Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 073 on 08-November-2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM PADHA PADME TAYO SHRITVA PRANAM AMI MUHUR MUHUR Before we enter into the gospel, there is a very important question. And before I deal with the question, I want to make a statement. Our ancestors, that means our Rishis, are extraordinarily wise people. They would not have promulgated many things that they did without a deep meaning. They had intuitive understanding of many things which even scientists do not understand even today. For example, few days back there was one of the greatest events in the whole cosmos, the Surya Grahana, eclipse of the Sun. Today, it is the eclipse of the Moon. So one of our listeners had put this question. Why is the time of an eclipse considered auspicious for the practice of Japa? In fact, there is a funny incident. Swami Vivekananda was in Dhaka in the house of Naga Mahasaya. By that time, Naga Mahasaya had passed away and that was, I think, the eclipse of the Moon. And there is a belief that whatever a person does during the time of the eclipse, he will get 1,000 times the result. If somebody does some charity, then he will get back 1,000 times. But by the same token, if somebody does Papa, some evil deed, then also he will get 1,000 times Papa. Now, Swami Vivekananda, in his life, he could hardly sleep for not more than 2 hours, 3 hours and so he required sleep. So he thought, I will eat nicely before the eclipse and I will sleep. If I can get good sleep, then in future 1,000 times more sleep will come. I will be a blessed person. Now what happened was, he could not sleep and he should know better than anybody else that if you are trying to sleep, then it will evade you definitely. Otherwise, there is a chance. But he was struggling and he couldn't sleep. Now he could not sleep. That's what he did during the eclipse. And that's why in future, 1,000 times no sleep. Anyway, that was a funny incident. But here is the question. Why do we do practice? Japa, prayer, worship, meditation, fasting, etc. Now this question was asked by a disciple to Swami Sharada Anandaji. And he replied, Man becomes thoughtful when such a natural phenomenon takes place. Eclipse brings about a great change in the whole sphere of nature. At such a juncture, when nature passes from one great condition to another great condition, the whole world becomes changed, quiet, quiescent. The mind becomes calm. And so the time is favorable for the practice of Japa and meditation. Before I proceed further, I want to tell my own experience. I do not remember exactly, but perhaps I was in North India, probably in Mayawati or Almora, some such thing. And the eclipse time has come. And these words of the Swami came to my mind. And then I noticed something. Even the birds, even the animals, they become completely quiet. Now, we are human beings. We know about this eclipse. And earlier also we were warned, from this time to this time, eclipse takes place. But how do the animals know? The whole nature, I distinctly observed, has become very, very quiet. What does that prove? That definitely, certainly proves that there is a tremendous effect. And it is brought about by nature herself. And when such times come, our body becomes quiescent. That's why we should not burden it with extra eating, etc. And we should keep our mind. Our mind also becomes natural. Use this natural, favourable condition for the practice of japa, meditation, etc. That is what the Swami is telling. The mind becomes calm. So it is most favourable for the practice of japa and meditation. Now, Indian mythologies treat about this eclipse. I could stop here, but it is very important for us. We know in the Bhagavatam, the story of Samudra Mantana. The milk ocean was churned in search of amruta. Both gods and demons have cooperated there. And the demons thought, when really the fruit comes, the amruta, nectar comes, then we will snatch it from the devatas and then we will become immortal. But then we know the story, Lord Vishnu came in the form of Mohini. Mohini means misunderstanding. And then these people trusted that beautiful form of Lord Vishnu and they handed over the utensil containing the nectar. They said, we trust you and you distribute it. And Lord Vishnu, he was bestowing his smile on the demons, but giving the nectar. Suddenly, before that, he divided all the rakshasas on one side and all the devatas on the other side. Suddenly, Rahu and Ketu understood what was happening. They jumped the queue, as it were, joined the queue of the devatas. And it seems the Sun God had indicated to Lord Vishnu that this is what happened. Immediately, Vishnu understood, took out his discus chakra and cut off the heads. But by that time, a little bit of this nectar has gone inside. So their bodies had been separated from their heads. But the heads themselves had become immortal. And so, out of revenge, every now and then, they want to swallow. Now, what happens when a bodyless head swallows something? It cannot hide. It has to come out. But there is a spiritual symbolism there. So, what is head without a body? We are all covered by Maya. Upanishads tell us, Vedanta tells us, we are divine beings. But because of Maya, we have forgotten. And Maya comes in the form of thoughts and imaginations. And that is why, every time we go into the state of dream. Dream is nothing but Kalpataru. Kalpa means imaginations. So it is said, there is a special tree called Kalpataru, a wish-fulfilling tree. And whoever sits under the tree, whatever he thinks, will come true. So, in our dream state, whatever thoughts, I am in Bangalore, I am in Varanasi, I am in USA, I am in Mars, I am on the moon, in the Swarga Loka, in Brahma Loka, anything can happen. Just think, if you can. And immediately, you find yourself in that state. And so long as we are in that state of dream, they are absolutely true. So, all our dreams are nothing but Kalpataru. All our thoughts become absolute realities as soon as we start dreaming. But we understand, no change has taken place as soon as we wake up. Now, what is this analogy for? These eclipses, Rahu and Ketu, they want to obscure whom? The Sun and the Moon. According to our Vedanta scriptures, Upanishads, Sun is called Brahman, Sun is Prajapati, Sun is our father and the Moon is our mother. That is why the whole of Ayurveda is dependent upon the Moon. Whatever the Ayurvedic doctor wants to use, they should be gathered on a particular tithi, at a particular juncture, and the Moon influences. That is why all the Aushadhis grow only because of the influence of the Moon. So, we are all children of the Sun and the Moon. But we think we are not the Sun, we are not the Moon. Remember, Sun and Moon means Parvati, Parameshwara, Shiva and Parvati. We are all divine children. But these thoughts assume the reality of the head and they cover because of our wrong thoughts, because of Maya. Maya, as it were, tries to cover the Sun and the Moon, the truth of Brahman, the truth of Shiva and Shakti, but they cannot really do it, only for a short time. So, every being, every human being especially, they are under the spell of Maya for a very short time. Really, Maya can only obscure for a short time, cannot deprive us of our true nature. That is the spiritual symbolism. So, what should we do? We must do Japa and meditation. So, this is the spiritual symbolism that the Maya, which is comparable to Rahu and Ketu, which tries to swallow Brahma Jnanam, the Sun and the Moon are representative of Brahma Jnanam. Amruta is the knowledge of Brahman, but they cannot do it because their power is much less. Temporarily, we also are obscured by the Maya only for a short time. Oh, you may say, what nonsense are you talking, Swami? 84 Churasi Lakh Janam and you are talking for a short time. And Swami Vivekananda will laugh and say, after all, compared to infinity, what is 84 lakhs of times? There is a beautiful incident again mentioned by Sir Ramakrishna. Pandit Shiva and Parvati are sitting on the Mount Kailasa. Suddenly, there was a small Diwali firework. Doom like that. And Parvati was startled and she asked, Lord, what is it? And the Lord said, Ravana is born. Next second, doom like that, another sound came. Lord, what is this sound? Ravana is dead. From the viewpoint of infinity, which is Shiva or Mahakala, this doom doom, birth and death are absolutely nothing. 84 lakh Janam only from our time. In fact, we don't remember at all 84 lakhs of Janmas. We don't even remember what happened yesterday. One disciple, one devotee was asking Swami, Swami, what is the proof that we have got past Janmas? We don't remember them. Swami laughingly said, You don't even remember my last Gospel class. What to speak of Purva Janma remembering? So our memories are so short. It doesn't mean that these events did not take place. But what I am trying to tell, in comparison with infinity, finiteness is absolutely nothing. So the Maya, however much it tries to obscure, it cannot obscure. The sun will come out. The moon will come out. But physiologically speaking, when such cataclysmic events take place, the whole nature becomes quiescent. Very common point. And therefore what happens is, we can use that time like the dawn, like the dusk, like the midnight. If we get up and do Japa, it will be most marvellous. So this is the symbolism of that. And that is why we are asked not to eat, so that our mind becomes free. And then we can