Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 19 on 27 July 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Chandogya Upanishad which belongs to the Samaveda. In our past classes, we have studied the Peace Chant. Then I promised that I will give a few samples of a few Upasanas. Because from the first chapter to the fifth chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, it is all about Upasanas. As I explained earlier, what is an Upasana? It is like the steps of a ladder or a staircase which will take us from where we are to Brahman. There is no other way. But this gradual approach to Brahman which is our own true nature which we forgot because of this special power called Maya. Just as we forget in our dreams also our waking state and we spread a huge net of imagination. We can be anywhere in this whole cosmos. Similarly, it is as if the Self is playing as it were with itself. This is what we call the touch the granny by closing one's eyes. So that is why in the Puranas, it is described as Leela because the world is not true. It is a mere appearance. So our life is an appearance. From the ultimate point of view, Guru is an appearance. Shishya is an appearance because the world is an appearance. Sadhana is an appearance. Attainment of success in Sadhana is also an appearance. And this we had studied in quite a bit of elaboration. I hope some bells are ringing in your minds in the Mandukya. I think it is the second chapter, 42nd verse that Sadhaka, Sadhana and Siddhi, everything really doesn't exist. But it is a play as it were. But here the important point is how we can gradually get out of our circumscribed identification. I am a human being. I am a male. I am an Indian. I am a Hindu. I am a devotee of Ramakrishna, etc., etc. And gradually become identified with the universal. And that is the Upasana. It is the only way for us. As I said just now, it is like climbing. The higher we climb, the further we see. And then we become identified with the larger whole. That is the purpose. In the very first section, Chandogya Upanishad has got eight chapters. As I said just now, from the first to the fifth, one, two, three, four, five chapters are full of Upasanas. And what marvelous Upasanas each one of them. Even if we have to contemplate upon them, let alone do them, but even intellectually understand them, mind bogging results will occur in our own self. So in the first section, Omkara as Vuddh Gita. Om, as explained in the Mandukya Upanishad, especially in the Karikas, is the entire existence of every creature. And it consists of the waking, the dream, and the deep sleep. These are all changing states. And the real Self, the witness, is the real personality of each one of us. And that is indicated in that elongated sound. Om. Sri Ramakrishna says, when you strike a drum, it produces this kind of sound. But even when we just strike once, loud sound will be there. And gradually it becomes attenuated, thinned. And then slowly that sound, vibration goes on. Om. Like that. Om. That Arthamakara, etc. And that symbolically is identified with Turiya Vastha, the witness. Turiya is not the fourth state. Turiya is the witness itself of the three states which are continuously undergoing a change. A witness or called Sakshi can never undergo any particular change. So if we can do this Upasana, then slowly it will take us. And how this Omkara, or the essence of the Omkara, is explained in seven steps. The eighth step being the conclusion that if anybody goes on contemplating this Omkara, then he understands, I am Brahman. Omkara is my name. The syllable Omkara is the best name of Brahman. Now we have taken sufficient study of that one. Now I just wanted to give you a few samples only. And with the help of these samples, then we should be able to understand the other types also. Now in the second section, I am continuing it. This is called the Omkara identifying with Ishwara, the Creator. Whenever Vedanta talks about the Creator, He is not only the Creator. He is the Creator, He is the Maintainer, and He is the Destroyer. All the three we have to take into consideration. But that is the first point. What is the second point? He is not an individual taking something which is different from Himself and creating. For example, a potter is not the pot. He takes the clay, takes the help of a potter's wheel, and with its help makes any number of pots. And what is the relationship between the pots and the potter? He is only an intelligent cause. But the real cause is the clay. So it is the clay which is manifesting as any number of products called pots. Different sizes, different shapes, for different purposes, with different qualities. Thick pot, thin pot, oblong pot, plate-like pot, etc. But all of them are nothing but clay with different forms and with different names to distinguish them and with different qualities for the purpose of practically using them. Now, why am I citing? So a mother gives birth to a baby. Mother is different, baby is different. So the mother is the Creator, or parents of course. I am only referring to the mother. And the baby is the Creator. But they both are completely separate. They are born separate. They die separately. They live separately. Their experiences are separate. But when we say Ishwara created, it is like the clay. Imagine, an intelligent clay. Clay, very intelligent. And instead of using the word clay, we can substitute the word clay with the Panchadevata that I explained earlier. These are five basic elements out of which this entire cosmos is only a manifestation. So God, Ishwara, is three in one. He is the material cause. He is the instrumental cause. He is the intelligent cause. So if somebody, instead of worshipping Ishwara as one element, can worship Him as all the elements and not only as each element, but an individual, an infinitesimal part of each element. And that is the subject matter of the second section. So a small story is like a peg. You know many times, in Upanishads, we get a lot of stories. And somebody had taken the trouble to collect most of the stories or at least most of the very significant stories, important stories. Stories from the Upanishads. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj of the Divine Life Society and some others also have done this job very nicely. So the stories are what I call pegs. A peg is there to hang our hats, our coats, our dress, etc. So to hang the highest philosophical truths, these stories are often used. Don't take the stories for real. I explained the symbolism of why the disciples became fat-rich birds and then ate the vomit of Yagnivalikya. Do not take literally. No human being can become a bird. And anybody who believes in it, probably they have got bird's brains. Anyway, each one of us, we have got Prana. That's why we are called Prani, living. And our Prana functions in five different ways. And every part of the Prana is cosmically connected with one of these Panchadevatas, five elements. And if anybody worships God or contemplates upon God or does Upasana of God only with one limb, ignoring the other, then the result will be very, very limited. Not that there won't be any result, but the result will be extremely small. But if somebody wants that higher type, then he should be able to meditate in a better way. So here, a small story is created and it is a highly meaningful, enjoyable story. There are two types of creatures. One is called Deva, that is the Gods. Not G-O-D with capital G, but small g. Any number of Gods are there. And who is a God? That is any human being with spiritual qualities, with what is called cultured qualities. A cultured person, kind, compassionate, intelligent, rational, mature, etc. is called a Deva. And idiots and cruel people with destructive tendencies, they are called Asuras. But here the Upanishad tells us both of them are the children of Prajapati. Who is Prajapati? The father of all creation is called Prajapati. Praja means the creatures. Prajapati means the creator of the creatures. That is, we are all, whether good person, bad person, good animal, bad animal, we are all created by Ishwara only. There is a wonderful, interesting conversation in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, that why did God create evil people, wicked people, cruel people, and then this is one of the biggest philosophical problems. If God is good, then He would have created everything good. And if God is evil, then He would create evil. And there are some religions, childish religions, I would say. What is a religion? Childish thinking, believing in something that is not rational, that is called childish religion. There are some religions and then they say, why God created everything good? Because God is good. But then the question comes, who created? Saturn, Hinduism or Vedanta has no hesitation in telling, it is God only who created. Because even from a rational point of view, how do we know what is good unless there is evil? And for that matter, how do we know what is evil? If we do not know what is good, what is after all this? We must have distinguishing knowledge. Good and evil, hot and cold, male and female, happiness and unhappiness, all this is what is called dual knowledge. And in the beginning of the Bible, Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of knowledge. What knowledge we are talking? That is called creature's knowledge, worldly knowledge, secular knowledge, our knowledge. And our knowledge means both knowledge of good and evil, so that we can know what is good and what is evil, what is happiness, what is unhappiness, etc. So there is only one creator. So is he good or bad? From the lowest point of view, he is a mixture of both. Because even God cannot create only one side. Nobody can create one side of a coin. Have you ever seen a coin which has only one side? That is impossible. So they were gods and demons. They were all children of Prajapati. In fact, if we probe a little bit deep, we understand that when we are babies, we are the demons. But as we grow, we commit mistakes. We read the results. We suffer. And then we understand that I have created my own evil. And that is the ladder by which we climb slowly. Our understanding becomes better. Our concept of God also becomes better. And this is the process of evolution. And so Shri Ramakrishna says, very interestingly, not only that evil is not evil, but it is absolutely necessary because it is the evil people which glorify the saints. If there were no evil people, who would recognize, who would even know who is a saint, who is a good person? An absolutely good person is another name for being a saint. Simple as that. And how did this person become a saint? Because he too was a sinner. There is a beautiful English saying that every saint was a sinner in the past and every sinner in the present is a future saint. And that is there within each one of us. There is some urge. From the highest standpoint, there is no reality. And therefore, the Advaita Vedanta alone boldly proclaims that what we call good and evil, it is Leela, divine sport. And every saint comes to the same conclusion. And Shri Ramakrishna says, and he is a beautiful example, there was a jamindar, a landlord. He has plenty of land spread over hundreds of miles and the tenants had to pay the taxes for using his land. But some of them are mischievous. They do not want to give. So he employs one person, Golak Chowdhury. And this person, he is very named by hearing it. People tremble because he was such a, we can call it, strict person or evil person, whatever name you want to call. So they are also necessary. And evil people alone can become good people. This is not a strange theory. Evil person means to be an evil person in practical terms, a person has to be extraordinarily strong physically, mentally and willpower, tremendous willpower. An ambit fellow can never become an evil person. It is an impossible thing for him. Anyway, coming back to our story. So these two are fighting all the time. So at one point of time, the demons, they wanted to hurt the devas. And then very easily they could hurt them. Why? Because these devas were ignorant people. Who could be hurt? Ignorant people. Who could be defeated? Weak people. And ignorance is the weakest thing in the whole world. So through this story, then the devas who have been suffering, they found out what can we do. They met, had a discussion and then they were seeking a way. How can we protect ourselves from these demons who are at every turn, whatever we want to do, they are hurting us. Then what did they do? They worshipped Ishwara as the supreme embodiment of prana and not the manifestation of prana but directly the prana. Who is the embodiment of prana? That is to say, the creator himself. And then these asuras could not do anything. Why? Because Ishwara is the very soul of everybody. Ishwara or the creator or what we call in English language God, He alone has become both the asuras, the demons, as well as the gods. So when a good person identified himself with God, that means identified himself with the demons, the real soul, how can I hurt myself? Nobody wants to hurt oneself. Therefore if I identify myself with you, you can never hurt me. And if you attempt to do that, you will hurt yourself. So through this upasana, it is called prana upasana. Utkita prana upasana They had overcome the evil designs of the demons. This is the essence. I will just give the read out. There are 14 mantras out there. But the first few mantras indicate what really happened between the demons and gods. And the gods, being hurt again and again, decided to become free from the effect of these demons and how they were taught that you must worship the creator. That is the only way you can be free, you can be saved from being hurt. And they did that. And after that, the demons could not do anything to them because they could not hurt themselves. That is the final result. And then there were some people, other people, who also learnt this prana upasana vidya. Vidya means here upasana. The word vidya can be translated both as knowledge and it can be brahma vidya. But here specifically, these vidyas are called upasanas. Just to distinguish between brahma vidya and upasana. So they meditated, some of them, like devas. And they also became free. They advanced in their evolution. And they attained unimaginable, indescribable bliss. And then the Upanishad wants to convey whoever wants higher knowledge and the result of higher knowledge is higher bliss. And if anybody wants, and everybody wants, not only they want bliss, this is a natural thing. Every creature wants higher and still higher, and still higher knowledge. And through that knowledge, and knowledge is happiness, bliss we say, and the person will become one with the highest bliss, ultimately which is called brahmananda. Who doesn't want happiness? If a person is not happy, that means he is hurt. And why is he hurt? Because he is identifying himself with the lower self. Lower self. I am the lower self. And lower self is subject to lower knowledge. And lower knowledge is equivalent to lower happiness. So you see the connection, knowledge, happiness, they are irrevocably identified together. This is the secret of Upasana. Every higher step where we give up the lower identity and identify ourselves with something larger, moving from finiteness to infinity, and that is climbing the steps as I said, and that goes by the name of Upasana. And when the Upasana reaches its ultimate, then that is called Brahmananda. Brahmananda means what? The knowledge, I am Brahman. I will just give you one more point. So if somebody says, I want to enter into Svargaloka, what Hindus call Svargaloka, and I want to enjoy all the happiness of the Svargaloka, and Svargaloka, who is in charge of Svargaloka, is called Indra. The word Indra simply means that the person who has got the knowledge that I am the happiest person, very happy person, is called Indra. And the experience in which he experiences himself as Indra is called Indraloka. But many times I told you, this is not a geographical location. It is a state of consciousness, a person who wants to enjoy this Svarga, Ananda. He must contemplate upon Indra. He becomes identified with Indra. Naturally, he experiences the Ananda of Indra. If somebody wants higher, for example, Prajapati, then he must meditate or contemplate on Prajapati, or on Brihaspati, or on Brahma. This is called Brahmaloka. Finally, on Brahman. Then he attains. So, identifying oneself with the state of consciousness of the higher being, that is called Loka. In fact, the very Sanskrit word Loka. Lokyate bhujyate anenaiti lokaha. The state of experience of higher happiness, that is called that particular Loka. For example, simple example, there is a peon in an office, and he has to work very hard. So, he wants to sit like a babu. So, he studies privately, then he passes some exams, then he becomes a blue-collar worker, as we say, a clerk. And better than the peon's work, his salary is better, and his happiness also should be better. This is only an example, mind you. Happiness has nothing to do with being a peon, or a clerk. But as an example, I am telling you. So, this person, he wants to advance further, and he obtains that intelligence. He passes, privately, higher and higher studies, and then the office recognizes him, he makes him assistant manager, then one of the board members, then maybe vice president, and finally the president. There are a few stories, marvelous stories, how a so-called seemingly insignificant person, because of that extraordinary intelligence, plus hard work, he rose to be the CEO, chief executive officer of a huge company. So, this is how, slowly, slowly, Upasana takes us to the higher. What is the point? The point is that the higher the being, or state of consciousness, we identify ourselves with, the corresponding happiness will also be, what is called, higher. They are identified. Knowledge, position, happiness, these are identical. With this background, I will just read out the English translations. When the gods and the demons, both offspring of Prajapati, fought with each other, the gods took hold of the Udgita, thinking that with this, they would vanquish the demons. So, their thinking is in the right direction. Then, what happened? Second, the gods meditated on the Udgita, as the Prana, which functions through the nose. As I mentioned earlier, to understand these statements, Prana is one, but depending upon what action it does, what particular action it does within each one of us, it is called by its particular name. There are five functions, Prana, Apana, Vyana, Udana and Samana. All are necessary for digesting, for breathing, for distributing equally, etc. These five Pranas, later on in the Upanishad, in the fifth chapter, are identified with the five elements, Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Jala and Prithvi. That we will come to, that is called Vaishvanara Prana Agnihotra Upasana. I will give a sample of that later on. But here, the gods, they wanted not to be affected by the demons. So, earlier we have seen in the Udgita, they meditated upon the Om, but they did not meditate on the Cosmic Prana. They just meditated on one function of the Prana. Here the example is given, what is called the Nose, the Granendriya, that which smells. But then, because it is a very limited function of the Prana, very individualized, very weak Prana, the demons, they could easily hurt it, pierce it with evil. What does evil mean in Vedanta? That is what the Upanishad wants to tell. These are marvellous truths. You have to listen very carefully. Therefore, with this Udgita Upasana, and the breath, that did not help the gods. They were hurt. So, what is it? I am the Prana, which functions only the breathing activity. So, that is why they are hurt. Hurt in what sense? So, one smells both what is pleasant, smells what is foul, smelling. For the breath is pierced by evil. What does it mean? There will be experiences of pleasantness, experiences of unpleasantness, and both go together. And that is called bondage. What is our problem? When we say this world is a bondage, what exactly do we mean? Is a person always unhappy when he is in deep sleep? Is he not happy, peaceful, blissful when a person is enjoying first-class things, seeing beautiful sights, hearing beautiful sounds, smelling beautiful fragrances, tasting beautiful dishes, and the most pleasant touches? These are only five sense organs. Is a person happy or unhappy? He is absolutely happy. But what is the problem? It can change within a second. Sometimes when I am travelling, I am travelling through some fields, especially where lemon trees are grown. I don't know whether you know it. The lemon tree blossoms are extraordinarily pleasant blossoms. And then here itself in Varanasi where I am staying, there are beautiful plants outside my room, my building where I stay. There are creepers called night queen. And there is another, I don't know its name, extraordinarily fragrant small white flower. They only bloom occasionally. But especially this night queen, when it blooms, the whole building is pierced as it were with this extraordinarily pleasant smell. And it only gives its fragrance at night. That is why it is called night queen. Very small flowers. Thousands and thousands of smallest flowers. But there is also a garden next to this building. And every few days they bring the cow dung and spread it all over. And such unpleasant smell comes for a few days. So human happiness is interspersed with both happiness and unhappiness, good and evil. And therefore that is called we are pierced by the demons. Don't forget that only one side we are describing, not the other side. In fact, we cannot live. How do you know this is fragrant? Only because you know what is foul. So without this knowledge of both, this is called duality. It is impossible to know what is good also, what is more happy bringing, etc. So these gods, what did they do? Each time, first of all, they meditated and identified Udgeeta, Omkara, with only one particular sense organ called Nose. And easily the demons could pierce it. That means they could create unhappiness because of the opposite experience. That is foul smells come. Nobody wants foul smell. Then these gods meditated upon speech but as an individual organ. And the demons pierced it with evil. Therefore, sometimes we speak nice things, sometimes we speak very unpleasant things because speech is pierced by evil. Then they meditated upon the eye. Demons pierced it with evil. That's why we see something very pleasant. We also see something very unpleasant. Then they meditated on the ear. But the demons pierced it with evil. Then sometimes we hear good things, sometimes we hear very bad things. And here also we have to understand what does it mean, hearing good things and bad things. There is a beautiful story, if you want to understand it. In the Durga Saptashruthi, the very first story, Vishnu was sleeping and from his, the dirt that is there in the ears, two demons came out, Mathu and Kaitaba. So showing our practical life, human beings, poor human beings, day to day life. When somebody says, you are a marvelous person, praises, flatters, then we are very happy. And the person who praises may be plotting our death but we think he is our dearest friend. If that is not evil, I don't know what is evil. We have no, what is called rational thinking. So really am I such a person? Just because somebody else tells it and I want to hear it, am I only a slave to this praise? And if somebody for my own good criticizes me, for lifelong I will make that person my enemy. Or I consider that person my enemy even though that person may be my mother, my father, my greatest well-wisher. So unfortunately Maya has covered all of us in this way. So what happened? They are all what is called meditating or sharpening or making, identifying with each individual sense organ and then the demons could easily pierce it and therefore we get hurt because it gives both positive and negative experiences. Then the people thought, the Gods meditated on the mind but the demons pierced it with evil. Therefore our thoughts consist of both proper and improper, good and evil, dharmic and adharmic thoughts. Then what happened? They came to their senses. Who came to their senses? The Gods came to their senses. Even though we are meditating upon each sense organ including the mind, we are supposed to be free from the effect of these demons, evil, then we are not free. Somehow we could not get out of the net of this duality. So then they came to their senses. Then what did they do? Then they meditated on the Utkita as the principle Mukhya Prana and then a miracle had happened. Just as a person takes some, what is called a cloud of earth and then hits a stone, what happens? The mud simply breaks into small pieces or even it may become dust. But when these Gods identified themselves with Mukhya Prana, who is Mukhya Prana? Ishwara Himself. Then what happened? No demon could ever pierce. Why? Because as I said earlier, if you still remember and connect to the thread of this talk, Ishwara is the very soul of the soul of every demon, every good person. That means what? The Devas indirectly, that is, directly identifying themselves with Ishwara and through the Ishwara identifying themselves with the demons that I am the demon. I am not only the God, I am both. I am the God and the demon. I am the human being. I am the non-human being. I am the living. I am also the non-living. I am the good. I am also the evil. I am the happy people, happy person. I am also the unhappy person. This is called identifying ourselves or expanding our consciousness until we become one with universal consciousness. So they meditated upon the Mukhya Prana and then the demons tried their old tricks and they could not do anything because I cannot hurt myself. So the demons could not hurt themselves. What does it mean? It means they realized these so-called Gods are none other than our own dear self. If I take a knife and stick that knife in one of my hands or it could be a needle or by mistake sometimes, you know, we pierce. You take a small scissor and start cutting either the nose hair or anything and one millisecond we are not careful and the sharp edge of the scissor pierces inside the nose and blood starts coming out. And sometimes while eating in our eagerness, we bite our own tongue. Whom does it hurt? It hurts oneself. So this is the very philosophy of morality. If the other person, there is no other person, I am the other person. That is the essence of morality. I step into the shoes of the other person. That is I identify myself with the other person and when I do that there is no other person. Only I am there. And if I am doing evil to the other person, I am only hurting myself. And as I said, nobody wants to be hurt. Therefore, I do myself. If I do some good to the other, then I am not doing any good to any other. I am doing good only to myself. This is the very Dharma Tattva, the very quintessential point of the Dharma. That is called Punya. And the result of it is happiness. So when I identify myself, the other person's happiness becomes my happiness. That is a wonderful thing. Naturally, one of the questions that comes is if I am identified with the other person, whenever that person is happy, then I am also happy. But what about when the other person is unhappy? Will I be unhappy? No, because this is a very subtle point you have to keep in mind and meditate upon it. Then only you will understand. I am not merely identifying with another individual. I am identifying myself with the entire universe. Let me give you a small illustration for the facility of better understanding. I always give illustrations so that what I am talking, I hope becomes much easier to understand. But I use sometimes such examples which seem to be a bit odd. But you have to put up with it. Supposing you are walking with a friend. Suddenly a hungry tiger starts chasing both of you. And then you are fortunate you are faster and there is a tree nearby and you climb up. But the other person is caught by the tiger and on the spot