Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 058 on 12-April-2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadaam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamaami Mohor Moho In our last class, we have started discussing the third visit. And from this third visit, we can learn plenty of practical lessons. One of the most important points we have to learn is that we are in the world. Now, not only we are worldly, but the whole world impinges upon us. So the world is influencing us. We are influencing the world. Who is influencing whom in a greater way, only God knows. And yet, we are all blessed. We have a spiritual desire. And this Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is a most practical philosophy, what we call practical Vedanta. We have to remind ourselves, every scripture has to deal with three subjects, only three subjects. What is the truth? What is the goal? What is the way to reach that goal? And this Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna deals with that. So in our last class, it was the third visit of M. He was profoundly impressed and he is writing that I have never met such a remarkable person in my life. So it was a Sunday afternoon when M came on his third visit to the Master. And Sri Ramakrishna was teaching just as Krishna was teaching to Arjuna. Sri Ramakrishna was teaching Narendra. Narendra was the Jagatguru teacher for the whole world later on, just as the teaching given to Arjuna has become the greatest scripture in the whole world. So Sri Ramakrishna was talking to Narendra, but it is addressed to each and every one of us. M understood from the conversation that the topic was about worldly men who look down on those who want to lead a spiritual life. So the Master was talking about the great number of such people in the world and about how to deal with them. So first, we have already seen if worldly people criticize, what should be the reaction of the spiritual seekers? This is a very crucial question, especially when the person just started to practice spiritual disciplines. Because when a person, when the same sadhaka has advanced to some extent, he gains tremendous faith in God, he gains tremendous faith in the scripture, and he has enough courage to say to hell with you, you do whatever you like, I don't care. And when a person reaches that state, worldly criticism doesn't really affect that person. Not only that, something mysterious happens. Worldly criticism really reinforces such a person's spiritual life. Because he says, if this is the type of people I have to deal with, then I better go to God as soon as possible. And the people who criticize, they can also be divided into two types of people. One is people from outside the family. Normally, that is the case, but also within the family, people will be criticizing. Their criticism will be in a very peculiar form. So we don't mind your being spiritual, but this being this spiritual, so much spiritual, we never heard about it. Don't you see? We are also leading a worldly life, we are also religious, we are also devoted to God. But there is a time, this is not the time for young people like you. So when a person becomes retired from the so-called office life, not worldly life, office life, and so-called he is retired, he is 60 years old, and that is the time to think of God. This is such a horrible, poisonous criticism. Not understanding that they themselves are contradicting with their own life. Alright, you are older, and what are you doing about it? Do you think that the children are blind, that they can't see the worldliness of the parents, grandparents, etc.? And don't they see how much of suffering is going through everyone, has to go through those who are clinging to the worldly life? And actually, I think that is the greatest blessing. God created the world so that we are put through the rack. So that we understand, if nothing turns us to God, at least the suffering can turn us to God. Anyway, so how to deal with them? First, Sri Ramakrishna teaches in the highest ideal, you should be like an elephant. When an elephant passes through the street, any number of cars go on barking, safe from behind the gates of their homes. Does the elephant care? Having given the hint, Sri Ramakrishna himself asks the leading question like lawyers. So what do you think, my child, when worldly people criticize you? And you know, Narendra himself had been criticized severely by his mother, by his sisters, etc. So Narendra understood, took the hint and said, I shall think that dogs are barking at me. Now Sri Ramakrishna comes. There are two types. Yes, I don't care for the world. That is one stance. But there is a very subtle point involved here. I don't care for the worldly people's talks about worldly life. But I have to learn how to look upon everybody as Brahman, as God. Because the whole world is nothing but Brahman. Each soul is potentially divine, not only I and a few people. Everything that we call the world is nothing but the manifestation of God. So Sri Ramakrishna immediately tells a story of the mahout and the mad elephant. And then when a disciple was asked, who was thrown aside, Oh, our teacher taught us to see God in everything. Yes, you saw the God in the elephant. Why did you not see the God in the form of the mahout, who is a guru in that respect? Run away, otherwise this mad elephant may injure you or even kill you. God dwells in all beings. Then Sri Ramakrishna teaches. So first he taught that we should have developed enough strength. And this strength comes only from God. What is the