Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 032 on 30-March-2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PADAPADMETAYO SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU I will speak very briefly about the duties of householders. How does God in the form of an incarnation establish Dharma? Dharma can be established only through Varna and Ashrama. What is Varna? The division of all people into four categories, depending upon what type of quality has got. Sattva, Rajas or Tamas. Those who have more Sattva are called Brahmins. Those who have more Rajas are called Kshatriyas or Warriors. Those who are having more Rajas but influenced by Tamas as merchants or Vaishyas and those who have more Tamas and dominated by Rajas, they are called Shudras. This is not to denigrate anybody, but every human being can be classified in that way and the only way to progress forward, it is a matter of evolution. Evolution physically, mentally, morally and spiritually takes place only in the form of trying to go from Tamas, reduce Tamas and increase Rajas. Reduce Rajas and increase Sattva and let that be a natural condition, not a condition induced, for example, at the time of prayer, most people are endowed with Sattva Guna. But Sattva Guna should be more dominant. So this is how every human being are guided by the scripture not to condemn them that you are like this, eternally you will not be like this, but if you struggle in the right way, you will move from Tamas to Rajas to Sattva and ultimately you will transcend all the three Gunas and come to know who you really are and that is how Bhagawan in the form of an Avatar tries to help humanity by living His life and showing us His highest ideal. Then in each individual life there are four stages of growth. Usually we all understand them as Brahmachari, Grihastha, Vanaprasthi and Sanyasi. These are not fixed positions, but going forward in spiritual life. These four states are growth in the growth of consciousness. So man is travelling from a lower state of consciousness to a higher state of consciousness. So that is what we need to understand and we have been talking about of all these stages, the stage of that being which is called Grihastha Ashrama is most important. In that context Swami Vivekananda has taken from Mahanirvana Tantra how each householder is supposed to behave. In our last class we discussed certain very important points how parents are to be treated, how a husband should treat the wife and also how a householder should look upon every woman, not only his wife but every other woman and how a householder should live in such a way and be an ideal to his children. Then a householder also should be a hero and he should not be consenting to wickedness or unrighteousness. He must protest as a good citizen. If he doesn't do, he is simply not going to progress in spiritual life because that is the bounden duty of every householder. One point we need to highlight is mostly these duties are how a man should behave towards his family, friends, society etc. But very little is mentioned here how a wife should behave. Exactly the same things with slight differences. How a wife should treat her husband. How first of all she should look upon her own self. Secondly, how to bring up the children. How to have right relationship not only with her own parents and brothers and sisters but every relationship that comes along with the husband. How she should look upon the society as a whole and above all she must be very chaste person. What is chastity? It is very much a misunderstood concept. Chastity is only defined in this way and that is the correct way. Every person, especially husband or wife they should look upon each other. Husband should look upon the wife. Wife should look upon the husband as a divinity. Manifestation of divinity. A plant which is slowly attaining to its own full glory and helping each other so that our weaknesses will be helped and then we become even more strong thus helping each other. We should progress towards life. So main things we have discussed in this. A few more are there. I am going to discuss and then we will go forward. So Swamiji continues. A householder must struggle to acquire a good name by all means. Let us remember here it's not only the husband but it applies equally to the wife with slight difference. So both of them. A wife or a householder must not gamble. He must not move in the company of the wicked. He must not tell lies and must not be the cause of troubles to others. So also the wife. A householder must speak the truth and speak gently using words which people like which will do good to others nor should he talk of the business of other men. In this paragraph two particular points we have to take note. There is a famous saying in Sanskrit Sathyam Bruyath Priyam Bruyath Na Bruyath Sathyam Apriyam What does it really mean? Sathyam Bruyath Only truth must be told but at the same time what type of truth? Priyam Priyam means not what one likes what one is pleased with. What we have to understand really here Priyam means that which does good even if we harm other people but ultimately it is going to do good to them and to everybody else. So that is called Priyam that which is beneficial to oneself as well as to all other people. That is the most important point we have to understand here. That is called what is called Sathyam and if it doesn't do benefit we should never speak about it. That is the first point. This is not Swamiji's words this is scriptural words nor he should indulge in the business of other men. Every person has got something or the other but it should be in such a way that we should not waste our time by indulging in things whether it is activities or speech or cultivating company anything that will stand in the way of our spiritual progress. That's a most important point we will have to understand. Then the householder by digging tanks by planting trees on the road sides by establishing rest houses for men and animals by making roads building bridges goes towards the same goal as the greatest Yogi. There are two concepts in our scriptures one is called Ishta and another is called Poortha. Ishta means the pooja, meditation, pilgrimages etc which benefits a person individually making him progress in spiritual life. Whereas Poortha means that which benefits the public like digging wells, tanks, roads, bridges, dharma shalas where wandering sadhus even beggars they get regular food etc. I think we remember at Kamarpakur we see that some great soul had constructed a dharma shala and so many sadhus on their way to Ganga Sagar they used to take advantage of this particular place stay there that is how Shri Ram Krishna as a young boy called Gadadhar came into contact with these sadhus and he had highly developed power of observation he used to observe who are pretending to be monks who are genuine monks and he used to ridicule these pretending monks hypocritical monks but those who are genuinely monks he used to serve them and they used to love him they taught him many wonderful songs bhajans they taught him what the ancient people used to say and when we study the gospel of Shri Ram Krishna quite a number of them or what Shri Ram Krishna had received from these monks from different places so these dharma shalas etc doing in other words working for the welfare of the whole world according to one's own capacity this is the duty of a householder then the wife also she should always cook a little bit extra so that at noon either a beggar or a sadhu etc wandering sadhus come across then she should be able to feed them properly so that they will bless her now here a question comes because many people so called those who label themselves self-stamped persons we are very clever people are we not encouraging beggars or irresponsibility escapism from the duties and responsibilities of life etc now that is completely what we call irrelevant thought for all of us we don't know there may be if 99 people are hypocrites and cheats but if one genuine person is there helping that one genuine person is much more beneficial than anything else in this world and who knows may be a great realized soul comes in the form of an ordinary sadhu he may be even appearing like a madcap or like a ghoul or like an inert person and who knows may be it is very true you know once Swami Vivekananda was put this question India is full of these fake sanyasins and still Hindus respect them and then Swami Vivekananda had given a very beautiful reply he said say supposing there are 100,000 fake monks out of that if there are 4 or 5 good sadhus sincere genuine sadhus are there that is one of the greatest helps anybody can make in this world these are some of the most important duties and why our scripture is so insistent upon it is after all what is spirituality spirituality is to become less selfish identify ourselves with the whole because the whole world is nothing but God so we have to identify with the God and that is done in front of our eyes the God whom we are seeking manifested in the form of this whole universe as it is that is the reason why unselfishness is very very important when a person realizes God automatically he becomes very unselfish because he says I see God everywhere and that is what is so beautifully said expressed in the Isha Vasya Upanishad Isha Vasya Mida Gum Sarvam Yat Kincha Jagat Yam Jagat Tena Tyaktena Bhunjeetha Maa Gridha Kasya Siddhvanam very plain way of translating this mantra is here I want to clarify one point whenever we are quoting from any Upanishads it is called Vedas and therefore we use them not as shlokas but as mantra when we are talking about Smritis Mahabharata Ramayana Bhagavatam Dharmashastras including Bhagavad Gita etc. we use the word Shloka so in the first mantra of the Isha Vasya Upanishad Tena Tyaktena Bhunjeetha Maa Gridha Kasya Siddhanam Maa Gridha do not commit Kasya Siddhanam anybody's property that means simple word says do not become selfish at all do not wish for any type of knowledge any type of property or object only one thing you should seek really that is God Tena Tyaktena Bhunjeetha Tena means whatever God ordains with that you enjoy your life your allotted life and try to progress in spiritual life Maa Gridha do not commit anything else excepting trying to enjoy your life as allotted by God this is one meaning but it is a very simple meaning there is a very deep meaning is there Tena means by that knowledge what knowledge is that that this whole world in front of us is nothing but God a beautiful poem has been written by Swamiji says where seekest thou that God he who is in front of you in the form of everything in this world both living as well as non-living this is the idea so beautifully composed by Kabir Das Kaha Dhunde Re Bande O slave O my servant where are you searching for me Mai To Tere Paas Mein Hoon what does that mean I am just by your side what does it mean by the side I am within you I am you I am besides you I am outside you I am in the form of everything you experience in other words I only I am manifesting in your form I am only manifesting in the form of the world I am only enjoying the whole world in the form of each individual that is what is so clearly expressed whether you look at your own body at your own mind or at the any object in this world this entire world Isha by God Avasyam Avasyam means literally you should cover the whole world with God it doesn't mean God is a cloth and here is an object and you cover it, it means you remove your ignorance that this is a tree, this is a man, this is a dog etc and then you see this is God in the form of a tree this is God in the form of a dog, this is God in the form of a man etc that is what Swami Vivekananda means do not look upon any Jeeva any creature as a Jeeva that means separate from you and limited ignorant poor etc, no look upon the whole universe as nothing but complete God only, as God only so that is what is all these preparations whether you go on a pilgrimage or whether you dig a tank for whom are you digging a tank for yourself, maybe next birth you will be a monk next birth you may be a beggar next birth you may be a poor man, the idea is be unselfish that is the idea so Swamiji, he says that you reduce your selfishness and that is part of spiritual progress, these are very briefly some of the duties of the householders but do only householders have duties or do Brahmachari ashramas, inmates students, Brahmacharis do they have their own separate duties, do's and don'ts yes, what about Vanaprasthis yes, do's and don'ts what about Sanyasins, yes do's and don'ts I will only point out two things about the Sanyasins every Sanyasi's duty is Adhyayana and Adhyapana that means every Sanyasin should study the scriptures and then try to progress in spiritual life having complete faith in the scriptures but the other side is even more important this person, whatever little he knows, he should share unselfishly not only with people whom he likes or who are nearer to him anybody who is a fit person and a seeker that person should be imparted, this is called Adhyapana nothing to do with scriptures when we use the word scripture, there may be persons who have not studied or who cannot study, for example Lotu Maharaj, but whatever he heard from Sadam Krishna and he practiced it and then he realized so many truths during the course of his travel from his little self to that universal self and he experienced many many things and those things he should share and he did share with lots of people and that's why the study of great people's teachings along with their lives is very necessary here is a very important point we have to understand merely studying scriptures will not do we are studying here the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna but it will be a thousand fold more useful if at every stage we quote the incidents from the lives of these great souls for example from the life of Sri Ramakrishna and that is why I bring so many times certain incidents that have happened here so that their teachings will be reinforced because these people really practiced before they started teaching. Sri Ramakrishna never taught anything to anybody until he completed his sadhana and then only he received the commandment from the Divine Mother now starts the next phase of your spiritual life which is to distribute it to other people in this connection I remember clearly one incident from the life of Bhagwan Buddha he had renounced the world for six years, superhuman tapasya he had done and then one day at his Vaisayaka Poornima he had realized what his true nature is that is I am Brahman even though he doesn't use the word we have to use that word because that is the truth then it is said in one of the Puranas there Buddhistic Puranas not our Puranas probably I don't remember Lalita Vistara Purana that Buddha had gone round the Bodhi tree the tree under which he attained Bodha that is called Bodhi tree it is supposed to be in Gaya. Fourteen days he was in a tremendously ecstatic state, dancing and going round and round enjoying indescribable bliss, Ananda then at the end of the 14th day he decided to give up his Bodhi then Brahma appeared and requested him Bhagwan you will have to teach what you have learned to the whole world and then Buddha said who is there to my teachings, are there really anybody who is running after these spiritual teachings, I do not see then Brahma seems to have replied, he said there are three types of people in this world 99% of the people they don't want your teachings, they don't want spirituality they are only running after worldly things for such people your teachings are totally useless, there are a very few people who have struggled hard realized God and they have gone beyond the shore of the Samsara Sagara, for them also they do not need your teachings the first type worldly people they don't want your teachings second type of people they don't need your teachings but there are quite a number of people, may not be too many they are struggling sincerely, seekers and your teachings will come to great aid for these people, then Buddha understood, said yes I will dedicate my whole life hereafter to spread my experiences and Buddha was one of the known incarnations who have lived until the ripe old age of 80 years and constantly, continuously he spent his time only in teaching and there is one last incident in his life at the age of 80 Buddha decided to give up his body, remember this is very special, every incarnation, so far as we know, they decided to give up their bodies, I will give you four examples Sri Rama had accomplished his mission of destroying the evil forces in the name of Ramanasura and his cronies so the time has come his mission was accomplished but either he forgot or for whatever reason he was not thinking about it, then in Ramanama we get Kala had come a divine messenger has come, said Rama why are you not returning to Vaikuntha you have accomplished your purpose, there is nothing further to be accomplished by you please come and then immediately Rama said yes, tomorrow itself I am going to return to my swasthana, Vaikuntha don't think that Vaikuntha means only Vishnu Shiva has no place there these are all ignoramuses Shiva, Vishnu or Brahma or by whatever name Allah, they are all one and the same reality so next day we know he announced to people that I am going to go back to my own place, he did not say I am going to die, he didn't say I am going to commit suicide I am going to go back to my place, my mission is accomplished, whoever wants to come with me, I will also give them liberation, I will take them with me to Vaikuntha and then everybody the whole Ayodhya opted for it and they all just joyfully walked into the Sarayu river and then they just bent down dipped themselves in the water and then they found themselves in Vaikuntha here is a very funny incident also was there, previous night Shri Rama called his most ardent devotee Hanuman and he said Hanuman tomorrow my mission on earth will be over, I am going back to Vaikuntha, you must come with me and Hanuman being a South Indian made Shashtanga Pranams this is the difference between how to know who is a South Indian and who is a North Indian and if two devotees come to you and one person may make Namaskaram or even make bent Pranam, so surely you will come to know that he is a North Indian devotee but here is another person and with both hands he catches the opposite ears and makes a Shashtanga Pranam and you will know by that that he is definitely a South Indian, not North Indian, a South Indian because only South India that system is there anyway whatever it is, what are we talking so Hanuman made one Shashtanga Pranam and he said no, Rama seemingly he pretended that he was surprised and said Hanuman don't you love me, of course you are my lord, I love you I love only you and I don't want to love anybody, then come with me to Vaikuntha, another Shashtanga Pranam no, an empathic definitive decisive no, then Sri Rama pretended to be surprised and said why is it that you do not wish to come with me, after all you are my greatest devotee and Hanuman seemed to have replied, Rama when you go back to Vaikuntha, what dress will you be wearing there is a special dress in that green room and it has got four hands, Gadha Padma, etc and that form I don't like, I don't like that form, what form do you like, I was Srinath, Janaki Nath, Abhedaha Paramatman, Tathapi Mama Sarvasvaha Ramaha Kamalalochanaha the lotus eyed Rama who is the dearest being to my mother Sita Janaki Devi I only want to see all the time that particular form of Rama with bow and arrows, etc not that Vishnu with four hands, the husband of Lakshmi, I don't like the form of Lakshmi's husband, I only like the form of Sita and Sita's husband this is called, according to Sri Ramakrishna, Ishta Nishta but don't think that this should continue for all the time each one of us must develop this Ishta Nishta cross the bridge of the Samsara Sagara then it is only then they know Sarvam Karvilidham Brahma everything is nothing but, that is the example from Sri Rama he announced, I am going to give up could he have postponed? definitely, because he who made the rule, he can also break the rule, Sri Krishna he called his Uddhava gave him a most marvelous discourse which we get even better than Bhagavad Gita, I would say full brimming with Bhakti, so could in the syrup of the sweetest loving devotion called Uddhava Gita, last message of Sri Krishna Sri Krishna Sandesha etc this comes the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita the entire eleventh chapter of the Bhagavatam is called Uddhava Gita so there he called Uddhava gave him instructions told him clearly that very soon I am going to give up my body and the time has come, I sent already all the other Gopas and Gopis, everybody and now it is time for me to give up, so he called Balarama and said you Adisesha, you give up your body and next day he laid himself down under a bush, under a tree as though appearing it is the leg of a deer and a hunter's arrow had to pierce his soul of the foot and then only he consoled that hunter and said I am blessing you, actually it is my will not your aparadha or crime you have committed and then he gave up the body Buddha, that is where we are coming, Buddha he came to know that at the age of 80 years the time has come for his Mahaparinirvana and then he called Ananda and said Ananda, do you have any doubts, I would like because Tathagata will not live here for a long time and then Ananda was shedding tears, Buddha chided him and said what have you learnt from me for the past so many years I have been talking that where there is birth there will be death and life is full of suffering and you will have to progress in spiritual life by following the eight-stepped way that I have unfolded before you and even now like a worldly person you are crying of course you know we don't cry because we think that death is a painful thing we cry because of our love so Ananda had such deep devotion for Buddha to think that he is going to live without the presence of Bhagwan Buddha was even unthinkable so he was crying now there was a Sanyasi, he was at a distance some miles away and he came to know that Buddha was going to give up his body and then somehow he came to he had doubts and he said in this whole world that there is not one single person who can remove my doubts, only Bhagwan Buddha can do so so he hurried and by that time already Buddha was preparing to enter into to withdraw his mind and go into Samadhi, that is called Mahaparinirvana and then Ananda prevented him, sorry I would have allowed you but Bhagwan has already withdrawn his mind he will give up his body tonight this conversation was heard by Buddha and he called Ananda and said Ananda do not prevent anybody it is my mission that I am still not entered into that Mahaparinirvana and until my last breath, if anybody comes, I will try to help him if my words can help that person progress in spiritual life, he called the monk cleared his doubts blessed him, sent him away and entered into Mahaparinirvana we have to meditate upon these marvelous acts, similarly Ramakrishna was on death bed and he called one of his disciples and asked him to bring an almanac and then he fixed a date but that was, such was the mesmerization he hypnotized his devotees that they could not guess Ramakrishna was fixing a date for his departure then he made everybody very happy, sometimes he cuts jokes to make them very happy but long before he predicted when my mission is complete my Divine Mother will not allow this body to live longer time but Ramakrishna put it in a very funny way one day Ramakrishna expressed it to Holy Mother he said this body will not stay for long time, soon this body has to be given up and Holy Mother of course at that time she was still maturing into the Divine Mother that she had to become afterwards then she started weeping for her it was impossible to imagine that she could live without Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna was Prananatha without him there is no other Prana then he said, look there many people are going to come when so many people start rushing to this place seeking advice etc and know that the time for me to give up the body has come I wish this body could stay for some time more so that many more people could get benefit but seeing my innocence so many people will take away what doesn't belong to them and what for what they are not fit to receive and that is why Mother will not keep this body for a long time seeing my innocence people take advantage of it like that I will give a small example there was a man who was suffering very much from this married life and one day he came to Shri Ramakrishna with tears in his eyes fell at his feet and then Shri Ramakrishna became melted with compassion and said tomorrow you bring some sweets sweets means he specified actually jalebi and I will eat up your karma so you do not need to suffer from this samsaric life and then the man had actually brought but Shri Ramakrishna could not touch it. Mother didn't allow him to touch. He said sadly I wanted to eat up your karma but my mother is not allowing and I think there is lot of prarabdha for you to suffer now here an interesting question that comes is Shri Ramakrishna said that I will eat up and the person who said I will eat up your karma is the child who has melted in compassion and wanted to help this person but for eating up that karma this child cannot eat up. That should be mother divine mother manifesting through Shri Ramakrishna. She alone can eat up the karma but it was his prarabdha and she did not allow Shri Ramakrishna to eat but in some other cases yes he did eat up and removed their prarabdha karma but not as the child but as the divine mother God can do anything. Anyway it is a mystery why he was not, why the divine mother did not remove that person's suffering even though genuinely he took refuge under Shri Ramakrishna I cannot explain but I am just giving you so the day the mission was complete Shri Ramakrishna knew beforehand voluntarily, cheerfully and nobody knew like Swami Vivekananda he completely decided to eat the pudding he was able to eat because of the throat cancer that day he seemed to have enjoyed the pudding suji payas we call it rava payas we call it and then cheerfully he enjoyed, he took more quantity and by one o'clock he had given up his body at night Swami Vivekananda's case also we know, he called his disciple Sharad Chandra, fixed a date and then he went. Now the important point is that once Nivedita heard that Shri Ramakrishna foretold about Narendra the day he comes to know who he is he will give up his body he will refuse to be here on this earth even for one second longer but he told Narendranath Shri Ramakrishna told Narendranath that only when you complete my mother's mission then only the box will be opened up and you will be allowed to enjoy Nirvikalpa Samadhi then sister Nivedita just one day came and this event happened few days before Swami Vivekananda's passing away then she did not know what was brewing she asked Swamiji do you know who you are instantaneously yes I know who I am and sister Nivedita felt shocked that means she knew he was not going to live for a long time but foolish people we are Swami Vivekananda was going on giving hints for the last one or two years that there is not much time left but nobody took his words seriously thinking that he was tired and he was just saying something like that now what is the point of giving all these five examples I have given that is to say that we have a fixed life these great people they practice first of all what they want to preach and when their time has come voluntarily happily they go away that is an ideal for all of us when we are studying their works we have to recollect various incidents which will highlight give us right understanding about what they have been teaching and preaching to us only in this context Swami Vivekananda is quoting all these things the duties what is it? when Sairam Krishna was having his conversation with him, remember the whole gospel of Sairam Krishna is his conversations with various people, devotees both monastic and lay but much less of monastics only mostly householder disciples and most of it is only with M and when other devotees also use it to come and for that duties of householders there are certain chapters advised to householders how they should behave and if we recollect what we have been studying and then read that particular chapter advised to householders then these teachings become much more clearer to all of us so Swami Vivekananda is saying all this because how an avatar establishes dharma that how do we progress in spiritual life by following varna dharma and ashrama dharma these are steps to progress to evolve towards God or towards own real self out of that the duties of householders are most important because most devotees are householders in this world having described all these things very briefly of course Swami Vivekananda is concluding this is one part of the doctrine of karma yoga activity the duty of the householder and then he himself summarizes what he meant one idea comes out of all this the condemnation of all weakness what is spirituality growing from strength to strength what is spirituality growing from fear to fearlessness from bhaya to abhaya what is bhaya is people do not understand if there is something dangerous and that gives us fear and somehow we have to get out of that fear that is a very gross idea fear here means insecurity life is full of insecurity when Buddha issued this statement life is full of suffering he is not talking glibly about headache or cold or covid or some of the things that we experience in reality he is talking more about existential suffering life is what we call Shadurmi six waves birth, growth confirmation birth, confirmation, growth old age, disease and death these are called Shadvikara six fold changes Shadurmi six fold waves agitating the ocean of life and there are certain existential sufferings which cannot be avoided saint or sinner rich or poor powerful or powerless everybody has to go through all this that's why Buddha became so old Ram Krishna had to suffer from cancer and everybody has to go through this suffering that is common and that has nothing to do but there is another type of suffering that is out of our own pure prarabdha karma that's why since the topic came there are I will tell you there are three causes of suffering the first cause is what is the it is the world's nature if it is winter it will be cold if it is summer it will be hot if there are too many mosquitoes we will get the problem from mosquitoes enemies, wicked people floods, famines and all these things this is nothing to do with us it is what you call Adi Bhautika this is the nature of the world then added to that there is a second type of suffering and that is purely individual and that comes as a result of our own past karma which is called prarabdha