Harmony of Four

Swami Nikhileswarananda

Harmony of Four Yogas by Swami Nikhileswarananda

Published by Ahmedabad Management Association Core-AMA Management House • Torrent-AMA Management Centre ATIRA Campus, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai Marg Ahmedabad 380 015, INDIA Phone: +91 79 2630 8601 • Fax: +91 79 2630 8606 Email: [email protected] • Website: www.amaindia.org

Printed by Shree Ambica Traders, Rakhial, Ahmedabad 380 023

2 Foreword

3 Contents

Day One 1

Day Two 22

Day Three 43

Day Four 67

4 Day One

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Dignitaries present here, dear friends. I am extremely happy to meet you all this evening. It is always a pleasure to talk to the enlightened audience of AMA. As you have heard the subject for the four day lecture series, is Harmony of four Yogas – for bliss and peace.

The modern man is in search of peace. Just now as you heard that most of the people are in tention, irrespective of age, caste, creed, color, nationality, whether India or abroad, whether developing country or developed countries, whether the parents or students, all are under stress and tension and all are in search of peace of mind. This is the very marked phenomenon and the rate of suicides is increasing at an alarming rate all over the world. So many books are getting published, and they are becoming best sellers. Derek Humphrey has written a book, The Final Exit. It is not available on the book shop. With great difficulty I got a copy from a Book Fair and wanted to see what is written there. Do you know what is written there? How to Commit Suicide and the book is selling like a hot cake. The best seller book of Japan is The Complete Manual on Committing Suicide – 3.5 lakhs copies sold in one year. Some people committed suicide while taking the book in their hand and dying in the manner in which it was told in the book! France’s best seller book is Suicide Users’ Manual. They all want to commit suicide and the rate of suicide is much more in the developing countries - which annuals as - our equation as ‘h’ is directly proportional to where ‘m’ where h = happiness, and m = money - rather wherever per capita income is more the rate of suicide is more. The rate of suicide among Schizophrenia patients is more. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, on an average at least one person from every family regularly goes to a psychiatrist, 25 per cent of the people in America are going regularly to psychiatrist. Lot of different types of mental diseases is coming out. We have never heard the names of those diseases. Those diseases are coming up in America and other developed countries and they are gradually in filtering. Affluence has come, Lugen Norosis, drug addiction, violence are spreading like wild fire. Special conferences on stress management are coming up, special courses on happiness is coming up. Now America has discovered a new thing, - that is so far we have been talking about GNP – but now they are talking about GNH. This means gross national happiness. Gross National Happiness survey, which they have taken it from Bhutan that development index, does not depend upon GNP, but GNH. So now Brazil has taken the lesson and they have started these conferences on happiness and peace and from all over the world they have got experts.

And you know there is recession in America and in India it is receding slowly. In America still it persists. But one industry is flourishing wonderfully. That is happiness industry. So many conferences, programmes on happiness and they are all in great demand, because everyone is under stress. So it is a special industry – happiness industry, where it is a

5 Golden Age for those who can give happiness. If you can give instant happiness you will have a very good market. So happiness industry is flourishing. According to the estimates of psychologists and the economists and sociologists, within the next five years, this happiness industry will be the fifth largest industry of the world! Not chemical industry or other industry but happiness industry. So people are badly in search of peace of mind. But all the methods described and prescribed, they do give them happiness; give some relief from the tension. But these are all temporary measures. Even the western model of stress management called Woo do dose, Hectaries, punching backs, etc. these are all not working. That is why now they are going for long term happiness, peace, and they are coming to meditation and all over the world.

The Vedantic method of stress management is if you really want to get peace of mind, No. 1 is that we must know what we want in life. Everyone wants happiness and peace. And we think if we get a particular object we will be happy, but after we get the object, we again become dissatisfied. We want some other object. Once we get that object, we again become dissatisfied. This circle goes on and this is quite natural for every human being, why? Because thousands of years ago, our Rishis have declared man cannot be satisfied by finite things. He can never be satisfied. He can be only satisfied by infinite fulfillment and infinite happiness is the happiness and peace that every human being will be searching for. You cannot have it otherwise.

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How can you get real happiness and peace? By reaching the infinite alone you can get infinite happiness. Till you get infinite happiness and peace, you cannot fulfillment and satisfaction and you will be always searching for more and more peace of mind. Infinite alone and why so? Because our very nature is infinite, our nature is bliss. So unless and until we get bliss, we cannot get peace, because our very nature is bliss. You take a fish out of water and it becomes restless to go back to water. This is the proof. Why are we restless? Because we have come out of our nature. Our nature is to remain immersed in “Sat Chit Ananda”. Inside every human being there is a center of cautiousness, that is called Atman , and its very nature is Sat Chit Anand. This is what says – our basic nature is Sat Chit Anand. Infinite existence, infinite knowledge, infinite bliss. That is our true nature. Says katoupanishad , inside every human being there is a center of cautiousness, irrespective of caste, creed, colour, religion, nationality, gender, etc…. »¯: S¢±ïü¯é |¢é¼ï¯é x¢é‡¢¢ï ¥¢y}¢¢æ Ýì ÐíÜU¢à¼ï J Îíà²¼ï ¼x¢Ú²¢ì Ϣ銲¢ S¢éÿ¢}¢²¢ S¢éÿ¢}¢ ÎÚçÿ¢|¢è JJ

There is a center of cautiousness, Atman, but it is not visible. If it is not visible, then what is the proof, what is the evidence? The modern man wants evidence. So the next line says it ‘Drishyate’. Some people have seen it. Some people have realized it. That is its documentary evidence. Drishyate.

