth that if this ego is false if there's no substance to this ego and we eliminate that and then there's nothing left who is the agent at that point it has to be the Lord but there's a far cry from our present understanding then you will be able to say with the justice now Lord our guiding all my actions from within but my friend if the ego occupies all the space in your heart where forsooth will there be room enough for the Lord to come in then the Lord is verily absent then we get the question but it is he who was giving me the wicked impulse so we're so intelligent that we understand that no I can be the agent I can't be responsible so you blame me for this ego wanting me to do things they don't seem to be in accord with the will of God who's giving me this impulse it must be caught right perfectly logical Sorrentino by no means it would be blaspheming the Lord to think in that way he is not inciting you to evil action so where is this that I am the instrument he is the operator she is the operator the very high state if one says the Lord is causing everything to be done and willfully persists in wrongdoing it only brings ruin on him that is the origin of self-deception don't you feel inhalation after you have done a good deed you then give yourself the credit of doing something good you can help it it's a very human but how absurd to take the credit of doing the good act on oneself and lay the blame for the evil act on the Lord it is a most dangerous idea the effect of ill digested Gita and Vedanta and we can also say ill digested understanding of this beautiful Ramprasad zone never hold that view rather say that he is causing the good work to be done while you were responsible for the evil action why not take it that way that will bring on devotion and faith and you will see his grace manifested at every step the truth about it is that no one has created you you have created yourself this is discrimination this is Vedanta but one does not understand it before realization so as long as he goes on therefore the aspiring should begin with the dualistic standpoint that the Lord is causing the good actions while he is doing the evil if we want to have this idea then it means that we have to take responsibility so as long as he goes on but my point the point that I want to make is that this is this is possibly not even an ideal for us to follow in the early stages this Gita we have to put these ideas side-by-side this idea I am not the agent of action and this idea that I have to do spiritual practice I have to control the mind everything's in my hands that we have to we have to feel that we're responsible for everything that we do now this this idea of free will I don't want to go into it so deeply because it's very very tricky the the degree to which the mind is free depends upon the maturity of the mind and the degree to which it is not free depends upon the degree to which we're at the mercy of the lower mind and the passions and the desires and all of that says when Arjuna asks why do we do things we shouldn't do sri krishna doesn't say or i make you do it he says because you're filled with with Rajas because of common clothes and we can add all of the others because anger and jealousy and lust and greed and desires and everything the mind is filled with those things so you do things even what things you shouldn't do even when you don't want to do them I love that that verse this baladeva on each other as if you're forced by some outside force so there's no freedom and that type of mind that's the psychological determinism but when we reach the point where we can analyze and say yes I see the mind these desires are pushing me in that direction but I say no I won't follow it I know there's I have a higher standard and I'll start to fight against that then this limited individual free will starts to take place and we have to cling to that we have to feel that we have the power to change if the psychological determinism is absolute then some scholars will never change they'll just reinforce themselves we have we have an impulse to act in a certain way and we do it we act in that way that impulse comes back again the even stronger and we never get out of that so we have to feel that we have this this this power of there's this is what the sri krishna says yes it's very hard to control the mind but it can be done and we have to practice dispassion and Biasi yoga right argue all of these things to do all of that okay so I I just wanted to give a little time to this because we'll read it so many times and for taco it was absolutely appropriate because there was nothing inside of him there was no ego sense there other than if the ego Center ever came it was other than I am a child of the Divine Mother I am an instrument in their hands otherwise it with nothing he used to say you know when you take a pumpkin and you cut it open say with kids make a jack-o'-lantern huh and they have to scoop out first thing you have to do is scoop out all of the seeds and all the flesh and and everything that I don't know what they call it the little stringy things that are there and perfectly clean and clear taco used to say when I look inside it's like a pumpkin that's been cleaned out like that so no vestige of ego or desires or passions or anything like that so there's not room for anything but the Divine Mother if this feeling of I would come sometimes he would say I look within sometimes I see there too I see the mother is there and the child both are there other times I look within and I say mother alone is there I don't find this ego anymore so if we can I think I said enough about that we can go now to the third chapter this is the visit to Vidya Sagar the DSLR assured Chandra Vidyasagar we'll hear a little bit about him he was possibly one of the best known figures in in Bengal at least maybe throughout India but definitely been called definitely in Kolkata at that time if maybe he in case you were the two and if we look at the the period before that we have some great figures in Bengal we'll say Rammohun Roy and after that the Tagore's they've been there not to war and then of course ravine they're not after that K sharp there will be a handful he'll belong to that class he was so influential and so inspirational to so many people he was a great reformist he was one of the leaders of the movement to allow a widow especially child widows to to remarry so very liberal in his hour looking at the same time he was an Orthodox Hindu in many ways and Sanskrit scholar Bengali scholar wrote one of the most important grammars for bengali was head of the Sanskrit Department so many things very very important figure but known but mostly for his philanthropic works and is the attitude he was such a generous person I don't know how he where all of his money came from but he supported so many people for students and widows and so he was a very important figure and we know that taka will always like to visit people like this he had this conviction and we read again in in Gita another very well-known verse that where everyone sees any special manifestation of anything it can be it can be musical skills it can be oratorical skills you can be it can be scientific knowledge wisdom it can be anything that we should understand there's a special special manifestation of divine power within that person so Tucker always wanted to visit whenever he heard about any of these great people these great pundits these great scholars these great generous people like Vidya cigar so this starts out April 5th 1882 so this is M started coming March April May June July so there's still within six months of em coming now M of course had a long relationship with Vidya Sagar because he taught in in the school with the are cigar school we'll get to that a little bit Swamiji himself Narendra was a student in his school when he was a young boy nine years old or something this metropolitan school that was also Vidyasagar so he was well known as an educationalist also but let me read that we start out with a little introduction about him pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born in the village of beer Singh not far from Kumar poco so they were kind of the country people countrymen they they had that in common came from the same area Sri Ramakrishna birthplace he was known as a great scholar educator writer and philanthropist one of the creators of modern Bengali he was also very well versed in Sanskrit grammar and poetry his generosity made his name a household word with his countrymen most of his income being given in charity to widows orphans indigent students and other needy people nor was his compassion limited to human beings he stopped drinking milk for years so that the calves should not be deprived of it and he would not drive in a carriage for fear of causing discomfort to the horses we can remember one incident when there are a lot of people going back in a horse carriage in taqwa saw and he looked at the horses and he said well they will they be able to do it carry so many people would not cause the pain for the horses so we see he had that same feeling he was a man of indomitable spirit which he showed when he gave up the lucrative position of principal of the Sanskrit College of Calcutta because of a disagreement with the authorities it was I don't remember exactly some point of ethics he felt that it was a son ethical for him to agree with what they were asking him so he gave it up his affection for his mother was especially deep one day in the absence of a ferry boat he swam a raging river at the risk of his life to fulfill her wish that he should be present at his brother's wedding his whole life was one of utter simplicity the title that the ostagar meaning ocean of learning was given him in recognition of his vast area edition now I just want to bring another point which to me is very interesting M is writing all this now these things are true I'm almost and anybody would have said the same thing and praise done to that extent but M had his run-ins with Vidyasagar and and Swamiji also just to mention two little things that this was during the period when sri ramakrishna was ill with his throat cancer at kashi poor and M spent every spare second if possible every day he would go to sri ramakrishna and not only visit him but find out what his health was like even how much blood he had lost that day he used to bleed from the sore in his throat and he would take that information and go back and take it to dr. short car or whoever the doctor was at that time so at the same time he's trying to fulfill all