Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 136 on 22-April-2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Shri Ram Krishna is delving into one of the greatest teachings, so there is a beautiful story also he is going to narrate, we will discuss about it very shortly So he says we have to practice viveka, what is viveka? In normal terms viveka means the discrimination between the real and the unreal, Nitya, Anitya, Vastu, Viveka But Shri Ram Krishna never used the word Anitya in the Advaitic Vedantic sense, because even this meaning of the word Anitya, there is no Anitya really speaking, everything is Brahman And if that statement is true, then this world is nothing but Brahman, and if that is true, then Brahman can never be Anitya, then what is Anitya? It is not the world which is Anitya, it is our perception that is Anitya, let me quote here a very beautiful short Zen story Once a Zen master with two of his disciples was having a walk, they approached a place where there was a flagpole and there was a flag and it was fluttering in the wind Now a discussion arose between these two disciples, what is that is moving? Is it the wind that is moving or is it the flag that is moving? And one person said it is the flag which is moving and the other person says it is the wind that makes the flag move Very interesting question and very interesting statement, if we give a deeper thought to it, of course we say when the wind stops completely, then the flag will not move at all Is it a true statement? Because every object in this world is subject to time, time means change So even if I am sitting absolutely still, but every single atom in my body is moving, changing, that is why science can be of some help to us So in this whole universe that we see, living as well as non-living is made up of countless billions and trillions of atoms Let us say atoms because they have even further divided them, but for easiness of understanding, let us say billions, trillions, unimaginably large And every single atom is moving at the speed of light Now the wonder of wonder says, do two atoms who are moving, do they ever meet, have an accident, crash into each other? That doesn't seem to be the truth now Scientists conclusively have proved, but that is not the truth The truth is everything is moving, there is nothing absolutely still, stable, unmoving So even the flag without the wind also is moving, of course the wind, that is the nature of the wind to move When this discussion was going on, the Zen master, he remarked Neither is neither the flag which is moving, nor the wind that is moving, it is your mind that is moving What a mind boggling statement, I do not know whether we can ever delve into it So how do we understand this master's statement Supposing a person, let us say even this Zen master Just a second, please hold on Let us say even the Zen master, he has made his mind absolutely still Now try to answer me or answer to yourself, what is moving, does he see? When the mind is absolutely still and in a way that is what happens when a person is of course in Samadhi But even for people like us, when we are in the deep sleep state, is the world existing or not? Yes, it is existing Where is it existing? As me, Aham, Aham, it is Purantham Because the waking state, the dream state, the gross body, the subtle body, both of them have merged in my causal body It is there, but since there is no mind or temporarily the mind is not operating, therefore everything is absolutely still And that is called Ananda And that is exactly what happens whenever we experience Take the example of a small sweet, put it on your mouth You are not enjoying actually or deriving happiness all the time There is one single moment of time As soon as that sweetness is experienced, I or you become one with that sweetness And when I become one with that sweetness, that division I and sweet totally vanishes What remains is pure consciousness There is no vritti also at that state And that is the state when nothing is moving because consciousness as it is described in the Vedanta is infinite It is Nityam Anantam It is beyond time, beyond space When something is all-pervading, that is called Anantam, infinite When something is beyond time, and remember both these things go together, time and space This was the greatest rediscovery by Einstein Time is not a separate dimension from space Where there is concept of time, there is concept of space Where there is concept of space, there is concept of time I will give you a small example because these are very nice ideas even to understand How do we measure time? So simple way, our ancestors also, they did not have clocks A clock is not measuring time Time is always moving only But a clock conveniently lets us know how much time has passed So our earlier people used to look at the eastern horizon So the sun is slowly rising Even if you take fully the sun has emerged from the eastern sky which we call dawn And then those people also require the help of time to perform various functions So what do they do at that time? They observe this one Then they observe, supposing they are going on a journey And they have to travel, they don't have any concept of miles, measurable distance They used to measure only in terms of the sun's movement What is the distance from this hill to that hill? To reach the top of that hill? So it is one sunrise time That means if you start today and if you continuously walk Then by the time the sun rises tomorrow You will be reaching that place and that is called the distance They didn't have that idea Only measuring by the movement of the sun And even ships used to be navigated by observing the movement of the stars And later on somebody discovered that magnetic compass And whereby travel had become much easier So this person used to reach some place May be a hunting field or cultivable land And he walks one hour Forget about one hour now Now this person is observing the sun The sun was at eye level and he started walking Now the sun is at some height, let us say in the sky And that is the time it takes to reach that particular field So what am I trying to convey to you? That this person is walking and that is called space, distance And what is called? The sun had also distanced itself from the time of rising to the time of reaching So he can see it And that is the concept of time through space And that is how time and space are combined But when it is all functional, possible Only when the mind thinking power starts Because the very constitution of the mind is a time, space and causation Let us never forget about it So anything that you experience You see a tree Even though consciously you may not be thinking Unless it is very far off And you say, oh even when you are travelling from one village to another village It may be 10 miles away And as you approach to your destination From a distance, perhaps you see the tower of a temple The top of a temple Or a big tree is visible That is the village I am seeking And so how much time it took? It started at sunrise And the sun is now at this fixed point in space So that is how time and space are interrelated We cannot think of time without space Think of space without time And for that Vedanta also adds another dimension It is called object, time, space and object These three are inseparable And they are the functions of the mind And when the mind is absent These three will completely stop So this walking is what we call activity You can say fluttering of the flag And what is fluttering? Is the wind moving the flag? Or the flag is moving the wind? Or both are not doing anything But it is my mind who is doing it What a marvellous concept Now why do we need this concept? Because it is closely associated with Ananda So when we experience an object Either through the eye, through the ear Or through all the five sense organs There is something that touches That is why the experience of every sense object Is only called Sparsha Sukha Sparsha Anubhuti, touch Everything is touch only Perhaps this concept has not become Only we think the skin is capable of touching No So I will just simply explain This is a very profound principle In Advaita Vedanta In every Vedanta practically It is purely psychological fact Supposing at a distance somebody is shouting And our ears are capable of hearing that sound Unless that sound comes and touches my ear drum It is not possible to experience that sound So if somebody is shouting at 50 miles away Do we hear it? No Because it is not touching our ears So when we see I am seeing a tree You are seeing a hill And then that hill is visible That means as if in some way The hill is coming and touching That fine nervous cell Which is capable of perceiving And then only it is possible Even if there be a small needle Obstructing the view Even if it is very near We cannot see it So this is called The sight coming and touching the eye The sound coming and touching the ear Similarly the smell Same example you apply Suppose something is 50 miles distance Beautiful, fragrant This flower has bloomed But we cannot Or nobody can smell it So until that smell Spreads and touches Each one of our nose Then we cannot smell it Apply the same thing to all the 5 sense organs That's why everything is called Sparsha Sukha only Sparsha Anubhuti only And nothing else And by the way You should know Dogs have tremendous capacity to hear And even more Smell A polar bear Can go on smelling Even if some seal is hiding Underneath the sea And thick carpet Wall of ice has formed You must have seen many animals know There is food inside here If I can dig You might have seen also Now what is that got to do With our subject Telling the whole universe is In the mind And the mind consists of Time, space and causation And because of this Like we are putting Three colored glasses And looking at everything What we call an object And therefore Everything appears first of all As completely different And everything Because of time Appears to be changing Because time means A flow So it is completely flowing One millisecond Is gone In fact how many seconds have gone Since I started this Particular sentence And what is gone Cannot be obtained And what is going to come I have no clue about it Only this One second It touches there But that is not the Our main topic is Everything is Upon the mind So what was the topic We say the world is Anityam