Video 6

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna with Swami Atmajnanananda

dublicate Amrit i'm dr. jay burnham coffee very idiot uncle my shop 'him Sharaman among golems srimad adam we weren t put it out and um your words are like nectar bringing life to scorch souls they are praised by poets and remove all sin they are auspicious to hear wonderful and exalted those who spread these words throughout the world are truly giving souls welcome everyone to our class on the gospel of ramakrishna for those who were following along in the book we're on page 84 and this is I believe the third visit this is the third visit that M is making this ramakrishna and we still don't have a definite date but it's it's probably February or March of 1882 and in the room this time as a young man by the name of Narendra not Narendra our future Swami Vivekananda and the conversation earlier was about what to do when worldly people look down upon those who are aspiring to lead a spiritual life and the ceramic fish net said to Narendra how do you feel about it worldly people say all kinds of things about the spiritually minded but look here when an elephant moves along the street and a number of curves and other small animals may bark and cry after it but the elephant doesn't even look back at them if people speak ill of you what will you think of them then the renderer replies I shall think the dogs are barking at me and Ramakrishna says smiling oh no you mustn't go that far my child laughter God dwells and all beings but you may be intimate only with good people you must keep away from the evil minded God is even in the tiger but you cannot embrace the tiger on that account laughter you may say why run away from a tiger which is also a manifestation of God the answer to that is those who tell you to run away or also manifestations of God and why shouldn't you listen to them now we'll get a nice story about this but one thing that we'll notice is how very practical sri ramakrishna is and also that he had a very keen insight into psychology we'll will see of course that he'll speak about the achievement and liberation and bondage and everything in strictly metaphysical terms but very often he'll be talking about the psychological makeup especially when he talks about the distinctions between different types of people we'll get to all of that let's let's hear this story mr. Ramakrishna speaking let me tell you a story in a forest there lived a holy man who had many disciples one day he taught them to see God in all beings and knowing this to bow low before them all a disciple went to the forest to gather wood for the sacrificial fire suddenly he heard an outcry get out of the way a mad elephant is coming all but the disciple of the holy man took to their heels he reasoned that the elephant was also God in another form then why should he run away from it he stood still bow before the animal and began to sing its praises the MA hood of the elephant was shouting run away run away but the disciple didn't move the animal seized him with its trunk cast him to one side and went on its way heard and bruised the disciple lay unconscious on the ground hearing what had happened his teacher and his brother disciples came to him and carried him to the hermitage with the help of some medicine he soon regained consciousness someone asked him you knew the elephant was coming why didn't you leave the place but he said our teacher has told us that God Himself has taken all these forms of animals as well as men therefore thinking it was only the elephant God that was coming I didn't run away at this the teacher said yes my child it is true that the elephant God was coming but the mock wood God forbade you to stay there since all our manifestations of God why didn't you trust the mouth with words you should have heeded the words of the mahute God laughter so we see that there's a big difference between the highest metaphysical truth and the practical application sometimes we we have to understand that I say when we say God dwells within all beings this is true on a certain level but this manifestation will vary according to the coverings to the parties and according to that we have to adjust our behavior so Strama krishna he had keen insight into both of these of course the metaphysical was from his a direct experience the other he was a very great observer of physical traits and characteristics and mental tendencies he had a keen insight into the workings of the human mind what we would normally think of more is a psychology than then philosophy so he was the best person to give this type of spiritual advice and practical advice he continues it is said in the scriptures that water is a form of god there's a baja so this water if we say that this is the form of God and we don't see any subtle distinctions we don't see the distinctions in terms of the bhupati's that means what gets mixed with it then we won't be able to make any practical type of distinction he says but some water is fit to be used for worship some water for washing the face and some only for washing plates or dirty linen the last sort cannot be used for drinking or for a holy purpose in like manner God undoubtedly dwells in the hearts of all holy and unholy righteous and unrighteous but a man should not have dealings with the unholy the wicked the impure he must not be intimate with them with some of them he may exchange words but with others he shouldn't go even that for he should keep aloof from such people now this isn't being judgmental it's not looking down on them his understanding our own weakness is this is this is what taqwa was always talking about hedging the plant around because he knew that especially in the beginning of spiritual life most people are very susceptible to the influence whether they know it or not of