View source for Medha Suktam Lecture 01 on 29-Dec-2022

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|ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।
पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः
|oṃ jananīṃ sāradāṃ devīṃ rāmakṛṣṇaṃ jagadgurum,
pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ
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From today onwards we will be studying one of the most marvellous sūktas called Medhā Sūkta. Just now the recording was put on and I hope you have heard. Though I won't chant it with accents, but I will just recite it without any accents. 

This is how it goes. But before the Medhā Sūkta comes, I would like also to introduce a very beautiful prayer from the first chapter of the Śikṣāvallī, Taittirīya Upaniṣad, first chapter called Śikṣāvallī, fourth Anuvāka. It is a prayer again, a wonderful prayer and I will talk about it later on. And that is also included. We will discuss first from the Śikṣāvallī and then we will proceed to the Medhā Sūkta. And this is what is from the Śikṣāvallī, first chapter, fourth section.
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|ॐ यश्छन्द॑सामृष॒भो वि॒श्वरू॑पः । 
छन्दो॒भ्योऽध्य॒मृता᳚थ्संब॒भूव॑ ।

स मेन्द्रो॑ मे॒धया᳚ स्पृणोतु । 

अ॒मृत॑स्य देव॒धार॑णो भूयासम् ।

शरी॑रं मे॒ विच॑र्षणम् । 

जि॒ह्वा मे॒ मधु॑मत्तमा ।

कर्णा᳚भ्यां॒ भूरि॒विश्रु॑वम् । 

ब्रह्म॑णः को॒शो॑ऽसि मे॒धया पि॑हितः ।

श्रु॒तं मे॑ गोपाय । 

ॐ शान्तिः॒ शान्तिः॒ शान्तिः॑ ॥
|oṃ yaś chandásām ṛṣabhó viśvárūpaḥ,
chándobhyo 'dhyamṛtā́t saṃbabhūva,

sá mendro medhayā́ spṛṇotu,

amṛ́tasya devadhā́raṇo bhūyāsam,

śárīraṃ me vícarsaṇam,

jihvā́ me mádhumattamā,

kárṇābhyāṃ bhūri víśruvam,

bráhmaṇaḥ kośo 'si medhayā́ pihitaḥ,

śrutáṃ me gopāya,

oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.
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This is from the Śikṣāvallī. Then comes our Medhā Sūktam.
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|ॐ मे॒धादे॒वी जु॒षमा॑णा न॒ आगा᳚द्वि॒श्वाची॑ भ॒द्रा सु॑मन॒स्यमा॑ना ।
त्वया॒ जुष्टा॑ नु॒दमा॑ना दु॒रुक्ता᳚न् बृ॒हद्व॑देम वि॒दथे॑ सु॒वीराः᳚ ।

त्वया॒ जुष्ट॑ ऋ॒षिर्भ॑वति देवि॒ त्वया॒ ब्रह्मा॑ऽऽग॒तश्री॑रु॒त त्वया᳚ ।

त्वया॒ जुष्ट॑श्चि॒त्रं वि॑न्दते वसु॒ सानो॑ जुषस्व॒ द्रवि॑णो न मेधे ॥


मे॒धां म॒ इन्द्रो॑ ददातु मे॒धां दे॒वी सर॑स्वती ।

मे॒धां मे॑ अ॒श्विना॑वु॒भावाध॑त्तां॒ पुष्क॑रस्रजा ।

अ॒प्स॒रासु॑ च॒ या मे॒धा ग॑न्ध॒र्वेषु॑ च॒ यन्मनः॑ ।

दैवीं᳚ मे॒धा सर॑स्वती॒ सा मां᳚ मे॒धा सु॒रभि॑र्जुषता॒ꣳ॒ स्वाहा᳚ ॥


आमां᳚ मे॒धा सु॒रभि॑र्वि॒श्वरू॑पा॒ हिर॑ण्यवर्णा॒ जग॑ती जग॒म्या ।

ऊर्ज॑स्वती॒ पय॑सा॒ पिन्व॑माना॒ सा मां᳚ मे॒धा सु॒प्रती॑का जुषन्ताम् ।

मयि॑ मे॒धां मयि॑ प्र॒जां मय्य॒ग्निस्तेजो॑ दधातु॒

मयि॑ मे॒धां मयि॑ प्र॒जां मयीन्द्र॑ इन्द्रि॒यं द॑धातु॒

मयि॑ मे॒धां मयि॑ प्र॒जां मयि॒ सूर्यो॒ भ्राजो॑ दधातु ।


ॐ म॒हा॒दे॒व्यै च॑ वि॒द्महे॑ ब्रह्मप॒त्नी च॑ धीमहि । तन्नो॑ वाणी प्रचो॒दया᳚त् ।

ॐ हं॒स॒ हं॒साय॑ वि॒द्महे॑ परमहं॒साय॑ धीमहि । तन्नो॑ हंसः प्रचो॒दया᳚त् ।


ॐ शान्तिः॒ शान्तिः॒ शान्तिः॑ ॥
|ॐ me̱dhāde̱vī ju̱ṣamā̍ṇā na̱ āgā̎dvi̱śvācī̍ bha̱drā su̍mana̱syamā̍nā,
tvayā̱ juṣṭā̍ nu̱damā̍nā du̱ruktā̎n bṛ̱hadva̍dema vi̱dathe̍ su̱vīrāḥ̎,

tvayā̱ juṣṭa̍ ṛ̱ṣirbha̍vati devi̱ tvayā̱ brahmā̍ʼʼga̱taśrī̍ru̱ta tvayā̎,

tvayā̱ juṣṭa̍ści̱traṃ vi̍ndate vasu̱ sāno̍ juṣasva̱ dravi̍ṇo na medhe.


me̱dhāṃ ma̱ indro̍ dadātu me̱dhāṃ de̱vī sara̍svatī,

me̱dhāṃ me̍ a̱śvinā̍vu̱bhāvādha̍ttāṃ̱ puṣka̍rasrajā,

a̱psa̱rāsu̍ ca̱ yā me̱dhā ga̍ndha̱rveṣu̍ ca̱ yanmanaḥ̍,

daivīṃ̎ me̱dhā sara̍svatī̱ sā māṃ̎ me̱dhā su̱rabhi̍rjuṣatā̱̱ svāhā̎.


āmāṃ̎ me̱dhā su̱rabhi̍rvi̱śvarū̍pā̱ hira̍ṇyavarṇā̱ jaga̍tī jaga̱myā,

ūrja̍svatī̱ paya̍sā̱ pinva̍mānā̱ sā māṃ̎ me̱dhā su̱pratī̍kā juṣantām,

mayi̍ me̱dhāṃ mayi̍ pra̱jāṃ mayya̱gnistejo̍ dadhātu̱

mayi̍ me̱dhāṃ mayi̍ pra̱jāṃ mayīndra̍ indri̱yaṃ da̍dhātu̱

mayi̍ me̱dhāṃ mayi̍ pra̱jāṃ mayi̱ sūryo̱ bhrājo̍ dadhātu,


ॐ ma̱hā̱de̱vyai ca̍ vi̱dmahe̍ brahmapa̱tnī ca̍ dhīmahi, tanno̍ vāṇī praco̱dayā̎t,

ॐ haṃ̱sa̱ haṃ̱sāya̍ vi̱dmahe̍ paramahaṃ̱sāya̍ dhīmahi, tanno̍ haṃsaḥ praco̱dayā̎t,


ॐ śāntiḥ̱ śāntiḥ̱ śāntiḥ̍.
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This is chanted so beautifully. There are a few people who are gifted with marvellous voice and they have learnt it properly with intonations and when they chant, it is a marvellous thing. And there are so many Sūktas. How many Sūktas are there? Hundreds of them are there.

So where are these Sūktas from? From the Vedas. We find them in the Ṛg Veda. We find them in the Yajur Veda. We find them in many other parts scattered here and there. And when we are talking about Mahā Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad which is most marvellous especially for the renouncers, Saṃnyāsīs and Saṃnyāsinīs, a part of that one is this Medhā Sūktam. And this comes in Ṛg Veda in the 10th Praśna, 41st to 44th Anuvāka also. And Medhā Sūktam we have taken is from Yajur Veda and as I said it is also in both Ṛg Veda and Atharvana Veda. The mantra also starts with verses from Taittirīya which I have now chanted. oṃ yaś chandásām ṛṣabhó viśvárūpaḥ, chándobhyo 'dhyamṛtā́t saṃbabhūva, etc.

So what is the importance of this Medhā Sūkta? We understand Medhā. Medhā is that intelligence. If a human being is superior to every type of creation in this world including the Devatās. And what is the reason? What could be the reason? Because human being is endowed with a supreme intelligence. Human being can think of God, can think of devil, he can become a saint, he can become a veritable Asura, he can become anything he wants. A great scientist, a great musician, a great poet. In fact it is because of the intelligence all these people exhibit.

Not only it is the intelligence, intelligence is the very root cause of power, of wealth, of enjoyment, of every blessed thing in this world. It is said in a way in the worldly topics that Lakṣmī Devī and Sarasvatī Devī they are always envious of each other. Where there is Sarasvatī there is no Lakṣmī and where there is Lakṣmī there is no Sarasvatī. That is what many of us think like that. But the fact is it is the intelligence that is the root cause of Sat, that is the root cause of the Cit, that is the root cause of the Ānanda. But strangely that is also the root cause of Asat, Acit and Duḥkha.

