Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 103 on 02-January-2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

So we have entered into the year 2024. Every passing day we are approaching the end of our life. But I wish you all very peaceful, happy, spiritual new year. Let us continue our gospel study, meditation actually. So in our last class we have been talking about the concept of Guru. There are so many things we have to understand. One of the most important things we need to understand is how come most of us have Gurus and yet we are not progressing in spiritual life. What could be the reason? Because we are not accepting the Guru. What do I mean by that? If anybody says I have tremendous faith in the Bhagavad Gita but not at all following even one simple instruction, teaching of Bhagawan Shri Krishna that such a person should not be considered as a devotee of either Gita or Bhagawan, any Bhagawan. So this we can apply to every religion. The followers of most religions, they take an oath that our scripture is coming directly from God. Sakshat swayam Bhagawan's mukha, from the mouth. And yet hardly we find anybody following the scriptures. Even in an attempt not merely following but even striving to follow, we do not see it. Because there is a marvelous law of karma. What is that law of karma? If we take one step forward, we will be one step nearer to God. Karma and karma phala are intimately connected together. There cannot be any karma without yielding its result. And if we are happy, that means we have produced the causes of happiness. If we are unhappy, we ourselves have produced the causes of unhappiness. This is what we need to again and again drive into our brains that I am responsible, I am the God who created me, my universe. That is the essence of karma siddhanta. So this concept of Guru, we have to presume that Guru is absolutely necessary. So we will repeat the question put by one Mr. Choudhury who came to attend one of the satsangs by Shri Ram Krishna himself. So this devotee, and he must have been extraordinarily fortunate, equal to Arjuna because Arjuna asked directly and got the answers also directly. So whether Mr. Choudhury knew about Shri Ram Krishna's real nature, who he really is or not, the effect will be the same whether we touch fire consciously or unconsciously. The effect of the fire will be absolutely the same. He is putting the question, Sir, is it not possible to have the vision of God without the help of a Guru? We have to rephrase everything that is there so that we can understand it easily. This is a very nice method of studying scriptures. Simply don't study the scriptures and repeat the words parrot-like. If any question is there, then put it in your own words. If any translation is there, put it in your own language. I assure you, things become much much easier. That is what I do all the time. I don't depend upon anybody else. So is it possible to have the vision of God? Big world. Vision is a big world. God, again a big world. You know, simply rephrased. How can we ask this question? Is it possible to move forward, to progress in life without the help of somebody who knows about it? No, it is not possible. In that context, let us really recollect what the teacher, Guru means teacher, teacher means helper. Helper means a person who himself had taken the help of somebody, experimented and experienced God. I like to substitute the word God with more and more happiness, more and more purity, more and more clarity, more and more joy. Why do I say so? Because, supposing, just imagine as an example. There is fire and it's very cold and you are slowly approaching the fire. The nearer you approach to the fire, the more heat you get. And metaphorically speaking, when you fall into the fire, then you become the fire. That means you acquire the quality of the fire, which is you can give heat to everybody, anybody. But the condition is that person should approach. So, what does Guru mean or what does Shishya mean? Shishya means who approaches the fire. What is the Darshtanta? What is the example meant for? God is defined so beautifully in our scriptures as Sat, pure, pure existence, Chit, wisdom, Ananda, unbroken bliss. As we approach, like we approach fire and we become more pure, we obtain more wisdom spontaneously, intuition, and our bliss becomes more and more and more. This is an infallible test. Are you progressing? Instead of asking, am I progressing? Ask, as I said, in your own words, am I becoming less and less selfish, more unselfish? That is called purity. Am I understanding things properly? That is called wisdom. And how do we know? Because understanding is not merely an intellectual activity. It is a transformation of life itself. So, am I getting bliss? The purer we become, the more wiser we become, the greater will be our experience of happiness. Coming to what we call bolts and nuts of practical life, a Sadguru can help us save from sixfold dangers. Whom? A devotee who is open, who is a yogi, who