Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 44 on 15 May 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padmetayo Shritva Pranamami Muhur Muhur Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsachanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadho Gavo Dogdha Gopalanandana Partho Vatsa Sudhir Bhokta Dogdham Geetha Amritam Mahat Mookam Karuti Vachalam Pankum Langayate Girim Yath Kripathamaham Vande Paramanandamadham In our last class we have been seeing the 73rd shloka where Arjuna categorically said somethings most marvellous and that applies to should apply to all of us who are sincerely struggling if we study it applies not only to spiritual scriptures but any scripture what should happen knowledge should take place knowledge should replace ignorance or misinformation or wrong type of knowledge but here we are talking about the Mahamaya, Mohaha and Moha means delusion, delusion means confusion confusion comes from ignorance of the facts here we are talking about the entire samsara this transmigration is because of the effect of two powers of the Maya one is called Avarana Shakti another is called Vikshepa Shakti first of all this Maya covers the reality then it projects it into something else but here through the proper study with reverence and of course translating it into day to day activity of thinking, of speaking and of acting then one gets by the grace of God that true vision of one's own self so two things happen with the dawn of self knowledge first we know what we are second all the delusions will be gone and as a result of it our entire life becomes transformed into Satchitananda, Satchitananda I am a child of immortality Amrutasya Putraha I know who I am that is called Chit that is called Sarva Jnanam, Brahma Jnanam and then the memory comes back that I am so and so, I am Brahman but all this can take place only by the infinite grace of the Divine Mother Tvad Prasadatmaya Achuta I have absolutely no doubts now because my delusion is gone confusion is gone doubts come only because of confusion Karishye Vachanantava that is to say I surrender myself to you and whatever I do actually I do not do it is you only now this Adhaka realizes Ishwaraha Sarvabhutanaam Hrudyeshe Arjunatishtati Brahmayan Sarvabhutani Intrarodhani Mayaya everything happens by the will of God Shakali Tomari Iccha Icchamai Taratumi only then we can understand the true meaning of that particular beautiful song it is the essence of the highest Vedanta Sharanagati means everything is Thy will so with this the teaching has come to an end Krishna has taught very well because He is the Jagat Guru who is a Jagat Guru? He who can teach very well because He knows the minds of everybody the Adhikaritva the capacity the understanding capacity and the capacity to practice just as a mother cooks same dish in various ways so that it can suit the stomach of her various children a Jagat Guru, Varal teacher doesn't teach the same thing to everybody the highest truth being the same but at different levels it is taught so that they can overcome the obstacles and move on to the next stage and the next stage and the next stage until finally we all become one in that highest peak of Everest which is called Brahma Gnanam Aham Brahmasmi and hearing Arjuna Arjuna says now I will fight this war how? as thy will not even as a duty all those things are over now duty means an immature person still struggling with this moha I have no duties I am Brahman I am free but you take over this instrument and you run it and this is the attitude because now once a person knows whatever he does is very breathing is very sleeping becomes the greatest blessing that is conferred on the entire universe naturally hearing this answer of Arjuna Krishna was very happy and he must have felt my effort has fructified and then with that Krishna became silent and Arjuna also became silent there were no doubts no questions no more explanations with this the Gita has come to an end now we return to another scene Sanjaya the master of ceremonies the first secretary of Dhritarashtra now concludes this beautiful dialogue card Gita now what we are going to get is Sanjaya's description of what happened so we enter into the 74th verse 84th verse thus the entire Gita Shastra Aham, me, this Sanjaya and what did I do this marvelous dialogue Asraushram, I heard what type of dialogue Adbhutam Adbhutam means most marvelous what is most marvelous in this world there are many marvelous things compared to the final marvel that Sanjaya was thinking about nothing comes to any comparison because whatever marvel today is tomorrow it can be superseded but this marvel I am truth I am the reality I am Brahman will never change this is called Adbhutam and all by the grace Ramaharshanam when I remember that my hair stands on end we get in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna then he hears beautiful songs or he speaks or some conversation remembrance of the Divine Mother immediately his hair stands on end so Ramaharshanam and then here Sanjaya specially mentions Vasudevasya, the son of Vasudeva who is that? not the son of a mortal called Vasudeva he is Bhagwan Krishna what is he? Mahatmanah he is the Parabrahman Mahatma means great soul Mahatma Gandhi not like that we don't know about Mahatma Gandhi he did great service to India but whether he was a great spiritual person we do not know but here is a person God himself both this epithet title Mahatma is applied by Sanjaya to both Krishna as well as Arjuna because even though at the beginning Arjuna was not a realized soul in fact a soul tossing about being oppressed by the ups and downs of this samsara but after hearing understanding and all by the grace of God and realizing what he heard Shravana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana was complete now Guru taught that Tattvamase you are that reality you are not what you thought you were body mind and he realized Aham Brahmasmi not only Aham Brahmasmi everything is Brahman not only Arjuna should say I am Brahman Bhishma is Brahman Drona is Brahman what about Duryodhana what about Karna Shakuni, Dushyasana Dhritarashtra they are all also beautiful manifestations of Brahman why do we say beautiful manifestations because this is called Leela after realization of Nitya a person he only enjoys the Leela everything that Nitya does is nothing but pure Leela so Sanjaya says thus did I hear this wonderful dialogue between Krishna and the high souled Arjuna which caused my hair to rise now the scene has changed we should not think about the battlefield we are no more in the battlefield we are now in Hastinapura and Sanjaya was in front of Dhritarashtra all this time Sanjaya is reporting the whole thing to the blind Dhritarashtra Dhritarashtra was really blind not only physically blind mentally blind intellectually blind morally blind aesthetically blind utterly blind also so what did Sanjaya report in Gita what did Sanjaya report he reported he was answering what was it nobody answers unless there is a question beforehand what was the question the question was put the very first question was put by Dhritarashtra himself when Sanjaya marked his presence Dhritarashtra was eagerly waiting to hear what happened and Sanjaya was reporting to him but what was his blind king's very statement in the righteous field the field of action in the battlefield life is a battle this world is a battlefield we are constantly battling with Maya, with Agnana with Sukha with Dukha are we battling with Sukha, happiness yes all the time it's a beautiful song, bhajan of Purandar Dasa he says oh lord what is your tremendous Maha Maya if somebody got this much it is ok what you gave me is fine but if I had got a little more that would have been marvelous so the whole song goes like that no man can be satisfied why can't man be satisfied because man truly is Ananta Ananta can never be satisfied with Shanta the infinite can never be satisfied with something small, finite infinite can be satisfied only with infinite and no samsara, any amount of samsara, or samsara for all time can never fulfill anything of this infinity that is why man is restless, why are we all restless, we think because of stupidity, true but why is this stupidity because unconsciously we remember, I am Brahman I want Brahman Brahman means everything, Brahman means infinite so I will not be satisfied with anything less than Ananta that is what he wants every man, every living creature in fact will be unconsciously seeking, only we may seek for some time, after all what is a billions of births in comparison with infinite time eternal time, it is nothing, not even one millisecond, but we do not understand it that way that's why we say, oh my god how many times I was born, how many times I struggled, how much I have gone through, how long do I have to go through is nothing, when a man reaches the true nature then he understands, after all, it is just a second is it a second yes, it is really a second what are you talking sir well, in the course of our Gita talks I have narrated the story which Swami Vivekananda and Sri Ramakrishna had narrated beautifully, we become better people by recollecting it, now Narada heard about the Vishnu Maya, the Maya of Vishnu, one day Narada came to Sri Krishna and said, Lord I heard about it, but can you show me what is your Maya, Krishna said surely Narada, I will fulfill your desire, how many times, only once because there is a beautiful teaching in the Sankhya philosophy, once we know what is the true nature of Prakruti, then she will run away from us, she will never again appear before us, she can never delude us, once we know the nature of Maya, thereafter Maya can never bind us so Narada never experienced, he only heard everybody talking Maya, Maya Maya, so Sri Krishna we all know the story I will be very short, but it is most marvelous story to can be recalled, can be retold any number of times, so Krishna went and said to Narada, let's have a take a long walk and they walked and walked till noon and then they came to the shade of a tree Krishna said and there was a small river flowing by Krishna asked Narada, can you fetch a bit of water, so he took some leaves and went to the river, it will hardly take one minute to go and return and then as Narada entered into the river, bent to collect water from the small river suddenly the river disappeared, he found himself in front of a house in the village that was on the banks of that small river and he found confronted a young girl, he forgot the whole lot he spent the whole day and then in the evening the father came saw this fellow, he was a good catch for his daughter and then he mesmerized him and then Narada was too willing to marry and then after a few years the farmer died everything was inherited by Narada, by that time he had many beautiful children, he became pakka samsari as we say worldly man, he worked hard he was intelligent, he accumulated money and one day there was a flash flood and he wanted to go to a higher ground as he was crossing he lost his children his accumulated money his wife, everything and then he could not bear it he started weeping, oh lord what have you done and then suddenly he heard a gentle sweet voice, Narada why are you delaying suddenly Narada came to consciousness and then he realized, it took just a fraction of a second to go through this whole samsara of many many years of hard work of marrying, of begetting children all the ups and downs of the world, accumulating money and thanking his good fortune and his beautiful loving wife loving children, the whole samsara was broken in a fraction of a second and then he came and said lord, never again may I never be bewitched by your world bewitching maya Krishna said, tathastu and then Krishna said ask a second boon and Narada said, I don't require any boon but if you are pleased may I never may I have unmotivated devotion to your lotus feet and of course Krishna granted it so this is the story now what is maya maya is one second appears to be billions and billions and trillions of years and trillions of years sometimes appear to be just one second, how come well you see, that's what Einstein's theory of relativity is and he explained when we are happy years and years will pass in a trice when we are unhappy every passing millisecond reminds us again and again of the terrible pain we are going through so time is very relative for if we are in a good mood everything passes the best example for this that we can sleep from the waking standpoint of course 6 hours, 7 hours, 8 hours but it passes as it were just now I laid myself down on the bed and immediately I got up, but with the result Sukham Aham Aswapsham Nakinchit Avedisham so happily I slept, now Sanjay is reporting this one so Dhritarashtra blinded by his attachment to his children, that is called moha, true moha and he was not good enough to surrender himself he asked this question, my children and the children of Pandu what did they do? because both are ready to kill each other and the answer is what Sanjay he narrated the whole thing, what happened how Arjuna almost decided to quit the war and then he took finally he became wise from the state of otherwiseness he suddenly transformed the presence of Satsanga the presence of Sat the presence of Krishna the presence of Bhagwan himself Gnanamurti, in the presence of light, darkness cannot stay so he asked the question I am beset with doubts I am taking refuge in you and I want you to guide me to command me command me and with that the asking part is over and from the eleventh shloka onwards Bhagwan Krishna starts a man of knowledge will not grieve because there is no room for grief why is there? when there is a body, there is a room for all sorts of sorrows when there is no body even in our deep sleep we have no grief at all that's why it is called Anandamaya Kosha untouched by any grief Sukha as well as Dukha, people will be surprised Sukha is the greatest cause of Dukha happiness is the terrible payment we pay for inviting Dukha the higher we are the harder will be the fall, more Sukha more Dukha, less Sukha less Dukha this is a well known commonsensical fact so Sanjay answered to this question, what did my people and Pandu's people as if they are enemies assembled and armed for battle in Kurukshetra Dharma Kshetri Sanjay's answer was the entire Gita first giving the context and then reporting the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna in which he confined himself only to what Krishna said and what Arjuna said that is where the Gita ends but later on Sanjay also reports the entire Mahabharata to the Dhritarashtra, he doesn't stop but for his purpose Sanjay says, hey Rajan, hey Dhritarashtra do you know how fortunate I was not only Arjuna was fortunate fortunate enough to receive the entire Gita, I was indirectly not indirectly, directly I was also blessed enough to receive this teaching how come Vyasa had given a very special telepathic power by which Sanjay could know, see, hear, everything that is happening, we can also see in the TV, a game is going on, a match is going on, football match, cricket match baseball match, whatever it is, but we do not know what the players are thinking, what the management is thinking, what black schemes are going on behind so much can go wrong but here it is different by the grace of Vyasa Deva who is Vyasa Deva he stands for Sadguru not only what is happening in the battlefield but what is happening in the minds of Arjuna in the minds of Yudhishtira the minds of Bhishma, Drona, Duryodhana, Dushyasana in the minds of everybody he could see, he could understand, that is why the first chapter if you study, you will see how Duryodhana came and said, with what purpose he said, that is how we understand Sanjaya could even read the thoughts of people and see the whole thing so another thing can be understood here, marvellous meanings are there, by these words of Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra with ordinary eyes we can see what is available for perception only, but with a divine vision one can see what is beyond the scope of perception, because the universal form of the divine lord can never be seen by ordinary eyes, Krishna himself says, Divyam Dadhamiti Chakshu Pashyame Yogam Aishwaram otherwise, what are we talking Divya Chakshu doesn't mean, only see what is happening, but the capacity to understand Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodayat Yasa had given him the capacity to understand what are we talking here along with Arjuna, Sanjaya also became enlightened that was Yasa's grace, Krishna's grace Bhagawan's grace Krishna did not just say a couple of sentences here you are Brahman, all this is Maya you see, in our Gnana Marga, a disciple, a fit disciple equipped disciple approaches the Guru and he gives Mahavakya Upadesha, that is Tattvamasi, Aham Brahmasmi Prajnanam Brahma, I am Atma Brahma, no Krishna did not say, you are laboring under Maya, delusion everything is Brahman whatever you see is Maya and this Maya finally is nothing but Brahman, or give some advice but not exhaustively for 17 chapters I would say 17 and 3 fourths of a chapter when Sanjaya utters to Dhritarashtra Kathayataha, we understand is not simple talking but the teaching that is going on there Sanjaya could understand that Atman is Brahman I am Brahman because of the blessings of Yasa and therefore Sanjaya could not express enough of his gratitude so Sanjaya is uttering these words to the blind king Dhritarashtra so here he uses the use of the epithet Vasudeva the all pervading spirit for Shri Krishna and the qualification Mahatma both are Mahatmas, of course Krishna was a Mahatma so what is the idea? the idea is that this gospel this Gita has been preached by Shri Krishna who is Shri Krishna? He is no other than the all pervading divinity the indweller of all hearts in response to the inquiry from Arjuna who is an incarnation of the divine sage Krishna is the Parabrahma He is the Satchitananda Shri Ram Krishna makes it clear to us, Satchitananda alone is the Guru all of us are like instruments like pipes water comes from the clouds but it flows through some pipes and we receive it through the pipes channeling the water but it comes from God so with the greatest clarity and with the greatest gratitude with the greatest joy with the greatest understanding now Sanjaya is telling in the 75th shloka what was Sanjaya telling? There is no other word here only Sanjaya's words until 78th which is the last verse of this 18th chapter by the grace of Vyasa like the grace of Shukadeva Parikshit heard the whole Bhagavatam but Shukadeva got it from Vyasadeva Vyasadeva got it from Narada Narada got it from Brahma Brahma got it from Bhagwan Narayana so ultimately it is only from the God himself Vyasa prasadat etat param, the supreme Guhyatamam Yogam Yogam, this teaching, spiritual teaching most sacred and most secret why secret? First of all no other pramana no other means of knowledge can reveal this. Secondly it is hidden deep within oneself and what we are searching is our own selves but we are searching ourselves everywhere excepting within ourselves. That is why Kata Upanishad so beautifully puts these few ideas after all Bhagavad Gita is the essence of all the Upanishads. Kata Upanishad says that the Brahma, the creator created everybody paranchikhani vyatranat svayambho, svayambho the causeless cause of everything in this world the creator who himself is self-abiding self-created svayambho, he created the sense organs of every living creature, that which can see only what is outside kashchid dheeraha but there are some wise people what did he do? amrutatvam ichchan desiring immortality avruta chakshuhu he turned his eyes because he wasted enough time in searching outside. He understood at last the secret, the truth can never be found outside so he turned his attention directed his whole soul's attention inward with one purpose only. amrutatvam ichchan, desiring immortality. This is what he is telling akhyatmam yogam and who taught you? Sakshat, Krishna directly from Krishna svayam Krishna was not assigning somebody he is not deputing somebody Sanjay wants to know so you take my teaching and give it to both Arjuna and Sanjay. He himself opened his mouth and who is Krishna? Yogeshwara he is not only Yogeshwara he is Yogeshwara that is to say he is the lord of the yogas, not only lord of the yogas, that means he knows everything about every yoga he is also Yogeshwara he is Yogeshwara he is Yogeshwara he is the bestower of yoga he is God himself sakshat kathetaha from his own mouth sri parthaya pratibodhita Bhagwat svayam padmanabha himself has been talking about all the time shrutavan, through the grace of yasa, I heard this supreme and profound yoga directly from Krishna, from his own mouth, who is the lord of yoga and himself has taught. If God himself teaches nobody can remain ignorant if the sun himself illuminates no darkness can ever remain there. This word yasa prasada, prasada means grace and we have to be extremely graceful we are alive because of the grace of God, we are sustained by the grace of God and ultimately we reach the divine only by the grace of God, whatever happens either in this world of maya or in spiritual world everything happens by the grace of God. In fact grace of God doesn't know the distinction between maya and Brahma, it is only from our viewpoint we make a distinction, this is ephemeral, this is permanent, this is the truth. So he says Sanjay is telling, I could hear this dialogue only because of yasa, who blessed me with divine insight inside, divya chakshu just as Krishna blessed Arjuna with divine chakshu in the eleventh chapter, yasa has blessed Sanjay with this divya chakshu and so Sanjay also could see because he was giving graphic description which we have gone through in the eleventh chapter of this Bhagavad Gita. Sanjay was endowed with divine vision by which he observed all that happened experienced everything that happened between Krishna and Arjuna in the battlefield and so he could become the best reporter. He is not a fake reporter, he is not a motivated reporter, he doesn't have any selfish motive, he reported it exactly as he had seen, as understood through Dhritarashtra. So the use of this word yasa prasada is intended to express Sanjay's gratitude and humility towards Maharshi Vyasa who was so kindly gifted. Here Vyasa as I said stands for Sadguru but every human being can be a Sadguru only authorised by God but every Sadguru is only a pipe, an instrument. He who is really teaching knowledge, knowledge is Brahman, that knowledge belongs to God because knowledge is God, God is knowledge, truth is God, God is truth and we will come to that. This surely must remind us of M's story, we will come to that later on and all the devotees in America, in England, everywhere who are fortunate to hear Swami Vivekananda. He was not an ordinary lecturer, he was Param Rishi, one of the Rishis and from his own mouth he initiated thousands of devotees. We think initiation secretly some man utters some mantra into the ears of the disciple. No. A Rishi can initiate millions of people. What about us? Those who of us as we have seen earlier that Krishna was telling he who reads, he who thinks, he who contemplates the sacred Bhagavad Gita, he will also obtain Punya and his mind will be purified, he will enjoy higher happiness and thereby he gets rid of the desire any lingering desire if it is there for higher type of happiness, ultimately his mind will be endowed with Vivekananda vairagya, discrimination and dispassion and his mind will turn to Jigna and he will be devoting his whole life only for the inquest of God realization. So he becomes what we call Adhikari Purusha Sadhana Chatursthaya Sampanaha. So Sanjay was narrating etat that means this teaching here for the whole Gita whole Gita in the form of the above dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna Param, supreme because it intended to bring out the truth that all of us are none other than Brahman. Gohetamam very sacred highly sacred, highly sacred it is not hidden but those who do not have eyes they cannot see. Jesus Christ tells I have given you the highest wisdom those who have eyes they can see those who have ears they can hear it but everybody cannot see or hear only those who are blessed with this special grace that is why we go on praying to the Divine Lord Sahanavavatu, Sahanavunaktu Sahaviryankaravavahai Tejasvinavaditamastu Ma Vidvishavahai that word Ma Vidvishavahai let us love each other let us be fit for the teacher to pass on that knowledge lovingly and for the disciple to receive it lovingly because where there is lack of love, this transmission cannot take place transmission of course will take place but it is only of information not true knowledge what is the difference? Knowledge transforms, information remains an intellectual property. Gohetamam Yogam indicates this Gita contains a detailed exposition of what? of Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga Raja Yoga Jnana Yoga and any other practice leading to God realization and the Gospel itself even its devout recitation is an independent means of realizing God and hence deserves the title Yoga Svayam Kathayatah Yogeshwarat Yogeshwarat He who is the Lord of the Yoga and He who created all the Yogas not only Jnana Pradatha Jnana Kartru the writer the creator of Yoga who is the Lord of Yoga lastly Sanjay tells Ritrashtra about the Gita which he had just repeated to the king had not been received by him through a third agency but Sakshat Yogeshwarat Svayam Kathayatah directly from the lotus like lips of the almighty Lord Krishna the controller of all Yogic powers now let us stop this here and recollect about the Gospel we are all devotees of Ramakrishna Swamiji even if we are worshipping somebody else it doesn't really matter whether it is Rama or Christ or Buddha or any other modern Guru Ramana Maharshi Aurobindo or even Sai Baba or Shirdi Sai Baba it doesn't matter because all are repeating only the divine words that's all according to them how did this recording of the Gospel has taken place it's a marvellous incident by itself but I will just give you some relevant quotations about this what M had to say about how he recorded it and how he was able to remember everything and once we understand it we can understand the words of Sanjay much better in 1925 Swami Vireshwaranandji Maharaj went to M and asked him how he could write such a wonderful Kathamruta from such a meagre sketch the background is M purchased some printed diaries there will be a blank page but there will be date, there will be Thithi there will be what you call Hindu calendar the rest and M took notes shorthand not when he was listening but after he returns to home this is what is being told but even now there are a few volumes which can never be transcribed by anybody else because only M could do it how could he do it this is what modestly M answered to Swami Vireshwaranandji's quest by his grace alone by Vyasa Prasad Sri Ramakrishna Prasad alone people take these incidents that occurred over 40 years ago but how do I see them I see them before my very eyes at this very moment in meditation the distance of time vanishes a most marvelous psychological fact M is placing before us when we meditate upon the Dakshineswar upon the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna that unforgettable scenes at Dakshineswar who was present on which date, what were the topics and how Sri Ramakrishna was sitting how he was smiling how he was in Samadhi how he was making fun with the youngsters and what he was doing everything so I see them before my very eyes at this very moment how could I do that the distance of time and space vanishes to be in love and devotion is to be in the presence of God what is it telling what is meditation to be in love and to be in devotion once we are in love and devotion meditation happens once we are in meditation time and space, they disappear where do we find ourselves in the presence of God next incident Swami Madhavanandaji came to Sri M one day March 20th 1924 from Belur Mutt he said to M well sir, didn't you note down the words of Sri Ramakrishna just when you heard them M, no I did not note them down on the spot I wrote everything from memory later I returned home sometimes I had to keep awake the whole night what I have presented here is not collected from others what I have presented in the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna well known as Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamritam is not collected from anybody else only what I have seen of the divine play of Sri Ramakrishna with my own eyes and heard with my own ears from his holy mouth directly has been narrated by me another evidence Swami Deshikananda had gone to Puri on the 4th of November 1925 there he met Sri M on the 4th day of his stay at Puri and then this Swami Deshikananda asked Sri M as to how he wrote Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamritam that is the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Sri M gave the following reply to Swami Deshikananda I would carry the nectar in words of Sri Ramakrishna in my memory and on returning home would briefly record them in the diary many times it took me a whole week to take down from memory all the words of a single day's conversation I was eager like a chataka bird, like a lark as I was for every little word that had fallen from the blessed lips of Sri Sri Ramakrishna this gospel had appeared in book form much later from these notes on every scene I have meditated a thousand times throughout my life I have meditated a thousand times throughout my life therefore the story of Thakur's Leela, divine play which took place 40 years ago was again being enacted before my eyes by Thakur's grace as if I had just been witnessing it, a distance of time and space having been annihilated in this sense it can be said that the story of Thakur was recorded in the very living presence of Thakur himself I am repeating this because it struck me very forcibly when I read it first Yama was narrating so not only when I visited Sri Ramakrishna and then kept whatever had fallen out of his mouth in memory but after coming back I noted down no doubt and later on what I noted out I have taken page after page each date and meditated upon it a thousand times then as I am seeing a cinema supposing you have acted in a cinema and that cinema is 50 years old and you might not remember everything but suddenly somebody brings that cinema to you and then again starts playing it from a projector or from YouTube whatever it is what you have done in that cinema comes to in front of your eyes as if you are reenacting them just now time and space vanish in that sense it can be said that the story of Thakur is recorded in the living presence of Thakur that means what I wrote after reading after meditating is as if what I have been witnessing re-witnessing again at this very time I am in fact many a time I did not feel satisfied with my description of the events I would then immediately plunge myself into deep meditation on Sri Sri Thakur then the correct image would arise before my mind's eye in a bright real and living form that's why in spite of the big gap in time in the physical sense the story remains so fresh and lifelike in my mind as if it happened just now we have to apply this in our own life first of all I will mention about gospel every devotee of Sri Ramakrishna more or less so far as I know every day at least a few paragraphs a few pages are read this is a regular habit of most of the devotees or at least once in a week they do it and classes are held Swamis also give a talk everything is there but the greatness of this gospel is as if we are standing sitting right in front of Sri Ramakrishna in his room what is on the left where is the pot of Ganges water where is the umbrella what are the different photos hanging on the wall who are the devotees present what was the topic what were the songs what words just like Ganga had flown forget about this event happened more than 100 years back just to feel the presence intensely we can do it in our meditation and that's what exactly M was trying to tell us he could do it can we not do it we can also do it because that's what he did because it was not merely he was not merely stenographer he enjoyed it as if he got taste that's why on his third visit Sri Ramakrishna points to him and says look here he comes again and he narrates the story of a peacock who was given at 3 o'clock in the afternoon a small dose of opium and it felt the joy of the intoxication next day at exactly 3 o'clock it came for another dose why do people get hooked on these drugs because they must be giving something if it is unpleasant merely nobody will get hooked everybody would get hooked only if it is happiness and we can also get hooked like M but we have to pray Lord let me enjoy just as M had enjoyed for that we can even meditate upon M how he used to meditate on Sri Ramakrishna just as Sri Ramakrishna meditated on Hanuman in order to have the vision of Rama on Radha Rani in order to have the vision of Sri Krishna this was what Sanjay is telling us so here Yoga means this entire Gita is called Yogashastra because it deals with the specific topic of Yoga. Yoga means not one not merely Gnana Yoga Yoga means that methodology by which we become united with our own true self forgetting our temporary self that is called Yoga having thus revealed the value of hearing the most rare Gospel of the Gita Sanjay while expressing his own reactions glorifies the recollection of that Gospel when some marvelous unheard of unearthly experiences is experienced by anyone of us there would be no saying enough is enough I have remembered it many times in fact the more we remember the thirst Pratikshanam Vardhamanam every second of the remembrance of the Divine Lord goes on increasing the thirst I want to hear more and more and more so M is categorically specifically telling he meditated even upon some sins a thousand times that's a great lesson for everyone of our Sadhus we also must read meditate but above all one condition I feel is most important what is the condition Diyo Yonaha Prachodayat why is it necessary let us go back to Hastinapura and Sanjay was narrating he narrated the whole Gita exactly as he was seeing understanding witnessing nothing was hidden nothing is shortened everything he told now question yourself did any change take place in Dhritarashtra he remained the same blind fellow not only that Mahabharata narrates when Shri Krishna went as an ambassador of peace to Hastinapura he granted this his another type of universal vision to Duryodhana, Dushyasana and also to Dhritarashtra so it is said Dhritarashtra he understood temporarily he became sane for a second millisecond and he said Bhagawan let me Krishna said do you want your blindness to go Dhritarashtra said no after witnessing this most marvelous vision of the divine vision I don't want to see this dirty world but that reaction was only for a small second and he approved his son's scheme of murdering Krishna in the Hastinapura itself by creating a kind of trap along with Shakuni advise of Shakuni etc. nothing has changed not only that he became even more strong in his delusion and how do we know because Mahabharata is marvelous even if you want to get entertainment go to Mahabharata after the entire Kurukshetra war was over and all the sons of Dhritarashtra were killed and only few people remained some old people who did not participate in the war was alive and but children old people and those who are people with sickness who could not participate in the war everybody died and they wanted to Pandavas Krishna everybody wanted to have the blessings of Dhritarashtra and Dhritarashtra knew he was grief stricken he was terribly depressed and he was extraordinarily angry especially after hearing the graphic description of Sanjaya how Bhimasena had killed by tearing apart by beating upon the thighs of Duryodhana because that was the unprotected part of his body entire body and Krishna showed him the way anyway Pandavas went and Dhritarashtra embraced Yudhishthira and even blind fellow he asked to acknowledge Yudhishthira was very Dharmic person he did not do next came Bhimasena and he wanted to embrace now Krishna knew what is going to happen so he constructed an iron image of Bhima exactly resembling Bhima and before Dhritarashtra he pushed that image and Dhritarashtra became enraged as soon as he heard Bhima is coming to prostrate before you and he stretched his hand and embraced him to his chest and crushed him the description goes that the iron image has become dust by this tremendous power how much power this blind fellow has got God alone knows and then his regret has come then he said no no that was only iron image real Bhima is still alive then he had to acknowledge in fact most marvelous things were there that this fellow was so attached he does not want to leave in spite of all losing all his children anybody would have committed suicide then Bhimasena one day he made fun this fellow living on the livings on the uchishta impure food thrown just as though somebody after eating throws the whole plate to the dogs like that this fellow is a shameless fellow in the hearing of Dhritarashtra then he became sad and next day he left and unfortunately the mother of Pandavas also had left along is a marvelous story as I said but what is important is that whenever we study Gita whenever we study Gospel whenever we study Swami Vivekananda's works any wonderful book you meditate upon it but as I said with one caveat what is that caveat pray to the Divine Mother Saraswati O Ma please enlighten give me the capacity to understand what this scripture really means grant me that so that I can understand it this is the is not information this is true knowledge how do we know because the characteristic of any true knowledge is it transforms the entire life nobody can help it as it did M's life as it did many devotees of Ramakrishna's life as it is doing even today millions of people's lives just look at the words of Christ the words of Krishna the words of Rama the words of all these great souls have even that power to transform lives people renounce the world become monks become mad thirsty for the vision of God because this is God himself Gita is not a book Gita is God Gospel is not a book it is a Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with bhakti probably by next week we will complete this blessed Bhagavad Gita Jai Ramakrishna