Video 54

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna read by Swami Atmajnanananda (04/30/21)

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 we're starting a new chapter today chapter 10 and the master with the brahmo devotees part two and this is on page 215. it's april 22nd 1883. the first portion of the gospel uh is uh filled with with visits to the brahma devotees and and brahma devotees visiting srama krishna because uh they were the the first not first maybe second wave first wave of people who came to srama krishna were kind of the pundits and that were they were invited by the brahmani and others and and then the second wave was mostly the brahma devotees and then it got mixed up because among the brahma devotees became his were his real devotees so rakal comes first and then swamiji comes and then others and both raqqa and narendra swami brahmananda and swami vivekananda were brahma devotees of course so in the beginning uh an m was also a promotivity yeah and he was somehow related to kesha also and so there was some family connection so he didn't come through the brahma and actually none of them did exactly swamiji didn't either he happened to sing and surrender his house one day met trump and then we also we don't know exactly with swamiji because we also have the story that professor hair uh in his college they were they were discussing the the poetry of uh wordsworth huh and the professor said he was a nature mystic if you want to see someone who has these mystical experiences and everything that the one person that you'll see this living today is in shiramakrishna so uh one theory is that that was why swamiji went to him uh we don't know exactly but uh and with uh with rakhal it was through his brother-in-law mana mohan mithra that he ended up going to srirami krishna and with them we know that it was his nephew [Music] siddhu who took him just to see different places and one of them was the dakshinishwar temple garden but many of the other brahmos knew about tsurami krishna because of of the kesha keshov sen and he was so taken with him that he would write about him and tell people about him that they had this uh what it's called that this this type of magazine or periodical or newspaper something that they published and one of the early articles was by pratap majumdar and so that's why we see so much uh not that he loved the brahmos that much and they loved him that much but i am happy to be there on all of these occasions and they were the ones he generally went to see when he came to calcutta now later of course it will be more balarambus and and some others will go to their homes but in the beginning it's the with the brahma devotees srama krishna paid a visit to bani mata of pals garden house at sinti near calcutta on the occasion of the semi-annual festival of the brahma-samaj many devotees of the samadhi were present and sat around the master now and then some of them asked him questions now was everybody thrilled that he came to the brahma-samaj i'm not sure he had some who who were very fond of him some who appreciated him some who probably thought he was a little bit crazy uh even those who liked him and appreciated him to shiv not chastity they also thought that he was a little bit eccentric some of them thought that maybe he was taking away from the glory of keshov himself that kesha was very humble he didn't care i think we have to give keshav credit that others in his position probably would have hesitated to bring somebody there all the time that could really steal the the spotlight from him but he was he was humble and he thinking yeah so i mean there were many things that uh whether they liked him personally or or didn't there were a lot of things in his teachings that they didn't care for because he was a priest in a temple earlier and did formal worship before the image of mother kali at one time also before the image of radha kantha of the the image of krishnan and rather together there were many things that philosophically they differed on many things we'll get to some of these here worship of god with form and guru and avatar many things because the brahmos were highly influenced by western thought and highly uh involved in in social reform talkward didn't didn't object to it too much uh the things that they were doing but he thought that the emphasis was misguided too much emphasis on justice so yes so there were many reasons why they couldn't fully accept the teachings of srama krishna but keshav had a deeper insight keshav and then vijay krishna goswami also they they could really appreciate taqwa even though kesha probably never fully fully agreed with everything that takwo said but they were influenced they were changed quite a bit to a large extent through this who wrote many of the songs many of his songs were influenced by takur's ideas we can see clearly this uh amay dema pagul kore this is one of trello cannot songs uh mother make me mad with my love first of all they didn't address god as mother before that hadi sometimes used the impersonal brahman and second of all this idea of divine madness these were all things that they understood after seeing srama krishna so his influence on them was great there were some of them who thought that keshav influenced thakur himself even this trilogy not and he wrote this book we get to that at the end of the gospel where he says things like that that after talkwar came into contact with the quesad that i don't remember exactly who was but with some of his ideas changed he also believed that so we don't care because we get tucker's teachings whether whether they were always happy that it was there or not we have the one incident where he caused such a fuss they had to turn the lights out on them and narendra was so embarrassed and felt so bad he wanted caught hold of his hand and helped him out and everything because he would walk in and see the renderer go into ecstasy and they would spoil the whole party they wouldn't know what to do at that time and so so it was a complex relationship we can at least say that but for us because em was there during these occasions and would come wherever tucker went but also he knew all of the brahmos that we get his recorded words and it's good because taco see the brahmos were more modern people on some level they represent the attitude of present-day people and their doubts or our doubts and taqwa's teachings to them are highly relevant to of to us so in many respects this was a very important part of this lila this play that was enacted with srama christian and the devotees so many devotees of the samadhi were present and sat around the master now and then some of them asked him questions abraham devotee sir what is the way so this was the generic question this is a question we find very often if nobody had anything very specific that means they're pretty much letting him say whatever he wants because pretty much they could say so tell us something but what is the way that means to god realization or to the ultimate goal of life it's a very open question it means different things to different people it won't mean what is the way to have a divine vision and to sing and dance in ecstasy because they weren't quite like that for them they wanted to have some self-realization or realize that this infinite absolute brahmin who knows exactly what it meant for them even does it mean not to be reborn now i am whether he is representative of all of the brahmos or not it's hard to say but one of the themes in the beginning of the gospel is that m is not very sure about this idea even of rebirth we know that because he talks about some scatters and some scholars are impressions that come from a previous lifetime so he has all these doubts at one time he even asked srama krishna sir will it be harmful for me if i don't believe in some scottish things like that this rebirth and all of that and taco says no as long as you understand that everything is possible in in god's kingdom that we can't say that this is possible this is impossible he says that's enough so whether what is the way it even meant putting an end to this round of birth and death with a very standard idea in all of the vedantic traditions whether even that they believed it's hard to say maybe it's simply meant to make our lives blessed who knows so it's a very open type of question master attachment to god or in other words love for him is this anurag you have it there okay this is very often translated it's attachment to god i don't think it's quite strong enough not just attachment it really means a type of ecstatic love ecstatic love of god it's not an ordinary love we have our bhakti we have our bhava all of these things anuraga and takur's understanding is a very high stage this is one of the final final stages this is uh he compares this to the uh the last step of the of the stairs the final rung of the ladder before we get to the roof and this this goes hand in hand with that bakulota that he talks about all of the time this tremendous longing and yearning and restlessness and agony at heaven not realized god longing to realize god is a sign of anuraga anuraga has two sides to it one is a very positive thing that the heart is filled with love of god but at the same time this this feeling of tremendous longing and emptiness and not having had the full realization of god so both of these are included in this anurag anurag attachment to god or in other words love for him and secondly prayer now he's emphasizing this because prayer is a very large part of what the brahmos do their meditation is not a very intense type of meditation taku would always be a little bit surprised that they would have their service and there would be some some reading and then some chanting from some vedic verses and things upanishadic verses and then there would be some lecture and there would be some meditation maybe five minutes ten minutes taka would laugh can one realize god in such a short period of time so he knew that he wasn't dealing with people that would dive deep in meditation or or practice intense austerities or things and for them prayer was very important now it's not that he won't give this advice to to others also he places great emphasis on prayer uh i i i always look at the list to see what list he gives he has a series of different lists the most common is holy company number one number two solitude and then number three prayer and then chanting the names and glories of god and meditation he stressed meditation with his intimate disciples but when he gives his list it's usually not up at the very top so prayer for those because prayer is is easier than meditation because it doesn't require that intense concentration of mind and it has its own intensity it has its own ability to awaken the heart so for everyone that there are special benefits of of prayer that we can really open up our hearts what's with deep lying deep within the heart that tremendous longing for god we can express that in words in prayer so it doesn't have to be any formal type of of worship or anything like that but just talking to god in our own language in our own way it's a very deeply felt type of connection with god feeling god to dwell within the heart being nearer than the nearest our very closest relationship that's why we have these different behaviors these relationships and calling on god that way brahma devotee which one is the way love or prayer master first love then prayer of course they go hand in hand we can't we can't look at them as two absolutely separate things but if we pray without having any love