Video 71

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna read by Swami Sarvadevananda (09/03/21)

one okay we have a special surprise for everyone that's mommy sarvadevanti is here he's giving a retreat this weekend and he will also do the gospel class and we're just waiting for him to come he'll be down in just a minute so don't go away [Music] uh uh hmm uh hmm here [Music] [Music] he oh lord your gospel is like nectar and bliss showered upon the pain-stricken lives of suffering humanity it brings spiritual welfare and blessings for all they are the blessed people who preach and pronounce your message to the suffering humanity from peace peace peace be unto us all it is a joy to see you again after one year or two years i do not know but anyway yeah we are all yeah pre-pandemic yeah but anyway uh so i'm here today and to we'll be seeing you some days now few days more so today we'll be reading the gospel of sri ramakrishna and this day is monday the reading is monday the june of 25 1883 the festivity at panihati srirama house in calcutta rakhal and name were seated near him the master was in ecstasy he conversed with the devotees in an abstracted mood master said let me assure you that a man can realize his inner self through sincere prayer but to the extent that he has the desire to enjoy worldly objects his vision of the self becomes obstructed am yes sir you always ask us to plunge into god master joyously yes that is it that's it let me tell you that the realization of self is possible for all without any exception m that's true sir but god is the doer he works through different beings in different ways according to their capacity to manifest the divine god gives to some full spiritual consciousness and others he keeps in ignorance master no that's not so one should pray to god with a longing heart god certainly listens to prayer if it is sincere there is no doubt about it a devotee yes sir there is this i consciousness in us therefore we must pray master a man should reach the nithya the absolute by following the trail of the leela the relative it is like reaching the roof by the stairs after realizing the absolute he should climb down to the relative and live on that plane in the company of devotees charging his mind with the love of god this is my final and most mature opinion had god has different forms and he spoke in different ways his sports as ishwara deva man and the universe in every age he descends to earth in human form as an incarnation to teach people love and devotion there is the instance of switch eternal one can test devotion and love of god only through his incarnation infinite are the ways of god's play but what i need is love and devotion i want only the milk the milk comes to the order of the cow the incarnation is the order watch sri ramakrishna hinting that he was the incarnation of god did he suggest that those who saw him saw god did he just speak about himself when speaking of situated or not so this wonderful passage we got it here is a very beginning is very inspirational but he says the rakhal we can imagine the environment in balrambush's house in the second floor we can go mentally and you can think sriracha you know seated in his room which is now the place where he sees ceramic venus altar is there and there we find the master in ecstasy and he's conversing with the devotees in an abstracted mood his mind is not in the world mind is somewhere else as it were on mind as we see as we normally remain unmindful for spiritual things so go see rama remains unmindful about the world and everything mind goes into samadhi so that's the uniqueness and what he says is most important here everything is important but for us it has a special significance let me assure you that a man can realize his inner self to sincere prayer i said like in bhagavad-gita we say kontiya pratijani nami bhakta pranashati declare it that i am assuring that my devotees never will perish here is another way only saying it is assurance that a man can realize his inner self through sincere prayer even if we cannot have so much of knowledge and wisdom of the vedanta or different philosophies or have not read anything or not able to meditate and pray deeply but but simple prayer with sincerity that is a very assuring word only ours is needed a sincerity sincerity in our heart that i really i want you oh lord but to the extent that he has is the desire why this does not come also he is explaining that to the extent that he has the desire to enjoy worldly objects his vision of the self becomes obstructed the vision becomes obstructed our our all vision is obstructed what is the problem why do i not see god is that is god should come from somewhere else it is here and now here and now i am seeing this table it is no trouble it is god in an absolute sense everything is gone ramakrishna said it is name and form only you know and vedanta teaches us every time what we see through maya through our ignorance this world of name and form but name and form is composed of the same element and that has been given this idea in the all the scriptures objective you go ostravacro this should be wherever you go this message is given what i am seeing i am seeing god but i am misunderstanding misapprehending because of what by my mind why my mind is such the mind is covered with ignorance the ignorant mind what is ignorant mind what is the mind ignorant and what is the illumined mind ignorant mind is this that it does not allow us to see the truth ignorant mind distorts the figure it is a distorted image comes in our life so it is that this vision of this self becomes obstructed impure mind is like a deep cloud because of the deep cloud the sun which is in the sun in the in the sky i don't see it it is our everyday experience when there is a thick layer of cloud between the sun and me i don't see it is total darkness so we see in the world only and there is no trace of god in anywhere but as the thickness of the cloud the dust and dot which has