Video 132

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Atmajnanananda (5/26/2023)

foreign Souls they're praised 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 Souls welcome everyone to our class on the gospel of Swami Krishna we're on chapter 22 advice to an actor it is Saturday May 24 1884 and page 427. suryama Krishna was sitting on the small couch in his room rakal M and several other devotees were present a special worship of Kali had been performed in the temple the previous night in connection with the worship a theatrical performance of the Vidya Sundar had been staged in the not mandir the master had watched a part of it that morning the actress came to his room to pay him their respects the master in a happy mood became engaged in conversation with the fair complexion the young man who had taken the part of India and played his part very well Master to the actor your acting was very good if a person excels in singing music dancing or any other art he can also quickly realize God provided he strives sincerely just as you practice much in order to sing dance and play one instrument play on instruments so one should practice the art of fixing the mind on God one should practice regularly such a disciplines as a worship Japan and meditation are you married any children these are the questions that Krishna asked them the first day actor yes sir I had a girl who died another child has been born Master ah a death and the birth and all so quickly you were so young there is a saying my husband died just after our marriage there are so many nights for me to weep you were no doubt realizing the nature of worldly happiness the world is like a hog plum the hog Plum has only pit and skin and after eating it you suffer from colic charama Krishna uses this illustration quite often but he adds even though it was just mostly pitted skin but it tastes nice it has a nice flavor so we put up with all of the negative results from it you are an actor in the theater that's fine but it is a very painful profession you were young now so you have a full round face afterwards there will be Hollows in your cheeks almost all actors become like that they get Hollow cheeks and big bellies left is it true hello no nowadays yeah why did I stay to watch your performance I found the Rhythm the music and the melody all correct then the Divine mother showed me that it was God Alone who acted in the performance in the roles of the players that SRI ramakrishna he had this Knack it wasn't really an act it was something very natural with him that uh he could very easily see the actors as the the real people that they were trying to act as especially when he went to see chaitanya's closest place most of Getty's ghost's plays were religious plays not all of them he had some light things also but a life of good hand and shaitanya Dev and everything so whenever he would ask he would say I saw that he used to use the knuckle and Ashu the the knuckle the uh artificial in the real is one of the same just seeing seeing the the actor that he didn't see the actors the actors so the actor actually this caitanya do so uh if the acting was done nicely if it was done nicely then he would forget there are people acting if they were really good and good actors that way and his mind would get fixed on that so people would ask did you mind maybe people who loose morals and things performing like that I didn't see them that way I saw it's it's the as the people that they were really playing actor then he has a very interesting question sir what is the difference between lust and desire and in the uh Bengali the comma and kamana this is the distinction comma we use for desire in general but lust in particular common it can mean all different types of desires so what is that relationship between lust and desire good translation I think here Master lust is the root of the tree and desires or branches and twigs no we we see this in other places sometimes these two terms are used that if we understand what he's trying to say that means that if we can cut something off at the root we don't have to worry about the branches and the twigs now this idea of lust we we always have to remember and remind ourselves that as human beings we're also part of the animal kingdom and these things are common to All Creatures these different types what we call passions uh these are normal uh hardly desires even but just uh the type of phenomenon that has to be there in the animal kingdom for the preservation of the species I I always think of Darwin Darwin I had a very good understanding of of this idea that the species won't exist unless there's some desire for propagation some desire for self-protection for uh preservation of of all of the uh even camouflage things anything that will keep the species from from being wiped out of creation Now I read recently how many species are we're losing because of the climate change yeah the the thousands and thousands yeah just uh small things but anyhow this is this is something that uh uh in in some traditions this idea of lust is a very evil thing it's not an evil thing it's a very natural thing but we as swamiji says that spiritual life means fighting nature that we have Natural Instincts and we have to learn to control these Natural Instincts but if we observe the Mind very carefully we'll see that this attraction between the men and women sometimes men and men women and women whatever it is that that attraction uh is the cause for so many other desires that we have that we want to look nice we want to have nice clothes we want to have a lot of money to impress other people that if that one thing is eliminated a lot of these other things