Amrita Bindu Upanishad Lecture 03 on 13 January 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We have started studying the Amrutabindu Upanishad which has 22 mantras. This Amrutabindu Upanishad belongs to Atharva Veda. It comes in the Khila Khanda. Khila means Parashishta. That is at the very end of it. And there are some beautiful commentaries. Really, we do not require any commentary for this Upanishad. For the simple reason that the shlokas are gems in modern language. Anyone even with a little bit of Sanskrit knowledge very easily will be able to understand it easily actually. So we have been studying the Shanti Patha. And this belongs to the Amrutabindu Upanishad. Belongs to the Rig Veda. And therefore the Shanti Mantra is Bhadram Kannevi Shunyamadevaha What is the purpose of the Shanti Patha? First four purposes we have outlined and discussed in our past classes. First, the only goal of study of any Upanishad is to realize God. And God can be realized only by the grace of God by His will. Even the desire to realize Him which requires immense faith that there is such a person that also only by His will. Vasana means an intense desire to realize God is possible only by the grace of God. But we have a body-mind and they have to be maintained. And this maintenance of the body-mind is in the hands of many Devatas especially Panchadevatas. The Surya, the Chandra, the Akasha, Vayu, Agni, Jala and Prithvi. But there are also a few other deities indicated as Indra, Brihaspati, Garuda etc. We have been dealing with that. So we have to pray specially to them. Just like any government ministers or whoever is in charge, president, prime minister. Their Anugraha is important but we do not approach them directly. We approach those people through their underlings. Those who have connection with Him but through their instrumentality. If the people working under these powerful officials are pleased, they have their own powers. So our Adishta, Tura Devata, residing deities are like that. It is actually Ishwara only. And then we have been accumulating Janma Janmantra, Samskaras. Some good, some not very good. Some spiritual, some worldly. So Sadbuddhi, right understanding and right effort, right willpower and Sadguna Prapti. Daiva Daivey Sampat Prapti. It is possible only by the grace of God. And then of course any obstacles that may arise and there is a say that for auspicious things, many many obstacles will come. So Vignanivarana. In that context, we have been discussing Bhadram. What Bhadram means? Auspicious. What does auspicious mean? That which can ultimately lead me to God. That is called Bhadram. So may I listen to that which leads me to God and the counterpart. May I not listen to that which strengthens my attachment to this world. Oh Lord, let me hear about Brahman, about You. Therefore, through this prayer, we seek physical fitness and mental fitness. How long should we pray? It is not a one-off prayer. So long as we are alive, we have to go on praying because our very existence as a body, as mind and our effort to improve ourselves, to evolve ourselves, it is all dependent upon the sustenance. So let us strive to acquire Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha and in that order. So let me spend my entire life as Ishwara, Aradhana. Whatever be the life span, allotted to me according to my own karma phala done in the past lives. Whatever be the life allotted to me, whether it is in a poor family, middle class family, rich family, very loving family, hating family, but whatever be the situation, Oh Lord, do not leave my hand. Make me think about, as Kulashekar Alvar so beautifully says, I do not mind if you wanted to make me born as an insect, but one thing I demand. Let me never be losing any faith. Let me never forget your lotus feet. Provided my devotion and my remembrance of you are kept intact, then you do whatever you like, whichever body, etc. Is it possible that other than human beings, we can also think about God in other bodies? Yes, we see Raja Bharata who became a deer. He was remembering whole life in the form of the deer as only God. And the next birth, deliberately he decided not to speak with anybody. Only once he opened his mouth to give the highest teaching. So by God's grace, let there be no obstacles. Therefore, Oh Devas, may you all give me, wish me, push me towards God. That is what we call in English language, Bon Voyage. Swasthi means, let all good come to me from every side so that I can travel. Not to be completely attached to this world, not to be screwed down to this world, but I make every breath, perhaps I might approach nearer to you. That is called Swasthi. And this Swasthi, some special Devas have been being prayed Indra. The Indra, we have to remember in the Kena Upanishad, who obtained Brahma Gnana. So that is the Indra. May Indra bless us with an auspicious journey. Here, then let Surya Deva, Poshana. Poshana means who sustains us through rains and then through food, etc., through digestion, through Agni Devata, Jataragni, etc. And Surya Devata is worshipped in Vedic times. Worshipped now also, how? In the Sandhya Vandanam, we face the Savitru, that is the creator. Savita means the creator. Surya Devata is called Poshana because He nourishes our body, our intellect, our buddhi. So Diyo Yonaha Prachodayat, so sunlight. Sunlight represents beautiful, what is called Gnanam. That which gives us Gnanam, that which removes our ignorance is called light. That is why I have quoted earlier, Isavasya Upanishad, the seeker reached his ultimate journey and he is talking about Hiranyena Patrena Sathyasya Pihitam Apihitam Mukham Tat Tvam Posham Apavruno Sathya Dharmaaya Drishtaya Who I, who am devoted to Sathyam and Dharma. Sathya is intense faith in God. Dharma, whatever helps me to approach that divine reality. And I am completely devoted to you. I want you, but I am unable to understand you. Only in Buddhi Yogam Dadamyaham, you should give me that buddhi. Diyo Yonaha Prachodayat. I should be able to get that spiritual knowledge. So, O Indra, O Surya. Next, Swasthinaha Tarkshyaha Aristanemi. Let Garuda, the Vahana of Vishnu, that is Guru. Guru represents scriptural knowledge, divine knowledge. That is Brahma Vidya. A person who can convey that Brahma Vidya alone is called Guru. And who is Guru then is none other than Brahman himself. Because only he who has knowledge can give us knowledge. Anybody who has something, only that thing he can give. But here, Tarkshyaha means Garuda Devata. And what type of Aristanemi he is? Arista means terrible obstacles, but one whose journey is absolutely unobstructed. Because he is the very scriptural embodiment. Gnana Swaroopa, Guru. Therefore, this Garuda Devata, may he bless me, so that there would be no like his journey from God to me. And let him also lead me from this plane to the plane of God. That is what is called Aristanemi, that means unobstructed traveller. Whose journey is without any obstacles. Similarly, my spiritual journey must be as smooth as, O Garuda, as your movement. Let there be no obstacles. And then in the end, Let Brihaspati give me or say bon voyage, remove all obstacles and push me forward towards God. So who is Brihaspati? So he who is Deva Guru and who knows everything. That is the starter of the Guru Sampradaya. So Brihaspati is Deva Guru. If he is a Deva Guru, then he can be more than sufficient for me. So these are the names of the deities. If it is a female goddess of wisdom, she is called Saraswati. And if it is given by the male name, then he is called Brihaspati. Pati means master. Brihat means of everything. Who is the master of everything? He who has knowledge, he is the master of everything. So let all the Gods bless me. Let me live my whole life only remembering God, thinking of God and serving God in the form of the poor people, what Swami Vivekananda calls Daridra Narayana, Rogi Narayana, Agnana Narayana, etc. And if our prayer is sincere, as Sri Ramakrishna's prayers were completely fulfilled by the Divine Mother, whatever desires came. But we have to keep in mind, he never desired anything selfish. Whatever prayer is unselfish and with faith and with bhakti, we pray, it will be fulfilled. Every saint bears complete witness to this fact. Then with that prayer, we not only have to pray at the time of the study, at the time of this talk, but every time we open a book, every time we do any action, let every action, whether it be reading, meditation or office work or driving. You know in Bengal, there is a beautiful habit, that is tradition. When a person starts traveling, he doesn't take a single step unless he utters Durga Durga. And then there is a beautiful song also, let Mother Durga protect me. So every day we have to pray this one, because how long? As long as the last breath is there. And after some time we find that remembering God, surrendering ourselves to Him and praying to Him becomes so natural that without that, we will not be able to survive at all. With this, the Shanti Patha is over. So reciting the Shanti Patha itself gives a tremendous amount of peace of mind. When the mind becomes peaceful, what does it mean? It becomes Prasada, that is highly conducive to spiritual practice. Even study of a scripture is one of the greatest spiritual practices. In that, the Rishi, we do not know who is the Rishi, we do not know who are the disciples, but we presume every Upanishad is a dialogue, is a conversation, is an Upadesha. Somebody must have approached a great Rishi, a great many and then he must have asked and this would be the teaching. That is what we have to presume whenever we study. With this, we enter into the very first mantra. As I mentioned, even a person with a modicum of Sanskrit knowledge should be able to understand it without much explanation. But the understanding, it requires tremendous things. So, Nothing could be easier, even for those who know a bit of Sanskrit. What is it he is telling? This mind, my mind, your mind, everybody's mind. And we are talking mainly about human beings. The mind is cheaply spoken of as of two types, two kinds. What are they? Pure and impure. One mind is pure, another mind is impure. The impure mind is that which is possessed of desires, especially worldly desires. And the pure mind is that which is having less of worldly desires. You see, durgunas, if there are plenty, that is called Ashuddha Manas. But if satsadgunas, taivisampat is there, that is called Shuddha Manaha. Very simple, actually. Manaha he vividham prauktham. Vividham prauktham. Mind is said to be of vividham, two types, prauktham. By whom? By great rishis. And what are those two divisions? Shuddham cha, Ashuddham eva cha. Shuddham means pure. Ashuddham means impure. And this is what Sri Ramakrishna is also telling in slightly different words. He is talking about our Ahamkara. Ahamkara is nothing but another name for mind only. So kacha ame, paka ame. Unripe ego, ripe ego. That is exactly what Ramakrishna is translating in his own way. So here, instead of saying Aham, Ahamkara, it is said Manas, ame. Ame means I. I means endowed with this body, endowed with this mind and endowed with what we call complete identity with our body and mind. So pure and impure. And what is the definition of purity and impurity? So he gives first Ashuddham Kama Sankalpam. What is Ashuddham? Means impure. Ashuddham Manaha. We have to add that one. Kama Sankalpam. Sankalpa. That is Samskaras. Resolutions. What type of resolutions? Thoughts. Kama. Full of Kamas. What type of Kama? Because spiritual desire is only one. But unspiritual or worldly desires are many. Why? Spirituality means God. God is only one. Advaita. So the desire is only one. I want this being who is called God. But world, not only there are millions of objects, every object is changing its nature. Nobody will buy a PC which has come out 40 years back except as a piece of museum, to be kept in a museum. For any practical job, the latest because they are faster, they are less prone to failures, etc. So every time new gadgets are coming and each seems to be an improvement from the previous one. And naturally, even if we do not buy also, but our mind will be full of that. So this is what is called a beautiful division of the mind. Now we have to also understand that is it cut and dried? Some minds are full of Ashuddha, some minds are full of purity. No, we should never misunderstanding that way. Because if our mind is absolutely pure, as Ramakrishna says, we are realized resorts. But we are Sadhakas. Sadhakas means what? We realize that we have tremendous desire to progress in spiritual life. But at the same time, there are so many old Samskaras to be transformed into spiritual Samskaras. So, but whereas the majority of desires in a mind which are worldly, even if they turn towards God, the worldly people use God as an instrument of their fulfillment of their desires. If anybody who goes to Tirupati knows, so I don't have, my son is not getting a job. My daughter is not getting married. My daughter who is married, she is not having any children. Or somebody is suffering from a disease. From beginning to the end, desires. That is why he has become very famous as if he is going to fulfill. Even God cannot fulfill everybody's desire. Because if God fulfills everybody's desire, two enemies would want to destroy each other. So we have to understand that which is more number of worldly desires is Ashuddham. That which has got less number and not only that, the person is striving to get rid of the unhelpful worldly Samskaras. That is called Shuddham. Even trying very hard, that is a most wonderful thing. And then in the Bhagavatam, there is a beautiful story. So what is the problem? Why did this mantra start with the description of a mind? Because in the next second mantra, he gives the crux of the problem. Manayeva Manushyanam Karanam Bandham Akshayoh. Mind alone is the cause of bondage. Mind alone is the cause of liberation also. Both bondage and liberation take place in mind. For example, if you dream at any time, a kind of dream where somebody bound you or giving you terrible suffering, unhappiness, your mind has created. Because nobody else knows. Even if you are dreaming that your neighbor is coming and beating you blue and black, the poor fellow doesn't know anything what you are making him do. It is your own creation. You created the neighbor. There is no neighbor at all. And you created that enmity and you endowed him with the strength to overcome you and beat you. What a pitiful type of imagination we have. That is why mind control is the whole essence of yoga. That is why in the very first definition of yoga, first Patanjali Rishi gives Atha Yoga Anushasanam. Now I am going to expound what is called yoga. And in this context, we have to remember whether we are followers of Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga or Jnana Yoga. That yoga is inevitable because that yoga represents mastery of the mind. And the mind contains these pure thoughts, impure thoughts. Because a desire is nothing but a strong thought is a desire. So for example, if you are not feeling very thirsty, then the desire for water will not be very strong. But after some time, when your body exhausts all the water because of heat or whatever, you feel restless to fill your body with the required quantity of water. If you are not hungry, you don't think of the food. Your desire will be proportionate to the amount of requirement, vacuity that the body or the mind produces. So these thoughts means full of desires will be there. And that desires themselves can be fulfilled. But do you want to fulfill in a pure way or impure way? Do you want to do some Nambi Pambi, Nishedha or do you want to pray to God? That makes a difference between prayas and srayas. So this is what we have to talk that the mind is the root cause of all problems. Even Shri Ram Krishna devotes so much of time. Swami Vivekananda, every sadhana means something to do with the mind. There is nothing else. And in the Srimad Bhagavatam, all these subjects are dealt with in such crystal clear manner. And sometimes we miss these stories because we never seriously study these things. In the Bhagavatam, there is once a beautiful story. You know Brahma created four sons through his Sankalpa. These are called Manasa Putras. Like Shri Ram Krishna used to call Swami Brahmananda, Rakhal Maharaj as my Manasa Putra. And Swamiji and others have accepted it. So Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanathkumara. These are the four mind-borne sons of Brahmaji, the creator. And they had the same problem. How to control the mind? And because the mind is restless and the restlessness comes only because of desires. So once they approached him and asked him a similar question. Until we realize God, even the most spiritually advanced person has to deal only with the mind. If there is no mind, there is no world, there is no bondage, there is no ignorance, there is no sadhana. That is why when we are in deep sleep, the mind doesn't function. It is not destroyed but for some time it will be quiescent. So it will not be functioning. That means there is no awareness of the world. That means there is no bondage. That is why we get so much of rest in that state. So these four mind-borne sons of Brahmaji approached their father. Because Brahma is supposed to be the very essence of the Vedas. That's why his name is Brahma. Brahma is another name for Vedas. And he is the original Guru who started the Guru Sampradaya. As we have studied in Mundaka Upanishad. And also recently we have studied in so many other Upanishads also. So what was the question? How can we separate the mind from all objects and pleasures? Why do we want to separate? Because they seem to have become one. I and my desire seem to have become one. So the mind has become so much attached to the objects. Mind cannot exist without objects. And the objects have no existence without the mind. So what do the objects do? They do not simply stand. So if you see a beautiful mango tree, you feel like, Oh, I wish I could get that mango so that I can eat. And that is what we do when we go to the markets. It is available for buying. So we buy or borrow or steal or whatever it is. So objects create desires and creates agitations. If we get okay, we don't get. Mind becomes extremely agitated and it develops dependency. Dependency leads to depression and sorrow in the mind. So how can we control this object-filled mind? And this is what Patanjali Rishi says, Completely cleansing of the mind with Ashubhavasanas is called Yoga. There is no danger in keeping the thoughts of God. Because if we really translate, thought of God means desirelessness. It's a very interesting proposition. You can definitely understand it if you think deeply about it. So then what did Brahmaji do? How did he answer? He did not answer. So Brahmaji was preoccupied just at that time with creation. So he also has a desire. So he had a desire. I am alone. I want to become many. So his mind also was full of this and he was engaged in that. And then at that time he did not know. So what did he do? So I also at this time am unable to answer you. So he and his four sons joined together and prayed to God. Usually it is translated as Vishnu. And then what did Vishnu do? Immediately appeared in the form of a swan and then he sang a song. Generally we are aware of Bhagavad Gita. We are aware of Anu Gita. But there are more than 30 Gitas are there. Ribha Gita is one. Uddhava Gita is another one. Hamsa Gita is another one. Manki Gita is another one. Gopika Gita is another one. Like that more than 30 are there. Most marvelous, what do you call, Gitas are there. What is Gita? Song. So then the Hamsa, Bhagavan in the form of the Hamsa Gita, he gave the complete Upanishad. What did he say? That is Hamsa, remember, even Satyakama, Jabala, he obeyed his Guru's commandment and when all the Godhana, Pashas have become one, increased to 1000, the Rishabha came and said that we are drivers. Then that Rishabha himself has given the one-fourth of the teaching. Agni gave another fourth. Two birds came and completed a complete Upadesham and as soon as they reached Guru's ashrama along with the 1000 cows along with that bull, then one looked at his face and he said, Oh Satyakama, your face is shining like a Brahmagnani, the knower of Brahman. Who taught you? Because I am supposed to teach you. You have elected me as your Guru. And then very politically, what is called diplomatically, Satyakama said, other than human beings, because Agni and Rishabha and two types of birds, they are all different, not human beings, but the essence is the same and Swamiji makes a marvellous point of it. He says that means if somebody is sincere, even if he is in the remotest place, he has no chance of getting a Guru Upadesha and if he prays sincerely, if he desires sincerely and prays to God sincerely, God is everywhere. He will enlighten the mind in the form of intuition. That's why Swamiji used to say all knowledge is within. Only some fire is necessary, some contact is necessary, some rubbing is necessary to bring it out. A Guru acts as a teacher acts, an instructor acts, only that he who brings out. But if we don't have that knowledge, it will never come out. So Sri Ramakrishna's first sadhana was without the help of any scripture, any Guru, anybody, anything. Purely through intuition, he prayed wholeheartedly, Oh mother, you please teach me and the mother took him to the Nirvikalpa Samadhi because Swamiji mentions there. So what did this Hamsa say? Hamsa means what? Bhagavan Himself said that when the mind vacillates between mutually dependent things, the solution lies in going beyond both. What is he telling? So long as the mind is functioning, the mind functions in opposite ways. That is, I like this, I don't like this, I love this, I hate this, Raga, Vesha, likes, dislikes. Not only that, everything is totally dependent upon others' minds. Objects cannot exist unless some conscious being organizes them, takes notice of them and everything is dependent. This is a beautiful Vedantic concept. The object depends upon the subject and the subject also depends upon the object. If there is no object, the subject will not be a subject. If there is no action, a person cannot be called a Karta. If there is no object to enjoy, a person cannot be called a Bhokta and therefore every object in this world is mutually dependent. This beautiful idea has been elaborated so beautifully in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in a particular Brahmana called Madhu Brahmana. Madhu means what? Everything is honey to every other object. So, if honey is a very desirable sweet for a human being, for a tiger, that very same human being, especially after he becomes sweeter by eating all sweets, he will be the most desirable person and a tiger will be the most desirable object for somebody else. So, that goes in English language. Smallest fish is eaten by slightly bigger fish and that is eaten by still bigger fish and ultimately the biggest fish eats that bigger fish which eats all the smaller fishes and human being eats these fishes and human being is finally eaten up by what we call the bacteria finally. So, it is mutually we are all enjoying. When I am enjoying, I am called the enjoyer. When others are enjoying me, they are called the enjoyers. I am called the enjoyed. The whole world is nothing but that. So, what is the Hamsa saying? Instead of the self-defeating exercise of separating the mind from objects and objects from the mind, we should enquire as to whom both the subject and object belong. We come to understand that they are both the conditioning of the individual and the individual is none other than Brahman. That is what Isavasya Upanishad, the very first mantra, is trying to inculcate into us. It is telling that both the subject and object are dependent upon Ishwara. So, Isavasyam Idhagum Sarvam. This world consisting of object and objects, it is all enveloped means controlled, transformed by Ishwara. If we can cling to the Ishwara, then we get Ishwara's status. And what is the Ishwara's status? Sat, Chit, Nananda. We go beyond death. We go beyond ignorance. And we go beyond all suffering. This is how it leads. So, what is the mind? Then we have to define what is the mind. Because every sadhana is only to go beyond the mind. What is the mind? Mind is the very word. Manaha means mananam. Mananam means to think. Shravanam mananam. Mananam means to think. Mind is the faculty in us that thinks. And whatever thoughts we cultivate, our mind is those thoughts. If we cultivate thoughts of purity, then just like I am giving an example. So, every man, he wants a woman to enjoy. Now, he has his own mother. He has his own sister. He has his own daughter. He has his own wife. So, there are three women there. But what is his thought? This is my mother. I am her son. She is like a goddess to me. What about the sister? She is my beloved sister. And I am supposed to look after her, protect her, etc. What about the daughter? I have to protect her because she is my own self born there. Only with regard to the wife, it is a different issue for most people. But what was Ramakrishna's attitude? He worshipped her and he prayed, O Divine Mother, please reveal yourself through this individual. So, that is why Divine Mother never ever tempted Ramakrishna. So, if we cherish and we have to do sadhana to cherish, we can make our mind pure. That is why Ramakrishna used to say that whenever you look at a tempting object and you salute the Divine Mother, there is nothing but Divine Mother. So, to see God everywhere, that is how we develop. So, when we go on repeating God's name, etc., The thoughts of God predominate and slowly they rub off and every object we come into, everything belongs to God and whatever belongs to God must be very pure. That is what we do when we do puja. We buy some sweets from the shop, bazaar and then offer it. Once we offer it, until we offer it, it is just what is called a desirable object. But as soon as we offer it, it becomes a divine prasadam and then that prasadam we eat with reverence, even a little bit of it. So there is a positive mind and negative mind. A sorrowful mind with stress, depression, tension, anger, rejection, so many negative attitudes with hurtful and harmful thoughts is impure. A mind without these negative thoughts is called pure. A pure mind is always content, cheerful, full of happiness, full of peace. And this mind, especially impure mind, this is the difference. How do we know what is a pure mind? How do we know what is an impure mind? So a restless mind, that is the first sign, is an impure mind. And a completely restful mind is a pure mind. A mind becomes restless only when it is not getting happiness, bliss. That is why it is seeking. I don't get happiness here, so let me think something else, let me think something else. But a pure mind is thinking about God, the very embodiment of happiness, Sat, Chit, Ananda. And it becomes absolutely concentrated, focused, without any restlessness. It rests. And then what is the second? Because the mind is full of happiness in the presence of God, because of remembering God, it is getting more than what it was imagining or expecting, and therefore it doesn't want to move from there. So that is the second. The third is, a happy person is a person who never wishes ill of other people. So many Sangunas will come. And how horrible our mind is. Actually, I just am mentioning, if you are interested, there are two books. One book is called, that is, About Ourselves, by H. A. Overstreet. Such marvelous ideas he had collected and how we all suffer from many of those situations, albeit completely unaware. This is one book. Second book, recently it has come, I forget the author, but it is Fast and Slow Thinking. Fast and Slow Thinking. Say, suppose we are driving. There is no time to think slowly. We have to think. In any situation, you have to think and react instantaneously. Otherwise, a disaster will follow. But, Slow Thinking. Every human being has the right, has the capacity to think slowly. How? So, one, he gives many, many classifications. I was surprised, so deep he has gone. How much of, what is called, biases we develop. Different types of biases. So, one simple example I will give you. Says, there are some people who identify themselves with others through religion. And then, another example is Constitution. It is a beautiful example because the founding fathers of any country, America or India, they have a Constitution. And, is it changeable or is it unchangeable? And then, the person says that those people, wise people, intelligent people, have brought about, has written that Constitution, has made it pass all the laws suitable to those circumstances. But, in the world, circumstances are always changing. After 50 years or 100 years, many of the things in that Constitution, many details, they become irrelevant. When they become irrelevant, just because we should not change the Constitution, there are some people, these are called orthodox people. And, that is why our orthodox people did not accept either Ramakrishna or Swami Vaikunanda. So, this is one example. Another is, here is a person and there is a scripture that was interpreted by somebody, say, 1500 years back. And now, this social situation has changed. And then, we are still clinging to that without thinking. The goal of the person who has interpreted at that time is how all around good, everybody's welfare can be taken care of in that particular society with certain restraints and limitations. Now that so many things have changed, for example, some religions say women have to become only what is called for the happiness of the males and for cooking and for producing children and machines for producing children to bring them up. They are not to be considered at all. How horrible this situation is. Very few people stop to think that that interpretation, which was there so many hundreds of years back, is it relevant still for us? But the primary purpose, that let religion help everybody move towards his own destination, that is forgotten. And some people say, my grandfather ate this food and so I have to eat, everybody has to eat. Anybody who doesn't, he deserves to be annihilated completely. And this is the situation even today. So, whether it is a party bias, newspaper bias, or grandfather-grandmother bias, religious bias, any hundreds of examples he gives, what is called fast and slow thinking. If you are interested, if you really want to improve yourself, go through them. And then why am I recommending having gone through them, you sit there and say, am I also suffering from these biases? Because a bias to mind is judging things, persons, family or outside family with a tinted glass. And that will not allow us. This is called bondage. Bondage is nothing but to get out of these tinted biased opinions. What does God want me to do? And if we struggle, we can get a good understanding. There is no doubt about it. So, when ordinary worldly things, name, fame, pleasure, comforts, power, position, the mind is filled with these things, that is called Ashuddha Mana. But when the person really believes in God and says, I must claim my birthright, I am what is called potentially divine. So, I should not become a servant of the mind, but I must become the controller of the mind. That is what is meant. That is what Bhagavad Gita in the 6th chapter also says. A mind should be controlled by the mind. And a controlled mind is the greatest well-wisher. And an uncontrolled mind is the greatest enemy. There is no doubt about it. And another point also, the Rishi is indicating that there is a terrible misunderstanding that I can change anybody else. No. Even it is so hard for me to change myself, to cherish the notion that I can change anybody else by giving upadesha, even children, even spouses. No. You can only live your life and through your life. Because if you live a good life, how do we know? You become a contented person, a happy person, a positive person, and everybody will be attracted to it. And this is what Chinmayananda Swami, sometimes his utterances are like mantras. He says, do not put the key of your happiness in someone else's pocket. That is to say, if I don't have this dress, if I don't have this house, this car, this food material, I am going to be very unhappy. That is called putting the key of my happiness into somebody else's. So this is the essence of this one. And there is a beautiful story. You know, once Ramakrishna told a beautiful story. There was a monk. He had only a pair of kaupinams, loincloths. And mice came, started nibbling them. I don't know what papa that mice has really created, done in its past birth. That's why he must have been born as a mice. And every day, this monk had to beg for a fresh piece of cloth. But the villager said that you bring up a cat and these mice will not trouble. They did not tell what other responsibilities will come. So happily, somebody must have donated a kitten and it required milk. He started, instead of kaupinams, he started begging for milk. And then they said, instead of begging for milk, we'll give you a piece of land and you cultivate some grass and other eatable materials. And that is how his samsara grew and grew and grew. Ultimately, he had to employ many servants and he became what you call a householder. He got married also. Later on, his guru who advised him that you go into a solitary place, practice sadhana, wanted to see how his disciple was faring. And he went there. He was astonished to see so many houses. It was like a small village. Then he asked. And then the disciple was enlightened by the very visit of the guru. He said, Guru, it is all for the sake of kaupinam, kaupin ka vasthi. Now, in Bhagavatam, we get this beautiful story. There was a sage called Monkey. And he had given some upadesham. It is called Monkey, Monkey Gita. So don't misunderstand Monkey Gita. That is, no, the sage's name was Monkey. And he was like that sannyasin. And what happened? He had some bullocks. He was growing these crops, etc. One day, a camel happened to pass by. And two cows playfully went and clung to this camel. And then the camel started running away. And the mothers of these cows also started running away. And then all the other cows also started running away along with them. And the sage was running behind the bullocks to retrieve them. And then he paused in the pursuit. And then he thought, what am I doing? Instead of seeking God, I am running after bullocks. How did I ever come to this state? He traced the root of his problems to desire and declared. What did he declare? O desire, I know your source. You verily arise from fanciful ideas. I shall no more entertain them. How then can you trouble me? Kama janami te mulam. You are the root cause. Sankalpat kila jayase. And kama cannot come, cannot affect us, unless we make a determined effort to fulfill that kama. That is called sankalpa. Natvam sankalpashyami. From now onwards, I may have desire. But I will not do any sankalpa. Tename na bhavishyasi. This is how you are not going to help what is called trouble me. I am sorry, I said it is from Bhagavatam. No, it is actually from Shanti Parva Mahabharata. In short, a desire-ridden mind is sorrowful and impure. And a desireless mind is happy and pure. And then we enter into the next mantra. This is where it is most famous. Often quoted to show us the very vital role that the mind plays in our life. This is the most famous one which I have already quoted. Mind alone is the cause of both man's bondage as well as liberation. The mind that is attached to sense objects leads to bondage. While disassociated from sense objects, it tends to lead to liberation. We will discuss about it in tomorrow's class. Om Jananim Sharadaam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Saritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Ramakrishna