Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 075 on 06-December-2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVEM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGAD GURUM AHADA PADME TAYO SHRITVA PRANAMAMI MOHORU MOHO In our last class we talked about the effect of music on human mind and every perfect expression of music must contain six components Bhava, Feeling, Sahitya, Literature, Raga, the way music is composed Shruti, keeping a very pleasant medium Laya, Rhythm, Thala, set to the particular words If these six conditions are fulfilled then music becomes perfect and it has at least five effects It stills the mind immediately Music is one thing even when a person is speaking The voice is a marvellous voice One example is Swami Ranganathanamji Maharaj His very voice can put a mind into a hypnotic state Then second effect instills Bhava, the particular mode Third, it reverberates in the unconscious Even after everything, the music is over, it goes on If it is bad music then the effect is over But if it is good music it has a very lasting effect and the immediate effect is greatest, generates greatest joy and of course it focuses the mind So six effects are there Five effects of music That's why a good voice irrespective of what that voice expresses even rubbish attracts people It is said of Swami Vivekananda that people would incite him to speak something even if it be very trifle nonsensical matter It is not the subject but it is the musical quality of his voice Blessed are those people who are endowed with these things The next topic we are moving Very very important topic for all of us What is the topic? Usually we always have uppermost one single thought What do the world think of me? What do other people think of me? So whatever we do Whether I am dressing, I am cooking, I am doing some job What does the world think? What does my husband think? What does my wife think? What do my children think? What do my parents think? What do my neighbours think? etc. This is the very nature of persons because we are terribly totally dependent upon other people's opinion This is called keeping up with the Joneses In English there is this expression used What it means is that people are always thinking that my neighbour has this type of house, this type of dress, this type of car and if I want to keep up my prestige I must also have the same thing The tragedy of it is that they look to us for their standard and we look to them for our standard But what is important? So what does the world think of me? But when it comes to spiritual life we cannot dispense this tendency but we can turn it to our advantage And what is the advantage we are talking here? What does God think of me? What does God think of me? So God also is thinking What does my devotee, how does he think of me? How long does he think of me? What does he think of me? And he is like a mirror In fact the whole world is like a social mirror We are looking, we want to look not at others but through others at our reflections What is your opinion? We are such slaves In Chandi we are called the slaves of Madhu and Kaitava The very first story in the Durga Saptashati that Brahma wanted to continue his job of creativity and then he found suddenly two demons who originated from the earwax of Lord Vishnu who happens to be a slave and who are they? They are two demons called Madhu and Kaitava What is the symbolism? We want to hear something always sweet You are nice, you are wonderful, you are marvellous even though we know what we are Many times we know But we are slaves if somebody tells falsity about ourselves immediately we like that person This is our standard of judging other people This is a very good person because he likes me, he praises me and if anybody dares to criticize me just the opposite There can be no worst person in this whole world even if that person wants our own good even if it is our parents or our children We don't want to listen So now in this gospel we get this marvellous conversation Sri Ramakrishna used to ask everybody practically everybody what do you think of me either directly or indirectly He asked every devotee Why? Just as I mentioned we may not express what do you think of me but by dressing nicely by talking nicely by appearing to be sweet If somebody takes notice of it and then tells you are a marvellous person like that or criticizes then our opinion about ourselves will be depending upon other people's opinion This is called samsara This is called bondage This is called limitation Now we will have to reverse the situation Now why is Sri Ramakrishna asking people Was he in need of what other people think? Many times he expresses I consider others as worms What they think of me or anybody doesn't really matter But what he really means by this that by understanding the other person's opinion about himself he knows how much the other person has progressed in spiritual life because our seeing God in others is totally dependent upon our spiritual progress But before we can see God in others we have to develop the same vision We must know what is God In other words first of all we must develop our own divinity to the extent we develop our divinity to that extent we see the other persons in that light We judge other people in that light Ordinary people judge other people everything, the whole life their life, another's life from the view point of view or body point of view and sometimes a little bit from the mind point of view but mostly it is body oriented view whereas Sri Ram Krishna's view, Aham Brahmasmi I am divine, I am God So how much the other people can estimate his divinity For example, one person replies upon being asked what do you think of me you are a very good person Sri Ram Krishna understands this person is a very good person Somebody says you are a good sadhu and Sri Ram Krishna understands his understanding of me indicates the depth of his own spiritual progress When somebody says you are a God realized soul you are a Jeevan Mukta then Sri Ram Krishna understands this person is far advanced but there were people, devotees who said you are an incarnation of God then he understands those people they have progressed further but if somebody says it is a low opinion that you are an incarnation of God No, no I am not an incarnation of God No then what is your opinion you are that source from which incarnations stem, originate you are the source that means you are Brahma and Sri Ram Krishna gives it to them so you have gone even further than the other persons Now the point is Sri Ram Krishna is not worried what people think about him He is a man of self-knowledge and we are all men of other self-knowledge that is Anatma I am the body I am young I am beautiful I am man I am a woman I am famous I have these talents or I don't have these talents etc. etc. This is all body-oriented view So Sri Ram Krishna is eliciting these answers so that he can measure the progress the devotee has made If this point is kept in view it is absolutely wonderful Now we will read a little bit As Sri Ram Krishna walked up and down the hall with M He said to him Let me ask you something What do you think of me? M remained silent Again Sri Ram Krishna asked What do you think of me? How many annas of knowledge of God have I? Sri Ram Krishna One quality of Sri Ram Krishna is He wants what he wants He will get what he wants He will not keep quiet until he gets what he wants Whether it is devotees Sri Ram Krishna wanted Narendranath to be his instrument to spread his message of divinity Vedanta throughout the world and throughout life Narendra resisted He said this man he made a slave of me and in fact he made a very funny remark Sri Ram Krishna used to talk about Sri Ram Krishna This old man had made me a monkey tied a rope around my neck and made me go through half the world and made me dance according to his wish and even now he is not allowing me to be free Of course At the beginning Narendranath resisted very much You know why? Because fresh from the Saptarshi Mandala he had come down and his mind was deeply absorbed in Brahman and such a mind doesn't recognize even the existence of the world but here is a person he has been specifically brought to fulfill certain Divine Mother's vision mission and until that mission is over the person cannot even die Sri Ram Krishna had predicted until you fulfill the Divine Mother's mission you will not be released So Sri Ram Krishna was getting resistance from Narendra Narendra will teach and Narendra replied I don't want to I don't want to sit in meditation His old mind is pulling him back to what he was accustomed to but Sri Ram Krishna said your very bones will teach because you have been born only for this purpose So we can see Sri Ram Krishna had to do lot of tapasya in order to bring down the mind of Narendra Nath and to mould it according to the changing circumstances of history For example if Narendra was born 500 years before most likely he would not have gone anywhere He would have preached religion correct religion only in India or wherever he was born but now the whole world has become a global village What is global village? Very interesting definitions are given of both village and city By whom? By a great realized soul A village is a place where everybody knows about everything else everybody else and a city is a place where nobody knows about anybody else that includes about oneself also This is called a city We don't know so many tenants may be there in the same building We hardly know perhaps a little bit of their names what do they do etc because we encounter them but beyond that our knowledge is nil our desire to know about them is absolutely nil whereas in a village every villager makes it his mission to know about everybody else So in this global village because of the thanks to the internet YouTube and advances in telecom and transportation man can travel even at faster than the speed of sound that is also going to come very soon So transportation as well as this telecommunication two Ts man can be in touch with each other so we get more news excepting one thing where we are totally ignorant that is self-knowledge we don't know who we are we think we know who the others are There was a Greek incident an incident that occurred in Greece so it is said one very learned spiritual Brahmana visited Greece and he met the greatest of the Greek philosophers and they asked each other what is your goal the Brahmana asked the Greek philosopher what do you think is the greatest thing in life and he said it is to know man knowledge of the human being and immediately the Brahmana replied how will you know what a human being is until you know God you will not know about man what does he mean he means true man is an emanation a reflection a manifestation of God otherwise it is an estimate from the body point of view mind point of view and he is absolutely right about it and this is what Sri Ram Krishna had come to teach and he used to put it in his own inimitable language any number of zeros you put their value is zero but the moment you put one in front of all the zeros the value will go on increasing mathematically ten two zeros hundred three zeros thousand in no time the incalculable knowledge will come value will come so if we know when we know that my true nature is divinity then that is the real knowledge about man and that is when we forget when humanity forgets and this is called dharma sthapana dharma sthapana means make God comes around to remind us that man you are trying to know everything but without knowing who you are you will not be able to have right knowledge of anything in this world why because everything in this world its true nature not only man even a lump of clay is nothing but Brahman a piece of stone is nothing but Brahman any animal any insect anything living, non-living anything existence is all pure sat satyam and that is what exactly it is so this is what the conversation is about Shri Ram Krishna was was praying to the Divine Mother Oh Mother please bring my devotees I want to tell them about you here Mother means Brahman what others call as God or Brahman Shri Ram Krishna used to call as my Mother and then slowly he was born for that purpose he was a born teacher he was born to teach the whole world that's why he is called Jagat Guru who is a Jagat Guru he who can teach anybody a non-believer a Christian a Muslim a Hindu a skeptic an agnostic even a worldly person provided one qualification is there that qualification is called Shraddha a man must have tremendous faith that there is a huge potentiality within me and how to develop that potentiality people even scientists accept this definition that human what Aldous Huxley had determined in modern English language human possibility so it is possible to become an Einstein possible to become Kalidasa possible to become Beethoven or a Thyagaraja Purandar Dasa anybody so that human possibility they only tell a limited but Vedanta tells until you become Brahman you have not reached your fullest possibility the most manifestation of divinity is called Brahman this is the purpose for which God incarnates when humanity forgets this one so Sri Ramakrishna I don't know how many times he asked this question he used to ask this question to everybody he is asking first time when he Sri Ramakrishna asked this question what do you think of me M kept quiet because he did not really know M remained silent then Sri Ramakrishna asked what do you think of me and then same question but he added how many annas of knowledge of God have I how much spirituality I have this is the meaning of how many annas 4 annas 8 annas 12 annas 14 annas 15 annas there was a funny character in the life of Sri Ramakrishna most of the time he had the good fortune of living with Sri Ramakrishna his name was Hajra and once Sri Ramakrishna asked Hajra how much have I progressed that means me you and Narendra etc and everybody every devotee was intensely curious to know what would be the reply of Hajra and Hajra look at the beard evilness this is called ignorance is bliss he replied I have reached almost to the doorway 99% and Narendra has reached about 80% I am not very sure of the percentage I don't remember but in that sense Sri Ramakrishna asked what about me and then Hajra said still some pinkish colour is there in you that means your spiritual progress is much less than even Narendra's so you can imagine every devotee was laughing Sri Ramakrishna was laughing but Sri Ramakrishna could understand because what can this person do after that that was the knowledge the Divine Mother had provided to that person and that is why there is a beautiful song in Bengali so kare dauma brahma podho kare koroma adho kami and I modified it a little bit kare jare dauma brahma podho kare koroma adho kami to whom oh Mother you bestow the highest knowledge of Brahman to that very same person you must also you also can throw him throw him down from that highest state that is to say whether Mother wants to make a person a person of highest knowledge or of lowest knowledge depends upon her will at will she can make an ignorant person the most wise person or the most wise person an ignorant person it is her play that is why a wise person will never become egotistic who is a wise person he says it is all the will of the Divine Mother who is an ignorant person I can become whatever I want so how did M how did M reply M I don't understand what you mean by an ass but of this I am sure I have never been before seen such knowledge ecstatic love faith in God renunciation and catharsis catholicity anywhere in this anywhere in my life the most marvelous expression and M was English Catholic language he wants to deal with rational language and you see I will give you another example also once Sri Ramakrishna asked Narendra so many people consider me as an incarnation of God how do you consider me and Sri Ramakrishna so eagerly expecting the answer from Narendra Narendra replied so I will not accept you anything until I know it myself. So if Ramchandra or Girishchandra, both of them are spreading the news that you are an incarnation of God, that may be their experience, that may be their blind faith. I don't know. I don't want to contradict. I don't want to criticize them. But what I know so far, I don't know who you are. When I come to know definitely that you are a great sadhu, great incarnation of God or God himself, then I will accept. This is the modern Englishman's, English educated people's language. By the way, Ramakrishna used to call these English educated people Englishmen. It doesn't mean that they are people that came from foreign to the white skinned people, UK or American people, but they are the main English educated people. Him was English educated. So he is telling, but of this I am sure. I have never before seen such knowledge, ecstatic love, faith in God, renunciation and catholicity anywhere. A most marvellous description. If we can keep these words, what is it? Tremendous knowledge, ecstatic love, faith in God, renunciation and catholic. If any sadhaka, any human being can at least have a small amount of these five characteristics, then I can assure you the world will be, will turn into heaven on earth. Everybody is quarrelling. I am the, I know, what I know is I am 100% sure that is the only right thing. And of course there is no ecstatic love. Love is a wood that can be bought and sold and thrown as old model and bring in the new model. Faith in God, really faith in God and faith in oneself as upwards and reverse of the same coin. If anybody says I believe in God, but don't believe in myself or vice versa, then that person doesn't have, but we cannot accuse anybody that this person is absolutely doesn't have any faith. We live only because of faith in ourselves, faith in life, faith in future, etc. Renunciation in Sairam Krishna's life. We see whatever he came to understand is inimical to my own spiritual progress. Instantaneously, he renounces it then and there. And of course, Catholicity means the belief. Everybody is a child of the Divine Mother, even the greatest sinners. It doesn't really matter. It is a temporary phenomenon, but everybody is a child of God. And if this is the root cause, the effect must have the same cause and the effect must one day manifest the same thing. This is what we call, if gold is lying hidden deep in the earth and it has become, appeared to be, surfaced, muddy, discoloured, disfigured, not shining, that is not its true nature. Bring it out, wash it off and then you polish it. It will shine without the least bit of diminishing its original splendour and we are all children of immortality. This was the great message Swami Vivekananda had spread at the Parliament of Religions. Hearing M's reply, what was the reply? I don't know who you are, but I have never before seen such knowledge. What knowledge M was talking about? That's Hiram Krishna. No. How to blend first class coffee? I don't think there is any mention. There was a mention, but I don't think he knows anything about first class coffee and much, 99% of what we call our knowledge, he doesn't have. But he has 100% of a knowledge. That is God. He knows who I am. He knows very well. That is the true knowledge. Why? Because our knowledge is making us miserable and creating fear, whereas his knowledge has completely freed him. When you become free of all the dualities, you will attain me and you will become free. And then, in the Krishna Upanishad, we are seeing such a person is called a man of self-knowledge. He never fears, he never trembles, because there is no cause for him to create fear. No dual, no second thing is there. And then the Master laughed. This is a wonderful subject. But why do I call it a wonderful subject? Because our whole life, take from the very childhood, I look up one day to my mother. How can I obtain my mother's love? If necessary, I will weep to draw her attention. What is the baby thinking? My mother is not paying any attention to me. So I cannot go there. I cannot beat her up. I cannot do anything because I am helpless. But I have a Brahmastra. What is that Brahmastra? I will pretend I am in great distress. I will go on crying. And then no mother can stand that Brahmastra. Whatever she is doing, she will just leave it there and comes running and takes the baby in her hands. And this is what baby wants. And it learnt very soon, the only way to draw the attention of the mother and bring her. I am the magnet. She is the iron filing. I know how to attract her. So from the very beginning, what do you think of me? Oh, I am a helpless baby in distress. You must come. That fellow is very happy because mother has come. Immediately the baby's crying stops and he starts smiling because his desire is fulfilled. So this is our attitude from birth to death. We are all thinking, what does the other person think of me? What does the world think of me? And we want to think, to feel that others think positively about me. And for that we are ready to do anything. We do not turn the search light within and say, am I really a good person? Am I really, in the words of spirituality, am I a Sat person? Am I a Chit person? Am I an Ananda person? What does it mean? We know by this time, after hearing my talk so many times, am I a good person? Am I a pure person? Am I a person endowed with purity, holiness, etc.? Am I a truthful person? Am I an honest person? Because if I am that, instinctively other people come, this person is a good person and we can trust him. There is a funny story. For a story means a real incident. And I told you so many times, I will give you two such incidents. One is one of Sri Ramakrishna's relatives. He borrowed some money from a villager promising that I will repay this money within such and such a time. But this fellow was reluctant to pay back the money. And then that person came and threatened him. I will go to court and then fortunately for that person who lent the money, Sri Ramakrishna was there when this transaction had taken place. I will take your uncle Sri Ramakrishna as my witness. And Sri Ramakrishna's relative knew. Sri Ramakrishna, like his father, can never tell a lie, can never untruth, can never escape the lips of Shri Ram or Sri Ramakrishna. Even when Shri Ramakrishna's father was asked by a wicked Jaminda, you bear false witness. Even that very moment when he was asked, he knew that my stay in this very village has come to an end because if I refuse and I am going to refuse because I cannot tell untruth. It is impossible. I will not be able to live if I tell an untruth and I will never tell. And this person will not keep quiet. It will be within a matter of few days. He is going to throw me out of this village. And that's what exactly had happened. And it is a mysterious, meaningful incident which I will not go into it. So Sri Ramakrishna was exactly like his father. A untruth can never escape his mouth. So this villager knew about Sri Ramakrishna's character better than the relative of Sri Ramakrishna. So he said, I will quote your uncle as witness. And immediately the relative knew that Sri Ramakrishna doesn't care whether I am a relative or not, but he will tell the truth and the punishment will come. So immediately he made the arrangement to repay back his money, made some compromise. Second incident was once Swami Vivekananda, during his walk, he got a bit tired. He sat in a park on a bench and then there was a black woman who had a child, baby, who was troubling that mother very much. She saw Swami Vivekananda. Remember, even in those days, a stranger should never be trusted. No mother will ever trust her baby with that. She came straight to Swami. One looked at the face of Swami Vivekananda and said, Sir, will you help me by taking care of my baby for a few minutes? I will have to go and buy something. Swami ji concentrated and the lady went without a backward glance and finished her shopping. And after some time she came back and took. Now what is the point? Instinctively this lady knew, here is a person, we can trust him absolutely. If Swami Vivekananda were to tell, I am sorry, I have to go out, I can't really take care of your baby, he would have told. Because the truthfulness, embodiment of truthfulness, manifestation of truthfulness, that person, the others, many others, not that everybody can recognize a truthful person, but many people instinctively can recognize an honest person. What is the measurement? This person is a trustworthy person. Every truthful person is a trustworthy person. Interestingly, Chinese had this philosophy, I don't know now, but until 40-50 years ago, among Chinese, no written agreement, if somebody borrows money or anything, it's just a word, Chinese word. Similarly Kabuliwala, I don't know how many of you remember, there was a film called Kabuliwala. And what is the point? Kabuliwalas were like that. That if somebody says, this is our agreement and they were illiterate and there was no written agreement, but it is binding upon them. In the past, for many people, this truthfulness was the binding factor. So Sairam Krishna was that binding factor. So the master laughed. Why did he laugh? You are on the right path because if you have understood this much, you may not exactly define who I am, but I know who you mean and you also know whom you mean because M said, in my whole life, I have never met another person like you. So much of knowledge, so much of catholicity, so much of love, so much of joy, so much of faith in God, so much of renunciation. These particular words, true knowledge, ecstatic love, faith in God, renunciation and catholicity. Every spiritual aspirant can be judged by these five characteristics. If knowledge will be spiritual, then if it is real spiritual knowledge, they will not run after anything. That ecstatic love for God, faith in God and renunciation of whatever doesn't allow them to move towards God and that pure love. Catholicity means what? Everybody is a child of God. If God is the creator and every religion, every scripture says God alone is the creator, not anything else. Interestingly, in the Brahma Sutram, the very fifth sutra, Ekshaterna Shabdam. That is to say, some people want to say that Anatma is the creator of this universe. Pradhana means Prakrut according to Sankhya and a lot of these aphorisms are devoted to say, how can an inert Prakruti ever even think, I am going to create, what type of creation, when to create, what are the ingredients and how am I going to look after them, etc. Only an intelligent principle can do that. The point is that every scripture says God created and you ask further, how many Gods are there? Are there two Gods or even more than two Gods? Everybody admits there are only two, one God, not even two. If there is a one God, whom are Hindus worshipping, whom are Christians, Muslims, Buddhists? Everybody is worshipping. They have no choice to worship any other person excepting God. Supposing somebody is worshipping say Mahalakshmi or Saraswati or Ganesha or Kumar Swami. Are they worshipping God or not? Yes, they are worshipping God only. But some people do not know these are really Gods. They may think these are powers. For example, Lakshmi is worshipped as a power that can bestow upon us wealth and beauty and happiness, etc. Saraswati is the Goddess of Wisdom. But ultimately these people, they are very faint, will make them understand that at first, like a baby who approaches the mother only for candies, but later on, my mother is the queen of this entire universe. That knowledge is bound to come. So, Catholicity, if anybody says I am a devotee of God, I am a spiritual aspirant, I hate you, I hate your religion, no other path can take us, this is a sure sign that person is not only not spiritual, but he is the most unholy person in this whole world. So, the master laughed because he was pleased and then even the master cannot do anything except allowing the baby by removing the obstacles to grow up. Him also has to grow up. Narendra has to grow up. Myself, yourself, everybody has to grow up. Ram Krishna, Holy Mother can bless us, remove the obstacles, but natural growth has to take its own place. Now, the topic turned on Gopis. Sri Ram Krishna and Gopis. Who were the Gopis? Sri Ram Krishna says, do you know who the Gopis were? Of course, most of us do not know. Even I did not know. I did not have any idea until I read this in the Gospel of Sri Ram Krishna. Sri Ram Krishna was explaining. Ramachandra was wandering in the forest where 60,000 Rishis dwelt. They were very eager to see him. He cast a tender glance at them. According to a certain Purana, they were all born later on as the Gopis of Vrindavan. This is what Sri Ram Krishna wants to tell us. Ramachandra in Dandakaranya met the 60,000 Rishis. They were very eager to see him. He cast a tender glance at them. According to a certain Purana, they were born later on as the Gopis of Vrindavan. This is the matter that we come to hear in this particular paragraph. But in other places in Gospel, he explains, as soon as these Rishis who were the contemplators, Upasakas of Nirguna Parabrahma, their hearts bloomed like lotuses at the sunrise. They obtained, they enjoyed so much of bliss which they never experienced before. And then they all fell in love. And then they requested Rama, let there be no separation between you and us. And then Rama laughed and said, your desire will be fulfilled. I will fulfill your desire, but not in this incarnation. I will be incarnating in future as with the name of Krishna. At that time, all of you be born as women, as Gopis. And then you will be with me. He did not say all the time. But very, very short time, only a few years, Krishna was there. Even before he grew up, he left Gokula. He went to Mathura. Afterwards, he never happened to come back to Vrindavan, once he left Gokula. These facts, some people do not even know about it. So this is what Sri Ramakrishna was telling. What was that Purana? Bhagavata Purana he is telling about. So who was a Gopi? A great Rishi, a man who has refined his mind which can remain in Samadhi. And they were born to enjoy the divine Leela, Avatar Leela, which is far superior to even the Nirvikalpa Samadhi Sukha. We are in no position to compare these two statements. We must only take them as it is written in the Gospel and other scriptures. So this is what Sri Ramakrishna was telling. Don't think Sri Krishna was an ordinary person and Gopis were ordinary women. He was an extraordinarily charismatic male and they were all attracted to him. This kind of stupidity can never be depicted in any Purana. A Purana is a Smriti, it is a scripture. It wants to convey the Vedantic message to us and they will never create this kind of nightclub stories in Puranas. But to convey the message, how deep was their love that they have created these stories. But I have quoted many times, a Gopi who is absolutely illiterate and then she burst out into praising Krishna. Nakhalu Gopika, Nandano Bhavan, Akhila Dehinam, Antaratmadruk can never be an illiterate Gopi. Nor, Tava Katha Amritam, Tapta Jeevanam, Kavi Bhireditam, Kalma Shaapaham, Shramana Mangalam, Shreemad Atatham, Bhuvigrinantiyepe, Bhuridhaajana. There are many such verses called Gopika Geetham. I think about 17 verses are there in the Dasamaskanda of the Shreemad Bhagavatam and if you study them, you will never understand. Some illiterate mind is composing all these things. It is impossible. They were all great rishis. So Ramakrishna is continuing. A drunkard, deeply intoxicated, says, Verily, I am Kali. The Gopis, intoxicated with love, exclaim, Verily, I am Krishna. Such was the single-minded devotion of the Gopis to Krishna that they did not care to look at anyone. But the Krishna they had seen at Vrindavan, the shepherd Krishna, bedecked with a garland of yellow wildflowers and wearing a peacock feather on his head. At the sight of Krishna at Mathura, with a turban on his head and dressed in royal robes, the Gopis pulled down their veils. They would not look at him. Who is this man? Who is this stranger? They said. Should we violate our chaste love for Krishna by talking to this man? It is a wonderful story. Now what happens? This is what exactly we were talking about in the Prashna Upanishad. An upasaka, contemplating on Omkara. What does he become? He becomes, through the help of the Amatra, of the silence between the Matras, he removes all the limits, boundaries as it were and what remains is an infinite depth of space that is called infinite and he becomes one with it because our body, our mind are the limitations. So what happens? First he says, I am the Garbha. Second, he progresses, I am the Hiranyagarbha. Third, he progresses, I am Ishwara, the creator of this entire universe. But the next step is, I am Brahma and this is what he is telling, I am Thou. There is no difference between me and you. This is what Ramakrishna is telling. Maybe he has seen because he himself knows what is a drunkard's condition. A drunkard, deeply intoxicated, says verily, I am Kali. So an upasaka, you have to understand, replace the word drunkard with the word upasaka. A upasaka, deeply drunk of meditation or Samadhi state, becomes deeply intoxicated and the Sairam Krishna knows what he is talking about, says verily, I am Kali, I am the Divine Mother. Many incidents are there but one incident, just now that comes to my mind. Once Sairam Krishna was at Jairambati and then of course he was the son-in-law. Son-in-law is always a cherished person and then they cooked whatever they could do in that village and then suddenly they all went to sleep after night food. And then Sairam Krishna became intoxicated with the thought of the Divine Mother and at midnight he said, I am very hungry, feed me. And everybody, of course, son-in-law, you and me go there, they will not care. Simply shut your trap and then tomorrow morning we will see whether we can. But Sairam Krishna was the cherished son-in-law in the mother-in-law's house, father-in-law's house. That is why son-in-law is the most dangerous graha in the whole world. That is why son-in-law is called Dashama graha. Hindus are afraid of nine grahas including Shani graha, Shukra graha, Mangala, Rahu and Guru etc. But this every graha, even Shani graha, seven years or fourteen years after that, that fellow will disappear. But this Jamata graha, whole until the father-in-law dies, mother-in-law dies, he is going on catching everybody. That is why he is called Jamata Dashama graha, tenth planet holding on. This applies only to Hindus. Fortunately, westerners do not believe in all this. Some of them do, but most of them do not. So what happens, Sairam Krishna got up suddenly, I am very hungry. And they all got up because they don't have store, they don't have fridge and they have to do whatever they want. So first they started at midnight, who is going to again fire up the fire and then it is not simply electric heater or gas heater. They have to go through a lot of woofing. But he said, just now you have eaten, hardly one or two hours and he ate whole stomach full. He said, what, when did I eat? Just now I am coming from Dakshineshwar and you are saying that I have eaten. Then they understood that he was identified with Mother Kali. Hastily they prepared something and I think if I am not, my memory is not playing tricks, they prepared halwa. That is the easiest thing at that time because when relatives come, some sweet they have to make, some suji they will keep and immediately add some sugar etc., good etc. and make halwa. It is the quickest way of satisfying everybody. One and a half kg of halwa they prepared. He ate the whole thing without leaving anything to other persons. That is why before offering to Sairam Krishna, keep something separately for yourself. You don't know what you are getting into. Then they were all frightened because Sairam Krishna's stomach was very delicate. But then fortunately nothing had happened because whatever has been eaten in a state of bhava, that will not affect the physical body. This type of incident has taken place many times in Sairam Krishna's life at Dakshineshwar also. Anyway, what I am trying to tell, any upasaka progresses step by step from the waking to the virata, from the swapna to the Hiranyagarbha, from the pre-sleep and to the Ishwara state. Then only the door, upper door, as it were the door to the fourth floor will be open. Until then you can't take a lift and say a lift can take me to that place straight away. It is not possible. So a drunkard deeply intoxicated, he shouts even saying verily I am Kali and this is what Gopi said intoxicated with love exclaimed verily I am Krishna. Where does this incident occur? It is there graphically described in the Bhagavatam, Darshana Skanda in the same place. So in case some of you have forgotten the incident, this is the incident. What happened? Gopis were called. They prayed to Mother Katiayani. We want to be sport with Bhagawan Krishna. They knew who was Krishna. They knew who they were also and then Krishna granted their prayer by Mother's grace. That's why Shakti's grace is very important. So he called through his flute one atonal full moonlit night. They all came and they were. There were many other incidents. I will not go today but they felt proud. We through our prayer, puja to Mother Katiayani obtained Krishna. Nobody can obtain Krishna, God without God's grace. But this Ahamkara had come and as soon as Ahamkara came as if even though in front of them Krishna was there because Krishna cannot disappear anywhere. He is Krishna. He is all-pervading. An all-pervading person cannot evade anywhere. But their Ahamkara made them blind and they could not see. Like Hiranyakasipu could not see Narayana who was in Prahlada, who was in the pillar, who was in everybody including himself. That pillar represents Ahamkara. So then as soon as Krishna disappeared, all the Ananda disappeared and as if they fell down from Brahma Loka to the Patala Loka and immediately they recognized because in the Krishna's presence. Like Arjuna recognized his own ignorance, so Gopis recognized. We became proud and therefore because of the pride we lost Krishna and then they became so much overcome with, overwhelmed with grief because once you experience the highest happiness you cannot live without it. So they started searching for Krishna and they were thinking of Krishna. They were contemplating Krishna and no other thought came. Everything they were mistaking Krishna. Everywhere they were seeing signs of Krishna. They were just for example, they were looking some place, they found out as if somebody was dragged. Then they understood another Gopi was being dragged by Krishna. How did they saw the leaves, the footsteps of Sri Krishna and said, Oh leaf, can you point out in which direction our beloved Krishna has disappeared and they were so much overwhelmed with the thought of Krishna and then they started saying, one Gopi said, I am Krishna. Another Gopi said, I am Radha. Another Gopi said, of course this is not in Bhagavatam. Radha's name doesn't come in Bhagavatam but I am telling just now. So it comes in Brahma and Purana only. So here these Gopis were there and they became, one Gopi became Krishna, another Gopi became Gopi, another became a demon. Unlike that whatever divine force they witnessed in their lives in Vrindavan they started enacting. So what is I am Krishna? A time will come when the distinction between Upasaka and Upasya totally disappears. That is called becoming, achieving identity. Aham Krishnasmi. This is what Sri Ramakrishna was recovering very soon because they understood, they discarded, renounced their Ahamkara, started seeing Krishna right in front of their eyes and then that Rasakrida, his most marvellous thing which we will talk about in our next class. Om Jananem Jaradam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagad Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Saritva Pranamame Moho Moho May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Om Jananem Jaradam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagad Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Saritva Praname Moho Moho May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Om Jananem Jaradam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagad Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Saritva Praname