Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.3.1.1-2 Lecture 80 on 25 October 2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
ओं जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुं, पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः.
Oṃ jananīṃ śāradāṃ devīṃ rāmakṛṣṇaṃ jagadguruṃ, pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ.
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
OM PŪRṆAMADAḤ PŪRṆAMIDAM PŪRṆĀT PŪRṆAMUDACYATE PŪRṆASYA PŪRṆAMĀDĀYA PŪRṆAMEVA VAŚIṢYATE OM ŚĀNTI ŚĀNTI ŚĀNTIH
OM That Brahman is infinite, and this universe is also infinite. The infinite proceeds from the infinite. Taking the infinitude of the infinite universe, it remains as the infinite Brahman alone.
OM Peace, Peace, Peace be unto all.
Introduction: The Muni Kāṇḍa
So, we are studying the third chapter of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, which is called Muni Kāṇḍa. And in this particular chapter, the main subject is: how can rituals help a person to transcend limitations, time, death, and unhappiness? And the simple answer is that we will have to do the ritual properly.
The Three Parts of a Ritual
Every ritual contains three parts: the actual process; the person who performs it; and there is a presiding deity and the purpose of the ritual. We are talking about how rituals can take us to the realisation of Brahman.
- The first part is the ritual itself, and it should be done in the most proper way.
- The second part is the worshipper himself.
- The third part is the presiding deity and the purpose of the ritual.
First of all, we have to perform the ritual properly, and that leads to purification of the mind, that leads to clarity of understanding. Concentration will be developed, and then Upāsanā, contemplation.
Upāsanā and Identity
Every ritual contains contemplation of the deity upon whom we are supposed to focus our mind and feel our identity. To give familiar examples, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa meditated upon Hanumān and became Hanumān. Through Hanumān, he became one with the presiding deity of Hanumān, who was Rāma. Apply the same to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's meditation upon Rādhā Rānī: he became one with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When we say he became one, we mean he attained complete oneness: "I am Rāma, I am Kṛṣṇa."
The Purpose of Upāsanā
Now, if the ritual is performed very well, it leads to some spiritual progress. If we do Upāsanā properly, that will help us to progress still further. But the real purpose of Upāsanā is to remove all distinctions between the worshipper and the worshipped.
The Story of King Janaka
In this first section of the third chapter, and in our last class we have been discussing the story of King Janaka. Just to recall, he was a great spiritual aspirant. He had tremendous yearning, which Śaṅkarācārya describes so beautifully in his Vivekacūḍāmaṇi:
मनुष्यत्वं मुमुक्षुत्वं महापुरुषसंश्रयः। दुर्लभं त्रयमेवैतद्दैवानुग्रहहेतुकम्॥
manuṣyatvaṃ mumukṣutvaṃ mahāpuruṣasaṃśrayaḥ | durlabhaṃ trayam evaitad daivānugrahahetukam ||
Only by the grace of God can one obtain this rare human birth, and only a few people long for the realisation of God. Tad‑virahe parama‑vyākulatā iti, as Nārada says. If I cannot realise God – and in Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's words: "O Mother, one day I had passed away. And we do not know when death is going to come. I want to see You." He used to roll on the ground weeping unconsciously. That is called parama‑vyākulatā – tad‑virahe, when we are separated from the vision of God, from the thought of God. Then our condition will be, in Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's own words: when a child is separated from the mother, until the child is united with the mother, the child will be absolutely restless. Weeping. And somebody had written a beautiful bhajan: Mā jāmi mā jābo – "I want to go to my mother."
Janaka, the Fit Student
Anyway, coming back: Janaka was such a divine person, and he had acquired all the fourfold qualities, became a fit student to hear about the truth. And he wanted to find out a teacher. So how did he do that? He announced that there are one thousand cows with ten tolās of gold for each cow – five grams on each horn of the cow.
And then we have to also exercise our imagination. Supposing all the thousand are only cows and there are no bulls – what are the people going to do? How are they going to multiply? So he must have included some of the best bulls that he found. We have to fill up the gaps like that. So this Janaka announced: whoever is the greatest knower of Brahman, he can take them.
The First Mantra
And now I would like to read one or two of the mantras, so that I also want all of us to taste the beauty of the Sanskrit language. So the first mantra in this third section:
ॐ जनको ह वै वैदेहो बहुदक्षिणेन यज्ञेनेजे। तत्र ह कुरुपाञ्चालानां ब्राह्मणाः अभिसमेताः बभूवुः। तस्य जनकस्य वैदेहस्य विजिज्ञासा बभूव। कः स्विदेषां ब्राह्मणानामनूचानतम इति। स गवां सहस्रमवरुरोध दश दश पाद एकैकस्याः शृङ्गयोः आबद्धाः बभूवुः॥
oṃ janako ha vai vaideho bahudakṣiṇena yajñeneje | tatra ha kurupāñcālānāṃ brāhmaṇāḥ abhisametāḥ babhūvuḥ | tasya janakasya vaidehasya vijijñāsā babhūva | kaḥ svid eṣāṃ brāhmaṇānām anūcānatama iti | sa gavāṃ sahasram avarurodha daśa daśa pāda ekaikasyaḥ śṛṅgayoḥ ābaddhāḥ babhūvuḥ ||
Om, Janaka, the emperor of Videha, performed a sacrifice in which gifts were freely distributed. Vedic scholars from various places – for example from Kuru‑deśa, Pāñcāla, and many other places which are not mentioned – were assembled there. Emperor Janaka of Videha had a desire to find out who is the most erudite of these Vedic scholars. He had a thousand cows confined in a pen, and on the horns of each cow were fixed ten pādas of gold – ten grams of gold.
The Purpose of the Story
Very briefly, the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad is mentioned in this. Its purpose is not to tell a story about Janaka's yajña, a special ritualistic worship. No – it is to give us a very concise description, but we have to infer a lot of things from there. And unfortunately, our information about these Vedic times – yajña sacrifices, yāgas, special types of sacrifices, rituals, presiding deities – all are completely obscure. But for the great commentators like Rāmānuja and Śaṅkarācārya, we would not have ever fathomed the real meaning of these rituals.
God's Arrangement
Fortunately – and of course God Himself had arranged for them, because the ancient wisdom had to be preserved, had to be spread – that is why every now and then God incarnates for Dharma‑sthāpana.
How does Bhagavān establish Dharma‑sthāpana? Because He teaches. As I mentioned earlier, every time an avatāra comes, a scripture also comes into existence, which gives us the essence of the real truth. Veda means truth, the highest truth. Secondly, how it can be implemented. Thirdly, how it can be preached. Fourthly, how some people He will bring with Him – they are called Īśvara‑koṭis. And He specially trains them by teaching them the real meaning of the scriptures, and – by what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says – authorising them to preach these truths, to scatter these truths irrespective of caste, colour, religion. The only qualification should be pure sincerity.
So we have to infer all those things. Śaṅkarācārya is considered one of the greatest such facilitators – like, probably not a very apt comparison, but anyway I will use it – what it means is like a person using ChatGPT or something else for making things crystal clear. That is what we needed to understand.
Janaka's Real Purpose
So the real purpose of Janaka – and he had performed many such rituals, this is not the first one – but the very special purpose of this particular sacrifice is to find out who could advance him in spiritual life. So it is not a scholarly discussion; it is to determine whose knowledge of Brahman – spirituality, whose spiritual progress – can be measured by discussions.
The Parallel with Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa
As I told you many times, whenever I speak, I would like to bring parallel examples from the life of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda, and Ramana Maharṣi, etc. – many of them.
The Assembly Convened by Bhairavī Brāhmaṇī
At one time in Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's life, many people thought he was mad. Fortunately – or it was a plan of the Divine Mother – Bhairavī Brāhmaṇī, his first Guru, who trained him and advanced him in the paths of Tantra as well as devotion, understood. And then she told Māthur Bābu: "You arrange an assembly. I will prove to all of you that not only is Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa not a mad person, he is the greatest avatāra of God. We have to very carefully study the life of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa."
Māthur Bābu – at least he was not willing, actually – but Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa very sweetly cajoled him: "What is the harm? So she is telling so much." And Māthur Bābu cannot refuse Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's request for two reasons: Māthur Bābu knew how pure Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was, and he knew Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was not a madcap. Secondly, the power of the Divine Mother is working – which is more important for us. It is the Mother's power through Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa which convinced Māthur Bābu.
And the author of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, the Great Master, clearly mentions there that Māthur Bābu thought: "Let me assemble these scholars to discuss the condition of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa as well as his experiences. So at least if they determine that this poor man is not a madcap, he is not an avatāra – otherwise these ideas may go to his head, because he had complete faith in his Gurus. So he might think, 'Really I am an avatāra.' Because his Guru Bhairavī Brāhmaṇī was not only convinced of it – she was not convinced by intellectual understanding, she had divine visions with regard to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, and then she was convinced – but she challenged: 'I will prove he is the greatest avatāra.'"
And Māthur Bābu thought: "At least after hearing from the conclusions of this assembly of great scholars available at that time – like Vaishṇavacharan, Paṇḍit Gaurī, etc. – this poor man will get rid of his belief 'Maybe I am an avatāra.' And that also is the līlā of Mahāmāyā."
Vaishṇavacharan and Paṇḍit Gaurī
So what I am describing is not the important point. The important point is Māthur Bābu had agreed. And at that time, some of these greatest Vaiṣṇava Gurus – Vaishṇavacharan as well as Paṇḍit Gaurī – many others, they had come; they were supposed to discuss; there was some kind of discussion.
But the important point for us: Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was innocently observing everything, because he was not conscious of anything. First came Vaishṇavacharan, and Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had used his magic power. He went and casually touched him, and Vaishṇavacharan made ṣāṣṭāṅga praṇāms to this young man, who was much junior to him, and he burst into tears. And then he extempore created a hymn – in Sanskrit, composed a Sanskrit hymn; unfortunately we have lost it. He said: "No need for any discussion. I know you are not only an avatāra, but you are the source from which all avatāras come." And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was enjoying.
Paṇḍit Gaurī came to the same conclusion, and others. We do not know – descriptions are not available – they all agreed.
What Is the Point?
What is the point? The point is: there was no meeting at all, there was no discussion at all. Even long before the discussion had started, they had unilaterally declared that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is an incarnation of God. Of course, Māthur Bābu was astounded: "This simple Bābā, whom he used to call Bābā, is an incarnation of God?" Of course, who can understand?
अवजानन्ति मां मूढा मानुषीं तनुमाश्रितम्। परं भावमजानन्तो मम भूतमहेश्वरम्॥
avajānanti māṃ mūḍhā mānuṣīṃ tanum āśritam | paraṃ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūtamaheśvaram ||
So why am I telling all these things? That when a person is ready, then God brings the necessary people for that. And then, of course, since they all gathered, there was a discussion.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Touch
And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was sitting among them. What was he doing? He had a packet of puffed rice – or maybe avalakī, we call it, chire – and then he was putting some now and then into his mouth. I am not sure whether he was sharing them with anybody else. And then now and then he was touching the nearest people and saying: "Oho, I had this experience." And he touches the other person: "I had this experience." And by the power of his magic touch, their minds were elevated; they understood him.
The point is, the meeting was completely – what is called – a timepass. All the paṇḍits had come to that one voice: "Yes, he is an incarnation of God." Which, of course, as I said, Māthur Bābu was completely overwhelmed with that idea. Of course, he was very happy, because he used to consider Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa as his own chosen deity, living and moving; it was written in his birth chart also.
Janaka and the Assembled Scholars
Now, why am I bringing all these stories? Janaka was not an ordinary emperor; he was a Sādhana‑Catuṣṭaya‑Sampanna Adhikārī. And the paṇḍits, the scholars who were gathered in that sacrifice – sacrifice is only an excuse for bringing together all these people – they were all not professors of philosophy, not mere paṇḍits, but they were all great spiritual sādhakas, aspirants. Everybody progressed to a great extent; their questions indicate that one.
The Declaration
So Emperor Janaka wanted to know – we know the conclusion; the conclusion is, and the story comes; let me not forestall what is happening. So Janaka declared: whoever is the greatest knower of Brahman – not scholar of Brahman, but a true realised soul – that person will get one thousand cows.
What Is a Knower of Brahman Going to Do with Cows?
Now you may wonder: what is a knower of Brahman going to do with one thousand cows? I still remember when I was in Bangalore in a small āśrama, somebody came and told me: "Swāmijī, you are purchasing watery milk. I will provide you a first‑class cow, which will give you every day at least ten to twelve litres of very good milk." And the offer was so tempting for me. So I thought God Himself, Mother Herself, is coming and bestowing Her grace – foolishly, that is how I thought. And the next moment, by the grace of Mother Śāradā or Sarasvatī, the thought came: "It is okay, you will get good milk, but the amount of trouble – I have to construct a cowshed, I have to appoint somebody, and I have to feed it with grass, etc. And whenever it wants, I have to supply a bull also to it. To hell with all this! I am quite happy drinking the watery milk." And that saved the situation. I know some of the āśramas there, and they could not have resisted it. Later on some of those members came and confessed to me: somebody donated, and innocently we accepted; day and night we are running after these cows.
Now what is the point? What is a knower of Brahman going to do with cows? No – because Yājñavalkya had a huge hermitage. And hundreds of students from long distances used to come – in those days it was a Gurukula. And therefore he had to feed them; he requires. And of course, the brahmacārīs are there, and they will look after them. They were living in a forest, and therefore grass, etc., is not a problem. So Janaka had announced it – that is the meaning of the first mantra. And each cow – all the thousand cows, and some bulls also along with them – all of them were adorned with ten tolās – we call it – each cow with ten grams of gold.
The Second Mantra
Now we will proceed to the second mantra, and then I am not going to go on like that. After that, I will try to analyse what actually is the real meaning, the inner meaning, the antarārtha, of this particular section. Because India is full of religious people, and the greatness of India is: wherever a temple is there, even a newly built temple, after a few days it will be filled with an uncontrollable amount of crowds – and sometimes there will be stampedes also, people also die. That is the religious nature of Indians. Everywhere – it is not happening especially in the West; people are abandoning churches, etc. Anyway, I will not comment upon that.
Now we will proceed to the second mantra. Janaka is announcing:
तं ह उवाच ब्राह्मणाः भगवन्तः यो वै ब्रह्मिष्ठः स एता गा उदजताम् इति। ते ह ब्राह्मणाः न तदूचुः। अथ याज्ञवल्क्यः स्वमेव ब्रह्मचारिणमुवाच एताः सौम्य उदज समश्रव इति। तं होदाचकर ह उदाचकार। ते ह ब्राह्मणाः चुक्रुधुः। कथं नो ब्रह्मिष्ठो ब्रवीतीति। इत्यतः जनकस्य वैदेहस्य होता अश्वलो बभूव। स एनं पप्रच्छ। त्वं नु खलु नो याज्ञवल्क्य ब्रह्मिष्ठोऽसीति। स ह उवाच नमो वयं ब्रह्मिष्ठाय कुर्मो गोकामा एव वयं स्म इति। तं ह शत एव प्रष्टुं दध्रे होता अश्वलः। तान ह उवाच ब्राह्मणाः भगवन्तः यो वो ब्रह्मिष्ठः स एता गा उदजतामिति॥
