Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 047 on 09-November-2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHUR MUHUR In our last class, we had been talking about the power of the name of God. God incarnates to show easier pathways so that his children who are ignorant and helpless can attain to him very very easily. So Sri Ramakrishna says, Yes, one attains God through Japa. By repeating the name of God secretly and in solitude, one receives divine grace. Then comes his vision. That brings us to the next topic. The question is, can one see God? As I mentioned earlier, the second pillar of Hinduism is a direct realization of God. Just briefly to remind ourselves, what are the four pillars? God alone is the only reality. To realize God is the only goal of life. And one can be free only by realization of God. That is the goal of life. The law of chosen deity is the third pillar and the law of karma entailing rebirth, reincarnation. These are the four pillars. So Hinduism from the very beginning emphasizes this fact. If we have to become free, we have to see God. What does that mean to see God? Seeing means I see a tree in front of me. The tree remains a tree. I remain myself. At the best, it can hurt me or I can eat its fruits. But it remains as an object. I remain separately as a subject. That is not the meaning of seeing God. Seeing God means to know that I am God. Seeing is to know. Even in English language, we use this peculiar word. Suppose someone is explaining to you some subject which you did not know and you understand that subject. What would be your expression? I see. That means not that you are seeing some person or some object. It means you understand. So that understanding that I am God. So what do I see? When God's vision comes, I see that God is one. So I cannot exist. If I exist, God cannot exist. There is no duality because that limits God. That makes Him limited and powerless. But we always say God is everything. God is all-powerful. So that understanding that if God alone exists, I do not exist, which means not that I become destroyed, but it means there is no separation between me and God. So can one see God? M asks Sri Ramakrishna, When one sees God, does one see Him with these eyes? This was the exact question put by Arjuna to Krishna. We get this in the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna had become awakened by the divine touch of Sri Krishna and then he says, O Lord, I long to see You. Please show Yourself to me. And then we know what the answer has given that with these physical eyes, you can never see because what is wrong with physical eyes? Physical eyes can see only physical things. They are limited. Spiritual eye can see everything. Intellectual eye can see many more things. Moral eye can see even more of things. But it is only the spiritual eye which can see, not this physical eye. So M is asking, When one sees God, how does one see? Does one see Him with these eyes? And Sri Ramakrishna's categorical reply, God cannot be seen with these physical eyes. In the course of spiritual discipline, one gets a love body 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. I did not bring the full quotation. But Sri Ramakrishna says, Even one develops a sexual organ which is made out of love. Probably most of us have never heard of this particular expression. What does it mean? Actually we are so much bound with this physical body. We know very little excepting this physical body. But the idea is, Sri Ramakrishna explained it quite a number of occasions in a quite number of ways. That each pore of the body becomes like a sexual organ. When a loving man and woman unite together, how much of joy they get. And here by uniting with God, every pore of the human body, and how many pores are there? Maybe billions and billions of pores of body. It is to describe the indescribable nature of Ananda. Why is it so? Rationally speaking, everything in this world is limited. God is unlimited. So when one becomes one with God, unites with God, then one unites, so to speak, with infinity, with unlimitedness. And every unity in this world is separated by time and space. We can't be united for all time. We cannot be united completely. If two hands touch each other, only the hands can touch. The entire body cannot be touched by the entire body in any way. It is impossible. But here, infinity touches, becomes infinity. This is the only way we can say. That is why even great minds failed to describe this experience. So they have to content themselves with it is the journey of the alone to the alone. So much what is employed here, nothing to do with sex, but it has to do that joy of the union, which is called Ananda. And this is what every Mahavakya is telling us. And you know, there are hundreds and hundreds of Mahavakyas are there. What is Mahavakya? That particular statement, which tells us the non-difference between the individual and the universal, between the Jivatma and the Paramatma. There is absolute unity with everything in this world. I will just mention it to you. This is a very profound Vedantic idea. Suppose I am seeing a tree, then I am separate. The tree is separate completely. There is no relationship at all. So it looks. But think a little bit. What is