will automatically go so this is that root and the branches so it's a very nice it's a good question a very nice answer lust is like the root of the tree and desires are branches and twigs okay then pakur says one cannot completely get rid of the six passions lust anger greed and the like we have six but these three are generally the ones that we read about and Gita says these are the six gates to hell that lust anger and greed come over and talk where these generally he doesn't give so much scope to anger because anger follows from the other two more but lust and greed is really our comedy concert talks about all the time so this is another one of his regular teachings that just as this scent of ego is something false uh but it's hard to get rid of same thing with these these passions that we may recognize that they're problematic that they're uh and even that they don't belong to us they belong to the mind or they belong there's some very deep some Scottish there's nothing like that but it's very difficult to get rid of them this is a teaching that we find uh very early teaching even in the uh Narada bhakti Sutra we have the ones it says the same thing that take these passions and turn them towards God they give them a Twist so this is something that Rama Krishna always talks about lust anger and greed and the like one cannot completely get rid of them therefore one should direct them to God so all all of Desire Springs from some feeling that we would like to have something that we don't have sometimes there's some sense of of lack of fulfillment and uh vedanta will say that this real feeling of lack of fulfillment is that we don't know our real nature of the self that this is this is the search for uh fulfillment is a search for something Divine and something within us and we don't realize it and we try to fulfill things it with the external objects so uh if we can learn to direct them to God when we feel uh some some desire for something we know that these external things uh they play this a similar role that there's a longing for something and and we get something that fulfills it but they're all temporary and uh this the one thing that can really fulfill desire is uh that which is infinite that which is which is perfection and that which is divine so this is the real uh real thing that uh knowingly or unknowingly everyone is seeking we're we're all seeking a state of fulfillment that the the Drake trick of fulfilling desires is to reach a state where we don't have any of them when when the not that every desire is fulfilled but we simply are content with what we have and that with what we have it doesn't simply mean uh or possessions and everything that we possess within us that divine presence which is our real nature which is our very own self which is what we're striving for trying to realize that this this is there and uh we we don't know how to find it we don't even know what we're searching for we we have the image of the musk deer you know there's a little it's not really a deer it's a small animal that's uh it's prevalent in the Himalayas I think Nepal and other places that has that sand beautiful sand of musk that comes they say comes out of its navel I don't know where it comes from but anyhow this this animal uh finds it so attractive that it runs all over trying to find it and sometimes they'll even run to exhaustion or they'll go over cliff and everyone will follow something like that not knowing that it's coming out of themselves that this is so this is our condition that we're running after something that will fulfill us something that will remove all of our desires and we don't know what the source of that lack of fulfillment is and we don't know how to fill that hole and we don't know where to go and what to do and how to find it so uh we have to give a Twist give a turn he uses the term turn the face in the opposite direction so that we're we're going within we're not always trying to fulfill desires with external things now this question of desire and fulfillment of Desire is also a very tricky thing because SRI ramakrishna talks about uh not being able to uh really reach a state of of where the mind is quiet and content if we have too many unfulfilled desires so he has this concept of bhoganda that we have to reach the end of our desires and sometimes he says that uh the way to do this is by fulfilling them and by experimenting with them and trying to see is it really what we were after is it really so fulfilling and that way eliminate them so these are generally simple harmless types of of desires but we have to do it very carefully and we have to do it with a great sense of introspection discrimination not just indiscriminately fulfill all desires but while we do it to ask ourselves uh is this really what I wanted is this is really fulfilling is it leading to more desires we have to question ourselves so uh SRI ramakrishna who never had any real desires he had a few little little things really just so he could uh talk about it really yeah so we'll have examples for us so at one time I had a desire to taste the sweet meats from all the famous shops in in Kolkata so he would get mature about who didn't buy all of them and then he would discriminate he would put it in his mouth and his tongue and put it on one side of the mouth put it on the other side of the mouth and uh and and see how long is that enjoyment how long does it last on the tongue before you chew it and swallow it in a few seconds and then what happens to it same thing that happens there all the other food that we have so he said so what is so wonderful about that and then he had a desire to smoke from a very fancy silver Hubble bubble so he got matar Babu Babu did whatever he asked him to do he got a big fancy one and he smoked it on the side and this way and that way and everything the same thing is it's smoking any ordinary type of thing but people say of so beautiful things this is a beautiful silver ornaments and everything but he said it just increases rajes the same thing he had a beautiful shawl that you were very very expensive with with a gold embroidery and all of that and after a while he took it off and started stepping on mother Bob said no no let me return it don't ruin it but anyhow he said yeah what what what's the purpose of it so we we hear that he used to say that he would go the ganga and he would take a gold coin and he would take a stone and and analyze what's the difference people go mad for the gold and the other they throw away they're both just material things huh this is uh actually many people wonder about this but again knowingly or unknowingly took many of these teachings we find from Gita and upanishads and everything and acted the matter in his life and and this is one of the things those who see a stone and iron and gold is the same that this is that idea of same-sightedness that means that it doesn't excite any desire or longing in the mind it doesn't mean we don't recognize that one is a valuable thing and one is is the ordinary thing we recognize that but in terms of uh one bringing this attachment and longing and desire and the other aversion or something that's gone so that's that's the point of all of that so desires uh we have to recognize which ones are like pouring oil on fire not every desire is like that some desires we fulfill and they're gone so our holy mother is another interesting statement is he was her main attendant after the direct disciples served the man attendant and he said mother that all these little desires keep coming into my mind at the time with meditation she said very good let them come in and let them leave that we don't want these things to fester and grow and deepen it yeah let it come in and recognize it and say oh no I really don't want that Let It Go and sometimes we we fulfill these little desires and we realize that uh oh the mind was hankering after this for all those years and it's really not such a big deal and then then we're free from it so uh this is called and there's some type of idea with this proud of the karma and everything that in this lifetime we have to fulfill the certain number of these desires and then a certain number of them we have to just say no we did say no so we don't want to be born again for this small little things and we don't want to sit for meditation and the mind is hankering after these little things uh better to to try it once and then they now say I'm finished with it harmless desires yeah these are other desires that really get us into trouble like this some things this this longing for for wealth and and for power that we see it's absolutely endless for some people the more they get the more they want they have to be the wealthiest people the strongest people the most powerful and uh uh that's pouring oil on fire those types of things we have to really analyze analyze the mind and everything and those people who have the tremendous desire for that uh are probably not going to turn to spiritual life very easily unless some big blow comes and they and they really uh kind of knock to their senses so takur says and many times that take these on the Passions and give them a spiritual twist that if we we all have some feeling of of of lack of something or or we envy people for something or some type of Desire let it be in the spiritual Realm so he says one cannot completely get rid of this Expressions lust anger greed and the like therefore want to direct them to God if you must have desire and greed then you should desire love of God and be greedy to attain him if you must be conceited and egotistic then feel conceited and egotistic thinking that you were the servant of God the child of God yeah we we talk about getting rid of the ego and uh or being very very uh humble and low and everything this this year this is what I call the ego of humility it's a very strong ego and a very harmful thing that the people argue no no no you're far greater than I am I'm nobody I'm nothing and a very egotistical type of thing we want people to think oh how humble yeah so we we have to be very careful the ego that says yes I can do anything I'm a Child of God I'm a servant of God I can do anything a very good ego very strong ego I I had a friend once who was he studied psychology and we were talking about this ego and uh he was saying the need to have a good strong ego and I was saying you know all of these other things said yeah what you're saying is a good strong ego when you have no selfish desire for anything when you want to act as a servant if that is a good strong ego so even psychology will will recognize and then a man cannot see God unless he gives his whole mind to him the mind is wasted on lust and gold take your own case you have children and are occupied with the theater the Mind cannot be United with God on account of these different activities now what do we do because we all have different activities now we have to really understand what he's saying that he's talking about somebody who wants to have God realization that's a very final thing every Ultimate thing that uh we're in this stage most people where we have to go through all of these the vulgar we have to we have to get rid of all of this and if we do all of that we need to go to spiritual life at the end we'll be free from desires at the end you know I meant I mentioned this at the memorial service for for Swami B that whatever little things he had in his mind earlier concerns worries about his health or relatives things like that at the end everything disappeared he had absolutely no desire in his mind except to see a tough word mother huh so we shouldn't think that right now uh I know that I'll never be free from desire I'll never have that contentment if we lead a good spiritual life there's some big change will come at the very end I mean we see that that we have to have that faith that our mind will undergo some radical change at the end if our whole life is geared for that if that's really the most important thing to us mind will be engaged with all these other things it's the nature of the Mind but these things will fall away at the end and then we can reach that desireless state right now he says as long as there's a burger there will be less of yoga enjoyment furthermore behoga he gets suffering this is a another part of this self-analysis that when we run after things and we get those types of enjoyments then what is the result do we do we feel better about ourselves do we have more longing do we have less contentment now there's some types of of experiences that we have and desires that we have to try to fulfill that are very dharmic things and to me this is very very important that those who have a desire to raise a family have a career be successful in their career help other people at the end of their life they can look back and with some sense of satisfaction then this is not a small thing we may say oh this is we're only worldly talk but this in spiritual life we have to uh consider the state of mind then and how the mind is affected by an ordinary everyday things and if we can lead a life where we feel that we've accomplished what we were meant to accomplish from a dharmic sense not a spiritual sense then the mind will be free and clear that's very very important and very helpful we don't talk about these things very much but uh I've I've again I've seen this I've seen this uh with the people who are not at all spiritual but have some sense of of Duty and righteousness and obligation and all of those things and and let a good unselfish life raise the good family had a good career and could retire and everything and enjoy things with a very clear conscience and everything so these things are also very important and yeah now he's talking about Bogan yoga that in the bhagavata there that uh I'm sorry it is said in the bhagavata that the chose a kite as one of his 24 gurus the kite kite is like some type of Eagle a big aquatic fish that goes aquatic bird that catches fish the kite had a fish and it's a beak so it was surrounded by a thousand crows whichever way it flew with the fish the crows pursued it crying when all of a sudden the fish dropped from it to beak the crows flew after the fish leaving the kite alone the fish is the object of enjoyment the crows are worries and anxiety worries and anxiety are inevitable with enjoyment no sooner does one give up enjoyment than one finds peace now again what do we mean by over here is the type of running after things that makes us Restless and clinging to things that other people are going to try to take from us look at the the example the big fish that everybody wants to grab out of its mouth it's not a small type of enjoyment that other will say oh that's nice he's enjoying it it will bring jealousy it'll bring anger all sorts of things that and and will be so proud that we have it but there will be no peace so we have to analyze the mind this is the most important thing and and see uh is it worth it is it worth it to run after these things and the enjoyment that we we get was it worth the effort that we put into it and was it worth uh the feeling that we have afterwards did I waste my time why did I run after all of this we have to analyze and sometimes we have to fail sometimes we have to try to to get these things and either we fail or we get them and and then we have to see was it worth it and because most of the things are held up they're so valuable oh hell happy you'll be if you can buy this new car or if you can buy this new refrigerator or these fancy clothes all of these things how happy will be a little bit of enjoyment comes in everything but then uh we get the first scratch and the first thing breaks down this and the head and they're constantly worried about it and and then one day we just say yeah throw the whole thing away huh so this is the nature of the Mind but some enjoyment is good because lysis can be a little bit too harsh and we we're not a puritanical type of organization this is the inventanta there is not a sin to enjoy something but let them be good simple types of enjoyment that don't lead to bigger problems they don't injure anybody else that and and analyzes it's really uh what's fulfilling that that lack within that something or just a temporary thing even temporary things are okay we have some type of we go for a vacation to a nice place we enjoy it we come back good it's not like every day we say oh I have to go back I needed again and again and again sometimes we do it once we're content things like that but this type of uh no sooner this one give up enjoyment that one finds peace this is really very very important this is one of my favorite little phrases from from the Gita chapter 12 that uh when we let go immediately peace it doesn't take any time the second that we that's what the second that the fish dropped all the crows left that means that no anxiety nothing immediately we feel some type of Peace when we let go now if we can do it uh in a very radical way that we renounce everything we become monks then one thing but