Bhagavad Gita Ch16 part 06 on 04 September 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM VASUDEVASUDAM DEVAM KAMSACHANURAMARTHANAM DEVAKI PARAMANANDAM KRISHNAM VANDE JAGADKURAM SARVOPANISHADOKAO DOKDHA GOPALANANDANA PARTHO VATSHA SUDHIR BOKTA DOKDHAM GEETAM RITAM MAHAT MOOKAM KARUTI VACHALAM PANGUM LANGAYATHE GIRIM YATKRIPATAMAHAM VANDE PARAMANANDAMADHAVAM We are studying the divine qualities. In the 16th chapter, Bhagawan Krishna had enumerated 26 qualities having which a person becomes completely free without acquiring these qualities. And I mentioned earlier that if we strive to get one quality, all the other qualities must become, must join them. There is no question of one good quality, single quality can be developed without the aid of other qualities because they are all connected like a huge creeper. One side of the creeper if we pull, then the whole creeper comes out. Same thing applies with the evil qualities or what we call worldly qualities. The only point we have to remember again and again that even a person of the utmost evil qualities will not be remaining like that for a long time if not good advice but a great suffering will bring him back to the lotus feet of the Lord. In our last class, we were talking about the 10th quality called Ahimsa. Ahimsa means injury. Injuring a person or any living creature or even non-living things like polluting the earth, cutting down the forests, polluting the rivers, etc., etc., all these fall under evil qualities. So Ahimsa, injury because everything is Brahman. So injuring anything that we see in this world is injuring Brahman. Injuring Brahman means injuring one's own self and we are suffering but we are not waking up to the fact that whenever we do something wrong, we are only suffering, bringing injury, suffering to our own selves. Ahimsa means injury by thought, by speech or by deed. So Swami Vivekananda's definition of Ahimsa. Ahimsa means non-injury. Buddha's greatest teaching was non-injury but Swami Vivekananda clarified the point by saying that Ahimsa, the opposite of Ahimsa, injury is non-injury. What is non-injury? Absence of jealousy. Everybody suffers from jealousy. That's what we are discussing. Swami Vivekananda says never producing pain by thought, word and deed in any living being is what is called Ahimsa or non-injury. There is no virtue higher than non-injury. Categorically, Swami Vivekananda declares there is no greater virtue than Ahimsa. A person may be having all the evil qualities but if there is this one good quality, he will be sure to remove all his defects, evil qualities and overcome by this one quality. So there is no happiness higher than what a man obtains by this attitude of non-offensiveness to all creation and Swamiji further says the test of Ahimsa is the absence of jealousy. This would come as a surprise to most of us. We think of Ahimsa as hurting others through the three means of thought, word or deed but jealousy is the subtlest, most insidious. What is insidious? It will not allow us to take notice when it silently creeps and occupies our whole mind. What is jealousy? But wishing none but me should have everything, all the best and for all time. Measured by this definition, there would be few who can be said to have the virtue of Ahimsa. Often we are not even aware of how much jealousy we cherish in the depths of our unconscious. Even advanced spiritual aspirants fall easy victims to this evil. Ahimsa is not merely a negative virtue, it is positive universal love. It is a spiritual attitude in which evil qualities like jealousy, cruelty and hatred are replaced by pure love and service. Ahimsa is not merely abstaining from doing injury. So Ahimsa is what is called, looks like a negative quality, non-injury but it should be understood in a most positive way. What is it? Ahimsa is actively doing all we can for the welfare of others. Only those who consider the whole universe as their own self can truly be said to be established in Ahimsa. The one constant thought of those saints who are established in Ahimsa would be these. Who are they? There are beautiful prayers in Sanskrit language, both in the Samhitas, Upanishads etc. But here are something I am going to quote and these are worth remembering. Simple translation. May the wicked become good, may the good realize peace, may the peaceful be released from all bondage and may the released redeem others. So beautifully let the wicked become good and once they become good, the duty is not finished. Let them realize peace for themselves and once they obtain peace, so they will be released from all bondage and once they become freed from all bondages, may he help release or redeem other people also. Well be it with the people, may rulers protect the universe, adhering the path of righteousness, may there be welfare always to cows and the learned, may all the worlds be happy. Cows means here all animals including insects. We don't know, we are not cognizing how much all the insects, everything in this world is working towards