in our hearts then it won't have that the same effect of course we can pray for love we can pray yeah one of the prayers that taco talks about he says that oh lord i have no taste for your name yeah please grant me that that i may have a taste for your name so we can pray for love of god also but if there's love in our hearts then our prayer of course will be more effective the master sang cry to your mother shama with a real cry o mind and how can she hold herself from you how can shama stay away this was one of the great things about takur he had such a beautiful singing voice m said that he never heard a voice like takus and he heard swamiji he said swamiji uh also had just a thrilling type of voice but nothing compared to talkwood's voice so we can't imagine that how it's it's not like an ordinary person you'll give some teaching and then you quote some verse or some song when he would sing it would be it's just thrilling to hear that so this was a wonderful teaching technique that he had he would intersperse his teachings with these songs how he had so many songs committed to memory uh without reading them just from hearing them and not that he had his own song book that he would open up the page 32 that was the brahma method now turn to page continuing the master said and one must always chant the name and glories of god so we have that one huh namaguna kirtan the and and prayed to him says always so always doesn't mean that each and every second uh it means continually day after day it means not to simply do it one time and then then we're finished with it we we can't spend every 24 hours chanting the name and glories of god and praying to him but it can be a regular thing with us the prayer is interesting because swamiji says in one place that we can do everything prayerfully as a part of karma yoga everything we do is a kind of prayer a very nice idea an old metal pot must be scrubbed every day this was the teaching of the nangta they gave to to takur that what is the use of of polishing a brass pot once because it'll get tarnished we have to do it every day or at least you know on a regular basis otherwise there's no point in doing it once it's going to just get tarnished keep doing it so then tucker said but what if it gets turned to gold and then nangta said okay you got me there in that case you don't have to do it anymore. so that means that do we have to do our spiritual practices even after god realization we don't have to we may like to it may still be a joy for us to do our meditation and our prayer and all of that but we don't have to we've been told to turn to gold already further one must practice discrimination and renunciation so the vivekan vairagya these are always two things that are mentioned one must be conscious of the unreality of the world now for taco or unreality he never really emphasized this idea that this world is an illusion it was always the transitory nature of the world and the insubstantial nature of the world the hollow nature of the world the inability of the world to to fulfill us in any deeper sense we can get some joy and happiness and and pleasures and things from the world there's no doubt about that but it won't fulfill the the real longing of the heart for some permanent type of contentment some deep type of contentment that comes through god realization so this is what he meant by that type of discrimination what simply leads to prayers praise and shrayas it wasn't there are two types of vivekan discrimination one is the sadhasat and the other israelis so the first one is a little bit philosophical that what is the real nature of of the self is it the body the mind is into all of that that we have to get to that permanent unchanging reality that's the real self within but the other is what will lead to some temporary type of enjoyment that after it's gone uh we'll we'll feel sorry that we don't have it we'll want it to get it again or if we get something we'll be afraid that we're losing it that as opposed to shreyas that which uh may not even be enjoyable at the beginning it may taste like poison in the beginning or spiritual practice but will lead to some something lasting something deeper so shrayas something which is uh of the highest value as opposed to press something which will give us some temporary enjoyment it's not harmful but uh it's it's not the ultimate goal so that's the other type of discrimination what do we want in life what's important in our lives when when we reach the final day of our lives when we look back will we think that we used our lifetime utilized our time in a positive way or did we waste it did we run after things that were just not of real value did we go after the the baubles huh and and forget about the diamonds and gems tucker gives a very interesting illustration he says that people who keep the very good quality rice in these silos they keep in the store storehouse the rats can come and someone dig their way in and find that rice so they take very cheap type of rice and they sprinkle it outside and the rats don't have the ability to discriminate so they'll eat all of that and they'll leave the good stuff inside so those who go after preyease or like those rats the ones no i only want the real stuff they will give lasting enjoyment brahmo it is is it good to renounce the world okay now this is another difference that the brahmos didn't really have any give any scope to monastic life i don't i don't think that uh there was anything in their teachings that said it was wrong or sinful or anything like that but it was a movement for householders so that wasn't really part of of of their tradition and they knew that talkwar was very keen on this idea of of renunciation talkworth's case was very unusual because he was married and when he renounced the world he didn't