Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 085 on 25-April-2023

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mohor Moho Ho So first I will deal with the questions. First question. Which is the best way to enlightenment? Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga or Raja Yoga? Or is it a mix and match of all four? My answer would be none of the yogas are ever going to give any spiritual enlightenment or anything spiritual or worldly. Only God's grace. And to obtain God's grace we have to harmonize all the four yogas. But the dominant yoga should be Bhakti Yoga. Why Bhakti Yoga? Because of one simple reason. The reason is we are all emotional people. Emotion gathered together, concentrated and turned towards the direction of God is called devotion. If there is no emotion, there would be no devotion. We are all, as we know, even the persons who say we are intellectuals, they are very weak as soon as they hear some upsetting news and they upset not only themselves but the whole world. So, Sri Ramakrishna advised the best path for this Kali Yuga is the path of Bhakti Yoga as taught and directed by Narada. And we have to remember no yoga can be practiced in isolation. And since we are discussing gospel, I will elaborate very shortly. Supposing you are a bhakta and you feel very emotional about it. Simply you can't feel emotion without expressing emotion in the form of karma. You gather flowers, make garlands, cook something nice or bring something nice and clean up the puja room, do puja, that is called karma. Then you have to have the knowledge, the whole universe including me is created by God, is being looked after by God, I am a child of God and my father, my mother is God and that is called knowledge. The more knowledge, the stronger the knowledge, the greater will be our devotion towards God. So this is the role of both karma and jnana. What about Raja Yoga? Raja Yoga means very beautiful. A Raja Yogi, he doesn't say God exists. He says I am the soul, I am the purusha, I am the shuddha chaitanyam, I don't accept Ishwara but I will reach my own nature by what is called my own meditation, japa, what usually is called Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga. That is yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. The take away from this Raja Yoga for us is I don't care what God does to me or not. I am talking about the role of Raja Yoga in Bhakti Yoga. I don't care whether God is happy with me, smiles at me, frowns at me or he makes me happy, he doesn't make me happy or whatever happens in my life, that is his business. But my business is I decided to love God, I won't be deviated from my path. So this is how whatever path a person follows, first point is all the yogas are involved there. But the dominant path will be either bhakti or yogi depending upon the samskaras of the mind. So it is impossible not to mix. So the question whether we should mix or follow one doesn't arise. We want it or not, all the four paths will come together. But which lane we want to take depends upon our car or our capacity to drive. That is the answer to the first question. What is the second question? Is it humanly possible by living in this world to follow only one path? I think I have answered it, no, it is like a motorway. So there will be many lanes. Cyclists will be going, people will be walking, cars will be going and oxen carts will be going, huge trucks will be going at their own speed and pace. So it is impossible to follow one particular what we call yoga marga. As soon as we take one, the whole mind comes in and the mind consists of all the four. Then what is the difference? The difference is where is the emphasis? Which aspect of the mind, which faculty of the mind is more emphasized? This is the answer. It is not possible to follow one path but we have to take advantage of all other faculties while treading that particular faculty of ours, emotion or activity or intellect or will power. Then third question. About the teacher who went to a Shraddha ceremony, had lunch to gain strength to kill a... Oh, about the butcher, sorry, about the butcher. So Param says when he killed the cow, the sin of the slaughter fell on the performer of the Shraddha. That is why I say the path of devotion is better than the path of action. So what is it? First of all, it is our faith that whatever karma we do, good karma, bad karma, that will affect us, make us either un-punya or papa. Not only that, even indirectly, we may not do something directly, but indirectly if we take the help of others or encourage others, that is why in Dharmashastras there is a beautiful teaching. One can do sinful action directly. One can do sinful action by encouraging or teaching the other person, not oneself doing, but getting it done with the help of some other person. Third way, somebody is doing some evil. We know he is doing evil, he or she, and maybe we have some duty to prevent it by telling it to police or by publicly doing, because we are cowards or we are attached to that person or that person is influential or that person is very close relative of ours. Then all the three produce papa in us. We have to share papa. So directly doing, encouraging other people to do it, or keeping mum when somebody is doing bad about it. And same thing also, if we do punya ourselves or encourage other people to do it, or if somebody is doing it, so praising those people, encouraging them etc., getting it done etc. I give a funny example. Supposing you are a rich person and somebody puts a gun behind your head and says you donate so much of money to this ashrama, otherwise I am going to blow your head off, brains off, and then you have no choice, so you donate the money. Now it is a punya karma. The question now is who gets the punya? You get it because you donated the money, but no, you never wanted to give it. So the person who put the gun behind you, he will definitely get punya, there is no doubt about it. So directly through encouragement or not doing anything, when we see bad things happening, or actively encouraging somebody by praising them, recognising them, is also a way we share, definitely. So here is the instance given. Here is a person and he was dragging a cow and he wants to kill it, and the host, where he took lunch, he partook of the food. The host definitely knew this fellow is a butcher, and if I encourage him, he will definitely incur the sin of killing the cow, and that is what this instance is there, but the description is not important, but the lesson is important. What is the lesson? Even if we do not do it, but getting it done through other people, even we may not do it, but encouraging the other people, by helping them in some way, or by keeping mum, we will also definitely get the papa. Holy Mother has something to say very nicely about it. Holy Mother said, to criticise other people, to find other people's faults, is one of the worst spiritual qualities, I mean worldly qualities, not spiritual qualities at all. Then she explained, My son, suppose somebody is criticising somebody else, and you are listening to it, and what happens? Whatever the other person is speaking, we are listening to it, and listening, these thoughts are going, after some time we remember those thoughts, and definitely we are wasting so much of time, thinking about, our opinions are so fragile, we are mostly through newspapers, through somebody whom we respect, their views influence us. So even indirectly listening, by the criticisms, fault finding of other people, is also unspiritual, and they can pull us down. That's why not only we should not do it, we should never encourage others to do it, we should even, by keeping mum, or by being in that presence, we should not participate in it. Now the question comes, sometimes we have to invite relatives, friends, on certain social occasions, like marriage etc, and people as you know, never talk about good things, only horrible things they talk, what can I do? Well, padram karne bhi suniyama devaha, by repeating mentally, God's name, and oh Lord, I don't want to hear, but I am forced to be here, especially if you are taken by somebody, by your husbands, or by your wives, or by your family members, whatever way, sometimes we cannot escape, but the only option, there is an option, think mentally, pray and say, let me never do this kind of action, with regard to anybody, even if they are faulty, it's none of my business, God is there to look after everybody, the whole world, that should be the attitude. So that is one of the answers we are giving here. This is what Sri Ramakrishna wanted to encourage, this is what I will say, that never encourage, never do anything bad, never get it done through somebody, because most of the, what is called mafia leaders, get their dirty work done by somebody else, and not only that, even by keeping mum, a citizen who proudly claims that I am a citizen of this particular country, keeps mum without saying anything, he or she is also guilty of committing some crime, then fully, no. Our country, every country suffers from it, because of fear. Fourth question. So we read that the souls can have more than one physical incarnation on earth, simultaneously. Also that is, so can souls also have other incarnations in other non-physical dimensions? Very interesting question. It is said in the Yoga Shastra, suppose there is a yogi, who is far advanced in yoga, that is spiritual life. Yoga means spiritual struggle, and progress in yoga means progressing in spiritual life. When a yogi can sufficiently progress, he will have a special siddhi, where if he knows that if I have to exhaust my prarabdha karma, I have to be born at least more than once, then he has the capacity, simultaneously he can assume, this is called nirmana kaya, nirmana means constructing, kaya