taṃ ha uvāca brāhmaṇāḥ bhagavantaḥ yo vai brahmiṣṭhaḥ sa etā gā udajatām iti | te ha brāhmaṇāḥ na tad ūcuḥ | atha yājñavalkyaḥ svam eva brahmacāriṇam uvāca etāḥ saumya udaja samaśrava iti | taṃ ho dāca kara ha udācakāra | te ha brāhmaṇāḥ cukrudhuḥ | kathaṃ no brahmiṣṭho bravītīti | ityataḥ janakasya vaidehasya hotā aśvalo babhūva | sa enaṃ papraccha | tvaṃ nu khalu no yājñavalkya brahmiṣṭho 'sīti | sa ha uvāca namo vayaṃ brahmiṣṭhāya kurmo gokāmā eva vayaṃ sma iti | taṃ ha śata eva praṣṭuṃ dadhre hotā aśvalaḥ | tān ha uvāca brāhmaṇāḥ bhagavantaḥ yo vo brahmiṣṭhaḥ sa etā gā udajatāmiti ||
The Meaning
I will directly go to the meaning, sentence by sentence. Taṃ ha uvāca brāhmaṇāḥ – Janaka, after seating all those great souls (every one of them was a great soul – and I am so happy to announce there was one Brahmavādinī, Gārgī, and no Brāhmaṇa, no man, no scholar could ever surpass her, and this we deduce from the type of questions she put, which also shows how far she had advanced in spiritual life) – so Janaka ha uvāca, he brāhmaṇāḥ – "O Brāhmaṇas" (here "Brāhmaṇa" does not mean only the Brāhmaṇa caste; it means "O knowers of Brahman, knowers of God, devotees of God, spiritual aspirants") – bhagavantaḥ – "you are all very revered personalities" (Bhagavanta means God Himself) – yo vai brahmiṣṭhaḥ – "whosoever is the greatest knower of Brahman" – saḥ – "that person" – etā gā udajatām iti – "all these cows that I have penned, kept – one thousand cows and bulls with ten measurements of gold" – udajata means "you can take them to your āśrama."
Te ha brāhmaṇāḥ na tad ūcuḥ – "None of them dared to come and say, 'I am the greatest.'" Look at this description – what a beautiful description! That means they knew their limitations. Atha – now what happened? Atha yājñavalkyaḥ svam eva brahmacāriṇam uvāca – Yājñavalkya came forward. And nobody – the discussion had not even started, like in Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's case. So Yājñavalkya himself came forward and said – svam eva brāhmaṇam uvāca – he called one of his disciples, a brahmacārī: etāḥ saumya – "My dear boy" – udaja samaśrava. So his name – the name of the disciple – is called Samaśravā. Samaśravā means an expert in Sāmaveda. He was a great scholar of Sāmaveda. Udaja – "So drive them." Iti ta ho dācakāra – simply, he (with tremendous self‑confidence) said, "Drive all these cows to our āśrama."
And then what happened? As soon as Yājñavalkya declared this, his disciple immediately – of course there must be some to take to drive one thousand cows; one person cannot do it; quite a number of people, maybe Janaka himself had employed lots of servants – but the brahmacārī's business is to see that they are all driven safely, without wandering here and there, to the āśrama, wherever it was.
The Anger of the Scholars
Then the other great scholars became terribly annoyed with him. Te ha brāhmaṇāḥ cukrudhuḥ – krodha – they became angry. Kathaṃ no brahmiṣṭho bravītīti – "How is it that among us you declare yourself as the greatest knower of Brahman?" – bruvīta – "you yourself, without any discussion, without proving your superior knowledge, you simply think, you think 'I am the greatest knower of Brahman.'"
Atha janakasya vaidehasya hotā – now what happened? There was a hotā, a special priest of Ṛgveda – the priest who is a master of Ṛgveda. We know that there are four Vedas, so he who recites Sāmaveda is called udgātā (gātā means "who sings"; Sāmaveda is supposed to be sung). So the Ṛgvedic priest – his name was Aśvala, that is why this first section is called Aśvala Brāhmaṇam. Brāhmaṇa means a section.
Kathaṃ no brahmiṣṭho bravīti – "So you are declaring yourself, 'I am the greatest knower of Brahman.'" Thus Janaka's own home priest, or his family priest, Aśvala babhūva, sa enam papraccha – he challenged this Yājñavalkya.
The Challenge
Tvaṃ nu khalu no yājñavalkya brahmiṣṭho 'sīti? – "Ho Yājñavalkya, tvaṃ nu khalu – indeed, you think – naḥ – among us – brahmiṣṭho asi – you are the greatest knower of Brahman."
Sa ha uvāca – Yājñavalkya replied – namo vayaṃ brahmiṣṭhāya kurmo gokāmā eva vayaṃ sma iti – "We bow down to the greatest knower of Brahman. We are merely desirers of cows."
Hearing this answer, Aśvala must have become even more enraged. And then he started – what did he start? Taṃ ha tata hyeva – the moment he heard Yājñavalkya declare, already his disciple had started driving all the cows home – praṣṭuṃ dadhre – he started asking questions.
The Right Way to Ask Questions
Now, there is a very important point we have to note down. In the Bhagavad Gītā it is said that when a student approaches his Guru, he has to surrender himself, and then he has to ask appropriate questions. Do not go to a great Guru and then go on asking, "Is it day or night? Am I asleep or awake?"
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया। उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः॥
tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā | upadekṣyanti te jñānaṃ jñāninas tattvadarśinaḥ ||
Tad viddhi praṇipātena – first surrender. Surrender means what? "Whatever you tell, that is the highest truth. I have that faith." Paripraśnena – and then you have to ask paripraśna. What praśna? Whatever you are in need of knowing in order to advance in your spiritual life – that alone you will have to ask.
So this is what Aśvala wants to know, because he had progressed to a certain extent, and he wanted to know whether Yājñavalkya knew what Aśvala himself knew. And Aśvala was stuck at some point of spiritual progress, and he wanted to know, and if Yājñavalkya could guide him – definitely praṇipātena – he will surrender himself to Yājñavalkya. And that is exactly what happened in the case of all the eight brāhmaṇas, including Gārgī.
Enjoying the Inner Meaning
So he started asking. Such beautiful meanings are there, even in this. Simply if you read the English, plain English translation, you will never get it. And we have to enjoy, we have to imagine all these things. Otherwise Yājñavalkya would never answer – like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he says: "Buildings are beautiful, gardens are beautiful. Go on, go on, and you enjoy" – because that is what they can enjoy.
And when Aśvala started putting the questions: tān ha uvāca brāhmaṇāḥ bhagavantaḥ yo vai brahmiṣṭhaḥ sa etā gā udajatāmiti. So here now, Janaka Rāja comes and says: "O Brāhmaṇas" – that means spiritual aspirants – "you are all, in my eyes, highly respectable people. Yo vai brahmiṣṭhaḥ – now you start your discussion, and you have to unilaterally declare." Because answering one person does not establish it – maybe somebody knows more than Yājñavalkya. No – he must know; he must answer; he must help every one of them to move forward in their own individual spiritual paths. Brahmiṣṭhaḥ sa etā gā udajatāmiti.
So once unilaterally everybody declares "this is the greatest knower of Brahman", then whoever it is, let him drive away the cows. But we know already Yājñavalkya commanded his disciple to drive all the thousand cattle. And what does it indicate? It indicates tremendous self‑confidence. It is like God – so you can go to God, you can ask any question you want, and God knows everything. That is why He is called sarvavit – He knows everything. So this is the most marvellous thing.
The Background for the Next Class
And what did Aśvala ask? That there is a background I have to give you. Why do I need to give a background? Because we are all flocking to different temples. How many people are coming to visit Vārāṇasī, to visit – with tremendous faith, all of them have tremendous faith that the Lord is specially awakened in these particular places. But what they want from God is not God; what they want from God is money, power, position, name and fame. Or they want to get married, or they may want to divorce (and Indian courts are taking a long time) – "Oh Lord, please give the buddhi to the lawyers and the judge so that they can decide" – etc., etc.
And I will give you a beautiful background in our next class.
Closing Prayer
ॐ जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः
Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh
May Rāmakṛṣṇa, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekānanda bless us all with Bhakti.
Jai Rāmakṛṣṇa!