Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 066 on 02-August-2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADME TAYO SRIDHVA PRANAM AMI MUHUR MUHUR We have been discussing about faith from the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. On faith, a strong belief in the reality of the teachings of the holy scriptures is the very first step and an absolute necessity. That also comprises a firm faith in the power of the mantra in the name of God. Faith is something marvelous. It is not something we can put on and put off according to the different subjects. Faith is a permanent way of looking and reacting, acting and reacting at everything in this world. We must wholeheartedly believe that the Lord is manifesting Himself in front of us, including us and the whole universe. And whatever happens in the world is for good. And He is showering His grace on all of us, not only when we repeat His name, but at all the times. What is the difference? The difference will be if we think of Him, meditate upon Him, repeat His name, our capacity to perceive His grace becomes temporarily blocked. Otherwise, it would be fine. Some examples we will take in this class. Sri Ramakrishna used to praise a tremendous faith of certain devotees. We know about Girish Chandra Ghosh. Sri Ramakrishna used to say he has got 125% faith. In fact, Girish Chandra Ghosh was not an ordinary person. He was born to demonstrate the phenomena of faith. That's why his whole life has been what we call a life which is absolutely what we call, you can call it immoral or whatever you call it. That is the type of life but what had happened because of that tremendous fact of what we call faith, everything is overcome. All his what we call everything of whatever from worldly point of view we judge him, he led an immoral life, he drank and he ran after women and etc, etc. Sri Ramakrishna and in accordance with the scriptures because we get in the Bhagavad Gita, 17th chapter यो यत् स्रिद्धः सैवसः A man is nothing else but his faith. In fact, that's the most marvelous psychological fact. Whatever we may profess is not important but whatever we wholeheartedly from the bottom of our heart believe and that alone dictates what we desire, how much we work for it and whatever how we react to circumstances everything depends upon it. That's why Sri Ramakrishna used to say just as he himself in the form of Sri Krishna had issued that statement faith reveals a man's personality. So Sri Ramakrishna used to say if a man had achieved faith he had achieved everything but here we are talking about faith in God because faith can be in the worldly matters also. There are so many atheists and they have no faith in God but some of them have tremendous faith in themselves and in fact it is this what we have to talk about. That's what Swami Vivekananda had defined in the olden times he who has faith in God is categorized as a believer but the modern knowledge tells us he who has faith in himself he is the real believer because faith in oneself faith in God faith in Guru faith in the scripture faith doesn't bifurcate and say this is what I believe in and in some areas I don't believe that doesn't happen either you believe in every area or you don't believe. Above all we are not talking about faith in something else we are talking about I have complete faith that I can become whatever I want to become I can get whatever I want to get if you remember the life of Swami Vivekananda he used to fall asleep in two different ways first of all he used to see there is a small light and as according to his absorption in sleep from the dream state or from the waking state slowly that light is growing and growing and growing and he becomes merged into it and then he falls asleep for a long time he cherished the idea that everyone else is also sleeping exactly in the same way but better than this sometimes he used to fall asleep he used to crystal clearly see in front of his eyes I am the greatest person in this world and whatever I wish to obtain in this world I am going to get it and with that idea but this idea will be superseded by another idea that I am an all renouncing monk with complete shaven head by the way shaven head is a symbol of offering everything to God there is a peculiar belief it has got its own validity that of all the things in a man's body it is the hair that determines the value of that person the beauty of that person nowadays of course everything is upset men are shaving their head women are shaving their head and sannyasins are sometimes not shaving their but in the olden days only two types of people used to shave their head one are the women who has lost their husbands and had become widows and second is all renouncing monks either they completely shave their head or they keep long beards ears together they won't shave but shaving the head especially offering the hair hair if a woman especially a young woman shaves off her head she doesn't look very beautiful as if she is deprived of the most beautiful ornament on her body but if somebody can offer that for the sake of God that person is considered as a great sacrificer that is why if you remember millions of people literally they offer their hair young, old and any age as a devotional offering to Lord Venkateshwara at Tirupati so what are we talking about? we are talking about faith faith is there in the Lord and the Lord wants me to offer everything and the best I consider is my hair and of course so many other things are there this is one way of looking at things so Swami Vivekananda with complete shaven head completely relying only upon God I am wandering on the face of the earth and the Lord will take care of me if I want food it will come if I want water, drink it will come if I want dress it will come if I am harassed by enemies by wicked people or by wild animals the Lord will come and protect me this is the faith with which Swami Vivekananda used to picturise visualise the first visualisation I am an all powerful worldly man I can get whatever I want I can enjoy whatever I want is finally merged in the visualisation I am the all renouncing monk and he used to go to sleep now what is the point the point is that Swami Vivekananda even as a young child his unconscious desire is to become an all renouncing monk and an all renouncing monk is a person who has totally surrendered himself or herself to God and totally dependent upon God this is the idea we have to keep in mind so later on he used to say that the person who has got complete faith in oneself he is the only person who can be said really to have faith in Guru in God because faith or lack of faith in oneself is the root cause of faith or lack of faith in everything else and that of course includes the scripture, the Guru, God even mother and father everything in this world so Sri Ramakrishna used to praise the faith of Girish Chandra Bose he has got 125% of faith and Sri Ramakrishna and many other people and one of them was Krishna Kishore about whom I have mentioned in my past classes and then Sri Ramakrishna was quoting so Krishna Kishore used to say I have spoken the name of God once I have uttered the name of God once that's enough how can I remain a sinner anymore I have become pure and stainless there was another devotee his name was I think Mani Malik he also has tremendous amount of faith and he used to walk alone he was a miserly fellow so he wanted to save money boat's money the amount of money that he needed to pay to the boat if he wanted to travel by boat and somebody said Sir you are travelling alone there is danger and then he used to retort I take the name of Durga and I travel, what fear I have got Sri Ramakrishna used to praise it so here Krishna Kishore on many occasions he exhibited this tremendous faith, even though he was a Brahmana, he drank once water from the hands of a from the pot of a low caste person which normally Brahmins will not do and this Krishna Kishore would often say I have uttered the name of God once that's enough, how can I remain a sinner any longer, I have become pure and stainless and there is a beautiful story of Sant Tulasidas, I will come to it in a few minutes now Sri Ramakrishna used to say unswerving trust in the spiritual teacher or Guru is real faith, according to Sri Ramakrishna an aspirant does not have to work as hard at spiritual disciplines if he has complete faith in his Guru, he tells a story to illustrate the degree of faith we should strive for, this incident we get in the life of another great Yogi who is called Pavahari Baba but Sri Ramakrishna on this occasion doesn't mention the name of Pavahari Baba probably that this incident was related in the life of Pavahari Baba once a Guru told his disciple that Rama alone has become everything later when a dog came along and snatched the disciple's bread the man ran after it crying Oh Rama, wait a minute I shall butter your bread for you such was his faith in the words of his Guru so this incident is mentioned in the life of Pavahari Baba he is in fact I will also just remind you of another incident from his life this Pavahari Baba, a great Yogi Swami Vivekananda met him and then he heard from others about the greatness of this Pavahari Baba and Swami Vivekananda was not one who will just believe when others tell about somebody in fact until he tested Sri Ramakrishna he did not believe in Sri Ramakrishna himself many times he ridiculed you are a monomaniac in every respect you are ok but in one respect in respect of God, in respect of visions, you are a madcap until I know even if millions of people proclaim you as an incarnation of God, I will not believe them and of course Sri Ramakrishna knew that he was born in order to propagate the mission that is the message of Vedanta to the whole world but why was Swami Vivekananda such a great Rishi he was a realized soul and he came he had so many narrow ideas about God after he was born, incarnated as Narendranath there were phases first he believed in Nirakara, formless aspect of God then he lost faith seeing the circumstances in this world then he became what is called a one sided view at one time he was worshipping Sita Rama, then his horse carriage driver whose wife betrayed him he used to say married life is the most wretched life hearing that Narendra thought Sita and Rama also got married, so anybody who is a wretch he only will marry I will not worship Sita Rama he threw his most beloved images out from the window until they got smashed on the ground and then he started worshipping, he could not do without worship, he took up the worship of Shiva, because Shiva is the king, emperor of Sanyasins that was Swami Vivekananda so what was the answer the answer it is not for his sake Narendra could not receive the power that Sri Ramakrishna wanted to give on second or third meeting not because he was capable because he had to go through all the phases anyone of us can go as a skeptic as a non-believer as a believer in a particular form or formlessness all those phases he had to go through because he had to authentically experience these things, later on when he meets anyone of them but one condition, all of them are very sincere they all are seeking something but their present belief is standing as an obstruction and Swami Vivekananda as soon as he looks at this person hears him, immediately identifies himself, at one point of time, I also was in this state and how did I overcome this was the strategy this was the pathway I have taken so authentically the person could give instructions to that particular person in that particular condition and that particular person immediately had developed a complete faith in Swamiji because nobody can deny the authenticity of one's experience, theoretically if we say, nobody believes but with experience we say others may not accept it, may not act upon it but they will not deny because it is like seeing a tree in front of us and then nobody can say I am not able to I do not see a tree unless he is a rank hypocrite rank liar that's why Swamiji had to go through and Girish Chandra Ghosh was born to demonstrate the fact however bad a life, evil evil means, Girish Chandra Ghosh was not evil in the sense that he gave trouble to others, he killed others etc. but he himself was an immoral person immorality can be divided into two categories we have to be extremely aware of this division a person immoral he is very moral in personal life he doesn't drink he doesn't smoke, he doesn't run after other people other's wives or other's husbands but so cruel he is ready to kill any number of people you will see a lot of this most evil people that is one category the other category is that really they go through all these things, they deny God but they have some hidden potential quality that is called complete faith but they are also very extremely rational Girish Chandra Ghosh was such a person, he will not believe until he understood through his rationality that's why Girish Chandra Ghosh had met Sri Ram Krishna so early in life and many years had to pass only then he started understanding and in his desperation he came to Sri Ram Krishna and then he started believing but we have to note this, we go through the rigmarole of believing not non-believing more faith, less faith we are always, our faith is going up and down, up and down and up but Girish Chandra Ghosh once he tested he found he had faith that will go on increasing but never decreasing and Sri Ram Krishna knew and what was the point that if a person has faith whatever may be his life however immoral evil even, it doesn't really matter, that person as soon as he has that faith in God, in himself immediately from that moment onwards he should be considered as a virtuous person this is what we have seen in the Bhagavad Gita so even if somebody is the worst sinner in this whole world but if he turns a leaf in his life over and he really believes in God Oh Lord, I have done so many bad things in my life, I am not going to repeat them now you will have to come and save me and he says you proclaim Partha, Name Bhaktaha Pranasyati, why? because very soon this person is going to become a shining model of virtue, of devotion of faith, of the greatest spirituality Shashvat Shantim Nigachyate very soon he will progress, in fact if we study the history such people who are very wicked people they alone, when they turn to God, they will also progress very fast, as much as they progressed very fast in their evil life the same energy the same faith will turn them over in this context, Swami Vivekananda used to say there are great lovers in this world purely what we mistakenly consider body lovers Laila Majnu etc, Anarkali, Salim and so many other people shining names are there Romeo, Juliet, etc, etc, etc Swami Vivekananda says, blessed are these people, if anybody can develop that capacity to love anybody else because what is the greatness of this kind of Romeo and Juliet we are not to think that Romeo loved Juliet Juliet returned the love Laila loved Majnu Majnu returned the love, this is not the way we have to understand the love has grown so much the lover can confidently say, even if you do not love me, even if you do not turn towards me, in a billion lives I don't care what you do you are completely free to do what you like to do but I am not going to stop loving you, let whatever come and this is the type of faith that will save people, there are so many marvelous things since we are talking about faith, if anybody has got, we call it worldly love but this intensity of worldly love as soon as it crosses him, it cannot remain any more worldly because no worldly object is capable of receiving such an intense love, I will give an illustration, supposing there is a material and you know if it is a paper, in a second it can be turned to ashes and if it is an iron piece, it will take quite a long time so like that that every worldly object is almost like a piece of paper as soon as a little love is exceeded, immediately it will become incapable of receiving because the love, it burns like a blazing fire, so that is why Ramanujacharya comes to our aid, he says too much of love cannot be directed towards the world why can't I do that sir? why can't I love, say my body, why can't I love my mother and father, my wife and husband, my children why can't I love money why can't I love any pleasurable object in this world Ramanujacharya says this particular psychological fact, remember every great spiritual person is a master psychiatrist, why do we issue such a statement? because without knowing what is going on in one's mind it is impossible to progress the very first attempt a big wall as it were, a tall wall as it were is blocking our path and then if we do not know what is the weakness in that wall where from it has come when we become aware it becomes as thin as a small paper then one small blow immediately the paper will be shredded into number of pieces that is called self analysis objectively that requires tremendous amount of objectivity so every spiritual person we have to understand if he is a spiritual person if she is a spiritual person already that person has possessed tremendous amount of the power of objectivity but anybody can develop it, slowly it will take time, until we develop to some extent of capacity to self analyse it is impossible to progress in spiritual life, but once our love, love means attachment when some love is directed towards a limited object it is called attachment when the same love is directed towards a higher ideal, it is called love, this difference between love and attachment we have to take care, in Bengali there is a beautiful saying vishayendriya priti iccha tare bole kham atmendriya or krishnendriya priti iccha dhore premanam if love is directed towards anything other than oneself which is in other words God it is called lust, kama but the same love is directed towards oneself which is called God it takes the form of prema, so it is wrong to call a person's love towards money or what Sri Ramakrishna used to call kama kanchana it is wrong to call it love it is merely lust, even if somebody says I do not have any lust but if he is inordinately attached to these worldly objects, that means his own body, then he is also that kind of person only, we have to understand that in this light only Girish Chandra whose life has to be understood he was born with such a tremendous amount of faith then why did he turn? two reasons according to my understanding there are two reasons first of all the faith which was already there, it was seeking an outlet and in the beginning, like anybody else as I will come to Prasidhasa's story it will turn to visible things objects of our normal day to day experience but as the love goes on growing very soon the worldly objects will be far left behind and then it can turn only towards one object which is called God this psychology we have to accept so this is one reason why in his earlier days Girish Chandra Ghosh was living an immoral life so to say, but there is a another meaning the other meaning is Ram Krishna that is God wanted to demonstrate to the whole world, whatever type of life you might have led even you yourself might have been condemning you but whatever is past is past, you cannot get it back but now instead of wasting more time more sin, thinking about sin what sins I have committed turn your attention to a higher ideal Sheshwat Shantim Nigechati this is what he says Kaunteya, O Arjuna, Pratijani Name Bhattaha Pranashyati because Kshapram Bhavate Dharmatma very soon such a person will become a spiritual person every Dharmatma is a spiritual person because Dharma and spirituality always go together like Lakshmana and Rama are always together Lakshmana Rekha represents pure moral life and Rama is pure spirituality that is what is also mentioned at the end of the Bhagavad Gita God a Dharmic person Dharma and Ishwara can never be separated where there is Dharma there is Ishwara where there is Ishwara as part of the Ishwara Dharma should be there there is no other way around what are we talking about Swami Vivekananda's definition that if that faith once enters into our mind we will not be able to control it that faith will control us like Shraddha Avivesha in the Katha Upanishad we get that Shraddha had possessed Naciketa and thereafter whatever Naciketa did he did not do it voluntarily, he had to do it involuntarily like a drunken person his drink intoxication makes him do whatever he likes even governments recognize it that's why if a person in a drunken state commits a crime, the punishment will be much less only with complete control of the mind and deliberately, schemingly if somebody had done some crime, then the punishment will be the utmost, we should understand that, so we have to keep in mind the old religion said that he who believes in God is a believer the modern religion say that he who has faith in oneself he is the real believer and this is the absolute fact we will have to come why am I telling, I just give you a hint, if anybody claims, I am a devotee of God, that means I have faith in God, but he is suffering from depression why? Oh I don't have money, I don't have anything, I lost my job I lost the love of my beloved people like the Vaishya or the Kshatriya king that we get across in the Chandi if anybody feels depressed, then you have to declare that really he doesn't have faith, because if God is there, will he become depressed, because what is the nature of the God Sat, Chit, Ananda Swaroopa when you have become Ananda how can you be depressed, depression and Ananda do not go together, if there is Ananda, you are spiritual if you are suffering even if you are professing faith in God, that means you are not truly spiritual and regarding this that's what Sriram Krishna's statement says if anybody utters what? I have taken the name of God, how can I be a sinner anymore, there is a story out there I will come to that very shortly there are two types of faiths strong and weak, so the faithful do not despair in the midst of trials and persecutions but the man of weak faith is shaken even by the most trifling cause obstructions disappointments and dry periods are bound to come across in everybody's life but with them also doubts creep into the mind so one should be looking out for that and say, I believe in God I trust in God, he is going to look after me, even if I have done a billion sins it is like a huge mountain of cotton what does it take to reduce the whole mountain of cotton just one matchstick you don't require a blazing fire for that that's what Sriram Krishna's illustration is there so we have to strive until that time we have to divide what is called strong faith is Shraddha weak Shraddha is what we call in English language watered down belief, belief is what we control faith is what controls us this is the difference the ideal attitude to strive for is beautifully put into the words by the medieval monk Thomas A Kempis he says there is none whom I can fully trust to, none that can reasonably help me in my necessities but only thou, my Lord, thou art my hope thou my confidence thou art my comforter and in all things most faithful unto me, I hope you have heard these words carefully I will repeat thou art my comforter O Lord, and in all things thou art most faithful unto me what does it mean? means I may leave you but you are never going to leave me and I have mentioned quite a number of times there is a beautiful stotram called Vishnu Sahasranama and in that there is one particular word called Achyuta a great Vaishnava saint called Parashara Bhatta had written a beautiful commentary on this Vishnu Sahasranama and in this Parashara Bhashya he comments upon this particular word Achyuta what does Achyuta mean? the Sanskrit meaning of the word Achyuta is Achyuta means to deviate, to fall down, to slip away, to move away from one's place and he who can never be moved because he is the infinite that is the Lord Narayana, Parabrahma whatever you choose to call he is called Achyuta but Parashara Bhashya Bhatta has interpreted in a most beautiful way, in a devotional way he comments like this O Lord if anybody even the greatest sinner even you may be the worst of all the sinners if that person once meaningly or unmeaningly utters the word turning towards you O Lord, I am turning, I belong to you because he may not have faith but God has faith he says my child has turned towards me he says that he belongs to me I am so happy I have been waiting for this blessed moment since how many aeons even I have lost count and then most gladly he will accept the burden of that devotee this fellow had uttered that words only once after that he has completely forgotten God but God will never forget he will run after this devotee 24 hours a day doing everything necessary but waiting patiently because he knows one day my child will turn towards me and there is a beautiful poem in the Gitanjali by no less than this most noble laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore I do not remember the exact Bengali poem but the substance is this O Lord, how many times I have turned away my face from you I don't want to see you I try to run away from you, but every time I stop and look back I see that with the most enchanting beseeching sight, I you are following me as if you are about to burst into the greatest grief, my son my son why are you turning away from me don't you know I am your mother, I am your father the poet continues how many times after looking at you I increase my speed and I try to run but how many eons have passed trying to run away from you, at last I get tired and then I stop, I look back and you are still with those open eyes and beseeching sight, you are waiting for me to receive me back and at that time there is no power on earth which will stop you from gathering me into your loving arms with the greatest love will you forgive me, the question of forgiveness doesn't arise a mother never forgives her child because she never finds any fault in her own child, she knows this is a child and this is the nature of the child the child has not committed he is behaving like a child that's all and this is how every saint the life of every saint it demonstrates this tremendous faith that once they turn towards God, even unwittingly say O Lord I belong to you thereafter he becomes achyuta, he will never give up and there is a story to illustrate this which I have been promising from the beginning of my talk this is the story Saint Tulasidas was born in Rajpur in the districts of Banda in Uttar Pradesh in 1532 AD Tulasidas wife's name was Buddhimati beautiful name, Buddhimati means intelligent person but she came to be known as Ratnavali a garland of gems Tulasidas was passionately attached to his wife he could not live away from her even for one day, even one day separation is like Radha's separation from Krishna so one day his wife, Tulasidas was absent because whatever may be he has to earn his livelihood to maintain his family and he was a great scholar, one of the greatest scholars that's why how do we know that whenever we hear Ramnama especially in the Ramkrishna ashrams there are two hymns and Ramnama is sandwiched in between these two Varnanam Arthasangana is the first hymn Apadam Apahartaram is the last hymn and in between is sandwiched this Shuddha Brahma Paratpara Rama so the person who composed this Ramnama only composed this 108 names, Shuddha Brahma Paratpara Rama, Swami Brahmananda heard it when he was staying in Madras and he was charmed, overwhelmed so he collected the text and then he gathered from the Sanskrit stothis which come at the beginning of every kanda in his Ramcharitmanas so in his Ramcharitmanas 7 kandas are there 7 chapters are there, Bala Kanda Yudhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda etc and at the beginning of every chapter Tulasidas has composed in Sanskrit the praises of Rama, the praises of Sita the praises of Hanuman etc and these Swami Brahmananda gathered and again sandwiched between Ramnama and that is our present Ramnama singing in every Ramakrishna order, more or less they sing exactly in the same tune slight variation would be there so this Tulasidas was passionately attached to it so much like Belo Mangala like Saint Augustine so much he could not tolerate, bear even one second separation from his beloved wife, meaning her body, physical body and don't say how extraordinarily beautiful she might be, I discussed this point, beauty is not outside because the most what the world certifies as the most beautiful woman can be completely be undesired undesirable by many of the people and a person who is not so beautiful in the eyes of the world may be most desirable, this is all individual matter, individual sanskara, there is lot of psychology behind it, I am not going to go into it so it so happened one day when Tulasidas was out her brother came and said today is a ceremony, our father wants you to come her village is only just 2 or 3 miles away from Tulasidas village where he was living, she went away, Tulasidas returned and he could not tolerate the separation from his wife, he ran but by that time it was almost midnight and then somehow he stealthily entered into the room of his wife Pratnavali and then this lady was peacefully sleeping, I think she was a very intelligent and discriminating lady she understood so she became very annoyed and said my dear husband if you can bear one hundredth of love you are bearing towards this filthy body which is nothing but made up of flesh bones and so many undesirable things, smelly things in this world if you cherish one hundredth of that love towards God who is Rama then you would have been blessed, I also would have been blessed and this is what I was talking about earlier Tulasidas love for his wife exceeded the normal intensity, it entered into the realm where no human object can really tolerate, put up with it even for a second like a blazing fire holocaust fire it will turn everything into ashes so the time had come, these words simply awakened Tulasidas consciousness he understood he saluted her, you are my first guru you turned me towards God that's what actually I have been talking, I mistook you for my Rama's love now you have brought me to my senses who brought him to his senses only Rama in the form of the wife after all I don't know whatever knowledge that prostitute had towards below Mangala and Ratnavali towards Tulasidas or any other woman the words of awakening uttishtata jagrata can come only directly from God and when it comes from God it will have its inevitable effect that's what happened and Tulasidas renounced the world and then he went and then he completely got absorbed in sadhana so there are one incident is there and then his wife also she changed her village in somewhere and one day it so happened this mendicant was Swami Tulasidas he happened to come to beg food and then he came to where his former wife was living and the wife recognized him but Tulasidas was so absorbed he did not recognize her and he asked for alms and then without revealing herself she brought alms and then gave it into his what is called cloth a small bag and then it was this lady was living a pure spiritual life from that time onwards like her husband or even better than her husband she gave up adding any type of spices to her cooking but she gave the same food to her former husband after recognizing and then she asked it is completely tasteless because I don't add any spice not even salt, shall I give you some pickle but Tulasidas immediately said no no I don't need any pickle from you because I always carry some pickle and it is with me right now here and then this buddhimati buddhi has come again he looked at him and said if you are renounced the world and still could not renounce this pickle better you come and then live with me I am your former wife Ratnavali because I will provide you all the spicy food that you want you don't need to beg yourself and Tulasidas came to his senses and said what stupid stupidity had possessed me I have renounced so I thought of everything but I am still clinging to this taste I am a slave to this tongue immediately he threw away the whole lot and from that time onwards lived a most marvelous life in fact they say his wife asked him come and live with me I will not obstruct you, you can go on practicing your sadhana but Tulasidas was not born for that he said no thank you very much he went away and then he shifted his residence to Kashi then starts a most marvelous story one day this Tulasidas every day Tulasidas used to answer his calls of nature at a quite a distance from Varanasi and his time Varanasi was quite a kind of village though not Vishwanath temple is there lot of pilgrims used to come not as big and crowded and suffocating as it is now so he used to go out he used to carry lot of water in a Kamandalu so and then after performing the ablutions there used to be a little bit of water left out in his Kamandalu while returning there was a particular tree and he used to pour that because he thought that let me pour the water at least the tree will get some benefit so he must be carrying a little bit more water from that time onwards and then a peculiar thing happened there was a spirit living on that tree and one day it appeared suddenly in front of Tulasidas and said that I live on this tree and in fact your water helps me a lot and I need not go anywhere to drink it will quench my thirst and I want to be grateful I want to fulfill something in return tell me what you want and of course Tulasidas said I don't want sir anything from you but my only desire is to have Ramadarshan I want to have the