Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 38 on 24 April 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananim Sharadam Devim Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Shritva Pranamami Mormuhum Om Vasudevasutam Devam Kamsa Chanuram Ardhanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadho Gavo Dogdha Gopalanandana Partho Vatsa Sudhir Bhokta Dugdham Geetam Ritam Mahat Mukham Karuthi Vachalam Pangum Langayate Girim Yath Kripathamaham Vande Paramanandamadham We have been discussing one of the most crucial teachings of the entire spiritual literature. How to attain, obtain the grace of the Divine Lord. So the way has been beautifully outlined by the Divine Lord in the 65th verse, which we had been discussing in our last class. Manmanabhava Madbhaktabhava Madhyajibhava Maam Namaskuru Maam Eva Eshyasi Me Priyah Asi Te Satyam Pratijane Give your mind to me. Be devoted to me. Worship me and bow down to me. Doing so, you will come to me alone. I truly promise you, for you are exceptionally dear to me. You are most dear to me. So there are four steps have been indicated. Why four? The answer to that question is because we have got four faculties within us. There is our mind, there is our emotion, there is our will and there is our intellect. So all these four must be utilised. That means total personality should be directed only towards God. Of these things, the root cause of everything, whether it is of happiness or unhappiness, whether it is of bondage or liberation, it all depends upon our thoughts. As some wise person has said, you tell me your thoughts, I will tell you who you are. Another slight variation of the same theme, you tell me who are your friends or you tell me what type of books you read and enjoy, I will tell you who you are. Meaning exactly the same thing. And that is what Bhagawan Christ has so beautifully outlined. This is the most psychological fact. It is not really a spiritual fact. It is a psychological fact. Where your heart, your treasure is, there your heart will be. Where your treasure means what you cherish, where you respond with the utmost concentration, utmost remembrance, utmost emotion, utmost joy, you tell me, that's your treasure. And where your treasure is, all your thoughts will be there. Sri Ramakrishna used to indicate it. The mother tortoise lays its eggs somewhere on the shore, buries them. We know that. This fact can be known only from Sri Ramakrishna. So then after that it comes into the lake or ocean or water and where do you think its thoughts are? On its young ones who are hatching outside. Not that it has forgotten. We have to believe Sri Ramakrishna because no scientist has ever been able to tell what is in the mind of a tortoise. In fact, what is the mind of any one of us? They only study the actions and reactions that are observable in the brain. This dichotomy, that mind is totally different. It is related but different to the brain. There is a mind-brain relationship but they are not to be identified. This fact has not been accepted and neither acceptable to most of the western either scientists or literary people or most of the people. Whereas Vedanta crystal clearly says, why is this topic so important? Because it so happens. People who lead a marvellous life, always remembering God, it could happen they can meet an accident. They can seemingly be unconscious. And then the modern western people they say, somebody is unconscious then he is really unconscious. But Vedanta boldly proclaims, consciousness can never become unconscious. Consciousness will always be there. The brain may not be functioning here but that which is behind the brain, which is the mind and that which is behind the mind, which is nothing but pure consciousness, that is always working. So even if a devotee is unconscious state towards the end of his life and we do not see any remembrance of God by him or her, but it doesn't mean he will go to hell. The Divine Lord knows whatever be the deep thoughts, the person will be identified with it and whatever will be our identification, that will determine our future birth. If we are identified with the body, we will have reborn with a body. And not only that, if we are identified with a dog's body, we will be reborn as a dog or as a donkey, as a horse or whatever. Now how do you say? Many people do not believe that evolution is linear, not circular. That means an animal can become a human being but a human being is not going to go back. But every scripture of Vedanta categorically tells, it has nothing to do with this type of thinking. If a person thinks like a dog, behaves like a dog, reacts like a dog or even a donkey, then next birth, a donkey's body, a dog's body, a horse's body will be much more conducive to the expression of his feelings than anything else. An engine must be appropriate to the physical body. Mind is the engine for this physical body. If both are incompatible, the journey will be extremely unpleasant. In fact, it doesn't take place at all. This is the teaching of Vedanta and since rebirth can never be proved in a laboratory, we will have to believe the scripture. In fact, there are so many things which the scripture tells us but we have no option but to believe them. One of them, I often repeat, that whatever is to happen is going to happen. What is not going to happen is not going to happen. Again, as an example, Russia was threatening to invade Ukraine before it actually started the war and so many speculations. Is Russia going to go to war with Ukraine? Is it going to occupy or is it not going to occupy? So many speculations I have seen but nobody is sure. Some people say, yes, it is sure but it is all not based on truth but it is based on speculation. But it has happened, it is going and many people believed Russia being a mighty country, the war will be over in a few days' time, very short time but it is still continuing. Not only continuing, there is no sign of abating. So this is going on. Nobody knows what is going, whether it is going to turn into Third World War and all those things. Now what I mean to say here, what is going to happen is going to happen. No amount of faith, prayer, belief, non-belief is not going to affect it. And what is not going to happen is never going to happen. And we do not know what is going to happen or what is not. And therefore every second, that is what I teach people, every second we say, so far I am okay. Or some shortfall has taken place, that is okay but so far. Next millisecond, whether a lightning is going to fall upon me or somebody is going to give me a big whacking or what is going to happen to me, it just takes one millisecond to take away life, to injure, to make an accident, it is incalculable. So that is why faith in the future is actually faith in God. But the persons who have complete faith in God, they will be attaining God. This whole topic I have brought up because, first of all for the students of Bhagavad Gita, that the brain is a very tiny physical part of the body which reflects very poorly and very small quantity of what is happening in the mind. But there is a mind and vast mind and it is a universal mind and behind that mind, what makes the mind work is that pure consciousness. A teeny-weeny bit of that consciousness called Chidabhasa, reflection of the consciousness is moving this entire world. In the Lalita Sahasranama, there is a beautiful word that Unmesha Nimeshotpanna Vipanna Bhuvana Valihi, just one fluttering of the eyelid of the Divine Mother. How many number of Brahmandas are coming into existence and going out of existence. Unmesha Nimeshotpanna, that Utpanna means creation, and also Pradaya, just by Her will so many things are coming. We think this is the only world. How foolish we are to think that our world is the only world, our earth is the only earth and there is no life anywhere else. How do you know there is no life? Because there are billions and billions and billions of cosmoses are there. Every galaxy is there. Every galaxy has got billions of planets, billions of stars. Who knows what it is there? We know very little. But the point is whether there is life is there elsewhere or not, is not the point. We do not know even what is going to happen next second. Much less do we know what is happening to the person nearest to me. That person's life is complete, a closed book to me. Everyone, a mosquito is living in its own world. Each mosquito is living in its own particular world. Each animal, each insect, each plant, everything is living in its own world. Not to speak of seven and a half billions of human beings. We have no clue. It is a completely closed book. Not only it is not a closed book of what the other people's universes consist of. Our own past is a closed book. Our future of course is a closed book. How much after all is our memory effective? How many things we have forgotten in comparison to how few things we really remember? And our entire opinion, everything depends upon this small memory that we get of these things. So the whole point coming back to our subject, Oh Arjuna, fix your thoughts. It is not possible to fix every thought upon God instantaneously. It will take lives and lives. But slowly you fix your thoughts upon. And of course one piece of advice always our Swamis give, whether you think of God or not, things go on. And if you have to think of God, you don't need to think of God in a separate way. You just relate. This house is God's house. This body is God's body. This mind is God's mind. This thought is God's thought. This emotion is God's emotion. Everything that we do is to relate it to God and that's not too difficult to do it. If we go on doing it, we can do it. In fact, many people vocally express it. You meet any Muslim, Inshallah he says. That means the will of Allah, by the will of God, by the grace of God. That is the fact Shri Krishna is telling us. The Lord is sitting in the hearts of everybody. Nobody has any freedom. It is only the potter who makes the pot and who shapes it according to their own will. I remember, just now I remembered, a beautiful song supposedly written by Bhakta Kabir Das. There is a potter and he is fashioning a pot, taking some clay, putting it on the potter's wheel and he has become very proud. See what a great man I am. I am able to shape this clay into my liking. Any size, any shape, any quantity I can make. And then the clay, as if addressing the man, says, The clay is telling to the potter, you just my friend, my stupid friend, wait for a few days. Then I will show you how I am going to shape you. Because the end of every physical body is to go and merge in its constituent elements which according to Vedanta are five. The space, the air, the fire, the water and the earth. And every effect goes back into it. If you make a house, then the iron nails etc. go to the iron element. The wooden parts will go to the wood and the cement part will go to the cement. The brick parts go to the bricks. Every single part of the house will go to its constituent elements. Our body is a house. Only the greatness is this house houses the Divine Lord Himself and every body is a temple. Then if everybody's body is nothing shorter, nothing smaller than a glorious temple housing the Divine Lord, it is for His sake, Ishwara who is sitting in the heart of hearts of everybody and is moving all our five elements, our three bodies, our pancha-koshas. And for whose sake when we are eating, we think that we are eating for ourselves, not knowing that the food has been given by God in the form of the sun, in the form of the moon. That's what we have seen. In the 15th chapter, in the form of the sun in day time and the moon at night time, I sustain all the food materials out of which every jiva is living. We are a combination of food, means earth, combination of water and fire, heat and vayu, air and plenty of space between each cell. There is almost infinite amount of space and much of the space unfortunately in the brain, white space. So what belongs to me? Nothing belongs to me. Who does everything? We have seen in the earlier chapters. For any activity to take place, five parts must come together, the body, the sense organs, the prana, the purvajanam samskaras, the karma phala. Everything must come, combine and then only action. Where are you thinking that I am doing, I am experiencing? The Divine Lord is working in the form of prakriti. A wise man says, the nature is acting on its own. I have nothing to do with it because he is a wise man. Unwise people, otherwise people go on thinking we are acting and unnecessarily we suffer. That is called bondage. After suffering a long time, we slowly become wise people. We progress from otherwise to wise and then slowly we turn our attention and say, Who is the? So impelled by whom, willed by whom, desired by whom? The pranas are working, the mind is working, the sense organs are working, the body is working. In fact, the whole universe is working. And then the whole Kena Upanishad's conclusion is, it is Brahman by whose will, by whose creation, Brahma willed, I want to act. For that he created all these instruments called three types of bodies, gross, subtle as well as the causal. And he is doing it and he is acquiring things and he is enjoying them. He is the Gnatha, knower, he is the Kartha, the doer, he is the Bhokta, the enjoyer. Where do I come? Where do you come in? Where are we butting our heads unnecessarily, poking our fingers? That is what it means. Think of me. What should I think of you? That I do not exist. If at all I am existing, you are existing in my form. If I am having emotional reaction, you are having the emotions. It is you who is creating the emotions and experiencing the emotions and enjoying the emotions. Then if you are doing any type of worship, idealizing, idolizing and every person idolizes, whether it is vocally expressed or not, how I wish I am two inches taller, how I wish I am stouter, how I wish I am leaner and thinner like the other person, how I wish I could sing well, how I wish I could speak well, how I wish I could write well, how I wish I could act well, how I could wish I can become a very good social worker, how I wish, how I wish, how I wish, going on wishing and wishing and wishing. Is it going to come true? Yes. But wishy-washy wishes are not going to come true. We have to desire deeply. We have to do Sankalpa and we have to worship the Divine Lord. We have to obtain what is worshipping the Divine Lord, not offering something. But to pray to Him, give me the knowledge how to attain it. Show me the path, which path is the best to fulfill my desire. And then let me completely devote my life, whether I am breathing, whether I am sleeping, whether I am dreaming, everything be of my final desire. That is how man progresses in any field of life, not only in spiritual field. And there is no exception in spiritual field. If I want to be spiritual, I have to be the same thing. That means the entire body and mind should be completely directed towards God. That is the essence of this 65th Manmana Bhava. Fix your mind upon me. What to fix? Your existence is derived from my existence. Your small knowledge, however small, however big, is very small, is derived from me. And your joy, however small, is derived from me only. You do not exist separate from me. I am Advaita. I am non-dual. I am infinite. I am eternal. I am Ajam. I am unborn. Nityaha, eternal. Shashvataha, infinite. I am Puranaha. That is, I never change. I am as new as I was before because I am beyond time. Puranaha nahanyate. I have no birth. Therefore, I have no death. Therefore, even the question of my killing anybody does not arise because there is nobody who is born. Therefore, nobody who can be killed also. Only if a person is born can be killed. An unborn thing can never be even thought about it. This is the essence of this. Give your mind to me. Be devoted to me. Worship me. And worship me means what? That you worship. Find out. Do not find fault with others. You find the merits, however small they are, if they are equivalent to your merits or if they are even one billionth better than you. You try to appreciate the other person and see the divinity. What you have, my friend, is actually coming from God. So, if I have faith in God and everybody is provided by God, not only food but the food for mind, that means higher ideals, everything comes from me. We have seen it earlier. This knowledge comes from me and forgetfulness comes from me and remembrance also comes from me. Every thought comes from me. Earlier we have seen in the 10th chapter there is nothing which cannot come, which has not come from me and anything that has come, has come only from me. So, finding out this truth and looking upon everybody, even Saint Francis used to look upon the birds, sister birds, brother wolf, everything is brother and sister, brother sun, sister moon, everything related to, in God, with God and via God. That is called the worshipping, true worship. And then you become a true devotee. Be devoted. That means what? Be a good person. Be an unselfish person. And Maam Namaskuru. Whatever you see. If you see a mosquito, you salute it. If you see a tiger, salute it. Of course, from a distance. This is what Sri Ramakrishna is teaching to Narendra. Narayana is manifesting as the tiger, as a human being, as everything. When you see a tiger and you salute the Divine Lord from a long distance or from outside the cage. Don't even go anywhere near the cage. So, this is what he is telling, Madhyaji Baba, worship me. Worship me means what? You respect me. You revere me. In your heart, you look divinity in me. Maam Namaskuru. That's why when two Hindus meet, unlike two psychiatrists who meet in New York City in the morning, usually people say good morning to you. But when the psychiatrists meet, they use a very peculiar but very true language. One psychiatrist greets the other psychiatrist saying, you are fine. How am I? Because these fellows are accustomed only to meet the patients and they evaluate the persons. They know this fellow is 100% mad, this fellow is 50% mad, this person is only 10% mad and so whether I can help. But profoundly ignorant about themselves because they never learnt how to objectify themselves and therefore when two Hindus meet, they have two uses. When two Hindus meet, Namaste, salutations to you because I see the Divine Lord to everybody. Ramana Maharshi used to do it even to animals. He never used to address an animal in a third person's addressing. In Indian languages, there is Aap. Aap means a very respectable person, so your honour, something like that. English, you, doesn't make any meaning at all. And then Tum means equivalent people, familiar people, friends, etc. You again, Tum. But if it is inferior, small children, servants and of lower classes, we say Tui. That means... These are difficult to translate into English language but those who know Hindi or Bengali, we know those three categories. Ramana Maharshi used to use the highest word, Aap, if he has to talk about them, he says, They. Do you know? They visited me. Or Mother Lakshmi visited me. Funny incidents are there. Sri Ramakrishna could never address himself as I, this place, etc. And he used to bow down to everybody. If a person like Sri Ramakrishna could bow down to others, who are we to think that we are something greater? So, Mam Namaskuru. Madhyaaji. Yaaji means puja, worship. Worship means, as I said, not that you bring some flowers and fruits, but truly to appreciate the other person and be full of gladness for the other person's success, for the other person's name and fame, celebrity, for the other person's greatness, everybody is appreciating how wonderful it is. This person is appreciated and that is the glory of God. Wherever you see excellence in anything, living or non-living, the majestic Himalayas, the most marvellous mighty river, slowly may be ending its way and falling with a thunderous reverberation. It is all My glory. A beautiful small wild flower in a niche, in a far corner of any mountain, that is nothing but My glory. A small dew drop which reflects the entire sky, that is also My glory. So, salute Me. You give your mind to Me and do not give to anybody. That is the idea. Do not give it to anybody. Yes, I know. You have been giving it to, first yourself, to your family, your parents, your friends, your country, your religion, your everything. But now, recognise Me in every one of them and then what will be the result? मामेवयश्यसि And you are going to attain. Attain what? Attain Me. Attaining Me means what? Not coming nearer to you but complete identity. अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि And I am telling you the truth. Why? Yesterday I explained. I hope you keep it. So, we may claim to believe in God or not believe in God. It is completely immaterial. I don't care for a person who goes on proclaiming and if necessary with so many signs on his forehead and round his neck and the type of cloths he wears. I don't care. I only care. Are you a person trustworthy? Are you an unselfish person? Are you a person who will bring gladness, happiness to everybody? If not, the very presence of such person must bring tremendous joy to everybody. If not, then that person is not a man of God. Whatever else that person could be. But you direct everything towards Me and thereby you don't lose the world. In fact, the world will transform itself into a divine world and you will get incomparable joy than anything else. The Lord says, I am promising you. And I am telling you the truth because God is the truth. Rather, truth is God and truth will never betray. And that is the meaning we have to understand. Every millisecond I am breathing because of you. I am living because of you. I am thinking because of you. I am acting because of you. I am enjoying because of you. And then, if anybody can practice these four things, so offer your mind to Me. Be devoted to Me. Devotion means extra joy. Yes, I can think about you joylessly. How many people are thinking joyfully about God before meditation upon God? They are watching a cricket match and they are very happy. The moment they enter into the shrine room, they become gloomy. How do we know? When they come out, they become so negative, they start shouting at everybody, Why are you delaying my dinner? Why have you prepared such tasteless food? You are so happy watching a cricket match. How much happier should you be when you are thinking about God? So, if somebody is really, truly devoted to God, then his very face will show that he is a devotee, not any marks because a joyous person is nearer to joyous God than a gloomy person. He is nearer to hell, nearer to Satan. So, second, be devoted to Me. Then, whatever you do, you consider it as worship of Me. That is the third condition. Fourth condition is but whomsoever you meet, you salute. What about saluting yourself? When you look at yourself in the mirror, you salute because that is how we learn that I am not XYZ. I am the Divine Lord with this particular name and form. I do not belong to myself. My body belongs to God because every body is most sacred temple housing the Divine Lord Himself. If these four conditions are fulfilled, then what happens? Then comes the final verse which we just introduced in our last class but there are so many things to be talked about it which we will enter now and see how much we can progress. This is the 66th verse. Incidentally, this is considered to be the very essence of every scripture whether people understand it or not. You ask a Christian, what is your goal? To completely obey the will of God. To live in accordance with the will of God. That means I want to surrender my will, merge it in God's will and let God's will rule in me through everybody also. But if it can rule through me, then it will rule through every person. That is every person's experience because as soon as I change, everything will be changed. Here I remember a very beautiful incident. There was a Christian monk. He wanted to contemplate God. He was not finding a solitary enough place which is calm and quiet. So he heard about a solitary place. So he took the permission of his superior, went there and joyfully, it was most beautiful sight, not a single human being anywhere in sight and he sat down and he thought, Oh Lord, how gracious you are. You have brought me to this place. Let me now joyfully contemplate upon you. So he sat down. And then to his shock, millions of frogs started to make their peculiar weird sounds. Millions of frogs. And it was most disturbing sight. At least in other places, only a few sounds come intermittently and that too of very low volume. Here continuously the frogs were making sound. Then he was a very sincere person. He prayed to the Divine Lord, Oh Lord, what is this? I thought that I can undisturbingly, I can think about you, but now I am disturbed by these things. What shall I do, Divine Lord? Please enlighten me. And God heard his prayer and enlightened him. What happened? The insight came, Oh my child, just as you are my child, all these millions of frogs are also my children. Just as you are praying to God, every frog is only praying to me. That is the sound their body can produce. The moment this insight came, this Christian devotee became a saint because now joyfully, brothers and sisters, let us all pray to God. The moment it was only a disturbing sound, it was a terrible nuisance. But the moment it is a prayer, I am not the only one. I have got millions of devotees of God who are joining me in earnest prayer. Instantaneously, his joy became a million fold and he joined as if his voice also to the others and thereafter the question of disturbance did not arise at all. He was as if he was praying with a million voices along with everybody in this world. That was what exactly St. Francis of Assisi and every saint practically used to do. Sri Ramakrishna, at the end of his practice of tantric sadhanas, acquired a special capability to understand the language of the birds and beasts. Then he found that every bird and beast were only representing the Divine Lord. They were only singing the Divine Lord's glories but in their own language. It is said that for some time he could understand every single syllable of what they are trying to communicate with others. And if we have to apply this, how do we apply this? We require a little bit of thinking about it. So what does, for example, what does a frog do? It has only three prayers. Lord, grant me three wishes. I want to become Sat. That means I don't want to die. I don't want to be ignorant. I want to have chit. And I want to have unbroken happiness. This is the only prayer that comes out of the heart, throat, mouth of every single creature, not only living but non-living too. The existence of everything is the manifestation of God, pure existence, assuming a particular name and form and that is called an object by us. So the Lord is coming to us. So that idea, nothing else exists excepting God, that should become firm in our mind. But it will become firm only when we fulfil certain conditions. And those conditions have been told umpteen number of times right from the eleventh shloka of the second chapter that is either through Karma Yoga or through Raja Yoga or through Bhakti Yoga or through Jnana Yoga. The end result, end goal, the highest goal is only one. What is it? That excepting you, nothing exists. Tat tvam asi. This is usually taught by the teacher to the disciple that Tat means that Brahman you are. But we can also turn it round and then we say I am seeing a tree. Tat tvam asi. O tree, you are appearing a tree but in fact you are Brahman. O dog, you are appearing in the form of a dog but you are Brahman in the form, in the guise of a dog. O cow, you are Brahman in the guise of a cow. O learned Brahmana, you are Brahman in the guise of this learned Brahmana. An untouchable, unfortunately we have to use those words because they have been used in the Bhagavad Gita. Nowadays it is an offence to call anybody untouchable. It was an offence. Only we did not realise it. We mistreated people. That's why the Karmapala is coming and that is why most Hindus are suffering not because unnecessarily it was thrust upon them but because of the terrible crimes they have visited upon these helpless people, poor people and women for centuries and centuries together all in the name of religion. This is a peculiar thing, madness that suppress anybody whether it is girls, whether it is women, whether it is not belonging to our religion or even if they are belonging to our religion they are of a different sect so let us kill and they do not deserve to be there and the Karmapala will come. Unfortunately we are not understanding that our sufferings are not visited upon us by the will of God but by our own past karma but God as supervisor says my child you have drunk this poison and you have to suffer because of that. But when we become wiser that four steps, beautiful steps that every thought should be whatever you see here is a tree, here is Tattvamasi the thought of Brahman. Here is I see somebody be devoted, be sincere serve that person, that object, that animal everything, this is God I am not serving anybody and then I do so many things whatever I do I breathe in, I breathe out I eat food it is all I am serving the Divine Lord I am fanning the Divine Lord I am circumambulating the Divine Lord I am singing hymns to the Divine Lord and when I say you salute them Namaste, Namaste, Namaste if I do that then that knowledge dawns accepting Thou nothing exists there is no I there is no he there is no she there is no it and then when we find out that our whole existence our whole knowledge our whole bliss, happiness everything is hanging in balance only upon the grace of God that means that knowledge we have and our behaviour then we have no other chance and say O Lord, I completely surrender myself this the greatest offering I can give I have nothing to offer excepting this I is there and even that is given by You but I am giving back to You with the knowledge that it is You who give it to me that means I am grateful that You have given it to me not committing suicide I give always an illustration a mother is feeding the baby in a small cup she mixed the softest most digestible material and the baby also feels mother is feeding me I also must feed the mother so a few grains it takes and half of it is falling all over its body and on the floor the mother has to clean it later on but she stretches her hand towards the mouth of the mother and the mother brings her mouth near and takes it from the fingers and the baby is extremely happy that I am also able to do something this should be our attitude only the baby doesn't know it is not giving what belongs to it even if we do not know you assume after hearing this it is all given to you and it belongs to you but I am grateful I am only giving a teeny weeny bit that belongs to you and that you have given me this is called complete surrender towards the Divine Lord so the Lord is telling when we practice all those things and that is what Ramanujacharya so marvelously has expressed Himself we have seen in our last class anukolasya sankalpaha pratikolasya varjanam rakshasya siddhi vishwasaha goktruta varanam atma nikshepam tatha karpanye iti shadvidha sharanagatihi so what is the first thing it is everything is given to me by the Divine Lord but He made me a trustee so I have to use my body my mind as a trustee only keeping that thought that knowledge it is all belonging to you I am only just out of your infinite grace, kindness you have given me a little bit of it so that I can serve you you have given me an opportunity to serve you that idea, if we can do it this is called anukolasya sankalpaha and anything that the Divine Lord doesn't want me to do that means I will not transgress these four directions just as an example that we just now read in the 65th verse I will never allow myself to be away from the practice of those four things this is called giving up not doing what displeases the Divine Lord pratikolasya varjanam completely giving up then tremendous faith will come the only being in this whole world who is the supreme ruler of this world who is the creator who is the maintainer and who is the recycler He alone can save me nothing in this world can save me that knowledge dawns and then we have no option but to choose him you are my saviour I choose you from now onwards you are the saviour I am the one to be saved and definitely the Lord will save and then don't worry do not worry about anything else and then completely remain in humility O Lord all these five steps are made possible for me to transcend only because of your grace that great humility without you I could never have done this was the great lesson every saint will learn and we see in the life of Totapuri Maharaj this was the lesson he learned on the last day of his stay at Dakshineshwar the divine mother out of her infinite grace has been wiping away all the kama, krodha, lobha, moha, madha, matsarya making the path extremely easy for this child to practically run and jump and he never understood it until that day then he joyfully went then close your eyes it is nothing but the brahman the divine mother open your eyes it is brahman in the form of the divine mother called this world there is brahma satyam jagat satyam jivaha brahma and that realization with that his spiritual practice was complete he was made whole and that day he was able to get out of that place and this is the lesson to every one of us so in the beginning we have to follow the divine lord and slowly we progress ultimately that knowledge will come and then that knowledge is called sharanagati or complete surrender with this background let us read this one 66th verse resigning all your duties to me the all powerful and all supporting lord take refuge in me alone i shall absolve you of all sins do not grieve a most marvelous as i said that according to the devotees this is the very essence of bhagavad gita again bhagavad gita is the essence of the upanishads the upanishads are the essence of the vedas and veda means every scripture not only hindu vedas but it is the bible, the koran oh man take refuge in god there is no other way today we will only highlight the simple outer meaning before we go a little bit inside in our next class sarva dharman parityajya give up and this shloka can lead to a lot of misunderstanding dharma means duties sarva dharman parityajya but really wise swamis have given helped me to understand its real meaning also so the usual meaning of the word dharma is a duty everybody according to the type of person he is whether he is sattva guna sampanaha rajo guna sampanaha artha muguna sampanaha is called varna dharma then according to the age ashrama dharma that is evolution of consciousness in both senses according to that every person can do and must do only certain things he should not do what doesn't belong to him and he cannot do what doesn't belong to others and he cannot do higher things he should not do the lower things exactly what is prescribed by society by companies or by the tradition or by the scriptures he must do it in the scriptures also something called dharma what is dharma we can translate it not only as duties but as moral qualities certain moral qualities that's why we say lead a dharmic life righteous life abandon adharmic life that means simply translated be righteous what is righteous whatever hurts other people give it up that is called dharma whatever makes other people better, more happy more helpful that is called dharma and treat everybody as you would like to treat others how you like others to treat you make that your standard way of thinking and if you apply that rule you don't need any scripture you know what hurts you and what makes you joyous apply to others and treat everybody exactly like equivalent to yourself that is called moral life to feel everybody, to love everybody to think of everybody as one's own self that person is the greatest yogi Oh Arjuna, the divine lord categorically tells so first meaning of dharma is duty appropriate to man woman, child, student retired person etc there is a lot to be explained really but I will come to that later on now the second meaning of dharma is that whatever moral life is there, without moral life life is chaos and even animals have their own rules and regulations I might tell you next class one beautiful incident narrated by Jim Corbett but if I remember I will let you know about it but this meaning is lead a moral life that means live and let live not only that your happiness will increase if you help other people's happiness if you can help them to get more happiness from you but I mentioned earlier in the very first verse that we have discussed of the Bhagavad Gita, Dharma Kshetri Dharma means one's nature not the physical nature not the mental nature made up of samskaras but one's true spiritual nature each soul is potentially divine that means here you give up that I am the body give up that idea give up that mind give up that idea I am the son, I am the husband I am the wife, I am an office worker and I am one of the humanity forget all those things you just give up all those things when you give up all those things what you cannot give up that is your true Dharma that is your very essence and that is called Parityaja Sarva Dharma completely identity with everything else excepting your true nature which is Aham Brahmasmi and then it says Mam Ekam Sharanam Vraja, take refuge in me because nobody else can save you except me then what do I do Aham, me Dvam and you Sarva Pape Bhio Moksha Ishyami, I will release you from all sins the word used is Papa but the real meaning of it is that whatever is an obstacle in manifesting your innate divinity and that is called Papa and this idea is beautifully brought up in the Isavasya Upanishad He who forgetting his Atman, true nature, he indulges in anything that is Anatman non-Atman, such a person is an Asura, he is a Rakshasa and after the death of this body, he will go to the parietal hell and he is going to suffer. Here we have to take that whatever is obstructing the unfoldment of my divinity and I will help you to overcome everything but the condition is you will have to give up all dependences upon everything you will have to totally surrender to myself and think of myself and nobody else If you can do that I am going to liberate you I will help you to understand, to realize I am divine, I am Brahman I am a child of immortality and then do not worry because you may think, supposing I take refuge in you, whether you will do it or not. No you will yourself understand because you will become me I need not prove to you you will be a proof, a living proof the most wonderful thing is that in the very first teaching of Bhagavan Krishna starts so Asho Chayan Anvasho Chistan you are grieving for those who need not be, should not be grieved and here he is telling I will free you but provided you take complete refuge in me and what this really means in some detail I will go in my next class Om Vasudeva Sudham Devam Kamsa Janura Mardanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagat Gurum May Ramakrishna Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with Bhakti. Jai Ramakrishna