there are all sorts of other ways of doing it uh and just with our mental attitude and and with the householders it's not just mental attitude householders also have to practice a certain type of renunciation and simplicity in life not always trying to get a bigger house a bigger job bigger car and all of that being satisfied with what they have this this satisfaction is what holy mother says is the greatest treasure in life sometimes the greatest treasure if we can get that satisfaction and it comes from letting go the very big Buddhist ideas and idea also just let go drop it Let It Go ah the nicest thing we can do with the nicest things we have is to give them away then we feel some type of Peace other people can enjoy it and very nice thing we cling to it and then that's where all the we can't enjoy it if we're clinging to it you know that they they give that illustration that there's a hole in the wall this it's it's big enough to put your hand through and there's some very some gold on the other side in order to get the gold you have to make a fist once you make a fist you can't bring your hand out it's too big so then what do you do old life is spent trying to pull the hand down you you have it your gold is in your hand but you can't pull your hand up the only way you get your hand at is to leave it on the other side this is life The Human Condition yeah in in monastic life I think this is common with many the very day that we join we feel huge burdens is gone the huge birds is going on for the parents only they don't look at it that way that's the problem what is more money itself becomes a source of trouble Brothers may live happily yeah look at all their mothers Brothers how they fought against each other yes for an extra little piece of land when they had to divide the property and everything so greedy and everything and not a second of peace and the only mother had to suffer with all of that Brothers may live happily but they get into trouble when the property is divided and this is a nice thing dogs lick one another's bodies they are perfectly friendly but when the householder throws them a little food they get into a script come here now and then he's talking to this this actor come here now and then pointing to M and the others they come here on Sundays and other holidays actor we have holidays for three months during the Randy and harvest seasons it is our Good Fortune to be able to visit you on our way to dakshineswar we heard of two persons yourself and yanarnava I don't know who this is master Beyond friendly terms with your brothers I think he means the troop the members of the this acting troop maybe Brothers also it looks well you must have noticed in your theatrical performance that a four singer Singh each in a different way the play is spoiled actor yes sir many birds are trapped in a net if they all fly together and drag the net in One Direction then many of them may be saved but that doesn't happen if they try to fly in different directions many birds are caught in the neck and then the leader says everybody make a joint effort at once and they carry the neck yeah yeah and then they'll float a safe place yeah yeah how much work gets done if it was with cooperation yeah even even the Admiral King we see with the ants working together what they can do one also sees in the theatrical performance a person keeping a pitcher of water on its head and at the same time dancing about that was the actor who said that Master live in the world but keep the picture steady on your head that is to say keep the Mind firmly on God yeah if if we if we have a picture of water on our head then one portion of the mind has to be constantly aware that if it's the second that we tilt our head a little bit it'll fall so the steady stream of concentration even with with just a portion of the mind and then the rest of mind we do everything else they'll do this that whole dance and everything singing that but the whole time we have to remember that the neck has to be strayed and the head has to be straight and everything otherwise everything will fall I once said to the Sheep boys from the barracks do your duty in the world but remember that the pestle of death will sometimes smash your hand and be alert about it is uh in barrackpore and also just that that arms compound this north of the induction ishwar Temple there were many mostly Sikhs who were stationed there were very very fond of Sharma Krishna he had a very beautiful relationship with them so very often they would come and he would talk to them this one coercing and others yeah so I in the military service active duty they have to know the any second their life could go so this is a good thing for all of us because it can happen to anybody for them it's a percentages are much higher but uh if we if we want to make sure the mind is fixed on God at the very final moment a very simple way of doing it keep it fixed on God at every moment whenever the final moment comes it comes so in Kamar prokor I've seen the women of the carpenter families making flattened rice with a husky machine one woman kicks the end of the wooden beam and another woman while nursing her baby turns the Patty in the mortar dug in the Earth the second woman is always alert lest the pestle of the machine should fall on her hand the great big huge things and and hand can be absolutely smashed yeah sometimes I I've seen where somebody even though they'll stand on it and go back and forth you know like seesaw and everything and they grab these huge things so the other part of the mind has to be constantly the whole hand will be destroyed so the second woman is always alert less The Petal of the machine should