Bhagavad Gita Ch11 part 02 on 11 October 2020

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

OM VASUDEVASUTAM DEVAM KAMSACHANURAMARTHANAM DEVAKI PARAMANANDAM KRISHNAM VANDE JAGADGURUM SARVO PANISHADO GAVO DOGDA GOPALANANDANAH PARTHO VATSA SUDHIR BHOKTA DUGDAM GEETAM RITAM MAHAT MOOKAM KAROTI VACHALAM PANGUM LANGAYATE GIRIM YAT KRIPATAM AHAM VANDE PARAMANANDA MADHAVAM We resume our discussion of the 11th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. Yesterday we had discussed about Vishwaroopa Darshana, the vision of the universal form of Bhagawan. Do not say Krishna there. Krishna, universal form of Krishna, Rama, Ramakrishna, that is not a correct usage. It is of the Divine Lord. As soon as it is Vishwaroopa, it loses that. Roopa is, word is used, but it is universal, boundaryless, limitless. And therefore, whether it is Rama or Krishna or Jesus or Buddha, the result will be the same. We have discussed in our last night's class that this Arjuna was revealed. That was not the only time. In Mahabharata, we get another time also. In fact, we get two times, of which I am going to briefly mention just now. Mahabharata, three times it happened. We know in the Bhagavad Gita, because of the Arjuna's description, Sanjaya's description also is there. We will come across it quite soon, hopefully. Then, when Krishna went as an ambassador of peace and in order to subdue Duryodhana, etc., he had revealed his one type of universal form. That was also frightening to them, making them completely what is called dwarfs, as it were, just to show that you cannot do anything to me, but I can do everything to you. The third one I am going to discuss soon. But before that, in the Bhagavatam, I have quoted twice. First time, when Krishna was a baby, he was suckling mother's milk. And like a baby, he yawned in that process. And his mother Yashoda happened to look into that yawning mouth and she saw the entire universe there. Later on, when he was a boy, he was capable of playing and one day he ate mud. And then everybody complained, including Balarama. And Yashoda took him and said, Krishna, is it true you have eaten? He says, don't believe anybody. They are all liars. So, just look for evidence. This circumstantial evidence is completely wrong. Only the evidence must be proved completely. Yashoda asked, open your mouth and then he opened. I described graphically what happened. And I told Markandeya what happened. I think Markandeya Purana. Markandeya saw world within world. Infinite number of worlds are there. Coming back, in the Mahabharata itself, there is a third dimension of Vishwaroopa. And this is with regard to a Rishi called Uttanka. There was a Rishi called Uttanka. It is said that after the Kurukshetra war, Krishna was returning to Dwaraka. And on the way, he saw this sage Uttanka. He was also a known person. Naturally, they fell into conversing. And then, in course of time, Krishna described the Kurukshetra war. And hearing this, Uttanka got very angry. And he said, Krishna, I know you are Bhagawan. How come you did not put a stop to it? Krishna explained, not only I would not put, it was me who arranged that war just for the destruction of the wicked people. So, Vinashayacha Dushkrutam Dharmasamsthapanarthaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge Then it seemed, at one time, Krishna was very pleased with this Uttanka. And then, Krishna asks, I will give you a boon. What do you want? Then, this Uttanka says that first you show me your Vishwaroopa form. So, that is what Shri Krishna had done it. And then, because of certain times human mind, Uttanka, he had great faith in Krishna. But sometimes this Rakshasa, demon called doubt, enters into our heart. So, he doubted Krishna's power. Then he said, did you really show your universal form at the court of Dhritarashtra? Is it real? Are you the universal Lord? If so, please prove it to me. Krishna then manifested his Virat Swaroopa. Uttanka was particularly blessed for the Mahabharata tells us in 54.4th, tells us that he saw the same vision that Krishna had previously shown to Arjuna. Awestruck, Uttanka glorified Krishna's many super relative attributes. And as in the instances of Yashoda and Arjuna, beseeched him, unable to bear it, to withdraw his overwhelming manifestation. Of course, Krishna did so and then offered Uttanka a boon. What is that boon? Said, I am moving most of the time in deserts. So, whenever I am thirsty, you just see that I get water to drink. And so, Krishna blessed him. Whenever Uttanka later on felt thirsty, there will be special