Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 129 on 14-January-2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHUR Thursday, August 24, 1882. Advice to householders. Sri Ramakrishna is giving advice in the form of dialogue. In many of the Upanishads, we see these dialogues between a guru and the chosen disciples. But God himself, beautiful dialogue between Sri Rama and Lakshmana. Sri Rama and Anjaneya. Sri Krishna and Arjuna. Sri Krishna and Uddhava. Chaitanya and Nithyananda. Sri Ramakrishna and all the devotees, disciples which we are studying. It is called Sri Sri Ramakrishna Katha Amritam. Amritam means a nectar. Nectar of immortality. And this verse has been taken from one of the shlokas that occur in the Bhagavatam. Which is very well known as Gopi Gita or Gopika Gita. Many people are not aware. There are more than 40 Gitas are there. Hamsa Gita, Brahma Gita, Gopi Gita, Uddhava Gita, Bhagavad Gita. So, this is the conversation we had in our last class. What was Ramakrishna talking about? God has created the world in play as it were. So, it is a play. The word play has two meanings. So, it is said in the Upanishads also. Just as breathing comes in so naturally to all of us. So, also creation, destruction and maintenance. Creation, Srishti, Sthithi, Laya are going on. Not one off activity. Continuously 24 hours. Individually speaking. Something is born, something remains for some time and then it dies. So, Srishti, Sthithi, Laya. This is what we are hymning the Divine Mother. Every day practically at the Vesper service. And these activities, they are all Leela. What about our activities? They are also Leela only. Only it takes time for us to realize that fact. But we are already realizing it partially in the form of a dream. So long as we are dreaming, we know that it is absolutely real. As real, no less real, like the waking state. But as soon as we come to the other state, waking state, then we say, oh, I thought it was all real. It's only my imagination, but very, very concrete imagination. Bhagawan's concrete imagination is called Mahamaya or better word, Leela. And Shri Ram Krishna uses this word, especially two words, Nitya and Leela. So when we are in Srishti, we can say that we are almost in that state of Leela. Albeit, we are not conscious of it. A man in Nirvikalpa Samadhi, and after that when he comes down, then he is always established in Nirvikalpa Samadhi. That means in the truth. And at the same time, he perceives the same truth, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. And it can come only after the realization of Aham Brahmasmi. What is the point I wanted to bring out to your notice? Shri Ram Krishna's words contain such depths of meaning. So God has created the world in play. As I said, there are two meanings for this. The whole world is a play. And usually if we have to do something, it is fraught with a lot of energy. We have to spend a lot of energy. But in the case of God, it is called Aval Leela. As if, as natural as breathing in and breathing out. Especially in the Mundaka Upanishad, just as a person breathes in and out. Mundaka gives another example. Just as a spider, very naturally, it selects a corner place and instantaneously weaves a beautiful web. And when it doesn't find much food there, then it always leads a nomadic life. So it moves on to another corner. So it withdraws. It takes back whatever came. And then it moves to the new place. Only imagine, a billion billion spiders called Bhagawan, Saguna Brahma, creating this world, withdrawing. Srishti, Stithi, Laya. Continuously going on, 24 hours a day, every single minisecond, something is born. Some object, not necessarily a living creature. A chair is born. A car is born. You can add your imaginations to it. And then anything that is born will continue for some time. Then it becomes redundant. And then we throw it to the junkyard if it is non-living. If it is living, then we feel that, that is what we call death. We fear. Actually, people do not fear death. What we fear is our loss of memory because our identity with ourselves is related with our memory. If I don't know which country I belong to, which religion, which parents, which family, then I have nothing to declare. If somebody asks, who are you? Generally, we give our, what is called information, CVS. What is that information? I am so-and-so. My parents are so-and-so. My religion, my country, my profession, these are all identities. But when memory goes, then all these identifications will disappear in a trace. And every day that happens in Srishti also. That is why we cannot describe how it came, how it went. We can only say, I was very happy. I did not know anything. So this is Mahamaya, the great illusion. Therefore, one must take refuge in the Divine Mother, the cosmic power itself. It is She who has bound us with the shackles of illusion. The realization of God is possible only when the shackles are severed. So in the Vaishnava tradition, and Sri Ramakrishna was a born Vaishnava, so to say, Mahamaya is called Leela. And in