Chandogya Upanishad Lecture 23 on 10 August 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying Chandogya Upanishad. In our last classes, I have been dealing with the introductory portions. This Chandogya Upanishad, which belongs to Sama Veda, is divided into 8 chapters. The real Brahma Vidya or Self-knowledge starts only or is expounded in a most exquisite manner in chapters 6, 7 and 8. Chapter 6 especially is called Sadh Vidya. That is, there is only one Brahman who is appearing as this whole world. That is what we have seen also just now in the Peace Chant. Sarvam Brahma Aupanishadam. If we can slightly modify it, Sarvam Khalo Idam Brahma. Whatever we are experiencing, that is nothing but Brahman. And when we become one with Brahman, I feel I am Brahman. So there is nothing else, no second object, no creation, no manifestation, no Maya, no Mithya, everything is Brahman. And this is beautifully illustrated very logically by giving several examples in the 6th chapter called Sadh Vidya Asti Vidya. Everything is nothing but pure existence, otherwise known as Brahman. In the 7th chapter, in all the 3 chapters, 6th, 7th and 8th, we come across most beautiful stories to illustrate. A story form is to make easiness of understanding, facility of understanding first, secondly, so that we can remember. The moment we remember the story, we remember the essence of the entire chapter. This is a kind of mnemonic, a beautiful way of increasing our memory through association. So second, that is 7th chapter, called Bhuma Vidya. The essence of that is In the limited, in the finite, there is no happiness. It is a profound statement. It means not only there is no happiness, when we say this person is not good, we actually mean most of the time he is evil. So the opposite meaning will come. So there is no happiness in the finiteness, in the limitedness, means it is full of misery, Tapatraya, what we call. We will talk about it when the time comes. In the last chapter, 8th chapter, there was a great soul. Again there is a story and he was a knower of Brahman. Once he deliberately declared that he who knows the Atman, all his desires will be fulfilled. That means he will experience Brahmananda. So from among the mankind, from among the demons, one was selected, from among the Devas, one was selected. These two come and Prajapati, the name of the Brahman Gnani was Prajapati. And they came, they did Tapasya and then the demon went away, misunderstanding or incompleting the teachings of the Guru, thinking that his body is Brahman. Therefore, cloth it, feed it, entertain it and take care in every way and whoever does it, he will get plenty of happiness. Naturally, we have to understand that that is not the truth. Then the second, the Indra, he came again and again questioning, finding out the defects of the teachings given so far. Only at last he understood how the teacher was slowly but surely, gradually bringing the understanding of Indra to a great extent until he realizes, I am the Turiya, I am the Brahman. So this teaching is very beautifully illustrated in the last, which is the 8th chapter. Now we will come and as I promised that we will start the 6th chapter. It is called Sadhvidya because in the second section, But as usual, it is a beautiful story and even from this story, we can learn a lot of spiritual lessons like Aesop's fables or moral stories, Panchatantra or Balamitra, etc. Now I want to take up what I, what did we do as samples. The Chandogya, as I said, is consisting of 8 chapters. Of these, 6th to 8th, 6th, 7th, 8th is the real Brahmang Vidya. But chapter 1st to chapter 5th, 5 chapters are devoted to Upasanas. And I did not want to go through them, so I just took 3 samples. There were many, many Upasanas are there. So first I took the Upasana called Vaishvanara Upasana. Then the second, which is again part of that, Prana Agnihotra Upasana. And the last, which we discussed in our last class was Samvarga Vidya. What is the essence of this? First of all, we have to understand that what is Upasana, how many types of Upasanas, and the relationship between Upasana and knowledge. And without understanding this, we will be wondering and wandering also that why did the Rishis, from whose sacred mouths all these Upanishads have come out, devote so much of time for these Upasanas. But if somebody asks what is Upasana, a straightforward answer would be spiritual practice, spiritual endeavour is called Upasana. Upa plus Asana becomes Upasana. When two short ovals are juxtaposed side by side, then both of them combine and become a longer oval. Actually, when we were discussing the Siksha Valli, we said that there are Matra, means how many units, unit of time. One unit that is called short oval, two units is called long oval. So whether it is short or long, both of them combine and it becomes a long oval. So Upa, there is an oval called A, Up plus A, and next is Asana. So what is the meaning? Upa means near, near to where? Asana. What is an Asana meant for? We know that when we want to meditate, we usually fix a time, go to our seat, and