point? If I criticise worldly people, and usually we do it behind their backs, never in front, what is the reason for that? Because first of all, if I criticise anybody upfront, then likely they will become our bitterest enemies. It could be our own people, our office people, higher officers, they could do us immense harm. But we think that if we do from behind their backs, no harm is done. Our inner tension evaporates and we become free, but not understanding how much of damage it creates within us, bitterness, etc. Okay, so this is what really happens. We should be able to see God in everything. But before we are capable of seeing God, divinity, we should be able to see the good. That was what Holy Mother was teaching. Do not find fault with anybody, even with an ant, even with a worm. Why? Because this is very interesting. As I study these things, peculiar thoughts run in my brain. What can a worm do? After all, it is a worm. God created it like that. It can only behave like a worm. A mosquito can behave. Otherwise, what is called horrible words, epithets can be attached. There is a horrible dog, horrible mosquito, etc. A dog is barking in the neighbourhood whole night, disturbing my sleep. That is there. And it is not only the animal dogs, there are also human dogs. And there, especially in India, how much noise pollution they create. How much, even early morning, they go on blaring of every religion, especially Hindus, early morning. I appreciate the spiritual songs, spiritual stotrams, Vedic chanting, etc. But they just blast the ears of everybody. All of us are victims. Then there are neighbours who put on the loudest way, talk in the loudest way. It is not criticism. But they are not criticizing us. But even when they talk among themselves, as if they are talking. We Hindus have to learn a lot. And for that, first of all, our devotees must learn how to not create any problem to others. Unconsciously, how many things we go on doing. Not only not getting annoyed, angry, and all those things are there. I will come to that point. But even in our external behaviour, we have to learn a lot from the West. There are many evils in the West, everywhere. But there are many, many good things in the West. We will have to learn a great lesson from there. So, Sri Ramakrishna says that the goal of every spiritual aspirant is to see God everywhere. 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 and save yourself are also manifestations of God. And why should you not listen to them? You must listen to them. But as I said, there comes a time when a spiritual aspirant totally depends upon God. There is nothing called what he can do. And when a devotee reaches that state, he need not do anything. Only God will do everything. But until that time, we have to take care not to injure others, but at the same time, to protect ourselves. That is the main point. Sri Ramakrishna was a superb storyteller. So, he is telling how to deal with wicked people. He told in a marvellous way the story of the holy man and the snake. And then he initiated the snake. And the snake became very sattvic. It even forgot these beautiful points we have to keep in mind. While Sri Ramakrishna was narrating this story, that the snake had developed such a nature that it forgot that these boys, urchins, have injured it. And only taking it for dead, they went away. So that forgetfulness, not only forgive, but forget also. That development of sattvika nature is the immediate goal of every spiritual aspirant. So this is what Sri Ramakrishna said, that you are a fool. Why did you not hiss? But I mentioned last time, does hissing work all the time? No, it doesn't work. A very advanced soul doesn't even hiss. Because he depends everything for everything upon God. But ordinary people like us, because we are hissing inside, but we are not taking action outside. And that is called hypocrisy. We feel, we curse them, we say God will smite them, and we can think any bad thought within our mind. But we do not want to express it outside. Justifying we are devotees of God. So that is why Sri Ramakrishna's teachings are not only great spiritual teachings, great psychological truths, opening our minds in every nook and corner of our heart to reveal and throwing a floodlight to find out how much hypocrisy, how much weakness, how much ambition, how many enemies we are hiding within ourselves. So Sri Ramakrishna said, why don't you hear? You hear them also. God is everywhere, in everything, in a tiger and in a bad elephant. But we must listen to the words of the wise people also. So in like manner, God undoubtedly dwells in the hearts of all, holy and unholy, righteous and unrighteous. But man should not have any dealings with the unholy, the wicked, the impure. Yes, you hiss, keep them away, do not injure them. But I mentioned last time, if it is with regard to ourselves, okay, even if they want to injure us, if we can hiss, if it serves the purpose, that's fine. Now what do I mean by I? We are specially, Sri Ramakrishna is giving this teaching to a householder. A householder, even though a husband may say I, a wife may say I, but they should mean we. If especially the householder, the husband, if he is injured, it is injuring the whole family, it affects the whole family. Therefore, it is his duty, responsibility to react appropriately. That is a wonderful thing that we have to understand. That one must have no dealings with the wicked people, but the problem is not that we may not have any dealings with the wicked people, but even that ideal is very high. Most of us, when we are