Kaivalya Upanishad Lecture 12 on 26 November 2023

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We have been studying the Kaivalya Upanishad. There was a great Rishi called Ashvalayana. He wanted to get the highest knowledge, Supreme Brahman, Supreme Brahma Jnana. So he approached Parameshti and then surrendered himself completely. He was endowed with Shraddha, Bhakti, Dhyana, Yoga and he took refuge at the feet of the Guru. That is the meaning of carrying fire sticks. That is like fire sticks which are used to burn. I am prepared to burn myself in the form of doing Sadhana so that I can achieve my final desire which is God Realization. In that respect, in our last class we have seen Nirguna Upasana was very difficult. But Saguna Upasana is far easier. Not really that easy but comparatively, compared to Nirguna, Nirakara Upasana, the worship, contemplation of that reality which is beyond body, speech and mind. Beyond the three bodies. Compared to that, worshipping God with Bhakti and then surrendering oneself to Him is a bit easier. We have seen how Totapuri Maharaj had asked Sri Ram Krishna to remove every thought because Totapuri Maharaj had realized here is a man who is fit. What does it mean? In terms of what we are discussing, just as Parameshti had recommended Shraddha, Bhakti, Dhyana and Yoga, so Totapuri Maharaj realized this person is fit already. Therefore, voluntarily, by God's will, Divine Mother's will, he felt, I would like to initiate you into Mahavakya or Sanyasa. And Sri Ram Krishna, of course, he said, I don't know anything, only my mother knows. And then, after all that, one fine early morning, the initiation ceremony, lighting up the fire and offering what we call so many things with particular type of mantras called Viraja Homa Mantras, where completely I and mine are offered in the form of so many words. My body, my sense organs, my mind, my gunas, everything. And after that, the Guru asked Sri Ram Krishna, now remove all thoughts. And how could the Guru say remove all thoughts? Because he knew that Sri Ram Krishna was capable of doing it. He recognized it earlier because he himself had gone through the same process. Sri Ram Krishna tried accepting the thought of the Divine Mother, accepting whom he did not know anything else. So the thought of the Divine Mother he could not remove. Totapuri helped him with a little bit of dramatic action, oppressing a sharp edge of a broken glass to the forehead. That is also by the will of the Divine Mother. And the Divine Mother had removed that lost thought. Sri Ram Krishna merged himself into the Divine Mother or Brahman. Saguna Brahma has become merged in Nirguna Brahma. Remember Saguna Brahma is also in the form of a thought, but the only thought, a lost thought. That is Brahma Akara Vritti, Aham Brahmasmi. Even that has to go. There is nobody to say Aham or to say Brahman. When the mind is transcended in that way, then there is no Sri Ram Krishna. What remains is called pure consciousness, Shuddha Chaitanyam, Shuddha, Buddha, Mukta, Chaitanyam. And Totapuri was surprised. What took me 40 years has been achieved by this person in a very short time, in a few minutes of time, so to say. Sri Ram Krishna remained in that condition for three days. But for most of us, it is an ideal. It is only to inspire us. But for most of us, a tremendous amount of perspiration is necessary and that is being indicated. Later on, Umasama, Sahayam, Parameshwaram, Trinetram, Neelakantam, etc. That is, let us not identify this in a sectarian way with Shiva. This is Saguna Brahma. And Saguna Brahma can be named by us as Vishnu, as Shiva, as Divine Mother, as Jesus Christ, as Nirvana, as anything else. It does not matter. It is an ideal. I am going to discuss about this Upasana system a little, which I had discussed in another context. But it is good to remember it. Having chosen, the Guru usually initiates the disciple into a particular chosen deity. That is, the Guru chooses according to the tendency of the disciple. What does the Guru really do? First of all, which yoga is the most suitable path for each disciple, individually or separately? Is it Gnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Praja Yoga? Secondly, if it is Bhakti Yoga, then which deity? Is it Vishnu? Is it Shiva? Is it Devi? Is it Ganesha? Is it Surya? Is it Agni? etc. We also know, through some of the incidents that were there, Sri Ramakrishna instinctively recognized, this person is a Upasaka of the Divine Mother. One of the incidents that we have to remember, once Holy Mother initiated a devotee into Shakti Mantra. I think Shakti Mantra, it doesn't matter. So the disciple protested, this is not the Mantra. I have been practicing some other Mantra. But Holy Mother said firmly, I have given you the right Mantra. It took some time, quite some time. For the disciple, he could not really respect the Guru's commandment. But at the same time, he could not overcome. He had tremendous faith in his own Guru. But after some time, his old Samskaras have cropped up. And he realized that really speaking, many times without my being conscious, I resisted against what I was practicing. But now my Guru had correctly pointed it out. And that is how the Guru's purpose is, which form, which name, which Gunas are most suitable for the disciple. And in that respect, I have also told you the story of the Rishi. First he gave a general instruction, you meditate upon Brahman. Disciple could not meditate. The Guru soon realized he has given the wrong instructions. So he asked the disciple, what do you love most? And he said, I love my buffalo. And he advised him, now you meditate upon this buffalo as your Ishta Devata. And very soon the disciple joyfully merged himself and identified himself with that buffalo. So Guru's function, which path, which Yoga, and which deity, which Mantra, this is very, very important, especially in the Bhakti Marga. Even many people, they feel we are more fit for Jnana Yoga than Bhakti Yoga. I think most of them are wrong. How do we know? Because a person who has less emotion and much more intellectual sharpness to discriminate between many things, such a person alone perhaps can tread the path of Jnana Yoga. That is why in the 12th Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, specifically answering to the question put by Arjuna that among the Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga, which is easier? And Bhagwan Krishna says, both paths equally take to the same goal, but those who are fully conscious of the Deha. Very interesting word. Deha Vadbhi means one who has got a Deha. Ramakrishna also had a Deha. Holy Mother also had a Deha. And yourself, myself, we are all having Deha. Whoever is having a Deha is not Deha Vadbhi. What does it mean? One who thinks I am the body, he is the person, conscious that I am nothing else but the body. For such people, it is very difficult to think of the nameless, formless, qualityless Brahman. Ramakrishna is only teaching that. That's what he taught to M, etc. It is far easier. In fact, those who are capable of thinking of the abstract, in many previous births, the person must have gone through the same steps because the sadhana proceeds from the concrete and to less concrete, to more abstract. There is no other way. Only we should not compare and judge the present state of the development only. So, Saguna Brahma, the Guru teaches this is your Ishta Devata and how to meditate upon Him. That is going to be explored in the eleventh mantra. Atmanam aranim krutva pranavam ca uttararanim jnana nirmathana abhyasat papam dhati panditah All the mantras in every Upanishad are beautiful but some of them are very memorable. So, this is one of them. So, he says, what is this? Arani, making the ego, the lower Arani and Om, the upper Arani and churning through the practice of the path of knowledge. Jnana nirmathana abhyasat A wise person burns up all the bondages. Very beautifully put here. And the same has been expressed in Bhagavad Gita also. It is the same thing which I will come to. This is the path of self-surrender. What is self-surrender? The lower self has to be completely merged in the higher self. Before we proceed further to explore this eleventh mantra in the Kaivalya Upanishad, we have to understand first, what is this Arani? So, two pieces of firewood. First of all, this Arani is a special type of dry wood and by just rubbing, just as we churn, our mothers and sisters do that in the early morning, like moving it left and right and left and right etc. And even today this is what happens. Then they put a few flimsy pieces of either cotton or small pieces of wood or dry leaves etc. As soon as the intense heat is produced and that will catch fire and a wisp of smoke will be coming out and very soon they add a little bit more and in no time it becomes a fire. This is a way of bringing out fire. This, by the way, we all do not even remember. One of the greatest discoveries in the very superiority of human being is the capacity to produce fire. One is invention of the wheel which made transportation. Another is the production of fire. Before that people used to depend upon lightning and forest fire which occurred naturally. It is a long history. I am not going to go into that. But whenever our Rishis, Munis wanted to do some specific Yagas and Yagnas, even if they have fire, every time they have to go through this process of producing fire freshly and every time they start churning the Arani, there are special Vedic mantras which need to be uttered that is invoking the divinity there. And that symbolism is taken here. It is symbolic. There will be two pieces. One is the upper piece and another is the lower piece. The lower piece will be having a small hole and the upper piece will be well chiseled out like a pencil, let us say. And then putting the sharp tip of this pencil into that small hole and with both hands one goes on churning it left and right, left and right and then slowly by that rubbing heat is produced. And that is how the fire has to be kindled. Now what happens when the fire is kindled? That the lower piece of wood as well as the higher piece of wood, both of them become consumed and you cannot distinguish it. What is the lower? What was the lower? And what was the higher? Both become absolutely one and they turn into ash. Even that is symbolic. In its ultimate final stage, there is no difference between Jeevatma and Paramatma. Here the lower Arani is the Jeevatma. What is Jeevatma? Eye and mind. In other words, Ahamkara. What is the upper Arani? It is symbolized here as Pranava, Omkara. And Omkara should be contemplated upon until the lower self is completely destroyed or rather transformed into the upper one. We get a beautiful analogy of this in the Mundaka Upanishad also. There are two birds on the self-same tree, and the upper bird is absolutely serene, peaceful, unperturbed and looking. At the lower one, it goes on eating what is called Prarabdha Karma, Sukha and Dukha. And when there is an exceptionally bitter fruit and it gets disturbed, it immediately looks up and finds the upper bird. And then says, I want to be like that, always happy. What is the difference? The lower bird represents occasional happiness and a lot of suffering. The upper bird represents eternal happiness, Satchidananda. So I want to be like that. Man's life, animal's life, insect's life, every life is nothing but constant seeking of unbroken happiness. So this is the lower bird. It goes on doing Sadhana. And then slowly, slowly it approaches near. And when it approaches very near, it finds there are no two birds. There is no I and It. Both of them become one. But the higher bird actually doesn't exist. It is only the higher nature of the lower bird. Then it becomes absolutely peaceful. So the upper bird represents the highest ideal. And we are also trying to achieve the highest ideal. But by mistake, we are seeking it in the lower spaces. So this is beautifully explained here. That Atmanam, that means the Self that we are now. That is to say, our egotism, etc. That is what Arni? That is the lower Arni, lower piece of wood. And what is it that makes this lower piece achieve oneness with the higher? That is called Uttara Arnim. Uttara Arnim means the higher one. And what is that higher one? Pranavam. Pranavam means Unkara is another name. Pranava is another name. So this Pranava, Prakrushta Rupena Nava. Always it will be exactly the same. And go on churning. Jnana Nirmathana Abhyasa. Abhyasa means habit, continuous struggle. And what is it? Nirmathana. Go on churning. Like the Samudra Manthana. Jnana Nirmathana. That is knowledge. That is what knowledge I am. Not what I think I am. I am what the scriptures teach me. What I am. Jnana Nirmathana Abhyasa. And go on doing it. One day by the grace of God, Bahunam Janmanamante Jnanavanmam Prapadyate. Who is Jnanavan? The person who is going on struggling, churning, doing sadhana. And with each step, the lower self becomes less and the higher self becomes nearer and nearer. More manifestation of the higher self. And such a person, when he completely burns down all the I and minus, he is called a Pandita. Remember, the Bhagavad Gita's very first verse starts, So Pandita, a really enlightened person, not scholar, but a wise person, never grieves. Why? Because in his understanding, there is no birth, there is no death. Therefore, there is nobody who is dying, who is going to be killed and who is going to be the killer. Such problems do not exist at all. Just as we go on enjoying a cinema, a drama, everything happens there. But people are not hesitated. In fact, the more realistic it is, the better we are going to enjoy it. This idea is repeated. Whether it is Christians, or Sufis, or Muslims, or Buddhists, or Jains, anybody, Hindus, it doesn't matter. Ultimately, paradise means the complete demolition of the lower eye. There is no other way. Sadhana starts with, so long I have been thinking, I am so and so, that is the highest reality for me. But in reality, this is not real. What the scripture tells, that alone is real. The very first struggle is to accept that I am wrong and the scripture is right. And that conflict itself takes a long time to be overcome. Because my day-to-day experience is I immediately react to whatever happens and I react either positive way or negative way only depending upon whether I judge it as beneficial to me or not beneficial to me. So this is a process of complete self-surrender. So the jiva is to meditate upon the nature of the infinite truth as described in this eleventh mantra. By this process, the jiva slowly but surely gets detached from the encumbrances of its mind-intellect and thereby comes to recognize its essential oneness with Brahman. Pranava is the sound symbol of Brahman, the supreme reality. The mantras we utter, whether it is Panchakshari, Om Namah Shivaya, Astakshari, Om Namo Narayanaya, Dwadashakshari, Om Namo Bhagvate Vasudevaya or Om Namo Bhagvate Ramakrishnaaya, they are all nothing but ultimately to be merged in only that Pranava which is called Omkara. And the philosophy of that Omkara and Omkara consists of A, U and MA and that is how the sound box within every creature works and the best alphabet for this purpose is the Sanskrit alphabet. Whereas the English one struggles with only 26 alphabets. But the Sanskrit one, any language in any world can be pronounced if one is very familiar with the Sanskrit alphabet. That is not difficult. It will of course require a little bit of practice because whatever sound anybody uttered is uttering and is going to utter in future can all fit comfortably within that range of 52 letters. So this process of meditation which is called complete self-surrender in the symbolical language of that Aranya, Lower Aranya and Upper Aranya is described in a metaphor where Yagnas and Yagas and that is the real purpose. Yagna means sacrifice. Sacrifice in Sanskrit is translated as Bali. Bali means what? Bali means not killing an innocent animal or not even offering a coconut which represents the head of every human being. It looks peculiar but it looks like the head. So that is not the real Bali. Real meaning is that this Aham Aham Kaara should that Kaara as Ramana Bhagavan used to say there is no difference between Aham and Aham Kaara excepting that Kaara is our idea of separation from pure Aham. If we can burn out that Kaara and then what remains is Aham and when we attain to that state nobody can say Aham Jeevaha or Aham Brahma and nobody can say I am Brahman because there is nobody to say pure Aham just is. All the descriptions for the sake of teaching only. So in Bhagavad Gita also we get beautiful idea a little more flavorfully described here especially in the 6th chapter. Elevate yourself through the power of your mind and do not degrade yourself for the mind can be your friend and your own mind acts as your arch enemy and then which mind acts like a friend and which mind like an enemy beautifully described in the very next verse. For those who have subdued the lower mind the very mind becomes acts like a friend and for those where the lower mind bosses over, controls then that very mind works like an enemy. In simple modern language when a person develops a spiritual mind everything becomes positive even if somebody were to cut his throat he will say it is the beloved just as these are not simple mere words these are all incidents that are said I will give you two instances Mirabai was sent poison and there was no secret there she was told this is a poisoned milk and you drink it and you will die, you will have to die it is like Japanese Hercule and when the order comes the fellow had no option but to kill himself what was the reaction of Mirabai she said I have no problem because I do not exist only my beloved exists so whatever she does she attributes it to Krishna Krishna stands for her as God she does not exist at all like Prahlada so she offered it and drank it because once a person offers to God and what does it become Prasada and what does Prasada do it makes a person that Prasada becomes Amrita Rana has sent this poisonous cup Mirabai is drinking it Hansata means exuberant joy she is drinking because it is the Prasada of the beloved what is it it is not the Rana who sent it to me it is Krishna himself who sent it to me for our poor ignorant eyes somebody who hates her had sent it but in the eyes of these great devotees everybody is Krishna who is Rana Krishna who is a friend Krishna who is an enemy Krishna just like there is a beautiful story of Rabia Rabia was criticized severely severely by jealous Mullahs and some of them were supposed to be very sincere and highly advanced Sufis themselves and somebody came and reported Rabia you are being criticized by these people and she did not say anything are you not worried so she said no I am so much in love with God I have no time to think about what this fellow that fellow, the other fellow is talking about I have simply no time so that was the attitude and nothing of course happened because it was not Krishna's will so there is a beautiful saying if Rama wants to kill somebody who can save him and if Rama wants to save somebody who can kill him similarly there is a story in the Gospel itself we get this story there was a Sikh devotee and he was a great Rama Bhakta and one day his own sided soldier a Muslim stabbed him for whatever reason we don't know and he was on the point of death at that time other soldiers discovered him and they asked him who stabbed you? just name and we will take him apart he laughed and said it is Rama alone who came and stabbed me he is not saying anything and there is also a parable of Sri Ram Krishna which you remember a sadhu was beaten black and blue by a wicked man and when he was coming back to consciousness somebody was pouring a little bit of milk and he was asked do you recognize who is giving you milk instantaneously without thinking he said the same person who bit me earlier is now feeding me with milk what a beautiful illustration illustrating this highest truths so this is what is called the greatest problem is our own mind this of course is put in a very beautiful way in some other way a conquered mind is the greatest friend an unconquered mind is the worst enemy that is being said that oh Arjuna let every sadhaka uplift himself by himself what does he mean by Atmanam here Atma doesn't mean the Atma here it means the mind one should uplift oneself by one's own mind so there are two types of mind Asurika mind and the Daivi mind with the help of the what is called positive spiritual sanskaras slowly through sadhana conquer all the Asurika sanskaras and then Na Atmanam Avasadayet suppose a person slips from the path while doing the sadhana even if he slips one billion times we should never get discouraged Na Atmanam Avasadayet never feel depressed at all psychological truth let alone spiritual truth even psychologically this is very helpful for us because a subdued controlled mind is one's greatest friend and an unsubdued mind who becomes our boss it gives endless trouble to all of us and that is being expressed in the next shloka for those who have conquered the mind it becomes their greatest friend for those who have failed to do so the mind itself works like the greatest enemy all the sufferings we go through are only because of the problems of the mind ultimate essence of all scriptures is we are our own greatest friends or we can be our greatest friends and at the moment we are our greatest enemy that is why Buddha specially emphasized and said the greatest enemy is not outside but it is one's own self enough of these recollections now I would like to speak something the sadhana is called Upasana the very word Upasana remember every Upanishad the greatest Acharya Shankar Acharya had given such beautiful meaning of the Upanishads Upani Sat. Upa means approaching and when a person approaches whom? whom means Bhagwan himself because Gnanam and Bhagwan are not separate two separate objects Gnanam is Bhagwan Gnanam is Brahman and Brahman is Gnanam and from the mouth of the Guru what comes is nothing but Brahman only so when a person approaches the Guru when a person is ready every single syllable that issues out of the Guru's mouth becomes a beacon light to help that person. Approach Upa means near. Near means approach just as when we approach a blazing fire the nearer we approach with the nearer we get the fire but don't stop there become one with fire what do we become? Fire itself and if we substitute that word fire with Gnanam we must become Gnanam other words everything in this world is a manifestation of knowledge only I have explained it in other context there are no objects it is only Vrittis Gnanam only Upasana Upa Asana Asana means that which in the normal sense it is a seat but here it is not a seat he who is seated within ourselves Antaryami when as we go on approaching we become slowly slowly like that finally we become him this is beautifully described in the Vaishnava scriptures which we have explored earlier and the same process that as we approach through Sadhana we become more and more like the ideal that we are having this is called Upasana and this Upasana also are five types as indicated in the Vedas Vedas you know Vedas every Veda as I explained earlier is divided into three classes first is Karma Kanda second is Upasana Kanda third is Gnana Kanda now don't jump from Karma Kanda to Gnana Kanda it is not possible our Rishis have found out a formula while doing Karma Kanda itself so many Upasanas are prescribed there are two types of Upasanas Karma Angey Bhoota and Swatantra Angey Bhoota means part of the ritual itself for example when we are worshipping Sairam Krishna we first meditate upon him and then we continue with our worship this is Angey Bhoota Karma Angey Bhoota part of the ritual itself then we have got this what is called Swatantra Upasana this Pranava Upasana is a Swatantra Upasana no Karma is needed just sit there and then contemplate Upasanas are of five types but there are lower Upasanas and higher Upasanas and very briefly I will enumerate them and what is so marvelous about it, Sairam Krishna and Holy Mother they practiced all the five types of Upasanas I am going to explain with these examples first is of course Prathima Upasana Prathimo Upasana what is Prathima Upasana Prathima means an image though what is it these are all images of Gods and Goddesses they are called Prathimas and a Prathima may be a picture drawn on paper or a cloth or a three dimensional idol, Vigraha made up of stone or metal so these are called Prathimas but don't mistake them as Pratika that is a little bit different and much subtler much higher where does Sairam Krishna start his Upasana as soon as he entered the Dakshineswar Kali temple he became the Pujari, first of Radha Krishna and later on of the Divine Mother Kali so Radha Krishna were also made up of an image that human like but not necessarily human like for example if somebody wants to worship Garuda, Garuda Upasana a Garuda an image, this is for the for those minds which cannot really even lift up their minds into higher realms of imagination, all are imagination only, everything the whole Sadhana is nothing but pure imagination in the mind so Prathima means a concrete image which reminds us for example Rama, Krishna, Devi or Dasha Mahavidya or whatever you call it Jesus Christ, Buddha etc it can be a picture drawn on a paper or on a cloth sometimes it could be even drawn on a piece of stone for example in Varanasi there is Sankata Mochana and if you look there is no Prathima there a big piece of stone is there, I think it is stone and in that a faintest imagination of two eyes and etc and you have to imagine because everyday you see thousands of Hanuman's here you will have no difficulty at all but it has been awakened by great souls doing Tapasya there and so this is called Prathima Upasana that is where we have to start then Pratika Upasana but before I go further I forgot to tell you something this Prathima Upasana also has a lower step and that is called Nama Upasana what normally we call Japa or repeating the mantra of one's own Ishta Devata after initiation or before initiation whatever that is called Nama Upasana and second is Rupa Upasana that Rupa Upasana imagining our chosen deity in a particular way that is what is called here Prathima Upasana then there are other people who have progressed a little bit further it is called Pratika Upasana Pratika Upasana Pratika means literally going towards what is Pratika is a symbol this is also called an iconic group so there are two types one is very gross another is an iconic means it represents for example Yantras we call it Mystic Diagrams Mandalas and we have seen even Buddhists use them they elaborate care it takes hours and hours even to prepare if you have witnessed any Homa in any one of the Ramakrishna Ashramas you will see how the Pujari has to draw so this is called Pratika it can be Yantra and it can be Mandalas or some type of diagrams with different coloured powders or it can be Salagrama a certain type of stone and like Shiva Linga like Saligrama etc or it can be only just a pot containing water for example Mother Sheetala etc. It is not as gross as a Pratima but it is a symbol and that symbol definitely that symbol even when we see Pranava or Omkara written that is also Pratika it doesn't resemble a human being etc. So this is Ramakrishna's father he worshipped Mother Sheetala we know that how Mother Sheetala used to appear to him in the fore guise of a small girl and he used to wonder who are you my child and then she was holding the flowering branches which he was collecting at that time and lowering them so that it would be easier for him to collect the flowers and in reply she used to say I am Sheetala and he understood because he was such a pure soul Mother Sheetala then one day he was sleeping in a vast field under a tree coming after finishing his work puja etc. perhaps and then he dreamt that Sri Rama appeared to him and by the way Sri Ramakrishna's family all belong to Ramachandra's family only that is why most of the names are Rama Shudhirama, Hridayrama and Ramakrishna and Ramkumar and Rameshwar etc. even some of the female names also somehow Rama has been added to that he had a dream there God comes and he is eager to be worshipped we may not be eager to worship but he is very eager to be worshipped he will also find out this fellow is not likely to worship me so for such people he will not appear because God also is a psychologist superb psychologist he understood this fellow is a very gullible fellow and if I appear to him then he will believe immediately so he appeared and said I am lying here nobody is taking care of me I want you to take home and worship me and then this Shudhirama got up first he thought he had a dream but the Ramachandra crystal clearly showed a spot in the dream and Shudhirama's eye caught that and this is what I have seen and he had faith so he approached and then he saw that there was a Salagrama and a snake with unfurled hood is protecting that but fearlessly Shudhirama had stretched his hand to take that Salagrama and immediately the snake disappeared and he brought it home examined it, found it out according to the certain characteristics it is a true Salagrama that is representing Bhagawan Vishnu and ever since he has been worshipping it and if some of you happen to go to Kamarpukur it is still being worshipped in that small temple you can request the priest and even that mother Sitala spot also you can see it so this is called Prateeka Upasana and of course Ramakrishna himself used it to worship, he also did Homa every Homa is nothing but Prateeka Upasana etc this is how some of the devotees approach this is called Prateeka Upasana then there is a third type of Upasana very well illustrated in the Vedas this is called Sampad Upasana Sampad means wealth an inferior object is used as a symbol and it is given the highest superior quality, reality attributed it is called you can even say in our Bhavana, in our imagination and this is an example will be Salagrama or even Shiva Linga and so many other things are there, so this is an example of Sampad Upasana for a devotee who has faith in that, a Salagrama is not a piece of stone but it is none other than Vishnu the symbol itself, Salagrama itself is absolutely only a piece of stone but it is forgotten that it is a piece of stone and it is looked upon as the highest reality only it represents Bhagavan Vishnu that is why Hindu priests are so particular about when some Muslims wanted to destroy Hindu Shiva Lingas etc. including Vishwanatha of Kashi and they threw it into a well and much later only it was brought up by Rani Ahalya Vai and the present temple I believe was constructed by her and at that time the rush was very small that is why even now when thousands and lakhs of people are visiting it has become a handicap actually to have the Darshan anyway so this is what is called Sampad Upasana that means what, you can take a piece of cloth and you put Swastika there or you put Sri Chakra anything you put and don't look upon it as Sri Chakra but it is nothing but Mahalakshmi or Shiva and then worship it because everything depends upon the Bhavana, our imagination and with faith of course and then there is a fourth Upasana it is called Adhyasa Upasana what is the Adhyasa Upasana what is the difference between Sampad Upasana and Adhyasa Upasana the symbol itself is of a very superior value, for example Vedic times, the sun the moon, the fire and all these used to be worshipped, especially the sun, that is why it says the sun is Brahman, this is the instruction, you go on meditating upon the sun sun of course is the most superior deity and if at all we have to say Pratyaksha Devata a God in its most manifest form, visible form is nothing but only the sun because without the sun the moon doesn't exist the stars do not exist life itself will not exist there would be nobody to cognize what is creation what is earth, what is planet etc. the world itself becomes non-existent without the help of a cognizer the world doesn't have any independent existence at all this is called Adhyasa means superimposition you take the sun and it is not really a superimposition it is only removing the veil, removing as we see in the Isavasya Upanishad so just deep if we delve and then we will see that one no doubt about it so this is called Adhyasa Upasana the highest Upasana that comes is called Aham Graha Upasana meditation on particular type of ideas on for example Hanuman, on Radha Devi on Sri Rama on Sri Krishna which abundantly we see in the life of Thakur, Mahaswamiji, direct disciples etc. Aham Graha, Graha means catching hold of that is why crocodile is called a Graha once it catches it is impossible to get out of its grip Aham Graha means what that self grasping that is to say self identification so for example you take the light you lift a small lamp and go on looking at the light and then say I am that light Aham is identified with that light Aham is identified with fire Aham is identified with Omkara this Aham Graha Upasana is the highest possible Upasana but as I said like a climbing a staircase Pratima Upasana Pratika Upasana Sampada Upasana then Adhyasa Upasana finally Aham Graha Upasana and as an example of it we get in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad marvellous examples 14 or 16 examples are given he who dwells in the earth but is within the earth whom the earth does not know whose body is the earth and who controls the earth from within he is the inner ruler he is your own immortal self these are the roughly 5 types of Upasana there are minor types are there and is a marvellous explanation how the lower Aranya and upper Aranya had to be churned really which we will talk about in some more in our next class Om Jananim Shardam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagat Gurum Pada Padmetayo Pranamami Mohan Mohoh May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti Jai Ramakrishna