which is called fate, we call it luck, bad luck or good luck or whatever it is happiness, unhappiness is purely our own doing and that is extra that is added to worldly existential suffering then there is a third type of suffering probably most of you would not remember or would not guess God's grace holy mother confirms it suffering is the grace of God when God wants to uplift some of his beloved children the first thing he sends to them is terrible affliction but it is not that he wants to be revengeful vengeful and he wants to take revenge or enjoys the suffering like a cat enjoying playing with the mouse a very beautiful saying is there life is nothing but a cat and mouse play and some wise crack has quoted this one, yes it is a play for the cat but what about the mouse, the rat is it a play for it? the cat playing with it? like that God's grace if it comes in the form of terrible misery is it a play? yes it is a play because that is what holy mother says that is what the scriptures say in Bhagavatam Bhagavan Krishna specifically promises I do not remember that exact shloka but this is the essence when I decide to bestow my grace and uplift a particular devotee, the very first thing I do is take away all that belongs to him and make him akinchana, kinchana means having something, akinchana means this person will not possess anything so that he can come to me because anathanatha, when there is nobody who can help him, the helpless person, there is only one help Sripati even allopathy, homeopathy naturopathy or any pathis cannot help, only one pathi mode of chikitsa will help us, that is called Sripati only God can help us so the grace of God very often comes to his sincere spiritual aspirants in the form of some suffering and this is what I call fast track otherwise join the queue and wait hours and hours but here is the fast track and when this fast track is applied to devotee and it is little bit painful God will be pulling him from bottom of the mountain straight through a rope and there will be jagged rocks everywhere on his path, he will be bruised he will be bleeding and he will be having pain but in the quickest possible time he will reach the goal now don't think that you have a choice, when you surrender yourself everyday sing as I am taking refuge in you O Lord and then the Lord decides, this person's mouth has uttered the word to he or she took refuge in me and I will take pity, I will pull that person this is a most marvelous perspective when you are going all the suffering and you certify yourself that I am a great devotee of God because you utter a little bit of his name with 90% sleep and 10% inattention and 2% restlessness and occasionally remembering him a little bit from a distance and you think you have got a right to demand whatever you want, I am your child and even then he will bestow his grace and then that will be in the form of suffering I am not joking this is what happens to every devotee, study now the lives of great people see how happily from day to day they are cutting what is called drinking, dancing, singing they made their way to God every saint's life is a strojan with these jogged rocks etc. and that is the only thing which can bring us to our senses and duty is very painful that's why Swami Vivekananda said when somebody said it is our duty to live like this, he looked at her and said madam duty is like the scorching midday sun and the lady was so stunned so shocked at this reply for 5 days she could not get up from the bed, by the way I am just telling you that even casually when Swami Vivekananda utters these words it can affect people so deeply everybody in that camp at the Thousand Island Park were shocked to find this lady had no strength to get up from the bed after for 5 days after she heard from Swami Vivekananda we must get out of every duty free soul, we are free souls, we are divine beings a divine being has no duty at all but the way to attain that divinity, to manifest that divinity which is our own real nature is to go through the duties and if done properly the duties will throw us up out of the duty and I make fun when you are studying in a school, this school tries its level best to kick you out of a lower class to a higher class, from higher class to still higher class until it succeeds in kicking you out completely out of the gate of the school that is the school's bounden duty and it is life's bounden duty to kick us all out so that we land in the other side of the court which is God and we have reached home and then we will forever be free, so with this we have completed one of the most important sections of the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna on how we can progress in spiritual life, especially a householder only by the discharge of all his duties in a spiritual mode having a spiritual attitude but every duty must be done correctly with concentration with bhakti, with joy and without expecting any results, this is called karma yoga, all these teachings can be properly called karma yoga today's class I will stop here Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamami Muhurmuhu May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with bhakti