Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 101 on 05-December-2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are entering into a most important topic, the topic of the Guru. The most discussed and the least understood topic is Guru itself. What does it mean to have even the concept of the Guru? That is very very important for all of us to understand. First let me read a little bit Sriram Krishna. Everybody will surely be liberated, but there is always a but. But one should follow the instructions of the Guru. If one follows a devious path, one will suffer in trying to retrace one's steps. It takes a long time to achieve liberation. A man may fail to obtain it in this life. Perhaps he will realize God only after many births. Now every statement of Sriram Krishna is a statement of Shruti, Veda itself. Even better than Veda, I would go so far as to say. Because so many things, even Vedas fail to express clearly. So just let us see, one should follow the instructions of the Guru. And if one does not follow Guru, how do we know? That is called, if one follows a devious path, one will suffer in trying to retrace one's steps. It takes a long time to achieve liberation. A man may fail to obtain it in this life. Perhaps he will realize God only after so many births. So that is why I said this is the most important topic. We should discuss it any number of times until it enters into our stony head and diamond brain. What do I mean by diamond brain? Not in the sense that it is the most valuable brain. Human brain is the worst brain in this whole world. It is a diamond brain. It is worse than a stone, worthless stone. So many wars, so many destructions, how much of torture, how much of cruelty, how much of deviation, deviousness, telling lies and ultimately hypnotizing oneself. That we are right, everybody is wrong, the other person is a terrorist. We are all, everybody who does not follow God is a terrorist. Only Shri Ramakrishna out of His compassion, infinite compassion, He tells that everybody is a child of God. So how do we know we are following the instructions of the Guru? Because if we follow, then progress in life is absolutely guaranteed, success is guaranteed. And I do not mean only in spiritual life, whether it is computer Guru, sports Guru, business Guru, householder's Guru, any Guru. It is very necessary, it is indispensable. That is why so much of importance has been given. We will discuss in course of time as much as possible. But it is not for nothing that the scriptures go on extolling, Guru is Brahma, Guru is Vishnu, Guru is Maheshwara, etc. So sages like Janaka performed worldly duties. They performed them, bearing God in their minds. And Shri Ramakrishna was a past master, even better than Kalidasa some people say, in using similes. And here he uses a simile. As a dancing girl dances, keeping jars or trays on her head. I have seen in YouTube, a young woman putting many many pots on her head. I don't know, I do not remember, six or seven. One bigger, then smaller, etc. Dancing according to rhythm. Beautiful movements. How much she must have practiced in the background. Of course Ramakrishna gives the example of a circus show. An Anglo-Indian woman or an English woman riding a horse at full speed. Now and then there are some rings on the pathway. She travels through that hoof and lands exactly on the back of the running horse. And this continues. Ramakrishna appreciates it and says how much of practice this lady must have done. And in fact if we see how wonderfully these circus people do. Any part of the circus for that matter. It is something worth to be learned. And then this is what he says. Haven't you seen how a woman in North East India walk, talk and talking and laughing, while carrying water pitcher on their heads. This is the background. How to find a Guru? Neighbour is asking Sri Ramakrishna in that conversation. Sir, you just referred to the instructions of the Guru. How shall we find him? Very, very pregnant, meaningful question. How shall we find him? And then the master replies. Anyone and everyone cannot be a Guru. A huge timber floats on the water and can carry animals as well. But a piece of worthless wood sinks. Even if a small bird sits on it. What to speak of a man sits on it and it drowns him. Therefore, in every age, God incarnates himself as the Guru to teach humanity. And then finally Ramakrishna confirms. Who is this Guru? Satchitananda alone is the Guru. He incarnates himself as the Guru, as the Avatar. He starts a tradition that is called Guru-Shishya Sampradaya. And every Guru, even if he is not a perfect Guru, but if he doesn't become egotistic, if he practices sincerely, whatever best he can do. I am telling this. So keep this in mind. Very, very important. We may say in our hearts, Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwaraha. But when we observe our own Guru's day-to-day behavior, many times we have doubts. And when we doubt our Guru, we are also doubting ourselves also. That is why we are always looking like a person suffering from inferiority complex. He is always looking for somebody who can compliment him. And usually people will not compliment because everybody is looking to bloat his own ego. But he might find, if he is lucky, people far inferior to him. And then he says, I am a superior man. He doesn't add among the inferiors. I am the Guru, I am the king of the inferior people. He doesn't say that. So, Shri Ram Krishna is referring to a deep truth, which we have to explore. So, how do we find a Guru? Really, do we find a Guru? No. The truth is, Guru finds us. And when does a Guru find? When we are ready, the Guru finds us. And this is what Shri Ram Krishna's famous saying is there. When the lotus is in full bloom, we do not, the lotus or anybody else, need to send an invitation to the bees. Come, I have plenty of honey. As soon as the bees know the lotus is blooming, immediately, without invitation, they come themselves. But ultimately, there is no difference between Guru and God. This is what he wants to say. But the final truth is, not only God is Guru, God is the disciple also. God is everybody. God is a dog. God is a donkey. God is a cow. God is an elephant. God is everything. There is nothing which is not God. That is very important. This is the truth. And hence, not following the Guru is disobeying God Himself. What is it? Satchitananda alone is the Guru. This is the truth. It is not that we imagine Him to be Brahman Himself. Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu. Guru is not Brahma or Vishnu or Shiva. But I am making Him so. There can be no false understanding than that. Hence, if somebody says, My Guru is God. But I do not follow Him. It is true. We cannot follow. Really speaking, nobody is fit. Nobody can follow a Guru. But at least if we can make an attempt to do what best we can do. Sincerely trying to do our level best. That is the best thing that we can do. Let us try to do what best we can do. That is called following the Guru. And if we do not follow, Even sincerely try to do what best we can do. That is called disobeying Guru. Which means disobeying God Himself. If I say, My Guru is God. And if I do not follow Him. It is equivalent to disobeying God Himself. That means, what is disobeying God? It means distancing oneself to God. What does it mean? God is Sat. I become Asat. God is Chit. I become Achit. God is Ananda. I become the very embodiment of Dukkha. So, Asat means the inability to live properly. Or let us say, a diseased person. Chit means what? An idiot. Brainless fellow. And of course, Dukkha means suffering. This is the truth. And we have to be very careful. That is the meaning of saying, Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu. Let us now discuss this concept of Guru. And that is what my Gurudev, Swami Yathishan Maharaj has written a special article saying that many people they become cultish. What is cultish? Let me discuss it a little bit. And then I will delve deep into this matter. So, what is cultish? Cult is, my Guru is the greatest Guru. No other Guru can be compared with Him. If at all any Guru is great, He is only much inferior to my Guru. Why does this cultishness really grow in a human being? First of all, the person who entertains, cherishes this kind of idea, he is an inferiority, suffering from inferiority complex. What is it? What is this cultishness? How does it express? When somebody praises my Guru, I go out of my way to bring him, make him sit, offer him sweets, and talk with him sweetly. I want to hear more of the praise of my own Guru. Let God forbid that if somebody happens to criticize my Guru, then he is the worst person, worst scoundrel in this whole world. What is behind this behavior? Simple. If someone says, my Guru is inferior Guru, what does it mean? That means, am I such a stupid fellow that I could not choose a good Guru? After searching for a long time, I fell into the clutches of a bad Guru. It reflects, it hurts, not my Guru's ego. He may be the great person, but it hurts my ego. But on the contrary, if somebody praises my Guru, how great I must be. I have chosen the right Guru. So the point is, it has nothing to do with our, what is called bloating, egotism, or what is called flattening, egotism. It has nothing to do. In fact, there is a great, one of our senior Swamis, Swami Bhajanandji Maharaj, used to say, the only job of a Guru is whittling away, lessening away the egotism of the disciple. And the Guru tries his level best to do that. So this is very important for us to understand, this Guru Sampradaya. First of all, who started this Guru Sampradaya? In many Upanishads, we get Mundako Upanishad. Then we get Kaivalya Upanishad. There was a great soul called Ashvalayana. He approached Parameshti himself, that is Saguna Brahma, Brahma himself, because Brahma is the first manifestation of Nirguna Brahma. And he started this Guru Sishya Sampradaya. In many other Upanishads also, the same thing comes. Prajapati is another story. Prajapati story we get in the Chandogya Upanishad, I think in the 7th chapter. So in every spiritual tradition, especially in Hindu tradition, Guru is considered not only equal to God, but even greater than God himself, or what we say, otherwise let us stop. That is why we should not