Devi Suktam Lecture 11 on 28 December 2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Devi Suktam. This is the 125th Stotram or Suktam from book 10 Dasyama Mandala of the Rig Veda. It is also called Vaak Suktam, Vaagum Bruni Suktam. We have been studying the 6th Mantra. This Devi Suktam has only 8 mantras. But every mantra is full of symbolism and inner meaning. If we just substitute the word Devi or Aham with the word Brahman, Brahma, then the whole universe is nothing but the manifestation of Brahman with Nama and Rupa. And just as we create by our very Sankalpa, by our imagination, thinking, thoughts in our dream world, the whole dream world, each one of us, we are the creators. Then who are the created? We are the created. So the author, the director, the actors and actresses, as well as the audience, everything is created by each one of us. But when we wake up, then we understand. Then only we can understand that we have created this. Nobody else has created. This is a very wonderful analogy. If we are happy in the world, nobody made us happy. I mean the dream world. Nobody makes us happy. We ourselves thought, created ourselves. I want to be happy. I was happy. I am happy. And then if I am suffering in my dream world, I alone created that suffering. And I am pretending to myself. Why do I use the word pretending? We have to use this word pretension both for Sukha, Dukha, Jaya, Vijaya, Mana, Apamana. For each one of these, let us take a small example. So I am dreaming. Somebody comes and praises me. And somebody else comes and then criticizes me, finds fault with me, or beats me up, whatever it is. At that time of dreaming, it looks as though other than me, somebody has come and created problems or happiness. Both positive and negative experiences. Suppose somebody cheated me or pickpocketed a heavy amount that was in my wallet, or I won a lottery ticket, or I was fighting a war, I won or I lost. So it was very cold or it was very hot. But so long as I am dreaming, everything seems to be attributable. Not I created, somebody else has created. But as soon as I wake up, nobody in this world knows what I dreamt. Because I am the author of the dream. And then I have to admit, I made myself happy or unhappy, gained or lost, was insulted or honored, everything. Our problem with the waking state is that we never wake up from the waking state. That is why, just as long as we are in the dream state, we think that someone else has created. So only when we wake up, we come to know that I alone am responsible. So I become wiser. And then once I realize, I created. Who was the enemy? Me. Who was the friend? Me. Who was the cheater? Me. Who was the cheater? Me. Who was the killer? Me. Who was the killed? Me. But that cannot be. I cannot kill myself and wake myself up. So upon waking up, we realize that we have created, we are the creators. Not only that, upon waking up, who is my enemy? Who was my friend? Because there was none else other than my own Self. Same thing, when I identify myself with the Atman, and that is called waking up from the waking state, then I understand there is no enemy, it is just I am playing with myself. The whole dream is a play. Similarly, the whole waking state is also a play. And this is the understanding we have to take here in the Devi Suktam or Narayana Suktam or Purusha Suktam, any Suktam. This is how we have to understand. But so long as we are in the waking state, the world is there, and I think I did not create it. In fact, even if we understand the theory of Karma Siddhanta, so why are people insulting me? Because I have done some bad karma. Why are people honoring me? Because I have done good karma. Why was I born to very rich, pure, powerful people, parents? Because I did Puniyam. And why was I born to what we call poor people, illiterate people, drinking people in slum areas? Why? Because I myself created these situations through my past karma. And if anybody says, I believe in God, and how does God communicate with us? Through the scriptures. Shastra is the communication of God with us. Just like a father tells his children, do this, do not do this. Every scripture tells us, do this, do not do that. How does Krishna speak with us? Through the Bhagavad Gita. You have to do this. You have to perform your duties. And you have to be remembering me. MAAM ANUSMARA YUDHYACHAR. But we just read. Oh, that is okay. If I read, I get a lot of Puniyam. But I never transform myself with the teachings of God. Bhagavan Krishna is telling us that if you love me, you will do what I ask you to do. And that is what we do in day-to-day world also. If I love my son and whatever my son desires, I would like to give it to him. Really? Not really. Whatever I understand, I know is good for my son. That alone I will do. If being a human being, I exercise so much of discrimination, what to speak of God? For whom? The entire universe is not only children. Even there is a distance between parents and children. But there is no distance between God and His manifestation. God is only manifesting just as we are manifesting in our dream world as the other. Both living, non-living, etc. And how did I begin today's talk? We have to substitute this word Devi. That is, Her name was Vag, Ambruni. And Her experience was, She became Brahman. One who understands, I am Brahman, becomes Brahman. And thereafter, that individual is not there. Only Brahman is there. And that Brahman sometimes uses the word Aham. We come across this word Aham very frequently in Bhagavad Gita. So Bhagavan says many times, I am manifesting as Arjuna, as Ganga river, as the Himalayas. Everything is nothing but manifestation of God. And what is the manifestation of God? God, we have to substitute with the word consciousness. Pure consciousness is manifesting through the medium of thought. This is a house, this is a tree, this is me, this is you, this is he or she or it. The entire universal experience is nothing but me only in the form of pure consciousness. But because of Avidya, we forget consciousness and we only place importance on the Nama Rupa. If you have followed this small introduction to this sixth mantra, it will be very easy to understand every mantra. So in our last class, we have been discussing about this sixth mantra. We were analysing this sixth mantra. Aham rudraya dhanuh atanomi. Brahma dvise sharave antava u. Aham janaya samadham krunomi. Aham dhyava prathivi avivesha. I bend the bow for Rudra so that his arrow may destroy, slay the haters of the words of sacred wisdom. I rouse the people and make them strive. I have entered the earth and heaven filling everything. What does it mean? I have created this world and I have created this world in three different angles. As we have been discussing in other classes, triangle. What is the triangle? Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika. Having created this world, we have seen in Aitareya Upanishad also. So Bhagawan Himself, I created. How did He create? Who was the material cause? Bhagawan only. Who was the intelligent cause? Bhagawan only. Who was the instrumental cause? Bhagawan only. There is nothing else excepting Brahman. That is why sarvam khalo idam brahma. So the Devi having identified Herself with Brahman, knowing Herself, aham brahma asmi, She is telling from the viewpoint of the ignorant beings. What is She telling? So there comes God or Brahman had become, created. Always, whenever we use, whenever scripture uses the word created, we have to say manifesting with name and form. So Brahman manifesting with name and form as what? As living and non-living, as I, You, It, in all these myriad forms. And then we have to understand this. Who are the good people? Brahman. Who are the evil people? Brahman. One of our Swamis used to tell something very nice. Supposing you want to be director of a film, and of course the essence of every film is absolutely the same. There would be a fight between the good and the evil. Here represented in a more manifest form, the hero, heroine and the villain. Everything is a fight between hero and villain. And where comes the heroine? Heroine is when we fight against Asuras, when we fight what we call against evil and conquer. And definitely goodness always overcomes evil. Satyameva Jayate Nanritham. That is the meaning of it. Then we have to understand Ananda manifests. That heroine represents the Ananda. So for the sake of Ananda, even every cinema has to be symbolically interpreted as we have to overcome, each one of us have to overcome, each one of us, because evil is within us. What does it mean? It means if I am seeing evil, then I know what is evil. And I know what is evil because I am evil. There is a beautiful saying in Telugu language, Tappulu innu vaaru, tama tappulu erugaru. Those who find fault, they are capable of finding fault. Only because those very faults exist in them, maybe in greater quantity. There is a psychology here, tremendous meaningful psychology. What is it? A person who is very miserly cannot tolerate other misers. He says, what right have you got to be miserly? Only I have the right to be miserly. Whatever you are accumulating, immediately hand it over to me, so that I will be an emperor of all misers. So if I am feeling that you are a very angry person, you have no right to be angry. Only I have the right to be angry. If you are stupid, then I am the king of this stupidity. So Tappulu innu vaaru, those who find fault, the very capacity, ability to find fault is because that very quality is dominant within us. That is the psychology we have to learn. That is why Holy Mother used to say, the very first thing is stop finding fault with others. Second thing is start finding fault with yourself. Third teaching, third step, there is no stranger in this world. What does it mean? There is nobody else other than you. You alone exist in this whole world. And the last is know that you are the world. Aham Brahmasmi means if you have a mind, I am this whole universe. If you don't have the mind, Aham Brahmasmi. If you close your eyes in Samadhi, then even a person will not be there to say Aham Brahmasmi. Just be. But as soon as mind starts functioning, that is called Sa-Guna-Brahma. Guna means mind here. Remember, Guna, without Guna, without mind, there is no Guna. Without Guna, there is no mind. And every mind is endowed with Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Therefore, depending upon which Guna is dominating, a person goes on experiencing the world in that way. If you put thick black glasses, you see the world as very black. And if it is not so black, then the world is much clearer. And if you don't have any specks, color, colored speck, then the world is as it is, very clear. And that is called Sattva-Guna. So, this is what the Divine Mother, Aham Brahmi is going to tell us very soon. The same ideas are repeated. There is only one Vastu. That is called Brahman. And this world is not a second Vastu, but Brahman with Nama-Rupa. And not even Brahman with Nama-Rupa, but Brahman viewed through the specks of the Gunas of the mind. That is called Nama-Rupa and Guna. Time, space and causation. So, why am I expanding so much? To make us understand, we have to apply this to every situation in life. What is the news? Everybody is eager to know that what is happening in the Gaja street. So, what is the Israeli army doing? What is this Hamas army? Houthis army or Hezbollah army, what are they doing? We know the essence is they are trying to kill each other. And those who are more intelligent, they kill more. Those who are less intelligent, they kill less. That is all the news. Once you understand this news, but what is important is who are these Hamas people? Divine Mother. Who are these Hezbollah? Divine Mother. Every country is Divine Mother. And who are these so-called Devas? There are no Devas. Every Deva is a combination of Deva and Asura. And every Asura is a combination of Asura and Deva. So, this is a play, a Leela that is going on. So, sometimes in this Leela, a Divine Mother creates, as I have narrated, there were four Asuras and Rudra had to kill them. And that is the story. So, how does Shiva kill? He takes a Bana, as it were. And these Asuras were given three cities. Very symbolical. And all the three cities, they can move. And they are moving all the time. Who are the Asuras? We are the Asuras. And what are the three cities? Stola Sareera, Sokshma Sareera, Karana Sareera. And in these three Puras, what are we experiencing? In the Stola Sareera, we are experiencing the waking. In the Sokshma Sareera, we are experiencing the Swapna, dream world. And in the deep sleep world, through the Karana Sareera, we are experiencing. Are there more states? No, there are no more states. Only three. And we are changing from one state, from one Pura to the other Pura, identifying with that Pura. And there is a fight. So what is the fight? Fight is how happy can I be? All fight is only about happiness. And whatever we interpret as our inimical forces, we name them as Jews, or the Gaza people, or the Hamas, or what is called the Chinese people, or the Indian people. So we are giving different names. Different people call them different enemies. Who are the enemies? Whoever is obstructing my happiness is the enemy. That is the standard by which we judge everything. So the Divine Being, that is the Devas, were troubled by this. And they prayed to Lord Shiva. Shiva represents knowledge. And He bestowed His grace. He wanted to destroy them. And then, this is only mere symbolism. He took up a bow and arrow. And you know a bow has to be strung. Otherwise, it is a bent instrument. But there would be a string. And it has to be bent to the utmost limit. And then an arrow has to be fixed on that bow string. And pull it back to the extent possible. And discharge it. And it requires strength, power, to string the bow. And who is the bow? Me. And who is the string? Me. Who is Rudra? Me. Who are the Asuras? Me. It is not explicitly said here. That is why commentary is necessary. So, I play in both roles. Hero as well as villain. So, Aham Rudraya Dhanuh Aathanumi means, I give the strength through which Rudra can do it. You know our famous Ramayana story. So, Sita's father had an old Shiva. Shiva's bow. It is lying there. It is unstrung. And even Ramanasura was captivated by Sita Devi. And according to symbolical interpretation, Rama represents Paramatma. And Sita represents Mahamaya. Mahamaya deludes everybody. Whoever is deluded by Mahamaya is called an Asura. And there was a very powerful Asura. And he became powerful because he did tremendous amount of Tapasya. These are all marvellous things we have to keep in mind. Power means Tapasya. Vibhuti means more manifestation of God. So, does God arbitrarily like lottery ticket? Especially, I heard in the US, who gets the citizenship etc. Literally, they put all the names. 10,000 names. Maybe 100 people draw the thing. Something like that. So, is it just lottery ticket like that? So, some people become Devas and they want to be happier. But the Asuras want to snatch their happiness. But important point I am making, we have to keep in mind, how did these Asuras, can they really fight with the Devas? No. How did these people become Devas? Through the power of Tapasya. And if we have to overcome them, if we have to become Devas, we also have to do Tapasya. And these Asuras have tremendous willpower. Each one of them. So, we have to now, make every Asura our Ishta Devata. Only with regard to the willpower. Do we lack willpower? No, we don't lack willpower. So, when we are sitting for meditation, terrible weakness of the willpower. God simply bores us. We don't want to... Don't tell, God will listen. If I say, I don't like Him, He bores me. Then He will get angry with me. But the fact is, I don't like His company. I don't get any happiness in His company. So, I quickly, mechanically finish, as quickly as possible, all the Nama-Japa and everything, Puja and everything. If He is giving so much happiness, nobody will give it, they cannot give up. Because the nature of happiness is, it will not allow us to deviate from happiness. The nature of Dukkha is, it will not allow us to be there, even for a billy, billy, billy second. So, these Asuras got... They did tremendous tapasya and Brahma had given them. And then, they have... There were three conditions we said earlier. They should never come together and they should always... They should never turn against the Devas and they should always worship Lord Shiva and behave like Dharmikas. But then, you know, at the beginning, they obeyed it and they were very happy. So, all the three Puras, that is, Jagrat was giving them happiness, Dream World was giving them happiness and Deep Sleep, of course, was giving them happiness. They were happy all the time. But then what happened? Slowly, they came under the power of Mahamaya. The first thing is, they left off worshipping Shiva. Worshipping Shiva means living a Dharmic life. And then, the second condition was violated. What was it? That way, you should never go against the Devas. And their first fixated is, we want to destroy the Devas because we want to occupy their places. Two people cannot occupy the same seat. There cannot be two Prime Ministers. There cannot be two Presidents. There cannot be the same two MLAs. So, they have to get rid of them. They forgot. The moment they forgot, they became Brahma Dvisha. What is Brahma Dvisha? That is what is coming here. So, all the Devas, they went to Brahma. You only gave the power. And he said, let us go to Shiva because my business is to grant them according to their Tapasya. But unfortunately, I am too hasty. So, it is only left to Layakara, the destroyer. He is only Shiva. So, we have to approach him. And they gave all their power. And his bow represents the collective power of all the Devas, goodness, Puniyam or Dharma. And that has been represented by the bow and arrows. What is that arrow? A light that destroys. And against whom? Brahma Dvisha. You see, they promised, we will be devotees of Shiva. But they have become enemies of Shiva. How come? They are not saying, we hate Shiva. They are saying, we hate good people. We hate Devas. We hate anybody who is a holy person. Here Brahma means, if any person who tries to live a Dharmic life is called Brahma and Dvisha. And so long as these people are there, these wicked people cannot tolerate them. Why? Why? Very simple. I am telling you the psychology. Devas, as we understand by reading Puranas, forget about them. Deva means happiness. The state of being happy comes only from leading a Dharmic life. And anybody who leads a Dharmic life is a happier person. And anybody who is not Dharmic, he will be experiencing only suffering. But because of ignorance, these people who are suffering cannot understand that we are suffering not because of the Devas, not because of any external force. Our own Papa Karma stems from wrong thoughts, Papa vrittis, Papa Samskaras. Papa Samskaras originate from wrong ways of thinking, wrong knowledge, Agnana. So because of the Agnana, what is the nature of Agnana? A person who is ignorant doesn't even know that he is ignorant. A person who knows he is ignorant is a very wise person. So they think, if they go and occupy this place, these Devas are occupying, then we will be very happy like that. A funny incident comes. There was a Swami who wanted to become head of a centre. And he did a little bit of Tapasya. He prayed to God and somehow headquarters were needing one person. And they posted. And the moment the news came, the Swami was elated to the seventh heaven. I am going to become head of the centre. And then they all gave farewell. And God said, May you be happy. Like cinemas shows after marriage, cinema ends with the marriage music. And then you see big word Shubham. That means what happens now that Kurukshetra has to be experienced personally. No scripture can detail it for you. So the Swami got good Bhandara. He was so happy. And then he landed. The moment he got down from the train, a delegation came and he was being taken in a car to the ashram. And the manager Swami and others started cataloging all the troubles that were awaiting him, welcoming him, welcome, welcome. We are waiting for you. We will pounce upon you. And within three months, he did more tapasya. Thakur, never again make me head of a centre. I want to be free from this. Fortunately, that prayer was also heard and he was removed. He was not capable of running. So attaining Devata hood is happiness. Unhappy people cannot be happy and they cannot tolerate happy people. So they become Brahmat Vishas, that is, haters. They cannot tolerate them and they want to give trouble. Remember the Ramayana story, Vishwamitra wanted to do for the good of the world. Vishwamitra means Vishwa Mitra, a friend of everybody in the world. And Vishwamitra wanted to perform Yagna. That Yagna is meant for the welfare of all people in the world, not for himself. He had nothing to do with that. So Vishwamitra came. He knew the power of the Asuras. So Putana and so many others were there, Trataka and all those, Surpanaka and all those. But Dasharatha wanted to go, their children. Vishwamitra said, you don't know what you are talking. You don't know who is Rama. I know who is Rama. Of course, Rama was accompanied by Lakshmana. And first you have to kill Trataka. How can I kill a woman? No, no. Man or woman? No, no. That is not the criteria. Either man, male or female. Are they good or are they evil? You are born Dharma Samsthapanarthaya. So you have to. And he had to. And then Vishwamitra had given him all the weapons. And then he took him. He knew Sita is none other than Mahamaya, according to the Ramayana symbolism. And even Ravanasura, he fell in love with Sita. He wanted to marry her. But like Duryodhana wanted to marry Draupadi, Kanna wanted to marry. But the test they could not do, follow successfully. But here was an old bow. And Rama said, this is an old bow. And already 99% of its power has gone out. If I just lift it, it will break into pieces. But Ravanasura tried to lift it. He could not even lift it. Then Rama went smilingly. Smilingly because he knows the symbolism we have to see. That it is nothing but pure power of the goodness. When the light comes, darkness cannot stay. See Ramakrishna used to tell, a room is full of darkness for thousand years. And how much time will it take to get rid of the darkness? Just one matchstick, one strike against the matchbox, and thousand years' darkness disappears. Slowly, slowly or instantaneously. So he went, avaleela we call it, without any effort. With his small finger he lifted. What happened? It simply got broken into two. And then he married Mahamaya. What is the symbolism? Mahamaya can only be obeying Bhagawan. But she will be mesmerizing everybody else. And only the person who gets the divine grace, only that person can really overcome Maya. daive hesha gunamayi mama maya duratyaya ma meva e prapadyante mayam etam taranti te Without my grace, without my approval, Mahamaya can never be overcome. And how do we get the grace of God? By surrendering ourselves to that. So Rudra was designed to destroy all the three puras. Three puras means what? That is our identification in the three states with the gross, subtle and causal body. That is called avidya. We have forgotten we are Brahman. So here an interesting question comes. What do you mean by Shiva destroying these three puras? Can Shiva destroy anything? Can Shiva destroy the body? No. Can Shiva destroy dust particles? No. Because whatever is existing, that is God. And what is God is indestructible. So what can? Hiranyakashipu was destroyed by Ugra Narasimha Murti. What did he destroy? What can light destroy? Only darkness. Therefore God can only destroy avidya. Vidya can destroy avidya. Light can destroy darkness. Jnanam can destroy only ajnanam. That is what that means. These people were great. But now they have forgotten they are my children. I take them into my lap. I wash them of all the dirt and they understand. I feed them and I put them to bed and they will be happily sleeping. This is common language. What it means is everybody will be liberated because everybody is Brahman. Though we are using the word my world, my children, there is no my and my. Whatever is there, I only. Aham Brahma Asmi. So now Agambrani is telling us that I give Rudra the desire to destroy them. And I am manifesting myself in the form of Brahma Dvishas. And I also supply that Vidya and that power to destroy this avidya. That means liberate all these people. I give to Rudra. What does Rudra do? Layakarta. Layakarta means Mukti Pradata. Sharave Hanta Bahu. For the destruction of these people. And then, okay, you are giving it to Shiva. What about ordinary people like me? Aham, that is Agambrani is telling Aham means Aham Brahma Asmi. Brahma as Brahma. Janaya. Any devotee who takes refuge in me, who is in trouble, who prays to me. Prayer means surrender. Samadham Krunomi. I make him. What do I make him? Samadham. You see this word Mada. Mada Macharya. No, no, no. Here Mada means I make that person very strong. So strong that he can overcome all problems in life. That means I give them that knowledge and that knowledge will destroy their Vidya. And when their Vidya is destroyed, that person understands there is no friend, there is no enemy, there is no killer, there is no killed, there is only one Atma. So Aham Janaya Samadham Krunomi. Aham Diyava Prithvi Avivesha. I alone have occupied. Avivesha means possessed. You know, Bhuta, Bhutavesha. But I am not the only one. In the Katha Upanishad, we get Nanchiketha. What happened to him? Shraddha Avivesha. Shraddha possessed him like a ghost and he cannot do. What is Shraddha? Satyam. Truth. And he saw what his father was doing. That you are not fulfilling the conditions. I will make you fulfill. So that it is the duty of a son to fulfill all the desires of a father. For me, you are God. So I will make you ascend to that heaven. That is the symbolism. Aham Diyava. Diyava means Sargaloka. Prithvi and this Booloka. That means the entire creation consisting of Bhu, Bhuva and Swaha. Avivesha. Avivesha means what? Just imagine a person is possessed by a ghost. Now he is looking like a person but he is behaving like a ghost because the ghost is controlling that person. And that is what we have to understand. That when Brahman or the Divine Mother has possessed any one of us, that person is no longer that particular individual but he is the Divine Mother. There is a beautiful story. Once Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to drift between being possessed by Krishna and being a devotee. Sometimes He was the deity, sometimes He was the devotee. And there was one Brahmana who came to Him as a guest when Nimai was very, very small. Three years old. Extraordinarily mischievous. That means He will make His parents think for 24 hours. Though in a slightly troubled manner. What is this fellow going to land us into trouble? So like that He was playing mischief. And then Shechi Devi's family, Jagannath Mishra's family, provided Him separate food because He was so orthodox that He will not accept food. Even from this, Jagannath Mishra was a pure orthodox Brahmin. He will not accept. So you cook your own food and fortunately that Brahmana was a devotee of Narayana. So He took the trouble, cooked the food and then He offered it, sat down for meditation. And this small fellow came to know Nimai and he entered into the room and he sat down and started eating. Brahmana was startled and he got angry. And as a child, what can he do? So he told this and he got provisions again. Again, the second time he cooked. Same thing happened. Third time, he cooked and then again the same thing happened. And this time, he got so angry. But what did he say? That Narayana was sitting there and accepting His Annaprasada. He was overwhelmed. So a strong pranam he made to Nimai. He said, Lord, I did not understand. So You are a very stupid fellow. If You have the least bit of intelligence in You, first time itself You should have revealed Yourself to me. I need not have gone through all this trouble. I would have been singing Your glories since three hours time. But You have destroyed my mind. I am so glad. I am so grateful. He bestowed His grace upon. Ramakrishna did the same thing to Bhairavi Brahmani when she offered her food to Ramachandra. So this happens everywhere. So what are we talking? This whole universe is nothing but manifestation of Brahman. All of us are nothing but manifestation of Brahman. So that is the meaning of it. But so what happened? All these asuras did tapasya. And when we call on God, definitely His grace will come. First He will make us fulfil our desires, make us either happy or suffer. But in the end, no mother will give a third class sweet to her children, even if they are not aware of it. But She makes them hungry and She brings out the best that She can provide. Divine Mother, what best sweet can She give? Only liberation. When Shiva kills, what do you think He will do? Only liberation will be there for the Jeeva. Even ordinary Jeevas like us who do not do any tapasya, but just by living in this city called Kashi, it is called Avimukta Puri. Very interesting world. If you know a little bit of Sanskrit, you will be puzzled by this. Vimukti means liberation. Avimukti means non-liberation. And this is the city of non-liberation. According to this world meaning, Avimukta Puri. But if you analyse it, what is it? That Shiva is Mukta. And every Pashu is what is called different from Mukta. Vimukta means separate from Shiva, ignorant, completely in bondage. But Shiva is not like the Pashu. So Avimukta means what? That is completely different from ignorance. That means Paripoorna Gnanam, Shivoham Shivoham. So this is called Avimukta means what? Anybody who lives in this place, he will never come under the sway of avidya. At the time of death, Shiva will grant them just by the mere fact of death. But for the fact of death, we have to first of all, two conditions have to be fulfilled. The first condition is, we must have an intense desire. I want to give up my body here only, Shiva Puri. I don't want to go elsewhere. Second desire is that I really want Mukti only. So hoping against hope, I would like to visit Bangalore. I would like to visit this and that and the other thing and do so many things. That is not going to work at all. If we sincerely pray, Lord Shiva out of his infinite grace, in the form of this, there is what is called Kalabhairava. In the form of Kalabhairava bestows his grace. Yes, you can stay here. Visa granted until your death. And after that, visa is not needed. So this is how Shiva destroyed all these four Rakshasas, Asuras. There is a beautiful symbolism. How did Shiva destroy? It is just for our enjoyment. So what did he do? The earth was made the chariot because Bhoomi is always moving. And the four Vedas were the horses pulling the chariot. So the Bhoomi is being pulled. That means life on earth should be conducted according to the Vedic wisdom. And one should live one's life according to Brahmachari Ashrama, Grihastha Ashrama, Vanaprastha Ashrama, Sanyasa Ashrama. And Brahman himself was the charioteer. Dhiyo Yonaha Prajodhaya. Who is driving the chariot? Brahman himself. That means pure knowledge. And these Asuras are so powerful. The Puras or the chariots were so powerful. So Mandara Parvata itself is used as the bow. And who was the arrow? Adisesha. All symbolical. Adisesha was the string. Not arrow, string. But who was the arrow? Maha Vishnu was the arrow. If Vishnu himself comes in the form of either Mridu Narasimha or Ugra Narasimha or whatever blessed form you wish as Rama, as Krishna, as Devi, the end result is that we merge in Him. He cannot tolerate separation from us. He loves us so much. I cannot separate. I cannot tolerate any separation from you. So I will make you one with me. This is what we do. Whenever we have tremendous love for Rashagulla, I cannot tolerate a second and a billion meters distance between me and you. So immediately I pop into my head even the biggest Rashagulla and it becomes one with me and I become Ananda Swaroopam. This is what Maha Vishnu is also doing. That means that Brahman's knowledge is the destroyer of Ajnana which manifests in the form of these Asuras. We are all Asuras. Who says this? Isavasya Upanishad. Third Mantra. And here, all these Rathas are made up of what? Gunas. Guna means what is called excellency. But here Guna means what? Three Gunas. Tripura means three Gunas. What are the three Gunas? Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. And every Guna is capable of binding us, destroying us. Destruction means not making us non-existent, but to make us forget what we really are. And that is why Sairam Krishna's words are so deep. He tells the story of the three robbers and finally the robber called Sattva Guna comes and then brings that traveler outside the forest of Samsara. That is your home. What is that home? Brahma. Brahmapuri. That is your home. But why don't you come with us? Because I am Guna. I am also one of the gang of the robbers. So Sairam Krishna calls all of them robbers only. So when we take refuge in Lord Shiva, Mahadeva, by His grace, with one stroke, He will bring through the arrow of knowledge. He will destroy all Ajnana and this is the symbolism of the story. I just want to repeat again. Earlier I told you, if you want even Upanishads, perhaps you can study by yourself. But if you want to study Puranas, never venture even to read one Purana with your own buddhi. Take the help of somebody who knows what the symbolism really means because every Purana is nothing but the highest Vedantic truth or psychological truth, hidden, embedded in the form of symbolism. So I will stop here. I am Pagambrani is telling, I am that Shiva. I am Rudra. Earlier he said, you know, This is the second time she is mentioning. I function in the form of Rudra. What is the function of Rudra? To destroy evil, to destroy Ajnana, to liberate people. That is why Kashi is called Vimakthapuri. What is the Kashi? Prakasha. This word Prakasha we know. That word Pra is a Upasarga. But if we take only Kasha, Kasha means that which is shining. This is Brahmajnana, which is shining. And that Puri, where Brahmajnana is freely available, that is called Kashi. So what can Shiva destroy? Only Ajnana. And whom can he destroy? Nobody. That is why this is a symbolic story. And this is the marvellous thing. Next class, we will talk about, enter into what is called next mantra. May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.