Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 048 on 23-November-2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur In our last class on the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, we have been talking about the visions of God. Can one see God? Yes. Actually, as I mentioned many times, seeing God and seeing anything else, there is a vast difference. When we see anything in this world, when we experience the world, I am separate and the world is separate. But when I say I see God, then the only way I see God is when I become one with God. That is the truest vision. Then what happens? Sri Ramakrishna said, I have seen Mother Kali, I have seen Krishna, I have seen Radha, I have seen Rama, I have seen Hanuman, I have seen Sita. Yes, we have to recollect that as soon as such kind of visions had come, something very peculiar has happened in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. When we read about this kind of visions, that some people, they had this kind of vision as if God disappears, just as if we see a tree, we see a man, and after some time, we go away from there or the person goes away from us, then that person disappears. It is this kind of visions. But whenever Sri Ramakrishna saw something, that vision, that particular divine aspect of God has become one with him. Sita merged in Sri Ramakrishna. Hanuman merged in Sri Ramakrishna. Radha Devi merged in Sri Ramakrishna. Krishna merged in Sri Ramakrishna. Rama merged in Sri Ramakrishna. Kali merged in Sri Ramakrishna. So, whatever visions Sri Ramakrishna had, they all became merged in him. This is a very special case. That is why every devotee of Sri Ramakrishna has to tell, and this applies to every... Sorry to disturb. I have not seen you in the morning. Every vision of Sri Ramakrishna is not only a vision, a unity, an identity. So, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna think, Sarva Deva Devi Swaroopa. That is to say, what is inside has come out as if. So, the Rama who was in Sri Ramakrishna came out. The Krishna who was in Sri Ramakrishna came out. A Sita came out. Now, here also, we have to understand something very, very interesting. When we say it is inside, is it only in Sri Ramakrishna or is it also in everybody? It is within each one of us because according to Vedanta, each one, every object in this world, not only human beings, a piece of stone is also nothing but Brahman. The word Brahman means everything. If Brahman is everything, then this Rama, this Krishna, everything is nothing but Brahman's manifestation in that particular form. This is how we have to always understand this great truth. Of course, so many people, they would controvert, they will kill, they will do many other things all because of ignorance. So, each one of us, what is the difference between an incarnation of God like Ramakrishna, Rama, Krishna and people like ourselves? Now, who makes this distinction? Does Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna, Jesus, Buddha make the difference? Buddha always said each soul is a potential Buddha. So, we have to apply. Rama also says everybody is Rama. Of course, in Vedanta, we say everybody is Brahman. So, Krishna said everybody is Brahman. That is why he said there is no difference between me and anything else in this world. This is the constant refrain in Vedanta. We are not separate at all. So, even a piece of stone, of course, will not know I am a piece of stone so long as it is in that condition of evolutionary state. It has to slowly evolve. Then it develops an individuality, becomes self-aware wherever there is life, there is self-awareness. Where there is self-awareness, that is called Brahmanhood. That is that self-awareness, another name for it is Brahman. But it is because that self-awareness is percolating, reflecting, getting reflected in a small piece of mind. So, an insect thinks I am an insect. An animal thinks I am an animal. A plant thinks I am a plant. But a human being, an unenlightened human being thinks I am a human being. But a spiritual person who is developing, who is progressing, gradually, he will shift his identity from the body-mind says I am a Jeevatma. I am not merely a man or a woman like any other animal, not only body and mind, I have got also the self-awareness. That is called Jeevatma, self-awareness plus mind plus the body. And then slowly it expands and the nearer it comes to God, first I am also divine, God also divine. God is the whole and I am a small part apart from Him. And then he goes, God is the whole, I am also a part. But I am one with God, I am also slightly different, distinct from God. The first state, I am divine, God is divine, that is called Dvaita. The second state, I am a part of God and part cannot be without whole, the whole cannot be whole without part. So that state is called Visistha Dvaita. But there comes a time, inevitably all dualities are negated and what remains is, I am, that is all, I am. This even to say I am, is a human expression, it is not really the truth. But we are talking as a one human being to another human being, so we are forced to use this particular language. So with this, this is called the truest vision of God and Sairam Krishna, he proved conclusively that every vision of God is nothing but bringing out a little bit of one's own inner divinity to the outside. So each one of us, when we realize we are Brahman, then we realize that even Rama, Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara, Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, all are