Brahma Upanishad Lecture 10 on 28 April 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

In our yesterday's class we came almost to the end of the third mantra of Brahma Upanishad which we have been studying. The mantra goes like this. We have completed until Jyotish. What does it mean? Within each one of us the entire both the personal God as well as the impersonal God are firmly embedded. That is to say there is Chit. But unfortunately we are only paying attention to the Chidabhasa, the reflected consciousness. Remember wherever there is a reflected consciousness there should be original consciousness. The mind becomes a mirror and the mind is the very fit instrument to reflect this consciousness which we call in our practical terms awareness. Where there is pure consciousness there must be also a mirror and there must be and inevitably there will be a reflected image. So pure consciousness, the pure mind and then the image that flashes there, the reflection that flashes there, a combination of these three is well known as Jeevatma as the individual soul. At the point the Upanishad wants to tell us we are not Jeevatma because of the mirror as if we are looking at the mirror and then acting and reacting but not directly approaching a pure consciousness. But what is the reflected mirror for? We all have mirrors at home. What do we do with them? A mirror is meant only for correcting ourselves. Of course we mean here the purely the physical body but a mirror it is a very wonderful instrument and in Sanskrit there is a marvelous word for the mirror. We call it Adarsha. The Sanskrit word for the English word mirror is called Adarsha. Adarsha means a great ideal. Say Ramakrishna, what is it? He is like a pure mirror reflecting in his body and mind, first in the mind then externally in the body also. Tremendous ideology that manifestation or reflection of these highest ideals that is called the characteristics of a Jeevan Mukta which throughout the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita is mentioned. Even the very first chapter is called the first chapter of Arjuna's Vishada. Vishada means suffering and why is he suffering? And that suffering is also a reflection in a bad mirror. So that which is standing in front of the mirror is absolutely marvelous because it is nothing but chit. But if the mirror is not pure, the reflection also will not be pure. So if somebody is unhappy, he has developed a mirror. That means his mind is thinking negative thoughts, low thoughts, not positive thoughts, not higher thoughts. The same person, same situation. But if he talks in a higher way, then he becomes a very happy person. Just I mentioned many times and I will do that. So in future also, somebody severely criticizes Ramakrishna. But the funny thing about this criticism was that man has nothing to do with Ramakrishna. He was not a relative of Ramakrishna and he had nothing to gain from Ramakrishna. At least if Ramakrishna was a rich man and this person has given up all hopes of inheriting anything, then there is some justification for this person's criticism. So there is a beautiful saying in Bengali, Ramana died in Sri Lanka and one lady called Behula wept somewhere in what is called Iceland. Where is the relationship between this lady and Ramana? Nobody knows. Like that. Anyway, it is also time pass. We criticize also because of time pass. Because we don't know how to spend our time. So some way of that. I illustrated this one. Two people were shipwrecked in an island and for a few days, they were good friends. Then they fell out. Then both of them started. It was a very small island. Only a few coconut trees were there. So one person, he will go on staring towards the east. Another person on the western side of the island goes on staring and whole day practically they go on quarreling and when they are tired, they retire back and go on watching empty space as they call or waves etc. Every day for several years it happened and then one day one of them died and the other fellow soon became very depressed. Somebody found him and asked, why are you depressed? Your arch enemy is dead. Now you should be a happy person. He says, what is the fun in life? I don't have anybody to quarrel with. How am I going to pass my time? So most of the time, when people criticize others, they gossip. Gossip means meaningless chatter. Really speaking, it is a time pass. Not that we have got special goal of criticizing somebody or anything. That is the result of not making a good program and sticking to it and improving self. There is a beautiful book, autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and therein he describes a very beautiful method and it is freely available on the internet. You please go through it and see what best you can do because it illustrates if a person has the mind, he can do something marvelous. Anyway, so this person criticized Shri Ramakrishna and some devotee of Shri Ramakrishna heard it and he carried that news to Shri Ramakrishna. Sir, such and such a person was criticizing you. Shri Ramakrishna's face brightened up immediately. What? He is thinking of me? What a marvelous news! Somebody is thinking of me. So when someone criticizes you, it is a wonderful advice. Be happy in this world where nobody wants to think anybody else that you are being criticized and you know what is the secret. You are being thought about by the person very intensely, though negatively but very intensely. Anyway, what is meant is the whole universe depends upon our awareness. When we are in the waking state as well as in the dream state, our mind is frantically active and therefore the world we see is the world that we create. We are the creators. So that is the point I want to emphasize. That is the point Brahma Upanishad wants to emphasize. You are Brahman or you can also be a Brahma, a delusion. It depends upon your thoughts. You are happy, you are unhappy. You are bound, you are released, you are free but it all depends upon what type of thoughts we cultivate and that is being brought out in this third mantra that all the Gods and Goddesses, where are they? In our heart and then where are all the Pranas? Prana means energy. Yesterday I explained, if you are enthusiastic, you love something, whether it is plants or matchboxes or dogs, anything. If you love, then you will be happy most in the world thinking, just thinking about it and what is after all a dream is nothing but thinking. You are imagining vividly, concretely everything with your thought and that is called dream and when your thoughts are not so vivid but only mere clouds floating in space, that is called imagination and when you think that something is like this and that is called waking state. There is absolutely no difference as we studied in the Mandukya Upanishad between the reality of the dream and waking state because how we understand something and act and react, that is what is. So this is the essence of the third mantra, Hridi Pranaha Pratishtita, all the Pranas. So whether a person says that I am not able to digest, let him go on meditating, I am able to digest and for that the Divine Mother had given us a beautiful mantra, Yadevi Sarvabhuteshu Kshudhirupena Samsthita. So Kshut means hunger, you are not getting sleep, then you recite this hymn, that particular verse, Yadevi Sarvabhuteshu Nidrarupena Samsthita, you will get, go on practicing it, you will get it. So if you don't have energy, Yadevi Sarvabhuteshu Kshudhirupena Samsthita, you are unable to understand, Yadevi Sarvabhuteshu Buddhirupena Samsthita. You want to be awakened to the higher truth, Yadevi Sarvabhuteshu Chetaneti Avidhiyate. So all these shlokas are considered by our elders, Rishis as particular mantras to bring about the particular desired effect in people's mind, marvellous thing. So Hridi Pranasya, where is this universal God or personal God? Here Prana means Hiranyagarbha, where is He? He is in your heart, He is you, you are He and Jyoti, of course Jyoti means your, whenever you cultivate, what is called with concentration, with focus, awareness, that is called Jyoti, but also Jyoti Rajyoti, light of the light, you are both, when you focus upon Chit, you are Jyoti Rajyoti, when you focus upon awareness through the mind, that is called Jyoti. Up until now, we have discussed. Then Trivrut Sutram Chayan Mahat, Hridi Chaitanya Tishtati, the last line was Hridi in our hearts, Chaitanya Tishtati, Chaitanya Tishtati, what is it? All the pure consciousness is in our heart, means don't think like water is kept in a vessel or some grain is kept in a bag or vegetables are kept in a small bag, not like that, that means the place of availability, where we can directly experience the consciousness, that is called Hridi. Hridi, that is why all the meditational mantras inevitably, invariably start only with the heart, so it is there, but then the earlier Sutra to this last line, so the one but the last, that is the most wonderful Sutra and let me give a small background, so Hinduism has divided people into four castes, earlier it was dependent upon the qualities and the activities, but here it is, nowadays it has become by birth, so the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas, the wise people are idealistic people, ideal people, then the warriors and then the transactional people, business people, they were invested with sacred thread and that sacred thread is after being invested and very wisely Hinduism calls that it is a second birth, Dwija, twice born, that means to say as soon as the sacred thread is kept with all the ceremonies, mantras, explanations, etc., not that the person, he dies and he becomes, this is what exactly Jesus Christ also was telling, unless a man dies and then is reborn, he will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Somebody was intrigued, what do you mean by somebody dying and reborn, then Christ said, I am not talking about physical death, I am talking about death of ignorance, death of worldly tendencies, that is why in every religion there is an investment is there, so this investing is there in Christianity that is called baptism, even a child is taken there, so he is what is called dumped into the water three times, dipped his hair and then some prayers are done, but when this child grows up, then only he understands that this is a sacred birth, even most of the Brahmin children, they do not understand, even in Judaism there is a special ceremony where they are made to be aware, from now onwards you have developed the capacity to understand, so you will have to behave like how God expects us to behave, not how your natural impulses rule over you, so this is everywhere, there is this quest for the infinity in the hearts of people, so this tri-vrut means tripartite, that is three small strands of thread are there, they are absolutely symbolic and they are given with all ceremony and I am going to narrate to you from the life of Sri Ramakrishna and this is what, how you have to understand what this Brahma Upanishad is exemplifying, Sri Ramakrishna really lived out that life and then in Mahat, so the highest the according to Sankhya school of philosophy, Prakruti is the highest manifestation of Maya and Prakruti manifests or degenerates into some change takes place and that is the first change that takes place like Hiranyagarbha or Brahma, that is called Mahat, whatever the school of philosophy, what it means is Saguna Brahma, personal God, from the impersonal to the personal, then only the problem of multiplicity and likes and dislikes, attachment to the individuality, everything, it springs only from this, but here what are we discussing, tri-vrut, tri-vrut-sutram-ca in Mahat, priti-chaitanya-tishti, so it exists within this heart, that is in the consciousness, what is it, though the immanent cause with the threefold constitute, also known as the Mahat principle, as we know, many times we have the occasion to reflect upon what is called Sankhya philosophy, they posit two permanent or eternal principles, one is called Purusha, another is called Prasanna and it is an eternal twin, there is no question of one disappearing after some time, but that was a time when the thought process was being still distilled and then being improved upon, later on it became Vedanta and the highest expression of Vedanta is what we call the monistic Advaita religion, in which the same impersonal supreme reality is not that it becomes, let me explain this, though even though so many times I have done, because we are human beings, because our mind can only understand what is called finite, what is called multiplicity, so if at all Vedas are talking about this Nirguna Brahma, impersonal reality, it is beyond our concept, as Sri Ramakrishna says, Brahman can never be expressed in thought, word or much less in deed, so then we can never understand and the very first chapter of Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna brings out this subject, God is with form, God is without form, God is beyond both form and formless, what we need to understand is, so long as we are working through the mind, God can be with form, God can be without form, but not at separate times, at the same time and that is the beauty of duality, for example, if you want to know this is light, you must be aware of darkness, so the knowledge of darkness will not come after you stop thinking about the light, no, even to cognize that this is light, we require that simultaneous concept, this is not darkness, this is not light, this is good, this is evil, this is beautiful, this is ugly, these are called dualities, so at the same time present, so what Sri Ramakrishna meant by formless aspect of God is only in relation with the form, because we are comprehending, cognizing the forms, we must have also a very crystal clear idea, what is called formless, but both these are conceptions of the mind, but one should go beyond the mind and then only he is beyond both form and formless, the second statement, he is beyond both, can only be experienced, can never be expressed, so please keep this in mind, so we are talking about, when we are talking about Brahman, the supreme reality, we are not talking about that impersonal aspect, where only impersonal aspect means that which is without form and therefore without name and therefore without any quality, all these go together, very interesting concept I want to bring in front of you, there is beautiful Upanishad called Taittiriya Upanishad and it is divided into three chapters and the second chapter is called Anandavalli, in this Anandavalli or it is also called Brahmanandavalli, in this Valli, Valli means a chapter, at the very beginning Brahman is defined and there are two definitions of Brahman, you have to remember, what is called Tatastalakshana, accidental description, another is called Swaroopalakshana and the pointing out the nature, not talking about nature, Brahman can never be described, but pointing out, that is the way you have to go, that means through mind, you have to go beyond the mind, then only you understand, but it can manifest as in three separate ways combined together but separate, Satyam, Gnanam, Anantam, Brahma, so Satyam means that is the only truth, what is the definition of Satyam, that which never changes, what is the definition of Gnanam, that knowledge which is not the resultant of minds coming into contact with an object, but that which is eternally existing and both these are related to Anantam, that means infinite truth, infinite knowledge, now what is the point, I wanted to highlight and point out to you, this is the nature of Brahman, that is what is called the true description in human words of course as pointers, but as soon as the mind starts thinking about it, then we have to understand its opposite, is Saguna Brahman infinite, no, he is finite, is Saguna Brahman having a form, yes, he is having a form, is he having a name, yes, he is having a name, is he having a quality, yes, he is having a quality, and all these three names can be distinguished, that is how if there are two children in a house, then two different names to distinguish whom we want to contact, so the same thing we have to understand, that Satyam, Gnanam, Anantam, that is a pointer, that is not a definition, that is a pointer, you start moving towards this, in this direction and you will finally, you become one, otherwise no description is ever possible, the moment we describe, we are not describing about the supreme reality, we are describing about the personal reality and very interestingly, personal reality means me as a person, how I understand, that is my concept of God, as Swami Vivekananda points out with such deep meaning and if you are receiving the WhatsApp application and you must have been reading in the last few days, so if there is an ant, if there is a buffalo and if there is a human being or if there is a fish in Swamiji's words and if you happen to question them, what is your concept of God, a fish will say it is the biggest fish in the world and the Hindus literally take it, that is why he is born as Matsya Avatara and he is the most boring being in this whole, that is why he is called Varaha Avatara, biggest bore in the world. Anyway, so if you ask a buffalo, oh why, he is the biggest buffalo, he can't be anything else, he must be a buffalo only and then if you ask a human being, he must be a human being only but a trillion times magnified, the most powerful being whom nobody can defeat etc. Then Swamiji gives a beautiful example, if there are three vessels, very small and slightly bigger and even bigger and if you pour water and the water takes the shape of that particular bottle, now I can expand it a little bit and say that imagine there are three utensils and of different shapes, of different sizes, of different colours, now you imagine that you pour water into it and then depending upon if it is a small round utensil, a tumbler and the water appears to be of that round reddish colour, roundish colour etc. and if it is a green colour, bigger and is oval shaped, the water also appears to be oval shaped and if it is a huge and it is square for example, it appears to be square, same water but we are judging the water from the limiting adjuncts which are the three vessels, so that is how our minds as Swamiji says are like that but I would expand it a little bit further, each one of us have got a mind and through some training, because of some liking, we as it were sculpt our mind and make a vessel, a musician makes a musician mind, an artist makes an artist mind, a scientist makes a scientist mind, so like that when the what is called pure Brahman in the form of knowledge is received in these different minds, a scientist because he worked hard and he shaped that utensil then he becomes, he obtains rather or God manifests in that person in the form of scientific knowledge, similarly in a musician in the form of musical knowledge, similarly in another person maybe he is a poet or a great cook or a great administrator or a great military leader, whatever it is and that is what is meant by each soul is potentially divine and we have to shape our minds in particular ways and offer it to God, many people do not understand what is the meaning of each soul is a, every each soul is potential divinity, what does it mean? The Brahman, the supreme reality is everything, that is the highest understanding but suppose somebody has trained his mind to be a musician, so he was a potential musician and he became a trained musician, now he must manifest that music talent and offer it as his worship to the divine by singing about the divine and only with the idea that I want to reach divine then that potential musician or singer, he will reach God. If a scientist, okay, become a good scientist and then you use that scientific knowledge for the good, for worshipping the divine Lord in the form of the whole world or people, animals, living, non-living, now the non-living has become the biggest topic what we call environmental cleanliness, purity and we are all suffering from it, from unseasonal manifestations of certain seasons etc. So this is how, this is wants to say the whole universe is nothing but our reading of that impersonal God in the form of, call it Saguna Brahma, personal God and this personal God is what we call in the Sankhya Yoga language Prakruti and Purusha, simply speaking that which is non-living is called Prakruti and that which is manifesting as awareness is called Purusha and this is the combination of Prakruti and Purusha is nothing but the entire creation, there is nothing else and how is this creation, where from it is coming down and that is what is being told in the Advaita, in the Sankhya Prakruti that means the original matter, what is called material from which this whole universe has been made, it is called Saguna Brahma in Advaita Vedanta, remember Prakruti means Saguna Brahma in Advaitic language, Divine Mother in Sri Ramakrishna's language consists of three qualities Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Now we can also say that that is the waking state, that is the dream state and that is the deep sleep state. We can also say the gross body, the subtle body and the causal body, these are different terminologies for the same truth and that is what is being told here Trivrut Sutram Chayan Mahat, so that Mahat which is the first manifestation according to Sankhya school of philosophy of Prakruti, it has come down in the form of Mahat and that Mahat slowly so-called manifested or degenerated into the five elements, both the subtle called Tanmatras and the gross which combine with each other five what is called physical elements, the space, the air, the fire, the water and the earth etc. and then the whole universe is made. It is to make us remember, it is to educate us, this sacred thread has been invented by every religion. Every religion there is some kind of ceremony will be there, you are not a gross body with a mind, you are the divine child. Of course scientists they do not, they discard this idea, they do not even accept that mind is superior and mind is subtle and mind and brain have no relationship at all, these are two separate entities. So if the brain damage is done, the mind will not be able to function. Most of the scientists nowadays they have this misunderstanding. Coming back Trivrut Sutram, so every religion as I said invests and what is the point? Point is to say that my son you are made up of three Gunas, three bodies. Three bodies are the manifestation of the three Gunas, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas and every this quality has got its own effect. If somebody is endowed with the Guna called Sattva, it manifests as real knowledge, right knowledge and happiness and if it is contaminated that is called Rajas and that person's knowledge will be mixed knowledge, happiness also is mixed happiness and if this person is dominated by Tamo Guna, there is no English equivalent, that's why I am using Sanskrit terms only. Then this person he gets wrong knowledge, doubtful knowledge, opposite knowledge and he will be the most unhappy person and he will not be capable of manifesting certain higher natures in the form of developing his consciousness, his mind, his intellect, his talents etc. So this is what being said here. So whenever, let me just only take the important example, there are Brahmins. When a Brahmin child attains 7 or 8 years, then it is time for him to be invested with sacred thread and there is a well-defined, well-documented ritual how it has to be done and then it starts with fasting. This is the first control over the body and mind and the person in course of time either by his father or uncle or a learned Brahmana, he will be given the mantra called Gayatri Mantra and then the condition is that from now onwards, these what is called three-stranded thread, especially woven by especially indigent people, women etc. They used to eke out a living by this and that is done to certain length and that is made to be worn by this child and throughout life, unless of course he happens to renounce the world and becomes a monk, he is supposed to do it and it is a reminder. Every time he takes bath, he will be remembering that. This child is supposed to early morning towards the rising sun, towards the setting sun etc. He is supposed to repeat this Gayatri Mantra etc. But the important point is that what I wanted to bring to your notice. Sri Ram Krishna brings this sacred thread ceremony, inner symbolism on the very first day that M meets Sri Ram Krishna, Sandhya means the special ritual that is accompanied before and afterwards. It is the Gayatri Mantra or the repetition of the Gayatri Mantra is sandwiched between the earlier rituals and then later on rituals. Very very interesting topic. I will not go of course but just I am giving you a hint after the Gayatri Mantra is over, then the child or a man or even the old man has to say, Mother you have come to me, you have aroused my consciousness, you have helped me to understand the divine truth and for today you take leave that wherever from you have come, you will have to go back. This is the concluding ceremony but what is important is what is the symbolism of these three strands. That is our main point here that I will keep. There are different explanations are given but in brief in essence I am giving you that we have three instruments. We are not the instruments. We are supposed to use these instruments and then progress towards God. What are these instruments? The gross body, the subtle body and the causal body and these three bodies are used successively, respectfully. So one after the other with the gross body, the waking state, the subtle body during the dream state and the causal body in the deep sleep. But what are we supposed to do during this waking dream as well as a dreamless state? We are supposed to purify ourselves, our bodies, our mind. That is why whenever anybody, any Hindu who starts worshipping God, he will be, the very first thing is after sitting calmly and quietly, after the very first act should be lighting a lamp. That lamp is called a lamp of knowledge which reminds us that what we are supposed to do not only at the time of puja but at every other time and then to make the atmosphere very pleasant, some people of course they use these incense sticks but that is not part of the system because when some people are very allergic to this incense stick then that person is supposed to avoid it. But because people are very sentimental, so many people approach me, what shall we do? I say take the incense stick and then just wave it without lighting it up. So there are some extreme cases, helpless cases, even the raw incense stick also creates allergy in them. We cannot help them but there are a few people but for most people it is helpful. After that the very first ritual act is washing one's three bodies by symbolically by sipping water three times. There are different mantras, Govindayana Maha, Achyutayana Maha, etc. or Om Vishnu, Om Vishnu, Om Vishnu or Om, Om, Om, etc. Different people use. If you are a Shiva bhakta, Shiva, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, etc. It doesn't matter. It is to remember may my gross body be purified, may my subtle body be purified, may my causal body also be purified and they purified these three bodies, may they be united together. That is called concentration, focus and with what is called undeviating devotion. Let me worship God. Worshipping is really giving up one's egotism, Ahamkara it is called. That is the real worship and actually on some occasions I have spoken also. After the puja is over, an as per service is held in which five items are offered and that is symbolic of saying that my whole personality is made up of five elements but all these five elements truly belong to you. All this time I was thinking that they belong to me but by your grace and because I have worshipped you sincerely, you have given me the understanding that they all belong to you. That means I do not belong to me, I belong to you. That means the whole universe again has come out of you so it belongs. That understanding if it has come symbolically expressed that the space is yours and the air is yours, the fire is yours, the water is yours and the earth representing food is yours or in another way of saying it is, it is not yours. It is you, yourself have become. There is nobody called me or anybody. This was the lesson Tottapadi Maharaj had to learn. It's very painful suffering towards the end after staying practically 11 months in the presence of Sairam Kali. That is a different story. I am not going into it but what is meant is every young boy who is invested with this sacred thread is told you, your body, mind and the causal body everything has been given to you, gifted to you by God but the Christians will say that God has given you this body and mind. That is why it is a temple. It doesn't belong to you but God has lent it to you and using them in the proper way according to the directions of the scriptures you can reach God and what are the things you must cultivate those qualities which are pleasing to God which will make you more holy, more wise and more happy. Sat, Chit and Ananda and the very first thing is Satyam. That is truthfulness. You be truthful. It has tremendous meanings which again I am not going to go into details which I have already explained in many of my other classes. Now what is the point? That which takes us the truth that is how our that is the meaning of our adhering to truth and in our Vedic times this right understanding that is called Satyam but the application of how we can become that truth and become merged in that truth is called Ritam and this concept of Ritam has in course of time degenerated as it were into what is called Dharma. Right? Yes. Anyway what I said so every boy invested he must be truthful, he must be always with the idea nothing belongs to me, everything belongs to you. Now this is what I promised at the beginning of this talk. You know Ramakrishna was born of a Brahmin and when the time came by that time his father passed away, his elders, his mother was there, two elder brothers were there, two sisters, one elder sister and younger sister were there and very close relatives were also there, very close friends were there. They all decided to do a grand ceremony also but then they know that this family doesn't have enough means so the loving neighbors, everybody loved Ramakrishna, they arranged. Now there was a lady, a low caste lady, she was called Dhani and she had tremendous love, bhakti, devotion towards this. In fact she helped Chandramani Devi when the boy was to be come out of mother's womb and then she truly loved him and then it was her cherished desire that you know there is a custom after the ceremony, sacred thread ceremony is over, the boy has to take his alms. That is alms means I don't belong to you, I'm a sannyasi so I live on alms. I don't simply enter, rush into the kitchen and say this is my kitchen, my food. No, from now onwards you have to live like a holy man saying that I do not have anything, everything belongs to me. So he has to take first few days alms. Even a sannyasin have to take alms only and even if it is an established ashrama, whenever we eat food we have to consider it only as alms, not as our divine right. Anyway, so this lady, she one day expressed her desire, my son I am born in a low caste but it is my greatest wish that the first food you will receive from me. I don't know whether it is possible and the boy knew who is sincere, who is truly loving. Immediately said mother do not worry, I will accept my first alms from your hands and she knew he was a truthful person. Everybody knew in Kamarpakur where he was born, Ram Krishna was there from the very beginning. He will never deviate one millimeter from truth and she knew her desire is fulfilled. God had fulfilled, heard her prayer. Of course, it was Ram Krishna only who was God. Now, so