Patanjali Yoga Sutras Lecture 088

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Yogena chittasya padhena vacham Malam sharirasya javaidhyakena Yopakarottam pravaram muninam Patanjalim praanjalirana tosme We have been discussing about the changes that should occur in every spiritual aspirant. Spiritual practice means we must attain a higher state from a lower state. That is the change we need to go through and it cannot be done automatically. It had to be gone through through a systematic process and of such changes we have talked about in elaboration of three changes. The first is called Nirodha, the second is called Samadhi and the last is called Ekagratha. To put it in simple language what it means is first there would be a lot of undesirable samskaras, deep rooted habits in the form of vasanas and samskaras and naturally our first task would be like weeding out. If you want to cultivate something good prepare the field Kshetra and what is the first task get rid of all sorts of the weeds. The second step is all sorts of things can grow even when we succeed in removing undesirable samskaras but even good samskaras can flourish in various types. So the second step is slowly gradually reduce the various types of samskaras even good samskaras into one samskara. The last step is to make that one samskara or one thought sustained. What is Nirodha? Destroy undesirable samskaras. What is Samadhi? Try to get rid of various thoughts and focus on one particular thought that is called Samadhi Parinama. Parinama means change. What is the last change? Ekagratha means what? That particular thought will become prominent and that possesses us like a madcap and that is what governs us. Simple example Ramakrishna was possessed of this idea how can I realize God? He had gotten rid of all wrong samskaras. His mind was not thinking of any other thought excepting one thought. Day and night Ramakrishna was possessed of only one thought how can I realize God? That is called Ekagratha Parinama. This Ekagratha also has got lots of degrees. You know we can also sustain our Ekagratha for a short period of time. That's why if you go on sitting for practicing meditation for a long time then maybe 15 minutes maybe half an hour we can sustain. After that we cannot sustain. What is the reason? We know inside that this should be done. It is good for us. This is the only goal of life but yet we cannot sustain. Two reasons. One reason is because we do not have practice, lack of practice. That is why Bhagavan Krishna tells in the Bhagavad Gita how can the mind be focused? Arjuna's question. He asks I am unable to practice concentration. It is like air. How to catch hold of air and put it in your fist? This is the Gita language. Sri Krishna gives exactly same reply that Patanjali gives. Mind can be brought under control only through two means. Abhyasa and what is the other one? Vairagya. What is Nirodha? If you analyze Nirodha first parinama, you know what is? Undesirable thoughts or samskaras must be overcome by desirable. We choose. These are the thoughts we would like to entertain. That is equivalent to somewhat. Vairagya. Then Ekagratha should come. How does it come? By practice. Hiram Krishna was a superb master and then he gives this. A man wanted to become an archer. So what does he do? First he takes a big target. What is the huge tree? He stands two feet in front of it and discharges. Is there any way to miss it? Yes. There are people who even miss it. Okay. Then gradually the target becomes smaller and smaller and smaller. The distance becomes longer and longer and longer and ultimately even a flying bird. You know in the Ramayana it is said how Dasaratha got a curse. He was an expert archer. Shabda Vedi. Shabda means sound. He did not see anything. A bird is flying. He hears the sound and he discharges the arrow and then he can bring it down. That is called Shabda Vedi. Now interestingly Hiram Krishna also gives the other beautiful example. How these distractions become less by the practice and by one-pointedness. Arjuna was asked by Dronacharya. He tied a small bird at the highest topmost branch of a tree, a tall tree and he was testing his pupils. Who can really pierce the eye of the bird? Eye of the bird. So he asks do you see us? Arjuna says no. Do you see the tree? No. Do you see the branches? No. Do you see the bird? No. And what do you see? Only the eye of the bird. This is what we are talking about. First get rid of undesirable Samskaras. That is Nirodha Parinama. Second Samadhi Parinama. Even good Samskaras. Now why do I say good Samskaras? Why don't I use the word good Samskara? Because to ultimately bring one particular thought in the beginning we need several good qualities to be developed. Simple example is if somebody wants to be a good tennis player then it is not enough to have a wonderful wrist. What is the first thing that he needs? The first thing he needs is a good eyesight. He should be able to follow the ball. Then he should have the strength. Then he should have the practice. Above all he should have focus of the mind. Now I am bringing this one. We are not talking about ordinary tennis players. What is the most important thing? Anybody who lacks the power of concentration can never rise to that highest state. We see so many people when they are playing in Wimbledon or this tennis match or whatever it is. Do you think that they are caring for what you are talking about? People are shouting. Some people are opposing. Some people are encouraging one party. If their mind is distracted they are not going to get anywhere. Any greatness it is equivalent to Dhyana, Ekagratha. The field may be different. It may be a writer, a poet or a painter or a singer. Who can be the best singer? A person, what are my audience thinking about me or a person who is totally absorbed in singing. It is not enough to have a good voice. Suppose somebody is always thinking what is my audience thinking. He is never going to make that grade. At a certain level you don't need so much of concentration. Still concentration is necessary. Even to learn concentration is necessary. We need several aids, subsidiaries, helps. Ultimately we come to one. Take Sri Ramakrishna's example. He wanted God realization. What is the first thing he must have? Viragya. What is the second thing he must have? Tremendous faith that God exists and I can realize him. What is the next thing that he needs? He needs to sit and supposing he suffers from romantic pain. What do you think is going to happen? Do you think he can focus his mind? So he should be able to sit for a long time without backache, without any type of ache. He must forget the body. Incidentally what's our problem? In achieving anything great what is our problem? Our first problem, greatest problem is our body. Ill health and then our inability and what is called weakness of our limbs. So many things are there. To achieve the highest goal how many things we need? All good samskaras have to be developed. How many good samskaras? I'm just telling how many good samskaras do you know? If we study Bhagavad Gita 12th chapter Bhakti Yoga at least we need to develop 26 good qualities. How many? If somebody comes and says Swamiji I'm not bad I have got 25 qualities, only one bad quality I have got. What bad quality do you have? I tell lies. How many good qualities he has got? Minus, minus zero. What is the second one? One must have that capacity from many foldness to one single object. That's necessary. That is called Samadhi Parinama. What is the last Parinama? Ekagrata. What is Ekagrata? Single Pratyaya comes up again and again and again and again and again. This is called Sampragnata Samadhi, Sa Vikalpa Samadhi. Vikalpa means one thought. Sa Vikalpa means with one thought. Nirvikalpa means what? Without even a single thought. That means the man is not aware of the body, aware not aware of the mind. He is only totally aware of him whom? Himself, his own self. So that these are the three changes one has to go through and if those changes have to take place we are not talking about those who have achieved that. We are talking about who are trying to practice. Last class I have formulated 10 questions. What are those 10 questions? First, am I becoming less selfish? Is my desire for Kama and Kanchana, sex and money becoming less? Third, is my attachment for the world, family and friends growing less? It's very interesting because no I'm not attached to my family. I'm not attached to my children. Very interesting I'm giving you, going into details because how many ways the mind can deceive us. Here is a man who claims he's not having any attachment. Why? He doesn't like his wife, doesn't like his children. Is it what is called non-attachment? Then you see this man claims and then there is a cricket match between England and India and England is winning over. His blood pressure is going up. India is on the way to win. His blood pleasure is going up. Is this man attached or non-attached? So you see we can be attached to religion, can be attached to country, we can be attached to friends, we can be attached to football, we can be attached to a rose, we can be attached to a dog. Is my attachment for the world growing less? Am I becoming more generous and charitable? This is I have thought a lot about it because there are people who say they are not attached but they are not charitable, they are not generous. That means what? A miserly person. That means he seems to be not attached but actually he's more attached. So why he does, if he's attached then he has to spend money. If he is not attached, he need not spend money. That means what? He is attached to his money more than anything else, a miser. He doesn't love his wife, his husband, children, anybody and he doesn't love himself also because a miserly fellow, he would rather not spend money but he would not give to anybody also. So how do we know? Here is a test. Am I becoming more generous and charitable? Then the fifth one, am I able to accept criticism in a better way? Ultimately, what does spiritual progress boil down to? It is giving up our egotism. Our ahamkara, kara becomes less. Aham, there is no problem. When we attach some kara to that, then kara, you understand, chillies, then there is a problem is there. So if someone criticizes us, how do we take? That is a definite sign. I have seen people even in a very friendly way, if we tell them something good, they take offense and go away. Recently one case happened here, you know, one lady, somebody criticized something, one email, that's it. That was the last we have seen, at least I have seen, of that lady. What is there? Okay, it may be good, it may not be good, but does it mean to say that my life, whole life depends upon it? What have I lost? The next five questions, am I longing for God more and more? How do I know? Do I delight more in practicing japa, meditation, study of scriptures and other spiritual practices? Third, do I enjoy being alone and focus on God? This is a very good test. Are you able to enjoy your aloneness, not loneliness. Loneliness, aloneness is a condition, physical condition, external condition. Loneliness is a mental condition. I may be in the midst of a hundred people and feel extremely lonely or I may be in the midst of a thousand people and feel absolutely alone. So do I enjoy being alone and focus on God? But here also a disease can be there. These are very loaded questions because there is a person who is an introvert person. You know introversion and extroversion, that is a disease. An introversion is a disease. An extroversion as well is a disease. We are not talking about introversion disease, we are talking about the capacity to be alone and enjoy the presence of God. Four, am I acutely aware of the passing of time? It's very important. Any person who has got this longing for God, he should be able to count seconds. So Ramakrishna amply demonstrated it. Oh mother, another day had passed. What is our condition? Thank God, another day has passed. Lastly, is my fear of old age and death getting less? The more we are focused on our old age, our death becomes more acceptable. I will just give you one instance. You know Socrates, he was condemned to death by giving hemlock poison and he was such a good man. He loved people with total detachment of course. He helped so many people become deep thinkers. Even now if you read Plato's conversations, if you read his Republic or his Fido, how he defended himself against the people who brought the charge etc., you will notice that he was such a fearless man accepting one person. He was totally fearless but he feared like a devil only one thing, going home. His wife was a terrible woman as it comes you know. So making a little bit of fun, a young man asked him, Socrates, I want to get married. What's your advice? He said, young man, go and get married. If your wife is good, you will enjoy a blissful life. Otherwise, no harm, you will become a great philosopher like me. Now we also have to be realistic. That means we will have to understand examples. Why do we need to read the lives of great souls? If we read the life of any great saint, the very first thing that we notice would be that how many changes have taken place in that person's life from a lower state to a higher state. That is how a saint's life has to be studied, not because of miracles. You know so many people focus on what miracles Sai Baba had done, what changes have taken place from him. I am taking all these examples from Sriram Krishna and direct disciple's lives. I am not citing Sriram Krishna's life because we have taken enough of his examples in my past flows. I did that. Totapuri, what was his problem? He was an expert in Samadhi, but he was fixated. What was the fixation? Accepting Parabrahma, nothing is real. This world is not real. What does Vedanta teach? Everything is Brahman. If everything is Brahman then what is this world? It must be also Brahman but with another name, form and name. That's what it is there. So what happened? Totapuri never accepted the Divine Mother. He never went to the temple in his whole life at Dakshineshwar which was nearly 11 months. How many times did he go to the temple of the Divine Mother? Only once on the last day probably. So he refused to say this is Maya. World is Maya. If world is Maya, Brahman also is Maya. Take it for granted. Why this world is nothing but Brahman only? But he was a great soul and it took 11 months for the Divine Mother to work on him. How much time did it take for Sriram Krishna to change from the worshipper of the Divine Mother to the experiencer of Nirvikalpa Samadhi? How much time did it take? Two, three hours. How much time did it take for Totapuri to accept the personal aspect of Brahman? 11 months it took and he had to go through a lot of suffering. You know that he wanted to commit suicide. Then Divine Mother, out of her great mercy, she had revealed truth. What is truth? Inside Brahman, outside Brahman. Personal Brahman, impersonal also Brahman. Brahman and Shakti is exactly one and the same. And then he was forced to accept two more things through this experience. One is grace. Unless there is grace of the Saguna Brahman, Divine Mother, there is not going to be any progress in spiritual life. What is the second thing? He was not a bhakta at all. Now he became a bhakta. That is these changes. The next change that came was Bhairavi Brahmani. Such a tremendous ritual personality. She was the person who recognized Ramakrishna as an incarnation of God. But there was one thing lurking deep within the depths of her unconscious mind. You know what is that? Jealousy. So of all the things, nobody can be jealous of Holy Mother. Do you know why? Why? Because she is what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, humbler than a blade of grass. Absolutely. That's why somebody asked. I narrated it in my reminiscences classes, day retreat classes. A disciple of Holy Mother was asked, Maharaj, what are the greatest quality you have seen in Holy Mother? He said, there are two. He said, Nirabhimanata. Absolutely no egotism. Anybody can scold her. She will take it smilingly. Then what is the second one? Absence of desire. Absolutely she had no desire at all. Even Sri Ramakrishna had sometimes desires, you know. During his last days, he wanted to eat amlaki. Holy Mother never expressed any such things. If it comes, okay. If it doesn't come, that is fine. Who can be jealous of Holy Mother? Jealousy comes only when somebody is competing with you. Would you compete, you know, would you become jealous of? Look at an earthworm or a cockroach for example. Then say, I am very jealous of you. Do you think anybody can be jealous of an earthworm? And yet this lady took it into her mind that Sri Ramakrishna, he is sharing his love and respect for her with Holy Mother and others. But she was a great soul. We should never forget because what is the what is the proof of greatness, do you know? The moment that fact became evident, instantaneously there is a change. Totapuri got angry and Sri Ramakrishna pointed out. You remember that incident? He got very angry and then Sri Ramakrishna started rolling on the ground with laughter and he did not understand. Why are you laughing? He said, so I am looking at the extent of your knowledge of Brahman. Just now you are talking everything is Brahman and somebody came and took a little bit of fire from your sacred Dhuni and you are about to kill him. I never recognized that such a thing was even existing in me. This is Mahamaya. Then he said, from today I will never become angry and from that day nobody had ever seen him angry. That is the sign of only greatness can do. Otherwise it will be like this fellow from Andhra Pradesh. He went on a pilgrimage. In India, you know, we have this idea, tradition whenever we go to a place of pilgrimage and come back, we have to give up something something either a bad quality or that which we like very much. So this fellow went on a pilgrimage. He was very short-tempered person. He came back. His friends asked him, what have you given up? He said, I have given up being short-tempered. They said, no, we don't believe you. I don't think you are. No, no, I am telling you I have given up. No, no, I don't believe. I am telling you. It will become like that. From Totapuri, once he realized, once he said in iron will, never again anybody had seen him angry. Incidentally, anger is, you know, you have to accept all these things. In everybody, she is in the form of anger, kama, form of kama, in the form of krodha, lobha, moha, madha, masariya. Who is that? It is all mother. Why is it? Because they are all wonderful qualities provided the motive, the object, the goal is proper. You become angry on those people who are bad people, wicked people, doing harm to other people, country, etc. That is very good. You want to become a miserly fellow? So lobha, yes, you try to acquire the wealth. Wealth of what? Good qualities. So, so many things. You be jealous. Jealous of somebody. Why that person is doing more japa than me? I will do more, even more japa than him. That is good. So be jealous of, for a good purpose, for a good cause. Change your character. All these qualities are very good provided their objective is good. But they are very bad qualities provided their object is worldly object. Then it will degrade us. This is the simple explanation. Swami Vivekananda, the great Swami Vivekananda, what change has been brought by Swami, by Shri Ramakrishna. Even though he was dhyana siddha, he had a lot to learn and what was that Shri Ramakrishna had brought about a change? You all know. What was the change he brought? He never accepted the mother and in fact he did not even accept the impersonal. Shri Ramakrishna had to make him because he understood you come from the realm of the impersonal, akhanda rajya, but being temporarily influenced by brahma samaj. So he was worshipping personal God, but without name and form, with qualities. Nirakara. These brahma samaj people, Shri Ramakrishna used to make fun. Say even a six-year-old brahma samaj, what is he meditating upon? Nirakara Brahma. Oh my God! And Swami Vivekananda was like that. You know that incident, he brought Ashtavakra Samhita and then said you read. Oh these are blasphemy. I am God. This is a blasphemy. Ramakrishna said I am not asking you for your sake. I want to listen. What a superb psychiatrist you know. If you are reading for somebody, what do you think? Is it going inside you or not? That is how Swami Vivekananda slowly developed that taste, but that's not important point. Important point is, first point is, he didn't want to do anything for the world. He wanted only to get immersed in Samadhi. That was a long-standing samskara. But Shri Ramakrishna brought him for what? For serving this world, Divine Mother. Here he had to be made a slave of the Divine Mother. That is why you know he had to go through a lot of pain and Shri Ramakrishna on one Tuesday evening sent him to the Divine Mother's room. You know all the drama that had taken place. So that was the conversion. Not only that conversion, so many things Ramakrishna had done. I am just giving a sample example. Swami Ramakrishnananda, Shashi Maharaj. So he came to Shri Ramakrishna. He was living with Shri Ramakrishna. He was serving Shri Ramakrishna, but there was one weakness. He was very extremely fond of Persian language, Persian books. He was very fond of mathematical books also. Shri Ramakrishna, one day he called him and Swami Ramakrishnananda was within the earshot, but he did not hear. He was here, but he did not hear. Shri Ramakrishna called him twice and said, what are you doing? Oh sir, I am absorbed in reading a Persian book. He said, have you come here to realize God? These are not his exact words. Have you come here to realize God or have you come here to improve your Persian language, linguistic skill? That was enough because they were great souls. That very second, he bundled all his Persian books and then threw them in the Ganges. Lot of other changes have come, but this was one of the changes. Swami Yogananda, you know that example. One day he was coming to Dakshineswar by a boat. Some people criticized Shri Ramakrishna and he didn't say anything. What was his thought? Oh, these are all ignorant people. What do they know about Shri Ramakrishna? I should not care for this criticism. It is true, you should not care for criticism, but at the same time, is it because you are weak or is it because you are so strong? That's an important point. So he came and reported to Shri Ramakrishna, what did you do? I didn't do anything. Shri Ramakrishna, instantaneously the danda had come. Your guru was being criticized. What the scriptures tell, either finish them or run away from them and he could not run away because probably he did not know swimming. I don't know. I don't know whether he knew swimming, but anyway he didn't jump into the Ganges. So Shri Ramakrishna corrected. What was his problem? Weakness he took as a spiritual quality. Same incident happened with Swami Niranjanananda. Then Niranjanananda, you know, he didn't care. What was his problem? His misplaced self-confidence. Ramakrishna thoroughly scolded him and said, what is that to you if somebody scolds me and you are about to finish off so many innocent people. What about the boatman? What did he do to you? So if the boat gets overturned, what does the boatman do? You know, very sweet incident was there in the life of Rama. This is not there in the Ramayana. This is what the Harikatha people tell us. So Rama was to be carried across the Ganges by Guha, his friend. And then Rama requested Guha, friend, you take us across me and Lakshmana. So Guha said, yes, I will do that, but there is a problem. What is the problem? It is a problem with your feet. So it has to be washed thoroughly. Rama pretended, you know, not to know why. Why do you want to wash my feet? They are quite clean. He said, no, no, I heard legends that your feet touched a stone and it turned into a woman. If my boat turns into a woman, then I have double problem, you know. One problem is I lose my boat and second problem is I have a second wife to maintain. So let me thoroughly wash so that even one speck of dust will not be there. With that excuse, he washed Rama's feet. Now here, what is this? What is this we are talking about? Misplaced self-confidence. So Ramakrishna told, what did the boatman do? You have no right to destroy him. One person might have criticized, two people might have criticized, all the people in the boat did not criticize you. So we have to be very careful because this incident has to give us a lot of food for thinking. What is the food for thinking? I'll give you some examples. Supposing there is a fellow and he does something harmful to you. How would you treat that incident? Would you say this person is a wicked person? I'll say the whole family is like that only. The whole family is like that. Suppose one sadhu misbehaved in an ashrama and people came to know about it. What do you think they will do? The whole, all ashramas, all babas, all sadhus, everybody is a rogue. You know the general tendency is there. As though everybody is like that. How many bad people are there? You come across a Muslim. What do you think? Your opinion only. Would you wholeheartedly, openheartedly, would you go on talking to him and very cautiously only where political incorrectness would not creep in, will you talk to that person like that? Now if I take a vote here itself, what's your opinion about Muslims in general? I'm sure I'll get more, I'm being very generous. More than 50 percent of us will say they are all potential terrorists. Yeah. Is this right? Yes. How many Muslims are there in this world? Billions, more than 1 billion. Of those Muslims, how many are really even thinking remotely about these things? Very, very few. It is only for the sake of few individuals, so many other people will get the blame. Do you follow what I'm talking about? So much of generalization we do, people and not only that, even in the same person. Do you think that the person whom we call wicked is wicked person in every respect? He doesn't have any good habit at all? Every person will have some quality which we ourselves do not possess. Is it not correct? So what should a spiritual person do? You should always say, okay this is not a good quality but there are other many good qualities. When do you think we are going to become really spiritual? What is proof of spiritual progress? Gradual change. Change in our mind, change in our outlook. So what is this change that should come? Whenever we look at somebody, how do I should we look upon that person? If we want to be spiritual really, frankly, what do you think a person, a spiritual sadhaka should do? He should look upon everybody as what? Every man as Rama, every woman as Sita. Is it not a fact? If somebody says, no, no that is not correct. Do you think you will accept him as a spiritual person? I can see God in my image. I can see God in a photo. I can see God in a temple somewhere. But if I can't see the same thing in other human beings, why only human beings? Even animals, even insects, even trees, even rocks. Why? They are all contributing for our greatness. No, I will slightly deviate. Hinduism is nothing but practicing five Maha Yagna. You know that. Pancha Maha Yagna. You know that. We are indebted to our Rishis and then Gods and Goddesses and then our ancestors and all human beings. There are the four. What is the last one? What is the last one? All non-Bhuta Yagna. It is called Bhuta Yagna. What is Bhuta Yagna? Means anything other than non-human. Living or non-living. A river, a mountain and anything. Everything is sacred. Bhoomi is sacred. Everything is sacred and it is to bring about that sacredness that we have to practice spirituality. I brought this subject is what is spiritual progress? The more we succeed in performing this Pancha Maha Yagna, the more we become progressive spiritually. In fact, we are all indebted. In a way of speaking, indirectly. When we do Arati, how many items? How many items we do Arati? Five items. What are those five items representative of? Five elements. You can also take it perhaps in a slightly Pancha Maha Yagna. Oh Lord, I am indebted to you in this way. I am getting rid of the debt. I am getting rid of that. See, that is how we progress in spiritual life. Coming back, we are discussing examples of how Sri Ramakrishna brought about desirable changes in his, even in his Guru and in his disciples also. Two Gurus we mentioned, Totapuri and Bhairavi Brahmani. Now, G.C. Girish Chandra Ghosh. What was his problem? What was the non-mindfulness? What was his problem? Non-mindfulness. Sri Ramakrishna asked him, you gave me your power of attorney and Girish Chandra Ghosh gladly gave. But he did not think enough to think that if I offer my power of attorney, I cannot now, I can never say I will do this. Sri Ramakrishna overheard one day. What did he hear? Girish Chandra Ghosh was saying, I will do this. Then immediately Sri Ramakrishna heard it and then came down sledgehammer. He said, oh Girish, should you say I will do it? You have to say if God wills, it may be done. Immediately, he was intelligent person. He understood. He said, yes sir, from now onwards I will try not to do that. Then he said, oh with every breath, every breath that comes out, I have to remember I am breathing in by the grace of God. I am breathing out by the grace of that is mindfulness. And what do you think that we need not do? It is only for Girish Chandra Ghosh. What should we do when you are sitting here? What should you do? Listen to what is being spoken and what should be my problem? I have to be mindful how I am talking about, whether I am making any sense. First to myself and also next to all of you. Okay, Girish Chandra Ghosh. What was the change he brought? Mindfulness, Vipassana. The next example is Ramadatta and Balrambha Sutra. What were their common problem? Both are devotees. Both have some common quality. What was that quality? Miserliness. Both were miserly. How beautifully Ramakrishna brought about. I am telling you, I am enjoying this, you know. You know about Balrambha Sutra, Ramakrishna remarked, you know Balrambha Sutra's policy that you bring your own drums and you play your own drums and you dance yourself. Don't ask me to arrange for all those things. But he became changed, totally changed into the most generous person later on. No, Ram Janaratha, he was a miserly person and this is what happened. One day, so many devotees were sitting at Dakshineshwar. Ram Janaratha was there. Ramakrishna, highly praising, you know, Ram is this, Ram is that. 150 qualities, whether they are there or not, he was going on telling. And then, Ram, you know, how generous he is. He loves to feed the devotees. And what do you say, Ram? And if he excited, we will all come to your house and then you arrange good feast. Now, after being praised so much, if he doesn't come up to the mark, then that day, he really prepared the best of things and fed the devotees including, of course, Ramakrishna. They enjoyed it first time and then something remarkable change had happened. He spent money but how much joy he got in feeding sadhus and devotees and would-be devotees and all those people, he understood. Oh, there is so much joy in sharing, in giving away. And from that day, without any prompt from Ramakrishna, he himself was inviting everybody. A thorough transformation. How Ramakrishna brought about this. After that, he became, you know, not only he used to invite, he became manager. Anywhere, anybody invites. From that time onwards, other devotees also, they got the hint and they started inviting Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramakrishna brought transformation in their lives also. Because that idea, these are all devotees of God. What does that mean? Devotees of God means, they are, when I am feeding a devotee of God, whom am I feeding? A devotee or a God. I am feeding God himself. When that knowledge comes, what can you withhold? Does a mother withhold anything from the child? That was the change brought about. Then, we also have to bring about a change in our outlook. We have to bring about a total transformation in our outlook. That's why I also had discussed this point but I am bringing it. What is the change? Everything happens by the will of God. We sing the song. I will give you first examples from Sri Ramakrishna's life. One day, soon after the Dakshineswar Kali temple was constructed, one day some visitors came and they were really impressed by the temple and they happened to remark, Oh! Rani Rasmani had built a most wonderful temple for mother. Sri Ramakrishna overheard it and what was his instantaneous remark, statement? Nobody says that this temple has come by the will of the Divine Mother. Then, on some other occasion, I don't remember very clearly but it is about Brahma Samaj. Brahma Samaj. Who founded the Brahma Samaj? Who established the Brahma Samaj? Who? It came by the will of the Divine Mother. I am coming to the very hard point. These are examples I am giving. Third, why Ishwarachandra Vidyasagar had lost his faith in God. You know the incident. He heard in history that Genghis Khan had killed, slaughtered 100,000 people. That was a very good amount of number in those days. It is there in the history. He killed in fact millions and in those days when population was small, those millions accounted to a good chunk of the population. Now, when Ishwarachandra Vidyasagar, he had faith, so-called faith in God and as soon as he read that, he lost faith in God. What was the reason? Reason is, what was God doing when 100,000 so-called, brackets, innocent people have been mercilessly slaughtered? Why did not God do something? Is that problem only in those days or is it a problem even today? Okay, these are the three examples. Kali temple, Brahmo Samaj, the incident of the Genghis Khan. Now, I am reminding you. This ISIS, you know ISIS, by whose will has it come into? Don't go on telling some fanatical, cruel. Muslims have brought about. If you are a devotee, that would be totally you are out of order. By whose will? By God's will. And when British people occupied India, by whose will? When Chinese people occupied Tibet and slaughtered thousands of Buddhist monks, by whose will? I can tell you a lot of reasons later on. I don't want to go into that. But what I'm trying to tell you is, from a devotee's point of view, there must be a change in the outlook. Everything should be the will of God. Recently, you know, 130 people were murdered in Paris, France. What should be a devotee's outlook? By whose will has it happened? You may nod your head at what I am saying, but you have to be convinced. But this should not bring the other type of reaction. What is the reaction? Oh, it has happened by God's will, so I need not do anything. No, you have to accept it as the will of God. At the same time, you also have to accept that it is your duty to do some good. I will just point out two instances. Arjuna thought, I am going to be a sinner. You know, how many Akshauhinis? You can say, how many lakhs of people had died in Kurukshetra war? How many? 18. 18 Akshauhinis have been slaughtered. Only few people remain. By whose will? Arjuna thought, it is my will. I'm telling you, Gita. What is my will? I am trying, I am going to kill them, so who will get sin of killing them? I will get. Is it right that I incur sin killing great people like Bhishma, Drona and others? The funniest part is Krishna should have told, but they are quite willing to slaughter you. But you are misarguing with yourself. You are totally deluded. You are thinking that I am a very compassionate person. I don't want to do. It is even good to live by bhiksha and not to come into this war and all those things. Then, you know, he convinced. But the real conviction came in the 11th chapter. What did he say? He says, I am Kala. I am time. I am the destroyer, all destroyer. Even if you were not born, all these people, I have already finished them long back. So, who created Kurukshetra war? Who was responsible? How many people? Rama killed. In Rama-Ramana Yuddha, how many people? 14,000 Rakshasas have been killed. Who killed? Rama. By whose will was it killed? Rama's will or Ramana's will or what? Rama's will. We, in front of us, so many examples galore are there and still we are persisting in thinking, so this ISIS is bad, this is bad, the other thing is bad, bad. No. If something good happens, by whose will? By his will. If something evil happens, by whose will? By his will only. I am the mother of the good. I am the mother of the wicked. The wicked were born also by the mother's will only. So, the devotee's outlook has to be changed totally. Again, to summarize what we had discussed today, and it's such a wonderful thing, what is spiritual life? To bring about a change. A change always for the better. A change from a lower state to a higher state. And this change takes place in three steps, so logical, rational. What are those steps? The first step is there are very many undesirable samskaras and a few desirable samskaras, because every man or woman is a person consisting of both daivi and asuric qualities, daiva, asura, sampati. No man is totally demonic, no man is totally, at the same time, godly. We all have got a spiritual aspirant. His first step is to recognize what qualities he had to get rid of and what qualities he should acquire. What is that parinama called? Nirodha parinama. That means, nirodha means the capacity to destroy undesirable samskaras and to develop desirable samskaras. Now, there are, as I mentioned, very important fact, nobody can develop a single good quality. It all comes in a group, double. That's why Ramakrishna used to say, you pull that one salmi saag and the whole gushti will come. All the relatives, distant, three times removed cousins, everybody will come out, good or bad. So, we have to develop a cluster of related good qualities, then only it is possible. Okay, all qualities are good. The qualities belong to the body-mind. But our aim is to go to God and when we want to go to God, all the qualities have to be left behind. And then, what is the change we need to bring? Ekagrata parinama. What is that ekagrata? No quality. No. Only one thought. What is that thought? I want God. I don't want anything else. I want God. I want God. I want God. That is called ekagrata parinama. When we succeed and reach the very peak of this ekagrata parinama and that state is called sampragnata samadhi. Even that desire is the ultimate thorn. It is a thorn. Why is it a thorn? Because if anybody says, what do you want? You ask a person. I want to be me. What do you want? I want to be me. I want myself. If anybody says, I want myself, how foolish that fellow is. When is he not himself? He is always himself for me. So, I want God means what? I want myself. I want my real self. So, the last thought also has to be removed. When does that thought get removed? When you say, why am I telling this? What I am seeking through so many words, it is my own self. But as I mentioned many times, that change cannot be brought about by us. We can bring a change only. I want nothing but God. After that, we can bring change. After that, it depends upon the grace of and that's what happened in Sri Ramakrishna's life and that's going to happen in anybody's life. Whether he's a jnani or he's a bhakta, yogi, karmi, that is what is going to happen. But until that time, oh God will do everything. I will not do anything. That is a lazy man's religion. That is not going to happen. So, let us bring about these three changes and when we succeed really to that state and something miraculous happens, then God will come and say, look you and me are one and the same. What does the Guru say? Tattvam asi. What does the disciple, how does the disciple reply? Aham brahmahasmi. Om shanti shanti shanti.