use it to think about God. Also, if you wish, you can also think about that this Rahu and Ketu are like old age and death. Old age will come in the course of time. But there are some rare diseases. Even a child becomes old. But it is a rare case. But death, any time it can come. Even the fetus can die. A just born baby can die. A 120 year old person also can die. Nobody can tell. That is why you must have noticed. So far I am okay. We have to learn that one. So far means until I am giving this answer. And as soon as I finish giving the answer, what happens, only God knows. So what happens? Natural phenomena brings about a natural effect which is absolute quiet. And as I mentioned, even the birds, even the animals, they become absolutely quiet. They also have extra sense. What to speak of? Human beings only perhaps are too busy to observe these things. But our ancients have observed it. So they asked us, put off everything. Whatever you are doing, come and sit quietly until the eclipse passes on. Then that will definitely help us to progress. In relationship, because the question has come, something else can come. Sri Ramakrishna often used to say that Shraddha food, food that has been offered to the mains, our ancestors, Pitru Purushas, at the time of offering Shraddha or Pinda should not be taken by a devotee. Sri Ramakrishna was very emphatic that two types of food should be avoided. One is the food at the time of Shraddha. Another is food that is offered at the time of marriage. And this question by a disciple, this is the question. The master used to say that Shraddha food offered at the funeral rites is harmful to Bhakti. Why is it so? Swami Saradananda replies, The object of food is to build a strong body and a refined intellect. Unless the body and the mind are pure, it is not possible to go through spiritual practices. It is the food offered to God that builds up a pure body and mind. The Shraddha food is offered first to the mains and not to God. And as a result, instead of building a pure mind and body, it affects people otherwise. That means it makes us what we call worldly or unspiritual. Food builds the body and the mind and the nature of the food also affects them. And Swami gives an example. In Chaitanya's life, we have a case where an ordinary man who happened to touch him in a state of ecstasy was also overpowered by religious emotions. He was prescribed to take Shraddha food to get over these emotions. And as a matter of fact, this food did put an end to that person's ecstatic moods. These are things we have to believe in the teachings of these great souls. Simply saying, since we don't see, we don't believe, what the scriptures are telling is absolute nonsense. Now, we come back to the gospel class. So now, we have talked in our last class. In fact, I have devoted the entire last gospel class about the four fruits of life. Remember, there was a song when Hanuman wanted to steal the pot which contained Amrita, which Ravanasura used to tie to his waist. And so long as that Amrita was there, however many times, Shri Rama tried to cut off his heads. They will spring up again because Amrita means immortality. Then he came to know. He sent Hanuman to remove that and Hanuman succeeded. And when he was about to go away, Mandodari, the wife of Ravanasura, wanted to tempt him with various fruits, thinking monkeys are very fond of fruits, which is also a fact of life. So, in that context, the song goes, Am I in need of fruits? Am I in need of fruits? I have all the four fruits. He mentions, what are those four fruits? In Vedantic language, there are only four fruits. Every fruit, that is, every desire falls under four. Dharma, Artha, Kama and all are subservient to the last fruit, that is called Moksha. So, I have talked about elaborately the concept of four Purusharthas and four stages of life and four parts of the Vedas. How beautifully our scriptures synchronized each part of the Veda to each stage of life and corresponding to the attainment of a particular fruit. Dharma, first stage. Artha and Kama, second stage. Upasana, third stage. And of course, Moksha in the Sanyasa stage. So, let us keep in mind, the whole of Hindu life, if somebody asks you, that what is Hinduism? Say, the attainment, the understanding of these four fruits and the attempt to attain these four fruits of life by regulating our life, that is called Hinduism. Anybody, Hindu or non-Hindu, who understands this, either in this language or any language, but tries to do exactly the same thing, he is a Hindu irrespective of whether he calls himself a Hindu, a Christian, a Muslim, or whatever it is. It doesn't matter. And this is the most important topic. When we say spiritual life, it comes only, first