Bhagavad Gita Ch17 part 09 on 27 November 2021

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mohur Mohur Om Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsachanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadogavo Dogda Gopalanandana Partho Vatsah Sudhirbhokta Dugdham Geetam Ritam Mahat Mokam Karoti Vachalam Pangum Langhayate Girim Yat Kripatamaham Vande Paramanandamahadhavam We are discussing the 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita very aptly titled as Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga Now in our last class Bhagavan Krishna has been giving us, showing us the path how to overcome the three gunas that overcoming the three gunas has to be done just as we climb the ladder from the lower step to the higher step so from Tamoguna to Rajoguna Rajoguna to Satraguna and then go beyond all gunas why? because it is the gunas which give us our experience of the world world means duality, duality means individuality or finiteness it is these qualities which divide the indivisible Brahman as it were not really as it were in our minds I am separate from everything else now if we can remove these three gunas why? because every guna lends only to that division including the Sattva guna so how to slowly progress forward from Tamas to Rajas, Rajas to Sattva and Sattva to our real nature so the Lord has outlined four practical steps human life consists of first of all what we call the lower values survival, food, clothing etc then we become awake to higher ideals and that is achieved through the worship of Deva, Dvija, Guru, Prajna, Poojanam etc Brahmacharya, Ahimsa etc then we have to do a kind of tapasya tapasya means getting rid of all those things which stop our progress and since they have been guiding our life since a long long time it will take a great hardship almost a superhuman struggle and to get rid of these unspiritual qualities and to acquire spiritual qualities requires a lot of effort that effort in the right direction to get rid of opposing qualities and to get infused with helpful qualities is called tapasya as I mentioned in the last class tapasya is nothing but that action which takes us nearer to God which takes us away from worldliness so we have been discussing about this third step which is called tapasya and what was the last step once we have gained something we have to share it with others because really speaking there are no others everybody is my own reflection myself manifesting through different even that seemingly different bodies different minds etc we'll come to that point later on we are in the third step and the Lord has said that there are three types of austerities what is these are called austerities because as I mentioned the first characteristic of an austerity or whether it is at all an austerity is determined solely by measuring whether it is taking us away from our attachments to the world and bringing us nearer and nearer to God by developing certain spiritual qualities and reducing their opposite qualities so that is the tapasya austerity and this austerity have been divided into three folds the what we call body austerity and the speech austerity and the thought austerity why three because every individual consists of these three only a mind consisting of thoughts and thoughts expressed through speech communicate with others every living creature wants to communicate with their own creatures both for survival as well as for progress for evolution that's why we have got a mind we have got a speech we have got a body the grossest is the body subtler therefore more difficult to control to direct to purify is the vocal or the austerity of speech and the last is to control the very source the very origin the cause of our entire life consisting of both worldliness as well as spirituality happiness unhappiness good and evil everything depends upon our mind so aptly expressed both liberation as well as bondage both are there in the mind one type of mind binds us another type of mind liberates us not really neither the mind binds us nor liberates us but seemingly as like a dream we may be bound by something and some kind soul comes and liberates us upon waking up we discover everything is our thought even the thought of our being bound that is a thought in the mind and it creates appropriate emotions similarly the kind soul coming there and rescuing us is as well falls under the same category but it is more positive than the earlier one so that is an analogy to understand from the Advaitic point of view really we have never become anyone else always ever remaining Atman or Brahman but at this moment we do not know just as a dreamer doesn't know that he's a prince but he thinks he's a beggar so like that so three departments of life either we are living in the waking state dream state or dreamless state so that is what is said roughly equating these three to the body to the speech and to the mind with this we have discussed the 15th shloka eight spiritual qualities so not not sorry six spiritual qualities our speech should be such it should never disturb the peace of anybody else it should not hesitate even if we have to tell something which is beneficial which is truth but at the same time which may not be liked by the other person so this our speech should be such it must never disturb the peace of the other person's mind satyam it must be truthful why because the most popular saying know the truth and the truth frees you liberates you is an absolute truth so it must be truth only however nice looking untruth always leads to after effects which are highly undesirable so priyam that would be most pleasing way we have to convey it to other people itanchayat and that which is beneficial if speech is consisting of these four qualities that is what we have to practice if we lack in any one of them we will have to slowly gradually improve but it must be truthful it must be beneficial it must be pleasing but at the same time even if some negative news is there which fulfills all these three conditions but it may agitate the person's mind therefore we have to learn the art of how to convey this to somebody else then we will be slowly approaching nearer to God then swadhyaya means study of scriptures keeping holy company very very important and the Lord says abhyasa that means repeated practice again and again again until we become liberated and swadhyaya and then swadhyaya also has got what is called self-study it is very important for every person who wants to be happy who wants to be successful even if that person doesn't want to be spiritual or wants to be very worldly it's very important where am i making a mistake am i expressing myself well is there something that i am doing wrong can i give it up have i the willpower to give it up that what we call the willpower test is done and willpower can be developed and willpower is very beneficial provided the mind is very pure so that is both study of the scriptures and comparing ourselves objectively to find out our own defects and faults so that we can slowly overcome them is also part of the self-study appropriately titled as self-study then there is also what is called guru has given us mantra and with shraddha with devotion and with joy slowly repeating the mantra surrendering ourselves gradually to the divine lord is also is very important part of is repeating mantra is important part of this austerity related to the speech then we come to the manah prasada this is what we discussed in our last class 16th shloka we are entering now manah prasadah saumyatvam maunam atma vinigraha bhavasam shuddhi ityetat tapah manasam uchyate serenity of mind gentleness silence self-control and purity of heart these constitute the austerity of the mind this is very very important for us to understand so let us dwell upon each one of these qualities serenity of mind gentleness silence self-control and purity five beautiful qualities if we can have even five to ten percent of these five qualities our minds will become extremely happy after all whether a person professes belief in god or not everybody wants such a mind which is always happy there is no controversy about that everybody believes that so this is very important mind control this is what mind control means get rid of those negative ideas that i have to sit like a cruel dictator with a whip and then whenever the mind misbehaves i have to give it no there are certain proved proven techniques are there these are the five techniques are there the lord is telling nothing but summarizing how what thousands or hundreds of thousands of great spiritual people practiced all over the world are practicing even now all over the world and will have to practice in future also why do i say so here the question of race religion language doesn't at all come because the minds of every human being is exactly in the same condition at the beginning what is that condition first of all it is a monkey secondly it has it is a drunk thirdly it is bitten by a stung by a ferocious scorpion and lastly it is possessed by a demon this was how swami vikaranda had described every common human mind and to control such a mind that is actually this word control very properly belongs to the yoga system whereas vedanta and bhagavad gita is part of that vedanta uses these beautiful terms even repetition of these sanskrit words give us a tremendous amount of pleasure happiness to us so that is called is let us dwell upon it mana prasadah and serenity of mind saumyatma gentleness and maunam observing silence atma vinigraha self-control and purity offered bhava samshuddhi bhava means actually here thoughts or we can even translate them as emotions we will dwell upon these things as we go on mana prasadaha shankaracharya so superb comments upon this will be taking as help because i found them of utmost help so what what is he going to say mana prasadaha what does it mean manasa prasanthi first he says the peacefulness of mind unagitating state extraordinarily calm and quiet and yet full of love full of positive emotions that is what and then he adds one more quality swachhata apadanam prasadaha to make it pure to rub it so that it will be reflecting the divine light exactly as it is without distorting and that process of removing the dirt is called swachhata apadanam bringing about purity that is called prasadaha mana prasadaha so simple it means the mind is first of all is acquiring certain qualities and thereby the mind becomes very very acquires peacefulness the peacefulness is not the silence of the dead people under the earth but it is a person who is completely alive and who is completely awake not only alive but awake and looking forward every millisecond we can see it in the life of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vaikananda, direct disciples and Ramana Maharshi I will stop here but it is available in Merabai's life, Tulasidas' life and every other great saint, saint means he has got this mana prasadaha is what is called tremendous an ocean of peace that passeth all understanding so here we have to be careful but sometimes we appear to be cheerful I have seen so many times that people who are not at all cheerful they go on appearing they talk as if they cannot stop the happiness that is just flooding their minds but it is all hollow it doesn't last long like a salesman's speech so that is not correct one really to be cheerful and until one acquires these qualities one cannot be really naturally cheerful at all so any discipline which helps us acquire and maintain is mental cheerfulness is called tapah it involves of course a very surrendering attitude to God and continuous prayer and then above all this is the cycle this is what psychologists tell us acceptance of yourself and of the situation in which we find ourselves many years back I was reading how to stop worrying and start living I advise many of our so-called devotees to start their spiritual life with this book because it contains tremendous amount of spiritual truths so one of the things Dale Carnegie mentions here is you sit suppose you are worrying you think there is a real cause for worrying you sit there and put your question and say what is the worst that can happen what is the worst I may die so that is death something horrible really speaking how many people are not dying every day so and is there suffering yes what is the worst and not only that compare our let us compare ourselves to millions of people who are in much worse condition than us and then we have to be realistic and say why am I worrying now when such as these persons who should really commit suicide sometimes we see them extremely cheerful in spite of not having food clothing terribly shivering in this unbearable cold you can see the recent news and then I sitting here in a well-warmed house and because it is winter I am talking like that so first class food is there why am I worried about it and that continuously repeating that thought will definitely quieten down our agitation and free us and he also tells and that is what Vedanta also tells Dale Carnegie tells and Vedanta tells because these are common psychological truths acceptance of life that is to say whatever I am my body my organs my mind my opportunities everybody let us accept is restricted to his or her condition however much we may wish otherwise it is not going to change so acceptance of the past what has happened and acceptance of the future what is going to happen so if I can do that with prayer and with surrender to God with trust in God then I can become cheerful it definitely gradually leads to that condition but it is a spiritual quality we have to accept not only that is Vedanta tells us that you are Ananda Swaroopa psychologists tell us that many people who are under the most horrible unhappy circumstances are seen to be much more happy than people who should be even more happy than those people so we have every right to live cheerfully happily with complete positive attitudes and then nowadays what is happening something horrible is happening everybody has to prove as how beautiful I am how clever I am how competitive I am how I can show that I am running past everybody's ambition I have to prove to the prove to the company executive how I deserve promotion because I am always striving to do whereas this person he does exactly only what he is supposed to do etc and this terrible mental disease called that I have to prove every second of my life that I am somebody is sapping the very vitality of people and I don't need to prove I am what I am just look at a dog look at a bird look at a tree they don't have any of these problems they accept everything cheerfully and if lower manifestations of life like that can live so cheerfully accepting life why can't I because we have been taught that we have to be competitive we have to be up and doing and all those things so this is beautifully expressed in many of the lives of great people but I will quote from what is called Mukunda Mala Stotram composed by Kulasekar Alwar but I am not going to go into the poem itself he says this is called whatever has to happen is going to happen and whatever is not going to happen is not going to happen here the question of religion irreligion theism atheism doesn't step in at all this is a stark naked truth of life nature the world whatever is going to happen is going to happen and you may try to say I will control it you can only try to control your mind and then accept what is going to happen and accept what is not going to happen beyond that no human being has any power whatsoever so whatever is to happen it is going to happen no power on earth can stop it this is a very important spiritual quality every one of us have to develop then is it a fatalism no this is a very positive step taken that what is going to happen is going to but within that whatever capacity God has endowed me with let me express it fully so this is the truth about living and this is most useful for us and that is how we develop manaprasada and then Jesus Christ tells us something very very important which Dale Carnegie also repeats it because he takes a lot of these truths from the bible and other scriptures also so he says that you compartmentalize your life one day for one day at a time what happened yesterday is dead and gone what is going to happen next second we do not know but today I am alive today what can I do what best I can do that's all I can do whatever best I can do strive because each soul has got tremendous potentialities which Aldous Huxley calls human possibilities everybody an ordinary cook can become an extraordinary cook a student can become a better student a housewife can become a better housewife a teacher can become better teacher a doctor who doesn't have any remedies yesterday today somebody had discovered something tremendous possibilities are there so keep looking for these wonderful possibilities and that can be done only not to worry what happened in the past that's what Jesus Christ says bury your dead let the dead bury their dead but you go on living don't even look forward today this is the opportunity of course with good planning learning lessons from the past what best can I do so this is live a day at a time and this is the prayer we get in many of these hymns oh lord today is you have given me let me think of you as much as possible because I don't know what is going to happen next second then in Bhagavad Gita itself we have got a beautiful saying is there this word prasada comes there quite a number of times what does he say so without prasada when the mind becomes serene because of surrender to God and trying to lead a pure life and all the miseries they are there they have not disappeared but in spite of that mind becomes extremely serene that is why the Lord says every dukkha it takes a back seat because of this and once a mind's person a person's mind becomes prasanna well-pleased it sits firmly in in God and thinks only of God so that is why this cheerfulness peacefulness and absolute pure filling the thought the mind with pure thoughts is most important but it also requires another quality and these qualities let us remember let us never forget cannot be acquired easily it takes a lot of effort and that effort to acquire these qualities is named as austerities in this particular instance in this particular verse that is the mind becomes absolutely gentle like a small child or like a person all whose all desires have been fulfilled gentleness that which is expressed as expresses itself as kindliness of spirit unless a person is gentle or that is what is called gentleman Swami Brahmanandaji used to say first be a gentleman after that only strive to become spiritual person so this mind must become gentle speech automatically follows and becomes gentle actions also become a very gentle the divine mother in the chendi has been he moved very beautifully like this the divine mother is the most gentle person why because she is the universal mother we are all children whatever we do mother never gets agitated at all because she knows we are all children so gentleness purity thinking positive thoughts has to be acquired and that is an austerity when a mind anybody's mind has this attitude there is so this is an expression of a thought frame of the mind our thoughts must become gentle even if you are angry that is why they say count to 20 so that that emotion will dry up and what remains is a pure objective thought so there is a very good possibility we can be very very gentle Shankara says it is clarity swachhata which is also cheerfulness and then there is this what is called prasada in in connection with that Shankaracharya tells something very very important here it goes you see many times when we look at other people's faces then we can assume that what is going on inside the mind a child is crying we know that the child is hurt he is suffering a child is laughing we can easily infer but the modern world is teaching us do not express your real thoughts hide them as much as possible when you feel like cutting the other person's throat you smile gently and said my friend honey and sweet to sweetness my cake etc etc hide all those things how much mental suffering is coming because of this hypocritical behavior so there is something Shankara gives this example here is a father and he is not pleased with his child's behavior his face assumes a little bit harder expression immediately the child understands my dad is not pleased with me so he changes his tactic this is what is called BK Skinner's method of training animals a stick and a carrot the father is not really displeased but he assumes artificially in order to train the child in the correct ways similarly a mother trying to even beat the child is only for the child's welfare not for her pleasure no mother will be pleased if any woman is pleased she is a Rakshasi she is a demoness not a mother at all so this pleased frame of mind and that means these kind of thoughts is what is called Samyatvam so that is one thing we have to say here and these have to be acquired only with great effort so it is an austerity then finally Maunam what is Maunam? Vaam Niyama controlling our speech is it necessary at all to speak all the time like your Niagara Falls there are so many people they cannot stop when they come into your presence you feel like dying committing suicide if you don't kill the other persons and we are told somebody is not speaking properly that person is not doing the right thing he has no future hopes at all so they teach how to speak and how to mix with people in my opinion this is such an artificial something it is better to be natural even if the society doesn't understand us but it is far better to be ourselves than anything else so what is it Maunam silence what is silence speak when needed speak truth speak what is beneficial speak what is pleasing and speak gently so that the person will not be hesitated the first condition we have already seen Vaak Niyamaha this is perfect control when to speak how to speak now here in our modern society there is a terrible urge I have to speak out I have to speak out and many mad mad fellows it is my misfortune they come and I have to speak to you I have to tell you the essence of what they talk is I am stupid and I don't have any control over my mind so you please come to my rescue my inevitable reply would be you better speak much less that would be so much wonderful it is so that everything can be done in a better way when we have control over our speech in fact Shankaracharya goes to the extent of saying the first doorway to yoga is Maunam that you speak when necessary but in a particular way but when it is not necessary that you do not speak why because speech destroys a lot of energy that is why we have to do it then the last quality is Atma Vinigraha Maunam Atma Vinigraha what is Maunam that is try to control your mind how to control the mind we have seen this one in the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita please go back one of the very important thing is observe the mind and meditation these two Arjuna's question it is very difficult to control the mind the Lord gives a categorical answer Abhyasayanath Kaunteya Vairagyanatha Grahyate so Abhyasa continuous constant practice even if we do not seem to progress in life but it must be accompanied not a mechanical type of practice but actively with complete awareness trying to give up what is inimical to our physical health mental health etc so speaking properly and sometimes not speaking this control of the speech is possible only when there we have we have practiced silence so silence is the platform a foundation from which when to speak how much to speak when to stop is possible only for a person who had practiced Maunam but nowadays there are people who go on and like chatterboxes go on talking and talking and talking and that is one of the greatest signs of a greater mental illness so Atma Vinigraha is controlling the mind acquiring mastery over the mind so that this can be practiced this is called mental tapas and then they finally comes Bhavasam Shuddhi what is Bhavasam Shuddhi all emotions have to be controlled and whatever we do to accomplish that it all comes under the umbrella Atma Vinigraha why what is it that wrecks havoc in our life it is not thoughts thoughts are the causes like a mango seed cannot give pleasure similarly a seed of a poisonous tree also usually does not give killers but when it is planted and it is looked after and it grows very strong then the effects of that either in the form of flowers or fruits or bark or juice of the leaves etc can become very very poisonous so not all we have to take note here not only we have to control the happy emotions but also the unhappy emotions why because if we cannot control happy emotions then we can also what is cannot control the negative emotions unhappy unhappy emotions even though you might have heard I will just tell a joke for a few minutes there was a man who was playing lottery and once he had a heart attack this man has been playing lottery for so many years in his life and he never won even one dollar in America so once it so happened when he was more than 60 years old and he was he had a coronary attack and he was hospitalized there was an excellent cardiac doctor he was looking after him and then he slowly was recovering and then the doctor became very close friend because he was really looking after this gentleman very well suddenly at that time this man before having the coronary attack he purchased a lottery ticket and he won a million dollars now the family members became extremely anxious how to convey this news because within three days the money has to be claimed so they went and placed their problem to the cardiac doctor and the doctor said don't worry leave it to me I will take care of it next morning he went there sat on the bed and went on catching hold of the hand of these this man and went on telling oh how are we doing oh thanks doctor because of your care and love and right diagnosis etc I am very cheerful I am recovering just in a few days I will be a normal man then like that the doctor diverted his mind and slowly introduces him supposing Bill Bill was his name supposing you get a news that you had won 1 million dollars in lottery what will you do and the Bill nonchalantly without any emotion said my friend you saved my life I will give you 50 percent of it hearing this the cardiac doctor fell down dead having a heart attack anyway what is the point we have to control to have control both happy and unhappy emotions and we are all slaves to this Raga and Dvesha we like certain things dislike certain things therefore when some things we get which we like very much we become excessively happy and the opposite so if we want to control the negative thoughts which we every one of us would like to very much then we have to start controlling well this happy thing happened that's fine it may not happen again or even if it happens I may not be in a position to enjoy it it is all God's grace it is nothing I do not need to take any credit slowly look at it objectively and bring it down and you surprisingly when unhappy situations arise unhappy emotions also will arise as a result of it but they will be there the man is not a fool he knows what is the reality and yet he is in a master in charge of his own emotions and that technique is called emotional intelligence which a beautiful book emotional intelligence has been written which has become a what is called box office hit emotional intelligence so we also must have not only emotional intelligence but spiritual intelligence too later on somebody has written I think a jewish couple have written that book I do not remember now the names so that's it is very important that we have to control our mind then bhava samshuddhi purity of heart also means our motives and it is not what we do much it is not why we speak much but it is what we really motivations that we have that make us either good people or evil people that is why some people's minds are so pure like children that is why babies can never become hypocrites like it is impossible for them but as we grow we are taught in society it's not good to express every emotion that comes into your mind and certain things are good forever we have our day-to-day transactions but it in course of time transcends and it outgrows this self-control the line of demarcation and in course of time we really become actors what is called evil motivations will be there and that is not good at all so that is why when we see some people and we say he's a hypocrite and in Sanskrit we call it a Mayavi so he does one thing he says something and then he thinks entirely different thing and that should be avoided this is called bhava samshuddhi or purity of the heart and interestingly something very very wonderful Sriram Krishna expresses that is there is a devotee and everybody is hearing the name of Shiva he is loudly uttering constantly continuously uttering shiva shiva om namah shivaya but through his lips he is continuously uttering the name of Hari only because he likes but in his secret cave of the heart he is only meditating upon the divine mother so what am i talking about the man's thoughts are on the divine mother and he is muttering the name of Hari but he is shouting the name of Shiva so this way people do not know what his lips are uttering and what his thoughts are thinking so this is must be terrible hypocrite but in this case he is one of the greatest spiritual practitioners because a true spiritual seeker doesn't want anything of his spirituality to be known by other people now these are the three austerities of the body of the speech and of the mind and this is this throws a tremendous light and we have lots and lots of lives to advance not to perfect not to speak of perfection but advance in these areas these are the what is called sharirika vachika manasika tapasya and people endowed with tamoguna and rajoguna and satvaguna they also practice these three austerities it is not that we have to practice one the same person has to practice mental austerity or austerity of the heart austerity of the thoughts, austerity of speech and austerity of the body and all these three simultaneously have to be practiced even by three types of people that is a person endowed with tamoguna another person endowed with rajoguna and still another person endowed with satvaguna but how do we know and that is being beautifully outlined here in the starting from the 17th in three verses so let us go to the 17th verse this threefold austerity practiced with supreme faith by men of steadfastness without the desire for fruit is said to be of the nature of sattva imagine here is a sattvika person and he does all the these three types of austerities how does he do it this is how he do it first of all this person is endowed with supreme shraddha deep faith what does it mean even if he's like like the story of the job even if the man is on deathbed he has everything that he had which was tremendous he was wealthy he was healthy with a marvelous family and the saturn came and after betting with god and took away everything the man was inflicted with a terrible deadly disease and so many neighbors every time something disaster takes place so job why do you still take the name of god he's depriving everything but jobs only one answer is there god has given and he has a right to take it away because he who gives has also the right to take it away because it belongs to that person so if you have borrowed something from somebody that person can demand that thing at any given time so i have nothing to say the divine lord knows what is best for me his child and i am not going to turn away from such god this is called paraya shraddhaya this is supreme faith and it it can never be shaken and with that faith he tries to perform these three kinds of austerities by some people endowed with sattva guna and endowed with the supreme faith in the divine lord thus he will be going on performing these things as i have outlined earlier that these people's policy is ever the whole universe is created by me i am also created by god and he is looking after me not only srishti stithi also this is a tremendous fact we have to take into consideration he who has created us doesn't forget us every millisecond is doing what is best just as a loving mother takes care of her children whether small babies or a little bit grown etc according to their necessities her love is exactly the same but her reactions may be different according to the necessity of the time and situation so the lord is looking after so such is the faith of these sattvika people so what do what do they do moreover they do not say oh lord give me three things save me from dangers fulfill many of my unfulfilled all of my unfulfilled desires and they will also not say that oh lord i'm curious to know who you are whether you are where you are how you are what you are and how can i reach you this is called jignasa or inquiry into the teleological truths that's those three stages dharma artha and kama long past they have passed all those things they want only one thing they want to be to go to their mother and father true mother and father which is god as soon as possible so that is what afala kankshavi earlier we have dealt sattvika people perform yajnas worship without desiring any fruit any result but in that context the shankaracharya says not that they don't have any desire but they do not have any worldly desire they have only spiritual desire and that spiritual desire is what is being said here oh lord we will do all this kind of austerity we only require one thing from you please draw us nearer to you and nearer to you and if persons who are endowed with the supreme faith and they don't want anything excepting god and they do these three kinds of austerities to the best of their ability being aware of what they are doing all the time and that kind of performance of posterity with regard to these three types of austerities is called sattvika austerity now we'll take a little bit of help of shankaracharya shraddhaya parayataptam shraddhaya astikya buddhya god exists other world exists dharma exists karmafala exists paramaprakrushtayataptam they do their level best to do hundred percent if possible of that kind of austerities anustritam tapah tat prakrutam trividham tri prakaram tri adhistanam naraihi so what is the shraddha that god exists and he is the only goal of life and we have got three instruments they have to be purified they can be purified only through these three means of austerities without austerities it is not possible and that is they endowed with that supreme faith and afalakankshavi and they do it only for what we call chitta shuddhi for mental purity chitta shuddhi means what that the true knowledge dawns like a pure mirror clean mirror reflects what is in front of it without distortion so convex or concave mirrors unlike these two it reflects exactly what it is and that is what is this world is it is also god but it is temporary god alone is real and i am also coming from god i am god and the goal of life is to know i am god and that with that only desire they go on doing and then what type of mind they have yuktai they have a mind which is serene which is full of peace which is composed which is always in a state of yoga that means they are continuously dwelling in god and this has been told by every sage who has realized god this is called sattvika tapasya then just there is rajasika person does it what does he do satkaram anapujartham tapodam bhena chaivayat kriyate tadihaproktam rajasam chalam adhruvam the austerity that is practiced in order to gain respect honor and reverence and for ostentation is said to be of the nature of rajas its result is uncertain and transitory beautiful sankara again comes to our satkaraha sadhukaraha that is what is satkara satkara means respect honor etc satkara mana means honor pujartham and people have to worship me as a great person and dhambena and they want everybody to recognize it we will discuss this point in a little detail as much as possible today first of all satkara they want to be honored by everybody so sadhukaraha what is sadhukara this person is a great sadhu sadhu i am tapasvi this sadhu is a great tapasya and then shankara of course he was born in a brahmana family and neither he forgets it nor he makes us forget that he was a brahmana so he adds tapasvi brahmana this brahmana is a great man of austerity a man of austerity means what his requirements are very little he eats very little he sleeps very little and his needs are extremely few he refuses everything this without being like that this man wants to show everybody because this is what he does in public this type of worship is done by people not for the sake of chittashuddhi but for the sake of even getting greater glory in the society purely for the purpose of being considered a good person a tapasvi satkara one of our sadhus told me something very important you see every organization people also fall into this trap what is it here is a novice he joined and he tries to observe very soon he forgets his innocence and the purity of his purpose he says oh this person is very near to the head of the center why because always he is oiling him flattering him whatever the head does is absolutely right these are called flatterers and every dictator is only surrounded otherwise he will make them beheaded so this novice learns if i want more facilities and more favors and higher positions then i have to do the same thing to this person also so this rajasika person he also does ostentatiously this kind of austerities belonging to the body speech as well as mind and very funny things also will come out about which we will discuss in our tomorrow's class may Ramakrishna holy mother and Swami Vekananda bless us all with right understanding and bhakti Jai Ramakrishna