of his duties as teacher in school and all of this that one particular year or semester whatever it was the students got bad marks this just in general they weren't up to the standard that they'd been earlier and with the ostagar made a comment whether he said it directly to him or got back to him I don't know but he made some comment that because he's spending so much time with Herman Krishna and not looking after his real duties at the school that the result has been like this and M if we think that cigar was an ethical person the head was far more and as soon as M heard this he quit he gave up his job he told to the Oswego and then I won't work here anymore now we know from Swamiji's attempt to get a job narendra which i'll get to in a second that it was very hard to find work at that time it was putting the whole family in jeopardy to give up a very good job at that time and then to try to do something else so it was a tremendously risky for him but his feelings were hurt and he felt it was for the good name of Rama Krishna and everything so he did it so em had every reason not to be so praiseworthy towards Vidyasagar but the auto part could have said oh I didn't mean it it's okay I overreacted please stay on he didn't he accepted the resignation now Swamiji I mentioned in there and there is a young boy he studied in the school for a couple of years or something but after his father died and he the family was in terrible poverty and Swamiji went from place to place to look for a job the the one job that he God was teaching in with the ostagar school now I don't know for a fact but it's probably quite likely that M helped arrange it whether M did it was with narendra's knowing or not we can't say but takua much to the program of Narendra would tell the people can you do something to help this boy now they were in poverty you're all his friends can you help him find a job can you help give some money so that they food and Swamiji would be very annoyed and very embarrassed and we know that M gave money to help Swamiji's mother in secret he didn't want to I am in shame as pharmacy narendra he was very proud he didn't want to beg from other people and he knew that there's he wouldn't accept that money if he knew where it came from and everything so so this is this relation to the second relationship with Swamiji that he became a student in the school now what happened is not entirely clear but probably out of some type of jealousy that some of the other teachers made some comments about Narendra and that they weren't happy with him and his Vidya Sagar fired him so second reason why I Narendra could have held a grudge and why am could have held a grudge but neither of them did and they both recognized his greatness that way and and they were free from this this type of reaction that most of us would have most of us who would feel okay then I'll tell everybody what he did and they didn't have that type of feeling at all so there was tremendous respect for video Sagara and just as Ramakrishna went to meet the vendor not Tagore and others he would always and ketchup ketchup shunderson he would always say if he could meet these people sometimes he would ask Motor Babu sometimes he would send his nephew hurry Roy to go and meet this person he would say all these great pundit is here you go meet him see if he has any egotism or not if he's just a proud pundit and I won't bother he won't waste my time if he has a little bit of this passion and a little bit of humility then I'll be very pleased to meet him so for summit of taqwa statue in the spiritual realm otherwise he was he was a poor simple priest village priest but generally somebody of that stature would say well let them come to me but taqwa of course was not like that so he would always go to meet them so continuing reading so Ramakrishna had long wanted to visit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar learning from em that he was a teacher at Vidya Sagar school so this is still 1882 it's not until 1885 that he gives up that position the master asked can you take me to Vidya Sala I should like very much to see him I am told is for chandra of sri ramakrishna swish now he was he was a little bit unorthodox in his in his standpoint a little bit liberal and everything but at the same time he was he was a religious person he wasn't a real modern Western educated agnostic or anything like that we'll hear about his views a little bit I should like very much to see him oh sorry so the pundit agreed gladly agreed that M should bring the master some Saturday afternoon at 4 o'clock he only asked M what kind of party Mohammed the master was so M must have said that I visit this man they people call him a Paramahamsa paramahamsa had a very general meeting slightly specific meaning there was some some paradise from some class of seduced that by their dress and certain actions and things could be considered belonging to the part of my homes in sampradaya he do we we know that because Tok were made one asado once I think it was in surrender his house or something he was sitting outside he liked him very much and he asked would some farad aya what ordered you belong to and he said people called me a part of a home sir yeah otherwise it can just mean someone who has reached such a high state of spirituality that they don't care for any external signs so he's asking what type of poem hamza does he wear an ochre cloth a mentor no sir he is an unusual person he wears a red bordered cloth okay this is associated with a householder with a little bit of fashion and not just as plain white cloth or of course Garro cloth but justice so you would buy in the market there's a little little bit of a fashionable thing with the red border and poly slippers not even just cheap to send those poly slippers and Assad to in those days I generally would go barefoot but Taku he was so sensitive his skin was so sensitive that he couldn't bear the touch of things its face was so sensitive we wonder why did he have a clipped beard generally saw do either they won't shave it all they have a long beard or one tradition is it once a month full moon or new moon whatever their they'll shave and it'll go back in the shade but he kept his short beard and and and short hair so either you shave the head and beard or you let it let it grow but he had a barber would come just like Oh ordinary people would get a haircut and and and trim the beard so so he didn't follow any of these rules he didn't have to but he did it because skin was so sensitive to shave every day would have been very difficult for him okay so he wears a red border cloth and Polly slippers he lives in a room in Ronny rushman his temple garden everybody know about the duction issue our temple because it was such a huge thing when it came it's a huge area and so many sadhus would go past there and stay there they fed so many people every day a huge temple to mother Kali temple to Radha Krishna and his 12 temples to Shiva so everybody knew about it in his room there is a couch with a mattress and mosquito net all the things that generally Assad who won't have he is no outer indication of holiness but he doesn't know anything except God day and night he thinks of God alone now him also could have said he goes into Samadhi the day in and day out he has ecstasy he could have gone on and on but he doesn't want to lay it on too thick he wasn't I'll tell him enough so little no this is a person of substance it it'll be not just he'll be happy to meet you you'll be happy to meet him on the afternoon of August 5th the master left Dakshina swore in a hackney carriage accompanied by Baba not M and najara why not of course the young disciple who was very very close friend with Narendra saw me vacant on day and how Sarah who was one of the temple workers priest who stayed in touch and swore from a nearby village we see him he plays a very interesting and signet significant role in this leela induction is for Vidyasagar lived in bad or balan in central calcutta about six miles from Dakshina Schwar on the way ramakrishna talked with his companions but as the carriage neared vidya cigars house his mood suddenly changed takua this happen on many occasions that either either before he met someone or on the way to meet someone that he'll have some type of indication he'll get into a certain type of mood who reached the point where when he actually meets that person he'll say someone will give some description he said yes I can see everything about him I can look inside his soul the way we look inside a glass case and see the objects there so taco would get into this this mood he was overpowered with divine ecstasy not noticing this and pointed out the garden house where Raja Ram Mohan Roy had lived I mentioned his name a little bit earlier he was such an important figure he was really the precursor to this whole Brahmo Samaj movement that first him then they'd been they're not who really founded it but he was the inspiration behind it he was one of the first interested in reform the issues of child marriage and Romero with his widows all of these things but you also wanted to reintroduce study of the Upanishads in Bengali which which wasn't there it would be very few people of course they had they had great pundits in Bengal especially this novel that navya and the AIA system they were famous for that it's not that there weren't great scholars and pundits and everything but in general two things who weren't very prominent there one was that this people having any familiarity with the Upanishads and the second was that there wasn't much of an understanding even of the traditional sanyasa system so and we learned this when these the young boys first take sannyasa and they go begging and it seems as if many people didn't even know sanyasa has come to the door you should give food and everything they were accused of being thieves this and that so the Shankaracharya - an army some friars weren't very well known at that time so normally we would think that taqwa we say ah this is the house of Rammohun Roy and he would he would salute and everything but he's in a different mood so the master was annoyed and said we think is it possible for an avatar to get annoyed huh Barack Doha we will find this phrase very often there yeah why not he has this human mind sometimes he could get angry sometimes we see some of the sadhus that we did we love and respect and revere the most his flashes of terrible anger we look at Swamiji huh but it's different it's not based on any any personal things ego things and it doesn't last at all it's just it takes this the form of anger this is line on water something like that so annoyed not really upset or angry but really as if to say before you say something and look at least see if I'm in my normal state of consciousness so the master was annoyed and said I don't care about such things now he was going into an ecstatic state the carriage stopped in front of the joggers house the master alighted supported by M when taqwa got into this the ecstatic state sometimes he could real sometimes he would walk like a drunkard and sometimes he could fall down we have two very important and well-known instances where he fell down one was when he chipped his tooth and the other words when he broke his arm because there was no one with him at that time this is why he always wanted to have someone to stay by his side why he wanted Bob udon to stay there or a lot to with Rockall and not just for the companionship and because he wanted to help mold their minds and train them but it was dangerous for him if at any time he could go into that mood and he could just fall over he and so we saw the and he had a compound fracture it wasn't a simple break that bone actually stuck out very very painful and what could they do at that time they didn't know what to do there's no surgery anything they they would wrap it in cotton and and and put it into some type of cast thing was very very painful for him so and we're supporting him I talked we went through different phases in his life we know at one time that no one could touch him in that state he became so sensitive the only one that he that he would allow and the one that he wanted was Babu Ram Swami preeminent that he taqwa felt that of all his disciples more than Rakhal more than the render more than any of them that he had that purity purity of heart there's purity was very bones this was for me Prem Ananda later begorrah but here M is holding him the master alighted supported by M who then led the way in the courtyard because M admitted his house many times they had a friendly relationship also not just that he worked under him in the courtyard were many flowering plants as the master walked to the house he asked to M like a child pointing to a shirt button my shirt is unbuttoned now taka wore a shirt sometimes only if gen generally if it was a little bit cold he was afraid of getting sick or something like that most of the time when it was very hot we know that most of the pictures would see he has no shirt on but other times we see he has a shirt and sometimes he has a wrapper and sometimes he has this this little jacket did used to wear so he didn't care about any of these things but he knew that other people could get offended ashram Jota Bengali they used sister-in-law Savita that we'll consider to be ungentlemanly huh if I'm not well-dressed we know this also when he went to see Devendra not reward that tahor invited him to a festival the Brahmo Samaj festival but then said please when you come please address a little more nicely who wear a shirt something like that so he gave a very funny reason which sounds like a bit of a phony reason he said I don't want to hear that people criticized you it'll hurt me very much if criticized you so please wear shirt so that that won't happen third that really he just didn't want him that he would have been embarrassed if he showed up that way so I talk were said who knows what mood the Divine Mother will put me in at that time I can't promise anything like that so they've been there not said okay very good and then the next day a letter came dis inviting him and then perhaps better you don't come something like that so taqwa knew that he was out of his element that now he's a village boy now he's in the society and they care about these things is your button buttoned that I should probably button the top button otherwise what would people think they'll say oh he represents a Ramakrishna Order he's not speaking Spanish all silly but yet he recognized that he didn't want to embarrass people and create a bad impression so yes my shirt is unbuttoned will that offend Vidyasagar oh no said M don't be anxious about it nothing about you will be offensive you don't have to button your shirt he accepted the assurance simply like a child but the a cigar was about 62 years old 16 or 17 years older than the master so Sri Ramakrishna's going to somebody who hasn't had a whole lifetime old career of doing all of this good work he lived in a two-story house built in the English fashion with lawn on all sides and surrounded by a high wall after climbing the stairs to the second floor Sri Ramakrishna and his devotees entered a room at the far end of which with the a cigar was seated facing them with the table in front of him so there's a western-style the table and chairs and everything the very typical Bengali Bengali style the house people would sit in the floor where there'd be cushions that you could put out there which betim at different things like that to the right of the table was a bench some friends of their hosts occupied chairs on the other two sides so possibly he invited some people that he thought would would be happy to meet you Ramakrishna not that people didn't know not that he was just unknown so sometimes read or would go and say oh my uncle he's a