chant Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwaraha, Guru Saksha Param Brahma, Asmai Sri Gurave Namaha. So this is not only deserving, but this is the highest truth. And so it goes without saying, that every sincere aspirant must consider one's own teacher as God himself. Not because we develop that feeling through great effort. No, because really our Guru, there is nobody else. Guru means Gnanam, Gnanam means Brahman himself. Brahma, Brahma Gnanam, Sathyam Gnanam, Anantam Brahma. That is the definition of Brahma. If we do not feel it, let us stop chanting this one. Then, do we really need a Guru? There are so many people. Now, you see, Sri Ramakrishna practiced his spiritual disciplines for the first time without the need of a Guru. His own Antaranga, his own inner heart, intuition, acted as a Guru. So, if Sri Ramakrishna could get it, and many people give the example of Ramana Maharshi, he never had any Guru. But one day, he became awakened. And many people expressed it to me so. I tell them, if you want, you are free anyway. Nobody can stop you. But don't blame either Ramana Maharshi or anybody. If you do not realize God, or if you realize God after a billion, billion, billion births, whereas the people who had Guru, they realized it long back. Don't go on blaming. Because you do not understand what happened before. How many Janmas that soul must have practiced under the strict thumb of his Guru. Then only, that Guru's teaching is still firmly rooted in his mind. And that has been practicing. And in this life, it became fructified. And that is the tip of the iceberg we see. Not the very root of it. So, certainly, Guru is none other than God. And nobody can teach really. So, do we really need a Guru? Once, somebody asked this question to Swami Brahmanandaji, for which he replied, even to become an expert pickpocket, we need a Guru. The scriptures tell us that knowledge obtained from a qualified Acharya alone becomes fruitful. That is why there is an interesting story in the Chandogya again. Narada. We don't know. It is the same Narada in Bhagavata Purana and other Puranas. Once approached Sanat Kumara, Sir, teach me. And Sanat Kumara asked him, What do you know so far? And all the knowledge that was prevalent on earth, including the Vedas, four Vedas, and all the hundreds of Upanishads, everything I have studied. And this comes in the Chandogya Upanishad. This story. So, if you had studied, I don't know whether he studied his own story also, which comes in the Chandogya Upanishad. Then Sanat Kumara smilingly asks him, Then why did you come to me? You are a Sarvajna. He says, No. So, I heard from our elders that only that knowledge, which issues from the mouth of a realized soul, alone becomes fruitful and really helpful. And then Sanat Kumara understands the worth of his disciple and then he starts teaching. So, for anything we require a Guru. First Guru, as we say, is the mother. Second Guru is the father. Third Guru is the Acharya. Fourth Guru, very interesting. Who is the fourth Guru? Every Tom, Dick and Harry. A dog is barking at you. It is a Guru. What is it barking? Fortunately, you don't understand how it is abusing you. You stupid fellow. You are not giving me food. You are selfish fellow. You are enjoying it yourself. Whole night, if necessary, it will din it into your ears. But fortunately, we ignore everything. So, Brahmanandaji used to tell us, without Guru, it is not possible. Why is it necessary? And so, this is where a beautiful teaching from the scriptures tells us why is a Guru necessary. And that is what Swami Brahmanandaji echoed. Scriptures are too many. And after just reading something from one scripture, one teaching. Another scripture, maybe just the opposite. And so many doubts come. If we do not have a doubt, when you read two scriptures, many doubts will come about both. So, Vedasya, and the Vedas are very, very subtle to understand. What does it mean? It means to see a very subtle object, we require a very subtle instrument. So, to understand the subtle truth, we require a subtle instrument. And that is what is called Vedas teachings are manifold. First comes Karma Kanda, then comes Upasana Kanda, finally comes Gnana Kanda. For that, life is divided by Hindus as Brahmachari Ashrama, Prihasta Ashrama, Vanaprastha Ashrama, Sanyasa Ashrama. Even the Sanyasa Ashrama starts with what we call Mahavakya Shramana. After Shramana, we don't know. God alone knows. How many lives? First step is Shramana. Second step is Manana. And how many Janmas are required even for Shramana? How many Janmas are necessary to practice Manana? What is Manana? Complete removal of all doubts, accepting that God alone is real. Everything else is only an appearance of truth, not reality, which is called Mithya. It is not non-existence. But it is partial understanding of Brahman is called the world. That is called Vedasya Athi Sukshmatvaat. So, after long time practice of Manana, when all doubts are completely removed, mind becomes completely restless to reach only God and that is called Nididhyasana. And so, to understand easily, to obtain the very essence of the Vedas, which usually