common between us? The tree is living. It has prana. I am living. I have prana. At the pranic level, there is absolutely no difference between the tree and me, between in fact any living creature. But even then there is an individuality, separation, limitation. There are so many non-living things. In fact, if you come to think of it, in this visible, experienceable universe, which is more? Living beings or non-living things? The oceans, the mountains, the sky, etc. In fact, 99.999% of this universe is what you call material. So when I identify myself, not at the body and mind, but as prana, pranic level, pranamaya kosha, I become one with everything that is living. And that is experienceable. And a little bit of it we experience, especially with those with whom we are close. When they are suffering, for example, when a child is suffering, a mother becomes identified with the suffering of the child. So between two friends, between two couples, but it doesn't expand further than that. But there are people who love their country. So they are called patriots. And an intense real patriot feels his identity, forgets his individuality. If I want to become united with a larger whole, break this limitation, the first thing I need to do is break this, go beyond this, limitation of the body, and slowly limitation of other koshas. So this is one example. But if I identify myself, not with the body, not with the prana, but with the existence, when I exist, a tree exists, an animal exists, mountain exists, a river exists, akasha exists, God exists, there would be no difference between me and anything that exists. That means I am pure existence. And that is what is called Brahman, Sat, Chit and Ananda. So that is the only way truly to experience. See God means become one with Him and whatever statements indicate this inseparableness, complete unity, that is called a Mahavakya. Sri Ramakrishna's words have several layers of meaning. So depending upon at what level of vibration, consciousness we are, we can only understand his words at that level. This is what Sri Ramakrishna is telling, when a person slowly develops love, then it becomes loving eyes, loving ears, loving skin, loving nose, loving tongue, everything loving, the entire thing. And this love is not a concrete something, it is another expression of God. Truly spiritual progress means our developing that quality of love. That is the most important point we have to understand how much we can develop this love. Now something peculiar is also there. This love cannot be divided into this is spiritual and this is secular. Why then do our scriptures teach you should not love your family members, husband should not love the wife, wife should not love the husband. Is the scripture preventing the people from loving anybody? No. What the scripture is telling is don't confine your love only to the worldly image. If a wife has to love the husband, look upon the husband as Bhagawan himself, Krishna himself. That is the idea. Every gopi is a loving personality, loving mind. A mind which transformed itself into the most wonderful manifestation of love. The name for that personality is called gopi. So gopis as we know loved Shri Krishna to the extent that they themselves became zeros. What exists is only Krishna. Krishna means here, not the individual. There are many, many dull heads are there. What we call dull heads are there. When a Hindu, a real Hindu utters the word Rama, Krishna, Ramakrishna or anybody like that, they don't mean a particular personality. They mean God. God means what other people called Yahweh, Allah, God, Nirvana. That is what exactly a Hindu means. But language can create this kind of problems to us. So every soul, it is not a woman. Gopi is not a woman. Every mind which is imbued with so much of love, it becomes the embodiment of love. So its whole personality is nothing but love. And that love can only be directed towards God. Here also I mentioned quite a number of times but an important point I am mentioning here. Any object in this world can be loved only in a very limited way. Nobody can love an object in this world in an unlimited way. Why? Because a limited mind cannot develop a love which is unlimited. If there is a vessel which can contain only one litre of liquid or whatever, it is limited by that limitation. But this love can expand and love can become infinite. Every human heart has that capacity to go beyond this limitation. And that is possible only in one way. A loving heart must become divine and then only it can know divine, it can love divine, it can experience, it can see, it can hear, it can taste, it can smell, it can touch divine. So the transformation according to the individual heart. So here also another point we have to keep in mind. There is no question of God expanding. It is not that I progress a little and then I see that God also has expanded. No. As we climb higher, our horizon expands. The horizon is infinite. But we are unable to see it as infinite. But as we climb higher, our capacity to see more develops and accordingly we see the horizon, experience it in a much larger way. So that is why Swami Vivekananda sometimes cryptic statements as man grows, God also grows. There is no growth and there is no diminishing in God. But