then we normally do not allow anybody else to sit on our seat. And as we approach the seat, we have already created, if we were doing this practice, spiritual vibrations. As we near, our mind will be affected by these spiritual vibrations. And what are they about? Spirituality. Spirituality means thoughts about God. So our mind gradually is thinking more and more about God. The moment we enter into the shrine room, already our mind is lifted up. And when we are approaching, we make pranams, then slowly we sit, and then we start our spiritual practices. And if it is done for some time sincerely, that place creates vibrations. This vibration theory is very much there. Now what is the aspirant thinking about? God. So Asana means God or Self. Upa means near. What is the nearest thing to us? So we say, I am nearest to myself. What do you mean by I? That is the being that wants to identify. So I am distant from my house. Of course, I am distant from long places. I am distant even from my own house. I am separate from my own room. I am separate even from my body. I am separate even from my mind. And what remains after separating ourselves? And that process of separation is called spiritual practice. What remains is the Self and there being no distinguishing mark. There being not two separate objects. Only when there are two separate objects, then both will have separate characteristics or qualities by which we distinguish. This is on the left side. This is below. This is white. This is small. This is fragrant. And this is soft, etc., etc. But the Self, true Self, and when I am separated from all these, either three bodies, the gross, the subtle, and the causal, or the Panchakoshas, five sheaths, what remains is pure consciousness. Previously, I identified with this body-mind complex. Now, I have succeeded through steady practice, slow but steady practice, to separate myself and say, whatever is limited cannot be me. Therefore, I am pure consciousness. And pure consciousness can only be one. Call it Atman. Call it Brahman. Call it my own Self. Whatever blessed name we call it, it is only one. So this process of shedding our identity with the limited and gradually becoming purer and purer, that means identifying with purer and purer consciousness, and that is the meaning of Upasana. So depending upon the caliber and the strength capacity of the aspirant, different Upasanas have been given. So what did we discuss? Upasana is equivalent to what we call in devotional language Sadhana. What is the purpose of this Sadhana? To give up this world and to slowly approach nearer and still nearer and even nearer until we become completely one with God. That is the purpose of contemplation, meditation, which is simply called Upasana. Upa-Asana, approaching towards my own Self. And as many aspirants, so many, as many qualifications, so many, some are not even stepped on to the first rung of the ladder. Some have already climbed the first ladder, second ladder, third ladder. And if we have to give an example, how many steps are there in this ladder? How many rungs are there? So you can say there are three or you can say there are five. Both are same. If we say there are three, we are referring to the gross, subtle and causal bodies. If we are referring to another model, it means the same thing. That is the Annamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha, Anandamaya Kosha. Just as the sword can be enclosed in five sheaths, and so if you want to get at it, first you have to remove the first grossest sheath, then the second, third, fourth, fifth. All the five have to be discarded because the sword is separate, the sheath is separate. That's what Sri Ramakrishna said immediately after the passing away of Akshay, his nephew. And Akshay was not a single person. We are all Akshays. All our Atmans are nothing but Sri Ramakrishna's Atman, Brahman. Each soul is potentially divine. So what is Upasana? Sadhana. What does it do? It gradually leads us. First it breaks or what is called, it loosens the bondage. When something is tied with a rope very tightly, it is very difficult even to open. We require a hold, but even that hold is not available. Many times you must have experienced it. So patiently, slowly, we go on opening. The more we open, the easier it becomes. This is called loosening. In Sanskrit, it is called Shithili Karana. For Upanishad, Shankaracharya, as we discussed many times, gives three meanings. Upa, Ni and Sat. Three meanings. What is the first meaning? Loosening the bondage. What is the second meaning? Slowly leading us to Brahman. Leading. What is the third meaning? That completely destroying whatever is binding us. All the three mean exactly the same. When this process is complete, only one knowledge remains. I am Brahman. Nothing else. So Upasana has to be done slowly. So it does it just as when we are progressing towards the East, the distance from the West also correspondingly increases. So this is Sadhana. How many types? According to Shri Ramakrishna, Jato Moth Toto Poth. As many faiths, so many Upasanas. Bhakti itself has got so many. You may think, so can you give me some examples? Because we are not able to understand. Yes. So Bhakti for Jesus. Bhakti for Buddha. Bhakti for Krishna. Rama. Chaitanya. Ramakrishna. Kali. Durga. Parvati. Lakshmi. Saraswati. Brahma. Vishnu. Maheshwara. How many? Three hundred and thirty three crores. But not only that. There are different moods are there. One is called the Shanta Bhava, peaceful mood. Another is called a servant mood. Another is called friend, friendship mood. Another is called parental mood. Another is called the mood of the lover and beloved. So within that, so many degrees, so many variations are there. That is why it is said that even though a Guru may have many, many hundreds or even thousands of students, but his relationship to each one of the aspirants will be absolutely different. And this crystal clearly we see in the life of Ramakrishna. He established an unbreakable bond between whom he accepted as his students or disciples and he is guiding them. One simple example only so that we can understand easily. Always I go back to examples from the holy trio. That is Ramakrishna, holy mother, Swamiji, direct disciples and the saints and sages of practically every religion. Hinduism doesn't make any difference. A true Hindu, a saint is a saint, a sinner is a sinner, whether he is a Hindu or non-Hindu. Now we can see Ramakrishna's life. One event. So he had two disciples. One was very aggressive. Another was just the opposite, very mild. And one day these people were coming to Dakshineshwar to see Sri Ramakrishna by a boat and there will be always some people to criticize. That is how they pass their time. Beautiful passage of time, finding out everybody's faults, accepting their own faults. So why do I say they are passing their time so beautifully? Because I don't know in India, but in the West, especially in London, in Hareley Street, if you make an appointment with a psychologist or psychiatrist, per hour he will charge you 100 pounds. But here these critics, what do they do? They point out all our 14 generations' faults and give freely. You are having this fault, this fault, this fault, that fault, and they will not cease. They are our greatest benefactors. All life, whenever they happen to see us or through, they convey their marvelous blessings through intermediate friends and then they point out my criticism. We only think criticism, we are being criticized, they are wicked people. No, according to Swami Vidyaranya, they are our greatest benefactors in the whole world. So what am I talking? This is Yoganandaji and Niranjananandaji crossed the boats and came to Dakshineshwar many times. Once it so happened, some people criticized both to Swami Yogananda and Niranjananandaji. Yogananda did not say anything, but he came and reported the matter. Ramakrishna severely scolded him. Your Guru is being criticized and you did not do anything. You should have run away. I don't know whether Yoganandaji knows how to swim. I am not sure. But if he wants to run away, in the mid-Ganga, there is no way that he could run away. Or he could have shouted at them. At least he could have done that. But this is not that he should do that. Sri Ramakrishna's purpose is that too much of mildness is really anti-spiritual, unspiritual. And so many other incidents were also there. I will not bring them up now. But Sri Ramakrishna knew that unless this child overcomes that particular defect, his spiritual progress will not be there. And the same thing happened to Swami Niranjanananda, who was like a Bhima Saina. Very tall, very hefty, very strong and very aggressive. And he started rocking the boat. He said, either apologize or fall at my feet. He didn't say, fortunately, lick my soles of my feet. No, you just apologize. Otherwise, I am going to sink this boat. And everybody got frightened. You see, the people who criticize, if you raise your hood, then they will be frightened. This is the slavish nature. So this threat had upset them. They apologized profusely and they will never again do it when he is travelling. And they will always do it when Swami Yogananda is travelling. Because they understood that this man is a mild man. We can catch hold of his hair and then swing him from this side to the other side. Sri Ramakrishna came to know about this incident and he severely scolded. What does it mean to you? So if I am criticized, what is your headache? So why were you about to capsize the boat? Because everybody was not criticizing. Only a few people were criticizing. This is a marvelous lesson for us to learn. In this world, we judge people. All Indians are bad. All Americans are bad, etc., etc. That is totally wrong. There will always be good people, bad people in every country. So we have to judge particular persons, not everybody. But like a blank cheque or blanket, why criticize the whole family? Oh, this whole family is like that. This whole Ramakrishna mission is sadhus are like that. Or this America is the worst country in the world, etc., etc. That is totally wrong. Just like the present war is going on, the Muslims think that Israel should be completely wiped out of this earth. Every Jew is a potential threat. And of course, they are paid with the same coin by the Jews also. And both of them are paid by the Christians in another way. If you analyze the First World War, Second World War, and practically the Third World War, only now there is a fight between the cousin brothers, what is called Semitic religions, Abrahamic religions. Anyway, what I am trying to tell you is that every teacher understands a particular student is at this stage. And if he is a wise teacher, you will have to guide him accordingly. And what is the guide? This is your particular sadhana. And that is what I said. Sadhana means Upasana. What is the relation? It is like climbing the steps of a ladder or climbing the rungs of a ladder. Both are same. And we have to go to the roof. That means you go beyond this staircase. The Ramakrishna's beautiful analogy, only when a person reaches the roof, he says, this is not the roof. This is only the first step. This is the second rung. This is the third rung. This is the first floor. This is the second floor. This is the fourth floor. And then he reaches. This is the roof. But once he reaches the roof, he understands the completeness of his experience. And then he comes down slowly. And then he says, the same material that was the roof is the same material which all the steps are made. In our case, what it means is, it is Brahman, that is the roof. And what are all the steps? The world. Different mentalities. Different stages. Different stages of consciousness or the chakras. Kundalini passes through all these things. Muladhara, Swadhishtana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna, finally Sahasrara. These are all nothing but higher and higher states of consciousness with nothing to do with either the physical body or the psychic body. So this is the relationship with the Upasana or Sadhana. It is like the staircase and knowledge is like the roof. What it means is, our knowledge is slowly expanding. That's what Swami Vivekananda said. As man grows, his concept of God also grows. So this answers the question. And without Upasana, without climbing the staircase, that is without giving up what should be given up, and without approaching nearer and nearer to the truth, to the reality, there is no way. So what is the relationship between Upasana and knowledge? Upasana gradually makes us give up what should be given up and accept what should be accepted. And then slowly brings us nearer and nearer to God. Upasana ends, Upasana ripens into knowledge. This is the relationship. So therefore, without Upasana, no one can progress and attain Self-Knowledge or Brahma Vidya or Atma Vidya. So for that purpose, we discussed the essence of Vaishvanara Vidya, Pranagnihutra Upasana, Samvargya Vidya, and every other blessed Upasana we have not discussed, but you can read independently from the 1st to the 5th chapter. If you keep the points that I have just now pointed out, then you can understand the intelligence of the Rishis, how they could guide every soul without exception, from the lowest state to the highest state. So what is the essence of all the Upasanas? So where are we now? In the lowest stage. What is that lowest stage? Each one of us is under the control of desires. We are pulled towards the objects of senses because our desires and objects control us. So senses are always taking us away from God. This is called turning outward. We are slaves to our desires, to the temporary pleasures, and slaves of worldly desires. Now can we make these desires, very desires, not rejecting them, but redirecting them? That's what Sri Ramakrishna said when he was asked how to conquer lust. He said, why? Increase your lust, but turn it towards God. What does he mean? Means increase your desire for what is called most loved sense pleasure, and instead of that replace that sense object with God, and you can increase it. And that is called spiritual practice. So if we can understand the teachings of the Raikwa and King Janashruti, what is it? That whenever, whatever, wherever we are doing, we must identify it is not me, it is the Divine Lord who is doing it. Sri Ramakrishna's simple words, I do not know anything. I eat, I drink, and I enjoy myself. But my mother knows. Who is speaking? My mother is speaking. And who is making me do? My mother is making me do. This unrivaled description in these simple words explains what Raikwa had taught in the Samvarga Vidya, not Samagra, Samvarga Vidya. That is to say, identify yourself not with the finite, with the infinite. Therefore, by these means, we can control our hold over our sense objects, then senses, then desires, then our habits, and turn them inside. And now use those very same things so that we can redirect them with renewed vigor towards Brahman. And that is called Samvarga Vidya. And a beautiful illustration given by so many sides. Let us take, I have already narrated it either in this class or in this Akshavalli. I do not remember that Shri Ramakrishna was returning by boat and everybody felt hungry. Shri Ramakrishna was brought with the little money they had. They bought one pot of sweets and he ate the whole lot and then everybody was satisfied. Similar story we find in the Mahabharata Manaparva. That is, Shri Krishna came to the rescue of Draupadi and there was just one grain sticking to the pot, Akshaya Patra, and he asked for it, I am very hungry, and he ate. Now this story looks fantastic. How can one grain eaten up by one grown-up person fill the entire universe? That is the secret of Vaishvanara Upasana. Samvarga Upasana or what we call here just now Pranagnihotra Upasana. I am not eating, but I am offering it into the universal Self. Brahmarpanam Brahmavi. So everything is Brahman. Who is eating? I am thinking I am eating, but I am none other than Brahman. So how can it be? I already gave one clue that suppose Shri Krishna had the ability, he had the ability, he could become the smallest insect, let us say a small ant, very small ant. There are also bigger ants and smaller ants, very small ant, hardly you can see. And if you give one grain of rice, so perhaps it can put in the refrigerator for 7 days or 10 days and eat it to its stomach full. But it is not one stomach full of one insect. At that time, Krishna was practically identifying himself with the entire universe. And he was telling that I am completely satisfied. And as soon as he belched, the whole universe, every being was completely satisfied. Of course, we were not there, but Krishna's story illustrates the devotee's own experience. Every one of them was completely satisfied. So this is the identification with the universal Self, individual Self. Slowly give up that individuality and slowly become identified with the universal. And anybody who can do it, that is called Virat Upasana, contemplation on the Virat. Virat means universal or cosmic. And then the person in course of time identifies himself, I am not a person, I am what is called Ishwara Himself. And then he becomes one with all existence. And whatever he does becomes the welfare of the entire universe. Brings only auspiciousness to everybody. At that stage, this contemplator, this Upasaka remains no more a human being. He becomes only God Himself. This is the meaning of Shri Krishna becoming. In the 11th chapter, we see Vishwaroopa had become the entire universe, both visible as well as invisible. So the meditator on the Vaishvanara, he becomes one with the Virat or Hiranyagarbha or Ishwara. That is the explanation. There, as soon as he becomes identified, I, you, it, he, she, human, non-human, living, non-living, all these differences completely get dissolved. And that is the goal of everybody. What is the goal? To understand we are not the individual beings, we are none other than Brahma. And to elucidate this point, the 6th chapter is taken up, which goes deeper into the subject of Vaishvanara Himself and analyses in detail. After all, if you analyse, then you will find that every effect is coming as a manifestation of a cause. And if you analyse, you don't need to analyse everything. That is why beautiful examples are given. For instance, supposing there are a billion pots made out of clay. You don't need to examine every... take up one pot and then compare. Is this a pot or is this clay? Are there two substances? You understand what is the meaning of substance. Are there two substances? One is called clay, another is called pot. So ordinary people, they say that is clay and this is a pot. But as Swami funnily puts it, supposing you take some lump of gold to a goldsmith and you make ornaments. And if, as we illustrated, the pot is different from the clay, the ornament should be different from the gold. So the goldsmith happily retains the gold and gives you the ornament. He is also happy, you are also happy because they are two separate objects. Substance means objects. No, it's completely wrong. What is the way of analysing this one? You touch the pot because we have got five sense organs. So touching, spursha. What are you touching? Clay. You smell the pot. What are you smelling? Clay. And you put a bit of it into your tongue, on your tongue. What are you tasting? Clay. And you take your finger and just knock it a little bit. Sound comes. What are you hearing? Sound of the clay. And all the sense organs, shabda, spursha, rupa, rasa, ganda, everything you taste it. You don't get something called pot, you get only what is called clay. Then, to be completely sure, you first weigh the clay before making the pot. After that, you make the pot. Then you weigh the pot. If the pot is weighing 1 kg, the clay also is only 1 kg because there is no such thing called pot. What then is the pot? So the same clay, when it has been given a particular shape, rupa, and a particular name to distinguish it from other shapes and being used for a particular purpose. You want to drink water or fruit juice or you want to eat fruit or you want to cook food or you want to store some materials or whatever you want to make it, you know, in India. Mud houses, clay houses are very common even today. So whatever you want to do, everything is nothing but clay. There are no two substances. Clay without any form, therefore without name, therefore without any particular purpose is called clay. And the same clay with a form, with a name and with a quality or purpose, that is called pot. So in the first chapter, we get three examples by one great realized soul. One is this clay, another is what we call a metal. So like that, he gives three examples. And what does he want to convey? That if you instead of trying to know, for example, a billion pots or a million pots or a thousand pots or a hundred pots, you just come to know its karana, from where it originated. That means it has taken its shape, nama, rupa and guna, prayojana. Then you know, not billions, trillions or billions, whatever object is made out of clay, whatever object is made up of metal, whatever object is made up of gold or silver or anything, everything you will come to know. This knowledge is called Eka Karana Vijnanena Sarva Karya Vijnanam Bhavati. By knowing the cause of all these things, by the knowledge of one cause of many effects, the knowledge of every effect is 100% known, not 99%, but 100%. So this is the purpose of every upasana, to gradually remove the limitation and to make the person go forward until he becomes, he feels, he knows, I am the infinite. That is the purpose. And this Sadyatya, that is, in this world, there are billions and billions and billions and trillions and I don't know, after trillion, what they call it, objects are there. And in future, there will be more and more objects will be there. But if you analyze properly, everything is coming from one object, one Moola Karana, the original cause. And what is that? That is called existence. You see a tree, oh, you see because it is existence. You see a house because it is existence. You see a person because he is existence. Whatever we see, first thing is, if it doesn't exist, we can never experience. But when we see, we see the existence. And whatever pot you see, you are seeing only clay. You are touching, tasting, smelling and hearing nothing but clay. In the similar way, it is existence that is seen, that is heard, that is smelled, that is tasted and that is touched. Nothing but pure existence. And this is what the sixth chapter wants to say. Sat means absolute existence in the words of Swami Vivekananda. We know the definition of Brahman, Sat, Chit and Ananda. So in the sixth chapter, Sat is explored. In the seventh chapter, Ananda is explored. And in the eighth chapter, Chit is explored. Slight change of arrangement but Sat, Chit, Ananda. And three chapters are not really necessary. One chapter is enough because Sat, Chit and Ananda are not three separate qualities. But one in three and three in one by understanding one. Because where there is Sat, there will be Chit and there will be Ananda. Where there is Chit, there will be Sat and Ananda. Where there is Ananda, there will be Chit and there will be Sat. They cannot be separated. This is the subject matter of the sixth chapter in this Chandogya Upanishad. And the chapter starts with a story. And the story, as I mentioned earlier, is not only symbolic but deeply meaningful. And I will just read a little bit and then in today's class, as much as possible, I will delve a little bit deep into the meaning of the story itself. The teaching will come later on. There was a knower of Brahman. He was called Uddalaka later on. But he is called Arunihi. So probably his father was also a knower of Brahman. His name was Arunihi. Then Arunihi's son was called Arunaha. And then Arunaha's son, he was called Arunaiyaha. So we will come to that. So there was Shwetaketu Arunaiyaha. So this Arunaiyaha is called Shwetaketu. Arunaiyaha means what? The grandson of a Rishi called Aruna. The first Rishi, the grandfather Rishi is called Aruna. His son is called Arunaha. Aruna's son is called Arunaha. Aruna's son is called Arunaiyaha. And his proper name or familiar name is called Shwetaketu. Like we say, this is the son of Kalidasa or this is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi etc. But they will have their own private names will be there by which they are popular. They are registered for voting etc. His name is Shwetaketu. We don't know whether there is any meaning. Shweta means white. Ketu means what is called flag. We don't know whether there is any meaning. But this is the one. So this boy Shwetaketu, he became 12 years old. In those days, the children used to be sent to the Gurukula even earlier. Most usually at the age of 7 or 8, they are given the Gayathri Mantra or Ignopavita. Invested with the sacred thread and then that is the beginning. They will be sent to some well-known famous teacher who is great in character and even greater in knowledge etc. And then the idea is true knowledge can be gained not only from a person who knows, but a person who is great even in character. And it is for the purpose of imparting the character, the parents used to send their children to the Gurukula. Now that system is