Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 076 on 20-December-2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARATAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADME TAYO SHRITVA PRANAMAMI MUHUR MUHUR In our last class we were discussing about the love of the Gopis. In the whole literature of spirituality anywhere in this world, such a marvelous chapter on the divine love, the sporting of the heart of every great lover of God with God is called Rasha Leela. The very word Rasha means Ananda. Leela means the joy that one derives from contacting, thinking, sporting with the divine Lord. All these Gopis as we discussed in our last class were not ordinary people. Sri Ramakrishna himself said they were all thousands of Rishis that dwelt in Dandakaranya. They were all Upasakas, worshippers of the formless aspect of God, Nirguna, Brahma. But they never got so much of happiness. That is what the Bengali saying always tells us. I do not wish to become sugar. I want to enjoy sugar. Devotees do not like to become one with God, but they would like to keep a little distance. But that distance doesn't create any ignorance in them. There are only two elements in that, I and God. There is nothing else. So these Rishis, they begged Sri Ramachandra and then the wonderful thing that he told them was take the form of a woman. Why? Because the very body of man is a greater obstruction than a woman's body. Women can love God as their most beloved. They can also love ordinary human beings, but they are highly conscious of the body. This is the difference between human love and divine love. In human love, we are always conscious about the body, whereas in the divine love, I am also divine, you are also divine. Absolutely there is no difference between me and you. And these great Rishis were born, Sri Ramakrishna told, and from the very birth, they were meant only to love Bhagawan, the Saguna aspect of Krishna. Here I want to mention something very important. When we are talking about Gopis and Krishna, do we understand who is a Gopi and do we understand what is Krishna? Any ordinary person looking into this episode in the Bhagavatam, Gopis are women and Krishna was a man. He might have been one of the greatest beautiful persons, greatest intellect, greatest diplomat, greatest lover, greatest musician, greatest diplomat, greatest hero. Everything rolled into one. That is why even the Puranas were forced to admit that Krishna was a Poornavatar. He is perfect in every way. His relationships with everybody has a perfection in it. But the point I was trying to explain is, we think, it is our thinking that Gopi is a woman and Krishna is a man. What do the Gopis think about Krishna and what does Krishna think about the Gopis? What do the Gopis think about themselves and what does Krishna think about himself? That is a very important point we have to keep. The spiritual scriptures, whether it be Puranas, Bhagavad Gita or Upanishads, they want to lift our minds from this very ordinary ways of thinking into the highest vision that any human being can have. About Krishna, Bhagavad Gita is the highest scripture. It came from his own mouth and there he says that people do not understand me. I am the divine Lord, I incarnate myself. Krishna clearly knew I am God and I am born, I am free, I am born only to awaken the others. But Krishna also knew these Gopikas are not women, they are souls thirsting for the vision of God, for the union of God. That is his idea of Gopis. We have to reform our mind so much that we think what we think is the correct opinion, correct idea, correct understanding. So with this idea, in our last class, I wanted to speak a little bit on Rasa Leela. Not that I did not speak earlier, I did, but before that I want to read what Ramakrishna had to say. Ramakrishna, a drunkard, deeply intoxicated, says, verily I am Kali. This is very true. There are devotees of Kali and many of them can get drunk because as you know in the Tantric system of Sadhana, this drinking wine is not only permitted, it is prescribed. So if somebody takes too much and he is thinking about mother Kali and some of them are sure to say, I am Kali. The Gopis, intoxicated with love, exclaim, verily I am Krishna. This episode occurs in the Bhagavatam, in the Dashamaskandha, 10th chapter. There are five chapters. This is called Rasa Pancha Adhyayi. Five chapters dealing with the Rasa Leela of Krishna with Gopis and therein the Gopis go there and meet Krishna and somehow the idea came that we achieved God, but that is a destructive idea, that is an egotistic idea, but as soon as this Ahamkara comes, instantaneously there will be forgetting of God, the disappearance of God and graphically the Bhagavatam describes it to us and immediately Krishna disappeared. Really, Krishna cannot disappear because He is Bhagawan, He is Vishnu. Vishnu means He is everywhere. He who is everywhere, He cannot go anywhere. There is no space for Him to go. He Himself has become the space. But even more interesting, if Krishna or Vishnu is Sarva Vyapaka, nothing else is there excepting Krishna. Gopis are who are they? Krishna. But here this avidya, ignorance, makes us think that perhaps I am not Krishna, but in the presence of Krishna, He will uplift everybody's mind and they come to that realization that clearly I am Krishna. Really speaking, we are only talking about the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and very aptly M had titled it Kathamrita, Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. This word Kathamrita has been taken from a verse sung by the Gopis when this egotism came and they were unable to see Krishna. Krishna means Paramananda, Brahmananda and that means Ananda was obscured from them and they started suffering acutely. They became aware of their own suffering and in the presence of Krishna, just as Arjuna became enlightened, I am talking nonsense in the presence of Krishna and whatever I am talking is meaningless. That understanding of the buddhi had to come in the presence of great souls and Krishna was one of the greatest souls in that sense. So immediately Arjuna understood and surrendered himself to Krishna. Exactly the same thing happened to Narendra. Same thing happened to M. Same thing happened to these Gopis also. So they understood whose pride. If I have to be proud, that pride is what Krishna had planted in me. My ego is a plantation by Sri Krishna. I do not exist. My body is Krishna. My mind is Krishna. The entire world is Krishna. This must be the real understanding. So M had taken one of the verses Tavakatha Amritam Tapta Jeevanam that I explained much earlier in this series of talks on Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. So immediately Sri Krishna appeared. Did He disappear? No. Did He appear? No. He was there but they were unable to see but because of the egotism and now there was no egotism by His grace and immediately Krishna Darshana, Sakshatkara, everything, Tanu, Mana, Dhana, Jagat, everything is Bhagavan Krishna. That came to Him. This is what Sri Ramakrishna was referring and that would be the goal of every Bhakta. Sri Ramakrishna continues. 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 Krishna they had seen at Vrindavan, the shepherd Krishna bedecked with a garland of yellow wildflowers and wearing a peacock feather on His crest. At the sight of this form 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 His face. Who is this man? They said. Should we violate our chaste love for Krishna by talking to Him? Most marvellous statement we are getting here. How to attain that single-mindedness? Yes, I love Krishna. That is single-mindedness. I do not love anybody else. I only love God. That is single-mindedness. But within that single-mindedness there are variations. After realisation also this one will remain. We get the saying of Hanuman. Sri Ramachandra at one time asked Hanuman, how do you look upon me? And the utterance that came from the mouth of Hanuman was most marvellous. He said, Deha buddhyatu dasoham. When I feel that I am the body, I feel that you are my master and I am your servant. Jeeva buddhya udamsakaha. But when I feel I am a Jeevatma, I am an individual soul, then I consider you the whole and I am the part. And when I know that I am the Atma. Atma buddhya tamevaham. There is no I or you. Both of us. There is only one reality, Advaita and that is my attitude towards you. Who can utter these words? Only a realised soul can utter these words. And that is what this great Hanuman has said. So to feel that I am Krishna is to reach that state of Advaita. But if the person is a Jeevan Mukta, he will come down. His mind will come down. Of course, there would be no he or she. It will be only God. But when God enters into this body-mind complex, which previously belonged to that realised soul, then again that egotism will be there. But this is an enlightened egotism. Sometimes people want to enjoy that one and that is what is their view upon this world. It will be the Hanuman's view. So even after realisation, they know that it is the same one God manifesting as Vishnu, as Shiva, as Buddha, as Allah, as God by various names. And yet we notice something very marvellous. What is that? Sri Ramakrishna, though he knew, he had the vision of Krishna, vision of Rama, vision of all the other Gods and Goddesses. That is why we call Sarva Deva Devi Swaroopa. And yet Kali, Mother Kali is Ishta Devata. Does not Mirabai know that my Krishna is everything? But yet I want to worship Krishna. Why does this happen? According to my understanding, because the mind would be the same mind into which descended that spirit of the Divine. So that mind is already circumscribed as something. Some ideas will be crystallised, solidified. And so the light that mind shows will be having only that single faceted devotion, which before realisation the person was thinking. So Krishna, for example. Among Krishna also, there are various phases. Bala Krishna is one of the most famous, especially widows, elderly people and those who do not have children. They are supposed to feel the love. Krishna is my child. And in fact Sri Ramakrishna himself had this kind of dream in his childhood. I want to be a Gopi. I want to be alone. My whole life will be dedicated to Krishna and I will have a cow and daytime I will be looking after the cow. I will be milking the cow and after some time Krishna will come. By that time I will be preparing some nice sweets, butter, etc. And the whole night I will have Rasha Leela. Nobody will come to know about it. This was the imagination of Sri Ramakrishna. What am I trying to tell you? That even after realisation, the mind as it was before realisation, that alone will work. Only in that way. For example, Ramana Maharshi always used to tell, his favourite teaching is find out who you are. Who am I? That was his special methodology. Now even after realisation, he knows better than anybody else the path of devotion, the path of meditation, the path of jnana, the path of even bhakti. Everything leads exactly to the same goal. But because the mind was like that, mostly his teachings will be confined to who am I? Jnana Marga. Shankaracharya, even though he was a great bhakta, Jnana Marga. Swami Vivekananda of course was moulded by Sri Ramakrishna to spread his own, that is Divine Mother's instructions, message to the world. So Sarva Dharma Samanvaya. That is the speciality. But what am I trying to tell? There is a single-minded devotion. Balakrishna is one. Gopikrishna is another. Then we also have got this Gita Krishna and various formations of Krishna are there. There is not only among the Gopikrishna, there are two types of Krishnas are there. One is Radhakrishna. Another is Rukmini Krishna. And this Rukmini Krishna attitude is prevalent in South India called Sri Vaishnavism. And this Radhakrishna attitude is prevalent in North India, especially propagated by Sri Chaitanya. And these Gopis, Sri Ramakrishna was referring, they knew only one Krishna. Not Balakrishna, not Gita Krishna, not any other Krishna. But the Krishna with a peacock feather and who used to lay on the floor to attract every living creature on earth, even the non-living creatures. The earth, the river, the Yamuna used to flow joyously as it were. Of course, from a Hindu's point of view, these are all Panchabhutas. They are all Panchadevatas. But from a Western point of view, they divide whole with life, without life. For Hindus, such a distinction doesn't arise at all. So for Gopis, that particular young Krishna who sported with them, with a peacock feather, with a flute in his hand, who danced with them, that was their ideal. So this story was given by Sri Ramakrishna. And incidentally, I have not come across this story in the Bhagavatam. I don't know where Ramakrishna had got this story. So after long separation, the Gopis knew that Krishna is not going to come back to Gokula. So they knew that Krishna was at Mathura. After the destruction of Kamsa, Sri Krishna made Kamsa's father as the king. But in this particular story, Krishna himself had become the king. So they wanted to see their Krishna. And then they bribed the gatekeepers, somehow entered into the presence from a side window, because Krishna was holding full royal session, sabha, and they averted their eyes. What do we see? Here is a Krishna with a crown on his head and he is behaving like a king. He bears no resemblance to our Krishna with a peacock feather, etc. This is a stranger for us. So we don't want to violate our chaste love because of this stranger Krishna. Now do you think that the Gopis do not know what they are talking about? They know very well. And Sri Ramakrishna was graphically describing because he himself became the Radha Gopi. 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. A shepherd Krishna bedecked with a garland of yellow wildflowers and wearing a peacock feather on his crest. 