nothing but my own manifestations. So keep, let us keep this in the background and let us talk. Once Sri Radha said to her friends that she saw Krishna everywhere, both within and without. Her friends were not that advanced in spiritual life. How do we know? Because this is what they are themselves expressing. Why? We don't see him at all. Are you delirious? Very interesting statement because what we don't see, you are seeing and what we see, you don't see, that is called delirium, that is what they call as madness and that is how the world, if you tell anybody, I have seen God, they will smile, smirk and take you to the, we will take you to the proper place. But Radha is replying, friends, paint your eyes with the collyrium of divine love and then you will see him. One of the greatest psychological truths is being expressed here by Radha. She said, my friends, the answer to your question, why is it we don't see Krishna? Now, interesting understanding is, so is there such a person called Krishna and only when the confirmation of Shri Krishna is there, such a person exists and he can be seen but at this moment, he may not be here. So, I see Krishna. What was Radha's answer? That I see Krishna everywhere, when, all times but we cannot see, even I know that my son is there but at this moment, I cannot see him. Of course, you can cleverly reply, Facebook is there or FaceTime is there. If I have iPhone, Android phone, I can see all those things but most of the time, we cannot see and even if we can see through these instruments, it is only indirect seeing, not direct seeing and we think if a person stands in front of us, that is direct seeing. So, here is Radha. She is seeing Krishna everywhere, at all times. How come? Here is the psychological fact. So, it is said, in the gospel itself, I think, somewhere it is said, Ramakrishna says, if somebody makes powder of frogs and puts it on his eyes, as a colerium, he starts seeing snakes everywhere, at all times. If you are frightened of something, if you are frightened of a ghost, then you start seeing that ghost everywhere. So, whatever we like, we start seeing it. Whatever we hate terribly, that also we start. Everybody reminds. Slightest resemblance, oh, that scoundrel, that rogue, that evil person, like that, we also have a kind of vision like that. So, what is the fact? Everything depends upon the mind and so, we see everything. We see objects, what we call the world, entire world, this kaleidoscope of ever-changing visions of this world. Why? Because we have put upon our eyes the colerium of worldliness. Therefore, we see the world everywhere. We are convinced, this is the truth. Why am I seeing? Because this is the truth. But you ask a person like say Ramakrishna, why are you seeing God everywhere? He says, because I have put on the colerium of God. That is what is expressed so beautifully in the hymn, Khandana Bhava Bandhana. What is it? Gnananjana Vimalanayana Vekshane Mohajaye. Gnananjana Vimalanayana Vekshane Mohajaye. I have put on the colerium of knowledge. Knowledge means here truth, reality. So, whatever I think is reality and that whatever I experience is that reality. A tree is real, a man is real, an insect is real, a bird is real, etc. So, what am I talking about? I am talking about we see what we think is the reality everywhere. And if we think that reality is God, then that is called seeing God. So, we have the choice. An impure mind is put on the colerium of worldliness, impurity. Worldliness means impurity. Impurity means that seeing what is called temporary something as permanent, we all think everything is real. So, this reality has got two aspects. One is it is workable. I can deal with it. It can give me some results. If I say a sweet and that sweet can give me tremendous pleasure. So, that is real. Not only that is real, I can deal with it. I can run after it. I can acquire it. I can eat it. I can enjoy it. So, our concept of reality is whatever works, whatever has an effect, whatever can be obtained or lost, that is called reality. Whereas, according to Vedanta, reality is that which never changes and whatever has a form, it has to change. When a form changes, the name also changes. See how much is involved in this. Suppose you see a baby. What do you say? A baby. What are you talking about? You are talking about that particular transformation from what is called fetus. This baby is there and baby's form changes. Then you don't call it a baby. You call it a child. Child's form changes. You don't call it a child. You call it an adolescent. It changes. Call him or her as youth. Changes. Middle-aged person. Then old-aged person. So, it has a birth. It has continuous change and finally, that which has appeared will also disappear. This is our concept of reality. Yes, it is not permanent but it is real. According to Vedanta, whatever is permanent, permanent means without any change. Trikala, abadhitam, sathyam. That alone deserves to be called as sathyam. So, where is this sathyam? That is the point. Is it outside? Is it inside? Do we see sathyam? Because something is real outside or because we think that this is sathyam, we see anything as sathyam. The fact is, yes. Whatever we think, that is our concept of reality is what makes it something either real or unreal, either valuable or non-valuable, etc., etc. And we are being carried away by this flood of delusion from since how long? Even that how long also is only a huge delusion. Time is a delusion. Space is a delusion. Nama rupa is a delusion. Slowly, we have to understand