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.

Discourse on Bhakti: Developing and Attaining Devotion

The Nature of Parabhakti

One attains to that highest bhakti called Parabhakti. Bhakti is divided into two categories: developing bhakti and developed bhakti.

Understanding Bhakti and Its Relationship with Knowledge

What is the difference between these two? What is bhakti? Bhakti means devotion. So what is devotion? You feel this is exactly what I want or I don't want—both.

Upon what does it depend? Knowledge. Suppose you don't know this is your mother. You will never love her because you don't feel like anybody else. The mother doesn't know this is her son. She will also not love. She might love for other reasons, but she would not definitely love for the sake of the relationship, just as a mother loves her son. But one day she comes to know this is my real son. Immediately, automatically, naturally, love comes. That's why jñāna and bhakti are interconnected.

Of course, when there is bhakti, it depends upon jñāna. When there is jñāna, automatically bhakti will come. This is the core relationship.

The Story of Self-Awareness

So that is why what happened—very interesting, you know. Man doesn't observe himself.

Many years back when I was a brahmacārī in Shillong, I had to come to Calcutta. So I had come via Guwahati. I came up to Guwahati and one swami was there. He got hold of me and he went on telling, "Look here brother, I don't want to talk." For two hours he gave a talk about why he doesn't want to talk! Two hours. Even I could understand. Why is this? My mind was very analytical. If this man doesn't want to talk—okay, five minutes: "You have come from Shillong. So we have given you this room. You stay here. Be happy." That's all that was needed. Two hours, very seriously. Nobody can believe that he was insincere, but he was not aware.

The Difference Between Faith and Knowledge

So this is one type of thing. There are other people who say they have faith. What is faith? What is the difference between jñāna and śraddhā? We use a word called faith. There are two words: belief and faith.

Do you know what is the difference between these two? What we control is belief. Therefore, it is changeable. But what controls us is faith. So at this moment, we are not having faith. The correct word for faith is śraddhā. Śraddhā we cannot control. It possesses us.

This is the nature of śraddhā. So if anybody says "I possess śraddhā"—śraddhā in what? Śraddhā in some truth. But what truth? Not experienced truth. A truth heard from somebody, read through a book, but not directly experienced. That's why śraddhā is called indirect experience.

I hope you are following what I am saying. Narendra went to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and asked, "Did you see God?" Of course, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "Yes, I have seen God." But you can ask that question to anybody, any spiritual person. Then they can tell you two things: either "I have seen" or "I haven't seen."

The Story of the Desert Father

In the Desert Fathers tradition, I gave one example. Once a very honorable, high-powered judge heard about Abba—somebody—and wanted to have his darśana. He was coming and his followers came ahead of him. They saw the headman and said, "Father, get ready. Such and such a very influential person is coming to see you."

"Yes, yes, I am going. Just now I will be ready." He went inside, brought so much bread, and started gobbling it up. The judge came. He said, "Is this the saint about whom I heard is the greatest truth? This one? Let us not even look at him." And he went.

The moment he went back, the Abba took back all the bread and put it there. His purpose was finished. Like there are so many stories I am posting.

So what does that mean? This fellow, he does not have faith in the Abba. He heard something and what he heard was true. But when he saw the behavior, then it was totally different.

Recognizing True Knowledge of God

So what am I talking about? If anybody says either God is perceived by that person or not seen by that person, how do you judge? I think in the last class we have discussed it on Saturday. If anybody has seen God, it is knowledge. What is the knowledge? God exists.

If that knowledge is there, will anybody be frightened? Because God is everywhere. Wherever I go, God is there. So if I am in trouble, God is there. I do not need to do anything. All that I need to do is call upon Him. That was beautifully illustrated in the story of Gopāla and Madhusūdana.

The boy was very happy. Even the teacher could not believe, but the boy did not say "faith."

So what am I trying to tell you? Faith means knowledge, but not direct knowledge. You see something—that is direct knowledge. You hear it from a person who is trustworthy, who will never tell any lie and who will tell you only for your welfare. There is no motivation of a lie. When you come across such a person, then you have to believe.

Now we are not talking about ordinary people. We are talking about God. So if anybody says, "I have seen," he has knowledge of God, direct experience of God. Then what should be his life? Will he tell lies? Can he tell lies?

The Story of Kanakadāsa

That is what the story of Kanakadāsa illustrates. Kanakadāsa, the great sincere spiritual aspirant, was there under his guru. The moment he came to the guru, the guru started loving him more than the other fellows—like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa started loving Narendra. Naturally, professional jealousy. Everywhere, professional jealousy. Devotees also have professional jealousy. Because "I always talk with one devotee, not with the other devotee," they will, if it is possible through dṛṣṭi itself, turn me to ashes—both me and my devotee!

So the guru understood it and wanted to teach them a lesson. One day, some devotee brought some bananas. He distributed the banana to each one of his disciples and said, "Go and eat somewhere where nobody can see you."

So one fellow went behind the bush and ate. Another fellow went behind the bush, but there was still a slight chance of others observing. He put his shawl together and ate. Another fellow didn't want to have any chance of anybody seeing. There was a pond. He took a deep breath, went to the bottom and swallowed it—like a magician's feat. How he would swallow it! And then he came.

All of them came to the guru. "Have all of you eaten?"

"Yes."

"But has anybody seen you?"

"No."

But he looked at Kanakadāsa. The banana was still there. "Why did you not eat?"

He said, "What was your condition? 'Where nobody sees me eating.' Wherever I stood, God is all around me. He is seeing me. So how can I fulfill your condition and then serve you? God is seeing."

That is true knowledge, Prahlāda. His father asked, "Where is your so-called Nārāyaṇa?"

He asked, "Where is He not?" In Telugu, beautiful: "Don't think Nārāyaṇa is God only here and there. He is everywhere."

"Then is He in this pillar?"

"Yes, why not? He is in the pillar."

So he broke it and then out came Narasiṁha. Very interesting story.

The Meaning of the Pillar

So what is that pillar? Ego. Ahaṁkāra. So long as ahaṁkāra is the obstruction, God is here, but I can't see, because ahaṁkāra is covering my eyes.

Interestingly, the sun produces the cloud and that cloud produced by the sun covers the sun from our eyes. This is what we talk about. Immediately, I was telling—really, does the cloud cover the sun or does it cover our eyes? Cloud cannot cover the sun. It has to be bigger than the sun. But for covering our eyes, one finger is enough. You just put it like that and that is enough.

But we cannot uncover it ourselves. The ṛṣi in the Īśopaniṣad says, "You remove"—we can't remove it ourselves. That is correct. But what is meant is that we are covered, not God is covered. And this has a profound influence upon understanding Advaita.

That's why in the Māṇḍūkya Kārikā, Gauḍapāda negates the whole sṛṣṭi. There is another story I will not tell you now. But what is important is God's grace in the human being.

Experience Produces Knowledge

If anybody had seen God—and anything we experience produces knowledge. Anything, any experience produces knowledge, good or evil, good or bad. But if anybody says "I have an experience but I don't have any knowledge," he is telling a lie. Because experience remains in our memory in the form of what? The knowledge remains as memory in our mind. That is how next time we know how to deal with that—either go towards it or run away from it.

This is the only two things we do: running towards, running away. Rāga and dveṣa.

The Signs of One Who Has Seen God

So how do we know? Every experience produces some reaction. This is called effect. So what is the effect of seeing God?

First of all, you will be fearless. Because when God is there, what is there to fear about?

Second, He is always happy. Because if God is here, what is the experience? God is not somewhere. That is not experience. God is everywhere is the experience. If God is here, what is the nature of God? Sat. Sat means there is no death. Cit means there is no ignorance. Ānanda means there is no duḥkha. Therefore, I can never be unhappy because God is not with me.

What is the question? If God is everywhere, where am I? Who am I? Do you understand? "Excepting me, everywhere God is"—that is not going to work.

The Story of the Christian Missionary

One Christian missionary came to Swami Agamānandaji, one of the Kerala Swamis—very intense, do you remember? So this missionary said, "You Swamis always say, 'Brahman is everywhere.' How do you answer calls of nature?"

Swami said, "What is the problem? We put a cross there."

Do you understand "cross"? Cross means "Brahman is not here."

Whether that stupid fellow understood or not, whether you understand or not, I don't know. What is the statement? Brahman is everything. Therefore, Brahman is everything. If Brahman is everything, what is man? What is the call of nature? Only Brahman. Yes, literally it is. Literally it is.

So one of the costliest coffees—you know that? A civet eats coffee beans and it passes out, and that is the costliest coffee if you want. It acquires special flavor. I don't want to describe all those things, but this is the costliest coffee in the whole world.

Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you: if anybody understood that question—Brahman is everywhere—it is equivalent to "Brahman is everything." You can't say, "Excepting me," because then God has to be excluded from me, from you, from you, from the carpet, from the air, from every rubbish bin. God has to be excluded. Then how can you say He is everywhere?

But He is appearing everywhere with a special nāma and rūpa. And that nāma-rūpa is also not in the object, but it is in our mind. Nāma-rūpa is in the mind. Can you understand that? There is no resistance.

Yeah, when a tiger looks at you, is it looking at nāma-rūpa? Unified vision.

The Four Signs of God-Realization

So this is the point we have to understand. If anybody says, "I saw God," in the second step—fourth step—he is always happy. Then he looks upon everybody equally. He loves everybody equally and he is ready to give up his life for whose sake? Anybody.

That is the outward expression. If I am giving up my life for you, you are not you—you are God. That means you are me. So I am not giving up anything for anybody else. I am giving it up for my own sake. And that is called Śiva-jñāna.

Seeing God in Service

Just imagine, you want to practice karma yoga. Then you see somebody who is in need of some help. So you look upon him as Śiva. And what is your status? Do you consider yourself as a human? "I am a human being, God is here. So I will worship God." Can a man ever cherish the idea of God? Man cannot cherish the idea. Only God can cherish the idea of God.

Such a thought that "this is Śiva" arises in whose mind? He thinks of himself as Śiva. Exactly. If you can look upon everybody equally, you are the only exception? No. So this is the understanding.

When we see four lakṣaṇas, you have to deduce from this easily, because there cannot be effect without cause. Understand now?

Continuing Spiritual Practice

So come back to this. We should never give up any of the activities until the love is attained—even after the love is attained. Until the love is attained, you have to practice. After the love is attained also, you have to practice.

What is the difference? The difference is: previously you are doing all these things with effort. It requires tremendous willpower. Now, naturally it comes.

So he says everything has to be done for two reasons we gave. Remember what two reasons?

First of all, even a God-realized soul, if he has got a body, he has to eat. He has to eat, he has to lie down, he has to drink water. All those things are bodily necessities. So he has to continue. He has to eat, otherwise he cannot survive. The body cannot survive.

Second reason is, he will be a role model for anybody who is trying to walk in the same way. Not only is he a role model for a spiritual person because he will never deviate from the path of dharma.

The Importance of Rationality

Common sense also. He is a—that is one example I will give: common sense. I am not talking about morality, much less spirituality. I am talking about rationality. A spiritual aspirant first of all should become absolutely rational.

What is this rationality? Once Narendra happened to utter in the presence of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, "Oh, that is blind faith."

Immediately Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa caught hold of that. "Okay Narendra, how many types of faith are there? One is called blind, another is called seeing."

Narendra said, "Oh my God, this man caught me here. Faith means without seeing, believing is called faith."

The Family Planning Story

So what are the points we have discussed here? Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was very rational. Analyze. This is called viveka. Analyze.

Here is a person who gets married and is having children like every year and then he is not able to look after them and children are dying. Some children will die. Otherwise, if Rājendra Prasād has got potential like Mahātmā Gāndhī, he will get completely kicked out of the window. Do you know that?

That family planning joke was going: At that time, Mahātmā Gāndhī, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rājendra Prasād—they were all dead. So God called them for an interview.

First went Jawaharlal Nehru and they asked him, "How many children do you have?"

"Two or something like that."

So immediately God reversed the policy. So immediately as a reward, one car was presented: "Well done, family planning!" and sent him off.

Then Vallabhbhai Patel was called second. "How many children?"

"Four children."

Then he was given an ordinary Ford Jeep and sent out.

Then Rājendra Prasād: "How many children?"

"Fourteen children."

So he was given one old used bicycle and he was sent out.

Mahātmā Gāndhī was called. And they were all seeing what will happen. After a few minutes, he was seen flying out of the window!

"Mahātmā Gāndhī, what happened?"

"Some idiot informed God, 'I am the father of the nation!'"

You have to understand, emotionality is very easy to say after two months. That's why Aristotle said, "Man is a social, rational animal." That is supposed to be. Irrational—that is a different story altogether.

Man as Moral and Spiritual Animal

So the second thing is, man is a moral animal. Third thing is, he is also a spiritual animal. "Animal" because if you get the body, there is no difference in the body between any animal and our body. Same functions: eating, sleeping, mating and running away from danger—all these things are exactly common to all animals.

So what I am trying to tell you is: when a person has whatever experience, that is called jñāna. That jñāna must give rise to some concrete change in the behavior. Because this is a spiritual person, his behavior will change.

But is he always happy? And does he look upon everybody equally? Then he sees only God. Then he loves everybody because he is only loving himself. And he is ready to sacrifice because he knows "I am not sacrificing for anybody else but for myself."

Faith Based on Observation

And then when we come across such a person, if he says "God exists" and we see the effect of it in that person's life, then we have got faith. What is the difference between faith and knowledge? Knowledge comes from direct experience. Faith is—we have not direct experience, but we believe our guru, senior swamis, scriptures, anybody who is trustworthy, we trust.

Because we see their life, then we say such a person will not tell any lie. So until this faith becomes a fact of experience, we have to continue. That is what this śāstra says.

In these persons, these characteristics are manifest, first of all. Secondly, when people see them, they are so truthful, so honest, then trustworthiness, trust will come.

That is why it's a big subject. Śrī Rāma was a truthful person. Anybody will trust him.

Trust and Faith

What is the difference between trust and faith? Trust comes only after faith. If you don't have faith in a person, you will not trust them, because they can do harm to you.

Once Swamiji was sitting in a park, enjoying. One American lady, a Negro lady—even in those days, nobody entrusted their children to anybody—she was in urgent need of going shopping. And she couldn't carry the child also. She said, "Sir, can I give my child to you?"

Swamiji said, "Yes."

And happily, she went and came back after 45 minutes or one hour and then took her child with her. So many stories are there.

Swamiji's Compassion with Children

Once he was staying with one family in Varanasi. They had a small child who was constantly weeping, constantly crying. Then Swamiji understood, "This lady will go mad because she is not getting any sleep. At the same time, she is a mother. What to do?"

He said, "Madam, you give the baby to me. You go and take rest."

And then she was reluctant. "Sorry Swami, he will disturb you."

"No, no, no. I know how to tell."

Then she went away. Then Swamiji took the baby in his lap. After a minute, happily the baby went to sleep.

Our Swamiji's meditation is not like our meditation. He said, "We are debating hours together when to get up. He is debating hours together when not to get up!" How not to get up? "A little more, little more." What people? Morning 3 o'clock, afternoon 3 o'clock. They were not getting up, not caring for food.

Rāmakṛṣṇānanda Mahārāj used to take some tuition, earn some money, cook food, make prasāda and then "Food is ready, come." They were not willing to come. That means they were getting something else, isn't it?

So he went there, sitting in meditation position, and pushed the food. Then they were willing to eat. Not one day, two days. How many days? That's why Swamiji used to say, "He is the mother of our mother. Without him, we would not have survived."

Sādhaka and Siddha: The Difference

Okay. So for a person who wants to aspire to develop bhakti, he has to be conscious of phalatyāga. What is phalatyāga? "I offer it to You." That is what we do in Brahmarpaṇam. For a person who has attained the bhakti, it comes naturally.

What is the difference between sādhaka and siddha? What is obtained with great effort and cannot be retained also—again he has to make effort to retain it—he is called sādhaka. But what comes naturally, that is called siddha.

That's why Śaṅkara comments: What is the natural sthitaprajña has to be assiduously cultivated by every spiritual aspirant. So that means go on practicing. Even for a siddha, go on practicing as if you have not attained it.

Why is it? For a sādhaka, it is necessary. For a siddha, why? Why was Rāmakṛṣṇa sitting in meditation? Why were all the direct disciples sitting? They were all God-realized souls. Why were they sitting?

Rāmakṛṣṇa used to go to the temple and take off his shoes, enter into the temple and then go round and round like any ordinary ignorant person. So somebody asked him, "You need not do this."

Then he said something very blunt. He said, "If I pass water standing, you fellows will pass water turning round and round." Means if I do 100 percent, you might do 1 percent. It's to set up an example. That's exactly what applies here.

A siddha will never stop doing all those things as though he has not attained. For what purpose? Seeing him, we are all great imitators. Whatever standard a great man sets, others—only like us—only follow.

Role Model for Spiritual Aspirants

Even though they were siddhas, they continued practicing. Nārada is making this clear. If you are a sādhaka, until you attain that bhakti, you do everything normally, do not become abnormal, but go on doing.

If you are a siddha, go on doing because you have to be a role model. If you are a sādhaka, then you have to give up every time with the reminder: "I do what is my duty, but I give up the result to You. I offer the result to You."

But for a siddha, he need not think because he knows everything is done by prakṛti. "Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ"—because I realized it, so now the body is God, mind is God, and whatever the person is doing is nothing but God. This is the meaning.

Avoiding Distractions (Sūtra 64)

Then we move to the next one. Then if this is exclusively meant for persons who have not attained that state, for a sādhaka:

One should not hear—means one should not look—because whether we look, whether we smell, whether we hear, that experience will produce undesirable, inimical thoughts to devotion.

Nowadays, what is going on? Even decent people, the devotees, they dress—you know how they dress? It has become a fashion. Most of the people dress—whether they are young girls—half the body is naked. They may be good, but what happens to those who look at it? In fact, they are not good.

What is the idea? The idea is "Look at me, enjoy me without touching." Is it not? "I am attractive."

Once I told you, if you utter a word, "This is nice," what does that mean? "I wish I have it."

"This is a beautiful woman." What does that mean? "I wish I have her."

"This is a desirable man." What does that mean? "I wish I have him."

So here, strī means it should not be taken only about women. For a man, it is about a woman. For a woman, it is about a man. This is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was very clear about.

But because most of the time, the Gospel was not written by a woman. The Gospel was written by a man. If it was written by a woman, they would say, "Never look at this man."

Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was talking with men, so he used to refer to women. When he used to talk to women, then he used to refer to men.

He said one very important teaching. Holy Mother also said, "Even if God comes as a man, don't trust Him—especially if God comes in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa!"

The Nature of Attraction

That's what I am saying. Women don't have that much of a problem as men have. So many—I am saying in general—only men have this lust factor so much. Don't tell me otherwise. I think so.

The way women dress, very attractively. Men don't dress so attractively. They have nothing much to dress on. Why do women dress? What is the purpose? The purpose is "I am, I am."

No, no. I am not talking about—say, look at animals. Mostly the male, to attract the female, does all sorts of things. Then the male also goes on to dance, like the peacock, you know, like that.

Anyway, the point is, we should not be distracted from the thought of God. What is it that distracts the thought of God? Only one: non-God, body. What is the body? Skin.

So this is a fact of life. The whole cosmetic industry—mostly for women or men? Men are also equal nowadays, Swamiji.

"Nowadays they are learning, Swamiji."

"Even earlier, they were more gorgeously dressed."

"Yes, Swamiji, they were."

You see, men don't care much, even today. But anyway, women want to appear attractive. There is a law in the Dharmaśāstra: A woman should dress only to attract her husband, not anybody else.

So you see everywhere, they want to appear—it is a fashion. But what happens? Man naturally looks at a woman in a different way, as you say. So they are attracting the attention. That is the point. They are the cause.

Look at, if they are normal—that's why Muslims wear burqa. Burqa is because it is the face which is the most attractive feature in the whole body. So no other person should see, only the husband should see.

The Burqa Story

Anyway, I can't refrain myself from telling the cartoon. One Muslim woman with a burqa fell in love with another man, not her husband. That fellow also came to meet her in a burqa. They are sitting. Suddenly, one man was passing. This one burqa said to the other burqa, "Don't make too much noise. My husband is just passing."

Anyway, there is a lot of truth in this.

Avoiding Thoughts of Kāma and Kāñcana

So any thought, especially thought of sex, which deviates us from thinking about God, should be avoided—reading, seeing pornographic pictures, etc.

Then dhana. Next to sex, what is it? Money. Kāma and kāñcana. That is why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "Kāma and kāñcana."

So if you hear somebody built something, "Oh, how I wish I had at least one hundredth of what this person has!" Anybody—you hear, you tell—all those, you know, Mallya, all those people. There are so many admiring societies defending them in spite of all the offences they have committed. Why? Because money is so powerful.

Why? Because money is the factor which gives a false feeling of security. Money stands for security.

That's why, previously, when women had to choose a man, they would choose a person who is strong, who is intelligent, who is capable of protecting her as well as her children after birth. Now, the greatest thing is money.

The Marriage Story

So there was one stupid fellow. One fellow wanted to get married. That's why my class is like this. One fellow wanted to get married. He was 70 years old. But no girl ever returns his interest. So he went to his friend and he said, "I want to get married. Nobody…" And he was very rich, rich house.

So the first thing the girls asked him, "How old are you?"

"I tell the truth: 70 years old."

Then he said, "What shall I do?"

The friend said, "Stupid fellow. When they ask next time, tell them you are 80 years old."

There was a queue of who is going to marry! You understand now? A 60-year-old fellow means, how long is he going to stay? 80 years means, not much longer!

So dhana—anybody who has become a multimillionaire, how have they become so? A devotee should never be like that.

Avoiding Nāstika and Enemy Stories

Nāstikam—I challenge you: for one month, stop japa, meditation, reading devotional scriptures, any scripture. Read only books written by nāstikas. Let me see what will be your mind. All devotion will take to wings.

This is a fact. Why? Because it has not gone inside. This is only coming from outside. We are pushing. Once it goes inside, then you don't need—or even they cannot affect it. Is it? Where so many things are.

So dhana, nāstika, vairi. What is vairi? Vairi means śatru, enemy. Anyway, don't hear the stories of enemies. Why? Because the moment you hear about vairi, śatru, then inimical thoughts will come—dveṣa, thoughts of hatred.

"You mean only persons?"

No, no, no. Only persons we have already talked about. What is this enmity of thoughts? Suppose somebody you don't like or somebody causing harm to you—he is called an enemy. So don't hear about him, because many times we suppress our thoughts but not sublimate our thoughts. If the occasion comes, the emotion just bursts up.

The Story of Suppressed Anger

I told one story. I don't know whether you remember. One man who used to work in the sugarcane factory used to come here very frequently.

No, no, he is a military man, colonel or lieutenant or something like that. The whole family used to come here. They were living here only. You must have seen them many times. You don't remember now.

So once he told me a story. There was a young fellow who joined the military. He got six months training and then he was issued a gun. The first occasion he got holiday, he went home and then he went to a neighboring house, called out one fellow, shot him dead and offered himself to the police.

Then he was explaining. He was asked, "Why did you shoot him?"

He said, "When we were young, we were playing. One day he could throw me down. I was weak and he abused me. Then I took a vow: 'When I grow up, when I get the strength, I am going to come back.' This was the first occasion I have got that opportunity and I came and shot him dead."

How many years of suppression! Most of us are like that.

Controlling vs. Conquering

Even if you are an advanced devotee, then what happens is—that is why yesterday, day before yesterday, I posted one story. A monk thought that he was beyond lust, beyond separation. Then another elder asked him—he expressed it so openly that "I overcame these things."

Then one elderly monk said, "Supposing you find a woman lying on your bed, then what will you do?"

"I will control myself. I will not touch her. I will ask her to leave."

"Then you have not conquered. You are forcibly stopping your thoughts, but you have not conquered. If you have conquered lust, you will not think 'it is a woman' also."

"So next, have you conquered avarice? You are walking somewhere. There you see some piece of gold. Will you go and take it?"

He said, "No. I will stop my thoughts, control my thoughts. I will not even touch it."

"Then you have not conquered. You are controlling your thoughts. You have not conquered the avarice."

That is the expression we use: controlling and conquering. Conquering means you will not even look at it.

"Then third: two brothers come to see you—brothers means monks. One always speaks well of you. Another one always speaks ill of you. When both of them come to you, what would be your behavior towards them?"

He said, "In my mind, struggle is going on. I want to behave nicely towards both. After a lot of struggle, I try to behave, but inside…"

That is not conquering. That is controlling. Controlling and conquering, both are completely different.

The Story of the Gold Distribution

But another story I have posted. A rich man wanted to distribute some gold to some monks. So he brought the gold. He came to the priest, the local priest and said, "Will you kindly distribute this gold pieces?"

The monk said, "They don't need it. They will not take it."

Then he said, "If that is the case, I will put it outside the temple, church. Whoever needs it, let them take."

So some came, just saw it, walked out. Some people even did not look at it. Straight they went. This man saw and he was sad because nobody was taking it.

Then somebody came and then the priest came and said, "My good man, God had accepted your offering. So you go in peace. We will use it. Give it to the poor, give it to the poor, because these people, they don't want it."

The moment that something valuable comes, the value of a thing is valuable only if you consider it as valuable. If you don't consider it as valuable, it is not valuable at all.

The Story of Gold in Africa

The beautiful story I will tell you about this is: the English people, they went to Africa. They went to Johannesburg. That is where the gold mines are there, and Burma, all those places. Their eyes popped out. All the local tribals—they were like our cow dung—they were using this gold to make ornaments of their huts, mud huts. Upon mud, they were putting this gold because it shines, you know, it sparkles.

Then they said, "We want to get it. How to get it?"

Then immediately they had this thing—what is it—trinkets. Colored glass, beautiful colored glass. "Take this!" Immediately, "Take as much gold as you want." This is how they have first traded, then conquered.

Now the question comes: why were they not avaricious? Why were they not greedy? How could they be greedy? Because what is the value of gold there? What are you going to do with gold when your life depends upon hunting an animal and then only catching it and eating? What are you going to do? Who is going to take it? What is valuable? Most valuable is my son.

Swami Vivekānanda on Morality

I'll tell you another story. That is why Swamiji made a statement in one place: Morality is there in everybody, but morality differs from place to place.

So one person—he was a person who studies societies and writes books—he went to a tribe. There, food is very scarce, food. So anybody who misbehaves—what we think of as misbehavior, like "this man is running after another man's wife," like that—that is not immoral there. But if anybody steals this much of food from the common stores, there was a strict law.

Anybody gets food, he can't eat it himself. He must bring it and it should be distributed equally. The life of the whole tribe depends upon this. If anybody takes food for himself, that is the mahāpāpa, the greatest sin—to steal the food. Because what is the first law of life? Survival. Survival.

So morality here—what we call morality—takes a secondary place. First place is for the food, because it endangers the whole society.

Avoiding Thoughts That Deviate from God

Anyway, what is it that we are talking about? Any thought that deviates, that is likely to deviate our mind from God, even creating a doubt, even creating a doubt temporarily, should be strictly avoided.

But these are the things: strī, dhana, nāstika, vairi—caritra means news about these things. Newspapers, magazines—any newspaper, what is in it? Advertisements for ornaments—that young person, they don't put any old woman. Have you seen any old woman in advertisements? Only in insurance advertisements!

So what I am saying is: these are all tempting objects for people who are likely to deviate from the spiritual path. Never hear about business, never even look at the newspaper, because newspaper tells only about worldly things. That is why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "Even if anybody places a newspaper near me, seven cubits away, it will pollute that place." Any worldly man comes, Gaṅgā water has to be sprinkled.

If we neglect it and deviate from it, we are doing it at our own peril. This is the truth about it.

Sūtra 64: Removing Abhimāna and Dambha

Then we will just introduce the sixty-fourth sūtra: "Abhimāna dambhādi kam tyājyam."

This means, for whom? For a person who is aspiring to develop egoism? No! A person who is aspiring to develop bhakti must give up abhimāna and dambha.

Abhimāna means what? Egoism. Abhimāna means "this is me and this is mine." That is called abhimāna. Egoism involves both oneself and what belongs to oneself. "It will be first class house, first class vehicle, first class everything, first class job, first class wife, first class husband." It is called vicarious attraction, vicarious.

"My husband is a general, what is called IGP, Inspector General of Police." That is it. This woman may be illiterate, but it is a matter of pride for her. Everybody salutes. Why everybody salutes? Even I was like this.

Śrīdharan—I used to roam in his car. Every policeman looks at me and forgets to take down this number. Why do they salute this person? He has done nothing to deserve this. They want to recognize the officer. Every street corner it happens. I mean, I did it. "Shall I also salute?" So I used to look as though I was nobody.

Understanding Abhimāna and Dambha

Anyway, so what is abhimāna? What is dambha? Dambha means arrogance. People may—there are certain things. One is called pride. One is called arrogance. What is the difference?

Pride means a person has really something to be proud of. The job is a very high job or he is honored by everybody. These are real talents. But that pride will forget that it is a gift of God.

Dambha means he does not have anything to show and yet he will become a very arrogant person.

So both of these—deliberately, assiduously, consciously, with full awareness—would be reduced slowly. They won't go in one day, but slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly.

Swami Jagannāthānanda Mahārāj has very beautifully explained this. He says: right now, ahaṁkāra is thinking within himself, in his own mind, "I am a great person." Dambha is showing that in public. Yes.

That is, this person is good? No. It is an ahaṁkāra person. Only in his mind he thinks, "I am so and so." He is also bad. He is forgetting, "I am what I am, but for the grace of God." He could make me anything.

The Story of "M"

I will stop here with one incident. "M" was personally trained by Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. So devotees noticed, some nights, he will give up—even in winter season—he will give up his blankets, everything, go out of the house, sleep with the beggars on the street, all night. There was no need for that.

Then somebody asked him, "Sir, why do you do this? What is this?"

He said, "You know, whatever I have is all got by the grace of God. Lest that pride should come that 'this belongs to me'—but for His grace, I would not have had this at all. I could have been any one of them."

He practiced, and that is why he was so great.

The English Gentleman's Humility

Anyway, there was one great Englishman. Even to beggars, he will tip his hat: "Good morning." Sometimes they won't reply.

Somebody saw him and asked, "Sir, they are not even replying to you. They don't have that patience. Why do you do this?"

He said, "Doesn't matter. I am not doing that expecting them to do the same. But for the grace of God, I could have been one of them."

That humility, that is called humility. And Nag Mahāśaya is the incarnation of humility.

Closing Prayer