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 his face. Who is this man? They said. Should we violate our chaste love for Krishna by talking to him? Now I am only quoting all these things that such depths of spiritual sadhana are being described by Sri Ramakrishna with his interpretation of Bhagavata. Bhagavata itself doesn't tell us many of these details. Now what is this Rasha Leela? Krishna represents the Supreme Lord Brahmananda and Radha and the Gopis are the souls yearning to be set free from the cycle of rebirth. There is a very peculiar belief in Vrindavan. There is one particular temple. It is called Gopeshwar Mahadeva in Vrindavan. And then Shiva heard about this Rasha Leela and then he felt a deep desire. Am I being deprived of this? Let me also enjoy this. Let me see what it is. Shiva knows only Thandavan Rithya Ananda but not Rasha Leela Ananda. So when Shiva wanted to participate in the Rasha Leela, he took the form of a Gopika and so even now he is worshipped in Vrindavan as Gopeshwar Mahadeva. That means what does Shiva represent? Pure knowledge. That is why even great souls who are realized souls like Shukadeva, such is the great attraction of Bhagawan. Even though they do not have any type of bondage and they are completely merged in their own bliss, in the bliss of their Atman. This is the nature of Hari. Even He brings their minds down to His feet and they want only to think of it. And that was what Sri Ramakrishna was trying to teach us. The Rasha Leela was the highest. And I am remembered an incident that happened at Dakshineswar. One day there were many devotees at Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna was sitting and suddenly he felt like disturbing his grace upon his devotees. So he called all the sincere devotees available and when they all came running, he asked them to sit surrounding him, closed the doors and then he said, Now meditate upon me deeply. This is called Rasha Leela. Sri Ramakrishna is indicating it is not a disco dance. It is not what happens between man and woman. It is what happens between the utmost devoted soul and Bhagawan, Bhakta and Bhagawan. That is what he wanted to tell. And also Swami Vivekananda in that formative state, when Narendra had not yet become Swami Vivekananda, he had some peculiar ideas about this Rasha Leela, about the Gopis, about the dance of Krishna with Gopis, everything. But Sri Ramakrishna had given him that realization. This happened when Swamiji was lying on his bed in his own room. So Swamiji was later on graphically describing it. One day Sri Ramakrishna came and took out my Atma, my Jivatma from my body and he was going on the path forward. I was following him and then he promised him, today I will show you Radha Gopi. And after going for some time, remember this was all happening in the mind of Narendra Nath while his body was lying in a sleeping position on his bed in his own room. Suddenly Sri Ramakrishna turned and looked, I am Radha Gopi. And what Swami Vivekananda saw was Radha Gopi. Radha. So what is the symbolism of this one? We have to understand that the personality of Radha was deeply merged into the soul of Swami Vivekananda. Thereafter, Swamiji became one of the greatest lovers and this love of God has turned into love of the world, love of humanity and so he said, I am ready to be reborn any number of times if I can help even a dog on the street. This was the Vivekananda. This was the soul of a Rishi which was brought down from the Saptarshi Mandala and then when Sri Ramakrishna told him, you are going to be a teacher, Narendra Nath said, I shall not teach. Sri Ramakrishna said, your very bones will teach. You are born, you are brought to the earth only for that purpose. At that stage, of course, Narendra Nath did not realize that he had a mission in divine life. He wanted to be merged in Samadhi only because there is a human body now and then come into the outside, external world, eat a little food because the body has to be maintained and then go back and get merged in Samadhi. If that was the ideal, then there was no need for him to come down at all. But Sri Ramakrishna brought him. Now he made him a Radha Gopi and then his heart, Swami Vivekananda's heart was filled with a tremendous love for God. There is another important point we have to note down. If there is any intense love between two human beings, between, for example, a man and a woman, that is also divine love. It can be also used to turn our attention to the Divine Lord. Through that intense love, both the lover and beloved will forget their bodies and realize that we are one Atma. So either a person loves tremendously God and that love when it turns its direction towards the world, it becomes a lover of humanity and that person is ready to sacrifice his entire self for the betterment of the world. So either way is absolutely fine. Laila Majnu, Romeo Juliet, Swami Vivekananda used to admire him because admire these people because it is the very Parakashta, the peak of human love. And once love reaches this highest state, it is not possible for them to remain human beings because at a certain point, when the love crosses a certain what you call height limitation, then it turns into divine love. That is why Ramanujacharya, supreme psychologist he was, had defined it very beautifully, man cannot love man, human being cannot love human being. Why? Because not only the person who loves must be unlimited, even the object which a man loves must also be unlimited in order to be able to receive. Suppose you have something to give, a little bit you give into a child's hand and the child will be happy to receive it. Suppose you want to give a truckload, will you pour it on the baby's head because he will not be able to receive it. So not only the giver but the receiver must also have the capacity. Both the giver and the receiver must have the capacity. The giver must have the capacity to give and the receiver must have the capacity to receive. Human being is limited and his limitation is so much, he cannot expand further. Therefore if any human being succeeds in loving another human being, the human being that is loved cannot bear it. In fact if they want to commit suicide they will die but if they love each other both and that love transcends the limits of humanness and it transforms itself into the divine love. That is what exactly that has happened in the case of the Gopis and as I said Gopis were already filled with love but they did not call it love at that time. They called it knowledge. What knowledge? Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. Everything is Brahma. But Shri Krishna came and showed them that you have not seen the other aspect that you can also love that same knowledge when it changes its direction it will be called Prema. Same Kama becomes Prema. Prema of God, Prema of man, Prema of the world is exactly the same. Infinite love is Prema. Limited love, finite love is called Kama. However much we may love God it is called Kama only. Why? Because we desire something from God. We don't desire God himself. It's a beautiful saying. I quoted it many number of times. It goes like this. Atma Indriya Preeti Ichcha Thari Naam Kaam Krishna Indriya Preeti Ichcha Dhoore Prem Naam Atma Indriya Preeti Ichcha The desire to be happy myself and whatever I do is conducing me only to get happiness for myself. This is called Kama, desire. But I want to only bring happiness to my Divine Lord and that is called Prema. The action is exactly the same. The energy is exactly the same. The time spent is exactly the same. But what a difference it makes. One liberates, the other one binds. So how we can transcend our humanness, that means our bondage and become free is possible only by the grace of the Lord and that is called the Prema Marga or Gnana. Completely transformed into Prema. That is what Shri Krishna had done. How do we know? Because the Gopika Gita clearly indicates. Now I want to bring only, connect one point which I had already raised the point. Who can say God is unlimited? Who can say God is the supreme? Only a mind which has reached to that state of supremeness alone can think that God is supreme. When we think we are limited, our idea of God also will be a limited idea only. That is why Swami Vivekananda used to say, God grows as man grows. That is as our understanding grows, our concept, our understanding of God also grows along with it. So this is the story of Radha and Krishna. The story, this is what Swami Vivekananda had given some statements on the Radha-Krishna love and then Shri Ramakrishna had shown him what is Radha and it is not a showing, just like our seeing a statue or a painting or a cinema. That means he had induced the very idea of Radha Devi into the heart of Swami Vivekananda and that was what made Narendranath into Swami Vivekananda, the greatest lover of humanity. That is what I have mentioned. If we love God then we also equally love the world. This is what Eric Fromm in his marvellous book, How to Love God, that is The Art of Love, that was the title by Eric Fromm. He mentioned that love is like putting a coloured glass on our eyes. Whatever is the colour of the specs that we put on, the whole world appears in its light. You cannot discriminate and say, this I will see as something else, this I will see in the light of the colour of my glass. Whatever we see helplessly will be made bound to see that same colour. So even when I look at myself, I appear if I wear green glasses, I also look good. If it is black glasses, I also look black. What is the point? That is love cannot divide itself. Love is equally to myself and to my neighbour, to my family, to the whole world and to the Divine Lord also. You cannot divide. I can love God but I cannot love myself. I cannot love anybody else. That is what is called unripe love. It is not love at all. It is pure selfishness, an idea in our mind. These are marvellous points we have to remember. And this is what Swami Vivekananda had to say out of his own experience. Take the story of Radha and Krishna in Rasa Leela. The story simply exemplifies the true spirit of a bhakta because no love in the world exceeds that existing between a man and a woman. In this connection also, I will be quoting Shri Ramakrishna's words. But what I wanted to bring to our notice at this particular time is there are three types of minds. In the animals, it is called instinctual mind. In the human beings who are much further evolved, there is what is called rational mind. But those who are highly evolved, they will have intuitive mind. What does this indicate? Instinctual love is very selfish love. It only thinks about its own self. And rational mind says everybody is like me. Rationality, it convinces the mind. There is no difference between me and a poor man or a wicked man or a man or a woman or any prani for that purpose. Everything that has prana suffers. Some things can make it happy. Some things can make it suffer. So my prana is like any other prana. This is called rational way of looking at this world. But these are the functions of the mind and they have to be transcended. And that will come intuitively only when the person develops spirituality. He will be possessed with divine knowledge and that divine knowledge is called intuition. That is however nice the mind is, it is limited. But here is an intuitive wonderful development in the mind. What it says? Not only every creature prana is okay. It is my prana. Everybody has happiness and unhappiness, enjoys and suffers. But that is not really true. Everybody enjoys. There is no dukkha or suffering because everybody is the divinity personified. Each soul is potentially divine. This theory is put into practice by realizing that everything is God. That is the intense love. What Swami Vivekananda wants to point out that if a man and a woman and this is the most natural thing in the world and this is the dispensation of the prakruti, very nature, when they start loving not merely as bodies but much more than bodies and when it becomes intensified then it becomes divine. So the story of Radha and Krishna exemplifies the true spirit of a bhakta. When there is such intense love then what happens? There is no fear, no other attachment save that one which binds that pair in an inseparable and all-absorbing bond. The love that exists between a man and a woman has always been taken as a symbolism, as an analogy for illustrating the highest love. For example, in the Bible, Old Testament we get King Solomon's wisdom in the form of so many songs and all those songs actually depict the highest love that can exist between man and woman. But he was a great soul. Then what is the explanation? Explanation is we cannot simply, we don't know God. We cannot explain what is God. The highest is like Shaka Chandra Nyaya like the analogy of trying to show the moon by pointing out to some branches on a tree which is nearby. It is only an aid. So the love that exists, the supreme love, the intensest love, when each is ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of the other and they cannot broke any separation from each other, such a divine love that is only what is called exemplified between two human beings in the form of man and woman loving each other. Man can love man. Woman can also love woman. But that which exists between man and woman is the supreme example. It is most natural example and that is what is indicated here. This is what Swami Vivekananda tells us that when there is such an intense love, what happens? First of all, there is no fear. Oh, my beloved may reject me. This is only selfish love, very ordinary love. I don't care whether my lover, my beloved is loving me or not. I want to love and I can love and I am loving, period. There is no more thinking about anything else. So it doesn't expect any return even in the form of loving from the other much less trying to get some worldly benefit out of that person. Otherwise, it is called business. This is what Swami is telling. First thing is there is no fear. Why is there no fear? Because the person is not expecting anything. If you don't expect anything, Oh, I may not get it. That fear will not come and that is the first characteristic and this is what he also says. He means Swami Vivekananda concluding about supreme devotion, Paravakti, says there the lover, the beloved and the love, the triangle will become completely one. There is no separating them. Nobody can do it. This is the first effect. There is no fear. No other attachment. Save that one which binds that fear. There is no attachment. The only fear is I may not be able to love enough. I may love a little bit. I may be thinking something. No, I want to love. I want only to think about God. I don't want to think about anybody else. I want to think about my beloved. Remember, when love crosses a certain barrier, certain height, then it is not human love. It is a divine love. Swami Vivekananda continues. This is an inseparable and all-absorbing bond. He is our only beloved and we should adore him. Divide all thoughts of fear. A man loves God only when he has no other desire, when he thinks of nothing else and when he is mad after Him. This is a beautiful word, mad after Him. Meera bhai divani. Meera had become mad by thinking about Krishna. Mere to dosara na koi. I do not have no other being excepting Krishna. It is a beautiful song. So Meera loves only Krishna and for me none other exists excepting. Then he says, for his sake I have given up my husband, I have given up my family, I have given up my even love of body. There is dosara na koi. There is nothing else. And that is what is illustrated so beautifully by Meera bhai. That love which a man has for his beloved can illustrate the love we ought to have for God. Krishna here represents the God and Radha loves Him. Or the common people could not grasp and assimilate that high ideal of divine love and naturally made of it the worst form of love between a coarse man and a coarse woman. And this great ideal of love, a Radha Prema with which he used to remain intoxicated day and night, losing his individuality in Radha. Here is something Swami Vivekananda is teaching. We should learn from him. Not only Radha is loving Krishna, Krishna also became intoxicated, used to remain intoxicated day and night, losing his individuality in Radha. Who are then truly entitled to possess that love? This was a question put by somebody. Swamiji is answering. There can be no love so long as there is lust. Even as a speck of it as it were in the heart, none but great men of renunciation, none but mighty giants among men have a right to that love divine. These are only very few quotations and that is why such a great devotional book like Bhagavatam has completely devoted five chapters for the expression of this divine incident called Rasa Pancha Adhyayi. And we have to love, we have to even listen to it. But who is entitled? Swami Vivekananda defined. If a man has got even the least bit of lust, he will never be able to understand this Pancha Adhyayi. And this is beautifully illustrated by Mirabai in one of her life incidents. She went to Vrindavan leaving everybody and there was a great disciple of Jaitanya Mahaprabhu who took a vow that he will never look at the face of any woman. But Mirabai did not know about that. She went to have darshan of that great soul because she knew that he was a great lover of Krishna. But the disciples of that Goswami proudly declared, our Guru doesn't see the face of any woman and immediately, spontaneously, who spoke? I think it is Krishna himself spoke through the mouth of Radha Devi and then she said, Oh, I thought in Vrindavan there is only one man and where from this second person has come? And the disciple of course is what is called clay head. He could not understand. So he ran and said, this woman says like this. But the great soul that he was, I think he was Sanatana Goswami. I am not sure. He came running and then he greeted, I am, I apologize. I never knew that I am going to meet such a great soul. Today you opened my heart and there can be no distinction between who is man and woman, human being, sex. Even when we have children, babies, we don't say this is a baby girl, this is a boy girl. Parents will be taking them to their hearts, both of them. They don't think of the sex. But as the same babies grow up and develop a special identity, I am a woman, I am a boy, I am a male, I am female. Then even parents hesitate. They love them, but the love is perceiving a barrier. They cannot hug them to their hearts. But here is a love where there is only, we are all hearts full of brimming love. But God is only one. And that is the idea of Radha and Krishna. Any lust means what? Any selfishness. Such a person cannot love. With this, I just wanted to indicate because the topic had come and now we will continue our first class. Girish Chandra Ghosh with regard to this only is asking the master, what is Ekangi Prema? Ekangi, Prema means divine love, love for God. Ekangi means one-sided, the master. It means one-sided love. For instance, the water does not seek the duck, but the duck loves the water, one-sided. The lover loves the beloved, but the beloved doesn't love the lover. And then earlier I was talking about instinctual love, rational love and intuitive love. This is being illustrated by Sir Ramakrishna. He is continuing. There are three kinds of love. Sadharani, Samanjasa and Samartha. These are technical terms in the Vaishnava jargon. There are three types of love. What are they? Ramakrishna himself is illustrating. In the first, which is ordinary love, a lover seeks his own happiness. He doesn't care whether his beloved is happy or not. This is pure selfish love. I love you, no doubt, but it is for the sake of the happiness that I am getting or for any expectation to be fulfilled. That was Chandravali's attitude towards Krishna. In the second, which is a compromise, both seek each other's happiness. This is much higher. This is a noble kind of love, Sir Ramakrishna is telling. What is this love? This is called Samanjasa. Sadharani, I want my own happiness. I don't care and I am thinking of you because I know that I can get what I want from you. Samanjasa means understanding. So what is this understanding? That I love you but I seek your happiness. I also seek my own happiness. So the lover seeks beloved's happiness and her own happiness. The beloved seeks his own happiness and the beloved's happiness. This is called Samanjasa. And some of the Gopis represent it. But there is another, the highest, it is called Samartha. But the third is the highest of all. Such a lover says to his beloved, be happy yourself, whatever may happen to me. That is, I don't care what happens to me. And we get it in Chaitanya's Sikshastaka. We get in Kulasekara Alwar's Mukunda Mala. Whatever way you want to treat me, O Divine Lord, treat me. But let me not be deprived of loving you. I don't care whether you love me or not. But do not deprive me of me loving you. This is called Samartha. This is the highest. Hence Ramakrishna is adding, Radha had this highest love. She was happy in Krishna's happiness. The Gopis too had attained this exalted state. So Gopis also in Vaishnava literature are divided into these three categories. Sadharani, Samanjasa and Samartha. And these are deeply philosophical or mystical aspects of this philosophy, which we may not understand now. Now, this incident has been taken by me from the Gospel of Sai Ramakrishna. Just to tell, there was what is called Bhagavata Kathak, a person who has learned Bhagavatam almost by heart. And he has a special voice. There is a way of telling in South India. We call it Harikatha Bhagavatars, those who can speak about Bhagavatam, singing, speaking and explaining. And for several hours they do that. That tradition was there. Now also it is there. Though it has come down very much, but on YouTube also if you search for Harikatha, you will be able to get. So in this Gospel, there was some such Bhagavata speaker, lecturer or teacher had come. And he is narrating. And a story of the Uddhava. When Uddhava came to Vrindavan, the cowherd boys and milkmaids of Braja ran eagerly to meet him. Because immediately they got the news that our beloved Uddhava, who is the greatest devotee of our beloved Krishna had come. For a devotee, Krishna is most desirable. But anybody who thinks of Krishna is also most beloved. So the Gopis and Gopas asked him, how is our Krishna? Has he forgotten us? Does he remember us? Some of them began to cry. Others took him to different parts of Vrindavan, showing and saying, at this spot Shri Krishna lifted Mount Govardhan on his finger. Here is the spot where he slayed Dhenakasura. Here where he slayed Shakatasura. Here he gauged his cows in the pasture. He wandered here on the bank of the Yamuna and played here with the cowherd boys. He talked with the Gopis in this Guru. So like that, they wanted to enjoy with another devotee of Uddhava. But Uddhava belongs to the category of a Gnani. So he is telling, why are you so anxious about Shri Krishna? He is omnipresent. He is God Himself. There is nothing besides Him. What does he mean? Uddhava is a trader of the Gnanamarka and says, why are you so much emotional about it? Don't become emotional. Krishna is everywhere. He is right within you. Do not the Gopis know it? Are they not the people who said, Nakhalu Gopikaan Andhano Bhavaan Akhila Dehinaam Antaratmadrut But their attitude is different. So the Gopis said, all this Uddhava is beyond our comprehension. We are not educated. We are illiterate women folk. We only know our Krishna Vrindavan who played with us here. Uddhava replied, in the very presence of Bhagawan, if you meditate on Him, you do not have to come to this world. Meditate on Krishna, liberates the Jeeva. This was his Upadesham. And Krishna sent Uddhava specially to learn that greatest lesson of love. But the Gopis of course did not know. Uddhava also did not know. This was the conversation that was going on. So the Gopis said, we don't understand all this talk about liberation and all that. We only want to see our Krishna, the beloved of our soul. Sri Ramakrishna listened to all the conversation with full attention and goes into Bhava Samadhi. And he says, the Gopis are right. And he begins to sing in the same sweet voice a beautiful song. There are some things more I want to share with you and that will be done in our next class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Sri Ramakrishna.