Video 68

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna read by Swami Atmajnanananda (08/06/21)

[Music] foreign your words are like nectar bringing life to squirt 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 are on page 247 we started last week on a new day friday june 15 1883. it was a holiday one account of uh and uh adaram raquel's father raquel's father's father-in-law there were several devotees there and of course m is always there whenever we get any section from the gospel we know that m is there even if he doesn't mention his name or anything the conversation again turned to the life of the householder now this parkour is not always very helpful to me sometimes he's a little bit a little bit strong on the need for renunciation we'll see in this section he bounces back and forth a little bit he'll praise a little bit uh there's a need for strict renunciation and then other times he'll say no those who live in the world can also realize god so anyhow he starts out a little bit strong here master to the devotees you see by leading a householder's life a man needlessly dissipates his mental powers okay this is uh and just because uh the attention has to be given to so many different things so many different directions to the family to the job society all sorts of things whereas the monk doesn't have so many distractions the man can direct the mind towards his spiritual practice and towards god the loss he thus incurs can be made up if he takes to monastic life this is one of the few times when we see srama krishna actually talking about taking up monastic life to the devotees what does he say they say sannyasa yeah yeah the laws he thus incurs can be made up if he takes the monastic life the first birth is the gift of the father then comes the second birth when one is invested with the sacred thread this is uh where the term dwigia comes from yeah being uh taking a second birth these are different types of they're called some scottish not to some squad as we know of as tendencies and impressions but these uh kind of rites of passage the purification things so this is considered the second birth sacred threat there is still another birth at the time of being initiated into monastic life now we really we do consider this kind of a new birth because we we actually celebrate our death that we do the shrouded ceremony for ourselves and as as if we're dead to the world and so it is a type of of new birth we can say the two obstacles to spiritual life are lust and gold attachment to women in quotes this is attachment to whatever objective of desire that one has in a sexual sense diverts one from the way leading to god a man doesn't know what it is that causes his downfall once while going to the fort this is fort williams in in kolkata uh it's an underground fort you go in and and it was built so that uh it keeps going lower and lower and lower and lower and so is tremendous protection from invading armies and things here uh yeah be born again they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven yeah no there's in in the bengali there's a there's a footnote it's just a reference to the bible the staying of christ unless you be born again because they also use this this terminology born again christian right so born again being born again in the christian sense uh means either having some awakening or maybe even baptism it could be but it's the same concept the same concept that at some point a very radical turn takes place in our lives and we go from leading a worldly life to leading a spiritual life it can be a ritualistic type of thing with the sacred thread this is something that doesn't necessarily correspond to some new spiritual attitude is usually done for a young boy 9 years old or 11 or 13 different traditions are like that but when we talk about this born-again christians they'll have some awakening they'll have some discovery that uh they'll accept christ as their savior and goal and and in life and everything so in the bengali they simply make a reference yeah and probably did that it's not included in the in the english translation once while going to the fort i couldn't see at all that i was driving down a sloping road but when the carriage went inside the fort i realized how far down i had come alas i hate to say this women keep men deluded men keep women deluded also as we have to remember that he's talking to men here and that holy holy mother gave the same teaching to the women this simply means that this the power of attraction between the sexes is a very uh intoxicating type of thing and it occupies the mind for those who want to give the mind fully to god this becomes an obstacle unless it can be turned into some divine mood that we see the the divine in the and the husband or wife or whatever captain says my wife is full of wisdom the man possessed by a ghost does not realize it he says why i am all right the devotees listen to these words in deep silence master it is not lust alone that one should be afraid of in the life of the world there is also anger anger arises when obstacles are placed in the way of desire generally they talk about kamikrodha and loba and and greed so lust anger and greed are generally considered then they add jealousy in other things to it but these are all the passions when we're in the grip of the passions we lose our our sense of self we we lose our center we lose our self-control so these are all obstacles now it doesn't mean that these things don't arise to those who take the monastic life the the difference is that in monastic life we with the draw ourselves we don't place