Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 40 on 01 May 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Sritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur Om Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsa Charanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvo Panishadho Gavo Dhogda Gopalanam Dhanah Partho Vatsa Sudhir Bhokta Dugdam Geetam Ritam Maat Mokam Karoti Vachalam Pangum Langayate Girim Yath Kripathamam Vande Paramanandamadham We have completed in our yesterday's class, last class, that ultimately the most crucial teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, entire Bhagavad Gita, which means all the Upanishads, which means every scripture that was, that is and that will be in the world, is to surrender totally to the Divine Lord. To surrender means to become completely one with Him. But in order to become one with Him, we will have to perform certain types of actions. First of all, whatever we do, we do for His pleasure. Secondly, we will never do whatever displeases Him. Then, very important five characteristics, three characteristics that everything should be done with complete awareness. First, concentration. Second, and intelligently. Third, of course we discussed Ishwara Apna Buddhi, Ishwara Prasad Buddhi. This is the true meaning of the word Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya. Relinquishing means not giving up, but doing everything as an instrument, complete instrument. Not having egotism, not attached to the actions, not attached to the fruits, but simply for the pleasure of the Divine Lord. Then naturally the question came, what do we get out of it? The Lord Himself said, Sarva Papey Bhiyo Moksha Ishyami. Destruction of all samskaras, spiritual and worldly obstructions, piled up from janma janmantara, beginningless times. Now, Bhagawan Krishna winds up the teaching of the Gita by comforting Arjuna in the words, Maa Suchaha, do not grieve. Concluding this teaching, which Krishna commenced from the eleventh shloka of the second chapter until the sixty-sixth. Sixty-sixth. Ashot Shyaan, beginning with Maa Suchaha, do not grieve. Because when you become one with Me, you will become Ananda Swaroopa. Because I am Sat-Shit-Ananda. And this is what Shankaracharya says, that this teaching of the scripture, especially the sixty-sixth verse, what is the result? That supreme liberation, which also is the highest bliss. And it is possible only by the grace of God, which is confirmed by Krishna, which we will see in the future shlokas. And this happens only through complete self-surrender. And complete self-surrender means fulfilling the five conditions we have just mentioned yesterday and also today. Moksha or liberation is possible only through complete self-surrender, which then leads to self-knowledge, which means I know that I am Brahman. Then the person becomes, you become me, maam eva eshyasi. You will attain me, you will become me. And this is the end. This is the paramapurushartha. This is the highest goal. This is the supreme accomplishment. And this accomplishment is in the form of I am Ishwara, Aham Brahmasmi. Thus, I become one for whom Ishwara was the only goal. With this, the teachings of the Gita are concluded. Now, in the next verse, which is 67th, the Lord lays down the rule for handing down His teachings. Because why, you say, should it not be preached to everybody, made available to everybody? Yes, you can do it, but it is guhya, the most secret, paramaguhya, guhyati guhya, guhyat guhyataram. So, even if you tell, it won't be available. But when you have to teach them, you get the benefit. The person to whom you are teaching, he will get the benefit. And the person who even recites, reads, he will get the benefit. Everybody will get the benefit. How? That is being described in the next few verses. Verse 67, we are entering here, at the end of the shastra. There is a traditional rule, sampradaya vidhi, to be observed by the persons who teach us this scripture and knows the tradition of teaching. A person who knows the tradition, he is called sampradaya vidhi, one who knows the sampradaya. This is very important. Tradition not only must be followed, must be also known first. What it means is, I cannot learn it from internet. I cannot just learn it from listening to a person even. For example, I am talking, you are listening. It can arouse some curiosity. But until you come into contact with a person to whom you surrender, thinking that person as representative, veritable manifestation of the grace of God, whom we normally call a guru, not merely the English word teacher, a very weak word, guru, with the highest shraddha, sincerity, and listen to him. And how to listen? And what happens? These are outlined so beautifully. We will discuss about them in some considerable detail, not too long, because the teachings have come to an end. But this is as important as listening to the main teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. So with this end in view, what is the end? How to transmit this teaching? Bhagavan Krishna points out, there are certain characteristics of the person who are completely unqualified for receiving, for listening to the same, and explicitly forbids Arjuna to impart such a teaching to such a man. The entire Bhagavad Gita, not only Bhagavad Gita, it applies to every scripture. For example, if somebody seemingly sincere, seemingly intelligent, maybe quite intelligent, and he approaches Einstein to tell us the theory of relativity, Einstein also can outline it for you. Try his level best. But until we are ready to receive it, it is not possible to understand. It remains the most unknown thing. So why go to such a trouble? If Einstein knows this person is incapable of receiving what I am telling, I have a desire, he has a desire to learn, but the transmission of the knowledge is not going to take place. Transmission of information is quite possible. That is why one of the funniest descriptions of the modern education is the information that passes on from the notebooks of the professor onto the notebooks of the students without passing the brains of either. So the Lord explicitly forbids Arjuna. And this is how the verse goes, the shloka goes. 67th This sacred gospel of the Gita should never be imparted to a man who lacks in austerity, not to him who is wanting in devotion, nor even to him who is not willing to hear. And in no case to him who continuously, constantly finds fault with me. That means who is not an open-minded person. So four conditions are kept. Either means this marvellous Gita teaching, kadachana, never, not even under due risk. This is what Shankara says. Not only, there are some people, unfortunately, very difficult to understand. They seem to be extremely sincere. To them they think they are very sincere. To others they appear to be sincere. But they are not fit for receiving this teaching because their character is not really fit at all to receive this. That is why in Vedantic tradition there is what is called four conditions before studying any scripture. So what are the four? What is the prayujana? What is the purpose? Who is an adhikari? Who is the fit person? And what is the subject matter which is related to that particular goal in view? And then what is the relationship between the goal and the book that is being taught? So these four are so beautifully outlined. Not only it applies to spiritual learning but it applies to any sort of knowledge. Otherwise it is a waste of time. Not only nothing, no good will come. Even harm will come. And that is what Sri Ramakrishna tells us that a person, a guru taught his disciple that everything is God. Then one day the disciple was going and a mad elephant was coming towards him and in the mouth he shouted this is a mad elephant. I am unable to control it. Run away as fast as possible. But the disciple thought our guru taught us that everything is God. I am God. Elephant is also God. But he forgot the Mahatma Narayana is also God. As a result he was thrown aside. He was injured and he was revived. When asked he said our guru taught us. But the guru said my son why did you not listen to the Mahatma Narayana? So misunderstanding the teachings can bring in a great harm. Another story comes to my mind most of my stories have been told so many times but anyway I am going to recite it. There was a king who had a guru and the guru taught him everything is God. So as soon as the king heard this he was elated because he was desiring some of the maidservants. Probably his wife was not very desirable whatever reason. So now everybody is God. So anyway there is no difference between the queen and anybody else. He started sporting with them and the queen got alarmed. He approached the guru and said what did you teach to my husband? Guru understood. He said do this thing tomorrow. Next day the guru was invited for the dinner, lunch and royal dishes were served to him in golden plates. But according to the instructions of the teacher the queen offered the most horrible things filthy things on a dirty plate to her husband. As soon as the king saw these things he flew into a rage. He shouted what is this? Then the queen told you only have been teaching us that everything is God. What is the difference between what your guru is eating and what you are also served? Then the wrath of the king turned on the guru. He said what false things? You are eating these things and you are asking me to eat these undesirable things. The guru immediately said there is no difference between these two. And then the guru told him I can eat yours joyfully, gladly. And the king asked do it. He exchanged the plates. Immediately the guru turned into a pig and for a pig these things are right royal dishes. He ate what the king did not even want to look at. Then the king came to his senses that there is a way that is the highest teaching but it should be applied only when he is ready for the teaching not otherwise. So four characteristics if I find in any person never pass these things because they are not only useless for such persons it is a waste of time, a waste of energy. It will bring terrible disappointment both to the teacher and the taught and more than else it could be highly dangerous for the person. In fact a real incident happened in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. At one time one of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna called Swami Abhedananda he started killing fish, catching fish in a most cruel way. You know most people who go fishing they take a hook and then they put some bait deceiving the poor fish thinking that they are offering some delicacies to the fish and then once the hook enters into the throat what death agonies the fish goes through. If somebody, if when the Nazis tried to kill the Jews by just putting without any anesthesia what inhuman sufferings these Jews had gone through only God alone knows. I can never understand why those people really suffered so much. No race on earth has suffered so much as the Jews. So this man who has been practicing this Jnana Yoga Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma, everything is God he nonchalantly replied but everything is Brahman only. Then Sri Ramakrishna said Beware Sadhu, beware. This false philosophy may not make you a householder because what is the difference between an all-renouncing monk and a marrying couple. A householder, a man who is married and enjoying what should never be enjoyed by a sincere sadhaka in an advanced stage of course. So then Kali Maharaj had come Swami Avidyananda came to his senses he realized, then he stopped. In the name of religion, in the name of God literally rivers of blood had flown. My God, if you study history you will doubt whether there is any God who is compassionate who is merciful, who is the creator who is the father and mother of all of us. It would be very difficult to believe. Anyway we know and there is a reason for everything even when we do not understand. This is what every devotee should keep in mind. So many evil things, indescribably evil not only in the past every day, every second there are some people or other some individuals or other some groups or the other in the name of religion, in the name of politics in the name of power, in the name of selfishness are going through. So if anybody subscribes to this kind of philosophy evil people, for such people there is no use to pass on these things because that will be not only a waste of time, energy and everything but it will bring bad name both the teacher and it is highly dangerous to the person who teaches. So four conditions are laid out but there are many other conditions all are compressed into these four. What is the first one? One who is lacking austerity. Second, one who is not devoted. One who doesn't have any Shraddha both in the Guru and the God himself. Third, one who has the least bit of interest in receiving the teachings, the most sacred and valuable teachings. There is a view, there is a worldly wisdom and there is a spiritual wisdom. There can be nothing further from truth. The only solution for every possible problem in this world is only one solution that is spiritual solution and because from spirituality flows morality. Without morality, without Dharma it is impossible to live in this world. Simply the philosophy live and let live has been experimented, tried on but it's not going to work out at all. So one who desires to learn is called a Sushrushu and one who has absolutely no interest in higher teachings, higher ideals when we come across and we can very easily understand. How do we understand? Just you open your mouth that fellow also will open his mouth and promptly goes to sleep. Only snoring will come, that's all. He will be there, he will be here but he will not hear. And then those who hate God that means hating God means what? Those who hate wise people, those who hate the teachings of the scriptures because really speaking nobody can hate God because God is one without form, without name, without any quality, without any activity just as you cannot do anything to space so you cannot do anything to God but God is manifest, most manifest as Sri Ramakrishna says in holy people and what do holy people do? Not only they live a holy life but they also teach holy life to others as much as possible but they are also very intelligent intuitively they can understand this person doesn't deserve it. 15 number of examples are there as we go along I'll give some examples from real incidents from the lives of saints and sages. So four characteristics when you find Arjuna Arjuna means any teacher. Arjuna remember is an instrument. Anybody who receives this teaching makes his life blessed by following it by not following these four characteristics and also what are the characteristics of those who deserve to listen that is also very clearly mentioned in the coming verses. So these four particularly should be completely absent from a person then only he has any chance of becoming a devotee. So first of all na athapaskaya this secret gospel of the Gita should never be imparted to a man who lacks in austerity nor to him who is wanting in devotion nor even to him who is not willing to hear and in no case to him who finds fault with me as I said with me means with teacher with scriptures, with wise people. So this word idam means what the Bhagavan Krishna had taught right from the eleventh verse of the second chapter until now. So in order to determine the eligibility for receiving this gospel the Lord forbids Arjuna to pass on this teaching to those people who are embodiments of these four qualifications those who lack austerity those who are not devoted those who are not willing to listen and those who hate those who dislike the teachings of the Lord that comes from the teachers or from the books whatever. Now austerity, what is austerity? Let us not bring to our mind austerity means just go on not eating food or eating very little and lying on a hard bed and enduring cold and heat etc. about which we discussed amply. That is one meaning of austerity but really speaking what is austerity? It means those who do not have intellectual capacity because they do not have intellectual discipline. What is intellectual discipline? That such persons are not willing to hear they do not hear concentratedly they do not hear with complete sincerity or shridha and even though their direct experience completely contradicts what they are hearing from the teacher they still cling to their own understanding of the world for example this world is nothing but God they do not see God they will see everything other than God such type of people are called atapaska and then tapas is considered in our Upanishads especially we get it in the third chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad called Bhrigavalli there was a great realized soul called Varuna he had a son now the son also wanted to be a knower of Brahman so as a disciple not as a son he approached the father who now became a guru said father teach me not father he addresses him as Bhagwan so teach me Brahman and then nobody can teach Brahman indirectly he says find out from whom this world has come and in whom it is living and to whom it returns and then he says that this brahma vidya knowledge of Brahman it must be acquired only try to understand only through tapasya austerity tapas itself is Brahman because tapas means true knowledge true knowledge means Brahman knowledge makes one completely God and then without getting asked nobody should teach it so that is what Varuna has taught and then we know the story of course most of you I don't know but definitely you can understand what is the story so Bhrigu went and slowly slowly annam brahmeti vyajanat prano brahmeti vyajanat mano brahmeti vyajanat vijnanam brahmeti vyajanat anandam brahmeti vyajanat and anandatita is Brahman we understood the three bodies gross, subtle and causal are the pancha koshas five shreeds annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vijnanamaya, anandamaya what is outside it which is covered by them that is me aham brahmasmi with each kosha aham brahmasmi that was what he said this is called tapasya this is called austerity a fire of becoming knowledge when information becomes wisdom practicable that is called true jnanam and we are whatever jnanam is so tapasya, austerity is purely enquiry and here we can understand that the one only who has got this tremendous capacity of the intellect through many lives of discipline has a commitment to attain to the goal and is ready to put into practice na abhaktaya further this teaching should never be given to the one who has no devotion for such a man would be incapable of assimilating this most sacred wisdom and would thereby bring dishonor to the same as well as to the lord himself na abhaktaya big comfort word bhaktaya means to the devotee abhaktaya means he who is not a devotee what does it mean an unbeliever but unbeliever not in the modern sense because there are certain religions when others who follow other religions do not belong to their religion they are labeled by these particular religions as sinners as they go to hell etc. non-believers so that is not the meaning here who a person who has no faith in god no faith for the guru and absolutely no reverence for the scripture therefore such a person is never going to prostrate before the guru to acquire the necessary qualification to receive from such a teaching either from the scripture what guru teaches is nothing but the scripture plus with his own experience and plus understanding the disciple suitable for the disciple that's why guru is necessary such a person should never be given so how long na kadachina never until they are ready but when they are ready if a teacher doesn't teach he will be committing the greatest sin that means he will fall from that state and he himself will fall into this bondage of samsara if anybody who deserves is not given what he deserves then the person who denies such a thing he himself falls into the greatest hell but he who deserves he will definitely get it Swami Vivekananda used to say when the field is ready the seed also will be ready Shankaracharya says that it should never be given under any condition not even under duress kadachina in no case should this teaching be related to a man who cavils at the Lord who has assumed a form with attributes for redeeming the world who paints his virtues as a vice and vilifies him I just remember this thing in a particular country they have ridiculed Prophet Mohammed whom billions of devout followers revere him as next to God and these fellows thinking that they are very nice devotees very devout Christians and in the name of human freedom they went on ridiculing him in the form of cartoons and if the same thing is done in the form of Rama, Krishna Ramakrishna, Chaitanya or anybody how much we get offended that was the terrible thing that these people have done and they have paid for it they will pay for it even if nobody gives it to them God will give it to them and in this whole universe runs through karma phala anybody who has done anything wrong it will come back I am 150% convinced and if anybody is suffering it's all because of this one only then what is the third condition or sushrusha way what is sushrusha that this should never be told to one who has no desire to listen if such a person attends any class his mind will be elsewhere he will fall asleep I know some of you fall asleep that means sleep is better desired by you than this teaching the one who has a desire to listen shrotam ichchu is sushrushu he has a great love for listening to scriptures for listening, learning wisdom only sometimes we become what we call fanatics we want to listen here also something very important we have to learn I will give you an example supposing there is a student millions, billions of students the day of the result has come and in a few seconds the result is going to be announced on the TV or on the board how are they going to look at the results do you think they will go to sleep everybody is at high pitch to know whether they have done well or not so well if any person have I passed the test have I learned something that's why I said full consciousness, awareness full concentration, full intelligence followed by deep meditation and putting them into practice such a person alone is the true bhakta, true devotee and a true student and anybody who is not ready for it they have to get ready for it there is a chance for everybody but at this moment it should not be taught not only that there is a rule that one who doesn't ask for it for especially knowledge should never be told there is a Sanskrit which goes however dear a person is without being asked should never be told Varuna never called his son and said you are my dear son I will teach you he will only when the son went as a disciple considering not him as a father but as a realized teacher and with all the traditional way felt frustrated ready to listen and if he was not ready Varuna would never have imparted that teaching to him now some examples Ramakrishna used to shut all doors and windows and used to teach in crystal clear voice to all his monastic disciples about monasticism but even there he used to close everything to everybody including his monastic disciples when he was teaching Swami Vivekananda what he taught we can only guess because Swami never opened his mouth and told what Ramakrishna taught him but part of what Ramakrishna taught was that how to make about an organization how to keep them united how to make his teachings get propagated every incarnation as I mentioned many times brings a helper a person who will do this kind of thing now another incident once Swami Vivekananda in America had announced I am going to speak next class about my master and hundreds of people literally they flocked and there is no room even for standing and Swami Vivekananda went and it was his habit he will go to the podium stage stand there with crossed hands and look at the audience something happens at that time he will become transformed and then only from his mouth come words which the people are ready to listen and even when he was at the very pitch he could make everybody's mind completely concentrated and take it to a very high state Swami Vivekananda had that capacity but once upon a such time this is not incident I was mentioning he was talking about continents suddenly he shouted at the people and then he left the hall that was unthinkable in the modern western world some of them paid the money also and then this particular incident he announced I am going to speak about my master he surveyed the whole lot like a lion which stands on the top of a hill and then mouth surveys everything that the eye can perceive and then abruptly he got down he walked off and the whole audience had to get out after some time some of them became very angry they probably shouted at him at least in the mind when he asked he said that I saw most of them were not fit to hear about the master that is to say the master means the peak of discrimination peak of dispassion, renunciation most people were not ready so he said that it will create terrible danger somebody on some other occasion asked him what is the danger Swamiji he said I can teach but then you know the mind will go to very high because I am forcefully injecting my ideas into them but when they come into contact with worldly temptations their mind not only will fall but will fall much lower and it can create terrible lust in them as a reaction I don't want to be an instrument for that so one who is not ready one who is not ready to listen should not be told it is impossible for that this is what Swami Vivekananda had done and this is what even Holy Mother we see rarely she refused anybody but on some occasions she just kept mum in spite of so much of request by so many even sannyasinis so this most esoteric gospel of the Gita should not be taught to such a man either for being incapable of grasping its secret he would be unable to assimilate it and as I said it can be also dangerous and the fourth mam yo abhyasuyati and he who hates me who becomes jealous of me who ridicules me who finds fault with me it should not be given to one who finds fault with either Krishna or Rama or Buddha or Jesus there are some Hindu devotees they consider themselves good devotees but when they read Ramayana especially women I have seen them questioning Rama's character how could he abandon his wife who knew nothing but her husband unable to understand unable to put our feet into the shoes of what happened thousands of years ago what social circumstances made the incarnation of God behave like that it is impossible to judge if we want to judge anybody we have to put ourselves in those times in those conditions and then only we have probably a better way of understanding their actions a little bit that is what Bhagavan also says mam yo abhyasuyati now here Bhagavan Krishna is not only a teacher of the scriptures a knower and a teacher of the scriptures but he is the author of the scriptures that is why it is called Bhagavad Gita the Gita which issued from the very mouth of Bhagavan in the form of a scripture if one looks upon the this scripture called Bhagavad Gita is coming straight from the mouth of the Lord then the Shraddha is different and it blesses the person who teaches who listens with the same Shraddha if on the other hand any person even claiming that he is a devotee finds fault with Krishna when there is no fault this is called asuya guneshu dosha darshanam when there are good qualities finding fault with them and then some people find fault there is something called extremism you are going too far good to be good but it is not good to be too good and so many things are there good to be generous not good to be too generous etc. etc. not understanding the karma siddhanta anybody who renounces he will get more than a thousand times because whom he is giving Bhagavan himself and Bhagavan will give more the more we empty the more we have the capacity to receive so Shankaracharya he comments that the person who finds fault doesn't know that Krishna is avatar avajananti mam mudha manushyam tanum ashritam param bhavam ajananto mama avyayam anuttamam Krishna himself says such a person who finds fault he is not only that he becomes finds fault he becomes jealous he is not to be taught at all seshupala dantavakra ramanasura in the life of Sri Ramakrishna quote all these people Hiranyakashyapu etc. etc. they could not receive Krishna they could not perceive Krishna as he is he is the humblest of the person God is more humble than even his devotees he is ready to serve everybody Bhagavan Krishna washed the feet of a poor Brahmin who happened to be a childhood fellow student Sudama and then Sudama was overwhelmed that being the emperor of this vast Yadava kingdom he condescended to stoop to the level of worshipping this is called Brahmana puja not merely jati brahmana but unabrahmana who loses the person who finds fault not only that in the Bhagavad Gita the Lord says he who surrenders to me I am the supreme you should try to understand that I am the supreme I control everybody etc. etc. what arrogance this person is boasting about himself this is how we go on finding fault that is why Ram Krishna very adroitly rarely he addressed himself as I most of the time this place this person this teaching or my mother knows I know nothing etc. but even he could not avoid sometimes rarely he used the word I because he knows that if I am teaching you people do not understand see Ram Krishna was not teaching it is Bhagavan who is teaching it is a marvelous information which we will apply it in our future shlokas so Ravanasura could not understand Rama in spite of Vibhishana telling him that Rama is none other than God none other than Shiva whom Ravanasura himself is the greatest devotee then we get in the gospel and one day it was Sri Ram Krishna's birthday many devotees gathered there was tremendous joy overflow of joy there was singing there was nice teaching Ram Krishna was entering again and again into Samadhi a devotee came looked from outside and he ran away somebody reported to Sri Ram Krishna and he reported he retorted made a statement what arrogance egotism personified what is that I know better than all these people let them listen to this old