Bhagavad Gita Ch18 part 39 on 30 April 2022

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Om Jananem Sharadam Devem Ramakrishnam Jagadgurum Pada Padme Tayo Saritva Pranamami Muhur Muhur Vasudevasudham Devam Kamsachanuram Arthanam Devaki Paramanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum Sarvopanishadogaho Dugdha Gopalanandanah Artho Vatsa Sudhir Bhokta Dugdham Gita Amritam Mahat Mukam Karoti Vachalam Pangam Langhayate Girim Yat Kripatamaham Vande Paramanandam Adhavam We have been discussing in our last class the verse 66 which is considered by most people as the very essence of all scriptures, not only merely Hindu scriptures, but the scriptures of every religion. And this is amply proved. For example, Muslims say, Inshallah, by the will of God. And Christians will say, Lord, let Thy will be done. If it is Hindus, Shakali Tomari Ichcha. If it is Buddhists, Buddham Sharanam Dakshami. Whichever way we look at it, all wise men belonging to every religion came to the same conclusion. There is the Divine Lord and this world is full of suffering and the only way to get out is to completely surrender ourselves to the Divine Lord. In what way? The devotee who looks upon the Lord as his ultimate goal and the only means. The Lord is the goal, the Lord is the means, and the Lord alone can take us to that end. Paramapurushartha. Paramapurusha alone can take us to the Paramapurushartha. And such a devotee who has this complete faith is certain to reach the Divine Lord. The Lord's promise cannot but be fulfilled. Since liberation is the result of this whole-souled devotion to the Lord, one should look upon Him alone as the highest and sole refuge. Every devotee of Sri Ramakrishna, every single day, he goes on saying, Therefore, O Lord, And in the end also, in the beautiful shloka of the Divine Mother, This is the verse which we have been discussing and this can be repeated any number of times. Sarva-dharman parityajya ekam mam sharanam vraja Resigning all your duties to Me, the all-powerful and all-supporting, the originator, the supporter, the sustainer, take refuge in Me alone. I shall absolve you of all sins. Grieve not. This is what we have been discussing in our last class. We have brought out some very important points. Now, when we take the literal translation of this verse, there can arise many types of questions, doubts. What does it mean? Sarva-dharman parityajya, giving up all your duties. It is not giving up, but it is do not depend that your meditation, your japa, your so-called austerity, your so-called studies, all these things are going to save you. That is not going to happen. Then what is going to happen? It is only my grace alone that is going to make you a spiritual person by implanting a desire in you by my grace and by bringing about a favourable environment, which includes the most important thing, which is the most suitable knowledge, the most suitable path in the form of a guru or teacher. So the devotee who looks upon the Lord as his aim, means and end, he alone is certain to reach the Divine Lord. And once the Lord is called Truth, therefore his promise can never go in vain. Liberation is the result of whole-soul devotion to the Lord. One should look upon Him alone as the highest and sole refugee. And on this verse, the most wonderful commentary has been given by Bhagwan Ramanujacharya, the propagator of the qualified non-dualism, the Sistadvaita, because every devotee aims at this ultimate goal, how can I surrender myself to You? And he gives a marvellous commentary, which I have taken from his commentary and put it in my own way. First, Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya, relinquishing all dharmas. What does it mean? Dharma means, I mentioned earlier, the first meaning of Dharma is one's own duty, according to one's station in life, one's caste, so to say, or one's class, or in the modern terminology, one's position in the office, etc. And if he is a married person, then there also, according to the status, married or unmarried, a member of the family, member of the society, member of the world, member of everything, a part of everything that is existing, and whatever duties are there, they can never be escaped. Earlier we have seen that nobody can sit quiet without any activity, not even for a single second. It is impossible. But here is a devotee who has turned all his karmas into Karma Yoga. That is where we have to understand it properly. Karma Yoga means certain things. We are not talking about karma. We are millions of people. This particular teaching, even this Gita, or any scripture of any religion, is not given to non-believers. It is only given to those who firmly believe that there is a God who is the creator, who is the sustainer, and who is our father and mother, and who is compassionate, and who will come to our rescue whenever we require, whenever we pray to Him, and so there is nothing to worry about. This is the complete faith of every person, including a religious person, who is not necessarily a spiritual person. But this religious person is a selfish person. He doesn't want God. He wants everything that he thinks he wants from God. God is the storehouse from which he wants to take everything. We are not talking about such people. The Lord is not teaching, and this is confirmed in the very next shloka to whom this teaching has to be imparted. It is meant only for spiritual people, not only those who believe in God, but those who believe the highest goal of human life is to be with God, to be God. For them only, this teaching is given. Of course, God will not give up, even those who are religious people. That is a very natural consequence. It will come. So the Lord Ramana Yajnacharya is coming. What does it mean? Sarva-dharman parityajya, relinquishing all dharmas. As I was talking about, the first meaning of dharma is one's duty. The second meaning of dharma is a righteous life. That means practicing complete morality, eschewing all sorts of immorality. But the most important meaning of dharma is to remember our own true nature, which is that each soul is potentially divine. That is the true dharma. God incarnates only to remind us, O man, you are not a sinner, you are not an ordinary person, you are the child of immortality. And the only goal of life is to manifest your divinity, to be yourself. All psychologists nowadays are preaching this wonderful truth that be yourself. That is called authentic life. So this is what is the important thing of spiritual life. Man can get lasting happiness and peace only by living a spiritual life, which means to be oneself. And when a person is able to be oneself, then he will be at peace, he will be the most rejoiced person, and he will be very naturally a moral person, and he will be a loving person. He will be a self-sacrificing person. And by these characteristics, and only to the extent we see the manifestation of these characteristics, that we find truly that this person is a spiritual person. Otherwise, anybody can claim, I am a spiritual person. That doesn't qualify just by merely putting on some particular dress, or putting beads around the neck, or putting some marks all over the body. In fact, in the name of religion, rivers of blood have flown, as the First World War, Second World War, and now Third World War is also proving. So, come back to Pramanaja's commentary. What does it mean? Relinquishing of all the dharmas. He says, first, give up the sense of agency. It means, I am doing. No, you are not doing. We have seen earlier, crystal clearly, for any action to be completed, five factors are involved. One of them is God. And so we have to remember, I do not come into the picture anywhere. It is God, it is his Maya, it is his body, it is his mind, it is all the activities. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, and nothing else. Second, it is not enough to just say, O Lord, I belong to you, I do not exist. People cling with death-like grip, with super glue to all that they possess. And among the possessions comes the body, I am beautiful, I am a great devotee, I am a great spiritual person, I am a great person who does so much of japa, great japaka, etc., etc. Everything that possess, family members, parents, society, religion. There are religions. In the name of religion, if you do not come and join our religion, follow, to take the name of God, we utter, we will kill you. Nowadays, even if they don't openly say that, that's what they would like to do, if an opportunity is given. So this is called Maam. That is to say, I and mine completely give up. This is what Sri Ramakrishna said, to give up Ahamkara and Mamakara, I and mine is called Vidya, true wisdom, true knowledge. Of course, the third part of this Karma Yoga, which Ramana Yajnacharya is telling, that give up the fruits. In the practice of Karma Yoga, there is karma, there is knowledge, there is devotion or emotion, and there is willpower. All these are involved. And any devotee who realizes that the I within me, the agent, the object of worship, whom I am trying to worship, and the means, the pathways, and the ultimate goal, everything is the Lord. I am the Lord. Rather, let me put it this way, the Lord is me, the Lord is mine, whatever I possess, the Lord is the entire world, the Lord is the goal, the Lord is the means, and the Lord is the end. So giving up these three, Ahamkara, the sense of agency, Mamakara, sense of possessiveness, and all the fruits, that is what is really meant, relinquishing Sarva Dharma, and totally upon God. Further, we also have to understand, because these three qualifications, characteristics that Ramayana outlines, can again be misunderstood. Not giving up any duty, that is not what is meant. But doing, first of all, what pleases the Lord. This is called in the scriptures, Vidhi. Vidhi means it is a commandment, injunction, you have to do it. Every scripture contains only two things, Vidhi and Nishedha, do this and do not do this. If you take as an example, the Ten Commandments, which Moses was given by the Lord, consists of do's and don'ts. So every scripture only tells, do this and do not do this. So doing what pleases the Lord, and that also including, I am not doing it, but the Lord is making me do it. And never even contemplating, what is proscribed, Nishedha, forbidden by the Divine Lord. This is the first step, not giving up any duty, but doing every duty. We can understand it to some extent, but we do not understand it further. So what are the things? Five elements are included in the discharge of every duty. The very word duty means, it is not something which I have freedom either to do or to give up. It means I have no freedom, I have to do it, but how to do it? This is what Ethishwara Maharaj, Swami Brahma, Anandaji, Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and every saint had provided, proved to the very hilt. Five elements. What are the five elements? First, constant awareness. I am doing Japam. Don't lose that sense. Then naturally the question comes, what happens when the concentration deepens? Deepening of the concentration is called meditation. Meditation is not a state of unconsciousness. Meditation is the state where the devotee, the practitioner becomes completely one with one particular idea, whether he calls it Brahman, whether he calls it Eshwara, whether he calls it Christ, Buddha, Rama, Krishna, etc. Completely aware of both himself and the Divine Lord. He is Ishta Devata, chosen ideal. This is the first requirement. Do every duty with awareness. One simple example. What happens if we are not aware? One millisecond's carelessness can create accidents, can make lives tragic. Killing children, killing animals, killing people who are innocent, who are passing by, it just takes a few milliseconds. That's all. Awareness. And then second, concentration. Awareness is fine. But are you focused? Are you deviating your mind here and there? Just now I gave the example of driving. But awareness and concentration are not enough. It must be done intelligently. I have seen so many people. A simple example will be, they are doing an accounting and 100 mistakes will come. If he is an expert, less mistakes will be there. There is a beautiful incident. Swami Shardanji was the General Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission. At the end of every year, all accounts have to be accounted for to be shown to the public because we are receiving donations from the public. Accountability is there for the public and for the government from whom we are accepting what is called grants. Now, in the olden days, there were not even calculators. Everything has to be calculated and because of the absence of these gadgets, the people's concentration was really very great. There were some Swamis who were trained by Swami Shardanji. One of them was Swami Shuddhananda. Another was Swami Madhavananda. There are huge accounts belonging to so many branches of the Ramakrishna Order. Huge books after books, they have to calculate. See that no error creeps in. Swami Shardananda, as the General Secretary, had to sign and he used to ask, has Shuddhananda looked into this? If the answer is yes, he will put his signature without a second look. Swami Madhavananda, as he did, immediately he will put his signature. Anybody else, he will go through because he found these two people completely concentrated. An incident comes to my mind. One day, Swami Brahmananda called some of his disciples and devotees, Swamis and said, today I will test your power of concentration. What did he do? He gave a potato to each one of them and he said, peel it and bring it to me. Of course, they peeled and presented it to him. Maybe there were 20-30 people. I do not know. The moment the plate was brought to him, he picked up one particular potato and said, the person who had peeled this potato is perfect in meditation because this is the general law. If a person can focus or can meditate absolutely well, that means he will do the same thing in every action that he does. It is not that when I go into the shrine room, I will meditate perfectly and when I come out, I will do everything haphazardly, loosely, without attention because the mind has been trained. Whether it is peeling the potato, sweeping the floor or doing any particular action, it will be done perfectly because that is called training the mind in meditation. If a person does not do it, his meditation will be according to what he does. If he is doing, if such a person is given 10 different actions and the least of the actions, where the person has done it very badly, that would be the measurement of his meditation. This is a beautiful incident for us. That person happened to be Swami Shuddhananda. Intelligence is necessary. Concentration is necessary. Awareness is necessary. Intelligence is necessary. What is intelligence? Intelligence means, supposing a person is cooking and I have seen it umpteen number of times, there is the right proportion for everything. How much sugar, how much salt, how much chilli and everything has to be put. Just because a person is a devotee, it doesn't come easily. The same fact, as I just now mentioned, if a person does meditation unintelligently, then he will be nowhere because these are all, they come together, they stick together or they will depart completely separate and that will be the most ruinous thing in this world. These are the three. What are the other two? Discharging every duty if we have to turn, convert every action into Karma Yoga. The fourth characteristic, Ishwara Arpana Buddhi. Whatever I am doing, I am doing it for the sake of pleasing the Divine Lord, as a worship of the Divine Lord. This is called the attitude of offering everything to the Divine. Ishwara Arpana Buddhi. And once we have discharged our duties to the best of our ability, fulfilling all these, awareness, concentration, intelligence and every act as a matter of worship of the Divine. Thereafter, whatever happens, that should be received as a Divine Prasada. I offered it to the Lord. This is what all devotees do everywhere. When we offer some food, for instance, when that food is brought out after the worship is over, it is not considered as an ordinary food, but it is considered as a Divine Prasada eaten by the Divine Lord and it becomes pure and what does it give? Atma Jnana. Nothing less than that. I remember some instances. Many instances are there, but I will just illustrate one instance. Swami Premanandaji used to keep novices in those days for cutting vegetables, dressing vegetables because so many people had to be fed. So it is a huge task. Every Brahmachari, including me, had to do it for several months together. That was our duty and it used to take nearly one and a half hours to two hours time. Now, one novice had joined. He was given that work and one day, instead of dressing the vegetable, he cut his finger. Immediately, Swami Premanandaji, the manager, called him and then gave him half an hour, which is the boat fare for crossing the Ganga to Calcutta. He said, My son, you are not fit to be a Brahmachari, a spiritual aspirant. You take the boat and you go home. Everybody was shocked because the Brahmachari seemed to be quite a nice person. Then Premanandaji explained, I have given you vegetables to dress, to cut. I did not ask you to cut your finger. That means you are careless. Even you cannot have an excuse. Oh, that was an accident. An accident is nothing but pure carelessness. Such is the high standard these direct disciples have put forward. So, this is a wonderful story. The story of Sabari is a well-known story in the Valmiki Ramayana and it is well worth remembering any number of times because it fulfills all the five conditions that we have outlined just now. Now, what is the story? There was a hermitage where holy people were living, saints were living and there was a maid servant and she was a married woman. She had a daughter, 4-5 years old and she used to run around. Of course, the saints took compassion upon her. They used to feed her because there is a psychology also here. The saints were unmarried or maybe they were married earlier. They were reminded of their own children or grandchildren. It is there in the heart of every monk. When they see a small child, they feel that I am the grandpa or grandma. Anyway, out of this innocent, most innocent child and they used to bestow their love, whatever they used to get and distribute. Suddenly, the maid servant, the mother of this girl was bitten by a poisonous snake and she died and the saints also decided to move away. One of them took pity upon her, initiated her into Rama mantra and then asked her, My child, you remain in this. Do not move from here anywhere. Just stay here. Rama will come. Nobody knows when he is going to come but be ready. Every day get up in the early morning, go to the forest, gather whatever fruits that you can get and wait for the arrival of Rama and feed him with these things and Rama will come. With that instruction only they left and days passed, months passed, years passed. She had become old. Almost she was about to die and then Rama came and by that time, this Sabari was unable to see properly, only very little, maybe cataract, maybe because of age she could not see but she went out, collected some fruits, came back and waiting, waiting, waiting with Ramanaama, undying Ramanaama on her lips and Rama came with Lakshmana in search of Sita and then Sabari was overjoyed. She did not know because she could not see what was the quality of the fruits. So she started nibbling a little bit so that whatever she found eatable, a little juicy and sweeter, she used to offer and Rama just as a mother feeds her small child started eating because it is offered with the greatest love Patram, Pushpam, Phalam, Toyam, Yome, Bhaktiya, Prayatchati with great devotion that was given and he ate and then Rama blessed her. What do you want? Sabari said My lord, just wait. I want to see you and seeing you I want to give up the body I have been waiting for you and then looking at the lord Sabari gave up her body and a light Jyoti came out of her and became completely one with Rama. That means she attained Rama. What Gnanis, even life after life cannot get even after being instructed. Aham Brahmasmi knowledge had come to her all by the grace of lord. This is the small outline. Poets go into ecstasy describing what was the state of Sabari's devotion but what I wanted to find out was the five characteristics that we have illustrated earlier. First of all she had complete faith in the words of the Guru which means in the words of the scriptures which means in the words of the divine lord and then she was completely aware. When is my teacher told me Rama will come. There is no doubt. Rama is going to come and then she was waiting day after day. How? With complete awareness. She is only looking. Is my Rama coming? Anything moving? As Jaya Deva goes into ecstasy singing the longing of Radha awaiting for the arrival of Bhagwan Krishna. Full awareness. Not one second she dozed until night came and she knew Rama will not come. Then only she will go to bed. This is awareness. Full concentration repeating Ram Nama and remembering the Guru and remembering his promise. That is called concentration. She knew nothing excepting Rama and then she had that intelligence. Rama will come. The lord will come walking and what shall I offer to him. So she used to go when she was young, choose the best fruits, bring and then only at night after offering mentally she will eat a little bit of it and what do you think her dreams will be? Her Rama had come. So day and night filled her heart, her mind, her thoughts, her emotions, her imaginations. Everything only with Rama. And whatever she was doing, what was she expecting? Ishwar or Panabuddhi? Rama will come. No doubt about it. But will he give me something? I don't know. I am doing it because my Guru commanded me to do these things. I will do it. What Rama is going to do after coming, that's not my problem. That is his problem. Of course with these five conditions fulfilled Rama had come at last and she had only one desire. Remembering you, let me give up my body. Whoever does that, he will attain me only. So who can remember God? Only those who want God and nothing but God and is practicing the remembrance of God for the whole life. That was Shabari's story. She was not a foolish girl. She may be uneducated from the ordinary point of view but she was completely had faith, Shraddha in the Guru, in the scriptures which is equal to faith in God that whatever is Guru told or Guru told absolutely it will come true. She never doubted for a second. Then full concentration. Her mind doesn't think of anything. If at all it does anything, only for how can I please my Rama? What shall I do when he comes? What shall I offer? Then full intelligence. She cannot simply sit and say when Rama comes, then I will gather something and if it is available I will give. Otherwise I will just blah blah and then I will send him away. No. Full intelligence. My child will come and I will do it. And then you know what happened? How many people get this? Looking at Rama, the Divine Lord and looking at Rama doesn't mean there was an avatar called Rama and she was looking. With the highest spiritual development she could only see the Divine Lord who is the creator, who is the Ishwara and looking at Him. Looking at Him means what? The whole world is nothing but you. I am part of the world. Therefore I am also you. With that idea only she entered into Him and the greatest thing was Rama could not perform the funeral ceremony of any of His mothers but He did it to the Sabari and the Lord who Himself has done. As Ramakrishna had done in His own way that is the greatest thing anybody can really understand. This is the story of Sabari. But we are talking about complete surrender. Sharanagati. Gadiya. And that is where a story of Rashik comes into place. Rashik was a sweeper working at the Dakshineswar temple garden. His business was to clean the lavatories and also to clean the garden, the pathways and such but they are considered to be belonging to the lowest class. Therefore they had no access to Sharanakrishna's room. It is a big story. I will cut it short. So this Rashik, the moment he saw Sharanakrishna he understood that here is the Bhagawan Himself on earth and he considered Sharanakrishna as the only one who can give me salvation. That tremendous faith. Every day he used to stand outside his room because he could not enter because of the caste restrictions. He used to enjoy the bhajan that is going on and he could not even touch the feet of Sharanakrishna again because of the caste restrictions. But one day many years after this way of life, Sharanakrishna had gone out to answer calls of nature towards the Panchavati, beyond Panchavati which was called Jhautala. While he was returning Rashik noticed it that Sharanakrishna had gone. That day he decided I must completely surrender myself to Sharanakrishna. So when Sharanakrishna was returning and Ramlal Dada was carrying the water pot with which Sharanakrishna could clean himself because Sharanakrishna could never touch any metal pot etc. vessel etc. So somebody used to carry the water. Ramakrishna's body became extremely delicate. So as soon as Rashik who was waiting he saw that day he could not restrain himself. He ran forward and fell down and saw strong Namaskara. There are various types of Namaskaras. Eight limbed Namaskara. Five limbed Namaskara. Axe cutting Namaskara. So many varieties of Namaskaras are there. Sharanakrishna was coming. Rashik ran, caught hold of his feet with eight limbed Pranama, complete self-surrender and tears were flowing from him like rivers. Sharanakrishna asked him Rashik, what happened? Rashik said, He was permitted to address Sharanakrishna as father. Baba, father I am born in low caste family. I cannot enter into your room and sit with other devotees and enjoy your divine nectar that is flowing from you. But I have complete faith in you. And then he would not leave. One minute, five minutes he was not leaving. He was weeping. Sharanakrishna because of his bhakti, devotion went into state of Samadhi. After a few minutes, when he returned he raised his hand and said What do you wish for? What do you want? Rashik said, Baba, I know no spiritual practice. I know I do not know how to reach you. But this out of your boundless grace grant me that when this Jeeva departs from the body, you come, take hold of my right hand and then take me wherever you go. What a significant request! You take me with you. I want to be with you. I do not wish to be separated from you. Sharanakrishna said, Yes I will come and take you on your last day. And then only Rashik got up. Then what did Sharanakrishna do? Construct one small plant. It is called Tulasi in the front yard of your house. And every day as soon as your duties are finished here, you go there after food, you take Harinam, take the name of the Lord in the form of singing, Sankirtana. And this was the only instruction Ramakrishna has given. That was enough. Just like Sabari until his last breath this Rashik, after finishing his dinner, of course in those days they used to finish quite early because electricity was not known and then for a long time, many hours with the greatest devotion he touched the feet of Sharanakrishna. Bhakti was flowing in him and he used to be absorbed. I am sure, we have to guess, he must be getting, deriving the greatest Ananda, joy from singing the Divine Lord. And so, to practically till midnight and then he will have to take rest because whole day has to work. He used to go and then sleep. Early morning again he will come, day after day until he died. Now, a time has come he had become old, he became retired, he used to come to the temple every day, bow down to the Mother from a distance and Ram Lal Dada who witnessed this incident when Sri Ram Krishna had given him the boon of I will take you on the last day of your life. He was there. Then Ram Lala knew him. Occasionally he used to see him but for some days he could not see him. So one day he went to find out what happened to Ram Lala, this Rishik. And then he saw his wife was coming and then Ram Lala asked what happened to Rishik and she said Rishik is very sick. Doctors were called but he refused to take any medicine. He will take only the water offered in Mother Kali's temple. He will not take anything. I have come to beg you to give me this is what is called holy water after puja. And Ram Lala immediately went, took a bottle and filled the Padamruta, Charanamruta we call it and gave it to her. After that again he did not see her also for some time. So one day he thought let me find out what happened and again he met the wife then he asked what happened. She said that Rishik had passed away just a few days back and then Ram Lala Dada was curious. How did he pass away? And the story came out the morning that he was to pass away he called his children and said come quickly and put me down on the floor in front of the Tulasi Mantap and you all sing Harinaam. You see the low caste people they were great devotees and they used to sing the God's name, the Divine Lord's name and then they spread a mat and then he was made to lie on the floor and he was they were singing surrounding him and he also told them finish your food and then come and do this because he knew what was going to come. So suddenly after some time said spread a mat Baba has come, Father has come and of course they could not see they spread a mat and then he said Baba you have come and then you take me along with you and she saw clearly he raised his right hand and as if she felt somebody was holding that right hand and with that immediately without anything seeing the Divine Lord like Shabari seeing Rama, Nashik seeing Ramakrishna, nobody else could see. Happily the Atma has left the body mind he became liberated. This is the story of Rashik. This is what is called complete Sharanagati. The point we have to note, Ramakrishna did not say I have taken your burden and now you do whatever you like. He said do discharge your duties properly, meticulously with concentration because I will be walking here Mother will be walking here but once duties are over you go and take my name and both conditions Rashik fulfilled completely and like Shabari watching Shri Ramakrishna he left the body joyfully. This is the result of Sharanagati. So that is what says Sarva Dhanman Parityajya Mamekam Sharanam Rajah. Aham Tva Sarva Pape Bhiyo Moksha Aami. I will release you from all the impediments. Sarva Papa Papa means sin. Hindus Vedanta do not believe in sin. Sin means all the unspiritual obstructions that can come that has been accumulated very painfully accumulated by us from many many past births I will destroy, I will burn all of them. By what? By the fire of knowledge Jnana Jnana. Just as a great fire, bonfire it reduces every piece of wood even a raw wood into pure ashes. So I will reduce Sarva Pape Bhiyo Moksha Aami I will release you from all non-spirituality then what happens? Maasu Jeha. Thereafter you will join me the Divine Lord who is the embodiment of Ananda Sagara. Children of immortal bliss. How many devotees? Millions of devotees in the past have attained to this state. That is why one of the most important spiritual disciplines is to read everyday the lives of great saints. There is nothing more instructive than that. You may read Gita, you may read Upanishads, you may read many other theological works but nothing comes even to one millionth of the inspiration and of the help of the right understanding that we get and of the Shraddha we develop by just associating with this saint in the form of reading a life and deeds and the teachings of that particular saint. Anybody who has studied the Gospel will get less benefit. But the person who is studying the life of Sri Ramakrishna he will get far more benefit than anything else. So if we practice, fulfill all these conditions what do we get? That is the question that comes naturally. The Divine Lord Himself does not keep us in any suspense. Yes, if anyone practices such abandonment of the sense of I and give up the fruits, offer the fruits, that means not expecting the results. But O Lord, You dispense what You want to do because You know better than me. I will release you from all sins. I will release you from all evil, unspiritual, incompatible obstructions and that will bring you to the attainment of Myself. And then whatever duties you are doing consisting of innumerable acts of the nature of doing what ought not to be done and not doing what ought to be done. This is another commentary by Ramanujacharya. What is Papa? Not doing what is expected to be done and doing what we are forbidden to do. This is called Papa. This is called unspiritual. This is what is called the removal of the sins. These samskaras, habits piled up from beginningless times form the obstruction in the way. This is called destruction of the samskaras. O Arjuna, grieve not. Mahasuchaya. You should not despair or I shall release you from all these obstructions. And then we have to understand Bhakti Yoga is possible only for the people to whom the Lord is exceedingly dear and who are free from all evils. The very love of God automatically removes these things. You need not wait. But if there is something which is obstructing as Sri Ramakrishna was obstructed by His Divine Mother at the last impediment that also will be removed by complete surrender to the Divine Lord. So to remove the grief because Arjuna said nobody can remove my grief even if I obtain all the three worlds my grief will not come to an end. And the Lord completes this Bhagavad Gita says I will remove your grief completely. Mahasuchaya. You need not grieve. In fact the words are totally unnecessary. When a person attains the Divine Lord Mokshashyami, I will release you. He will become one with the drop which is suffering, which can evaporate, has fallen into the ocean of Satchitananda Sagara. And it has become Satchitananda like rivers giving up their name, their form, their taste flowing from different directions. All of them as soon as they reach the ocean, by giving up all their name, form, qualities everything becomes one with the ocean. Completely becoming one. The individuality has become completely universal now. That is the meaning of Sharanagati, taking refuge. Such a person, there is no need to tell that person now I have given you liberation. Lord, I am so grateful. Now what am I supposed to do? Now my son, you have become one with me and through you other people's grief also will be removed. Not to speak of you. By joining an iron file, by joining a powerful magnet, that itself becomes a magnet in its turn and it attracts and makes other particles also as magnets. So, in order to succeed in practice of Bhakti Yoga, seek me alone for your refuge. All this that we have discussed is covered by this word, take refuge in the Lord. So, again to repeat, Sarva Pape Bhyo, that means all the impediments, all the obstructions. What happened in the case of Totapuri? Divine Mother became completely gracious. She removed even without His knowledge. Therefore, Mahasuchaha concluding with this verse, the teaching which the Lord commenced where from the eleventh verse of the second chapter, Asochya, it is worth noting, Asochya, that is your grieving for those who should not be grieved for. Here, Mahasuchaha, do not grieve because if what you heard from me is the real remedy, there is no need for me to ask you to give up grieving because once you have taken the medication that has been prescribed by a skillful physician, you should have gotten rid of your disease. Vande Bhavesham Bhavaroga Vaidhyam Tameva Vande Bhuvirama Krishnaha Your disease will disappear. What is the disease? Your very mind, your very thinking. I am Arjuna. I am a warrior. I am a Kshatriya. I have friends. I have enemies. I have come here to wage war. All those ideas will disappear. So, this is what the Lord is concluding, the realization of God and total absence of sorrow. This is the result of the realization of God. This conclusion of the Gita, according to the commentator Shankaracharya, is that supreme liberation which also is the highest bliss is not possible either through work or any kind of work associated with the idea of a doer, means of action or through a conjunction of work and knowledge. It is only possible, only through one, through self-knowledge or the knowledge of the Brahman. What is that knowledge? I am not separate from Bhagawan. Tattvamasiddhi Guru tells you are that and the disciple practices Shravana, Manana, Nidhidhyasana and comes to the realization, Aham Brahmasmi and if he still lives, it is not enough. He will come to the conclusion that Sarvam Kalu Idam Brahma, whatever I see in front of me, because in the eyes of an evil person, everything is evil. In the eyes of a good person, everything is good. In the eyes of a loving person, everything is lovable. In the eyes of a Jnani, everything is Brahman. In the eyes of a Bhakta, everything is the Divine Lord, the Adorable. Tadvanam Nama. In the Kena Upanishad, we get in the fourth chapter, Brahman has to be contemplated upon as Tadvanam. Vanam means Varaniyam, Varenyam. Tad Savitho Bhargo Devasya Dheemahit. That the most adorable thing in this world is what? My own Self. What is the most wonderful thing? I am Ananda Swaroopa. Bhagawan is Ananda Swaroopa. I am Bhagawan. So, I am Ananda Swaroopa. And everybody is seeking, whether it is a devotee or non-devotee, spiritual or worldly, person is seeking only, I want to be happy. And to remind ourselves, if anybody wants to be happy, first he has to be alive. Sat. Then he has to have that knowledge and that knowledge is Ananda. That is I am alive and I am also not merely alive. I am so happy, blissful. There is no other way. Completely becoming one with the Lord, that is what makes a person free from all sorts of Tapatraya and with this Gita Shastra is completely concluded. Now, having concluded the teachings, now the Lord, He doesn't teach anymore. But He says, He seeks to glorify the teaching and the study, etc. of this Gospel. And with this end in view, He first points out the marks of a person who is unqualified for the passing of, transmitting of, transmission of this Gita teaching and forbids Arjuna to impart the teaching to such a person or persons, which we will discuss in our next class. With this, Gita is concluded and the rest of the shlokas are just only to whom it should be given, to whom it should not be given and when it is given to a proper person, what will be the result of it and who is the real giver in actual fact is in another eleven shlokas. We will discuss it in tomorrow's class. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda bless us all. Bhakti ye Ramakrishna.