Hinduism 09

Transcript (Not Corrected)

Opening Prayer

ॐ सह नाववतु ।

सह नौ भुनक्तु ।

सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु ।

मा विद्विषावहै ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।

हरिः ॐ ।

Transliteration (IAST):

Om Saha Nāvavatu

Saha Nau Bhunaktu

Saha Vīryaṃ Karavāvahai

Tejasvi Nāvadhītamastu

Mā Vidviṣāvahai

Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ

Hariḥ Om

Translation:

Om, may Brahman protect us both.

May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge.

May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge.

May what we both study reveal the truth.

May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other.

Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.

Vedic Teachings on Yajna (Sacrifice) and Spiritual Practice

Opening Invocation

Om Sahanāvavatu Sahanau Bhunaktu Sahabeeryam Karavāvahai Tejasvinaadhītamastu Māvidvishāvahai Om Shānti Shānti Shānti Hai Hari Om Om

May Brahman protect us both. May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge. May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge. May what we both study reveal the truth. May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other. Om peace, peace, peace be unto all.

The Concept of Yajna: Sacrifice as Sacred Offering

Last week I had spoken about the concept of yajna or sacrifice in the Vedas. In that respect, I also told there are two important factors. One is self-awareness and the second is that it is an offering to the Lord, because what we receive is from the Lord and it should go to the Lord.

So yajna or sacrifice means not a painful affair, but to give away what we do not need—not to retain more than what we really need. And if we do not do it, we will not be able to receive.

The Cycle of Giving and Receiving

Not to perform sacrifice (to use the English word) is not really a sin. If we do not give, then we will not be able to receive. Life becomes poisonous.

There is a very interesting statement in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, and it says that adhyayana and adhyāpana—that is, learning and teaching—are the receiving and giving. What is adhyayana? Learning; we receive. What is adhyāpana? We give it up.

So if a person goes on learning or tries to go on learning but never tries to give up, then his learning comes to a stop. Have you noticed that peculiar thing? Supposing you read something in a book. Immediately you discuss it with somebody, try to give it to somebody—then some peculiar thing happens. Your brain becomes fit to receive something more. This phenomenon happens in every part of life.

The Teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā

In the Gītā, which is nothing but the essence of the Vedas, the Lord Krishna tells us that any action that we do, if we do not do it as a way of sacrifice, becomes a source of bondage. If an action is not done as a sacrifice (yajna), then it becomes a source of bondage.

Here there is a very important idea. The idea is: whatever we do, there is nothing wrong.

The World as Divine Play: Śrī Rāmakrishna's Vision

This world is wonderful, and this concept that this world is marvelous is brought out so beautifully by Śrī Rāmakrishna. Some local people were chanting, you know, "This world is a dirty, impure, unhappy place." Then somebody else replied to him, "Why do you say this? This house is majar kuṭi—this is a market of joy."

Janaka Rāja—he was a king, he was an emperor. What did he lack? He had both this world and also the knowledge of God. He enjoyed life to the brim. That was the Vedic vision. There is nothing wrong with this world.

The Example of Lord Krishna

Nothing wrong even if somebody has a hundred wives. You forget how many wives Krishna had, and yet he was the person who is teaching the Gītā. He was so great.

One day Nārada had a doubt: how could he please so many women? He went to one house. He was very wise, so he constructed a separate house for each wife. And this Nārada went to the first house, and there Śrī Krishna was playing with his wife, sitting in a swing and enjoying.

"Okay, then what about how are the other wives feeling?" So he went to the next house. There Śrī Krishna was meditating and the wife was helping. Nārada was surprised. "Oh, here also Śrī Krishna is there." Then he went to the third house. There Śrī Krishna was giving a beautiful discourse. In another, Śrī Krishna was playing the flute. Every house, Śrī Krishna was present.

How is one man present in all these places? Is it possible? It's possible for God. Yes, Śrī Rāmakrishna is here in Vedanta Centre. When you go back, he is at your house. If you go to India, he is there—not only in headquarters, Belur Math, but in every place he is there. Why? How could he be there? Because Śrī Rāmakrishna was not a body. Śrī Rāmakrishna was non-body.

Liberation Through Transformation

That was the idea given: that if somebody can transform every action into an action of yajna, then he will be able to get liberation from this very world. There's nothing wrong with this world. In fact, you cannot go out of this world.

So that's why, briefly, I mentioned in my last talk: a yogī meditates—that is his form of yajna. A bhakta leads his wonderful life, and that is his yajna called līlā. And a jñānī—he does self-sacrifice just in the form of teaching and meditating. And a selfless worker, through his service, he is performing yajna his whole life. And Śrī Rāmakrishna did all these four.

Śrī Rāmakrishna's Complete Life

Śrī Rāmakrishna's life is most wonderful. From morning till evening he was very active. He meditated deeply. He attained samādhi. And the whole Gospel—what do you call it? It is called jñāna yajna. He is only talking about God, rousing, inspiring, giving guidance to people. That's what he did his whole life.

Then as a devotee, he was dancing, he was singing. He was in an ecstatic state. How wonderful it is. Rāmakrishna's life is an all-round life, a beautiful life.

Three Types of Yajna in the Bhagavad Gītā

How can we transform our life also into a life of sacrifice? Now two ideas are there. The first idea we will take from the Gītā. The Bhagavad Gītā tells us all yajnas or sacrificial acts can be divided into three formats.

1. Dravya Yajna (Material Sacrifice)

The first format is called dravya yajna. Dravya yajna means sacrifice with materials. You have clothes? Donate the clothes. You have money? Donate the money. And you have called unnecessary things, excess of things which you do not need? Do not keep them in the attic. See, that way you will get more also. Whatever material things are there, you give it away, surplus to your need. That is the first part of it.

The second part is bodily service. Service to guru, service to parents, service to the society. Educate a poor man or give medicine to somebody. Swami Niśchayananda used to walk every day fifty kilometers to serve the sādhus in the Rishikesh area. This is called dravya yajna.

Material sacrifice means sacrifice done with the help of materials—both physical energy, time, etc. To give another example: if a mother is there and the child is sick, and the mother is busy, and yet the mother has to give her time patiently, with love, not getting annoyed—even though it is her own child, if done in the right spirit, that would become a sacrifice.

The Story of the Devotee and Her Nephew

Even better than that—first I will give the example, then I will come to the point. A woman came to Śrī Rāmakrishna. She said, "I am unable to meditate. I love Krishna, but I am bringing up my nephew. It is a distraction for me. Whenever I want to think of Krishna, only my nephew's face comes to the mind."

So what was the point here? She was trying to think of God, and the face of a dog comes to the mind. Śrī Rāmakrishna—I just reversed the word "God." The face of the nephew comes to the mind. Śrī Rāmakrishna did not tell her, "Throw your nephew into the Ganges," and all that. What did he say? "You bring up your nephew with even greater affection, even with greater service, spend more time with him." I am adding this masala. He simply said, "Carry on whatever you are doing. The only condition is: do not think of your nephew as your nephew. Think of him as baby Krishna."

The moment she had faith in Śrī Rāmakrishna's words—that is very important—and she started earnestly practicing it, within six months she started having visions of Śrī Krishna.

What did Śrī Rāmakrishna do? He converted an ordinary activity of our everyday life into a spiritual act. What is that spiritual act? First of all, it is selfless. Who did it become selfless? Previously she used to think, "This is my nephew." Now that "my" is gone. It is a boy, but not an ordinary boy. It is God himself. That means he belongs to—Śrī Krishna belongs to everybody. Nobody has any copyright on Śrī Krishna.

So that is the first thing that she did. And secondly, she has done it only to please the Lord.

Sakāma and Niṣkāma Bhakti

Now there are two ideas here. We can do service to the guru. We can do service to Śrī Rāmakrishna, but it can be done with pure selfishness. This is called sakāma bhakti, because I want to get something from God. It can also be done absolutely selflessly. "I don't want anything. I only want to please you." That's what she did.

And that ordinary act—she has not done any extraordinary austerity, did not run away to Himalayas, Mount Alps, forests. She did not stand in a river up till her neck and go on, you know, doing japa. All that she did was that she converted her everyday act into an act of sacrifice.

This is the lowest type of sacrifice called material sacrifice.

2. Jñāna Yajna (Knowledge Sacrifice)

The second type of sacrifice is called jñāna yajna. What is jñāna yajna? Somebody has knowledge. Then give the knowledge. A teacher, a doctor, a lawyer.

A lawyer, you know, he has knowledge. But what do the lawyers do? These lawyers—they want to convert their knowledge into what? Matter. This world. Yeah, they want to convert everything. When they look at a customer, it is not the customer that appears. It is the money that appears. The more rich the person, the more beautiful the customer appears to them. You see, go to any hotel, dress very well and in a Porsche, pink mink coat and all those things—the fellow comes running and opens the door. If you go just in a tattered cloth, he will just look.

Speaking and Listening as Sacrifice

So how can we convert this jñāna yajna? I also gave the example in my last class. If I am speaking correctly, the right things, preparing properly with the idea that Śrī Rāmakrishna would be pleased with me—that is why in India, whenever a speaker is about to give a talk, you know what he says? Salutations to the audience. He is not saluting the audience. He is saluting the Lord in the form of the audience.

If you are listening to my talk with the intention of improving yourself, you must listen attentively, try to understand it—not to be critical about whether the Swami is grammatical or ungrammatical, how many jokes he told, how well he told them. How was she listening? She listened, she heard. How was she listening? With a very critical attitude. Do not listen. It is for your benefit you are sitting here, not for my benefit.

And incidentally, it is a great spiritual exercise. You know why? See, when you go to the shrine, what do you do? You try to meditate, right? What is the essence of meditation? You must think of God with a one-pointed mind. And if you do not exercise that one-pointedness here, do you think suddenly as soon as you cross this door, this concentration will fall from the sky on each one of the audience? Do you believe in it? It won't happen.

The Art of Listening

Whatever we do, either here or in ordinary day-to-day conversations too—Eric Fromm points out this fact, a beautiful fact. One of the characteristics of love in The Art of Loving—if you are interested in that book—is the ability to listen.

There are varieties of listening. One variety of listening is that you don't listen at all—from one ear to the other ear. Another variety of listening is you are forced. After all, you know, you have to do it. Somebody is—that's what is called boring. So another type of listening is you are listening: what can I get from it? How can I control this person? What is it? You see, that's one type of listening. A psychiatrist is listening. What is the listening? What is the problem? And how can I help this person get over this problem? All these varieties of ways of listening exist.

Eric Fromm tells us: if you love someone, you will pay all your attention to that person. A child is babbling. But for us, the child is not ours, so he is babbling. But for the parents, it is sweet murmuring. And it is so endearing that nowadays they take videos of that. Yeah, the first steps, first food, first time he got angry, he went into tantrums and all those things. A couple got married, you know, and the first honeymoon always goes off very well. Then they started quarreling. The wife said, "Wait, wait, let me bring our video. This is our first quarrel!"

So varieties of listening are there. Varieties of sitting are there. Sitting also is a yajna. Sit properly, sit relaxed in a way.

Converting Every Action into Yajna

This is how to convert every ordinary action into a yajna, and it will be a yajna when we first of all do it consciously, not unconsciously. Secondly, it is connected to the divinity, connected to the Lord, so that we can please the Lord. These are the two important factors.

Jñāna yajna.

3. Ātma Yajna (Self-Sacrifice)

Then the third type of yajna in the Gītā—it is very beautifully elaborated. It is called ātma yajna.

So what is ātma yajna? You are breathing, are you? Is it a yajna? Is breathing a yajna? You are sitting—is it a yajna? You are sleeping—is it a yajna? Yajna means simply a worshipful act. Can it be a worshipful act?

So what does the Lord say? Whether you open your eyes, close your eyelids, whether you are breathing in, breathing out, whether you are eating, whatever you do, offer it to me.

Ajapa Japa: The Effortless Mantra

How can we offer breathing? It is not that every time—it can also be done. That is called ajapa japa. We connect, you know, once I mentioned: What is it? So'ham. Connect it. So'ham, so'ham. Every breath is a repetition of the mantra. After some time, it becomes very easy for us. In fact, that's what we should do. That is what the yajna is going on.

We are not intelligent enough to understand when we are breathing. You see, we ask a person, "What are you doing?" "I am breathing." "And what happens when you breathe?" "Air is going in, air is going out." But you ask a yogī—what is he telling? He says ajapa japa is going on. What is called effortless repetition is going on. Effortlessly, by itself, japa is going on. What is that japa? So'ham, so'ham—I am That, I am That, I am That. It is going on.

Now, all that we need to be is conscious of that fact. Whatever is happening, it is already happening. The cosmic sacrifice is going on.

The Cosmic Sacrifice

How is this cosmic sacrifice going on? Because Śrī Rāmakrishna says the whole universe is nothing but the manifestation of the Divine Mother. She is doing her own work.

In the Gītā, the Lord has put it in a different way. He says, "Guṇā guṇeṣu vartante" —guṇas are acting upon guṇas. What is the body? Prakṛti. What is breathing? Who is doing the breathing? Prāṇa. Prāṇa is also part of prakṛti. A person is walking. Who is walking? Prakṛti is walking. Somebody comes and gives a slap. Who is giving the slap? Prakṛti is giving the slap. This person feels pain. Who is feeling the pain? Prakṛti is feeling the pain.

What business have you got to have a headache over it? Somebody is beating somebody else. Why are you bothered about it? The idea is that nature is doing its own work. You have nothing to do with it.

Everything as Divine Līlā

Then from the devotee's point of view, Viṣṇu is beating Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is smiling. Viṣṇu is weeping. One Viṣṇu is beating the other Viṣṇu. The beaten Viṣṇu is weeping, and the beating Viṣṇu is smiling. What is that to you? The idea is everything is a līlā of God. That idea is called līlā.

In līlā, there is no unhappiness because it is the same person. To make this point clear, in case you do not understand: suppose there is a cinema. In the cinema, one actor—he has taken two roles. Both the hero and the villain. Have you seen such same person acting two roles? Both the hero and the villain. Now there is a fight. So first the villain beats the hero black and blue. Then in the end, you know, invariably the hero beats the villain black and blue.

Now this fellow is sitting. With whom will he get angry? With whom will he get pleased? The actor himself is watching the film. Who is beating whom? That's the idea of līlā. When someone is happy, someone is suffering—both are acts of joy. It is called līlā.

Śrī Rāmakrishna's Illness as Līlā

And this key idea, we can understand through one incident. Śrī Rāmakrishna was gravely ill and he was unable to move from side to side. And everybody was very sad. Rāmatīrtha Ānanda—he came, and Śrī Rāmakrishna said, "See how I am suffering." He said, "No, sir, I see you are enjoying." And what was Śrī Rāmakrishna's reaction? On one level, it is suffering. On the other level, it is līlā.

That's why Holy Mother remarks, "Has Śrī Rāmakrishna come only to eat rasgullas?" See, devotees are very happy when Śrī Rāmakrishna eats rasgullas.

The Nature of Ātma Yajna

So ātma yajna—what is ātma yajna? That everything that happens in our life is nothing but a sacrifice for the divine Lord. That is what Swami Vivekananda meant when he wrote this hymn on Śrī Rāmakrishna. That is prāṇārpaṇa—he had offered his very life.

From which time to which time? From morning six to nine o'clock, nine to five? From birth to death? No. The very creation itself—as we discussed in the past, that is Puruṣa Sūkta—he sacrificed. And I also told you, it is not a one-off act. It is a continuous act going on. The Lord himself had become the sun, the air, the rain, the earth, the rivers, the fire, everything.

If any one of these takes leave, what would be the condition? Just imagine: five elements are there. Let one element take leave, and the other four are there. "Will you carry on without me for some time? A sabbatical—I want a sabbatical." What will happen to creation? It will instantaneously come to an end.

The Divine as Digestive Fire

So how long is this sacrifice going on? Throughout life. So now, how is the Lord doing that sacrifice? Who gives you food? The Lord. Fine. So we eat the food. And who digests the food? Who? It is the divine Lord. How do you know? Because it is there in the Gītā: sitting in every human being's body in the form of digestive fire, "I digest all the types of food that are thrown."

This is called agni.

The Snake and Śrī Rāmakrishna

Rāmakrishna was sitting and he was having a lot of dishes. Then there was a woman. Suddenly the idea came: "What is this holy man? And he is having so many dishes." And you know what happened? As she was looking at Śrī Rāmakrishna, he was looking at her. And he opened his mouth, and she was about to give him something. A snake came and almost snatched the food and went. Śrī Rāmakrishna was smiling. She got frightened.

What was that snake? It is a sacrifice. You light up the fire and you pour something. And this fire, from birth to death, is always going on. When this fire goes out, prāṇa goes out. That means prāṇa is not there. So this fire needs constant feeding. And that is agni.

The Gods Bringing Offerings

If we are careful to know it is the divine Lord for whose sake this is going on—so this idea has been put in the Upaniṣad so beautifully. To this divine Lord seated within us, all the gods bring offerings. Bali means offering. Who are the gods? Not Indra, Chandra. The eyes, indriyas, are called gods. The eyes bring food in the form of forms. The ears bring offerings in the form of sounds, etc. And for whose sake? For the sake of the Lord.

If anyone can say it is not for my happiness all these things are happening, it is for the worship of the divine Lord, then he will become free.

Seeing the Lord in the Chariot

That is the meaning of: When a person sees the divine Lord in the chariot, he will never have rebirth again. What is this chariot? This body-mind instrument is the chariot.

If a person has devoted his life to God, that very dedication makes his every act ātma-yajna. He is sleeping for what purpose? For the sake of worshiping the Lord. He is breathing for what purpose? For the sake of the Lord.

That's why one devotee says in Śiva Manasa Pūjā: "When my hands move, that is your worship. When I speak something, I am hymning to you. And when I am sitting simply, I am meditating on you. And when my legs are moving, they are going around you. Whatever action I do, O Lord, that is a worship of you."

The Parable of the Cow

But this becomes a worship only when we remove the idea of selfishness and say, "Lord, I belong to you."

Just to make this point very clear: you have a cow, you bought a cow. To whom does the cow belong? To you. Now after that, see, the cow is sleeping. For what purpose? For serving you. The cow is eating fodder. For what purpose? So that it will give you milk. See, whatever the cow does, it belongs to you. Its offspring belong to you. For how long? One generation? Two generations? It goes on and on and on and on.

Belonging to Śrī Rāmakrishna

That is what Śrī Rāmakrishna has come to teach to us. If we are devotees of Śrī Rāmakrishna, the day you took initiation, to whom did you belong? You belong to Śrī Rāmakrishna.

That is why—sorry to say these things, you know—somebody was suffering and he went and complained to Śrī Rāmakrishna. And Śrī Rāmakrishna said, "What of that to you?" The fellow suffering, he was complaining. "What of that to you? You are my goat, and I will cut you as I like. I might cut your throat at once, or I might cut you beginning from the tail, little by little. You have no right to complain because you belong to me."

The analogy is familiar, you know. For Mother Kālī, they take the goats and offer. So every devotee is a sacrifice to the divine Lord. Through that sacrifice, it is not that the person is losing—he will gain more because we belong to the Lord.

The Three Progressive Steps

So in the Gītā, we get these three types of yajnas: material sacrifices, knowledge sacrifice, and offering one's whole life. Ultimately, that is our goal, but through these three steps.

First, our first step to convert our life into yajna is what? Starts with dravya yajna and—I will give ātma yajna—but dravya yajna, no. Starts with dravya yajna, progresses into jñāna yajna, and completely ends with ātma yajna. There is no division, there is no beginning, there is no end. The whole life becomes a sacrifice.

That's what Swami Vivekananda meant when he wrote about Śrī Rāmakrishna: prāṇārpaṇa. It applies not only to Śrī Rāmakrishna. What about Holy Mother? What about Christ? What about Buddha? What about Swami Vivekananda? What about all his direct disciples? What about the monk's life?

All monks, you know—so we don't get any salaries. Yes, we may have a little bit of ignorance about a little bit of this and that, but our whole life is only offered in the service of the divine Lord. Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, whether we enjoy it or not, as long as we are in the organization, we belong to whom?

Upāsanā: Meditation on Śrī Rāmakrishna as the Center

This idea has been put—Swami Vivekananda's words: every Rāmakrishna center is the very body of Śrī Rāmakrishna. And incidentally, I want to connect this with upāsanā, which is a later subject, but just briefly.

Śrī Rāmakrishna—you are meditating, he is sitting in front of you. So his face, his body—what is his body? The whole Rāmakrishna Order is his body. But specifically, whichever center you are with, his face belongs to that particular center. Think of that face as that particular center.

He has two hands. What are those two hands? One hand is the monastics, the other hand is the devotees. And what are his two feet? All the activities that go on in the center are his two feet. What is his heart? The love, the knowledge, and the self-consciousness with which the monks and the devotees do whatever action—that is his heart. And he will enjoy that.

This beautiful idea—I won't go into details now. Swami Vivekananda had written a beautiful hymn which starts with Khaṇḍana Bhava Bandhana. Actually, that can be turned into an upāsanā vidyā, of which I will come later on.

Practical Guidance for Spiritual Life

Let us start our life, to convert our life into yajna. How? First thing is: be cheerful. Let me not see woebegone, you know, worried faces. Be cheerful.

At least if you want to have the privilege of suffering, do it in your closed rooms. And when you come in front of me, put up bright, smiling faces. You know, Christmas time, a teacher was staging the drama for Christmas benefit. That drama—there were two scenes: the hellish scene, where all the sinners will be suffering there, and the heavenly scene, where all the angels will be playing this harp or guitar or whatever and enjoying it.

So the instructor was giving the training. "Boys, when the heavenly scene comes, put up bright smiles." They said, "Yes, sir." And one fellow said, "Sir, what should we do when the hellish scene comes?" He said, "You don't need to do anything. Just be as you are!"

So the first thing is: be cheerful and be healthy, physically and mentally. Then cooperate with everybody. At least as long as you are at the center, cooperate with everyone. Then study scriptures, practice japa, etc. This is how we can slowly convert our life into a sacrifice, yajna.

The Three Varṇas and Their Yajnas

Now, why are these three? Dravya yajna—that is, material sacrifices—and jñāna yajna, knowledge sacrifice, and ātma yajna? Because in the Vedic times, society was divided into three castes. The fourth caste came later on. Three castes. That is why it is called tri-varṇa. What are those three? Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, and Vaiśya.

So for the Vaiśyas, dravya yajna. For the Kṣatriyas, jñāna yajna. For the Brāhmaṇas, ātma yajna. According to the fitness of their personality, they have to perform that particular sacrifice, etc.

Swami Vivekananda's Twin Ideals

This idea of converting our life into the greatest sacrifice for our own good—mind you, for our own good, not for the good of anybody else, for our own self-benefit—Swami Vivekananda put it in the most wonderful way. He said the twin ideals of the Indian nation are renunciation and service, he said.

And when he said that, very few people understood. He was trying to bring down the idea of Vedic sacrifice into our day-to-day life.

Renunciation

What does renunciation signify? Renunciation signifies two things. Renunciation means what? Give up. Give up your selfishness. That is called renunciation. Do not think he wanted everybody to become a monk. That would be the greatest disaster, and actually that happened in history and became a great disaster.

What am I talking about? In Buddhism, thousands and thousands of unfit fellows had become monks and nuns—husband and wife. Today enjoying life without any idea, got inspired, became monks and nuns. And after a few days, started meeting secretly. That was the beginning of one of the causes of India's degeneration and the rise of Tantricism, which is a different subject.

By renunciation is meant: first, to renounce selfishness. Second, he means by renunciation: renounce automatism. That means do not do things mechanically. Do it with self-consciousness, self-awareness.

Service

The second ideal—what is that? Service. What is service? He said, you know the words, but do you know how to connect them? Rogī Nārāyaṇa, Mūrkha Nārāyaṇa, Daridra Nārāyaṇa.

See, daridra means poor. He is not a poor person. He is poor Nārāyaṇa. If you don't add Nārāyaṇa, then it is not service. It is just a mere act of duty. This is what he is trying to tell: convert every action into service.

The Service of Parents

And a mother can do the greatest service. A father can do great service. What service can a mother do? Does she need to get out of her house, open a school, or go sweep somebody's house or cook some food? If she has time, energy, capacity, let her do it. Suppose she can't do it. She has three, four children. What is the service she could do? This is the service: let her bring up her children with the right ideals.

What greater service can anybody do? That's why we are eternally grateful to Chandramaṇi Devi and Kṣudiram. What service did they do? You know what they did? They were ṛṣis.

Chandramaṇi Devi and Kṣudiram

What service did Chandramaṇi Devi do? She was illiterate. She was poor. What did she do? She just brought up Śrī Rāmakrishna and her children with the idea that he is God himself—with so much love. Love we all parents have. But that love is worldly love, selfish love. Here was selfless love. How do we know? Because what the child had become later on—the fruit. By the fruit we know the tree. By the fruit we know what was Kṣudiram.

This subject is so interesting, you know. Long before Śrī Rāmakrishna was born, God made preparations in this form. What was the first? Renunciation. How di

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How did Kṣudiram renounce the world? In the form of the zamīndār. He simply separated Kṣudiram from all material wealth. How do we know it is renunciation? Because he didn't feel the pinch of regret. "Oh, I had so much property. I lost it." What was his reaction? "God gave and God has taken away. I have nothing to do with it." His mind turned more towards Rāma. That is why God was eager to be born.

But I make a fun, you know, that he went to Gayā, and then there he had the Gayā Viṣṇu darśana, and the Lord said, "I want to be born as your son." And that was when Kṣudiram tried to make the greatest sacrifice. He said, "I don't want you. You are trouble from the beginning, in the middle, in the end. But Lord, I am incapable of serving you. I do not wish you to suffer in my home."

The Lord was all the more pleased. Was it not a great sacrifice on the part of the divine Lord to be born in a house where he could hardly give any material things, but of spiritual things he could get plenty there? So that was the idea.

Kṣudiram's life was a sacrifice. Chandramaṇi Devi's life was a sacrifice. If you have studied the Līlā Prasaṅga, I will connect you with that. Before Śrī Rāmakrishna was in her womb, she was very loving, always loving. But after Śrī Rāmakrishna was in the womb, she made it a habit to go to every neighboring house and ask, "Have you had your food? Is there anything lacking? Can I do something for you?" And if somebody says, "I didn't have food," she would go to her hut, and then whatever she had, first she would give there.

Have you read about it? Go and read. Now you go and read. These writings are so sacred. That is our Vedas. There are twin Vedas—or rather three Vedas: Śrī Rāmakrishna the Great Master, The Gospel of Śrī Rāmakrishna, and The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. These are the three Vedas for the devotees of Śrī Rāmakrishna.

This is what Swami Śāradānanda writes: that Chandramaṇi Devi identifies herself as the universal mother, because God was in her womb. So if she is the mother of God, then what is she? She is the mother of all. That is why that great heart—you know, you can see. We hardly remember. Every day, salute Śāradā Devi and Śrī Rāmakrishna and the parents of Śāradā Devi and the parents of Śrī Rāmakrishna and the parents of Swami Vivekananda. But for these parents, these great souls probably would not have been available to us. It is part of our spiritual exercise to remember these great souls. I salute them every day before meditation.

The Three Divisions of the Vedas

So far I have been talking about what are the important teachings of the Vedas. Vedas, as I said, were divided into three parts: the Karma Kāṇḍa, the Upāsanā Kāṇḍa, and the Jñāna Kāṇḍa.

Karma Kāṇḍa: The Ritualistic Section

Karma Kāṇḍa means the ritualistic part, and the purpose of this ritualistic part is twofold. One: how to know what is right, what is wrong. Second: how to obtain happiness in this world, in the other world. This is one part, one purpose.

The second purpose is: through the observance of the proper way of doing things, our mind becomes purified—citta śuddhi. Śaṅkarācārya prefers to call it citta śuddhi—purity of the heart.

The Analogy of the Mirror

It is a big subject by itself, but briefly: our mind is compared to a mirror. And like a mirror, it reflects whatever is in front of it. Now, because our mind is impure—impure means covered with worldliness—whatever it reflects is only the world. Even if God comes and stands, how does he reflect in our minds? As one of the worldly objects.

If you want an example: Mother Lakṣmī comes in front of some devotee. This devotee had bought a lottery ticket. Next day the lottery is going to be drawn. That night he had a vision of Mother Lakṣmī. What does she stand for him? Winning in the lottery. Next day he is expecting. So how is he looking at Lakṣmī? In a materialistic way, in the form of getting a lot of money.

So this is how even if God comes—because he doesn't reflect properly, rightly—we only see the person as we would like to see. This is what we do throughout our lives. Look at any person—as we say in our language, you know: when a nice cow, a young cow, is walking in the street, what does the farmer look into? "How much milk can this cow give to me?" A tanner is also looking at the cow. What is he looking at? "How much skin can I get?" Same object, but two different things.

Śrī Rāmakrishna's Vision

So a woman is walking in the street—not a good woman, a public woman is there somewhere. When we look at her, what do we see? "Here is a public woman." When Śrī Rāmakrishna looks at her, how does his mind reflect? He says, "The Divine Mother is standing here." Is it not? Have you not read it?

So the purpose of the first part of the Vedas—and Vedas are sacred scriptures, don't forget it—and the sacred scriptures have only one view: how to bring happiness to us, both in this world and also the final world—that is to say, liberation. It has two purposes: worldly happiness, spiritual happiness. Pravṛtti and nivṛtti.

The first part, Karma Kāṇḍa, the ritualistic part—it has this twofold ideal. What is it? Bring happiness in this world, but they also prepare the mind for the next higher step. What is that higher step? How we can attain happiness, permanent eternal happiness.

But we cannot straightaway jump to that third step, which is so beautifully taught in the last portion of the Vedas, which is called the knowledge portion. In between, there is a particular part that is called Upāsanā Kāṇḍa, Vidyā Kāṇḍa.

Upāsanā Kāṇḍa: The Section on Contemplation

Upāsanā means contemplations. It is a very special word. Vidyā means—it is not education. In ordinary language, you know, vidyā means education. Here it doesn't mean education. It means a particular form of contemplation. This is a necessary step before we can go to the higher step.

Everybody, every spiritual aspirant, irrespective of what path he is about to tread, he has to go through this secondary step. Only then, when he becomes sufficiently proficient in the second step, then the path divides into what we see popularly as twofold: one, the path of devotion; another, the path of knowledge. But until he reaches this qualification, he cannot enter.

It is just like, you know, in India what we call pre-university. You cannot enter into university until you pass pre-university classes. Here it is A-level they call it. This is all general. Until A-level, it is all general. Unless one passes A-levels, he can't enter into university. But once a person passes A-levels, he can be a doctor, he can be an IT engineer, mechanical engineer, whatever. But until that step—this upāsanā, Karma Kāṇḍa and Upāsanā Kāṇḍa—these are the two intermediary steps before we go into the final step.

The Vedas also have to deal with these things. And these are the things that we will now be dealing. I was thinking, you know, I must quickly pass over these things. But the subjects are so difficult, I have to take a little bit of time.

The Purpose of Vidyā (Contemplative Techniques)

Briefly, a vidyā—what does a vidyā do? I use the Sanskrit word vidyā, which means contemplative technique. What does it do? It has two purposes.

1. Training the Mind in Concentration

One: to train the mind in concentration. See, contemplation means you must train the mind to think of one subject, one idea, to the exclusion of everything else.

2. Making the Mind Flexible

The second purpose is to make the mind, as it were, so flexible it will fall into a particular mold.

Let me give an example to make you understand what it is.

Example 1: The Figure of Bhairava

In the life of Śrī Rāmakrishna, there are many incidents, but I will give you three incidents. Whenever Śrī Rāmakrishna wanted to sit for meditation and be steady in it, at the Dakṣiṇeśvar temple, there is the Mother Kālī's temple. In front of the Mother Kālī's temple, there is what is called the hall for singing, dancing. It's called Naṭ Mandir. Above the Naṭ Mandir, if you stand in between these two and look to the right side above the Naṭ Mandir, there is a figure of Bhairava. Probably in photographs also you can see.

Śrī Rāmakrishna used to show that and say, "O mind, when you meditate, you should be like that—unmoving, immobile." And with that idea, he used to sit for meditation. And it's as though somebody was locking—it's a wonderful experience—all the joints. So he said, "I had no power to do anything else until this unlocking has been done."

What was Śrī Rāmakrishna really doing? He was contemplating on the figure of Kāla Bhairava. It is a stony figure. Like a stony figure, like a lifeless statue, you must be absorbed in meditation. So he contemplated on that figure so that he would be able to sit without moving. One example.

Example 2: Meditating on Hanumān to See Rāma

Second example: when he wanted to have the vision of Rāma, what was his upāsanā? Did he meditate on Rāma? He meditated on Hanumān. So intensely that his very body became like Hanumān's body. But that is not the end of the affair. So you have to see, he has become a monkey. He wanted to attain to God, and he became a monkey. Is it?

He acquired the personality of Hanumān. And who is Hanumān? Yatra yatra Raghunātha kīrtanam, tatra tatra kṛta mastakāñjalim. Wherever there is Rāma's name, he will stand there. He knows nothing excepting Rāma. Who do we know?

Rāmakrishna said that when somebody asked Hanumān, "What is today's date?" what did he say? "Excepting the lotus feet of Rāma, I know nothing else." That means, what was his mind thinking twenty-four hours a day? Only Rāma. He became Rāma. Sarvam Rāmamayaṃ paśyantam, Rāmaṃ Rāmeti sadā japantam. That is a beautiful song.

So Śrī Rāmakrishna meditated on Hanumān. What is the purpose? What is the most wonderful thing? He didn't meditate on Rāma. But when he meditated and became identified with Hanumān, what was his mind filled with? Why? Because Hanumān was the mold in which there was nothing excepting Rāma. So he became Hanumān, as it were. In his eyes, everything is nothing but Rāma. Every man is Rāma. Every woman is Sītā.

So when he saw the public woman, he said, you know, "What flashed into my mind? I saw Mother Sītā waiting for Rāma." These words are so beautiful. Contemplate these words. What do we say? "A public woman waiting for a customer." In his eyes, who was the public woman? Sītā. And Sītā waits for whom? And so who was the customer? See, the beauty of it: Rāma.

So in the eyes of Śrī Rāmakrishna, everybody, every man is Rāma. Every woman is Sītā. Every male is Rāma. Every female, including dogs, insects, everything. This is called līlā. Śiva-Śakti līlā.

Example 3: Meditating on Rādhā to See Krishna

The third example is: when he wanted to have the vision of Krishna, what did he contemplate upon? Rādhā. And automatically, his mind was filled with Krishna.

These are just three examples to show what is called vidyā, or upāsanā, or contemplation.

The Upāsanā Paddhatī

As I mentioned also, when the devotee of Śrī Rāmakrishna gets initiation from the Rāmakrishna Order, he gets a booklet after the initiation. What is it called? Upāsanā Paddhatī—the way of contemplation. How to meditate upon.

Briefly, the idea is: the devotee first salutes himself to his guru, and he falls into, merges himself into, his guru. And he merges his guru into his guru's guru. And ultimately into the Iṣṭa. That is how the guru paramparā comes.

What is the idea? I am an unworthy person. But if somehow I can fall into, merge myself into, the guru—my guru is a great person—then I also will become great like that. Like ordinary water, you put it into Gaṅgā. Then what does that water become?

And vice versa. That's what we do in our worship. We take this Thames water and put one drop of Gaṅgā water into it. We don't put Thames water into Gaṅgā; we put Gaṅgā water into Thames water. Then what does the Thames water turn into?

The Seven Rivers

And then, not only one—seven rivers. Somebody asked me, "Why do Hindus worship so many gods and goddesses?" See, they are the greatest financiers in the world. They don't believe in putting all their eggs into one basket!

Gaṅge ca Yamune caiva Godāvari Sarasvati, Narmadā Sindhu Kāveri jale'smin sannidhiṃ kuru—O Gaṅgā, O Yamunā, O Godāvarī, O Sarasvatī, O Narmadā, O Sindhu, O Kāverī, be present in this water.

So Sarasvatī is not there. Sindhu is somewhere else. All these seven rivers are present here in the form of contemplation. Physically you do not need to have them. But mentally you can be anything that you want to be. And this is the idea of satsaṅga.

The Importance of Satsaṅga

Śrī Rāmakrishna advises us to cultivate satsaṅga. What is the idea? You go and sit. And there are three ways of sitting in the company of people, holy people. You know three ways? See, there are three dolls: the stone doll, the cotton doll, and the salt doll.

When you put all these three into the ocean, what happens to the stone doll? It sinks and remains stone. What happens to the cotton doll? Fifty percent it remains itself. The other fifty percent it absorbs water. What happens to the salt doll? One hundred percent it becomes one with the water.

So the idea is: do not be a stone devotee. Do not be a devotee like a stone having holy company. At least be like a cloth doll, you know—at least absorb something from the holy company—until you become a salt doll.

From Duality to Non-Duality

That is the purpose of upāsanā: to convert ourselves from the stone doll into the cloth doll, into finally the salt doll. When we start, we are stone dolls, because that means I am separate, you are separate.

When we advance in meditation, then there are two types of experiences that take place: savikalpa samādhi and nirvikalpa samādhi.

In savikalpa samādhi, what happens? It is like we become like the cloth doll. I am also there, you are also there—not separate, but one in two. But when we attain to a still higher state, nirvikalpa, then we become like salt dolls.

The Two Purposes of Upāsanā

So the purpose of upāsanā or contemplation is to prepare ourselves in these two. What are those two? Again, if you have not forgotten:

The first point is: how to train our mind to be completely one-pointed, focused. That is why it is called contemplation.

The second point is: we must become alike. We must be put into the mold.

That is what Śrī Rāmakrishna said to Gaurīmā. There was a devotee. He said, "You must help me." And she said, "I am a woman, what can I do?" He said, "You know, I will prepare the mold, you pour the water." Meaning: I will give the ideals, you put those raw materials into this mold. Help.

The Mission of the Rāmakrishna Order

This is what the Rāmakrishna Order is there to do. The Rāmakrishna Order's twin function: ātma mokṣārtham jagat-hitāya ca—which is to say that we ourselves want to be liberated. Secondly, we want to help everybody to fall into the mold of Śrī Rāmakrishna.

By Śrī Rāmakrishna, I don't mean in a sectarian way. To become a spiritual person, whatever action, service we do is not just service. It is yajna.

Yajna means: whatever we offer in the yajna, where does it go? To God. So what does that material become? You offer a flower to Śrī Rāmakrishna—where does it go? To God. You offer a cloth to Śrī Rāmakrishna—where does it go? To God.

So whatever our order does, either through the monks or through the devotees, it is supposed to help others go to God. That is called jagat-hita. Whether you do it in the form of service—the dravya yajna or jñāna yajna or ātma yajna—whatever yajna it is, the ultimate purpose is to help everyone realize their truth.

This is what Swami Vivekananda said. Once he was asked, "What is your ideal?" He said, "My ideal can be put in a few words: that is to make everyone realize their potential divinity."

Conclusion

How do the upāsanā vidyās help us? This is what I will be talking about in my next class.

Closing Prayer

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

Om Śānti, Śānti, Śāntih.

Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.