accumulated in the mind it becomes clean it becomes thinner and thinner and thinner then what happens the light more light sun's light becomes more manifest and gradually gradually more light comes daylight comes and day becomes brighter and brighter and brighter when totally the cloud is off gun what remains we see light everywhere light was there sun was there sun's light was there but it was obstructing my vision that's why vidanta the most ignorant people they are not seeing the sun because of the clouded vision and that is our mind why mind is crowded what does it mean mind is crowded mind is attached to the things temporary thing which we our senses bring to us i see something i become fascinated with it i like it and i my mind goes second time third time to hold on to that and trying to grab that joy that bliss which is actually everywhere but i don't see because of my ignorance so that's why it is the mind that man can but what is the way what is the way we where is that sincere prayer they say philosophically vedantic and he said say i am not the body that's also another way but what he's saying for us we general people need not have to think so much only sincerely siram you know said in another place no so we are you are sitting before me and he puts a towel and says it we don't see you don't see me i cannot see you so this towel this ignorance this layer of ignorance in between has become so strong that it gives a distorted image of the object where everything is god everything is full of bliss and joy succeed on the ocean only all the waves and ripples are such chida all the waves and people say water and water only ocean water but we don't recognize it as ocean water we think individual name and form comes in between and it confuses us and our actions and reactions in the world our suffering and our pain our anguish our fear our anxieties everything torments us every day and that is the play of ignorance and ignorance is nothing other than the mind this mind when it becomes prayerful then what happens then sri ramakrishna said shri messages no or all the scriptures say repeated repeated practice not once again and again and again and again asakrith orbit rashford this advice what is vedic scriptures are teaching us we have to assert that again and again remind in our mind so that this darkness goes away similarly what is the bhaktos bhakta's way doctor will say oh lord i want to see you please remove the pale of ignorance no i i want to see you and and that's why shirama given his life itself is the greatest example it is only by prayer sri lanka cried he didn't make any philosophy at the beginning and he has come in this age to guide us all sincere pure yearning of the heart and shiram krishna cried ma are you there if you are there why don't you come and show yourself before me that sincere prayer and he's assuming sincere prayer then he is saying that it can be realized in this here itself only to the extent we have the desire to enjoy worldly objects we are bound to enjoy the worldly objects because their refined joy instant joy my eyes see a beautiful thing and my mind says okay wonderful wonderful i really city good food my tongue says it is good i say okay okay as if that is the end of all our joy but we know the sunset joys are so limited and so reactionary it is it brings joy but brings so much suffering at the back reaction comes so prayer prayer is the thing which can reduce this ignorance the thick ignorance i say it is like a fanning take a fan and and drive away the cloud of ignorance how by prayer by prayer sincere prayer has chant the name of the lord and his glory unceasingly that the mirror of the heart may be wiped clean and quench that mighty forest fire worldly lost raising furiously within switch taught us this prayer so it is saying the chant the name of the lord if we take the name of the lord and then give the responsibility then he will do everything only hours is sincere prayer only our purpose is to surrender and then he will take up the rest of the work so this is a very assuring word if we can just only add our input into it that our sincere prayer and sincere yearning really really i mean to see god the infinite question is that we don't little analysis is also necessary the sunset experience is not bad all joy is the same joy brahmananda is not too different the bliss is the same content when he is coming to the media of sense objects because they are limited sense object and sense perception when they get be sharing yoga when they be sure some object is there and my senses are there to grab it mind acts with it and mind says wow and as soon as he says we feel some sort of joy but it is just a touch of joy as if you are touching it and then instantly coming back and then again dark blindness comes then i ask one to have the same thing tomorrow the third day fourth day an unending life struggle goes on and we get never satisfied we want we wish we craved for it we get a little glimpse of joy and then we suffer more and more and more but sriram krishna says here this can be found to bhajananda shayman through bhajan to practice prayer meditation prayer holy company all these things sincere sign of sincerity to search it from a different perspective so one can go in this direction and gradually gradually this covering this veil when reduced it will reveal the brahmananda bhajana [Music] is the same there is no anando there is no division between ananda brahman has not divided into here little less or as she says its soul is potentially divine god is not not here and not here or there or there god is everywhere equally sami but somebody says that is potential divinity potential everywhere only it reveals to the heart reveals to the mind when it reveals when the mind is clean and pure that's why caito darpana marjanam that only to clean and clean and clean and as much mind will be clean by your prayer and sincerity this mind should run for god and god alone it cannot go anywhere else because this mind will tell us why i am going through the senses to get the same i am making so much effort and in return i get this much touch of joy and i am purifying the mind and with the pure mind i can get so much inversion as we analyze many times that when we get sense experiences most pleasurable experience when i consider that second day it does not give me joy rather it gives a idea oh today is so bad yesterday's food was nice food yesterday's the situation was so unique and today is so bad so next day it brings us to depression but today's little bhajananda little thinking of the divine i think about ten days afterwards a dream forget that even in little dream good dream we remember after 10 days 20 days it doesn't make us depressed rather it uplifts the mind that so if mind analyzes you want joy why are you searching joy there oh that song is there so you are searching for the truth why are you searching here and there you've tried enough sincerely try to have it and you try to get the direction and get in and say yes you can have it here itself so this is the great instruction i think i am very very two three lines are very inspirational and the name is again adding to that yes sir you always ask us to plunge into god he is explaining the meaning that as much as the desire to enjoy the worldly objects are there the vision is obstructed that means how can i reduce my attraction for the sense objects i cannot do that i cannot give up my sick job which i am anyhow hand to mouth maintaining and and you say that oh there is any infinity i give up the job how can you give up the job unless i get another job so mind should be engaged in some other thing so mind should get a test of higher joy we can get it ourselves we can get to seeing the sadhus and holy people or reading the lives of the saints and others looking at ramakrishna's that face beaming with joy we can just turn our attention in that way in that direction so sram see ramakrishna yes that is true to plunge into it let me tell you that the realization of self is possible for all without an exception this is also another wonderful world oh god realization will only the sadhus will get the god realization or only the devotees will get god realization only the people who are doing tremendous austerity they will guard it is no one's personal property of course everyone's personal property no one's exclusive position it is the pure heart sincere heart crying and weeping for the truth searching for that it is for everyone that's why swamiji says but right spiritual awakening or having our supreme knowledge to habit in our life it is our very birthright so we are but what right is there but who cares for the birthright because we don't get a touch of those things so we get engrossed into the world and the momentary things of life so but here is a another assertion everyone ah here is no exception he is not making any exception please note this word see ramakrishna says let me tell you that the realization of self is possible for all without any exception so what a what a declaration no that means it's our responsibility do we want it or not if we want what to do already he has given sincere say sometimes we think that oh whole day i could not call upon god and we go on repenting and we go on talking about that aha why this and blame this work situation blame that person why to spend time like that why not we say okay lord i tried by no you my condition please help me you can do that you can create the environment can we cry like that that is the urge here sincerity is the question that earnestness is the question and rest of the thing is in his hand and this can be done with the two two stories and the kitten and the monkey whatever attitude kitten will say i do not know i'm in distress i cannot do it say i cannot do it please please whatever capacity you have given with my limited capacity i cannot do even one hour one fifteen minutes what's that but when he sins here cry comes then god ramakrishna said in another place god creates environment changes situation changes and favorable makes a favorable environment so this is the point i am how can be sincere and sincere prayer that can change makes this change again am says that is true son but god is the doer he works through different beings in different ways according to their capacity to manifest the divine god gives to some full spiritual consciousness and others he keeps in ignorance must aim that's also another philosophy view but m is saying that is god's doing uh we cannot escape there i will say one idea actually we know god's god does everything is it not philosophically it is true ramakrishna said in another place even the leaf does not move without god's will so god is doing what shall i do god is doing me someone give giving more opportunity to meditate and pray and they are having sadhana more and for me i am like this so god is the duan ramakrishna says no that means we are trying to escape from our responsibility of being sincere and being helpless so why not we say whatever i do maybe i have done five minutes prayer whole day went away in vain can you say lord i should have remembered you whole day throughout all my work that is the ideal see my fate i cannot even think that i am doing your work or i could not think of you that it is you are there because i am doing because of you so why not bring that idea into mind i cannot do it i am helpless please do something so that is the sincere helplessness you know spiritual life helplessness is a great boon if one can say oh lord i am helpless so helpless by your guess everything is possible give me strength give me power so that is the shiram no that is not so one should pray to god with a longing heart do you do that yes god is doing everything i understand you cannot just say that and suck your responsibility you have to second point in that one should pray say that yes i am trying at most with my limited capacity what can i do i cannot live five pound some people can lift 50 power okay but this my condition is this 24 hours day and this is my capacity and i could not do anything so so this but can we pray that way sincerely that this is the condition so pray with a longing heart god certainly listens to prayer if it is sincere again if we can say that that itself is a solution to our problem there is no doubt about it then a devotee is asking yes sir there is this i consciousness ego therefore we must pray master sriranga negan saying man should reach the neet the absolute by following the trail of leela the relative it's a very beautiful guideline i cannot go to the absolute brahman brahman is sachidan many people think oh i don't like form i like the infinite i like the name and formless brahman this is just a statement all of us know close your eyes and think i am infinite i am atman i am in like sky i am like infinite ocean think about that go how big you can think close your eyes and think you cannot make a map of the sky also just a horizon you can think about the horizon and you think that you will be none is it not a form if i say some people demand that i don't like the form in the form of ramakrishna in the form of christ buddhas or durga kali oh these are all forms this is too limiting god oh you are very thinking about unlimited god what is the unlimited god concept how much you can think without help of mind this this impure mind how much can it take so therefore sriracha says that a man should reach nityo ultimate is nitya eternal changeless timeless spaceless absolute sachidan on themselves one should reach that when by following the trail of little leela or relative you live in this life go through that channel and reach that goal what is that think of rama rama ramakrishna's life just celebrated they think krishna how he is born how he is playing to the leela where the infinite love has been condensed in the form that's psychology here comes the avatar of worship it is he is hinting here very clearly that you cannot think of infinite you know how much you may think you think of a matter of them see the distinction those who think that i am thinking of the absolute in the name of absolute you are thinking only some matter sky ocean and some imagination it is like light it is like joy but it is all imagination if you can do imagination there why not take advantage of this where the infinite love infinite joy infinite blessings came down in human form and walked in the ground touched somebody gave the illumination and lifted the people from that level to that level of illumination why not think that way also that means avatar worship is very very congenial for not for everyone but majority of the people because we live in the realm of name and form our mind is not purified to that extent but with that sincerity that we can have any glimpse of infinity as i said very beginning at the the mind the cloud in the mind is making me separate from god and if one by tears of the eyes by prayer or karma yoga niskama i am doing for you lord or belong to practice but here we are emphasizing shiramkin is emphasizing today for the devotion sincere prayer so let us focus on that by that when the mind becomes little clearer and clearer and the thick cloud of ignorance reduces and reduces it is very spontaneous more and more shining light comes through and then when the total clearance will happen you will see light everywhere where is not sun to the east to the west to the north to the south to the depth to the bottom to this above it is all saturated with that only one thing sun's light is there so the atman light of the atman will spontaneously happen but how to go there that's why we make a map of in the cloud you can make a map of ramakrishna you can make a map of krishna you can make a map of christ whatever your guru teaches you or whatever your inclination and looking at that and then with intense prayer and sincere effort that cloud will vanish and god's grace will be felt it is god's grace is not that we'll have to find out from somewhere it is here and now i cannot experience that because of my non mind is has become such dull that it is non-receptive of that light and that joy so leela so through that leela to the relative we want to shiram in a suggestion to the leela one can go to ninter the absolute it is like reaching the roof by the stairs after realizing the absolute he should climb down to the relative and live on that plane in the company of the devotees charging his mind with the love of god this is my final and most mature opinion who is saying shiram is saying that is the most mature and final sri lankan never said too much pays so much emphasis on it his words are already full of truth impregnated with truth but here he gives special emphasis on this word that to go to the you should go to the lila this exceptional people may be there you see look at that hari maharaj was thinking of brahman absolute brahmana and this and that and then what ramakina said oh what is there in your vedanta brahmana alone is true and all else is false is it not and and then what happened ultimately look at horiwona's life mother mother mother mother mother why are you don he's telling gurudas maharaja why don't you have trust and mother mother is doing everything mother eating i see so you go there many two ways one they're highly advanced souls we are who are ready to not to be discussed in our plane but they they're attaining to that absolute idea but that coming down from that they become saturated with the leela so leela and tattoo are not too different that's why our meditation can be made perfectly joyful if we sometimes do meditation of leelah and sometimes meditation and the truth absolute so here this is gives the example that like reaching the roof if your reaches there and one should climb down down then after that come climb down to the relative plane and leave then how he will live he lives with the company of the holy people that's why we find that sirama krishna after climbing down whenever he comes down he's going to the devotees talking about god how his life will be that is an inspiration for others so sincere prayer and that everyone sriram is not yours that all will reach the same goal if they have sincerity and can charge their mind with the love of god so this is god then has different sports forms and his sports in different ways he spoke as ishaara god with deva man and the universe this universe is another form of brahman and god is taking another form another the gods and goddesses another from the human being or even the creator god brahma vishnu etc so it is all his sports is the absolute god the absolute is sporting leela what is kelathi bhagavan brahmande there is a song [Music] bhagavan is playing in this brahmandu everything is his play in the sun in the moon in the stars so he is his play is fun it is his it is his divine sport and his sports in in as a human being as the gods and angels as the universe as also the creator god in every age he descends to the earth in human form as an incarnation to teach people love and devotion that we are getting here and god come came in the form of rama krishna christ buddha and here she rampant himself without mentioning him but he is describing the purpose of the incarnation there is the instance of satan one can test devotion and love of god only through his incarnation that to get to that divine love ecstatic love one will have to go through the incarnation because in when you think of incarnation what happens in incarnation there is nothing but god it is saturated bliss it is made of consciousness as if consciousness has been concretized concrete is concretized and ramakrishna is a concretized consciousness concretized honey or ananda sachitano ghana so thinking of that mind becomes full of bliss and that blissful mind then moves from the form entering into the blissful attitude and then dives deep and finds that it is the unfathomable ocean that is the sachidan on the cell so that's my infinite are the ways of god's play but why i need is love and devotion my god can be achieved in so many ways ramakrishna says but what i need that's why she wrong you know taught us pray to god give me devotion give me love let me not be deluded by your world bewitching maya so this type of prayer and by that love and devotion is most cherished i want only the milk but the milk comes through the order of the cow and who is the order incarnation is the order so we get it that's krishna is the order for our present age are you becoming little fanatic about ramakrishna well no because he himself says that he who was rama he was krishna and he is the rava krishna so it is his presence is that he has come here to teach us devotion give us assurance and is giving the assurance that everyone has a birthright to attain to this ecstatic devotion and love for god and no one can for ordinary people like us can go straight to the advaitha we go to the level of duality to the absolute but fascination may be more someone may be inclined more to the non-dual but non-dual and dual are not two people it is same incarnation in another form or in another form when is the absolute form we call brahmanatman and when he comes down in a human form where extraordinary love extraordinary devotion extraordinary samadhi is unprecedented manifestation of the purity and all holiness then we have to become holy become pure our mind should think of that holiness think of purity absolute brahman is pure but i am not capable of doing that i may try that's why i always emphasize on this point we try to think of absolute but we think of the jarrah matter matter sky that is the horizon it is the ocean water these are our range here is the material aspect of the divine but it is more he's a tangible love bremnan is charged with love and devotion you know dancing ecstasy and just imagine wherever he is there what's happening he said it's no more imagination there is no more jara but it is chetan it is called our perception is granthim is the tie not not of what jorah and satan consciousness mixed with what is he not enough seems to be appeared to us as true and we catch on to that and we reject what is chetan so this tie of not will break if we think of god as consciousness that's why even we cannot do our gurus teach us think of he is there yeah you are offering flowers you are offering garland and feel that he is accepting namini it is not jorah teaching that he your store is a living and living is not only enough as the mind purifies then that image of ramakrishna will be radiant and full of light and expression of joy no and then goes on only it will remain joy and joy and joy and as rama krishna gave us the vision of mother makkali's vision he merges into that and that's omadi mother kali a statue become illumined and that illumination covered the every direction and expanding everything then mother's form dissolved and everywhere it is ocean of light and joy and sriracha is a dramatic representation it's very rarely this type of description and this type of detail of development of the purity of the soul can be has never been demonstrated before here we find so that is for us to think of some conscious entity rama krishna not a photograph ramakrishna not a stone image ramakrishna is a personality fasting is a personality and that personality is not ordinary personality it is such a bhagavan and that bhagavan has incarnated and he's full of joy and bliss there is nothing but joy and peace and thinking of that and not the our japan meditation becomes sometimes what is called mechanical why we don't put these ideas there who is ramakrishna and what is his nature and what he actually lived in the human body body in flesh and bone but what was his contribution so to bring that awareness and then it becomes a lively meditation lively prayer and then you see you can ask you can ask everything you can talk to him you can inquire about him so this is the instruction given today so thank you all right [Music] um