according to the capacity as our understanding capacity grows, that means as our knowledge grows, we see God more and more, better and better, closer and closer and more rightly and that is God. Then we are astounded. Oh, I thought God was like that. Now I see God is like this. But 100% perfect knowledge of God comes only when we become one with Him. And that is what Sri Ramakrishna is indicating here. When one becomes an embodiment of love, one transcends all limitations and then he forgets. There is an individual. Individual is forgotten. Universal replaces that individuality and then the joy that comes out of that union in the beginning is indescribable. But even that experience is limited. So long Dvaita experience is always Dvaita only, limited only. But when one becomes who is going to describe that sattva, that chitta, that ananda, that is why it is said that is who is ever going to describe much less who is going even to think much less describe. God is beyond the mind therefore beyond thinking therefore beyond all expression therefore no imagination no speech can ever describe God. They baffled unable to describe and only description is is it like that? Not this, not this. That is the only one. So coming back to Krishna in the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna's request. Can I see you? And perhaps he meant as I am seeing Krishna my friend, I will be able to see him in the other form also. No. Through your physical eyes you could see me only as your friend Krishna. But if I give you with these eyes I can't see my other personality. Therefore Krishna says He says He says you will not be able to see with these physical, physiological eyes that are made up of blood and flesh but I will fulfill your desire. I will grant you divine vision, divine eyes. You behold my divine glory. Exact question was asked by innumerable aspirants to their gurus because naturally the doubt comes when we meet some Swamis also then we ask the question Swami, did you have any visions? Did you have any experiences? Quite some people, they have this experience but they don't want to share it with others. Why? For two reasons. First reason is that nobody wants to share one's personal experience because that is so beloved, so private it cannot be shared with others. Second reason is even if somebody tries to describe it, the other person will not, will only always think in terms of, oh I saw my aunt, distant aunt distant cousin so you must have seen Ramakrishna must be standing a few feet away from you and he must be looking at you with those bold eyes physical eyes. This is the picture that a person gets. That is why no spiritual sadhaka wants to describe but sometimes they do describe for the sake of encouraging the other person and for the sake of confirming that anybody can have the vision of God but true vision of God is indescribable and here is an incident Swami Vivekananda asked this question Sir, have you seen God? In early 1882 Narendranath went to meet Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar there too without much ado he directly asked Ramakrishna Sir, have you seen God? Ramakrishna smiled calmly and then promptly replied without any hesitation Yes, I have seen God I see him as I see you here only more clearly God can be seen one can talk to him but who cares for God? People shed torrents of tears for their wives, children wealth and property but who weeps for the vision of God? If one cries sincerely for God one can surely see him so there are profound understandings should come to us through this question Was Swami Vivekananda expecting like Arjuna asked? I don't think so Swami Vivekananda was a highly developed intellectual person he could understand better than anybody, have you seen God? but he wanted confirmation I have been reading in books God exists, how do we know anything exists? because somewhere some person at some time must have seen that, otherwise it is useless one cannot even say something exists unless somebody at some point had seen that object that means experienced that object remember, whenever we use this word see we use it so frequently so there are objects there are so many objects, how many objects are there? there are five objects are there object is only one but they can be divided into five that forms sounds, touches then smells and tastes so we use frequently I see a tree in front of me this is only the function of the eye but I have smelt very wonderful fragrance that is also an object of course the smell the form cannot be without some object smell cannot be without an object touch cannot be without an object taste cannot be without an object sound also cannot be an object, remember every quality must be subservient to some object if there is no rose you can't see its colour you can't smell its fragrance, you cannot touch the softness of the flower and so you cannot taste the honey of it so there must be a substance, substantive then only the quality adhere to it substance can remain without quality but quality cannot can never remain without substance but a substance without quality can never be experienced either a person has to see or hear or smell or taste or touch, then only we know, so it's a very peculiar position, they always go together, what