everybody's welfare including ourselves. For example, if butterflies were not to be there, we will be starving, there is no doubt about it. If bacteria is not to be inside our stomachs, then it will be impossible to digest even the softest food. If there were to be no cats, no rats, no dogs, no lions, no tigers, then human beings will not be there, only other creatures might be there. Then the prayer continues, may the clouds rain at the proper time, may the earth be rich with crops, may this country be free from riots and may the spiritual be free from fear, may everybody be happy, may everybody be free from disease, may everybody come by happy events, may nobody have any misery, may everybody obtain everything, may everybody do good to everybody else considering others as equal to one's own self. But it is very difficult, tremendous strength is needed to practice Ahimsa. The practice of Ahimsa needs tremendous strength and it is not for weaklings. Neither is it for those who are intellectually weak and irrational. There are vegetarians who consider themselves superior and are apt to look down upon non-vegetarians. These are the words of Swami Vekananda. And we will quote now from Swami Brahmanandaji, very crucial questions about Ahimsa. For those, Swami Brahmananda gives a fitting response. For those who put questions like these, question, should we avoid eating meat since it entails killing? Answer, nonsense. The Buddhists say, harmlessness is the highest virtue. What does this mean? You can understand the significance of this only when you have attained Samadhi, Nirvikalpa Samadhi. When you have reached attainment, enlightenment and have seen God in every creature. Until then, this is all mere talk and it is completely useless. When you can see the same God in the ant as in yourself, then you can practice this virtue. You may talk then of not killing, but can you possibly avoid killing? What would you eat? Potatoes? Plant a potato, it shoots forth young sprouts. Has the potato no life? Would you eat rice? Plant the paddy, it grows into a rice plant. You want to drink water? Examine a drop of water under a microscope. Not only that, you must breathe to live. Yet with every breath, you kill millions of creatures. Do you see any harm in that? If you drink, you lose your religion if you take a little fish. So, if you are taking a little fish, will be the worst spiritual crime anybody can commit. For that, Swami Brahmanandaji was replying, such arguments are foolish. Ancient Hindus held no such ideas. These are the later Buddhists and Vaishnavite interpolations. Now, in the practice of Ahimsa, motive is more important than mere action. If we think a little bit, we will be faced with surprising questions and even more surprising answers. Would a soldier be committing a sin when he kills enemy troops who are invading his country by millions? Would a teacher be cruel when he may need to discipline a student? Would a mother be heartless when she binds her child's hands so that it cannot scratch itself to the point of bleeding? What about a recluse who does not bathe for fear of killing invisible creatures but thereby causing an epidemic? We know very well now because this corona is teaching a great lesson. Wherever people do not take care by putting on mask etc., that is how this particular disease has spread everywhere. Yes, we have freedom but the freedom must be used for reducing the evil as much as possible and for increasing good as much as possible. Then, these are all quotations from Swami Vivekananda. What about the brute who goes on breeding children year after year but lives only on boiled vegetables? This question seems to be very innocuous, very innocent. He is a person and he only sustains on boiled vegetables but year after year, he is going on producing children whom he can neither look after nor feed nor cloth nor educate. Can we consider a man evil who is ever ready to give up his life for the sake of others but lives on fish and meat? On the contrary, here is a person who is considered to be living on non-vegetarian diet and any time, any second, he is ready to give up his life. Do you consider him a man who injures or a non-injurious person? What about the goody-goody citizen who has knowledge of evildoers but does not inform the authorities either because of fear or in the name of religion or in the name of goodness? This last one is not from Swami Vivekananda. It is from me. Now, let us hear Swami Vivekananda. This one idea that deserves special notice is Ahimsa, non-injury to others. This duty of non-injury is so to speak obligatory on us in relation to all beings. As with some, it doesn't simply mean the non-injuring of human beings and mercilessness towards the lower animals nor as with some others does it mean the protecting of cats and dogs and feeding ants with sugar with liberty but with liberty to injure brother men in every horrible way. A good practice carried to an extreme and worked in accordance with the letter of the law becomes a positive evil, a most valuable statement by Swami Vivekananda. So, the test of Ahimsa is absence of jealousy. Any man may do a good deed or make a good gift on the spur of the moment or under the pressure of some superstition or priest craft but the real lover of mankind is he who is jealous of none. How come? This is my comment upon Swami Vivekananda's statement. Only a person who loves others, who considers others as equal to himself, his own self because we all love our own selves and if any man considers the other also as his own self, his love is not to others but to himself but in the form of the other. Such a person just as no one wishes evil or ill to oneself, so also such a person never wishes ill. On the contrary, he wants all good that can come. That's why the earlier quoted Subhashritas are most marvellous. Swamiji now continues. There are animals. A cow is an example. Here is Swamiji's quotation. The cow doesn't eat meat nor does the sheep. Are they great yogis, great non-injurers? Any fool may abstain from eating this or that. Surely that gives him no more distinction than to herbivorous animals. The man who will mercilessly cheat widows and orphans and do the vilest deed for money is worse than any brute even if he lives entirely on grass. The man whose heart never cherishes even the thought of injury to anyone who rejoices at the prosperity of even his greatest enemy, that man is the bhakta. He is the yogi. He is the guru of all even though he lives every day of his life on the flesh of swine. You know according to Hinduism, cow meat and worse than that swine meat are the worst type of foods one can eat. Such a person is definitely called an untouchable. Ahimsa is a positive spiritual quality which helps us see the self everywhere. Ahimsa is possible. Non-injury is possible only when we see everybody including animals, including the living and non-living as one's own self. That means we do not see anything excepting God. When we see God, who wishes ill to God? Of course I have to add that yes there are people who curse God because they think he has not heard their prayers. Very few or unconsciously we do but that is what we are doing. How do we do it unconsciously? There is only one way. So there was a person and whose husband died and so she was very devout from the very childhood and then as soon as her young husband died, she threw away all the images of Gods, Goddesses, the worship vessels etc. said I have become an atheist because I have been worshipping this God ever since my childhood and this is the result I get. Little they know that maybe the husband has done a great good and he got freedom from her. I am only joking. Please don't take it. It could be husband, it could be anybody. So everybody's life is already made perfect by his past karmas. So at what time we are born, what time we kick our bucket, it's all determined because we do not know. We do not accept it. Very interesting fact is if a doctor declares that you are only to live another three months. Once this fact is known by all our family members, every day they are counting, count down and at the end of three months or four months whatever, for no doctor can predict on such and such a day, this person is going to die. So when the death comes, just to notice that the family members will grieve but not to the extent. Why? Because they are aware that this person will live only for such a short time and if we only can give the great doctor, Bhagawan, God, our scriptures are telling we have come with our own allotted time to live and we cannot alter it. So better be aware. It could be today, it could be next moment. So we have to get ready for it. So we have discussed about the 10th quality called Ahimsa, absence of jealousy. Absence of jealousy is possible only when we love everybody as equal to our own self. Of course that requires tremendous amount of spiritual effort. Then it must be aided by so many other good qualities, our eagerness to realize God, our non-attachment to worldly things etc. etc. So what makes a jealousy very interesting is our attachment to things, our possessiveness. We want something and we do not have it or we have less of it and when we see in others abundance of it, could be beauty, could be wealth, it could be learning, it could be power, anything, position. Then we feel our, as they say so beautifully in Bengali language or Kannada also, that the stomach starts burning, pet himself. So that is the most wonderful quality and if we wish to be free from the trammels of the samsara, we have to develop but other qualities are also important. Eleventh quality is called Sathyam. Sathyam means truthfulness. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, the virtue of truthfulness is most important. If a man always speaks the truth and holds to the truth tenaciously, he will realize God. For God is truth. God wants sincerity, truthfulness and love. Outward verbal effusions do not touch him. So practice of truthfulness is one of the most fundamental qualities a spiritual aspirant has to cultivate. One who is truthful will realize God who is the truth. We will discuss a little bit about this. Sri Ramakrishna and Kshudiram's life, his father Kshudiram, these are only two small examples. Mahatma Gandhi, he held on to the truth. Sathya Harishchandra, Sri Rama, Pancha Pandavas, there are so many people whose name we do not know but who will not speak an untruth even if it does great injury to them. So when we see Sri Ramakrishna's life and also Kshudiram's life and Sri Ramakrishna followed his father's footsteps as ideal. Kshudiram knew when a rich man from his village asked him, commanded him to bear false witness, he refused to do. At that moment he knew that he was not destined to live there and he was not destined to keep anything that belongs to his ancestral property which was considered very considerable, 34 acres nearly of what is called wet land which is most costly, pricey land. He was living very simple life but he could live like a rich man, like a landlord but yet he was living a very simple life, we can understand. In one second, the moment he said he has lost everything, of course it is by God's will but he was not willing to bear false witness. So something here we have to understand. Truth speaking, truth speaking many times at the beginning may not bring any good, it may bring even what is called evil. The life of Christ is a tremendous witness for this. When he was asked the truth, he said you say that I am the son of God and if anybody says I am the son of God, in Judaism that person's only punishment will be death through crucifixion, through the most horrible way. The selfish people, the religious leaders, they only killed, not the Romans, even the Pilate washed off his hands and said I am innocent of this man's blood, I see no crime this man has committed but the others they committed. Few minutes back, few hours back, there was a huge crowd admiring him and the same crowd and they were given an option because peculiar laws were there, Jewish laws. If just before Passover, if anybody is asked to be freed in the place of another person, then that person can be freed. When the crowd was asked do you want Jesus Christ to be alive, they all chose, of course prompted by the cronies of the religious authorities, no, we want the vilest murderer and thief and highway robber Barabbas, we want him to be released but not Jesus Christ. See, that is the power of this selfishness. Anyway, so most important thing is first to speak truth. Speaking truth gradually leads one to a higher state of speaking the truth which is called seeking the truth. Speaking truth will lead us to the state of seeking the truth. Mahatma Gandhiji used to say, I often describe religion, my religion, as religion of truth. Of late, instead of saying God is truth, I've been saying truth is God in order more fully to define my religion. Nothing so completely describes my God as a truth. Denial of God, we have known. Denial of truth, we have not known. What a beautiful statement. We have known denial of God but denial of truth, we have not known. The word satya has many meanings. In Sanskrit, Sanskrit language is very rich in meanings. Satya, the word sat leads to this word satya. That's why satsanga. Sat means good. So, sat means existence. Sat means reality. Sat means Brahman. That's why in Hindi, when somebody dies, his family members and followers follow. Ram naam satya hai. That word satya means satya. That satya springs from the word Rama. God alone is ever-existent. Everything is ephemeral. It is temporary. It is changeable. It is unreal. So, the word satya has many meanings such as existence, goodness, purity, truth, righteousness, holiness and many other meanings. It's another name for God. The very first meaning is existence. Existence is one of the names of God. Sat, chit, ananda. Knowledge is another name of God. Bliss is another name of God. Satya means that which never changes. What is satya? Trikala abadhitam satyam. That which never changes. Whatever doesn't change is beyond time. What is time? Time is equivalent to change. What is satyam? That which never falls under the category of changefulness. That means it is beyond time. Beyond time means beyond space. Beyond space means beyond causation. Satya means that which never changes. But if we look at anything including our body, our mind, everything in the world is changing constantly. The only thing that doesn't change is Brahman or God. Therefore, truthfulness is that practice which makes us good, pure, holy and gradually leads us to the unchanging reality God. The practice of truthfulness is both the means and the goal. For most of us, truthfulness means the verbal expression of an incident as it occurred or of a fact as we experienced it and also that of adhering to a given word, to act as we say and to think as we speak. As Sri Ramakrishna says, to make thought, word and deed one is truthfulness. But it doesn't stop here. This beautiful definition of Sri Ramakrishna, Maan, Mook, Aak, Kuru. Make your thought, your word, speech and your deed one. That no dichotomy between these three is called satya, a most wonderful definition. Practice of truthfulness in thought, word and action makes the mind pure, holy and one-pointed and it makes us truth seekers, turns our mind away from the ephemeral to the eternal. This practice produces intense longing for God realization. Spiritual practice truly starts only when we turn towards the practice of truth. To lead a spiritual life, this is the real meaning of truthfulness. The most marvelous thing we have to accept it. Nothing can be further from truth. Truthfulness is not merely admitting of one's failings. It is also to recognize one's virtues, merits and moral and spiritual assets. Truth is not merely the recognizing of facts and realities of the outer world. It also extends to the vast inner world of man's higher nature, his unlimited potentialities. Truth is fundamental to man. Truth is fundamental to his survival, stability and progress. By the way, a side note. According to Advaita Vedanta, truth is divided into three classes. Absolute truth, transactional truth and mere appearance delusive truth. I gave in my past class some examples but just to remind in case you have forgotten. When you see a movie, then you see it is illusion. You experience it and you enjoy it, you react with all emotions but you know it is not real. Yavaharik Satya. You see your reflection in a mirror, you know that you are seeing it but it's not. This is what is called appearance not real. Experience is there, appearance is there but not real. This is the lowest type of reality. Then transactional. I see you and you see somebody and that somebody sees everything as if it is absolute what you are experiencing and what you are reacting to it as if that is the only truth. That is called phenomenal or transactional truth or reality but everything is changing that we don't accept. We know it but we don't accept it and we don't behave according to that. What does it mean? Happiness changes into unhappiness. So if anybody says happiness, this world is true, worldly happiness is truth so it will never change. I will always be happy. It is logically, psychologically, it is the greatest falsehood in the whole world. Why do I say so? Why do we say so? Because if something doesn't change, we will not know what it is. If we do not know what is unhappiness, we will never know what is happiness. To the extent we experience unhappiness, to that extent only we know what is called happiness. To the extent we know what is darkness, to that extent we know what is light. So friendliness, happiness and heat and cold, all these things are understandable only when we experience both sides of the coin. That's why they are called Dwandwas. They never come alone. Happiness you will never find alone. It comes with unhappiness. Light you will never find alone. It comes with darkness. This is a marvelous fact. You will have to accept it because it is a truth. It is not some philosophy, some theory you have to believe in. Now what are we doing actually? We think that if I am rich, all my problems will be solved. If I am rich, I can eat everything. Not necessarily. You may be ordered or you may be able, capable of only drinking barley water or merely boiled water. If you are not earned that punya, you need to get pleasure from eating. So you may have a thousand bedroom but you cannot get good sleep. A poor man can get under a tree surrounded by thousands of hundreds of mosquitoes. So on it goes. So everything in this world is changing. That truth we experience it but we don't accept it. This is called Vyavaharika Sathya. Then opposite to both of these, neither appearance nor changing phenomena but never changes. And what is it? If there are two, they will be changeful. If there is one, it is infinite. It is eternal. It is unchanging. It is beyond time, space and causation. So that is the nature of truth. Truth is both auspicious and also beautiful. So unless we understand things and persons in their true nature in this world, in this phenomenal transactional world, our plans and aspirations will definitely fail. As the saying goes, truth alone triumphs. Again it is said, truth hurts, no doubt. Sometimes it does but truth helps always even if it seems to hurt temporarily. So Bhagawan has created, Lord has created suffering, pain etc. because they are the greatest teachers. Ultimately these are the only ones which turn our mind away from this world to the lotus feet of the Lord. That's why holy mothers often saying, what is that statement? Misery is the greatest gift of God. So truth is auspicious and beautiful. Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram. It is the source of all real beauty. As poets declare, beauty is truth, truth is beauty. They advise, be true to yourself. Not only applies to our physical and psychological well-being, it applies even more to our spiritual nature. However, the practice of truthfulness needs caution. Truth speaking alone leads to truth seeking. That is why the commandments in our scripture, for Hindus, for everywhere it is the commandment, the ten commandments. Truthfulness alone rhymes. For us, from the 11th section of the first chapter called Sikshavalli, Sathyam bruhyat, Priyam bruhyat, Na bruhyat, Sathyam apriyam. Priyancha bruhyat, Na anrutam bruhyat. Esha dharmaha, Sanathanaha. This is the eternal law. What is it? Speak the truth, speak it sweetly and not harshly, but never tell a truth. Only for the sake of pleasing, you can even tell an untruth for the welfare of other people. The test of truthfulness is not merely speaking out what is true, but the real test is what proves to be beneficial to all concerned. If it harms anyone, any creature in any way, whatever else it may be, it certainly is not truthfulness. Truthfulness cannot be practiced in isolation. It requires cultivation of other moral qualities such as fearlessness, simplicity, dispassion, poverty, non-violence, continence, complete self-surrender and dependence upon God. Without these, the practice of truthfulness is impossible. So let me tell you something very important. All good qualities or bad qualities, they come in a gang. I mentioned many times. Now truthfulness also requires the help. What is the first thing? First thing is fearlessness and fearlessness cannot be practiced unless it is supported by another quality. What is that quality? That quality is called complete faith in the scriptures which means complete faith in God only. I will give an illustration. Sri Ramakrishna even as a young child, he has played many a prank. But one single untruth has never come out of his mouth. So also Swamiji and so also others. And he will not care whether his father will get angry, mother will get angry, elders will get angry. He will be outcast. He will never ever tell an untruth. So Sri Ramakrishna promised to a low caste woman, I will accept my first food from your hands. That means it is a great privilege to be a mother of a newly ordained twice born after investment of a sacred thread. And then when the time came, Sri Ramakrishna told, look this is what I promised. And everybody objected. Then Sri Ramakrishna, he said, I promised truthfulness. My taking the sacred thread is to take a vow before God and everybody that I will only speak truth. I will only seek truth. You are asking me in the very first instance to discard the truth. I am not prepared to do that. Either I will fulfil my promise or I will give up this sacred thread. And they had no option but to bend to his will. He had that tremendous boldness in those days, not now. In the 19th century, everywhere to turn against parents, it requires tremendous amount of strength and fearlessness. And why did Sri Ramakrishna have this fearlessness? Where from he got? Because he had tremendous faith in the scriptures. And the scriptures say, truth is God. Whoever speaks truth, God himself will protect. So that is why in what is called the flag, national flag of India, Satyameva Jayate Nanrutam. Only truth triumphs, not untruth is Ashoka's Dharmachakra. This is one of the things from the very beginning. Truthfulness has been given such a high value and all other qualities will follow it. So fearlessness is necessary and something comes, some setback comes, most of the time it might come and what is our fallback? Complete surrender to God, faith in God that truth will triumph in the end, whatever is the condition. So there is a close connection between righteousness and truth. This is another important point. Anybody who is unrighteous, he can never practice truthfulness. Upanishads emphatically declare that truth and righteousness are one and the same. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad specifically says, what is righteousness is indeed truth. Truth is the lord of the world. Prosperity depends on truth. Everything originates from truth. There is nothing greater than truth. One who is not righteous cannot be truthful. So a person must be righteous, he must have complete faith in the scriptures, then he will become fearless, then only he can practice truth. Look how only one quality leads to the practice of the other quality and the Mundaka Upanishad proclaims that truth alone triumphs, not untruth. The way to the divine is paved with truth. The same Upanishad explicitly declares the Atman can be realized only through truth and austerity. Indeed, the practice of truthfulness is the greatest austerity. Ramakrishna is an embodiment of truthfulness and here are some statements. The best name that we can give to God is truth. Under no circumstances should one give up truth. Even those who are engaged in worldly activities such as office, work or business should hold on to truth. Truthfulness alone is the highest spiritual discipline, greatest tapas, austerity in Kali Yuga. Specially Ramakrishna instructs the householders, if a man leads a householder's life, he must unflaggingly be devoted to truth. God can be realized through truth alone. That word alone is most significant, should be highlighted. Very often Ramakrishna used to show his displeasure to those who did not observe truth in worlds and deeds. Once he said to Sivanath, one of his devotees, it is said that truthfulness alone constitutes the spiritual discipline of the Kali Yuga. If a man clings tenaciously to truth, he ultimately realizes God. Without this regard for truth, one gradually loses everything. We have to note, Ramakrishna did not merely preach anything that he did not practice in his life. He could give up everything but could never give up truth. He himself revealed this nature of his when he was talking to devotees. Ramakrishna's statement, if by chance I say that I will go to the Pine Grove, that is for answering calls of nature, I must go there even if there is no immediate need for it. Otherwise, I lose my hold on truth. There was a funny incident. Once he went to a feast and many hours passed. There was of course a lot of singing and dancing. Ramakrishna was a superb natural dancer. Everybody enjoyed. It never appeared to be artificial but very natural like when a small baby dances. And then at the end of it, it was natural that he was very, very hungry. But then for some reason, today I will not eat luchi. That is a kind of small fried bread. And then that day, even though he was hungry, he was feeling the longing for luchi but he could not touch it. He said, because I uttered these words, I have to be satisfied with only some sweets like that. But his greatest statement is, after my vision of the Divine Mother, I prayed to her, taking a flower in my hands. This is one of the greatest prayers, equivalent to the prayer Christ had taught to his disciples. Oh Mother, here is the knowledge and here is the ignorance. Take them both and give me only pure love. Here is the holiness and here is the unholiness. Take them both, Mother, and give me pure love. Here is thy good and here is thy evil. Take them both and give me pure love. Here is the righteousness and here is the unrighteousness. Take them both, Mother, and give me pure love. I mentioned all these but I could not say, Mother, here is thy truth, here is thy falsehood. Take them both. I could not do that. I gave up everything at her feet but could not bring myself to a position of giving up truth. Such was Master's love for truth. Here is something very important in this prayer that we have to take note. At the end of every saying, here is thy good, holiness, unholiness, good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness. But he says, give me pure love. One who loves God loves truth. Therefore, loving God is equivalent to loving truth. And one who loves truth, it will never be possible to speak upon truth. So, Ramakrishna was an incarnation of eternal truth and he demonstrated how to practice truth in day-to-day life. Here it is that Swami Vivekananda says that with the advent of Sri Ramakrishna, the Satya Yuga, the age of truth has begun. This is a most wonderful thing. But we have already discussed one important point we have to keep in mind. What is that point? It says, Satyam, even if it is a fib, untruth, even if it is damnest untruth, but if it does welfare to creatures, then that turns into good. Truth always brings welfare of everybody. I mentioned one of the stories from Mahabharata. Very briefly, I will remind you of it. So, there was a holy man in a forest. One day some hunters spied one deer and were chasing it. The deer happened to pass in front of the sage who was watching the whole thing and the deer went, ran in front of the sage and ran in one particular direction. After few minutes, the hunters came, saw this Rishi and then bowed down to him because Indians have great reverence for these sages and enquired, Sir, did you see a deer? He said, yes. And can you direct us in which direction it went? And then he said, yes, it went in that direction. But he showed the opposite direction from where into which, in which direction the deer ran. This was the story. Now, Mahabharata puts this question. Has the sage been guilty of speaking untruth? And the categorical, unequivocal answer is no. He spoke only truth because Satyam Bruya, Priyam Bruya, speak truth, speak that which is benevolent, that which brings only good. Priyam doesn't mean, as we often mistake, what is pleasing to our ears, your Indra, your Chandra, your God himself, if God were to manifest, he will be like you. Not this is called flattery, oiling, buttering, etc. But the truth is that which brings welfare. So, through this telling of the, what he called the highest truth, the sage had done good. He prevented the hunters from committing a grave sin by the killing of the deer. He saved the life of the deer as the life of every creature is the dearest for every one creature, not only to human beings, that is arrogance if we think, only human life is great. And there are evil, unspeakable evil people. They think some women do not come to the test of that. They are not human beings at all. They are like cattle. They should be treated like animals. Some people who could be made slaves, some people who could take advantage of these people's blood and it is going like that. So, that is loving every creature and for every creature, even a mosquito, even amoeba, its own life is the most dearest thing in the whole world. So, it is the deer, of course, loves its life. But nature what it does, that is a different issue. That is also for balance. That is also natural law. But we should try to avoid such kind of injury as far as possible. We are human beings. We do so many things unconsciously. So, we have to be very careful about it. So, he saved himself. Had he been speaking the truth, he would have committed because he aided in the death of the deer and in the committing of sin by the killing of the deer. So, along three sides, saved the deer, saved himself from sin, saved these hunters also from sin and that is the greatest welfare anybody can give. That is why the highest certificate for God realization is Abhayamvayi Praptosi Janaka. O Janaka, you have attained fearlessness. What is fearlessness? Not only you have become fearless, but you grant fearlessness to everything in this world. In your presence, no creature will ever feel fear because they know that you love that. I narrated one Shankaracharya's incident of Sringeri also. Please try to recollect. So, always speak the truth. What type of truth? That which is beneficial. Even if the benefit outweighs, then only speak. Never flatter anybody, but of course, praising everybody. That has been followed by every sage and saint. Sri Ramakrishna used to praise Narendra, Rakhal, Tarak, Niranjan, everybody. He was not flattering them. He was only making them aware. You have these good qualities, but there are other qualities you can develop and those qualities you can develop. That reminding by telling one good fact, positive encouragement, that is also the real purpose of truthfulness. As I said, truth speaking ultimately leads to truth seeking. The next 12th quality is Akrodha, controlling anger. A spiritual aspirant should have absolute control over anger. Akrodha means control not having anger, absence of anger, but not mere absence. It's opposite benevolence towards people who caused an event which is likely to make you angry. So, controlling and expressing anger in a right way is a divine quality. Though extremely difficult to practice, it is possible to control anger. I hope you remember what I uttered. So, expressing anger is also very important. Here is a master. He becomes very angry, but he is consciously angry and he expresses his anger consciously, only keeping the welfare of the other person in mind. Some people consider our generation, the present generation, a generation of anger. It's a beautiful book and this age is an age of rage. There is road rage, plane rage, domestic rage, there is even an internet rage. So, recently a mother killed her own daughter for the sake of the internet. Just to remind you, in Bangalore, there was a family and husband, wife and a small daughter, three years old daughter. One day, they had only one television set and the father was watching, I don't know, sports or something and the daughter was interested and when the wife wanted to see something and requested her husband to change the channel, then he refused and she asked perhaps the daughter, would you not like to watch something? She says, no, I want to, what daddy is watching, I want to watch that. The mother got so angry, she forgot everything. She forgot she was a small girl and bet her to death. After she died one day, the mother came back to her senses. So, this is an age of rage. Hardly do we come across a person who has not felt anger at some time or other in life, not accepting saints. Even saints also become angry. Before they become saints, they do it unconsciously. After they become saints, they do the same thing consciously but for the welfare of the world. Before becoming perfect, they forgot that this anger is a demon. Like Totapuri forgot and was about to beat the temple servant but after perfection, they still pretend to be angry. That's why it is called that a line drawn on water. So, it appears for just a few milliseconds and then disappears. The anger of such people is like the line drawn on waters. So, we rarely come across a person. Even many scriptures depict God as an angry God, especially I think the older Semitic religions. Angry God and jealous God. Kabarda, warning, if you think of any other God excepting me, I am going to punish you. So, there are some people who do not express any anger outside but go on simmering inside all the time and when the right opportunity comes and it bursts out in a huge volume and then does lot of damage. If a person doesn't appear to be angry but is grouchy all the time, we can be pretty sure he is angry. But is anger only an inimical state? But does it have some positive side also? We will speak about this further tomorrow evening. Om Vasudeva Sutam Devam Kamsa Chanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti.