Video 130

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Atmajnanananda (5/5/2023)

okay um [Music] your words are like nectar bringing life Discord Souls they raised by Poets and remove all sin they are auspicious to hear wonderful and exalted those who spread these words throughout the world are truly giving solos Welcome to our class on the gospel of srama Krishna we're on the chapter a day at dakshineshwar it is Saturday April 5th 1884. and we're at the bottom of page 416. we stopped last time I'll read the last couple of paragraphs astronomical is talking to a devotee by the name of pran Krishna he was someone I guess we could say who liked this bit of Jana yoga he was more of a traditional type of uh Hindu devotee had something like that there's captain and others a little more of the Orthodox and he liked his passive uh of uh of knowledge so his ramakrishna is talking to him and uh he does something that he often does before he gives some teaching he'll say according to the Giannis or according to vedanta or according to the puranas according to a path of devotion that means that uh he's saying something that will appeal to a particular person uh he's he's not exactly disavowing it it's not like he's saying that the Yani say this I don't necessarily subscribe to this but the Gianni say this he's not necessarily endorsing it he's simply saying that this kind of belongs to that that Path of Knowledge this belongs to the path of devotion he accepted all of them he had his uh different attitudes and different moods at different times but uh there's a tendency nowadays to try to pigeon holes ramakrishna said that he was really this or really that or he really followed this point of view uh I won't say that there's no value in that but to me he appreciated every point of view he appreciated all of the traditional paths about the yoga gyani yoga especially these two and he appreciated the attitude of the sincere devotees who were Duelists who were qualified non-dualists and also the yanis who were non-dualists he appreciate appreciated all of them did he have any special likes and dislikes I think so I mean we know that he he liked to look upon God his mother that means to uh include the saguna Brahman along with near Guna Brahman to include is it power shakti's power to create and to preserve and uphold the universe and everything and the devotional attitude and this idea that everything we see is a manifestation of the Divine yeah but uh he appreciated all of the other points of view not that he was antagonistic to any but here it's a very good example where he'd start one uh one statement according to the Quran is in the next one according to vedanta so we read this last time I'll just go through it quickly according to the Piranhas the bhakta and bhagavadan are two separate entities I am one and you are another now first ramakrishna everything was a question of attitude attitude and not fact is it a fact that we're separate is it a fact that we're one it is an attitude that for him the only Factor true element truth what's experience in realization environment itself so uh he always liked it of course the hanuman's attitude it depends you're asking me what is my attitude it depends how I look upon myself at the time if I feel that I am the self then there's Oneness if I feel on the body there's separation the soul the uh you're the holding on the part that type of idea so it says according to the quranism or two separate entities I am one and you are another the body is at played as it were containing the water of Mind intelligence and ego Brahman is like the sun it is reflected in the water therefore the devotees see the Divine form now this illustration is one used by ceramic Krishna over and over and over again without any preface without according to the quranas or anything so we can say that he likes this illustration and he uses it very much he finds it very useful even though he won't emphasize this idea that I am one and you are another he liked this this we can have that relationship but he liked this idea of everything ends in Oneness he used to use that type of language then he says according to the vedanta Brahman alone is real and all else is Maya dreamlike and unsubstantial now this again he knows for a certain type of devotee with a certain type of mood and attitude that this would be their path that's fine it's not necessarily what he likes because very often he'll say I don't like to call this world unreal is a dream now it's not the same as saying those who say this world is unreal like a dream uh are are being misled this is the wrong conception he never says that as a personal preference his own spiritual attitude was that he preferred to look at everything as a manifestation of the Divine mother and so he says according to the vedanta Brahman alone is real and all else is Maya now we may say a dream like an unsubstantial we may say that just like the first one I am one and you were another you won't emphasize this this distinction and the second one that everything is Maya dream like an unsubstantial he doesn't emphasize that either but both illustrations he likes this is the interesting thing because his ego like a stick lies across the ocean that this is also something that uses constantly these two are almost as two favorite illustrations and both fit in very well with The Path of Knowledge and with the path of devotion that's the interesting thing about this he didn't care about these labels the way we we get obsessed with these things a little bit then he says listen to what I'm saying when the ego was taken away there remains only one