Devi Suktam Lecture 02 on 26 October 2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are dealing with the Devi Sukta. I have been giving the introduction. This is one of the most important Suktas, especially whenever Durga Saptashruthi is chanted. A part of that chanting towards the very end is the chanting of this Devi Sukta. It is also known as Vaak Sukta because the name of the Rishini, Angirini, her name is Vaak, was Vaak. That is why the Sukta goes by the name Angirini Sukta, Vaak Sukta, Devi Sukta. Very meaningful words. Angirini is the daughter of Angirini. A Rishi was there and it was his daughter. Therefore, this is a Sukta. A Sukta is an expression. It could be a praise to the gods or it could be also one's own experience. In this case, it fulfills both. On our part, it is a praising of the Divine Mother. That is the first part. But on her part, she says, I am the Divine Mother. I will also, during the course of these talks, will give you evidence from the life of Mirabai, from the life of Holy Mother. And there was a great Vaishnava saint, one of the Twelve Old Wars. And she was one of the realized souls. She became merged with Ranganatha Swami. Her name was Andal. And she was also a great poetess. She wrote Tiruppavai in the month of December. In the Margaseersha Masa. Really, you will see so many of those things that are going to come very soon and practically in the whole of South India. And sadly, the North Indian people have very little clue. Even many of them have never heard that such a great soul had risen in South India. She was considered one of the All Wars. What is an All War? All War means in Tamil language, very deep. A person who had gone so deep inside God, into God, dived so deep, such persons were considered to be Twelve in numbers. And her father, Vishnu Chitta, was one of them. So this Andal, from the very beginning, she chose God as her own husband. This is the relationship called Mathura Bhava. And ultimately, she married the image. What is image for us? Like when we visit Dakshineshwar Temple, it is nothing but hard, cold image for all of us. Though we feel Mother is alive, we don't see any sign of aliveness at all. If she was alive, all the priests worshipping her would have been reduced to ashes long back because they have become so dominant. Anyway, the same day that she got married, she was sent to the Napshanal, that is for Napshanal ceremony, into the Bhagriha, they call it, sanctum, sanctorum. And then next morning, when the priests went there, opened the door, only Ranganatha was there, thereby indicating she had become completely merged in Bhagawan. This merging idea is a marvellous idea. That is the ultimate destiny of each soul. When we say each soul is potentially divine, we are bound by our very nature because we came as if, as it were, from God. And we are going back to God. The process of coming out as it were is called involution. The process of going back as it were is called evolution. Both are, of course, we have never come out, we are never going back. Just like our dream, we went to Kashi and we returned. So like that, it is nothing but a dream. Experience is there, experiential reality, transactional reality, but real reality was not there. So, we can see from the Devi Sukta several things. What is that? As I said, the Devi Sukta, on our part, is an earnest prayer. And Shri Ramakrishna had made it a very powerful path. Address God, not as Prabhu, as Lord. Because Lord means He is somebody far superior to us. Which is, of course, very true. But the distance between Him and us is extremely distant. And so, we cannot even dare to look at Him. But Shri Ramakrishna said, Do you think a baby is going to look? My mother is a queen. She is the ruler of this country. Like many empresses were there, even in India also, there were Rani, Ahalya, Bhai, etc. So, they were not, from the baby's eyes, they were not powerful people. They were just a loving creature upon whom we can make any amount of demands. That is the baby's feeling. So, this is called Matru Bhava. God as our parent. God is our father. God is our mother. India had never made any distinction. Those who are highly conscious of the genders, male and female, even today in what we call Semitic religions, the idea that God can be called as a mother was an extreme phenomenon. There were some people who considered God as a mother, even as a child, Jesus as a child. But the cases were very rare. Officially, it is not supported. But in India, not only all these Panchabhavas, that is, I am a lover of God, Shantabhava, I am a servant of God, I am a friend of God, I am a child of God, I am the beloved of God. These Bhavas, not only these Bhavas, Bhava means an emotional attitude that we have to forge between ourselves and God. But there is something supremely important and very rare to find it. Can we hate God? Can hatred towards God? Can anger towards God? Can lust towards God? Can they be real paths that will lead us to God? Definitely! Bhagavatam is one of the greatest harmonious scriptures, a scripture which harmonizes Karma, Bhakti, Yoga and Jnana. That is why Shri Ram Krishna advised that in this Kali Yuga, Bhagavata Dharma, the path as advocated by the Bhagavatam, especially as interpreted by Narada, is the most suitable one. In this Bhagavatam, there is a verse, Through lust, the Gopikas have attained the same union with God as a Jnani attains. Kamsa attained through sheer fear. By hating God, they attained. Why becoming enemies of God? That is deliberately superimposing upon themselves the feeling that God is my greatest enemy. So I will be hating Him. That means I will be thinking of Him without any remission, uninterruptedly. And that helps some people. If you love somebody, there is a chance that you might forget. But if you hate somebody, not only you cannot forget that person, but every minute, the love, the attachment grows by leaps and bounds. So our scriptures have said that any feeling, positive or negative, can be utilized. So if a negative feeling more quickly can bring ourselves into union with God, that is the reason why instead of six births, Jaya and Vijaya had opted for only the inimical feeling so that within three births they can reach God without any interruption. Continuously they were thinking what Prahlada had achieved through complete self-surrender, his father Hiranyakashyapu had attained to the same by complete self-surrender. And by the way, whenever I am giving these talks, I try to bring some of the incidents in the Puranas so that we can understand their real importance there. We can see Prahlada's grandson who was called Balichakravarthi. A beautiful name. Bali means sacrifice and sacrifice means the person who gives Bali and Bali is given only to God. Otherwise it becomes a slavery. Deliberately giving up something which is dear to us is called Bali. It is called sacrifice. It is called Yagna. And this Balichakravarthi. Chakravarthi means the greatest among such people who are the sacrificers. Why do we say that? Because he made, first of all, he made God come to him and he made God to beg of him give me three steps. Instead of his begging God, Balichakravarthi made God come and beg him. So what did this God Narayana He came in the form of a Vamana, dwarf and that is also symbolic. Anybody who bends his head begging somebody, however tall he is, he becomes very small and the giver becomes bigger. That is why he is called Vamana or dwarf. And this dwarf came what great Punya this Balichakravarthi had done So he came and said you give me three steps of land or land means where I can remain where I can manifest myself. And the Guru of Balichakravarthi, Shukracharya had warned him, tried to prevent him but Bali Guru Tajjo he completely gave up. A Guru who wants to separate God and his devotee is a worthless Guru. But Balichakravarthi after all was the grandson of Prahlada. Prahlada was one of the greatest devotees of God. He said no way I am not going I am the luckiest person in the whole world that nobody, everybody approaches God for something or the other. But here God is approaching me. I will not lose this opportunity. And then what did this Vamana give me just three steps of land. Land means Avastha. And then immediately he said take three steps because there is no fourth step. There are only three steps are there. It is full of symbolism. What are the three steps that our physical body Stola Sarira can occupy. Our subtle body occupies the subtle Akasha or called Chitta Akasha and our current Sarira can occupy a part of the Chitta Akasha. These are the three Akashas. Akasha means space. Give me three feet of space. And he said Vishnu, Mana, Dhana Stola, Sukshma, Karana, Sarira I offer unto you. And Vishnu said I accept them gladly, joyfully that means I absorb you completely within myself. And from then onwards Bali was known as Bali Chakravarti the emperor of sacrifice. And he did not exist. Just imagine even superficially looking at it immediately Lord Vishnu had put his foot on his head and pressed it down. And then the Purana says he was pressed until he reached Patala. What is Patala? Until his Ahamkara is totally destroyed because when the footsteps of Bhagwan Vishnu are put on anybody's head then that head will not be there. Only he will become completely one with God. Similarly when Krishna put his footsteps by dancing all over the heads of the Kaliya and then the incident tells us Kaliya he was asked by Bhagwan when you go outside what do you think happens when Krishna puts his head his feet on the head of anybody what is the head? Nana. The place of Nana. And the feet of the Lord are stamped all over God himself registered him. You are my registered devotee. And so if I go outside Garuda is going to kill me. No, no. Krishna said you go outside. Garuda will come and bow down to you. You observe it. Because as soon as he sees you what is the first thing that attracts his notice? My footsteps. And then as soon as he sees my footsteps he will make Sashtanga Pranams. You will be tired of people's Sashtanga Pranams. These are the symbolic stories. So many symbols. Just I will give you a hint so that you can pursue it further. This Kaliya had so many hoods are there. Especially seven hoods are there. What are these hoods? These are nothing but different manifestations of Aham. Aham takes the form of Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, Matsarya. And even in deep sleep there is Ahamkara even though our Anushakti is there. So these several hoods means different manifestations of Ahamkara. We are not even aware. Psychologists are every time they will wonder wondering that what type of personality this person has got. The moment I deal with one, another personality pops up. And we all suffer from multiple personality syndrome. This is called the different hoods of the Kaliya. So we are all Kaliyas only. Our Kundalini, it undergoes so many problems. And the only way is if we can invite Bhagawan and you put your footsteps, you dance then I will dance along with you to the tune that you said. That means Sampoorna Sharanagati. Anyway, so much of just because in the, from the very beginning of our Rig Veda our Rishis they know themselves as Brahman. That's why Rishati Janate, Brahma Janate, Itha Rishihi. These Rishis, great Rishis, they went beyond the name and form. Nama Rupa. When we go beyond Nama Rupa there is no male or female. Even this truth, so many religions do not seem to recognize even today in this 21st century. Just look at it, how people are fighting. They all claim that we are all worshipping one God but the God whom you worship is not God, only the God whom I worship. If these fellows get any message from God thank God I don't hear your prayers. We would have replied but these people, they don't want to hear anybody. First thing they don't want to hear is God's word. Only Mulla's word they want to hear. Anyway, coming back to our subject, from the very beginning as soon as our mind just progresses and goes slightly beyond even at the intellectual level there would be no idea of male or female. The gender will not be there. I'll give you an idea. When we say mother, what does the mother represent? Especially for a baby, for all of us what does mother mean? It is infinite love, infinite compassion, infinite power, infinite power of bearing with all our atrocities, infinite forgiveness and ultimate protection. Sarva Mangala Mangalya. How many words? Sarva Mangala Mangalya Shiva means auspiciousness and that is the idea that God looked at as an embodiment of complete love. How come? Because from the very beginning our Upanishads tell us this creation is not God's creation, it is God's manifestation. Like a potter creating a pot, there is hardly any relationship between the potter and the pot creator and created. So many religions say we are all creatures and we are suffering because of this idea. No, we are not creatures. God only is manifesting. Sarvam Kalvam Kalu Idam Brahma. That is the refrain from the very beginning of our Vedas. So, especially in the olden days, in the ancient days Rishi means a person of knowledge. When a person becomes a knowledgeable person, we don't say she is male or he is female. From the perspective of knowledge, there is no male or female idea at all and if it is there that is not knowledge at all. Even a doctor or a patient, a doctor is neither male nor female. A doctor is one who knows what is my problem and who can help me, such a person. I don't care whether he is male or she is female. So, these are the ideas even now. Suppose you have a court case and very complicated and there is a female lawyer who is 100 times superior to any male lawyer. Whom do you go? Definitely you will go to her because you are not worried male or female. You are worried how you are going to get justice. This is the only thing that happens. So, this what is called worshipping God in the form of female, especially in the form of female, especially in the aspect of a mother. So, what does this male or female in spiritual knowledge? What does it mean? Male means complete knowledge, right knowledge. Female means the joyful aspect. Sat, Chit and Ananda Swaroopa. And that is why in my last class I have quoted Soundarya Lahari. That was a great grand work by whom? By no other than the greatest of the Advaita Acharyas called Shankaracharya. And it is also said he got it from Shiva himself. But what happened when Shiva blessed him that you will have if I bless you, you will understand my aspect as a female aspect. And then he was about to go and then this Nandi did not want to lose this. Nandi or Bhringi, they are supposed to be the main what is called Sevaks, attendants of Lord Shiva. And it was the greatest secret why this human is taking away. So he wanted to take the whole thing from there. But then Shankaracharya, there was a tussle and as like a physical book some pages this Bhringi happened to snatch and then the rest Shankaracharya took and ran away. But it is to tell that usually from the 40th verse of after verse it was the composition of Shankaracharya first to 39 or 40 in the composition of somebody else. We don't care who composed what. But I quoted in the last verse If Shakti is not there, creation is not possible. And Vedanta completely agrees with that because what we call Saguna Brahma cannot be creator or sustainer or dissolver. Only Saguna Brahma. What is the meaning of Saguna? Saguna means Shakti. Brahman with the help of the Shakti that is why creation itself is completely ascribed only to the female. Nobody had ever seen a male giving birth to a baby or anybody. Creation comes from insect to the highest evolved human being only from the female, from the mother. That is why Ramakrishna's definition is pregnant with such great meaning that when I look upon Brahman as the creator when I think of Brahman with activity activity means only three Srishti, Stithi and Laya that is creation sustenance or maintenance and recycling. This is the most marvelous every activity of ours from morning, from birth to death. What is it? You start with creation. A baby suckles mother's milk to sustain himself and then he grows up and whatever is taken finally he has to give up he has to become marj in the pancha bhutas. So he has to go back to the material cause from which, out of which he was fashioned. So this is how the Srishti, Stithi, Laya. A person has to work hard to earn some money that is called Srishti and with the help of that money he wants to enjoy himself that is called Stithi. After some time money will be lost expended and then he has to earn again and again and again. This process goes on. Just another example that you take food so that you can sustain. Actually sustenance means beginning of creation because we lack sustenance, energy we want to create energy we borrow energy through the medium of food and then this energy helps us to live and do various functions and at the end of it a time will come when we will not be able to refurbish and then re-sustain and then that is called Laya. Srishti, Stithi, Laya. Everything Srishti, Stithi, Laya. All the activities. So when I think of Brahman with activity and this thinking is the faculty of the mind I call it, I call Brahman as Shakti or Saguna Brahma. These teachings are profound teachings with such deep meaning. We will have to not only listen, reading is a form of listening but we will have to think over them again and again and that is what is called Manana and then assimilate them, transform our life which is called Nidhidhyasana. So the Vedic period saw not only men as Rishis but highly intelligent and learned women who are called Brahmavadinis who actively contributed to the shaping of all the civilizations that we now inculcate. What came out of the mouth of Ramakrishna who is the Avatar Srishti and also of Holy Mother who is also Avatar only and Swami Vekananda who was none other than one of the Saptarishis. All of them, whatever came from their mouth it shapes the ideology of human life for that time being. That is why our most revered one of the presidents Swami Ranganathanji Maharaj he used to give lectures extraordinarily penetrating intellect by the grace of Swami Akhandananda. The incident was Swami Mahapurush Maharaj was the Guru of Swami Ranganathanji Maharaj and once his initiation had taken place in Ooty when Mahapurush Maharaj came to Ooty and there afterwards first time he went to Belur Math to meet Mahapurush Maharaj to visit Belur Math etc and then he wanted to meet Swami Akhandanandaji who was the first establisher of Seva, Seva Dharma according to Swami Vekananda's teachings. He went to Sardarji and prostrated himself before him and Akhandanandaji put his hand on the head of his name was Shankar Maharaj Shankar, a Brahmachari and then said May Saraswati dwell on your tongue. Ever since that time Swami's talks are profound talks. His interpretation of the Isavasya Upanishad bears unparalleled interpretation especially when we come to that mantra by knowing the Saguna Brahma or Hiranyagarbha we attain one result and by knowing the Nirguna Brahma we attain completely another result. The interpretation was very marvelous which later on Swami Harshanandaji has adopted in his interpretation of the Isavasya Upanishad Shankarabhasya. Now coming back to our subject that knowledge doesn't make any distinction between men and women. So there were so many Brahmavadinis we have absolutely no idea but at least we get near about 30 Brahmavadinis that means knowers of Brahman and some of them were married and most of them were not married. They dedicated their life to learning to prayer, meditation. They became what we call Rishis, Rishati, Janati one who has experienced the Divine Truth. So these are the people and one of them many Suktas are there. Sri Sukta, Nakshatra Sukta, Bhu Sukta, Nila Sukta etc. Of course many of them were written expressions of the experiences of the male Rishis but some of them like Devi Suktam is the expression and Medha Suktam etc. These are the expressions of the divinity in the form of the God as the Divine Mother. So this worshipping God as the Divine Mother is not a new phenomena. It is as old as the Vedic phenomena and we have got so many Brahmavadanis and this Devi Suktam which comes in the 10th Mandala. The Rig Veda has been divided in one way of speaking into 10 parts. Each part is called a Mandala. This comes in the 10th Mandala and 125th Suktam is called Devi Suktam and the personality who experienced God Nirguna Brahma became one with Brahman. Brahmi Bhutaha. That is she became completely one with Brahman and then how do we know? Because she was expressing that one. We will see very soon about this. So what I wanted to tell that worshipping God not only as Deva but as Devi is as ancient as the Rig Veda and Rig Veda is considered to be very ancient. How ancient? We don't know really. Every Veda is called Anadi. That is why it is called Apaurushaya. But the discovery of this highest knowledge by some individuals it is estimated at least a minimum of 11,000 years. We do not I do not count the British people or what is called the Occidental Classification a few hundred years before Christ advent about 300 years before Christ etc. I do not believe at all. According to Bal Gangadhar Tilak all this knowledge existed on the banks of the river Saraswati at least 11,000 years back and that vanished actually. That Vedic civilization as soon as this river has gone the Vedic civilization also shifted from that place to other places but that was the greatest grandest period of Vedic civilization where so many Brahmavadis, Brahmavadinis flourished and there is a very deep connection between rivers and knowledge. Now if you come to think of it even though Ram Krishna was born in a village which is around 70 miles from a Ganges river but his whole sadhana was spent on the banks of the river wherever there is a huge river huge desert huge mountains that is where our mind, human mind can get a glimpse either you look at the grandest sky especially where there is no light pollution that I don't mean very small amount of pollution light pollution means everywhere these glaring lights for several miles upward they do not allow us to see when we did not have electricity when I was young we used to sleep outside in the villages we could crystal clearly see what we call the light, this galaxy light and our elders used to tell us this is the pathway from Rameshwaram to Kashi I don't know how many of you remember that one if there were no lights sometimes and the sky is clear without clouds you can see it, Kashi-Rameshwaram light so if a person follows it that is from south to north excepting Andhra fellows before marriage they walk from the south to south I am going to Kashi and then God also understands and says you are never going to go to Kashi so I will get you married and tie you down to this earth it will take a long time I can remain with tremendous peace of mind and this is the idea anyway coming back so there were so many people in my last class I mentioned so Hemalekha was one Mother Alasa, whom Swami Vivekananda admired and said the ideal Hindu mother what is called injecting the ideas of pure Advaita you are the divine light to each one of her four children then there is the name of Sulabha in Yoga Vasishta we get Ramakrishna also refers to this Rishi, she was a woman she went to King Janaka I mentioned that one then there is Tripura Rahasya we get so many stories they are intimately related to this Devi Suktam so Aham Dhanurath Sarv Dhanuh Dhaname for Sarva, for Shiva I string the bow that means my energy is what makes Shiva to string his bow properly, tie the bow properly and then Sarve Hamta Bhava that is I only in the form of the arrow destroy evil people which has been so beautifully again graphically depicted in the Chandi in the form of this war which is called Deva Asura Yudha the battle between goodness and evil this is an eternal theme and that is what is going on even today wherever there are wars etc. it is actually a fight between the Deva and Asuras we are not talking about the parties who are concerned that every Yudha is only to conquer to subdue so that we can manifest our potential divinity so this is what Bhagwan Krishna had expounded so beautifully in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita called Deva Asura Sampad Vibhaga and that was the Kurukshetra war between the Pandavas and Kauravas and this Kurukshetra war is a war that is ever raging within the hearts of each one of us anyway I also mentioned not only Hinduism but Sufism like Rabia, Desert Mothers like Mary etc. marvellous stories are there so if you get time you delve into it if you go to Google you will get Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers you will get many of them and I have also mentioned Gopala's mother was she not a Brahmavadini because she said I saw my Gopala that day when the chariot festival was going on at Panihatti in everything living non-living in the chariot in the people, living people the priests, the images and all the people who came to witness and this would be the result of every spiritual sadhaka all to happen by the grace of the Divine Mother so what I wanted to tell you that this Brahman that is can be worshipped as mother, as a friend, as a master but loving relationship it is the relationship which will gradually pull us towards our target this is a way of manifesting our potential divinity and in that connection only I have, you remember I quoted यदि भौत शक्तः प्रभवितं नचेद एवं देवो नखलु कुषलः स्पंधितुमपि अतस्त्वाम अराध्याम हरी हरविरिंच आधिविरपि प्रणन्तुम् स्तोतुम्वा कथम् अकृत पुण्यः प्रभवति the sum and substance of this verse in the Saundarya Lahari first verse is this that if the divine energy called Shakti is not there, Shiva will not be able to do his official duty called Laya Vishnu cannot do his duty called Stithi, Brahma cannot do so Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva represent respectively the jobs of Srishti Stithi and Laya because any activity is an expression of energy without energy it is not going to be possible and even they become Shavas if you are not there नखलु कुषलह स्पन्धितुम्पि they cannot even shake a little bit they will be Shavas and as a symbolism of this we see beneath the feet of Mother Kali always Mahakala, Kali is the energy, manifestation of Kala time but Kala beyond Kala is called Mahakala timelessness, eternity unchangingness and that eternity unchangingness Mahakala is called Shiva Shiva and Shiva that's why wherever there is Kali there must be Shiva where there is Kali there must be Mahakala Kali represents Kala Mahakala represents timelessness time has to spring based upon having the substratum of timelessness so if we observe Kali's four hands they represent respectively Vara, Avaya and Laya what is that? Avaya means Srishti, Vara means Stithi and Laya that is going back to our source so here also symbolism is there Vara and Avaya means and Laya means evolution we are going back to our very source so this Devi Suktam was a realization of a great lady called Bhaga her father was also a Rishi because only a Rishi can give birth to other great people and this is also what is called proved by our Vedic saying only in the lineage of a Rishi it is possible to produce other great Rishis otherwise it is not possible so this Devi Suktam it is called Devi Suktam because she became Devi she realized I am the Brahman not Brahma but Brahman and having become one with Brahman she is telling I am Brahma, I am Vishnu and I am Shiva that is what we get so the father's name is Ambrana Ambrana and his daughter's name is Ambrana's daughter is called Ambrini, Tirga Ambrini and she expresses her realization that I am Brahman in the form of eight mantras only so the descriptions almost when we saw Medha Devi Suktam also we have seen Medha Devi only blessed by you I can become as good as Brahma and I can become a real Rishi without your grace it is not possible and if we look carefully every upper class person is supposed to do Sandhya Vandana and the deity of the Sandhya Vandana is called Gayatri and what is this Gayatri Mantra Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi Dhiyo Yonaha Prachodaya, Dhiyaha means Buddhi, Buddhi is what is called feminine gender that is Shakti and Buddhi is belonging to the Vijnanamaya Kosha only when the Buddhi is proper everything works properly and that is why in Karnataka there is a curious custom of calling the master of a landlord as Buddhi by all his servants of course what they call him outside his hearing I don't want to repeat it so this is a marvelous Mantra Suktam and Suktam means what Su-Uktam very well expressed the highest truth and Shri Ram Krishna used to call that Brahman which every Sukta is indicating as Lakshmi as Saraswati etc here Vak Sukta so this lady Rishi name was Vak and she was also called Aambhrini and she is also called Devi so whatever came out Sukta you had Devi Sukta Vak Sukta Aambhrini Sukta many times if you search only Aambhrini Sukta that will come here just I want to dwell a little bit before I really go into the Mantra itself so this Shakti Worship as I mentioned the origin of Shakti Worship that is worshipping God in a female form can be traced to these Vedic texts like Sri Suktam Durga Suktam, Bho Suktam Devi Suktam Tripura Upanishad Bhavan Upanishad and many other Devi Upanishads are there and in Sandhya Vandana as I said whenever we think of Gayatri Devi and even Sanyasins have got a Gayatri it is called Paramahamsa Gayatri but the idea is God can be worshipped, can be thought about, can be prayed to only in the Saguna aspect never in the Nirguna aspect. Why? Because only Saguna Brahma has got ears to hear what you are shouting at Nirguna Brahma doesn't completely deaf and even if he understands he cannot answer because he doesn't have any mouth so there are no hands if he wants to give there are no hands probably he feels like giving but he feels completely helpless and unable to bear it he goes into Samadhi have you noticed Sri Ram Krishna any problem comes immediately he enters into Samadhi state that is why my advice to you to the devotees never pray for Brahma Jnana pray to Sri Ram Krishna he has no problem but for any other want go to Holy Mother and she will give you Bhukthi Bhukthi Pradayini she will give Bhukthi as well as Mukthi so well expressed in the by Ram Prasad Janakrachar Ekam Chilo Idik Vaidik Doodhik Rikhe Kheeya Chilo Doodhir Vadi I am the giver of both Shreyas as well as Prayas there is no doubt about it and this is confirmed beautifully in the Kena Upanishad who obtained the highest knowledge this Indra Agni and Vayu they became Brahma Jnanis not only Brahma Jnanis they became the foremost Devatas whom we are worshipping all the time so whenever we are doing Gayatri Devi remember this Devi Sutra and then we also explicitly sing about Gayatri Om Ayat Varade Devi Thekshare Brahmavadini Gayatri Chandasam Mata Brahma Yoni Namostute Salutations to you you are called Brahma Yoni what is Brahma Yoni that is you as a doorway leads to the Parabrahma the supreme reality and you are that Thekshare that means through these three letters what are those three letters you may be wondering Gayatri I know it has got 24 letters and here you are daring to talk about three letters remember what Sri Ram Krishna said and which came heard Sandhya merges in Gayatri Gayatri merges in Om and this Om contains how many letters or Om and Om that is called Thekshare and she is Gayatri Devi Brahmavadini means she will only give us knowledge of Brahman and she is also Chandasam Mata that is she is also a Vedic meter consisting of three lines each line consisting of eight letters three into eight 24 letters if you count the Gayatri Mantra that doesn't count only eight is eight is eight so to those who adore the O Mother Thou grantest all boons Thou are the origin of the Vedas and of all the worlds be pleased to shine in my heart and accept my adoration Thou art effulgence Thou art the light of the Devas and Thou art in everything and Thou art beyond everything bath me in Thy light and purify me so we see that Shakti worship is as initiant if you can find out from what time this Sandhya Vandana has started you can say Shakti worship was even earlier than that that is why Shakti worship is very old that is one point another point is if we approach God as our own mother the fruit will be sooner she can forgive all our defects and shortcomings and she will be the first person to come and bestow her grace that is what Shri Ram Krishna says if we take one step towards mother she comes running 100 steps she will come running we have to remember that now coming back to this Sushuptam itself that whenever we chant and this can be chanted everyday and it is said whoever wants to progress in spiritual life whoever is earnest in acquiring Brahma Gnanam everyday they should chant this one not only everyday every time because the whole Devi Suptam is nothing but a prayer, ardent prayer at the feet of God O Lord, I am like a small baby, I don't know I have no capacity of either doing or even thinking about you you take me in your hands and let me be completely always one with you, this is the prayer and as I mentioned also that Madhava there was a great scheme in the 16th century in Mysore there were great souls called Madhava Vidyaranya and he decided to interpret the Vedas so it was a huge work because it is only 4 centuries earlier so what did he do he employed more than 30 great Vedic scholars and like Max Muller had done, that is why Swami Vivekananda used to compare this Shayanacharya with this Max Muller, Max Muller reborn for bringing out all this Vedic literature whatever may be we hear about Max Muller we have to understand but for such a great soul who dedicated his whole life from his young age only for the collection classification and propagation by printing in so many volumes Max Muller's translation of the entire Vedic literature especially Rig Veda is available and we have seen the face of a book called Veda only because of his grace, that is why Swami Vivekananda gives such a great respect to Max Muller when Swamiji was in UK he went the curious thing was Max Muller never visited India he used to go to the British library and did all this work through that British company called East India Company so long before that this Madhava Vidyaranya he gathered a number of Vedic scholars and nearly 25 years he had to work with all of them because it is not the work of a single person to collect whatever was available and the most marvellous thing I have to share with you that Mysore Maharaja had decided that all the Shayanas commentary should come in print so he employed a number of greatest scholars who were there in Karnataka and elsewhere at that time and then they brought out I don't know exactly probably more than 40 volumes with Kannada translation which is now available even on the internet and they have also taken more than 25 years to compose of this one completed with English translation, Kannada translation and then they wanted to sell it probably each volume for 5 rupees or 10 rupees the thing was there were no takers and so somebody kindly scanned the whole thing and put it on the internet and only today I discovered it and I am sharing it today itself with you it is available both in English as well as in Kannada the complete Vigveda is available there so his mother Vidyaranya had this dream he completed it with Shayanacharya's what is called commentary etc and today I will just chant the very first mantra which shows a marvelous truth Aham Adityaihi Uta Vishwadevaihi Aham Mitra Varunobha Vibharmyaham Indra Agni Aham Ashvinobha I move with the Rudras and also with the Vasus I wander with the Adityas and the Vishwadevas I hold aloft both Mitra and Varuna and also Indra and Agni and the twin Ashvinis in the above verse this goddess that is the composer the Rishi Ambrini she herself has become the goddess she says I have become Brahman Saguna Brahma and as Saguna Brahma she declares herself I am the controlling power behind all the Devas mentioned who are the Devas I move with the Rudras means I manifest myself as Rudras as Vasus as Adityas as Vishwadevas and as Mitra, as Varuna as Indra, as Agni as Ashvinis marvelous idea I am everything Aham Brahmasmi we will talk about it in our next class Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Padapadmetayo Saritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Ramakrishna