Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 070 on 27-September-2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANEM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MOHORUM OHO In our last class, we have been talking about the fourth visit of M to Sri Ramakrishna. In our last class, we also talked about the sweetest singing of bhajans by Swami Vivekananda. And M was remarking, M had never before seen or heard of such a thing. Silent with wonder, he thought, Is it possible for a man to be so oblivious of the outer world in the consciousness of God? How deep his faith and devotion must be to bring about such a state? And then we also talked about logic and M saw something very marvellous, very wonderful. Sri Ramakrishna was having tremendous fun with his devotees and M perhaps at first was puzzled, Is this not this person, whom just now I have seen entering into Samadhi again and again, completely oblivious of the external, completely external world? How come such a person, next second, he can have so much of fun? Many of us may be having a problem with this kind of personality. How is it possible for a man to be so serious, so spiritual, so much absorbed in spiritual life? And at the same time, next very second perhaps, his mind will be plunging into such a great, deep, fun, frolicking, playing, laughing, joking, etc. But gradually, as M had about, I think, four and a half years of association with Sri Ramakrishna, remember M had met somewhere, some on a Sunday in the month of February 1882 and in 16th August 1886 Ramakrishna had passed away. How is it possible that such a close association, not only that, M had represented and represents even today, that marvellous system of Sadhana, Shravana, Manana, Nidhidhyasana. How many times we read the Gospel, we hear the Gospel and so many things escape our mind. But look at M, every word that issued from Sri Ramakrishna had indelibly impressed itself upon the mind of M. And he goes back and he just takes very short notes and the result is what we are trying to break our heads, trying to fathom the meaning of those very words. And M himself, as I mentioned so many times, had issued a statement on some day's events, I have meditated more than a thousand times and this is called Manana, that is not merely hearing but going on dwelling upon it again and again and again and again until it becomes a habit. Whatever we hear, I am not talking about worldly things, so many things we hear. So it is said about a swan, a Hamsa, that somehow, we don't know whether it is a fact or not, it has the ability to separate water from milk and only drink the milk and not leave the water outside. So every spiritual Sadhaka must become a Hamsa, separating worldly duties, worldly talks, worldly thoughts from spiritual thoughts. And we may wonder, is it ever possible to do such a thing? Well, we only have to remember Sri Krishna's teaching to Arjuna and He said, MAM ANUSMARA YUDHYACHAYA, remember me and fight. If Arjuna can do a battle where life and death is hanging on the edge and he could be killed at any time and yet go on remembering, calm enough to remember God all the time, it should be possible for us. We are not battling that type of situation. They are very rare, occasionally they come, but not all the time. Most of the time we are free from that. So this is called Manana. Shravana first, Manana second and then we will have to also do Nidhidhyasana. What is Nidhidhyasana? To transform our life according to the teachings. And I gave you so many times illustrations, but just to remind you, one small incident this time. In this class, I will remind you, one day a Swami visited M's house because he was the inspiration for millions of people to become devotees of God. Not only devotees of Shri Ram Krishna, but devotees of God everywhere. This is a very important point for us to remember. The Gospel of Shri Ram Krishna is like Bhagavad Gita, like the Upanishads. You will not get in the Upanishads any monologue. You have to worship Krishna or you have to worship Shiva or you have to worship Devi. They are simply statements of certain principles. That's all. In Shri Ram Krishna's Gospel also, nowhere he said, you will have to worship me. In fact, 99% of the time we get only whatever be our chosen ideal. Shri Ram Krishna encourages that you worship, but do not become a fanatic. But the important thing is, absorbing those teachings and transforming our life, that is called Nidhidhyasana. First hear the truth, ponder and get rid of untruth. That is called Manana. Then live according to your understanding. Transform yourself into a true life. One day Swami went to M's place and Shri Ram Krishna instructed M. Let us remember, M was a householder. So any Sadhu, any Brahmachari, any holy person, any devotee of God, when they visit you, do not forget to offer at least a glass of water, but if possible also something to eat. You know, in those days people had to travel maybe one hour, two hours or even more. That custom has been kept until that M's house has been written over to Velur Math, Ram Krishna Math. It belongs now to us. That building is called Kathamruta Bhavan. So M came, met the Swami, offered Him some sweets and a glass of water. But the Swami was observing. A lot of people were going in and going out of the house, and sometimes there was loud weeping was there. So the Swami was puzzled a little bit. In this house, is something happening? M said, always something is happening in a householder's life. So brother, please do not pay attention to it. And M speaks only about Shri Ram Krishna and about nothing else. So like that M had spoken and then after some time, he bade farewell to the Swami, but later on the Swami was narrating. He was shocked. One of M's children had died. But even under those circumstances, he never forgot Shri Ram Krishna's words. So that is the most important thing. What did we discuss? M had seen on his third visit, Shri Ram Krishna entering into Samadhi. After hearing the most marvellous singing of Narendra, Chintaya Mama Manasa Hari. This was the first experience of M seeing Shri Ram Krishna into such a deep Samadhi. He was wondering, is it possible for a human being to forget everything in this world and to dwell completely on one idea, which is God. Forgetting the body, forgetting everything else. Even if we do not take into consideration what is called meditation, but even for worldly people, the ability to focus, to concentrate, to keep the mind on one subject, how many accidents could completely be escaped by just paying attention to how we are driving. We have to be careful. So, so many accidents. How many surgeons had killed their patients because of lack of this concentration? How many students failed in their examinations because of lack of concentration? How many soldiers are killed? All because they don't have that alertness. Concentration is a most important quality. In fact, concentration is equivalent to success. But all the types of concentrations that we are talking about, I just now cited a few. A scientist completely focused. Just now I remembered a funny incident. And this was a real incident that happened in the life of a great scientist. I do not remember. Many years before, when I just joined the Order, I was a bookworm. And I came across Jayco Book of Quotations. And in that, this incident was there. There was a scientist. He was engaged to be married to a girl and a date was fixed for the marriage. And that morning, this young scientist was furiously pacing up and down, thinking, today some very important event has to take place in my life. What is it? What is it? What is it? At last, he remembered, oh, today I am supposed to go to the church and get married. Then immediately he wrote to his fiancée and said, look, this is the condition of my mind. I don't think you will be happy. I will not be able to pay attention to you. The point is, a man who could be so oblivious of the most, what 99% of the people consider as the most important event of their life, can forget about it all because such a person's mind was completely focused upon research in science, trying to find out, make some experiment and deduct some conclusions, make a hypothesis, etc. It is possible. How much concentration, attention, focus is necessary for that? But to have that concentration, people forget. Many people, in fact, ask, how can I develop my power of concentration? And my answer is, the prerequisite of concentration is interest and interest will not come just because you hear some advertisements. Interest will come only when it assures me that this is what I want and it will give me the greatest happiness, greatest joy and what can I do in order to get that greatest joy? I am going to tell you something very important. You ask anybody, do you want to be happy? And there is nobody who is going to tell, I don't want to be happy. But do you know, people will not do things which can make them happy. One of the grandest illustrations, most telling illustration is, people go on suffering from worrying about bad things, negative things, and there is a way, most of the worry about these negative things is completely meaningless, unrealistic, it is never going to happen. And if you advise them and they complain, I am not happy, I am worried, then you advise him, dear man, all these things you are imagining and worrying yourself to death are never ever going to happen and you tell them, but no, they will not give up. And then I added something that they derive so much of satisfaction from their worrying habits that that worrying, they cannot live without worrying, like a drug addict cannot live without drugs. So a person must be very very alert, this is what I want and what I want can give me happiness, not anything else. Most of us are unhappy, not because circumstances are really going to make us unhappy, because of our Kalpana, imagination. And this is what a great man had written a great book, one of the most useful books in every one of our lives. This is called, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie and I remember, I have read it many many years back, but important points I do remember, this man had made lot of research and he gave some conclusions. He said most of the things, most of most people worry about are never ever going to happen. The chance of what these things people worry about really do happen in life, the chance is less than 2%. Not exactly, I don't remember, but very few of our worries are really going to happen. But do you listen and then he also says, supposing something is going to happen, what is the first, he says, what is the point of worrying about it, if it happens, it is going to happen, there is no help, it is going to, you cannot prevent it, but find out, if such a thing happens, what can I do about it, not merely thinking about it, this is called transforming our life according to the teachings and the technical name for that is called Nidhidhyasana, Shramana, Manana and Nidhidhyasana and that was what M had been doing practically whole life. So this M, three times he visited Shri Ramakrishna, he saw for the first time how Shri Ramakrishna went into deep Samadhi and he was wondering because that means he himself was not able to achieve such state, even though M's power of concentration was very deep really, how do we know, because concentration, interest, joy and memory, these are same synonymous words actually, what do we remember, whatever interests us and how do we remember, because it affects us either positively or negatively. So concentration, the more we remember, the more focus will be there, especially things which we will usually worry as negatively, but positively also, it is the same mind, it can be applied. So he saw, he was deeply impressed by the singing of Shri Ramakrishna, of course from the beginning, but by the singing of Narendra Nath and he exclaims, next to the master, that is Ramakrishna, M said, I never heard anybody singing so sweetly and we are not talking about sweetness of singing, there are so many marvellous singers, even today, youngsters, you only have to look at the YouTube, you will see what a marvellous gift all the time, often times I wonder, why did not God give me such a voice, even one tenth of that voice, it would have been marvellous, but they had worked for it and I did not work for it, this is the simple truth, anyway there is no more chance for me, because if I happen to die in Varanasi, this is going to be the last birth, that is guaranteed and that is the purpose of really singing and other things, whatever it is. And then M had found out something marvellous, one minute such a deep Samadhi, next minute so much of joy expressed in the form of fun and frolic. So this is something that we have to understand and he was impressed sufficiently, the whole thing was a revelation to M, he started wondering how could these so-called opposite things could be like that. Shri Ram Krishna was having great fun with the young devotees, now and then he glanced at M, he noticed that M sat in silence, the master said to Ramla, you see he is a little advanced in years and therefore somewhat serious, he sits quiet while the youngsters are making merry. Of course M was then only about 28 years old, but you know some people are very serious, I have seen that one. Shri Ram Krishna said, now the conversation drifted to Hanuman, Shri Ram Krishna was graphically describing Hanuman's devotion to Rama. So there was a picture which is hanging on the wall in the master's room, Shri Ram Krishna said, just imagine Hanuman's state of mind, he did not care for money, honour, creature comforts or anything else, he longed only for God. When he was running away with the heavenly weapon that had been secreted in the crystal pillar, Mandodari began to tempt Hanuman with various fruits so that he might come down and drop the weapon, but he could not be tricked so easily. In reply to her persuasions, Hanuman sang this song, of course we know this song is not coming in Ramayana, there is a story. Now what happened, Hanuman said, Ramanasura had ten heads and there was a battle going on between Rama and Ravana and Rama's arrows are infallible, so Rama was discharging and one head of the Ramanasura had fallen and wonder of wonders, as soon as the arrow had felled the head, another head exactly