If somebody is suffering it is because not because intelligence is lacking but that intelligence has not been awakened. I can put it this way. "Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature external and internal and do this either by work or worship etc." These are the famous four sentences from Swami Vivekananda at the very beginning of his book, the marvellous book Rāja Yoga. Instead of saying divine if we can replace it with the word Medhā each soul is potentially an intelligent person. What does potentiality mean? It means his very nature is of that of intelligence but the person because either of the attachment to the body or external objects or internal ideas all of them are clubbed together as Rāga and Dveṣa and all this potential intelligence doesn't manifest.

It is said by a very intelligent psychologist if anybody lacks intelligence he cannot become an evil person. To become an evil person greater intelligence is necessary. To become a thief much greater intelligence than the protectors of the law called police is needed. A thief should outwit anybody who is out there to catch him. That is why it is said in the computer world a hacker is much more valued than an ordinary person.

So you see intelligence is the root cause of what did I say? Intelligence is the very root cause of Sat, root cause of Cit, and root cause of Ānanda. What do I mean by that? If we do not have intelligence we will become Asat. What does Asat mean? Of course Sat means absolute existence and for that no intelligence is necessary, but what is meant is if I want to be healthy and to be happy I have to use my intelligence under whatever circumstances I am placed into. That is the greatness of intelligent people. You put them in the very hell and they will make a heaven for themselves. Whether they succeed in making a place heaven for others or not that depends upon other people but if you take an intelligent person put him in hell and he will make it heaven itself. There is absolutely no doubt about it.

How? Because intelligence is such it can convert the whole world. What is the philosophy of what I just now said? The philosophy is we are the architects of our own fate. This is what Swami Vivekananda has said. We are the architects of our own fate. What does this word fate mean? Fate means what we think, what we decide to do and what we actually put into execution, what we thought and the result of that karma is called karma phala and that karma phala is called loka or the locus of experience.

So if an evil person goes to heaven he will suffer terribly as it is said in common parlance if a pig is taken to heaven and released there the first thing that it seeks is sewage water because it cannot live without sewage water. So even if we are put in heaven we will create our own sewage water there and that means that sewage water for a pig cannot be compared to an evil person. Why? Because the pig is very happy if it gets sewage water, it doesn't matter it is in bhū loka, pātāla loka or indra loka or brahma loka, but a wicked person he created that through his pāpa and a wicked person is a human being with potential intelligence and we create our own lokas.

That is why, even though we say we are living, for example, in India, we all of us are living in our own individual circumscribed world, and it could be made up of any percentage of either happiness or unhappiness. But intelligence is the root cause, and this is what Swami Vivekananda means. It's how do I know I am divine? Intelligence is necessary to understand it. And I don't understand it? Yes, that is where the Vedas come in, and they tell you that you cannot understand it with ordinary intelligence. I will come to this point later on. That is where śraddhā steps in.

There are certain things we can understand in this world through our intelligence. There are many more things which we can never understand in this world by this ordinary intelligence. We only have one option: that is to believe in the teachings of saints and sages, or in the teachings of the Vedas, which is the same thing. What do I mean by which is the same thing? So usually we separate people from their works. Here is Kālidāsa, and his works are separate. But this is a very unintelligent view. The reality is that Kālidāsa is a Kālidāsa only because of his knowledge. Remove the knowledge, he is not Kālidāsa anymore. Of course you may call him Kālidāsa, but he is no more a Kālidāsa. He is XYZ, Tom, Dick and Harry. But place that intelligence—any ordinary people will be a Kālidāsa, an Einstein and a Beethoven, a Rāmānuja or a Rāmakṛṣṇa, or anybody for that matter of fact. That is Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati (Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.9). If somebody has the knowledge of Brahman, he becomes Brahman.

So this is the—our ancient Ṛṣis have discovered the glory, the greatness of Medhā. But it is there in the form of a seed. That is called potentiality. Seed means, don't think of a small thing. A huge banyan tree is there, and if you look at the seed, it will be like a mustard seed. Never have this kind of wrong idea about what Swamiji calls "each soul is potentially divine." It means that the entire 100% divinity is within us. 100% Sat is within us. 100% Cit is within us. 100% Ānanda is within us. But because of our present intelligence, we are able to see it very vaguely, understand it very vaguely. That understanding is called potentiality.

It is not that some seed is there and it grows. No, just as the entire tree is there compressed into a seed, and the entire tree is there. What is the distance between the seed and the tree? Time, space and causation. That is why we have to put it in a soil and slowly see it unfold itself. Life is nothing but unfoldment of a being under circumstances tending to press it down. So this is just by way of introduction only I am giving.

Each soul is a potentially intelligent soul. And by that word soul, each soul, our Vedas do not mean only human beings. They mean everything in this world. And why? Because everything in this world is nothing but a manifestation—Brahman, which Swami Vidyaranya in his Pañcadaśī summarises so beautifully at the very beginning. And he says, what is this Brahman? Sat, Cit and Ānanda. And what is this world? Sat plus Cit plus Ānanda. He doesn't use this word Sat, Cit, Ānanda. He uses the word Asti plus Bhāti plus Priya plus Nāma plus Rūpa. Asti, Bhāti, Priya is Brahman. You add to that Nāma plus Rūpa is called Jagat. You take the Jagat, which is nothing but Asti Bhāti Priya Nāma Rūpa. You minus the last two, Nāma and Rūpa. What remains is Brahman.

What does that mean? That means there is only one thing. Call it Brahman, call it the world. If you are trying to look towards the Brahman with Nāma Rūpa, it appears as this Prapañca, this world. But if you remove your mind, then you will see it is nothing but Brahman. There are no two things called Brahman and the world. And intelligence is—Medhā is necessary. And that is why this Medhā is very important. Intelligence is very important.

Once somebody asked Swami Brahmānandaji, is a Guru necessary to obtain Brahma Jñāna? And immediately, Pat came the answer from Swami Brahmānandaji. Said, even if you want to become an expert pickpocket, you require an expert, expertest, expert pickpocket as a Guru. Otherwise you will be caught on the very first attempt and beaten to chutney. If this is the case, you think you want to obtain that highest Brahma Jñānam?

So who is a Guru? Guru is called Medhā. Guru is called Knowledge. Guru is called Brahman. Guru is called Viṣṇu. Guru Brahmā, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Deva, Guru Devo Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣāt Param Brahma. What does that mean? Don't imagine 5-6 people are sitting there, and each one with a particular Kirīṭa and hands and so many ornaments, so many weapons, etc. That is very ordinary intelligence. But they are all different manifestations of different powers and different degrees of that one knowledge. Everything is the knowledge. That is why, according to Advaita Vedānta, the world is called an idea. The world is an idea in the mind. We create with this idea an entire world, live in the world, and experience pleasures and pains in our—what am I talking about? Dream. And what am I talking about? Waking state is no different from the dream state, because there is something. What is that something? Brahman.

But my idea, my take upon this, what we call external—remember, even the external and internal is an illusion created by the mind only. So there is no externality, there is no internality. This we have been discussing in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad so thoroughly. It takes time for these ideas to sink into our concretised brains—not because the brains are bad, but because we have built up thick walls. Fortunately, they are not stone walls but mud walls, easy to pierce, I hope so. So the whole idea of the world is just that: it is a thought in our brain, idea in our brain, and that thought is nothing but a manifestation of intelligence.

Now I want to connect a few things. Once Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa made a statement about our holy mother. He said, this is Sarasvatī. She came into this world to distribute knowledge, but in the form of Bagalā. It is a mysterious word. The Divine Mother manifests in 8 ways, Aṣṭamūrti, and one of them is Bagalā. And Bagalā is a very strong lady. So she is like Mother Kālī. She keeps her husband and the entire world under her feet, Mahākāla. And she manifests his glory in the form of Sat Cit Ānanda. So Divine Mother has manifested in the form of Bagalā, and the Divine Mother is Sarasvatī, and that Sarasvatī is this Medhā Devī, and that Sarasvatī's name is called Śāradā Devī, Sāradā Devī.

Sāra Dā, Dā means one who gives. Who can give? Only a person who has can give. And what does our Mother Śāradā give? She gives Sara. What is the Sara? Once somebody asked Shankaracharya "You have written so many books, I don't have either the intelligence or the time. You please summarize for me", and then he is supposed to have summarized it and said:

ślokārdhena pravakṣyāmi yaduktaṃ granthakoṭibhiḥ |

brahma satyaṃ jaganmithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ ||

I will tell you, even I don't have time to waste with you. In half a sentence I will tell you the essence of not only what I have written and am teaching, but the essence of entire scriptures that were, that are, that will be in future. God alone is real. You are that God. And until you realise, everything is unreal. And the goal of life is to realise Aham Brahmāsmi. This is the essence, and that is the essence Mother Śāradā, Holy Mother, has come to give us.

That is why, whether a secular seeker of knowledge, spiritual seeker of knowledge, stock broking knowledge, or whether musical knowledge, all of us have to pray to Mother Sarasvatī. Sarasvatī is the very embodiment of knowledge, and we have to pray. What is the prayer for? Oh Mother, I don't have intelligence, please grant me intelligence. This is a very unintelligent prayer. No. Oh Mother, I know I am potentially intelligent, but I do not realise it. Please bestow your grace so I can recognise my own potential intelligence and realise it through various ways. I might become a businessman. I might become a great cook. Do you notice there are billions of cooks are there? Every housewife is a cook. Every male is also a cook. But when you taste the cooking of a few people, you are transported with joy, and that special knowledge of cookery is the grace of the embodiment of wisdom called Sarasvatī, Medhā Devī.

So what is this Gāyatrī? Our earlier ṛṣis have realised—a ṛṣi is a person, he realised. How did he realise? That he must have prayed. Probably he did not know. The very first ṛṣi might not have known there is a goddess of wisdom called Sarasvatī, or whatever name. You don't need to call it Sarasvatī. That is a Sanskrit name. But even people who don't know Sanskrit, who speak what we call any language, Eskimo language or any language, you just pray "Oh Divine Mother, I know you are there, and I know you are the embodiment of Cit, Sat, Cit and Ānanda". Remember, they are not separable, they are inseparable. So Mother Sarasvatī is Sat. Mother Sarasvatī is Ānanda. She is of course Cit. So, "Oh Mother, please grant me your blessings".

So first thing, I am potentially intelligent. Second thing, certain channels have been made by my Saṃskāras already throughout many of the past births which I had gone through, and I made them myself. Maybe I trained my mind. I shaped my mind to be, to get the knowledge of mathematics or poetry or music or cookery or administration, anything. It doesn't matter. To do better in any field, we require the grace, as I said, even to become a pickpocket. This is the difference between expert pickpockets and dull pickpocket people. That an expert, his intelligence is very sharp. He analyses the capacity, whom to pick up, when to pick up, how to pick up, how quickly to pick up, from which side to pick up. You see what I mean?

So that intelligence, is it good or bad? Yes, it looks bad at the beginning, but in course of time, when divine mother slaps him and then rewards him both with sometimes with carrot, sometimes with a stick, he understands. He awakens, says, already he had the intelligence. Now direct that intelligence for his own greater happiness. That is called awakening. That is why Swami Vivekananda statements are beautiful. He takes from the Kaṭha Upaniṣad a beautiful quotation: uttiṣṭhata jāgrata, prāpya varānnibodhata (Katha Upanishad 1.3.14). Many people get confused. What is uttiṣṭhata and what is jāgrata? They look the same. They mean the same. Get up, get up. No. First of all, you get up from the long time ignorance. Then jāgrata, you objectify yourself and make yourself be completely aware. I have wasted my time. I suffered a lot. I do not wish to suffer. I make a vow. I promise to God, I do not wish to suffer, O Lord, and show me the way. Then jāgrata. And then you want to go in the direction you want. How to go? Then you approach people who can give you what you are saying. You want to be a musician? Approach music teachers. Want to a scientist? Approach great scientists. Want to become a ruler? Approach somebody.

As the history of our world is astonishing, Napoleon used to pour over the biographies of great rulers, etc. Why was he doing? Because he wanted to develop himself into a great ruler. So he was studying their life, and he adopted some of them. That is why what he did is not important, but how he became great, that is what is important. Swami Vivekananda used to appreciate Napoleon. He used to appreciate Julius Caesar. He used to appreciate Alexander the Great. Why was he appreciating? Are they saints? Were they saints? No. But they did a lot of wicked things. They were bad characters. They were not to be emulated at all. And why was Swami doing? Because there is a great potentiality, has been aroused, has been trained, and has been condensed. It is now ready to be directed for higher ends. Simple example: if Alexander is reborn today and turns towards spiritual life, then very quickly he will progress—because he has already all the necessary equipment to just to jump over hurdles.

Similarly, we see so many stories. Tulasi Dasa was a great potential saint, but he was totally tied up with his wife—that means with a woman, that means with sex—but the tremendous potentiality was bubbling like a terrible volcano. When the volcano is about to burst, his wife gave just a merest direction: turn this power towards God. And he became the greatest sannyāsins.

We can see Vālmīki Ratnākara, how so much of energy was bubbling within him. Never ever mistake these stories. Some saints were passing through and accidentally they came across this Ratnākara, and accidentally he bound them. Accidentally they put some question, and then he became thoughtful. He became a Ratnākara, and then he became initiated. He became real Ratnākara. What is the Ratnākara? A treasure house of invaluable gems—gem, I would say. What is that invaluable gem? Rāmāyaṇa, devotion to Rāma. That was bubbling like a volcano. Nothing happens in this world as an accident.

So this is the prayer: prāpya varān yo uttiṣṭhata jāgrata. Prāpya varān—varān means those who are capable of redirecting and guiding you, removing your obstacles, helping you go forward. In other words, guru. That is why these ṛṣis, especially from the Ṛg Veda—in fact, it is from all the three Vedas: Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda. Many people, they do not know this fact that what we now call Gāyatrī Mantra consisting of 24 letters, it is consisting of eight—three lines consisting of eight letters each. Three into eight is 24, and all these three are eight letters. Line is from each one of the Vedas: Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, and Sāma Veda.

So Bhūr Bhuvaḥ—oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ—is not part of the Gāyatrī Mantra. tat savitur vareṇyaṃ is from Ṛg Veda. bhargo devasya dhīmahi is from Yajur Veda, dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt is from Sāma Vedaḥ. And these three combined together is called Gāyatrī Mantra.

What is the essence of the Gāyatrī Mantra? What we have been discussing, what Śaṅkarācārya has said: "Oh Mother, now I know I am potentially intelligent—cit—but I don't know how to direct it. You show me a channel, and then guide me how to overcome obstacles and how to put it to good use, right use, so that I can reach my goal." What is the goal? There should be no difference between you and me.

So for that purpose, we meditate. We meditate means we pray to you. You know, in the—that is a very beautiful sentiment in the Vedic ṛṣis realm—they never say, "I meditate, I want to come to you." No, a ṛṣi is one who has purified himself. He has attained citta śuddhi—that means morality. That means he identifies himself with everybody. And then he says, "We"—the—the—"we meditate upon you, dhīmahi." And then dhiyo yo naḥ—naḥ means us—dhiyaḥ, that is medhā pracodayāt. Pracodayāt means like Kṛṣṇa driving the chariot, the buddhi of Arjuna. "You sit in in our medhās, intellects, and you drive it, because when you drive it, then it will be accurate. It will never go in the wrong way, the shortest way, the best way, most efficient way, most successful way. We will be reaching you, and it can happen only when you bestow your grace upon us."

And what is this meditation? Complete śaraṇāgati. I will be patti in your hands. Do whatever you like with me. 

śhiṣhyaste ’haṁ śhādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam (BG 2.17). 

When Arjuna surrendered, then only the Gītā started to flow from the mouth of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. When Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa prayed, "Oh Mother, I am a fool. You make me do what you want me to do, make me speak what you want me to speak, and make me do everything. I surrender myself to you," and Mother gave herself to him. When she says—Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says—"Mother gave me everything, showed me everything," it means Mother gave herself to me.

When we pray this way, then Mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of wisdom, bestows everything upon us. But the important point: there are secular people and there are spiritual people. When secular people pray, Mother will not deny, like our mother. When we are children, do we pray for an aeroplane? "Give me an aeroplane gift on Christmas Day"? No. "Grant me, oh Mother, some—give me some toys, give me some lozenges, some chocolates," because that is all I am capable of handling, and she will give that. But it is necessary to pester the mother, and that is the very essence of Medhā Sūktam.

And this is from Yajur Veda. Medhā means intelligence, and we are all Indian people, but most of us are potentially intelligent. And that is why this Medhā Sūktam is very necessary. And as I mentioned earlier, intelligence is the very foundation. Do you want to attain sat, to be healthy, to be happy, to be good, to be truthful, and finally to be divine? This prayer, surrender that intelligence is necessary. Who can really surrender? The most intelligent person. He understands: "I am limited, I am completely bound by my body, by my mind, by myself. What I can achieve is extremely slow—in fact, nothing—but if I surrender myself, my mother herself will carry me", and that is called prayer.

What is the prayer? Prayer actually is a form of surrender, self-surrender. The more we pray and the more we surrender ourselves, and ultimately when we are able to completely give up our egotism and then identify ourselves with Sarasvatī, we become Sarasvatīs, we become Brahmās, we become Brahman, we become Nārāyaṇa. Because there are so many sūktams are there, Medhā Sūktam is only one of the thousands of sūktams that are available. Most of them have been lost in course of time, but this Medhā Sūktam is very necessary.

That is why even students, when they start with Vidyāraṃbhaṃ—the beginning of trying to learn alphabet, etc.—Mother Sarasvatī is worshipped. This is also called, very interestingly, Akṣara Abhyāsa, the starting of the akṣara. What a marvellous concept this is. Just pause a second and think about it. Kṣara means that which is very temporary, that which becomes completely destroyed in course of time, sooner or later. Akṣara means that which is never—never can be undecayed, indestructible, avināśī. And how many avināśīs are there? Only one, and that is Brahman. That is why it is infinite. That is why it is eternal. And that is what we want to do. The purpose of any learning—Akṣara Abhyāsa—is only finally to attain to that akṣara.

And that is why the devotees of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa can know very well that when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was forced by Rām Kumār, "You go to the teachers, you attend—you don't attend the class, you are bunking the classes, you are going into the Manikram's gardens, mango gardens." I am not sure, my imagination somehow refuses to go a little bit beyond. I was thinking about it actually. So did these mango gardens—do they really have ripe, marvellous, sweet, fragrant Alphonso mangoes? Why was Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa visiting them? Because it was a solitary place, and then there he was absorbed in thinking about the Divine Mother. He was inspiring, he was training a troop of boys, and that is why even at that time he had a bad name. Not only was he absconding from the schools, he was also bringing the other people.

When Rām Kumār—it came to the notice of Rām Kumār—of course, Mother Chandramani, being mother, could not do anything, could not even open to scold, because she was acutely aware he lost his father. But Rām Kumār was acutely conscious that "my youngest brother—will grow up, then he will get married, then he has to earn, so he has to learn something at least." So when he scolded him, then we know the classical reply that Rāmakṛṣṇa has given: "What do I do with this knowledge which only helps me to bundle rice and plantains?" Meaning this salary earning, worldly goods accumulating knowledge. "What am I going to do with all this?"

Then Rām Kumār, of course, did not understand. I don't know, we don't know. Maybe he questioned, "Then what do you want?" He might have replied, but somehow it is not there. "I want that by which—yayā tadakṣaramadhigamyate (Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.5)—by which I can really attain to that Akṣara. That is the type of Akṣara Abhyāsa I want, not anything else." And that is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa taught through the Gospel, through to each one of us. He is still teaching. Gospel is not a book. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was not a person. He is Mother Sarasvatī, wisdom personified, Brahmavid, Brahman himself.

What is he telling? That M—first day that he went on the last Sunday in February 1886—sorry, 1882—the first words he heard that sandhyā—that means rituals, merge in Gāyatrī, and Gāyatrī merges in oṃkāra. oṃkāra is the symbol of the both saguṇa Brahma as well as nirguṇa Brahma. And immediately the unconscious of him connected it and said, "I feel that Śukadeva was teaching to Parīkṣit." What was he teaching? Bhāgavatam. What is this Bhāgavatam? Story of Bhagavān. What is the meaning of the story of Bhagavān? Parīkṣit Mahārāj, he was cursed: within seven days you will die. And he said, "Even if I am reborn," because he was Parīkṣit—Parīkṣit means he will examine everything, everybody, every statement—though it is not relevant here, I cannot resist myself. Aśvatthāmā had discharged the Brahmāstra. Let the Pāṇḍavas become Pāṇḍava-less, and there was only one child that is in the womb of Uttarā left by Abhimanyu. This foetus was growing and this Brahmāstra was speeding up, and Uttarā prayed, everybody prayed, because this is the only child that was there. As in the lineage, he had to become the future emperor of the Kaurava, then Kaurava Rājya, Kuru Rājya.

Then Śrī Kṛṣṇa gave word and he entered there, and with his Cakra they said our Puranically, that he was protecting, he never allowed the Brahmāstra to come anywhere near. And it is said Parīkṣit was looking with great delight, drinking a lotus-like face and feet of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And then Brahmāstra could not do anything and it returned back. Then after some time Parīkṣit was born, and then he could not forget his experience while he was in the womb of his mother.

As soon as he was born, people started rushing to see this only one being left out as the lineage in the whole that Pāṇḍava Homesha. And then he was peering into every face. They were peering into his face, he was peering into their faces with Parīkṣā. Is this the being that I beheld when I was in the womb? No, no, this is a stupid face, that is an unwise face, and the other one a dirty face. Every face that appeared was like that, but when Śrī Kṛṣṇa came his face lighted up with great delight. This is the being who has protected me and who has saved me from this death thralls.

That is why he was given—he was examining every single face with the intent to find out, to ferret out, who was that being who saved me from this great calamity. That is why he was, it is said, he was given the name Parīkṣit. He without Parīkṣā, he never does anything.

Anyway, what is important for us, that we need intelligence. And Parīkṣit Mahārāja was cursed or some bad action he had done, insulting a Muni, and then Śukadeva came to know about it. He said that even if you are reborn not once but even thousands of times, you will exactly have the same fate. Is not that you might have been dying, about to die within a week, next birth you may live 150 years and next birth you may live 500 years, but in the end death is completely certain. So you can, the only way you can escape is by completely surrendering yourself to the Divine Lord.

And then, Parīkṣit decided he will seven days he will listen to this only Bhāgavatam, which is the story of Bhagavān, and that is what came from the very mouth of Śukadeva. And then at the end of it, Parīkṣit Mahārāja had attained to the Divine Lord himself, because when such great people reside, there is no option but to think of God.

What am I talking about? Anybody who came into the orbit of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is talking, is not talking as we are talking. He was talking and the minds of the listeners have been uplifted to the highest level that is possible for them. And so long as they were in the orbit of his influence, like a black hole, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is the black hole, Mother Kālī is the greatest black hole. All that you need to do is approach her and then you will see you will be sucked helplessly into that Mahākāla, into that great void, into that great timelessness, which is in other words called Mokṣa, Mukti, liberation, Brahmajnanam, call it by what, a Nirvāṇa, whatever name you want to call it. That is the highest goal, and that is what Lord Śiva promised as Mahākāla. You come and stay in Vārāṇasī. Vārāṇasī is the greatest black hole. Anybody who remains here, he will be helplessly sucked into that Mahākāla and then become one. Helplessly we become first paste, then chutney, then become one with Mahākāla. This is called Mokṣa.

For that, prayer is necessary. You want to die in Kāśī? Pray to the Divine Lord. You want to have knowledge, any type of knowledge? Then you want to be happy, you want to pray. How can I be a happy? All this psychological advice or business advice, stockbroker's advice, lawyer's advice is all supposed to be different facets. How can I be a happier person? And every being is helplessly going to that in, in the words of Swami Vivekananda "Everybody wants freedom, freedom from time, space and causation", in other words from this world, in other words they all, we all want Brahman, in other words we want to become one with Absolute Existence, Absolute Knowledge and Absolute Bliss. And that is the goal. And can we achieve it? Yes, the Vedas are meant for that purpose only.

But the most important thing is we have to pray. There is no other way. That's why it is my favourite example, and it may look even heretical. Some people come and ask, especially those who have been studying the literature of the Ramakrishna Vivekananda, does Karma Yoga give Mokṣa? The emphatic understanding is yes, so also Rāja Yoga or Bhakti Yoga or Jñāna Yoga, or Christianity or Hinduism, Joto mot toto poth. Everybody believes wholeheartedly every path gives us liberation, and they come and ask me and they want to hear it from my mouth. And I say "No, no path will give you liberation, no path will take you even one millimetre or billimetre forward in any path". "What? I'm trying, struggling, will I not progress?" Yes, you can progress. I never said you never progress, but you have to surrender, you have to pray. It is the Grace and Grace and Grace alone.

Am I talking? No. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is talking. What did he say in the very Gospel? Search for it. It is only by the Grace of God alone that one can attain God. I repeat, by the Grace of God alone one can attain to God. And that prayer is for what purpose? Good Lord, I want your Grace, and your Grace is always there, but I am not able to use it, I'm not able to access it. Why? Password is missing. Files are there. Sometimes in the computers, you want to, you put on the switch, switch it on and it comes laughing at us, password. And you have forgotten, and then you go on putting everything and you take a hammer and break it to pieces. Is that going to help you? No. What is the password? Only one.

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।

अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा श‍ुच: ॥ ६६ ॥

''sarva-dharmān parityajya''

''mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja''

''ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo''

''mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ''

(Bhagavad Gita 18.66)

So there is only one password. Saranagati, Saranagati, and Saranagati. Am I talking about it? No, I am only repeating like a parrot what I have understood. Tasmat Tvameva Sharanam Mama Dina Bandho. Four times it comes in the hymns that we sing every day to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. This is called Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa Dvādaśākṣarī Stotram.

ॐ hrīṃ ṛtaṃ tvamacalo guṇajidguṇeḍyo

naktaṃ divaṃ sakaruṇaṃ tava pādapadmam,

mohaṅkaṣaṃ bahukṛtaṃ na bhaje yatoʼhaṃ

tasmāttvameva śaraṇaṃ mama dīnabandho.


but the second line, second verse is most important. 


bhaktirbhagaśca bhajanaṃ bhavabhedakāri

gacchantyalaṃ suvipulaṃ 

What does he say? bhaktiḥ, devotion. bhagaḥ, knowledge, bhajanam, Bhaja sevayam. Karma Yoga. Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, all yogas. gacchantyalaṃ, more than enough, any one of them is enough to take you to the goal. vaktroddhṛtopi hṛdi me na ca bhāti kiñcit‌‌. I go on repeating like a parrot, any path is okay. Joto mot toto poth. I go on reciting it, quoting it, talking about it endlessly, lecture after lecture. But, na ca bhāti kiñcit‌‌, hṛdi me, but that faith that it can take me to that, "oh Lord, it is not coming to me. These are only empty words, these are only, only words. Air, Vātāsa".

What is the way? tasmāttvameva śaraṇaṃ. You are my refuge. I take refuge in you. dīna bandho, and I know you will save me. How do I know? Because you are dīna bandho, you are the greatest lover of helpless people, and therefore I try to take refuge. Here is a secret. The secret is I can't even take refuge in God, unless God says you give me your power of attorney. But when we go on crying, Mother comes and takes us in her hands, and then we say this is the Mother herself must take us, and must make us understand that we are hers and she is ours. There is no other way.

Self-effort is only to understand that everything is useless. It is only Divine Grace, Grace, Grace. This is the prayer. This is the essence of Medhā Sūktam or, or also Gāyatrī Mantra, or many other mantras that we just quoted from Śīkṣāvallī. And with these marvellous things, I will discuss, we will discuss, we will study in our next class. Don't think I am deviating, all these things. As I am speaking, I never planned to speak like this, but as I am speaking, all these things are coming together, rushing inside my brain by his Grace, by Mother's Grace, because I always pray to Mother Sarasvatī before I talk, before I open my mouth. You speak and you speak to your devotees. I have nothing to do with, and she, I think she does it, the job.

So we will talk about it next class. 
{|
|ॐ जननीं सारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् ।
पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः
|oṃ jananīṃ sāradāṃ devīṃ rāmakṛṣṇaṃ jagadgurum,
pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ
|}
May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna! 
[[Category:Medha Suktam]]