the tiger starts eating. And this happens in reality also whether we are witnessing or not. How many people are killed by dogs, by wolves, by hyenas, by many other wild animals every year in the whole world or snake bite, etc. God alone knows. Anyway, so you say thank God I have escaped. But at the same time what you also realize my friend who is walking with me it is terrible suffering. Therefore if I identify myself both with the tiger and as well with the person whom I loved what are you going to do? Because the tiger is very happy and you are identified with the tiger. At that higher state of consciousness our concept of what is death and what is individual happiness also goes through a transformation. Then we understand that life cannot go on in this world only by eating mud by eating dry leaves life survives only on life. So what do you want to eat? Potato? It did not have life even now before you cook you put it in the soil and it sprouts after a few days. Grass, leaves, fruits, flowers anything that we eat it has life and life cannot survive without life. So a big deal of vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism this is only affecting people of lower intelligence not of higher intelligence. The only rule is unnecessarily do not hurt anybody but life itself becomes impossible without hurting things in some way or the other. A spiritual person tries to avoid only doing necessary evil. That's all. So when a person identifies with Mukhya Prana then every creature is happy in doing something if the other creature is hurt that is also part of life. We identify ourselves with Mukhya Prana or life itself and then everything becomes enjoyable because universal happiness will be the result of universal Upasana and that is being indicated here as well as the Gods. So previously they were good people but ignorant people and the story doesn't tell us somebody must have told they must have approached a teacher how is it? We are meditating on this individual Prana and yet the demons could hurt us. Then he said this is the mistake you are committing and actually I will give another illustration. Suppose we have got so many parts of the body two hands, two legs, two eyes two nostrils, two ears etc. So would you identify yourself only with one of these limbs I love my right hand I love my right leg etc. or I love my right eye let the other eye, other hand, other leg go to dogs never. So if whatever is hurt that is the body is an example for the entire universe. So it is a body consisting of so many parts. The universe is also consisting of so many parts. Just as no two parts of the body are alike one hand may be weak one leg may be weak one eye may be weak etc. but we identify ourselves equally with every part then only we can say I am such and such a person and extend this analogy to the whole universe. So there are weak creatures strong creatures and it is the law of life strong creatures prey upon the weak creatures but this Upasana on the Ishwara as the Mukhya Prana not the individuality but universality contemplation about the universal aspect of the universe then the person's life becomes absolutely joyful because he becomes the very soul of everything in the universe and there are so many examples in Shri Ramakrishna's life today I will just cite a few examples but the essence of this second section is as soon as the gods started meditating upon the Ishwara himself I am not the individual but I am the cosmic person then he identified himself with those whom we until now called enemies or evil people they become part of my own self they are no longer looked upon as evil people after attaining after the departure of his Advaita Guru Shri Ramakrishna continuously stayed in Nirvikalpa Samadhi for 6 months then 2-3 events so many must have happened but 2-3 events Shri Ramakrishna mentions in his writ master one day Shri Ramakrishna was there in his room lying and that was probably spring and newly grown Durva grass very fine type of grass used in worship has sprung up and then a person with shoes was walking on the newly grown Durva grass and Shri Ramakrishna felt that person was walking on his own chest it was a painful experience second, Shri Ramakrishna was on the banks of the Ganga there were 2 boatmen a stronger person gave a blow on the back of the weaker boatman and the effects were felt upon Shri Ramakrishna's back who identified himself with both people especially the person who got the blow and he cried out third was one day Shri Ramakrishna saw a grasshopper, a small insect with very flimsy wings somebody caught hold of it and then stuck a small bit of a wooden piece in its backside and it was suffering Ramakrishna felt said, I very much felt the pain but then I started laughing, Oh Rama you became this urchin you became this small stick you also became the grasshopper and you stuck that stick in your own back and you are the boy was happy and you are not very happy, you are suffering, so this is some kind of universal identification but here the point is when a person attains to this state he will experience universal happiness because every event is understood as a cosmic play and in a play tragedy is also happy and comedy is also happy union is also happiness separation is also happiness everything ends in happiness, so by meditating thus they overcame evil that should be done by each one of us and there were some people who did this and then they also attained to the same result and which we will just discuss a little bit tomorrow and I will take up another marvellous upasana tomorrow May Sri Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti Jai Ramakrishna