working in offices, our higher officer can take advantage of his higher position, can harm us. There is no way we can avoid such people. But not only that, even colleagues talking rubbish, talking about money, about sex, about so many things, which every one of us who are working in the offices, we are experiencing that jealousy, hatred, ambition, trying to suppress the other people, trying to take credit from what the others have done. All these things are very common things. We have certain power. Let us recognize our capacity and try to protect ourselves. Beyond that, we only have to pray to God. But as I mentioned, if there is an opportunity, this is with regard to ourselves. But if we find somebody is going to injure some people, whether it is small children in the street, or going to throw a bomb, or going about shooting other people, if we can help, if we have a gun in our hand, I mentioned we have a right to kill other people, because here we are not talking about our personal self, we are talking about the welfare of the society. That particular sense also we must have. Since the topic came, I am thinking you will have to put up with me a little bit. Supposing there is a government and it declares a very wicked war, evil war, even though it is not at all necessary. The questions that come upon the citizens and also upon the soldiers, that is a very tricky question. I myself sometimes do not find the answer. Every soldier is supposed to obey the commander, whatever he says. But Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita clearly taught us, if it is a Dharma Yuddha, then we have to do. Of course, He did not explicitly speak about Adharmic Yuddha, unrighteous war. So, what should a soldier do? If a commander unnecessarily, unprovokedly declares and shoots these people, kills these people, as it is happening in a very most evil manner, should he do it or should he not do it? Or is the oath only applicable if it is a righteous war, if it is a justified cause? That is a very difficult question for all of us to understand. But then, for the citizens, we have a better choice. Being the citizen of a country, we would like the welfare of every country that we are living in, and which is our birth country, which has sustained us, which is still protecting us, sustaining us, catering to our education, our needs, etc. If our country happens to declare unrighteous war upon us, just because we are powerful, we have got powerful weapons, what should be the duty of the citizens? I can tell unhesitatingly, if the citizens do not protest, then they are not only not going to be spiritual, they are not even going to be right worldly people. Such dangerous questions and then such unavoidable questions will crop up in everybody's life. But you know, we are all frightened. So what can one man do? This is the first answer that pops up. Yes, I feel it is unrighteous. Our government should not have done that. But what can I do? Well, you do as a citizen because to be a citizen means wishing the welfare of the whole country because war brings tremendous amount of reactions, repercussions, whether it is the winner or it is the loser. Both will be suffering. Take it from me and this is what every great person says, nobody wins a war. Everybody suffers from war. Anyway, this is by the way, you may think why this subject when we are talking about pure spirituality because we are living also in the world. Our spiritual progress also develops according to these things only. We have to appropriately react. If not, spirituality is a distant dream. We have to understand it. So if it is possible, avoid wicked people. We must not be intimate with them. But with some of them, we may exchange words. But with others, we should not go even that far. So we should keep a low from such people. This is the summary of what we discussed earlier. Now what I want to discuss is this clearly. First of all, Hiram Krishna is giving us practical Vedanta on how to live in the world. First, criticism of worldly people. One thing about this subject is whether we live righteous life or unrighteous life. It is not that. Only spiritual people are criticized. Everybody is criticized because criticizing has become the staple food of everybody. It has become the greatest, strongest samskara. Finding fault with others. If something becomes uncomfortable, then we criticize. If the train is late, bus is late. If we are late, we justify. But if something is inconvenient for us, we go on criticizing, not understanding that so many things can happen without people being helpless. So it is not that only we have to deal with worldly people criticizing people who want to be spiritual. So criticism is a common thing. That is the first question. Second, is criticism really bad? If other people criticize us, is it good or is it bad? And I can tell you that it is absolutely fantastic. It is good. We have to avoid criticism, in fact. That is the best thing if we dare to do it, if we have the courage to do it. Why? First of all, as I mentioned, there was a great soul in the 15th century called Vidyaranya. And he gave three beautiful answers. How criticism of the other persons is really very beneficial for us, for anybody who is being criticized. First, he said that most of us, we do not know what our faults are. And what is criticism? Finding out our faults. And since we are incapable of finding our own faults, and we don't get anybody, rarely we get anybody who can criticize. And I have to tell you in this respect, I have personally seen, gone through, even with the best intention, if I criticize somebody, find out the faults of other people, they become extremely agitated. They become inimical even to me. And their contact with me becomes very infrequent. Unfortunately, I have seen that. But with all goodwill, I will have to point out, because they come with that idea, Swami ji, give us some advice. And then I say, advice is later on. These are the defects, first of all, you will have to overcome. Only then it is possible. And they cannot tolerate. And then at the same time, they ask for guidance. This is hypocrisy, sheer hypocrisy. If I go to somebody, I should be able to open my heart. If a student goes, the teacher's business is to find the problems, the defects, and then the faults of the pupil, and then correct that person. Only such a pupil, such a teacher will be most effective in this world. So, first thing Vidyaranya says, Here is a person who is without taking any money, without your inviting him, he is pointing out all your faults. And if you provoke him, he will find most of your faults. Probably everything of your faults, most of your faults. So, that is the first benefit. So, instead of our going through a long time like ignorance is bliss, we find out from these people, yes, these are my faults. I should be able to say that, is it true? Do I have the faults? Don't stop that person. Don't criticize the person. Don't get angry with the person. Listen to this person and say, is there any truth in the words of this person? That is the first thing. Second thing is, supposing most often, yes, there will be faults, because the others can see us more objectively than we can see ourselves. Now, second thing also is very, very important. What is the second thing? Supposing there are no faults. Supposing that fellow is criticizing us without any ground, without any reason. Then what should be our reaction? That we have to develop tolerance, patience and not react badly. That is what we need to do if we can do that. And that is the greatest benefit we get even if there is no truth in the other person. Third Vidyaranya says, in this world, it takes time, energy and mostly money to please other people, to make other persons happy. Here, by just allowing them to criticize us, you are making those people very happy without losing time, energy or money. And how lucky you are if you can really do that. So, this is the most wonderful thing that we will have to understand. That this is how it can help us. So, is criticism really bad? Not at all. Even if there is no fault, criticism is very good. And it helps us in another way. The more people criticize us, the more, of course, the capacity to keep the mind equanimous will develop. And not only that, we understand that it is not good to keep company with this kind of people. And that is really very, very good. Instead of our developing detachment with great difficulty, if people themselves help us to attain detachment towards this kind of people, who unnecessarily give us trouble. And when I say criticism, criticism is only verbal attack. But some people actually do us harm also. So, we have to try to protect ourselves. But at the same time, sometimes our Karma does not allow us to protect ourselves. So, really we can derive great benefit from criticism. Now, we have to ask ourselves a question. This is normally what happens when people criticize us, find fault with us, try to harm ourselves. They are labelled as our enemies. Now, let us ask a question. Who are our greatest enemies? Is it these external people or is it the internal six enemies in the form of Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, Matsarya? It is very good to now and then ponder over these things. If people are criticizing me, then is it really such a bad thing at all? Or in my opinion, it's a good thing, very good thing. Let the Divine Lord help us in that respect. Now, a devotee asks, Suppose, Sir, if a wicked man is about to do harm or actually does so, should we keep quiet then? Then Sri Ramakrishna tells the story of the holy man and the snake. And then he says, This is particularly you have to understand, Sri Ramakrishna divides people into two categories, householders and sannyasins. How do we understand it? It is not that a person who is married, it is not that who is a person who has renounced. That is a very external and very limited understanding of who are householders and who are sannyasins. I would say, a person who has progressed in spiritual life to such an extent that he relies more and more on God and doesn't care about who likes that person, who likes me, who doesn't like me, who wants to be nearer to me, who doesn't like to be nearer to me, he has gone far beyond that. Such a person is called a sannyasin. And such people, they should never even take up a brick, take up a stone, take up a small stick to protect themselves because they have reached such a state where they totally rely upon God. So that is a sannyasin. And who is a householder? Really householder means once one devotee came pathetically, Maharaj, we are householders. Immediately Swami said, Stop there! Do you know who is a householder? A householder is one who has a house. What is the size of your house? Very small, maybe three to four rooms. Do you know what is the size of our house here in the monastery? We have at least four storied and at least there are more than 30 rooms in this building. And I am the head of this ashram. Now who is a greater householder? You or me? Small household, small headache. Bigger household, bigger headache. Wonderful way of looking at things. But coming back, who is a householder? Who thinks who is attached to his body and of course subsequently to his enjoyment, to his property, everything, he is a householder. Not a real physical external house. Our biggest house is this body. That is why this Griha is our body. Our whole life is centred around this house only, this body only. Now we have to understand here, the person who is striving, who has still not risen to that height, who minds, and he is a householder. And such a person, he has to be practical. Because he is very vulnerable, he is very weak, he has not yet developed such strength that he can brush aside everything and move forward. Such a person, all this advice is being given. So we must understand to whom Sri Ramakrishna is giving this beautiful advice. Then Sri Ramakrishna moves on that a person who is a householder, he must hiss, and as I mentioned, if hissing doesn't work, then you will have to either beat or kill, and especially I made two distinctions. If it concerns only me personally, then I should be very mild. But if it is concerning other people, then I should be able to kill a madcap, a wicked person harming other people, grown-ups or children, we have to be very careful, if necessary, kill. Because as a good citizen, that is the right of everybody, and the duty of everybody to prevent evil as much as possible. But unfortunately, we see in this world, only if anybody criticizes our country, anybody, even my country is doing something. Our newspapers, our governments, our leaders' opinions, speeches, everything brainwashes us, and we become brainwashed. And this is the greatest tragedy for such people to become spiritual. I tell you, and it is true, extremely difficult and very difficult for them to overcome these things. Then Sri Ramakrishna moves on that what is the nature of this creation? In this creation of God, there is a variety of things. Men, animals, trees, plants. Among the animals, some are good, some bad. There are ferocious animals like the tiger. Some trees bear fruit, sweet as nectar, and others bear fruit that's poisonous. Likewise, among human beings, there are the good and the wicked, the holy and the unholy. There are some who are devoted to God, and others who are attached to the world. Everything in this world can be divided into good and evil. But one thing we have to understand. When we, any non-human thing, if it is good or not so good, sweet or poisonous, it is not their fault. It is God's creation. There is no choice for them, no freedom for them. So we will have to accept them. We have to be careful about them. But when it comes to human beings, then there are people who are demonic. Demonic not only in a spiritual sense, but demonic in a worldly sense also. So we have to be very careful about these things. And at the same time, this is an advice specially given to spiritual people, but it can equally apply to worldly people also because even if a worldly person does not know the nature of the world, that there will be evil and good, good people and evil people, and sometimes there is gain, sometimes loss, sometimes suffering, sometimes happiness. And if we do not accept life in its real sense, then great suffering we have to undergo. And in the end, you know, we accept that because the world is not going to change because we grow. But we grow and we accept the world and the world ceases to have any influence when we grow. Until we grow, we have to learn our lessons. But here we are specially talking about spiritual people. So the whole universe creation can be divided into two, good and evil. And they are not two separate. They are two sides of the same coin. The more hungry you are, the more you will be your enjoyment of food. And the less your appetite, the less will be your enjoyment, even if you are getting very desirable food materials, etc. So that applies to every department of our life. And then also, when we look at tigers or hyenas or these animals which kill, God has created them. They are ferocious, we say. Who says? We say. But they are just natural. Once they eat, they are as lazy as all of us. So once they get stomach full of food, they don't want to exert unnecessarily. They just go and lie down. Those who watch nature movies, they can truly understand it. So if a tree is bearing a bitter type of fruit, nowadays scientists are discovering tremendous medicinal values are found in these kinds of trees which are bitter, which are sour, etc. Most healthy products can be harvested from these things. But unfortunately, we are judging them only from one point. Are they tasty or are they not tasty? We are not asking. Are they really good for my health or not really good for my wealth? So He says, likewise among human beings, there are the good and the wicked, the holy and the unholy. There are some who are devoted to God and others who are attached to the world. That is also God's Leela. Shri Ramakrishna illustrates this marvelously. He says, all men can be classified into four types. Now this is a unique classification which we don't get even in the Vedas, Upanishads, scriptures, etc. We only get a hint of it in the Puranas. Shri Ramakrishna's words are so precious. So here is what he is telling. Four classes of men. Men may be divided into four classes. Those bound by the fetters of the world, the seekers after liberation, the liberated, and the ever free. He explains, those in bondage are sunk in worldliness and forgetful of God. Not even by mistake do they think of God. That is the first, the lowest. Second, a little higher. The seekers after liberation want to free themselves from attachment to the world. Some of them succeed and others do not. When Shri Ramakrishna says, others do not succeed, we have to add in bracket, in this life, everybody will succeed. But some of them succeed because in the past they have gone through the same which others have to go in this life. So their time has come, so they become liberated. But others do not, in the bracket, in this life. But next life, they take up, so from where they have started, and then they struggle and either in that life or very soon, they will attain the spiritual perfection. So I have to add here, the moment anybody sincerely turns to spiritual life, the number of births such a person has to go through are very, very limited. Why? Because if a person is sincere, God's grace has already come in the form of a human birth, sincerity, seeking for God and the favourable environment. They must all come together. Once there is that desire, all these things will come together. Not that one comes and the others do not come. Only for those people who are not sincere, there may be human birth, there may be favourable circumstances, there may be people who can guide them, but they are not really wanting and that is their fault. But every sincere spiritual seeker, this human body and the desire, strong desire for gaining liberation and the company of favourable people and all external circumstances, they will come together by the grace of God. Sooner or later, they will struggle and then in the next birth, they will be struggling more. Instead of Churasi, Lak Janam, there will be only a few more births. That is a marvellous thing for us to understand. Third, the liberated souls such as the Sadhus and Mahatmas who are not entangled in the world of women and gold. So when Sri Ramakrishna uses the word woman, we have to turn it into sexual desire and to fulfil all the other desires. Sexual desire, the world includes all other desires. Every desire is included in the sexual desire because what is sexual desire? It is the desire to unite with the opposite sex. What is the purpose? It is not that we wanted that there is a chemistry driving us from behind. The purpose is the perpetuation of the body. So worship of the body, fulfilment of the body's desires, every desire. That is why sexual desire is nature's most strongest desire. That includes, as I said, every other desire. But to fulfil these desires, we require certain means and money. Gold means money. Nobody wants gold. Oh, I want money and so I want to eat. Why? I want to eat Rasagulla. Okay, here is golden Rasagulla. You can eat. Nobody is going to eat gold. It is only to be converted, to be used so that our desires are fulfilled. That is the meaning we have to take up. So there are Sadhus and Mahatmas not entangled. It means not desiring. And this is beautifully described in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Some of these wise people, they are called Brahmanas. Not Jati Brahmana, but Guna Brahmana. And they rise and say, that what are we to do with this world of the sun, of the wife, of the heavens, of the money, etc. We rise above that. We are desirous of only one world. We don't want these three worlds. We want only one world. What is that? We who are desirous of the world called Self, we have nothing to do with these things. So they utthaya, they simply discard. Not out of force, but joyfully they rise. How could they be so joyful? Because they have gone through these things earlier. They have seen what is the essence of it. And then as Ramakrishna says, there is a summer fruit which is so sour. There is a huge seed and a thin skin. And in between, the soft portion will be very small and it is sour. And when a person eats it, he will suffer from colic. Every samsaric experience ends only in colic. And after a long time, we wake up and say, we had enough. No more of this. I want something which is truly fulfilling. And that is called utthaya, that is rising up from the world of the world and then going into the world called Self. But they have to voluntarily renounce Lokayshana, Darayshana, Pithayshana, Putrayshana. That is so beautifully described. These words are so inspiring words in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. So these Mahatmas and Sadhus, their minds are free from worldliness. And besides, they always meditate on the Lotus Feet of God. And then here also, I have partiality for Sri Ramakrishna's teachings. Therefore, I also interpret them. You take as much as you want to take. What is Sri Ramakrishna saying? They meditate on the Lotus Feet of God. Are they not following the path of Jnana Marga? Yes, there are some. But ultimately, it is the grace of God. It is the grace alone that can provide all the requirements for our success in spiritual life. And ultimately, it is the grace, Kripa, of calling Divine Mother, calling Narayana or Shiva, Devi, whatever, that really can take us across, give us liberation. That is what Sri Ramakrishna means. This is, of course, my interpretation. I think I am right. If you don't agree, you can have your own interpretation. And then, what is the fourth class of men? Among the ever-free, we may count sages like Narada. They live in the world for the good of the others to teach men spiritual truth. Sri Ramakrishna, as I said, this is the first time they are introducing among men, there is a class. We know those who are in bondage. We know those who are struggling to get out of the bondage. We know a few people who got out of the nets of the samsara, maya, and they have become liberated, mukta purushas. But whoever has