of all, we must know what is life, what is spiritual life. That falls under Dharma. Naturally, we have to fight with our natural desires, also unnatural desires. And that comes under Artha and Kama, which I talked about in quite an amount of detail. Lastly, we have to think about when a time comes. What is the time? For a Grihasta, children are grown up and they are well settled. And if we are splitting our head with so many aches about them, about their children, etc., it is pure ignorance. We have done our duty. We don't belong to them. They don't belong to us. We come alone. They come alone. We go alone. They go alone. There is nothing anybody can do. So we have to be aware of this fact that we come alone. We go alone. We sleep alone. Everybody sleeps alone. We dream alone. Everybody dreams alone. We experience happiness and unhappiness alone. Even our beloved husband, beloved parents, beloved children, or anybody, nobody can experience anything for us. The best they can do is to provide some headache pills or antidepressant pills. But that is all their role. True experience belongs to the one each individual experiencer. And this is a fact. You don't need scriptures for that. Our rational mind can explain to us. So we must know I came alone. I travel alone. And I depart alone. And if we can understand it, it is sure to make us really spiritual. So that is what I had talked about. So naturally the question comes, even now I am talking, why did we talk so much about it? Remember, when I am talking, you are listening. And whether I am talking or you are listening, the ideas are going in my mind and in your mind. So we are all talking so much about the Dharma, Artha, Kama, Vasana and Moksha. Why did we talk so much? We have to question ourselves. Because according to our scriptures, Upanishads, these are not academic questions. These are the most crucial questions. So we have to think, am I really thinking about these four Purusharthas? That is why our scripture very aptly talks about them. They are Purusharthas, desirable by every rational, sane, thinking, wise human being. Animals cannot think about them. Animals can think only about immediate fulfilment, survival and propagation. And unthinking people, thoughtless people, children, madcaps also fall under that category. But it is only the wise person capable of objectifying one's life and thinking, he should question, am I really thinking about these four Purusharthas? Now what we desire and what needs to be desired, there is a hell and heaven difference. Desired and desirable. Desirable may be quite different from what is desired. And this is where our deep thinking can come to our help. We have to question, are my desires in accordance with the desirable objects, desirable things that are so beautifully enumerated in our scriptures? And all our scriptures only talk at different stages of our growth. First, know what is life. Second, try to experiment, experience, slowly grow. And every chakra is a state of consciousness and every stage of life is supposed to be a spiritual growth, evolution. And unless we evolve, we cannot enter into the next stage. Then a time will come we have done whatever we are expected to do by the scriptures. And if that is true, then our very mind will say, I had enough, I have seen what is life, what is the world, what it can give, what it cannot give. Then the only being who can give what I cannot obtain is God. So completely understanding about God, turning our mind away from the external things and trying to surrender ourselves by doing what Lord expects us to do that is called vanaprasthashyama. And if we still start growing, a time will come when this surrender becomes total. That state of total surrender is called Moksha. So we have to ask the question, am I really thinking about them? If any one of you is questioning why is the Swami talking about it, this is the answer. After all, you are attending this class because you want to be spiritual. What is spirituality? To think about these four questions. The very first step is, am I a dharmic person? Second, am I acquiring and enjoying according to the scripture directed dharmic way or adharmic way, spiritual way or worldly way? How do we know? Because if we do everything rightly, the result also will be the right result. What is the right result? Evolution in spiritual life. The whole life is an evolution. Then our mind slowly acquires more faith in God and understands that we belong to God. God belongs to us. We also understand nobody belongs to us. We don't belong to anybody. But in another way, everybody, the whole universe, the whole world, the whole Jagat belongs only to God and all of us belong to God. We are all children of God. There is absolutely no difference, etc. and that should be our quest. So tonight or tomorrow night, you question, am I a dharmic person? Am I living my life according to dharma or according to the world? Simply, am I a worldly person? Am I a spiritual person? If I am a spiritual person, I am a dharmic person. Dharma and spirituality can never be separated. My thoughts, my speech and my actions, they will all be spiritual even when we are discharging worldly duties. So spiritual life starts and evolves forward with these questions. So that is what Sri Ramakrishna says, Maya is nothing but Kama and Kanchana. Artha and Kama. Kanchana means Artha, Kama means Kama. So these can be roughly translated as acquisition of things and experiencing those things. Is there any contradiction? There is absolutely no contradiction because the scriptures say, what Sri Ramakrishna says, divide up dharma, divide up God, Artha and Kama are our greatest enemies, the avidya aspect of Maya. Whereas the same Artha and Kama understood in the light of dharma and moksha, sandwiched between dharma and moksha, that is spiritual life and spiritualizing our worldly life. If we can understand it in that way, then we are safe. That is why so much about Purusharthas. Once Swami had remarked so beautifully that the whole scripture is nothing but an explanation of these Purusharthas, four Purusharthas. If we understand them and practice them, we can manifest our own divinity which is being obscured now and slowly things become better and that is what Hanuman is really talking about. I will read out that song again and we will move forward. Hanuman, while taking away the Amruta Vanda, the pot of Amruta, he was replying to Mandodari in the form of this song. Of course, we should not say Hanuman was singing this song, but he can as well sing this song because he was so joyous. He came to accomplish a task and he was successful. And who is Hanuman? A strong will covered and supported by the grace of God is Hanuman. This is the song. In Bengali, if there are some Bengali devotees, Amar ki phalair abhav. Am I in need of fruit? I have the fruit that makes this life fruitful. Within my heart the tree of Rama grows bearing salvation for its fruit, Moksha. Under the wish-fulfilling tree of Rama do I sit at ease plucking whatever fruit I will. Once a person is capable of sitting under the wish-fulfilling tree of Rama, he can enjoy Dharma, he can enjoy Artha, he can enjoy Kama. That means a person under Avidya Maya will suffer, but the same person under Vidya Maya, everything enhances his happiness a billion fold. But he is addressing Mandodari, if you speak of fruit, no beggar I for common fruit, behold I go leaving a bitter fruit for you. That means, O Mandodari, your life is going to be bitter because you are seeking your husband Ravanasura's life. What does Ravanasura represent? Ten heads. Dasa, Moksha. Ten heads. What does ten heads represent? Ten sense organs. We can be slaves to any one of these sense organs, but if we are masters of our sense organs then we can become completely liberated. Who is Ravanasura? He who is under the thumb, under the rule, a slave of each one of the sense organs. Naturally, what he is talking, we are all Ravanasuras only and that is why we suffer so much. So what is the way? Let us fight with Rama. Let us obtain Rama. Let Rama destroy me because only he can destroy his own maya. That is what Bhagavan says, This is my divine maya. Nobody can overcome this maya. Those who surrender themselves to me, worship me and beg me, I alone can cut their bondage, can take them across the world of maya. This is the only way. So Shri Ramakrishna was singing this song and as he was singing he went into samadhi and M is describing again the half-closed eyes and motionless body that one sees in his photograph. Just a minute before, the devotees have 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. That means he came back to jagra davastha, waking state. Shri Ramakrishna shed tears of joy as he repeated the holy name of Rama. And this is how we have to understand Shri Ramakrishna was an embodiment of Ananda because he realized Ananda. He realized Brahman who is none other than Sat Chit Ananda. M wondered whether this very saint was the person who a few minutes earlier had been behaving like a child of five. Now the topic had turned to Narendra and Shri Ramakrishna suddenly becomes a child. Again and again I will remind you something. When we study the life of Shri Ramakrishna, we see two things. Always he is what is called a twin personality. One person is a child of five, totally innocent, totally dependent upon his mother. He doesn't know what to do, what not to do, where to sit, where to lie. Completely like a kitten, brilliant upon the mother cat. But when the Divine Mother takes over, nobody knows within a fraction of a twinkling of a second, immediately Divine Mother takes over and what comes out of his mouth are nothing but pure Vedas, pure Upanishads. So when this change takes place, from the mother to the child, from the child to the mother, only the Divine Mother knows. So now suddenly the master with his joyful behavior, everybody must be extremely happy because if anyone is fortunate to be in the presence of such a great soul, in the presence of the fire, everybody feels the heat. In the presence of the cold, everybody becomes cold. So in the presence of Shri Ramakrishna or Ramana Maharshi, nobody can remain. In the presence of Swami Vivekananda or Swami Brahmananda, nobody can ever remain unhappy even if they were unhappy before or they may be unhappy afterwards. But so long as his influence permeates, they can be only happy. They lift up the person as it were to some extent to their own level. Then the master who has become the child is talking to Narendra and M. I should like to hear you speak and argue in English. But it is impossible. Both of them laughed. But they continued to talk in their mother tongue, of course in Bengali. Now M makes a statement. It was impossible for M to argue anymore before the master. Though Shri Ramakrishna insisted, they did not talk in English. Next topic. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, all the devotees excepting Narendra and M took leave of the master. As M was walking in the temple garden, he suddenly came upon the master talking to Narendra on the bank of the goose pond. Shri Ramakrishna said to Narendra. M was hearing. Look here. Come a little more often. You are a newcomer. Shri Ramakrishna continued. On first acquaintance, people visit each other quite often as is the case with a lover and his sweetheart. Both Narendra and M laughed. So please come. Won't you? What was Shri Ramakrishna telling? Not that he was very eager that Narendra should visit him. He was very eager, but not the way we understand. When we love somebody, we want to be with that somebody as often as possible. This is a worldly way. This is also a spiritual way. But what is meant is that Shri Ramakrishna is a realized soul. He is not dependent upon anybody. He doesn't expect or think anything like a worldly person. Whatever the divine wills, that alone he accepts. But Shri Ramakrishna knew very well that Narendra was brought by no other than himself to aid in his mission of dharma sthapana. Millions today worship Shri Ramakrishna as an avatar, incarnation of God. But often avatars require the help of somebody to propagate, to speak out the truth which they themselves have realized. Because their bodies are too sattvic to do this kind of job. So Krishna had Arjuna, Rama had Hanuman, and a Buddha had Ananda. So every incarnation, Jesus had Saint Paul and Saint Peter. Every incarnation had some great soul for that purpose. And Narendra was specially brought for this purpose. But Narendra himself did not understand it at the beginning. So Shri Ramakrishna was encouraging, I have a lot to mould you, to shape you, and so you better come. So will you please come? Won't you? Now Narendra, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, was very particular about his promises. He said with a smile, Yes sir, I shall try. Because no untruth had ever escaped Swami Vivekananda's mouth. And that is why whatever came out of his mouth is nothing but pure truth. So he will never say, I will come. And then if he doesn't come, he himself will suffer for it. That's why he said, I shall try my best. So we also have to say that we should never promise and say, we will always try. And that way if we are not able to fulfil our promise, we will not be guilty of telling an untruth. But at the same time, it is not also an excuse. I told that I will try, but I will not try. That is hypocrisy. We must try. Otherwise we say, let us see what happens. Or simply smile. And then they talked. Turned now upon merit, people of merit. As they were returning to the master's room, Ramakrishna said to them, When peasants go to market to buy bullocks for their ploughs, they can easily tell the good from the bad by touching their tails. On being touched there, some meekly lie down on the ground. And Sairam Krishna graphically describes because he had experienced all these things in his day-to-day life at Kamarpukur. The peasants recognised that when somebody touches, especially their tail, some of them don't care to do anything. Some of them lift their face and placidly look at the person who is touching, but apply, apply, no reply. But there are some without metal, so the farmers, peasants reject them. They select only those bullocks that frisk about and show spirit when their tails are touched. I have seen this one myself. There are some bullocks, young ones, the moment you even attempt to touch their tail, they jump up and want to gore you. And then what is all this talk for? Narendra is like a bullock of this last class. That's why he is Rajarsabha. Rishabha is what Sri Krishna uses about Arjuna. This word Nararsabha. You are like a bull among men. Meaning this kind of person. He is full of spirit within. The Master smiled as he said this. He smiled because even at that time, Narendra did not know anything about himself, that he was one of the seven Rishis, that he was born to fulfil the Divine Commission of the Divine Mother, and he is being trained in all these ways. Nothing of it he knew about it. But he was thinking, my Master loves me, so he likes to talk everything positive about me. Sri Ramakrishna never tells a lie. An untruth, even unconsciously, cannot come out of these people. That's why these great people were called Satya Kamaha, Satya Sankalpaha. They cannot think what is untruth. They cannot utter what is untruth. There are some people, Sri Ramakrishna continues, who have no grit whatever. And Sri Ramakrishna, the past Master and simile is like Kalidasa. And these people are like flattened rice, soaked in milk. Already it is flattened. Chivda. And then it is soaked in milk. Soft and mushy. No inner strength at all. That is, Sri Ramakrishna was trying, because he knew the truth about Narendra. Many times this praise will come. When the time comes, we will talk about it. What is important for us is, Sri Ramakrishna is not praising Narendra. Simply he is stating facts about Narendra. It was dusk. The Master was meditating on God. He said to him, Go and talk to Narendra. Then tell me what you think of him. Evening worship was over in the temples. M met Narendra on the bank of the Ganges. And they began to converse. Narendra told M about his studying in college, his being a member of the Brahmo Samaj and so on. It was now late in the evening and time for M's departure. But he felt reluctant to go and instead went in search of Sri Ramakrishna. And then a most marvellous sight confronts him. M's rare sight of Sri Ramakrishna. M had been fascinated by the Master's singing and wanted to hear more. Now this is what I wanted to talk about. So at last he found the Master facing alone in the Nath Mandir in front of the Kali Temple. A lamp was burning in the temple on either side of the image of the Divine Mother. The single lamp in the spacious Nath Mandir blended light and darkness into a kind of mystic twilight in which the figure of the Master could be dimly seen moving, walking forward and backward. This is a marvellous sight, very rare sight. Only few times some people must have noticed and whenever such times come, first of all it is dusk. Secondly, in those days, let us remember, excepting the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, very few people used to go. In those days, Dakshineswar was also a remote village outside Calcutta. Now it has become, it is completely encircled and entwined by the city. It is what is called completely engulfed by the Calcutta city. But in those days, many people found it even difficult to reach Dakshineswar. And very few people. And it is dusk. And then Pujari may be there preparing for Sandhyarthi. Those who visited, they know it. And there is a big hall where singing, special devotees studying or some Hari Katha like were being arranged there. It is called Nat Mandir. And then Sri Ramakrishna was pacing up and down and there were oil lamps in the temple and in front in that big hall which is open, there is only a single lamp which was burning. And then that lamp could not throw enough light. There was light and darkness blended together and the master could be dimly seen pacing. Mystic twilight. In that mystic twilight, Sri Ramakrishna the mystic was pacing up and down. What was he doing? He was only completely absorbed and that state is called Atmarama state. I will come to that. But first I want to talk effect of music on human mind. M had been enchanted by the master's sweet music. With some hesitation, he asked him whether there would be any more singing that evening. No, not tonight, said Sri Ramakrishna after a little reflection. Then, as if remembering something he added, but I am going soon to Balram Bose's house in Calcutta. Come there and you will hear me sing. Now, M wanted, his thirst to hear not music, but music that issues from the mouth throat of Sri Ramakrishna and later on Swami Vivekananda not anybody else. Because if you ever enjoyed somebody's sweetest voice, you want to hear that particular song, that particular raga, that particular rendering again and again. Music has a tremendous effect. And then, here in the eclipse, a kind of what you call the solar music and some recording devices also find music is going on, this divine music in all the solar planets between planets, on the same planet, which can be captured perhaps, but which only yogis can hear, which they call Anahata Dvani. The effect of music on human mind is incalculable. One song can transform and has transformed many people's lives. This is a beautiful subject. I want to talk about it a little bit. Because this music, the Ananda, the joy that one gets from music is two steps higher than the Vishayananda. As I mentioned quite a number of times and I hope ardently and pray to God that you remember them. Ananda is of five types and each higher Ananda contains the lower Ananda and it is incalculably greater than the lower Ananda. So first is called Vishayananda, second is called Medhananda, third is called Kalananda, fourth is called Dharmananda and the last is called Brahmananda. Sometimes in the Gospel you find that Ananda is divided by Sri Ramakrishna, classified by Sri Ramakrishna as three. Vishayananda, Bhajanananda and Brahmananda. But there is a lot for us to understand about. Actually it is five stages are there of which the last, the highest Brahmananda is the highest and every other Ananda is the manifestation of that same Brahmananda but severely limited. That is called Vishayananda that is what is called momentary happiness or pleasure that we get from enjoying objects which we like very much. Then comes what is called higher Ananda, intellectual happiness, the Ananda which comes when we understand ideas deeply and great scientists and great thinkers they enjoy that one. Then the higher Ananda that is Kalananda. Kala means artistic enjoyment, what is called aesthetic enjoyment. Through those people they have very refined mind. And then the highest stage, higher than that is called Dharmananda, the joy one derives from leading a life of Dharma, morality, truthfulness, righteousness and what we call practice of spirituality etc. This contains all the other lower Anandas. But of course there is a division between the enjoyer and the enjoyed in all these four. But there is a final Ananda which is called Brahmananda where the enjoyer-enjoyed, knower-known, experiencer-experienced becomes completely obscured means they become one. That is why it is called Advaita Anubhuti, Advaita Ananda, Brahmananda, Advaita Ananda, Aparoksha Ananda. These are all one and the same, different names are there. Now what I am telling, see Ramakrishna was naturally endowed with the sweetest voice. There are so many people who are endowed with very natural, beautiful voice. Whatever issues from their mouth becomes absolutely marvelous. That's not what we are talking about. We are talking about the effect that is brought about that is to say the transformation of character to a higher level, to a spiritual level. That is the effect we are talking about. And see Ramakrishna had enchanted people, had transformed people's lives. What is the reason? The simple reason is he is not like professional musicians who inside are calculating how much money we get but singing such a naturally gifted, natural voice, very sad song and it brings tears to our eyes but at the same time the singer itself, no transformation and if there is no transformation in the singer there would be no transformation in the people who listen also. These are most marvelous ideas. I would like to speak about it but I will just continue just a few seconds more. M had been enchanted by the master's sweet music. With some hesitation he asked him whether there is any more singing that evening. No, not tonight but he remembered next day perhaps he has to go to Balram Basu's house. You come there. M agreed to go. Then master is asking do you know Balram Basu? M, no sir, I don't. Master, he lives in Bosepara. M, well sir, I shall find him. Of course in those days it is not difficult but M should have asked Ram Krishna I don't know who is Balram Basu but will you kindly tell so that I can have his address so I can come. So Ram Krishna told him he lives in Bosepara. He could have given the address but many people know Balram Basu if he goes anywhere in Bosepara he is well known. Anybody will direct him to his house. I will stop here because so many ideas are rushing into my mind. I would like to take time to speak, to enjoy with you somewhat I will speak about music in my next class. Om Jananem Sharadham Deveem Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padmetayos Ritva Pranamame Muhur Moho May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna