Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 100 on 21-November-2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

In our last class, we have discussed one of the most important topics. This Shri Ramakrishna was asked by a devotee, Is it possible to realize God in the life of a householder? He says, Shri Ramakrishna replies, Everybody will be released. We will discuss about it a little further. Going back a little earlier, One of the questions that comes is, Why are there evil people in this world? Shri Ramakrishna replied, If somebody has to maintain laws, Bhagawan Vishnu is the law maintainer, Stithi. Like a modern psychologist, stick and carrot. Stick means punishment for Papa and carrot means reward. So these are the things, that is why he has Lakshmi. Brahma, his Shakti was knowledge, how to create. Shiva, who keeps an eye, this instrument has become old, worn out. Like worn out dress and it is not going to serve any good purpose. Shri Ramakrishna's words are the words of the Vedas, which means they are the words of the Upanishads or Bhagavad Gita. That is why Kannada, they have translated it Vachana Veda. Very easily understandable Veda in the form of prose. Veda in the form of prose is called Vachana Veda. By the way, if there are any South Indians, especially Kannada people, then there is something Vachana. Many great people like Basava, they all composed their beautiful teachings in the form of short bhajans called Vachana Amrita, Vachana. Basava's Vachana, Akka Mahadevi's Vachana, etc. That is very easily understood even by a person, who doesn't know how to write or read, but by just hearing it. Ramakrishna's words are like that. And then he issues this tremendous statement, This world is nothing but God. 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. This statement is a marvelous statement. In the Bhagavad Gita, we get the 10th chapter. It is called Vibhuti Yoga. At the end, the Lord says that whatever excellence, wherever you see a greater manifestation, either in speaking or writing or social service or power or position, know that it is my own manifestation. In fact, I am holding the whole world. Just by a fraction of my power, I am manifesting in the form of this whole entire universe. Same idea has been expressed. The whole universe is far, far below, not even an infinitesimal part of the Divine Lord. So everything is God. What is the implication? If everything is God, where is the question of some people getting liberated, other people not getting liberated? In fact, if we go a little bit deeper, dig a little bit deeper, has the Lord ever lost anything? Did He really become bound? Not at all. Just as in our dream, many Vedantic works explain this. Bondage is a thought in the mind. Liberation is also a thought in the mind. Just like in a dream, we may feel we have gone somewhere and we have experienced good or bad, and then when we come back, we see that we are in our own place. We have not gone anywhere and we have never suffered. We have also never enjoyed anything. That is the message of the dream, when we wake up, after we wake up. And it is the same message that has to be applied to the waking state also. So according to Vedanta, this waking state is also like a dream, exactly like a dream, and that is why it is given Vyavaharika Satya. That is, it is a truth. So long as our mind is thinking, that is a truth. Tremendous implication is there. How long is the world existing? By world, we mean objects. Supposing you are looking at a tree. So the tree exists. How long? As long as you cognize it. The moment your mind is thinking, a stone, a mountain, a river, another person, only that object exists and the whole entire world is completely forgotten. And of course, we all know it. In deep sleep, the entire world is forgotten, including our dear body and mind. So that is why Ramakrishna says, God alone has become all this, but it doesn't mean God is manifesting everywhere equally to the same degree. The degree of manifestation is completely different. A baby manifests in one manner, a young man manifests in another person, an old person manifests in another way, and a dead person manifests in a completely different way. Is it true? Does a dead person manifest? We are all witnesses to it. If a person is very rich and then he dies, how much effect he will be having upon our lives. But if a poor man dies, hardly there is any, not even a simple ripple, a little bit of affection, of course, to the dear and near fellows. That's a different issue altogether. So, everything is God only. Because if you believe in God, then there cannot be a world. And if you believe in the world, God cannot be. Even if you go on shouting, I believe in God. It is our belief that makes us either to be bound or to be released. This is why Sri Ramakrishna is telling that the whole world is created by God and maintained by God. And that maintenance is the most important thing. If anybody says, I believe in God, but there is evil in the world, that person is a liar. Because God is all-knowing. And if God is infinite, the whole world is also God. Therefore, there is nothing other than God. And therefore, like a loving mother, in order to correct his children, he rules either with a carrot or with a stick. Carrot and stick. Pribad and punishment. That