when the time came, Ram Krishna said do you know this lady asked me, I promised her and everybody rose in opposition. Such a thing had never been done in our family tradition and you can't do that. Ram Krishna immediately pointed, what is the point of this sacred thread so that I can become sacred, I can become holy and what is the first characteristic of holiness, I must become a truthful person and so therefore I am not going to deviate. Either I fulfill my promise to her or I will not have this ceremony because it will be sheer hypocrisy. Having promised, I will not fulfill that promise. Of course, there was a tussle. It is a big story but everybody knew one thing. If Ram Krishna says something, there is nobody who can stop him doing it and he was stubborn whether it is his father or his eldest brother or anybody. Let even if God comes, he is not going to give up. He had inherited certain qualities of Nachiketa. Yamadharma Raja tried to deflect his aims but then Nachiketa said, I am not going to be deflected from my aim. So, if you want to give, you promise to give and I am holding you to your promise. You must give me knowledge of Brahman only and Ram Krishna was like that. Shraddha, Abhivesha. Then they had to willy-nilly accept it. I don't think they were very happy for a few days but then they know this madcap, there is nothing we can do about him. Whatever he wants, that has to be. So even today, Swamiji also expressed the same idea. This old man has possessed me and he made a monkey of me, tied a rope around my neck and he made me go through half the world and never allowed me to do what I want to do and even now he is not leaving me. That is why when Swami Vivekananda deliberately gave up his body, he appeared to Shashi Maharaj at Madras and then said, Shashi, Shashi, I spat out this body. Coming back to our point, truthfulness. But as I mentioned many times, this also one has to keep in mind. So, any quality or all qualities can be divided into Sadh Guna, Dur Guna. Good qualities and its opposite, evil qualities. But the point is, all the qualities, good qualities come together. They come in a gang. The bad qualities, evil qualities also come only in a gang. So, many times I illustrated this but I will very briefly, let us remind ourselves. Now, Sriram Krishna's case, we will take as a peg upon which we build up our this explanation. Now, Sriram Krishna said, I must be truthful and especially his father was the greatest inspiration and he was a small boy and it was 1940s. Just remember how many years were in those days for a child to defy. So, what you call Charles Dickens time, Victorian period England, if the school teachers used to beat the boys black and blue. If you remember the story, Uriah Heep, how he was mishandled in the hostels, etc. So, Charles Dickens was only depicting the conditions that were there existing at the time of Charles Dickens. Similarly, the 19th century Bengal, what a pitiable condition it was, that was being depicted by Saras Chandra Chatterjee through his novels, especially the life of child widows who were not even 3 years old or 5 years old, etc. etc. It was a very, very painful period in Indian history. Anyway, coming back, so how could Sriram Krishna practice truthfulness? In fact, anybody who wants to, he can never practice it unless other qualities support it. What is the thing that supports truthfulness? Tremendous courage. Even if they give me up, kick me out of the house, I depend upon God, I depend upon truthfulness and that is how I am going to live. Courage. But where from courage he comes? Courage requires another something to support it. And what is that quality which supports courage? Faith. Because tremendous faith. God is truth or as Mahatma Gandhi used to say, truth is God. So, if somebody holds on to truth, even if Gods come, they cannot defeat. Many stories are there like that. I will not go into them. But you just remember Satya Harishchandra's story. That is wonderful. So, tremendous faith in God that God is truth. Therefore, I am only holding on to it. And whoever holds on to him, he will be protected, saved and he will be gathered onto the lap by that. Now, this faith had to be fed by what is called continuously praying to God and thinking positive thoughts. Simply one day you decide, I will be having faith in God. No. Faith is like a muscle which we have to develop. So, once we have an initial, like a small thread, spider's thread faith, with that you worship God, you read appropriate books and you listen only to things which will strengthen that faith and then this is what Sri Ramakrishna means by cultivation of satsanga. It's a marvelous topic by itself. And then slowly the deeds strengthen the faith just as one goes to the gymnasium and goes on exercising and that will bring in good qualities that will support faith, that will support courage, that will support truthfulness. So, this is how we progress. So, the child is taught that you have to keep your body, mind, etc. in your control and the three strands, that is what it symbolizes. And then when a person leads this kind of life, Hridi, Chaitanya, Tishthati, the heart will become one with the consciousness and he becomes a realizer of soul by becoming one with Brahma. Beautiful ideas. We'll talk about them. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.