give up uh his he kept his wife with him after that he kept family relations and partly because of his mother for his mother's sake he never wore in gerald he never were any outward signs when when he spoke to puri about taking it he explained those two things one thing is i'm married the other thing is my my mother it'll hurt her very much if she thinks that i've renounced everything because in those days even today the feeling is if somebody takes to monastic life takes the vows of sanyasi that they'll lose that person that they'll they'll go away they won't keep any connection with the family so takwo was a sannyasi at the same time so he he was a little bit of a gurihi sanyasi we can say not completely because of course no relationship with wife and no children or anything like that and was really the example of the gurihi sannyasi because he had his whole family also but had that real feeling of renunciation but the point is that the brahmos uh this is a question that uh they had because uh keshob didn't teach it and it wasn't part of their tradition and but they knew because their main text was the upanishads and they they knew that this is a very important teaching of the upanishads especially as commented upon by shankaracharya and others that the whole sannyasit tradition was something very important so it's a a serious question for them if if they're saying is if it's so necessary why don't we do it why do we i mean they were very aware of the four stages of life and all of that very common idea even though in bengal at the time taqwa lived it was rare to see sannyasi of the shankaracharya order of the traditional orthodox type of sannyasis there were these that wasn't an uncommon thing in the bowels and others that belonged to the division of essex and things that uh took the oaker cloth there were some shaktas and things but not the traditional orthodox vedantic type of sannyasi that was uncommon not very well known and understood in bengal at the time that's why uh even when uh some of the monks went for begging food in the early days that people weren't very respectful towards them they weren't that familiar with that tradition so that's the question brahmo is it good to renounce the world master not for all okay so this is a very sensible type of answer he's he's giving them when he's talking to narendra he'll he'll say yeah if if one thing is standing away of something else unless you remove it you won't get that other thing he'll be very strong with some of his the the young devotees now we also hear that uh when no one was around other than the future monastics that tucker would sometimes even bolt the door from the inside so no one else could come in and they would hear burning words of renunciation one time there's a discussion where tucker is talking to narendra about this need for renunciation and one of the householder devotees is there it gets a little frightened he says sir then must we all renounce the world something like that and then taka says don't pay attention this is between the two of us i'm talking to him now so not for all now we know that it's not for all this is this is uh uh it's is a great mistake for people to take to the life of renunciation if they don't feel the real calling for it and if the the mind isn't really prepared for it it'll lead to a big mess so it's a very very practical teaching not for all those who have not yet come to the end of their enjoyments the end of their enjoyments that that means that uh all of the the desires that they've had have been fulfilled that you asked would you like to do this they done it would you like to do that yeah i finished that one i have no desire to do it again oh how about children yes i had plenty of children i know what it's like to have children it's a okay you get some heartache you get some joy but i don't want to go through that again i've done that so a stage comes for some people when it's through experience and through enjoyment that they come to the end of enjoyment that means that they reach a point where they don't crave these things anymore this was the old school method that sannyasi came after the gurihasta ashrama after one passes through garcia this is the stage of being a householder during the householder life one is supposed to go through what's called arta and comma that yes now is the chance that you can have your possessions you can enjoy them you can see how much fun there is in them and but you also have an obligation your householders that you have to earn some money you can use it wisely you can raise your family you can give in in charity and you have some desires comma fulfill them this is your chance to fulfill them so that afterwards you'll say no i did that reaching the end of enjoyment so those who have not yet come to the end of their enjoyments should not renounce the world because they'll be plagued with these these desires and longings oh if only i could have done this if only i could have done that can one get drunk on two hours worth of wine what does that mean yeah yeah so the promises then should they lead a worldly life now this worldly life what is it this it has two meanings we hear this term worldly worldly life one is a very generic meaning it's a it's not a very non-judgmental meaning it simply means to lead the life of a householder the other is a worldly life is is that someone is very materialistic only cares for enjoyment and everything it's a very worldly person we say so there's kind of pejorative meaning but the other meaning is not pejorative it's just that one is still leading a family life and has a career in household and and all of those things so i think it's in that sense should they lead a worldly life master yes so he's saying that i lead a life where you fulfill all of your duties where you