do go together? an object and the qualities so whenever we use this word see that it doesn't mean only form it can be some Rishis have heard that is why Vedas are called Shrutis Shruti means they hear hear means really not with the ears but they have an intuitive knowledge and if they are sound oriented they visualize that experience in the form of a sound, if they are vision oriented then they express that experience in the form of visions either visions or hearing the sounds etc what is God, hearing God etc, so when Swami Vivekananda asked, I am sure he was aware of these limitations but he wanted confirmation because if the scriptures are telling God is existing every believer says God exists, how do you know God exists, unless you see it is only superstition it is only belief, it is only faith so Swami Vivekananda met lot of people and he asked and he never received any direct reply, it was only Sriram Krishna he said I have seen God but then he is also telling something very important, I see him as I see you here only more clearly why more clearly, the nearer an object the better will be the understanding who is more nearer to us than God himself so where is he where is he not he and so he is inside me he is outside me he is everywhere God can be seen one can talk to him but who cares for God, people shed hundreds of tears so this was the answer but did Sriram Krishna stop there no, he said I can also show you God because any fool can claim that I have seen God in this world there are thousands of people who claim that they have seen God and they can talk to God and they cheat, gullible people, there are so many gurus, there are so many preachers they do all those things how much a bunk goes in the name of seeing God, especially in the west that they even say, oh you are coming from such and such an area using what is called very latest electronic equipment they plant some people get information and that information is heard by this fellow and then he looks at ah, I see you so and so, are you not coming, I think yes, I see clearly I see it is northwest, I see you are from California, I see from that area, rascal has already found out this information from his planted cronies inside the crowd, so many cheats have been found out what is Sriram Krishna saying any fool can claim, I have seen God, but what is the proof, the proof is so long as even if you hear from a billion people that they have seen God, the only proof that God exists is that you must clearly see and I can show you the funny thing was Swami Vivekananda was not ready Sriram Krishna touched him, not on that occasion, but on another occasion and then Swami Vivekananda started protesting, what are you doing to me, because the whole world was going round and round that means he was losing his individuality, he was merging in the universal and that was not very present experience so he protested, my parents are there in Calcutta Sriram Krishna immediately he touched him he gave that vision by a touch and by another touch he took it away saying that ok, it will come in course of time, now there are so many questions, I am not going to answer that was Vivekananda not fit person to receive the vision of God, one and why Swami Vivekananda could not receive it at that time is there any hidden nipuda, rahasya, purpose there, yes there was a purpose but very briefly I will tell you that Swami Vivekananda was being groomed to become Jagadguru, world teacher so a world teacher is one who must teach according to the understandings of everybody including a non-believer so Sriram Krishna was grooming him for that and say if somebody comes but very sincere, I don't believe in God, is there any way out for me, some way Kananda should be able to say, so Sriram Krishna made him pass through all those universal experiences which we all have to go through and through each and every experience Swami Vivekananda was made how to reach God so that he can authentically answer people and say yes at one time I was in your condition and this was what my Guru asked me to do and through that I found God, the only caveat is people must be sincere that's all, so coming back so the only proof that anything at all exists is I must personally do what do other people do, what do books do, they give information and reliable people give reliable information yes, God is there he can be found, this is how I found him, if you wish you can also follow me this is all information but direct proof is direct experience, that is why Sriram Krishna says so beautifully some people have heard milk, some people have seen milk, some people have drunk milk so hearing one type of understanding seeing a better, much better but a very inadequate understanding drinking milk one drop it is enough I give another example supposing somebody heard about sugar and it is brought before him, he sees plenty of sugar in front of does he know even one billionth of what sugar is like if he had never tasted it before, even if you put one grain of sugar just one millimetre away from his tongue he will never have any idea about what really sugar is, but one grain of sugar touching his tongue instantaneously he knows all about sugar for life, for eternity that is right knowledge this was what Sriram Krishna says