comes in the form of what we call Diksha Mantra. That is enough for us. A Diksha Mantra is like a very beautifully constructed boat. And once the Guru sits us in that boat, the boat will never sink and it will not allow us to get out until we cross to the other side of the Samsara Sagara. Why? Gurum Vina Na Janathi. Impossible to fathom the very meaning of what is called Vedas. I will repeat this mantra. Very beautiful shloka. And then, Swami Brahman used to tell that one must strictly follow the injunctions of our teacher. But in the end, he says, our purified mind itself acts as a Guru. So, who is the physical Guru? Our unpurified mind which requires physical instructions, that manifests in the form of a human being or so, but not necessarily really. In Bhagavatam, we have the story of, beautiful story of Avadhuta who had 24 Gurus are there and then he understands that if we have the appropriate receptive radio mind, we can receive broadcast and enjoy everything. So, until our mind becomes purified and mind itself acts as the Guru, until that time, until we develop intuition, we need to follow tuition from the Guru. So, at our stage, not intuition, but unfortunately, we pretend to have intuition and that is the most dangerous thing. How do we know that we are pretending? We are not real. Very simple. If a person is sick, he goes to the hospital, meets a doctor and is diagnosed and then is prescribed medicine. How do we know the diagnosis is right and the prescription is correct? Go on taking the medicine. If everything is okay, slowly, gradually, maybe, I must be getting back my health. If not, there is something wrong. Usually, we are not following the prescription of the God. So, in the form of questions and answers, we will deal with this subject. Is it possible to progress in spiritual life without the help of a Guru? Yes, in exceptional cases, it is possible to progress without the aid of the Guru. For example, we have Ramakrishna undertaking sadhana without the help of any Guru or scripture. But we must remember that he had absolute faith in the Divine Mother and was endowed with intense yearning. And in his case, the Divine Mother herself undertook to guide him. Very interesting incidents were there. Ramakrishna took up the worship of the Divine Mother in the Kali temple. For that, he had to be initiated. He was initiated into the Shakti mantra by a teacher called Kinaram Bhattacharya. Kinaram Bhattacharya was a great sadhaka himself. And as soon as the Guru uttered the mantra in the ears of his disciple, which is here, Ramakrishna himself, he gave a big shout and fell down unconsciously. And that is most marvelous for us to understand. He had a special experience. Kinaram Bhattacharya understood it and understood my disciple is far greater than myself. He was really a great soul. So, but we should never forget after attaining God realization, including Nirvikalpa Samadhi, purely with the help of the Divine Mother, he also practiced second time the same thing with the help of Guru, scripture, certain implements, etc. Now Ramakrishna was initiated. He started doing puja and earnest prayer sprang from the very bottom of his heart. Oh Mother, I do not know anything. I am a fool. And then how to do puja? What comes first? What comes next? What is the krama order in which one has to do puja? Very interesting. So the Divine Mother herself used to voice Now do the achyamana. Now do the shuddhi. Now do the nyasa. Now do the manasika puja. Now do the vahya puja. Offer. And then at last how you utter this mantra and offer naivedya. How many days? Within a few days, he started advancing so fast that sometimes the offering bhoga was ready and Sairam Krishna has not even completed bathing. You know, small children and especially their favorite food is there. Mother says go and finish your brushing your teeth. Then you will get first class halwa or whatever it is. I am very generous. That is why I am telling. I would have told idli and chutney. And then these fellows will just enter into the bathroom like lightning and come out. And then we have finished. Sit down. Of course the mother understands it. So, but everyday she will not allow it. So this Sairam Krishna was saying that the divine mother has fallen eating the naivedya and Sairam Krishna was saying no, no, no. Don't touch food now. I have not uttered the mantra. You have no right to eat the food You will have uttered the naivedya mantra. Such was his eagerness that the whole thing became upside down. What a marvelous thing it is. So it is possible when a person has such kind of pure mind where he has already advanced so much his mind. But what we need to understand in most of the cases such person must have followed janma janma mantra, a guru to develop such kind of intuitive mind. But it is just to say we do not see it. This is the first thing. Is it possible to progress in spiritual life? Not at all. Who is a guru really? Definition of a guru is there. Gokaro andhaka rastu rikara tat nivartakaha andhaka nivartiyatu guru iti avidhiyate So what does it mean? Gokara, go means andhaka and ru means the destruction of the darkness, ignorance