Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 080 on 14-February-2023

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

The take away from our last class is that Sri Ramakrishna had heavily condemned bigotry. And I said bigotry is not only religious bigotry. We are suffering from every sort of bigotry, gender bigotry, class bigotry, skin color bigotry, civilization bigotry, size bigotry, nationality bigotry. What is not there? Even when a person dresses very nicely according to that person, however weird that person may look in the eyes of the other people, that person thinks I am most beautiful, handsome, attractive. But others are looked down by that person. Such is the terrible effect of our mind. Naturally we profess, we want to progress in spiritual life, we have to get out of the bigotry. What is the way? There is only one way and that is we have to think God is our mother, God is our father and we are all children and among children there can be no discrimination, no distinction, all are looked, loved and nourished and taken care of by the Divine Mother. These words Ramakrishna is telling that bigotry is one of the greatest obstacles in spiritual life. What is bigotry? Discriminating and thinking I am better than the other people and what does it mean? It means ahankara and wherever there is egotism, there will be kama, krodha, lobha, moha, madha, and matsarya and these are the manifestations of ajnana, ignorance and that is what we need to get rid of. So we have seen and Sri Ramakrishna had sung a beautiful song in which we have been discussing the inner meaning of pancha makaras and towards the last of my class I discussed about maithuna. In Vedantic language this maithuna is called mahavakya, jiva, brahma, aikyata, the oneness of both the jiva and the jivatma and the paramatma. There should not be the slightest separation, distinction including brahmakara vritti. Even when a person is going on thinking of God, we are at a distance from God. But when our thought itself ceases to be and that's what Patanjali Rishi was struggling hard to convey to us, yogaha chitta uruti nirodaha. So what is it that stands as an obstruction to our complete union with God, the union of the jivatma with paramatma, what is the problem? Attachment to the world and this attachment can come through various ways. But this attachment usually comes with kama, krodha, lobha, moha, madha and matsarya. What do these so called six enemies, internal, inner enemies of man's progress in any field? Take note, these are not only obstacles in spiritual life, they are also obstacles for anything. For example, a mother wants to cook nice dish for the children but she is unable to do so. What is the obstruction? That her mind is obsessed with some desire to go out to chit chat. That means mind becomes completely restless and this is what Swami Vivekananda wants to convey to us, Vedanta must be made practical. Practical Vedanta means what? A student becomes a better student, a cook becomes a better cook, a driver becomes and should become, otherwise everybody's life is endangered. Nobody can escape, including princes and princesses. The example is even the royal wife, princess Diana, she died in a so called horrible accident and this accident can happen through accidents or it can happen through deliberate karmaphala. We should, if I talk about this, many people think you are talking nonsense, you are not talking properly, irrational. What is it? This terrible disaster that we know is unfolding even now in Turkey as well as in Syria. How many, practically 35 or even more people have died and in a horrendous condition. What is it to do? Is it Allah's wish? Is it human error? Allah never wishes anybody, God never wishes anybody that his children should die so horrendously. Then what is the reason? I can only say what our scripture tells and I believe 150% in the scripture, karmaphala and what about Indians? Are they all very superior? No, this karmaphala can come in so many ways, but this type of talk has created, is going to create terrible, so many people can flare up, but the fact is we do not know what is the thing. We can only believe that it is our karmaphala, but managed and executed by what we call idhata, whatever is written in the forehead should occur. Look closely. Even in this terrible disaster, a few people have been found surviving recently. I just saw, I think only today, a beautiful baby after about 160 hours without food or anything happily came out and you must see that baby's smiling face, marvellous, so beautiful a baby. Why did not anything happen? Even different people have different degrees of torture. Some people know torture, some people are destined to live. We can only wonder and say, oh mother, I do not know anything about it. That is what I will come to that point. So we were discussing about pancha makaras, five types of esoteric practices in the tantra and one of them is maithuna, the last one and this is what Christianity means by service, the wine, my blood is the wine and my flesh is your flesh, my spirit is the flesh and the otteries, the devotees, at the end of the service, they are supposed to, that small piece of bread, prasada, to be eaten, for that they have to purify themselves, confess to the priest, become clean, then only they will be given. What is it that you Jeevatma, the devotee, becomes one with the