Paramahamsa Upanishad Lecture 05 on 16 March 2024

Full Transcript (Not Corrected)

We are studying the Paramahamsa Upanishad. Narada approached Brahma himself, who is the Brahmavidya Sampradaya Karta. The person who started the Brahmavidya tradition. And then asked him, how can I know my own true self? Or explain to me how a Paramahamsa Yogi, one can become a Paramahamsa. And for that Yoga needs to be practiced. And Yoga means, Yoga proceeds in three stages. First stage is Chitta Shuddhi. That is to say, get rid of all the evil qualities, unspiritual qualities, unhelpful qualities. Second, acquire all spiritual qualities. Only having them, one can progress in spiritual life. And lastly, Shravana, Manana, Nidhidhyasana. Complete self-surrender through following the teachings of the Guru, deep thinking, etc. And we have seen a description of the Paramahamsa Yogi in the first mantra. And then Brahma says that whatever I have described now is quite important, no doubt. Such a Paramahamsa is very rare. And what I described can also be attained by ordinary people. But there is something even more important. All external insignia are there to help us. As Holy Mother puts it so beautifully, if a dog is having a collar and then if it is roaming about in the streets, police will not catch, dog catchers will not catch because the collar indicates that the dog belongs to somebody. Similarly, when a person is trying to lead a spiritual life, the worldly people not only should not disturb such a person, but positively help him by showing him respect, by reminding him of what he is trying to achieve, and also by providing for his minimal needs. So for that he has to be distinguished from others. Others means brahmacharis, grihasthas, vanaprasthis, etc. For that purpose, some people adopt what is called a danda, shikha, and covering of the body, etc. But that is not important. All these things fall off themselves. Danda will fall away. Shikha will fall away. Ignopavita will fall away. Cloths will fall away. Not because he practices like that, deliberately makes a habit of that. No, automatically they fall away. Ramakrishna used to say that when the palm tree grows, at the beginning of the growth, there will be huge leaves. But as it grows taller and taller, the lower leaves, huge leaves, we can see them, they dry up and just fall away like that. Many unnecessary things fall off and others will not be affected by them because a question may come. Here is a naked monk and seeing him, he may be young. Seeing him, will not the other people feel? No, they are not reminded. We are either men, male or female because just as when we see a small child, a baby with or without cloths, nobody is reminded, I am a male, I am a female. So this state is attainable or attained only by a person who had realized God. It is a most natural thing that I have nothing to do with the body and mind. Even a baby also, because of pure ignorance, he has not yet developed. Otherwise, he cannot run and jump and embrace his own mother. But the same child, when he grows up, he becomes aware, I am a male and he cannot jump into the mother's lap. So these things fall off and that beautiful description is going to be given in mantra number two, which we have started in our last class. The mantra is quite big and it goes like this because even to hear this mantra, it would be wonderful. We will discuss each one of the qualities. The Paramahamsa carries neither the staff, nor the hair tuft, nor the holy thread, nor any covering. He feels neither cold, nor heat, neither happiness, nor misery, neither honor, nor contempt, etc. It is right that he should be beyond the reach of the six billows of this worldly ocean. Having given up all thought of calumny, conceit, jealousy, ostentation, arrogance, attachment, or antipathy to objects, then joy and sorrow, lust, anger, covetousness, self-delusion, elation, envy, egoism, and the like, he records his body purely as a corpse, as he has thoroughly destroyed the idea that I am the body. Being eternally free from the cause of doubt or a misconceived or false knowledge, realizing the eternal Brahman, he lives in that himself with the consciousness, I myself am he, Brahman. I am that Brahman whose nature is calm, immutable, undivided. I am of the essence of knowledge bliss. That alone is my real nature. That knowledge alone is the Shikha, the tuft of the hair of a Paramahamsa. That Jnana alone is his holy thread. Through the knowledge of the unity of the Jivatma with the Paramatma, the distinction between the Jivatma and Paramatma is completely destroyed. And this Jivatma-Paramatma unification alone is his Sandhya ceremony. This is the plain translation. So now we will go into the individual descriptions. So earlier we have seen Danda, Shikha, Ignopavita, and Achyadana. So what are the Danda? So there are people who carry either one staff or three staffs. Ek Danda, Ek Dandi, Dvidandi, Tridandi. There is a symbolism. Ek Dandi means one staff. What