Purusha Suktam Lecture 17 on 14-September-2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We have been studying this marvelous Purusha Sukta, which in essence is the essence of all the Vedas, Vedas of all the Upanishads, of the Bhagavad Gita, of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, of Prasthanatrayam. In our last class, we have been dealing with the 16th Mantra. VEDAHAM ETAM PURUSHAM MAHANTAM ADITYA VARNAM TAMASASTU PARI SARVANI RUPANI VICHITYA DHIRAH NAMANIKRITVA ABHIVADAN YADASTE A realized soul is declaring thus, It has been given to me to know by direct experience, this all-wise, all-knowing Purusha, who after bringing into existence all beings such as men, Gods and the like, and giving each one of them names, and goes on sustaining everyone, calling every creature by its own name. And he who transcends all attributes, who is resplendent like the sun, and who lies beyond the ocean of ignorance. This is the joyous declaration of a realized soul. The whole process of this creation is only to lead each one of us by a process of gradual progress to realize or to go back to our home, which has been so beautifully expressed by Swami Vivekananda through a song when he first met Sri Ramakrishna. MANACHALO NIJA NIKETANE O mind, let us go back to our own home. When does this wisdom dawn upon the person? Only when we go through what we call 84 lakhs of janmas and obtain a rare precious gem called the human birth. And even as a human being, we do not know how many births are required to awaken to that fact that I am falling down like the chicks of the Homa bird. And if we dash down, we will be smashed to pieces. Let us go back to our own mother, the origin, the sustainer. And that is the meaning of this beautiful song. This world is like a strange world. It is a foreign country and we have put on a foreign dress. What is my dress? I have no dress. I have no address also. I am Brahman without name, without form, without function, without qualities. One, unborn, all-pervading, infinite, essence of Sat, Chit and Ananda. I know, but it took time. But what is time? It is a dream. Time is nothing but a dream. And a dream is a marvelous example. So we dream that we have gone to a foreign country and it has taken many, many hours of travel. But when we wake up, we realize that many hours or many days, many lives is nothing but a momentary imagination. And this has been beautifully illustrated. This concept of time is beautifully illustrated by the story of Vishnu Maya, how Narada once requested Bhagavan Krishna, Show me your Maya. I heard about it. I never experienced it. And we know the story. And Narada became a householder. He begot several children and he became old. He accumulated a lot of wealth and one day flash floods came to inundate the whole village. Then with his wife, with his several children, some on the shoulders, some were catching him, some were being caught by him, carrying along with his treasure. First wife was swept away, one by one the children swept away and the wealth also gone away. And inconsolably, when he was weeping, a gentle voice comes, Why are you delaying? Oh Narada, I am waiting for the water. And Narada came with a shrug, with a start. And then he realized, not even one second had passed. Time is very relative. So when we are happy, we don't count time. When we are unhappy, each passing millisecond looks like Kshanamapi Yugayate. Time itself is the first creation. Time, space and causation. So I know, I have become awakened. How many lives have I been asleep, dreaming? Now I am awake by the grace of Lord. And I started making my way towards the Lord. And then in the end, I have realized. What did I realize? The whole world, Jagat is nothing but consisting of countless number of objects with different names. And who created them? Bhagawan. And what did He do? Each object He gave a separate name. And He propagated that if you want a particular object, you have to point it out by repeating an appropriate name for it. Small table, big table, red-covered book, etc. And He is sustaining. He is not only the creator. Srishti, Sthithi, Laya. Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara. But He is one only. That one Purusha. Edaham etam purusham. That Purusha. Purusha means Porayati sarvam iti purushaha. He who has become everything. First He created, then He entered. And He is Mahantam. Everything is contained in Him. There is nothing greater than Him. And He is shining with knowledge. Tamasastu pare. Beyond all ignorance. And Aditya varnam. Of the color of the splendor of the sun. Edaham etam. I realized. What did I realize? I am that Purusha. Who created this whole world? Me. Who sustained this world? Me. And who is again going back? Me. And this is what we discussed in our last class. And so to say, this is being repeated again. So what is the point of this 16th mantra? That so long as we are in this world. Forgetting who we are. Thinking this world is real. And being born again and again. And going through all the shed. Urmi. Six fold changes. Life becomes a terrible tragedy. And for that purpose, what is the way out? This world can never give us what we are seeking. Uninterrupted Ananda. For all the time to come. That cannot be got. Because everything in this world. The object is limited. My body is limited. My mind is limited. What does it mean? The object. Every object is limited. Every subject is limited. Both subject as well as object. They limit each other. So everything is limited. We can never get the unlimited. Through the finite. What is the way? Shed. Realize. That this world is nothing but a manifestation of that one and only one Brahman. This is the only way. There is no other way. So only that knowledge can give us what we call in simple language Mukti. The freedom from Samsara, Bandhana. And so how do we get out of it? We require that knowledge. What is that knowledge? I am that Purusha. I am that Ananda that I am seeking. And in order to get that, I need that knowledge. That knowledge should come only from Guru Parampara. That is why it is extremely important. A Guru stands for what? For knowledge. A Guru stands for only knowledge. Not anything else. What does a Guru do? He himself received that knowledge from his Guru. Like that, the Guru Parampara starts from whom? Only from one being. It cannot start from anybody else. Who knows about God? Only God knows. Therefore, out of compassion or out of Leela, that Bhagawan had passed it on to one of his own creation called Brahma. And that Brahma passed on that knowledge to Prajapati. That Prajapati passed it on to Indra. And that Indra has been propagating through his disciples, thus through unbroken Guru-Shishya Parampara. This Brahma Vidya, the knowledge of Brahman, started by Brahman himself, by the grace of Brahman manifested to Brahma. It has been coming in unbroken Guru Parampara tradition and this is the only way. If I want to get out, then I must earnestly desire it. Having desired it, I naturally seek restlessly. As Sri Ramakrishna says, a person who lost his job, restlessly seeking, is there a vacancy? And Swami Vivekananda tells us, there is a law, inviolable law. When we are thirsty, what we are thirsting for, we will get. There is no doubt. But when we are not thirsting, but merely declaring, we are not going to get or we get false satisfaction. So I must become awakened and one of the purposes of the problems in the world, sufferings in the world, is not to punish us, but to awaken us. Every knock on our head or any part of our body is a call for awakening. Uttishthata, Jagrata, Prapyavara, Nibodhata. And inevitably every creature is going to obtain the same thing. So the person must approach the Guru and adopt a particular attitude towards the Guru. What is that? My Guru is God for me. He may be a son to somebody. He may be a brother to somebody. Even some people may think he is an enemy to them. But the Guru himself, whatever he be, whether he is worthy, not worthy, true, false, it doesn't matter. I have chosen him and I will be loyal to him. I look upon him as God himself. That's why many times I give the example of Ekalavya. Even though Dronacharya rejected him, which was a papa, because there is a law, when a worthy student comes, one must never reject such a person. So this law was violated by Dronacharya. But Ekalavya decided, I will not look upon anyone as my Guru. So he fashioned a small image and he started practicing, thinking that his Guru is guiding him all the time. And by himself, he also got it. We can also say in a way of speaking, Sri Ramakrishna also became an Ekalavya. Only he did not approach any Guru, he was not rejected by any Guru, but he earnestly prayed to the Mother. The very first sadhana of Sri Ramakrishna is not that he did not have a Guru, he did not have any human Guru, but the Divine Mother herself was his Guru. His earnest prayer, Oh Mother, I am a murkha, I am an ignorant being, I do not know anything. Please guide me, make me do what I have to do, make me speak what I have to speak. Jemni bolao, temni boli. Jemni nachao, temni nachi. Jemni korao, temni kori. That was a sincere, wholehearted prayer to the Divine Lord. And as a result, the Mother entered into him as the antar Guru, inner Guru, infallible Guru. And he attained the same thing which we also can attain with the help of a human Guru. But as soon as we choose a person as a Guru, we should never again cast even a glance of criticism, finding fault. He must always be looked upon as the highest manifestation of God. Even if God comes and says that this Guru is not a good Guru, then we must say you are a false God. You get out of my way. I know better than you who is a good Guru, who is not a good Guru. My Guru is the greatest Guru. And success is attained by, infallibly attained by any disciple only when a person is fortified by this example, by this attitude. So Guru is a target practice. That is to say, whether he likes me, whether he loves me, whether he beats me up, I must look upon him as for my good. He is doing all these things. He is my loving mother. Guru takes the place of God Himself. So what are we talking here in the 17th mantra? That this knowledge, first of all, is the only knowledge that can save us. Secondly, there is no other knowledge which can save us. Thirdly, this knowledge cannot be got by any other means except through Guru Parampara. Fourthly, if we are earnest, God Himself will come to us in the form of a Guru. Fifthly, lastly, once we get a Guru, He gives us the direction. Again, never again should we doubt whether He has given me the right teaching or not. Because if we are earnest, God, the inner indweller, Antaryami, He knows about us more than we know ourselves and He will guide us infallibly to Himself. That is being told here in two words. First, I will deal with the second half. Let me first read it out. 17th mantra in this Purusha Suktam. Some of these things we have already seen in the earlier instances. Just let us recollect when Swamiji had said He added from two different shlokas. He has taken So the meaning should be clear by this time. Who is a Vidwan? He who realizes, I am Brahman. I am that Supreme Reality. And how does he become a Vidwan? Vidwan means a realized soul. How does he become a Vidwan? Only by surrendering oneself at the feet of the Guru, getting the Amruta. The knowledge itself is Amruta. Here the speciality is that every other knowledge doesn't give us what we want. Supposing a person wants a sweet and such and such a place, a sweet is available. This is only a direction. A person has to go and he has to obtain. So knowing is one process. Obtaining is another process. Enjoying is another process. Digesting is another process. And whatever is not digested, to see that it goes out without becoming poison is another process. Five processes are involved in worldly knowledge, any worldly knowledge. But here the moment we come to know God, what is that knowledge? There is nobody excepting God. So I do not exist. Only God exists. Aham Brahmasmi. This is what the teacher also tells. Tat tvam asi. Tvam tat asi. Thou art that. So nanya pantha ayanaya vidyate. There is no other path. There is only one path to God. What is that path? To know that I am God. To know I do not exist excepting God. Only God exists. Only Brahman exists. Sarvam khalvidam brahma. Nothing else exists. That is called only path. No other path for this realization. The only path is the path of knowledge that I know God alone exists. But how to get to that knowledge? Tam evam. Thus a person must obtain this knowledge from whom? From his Guru. So Vidvan. Vidvan is one who obtains this knowledge from his Guru and practices through the steps of prayer, Sharanagati, Shravana, Manana, Nidhi, Dhyasana. And by the grace of God, what happens? Iha. That means even while living. Amrutaha bhavati. He becomes immortal. Immortal means I am immortal. I thought I was not immortal. Now that wrong notion is destroyed. How did he get it? Because of the knowledge which he obtained from his Guru. From where did his Guru obtain? From his Guru. Where from did that second Guru obtain earlier? From his Guru. And who is the originator? Only Bhagawan. And this is what is said. Dhaata. Dhaata means Brahma. Dhaata means Brahma or Srishti Karta. Puraha means in the earlier times, very beginning of the creation, Udajahara, that he understood. Everything is, I am also Brahman. The creation I am going to create is also Brahman. Everything is Brahman. That knowledge came from Parabrahman. Brahman revealed himself. I am Brahman. Everything is Brahman. You are Brahman. Nothing else exists excepting Brahman. That knowledge first he gave to Brahma. And then what did Brahma do? He understood it. He practised it. And he had realisation, Aham, that Vedah, Mitham, Purusham, Mahantam. Then what did he do? He propagated it. To whom? Shakraha. Shakra means Indra. Where from suddenly this Indra comes? We have to be very careful. There are two types of Indras are there. The Pauranic Indra, that is a human being who had obtained, earned a lot of Punyam by doing a lot of Tapasya, Ignas, etc. And as a result, he gets a post called Indra. And the highest Swargaloka is not even Indraloka. It is called Satyaloka or Brahmaloka. But this Indra is called Pauranic Indra. The Indra that has been, we are hearing about him in the Puranas, and sometimes he behaves worse than a human being. He comes down to earth and he was not satisfied with the Apsarasas that were there in heaven. He finds better Apsarasas on this earth and especially the wives of great Munis and Rishis. And so many stories are there. Don't misinterpret these stories that Indra was running after these things. There are several misconceptions about Pauranic Indra. One is that he is running after. This is only to tell us even if somebody goes to Brahmaloka, there is a chance that the Brahmaloka person, he can fall down. What is the example? Mahabharata itself is the example. Shantanu was a member of the committee, Brahma's committee. And Gangadevi was another female member of the committee. And there was a meeting. This Shantanu and Gangadevi, they looked at each other and they stopped looking at anybody else. Brahma noticed it and then immediately cursed. Even here you are exhibiting your nonsensical tendencies. You are behaving like human beings. Better go and live, become human beings and get rid of these desires. Then only you will have the admission ticket to watch this Brahmaloka Leela. And that is the beginning of this wretched Mahabharata story. Then there are stories. Secondly, second misconception, whenever anybody is after spiritual progress, immediately Indra gets frightened, perhaps this fellow is going to defeat me in 2024, 2024 election, and let us plan, come together. So these stories, Vishwamitra's story, he sent Apsarasas to tempt him. No. Why? Because anybody who is thinking about God, is not God aware of that person? This is my child. He wants to come to me. He doesn't have any other desire. Why should he be after Indra Padavi and Brahma Padavi and other things? It is terrible even to mistake for us like that. So what happens? But God detects this person sincerely wants to come to me, but he is not aware certain Samskaras are hiding within him and they are going to be his downfall. Before my child falls, I am going to show to him, I will act like a mirror to show, like every psychiatrist is like God only. He doesn't cure anybody. He merely trains the patient to delve deep into his own unconscious and find out what is pulling that person down, what is splitting him up, a split personality, and then gives him slowly a way how he can be strong, how he can mend, how he can become one being, and when the patient succeeds, he is considered as cured. The psychiatrist is not a miraculous person. He is a trained person to point out the defects within each one of us. Bhagawan acts like a psychiatrist or psychologist. So a woman came to Vishwamitra. Immediately he fell down. Then what happened as a result? He suffered for some time, but he understood that it was his own fault. I was cherishing this. This desire is hiding within me. Thank God, I have overcome it. And then he again goes back to Tapasya. And then the second time also, Indra sends the same people. This time also, Vishwamitra had fallen. Not for desire, but for anger. What? Last time you made me fall down. A thousand years of Tapasya had gone and turned into ashes. This time also you are coming to make me fall down. I will not tolerate you. I will burn you out. All his Tapasya power had fizzled out. Then he understood that I should not react to whatever comes. I should be Shantachittaha. Whenever huge waves come, waves of desire, Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, Matsarya. These are called tsunamis. When they come, they just overwhelm even a strong person. We have to be very careful even before they attack a person. Even when they are in the seed form, we should be able to look into it. And that is what Patanjali Rishi says, when a Yogi advances, even before a thought rises up, he detects it and takes steps to prevent it. So this is the grace of God. But God, you know, is a mischief maker. He doesn't directly come and warn. He makes the child fall down several times. What is the purpose? So that the child, how can he become stronger? Only by falling down. If you go on catching hold of a child, never allow him to stumble and fall down and injure a little bit, he is never going to grow up into a strong person. So out of infinite compassion, God makes a person fall down. Indra was only a ruse, an excuse, a peg for helping every sincere sadhaka. But if somebody, without doing anything, really only wants Indra's position, that is not going to happen. Every person deserves to get something. This is the result of Karma Pala. This is the Karma Siddhanta. Nobody can get happiness. Nobody can get unhappiness. Whatever we deserve, that is what we call Jati, Aayu and Bhoga. So this is the Auranic Indra. But there is an Upanishadic Indra. Especially I will remind you, when we were studying the Kena Upanishad, in the third chapter, Brahman appears in the form of a Yaksha, like a Dharma Raja appears in the form of a Yaksha, only to test, to edify and to bestow His grace on Yudhishtira and others. Similarly, in Kena Upanishad, Indra was the first person to get a revelation of the Brahma Vidya in the form of the Divine Mother called Uma Haimavati. But there is another beautiful story in the Chandogya Upanishad, where Prajapati, our Prajapati announces, he who can know Atman, all his desires will be fulfilled. And a demon, an Asura called Virochana and the King of Gods called Indra, both of them go there. So Indra had to go through 101 years of hard Tapasya. Then only Prajapati teaches him. Thereafter he became a realized soul. So whichever Indra, this is called Upanishadic Indra, Shakra here called, he became Pravidhva. How? He chose Brahma as his Guru. And seeing his earnestness, Brahma passed on that knowledge to Shakra. And Shakra passed on, in the Kena Upanishad we get, to Agni and Vayu and other Gods. So like that, Guru Parampara system. That is what the mantra wants to tell. In the mantra, the knowledge must come only from the authentic Guru Parampara system. Pradeshah Yatasraha. That is the four directions. This Brahma Vidya. That means whether India or America or Germany or Australia or UK, there will be a few people who are earnestly desiring. Every religion has to produce realized souls. Without realized souls, a religion will become only a dried dead tree. If the purpose, the functionality of every tree is to produce beautiful, edible, sweet fruits. What is the fruit of every religion? Saints are the fruits of every religion. Any religion which fails to produce such kind of saints will not be a useful type of plant at all, tree at all. So at every age, Bhagawan sends somebody or the other to rejuvenate that dead looking tree. And that is what is being said. How does he do it? Through Guru Parampara system. So first Bhagawan revealed Himself to Brahma. Brahma having realized, revealed Himself, that knowledge to Shakra and other Gods through that Guru Parampara. Even today, that is why earlier I mentioned that Narayana, then Brahma, then Vyasa, Shukadeva, Gaudapada, Govindacharya, Shankaracharya, Tautapuri, Ramakrishna, Swami Vekananda, then Swami Brahmananda, and then Guru Parampara. This is continuing. It is our duty to pass on that knowledge. This is what exactly we are trying to do through these classes. This is not a Guru-Sishya Samparka, but this is Acharya-Sishya Samparka. This lays a firm foundation. Once this knowledge is given by a practicing Guru, given to an earnest student who wants to practice, he will also receive it with a different attitude and then he practices it. So tam evam vidvan, that student, in the course of time, he realizes, becomes, thereafter he is called vidvan, a realized soul, and what is the result of this? Vidya amrutaha iha bhavati, iha eva. As soon as he gets knowledge here itself, in living itself, a dead person is not going to get knowledge. Living person only in this life, next life, next life, doesn't matter. Amrutaha bhavati. And then the fourth line says, again to repeat, na anna anyaha pantha ayanaya. Ayanaya means for this amrutatva, there is no other path, but this is the only path. So spiritual knowledge or wisdom, a direct experience that I am the Paramapurusha and that alone can give us amrutatvam. And this is called also in western terminology, esoteric knowledge. It has to come only through the Guru-Sishya Parampara. That Guru may be a human being, or it can be a fire, it can be a bird, it can be any way. How? We get in this Upanishadic itself, we get the stories. Satyakama went, his Guru, instead of teaching, gave him some weekend cows, not Saturday, Sunday weekend, but cows which were not really strong, go and graze these cows until they become strong, healthy, one thousand in number, do not come back. And day and night, that Guru vachana, Guru ajna, and then he puts into practice. Day and night, he was serving the cows as his own Guru. Guru's ajna is in the form of the cows. And then something extraordinary happens, which Swami Vivekananda goes into ecstasy in describing. What happens? One day, when he was totally unaware how time has passed, years have passed, the bull of that herd addressed him and said, Satyakama, we have become thousand cows. Your Guru's word is, after we become thousand, drive us back to the ashram. And I will teach you one-fourth of the knowledge of Brahma. Then he started back. Second day, when he was tending the fires, fire gave him another one-fourth, that means half he got. And then two birds appeared to him and they completed complete hundred percent Brahma Vidya. As soon as he reached the ashram, the Guru had one look at him and he said, Where did you get? Your face shines like a knower of Brahman, who gave you this knowledge? And then humbly he said, I do not know. They are other than human beings. That means only the Guru Mukha Vidya, the Vidya that comes through Guru Mukha alone. You please tell me. And Guru was highly pleased because he himself came in the form of the fire, in the form of the bull, in the form of the birds. This is what Swami Vivekananda says, You go into the loneliest place, most solitary place, where there is no human being. You go to Mars and then settle down there. Earnestly pray to God. From within yourself, the Antaryami, Sarvaantaryami will come and enlighten you, provided you are earnest and you are fit. The moment we are fit, we get that knowledge. This is what Sairam Krishna expressed, the breeze of God's grace is always blowing, unfurling our sails. Little breeze, then you start rowing your boat. More breeze will come and more vigorous rowing. That means progress in spiritual life. This is the meaning of this 17th mantra. This Guru Parampara system, it is a marvelous system. And this is what you remember. Bhagavad Gita is the essence of the Upanishads. Sarvo Upanishado Gavo Dogdha Gopalanandanaha Artho Vatsaha Sudhir Bhokta Dugdham Gita Amritam Maat There also the word Amrita is used. Here also the word Amrita is used. So Gita is nothing but the condensed milk of all the Upanishads. That is why it is the most marvelous book. Sometimes the Upanishads may seem to be contradicting each other. But in Bhagavad Gita, there is no contradiction at all. It is a one unified, whole teaching, even in the most wonderful details everywhere. And the 18th chapter is the very essence of the entire earlier 16 chapters. That is to say, the real Bhagavad Gita starts only from the 11th shloka of the 2nd chapter. From there until the end of the 17th chapter and 18th chapter is the very essence of it. So what does this Bhagavan Krishna say? Arjuna asked him a question. You gave me that knowledge. And then what Krishna says surprised Arjuna. What does he say? Imam Vivasvate Yogam Proktavanaham Avyayam Vivasvan Manave Praha Manuh Ikshva Kave Abhravit Sa Kaalena Iha Mahata Yogonastaha Parantapa This question that you asked now in the Bhagavad Gita was asked thousands of years ago by Vivasvan. I taught him. Imam Yogam Vivasvate Proktavanaham I completely explained it to Vivasvan. And what did Vivasvan do? He passed on that knowledge to Manave Praha. What did Manu do? Ikshva Kave Abhravit And what happened to that knowledge? Sa Vidya Kaalena Iha Mahata Kaalena Over a long period of time, that mighty teaching of Yoga became distorted and misinterpreted. Nastaha Parantapa And every incarnation, God incarnates only for propagation of that highest truth. That is called Dharma Sthaapana. In the beginning, I taught it to Vivasvan, his son Aditya. He taught it to Manu and others. But in the course of time, this grand knowledge was lost. Lost means completely misinterpreted, misunderstood, misused. I have come again to revive it. And then Arjuna naturally said, You are my colleague. How come that you are claiming you have been given? He said, Oh Arjuna, Krishna laughs. I have been born many times. Not only I was born, you were also born. You have forgotten all about your past births. But I remember each one of them. I know everything. That is the same thing that we are discussing here. Guru Parampara is very important. So when we are so fortunate to obtain a Guru, don't judge him. Whether this Guru, my Guru is greater than the other Guru, or the other Guru is greater or smaller than my Guru, don't go on judging. For every disciple, his own Guru is Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara. But merely mouthing these words is not enough. We have to have that Guru Bhakti. What is that Guru Bhakti? That He is God for me. And whatever He says is Veda, as far as I am concerned. And what He says alone is the path for me to realize God. That was the meaning of it. Then the last mantra in this, what is it called? Purva Narayana. That is the Purusha Suktam is called Uttara Narayana, Purva Narayana. Actually it was only 18 mantras, but later on in the southern Indian, what is called, tradition, 6 more mantras have been added, which are nothing but the capitulation of these 18th mantra. So we are entering into the 18th mantra. And this is also, what does this mantra say? That even earlier also, all the Gods, everything, they also have worshipped God, surrendered themselves to God. Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya, Mamey Kam Sharanam Rajah Aham Tva Sarva Bhute Bhiyo There is no other way, I will save you. So at the end of it, there is no other path, whether you are treading the path of Karma or Bhakti or Yoga or Jnanam. Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya, Mamey Kam Sharanam Rajah Aham Tva Sarva Bhute Bhiyo Mokshai Shyami That means I will cut asunder all your bandhanas. Papa is nothing but Samskaras, I will destroy, I will burn all your Samskaras. Every action of ours, good or bad, springs out of only the Purva Janma Samskaras. But we have to give up both Punya Samskara and Pava Samskara. Only then there will be no rebirth. Surrendering to God means giving up everything. Giving up everything means becoming a Sanyasi. Not necessarily donning an ochre cloth, but mentally surrendering and saying nothing else exists excepting you. And whatever exists is none else but you. That is being said here. SANSKRIT CHANT First I will give you the essence of it. Then we will read out the translation. Then a little bit of explanation will come. What did the Devas, that is the first creatures, the creatures who were created first, remember, Rishis, Devas and Sadhyas. So the Devas, Deva means the shining ones, the first created beings. What did they do? As soon as they were created, like the four Manasa Putras of Brahma, immediately they were endowed because they were not having this kind of Samsaric Samskaras. So immediately their minds were full of Satva Guna. So immediately they understood. And what did they do? SANSKRIT CHANT Through Yagna, they performed Yagna. What is this mysterious concept? There is a beautiful concept about Puja. SANSKRIT CHANT One can worship God only after becoming God. What does it mean? Who knows about God? Only God knows about God. Therefore, without becoming God, whatever we do falls far short of worship. But God doesn't look into our defects. Slowly, slowly, He removes the obstacles and gives. But complete knowledge of God is obtained only by those who become God. SANSKRIT CHANT A knower of Brahman becomes Brahman. So what did they do? They prayed, they surrendered. Surrendering means what? Becoming one with God. I do not exist. Only You exist. That is called self-surrender. So with this attitude, the Devas who are endowed with Satva Guna, and that Satva Guna is indicated by the word Deva. Deva means Deva, to shine. What did they do? They had untrammeled understanding. As soon as they had that untrammeled understanding, immediately they understood that God alone is real. Everything is unreal. So what did they do? Spontaneously, they worshipped God. It means they surrendered themselves to God. And then, this is the meaning of the first half of these four lines. Yajnena, through Yajna, that is complete Sharanagati. Yajnam. Here Yajnam stands for Brahman. Because there is a beautiful Adesha Vakya. Yajnavai Vishnu. Yajnam is Vishnu. Like Brahma, Arpana, Brahma, Havi, Vishnu is Yajna. Yajna is Vishnu. So it is not a small ritual. The Yajnikunda is Vishnu. What is offered is Vishnu. The person who offers is Vishnu. And the vessel, instrument through which it is offered is also Vishnu. This is called Karma Samadhi. Brahma Karma Samadhi. So the Devatas, because of the first creation, their minds were full of Sattva Guna. They worshipped God. And then, immediately, very soon, they realized. And then what did they do? Whatever path they had followed, they propagated and said, this is the path through which we realized God. And anybody who, like us, follows the same path, they will also realize. That is what is being said in the second half of this. Tani Dharmani Prathamani Asan. Put it in the prose order. What it means is Tani Prathama Dharmani Asan Prathamani Asan Dharmani here means the pathway through which they have attained. The practice, they had practiced. The teachings, they had practiced. The spiritual characteristics which they developed. So every teaching is to develop certain spiritual characteristics. Those characteristics are termed here as Dharmani. So those practices which the Devatas had done, through which they obtained, they worshipped and became God Himself. And they became the pathways for subsequent generations. Teha Naakam Then whoever practices them, the Devas themselves, what did happen? Te Devaha Ha In reality, in fact, Naakam Sachante Mahimanaha Bhutva They obtained that Mahima by which they obtained Naakam. Here Naakam means what? The highest Loka which is God Realization. They shine as the Realizers of Truth. That is called, call it Satya Loka, call it Vishnu Vaikuntha, call it Kailasa. What did they do? They followed a particular practice. They worshipped God. Through Godliness, they became Godlike and they became God and that they propagated. So you also have to become God only. Godlike. Acquire first Godlike characteristics and then the whole purpose of spiritual practice is to acquire this, what Bhagawan Krishna says, Daivey Sampath. Once this attainment of Daivey Sampath becomes quite great, then all the first thing is all the Asuric qualities will be destroyed. Second, these very characteristics become self-destructive. Like a boat which takes us across to the other shore and then the boat is left behind, all the spiritual qualities, Stithapragna Lakshana, Samadhistha Lakshana are of no use for them. Even at the last moment before we depart from this body, if anybody realizes they obtain the highest Loka and there with great glory they will be enjoyed. In simple words, they become one with God and they enjoy Brahma with Brahmanasaha Sarvam Sarvam Kaman Pa Upashnute They enjoy. It is another way of saying they swim in the Brahmananda Sagara. Yatra Purve Sadhyaha Santi Deva Sadhyaha means where these Sadhyas, Sadhya means through Sadhana they obtained this highest abode Vishnuloka Nakam that is called Nakam. Purve means as soon as they got this knowledge from Bhagawan Himself through Guru Parampara system they practiced it, they became Devas and they worshipped God and they became one with God and they proclaimed the path that we are leaving behind through which we ourselves have become blessed becomes the path of blessing for everybody else. So, anybody who tread the same spiritual path as propagated by our Rishis and Munis and in our modern time we can call it the teachings of the path shown to us by Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda. Here it was the path shown by Sri Rama, later on the path shown by Sri Krishna, later on the path shown by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, later on the path shown by Sri Ramakrishna etc. later on the path shown by Ramana Maharshi etc. They are the authentic paths. Follow them and like the Devas who followed it before us and they reached the highest goal called Moksha, we also get that Atma Samarajya or beautifully termed as Swarajya Siddhi. That is Siddhi means attainment of what? Swarajya, our own kingdom because we are God. This is the meaning of the 18th mantra. The whole Purusha Suktam is nothing but that everything is God, the creation is God, God only became the world and if we can follow the path shown by our Guru Parampara, then we understand the fact Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma, we also become Brahman and life becomes blessed. This is the only goal and there is no other goal. This is the only path, there is no other path. We will discuss the next mantras in our next class. May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Ramakrishna.