Paramatma, complete indistinguishable union with God is called maithuna, the union of the Jeevatma with Paramatma. This is our destiny, this is our goal and whether we know it or not, evolution is carrying us towards that goal. But we can help. What is the problem? Why we are not helping us, ourselves, attachment to the world and this attachment, as I mentioned, is the manifestation through kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsarya and when once we have these things, any slightest suggestion can become a huge bonfire and there is a beautiful story I am going to recollect. First of all, I will tell you an incident that happened in the life of Swami Turiyanandaji. Then I will quote the relevant story from the Vishnu Purana. Swami Turiyanandaji, as we know, is one of the greatest ascetics and he liked only to do tapasya. So he went to a place called Uttarkashi and there, in a very silent, undisturbed place, in those days especially, there were some kutiyas somebody had constructed for the residence of the monks and one monk was already staying there, Turiyanandaji went and occupied that one of the kutiyas, dwelling place, a hut, a small place and these two sadhus, they used to go at noon to what we call dharmakshetra or where they distribute food, annakshetra, what Punjabis call karasheva and there they will be served with roti and all. Similarly, sometimes there will be a feast called bhandara and the both of them used to walk at one o'clock or so, go there, collect their rotis, come back and eat at their own place and there happened to be a small pond and there they used to wash it and there will be some edges of the roti or chapati which is practically overbaked or unbaked and not really suitable for consumption. So they used to take off, pick up those things, keep aside and they come to the pond, they used to throw and a school of fish were there, joyfully swimming and these two sadhus will go at the same time and throw. So the fishes got conditioned, they will come exactly at the time and you know what happens? When the even hardened roti comes into contact with water, it becomes very soft. Even though I am not a cook but your expert cooks, most of them and I hope so, when you have old idli, old dosa, old chapati and if you put them in microwave, it will be practically un-eatable. But if you soak them for a minute or two in water and then either steam boil or put it in the microwave and you will see the magical transformation, they will become very soft and very enjoyable and if you apply Andhra Avakaya, it is like what I call Brahman. You will not know the difference between whether it is cooked or uncooked. So they used to throw, fishes used to come joyfully. Time passed, Swami Vekananda called away Swami Turiyanandaji and sent him to America. Now Swami Turiyanandaji stayed for a few years there, I think about 4 to 5 years. Then he could not stay any longer, he took permission of Swami Jai, came back to India and they all were tremendously in love with Swami Vekananda. They could not stay away and Swami Turiyanandaji took the permission of Swami Jai, returned and from Burma, he started to India in a day or two, he would be reaching Calcutta. But what a tragic event, Swami Vekananda decided to give up his body. I do not know why, because he knew very well Haribai was coming back and a few days before Swami Vekananda passed away, gave up his body voluntarily in Samadhi and this news reached him, when Swami Turiyanandaji was in the ship, he was about to reach India, he was hard to broken and then again he went back to Uttarkashi and there he went to this old kutiya which was unoccupied and then he did not find the other sadhu. He thought perhaps the sadhu moved away somewhere and after a few days and suddenly a house holder appeared before him and then Turiyanandaji could not recognize him immediately, but after staring at him, he could recognize and said, were you not the sadhu who was practicing here and that man admitted, yes he was that sadhu, then what happened? Then that sadhu who now became a house holder, he narrated every day after you are leaving this place, as usual I used to go to the pond and I used to watch the fish swimming joyfully, slowly the idea entered that the mother fish, father fish, children fish, joyfully swimming, eating etc and the mahamaya entered into the mind, if fish can be so joyfully married, why not I also become married, what does it show? It shows he was not happy, secondly why was he not happy? Because his mind was longing for this type of enjoyment, simple truth, kama was hiding there and he could not get any joy like Vishwamitra who had fallen at the sight of a woman. So this man he thought, if fishes can be very happy leading a married life, why not men? He went and got married, then he understood the difference between the marriages of fishes and the marriages of a human being, with tears running his eyes, all over his face, he confessed everything, had you been there, perhaps you could have prevented me, but since your holy company was not there, this was my condition, what can Swami Turiyananda do? He might have done, we do not know what happened, he must have told, do not despair, hold on to God and continue your sadhana, but now you are married, you will have to bear the burden of it. Now there is a parallel of this in Vishnupurana and there was a saint, his name was Saubhari, I