Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 044 on 28-September-2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU In our last class we had discussed one of the most instructive and at the same time most beautifully composed hymn by none other than one of the greatest incarnations of God who was incarnated in order to preach the glory of the power of the name of God Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the name of this composition is Siksha Astakam Siksha means instruction I just selected four shlokas but in the end there is the eighth shloka concludes with a marvelous sentiment What is it? Most often people are extremely selfish and who is the most selfish person in this whole world is none other than a pure devotee of God almost pure, not 100% pure, 99% pure and that person, 99% pure devotee is the greatest selfish person in the whole world Why do I say so? A little bit of fun Every other person, whether he is called he is in difficulties, in danger Artha Bhakta I hope you recollect from the Bhagavad Gita all devotees are classified by Bhagawan himself into four categories Artha, Artharthi, Jignasu, Jnani Chaturvidha bhajante imam janah sukrutino arjuna artho jignasu artharthi jnani cha bharat arshabha So this is, grammatically it has to be put in a particular way and that is why after the Artha Artha means a person in immediate danger of getting injured or getting killed like Draupadi or like Gajendra So that is the lowest type of Bhakti He wants only something from God What is it? Just save me, that's all He is very little Artharthi, he wants Dharma, Artha, Kama He also wants little, he is satisfied Give me food, give me laddus How many laddus can you eat? How many? 2, 3, 15, 20 After that the man is very satisfied But Jignasu, he wants to know and God grants him Who are you? Who am I? What's our relationship? What is the truth about the whole world, etc. This is a beautiful sentiment So he also wants only something of God who is of the nature of infinite knowledge But this fellow, who claims, he thinks that he is 99% devotee God, if he comes and asks What do you want from me? No, no, I don't want anything Oh, then get the hell out of here No, no, no, no, I want you I want you means what? I want everything I want infinity I don't want one little bit wee bit less of anything excepting completeness possess, want to possess That's why I said that person is only 99% devotee He wants God only He will not leave God He will go on troubling, pestering and troubling God until God himself absorbs takes Ramakrishna's words into his lap He will not be quenched But who is a true devotee of God real devotee of God and that is what was expressed in the last 8th verse of the Shikshashtakam I could not hold myself without quoting this one What a marvellous sentiment is being expressed in this last verse Asleshya If God likes me and if God derives some happiness from it then let him embrace me Supposing he gets greater delight than embracing me by putting me under his feet and then let him make a chutney of me like a huge elephant that's why every other animal fears an elephant because it is so strong if it can put like we can make chutney of a crawling insect of an ant etc so like that with his feet so let him make powder of me pinastu mam pada ratha repeatedly beating me with his legs or or he says I don't like you so I will not appear before you that's fine but I will be suffering God says I don't care that is your headache not my headache so I can create greatest mental agony by not appearing to you do you want to do that? yes yes let him do it so let God do let my Krishna do anything he likes whatever way he wants to do let him do it I have absolutely no objection to what he wants to do why? because I am owned by him I am a self-surrendering devotee to him I don't care what he gives me but I want only his happiness let him give me tremendous amount of suffering by putting me into the greatest hell for how long? for eternity but two things are here that is expressed one is that I am not going to give him up whatever way he treats me I know I am not going to give him up I will not choose if some other God comes and says why are you clinging to this harsh fellow I will give you so happiness I know how much you love so you just turn your attention to me no, no, no, I don't care for you even if you give me trillion Brahmalokas I don't care for you I decided that this is the Lord of my life in whatever way he wants to respond to me that is his business he is free I am not going to bind him I am not going to tell you ungrateful fellow I love you but you don't love me no, no, no you do whatever you like you want to love somebody else that's fine absolutely these marvelous sentiments which have been expressed in such couched language in Vaishnavism Sri Ramakrishna quotes very often in his gospel I will just give you one or two incidents Sri Ramakrishna quotes them many times so there was this great lady called Radha and she was the leader of all the Gopis because her love for Krishna was the greatest so in that Vaishnava literature one day he promised Radha I am going to