practically gone. Probably it is there in one or two places. And even that is only in a most formal way. And how great was the character of these teachers, we don't know. But it is used to be there and no father dared. Now the beauty of this story is Shwetaketu's father, he was not only a deeply learned person, he was what we call a realized soul. He knew, I am Brahman. Naturally, I think it was running in the family and Shwetaketu's grandfather must have been. And we have to guess a grandfather's father, great-grandfather also must have been a great soul. But this boy for some reason, why the father did not turn his attention to him at the age of 7 or 8, we do not know. But 12 years passed, this boy was not paying any attention. Then one day the father became suddenly very serious. He called him and said, My beloved son, Shwetaketu, it is time that you go to a Gurukula. There is a famous Guru there, a great Rishi, a great man of character, a realized soul. You go there and then you sit there at his feet like a humble servant. Saruhen tad vidhe pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya upadekshanti te jnanam jnaninaha tattvadarshanaha And when you have pleased them out of their abundant grace, they will convey their hard earned knowledge and experience to you. The boy, of course, you know, he understood. But then some beautiful conversation goes on. My son, in our family, asmat kuleenaha ananochya brahma bandhuriva bhavati iti. So far not one, now I, Soumya, my dear, my beloved son, so far in our family, one single, what is called fake Brahmin or what is a very beautiful Sanskrit word, Brahma Bandhu. The literal meaning of Brahma Bandhu is a friend of Brahmins or a person. Really what it means is he is a Brahmana, but he is the most idiotic person in the whole world. He has no learning at all. In our family, my son, till now nobody is born and you are not paying attention. You have not approached me. Of course, I am also to blame. It is not there in the Upanishad. I am only adding that to make a little bit of masala. So I should have taken care earlier, four years earlier, for whatever reason. Then the second question that comes is if the father himself is a realized soul, why does he want to send? Because any person who is advanced, highly advanced, and realized God cannot be a person of what is called mean character. He must be what we just now chanted, all the spiritual qualities that are enumerated, they may repose in me, and before prayer is a prayer, before learning, before even approaching a teacher, this is the prayer. If this is so, his father must have done, his grandfather must have done, and this also shows how important it is. If we are lucky to be born in the family of a person who is endowed with the highest character, then we are extraordinarily fortunate because there is every likelihood they will stem even if we have got bad qualities. Of course, absolutely it is not possible to stop, but they can have tremendous influence and change many times our character also. So grandfather must have been a man of character, and earlier people, we do not know as I said, and the son, that is Arunahi, that is the father of Shweta Ketu, must have been a man of tremendous character because if you say this person is spiritual but not character, that is what is called a complete contradiction in terms. Like as we say that darkness and light cannot be welling together at the same time. So great character goes with realization, realization goes with great character. And even progress in spiritual life is nothing but acquiring qualities which will automatically, every higher quality, spiritual quality, automatically it removes. What is the result of acquiring a higher quality? It removes some bad quality, bad character, bad action, and bad result. Every good quality which replaces, replaces it with good quality, spiritual quality, progressive quality, and it gives tremendous Punyam which enables us in course of time to get better and better parentage, environment, society, opportunities to grow, etc. So this father called and said, Brahmacharyam Vasa, that is to say, you go and live in a Gurukula with a Guru. I raised the question, why can't he himself teach? Because many times the effect of being taught by somebody else with whom we are not familiar is totally different. Many times parents also excuse their children and their likelihood that for fear of hurting, they will not teach what is really good. And especially if the child happens to quarrel with them, these beautiful ideas are there. So the father says, it is time for you. And then he says, lest the son might think otherwise, in our family so far, no, what is called foolish fellow, unlearned fellow is not born. So that naturally pricks the pride of the son and he agreed, otherwise this unlearned fellow is called Brahmapandu and therefore you better do it. I will continue this in our further class. Om Jananim Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Padapadmetayo Udhritva Pranamami Muhurmuhu May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.