fall under hand with the other hand she fries the soap to Patty in the pan besides she is talking with customers she says you owe us so much money please pay it before you go likewise do your different duties in the world fixing your mind on God but practice is necessary and one should also be alert so this is also part of abihasa yoga that we have to keep reminding ourselves whenever the mind wanders away we have to keep pulling it back and trying to remind ourselves one of the easy ways of this constant of reminder is practice of japa if we can form that that habit of repeating one today throughout the day then that will that will be a reminder it will pull the Mind back not a large part of the time we won't even be aware that we're repeating it but it'll it'll pull us back every once in a while to remind us there's a very a nice nice practice but practice is necessary and one should also be alert see the point is that we'll get smashed in this world we have to look at the illustration we forget God and we run after the worldly things and uh something will go wrong sooner or later and the whole hand will get smashed so we have to be cautious actor sir what is the proof that the soul is separate from the body and we see the death of the body do we see the soul leave we we have some faith and everything we we believe that but uh do we see it when when people go to sleep at night and then they dream the soul they even go some other place some people have that belief Astro body and all of these things and everything but do we see any of these things so well proof means in this case either we have to see it or there has to be some uh real good evidence that we can infer that it happens of course we have that people will tell us that we read about it in the scripture but that's not proof for modern people okay it says in the scripture but uh still can you prove it so this is a good question what is the proof that the soul that's separate from the body Master proof God can be seen now when he says God and the question is about the soul uh in vedanta there's no real distinction we're talking about that same divine presence within which is appearing as the soul as the Jiva but the reality of it is that Divine consciousness so God can be seen by practicing spiritual discipline one sees God through his grace so the answers you want proof you have to have that experience yourself if you really want some direct proof of it otherwise you can ask me and I can say yes I've seen it I know that it's true I've had that experience you take my word for it but that won't satisfy everybody so it's a challenge yeah that it's not like uh or come tomorrow and I'll show you of course he did with some of his direct disciples with uh in in general that if you really want to know uh is the soul separate from the body then you have to practice some spiritual discipline he's telling the sector by practicing spiritual discipline one sees God through his grace the riches directly realized the self one could not know the truth about God through science there's so many attempts to are there to analyze the adamant molecules and into energy and take it back to Consciousness I don't understand these things I appreciate that some people try to do it but drama krishna's idea was go inward that it will be in the depths of our of our awareness in depths of the mind and Consciousness uh trying to find Brahman as the ground of external things this we may have that understanding after God realization but uh otherwise what do we find is the ground we can go as far as the energy matter and energy and again some of these Quantum physicists they'll have some some idea of Consciousness I don't know what exactly it is but uh but uh otherwise it's all still in the realm of nature but what the self within we can realize directly is pure consciousness that's the distinction so Taco always says if you want to know the nature of the real sun look at the nature the reflected Sun Within one could not know the truth about God through science science gives us information only about things perceived by the senses that's for instance this material mixed with that material gives such and such a result and that material mixed with this material gives such and such a result so in the end even even with our big bang theories and all of that we're stuck with some proposition that there has to be a source of all of this and a ground for all of this and that's unknown and unknowable we can get that far through science for this reason a man cannot comprehend spiritual things with his ordinary intelligence to understand them he must live in the company of holy persons you learn to feel the pulse by living with the physician okay so we get several important points here one is that the Mind through which we can understand uh scientific principles and everything that's all based on some type of simple cause and effect this is that ordinary mind it may be very very subtle in some people it may be very very sharp the people with brilliant intellects all right but it's still that ordinary mind it has to be mine has to be raised to a completely different level in order to experience subtle truths that go beyond all this external phenomenal things that's number one second thing is the very practical thing holy company now we we still have a holy company help us we have the company of somebody who's done it and we have the faith that it can be done and we get the inspiration and we get some also some direct transmission of power through this holy company so this is why Tucker almost always when people ask what is the way he'll mention holy company almost almost invariably holy company and then go into Solitude and then prayer and meditation and Japan and everything but he emphasizes the holy company so much because we get everything else almost automatically or some type of transference takes place when when we're in the presence of really great Souls not ordinary people but this sometimes will be in the presence of uh some of our very senior sados we know that in the presence of the very senior soldiers we feel something we feel that presence and and we feel lifted up somehow and we feel some conviction comes so the holy companies is really if we don't see it and we just read about it of course reading about it in the gospel is different because it's so real but ordinarily we read about it in the old scriptures or something we won't have the faith that this is something genuine but when we see it we see somebody who has some type of transformation that's taken place through leading and sincere spiritual life then we get some encouragement and we really feel that uh conviction comes and this is a life we want to lead so this holy company is really the most important to understand them he must live in the company of holy persons you learn to feel the pulse by living with the physician actor yes sir now I understand you must practice it doesn't have to mean that oh we we go into the mountains and and we Brave the ice cold weather and all of this and we'll go barefoot uh it means we do spiritual practice lead a simple life that's a part of it I remember we wanted to asking Swami positionally about this year he said yes a little love of his physical hardship that is a little bit of it but main thing is to do our spiritual practice be very regular with the meditation and jump in prayer and worship and everything you must practice only then can you attain the goal it will Avail you nothing even if you learn the text of the scriptures by heart you cannot become intoxicated by merely saying siddhi over and over you must swallow some one cannot explain the vision of God to others one cannot explain conjugal happiness to a child five years old actor how does one realize the ottoman so this self-realization we we always run into a problem with language I am the self I'm the one who's the the is the ottman I don't realize it like something else I don't have the vision of it as if it's something outside of myself but we have to use that type of language how does it want to retain self-realization we can say foreign was about to take his meal in the Master's room he hesitated at the site of so many people during those days the master luftwin rakal as gopala and on himself as mother yeshoda we're studying this in our Wednesday morning class is fascinating how both of them at the same time go into completely different moods and and behave in a way that the ordinary people will seem absolutely mad will just become like a mother and how Racquel who was even then big he was not as a small person will act just like a small child even sit on his lap and everything and both of them at the same time going into that mood one is gopalan the other your children looking upon the Shiva Krishna that way how unimaginable it is to us that this ramakrishna who people are worshiping is a Divine Incarnation that the teenage boy will go and sit on his lap and fight with him and argue and act like a little baby sometimes and everything but this Divine mood over to both of them is part of that Leela very important part of the Divine Play Between charama Krishna and and rakal former the the later Swami brahmananda so during those days the master lufthan rakal Edge gopala there's a baby Krishna and on himself as mother yashoda Master to rakal why don't you eat let the people stand aside if you wish it he can see that that Raquel is feeling shy to eat in front of other people when they're not eating and just watching he felt very sorry about that let the people stand aside if you wish it to a devotee keeps them right keep some ice for Raquel do you intend to go to one hoogly don't go in the sun the one who gleed them anybody know that is nearby place in hoogly District okay so it's okay and then he says uh don't go in the sun Raquel said down to his meal Surah Christian again spoke to the actor Master you know he didn't forget the question he got interrupted with rock call leading and everything but he didn't forget the question uh oh he'll come back to it later sorry he says uh why didn't all of you take your meals from the kitchen of the Kali Temple that would have been nice now surrounded Christian is this thinking that they should all have this type of camaraderie I know all to eat together but Kali Temple is for those who are non-vegetarian and the food from the uh rather content temples for the vegetarians so everyone isn't different so actor all of us don't have the same opinion about food so that means it's somewhere vegetarian so our food is cooked separately or don't like to eat in the guest house well Rock Island was taking his meal the master and the devotee sat on the porch and continued their conversation Master to the actor you asked me about self-realization so he gets back to it longing is the means of realizing Atman now there's the same answer that will give for uh having a vision of God that will give for attainment of devotion he'll give that same answer that it's this tremendous longing is the key in every spiritual discipline every type of yoga first ramakrishna uh I mentioned this with her last week even a Path of Knowledge he had the same intense Longing For Truth intense longing that's also we generally think of it as a devotional type of thing that talk with the best example we have of course is Tucker's longing for the vision of mother Kali that uh it's not simply long and it can be really a type of agony that was an unbearable type of burning pain and Agony that he was ready to kill himself if he didn't have the vision that's one type of recorder so even for self-realization if we're talking about uh more than passive knowledge that even then it says that this long he says logging this tremendous desire for that realization longing is the means of realizing ottman a man must strive to attain God with all his body with all his mind and with all his speech because of an excess of bile one gets a jaundice then one sees everything is yellow one perceives no color but yellow so who is this mind gets colored we see everything according to that that the the lover ceases beloved everywhere and everybody will say oh is that that there's a whole idea of chinmoi ramoy Mirage that those whole mind is thinking of Rama so everywhere we see Rama and within all beings and everything the mind gets colored that way so here is like the jaundice that gets colored yellow somehow with a nice illustration because of an excess of vile one gets drawn this then one sees everything is yellow one perceives no color but yellow among you actors those who take only the roles of women in the in those days uh many of these acting troops were all men and yet with the Girish gosh's theater it was mostly women who played the roles of men so the other on the other side men who play the roles of women who worked both ways among you actors those who take only the roles of women acquire the nature of a Woman by thinking of woman your ways and thoughts become womanly just so by thinking day and night of God one acquires the nature of God the mind is like white linen just returned from the laundry it takes on the color you dip it in now this is uh again the favorite illustration of srama Krishna and uh it's interesting because we know that our mind is not like white linen just come back from the laundry we know that huh and this this actor he'll say that but it must first be sent to the laundry now in one of his lectures for me he makes a very big point that we should take this first line literally and not say that first we have to uh launder the Mind somehow and then we can call on God he says that uh the mind that we have right now if the mind that mind is impure then and we say that before I think about God before I dip it in the Divine thought I want to purify it how do we do it what's the best way of purifying the mind Son of God yeah so uh this this this that of die which is that Divine thought of God has the power to cleanse and die at the same time double agent double the agent acting kind of thing that if we if we immerse the mind in the sort of of course the mind is really filled with worldliness we can't do anything so both things are true that we have to try to lead a Pure Life and and keep your thoughts and everything but we shouldn't think that oh my mind is is uh is not up to that caliber that how can I even think of trying to realize God the mind is filled with worldly thoughts and desires and everything that that's not the attitude we should take another thing I remember from Swami ashokanandi that he said very often some people will stay away from from the center and they'll have to ask them why haven't you been coming they say oh my mind hasn't been in a good mood the mind I I just didn't feel that I was pure enough to come and then he he would say to them that this is like somebody who doesn't come near the fire because they're feeling cold if you're feeling cold that's when you come to the fire huh so if if we're feeling that the mind is not very pure that we're filled with all sorts of desires and and other things then uh solution is to to dip it in the thought of God that present mind but we do have to work on this purification side by side so Swami Krishna says the actor says but it must first be sent to the laundry Master yes first is the purification of the Mind so uh generally he won't say that because the question doesn't arise he likes to say the mind is like white linen just returned from the lord it's very interesting he's not saying that the mind has to be laundered first and then it can be pieces it's that means on some level this this mind as it is now even our present mind will take the die that we dip it in it'll take that color even this present mind if one day we decide that I'm not interested in worldly things anymore I want to fix the mind on God of course it'll be pulled away and everything but that thought of God will be the best thing to help that mind afterwards if you direct them under the contemplation of God it will be colored by god-consciousness again if you direct the mind to worldly duties such as the acting of a play it will be colored by worldliness how uh that her mind was so fixed on srama Krishna that uh at times she became like him a very nice incident shortly after he passed away when the they took her own pilgrimage to brindavan and she got into this mood she came out of her meditation and was in a mood that they'd never seen before they asked questions he answered them as if ramakrishna were answering them and she wanted to chew some Pawn and he had a way of biting off the corner and putting it he did exactly the way he did they were all kind of shocked that her father had become ranjita had been died in the spirit of sravi Krishna so this is this is that idea that some transformation takes place through the power of intense thought on some Divine some divine subject of contemplation okay we'll stop here with page 430. [Music] we've our heads before srama Krishna 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 our worship peace peace peace