Bhagavad Gita Ch12 part 08 on 02 January 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Vasudeva Sutam Devam Kamsa Chanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadogavo Dogdha Gopalanandana Partho Vatsa Sudheer Bhokta Dugdham Geetha Amritam Mahat Mookam Karuthi Vachalam Pangum Langayate Girim Yath Kripathamaham Vande Paramananda Madhavam We have been studying the 15th verse of the 12th chapter very aptly called Bhakti Yoga. Yasmāno dvijate loko, lokāno dvijate chayaha, Harshām harsha-bhayo dvegaihi, mukto yaha, sacha me priyaha. The Lord Himself is telling such a devotee who has these following characteristics is very near to me, near means dear to me, dear means near, near means He is one with me. A person with these characteristics is soon going to destroy his individuality and completely become one with me. Whether a Sādhaka, spiritual aspirant, takes to the path of devotion, bhakti or any other path, slowly approaching the Lord means getting rid of the distance, getting rid of the duality. I am separate and you are separate. That separatedness must slowly become less and less. In fact, that is called morality. Swami Vivekananda defined what is morality. To identify oneself with the other. Then if the other person is happy, I am happy. He is not happy, he or she, I am also not happy. This identity alone is a true morality, otherwise it becomes a kind of social obligation. In this 15th verse, what are the special characteristics, qualities a devotee must develop? And a person who develops these qualities, he will come nearer and nearer to God. And that means he and God cannot remain separate for a long time. But we have to try from 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 100%. What is the very first thing? He by whom the world is not afflicted and whom the world also cannot afflict. He who is free from joy and anger and fear and anxiety. Six qualities, six spiritual characteristics are mentioned here. What is the very first thing? A smart by coming into contact even as a thought. Nobody in this world is hesitated, frightened or becomes disbalanced. Why? Because I have explained, we have explored in our last class, a devotee is one. First of all, he tries to see God in everyone. And no devotee will ever try to tell a lie, to cheat or to evade the divine presence. Second, when a devotee sees God everywhere, and what is the nature of God? Fearlessness. What does it mean? That means God is of the nature of Sath. Sath means existence. Fear comes from, I am not going to be, I am not going to keep something, I am not going to expect something which would have made me very happy. Since God is eternal existence, that means immortal, deathless, and I am none other than God. Because if God is everything, there is no I or you. Everything is God. Therefore, by implication, I am also immortal, I am also eternal. Great fear is God. Then, even when a devotee experiences the whole world, he sees it as a manifestation of God. We have seen it in the 10th chapter, God said, I manifest as this world. In the 11th chapter, directly He had granted that vision to Arjuna. And naturally, Arjuna has not developed some of these requisite qualities, so he had a glimpse. He knows the whole world is nothing but Brahman, but he could not retain it. A very interesting point, if Arjuna was seeing God in the form of Duryodhana, Dushasana, Shakuni, Karna, he would not have been able usually to kill because nobody contemplates killing God. But then, when a person understands this is a play, a solitaire game, God is playing with Himself, when that idea firmly takes root in the mind of an aspiring, struggling devotee, such a person loses all fear. Simple example, in a drama, an evil person comes and shoots down another ordinary person. And both of them know the person, ordinary person, this is a pretense, this is just a play acting, and he will discharge the gun, I will pretend to fall down, and the other person knows, I am not going to kill this person, it is just part of the play acting. This is the knowledge which comes to a devotee in actual life, when he sees that everything is nothing but God. Of course, we are slowly to progress towards that idea, but let us start seeing God in something very special. And that is where the first thing is, the nearest one to us, and who occupies the place of God almost, is our Mother, Matru Devo Bhava, then Father, Pitru Devo Bhava, then our beloved teachers, school teacher, college teacher, university teacher, our PhD guide, and many other people. That is Acharya Devo Bhava. Then slowly this idea grows, and we try to identify more and more people with that Divine. That is how a man grows. And this is called growth of Bhakti, not simply becoming emotional. In fact, this fear is an emotion. Therefore, one has to be controlling that fear, not losing fear, but we should not be overwhelmed by fear that is expressed in the second sentence. We will come to it very soon. So not only a devotee is not frightened, but the world also. That means nobody is frightened. I gave the example of born enemies like a cobra and a frog. They always, absolutely, there is no such thing, just what we call fear at all. There is no fear at all there. And that is what we are talking about here, the world also. Another example will be a small baby. Nobody will be frightened of a small baby because it is impossible for the baby to do anything wrong to anybody. So these are the ideas we have to slowly develop. एस्मान्नो द्विज़ते लोका Seeing whom? Coming into contact with whom? Nobody in this world will be hesitated, will be frightened, will be scared, or will try to run away. Similarly, a devotee has no fear because he sees God everywhere. This, from both sides, a devotee is not frightened of anything. Even death doesn't frighten a devotee. Supposing some so-called evil person robs a devotee, he doesn't say that I am robbed. What does he say? It is God who has taken away something. God has given, God has taken away. So if God has taken away, it must be for my good. That is the conviction, firm conviction of every advanced devotee. Of course, ordinary devotees, they pray to be rescued from suffering, to be rescued from distress. These are called आर्तवक्तास, a little more advanced. They are not frightened, but they have certain unfulfilled desires. Such a person prays, like a small child, he pesters the mother. And mother also lovingly gives what is good for the child. This is the second example we have given. A devotee, in other words, becomes like a child and he sees the whole world as God, as his own mother. And he knows, I am not to be frightened from my mother, my mother also. Of course, mother never becomes frightened of the child. That means whatever happens, the person doesn't lose his balance of mind. This is called समत्रभुद्धि. These are the two very important qualifications. And I also explained, a devotee, perhaps he has some property and somebody is taking it away. Shuddhiram never got hesitated when the Jamindar had deprived him of his entire property. He said, Rama has given, Rama has taken, and I depend upon. His dependence upon Rama became even more intense. Then four other qualities, हर्ष, अमर्ष, भय, and उद्वेग. One who is comparatively free from these four emotional situations. Such a devotee is most dear to me. What's our problem? We want to love God. That means we want to think about God. But what is it that prevents us continuously thinking about God? Emotional upsets. Sometimes we have high emotion, sometimes low emotion. Constantly we are being buffeted by this high tide and low tide. This is what the Lord is indicating, हर्ष. हर्ष means joy. What does it mean? We are expecting something, then we get it, then it gives us. If it is dear to us, then we become happy. We are not expecting, but we would be very happy we can obtain it. Somehow without expectation, even sometimes beyond our hope, suddenly something comes. Many examples I can give you. For example, Rani, Rajmani's father, he was a poor man. He was thinking, how can I marry off my daughter? And every parent wishes his or her children to be settled in a much better, happier place. And suddenly the father-in-law of Rajmani's son, that means would-be husband, who took a vow, I will not remarry, came and saw this girl and fell in love, and he happily got married. Now, what would be the mindset of the father of Rajmani? And another story is Tyagaraja. He had a daughter. He was extremely poor. In fact, he was living and begging. And everybody is looking, asking, how are you going to marry off your daughter? And he said, I depend upon Rama. And one day, a rich man's proposal came, we would be blessed, we would be fortunate, if we can get your daughter as our daughter-in-law, as a wife for my son. Tyagaraja must have been happy, but controlled happiness. Why controlled happiness? Rama has given the daughter, and Rama has arranged, I depend totally upon Rama. So what is the proof that he controlled his mind? After this incident, his devotion to Rama had grown by leaps and bounds. So also Shraddhirama's, so also every other devotee. Mirabai was sent, poisoned, by her brother-in-law, or some people say, by her own husband, Bhojraj. And then there is a beautiful song, Vishwapiyala rana ne bheja, Rana means king, it could be her husband, or it could be her brother-in-law. Privatmira hasi re. And Mirabai says, I drank this joyfully. Why? Because whatever I drink, I offer it first to Krishna, then only I drink. And she took it as prasada. And Mira is laughing, if it is Krishna's will, this body will go. Atma, of course, will not go. And if it is Krishna's will, I have to survive. Let him do whatever he likes. Ishwaraha sarva-bhutanam hridyeshe arjuna tishtati. The divine Lord, sitting in the hearts of every being, is making them do and making them dance, making them speak. As He wants them to do, to dance, to speak. Jem ne bolhao, tem ne boli. Jem ne nachao, tem ne nachi. Mother, whatever way you make me speak, because she comes in the form of knowledge, she expresses in the form of what is called verbal expression, everything she is doing. And we are just even thinking we are doing it. That is called ahankara, a good devotee says, I'm an instrument, and ami jantra, tumi jantri, you are the mechanic, you are the driver. And that is the characteristic here. Arsha means, do not be elated. Should we not become happy? Definitely, we should become happy. Then, is this not a contradictory statement? No. What it means is, your mind will be in charge. How much you'll be happy, how much you'll be unhappy. Because when I am in great excitement, rather than saying, I am happy, the better word is, I'm excited and I'm depressed. He who gets, what is called excited, has also become excited. He has to become depressed. So both ways, a person only loses his control. If you are very happy, you cannot think of God. If you are very unhappy, you can't think of God. So that perfect emotional control balance is what is indicated here, harsha. Similarly, amarsha. Amarsha means, becoming despondent, unhappy, suffering. There are so many events. Life is full of that. Sometimes it is beautiful spring. Sometimes it is very hot. Sometimes it is very cold. Sometimes it is raining. Some COVID will come. Or health, healthy situations also will come. Everything should be taken with a big pinch of salt. Let us enjoy, but let it be under our control. This is what every saint does it. So a Zen Buddhist, how does he react to it? They have peculiar terminology. And this is how you do it. Suppose there is a Zen master. Somebody comes and says, I will kill you. What do we say? What? But a Zen master will say, so what? You want to kill this body? OK, go ahead. It doesn't affect me. Oh, I am going to give you, make you a prince of this particular province in charge. We'll say, oh my God, how gracious God is. But this Zen master will say, so what? Somebody comes and says that there is some death happened. So what? Somebody comes and says that you will be given a big reward. So what? So what? So what? So that is called perfect characteristic of a devotee. If some devotee, some person does something wrong, or if some person does some good, he will not be happy too much. He will not be excited. He will not be also depressed. What about some doing some evil? Oh, he will say, Rama has come. Rama has given. Rama has taken away. And these are the two qualities which are being expressed in the form of a beautiful parable by Sairam Krishna, the master of parables. What is that story? I hope and expect my devotees to remember it. Rama Riksha. Everything is the will of Rama. The story of the weaver who is to say everything happens by the will of Rama. When this person was caught, he said, it is Rama's will. When he was brought before the magistrate, he said, it is Rama's will. And when the magistrate said, you can go free, he said, it is Rama's will. But did he lose his mind control? No. His remembrance of Rama, his devotion to Rama had grown by leaps and bounds. So Harsha means excessive excitement. Amarsha means just the opposite, full of fear, full of depression. Oh, I have lost something. No. Something has come. Something has come. And I are on, they are on. Whatever comes, that also goes away. This is being beautifully expressed, Harsha, Amarsha. Excessive excitement, excessive, the opposite, that is depression. Then bhaya, fear. It is said, fear comes only from two sources. The main sources of fear are two. What is it? What I am expecting, I may not get. And what I already have may be lost. For a devotee, nobody can take away from him God. There's a beautiful, funny incident. Swarudas was travelling. As we all know, he was blind. He came to a spot, he was travelling to Vrindavan, where he could not find the right way. He cried out to Krishna. Krishna came in the guise of a small boy, caught hold of his hand, and took him to the right path, and was about to leave him. But the touch of the Divine had awakened the understanding. The boy, the person who is showing me the right path, put me in the right way, is none other than my own Krishna. So he wanted to catch hold of the hand and keep it. But that child Krishna, as usual, he did some mischief. He snatched his hand away and ran away. Then Swaruda said, I don't care whether you run away. So this physically, you snatched your hands from my hand, and you went away. But I have firmly imprisoned you in the cage of my heart. Now, my dear fellow, try to escape from there. Let me see who is great, you or I. And Shri Ramakrishna had also expressed it in a slightly different way, but a very telling way. Radha had painted Shri Krishna with full body, including legs. And Krishna ran away. Then next, she painted Krishna complete without legs. Somebody asked, what is this, Krishna without legs? He said, I painted him, and as soon as I painted, he ran away. Now, he cannot run away from me. I will carry this wherever I am. So such a beautiful song is there. If only, Krishna, you are a nose ring in my nose, I will always walk proudly because I will always see you. If you only are the anklets around my legs, I will always dance taking your name. You will always be with me. If you are in the form of a flute, then you will always be on my lips. Such meaningful, sweet songs are there in the gospel of Shri Ramakrishna. I mean, they are called, what is called, Shyam Sangeet or Krishna Sangeet, Vaishnava Padavali. Shri Ramakrishna was a master, not only of singer, but he could bring out all the emotions so vividly to all the devotees. That's why Totapuri was charmed. So what are we talking? Bhaya. So a devotee will never have any fear because who can take away God from him? If God takes away, then what can anybody do? There is a beautiful Hindi saying, Ram rakhe, kaun maare? If Rama is protecting me, who can kill me? Ram maare, kaun rakhe? If Rama himself has decided to finish me, who can save me? Everything he is doing is done by God, and I totally depend upon that God. So I will have no fear at all. OK. Fear comes from the fact of death. But what can death do? What did Markandeya do when he came to know that Mrityu Devata has come to catch hold of him? He simply went and embraced Shiva Linga, the emblem of Shiva. And Yamadharma Raja could not come even anywhere near to Shiva because he is called Mrityunjaya. That's why we all repeat Mahamrityunjaya Mantra. Rembakam ajamahe, sugandhim pustivarthanam, urvarukam eva bandhanah, mrutyoh mukshiyah mamrutat. If Shiva is Mrityunjaya, Dakshinamurthy is Mrityunjaya, and by repeating this Mrityunjaya Mantra, or Dakshinamurthy Stotra, I will be free from the fear of death. But what about death? Well, death comes only to the body, and anyway it will come, whether it is a saint or sinner, whether a king or pauper, and this physical, old age, disease, death, are inescapable to anybody. So a devotee's mind will not be agitated by joy, excitement, by depression, or fear. Then, udvega. Udvega means excessive agitation of the mind when we come across certain events. And I will give you one such example. Supposing you are a devotee, and you are going, and you see some evil people catching hold of a small girl and then trying to cut her limb by limb. And no or even hardened human hearts cannot be moved, but be moved by that type of sight. Then he becomes extremely agitated. But if this thing happens to be seen in a cinema, not only will we experience the bhava, but we are enjoying it. That's why it is called aesthetic enjoyment. It may be what is called pity-evoking, poor person, a painting, a sculpture, a drama, a poem, et cetera. But we will not be agitated. Why? Because we know it is not the reality. A devotee knows nothing is real in this world excepting God. As I mentioned in my last class, Prahlada was tortured. Was he afraid? He was not feared. As he became agitated, he never became agitated. What is the secret? Because for him, everything is God. And so he who is never agitated by the world, he from whom the whole world never gets agitated, and a person who is free from excessive joy, excessive depression, excessive fear, and excessive agitation, if a devotee has these six qualities, then he is progressing in spiritual life. Just as a mother observes the child's first faltering steps the baby is taking, for a few days, the mother is ever alert so that the baby should not hurt. But if she goes on holding the baby, baby will never be confident that he will be able to walk, much less to run. So after a few days, when the baby has advanced a little bit, the mother and father are sitting at a distance, and they allow this child to tumble so that once the child tumbles, he understands it is not dangerous. Thereafter, he will not be afraid. And in the course of time, the child runs. And this is what Sri Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother used to give the example. A calf, many times it stumbles trying to get up. But it not only gets up, it runs with equal speed with its mother and father. So any devotee who is free from fear, from his excessive attachment, that is important for us. I should not be, we should not be like stones, like a lump of clay. So something good happens, and I will not enjoy it. Something bad happens, I will not feel it. So when we are dead, all these qualities will not affect us. When we are unconscious also, they will not affect us. When we are in deep sleep, we don't feel all these things. But consciously, we have to experience all these situations and keep the mind perfectly under control. That is called yoga. Yogaha samatvam. Yogaha karmasu kaushalam. Yogaha. That is one of the two definitions of the yoga. So it is good sometimes to have a strong heart, but it is also good if we can have that one. When it is necessary, we will have to be very hard-hearted. When it is necessary, our hearts should be very, very, what is called, softer than. But that is why, vajradhapi kathorani murudhuni kusumathi. So more tender than even flowers, but hard-like. When to apply this to? When we are going through hard times, our heart should be so rock-like that nothing will touch us. But when we see other people suffering, murudhuni kusumathi, they are softer than the softest flowers. So this is what our Shankaracharya, I think he does it, vajradhapi kathorani murudhuni kusumathi, lokottara naam chetamsi, konu vijnath marathi. Who can understand these contradictory qualities of such a great soul? So such great people are called lokottara naam, greatest people. Their minds are like this. A bhakta's heart is harder than even a diamond. When it comes to experiencing hardness, sufferings, etc., he is so firm, he is not disturbed. But at the same time, his heart is more tender than even the tenderest of the flowers. So this kind of emotional control, every devotee has to develop. Usually, unfortunately, very sadly, most devotees, if they see other people suffering, they don't feel it. But if they have any such tragic events happening in their own families, they cling like super glue. So the Lord is telling us, if you want to come to Me, you will have to develop these qualities. We move on to the 16th verse. ANAPEKSHAH SUCHIH DAKSHAH UDASINO GATAV YADAH SARVARAMPA PARITYAGI YOMAD BHAKTAH SAMEPRIYAH Some more qualities the Lord is enumerating here. He who is free from dependence, who is pure and prompt, unconcerned, untroubled, and who has renounced all voluntary undertakings, such a devotee is dear to Me, and he must develop these spiritual qualities. Again, certain more qualities. Here it is very interesting because ANAPEKSHAH means expecting something. And this expectation is of two types. One expectation is, for example, a student has written an examination, and as a university-completed student, education is complete, he applies for a job, he gets an interview, and he has attended the interview, he thinks he has done quite well, and he is expecting whether he would get a job or not, or there will be young people, they want to get married, they have contacted each other, and they have met, they talked with each other, and within a few days, we will decide, etc. In these examples, there is some expectation there because they have done some activity which requires a result to come sooner rather than later. This is one type of expectation. But many of us, or what we call unfulfilled desires, if only I obtain that CEO's job, if only I suddenly win a lottery ticket, if only that most beautiful girl can marry me, these are called unrealistic expectations. So one should be free from both. Why? Expectation. Whether it is the result of some activity or whether it is unrealistic expectation, these two possess us like ghosts and do not allow our mind freedom to think about God. That's why, for example, this Hajra used to do a lot of japa in the presence of Shri Ramakrishna, but a greater part of his mind is going, I need one thousand rupees because I had borrowed that money, I need to return that money, so if somehow or other I can get that money either from devotees or by some fluke, then I would be very happy. He even used to say to Shri Ramakrishna's face, if God can give Mukti, why can't He give some money also along with that? Anyway, Bhagavan Krishna is telling, you can expect, we are not what is called rocks or pieces of wood, we are human beings, very natural, at our stage of spiritual development, we will have some expectations, we hope to get some things, there is nothing much wrong, but two things we have to keep in mind. Every devotee should say, I have a right to expect only fulfilling these two conditions. What is the first condition? If it is God's grace, God's will, God wants to give, let it come and if that doesn't come because I know it is not God's will, gladly I should accept God's will and keep my mind firmly fixed on the lotus feet of God. These two things, if a devotee can do, he will be definite to progress. This is called Anapaikshaha. Then Shuchihi. Shuchi means what? Pure. What does it mean? Shuchi means, again two meanings are given, clean cleanliness, external cleanliness as well as internal cleanliness. External cleanliness comes from taking bath, putting on clean cloths, washed cloths or new cloths, keeping everything clean in the room, outside, etc. We see many times, the whole street is littered with a lot of rubbish and we don't see this. Usually in the advanced Western countries, they have understood for each other's happiness and non-spread of disease, we should be able to keep everything neat and clean. But as Swami Vivekananda remarked, externally clean, internally, absolutely rubbish, keeping everything. This is called pushing everything under the carpet. That is not desirable. In fact, Swami used to say, better to keep the external dirty, but keep the mind pure. So a devotee should be clean, both physically, surroundingly and also inside his heart. What does it mean? It means, his thoughts, he must keep a guard on the thoughts, impure thoughts, and excessively expecting thoughts should not take. Rational thoughts, rational expectations are absolutely permitted, fine. That is why the scripture tells us what to expect, what to do, etc. The scripture also tells us, if God comes, don't go on saying, I want the richest person on earth. Don't say that. Only Asuras, Rakshasas, that is demons, they alone say. Every devotee says, Oh Lord, what you think is good and right for me, then that you do, I will be like a child, grateful, accepting that one. So this is called Shuchitvam. But this is only one part of the cleanliness or purity. The most important part of the purity is that external purity is to constantly strive to cultivate holy company, reading good books, seeing good things, hearing good things, talking good things, visiting good people, good places, and good events, etc. This is external purity. That means spiritual purity. Internally, we must keep a sharp eye on our heart. Before any unspiritual thought, desire, impulse, before it could spring, even when it is just beginning to form, if we can detect it, and we can detect it through practice, then we should be able to completely nip it in the bud, these two activities. Four actually, external cleanliness, internal cleanliness. External purity means externally trying to keep the mind on God, as well as internally trying to keep the mind, that means our thoughts, our imaginations, and our expectations, related to God. This is called Shuchihi. At the same time, Dakshaha, person must be extremely dexterous, skillful. That is why one of the definitions of Yoga, Yogaha Karmasu Kaushalam. Swami, Brahmananda used to say, a real Brahmachari can do easily 16 worldly people's worth of activity. How can one person do 16 people's worth of activity? What he means to say, this Sadhaka is so concentrated, so alert, so intelligent, so discriminative, and so dispassionate, that his mind always finds out, perhaps this is the best way to finish a job quickly, dexterously, in the best way possible, because he is paying attention. I used to tell my devotees, poking a little bit, sometimes they will cook some, what we call Payasa, and then they bring it. And then afterwards, after my eating, they will ask, how is it? I used to say, there is a lot of place for improvements. Then they used to ask, what has gone wrong? I used to sometimes get a little bit annoyed and say, now you are 60 years old, how many times you must have prepared, and you don't have any intelligence. Of course, I used to put very mildly, that this much of milk, this much of rice, and this deserves only this much of sugar, and you have put excessive sugar, or the rice is half-boiled. How many times you yourself have eaten, every time you prepare, you should say, has it come out well? What is wrong? Find out the faults, and we are all experts in it. And next time, be alert and say, last time, the rice was not cooked properly, and excessive sugar I have given, this time, I will reduce it by half. And this time, I will boil the rice, so that it becomes soft and puffed up. After a few experiments, it must come completely much better, and in fact, almost perfect, because the person is paying attention. Because a devotee pays attention, is aware, constantly becomes aware. This is what Swami Yathushananda Maharaj used to say, cultivate constant awareness. If a person can practice it, he will save, I can promise you, a lot of time. You are reading a book, within half the time, less than half the time, what the author wants to say, what are the important points, what are the relationships between one idea, and second idea, and third idea, and how to retain them, so that I never again forget what the book is telling, all these things will come automatically, that is what is meant, Dakshaha Karmaso Kaushalam. But, Bhagavad Gita gives a new definition of what is skillfulness. What is skillfulness? Whatever actions I do, I don't want different results. I don't want worldly result. I want only one single result. What is it? May my devotion to you, O Lord, increase. May my knowledge about you increase. May I approach nearer and nearer to you. And this is called skill, which takes us nearer and nearer to God, whatever be the activity. That is called Dakshaha. Then, we are human beings, in spite of whatever we do, so many times, so many things can happen. It is impossible for us to avoid. Saints and sinners, kings and beggars, scholars and illiterate people, everybody has to go through the ups and downs of this samsara. So, what is the remedy? Udasa Inaha. Earlier, we discussed Maitri, Karuna, Mudita, Upeksha. That Upeksha is termed here as Udasa Inaha. What is it? Do not be too much excited, as if it is happening to somebody else. It may be happening to you, but it may be happening to me. But as if it is happening to somebody else, and this is one of the qualities of Bhakti. Otherwise, we will be regretting, our mind will deviate from God, and we pay a heavy price, which is, we will not be approaching nearer to God. Gatavyathaha is a beautiful word again. Gatavyathaha means terrible suffering, regret. What is it? In life, so many things happen. Many things are not pleasant. In fact, a spiritual person perhaps has to go through much more suffering than even an ordinary person. Why do I say it? Because a devotee's heart becomes extremely tender. A person becomes good. He cannot tolerate other people's suffering, and sometimes he cannot tolerate his own suffering also. So he will not be hard-hearted like a buffalo. He will be very tender-hearted. That tenderness sometimes causes great suffering to us. So we have to develop this special quality. This is what is called, whatever has happened, happened. Because whatever may be our philosophy, things happen in this world. Even the greatest pundits, what we call financial pundits, could not predict the financial downturn 10 years back. Similarly, the greatest scientists could never predict that people are going to suffer for one year from this COVID. They could not imagine a second variety could come. Now, after the fact, everybody is looking back and saying, oh, we should have been more alert. Sometimes we take decisions too late. For example, we know UK is suffering from a second wave of this mutant COVID. And we should have been careful to ban all flights from UK, from London to UK. But we did not do it. We did it too late. And there were people who were irresponsible in some ways. They come, instead of submitting themselves to the hospitals, and they ran away, thinking that what are they going to do? They will spread it. Their likelihood, they'll spread it to more. In fact, the cases are slowly increasing. We don't know the future. What I am trying to tell, a devotee of God, whatever happens, he says, past is past. Let the dead bury its dead. Let us not worry. Let us wait, always with positive thought, hope, and in the providence of God, so he will not regret. Somebody insulted me. Fine. I lost something. That's OK. I regretted a little bit. But now I am not going to brood over it any longer. If we do not develop, our mind, as you can imagine, cannot be fixed on God. This is called brooding. And this is called worrying. These things will be counter-spiritual. They're not going to help us. So anapaikshaha, suchihi, dakshaha, udashinaha, gatavidha, five important spiritual qualities we have to develop. Then sarvarambha parityagi. What does it mean? Every devotee does what is his duty, but he will not cherish new desires, because first a thought comes. And that thought could be of God. That thought could be of a worldly desire. If it is spiritual desire, there is no harm. But if it is worldly desire, soon we go on brooding over it. If I do this, I get this profit. Then it will fetch me so much of enjoyment, et cetera. And that is how it soon translates into action, translates into good or evil, translates into punya or papa. And the result is happiness or unhappiness. Again, we are caught in the wheel of this transmigration. So it's telling, what should a devotee do? Whatever duties I am supposed to do, I will do my best. Sarvarambha parityagi. But fresh undertakings, which are related to worldly things, I will never do that. If God wants me to do it, He will make it happen. But I am not going to deliberately plan for it and do it. That is why, initial stages, we have to plan, because we are not completely dependent upon God. A baby doesn't plan anything, not even for the next minute, much less for the next hour, next night, next day. It is mother. Even if the baby has to travel, the mother knows. And she prepares whatever is necessary for the baby. And in this connection, there is a beautiful story. Let me first complete this. So he who deliberately doesn't undertake any new activity that is not related to spiritual life, but depends totally upon God, if God inspires, then he knows definitely it is God's will. And then he will do as much necessary only, not even a little bit more. Such a person alone deserves to be titled as my devotee. And such a person, undoubtedly, is very dear to me. So, Sarvarambha Parityagi, Yom Ad-Bhaktah Same Priyaha Arambha Parityagi. Sri Ramakrishna is a master of these parables and stories. And always, one thing, one event I want to bring to your notice. One of the questions that many devotees have put questions to me, to other monks is, Sri Ramakrishna was married. He knew his wife, Sharda Devi, was growing up. And she became nearly 17 to 18 years old. Many times, he himself trained her. But how come he never called her to Dakshineshwar? This was the question raised by Swami Sharda Nandaji. And he himself answers. What was the answer? He said, Sri Ramakrishna never deliberately undertook any activity. He totally depended upon Divine Mother, whom he used to call my mother. If she tells, do this, he will do that. Until she tells, he will never do that. This was the reason the commandment hasn't come for Sri Ramakrishna from the mother. You go and call your wife, Sharda Devi, and there is something to be done. On the contrary, Holy Mother herself has come to Sri Ramakrishna. I will narrate one or two incidents with regard to this. But what I wanted to convey is, finally, Holy Mother herself started with her father to see Sri Ramakrishna, meet and assess what is the situation. And she decided to serve Sri Ramakrishna, whether he was mad or whether he was a saint. On the way, she fell sick. And then one woman came when she was practically in a delirium. And Holy Mother was semi-conscious. She asked, who are you? And that lady replied, I am your sister. And Holy Mother, not understanding what she was asking, how is he? First of all, who is he? Where is he? Who is this strange woman? How could he know what was in the mind of Holy Mother? These are all mysteries. And the woman also replied, I have kept him only for your sake. You must come. That is, he is waiting for you. Of course, Sri Ramakrishna never knew all those things. Similarly, when Totapuri came, Aligiri Sanyasa, Ramakrishna flatly said, I don't know anything. My mother knows. I will ask her. If she says, go and take Sanyasa, I will take. Otherwise, no. So for every action, Sri Ramakrishna is a great devotee, never undertakes to do anything. Even sometimes when we are misunderstanding his actions, a beautiful incident, we will discuss it in our next class. Om Vasudeva Sudam Devam Kamsa Januram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagat Gurum Yesterday was Kalpataru. As we know, Sri Ramakrishna blessed every devotee that was present there, almost every devotee on 1st January 1886. So we celebrate it as a Kalpataru day. I pray to Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda to bless us all with spiritual awakening. And I also wish you all the best and a very spiritual new year through this Zoom class. I pray to Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swamiji. Let us all have a new spiritual year. Jai Ramakrishna