do not know you might have heard it, Vishnupurana, it is the exact story that I just now narrated. Saubhari was an ancient Rishi and he is believed to be the son of Rishi Kanwa, whatever, once when the Saubhari Rishi was doing meditation inside the holy river Yamuna and he also had seen the marriages of fishes, their mating and children being born and joyfully swimming here and there, how much of indiscrimination we can be under, delusion, when a fish is swimming, how do we presume that it is joyful swimming, suppose a big fish is hunting a smaller fish and it is trying to run away, usually it cannot escape, but we only see the swimming fish, not the fish that is trying to escape from the impending death, whatever it is, this Rishi for several years, he had that special power inside the, like a fish, inside the water, inside the river Yamuna, he could submerge himself, Duryodhana was said to be having that Jalasthambana Vidya, anyway he used to observe these fishes and just like this Sadhu, suddenly this thought entered, I also, why not I also like the fishes become a householder, so he went to King Mandhata and King Mandhata, very well known figure in our Puranic stories, he had 50 beautiful daughters, of course for every parent, their children are very beautiful only, anyway he went there and he was not very good looking also and he must have been looking gaunt with all his tapasya, not a very desirable bridegroom, but the king could not refuse him outright, though in his mind he was thinking, it is better that my daughters who are princesses should not be given to this person, he could not say no to him directly, but he could not say yes also, so he imposed a condition, he said you go inside, meet my daughters, if any daughter likes you and falls in love with you, then you can marry them, you have to enjoy these Puranic stories, so nicely narrated, especially when somebody can narrate it with a lot of masala. So this Rishi, so worried, what did he do? He was not very good looking and he knows that I am not very good looking, but he did tapasya for a long time, he had the tremendous power like Rishi Chavanaprasha, so he transformed himself into the most handsome person in the world and he entered. Now the king sent news, here is a person coming, you look at him and if any one of you want to marry him, then you are free to do it. There was also swayamvara in those days like Draupadi swayamvara, Sita swayamvara etc. and all the 50 daughters of King Mandhata looked at him, all of them fell madly in love because he was not what his father tried to describe to them, to discourage them properly, indirectly, but the most handsome man in the whole world. Such is the power of tapasya, such is the power of singing, such is the power of acting, such is the power of getting a high job, that's why you can see a singer, a rock singer, ugly looking like the rakshasas of the Chandamama story and thousands of young ladies are flocking around him, even now you can get this reputation of the same story now, but here is a most handsome person, all of them wanted to marry him. Now the king promised that whoever falls in love, that daughter of mine can marry you, but all 50 of them started quarrelling, I want to marry, I want to marry and there was no option but this Rishi, he was married to all of them. Now he was a Rishi, he had nothing but he had tapasya shakti, tapasya shakti is everything, so he took them and he had his own hermitage and then through his power he built like Krishna built a separate palace for all his 16,108 plus, so this Rishi did the same thing by his tapasya power and then they were all very happy and it so happened after some time and the father king Mandhata got wanted to, was curious, 50 of my children had married and how are they and then when he came he was astounded to see the most desirable building blocks and then he entered into one of them, he saw his daughter and then he came, daughter how are you? She said, Baba I could not have done anything better than marrying this man, he is madly in love with me and my only regret is he always lives with me but I don't know how my other sisters are feeling about it and then the father could not understand, okay let me visit and find out what is happening, so he visited the next daughter and exactly the same what is called colony building, you know why colony building because if another palace is slightly different then they start quarrelling with each other, so he went and then he met the most happy daughter, the next second daughter and then the father embraced her, asked child how are you, said I could not be happier than my husband loves me and I am afraid, I regret he never visits the other sisters, always he is with me, the same story is repeated in all the 50 palaces and King Mandhata was very happy and then he went away and this was what exactly Narada Rishi, Rishi Narada wanted to test how Shri Krishna could marry so many and keep all of them happy, so the power of Tapasya is that a person can keep everybody happy, how could he keep everybody happy because there is not the slightest partiality in the love of a spiritual person because a spiritual person is equivalent to God, Aham Brahmasmi and Brahman only loves everything as one's own self, this is the secret of this Saubhari and then this is the wonderful story but what is the, what are we talking about attachment, he was a Rishi and he had great power but he wanted, he saw fishes enjoying, people also see animals enjoying and their animal desires would also become aroused, that's why we have to be very careful but as I mentioned earlier one day Shri Ramakrishna saw the male and female dog union mating with each other but what did he see, he saw Shiva and Shakti, not only his mind did not come down even to the fringes of ordinary worldly people's mind it went up and saw the union of Prakruti and Purusha, Shiva and Shakti and this fact was so beautifully understood by Shankaracharya and he has created one of the most marvellous magical Stotrams, this is called Artha Nareshwara Stotram, Tasmai Namashiva Namashivaya, Shiva means Lord Shiva, the male, Shivaya Shivayai Namaha, at the end of the conclusion of the each stanza that he comes I salute both Shiva and Shiva and so beautifully constructed one word refers to Shiva, another word refers to the, that is female gender and how nicely he composed only a divine power can compose like that, anyway what are we talking about this Saubhari, the root cause of his wanting to get married is because of his desire and it is this desire so that creates Samsara and that's why Holy Mother says so long as there is a desire there is going to be rebirth but any person he gets rid of all desires he becomes desireless and that's why Shiva is called Kamari, that is he reduced Kama itself, Ahamkara itself completely by burning it down and therefore Shiva, Shiva became Shiva, Shiva means Aham Brahmasmi, when a person attains this state it is called Poornatma, Poornamadaha, Poornamidham, Poornat Poornamudhachyate, Poornasya Poornamadhaya, Poornam eva avasyasyate, that is infinite, the cause of Samsara is infinite, the Samsara cannot be finite, it is also infinite even though this visible infinity, so called visible infinity has come out of that invisible infinity, the infinity ever remains infinite only and this is to indicate oh my child, you are Amrutasya Putra, you are a child of immortality, you have never lost your Poornatma, this is called in Viktor Frankl's language that life is meant for finding meaning and meaning means fulfilment, fulfilment means that there is no division between the desirer and the desire and the object of desire and the experience of the desire and the resulting satisfaction, everything becomes pure Advaita and this is what Sri Ramakrishna wants to convey to us. But how to attain? What then is the way to attain God? Can we attain God through Karma alone? No. Can we attain through concentration of mind? No. To the will power? No. Can we attain through the intellect? No. Can we attain through Bhakti Marga? No. No Marga. Every Marga is finite. Anything finite cannot take us to the infinite. Then what is the use of all these paths? The Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Gnana Yoga, they will take us, they will point out the right direction, purify our hearts and slowly destroy the obstacles that are standing in looking at ourselves. When the mind becomes pure and when I stand in front of that mirror, this is what Patanjali Rishi says, Chitta Vruthi Nirodha, then in that state, in that state one comes to know that I am Purusha. This is what says Yoga Vruthi Nirodha, Chitta Vruthi Nirodha. Then what happens? I remain in my own nature and rest of the time, Vruthi Sarupyam Itaratra. That is what he says. There must be a way. Yes, Bhakti Yoga is the way, Karma Yoga is the way, Raja Yoga is the way and also Gnana Yoga is the way. The way does not take us to the goal, but it takes us near the fire just as we, when we approach fire, the nearer we approach, the more heated we become, we acquire the quality of the fire and finally we become one with the fire itself, then we can also burn other things that approach us. This is the process. That is why Shri Ramakrishna's core teaching is you can never know Brahman because knowing is a process that takes place through the instrumentality of the mind, through the sense organs and the distinction, the division between the knower and the known and the instrument of the knowledge and the resultant knowledge and the resultant memory called Samskara, Smruti, everything falls under the category of Dwaitam. So, the master through beautiful songs and he was one of the most marvelous songsters. He can move mountains, he can move rocks, he can move stones even if somebody doesn't believe in God. But when a person hears this kind of singing from Shri Ramakrishna whose heart and intellect and voice and feeling, everything becomes completely one. He becomes absorbed in that Bhava and every time Shri Ramakrishna sings the same phenomena takes place and when if we are fortunate to hear such kind of song in our heart also temporarily though melts and then it becomes we are lifted up. Shri Ramakrishna lifted up. Who is there that can understand what Mother Kali is? In my last class, I think I quoted this song also. So, who can know? Does it mean that we can never know? No. Even the Upanishads tell us. Even the mind cannot fathom much less the speech because only when we understand we can try to express it and what we express is much less than what we can understand. But here is a mystery. We can never understand it. Then what is the way? There is a way. One must have faith and love, says Shri Ramakrishna. Let me tell you how powerful faith is. Shri Ramakrishna was a past master, great storyteller. When he tells the stories, it gets etched deep in the heart of his listeners. Here is the story in the words of Shri Ramakrishna. A man was about to cross the sea from Ceylon to India. Vibhishana said to him, tie this thing in a corner of your wearing cloth and you will cross the sea safely. You will be able to walk on the water. But be sure not to examine it or else you will sink. Now there is a beginning which Ramakrishna did not quote because he has told this story umpteen number of times. Once a man went on a ship and the ship was wrecked and he found himself on the shore and then the Rakshasas never had, ever since Vibhishana became the king of Sri Lanka, he never, they never tasted because Vibhishana will not allow any man to be eaten by the Rakshasas. Now after many many centuries, they found a man and their mouth started watering but first they have to inform otherwise they will be punished. So they brought him to Vibhishana. Immediately Vibhishana understood. Tears started running from his eyes. Why? As he said, after a long time I am beholding another man like my Rama. This man reminded him the man like form of Rama long long back and then he told him so you come and stay with me. I will keep you safe. Tomorrow I will help you to get out because I can't watch you 24 hours and my people are eagerly waiting when I look the other way and there is, there are many meanings looking the other way and I will, you will not exist anymore. This is the prequel. Now the sequel is the man was about to cross. How can I cross? Said you can walk on the waters. Whether Vibhishana thought about sharks etc. I don't know but anyway he tried something. The man said this one and cautioned him. Do not ever open it until you cross, go to the other side. Sairam Krishna continued. The man was walking easily on the water of the sea. Such is the strength of faith when having gone part of the way he thought what is this wonderful thing Vibhishana has given me that I can walk even on the water. He untied the knot and found only a leaf with the name of Rama written on it. Oh just this he thought and instantly he sank and then I will come to the other part of it. What is this crossing the ocean? That is travelling in this world of samsara and what is the boat? Faith is the boat. But even though we have faith, it doesn't mean everybody will have only very happy journey. There will be ups and downs. There will be storms and cyclones. There will be calm and quiet times also and I am going to narrate an incident from the life of Swami Vivekananda. Once Swami Vivekananda by ship in those days ship was there. No bus, no car and no trains of course, no aeroplanes. He was returning to India somewhere near the Egyptian sea. There is one night and there were some devotees with him. It was so beautiful. The whole sea was calm and quiet and there was a full moon rising and it was reflecting in that calm water and that beauty when there was not a whisper of a cloud and the whole sea they could see shining like molten silver because it is reflecting the moonlight and the moon must have been looking as if you can just stretch your hand and touch it because you notice and if you are in a desert area or on the sea then these stars especially at night they look so brilliant, so bright. Nowadays we cannot see because of the light pollution, sound pollution, so many other pollutions are there. But on the sea there was no absolutely no pollution at all. So beautiful everybody was mesmerized and several minutes have passed drinking the beauty of the moonlit night on the open sea when there is not even the slightest ripple and after some time Swami Vivekananda broke the silence saying if Maya is so beautiful how beautiful must be the maker of this Maya which is Ishwara or Parameshwara. Anyway coming back our travel in this boat, in this ocean of Samsara and there will be huge waves, small waves, there will be lot of agitation, cyclones as I said, there will be wild animals, everything will be there. What is the boat? It is the boat of faith and never get any doubt. This Vibhishana's story indicates to us never have any doubt about God. What does he mean? He means sometimes there will be, life will be very very rough. In those days when we are going up and down and then doubt may come, I am devoted to God, I pray to God, I lead a spiritual life as much as I can and why is not God making my journey very smooth sailing. This doubt will arise as reason will arise even now at any every day also we do not have the same intensity of faith. It goes on and on and on but we should never say the Lord is there, He is looking after me and whatever is happening is the exact event tailor made for my improvement, for my further progress. That should be the faith of each Sadhaka. Remember the story of Kata Upanishad. Now the Nachiketha had said to I will give you to death. That was what the Vajasravasa, the father said. What is the symbolism? Symbolism is my child, you have to leave the world behind if you want to go to God and I wanted to go to God but I am unable to cut off the bonds, the worldliness, the attachments to this world. That's why he was reluctant to give away the best cows. He was only giving practically useless or second hand or third hand cows but the same man must have progressed further and a query had come into his mind. He had become a Jignaso, a enquirer. Why am I not progressing in spiritual life and his own mind told him that you wanted to go to God but you are still clinging to all the worldly things. Remember in the olden times cows are the greatest wealth to entertain the guests and to conduct Yagnas, Yagas etc. Cow is the most important animal and everybody naturally will be attached and another reason is we call the cow our mother. The reason for that is many women in those days after giving birth to children used to die at childbirth and how are the children to be brought up? The nearest food that is most suitable for the children is the cow's milk, not buffalo milk, not donkey's milk, not camel's milk but cow's milk and not Holstein cow, not Jersey cow but pure Indian Nachiketa's father's cow because it yields very little milk but at the same time it is the purest of things. That is why the ghee made out of it, Ghritovai Ayahu, our Ayurvedic physicians have declared Ghrita, the ghee that has been made at home and I can tell you if you buy ghee it will not only not be tasteful or fragrant but it will ruin your health. You get pure milk and set it and then churn it and get the butter and see what fragrance cause. Even one teaspoonful mixed with rice and all of you, I know, I am sure you understand what I am talking about and that will transform the entire food. Now this attachment and the Sadhaka understood, said I must give up this attachment. That dying to the world is called going to God. And then we know that when Nachiketa approached Yamadharma Raja and Yamadharma Raja, he gave him all sorts of boons, temptations, means tests. Do you want woman? Do you want money? Do you want name and fame? Do you want long life? Do you want Dharma? Do you want Artha? Do you want Kama? This is called praise. Dharma, Artha and Kama, the three Purusharthas among the famous four Purusharthas are called instrumental values. In Vedantic language they are called praise. Unless we give up this praise and longing only for Shreyas which is Moksha, Param Purushartha. There is no hope of approaching nearer to God. God and world are opposed to each other. Kama and Prema are opposed to each other. Shreyas and praise are opposed to each other. But you have to understand they are not enemies. Praise, the purpose of praise is like a person travelling through sub roads until he comes to the main bus stand which is on the motorway. And until we come to the motorway, travel in the motorway is not possible. Dharma, Artha and Kama is like the smaller roads leading to the main road which is called the royal road called motorway. And in India also they call it motorway and that is being still constructed. One can move with greater speeds straight. And what is that? This is called enquiring and then getting the right directions, Sravana, Manana and then that actual travel is called Nidhidhyasana. There is no other way. That is why Yamadharma Raja. Who was Yamadharma Raja? The Guru, Sadguru. Who was Nachiketa? Sachishya. Qualified Adhikari, Sadhana Chaturstaya Sampanna, Sishya. But the Guru wanted to be sure. Am I wasting my time? Not only my time, this Sishya also will be wasting his time if he is not ready for what I am ready to give. I will give you a beautiful Zen story. Don't worry. Why this Swami going on and on? Because the purpose is not to come to the end of Gospel but to enjoy the Gospel all the way, learning our lessons. There was a person and he wanted to get some teaching from a Zen Master. He went to a Zen Monastery and the Master was reputed to be a realized soul, one who had attained Nirvana. And this man approached and said, Sir, please give me some teaching. And the Master said, definitely I will try but first I want to drink a cup of tea. Please fetch me some tea. So this man went inside, prepared a cup of tea, put it in the tea cup and also an empty cup. He placed it in front of the Master and then the Master said, pour into the cup. Pour the tea into the cup. And the man had started pouring. And when the cup was full, he stopped. The Master said, I did not ask you to stop. I said pour. And the man looked askance at the Master. Is he in his right senses? But he obeyed and started pouring. Every drop that he was pouring was coming out of the cup, falling on the table, falling on the floor, spreading. And he had poured until the whole tea cup was completely empty. Tea pot was completely empty. And he was looking in wonder, askance at the teacher. Then the Zen Master, they are very intelligent people. And he looked at him smilingly and said, have you seen? The man said, yes, I have seen. Have you understood? The man said, yes, I have. And then the Master explained, you see, could the tea cup hold even one drop of tea after you filled it up? He said, no, it is impossible. Whatever you pour, when after the cup is full, will not be retained by the cup. The Master looked at him and said, you have come to me with your mind full of your own ideas. There is not even a space for a small needle, edge of the needle, end of the needle to put, to place it there. And you are asking for Upadesha. Go and empty your mind. That is called Sadhana Kshatrush Sampatti. Then come back to me. Now the man understood. He was not ready. He went away. Whenever we study any scripture, listen to any Guru, we should not listen just because somebody is talking or studying a scripture. We should be able