Video 49

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna read by Swami Atmajnanananda (03/19/21)

foreign your words are like nectar bringing life to scorched souls they are praised by poets and removal 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 srama krishna last friday we finished the birthday celebration of srama krishna dakshinishwar and we also just had our birthday celebration and actually for for me it's monday you'll be you'll be seeing this on on friday through the miracle of modern technology but uh today is actually the titi the actual um official day of rama krishna's birthday according to the lunar calendar when the main celebration is done in all of our centers in india and right now is probably the sannyas ceremony what time will it be indian do you know anyhow the following uh talk was the birthday celebration at the early the next morning they begin the sannyas celebrate taking the vows of sanyasu for the new monks who will be getting their final vows so the very auspicious a very holy time anyhow this is still the chapter the master's birthday celebration at dexinishwar but it's actually later in the month this is march 29th and previous to this was march i think 11th so this is uh over a week after his birthday 11th to 29th two weeks the master had taken a little rest after his noon meal when a few devotees arrived from calcutta among them amrita and the well-known singer of the brahma-samaj trilokia we met trilokia last time also you'll remember that he came for takur's birthday and takua of course was very very fond of him and even the others got annoyed i mentioned about the book that he wrote in our article whatever it was and the others got annoyed talk words he didn't pay any attention to these things he kind of teased him a little bit about it and said oh so you say this way in that way and everything but anyhow they they despite that they had a nice relationship taralokia regardless of what he thought with the the views of the brahmos towards from a christian and everything uh he had genuine love and affection for ceramic krishna so taco was always happy when he came he composed beautiful songs and he had a apparently had a beautiful singing voice also rakal was not feeling well the master was greatly worried about him and said to the devotees you see rakal is not well will so to water help him what am i to do now raquel please take the prasad from the jagannath temple we find also that when rakal went to brindavan was that before this or after this must be after this huh later after this that taku was very big he felt sick there he was very worried taquer had a theory wasn't just a theory this was this was part of his own uh deep conviction and and uh who knows from some experience he had but that those special souls the avatars or the ishvarakotis or the nitty sitters whatever the special souls could get an awakening if they went back to the place that was connected with their previous lifetime or whatever special aspect of god they came from or some historical connection whatever that could awaken something within them that would cause them to remember their previous lifetime and see everything as unreal whatever and and give up the body this was why is ramakrishna he never went to the holy city of gaia or the holy city of puri at least these two places we know and he used to say if i go there perhaps the memory will come because his father had that vision when he went to gaia that the son will be born to him that the vishnu would be born as a son that's why they made them godadhar and so takara of course knew that story and puri was connected so much with the birth with the life of chaitanya deva and shri krishna and everything that takur felt he shouldn't go to those places that it might be dangerous for him and he also felt with rachael when he went to brindavan because he connected rakhal uh with the divine companion of of srikrishna and when he heard that he got felt ill there he had that fear that perhaps he'll even give up the body there not just because of the illness but the mind will be attracted back to the place where it came from and now takara had his attachments we see that the attachments that these great souls could have would are far stronger than the ones that we have we think they're unattached of course their attachment is not the same our attachment has a lot of selfishness behind it and and what will happen to us this and that theirs was a very pure type of love but from the outside it looks like a kind of attachment that the holy mother had to just about everyone the taqwa especially to narendra and raqqa and rakal was his spiritual son he had that vision before so there was really some special connection also takara knew that raqual narendra and some of the others had a very important role to play in this mission the reason why taco was born that they were the ones who would help spread his his teachings both in different ways of course but rakal we remember takwa said that he has the intelligence of a king he could run a whole kingdom and then narendra swamiji he said ah then we'll call him raja he's our king and he specially made him the first president of bellarmine swamiji himself didn't want that position he came back from the west ready to hand everything over to this raja raja maraj so takur for many different reasons out of his love for raqqa out of this fear that he might give up the body and also knowing that if he did the reason for his birth would go in vain so he was worried about his his health so what am i to do now raquel please take the prasad from the juggernaut temple they kept i don't remember who brought it back but there was a there was a jar something kept in his room taqwa's room in dakshineshwar it's a type of dehydrated rice very hard crunchy stuff but takur had some special reverence for