do it in a disinterested way and without attachment and without selfishness and the dharmic type of life that this is what one does until one reaches the stage where one can go beyond dharma and adhan were both so in the beginning we try to get rid of all adhanma we try to lead a very good righteous life and then the point time comes when we can go beyond everything and renounce everything yes they should try to perform their duties in a detached way before you break the jackfruit open rub your hands with oil so that the sticky milk will not smear it if we're not cautious we'll get attached to the world and this this jackfruit it's got this kind of white creamy thing to it huh that get very sticky then everything you touch your hands will get stuck to so they will just get in trouble now takwa sometimes says first realize god then live in the world this is too hard for us we can't and it's impractical at other times he says first develop some devotion to god then live in the world that's better that we can do the first one uh to realize god and then live in the world who will want to live in the world after realizing god but what he means is get established in spirituality first the maidservant in a rich man's house this is one of his favorite examples one of the best examples the maidservant in a rich man's house performs all her duties but her mind dwells on her home in the country now there are two elements to this of course one is that she knows that the master's house is not her house she knows that the master's children are not her children but she acts as if they were she performs all of her duties that way she even refers to the master's children as her children oh my hari did such a naughty thing today maherama he got good grades in school when they talk among themselves sometimes you see all of these women with the strollers and little children all together in the playground and everything and they're all nannies yeah that it's all the children of wealthy families maybe the wives work or maybe they they want their leisure time and they all get together and they'll chat and talk about it as if this is what my child did as if i had to clean our house today but they know it doesn't belong to them so this is how we should feel in this world that this isn't our real home the second element is that but we do have a real home the maidservant has her home in the village she has her real family in the village that's where she really belongs never out of her mind she always knows that so we should always remember that our real home is in god and this is this is just a little outpost for us we've been sent here the way the maid servant leaves the village to come during the week and do some work and then maybe go home on the weekends that uh this isn't this isn't anything to hold on to this isn't anything to be attached to it doesn't belong to us it's not a real home it's a very very good attitude to have whenever we feel that oh this this is this is my home this is my car this is these are all my possessions and everything that the field that no they're not really mine they don't belong to me the same way the maidservant knows that the house doesn't belong to her but i'm not an orphan not that i don't have anybody i have my divine mother i have my real home somewhere there waiting for me the maidservant in the richmond house performed all her duties but her mind dwells on her home in the country this is the second half this is an example of doing duty in a detached way you should renounce the world only in mind so there's mental renunciation this is what he's talking about that you don't have to leave your home and feel that it's not really my home but continue to live there continue to pay the rent or to take care of the maintenance of it to do everything that you would normally do actually we can do it in a better way with more pride if we feel this is god's house i have the privilege of looking after it that's all in some christian schools the catholic church especially they have this idea of stewardship that one is a steward that means that we've been granted the privilege of operating something looking after it making sure everything is running properly but it's not ours none of it belongs to us everything belongs to god this is god's universe to have that attitude it's very helpful thing it saves us because attachment is a painful thing it's painful because attachment means sooner or later there'll be detachment there'll be separation and is a very painful type of thing you should renounce the world only in mind but a sanyasi should renounce the word both inwardly and outwardly so that that means really giving up everything but taqwa always emphasized internal renunciation because that's common to both if a sannyasi gives up his heart at home and goes out and lives in an ashram it gets attached to that that also becomes his samsara that becomes his world he gets attached to that this uh you read the letters of swami permission on the g he talks very often about that danger they look at these monks they simply turn this ashram into a somsar they they've turned this in into just another worldly family type of situation so this the internal renunciation is the real thing this is far more important than putting on the external signs of renunciation brahmo what is the meaning of the end of enjoyment end of enjoyment yeah it's an unusual term i tried to explain it before takwa says i mean the enjoyment of lust and gold so for taqwa this covered everything this covered everything this uh we can say that this will include all of the passions so this will be karma kroth all of this lust anger desire greed pride envy uh all of the different passions uh this is really the because these are all the sources of attachment so all of the objects of enjoyment