Video 140

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Atmajnanananda (8/11/2023)

foreign [Music] Souls they're 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 Souls Welcome to our class on the gospel of srama Krishna we're on chapter 23 festival at surendra's house the date is Sunday June 15 1884 and we're on page 453. this is the garden house at the kankuragachi Surendra and the Enron two very close householder Disciples of srama Krishna both had these these Garden houses built outside of their homes in in Calcutta and srama Krishna and they're very close to each other and sure Krishna went to see surendra's house and whenever he would go that would be occasion for a festival yeah whether it was a holy day or anything else that uh here it says surrender had invited shrama Krishna and a large number of the devotees to a religious Festival occasions like this were a source of great happiness and rejoicing to the Masters and devotees okay so now page 453 it's ramakrishna is talking to uh to the devotees and a lot of this is directed to uh he was a member of the brahmo samaj and uh very close uh co-worker you can say with keshab chandrasen who had just recently passed away so some of the conversation will be about that also and this is part of the answer the devotee had asked the question the English people always exhort us to be active is in action the aim of life then so Mr Robert Krishna says the aim of life is the attainment of God he goes on then he tells the Story Once Upon a Time a Woodcutter went into a forest to chop wood there suddenly he made a brahmachary the holy man said to him my good man go forward on return returning home The Woodcutter asked himself why did the brahmachari tell me to go forward some time passed one day he remembered the brahmachary's words he said to himself today I shall go deeper into the forest going deep into the forest he discovered innumerable Sandalwood trees he was very happy and returned with cart loads of Sandalwood he sold them in the market and became very rich a few days later he again remembered the words of the holy man to go forward he went deeper into the forest and discovered a silver mine near a river this was even Beyond his dreams he dug out silver from the mine and sold it in the market he got so much money that he didn't even know how much he had a few more days passed one day he thought the brahmachari didn't ask me to stop at the silver mine he told me to go forward this time he went to the other side of the river and found a gold mine then he exclaimed ah just see this is why he asked me to go forward again a few days afterwards he went still deeper into the forest and found heaps of diamonds and other precious gems he took these also and became as rich as the god of wealth himself therefore I say that whatever you may do you will find better and better things if only you go forward you may feel a little ecstasy at the result of a jumper but don't conclude from this that you have achieved everything in spiritual life work is by no means the goal of life this goes back to that original question the the English seemed to think that work is the goal of life is that true or not work is by no means the goal of Life go forward and then you will be able to perform unselfish work but again I say that it is most difficult to perform unselfish work therefore with love and longing in your heart pray to God oh God grant me devotion at thy Lotus feet and reduce my worldly duties please grant me the Boon that the few duties I must do may be done in a detached spirit if you go still farther you will realize God you will see him in time you will converse with him now we we get a lot of things here that uh if we if we really think about which ramakrishna is telling us then we we realize that uh he's he's giving us such a high bar that really if we're very honest with ourselves that if we get a little bit of of make a little spiritual progress we get a little bit of devotion we get a little bit of Peace of Mind some contentment we should feel a tremendous blessing a tremendous blessing but he say no it's not enough that there's more there is more now who is this being addressed to we always have to ask ourselves that question and this is the remarkable thing I I find about the teachings of sarama Krishna and and swamiji also is very insistent he said look there are a lot of prophets in the past each and every one of us has to become a prophet he's he said don't don't sell yourself short don't say that we're Ordinary People this and that that these these things these experiences that he's talking about were uh the result of of tremendous spiritual practice by a handful of people in the history of the world how many people have had that type of God realization talking to God and and just uh to get the the diamonds I mean most of us if we get a little bit of this Sandalwood we'll be very happy but this this is this is the uh the standard that we have this really gold standard you can say that uh is it is it realistic this is a question yeah it's realistic if we if we do it what he says we should do but generally we don't believe it for one thing and we're not willing to to pay the price for it but yeah we have to we have to have that Faith he's not going to say it if it's not possible now is it possible for everyone no I doubted it's possible for anyone but not everyone so each and any one of us can do it we won't all do it we know that it's not realistic but each and any one of us could do it if we if we really uh had faith that this is possible and uh really conviction that this is the the only thing worth having in life and and they're willing to to do the spiritual practice and uh and to do all of the things that ramakrishna did to just be mad with love of God to pray with tears on our eyes if we can do that we can have all of these things but we have or some Scottish we have all these other things holding us back there's one of the uh earlier conversations was somebody said but sir we uh we have shackles around our feet there's something holding us back yeah so we we all feel like that but uh this is why I think and swamiji also seemed to think that this will never be a a teaching that will be a popular type of teaching that everyone will accept this that there is a was it an article some conversation that swamiji has been on to the Future religion and he seems to conclude that uh this will always be for those who have some special longing for this now vedanta of course that has something for everyone if we're if we're willing to compromise and say okay the silver mine is enough for me then of course everyone that has something for everyone but this is the specialty of this teaching that he's really telling telling everyone he's not just talking to Narendra and rakal here it's the future he's talking to all of us this Pratap majumder he's nobody special an immediate a high position in the in the Brahma samaj but takura never thought that he was in great spiritual person and personality or anything like that so it's interesting uh how SRI ramakrishna uh he'll never say look you're ordinary people that the little this I mean he'll make a distinction of course between the ishwara koti and the you know there are certain things that we can't expect to I go within every couple somebody and go back and forth that we can't expect to have the type of ecstasy that rather had and caitanya they've had this mahabad but to have all of these other experiences he says that these are these are possible and why why does he seem to not care so much for karma yoga plenty of teachers have come that we we all know about the karma yoga we all know he's trying to convince us that yeah this is a rare human birth that we have this is our chance for God realization that whatever duties we have we should do with great love and care and devotion and the best of our ability but always remember that God realization is the ultimate goal of life and for most of us unless we're really uh highly Advanced spiritual Souls will get entangled with too much work and some ego will come this is this is basically what he's saying here because it all goes back he's tying in these two things this question is is work the goal of life and then this this idea that on the goal of life is far higher than we really think that uh we wonder that sometimes it sounds like everything is reserved for these special souls and the vigyanis and who can have all of that but when we read things like this we know that in our own small way we're not going to become the avatars we're not going to become huge huge waves but in our own uh small way that we can keep on going further and further and further having more and more experience and have this this ultimate God realization experience imagine this one birth and uh we we hear and and I also believe it we hear that uh when the Avatar or these great Souls when they come to Earth that uh they lift everybody that during during his lifetime and also during on this period so close to his lifetime there's direct disciples there direct disciples we're very close to all of them that it's easier that that some somehow it's easier to be lifted up so uh we have this double rare blessing we have the human birth but the human birth so close to the birth of these these great Souls and we have the the holy company of those who were so close I mean when we when we stop and think that many of us are Disciples of those who are Disciples of the holy mother or the direct disciples some of them many it's not such an unusual thing even now uh so many years afterward that this is a rare blessing even just the ordinarily the human birth is a rare blessing but this is not something to miss this opportunity and yeah I mean he could very easily say that yes if you can develop a little devotion in this lifetime you should feel content that you haven't wasted this life you say no don't stop don't stop there that each each stage that we reach it's easier to get to the next one and easier to get to the next one so I we we have to uh assume that uh he's saying with this with a perfect conviction and it's meant for us also now when srama Krishna spoke we have we always have to look the people that he's speaking to number one and number two the fact that he knows that this will be recorded So this is this is for all of the people who were present then and for all of us he knows that that this is something that we get so many indications of that he knows that m is recording these things because he'll ask him to repeat things he'll he'll make sure that some call them the interesting conversation is taking place let them come and listen there's so many indications when he saw that some others looking like he's going to write things down then Taco said no this is assigned to somebody else it's already assigned yeah so these are for us these are also for us we have to accept it bless you but we also have to realize that we have two uh lead lives of great Purity and and devotion and and we have to work hard as much as sarama Krishna talks about Grace he also talks about we have to work hard we have to do our spiritual practice and we have to keep holy company and we have to do a prayer and go into Solitude from time to time that all of these things uh are are necessary if we want to really achieve now suppose we don't achieve all of this every wasted this life I know this is a fantastic way to lead life lead the life