Advaita Vedantic language, it is called Saguna Brahma. So this Nitya is another word Sri Ramakrishna uses instead of Brahman. Sometimes he uses the word Leela. So whatever happens in our life, we do not exist just as in our dream. We ourselves become our own individual identity in our dream as well as others living, non-living, the entire world. But only after waking up we come to know, I myself have become the entire world. I became myself also as part of that created world by me. So when I want like the spider, I create this web. And when I come back, that is to say like the spider moving to a new place, so move from Swapna Avastha to Jagrad Avastha. This is a marvelous analysis of every living creature's experience. Why do I say that? Because humans, we have not even understood other creatures. Can a dog have happy dreams? Sure. An elephant can have. A horse can have. Dolphin can have. What about a mosquito? An ant? Yes. What about an amoeba? Yes. Because of our ignorance, we say no, they are dumb creatures, they don't have. We are dumb, not those creatures. If you put yourself in that state, then we understand. How do we know that those creatures have these three states? Because at any incarnation, the whole world will be an amoeba lives in an amoeba world, which means there are friends, there are enemies, there are helpers, there are destroyers, there is a battlefield, a riotable world war is going on, and some of them die, only to be reincarnated and to take revenge. So like that, and do they have Sushupti? Yes. They also have Sushupti. But we have to, until the scientists prove it, I doubt whether they can prove, because they don't study, even the dream state, and much less this dreamless state, even today, and they are going on in the wrong direction, that this artificial intelligence is going to become AGI, that is, it becomes self-conscious. Mission can never become self-conscious. Even we are not becoming self-conscious. What does become a mission? This is what we have studied in our last class. And if you hear, go back and hear what I spoke in the last class, and what I spoke just now, you will always see some difference. Common ideas will be there. So we will continue. October 16, 1882. That was August. This is October. And very beautiful incidents are going to come. We will discuss here. It was Monday, a few days before the Durga Puja, a festival of the Divine Mother. Shri Ram Krishna was in a very happy state of mind, for Narendra was with him. These are jewels of words. Shri Ram Krishna was in a very happy state of mind. From the Vedantic point of view, this is not a correct statement. A person who knows I am Brahman, he knows I am Sat, Chit and Ananda. How can a person who is Ananda Swaroopa, he could be sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy, sometimes a little bit happy, sometimes a little bit more happy. It is all purely from the viewpoint of the person who is recording. Ram Krishna was in a very happy state of mind, for Narendra was with him. So just as a mother, when her favourite child is with her, she exhibits extra happiness. Generally, we speak of a mother who has got impartial love. Is it true? Ask yourself. Many of you have got children. Do you love your children equally? Do your children give you happiness equally? It is impossible. Because two separate objects always give happiness in different ways. Naturally, whichever child gives you more happiness, you say I love this child more than others. Of course, you don't dare to say that openly, but you feel like that. What does it mean? It means this is the child who gives me greater happiness. This is the sweet which gives me greater happiness. This is the book or this is the movie, etc. You can apply it. So Narendra was with him. Why was Narendra? Could he produce so much of happiness? And this question arose. Not today for our class. Even while Sri Ram Krishna was alive, there were some people who... Sri Ram Krishna's behavior with Narendra, his face cut whenever Narendra comes, or even Narendra's name was mentioned, immediately proclaims to everybody that Sri Ram Krishna will be very happy to know, to think, to talk, to see Narendra. So naturally they could understand. Naturally, this scorpion of jealousy has started within them, and naturally they felt. Some of them did not express it, but they did on some other occasions. Do you think Brahma Gnani will have any differences? Once somebody expressed it. And then Sri Ram Krishna ran like a mad person to the temple. And then, why do I love Narendra so much? Why do I love Narendra? Would you ever go to somebody else and say, Look, I feel great love for this person. Why? Because your own heart should tell you. But he went to the Divine Mother. Why? Because Sri Ram Krishna's love has nothing to do. Let me give an illustration. Suppose there is a magnet. In front of it, there are so many iron filings, but in different states are being covered with mud. Some are having a thin layer of mud all around them, all over them. Some are thicker, some are thickest. Now, whom do the magnets attract? Naturally, that iron filing, which is the least, which doesn't obstruct the attraction or the power of attraction of the magnet. And so, if magnet were a living person, and then these iron filings were also living beings, and the magnet is accused, you love this iron filing more than anybody else. Why? It says, I don't know. That is the answer Divine Mother gave to Sri Ram Krishna because Narendra's heart is the purest. And a purest heart is naturally attracted to God. Even though we have discussed this point, you have to note down this point. What does purity mean? Generally, we call it Chitta Shuddhi. What does it mean? If we are advancing in purity, and every spiritual sadhana is only getting rid of impurities. Impurities in the form of Kama, Krudha, Loha, Moha, Mada, Matsarya and acquiring Sadghuna Sampatti, Daivi Sampat. So, we chant every day those spiritual qualities, which are enumerated in the Upanishads. Let them be within me, that means may I acquire. So, as we get rid of impurities, purity automatically becomes more manifest. And purity is to be equated with Bhakti, devotion, love for God, because purity loves purity. That's why our attraction is only to the pure. The pure moving towards the pure. So, the Divine Mother said, because Narendra loves God so much. And who is God in this context? The Ramakrishna himself. Naturally, the Ramakrishna feels terribly attracted. Why? Because of the purity. And the lesser the purity, the lesser will be the attraction. This is how the mathematics work in Sri Ramakrishna's view. But from our viewpoint of view, I am also a devotee. Perhaps I bring better jalebi to Sri Ramakrishna than Narendra Nath. So, Sri Ramakrishna should love me more. It doesn't work in spiritual realm. It can work only, even if it doesn't work in worldly affairs also, truly speaking. Because each one of us can instinctively feel who loves us really and who is a pretender. We will continue. Narendra had brought two or three young members of the Brahmo Samaj to the temple garden. Besides them, Rakhal, Ramlal, Hajra and M Parvati Master. Narendra had his midday meal with Sri Ramakrishna. Afterwards, a temporary bed was made on the floor of the Master's room so that the disciples might rest a while. A mat was spread over which was placed a quilt covered with a white sheet. A few cushions and pillows completed the simple bed. Like a child, the Master sat near Narendra Nath on the bed. He talked with the devotees in great delight with a radiant smile lighting his face and his eyes fixed on Narendra. You must have noticed if Narendra is near, his eyes will be fixed only on Narendra. Sri Ramakrishna was giving them various spiritual teachings, interspersing these with incidents from his own life. Sri Ramakrishna says, After I had experienced Samadhi, my mind craved intensely to hear only about God. I always searched for places where they were reciting or explaining the sacred books. I used to go to Krishna Kishore to hear him read the Adhyatma Ramayana. Sri Ramakrishna was most happily talking. Why was he talking? Where was his attention on Narendra? Why was his attention on Narendra? Because he knew, Sri Ramakrishna knew that he will be working through Narendra for the good of the world after his physical body passes away. Narendra is only an instrument. Much, much later, just before his passing away, Narendra passed some curious remarks about Sri Ramakrishna. He said that Sri Ramakrishna, He used to address Sri Ramakrishna as an old man because Sri Ramakrishna appeared to be old. Even though he was less than 50 years old, about 46 or so, Narendra came to him. So this old man made a monkey of me and made me roam half the world. Even now, he is not leaving me. So he offered me to what he used to call Kali and she is sitting on my head and not allowing me to do what I like to do and only allowing me to do what she wants to do. Forcibly, she is making me work. This is a very interesting point. Swami Vekanatha never allowed any lecturing. He vehemently denied. Sri Ramakrishna said, At Kasipur, Narendra will teach. He said, No, I am not going to teach. And Narendra had said, Sri Ramakrishna had replied, Your very bones will teach because you are born only for that purpose. If there is a marigold seed, its fate is already fixed. It can only become a marigold plant and yield marigold flowers. It cannot yield rose flowers or magnolia flowers, etc. So he was born. But he knew that Sri Ramakrishna had forcibly brought me from the Saptarishi Loka. That was a marvellous incident. You must recollect it. And only a fraction of that Rishi in the form of a beam of light came down to Calcutta and was born there. But whenever Swamiji consciously thought, What do I wish to do? I would like to go to Himalayas and sit in meditation and merge in meditation. Why? Because that was what he was doing. 99% or even more was only his samskara of sitting in meditation. Now, wonder of wonders is these are all God-realized souls. What is their meditation for? You must always remember after God-realization any being either here or elsewhere and Hindus believe there are some special regions where some of the greatest Rishis especially what we call Saptarishis seven Rishis Saptarishi, Sapta plus Rishi is called Saptarishi will be residing and one of them will be a Manu or an incharge of this entire creation for certain Yugas. So Ramakrishna brought a fraction of one of them but the tendency will be there if there is a huge vessel of milk and one drop of milk if you examine it will have exactly the same characteristics of the entire milk. So also this person's tendency for meditation will not go away. But then just now I raised the question what do these great Rishis meditate? Before realization Upasana, meditation is very important. After realization well there are some people I would say Brahman himself in the form of these Rishis is meditating how to do good to this world how to awaken the people continuously showering their blessings from up and it is up to us to receive those blessings. So even if Narendra goes he is not longing for God realization apparently yes but really he knows who he is but deliberately the Divine Mother covered him up. That is why Ramakrishna predicted the moment Narendra comes to know who he is he will refuse to stay here even one moment longer and that is what Ramakrishna predicted of Swami Brahmanandaji also. But what is the wonder of wonders? Does it apply only to those people? No. The moment we also come to know who we are that we are none other than Brahman we refuse to stay here one second longer. Ramakrishna illustrated this once some people were going somewhere on the way they came across a big enclosure wonderful sounds of music etc are emanating from there these people could hear cannot see so somebody volunteered I will climb and see so they procured a ladder and one person went up I will tell you what is happening inside at the moment he saw he started laughing like that and then jumped inside second fellow jumped inside third fellow jumped inside these people below they were left wondering whether everybody had broken his promise then the last person he went up and he saw a grand musical concert dancing concert a veritable mart of joy was going on and then he felt like jumping but then he restrained with great difficulty he said so many people are suffering and if they come to know about this place they will rush here let me go and inform them this is the nature of all greatest people Vasantavat Charanti like Vivek Chudamani Shankaracharya says these people are like the spring season where everybody becomes very very happy so why was Sri Ram Krishna loving Narendra because he knew I myself have to through the instrumentality of Narendra have to do good to the world that means I and Narendra are not different people that is the special meaning of it then the topic came or faith Sri Ram Krishna used to say if any person had faith then he would be as good as realized soul because through faith everything is achieved that is why in the Kata Upanishad we get but Sri Ram Krishna is narrating the story of one of his devotees he is called Krishna Kishore and Sri Ram Krishna is citing Sri Ram Krishna will not talk about faith only he talked about two people as far as I can recollect one was of course Girish Chandra Ghosh another is this Krishna Kishore what tremendous faith Krishna Kishore had once while at Vrindavan he felt thirsty and went to a well near it he saw a man standing and being asked to draw a little water for him the man said I belong to a low caste sir you are a Brahmin how can I draw water for you Krishna Kishore said take the name of Shiva by repeating his holy name you will make yourself pure a low caste man did as he was told by Krishna Kishore and Krishna Kishore orthodox Brahmin that he was drank that water what tremendous faith certificate issuing from the mouth of Sri Ram Krishna but orthodox Brahmin that he was Krishna Kishore drank the water given by that low caste person how did he drink oh what a bad luck I am forced to drink this water touched by a low caste person look at the behavior of Shankaracharya at Varanasi all the places and I am recollecting similar incident in the life of Jesus Christ once Jesus Christ was moving preaching his marvelous philosophy and he felt one day noon very thirsty he went to a well and there was a Farsi woman I think Farsi woman and Farsi is always considered lower caste than the caste that belong to Jesus why he belong to orthodox Brahmin or priest class called Rabbis he was one of the Rabbis that is why people also addressed him as Rabbi what is your opinion about this so that lady she said that how can I give you water you will become impure see how this caste distinctions class distinctions come irrespective of India or other places then Jesus said woman if you only knew what type of water I can give you then you would not have uttered these words poor woman how could he utter such puzzled words very difficult to understand so she went away sadly to announce a man has come he is telling that the waters undying waters you will never again suffer from any thirst what was he talking about he was talking about if I give you that water water means Gnanam in Sanskrit language there is a Rishi called Narada Rishi so what is why did he get that title Naram Dada Deeti Naradaha he who gives pure knowledge is called Narada but Nara can also mean water that's why it is called waters of life so that poor woman could not understand I don't understand Jesus Christ why he has to utter such words just give whatever you want to give and give it to that person drink the water and get away anyway sometimes even these avatars I think misbehave or they will not allow themselves to be recognized so this is a marvelous incident that Artharaksa Brahmin gladly drank because if anybody utters the name Shiva immediately he becomes as good as Shiva and then Sri Ram Krishna is continuing some incidents in the life of Krishna Krishna but this time it is about a holy person that means a sadhu once a holy man came to the bank of the Ganges and lived near the bathing ghat at Ariyadaha not far from Dakshineshwar we thought of paying him a visit obviously Sri Ram Krishna heard about him and wanted to pay him a visit I said to Haladari Krishna Kishore and I are going to see a holy man will you come with us Sri Ram Krishna offered to Haladari you know Haladari is a very peculiar fellow he had wonderful leela with Sri Ram Krishna and again Sri Ram Krishna also like Jesus talking to that woman he could have given Haladari a little bit of buddhi to understand but he wanted to play a lot as somebody said it is a cat and mouse play and one of the listeners he retorted that is ok for the cat what about the rat, mouse Haladari hearing this he was a Vedantin you know what is the use of seeing a mere human body which is no better than a cage of clay Haladari was a student of the Gita and Vedanta philosophy and therefore referred to the holy man as a mere cage of clay this was the incident Sri Ram Krishna continues I repeated this to Krishna Kusar with great anger he said how impudent of Haladari to make such a remark how can he ridicule as a cage of clay the body of a man who constantly thinks of God, who meditates on Rama and has renounced all for the sake of the Lord a sadhu means the ones, one of our Swamis was referring some devotee referred a good sadhu immediately our Swami retorted what do you mean by a good sadhu sadhu means good though it is a redundant word a cow is called sadhu anybody who is good is called sadhu so by definition sadhu means good so a good good person only a goody goody person can be a good person doesn't he know that such a man is the embodiment of spirit because inside nothing is there excepting Rama or spirit or chaitanya and then Sri Ram Krishna went on continuing he was so upset Krishna Kusar was so upset by Haladari's remarks that he would turn his face away from him whenever he met him in the temple garden he stopped speaking to him that shows Krishna Kusar what was his mind he had such a high regard for any sadhu definitely he was far advanced in spiritual life and then one day Krishna of course he was not able to understand Sri Ram Krishna nobody will be able to understand once Krishna Kusar asked me why have you cast off the sacred thread in those days of God vision I felt as if I were passing through a great storm everything was blown away from me no trace of my old self was left I lost all consciousness of the world I could hardly keep my cloth on my body not to speak of the sacred thread of course where is the question of keeping sacred thread because the moment a person takes to sanyasa if he has a sacred thread before he has to give it up I said to Krishna Kusar you will understand if you ever happen to be as intoxicated with God as I am and Sri Ram Krishna is continuing and it actually came to pass he too passed through a God intoxicated state when he would repeat only the word Om and shut himself up alone in his room his relatives thought he was actually mad and called in a physician a very beautiful incident so Krishna Kusar used to shut himself and then go on repeating Om he was a Vedantin used to study also the Adhyatma Ramayana etc. Krishna Kusar said to the physician when his relatives brought him cure me sir by all means of my melody but not of my Om and everybody hearing Sri Ram Krishna's words they all burst out into laughter what does it mean not of my Om that means my spirituality the name of my Ishta Devata Om is the sacred mantra a doorway leading to both Saguna Brahma as well as Nirguna Brahma but he had some attachments and that is what Sri Ram Krishna is also referring for our edification because if we are so much absorbed we should not care why can't we care because Yogakshamam Vahamyaham Tesham Satatayuktana those people who are continuously engaged in thinking of me Yogakshamam Vahamyaham I look after their needs I bring to them at the exact time when it is needed and I also protect them protect what I brought protect them so that others cannot harm him so that should