Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 27 on 19 March 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Adapatmetayo Sritva Pranamami Mohor Moho Om Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsachanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadogavo Dogdha Gopalanandana Partho Vatsa Sudhir Bhokta Dogdham Geetam Ritam Mahat Mookam Karothi Vachalam Pangum Langayate Girim Yath Kripathamaham Vande Paramanandamadham In our last class we had been seeing the Lord is about to tell how one can attain to that supreme reality called Brahman. So for that he had outlined 17 spiritual qualities that need to be developed very briefly about 12 qualities rather in 12 numbers only I have spoken including the other 5 too. Now we are entering into the 50th verse. Siddhim Praptah Yatha Brahma Tatha Pnoti Nibodhame Samasena Eva Kaunteya Nishtha Jnanasya Ya Para How he a sadhaka who has attained perfection reaches Brahman reaches means attains self-knowledge the knowledge that I am Brahman about that matter in brief please learn from me Kaunteya that supreme state of knowledge Krishna here uses very important word Siddhim Praptah having attained Siddhi. This word Siddhi can be translated as attainment of perfection but perfection of what we can say this person had attained perfection of self-knowledge that means he attained Brahman that means he became free that is one meaning other meaning is here is a person whose chitta mind antah karana inner organ has become very pure he is hundred percent convinced that God realization alone is the only goal of life. So having attained to that state having almost bid goodbye to all the attachments in the world he will be still in the world because the body mind will be in the world but he is not of the world this is the state before God realization which becomes very natural after God realization. This is also called in other words becoming an Adhikari. Siddhim Praptah means having become an adequate person to undertake exclusive spiritual disciplines and especially taking to the life of either Vanaprasthashyama or most likely Sanyasashyama. So Oh Arjuna now such a person is ready how did he become ready? Earlier we have seen the Lord said whatever may be the caste the class to which a human being may belong whatever may be the type of activities if he is a teacher he will be teaching if he is a cook he will be cooking if he is a cultivator he will be cultivating if he is a soldier he will be fighting and killing if he is a hunter he will be killing animals and selling them. No activity is a bird so that we can transform every activity into spiritual activity into a yoga that is called Karma Yoga that is the secret of Karma Yoga. That's why Swami Vivekananda brought two very important ideas in his marvelous book incomparable book Karma Yoga. First idea is there is nobody who is superior to anybody. A Sanyasi is not a superior to a Grihastha. A Grihastha is of course not superior to a Sanyasin. A Brahmachari is not superior to a Sanyasi. Sanyasi is not a superior to a Brahmachari. No varna, no ashrama, no stage, no activity by itself is either good or evil. Any activity at any stage of life in any class of human being can transform itself into perfect means. How? Thinking that oh lord you made me like this, you allotted me these duties, you are the lord, ruler of this universe. I know that. I will gladly do this because everybody is just good in his or her own activity and that's what Swami Vivekananda said in his practical Vedanta. A housewife will be the best Vedantin housewife. A cook will be best Vedantin cook. A student will be best Vedantin student. Any stage of life is good. Any activity is good. But an idea has to be joined here. I do it only for the pleasure of the lord. I worship the divine lord from whom this whole universe has come, in whom it is living and unto whom it is going to return in the end. That is the idea given here. Then this person in course of time, of course it will take time and we don't know much time, the person's mind first 100% convinced God exists. Second he belongs to God. Third, God realization is the only goal of life. Four, this world doesn't hold any charm, any temptation to him. Previously he had to struggle very hard to get rid of, to go outside the bounds of likes and dislikes, Raga Dvesha. Now it has become very natural. So in other words he has become an Adhikari. So now he has to diligently develop 17 qualities. How many? Not really 17. There are many more qualities. But whatever the lord has outlined at the end of the second chapter, in the 6th chapter, in the 5th chapter, in the 9th chapter, in the 12th chapter, 13th chapter, 16th chapter, 17th chapter, of course at the beginning of the 18th chapter, not that there are infinite number of spiritual qualities, but there are plenty and all these now he has condensed once more to remind us into 17 spiritual qualities. Now this Sadhaka, he is just at that