uh with having this one goal calling on God trying to have God realization uh that'll bear its own fruit it's it's it's not nothing is lost it's not like I uh we're we're trying to find this pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and we don't find it that the journey itself will yield tremendous fruit and it'll turn out to be such a satisfying type of life to lead that life dedicated to the spiritual uh realization and serving others seeing God and others this this is not what ramification is emphasizing here because that was something that everybody assumed and that was something that that the brahmos actually over emphasized so this is kind of a corrective to the Brahma samaj people he's talking that what you do is good but don't think it's the goal of life he said that about that the activities that he's doing these are born out of compassion they're very very good but he's missing this with the treasure of gold within his heart because the two uh involved with activities and everything so it had to be a balance and as we get older to to spend more and more time trying to realize this goal so this is why he says pray that we won't be entangled in the world that we won't go looking after too many things to do now what do we say somebody retires and they have a lot of time and they think uh let me do some volunteer work in a hospital is this a bad thing no it's a good thing because we know we can't spend all day long sitting in meditation the time will be wasted if we can so we have to know our own capabilities also uh doing some type of volunteer work in the retirement years is very very helpful it's very helpful if we can do it in an unselfish spirit this is the warning that we get that make sure that some of the ego doesn't creep in and we don't find ourselves more and some people they retire they're busier than they were before when they were working they get too entangled and things but uh it's better than wasting our time it's not that we retire and then all of a sudden 10 12 hours a day we're doing jump in meditation that's not possible also so this is a story that ramakrishna tells several times that go forward go forward and uh yeah we wonder if we've even reached you know the first the sandalwood trees that we have to worry about you know getting stuck there uh not too many people will start having visions and things that that we have to make sure that we leave them behind and keep going forward and but uh whether we're getting these types of of real indications in science and experiences and visions and everything we have to just keep our heads down and not look side to side and just do our practice with great sincerity and with with some type of longing I remember before I joined the order I got one piece of advice that was very very helpful to me this is the Swami he said keep the fire burning see when we first join yeah or first get initiation then we feel that tremendous passion for for our spiritual practice and everything we have to keep Fanning that otherwise it'll it'll go out it'll become just kind of a small little to keep that fire burning so that each day that we we feel oh maybe today's the day I'll have some type of realization some type of experience foreign very good when when we do our spiritual practice to try to remember how we felt the day that we joined the order he was talking to Monks at that time yeah that tremendous sincerity and feeling of renunciation uh to try to keep that in mind we can say the same thing when we started spiritual life or took initiation something like that next the conversation turned to the quarrels among the members of the Brahma samaj they had had a misunderstanding about the right to preach in the temple after keshav's death there were so many quarrels we know there were two separate groups completely and within the the the the one group there's still quarrels Master to Pratap I hear that some members of the samaj have quarreled with you about the altar but they are most insignificant persons mere nobodies to the devotees people like Pratap and Amrita Amrita was ketchup's son or anybody remember member my family member no he was was he was there that last day when Tucker went to visit uh anyhow very close very very close weather relative or not I don't remember people like Pratap and Amrita so he was one of the leaders you could say or like good conch shells which give out a large a loud sound all the rest about whom you hear so much don't give any sound at all or left speaking of sounds even such a worthless thing as a mango Stone makes a sound there's a footnote the split Stone of a mango about the Sprout makes a sound when one blows through it Master to put it up what can very well understand the inner feeling of a teacher of your Brahma samaj by hearing his preaching now they'll talk about this this poor samadhi I always feel bad for him any any time talker wants to talk about somebody making a stupid statement he brings up this foreign once I went to a meeting of hadisova the preacher of the day was a pundit named samadhyahi and can you imagine what he said he said in the course of his sermon God is dry nirosh the God is dry we must make him sweet and fresh with our love and devotion in the Invaders who punish us we have this this sweetness nectar himself the very essence of sweetness I was stunned to hear these words then I was reminded of a story a boy once said at my uncle's house there are many horses oh yes there's a whole Cow Shed is full of them now if it was really a Cow Shed then horses could not be kept there possibly he had only cows what did people think on hearing such an incoherent statement they believed that there were surely no such animals as Horses in the shed laughter a devotee true sir there were not only no horses but possibly there were also no cows laughter Master guess fancy to describe God who was of the very nature of love and Bliss as dry it only proves that the man has never experienced what God is like now uh this is this is another thing that ramakrishna says many many places that people who uh lecture without having any type of realization without getting the the badge of authority the command of God that no one will listen to their words or they'll listen it's very nice and then forget everything yeah so I I think almost universally the first time that we're asked to speak this is the first thing we remember but I I remember also telling Swami swamiji he wanted me to start speaking and I said well what what did we say we haven't achieved anything like that and he said hi and just repeat what you want to do for the hurt this there was a incident in the life of Swami viraji that he also said that swamiji wanted to send him to start preaching and he said but I but I don't know anything so Swami said then tell them that they'll they'll appreciate your humility so anyhow yeah we have to have this feeling that we're not preaching we're not lecturing anything like that we're sharing these this is this nectar-like words like em um uh surama Christian would send these young deputies to to him for instructions and things and sometimes they would say but he's a householder and shurama Christian would say you won't hear anything from Em's lips but things that I've said so I am used to saying he's like a man who's sitting um by this this huge Reservoir and people come and he takes cups I think gives them something to drink yeah so all right but uh these Brahma samaj people first of all they had no tradition of of uh monastic tradition so none of the preachers were sanyasins so suramic used to say that how do you preach the renunciation if you're not practicing it yourself so that was one thing he wanted them to be sannyasis but more than that anyone who really whose words will have some real effect on other people has to have some some substance in some type of experience in realization otherwise the best thing is that we we try to explain as best as we can teachings us from a Christian the holy mother swamiji to put it up let me tell you something you are a learned and intelligent and serious minded Soul he was next to Keisha he would probably the next he also went to England yeah and of course he'll go to the parliament of religions and everything so he was a well-known figure and uh obviously he he uh had a great deal of learning I don't know much about his background but so he says let me tell you something you are a learned and intelligent and serious-minded soul kaisha when you were like two brothers so this is now this is interesting because they themselves like to say it there we uh RAM Babu who we know is a troublemaker he said you know what I heard them talking about they once said do you declare yourself case of you declare yourself is chaitanya Deva I'll declared myself this nithyananda and and there was one time they did in the presence of sarama Krishna and keshavan is laughing he looked at Trump then who was he then who was he so sarama Krishna said I am the servant of your servant and I'm the dust of the Dust of your feet something like that and they all left but it's interesting that he's he's not saying that there are incarnations of them they were trying to say we're Incarnation but he said you're like them they they weren't actually brothers but they were such close companions this uh caitanya David nithyananda so kaisha when you were like two brothers you have had enough of lectures arguments quarrels discussions and dissensions can such things interest you anymore now gather your whole mind and direct it to God plunge deep into God so this is that second thing one is that go forward but the second thing that is always telling us is that it's not enough to to just do our spiritual practice mechanically that we have to really do it with some some intensity this this idea of diving deep first of all where did we dive into this huh with the deep within the heart this uh this song within the the Cave of the heart that we have to uh not float on the surface what does that mean the floating the surface of the Mind floating on the surface of the Mind means letting it break out into thought we want to go deeper we we have to go through the Mind beyond the mind to get to the heart we we won't really be able to feel that deep love within the heart when the mind is still spinning spinning its Wheels so this diving deep if we think of an ocean surface of of the ocean will be the Mind breaking out into waves we go deeper down and we're getting to the heart that Heart Center deeper down we find that Heart Center belongs to this Universal heart we can say it is an ocean of consciousness a little bit now gather your whole mind and direct it to God plunge deep into God put a talk yes sir you were right that is surely my only duty now he's saying these things without any conviction this prototype we know what he does later but I'm doing all these things only to perpetuate keshab's name yeah now I mean we can just the hypocrisy just pops right out of the page he's doing it for his name yeah he was a proud person yeah so sarova Christian with the smile so the Tucker knows with a smile no doubt you say now that you were doing doing all this to keep his name alive he just recently passed away Kisha but in a few days you won't feel that way listen to a story a man had built a house on a hill it was only a mud hut but he had built it with great Labor a few days after there came a violin storm and the HUD began to rock The Man became very anxious to save it and prayed to the god of the Winds o god of the Winds please don't wreck the house but the god of the Winds paid no heed to his prayer the house was about to crash then he thought of a trick he remembered that Hanuman was the son of the god of the Winds and once he cried out with great artistness oh revered sir please don't pull down the house it belongs to Hanuman see it's his house he knows it no he's trying to play a little trick just like per top yeah yeah preserve the name for K sub it was his organization it's really my organization now I beseech you to protect it but still the house continued to shake violently see ramakrishna he'll tell us and it's a nice little story and and it is cutting through everything that further just said how intelligent the the way to do it rather than say well nobody believes you he says listen to a story I beseech you to protect it but still the house continued to shake violently nobody seemed to listen to his prayer he repeated many times oh this house belongs to Hanuman but the fury of the wind did not Abate then he remembered that onaman was the devoted servant of Rama whose younger brother was a lakshmana desperately the man prayed crying aloud oh this house belongs to lakshmana but that also failed to help matters so the man cried out as a last resort this is Rama's house don't break it down o god of the Winds I beseech you most humbly but this too proved futile and the house began to crash down whereupon the man who now had to save his own life rushed out of it with the curse let it go this is the devil's own Hut yeah so this was really uh put a tops uh Devotion to keshop's organization any longness it was okay for him and he got something out of it but Tucker knows after some time it'll fall apart you won't care about it at all you don't have to perpetuate keshav's name as if everything is up to this remember that he achieved all his Success Through the will of God through the Divine will his work was established and through the Divine will it is disintegrating so ramakrishna used to say that whatever is genuine will last whatever is genuine will last and he said many of these groups will come and they'll go and Brahma so much of very little importance today there's some little presence in in Kolkata still but not much what can you do about it now it is your Bound in duty to give your entire mind to God to plunge deep into the ocean of his love yeah this for the time we know that first of all to try to salvage the Brahma samaj they tried to bring swamiji in they said we we hear I don't know how well documented it is that they they requested him and now Kasha was gone you can you can be the leader of the problem so and of course he said no so there was some resentment and some jealousy towards swamiji and uh when they were both in the west together after the parliament of religions uh he made things very difficult for swamiji that there were two different rumors that he kind of perpetuated that were half true it's not like it completely untrue but he said the tragedy that he's really a lawyer that's right he studied law his father was a lawyer his father wanted him to be a lawyer of course he never took the exams and never became a lawyer but he studied law and the second was he was an actor on the stage now did tromaji ever act on the stage used to put on these plays they all took part in them but he made it sound like he was just a phony he was acting as if he's a sannyasin that he's he's really a lawyer who knows how to act and everything so this how this prototype uh was was so filled with with jealousy and resentment and everything terribly after coming contact with ramakrishna and getting blessings to surama Krishna is it hard to imagine but this is this is what jealousy and uh envy and everything can do these are terrible emotions Passions now what is your Bound in duty to give your entire mind to God to plunge deep into the ocean of his love saying these words the master saying in his sweet voice dive deep o mind dive deep in the ocean of God's Beauty this is there a beautiful song it occurs many times in the gospel of Swami Krishna if you descend to the uttermost depths there you will find The Gem of love go seek o mind go seek grindavan in your heart where with his loving devotees free krsna sports eternally light up our mind light up true wisdom shining lamp and let it burn with steady flame unceasingly within your heart who is it that steers your boat across the solid earth it is your Guru says kubir this is kuber meditate on his holy feet he belonged to this vowel tradition they didn't care so much for the gods and goddesses and things their devotion was mostly to the guru Guru the master continued addressing why he's spending so much time with this Buddha that all the other devotees are there this is in surrender is because of these rich things had taken place recently in case of it recently passed away and before it's actually sad for keshav that uh the whole split and the whole you know issue with his daughter's marriage took place just before he passed away so that he had to kind of suffer from all that criticism and everything in his last year list a couple of years if I the master continued addressing product did you listen to the song you have had enough of lectures and quarrels so this product he's listening but he's not listening there's not making any impression on him we'll see he even walks out on shivrama Krishna and after this there's no fear of death from plunging into this ocean for this is the ocean of immortality don't think this is that this will make you lose your head now this is a reference to shiv nachosity he was another one loved him and so many