Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 098 on 24-October-2023

Summary

The lecture explores the purpose and role of evil from a Hindu spiritual perspective, an apt topic for Vijayadashami marking the victory of good over evil.

According to Hinduism, the entire world is an illusion or divine play (leela) of Brahman, the Absolute Reality. Brahman manifests as both good and evil in the world as a pair of opposites that depend on each other. Without evil, one cannot understand good. Without suffering, one cannot appreciate happiness.

To illustrate this, the lecturer gives examples from Hindu mythology of how demons like Ravana play a necessary role in inspiring noble characters like Rama. The world functions through the interplay of such opposites at different levels. People also have a mix of good and evil tendencies that manifest according to their spiritual evolution. An evil person may become good after much suffering awakens their conscience.

No one can give us joy or sorrow - it is the result of our own karma or past actions. By facing adversity, one learns life's lessons and progresses spiritually. Even virtuous characters like the Pandavas had to undergo great suffering as a result of their karma, as illustrated in the Mahabharata.

Evil provides the necessary impetus for spiritual struggle. Swami Vivekananda said that misery can be a greater teacher than happiness. Historical figures all faced intense opposition, which helped strengthen their character. We often narrowly define evil as that which obstructs our selfish desires. Recognizing and overcoming the evil within through spiritual practice is the purpose of life, along with surrendering the ego and selfishness to God.

The lecturer shares examples of saints like Prahlad, Kabir and Ramakrishna who gracefully endured mistreatment, leading their tormentors to become devotees. This illustrates overcoming evil with understanding and inner spiritual strength.  

According to Hindu karma theory, one must accept suffering when it comes as a result of past actions, and use it as an opportunity for learning. Blaming others as evil is counterproductive. Seeing the same divine essence in all leads to an attitude of love and forgiveness.

In conclusion, existence comprises both joy and sorrow. By overcoming wickedness with virtue, one can attain inner freedom. The purpose of creation is to help humans evolve from lower animalistic nature to higher divine nature. Vijayadashami marks one such reminder on the cosmic journey to realize one's spiritual potential and purpose.

In summary, the key points of the lecture about the purpose of evil and how to skillfully respond to it on the spiritual path. The central message is to embrace life's difficulties as motivation to move closer to the Divine by overcoming ego-centered tendencies.