heard which Upanishad, which Purana, tells us crystal clearly, there are some people, God created them, God created them ever-free. Not that they were free, they were bound at one time, and then they struggled, and they became free. Like that, there are most people happen like that. But here are people who are from the beginning, are created as ever-free. By whom? By God, by Ishwara. Why? So that they can teach men. It is through them, the spiritual tradition is coming down. The Shruti is coming down. That is what we believe. Ramakrishna was like Kalidasa. He always gives similes, beautiful stories, and stories that can be easily understood. So here is a story. Fish and a net. Supposing a net has been cast into a lake to catch fish. Some fish are so clever that they are never caught in the net. They are like the ever-free. But most of the fish are entangled in the net. Some of them try to free themselves from it, and they are like those who seek liberation. But not all the fish that struggle succeed. A very few do jump out of the net, making a big splash in the water. Then the fishermen shout, Look, there goes a big one. But most of the fish caught in the net cannot escape, nor do they make any effort to get out. Here Shri Ramakrishna is talking about worldly people who are caught in the net of Maya, and they cannot escape. Old age, disease, death, and suffering. About them, Shri Ramakrishna is uttering. On the contrary, they burrow into the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there quietly thinking, We need not fear anymore. We are quite safe here. The poor things do not know that the fishermen will drag them out with the net. These are like men bound to the world. That means, what are they? They are bound. They have families. They think the world is real, and we have a wonderful family. We have so much of bank balance. We have got so many properties. We are quite safe. Nothing is ever going to happen. If we have not woken up and took notice of what happened for the last two years, this corona is one of the greatest diseases to visit because it killed. It made people suffer. There is no discrimination. Rich and poor, well-provided and ill-provided, learned and ignorant, powerful and powerless, absolutely everybody by a whip. They have come under the control, suffered, and thousands, millions of them have died, and still worldly people will not wake up. Ramakrishna's description continues, Bound souls. These bound souls are tied to the world by the fetters of women and gold. They are bound hand and foot, thinking that women and gold will make them happy and give them security. They do not realize that it will lead them to annihilation. When a man, thus bound to the world, is about to die, his wife asks, You are about to go, but what have you left for me? What have you done for me? Oh my God! Ramakrishna gives a lot of examples. Here is a man. Poor fellow is about to expire, and then his wife is berating him, You are about to go. So am I sorry to see you go? I don't care. But what have you done for me? Have you bought jewels for me? Have you given rich presents to me? Have I made you proud among my colleagues? These are the questions. And a typical worldly person, I should not say, when a father is about to die, the children, they see how much property the father has accumulated, and what is the will, how much each one of them is about to get. This is the most people's concern. Very few people are concerned about the death of their parents. Again, this is what his wife is telling to him, or you can by proxy, his children are going to tell, but here is what himself, what is his reaction. Again, such is his attachment to the things of the world, that when he sees the lamp burning brightly, he says, dim the light, dim the light. Too much oil is being used, and he is on his deathbed. The fellow is not thinking about what happens to me, that so much of money is burning here, dim the light, so that you can save a few mere few more nayapaysam. The bound souls never think of God. If they get any leisure, they indulge in idle gossip and foolish talk, or they engage in fruitless work. If you ask one of them the reason, he answers, Oh, I cannot keep still, so I am making a hedge. When time hangs heavy on their hands, they perhaps start playing cards. Hearing these words of Shri Ramakrishna, there was a deep silence in the room, and in the next class, we will talk about what was the question of some of them. What is the question? Sir, is there no help then for such a worldly person? Shri Ramakrishna says, If there were to be no help, then why have I incarnated myself? But coming back to these last statements, these bound souls, what are they doing? How do they spend their time? So here is one final question each one of us have to ask. What am I doing with my leisure life? Am I worried about God? Am I thinking about God? Or am I passing my time? Even after retirement, am I busy to pass time? First of all, time hangs heavy. Whatever I do is to escape from this unhappy, heavy stone that is called time sitting on our heads. Secondly, but what are you doing? How much are you thinking about God? How much are you thinking? How much my ego is going to be bolstered? How much can I enjoy joyfully, entertainment? Either entertainment or enhancing my egotism. So even while doing certain things, in other words, the incapacity not to be able to rise above the trammels of the time is one of the greatest manifestations of Mahamaya. We'll talk about these things in our next class. May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.