it. So, the Radha is telling friends, paint your eyes with the Kulerium of Divine Love and then you will see Him. When? Every time. Where? Everywhere. So, we do put on this Kulerium for a short time when we meditate, when we enter into the shrine room, when we do worship, when we go on a pilgrimage, when we have satsanga and when we think of God, that is the time when we put on the Kulerium, a little bit of it. But here are the people by thinking and thinking and thinking, that is called spiritual practice, they go on seeing God everywhere. So, God is always there. He neither appears nor disappears. In fact, whatever we see, that means whatever we see with the eyes, hear with our ears, taste with our tongue, smell with our nose, touch with our skin, whatever experience we have, that something which we experience in different ways through these different sense organs, that is nothing but only reality, God. So, what is changing? Our mind is changing. So, what should be changed? Our mind should be changed. When the mind is absolutely steady, then everything becomes absolutely reality, God. An unchanging mind is called God, another name for God. So, there is a beautiful story. Once a disciple of a Zen master, Zen Buddhism, Zen master, is taking a walk outside his monastery and then suddenly another disciple comes and says, look up. Do you see that flag? There was a flag. And then what is it doing? It is moving. And what is moving it? The wind is moving it. And at that time, the Zen master also happened to be there. He said that both of you are wrong. What is moving that flag is not the wind but your mind. What is moving is not being moved by the wind but by your mind. An absolutely unacceptable truth from our present state of mind. What are you talking about? The flag is moving all the time and if the wind is less, it becomes less. If the wind is more, the fluttering becomes even more. Then what are you talking about? The answer is, my friend, if you can achieve that state of mind where the mind never moves, never changes, then that flag you will see absolutely still. How can you see? I will try to explain but one requires a little bit of intelligence to understand it. Soakshama buddhi. Is there really some fact called movement? Is there such a thing called movement? According to scientists, there is no movement. Absolutely, there is no movement. Most of us know it but do not think about it. Let us take a film in a movie. So you see a person is walking. How do we see that person walking? Is it not a movement? Of course, it is a movement. That's what we say. No, it's not a movement. There are 24 frames of the film. One after the other, the frame is being projected there but if they are projected at a particular speed, 24 frames a second, then the illusion of movement is created. Otherwise, suppose, just imagine, anybody can understand it. So you just project one frame and after some time, you project, after a few seconds, you project another frame. After a second, another frame. If you go on projecting one frame after another, after every second, then you don't see movement. You will see only that particular frame. You don't call it, it is still. It is not a movement. But the same thing, if you start flickering very quickly, like a picture of different pictures, 24 pictures, you just flip through your fingers, 24 times a second and you, your eyes will give you the delusion of a movement. Now what are we talking about? This is the effect of the mind. If the same mind is kept absolutely still, you may flicker something, a billion times a second, but you will see only one frame. You do not see anything at all. So much of philosophy, psychology is involved. Every thought of ours, how many thoughts are there? Billions of thoughts. How many thoughts are there? If you ask a Zen master, he will say there is no thought. Mind is only a thoughtless state. Pure mind is a thoughtless state. That is what is called Yoga. That is what is called Chitta Vritti Nirodha. Completely remove every movement. Time and space are together. A movement can occur only in space and space can be experienced only in course of time. Now left, now right. One foot left, one foot to the right. Space and time always go together. Space moves horizontally and time moves vertically. So everything is in the mind. When the mind is absolutely still, it goes beyond time and space. When the mind is in the state of spaceless and timeless state, what we see is reality. The reality just reflects and that is called by the name Purusha. That is why, so tada, in that state when there are no thoughts, drashtu svarupe avasthanam. So much I am trying to tell. What is the essence of it? That is what Sri Ramakrishna is telling the master. 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. What is dirt? Anything that covers up the reality, God, Brahman, that is called dirt. And what is the most prominent manifestation of this dirt? Lust and gold. And why lust and gold? Because our identification with the body. I am the body. So the body must be safe. Secure. If the body has to be secure, I require certain things. Money is a first requirement. House is a second requirement. Then food is another requirement. Dress is another requirement. Safety, security, guards, etc. Guards, security men, this is they. So many things are there. We are unable to understand. We are so fortunate that there are countries where there is no security. There are refugee camps where there is no security. Anybody can be made to do anything according to the will of the people who are virtual kings or rulers over that refugee camps. Only if we can put ourselves in that state, we understand how lucky, how fortunate we are. Anyway, so we are all completely identified with body-mind. And if a person is identified with body-mind, he requires what Sri Ramakrishna calls money and sensual pleasures. Money is necessary for acquiring, etc., sensual pleasures. And the indriyas, the senses, are required to experience them and become happy about it. So, lust and gold, these two express. One is the medium through which, instruments through which we can cater to these bodily needs. And another is actually experiencing it through the instruments of the sense organs. Kama and Kanchana. This is Sri Ramakrishna's favorite words. This is called dirt. These two, Kama and Kanchana, work only in time and space. And that which brings in time and space is called Maya. Maya is nothing but time, space and causation. Another name for mind is time, space and causation. That is Kala, Desha, Nimitta. And everything that we experience through this mind, which is time, space and causation, is called unreality. What we really experience is Brahman. But the way we experience it, looking at it through this prism of time, space, causation, that is called world. Really, there is no world. But the experience of God through various limitations, these three limitations, time, space and causation, that is called world. There is no second thing called the world. World is another name for Brahman. Brahman is another name for the world. And that is what Vedanta tries to tell. So, what is this Collerium? It is called Prema Anjana or Gnana Anjana. Prema and Gnana are exactly the same things. So, that is what we have to do. Then what is the way? Well, there is a way. Make this mind pure. Impure mind. There are two states of mind. That is what Bhagawan says in the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Controlled mind and uncontrolled mind. Uncontrolled mind is what Sri Ramakrishna calls impure mind, dirty mind. A controlled mind is what is called Gnana Anjana. A controlled mind is nothing but purity. That is called Prema Anjana or Gnana Anjana. Prema and Gnana. They go together. I will try to explain it a little bit so that we understand the relationship between Prema and Gnana. Supposing somebody or you see a bottle. It is written there pure organic honey. Pure organic honey. And quite cheap also. So, these two do not go together. Pure organic honey and cheapness will not go together. If it is organic, really, then it will be very costly. Costlier than normal honey. And if it is cheaper, it is not organic. But we want to be deluded. Oh, I am eating only organic honey. Sometimes we do it. Most of the time we do it. I know that cheap organic honey is a contradiction. It is not possible. And then it will give me a little bit peace of mind. Let me cheat myself. I will pretend that I am eating organic honey. If anybody questions, no, no, no. I am only eating organic honey. Look here. I buy only organic honey. Like that. So, I see here. Man sees a woman. A woman sees a man. A mother sees a child. A child sees the mother. Husband sees the wife. Wife sees the husband. Parent sees the son. Son or daughter. And they see the parent. They see the honey. Organic honey. And that is how we are caught there. It is not organic. It is inorganic. So, this is called impurity of the heart. What is impurity? To consider reality as unreality and unreality as reality. And that is called Maya. Avidya. So, our heart in the beginning was absolutely pure. But on the way, in the evolutionary scale, a lot of dirt and dust has accumulated hiding this. So, Sri Ramakrishna compares a pure heart, a pure needle. So, he gives the example of a magnet. A magnet is nothing but what is called a metal but with a tremendous power of attraction. Here it is compared to God. But each soul is also a small piece of that magnet only. But this magnet, small magnet is now completely covered with dirt and dust. So, the big magnet is not able to attract it. This is the analogy Sri Ramakrishna gives. A magnet cannot attract a needle if the needle is covered with mud. What is the way? Wash away the mud. And the magnet will draw it. Likewise, the dirt of the mind can be washed away with the tears of our eyes. Sri Ramakrishna was a very practical spiritual master. He says, what is the way? How do you wash off the mud or dirt? Take a bucket full of water and go on pouring it and rubbing it and gradually accumulated dirt will be falling away, falling off from the needle. Ultimately, when everything is there what do you need to do? You don't need to do anything. If there is a magnet nearby immediately the needle will go and attach itself. Why? Because the needle knows my place is with that magnet not anywhere else. The definition of a needle is not something to show. Definition of a needle here is I belong to the magnet. I am potential magnet. But I am unable to be attracted. So through this example, through this analogy Sri Ramakrishna is also trying to tell something. If a dirty needle goes on telling Aham Brahmasmi I am the biggest magnet that is sheer hypocrisy it is not going to work out. So only a pure needle without any dirt or anything it can say I am potential divinity. Each soul is potentially divine. So we have to remove. We don't need to be attracted by the magnet. It automatically takes place. So what is the way to do it? Here is where Sri Ramakrishna is telling us. The dirt of the mind, impurity of the mind. What is it? The attraction for Kama and Kanchana. The moment they disappear then the attraction also disappears. The knowledge comes I don't need this. And that is what I wanted to convey to you that Jnana and Prema are synonymous. What is it? Here is an object and that object is I hate that object. Why? Because of my wrong knowledge. Jnana. Jnana means not absence of knowledge but wrong knowledge. So what is the wrong knowledge? This object only gives me trouble. So every object gives trouble only. Everything in this world is a limitation, a bondage, a manifestation of separation from God. But there also we make a division. This is very attractive object and this is unattractive. Likes, dislikes. This gives me pleasure. This gives me displeasure or unhappiness. But if we analyze what we find is that if this object doesn't give me unhappiness then it will not give me happiness. If it has to give me unhappiness through happiness then even experiencing something and getting happiness through that object it immediately produces unhappiness. What am I talking about? You eat a sweet and immediately a terrible unhappiness is created. The moment that experience is over then a terrible unhappiness comes. But of course we don't call it unhappiness. What do we call it? Desire. What is the desire? This is a wonderful thing. It has given me so much of pleasure and I want it again and again and again. Here is again a wonderful psychology is there. Suppose there is a sweet and you love it and you enjoy it. Can you enjoy it continuously? Uninterruptedly? You can eat perhaps a few minutes 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes at best. After that it will fall. It will create terrible dislike and that is unhappiness. And it will create a desire now I am happy even though I don't want anything of this same thing but after few hours again I want it. So what I want really speaking is I want to enjoy it now and then not continuously. And in between now and then what is the experience? Unhappiness. What am I talking about? Our happiness is proportionate to the percentage of unhappiness that I can create. So what am I talking about? That without unhappiness there can be no happiness. So happiness inevitably produces unhappiness and unhappiness inevitably produces happiness. So perhaps some of you are a little bit confused what I am talking about but this is the absolute truth. We have to understand it. See Ramakrishna is telling that if you want continuous happiness you have to eliminate experience. What is experience? Two objects coming together for a particular length of time is called an experience. But you have to go beyond experience. You must become the experiencer. Why? Every experience it goes on changing one after the other different experiences but the experiencer is continuous, constant same experiencer. Now I am eating this sweet. Now I am eating something else. So now I am reading a book. Now I am taking rest. Now I am doing this. Now I am doing that. All these are continuously changing experiences but the experiencer is one. And the nature of the experiencer is Ananda Swaroopa. But we will not understand it now. When we succeed in becoming the experiencer and not having the division called subject and object, experiencer and experienced when we go beyond that duality when we attain to that state of Advaita where there is no experience you cannot call it an experience you cannot call it an experiencer beyond both that is called Advaitam that is called pure infinity and if we experience that we experience a tremendous amount of bliss it is not called happiness Sukha it is not called Dukkha it is beyond both Sukha and Dukkha why should we say beyond Sukha and Dukkha we should have said beyond Dukkha is Sukha and beyond Sukha is this Ananda No because as we explained so many times you heard so many times Sukha and Dukkha always go together the moment you say I like it you are also saying I don't like it if you continuously experience light you will never know it is light if you want to experience it as light two conditions are necessary first condition is you should experience it alternatively and what is the other alternative darkness light darkness light from the point of light you experience darkness cognize darkness from the viewpoint of the darkness you experience light so that is how everything in this world man and woman good and evil happiness and unhappiness and temporary and permanent birth and death all these experiences but that is why they create both unhappiness but if we can go beyond that a totally different type of experience is experienced by us and that is called Ananda this is the Ananda we experience fortunately every living creature every creature with prana experiences it occasionally like you know a mother so whenever the child is hungry the mother feeds it the mother knows exactly when the child is hungry and the mother feeds the appropriate food at the right time and how much quantity the child, the baby had to be fed everything the mother knows so the divine mother gives every one of her children the insects, the birds the animals, the plants the human beings everything appropriately this Nidra Shakti through the power of Nidra she takes them beyond both the Sukha and Dukha and because of that Ananda we are able to remain as a creature that is what Taittiriya's marvelous statement if this Rasa is not available Rasa means Ananda Ananda means that experience beyond Sukha and Dukha if we do not experience this Ananda a little bit of it every now and then a pranayat, who wants to live the man cannot sustain life and fortunately this is given, this Ananda is given and interestingly again the Upanishad comes and tells so what is the frequency with which we are bestowed that Ananda and then immediately the mind, the Vedanta Upanishads say so twice we get this Ananda in fact only once but I am telling it as twice it is really only one time but what is the difference for a short time for a comparatively longer time so when we enter into Nidra then it is from the waking standpoint comparatively longer period of Ananda this is called Sushupti Avastha we go to bed at about 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock and get up at 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock so many hours practically is interwoven both with dreams as well as with dreamlessly we really don't know but it is broken but that broken, unbroken state, that called Nidra Avastha, called Sushupti Avastha, it is this which is the real food that is given by our Divine Mother to each one of us every creature will get it and it is this what makes life tolerable bearable, livable and then what are we striving at, every creature is striving how can I make this Sushupti Avastha permanent and that's why I call it when Samadhi, Samadhi means complete oneness with God so forget about Savikalpa Samadhi, Nirvikalpa Samadhi Savichara, Nirvichara Satarka, Vitarka all these terminology confuses the mind so when Samadhi Samadhi means complete oneness with God if it is if it is forever it is called Samadhi if it is for a short time, broken by Jagradha Avastha and Swapna Avastha waking state and dream state, it is called Sushupti so a short Samadhi is called Sushupti and a permanent Sushupti is called Samadhi I hope it makes some meaning what I am talking about so this is what we have to understand all the time, this is what Sri Ramakrishna says that tears can completely destroy the limitation the dirt of Kamakanchana but there are two types of tears what are the two types? One is we go on shedding potfuls of tears for Kamakanchana and that is only reinforces the bondage, never makes for liberation but there is another type of tears, that is what Sri Ramakrishna is telling, this stain, this avidya is removed if one sheds tears of repentance and says, Oh God I shall never again do such a thing there upon God who is like the magnet, draws to himself the mind which is like the needle, then the devotee goes into Samadhi and attains the vision of God so what is Sri Ramakrishna talking about? Tears of repentance, what is the repentance? We rarely repent about our worldly affairs sometimes there is repentance after a painful experience I will never again see this person, I will never again want to see the face of this person but that repentance is only to reinforce I want to see the other person is much better than this person it is jumping from one pit into another pit, that is not going to work out but then he says, Oh Lord so long I have been completely merged into the mire of this world and I have done so many things which I should not have done and according to Vedanta, not only doing bad things but even if somebody is a good worldly person, is a worldly person but a good worldly person, who is a good worldly person? A person who doesn't want to harm other people who has certain principles who tries to speak the truth, who tries to care and share whatever he has got, everything he is doing but it is all from one side of the world to the other side of the world only he is much better than most of the human beings, these are called Sajjanas, it doesn't matter but their mind is not yet attracted to God but through this kind of discipline, this person also slowly slowly purifies his Antahkarana, his mind and he will also obtain more knowledge about God and that knowledge what is that knowledge? Really the only being in this world who belongs to me and to whom I belong is God, this is called Gnanam and the moment he realizes it immediately he makes all his attachments, all his love, all his longings all his desires they all run only towards God and this is beautifully illustrated by Sri Ramakrishna there is a particular bird called Homa bird and this mother Homa bird has hatched some eggs, laid some eggs and the eggs were falling, where does this Homa bird live? It is very high in the sky and it takes days and days and days for the eggs to reach the earth, as soon as the eggs started falling some days pass, slowly it is hatched and it becomes a bird and it sees itself falling helplessly and after some time then it realizes if I start falling like this I will be dashed to the ground I have to go back to my own mother and immediately it changes its direction, by that time it has the capacity to fly this is the fate of every egg that hatches in the midday, don't take it literal truth there is no such Homa bird but it is to say we are all Homa birds, who is our mother? God is, Divine Mother is our mother, so for a long time 84 lakhs of lives churasi lakh janam we have been falling and falling and falling still we are falling, we have not become dashed, of course we will never become dashed and then suddenly the awakening comes utthishthatha jagratha prapyavara nibodhata and then we start flying towards our mother, so this devotee he starts shedding tears, what does he say? Oh God, I shall never again do such a thing, and there upon God, who is like the magnet draws to himself the mind which is like the needle, then the devotee goes into samadhi and obtains the vision of God remember, whenever we read such things as, this person had a vision of God don't think it is like seeing something as we see a tree, another man, a book a table, a chair, a cow etc, it is not even an exalted experience what we are seeing here true vision of God is to know that I am that, this is my reflection when you stand in front of a mirror, and a clean mirror, then you will see as you are, that is called a vision of yourself, that is called the vision of God, Shri Ram Krishna continues you may try thousands of times, but nothing can be achieved without God's grace and this is the central teaching of Shri Ram Krishna one of the central tenets what is it, first tenet, if I have to summarize entire teachings of Shri Ram Krishna the first teaching is God exists God alone exists second teaching is everything is nothing but God you and I, he or she it, they everything is even a piece of clod of earth, everything is nothing but God, Brahman so that is the second truth, man is born to realize God that is an inevitable fact and fourth that the God's grace can come only by God's grace you cannot obtain God's grace by bribes by offering something because whatever we offer is dirty in the eyes of God whatever we offer is dirty, remember, here dirty means what, limited impure, there is really nothing dirty in this world everything is pure in this world, I will give an example these are marvelous truths we have to keep in our mind and not only listen to them but remember them meditate upon them and slowly transform our lives, what are we talking about see, supposing you see a tree, what is a tree it is nothing but God manifesting in that particular form and we give a particular name to distinguish it from everything else, excepting God nothing exists so but to know that it is nothing but God to know that we are not separate from God God's grace comes how does God's grace come because first of all even to say that God exists and God's grace is essential without God's grace we cannot progress that is a tremendous amount of knowledge obtainable only by God this is what Sri Ram Krishna Bhagavan Krishna says buddhi-yogam dadam yaham, I bestow upon persons buddhi-yoga that is I give them knowledge but this knowledge will come in the form of slowly guiding God has given us scriptures scriptures are manuals for living and this manual contains only two important things first of all you start at the beginning, don't start in the middle, don't of course start in the end, so according to the development of the human being, first a good physical instrument called manushya sharira, dharma artha kamana moksha can be obtained only through this human body generally we do not know whether other bodies can have darshan of God but we definitely know because so many people had obtained the vision of God so in the evolution of biological evolutionary scale biologically obtaining a human body is the greatest grace of God and then the slowly the mind, the brain capable of understanding the value of a human body the value of a human birth the value of human life and the goals of human life it doesn't come in one day through several births this understanding develops and that is the light of God slowly percolating into the darkest caves of our unconscious and slowly awakening us that is also the grace of God and then when we are ready, God provides two things, a deep desire to know him and the appropriate surroundings favorable circumstances the right to teachers the right to holy company, everything and this fact was recognized by this master of Advaita Shankaracharya and he says Dullabham Trayamevaitat Devanugraha Hetukam Manushyatvam Mumukshrutvam Mahapurusha Samshaya God's grace alone can bring about appropriate human body not any human body but appropriate human body and the deep desire Mumukshrutvam that everything is not valuable excepting God then the third thing is the right path that can be obtained only from a right teacher called Guru and then even after obtaining right teaching, even after we start earnestly to practice spiritual disciplines to go forward without getting discouraged we require continuous support and that is obtainable by God's grace in the form of holy company or what I call favorable circumstances whether it is in the family or whether it is in the office or whether it is in the youth or middle age or old age appropriate circumstances are most important and if we are earnest then God will definitely provide us with these things so this is what is Sri Ram Krishna's the burden, this is one of the greatest teachings of Sri Ram Krishna God's grace alone can bestow God vision you may try thousands of times but nothing can be achieved without God's grace one cannot see God without His grace, every sentence is a statement of diamond is it an easy thing to receive the grace of God? one must altogether renounce egotism so God's grace this is something very wonderful we have to understand is God's grace available all the time or only at particular times and then if God's grace is available all the time why are we not feeling it so what is it that stands Sri Ram Krishna's favorite saying is the breeze the breeze of God's grace is blowing all the time unfurl your sails that means put forth self effort but when when the person awakens I have a human body, I have a desire to reach God and I have holy company a good teacher etc then only it is possible these are the most marvelous points I have to elaborate them I will do that in the next class may Sri Ram Krishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Namah Shivaya