Post Aarathi Talk 21 on 26th Nov 2017

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Shining, the literal translation. So, what is this word, Naravara? Every incarnation is a Naravara. Krishna was a Naravara. Rama was a Naravara. Jesus was a Naravara. All incarnations, otherwise they can't be incarnations. What does that word, Naravara, really mean? The literal translation of Naravara is person who is the best among human beings. The best human being is called Naravara. So, who is the best human being? How do you understand? This is one type of meditation. You know, these young people, it seems they started some group among themselves. Appu and all those people. Are you also inside that? No, no, no. Age. My age disqualifies me. So, what is the age? Not mums and aunts. So, I am also disqualified. More or less. You are never disqualified. Not you. You are an exception. Thank you. No, no. In this little group, you are the Naravara. So, what is this Naravara? Psychology, philosophy is struggling to define who is the best of human beings. What is it to be a human being? You know, about everything, we have the idea of perfection. A perfect rose flower, a perfect apple, a perfect anything, cookie. So, let us take the example of cookie. Any dish. We say it is beautiful. This is the idea. Beauty is harmony. Did you know that? If you say, here is a table, it is very beautiful. Why do you say it is beautiful? Because it is harmonious. Every part of it is very harmonious with every other part. Have you watched the Disney film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame? You have seen that Hunchback? So, what is the special feature? One eye is here, one eye is here. You know, there is no proportion, like Picasso's paintings. Yeah. So, naturally, the moment you behold it, this person is ugly. Whether it is painting or alive, this person is ugly. So, what does that mean? Ugliness means what? Disharmony. We are talking about beauty. The topic started because there is a hymn. We sing here, Khandana Bhava Bandhana. And it is wonderful even to contemplate on the meaning of each of the words. So, when the mind is a little bit restless, this is one of the ways to concentrate. And it is easier to concentrate. What happens, you know, if you are trying to concentrate on one idea, say, the name of God, after some time it might become monotonous. But if you are contemplating, what could be the meaning of this? You are actively engaging your mind in various ways. So, that is far easier and it helps us a lot. So, what is the meaning of Naravara? To understand that psychology is struggling, philosophy is struggling, even religion is struggling. There is a saying in the Bible that God made man in his own image. Of course, most people don't have any idea of what is God. God made man in his own image. And do you know what man makes? God in his own image. Man makes God in his image. Yeah, that is why the... Don't mind if I make fun. How does a devotee of Hanuman look? You understand? That doesn't mean that a devotee of Rama looks like Rama. Doesn't mean like that, but the idea. So, we create God and this is the essence of Jnana Yoga, as man's understanding grows, his idea or understanding of God also grows. So, the point is God is perfect. Therefore, perfect God could only make what? Only perfect man, because it is his mouth. That is what Swamiji means, each soul is potentially divine. Is there any difference between our divinity and God's divinity? There is divinity, you cannot make division in divinity because he is Akhanda. Can you make division in the light and say, this is first part, this is the second part? Okay, the point is, we are talking in that respect. When something is perfect, we call it beautiful. Now, what is the concept of beauty? You know, we use all the time, this person is beautiful, this house is beautiful, this table is beautiful, this dish is beautiful. We say beautiful. What is the idea? Therein we brought in the concept of harmony. What is harmony? Every part is in the right proportion to the other part. That is what we call harmony. Suppose somebody is cooking, let us take pies. So, the consistency, the proportion of rice to the milk, the proportion of sweetness to the entire whole, and even putting some fried cashew nuts, there also disproportion could be there. This much of pies and this much of drakshi and this much of cashew nut and half fried, how does it look? So, whenever we eat something and we say very tasty, what does that word mean? Every part of the components is in right relationship, proportionate with the other. This is our concept of beauty. Even children have recognized it. So, there was an experiment. Once, small children, you know, they have been shown on the monitor the faces of several men and women. And these are babies, but the cameras were noting on which image their eyes are riveted. And then they analyzed. So, all the babies, their eyes are riveted on one or two particular images. And what is the specialty of that image compared to the other images? You know what they found? Harmony, proportion. Symmetry. Symmetry, proportion, harmony. This is what we call harmony. Take anything. Here is a song. There is a proportion. You know the raga, the laya, the shruti. So, if there is a break in the shruti, it breaks the harmony. If the pitch and the tabla, that's why, you know, they go on adjusting it. You have seen that one? It should be in harmony. Sometimes we don't understand. What is this fellow doing? You know, kyaan, kyaan, kyaan, like this. Koon, koon, koon, kyaan, kyaan, kyaan, kyaan, kyaan, like that. But there is a harmony there. If you know a little bit of music, you can understand that. Every person has got expertise in one particular note. Have you ever heard about it? You know, suppose Lata Mangeshkar, she is called, her voice is called Kokila Swara. And that voice is proportionate, on one particular note, when she opens her mouth and tries to synchronize with the tambura, etc., you cannot say which is sounding. So, if her voice is coming or it is playing that one, because it blends perfectly. When a person achieves that perfection, here also the expert musicians make a classification. All are not experts on every note. Now, there is a main note, and that is called Shruti. That is why, depending upon the voice of the person, you know, there are high-pitched voices, low-pitched voices, medium-pitched voices. So, they have to choose a particular note, which would be their central note, and all other notes have to blend in with that particular note. Are you following me? Then only, that person's voice will sound perfectly. And this is what the music directors, they recognize. A simple example I am giving, if it is Asha Bhosle's voice, they have to give a high-pitched note. If it is Talat Muhammad, you know, his range is, his voice is very, what is called, trill-y voice, you know, like that. But, it is very limited. The moment he goes up, his voice breaks up. The moment he comes down, his voice breaks. But, within that range, he has got perfection. So, the music directors first fix that range. And whichever is the central note within that range, is that particular person's forte. And if he sticks to that, it will be wonderful. You can even, ordinary people, they can easily find out. Supposing, I put the harmony, you know, this is called scale changer, you know scale changer? You can change the note, the same Sa, Sa, Sa, Sa, you go on doing that. So, we have to change that scale changer to suit our voices. Our Shiva always puts it on very high, but he sings low. So, I have to bring it down every time. Our Uma goes until almost that one. They feel comfortable there. But, whichever is the central note, the person's other notes have to harmonize with it. Otherwise, there is disharmony. What is ugliness opposite of beauty? Disharmony. So, face has to have harmony, and then the proportion of the face to the entire body. Have you seen somebody very stout, but the face is like this, small face, etc. Immediately you can, you know, unconsciously you assess, but there are people who are perfect, more or less, you know, in every respect. That is what we call beautiful. But then, some beautiful people, when they open their mouth, it is not so beautiful. Because the teeth are not perfect. Have you noticed it? Some people's teeth, you know, perfect teeth. That is another kind of beauty. Harmony is all harmony. So, everything has got harmony. What are we talking about? What is beauty? What is beauty? Everything is harmonious, means everything is proportionate. Can we not extend this to a human personality and say, the body and the mind and the job, type of job the person does, and the type of environment in which the person lives, the type of people with whom the person has to live, if everything blends, that would be perfect. If any disruption is there in this, the person may be good, environment is not good, the person is good, but the family is not good, husband, wife, you know, is like two horses. One is pulling this way. Dushtashvaivasarathi, Kato Punshad gives this imagery, who is a fit person to undertake spiritual practices. If there are four horses, Krishna's chariot, you know, it is a very beautiful imagery of Gayatri Mantra. So, who is driving? Arjuna. Arjuna is the... Who is Arjuna? The fighter, the jiva. Who is the buddhi? Buddhi means the driving force, Krishna. And what is this chariot? It is the body. Shariram radham evatu, indriyani ashvaha. It is in all the ten sense organs. We have got ten sense organs, five inputs, five outputs. You understand? Input means that which brings information. I see, I hear, I smell, I taste, I touch. And then what reaction should come from me? Should I move towards or should I move away? And how much distance I should keep, etc. That is what the job of the five karma endriyas. So, what are the inputs? Jnana endriyas. What is the output? Karma endriyas. All this we all have. But suppose this person, each endriya is pulling in its own direction. And the mind is pulling in a totally different direction. Will the person be harmonious? So, we use another word, peace, shanti. What is shanti? Let everything be harmonious. The body is harmonious, the mind is harmonious, the environment is harmonious, the life is harmonious. Such a person alone attains peace, not the other person. So, the buddhi must be right buddhi. The goal also must be the right goal. And the body, mind, the instruments, they also must be completely aligned. In modern psychology, they use one word, if a student is in a dilemma, which subjects to take. So, there are psychologists who test them and say, your aptitude is towards this. They have a way of finding out, more or less they are correct. So, if the student follows, then he feels fulfilled. So, disharmony in education, disharmony in family, disharmony in marriage, disharmony in job, any of these can disrupt our peace of mind. Anyway, we are talking about narabara. So, who is a perfect human being? One whose body, whose mind, whose environment, whose goal in life and whose ambition in life, all are in perfect harmony, he is a perfect man. This is what we call also health. How do you define health? We used it all the time. Is a person healthy? Suppose a person, you know, all parts of body are okay, but head is not okay. Will he be a healthy person? Any part of the body is out of harmony. So, in Sanskrit language, we use a very special word. Do you know what word we use? Swasthya. What is the meaning of the word swasthya? Swasthi, to be in one's own self. That means to be oneself. So, what is our natural tendency? Suppose you are walking, you lean like that. This is called imbalance. What do you do? Instinctively, what do you do? You balance. When you balance, you feel happy. No struggle will be there. The moment you are out of balance, there is a struggle is there. So, that state where there is no struggle is called the state of peace. And that's what we are all trying to do. Who is a naravara, a person who is very peaceful, very happy? And why is he happy? Because he knows that this is my nature. I am in my own nature. That is called swasthya. What a beautiful word, you know. What is our natural tendency? To be healthy or unhealthy? What is our natural tendency? To be happy or unhappy? What is our natural tendency? To be alive or to be dead? What is our natural tendency? To be alive. That is why sattva. What is our natural tendency? To know. What is our natural tendency? To be happy. So, who is a healthy person? One who is alive, one who knows, and one who is very happy. Is this not our goal from birth to death? The moment we are born, we are struggling for what? Growth. What does growth mean? First of course, there is a physical growth, biological growth. And that growth is meant for what purpose? First growth is physical. What is the second growth? Mental. What is the third growth? I would say this word mental is a very awkward, bad connotation now. We call it mental. I would say intellectual. It means to know is our tendency. So, that is the second growth. What is the third growth? Emotional, no. There are five growths. Today morning we discussed about what is the goal of education. To grow physically, intellectually, emotionally, morally, and spiritually. And each higher one incorporates the lower one. Always that is the higher step includes the lower step. So, spirituality means really it includes everything. So, one more we need to add. I included it in the moral category. That is called aesthetic growth. What is aesthetic growth? Very interesting. What is aesthetic growth? What is aesthetics? Appreciation of beauty. The ability to see beauty. Poets have a special talent. You know supposing in a small nook a small one petaled wild flower is growing. Does he see beauty in it or not? He sees beauty. For us it doesn't look like it was said of Van Gogh. He was an extraordinary personality. He used to paint a haystack in Netherlands from sunrise to sunset. So, somebody asked him, what do you see there? It is a haystack. What do you see? And he said, you know you don't see what I see. But with every few minutes of the sunlight is changing and with that sunlight the way the haystack looks also is changing. We think what we see is everybody sees. That is the worst assumption anybody can have. That is why many times the parents they go wrong. They think that what they understand the child understands it. How they see the child also is seeing things exactly. Don't you understand? That fellow is about to ask you, don't you understand? But if you slush him down, shush him down and say no you keep quiet like that. How could he understand? In that state probably we understood less. There was this small boy and he was not doing very well in the exams. Every month the monthly reports come, marks you know. And the father went on scolding this fellow. Month by month it was worse. One month it was all zeros. The father flew into terrible rage. All the time he used to say when I was young you know how well I was doing. And this is what being my son you are doing. The boy kept on quiet, smiled and said dad it is not my certificate, it is yours. And this fellow ferreted out like Nixon's phone calls, his own recorded phone calls. So this is the stupid assumption we make. Why can't people see reason as we see it? A Hindu looks at religion in one way. An orthodox Muslim looks at it in a totally different way. You know that disaster three days back they went and killed nearly 300 people. What do you think is it due to? Wrong understanding that why these people being Muslims they are going in the wrong path. You never understand probably they are going in the right way and we are going in the wrong way. That reasoning power has completely disappeared. That is called fanaticism. The word fanatic has changed its meanings. Earlier you know who is a fanatic? One who follows the orthodox teachings exactly as they are. Now that is the person's his own interpretation of what the scripture is and that others are not following. So they are not proper Muslims and they deserve to be killed. Even words have changed their meanings. Jihad. What is Jihad? What is your Gita's war? Sacrifice. You know Gita is all about war. Dharmakshetra, Kurukshetra. So what is this Dharmakshetra? Kshetra means what? Field. Field means what? Battlefield. No, no, no. We are not talking about battlefield. We are talking about field. Kshetra means field. Field is a fit place ready to be cultivated. What is the meaning of Dharmakshetra? Not that the field is only Dharmic. Dharma means it is a field which yields the results according to what the person cultivates and nourishes. If he puts on poisonous seeds, what will come out? Poison. If he puts on good seeds, then good fruits will come. That is the meaning of Dharmaraja. That is why Yama is called Dharmaraja. Dharma means what? If we take the other meaning, that he is only Dharma, he will do good. Dharma means he will only do good. That means even Kauravas also he will send only to heaven. That means there is no wicked person. Whatever a person may do, he will all go to heaven only. No, that is not the meaning. Here it yields exactly as the person. So it is a cultivable field where whatever you are going to harvest depends upon what you are sowing and what you are cultivating. That is called Dharmakshetra. Immediately the next word that follows is Kurukshetra. What is Kurukshetra? What is the meaning of Kuru? Kuru means you do something. If you do something, then whatever you do, that will yield its results. So if you don't do anything, will it yield? One young girl marched to her mistress, class teacher. She said, is it right? If I have not done anything, I should be punished. The teacher said, how can it? Horrible. How could one punish if you have not done anything wrong? Thank you, madam. I have not done my homework. It is not neutral. She was supposed to do something and she did not do it. That is not saying that I did not do. Otherwise we all qualify for that innocent state, you know, we don't do any good to anybody, etc. So Kurukshetra means you are given an opportunity. Life is that field where it is like a field ready to be cultivated and the fruits we get depends upon what we do. That is why we say Karmaphala. And they are exact. But then when the harvest comes in, Dosh Karo Noi Goma Ammi Swakhaata Sholile Doobe Mori Shyama It is a beautiful song in Bengali. Beautiful song. O mother, ye kisi ka dosh nahi hain. Apna haath se kuwa ko banaye. I dug a well with my own hands. And what came out? Viruless poison. And what is that Kshetra? Where is it? Punya Kshetra Maaje Kaatilam Koop Punya Kshetra. This body is the Punya Kshetra. What did I do? I did all wrong things. And then Kalakuta Jal has come. Hala Hala poison has come. And now I am drowning. Dosh Karo. It is not anyone's fault, O my mother. It is my own fault. I am experiencing the results of my own bad deeds. Nobody complains to God about happiness, you know. Why I am so happy? What right have you got to give me happiness? We never complain even. We thank him when we become happy. You know why we thank? Lest he may change his mind. And then, you see, if we thank, we think that, okay, this person is grateful to me, is acknowledging me, I will not disturb him. So coming back, life is an opportunity for doing, and if we do right, then Punya. If we do wrong, Papa. So the cycle, there is desire, there is knowledge, there is desire, there is action, there is Dharma, Adharma, there is Punya, Papa, there is Sukha, Dukha, there is Raga, and Dvesha, and Samsara. The cycle of the Chakra, Samsara Chakra, it revolves. That is where we are caught. You follow? We have got desires, Pasanas, we call it. The desire prompts us, I want this. It converts itself into action. And the action could be twofold, Dharma and Adharma. Dharma produces Punya, and Adharma produces Papa. What is Punya? Wealth. No, no, there is a beautiful meaning what is called Punya. Most people don't know what is Punya. People think that people will get, you know, they win lottery tickets, and they get wealth, and they get better opportunities. Sometimes it happens. That is not a true Punya. Punya is the ability to squeeze happiness under any circumstance. If you put Sri Ramakrishna, supposing, in hell, will he be happy or unhappy? He will be happy. Like Mahatma Gandhi, whenever he was put in jail, he was supremely happy. Now I can get tremendous rest. No visitor is going to crash me and disturb me. I can pray to God, I can read my books, and in fact Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote his entire Gita commentary where? Only in the jail. One man has written a book, and dedicated it to his wife. Dedicated words. But for whose absence this book could not come into existence? You see, I will tell you the opposite joke also, you know. Three men were walking in a forest. Suddenly a huge river came, and they had to cross because some tiger was chasing them. It is not yet near, but it will soon catch up with them. So they had to catch, and there was no boat or anything. So the first man prayed, Oh God, give me the strength to swim. Give me strong arms. Immediately God gave him strong arms. So he struggled, went downstream, and then somehow reached the other shore. The other man learnt his lesson. He said, give me strong arms, also a boat. Immediately boat appeared. He jumped into the boat and started rowing, and he somehow went downstream. The third man, he said, God, give me the tool, and then the boat, the strength, the boat, and also the intelligence. Tool and intelligence. Immediately he found himself. He turned into a woman with a map. He jumped into the map, and there was a bridge a hundred meters away. So he just crossed over and reached safely. Okay. What was I talking about? Punya. So punya is the ability to squeeze happiness from any situation. What is papa? It is this extraordinary ability to be unhappy even in the most wonderful circumstances. So that is why punya papa has nothing to do with the external things. It is a special attitude of mind where either a person is happy or not very happy. So what does punya produce? Sukha. What does papa result in? Dukha. And what does sukha bring in? Raga. Raga means what? Attachment. I like it. I want it. Like means what? In Bengali, there is a beautiful tradition. Suppose you go to a Bengali's house and that person is serving you food. So supposing you want, some dish is very nice, you want it more. So don't ask, I want it more, because that is not polite. This dish has come out very well. The hostess understands that this person wants it. In our belur mat, you know sometimes even belur mat payas, you know, is so tasty. I find extraordinary tasty. Difficult to find that taste in other places. So sometimes even in belur mat itself, it becomes extraordinarily tasty. So one brahmachari, he will bring it in a bowl like that and give it. Except on special days, they give only one spoon, one big spoon. So one senior swami is sitting and he liked it and he wants it. But he can't say, I want it. He calls, hey brahmachari, have you no eyes to see? You serve one more spoon to this other swami. Then that swami is expected to say that you serve one more spoon. These are tricky things to get what we want. So the moment we say I like it, that means what? I am attached to it, I want it. So this attachment and likes and dislikes, this is called raga and dvesha. I want it, I don't want it. And that again rules what I want, then what action I take, what type of dharma or adharma, then sukha or dukkha, this is the cycle. So we have to break it somewhere. Which is the weakest link in this chain? Do you know which is the weakest link? Karma. Because karma is in our hands. Even though our mind is very strongly attached, but still you can break. You can exercise a little bit of willpower and say, no, I don't want it. That is how slowly we start. And that's why many times I explain that marshmallow test. The people who have willpower, you know that, Gayatri, you remember? Marshmallow test. The children who could control until the tester returned, they exhibited greater willpower than people who could not hold it on. Now these researchers followed their life for more than 30 years, and they found out that these children who exhibited willpower, their academic qualifications were better, their jobs were better, their families were better, overall happiness in their lives was much better. If that is true, then definitely two things are proved. There is something called willpower, and it can be developed, and its development leads to a better quality of life. And that is what we call, he who controls his mind, he is the happiest person on earth. And whose mind is not under control is the unhappiest person on earth. Scripture is telling, but unless water comes through the shankha, it won't become tirtha. Unless it comes through psychologists, and we don't want to really develop it. So tyageshwara he naravara, naravara means what? Such a person who knows what his nature is, who strives towards his manifestation of divinity already in man, and he who knows what he is and becomes fearless, he is the perfect man. That is the ultimate goal. So I said six things, education must help us to grow into six things. What is that? Physically we must be healthy. Secondly, you want to go, Deepthi? It's nice seeing you Swamiji. Yes, come again, we'll see you. It's Deepthi's grace. Yes. What do you know? Sarathi is very important. Have you seen Geeta Classic? I hope so. You said if you do shastang in the morning, you won't refuse anything. Oh, very good Deepthi. Slowly, slowly. So education must help us to grow into our own nature. The first growth is physical body, because that is the shreeramadhyam khaludharmasadhanam. For this body is the only instrument for achieving everything in life. And in life there are only three things, you know, yoga, bhoga and roga. You want to be a yogi, body is necessary. You want to be a bhogi, body is necessary. And you want to be a rogi, body is necessary. Wonderful thing. However much you are suffering, the moment you enter into bodyless state, you are totally free. What is that state? Sushupti. You know what is sushupti? You are free from body consciousness, you are free from mind consciousness. Totally free. That's why the scripture describes it where a husband is no husband, a king is no king, a beggar is no beggar, a happy person is no happy person, an unhappy person is no... There is no happiness, unhappiness, I am a man, I am a woman, there is a God, there is a world, nothing is there. That is why it is the highest state of what is called ananda. And its very name is what? Ananda maya kosha. Ananda maya kosha. So this is the body is necessary. What is the next one? Intellectual, means right understanding. Understanding everything rightly is the next step. Because that is the basis of what we want to do. What is the next thing? Emotional maturity. This is the worst disease which is killing people. We know. There must be proof. What is the proof? Yes, but what is the proof? Mental disease. One in three is mentally sick in this world. Mild or severe. Psychotic, neurotic, psychotic. Remember the definition? Who is a psychotic? Who is a neurotic? Remember? How come? How many times I told this? A neurotic is one who builds castles in the air. A psychotic is one who lives in them. And a psychiatrist is one who collects rent from both of them. And that is the condition now. One third of humanity. I think it is more, from a spiritual point of view, all of us are mad. Because he who thinks, who is a mad person? A person who doesn't know who he or she is, and who thinks he or she is somebody else, is a madcap. Suppose somebody comes and says, I am Napoleon. What would be your, you know, what would you say to him? You know? No, it depends upon what is his size. If he is, you know, six and a half feet tall and very hefty, and then you say, yes, yes, you are Napoleon. So, not to know one's nature is called madness. This is the truth. We are all mad people according to the scripture. We are all, only the scripture is very kind. It doesn't call us mad. It calls us, we are under the spell of Maya. That's what Maya means what? To think what you are not, that is called Maya. The very definition of Maya is very significant. Ma, ya. Ma means not. Ya means which. Ya, ma, that which is not. You are not a body, you think you are a body. So, this whole world, it is not there, but we think it is there. This is called Maya. So, emotional maturity. What is emotional maturity? The ability not to overreact to the events that happen in life. What is the definition? The ability not to overreact. Because if you don't react, we don't even know whether you are alive or dead. A table, you know, you beat it. Who suffers? Whose mentality is disturbed? Whose emotion is disturbed? So, we don't address a table that you are suffering from emotional immaturity. So, a little bit reaction should be appropriate, proper, indicating that we are human beings, we are creatures of emotion, and that goes both ways. If you don't react to happiness, then life becomes a brawl. But there is a matra, we call it seema. Not overreacting, no, no, not going up, not going down, but a little bit like that, that is fine. That is called emotional maturity. I told you a man, David Goldman, he has written a beautiful book, Emotional Intelligence. You read that book? And now he came up with a very beautiful, another book. It's called Social Intelligence. It is all about relationships. So, what type of, an ideal person, what type of relationship this person can and must develop, because much depends upon what type of relationships we have with each other, with your parents, with your husband, with your children, with your sisters, with your friends, with your colleagues, even with your God. This is one of the crucial points I asked, what type of spiritual progress, I think. One of the basic questions we have to ask, what is your relationship with your Guru? What is your relationship with God? And more importantly, what is your relationship with yourself? Because each one of us have a way of viewing ourselves, isn't it? We have got an idea. I am inferior, I am superior, I am this, I am that. It may not be real. Mostly it is imagined. Like that man who thought he was a worm. Any bells ring? You did tell the story before. You did tell us the story previously. There was a man who thought that he was a worm. So he went to a psychiatrist and he treated him for three years. And after three years, the psychiatrist convinced him that you are not a worm, you are a man. Last session, so he thanked the doctor. As he stepped outside, he saw a chicken coming from the other side of the road. Immediately he ran inside and jumped on the shoulders of the psychiatrist. Doctor, doctor, look that chicken is coming to swallow me up. Doctor said, man, didn't I convince you that you are a man, you are not a worm? He said, doctor, I know that, you know that, but the chicken doesn't. So what is the relationship that we cherish? There are people who suffer from superiority complex. There are many people who suffer from inferiority complex. And most of us suffer from both. You know, when you find somebody whom you think inferior in beauty, in intelligence, in strength, in financial status, everything, is it not a common thing? Look down, you may not, politically you may not say anything, but you look down, isn't it? But when you find somebody whom you think is far superior to you, how do you feel yourself? We all suffer from it, but we should not suffer too much, a little bit comparison will come. So that emotional maturity is the ability not to overreact, but a little bit reaction is necessary for life, for our enjoyment, for other people's enjoyment also. This was beautifully illustrated in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. There was one character called Mahendra Lal Sarkar. And he thinks, he thought himself he was emotionless, or it is womanly to exhibit emotions. They think that only women exhibit emotions, men do not exhibit. There was a young man, he wanted to join military, and there was a test. What is the test? Each young person, he will be put, and the military commander will gather some soldiers and then shoot. So the moment the test was proposed, all the young men ran away, excepting one young man. He stood there, and the soldiers fired the bullet, absolutely immovable. Then the inspector went there, congratulated him and said, come, let us go to the office. He said, before I go to office, please bring a change of clothes. Later on he was asked, so bravely he stood there, he said, I was paralyzed, I could not move at all. Anyway, this is not it. This is not it. Military story, you remember? Yes. Anyway, our devotees are wonderful. There was this young man who was forcibly recruited into the military. The moment he joined, he developed a mental disease. The moment he steps out, he looks, any piece of paper that is there, he takes it out, reads it, this is not it, throws it out. Two, three days it passed like that. Then the military heads, you know, they sent him to a psychiatrist, tested, nobody could help him get rid of it. So they had no option. So they called him inside and wrote a dismissal, discharge. He came out and said, this is it. So, we have to show emotion. This Mahendra Lal Sarkar, he thought himself like that. One day the topic was going on, Girish Chandra Ghosh was there. Then he said, oh, I don't show my emotions, that's why my family people misunderstand me. Then Girish Ghodsar, in that case, out of pity for them, you better show a little bit of your emotions. You know, some people are like that, really in life. Even if you prepare first class dish, it's okay. They won't even say sometimes okay. So you are left wondering whether it is good, is it correct, he wants it, no expression at all in their face. And it is terrible to live with this kind of person. You don't know what they are thinking. So this is not desirable. There must be an appropriate emotional reaction, but there must be emotional maturity. And education's main function is to bring about an emotional maturity. And now we are suffering so much of mental disease, what do you think is the cause, main cause? You know, it is emotional immaturity, unrealistic expectations. And then if somebody says, I don't love you, I love you. Every time he says, I love you, I love you, with a gritted teeth, I love you. You know, we are all expecting appreciation, this, that, everything. You know what is love, and do you know what is allow? You must also allow. Opposite of love is allow. In Sanskrit, if you put a before certain words, it is called prefix. It gives the opposite meaning. Shoka, Ashoka, Tushti, Atushti. Sukha, Ashoka. So love, allow. So some emotional maturity requires expression, appropriate expression. If you don't show your love to your child, then the child becomes, my mom doesn't love. He doesn't understand it after he grows up and a stunted growth. But overreaction also, it affects that person's personality. That is why, if we study Shri Ramakrishna's life, the most wonderful thing is, his emotional reactions were absolutely on spot. Spot on we call it. Where it is needed, he will appreciate. Where he cannot, he will straightforward, very nice voice, he will say that. Many instances are there. So education's function is to help us grow emotionally mature. It is necessary because, especially nowadays, one thing the sociologists are pointing out is that what previously used to be taken as security has disappeared. Security of three types. Individual security, family security, social security. What is individual security? You know previously, so a person gets married and more or less it is taken for granted that the family life will go on until they die, one of them will die. More or less. The sacredness of marriage is there. They may adjust, they may have some problems, but it goes on. Now there is no such guarantee. So family can break down and in many cases it is happening. So that is on the individual level. What is family level? Family level, you know, the harmony with the family members, not only with wife, with parents, with in-laws, etc., etc., it is also breaking down. What is social insecurity? Job insecurity. You know, one of the most important elements in a man's life is a stable job. If the person is able to, you know, join at the age of say 25 or 26 like that, until he retires, if he is guaranteed, like government jobs, I am secure, nobody can disturb me, how much of feeling of peace that gives, whereas nowadays it is completely topsy-turvy, nobody knows, tomorrow the job may go. And then the worst thing is, here everything is, you know, house is on mortgage, sometimes car, refrigerator, many things are on mortgage. And he may have children. What is a man going suddenly to do if he loses his job? You know, he will lose his, this thing, terrible. So social security, family security, there is no guarantee. And individual security also, there is no individual security. If these things are, security is not there, what is life worth? Because what is it that keeps us peaceful? Even if a person is not happy, this, I have got my parents, they love me, I have got my family, and I am well with them, I have got a job. Even if a person is not happy, this feeling of security gives him peace. But now all the three are not guaranteed. Any moment shattering may come. And incidentally, so our relationship is also on three levels. Individual, family and social. If we do not know how to balance that one, we become unbalanced, disbalanced. Do you follow what I am talking? So I am an individual, I have nothing to do with my family. As an individual, I have my own relationship with God. I have my own relationship with family. So which should take priority? Or I have responsibility in an organization, I am a worker, etc. So what should take priority? One should not cross the boundaries of the other. All the three must be. The most common thing is, is there something called commonly distributed and experienced happiness or unhappiness? Can you share your happiness with others? You cannot. Because it is purely individual. You can share any physical thing, you know. Some nice food, some nice house, all money, these things you can share. But can you share your sleep with somebody? And say, my husband is not sleeping well, so let me share with him. Can you share your dreams with anybody? Can you share your sleep with anybody? It is not possible. Certain things are not possible. You can't share your digestion with others. This is what Shankaracharya outlines and says. There are certain things which only each person can do, has to do. If someone is carrying a burden, he gives the illustration. And if the person is feeling it is heavy, others can help. Okay, I will take half your load. But if the person has to eat food, can he share? Let me also eat for you. Can you do that? He can't do that. And can he digest? He can't digest. Can a person take medicine for another person? Certain things each one of us have to do ourselves. So we cannot share. Neither can we share unhappiness also. We can tell to others, but how much we suffer, we cannot share. The other person may be sympathetic, but he cannot really take on your burden. He may want to do that. Difficult. Okay, so three relationships. What is my relationship with myself? What is my relationship with my family? What is my relationship with my society, outside family? If this is not organized harmoniously, that leads to disbalance. Now go one step higher. What is my relationship with myself? What is my relationship with my guru? And what is my relationship with God? Does it sound strange when I ask this question, what is my relationship with God? That means, in what way do I look upon God? Is he a milk cow? Is he my father? Is he my friend? And is he somebody, is it an object so that I can take advantage of it? Am I his servant? Now I have to explore how I look upon God. Then what is my relationship with my guru? And these are related and dependent entirely upon one single factor. What is my relationship with myself? If I look upon myself as inferior, what would be my relationship with my guru? He is superior and I am inferior. His other disciples are superior and I am inferior. So like this it goes. And what would be my relationship with God? I am judging God because any judgment of anything, anybody depends upon how I judge myself. This beautiful factor was brought by Eric Fromm in a beautiful book called The Art of Loving. He gives a beautiful illustration. Supposing a person puts on black colored specs, whether he looks at an object outside, whether he looks with those glasses at himself, how does he look at himself? With black tinted color only, isn't it? So that doesn't change. Since I am looking at myself with black colored specs, then I will look as myself. That is not going to happen. And it is in a different context. I only brought it out. The context was, if anybody says, I love somebody, but he says, I don't love myself. What did I say? I love somebody, but I don't love myself. He doesn't love anybody. Because if he is putting on the specs of what? Love. And with that specs, whatever he looks at, others or himself, they should look exactly the same. The other side also he mentions. A person says, I love myself, but I don't love anybody else. Does he love himself? Because it is the same specs. So if anybody says, I love God, then he should love the whole world. If anybody says, I love the world, he cannot help but loving God. It is a very important psychological principle. So how I look upon myself means what type of mind I have, mind set I have, that determines what relationship I have about myself, what relationship I have with my Guru, what relationship I have with my staff. This is where Shodhana, correction, is necessary. So it is very interesting, very important in spiritual life, how do we look upon God. Because if we are thinking of God, that since I call him, I meditate upon him, and everything in my life should go on wonderfully, smoothly, happily. What does that indicate? The slightest something happens other than what he expects. That very moment what happens? His devotion to God takes the first blow. This is what I thought about God and he has not fulfilled my expectations. Therefore either that God doesn't exist or he is a useless God. See how much is involved. Now apply it into practical life, why most people lose faith in God? Because their expectation, idea, their picturising imagery of God is that he should give me whatever I prefer, irrespective of whether I deserve it or not. That is where the karma fellow comes. So if we do right karma, then we get the right result. What is God's role? God's role is to give whatever we deserve. But when he gives unhappiness, then we deserve it. What does we deserve mean? We can take it in two ways. One is I am unfortunate, I am a poppy and I don't deserve it, but God is unnecessarily giving it to me even though I don't deserve it. This is a negative type of interpretation. The other interpretation is like supposing a surgeon wants to cut off the leg of a patient. So what should be the patient's take on this? Is the surgeon an enemy of the patient? Is he taking off the leg for taking vengeance or to hurt the patient or is it for the safety of the patient? For the good of the patient. If we can take that view with regard to God, that he has given me unhappiness, etc., for my own good, that is a good relationship, right relationship, positive relationship, and that is the relationship we have to develop in God. Only they don't put it as I am putting it. They put it, have faith in God. Some people, sometimes same person, you elevate, sometimes you take the person down. If the mother takes a person down, is it a good thing or a bad thing? That is the point. The judgment taking above and bringing below is from whose point of view? From my point of view. But from God's point of view, this may be the best thing to do. That is why we call this retreat. So one Swami, Abhedananda, he was asked, what is this phenomenon, sometimes we feel like we are going back from our spiritual goal instead of progressing. And he gave two beautiful answers on two different occasions. The one answer he said, you know there is a spiral staircase, so you slowly climb and it will bring you back to where you started, it looks like that. But even though you are coming to the same spot, but you are at a very higher level than where you started. So like that, every time you find yourself on a higher level. The other thing he said, that is where this word retreat comes. So supposing a man is walking and suddenly he comes across a small stream and he cannot simply put his leg there, it is a little bit wider. What does he do? He goes back 10-20 steps and takes a running and then in one jump crosses over. So now that going back, is it helpful or is it retrogression or progression? It is part of the progress, that is why it is called retreat. When battle is going on, when one side of the army is in imminent, you know, losing the battle, what they do, they retreat, get reinforcements and then attack. This is a well-known strategy. Another one, one Swami asked Mahapurush Maharaj, Swami Shivanandaji, Maharaj, I have joined this order, I have become monk 30 years back, I don't seem to have progressed in spiritual life, so I feel depressed. Then Mahapurush Maharaj, you know, first he said, oh, you feel depressed, then why don't you go and get married and then enjoy life and then come next life. No, no, no, I don't mean that, I am not worried about all those things, but I am depressed because I do not seem to be making progress in life. Then Mahapurush Maharaj told something so wonderful. He gave an illustration. Suppose you board a ship, and the ship in an ocean or crossing Atlantic Ocean or whatever it is, and ship is travelling, day after day, day after day, and you are looking forward, where is your destination in sight? It is not at all, you are not even seeing anything of the destination. But he said, look back. Every minute you are away from where you were. A beautiful way of saying, you know some japa, meditation, so much, so much prayer, every day, years together going on. Sometimes it may look we are not making any progress, but every day we are making progress. And why we don't feel that we are making progress, because we have lot of ropes to cut. So, my famous, often repeated illustration is, supposing you have a car in your garage, and you have tied it with hundred chains, and you start the car, where will it go? It doesn't go anywhere. Then you come down and remove one chain, and then start the car. Where will you go? Nowhere. And you take third chain, fourth chain, ninety-nine chains you have removed, and then you sit happily and start. Where will the car go? Doesn't go anywhere. Until you get rid of the hundredth chain, it won't go anywhere. But does it mean, is there no difference between removing one chain, and the hundredth chain? Is there? Every chain you are removing, you are making a progress in life. So, there are many unspiritual or worldly tendencies, and we are slowly trying to get rid of them. That is a progress. But we are not looking at it. We are looking only in a different way. Why don't I have a vision? Why don't I have so many, what is called spiritual experiences? Especially after seeing these mythological cinemas. Ramakrishna, you know, is praying, Oh Mother, if you don't appear to me, I am going to cut my throat. He takes that knife. And then there is a thump, like that one sound will come. Flash of light will come, and Mother will appear like that. This is our idea of seeing God. Anyway, I make fun, you know. There is a sword like that. Fortunate, Ramakrishna did not cut his throat. Because that is such a knife, it will not cut even a cucumber. It is only an ornament. So he would have injured and suffered much more. Fortunate the Mother understood it and blessed him with her vision and all those things. So, even daily practice of spiritual disciplines is absolutely necessary. But it doesn't mean we are not making progress. It means we are cutting a lot of undesirable tendencies, and once we succeed in it, then we will have wonderful experiences. And those experiences have been divided into two categories. One is called visions, another is called bhava. So visions means, you know, they see the forms of God or certain divine visions, divine beings, etc. And bhava means that such a person will not have this kind of experiences, but his knowledge, his capacity in spiritual life becomes very firm. So the visions and other things come and go. But the knowledge will be permanent. So that is why, what is a vision and what is knowledge, there is a lot of difference. Some visions bring real knowledge, but many visions are temporary emotional experiences. So there was one Krishna Premi, who came to Ramana Maharshi, and he had a lot of visions of Krishna. And he wanted to get a pat from Ramana Bhagwan. You know Ramana how he sits? He never looks at you. He looks over your head somewhere like that. His eyes are like that. Swami Vivekananda's eyes were like that. He never looks at you, always like this. That's why somebody gave him a title, sky pilot. Anyway, so this Krishna Premi went and Bhagwan, I went to this, and he went on looking, not replying at all. So this, you know, you want encouragement, like that, you have to go on telling it. Oh, wonderful, marvellous, like that, you know. You are all listening to my talk, and there is no expression at all. What do I take it for? That's why you have sometimes, like that, if you say, I know that somebody is listening. So, at the end, you know, Krishna Premi sat. And he said, what comes, goes. Jo aata hai, wo jaata hai. Krishna Premi himself was narrating. I was terribly disappointed. I thought Maharshi will certify and say, yes, you are progressing spiritually. And then he went back to his somewhere in North India, Pune or somewhere. Not Pune, Meerut or somewhere. And then after a few years, all these visions completely stopped. Then he understood what Ramana Bhagwan was trying to tell him. These are all not very important things. What's important? What transformation your life has taken as a result of these kind of experiences. So, some people have visions, some people don't have anything. That's what Sri Ramakrishna said to Baburao Maharaj. Baburao meru bhaav hobe, ek guli hobe na. Swami Premana Maharaj. So, what did we discuss today? What is the meaning of naravara? Naravara means a perfect human being. Who is a perfect human being? He who knows what he really is. And to attain to that state, education must help us. Help us to grow in six fields. Physical, intellectual means understanding, not academic, not information. Then emotional, then moral, moral plus aesthetic and spiritual finally. If in all these fields, if education can help us, then we are growing. If any of the fields we are stuck to, until we correct it, we are not going to go anywhere. Now I will conclude it. The Patanjali's yama and niyama. Yama is supposed to remove the negativity. And the niyamas are supposed to help us grow emotional maturity and other maturities. Thank you. Hari Om. Hari Om. Hari Om.