a few different things genji's water and the prasad from jagannath temple and what else brindavan the dust from brindavan maybe yeah a few things that he so uh he really had tremendous faith in in this type of prasad that people would bring back from the jagannath temple in puri even as he spoke these words the master underwent underwent a strange transformation he looked at raqual with the infinite tenderness of a mother and affectionately other than utter the name of govinda this is how taqwa saw him and takur if he looked upon him mr gohinda that meant he'd start thinking of himself as mother yasoda this is the way his mind worked this was said to udipana and this is that about saudi abhava that always has this paradigm it always has that ideal example and mother yasoda was the ideal example of this maternal love for god did he see in raqqa the manifestation of god himself the disciple was a young boy of pure heart who had renounced all attraction to lust and greed even though he was recently married and srama krishna was intoxicated day and night with love of god at the sight of raqqaal his eyes expressed the tender feelings of a mother a love like that which had filled the heart of mother yasoda at the sight of the baby krishna the devotees gazed at the master in wonder as he went into deep samadhi his soul swore into the realm of divine consciousness his body became motionless his eyes were fixed on the tip of his nose and his breathing almost ceased the eyes fixed on the tip of the nose this is this is something we read about in the text on yoga and everything it doesn't mean he's looking at his nose his his his gaze may be there that means the eyes may appear as if they're looking inward but he's not seeing anything he's not seeing anything because he's in some some other world some other realm completely so this is just uh an outward appearance we we read about uh and tucker says that the the look of the eyes of the mother bird sitting on the eggs to hatch them that they have a far away distant gaze because the whole mind is on the is on the the future chicks that will be born so and we know it can happen when we're daydreaming sometimes the eyes are open and we're looking at something we're not seeing anything so he's not looking at the tip of his nose but this is as if and breathing almost ceased this would happen when he was in the samanthi they couldn't find even signs of life sometimes an unknown bengali dressed in the ochre cloth of a monk entered the room and sat on the floor the master's mind was coming down to the ordinary plane of consciousness presently he began to talk though the spell of samathi still lingered now generally any any sadhu any monk came to srama krishna and takur would show the greatest reverence and respect he had great respect for anyone who renounced the world even if sometimes they weren't the highest caliber of monks or didn't follow the the best type of life some of them got involved with trying to do miraculous things and curing diseases and all of those things but still still he generally had great respect for them there there was one sadhu who would get angry all the time taku would stand the whole time with folded hands before him such great reverence so we wouldn't get angry at him but talker must have seen something in this person now when he when taqwa ordinarily he had tremendous insight but coming right down from samanthi seeing somebody sometimes you would say in that state i can see the inside of a person the way one can see objects inside of a display cabinet so probably because he's coming down from somanti he had a greater insight into the character of this person because we'll find that he's not very flattering towards him master at the site of the oaker cloth why this gorilla should one put on such a thing for a mere fancy a man once said i've exchanged the chandi for a drum at first he used to sing the holy songs of the chandi now he beats the drum all left so perhaps this is someone who had family and a job and everything and just out of some type of temporary not a very sincere renunciation put on the ochre cloth and they all take must have known something he's not doing it just seeing the okra cloth then he says there are three or four varieties of renunciation that means less than real renunciation afflicted with miseries at home one may put on the ochre cloth of a monk but that renunciation doesn't last long again a man out of work puts on an ochre wearing cloth and goes off to benares after three months he writes home i have a job here i shall come home in a few days don't worry about me again a man may have everything he wants he lacks nothing yet he does not enjoy his possessions he weeps for god alone that is real renunciation swamiji liked this idea that the renunciation of a beggar is no renunciation that we have to have something to renounce so those who of course there are exceptions there are those from their very youth who never get involved in the world but in general those who aren't interested in in earning anything or an interested in and uh education or anything uh out of laziness or lack of ambition and they uh take to a life of renunciation what if they've given up those who have the opportunity to utilize their skill and their learning and and could make a lot of money in the world and everything and they renounce then he said that's a great renunciate the pronunciation of a king of a prince is greater than the renunciation of a beggar in our order uh we have a good number nowadays of of medical doctors who could have earned a good living and and so many phds and others who uh really could have been quite successful in the world had a very easy life earned a lot of money and they just didn't care for that type of life this is a real renunciation we have others who came from poor homes and and didn't have good education everything they also may be very very good monks but those who uh take to this life just because uh they're not happy and and it's too much work and everything that's what tucker is talking about we we really don't make any distinction those who come from a wealthy family and can give it all up that's one thing those who come from a poor family they may be even better monks so it's not a question of that it's really a question of sincerity is is it really sincere renunciation is it out of uh longing for realization or is it simply out of world weariness a little bit that is okay well we don't care for the world and everything but it shouldn't be escapism no lie of any sort is good the talker must know that this man is not genuine a false garb even though a holy one is not good if the outer garb does not correspond to the inner thought it gradually brings ruin uttering false words or doing false deeds one gradually loses all fear of course there are absolute cheats sometimes who take to the guru cloth to to rob people even or very poor people who beggars that they find that they can put on the guru cloth and they can more easily uh get arms and and go and bake food from people and everything so so they'll do that also is is found some places uttering false words or doing false deeds one gradually loses all fear for better is the white cloth of a householder talker said this many times holy mother also because there's no pride in that there's no feeling that oh you you have to bow down to me that i i've renounced everything that i'm assad you're a householder that pride is a terrible thing far better is the white cloth of a householder attachment to worldliness occasional lapses from the ideal and an outer garb of garrowa how dreadful yeah we wonder really maybe even in taquer samadhi he he knew that this man was coming it's very hard to say samadhi is not is not our uh raja yoga somati we know that that he would see all sorts of things now and have all sorts of insights and and who will be coming next and what their past was and all sorts of things like that it is not proper for a righteous person to tell a lie or do something false even in a dramatic performance once i went to keshe of the house to see the performance of a play called nava vrindavan they brought something on the stage which they called the cross another actor sprinkled water which they said was the water of peace i saw a third actor staggering and reeling in the role of a drunkard a brahmo devotee it was k we don't know if that really means keshav or somebody else it just says it was k master it is not good for a devotee to play such parts it is bad for the mind to dwell on such subjects for a long while this is a little bit aside from the point but swamiji himself took part in some of these plays and this got him in a lot of trouble when he went to the west that this rumor came about i most likely this pratap majumdar but it's he was a member of the brahmos homage who tawkwar actually was very fond of him and he seemed to have great respect he was one of the first ones to write something for the for the brahmo magazine about sramakrishna but he also went to the west and there was a lot of jealousy between the brahmos and and swamiji and uh we hear that at one point after takwa passed away that they approached swamiji to to see if they could entice him to come back to the brahma samaj and have some very prominent position there keshav had passed away vijay goswami had also left and when when they were rebuffed perhaps they felt that uh a little antagonism towards swamiji and as i say some jealousy was there so this rumor was was started on in the west that swamiji was an actor on the stage so that man he was pretending to be assad who put his putting on the guru as an actor would do it trying to cheat everybody what did it was it 100 false no swamiji acted in these these places just just like our uh summer camp kids will put on a performance uh that doesn't mean that they're deceitful lying people but so this this was the charge against second charge was that he was actually a lawyer now is this completely false no he was studying for his law exams before he renounced everything but see how things can get twisted by devious people so anyhow they would put on plays like that and the members of the brahmos homage would take part in that and uh takaras is talking about these things of course in gridish did it he played to do all sorts of roles and and uh what was the story when gideos was playing who was it some some villain or something and uh vidyasagar i think saw it and got so upset he took off his shoe and threw it at him or something and and guidance thanked him this was the highest praise for an actor that somebody actually believed that what he was saying was was taking place takara never seemed to mind that girish did it he had plenty of other problems another day i went to keshav's house to see the play called nimai sanyas the nimai sanyasa i don't know if this is the the one that we all know about that uh a very standard play that may not be the same one that the brahmos put on but uh this is one of those performances where you'll see people in in tears watching this it's a highly emotional thing because uh tanya dave's a mother i think she had something 10 or 12 sons or children or something and one by one they died and then caitanya david's older brother took sanyas and left the world and chaitanya was the only one left and 24 years old he had been married once that wife died of snake bite then married a second time to vishnu priya and still at that age of 24 after going to ngaya and getting inspired and coming back initiated by the ishwar pudi coming back to navadweep he felt that he had to renounce the world and to to tell his mother who had undergone so many bereavements and suffering and the widow and would be all alone in the world this and the songs that were written about this how when this is performed you'll see people actually weeping it's a very moving touching kind of thing as i say i don't know if this is exactly that same name i said yes or not some flattering disciples of kesha spoiled the whole performance one of them said to keshav you are the chaitanya of the kali yuga kesha pointed to me and asked with the smile then who was he i replied why i am the servant of your servant i am a speck of the dust of your feet keisha had a desire for name and fame it also says this is mentioned in other times other places the keshav left when he heard that to amrita and trilochia youngsters like narendra and rakal are ever perfect he wants he wants them to understand that yes your kesha was wonderful and your brahma-samaj your people they're they're okay they put on these plays and things and everything i respect them for what they are but don't confuse them with these young boys how he would embarrass narendra when he would tell people you see if keshav has won one of these powers then the render has 18 such powers and he would go on and on comparing him and say what is this he's a world famous religious teacher and order and i'm just a school boy nonsense is this but he wouldn't stop talking no okay of course he was right youngsters like narendra and rachael are ever perfect every time they were born they are devoted to god an ordinary man acquires a little devotion after austerities and a hard struggle but these boys have love of god from the very moment of their birth they are like the natural limit of shiva which springs forth from the earth and is not set up by human hands the ever perfect form a class by themselves so we have the avatar avatar is also a class by himself but within if we if we make a bigger circle we'll have the avatars of the ishvarakotis and the nithyas we talk word he uses these different categories he likes categories even among those who are ordinary souls they'll be the bound souls they'll be the ones who are striving they have these different categories it doesn't mean that the soul isn't one they do all the the one not been dwelling within but just in terms of the jiva that there are different stages and different different categories so the ever perfect the nithya siddha the east foreigners all share one thing in common that they're not born because they haven't yet achieved the ultimate gain goal of life the theory is that until we have that ultimate realization we'll still have our karma that will be the force that causes us to take another birth and it will keep struggling until we have that final realization and then we'll merge in the absolute or of all different ideas of course but we won't be born again the buddhists will say we kind of just the lamp goes out nirvana some schools others will say we merge in brahman others will say that we'll dwell in the company of god all different ideas but will not have to be born again this is the main thing so these niti siddhas in theory should not have to be born again either they're born again through the some divine will or they themselves have some desire to work for the welfare of others or they're bound to the avatar the avatar comes again they come again this is kalami shaq there's a certain type of aquatic plant you see i think is that like water hyacinth it grows all over and and chokes up and clogs all of these rivers that it looks like they're all separate things but if you grab one you pull it all the others will come along with it attacker uses that illustration when the avatar comes all of the inner circle associated parasites and antarangas they all come along also they ever perfect form a class by themselves not all birds have crooked beaks what does that mean he's saying that there are exceptions in this world not everyone is born because of peskarma that there are these special souls that come with a certain mission and can shake off that little bit of maya and they're born with this this love of god or with this this feeling of fearlessness this this feeling of love for all beings some some special features they're simply born with them the ever perfect or never attached to the world there is the instance of pralada ordinary people practice spiritual discipline and cultivate devotion to god but they are also attached to the world and are caught in the glamour of lust and gold they are like flies with sit which sit on a flower or a sweet meat and light on filth as well but the ever perfect are like bees which light only with flowers and sip the honey the ever perfect drink only the nectar of divine bliss they are never inclined to worldly pleasures now takur this example of the fly and uh we we know we see flies they'll go to the garbage they'll go to all sorts of things uh he's not saying that that people who live in the world are like that there's a very important distinction between worldly people and people living in the world that there are many very righteous householders that live in the world that will have some types of enjoyment but it won't be the equivalent of flies sitting on filth or anything like that they'll have their family life they'll have their their careers and all of that they'll be righteous dharmic people doing everything according to dharma leading the life of the perfect gurihasta which they're supposed to do they're supposed to accumulate wealth art they're supposed to have some dharmic types of enjoyments comma arta talkwad doesn't talk about them as flies he talks about them as people holding onto god with one hand and holding on to the world with the other hand that's all and he never criticizes it but he says a time will come when you you'll have this desire to let go of the world with that one hand and hold on to god with both hands he does consider that something higher but this is a question of what stage in life we're at and what our decada is what our qualification is the devotion of the ever perfect is not like the ordinary devotion that one acquires as a result of strenuous spiritual discipline this is something spontaneous this is something that just has to be uncovered it's already there in full measure ritualistic devotion consists in repeating the name of god and performing worship in a prescribed manner it is like crossing a rice field and a roundabout way along the bulk again it is like reaching a nearby village by boat and a roundabout way along a winding river taqwa is now talking about what he calls vaidhi bhakti and anuraga and i'll tell an interesting experience i had just for fun it's not going to add anything to what taqwa is trying to tell us but uh in 1992 i went to the town of habigon in bangladesh this this was the birthplace of swami swahihi and he's he suggested that i go and visit all of these places so i went there it was a very wonderful experience and from there there's a village by the name of bonnie and bonnie chong was his mother's village and he still had relatives there in fact the uncle that raised him was still living there and many other relatives so part of the reason of my going was to also go to bania chiang and it was the it was the dry season i don't remember it must have been uh maybe march something like that and so we went and we had to take uh an a rickshaw and then we had to go by road and then we had to cross with this this very funny type of little fairy thing where you get in a boat and somebody pulls it with a rope and get to the other side and then take another bite and it was a long difficult journey it took about two two and a half hours the next time i went this was i think the following year and it was in the rainy season and uh they said we're going to go to barney chung and they said oh good it would be nice to see everybody again and what do we do we get in a boat and we go straight there how is it possible where was this river before and then i see that it's not a river it's flooded land and it was it was flooded so much that uh you could see just the tops of of the of the poles power poles and things and uh what i saw before as a paddy field and little huts and the huts were raised now each hut was a little island and everything was covered with water it must have been at least 10 20 feet of water i don't know how much so we could go straight it was the most pleasant journey that uh we could go to the good clip and and the breeze was there we came back at night time and uh then i understood the difference between the bhakti and anuraga vedi bhakti you have to go this way and that way follow the path exactly and then you go to the small little river and you have to follow every bend in the road and then the little dirt path you have to follow each and every step when there's a flood everywhere then you just go straight without worrying about anything so that's his anurag that he's talking about so again it is like reaching a nearby village by boat and a roundabout way along a winding river that's the other that's the vaidhi bhakti but when there's a flood then you can just go straight yeah when the country is flooded deep with water one doesn't have to follow the winding river then the fields are deep underwater you can row your boat straight to the village without this intense attachment this passionate love one cannot realize god now this person who walked in with the gerawa he never says a word we don't know if he's still in the room now so this amrita now he'll ask an interesting question sir how do you feel in samadhi now if it's nirvikalpa samadhi takuru will not be able to answer he'll say what one experience is you can only know if you experience it yourself there are no words to describe it or anything but generally his samadhi is different we know that so many things are taking place in his mind master you may have heard that the wrote by intently meditating on the brahmara is transformed into a brahmara some type of behavior something we don't know exactly what all these these insects are but the idea is that there's a cockroach uh out of fear singing seeing some some insect that can sting it and kill it uh gets kind of frozen there and it somehow it gets some metamorphosis takes place and it turns into the other thing by thinking about it so deeply and now the idea is that we become merged in the object of our meditation feel oneness with it do you know how i feel then i feel like a fish released from a pot into the water of the ganges sometimes he says a bird released from a cage and this is a nice illustration there's another interesting incident that uh sram christian is trying to explain to m what it feels like m is asking what about this meditation on on the absolute so taco gives a very interesting response he says one day you can take me to this mutti shields place they have a big lake there and people there's a lot of fish there they don't fish for them they're tame people throw them little bits of bread and things to eat and he says you see them darting back and forth with no fear there's just enjoying the uh the freedom of being able to swim whatever they want this is what it feels like so tucker's giving a similar answer here don't you feel at that time even a trace of ego now the only type of samadhi where there's no trace of ego is near because monty the other it's not this ego that we know of it's just i sense this this awareness self-awareness it's not this ego sense that's connected with the body and the mind and everything else it'll be different but still so old master yes generally a little of it remains he had no dark heavy unripe ego whatsoever so a little bit of that ripe ego will remain that means that he may still have the feeling i'm a child of the divine mother or whatever his attitude is however hard you may rub a grain of gold against a grindstone still a bit of it always remains where again take the case of a big fire the ego is like one of its sparks in samadhi i lose outer consciousness completely but god generally keeps a little trace of ego in me for the enjoyment of divine communion enjoyment is possible only when i and you remain so this was both taqwa's prayer to the divine mother and the divine mother's plan for him to to for him to remain in bhava muka to remain where he can go back and forth but he won't get merged in the absolute and talk with prayer mother don't let me lose consciousness let me get marriage in the knowledge of brahmin and that oneness i want to enjoy the company of the devotees so this is a state from which the mind can come back down easily maybe not so easily but even even at will we can say because some eye sense is there if i sense is not there at all then it has to be either some pull of karma or the divine will or something lacking that the mind will remain merged in samadhi and the body will fall off not instantly after 21 days taqwa says again sometimes god faces even that trace of i this will be nirvikova samati then one experiences jaada samadhi or nirvikalpa samati these are simply two different names for the same thing jada because one is just like an inert thing jaravat taku gives that the illustration somebody asks what are the signs that someone is has attained this high state of somati he says that one will be so inert just like a block of wood that snakes may crawl over the body and you won't even know it birds may land on the head they may pick out grains from the hair this all of these things happened to him when he was doing his spiritual practices uh so neither will be aware of of the other so uh this this is the jada samadhi nirvikalpa that experience cannot be described a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean but before it had gone far into the water it melted away it became entirely one with the water of the ocean then who was to come back and tell the ocean's depths now this illustration is used by taquer in two different ways one for those who actually do not come back from somanti in his case uh if that salt doll became one with the ocean it could come back to the salt doll again and go back up and takara also talks about we have to dive deep all of the gems are at the bottom of the ocean and everything we have to be able to to procure all the gems there and then we can come back up so this idea of this of the salt doll this really applies only to this this nirvikalpa santi otherwise we can go to the depths of the ocean and collect the gems and come back up but this nirvikalpa samadhi is some very very rare thing we we read about it in in our raja yoga and we think a little bit of practice and we'll get it but it's a very rare thing and all of these other types of spiritual experiences will be plenty for us we don't have to think we're missing out on something uh if we if we have that nirvikalpa samadhi experience at the at the end or some vision of life then it's okay otherwise uh this is this is reserved for very special special great souls okay that was the end of chapter eight we'll start chapter nine advice to the brahmos we see in the early days how important the role of the brahmos was in the life of srama krishna and it was even more important before this we can say that there were different waves different waves of of visitors to dakshenishwar during taqwa's time there were the great pundits who came then there were all the teachers who came the gurus who came when taka was doing his spiritual practice then for a while it was mostly the brahmos and then these very close householder devotees and disciples and then the young boys and from really 1881 that was really the beginning of when the future monastic disciples started to come so before that the brahmas were very important and it was because of them we have to give them credit because of keshav's love for swami krishna keshav had a tremendous he he was free from jealousy we have to really credit him for that he he had a tremendous zeal in sending people to ceramic creation and publicizing him taco didn't care to be publicized he would write things about him in their magazine and so it was really because of keshav that many of the direct disciples and others came to suramar krishna hearing about them and they would invite him to all of their gatherings and meetings and things and so they played a very important role to play in this ramakrishna leelah okay saturday april 7th 1883 srama krishna was visiting balarama in calcutta this is balarambosh he was balram basu he was one of the inner circle antaranga devotees we shouldn't think the antarangas were all the monastic disciples there were several householders disciples em and balarama and gidesh and rahm and others so he also played a very very significant role this was an opportunity for many of the devotees and disciples to see srama krishna when he went to balaram's house and whenever he went it was a big occasion word would spread from one person to another they had a little network who would tell who all the the nearby devotees and disciples so they would know when taku was coming and they could all come and see him there so he was visiting balarama in calcutta with narendra m and others balarama at the master's bidding had invited some of the young devotees to lunch so taco would also tell him that i'm going and sometimes he would say oh where's porna and where's this one and that one did you call him and to stand for him and and some would say oh i'll go right now because uh it was it was an area that many people the the close devotees lived not too far from there ceramic christian often said to him to balaram feed them now and then that will confer on you the merit of feeding holy men that means satosh there was a certain type of of punya merit that people would get this is why uh it was very common for wealthy people especially towards the end of their life they want to get a foothold secure a place in heaven or something so they'll build an arms house for for wandering monks or they'll build some uh dig a whale someplace but this is one of the things that would confer this punya special type of merit so he's saying that feeding these young boys this because they were still teenagers rock allen harender and others will confer the same merit as it would to feed somebody who has taken formal vows of renunciation because tucker knew that they would the master looked on his young disciples yet untouched by lust and gold as veritable embodiments of god a few days earlier suramar krishna had been to keshav's house with narendra and raqqa to see a performance of the play entitled nava vrindavan narendra had taken part in the performance in which keshav had played the role of pavhari baba pavhari baba nahari this is the name he was given no one knew if he ate anything so they thought that perhaps he lived on air so then it got shortened to somehow babari baba that he was a very well-known holy man he had had a good position i think he was an attorney or worked in a court something like that and lived all by himself he lived in the in the is hard to imagine it's a house that had a basement that was a half basement and have just a cave it was kind of uh just a dug out area i haven't been there but people i i know uh have been there in kazipur it's not far from from varanasi so he lived down there and uh he didn't go out so nobody knew where he got his food from so uh and and people would come and seek advice from him and generally he wouldn't open the door he would stand in one side they would ask questions and he would answer them and he would spend all of his time in spiritual practice and was considered very great so they were talking to him to srama christian about him one day and somebody said he keeps your picture in this in his room or in that cave whatever it is and this is when taka says it is just a pillow case what is the picture of this this outside theme but anyhow so he he knew about ceramic christian had great regard for him and respect for him there's a whole long story about how swamiji after takwa passed away went to him and got a little attached to him and day after day they would talk and talk about spiritual things and swamiji was almost thinking of of taking in some type of initiation from him then after a while he found that this bahari baba was getting more attached to him than he was to baba and aniel eventually left he had some uh little intervention from takur why are you doing all this did you forget who i am and everything but anyhow so this pavari baba uh was a well-known person there are two nice stories about him one a thief had come a few stories a thief had come and broken into its place and took some uh pots and pans or something huh what happened and uh and dropped some on the way when he was running that so baba bhavari baba ran and he picked up the ones he dropped and tried to reach him and catch him and say oh you dropped these few things he had no feeling that i own this and you don't own that and then i think he was the one where he was a bitten by a snake huh was that him and somebody said oh what happened he said it was a message from my beloved i think that was him but the other story that we know is that one day people noticed a very strong stench smell coming in smoke coming out of of the house where pavlovi body lived so they broke into it and they found that he himself had done his own cremation probably he he was suggested at the point of death didn't want to disturb anybody and have and have anyone have to do that so he did it for himself and uh had done his own cremation and that's how he passed away so this is pravhari baba so someone had written a play about him so master keisha came on this stage in the role of a holy man and sprinkled the water of peace but i didn't like it the idea is sprinkling such water on a theatrical stage after a performance another gentleman played the part of sin that is not good either one should not commit sin one should not even faint it the master wanted to hear narendra singh the young disciple was not feeling well but at the master's earnest request he sang to the accompaniment of the tanpura seeing o bird that nestles deep within my heart single birth that sits on the kalpatri of brahman seeing god's everlasting praise then he sang brahman joy of the whole universe supreme effulgence god beginningless lord of the world the very life of life and again o king of kings reveal thyself to me i crave thy mercy cast on me thy glance at thy dear feet i dedicate my life seared in the fiery furnace of this world my heart at last is deeply stained with sin ensnared in maya i am all but dead compassionate lord revive my feigning soul with the life-giving nectar of thy grace we see a difference in the songs that narendra sings in the beginning and towards the end the beginning most of them are brahmos songs and then later he starts singing more of the songs of ram prasad and surprisingly many of the songs that narendra swamiji sings are from the division of the literature and these rather krishna things we think that he was so much against all of that stuff but deep down he had a great appreciation appreciation for that path also narendra continued upon the tray of the sky blaze bright the lamps of sun and moon like diamonds shine the glittering stars to deck thy wondrous form the sweet malaya breeze blows soft for fragrant incense smoke the moving air sways to and fro the fan before thy holy face like gleaming vote of lights the fresh and flowery groves appear how wonderful thy worship is o slayer of birth and death the sacred om from space arisen is the resounding drum my mind craves nectar day and night and huddy's load his feet o shower the waters of thy grace on thirsty nanak blessed lord and may thy hallowed name become his everlasting home. this must be guru nanak we don't i don't know exactly and i have to say if it is then these will all be written in punjabi or hindi something like that guru nanak of course most of this guru granth sahib are compositions that he himself wrote and then others as well but he was well known one of the many poet saints in india there's a wonderful tradition that these great saint these figures were all such wonderful poets there's a mirabai and tulsidas and swordas and guru nanak and then of course adram prasad and kamala kante and others that is similar to many of the sufis many of the sufi saints were also the sufi poets great great poets he sang again in wisdom's firmament the moon of love is rising full and love's flood tide insurging waves is flowing everywhere oh lord how full of bliss thou art victory unto thee then at the master's bidding behavior not saying they say also had a very nice voice where is a friend like thee o essence of mercy where is another friend like thee to stand by me through pain and pleasure who among all my friends forgives my failings bringing me comfort for my grief soothing my spirit and its terror thou art the helmsmen who thus steer life's craft across the world's perilous sea thy grace it is alone o lord that silences my raging passion storm thou pourest out the waters of peace upon my upon my burning penitent soul and thine is the bosom that will shelter me when every other friend i own deserts me in my dying hour narendra said to the master with a smile referring to bhavanath he has given up fish and beetle leaf this chewing of pond master why so taqwa wasn't uh so much in favor of uh these different types of of kind of minor austerities in fasting and giving up different things and everything that he said what is the matter with fish and beetle leaf they aren't harmful the renunciation of lust and gold is the true renunciation so he went to the the heart of things then taco says where is raqual a devotee he is asleep sir now remember he wasn't feeling well so we can we can give him a break here mastered with a smile once a man went to a certain place to see a theatrical performance carrying a mat under his arm hearing that it would be some time before the performance began he sprayed the mat on the floor and fell asleep when he woke up it was all over all left then he returned home with the mat under his arm who was it was it surrendered surrender one of takur's devotees used to come after work and to come to taqwa's room and spread out about her and then and fall asleep then somebody fell asleep one time and then tak where the hole everything went on the singing and dancing and everything and then that man woke up and he says that's the paramahamsa come yet ram dayal was very ill and lay in bed in another room ram dayal we we know because he was the one who brought baburam swami pyramid onto the first time when he met takur otherwise he was a devotee of course but it doesn't play a prominent role the master went there to inquire about him about four o'clock in the afternoon some members of the brahma-samaj arrived the master began to converse with them abraham sir have you read the pancha dashi now what type of stupid question is that he knows that takur you should know at least that he doesn't care for books he never was a reader he's if he can even remember how to how to read at that point we don't know he could scratch out something writing but he was barely able to read and write we can say that much and certainly was not interested in reading books so a really silly question master at first one should hear books like that and indulge in reasoning but later on then he sings a song cherish my precious mother shama tenderly within her mind may you and i alone behold her letting no one else intrude one should hear the scriptures during the early stages of spiritual discipline after attaining god there is no lack of knowledge then the divine mother supplies it without fail a child spells out every word as he writes but later on he writes fluently the goldsmith is up and doing while melting gold as long as the gold hasn't melted he works the bellows with one hand moves the fan with the other and blows through a pipe with his mouth but the moment the gold melts and is poured into the mold he is relieved of all anxiety mere reading of the scriptures is not enough a person cannot understand the true significance of the scriptures if he is attached to the world tacrid view of course we know was we read the scriptures at first we assimilate them we put them into practice and then then the purpose of it has already been taken care of and then quoting from something he says though with intense delight i learned many poems and dramas i've forgotten them all entrapped in krsna's love keshav enjoys the world and practices yoga as well living in the world he directs his mind to god a devotee described the convocation of calcutta university saying that the meeting looked like a forest of human heads master the feeling of the divine is awakened in me when i see a great crowd of people had i seen that meeting i should have been overwhelmed with spiritual fervor because he sees the divine in everyone so many so many ways in which god is seeing this world through so many different pairs of eyes that'll be his experience okay that's the end of that day we'll start next time on page 200 that'll be saturday april 8 1883. we will close with our chant is [Music] we bow our heads before srirami krsna 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 be unto him