means body, he can assume two forms, ten forms, fifty forms, and simultaneously exhaust, so that he need not be reborn at all. Yogis have that power, and that is very true, absolutely true, but we are not such advanced yogis, but theoretically, and theoretically means, yogis can do it definitely, there is no doubt about it. Yes, the second question is very interesting. What do you mean by non-physical realms? We think if you go to swarga loka, naraka loka, they are non-physical. No, they are not non-physical. They have their own bodies, which is a physical body. So, if somebody goes to swarga loka, for example, Indra, you will always see in Amarachitra Katha, or Chandamama, or stories, he has his own body, and sometimes he will be cursed, so that he will have one thousand eyes, instead of one eye, which is so ugly. So, there would be, what you call, a very refined body. From our viewpoint, it is not as concrete as our human, earthly, physical body, but nevertheless, the dwellers of those realms, that particular body, is as physical as our physical body. So, what am I trying to tell you? There is absolutely no non-physical, this thing. Every body is physical, concrete, gross. Within that body, there would be a mind, which is called subtle mind, and then there will be a causal mind. Three bodies will be inevitable, whether you go to Brahma Loka, or you go to Naraka Loka, they will be there. Then, what is the speciality? It is very interesting, we have to understand. You know, some people sense organs are so sensitive, they can see, they can hear, they can smell, etc., more than anybody else. So, it is said about Svarga Loka, first of all, nobody is born there, everybody goes there, and as soon as they enter, so they will be given, they have to cross a Vaitharani river like that, and then they will get a body, which is so beautiful, like you enter into a beauty parlor, come out after thorough surgery, Kayakalpa, an eight years old person, becomes like a sixteen years old person, everybody in Svarga Loka will be only, how many years old? Sixteen years, until they are kicked out, they won't age, one second, and then, there, they have extraordinary capable body, where, without physically involving, they derive, they suck the greatest pleasure, from objects of enjoyment, without physical indulgence. This is what is said in the scriptures, and it is absolutely true. How do we know? Because, what do you do in your dream state? Are you eating Rasagullas? But you are simply imagining, you are eating Rasagullas. Many times I raised that question, supposing, you are eating, you are very fond of, a sweet called Rasagulla, and don't assume, that since I am quoting this word, Rasagulla, many times, I am extremely fond of Rasagulla. I am fond, but not extremely fond. If it is available, fine, if it is not available, also fine, especially nowadays. What is the point? So you derive so much of enjoyment, by eating that Rasagulla. Then, another day, you go to bed, you have a dream, somebody gives you, first class Rasagulla. The advantage of dream state is, you can eat many Rasagullas, without paying a single paisa. And then, is that joy, or happiness, pleasure, that you derive, in your dream state, while enjoying this particular sweetmeat, is that happiness or pleasure, any less, or any more, than, when we are experiencing the same thing, in this waking state. What is the answer? I will give you the answer. There is absolutely no difference. It all depends upon, our desire, and our capacity, etc. I just make a little bit of fun. So supposing, you are very fond of Rasagulla, and then one day, your stomach is upset, and you go into a dream state, and then you see Rasagulla, and you start eating it, but you are also conscious of your upset stomach, and your happiness of that dream Rasagulla, eating in the dream, will also be affected, to that extent. So, what I am trying to say, first of all, there is nothing called, only subtle world, but there is a physical body, and there is a subtle body, there would be a causal body, and to understand that one, you need not go to heaven, or hell. You just imagine, the body of a pig, the body of a dog, the body of a donkey, and the body of a cultured human being. You just see, is the enjoyment of the same objects the same? Absolutely no. So much of difference is there. Human body is much superior, that is why human body is much more suitable for spiritual practices than anything else. So, if somebody earns Punya, it is possible for such a person, to go to Swarga Loka, etc. And if somebody does the opposite, tremendous amount of Papa, then you know what happens, Naraka, the person gets such a sensitive body, that even the touch of a feather gives unbearable pain. But not only that, in our physical life, when pain becomes unbearable, we become unconscious. But if we are there in Naraka, then even while experiencing tremendous amount of pain, we will not be allowed to become unconscious and escape pain. So therefore, these are the words of the scriptures. I hope I have answered clearly. Now we will go back to our normalcy. Okay. We were discussing about Sri Ramakrishna's meeting, Keshav Chandra Sen. I wanted to give you a background of it. Why? Because, first of all, whether it is him or Keshav Sen or young men like Narendra Nath, all of them, first of all, first point, their meeting is not accidental. It is something that is destined. The script has been written. And so also, in our life, everything, we don't meet anybody without the script being written. So, what is the difference between incarnations and ourselves? Ourselves, we write the script ourselves through our Porvajanma Karma. That's why we are the result of our Porvajanma Karma phala. And all the Karma phalas have been divided into three. One is called Sanchita. So many lives, we do so many things, and it is accumulating. That is called Sanchita, means accumulated. Plenty of it is there in the store, in the basement. And then, a little bit of it becomes fructified in this life. And so our body, our parents, everybody is decided by ourselves. We have written the script, even though unconsciously, by our actions, I will be born. And I gave you examples also. Again, I will give you, just to remind ourselves. Suppose somebody is practicing music. His desire will be, I want to become a greater musician. And if I want to become a greater musician, it would be nice, very more convenient, if I can be born in a family where parents, either father or mother, or both, or brothers and sisters, are all musicians. And mostly it happens like that, if you study the lives of what is called famous musicians. So, I am creating a desire, and that desire is focused upon trying to become a better musician. And then, my unconscious desire will be, how can I fulfill my desire? I must be reborn in such and such family. This is one example. Another example, and not only that, even the body, this body, previous body, is not that suitable, croaky-wise, and I want smooth voice, and very often we gain our physical body from the parent's physical body. Samskaras are ours, but physical body is the contribution of the parents. So, somebody else wants to be a rich person. Then he will think, who are the rich people? How did they earn the money? Who have the skills? So, when others are not so rich, they can become very rich. So, he will try to choose, and he will be born, but he has to do karma accordingly. So, what I am trying to tell, even in our lives, the script, whom we are going to meet, where we are born, how we are growing up, this is all due to Prarabdha Karma. Same thing happens in the life of divine beings also. Incarnations especially. So, only thing is, the script is written by God out of compassion for the world, not because of their Purva Janma Karma. That is why they are called Karana Janmis, and we are called Karma Janmis. So, in Sri Ramakrishna's life, where was he going to be born? Just to remind you, Sri Ramakrishna's father went to Gaya, and there, Gaya Vishnu himself told Sri Ram, I am going to be born as your son. So, the script has been written by God himself. Parents are chosen by God himself. What type of body the Avatar is going to have is chosen according to the parents. What type of environment, where he is going to be growing up, what type of education, or social environment, everything is fixed. So, several people have played a very important part, and it is destined by God. So, Madhur Babu was one, then Keshav Babu was one, and we can say the direct disciples were one, then M, Ramchandra Datta, and Balaram Basu, all Shambhu, Chandra Malli, all these people are destined to come into contact, to take part. So, here, specifically, we are talking about Keshav Chandra Sen. Now, just before the advent of Sri Ramakrishna, I have to give you a slight background. Sri Ramakrishna gave a very beautiful example. Supposing, Narendra Modi wants to visit a remote village. Do you think he will just get down from the helicopter? No. Weeks before, or even months before his arrival, the roads will be cleaned up, and if there are broken roads, they will be repaired, and there will be security, guards will be there, where he is going to stay, whom he is going to meet, everything in details, they will plan. Ordinary people may not know about it. Everything is destined. Now, Sri Ramakrishna used to give an example. Suppose a king had a servant. Servant is highly devoted to the king. The servant has a great wish. He wants to invite the king to his house, so that he can feed the king. And one day he says, if you are pleased, it will be the greatest blessing for me if you can visit. And Sri Ramakrishna graphically describes. So the king consents very pleasingly, fixes a date. Now what happens? Some of the servants of the king go a few days before, clean up the village, and