is ready to receive the teachings of the Guru. First, Ajnana, ignorance. That is, he gives verbally, of course, intellectually, of course, the truth, the goal of life. Then, if we have doubts, if we have wrong or erroneous knowledge, misunderstanding, he will completely remove. Most of us, especially some religions, I do not want to name them, are brainwashing there. If you do this, if you kill somebody, if you destroy somebody, then Allah will be pleased. It is like saying, one child is telling to other children that if you destroy yourselves, then mother and father will be highly pleased with you. So, kill each other. It is like saying that one, but we must understand, we attribute it to God himself. That is called, Then, we do not intend, but moments of carelessness, we fall into involuntary danger. And Guru can save us. I have given several examples, especially the incident of one Pashupati Maharaj Swami Vijayananda. Later on, how his Mahapurush Maharaj Swami Sivanandaji scolded him and removed his rising ego, but it was in a seived form. Then, means we are highly prejudiced. The wars that are being fought now are not fought on principles. They are not fought on human values. They are not fought on Dharma. They are fought on purely, irrationally. We are belonging to one religion. Anybody who does anything to us, especially what we perceive to be wrong, whether it is justified or not, rationality doesn't come into this. We will all gather together. And that is the greatest danger that is being manifest practically in every country, especially in our country. This is called Vipralabdhi, that is prejudiced knowledge. We are all prejudiced people. So this is called Andha Parampara. Then the last obstacle is Apahakarnatva, limitations of instruments. So my mind has a limited capacity. The Guru, out of His grace, makes space, makes us understand. Even though we do not deserve sometimes, He will give us. Then where can we get such a Guru? I have quoted Swami Vivekananda. When the field is ready, the seed must come. When a person is ready to receive, the giver must come. The problem is not the giver. The problem is the receiver. And you apply this universally across any field. If I am hungry, food must come. If I am hungry for knowledge, knowledge must come. But provided we are ready to receive the help. This is one of the greatest secrets, teachings, secret teaching of the Veda. Veda means really secret teaching. You can read, anybody can read. But to understand is a different matter. So what is it? Why so many people are suffering? And they are wholeheartedly praying. But if the field is ready, why is not the seed coming? This would be rephrasing the question. The answer is the field is not ready. The field simply rejects. That means we are the fields. Our body-mind is called Kshetrajna. We are walking in the opposite direction to God. We are not walking towards God. We are walking away from the fire. We are walking away from light. We are walking away from God. God wants to give. How much? What is called? God has a terrible limitation. And this word limitation can be understood in two ways. The first thing is God doesn't know how to give anything less than God. Just like take the example of light. So light doesn't say that I will give you only small. Whatever light is there, available, the whole light is ours. Anybody's. God is of the nature of Jnanam. So He doesn't give us. He cannot give us anything less than that pure Jnanam. But that is His limitation. Means what? He is incapable of giving, accepting the whole of Himself. What is His other limitation, second limitation? He wants to give. But it is the lack of the receiver. So God is severely limited by His own children, who are not capable of receiving what He wants to give. What am I driving at? That God wants to give. When does He want to give? He is waiting 24 hours a day, 365 days in a year, life after life. Not one, for a single second is He taking rest. This was what Sri Ramakrishna meant in the Gospel. The breeze of God's grace is always blowing unfurl your sails. That means make yourself ready to receive. Every statement that comes out from the mouth of any Avatar, including Sri Ramakrishna, we have to plumb the very depths through our sadhana. Sadhana is like digging. Digging is practical. Simply sitting in an easy chair and saying I am digging is not going to help. Sadhana is to make ourselves. What does a person do when he digs? Whatever amount he can dig, that pit, that hole is ready to receive anything. It could be water. It could be rain. It could be snow. It could be rasagullas. It could be anything. So it is up to us. That is what Sri Ramakrishna means. So how much do you want? I want everything. I say I want everything. But when we are hungry, we feel, Sri Ramakrishna says, a delirious patient, I will eat 20 kg of rice. And then the physician says, yes, yes, definitely. First, my good man, you become pure. You are ready. Get rid of this malarial fever, typhoid fever. I will drink gallons of water. Yes, you can definitely. They are ready to give you. But you have to be fit to eat and to drink. The problem is not on our part. The problem is on your part. This is what Sri Ramakrishna means. God is ever ready. The question is, are we ready? And this is the question, where can we get a Guru? Because so many people say, where can we get a Guru? Guru is available where? Who is a Guru? Sri Ramakrishna says, Sachidananda is the Guru. And where is Sachidananda? Where is God? God is everywhere. And God is for all time. He is beyond time, beyond space. He is everywhere. He is available always. Then why am I not getting? Because we have to become fit. We have to become what we call Yogi Adhikaris. This is what in Vedantic language is called Sadhana Chatushtaya Sampannaha. Adhikari. We must become fit recipients. Then what happens? Just now I said, where is this God? God comes in the form of a Guru. What is a Guru? Guru is an appropriate teaching that can help us in every field. Are you a musician? Then Guru or teaching comes in the form of more and more musical knowledge. Are you an artist? Knowledge comes. God comes in the form of a Guru. And Guru is nothing but an embodiment of knowledge. And you want to become a scientist? A good cook? A good driver? A good thief? A good pickpocket? A good husband? A good wife? A good student? A good parent? Why am I mentioning all this? Because if you read even any type of even the most basic psychological book, you will get we are full of defects. What is psychology? To understand what problems are there with us and to ferret them out, to deal with them one by one, to remove them like thorns. And then what do we need to do? We don't need to do anything. Because as soon as we make space, everything that is the best, Sat, Chit and Ananda will come and fill in. So everywhere we can learn. I forget there was a great English poet whom Swami Vivekananda was very fond of. And he used to say, to see the whole universe in a dew drop, one small dew drop on the delicate petal of a rose can reflect the entire universe. You don't need the biggest mirror. But do you have the capacity to understand that dew petal and look into it and do you have the capacity to see it? So our scriptures are full of wisdom and today I have decided to tell you a story from the greatest of all the Puranas called Srimad Bhagavatam. And this is the story of where can we get a Guru. So where can we get? Nature. Open your eyes. Parents are the teachers. Neighbors are the teachers. Every incident in life is a teacher. Trees are teachers. Mountains are teachers. All the pancha bhutas are teachers. Birds are teachers. Animals are teachers. Other human beings are teachers. Before going deep, I'll just give you one example of Sri Ramakrishna. He learned from nature. What did he learn? He was a keen observer and he was observing life itself. And then he says, here is a baby born. Parents are supremely happy. He becomes what we call the apple of a parent's eyes. He becomes honey. Sweeter than honey. And after a few days, the baby dies. What joy! And what grief! This is what Bhagavan Krishna also wants to say. So whatever is born, everything is destined to die. So Brahma also, what does he do? So, Prabhavanti aha ragame. So as soon as daylight comes, the whole Srishti comes into being. When night comes, again they go back from where they were. Whatever is born. Born means what? Previously we cannot see, hear, touch, taste, smell. It is called unmanifest. Everything comes from unmanifest. There is wood and a chair comes out. But the chair was not there before. But an intelligent carpenter brings it out. That is called birth of a chair. Then it becomes old. House becomes old. Mountains become old. Stars become old. Whether living or non-living. They have birth. They have a period of sustenance. And they go on becoming older and older. And scientists are predicting there was a time when the Himalayas were not there. And there will be a time when there will be no Himalayas. The moon, the sun, the stars, entire cosmos, entire what is called our galaxy, everything is coming into being, living for some time and disappearing. This is the life story of everything in this world. So Shri Ramakrishna observed it and said, hardly these people got a baby and he dies. What joy he gave! And he called it also grief he had caused. Did he cause? This is the question we have to pause and ask. Did the baby give them joy? Did the baby give them grief? Not at all. Ask the baby. Did you give the joy? He looks blank. He doesn't even understand what we are asking him. Then who gave them joy? Our own attachment gave us joy. And our own separation gave us grief. Nobody can give us happiness or unhappiness. It's only our own mind, if it is Raga, attached, then we get happiness when we get. Unhappiness when we don't get it. So union and separation. Likes and dislikes. Life is nothing but that. So Shri Ramakrishna is telling, if only people wake up. It is not that Shri Ramakrishna was teaching them not to get married, not to have children. No. For that also he has a story of a farmer. I don't want to go on repeating. If you are students of Gospel, then you should be able to, just by mentioning, you should be able to remember the whole thing. Like somebody had slapped you 30 years back, the moment anything associated with that person comes, immediately you remember it in vivid, unforgettable scenery. So much of masala also is added meanwhile. We ourselves add it. It should come like that, whenever we talk about the Gospel. There was a farmer, he had only one son, and one day the son dies, and his wife sent for him, and he came, there was not a single tear, and she turned, all her anger, what a hard person, what is called heartless person you are. And he said, My dear, yesterday, I dreamt I was a king, I had seven princesses. He did not fortunately mention how beautiful the queen was in his dream. When I woke up, the whole kingdom gone, queen gone, all the seven princesses have gone, now shall I weep for them, or shall I weep, he did not say in brackets, for this wretched fellow, who gave so much trouble to you and to me, to both, he was a Jnani, Shri Ram Krishna, I hope you understand it. Meditate upon these truths, that is the purpose of this study. So, Shri Ram Krishna is telling, two brothers are there, and they are quarreling over what? Just one foot of land, that belongs to me, that belongs to me. And meanwhile, if the court case goes on, the person incurs debts, or one of them might die also, this is the story. A huge country, not satisfied, terribly greedy, wants to grab a small country, which is happily living there, can't see the happiness of that small island, but wants to grab it. And the egotism knows, no limits at all. What do you want? You are a bigger country, you are not making your own people happy. So many millions, are literally committing suicide. It means unhappy life. Why don't you look after them, instead of trying to intimidate other people, and to try to grab helpless people, and enslave them. This is the story of the whole world, perhaps excepting India. Now, Sri Ram Krishna tells us, Man, awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is reached. Observe life. Life itself will give you every lesson that we need. Why? How? Because nature is nothing but God. God Himself is manifesting in the form of this entire world. He is the living. He is the non-living. He is the poor. He is the rich. He is the helpless. He is the most powerful. He is the most learned. He is the illiterate. He is the mountains. He is the Panchabhoothas. There is nothing excepting Him. But we can learn from this. So, as I promised you, this is the following story, most marvelous story. Ram Krishna just takes a few bits, elaborates in his own inimitable way. Ram Krishna was an inimitable speaker. And we will deal with it before we go further into the gospel. Why do you think that I am entering into this Bhagavatam, Mahabharatam and so many other things? Because just as the entire Mahabharata is the commentary on Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters. How many Parvas, chapters? Mahabharata has 18 chapters. They are nothing but pure commentary. The essence of Mahabharata is the Gita. That's why Mahabharata is called Panchama Veda, the fifth Veda. Very easy language. But it doesn't mean the ideas are easy. Ideas are wonderful, easy. Easy means anybody can superficially understand them. So without further ado, let us delve into it. So there was a great soul. His name was Dattatreya. And he was one of the most blissful persons in the world whom we rarely meet. Once, while Dattatreya was roaming happily in a forest. Forest means what? Wild animals are there, cruel animals are there. Things are not easy, walking is not easy. So much of danger can be there. But unconcerned, very happily he was walking. And fortunately, most fortunately, there was a king called Yadu. And they met. And just like your Samadhi and Swaradha. The Swaradha, the king. Sumedha, the Vaishya, rich person, merchant. Both of them met a great Rishi called Sumedha. And the result is Durga Saptashati. So this king met. And on seeing Dattatreya so happy, he asked him, Sir, what is the secret of your happiness? And who is the name of your Guru? In reply, Dattatreya said that Atmar alone was his Guru. What did Sri Ramakrishna say? Sachidananda alone is the Guru. And yet he had learned wisdom from 24 Gurus Who were there? The Gurus. Who were all the Gurus? Entire nature, world. Who are these Gurus? The earth, water, air, fire, sky. Means Pancha Buddhas. The moon, the sun, whom we see every day. Pigeon, python, the ocean, the moth, the bee, the honey gatherer, an elephant, a deer, a fish, a dancing girl called Pingala, a raven is just like a crow, a child, a maiden, unmarried maiden, a serpent, an arrow maker, a spider, and the last, a humble, lowly insect called beetle. So what did he learn? Then he explains. These are marvelous stories. I learned from the earth. First is earth. Every day we are building, we are destroying the earth, cutting down forests, but earth is known for the patience, patience, endurance. I learned patience, endurance. And then not only that, the more, the deeper we dig the mother earth, the greater will be the fruits that we receive in the form of sweetest water. And then she gives us all the most marvelous things. Sometimes I wonder, when you are chewing or eating the sweetest mango, drinking the juice of the sweetest orange, or a peach, or eating a marvelous banana, any fruit for that matter, everything is wonderful, including bitter gold, because nothing like bitter gold to keep our health up. I am lucky. What does it do? It is continuously doing good. There is a beautiful Sanskrit saying that the more a sandalwood tree is being cut down with an axe, the more sandalwood fragrance is imparted by the tree to that very axe which is cutting it down. That's why Holy Mother is compared to Dhatri, Dharitri, Bhumi, Kshama Sarupini, for it endures. And what did I learn from water, Jala? I learned the quality of purity, because one of the greatest purifying agents is water. That's why we take bath every day. And when we drink also, it purifies our body inside, when we take bath outside, when we clean anything. So, purity. And what do I learn from air? Air, though moving everywhere, never gets attached to anything. If there is something fragrant, it carries it further. If something is foul-smelling, that also it carries. But air itself never gets contaminated. So, I have learned from the air to be without any attachment. What did Avadhuta learn from the Akasha? From the sky, that the Atman or the soul of everybody is as all-pervading, as unattached as the sky. What did he learn from the moon? Atman is always perfect and changeless, but if we see the moon as if moving through the clouds, it is only the Upadhis, limiting agents, body, mind and all our samskaras that make us see it more or less. What did he learn from the sun? Sun is reflected in various mediums, appears in muddy water as unclear reflection, pure water, clear reflection. And if it is solar panel, it gives so much of heat. India is blessed. In Rajasthan, you can cook food, you can cook anything and you can generate any amount of and it is not heat and it is not polluting. You can create electricity and now after so many years, human beings are learning how to generate, use these very waters, etc. So Brahman appears different because of the Upadhis, but the sun is never made contaminated or impure. Then there is a mother pigeon. This is a small, very small story. He describes it a little more elaborately, but I am only shortening it. There was a pigeon family. It has some, what is called baby pigeons. Once a hunter spread a net and the baby pigeons fell and the mother, who became blind because of her attachment to her babies, also flew down and then it was also caught and the male, the husband, because of his attachment to his wife and children, fell down and the hunter took away the entire family, all because of attachment. We should never be attached to anything. I learned that attachment is the cause of bondage and unending suffering. What did Avadhuta learn from the python? Python is a huge anaconda. It doesn't move about for its food. What does it do? It just waits. And thinking that it is something immovable like a piece of stone or wood, many animals pass by and once it comes, all it needs to do is open its mouth. If you remember, there was one, I forget the name, one python who wanted to swallow Krishna and Krishna, knowingly, smilingly, he went inside and started burning and it was so painful like too much of acid being produced in the stomach, the python finally, its stomach is burst open and it dies. What does it mean? It means the python was the greatest devotee of God and God entered into it and then God granted. What can God give? Only pure knowledge. Whomsoever God killed, he attains God. Every asura, how fortunate they were. Just Putana fed him, maybe poison, but who gave her the idea to feed poison? Kaliya wanted to kill Krishna through poison. Then when somebody asked, Bhagavan himself is dancing on your head, imprinting your head with his footprints so that you will be, he is certifying you that you are my intimate devotees. Who can destroy? Then Kaliya, it seems, piteously said, what can I offer? What he gave me, I can only give it back to him. And Krishna accepted it. And if anybody sincerely offers it to God, even if it be poison, just like poison was offered to Mirabai and she offered it to Krishna, instantaneously it turned into Amrita. Instead of killing, it enlightened her. So, this Kaliya had become freed, Mukta. And Garuda wanted to kill him. But when Garuda saw, he bowed down to Kaliya. My God has certified that you are one of his greatest. Because the footprints of Krishna were firmly visible, embedded on the head. Similarly, Bali Chakravarthi. God himself has put his foot and wherever God puts his foot, that person becomes, turns into God himself. So here, the python doesn't move around, but food comes to eat. This is called Ajagara Vritti. And some spiritual aspirants adopt this methodology. They just live. And there are so many incidents in the life of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. And only one story I will tell you. So one day, some disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, once they were in Vrindavan. And there is a faith that in Vrindavan, Radha Rani is the ruling queen, not Krishna. And these disciples decided, we will test Radha Rani. Whether she is really, it is only a superstition, or it is called blind belief, or is it a fact. We will not go out for begging. Let us see if she knows we are existing, and if she wants to feed us or not. Miracle of miracles. So whole night they were fasting. But what were they doing? They were only meditating upon Mother Radha. And then, early morning somebody came. Plenty of marvelous goodies. So, how did this happen? Who came? Mother Radha Rani herself has come, in the form of the food, Annapurna, to feed her own children, because they relied upon her. So, Jagara Vruthi, the person simply stays put, and then, Mother will supply. But one has to depend upon God. So, like python, I don't go on begging sometimes. I just rely upon God, and God provides me. Then, the next Guru was ocean. What is that ocean? Just as the ocean remains unmoved, even though hundreds of rivers fall into it, it doesn't swell with pride. And when the same water is sucked by the sun, it doesn't feel that somebody is depriving me. So, this Samudra always remains full. So, whether things come, things are taken away, it doesn't matter. There was a beautiful incident. I have the tendency to repeat them. You must have heard. It was winter season, just like now. Swami Brahmanandaji was there under a tree. Severe cold. He was sitting and meditating. A merchant was passing by in a carriage. So, he saw the sadhu. Immediately, he came down, bowed down, and he brought a very warm blanket, placed it, without disturbing, he bowed down and went away. After a few minutes, another man was passing. He saw the blanket, and he also came, bowed down, and took away the prasada. And Swami Brahmanandaji was observing both, without any reaction. God gave, God has taken away. This is the lesson. Although I learned from the ocean that water comes, water goes, but I am full. This is the lesson I learned. Things come, things go, but I remain full. Then there is a moth. A moth is famous. Whenever a moth finds fire, immediately it has a tendency to consume itself by falling into the fire. So, just as the moth being an armoured of the brilliance of the fire, falls into it and is burned. What is the lesson? The lesson is people blindly follow into the fire. Fire of what? Samsara Agni. This ocean or the gem where there are crocodiles, sharks, so many dangerous animals or the creatures are there and Samsara Sagara. So, we should not be burnt in the Samsara if we are feeling burnt. Burnt means what? Suffering. It is because we had long fallen without thinking about the dangers we might encounter. And you see, subtle way of understanding it is, supposing here is a young man and he wants to get married for the sake of his growing kamana, desire to enjoy. And he gets married and the entire Samsara Bhara falls upon him. Then he becomes attached. Similarly, wife also becomes attached to the husband. Children will come and they will have no rest. Children may turn out to be good or evil and both pleasure and pain they have to undergo. The fellow has to work like a donkey 24 hours a day thinking, how can I maintain my family, etc., etc. So, just like that, the person, he can suffer. So, that is how we get attached. Then there is the example of black bee. What does it do? The honey bee, what does it do? It sucks the honey from different flowers and does not suck it only from one flower. So, I become, this is called Madhukari Vritti. One earlier I mentioned, Ajagara Vritti, this is called Madhukari Vritti. That is, I don't want to trouble one person. I go there and I just take a handful which will not really dam or lessen or give pain to others. Just one handful. If I visit a few houses, my stomach will be full. And that to some people, they fix, I will go only to three houses, seven houses. Whether I get or not, if I visited three houses or seven houses, I will not, even if I don't get, I will not try in the next house. Finished. Because it is the mother Annapurna who gives us this thing. So, this is called Madhukari Vritti. Then there is what is called honey gatherer. That is, we are also honey gatherers. So, bees work so hard day and night in collecting the, what is called nectar from each flower and they transform it into beautiful honey with medicinal properties. For whose sake? They are not thinking about us. They are thinking about themselves, for their children. But what do we do? We go and destroy the honeycomb, destroy the bees and then steal. And we are very happy. Birds also do that. There is one bird called honey bird. And it has formed, forged a symbiotic relationship with some honey gatherers and it leads them into deep forests where honeycombs are available and the persons destroy the honeycomb, gather the honeycombs and then they give sufficient amount of one part of the share to the bird separately and somehow the symbiotic relationship is there. It is a marvelous episode that even some fish, dolphins help human beings to drive smaller fish towards the nets of the fishermen and in some places these fishermen with the help of the dolphins they gather huge quantity of the fish and deliberately they leave sufficient amount of the fish for the dolphins otherwise they will not get that help second time. So this honey gatherer comes. So if anybody accumulates, either time takes it away, thieves take it away, the king or the governments take it away, the worthless relatives or wastrels of the children, they spend it and this is the fate of many householders who do that. Then the example of an elephant, a male elephant is caught blinded by lust, it falls running after a female, trained female elephant. In Karnataka it is very popular how to catch a male elephant and it falls without seeing a pit, falls into the pit and then it is made a slave forever. Then the example is Harina. Harina means a deer. So it is said when it hears beautiful music, it is so attracted that it just comes nearer to the source of the music and the hunter is waiting with a bow and arrow and simply it is enticed and trapped and killed and it encounters death all because of the attachment to the sound. Another example is fish. Fish is a food, so any bait that comes, it swallows and it is swallowed later on. Then the story of a dancing girl. Ram Krishna quotes this that there was a dancing girl and she was waiting dancing, dancing, nobody is giving. Then she waited for a long time, no customer was coming, a prostitute in other words and then she gave up all hope and she went and slept peacefully. So asha is paramam dukkham, virasha paramam sukham. Then Ram Krishna gives the story of a kite. A kite once picked up a piece of flesh, all the crows and ravens started following, pursuing and it goes on and on and on but unable to bear, it drops the piece of flesh, all the crows leave it in peace. That is what happens. Then a child who sucks milk is free from all cares, worries and anxieties. So a child is always happy, totally dependent upon the mother. I learnt from the child, be like a child, totally dependent upon God and every child is a cheerful child dependent upon them. And Sri Ram Krishna talks about a maiden. Once there was a maiden, her parents have gone away and suddenly some relatives come and there was no food so she wanted to husk the paddy and she had some bangles and then they were making noise, one by one she removes at last even when there were only two bangles they were making noise striking against each other, she just kept one one bangle and one one hand and there was silence and what is the idea? Many, the companionship of many people is very distracting to a spiritual sadhaka so a great lesson is that be alone this is called solitude now and then go into solitude another lesson is a serpent, it doesn't build its hole, wherever it finds a hole, it will take shelter there, so a sanyasi should never have a home should take wherever under a tree in a shivalaya, under a mosque, it doesn't matter then there is a arrow maker, there was an arrow maker, he was concentratedly making an arrow a huge marriage procession was going on he never noticed it because he was completely bent upon making the perfect arrow and he never knew anything, so he learnt how to think about God unconcernedly then this story the lesson from a spider so the spider pours out of its mouth long threads and weaves them into cobwebs and then it itself gets caught in the cobweb and that is the end of the spider, we weave our own samsaric cobwebs and we go to death, means repeated births and finally there is a bring your beetle I learnt from the beetle and the worm to turn myself into Atman by contemplating constantly on it, what does it mean? so there is a ferocious wasp it catches hold of a bee and stings it and it is so painful the bee goes on meditating when is the next sting going to come it can never forget the wasp and in course of time it is said as an example that it turns itself into a wasp so by meditating upon the wasp it became wasp so every sanyasi should meditate upon God until he becomes completely God thus 24 gurus only 24, any number of gurus why did I bring this beautiful lovely story from Bhagavatam when we are ready even running brooks beautiful flowers the purest sky anything and everything can teach us because God is teaching us all the time manifesting in so many forms, if only we have that intelligence to grasp the significance of it I wish all of you a very happy new year may this year bring us nearer to God