great lover of God that's all wouldn't even mention his name we have to remember that this is well after Kay Saab had ridden up all these things in their magazine about Ramakrishna so it's not that he was an unknown person so idiotic or probably thought that oh yes I've heard that name I don't know much about him what type of party bouncer he wasn't a Brahm oh it wasn't a member of the Brahmo Samaj although he shared some of the same views about reform but then probably thought oh I have some friends who probably also have heard of him would like to meet him Vidya Sagar rose to receive the master okay he rose he didn't make Pournami or anything of course he's much older so that was also part of it and he doesn't really know who he is sri ramakrishna stood in front of the bench with one hand resting on the table remember he's in in some type of ecstatic mood he gazed at Vidya cigar as if they had known each other before and smiled in an ecstatic mood in that mood he remained standing a few minutes now and then to bring his mind back to normal consciousness he said I shall have a drink of water this is a very common thing I eat something I'll have a drink of water I'll have a smoke fix the hookah for me I'll have as well he would say different things like that to try to bring the mind back down this this is many years after his near Rococo Samadhi six months but we read in the great master that after that period it wasn't just with great difficulty he could bring the mind down most of the time he do if there was no one around he would go into that state of Samadhi and it was really difficult and almost painful for him to bring the mind down this is many years after the when it was more customed to having people around and perhaps had a greater ability to to go back and forth and and would constantly pray to the divine mother mother don't give me Burma gana don't let me lose consciousness so so he was more accustomed to keeping the mind on a lower plane but at one point it was really the rarity for his mind to be down on the on the ordinary plane of consciousness not our ordinary his ordinary plane of consciousness and the most of the time it would just be floating somewhere and there's a divine realm in the meantime the young members of the household and a few friends and relatives of it the a cigar had gathered around to Ramakrishna's still in an ecstatic mood sat on the bench a young man 17 or 18 years old who had come to with the a cigar to seek financial help for his education was seated there he would sit there and petitioners would come these the students or widows or maybe the child on behalf of his mother would come and they would plead their case and he would either I don't know how he did it he would give money on the spot or he would say yes I'll arrange something or I'll give you free boarding in my school many would come for things like that so it's not uncommon that there would be a number of people waiting to talk to him so seeking financial help for his education the master sat down a little at a little distance from the boy saying in an abstracted mood mother this boy is very much attached to the world so seeing from from that standpoint of bhava of ecstasy that he could he could see just by looking and by observing that what state of mind is this boy had he belongs to the realm of ignorant so this of India Maya realm Vidyasagar told someone to bring water and asked em whether the master would like some sweetmeat also since M did not object that the Asura himself when eagerly to the inner apartment and brought the sweets even in in the video cigars house there was an inner apartment this was so common in those days the place where the women would stay there with no boot the women wouldn't come and sit with the men at that time to see sri ramakrishna if they wanted to see him he himself would go into the inner apartments this is where no strange man would go but because he was a sod tool and considered a holy man and and it's saint he would be allowed to do that they were placed before the master baba not and Hazara also received their share when they were offered to em with the ahsoka said oh he is like one of the family we didn't worry about him so not that he doesn't want to offer it to him he's trying to show the closeness of their relationship referring to a young deputy the master said to Vidyasagar he is a nice young man and his sound at the core he is like the river valley GU the surface is covered with sand but if you dig a little you will find water flowing underneath we don't know exactly who the master is speaking about here it doesn't say after taking some of the sweets the master with a smile began to speak to Vidyasagar meanwhile the room had become filled with people so this was an event there weren't entertainment things to be done that time is not that people would go to the movies and they would the theater was there of course but this was one of the things if people wanted to gather together and have something event they would invite a holy person or someone who would recite from the scriptures something like that so now the room was filled filled with devotees some were standing and others were seated master ah now we'll see we'll see that how talking could charm people he for anybody else's mouth it would sound like flattery but he had this ability to charm people and very sweet and clever language with a lot of puns and things like that ah today lair I have come to the ocean Vidya Sagar it means the ocean of wisdom up till now I've only seen canals marshes or a river at the most but today I'm face to face with the Sagar the ocean all left but the ostagar smiling then please take home some salt water now they're going to go back and forth there's a Bandar who who can be the most humorous master Oh No why salt water water you aren't the ocean of ignorance you were the ocean of Vidya Vidya Sagar knowledge you were the ocean of condensed milk here with the Aussie girl well you may put it that way so they're both showing their ability the pundit became silent Sri Ramakrishna said they used to call him pundit he showed videos ooh Sri Ramakrishna said your activities are inspired by Sutra now Sri Ramakrishna he he very often could praise people and at the same time he could he could tweak things a little bit he wouldn't would never hesitate to praise someone for their good qualities and he would never hesitate in a very sweet nice way usually sometimes in a harsh way if it was a very close deputy but you see an every soft manner to try to do something that would make their spiritual mood the attitude a little more mature and more healthful so we starting out with a very positive thing your activities are inspired by citta so subtle here it means kindness it means goodness that you're doing everything out of the goodness of your heart you're doing it for a noble purpose that although the things you're doing or to remove poverty and the the the pain of loneliness and lack of education there are all good things taqwa always said that the work that we do a cigar does is it's all good it's all based on subtle but he also didn't fail to say what was what was lacking in the life of idiocy or what could we add it to it though they are rajasic now why is it rajasic Roger see because its activity it doesn't mean in a bad way that is based on any anger or jealousy or hey Jenny thing like that it simply means that there's some desire to do something Rajas can be restlessness it can also just be activity there's probability this is the sign of Rajas 4:30 this endeavor to do something to get something done to accomplish something so that's the rajasic element though they are rajasic they are influenced by set to us so there's software that is Tama second nature that's when we were very actively engaged in doing something harmful and then there's such would there's registered Southwick in nature where we're doing something good the work for the good of others belongs to Rajas yet this Rajas has sucked worth for its basis and is not harmful shuka and other sages cherished compassion in their minds to give people religious instruction to teach them about God this was also the the Rajas of Sri Ramakrishna did he not have any registered to otherwise he would have just remained in that exalted state the whole time no he purposely kept his mind down because he knew that he was born for a certain mission in life and he had to inspire Swamiji and others to fulfill that mission and to spread these teachings because he knew that society needed these things so the avatar has to have a little Rajas huh because they have a mission they have something to accomplish in life but purely sattvic that's the that's the important distinction shook and other sages cherish compassion in their minds to give people religious instructions to teach them about God you are distributing food and learning that is good too if these activities are done in a selfless spirit they lead to God but most people work for fame or to acquire merit this really wasn't the case with videos or you were really from or all that we know about them seems to have been a very sincere person their activities are not selfless besides you are already Sidra and now we'll get more puns here how was that sir cinta means a person of attainment someone who's accomplished something someone who was perfect he said they can mean a power said that can be boiled in Bengali if you boil the potato becomes Shinto it becomes it becomes soft so how was that sir master laughing when potatoes and other vegetables are well cooked they become soft and tender and you possess such a tender nature you were so compassionate laughter Vidya Sagar but when the paste of kawaii poles is boiled type of doll it becomes all the harder master but you don't belong to that class mere pundits are like diseased fruit that become hard and will not ripen at all such fruit is neither the freshness of green fruit nor the flavor of ripe vultures so very high in the sky but their eyes are fixed when rotten carrion on the ground the book-learned are reputed to be wise but they're attached to lust in gold like the vultures they are in search of carrion they are attached to the world of ignorance compassion love of God and renunciation or the glories of true knowledge with the a cigar listen to these words in silence the others too gazed at the master and were attentive to every word he said so we will stop here and continue next time page 101 and I will do the closing Chen Yun gentleman on the rupam Cromley he Shabet our own coronation medium Tamarama Krishna