Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 096 on 26-September-2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

Sunday, April 9, 1882. Sri Ramakrishna was seated with his devotees in the drawing room of Pranakrishna Mukherjee's house in Calcutta. It was between one and two o'clock in the afternoon. The topic was what is the benefit of holy company. Sri Ramakrishna's first commandment is God Realization is the only goal of life. But what is the way? So the second commandment always cultivate holy company. And this is what Sri Ramakrishna was emphasizing and will be emphasizing again and again. So what do we get? What is the benefit we get from the holy company? Sri Ramakrishna used to give many many examples observed from village life in those days. Nowadays when we try to find out it by reading those examples, sometimes we find it because living in cities, rarely we get such sights that was in everyday, common day, common affair everyday in every village. For example, how careful one has to be while living in this world. Sri Ramakrishna gives in those days, people practically every household used to husk their grain. So they cultivate or buy and bring the rice with husk, paddy and then everybody will have. I used to see in my village practically everybody has got for many things, for masala powder, chilli powder, husking grains, etc. So there would be a woman who has the business of selling also, husking and selling. And continuously she is engaged in husking, tea paddy. But sometimes even in those days they have invented some mechanical things. So it is previously somebody, a second person used to put one big iron rod, but later on they made it a bit mechanical. Sri Ramakrishna observed it and he is telling all of us how careful this woman is. 99% of her mind is on her hand because she has continuously shifted the paddy from one side to the other side. And every time if this iron rod, anytime if it falls upon her hands, then injury will be there, severe injury will be there and she won't be able to do it. But at the same time she is talking with the customers, bargaining with them and scolding somebody, you have not given for the last few times, you have been promising, now you must give and you owe me so much, everything in her head. So she is doing and at the same time maybe she has got a baby and she is suckling the baby, multitasking. But all the time most of her mind is on her hand lest a puzzle can come and injure her. What a marvellous example we are seeing this. Like this many kinds of examples are there. Then somebody told him that there was a popular saying also that when a wasp stings a small insect, this is called Kirta Brahmara Nyaya. Then it is so painful for the worm, the worm itself will turn into a butterfly. So immediately Shri Ram Krishna finds out, this is not a scientific fact but if we casually observe it, then we can see that there is something there and it is strung and then it becomes immobile and after some time many many butterflies will come out, baby wasps will come out etc. So what is it? By continuously being in the holy company, one must become holy. There is no choice and that is what we are seeing in our day to day life. I will give you only one example. There are so many newspapers, news channels nowadays and because of the presentation, because of the beauty of the person who is presenting, some kind of magnetism attraction, we are likely to be addicted to see one particular channel and then go on listening to that person. After some time we lose all power of discrimination. Even the capacity to enquire is what she is telling. Is it a fact? Is it true? Or is it her own honest interpretation? Or is it a twisted interpretation? She has got some selfishness, some motive. Then my party should appear in a better light etc. And people go on thinking this is what is called Paramaveda. This is gospel truth as they call it. And then our opinions, our hatreds, our friendship, our admiration, this is how we are caught. In the household also, this is how we are caught. This is my son. If only we knew what this fellow's son has done in the past life to us or what we did to that son in the past life. Why is he born? So something we have done wrong. And then when we come back, now karma phala has to be exhausted. So maybe that person whom we have tortured has now taken birth in our own family because very peculiar something happens. If somebody is torturing us from the neighborhood, we can protest, we can quarrel, we can beat. But if our own children, now our tongues are completely tied because of what we call attachment. And at the same time, a person will be torturing us. How many ways, how many billions of people are suffering? Either one way or the other. Especially so many young people are addicted to drinks, to drugs. In my own life, I have seen so many. Our own devotees, children, they have no devotion. They are addicted to something very bad. Now the agony that the parents go through, it must be due to karma phala only. So this is what Sri Ramakrishna is telling. What does holy company do? We become holy. Just as in the company of a wasp, an insect is turned into a wasp. That is one type of example. Then by the company of people, all the time, how much we are influenced. If somebody whom we love goes on telling, many times what happens is even at the beginning, we may have discrimination. Later on, while go on reading or listening, etc. We take it for granted that person is telling the truth and we come to believe that is the truth. So much after going on eating everyday bitter things, even bitter things also, we develop an attachment, a taste. That is what Sri Ramakrishna wants to tell. It helps one cultivate discrimination between the real and the unreal. In the past also, we have seen what is discrimination. One of the very first qualities a person has to acquire in order to progress in life, secular or spiritual, worldly or spiritual life, is called discrimination. What is discrimination? What is desirable? What is not desirable? What is not only not desirable, what is most harmful? That sense of separating one from the other is the very first step, first condition to be happy in this world. Even if we want to be healthy, we have to find out. This kind of lifestyle is not good for us. This type of food is not good for us. This quantity is more than enough for me, etc. So, the discrimination between the real and the unreal. What is real? Sri Ramakrishna said many times, God alone is real. Everything else is unreal. Now, what does Sri Ramakrishna mean? Real and unreal. Whatever we are experiencing in this world is very real. Why? How do we know what is real? There must be a definition. Supposing somebody shows you a plastic cobra. And then you can see clearly, it looks like a cobra. And it may even move and hiss and unfurl its hood through some mechanism. But we know it doesn't have life. It doesn't have poison. It becomes a wonderful plaything. In our childhood, we used to play with a kind of plastic or rubber material. So, it has a string. And when we try to pull that string, this snake-like thing, it wriggles and moves. So, that is a great fun for us. I am the master of the snake. I am not frightened of the snake, etc. So, when we come to know that this is a plastic snake, we are not frightened. We don't react. But when we see any snake, it may be a water snake, it is not at all poisonous. There are so many snakes which are not poisonous at all. But we don't know the discrimination, poisonous or not. Many creatures get frightened. Even animals get frightened. By experience, even though they might not have experience, somehow from their parents, they get this instinctual fear. But when we see a real snake, automatically we react. So, our reaction tells us what we consider to be real. Because we will never react to something what we think we know as unreal. So, do we know anything about God? No. Do we know anything about the world? Sadly, the answer is no. We see the world. We are in the world. We are the world. Our body is the world. Our mind is the world. Every day we are either happy, that is the world, or unhappy, that is the world. But we think it is real. What does the scripture say? God alone is real. And this world is unreal. That is our greatest problem. I am living in this world and that I consider as real world because I am reacting and reacting to this world. How dare this scripture come and tell? For that, the scripture gives one particular example to make us understand what is the definition of reality. Sathyam. Whatever never changes, there is no time. Changelessness means time. Changefulness means time. Changelessness is beyond time. Timelessness. Whatever is changing is time. How can something be real? That which is changing all the time and every millisecond, everything is changing. The object is changing. Correspondingly, the subject is also changing. But how do we know? We have no idea about the reality. So we think. No, we also have a reality, an experience of reality. We may not call it God. What are we talking about? So our body, our mind, everything is changing. We were babies. We were adolescents. We were youth, middle-aged people. Most of the people who attend the classes are only aged people. Young people are very rare. Unless they are forced to attend, they don't usually attend. So sometimes babies attend because the mothers bring along with them. So we have got two I. I means Aham. Two types of Aham is there. One is Aham. Another is Ahamkara. A crystal clear understanding of the difference between Aham and Ahamkara. What is Ahamkara? I was a child. So when I was a child, I say I am a child. When I am youth, I say I am youth. But when I am old, I say I am old. So identification at any particular age, that is called Ahamkara. What is Aham? That is a Sakshi, witness. Yes, yes. Somebody shows a photograph of our babyhood, our youth, our middle age. We ourselves have many. Oh, that was me. That was me. That was me. So that which says in spite of all the differences in the photographs, baby's photograph, adolescent photograph, you young photograph, middle aged photograph, none of them are equal, but all of them, that is what I am. When we say this, then that is called Aham. Why? It is a witness. It is telling, recognizing, I am this. But at the same time, not identifying. Identification factor is Ahamkara. Witnessing factor is called Aham. So that Aham never changes. Sakshi never changes. Another word we use for that is called God. Many times I told, just recollection, because we are studying the Gospel. How long should we study Gospel? Until we realize God, then it is like a boat. How long should we be in the boat? Until we reach our destination. After that, we have to give it up. We should not be in the boat any longer. So, to identify with Aham, Shri Ramakrishna explains in many ways, live like a maid servant in a rich man's house. Even though the person moves from room to room, even though the person may eat the same type of food, maybe at the end, but she knows inside, or a servant knows inside his heart, I am only a worker. I have got my own home. Only in working time, I am here. Many women, practically their whole life, they stay in some households. Only occasionally, they take a few days leave and go home. Like that, we can see all the time. So, this is what is called discrimination. And that Sakshi Aham, that is called God here. And this scripture is also telling. So, that which is changing is unreal. That which never changes, that is real. That is what Shri Ramakrishna wants to tell us. God alone is real. That is to say, the eternal substance. And the world is unreal. That is to say, transitory or temporary. As soon as a man finds his mind wandering away to the unreal, he should apply discrimination. The moment an elephant stretches out its trunk to eat a plantain tree in a neighbor's garden, it gets a blow from the iron goad of the driver. Very funny example. Because if anybody has got, maybe most of us do not have elephants, but we have got sometimes cows, sometimes buffaloes. What do we do? The moment any cow stretches out its mouth to eat plantain or any fruit from the neighbor's garden, we just look away. But if the same cow stretches to do the same thing in our garden, we give it a blow. This is ungentlemanly behavior. This is what is being said here. Shri Ramakrishna is telling the opposite. A good man never allows anything to be done, any unjustified act to be done to others because the person is highly truthful. And Shri Ramakrishna is also connecting. A person who is not truthful can never be practicing discrimination. It is impossible. So this is one of the benefits of holy company. And Shri Ramakrishna used to tell, holy company specially means company of one's own Guru. And Shri Ramakrishna had observed many times. In the olden times, there will be what we call a carpenter who teaches his own children or somebody who is from the neighbor. And an Ayurvedic physician, he will be passing his secrets to his family or sometimes to some others also. So there was a person who can trade in threads. And the threads are counted 38, 39, 40, 41. The distinction between them is extremely subtle. So Shri Ramakrishna used to give that example that after living many, many years, a person acquires that power. This is the 40 number thread. This is 41 number thread. Similarly, a person wants to learn Ayurvedic medicine and he becomes a novice under somebody. And then the master teaches him how to feel the pulse. The pulse of phlegm, pulse of Kapha, Vata, Pitta, everything is totally different because there are, there were, especially expert Ayurvedic physicians by just taking the pulse, they can, it is said, even predict whether the patient is going to recover or not. So continuous, constant, holy company is necessary as we discussed many times. Holy company doesn't mean only person. It could be a book. It could be a talk like our Gospel of Shri Ramakrishna. It could be a holy place. It could be any incident in life, especially tragic incidents in life. They are the greatest holy company and tragedies happen everywhere. That should remind us that this is common. If I am in Samsara, this is going to happen all the time. And now comes the second most important point. This question practically every day rises up in our mind. What is the subject? Explanation of evil. Why is this? Rarely people ask about God. Only few times they ask. But they also have doubt about God because if God is real, why should there be evil in this world? Not understanding the very nature of this world is it consists of duality, heat and cold, good and evil, victory and defeat, respect and humiliation, victory and defeat, life and death. Everything comes only male and female in pair and absence of the knowledge of one will be absence of the knowledge of the other also. If we don't know what is cold, we will never know what is called heat also. So here is a neighbor is asking and why do we ask? When do we remember God? There is a popular saying Sankata Kaale Venkata Ramana So many times we have to ask the question how come that I am happy? What brought me this happiness? That should be the real question because we should be humble enough to say I did not deserve it but I got it so somebody must be very kind to me. But at least if not that we should ask both times. But usually we ask the question why am I suffering? Nobody asks the question why am I so happy? What right God has got to do to make me so happy? Excepting perhaps people like Kunti Devi she says O Lord that always you surround us with problems, hardship, suffering. Why? Because we remember God only at times of suffering. So here is the question why does a man have sinful tendencies? A useless type of question really speaking. Why did this fellow has a habit of reading books? Why is he reading? Why has he got the habit of? What do you mean by habit? Habit means what? A person goes on doing, repeating the same thing again and again and again that becomes a habit. So tendency is what we call in Vedanta Samskaras. Whether they are good Samskaras or evil Samskaras Samskara is something which we develop through repeated experience. That is why South Indians like South Indian food. Why do they like? Because they have been repeating that experience ever since they were in the womb of the mother. I don't know if a mother eats Masala Vada whether the child also gets a little bit of taste of it gets addicted. Probably not. But whatever we are habituated from the childhood that seems to be what gives us pleasure actually. So many points many times I had discussed also you have to do a lot of Mananam also. I know you do Shravanam but whether you are doing Mananam that is a point we have to also keep in mind. So we are there sinful tendencies. Simple answer is the man had assiduously consciously and cultivated them through many many a life stealing, telling lies cheating others etc. etc. So Shri Ram Krishna is replying in God's creation there are all sorts of things. He has created bad men as well as good men. This is the greatness of Vedanta. Hinduism Hindu Dharma at first glance reading it may not appear to be anything strange. God created everybody. But if you go to other religions says who created evil? Saturn created. But they don't ask further question. Who created Saturn? Because there cannot be two Gods. One is the creator of good and another is the creator of evil. According to Hinduism everything whether it is good person, bad person whether they are Gods or demons Devas, Asuras, Rakshasas Chinese President Hitler and so many other people you see the newspapers distort our opinion. Most of the people in the West leaders especially they are they are when we were children we used to read Chandra Mama stories Rakshasas come kidnap people and sometimes eat them up sometimes imprison them etc. So these are the people really great good political leader is rarely available. Perhaps once in a while like Abraham Lincoln may be available like Mahatma Gandhi may be available but rarely. But what happens there are some people who have got this what is called propaganda machines like newspapers and these people are the masters and they twist everybody's mind we are democratic people we are very good people we want justice we don't want inequality what is happening in their own backyard they completely neglect democracy is going on all the time practically all over the world but if any country is trying to do its best to bring about true democracy then everybody becomes its enemies probably out of jealousy when I am not able to do this how are you able to do this anyway who created good people only God who creates evil people only God now the wonderful thing is we have to distinguish between person and quality person is not quality quality is not a person but they come together for example there is a beautiful saying that every sinner is a future saint and every saint was a sinner in the past something like that so nobody has ever fallen from the sky either as a saint or as a sinner very very important for all of us to understand this so who created God but as we have been discussing in Aitareya Upanishad and other Upanishads what is this creation it is not I or you or anybody God only is manifesting as each one of us we as separated from God as distinguished from God we do not have any existence at all but such is the Mahamaya as if God has forgotten and thinking himself as a human being I am separate from God so it is God only who has created a good man as well bad man now that is where the doubts come let me read a little bit it is he who gives us good tendencies and it is he again who gives us evil tendencies another doubt will come and that doubt is being expressed by the same person who put that first question why does a man have sinful tendencies and he should have put the question why does a man have good tendencies meritorious tendencies punya samskaras so the neighbor is asking in that case we are not responsible for our sinful actions are we? he is telling if God has planted in us then I am helplessly being carried, influenced acting as Duryodhana had said very interesting case we all know Mahabharata and Kurukshetra was over 18th day Duryodhana was lying with his thighs broken and somebody went and asked him oh prince you are a very intelligent person I know super intelligent you knew even before if I continue like this inevitably inevitably there would be a war and in that war I am going to be destroyed you knew it did you not of course the way I am presenting is not the Mahabharata but this is what has happened and then Duryodhana seemed to have replied yes I knew it then why did you not stop because you are courting your own destruction and Duryodhana was supposed to reply whether he replied or somebody is putting those words in his mouth is not important important thing is it is a tremendous lesson for all of us he said I know what is right what is Dharma I have no inclination to put it into practice Janami Adharma similarly I know what is Adharma I have no will power to resist then he adds as if somebody is sitting in the heart of in my heart and making me do even though I am helplessly witnessing that this is all happening that is not true a great world of wisdom but what good does it do because God also has given some freedom to us to act not only he gave us the power of discrimination he also gave us the power either to go along with it or not to go along with it that is called will power and we can develop that will power and if we don't do we are going to either enjoy or suffer because if we do something good the inevitable result will be Sukham Punya gives Sukham and Papa gives unhappiness in fact many times I told you we go to the extent of defining what is Punyam and Papam Punyam doesn't give Papam doesn't give Punyam is the ability to squeeze happiness even under the most unfortunate circumstances Papam is the marvelous felicity to squeeze unhappiness from even the best circumstances a person is lying on a water bed and not getting sleep at all so who gives us these evil tendencies then God is responsible so Ram Krishna's beautiful reply sin begets its own result this is again God's law won't you burn your tongue if you chew a chilli in his youth Madhur led a rather fast life so he suffered from various diseases before his death very interesting case those who studied the life of Sairam Krishna knows Madhur Babu looked upon Sairam Krishna as his own chosen deity Mother Kali this is a contradiction which is so difficult for us to understand at the same time he was addicted to women not only that he used to take his Ishta Devata also along with him to the prostitute's house Baba I have got some urgent work to finish you wait and then he will go into the house after half an hour or 45 minutes he will come back and says my work is done let us go that means what even the very presence of the Ishta Devata doesn't prevent because because of what evil tendencies, sinful tendencies strong negative samskaras are so very difficult but not impossible that is why in the 6th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna says that it is very very difficult to control this mind as difficult as catching hold of the air and then Bhagavan Krishna also sympathizes and then he agrees with Arjuna and he says yes you are absolutely right it is very true but there is something called Abhyasa and Vairagya Abhyasa na to kaunteya Vairagya na chagrahyate it is possible because as my mother used to tell if you have rolled multicolored thread into a ball and you want to get one particular colored thread now you will have to unroll everything so evil tendencies have to be overcome by good tendencies that's why it takes time so this is what Ramakrishna is trying to tell that God has created no doubt but God also has given you the power of discrimination and he doesn't mean that that power should be kept in a box and worshipped it is not supposed to be rusty you are supposed to use it, discrimination that is very important so that is what he is trying to tell one may not realize this in youth, I have looked into the hearth in the kitchen of the Kali temple and logs are being burnt at first the wet wood burns rather well, it doesn't seem then that it contains much moisture, but when the wood is sufficiently burnt all the moisture runs back to one end at last water squirts from the fuel and puts out the fire, so one should be careful about anger, passion and greed and many other things but this is very very interesting Ramakrishna's word exact translation from the Bhagavad Gita Kama, Krodha and Lobha that is what exactly Ramakrishna is expressing, anger passion is Kama anger is Krodha and Lobha means greed take for instance the case of Hanuman, Ramakrishna always quotes with examples take the case of Hanuman, Shri Rama sent Hanuman in search of Sita so he went there, he saw in the Sri Lanka and then he consoled Sita, said mother I have got tremendous hunger after all crossing fourteen kilometers flying and fighting with so many Rakshasas, Rakshasis it was a very really set breaking work, so I am very hungry and she went on prolonging the conversation instead of asking whether you have eaten or not at last then he asked permission, can I eat some fruits from here she probably did not understand a small monkey, a few fruits will do and then he grew to his enormous length and started breaking and swallowing and eating everything and then there was a fight and then Ramanasura sent people at last, nobody could subdue him, at last Indrajith, Ramanasura's son, he conquered Indra, he pleased Brahma through Tapasya, even Rakshasas do Tapasya Tapasya means extraordinary concentration of so and he obtained even Brahmastra Brahmasastra cannot bind me but because it is Brahmastra belonging to Brahma so it will just bind you for a moment, touches, binds you then it becomes powerless then Hanuman was carried and then he insulted Ramanasura by creating his own Simhasana by his tail and then abused him in so many ways and unwarranted advice he gave to Ramanasura and then Ramanasura commanded, kill this fellow and Vibhishana said no no he is only a representative of China so you should not kill him, so you should burn his tail Ramanasura thought that monkey's tail is the biggest tail so burn it and there will be no more monkeys, there will be what happens when a monkey's tail is burned, he will turn into a monk and when monk grows a big tail he becomes a monkey so then they put lot of cloth oil and then and then he was delightfully, Agni Devata was his greatest benefactor, he says don't worry nothing happens even one hair of your body will not burn so he started jumping from house to house but he had tremendous discrimination he observed Vibhishana and to his house he did not put but to all the neighbouring houses he put them fire, now it passes my poor brain if all the houses around are burning how can this one house in the middle escape even today I can't solve that enigma anyway then the whole Lanka started burning in the middle of the Lanka there was a garden and in that garden Sita was there suddenly Hanuman remembered now Sita will also be burned and he started burning his heart started burning that was what Sri Ram Krishna is referring at last he remembered that Sita was living in the Ashoka grove then he began to tremble lest the fire should injure her lest you may be curious I am going to complete it then he discriminated himself you see I am a monkey I am a servant of Rama Agni is not burning me so that same Agni will never burn mother Sita because Agni Devta knows who is Rama, who is the boss and who is the real boss so he consoled himself of course to make doubly sure that his faith is right before going coming out of Sri Lanka so he went to Sita Devi and then he also takes leave of her but this is a beautiful example, anger is very bad then the question which we raised why God has created not only sinful tendencies but tendencies means what, a tendency is a guna, I mentioned earlier very important to understand a wicked man can become a saint but a saint will not become a wicked person if at all a saint misbehaves then it is because of some strength of some Purva Janma Samskara but very soon he will come out but a wicked man will go on evolving but it is just for us to if it is any consolation that nobody has become saint in a day Purva Janmas like any one of us every saint has gone through same problem but through sadhana life after life he has become saint now and we will also become the same saints there is no doubt about it and this listening to the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is one of the best means so a wonderful question especially nowadays if you go on listening to the news we see everywhere wickedness seems to be growing killing, looting cheating, scams, trying to grab other people's properties enslaving other people through whatever means internet or artificial intelligence everything seems to be happening now so whom did God create? wicked people what we want us to understand is wickedness and wicked people they are not the same the person is divine each soul is potentially divine and we have got body and mind, our identity with the body mind we will never be bodies, we will never be minds forever even in our same conditions same what is it called times I am not the body I am not the mind at all so wickedness is a bad quality whether I would say it is a combination of many many bad qualities because evil qualities come together in a company good qualities also come in a gang so a wicked person doesn't have only one wicked one fellow was asked do you have any bad habits and that fellow answered no I don't have bad habits really? are you a saint? I am not a saint if you have to say occasionally I chew betel nut so that is ok it is absolutely fine do you chew it everyday? no no no only occasionally and what is the occasion whenever I smoke a cigarette then I eat betel this tamal paku oh betel leaf then do you have cigarettes? no no no whenever I drink a little then only I have this cigarette oh do you drink? no no no only when I steal something and get some money then only like that all evil qualities come together so what is the point I am making that person and qualities are totally separate they are separable and spiritual practice means taking out first of all all the bad qualities getting acquiring divine or spiritual qualities and in course of time even giving up those good qualities because good qualities bind us gunas bind us so this is how we have to grow Sri Ramkrishna's answer to this why has God created wicked people part of the question why is there evil evil is there because evil quality cannot be separate from evil person quality and person must always be together that is his will his play in his maya there exists avidya as well as vidya darkness is needed too it reveals all the more the glory of light there is no doubt anger lust and greed are evils why then has God created them in order to create saints this is the resounding answer all these things it is how does how do we know a person is a saint because a person is a saint only he who has conquered kama krodha loha moha mada matsarya and then not only that that these very qualities they become the most positive qualities we must be angry if something is not allowing us to move towards God lust what is lust I want only God nothing else and what is greed that I will never be satisfied however amount of devotion I get or thinking of God I will never be able to satisfy and then say enough is enough I want more I want more pratikshanam varthamanam I want to be completely mesmerized only by God and then I want to be proud I am a child of God I am a devotee of God Shankaracharya has kept the ego of knowledge Narada kept the ego of bhakti I am a servant of God Hanuman kept the ego I am a servant of God I will not serve anybody like that so this is how a man becomes a saint by conquering the senses is there anything impossible for a man who has subdued his passions he can even realize God through his grace again see how his whole play of creation is perpetuated through lust is lust only negative no it has very positive quality if there were to be no lust there would be no world at all the whole world will come to an end and very interesting story Bhagwan Narayana created Brahma commanded him to continue with the creation and Brahma created four manasa putras sanaka etc and commanded them to propagate to expand this samsara and being manasa putras of Brahma Brahma Sattvika Sampannas and they became discriminative and said our father wants to trap us let us run away they ran away became monks never returned then Brahma created man and woman and now the Srishti went on merrily so if there were to be no lust then there would be no creation at all but the same lust can also be turned what is lust an intense desire to create oneself or to recreate oneself there are three births of a man first birth is in the man in the form of seed second birth is the woman and then after coming out of the mother's womb also third birth will be actually again going back so this very lust when it is turned to God it is called Prema in Bengali there is a beautiful saying that says that is called Kama if the desire is for one's own satisfaction of one's own body and mind selfishness it is called Kama lust but if the same lust is I want to please only Bhagwan Krishna like Gopis every Gopi is a Gopi only because they don't want their own happiness they want only Krishna's happiness so this is called Prema Kama and Prema differs only in the direction Kama makes us very fit to enter into the spiritual path this is very strange thing a fellow who doesn't have Kama is never going to be a spiritual person take it from me once a disciple asked Swami Brahmananda I am suffering from this Kama will you not be able to remove it Swami Brahmananda said I will definitely be able to remove it but my son know this is the truth if I remove your desire then your very desire to live itself will disappear there is so much of psychology is there it is because of Kama we are happy it is because of Kama we are so enthusiastic it is because of Kama life becomes worth living it is because of Kama ultimately when this Kama becomes Agni Kama Agni then nothing in this world can satisfy us at that time God gives us that power of understanding it is only God alone that we are really after in fact we are after only God we are not after any object today's class I will close with an explanation of this thing but let me first complete a little bit a man becomes a saint by conquering the senses is there anything impossible for a man who has subdued his passions to even realize God through his grace again see how his whole play of creation is perpetuated through lust wicked people are needed too at one time the tenants of an estate became unruly a landlord had to send one Golak Choudhury who was a ruffian gonda he was such a harsh administrator that the tenants trembled the very mention of his name this subject about wicked people will be coming in the next class we will discuss what I wanted to discuss is this karma has got a tremendous role in our life it is only because of desire but everything is perpetuating now most people most of us we think that it is this karma which is diverting our mind which is binding us but actually do you know what is karma it is the desire what is that desire only one desire I have lost I have forgotten myself I want to know myself this is the only desire the root cause of everything in this world how come the mind is restless one of our swamis Ashokanandaji he gave a beautiful talk the mind is restless only for God but to be very brief this is the explanation you ask a person what is it you are seeking I want to eat a sweet for example why do you want to eat sweet are you after the sweet if he is a discriminating person you will say no I am not after sweet I am after the happiness that I am after that because I can get happiness by eating the sweet if the sweet doesn't give happiness I will not even look at it it will be abhorrent to me so we have got only that ananda what type of ananda unbroken ananda and infinite ananda it should be infinite it should be unbroken unbroken means eternal and if we have to be happy then we have to be alive eternally and if we have to be eternally happy we have to know that I am eternity I am Paramatma then Paramatma's happiness Brahma by knowing Brahman what does one become Brahma Gnanena Brahma Eva Bhavati Brahma with Brahma Eva Bhavati this is the real truth we will explore it in our next class Om Jananim Shardam Devi Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padmetayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Moho May Sri Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti Jai Ramakrishna