stage, he has to pay more attention to develop, to cultivate 17 spiritual qualities. And I have already elaborately spoken of them. Now I will speak of them very briefly. Samasena me nibodha, know from me. Why? Because who is, like we say in English language, right from the horse's mouth, who knows better than God, God can tell. This is how you are going to reach me. Now intermediary, of course intermediary is there, the whole Gita, every scripture of every religion, it is there. But I am going to outline it once more. And for that 17 qualities have to be developed. And so if a person develops these qualities, what is his gain? He will gain Brahma Prapti. What is Brahma? Brahma Jnana, the knowledge of Brahman and Brahman. There is no difference at all. And I have specially outlined this particular subject, which requires a deep thought. When we say, for example, I know this tree, that means this tree is an object, I come into contact with it, after some time, I think I have obtained knowledge of this particular object called tree, tree knowledge. And the tree and the tree knowledge, first of all, cannot be separated, because they are one and the same. When I think of the tree, tree knowledge will come. When tree knowledge is flashing, the tree will come. This is what Sri Ramakrishna and specially Vaishnava literature points out, Nama, Namne are one and the same. And here there is only one thing to be known, and that is God. That is called truth. Truth cannot be many. Truth is only one. So supposing somebody says, so here is a mango tree, I know all about mango tree, is it not knowledge of truth? Yes, about the tree, yes. I know all about this man, is it not knowledge of the person? Yes, that is the knowledge of the person. But this knowledge is not the real knowledge. Why? Any secular knowledge is absolutely limited. We give an example. Supposing there is a paper in your hand, what is the knowledge? Paper knowledge. And you burnt it. Now the paper has come from the pulp of a tree. So what is the cause of this paper? A tree. And what is the cause of the tree? A seed. And what is the cause of this seed? Combination of certain elements. And what are those elements? Five elements. Pancha Bhutas, Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Jala and Prithvi. And where from they have come? They have come only from Brahman. So the knowledge about any object is partial and it requires updatement. And if you go on probing, what you get, you go to the cause. And then that cause becomes an effect in its turn. And you go to its cause and it becomes an effect. Every worldly knowledge is limited and it is not complete. It is only partial. But the whole world has come from God. So the root cause of the world is God. And therefore once a person has God knowledge, Atma Jnana, Brahma Jnana, Ishwara Jnana, then only his knowledge is complete because further where from God has come? That question is a meaningless question. Where from infinity has come? That is a meaningless question. So that is why Shri Ramakrishna categorically says to know the many is avidya, to know the one is vidya or knowledge. So Shankaracharya crystal clearly can answer that saying what is Brahman? Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam, Brahma. Satyam, truth. Jnanam, knowledge. Anantam, infinity. Another words, Sat, Chit, Ananda. Meaning the same. So this is the ultimate knowledge. There is only one reality, Satyam, that is Brahman. And if it is true that there is one reality, then everything, everybody including me, we can only be Brahman. We cannot be anything else. And once we know, then we will be immortal. We will be all-knowing. And we will be all blissful, happy forever, infinite happiness for eternity. But who doesn't want it? If this is the utility, everybody will want it. So the whole discussion that we had so far can be put in one question. What is the way to Brahmasakshatkara, to the realization of Brahman? What is that? What is the way to know I am Brahman and there is nothing else besides Brahman? So what should an aspirant do? He has to develop the requisite qualities. How many such qualities? 17 spiritual qualities. And that is being outlined there. We will discuss quite briefly. You may ask, why briefly? Why not elaborately? Because we have discussed about these things either with the same names or with different names, meaning exactly the same thing from the second chapter until now. We have been discussing these things. There is no doubt about it. So let us now go into 51st verse. budhyā viśuddhaya yuktaḥ dhrityātmānaṁ niyame ca śabdādhīn viśeān tyaktvā rāga-dviṣau vyudasya ca So these 17 qualities have been put in the form of 3 verses. 51, 52 and 53. 17 spiritual qualities that are already there. Some of them, but not complete and not pure. So we have to develop further. As we develop further, more conviction, more śraddha, more joy, more understanding comes and one day we understand. Besides me, there is nothing else excepting me, which is I am Brahman. So this is, let us discuss briefly. So these are the, how many qualities here? 4 spiritual qualities have been outlined. First I will just go through quickly the Sanskrit verse with its meaning and how many qualities it wants to expound and at the end of the 3 verses we will go through them briefly. So 4 qualities in this 51st verse. What is that? As a sadhaka, he must become viśuddhaya buddhya yuktaḥ He must be having viśuddha buddhi, pure mind, pure antahkarana. What is pure antahkarana? That which understands the ultimate truth crystal clearly without any doubt. But as we progress, sometimes the mind goes up and down and a little bit of doubts will come and whenever such things happen ātmānaṁ dhrityā nīyaṁ yajā completely controlling the mind with tremendous will power with one-pointedness that even if I don't progress, even if there doesn't exist any God, even for my whole life I am not going to realize God but I will not give up the effort, let come whatever wants to come. This is the second spiritual qualification. Shabdādīn viśehāntyaktvā Giving up certain things which are inimical to spiritual progress like seeing wrong forms, hearing wrong words, smelling wrong things, tasting wrong things and touching wrong things. Then of these experiences with the sense objects when our sense organs come into contact with the sense objects naturally our mind will be running towards those objects which promote our happiness and run away from those objects which seem to bring more suffering and the opposite of happiness. So rāgā-dveśa uca vidasya ca tyaktvā So giving up that means keeping the mind under control rāgā-dveśa will come at the beginning but they become less and less and less in course of time as we go on practicing sadhana. Then comes how many? Beautifully eight qualities. So what are they? vivikta-sevi, no here five qualities. What are they? vivikta-sevi, laghvāsi, yata-vākaya-mānasaha, dhyāna-yoga-paro-nityam, vairāgyam-samupāśritah Having abandoned egoism, power, arrogance, desire, anger and aggrandizement and freed from the notion of mind and becoming peaceful, such a person is fit to become Brahman in course of time. So eight qualifications are there. What is that? First of all vivikta-sevi. Resort, take resort to solitary places where disturbance is less. And then laghvāsi, eat only what is necessary and do not develop any special attachments. yata-vākaya-mānasaha Complete control over our actions and our speech and our thoughts. nityam-dhyāna-yoga-paro Let us think of our object which is Brahman, which is God, personal or impersonal, in any particular form, continuously remembering the God. dhyāna-yoga-paro-nityam And this word nityam means there is no holiday from spiritual pursuits. And then vairāgyam-samupāśritah Along with this, dispassion also. Dispassion means to give up what we know clearly, that which is inimical obstructions to our spiritual progress. That is called dispassion. Viveka means discrimination to know what is right, what is wrong, what is desirable, what is not. And giving up what is not desirable, what is not right. And acquiring what is right, what is desirable. And this nityam can be also joined here. Not that dispassion will have a holiday. Saturday, Sunday I will give holiday to dispassion. Other days I will practice self-control, etc. No, all the time. Then verse 53 So here certain qualities are there. What are the qualities here? Eight qualities. What are they that we should abandon? What should we abandon? Ahankaram, egoism. Balam, strength. Or develop strength but use it, but do not misuse it. Darpam, arrogance. Kamam, lust. Krodham, anger. Parigraham, accepting what is not necessary, keeping what is not needed, pimuchya. Giving up all this. Nirmamaha, bhutva. So ahankara and mamakara. Sri Ramakrishna's beautiful teaching. What is maya, avidya, I and mine. What is vidya, true knowledge, not me and not mine. Thou, thou. Nirmamaha, bhutva. Then what should we become? If we practice all this, our mind becomes shanta. Shanta means filled with infinite peace. Infinite, unbreakable joy, ananda. And such a person is absolutely ready, as soon as we acquire this, immediately we become fit to have atma jnana and immediately the grace of God will come and that is what we have to understand. So the sadhaka who follows the above mentioned 17 qualities, understand them what they are and trying to acquire all these qualifications, then he becomes fit. Brahma, bhuyaya, kalpate. He becomes absolutely fit. That means there is no way God can remain separate from him any longer. He comes running, meaning he is fit now to gain the knowledge of Brahma. So these qualifications, all these as I mentioned earlier, have been scattered throughout the Gita quite clearly, not hidden, but they are once more brought to our notice in a condensed form so that instead of our doing a horrible homework, the Lord himself has eased our hard work and brought them together. So let us now discuss one by one. First qualification is Endowed with a pure mind, pure memories, pure heart and pure determination. A person who has lived a life of Karma Yoga, a prayerful life, a life of self-surrender to God. For who knows, many lives probably and that is what God himself says After so many years of intense spiritual practice, A person becomes endowed with true knowledge. What is that true knowledge? I am Brahman. What is that true knowledge? If he opens his eyes and perceives the world, experiences the world, he doesn't see the world as we see it. He sees it, it is Brahman. He is playing in this world, putting on infinite number of dresses. Vasudevaha sarvam iti. Vasudeva is everything. Brahman is everything. So the first qualification is Also known as in Jnana Yoga circles, That means it is ready now to develop certain other qualities. In a way it is also explained beautifully. One of our senior Swamis once told us in a group, Supposing you have a room and it is full of things and most of the things are old, dilapidated and dirty and we are not able to use them. Now better things have come and we can acquire them and we want to bring them but there is no space. Now we have to remove all these things and throw them out. So then only if we do not make space, we cannot bring in new things. Chitta Shuddhi is all those qualities which are obstructing our spiritual progress, have to be given up one after the other slowly but gradually and then only as to the extent we succeed in getting rid of these unwanted so-called worldly qualities, spiritual qualities, we do not need to invite them. Automatically they come in. So a person, that process of getting rid of unwanted things and bringing or making space for wanted spiritual things, that is the essence of Karma Yoga. So a person who practices Karma Yoga and if he is a Bhakta, he tries to remember God more and more and he wants to surrender himself more and more and maybe for many, definitely for many lives and he will be acquiring such a mind which is called Vishuddha Buddhi, pure mind. Sri Ramakrishna had a disciple, he was called Niranjan. The Sanskrit, it is a mixture of, rather one word with a word in front of it. So what is that? Ni na anjana. There is no stain, no impurity. My Niranjana has no stain at all. So like that our mind also should have, it is not easy but as much less of impurity as possible. Such a person does not, first of all is very pure. How do we know? How do we know such a person is a pure person? Because he has absolutely no doubt about three things. Such a sadhaka will have absolutely no doubt about three things. What are they? What is the highest truth? That means God exists, Brahman exists and what is the second thing? That is the only goal of life. So if I don't have God as my goal, even if I am doing all spiritual practice, I want God to fulfill, to become my servant and cater to my needs but very few people want, I want God Himself and I would like to serve Him. This is what in Ramanujacharya's philosophy, it is called Nitya Kainkarya. I never want God to do anything for me. I only want to serve God. But even this buddhi, I want to serve only God, can come only by God's grace, not through by other means at all. It is not possible. That is what we have to understand crystal clearly. Now another thing also, this person, in his devotion, he wants to serve, like a mother wants to serve the child, but he doesn't understand, God doesn't require anything. But he says, without me, God cannot look after Himself. I have to look after, like Yashoda, like Hanuman. Without my service, Rama will be discomfited. He will not be comfortable at all. It is a spiritual quality and it is a wonderful quality. So that is what he wants to say. This person knows what is the goal of life. He knows God realization is the only goal of life. He has no doubt God exists and then he will adopt. A Guru will be there inevitably and the teacher will tell him, this is your path and this person has absolute faith in the words of this teacher and he will never give it up. So only a mind which is pure can understand these three things, which Ramanuja had termed and which is my favorite usage, Hita, Purushartha, Tattva, Purushartha and Hita. Tattva means God exists, truth exists. Purushartha means that can be the only goal of life and nothing else. Not something else. That is also a goal of life. No. That is the only goal of life. And third is what is the way my teacher told me. The first two, the person understands this when his mind becomes pure, when his heart becomes pure. This knowledge reflects automatically when the mirror is pure. Light automatically reflects in it without any distortion. But he requires a teacher, requires guidance and at the exact right time, the exact right teaching will come and this person has absolute faith in that teaching and that is called Hita. And then he will not deviate from what his teacher told. He will not misinterpret what his teacher has told and this condition of the mind is called purity of the mind. Second, Dhritya Atmanam Niyamyacha. As we go on struggling, we know struggle means what? That I am not perfect. What does it mean? It means sometimes mind is okay, sometimes not okay, sometimes it is uncontrollable, sometimes yes, it becomes focused, concentrated, sometimes it gives me happiness, sometimes it doesn't. But these are the more the beginners we are, the more will be the hesitations, restlessness, ups and downs. But the more we progress and this is one sure sign that the mind comes slowly slowly under our control. What is the meaning of controlling the mind? That we are able to regulate our thoughts, emotional intelligence. Actually controlling the thoughts means mostly it is controlling the emotions because we are very emotional persons. We like to generate thoughts which will give us pleasure, happiness, liking, which will make us feel safe, comfortable, security and the opposite, they hesitate us, they make us suffer. These are emotions. When things are favorable we are in a high way and if it is opposite we plunge into the very depths. No, everybody will have these things either because of the nature of the world or because of the old samskaras in the mind, it doesn't matter. Gradually this person conscientiously and with great awareness, with exercising the power of will, slowly slowly slowly he creates new samskaras and that ability to control one's mind which is also called willpower, not for wicked purpose but for the purpose of one's own salvation. That is the second qualification. Without becoming discouraged, without becoming frustrated, without going down, without becoming sad. Controlling oneself. That is why Patanjali says, beautiful definition. What is yoga? It is the perfect control of our memories because thoughts are produced from memories and memories strongly end up in pleasure and pain which will create likes and dislikes, raga and dvesha. Our whole life, life after life is only a matter of being a slave in the hands of this raga and dvesha but this person slowly says, my emotions you will not control me but I will control you. Sri Ramakrishna was intensely suffering towards the fag end of his life because of the throat cancer but nobody had ever seen him sad. If somebody had ever expressed any sorrow, he used to say, let the body understand the body and deal with the body. Oh mind, you remain at the lotus feet of the mother and be happy. To be at the lotus feet of the mother, to remember God and to do namasmarana and to perform japa all mean the same thing. That is, I am very safe, I am a happy person because I am sitting in the lap of God or if you don't like that idea, I am sitting at the feet of God and God with a million eyes, million hands, million legs enveloping me and protecting me. I have nothing to worry, I am just a child. So here atma means atmanam niyamya. What is controlling atmanam? Atma means we know, self. No, no. In Sanskrit this word self is used in so many ways. Here self means body-mind complex controlling the sense organs of the body, controlling the emotions and the propellant samskaras in the mind that means the memories. So controlling, mastering them and that is the meaning of controlling the atmanam means gaining control over one's own mind, over one's own body and mind. Now this is very necessary because if a person, even a scientist, even a sportsman, even a musician, you know how much austerity they have to perform. For example, a wrestler cannot go on eating, cannot go on getting up at 12 o'clock at night, cannot go on being lazy. On the day of the match I will do a little exercise and I will do that. I have read once a book of which I have narrated to you, Muhammad Ali, I am the greatest. And I was very much impressed. He said two months before any major contest, wrestling contest, my, what is called manager, he will prescribe, this is what you will eat, this much quantity you will eat and at this time you will eat and these are the exercises that you will do. Get up at 4 o'clock in the morning, climb up a hill which is 6 kilometers high, come back, have something and then go on working in the gymnasium, punching, all this, there is a bag. Nowadays it is automated, so automated that if a person, even if he is a great expert, it will give you a punch exactly like a human opponent but only infinitely more intelligent because it sees what you are doing and it is so fast. And if you can defeat this machine, you can very easily defeat anybody in this world. So if somebody wants the highest goal, which is God realization, so not only this is necessary to lead a life of contemplation but the whole lifestyle. What is lifestyle? When we get up, what we eat and how we eat, what attitude, we discharge our duties, our activities, how much time we spend in contemplation and that is called lifestyle. We must have perfect mastery over both these things. So naturally it involves giving up all those pleasurable things. As a fellow had remarked, I can withstand anything except temptation. Sir, if you cannot withstand temptation, what else is there for you to withstand? So that is why the third qualification is Raga Dvesha Yudhasya Cha and you know Raga means likes, Dvesha means its opposite, dislikes. Whole life they are controlling us. Why do I want money? Because I am attached to money. Why do I work like slave? 14 hours, 16 hours, 18 hours, a businessman, his mind is on the business, even 24 hours a day practically, excepting for deep sleep, even his dreams are of money. Why do you want money? So that I can live a comfortable life. You stupid fellow, that even to enjoy something, you require tremendous amount of time. A person who gulps down things in 15 minutes and another person who spends at least one hour slowly savouring every mouthful, every dish, everything in its proper way and that is what they call Japanese tea ceremony and this is an art, how to enjoy whatever we are doing. The whole Zen Buddhism places so much of importance on it. So what is this qualification? Raga Dvesha of Yudhishthira, continuously like waves in a turbulent sea, continuously rising, continuously falling, coming forward, going backward and what are they? Only two things, the waves of Raga and Dvesha, likes and dislikes. These are our greatest enemies, not only in spiritual life but in the achievement of any higher ideal, whether I want to become a great musician or aesthetic master or a poet or a writer or a speaker or a statesman or a politician and or a scientist, very much necessary. So I must not be a slave, I must control. Then the next qualification is Vivekta Sevi, Vivekta Dvesha Sevi, Sri Ramakrishna's second commandment as per the sadhana is concerned. Now and then go into solitude and think of only the Divine Lord intensely and how this world is unreal and that is what you need to do it. Vivekta means where there is nobody to disturb. Nobody means a fellow goes with a mobile phone and nowadays mobile phone is a thousand times powerful than previous even 40 years back what you call a powerful laptop and there you get audio, you get video, you are connected to the whole blessed world and that is not Vivekta Sevi. Vivekta Sevi means absolutely neither there should be an external disturbance but more important it is a solitude, is a state of the mind that is what Sri Ramakrishna's words having deep meaning Nirjana means what? Jana means people, nirjana means no people that means not absence of the physical presence of people. You say Oh Lord I understand now there is not a single person in this world not to speak of any object a single person who can really help me when really help is needed who can eat for me who can sleep for me who can dream for me who can meditate for me who can study for me who can think of God for me who can do any japa dhyana for me absolutely no but there is one being you have to understand don't think there is one being it is God God can eat for you so that is how he ate for the sake of hundred and one hundred disciples of Durvasa Rishi when they visited Pandavas in the forest at the prompting of Duryodhana Bhagwan Krishna came and just ate one grain of rice left out in the pot that too by his will only and then he said I am completely satiated and here the stomachs the bellies of this great Rishi supposed to have the biggest belly in the world and his disciples also are competing whose belly is greater all the hundred and one bellies have filled so much you know what they felt that if even one grain of food material is forced into our mouth we will just faint we will vomit the whole lot and we are not going to survive and with that they just ran away so the Lord can do we can also recollect there was one disciple and attendant of Holy Mother is very fond of eating on Shivaratri day the monks had forced him to fast and naturally he didn't like the idea but he could not reject their force as it were and Holy Mother saw, laughed at him and said my son you go and eat to your heart's content I will fast for you I can eat for you I can fast for you similarly when Shri Ram Krishna was one day going towards Dakshineshwar from Calcutta in a boat with some devotees on the way they all felt very hungry and they had a small bit of money and they bought some sweets Shri Ram Krishna ate the entire pot full of sweets and said I am satisfied I am tripta and immediately all of them felt all their hunger has disappeared and so what am I talking about God can sleep for you God can do sadhana for you you surrender yourself Holy Mother used to say I do japa I have taken the burden of whomsoever I have taken into my lap and they don't do anything after getting initiation I will do everything for their sake only God can do but in this world there is nobody to have that strong feeling I should not depend upon anybody because everybody is helpless not because they don't love us some of them definitely do love us but they are weak they are themselves helpless they cannot help us so now and then go and practice nirjanasthana the idea is that a person should if he stays for a long in this midst of this world suddenly that person may develop attachment very likely we all develop only to the place and even if it is a dilapidated house is there and we develop tremendous attachment people living in America in palatial homes they remember fondly the houses they have left behind in what is called God ridden these villages and dilapidated houses oh how peaceful it was how marvelous it was what happy days we spent which was true but now you will not be able to go and face that situation at all you feel like running away but the memories haunt us if only I can go back forever I will be very happy like a person who thinks if I can get this person as my spouse forever I will be in heaven anyway these are some of the ideas we need to get rid of them and to be able to contemplate on the realities of life on the reality of God and our relationship with God and that is called going into solitary places so that externally there is nothing much to disturb more important what is called internal disturbance that is why I hope you remember when Totapuri Maharaj had come to Dakshineswar he told Sri Ramakrishna proclaimed to Sri Ramakrishna I am not going to stay here for more than 3 days many Sanyasins take that vow because after 3 days there is every likelihood that they can develop tremendous amount of attachment but I am not so sure about it even one second suppose a fellow will go to one village he is going to stay there for 3 days he goes to the tank to take bath and the Sanyasi had seen a village girl and in that particular moment and she stands like Rambha Urosithilottama so Mahamaya can trap us anywhere but the idea is sincerely you practice it it is very important and Sri Ramakrishna comes to our Eid what he says that every person must practice this Nirjanatha how? Bhone Kone Mone I changed the sequence of these words Mone Bhone Kone but I say Bhone Kone Mone what does it mean? that if you want to think of God go to a place which is free from darkness etc. especially Indian shrine rooms are situated between kitchen and toilet as if reminding him life is nothing but eating, drinking and evacuating and that is all about life and the sounds come from one source or the other continuously even at night also that's why Sri Ramakrishna says if there is a place which is relatively free go there Bhone pronounced Bengali as Bhone means in a wooded area solitary place supposing one is not able to do it and even if there is a place when one returns home and you are not able to go to that solitary place find out the quietest spot in your own home that is called Kone some corner, not any corner not near the kitchen corner so some corner you find especially in the west many people have basements absolutely quiet I couldn't believe how quiet it could be much better than even a wooded area so go to a corner very quiet silent, least disturbing spot. Suppose person doesn't have even that opportunity then intensely pray to God and there you think of God in your own mind with this discrimination, dispassion and detachment that is what he used to say but if a person is not qualified if he goes to such a place and then there is every chance that he may go mad Swami Brahmanji Maharaj used to say an unqualified person if he goes to a very lonely spot, especially in the place of Rishikesh Uttarkashi or Himalaya some spot etc more likely he will go mad he will go crazy. Why? Because as I mentioned earlier that solitude is a state of mind where a person has come to this firm conviction, God alone is real, everything else is empty and without that conviction merely an external space is not going to help much but go for a short time, if possible with some like minded people like Mayavati etc you are in a relatively safe place, use that place not gossiping not carrying all the news of the world, not watching news not hearing anything of the worldly news not even talking to family and friends unless of course it is extremely unavoidable and necessary practice one practicing and one will gain that capacity so for one month, then three months, six months, afterwards probably whole life one can stay. At least the good habit of studying scriptures with intense joy can help us a great deal. Of course here is a person who had developed to some extent and then what should he do whenever he goes to a quiet place, he must control his food laghu ashi means small he must become small eater, that means he must have control that eat only what is necessary, eat only what suits your stomach eat only what helps you grow in spirituality. So when a person is trying to lead a spiritual life, see most of the time what is he doing? Sitting and thinking about God and therefore he doesn't require much sleep first of all. Secondly there is not much expenditure of energy either in the form of words or in the form of activities, a bare minimum so that he has to eat and he has to procure food and eat, he has to attend to the calls of nature and a little bit of cleaning and changing, accepting for that so for that much energy is not needed when there is no necessity for so much of energy so the intake of the food must also be completely commensurate with that requirement and then shankaracharya that means this person should eat moderately, here shankaracharya helps us saying a sadhaka should eat slightly, why? to ward off obstructions to his contemplation like sleep etc. It is a well known phenomenon when a person eats more he is likely to sleep more and that is everybody's experience so eat not less not more, that is why yukta ahara viharasya yukta cheshtrasya karmaso yukta swapna avabodhasya then only yoga yoga makes a person advance towards spiritual life then having gone to a solid pit or even at one's own home or in a temple or in an ashrama, wherever the next spiritual quality is yatha vakkaya manasa, one should keep a watchful eye over what one's actions, there are so many called unnecessary actions and then of course one's speech few days back I have sent a whats message application, teaching of Swami Turiyananda, he was narrating when he read Shankaracharya's Vivekachudamani so he remembered yogasya pradhamam dhwaram vagnirodaha a very first doorway to become a yogi is complete control over one's tongue tongue in the both senses, not only what it craves for but what speech comes out of it you just observe the world has become mad 24 hours blah blah blah blah this is what in America they call it yakking, go on yakking, go on yakking and this fellow who is stupid fellow and who listens, he is also yakking, what do I mean sir I don't yak, I just sit and listen, well when that fellow says yak, that is echoing in your mind, yak yak like that, so even to listen to that is a terrible thing, so control the actions, whatever is absolutely necessary, control the speech whatever is very necessary and also naturally unless we control our thoughts, controlling thoughts means what, develop spiritual thoughts and try to remove all the negative, negative means unspiritual thoughts I am not talking about pure inwardly people, so many negative people, they don't have any capacity to see what is positive what is good, especially these politicians, whatever the politicians or government in power, whatever good the government does and every government will be doing very good amount of good if we have that eyes to see and go on finding fault and nothing else but what do these wretched people do when they come to power they will do exactly the same things, so that is not the negativity I am referring to, here the lord is referring to negativity means any worldly thought that pops up in the mind, you must immediately squash it out like soap bubble you have to remove them then this is the most important thing, that is called yoga, that is why yogaha chitta vritti nirodaha, especially in the form of pleasant thoughts they come in the form of vivid imaginations today's class I will end with the story of the first Christian ascetic the very first is called Saint Paul of the Great but the world knows Saint Anthony the Great this man he was a Christian and his parents died he was quite well off quite rich, he had a sister and one day he went to the church and he found out that the village priest had taken up for his Sunday sermon a particular incident from the life of Jesus Christ a young man went to Jesus and said Lord what shall I do to enter into the kingdom of heaven and Jesus replied he knows this person go if you really want go and sell all your riches distributed to the poor then come back take up my cross and follow me and the man went away sadly so that was the subject matter of the sermon and the old priest had preached but this teaching of Jesus had left a profound impression it brought about a complete transformation and he went home and he sent his sister who was of similar mind into a convent and he sold everything distributed to the poor went into the desert and for nearly 45 years or so he did intense tapasya in complete solitude living in a mountain cave now he was describing somehow day time passes taking God's name in doing some work they believed in work but as soon as evening came all the village women with whom he used to meet to cut jokes etc used to assume what is called irresistible divine women like women from the heavenly world and then he wants to do like that and when he wants to prayer to get rid of those thoughts those very thoughts had become demons used to frighten him shout at him etc it is only the grace of God which had saved him now this is the point we will discuss in our next class may Jai Ram Krishna holy mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ram Krishna