vision of Rama and then the spirit said that I cannot grant because we all shake to the very toes upon hearing Ram Nama but I will tell you a way how you can have Ramadarshan so the spirit told him there is a Sankat Mochana Hanuman temple everyday Hanuman comes there in the form of an old Brahmana at this time he comes and at this time he leaves so that was all that was needed for Tulasidas he came next morning he was waiting and when the old Brahmana was about to leave he went and fell at his feet and caught hold of them in a strong way of course the Brahmana protested why are you troubling me leave my feet etc Tulasidas said I know you are Hanuman but of course it is all the grace of Rama grace of Hanuman otherwise nobody can really find if I did not allow you to catch me do you have that capacity to catch me this is what we get in one of the Bengali translations of the Ramayana this is called the story of Lama and Kusha I hope you remember Rama wanted to perform this some kind of he let one horse go and Hanuman was the person and Lama and Kusha saw the horse they caught hold of him and tied but whoever catches hold of this horse had to fight with Hanuman and other powerful army soldiers of Rama and these two boys saw this monkey and they said this monkey is nothing because Balmiki taught them all this archery also better than Dronacharya taught to Pandavas and Kauravas so very soon these people enslaved because these people were continuously singing Ramanama composed by Balmiki himself as soon as Hanuman heard the Ramanama immediately he folded his hands he was caught he was put in ropes and then dragged to Mother Sita and then Hanuman wanted to go on that occasion this poet has made him utter Lama and Kusha if I had not allowed myself to be caught by you do you think you would have caught you that means God is addressing his devotees if I do not allow myself to be caught by you if I do not grant you that capacity to love me that knowledge of that you have to love me that is my grace it comes from me Hanuman is an embodiment of love for God in the form of Lama so Tulasidas was a lover of Rama he wanted Rama darshan and Hanuman revealed himself and then he said you go to Chitrakoot and you will have darshan of Rama and Hanuman went to Chitrakoot at that time it was a small village and then day and night he used to repeat Ram Nama and he was passing his days in great awaiting the darshan of Rama one night at about 8 o'clock Tulasidas heard musical sounds he ran out and then he asked somebody the whole village was running today the troop had come from that city we will enact Ram Leela so we are all going it's a rare event this is a wonderful troop so we will enjoy it of course Tulasidas was transported in joy he also went and it was really grand the whole life of Rama was enacted in that Ram Leela next early morning as soon as that was over everybody thanked the troop and then came back and slept and so Tulasidas got up and his joy was still lingering and lingering he wanted to discuss only about this he went to the neighbor said yesterday's Ram Leela was fantastic the neighbor looked blank surprised what are you talking about well we all went you also were there the man said I never went anywhere this is I was sleeping whole night my whole family was sleeping what are you talking about well we had this Ram Leela when did it happen Tulasidas took that man there was nothing pure jungle was there but previous night it was cleared tents were put hurricane lanterns were lit everything was there to make the Ram Leela enjoyable not even a trace of it then Tulasidas understood that this is what I have seen is Rama's life through his grace I have seen and very shortly after that Rama appeared before Tulasidas and commanded him you write this my story Ramayana in local language which came to be known as Ramcharitmanas and Tulasidas had tremendous faith once a man knocked at his door desperately shouting my great devotee I am starving nobody is giving me food and Tulasidas came out he asked why are not people giving you food because I am a murderer he himself confessed Tulasidas invited him and asked him to wash his hands and feet and utter the name of Lord once and he said now you are free from all sins eat whole heartedly Tulasidas fed him sumptuously and the local priest came to know and they said that you should never have entertained Tulasidas said I believe he uttered Ram Nama you people only say that those who utter Ram Nama he will be free from all sins oh we say that we don't believe we simply preach it to the ignorant folk Tulasidas said no I believe it and what is the proof they asked you test what you want proof you want they said tomorrow let this man come into the temple of Vishwanatha there is a Nandi a bull image of bull let him feed this bull with green grass if this stone bull eats that green grass then we believe he is free from sins and next day Tulasidas took him and the man had the tremendous faith because of the satsanga he was having with Tulasidas and then he went and then fed with sincere prayer the Nandi immediately opened its mouth and took everything and the priest had nothing got to say this is what Sri Ram Krishna quoting Krishna Kishore says if a man had uttered the name of God once all his sins will be taken away about this also there are some beautiful incidents are there and also explanations are there which I will deal in our next class Om Janamem Saradham Devem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Adapadme Tayo Sridhva Pranamami Mohor Moho May Sri Ram Krishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Ramakrishna