other people so it's not it's not that these people are too impure for us we're too good for them anything like that it's that our minds are not firm yet in the in this spiritual path and it's very easy for us to to be influenced more by them than they are by us there is some people who think yeah let me let me be a positive influence on others I'm leading a spiritual life that they'll be benefited by it but the effect that they're benefitted by us is probably much less than effective were drawn down by them so he is always cautioning us with regard to that a devotee now when it says in the gospel a devotee it made sometimes that M doesn't know he's very new to this group but more likely it M himself and very often because he doesn't ask too many questions when he does if it's anything that might be too revealing of himself or casts too much interest on himself he'll simply say a devotee so this is one way that we can suspect this is M himself and by the question we can also guess sir if a wicked man is about to do harm or actually does harm should we keep quiet then M it was a very weak an almost a timid person shy at the very least he didn't like to assert himself he didn't like to confront people so very likely this is his question and we always have to see that your Amma Krishna when he when he would reply to a question it would be for the the best answer for that particular person at that particular time and not that the answer would vary tremendously but the emphasis would vary so he knew that this was one of the problems with them he was a little bit too timid and too shy we see throughout the gospel that Sri Ramakrishna very often gets annoyed with him when he'll ask him to sing something and there will be no I'm too shy that he won't sing well the others are up and dancing and having a good time and was sitting in the corner of some place so he wanted him to get rid of this the shyness because the type of the ego actually it's a type of self-consciousness and failure to be just spontaneous and free worrying about too much what will people think of us and everything so very likely this is m's question sir if a wicked man is about to do harm or actually does so should we keep quiet then master a man living in society should make a show of thomas to protect himself from evil minded people but he should not harm any in anticipation of harm likely to be done to him now this is will get a story here to me this is a remarkable statement why because Shri Ramakrishna Ramakrishna was such a stickler about telling the truth and not being deceptive in any way there's a little bit of deception here when we get to this story but again it shows how very practical sri ramakrishna was and here let's hear this story we can decide if we think it's a little bit too deceptive or deviating from this truth-telling or not some cowherd boys used to tend their cows in the meadow where a terrible poisonous snake lived everyone was on the alert for fear of it one day a brahmacari was going along the meadow the boys ran to him and said revered sir please don't go that way a venomous snake lives over there what of it my good children said the Brahma teri I am Not Afraid of the snake I know some mantras so saying he continued on his way along the meadow but the cowherd boys being afraid did not accompany him in the meantime the snake moves swiftly toward him with upraised hood as soon as it came near he recited a mantra and the snake lay as his feet like an earthworm the brahmacari said look here why do you go about doing harm come I will give you a holy word by repeating it you will learn to love God ultimately you will realize him and so get rid of your violent nature saying this he taught the snake a holy word and initiated him into spiritual life the snake growled before the teacher and said revered sir how shall I practice spiritual discipline I always wondered how does the snake bow down there already are we doing this - time to print out all of the type any of the snake belt down and said revered sir how shall I practice spiritual discipline repeat that sacred word said the teacher and do no harm to anybody two simple instructions as he was about to depart the Brahma Nadi said I shall see you again some days past and the cowherd voice noticed that the snake would not bite they threw stones at it still it showed no anger it behaved as if it were in earthworm one day one of the boys came close to it caught it by the tail and whirling it round and round dashed it again and again on the ground and threw it away the snake vomited blood and became unconscious it was stunned it could not move so thinking it dead the boys went their way late at night the snake regained consciousness slowly and with great difficulty it dragged itself into a toll its bones were broken and they could scarcely move many days past the snake became a mere skeleton covered with the skin now and then at night it would come out in search of food for fear of the boys it would not leave its hole during the daytime since receiving the sacred word from the teacher it had given up doing harm to others it maintained its life on dirt leaves or the fruit that dropped from the trees about a year later the Brahma trotty came that way again and asked about the snake the cowherd boys told him that it was dead but he couldn't believe them he knew that the snake would not die before attaining the fruit of the holy word with which it had been initiated he found his way to the place and searching here and there called it by the name he had given it hearing the teachers voice it came out of its hole and valved before him with great reverence how are you ask timber machardie I am well sir replied the snake but the teacher said why are you so thin so the snake is thin do they get thin first he bells down then he gets thin the snake replied revered sir you ordered me not to harm anybody so I've been living only a leaves and fruit perhaps that has made me thinner the snake had had developed the quality of Sattler it could not be angry with anyone it had totally forgotten that the cowherd boys had almost killed it the Brahma trotty said it can't be mere wonder food that has reduced you to this state there must be some other reason think a little then the snake remembered that the boys had dashed it against the ground it said yes revered sir now I remember the boys one day dashed me violently against the ground they are ignorant after all they didn't realize what a great change had come over my mind how could they know I wouldn't bite or harm anyone the Brahma trotty exclaimed what a shame you were such a fool you didn't know how to protect yourself I asked you not to bite but it didn't forget forbid you to hiss why didn't you scare them by hissing so you must hiss at wicked people you must frighten them lest they should do you harm but never inject your venom into them one must not injure others so Sri Ramakrishna he not telling us to lie exactly he's not telling us to be deceitful but to at least protect ourselves and he wants to make sure that we don't act like fools he had an expression he used to say bhaktavar baka Habana he liked this display onwards octo prokta and Boca the devotee in a fool this is an incident that we all know regarding Swami Yogananda before he became as for me of course you yogin sri ramakrishna had asked him to go to the market and to buy a pan frying pan cooking pan to bring back so he went there and he went to the shopkeeper and said I'm buying the frying pan please make sure that it's a good one no defects did anything like that so the man took it Frank and he said yes this would be fine he gave it to him and without even looking at it and without questioning the price the organ gave the money and he came back and he took her to see Ramakrishna as soon as Ramakrishna saw it he saw there was a crack in it and he said didn't you even look at it he said I trusted the man I asked him for a good one and and I assumed he would give give me a good one and he said you fool just because you become a devotee doesn't mean you had to become a fool and he said there's no fault of this man he's a businessman he's there to make money but up to you you're the one who should look at that so I very easier for us to think we've become very spiritual people we don't still be practical people he wanted us to be very practical also and to be protective of ourselves if we if we have this sattva without that grit behind it then we can be pushed around easily and affected by what other people say and think and this was a aims problem and was very very sensitive and when this is one of the reasons he left home because his father didn't understand his brothers were there the other family members they would tease him they had no respect for his interest in spiritual life so it became unbearable for him so he wanted them to be a little bit tough and a little bit practical and a little self protective so this is this is really the message that we get here not that we're gonna make false claims do you come near me and I'll hit you in the mouth and then they'll come near and we don't do it we can't even keep to the truth not to go that far but at least to be a little protective of ourselves in this creation of God there is a variety of things men animals trees plants among the animals some are good some bad there are ferocious animals like the tiger some trees a bear fruit sweetest nectar and other others bear fruit that is poisonous likewise among human beings there are the good and the wicked the holy and the unholy there are some who were devoted to God and others who were attached to the world now Sri Ramakrishna in different places with different schemes he talked about different classes of people now again we shouldn't get confused and think that there's a real distinction between individuals from some higher philosophical or metaphysical point of view what he's really talking about is the difference some SCOTUS that people bring into the world this idea of some scada was very very important for us your honor Krishna in fact M throughout the first half of the gospel at least the first couple of years I he's always telling Sharma Krishna I don't have much faith in some SCOTUS and will that be harmful for me in spiritual life now some SCARA is an impression or a tendency that we we have in this lifetime based on what we did in the previous lifetime so this also means they M didn't have much faith they even in rebirth it's very interesting to me especially I assume that especially at that time maybe today with the modern science and everything but I assumed at that time that every every Hindu would believe in rebirth punar janma and reincarnation and I also assumed that they all accepted this idea of Avatar that these were very common ideas but because of the Brahmo Samaj and because of the influence of the British and Western education many of them didn't have that type of faith and M was one it took a while before he came around and it was mostly because he saw some of the disciples of Shri Krishna with such good tendencies that he said yes sir I have to admit that they were born with these so the first ramakrishna it wasn't so much that he cared about the previous lifetime and what we did in the previous lifetime his interest seemed to be more that were born with a particular type of nature based on these tendencies that we got whether we got them from a previous lifetime some some scholars of course we get in this lifetime also just our culture and our upbringing and all of that but this was this was very important for him and the some Scottish these tendencies sometimes remain hidden they they don't always reveal themselves and sometimes these spiritual tendencies and force ramakrishnan that was the most important these spiritual some Scott is sometimes they just come up we don't know where or why or Howard or when mr. Ramakrishna gives different examples he talks about those quartets did they become perfect just all of a sudden they they have some illumination and he compares it to somebody who was digging a well and it's a very long arduous job they have to dig for hours on end it has to be pretty deep and then somebody else he'll put his Spade in the ground and all of a sudden he had some underground spring where there's a pipe or something in water that comes out instantly and everyone wonders how did that happen so this he explained by some scholars he gives an another example that people so observe that one man was there in the morning early morning and he drank one glass of wine and the next thing you know he's singing and dancing and running around like a drunkard and they say how was it possible he had one glass of wine and somebody said you don't know he's been drinking all night long so we don't know what we did that all night long means the previous birth so for sure Ramakrishna these were very important things this idea of samskaara and that he could classify different types of individuals based on their ability to achieve something in spiritual life and it's not really such a ironclad distinction because they they run into each other we weaken a little bit we'll fit into this idea of the bound soul but we'll also a little bit then we'll switch will be secrets of God so it I it depends on what we do in this lifetime also these are not hard and fix things that we're born in one class and we can't change we can't change or some Scott as we can where we can work through them then you know let's see what these classifications are men are divided into four classes and he has two different schemes that he uses but we'll look at this first those bound by the fetters of the world equals these but Deva the Seekers after liberation moksha Deva the liberated Buchta Deva and the everfree nithya Jeeva he is another scheme where he calls them but the Jeeva I think part of our taka the beginners in spiritual life cinta those who attained perfection and the Siddha this is the ever perfect so we'll we'll see these different distinctions he says among the everfree we may count sadist like Narada they live in the world for the good of others to teach men spiritual truth now the these nitya-siddha or nithya Jeeva here that is it this is a bit of a different classification there is there's a bigger distinction here than there is with any of the others sri ramakrishna uses different another type of classification we can say which will split everyone into two classes one would be the Jeeva Cote and the other issue were decotis now the class of each where the koteas is tiny there will be just a few and that'll be every few hundred years a very small class like that Jeeva Kota means everybody else so this knitted and the main distinction is the Jeeva coat the ordinary individual is worn because of past Karma born because he or she hasn't attained liberation that still work left to be done they come in with their own some scholars they have to strive for liberation and they can detain liberation after reaching the heights of liberation if they if they reach the state of nirvikalpa samadhi they're unable to bring the mind down from that they're limited with regard to the the degree of spiritual emotion that they can handle so this mahabhava in prayer methey very high states are only for these other special souls they have a greater capacity this brings us to another distinction that chakra makes and this is with regard to what he calls odd heart the heart is a receptacle so even among the NIT dissenters even those the ever perfect Souls some will be huge receptacles he would always refer to them that ended of course that he is like this huge barrel where you keep enough bathwater and everything the Jala they call it youth where others they'll be they'll be smaller pictures and and pots and buckets and everything all different sizes so the huge ones can they can do greater spiritual practice they can have withstand spiritual emotion they can deeper states of meditation and Sumati and come back from that so that's also a sliding scale but these niches it does these are the ones who were born not because they have any karma to work out they've already achieved the goal in the previous lifetime or much earlier or maybe born perfect but this is also and another type of explanation but they come only because they cherish some desire to work for the welfare of others or if they're eager to cotys because they come along with this another type of Ishwara coated this Avatara who is the one who brings the others he's the main one and the other there is a type of water call me shocked the type of water plan where it looks like they're all separate but underneath they're all connected and if you pull up one the others come along with it so otaku used to say the avatar comes all of the others come along with them so there'll be the Latisse it is or they each were the cotys so this is if we look at the four of these the nithya what he's calling the everfree 'not dissing her belongs to a different class the other three will all belong to the Jeeva Cote and isn't it decent it will belong to each what a call to you the avatar of course so he starts out among the everfree we may count say just like nada de they live in the world for the good of others to teach men spiritual truth so he's starting with the highest one first then he goes to to the lowest one those in bondage so but achieve those in bondage or sunken worldliness and forgetful of God not even by mistake do they think of God now this again has to be understood in terms of some scholars it's not that God has given some less spiritual desire and capability and given some more this was always the the objection that was raised by the the BrahMos or some of the other modern types of thinkers each video cigar he also raised that question is it possible that God gave more power to one in less power to another and sharam Christian would get annoyed at this question because he said how can you say something like that don't you see one person with one hand can can defeat ten people and other people I has no there's no power door with what a big distinction there is they use this term by some mere dosha that that means that God is partial God can't be partial God has to be the same to everyone give everyone the same power but tuckworth well he was so sensible he said forget about it's not a question of God giving or not giving they have there some Skoda's they're born with certain tendencies for some it may be their first human birth for others they've done tremendous spiritual practice in a previous lifetime how can you put them all in the same class so he looked at it from a completely different point of view so he says those in bondage or sunken worldliness and forgetful of God not even by mistake do they think of God then we get the MOOCs we do the seekers after liberation want to free themselves from attachment to the world some of them succeed and others do not so we may have many many many lifetimes as secrets of God it may be the last lifetime that we need and really spiritual life begins with this desire momusu means the desire that we have a longing for liberation and this can come from our or some Skoda's this also we can say this is grace this is the grace of God and and probably second second verse I think of the lake to domine very famous famous verse where the Shankar Acharya says that there are three very rare gifts that we get through the grace of God and one is this human birth and the other is we take refuge with the great soul and the third is this longing for liberation unless unless that comes into our life we won't strive for it we won't be interested in it we'll think it's a waste of time so that's the very first thing that something has been awakened in us that there's more to life than just an enjoyment so this this is the second the lowest one bound souls they don't even think of if somebody says why not just do something for some higher type of experience they say what I'm enjoying the world leave me alone so that there's no hope for them unless they get the grace of a holy person or some tragedy and life that anything can happen the liberated souls such as the Sata's and Mahatma's are not entangled in the world in lust in gold their mind too free from worldliness besides they always meditate on the lotus feet of God so Jeevan Mukta or if not perfectly liberated he says liberated but such as Sawtooth not every sadhu is is a liberated soul so he's talking about those at least who are on the verge or our clothes can can taste that liberation and there's no fear of them falling back into worldliness so some of them succeed and others that's sorry so their minds are free from worldliness besides they always meditate on the lotus feet of God so this is this is the for he starts with the highest first and then we go to the other three now as he give a nice illustration suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch fish some fish are so clever that they are never caught in the net they are like the everfree the did you go and it isn't but most of the fish are entangled in the net some of them tried to free themselves from it and they are like those who seek liberation but not all the fish that struggles succeed a very few do jump out of the net making a big splash in the water so we can be born be born as there's one class the Mamu cruise as those seeking liberation and in the very same lifetime become the mooc does the ones who have attained freedom very few do jump out of the net making a big splash in the water then the fishermen shout look there goes a big one but most of the fish caught in the net cannot escape nor do they make any effort to get out this is the bounce ole on the contrary they burrow into the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there quietly thinking we need not fear anymore we are quite safe here so they're not even aware that they're in a state of bondage but the poor things do not know that the fisherman will drag them out with their net they're like the men bound to the world the bound souls are tied to the world by the fetters of lust and gold they are bound hand and foot thinking that lust and gold will make them happy and give them security they do not realize that it will lead them to annihilation when a man does abound - the world is about to die his wife asks you were about to go but what have you done for me again such as his attachment to the things of the world that when he sees the lamp burning brightly he says dim the light too much oil is being used and he is on his deathbed the bound souls never think of God if they get any leisure they indulge in idle gossip and foolish talk or they engage in fruitless work if you ask one of them the reason he answers oh oh I cannot keep still so I'm making a hedge when time hangs heavy on their hands they perhaps start playing cards there was deep silence in the room now why deep silence in the room because we're all a mixture this is this is the the funny thing that the if we look at the psychology of the human mind we're a mixture why because these are all elements of the three gunas the bound soul is stuck in Thomas and we all have certain areas of our life where we also feel that laziness the procrastination led the indolence that lack of energy always postponing things not ready to make a full effort so those present are all seekers but at the same time they have the the attachment of the bound sold now this is a very sad thing and one of the facts of life that we all have to deal with that simply becoming a moo-moo cube so I can say that for example that ok now I'm a seeker of God this is really this is all that I want then I read the description of the bound soul and I say by it I have those same attachments so this is this is the difficulty that there's a gap the mind is lagging behind if we want to look at it that way or the some SCOTUS or lagging behind the the new individual I become a new person now I don't care for worldly things I'm a new person all I care about is spiritual things I want to realize God and the mind says I'm not finished with enjoyment I still like the world I still have fun with all of these things I'm still attracted this lust and greed and pride and the envy all of these things they occupy my mind and sometimes I even like it I want I want some enjoyment so this is a castle that takes place within the mind and every spiritual aspire end unless they're born with really beautiful samskaras they all have to put up with this especially if this we start out as but the Hegira bound soul and through some type of grace and i say generally the two types either either if we meet a great spiritual soul and it can be through a book even we come into contact we read something or some tragedy comes in our life and we question things this is all - life for some reason we realize that no there has to be more so we're switching category in the same lifetime but the old tendencies are still there so this is this is the the struggle that takes place we sit for meditation and the mind gets pulled down that these these are old desires these vasanas these are asanas or very deep-seated some Scottish a Boston is the type of samskaara the very deep-seated samskaara particularly with regard to a desire so sometimes we can translate this as a very deep-seated desire that we have from from previous lifetime work or from even we can say the previous lifetime is before we got interested in spiritual life we're born again we have this Allegiance where do we just like the born-again Christians they'll they'll say no this is my new birth so we may feel that we've taken a new birth so we're stuck with the some scholars from our previous birth which were also from this lifetime up to this point so this is the struggle that we all have as I say except for a very few rare Souls and taqwa would say this is how he would get em to agree look at the wonderful tendencies look at some of these young boys that are coming that they've not interested in the worldly life in career and marriage and children family anything like that they're only interested in God realization and I'll give the example does it come here of the Houma of the Houma bird yeah we'll get that a little bit later so there's deep silence in the room because they all recognize that yes I consider myself the seeker after liberation but at the same time I recognize I have some of the same tendencies in my mind that the bound soul has now the saving grace for us is that we don't simply baro baro our heads in the in the dirt and mud and think that we're fine we know that there's a problem and we know that we have to work these things out and we have to purify these some squatters and we have to die hurt them and give them a different direction and everything but we recognize it's difficult so very often we'll see that that the devotees will be struck dumb by some of the things that taco says because they'll recognize that yes we also suffer from these things so a devotee and probably it's em again because em he took everything very seriously from the very first time he met Sri Ramakrishna he felt that his words were really the gospel there's word that later he would say that the Divine Mother is speaking through him Tucker also felt that that so he took his words very very seriously so now he's thinking that well if I analyze my mind I probably will have to say that I belong to the class of the bound soul so is it hopeless for me what can I do so M there were a devotee I'm guessing M sir is there no help then for such a worldly person he's not saying for me it'd be a little shy but it means for me it means for all of us is there no help then for such a worldly person Master certainly there is so he was always optimistic certainly there is from time to time he should live in the company of a holy man and from time to time go into solitude to meditate on God now you remember and the very first or the second visit did M came when he asked all of the questions that how does one realized God and under what circumstances will get the same list over and over and over again and holy company is is I would say most of the time the first on the list in solitude second other times hild emphasized prayer very much and repeating the name of God japa meditation is very rarely mentioned up at the very top of the list because it very difficult even though he would insist on meditation but if we really want that the immediate inspiration then is holy company sadhu sanga satsanga and everything gets translated here the holy men I mean only women also and it also means devotees those who are highly advanced more advanced than us you know they say if you if you want to become a good tennis player or with play with somebody better than you so the same thing that we can learn from devotees who are more advanced than us that's also holy company and for us reading this gospel this of course is tremendous holy company so we're getting a list again is there no help certainly there is from time to time he should live in the company of holy men and from time to time go into solitude to meditate on God solitude no other disturbances we can be very serious very sincere we can go very deep we don't have to worry about what other people think of us or anything it's very very important and taqwa talks about it so much furthermore he should practice discrimination again the same Lister's before him prayed to God give me faith and devotion once a person has faith he has achieved everything there is nothing greater than faith now this is also a very great teaching and there's a big distinction now when talk war generally when we read this word faith taqwa is using the word this wasa visage in Bengali which wasa there are two terms that very often get translated as faith one is Shraddha and the other is vishwas they're very similar and at the same time very different this is similar in that both are necessary in spiritual life both have to do with with faith in the teachings of the scriptures and words of the Guru and all of that but this Shraddha has to be there at the very beginning we have to because it's an attitude of sincerity and humility and reverence respect for the tradition taking the words of the teacher very seriously recognizing our limitations and and our need to to respectfully follow the teachings of someone else all of these things have to be there at the very beginning this rasa is is a type of conviction which grows and it comes at the very end of spiritual life once we have that then we get to the very higher state of a perfect Chattanooga T taking refuge with God and this vyakulata this tremendous longing for God comes but he says once we've reached this rasa the chocen then we're on very firm ground that then it's unshakeable this was a means that we're convinced I'm convinced that I've seen enough I've had enough experience personal experience that I know that there's there's an inner reality that's greater and more real than this external universe I've seen this great souls who have achieved something in spiritual life and they're free from all of these other entanglements that most of us suffer from and they have a tremendous calmness and peace of mind and joy and bliss and love for others in compassion I see that I'm convinced that this is the goal of life this is what I want to have this is possible and this comes through spiritual practice I'm convinced this is vishwas and convinced of the reality of divinity however we understand it personal God the consciousness the Brahman whatever it is that I am convinced of that so for sure Ramakrishna this this is a very high state then it comes at the very end and he says if we've achieved that we've achieved everything necessary in spiritual life not that we've had God realization but we've achieved we reach a safe landing spot we can see Swami's fryin and eg I heard him say many times that conviction is a type of realization a very interesting concept it's not realization exactly but we become so convinced of the reality the the living presence of God within so convinced of it that we can feel it maybe we haven't had that illumination and that some artheon or all of that but a type of realization becomes so clear to us I remember somebody asked as far as Fonzie once has he had illumination our Swami's will never say yes or no to that but he's he thought for a minute needy and he said yes I feel that I've achieved that conviction so then Vishwa so the very high state now we'll get a little story here just to explain this is faith to kadar so Kate or not was one of the other devotees in the room possibly he asked that question we really were just guessing when it says a devotee you must have heard about the tremendous power of faith it is said in the Parana that Rama who was God Himself the embodiment of absolute Brahman had to build a bridge to cross the sea to sail on but Hanuman trusting in Rama's name cleared the sea and one jump and reached the other side he had no need of a bridge or left once a man was about to cross the sea Vibhishana wrote Rama's name when a leaf tied it in the corner of the man's wearing cloth and said to him don't be afraid have faith and walk in the water but look here the moment you lose faith you will be drowned the man was walking easily on the water suddenly he had an intense desire to see what was tied in his cloth he opened it and found only a leaf with the name of Rama written on it what is this he thought just the name of Rama as soon as doubt entered his mind he sank under the water if a man has faith in God then even if he has committed the most heinous sins now sometimes Ramakrishna will say things but wonder why is he mentioning all of these things then it turns out that there's a song he's going to sing this is introduction to the song if he has committed the most heinous sins such as killing a cow a Brahmin or a woman he will certainly be saved through his faith let him only say to God Oh Lord I will not repeat such an action and he need not be afraid of anything when he had said this the master saying if only I can pass away repeating Durga's name how canst thou then o blessed one with hold for me deliverance wretched though I may be I may have stolen a drink of wine or killed a child unborn or explain a woman or a cow or even caused a Brahmins death but they would all be true nothing of this can make me feel the least uneasiness for through the power of thy sweet name my wretched soul may still aspire even tooth Brahmin hood so we will stop here and close with the with the chant niranjan only demon hunter rupam Rockton who come only you shop at our own paramecia medium term Ramakrishna it is on [Music] we bow our heads before Rama Krishna who is stainless of infinite nature whose heart melts and sympathy for his devotees who is an embodiment of the divine and the Supreme Lord and ever worthy of our worship Shanti Shanti Shanti peace peace peace beyond thank you