to do it to the fullest of our ability. Empty the more emptiness, the more place we place for God. Make place for God by emptying which is filled with the world which is Kama, Krodha, Loka, Moha, Mada, Matsarya. And that is what is called faith. What is faith? The ability to receive only after we empty our mind and that ability is called faith. Otherwise, we have so many beliefs, some reasonable beliefs, some most of them irrational beliefs and one of these beliefs, this kind of false belief is called Adhyasa, superimposition. And there are certain types of Adhyasas, Artha Adhyasa, Gnana Adhyasa, Shobhana Adhyasa. I will just very briefly, I will tell you. I don't want to go deeper into those things. That is suppose we see a shell on the seashore and from a distance the sunlight is reflecting from the shell and there is a very chance that we will mistake it for a silver object and this is what is called mistaking that object which is called Artha as a silver object, silver shell that is called Artha Adhyasa. Artha means object. And when do we do that? When our mind is not able to grasp. This inability to grasp but thinking that I see definitely a silver shell. This is called Gnana Adhyasa. That is my knowledge is nothing but a wrong type of knowledge. This is called Gnana Adhyasa. The object is called Artha Adhyasa. You can also say Padartha Adhyasa. But there is another type of Adhyasa which we all cherish and learn our lesson at a very high cost. What is it? It is called Shobhana Adhyasa. Beautiful superimposition. What is that beautiful superimposition called Shobhana Adhyasa? A young man thinks that if I get a good job all my life I will be happy. If I get a lot of money that is what a poor man thinks, I will be very happy. And a young man, unmarried person, he thinks if he likes a particular girl and he sings about that girl, dream girl, idiot, dream girl is available in the waking state or dream state. So, do not sing dream girl. First step is waking state girl. That means what? She has got a concrete form. She does not always smile. She does not always dress. She does not always comb her hair. She can have a terrible cold and after that her nose will be runny nose. At that stage I have to see early in the morning. Then this is still if I love, that is called waking girl. So, if I marry this girl, I will be happy lifelong. If I marry this young man, so polite, so sweet and he is running after me. If I ask him to sit, he is sitting. I ask him to get up, he is getting up. And if I can marry this man, I will be the luckiest girl in the world whether Kama Adhyasa or what is called Dhana Adhyasa. Very few people think if I want to be happy, I must practice Dharma. Dharma is not an Adhyasa. Dharma is the real thing. But in the name of Kama, in the name of Artha. Dharma, Artha, Kama. Artha, Kama are Adhyasas. This was what Sri Ramakrishna was talking about. What is the world? What is Samsara? Nothing but lust and gold. Kama and Kanchana in polite language. Anyway, so this is called Shobhana Adhyasa. If I get so much money, my whole life, all problems will be solved. Not knowing, after marriage only problems begin. How do I know? I know because I will share a joke with you. Once an unhappy householder came to one of our Swamis and this man was suffering after marriage and he asked Swami, what is the secret of a happy successful marriage? And the Swami got very angry. He said, idiot, if I had known the secret, why should I have become a monk? I could have married and be very happy. That is to say, accepting Sanyasa life, there is no happiness. Who says? Not Swami Dayatmananda. Bhartruhari says, everything is fraught with Bhaya, Vairagyameva Abhayam. So, everything is fraught with danger. You have something and it can be lost, it can damage you. But if you don't have anything, accepting God and we can have anything, only when God is available, God is everything for us. Tumi Sarvasro Natho Amar. Beautiful Rabindranath Tagore's song is there. Only then that is the greatest happiness. Short of God, the only happiness is called praise. That comes only through Dharma. But this Dharma slowly leads us towards Moksha. And anything that is sandwiched between Dharma and Moksha, then even those Artha and Kama will help us evolve towards God. And that is why Ramakrishna was not telling Kamakanchanaar Dhenamesh, Dharmaviruddhaha Bhuteshu Kamo Asme Bharadarshiva. Oh Arjuna, I manifest myself as that desire which is not opposed to Dharma. That means Dharmic way of desiring. There is a desiring Dharmic way, fulfilling Dharmic way, enjoying Dharmic way, growing in a Dharmic way, evolving in a Dharmic way. That is why to establish Dharma, God himself incarnates himself. This is the only way. But ultimately what does this praise do? It produces tremendous faith. Once this faith comes, it will be like the strongest boat in the world and you don't need to do anything. Just sit cozily in that boat called faith and the faith itself will take anybody across the ocean in the shortest period of time and takes us to God. This is what Sri Ramakrishna is telling. The word faith has tremendous meaning and then Sri Ramakrishna sang a song glorifying the power of faith. If only I can pass away, repeating Durga's name, how canst thou then, O blessed one, withhold from me deliverance, wretched though I may be. These beautiful thoughts we will continue in our next class.