man but they don't know that I know I don't require these teachings so why should not we teach these people because a person who has these four characteristics that is he doesn't have austerity he is not devoted and he is not ready to listen he is most unwilling to listen and he also finds fault with scripture with the teacher with everything with such an attitude the teaching will never be fruitful so in describing the one to whom this teaching is not to be taught the one to whom it is to be taught becomes evident how does it become evident he who has got austerity he who is totally devoted he who never finds fault with the lord and he who always the highest reverence ready to listen as the gospel truth for such a person alone should be taught so whoever in whomsoever these four negative qualities are absent such a person is a by implication a fit person to be taught for being jealous of the lord's virtues glory and divinity such a person would treat the lord with even greater contempt and thereby aggravate his sin so many stories are there in the Bhagavatam there is the story of one Vasudeva usually Vasudeva means Vasudeva's son who is Krishna there was one imitator Vasudeva he had some artificial Shankha, Chakra, Gadha, Padma etc. and he used to abuse, criticize him, the real Vasudeva because Krishna had got him killed very adroitly in some ways now Hriday had served Ramakrishna so much but in the end became highly intolerant of his own uncle whom he knew how much Samadhi, how many visions even Hriday had visions in the presence of Ramakrishna in spite of all these things he became completely inimical and then he started hating Mama, why? because the lust for money had entered into him that demon had entered and then whichever devotee doesn't give money to him but gives something directly to Ramakrishna became a victim of his wrath My God! how much he tortured Ramakrishna so Ramakrishna had to pray to the Divine Mother Mother, if you keep this person then other devotees will not get the benefit then soon the Divine Mother removed him but then how much he had to suffer and then this Hriday Mukhopadhyay used to use to criticize Oh Uncle! if I had not been there all your sainthood would have come out that means you are able to perform Tapasya able to think about Mother only because I was serving you and you forgot everything he did not understand it is the Divine Mother who had given him this invaluable opportunity to serve such a great soul not because he is a nephew but because he must have done something very great virtue in his past life he was considered as part of the Avatara really speaking but in contrast let us look at Narayana Shastri there was one of the greatest Pandits he could have been the world's greatest Pandit and he heard about Shri Ramakrishna and by that time he was invited to be the court Pandit by many of those small small kingdoms on his way he was a married person on his way he heard about Shri Ramakrishna and Divine Mother's grace descended upon him he was humility personified he came to Dakshineshwar stayed for some time he was made most welcome Shri Ramakrishna immediately started loving him and then Narayana Shastri understood I have read in the scriptures about all the descriptions about what the realized souls go through and here is a person everyday I am witnessing this directly this person is enjoying experiencing even a skeptic like Swami Dayananda Saraswati he met Shri Ramakrishna and said we only drank the buttermilk here is a person who had tasted the butter such great people should do Keshav Chandrasen could understand the great intellectuals have understood the greatness not completely but to a great extent so here is a person Narayana Shastri immediately said if I do not use this opportunity I don't know what is going to happen and then he fell at the feet of Shri Ramakrishna and Shri Ramakrishna initiated him into Sanyasa that was only known case that we know he initiated one woman devotee perhaps Gauri Devi or Durga Devi I don't remember so this is the only person definitely having received his blessings hearing that his family people he was also a married person were coming to fetch him to home he fled away from that place and never again anybody heard about Narayana Shastri so far as we know if he had been alive if he exhibited his scholarship he would have been one of the greatest scholars of such a time then there was one lady Miss McLeod and Swami Vivekananda used to address her as Joe and she addressed Swami Vivekananda as my friend, my advisor but upon hearing the first lecture of Swamiji later on she came out and said the first word that issued from the mouth of Swami is truth the second word is truth the third word is truth thereafter whatever he uttered even in joke that is the highest truth there are blessed people who understand this if somebody is not having those characteristics the idea is we should try to develop those characteristics then only the teaching becomes much more relevant to us so in this verse unquestionably those who are fully qualified to receive this gospel are being negatively described the one who has religious discipline that is called Tapasya, Austerity Bhakti, Devotion again desire to listen Sushru, Shatva and does not find fault and no Asuya is there for such a devotee not only, it should be taught without any doubt now when one teaches following this tradition Sampradaya, this is the Sampradaya what does one gain what is the result for the person who teaches, we are not talking about Krishna we are talking that through Arjuna, whoever listens to it, practices it becomes blessed by attaining me, he is qualified even if a person is progressed in sufficiently in spiritual life, he is qualified enough to pass on his knowledge the pitfalls that are there the shortcuts which can take them to the highest level, if such a person doesn't pass, then he is committing, he is not worshipping really God, so what does this person get, the merit of teaching the Gita to the Lord's devotees this is the verse 68 having thus pointed out the marks of him who is not qualified to receive this teaching of this any scripture the Lord now tells Arjuna in the following two verses the reward and value of propagating this teachings of the scriptures among his devotees 8, 8, having supreme devotion towards me, teaches this deeply profound philosophy to those who are devoted to me shall without question come to me, so what is the first thing that is 8, only he who has the supreme devotion to me, because he alone understands he alone later on becomes qualified to pass it on to others, without this devotion and if this person has listened to his teacher with Shraddha, with Bhakti, as Shweta Shwetra Upanishad outlines the same devotion which a person has towards the Divine Lord the same devotion exactly in the same percentage, 100% should be also given to the teacher because the teacher, real teacher, never says anything other than what the Divine Lord passes it to him, in fact there is no teacher, there is only one teacher it is God only who is the real teacher, Sri Ram Krishna tells again and again, it is my Divine Mother who is speaking and he says, it is the Divine Mother he is the only Guru he is the Satchitananda, alone he is the Guru, there is nobody who can really teach because God alone can teach about God, nobody else can teach about God he alone is qualified so he, by obtaining supreme devotion listened, practiced progressed, even realized, such a person becomes supreme devotee then only by the authority given to him Sri Ram Krishna very often used to tell, have you got the authority from God, otherwise your teaching will be totally useless having obtained this authority because of the supreme devotion and complete self surrender to the Divine Lord, such a teacher teaches this deeply profound philosophy to those who are devoted to me, to whom? again to those people who are completely devoted to me who do not have those four qualifications, disqualifications and without question, they seek me, they come to me, means they seek me, when such a teaching is given to those people they are going to come to me, there is no doubt about it so when Krishna says so the teacher who gives, teaches Abhidhasyati, the one who teaches we understand this applies not only to Arjuna but to whoever teaches this scripture, this Shastra this scripture is considered the most exalted, paramam because understanding its subject matter will give Moksha and this teaching which is in the form of a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna is most sacred and secret, Guhya it is called Guhya very secret I will just outline and then we will talk about it in the next why is it called secret? Is it because it is secret? No it is the most open secret and it is secret so four different ideas are given, why it is called so secret, I will just give the outlines, details we will talk about in the next class the knowledge about God is not available through any other Pramana, means of knowledge, Prateeksha, Anumana Upamana, Artha Patti, Abhava only through the direct words of the teacher second, then again, even when this Pramana is available even though it is available perhaps even ordinary things they will remain forever secret an example is Einstein's book, Theory of Relativity can be read by all of us but it remains a most sacred and hidden secret for all those who are not qualified three, further it is the nature of it, what is the secret? you are seeking for it everywhere, not knowing you are seeking your own self a musk deer runs here and there seeking where from this most intoxicating, fragrant smell is coming, not knowing it is there so therefore it is one's own self and the person is seeking it everywhere so you don't look here and there and even if you look, you will never know so that is one and fourth, also the best hiding place for this Atman is my own self, it is deeply hidden in the cave of my heart so these are the four reasons why it is called most secret and some of the details we will talk about in our next class may Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Shakti and Ramakrishna