does it symbolize? There are no two. I and God, Jivatma and Paramatma are exactly one and the same. And then what about Dvidandi? It signifies I am trying. I have given up the idea that I was subject to birth and death. I have become a Dvija. Dvija means I am a spiritual being. I am the Amrutasya Putra. What about Tridandi? Beautiful example is given. In fact, this applies to even upper class people when they take the sacred thread, Ignopavita. In Bengali it is called Poita. Then there is supposed to be a special type of thread. And that thread should be consisting of three threads or multiplication of the three threads. What is the symbolism? So beautiful explanation is given. Three Danda. Here three Danda. There three strands of the Ignopavita. What does it mean? The first is called Manodanda. Second is called Pagdanda. And the first is called Dehadanda. What does it mean? I control my body. I control my speech. I control my thoughts. These are the symbolism. From now onwards, until now, I am behaving like an animal. That is what is beautifully described in the wise sayings. There is absolutely no difference when human beings are eating in an air-conditioned room. What is called the best sweets, the best type of food material are varying. But there is no difference between animals and this person, human being. Why is there no difference? Because food is common. And that's why Swami Vivekananda gives a marvellous, very imaginary description. No man can enjoy food like a wolf. So far as I know, there is only one person who could enjoy that kind of thing. He was called Bhimasena. Why? Because he is called Vrikodaraha. His stomach is like a stomach of a wolf. Wolf can digest even better than wolf. I don't know about the wolf. It can digest bones, flesh, raw, rotten, fresh, anything. But there is another animal called hyena. And this hyena, it just crunches the bones and its powerful digestive juices. It is hydrochloric acid. And it can melt all the bones. And do the bones contain food material? Yes, very great food material will be there. In fact, we are able to walk only because of the bones, etc. And when they are damaged, we can't lift our hand, we can't walk, even lying down becomes very bad, especially the backbone. So, here is what is called a person who perfectly disidentifies himself. So, when food, sleep, we are all slaves of sleep. Fear, even rich people have tremendous fear. Sarvam vayanvitam drinam, vairagyamevaca abhayam. Who says? Bhattaruhari. He says, if you are healthy, there is a fear of disease. If you are coming from a very respectable caste, there is a fear that you might be thrown out of the caste. If you have got what is called prosperity, there is a fear of losing. If you are beautiful, there is a fear of becoming ugly. Any accident can bring about, any disease can bring about. And if you are a young person, definitely you are going to be an old person. So, sarvam bhuvi vayanvitam. Everything in this world is in danger of becoming lost. Vairagyameva. But if a person has vairagya, he then has nothing to fear because vairagya is another name for fearlessness. This is a marvellous idea we have to think. And we want to be fearless. Really speaking, we would like to be fearless. Very few people, even the most fearful people, are very much frightened of some other persons. Okay. So, bhaya. Then maithuna. Everybody falls for this. The rule of the nature. The instinct of natural instinct. It is called sexual attraction, sexual slavery. But this is common between animals and any human being behaving like that. Then what is the speciality? There is something very special. Viveka. That is, man can stand outside himself, look at himself, objectify himself, analyse himself, find out what qualities, good or evil, the person has got and gradually, through sadhana, he can become a man of divine nature. So that is the speciality. Animals, as we know, their body is limited, mind is limited, understanding is limited, memory is limited, hope is limited, ideal is limited. So far as we know. Exceptions are there, of course. What exceptions are we talking about? Like there were some people, highly evolved, but because of some attachment, they fall down. Not only they will not become human beings, they may be reborn as animals. Nausha was reborn as a python. And Jada Bharata, she was reborn as a Harina. Like that, so many stories are there. And in the life of Ramana Maharshi, we get so many stories. Highly evolved souls taking animal births used to come. And if you study Ramayana, people like Hanuman, Sugriva, Pali, do you think they are monkeys? How do we know? Whenever we are praising Hanuman, what do we say? That He is the greatest Bhakta. He is the greatest Jnani. He is the greatest Karmi. And devotion, karma and knowledge. He is endowed with all the yogas. That is why Swami Vivekananda wanted us to emulate. The example, the ideal is Hanuman is the ideal, especially for this age. Do you think any monkey will have this kind of nature? So these are symbolism. I told you many times, but just I will remind you once more. What is the symbolism? A person who has got that egoism is the key. Even a monk, if he feels I am a great monk, not necessarily he should be great. Even to feel I am a human being, I am aware of my body-mind, such a person is none other than a monkey. But anybody who gives up, and every great devotee, definitely without the least doubt, has given up his egotism, surrendered it completely to the Divine, says, O Lord, I do not exist. Only You exist. So such a Bhakta, such a Jnani, and such a Karmi, he is ready to face for the sake of his Ishta Devata Rama. That is why Hanuman was a wise person. Sugriva, he was a wise person. Vali, he had performed a tremendous amount of Tapasya. As a result, he got that whoever stands in front of him, 50% of that person's strength will immediately come out and then become Vali's. That is why Rama knew this boon. That is why he was forced to hide in a bush and from a side kill Vali. If Rama had stood, what would have happened? Half of Rama's strength would have gone to Vali. And Vali himself was so strong, this fellow Ravanasura, who became the dead enemy of Rama much later on, he thought, what is this monkey? I am going to just subdue him. At that time, the story goes, Vali was performing Sandhya Vandana every day. So he went to the sea. Every day it was his habit to go to the four Dhamas and prostrate before God and then go back. How many of our devotees do that really? So this Ravanasura came thinking that one blow from my Gada, this fellow will be subdued. Somehow Vali sensed and then he just squeezed him inside his Vala, that is big tail. And then without blinking an eye, he went round and round all the Tirthas and incidentally he was also dipping Ravanasura in that when he was dipping. And then when he came back to his own place, then Ravanasura understood his power, bowed down and then he went away. So like China and Pakistan, they formed a friendship. Vali was a very strong person. But at the same time, he did not have that wisdom. So he had done something morally wrong. That is why Rama wanted to liberate him, such a great person. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. And in our Puranas, whoever becomes the devotee of Shiva is considered, that devotee should consider Vishnu as his deadliest enemy. This is what we get all the time. What are we talking about? Human beings alone seem to be endowed with unless there were people who were evolved very high. But because of this egotism, they fell down and they fell below the human level. And sometimes they assume the form of animals. They are not in the normal sense of evolutionary process. But it is a temporary condition so that they can get rid of the egotism. So there is no difference. But human being has got that viveka, quality of viveka. So whoever has got that self-control of the body, of the speech, of the mind, such a person will be very dear to the Divine Lord. And that is indicated in the form of the danda. Even this Yajna Pavita exactly it means that I will speak truth, I will think only, only spiritual thoughts and I will only do dharmic actions. And this is my vow. I will try to do that. From the time on that the person is given the Yajna Pavita, he has to try to do that. So that is just to remind him not to just scratch his back which he cannot reach through the thread. So that is being given here. Some Sanyasins, they put Sheekha. Because in South India, it is considered just like a lightning rod. It is what is called spiritual reception will be there through that Sheekha. No. Sheekha indicates I am a Brahmachari or I am a Sanyasin. Similarly, Yajna Pavita. This is referring to upper classes who have got sacred thread. But not only that, whenever a person is trying to do Yajna, then he has to wear this one what is called special type of thread. Even our devotees, when they are performing Homa, they have to make a ring out of Durva grass and put it on their ring finger and take a Sankalpa. Until I complete this Homa Karya, I am not going to give it up anyway. I will continue it even if obstructions arise. That is the meaning of it. So Naya Yajna Pavita. But what is Danda? What is Sheekha? What is Yajna Pavita? What is their special symbolism that Brahma himself is going to teach to his beloved disciple Narada. By the way, this Narada story comes even in the Chandogya Upanishad. He approached a great Rishi and then says you please teach me. He was a Brahma Jnani. Ramakrishna confirms it. Great devotees, unparalleled devotees like Narada, he kept with himself the egotism that I am one of the greatest devotees of God. A true devotee of God must become extremely proud. And this pride is of two types again. The first pride is I will not stoop to anything low because I am a devotee of God. It will bring bad name to my master if I do anything wrong. And this is highly helpful if a person really feels proud. I am an initiated devotee. I am a devotee of God. I am a worshipper of God, etc. But the same can be kept if by God's will he becomes a Jeevan Mukta. Then he has to live in this world and we see Sri Ramakrishna living like a child. I am a child of the Divine Mother. And about Shankaracharya, Sri Ramakrishna remarks he kept for the sake of teaching the highest Vedanta to other people, kept the egotism of knowledge. And Narada, he kept the egotism of a devotee by God's will only. We have to understand that one. So danda, no danda, no shikha, no ignopavita. Then is he losing something? No. In the form of symbolism, it will come. Perfect self-control represents danda. Then always living in the very knowledge that I am Brahman is called shikha. And I am here to do Loka Sangraha. I will not waste my time. I will give it completely, offer it, karma. What is called? Swami Vivekananda started this Ramakrishna order. Jagat Hita Atmana Kalyanam Then Jagat Hita for the welfare by the will of God. Nacha Akshadhanam So he doesn't have any cloth. Does it mean that he will be naked? What do you mean by naked? Later on also it comes. What is called? Akasha Ambaram Asha Ambaram or Akasha Ambaram Ambaram means something to cover oneself. Ambaram means sky. Digambara itself is the covering cloth. Or it is also called Jnana Ambaram. Shiva is depicted always as Digambara or what is called Vyagra Ambaram. What does Vyagra mean? Vyagra means that perfect mastery over all kama, krodha, etc. That is also very symbolic. Why was Vishnu endowed with Gada, Padma, Shankha, etc.? Why was Shiva? What is the symbolism? He rides a bull and then his whole body is covered with snakes. What is called? Ornaments are big snakes. And then he is always the moon is shining upon his head. He is completely naked. Bhasma, Bhoolitanga is all symbolism. What is called? Trishula is there. Everything that is description has got a symbolism. When the time comes, we will talk about it. So this Nani, nothing can cover him. Why doesn't he have any covering? Because what can cover him? That which is infinite. Does it require covering? First of all, why does a person need covering? Why does a man need covering? Because he is highly conscious, aware. I am a male. Therefore, other persons are also aware he is male and we should be careful about him. In society. But it is very peculiar. There are certain what is called people. They are living in deep forests, etc. Most of them have no idea. They don't cover at all. Completely naked they go about. And then people think they must be staring at each other. No. In fact, they avert their eyes because whenever you see something 24 hours a day, your only wish will be how I wish I can cover my eyes. So here, infinite cannot be covered. Then another way of telling is he is covered with bhakti, is covered with knowledge, is covered with viveka, etc. is there. So normally, digambaraha. Because he doesn't think I am the body. Therefore, he is not male or female. Therefore, he is not having inferiority or superiority complex. He is not aware. He doesn't have kama, krodha, etc. We are going to come to that. And in such a pure state, like a pure baby, what does he do? Such a person is called paramahamsa and charati. That is how he lives. Charati means he moves. But really, that is how he lives. And in Bhagavad Gita also we come across How does he sit? How does he talk? How does he move about? What do you mean by that? All that it means is how does life goes with him? Does he conduct the life? Even we should not interpret it that he lives like this. Because there is no he. It is only God. And the body is moving. He is not aware. My body is moving. He has no problem. Can the body suffer? Yes, it can suffer. Can the paramahamsa put on a first class Varanasi shawl, etc.? Definitely he can put on. In fact, Sri Ramakrishna had two desires. He saw somewhere, somebody, some sanyasi perhaps, that putting on what is called a very costly shawl and smoking from a bubble which has got some golden covering. So Sri Ramakrishna immediately he informed Madhur Babu. And Madhur Babu provided him. So what did he do? For a few seconds, you know, people didn't want to look at it. He was only drawing attention of all the passers-by. Look, look, look, look at me. Have you noticed my shawl? Oh, this is very costly. How costly, sir? One thousand pounds. Nowadays, young people are all imitating Sri Ramakrishna. They acquire what is called BMW car. Look, look, look, I have got a BMW. It is called a prestige car. It is called an attracting car. So Sri Ramakrishna was attracting. And then after a few minutes, oh mind, what is the purpose of a shawl? It is only to protect one. Even a rough blanket. That is pure. What is that? It is a pure hair of a goat or a sheep. And that will serve the purpose. And he threw it. He spat on it. He need not have gone to that extent. But his mood was like that. He was about to burn it. So fortunately, I think Ramlal Dada or Hriday came and snatched it away. And later on, I don't know where it has gone. Anyway, it is not available. Somebody must have possessed it. Doesn't matter. So, and then another time, hubble-bubble. So he said, I sat to the left. I sat to the right. I bent down. I turned backward. I tried. Whatever way you eat Rasagulla, it will taste only the same. Whatever way you smoke, it will be exactly the same thing. So he did something. And then that desire permanently left him. Similarly, he wanted to eat the best Sandesh. And he chewed it, shifting it from left side to right to left. Oh mind! This is also made up of Panchabhoothas, like mud only. There is no special value. Something to sustain the body is okay. You don't need to get attached. And Shri Ram Krishna, by Mother's will, had a few desires. And he fulfilled all of them. Mother had fulfilled. And permanently, forever, he thought again, Oh, that was very nice. Let me have it. What is our problem? Once we have that one, Kambali nahi chodti. That blanket is not leaving me. I hope you know that story. There was, in North India, very cold place. There were two monks. One day, they were passing by the river Ganga. Suddenly, they thought they saw thick black blanket. And it was freezingly cold. So the elder one said, Bhai, you jump in and bring that. It will be of use for us. So the younger one jumped, caught hold of the blanket, and the blanket was also going downstream. And this fellow also was being dragged. Why are you not bringing? Oh, I am unable to pull it to the shore. All right, leave it and then come back. You are in imminent danger of falling down. No, Kambali nahi chodti. Later on they found out, a black bear had slipped into that stream. And it got this man. It is not going to leave him. So we are all caught by this black bear of Mahamaya. We cannot leave it. But these are Paramahamsas. They are endowed naturally with discrimination and then dispassion, perfect mind and body control. And they are only thinking about God. So it is impossible for them to... So this is how the Paramahamsa moves joyfully in this world. Then the further descriptions. Na shitam na jyoshnam. That is dualities. So cold and heat. Sita means cold. Vishna means heat. Because if we don't know what is heat, we will not know what is cold. If we don't know what is cold, we will not know what is heat. So the question comes. Is a Paramahamsa, does he not feel when he is naked, when it is winter season? We say Shri Ram Krishna. So he is putting on in winter season a very warm shawl. So how come? What is the meaning? If there is a body, body feels. And if we have slight identity with the body, then also we feel. But if this person doesn't have anything to cover, so does he suffer? He knows that the body suffers. Never ever mistake. Since Shri Ram Krishna is a Jeevan Mukta, I can take a sharp knife and then cut him out. No. So if you throw a bucket of cold upon him or a bucket of boiling water, the body will be affected. But since he is not identified with the body, whenever body identification comes because of teaching etc., he feels what is called cold and heat. He also feels hunger and thirst. But he will not feel what is called this is happiness, this is unhappiness. Why? We will discuss about it. So it is not that he doesn't feel, but his mind will remain absolutely calm and quiet. That is important. So when some bodily happiness comes, when somebody gives a blanket or when somebody fans, then it is very hot. We all know Shri Ram Krishna towards the end of his life, he loved ice cream. Not ice cream. Only once or twice he had eaten iced water. So sometimes from one and a half kilometers, the ice had to be bought. And once Swami Ram Krishna carried it, wonder of wonders, in that midday heat, it did not melt at all. Maybe a little bit has gone, but it remained intact. And I think he must have been enjoying carrying it really on the head. That is my guess. Anyway, Ram Krishna was very happy. So na sukham na dukkham. Sukha is followed by dukkha. Happiness is followed by unhappiness. Unhappiness is followed by happiness. All dualities follow one another. Not that the body does not feel, but he remains absolutely balanced. He will not be elated. He will not be depressed. This is also we have discussed. Ramanujacharya in his Sri Bhashya, he takes from earlier commentary, Viveka, Vimoha, Abhyasa, Kriya, Kalyana, and then Anudharsha, Anavasada. Anudharsha means something very happy event takes place. He will not be elated, excited. And some event takes place, which normally brings about depression. But this spiritual sadhaka is so advanced, he will not be depressed at all. So he remains with his mind absolutely fixed. But if we are disturbed by Sukha, Dukkha, Sita, Vushna, Mana, Apamana, etc., what happens? The mind stops thinking about God and it dwells upon these things. That is continued. Na mana avamane cha. That means these dualities will not affect him. So such a Paramahamsa feels neither cold nor heat, neither happiness nor misery, neither honour nor contempt or insult, etc., etc. So a Paramahamsa naturally without effort doesn't feel. And what is natural for him, we have to gradually, painfully, assiduously practice it. Then what is our condition? We are caught in the Samsara Sagara, in this ocean of transmigration. And what is it? Shat, Urmi, Varjam. Varjam means divide, not having. A Paramahamsa is completely bereft of all these six waves. Urmi means wave, Shat means six. What are those Urmis? So it is right that a Paramahamsa should be beyond the reach of the six billows of this world ocean. What are they? They belong to three states. Hunger and thirst, grief, delusion, decay and death. These are the six. Hunger, thirst, then grief, delusion, decay and death. Decay and death belong to the body. Grief and delusion, this belongs to the mind. Hunger and thirst, they belong to the, according to our Vedanta, Prana, Pranamaya Kosha. So the first two, hunger and thirst, belong to the Prana. Grief and delusion belong to the mind. And decay, the body becomes old, that means we have to understand birth, growth, old age, disease, then suffering and death. All those things we have to take. So the person doesn't identify with body or mind, therefore he is free from these sixfold changes, which affect all of us. Then certain qualities, so some negative qualities are enumerated here, catalogued here. Ninda. Ninda means, first of all, he will not find fault with anybody, as Holy Mother says. Secondly, he will not mind if other people criticize him. He will not mind at all, because he knows that it is only God who is talking to me in this form. There was an incident when somebody came and reported to Sri Ramakrishna that some person was abusing him, criticizing him, left and right. Sri Ramakrishna became very happy. What? That person is thinking of me. We have to be ashamed, because we claim ourselves as devotees and we forget, at least that person remembered Sri Ramakrishna, only in the negative way. So how nicely he has taken. And that is what is called a footstep. We have to imitate. Somebody criticizes me. I become very happy. You know why? First of all, such a person may never come and meet me. What a blessed relief it is. My time is saved, energy is saved and everything is saved. Secondly, it is a very good practice for me. How I should take it? So a Paramahamsa does not find fault with others. He will not do Ninda, because if he does Ninda, he will be doing, Ninda means what? Abusing or what is called blaspheming other persons, finding fault. Whom is he going to find fault with? Only Brahman, because such a person only sees Brahman everywhere. Very naturally, the spiritual quality will come there. Not only that, as Holy Mother put it so beautifully, My child, there is no stranger. And make the whole world your own. That means you are the whole world. There is no stranger. You are everything. So a Paramahamsa doesn't even think that I should not criticize others, find fault with others, because a real Paramahamsa is one for whom there is nobody else for him, excepting he sees only Brahman. And Brahman cannot be criticized because he is Paripoorna. Asesha, Kalyana, Gunasagara, as Ramanujacharya calls him. Then comes Garbha. What is Garbha? Proud. If we are beautiful, we are young, we are intelligent, we are talented, how much of Garbha will come? Oh my God, you try to give some suggestions, it will flare up. I know everything. So like that, we are subject. But if at all there is any Garbha, he will feel Garbha. I am a child of God. I am child of my Divine Mother. As I told you earlier, be proud. And that pride is very helpful, strengthens me. I cannot stoop to low things, because my mother is the Divine Mother. I will be bringing bad name for her, like that. Then Matsara, jealousy. A devotee also can feel jealousy, but not worldly jealousy. I told you, once the direct disciples were all staying at Varanagar at about 10.30 or so, or even earlier, because there were no lights. Only hurricane lantern, they eat early, and the food was also limited. And then they want to sleep early, and then get up also early. They heard some sound, and somebody lighted up and saw Lotu Mara sitting and doing Japa. And they all became jealous. Said, Rascal, you want to progress in spiritual life, and you want us to sleep. We will not allow you to go. We will all go together. So they also started doing Japa and Dhyana. That is a wonderful thing for us to do. That kind of jealousy is most helpful spiritual jealousy. That person has got so many good qualities. And I will even supersede him in acquiring these great qualities. So this is what Swami Adhutanandaji was telling. So I pitted myself against Narendra, and he was progressing. I could clearly see. I said, Brother, I will catch up with you. And however I tried, the moment I thought I reached his status, he was 100 miles above me. And I gave up, because he was made of a different material. So the jealousy is not to be entertained by Sadhakas. Dambha. What is Dambha? Ostentation. There are two words. Dambha and Dharpa. Dharpa is arrogance, and Dambha is ostentation. Really speaking, there is not much difference, but a slight difference is made. What is Dambha? If somebody has a talent, definitely he has a talent. And when there is somebody who is not that talented, this person feels, Oh, I am superior. This person is inferior. That is called ostentation. And every time he shows himself off. That is called Dambha. And Dharpa is arrogance. Really, he doesn't have anything worth mentioning. This is called superiority complex. Arrogance. I am a rich person. If you are rich, maybe you are rich. But there is somebody who is richer than you. And there is somebody who is even richer than the other person. So that arrogance should never be there. And as I said, all these things can be also spiritually helpful. If somebody says, I am a devotee of God. What do you think? And I want to be a great devotee of God. So I am arrogant. That is, I will not behave like worldly people because I am a devotee of God. That is very helpful. But otherwise, it is degrading, downgrading. And then, Iccha Dvesha. We are all slaves. But we are attached, and we like something, and we hate something. Dislike and dislike. That is attachment. And what is called Dvesha. Complete abhorrence. We are subject to that our whole life. We are trying to run towards what we like, hoping that that will give us happiness. And the other way, we are trying to keep away from. But all the time, whomsoever we hate, we are thinking only about them. So a Paramahamsa, very naturally, he doesn't have neither likes nor dislikes. Because these two are possible only when there is a second object other than me. And when a person knows other than Brahman, there is nothing. If you have only one object, the question of likes or dislikes do not arise. But if you see that you have something, and somebody else has the same thing, for example, a car, a house, etc., or a dress, and that appears to be more appreciated by other people than mine, then this likes and dislikes, we are subject, we feel happy or unhappy. But when there is only same Brahman, everywhere he sees only samana, Brahman. Like it is said that a learned Brahmana, a cow, and an elephant, and a dog, and an eater of a dog, absolutely samadarshanaha. He doesn't see any difference at all. So he is not subject to icha and dvesha. He dwells, abides within himself. Then what is the consequence of what is called attachment or desire and hatred, sukha and dukkha? What we like, whatever gives us happiness, we develop attachment. Whatever gives us unhappiness, we develop hatred towards it, whether it is object, human beings, anything, including bodies and minds. So sukha, dukkha, a paramahamsa is reveling in the Brahmananda. Therefore there is nothing that can degrade him. Then we know the six so-called enemies. I do not call them enemies because enemy is one who takes us away from God. If kama, krodha, lobha, moha, madha, matsarya, if these six, which are labelled unfortunately as enemies of humankind, and in most cases they are absolutely right, but if these same are strengthened and multiplied and redirected towards God, like Hiranyakasipu, Hiranyaksha, Ravanasura and Kumbhakarna, Shishupala and Dantavakra, they again become instrumental. How? Because they are directed only towards God. This is what Ramakrishna to quite a number of his disciples used to say, increase your lust and by proxy increase your anger, increase your miserliness and all the other so-called negative qualities, but direct them towards God. So you drink, even drink, don't stop drinking, but offer it to the Divine Mother, consider it as prasadam and that very thing becomes the greatest antidote. So kama, krodha, lobha, moha, madha, matsarya, they are not mentioned in this way, earlier it is mentioned. So all these, he will be free. That means he is free from what we call egotism. Because when there is ego, egotism, what is egotism? That I am a human being, I have got a body and I am male or female, I am young or old, I am beautiful or ugly, I am rich or poor, I am learned or an illiterate, etc. Then only I wish I had like that. Anybody obstructs that object or that person or that event is hated by us, krodha. And if we cannot enjoy, even if we have a tremendous amount of this acquisiteness, I want to acquire, even though I cannot enjoy it. Delusion, I mistake the truth for untruth, untruth for truth, all these, Paramahamsa is free and a sadhaka has to assiduously practice these things. Harsha, then elation. When certain events take place which are favorable, we seem to be very elated. If we are elated, we will also be depressed. Asuya, envy. And earlier it is said that Matsarya, and here Asuya, envy. And all these are manifestations of ahamkarya, then jahitva. Naturally they fall down. And how they are going to help us or make us fall down, we will discuss in our next class. May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti. Hey Ramakrishna!