I can show you God and as I mentioned, it took him a few years, nearly four and half years to do that, now Swami Nikulandaji is remarking when Sriram Krishna said that I have seen God for the first time, in fact he was hearing that God could be seen he could feel that Ram Krishna's words were uttered from the depths of an inner experience they could not be doubted so that was the first time Narendranath met someone who could declare so easily that he had seen God it was a new experience for Narendranath, there was a devotee I have collected some of these things from the gospel so do not expect that I will point out a particular page and then you will continue our talk about gospel of Sriram Krishna so now here I collected it according to the subject matter, so there was a devotee called Vijayakrishna Goswami and he is asking Sir, why are we bound like this why don't we see God so two questions first question, why are we bound like this and why don't we see God, in fact he answered his own question, you are bound that's why you don't see God unbounding unbinding is what is called seeing God experiencing God, becoming one with God, having limitations is called binding having no limitations is called seeing God Sriram Krishna, he says Maya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul, egotism this egotism has covered everything like a veil all troubles come to an end when the ego dies Sriram Krishna was a pun master also, so somebody asked, when do I see God Sriram Krishna said, when your I dies, then you see God the whole question seemed to be repulsed I want to see God, if I die, who is going to see God but Sriram Krishna was giving the true answer that what stands between you and God is this I and if that, when that I is removed, then you understand there is no you and only God exists that is God vision if by the grace of God a man but once realizes that he is not the doer, then he at once becomes a Jeevan Mukta though living in the body he is liberated, he has nothing else to fear again beautiful answer when a man feels that he is not the doer, who is it that feels he is the doer a person who has got ego I am somebody and my CV is like this and I do this I think like this and I experience like this everything, the I is the root cause of all bondage, Sriram Krishna is telling, the first thing you have to take notice is do not feel I am the doer, if a machine feels if your bulb says I am giving the light then the electricity laughs and then it just withdraws and then the bulb itself cannot even know that it is a bulb, the bulb can know itself I am a bulb and give light to others only when there is electricity behind it, so you can multiply any number of examples if by the grace of a man only grace of God can realize God so why do not we see God man cannot see God on account of the barrier of Maya and what is this Maya this Maya is nothing but the ego it is like a cloud, the soul cannot be seen on account of a thin patch of cloud when that cloud appears one sees the sun if by the grace of Guru one's ego vanishes then one sees God so Sri Ram Krishna gives the analogy of the cloud and the sun, in Vedanta this is a most marvelous analogy Sri Ram Krishna is teaching Vedanta through and through throughout the gospel and he is a Jagat Guru his words teach a person who is utterly ignorant a person who is a little more enlightened, a person who is even a little more enlightened and a person whose intellect has become very sharp we are talking about a person who is an atheist a person who is a Dwaitin, a person who is a racist or Dwaitin and a person who is an Advaitin, his words teach people in every way so what is the speciality of this analogy it is at a time the sun is shining and the fierce heat of the sun creates a cloud and this cloud it as if because of that cloud it comes in between my eye and then the sun and I cannot see the sun, this is the essence of this analogy but it is a profound analogy, what is the profound here, first of all so what is, who created the cloud it is the sun and what does the sun do, it covers the sun, that is our normal understanding but Vedanta says foolish fellow, no cloud can ever cover the sun, then what is it covering, it is covering your eyes, a cloud is not covering the sun a cloud is covering your eyes, your sight and therefore you are not able to see the ever shining sun not only that, you don't need a big cloud, you don't need even a small cloud you don't need anything, just put your one finger across your eye and then the entire world will be covered for you, so this is the first point is the cloud is produced by the sun, what is the second point, that the cloud seems to be covering you, what is the third point, that even our ability to see the cloud is only because of the sun the sun produces the cloud and the sun illuminates the cloud and then only you can see, oh there is a cloud, supposing it is night, midnight dark, there may be a thick black cloud it makes no difference because you can't see anything, you can't see the cloud and much less anything else so that which is the creator, that which is the sustainer it sustains the cloud and because of that cloud, we are not able to see the sun, which is God here what is the cloud here? Maya, this is what Sri Ramakrishna that parable and he gives interpretation of Ramayana, what is called the symbolic interpretation significance of Ramayana analogy, Rama who is God himself was only two and a half cubits ahead of Lakshmana, how far was what was the distance between Rama and Lakshmana who were walking in the Dandakaranya or anywhere just a few feet but Lakshmana could not see him because Sita stood between them, so Sri Ramakrishna gives the symbolism of the Ramayana Lakshmana may be compared to the Jiva and Sita to Maya, man cannot see God on account of the barrier of Maya so the whole Ramayana is we are all Jivatmas and we want to see Rama Paramatma because God is of the nature of infinite bliss and everybody wants only infinite bliss but a barrier is there that is called Mahamaya who is Mahamaya? Sri Rama's Bhagawan's Shakti, and Bhagawan's Shakti cannot be inimical to our own children because we are none other than the children of God only, but we have to pray to her Oh Mother, I am your child, I want to see my father, so please help me, and if we assume the attitude of a child, mother will be moved Matya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Matru Rupena Samsthita, motherliness comes my child wants to see his father, her father so let me show him, and immediately she removes herself the point is, if Maya out of her own grace because we pray to her like children does not remove herself there is no power on earth which can remove her because she is Bhagawan's Shakti, so man cannot see God on account of barrier of Maya, then Sri Ram Krishna was demonstrating it just look, I am creating a barrier in front of my face with this towel, Sri Ram Krishna had a towel, always he had a towel, and immediately he put it on his face now you can't see me even though I am so near likewise, God is the nearest of all, but we cannot see him on account of this covering of Maya in the meaning of Upanishad Upa Ni Sat, Upa means near what does it mean? is it 5 feet near? 1 foot, 1 inch 1 centimetre, 1 millimetre no, near means that actually he is you he is as near as he is you if you can understand it but because of our Maya we think he is far away, another thing also very important point suppose this, I give this example many times supposing you have a needle for sewing the, mending the torn cloths or repairing the dresses and you know you have kept it very safely but you cannot get it you forgot where you kept it does it really matter? even if it is in your own pocket it is as if on the other side of the cosmos so, even though God is so near so near means, there is no distance between him and us, he is infinity he is Antaryami he is also Outaryami everything is he only so, this God is so near and that knowledge which takes us to that knowledge that God is, you are God and God is you that is called Upanishad and for that you need not show God, it only need to destroy the barrier of Maya, so that which completely sadh, destroys loosens the bondage destroys the bondage burns the bondage, cremates the bondage and that knowledge whatever book or person gives, that is called Upanishad so, Sri Ramakrishna continues we cannot, likewise God is the nearest of all, but we cannot see him on account of this covering of Maya what does Maya do? it creates Upadis Jeeva is nothing but the embodiment of Satchitananda Jeeva is nothing but Satchitananda, but since Maya or Ego Sri Ramakrishna uses this word simultaneously like a synonym Maya or Ego exactly the same thing, has created various Upadis so, man has forgotten his real self, so what are the Upadis? Upadi means a limiting agent some, whatever limits is called a Upadi, so there are two models given there are three Upadis the gross body subtle body, causal body this is called Sharira Traya that is Sthol Deha Sthol Sharira or Sukshma Sharira or Karana Sharira another model that we get in the Taittiriya Upanishad especially, in the Mandukya we get this model of the three bodies three states, the waking, dream dreamless, but in the Taittiriya, we get the model of this Panchakosha Annamaya is Sthol Sharira equivalent to Sthol Sharira Anandamaya, causal body is equivalent to Karana Sharira and this Sukshma Sharira is equated to Pranamaya Kosha Manomaya Kosha and Vijnanamaya Kosha whatever models we take these are called Upadis and because of these Upadis because we become identified with the Upadis, when we are in the waking state, we inevitably say, I am the body, when we are dreaming we identify with the body in the dream, dream body when we are in the deep sleep state, we identify ourselves completely with our causal body Karana Sharira, that is why we say, I did not know anything means, that is the Karana not knowing, ignorance is the Karana cause of both the waking as well as the dream states so, Ramakrishna says Jiva is none other than Paramatma, but this Maya creates Upadis and we fall into that net and we identify ourselves at different times with different Upadis this is a wonderful thing man doesn't remain identified only with one Upadi all the time everyday for example for several hours we are in the waking state so, we identify with the waking state, saying I am the waker, Atma when we lie down or sit in an easy chair and we start dreaming, either day dream or night dream or bed dream or sleep dream, whatever it is then we say that I am the dreamer and when we are in deep sleep outside the bounds of time and space, but still profoundly ignorant then we are called Karana Sharira, I am the sleeper so, this is, or when we are hungry we are identified with the Sthula Sharira gross body, when our energy is getting depleted we require another cup of coffee or tea and that is when we are identified with Prana, then various thoughts are running riot in our minds, we are identified with the Manomaya Kosha when we have thought over things and then came to a definite decision this is what I need to do we are identifying ourselves with the Vijnanamaya Kosha but when we give up all this Dvaita Prapancha, dualistic world then we are identifying ourselves with, I am the Ananda Bhuk, I am the enjoyer of the Ananda so, any of these states can come at any time not necessarily one after the other, even while you are listening to my talks, you may be identified with Pranamaya Kosha or Anandamaya Kosha and I am happy that I am able to give some Ananda at least in this form so, this was the answer Ramakrishna had given to Vijay so, Vijay is further asking Is Bhakti alone sufficient for the attainment of God for his vision? Wonderful question because there are so many I should say stupid teachers in this world who say Jnana Marga is the only way every other Marga is only a subsidiary a by road a small road, a village road finally the motorway every road must come to the motorway which is the Jnana Marga similarly there are people, Bhakti alone takes one to God so, Ramakrishna is telling yes, one can see God through Bhakti also, but it must be not any type of Bhakti, but Raipu Bhakti, Prema Bhakti, Raga Bhakti when one has that Bhakti one loves God, even as the mother loves the child the child the mother and the wife the husband, one cannot see God if one has even the slightest trace of worldliness, so one must have this highest Bhakti because what is Bhakti? The ability to see divinity that is called Bhakti if we have got 1% Bhakti we see divinity 1%, if it is Bhakti is 10% we see divinity 10% if our Bhakti is 50% we see divinity 50%, so like that we have to understand, one cannot see God if one has even the slightest trace of worldliness so Ramakrishna gives a beautiful like Kalidasa simile, match sticks, if damp won't strike fire, though you rub a thousand of them against the matchbox, you only waste heap of sticks that mind so good in worldliness is such a damp match stick so one should be slowly getting out of this worldliness which is attachment, not getting out of the world, remember Ramakrishna's beautiful saying a boat can be must be in the waters but water must not be in the boat, we cannot be anywhere happening in the world, even a Jivanmukta, even Ramakrishna Ramakrishna, everybody has to be in the world only but it is like their boats, like boats living on the water but worldliness is that water it never enters into them a second's notice, really second's notice is enough, they can withdraw their mind, they are masters that's why they are called yogis once Sri Radha said to her friends that she saw Krishna everywhere both within and without Radha claimed, I don't see anything excepting Krishna inside me, outside me the friends answered, why? we don't see him at all are you delirious? Radha said delirious means what? are you mad? yes, a mad person sees only the object of his madness everywhere, like they say if somebody makes a paste of frogs and then puts it as a cholerium on one's eyes, then they see only snakes everywhere it is not strictly true don't try it, but it means frogs are terribly frightened, scared of snakes because naturally they are Yama Dharma Rajas for them but if any person has got that kind of oneness with God that love becomes cholerium love is by the way nothing but knowledge there cannot be love without knowledge there cannot be knowledge without love so Radha said friends, paint your eyes with the cholerium of divine love and then you will see him everyday the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna sing at Arathrikam time so Sri Ramakrishna says one cannot see God without purity of heart through attachment to lust and gold the mind has become stained covered with dirt as it were a magnet cannot attract a needle if the needle is covered with mud wash away the mud and the magnet will draw it likewise the dirt of the mind can be washed away with tears of our eyes what tears? loving prayer to the Divine Mother to the Divine Lord, please purify me, please attract me, I am unable to come out of the dirt because of your Mahik power oh Mother, you alone are ultimate saviour please help me if somebody prays wholeheartedly then Mother in the form of chitta shuddhi purity, she washes she brings about a human birth she brings about the deep desire for her she will bring about all favourable circumstances and this is all possible only by the grace of God the vision of God can be had only by the grace of God we will discuss these beautiful points in our next class I hope you had wonderful Diwali joy and now that back to normal, may Sri Ram Krishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda increase our devotion and make us more devoted to God Jai Ram Krishna