undivided ocean of sachidananda now both of these illustrations emphasize the fact that this ego is ego was something unsubstantial in the first it's a reflection there's a reflection of that sun in the second it's a stick on water that stick can be removed or the stick can can become so thin it becomes like a line on water so on both of them the key thing is is that this ego is an obstruction and and either it's something false or it's reflection but it has no independent substance to it then he says but as long as the Stick of ego remains there is an appearance of two so the devotee likes to believe that there are two the gyani has to accept the fact that there's an appearance of two here's one part of the water and there another part attaining the knowledge of Brahman one is established in samati then the ego is effaced now this one then have the attitude of Oneness no there's only Oneness there's no no one to have an attitude then there's this all dollars is become one with the ocean at that point retained the ego of knowledge in order to teach men this is another one of Sri ramakrishna's uh important doctrines that this ego is something that uh will remain even after the highest type of realization but it'll be transformed he calls it the ripe ego it can't bind but it's necessary to live in the world ego is nothing but a conception of ourselves there's nothing else if if we want to know what our own particular ego is like we have to ask ourselves what do I mean when I refer to myself what comes to my mind there's a person comes from under the personality comes to mind uh all of my attitudes and my desires and how everything comes to mind that's that's who I am that's my ego it's changeable I can I and we're trying to do that we're trying to ripen it and we're trying to convert it and we're trying to superimpose something on top of it this arop idea that I want to get rid of this identification with the body so I superimpose this idea of a relationship however that I'm a Child of God I keep telling myself that means that I'm converting this ego into something spiritual spiritualizing it and it'll become Fender and fender for for the the it'll disappear in the state of savanti for the devity it'll disappear in the forgetfulness of self we have that nice example that swamiji his ego became so large that it could burst through the net of Maya and nagmah his ego became so tiny that it could like a little Miss kid who could fly through the meshes of Maya so two different ways of attaining realization by converting this ego and devotee ego of the servant type is also a big strong ego yeah and servant of God I can do anything but it'll completely destroy this other small type of ego that's only interested in southeast things so this is the way srama Krishna talks about this very highly sophisticated and very much in line with psychology and everything his his concept of ego this this is really a Freud's conception of ego the image it's simply an image of oneself nothing that can't be changed and but it's the source of bondage when it's identified with lower things and the source of freedom and Liberation when we can uh connected with something Divine and form that relationship so he says shankaracharya retained the ego of knowledge in order to teach men now there's a long footnote here the ego illumined and purified by the knowledge of God following the method of discrimination the gyani in surati merges its ego in Brahman now sometimes we'll say merges the mind in Brahman not a big difference this is just a question of language with us thereafter he may come down to the relative plane with an appearance of individuality but even then he was always conscious of his identity with the Brahman now to be conscious of of my identity with Roman means that's my ego I am Brahman that's also an ego but it's it's a perfectly right ego this is a Tucker's the distinction that he makes this is not the ego they can cause any harm this apparent Eagle was called the ego of knowledge following the path of Love realizes his eternal relationship with God he too keeps an appearance of individuality on the relative plane this ego has none of the characteristics of the worldly ego and is called the ego of devotion the two egos here described refer to the same state of realization now what what tawa says is that after coming down from that highest experience and that highest Oneness in realization that the type of the ego that will re-emerge depends on our spiritual attitude our spiritual path not necessarily on that highest experience that highest experience is beyond everything if it's if it's really nearby but what takes it to there and and what uh greets us when the Mind comes down we go back into our own mind but it somehow transformed but uh we don't become different people or all of this samskaras that we had before keep the same form they they don't have the binding power at all but Krishna same Sweet Child like nature same sense of humor uh it's not like he's unrecognizable after that that highest type of experience the gyani is not going to go and have somebody and come back and sing and dance the devotee is not going to go back and say ah everything's a dream so the mind is still uh operative somehow uh even though every trace of of bondage is removed from it this is why the very helpful illustration when takura talks about this the burnt string that if you have a string and uh it has little curves and everything and you you put it on set it on fire and it turns into just little dust huh what do we call it ashes Little Ashes it'll have the same shape as the string it'll look like the string only if you blow on it whole thing goes away and it can't be used to tie anything so that's all gone but the same personality uh after undergoing some type of transformation will be there and the same type of one goes in is a a lover of the Divine mother will come out that'll be the main thought when takura had his first realization of of mother colleague we don't know what was going on in his mind at that time was he having visions of mother Kali uh it sounds like he's lost all ladder Consciousness he's merged in an ocean of Consciousness and everything but first words out of his mouth or Mama mother mother afterwards so uh some somehow even if the Mind goes beyond the form it'll come back down it'll it'll be colored by that same earlier one right I mean it seems he has something to do with what Krishna says I I appear to the devotee in the way he worships that for me which one yeah I make Israel for him and I reveal myself in that yeah this is this is always that question is it subjective is it objective is God revealing himself or herself to us that way uh or is this the container of our mind is scooping the water in that form that that my I the cooling power of devotion is making the ocean form that particular type of block of ice everything still there yeah but transformed not eliminated but transformed somehow so shankaracharya naturalism he'll keep the ego of knowledge which the driving force behind is his realizations he has his devotion of course also but and first ramakrishna that love of divine mother will still be there yeah and it was watching it while coming back from so that will also transform to other people who are Associated then we'd be that hard to say uh it's really hard to say when Taco went into sarathi sometimes people got up and left even Narendra it's like oh how long will he be here let me go talk to her and have him smoke yeah how many people appreciated it that that one devotee from conagar he's gonna get ready to leave somebody said sit down this is samadhi you know so yeah people have to be a little bit sensitive to these things but that particular will anybody know that one relief has to be highly highly sensitive to be able to feel oh now his mind is merged in Shiva where minded marriage in in Divine mother that'll be very hard to say to anybody can do that but certainly it'll it'll be uh transformative experience for anybody to see that the status from RD is not something written in old books the is that the heroes of living human being who experiences this day after day and it's certainly that that who uh would be a tremendous thing for anybody to witness that so shankarachary retained the ego of knowledge in order to teach men to pran Krishna but there are signs that distinguish the man of knowledge now this also I find very very interesting you'll see some people think they acknowledge what are the characteristics of knowledge that Johnny cannot injure anybody he becomes like a child if a steel sword touches the Philosopher's own it is Stone it is transformed into gold now this is another illustration has the same form it looks the same only it can't cut it can't be used as a weapon anymore but it'll have the same form that means some some Scholars are still there gold can never cut it may seem from the outside of the degani also has anger or egotism but in reality he has no such thing then we get the string illustration from a distance a burned string lying on the ground may look like a real one but if you come near and blow at it it disappears all together the anger and egotism of a gyani or mere appearances they are not real now the thing that I find interesting is that these characteristics of the gyani or the same characteristics of the of the bhakta yeah yeah and the characteristics of the bhakta we read in chapter 12 of the Gita they're the characteristics of the state department yeah so these are a little bit false distinctions that we make that no one is such a gyani that they're absolutely dry and they're not interested in the world in Gita this is also two times I think two times maybe more we have this expression engaged in the welfare of all beings now we think the ghani traditionally goes into the forest cave doesn't remove from society and everything he's the one engaged in the welfare building now maybe it's just setting an example they're teaching not running hospitals necessarily but still uh so uh we have to really take a integrated view of all of this theater Not So Different the attitude is a little different but this transformation will make the gyani a loving person will make the bhakta uh somebody who are not affected not ups and downs and things the world is a little distant from so the we we see how these things can be falsely separated into the separate categories when when there's some living relationship the result of genuine spiritual experience even even we look at we look at it oh today's oh yeah so we look at the past of some of the Buddhists who have no interest whatsoever in any personal God or Soul or anything like that they'll have their Satori they'll have their their Enlightenment and everything and they'll come back they'll they'll be uh perfectly free Souls hardly distinguishable from any other God real I sold what we call God realized or self-realized so that transformation that takes place uh coming back a little bit dependent on on our spiritual mood and everything but on the other hand some type of transformation seems to be Universal okay and all spiritual paths will find they become loving people why loving because if there's no ego we can't love other people because this is selfish ego if that's eliminated naturally they'll love everyone and and to have that kindness and compassion and fellow feeling and the feeling of Oneness with everybody all of these things are there if you read the descriptions of Satori this is the the term in in Zen Buddha for enlightenment there's all these these same things and this love of all people and this this feeling of of the Eternal and and no attachment to anything all these things will be there only not this devotion the personal God that will be the main main distinction of course it may come in the form of this reference for the figure to himself that may also be there so now even for the gyani he'll compare him to to a child this uh this is another thing that we find that our childlike attitude because what is the difference between the child and an adult self-consciousness not self-consciousness in the sense of realization but I thought are we what will people think and and that children don't have that they have that naturalism that innocence the main difference I think yeah then and then the show these these god-real ourselves they're like that it's real Christian what did he care of what anybody thought somebody once said something to him and he said what do I care I condense naked in front of a thousand women I can stare at myself in a mirror all day long who do I care what anybody thinks so free from that this this we grow up and we're so concerned about uh public opinion and appearance and everything so this they're free from that a child is no attachment he makes a a playhouse and if anyone touches it he will jump about and cry the next moment he himself will break it like the Divine mother creating this unit if they use this example that this Leela then God must be like a child suggests and fun to create this universe and then get rid of it destroy it he makes a playhouse and if anyone touches it he will jump about and cry the next moment he himself will break it this moment he may be may be very attached to his cloth he says my Daddy has given it to me I won't part with it but the next moment you can cajole him away from it with a toy he will go away with you leaving the cloth behind these are the characteristics of a guyani perhaps he has many luxuries at home couch chairs paintings and equiparts but any day he may leave all these and go off to Benares now we use this term gyani in two different senses one somebody following The Path of Knowledge we can say is a journey so sometimes a taco would say you've got these are dry people that or they sit with their legs crossed and twirling their mustache and saying now ask me a question you're not talking about this someone who God realized himself realized so Through The Path of Knowledge someone following that with maybe a little bit of ego uh or the gyani can mean somebody was attained the highest type of knowledge it can be used in both senses here it's ramakrishna he seems to be talking about the gyani as the god realized soul but there'll be a slight higher distinction when he says it to the vigyani which will come next to me this sounds like the big Johnny huh but he's still going to make a little distinction after this so anyhow the the gyani we see can be a householder he may have a couch chairs paintings all these other things but he may leave all of these and go off to Benares there were several of these gyani Pandit punditsu were householders also who did they left and went off to Bernards they after meeting srirama Krishna under the influence of him yeah who was it who did it uh Narayan shastri maybe with one other also man maybe anyhow yeah that they tried to find him they'd heard they went to Banaras people didn't see them again yeah inspired by Swami Krishna one one of uh greatest sadhus of our order was was a householder and uh or Swami uh foreign into English I've told this story before I love this story that he was a professor the philosophy teaching upanishads to the class and he was saying that no one can really understand these very abstruse ideas and unless they've renounce everything so one student said well what about you you're teaching us these things and you're yeah your family and everything and that was enough he said yes you're right and he left everything with behind and came in and then in those days the age didn't matter to us and joined the order I don't know how old he was at that time but and uh he became one of the most highly respected monks of her order yeah anybody they can they can be householders also according to vedanta now again just a reminder that means it's white to vedanta creature's mind or according to upanishad or according to uh shankaracharya this is the code word that he uses according to vedanta the waking state two is unreal so that means this is the dream state is unreal the waking state is unreal now this word unreal uh this is this is the the real key what do we mean by unreal do we mean dreamlike okay everybody we can all admit is a dream like we made literally like a dream we have a dream we wake up with everything is gone whatever happened there has no consequence whatsoever there's no results from it there were no other people in it doesn't mean that literally I don't think so there may be some who will take it that way but in any event the attitude of the gyani is that there's something hazy and dreamlike about this world and we all feel it at times and when we get older and we look back at a whole lifetime we think that any of this really happen I remember there's a very strong experience feeling that I had I took a very low my first trip to India I I got on the plane and uh I flew to Iceland and England Icelandic Airlines and I traveled all through to Europe and North Africa and all the exotic places and different foods and languages and everything in India and it was a long time there I was going over a year and a half I came back I got off the plane in New York and I see everything's the same and and it really occurred to me the the last year and a half really happened huh and it was almost like I had to open my bag and see is there any sign I had to look at the calendar is it released a year and a half later or is it was it that I fall asleep on the plane and get off and that was the whole thing they're very strong feeling like that that and most of the time I was alone who to verify all these experiences and everything yeah so it doesn't mean that I feel that I dreamed the whole thing I know I didn't dream it but it has a dream like quality to it and I think at the very end of life when we look back we'll also feel the dream like quality did all these things really happen and uh how seriously I took everything and now I see that nothing matters too much that I'll leave this world and then I'd really like the end of a long dream when we reached the very end and you know this is the attitude of the Gianni that whether they they trans translate this into a metaphysical principle that is whether it's just a feeling that or I get engaged in things too much that do all relationships come to an end uh you know our story is not other and going for the glass of water and everything 12 years passed now it's just a half hour so we can feel it well life has passed how long did it take years ago to buy like that so it has a dream like quality I I think we can all will agree to that it's another attitude that those who like the Lila idea and all of that they may feel that it's scripted that where were you guys thrown into the middle of a play and everything these are attitudes uh again there will be some who won't say it's an attitude this is the reality this is the but we don't have to make that decision is it really scripted do I have any free will at all am I just following out this everything is is uh like uh Arjuna told you've already killed all these people yes you have to be an instrument and do all of this I've already done it now you like is it really like that or was it just in the case of Arjuna is it like that for everybody these are different types of spiritual attitudes some are very helpful to give us a sense of Detachment some are not so helpful we have to decide if it means I'm not going to make an effort or do anything everything is scripted then it's not helpful so we have to analyze what are the strong points what are the helpful points to to the spiritual attitude spiritual attitude this is at the German bhaven nilab that this was again is according to this whatever spiritual mood attitude uh in in this translation they say uh according to our feeling of love but it really means uh here that uh whatever our attitude is of course the loving attitude we can say if we really love someone deeply then we'll have some gain from it we'll become less selfish and everything of all different moods and attitudes he appreciated all of them he knew that they were some were suited to some people and some to others now SRAM srishna is going to tell a story that he tells in several places but with the twist here the twist is that uh he's he's not going to talk about the uh the the Yanni whose son had died we're just going to get kind of half of the story he wants a Woodcutter lay dreaming when someone woke him up greatly annoyed he said why have you disturbed my sleep I was dreaming that I was a king and the father of seven children the princes were becoming well versed in letters and Military Arts I was Secure on my throne and ruled over my subjects why have you demolished my world of joy but that was a mere dream said the other man why should that bother you fool said The Woodcutter you don't understand by becoming a king in the dream was just as real as my being a Woodcutter if being a Woodcutter is real than being a king in a dream is also real so we have these two different ways of putting it this dream is just as real as the waking State the waking state is just as unreal as the dream depending on how we like to look at things yeah the very curious thing when I was a philosophy student in college and had knew nothing about vedanta and not in any of this the first paper that he wrote was the reality of Dreams I really got just fascinated with this idea of how real the dream seems while we're in the midst of it and how we wake up and just dismiss it how easily we'd say oh it's just a dream when at the time moves life and death especially a nightmare how real it is yeah so I'm saying more real than this in the waking state so any of those ideas but reality is cooperated by multiple people this could also be a collectively and dream is individual always your dream is always this this is how we understand it normally normally we understand most of it accepts that distinction that the dream is something private that we experience in that ourselves and that this is something shared this is public we all have our own take on it and we see things differently but the assumption is that each and every one of us has individual Consciousness and and uh is more or less in the same dwelling space and hearing the same words some will say what nonsense some will say ah well it's the same words that that part is sure this is the Assumption we don't know I could wake up and say oh that was a dream look at me I was talking about this idea of shared Consciousness and I was the only one there yeah [Music] they will have been we it seems like it but if if I dream about you and I wake up and I say why did you say that to me in the dream last night listen I didn't say anything what do you mean I had my own dream yeah so but we don't know this is uh it's it's really just inference that I assume that you all actually have Consciousness and are again actually can hear me I don't know I don't know I can't step into your head and and know what you're hearing and seeing and everything so this is also a type of metaphysical assumption I don't wanna but we we have to live by this even in the gospel there's one place where somebody says this is uh this is also faith a question of the President says that uh the things that we see are real something like that we can't verify these things it could be a dream the dream somebody is saying that but they never come back to negative yeah there are main differences we wake up from a dream and we remember the dream and we see ourselves lying in bed yeah in in the dream we're not aware of that waking State generally we become aware of it when we wake up again yeah so one takes place within the other this is the the feeling of it anyhow we don't have to uh as I say I I'm not much in favor of taking these spiritual attitudes and trying to come with some very fixed metaphysical Doctrine based on these ideas this world is like a dream now we say sometimes that this is the dream of Brahma or Brahman something this is the dream but everybody within this industry has awareness and consciousness and Roman dreaming all this what is it in my dreaming oldest dreams program yeah yeah so uh we but just this idea that it seems like a long dream this whole world that means we're getting some Detachment from it we're not taking anything too seriously that we're not going to let it affect us we know that there's something higher and deeper pran Krishna always talked about Guyana was this why the master described the state of the gyani now he proceeded to describe the state of the vignani now I don't know exactly what the difference is because in the beginning but anyhow he seems to be going back that this if we take the example of this of this Woodcutter he's obviously not a Godly soul but he has the attitude of the gyani so we can say that he's referring to that Master John is the realization of self through the process of 1980 not this not this now sometimes takur talks about Guyana as as samadhi almost identifying with going to the roof and and losing our individuality and everything uh so by vignan sorry John is the realization of self through the process of 1980 not this not this so let me leaving the steps behind and getting to the roof what is this not this not this I'm not the body I'm not the mind I'm not the senses over that that we eliminate all of these extraneous things superficial things and we find what's left is pure awareness so this is that the path of 1980 one goes into samadhi through this process of elimination and realizes the ottman but vignani means a knowledge with a greater fullness now SRI Krishna is going to emphasize here the state of vigyana of the bhakta more so of the bhakta uh who will talk to God and sing in life uh some have heard of milk some have seen milk and some have drunk milk he was merely heard of it is ignorant he was seen it as a gyani but he was drunk it as vigyan that is to say a fuller knowledge of it after having the vision of God one talks to him as if he were an intimate relative that is vigyana now this is generally what ramakrishna refers to as the ego of devotion so here he's really not making a very big distinction between the state of vignana for the gyani and for the bhakta the attitude will be a little bit different but still it will be that stated that the different Freedom while living now he'll go back to this 1980 business first of all you must discriminate following the method of native he is not the father element now he uh we can say I we're trying to find that Ultimate Reality if we if we think of it as Atman maybe we'll say I if we think of Brahman maybe say he but this is uh this is the type of Distinction that we make before realization afterwards that's the whole point no distinction between I and he and he he puts it this way he is not the five elements nor the scent organs nor the Mind nor the intelligence nor the ego he's beyond all these Cosmic principles you want to climb to the roof then you must eliminate and leave behind all the steps one by one the steps are by no means the roof but after reaching the roof you find that the steps are made of the same materials brick lime and brick dust as the roof it is the Supreme brahmana that has become the universe and its living beings and the 24 Cosmic principles now I'd mentioned many times that taco uses different language at different times we may say it's a supreme government can't become anything it doesn't undergo any change technically that's true very often shramakrishna will say that it's the Shakti that becomes this whole universe or Divine mother Divine mother that means this uh Shakti aspect of brahmet itself so for the Supreme Brahman for ceramic Krishna always includes this we have to accept that because there's no doctrine of course there are some but this Roman really uh transforms itself into the universe there's one school adoita that I think this is their idea that Brahman becomes the universe even we even read in the old hymns producer and everything that a certain percentage of Brahman becomes the universe this is not to be taken too literally I don't think so that which is Atman has become the five elements see first starts the way asking about Brahman he and now Atman because there's no distinction at that point you may ask why the Earth is so hard if it has come out of Atman all is possible through the will of God don't you see that bone and flesh are made from blood and semen how hard Sea Foam becomes the Sea Foam Taco uses this uh in another place the Divine mother she collects these little things and keeps it a little box that's going to things in seafoam it says there's there's some idea that this there's a certain bone found on the seashore cuddle bone so our popular belief is that it is hardened the foam after tanning vegana one can live in the world as well now what does that mean to live in the world of course one has to live in the world where else will one live yeah but in a family setting possibly keeping the job the taco says in one place if a clerk gets sent to the jail and then he's released from jail what will he do will he go about singing and dancing in the street he'll go back to being Clerk yeah there's there's a famous Zen statement before realization what is it Japanese wood and carrying water after realization trophy wooden carrying water yeah that one can do the same thing because uh at that point it doesn't matter mind is is already turned into gold it doesn't matter what one does after that I don't know if he was really a real isol but they always point to in this area that that he remained it simply BD salesman is a little shop in in Mumbai and people would come and sit there and everything so after attending vigyana one can live in the world as well then one clearly realizes that God himself has become the universe and all living beings that he is not outside the world all this is indeed Brahman for srama Krishna uh is is a statement that the vigyani will make now can we start out with that idea does everyone have to do this in 1880 no this is and I think in the Great Master Swami sharananda talks about that that we try to see the Divine in everything from the very outset try to see everything is a manifestation of the Divine this is also a type of of spiritual attitude to pran Krishna the fact is that one must have the spiritual eye division this is we read in Gita that when Arjuna wanted to see the Divine Universal form that's who Krishna says you can't see it with this or I say let me give you this in Divine eyesight you would develop that eye as soon as your mind becomes pure not as soon as we've become very intelligent or we can discriminate and do all of that when the Mind becomes hard and mine become pure take for instance the Kumari Puja now this is I don't like this translation at all I worship the Virgin it sounds so odd the Kumari Puja means that a young girl it should be five six seven something that is traditionally worshiped as the form of the Divine mother the girl to be sure had all her human imperfections is a very interesting thing I I picture it as a very small little girl who has to wear a diaper she may even soil herself but still can see the Divine mother in her so here it says she had all her human imperfections these are not really human imperfections these These are natural things that belong to a human being that means the humanness is there we think that human and divine don't go together but he's saying even even in a young girl who may not even be potty trained at that point and they soil herself and all of that still she can be worshiped as the Divine mother State Library auditor is the Divine mother herself on one side is the wife and on the other the son love is bestowed on both but in different ways therefore it comes to this that everything depends upon the Mind another statement that Tucker makes over and over and over again everything is a question of our attitude spiritual attitude the pure mind acquires a new attitude through that mind one sees God in this world therefore one needs spiritual discipline we need purity of heart how do we do it spiritual discipline spiritual practice and uh behavior modification huh this is a very fancy term huh they use that in the psychology or something of people who have some addictive problems and things behavior modification we change the way we do things if we want to change the way we think we have to change the way we do things sometimes also yes spiritual discipline is necessary the now I we say all of the time whenever we get to this comedy content and everything that oh Taco is talking this way because he's talking to man if he's talking to women he'll also tell the other side of the story here he's going to tell the other side of the story this I think is the only place maybe there's another place I don't remember one of the very few places where he'll talk from the point of view of the of the woman also good we I like this he says you should know that a man becomes easily attached to a woman a woman naturally loves a man and a man also naturally Loves a Woman therefore both fall speedily from their spiritual ideals so whenever we we think that he's only saying that old presence of women will draw the mind of a man away same thing and of course now of course we have to say men and men and women and women also because everyone has a different orientation we know we know that this is also something natural anyhow the the point is that uh the in which your mind or the the mind is just starting out in spiritual life is very susceptible to uh environment and those things which will bring back uh all some schottas and fill the mind with unnecessary thoughts and temptations and desires and everything and best to really do that be very careful about the company we keep the things we do all of that this is this is putting the Hedge around the small plant but it also must be said that there is a great advantage in leading the life of a householder in case of urgent necessity a man may live with his wife the M smiles and he said well M why are you smiling and to the to himself the master makes this much allowance for householders since they cannot renounce everything is complete in absolute continence impossible for a householder this was always a M's and was really torn with this idea he had a tremendous desire to renounce everything uh but uh Taco wanted him to live like a householder and uh even after all of this he had children I think at least one more daughter or something after meeting shramakrishna and takur even said go home and and after staying for a long time with him that long period Well he didn't have some enjoyment with your wife sometimes also he even will comes up here even to Raquel and he said that one time very scolded him yeah yeah are you embarrassed to live like that yeah yeah that was during that that long stay in touch anyway we had who had been living in the panchavati entered the room he was in the habit of taking milk and opium he did not eat rice or other food and had no money to buy the milk and opium the master had talked with him in the puncture the hunter Yogi had told Raquel to ask the master to make some Provisions for him and srama Krishna had promised to speak about it to the visitors from Calcutta he wasn't very happy about speaking about it but he said he would do it so he did it knowing that no one would be interested Yogi to the master well did you say it uh what did you say to Raquel about me master I said that I would ask some rich visitors to help you but then to pran Krishna you perhaps do not like these yogis Quran Krishna remained silent the Hatha Yogi left the room and the conversation went on Master to pran Krishna and the others if a man leads a householder's life he must have unflagging Devotion to truth now this is also curious everybody needs it why the householder especially challenges are more that in order to to make a living sometimes in the work that they have to do to keep smoother relations with relatives all sorts of things that the Temptation is there to sometimes uh just uh fudge a little bit on the truth compromise yeah sometimes it's necessary a little bit if it becomes too much then look for another job could be it's the same thing we can say for for monks who live in an ashram and everything that we we also need that but we all know about truth truthfulness that it doesn't mean that we say things that will hurt somebody's feelings that we we have to bring in some kindness and everything and along with that God can be realized through truth alone formally I was very particular about telling the truth though now my Zeal has evaded a little if I said I shall bathe then I would get into the water of the Ganges recite the Mantra and sprinkle a little water over my head but still there would remain some doubt in me as to whether my bath was complete once I went to Ram's house in Calcutta I happened to say I shall not take any Luchi when I sat down for the meal I felt hungry but I said I would not eat the Luchi so I had to fill in my stomach with sweets well all laugh but my Zeal for truthfulness has abated a little now the word he uses his body we know the shuchibai it means it's fanaticism it's not just Zeal he himself realizes or things now that perhaps I was a little too fanatical about things you know how we go to have to go to judge Malik's house and the dead of night and stick his foot inside and all of these things so it might my Zeal for truthfulness has abated a little now uh once I said I would go to the Pine Grove no you all know what it means to go to the Pine Grove answer the call of nature now why he had to go to the Pine Grove they they they had the trains and things there no I was thinking about this because of our roshik method that that was his job to clean the the trains he being a great Deputy he had a vision of Papua at the end anyhow Taco used to go to the Pine Grove uh so once I said I would go to the Pine Grove but then I felt I had no particular I had no particular urge to go what was to be done I asked ROM about it this is not a ramchandra this is from Chatterjee he was one of the priests priests and the radhikanta temple I asked Rama about it he said I didn't have to go he was really he would listen to anybody who's this wrong Charities nobody then I reasoned to myself well everyone is not Aina so Ram 2 is not Aina why should I let why shouldn't I listen to him the elephant is narayana no doubt but the mahut is not eyeing it too since the Mahood asked me not to go near the elephant then why shouldn't I obey him through reasoning like this my Zeal for truthfulness is slightly less strong now than before laughs that we can easily also lose our deals for truthfulness okay we'll stop here he gets to another thing about a new change coming over him about seeing God in man that's a very important idea foreign who was stainless of infinite nature whose heart melts in sympathy for his devotees who is an embodiment of the Divine and the Supreme Lord and ever worthy of of our worship [Music] peace peace peace I think most of you know that Sunday we have our memorial service for Swami Brahma rupananda those of you who are watching this from from out of town who can't come here I can watch it on your computer screen it'll be live streamed and then it'll be recorded in in uh on the YouTube so you can just go to our website okay thank you everyone okay okay and stream now