ourselves in uh in that same environment that one is in uh of course as i always say our monastic life today is not the monastic life of ancient india where they lived in a forest cave and didn't mix with people or anything like that m so so taco is talking about anger and at meal time sometimes the cat stretches out its paw to take the fish from my plate but i cannot show any resentment master why you may even beat it once in a while now we see this very often taku gives different types of advice to the different devotees and was a little bit too soft in his nature so he wanted him to to know that sometimes we have to be firm with things if anything represents an obstacle in our spiritual life sometimes we just have to take a stance and some people they're they're very soft natured that any time anybody wants them to do anything that they're willing to do it always compromising and they they lose that regularity in their spiritual life that their time for meditation comes and somebody says you want to come over and do something they say oh okay i don't want to hurt their feelings it's a very soft nature of people it's a good people of course but sometimes we have to say this is my meditation time i'll come later so he's trying to instill a little bit of this shakti a little bit of strength in m yes you may even beat it once in a while what's the harm a worldly man should hiss but he shouldn't pour out his venom he mustn't actually injure others now we know stories about beating cats there's one story about ganesh that he was playing with the cat and was rough with it and threw it around a little bit and had little scratches and he went to see his mother his mother was covered with scratches and he said what happened and he said no you know i also dwelled within the cat all those scratches there they come under me also and uh takur himself uh there's a nice story about the cat tucker and the cat that there was a cat who used to sleep in taquer's room and he became very fond of it would come as if taking shelter with him and he was afraid when he wasn't there or after he passed away whatever that the cat wouldn't be taken care of so he asked this uh this tyranny devi very wonderful woman deputy if she could take the cat and look after it and care for it so she did that and then we know that sometimes the food meant to be offered to mother kali whether it was the same cat or another cat there were stray cats all over that he once saw the divine mother in the cat and gave the food to the cat so we shouldn't think he didn't like cats we have to take everything in its context and see the point that he's trying to make so a worldly man should hiss but he shouldn't pour out his venom he mustn't actually injure others but he should make a show of anger to protect himself from enemies so this is this is very practical advice we don't want to live in the world in such a way that people walk all over us and take advantage of us at the same time we don't want to get angry and and harm other people or anything like that so we do a little this self-protection otherwise they will injure him but a sannyasi must not even hiss i find it extremely difficult for a householder to realize god this may be m yeah we don't know and it just says very often when it says a devotee otherwise he may and may give the actual name of the person so sometimes we have to guess this m himself could be because m always felt that he was at a great disadvantage and uh every household is different of course there is some where everything goes very smoothly very few but relatively smoothly and m's household was not like that he he lives in a joint family and his father had remarried and his brothers weren't at all spiritual except his younger brother uh so he was constantly and at loggerheads with with the family members so his life was not very easy that way and then the child died and much later another child died and his wife practically became mad so his life was filled with with the difficulties and problems so i find it extremely difficult for a householder to realize god how few people can lead the life you prescribe for them i haven't found any what is this prescription that do all of your duties in the world but keep your mind fixed on god live in the world like the mudfish that it can be in the midst of the mud but it won't cling to its body live like the maidservant in the rich man's home he gives so many examples so i haven't found any master why should that be so i've heard of a deputy magistrate named singh he is a great man he has many virtues compassion and devotion to god he meditates on god once he sent for me certainly there are people like him now we we know that there are literally dozens of uh devotees of srama christian householder devotees who followed his advice and lived like that and then with holy mother uh she had so many more disciples so the very large number of very pious householders so this is a taco speaking the practice of discipline is absolutely necessary why shouldn't a man succeed if he practices sadhana the sadhana of course takes many different forms for suramar krishna meditation was always included meditation job of prayer but it also has this sense of of some regularity having some routine doing a certain amount each day this is what he called vedhibakti that following some prescription with he already we get this word here so he always emphasized that we think he's always saying that nothing happens except by the grace of god then where is this room for all of this spiritual practice we have to do that in order to to be able to access that grace to be able to appreciate it to know that it's ever present but he doesn't have to work hard if he has real faith faith in the guru's words so we're we're seeing all of these different kind of footnotes to things that we have have to work very hard to realize god that we have to struggle and everything but those who have the very simple faith then they don't have to do so much juan tabiyasa was about to cross the yamana when the gopis had arrived there wishing to go to the other side but no ferryboat was in sight they said to be assa revered sir what shall we do now don't worry said vyasa i will take you across but i am very hungry have you anything for me to eat the gopis had plenty of milk cream and butter with them vyasa ate it all then the gopis asked well sir what about crossing the river we also stood in the bank of the drama and said o yamana if i have not eaten anything today then may your waters part so that we may all walk to the other side no sooner did the sage utter these words than the waters of the german departed the gopis were speechless with wonder he ate so much just now they said to themselves and he says if i have not eaten anything we ass had the firm conviction that it was not himself but in narayana god who dwelt within his heart that had partaken of the food talker tells the story on many different uh occasions yeah we we wonder about truthfulness and we don't realize that truthfulness involves speaking according to the actual facts spiritual facts of life if i eat something i say i've eaten is it true or is it not true it depends of course we we may say don't be so picky of course it's true if you've eaten you've eaten and don't don't get fancy and and and pretend that you're god realized soul and everything that we don't have to go around saying that god dwelling within me or took of the food or that these this hand picked up the food and put it in my mouth and my mouth chewed and everything we don't have to go that far but there are some times when uh truthfulness really means dwelling within the self that we have to understand it that way also yeah there was a time but we we know that generally tucker didn't like to use the word i or referred to himself he would say this place but there was a period when he wouldn't use the word i at all and uh friday three that said said to him that why do you do all of this let other people pretend to do that they have their ego you have no ego anyhow well you don't have to bother with all these things like that but [Music] no no that's the other way no no yeah don't don't don't interrupt too much there are people watching down there who don't don't know what you're talking about that has nothing to do with three days yeah okay shankaracharya was a brahmagyani to be sure but at the beginning he too had the feeling of differentiation now i'm going to take exception with this that there are all these stories that are meant to explain how shankar compose different hymns and they all make him look a little bit bad and i i uh the real shankaracharya that we know was a lumen soul and nitya siddha and thakura always includes him as inditisita that's perfect from birth god relay soul special soul so when we hear all of these things these are meant to explain uh these different hymns that uh there are always stories connected with the hymns an old man reciting this rules of grammar so uh chakratardia took pity on him and he said you should be worshiping god why are you doing so there are always stories connected with them i don't think taka really felt that in the beginning he was covered with ignorance or anything like that but it's part of the tradition that that these incidents took place he didn't have absolute faith that everything in the world is a brahmin now this is a slightly different thing that his emphasis was more on uh look upon this world as unreal look upon this world is as the object and ourselves as the subject to make this distinction between the say you're in the scene that which is permanent that which is changing this world is constantly changing to make a distinction like that he didn't emphasize so much this big gianni point of view that everything is is a manifestation of environment he emphasized the other but he accepted it this is a little bit similar to uh what we understand about totopuri now he was a god realized soul and he had his his samadhi and everything but he also uh didn't accept too much this idea that the roman has this divine power everything is a manifestation of of the brahmin except he didn't accept this idea of maya and shakti the same way that shiromi krishna did and he had to have some later experience in order for that to to take place so shankar sankaritari was a brahmanagani to be sure a full knower of god but at the beginning he too had a feeling of differentiation now this won't be the beginning this will be after he's grown up in everything he's not really a child he didn't have absolute faith that everything in the world is mormon one day as he was carrying a coming out of the ganges after his bath he saw an untouchable a butcher carrying a load of meat inadvertently the butcher touched his body now any orthodox person first and untouchable then meat and everything you'll you'll immediately have to take another bath to the ganges you'll be considered impure they've all these strict rules about these things for brahmagyani it shouldn't make any difference so sometimes these brahmayani's they also make little little mistakes there's one time when totopuri he's talking to srama krishna that about everything being divine see brahman in all things everything and then was it redoi maybe somebody came up and in front of that sacred fire he wanted to take a little of the firewood to to light his tobacco for a smoke thought the body got furious and then surrounded christian laughed he said look at this yes now you're telling me god dwells within all the beings somebody comes up and they want to use some of the fire and you get angry at him so thought before he recognized it of course so uh shouted angrily hey there how dare you touch me revered sir said the butcher i have not touched you nor have you touched me see in the story they always make the other person uh the the the one who gives the teaching and very often the other person will turn out to be oh this was uh indra himself who came down in the form of the butcher they'll make stories uh around these uh these compositions that they have revered sir said the butcher i have not touched you nor have you touched me the pure self cannot be the body nor the five elements nor the twenty-four cosmic principles not shankaracharya do all of this of course but this is the way they they tell the story then shankara came to his senses once was carrying king rahulgana's palanquin and at the same time giving a discourse on self-knowledge the king got down from the palaquin and said to jordan who are you pray the latter answered i am not this not this i am the pure self he had perfect faith that he was the pure self this is a very interesting story we know that uh king bharada that with a very very pious man he was the father of rahman and all the family and uh towards the end of his life he went into the forest as they were supposed to give up the kingdom and everything went into the forest to do spiritual practices and there was a deer that lived in the in the forest that used to come and then he started to feed the deer and he got very attached to the deer he loved this deer and the the belief is that at the moment of death whatever thought comes to the mind will determine the next birth so uh at the point of death what came to his mind was the deer he remembered the deer and they say he was born again as a deer in the next lifetime now this doesn't mean that he has to go through every other life as a deer as a dog a cat a cow all of these things and then human birth and all of that there was just a little blip so the next time when he was born because he had such good some scars and he would see was really a highly realized soul when he was born he he remembered the past previous life and he resolved not to get attached to anything so he resolved never to speak so people thought he was an idiot and they come jada means inert was the same king after taking birth as a deer and then taking birth again as this uh simple looking person who was really a sage and uh it was so simple that uh that one of the bears fell ill or something they saw him sitting there so that they they grabbed hold of him and and made him become a bearer of the pelican there's a beautiful text sanskrit text i forget the name of it one of the small little parakarenas very nice nice text with all the teachings of giardia and then so uh he was giving a discourse yeah so they're wondering who is this simple person and he's he's spouting these words of knowledge and and that discourse that he gave is it is a little text we should find it sometime and read it very nice beautiful advice of it onto text like that so he had perfect faith that he was the pure self i am he i am the pure self that is the conclusion of the gyanis now takwa never likes to make a competition between the gyanis and the bhaktas those following the path of wisdom those following the path of devotion but he'll always say that this is the conclusion or this is the attitude very often he'll use that term this is the attitude of those following the path of knowledge he says but the bhaktas say the whole universe is the glory of god who would recognize a wealthy man without his power and riches now the bhakta for suramar krishna is not somebody who is following a path separate from the gyani we can almost say that in sri lanka christian's mind that those have the who had the attitude of of the of the bhakta really or the big yanis that these are the ones who uh after and they don't have to necess necessarily do it but some after denying the world after trying to to say everything is is changing and fleeting and insubstantial and and just a source of uh temptation and i want to avoid it and all of that and and they realize the nature of the self then they see everything is filled with god everything is a manifestation of god so they first they've rejected and then they accept it they see it in the new light the the also accepts everything but can accept everything at the beginning for the gyani after having that highest realization after that so that's why this the the big yani for srama krishna can be either a gyani or bhakta that they live in a world with either this ego of devotion or this ego of knowledge so he always mentioned shankaracharya that he kept as the ego of wisdom ego of knowledge that meant that his sense of identification was with the divine i am he i am one with with a brahman and the devotee lives in the world with a sense of identification uh through a relationship i'm a child of god uh or any of the any of the servant who got any of their relationships but they both see everything as divine they see divinity everywhere the the gyani can see that the divine self within all beings but look upon discovering as part of maya and and say no i know you're not the body of my senses i'm not the body of the mind in the senses i'm that pure cells within the the vigne says this is also true the divine self within but even these coverings are divine so srama krishna had two different moods sometimes he would say i see that brahman has become oldest my mother has become all of this all the manifestation of the divine other times he would say i see that divinity peeping out i see that divinity dwelling within everything as if a pillow inside of a pillowcase that means he's not saying the pillowcase is divine he's seeing the pillow he's saying god dwelling within not the body of mind sense other times you'll see but all of this is a manifestation of the divine as well so for him both are true everything is the glory the ishwaria the glory of the divine mother and at the same time mother herself dwells within each being as the real self and at the same time when that little feeling of ego is there then i feel that mother's there and i'm there also then both of their present that's the relationship that's the eye of the the the the uh uh the eye of devotion that the vigne keeps who follows the path of bhakti so i am he i am the pure self that is the conclusion or the attitude we could say of the gyanis but the bhakti say the whole universe is the glory of god who would recognize a wealthy man without his power and riches you know these distinctions don't always hold up there's actually a verse attributed to shankaracharya i don't remember exactly maybe one of one of the texts where he gets the very same thing he says who would call somebody king if he doesn't have a kingdom and wealth and all of that and just to say the same brahman is ishwara who the wealth of the universe belongs to him also so who would recognize a wealthy man without his power and riches but it is quite different when god himself gratified by the aspirant's devotion says to him you are the same as myself now what does this mean that through the path of devotion one may get the highest wisdom that we attribute to the path of knowledge the knowledge of the oneness of the self the the jivadmin paramatman you were the same as myself suppose a king is seated in his court and his cook enters the hall sits on the throne and says oh king you and i are the same people will certainly call him a madman and this is this is similar to the case of of people who say i am he i'm one with god and at the same time feel that that i is is a body mind complex if we if we really have that feeling and we say i am god this and then it's hypocritical or it's delusional one or the other so suppose a king is seated in his court and his cook enters the hall sits on the throne and says o king you and i are the same people will certainly call him a madman but suppose one day the king pleased with the cook's service says to him come sit beside me there is nothing wrong in that there is no difference between you and me then if the cook sits on the throne with the king there is no harm in it it is not good for ordinary people to say i am he no ordinary people this isn't this isn't a question of uh who is a householder who is a sannyasi uh who belongs to what cast or profession anything like that this is a question of ordinary people or those who accept this world as as having its own separate physical existence they accept ourselves as as being this body-minded senses and all of that this or ordinary understanding of things if that's our understanding then tucker says then think of yourself as as a devotee of god follow that path of devotion the waves belong to the water does the water belong to the waves this is a another reference to a verse by shankaracharya there's a sanskrit verse like that about the ganga to the ways world meaning that i as a jiva as an individual i can feel that i'm part of god i won't say that [Music] god do the everything dwells within me now from the other point of view he does say that so everything is a question of where does what is our point of reference when people when we make these types of statements there's a very famous verse from the viktor domini that the the disciple after having that realization he says in me and this in this ocean of bliss there's an ocean of infinite joy and bliss in me all of these universes are rising rising and falling one after another blown by the wind of my very beautiful verse that this is an an attitude where the disciple feels not only this one with the brahmin but one with ishwara even though we know the disciple that the individual doesn't get those powers of ishwara but if we're one with we feel one with the brahman and we know brahman and eastwood create the creator and that transcended uh pure consciousness if we know that they're one and the same then is a simple mathematical deduction huh if a equals b and b we'll see a c so so from that point of view that we can feel that that ishwara who dwells within that each was the source of all creation but i'm also one with that issue what about as an individual i i'll never get those powers i may get that knowledge of the roman but i won't get the powers of ishwara the upside of the whole thing is that no matter what path you follow yoga is impossible unless the mind becomes quiet so now we're getting to this other idea whether a householder whether a monk whether a follower of devotion or a follower of wisdom that we have to there are certain things that we all have in common we all have the same human makeup and and this uh the same mind and senses and and everything that so we'll all have these these uh problems in common and we'll all have different things that we have to learn in common so it is impossible unless the mind becomes quiet the mind of a yogi is under his control and this doesn't mean somebody following the path of yoga it means somebody a real yogi someone who who has attained to that that state of perfect self-control he is not under the control of his mind this is that curious thing about the mind that either either the mind tells us what to do or we tell the mind what to do and in most cases of course is a mixture in some instances uh we're able to tell them what because his mind will will push us in a certain direction and that means the mind that's that's uh motivated by desire and by attachments and by the passion all of that that lower mind and when we say that i have control over the mind it simply means the higher mind that higher element of the mind that bases everything on uh some type of of uh discrimination and and uh analysis and and uh higher point of view and and looking at the teachings of these great souls and the examples that we have uh we'll tell that lower mind that you're trying to get me in trouble again that you've been telling me to do things this way i've been doing all my life and and i regret it afterwards i'm not going to follow you anymore so it's the mind the lower mind the higher mind the lower self the higher self there are all different ways of trying to understand it but we we have these two elements within ourselves that the mind is thinking and i'm observing the mind that's thinking and that intelligence and with tea if we want to say manasenbuti that higher intelligence that's watching not just the suction not just the witnessing consciousness but the discriminating faculty should have the power to say that i know that i'll enjoy this but i'm better off not doing it or postponing it so i'm gonna i utilize i'm gonna exert my willpower and i'm not gonna do it this is the yogi yogi has that ability to do that even to the point where he can control what what thoughts come into the mind for us it's enough if we can keep from acting on these things we we shouldn't expect to have the mind become so perfectly pure that these passions and desires and things don't come into the mind that may happen after the highest type of realization the mind of yogi is under his control he is not under the control of his mind when the mind is quiet now remember he's saying the mind of the yogi but before that he's saying no matter what path so this should be the goal also for those following the path of devotion or the path of knowledge when the mind is quiet the prana stops functioning so we we know that when the mind becomes very still the breath becomes still it may not stop of course but at least it'll slow down this is this is why we reverse the process if we want to make the mind calm calm and quiet then we slow down the breathing we do very slow swamiji recommends at the beginning of meditation that we sit and we take some long deep breaths not holding or anything equal amount in equal amount out and he says that we'll notice that the mind becomes a little quiet because uh the two go hand in hand this is that body-mind relationship the breath and the mind they work together so when the mind is quiet the the breathing also becomes a little bit still when the mind becomes 100 still in samati then breathing virtually stops how the person lives we don't know but when srama krishna used to go into salati they would they would try to check and see is it can they feel any breath coming out of his his nostrils anything could they feel any pulse they couldn't feel any pulse now maybe it was so mild and so slow it if it stops for a long time completely of course the body can't survive but bear barely detectable any of these bodily functions in that state of samathi so when the mind is quiet the prana stops functioning then one gets and then in pranayama one of the techniques is to breathe in and then hold the breath for a certain amount of time and then let it out this is done forcefully this is done by the decision of the mind the mind is is telling us now you hold it for a certain amount of time we may count and even do oh 16 times whatever but with with this type of of a higher experience then automatically the breath stops not that we're forcefully doing it or anything this kumbhaka one may have the same kumbhaka through bhakti yoga as well the prana stops functioning through love of god too so these are the common features through this intense love of god we become kind of frozen almost it can happen other times the weeping and wailing and all sorts of things can happen but this is one type of kumbakat that can come in the kirtan the musician sings dances like a mad elephant repeating this he goes into a spiritual mood and cannot sing the whole sentence he simply sings hati hati when the moon deepens he only says ha ha then his prana stops through ecstasy and kumbhaka follows that means that uh one becomes lost to the world when they're not aware of anything whether they're breathing or not breathing uh impossible to tell suppose a man is sweeping a courtyard with his broom and another man comes and says to him hello so and so is no more he is dead now if the dead person was not related to the sweeper the latter goes on with his work remarking casually ah that's too bad he is dead he was a good fellow the sweeping goes on all the same but if the dead man was his relative then the broom drops from his hand ah he exclaims and he too drops to the ground his prana has stopped functioning so he'll swoon he'll have some painting or something he can either work nor think haven't you noticed among women that if one of them looks at something or listens to something in a speechless and speechless amazement the other woman says to her what are you in ecstasy what is it yeah are you an ecstasy in this instance too the prana has stopped functioning and so she remained speechless with mouth and gave it will not do merely to repeat i am he i am he there are certain signs of a gyani narendra has big protruding eyes pointing to a devotee he also has good eyes and forehead yet he had this uh ability or belief that there was a certain manifestation in the body of internal attitudes so those who who had certain signs he could recognize that they were fit for a certain path now takur he's a man of infinite moods sometimes he sees things in a different light he would often say look at narendra look at his eyes he has the eyes of a bhakta he has the eyes of a lover of god so he would see both depending on his point of view and it was true with narendra modi lover of god and equally a man of perfect wisdom both were there and we look at his eyes and we wonder ah what power lies behind those eyes what vision lies behind those eyes all men are by no means on the same level it is said that there are four classes of men the bound the struggling the liberated and the ever free it is also not a fact that all men have to practice spiritual discipline there are the ever free and those who achieve perfection through spiritual discipline some realize god after much spiritual austerity and some are perfect from their very birth pralada is an example of the ever free now people used to wonder about the sometimes the brahmos and everything they liked this idea that uh there's only one class everyone belongs to the same class that everyone equally could could realize god that everyone has the same potential and the same power within that nobody is special or anything taco is looking at this from the point point of view not of of that indwelling divine presence he's looking at from the point of view of the of the makeup of the mind of the individual the some scottish the past births everything that goes into uh the makeup of the personality of the of the individual so he could see that some uh perhaps for some is the first of human birth for others it's the last and he had this this faith that there were some who were not born because of past karma he called these these siddhas and nithya siddha doesn't necessarily mean we have two ways of understanding it that we would normally think niti said it means eternally perfect that they were never bound and why they take place if they're never bound this nithya said this could be the avatar but he also had had this belief which we find in other traditions also the buddhist tradition that they're those who attain realization and yet keep some desire to work for the welfare of others and they can be born again they'll even choose to be born again these are the bodhisattvas and from the buddhist tradition so we we see all different classes and and when we're talking about even for god realized souls there are all these different classes pacquiao talks about those who can ascend to to the state of samadhi all different types of people that there'll be some who they can they can get to the roof huh they can get to the roof if they stay there too long then they'll do how wonderful they'll even jump over the other side there's no coming back for them then there'll be some they'll go up there and they'll they'll have that realization they won't stay too long and they'll have some karma that will pull them back down like the brick with the mongoose there'll be others that will go there and they'll think that oh let me tell others so they'll have a little good desire that will bring them back down there'll be others who can go and spend a little time there and also come back because they have a little more power these will be the the nithya siddhas then they'll be those very rare ones like swami krishna who can go back and forth they can stay as long as they want up there then come back down again these are all different degrees of of power of spiritual power uh so taku would say that yes the realization of everyone is the same that same knowledge if we know that we're brahmana we know we're brahman there's there's nothing no two ways about it about the spiritual power swami krishna he had that power by a touch he could give the samadhi to other people he could absorb all of these different spiritual experiences all these different types of ecstasy he used to say that the same thing this this these different classes he used to explain it in terms of of the the size of the container or sometimes he would say when the elephant of ecstatic mood of divine emotions when that elephant goes into a small hut it'll knock the whole thing down so an ordinary person who doesn't have this this tremendous capacity for spiritual practice if if they uh if they have these these uh very high types of spiritual emotions the whole body will be affected by it even swamiji even swamiji when he was in amernath when he had that experience of shiva seeing shiva in in the image that even he the heart was expanded the blood clot in his eye all things his physical health was affected by that so somebody is as great as him if that spiritual emotion is so great then it can it can uh really wreak havoc on on the on the health and the body or he would say like an elephant it goes into a small pond it splashes all the water all over the place it's all gone it goes into a great big lake and you hardly hardly notice anything yeah we saw with the direct disciples that many of them are having exiting singing and dancing weeping and everything and narendra that is not too much affected by all of that we don't hear too much of uh these things and and taku would say because he's such a huge reservoir he sees such a huge container he won't be affected that that easily by all of these is the types of spiritual emotions and moods eternally perfect sages these will be like pralada practice meditation and prayer oh now let me go back to this about the some don't have to do spiritual practice these will be those tucker explains who did all of this in a previous lifetime he doesn't let anybody off the hook he says he even he'll say there's sadness that means that we see we see them doing tremendous spiritual practice there'll be others that it'll be kripa siddha more grace that means they practice more this perfect reliance on god and in praying to god and everything they'll have that religion but that's also a type of sadhana so it's a question of what seems more prominent that for some it seems like they've achieved everything through their own efforts but even then uh everything will be through grace ultimately that they the southerner will simply prepare the grounds for grace to come eternally perfect sages like pralada also practice meditation in prayer but they have realized the fruit god vision even before their spiritual practice they are like gourds and pumpkins which grow fruit first and then flowers this is how taco explained his his direct disciples when we call this these ever perfect knitting centers or eastward that uh when we see uh say rakhal swami brahmananda doing such intense meditation of locking himself in a little hud in vrindavan day after day after day why did he do that did he need to do all of that he had had that realization first to talk with grace and being a perfect soul he'd had that first and then afterwards they do all of that he said to get established in samadhi and the second reason we understand is to set an example so so that we know that the spiritual practice is something necessary so taco used to say that we see the fruits first and uh the flower first and then the fruits later and normally the flower has to come and then that'll drop off the fruit book up looking at racco's father even though an eternally perfect soul is born in a low family still he retains his innate perfection now normally he tries to uh to uh to get on the on the good side of raquel's father i don't know he he says this but he cannot do anything else a pea germinating in the heap of cow dung still grows into a pea plant because his father was a worldly man he was a worldly man but rakal he'll develop into what he is he because he was he had that inner stuff he had these some scottish he was a eternally perfect soul god is given to some greater power than two others so this is this is exactly what he's saying some of some of us at the beginning stage somewhere at the very end in one man you see it as the light of a lamp and another as the light of a torch one word of vidyasagar revealed to me the utmost limit of his intelligence when i told him of the different manifestations of god's power in different beings he said to me sir has god then given greater power to some than to others at once i said yes certainly he has if there are not different degrees of manifestation of his power then why should your name be known far and wide now we don't have to take this as uh blame god for all of this that god decided oh let me give some to him and not to him this is this is uh all because of uh our innate tendencies uh what do we what we're born with that power they were born with to what we've done in the in previous lifetimes you see we have come to you this is talk we're telling you we have come to you after hearing of your knowledge and compassion you haven't grown two horns have you with all his fame and eradication that the assad said such a childless thing that says god given greater power to some than to others the truth is that when the fisherman draws his net he first catches big fish like trout and carp then he stirs up the mud with his feet and small fish come out minnows mudfish and so on so also unless a man knows god minnows and the light gradually come out from within him what can one achieve through mere scholarship so this is the end of that day we we should remember that when tucker is talking about the householder life and the difficulties it's it's not anything against the the householder himself or herself it's about the challenges and obstacles that one faces in the world with family relationships with a job uh with trying to earn money with fulfilling obligations in society the monks are free from that this is an advantage that they have sometimes obstacles are good for us and we learn from them and and so it's it's not that their householders are second class citizens we're going through swamiji's lecture eats is greater than his own place less sunday this sunday so uh taco never means to to make that classification that one is better than the other they have two different ways of of living in the world two different sets of challenges he he praises the householder who can lead a spiritual life while doing all of his duties and he criticizes the monk who leads a lazy life carefree life and doesn't do spiritual practice so it is all the question of uh to what extent can we live up to the ideal of the ideal householder in the ideal monk okay let us stop here that's actually the end the end of that day we'll begin next time page 249 sunday june 17th 1883. um [Music] krishna who is 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 [Music] peace peace you