carry chairs, plates, food materials, everything suitable for the royal patronage. And then even royal cooks will come. And previous day, everything is picked and spanned. And then the cooks start cooking in the early morning. Then the king comes and already chairs, gaddhis, sofas, everything has been carried. Beautiful paneer, water has been spreading everywhere. And the king will sit. Oh, you have a beautiful village. What a nice village. Your house is so beautiful. And it is so pleasant to be here. And then he will be served with some welcoming drinks, cool drinks or whatever. And then the food will be prepared by the royal cooks, brought with the provisions from the stores. Everything is done. And then they say, what a nice food my man has supplied. I am so pleased. And then he will also reward him. And then he will go out. What is the point? The point is, the poor man has been given that grace. And everything, the king himself does it. The credit is given to the poor man. You supplied everything. So like that, especially when our politicians want to visit before the election time, the roads will be repaired. Electric broken wires will be connected. And everything will be working tip on top for a few hours. And then this person will come, give a lecture, prepared lecture. And then hopefully he will give a lecture in the next village also. But hopefully the same villagers will not go there. So this is how everything will happen. What am I talking about? So when Avatar Purusha comes, several things take place in the society before even the advent of Sri Ramakrishna. I will mention about two important points. One is, so much of social reform had to be done. Whenever an incarnation comes, he comes into a society which is rotten, which is crumbling, which he wants to reform. But nothing starts after his coming. Even many years before his advent itself, so many samajas or societies will spring up and they will be given the buddhi. These are the reformations that have to be done. And that was what Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj, Theosophical Society, and this Brahmo Samaj. Long before, even perhaps Shudhiram's time, Raja Ram Mohan Rai came and he started. So Swami Dayananda Saraswati came. He started, in fact Sri Ramakrishna met Dayananda Saraswati, not to speak of Devendra Nath Tagore and Keshav Chandra Sen, etc. So they started. Already the ideas were prevalent. An interesting point is, before Swami Vivekananda went to Chicago Parliament to attend the Chicago Parliament of Religions, already so many oriental ideas have percolated there. It is not that suddenly he went and shocked everybody. Quite a number of enlightened people have been given the grace of enlightenment. They understood the liberalizing ideas of Hinduism. Already they made it their own and they are also propagating albeit in a small manner. In other words, the society was never caught unprepared. It was preparing. These ideas Swami Vivekananda gave were not completely new ideas. But what is new is, here is a person. Until he went there, people through their intellect understood, accepted, trying to live that kind of life. But as soon as Swami Vivekananda went, he somehow authenticated them by his very presence. Here is a person. What Sri Ramakrishna used to call an authorized person. He knew what he was preaching. He realized what he was preaching. The preaching was done after realization and then the people were confirmed. First by a few intellectuals or sincere people, not pandits, and then later on common people. That's why Swami Vivekananda issued a statement. I have given food for at least a thousand years. So what we are now experiencing is only like a baby. A baby is born. It is in what Swami described as a crawling state. That means the ideas given out by Swami Vivekananda are only in the initial state. We don't know, especially after this chart GPT, what the society is going to be like. We don't know after 100 years, 200 years, 300 years, 500 years, 800 years, 1000 years, what is going to be a society like. But Swami Vivekananda, prophet that he was, he issued a statement. I have given food for 1000 years. That means suitable food. It will be very suitable for whatever be the age for the next 1000 years. So what is the point we are talking here? Before Sri Ramakrishna's advent, many such social reforming societies have sprung up. As I mentioned, Prarthana Samaj, Theosophical Society, and Brahmo Samaj, and Arya Samaj. Many minor Samajas had come. And each of them had an important role to play like street cleaners. Because the main message of an Avatar, which is called Dharma Sthaapana, is not about merely social reform. That is a secondary consideration. The primary consideration is to remind us, Shranvant Vishwe Amrutasya Putraah. The whole Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is nothing but an echo of one single message, Shranvant Vishwe Amrutasya Putraah. Aaye Dhamani Divyani Tasthu Vedaham etam Purusham Mahantam Adityavarnam Tamasah Parastha Tameva Viditvacha Atimrutyum Eti Nanyah Pantha Vidyate Ayanaya According to my understanding, this is the central message. Every Avatar wants to propagate, but he has to bring about certain changes in the form of a fit society to receive his ideas. But this is the central message. The rest is how to bring about changes in the structure of the society so that this eternal message can be received, can be understood, can be adopted and can be practiced in day-to-day life, which Swami Vivekananda had called Practical Vedanta. So, one such person, most important person, was a Brahmo Samaj person called Keshav Chandra Sen. So, April 2nd, 1882, a Master's visit to Keshav Chandra Sen. Now, I want to talk a little about Brahmo Samaj. First of all, what I want to point out is did Sri Ramakrishna require to associate himself with the Brahmo Samaj? According to Swami Saradanandaji Maharaj, remember, when we are studying the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, our senior Swamis have told us unless you study the great Master's life, you will never be able to understand the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. So, the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is mainly the essence of Sri Ramakrishna's teachings. But the great Master is how he himself, Sri Ramakrishna himself, had practiced long before he started preaching them. First he practiced, he realized, he understood, Mother had given him that wisdom how to teach those teachings in the modern times, suitable to the modern people. What he used to call, take off the head and the tail and take, that means, take the essential part and make it practicable. So, according to the interpretation of Swami Saradanandaji, Sri Ramakrishna was made to come into association, which I will just now read out, which will prove to us what has happened, to come into contact with Brahma Samaj. And then what happened? Two things have happened. Two important results. First, Sri Ramakrishna was made to realize that a single person cannot do much work. He may do more than other people, but not much more than that. An organization is required. And Sri Ramakrishna, by studying, remember, Ramakrishna was not in the Samadhi state all the time. He used to observe people, both good and bad. He observed Brahma Samaj has got very positive side. And that positive side is organization. So Sri Ramakrishna realized by mother's will, that he also requires an organization. Later on, it came to be Sri Ramakrishna himself started coaching his disciples especially his main disciple, Narendranath Dutta, or future Swami Vekananda, how he should organize and on what guidelines the organization has to run. Everything came from Sri Ramakrishna's mouth. So what is the first thing? Sri Ramakrishna learned the power of organization. And what is the second thing? Sri Ramakrishna required some people and those people whom Sri Ramakrishna required, we call them his followers, his devotees, they can be divided broadly into two categories. They are, first of all, the would-be monastic members and secondly, the lay people. And these lay people as well as the monastic, future monastic disciples, they were all tremendously influenced by the Brahmo Samaj, especially by Keshav Chandra Sen. And Sri Ramakrishna's visit is that I will go there, I will pick and choose and the purpose of the mission of Keshav Chandra Sen was to start this Brahmo Samaj, attract the modern, educated English people and then give them some modern ideas what to do, what not to do and then Sri Ramakrishna will pick them up and separate them like the grain being separated from the shaft and then make them his own and that is what exactly had taken place. So two things, the power of the organization and as I mentioned in my last class, Keshav Chandra Sen was responsible for bringing Sri Ramakrishna to light into the world. Both his own followers as well as the entire world through the newspapers, through the preachings of Keshav Chandra Sen had become well known. That was also by the will of the Divine Mother. Everything, I want to emphasize, whatever happened in the life of Sri Ramakrishna was solely by the will of the Divine Mother. This Keshav Chandra Sen, extremely, what is called, sincere person and he was genuinely interested in spiritual life. He used to practice deep meditation about which we will soon see as much as possible in this class and then he was given by the Divine Mother what is called a magnetism whereby he could attract hundreds of public. It is not easily given when somebody is attracting hundreds and thousands of people whether it is online talks or writings or whatever. We have to remember if people are attracted, it is God who is attracting them. It is God's power manifesting in a particular individual. That is the real cause of the attraction but it is all only God. It is a marvelous subject. I also mentioned about it, how Sri Ramakrishna went to his native village and then went to Sihur, etc. and how thousands of people had been attracted. That is another subject. If occasion comes, I will speak about it later on. Now we are confining ourselves to Brahmo Samaj. So, this Keshav Chandra Sen was being prepared by the Divine Mother. He joined this Brahmo Samaj. Earlier it was called by some other name. More or less it is called Brahmo Samaj. They are believers in what is called formless aspect of God. They are what is called Khichudi. Especially the main ingredient seems to be Christianity. Keshav Chandra Sen was convinced Christianity contains the solution. He took a large number of Jesus Christ teachings but he combined the best elements of Islam and then Christianity and Hinduism and he became a very popular speaker, magnetic personality. As I said, he used to draw thousands of people through his lectures and people flocked not because they understood the teachings but mainly by the personal magnetism of Keshav Chandra Sen. So, he rose by the will of the Divine Mother to a high position. And as usual, the Mother had given him his own ideas. As a result of it, a schism or the Samaj Raja Ram Mohan Rao was the first person that started this for the purpose of certain social reform. Now, I will read out some of the materials I have gathered. The Brahmo Samaj played an important role in building the modern Indian society. It played a crucial role in suppressing caste system, dowry system and in improving the educational system. It also encouraged women's empowerment. Brahmo Samaj also reformed Indian society by speaking out against certain social evils like Sati. You know Sati means a widow voluntarily burning herself with her husband and some nefarious people, evil people had introduced into our pure scriptures for purely selfish purposes. It has no approval of the scriptures at all. And that was what Raja Ram Mohan Rao, he studied all the Vedas, Upanishads and then he showed to the British magistrates. Not one single reference is there. It is some, what is called evil writers of Dharma Shastras who introduced it for purely selfish purpose and so the British government, it also understood it and the Brahmo Samaj through Raja Ram Mohan Rao became the instrument for the abolition of Sati in 1829. So, these are some of the contributions. In matters of social reform, this Brahmo Samaj attacked many dogmas and superstitions. It condemned the prevailing Hindu prejudice against going abroad. You know, even Swami Vivekananda had to suffer terribly. He was forbidden by Trilokanad Vishwas, the son of Madurnad Vishwas, into entering the Dakshineswar Kali temple after Swami Vivekananda returned because he crossed the ocean. Ocean is called Kalapani. And then when he returned, in those days, these Dharma Shastra Karas, anybody who crosses, they will be forced to mix with what Hindu society ignorantly called Mlechas, giving a bad name to people. There are many, many good people everywhere, not to speak of in the Western society. Actually, when Swami Vivekananda went, thousands of them had changed their opinion about Hinduism and only a good person, rational person can do it. So, this Brahmo Samaj attacked which were necessary and which is not the main work of either Sri Ram Krishna or Swami Vivekananda. But that special mission was allocated to people like Arya Samaj, Prarthana Samaj and Theosophical Society and Brahmo Samaj, etc. So, this Brahmo Samaj condemned the prevailing Hindu prejudice against crossing. Crossing means why? Because the only way one can get modern education and open one's eyes is to go to the West and then Swami Vivekananda writes, come out of your rat holes and open your eyes and see how every other nation is progressing. You are the people who are like Upastha Mandukas, frogs in a well, neither going out nor allowing to come. You built a fortress against anybody coming in or out and you are suffocating, you are making everybody else also suffocate. Swami Vivekananda roared, thundered against the superstitions. So, coming back to Keshav Chandra Sen, in 1870, Keshav Chandra Sen went to England and he lectured there and he became very popular. One reason he became popular was the Western, especially UK people, England people in those days and they appreciated very much, approved very much Keshav Chandra Sen, quoting about Jesus Christ again and again and really Keshav Chandra Sen a tremendous reverence for Jesus Christ which even we have and he was an incarnation and his teachings are pure and that is why he was crucified by his own people not able to understand, swallow out of jealousy, out of selfishness. Anyway, so the English people, oh, this person is our man, through this man we can spread Christianity. But the Divine Mother's purpose was completely different. Even he was so popular that he