Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 040 on 03-August-2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padmetayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur We are continuing Ramakrishna's conversation with M. All the talks that are happening now is regarded with one particular subject. Every devotee has to contemplate on God, either with form or with qualities or kidding oneself that I am able to meditate, contemplate, think of God without names, without forms, without qualities. It's an impossibility. Even the thought, I am thinking of God with form, is a thought. I am thinking of God without form is also a thought. It is impossible. So long as we use the mind, then it is impossible to think of God, otherwise accepting in a particular form. Name is a form. Form is a form. Guna, a quality, is also a form. What is a form? A thought. Everything is a thought. Vritti. That is why Akara Vritti, Sakara Vritti, Nirakara Vritti, Brahma Akara Vritti, Krishna Akara Vritti, Ramakrishna Akara Vritti. So that is why I am taking so much of time. Another reason why I do this is the whole essence of spiritual wisdom lies in the Vedas. The essence of the Vedas is called Upanishads. Vedartha, Sara, Sangraha, Bhutam. And the essence of the Upanishads is Bhagavad Gita. And the essence of the Bhagavad Gita is the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. In fact, the teachings of every realized soul, whether it is Ramana Maharshi, Mirabai, Tulsidas, etc. Now, Upanishads we all know. And we have the highest regard. But we do not have the same regard for the teachings of the modern saints, forgetting, as I mentioned earlier, the teachings of every realized soul is an Upanishad. What is an Upanishad? Upanishad. That which destroys our ignorance about ourselves, about the nature of the world, about God, and takes us to God, makes us become one with God, or in devotional language, makes us live with God forever. That is called Upanishad. And the teachings of every saint is an infallible guide, though conventionally we do not call it an Upanishad. Now take the Upanishad, any Upanishad, and we require the commentaries of plenty of people, even to understand a single sentence. Why? Because they use dialectical language, they use paradoxical language, they use ironical language, they use negative language, they use evocative language. The help of all these types of instruments of language are used to convey the highest teaching about ourselves. So, Shri Ramakrishna's gospel is in Kannada, translated so beautifully, not in any other translation of any other language, but only in Kannada language. Vachana Veda. Amruta, the word is used. In Bengali itself, Katha Amritam. In Hindi, Vachana Amritam. This Amritam has become very famous, and it is absolutely fine, because Amritam is that which makes us immortal. Katha Amritam, the teaching which will help us to become immortal. So, to understand the Upanishad statement, it takes a long time. First of all, we need the help of the grace of God, through the instrumentality of the Guru. Then we have to practice Sadhana, and slowly the mind, as the mind becomes purified, cleansed of its dirt, and slowly the light of Paramatman gets reflected in it. That's why this one way of spiritual practice is listening repeatedly to these talks, and especially from people who are a step ahead of us, so that without our trying to waste time, we can get them. So, we are now coming to this. So, is God with form? Yes. Is God without form? Yes. Is God with Gunas? Yes. Is He without Gunas? Yes. And so, are these not ironical, paradoxical languages? Because in our experience in this world, either something is black, if it is black, it is not any other color, and if it is small, it is not big. If it is light, it is not darkness. An object cannot have these two diametrically opposed qualities at the same time. At different times, maybe, not at the same time. But God is everywhere. God is everything. Therefore, He can be here, He can be furthest, He can be inside, He can be outside. So, these so-called opposing qualities, at the same time, only God can have or infinity can have. That's why Sri Ramakrishna says, God is with form, God is without form. This is with regard to the limitation of the mind. But God is beyond both form and formlessness. That is to say, when a person identifies himself with the mind, then only he can understand what is beyond form, beyond name, beyond formlessness. So, in our last class, what did I talk about? I hope you remember it. Sometimes it is, not sometimes, always it is very useful if we can just at least cursorily go through the last talk, so that we can get the thread. I talked about these Upasanas, different Upasanas. Of these Upasanas, I was specially talking about Aham Graha Upasana. Aham means I. Graha means grasping. I grasping myself as something. For example, Shivoham, Aham Brahmasmi, etc. But to reach that state, we have to first of all practice lower steps. Aham Suryahasmi, I am Surya, I am Aditya, etc. So this Aham Graha Upasana is a gradual progress. The highest Aham Graha, self-identity with the Self, has to pass through three stages. The first stage is Dasoham. I am the servant of God. That means I am separate from God. I am inferior to God, but I am related to God in the form of I am small, you are the big, but separate. This is called Dvaita, or dualistic school of philosophy. But when the same person progresses, he will think, I am not you, but I am also not separate from you. I am one with you, at the same time, I am not one with you. My hand is one with the body, but at the same time different from the body. This whole and part, this relationship, is called Visistha Dvaita. Aham Graha Upasana. First, I am separate, I am divine, but separate from you, like each spark is separate from the fire. Second stage is, I am having the same characteristics like the fire. I have light, I have heating power, so I am part of that fire. I am not separate from fire, but not yet blazing fire. This is called Visistha Dvaita, qualified non-dualism. But when the same mind becomes less obstructive, and makes itself less and less, and completely merges in the objective, and that is called going beyond the mind. By meditating on an imagined object called God, Visistha Dvaita, when the mind completely, this Aham, in the form of a thought, mind merges in the Visistha Dvaita, forgetting one's identity, that is called Advaita. That is not a stage, but it is the reality, supreme reality. So Dasoham, Seshoham, I am a part, and Atmaivaham, Brahmasmi. And then for devotees, the progress will be in a different way. They have to do Vaishnavism. Vaishnavism means the path of devotion, nothing to do with Vishnu. Shaivas, Shaktas, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus of course, everybody can be a Vaishnava. So Vaishnava is a common name, and it has nothing to do with Vishnu. Devotional literature divided these steps into five. According to one school, this progress is divided into two steps and one final goal. And according to devotional literature, the same process is divided into four steps, of which the final, fifth one, is the complete identity. So what are they? Shanta, Dasya, Sakya, Vatsalya, and Mathura. I spoke and I am going to quote what Sri Ramakrishna is saying upon these five modes. But I made an observation, if you still remember, the Shantabhava is the predominant attitude of Rishis and Munis in the olden times. So the devotional literature also counts it as the very beginning stage, the lowest stage. So is there any difference between these two? We have to understand, when we are talking from the Gnani's point of view, Gnana point of view, the Rishi's point of view, Shantabhava, when the mind has become completely purged of all impurities, when the mind becomes steadfast like an anvil, whether happiness comes, unhappiness comes, sukha comes, dukha comes, heat and cold, honour and dishonour, it's not affected at all. Just as a blacksmith's hammer, heavy hammer, he puts a red-hot iron ball or iron rod on the anvil, takes up a hammer and goes on beating it to shape it to the desired form and that Kuta is not affected at all. Anvil means Kuta. So when the mind becomes like that Kuta, then the Kutastha, he who is reflected in that pure, unagitated mind, that is called Shantabhava, nothing to do with the devotional person. So here what is it? When a devotee starts, he has some faith in God, he has some control over the mind and sometimes the mind becomes a little bit calm and quiet. That Tapid Bhakti, the beginning, the sprouting of the mighty tree which will, in terms, in time, after a long time, blossoms, gives fruits. What fruits? Dharma, Artha, Kama and finally Moksha is far away from this. But the mind somehow becomes devoted to one particular aspect of God that is called Shantabhava. This is the distinction between the words are same, but there is a, what we call, heaven and hell difference between the meanings. So with that, I cleared that point, the Shantabhava of the Rishis and the Shantabhava of the devotees, the difference between that. So the Shantabhava of a devotee is the lowest step in the ladder of devotion. Now I will quote Sri Ramakrishna's words because this is the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and every sentence, every word has tremendous meaning and not only intellectually, we derive satisfaction, but our understanding becomes deeper and helps us to progress in spiritual life and according to our progress, our understanding also deepens. That is how understanding deepens devotion, devotion deepens the understanding, helping each other, and they finally pull us and push us into the ocean of God. Speaking of these five attitudes, Sri Ramakrishna is uttering in the Gospel, Sri Ramakrishna, on different moods of the aspirants. But in order to realize God, one must assume one of these attitudes. What are they? Shanta, Dasya, Sakya, Vatsalya and Mathura. And Sri Ramakrishna is explaining. Shantabhava, a serene attitude. The Rishis of olden times had this attitude towards God. They did not desire any worldly enjoyment. It is like a single-minded devotion of a wife to her husband. She knows that her husband is the embodiment of beauty and love, a veritable Madana. Madana means the most, the God, the Cupid God. Kamadeva is called Madana. And it is a very interesting word. This Madana, Mano Madana, he lords over the mind. And Mano Manthana, like Samudra Manthana, churning of the mind. When this love comes, it just churns like a huge tsunami churns the ocean like that. So that's why I made it clear. This Shantabhava of the Rishis is totally different from the Shantabhava of the Bhaktas. So second, Dasya, the attitude of a servant towards his master. Hanuman had this attitude towards Rama. He felt the strength of a lion when he worked for Rama. A wife feels this mood also. She serves her husband with all her heart and soul. A mother also has a little of this attitude as Yashoda had towards Krishna. Example for Shantabhava, Sairam Krishna gives the Rishis. Remember, when a Rishi's mind is in Shantabhava, emotional content is very less. And in the devotional path, the whole essence of devotion is emotion. Every single hair on the body of a devotee becomes thrilled when the devotee hears the name of God. Tears practically roll down. It's more of an emotional action and reaction. When a devotee does puja, etc., tremendous emotion is involved and his joy also will increase and the suffering also will increase when his mind is separated from God. This is the most marvelous expression of devotion in Vaishnava literature, especially in the divine loving sport of Radha and Krishna. This viraha and milana. First, Radha suffers from these tremendous pangs of separation from Krishna. But then, in the end, that separation itself makes God also suffer. So He comes running and becomes united with His beloved. And that is called milana. The essence of all Vaishnava padavali, or devotional literature, is these two bhavas, dominant bhavas. First, separation, then union. Separation and union. After union, what happens? Again, the devotee doesn't like to be completely, all the time, united with God. He wants to be separated. Why? Just he wants to enjoy that tremendous emotional upsurge that comes after the devotee meets with God, becomes united with God. He doesn't like to be always united with God. This is so beautifully expressed. I do not wish to become sugar, but I would like to enjoy sugar. A devotee likes to enjoy sugar and a person who is treading the path of knowledge, he likes to become united with God, Paramatma. That is the difference. It is a matter of attitude. Both have their values. So a devotee, especially a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, would like to have to play both these attitudes. Sometimes he wants to be not bothered about God by becoming one with God. Sometimes he would like to play with God and want to be separate from God. This is called Leela, Nitya and Leela. Leela and Nitya. Nitya to Leela, Leela to Nitya. This is the favorite attitude of Sri Ramakrishna, having what is called enjoying both. Then the second attitude, Dasya for Dasya, Hanuman. Hanuman did not know anything except Sri Rama. The third attitude is Sakya. What does Sri Ramakrishna say? Sakya, the attitude of friendship. Friends say to one another, come here and sit near me. Sri Ramakrishna gives the example. Sri Dama and other friends of Sri Krishna sometimes fed Krishna with fruit, part of which they had already eaten and sometimes even climbed on his shoulders. There is no difference between these two. Then fourth is Vatsalya, the attitude of a mother towards her child. This was Yashoda's attitude towards Krishna. The wife too has a little of this. She feeds her husband with her very life blood, as it were. The mother also feels happy. Only when the child has eaten to his heart's content, Yashoda would roam about with butter in her hand in order to feed Krishna. What we need to notice in these teachings of Sri Ramakrishna is a mother and a wife are having both Dasya Bhakti and also Madhura Bhakti, Sakya Bhakti. All the modes are there. The higher mode contains all the lower modes and much more. In the Vatsalya Bhakti, Vatsalya attitude, there are two types, I mentioned it, that a devotee may consider himself, I am the child, you are my mother or father. Or on the other hand, I am the mother or father and you are my child. If I do not protect you, then you will go to dogs. The last attitude, Madhura, the attitude of a woman towards her paramour. Radha had this attitude towards Krishna. A wife also feels it for her husband. This attitude includes all the other four. So Madhura also has got two variations. One is called Kanta Bhakti. The love a chaste wife cherishes towards her husband. And the second is Parakiya. One is called Kanta Bhava. Another is called Parakiya, a mistress. A mistress belongs to another man. But she loves another man, not her husband, but another man. This is not immorality. This is to illustrate the strength where the mind of the mistress is on her lover. It is that for which purpose the illustration is given, not for the sake of that one should become. But later on in Vaishnavism, these defects have come out. And then people started physically, a man takes to a woman, a woman takes to a woman. That is how Vaishnavism had become completely rotten. And that is why Ramakrishna is born once more to prove what are the real steps of the Bhakti, as preached by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nama Sankirtanam. But this time, Sri Ramakrishna said, this kind of Madhura Bhakti is not suitable for modern age. But he himself had practiced by meditating upon Radha Devi so that he could obtain the vision of Krishna. But at the same time, what we have to understand is that Sri Ramakrishna did not advocate Madhura Bhakti because he knew the tendencies of modern people. It starts with Madhura Bhakti, degenerates into pure prostitution. And to avoid it, he said, Nama Sankirtanam is the best thing that one can do. Now, earlier I have mentioned three kinds of Upasana. Upasana means contemplation. Contemplation means how to think deeply about God. After the Pauranic times, when we study the religious history of Hinduism or Vedanta, first we get the Vedas, Karmakanda, then we get the Jnanakanda or Upanishads. And the Upanishads have become too much for ordinary people. So slowly, the Pauranic literature has come, the Tantric literature has come. Ever since that time, the tug-of-war between the Upanishadic path, which is usually called the Jnana Marga, and the Pauranic path, which is usually called the Bhakti Marga. So, Jnana Marga, for your information, has never taken any deep roots anywhere in the world because it is meant only for very few people. But Sri Ramakrishna had demonstrated that for the Kali Yuga, the easiest path is the Pauranic path, especially the path as taught by Narada, the path of devotion, but in particular as taught by Narada. It's a marvellous teaching. So many people have written so many books about Bhakti and devotion, but this Narada's teaching called Narada Bhakti Sutras stands as a unique testimony where there is knowledge, where there is Bhakti, where there is Karma, where there is what Sri Ramakrishna emphasizes, as many pathways through Bhakti to attain God as many individuals are there in this world. But in the Narada Bhakti Sutras, at the very fag end, he says there are 11 main ways and it is a beautiful enumeration of the Bhakti path is there. I have taken separate classes for many months on these Narada Bhakti Sutras. Perhaps you will get the talks on our website. It's a book worth, not only worth, it's a must-read book for every aspiring spiritual aspirant, especially for all of us Bhaktas. Now coming back, after the Pauranic times, three kinds of Upasanas have become very popular. I am not talking about Vedic Upasanas, Vedic contemplations. I am talking about Pauranic contemplations. One name becomes very familiar. What are these three? Pratikopasana, which means Prathima Upasana, also included in it. Meditation on visual symbols and images. If it is Pratika, it is symbols. If it is Prathima, it is human-like images are there. I will come back to that a little later on. Second is very important, Namo Upasana, meditation on sound symbols. And third, Aham Graho Upasana. This Aham Graho Upasana of the Pauranic type has very little to do with the Vedic Aham Graho Upasana. Vedic Aham Graho Upasana is mainly identifying oneself. Aham means me, I. Graham, identify myself with. Aham Suryahasmi. Aham Manoho Abhavam. I am Manoho. I am Indra. I am Varuna. I am Aditya. I am the Pavana. I am the Vayu Devata, etc. This is meditation on the Pancha Bhutas, about which I will give a graphic illustration very soon. So, according to Hinduism, life and the world originated by the combination of five manifestations of God in the form of nature. What are they? Akasha, earth, water, fire, air and space in the reverse way. These are also called Pancha Bhutas. Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Jala and Prithvi. Life is nothing but the manifestation and combination of these five Bhutas. Now, in order to make this highest philosophy as a practical contemplation, our Hindus have constructed especially the images of or the worship of Lord Shiva. It is very peculiar that Vishnu is very rarely worshipped in the form of the Pancha Bhutas, but Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of the Pancha Bhutas. This is what we call Pancha Bhuta Lingas. Linga means representation of Shiva. Five temples are there, all in South India. What are these? Very briefly, for those who do not know and most of the people do not know about it, Lord Shiva has these Pancha Bhutas. First is Akasha. The first emanation or grossification of Atma is called Akasha. Atmana Akasha Sambhotaha. In Chidambaram, in South India, there is a place called Chidambaram. There, Shiva is worshipped as Akasha Linga to signify that God is beyond human comprehension. Unlike the other temples, this temple, Chidambaram, does not contain a physical Linga. What is there? An empty room and a small lamp. Why lamp? Not as a symbol, but just when a devotee enters, he should not bump his head onto the hard stones and then stumble and die to prevent to show him. But when he enters there, it is pitch dark. And the priests also, what do they do? They put a curtain and the devotees, first time devotees, they look into it and then what do they see? Oh, there must be something marvellous. As soon as the curtain is removed by the priest, I will behold the Lord. And after some time, ceremoniously, the curtain is lifted. What does he see? Excepting for this small blinking light, there is nothing else. What is the symbolism? You, the devotee, have to contemplate on the Lord Shiva in the form of Akasha, space. It is incomprehensible. Then we get Vayu Devata, Shiva. In Andhra Pradesh, there is a temple called Kalahasti. Kala means serpent. Hasti means elephant. Sri means a spider. Sri Kalahasti is the name. It is near Tirupati. In this Sri Kalahasti temple, Andhra Pradesh, Shiva in His aspect of Vayu is worshipped as Kalahastishwara. Then the Lord is worshipped as the third emanation of the Atman, Agni. This is the famous Brahmana Maharshi had gone there. Tiruvannamalai temple, Shiva is said to have manifested Himself in the form of a massive column of fire, Agni Tattva. And in order to remember, a celebration of this manifestation is seen even today, especially during the festivals of Shivaratri and Karthika, in the month of Karthika, Deepam, at the end of December, etc. So, lakhs of devotees go there. Of course, it is said spontaneously there would be the darshan of a light. But in fact, some people go there and light up, which can be seen for miles together. Ramana Maharshi used to sit and then have Divya Darshana. As soon as the sunset is over, suddenly, there is a particular astrological movement and at that moment, this Karthika Deepam is seen there. So, in Tiruvannamalai, the Lord Shiva is manifesting in the form of the Agni Tattvam. Then, in Tamil Nadu, near Trichy, there is a temple called Thiruvannaikaval temple. Here, Shiva is represented as Water Lingam. They call it Appu Lingam. Appu is the word perhaps derived from Apsu, which is for water. So, here the Jala Lingam, Appu Lingam, is submerged in water and a perennial subterranean spring gushes around the Lingam all the time. So, the sanctum of Jambukeshwara, here, is an underground water stream and in spite of pumping water out, it is always filled with water. This is the manifestation of Lord Shiva as water. Then, of course, what remains? The Earth Prithvi Lingam. So, Ekambareswara temple in Kanchipuram, a huge Shiva Lingam is there. Here, Shiva is worshipped as Ekambareswara or Ekambaranatha and is represented by the Lingam as Prithvi Lingam. Just, we have to appreciate how marvelously Hindus have constructed these temples. Their concept is that the whole universe, I, you, everything, what we call the universe, is nothing but inside, our body is a combination of these. Our five sense organs are a representation of these five elements. The whole external world is nothing but a combination of these five elements and these five elements outside are called Adivautika and the five elements in the body is called Adhyatmika and these five elements within the human body as well as outside world are presided over or He gives us the power, He manifests within the body and the same Lord manifests in the external world also and like the Sun, the Moon, the Indra, etc., all the five elements have their presiding deity called Adhidaivika. So, Adhidaivika and Adhyatmika and Adivautika. This marvelous concept of this triangle, if we can unite these three, look at them as a harmonious whole that is called Paramatman. That is called Brahma. That is called Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma Vision. Now, I will come back a little bit with the Ahamgraha. Remember, when I am talking about this Ahamgraha, it has nothing to do with Vedic Ahamgraha but Pauranic Ahamgraha. What are we talking about? What is Ahamgraha? It is an attempt of the Self to identify itself with the Supreme Self and the simplest form of Ahamgrahopasana is to visualize our own Self, the Atman, as a point of light and meditate on that light thinking, I am this light. And this is expressed so beautifully by Shankaracharya in one of the most celebrated hymns called Nirvana Shatkam. Six stanzas Mano Buddhi Ahankara Chitta Ninaham etc. In the end, Shivoham Shivoham I am Shiva, I am Shiva. Who is Shiva? Nothing to do with all these five elements Mano Buddhi Chitta Ahankara five elements etc. This is called one example of Ahamgraha Upasana. So below is a beautiful statement Swami Vivekananda quotes it from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. What are we talking about? This concept of Ahamgraha. I am the Paramatman in the form of the Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika. I will just give you a few examples because it is a long passage most marvellous poetical highest poetical expression of the highest truth in possible human language which is Sanskrit. So just I will quote. He means the Paramatman and whenever we use this word he or she or it, you should not literally take God is having a gender but the popular word he, God, he doesn't mean Purusha, he always it means the indescribable genderless all pervading infinite eternal light. He who inhabits the earth but is within it whom the earth doesn't know whose body is the earth who controls the earth from within it he is the internal ruler Antaryami and he is your own immortal self. The Jivatma inhabits this earth, is within that earth but the earth doesn't know him and the body of this Jivatma is this earth and the Jivatma controls the earth from within and is the internal ruler your own immortal self. So this is Prithvi. Next is Apsu. Yo antaraha yo apsu. He who inhabits the water and is within it but the water doesn't know him. Third is Agni. Yo tishtan agneh antaraha yo agnau He who inhabits fire but is within it. Yo tishtan vayoh antaraha vayav yo naveda He who inhabits and is inside the air but whom the air doesn't know but who controls the air as Antaryami So etc. etc. Antareksha. Then Antareksha Antareksha means Akasha With this the five elements are over but as I mentioned earlier the Lord also is manifesting in three forms Adhyatmika Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika Now the Adhidaivika aspect. Yo tishtan Aditya Aditya antaraha Adityeya tishtati He who inhabits the sun but is within it and it goes on and on and on enumerating the most important manifestations of God in this world etc. What is the essence of all these quotations? That is God only is manifesting as Adhyatmika or body-mind Adhibhautika whatever is what we call the world external to the body and mind and with which the body and mind interacts and interacts and that which is presided over both the body-mind as well as the external world who controls everything He is the Antaryami and He is none other than your own self. Who is the Jivatma? Paramatma himself. That is the essence of it This is what we call the Ahamgraha Upasana of the Pauranic times I will come back to it giving some examples Then the next is Pratika Upasana. Pratika means a symbol. Literally Pratika means Pratigachati going towards. That means that which makes us move towards God is called a Pratika Something upon which the mind is focused So Pratika has got visual symbols. Pratika like images, pictures natural objects Example a cross a Saligrama, a water pot We know the cross for Christians how sacred it is Then Saligrama. For the devotees of Vishnu, Saligrama For the devotees of Shiva this is Shiva Linga. Then a water pot What does a water pot represent? Mother Shritladevi. So these are all Pratikas. But there is something called Pratima. What is a Pratima? Images of Gods and Goddesses These are called Pratimas A Pratima may be a picture drawn on paper or cloth or either on silver or iron or sculpted out of stone or any of the Panchadhatus or five elements etc five metals etc or a three dimensional idol, Vigraha made of stone or metal Examples everywhere Durga, Kali, Rama, Krishna etc. Now Ramakrishna is telling I give the Brahmos illustration of water and ice. Satchidananda is like an endless expanse of water. The water of the great ocean in cold regions freezes into blocks of ice Similarly, through the cooling influence of Divine Love, Satchidananda assumes forms for the sake of the devotees Bhaktas. The Rishis had the vision of the super sensuous spirit form and talked with it. But devotees acquire a love body and with itself they see the spirit form of the Absolute. This is what we have to understand about Pratima Pratika. Pratika means remember, it doesn't have the gross physical form of an image but it brings to the mind the idea of God. As I mentioned, a cross brings to the idea of the Christian devotee the idea of Christ the qualities of Christ, etc. Then, I want to give certain examples of this Aham Grahopasana. First, I will give you an example of Holy Mother. After the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother was grieving very deeply and in those days the conditions of the widows was indescribable. So, devotees arranged for Holy Mother Sharda Devi to go on pilgrimage. She went to Vrindavan. Continuously, she was contemplating on Sri Ramakrishna like Radha contemplating on the separation from Krishna and one day, she started laughing. Her whole voice has changed. The laughter is exactly like that of Sri Ramakrishna used to laugh when he was not ridden with this cancer. The devotees were shocked to find, is it Sri Ramakrishna laughing or was it Holy Mother laughing? Then, she started preparing. The devotees now became alert, started observing Holy Mother. She was in a semi-ecstatic state. She was preparing betel at Stambhula for after, you know, many Bengali devotees, they eat this paan. So, Mother was in the habit of preparing a paan and then they noticed this was how Sri Ramakrishna had a method of preparing paan and Holy Mother had a method of usual method of preparing a paan but on this particular occasion, Holy Mother was preparing like Sri Ramakrishna used to prepare. Her voice has changed. Her personality has changed. Her words have changed and even her way of preparing has also changed and one day there is a beautiful incident. Once, what happened is Holy Mother had gone on a pilgrimage to South India and she visited Rameshwar and she offered puja, etc. and Swami Ramakrishna Nandaji had kindly prepared 108 golden tilwa leaves for Mother to offer. So, she had nice puja and she was completely happy. She blessed all the devotees and then she returned back and one day some devotee, Mother was sitting and talking with some lady devotees. One day a woman devotee asked Mother how was your trip to South India? Oh, it went off very well. She had done wonderful arrangements. Then, how did you find Rameshwar Shiva? And immediately she said that exactly as I had left him. And the devotee looked askance and then what did you say? She said, no, no, no. I saw a very beautiful Rameshwar Shiva and we had wonderful worship, etc. Now, I think it was Golapamma who passed by. She overheard these words and she said, Mother, what did you say? Then Mother tried to cover her words up. But Golapamma said, no, I distinctly heard you saying just as I had left. What did Holy Mother mean? So, Holy Mother bent her head and started smiling within herself. Now, what do we understand by this? Holy Mother in the form of Sita, when Rama God incarnated as Rama, so she identified herself with Sita and then said unconsciously, I saw Shiva exactly as I had left her. Now, I will come to Ramakrishna's illustration before we proceed further. Ramakrishna wanted to have the vision of Rama. So, he meditated upon whom? Not on Rama, but on Hanuman and we know that marvellous story how he had vision of Sita and then Rama, but he completely identified himself with Hanuman. This is Aham Grahopasana according to the Pauranic interpretation that we have just now given. Similarly, when Sri Ramakrishna wanted to have the vision of Krishna, Krishna Darshana, then he meditated upon whom? Not upon Krishna, but upon Radha. Why? Radha is nothing but the greatest Krishna Bhakta. Her body, mind is nothing but filled with Krishna's thought. So, for us also, if we want to have the vision of a particular deity, don't go on meditating directly upon God, because our impure mind with impure thoughts only will come in that form and the God we imagine also will be seen through that impure thoughts. So, he will also be impure in a way of speaking, though you have to understand what I am talking about. But if we can meditate, take any devotee, Hanuman is okay, Sri Ramakrishna is okay, Swami Vivekananda was okay, Swami Adbuthananda was okay, Ramana Maharshi was okay, meditate upon these great Bhaktas or meditate upon Mirabai and then see how much help we can get. This is what Sri Ramakrishna had done. Then Swami Vivekananda, that marvellous incident, Swami Vivekananda, for him it took four and a half years to remove that idea, I am Swami Vivekananda, and to become an empty vessel into whom Sri Ramakrishna could come and occupy and then say, make Swami Vivekananda say, I am Ramakrishna or I am the HMV, his master's voice. Later on Swami Vivekananda used to say, I am a voice without form. Then there cannot be any voice without form. Then who is the form? Sri Ramakrishna is the form, Sri Ramakrishna is the substance, Sri Ramakrishna is the Ishta Devata Antaryami, but Swami Vivekananda's throat, voice, etc. is the instrument through which Sri Ramakrishna had flown in the form of knowledge through the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. That's why he once declared, whatever good has come from my mouth, it all belongs to Sri Ramakrishna and whatever is otherwise has come from my puny self. These are some of the examples of Aham Graha Upasana of the Pauranic times. Though I said it is Pauranic times, really speaking, there is not much difference between these two. Very briefly, I am going to talk about in the next class stages in Namo Upasana for all our devotees. We have two things left out. Aham Graha Upasana is very difficult. It is a third stage. But for us, the first stage is Namo Upasana. The second stage will be Rupa Upasana. I am going to talk about these two. Again, these two have got certain stages. First, let me take in brief, which I will treat later on. Practice of the repetition of mantra passes through three stages. This is called Namo Upasana. Nama means the name of God. As we discussed earlier, Nama and Namni, the name and whatever is indicated by that name. Abhidhana, Abhidheya. It is a beautiful subject that Gaudapadacharya and Shankaracharya had elaborately discussed while commenting upon Mandukya Upanishad, which is nothing but one of the greatest Upanishads. Anyway, this Namo Upasana. What is Upasana? Deep contemplation upon God until the meditating mind becomes one with the object of meditation, the Upasaka, achieving complete unity or oneness with the contemplated object called Ishta Devata. That is called Upasana. Upa means near, Asana means moving nearer and nearer and the nearest thing to ourselves is our own Self. Becoming one with the Self. This Namo Upasana is there. Sri Ramakrishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Narada have all advocated Namo Upasana. What is Namo Upasana? Contemplating upon the name. Is it so easy? Just Guru gives the mantra and the mantra is repeated at particular times, particular numbers, etc. That is only the smallest part of this Namo Upasana. While trying to do Sadhana, according to Namo Upasana, one has to avoid several pitfalls. Of all the pitfalls, there are more than 60 pitfalls of which we have selected 10 crimes against the name or mantra that has been given to us by God. These are called Nama Aparadha. Aparadha means crime. Unless we purge ourselves of all these Aparadhas, our Sadhana will not be successful. Just I will give you a sample before closing this talk. If anybody thinks the mantra given to me by God is just an ordinary word, that fellow will not only progress, he will go to the hell. The power of the word is most marvelous. The power of name is nothing but God Himself, named Himself. That is why while composing Raghuvamsha, Kalidasa prays to Shiva and Parvati, what does he say? He says that Nama and Namni are one and the same. So he starts this Mangalacharna. That, O Lord, Jagata Pitra Onde Parvati Parameshwarau. I salute the parents of this entire universe, the creators of this entire universe. Parvati Parameshwarau. That itself has got tremendous meaning. I will deal with it in our next Gospel class. Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Kurum Pada Padme Dayo Sritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.