in the same way, as if nothing happens, like a robo, it had appeared, like we change the parts of the car, but on the instant and Rama tried one by one all the ten heads and the same thing was happening and Ramanasura was laughing, perhaps I can add a little bit masala, he was not even lifting his bow, Oh Rama, go on discharging your arrows, let me see what you can do. Now what happened, Rama was puzzled and by that time you have to remember, Vibhishana had joined Rama's army and at night Rama was frustrated, he turned to Vibhishana and said, how is it, how come that I could fell anything in this world, but I am not able to cut off the heads of Ramanasura and then Vibhishana said, Lord there is a bottle of nectar and Ramanasura has that one amrutha, when he comes to battle, he wears that one and then that is the amrutha, the nectar, no part of his body could be damaged, as soon if at all something is damaged, the amrutha will make it new again, that is the power, then what to do, how to kill him and Vibhishana said, at night, this Ramanasura will keep this one secretly in a pillar, but somehow you have to find out a way how to steal that nectar, once that nectar is stolen, then everything will be okay and then Rama called Hanuman and said, because Hanuman can have, assume any type of form, he can even become like your modern drones, he can be a mosquito drone, he can be even smaller than that, we know those stories, how he entered into the mouth of Simhika and then came out and then pleased her and then she blessed him, so Hanuman was sent and he went there and he is very, very intelligent person, he found out that where the nectar was hidden and he took it and he was going away. As he was about to leave, Mandodari, the wife of Ramanasura and she was considered one of the Sathis, chastest woman in the world, she understood, she understood, if this is lost, my husband is lost, then I will become a widow, the whole kingdom, Ramanasura's kingdom will fall to pieces. So naturally, even though she was a wise woman, very good person, but vested interest, my husband should never be lost because for every chaste woman, however wicked the husband may be, the husband is considered to be God. So she started tempting Hanuman with various fruits and that is where our story starts here, but is Hanuman to be taken over because monkeys are very fond of fruits and especially if you can offer mango fruits, fruits, sweet fruits, bananas, etc., etc., they will just come and take it and if you don't give, anyway they will take it. In Varanasi, it is a very common phenomenon, simply they come, jump upon you, snatch away a whole bunch of bananas or whatever fruits, sweets you have and they go away and anyway, I cannot restrain telling the incident. One of our devotees, we were all travelling in Vrindavan at one time and there are a lot of these Gundas who trained these monkeys to snatch the specks and they have trained the monkeys and they also taught the monkeys not to destroy the specks, they were just coming. One day we were walking and suddenly this devotee's specks, I was watching, landed on her shoulder and picked up just within a twinkling of an eye, this was sitting on a roof and it was idly chewing one part of the specks and somebody came and said, if you give me 100 rupees, I will get back your specks, that is the whole secret and then we accepted, we agreed to give 100 rupees and immediately he bought two sweets. So listen carefully what he did, he bought two sweets and then he threw both of the sweets into the air where the monkey was sitting, expecting of course, because it is his old past experience. Now you may be wondering, why two sweets? Because the monkeys are so clever, if you throw one sweet, it will still keep the specks in one hand and catch the other sweet, so your sweet is lost, your specks is not got back. So he threw and the monkey had no option but to throw down the specks which of course the man knew, immediately he caught it before it fell down to the floor, ground and immediately brought it back. This is the monkey business out there. But Hanuman was not an ordinary monkey, these monkeys which became the only army, there were no men at all, that is to say every human being with a monkey mind is outside maybe human form, only tail is missing but inside is a great monkey. But if the same monkey mind can align itself to Sri Rama and say, Oh Rama, I join your party, political party, spiritual party and you will be our leader, then that very monkey mind will become the greatest devotee and he will get Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha about which we are going to talk perhaps in our next class if time permits, even in this class a little bit. So this is what had happened, Mandodari was trying to tell not understanding the true nature of Hanuman that he was completely devoted to Sri Rama. That's why, Sakala Guna Nitha Naam, Vanara Naam Adheesha, Gnani Naam Agra Ganyam, he was the greatest, he is the greatest Gnani, man of knowledge, Brahmavid, he is the greatest Bhakta, Eka Nistha, he is the greatest Karma Yogi, he is ready at every second to sacrifice his life for the good of Rama, for the service of Rama. That's why Swami Vivekananda said, the ideal for this, not only India but the whole world in this modern age is Hanuman. What does it mean? It means Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, all are harmoniously combined, then only we can go ahead in life. By the way, incidentally Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda had not come only to uplift the Sannyasins, they came to uplift the entire world. That is why Sri Ramakrishna was an ideal student, Brahmachari, ideal householder, ideal Vanaprasthi, ideal Sannyasin and he was the most practical man. If at all anybody wants to be practical, he is the most practical person. That is why Swami Vivekananda learnt all these lessons from no other than Sri Ramakrishna and determined his Advaita philosophy as Practical Vedanta. This is a marvellous thing that we have to understand. In future lessons we will talk about it. But this was the story when Hanuman sang a song. So, this is being described here. When he was running away with the heavenly weapon that had been secreted in the crystal pillar, Mandodari began to tempt him with various fruits so that he might come down and drop the weapon. But he could not be tricked because he was Gnaninam Agra Ganyam and he was completely dedicated only in serving Sri Rama. In fact, Hanuman knew that if he was caught, there is a danger of his life. Of course, I don't believe in it. We should not believe in it because remember the first time when Rama sent him, he not only crossed, he also defeated what is called Simhika, that Colombo, Sri Lanka. So, Lankini, that Rakshasi, Simhika, etc. and entered into the city and consoled Sita, that gave her the message of Sri Rama and assured her, don't worry, you are going to be freed within two months' time. And then he said, Mother, with your permission, let me eat some fruits. That is an excuse. How many fruits? One kg? Ten kgs? Because remember Hanuman can assume any form. So, so many great warriors were sent to finish him. Ramanasura was worried and he thought, this is a small monkey, but what havoc it is creating. Half the Lanka, it was burned later on. So, Akshak, Akshakumara, the son of Ramanasura was killed in that battle. I think one or two, I do not remember exactly. And Ramanasura was grieving. Mandodari, of course, would be grieving. Then he sent his son, Meghanatha, Indrajith and he came and discharged Brahmastra. Brahmastra, because of his respect for Brahmaji, the message came from Brahmaji, therefore, temporarily he allowed himself to be bound and Indrajith was elated that I could conquer this man whom even my brother could not do it. So bound him and Hanuman knew Brahmastra can hold him only for a second. What does it mean? Every story in Ramayana, Mahabharata or Bhagavatam has a deep spiritual meaning within. So what is this Astra, Brahmastra? Brahmastra is Brahma Gnanam, Aham Brahmasmi. When a person hears this one, how long will that bondage last? The moment a man knows I am Brahman, that very moment all the bondage of the Samsara, that is Brahmasu Samsara. Remember, Brahma is the creator. His thought itself is the creation and that thought is called Maya and that Maya makes us forget I am the Atman, I am the Brahman and make us think I am the body, I am the mind and this will continue for any ordinary person. So this is the Brahmastra. But the other meaning of Brahmastra is Brahman's Astra. We are not talking Brahma the creator, we are talking Brahman the supreme reality, Parabrahma, Paramatma. What is his Astra? Mahavakya, the greatest mantra, Mahamantra, Mahamantra, Mahayantra Swaroopini, Lalita Sahasranama comes. There is a beautiful description of Lalita Devi in the Lalita Sahasranama. This is very appropriately put, her stuti, Mithya Jagad Atheistana Muktida Muktiroopini, the divine mother is the empress, is the ruler, she is the creator of what? Mithya Jagad, a non-existing or like us seeing a snake instead of a rope, that is called Mithya. Unreality masquerading as reality. What is this? But if anybody surrenders herself, himself, herself, themselves to the divine mother because she is the mistress of this entire world, This is that divine mother we are talking about. So what is if anybody surrenders, calls her mother? Shri Ramakrishna's words, a little bit funny word, says if you call Maya as mother, she will be ashamed to tempt you. And that is what we have to say, O great divine mother. And then what does she become? Muktida. She will give you liberation instantaneously. This child accepted me as mother, is calling me as mother. How can I bind my own child? After all my motherhood will disappear. Nobody will call me a mother. They will only call me Maya. But Shri Ramakrishna used to say the divine mother is not Maya, she is Ma, Jaganmata, Shakti Swaroopini. She has the power to bind as well as to liberate. That is called Brahmastra. One Brahmastra is Avidya Maya. Another Brahmastra is Vidya Maya. And that is the Brahmastra which releases us and Hanuman knew that Rama is that Brahmastra and he has already liberated me and I don't have any need for any fruits about which we will discuss when the time comes. So Hanuman was bound. He was as if carried. Everybody was trying to abuse him and as you know some of the fanatics do. They throw stones, they throw anything that comes, they spit and they throw order etc. etc. and he was taken to Ravanasura. Look at this marvellous description. Ravanasura was sitting on a high throne and he did not want to honour this great hero. Similarly even Hanuman's, Ravanasura's own children have died in this battle. On that day he should have that tremendous capacity, the buddhi to understand this person is a great hero. My children, they are my children. They are great heroes and those could not conquer him. They had to simply die because in his hands. But look at it. There is something marvellous. I will tell you about it. So he wanted to insult. Do you know why I am keeping quiet? Somebody thoughtlessly is dragging perhaps their beds from one side to the other side unceasingly. Anyway these are the nuisances we have to cope with. So this Hanuman was kept there but Hanuman was very intelligent. So he could grow to any distance. So he just extended his wala tail and went on. You must have seen in some cinemas, he went round and round and round and round and then his Mahasana was almost up to the roof. Now it is the turn of the Ravanasura to look up and then he saw. Now whoever has to look up, he is a beggar, he is a poor fellow, he is an inferior fellow. Normally if we have to look up to a tall person, we automatically feel inferior to that person. So then there was a conversation. Now what a wonderful thing I have to tell you. Ravanasura never appreciated. You are a monkey. But Hanuman at first sight he saw Ravanasura. You know what he said? Aho roopam, aho valam. Palmik Ramayana we get these very words of Hanuman. He knew how to appreciate other people, the good qualities in them. Not only the bad qualities but the good qualities. So telling what a marvellous, how beautiful this person, what a personality, what a tremendous strength. Only one strong man can appreciate other strong men. Look at this. Because he was a spiritual person, not only he will not find fault but he will appreciate whatever good is there. Of course we all know at the end of it Ravanasura got very angry and he said burn his tail. Because tail is the most dearest thing to monkeys. Without that they will not be monkeys at all. I just remembered a funny story. I want to share with you. Perhaps you remember it. One Swami Vivekananda in America was there and a man came to see him and he was a sort of heckler. And there was a table and on one side Swami he was sitting, another side a man was sitting. And he wanted to pull the legs of the great Swami Vivekananda not knowing whom he was really dealing with. So he asked Swami, what is the difference between a monk and a monkey? Immediately Swami ji's foot came right out. Not much, only a table. So Ravanasura whom he considered as a monkey, he was the man in arm, Agra Ganyam. So he burned half the Lanka before coming away. This is symbolism. The symbolism is in South India Hanuman is considered as the Mukhya Prana. Mukhya Prana is another name for Sadguru, great Guru. So he conveyed the message of Sri Rama to Sita, gave her assurance, burned half her problems by burning half the Lanka. What does it mean? It means that the Ajnana, the negativity, because Maya has two aspects. Vidya Maya and Avidya Maya. Half of it we have to burn, Avidya Maya. And the other half we have actually to embrace, to cultivate, to grow assiduously over a number of lives. So Hanuman could not do that. That means what? Every Sadguru by his very grace, by his instruction, by his power, he will take away the greatest obstructions, negativity from our lives. But he will also encourage, inspire to grow our positivity. That is the most important thing that we have to remember. So Hanuman had done that. Such was the great Hanuman. Then again he crossed. He brought all the news about the Bhakta, about the greatest Bhakta, Sita Devi to Sri Rama. Every Bhakta is a Sita Devi. If you remember Mirabai's story that she went to Vrindavan. She went to Jiva Goswami's ashrama. Jiva Goswami was a disciple of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he was a great soul. But he made a rule that I will not see the face of a woman. And the disciples had great respect for this, not understanding what he really meant. So when Mirabai wanted to have darshan of Jiva Goswami, one of his stupid disciples proudly declared, My Guru will not see the face of a woman. Mirabai made fun, Oh! I thought in Vrindavan only one man is there. Where from the second man has come? And of course the dull disciple could not understand. He ran back to his Guru and he reported, A woman has come. This is what happened. She says like this. Where from the second man has come? Jiva Goswami was a great soul. He instantaneously understood the meaning of it. He ran, came and about to fall at the feet of Mirabai. Of course she would not allow. He was also elder in age. Also she considered anybody living in Vrindavan as the greatest devotee of her Ishta Devata Bhagwan Krishna. The point is every devotee is like a Gopi, like Radha and only one Purusha is there. That is why Bhagwan is called Purushottama. There are no Purushas. Jivas are there. All the Jivas are nothing but devoted servants and in this beautiful manner they are called Gopis. Gopi means a longing heart. The question of man or woman or gender doesn't arise here. And that was what every devotee in Ramayana should be called a Sita and Sita Devi like Radha Devi is the greatest. Remember Ramakrishna also meditated on Hanuman and we will talk about it in our next class. Because I want to enjoy. I enjoy thoroughly and I want to share my joy with you. Whenever I read these things, so many ideas come to my mind and all come together by Mother's grace and I will share them with you. But for today, what was the story? We should not forget. Hanuman came to take away, steal away that Amrita Bhanda, the pot of nectar. And he knew where it was. It was hidden in a crystal, secreted in a crystal pillar and then he caught hold of it and he was about to go back. The only way that Mandodari understood because stealing away of this Amrita Bhanda means the definite death of Ramanasura is Kingdom and she will become a widow. For every chaste woman to become a widow is no less than or even more than death. So she started tempting Hanuman thinking that not understanding that he was the greatest devotee. SAKALA PUNA NIDHANAM NANINAM AGRAGANYAM RAGHUPATI PARADHUTAM VATAJATAM NAMAMI This was composed by Tulasidas himself again. So Mandodari started tempting. Perhaps in the temptation of these fruits, Hanuman will drop that Amrita Bhanda there. Of course Bhanda means not mud pot, clay pot. It must be a precious metal. It will not break. We have to understand and enjoy this imagination. But Hanuman replies at that time, and most marvellous incident we are going to get. So Mandodari began to tempt him with various fruits so that he might come down and drop the weapon. But Hanuman could not be tricked so easily. In reply to her persuasions, he sang this song. And this beautiful song was sung also in the Gospel. And you know Gospel is full of songs. First I will read out the original Bengali song. Then I will also read out its English translation. Amar ki faler abhav, tora ye li viphal phal je loye, pe yechi je phal, janam safal. Mokha faler vrikha ram, hridaye je, Shri Ram kalpataru mule, ami bose roye. Jakhun je phal, vancha se phal prapta hoye, faler kotha kau dhani go, o phal graha phoye, jabo to der prathi phal je diye. A great Bengali saint called Dasarathi Roy composed this most marvellous song. Every song is marvellous. That is what I find. The English translation is, Am I in need of fruit? I have the fruit that makes this life fruitful indeed. Within my heart, a tree of Rama grows, bearing salvation for its fruit. Under the wish-fulfilling tree of Rama, do I sit at ease, plucking whatever fruit I will. But if you speak of fruit, no beggar I for common fruit. Behold, I go, leaving a bitter fruit for you. As Shri Ram Krishna was singing the song, he went into Samadhi. And M was observing again the half-closed eyes and motionless body that one sees in his photograph. Just a minute before, the devotees had been making merry in his company. Now all eyes were riveted on him. Thus for the second time, M saw the Master in Samadhi. After a long time, the Master came back to ordinary consciousness. His face lighted up with a smile and his body relaxed. His senses began to function in a normal way. Shri Ram Krishna shed tears of joy as he repeated the holy name of Rama. Now in today's class, we will just go through a few of the marvelous in-depth meanings of this particular song. As I mentioned many times, many times, many times we do bhajan, we do sing. And in some of the Sankirtanas, especially what I found disgusting, that without understanding, without any opportunity to dwell on the meaning of the song, they go on singing in Satchi. First they start with slow rhythm and they go on increasing and they think that they are all in devotee. Everybody's head is moving, hands are clapping and all the other instruments are there. But nothing is going inside. Or if something is entering through one ear, it also goes out through the other ear. That is not the way. One has to dwell upon the song. Before, we have to listen carefully. While singing also, we have to dwell. Tat Japaha Tat Artha Bhavanam Patanjali Rishi tells about Pranava. How to achieve that Nirvikalpa Samadhi? He says, Tat Japaha. Pranava is the Vachaka. Ishwarasya Vachakaha. It is the symbol of Bhagwan, Ishwara, Purusha. And by doing Japam, one attains to that state. And what is Japam? Tat Artha Bhavanam. We have to think deeply about the meaning of that one. Briefly, I will go through this. In our next class, we will talk in a little more detail. Amar Ki Phule Rabha Remember, Pandodari was trying to tempt Hanuman with fruits. What fruits? Like bananas, mangoes, guavas, etc. But what was Hanuman talking? His language was totally different. Do I lack any fruits? Why? Because, you know, where do I sit all the time? What is my home? Sri Rama Kalpataru Mule Goshe Roy I sit under the wish-fulfilling tree called Sri Rama. What fruits are we talking about? I do not lack any fruits. How many fruits are there? According to Hinduism, there are only four fruits. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. These are called Purusharthas, about which we will talk in our next class. Do I lack any of the fruits? Because I am sitting under the tree called Bhagavan. He is a Kalpavriksha. Whatever fruits I want, do I want Dharma? Do I want Artha? Do I want Kama? And that is what Taittiriya Upanishad is also telling along with other Upanishads. Whatever worlds, whether a realized soul wants Gandharva Loka, Sri Loka, Sangeeta Loka, Kavitva Loka, whatever Loka, and he finds himself in that Loka or that Loka itself comes to him, that means a realized soul does not lack anything at all. That is the meaning. Tora Eli, Bifal Fal Jaloey, you are trying to offer me these useless, completely useless fruits because I don't need them. And the fruits you are giving are completely useless fruits. What fruits? From Vishayananda. The fruits that I got, my whole life has become completely transformed. I became a fulfilled person. I don't need anything. What does Hanuman mean? What does he mean? You know what he says? Rama is the tree which yields this fruit called Moksha. And such a Rama or Kalpa Vriksha called Rama, He is forever in our heart. And where do I live? Under the tree of the Kalpataru. The moment I think, all the fruits I get. When whatever fruit I want, whenever I want, Instantaneously I obtain that particular fruit. Oh friend, listen, I am going to tell you the story of the fruits. That is, I only possess already, but if I don't possess also, I want only to receive that fruit. Only one fruit. What is that? That fruit of Moksha. And I don't want anything else. But not only I don't want anything else, I have got so many fruits, I can give any one of you any fruits you want. I will go away. I will not go empty handed. I will give you whatever type of fruits you want. What type of fruit? Do you want Dharma? I will give you. Do you want Artha? I will give you. Do you want Karma? I will give you. Do you want Moksha? I will give you. Because where am I sitting? Sri Rama Kalpataru Mole. I am sitting under the tree of Sri Rama Kalpataru. How many fruits it will give? Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha. All fruits are included in this. I will also talk about it. And how many fruits are there? Infinite number. So whoever wants, whatever they want, I am capable of giving. Why? Because I sit not only under the tree, Rama sits in my heart, I sit in the heart of Rama. There is no difference between Rama and myself. So I am myself in the Kalpavriksha. Brahma vith Brahma eva bhavati. And if anybody takes refuge in me and says, O Lord, O Brahman, O Deva, this is the fruit I want. Do you want money? I will give you. Do you want enjoyment? I will give you. Do you want Dharma? I will give you. Do you want Moksha? Yes. All that you need to do is sincerely you have to ask me and I can give you and I will give you. But there is only one condition. Do you really want? Because I know whether you want it or not. I am not going to give you if your heart doesn't really deserve it. There are so many marvelous ideas about this and I am going to talk about it in our next class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna