Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

Opening Invocation

ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगदगुरुम पादपद्मे तयो: श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहु :

Om Jananim Saradam devim Ramakrishnam jagadgurum Padapadme tayoh shritva pranamami muhurmuhuh.

Spiritual Discourse on Bhakti and Divine Vision

Guṇa Rahitam - Beyond All Qualities

Here we speak of parabhakta, not guṇa bhakta. We discussed guṇa rahitam—what is guṇa rahitam? It means "without any distinguishing marks."

It also means that when a person is possessed by the divine feeling, then we cannot make any distinction. What does that mean? The next sūtra tells us: when a devotee sees, what does he see? Only God. Tadeva avalokayate.

Tadeva śrṇoti—anybody talking, he hears only God talking. Nobody else is talking. Tadeva bhāṣayate—when he speaks, he speaks only about God.

When he hears something, what do you think? Yes, it is about God.

Illustrations from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Life

The Vision of Divine Mother in All

I will give two illustrations before we go further. Is it possible that everybody is talking about God? Yes, there is room in this understanding. But what does it mean? It means he is a practitioner in a spiritual way.

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had this kind of vision. One day, he saw a prostitute waiting for customers. How was he looking at her? As Mother Sītā waiting for Śrī Rāma. That was his vision.

Suppose a customer comes. You have to meditate upon these things and understand. Suppose one customer sees her and comes to her, and then she tells him, "I love you." How does the devotee understand that word "I love you"? That everybody loves only God, because his whole vision is of Mother Sītā. When she says "I love you" to Śrī Rāma, what is that? Is it kāma or is it prema? He sees only Sītā and Rāma.

The Vision of Divine Love in Nature

Another day, he was coming from Pañcavaṭī. He saw two dogs mating. What did he see? Prema and kīrti (divine love and glory).

And there is something very wonderful. Swami Akhanandaji was wandering in the Himalayas. He was a great lover of nature. That's why he used to drink in the natural beauty. One day, he arrived at one place. It was sunset time—the sun had not yet set, but almost.

He could see in front of him a hill on both sides. Here, on this side, in the sunset time, the full moon was rising on the other side. So this side of the mountain was completely pure white, while this side was like golden color in the rare sight when these two events come together at the same time.

(I have seen Kañcenjuṅgā from Cherrapuñj, traveling towards Śilloṅg, at the top of the hill, shining like burnished gold—such beauty!)

The Union of Śiva and Gaurī

Natural sight like this inspires what are called "nature mystics." People like Wordsworth and Shelley were all called nature mystics. These people used to go into ecstasy seeing creation—"daffodils everywhere." You also see daffodils, and then after a second, you don't want to see them your whole life.

What was he seeing? The whole universe in a pure form. Suddenly, Swāmī Akhaṇḍānandajī said, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa exclaimed: "Look, this is the union of Śiva and Gaurī!" Beautiful words—Śiva and Gaurī.

What is the complexion of Śiva? Pure white. What is the complexion of Gaurī? Golden. Beautiful combination!

For us, it is a lifeless mountain. For realized souls, it is not lifeless. There is nothing in this world which is lifeless. A river is a devatā, a mountain is a devatā, the earth is a devatā, water is devatā, air is devatā, fire is devatā, space is devatā.

What is not a devatā? The whole universe is permeated by God only, appearing in the form of the pañca devatās. That is why we say pṛthvī devatā, etc.

The Nature of Guṇas and Transcendence

Guṇa rahitam—the popular meaning of guṇa is sattva, rajas, and tamas. But parabhakti transcends the guṇas. Why? What is the function of guṇa? That which constrains or restricts something is called guṇa. That is why one meaning of guṇa is rope.

What is the function of a rope? Tying, binding. That is why in English, in America, there is an expression "roping"—instead of tying and pulling an animal, a cow, a horse.

The function of sattva, rajas, and tamas is to bind, to limit. That is why earlier we said nistraiguṇyo bhavati—he goes beyond the three guṇas. To attain that parabhakti, you have to give up duṣsaṅga (bad company) and cultivate satsaṅga (good company). Then you have to give up even the meaningless ritualistic portion of the Vedas—vedān api saṃnyasati.

Not the knowledge portion, but the rituals. But rituals cannot be given up forcibly; they have to fall by themselves.

The Parable of Natural Progression

Rāmakṛṣṇa used to give two illustrations. When a tree is growing, its leaves automatically dry up, and especially palm leaves fall down. But if you forcibly pull them down, the whole plant will be injured.

Similarly, if there is an injury, a scab forms. You cannot forcibly remove the scab because the wound will never heal. But when the wound is healed, you don't need to do anything—automatically it will fall.

That is why Rāmakṛṣṇa was very particular and said you should not give up karmas. When you have transcended, karmas will give you up. When you have gone beyond certain things, you don't need to do anything.

How long are you going to recite like a small child, "A for apple, B for ball"? How long are you going to do that? Once you have mastered that, you don't need to go through that karma at all. Any karma is necessary so long as we have not transcended that particular stage of life.

The Parable of the Three Robbers

Guṇa rahitam means it goes beyond the three guṇas. We know the famous parable of Rāmakṛṣṇa about three robbers.

Once a man was traveling in a forest. Three robbers fell upon him, bound him, and took away all his possessions. One fellow said, "This fellow is dangerous. If he has seen us, he will bring the police. Let us kill him."

Another fellow said, "No, no, don't worry. Let us leave him. Some wild animal will come and finish him off. Our purpose is fulfilled, and we don't get the sin of killing."

So they left him and went away. Soon after, another person came, untied him, took him back, showed him his house, and said, "That is your home. There you go."

This person was so grateful. Instead of being killed, he was released by one of the robbers. He said, "Sir, you did such a great thing for me. We would be very happy to honor you. Please come to our home."

The rescuer replied, "Let me go now, or the police will catch me. I am also a robber."

The Spiritual Meaning

Very significant story! Even sattva robs, but there is a vast difference between sattva's robbery and rajas-tamas robbery.

What is the vast difference? Sattva slowly removes attachments and says, "If you want to go to God, you should not be tied with all these burdens." Just drop everything and go—like airplanes have adopted this method now. In case of emergency, don't take anything. Ladies should not wear high-heeled shoes because they will hinder you. You can't carry anything because you are endangering the whole plane. Just get up, follow the queue, don't rush, let one by one go. Then there is greater success.

What does sattva do? It removes all your possessions from you. If you can't get rid of them, it will come and help you. "I will help you get rid of these things." Then your mind becomes free, and only then can you go to God.

The other types of robbery only make one miserable. Sattva's robbery means showing you that you will get more joy in the higher option, not in the lower one. These are miserable things. Do you understand now? Sattva also is a robber—it robs you of your attachment, your possessions, your ahaṃkāra. That is how sattva helps.

But sattva cannot take us all the way because sattva also binds us. How? Sattvaṃ sañjayate jñānam, sattvaṃ sañjayate sukham. The results of sattva are two: jñāna and sukha.

Jñāna means true knowledge. Then what happens? Sometimes that knowledge goes to our head: "I am a great paṇḍit, I am a knowledgeable person." So many sādhakas give up many things but get caught in pride.

That's why Holy Mother's every word has deep meaning. She said, "A sannyāsī's greatest downfall is his feeling that he is a sannyāsī, superior to those wretched householders."

A true bhakta should never feel superior. Some sannyāsīs following Śaṅkarācārya never gave up their Brahminhood: "We are Brahmins." They would not allow non-Brahmins to come anywhere near. There are many good devotees, but that's pride: "I am a Brahmin, I am doing my japa, dhyāna, etc." It's pride.

The Binding Nature of Sattva

A sannyāsī thinking "I am a great sannyāsī"—it is ahaṃkāra. This is one way sattva binds.

Another way: sattva produces so much joy that the moment you get joy, you forget God. Rāmakṛṣṇa's illustration is so meaningful: merchants have huge storehouses with tons and tons of rice bags. Rats come and want to nibble the rice. So what do these merchants do? They put out fried flattened rice with such an aroma that all the rats fight with each other over this small batch and don't take notice of the real stuff.

Like that, all these guṇas only produce temporary ānanda, but they don't give the real thing. So sattva binds in two ways: it gives us knowledge (which can lead to pride) and it gives us happiness (which can make us forget God).

The Four Obstacles to Spiritual Progress

In spiritual perfection, we discussed four obstacles. If you remember: first is dayā, second is kṣetra, third is gāśayaka, and fourth is rasāsvādana.

If you want to meditate, the first obstacle is dayā—you go to sleep. So many devotees are very proud: "Swāmījī, I won't sleep." Within five minutes, they forget everything. After one hour, when they come back refreshed, they think it was deep meditation. This is called lying to oneself.

Somehow, if a person overcomes this, then the mind becomes extremely restless about this, this, this—so many things. Inability to attain peace, inability to remain still without depending on music, books, entertainment, company—this is kṣetra.

Somehow, if he overcomes this, then the mind will doubt: "What is this? Why am I doing this? Am I losing my sanity? Is this really God?" This kind of doubt is called gāśayaka. Gāśayaka means bitter, like bitter Ayurvedic medicine.

Somehow, by God's grace and sādhana, one overcomes this. Then such joy comes—rasāsvādana. He doesn't want to move forward.

The Danger of Spiritual Bliss

To compare this: when people are moving to higher altitudes in the Himalayas, hypothermia sets in. They feel like sitting because it's so pleasant, and they become unconscious. Very pleasant, happy, unconscious. If nobody is there to rouse them, there they will die because of the intense cold.

If anybody is there, even giving slaps, they will drag him away, because if he is allowed to remain, he will die. This rasāsvādana will not allow us to move forward.

Somehow, if one overcomes this, tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe avasthānam—then the seer rests in his own nature.

Kāmanā Rahitam - Beyond All Desires

Kāmanā rahitam—kāmanā means desire. The desire for God is the ultimate desire that includes everything. God means everything. If a person gets God, he cannot have any other desire.

Also, there is a law: when we progress to higher joy, what happens to lower joy? It loses its attraction. You don't need to do anything—you don't need to make effort to give it up.

A Humorous Illustration

In a Christian school, just before Christmas, the teachers wanted the children to enact a drama presenting heaven and hell to all the parents on Christmas evening, so they would be frightened of hell and aspire for heaven.

The teacher was instructing: "Boys, when the heavenly scene comes, put on a bright smile. Let people see all your 32 teeth."

They said, "Yes, sir."

Then one boy said, "What shall we do when the hell scene comes?"

The teacher said, "You don't need to do anything. Just be yourselves."

The Law of Higher Happiness

There is a law: when a person attains to a higher state of happiness, the lower state of happiness is automatically transcended. You don't need to make special effort to give it up. Automatically, the higher you climb, the lower step is naturally left behind.

So kāmanā rahitam—because what is kāma? You have to understand what kāma means. Kāma means desire for particular objects.

If you eat a lollipop, what happiness do you get? Only lollipop-happiness. If you eat a mango, what pleasure do you get? Only mango-pleasure. Each object gives only that much pleasure, but you are missing billions and billions of other pleasures.

Whereas prema means: "I want to get infinite happiness. I want to become happiness itself."

That is why in the Upaniṣads, this state of a perfected soul is described in two words: pūrṇa kāma (all desires completely satisfied) and akāma (desireless). Naturally, pūrṇa kāma becomes akāma—the meaning is the same. But you can't become akāma unless you have already become pūrṇa kāma.

Otherwise, it becomes apūrṇa kāma. Each individual desire is apūrṇa kāma: "I have this, but I don't have that." But if you obtain God, then you have everything.

Pratikṣaṇa Vardhāmānam - Growing Every Moment

Pratikṣaṇa vardhāmānam—every second, the more you experience it, the more the thirst grows. It's a natural phenomenon, even in our day-to-day experience.

Suppose you eat a sweet. It gives you some happiness. The moment you experience it, what happens? Pratikṣaṇa vardhāmānam—"I want it again."

But you can't have it again because your body is not ready for it. How many sweets can you eat? Only a limited number. After that, your body will prevent you. But the mind doesn't prevent you. The mind says, "Why don't I have the stomach of Kumbhakarṇa or Bhīmasena?"

Kumbhakarṇa used to eat for six months continuously. "I want to have Kumbhakarṇa's body or Bhakāsura's body or Bhīmasena's body. Every moment I eat, everything should be digested so I become very hungry and can eat again."

That's the nature of happiness—it wants more. The nature of unhappiness is just the opposite: "Enough is enough."

Suppose one mosquito bites—it's tolerable. Let two mosquitoes bite—"Such a disaster! Let no mosquito ever bite me again!"

The nature of sukha is pratikṣaṇa vardhāmānam. How is this? There is a fire, and you want to put it out, but you pour petrol on it. Āviṣkṛṇvan vardhate eva—the more you fulfill it, the more it grows.

Avichinnam - Unbroken Joy

Avichinnam—it is unbroken. Why is it unbroken? What breaks a thing? What puts a limit to it? Body and mind.

Whereas this goes beyond the triguṇas. Triguṇas means all body-mind complex falls under the guṇas. And this devotee has gone beyond the guṇas to the pure Self. That is why he becomes infinite. Therefore, that joy is unbroken.

Sūkṣmataram - The Subtlest

Sūkṣmataram—the higher the happiness, the subtler it is. The highest happiness is indescribable.

That is why aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān—"smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest." But that word "small" is not an appropriate translation. It should be "subtler than the subtlest."

What is the difference between small and subtle? Small is a physical measurement. Subtle is a concept that transcends physical limitations. So it is the subtlest—so subtle that it really means we can't understand it.

There is a law: the effect can never understand the cause. The gross can never understand the subtle. That is the law.

That is why sūkṣmataram—of all objects in this world, which is the subtlest? God. All finite objects, however subtle, are still gross compared to the infinite. God comprises all things and transcends them.

Anubhava Rūpam - Known Only Through Experience

Anubhava rūpam—what is this? You are giving so many descriptions, but how will you know? You will not know through descriptions. Here, whose description is this? Nārada's own experience.

So he says, "My friend, when you experience it, you will know what it is." We discussed this earlier—no experience can be put in words.

Rāmakṛṣṇa gives the example of trying to explain to a 3-4 year old girl the happiness that a woman derives from her husband. Can anybody describe it? They can't, because any experience—we are not talking about spiritual experience only—even if you eat a nice mango and it is fantastic, how will you describe it to others who have eaten many varieties of mangoes but not this particular variety?

How will you make them understand the difference between other varieties and this particular variety? Impossible. The only thing you can say is "It is a very nice mango." Because you have experienced it, you can apply a little bit of your past experience and imagine it is 10 times more happiness, 100 times more happiness. But exactly, you can never describe it.

Words can never describe anything—only experience can.

Rāmakṛṣṇa's Attempt to Describe the Indescribable

That is why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa one day said, "Today I will reveal all secrets. I will tell you what happens when kuṇḍalinī is rising." Then he went on: "When kuṇḍalinī reaches anāhata cakra, then you see everything like this. When it reaches viśuddha, it is like that. When it reaches ājñā, it is like that—pure consciousness, me and God. Now I will describe what God is like..."

He went into samādhi. Came back. "Now I will describe..." Again he went into samādhi. "Now I will describe..." Then with tears in his eyes he said, "See, I love you. I want to tell you what it is, but this Mother is not allowing me. She is closing my mouth."

When Śaradānandajī was passing by, he thought, "This good man wants to tell us something. Who is this lady unnecessarily interposing and stopping this man?" Then he understood that Rāmakṛṣṇa was trying to do the impossible—to describe the indescribable, to make the impossible possible.

You cannot describe the experience of deep sleep to someone who has never experienced it. It is like a blind person trying to understand color.

The Proof of Existence Through Experience

If somebody asks, "If it cannot be described, maybe it doesn't exist," the answer is: it does exist. How do people like us understand? When you go to such realized people, when we are really fortunate by God's grace, you will see you are filled with indescribable joy. When you come out, it's as if you have fallen from that height to your normal state. Then you understand the greatness of that person.

An Incident with Swāmī Vivekānanda

I am describing something very simple and interesting. Swāmī Vivekānanda, one evening, was sitting with others in front of the monastery. At that time—even now there is a mango tree near the front of the monastery building. There used to be a bench where sometimes direct disciples would sit with Swāmī Vivekānanda.

One day he was sitting and talking. In those days, pūjā was done by Bāburām Mahārāj, so he had to go to the Gaṅgā to collect jars of water.

At that particular moment, Swāmī Vivekānanda was talking about Brahman. From some topic, he got into excitement. He said, "Where are you seeking that Brahman? It is here, here, here!"

When he was speaking these words, Swāmī Premānanda happened to come there with a pot full of Gaṅgā water. He heard just these three words. Such was the greatness of Swāmījī that immediately Premānanda became unconscious. Everybody became almost unconscious. Swāmījī himself was in that state for 15 minutes.

Like rocks, all of them sat there. Then Swāmījī looked at Bāburām and said, "Now you go." Immediately the mood came down, and only then could he move from there.

Such a mahāpuruṣa—just by speaking, he could lift the minds of people to that greatest height. When you come down from that height, then you understand that such a state exists. It is anubhava—you also had a glimpse of that, but not through your own effort. It is because of satsaṅga.

The Power of Satsaṅga

This is the only way: you go into the presence of a sādhu, and you will become a sādhu temporarily. You sit near fire, and your body also becomes warm. If someone touches your body at that time, that person also feels the warmth.

There was a cartoon: a woman's husband was a devotee of some Bābā. He went to that Bābā and came back home with great enthusiasm, singing and doing so many things. Usually his nature was opposite. The wife was concerned: "This Bābā has some effect upon you. This is borrowed enthusiasm. How long will it last?"

But that temporary experience gives us a glimpse.

Swāmī Tūrīyānandajī Mahārāj used to say that one visit to Ṭhākur (Rāmakṛṣṇa) used to give them indescribable bliss for seven days. Then they needed another dose.

Another Humorous Illustration

I saw another beautiful cartoon in "Hinduism Today" magazine. A very fat Śiva devotee came home, rushed to his wife (who was also very fat), took her in his arms, and started moving around. The wife asked, "Has your Gurujī taught you some new romantic movement?"

Her husband replied, "No, dear. He taught us today that each one of us has to carry our own burden."

The Reality of Experience

Anubhava rūpam—only a person who experiences it knows, but another person who has a temporary glimpse because of the influence of a realized soul also understands because he is temporarily given that experience.

When you have experience, you cannot have doubts. You may read books—nothing will happen—but you go and sit in the presence of realized souls, and their very presence will lift you up.

Many people reported that when they used to go to Ramaṇa Maharṣi with so many doubts and agitations of mind, lots of questions, the moment they went and sat in his presence, they forgot what questions they had. Two things happened: they were completely filled with peace, and when they came out, either all their doubts were completely clear, or they said, "So long as we were in his presence, we forgot our very existence. We were aware only of unending, indescribable peace, which we call bliss."

Sometimes, just in his presence, without any words spoken, just by his presence—that is the effect of satsaṅga.

Tat Prāpya - Having Obtained That

Then, when a person really has experience of this divine love, what happens? Tat prāpya—prāpya means "having obtained." Tat means that supreme devotion.

He sees only God everywhere. Whatever he says, God alone is speaking. Tadeva śrṇoti—anybody talking? They are talking about my Kṛṣṇa. Tadeva bhāṣayati—whatever words come out, because his heart is full of these divine thoughts, he cannot speak anything else.

That's why, if you find somebody speaking worthless things, what does that mean? Inside him, what is there? Worthlessness.

A Humorous Computer Story

One young man thought he would experiment and invent some new food combinations. Four or five varieties of foods he had produced with new combinations. He fed this information into the computer to get appropriate names. Promptly the names came out: "Junk," "Rubbish," "Rotten."

The point is that nothing will come out from the mouth unless it has been inside the heart for a long time, brooding there. It cannot happen otherwise.

The Devotee's Vision of God in Everything

This devotee sees only God, nothing else. That's what I just mentioned about Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa looking at the woman and seeing only Divine Mother—not particularly Divine Mother as Sītā, but why? Because what was he thinking all the time? What was he contemplating all the time? Only the Divine Mother.

Therefore, naturally, we see only what our mind is conditioned to see.

The Relativity of Perception

Let me dwell on this subject. When we look at things, we don't actually look at things as they are. We look as our mind, already colored by our tendencies, wants to look at things.

Supposing four people are walking on the street—this is Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's illustration. One woman is walking. A young child rushes to her: "Mama!" and hugs her. An old man also goes and hugs her: "My daughter." A young man goes and hugs her: "My darling wife." Another young man looks at her and says, "Very beautiful woman."

Same object, but how many different views? That was Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's illustration.

I can add one more: if a tiger is looking at her, what would be its view? Food.

The point is that we never look at things as they are. The way Arjuna looked at Duryodhana, the way Kṛṣṇa looks at Duryodhana, the way Gāndhārī looks at Duryodhana—all totally different. However wicked a person may be, to his mother he is "the most dear one."

Not one person looks at any object as it actually is.

The Wooden Table Illustration

My favorite illustration: suppose there is a wooden table. Don't call it a wooden table—call it an object. You ask a woodworker, "What is it?" What do you think he will say? "Wood." Ask a carpenter, "What is it?" He says, "Wood." Ask a physicist with a powerful electron microscope, "What is it?" What do you think he will say? "Atoms, energy—just bursting energy." Ask Rāmakṛṣṇa, "What is it?" What do you think he will say? "My Divine Mother."

It's not only living beings—for saints, there is no distinction between living and non-living at all. When a person reaches that stage of supreme knowledge, how does he look at everything? He sees God only, nothing else.

Spiritual Interpretation of Tantric Terms

Then, whatever people are saying, even seemingly objectionable words—I am giving illustrations of how such words affect us versus how they affected Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa.

In Tantra, sādhana is done through pañcamakāra. Madya is one of them—madya means wine. Maithuna means union between man and woman. Then māṃsa, matsya, mudrā.

I will not talk about the others, only madya and maithuna. When ordinary people hear about wine and man-woman union, their minds go downward, and they think only what animals think.

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to use the word madya. What does wine do to a person? It intoxicates. Immediately, he would think: "My Divine Mother intoxicates me." There is a beautiful song: "I do not drink wine; I drink the nectar of Divine Mother."

The Story of Kālīpada

Kālī was a he came to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. After observing him, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa immediately said, "This rogue mistreated his wife for 12 years, and she bore it all."

Kālīpada was startled: "How does this man know?" Rāmakṛṣṇa knows even past lives.

Arjuna asked Śrī Kṛṣṇa: "You claim you taught this divine truth thousands of years ago, but we are contemporaries. How come you taught it before?"

Kṛṣṇa replied: "I have taken so many births, you have also taken so many births. I know all of them; you have forgotten everything and know only this birth." Because if one remembers the past, one would refuse to come again.

One of our swāmīs, Swāmī Atulanandajī, was a great devotee of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. We think he was a realized soul. Somebody asked him when he was old, suffering from eye cancer (a terrible thing, but he remained calm and quiet): "Mahārāj, when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa incarnates next time, will you come?"

He said, "No more coming. This is enough. When you have such a big headache, your family members have small headaches because they are small people. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is the biggest person, so the headache is also the biggest. One birth is enough. I don't want to come. If he wants to come and suffer, he is free, but I don't want to suffer anymore."

Very interesting response!

Spiritual Vision of Union

What were we discussing? The devotee hears only what he wants to hear based on his spiritual understanding.

So I was giving the illustration that Rāmakṛṣṇa was returning from Pañcavaṭī when he saw dogs mating. What was his vision? Śiva and Śakti in union. What would be our understanding of the same scene?

He understood that the spiritual interpretation is the jīvātmā becoming one with the Paramātmā—that is the real maithuna. That is why it is called sādhana. We are all trying for that union only. The mahāvākyas are for that purpose only.

What I am saying is that even these words can either lift us up or pull us down. The devotee cannot speak anything else because his heart is filled with love for God only.

Tadeva Cintayati - Thinking Only of God

Tadeva cintayati—he thinks only of God, nothing else. He cannot think of anything else.

There is a law here that I will explain: you think you can think anything you like, but you cannot. You don't have the power to think anything you like.

What is the proof? You like to think about God. Are you able to think about God? The moment you start thinking about God, everything else comes up. Why? Because you are getting more pleasure from other things than from God.

Once you get that experience of God, then your mind will never go to those other things. This is the law: we don't want to think worthless thoughts. We want to think only those things which we believe give us real pleasure or happiness.

Examples of God-Absorbed Consciousness

Some illustrations: Rādhā was walking in Vṛndāvana. She saw a tamāla tree. The color of the tamāla tree was black like Kṛṣṇa's complexion. Immediately she felt, "This is Kṛṣṇa!" She forgot about the tree—the tree was only a suggestion. Immediately she went into ecstasy.

One day Caitanya Mahāprabhu was going with his companions through a village. The clay soil of that particular village was used for making mṛdaṅgas (drums). It has a particular quality that produces a specific sound.

When somebody said, "Sir, this is the clay which is used for mṛdaṅgas," he went into samādhi. Why? The clay is used for mṛdaṅgas. In what context? Bhajana (devotional singing). Bhajana reminded him of Kṛṣṇa—finished! He was absorbed.

This is what we have to understand about association. Anything, any word—it doesn't matter. If we can develop that divine association, then the whole world is only talking about God.

The Prayer for Auspicious Vision

That is why the prayer is: "So long as life is there, may we have divine vision. May we listen only to what is auspicious, may we see only what is auspicious, may we speak only what is auspicious."

Wonderful prayer! This person is completely possessed by God-consciousness. The whole world becomes the Gospel—only about God.

The Center of Consciousness

It is important to find out what your center of consciousness is, because you see according to your center of consciousness, you hear according to your center of consciousness, you speak according to your center of consciousness, you meditate upon your center of consciousness, and you read about your center of consciousness.

What does that mean? If somebody's center of consciousness is money, he will only talk about money, see money everywhere, speak only about money, and also read only about money or people who have money.

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Divine Vision

When Paramahaṃsa saw an English boy standing in a particular posture, he would immediately think of Kṛṣṇa in tribhaṅga pose (the characteristic three-curved posture of Kṛṣṇa).

Everything he saw, he had not expressed completely, but he was seeing the divine reality behind every form and phenomenon.

Conclusion

This discourse illustrates how a perfect devotee (parabhakta) transcends all limiting qualities (guṇa rahitam), moves beyond all desires (kāmanā rahitam), and experiences ever-increasing divine bliss (pratikṣaṇa vardhāmānam) that is unbroken (avichinnam), most subtle (sūkṣmataram), and known only through direct experience (anubhava rūpam).

Such a devotee, having obtained that supreme state (tat prāpya), sees only God in everything (tadeva avalokayate), hears only God in all sounds (tadeva śṛṇoti), speaks only of God (tadeva bhāṣayate), and thinks only of God (tadeva cintayati).

The examples from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's life beautifully demonstrate how a God-realized soul sees the entire universe as a manifestation of the Divine, transforming every ordinary experience into a sacred revelation. This is the ultimate fruit of devotion—the complete absorption of consciousness in the Divine Reality.

Closing Prayer