Dakshinamurti Stotram Part 21 on 11 March 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMIM UHURMUHUHU OM YO BRAHMANAM VIDADHATI PURVAM YO VAI VEDAM SHCHA PRAHINOTI TASMAI TAMHA DEVAM ATMA BUDDHI PRAKASHAM MUMUKSHU RUBAI SHARANAMAHAM PRAPADYE We have been dealing with the fourth shloka in the Dakshinamurthy Stotram. This fourth verse explicitly states that whatever we are experiencing in this world, we take it for absolute reality and very importantly, six schools of philosophy. What is a philosophy? Any person's idea, conviction that the world is nothing more than what I think. That is called philosophy. This is called outlook and every person, whether he knows it or not, is a philosopher because how do we know that what is the philosophy of a particular person? When we observe that person's actions closely, we can find out how he is acting and reacting in this world. There is that wonderful law, what we think is not real, we will not react to it. At best, we enjoy it. For example, watching a cinema, a movie, we just know and in the similar way, maybe very tragically, what to experience, including very negative, horrendous, unimaginable suffering of other people also, for most of us, it doesn't concern us. At best, a small twinge of conscience will be there. Oh, they are suffering, then it should not have suffered. But it passes like water on the back of a duck. But when it comes to us, even the slightest negative experience, it creates a havoc within us, raises BP's, two types of BP's, blood pressure or blood pleasure. So, a person's philosophy can be easily found out by the action and reaction. We are completely helpless. We can only react according to what we think is the reality. That's being described here. It is nothing exotic. One need not study many number of books, but what we think and how we think, what is reality and that is what determines our life. That is the very important point we have to note. But there are people who are very learned people and they think, they think what they think alone is the highest truth and everyone else is mistaken, forgetting a simple fact that at any given time, our views about the world change according to the times, the circumstances, etc. I'll give a simple example. When we are hungry, then our outlook on life is different. A very funny example is there that these animals or prey like lions or tigers, etc., when they just had made a kill and they had sumptuous supper and then they go within a few feet of whom they otherwise would have killed and these deer, etc., they also know these tigers are not on hunt because there is some kind of smell is there and fearlessly they will be eating just glancing at it and these fellows also walk leisurely past. But when the same lion or tiger is very hungry and these animals smell it and then their whole outlook is changed. When a person's needs are very acute in the form of any of the five sense organs, whether it is food, whether it is water, whether it is some kind of smell, whatever it is, at that time our philosophy completely changes. That is why one of the objections against Advaitins is there are great scholars who speak very highly but all their life when we observe, they are worse than even ordinary people and that's what Shri Ramakrishna graphically describes. Many pundits speak very highly but they are like vultures. Their sight is fixed only on rotting carcasses. One of the important points, first point is no man says this is my fixed philosophy. It changes according to the needs. Second point is all of us go through different types of identity of what is reality. This is the extension of the first point only. For simple example, when a man's possessions are being taken away, snatched away or he is going to incur some loss, sometimes these people, they die for the sake of the possessions. It should have been the other way around. Life is more important than a possession. That's why in UK, people, even police give advice. Somebody is showing you a knife and demanding your purse, better give it to them rather than dying it because what is the use of your trying to complain to us when you are about to die? After that we will see whatever happens. All these people are mistaken people because none of them know what is the reality, real reality and why is it that we do not know? Because there is a power beyond our capacity. We are completely caught in the net of that power and that power belongs to God and we call it Maya and that is also being mentioned here. Maya Shakti Vilasa Kalpita Maha Vya Moha The only way we can escape it is the grace of Guru, grace of God. Always let us remember the grace of God comes in the form of knowledge and what is a Guru? Nothing but knowledge. Crystal clearly the knowledge is explained to us. Even a small child can grasp this, the power, the capacity of explaining, making us understand the truth and that is called knowledge is coming to us in the form of our own Guru and that is the greatest grace of God. That's why many times I mentioned in the past the most important character in the whole of Ramayana is Hanuman. He is not Hanuman. He is called Mukhya Prana. He is called the Guru. He acted between the Paramatma who is Rama and between Sita who is the Jivatma who has been caught in the net of Mahamaya in the form of Ramanasura and he had to cross. What is that Samudra which he had to cross is very interesting because Ramanasura also had to cross the same ocean and Hanuman also had to cross the same ocean. What did Ramanasura do? He departed from Jnana crossing over that Maya to the kingdom of Jnana and along with him he also had taken the Jiva. Now Hanuman had to come down. The grace of God had to come down from that indescribable Jnana to understandable Jnana in the form of