kind of clouds, rain bearing clouds. They pour rain where he stands to be and that is how he quenches his thirst from pure water. That's why in North India, certain types of clouds are called Uttanka Megha. So, several times the Lord shows his universal form. The important point is from a spiritual point of view, all of us have to get this Vishwa Roopa. What is Vishwa Roopa? So, first of all, seeing a tree as Brahman, a cow as Brahman, an elephant as Brahman, a learned Brahmana as a Brahman, a dog as a Brahman, the eater of the flesh of the dog as a Brahman. This is called Samadarshana. As Bhagavad Gita, the Lord himself tells, Vidya Vinaya Sampanne Brahmane Gavi Hastini Shunichaiva Swapakecha Pandithaha Samadarshanaha That is called Samadarshitvam or Vishwa Roopa Darshitvam or Brahmadarshana. That is the goal of every one of us. First of all, we slowly see Brahman in Guru, in mother, father, Guru and some great people slowly expand that vision. Finally, we see that the whole world is nothing but Brahman. That's why the very name Vishwam is one of the thousand names of Bhagavan Vishnu. The very first name that we have to utter in Vishnu Sahasranama Vishwam Vishnor Vashatkaro Bhuta Bhavya Bhavat Prabhu Ho That exactly tallies what we are describing here. So in this 11th chapter, as we have very briefly discussed yesterday, Arjuna was given a brief description of almost 75 special manifestations of God's power in certain things in this world including the living, non-living, mountains, rivers, plants, trees, seasons, humans, munis, gandharvas, siddhas, devas, maharshis, etc. This is whenever we hear their name or whenever we happen to see even in cinema. Suppose you see Kailash Manas Tirtha Yatra, you see Himalayas, you see the sacred Ganga flowing, you see Meru Parvata, you see a great sadhu, doesn't matter who he is, immediately you should remember God is manifesting in these people more than most other people. But finally we should be able to see the same Brahman everywhere. So that is the first stage is see in special cases, special manifestations. Second step is to see more and more until finally we see the whole world as Brahman. Vishnumayam Jagat, Jagatitam Sarvam Vishnumayam. Entire universe is nothing but Vishnu with different names, forms and qualities and usefulness, utilities. But the last step is there will be no Nama, there will be no Rupa, there will be no quality, everything is one indivisible Akhanda Brahmakara Prithi, that is the final goal. But where are we? Right here, not even seeing my own body, mind, not seeing my Guru, not seeing my mother and father as divinities. Start with that and whether mother or father are great or not great, Guru is great or not great, that's not the important point. If Guru is great, anybody, any fool also can see the greatness of the Guru. But if the Shishya is great, then he sees even in a very ordinary Guru only that divine God himself and it is really God only who reveals to us, guides us, blesses us in the form of the Guru. This grand, not only psychological but spiritual truth has been revealed to us in that Guru Gita, Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwaraha. Now coming back to Bhagawan revealed special manifestations. Let us take it for granted, Arjuna, not at that time a spiritual aspirant has faith in the words of the Guru, in the words of Krishna, in the words of the Gita and start saluting everything that is great, great mountain, great river, great forest, great sky, everything as the special manifestation of God etc. The sun, the moon, the fire, these great elements as it were, so huge. Then he has progressed in spiritual life, then he is on the way to the final realization with the caveat everything is possible only by the grace of God. I cannot emphasize this point enough. That is the special teaching of both Rama, Krishna and as well as Ramakrishna. That is our goal. Now here is Krishna, he heard, presumably he started seeing every greatness as greatness of or manifestation of God's power. Presumably he went beyond, he saw great or not great, every created thing is nothing but the manifestation of God. Intellectually, sadhana wise, mental wise, spiritual attitude wise he did this. Then he could not have actual experience but he had the greatest good fortune. Not only Krishna as the Guru, Krishna as Bhagawan and this aspirant was endowed with Shraddha. Shraddha means Shastra, Guru, Vakyeshu, Sathya Buddhi, Avadharana. Whatever Guru says, whatever the scripture says and the Guru says nothing else but the scripture and that is whatever scripture says is the absolute truth, nothing but absolute truth. Endowed with that faith. Now Arjuna took the opportunity to beg him. Remember, he had already surrendered himself to him. He says, O Lord, I believe whatever you said and not only I heard about you from your own mouth but I also heard from my Gurus, from Elders, from Munis, from Rishis, from great people. I have been hearing it. I know every word of theirs and yours is the absolute truth. Whatever they said is nothing but their understanding of your words but I do not seem to have that qualification to see you. My mind is incapable of seeing you. Please bestow your grace upon me and show me that form, that means all the world as your form. Previously specific things where special greatness is seen as the manifestation of God's power intellectually, of course with Shraddha, with conviction. But now I want to see the whole universe, everything ordinary, extraordinary, that is that which comes to our notice, that which doesn't come, both visible as well as invisible, very ordinary or extraordinary, everything is you but I want to have a glimpse of that and Krishna was already pleased. He was pleased earlier as soon as Arjuna surrendered. We know that Bhagavan Krishna accepted him because he was pleased and he expresses it explicitly. Bhaktosi me rahasyam etad uttamam. I am going to reveal this great secret because you are my greatest bhakta. Krishna himself has given certificate on more than one occasion. In the 16th chapter also, Maashvachaha daivayi sampad abhijatohsi, O Arjuna, you are born with divine qualities. Do not worry, I am going to save you. And many times he tells the same thing. Bhagavan was pleased as a mother when she is very happy. What will she not give to a child? Even if the child doesn't know what to ask for, she will give. I must have told you but I am telling you again because these are things we should never forget. Supposing there is a mother and she is poor and she could feed her child only with a sweet called jaggery. She can't get any better sweet than jaggery and the child is very happy. Every child is very happy with whatever its mother provides him. And one day by chance that somebody had given her a very first-class sweet, which she herself has not tasted in her life and she was thinking. At that time baby approaches, Maa, I want to eat jaggery. Please give me a piece of jaggery. And the mother has some quantity of jaggery there. Do you really imagine that mother will start, I am so glad my child doesn't know I have got this superior sweet called rasagulla and if I give one small piece of jaggery, my child will be very happy and I will mesmerize him, send him away. After that leisurely I will gobble it up. Do you think any mother will do it? None of us will do it. When a baby comes, even if I am deprived of it, what best I have, I will give it to my child and my joy will be double because I am enjoying through the mouth of my child. That was the vision Sri Ramakrishna had when at the force, what is called cajoling of his disciples, prayed, Oh mother, let me eat a little. When he was incapable of eating because of throat cancer and then mother showed him peculiar vision. She said, are you not eating through all these mouths? And he felt how ashamed I was to have this kind of vision. So we are reminded of it here that a Bhagawan himself, he will give the best even if Arjuna, of course, he was like a child, spiritual, ignorant child. He doesn't know many, many, many mysteries of God, but it doesn't mean God will hide them and say you wanted a few things. I will show you those things. Do away with it and I will finish with you. No, I will show you much more than what you have asked for. I will give you everything. So this was the situation the Lord reveals to Arjuna, his cosmic form in which in one instant, in one experience that all that existed, all that is existing, all that is going to exist in future, the past, the present and the future, all spread out as it were, as part and parcel of this all comprehending Vishwaroopa, divine person and this person's awful majesty and stupefying splendor are unfortunately too much to bear for Arjuna. Why is it? Very briefly, we will discuss about it. When this Vishwaroopa darshana was given to Arjuna, previously he knew Krishna. Hey Krishna! Hey Yadava! Hey Sakha! They were what is called close friends, brother-in-law and brother-in-law friends because remember Arjuna married the sister of Krishna. Subhadra. But that is not only the human relationship. Now Arjuna knew Krishna as the divine Lord