Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 47 on 09 April 2025

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padmetayo Sritva Pranamam Imuhurum Uhuhuh Om Shanno Mitrashyam Varunaha Shanno Bhavatvaryama Shanno Indro Brihaspate Shanno Vishnu Rukramaha Namo Brahmane Namastevayo Tvameva Pratyaksham Brahmase Tvameva Pratyaksham Brahmavadishyami Ritam Vadishyami Satyam Vadishyami Tanmam Avatu Tad Bhaktaram Avatu Avatu Mam Avatu Bhaktaram Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Hare Om Om May Mitra be blissful to us. May Varuna be blissful to us. May Aryama be blissful to us. May Indra and Brihaspati be blissful to us. May Vishnu of long strides be blissful to us. Salutations to Brahman. Salutations to you. O Vayu, you indeed are the visible Brahman. You alone I shall call the direct Brahman. I shall call you righteousness. I shall call you truth. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. May Brahman protect me. May Brahman protect the teacher. Om Peace Peace Peace be unto all. We are studying the 11th Anuvaka of the Taittiriya Upanishad which is called Sishya Anushasanam. These are the commandments given. Commandments, not requests but commandments. In this we get the essence of the entire Dharmashastra. What does Dharmashastra teach? A Dharmashastra teaches how to become Dharmic, holy, pure and how to lead life. And this Dharma is totally dependent upon Karma Siddhanta. That is, if you want to be happy. And there is no question that anybody would say, I wouldn't like to be happy. I might do things which are not considered good by others. But even those activities are done by me only expecting, hoping that I will be happy. So here a blueprint for the whole life, as I mentioned many times, is given here. And that's what he's trying to tell here. And in our last class, we were discussing certain commandments. Why do we call it commandments? See, there is a Tavya Pratyaya. Tavya means Kartavya, for example. We have to do it. Of course, when the red light comes, some people try to squeeze in and go out. And many times they cause also accidents. We have the choice. But we have to pay a heavy price if we break these commandments. In the old Bible, we have got these 10 commandments. Every religion has its commandments. And every commandment falls into two categories. Do's and don'ts. So here we are given Deva Pitru Karya Abhyam Na Pramaditavyam We had already discussed. I'm only going to summarize. Deva Karya means actually Deva Yagna. This is called one of the Pancha Maha Yagnas. Deva Karya and Pitru Karya. So worship regarding the Devas, gratefulness for what they are bestowing upon us. And same gratefulness. And also the same gratefulness expressed in the form of service to the parents, looking upon them, etc. That's going to follow shortly. Na Pramaditavyam is not a suggestion. One should never neglect. Pramada means negligence. Na Pramaditavyam. One should never neglect. What happens? Supposing some government says, do not neglect to pay attention while driving in a busy street. It is not really a suggestion. It is at your own risk. You can do whatever you like. And that is what happens also every day. So never ever neglect these two. Because gratefulness is even animals become grateful when somebody protects them. Many stories are going around. So Deva Pitru Karya Abhyam. Na Pramaditavyam. Let's forever be grateful to them even after God realization. And in my last class, I have also mentioned how Sri Ramakrishna, Avatara himself, showed respect to his parents. How did Rama show respect to his parents? How did Krishna show respect to his parents? How did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu show respect to his mother? Because his father, Jigannath Mishra had passed away. A very interesting incident. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu decided to renounce the world. He was a married person. So he sought the permission of the mother, Swachhi Devi. And then she of course could not agree. Then he said, Ma, either you give me permission or I will run away to some place. But if you gladly give me permission, I will be staying nearby. So you can come from Nadia to Puri. Every year you can come or sometimes you can come spend some time. I will be so happy like that. So it's all because of the mother's wish. What did Shankaracharya do? He showed his gratefulness even though he was supposed to be a Jeevan Mukta Mahapurusha, an Acharya Purusha, Saksha, Shankara's incarnation, Shiva's incarnation. Before leaving his mother, he promised her, Mother, whenever you require me, remember me. And wherever I am, I will fly to you. And then she was of course not very happy, but she understood. My son wants to be a great person, a Sannyasin. She must have been proud also. So she gave him permission. But then she never wanted to take advantage of it. So in the end, the death is coming. Then a longing seized her. I want to see my beloved son before passing away. So intensely she was remembering. And then Shankaracharya was supposed to be somewhere in the Himalayas. Immediately he understood. He flew to Kerala to Kaladi, appeared before his mother. And he understood that my mother is about to pass away. So he wanted that she should go to Vaikuntha or Kailasa. Of course, family wise, they were Shiva Bhakthas. So then he composed a hymn. And whenever people like Shankaracharya compose a hymn, it turns out to be true. So, O Shiva, please bestow your grace upon my mother. This is known as Shiva Bhujanga Stotram. And immediately she had a divine vision of the Kailasa. And according to Puranas, it is full of these demons. And her heart was about to have a heart attack. And Shankara understood. Immediately he changed his stance. And he did the same stotram related to Vishnu. Vishnu Bhujanga Stotram. And immediately she saw beautiful Vaikuntha. Everywhere people were singing. I don't know if that vision includes eating Tirupati Laddus or not. I'm not sure about it. But it was the most pleasant scene anybody can imagine. And with that vision, she left her body. And he himself had cremated his mother because his relatives refused. Just an aside incident only. Then Shankaracharya understood the pride of these Brahmins. And he cursed them that from today onwards, every one of you have to bury your own relatives, family members, within the compound of your own house. Anyway, that was a legend. But what I wanted to tell, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, even after becoming Sanyasi, when his mother comes, it is the Divine Mother. Of course, I also described how Sri Ramakrishna worshipped. Another point that came to my mind, even though Sri Ramakrishna had become a Sanyasi, and there is a rule after Sanyasa, one should not be with one's family, let alone with one's wife. But Avatara wanted to violate that rule, but for a purpose. So he kept Holy Mother. He never told her, I am a Sanyasi. I don't want ever to see your face. No. Said you stay here. I call upon God. You also call upon God. So he was establishing Adarsha Grihastha Ashrama life, an ideal householder's life. And then two things we have to notice here, how he was respecting, revering, venerating his own mother. Had his father been there, he would have done it even much more than that. But then this mother became Divine Mother. He declared openly, the same mother who is in the temple as a Bhavatarini. That means Holy Mother as well as his own mother are nothing but Mother Kali manifesting in a living, walking way in his life. And what was the first one? How to venerate the mother. And what was the second one? How to lead, how to establish a divine relationship, a spiritual relationship with one's own wife. And how he treated Holy Mother. How many husbands dare to worship even their own wives as the Divine Sakshat Jagan Mata. And he prostrated, offered whatever he obtained. These are all marvelous things for us to contemplate upon. Therefore one should never neglect what should be done to the Gods, Goddesses and one's own mother and father etc. And if they are no more there, one has to perform remembrance of them annually or even monthly. Even praying, every devotee should pray whether parents are alive or dead for the welfare. This not only applies to Hindus, Indians but to everybody because we are nothing but our mother's blood, bones, everything. But the purpose of worshipping them is really they are also divine. Each soul is potentially divine and if an ant is potentially divine, why not? And how much a mother and father can be divine? And whenever we offer prayers etc. which is called Shraddha, Shraddha religious ceremony, then it is to remind us that death has no meaning for anybody actually. Christians preach that a good Christian goes to heaven. What does a bad Christian do? He also goes to heaven but maybe slowly he has to learn his lessons. They don't say he is reborn but he is reborn in another place where he has to suffer much. Samsara is nothing but suffering. Buddha said whole life is nothing but suffering. So having instructed, Earlier we have seen the Rishis had to be adored because that is where our scriptures come in. And our scriptures are telling, Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava, Acharya Devo Bhava, Atidhi Devo Bhava. Look upon your mother as the divine mother. Look upon your father again as the divine mother. And look upon your teacher who gave you knowledge also as a manifestation of God only in that form. And then Atidhi Devo Bhava. Whenever guests come or needy people come or beggars come, do not simply throw something which you don't want but Atidhi Devo Bhava. And how they should be treated is going to come. We are going to study it in our future classes. So do not neglect your duties to the gods and the mains. Treat your mother as God. Treat your father as God. Treat your teacher as God. Not look upon as God but treat them as if they are God's personified and present in front of us. And then treat your guest as God. So I have given you so many examples. Now a living Goddess that is our Holy Mother. How did she look upon her devotees? Do you think Holy Mother is a dumb person, an unintelligent person? Do you think she will think these people are calling Ma? So I know they are all purest of the pure. No, Divine Mother, She knows everybody's history from the beginning of creation. And She knows how full of defects all the devotees are at different levels of development. And interestingly, this development has to be measured by oneself in the form of the manifestation of three Gunas. Is Tamoguna more dominating in my life? Or Rajoguna? Am I listening to this class and at the same time go on twisting and twirling my moustache, my shaking my legs and looking here and there or yawning again and again? So observe yourself carefully. So this is all. How did Holy Mother look? Yes, they are all full of defects. How do we know? Because if they did not have defects, they would have attained Moksha, liberation long before. And there would be no devotees. But they are there at various stages of development. Just like a mother knows how helpless and mischievous her children are. But she knows they are children. So Holy Mother used to look upon them as each soul is potentially divine. Unless we see potential divinity, we will be finding only fault with others. Either we are looking upon them as potentially divine people or we are trying to find out some defect or other in other people. There is no in between. So this is how He gave. The teacher is giving from now onwards. Don't look upon your mother, your father and your teacher. Whatever may be their defects, you will have to look upon them. How did Ekalavya look upon Dronacharya? Even though Dronacharya himself did not behave properly. He misbehaved, what we call it. Anyway, now the next topic is very, very important. What is the essence of this? How to follow what we call Sadgurus, superior people? Our teachers, other teachers, even so-called incarnations of God, how to follow them? Do you mean to say these are all paragons of virtue, paragons of the best qualities, Daivya Sampath and nothing else is there? No. We have to leave benefit of doubt that everybody may have some small defect in oneself or the other. And the Guru himself, whether it is male or female, should be aware of it. If any teacher claims I am a teacher and is not aware of his or her own defects, that person is least fitted to become, to guide other people. A guide who doesn't know how to guide himself can never guide other people. That is where the most marvellous advice is being given now. Now you understand why I am devoting so much of this time only to this eleventh section in the very first chapter of Taittiriya Upanishad. Because these are the things we will have to first listen or read, read again and again. And then we have to try to do Manana and then we have to follow. That is called first Shramana, then Manana, then transform our own life for whose benefit? For our own benefit. So here goes the second mantra in the eleventh section. यानि अनवध्यानि कर्मानि तानि सेवितव्यानि न इतरानि यानि अस्माकं सुचरितानि तानि त्वया उपास्यानि A teacher so frank, so open is telling my children, whatever deeds you find within us Acharyas or faultless, they have to be performed by you, not others. I will come to that meaning. Whatever good works we have been performing, we have performed in the past, we will be doing it in the future. They should be followed by you, not others. So now यानि अनवध्यानि, अवध्यानि means faulty, अनवध्यानि means न, अवध्यानि means what? Faultless. यानि अनवध्यानि कर्मानि Only that kind of behavior, our actions and reactions which are faultless, only तानि त्वया सेवितव्यानि, only तानि, only they alone, सेवितव्यानि त्वया. Each one of you, my students, you will have to follow it. सेवित, सेवा means what? You will have to follow them. You follow our footsteps only when we are following the right path. And no man is perfect. To be human, they say, is to err. So we are also human beings. We may be having either defects or weaknesses. What is the difference between defects and weaknesses? A defect is something blameworthy. Weakness, a person is not doing anything wrong. Defect means a person is really harming or whatever he is doing is harming the other people. For example, I always would like to give some examples so that they can help us understand. Supposing there is a family and some nice dish has been given. Of course, the first offering should be given to the earner, the wage earner, usually the father. So here in this case, we are talking about the Acharya. So he is the, what is called, supreme ruler in that community of Gurukula. So he liked someone and his wife or whatever cook understands it. And because he is the one, he is offered more. So supposing the quantity of that dish is very less. So if he goes on eating more and more and more, to that extent other people will not get their share. So this is a defect. What is weakness? Suppose there is plenty of that dish. He personally has a weakness for this particular dish and he goes on eating to his, what is called, stomach's full or his heart's content. Here he is only giving in to his weakness but he is not harming other people. So there is a vast difference between these two types of activities. One is a defect. Certainly a defect has to be condemned and many teachers can have. That is one idea. Other idea is, maybe they don't have but for some mysterious purpose they will be behaving in such a way. I will give you some examples also. So mysterious purpose, reason, there is a definite motivation why they are doing like that. And the students, because of their ignorance, unable to gauge why the teacher is behaving like that, might misconstruct in his own imagination so many things. For example, Swami Yoganandaji, one day he was sleeping in Sri Ramakrishna's room and at midnight he noticed Sri Ramakrishna was not there and a terrible doubt seized. And here also, probably many of you do not know what is the origin of this problem. Swami Yogananda was a very great soul, purest of the pure. And he was one of the Antarangas or Ishwarakotis. There was a maid servant. This fact came out only later on after doing research. So there is a Brinde, we get her name at the beginning of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and occasionally now and then we get also. So that lady, not only she was bad, she used to abuse Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and others. She was also spreading rumours that Baba, they also appear to be so pure and great outwardly. Who knows what they are doing in there alone. And somehow Swami Yogananda, his mind was tarnished by these rumours. So when he woke up, suddenly he said, Ramakrishna is not there. Where could he go? Usually people don't go for what is called answering nature's calls before going to bed and after waking up. But at midnight, at this time, so immediately he wanted to test. That is a great quality in him. Otherwise, no, no, no, suppose Sri Ramakrishna returns and Yoganandaji goes on, keeps on glaring at Sri Ramakrishna. Not expressing his desire, so being what he was, immediately he rushed to Nahabath. Fortunately for Sri Ramakrishna, that Nahabath has only one door. Suppose it has got five, six doors, how many doors Yoganandaji can keep guard with? So he was standing there, if Sri Ramakrishna was inside and then he will be found out, he will be caught. But then very soon he heard the sound of wooden slippers coming from the side of the Panchavati, then Yoganandaji understood. Sri Ramakrishna had gone to answer calls of nature and terrible guilt seized him. But here is also something we have to understand. We have to develop that ability to think deeply. Supposing there is only one door and Sri Ramakrishna went to Holy Mother for some purpose, what does it mean? Do you think that a person like Sri Ramakrishna will go to his wife or another woman only with one purpose in mind? We have to be a little more intelligent than that. Suppose he had something to instruct or to talk with Holy Mother and he remembered at that time. Most of the time he must keep in mind that Sri Ramakrishna used to be in Samadhi state. So maybe let me finish this task. Why do we say that when a man and a woman are found together alone, then there is only something bad that is happening and nothing innocent? So we have to think deeply about it. Anyway, fortunately for Swami Yogananda, if Sri Ramakrishna was found to be coming out from the room of Sri Ramakrishna, from Holy Mother's room, then whole life perhaps he would have been seized, he would have been possessed by that idea. Probably he would not have stayed also. Anyway, I don't know. So fortunately for Sri Ramakrishna, fortunately for Swami Yogananda, this did not happen. What is the point I am raising here? That if we want to find some holes in somebody else's character, we will have plenty of opportunity, either real or imagined. But the teacher is telling, my children, we are not perfect. We are not claiming that we are perfect. So if you find within us even some defects, not defect, but defects, there may be quite a number of defects, then even then you have to respect us. You have to follow us. Don't say, my Guru used to drink. I will also drink. He used to visit public houses. I will also visit public houses. He used to get angry. Nothing wrong in getting angry, etc., etc., etc. So he says, whatever blameless activities worthy of being imitated are found within me. Tani, Tani, Eva, we have to understand. Only those activities, Tvaya, Saivitavyani, you will have to imitate. You will have to follow them. Na Ittharani. If you find any defects in us and we are not claiming, we don't have any defects, may be there, may be many defects are there, may be you are much better than any one of us, but do not find Na Ittharani. If you see, just ignore them. You will have to. The Guru is giving that complete freedom. You are free to examine our lives. Find out. And Sairam Krishna was inimitable teacher. What was his teaching? He found Yogananda Swami. Instead of getting angry, you are suspecting me. That would be our attitude. But what did he say? My boy, you have done right. A sadhu should be tested by day and by night. Only when you find after a lot of testing, long time of testing, that he is blemishless, then only you surrender yourself to him. Whereas if you follow my talks, I have been telling people it has nothing to do. Even if the Guru is the worst scoundrel in this whole world, I have chosen to progress in spiritual life. So I will take this person and what is the indication of spiritual progress? I will look upon him as the God of Gods. That is my choice. He is my target practice. Let him scold me. Let him beat me. Let him do anything to me. I cannot but blurt out a beautiful example I read somewhere. I do not remember exactly, but it was concerning a Zen master. Oh, there was a disciple who was very earnest, but probably he was a little bit lacking in obedience. Whatever it is, the master decided. In those days, you know, there was plenty of space. He was living in a place where there was plenty of space. So he called his disciple and then I think it was a Japanese disciple. And then he asked him, You build a beautiful hermitage for me. I want to be comfortable where I am staying. I am not comfortable at all. That was a false statement because a Zen master is as comfortable on the ground as Bharatru Hari says in his what is called Iragya Shatakam or Neeti Shatakam, that a person, a master will be happy anywhere. Anyway, so the disciple immediately he took enormous labor alone. He constructed a beautiful residence building. And then one day slowly the master went to examine. The disciple was very happy. Then he said, the Guru said to the disciple, Look, I don't think I like this building. Demolish it. But this place I don't like. You build it. He showed some other place. So now double task. He had to demolish what he had done and then he had to build another one without opening his mouth, without uttering a word. It doesn't mean that he was not cursing in his mind, but it means he was not even cursing. This is my Guru's commandment. So he went and started with great labor. Several years into he built another one. And as usual, now it has become a habit for the teacher. He went and said demolish this. And then third place demolished that one. Fourth place demolished that one. Then to quell the doubt that may arise in the mind of this disciple, he said, My son, I did not require a building. I am testing whether you will obey me without question. That is the only point. And you proved yourself to be. And then he touched him with his stick and instantaneously the disciple was enlightened. By the way, in Zen Buddhism, they gave a good tap on the head and immediately they attained enlightenment. Several stories are there. Similarly, there is another story. Another disciple like this had come and these wonderful stories are there. Even on the internet, you will get beautiful stories, Zen stories. A disciple came, approached the Guru and the teacher said, that you see, there is a huge boulder. I want it to be taken to the top of that small mountain. It was not a very huge mountain, but a small mountain. And this man, day after day, the whole day from sunrise to sunset, with the greatest difficulty, he somehow managed to take that boulder to the top of the mountain. In the evening, the teacher came out for a walk and then he went to that. And then casually, he gave a small kick. And then the boulder rolled immediately and reached the same place that it was yesterday. And then the teacher asked him, go on, get it up to the top. Several times it happened. And the disciple never opened his mouth. And then with one touch of the stick of the master, he was enlightened. What was the point? Unquestioning obedience to the Guru as if God has commanded. Even God's commandments are not kept. It is a saddening story. If you hear this Moses, how is it? So Moses had taken all the Jews who were slaves to the Egyptian pharaohs out of Egypt. And then he took them and then he wanted to establish a certain code of conduct. He mounted Mount Sinai and then God appeared to him in the form of a burning bush. The bush was never burned. But then he asked a very interesting question. Who are you or what is your name? And then the only answer that came was, I am who I am. Aham Asmi. That is it. And then he understood it was God. So he was given two slabs, ten commandments. Do's, five do's, five don'ts. He came down. You know what happened? All the thousands of Jews that were brought out immediately, they went back to their worship of many forms of idols. Gods and especially of a calf, golden calf. And they were drinking, dancing, reveling like they did. These people started doing on 7th October in 2023, like that. So this is the nature of the common people. I am just mentioning it. But we are talking here of those people and this is a part of the Upanishad. For those people who have awakened, they rose from their sleep of delusion. And then they became highly alert. I should never again fall into this defect. And then they have to approach great people who can guide them. Like Narada or like this person who was approached. We don't know who approached there. So like that, a person, highly developed person is there. So Praapya Varan Nibodhata. And then Nibodhata means what? Learn. And what should we learn? This is the thing we are discussing now. Those are the things we have to learn. So he says, if you find any defects within us, you should not imitate them. You should not even think of doing them. But he is re-emphasizing. And only those things which have been done very well by us. That means only those activities which are the best. Which are capable of leading us from this world of delusion to the Lotus Feet of God. Any activity is a good activity only when it takes us to the Lotus Feet of Divine Mother. That means always look for all the best things you can find within us. Stop finding faults and start seeing the best quality in everybody. So the instruction is Here Upasya means what? They must be imitated by you. You must do the same thing. Repeat the same thing. There is nothing else. Whatever deeds are faultless within us, these are to be performed, not others. Whatever good works have been performed by us, these should be performed by you, not others. So the teacher says, follow only the irreproachable qualities in us. Even when an individual has no weakness, it is possible that an observer may project his own mental evaluations and come to criticize and condemn the other. There are so many incidents. But just to quickly remind you, once somebody saw Sri Ramakrishna sitting down to eat his food and there were plenty of dishes. And the idea flashed. Sri Ramakrishna loves to eat plenty of dishes. Maybe 10 item course or 15 item course, I don't know how many. But Sri Ramakrishna told them, why am I keeping the natural tendency of my mind always to fly into the Nitya, but by cherishing, by myself creating desires, I would like to taste this particular dish. I tried forcibly to keep my mind down, etc. So if there is any unhealthy trait, even though the teacher may practice it, but on no account should it be copied and followed by a true student of this culture. The entire world now is copying the West. The West also as some of the best. Swami Vivekananda took the best qualities in the West. Their love for their country, their dedication to all these innovations, etc. Even today you will see and their cooperation with each other, which are totally lacking in Hindus. But what did we do? We ignored all those good things and imitating like monkeys. They are drinking, they are dancing, they are immoral type of life as if we don't have enough of our own qualities. So this teaching clearly shows how the teacher maintained in the presence of the students. Very important. They were not trying to hide. They were not trying to show the best part of their life. But frankly, they are admitting we are also weak. We are also having some defects, but we try sincerely to follow. Only a sincere person can own this kind of once-worn defects. That's why he says, Shankaracharya comments, Gnani apicha anyani, anavadyani, aninditani, shishta achara lakshanani karmani, Tani eva sevitaviyani kartaviyani tvaya. Activities, acts that are not censured and that are resorted to by virtuous men are to be performed by you and not the other type of activities that are censured. No na kartaviyani itarani avadyani shishta krutani api. Even if great people have some defects, do not go on following them. So anyasmakam acharyanam sucharitani shobhana charitani. Beautiful words and acts that are not only censured but that are resorted to by virtuous men are to be performed by you. And what type of activities can these be? Amnayadi aviruddhani. They should never be against the teachings of the Vedas or Upanishads. Tani eva tvaya upasyani. They alone have to be imitated by you and the more you imitate them, follow them like the imitation of Christ or imitation of Sairama Krishna, imitation of Holy Mother etc. So adrishta arthani anushthayani. Many of these activities you may not find the result immediately. Visible result may not be there. But adrishta artha. They will come in this life or next life. Tani eva anushthayani. They should be performed by you. Niyamena means as a rule, like the rules of police laws, health laws etc. Kartavyaniti eva. Do not do any other acts that are censured. So they may be resorted to by good people. Navayatarani viparitani acharya krutani api api. So even if acharyas perform such things, do not do it. That is the essence of it. And then he says, how should one behave in the presence of seniors? So in those days, these acharyas, they don't have jealousy. In fact, any person who is having jealousy can never be a great person. That is one of the subtlest forms of himsa, that is harming other people. Swami Vivekananda in his Bhakti Yoga, he defines ahimsa. What is ahimsa? Absence of jealousy. Because of jealousy, how many people have been murdered, robbed, killed and what is unmentionable, criminal activities have been done, all because of jealousy. So ek echa anyat srayogum so brahmanaha teshaantvaya asane na prashvasitayam. So the teacher is telling children, you are going back and you will be soon far away from me because they might have traveled hundreds of miles and sometimes you will come across people. What type of people? Maybe they are even greater than us. So Ramakrishna taught a big lesson for all of us. He said, why do I go on visiting these famous people like Dayananda Saraswati, like Keshav Chandra Sen and other people. He even visited people who did not like him. Then he explained, whenever you see people venerating, respecting, a large number of people are following, there is a special manifestation of power and that power belongs to the Divine Mother and if I don't go and show my respect, I will be insulting the Divine Mother because it is she who is manifesting. That's why in the 10th chapter at the very end, he says, yad yadvigoti matsatvam srimadurjita me vava tattva deva avagacchatvam mama tejo amsa sambhavam So my children, when you are far away from me, you might come across Brahmanas. Brahmana means Acharyas, really following Vedas etc. They may be very great people. When you come across them, you should honour them as if you are honouring me or even more. Eke cha asmat shreyanso brahmana Those Brahmins who may be even superior to us. Tehsham tvaya asane na prashvasitavyam So as soon as such people come to you, then what should you do? Immediately get up, make prostrations and then offer them asana, argya, madhuparka. That is, in those days, people did not have these facilities as soon as such a great soul comes. Not only a great soul, even a guest comes, you should offer them. But what to speak when such a great soul comes? So you don't go on sitting there, you go and get up. Tvaya asane na prashvasitavyam So this word has been beautifully commented in two ways. Tvaya, when you are in the presence of such people, what should you do? So don't go on sitting, jump up, make prostrations. Immediately offer them the best seat that is available and bring them water. Bring them drinking water first or what we call nowadays cold drinks or tea or coffee etc. So let their tiredness slowly disappear. Tvaya asane na prashvasitavyam Don't go on saying, oh so happy to see you sir. So why did you come? Don't go on saying. So do that. Those Brahmins who are superior to us, how large hearted the Acharya should be to say, you must always worship us only and even if you find somebody else, I am your Guru and I am Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara. You should not think of anybody else. No, those Brahmins, there are many. I am in comparison with some, I may be great. But in comparison with many others, I may be far far inferior. Remember in the Katha Upanishad, Nachiketa is telling us how Nachiketa has gone to Yamadharma Raja. Even when a guest comes, even though he was the ruler, he said a guest has to be attended properly. Then only that is the way. We have to give otherwise, asha and whatever is hopes, expectations, everything will get destroyed if we do not do that. So there are so many superior people and then Nachiketa, when that story is there, that why did my father curse me among the students? I may not be the best student, but certainly I am not an inferior student. That tremendous self-confidence is there. Here the Acharya Himself is giving instructions. When you find superiority in qualities, in learning, in love, in behavior, etc., immediately jump up and even more than us, as if God Himself has come. Atithi Devo Bhava. Not merely speaking, Acharya Devo Bhava. So the teacher's declaration, what does it say? The relationship of his students with other Gurus in the land who are equally, if not greater, than their own teachers. So many incidents are there. I will talk about them in our next class. But here, two meanings are given. That first of all, you offer them a seat, entertain them and see that their tiredness is gone. But then the second one, I think even more important. Tesha, in their presence, na prashvasitam yam. You should not even breathe. What does it mean? You close your nose and you choke yourself to death. No, it means don't open your mouth and whatever they have got to say, because if they are great, they are going to tell you very beneficial words only. So you go on listening to them with all attention, because whenever some extraordinary event takes place, automatically we hold our breath. Wow, here is a great man. So the pearls of wisdom are just raining down from him. I should not lose any of them. That one-pointed concentration is the second meaning given to this. Na prashvasitam yam. First commandment is you honour them as you entertain them. See in every way that they are comfortable. Second is, out of their grace when they speak, you simply shut your mouth and go on opening your heart and listening to them. Like what is called in the particular month, that pearl maker gets a bit of rain, pearl oyster, and then he dives deep and it will not come out until a pearl is perfectly formed. So what a marvellous thing, if we find anybody superior, and we should seek who is superior to us, because they are not coming with a bold saying, I am superior to you, so this is for your information. No, we will have to find out whether they are superior or not. And who knows, there is a beautiful saying in Sanskrit, that even when a child speaks, listen attentively, because Brahma Vakyam, Bala Vakyam. So God may be speaking the highest wisdom through the mouth of the babes. Beautiful thoughts are there. We will talk about them in our next class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Ramakrishna.