Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 041 on 17-August-2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PHADA PATME TAYO SRIDHVA PRANAM AMIM ORMUHOM We are studying the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. In our last class we had discussed elaborately about types of Upasana and of these Upasanas in our last class we discussed very specifically about Prathima Upasana. Somebody in Bengali language has composed a beautiful meaningful song Prathimaar Modhe Prathimaar Modhe Prathima. There is a pun on this word Prathima. Prathima means an image. Prathima, then if you split it Prathima, so in every image there is the Divine Mother manifesting in the form of so many women. My mother, your mother, even a mosquito's mother, all these mothers and it is highly meaningful song. If you come across, you please enjoy it. But what is most important, this is purely the scriptural teaching and most of us hear it or sing it. Sarvamangala Mangaliye Srishti Sthithi Vinashanaam Shrithi Bhute Sanatani Gunashraye Gunamayee Narayane Namostu The So I was just remembering that particular song but what is important so far we are concerned today is that we cannot give up the worship of God through the symbols, images etc. And in every type of Upasana, Upasana is by the way the most wonderful word substituting Pooja. English word Pooja is really very weak word. So Pooja is a Sanskrit word but we use it in English also. The best word is Upasana. How is it great? Because Upasana means slowly approaching near. Upasana. Asana means God. God is sitting and we are slowly approaching it. And worship, rituals, meditation and Japam, Tirtha Yatra, pilgrimage, all these slowly take us in some cases very fast like say Ramakrishna in some cases slow. But definitely they all take us to God. That is most wonderful thing we have to understand here. So Prathima, what is the essence of what we discussed? Prathimas or Pratika and Prathima without a human form, without some kind of concrete form, just meaning flashes in our mind. That is called Pratika, a cross. Every Christian who sees a cross immediately bows down because he is reminded of God. Omkara is a most wonderful Pratika. There are so many Pratikas are there. But Prathima means we want more concrete. So we need not become tired by exercising our weak intellect. Here is an image of Durga. Here is an image of Kali. Here is either a photograph or a likeness of Gods and Goddesses represented as Shiva. You can see behind me Shiva very much present there. So it is very important for us to remind. But even more important is that we should not stop at Prathima. But we cannot escape Prathima. There are stupid fellows of course created by God who consider themselves as idolaters. There is no idolater. Anybody who thinks I am a body is an idolater. And people think we should not. So long as a person thinks, even if he sits in a dark room without any light and says, I want to think of God without form, so long as he is completely identified with the body, he is no better than anybody else. In fact I would say he is all the worse because his egotism is increasing by the minute because he thinks all others are much less developed. They need all these helps. I don't have any such thing. Sri Ramakrishna started his spiritual practice with this. So what is the idea? So long as we are identified with the body, then God cannot be thought accepting as a body and Hindus have gone so deep into it. Here is some secret I am letting out. Just as we feel that our human body, my body is most precious for me and your body is most precious for you, but do you ever sit back and think that a mosquito's body is most important for a mosquito, a goat's body is most important for a goat, a cow's body is most important for a cow, a chicken's body is most important for a chicken, a worm's body is most important for a worm. How important? Just as for us, our God is our body. So for a goat, for a chicken, for a cow, for any animal that is specially made to people without hesitation and they also take as partner, God. God likes. I am only eating the prasada. Every living creature, for it, its body is what is called reality. Reality is most precious. Nobody wants unreality. Nobody wants a fake. Even the worst person, the least intellect, if he is told, I am a fake person and let us love each other, he will not accept it. He might mistake a fake something for a genuine thing, but knowingly, willingly, after knowing, nobody will accept. This is a fake something. Nobody will want it. But then there is something very important psychology here. This is called fake it and make it. What am I talking about it? Swami Dayananda Saraswati, sometimes his expressions are beautiful, very meaningful. So I borrow from everybody. Whatever good things I see, I borrow it. I am letting you in a great secret and I tell you as if it is my own. Most of the things, everything is either I stole from Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swamiji, Puranas, Vedas, Upanishads, great Swamis like this. So what are we talking about? Fake it and make it. What does it mean? Suppose you don't feel like weeping at some sad news, but you fake it and as you go on faking it, it turns into reality. But this is a psychology, William James in the 19th century had discovered, which our Rishis have discovered long, long back. What is the psychology? William James had discovered and broadcast it to the world that if you imitate the actions of a feeling, automatically the feelings will arise. For example, if you pretend that you are very angry with somebody, make gestures and continue for some time, you know, you really start feeling angry. That is why so many people are killed. Some conversation starts with a small discussion and develops into a heated debate and afterwards this heat produces in some one of them anger. It was not there, but it was created. So you go on doing it. Same thing can be completely taken advantage by us. So you fake. I love God. I love God. This Nama is a beautiful Nama. I am telling you, you simply don't say, I am repeating it. Repeating is okay, but along with repetition you have to fake it. What is the faking? This is a most beautiful name. This is a marvelous name. How many wonderful qualities are there? How many saints had sung the glories of it? In fact, we are going to delve, taking advantage of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings in this class itself. So what are we talking about? So first point we talked about, so long as we consider we are the body, to think anything excepting in terms of body is impossible. But as we go on going deep within ourselves, then we will say, yes, I am the body. Yes, I have a body. So this duality goes on. I am the body. I have the body. Why did I say duality? Because two diametrically opposite things cannot be there in the same thing. Either it is me or it is something other than me. But this my, slowly, maestro devata, my God, this is how we develop love also. And so I go on. Let me share something funny with you. Sathya Sai Baba sometimes used to tell something marvelous. So he said about this marriage business. A little bit funny. So how does this marriage takes place? It starts with a talk. And slowly develops with a walk. And finally ends first in wedlock and then in deadlock. Many times it happens like that. But those who take it as a sacrament, for a Hindu, everything is a sacrament. From birth to death, whole life is a sacrament. That's why, do you know how many sacraments are there? At least more than 60 sacraments are there. These are called peculiarly, samskaras. That's why there is a jata karma. There is a nama karana. Then there is anna prashana. Like that, whole life. And only one samskara. It is called antyeshti. That is done only after the person had given up the body. So what is the purpose? Because going on, thinking of everybody's life, particularly my own life, as a sacrament. Sacrament because I am potentially divine. So the name of God, the form of God, these are both ideas. Both are powerful ideas, which can help us progress spiritually. And here also, I have to disabuse you of certain ideas. Perhaps a man thinks, a person thinks, I started with one hour japa, now I could easily do 6 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours japa. Is that spiritual progress? Absolutely no. It may be, it may not be. But there are certain characteristics. Sthita prajna lakshana should be there. In simple words, what are they? The man who has progressed, to the extent a man progresses, becomes happier than he was before. First. Secondly, the man's hatred, unfriendliness, etc., gradually become less. Because his love grows. Growth of love, reduction of, what is called, enmity or opposition, proportionately becomes less. As a man progresses towards the East, the West recedes. You don't need to make any special effort. It's a simultaneous action. This is the second characteristic is, a man loves. And as we all know, love means joy, love means concentration, love means interest, love means, above all, memory. So the more our joy grows, and instinctively we are drawn. If you have eaten a marvelous food, any dish, any sweet, that happy memory lingers in our mind, and then you desire it again and again. Same thing happens. As God's name takes possession of us, many things happen, but two things very important. The name itself takes over us. We are just like self-starters. Just as in the past, a jeep, a car, they used to start it with a bent iron rod. Nowadays, the electric switch is there, but it is a must. So our effort in repeating God's name is like a self-starter. But afterwards, Nama itself will take over. And then a person becomes proportionately joyful. He goes on reducing his hatred, dislikes. So love grows. That means selfishness becomes less. He cares and he shares whatever he has with him. Finally, he understands that I can lay down my life if it can help somebody. A story, we are reminded of a story, Dadhichi. Indra had a quarrel with demons. And at that time, these gods were weak. They could not do it. So they sought advice. And Brihaspati, I think, or some wise man had advised, there is a great Rishi called Dadhichi. When you ask him, you die out of your backbone, a weapon will be forged and that is the only weapon which can defeat all these people. So Indra goes, what a strange request. What can I do for you? So you have to die. Dadhichi said, immediately, I have no attachment to this body. If it comes in the service of Devas or people, I will be very glad. Immediately through yoga, he gave up his body and Indra got it done. This is what is called his most special weapon, thunderbolt. So that is most famous. These are the four things. Increasingly, man becomes more and more happy. Increasingly, he becomes more and more loving person and means positiveness develops in him. Negativity will go down. Thirdly, he treats everybody as equal because he thinks everybody is none other than God, none other than his own self. And fourthly, he is ready to lay down his life if he thinks it benefits anybody and everybody. I hope you remember the life of Shankaracharya. There was a very moving incident. Shankaracharya had defeated a Kapalika and then the Kapalika, he started serving him. Shankaracharya knew why he was serving. After few days, he asked, you have been serving me so faithfully. Definitely, I know you want something from me. What is it? Kapalika said, Sir, you defeated me in the debate but my heart is not convinced by your philosophy. I am a worshipper of the Divine Mother. I believe that she requires human sacrifice and through that I can get extra, some power, siddhis. So if you are pleased to grant me a boon, then you become a victim. I will take you. If you consent, I will sacrifice. Perhaps some of you know about that story. Immediately, Shankaracharya said, Yes, but don't tell it to anybody because my disciples will kill you. On such and such a date, you do the worship. Secretly, I will come and then do whatever you want to do with me. And then on that day, Shankaracharya really went there and then secretly, he did not tell. After every one of his disciples fell asleep, he went very quickly, do it quickly. And thus Kapalika was very happy. They do what rituals they have to do before giving the Bali, sacrifice. But meanwhile, one of the disciples of Shankaracharya was an upasaka, meditator on Ugra Narasimha. So he was possessed by this Ugra Narasimha like a lion. He understood some danger was there for his guru. And like a lion, with leaps and bounds, he reached the place. Just at the time when the Kapalika lifted the sword to cut the neck of Shankaracharya, he leaped and then killed that Kapalika. I am sure, whoever has been killed like Prahlada was, Hiranyakashyapu was released by Vishnu's avatara, Narasimha. So this man also must have been pleased. But what I am trying to tell, every spiritual person must exhibit these characteristics. If not, then that person is not really progressing. He may be doing. But no effort will go in vain. Slowly, slowly, things will improve. No doubt about it. So today, we will be speaking about Nama Upasana. Nama Upasana. What is Nama Upasana? That is Japa. Meditation on sound symbols. The first point is, the highest symbol, Nama, is Omkara. Highest symbol is Omkara. It is a doorway both for the Brahman with qualities, Brahman without qualities. It doesn't mean we have a choice. I like Brahman without name and form. It is impossible. The door to the formless is through the doorway with form, with name, with qualities. There is no other way. So, this Omkara is manifesting in the form of any sacred name. In fact, every object, every sound, every object has a name. Every name is compressed within the Omkara. Therefore, everything is sacred. Because if Omkara, the mother of all sounds, of all symbols, is the origin, whatever is originated from sweet will be sweet. Whatever originated from fire will be hot. Whatever originates from sacredness will be only sacred. This is the speciality of Tantra. It says, even words which provoke animal desires in human beings, they are nothing but the names of God. In fact, the Upanishads that we are treating, whether it is Mandukya Upanishad, Katha Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad, Bhagavad Gita, it says, Yoni means cause. That Yoni manifests in man, men and women in the form of procreating organs. But the origin is from God Himself. So this Divine Mother, She represents all the sounds. And every sound represents an object in the form of a name. Therefore, in Sanskrit, Abhidhana means name. Abhidheya means the object signified by that particular name. And as we discussed earlier, there is absolutely no difference between name and the named. Nama, Namni, there is no difference at all. That means, you meditate on the form of God, you remember His name. You meditate on the name of God, you remember His form. They are inseparable. So in my last class, I quoted Kalidasa in his Raghuvamsha to obtain the grace of Parvati and Parameshwara. Vaak and Artha. Vaak means sound, name. Artha means a object. That's why in Sanskrit we call an object Pada Artha. That means what? Pada and Artha can never be separated. Like mother and father cannot be made to vanish. So, what are we talking about? Take the name of God. Some people like it. Some people like to meditate upon Prathimas, Pratikas. Some people prefer name of God. Both equally take one. Because a person, if he is sincere, he will be able to do that one. So Omkara. The whole world is nothing but Omkara. And this is how the first mantra of Mandukyaka Upanishad starts. How dare he say that Omkara, whatever was in the past, whatever is at the present, whatever is going to come in future, infinite future, Srishti is Anadi, beginningless. So like a circle, it goes round and round and round. So how come that everything is Omkara? Because the name of God and God, the name of Brahman, which is Om and Brahman, can never be separated. So if Brahman is everything, his name Omkara is everything. This is the secret of any mantra. And if we repeat steadfastly, sincerely with devotion, love comes, joy comes, memory increases, slowly the name takes possession of us. We need not do anything. But until that time, like self-starter, until the car starts, jeep starts, we have to go on, what is called, using that rod, so that the self-starter, it goes on and on. Sometimes even in modern cars, you go on pressing the switch, gada gada sound will come, and after some time, if everything is okay, it will catch on. It is sure to catch on. And the way of the pilgrim, a beautiful book, is a concrete illustration of this Nama Mahima. Through Jesus mantra, a Christian devotee attains God. This is very important. Now, like Prathima Upasana, this Nama Upasana, that means meditation, deep contemplation, and the name of God, goes through three stages. What is the first stage? In the first stage, a mantra has to be repeated with effort. Japa appears to be dry, mechanical, boring even. We don't want to use the word boring. I am bored of taking God's name. People are frightened. God may get angry and do something like that. But God will never get angry. So, in the first stage, that is what we call fake it. Fake thing is dry, mechanical, never works. In the second stage, slowly like the self-starter catching up, the mantra bubbles up spontaneously from the depths of the heart at all times and the aspirant finds a part of his mind constantly listening to it. Why did we say listening? Because in the first place, you are repeating but even you are not listening. How can you expect God to listen? In the second stage, God himself is repeating his own mantra. You have no choice, you have no option but to go on listening. This is what they call in Tantra, Mantra Chaitanya. Mantra has sprung into life and once it springs into life, it will take over it. So, that is the second stage. That is not the final stage. In the third stage, the mantra gets united with the eternal, uncreated, cosmic sound rhythm known as the Anahata Dhwani and then instantaneously it is followed by the Atma Sakshatkara, self-knowledge. So, that's why in Tantra, there is a special type of philosophy and this is called the philosophy of sound, Shabda Brahma. And in Tantra, this has been given some importance, very great importance in fact. And first it starts as Bindu, one small point. Then it becomes what is called Nada. It manifests, becomes a little more gross. Then it becomes what is called Madhyama. Madhyama means the mind is able to repeat it, understand it, well on its meaning. And then it finally becomes even more gross. It is called Vaikari. So, Vaikari, Madhyama, Pashyanti and Para, all springing from that one Bindu. Four stages of grossification. So, we are in the fourth, what is called grossified state of Vaikari through God's name as if we are climbing to the first floor, which is called Madhyama, idea. And then we climb to the third floor called Pashyanti and finally we become united. Nama, Namni becomes united. Name of God and God becomes united and the repeater of the name becomes the name itself and becomes one with God, which is called Para. Para means supreme, the highest. This is how three stages are there. So, most of us are in the first stage. Sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are not so happy. So, to make us happy, our scriptures, wise scriptures tell us prepare something which you love simply. Why? They don't say God loves because God loves only God and God only knows what he loves. But because I love something and what I love, I cherish. So, I prefer to offer it to God thinking that since I love it, God must also love it. I have some doubts about it. If I love Andhra Avakaya mango pickle and offer it to Sriram Krishna, he will attain Jada, complete permanent Jada Samadhi, never again coming back into this world, consciousness of this world. Anyway, so this is what happens. What is the psychology? I have prepared the excellent foods which I just cannot resist but love. If I offer that one, it's invariably connected with God, God's Prasada. And when I eat that Prasada, I get double fold joy. What is the double fold? First joy is because these are my beloved things but now it has been sanctified by the glance of God. So, double joy is there. That is how we progress from a lower happiness to a higher happiness. So, what do we get out of it? What does Japa do? It has tremendous power. So, what does it do? The repetition of the mantra, Patanjali in Yoga Sutra says, leads to the destruction of obstacles and thereafter, the attainment of the inner self. Just see, Tad Japah Tat Artha Bhavanah Japah Sarva Vigna Nivaranah Atma Gnanasya So, through Japa, we get all these things we get. That is the most marvelous thing we have to understand. So, now we will go a little bit into this. We have given already some examples but before we go into Nama Japa, there are certain things we have to avoid. Suppose you want to do Pooja, what do you do? If the room is dirty, you don't simply enter and then start doing Pooja. You clean the cobwebs, the dirt, everything, spick and span and afterwards, what do you do? You decorate the Divine Lord, your Ishta Devata with the best flowers, the best fruits, best everything. This is the normal process. Even before drinking water, that's what you do. Before dressing vegetables, that's what you do. So, first remove the defects, make it a good instrument and then proceed. Same thing we should apply to the Nama Upasana, taking up God's name. So, our Vaishnava Acharyas, especially, they have formulated many, many crimes we commit against the name. It is called Aparatha. What Aparatha? Aparatha means crime. What Aparatha? Against whom? Nama Aparatha. Against the name of God. If without removing these Aparathas, without taking care that we do not commit these crimes against God's name, if we take God's name, then it will be taking a long time. I won't say we don't get fruits, but it will take a long time. And most of us, believe me, we commit this. So, what are they? There are many Aparathas, but ten Aparathas Vaishnava Acharyas pick and highlight and point to God's name. It is true that the utterance of divine name can absolve us from all sins and enable us to attain salvation or love of God, both of which are so difficult to get, but that's possible only when the name is uttered with faith and reverence and the practice is to be free from all taints of sins against the name. Aparatha, another word is sin. We will be committing positively a sin by just not cleaning ourselves of these sins. What is that? First thing is vilification of saints and devotees. There are certain religions, even now, they want to destroy other people's temples. If you are a student of history, you know very well, religious crusades have taken place between Christians and Muslims and if the Christians win, they demolish the top of the mosque and put a tower appearing like a church and if the Muslims win, they remove the tower and make it into an onion-shaped dome. These went on for centuries together and that is a great Aparatha even though they are taking God's name morning and evening. This is because God dwells in the temple, in the mosque. In fact, He dwells everywhere. There is no place. Perhaps you have heard Swami Vivekananda was very fond of this song. Tujhe se humne dil ko lagaya I fixed my mind upon you Jo kuch hai so, tu hi hai because wherever I see, I see only you created Hindus, you created Muslims, you created Hindu temple, you created Muslim temple, Christian temple, every place of worship, the whole earth is nothing but a sacred Bhoomi because it is coming out of you. It is none other than you. So when a saint or a devotee is vilified by somebody other than you, it is not good to sit there and listen. You should not do. You should not be in the company of people who go on preaching. Some people, clever people, they don't attack other religions directly but indirectly. That is also very bad. Move away from such a company. Let not our minds do jugglery and compare the saints saying this saint is greater than that saint. Every saint is a man of God. God has taken them through different pathways. Once you say a person is a saint, he is a man of God and a man of God is exactly God. So do not vilify saints, their teachings, etc. Then second, Apparatha, differentiation among divine names. Even today, there are certain religious movements within Hinduism, not to speak of non-Hindu religions. You take Rama's name, you will go to hell. You must first take Krishna's name. Krishna is the only God. Krishna's name is only. These fanatical devotees don't understand. There is no difference between Rama and Krishna and Buddha and Jesus. They say that Mahamantra is there. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Why first Rama? Because the first incarnation is Rama. After that, long after that, only came Krishna. Then second line is Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare. These fanatics, they reverse it and say Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna comes first. Hare Rama, Hare Rama. This is there. They don't know. They are committing terrible sin. They may put namas, they may not drink tea or coffee or non-vegetarian food, but they are committing the greatest sin. What about taking Kali's name? What about following Advaita philosophy? These Hare Krishna people, they refuse to follow multi-faith meetings because what is what? Multi-faith? There is no multi-faith. Only one path and that is Krishna. There is nothing else. Ramakrishna had some funny stories also to tell which I will not go into now. So, they never vilify the name of God, neither the saints. So, all names are same. I am going to come to that point soon. So, with all our ignorance, we do not know. We compare the names and we say this mantra is greater than that mantra and we become sarcastic towards someone who chants other names. Often, lot of people say that Shiva is less than Vishnu or vice versa and this was very much prevalent during Ramakrishna's time. Now, it has gone underground, but I have seen even famous teachers vilifying Shiva or vilifying Vishnu. It is going on. This is a serious mistake and a great sin on the part of these people. Third, irreverence towards receptor. We all know how we revere our own Gurus. Our Guru is none other than Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara. Because, is it true? Absolutely true. Don't you reverence your father and mother? Absolutely. Are they any greater than any other father or mother? Mostly, they are all the same. Ignorant, illiterate in many ways, unthinking, irrational. But, that's not my concern. They are my parents. They brought me up. I would not have been existing without them. In my eyes, they are Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara. That's why, Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo. What comes later on? Acharya Devo Bhava, Gurur Devo Bhava. So, irreverence. What is irreverence? Many times, we don't understand what is irreverence. No, no. I worship my Guru. Yes, you worship your Guru. But, you never listen to what he says. You never do what he asks you to do. You never transform your life according to his teaching. So, this is impossible thing. So, Guru Ninda should never be done. Fourth, Sin. Speaking lightly of the scripture. Oh, these are books. And, they are humanly made. And, there are lot of mistakes also they commit. No. Never think that. A Shastra is one which is eternal. It is not human made. Not what is called Purusha. Made by Purushas. It is Divine Lord Himself manifesting. That's why in the 15th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, we have seen where I am the creator of the Vedas. I am the knower of the Vedas. And, I am the disseminator of the Vedas. I am the everything. So, many people criticize Rama. Oh, Rama killed Vali, etc., etc. Shri Krishna did so many things which cannot be even uttered by words. Stupid fellow. What do you understand? Worldly people think only through their worldly dirty eyes. When a person sees through dirty eyes, he sees only dirt, nothing. So, nobody's scripture, not only our scripture, anybody's scripture, because a scripture is one which helps the follower of that scripture slowly to understand what he is, what his relationship with God is, etc. 5. Treating the glory of name as nothing but exaggerated praise. Oh, so many people. There is a beautiful song in Kannada. I don't require you. But, if I have your name, everything will be there. Oh, this is exaggeration. How many times I have taken God's name? Nothing happens. Not nothing happens. Everything happens. But, like a loving mother, God gives you, fulfills your prayer, only to the extent that you are capable of receiving or sometimes He is preparing you so that you can receive it properly. Then, 7. Apparatha. Ranking the name with other virtues and practicing fasting, charity, sacrifice, etc. No. Name is so great. Repetition of name is so great. You don't need other things. You can do other things. But, the glory of God is such, even the utmost sinner, he will immediately, he can be purified by the name of God if he does it sincerely, earningly. Such is the glory of God. Never compare it with any other spiritual practice. This is the supreme most because Nama is Nami himself, God himself. Then, 8. Apparatha. Peculiar. That is, Nama to unworthy people. Recommending practice of name to irreverent and ungodly persons who are not prepared to hear such advice. 9. Want of love for the name even after hearing its glory. What is the greatest? I have heard so many times your name. I know, I have faith, but even after hearing so much, I don't get it. I don't feel it. This is also a sin, but what is the remedy? We will come to that. Then, what is the last one? 10. Emphasis of I and mine and attachment to objects of enjoyment. This is a primary requirement for any spiritual aspirant in any religion, the past, present and future. Unless I give up the attachment to the worldly object, I am not going to get God. Both at the same time are impossible. That's why so many people they declare faith in God, but they want God to command, so bring me this, bring me that, like an unpaid servant. Ram ka bhajan karte raho, lekin Ravan par bharosa karte ho. You go on taking the name of God, Rama, but you are relying, depending upon Ravana. Beautiful saying. Ram ka bhajan karte ho, lekin Ravan par bharosa karte ho. Ravan ka upar bharosa nahi chodne se, Ram ka bhajan falvant nahi hoga. These were the words spoken by Hanuman ji to Vibhishan when he goes to Lanka in search of Sita. So, these are some of the aparathas. But, we commit all the time. What is the way to get rid of the sins? You know what is the remedy? The name itself is the best atonement for sins committed against the name. Through constant kirtan of the name, all our desires can be fulfilled. But, there are certain conditions how name should be taken, taking care that we do not commit those sins, consciously at least, and if we do commit and we become aware of that, repeat the name of God itself and say, Oh Nama, please rid me of all the sins, purify me, because the greatest purifier is God's name. Now, I am going to read a little bit of Gospel because these are condensed things that I have told you as a background. Some devotee asks, Can one see God? That is the subject. M is asking, When one sees God, does one see him with these physical eyes? Master, God cannot be seen with these physical eyes. What is the proof? Arjuna wanted to see the Divine Krishna. Krishna said, You cannot see me with these earthly eyes. Earthly eyes can only reveal the earth. Worldly eyes can only reveal the world. I will give you Divine insight, Divinity. I will temporarily make you a Divine person. A Divine person has Divine eyes. A Divine eye cannot see anything non-Divine. That is the understanding. So, Sri Ramakrishna was telling that with these physical eyes, God cannot be seen. In course of spiritual discipline, one gets a love body, most marvellous words, endowed with love eyes, love ears and so on. One sees God with those love eyes. One hears the voice of God with those love ears. One even gets a sexual organ made up of love. Now, why did I read this one? Sometimes we have some kind of objection even to read from this. Why? Because when Sri Krishna was playing with the gopis in Rasha Leela, they had a love body, they had a love heart, they had a love ears, they had a love sexual organ. What does it mean? It is not physical, it is not gross, but that's why Sri Ramakrishna says, every pore of the skin of a devotee becomes a doorway to have union with the Divine Lord. If one's sexual union gives so much of joy to man, where he is ready to kill himself or to kill somebody, every pore of a devotee's body is only comparison, not truth. Every pore of the body gives a billion times more joy than anything that has been experienced by any fortunate human being. How is it to be described? That is trying to describe through this Rasha Leela, every gopi saw only one Krishna. A gopi never saw another gopi. Gopi saw I, Me and God, nobody else. That is called Rasha Leela. So this is what we have to understand. So what happened, you know, Master is telling to Kedar, Oh, don't you understand? Somebody, referring to some devotee, he upholds the doctrine of the Rishis of olden times. Who are the doctrine? Oh, Rama. When Rama entered into Dandakaranya, some Rishis met him and said, Oh Rama, we know you only as the son of Dasaratha. Let sages like Bharadwaja worship you as God incarnate. But we want to follow, we want to realize Brahman, the indivisible existence, knowledge, bliss absolute. After hearing them, at these words, Rama smiled and went away because that is also a path. But Sri Ramakrishna did not advocate that path. He said, you are all Bhaktas and you have to follow Bhakti Marga. There is no other thing. Continuing Gospel. God is the only real teacher, says Sri Ramakrishna. So what is important here, what we have read in this Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna here, Namo Pasana. Three stages if you remember. First stage is we do Japa. Namo Pasana means Japa. Japa with effort. Of course there must be faith in the Guru, in the mantra, in the scriptures, in God. Then there must be earnestness, sincerity. Then there must be effort so that we will not be deviated from our practice. Oh, few days I do it, I have more, few days less. No, I have taken a vow, I will continue. If we go on doing it, Nama itself will take us to the highest. So that is the first thing, effort is necessary. Second, this effort becomes effortless. The mantra bubbles because at that stage, joy, happiness, something desirable happens. You know, when something gives you joy, you don't need to be requested. Please remember it, please remember it. Automatically your mind registers it, keeps it uppermost at the memory and longs for it. How soon am I going to repeat this experience, get the same joy? Because we are joy seekers, not anybody else. So that is the second stage. The third stage is, we realize Nama and Namne are totally one and the same. So that is what we need to do. Remember it. Now, I wanted to tell you about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Most of our devotees, we believe Ramakrishna is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nithyananda, his assistant, reincarnated two in one. And Bhairavi Brahmani had lot of visions of Sri Ramakrishna. But I will come to that detail in the next class. But there are many wonderful visions Bhairavi Brahmani had proving that Sri Ramakrishna again is reborn as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, reborn as Sri Ramakrishna. What for? What did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? He particularly recommended Bhakti Marga. First he was following Jnana Marga. In fact, he belongs to this Shankaracharya's Darshanami Sampradaya. His Guru's name was Keshava Bharathi. But he understood this Jnana Marga is not for weak minded people in this Kali Yuga. So he took Sanyasa. Even though the most marvelous wife against even his mother's wishes, he had to convince her, threaten her, blackmail her like Shankaracharya. But he took Sanyasa. Why? Because in India it is an unbroken tradition. A householder usually is not considered by other householders as a worthy teacher. But if a Sanyasi, even if he is not a good Sanyasi, if he is a fake Sanyasi, it reminds others, there is an ideal called Sanyasa. And that is what is the last stage of life. That is Brahmacharya, student's life learning stage. Then experimenting and experiencing stage called Grihasta. Semi-retirement stage called Vanaprastha. Ultimately Sanyasa Ashrama called complete surrender to God, complete dedication to God. That is the highest. And that's why Dharma is in the first stage. Artha, Kama in the Grihasta stage. Then mental contemplation called Upasanas in the third stage of life. I am not talking about our retirement stage. I am talking about spiritual development stage. And lastly, one has to go back home. Mano chalo nijani ketane which is none other than God from where I have come. So that is the Sanyasa Ashrama. This Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, I will tell a few incidents later on. He had composed one of the best instruction manual for every aspiring devotee. It is called Sikshastaka. I will just give you essence of two before I close this talk. First he says, there is nothing greater than this name Chetodarpana Marjanam. It starts like that. The name purifies the heart, makes it like a mirror in which God and God alone will shine and the whole world will disappear. That is the essence. Then he says, Oh Lord, you have created infinite names, not even Sahasranama, Vishnu Sahasranama, Shiva Sahasranama, infinite names. And every name has exactly the same infinite power. And Nam Nam Bahudha Akari You have never attached any conditions. You have to get up at this time. You have to take the name of God for such and such a time. You have to do this. You have to fulfill so many conditions. Nothing. No conditions. Just take it wherever you are lying down, sitting, even in any place, even in toilet. But it will give you the same result. No difference between one name and the other name. And yet, Oh Lord, even though you created this, how unfortunate I am. I have not developed love for you. And in the third one he says, that Trinatapi Sunichena Taroriva Sahishnuna Amanina Manadhena Harinama Sankirtanam How to take name? One should be more patient than even a blade of grass, humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a mighty tree, and give respect to everybody and everything, never expecting any respect. Kirtaniya Sada Hari Hari has to be fearful. Why am I talking all this? Because without fulfilling these things, if we go and lie like a blind bull in a china shop, they say it will give effect. But it will take a long time. This is a scientific method. We will talk about it in our next class in more details. Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna