Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 057 on 29-March-2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARDAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHUR We are continuing the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. M's third visit, we are talking about it now. It was a Sunday afternoon when M came on his third visit to the Master. He had been profoundly impressed by his first two visits to this wonderful man. He had been thinking of the Master constantly and of the utterly simple way he explained the deep truths of the spiritual life. Never before had he met such a man. We have to understand in our lives, sometimes we come across people whom we can never forget. Sometimes they may be completely negative people, evil people, bad people. But it is also true that we do come across some very good people. It is impossible to deny that. Only we have to make a very special effort. Whom did I meet and what is the impression that I got from such a person? And then there would be definitely some events where some persons perhaps had exerted great influence upon our life. And if such a thing doesn't happen in anybody's life, it is not that it doesn't happen. In fact, it happens most of the time. But the person is not paying attention to it at all. One of the spiritual requirements is to remember the good because this is intimately connected with satsangha. When we go to satsangha or hear a class or hear a good bhajan, we can do it in various ways. Predominantly in two ways or just as a causal participant. We hear some bhajan, very nice, we read something very rational, logical and seems to be very nice and there ends the matter. But if we truly wish to progress in spiritual life, we will have to pay attention. And this is called the process of discrimination. And discrimination, let us remember, cannot work unless we have tremendous awareness. What is the purpose for which we are doing? We are either reading something or listening to something or participating in puja. Very often it can be worldly things. What to speak of an incarnation of God, even when people never understood Sri Ramakrishna or understood much much later. I would say the later statement is more correct. Even the direct disciples, at first they thought he was a great man. But how great that came only after Sri Ramakrishna passed away. Very often I would say it would even come many years after Sri Ramakrishna's passing away. Because the more experience we get, the more understanding we will get and the better will be our understanding. Then sometimes it can lead to regret also. Why did I miss that opportunity? That is a completely useless regret because by the nature of the event it is not possible. We have to grow. And there was a funny statement. Holy Mother once gave initiation to a small girl, 7 or 8 years old. Remember, an 8 year old girl 100 years back and an 8 year old girl, these days there is a heaven and hell difference in their intelligence, understanding, innocence, purity, etc. So somebody objected. What does this girl remember? Holy Mother instantaneously replied, Yes, these innocent people, definitely they will remember. But when they understand, then I will not be there here. So I am keeping an invaluable diamond with them. And when they grow up, they understand. And the more they understand, the more they appreciate, enjoy and it will help them. If I don't give them, even when they grow up and they say, Oh, once we met Holy Mother and I was only a small child. See, I have seen this kind of incidents even in Ramana Maharshi's life. He bestowed his grace on small children, but not on every child, only on some particular children and definitely lifelong it has an influence. So if this is the case, that M cannot forget Sri Ramakrishna is not something very strange. And especially, let us remember, M was brought into this world, he was not born just for the sake of living an ordinary life. As if he had accidentally come into contact with Sri Ramakrishna. But really speaking, the script had been written long back. And then this is a beautiful description. I have come across very few people whose diary keeping is so marvellous. Here are his words. He had been thinking of the Master constantly and of the utterly simple way he explained the deep truths of this spiritual life. Now, here is another greater truth which will pass us by. What is the truth? The greater a person, the simpler becomes the language. Observe the language of a person. The more authoritative, the more knowledgeable, the more simple becomes the language. Whether it is in the secular field and of course in the spiritual field. Because it is not the words, it is what comes behind the words. What powers the words, that is most important. So Sri Ramakrishna used to give a lot of examples. One man said that my uncle's cowshed is full of horses. It is a nonsensical statement. Cowshed only contains cows. Somebody very aptly remarked, not only there are no horses, possibly there are no cows also there. So Sri Ramakrishna had ridiculed such people and one such Brahmo teacher said, Oh brothers, God is completely dry. With our imagination, let us make Him full of rasa. Sri Ramakrishna said, what is this stupid fellow talking about? So Yama is remarking about Sri Ramakrishna, never before had he met such a man. Now interesting thing is, did he meet anybody afterwards such a remarkable man? And if he is asked, he will tell, no I have not met. Because there is something very interesting psychology here. I can't stop myself. Supposing you meet one person, he impresses you very much. And after some time, you are always, how do you know? First of all, the person is impressing you very much, how do you know? Because you can't forget, that is called impress. But suppose after some days, some months, some years, you meet somebody else, who has impressed you even more strongly. Still I have to say, that person is constantly in mind. That means the first person's importance becomes less and less and less. This is pure psychology. But did M ever meet a person about whom he could say, he met great people, but never again as great as Sri Ramakrishna? So today's third meeting, M is graphically describing. We have to be eternally grateful to M for such a graphical way, as if we are sitting in front of Sri Ramakrishna. Sri Ramakrishna addressed his words particularly to a young man of 19, named Narendranath. This is the time we are introduced to Narendranath in the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. This is the future Swami Vivekananda. And see, look how M observes. His eyes were bright, his words were full of spirit, and he had the look of a lover of God. What particularly impressed me in this statement is, that there are lovers of God, bhaktas, and they have a special way of looking at things. We may not understand. Even a mother understands, a child understands, the way a mother is looking at him. The same mother may look at somebody in a different way. This is very especially evident when a mother tigress looks at anybody else. That is one type of look. When the same tigress looks at its own kids, a distinctive, completely different type of look. But for ordinary people like us, it is very very difficult. Sri Ramakrishna could immediately understand by looking at the eyes of Swami Vivekananda. Of course, this Swami Vivekananda, Narendranath's eyes, there is no photograph you will come across such beautiful eyes, like half-lotuses. Even today, you just make a test of yourself, an exercise. You, each one of us, must have met thousands and thousands and thousands of people. Just look at this person. Maybe some women have this kind of eyes to some extent, but look at the meditative pose of Swami Vivekananda. You will not get it. That kind of eyes, half-closed, like half-lotuses, it is impossible. Sri Ramakrishna knew about it. So he immediately looked at it and said, such a person with such eyes can never be a non-lover of God. So this was the background description and even M is remarking, he had the look of a lover of God. Now we will enter into a very profound subject. M was listening to the conversation and he guessed that the conversation was about worldly men who look down on those who aspire to spiritual things. The Master was talking about a great number of such people in the world and about how to deal with them. This is a most valuable lesson for all of us. Now, as a background, we have to understand two things. Every spiritual person, every spiritual aspirant is a mixture of spiritual life and also worldly life. There are, we are talking about, many worldly people. They don't believe in God. They may even profess belief in God. But really speaking, they don't care for God. If at all they care, they only use Him as their slave, servant. I am praying to you, you must fulfil my desires. Such devotees are classified as Artha, Artharthi. One who is in danger and next one who has a lot of unfulfilled desires. Okay, with this background, let us come to the subject. Now, each spiritual aspirant, what has he to encounter with? First of all, he has to encounter worldliness. Worldliness presents to us in two forms. One is worldliness within us and then we have to encounter outside, external. Worldly people, worldly situations, worldly experiences. We have to have a good knowledge of wisdom. How to deal with them? The inner problem, inner worldliness is called impurity, Ashuddhi. We hear so many times, Karma Yoga helps us a great deal in acquiring Chitta Shuddhi. So Shuddhi means purity. Ashuddhi means impurity. This is the first thing we have to encounter. What is Ashuddhi? Worldliness. What is worldliness? In Shri Ramakrishna's words, only two. Kama and Kanchana, Lust and Gold, Desire and the means of fulfilling the desires. This is our problem. This is not the world's problem. This is our problem. When with this kind of problem we have to move in the world, then we have again two sorts of situations. What is it? One is that we have to come across people who are not only worldly. Worldly people are of different types. But one important type is they are worldly people. They are completely immersed in worldliness, but they are not harmful people. They are not evil people. But there are people who are extremely dangerous, worse than snakes. Shri Ramakrishna used to remark they are worse than snakes because a snake moves in such a silent way. We don't know when it comes so silently and then bites us. So there are worldly people and they can bite us. We have to be extremely cautious. This is one type we have to encounter. But the other type is there are worldly people. They are not really harmful as I just now mentioned, but they can either increase or decrease our worldliness. So what attitude should we develop? Because we cannot avoid them. Let us take note of it. If it could be avoided, Shri Ramakrishna would definitely have given us advice. Yes, there are many situations. We have to make an effort to avoid them. I will give some examples. Worldly people, that means people, devotees, rehastas, married people, they have to work in offices, they have to encounter people, and often they will be invited for parties where there is revelry, where there is all sorts of lustful activities, drinking, all those things. If it can be avoided, and if other people will definitely pass remarks, but avoid them completely. Let them think you are unsocial, you are antisocial, and you are whatever, so many other opinions. It doesn't matter. That is far more beneficial to be thought like that than people. It should not harm the security of our life. That is a very different question. Now the second situation is we cannot avoid. For example, one cannot avoid worldly talk, and nobody is going to talk in the office about spiritual life. That is very, very rare. So these are the situations. So what did we discuss now? Our own internal worldliness, one way to deal with that, and then we encounter people, external world, again two classifications, those who are worldly but completely harmless, those who are very evil, we have to be very alert with them. And then the second situation in this worldliness outside, external, what is our attitude towards them? Are we encouraging ourselves, Oh, this person is good, worldly, but good. Even if a person is good, but if the person is worldly, Sri Ramakrishna never advised us to keep company with such people. Only holy people. Who are holy people? It's called satsanga. By associating with whom? We ourselves gradually become more and more good and holy. That is the only way. That means by the effect an association is going to have upon our minds, whether it is a book, whether it is an entertainment, whether it is a person, etc. This is the background we have to keep in mind, and Sri Ramakrishna is telling very practical things. So let us discuss about these things. First of all, there are many worldly people, not only they are not spiritual, but they won't keep quiet. If they see anybody not behaving like themselves, first thing is they label them as abnormal. We are normal, these are abnormal. And interestingly, the worldly people need not be distant people. Our parents could be worldly. Our sisters and brothers could be worldly. And even our children could be worldly. So, so many situations a devotee has to face. Simple example, Prahlada's father, the greatest, what you call, pretended to be an enemy of God, even though he was one of the greatest devotees of God. But he has to be considered as worldly for two reasons. First reason is he hated one aspect of God. Any spiritual aspirant who says, I believe in God, but hates other forms of God other than the form which he himself likes to worship or to meditate upon, he is definitely a worldly person, not a sincere spiritual person. Secondly, the people, if they pretend to be spiritual, but at the same time try to harm anybody, then definitely there is something wrong with them. These are just some examples I am giving, because very often we have to encounter our greatest problem is not far away. When you come home, that is on Saturday, Sunday, the problem will be always there. It could be husband, it could be wife, it could be children, it could be parents, it could be brothers or sisters, and these are unavoidable evils. And that is where we have to be very wise to devise some means how we can slowly progress in spiritual life. So, Sri Ramakrishna is addressing to Narendra. Of course, through Narendra he is addressing all of us. But what is important for us to take note, because this Narendra has to become a Jagatguru, world teacher. What does world teacher mean? Let us not misunderstand. Like so many Shankaracharyas, they call them Jagatgurus. Even though the Jagat never considers them as a Guru. It is only they who take that name, thinking that we are all Jagatgurus. What does it mean really? It means the person who loves the whole world, first of all. The whole Jagat is nothing but God. Secondly, these are realized souls. Who can be a Jagatguru? Only a realized soul. Thirdly, even if a person has realized God, he must have the power to benefit the whole world. What does it mean? It means there are people who say, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, I am a Buddhist, I am a Muslim, I am a believer, I am a non-believer. Only one criteria. They must be absolutely sincere, and they are ready to expend time, energy, everything and encounter. It doesn't matter whom they believe. So a person who is capable of countering all these people, loving them, teaching them, uplifting them, and that person alone deserves to be a Jagatguru. Obviously, only God manifests. The person in whom God Himself manifests, He Himself is the Jagatguru. Jagatguru, Jagatguru, or Jagatguru is the only one. Simply assuming the name Jagatguru, and hating other people, say, if you don't follow my path, my religion, my yoga, then you will go to the other place. There are so many who consider like that. I am just passing some remarks, that's all. So Sairam Krishna is Jagatguru, His instrument is the future Swami Vivekananda, and what Swami Vivekananda taught is nothing but pure teachings of Sairam Krishna. And if you ask who is Sairam Krishna, He is nothing but God only manifesting through Him. Now with this background, let us read. Master to Narendra. How do you feel about it? Now if you read this sentence without the next sentence, it doesn't make any mood. I think before M came, this was the topic they were discussing. So currently people say all kinds of things about the spiritually minded. That means they criticize. Then Sairam Krishna asked the question, How do you feel about it? But He did not stop to wait to hear the answer of Narendra Nath. Because this is how He is training Narendra and also other people. What is the difference? Narendra has to teach to everybody. Other people only have to practice it for themselves. Then Sairam Krishna is continuing. Look here. When an elephant moves along the street, any number of cars and other small animals may bark and cry after it. But the elephant doesn't even look back at them. If people speak ill of you, what will you think of it? What a marvelous, what is called brainwashing, I call it. What is Sairam Krishna telling? So just imagine an elephant is passing. And you know what happens? It is a realistic scene that all the dogs and they cannot approach the elephant. But from a safe distance and from the safety of their homes, compounds, they go on barking as if they are defying. Come, I will show you what I am to you. So what does it mean? A spiritual aspirant should have the tremendous strength like an elephant, passing majestically like a royal king through a street. What does it mean? It means that I am endowed with the strength of God because my ashraya, my refuge is God. And then compared to God, everything is puny. So let there be billions of worldly people, worldly situations. I don't care. And then Sairam Krishna not only gave this beautiful analogy, directly He is telling that now supposing people speak ill of you, what will you think? He gave the hint. You must consider yourself as an elephant passing in the street, majestically walking, hurrying, running. No, majestically, leisurely walking. And any number of the dogs, you must remember when a dog barks, the way it barks. So it goes. But if the object looks back, immediately this fellow puts its tail behind its legs and then backs it up. It is a very peculiar pose. I am sure most of you have noticed it. So now directly Sairam Krishna is questioning because not only He gave a hint, He said, you must take the hint, Narendra. I shall think that dogs are barking at me. And He is absolutely right because He was taught. Then Master smiling, see, smiling. Oh no, you must not go that far, my child. So you should not go that far because having given the hint that you should be like an elephant, but think of others only in one respect that they cannot do any harm to me. But if superiority complex comes, they all these are like worms. Sairam Krishna used this word worms. The Calcutta people are like worms and Mother Kali is looking at them. I saw from the veranda of the Mother's bedroom, that is Mother Kali's bedroom, above the shrine room of Dakshineshwar Kali temple where Divine Mother is put to bed. I saw all the Calcutta people. Worms means what? Sairam Krishna is not looking down upon them. That means anybody who is behaving like a worm, like a worldly person, completely forgetting time, old age, disease, death, etc. and forgetting God, thinking that we are great. So long as it lasts, such a person is compared to an animal. Shiva is said Pashupati. That means He is Lord of the Pashus. Who is a Pashu? He who thinks I am the body, mind, it is a Pashu. So this is what Sairam Krishna is telling. Now what Sairam Krishna wants to teach is every spiritual aspirant must have two mental outlooks upon everything. What is it? From the spiritual point of view, every worldly person is like a worm. But from the same spiritual point of view, everybody is a manifestation of God. Why is this a dog a dog? Because of God's will. Why is a worldly person a worldly person? Because of the Mahamaya of God. It is very interesting. The fault lies with the Divine Mother because if only she had not covered us with her Maya, all of us would have been fully conscious of God and above all Aham Brahmasmi. It is only her fault. She wants to play with us. That's what Sairam Krishna had also said many a time. Now coming back, Sairam Krishna wants to inculcate when you are helping people in spiritual situations, you will have to teach them that you have infinite strength like an elephant and the others cannot harm you. But as you progress in spiritual life, you should be able to look upon them as a psychiatrist looks upon a patient. You know what a psychiatrist, how a psychiatrist looks upon a patient. Whenever even the direct patient is taken to a psychiatrist or a psychologist, he has two opinions about that patient at the same time. If a person says, I am not what I am. I am somebody else. I am a dog. I am Napoleon, etc. The doctor knows this person is just like you and me, a completely normal person. But because of some unfortunate experience, this person somehow believes that he is a dog or he is a Napoleon and his nature as a human being can never be changed. It will not change even while the patient thinks that he is a dog or a Queen of England or whatever it is. But at the same time, this disease in between that has come, making him forget, that can be removed and I will try to help him. This is exactly the way Jeevan Muktas look at the worldly people that they know here is a worldly person and he is nothing but pure divinity, nothing but Brahman. But he also knows temporarily this Mahamaya covered him but it cannot cover him for a long time. A time will come when this person will throw off that veil of Maya and he will realize I am nothing but pure divinity, Aham Brahmasmi. This is the marvelous message of Vedanta. Each soul is potentially divine. There is nothing which can stop anybody to manifest that divinity because the truth is we came from God, we live in God and we are going towards God to reclaim our inheritance. That is the truth. Then Ramakrishna is what is called softening or modifying. First strengthening, then how to use that strength. That is called modification. God dwells in all beings. Ramakrishna continues. But you may be intimate only with good people because there are so many good people are there, bad people are there. God dwells in all beings and all beings whether living or non-living, whether plants, animals, insects, snakes, human beings, gods, demons can all be divided into good and evil. So he says, you may be intimate only with good people. You must keep away from the evil-minded. God is even in the tiger but you cannot embrace the tiger on that account. You may say, why run away from a tiger which is also a manifestation of God? The answer to that is those who tell you to run away are also manifestations of God and why should you not listen to them? So who are the people who tell us? Gurus and Shastras. This is their teaching. Before we go further into Sri Ramakrishna's story, I want to insert a small note here. That is to say, every one of us has two aspects. A material aspect and a spiritual aspect. That is called Jivatma. Our consciousness reflecting in this limited Upadhi called body and mind. That is called Chidabasa. Reflection. And that is our true nature. But at the same time, it is getting reflected objectively in something called body and mind. So whenever we say, everybody is God, we should not say, the body is God, the mind is God. This is the biggest problem all of us encounter. Sri Ramakrishna is giving us that solution. Simple example. When we encounter a hungry tiger in a solitary place, or anywhere it is okay, but in a solitary place, then you see, there are two views there. How are you looking at the tiger? This is the first. And how is the tiger looking at you? How are you looking at the tiger? This is a dangerous animal. You have not gotten rid of the idea that God is within it. If God is prominent, a tiger cannot be a dangerous animal. This is the most astounding truth we have to encounter. If we can see God in the tiger, and if anybody can see God in the tiger, or lion, or wolves, or hyenas, or any dangerous thing, and we will come to that, Sri Ramakrishna is illustrating also, in such a person's mind, even if the tiger attacks him, and even kills him, absolutely there is neither fear nor sorrow, it is only gladness, because it is a play of God with God. But we have not attained to that state. We are seeing that only we are identified with our body-mind. So long as we are identified with the body-mind, body-mind will get affected. And therefore when a person, with this terrible clinging to body-mind, encounters a tiger, we have to be afraid, we have to try to protect ourselves as much as possible. This simple point is missed by some people. Of course most of us are not that spiritual, so that we say, Oh, I will look upon this tiger as a God, and go on embracing. Most people do not do it. So that is not a problem. But in our course of evolution, a time will come, when we will have to encounter. It is not a question of only some people will encounter. We have to encounter evil, and then look upon it as good, and then situation may be good, situation may be bad. It does not matter. And I will forestall by giving an illustration. This was an illustration that comes in the Gospel, and given by Shri Ramakrishna. There was a great devotee of Rama, who was a soldier, and one of the fellow soldiers, who was a Muslim, a Muslim, he took an opportunity. This man used to go, battle is not there, to the river bank, and take a bath, and then sit and take God's name, Ishta Devata's name. So a Muslim found him alone, and then he stabbed him. And then he ran away. Soon after that, fellow soldiers saw him, came running and said, Who is the person who stabbed you? And this person, in that exalted state of mind, he said, He whom I have been praying, that same Rama, had stabbed me. But that did not save his life. He died with that knife wounds. Now the point is, for such people, from our viewpoint, that was a tragedy. From his point, it is a liberation. Because he straight away goes to God. Because he is seeing good person, evil. There is no good, there is no evil. It is only Rama, who is good, who is evil. He is playing with himself. With whom? Who am I? I am Rama. Who is this Muslim? He is also Rama. Who is killing whom? Rama is killing only Rama. When Ugran Arasimha killed Hiranyakashyapu, what happened to Hiranyakashyapu? His body is destroyed, but light came out of him, and merged in the Mahadeepa, which is the God Vishnu, Narayana, in the form of Ugran Arasimha. We often miss these beautiful gems. So, Gurus and Shastras are telling, and then here is a story to illustrate, this marvellous truth, that when we are in a particular state of spiritual development, we have to interpret events in one way, and when we progress much further, and encounter the same, and for both, Sri Ramakrishna gives the two different stories. So, we should not misinterpret these things. Let us delve. There was a monastery. One day, the teacher taught the disciples, everything is God. Whatever you see is nothing but God. And after receiving that teaching, the disciple went out, and suddenly he heard a cry, a mad elephant is coming, and you should run away, take care of yourselves. But just now the disciple heard the Guru's teachings, so he said, everything is God, the elephant is also God, so I am also God, why should I move away? The elephant came, and saw him on the way, seized it, and violently threw him aside, and ran away. The fellow had become unconscious, bleeding, bruised, and then his brother disciples came and picked him up, and when he came to consciousness, he was asked, why did you not run away? That was the question. Because he should have run away. At that stage of his spiritual development, his supreme duty was to run away. Then he said, just our Guruji taught us, everything is God. Then immediately the Guru replied, my child, what you heard is right, what you understood is right, but how you behaved, that is not right. Why? Have you not heard the cry, that this is a mad elephant, you run away? Who said that run away? The Mahat said run away. The Mahat also is God, why did you not listen to the words of that God? This is called practical Vedanta. So that means, we should consider ourselves, whatever is the safest course of action, when we encounter evil people like this. This is a situation where we encounter evil person. Suppose, this evil can be countered, by either beating, or threatening, or by killing. Yes. That is what soldiers have to do. First give warning, and then if they don't listen, killing also is okay. So that is why Shri Krishna says, it is your sacred duty, to kill these people. Why? Because, we have tried, through peace message, like Hindu, Chinese, Russia and Ukraine, all peace talks have failed. The only way is, try to counter it, as best as possible. So, this is how, we have to... The Mahat, God forbade you to stay there, since all are manifestations of God. Why don't you trust the Mahat's words? You should have heeded, the words of the Mahat, God. Now, Ramakrishna continues. It is said in the scriptures, that water is a form of God. Apo Narayanaha. Apo means water. It is God. But, Ramakrishna is continuing. All water is God. But, when there is a body, human body, if a crocodile body is there, it can counter any type of water. In fact, the worst water. You know, what the scientists have discovered? Crocodiles, never suffer from cancer. Now, they are doing research. What is the element, which prevents the cancer? Because, one of the biggest killers of human beings, even other animals also, people think, that only human beings have cancer. Animals also, have cancers. Tragic cancers are there. And they suffer also terribly, from pain. Just like a human being. There is a special point. Not only human, it is not that human beings suffer more, and an animal suffers less. This is the greatest, grossest avidya, manifesting in us. You ask an ant, a mosquito, if I squash you, will you be suffering like that? Yes. It will be suffering, as much as some, what is called, road roller, squashes us, underneath its heavy wheels. That will be like that only. So, Sri Ramakrishna is telling, water is okay. But, depending upon for what purpose? Not that you have to run away. There is some type of water, good for washing the cloths. There is some type of water, good for cleaning the vessels. Some type of water, so you take it into the field, and you get some fertilizer out of it, because plants also need water. There is some water, where certain type of animals, happily they live together. That is fine. But, every human being, cannot drink that type of water. So, that means what? Consider every water, as God, Narayana, because without water, we will not survive. But at the same time, we will have to be discriminative. From which point? Worldly point. What is the worldly point? Body. It is not that our mind, will be poisoned by water. Our body only, can be sick, can be infected, can suffer from disease, or disease-borne organisms, etc. So, use judiciously. Why? Because God has given us that intelligence. This water is good for this purpose, but for drinking, this particular water alone, is very good. So, in like manner, God undoubtedly dwells in the hearts of all, holy and unholy, righteous and unrighteous, but a man should not have dealings with the unholy, the wicked, the impure. He must not be intimate with them. With some of them, he may exchange words. Precious teachings. Some people, you should never even contact. If they come, try to run away as soon as possible. But with some, just exchange some beautiful words. How are you? I wish you well. That is wonderful. But with others, he should not go even that far. He should keep completely aloof from such people. And here is the wisdom, we should take this teaching, and we should try to protect ourselves. Now, a devotee has a question here. Sir, if a wicked man is about to do harm, or actually does so, should we keep quiet then? You see, here are two scenarios. There is a wicked person, about to do harm. We should try either to counter that, if it is not possible, we have to accept whatever comes. But sometimes, it is done actually. So, what should we do about it? Even though it is an unsavoury subject, even today, they divide between man's attitude, and woman's attitude, has not improved much. There are so many women, who are raped. What tremendous damage is done, in their lives. Some, most of the countries, oh women, it's okay. They are treated in that way, inferior way. What happens, when your own mother or sister, something happens to them? Do you feel? Of course, even if we know, even if we feel, most of us are weak, helpless, there is not much we can do, against powers. Evil people are there. Every day, thousands and thousands of such cases are going on. Children being abused, not only by worldly people, so called godly people, who are pedophilia, and the church is not even, some mumbling, some external worlds, words, but, they are not really trying to do, wholeheartedly, something about it. Even today, they are not doing it. Anyway, I am just trying to find out, that, rarely is the person, accepting, persons like, Sri Ram Krishna, Swami Vivekananda, direct disciples, how much, they respected, revered, and saw the Divine Mother in them. Many examples I have given in the past, you should recollect them. So here, Sri Ram Krishna is trying to answer, to this question. If somebody is trying to do, try your best, to escape that one, by either facing, or running away. But sometimes, actual damage is done. What are you going to do? There also, Ram Krishna's advice is, very helpful. A man, living in a society, should make a show of tamas, to protect himself, from evil minded people. But, he should not harm anybody, in anticipation of harm, likely to be done to him. Sometimes we imagine, this person is going to, do harm to me, before he has that opportunity, I will finish him. For spiritual aspirants, that should not take place. Then, Sri Ram Krishna is told, to illustrate a story. What is the, what is the, essence of the teaching? That one should do, his, and one should not really, harm. And before we go further, I will have to add, not only his, if his, does not work, then you will have to kill. I will give, a graphic illustration, because Sri Ram Krishna's words, should be interpreted, according to the situation, by the person. Supposing, you are coming home, and then, you see suddenly a person, trying to kill or harm, a small child. And, you try to frighten him away, but he is a wicked fellow, he is not frightened of you, and he does not want to listen to you, and he even, comes running towards you. What should you do? If you have the strength, suppose you have a gun, shoot him dead. Simply, don't wait for him. Is it not a crime? So, yes, unfortunately, the rules, the laws of many countries are, this person suffers more than the other person. It is very unfortunate. But, why should you do? Because, this person, is going to harm many more people, in the name of humanity, in the name of human rights, in the name of compassion. If you leave this person, you are also participating in the sin. Tomorrow, it may be your children, or your neighbour's children, or somebody else's, it doesn't really matter. Children, and other people, should be protected, from an evil person, from a mad person. If by killing one person, if you can save another person, that is much more meritorious, than anything else. But, why do people not do it? Simply, because of the law, most countries have adopted, in the name of democracy, human rights. Only, criminals have human rights. The victims, seem to be, to me, very little of human rights. So, we have to interpret, that if you can, prevent something, without doing harm, do it. If you can prevent, with a little bit of harm, do it. If you cannot prevent, accepting, taking, extreme measures, do it. This is, my understanding, of this one. Anyway, the story goes, there was a holy man, once he was travelling, from a village, to another village, and there was a big Maidan, and the local boys told, Sir, there is a ferocious snake, and it has bitten many of us, whenever it sees us, it chases us, tries to bite us, you please don't go. And the holy man said, I know how to deal with it, and then he went forward, and the snake became very angry, but this man had given a mantra, made it a disciple, and immediately, that snake became a holy disciple, and then the holy man said, never harm anybody. And the disciple snake, accepted it. The holy man said, I will come back after some time, and I will see you. Meanwhile, practice, repeat the mantra, and become a good snake. After some time, the boys slowly found out, that the snake doesn't hiss, doesn't harm, and it was handled very badly, they viriled it, dashed it, thought it dead, left it, and went away. And many months after, the holy man was once again coming, and then he asked, what about the snake? Oh, it is dead, Sir. We have killed it. But the holy man believed, that it cannot die, until it becomes perfect. So he came to the place, where he had seen it, called it, and after many times calling, slowly it came down. The holy man asked it, why are you so weak? And then it said, Sir, I have stopped harming people, I am eating only very small things, very sattvic food, and that is why I have become weak. The holy man said, No, there must be something else. Then it slowly recalled, that one day, seeing its harmlessness, the boys caught hold of its tail, viriled it, and dashed it, thought it dead, and went away. It recounted. Then the holy man replied, See, I told you not to harm, I did not ask you to stop hissing, because hissing means what? Protect oneself. That is where I was remarking, I don't know how you people take it. So if it is possible to protect without harming, yes, protect yourself. We have a right for it. But if the only way is harming others, yes, you go and do it. And this is particularly for the householders, who have to live in this world. Now Ramakrishna is remarking, the snake had developed the quality of sattva. It could not be angry with anyone. It had totally forgotten, that the cowherd boys had almost killed it. See, this is the outcome of sattva guna. What is it? Not only forgive, but forget. Because even to keep in memory, the person has got rajo guna. And tamo guna, of course he doesn't remember. Rajo guna means he will remember, but the person has not developed sattva guna, that means he had forgotten. Not only forgotten, even if he remembers, it is God who is doing it to me. That was what Prahlada had experienced. It is not my father. It is Narayana who is playing with me. And then the brahmachari exclaimed, Ramakrishna continues, What a shame! You are such a fool. I asked you not to bite, but I did not forbid you so to hiss. Why did you not scare them by hissing? So he said, wicked people, you must frighten them, lest they should do you harm, but never inject your venom into them. One must not injure others. I will tell you one more story, as told in this context only by Sri Ramakrishna in today's class, where we are talking about how to counter worldliness. When an aspirant develops sufficient amount of spirituality, then his reaction to any situation is extremely different, purely spiritual, and for such persons, they cannot even hiss. It is impossible for them, let alone doing harm, but even to hiss also is not possible, is not necessary. There was a monastery. One day the disciple went out for begging food into a village, and there he saw a rich man beating a poor man black and blue. So this monastic member felt pity, he went to interfere, and the rich man's anger turned on this man, and he beat this man black and blue until he fell down. You know very often, the people who interfere, they get all the wrath of these wicked people. So the brother disciple came to know about it, carried him to the monastery, and started sprinkling water. Slowly they found signs of external consciousness returning, and one person seeing him weak was trying to feed milk, and then to see whether he could recognize he was regaining outer consciousness, he asked him, Brother, do you recognize who is giving you milk? What came the answer? Yes, the same one who bet me there is now giving me milk. This is the ultimate state where Vishnu is laughing, Vishnu is frowning, Vishnu is insulting, Vishnu is beating, Vishnu is serving me. In one form Vishnu harms me, in another form he protects me, he looks after me. Sarvam Vishnuvayam Jagat Everything is nothing but Vishnu. So we have to take the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. First of all, is there worldliness in me? Because when we encounter worldly objects, it will rouse our worldliness, it can bring temptations from within, and that is a sure sign if we observe that it is not the worldly object, but it is my worldly suppressed desire. That is reacting, that is how we have to understand. And slowly we have to purify. But even if we are pure, even if we are not worldly, we have to encounter worldly people. And different situations, different people, so different types of reactions, we will have to think over them. These precious, invaluable teachings are practical Vedanta we have to get. But the one main thing we need to do, do I really want to progress in spiritual life? If that is not strong, that Sankalpa is not strong, these teachings will not be so very valuable. There are many valuable things we will discuss in our next class. Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamami Muhur Moho Ho Me Ramkrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda Bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ramkrishna