times he said how happy we are when we see it this evening that's Justin and and he came and saw us from a Christian so many times but nothing sunk into his head and he used to criticize ramakrishna this was his criticism that thinking of God so much he'd lost his head interesting words that uh and and they even when Chief not goes to see him one time they even question him and trilokia within his book that the brahmos thought that because she was a wonderful man I realized grade God realized soul but through thinking of God so much he went a little off his head it's a little crazy they had they all they had that that belief so uh he says don't think that this will make you lose your head never for a moment Harbor the idea that by thinking too much of God one becomes insane he says how can one by thinking of caitanya how can one become how can one lose one's awareness by thinking of that which is the essence of awareness then this is very interesting he says once I said to Narendra Pratap who is Narendra sir now did he did he not know that ended at that time were there several it's a very common name was he was wanting to know which Narendra are you talking about was Narendra Jazz one of the many boys who used to sing in the choir the Brahma Savage and he didn't know him but it's interesting because they had they have such uh this interesting interaction later that he's asking very innocent who is this not interested sir Master oh never mind so he's I'm trying to give you an example don't pay too much attention to who I told it to oh never mind there's a young man of that name as if he doesn't even want the two of them to meet each other I said to Narendra look here my boy God is the ocean of bliss don't you want to plunge into this ocean suppose there's a cup of syrup and you're a fly where will you sit to sip the syrup said I will sit on the edge of the cup and stick my head out to drink it why said I why should you sit on the edge he replied if I go far into the syrup I shall be drowned and lose my life then I said to him Bud my child there's no such fear in the ocean of sachidananda it is the ocean of immortality by plunging into it a man does not die he becomes Immortal man does not lose his Consciousness by being mad about God these are all things that swamiji spoke about so many times later and this idea that we we plunged into that we lose our individuality all of these these people that he came across in the west were so attached to their individuality that of what will happen will lose and swamiji would say that no only then will you know what what it means to be an individual to be a person when you know your connection with with the divine to the devotees the feeling of I and mine is ignorance people say that Rani rashmani built the Kali Temple but nobody says it was the work of God they say that such and such a person established the Brahma samaj but nobody says it was founded through the will of God this feeling I am the doer is ignorance on the contrary the idea oh God Thou Art the doer and I am only an instrument and thou art the operator and I am the machine is knowledge after retaining knowledge a man says oh God nothing belongs to me neither this house of worship nor this Kali Temple nor this Brahma samaj these are all thine wife son and family do not belong to me they are all dying we've been through this so many times there's a very very uh difficult thing that uh to feel that we're only in an instrument and to feel that uh this eyes feeling I am the doer is is ignorant now we all feel that we're the doer who doesn't feel good now we may feel that we're doing God's work we may feel that we're inspired uh if we're very very philosophical we may say that there's all the play of the mind that I don't find this ego when I analyze all of these things but basically we all feel that so what do we do with this type of teaching no for me uh if if we can say that we won't have this we won't have this Pride I did it that we won't have that feeling we may feel that yeah of course I was involved in it I was the instrument these hands are the ones that did the work that I it'll be completely hypocritical for me to say I didn't do it I'm not vyasadeva who can say if I haven't eaten this butter the the Yamada will part it'll be hypocritical but I can try to get rid of that Pride that through the grace of God I was able to do this I try to feel it can be an attitude we try to feel well that we're an instrument in the hands of God we try to feel that nothing belongs to us that this is the spiritual attitude that we try to take to remind ourselves and not to be proud about things but swamiji also sometimes he would he would talk about no you you did it feel proud that you did it but do it as an offering and don't be boastful or anything this is a very subtle distinction take pride in your work but don't be boastful about your work that type of thing I remember hearing a story uh American story there was a Texan who bought a ranch and the ranch was completely run down it was just a complete mess he worked very hard day and night he worked and he built everything up and had cattle and horses and and crops everything it was beautiful he worked so hard so one day the preacher came by and said to him oh how beautiful this is you and the Lord working together have done such a beautiful job so he looked at the preacher and he said yeah we've done a good job you should have seen what it looked like when the Lord had it by himself so we have to know what it means if we say well God does everything I'm just an instrument doesn't mean that we don't make any effort we have to do something there was another story that uh in the incident in the life of swamiji you'll remember exactly somebody had they had made a wonderful meal and baked a nice cake or something and and swamiji thanked her and she said oh thank God that it turned out he said no I'm not thanking God Madam I'm thanking you you remember that there was some uh yeah and one of the religion any one of the late things yeah so uh we we shouldn't be hypocritical whatever I do is the will of God we shouldn't be hypocritical uh but at the same time we shouldn't be proud of whatever we do and we should understand that if we do something that that works out and there's a good result we say thank God it could have been otherwise there's no there's no guarantee that what we do will turn out and for every success we have we can have a dozen failures also so we with great gratitude we feel by the grace of God it turned out okay but this attitude he says after attaining knowledge a man says so these are two things one after we we have that realization then of course we'll have no feelings that these things belong to us but before that we do it as a spiritual attitude this is talks about all the time that we try to adopt that attitude and keep telling ourselves to be the maidservant is it my house my house is in the village these aren't my children I have my own children in the village these are somebody else's and I'm just looking after them and raising them all right we do that as a spiritual attitude and we try to convince ourselves that it's true and after we have we make some spiritual progress we realize that it is true that what we can't even claim our own ownership over the the house that we live in how how do we have ownership over other people and we reach the point how do we have ownership even this this body that we live in yeah I've I've told this story many times that when they wanted to uh they asked him if he was willing to undergo a surgery at the end of his life and he said when I joined the order that I renounced everything everything I have including this body I gave to the order if if the trustees feel it's good for the order for this body to continue to live then then you decide and you do it that's all I don't claim ownership or any special claim over it if if we can have that type of attitude then uh half of the problems of Life are gone it's clinging to things and worrying about things and everything you want then we just have that perfect contentment acceptance and contentment to love these objects regarding them as one's own is Maya but to love all things is a diet compassion so this is the other side we don't have to reject everything if we if we love things and we feel attached to them fine we try to expand and and have that same feeling for everything to love only the members of the Brahma samaj or of one's own family is Maya so he's still he's talking to the devotees but mostly to protect to love one's own countrymen is Maya but to love the people of all countries to love the members of all religions is Daya such love comes from love of God from Daya my entangles a man and turns him away from God but through Daya one realizes God sages like shukadeva and Narada all the ways cherished and die in their hearts now srama Krishna has has different levels of things that compared to Maya Dai is wonderful but nathaya is also not high enough compared to Prema love or Seva it's it's also not so it's sometimes he'll criticize this idea of compassion who are you to have compassion for anybody that not compassion but uh seeing God in everyone we serve them with great love and gratitude that we have that opportunity that type of attitude compassion means feeling some type of separateness and we're higher and they're lower swamiji said if you do something for somebody else you bow down before them and let them stand up and accept it have that attitude but compared to Maya Daya is wonderful yeah but we go even beyond that and then everything becomes save a service and then every becomes buddhu worship so that's the highest everything we do is worship but uh if we can at least go from Maya to Daya then that will be the first step to to go higher put a top revered sir of those who live with you making progress in spiritual life now it sounds like an innocent question yeah sounds like an interesting question right but it's not an interesting question maybe Ramos didn't like this uh renouncing the world and the ones that were living with him were the ones who are going to become future monks now how do I know this because the answer that Krishna gives when we first read it we say well why is he giving that type of answer but we know it's in he knows what's in prague's mind that look these young boys used to come to us the Brahma Savage and everything and now this rakal baburam there's lotu that called even married and the others they should be finishing their education and everything and now they're living with you or is it worth it are they making spiritual progress won't they make spiritual progress if they lead the household their life and everything so it's not such an innocent question huh are those who live with you making progress in spiritual life now listen to the answer master I tell the people that there is nothing wrong in the life of the world okay so we understand that there's a little bit of that bias of the Brahma samaj uh that uh everyone should lead a householder life that this is the way one practices Dharma that's an idea maybe at the end of life sannyasa they don't talk about that of course but uh at least this the glory of the householder on the stage of life I tell the people there is nothing wrong in the life of the world so very often uh at least to these young boys at least to their parents he would say that to them if he knows that they're fit for the life of renunciation they'll talk about the glory of friend not teaching but for those who aren't fit uh even M look at him what a great Soul he was but even for someone like him he says no this is the householder life is is the best type of life for you so he says I tell people that there's nothing wrong in the life of the world but they must live in the world as a maidservant lives in her master's house referring to Master's house she says that is our house but her real home is perhaps in a far away Village pointing out her master's house to others she says no doubt this is our house but in her heart she knows very well that it doesn't belong to her and that her own house is in a far away Village she brings up her master's son and says my honey has grown very naughty or my hoodie doesn't like sweets though she repeats my hoodie with her lips yet she knows in her heart that the honey doesn't belong to her that he is her master son thus I say to those who visit me why don't you live in the world there's no harm in that no this is true he'll say this to most but all right there was a small group that came to him who were such a pure Souls young souls and to be honest uh very few if any of them became monks so this is important and all of the the second group I'm not talking about his direct disciples but all of the ones that were students in the M's college today mostly because their parents were so much against it but uh they were fit for it you remember if your army Christian could see it would have been good for them and especially in the case of porno it was a disaster that he forced to marry and everything and taqwa knew that he won't live long if he's not allowed to live this type of life thus I say to those who visit me why don't you live in the world there's no harm in that but always keep your mind on God know for certain that the house family and property are not yours they are gods this we can do this is a again a mood or attitude to practice we have to do this your real home is in God and I ask them to pray always with a longing heart for love of God's Lotus feet so see how he answers that question huh or those who live with you making progress in spiritual life he doesn't give any direct answer to that but he's trying to tell him that and don't think that I'm stealing everybody away and they have to live here and become monks and everything this is not the message that I'm trying to give again the conversation turned to the English people a devotee said sir I understand that nowadays the pundit of England do not believe in the existence of God for the top however they may talk I don't believe that any of them is a real atheist so this put it up he went to England at one point but they also knew the British they had a nice relationship with the British in India at that time I don't know how close exactly but at least there was some mutual respect many of them have had to admit that there is a great power behind behind the activities of the universe Master well that is enough they believe in Shakti don't they then why should they be atheists Pratap they also believe in the moral government of the universe but a thought was now about to take leave of the master to put it up what more shall I say to you he's going to give this final poke my only request is that you do not involve yourself in quarrels and dissensions anymore and another thing it is lust and gold that keeps men away from God that is the barrier don't you find that everyone does nothing but praise for his own wife or left a wife may be good or bad but if you ask her husband about her he will always say oh she is very good at this point made the master goodbye he did not wait to hear the end of stronger Chris's words about the renunciation of lust and gold those burning words touch the hearts of the devotees and were carried away on the Wind so yeah poetic that is carried away in the Wind Through the gently rustling leaves in the garden a few minutes later money Malik said the surama Krishna sir it is time for you to leave for dakshini's work today case of the mother and the other ladies of the family are going to the temple Garden to visit you he's right in the middle of talking to all of them the surrender is invited a whole group of people and he wants them to leave that very moment they will be heard if you do not find if they do not find you there Keisha had passed away only a few months before his old mother and his other relatives wanted to visit the master this mother was a great devotion of a devotee they said even though he was you know resistant Ramo idea and don't hurry me please I didn't sleep well I can't rush they're going to dakshineswar what am I to do about it they were stroll in the garden and enjoyed thoroughly of course he goes back and reads with them and everything after resting a little the master was ready to leave for dakshineswar he was thinking of surrender's welfare he visited the different rooms softly chanting the Holy Name Of God suddenly he stood still and said I didn't eat any Luchi at Meal Time bringing me a little now if he said that he would eat something he had to do it or just for the welfare of the householder of the devotees he ate only a crumb and said there's much meaning in my asking for the Luchi if I should remember that I hadn't eaten any at surendra's house then I should want to come back for it or left money Malik that would have been nice then we too should have come with you the devotees left okay that is the end of that day so we're stopping now on page 457 and we'll start Friday June 20th 1884 and uh next Friday I won't be here so uh we won't have our class next Friday um [Music] we bow 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