assuring, encouraging, inspiring Sita. Do not worry very soon Rama will come and the Guru Hanuman. He himself had destroyed something. This is also very symbolic because nobody says God gives really Jnana. God, Guru need not give any Jnana. What is the reason? Because Jnana is ever present and we are that ultimate truth but somehow a Jnana means a covering to that real Jnana is deluding us. Maha Vya Moha and that is what they destroy. God doesn't give us long life. God doesn't give us knowledge. God need not give us any happiness. We are the embodiment of the greatest happiness. Sat, Chit, Ananda, Svarupa we are. But there is a covering and that covering makes all the difference in this world. I always quote whenever I hear some Advaitins arguing vehemently that the only thing that stands between us and realization is only a small covering that's all. So you are already that. People go on saying the counter to those people by me is, I'll give an example first. Supposing you have a needle and you have used it and you kept it carefully in a place and very carefully you have forgotten it and when you want it next time you know that it is there but it is totally useless. So you go and buy one because this is the quickest way instead of wasting time and then you finish your job of sewing or whatever and then you go to keep it carefully and then you get the first needle also. So what is my point here that whether it is there but I don't remember, it is as good as not having. Advaitins go on emphasizing you are not Jeevatma, you are Paramatma. Okay sir, keep your mouth shut. You may be absolutely right but it is absolutely useless for me as far as I am concerned. Whether I am potential Jeeva or potential divinity or not at all divinity, I am a born sinner. At this moment, I am a born sinner. Whatever you may say, I am a miserable person but I have complete faith in God and He comes in the form of the Guru. Whether you call it, He removes the veil or whether you call it, He bestows a special knowledge to me. That is all a matter of words. We don't need to worry. The fact is without Him, I am lost. With Him, I have everything else and that is what is going to be conveyed here. What is the essence of this particular verse we are discussing now that each one of us have our own concept of reality and then this concept of reality is not completely one way. It is going on changing from morning till evening and I will shortly illustrate it. At any given time, I am changing my views. So, I will be called by a different name as a different philosopher because of different philosophy. That is an important point and the people who think about the Atman as not in itself but as anything else, as something else, they are all completely mistaken. They are called deluded people. They are also fanatics. We are also fanatics. So, a few important examples are given here and we are all mistaken and how do we know we are mistaken? That's an important point we have to remember now. To know that I am mistaken, I must know the truth. Only when light is brought and then I see that this is not a snake, this is a harmless rope, only then we understand two things. First of all, this is a rope. Secondly, I was mistaken. This is not a snake. That fact comes only after I know the truth. But the problem now is who is going to bring the light and who is going to first of all show me what the real Atman is and until I know what I am truly, I am completely mistaken whatever philosophy I may go on talking about. That is where the importance of God's grace, importance of scriptural grace, importance of Guru's grace, importance of devotee's grace, importance of mantra's grace and the most importance of one's own grace, the grace of one's own mind is absolutely necessary. This particular verse is first, it tells us in brief and then there are some people, they made a terrible philosophy out of their mistaken views. The common thing about all these great philosophers is they are erudite people and they quote profusely from the Upanishads. They also quote from day-to-day experiences, Shruti, Yukti, Anubhava, scripture and reasoning and also one's own experience they quote and try to prove that reality is this. Atman means reality and reality is this and they go on quarrelling among themselves and they will go on quarrelling. Then what is the way out? Just now as I mentioned that is what Shankaracharya wants to highlight. Without Guru and what is Guru? God's grace and what is God's grace? A truth that is God's grace comes only in the form of the scripture as coming out of the mouth of the Guru and being interpreted in the right way because the Guru knows what he is talking about. Not only that, the Guru loves us as himself because he knows we are not separate from him. We may think he is separate. Yes, I have got devotion but he is separate from me. He is greater. I am smaller. I am ignorant. He is knowledgeable. So I go on falling at his feet but a Guru doesn't think like that. He knows there is absolutely no difference between him and me but out of infinite compassion like a psychiatrist who knows this person is not Napoleon but temporarily he has forgotten his own true nature so he will merely help us to remove that temporary notion that I am a Napoleon or I am a dog etc. Without God's grace it is not possible. That is the essence. Why are we deluded? That is being said again. Again it is through the help of the scripture that there is a power and that is indescribable power and it can make impossible possible and it belongs to God and that power is called Maya. This has been enumerated in Bhagavad Gita, in the Upanishads, everywhere and Shri Ramakrishna calls it my Divine Mother. That is the greatest contribution of Shri Ramakrishna. Instead of saying it is an inimical power he says it is my Divine Mother. She has two powers Vidya and Avidya and then if we understand Shri Ramakrishna correctly even he says that this what we call Avidya Maya is not to push us down. No mother ever wants to make her children go down but she is like a most loving mother who has to give very painful surgeries or she has to give bitterest medications for only bringing out the dead child to back to normal health. What is health? To know that I have no problem. To know I have no fear. To know that I am the happiest person in this world. I need not worry because I have a mother. This is what that great power which the Advaitins have termed as Maha, Moha, Vilasa Shakti, Maya Shakti and it is what is the Shakti? Kalpita. It is completely imagined but at that same Maha Maya also comes in the form of Vidya Shakti and a Guru is nothing but an embodiment of that Vidya Maya what Shri Ramakrishna calls Vidya Maya. We are all mistaken about our true nature because of this Maya Shakti and we all recover our true nature by knowing who really we are. That is also because of the Maya Shakti but this time in the form of Vidya Shakti and that Vidya Shakti is what is known as Guru and therefore salutations to that Guru. In my last class I have discussed some of these things but it is worth remembering all these things. First let us repeat it and then go. This fifth verse we are talking about now. Even from the viewpoint of poesy, beautiful poetry, very few people can equal Shankaracharya. Even just to enjoy the poetry we will have to take a look here. He who removes all the terrible misconceptions created by the deluding play of Maya in those who are intellectually innocent as a woman, a child, a blind man or an idiot and who consider the reality either as their body or as their prana or their sense organs or their ever-changing intellect or as a mere void and through error declare them to be the only reality to him the divine teacher the destroyer of all this Maya Sri Dakshinamurthy is my prostration. Most marvelous shloka. In our last class we came up to the prana. First of all there is one they are called Dehatmavadis. What is that? I am nothing other than the body. In that there are two varieties. One A. What is it? Even though I know I am the body but at times I am so much overwhelmed I think not that I am the body but I give more value to my possessions anything that I possess a house, a family, property, money, business all these things together completely they are not body but they are something belonging to the body and the most of us we are identified with it and I am sorry to say many many of our so-called sincere devotees I am forced to admit this thing they value their possessions even more than their faith in God so they become miserly they don't even think that are we deluded by our property by our bank balance should it not be given I'm only reminding even though it is a harsh truth and many swamis do not say it that if God has given us so much of wonderful life good family and sufficient amount of money beautiful houses some of the people possess four, five, six houses and they have millions and millions rotting in the banks and if the financial system fails they can lose everything but they are so miserly that seeing other people's misery they go on reading Kathamruta go on listening to the talks go on talking sometimes go on doing pujas but never open their treasury this is what is called the worst type of idea of reality why do they behave like that because for them their possessions are more real than their own body I'll give a simple illustration if a thief catches hold of such a person and then he says you give me your purse otherwise I will slash you kill you or shoot you some people unfortunately I don't know how many they will try to run away fight with the thief and in the course of that fight they die rather than give up this body now are they identifying themselves with the body-mind or are they identifying themselves with their possessions this is the worst type of identity identity means reality money is more real possessions are more real everything that is outside the body that is much more real and sometimes a little bit higher form of this one is for their children they are ready to give their life also either in the form of blood or a mother rushes to protect her baby that goes in the name of what is called love I am not saying it should not be done what I am saying is at that moment they are more identified with their possession rather than their own body and that is all the reality is but next higher step is and this falls within first one A is that complete identity with their possessions and higher a little bit higher than that is their own body there are people let me live doesn't matter whatever I lose if I live I can do anything these are called Dehatma Buddhivadis they are also called Epicureans they are also called what is materialists and they are also called Charvakas what is Charvakas philosophy I quoted last time that is once the body is gone everything is gone because we don't remember in this birth whether we had last birth excepting having faith and that too very weak faith so once this body is cremated burnt turned into ashes then who has ever seen such a person again it's of course impossible to see because the same combination will never come again even if there is Punar Janma or another birth is there what is the then practical thing Rinankaritva Ritamprabhed even if you have to borrow money then you enjoy yourselves this is the worst category these are called Dehatma Buddhivadis and Charvaka was the earliest atheist in the history of humanity the Hindu society did not ban his works on the other hand the society revered him as a sage because of the good values cherished by him though it rejected his ideas he argues that the body is the our Atman that is the highest reality and he is not wrong because whether we say we are Vedantins or Ramakrishna devotees in our day to day realistic behavior most of us fall into the that first A category our possessions are more important to us than even our own body these fellows say this is summary of Charvaka philosophy by one Madhvacharya I am fat I am lean that is how people say in these usages I fatness are referring to the same object the heaviness etc are all associated with the body only and this is beautifully illustrated in Chandogya Upanishad in the form of a story of Indra and Virochana many times I mentioned it please go back to that the Asura a demon who is a demon Asusha Ramateiti he who revels in the concept body is everything possession is everything happiness of body is everything that is the goal of life he is called Virochana and anybody who follows is a child belonging born in the lineage of the Virochana this is what Sri Ramakrishna tells so clearly most people in this iron age they are completely identified first with their body and mind and then even more than that with their possession which he used to call Kama and Kanchana very interesting for me because these two words have deep meaning Kanchana as I mentioned earlier is possessions Kama means Deha Kanchana belongs and Kama is me and if I am not there what are you going to do with all this wealth in this world that is first category second category is Indriya Atmavada Indriya means Indriyas so he says others a little more subtle and then they contradict the Charvaka theory body reality theory Dehatmavada what do they say but suppose you have possessions and you have a body and your eyes cannot see your ears cannot hear and your nose cannot smell and your tongue has become so dumb so numb you have become dumb even if the most delicious food is given to you it is not going to do any good to you at all therefore if at all there is any reality and that reality can be enjoyed can be really appreciated only through the Indriyas and higher than even this gross enjoyments beautiful music beautiful poetry and beautiful sceneries and beautiful delicacies all these things are possible only for those who have got this well trained and well developed Indriyas and nothing more than that otherwise a wolf also revels in eating and a connoisseur who knows how to appreciate beautifully cooked food etc there would be no difference at all so these are called sense reality theory Indriyatmavada and this was also proved hollow then how do we know? because my friend you are talking vehemently the only reality is sense organ reality but you know every day how many times you go to sleep first of all and when you go to bed a few hours you are completely out of your sense organs but that is not the only time whenever you are hearing my talk how many times you are entering into that state and coming out at that time you don't know anything about your sense organs therefore that sense reality the only reality is completely denied controverted then there are some more deeper deep thinking people are there they say that okay body is not the Atma the Indriyas are not the Atma because sometimes they do not function but supposing there is no Prana a dead body the body is there all the eyes etc. are staring at you and what is the going to do? everything depends upon the Prana not only after death even while living also because when some people's Prana is at the lowest level he cannot even enjoy for example a sick person when he cannot even breathe properly the question of enjoying doesn't arise at all so my friend Prana is everything Prana is reality Prana is the Atma therefore worship Prana Pranam Atma Iti Upasita go on worshipping contemplating Prana as this these people a little bit higher why do we say higher? because we know the theory of Panchakoshas so according to Panchakoshas the Prana is higher than the Dehatma Buddhi Deha is higher than possessions and Prana is higher than the then there this view also is not tenable because there is Prana is there but many times this Prana a person's Prana is there he is not conscious at all that means he cannot think at all when a person cannot think when a person cannot determine what to do what not to do your Prana is useless that is the first argument second argument is even a mosquito has got Prana a dog has got Prana so do you mean to say that they and you are absolutely equal Prana may be there but there must be something which controls the Prana what is it that controls the Prana? the Buddhi the mind the what is called Manas or the Buddhi Vijnanamaya Kosha that is what it controls when you say oh this object is most marvellous even a dead person comes to life if supposing there is a great lover of cricket match and he is a hardworking office worker and one day extra work was there he comes home absolutely dead tired all that he wants to do is somehow to eat and then go to bed and sleep so such a man he eats and then he says just for few minutes I am going to watch the latest news and then to his great delight says that that a cricket match is going on somewhere very important and then for some reason it was postponed earlier and now it is being played and what happens all his tiredness completely gone and for three hours four hours or so like an owl he goes on enjoying and his tiredness is disappeared in a trice so this idea idea alone is the reality that makes a person love something man loves woman woman loves man or some people love higher ideals they become patriots or they become even lovers of god lovers of higher ideals higher fields of knowledge like music science etc so prana alone is not important it is this mano buddhi atma that is this is the higher category so once a person comes to this understanding mind is higher than us all the other things stand completely denied so this is called mano bhokta atma vada so others again contradicted that earlier theory and established their own theory so they say prana is inert and inert means in the sense that if you don't love something you feel like a dead person supposing simple thing you know is very day-to-day experience suppose you know a person who is the most boring person on earth and he is one of your close relatives and he wants to come to you and he came to you now you wish you are dead even though you are forced to confront him because he is boring you boring is boredom is worse than death you prefer death is much preferred that shows that prana is not at all important so prana is we don't mean that if prana that vital force is gone then of course everything goes mind also goes away but what we need to understand is this intellect is far higher than even this idea this prana etc so they say mind is the truth and this school can be compared to the psychologists especially the modern most modern psychology which is really very helpful what is that that whatever happens in the world outside is not under the control of any one of us but how we react to it that we can train our mind and that makes all the difference in this world this is called CBT and I call it spiritual CBT why because suppose here is a devotee he believes in the scripture he believes in God he is a devotee of God he loves God he surrenders to God and then so many tragedies can happen like it happened to Sri Rama or Pancha Pandavas for example how do they take how does this devotee cope with this situation he says it is God's will that's why it is fine if it is mother's will it must be good or this he believes in Karma Siddhanta so I must have done something that's why I am reaping what I sowed that gives them tremendous happiness but there are spiritual people they believe in holy mother's words what did holy mother say that my child's misery is the gift of God if this has come to me that means this mother has something good that through this experience she is taking me making me a better person and taking me out of the bondage for that it is necessary for me to go on experiencing this thing even though it is miserable it is absolutely fine so this is called Mano Bhokta Atma Vada that is everything depends upon the mind that means everything depends upon how we view any particular experience and react to it therefore I say CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is that what is outside our body we have absolutely no control whether it be hot cold or some negative types of persons are ruling our country or some people are threatening our country whatever happens what can you do excepting going on uselessly brooding if you can do do something but mostly there is nothing we can do about it but wasting our time with what we cannot help is a horrible thing do whatever best you can and leave it everything in the hands of God because He who has created He knows what is happening and if He is allowing it to happen whatever God allows to happen must be very good thing so this is the what I call spiritual CBT that is what your japa, your meditation, your prayer, your scriptural study your listening to all the spiritual talks are supposed to give you how to accept the unavoidable and make the best use of life this is the most important CBT spiritual CBT then there are people who say okay this mind is changing all the time so if there is a mind and this mind is not stable it is changing all this time so there must be somebody who is knowing that mind and with every change that happens in the mind the change that happens with every thought there is somebody who is identified and therefore with every changing thought changing idea the knower also is changing sometimes he thinks that was good and after sometime he thinks that was bad so the knower who said it was good and he thought now he thinks now it is bad that means he is changing so every thought changes the knower of the thought this is what is called that is every thought every right thought lasts only for a moment and then the knower of the thought also lasts after that this is called this is vehemently established and argued by one school of buddhist philosophy these are called this is called these Kshanika Vijnana Vadins maintain that the mind which is in constant flux that is the Atman they come close to Vedanta in some respects but when events occur in quick succession we get a feeling of continuity though there is no such continuity at all these are the first people so to say long before Edison discovered that something which is changing at a particular frequency appears to be a movement like 24 frames still frames moving at one second per second 24 times appears to be although somebody is running somebody is jumping up and down etc etc they have found out but what is important for us is that there is absolutely no continuity as an example is given take a fistful of sand and go on slowly letting the sand out or it appears take little bit of water and then pour it into a empty vessel it appears to be a continuous stream but what is the fact is every single drop is falling in time in space it is not at the same time in the same place every time it appears in a different way but it is exactly the same drop and because of the Desha Kaala it appears as though there is a continuity therefore my friend there is no Atman which is continuously there this Atman or reality changes continuously no man steps into the same river twice one school of Buddhism developed this and made it into the pivotal point of their particular school of philosophy they vehemently argue that this reality is continuously in a flux changing and that's what Buddha said Buddha's philosophy they misinterpret in that way and this is called Anatmavada and so on and so forth is there so Advaita Vedanta it counters it but first I will come to the last one this is called Shunyavada Shunya another school of philosophy particularly they are called Madhyamikas and one great philosopher very very powerful intellect called Nagarjuna he was born in Andhra Pradesh so there is a Nagarjuna Sagara Dam is there there is a Nagarjuna University is there and he influenced a great proportion of Buddhistic thinkers with this particular philosophy what is that? everything is emptiness Shunya so there is no such Atma there is everything is Anatma everything is Shunya and how did they come to this conclusion? it was simple they say you are talking about possession talking about the body talking about the Indriyas sense organs you are talking about the Prana you are talking about the mind you are talking about a knower of these events that are happening the separately and all these things are complete because my friend when you go to deep sleep in this sleep you are nobody there is nothing is there and so ultimate everything ends in that deep sleep this is called Shunyavada and vehemently they say that is since everything is Shunya but they cannot explain how rebirth takes place because remember Buddhism is one of the schools of philosophy who go on saying we had many births and we are going to have many births then what is the goal? completely extinguish all these rebirth make the rebirth come to a complete standstill and how do we do that? because we are clinging Krishna that there is life there is God there is Atma there is future happiness this is all nothing but pure Shunya so develop that kind of intellect where you are terribly convinced nothing is worth an effort you completely destroy the idea I am somebody and when you succeed in it you will completely attain to that Shunya and with that the mind is destroyed and the thought waves in the minds are destroyed and once it is destroyed your Anatta that is completely destroyed and that hopefully puts an end to your rebirth and every rebirth is nothing but a terrible misery life is full of suffering and the cause of the suffering is because of Trishna and the only remedy for getting rid of this birth is complete destruction of the Trishna and there are ways how this Trishna intense attachment, longing for enjoyment etc. can be extinguished that is called complete Nirvana complete extinction so that there is no chance of again being born and how to do it? Buddha had outlined them in eight steps that is first right understanding right determination right speech right actions right living and then right concentration right meditation and right Samadhi this is called the eightfold method very parallel to Ashtanga Yoga, Patanjali if you succeed in it then you attain to Nirvana complete extinction of Trishna or terrible longing that desire and once you extinguish that desire then you attain to that highest state called Mahasuniya there will be no rebirth this is a complete negative philosophy but we will talk about it in my next class why am I taking such a long time? because first I already had mentioned it earlier that we agree with any one of these schools of thought at different times but we do not develop that faith in the Guru faith in the scripture the only way out is life is not lived in vain there is a great goal and it is a very positive and invigorating idea so we will have to accept it we will not become negatives we will not accept this absolutely hopeless philosophy and how do we know? because we all believe this is what was preached by Vedanta what was proved by Sri Ramakrishna Swami Vekananda they give us assurance through actual experience that there is God God means the highest state that is possible for the Atma or the soul to manifest its fullest reality and that is why this to deny all these false philosophies on one side we must have tremendous faith in these words of the scripture teachings of the scripture on the other side our minds should be rid of all these convictions because we go through all these experiences we are not studying the textbooks of these schools and then developing a faith in them through daily actual experience we are becoming one or the other of what these schools of philosophy try to express that is not complete reality it is a false reality and why this falseness has come? because a power which overpowers us which is not in our control and that power is called Maya and that there is a way out we don't know how it came where from it came but it is there is there any way out? yes there is a way out don't waste your time where from it has come how did it come what is its nature we will never be able to understand it but we are miserable we can become happiest people on earth there is a way out focus on that way and the only way to do that is to develop faith in the scripture as expounded by the Acharya and that Guru that's my Sri Gurumurthy Namaidham Sri Dakshinamurthy I will develop a little bit of these ideas in my next class and we will proceed to the next shloka Om Jananim Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pahad Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Mohu May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti today is a very very holy day for all Hindus this is Maha Shivaratri may Lord Shiva give us the true knowledge Shiva stands for knowledge and if he is very gracious if we take refuge in him he may draw us to Varanasi and we may give up our body there it can happen only by his grace let him bless us all so that we can get mukti in this very life May Ramakrishna