be the condition but unfortunately Krishna Kishore had devotion, had faith was doing sadhana but his attachments to some few things has not yet disappeared incident Sri Ram Krishna was narrating for whose sake this is not for criticizing Krishna Kishore this is for enlightening, edifying people like us you say you have faith in God then you should not have any hesitation in giving up these attachments so now comes the incident about government taxes that means worldly cares attachments Sri Ram Krishna continues one day I went to see him and found him in a pensive mood when I asked him about it he said the tax collector was here he threatened to dispose of my brass pots, my cups and my few utensils if I did not pay the tax so I am worried I said but why should that bother you let him take away your pots and pans he can arrest your body how will that affect you for your nature is that of Kha and Narendra and others understood burst into laughter why? Sri Ram Krishna himself is explaining he used to say to me that he was Kha, the spirit all pervading as the sky he had got that idea from the Adhyatma Ramayana so I used to tease him now and then addressing him as Kha, therefore I said to him that day with a smile you are Kha so taxes should not move you, that means affect you should not make you sad, why? because God is going to take care of you it is also a lesson for all of us we must develop faith like Krishna Kishore but we should be careful if we have faith in God, the moment anybody says I believe in God and then still clinging to worldly things it is only a word of mouth like Sri Ram Krishna used to say, small children by God I am telling you how did they come to know about this God, the small children heard their elderly aunts quarrelling, myri in Bengali it is by God I am telling you so these people all thought that is a beautiful world we can also use in our day to day quarrels so it should, taxes should not move any one of us that means what? every type of affliction small or big should not bother not only afflictions even if somebody praises you are a great holy person you are a great singer etc it should not affect Sri Ram Krishna used to be thanked by some of the devotees who come, newcomers what a wonderful things he spoke Sri Ram Krishna said Sir, I don't know anything I eat and drink and make myri only my mother knows which is the absolute truth, which truth is that it is the Divine Mother making this body as an instrument speaking to you I have nothing to do you thank the Divine Mother not me because if I have not done to you somebody else has done it to you then there is no need to thank me I don't know anything about it now Sri Ram Krishna proceeds to narrate some of his God intoxicated days a few incidents, this is how we get what states of mind he had gone through state of God intoxication Sri Ram Krishna's reminiscences, in that state of God intoxication I used to speak out my mind to all I was no respecter of persons even to men of position I was not afraid to speak the truth one day in that state of Divine intoxication I went to the faithing God on the Ganges at Baranagar there I saw Jai Mukherjee repeating God's name but his mind was I am something else and Sri Ram Krishna he could divine so I went up and slapped him twice on the cheeks that was one incident at one time but let me pass a remark here suppose you are sitting somewhere somebody comes and slaps you what would be your reaction but here these people did not react why because the very touch of Sri Ram Krishna had brought them to their senses they understood how could this person know today I am sitting as if meditating, praying to God thinking of God but inwardly my mind is elsewhere so it is for their own good how much good that had done for them we do not know only they know how a change was brought about in future by that very sacred touch, another incident we all know that at one time Rani Rasmani was staying in the temple garden she came to the shrine of the Divine Mother as she frequently did when I worshipped Kali and asked me to sing Rani Rasmani had high regard for Sri Ram Krishna she understood, everybody understands this is not like an ordinary priest when he does puja really he puts his heart and soul into it so high regard both Madhur Babu and Rani Rasmani had and of course Sri Ram Krishna was a divine singer when he used to sing nobody can think of anything else excepting being absorbed like a huge magnet forcefully making everybody think only about God let us keep that in mind so she came there and she wanted to hear whenever she comes she requests Sri Ram Krishna Chota Bhattacharyaji please sing some songs and it used to move so Rani Rasmani she came to the shrine of the Divine Mother when I worshipped Kali and asked me to sing while I was singing I noticed she was absent minded at once I slapped her on the cheeks she became quite embarrassed and sat there with folded hands so here also the incident requires slight elaboration there were so many attendants because she was the Rani very rich person and they were all there behind as soon as Sri Ram Krishna he was called Junior Bhattacharya Junior Priest he stopped singing he came and slapped there is no description how many times he slapped and how hard or soft he did it is the greatest insult can be afforded because any priest can be employed or dismissed just by moving their fingers like Madhur Babu dismissed Hridaynath and Kshetarnath just by saying get the hell out of here they don't have anything to say they can't go run to the government etc so what happened Sri Ram Krishna also uttered a word here also same thoughts you are having and then slapped I don't know after slapping he explained or he explained and slapped but the result will be the same and at once she came to her senses she understood she must have been wondering how could he divine my thoughts there was a court case going on and she was thinking about the court case deeply but Sri Ram Krishna detected it even though she was with closed eyes she was sitting thus he awakened the buddhi intellect of Rani Rashmani so sometimes I make fun of this incident some devotees pass remarks Oh Swamiji if only I was at the time of Sri Ram Krishna how marvelous it would have been I said Sri Ram Krishna was very lucky and you are also very lucky that you did not meet and naturally they can't understand they ask why because if you had met Sri Ram Krishna then his hands will be aching repeatedly and your cheeks also will be aching repeatedly because that would be his reaction so he is also lucky he was spared that pain you are also lucky that you are spared the pains on your cheeks both of you are very lucky so a very important incident what do we need to learn if we are sincere Oh Lord please help me if my mind goes off elsewhere you bring it to the meditative state help me in my sadhana and God will come in the form of some pain and then he will also give us that understanding this pain is the result of my wrong thinking God can protect us Guru can protect us only if we have that faith then Sri Ram Krishna went on describing alarmed at my state of mind I said to my cousin Haladari just see my nature how can I get rid of it of course who can give a remedy only God can give the remedy in fact who slapped these people was it Sri Ram Krishna or the Divine Mother and then will Sri Ram Krishna slap when I or you are meditating no why because any number of slappings will not help we don't want really to think about God but we want for the sake of satisfying our curiosity they call it few minutes I want to sit genuinely if I want to sit then God will definitely help us nobody can give the answer to Sri Ram Krishna how could I get rid of it after praying to the Divine Mother for some time with great yearning I was able to shake off this habit of course I could have told to the devotees after this if you meet Sri Ram Krishna then you would be very lucky people and then Sri Ram Krishna continues in a state of mind one doesn't enjoy any conversation but that about God I used to weep when I heard people talk about worldly matters so here is a great hint if we want to think of God think of Sri Ram Krishna think of any great soul then we should not enjoy we should not enjoy any conversation but that about God and that too we should not go on talking with every Tom, Dick and Harry only if there is somebody whom we know very sincere and enjoy I have to tell you something here funny incidents sometimes people they ask for an interview for one hour and they start talking for 59 minutes and then say Swamiji what a marvellous advice you gave us and then take leave and by experience I have learnt it so when I see such people by observing we can know so I have developed a strategy so I sit there and very nice to see you you know after seeing you I am reminded of such and such an incident and then I start very high philosophical talks and then after 10 minutes those people start looking at their watches and then say Swamiji such precious words we cannot really get anywhere but we have got some urgent work and I am laughing within myself so here comes relief for me and then thereafter they never come by chance if they come I will start the same strategy and then they understand whenever we come to the Swami so he will talk some rubbish which is not suitable for us so they stop coming to me and I am also so happy, they make me so happy by not coming I cannot describe, even thinking about God also I don't get so much of joy so the lesson we have to learn is that devotees should strive though painful, difficult and perpetual habit we developed, talk about God think about God addressing each other that should be our goal May the Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ramakrishna and today is Sankranti so that means the sun is going to come from the south to the slowly to the north that means sun comes nearer that means heat will increase so that is called then first there will be spring season and there will be summer season then there will be rainy season also let us enjoy the increasing warmth Jai Ramakrishna