is what we have to understand. Now, the next question is, why is there evil? It is not for making us suffer, but it is a marvelous methodology of training, so that gradually we can get out of this world. All punishment, so-called evil, and our very definition of good and evil is very restricted. We don't say if other people are suffering, there is evil. Only when we suffer, we say it is evil. Am I being misunderstood? We all have sympathy for what is happening right now in the Middle East. A so-called very big war is going on. How many people are being killed? That is, each person cherishes, values his own life. How many people are holding their hearts in their hands? Am I going to survive today? Because the bombs are raining on both sides. Now the point is, is it evil or is it good? Swami Vivekananda's statement, good and evil are not absolutes. I hope these words are understood properly. Absolute means, there is an absolute good, there is an absolute evil. No. What Swamiji means is, good changes anytime into evil, evil changes anytime into good. Simplest example, when I am eating a very fine sweet, oh, how good it is, we say. But after eating, if my stomach goes on churning, or some reaction is there, not a negative reaction, oh, how bad is the sweet. Same sweet, at one point of time, we call it very good, and some other point of time, evil. Whether it is persons, objects, anything in this world, there is no absolute. Something that is going on changing, change means, life means death, death means life, good means evil, evil means good, so happiness means unhappiness, unhappiness means happiness, they go on alternating, like the pendulum of a clock. So, evil is necessary, because God doesn't have the idea of creating suffering. The suffering is created by whom then? By us. Both happiness and unhappiness are the results of what we do, what we did in the past, what we do now, what we are going to do in the future. Squarely, responsibility lies only within us. If we can somehow understand this profound statement, that we are creating our own individual, good and evil, then our concept of God will grow. But even if we say, it is your will, you are creating good, you are creating evil, God can never create evil with the idea, just as an evil person, he is creating evil with a revengeful attitude, negative attitude, God can never have. So, what are the points? First point is, there is no good and evil outside, they are reflections of our own karma phala. That is the first point. Second point is, God is a law maintenance officer. So when he sees, any one of us have done something wrong, and then immediately, God will bring the stick, good, that means carrot, reward and punishment, punishment and reward, for what purpose? So that we can quickly learn our lessons and move towards Him and become one with Him. There is no question of punishment, no question of suffering, it is a lesson that we all have to learn. And God wants us. One of the questions that we have to ask ourselves, do we love God? Very little, very few people love God with all their hearts. We only love like children loving parents, especially at Christmas time. Mom, I love you. Dad, I love you. You are the best parents in the whole world. How long? Until Christmas is over. We are all like that, selfish people. But does God love us? He cannot but love us. Why? Because our concept of love is, we are completely different from each other. Parents are different, husband and wife are different, children are different, everybody is different from everybody else. But for God, nobody is different, no object is different. That is the meaning of, God has become everything. If God is everything, and we all, Atmanastu Kamaya, as Agnivalka teaches, we love ourselves. God loves himself. And this whole world is nothing but God. Therefore, he cannot help but love, because hating means, to separate oneself from oneself. The infinite can never separate itself from itself. So, one aspect of that oneness is love, Sat. Where there is Sat, there is Chit. Where there is Chit, there is Ananda. We can never separate these three, three words, three in one, one in three. Therefore, from God's viewpoint, there is no good or evil. From God's viewpoint, there is not even Agnana. From our viewpoint, there is Agnana. That is why, very often I speak of, some devotees question when they come, and meet me here at Varanasi, we believe Shiva gives liberation to everybody at Kashi, Varanasi. How come? Does he give only to believers, to devotees? No. Holy Mother Crystal clearly had said, even an ant crawling, it will get liberation if it dies here. How can a believer, a non-believer, a good person, an evil person, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, how can everybody get liberation? Because here is a believer, he is a non-believer, etc. These are not Shiva's understanding. It is our understanding. In Shiva's vision, there is nothing else excepting Shiva. In Vishnu's vision, there is nothing else excepting Vishnu. In Shakti's vision, in Divine Mother's vision, there is nothing but Divine Mother. That is why, the very first three words in the, Lalita Sahasranama, marvellous word, Sri Mata, She is the Divine Mother. Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Matru Rupena Samsthita Namasthase Namasthase Namasthase Namo Namaha The Divine Mother is only manifesting. There is no I or You or anybody, He, She, It, subject, object, nothing is there, excepting She is everything. Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma That is the ultimate understanding and we become liberated when we understand that one. So, if everything is Brahman, there is no happiness, there is no unhappiness, there is no birth, there is no death, there is no bondage, there is no liberation, there is no Sadhaka, there is no Siddha. This profound statement, very difficult, just as when we are dreaming, somebody is torturing us, until the person wakes up, that person feels that he is being tortured. But where is he? He is like a baby in his own mother's hands and she is there protecting with loving eye, called Kamakshi, called Meenakshi and he had nothing to worry, but privately he creates his own illusions. We are all like that. So, from Shiva's viewpoint, there is no Muslim, no Christian, no believer, no non-believer, no human being, no non-human being, no subject, no object, everything is nothing but only Shiva. Then what is the meaning of Mukti? But he also understands like a psychiatrist that I know it, but my children, they are under bondage. So, like every madness is only temporary. I am the Atman, is the only permanent knowledge. I am a human being, is one of the manifestations of madness. So, this madness can be cured only by the Vedantic physician, a Rishi. He is the greatest, Bhavaroga Vaidya. And what is the medicine? Then Tattvamasi, the word for that. But if you are a Bhakta, the language is slightly changed, content will remain exactly the same. What is it? You belong to me. That's all. You belong to me. I belong to you. There is no difference anywhere at all. We have Sri Ramakrishna's disciples. One of them is called Swami Advaitananda. He had given marvelous teachings. Just now I will quote. You know these Vaishnavas, they believe their Ishta Devata is Vishnu. And if they are sufficiently devout and put into practice all the teachings of Vaishnava scriptures, that is, you only be unselfish, only do good, and then that person goes to Vaikuntha. And some of the Acharyas, Vaishnava Acharyas, have divided Mukti into four categories. First the person enters into the what is called Vaikuntha. Then that is called Salokya. Sa-Loka. That is same world. Then he goes near. That is Amipya. Then through intense meditation, his form itself, he forgets his own individual form and he becomes identified gradually what we call Nyaya, simile. Like an insect stung by a bigger insect, slowly out of fear, slowly thinks of that bigger insect and slowly transforms itself into that bigger insect. This is a kind of belief. It doesn't matter for us to understand. By meditating continuously upon the form of the Divine Lord and this person's form also, he forgets. Like Gopis forgot, I am Krishna. Every Gopi felt, I am Krishna. So like Gopala's mother, I have become Gopala. Like that. So the form will change. This is called Sarupya. And then a time will come the devotee will never be able to bear even one millisecond or milliseconds separation from God. This is called Sayuja. These are the four concepts. But Swami Advaitanandaji, he comments upon it in such a simple way, it took me a long time to grasp the points. Who created this universe? God. That means He Himself has become this world. So where are we living? Salokya, God's world. Sahasrashirsha purushaha sahasraksha sahasrapat sabhomim vishvato vrittva atyatishta dashangulam So He is there. Narayana. Only Narayana is there. Only Shiva is there. Nobody else is there. This is called Salokya. And then, as our devotion increases, we are approaching nearer and nearer to God. This is called Samipya. As we are going on meditating, in our minds, only the remembrance of God will come. Very simple, you know. Suppose you are a loving mother, loving father and you are a bit away from your child and the child's face just lights up like lightning. Whenever you come near it and the baby stretches its hands to be taken, to hug you, to be kissed by you. So also, as we go on meditating upon the Divine, we only remember, just as loving parents remember their baby. A mother is working in an office. Continuously her mind is what is my baby doing now and I hope it is being taken care of, etc. When you remember, what is it that you are remembering? Only the baby's form. So also here, a devotee, God becomes a beloved. Like Mother Yashoda, what do you think she will be thinking the whole day? I am churning the buttermilk for the sake of my Krishna. He loves butter. So for his sake, I am bringing out butter. He loves this kind of food. So I am preparing that food. These are the cloths my child loves. I am washing, freshening them up for my child. 24 hours, Gita, Brahma, Ranyaya. Mother is thinking only about Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna. Nothing but Krishna. Nothing but Shiva. Nothing but Divine Mother. So that is called obtaining the form, the same form of the Ishta Devata. This is called Sarupya. And a time will come when the mind forgets the whole lot. This is called Samadhi. And becomes completely one. Attains complete oneness with the Divine. That is called Sai Ujjain. Swami Adbhutanandaji was explaining you don't need to go to Vaikuntha. This universe itself is Vaikuntha. How many wonderful examples. I will give you one example. One day, Ramakrishna was lying in his bed. And it was a season. And some rains had come. And a new Durva grass has grown up. And it was so fine. You know Durva grass? Almost like a soft bed. Beautiful to look at. Soothing for the eyes. A man was carelessly walking. And Sairam Krishna felt that somebody was walking on his own chest. So what was his experience? I am that Durva grass. And one day, is even more telling incident. Sairam Krishna was standing on the banks of the Ganga watching the Ganga. And there were two boatsmen at a distance. And there was some quarrel, whatever reason. And there was a stronger man gave a big blow to the weaker person. Sairam Krishna became so absorbed. So much identified with those two people. The person who received the blow, we don't know what happened to that person. But Sairam Krishna's back head became swollen. And because of the pain, because Sairam Krishna's body was so delicate, that even they say, while breaking a luchi, which is a very soft thing, his hand was cut. Some rough edge was there and his hand was cut. So delicate was his one. And then he cried out, aah like that. And then Hriday, his nephew, was eating food. Sairam Krishna was standing on the banks. But Hriday was eating in the kitchen. But he could hear crystal clearly, Sairam Krishna crying in pain. And he left his food and ran to the banks. And then found his uncle's back swollen. Hriday was, his eyes became red. Uncle, show me that person who bit you. I will wring his neck from his body. And then Sairam Krishna had to explain what happened. Hriday was dumbfounded. Somebody quarreled. Somebody gave a blow-up on somebody. But my uncle is failing. Of course, it remained a terrible mystery for him. So this is called, Sayujya. How many incidents are there? Another incident. Ramana Maharshi was resting at noon in his own bed. There was a tree there and somebody wanted some fruits. Probably, it may be Amalaki or something. So that tree is a delicate tree and this fellow started shaking that tree violently so that the fruits can fall down. And immediately Ramana Maharshi jumped up from his bed, ran and shouted, What are you doing? He scolded him and sent him away. Why did he do that? Because he felt he himself was being shaken. That means what? He became identified with that tree. I will tell you. This is how we will pass our time. Very, very interesting incident. Of course, we will not practice it that much. So, any animal that comes to Ramana Ashrama, nobody could drive them away. Ramana Maharshi used to say we have not invited them. They themselves came and found their home. Nobody has any right because even we do not have any right to be here. And if we are staying here, anything has a right to stay here. So there were some dogs who were there. A female dog gave birth to a puppy. And this puppy must have been a very intelligent puppy. Must have been a terrible devotee of past life, especially addicted to prasadam. And very soon it smelt. Early morning, idli and chutney and sambar was very tasty. So it came. It used to sit there. And Ramana Maharshi he commanded. He told. His wish was a command. You spread a plate and exactly like us you serve a big idli. It is actually very big idli. One idli. So now I think they reduced the size. So one idli and along with chutney and other things every day the puppy will come exactly at the right time and then it will receive its share and then goes away. And one day being you know a puppy one day the puppy had made nuisance of that place. And the manager Niranjan Anandaswamy came to know about it and he ordered other people you take out this puppy and do not allow it to come here. And next morning Ramana Maharshi, so many devotees they all went, they sat down they all served and Ramana Maharshi was waiting for this puppy. There was no plate given there because manager has said and it was the custom he will sit in the middle of brahmins and non-brahmins so that both will feel in those days this caste system was very very horrible system. And non-brahmins, brahmins will not sit with non-brahmins. They were all sitting and until Ramana Maharshi starts eating nobody will start eating. And they were waiting and waiting and waiting 45 minutes and Ramana Maharshi was like this looking. 45 minutes gone everybody started to wonder somebody went and informed the manager Niranjan Anandaswamy Bhagawan is not eating therefore we are also not able to eat I don't know whether they decided to eat some other time not with Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi this is my only wild guess. Certainly I would have done that if I were there. Then he came being intelligent he was the younger brother of Ramana Maharshi he understood then he immediately sent people to bring that puppy it was brought to its usual place and a leaf plate was given and idli is served it started eating then Ramana Maharshi started eating then everybody started eating. What is the symbolism of this incident? Ramana Maharshi said everything is God it is not the dog so for us God becomes a dog and for saint a dog becomes God. It is only a matter of reversing the world. Such universal vision seeing God everywhere so that is what Sri Ram Krishna is telling that the whole universe is nothing but God. Then this question we raised and I deviated a lot I hope you will enjoy I am certainly enjoying so a question was put God realization in householder's life. If what we have discussed so far is understood even a little bit who is a householder? Is it God or Satan? He is also God. Who is a sanyasi? He is also God. Who is a baby? He is also God. Who is a man? God. Woman? God. Animals? God. Trees? God. Mountains? Meru Parvata Himalaya Kalidasa ocean ecstasy there is a devata in the northern direction and he is a king and he is the king of all the mountains and his name is Himalaya Himalaya Naga He is the king of all the mountains and his daughter is Haimavati Parvati. Parvata's daughter is called Parvati and who is her husband? None other than Shiva so do you think Shiva what is the daughter of a mountain a lifeless stone will it be a human being or will it be a small stone so mountain is a big stone and then daughter will be a small stone is that your understanding? Everything is nothing but God every river is God every plant is God the Bhoomi is God Vishnu's what is called wife when we worship go to Tirupati we see that above is Lakshmi and below is Amma is there and she is called Bhudevi why because unfortunately Vishnu married two women and they cannot live one with another in peace and if wives are quarreling husband can never become peaceful so wisely installed one on the top of the hill and another one at the bottom of the hill and they are happy, he is also happy and devotees also have opportunity to visit both of them and enjoy what am I talking about so this mountain is none other than God nowadays environmentalists have recognized the role of mountains, the role of what is called the poles southern pole, northern pole magnetic pole etc if scientists go a little bit further they see that everything is endowed with pure consciousness so a realized soul he sees nothing but God, so when a neighbor asked we are householders, we have so much attachment and to our families, to our children husband, wife, children parents, relatives friends, enemies language, attachment everything is there will we become liberated Ram Krishna says there is nobody bound there is nobody who needs to be liberated but a little bit of Leela and Leela this is all Leela from the God's point of view Samsara from our point of view that is why Ram Krishna is answering this whole universe is God a Brahmachari a Grihastha a Vanaprastha, a Sanyasi do you think this distinction is there in God's mind or is it we attribute this distinction to God and say God loves a Sanyasi actually Ram Krishna said that a mother doesn't pay much attention to the grown up young man young child, young man young woman because they are quite capable of looking after them but if somebody is sick all her attention is riveted only on that child so Ram Krishna what is he conveying that God doesn't extraordinarily love a Sanyasi and he doesn't make the difference because some of our Sanskrit poets have gone to the great length so where is the midday sun where is the resemblance between the midday sun and a glow worm that is hardly able to see itself at night this is from whose point of view from an ignorant person's point of view from the view of God there is nobody who is not God Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma this is the greatest truth Ram Krishna was trying to tell but then we have to cleanse our own minds so householdership is in the mind relationship is in the mind when we study the lives of Ram Krishna and his disciples what do you know what we get God doesn't care the outward dress Sanyasa is a lifestyle householdership is a lifestyle Brahmachari lifestyle Vanaprastha lifestyle God doesn't look into those things but into the heart of the persons there is a beautiful story I have to recollect it I have a few times mentioned it this is with regard to a Christian there was a Christian village and there was a great soul there a saint and there was a cobbler and he was completely unlettered but he was so sincere in his belief in the existence of God so somehow he learnt how to painfully pronounce what is called Lord's Prayer in the Christian literature and everyday he has a tattered book he will somehow pray but very sincerely and this saint used to pray he was learned and he was concentrated everything so one day the cobbler in his hurry he went to his shop and forgot to carry the tattered book but he could not pray without the aid of the book so he turned towards God lifted his head towards the sky and said Lord you know I am not able to do the prayer do one thing, I will go on uttering the alphabet you make out the words of the sentences of the prayer and this is the best I can do and the saint was also praying then God who was listening to this prayer turned to his arch angel and then he said this is the best prayer I have heard of this human being how sincere he is that his heart is with me this was what every saint proclaims boldly it is not what type of life we lead there are sannyasins who are wicked who are selfish who are greatest evil doers in this world but there are also householders in their own limited way they surrender themselves to God and they quake before God O Lord we are ignorant people please forgive us this is all we can understand and this is all we can do what little we do please forgive everything and take us into your lap take us into the heart that is why Jesus Christ says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God but God also has given us a householder's life a four ashramas life about which I spoke so extensively in my last class all of them are called ashramas Brahmacharya Ashrama Grihastha Ashrama Vanaprastha Ashrama Sanyasa Ashrama there is no difference between one ashrama and the other ashrama what God looks into is our earnestness our Shraddha as Bhagawan says in the 17th chapter Shraddha Mayo Ayam Yo Purushaha whatever Shraddha we possess we can be called only that much of devotees this is what the master Sri Ramakrishna said certainly but as I said one must live in holy company and pray unceasingly one should weep for God when the impurities of the mind are thus washed away one realizes God now one of the questions that came that very important for us to understand that will there come a time when every evil will be completely removed from this world will evil ever disappear from the world is a very important concept so for example we are reading newspaper, most of us read newspaper whether we read Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna or not reading the newspaper is very important that is why one of our Swamis named it as Kalikala Bhagavatam early morning one is supposed to read Bhagavatam but Kalikala Bhagavatam is this newspaper if the news boy fails to deliver the newspaper even for 5 minutes the man feels he is about to die because of the separation from the newspaper so this newspaper we will be reading that if Hamas are killed then Israel will be at peace the Palestine will be at peace and if Chinese are killed or at least leaders then every country will what is called a sigh of relief and everybody will be happy 24 hours a day evil will be there that is why in the what is called Durga Saptashati at the very end says these very Asuras whom I have slaughtered for this time they are again going to be born so evil doer is a particular person but evil is a concept so long as man forgets God and tries to do anything worldly he is an evil person so as I explained we discussed in today's class evil doers will never disappear because evil cannot do anything to us if it has to do any damage to us it has to manifest itself in the form of some persons so also a person is very good but goodness is there but if the person doesn't express his goodness in some concrete way by helping other people by donating something by speaking sweetly by praying for other people then goodness will be completely useless type of thing and this idea we have to understand very clearly so if evil disappears goodness also will disappear if evil people disappear good people also will disappear and if both good and evil people disappear world also will disappear so long as the world is there good and evil are not going to disappear what is the way out we have to rise above the worldliness it is not destroying the world it is looking at the same world at the Leela of God as we discussed earlier evil is nothing but our reaping our own evil the result of our evil actions and our happiness is also nothing but reaping the result of our good actions so what are the important points good and evil and world always go together and good and evil always manifest only then we know what is goodness what is evil through medium of some persons and we also have to remember that when animals kill they are not called good or they are not called evil they are simply called ignorant beings that's all when a tiger kills it is not that it wants to kill it has a revengeful attitude towards somebody and it wants to torture and kill only a human being can torture but an animal it is made it is God has made it to eat meat and wherever meat is available it will be very sweet so an animal should never be labeled as evil not even as a cruel only human beings can be evil can be cruel can be good can be saintly is a point we have to understand these are the deeper points what is the next point that we can nobody can ever eliminate good and evil because they are the very fabric of life itself their function as we discussed earlier the function of the good is it slowly to draw us to God and the function of the evil is when we do something which makes the distance between God and us longer and longer and God will not tolerate it by punishing by suffering he makes us realize we have done something wrong we should not repeat it so this is how slowly slowly evolution takes place last point very important point that we should never think of removing the evil or increasing the good let us live our life in such a way that if there are other people who want to learn from us let them learn but mainly it is for our own own good goodness for our own benefit for our own selfishness is not to do good or evil to anybody else but there is sadhana what is sadhana not to destroy the world but destroy the worldliness that means what our identity with the body our identity with the mind then we have to rise above that is called spiritual sadhana what does that word rising above means is not that you are only seeing God seeing God is very first stage in spiritual life but seeing the same God manifest in a supportive manner in this world is the final goal that is called Jeevan Mukthi everybody has to see God everywhere so if a person is in samadhi he doesn't do any good at least not much good to anybody but if a person is alive he is smiling he is talking and he is interacting with the world such people are called Jeevan Mukthas such people alone can do good to everybody so we cannot destroy good and evil because that is the warp and woof of the world but we can rise above it means what we can alter the way we are looking at the world this is the Leela of God God's Leela when we are in samadhi then that is called Nitya when we are looking at this world and interacting we have to learn how to do it properly that is called Leela that is why there is a beautiful word every devotee must attain to this state I am a Leela Sahachara I am a householder God wants me to play this householder's role so let me be a Leela Sahachara a Brahmachari should feel exactly the same way a Vanaprasthi should feel the same way and a Sanyasi should feel the same way and I will close this talk with a beautiful parable every parable has to be meditated upon whether it is told by Buddha or by Christ or by Sufi Saints or by Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Vivekananda by Holy Mother did Holy Mother use any parable yes she said my son there was a clock presented to Holy Mother and it used to make a mechanical clock tick tick tick so Mother pointed out that like this clock without any rest always 24 hours goes on ticking you do whatever you want to do you will have to remember God every time so Sri Ramakrishna's parable is like that there was a village there was a monk and there was a prostitute and everyday or sometimes customers, people who want to do that they will visit this lady and unfortunately the Sanyasin's hut is only a short distance facing that prostitute's hut both were outside the village and village people however evil they are they put to these people Sanyasi will not stay in a village and prostitute is not allowed to stay in a village so this village outside the village prostitute used to say and her only way of livelihood is the customers visiting her paying a small amount of money with that somehow with difficulty she was able to live and this Sanyasi from morning till evening is like an owl completely fixed with his eyes on this, he will be looking how many customers are visiting and then everyday he will shout today two customers visited two Maha Papas have been done your Papas are increasing so in the presentation I take two pieces of stones he must have collected them stolen them from a nearby place and then small stones today three people visited you three stones and yesterday five people visited you five stones and day before one person visited one stone like that everyday see how your Papa is growing up and this lady very simple minded she started quaking in her heart and she used to weep and pray, O Lord you made me born in this lowly station I have no option for my livelihood, it is all your will, please forgive I am also thy child everyday whenever she was free she used to quake with fear and then go on praying to God it so happened many years passed and the stones of the Sannyasin grew like a hill and everyday he used to gleefully shout at the top of his voice, being Sannyasin shouting all day the power of his voice also grows like railway people, chaa like that, the whole station and outside station that can be heard so like that and this lady's fear grew and her devotion, self surrender also was growing, it so happened, both of them died at the same moment one day and the messengers of Lord Vishnu came and took away the soul of the prostitute and the messengers of Yama Dharmaraja Naraka came and took away the soul of the Sannyasin and he saw her going to Vaikuntha he could not tolerate, he shouted what injustice in the kingdom of God and the Vishnu Dutas replied there is no injustice in the kingdom of God you were a Sannyasin outside, externally but you were only meditating upon the sinfulness of this prostitute and she led a pure life outside, externally but her heart was always remembering the Divine Lord and praying for forgiveness that is why God had forgiven then Shri Ram Krishna superb storyteller he was, said look down what is happening and both of them, the Sannyasin looked down what did he see? because he led such a pure external life all the villagers came and gathered his body and put it on a what is called firewood of sandal, pure sandal took him in a musical procession and cremated his body and the body of the prostitute they dragged into the crematorium left for the dogs to eat this is the reward because externally you led pure life but internally you are rotten this lady, her body led a pure life she deserved this but her mind always remained at the feet of God and she is being gathered into the lap of the Lord there is no injustice in this world what is the message? God says only the heart, he doesn't say what we do, what we talk what we read what transformation has taken our life these beautiful thoughts we will discuss in our next class Om Jananim Sharadaam Deveen Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamaame Mohar Moho Vaishya Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ramakrishna