was granted an audience with Queen Victoria which I consider not in a good light because we are, oh, Queen Victoria saw this man and you know how American President had brushed aside British PM a few days back so we should never be proud of this Western people's approval. But anyway, he became very popular in those days, even today also. He came back. However, he made a rule that he abolished child marriage of the young girls and then his minimum age for the marriage of a girl is 14 years. But then he himself violated his own law by marrying his daughter to the son of Maharaja of Kuchbihar and we see that people started condemning him, criticizing him but Ramakrishna said after all he is a householder, he will do what is good for his children. This is a very interesting point though I am not going to go into it. Not because Ramakrishna liked and loved Keshav Chandra Sen because no man should be considered as a perfect person. Anyway, this alienated many of his followers and some of them had left so he created his own organization. It is called first Navabidha, our new dispensation and that is when around 1875 Ramakrishna was seized I am reading again around 1875 Ramakrishna was seized with a strong desire to meet Keshav Chandra Sen who had then become the most prominent Indian socio-religious leader. So, first meetings with Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna one day received in a divine ecstatic state promptings that he should meet Keshav Chandra Sen. He heard from the lips of the Divine Mother that Keshav will assist her work. Remember, Ramakrishna never did anything without a direct commandment from the Divine in the form of what he used to call his Divine Mother. As he was musing over the idea, Ramakrishna saw a vision and about which he described it later. I had seen Keshav before I actually met him. I had seen him and his party in my Samadhi. In front of me sat a room full of men. Keshav looked like a peacock sitting with his tail spread out. The tail meant his followers. I saw a red gem on Keshav's head. That gem indicated his Prajoguna. He said to his disciples, that is in the vision of Ramakrishna, Keshav was telling to his followers, please listen to what he, meaning Sir Ramakrishna, is saying. This was the vision of Sir Ramakrishna. So Sir Ramakrishna was continuing. I said to the Divine Mother, Mother, these people hold the views of Englishmen. Why should I talk to them? Until then, Ramakrishna had this opinion about English educated people whom he used to call Englishmen. Not Englishmen, but English educated Indians. Then the Mother explained to me that it would be like this in the Kali Yoga. I said, this is the stuff that is going to come in future. Now I will narrate to you a very funny incident. Sir Ramakrishna, after his realization, was seized with a terrible yearning to share his experiences with fit disciples. And like a Mother who is brimming with full milk, but there are no children to feed her milk with, it is said, such a Mother, such a woman, will feel terrible pain, unable to give her brimming milk to her children. Sir Ramakrishna, after his realization, used to run to the top of the building and used to cry out, Oh Mother, where are the children? My ears are being pelted with the worldly talks of worldly people. I cannot be here any longer. Please send. And then one day he had a vision and then Mother said, showed to him, lots and lots of people, disciples, devotees will be coming to him. And Sir Ramakrishna was eagerly waiting and he was becoming very impatient and slowly, slowly these Narendranath, Rakhal, etc., started coming. So Sir Ramakrishna knew and he started teaching and these people started arguing. One day he went to the Divine Mother, Ma, where are those devotees which you showed will be coming? She said, why? These Narendranath, these Rakhal, these Dharak, these are the people. But Ma, these are English people, meaning English educated, they don't accept your teachings. Listen, they don't accept your teachings. Who was teaching? Ramakrishna. What was he telling? Your teachings. And Mother laughed and said, Baba, in this Kali Yuga, this is the stuff that will come. If this was the stuff, Narendra, Rakhal, Dharak, etc., I don't want to comment about ourselves. So slowly, people started. How? Through Keshav Chandra Sen. But before that, Sir Ramakrishna had to meet Keshav Chandra Sen and how this happened? First, very first meeting, etc. Important point to take away is that Sir Ramakrishna never did anything without the express commandment of the Divine Mother. Second, that he was shown beforehand whom he has to meet, what they have to do, everything, including the coming of the disciples. So, Sir Ramakrishna was eagerly waiting. He had this vision just now I described and then he was seized with a desire. Mother commanded me, Mother showed me, I have to see them. So, we will talk about it in our next class.