Detailed Transcript

On this sacred day, may the Divine Mother Durga grant us all viveka, vairagya, bhakti, and jnana to the brim. Sri Ramakrishna used to pray to the Divine Mother like this. He said to my Divine Mother, "I prayed only for pure love. I offered flowers at Her lotus feet and prayed to Her. Mother, here is Thy virtue, here is Thy vice. Take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy knowledge, here is Thy ignorance. Take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy purity, here is Thy impurity. Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee. Here is Thy dharma, here is Thy adharma. Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee. Let us also pray and surrender at Her lotus feet. There is no other way. I also wish you all a very happy time. Both Vijaya Dashami and Diwali as well. Now, coming back to our class. Sunday, April 9, 1882. The topic was, "Why are there wicked people in this world? Why has God created wicked people?" For that, Sri Ramakrishna is answering. And he was saying, "The landlord had to send Golak Chowdhury, who was a ruffian. He was such a harsh administrator that the tenants trembled at the very mention of his name." And Sri Ramakrishna was commenting, "Even wicked people are necessary. If there are only good people, then this world will not go on. The very name for Jagat is duality, Dwandwa. Because how do you know there is a good person? If we do not know who is an evil person, if we have no experience of evil, suffering, etc., then we will never recognize what is goodness. It is impossible. If there is other color, we can never know what it is. If there is one color, if there is no darkness, we cannot recognize light. If there are no other people, we will not know who we are really. Our self-identity is only in relation to everybody else. "I am the son of so-and-so. I am the brother of so-and-so. I am the wife or husband or relative or a friend or an enemy or a rich man, poor man, happy person, unhappy person." So that is why. These are a few examples Bhagavan Krishna tells us in the Bhagavad Gita. Sairam Krishna is illustrating that everything is necessary. Both good and evil are necessary. So he is telling there is need of everything. And to illustrate this, Sairam Krishna, he might have heard from wandering monks or he might have heard it being read because, you know, this Ramayana, Mahabharata, many versions are there. It is not only Valmiki Ramayana or Vyasa Mahabharata, though in every language practically. Simple example: in Avadhi language, Ramcharitmanas. Based upon the Valmiki Ramayana itself, Tulasidas has created another great Bhagavatam by the name Ramcharita Manasa. The biography of the life history of Rama and which he compared to a Manasa Sarovara, a lake Manasa, where there will be good, there will be jewels, there will be gems, there will be invaluable stones, pearls. But at the same time, there will be sharks, there will be whales, there will be piranhas, there will be all sorts of things. So this whole universe consists of both. Duality, that is opposite. If I do not know what is a female, I will never know that I am a male. So everything is necessary. But Sri Ramakrishna also replied, we saw earlier that why did God create wickedness, evil, so that human beings can conquer all the wickedness and then become saints. And it is a statement of deep significance. If there were to be no wickedness at all in this world, one can never become a saint. It is only because of evil, which we will see later on from Vivekananda's teachings, that if at all man has become a better man, a good man, it is only because of suffering, because of evil. Evil means suffering actually. So that is one view. There are other views. I will come to that very shortly. So this reply of Sri Ramakrishna was as a response. Some devotees, neighbors, why did God create wicked people? And Sri Ramakrishna is answering, there is need of everything. And he is telling a beautiful story. We do not know where he got it, because I have never come across this story anywhere. Once Sita said to her husband Rama, "It would be grand if every house in Ayodhya were a mansion. I find many houses old and dilapidated." But my dear, said Rama, "If all the houses were beautiful ones, what would the masons do?" (Laughter) "God has created all kinds of things. He has created good trees and poisonous plants and weeds as well. Among the animals, there are good, bad, and all kinds of creatures. Tigers, lions, snakes, and so on." Continuing, he said, "It is God alone who has become all this. But in certain places, for instance in a holy man, there is a greater manifestation than in others. You may say there are wicked men also. That is true. Even as there are tigers and lions. But one need not hug the tiger, God. One should keep away from him and salute him from a long distance. Take water, for instance. Some water may be drunk, some may be used for worship, some for bathing, and some only for washing dishes. Now, these teachings are of profound significance. What is the first thing? This whole world is nothing but Brahman. And is Brahman good or evil? No, Brahman is neither good nor evil. What Brahman is can never be told. Even great pundits, for example, like Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar, we are going to come to that episode later on. He once asked, "Has God given more power to some people than to others?" And Sri Ramakrishna replied, "If He had not given more power to you, why did we come to see you? Have you grown two horns?" And then he explained, "Brahman is manifesting as everything. A weak person, a strong person, as man, as woman, as a good man, evil person. Everything is necessary for the Leela to continue. But until we realize God, everything is real for us. So a good man is also real, but less real. Whereas an evil person is much more real because we are very alert when there are evil people around. Last class I have given you a beautiful illustration. Please go back. Now, what is the evilness? First of all, we cannot recognize what is one side if we don't know the other side. That is the very nature of the mind. The mind cannot function without both. Then only it can choose either this or that. Now coming back, if anybody wants to progress in spiritual life, what is it that this person has really to overcome or how does he progress in spiritual life? First of all, he must find out where he is stuck. Stuck means attached. Attachment means selfishness. Selfishness means a person is as evil, as wicked as anybody else. If, supposing, I tell you, each one of us are Ravanasuras. Each man is like a Ravanasura and each woman is like Tataki or Surpanaka, like that. So, where is the comparison? They are all Rakshasas, Rakshasis. What about our people? Our people are not like that. No. Had we any power, we also would have done the same thing. It is not because our evil quality is any less, but we don't have the power. Here we have to distinguish between goodness or evilness and power. These are very important insights for us to understand. That is, every person can be good or evil according to their tendencies, and tendencies are always changing. So, the same wicked person becomes a good person in the course of time after learning a lot of lessons. And how does he learn the lessons? After getting knocked about by everybody else after so many births. Nobody is going to one day get up and say, "Today onwards, I will become a great devotee of God." Only those people who have suffered more than enough, they will have the tendency, the urgency. We want to get out of this samsara. If you really analyze yourself, that we are not really turning towards God. We are not weeping like Sairam Krishna. "Oh, Mother, another day has passed, so still I have not seen God." We are only weeping that the other fellow had got more amount of happiness, and why you are having so much discrimination about him. So this is our usual tendency. Now what happens is, goodness is also a tendency. Evil also is a tendency. But what people try to not really understand is, if there is goodness, it will not keep quiet. It has to come out. If there is love, it has to come out. If there is hatred, it has to come out. If there is wickedness, it has to come out. Even in babies also we see that one. So one example is, there is something called sibling jealousy. Suppose a mother has given birth and the first baby is the apple of the mother's eye. But as soon as she has a second baby, her attention is more diverted towards the smallest one, just born one, because the baby needs more attention. But the other child cannot tolerate it. So he will go and sometimes deliberately put his finger in the eye of that baby and injure, harm, press, etc. So many cases have come to that. And brothers and sisters, they can become extremely jealous. Duryodhana was a case in point. He became terribly jealous, especially Bhima and Yudhishthira, etc. So jealousy. Nobody has any right to have anything except me. But you also don't work hard because everything takes hard work. Even if you want to become a politician, for example, you require a tremendous amount of wickedness, exhibition. You should not feel guilty that you have to kill the other fellow. By the way, all the modern politicians are Asuras, all the Rakshasas. Everywhere. Not only in India, but everywhere else. And ordinary people, they would like to be Asuras, but they are not allowed to become Asuras by these other Asuras. But if they get power by any chance, they will be even worse Asuras, means Rakshasas, than these people. So Nara, Nara Rupa, Rakshasa are everywhere there. We have to recognize them. In olden days, when we were children, we were accustomed to read these Sandamama stories. Rakshasas and Rakshasis will have very sharp teeth. And in the modern western world, they are called Varvalus. So don't think these are all stories. And also there is something very interesting. There is a book called Durga Saptashati. And this is the time when during these Navaratris, ending today, everyday people will be reading wherever there is a big puja, the whole of the Chandi, some people read out. Anyway, it consists of a little more than 700 shlokas. Some of them are not even shlokas, just even Rishi said that becomes counted as a shloka. So like that, more than 700. But in the end, at the very end, there is something the Divine Mother reveals. So I have killed Madhu and Kaitava, and Mahishasura, then Rattabheja, then Chanda and Munda, also Dhumralochana, etc. Then finally their leaders, Nishumbha and Shumbha. There must have been many. But in the end, the Divine Mother Herself was revealing to this Medha Rishi and to this King also, Suradha. What was He telling? These very Rakshasas will be reborn, not once, but many times. Just like Bhagavan Krishna promised, yada yada dharmasya glanihi sambhavami yuge yuge and these Rakshasas also declared yada yada dharmasya vriddhihi tada tada we also are reborn, we will try to pull it down. Once a devotee was asked, "Why do you behave so wickedly?" He said, "Swamiji, don't call me wicked. I am really a very good person." Then why are you behaving like this? "No, no, I am helping God." He said, "No, wherever there is adharma increase, then I will be reborn. So the more adharmic people like me, the quicker Ramakrishna will come once more. So different people help in different ways. What is our main point? We should never forget. A Rakshasa is not a special person. This particular guna called tamas dominated rajas, that is called Rakshasa guna. Because every Rakshasa, like Kumbhakarna, it is a great lesson we have to learn. He was also a Rakshasa. Vibhishana was also a Rakshasa. Ravanasura was also a Rakshasa. And by the way, I told you many times, when we are all babies, we are all Kumbhakarnas. Who is a Rakshasa or Asura? Beautiful definition is given. He who thinks his body is God, he is an Asura. Asushu Ramate iti Asuraha. So when we are children, we have to put on weight, we have to grow up. The only way is to eat and drink and sleep and drink and eat and drink and sleep and drink. And that is sometimes these children, they cry lustily. That is why in Sanskrit it is said the more they cry, the mother allows them to cry. Rodanam Balanam Rodanam Balam. The more they cry, the more they become hungry and the more they drink milk and then they become stronger. So that is their exercise. They also do their own exercise. So what is the point? When we are children, this is Kumbhakarna's quality. It is good when we are children, but not when we are grown up. And then we grow up. We become young men and women. What do we become? Each one of us exhibits Ravanasura's quality. So we are running after what Sri Ramakrishna used to call Kama and Kanchana. Each one of us. Rarely people renounce these things. And if they renounce also, not because they don't have desire, but they don't want the risks of married life. And as a householder, wise householder had said in Samsara, there is not even some-sara (sara=value). So, we are all Ravanasuras running after Kama and Kanchana. And after getting a lot of blows, then we come to that point where we become Vibhishanas. Previously, what were we? Vibhishanas. Now what are we? Vibhishanas. Vigatha, Vibhishana, Yasya. Why? Because the Karma Siddhanta. If we are wicked, then we reap our own Karma Phala. So this is how the whole world is going on. But ultimately, Tamoguna is overcome by Rajoguna. Rajoguna is overcome by Satvaguna. Satvaguna is overcome, completely destroyed by God Realization. Because all three are robbers only. And I also mentioned, Kumbhakarna represents Tamoguna. And Ravanasura represents Rajoguna. And Vibhishana represents Satvaguna.

So, what is the point Ramakrishna is trying to make? This whole world is a Leelasthana. It is Mithya in Advaitic language. That means, what? It appears to be absolutely real, but it is not at all real. Like any drama, any cinema, it is like that. So, we have to be extremely careful in understanding wickedness. It is very important because how do we become great or spiritual? By completely overcoming and dominating our Tamoguna qualities, then Rajoguna qualities, slowly and gradually increasing progress in Satvaguna is called progress in spiritual life. Because progress in Guna, especially in higher Guna, means progress towards betterment. A good person becomes a better person, a better person becomes the best person, and thus we go on. But since persons are very ephemeral, they may die at any time, and along with that, the Gunas also will go away. So, finally, life is a journey. In this journey, we always travel from Asura to a normal human being, then a devotee, then a saint, and then go beyond Samsara.

So, if we do not actually face the obstacle called wickedness, evilness, how do we know what is the nature of the world? If the world never gives us any suffering but only goes on giving pleasure, even small pleasure, I don't think anybody wants to go to God. It is only the greatest existential threats which are called Shadurmi. The beautiful point is every stage, every Urmi has got its own good side and bad side also. Urmi means a wave. So, birth is a wave. By birth itself, we see so many people born in poor villages, poor families, and even sometimes without limbs. So, artistic people, so many things are there. As the person grows up, slowly a person has to go on. As a beautiful poet said, a baby is there lying. The mosquitoes, the flies, other insects, or even sometimes scorpions, they crawl into the crib of the baby and go on stinging. The fellow can only cry because he doesn't even know. Even if he sees also, he has no power to act. Even we don't have the power, what to speak of a baby. When a mosquito comes so nicely, it comes, you know, musically he wants to put you to sleep, and then what to speak of a baby. Then helplessly the parents have to care. So many parents do not care, how many varieties we get. If you analyze truly, sit down and think deeply, you understand how fortunate most of us were, but in spite of our good fortune, our very existence itself is a great threat that creates a terrible amount of anxiety. That is why one of the existential philosophers, Sartre, he said, "There is only one freedom: freedom to commit suicide. Everything else doesn't work at all."

So, then he becomes a boy. Then slowly, you have to go to school. What a misery! First day of school, who wants to go to school? But parents force for his own good, and whole life is a school, actually. And then he grows up and then he thinks, "I will get a job, and I will get married." And then the cinemas will stop after marriage, saying "Shubham," because they know better than anybody else. So, the whole life is like that. And then old age comes, then disease comes, decay comes, death comes. In what way death comes, we don't know. So, every stage, some of us are swimming in delusion that if youth is the best time of the years, it is also the worst. Everything must be looked upon. You look, open your eyes and observe what is happening in this world. Sri Ramakrishna was one of the greatest observers like that.

Anyway, what is the point? The point is this: what is called suffering is inevitable, and that is called evil. And if somebody is giving suffering, that person we call it, he is a Rakshasa, he is a wicked person, he is a demon, etc. But the important point all of us have to remember is this: can somebody really give us either happiness or suffering? This is one of the biggest questions, and Hinduism categorically tells us no, it is not possible. This is called Karma Siddhanta, which means, simply, if we behave well, the result will come. Only Hinduism doesn't tell us one thing, and without understanding that thing, it is impossible to understand the Karma Siddhanta. We all know that every action has its own reaction. What is that reaction? That is called Karma Phala. Every action ends up with a reaction that is called Karma Phala. And this Karma Phala depends upon the Karma, good and evil. So that we know. You put your hand in hot water or plunge another hand into freezing ice, you will get the result immediately. Then you sow a marigold seed or a mango seed. You sow a marigold seed, in two days you can see the result. A mango, it may take ten years nearly to attain somewhat what is called a mature state. With every plant, it is like that. You have to wait for some time to get the Karma Phala. But sometimes the Karma Phala may come next birth or after 500 births. There was a South American person called Edgar Cayce. He became very popular in the 19th century, and he was a propagator of this Karma Siddhanta. People came to know that he can help them overcome these problems. They used to approach him sometimes. Sometimes he used to say, if you are at a long distance, you send just some object belonging to you, some cloth, etc. And the moment he touches that cloth, he claims that he could see the past lives of those people to whom that dress belongs. Then he used to say a very peculiar thing, which is accepted by Hinduism. "5000 years before, you did this evil thing, wicked thing, and the result of it is you are suffering now. Is there a remedy? Yes, there is a remedy. This choo-choo mantra is not going to help you. If you have done wicked things, now do equally good things. So, wickedness can only be remedied by good things. And some people had faith in him, and they did practice, and they got some good results also. And this is exactly what Hinduism is also telling. Life is meant to learn lessons. If we have done something wrong, then we have to pay the result in the form of the result. If we have done a good thing also, it will come. But what Hinduism doesn't tell us, but we come to know about it later on, is that there is no concept of time when the Karma Phala comes into actual result. It may be very soon in this life or it may be after 5000 births. Only God knows when to bring out this particular Karma Phala. So, the Pandavas also had to suffer. Now, we have to learn two lessons. What is one lesson? There are two types of sufferings. Existential suffering associated with existence itself, birth, growth, old age, disease, decay, and death. That is inevitable. Saint or sage or sinner, good person or evil person, everybody has to go through that without any exception. The second type is totally dependent upon what we do, how we lead our life. When both these are combined, you can see what happens.

So, I was thinking a lot last week. We are also thinking there is a terrible war going on between two countries. A very interesting fact about this war is both of them, that is the Muslims as well as the Jews, they are all cousin brothers like Pandavas and Kauravas. They belong to the same branch. In fact, Jews, Christians, and Muslims, they belong to the same tribe, earlier tribe, Semitic religions they call it. So, they all believe in God but they want to kill each other. So, the Jews had to suffer. Now, what is my point? My point is, is this because of the wickedness of some people, particularly leaders of some particular countries? How do I understand it in the light of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and Holy Mother's words? This is what I understood. I will share with you very briefly, but you take it and think over it, and whatever you want to do, you do with it.

First of all, I am a strong believer in the Karma Siddhanta. I am what I am because of my own past karma and also because of my present karma. Now, I have to experience the result of my own karma. There is no doubt about it. Now, if we accept this view, then the war is inevitable, just like Kurukshetra war was inevitable. How do we know? Krishna, several times I spoke about this subject. We have to understand it deeply from within ourselves. We all talk through one mouth that Bhagavan Krishna is God Himself. He is all-powerful. There is nothing that is impossible for Him. He Himself went as an ambassador of peace to Duryodhana. Now, many people questioned. Even Gandhari also questioned at the end, "Krishna, I know who you are. Could you not have prevented this war?" That was one of the questions. Second question was, "Could you not have at least failed? I had 100 children. Could you not have spared at least one son so that I can get some consolation out of it?" No, you have to kill all the 100 people. So, you will understand when your own people are.

And then He invites, without telling her, invites her to curse. Because of her pativratya, she had the power to curse. Just as my children died, and then your children, all your Yadu Vamsa will also destroy from within yourself. No external enemy was necessary. And later on, events turned out to be true. And then you know what? After hearing this curse of Gandhari, Krishna smiled and said, "That is why I have come to you. Because this is exactly what I want to happen. And instead of my cursing, which I could not, so the curse had come from you, I will see that it is fulfilled." So that was also what is called the intention of God.

Now, in the 11th chapter He says, "You could not have prevented. Nobody could have prevented this war because I have killed them." In what form? In the form of time. A profound statement. In the form of Kaala. That means whether there was war or not, Bhishma will not survive. Prana will not survive. What about Duryodhana, Dushasana? They will not survive. What about Abhimanyu? They will not survive. What about the five children of Pandavas? They will also not survive because nobody can survive in time. Everybody is born in time. Everybody remains for some time in time. And everybody dies in course of time only. There is no exception to it. That is what we need to understand. But within this, there is what is called, there is Ayu. Ayu means each person will die a particular time. When Duryodhana died so early, Bhishma did not die. He had the power for six months. He waited until the Uttarayana had come. So, he could have easily died. But he waited for that time. See, the old man had died earlier to that. Almost like his grandchildren, Duryodhana, so many of the Pandavas, the sons of Pandavas. Ultimately, how many people remained? Eight or nine people only remained from both the sides. Everybody was destroyed. Now, whose will is that? It is God's will. But everybody will die. Where will they die? In this particular case, in that Kurukshetra war. How will they die? Fighting with each other. Have all of them died very pleasantly? Some of them died very quickly. For example, Bhima Sena puts his fist on anybody's head. So, before the person could understand what is happening, such a happy death will be there. Whereas, Duryodhana had his thighs broken. He had to suffer a lot. So, not only the time of death, what type of enjoyment he will have, a person will have. That is called Bhoga. So, Jati, Ayu, Bhoga. These are the resultants of what we call Purva Janma Karma Phala.

Now, why did I rake this subject? Because I wanted to apply. We always have to see what happened, how people behaved in the past was something. How people are going to behave in the future, we have no knowledge. But how we, each one of us, have to deal with, that is what we have to see. Even that great soul, Mahatma Gandhi, had to be shot dead. And he uttered Rama's name. "Rama, Rama" like that, he passed away. We don't know whether death will come with God's name on our lips or we will be cursing somebody and dying. That all depends upon our Samskara or habit that we develop. Now, the point is, some people suffered, some people suffered less, some people suffered more, but death is inevitable. Some people suffered more or less is our Karma Phala. Everybody had to die. It is what we call, Buddha called, existential suffering. Needs. What Vedanta calls, Shadurmi.

Now, the whole topic came about because of wickedness. What is wickedness? Non-worldliness is wickedness; that is one definition. Some people not only think badly but also act very badly. Do you think that a pickpocket, who only takes a few annas of hard-earned money from a beggar or a village vegetable seller, is any different from someone who receives billions of dollars in aid and then prepares a bomb, putting it on somebody's head, becoming the killer of thousands of people? Qualitatively, is there any difference? Absolutely not. We have to say that such people are much more wicked. Why? Because if this pickpocket had that power, he would have done exactly what Hitler did or what many other wicked people did. So, this wickedness teaches us certain facts. First of all, existence itself is a combination of good and evil, and nobody can separate them because separation means death. There would be no samsara at all. Secondly, if there were no suffering, and wickedness means suffering, if there were no suffering, nobody would ever struggle to get out of samsara. Nobody would ever turn their face toward God. This is why one of the Sankhya schools of philosophy, which starts with "Tapatraya Abhigatat Ignasa," says that suffering is absolutely necessary, and extreme suffering is necessary. The United Nations concept was born after the Second World War. So, what is the first thing? That existence itself is a combination of good and evil. What is the second thing? This combination of good and evil manifests in every individual in different ways and degrees. Third, without suffering, without wickedness, nobody is going to evolve or progress in life. Because if anybody doesn't go through suffering, they will remain stagnant. And then, the fourth point we have to learn is, what lessons are we learning? Through this, it is evil that teaches us lessons. That is what Swami Vivekananda tells us, which I will quote from shortly, and several other examples I will mention in today's talk without going too much into them. Without night, there cannot be day. Without tiredness, we cannot enjoy sleep. Without hunger, we cannot enjoy our food. Without cold and heat, we cannot truly enjoy our dress, etc., or undress, etc. Everything is there. We have to learn, we have to accept, and then say, "How can I use this existential nature to overcome this limited existence?" That is the ultimate purpose of creation itself. From the highest point of view, it is all just a leela. And Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "Who are you? You are also Brahman, but you have forgotten." So, Sri Ramakrishna said that God has created a tiger God, and he did not say a lion God, a wolf God, a hyena God, etc. God has become everything. It is an existential fact. It is very important. Supposing there are no tigers, no lions, in other words, no animals will kill deer, etc. Do you know what happens? Can you think of what happens? Their population will grow so much that there will be nobody left. And then, finally, they themselves will die because the earth can only sustain so much. There must be balance. There must be a balance of each species, and every other species also balances. This is a great lesson biologists have learned. In Yellowstone National Park, in America, there is a place called Yellowstone, and this is one of the greatest lessons. Now, what is the point of all this talk? Evil people are very necessary, and those evil people are not separate from us. We ourselves are wicked people. We have done something wrong. If we believe in the karma siddhanta, then if an evil person is causing me suffering, it is the result of my own past karma coming to me at this particular point, and it is inevitable. But we have to face it, accept it, learn our lesson, and evolve further. That is the most important point. Ramakrishna has given a beautiful example. Why did God create wicked people? So that people can become saints. The most marvelous reply is that evilness is not outside; evil is within us. We focus all the time on whatever hampers our selfishness, and we choose to call it evil. We cannot tolerate even a small bit of it, but our selfishness grows and grows, and what is the purpose of life? To become less and less and less. That is the meaning of if somebody asks you for a blessing. That means you have to say, "Be less." Blessing means what? Let your Ahamkara become less and less until you surrender yourself totally to God. That is very important. Now, some examples I told you about Swami Vivekananda, such a great soul. He never meant any harm to anybody. He never spoke any untruth in his whole life, and he never suffered from something called Asuya, which is jealousy. This is what Swami Vivekananda himself said. I may have any other bad quality, but I never had this demon called Asuya, jealousy. Never. The scorpion called Asuya, but then he went only to preach the best things in life to the West, especially America, and then people became immediately jealous, including Christian missionaries and some Indians like Pratap Chandra Majumdar. His name will remain as a reminder that, despite having come into contact with Ramakrishna many times, whereas Keshav Chandra Sen also came into contact with Ramakrishna many times, Keshav Chandra Sen continued to improve and progress in spiritual life. Pratap Chandra Majumdar went to America, gained some name and fame, and became jealous as soon as the sun rose. The glow worm fades away. He could not tolerate it. The worst thing a person can do is slander other people without any basis. There are so many varieties of murder, and the worst murder is slandering a person. Many devotees and even monks engage in this, full of jealousy. This is worse than practically killing a person. And here is a beautiful quotation from Swami Vivekananda's talks with his disciple: A disciple asks, "Did not the bigoted Christians oppose you, Swami Vivekananda?" Yes, they did. When people began to honor me, the Christian priests were after me. They spread many slanders about me by publishing them in the newspapers. Many asked me to contradict these slanders, but I never took the slightest notice of them. It is my firm conviction that no great work is accomplished in this world by low cunning. So without paying any heed to these wild slanders, I used to work steadily at my mission. The upshot I used to find was that often my slanderers, feeling repentant afterward, would surrender to me and offer apologies by themselves, contradicting the slanders in the papers. Sometimes it so happened that, upon learning that I had been invited to a certain house, somebody would communicate those slanders to my host, who, upon hearing them, would leave home, locking his door. When I went there to attend the invitation, I found it was unaccepted and nobody was there. Again, a few days afterward, they themselves learned the truth and felt sorry for their previous conduct, coming to offer themselves as disciples. Swami Vivekananda continues: The fact is, my son, this whole world is full of mean ways of worldliness. But men of real moral courage and discrimination are never deceived by these. Let the world say what it chooses. I shall tread the path of duty. Know this to be a line of action for a hero. Otherwise, if one has to attend day and night to what this man says or that man writes, no great work is ever achieved in this world. And then Swami Vivekananda says, "Good and evil have an equal share in molding character. In some instances, misery is a greater teacher than happiness. In studying these great characters the world has produced, it would be found that it was misery that taught more than happiness. It was poverty that taught more than wealth. It was blows that brought out their inner fire." I will stop with quotations from Swamiji. Now, what I want to add to what I have read is absolutely true. Take any great character, even in the Western world, be it Abraham Lincoln or great scientists, great inventors, they all encountered a tremendous amount of jealousy, opposition, and sometimes even murder. Even the church, in those days, ignorant of people, were so blind. How many people they burnt? Bruno was burnt. Galileo was housebound until he could not come out. But today, the world recognizes them and also recognizes the wickedness of the church and the wickedness of some of these fanatical religions is indescribable. Just now, you have seen a few days back, what hatred in the name of God, in the name of religion. If anybody follows true religion, the first transformation should be that hatred slowly becomes less and unselfishness should grow, love should grow. That was what Jesus Christ taught: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." For those teachings, he himself was crucified. By whom? His own people, the rabbis, the priests. Who gave so much trouble to Ramakrishna? It was only the fellow priests who could not tolerate. So that nobody became anything great. Everybody has to go through this. I promised you some examples which I might deal with in our next class. But here are some of the examples: Sri Ramakrishna was slandered and kicked by the family priest of Madhura Nath Vishwas, mistaking that Sri Ramakrishna had a very special mantra and used it to bring Madhura Babu under control. But that fool did not have the wisdom to understand that anybody who wants to control somebody else must have a purpose. Here, there was no purpose. Sri Ramakrishna rejected all offers of Madhura Babu for land, sex enjoyment, or honor. Everything he rejected, as though it were spit. Then we know how Swami Vivekananda was slandered, and because of this, so many people who could have come closer to him never did during his lifetime. Only a very few people did. Then there is a story about Kabir Das. There are many incidents, but one of the incidents is that he was in Varanasi, and he used to take a bath in the Ganges every day. One day, as he was going to the river, a fanatical Muslim, who was supposed to have brought him up, spat upon him. Kabir Das did not say anything immediately. He went back, took another bath, came out, and was spat upon again. This event repeated 100 times, and then the man was astonished. Probably he was fortunate that it was his Guru Dakshina, and he became converted and became a disciple of Kabir Das. Even that was a fortunate incident. Then we have all heard about Prahlada. His own father, not anyone else, tortured his own son to the extent possible. He tried to kill him and gave him poison. He asked his servants to pierce him with Trishula, Shula, cut him with swords, put him in the fire, put him in the water, and tried to trample him under elephants. So much suffering he had to go through. Until the death of Hiranyakashyapu, who finally, exasperated, asked him, "Where is the Narayana you have so much faith in?" Hiranyakashyapu said, "Is he in this pillar?" Prahlada replied, "He is the pillar, he is outside the pillar, he is inside the pillar." Hiranyakashyapu broke the pillar, which is nothing but pure egotism, Ahamkara. So long as there is Ahamkara, we can't see God. That is the story. What about the parents of Krishna himself, Devaki and Vasudeva? From the moment they got married, the Akashvani came to create further problems. They could have been happy for at least eight years, but instead, they were told that the eighth child of Devaki's sister would be their killer. This put them in jail, and they suffered greatly. All their children were killed, except Krishna and his yoga maya. Then there's the story of Bhagavan Krishna himself. From birth, he had to be transferred, and how many Asuras came? Potana, Shakatasura, Kalasura, Dhenukasura, Kamsa, etc. for nearly so many years. Just imagine that. Then the story of the Pandavas must be a great lesson for all of us. Then there's the story of Draupadi. She was insulted so badly in front of everyone. Just recollect and see that these are indescribable sufferings, but they all became great because of overcoming this evilness, all because of suffering. Otherwise, nobody would remember them today. Let's stop here. Again, I wish you all a very happy Vijayadashami. Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padmetayoh Sritva Pranamami Mohor Moho. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna.

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