meet you but he never appeared then through everybody else Radha came to know that he went to another Gopi not coming to her and she became peeved as it were so she became sad became depressed then others asked Radha, you love Krishna, don't you? she said yes, of course then what is it that your love wants to make of Krishna? I want to make my Krishna the happiest person on earth then why are you peeved? after all, there is another lady I forget her name maybe Chandra, something like that Krishna went there probably he is deriving more joy from her than from you so you should be happy because Krishna is very happy Radha turned to the Gopis and said you do not understand my condition I am not peeved because Krishna went and he is spending his time in the company of that lady I am peeved because what does that lady know how to make my Krishna happy if she has the capacity to make Krishna happier then I would have been so happy because my Krishna is even more happy than when he would be with me but no, it is not jealousy it is not because I am separated from him it is because I want only his happiness but nothing but happiness but I know this lady she doesn't know how to make Krishna very happy in fact, there are incidents in Bhagavatam where Krishna was made to carry some of the Gopis they demanded if you love us then you have to carry and gladly he carried them even he carried their shoes also but Radha is of that temperament of that mental attitude where we are here to serve you and those sentiments have been expressed in the Gopi Gita so one of the sentiments goes like this one should not misunderstand this O Lord, we cannot bear you roaming the whole forest with your bare feet where there are so many thorns and very sharp stones and how much the soles of your feet must be bleeding must be creating so much of pain you see, even when you put your feet on our breasts we are terribly frightened whether the hardness of our breasts will be creating any type of pain to the soles of your feet with this kind of the most softest of the soles of the feet how can we bear when with this feet you are roaming all over you are made to roam all over the Vrindavan forests in order to graze the cows etc so what are these sentiments ordinary people can never understand they can never understand that it is not a man-woman relationship it is the lover-beloved relationship and it is the most exalted type of devotion where the lover never seeks his own or her own happiness but seeks only the happiness of the beloved so that is the sentiment I know no one but Krishna as my Lord and he shall remain so even if he handles me in the roughest manner by his embrace or makes me broken hearted by not being present before me he is completely free to do anything and everything for he is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally I do not know anybody else can express this unconditional love for God which is called real Bhakti in any way but we do see saints who have attained to this exalted state of loving God and that is what every incarnation had come out of love for Jivas out of compassion for the Jivas God incarnates so that he can and when I was looking into this verse another great soul sprang into my mind he was one of the 12 Alwars in South India there were a class of devotees, Vaishnavas very famous in Tamil Nadu they were called Alwars and Alwar means one who had reached the very depth of divine devotion to God and one of them happened to be a woman and she composed many wonderful verses which is sung in the month of December it is done her name is Andal and her father not real father this girl was found in a garden just abandoned by somebody and she was none other than Shakti of Narayana who has taken this form and she had no eyes for anybody excepting this Lord Ranganatha a very curious incident has come I cannot refrain myself this is how we have to spend our time you study gospel you study anything but this is the more essential than even mere study of the gospel this Andal was born her father's name was Vishnachitta and he was unmarried perhaps and one day his business was in the temple they call it Seva to cultivate gardens to collect flowers to make garlands and offer them to Lord Ranganatha so one day he went to collect the flowers he found this 3 months old baby and he understood somebody abandoned his heart at the very sight of this with big eyes she was staring at him fearlessly and so joyfully he took her up in his arms and then he started bringing her up and he sings God's name and he only talks about God and about Lord Ranganatha and as soon as this girl grew up a little bit she became, she determined I will not marry anybody else excepting this Lord Ranganatha that is the image of the Lord in the temple image for people who do not have that insight but I am just giving an example when Sri Ramakrishna used to enter into the temple of Mother Kali do you think he would be seeing a stone basalt image like us or do you think he will be seeing a Divine Mother herself in all her conscious splendor of pure consciousness as soon as little sadhana was done the image completely disappeared only when he has to describe her to us he used this word Mother Kali but it is nothing but pure consciousness we have discussed about this in some other context the first vision of Mother Kali after Sri Ramakrishna had taken up the priestly duties was unbounded consciousness coming from every side and engulfed him made him unconscious and made him conscious of only pure consciousness not broken consciousness so whenever he used to enter the temple the living, the smiling the protecting Divine Mother only appears but for us we must have faith that we also go there and we also have to think only of her anyway I want to just to share with you one of my experiences in Dakshineshwar that is one day once when I visited when I was in UK I visited Belur Math and whenever I go to Belur Math I make it a point to visit Dakshineshwar temple as many times as possible of course it is my ardent faith that the Divine Mother is seeing me of course I am seeing only the basalt image so one day I thought why not test the Divine Mother see whether really she is conscious of me and she knows what I want she can do what she wants to do so I devised a small test I prayed there are so many shops are there before entering the temple usually we go purchase some jasmine garland or some Rajinikanth we call it beautiful fragrant flower out of that they make garlands and then some small fruits and other things some dried things to be offered to the Divine Mother so that the prasada can be taken back to Belur Math etc so I stood in the queue and in those days very few people used to come unlike these days so very soon in a few minutes time I was in front of her practically as far as I remember simply I walked into her presence one or two people were there soon the pujari came took from me and I made a wish if you are really awake and watching then give me one lotus flower particularly as the prasada so I was waiting the pujari took the garland put it around the Mother's neck and then he took other flowers there was a heap of flowers he put it there and in that empty we call it leaf plate Dhunya and in that Dhunya he took some flowers and then half of what was offered that was kept there and he returned back to me there was no lotus flower at all I became naturally little bit sad because I know she is awake but she deliberately not shown anything then after I took it sadly I was turning back and my mind was really filled with sadness Mother this is a smallest request and you did not fulfill it then the pujari suddenly said Maharaj please wait a minute then he went back and then he started searching for something in that heap of flowers which was right in front of the Mother Kali and that day for some strange reason there was no lotus there but he searched for quite a few seconds and then finally he landed upon one lotus flower and then brought it immediately running to me and said Maharaj please accept this is mother's prasada and then I looked at her and said thank you for proving that you fulfilled the desires of your I know you are awake whether you seem to fulfill or not I know you are awake I just wanted to test you and you passed the test I give you a certificate that here is a living deity etc so you see God is always awake but especially when some devotee practices tremendous spiritual sadhana that place becomes a holy place where the present God becomes more awakened this is what is called chaitanya image of God consciousness, jivanta when we go to Rameshwaram or Tirupati or famous places like that that is some great soul had awakened the divine lord that's our faith everywhere God is awakened only God can never go to sleep we have to understand that but it is like many places have been dug but water is there down below but it is very hard to catch hold of that water but here somebody had persisted till the water level has reached and ever since that time perpetual supply of water will be there so this is how we have to understand every temple is a holy place but great people specially create and make some places very holy this is what Narada Bhakti Sutras tell us so this Vishnu Chitta his life long service to God is and Vaishnavas believe in it that they must render service to God in some form some will be preparing sandal paste some will be making garlands some will be cooking for him some will be fetching water from the nearby well or lake, some will be cleaning the place and of course puja duty is to perform the puja etc everywhere every person has been allotted a particular duty and that is the pathway by which he progresses because it is not work it is Divya Seva it is the divine service through which he advances in spiritual life so this Andal was growing up and she was imbued only with tremendous devotion in her mind there would be no other topic excepting how she will talk with her lord Ranganatha how she will even sometimes demand some things how she will quarrel with him how she will not talk with him, if you recollect Sri Krishna Satyabhama's leelas you can see that she gets angry also but that is all part of the Bhakti Rasa so this Andal was slowly grew up into a beautiful young girl then Vishnu Chitta started worrying now this girl is grown up, I have to give her in marriage, now this Vishnu Chitta very early in the morning he will get up go and take bath he used to whole day work in the garden watering the garden etc and next day morning he will collect the flowers make a beautiful garland by that time it will be 9 or 9.30 in the morning I don't know the exact time but some such a time and then he will go and again take bath because you know South India is given by God only 3 seasons hot, hotter and hottest so he used to be sweating, so after so many hours of collecting the flowers then making into beautiful garlands and South India excels in making garlands you go on the internet and whether it is decorating Andal, decorating Sri Devi or Bhudevi or Tirupati Venkateshwara you must see the beautiful, huge garlands will be hanging there so Vishnu Chitta used to complete the garland and hang it on a special place and then go and take bath and then come back and take that garland and give it in the temple and the temple priest will be eagerly waiting for it and then decorate the Divine Lord with that, that was the duty of the Vishnu Chitta, the very name, Chitta is always, it is resting only on Bhagawan Vishnu whose other name is Sri Ranganatha now what happened this girl, his beloved daughter what was she doing that she chose, I will be the beloved of Lord Ranganatha as soon as Vishnu Chitta completes the garland and he goes to take bath, this lady rushes and takes that garland, puts it round her neck and then go on looking, Ranganatha Lord, how do I look today, do I decorate myself in this way or in that way or in the other way she goes on decorating herself in various ways like any other hero, heroine heroine will be doing in our modern who can not be compared at all with this devotion and she knows approximately in how many minutes her father will be returning and quickly she will put it in the usual place and behave as though she is the most innocent creature on earth, Vishnu Chitta will come humming some Sanskrit shloka or a hymn or a song and then take that carefully the garland and go to the temple but one day he happened to come few minutes earlier and suddenly noticed how her daughter has decorated herself and then showing half herself now anything given to somebody else before offering to Lord is called Uchishta something used by somebody can never be given whether it is cloth, whether it is food, whether it is garland, whether it is anything else, so he became very saddened what is my girl growing into how dare she could do this whole thing has become very very polluted unsacred, so again he went, collected flowers and made another garland and then that day of course he was late and he went on thinking about her and took the garland to the Lord and offered it and that night the Lord appeared to him and said I did not accept the garland you brought to me today, I wanted a garland which was worn by your daughter that becomes the most beloved it gives me the greatest joy then Vishnuchitta understood that this girl is not decorating herself to please herself but she is doing it for the pleasure of her Divine Lord to whom she was totally dedicated now he was thinking that is alright but I have decided to get her married, what to do soon Lord Ranganatha appeared to Vishnuchitta in his dream and he commanded as your daughter had decided to marry me and she is none other than Mahalakshmi I will not marry anybody excepting her and so you prepare her on such and such a date the wedding will take place and on the other hand the Lord appeared to the chief priest and said such and such a date will be the date of my marriage with Andal, the daughter of Vishnuchitta, so you go to her house get her decorated and put her on a decorated palanquin bring her just as there is a real marriage between a man and a woman with all the music paraphernalia etc and conduct my marriage with her with all due duties and of course they were commanded by the Divine Lord, they were astonished a little bit because this girl never showed herself to be as any devotee but the Divine Lord himself commanded them so on the due date on a very auspicious day they all went after taking bath putting on fresh cloths etc and with a decorated palanquin and the ladies of the priests, the wives of the priests they took her just as their own daughter was being prepared for the marriage and they did whatever has to be done according to Hindu scriptures and then put her in the palanquin and carried her on their own shoulders to the temple and in front of the Lord, the image in South India there would be two images one is called Moola Vigraha another is called Utsava Vigraha so for festivals etc the Lord will be taken on a horse on a chariot, on a boat on a palanquin, on an elephant etc so that everybody can have the vision of the Divine Lord so all the arrangements have been made and because it is not the marriage, normal marriage it is Divine marriage commanded by the Divine Lord Himself, the priests were blessed by this vision and command of the Divine Lord, so also Vishnu Chitta was blessed my daughter is going to get married, that means I am the father-in-law of Lord Ranganatha and as a father-in-law I will ever be remembered by every devotee as a person who is to be highly respected so in this way her marriage was done and as usual, after the marriage was done, the national ceremony has to be conducted, it is called Garbhadhana Samskara, so Andal was decorated and they left her in the main temple and closed the doors, locked the doors and they all went away with their hearts filled with the greatest bliss and next morning they came to take Andal back to her house but when they opened the, what is called Garbha Griha, Sanctum Sanctorum, they found nobody else excepting the Divine Lord and He appeared as if He is completely full of satisfaction, full of joy like the every human husband will be exhibiting and then they understood that she became marched, this is one of the most thrilling stories of like Mirabai, Mere Giridhara Gopala Mere Dusarana Koi, she sings like that this Andal and here our Holy Mother, Sharda Devi there was an incident in her life when she was 2 years old, once her parents took her to a probably a wedding ceremony I don't know, we don't know exactly and Sairam Krishna was also brought but by that time Sairam Krishna was nearly 21 years or 20 years old but he also attended that festival and he happened to be sitting just a few feet away and these useless housewives they had no other way to pass their time so they started asking this 2 years old girl darling whom are you going to marry and as soon as they put what she understood God alone knows she lifted both her tiny hands and unerringly pointed to Gadadhar who was sitting just a few feet away and showed this is the man I am going to get married so these are all divine leelas we are expecting now why I brought why did I tell all these stories not because I am roaming my mind is roaming about or wandering about there were 12 devotees of God who were called Alwars Alwar means one who plumbed the very depths of devotion reached the highest stage of devotion, Paravakthi of these 12 were famously mentioned of them there was a king called Mukundamala and he composed one unforgettable hymn much longer than Sikshashtakam it is called Mukundamala Stotram so you just youtube or internet you can just google and say I want to hear this Mukundamala Stotram and one of the best ways of singing is one of our Bangalore Swami, Swami Purushottamananda he had sung this Mukundamala Stotram in such a melodious tone that I heard very few people who could sing and evoke so much of emotion and that is available this Mukundamala Stotram you can get it on the youtube also please listen to it in that there are two verses are there because the connection, the relationship has lightened up in my mind therefore I am bringing that one before we go further so this Kolashekara Alwar in this incomparable poem called Mukundamala Stotram this is what he is telling Tava Charanayor Dhwandvam Adhwandvahetoh O Lord I am not worshipping your two lotus feet I am not worshipping Adhwandvahetoh that I want to attain complete oneness with you that is not the purpose at all but even after worshipping your lotus feet Kumbhipakam Urum Apihare Narakam Napanetham I know I have committed so many sins and the greatest sin is called Atma Paratha Atma Aparatha greatest crime against one's own self what is the greatest crime? forgetting who one really is and thinking I am somebody else that is the greatest crime not having faith in God not accepting God not striving for spiritual purpose but running after this Maya running after worldly affairs that is the greatest crime and in Vedanta literature this is called Atma Paratha and in Isha Vasya Upanishad it is called equivalent to suicide, self suicide after death such people they go to such people who Atma Ghata one who kill their own self of course self cannot be killed but by neglecting as if it doesn't exist that is called killing the self itself now here, so I might have committed the greatest crime and the result of that crime Paap Phala is what? I am not shivering in fright that as soon as I die I am going to enter into that most hellish fire and I am not praying to you O Lord, come and save me I have done something wrong so you please take pity upon me and I will not commit such sin in future but for this time please lift me up I will not be able to tolerate this thing, no no no it is not then you don't want to be saved from hell and you don't want to become an Advaitin completely one with me, what do you want? Ramya, Arama Mridu, Tanulatha Nandane, Napirantu for a man you know a most beautiful woman and most beloved woman one who loves also that is the greatest joy so Ramya, Arama so there is a beautiful garden Mridu, Tanulatha Nandane, it is called Nandana, Nandan Bagan it is the Indra's beautiful garden and I get the most wonderful lady of my love and she loves me I love her and I embrace her and I want to enjoy her no no no, Napirantu I have absolutely no such desire ever such desire in my heart but then why are you taking my name what is your real prayer Kulasekhar Alwar says Bhave Bhave Hridaya Bhavane Bhave Bhave means every birth, Bhava means new incarnation new birth, I may have infinite number of births in future I am not asking you that you release me from the samsara sagra no no no, let me be born but one condition Hridaya Bhavane Math Hridaya Bhavane but in the palace of my heart Bhaveyam Bhavantam Bhavantam, you and you alone, Bhaveyam that I may cherish I may love, I may think I may meditate only upon your lotus feet and on nothing else this is my heartiest prayer Oh Lord Hari, it is not to be saved from the dualities of material existence or the grim tribulations of the Kumbhipaka hell there are so many hells according to Hinduism and this Kumbhipakam is called one of the forest hells, I am not praying to your lotus feet so that I can escape from this nor is my purpose to enjoy the soft skinned beautiful women who reside in the garden of heaven, I pray to your lotus feet only so that I remember you alone in the core of my heart birth after birth I do not remember recollect another verse is there Oh Lord, if it is thy wish or my fate, whichever I may be born even as an insect how many times, for eternity every time I am reborn I will be born as an insect only, do I want you to rescue me from that condition no, absolutely no I have only one prayer and that prayer is let me never forget your sweet name, that's all I don't want to forget you, forget your name, may you shine in the lotus of my heart forever and ever, I only pray to you that you grant me this much, that whether I am born as an insect, as a dog as an animal, as a bird even as a piece of stone or anything else now some doubt may come if I am born as a piece of stone, is it possible for me well Gautama Rishi had cursed Ahalya may you become a stone and then she remained, then she asked, Lord I have committed something wrong but will you not take pity and show me the way out, he says yes of course, I know you committed because of ignorance only everybody commits nobody commits just because they desire they desire in this wrong manner because they were overpowered by another power which is irresistible and that is called Maya the power of Maya, it can make even Brahma, Vishnu Rudra, Maheshwara everybody under her net and make them behave like the greatest idiots on earth I know that I know, but I forgive you, but you will have to atone for the sin you have committed, you will be remaining here as a stone Ahalya but Rama will come after a long time and his feet will touch your this one and then I will come back and claim you back as my wife because by that time you have become completely purified and that is what exactly happened, now the point is she appeared to be a stone but inside she was sitting and meditating undistracted only the lotus feet of Rama and her tapas like Valmiki it has borne fruit and then Rama came and touched this Shila and immediately Shila became a living person and you know Harikatha Bhagavatars I hope you all know what is Harikatha Bhagavatar Bhagavatar means one who narrates the stories of Lord Hari in the form of song in the form of beautiful description that kind of performance is called Harikatha, so some people are experts, some people are experts in writing Harikathas and some people are experts in singing that Harikathas so sometimes to keep the audience awake because long time hours together it can get bored also so they told one such funny story with regard to Ramayana you know Rama he was asked by Kaikeyi that for 14 years you have to go into a forest and my son Bharata will be made the prince of this Ayodhya kingdom and Dasaratha had given earlier boons so there was no option but to fulfill her desire so he did not want but he was oath bound then the next morning Rama was to be coronated but overnight the whole story it turned upside down here also there is another story where from it came and which book has narrated it I have no clue but I heard about it, I remember it and it is very funny so Dasaratha he decided I am getting old I don't know how long I am going to live so it is better that I hastily get my Rama crowned as a crown prince and he asked Dasaratha out of politeness he asked all the Maharshis especially the Kula Guru Vasishta and others and everybody loved Rama all the citizens loved Rama, Kaikeyi loved Rama more than even they say Kosali herself and when they were asked unanimously they said yes please do it, tomorrow is the most auspicious day, tonight itself let preparations be done immediately Dasaratha's heart swelled with joy he sent news to Rama and said tomorrow you are going to be crowned and before that certain ceremonies had to be gone through sanctificatory ceremonies so you go through all those things, our family priests will help you to go through all those things, Rama whole night he could not sleep because the ceremonies have to be done and when the citizens heard of this, the whole Ayodhya nobody had any sleep everybody started decorating the whole Ayodhya city and then you see what happened Narada, he understood the whole thing, came running to Rama and said Rama, Rama what is this you came, you are descended, you have become an avatar to kill Ravanasura and other so many demons but if you become a crown prince all that will never happen then Rama smiled and said don't worry Narada by overnight the whole story will change and then the spies goes like this that next morning Mantra was disturbed in her sleep, what is this sounds going on, so many, so much of joys, dancing, musical notes so he went and asked what is all that rumpus going on, then the watchman said don't you know that the citizens are reveling in joy and they came to know that tomorrow morning Rama will be crowned as a prince of Ayodhya and Divine Mother Saraswati entered into the heart and tongue of this Mantra and immediately she ran and woke up Kaikeyi and then said you get up, hear this news don't you see, Kaikeyi was surprised because Dasharatha would have been the first person to come and inform her what is happening, she would have been the first person but Dasharatha could not come, he would come a little bit later because he was also busy then what is the news, oh don't you know today Rama is going to be crowned as a prince what my Rama is going to be crowned as a prince my God in my whole life, this is the best news you have ever given me I am giving you, immediately she took out a most valuable necklace and then presented it as a gift to Mantra, of course you know Mantra became furious and she started abusing Kaikeyi you have lost your mind etc and ultimately by God's power and that abuse came from Mother Saraswati sitting on the tongue of Mantra and the whole story has turned upside down so the real funny story comes here, Rama was sent for, Dasharatha tells what happened and advises him, don't listen to me you disobey me and let things go ahead as planned, Rama says no, you are my father if you do not fulfill your words, just like I will not fulfill my words so he started with Lakshmana but Sita would not leave her Divine Lord Rama, so Rama Sita, Lakshmana they all came by chariot to the banks of the Ganga and from there they have to cross the Ganga, they had a very loving king a boatsman and then he was called so he was very happy, then he said Gohaka, Lord I am so happy, what service can I render to you he said, Rama said very simple, take me to the other side of the Ganga by your boat and then here the Harikatha Bhagavathars add this Masala Gohaka immediately jumped four feet asked me anything, accepting that I have to take you by my boat Rama was shocked he pretended to be shocked, what is this I am just asking a simple task myself, Sita Lakshmana will sit in your boat three people, you will take ferries across the Ganga Gohaka said Rama, you may not recognize your grand power, but I know I heard legends that a great stone was there and your feet touched that stone and it became a woman supposing your feet touch my boat if a stone can turn into a woman do you think it will not turn into a woman now I am already married I have children I have my wife and I am struggling so hard to control everybody and struggling day and night to meet both ends I am not able to earn enough now if your feet touches my boat two disasters simultaneously will happen, first of all I will be acquiring a new woman whose burden looking after her will fall upon me squarely, secondly the root cause of my livelihood is this boat, that also will disappear, both I will lose and I will have nothing else Rama said, then what is the way out, well if you don't mind, there is a way out, so let me take your feet in my lap and wash them thoroughly so that there will not be a single speck of the dust of your feet and I will carry you to my boat and put you there because it is the dust of your feet which has created that miracle, now there will be no dust, so my boat will be safe and I will not be burdened with another member of the family to look after them both ways so in this clever way Gohaka got the opportunity of washing the lotus feet of Sri Rama and bowing down to him so anyway, it is a most marvellous story but such is the great bhakta's expression of interpreting things this is what we have to understand a true devotee is one who will never wish even darshan of lord, sparshan of lord or no vision of the lord, he just wants just give me bhakti so that I will be happy, I will be getting a hundred thousand brahmaloka anandas but you are having unconditional freedom you don't need to appear, you don't need to do anything, but just give me, even if I go to hell, just it is ok, but do not deprive me of devotion to your lotus feet, may I be born life after life any number of times, infinite number of times as an insect perfectly acceptable to me, accepting that may my memory never forget your lotus feet at any time such is the bhakti of great devotees and this is the power of the name of god, we will be discussing in the next class about these things, I hope you would not mind now and then deviating into these beautiful shlokas incidents, sometimes a little bit fun also, but anyway that is me, you have to accept me as I am, Jai Ram Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranam Aame Mohor Moho May Ramakrishna holy mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with Bhakti, Jai Ramkrishna