whatever they are these are the things that we have to renounce uh if if we want to reach the stage of sanyasa this is what he's saying that that's that's the that's the line that until one has reached that stage or until one has reached the point where uh mentally they understand see if if everybody waits until they they really are free from any desire lust in gold and all of that then very few will ever become zenyatta's and it won't even be necessary for them but there has to be a minimal amount of that at least and a strong desire to go beyond it and then we do our spiritual practice the difference between today's modern tradition and the ancient tradition is that going from brahmacharya directly to sanyasa doesn't give anyone a chance to do this bhogantha to to try to reach the end of enjoyment by fulfilling it by fulfilling desires and looking at we have to just cut things off at the very beginning so now he's talking about the brahmos who are all older people and maybe he's talking about well time will come in your life not that you'll take girl cloth or anything but when you'll turn over the business to the kids and you'll lead a retired life and spend all of your time thinking of god and doing spiritual practice that type of idea tucker recommended that we don't find him telling any of his householder disciples that now the time has come for you to to leave your house and to wear a garage and bake your food no he'd say now is the time to call on god so he he's uh when he says he reached the end of enjoyment that then one can fully renounce mentally and in order to renounce internally and externally one should at least have that understanding through that discrimination this would be weka that the world cannot fulfill my desires that there has to be something more to this life it is risky to put a typhoid patient in a room where pictures of water and jugs of pickled tamarind are kept now this is a very practical teaching that the one philosophy is that if you really want to make sure that you're free from desire then dwell in the midst of objects of desire that'll be the real test there's a tantric idea that if you can if you can withstand that desire and the presence so you keep the company of for men keep the company of a beautiful woman let her sit on your lap all of these things taco had to do all these things but some of them he couldn't do of course but he was supposed to do that that's the test then you'll see that you're really free from desire talker says there's a very dangerous way to do things that the temptation will overcome most people so he says in the beginning keep yourself away from these things he compared it to planning a small sapling a small plant or tree that you have put a hage around it you have to fence it around if you don't do that the cows and and the goats will come and they're lead it up let it become strong what happened a deer will come yeah we have a tree and i was looking at it yesterday this beautiful japanese maple tree right in the main courtyard of everybody it's huge huh it's beautiful beautiful tree we planted it a long time ago it was it was really very small maybe maybe two feet the first two or three years maybe four years the deer would come and eat all the leaves and it never grew it just stayed there and half died and would come back half night then one year it occurred to me let me fence it around so yeah so i fenced it around for a few years now it's a huge big beautiful tree and deer won't bother it at this point so he said that in the beginning that you have to really protect it at the end it can be big and strong you can even tie an elephant to it and nothing will happen to it so tucker's idea is a little different that forget about this this living and living in the world but not being of the world oh it's nice in theory but remove yourself from the world at least from time to time and those who want to be sanyasins that really they they have to avoid anything that will represent a temptation for them we we know even even amongst here in this country that if we go to india we go to belarum we stay there for a long time and we only have the company of monks the different mood comes to the mind and some of the things that maybe people struggle with don't become a struggle because we're not faced with those things so this idea of the protection of the monk by living in the ashram or just keeping a holy company it's a very good idea otherwise uh the mouth water will come to the mouth typhoid patient has a problem with drinking water huh that if they drink too much water that is harmful for them something like that so if they see this is pickle then the mouth will water and they'll want to drink more so they have to be kept away from that so it's a very nice analogy most people don't feel any longing for god unless they have once passed through the experience of wealth name fame creature comforts and the like that is to say unless they have seen through these enjoyments so this is most people this is not everyone some are born very very pure pure hearts and pure minds that perhaps they experience these things in a previous lifetime we don't know but for most people they have to bounce around in the world a little bit get beat up a little bit experience some things see the good side and see the bad side sometimes uh we we have to get a lot of blows in the world sometimes we have to really get this some negative reaction to things there's one one theory is uh you let a small child say they they're always pestering to eat ice cream something like that you say okay eat as much as you can eat until you're sick and they'll eat and eat it and then they'll say oh my god i'll never do that again one theory different ways of of doing it but i we we see it's very interesting we see those who join the