himself. On many occasions he had got proof Krishna was not an ordinary person. So now he had this beautiful opportunity. He was expecting that everything will be soaked in bliss, sweetest bliss, indescribable ananda. But then he could not recognize the divine Lord because he was seeing everything. And what I mean by everything, I am going to explain. This is just an introduction. Arjuna's mind was not first of all ready. It is only the grace of God that revealed to him. So Krishna clearly says upon being requested to reveal himself in the form of the universe that you cannot see with this ordinary eyes. You need a special type of spiritual vision, spiritual contact lenses. That's what Sri Ramakrishna gave to some people on 1st January 1886. And not one was capable of retaining it. And many people's character has not changed at all. In fact, that was a shame having been given these rare visions. They should have been wiser, better people. But it's all divine Leela. I can only say that. What is this Vishwaroopa? The whole universe is created, is maintained and is dissolved. In what? The universe is created in time. The universe is maintained in time and the universe gets dissolved in time. Srishti, Sthithi and Laya. Now Srishti is wonderful. When a baby is born, everybody rejoices. As long as that baby is alive, Sthithi, everybody enjoys. But when certain things happen, that is old age, disease and finally death, everybody weeps excepting archenemies. Nobody laughs at the death of anybody. Even if someone is not related to us. When we come across such scenes, our mind also is automatically becomes little smaller. Because that is not our nature as I explained earlier. Whatever is not our nature, we struggle against it to remove it. So death is not very enjoyable. But there are types of death. Some people, a first class supper, then they have very enjoyable dessert and after that they go to bed and having sweet dreams, they kick the bucket. A few people do that. I know a few people who did that. Then there are other people. Old age comes, a little bit of suffering and then they kick the bucket. Then there are some people who are paralyzed, suffer years and years and years. They are a great burden upon others but greater burden upon themselves. They develop negative attitudes. They go on carping, even those very people who are tirelessly serving them sometimes, that is one kind of death. Then there is another kind of death. Somebody comes, tortures like even today, some countries when they capture the soldiers, the army personnel belonging to some other countries, out of this inhuman cruelty, slowly they break every part of the body, torture them with fire, poking, cutting the body into pieces or making them half lean against the wall and then an excruciating, insufferable pain is there. They are begging and they will not leave or some people complaining, I am not able to breathe, even then they will hold on like that. Even today, all these types of activities are going on. What is my point? Kala, Srishti, creation comes in time and creation continues in time and that is also a mixed blessing, sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy, sometimes very happy, sometimes very, very, very unhappy and when death comes, it can come in a most cruel way, there is no way of saying. And just remember, the fourth commandment of Sri Ramakrishna, we have to practice Viveka. What is it? Anything can happen to anyone at any time, at any place, in any way. A man may pass away very happily and almost instantaneously or with a prolonged torture. Take the life of Sri Ramakrishna himself, for one year nearly, suffered excruciating and imaginable pain and so many of those days' incidents are not mentioned in the biographies of either Great Master or Gospel. You have to remember, Gospel stops after April of 1886. There are 2-3 volumes by M but they have never been transcribed. Similarly, Great Master stops only after the description of Kalpataru Utsava, that is 1st January 1886. Swami Prabhanandaji has written a beautiful book, Antyakaale Sri Ramakrishna, the last days of Sri Ramakrishna. In that he gathered some of these incidents and their heart-rending incidents. Here is a man who is supposed to be an incarnation of God, an embodiment of sweetness. He never hurt anybody by a look, by a word or by a thought and yet he had to go through this excruciating pain. What for? Well, it is a great lesson. If he could go through, then we also have patiently bear all our sufferings. I have gone too far away. What I wanted to convey to you is that death happens, birth happens, death happens in time. A death can be quite pleasant, a little bit unpleasant, much more unpleasant but terribly unpleasant. We do not know anything happens. And what happens in a battlefield, that is really terrifying. Even the very first vision of everything, creation etc. taking place is terrible. And to aid our imagination, how we have to deal with this subject, Sri Ramakrishna had exactly this vision of Kaala time. He was describing graphically. One day he was moving on the banks of the Ganga. Suddenly he saw the most beautiful young woman coming out of the Ganga and sitting on the shore. All this happened, mind you, in a moment. Then presently he found her. She was the greatest, most beautiful woman in three lokas. And then presently he found her fully pregnant, nine months. Presently she gave birth to the most lovely baby anybody can even imagine. And presently she started suckling the baby with all the loves of billions and billions of mothers. Human or non-human, combined in one person. Next moment she took on a most ferocious form and put that very baby in her own mouth and kacha, kacha, kacha. She started tearing it to pieces and swallowing that. Then slowly she entered into that waters and disappeared. What is the significance and what is the relationship with what we are discussing here? This is called the vision of the entire Brahmanda, utpatti, sthiti and laya in the form of Mahamaya. The baby came, baby means this world, from Mahamaya. She maintained it for some time, looked after it, sustained it, suckled it and did poshana. That is called sthiti. And next moment she took on the form of Maharudra and then swallowed. In time the world comes out, creatures come out. In time they sustain, live for some time like bubbles in a huge fast flowing river. And in time they burst and go back into, become one as water with the river. This vision is what Arjuna had seen. I do not know, perhaps he was expecting very pleasant vision, but then it was not at all pleasant. Especially where did this vision take place? Just before the war. Kurukshetra war is about to commence. And what was the Lord showing? All the things that were going to happen in that Kurukshetra war. Bhishma, Prona, Duryodhana, Saha, Asmadiya, Rapi, Yodhamukhiyai, even Pandavas, Pandava army, excepting few people, 18 akshaushinis were annihilated by the Lord in the form of the Kala. And the vision itself is very ferocious because we never wanted to see the complete truth. We want to see only partial truth, pleasant truth. And that is not the complete truth. And whatever is not the complete truth is never ever going to take us out of this samsara. Only when you start loving death, because that is inevitable. That is, death means, if we do spiritual practice, we are not going to come back again. This will be Atiyanthika Pralaya, the ultimate death, so that we will become free. Until that time, we have to come out again and again. So Arjuna saw that every being are helplessly drawn and absorbed into his being by this inexorable force called time. And the time brings out, keeps for some time and devours everything back. So then Arjuna experienced Srishti Stithilaya takes place by the Lord, in the Lord and with Ras himself. The only thing that remains is he and his will. There is only one universal will and that is the divine will. And he understands, but his ordinary nerves are shattered. Why? Here very briefly we have to recollect that whether we want to be yogis or bhogis or rogis, then we need the appropriately prepared, readied instrument. Simple example, I always give a Formula One engine in an ordinary 50-year-old battered car, ambassador car. Or the Formula One car's body, but an ordinary Maruti engine in it. Both do not fulfill the function. Very soon the journey will break down. If there is a development in the mind, there should be also equal development in the body. That's why it takes many births, many births. The body may not be fit, but in course of time the body will be fit. In this respect, talking in his Raja Yoga about what is called Pranayama, Swamiji mentions this fact, first practice rhythmic deep breathing before we take up regular, regulated, disciplined Pranayama breathing exercises. What happens? For a few months the nerves have to be normalized, made healthy, made accustomed to what is about to come before. This is called Nadi Shodhana, purification of the nerves. Same fact applies to spiritual life. As we make our thoughts purified and as we slowly give up our old Samskaras, and all the impurities are washed out. Remember, physical body is formulated because of Samskara. A glutton's body is different. A sensual person's body will be different. And a cruel person's very body will be different. One look at that person, you will come to know this is frightening person, scary person. And even though he is a human being, everybody will be scared of that person. So, the harmonious development of both the psyche as well as the soma, psychosomatic, both must be developed through appropriate spiritual exercises, diet, and it is a very slow process. I think Arjuna's body was quite sattvic, but it was not prepared. His nerves were not prepared for this revelation that is coming in the form of this inexorable time, terrifying time. The Lord himself was not recognized by Arjuna in his universal form. Because the formless form of the divine Lord, no ordinary eye can behold. That's why the Lord says, I give you the divine eye. So, coming back, Arjuna's nervous system broke down. Seeing especially that ferocious aspect, vision of what is going to happen in the coming few days in the future. But the Lord's universal vision is not merely showing what is going to happen in Kurukshetra war. The entire, all the chatur dasha bhuvanani, every type of creation of gods, of humans, of non-humans, of the living, of the non-living. Everything is included, involved in that universal vision. So, that was too much for this puny, though a little bit purified mind of Arjuna by proxy by any spiritual aspirants. His nerves completely broke down and he could not stand as if to say, Lord, I am not able to stand this. Stand your universal form. That means what? I cannot stand that universal truth that there is creation and there is maintenance. And ultimately there is that inevitable destruction that must come. Then there is terrible amount of pain. There is a great joy, great pleasure, but equally great pain, great suffering is there. It can come to anybody provided the karma is not good. If it is very good, then great joy will come. But in Kala, whatever is produced, it is surreal even though it appears to be real and it is very temporary. It is anitya. Anything that is created comes out in time, stays for some time and goes back in time. Therefore, it is what we call anitya, that is unstable. Anything unstable cannot give us permanent peace. We are beset with this fear, when is my joy, happiness going to come to an end even while we are enjoying it. So, even though the God is great, he has given this Divya Chakshu, Arjuna became incapable of retaining what he received. Later on, Bhagavan Krishna categorically states, so many people, so many divine beings, so many munis, rishis and holy people, they desire to have this Vishwaroopa, but they cannot have it. Very few people had it and very few people are going to have it and why is it? Because it is not that God is partial. First of all, he says, only it is given out of my boundless mercy. Secondly, he says, it is given only to those people who are full of bhakti and completely surrender themselves to me. Accepting this, nobody can get this one. So, that is the reason, grace of God, our own fitness to retain it even after receiving and the best instrument receiver is a bhakta who completely lovingly surrenders his entire being into the divine Lord. Arjuna is exhorted that you develop unswerving devotion, only then through my grace you will have this vision that I have given you a glimpse of this vision. Glimpse because the Lord is not withholding, but Arjuna could not stand it. So, glimpse because with this glimpse you know that it is true. You can see me as a universal form of God. And then I will narrate one incident before I go further which is extremely useful to every sadhaka. On 1st January 1886, Sri Ramakrishna entered into a divine mode. Mother Kali was working. The divine mother revealed herself. That's why it is called the great revolution, not Kalpataru. Strangely, Swami Sharadanandaji doesn't want the name Kalpataru, but now we all call it the day of the Kalpataru and celebrate it all over the world. Wherever devotees of Sri Ramakrishna are there, celebrate it. What was the objection of Swami Sharadananda? He says Kalpataru means a wish-fulfilling tree. What is there is supposed to be a tree. Every Hindu believes it. It is called Kalpavriksha. Kalpa means whatever wish, desire a person has. If a person happens to sit under that tree, knowingly or unknowingly his wish will be fulfilled. So on 1st January Sri Ramakrishna's divine revelation was called by quite a number of household disciples as Kalpataru. But Swami Sharadanandaji's objection says the great revelation like this Viswaroopa Darshana of Bhagavan Krishna will be much more appropriate. I feel it is absolutely, he is hitting the nail on its head. So this Kalpataru, about Kalpataru, there is also a cow and that is called Kamadhenu. Whatever a man desires, O mother, give me food, give me cloths, give me shelter, give me life, give me whatever. And that is why Kama, Kama means our Kama. Dhenu means a cow which fulfills, which is none other than the Divine Lord Himself. This Kamadhenu was the property of a sister Rishi and Vishwamitra Raja, he wanted that to possess. Reasonably, rationally because it will serve better purpose under a Raja than a Muni. But Kamadhenu stays only with spiritual people, otherwise she can be misused. So there was a war, we all know, I am not going into that Mahabharata story. So here this Sri Ramakrishna gives a beautiful story. Kamadhenu, Kalpataru, these are all, whatever a man desires, whatever a mind desires, it will be fulfilled. But does man know what is good for him? And as an illustration, Sri Ramakrishna gives this well-known story. There was a traveller, he was journeying from morning till noon and it was very hot. He was tired, he was hungry and he was thirsty and above all he wanted to take rest. Then he sat unconsciously, unknowingly under a, what is called Kalpavriksha, which later on perhaps he realized it was a wish-fulfilling tree and he thought, now I am very tired, if there would be a beautiful cot, then it would be most wonderful. So immediately he saw a Hamsa Tulika Thalpa, a most softest, beautiful bed with mattress. So he took a little rest, said, now I am very hungry, I wish there would be wonderful food. Immediately right royal dishes were presented and his joy was growing by the minute. He said, I am so happy, I want some beautiful drinks. And first class drinks came and then he drank. After that he laid himself down to take rest, then said, it is absolutely fine. If a most beautiful young woman comes and then gives a bodily stimulation, it will be very good. And immediately he found and then a woman came, started messaging him and the fellow being a fool, he did not have that discriminating power. Every wish of mine, the moment I think that it is getting fulfilled, so I should never think any negative thoughts. He never thought like that, discriminated. He immediately said, everything is fine, I hope it will continue like that. I hope a hungry tiger will not come all of a sudden and devour me up. Immediately hungry tiger came, devoured him up and then the cot vanished, woman vanished, everything vanished and that event has vanished. Shri Haridharanandaji used to say that a Kalpavriksha, a Kamadhenu grants, fulfills the desires of the person, any person nearby indiscriminately. It doesn't say, this is not good for you, but this is good for you. Whereas Shri Ramakrishna would never grant any evil wish, any unspiritual wish. Because he grants worldly desires, those who did not have children, they will have children through Holy Mother. Those who did not have money, for example, Upendranath Mukhopadhyaya, he will have money, he became a multimillionaire. But he knew that this person is really a spiritual person. He will use all his money like Sudama, all his wealth, all his riches only in serving me. Sudama only used all his Krishna given riches for serving the world, Brahmanas, Sadhus and God. Very little, just so that they will not suffer from ordinary hunger, thirst and shelter, rest, etc. So that's why Shardandi refused. On that day, this Shri Ramakrishna entered into a mood of Kalpavriksha, boon giver and he started touching people and then uttering one greatest blessing, Chaitanya Hoka, may your spiritual consciousness be aroused. And these great souls are called Satyasankalpas. Whatever they desire will come true. Whatever comes out of their mouth is bound to be fulfilled. As Nagamahasaya heard Shri Ramakrishna saying, I feel like eating an Amalaki, even though it was not at all the season, immediately he knew there would be some Amalaki, went, searched after three days, found a few, brought and offered, thus showing his faith in the truthfulness of Shastra and Guru. Anyway, there was one very fortunate soul. Shri Ramakrishna touched him. Immediately this person started having visions of Shri Ramakrishna and then it continued. Shri Ramakrishna's ecstatic state came down and everybody went home. But this person's spiritual visions of Shri Ramakrishna in everything, every moment of his life, waking life, sleeping life, etc., never stopped. Few days passed, but this person was not capable of retaining it. He prayed very earnestly, Lord, I am ashamed to pray like that, that you blessed me, but I am not capable of retaining it. I am frightened, I am unhappy instead of being happy. Then as suddenly as those visions came, they ceased. But then the person remarks, perhaps my Antarala, the deep inner recess of my heart, did not wish this vision to come to an end completely. That's why the same being who had granted me these things had also saw that every day a few times I will have that blessed vision, which I can tolerate, which I can retain, and meditating upon it, I spend my time very happily. Then Swamish Aradhananda writes, all this incident is known. What we need to take into account is, Oh my God, this being, out of his infinite mercy, has granted me this most marvellous vision. Every moment of my life, I am able to see the Divine Lord, but I am not able to retain it. Ah, now I understand why Arjuna was not capable of retaining that vision. But we hear in the Upanishads, we hear in the Puranas, great saints who were having continuous Brahma Darshana, how much purified their heart must be in order to be able to see the Divine every minute of their life. In what heightened realms, purified spiritual realms, these great souls must be living all the time just to be able to retain and enjoy that Divine vision. And that is the point we have to understand, that we have to have a pure body, of course pure mind, sadhana, and sadhana chatushraya sampatthi, equipped with the necessary yogyata, fitness, not only to receive the visions, but to retain the visions. An important point to remember is, sometimes visions can come, either in dreams or even with open eyes, by the grace of God, Divine Mother, but they will disappear soon unless we are fit to retain them. So in order to retain them, we should be practicing spiritual disciplines, ananya chintam, thinking only of the Divine Lord and nothing else, and it may take few lives, doesn't matter, we go on going from a lower loka to a higher state of consciousness. Every loka is a state of consciousness. Our journey is from a lower state of consciousness to a higher state of consciousness. Until these states will disappear, pure consciousness will alone be retained. The essence of what we are going to discuss, I will just summarize. The goal of every spiritual aspirant is to have this universal vision of God, brahma darshana, while living and after giving up the body, become completely one with Him. Secondly, for that, we must start practicing seeing God in something special, like Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava, Acharya Devo Bhava, Atithi Devo Bhava, and Sarve Janaha Sukhino Bhavantu, etc. When we progress life after life, mind gets gradually purified, and a time will come when we will be able to see the Divine Lord everywhere, that is the middle state, that is called visishta dvaita. When we see special manifestations, that is called dvaita, when we see the Divine Lord in everything is called visishta dvaita, and when the separation is totally destroyed, there is no other, there is nobody to see, there is no drig or drishya, nowhere or knowledge, everything is one indescribable Brahman, that is called dvaita. That is the highest goal. So, this vision is given as a confirmation to Arjuna to quite a number of devotees, but the important point is to sadhana. What is that sadhana? Become a devotee. Bhakti yoga is the easiest path, not the superior path, not the only path, not the greatest path, but one of the easiest paths suitable for most of us. And when the 12th chapter comes, I will discuss why it is most suitable, especially for this age. But from next class onwards, we will delve deep into the 11th chapter, and actually we can cover quite quickly, but this long introduction I have given, because this is the background with which, if we have understood this background, we can understand this 11th chapter much better, and at the end of this chapter, in the very 55th shloka, the Lord categorically advises, Your heart, your mind, your emotions, your intellect, let your will, everything will be transformed into my own thought, become the greatest devotee, and then this revelation will be an eternal revelation for you. Instead of saying, I am seeing Vishwaroopa, I am the Vishwa, I am Aham Annam, Aham Annadaha, that Aham Brahmasmi, realization will come. May Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vekananda, bless us all with Bhakti.