destruction of the ignorance andhaka nivartiyatu because a guru is one whose knowledge dispels completely the darkness of ignorance. The very definition of guru is guru iti avidhiyate Now we will continue a little bit before we discuss further. Mr. Choudhary, Sir, is it not possible to have the vision of God without the help of a guru master? Remember, let us always keep in mind when Shri Ram Krishna is answering, he was not like an ordinary person. He could gauze the depths of the questioner, whether he is a believer in God, whether he is a fit person. So what we are expecting, what type of answer we are expecting from Shri Ram Krishna may not be exactly that one because he is addressing only that particular person's query and we have to understand. Shri Ram Krishna gives a suitable reply which is exactly what the other person can understand and that doesn't go beyond his head. So, is it not possible to have the vision of God without the help of a guru? And Shri Ram Krishna reveals something marvelous. Satchitananda himself is the guru and then he gives a beautiful example from the tantric sadhana at the end of the shavasadhana. By the way, many times I have mentioned during the talk and by the way we have completed hundred talks on the gospel of Shri Ram Krishna. Today's talk is the first century I have completed and the second century I have started. Shri Ram Krishna says Satchitananda himself is the guru. There can be no other guru. Then what about other gurus? They are nothing but manifestations of Satchitananda himself. So, at the end of shavasadhana in tantricism, tantric practices, something called aspirant goes to a crematorium and many corpses used to be dragged there in those days because they were low caste and committed some sins and they never used to be burned properly. The sadhakas they sit on the shavas and then they have some implements with them, some food material particularly called like puffed rice, flattened rice, some material is there, it is called koi made out of rice only and then sits and does the practice of japa. Most effective I can guarantee you, you go at midnight into this mashana and that peculiar sound of crickets etc. will be there and a thousand ghosts will be dancing there and you are sitting on the body of a shava and your heart spontaneously runs to the lotus feet of the Divine Mother. I have absolutely no doubt about it and every whispering sound appears to be hectic laughter of a ghost slowly approaching you to swallow you up. So now and then the shava suddenly comes to life, opens its mouth, I will swallow you up. Immediately he takes a little bit of this koi and utters a bit of mantra because his guru told him this is how you have to do and by the way this is allowed only to very advanced sadhakas and then puts this koi in the mouth and for the time being it becomes satisfied and the sadhaka goes on with his japa etc. That is the way it is done. This is what Sri Ramakrishna is referring here. At the end of the shava sadhana just when the vision of the ishta is about to take place, the guru appears before the aspirant and says to him behold there is your ishta. So the guru appears points out the ishta devata says look there that is your ishta devata and then what happens saying this the guru merges in the ishta meaning what it was the ishta who emerged from the ishta devata only the guru and in the form of a guru was guiding his sincere disciple only sincere disciples if the disciple is insincere his guru will be even more insincere that is why the law of reciprocity yatha raja tatha praja our government will be a representative of our own dark side of the nature or good side also so if we are deserving our guru will be also very deserving there is no doubt about it so this is what Guru and Sachidananda are not two different things now in our scriptures as I told you I have gone very deep into some of these esoterics of these all these spiritual mysteries what does a guru really do and that is what is telling one of the scriptures tells us a guru saves a devotee from six fold dangers first jnana ignorance of true destiny and the wrong means what does the guru do destroys the ignorance first crystal clear this is your destiny who is the destiny God is the destiny not money, not worldliness not family not power, not position not beauty nothing and many people even when they pretend, profess that they want God they are following wrong means so for them also the guru very compassionately removes the wrong means either through reward or punishment this is called agnana nirvrutti that is the first duty of a guru of course correspondingly what is the second one samshaya way of progress if the disciple whenever he gets because at every step we can have doubts samshaya nivarana complete removal of the doubts because the doubts at one stage may not be the doubts at another stage, I will give very interesting example there was a many years back, probably 60 years there was a Jewish Rabbi in America he was purely a believer in God so he thought of course these people there is no monasticism encouraged in Judaism that's why all of them are supposed to marry only and beget children and propagate the human numbers etc this Rabbi of course very good man and he followed without deviating what we call the full stop and the comma really he was a good person he had a daughter 80 years old and she suffered horribly and she died suddenly this devout man had developed a terrible doubt he says if God is good then he must be powerless because I prayed so much my daughter was also so good but if God is all powerful I think he may not be good so both qualities goodness and all powerfulness cannot exist in the same God because God is all knowing and he knows what to do and he wants to do that is called goodness but unfortunately he doesn't have the power to do it so that is why he wished everything well but went on looking he did not save my daughter of course now hopefully humanity has grown but Hinduism has removed all these problems at a stroke saying that God is not responsible God is responsible then third what is the first one? Agnana following that one doubts what is the third one? I did not complete that story this Rabbi had written a book even now it is available and I forgot the title but what it means is God is either good or powerless both at the same time and many people experienced similar we are experiencing even today Israel is on October 7th and the Gaza people everyday so they must be also having doubt even though they dare not express their opinion but that book became one of the best sellers and I had just glimpsed at it because I know the shallow arguments that followed so I just thought how could this book become such a best seller did people really lose their brains of course from Hindu perspective that is the truth and then sometimes the disciple because of or because of some deviation deviation of the mind wrong or erroneous knowledge misunderstandings means understanding wrongly doubt there is always he doesn't know whether it is right or wrong but he is convinced what I am cherishing is absolutely right but Guru gently removes that then fourth Guru accidentally saves carelessness or involuntary danger I mentioned a story very briefly I will mention there was a Brahmachari Mahapurush Maharaj Swami Sivanandaji was the President of the Ramakrishna Order this Brahmachari was sent for relief work he completed it successfully and came back with a batch of volunteers who were all praised for his selfless activity and day and night he used to work and they closed the relief camp came back and the devotees gathered near President Maharaj he enquired everything and he was so pleased that the Brahmachari whom he had sent has behaved so nicely meanwhile the Brahmachari went, took bath, went to the temple made his pranams then a little later entered into the room of the President and Mahapurush Maharaj as soon as he saw him his whole face has changed he started abusing him right and left and it was horrible doubly horrible first of all he was expecting perhaps praise secondly in front of all the people his admirers to be scolded in front of people who admire us who do not know our faults is a terrible thing I tell you so if you want to criticize somebody criticize that person in front of people who admire him then you will hurt him doubly or triply so this is called Pramadaha and then in the evening the Brahmachari again came his face as we call it castor oil face and then Mahapurush Maharaj after talking with everybody at night after everybody went away he explained my boy do you know why I have scolded you he said no Maharaj see I could see that Ahamkara had risen in you it may not be sprouting now but after a few years whenever you start recollecting then first you start comparing what are these fellows doing the way I have done relief work and then oh how marvelously I have done and day by day like a huge banyan tree the Ahamkara will be growing and growing and growing but whenever in future you remember you remember my scolding immediately you get reminded of your Ahamkara and it is not going to harm you this is how Sadgurus save a person physically also physical Pramadaha, danger Shri Ram Krishna was at Kasipur and all his disciples wanted to have a lot of fun, Shri Ram Krishna was nothing but a fun master even until his passing away so they wanted to extract juice of palm tree and it gives very good intoxication lot of sweets are made out of it, they have to cut a notch and then hang a pot, slowly the bark of the palm tree oozes out some juice, plenty of juice in fact, that is called palm juice, out of it palm sugar, palm jaggery is made which has its own very special flavor but if you put it for a few days it will give you what is called effect of Somarasa from Mananda Sagara so the boys wanted to celebrate, there was a palm tree and they decided to do it next morning, at night holy mother was taking the food she had to climb the very steep staircase and today those of you who have gone there to Kasipur Sri Ram Krishna was in that stage where he could not move from side to side suddenly Sri Ram Krishna like Arjuna's arrow came down and passed, holy mother was startled, how is it possible for this man who could not move from one side to the other side but what to do she was doubting her own vision but she took hardly 3-4 steps and like again Arjuna's arrow like Brahmastra it is said it will destroy whatever is there and comes back into the hand at least the Chakra of Bhagwan Krishna does the same job so Sri Ram Krishna again entered into his room and like that he was mourning and holy mother entered put her food down and said where have you been where me, me, where no no I have seen you tell me then Sri Ram Krishna explained children wanted to have some fun there is a very ferocious very angry cobra and I went and I warned it to move to the next garden I don't know whether Sri Ram Krishna had some other fellows in his mind so never again enter into this place and it went away and I came back so that his children could enjoy so many times the Guru himself removes all these problems even before it could occur like a loving mother removes all problems of the children whatever might come whatever she may think like that this is called Pramadaha that is another type of mentality prejudiced knowledge got influenced by other people's views so Viparyaya is completely wrong conclusion Vipralabdhi is adopting some other persons which is not suitable for one's own self it is called prejudiced it doesn't know the truth and that is why whatever Guru does this is not correct view this is the correct view so this is one that is there otherwise what happens in Mandakopanishad there is one so those who are thinking that we are very wise people go round and round this samsara chakra and many people are there to follow them they are called this is called Andha Parampara the tradition of following other blind fellows following one blind fellow this is the fifth one then there is a last one that is Apakaranatvam that is limitations of the devotees capabilities most of us are under severe limitation it is not possible for us to obtain that highest Amrita that comes from the mouth of the Guru but out of infinite compassion the Guru somehow slowly guides the devotee so that even with limited instruments he will be able to grasp a larger hole and as I mentioned the final work of a Guru is the destruction or whittling away, you know what is whittling away, take a small stick and you make it fine like a pencil like that go on whittling away until the Ahankara becomes how you know Mandakopanishad gives the simile of a sharpened arrow Upasa Nishitam and then these are the six Agnana, Samsaya, Viparyaya, Pramadaha, Vipralabdhehi and Apakaranatvam these are the main important points and how and when shall we find a Guru or when does a Guru really appear Swami Vivekananda used to say I quoted it earlier it is a mysterious law of nature that as soon as the field is ready the seed must come as soon as the soul wants religion a transmitter of religious force must come the seeking sinner meeteth the seeking saviour this is a invariable law it must happen when the power that attracts in the receiving soul is full and ripe the power which answers to that attraction must come there is no power on earth which can remove it so this is what happens will the Guru really come when we need guidance, guidance will come simple English translation is Guru means guidance and guidance will come when we really need it today's talk I will just give a beautiful example by Sairam Krishna himself, there was a traveller and he wanted to go to particular village so he was travelling, he came to a place where the road forked itself into two one is going to the left side another is going to the right side and then there was a tree, under the tree a man was sitting idly and this man went and politely requested I want to go to such and such a village will you tell me there are two roads I see which road should I follow and that man as if he was sleeping did not hear at all fully awake, so many times this man requested shouted, no reply came and the man in disgust he started walking, took a particular road and advanced little bit and the man under the tree shouted hey come here and after lot of shouting this man did not want to come to such a person who never answered him in the first instance but he came back, why are you shouting no you told me that you want to go to that particular village yes you are taking a wrong road that will not take you to that village you take the other road and the first man said in the first place, why did you not tell me the same thing the man said, so many people ask me this question but they have no intention of following any road that is why I just withheld my breath I didn't want to waste my time but when I saw, really you are travelling you are in earnest in reaching that village, I wanted to guide you and this is a beautiful answer, when we are really in earnest when we are thirsty for God when we are yearning for God definitely the guidance will come and when it comes, usually through a human form that is called a Guru many marvelous things are there we will talk about them in our future class Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padmetayos Ritva Pranamami Mohur Moho May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti, Jai Ramakrishna