order we have two types those who joined a little bit later and know a little bit about life they've had some world experiences and those who joined at a very young age perfectly pure they never mixed it in the world never had any desire or anything like that advantages and disadvantages to both some of those who joined very young they had no experience with anything they get older and they think oh did i miss something and sometimes that desire becomes strong and they leave and then the others they say no i know that i've i've i did it before i don't want to do it again but there's some scottish there and that memory is there and everything so they don't have that same exact purity so they're pluses and minuses we don't decide these things these are part of our karma how and when we come to spiritual life now the brahma will ask a very interesting question who is really bad man or woman huh it's a funny question and uh uh why why then brahmo is asking that the brahmos uh were very much involved in in things like uh child marriage and they were in favor of of remarriage of widows so they were a little bit towards the feminist side you could say at the same time they did separate there would be a screen and women would be on one side and then on on the other why he's asking that of course takur was known very much for this comedy conscience that he would use that expression very often woman in gold we don't usually when i read it i'll change it to lust and gold i was i was told once by swami's fine energy it sounds too harsh the women will feel bad if you say woman and gold and change it to lust and gold so perhaps that's that's the the reason the history of the world and history of religions and everything everything was done by men and there's always been uh this what nowadays we'll we'll call the sexist little sexism in everything so women were never considered uh fit for study of the vedas there was a long period where they weren't allowed to take sanyasa and different things like that they were supposed to look after the household raise children and everything things are slowly changing but uh the funny thing is that there's some traditions where women are supposed to be kept availed huh and what's the what's the rationale for this women are perfectly fine there's nothing wrong with them men are lustful but it's so unfair matter let them let them keep their eyes closed why make women hide their faces and everything so even then when they'll say that no there's nothing wrong with the women is with us but why should we suffer let them suffer because of it so it's interesting from a social point of view this idea who was really bad man or woman now we would say of course that how do you judge like that they're good men and bad men they're good women bad women everything like that so takoya is going to say that as there are women endowed with vidya shakti this means these are good positive virtues this power of knowledge so with awkward vidya and avidya this isn't simply knowledge and ignorance it doesn't mean that exactly but it means those who will uh are very satwik in nature and those who are more thomasic and rajasthan basically we can say that as there are women endowed with vidya shakti also they're women with avidya shakti a woman endowed with spiritual attributes leads a man to god but a woman who is the embodiment of delusion makes him forget god and drowns him in the ocean of worldliness so basically what he's saying is don't stereotype that you'll find among all men and women both that there will be some who are very spiritual spiritual life is extremely helpful to the to her husband and spiritual life and vice versa both ways that they can be the best spiritual partner for them when we see a husband and wife both having the same interest in spiritual life both getting initiated and helping each other then it's a wonderful relationship very very helpful for each one of them in their own spiritual life if one is very interested and the other is not then there can be a little struggle some sometimes the one of them is understanding and says well that's fine you can go to the center whenever you like don't mind i'll stay home other times they say how often will you go we have a party to go to that i want you to come i'm not going to go alone so it becomes a real struggle sometimes but i have to say more often it's the case that the woman is the spiritual one and the man is not more often swami brahmananda used to say that just just in general a very general sense women are more spiritual than men and generally found that to be the case one reason is that motherhood implies selflessness that to give birth to a child and to to raise the child and look after the child means that uh you're you're doing everything for the child not expecting anything in return at least at that age they're just out of pure love so i think the fact of of motherhood is a big advantage for women from that spiritual side that they have to learn a little bit of self-sacrifice getting up in the middle of the night to the nurse the child and all of these things husband he can just say don't bother me i want to sleep you get up and do all of that this universe is created by the maha maya of god there's a footnote the inscrutable power of illusion illusion also but also just to to create this this lila this sport that it doesn't have to be illusion like it's just a dream or anything like that but uh it had a little bit carries a little bit this idea that don't try to find any good reason for it that somebody says why did god create the world the way it is that inscrutable it means that it's beyond logic that we can't we can't decide we can't figure it out there's one philosophical school of vedanta called achintia this is a chaitanya school and it's very nice that says yes that there's oneness there's also variety in this universe oneness in variety why the one becomes the many is acentia you you can't figure it out it's beyond logic there's there's no way to say why why didn't the one remain the one why does it become many and it is uh is it real is it unreal this is a chintya don't bang your head against the wall trying to figure it out it can't be done it's not this is too hard or difficult something inherent and it makes it unknowable not that if only we were smarter we would understand it it can't be understood a chintya it's a very nice nice idea so tucker actually he doesn't talk about that school but he really accepts that idea this universe is created by the muhammad of god muhammad it contains both vidyamaya the illusion of knowledge and evidence the illusion of ignorance now he's talking about uh the now the individual that when we get to the individual that there'll be a power that will help us break out of this there'll be a power that keeps us bound to the world that's this is the power of desire and longing for for enjoyment but there's also something called vidyamaya there's something within each and every one of us that says no i want to be free i want to cast this off there's some some feeling that i'm limited restricted being bound by this world some some deep feeling that i don't even know why i'm here who i am what's going on i want to get rid of this that will be this video maya is also something that's uh inherent in each and every one of us so tucker saying that this is all the play of mahamaya it has these two elements one keeps us bound the other gives us a desire for for freedom and why some have a greater desire for enjoyment some a greater desire for free men for freedom we don't know this question of some a question of grace very hard to say so this universe is created by the muhammad of god muhammad contains both vidyamaya the illusion of knowledge and evidemia the illusion of ignorance through the help of vidyamaya one cultivates such virtues as the taste for holy company all of these very satwik things knowledge devotion love and renunciation avidyamaya consists of the five elements and the objects of the five senses form flavor smell touch and sound these make one forget god brahmo if the power of a vidya is the cause of ignorance then why has god created it now again uh we we should have a whole list of questions that we understand don't have good answers yeah and taco is very clear that don't don't look for any logical reason this muhammad this is inscrutable that we we can't explain all of these things that we have to just accept these this is the way things are the otherwise we can say yes that if this is the world is the creation of god why is it so crazy why is it led to so much pain and misery and people killing each other and wars and and uh even from a physical point of view why do we have these earthquakes and hurricanes and so much destruction and everything who would create such a world like that so we don't have good answers for these questions if a question doesn't have an answer then it's not a good question we have to kind of accept that and just accept it how do we get out of it that's why tucker says that you go to the mango grove the purpose is to get get the mangoes it's not to figure out how many leaves and the twigs and everything that they're all on the trees so this is the question if the power of india is the cause of ignorance then why has god created it master that is his play now they're all different types of answers that we get without ignorance there can't be knowledge that we won't appreciate things we won't learn if everything is good all sorts of things but they don't get to the real question is why did it happen this way at all we can understand afterwards that now oh now that this world is the way it is i understand that there has to be good and bad in it all of that otherwise how will i learn but why did it have to be that way that we don't know that we don't know at all so he says taku says that it's his play now i would say that is her play this is again i mentioned last time the problem with the translating from bengali to english that in bengali we don't know if his or her but he's talking about the divine mother so that is her play the glory of light cannot be appreciated without darkness happiness cannot be understood without misery in fact there can be one without the other knowledge of good is possible because of the knowledge of evil further the mango grows and ripens on account of the covering skin you throw away the skin when the mango is fully ripe and ready to be eaten is it possible for a man to attain gradually oh it is possible for a man to attain gradually to the knowledge of brahman because of the covering skin of maya maya may be likened to the skin of the mango both are necessary it would be nice if we didn't have to go through all this this big play enjoyment suffering discrimination realization that this is not good for me but this is the human condition that's as much as we can say this is a very common theme in the existential literature the human condition what is the human condition i find myself in this world i don't know where i came from or what the purpose of it is why it has to be this way but i have to play my part i have to do whatever is necessary to to find my way in this this journey now of course radante will say not to find your way but find your way out and to have that higher realization but why it is the way it is we don't have good answers for that okay let's stop here we got a new theme after this we'll get to this idea of god with form and this idea of image worship so let us stop here and we'll close with our chant foreign 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 be unto all thank you