It is ever changing Never permanent It is impermanent But The same world If it is perceived Perceived means Not like us but experienced Not like us Experienced means The person becomes totally Identified With what Not with a tree Not with a house Not with a hill But The consciousness Which has taken place Which is possible Only because of the Chaitanyam consciousness And is this consciousness Divisible Or indivisible Of course it is infinite And it is eternal Therefore There cannot be Any movement at all Movement is possible Only When something is experienced Perceived through the Mind But since we are Already caught up in the mind Looking at everything Through the mind Including the idea of God That is why There are some people A bit less intellectual I would say So they think Saguna Brahma Is limited Nirguna Brahma Is unlimited Because It is nirguna No, Sri Ram Krishna's Words, teachings Are profound teachings Since nobody Till now could Describe What Brahman is like Can't tell And Sri Ram Krishna used to tell A beautiful story For us to understand it Easily So there was a salt doll And Once it Determined, I want to see What is the depth of the ocean So it just Adventurously Jumped into the ocean And as soon as it Touched the water It started melting So how much Time it takes For that to melt Of course we do not know how much time It takes to melt But not more than A few minutes And then it became One with the ocean Now who is going to come and tell the depth So what is the meaning Of this salt doll We are like the salt dolls We are made up of the same Material like the ocean But we do not know That we are made up of the ocean We think It is separate So I will take it as an object And I will go and I will measure What is the depth for example Or if it is a mountain It is a long distance Another country What is the distance between me And that country All these are possible only because Of the instrument That we are using And once we overcome that Instrument The division That there are More than one object That completely disappears This is what This Zen master wants to say If you can still your mind Very interesting What is this Stilling of the mind It is called in Patanjali's Definition Chitta vritti nirodhaha Puns of that chitta vritti Are nirodha What remains Pure consciousness Shuddha chaitanyam And chaitanyam There is no division God, chaitanyam, brahman These are synonymous words We have to understand So this is how Slowly slowly slowly As a sadhaka Starts progressing First he sees a lot of difference Absolutely No relationship With oneself Let alone with God Even with any other object Even left hand Right hand There is a tremendous difference What to speak of Another human being This is called Dvaita buddhi And then slowly As he progresses in spiritual life He will find himself In the next stage So for simplification Purpose We can say it is called What is it? There is unity in diversity I see everything as different But everything is Made up of the same material For that Shri Ramakrishna gives Another beautiful example He says That supposing A person is looking at a Huge wax garden The whole garden Is made up of Wax Or nowadays people will Make what is called Wax models of Temples, buildings Because that gives A crystal clear idea Even to the smallest Intellect How his house or his temple Or office building Is going to look alike They make models In fact when our Temple has to be made A beautiful model I don't know whether they kept it We kept it In the basement area Anybody could see it How it is there So everything is made up Of wax But what does the person see? There are different Flowers, different trees Small, big And so many varieties All there Imagine further It is all colorified So you can see How the rose flower looks Etc, etc, etc But at the same time We are The onlooker We presume is Aware everything is Made up of wax But because of the Nama Rupa it looks Slightly different This is the conception Of Isishta Advaita of Ramanuja Bhagawan is like That Like our body And each one of us Everything in this world So if it is living Like a living cell If it is non-living Like our hair Like our nails, etc So we have got that example Also is given in the Mundaka Upanishad Very beautifully So just like a Spider brings out the whole Material from its Its own body And then it withdraws also Just as a human being Living person He grows hair Nails, etc Even though they do not have That's why you are able to cut The hair without Feeling the pain Or cut the nails And what is called Pay 200 pounds For cutting it in a Particular shape And sometimes it looks like a Rakshasa Or Rakshasi's Nails, all those things So these are the examples But everything is Made up of the pure Consciousness only Still difference is seen But that unity Is perceived When that unity is perceived In the diversity That is called Visishta Advaita And then a time will come It is like melting The whole wax garden Then what remains is Pure wax, unadulterated Wax, any number of Examples we can give Children will be playing on the Beaches, what is called Oceans, beaches And they take the sand And they build castles And soldiers Everything But it is all made up of sand At the end of the day, a fellow kicks it And goes, like we kick The waking state Into the dream state And enter into that State of Sushupti But only thing is This is only as an example For us, for our Easier understanding But we have to understand Even in Sushupti I am a Prajna I am a sleeper That distinction is there So even in the Waking state, we have two Distinctions I am separate from everything But I am a part of Virat I am a dreamer But I am part of the Hiranyagarbha I am a Prajna But I am also part of the Ishwara Only when we are capable Of transcending All these three changing States Then only And that is a state That we cannot describe Because to whom are we going to describe Because it is one without a Second So that is what We have to understand That slowly through Sadhana We have to reach that particular state Because that is What we are And through Viveka Nitya Nitya According to Shankara's Interpretation Especially in the Viveka Chudamani book Nitya Nitya Vastu Vivekaha But Sri Ram Krishna Is more practical More down to earth He says God alone is permanent Everything else is Temporary changing That's what he says The third commandment Now and then Always discriminate What is Permanent What is impermanent And that is called Jnana Marga Travel So as you recollect There are four commandments of Sadhana Bhakti Yoga Then Raja Yoga Then Jnana Yoga And then lastly Comes Karma Yoga Because M himself Asks the question How shall we live in this world Live like a maid servant Do everything But be aware That you have your own home And slowly we have to reach That state And this is what Sri Ram Krishna wants to say That This Viveka has to be used In every worldly circumstance And Sri Ram Krishna Goes on explaining This is only the interesting background That I have given you First of all Set up God in the shrine of your heart And afterwards deliver lectures As much as you like Perhaps There is somebody Who is giving lectures So Sri Ram Krishna is addressing First of all You will never be able to Even deliver anything If I am able to breathe It is because of God If I am able to speak It is because of God If I am even able to babble That is because of God If I am able to Speak finely The highest truth In a most intricate manner And especially Understandable manner So God only manifesting Or Mother Saraswati Manifesting That is why as I mentioned so many times Kalidasa first of all bows down To Shiva and Parvati He says That just like Vagarthau Iva Sampruktau Shiva and Parvati Brahman and Shakti Purusha and Prakruti Are Inseparably united Like A word and its meaning Vagartha Pratipatthai So that I may be able to express your glory In the form of Poetry Jagathaha Pitarau Vande Parvati Parameshwarau And Swami Vivekananda Also bowed down to Mother Saraswati Of course Sri Ram Krishna There is no difference Between Sri Ram Krishna, Holy Mother Saraswati, Kali, Durga Etc And then Swami Vivekananda Used to say very often I did not speak It is Sri Ram Krishna Who spoke all the time It is his ideas But he used my voice My body For spreading his own Ideas Teachings in this world And those teachings are Absolutely appropriate For this Sri Ram Krishna Has many such beautiful words So previously When a person gets fever Then they used to go to the Kaviraj Or Ayurvedic Physician And then Sri Ram Krishna says That is not going to work out By that time the Kaviraj That medicine really works Then this person He may expire Nowadays Gupta's mixture So ready made So you drink it At least first thing is It relieves you of the fever and headache Then that gives you Further strength To take care of yourself Etc So Sri Ram Krishna is telling Whether you do it either through Japa or meditation Or scriptural study Or pilgrimage Whatever you want to do Set up God in the shrine of your heart And this is what Exactly what in the Eighth chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad That is called Dahara Vidya or Dahara Akasha Vidya Wherein the Rishi Reminds each one of us Your very body Your very body Is a temple of God It is called Brahmapuram And within that Brahmapuram There is a heart Untouched by anything Aha Mahamiti Sadas Purantam Continuously manifesting itself As I, I, I As the Sakshi Chaitanya And I also mentioned it I will also go on mentioning These ideas become Familiar with us We have got two Eyes One is the participating Eye, another is The witnessing eye Sakshi Chaitanyam And one is called Karta The doership, the enjoyership Whereas The other one Goes on witnessing it It is this witness Which remembers I was the same baby Pointing out to a Photograph of the baby Oh that was me 50 years back, 80 years back Of course I may not recognize But somebody has to point out What if I see my mother Keeping that baby And then I know Oh this must be me Like that We have to, a Sakshi One who remembers Because the participating Eye is so Absorbed in the experience That he will pass on From one experience To another experience Every millisecond How many experiences That means by identifying With every thought The person is going through That person has Neither the capacity Nor the time To remember, now I am acting Only the Sakshi Chaitanya Which remembers Everything And that Sakshi Chaitanyam Is what Patanjali Rishi calls When we can Somehow overcome And become the Sakshi Chaitanyam Tatha drashtu swaroope Avasthanam We Completely get Identified With that state What a marvelous statement How many people Are trying to make us understand What is this vritti nirodha Vritti nirodha Has nothing to do With suppression, oppression Or mastery Or anything of that It is to remember Every vritti Is nothing but Suppression of pure consciousness But in the form of Vritti, just like Light is the manifestation On every Picture That image that we see On the cinema screen How do you know? Just switch off the light You will see, there is nothing to see there But there must be A screen must be there And that screen Is what is called Sakshi Chaitanya So people come, people are born They grow up Nothing affects There is heavy rain, heavy fire Nothing happens to the screen So if we can Set up that God In the shrine of our hearts And then Shri Ramakrishna says afterwards Deliver lectures as much as you like That means what? Once we set up That God in our hearts That God himself We feel that I am not the Doer, I am just an instrument Then Shri Ramakrishna goes further And this also applies to us Remember Whatever Shri Ramakrishna tells It applies to everybody In this world This is what he is going to say How will the mere repetition of Brahma Profit you? If you are not imbued with discrimination And dispassion It is the empty sound of a conch shell Now let us Discuss About this subject How are we going to discuss? So How much of japa everyday people Are doing? You ask any Hindu How much japa he is doing? You ask Muslims They have a kind of rosary And they also do Christians have a rosary Not made up of Tulsi beads Or What is called The other one That they use Wool They make it just like a bead And they go on doing it So Japa, tapa, pilgrimage So many things they do But you know what If a person is not imbued With discrimination and dispassion It is the empty sound of a Conch shell And Shri Ramakrishna must have been reminded As soon as he uttered the word Conch shell Then the story of Podo comes What a beautiful story There lived in a village a young man Named Padmalochan People used to call him Podo In this village There was a temple In a very dilapidated condition And in India There are literally millions Of temples Some small, some big Which are dilapidated So Shri Ramakrishna continues It contained no image of God And Ashwatha And other trees sprang up On the ruins of its walls Bats lived inside And the floor was covered with dust And the droppings of the bats The people of the village Had naturally Stopped visiting the temple One day After dusk, the villagers heard The sound of a conch shell From the direction of the temple So they thought Perhaps someone had installed An image in the shrine And was performing the evening worship One of them Of course, we have to presume So they must have ran to the temple And then they found A temple was Perhaps closed So one of them softly opened the door And saw Padmalochan Standing in a corner Blowing the conch No image had been set up The temple had not been swept Or washed Filth and dirt lay everywhere Then he shouted to Podo Beautiful song is there This is how it starts In Bengali language You have set up no image here Within the shrine, oh fool Blowing the conch You simply make confusion Worse, confound it Day and night, eleven bats Scream there incessantly There is no use in merely making a noise If you want to establish The deity in the shrine Clean up your heart If you want to realize God First of all, purify the mind In the pure heart God who takes His seat One cannot bring the holy image Into the temple If the droppings of bats Are all around I have Sometimes A very peculiar way of Giving some illustrations Not very good illustrations But they will serve the purpose Supposing There is somebody And his lavatory Is never cleaned Not to speak of Dining hall and kitchen But lavatory And one day Some respected, a great gentleman Whom everybody respects May be ears Is entered, or may be guru himself And the disciple Joyfully welcomes him and says I am so happy, please come Be seated And give a spread seat Inside the lavatory Will anybody do that? Will the guru stay there? Even the person Himself would not like To stay like that What am I driving at is Is this eleven bats What are these eleven bats? Our eleven organs Eleven organs Have you heard of eleven organs? Five of action, five of Karmendriyas, five of Perception, five Jnanendriyas And the mind, remember according to Vedanta The mind is called What is called Inner organ Antahkarana And this mind also According to Vedanta Is divided into four parts Manaha, chittaha Buddhi, Ahankara These five distinctions We don't get in this English word mind So these eleven bats Are our own organs So first of all Sri Ramakrishna says invoke the deity And then give lectures To your heart's content But then what does he mean? First of all Clean the temple thoroughly And then Bring the image of God And install it In the Sanctum Sanctorum And then Collect flowers, beautiful things Decorate Everything And then start doing Pooja, which is Sri Ramakrishna's Verse is called Sandhya, rituals And after Many a birth These devout Worshipping of the God As a ritual It purifies the mind Ultimately it makes A person remember That God alone is the reality And once We make that truth Our own Then there is nothing further to be Made, as I said Sandhya merges in Gayatri, what is the essence Of all the rituals? Wholehearted surrender To Mother Divine Mother For one purpose only Oh Mother, I am a fool Here is your Dharma Here is your Adharma Here is your Punya, here is your Papa, here is your knowledge Here is your ignorance Take everything of this Give me pure Devotion to your lotus feet This is what Sri Ramanuja calls Prapatthi Marga Bhakti Marga, Prapatthi means Complete self-surrender And only if you study the Gita First of all, Arjuna went on Lecturing, and only then The second Chapter starts But the first ten verses In the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Only talks about Krishna's Sorry, Arjuna's Objections to Why he should Fight I am objecting, I don't want to fight It was he only who Abused Sri Krishna That why you are Advising us to make Peace, no Right now we want That's what of course Krishna Wanted, but He was a past master, how to manipulate The minds of the people For example, Sri Krishna Went as an ambassador of Peace to Hastinapura These poor Pandavas could not have Chosen a worse Peace ambassador Than Bhagavan Krishna You may be surprised hearing this From my mouth Why? Because Sri Krishna knew The past, present And future of the world He knows the Kurukshetra war is Going to come And then he is Paramatma He is Ananta Shaktimaan He is Omnipotent Do you think this Paramatma Had no power He has to argue with Duryodhana Could he have not Changed the mind of Duryodhana In one millisecond Could he not Have changed Dhritarashtra's mind Or other people's minds No He wants war So it is only A big drama I am going So the way he addresses Duryodhana So he did not use Harsh words like you stupid You idiot Dumb Like that he did not use But he conveyed the message You are dumb, you are stupid You are an idiot If you agree to peace Then you are really stupid Of course Duryodhana could not help So he said no I am not going to accept Any peace deal at all Why? Did not Duryodhana Know about it This is the beauty of Mahabharata So I am bringing The subsequent Events into this present Conversation Duryodhana was lying His thigh is completely broken And it passes My understanding How can the people of Duryodhana How could they Leave their what is called Raja In the battlefield which is Full of corpses and other people Could they not have carried him At least to a tent And then If he is beyond any help Ok that must be ok But at least he would have died On a nice cot Surrounded by people etc No, Mahabharata gives Beautiful description Why? Because it has a purpose To convey to us A person is what is called A pauper or An emperor It does not really matter When death comes, what does it matter Whether you are dying Under an air-conditioned room Or outside In a desert It does not make any difference Anyway that is not the point Some Followers of him Approached him We are Really grieving Looking at the condition What were you and what are you now And when Krishna came You could have easily agreed After all only They wanted five villages nothing more Which is nothing And you knew If any time War had to be break up Then this is going to be The condition you are going to be Destroyed. Why? Because every adharmic His conscience crystal clearly Tells him Not that it never tells him But he ignores it willfully You know That this is going to be Your fate Then from the mouth of Duryodhana The greatest wisdom Comes out So I know What is Dharma But I have absolutely no wish To follow it And I know What is Adharma I have no incentive To stop But why? Are you not having that intelligence That discrimination? He says no There is somebody sitting within my heart He will not allow me To do what I know I have to do He wants to get it done According to his own will What a marvelous lesson We have to learn That is why it is so well said Whatever is anywhere else Is to be found in Mahabharata And whatever is not to be found In Mahabharata One will not be able to find out Anywhere else Absolute truth So that is the idea We have to bring here We must first establish God in our own hearts Because whether we establish God or not What God wills He is I have no will power I have no free will That is an illusion That I can do whatever I like No sir You can do what only the Divine Mother Wants you to do Your will is my will You do your work People say I do it Who delivers the lectures And the devotee is well aware And others are astonished Oh This person looks like this But what pearls of wisdom Are streaming forth From his mouth So that is why Sriram Krishna advises First of all dive deep Plunge to the bottom And gather up the gems Then you may do other things People are without Spiritual discipline and prayer Without renunciation and dispassion They learn a few words And immediately start To deliver lectures Beautiful Gems of thoughts We will Discuss some of these Continue some of these Beautiful ideas In our next class