Shlokas… but who have seen it…Sholkas..

6 Those who have got one pointed intelligence not the ordinary intelligence, who have got that fine intellect. The fine intellect is different from the ordinary intellect. Now the modern science has come to a SQ what is ‘Sooshmaya shooshma budhi’, - five years back we could not explain what is meant by the Rishis when they tell ‘Sooshmaya shooshma budhi’ - now we know it. The latest discovery of the modern science is SQ (Name of a person) – has written a book SQ – Spiritual Intelligence – the Ultimate Intelligence – where neurologically, biologically and psychologically, physiologically, from every point of view there is a concluding evidence that there is something called SQ which is a basis of both IQ and EQ. What is IQ? Intelligent quotient, what is EQ? Emotional quotient, Emotional Intelligence what is SQ? Spiritual quotient, Spiritual Intelligence. What is IQ? IQ will tell you how to play the game of life. What is EQ? EQ will tell how to play the game of life under changed circumstances and changed strategies. What is SQ? SQ will tell you whether you can play the life or not. That is your choice. What is the meaning of life, what is the purpose of life? Why are we here on this earth? What is the ultimate aim of our life - this is all SQ. Another discovery of the modern science is IQ is available with all the species including the computers, EQ is available only with a few species, but SQ is available only with the human beings. Whatever ancient scriptures say, out of 84 lakhs of species, only human being can have spiritual knowledge or spiritual realization, or self realization. Now the modern sciences know not 84 lakhs, there are 125 lakhs species. Of course now cloning is done, so it might have multiplied. But not much difference. Without any microscope they could discover 84 lakhs of species. Now the modern science says 125 but they also say out of 125 lakhs, only one that is human beings can have SQ. Nobody else. No other species can have SQ. So this SQ ‘Sooshmaya shooshma darshibhi’ only human beings can have got and that is its proof. Some have seen it. Drishyate. That is the documentary evidence. Narendranath Dutt, a college student in Kolkata wanted to know the truth, realize the truth; he read the books of all western philosophers like Stuart Mill, Kant, Hager, Spenar, and Johns and became an agnostic. He said, ‘I don’t believe in God, and his father was a very well known lawyer in the High Court of Kolkata. At that time Kolkata was the capital of India. So He said, I am a son of a lawyer and want documentary evidence for everything. And so whenever a saint would come to Kolkata, he will just go there and after listening to the saint he will say enough of your talk on God. Now answer my question. Have you seen God? Nobody could give a satisfactory answer. He used to become dissatisfied. But he wanted to know the truth.

One day he had gone to college – he was studying in Scottish Church College. That day the Professor of English Literature was absent and the Principal himself came to take the class of English Literature. He was teaching them the poem of Wordsworth – the name of the poem is ‘The Excursion’, in which the poet describes that by seeing the beauty of the nature he goes into a Trans – into a super conscious state in . The students asked whether it is possible for a human being to go into a Samadhi state….the professor William ST said it is possible….I have seen one person who frequently enters that state of Samadhi. If you want you can meet that person, because he stays in Kolkata. There is a temple of Dakshineshwar of Mother Kaali. He is Paramahans and Narendra Dutt said, OK, let me also test this Babaji. He went to Dakshineshwar and when he went in the room of Sri Ramakrishna, he was talking to his devotees. He sat in one corner of the room. After some time, he said, now enough of your talk on God. Answer my question – Have you seen God? For the first he received a satisfactory reply. Shri Ramakrishna Paramahans – yes, I have seen God. Then he said, I am seeing him more intensely than I am seeing you and then he said, if you want, you also can see him. But you have to undergo spiritual practices. Science says H + O2 give H2O. Hydrogen is a gas, oxygen is a gas, and how can it give water? It is not a question of belief. Come to the laboratory, mix hydrogen and oxygen, have the

7 hydrolytic process and when you don’t get water, you say, I don’t believe in this equation. Similarly, Sri Ramakrishna gives the challenge, I have seen God you can also see him, but you have to come to the laboratory and experiment. Narendra Nath accepted the challenge, he underwent the spiritual practices. He also went into the super conscious state. He also had the realization of that supreme reality when he was in Kasipur in Kolkata at that time and after that because he had first hand encounter with the supreme reality. That is why he could declare on the top of his voice, in the World’s Parliamentary Religion at Chicago – it was in 9/11 when he gave his historic speech. It was 11th September 1893. Because we did not listen to his speech about Harmony of Religions, there was another 9/11 in 2001…..! The twin towers were broken. It was a different thing but he told about the harmony of religions in that World’s Parliamentary Religion. During his speech on he repeated the sloka from the , where the Rishis say,

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Amrutasaya Putraha What are you? You are the children of the immortal bliss…. That is the Vedantic concept. If you ask any student, what is a man, he will immediately reply ‘man is a social animal’. Because that is how they have been taught. That is the normal definition of a man. But Alvin Toffler says, man is an economic animal. After all he is an animal. Aristotle says, man is a political animal…. After all he is an animal. Benjamin Franklin says, man is a tool making animal…. After all he is an animal. This is the western concept. Vedanta says no you are not an animal….Who are you? Amrutsaya Putraha and then Swami Vivekananda gave that nectar of Vedanta. He said, You are the children of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings, not sinners, it is a sin to call a man so….It is a standing lie on human nature, come

8 upon lions, and shake up the dilution that you are sheep, your souls is immortal, spirits free, blast an eternal, you are not matter, you are not bodies, not you the servant of matter ……

He used to narrate a beautiful story which was very popular in America when he went there. …. There was a lioness, it was pregnant and when it was running after a flock of sheep, it jumped over the flock of sheep in order to have its prey – while jumping it gave birth to a small lion cub and that small lion cub fell into the flock of sheep. The lioness because of its labor went to the other side fell down unconscious and later on died. Now the small lion cub started weeping…. The mother of the sheep became kind. It started feeding the lion cub and this cub started growing. It was going with the sheep and he started taking grass like a sheep. It started bleating like a sheep and its behavior was of a sheep but it grew into a big lion. One day another big lion was going along the forest, and it saw a big flock of sheep and among that there was a small lion…and it was also bleating like a sheep. The lion became very much astonished. When it went near them, all the sheep started running out of fear. This small lion also started running with them. The big lion caught hold of it by its neck. Why are you afraid of me, you are a lion like me…..the small lion said, I am not a lion I am a sheep…. The big lion said, you fool, you are a lion and yet you are telling you are a sheep. So many times the big lion tried to explain it, but the small lion started weeping more and more, and became afraid. The big lion got annoyed, caught hold of the small lion, dragged near a pond, and asked him to look at the reflection, mine and yours. Your face resembles that of mine not the sheep. Now the small lion looked into the pond and got astonished. My face is not that of a sheep. Now remember, you are a lion like me, not a sheep. Roar like me…. it roared. Now you are the king of the forest then it became the king of the forest. Swami Vivekananda used to narrate this story and say this small lion was already a lion but it had forgotten that it was a lion. That is why it was so miserable, that is why it was eating grass, bleating and that is why it was miserable. Swami Vivekananda says that we are like the small lion – miserable, what will happen to my problem, financial, family, etc. Swami Vivekananda like a big lion comes, — no, you are atman, ever pure, ever blissful…..No, No, I am a miserable man. No, I am a body mind complex. My mind is very weak. I am so much under tension. I am miserable. Again Swami Vivekananda says that no, the all powerful atman is within. We said no… I am a miserable man. No, I am a body mind complex. Then Swami Vivekananda takes it, come have meditation….. Look within, Look the reflection within, meditate on what I have told you are a lion, you are a lion, you are atman….ever pure, ever blissful. That is why Swami Vivekananda says, come up lions, shake up the dilution that you are sheep…..your souls immortal, spirits free, last and eternal, you are not matter, you are not bodies, matter is servant, not you servant of matter. It is how all Americans got a new life, new hope, new expectation….. so far they were thinking that they are miserable creatures…… you are all divine, you are Gods and Goddesses…..you are not human beings……you have got infinite power within you…..infinite peace, infinite happiness…..infinite knowledge, infinite existence, that is your true nature. This body might be complex but is an external covering, and inside that is supreme consciousness…..and that is what you are…..that is your real nature……Sat Chit Ananda Rupa – that is your true nature……That is why Swami Vivekananda used to tell that you are divine, you are divine…. If any time I feel like blasphemy…..Swami Vivekananda told the Americans – if I feel like blasphemy, when I call you a man or a woman, which is a lie. You are not a man, woman, you are God, Goddess – you are divine, you are divine, you are divine. That is the first truth, that is the second truth…..and that is the last truth…..One day a lady devotee said, Swami, you are trying to hypnotize us, by telling again and again you are divine…..Swami Vivekananda said Madam, I am not trying to hypnotize you, I am trying to de-hypnotize you….if you go on telling I am a sinner, I am a sinner, you are already hypnotized, I am trying to de-hypnotize you. We are all thinking ourselves as a miserable

9 creature. Pray to the society, miserable creatures, body mind complex, under tension, so many weaknesses- body and mind. No that is not your true nature. That is only your external covering, come out. Manifest the divinity within. That is the message that Swami Vivekananda gave. America got this message, but again, because of the affluent society, because of the mad rush after gold and money, they forgot the message.

Elines Stark has written a beautiful book ‘The Gift Unopened’. In that she says what a tremendous gift Swami Vivekananda has already given to us in America. What a beautiful gift! He gave the nectar of Vedanta, a beautiful gift, which will solve all our problems of Americans and American society. But unfortunately, he has given the gift but the gift remains unopened. There she says, Columbus discovered the soil of America, but Vivekananda discovered the soul of America. He gave them the message that you are divine. Then he delivered lectures on four Yogas, , Gyan Yoga, Yoga and Yoga. He has given wonderful solutions for all the problems of the modern society. He has given everything, but the gift remains unopened…. so today again you will get the gift – a packet of four Yogas.

All the knowledge, problem solution is there in these four Yogas. In these four days we are trying to give an outline. I don’t know how far I will be successful. If I can inspire you to read these books, four books, go deeper, because each and every Yoga takes a minimum of one year. Four Yogas will take four years and these four years’ I would like to condense in four days! If it gives you an outline, and if it inspires you to read these books, my coming here will be richly rewarded.

So the main thing is that Swami Vivekananda gave a gift which is remaining unopened. Unfortunately, in India also, we have not opened that gift. It was given to America, Why? Some people ask why he gave that gift to America. Because India was not ready. At that time India had many problems. Swami Vivekananda remembered the message of his Shri Ramakrishna, no religion with empty stomach. So many people are having the problem of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy. First of all our people should be fed nicely, then only they will be able to understand spirituality. Our problems were different at that time. But America’s they had enough food more than actually what they should have. At that time what they needed was mental peace. That is why Swami Vivekananda gave the gift to them of these four Yogas, this Vedanta knowledge. But that gift remains unopened. It is high time that we open the gift.

Today it is the situation in India already we have moved away from Tamo gun to Rajo gun. Now is the time we can understand and justify and appreciate the gift that Swamiji has given, the gift of nectar of Vedanta. This alone will solve our problems, because what we want is peace and that will come through bliss which is our true nature. Our true nature is Sat Chit Anand. How do we know….? What is the rationale behind it? Rationale is this - What is the true nature of fish – to remain in water. Take out the fish, it will become restless. Similarly, our nature is Sat Chit Anand. Remove human beings from this, we are all restless. Every one of us wants to live. You ask any person when you want to die. What is your plan? He will answer that he doesn’t want to die. Even those persons who want to commit suicide it is not because they want to die, everyone wants to live – everyone wants an eternal life, it is because they are suffering….. We want eternal life; we don’t want to die….so nobody wants to commit suicide. Our very nature is existence. We want to live infinitely. Chit – knowledge. How much knowledge we want? Infinite Knowledge. We are not satisfied with any amount of knowledge……Ananda - happiness: we want infinite happiness. Every one wants infinite happiness. A man can never be satisfied with limited happiness; it wants

10 unlimited happiness because it is our true nature. Why are we so restless? We will be restless till we have got into that original thing — infinite knowledge, infinite existence, and infinite bliss. If you put the fish into water, the restlessness will go away. We are fish out of water – till we have realized our true self, till we have got our divinity, that restlessness will continue.

All other methods of stress management are temporary methods. They may give temporary relief, and permanent relief will come only when we get bliss. Without bliss real peace will not come…..That is why in the Katoupanishad it is told, there is an eternal atman, behind which there is an eternal principle called – the supreme self…. Inside that self, which is eternal, supra eternal, supreme consciousness. That supreme reality is controlling the whole universe…….those wise people who have realized this Parmatman within this atman, those realize that supreme reality, they alone will have infinite happiness and peace and nobody else can have…..

The source of infinite joy, infinite bliss is already within us. We don’t have to get it from outside; we don’t have to import it. It is already there, but we are unaware about it. But that is why says

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It will be available at a moment’s notice, but we have to search for it, within and not outside. At present, we are trying to search the latest model car, house, dress, theatre, etc everywhere but later on we will find this entire search will end in futility. It will give us happiness, peace, but cannot give us everlasting peace, happiness, fulfillment because our very nature is infinite. We cannot be satisfied less than infinite. We want infinite joy, infinite bliss, infinite existence, and infinite peace. That is why this supreme reality, which is within has to be manifested. What is the proof? The proof is: Ramakrishna Paramahans said he has seen it. Swami Vivekanand has seen it. Those people who have experimented have seen. Now it is for us to experiment. Before experimentation we cannot say it is not there. We have to experiment and find out for ourselves. Otherwise it is of no use. So how to experiment this supreme reality which is within us? It is within us and we have forgotten it because of our true nature.

There is a special kind of deer called Himalayan deer. Inside the Himalayan deer’s naval, there is kasturi – musk. That Kasturi deer is running fast, because from somewhere it is getting the smell of musk. In search of that it is running fast and ultimately it becomes exhausted and dies. Then it was found out that the musk is already there in its naval itself….. similarly, we are like that deer in search of happiness and peace everywhere we are going round the corner, sometimes we go to Switzerland, sometimes to Mt. Abu…. sometimes we feel that the latest car model will give us happiness etc. All ultimately ends up in frustration which is very natural. We cannot be satisfied by finite. Then why we are not able to realize that there is an infinite within? Kabir says, there is a screen hiding the reality. We have to remove this screen then we will realize that infinite Atman, infinite supreme self having infinite knowledge, bliss and existence. But we have to remove the screen. How to remove the screen? Swami Vivekananda beautifully gives, in the introduction to Raja Yoga, the gist of the whole process how to remove the screen. We don’t have to do anything else. We don’t have to go to Himalayas to purchase this Samadhi or to

11 purchase this Atman and we needn’t go to America. Nowhere we have to go. Wherever we are we can practice it, we can get this infinite knowledge, infinite existence because it is not outside, but is within. It is already there, and you don’t have to get it. Only you have to discover it. We have forgotten about it. That’s all. Someone asked Vivekananda I want to realize my self, my atman, my supreme self, he said, forget about it. That person was puzzled. Never think that you have to get the atman, or you have to get the knowledge, you are already dead – only do not allow the mind to think that it has not reached That’s all. You are already divine, not that you have to become divine. You are already there. Only this dilution is there, remove this dilution that I am not divine….It is the negative process we have to give. We have forgotten our true nature. We don’t have to get realization, we don’t have to realize the self; what we have to do is that never allow the mind to think that you are not in the infinite. You are already in the infinite. But we want to think like that…..but our body consciousness comes in between. It comes because of the screen. The screen of ignorance, the screen of ego, the screen of selfishness. So we will have to remove that screen. How to remove that screen of ignorance, of ego, of selfishness?

There are four methods to remove that screen. We are already divine. We have got infinite knowledge; we have infinite existence and bliss. Everything is there. Remove the screen it is there. How to remove the screen? Four methods for removing the screen. How? Swami Vivekananda gives all the Vedantic knowledge in his introduction to Raja Yoga. He says each soul is potentially divine. The goal of human life is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature external and internal. Do this either by work, worship, psychic control, or philosophy by one or more or all of these and be free. This is the whole of religion. Dogmas, rituals, temples, churches, mosque are but secondary details. This is the gist of whole of religion. And this is the aim of religion: manifest the divinity within by controlling the nature external and internal. There are four methods for this – Raja Yoga, Gyan Yoga, and . By unselfish work (Karma Yoga), worship – devotion (Bhakti Yoga); Psychi control i.e. Raja Yoga and by the true knowledge (Gyan Yoga). The knowledge of the infinite, knowledge of the ultimate. That is knowledge of self. We know we have tremendous knowledge about the whole world - whether there is a log of wood on the mars…. Or not we know. Whether water has been discovered in the moon that we know. What is happening in mars, in moon, in other planets, in world, in universe, etc. we have so much knowledge about bio technology, genetic engineering, but we don’t have knowledge about ourselves. That is the tragedy. We don’t have knowledge about our own mind, about ourselves, whereas we know so much about the whole world. The knowledge of the supreme self is the true knowledge, (Shloka) the knowledge by which you can realize the ultimate the infinite that is the reality….. Here Swami Vivekananda says these are the four methods of obtaining, realizing that infinite, just manifest in the divinity, removing the screen.

Swami Vivekananda says that we have four methods of this manifest in the divine…. Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gyana Yoga and Karma Yoga. In all these Yogas, there are books. We have prepared a set of these four books. You read these books and the last day we will have questions and answers session. You give your questions in advance on the third day after reading the books. I would try to give answers on the last day.

But today I will tell you, some people asked, which is the best method best Yoga. Now Vivekananda says every yoga is a best yoga. It depends on you for your temperament. For some Karma yoga will be clicking more, for some Raya Yoga, for some Bhakti Yoga and for

12 some Gyan Yoga. Gyan yoga is the shortest cut, because the very moment you can realize, remembering that you are already realized. Within a fraction of a second you can have a realization, provided your mind is so pure, it is a short cut, but it is very difficult. Rishis say that the path of knowledge is very difficult, like walking on the edge of a drawn sword very difficult but it is a shortest cut for those who can afford it. for those who has not got the power of discrimination, power of renunciation, because that will demand renunciation – if you think the whole world is false, give it up – my God, I cannot give up my children, I cannot renounce…..that is not the path for you. But there is hope for you. This is all full of . The Gyan yoga says, this atman is real, everything else is unreal – in the sense not that is not existing, but today it is there, tomorrow it is not there……when you are in sleep, you are having a dream…..When you are getting up in the dream, you are a King, now no more King. You are back to square one. Similarly when the dream is over, the whole thing goes. This is all Maya. Whatever we are seeing is all Maya…

Swami Vivekananda was at his best when he was giving lectures. You will see his meditation pose. When delivering lectures on Maya he went into super conscious — Samadhi state. That was when he was delivering a lecture somewhere; he went into Samadhi after the lecture. So heightened, so fascinating, beautiful lectures on Maya. There he gives a beautiful story: Narada came to Lord . Lord, please show me what is Maya? he asked. He said he will show you that and after three days, he said, Narada, let us go for a walk, for an outing. They went to a desert. After walking some distance, he said to Narada, I feel thirsty, can you fetch me some water. Narada went to a nearby village and went to a house and knocked the door. The door was opened by a very beautiful girl. Narada had love at first sight. He started talking to her, and the whole day he was talking to her. He became infatuated, the girl also became infatuated. They talked endlessly. He forgot he came to fetch water for the Lord. He then told her father, he wanted to marry his daughter. The father was very happy. Now Narada has become a ‘Gar Jamai’ ….son in law. The whole property of that person came to him. Narada and his wife were enjoying the family life. They had two children also. After 12 years of nice life, there was a sudden flood. Because of the flood, at night the flood was severe the whole village was swept away. Narada’s house has also gone. He took shelter under a tree. That tree was also drowned. He was floating under water with one hand. He caught hold of his wife in one hand and the children on his shoulders. He started swimming. Currently the current came, and one child was swept away. He started shouting my son has gone. Because of that he lost the grip on the second son and the second son also went. Then his wife also drowned. He was just thrown away by the waves…..on to the bank of the river. He was crying because he has lost his family…. At that time suddenly a soft voice came – Narada, where is my water? I am waiting for half an hour….. 12 years I have been married and getting children and enjoying, and you are saying half an hour….. Lord said, this is ‘Maya’. This is very difficult to cross. How to cross, what is the solution? ….Sri says in ,

Îï±è ²ïࢢ x¢é‡¢}¢²è }¢}¢ }¢¢²¢ Îí²¼¢ }¢¢}¢ï± ²ï ÐÚÐÏ¢Îﲋ¼ï }¢¢²¢ }¢ï¼¢}¢ì ¼Ú¼è¼è J this Maya is very difficult to cross – but those who surrender to me I will make them cross. Those who cannot practice Gyan Yoga, those who cannot renounce, those who don’t have ‘vivek’ and ‘vairagya’ and those who cannot have that knowledge of the supreme self, cannot remove the ignorance, do not worry, there is a path of Bhakti. Surrender to the Lord and He will do everything for you. Just surrender. Come to me, I will do everything for you. That is the hope, aspiration.

13

Bhakti Yoga – if you don’t believe in God, do not worry, there is Karma Yoga; if you cannot have Karma Yoga, there is Raja Yoga. There are four methods. The best method I will tell you at the end of the lecture.

Last day I am going to tell you what is the best method of this four. That is suspense. Last day I will tell which is the best of the four Yogas. Tomorrow we will have to have at 5.30. We will talk about Bhakti Yoga, and then Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga……

14 Day Two

Yesterday we have introduced the topic i.e. Harmony of Four Yogas for Peace and Bliss and we have told that the modern man is in search of peace and the happiness industry is flourishing and is going to be one of the most important industry in the next five years. So many conferences, seminars are going on in the name of happiness and peace. And whether they get peace or not, but those who are giving peace in these conferences are at peace and they are happy and they are minting money. So all are under tension and then we told that the western models of stress management are not working and that is why if we have to have long term peace and happiness the whole world has to come at the feet of Indian spiritual culture and Yoga and meditation. These are all the real long term solutions for all the problems of stress management. So GNP is turning into GNH, as a development index, that is gross national happiness. This shift is coming, and at this juncture Swami Vivekananda what he prophesies that Indian spiritual culture will be gradually penetrating all over the world and that time has come….people are coming in the feet of Indian spiritual culture. We also told about the gift unopened – Elines Stark has written a book called ‘The Gift Unopened’ where she says Swami Vivekananda came to the US and he gave a gift in the form of these four Yogas which are sufficient to give us peace in our everyday life and also ever lasting peace, the peace that passes and the standing, the eternal peace, eternal joy…..he showed us the way but unfortunately the gift remains unopened….it is high time that we opened the gift. In India also at that time Swami Vivekananda gave that gift to America because our priorities were different. It was a slave country, he has seen with his own eyes people suffering, hunger, illiteracy and he wanted to bring science and technology from the western countries, remove the poverty because he remembered the message of Master Sri Ramakrishna that there is no religion with empty stomach and that is why at that time his priority was to bring science and technology, money and prosperity to the nation, in exchange of giving spirituality to them. In 1896 beginning and 1895 end in New York most of these lectures, these four Yogas Gyana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga- these are the four books you will get in the bookshop - all these are nothing but based the lectures he delivered in NY during a span of three to four months December 1895 to March 1896…already all the solutions to our problems of daily life, spiritual life is given here, everything is given here but the gift remains unopened. Let us open the gift. Yesterday we opened the gift a little. We talked how Swami Vivekananda gave the message of shwethashwethopanishad in Chicago Parliament religions while talking about Hinduism and he told them that he refused to call you a sinner. We also went through the story of the lion and the sheep. How Swami Vivekananda says became a lion and shake up the illusion that you are sheep, the message of immortality, the message of immortal bliss. He also said we are the children of the immortal bliss, we are not animals and also we saw a little bit about the concept of Maya beautifully developed by Swami Vivekananda. Swamiji was at his best when he was delivering the speeches on Maya. He went into Samadhi – super consciousness. Nowhere in the whole history of our literature we get such fascinating accounts of Maya, where Swami Vivekananda says so much of confusion is there about Maya, some say it is delusion, some say it is illusion, some say it is some sort of a magic. But Swami Vivekananda gives a beautiful definition, Maya is nothing but a statement of facts, just a statement of facts, a statement of contradictions. We know everyday we are dying, yet we feel we will never die. That is Maya. 12 years passed, Narada says, half an hour, 12 years

15 passed and you say only half an hour, the absolute is beyond time, space and causation. It is Maya which is coming in between and we have to cross the Maya and go beyond time, space and causation.

There is a beautiful story in , when Pandavas were going. They were thirsty. And they wanted to have water. One by one they were going. And Yaksha is taking their lives. Lastly Yudhistra goes. Again when he goes to take water, Yaksha says , “Yudhisthir stop, first reply to my question, otherwise you will also die like the other four Pandavas”. And then Yudhistra says he will answer the question…..Yaksha asks him many questions, and one of the questions is, what is the most wonderful thing? Had we been there, we would have told the seven wonders of the world, including the Taj Mahal. Yudhishtra says that the wonderful thing is that people see before their very eyes so many people dying. And now TV is there, the idiot box in our own home where we see so many deaths o TV screen, the newspaper, everywhere, everyday thousands and thousands of people are dying. Our own relatives die. Sometimes we go to the cremation ground. This thought never comes to our mind – that we are also going to die. You ask anyone his plan of dying – they say they don’t want to die. But this is a fact. Whosoever is born has to die…, whether he is a saint, or a sinner, poor or rich, lower caste or higher caste, anywhere in the world, I am yet to see a person who has not died.…. There was a Russian lady who broke the Guinness World record by living around beyond 130 years or so, but after that what? You have to die. This is the reality which we don’t want to accept. This is the most wonderful thing. We know that we will be dying, and yet we don’t want to die. That is Maya and why we don’t want to die, because our very nature is Sat Chit Anand – the atman within is Sat Chit Anand. There are five ….outer covering, Anna Maya Khosh, then maya kosh, - energy ; then we have Mano maya khosh – mental body; then Vigyana Maya kosh – intelligence; Ananda maya kosh – the happiness. Inside all of these is atman, ever pure, ever lasting blissful atman. That is the real nature. That is the real self which is within that. So it is beyond that – this reality but sometimes, we come across, very near to our heart dies. Yet that time the question arises, every will have to die, will I have to die, is it the end of all, is this life?

What is the secret of death, what is the secret of death? We want to know. Beautiful Upanishad, Kathoupanishad, one of the best Upanishads, Katoupanishad, and Swami Vivekananda used to say it is one of the best Upanishad. . It starts with the story. Nachiketa’s father has arranged for a big sacrifice /Yagna and it is understood that all the best things would be given in the form of offerings, charity. But at that time the exchange was not in terms of money. It was in the form of cows. So, Father of Nachiketa was giving away cows to the , What type of cows? The cows which were no longer able to give milk. Already they are so old and rejected cows. Nachiketa thought my father is giving such type of ‘dhana’, this will not be good to him. But he is a small boy and how can he suggest Baba you are not doing the right thing. So what did he do? He asked his father, ‘to whom are you going to give me as ‘dhana?’ Because it is supposed that the best things are to be given to others. Now that you have not given the best cows at least you give me to others as a ‘dhana’. Once, twice, the father did not reply. Third time when he asked, father to whom are you giving me – father replied ‘I give you to death’, Yama. But Nachiketa was so obedient. He immediately went to the door of Yama…but Yamaraj, the king of death, at that time was on a special duty. Massive deaths were there so he was very busy. Three days he did not come to the house. These three days, this boy Nachiketa, sat outside the main door without food or water. After there days, Yama returned and saw this Brahmin boy. He said, “ My God, this Brahmin boy waited for so long. In Indian culture guest is like a God. Aththi Devo Bhava and I made a great mistake. O Brahmin boy please forgive me.” Now that I have done this deed, now to amend this deed, please ask me three boons….

16 Nachiketa asked the first boon, when I go back please see whether my father recognizes me and doesn’t take me as a ghost and becomes happy and his anger also comes down; the first boon is granted. The second boon, Nahiketa said that I heard that if you perform some sort of sacrifice, you go to heaven. Please show me some sacrifice. Then Yamraj shows him some sacrifice. He asks Nachiketa that, “ Do you remember what I said?” Nachiketa replied so nicely to everything. Yama became so happy. Though you have got three boons, I will give the fourth boon also because you have understood everything so nicely. This is called Nachiketa agni. Whoever, will perform this Yagna, for sake of going to heaven, he will perform this Yagna. This beautiful garland of beautiful pearls I give to you. He was asked to go ahead with the third boon. My third boon is, if people die, people say he is no more. Some people say he is still there…. now what happens after death, you are the king of death. You let me know what is the reality. Yama was in trouble. He said to Nachikeat that this is a very confusing question. So many wise people are also getting confused over this. It is a very complicated question. You leave this question and ask any other question. Nachiketa said I did not know that this is so complicated question. Now that I know that even the wise person did not get the reply, where will I get a person like you, the King of death, replying on death will not be available afterwards. So I have asked the third boon, you answer this question. Yama was in trouble. Nachiketa, take away any number of horses, any number of chariots, elephants, power, position, name, fame, children, grandchildren, beautiful women whatever you want to ask, ask.…..but do not press on this point please leave me. Nachiketa said I am not going to leave you. Then Yama said, take away Apsaras….the dancing girls of this heaven they will be serving you; I will give that heavenly music.There is nothing like heavenly music. These Apasaras will perform music for you. But don’t press me on this point. Nachiketa syas, I am not going to come to your clutches again. We will enjoy till you allow us to enjoy. Then we will be dying. You tell me the secret of death. Then Yamaraj is pleased and says yes there is a person who is having real and says, you know there are two things. One is Shreya, another is Preya…. One is good and one is pleasant….most of the people will take pleasant and give up the good. But those who are having power of discrimination, they go for what is not pleasant, but what is good. You have selected the good and not pleasant….. so you are the proper recipient to get the atma gyana…..

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Then Yamaraj says, inside every human being there is a center of consciousness, which does not die. It is birthless, deathless. It is having infinite power, omnipotent, omniscient. That self is inside of every human being irrespective of caste, creed, colour, religion, nationally. Once who knows this goes beyond that. There is a beautiful example, Yamaraja says, those who are wise people, what do they say, the self is the master of the chariot /vehicle. This body is the chariot /vehicle. The driver is intellect who drives the vehicle. Mind is the steering wheel. That is the ‘Lagam’. These horses, these are the senses, and these sense objects are the roads on which these horses are going. This soul attached to this body and mind complex, is the person who is really enjoying the journey. This is what the wise men say. if you really want the journey should end, it should be a successful journey, and if you want to reach the goal quicker, the horses must be strong…. But if they are strong, and if the steering wheel is not proper, then you meet with an accident. If the driver is drunk also

17 there is an accident…. Proper should be intelligent, the mind should be proper, it should be a controlled mind, the intellect should be proper there should be will power and also the chariot has to be strong. Then it will reach the goal. But if the horses are going wild, if the steering wheel is gone, if the control is gone and if the driver is sleeping then there will be an accident. We can reach the ultimate reality provided the jiva, person, soul, self is awake. When you find the steering wheel is gone, it is not proper, because the driver is drunk….. In Kutch it happened to me….they had given some taxi and the driver asked me whether he can take some food. I don’t know what he took. After half an hour, when I was reading something, I saw suddenly the board of Bhuj, Adipur, Gandhidam, etc….. we have to Rajkot I said. Then we knew he has taken a wrong direction, he was going reverse way. I could discover that he must have taken something along with the food. Now I have to be awake. Again at Morbi, he took another path. Again, I had to bring him back. So the master of the chariot, self has to be awakened, otherwise accident will happen. That is why the call is given in Katoupanishad, the path to that supreme reality is very risky, dangerous, and it is like walking on the edge of a sword. What is to be done now? Arise, get awakened otherwise accident will happen and go to a Guru/Master and get a knowledge. Of course Swami Vivekananda gave a free translation and said arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached. That is also true. Ultimately it is told that you should reach the goal and for reaching the goal you should be aroused and awakened. If you are not awakened, the driver continues to drink and in that case, he will lose the steering/control, then the vehicle will go and meet with an accident. So the master of the vehicle has to be awakened. This is the call that is given by Kathoupanishad – Arise, awake and so long you are sleeping, no more sleeping, accident will happen. So get awakened, go to a guru/maser, and get the knowledge. But go the proper . There are so many fake gurus now who would say you would get instant success, instant samadhi, instant realization……then they will take instant money and disappear instantly…..

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So Shri Krishna Paranmhans said be a good devotee but You should not be a fool. You verify the four qualities in your guru. He should have knowledge of the sastras, scriptures, spiritual knowledge but knowledge is not enough. He must have realized the truths in his own life, must have followed it….his character should be blemish less; he should be pure in character. He should not have any desire of name, fame and publicity, getting some money, etc. because he has gone beyond all that…..he has got the highest, supreme and infinite joy. He does need anything. If anybody is needing, wanting publicity, name and fame or money, be sure even if he may celebrating enlightenment day, he is not enlightened. He is far away from enlightenment. This is a paradox, those who are enlightened, will never say that he is enlightened. The others only will make a propaganda that we are enlightened and ask for money.

When you verify the quality of a guru, you have to also satisfy the qualities of a proper shishya/disciple. The qualities needed : there should be a desire for emancipation, desire for getting freedom, and you must have six types of properties - but not the ordinary properties like house, etc. These qualities are controlling the mind, senses, the power of withdrawing the mind, and the power of suffering, agonies without any murmur, faith and power of concentration of mind ; so you must have all this, you must have the power to distinguish the real and unreal; temporary and the permanent; you must have ‘vairagya’, you must also

18 have the power of renunciation - the power of giving up. Only the self alone is real. Everything else is unreal. Give up all these things. It is very difficult, do not worry, there are other Yogas also. This is the shortest cut. So I have started with Gyan yoga.

Now the question is: this self is but less, that less, ever pure, every blissful. This is the atman. How it came under dilution? Swami Vivekananda says it never got deluded. How can you be deluded? It is a dilution that you think that you are deluded. You are never deluded. You are free. Somebody in the US said, Swamiji, you are trying to hypnotize us, by saying you are divine, - Swamiji said madam, you are already hypnotized, I am trying to de- hypnotize….we are thinking we are bound, but we are never bound. How the infinite soul could ever be bound? It is not possible. You are never bound. Remember that you are free and you are free….it is very easy to say, but very difficult to practice. If you say you are free, never allow anyone to say that you are under bondage. Then don’t weep. You don’t have any reason to weep because you are deathless, ever pure atman. You should be never afraid. If you really are a Gyani, if you have reached the goal, if you have really realize the truth. What will happen? Courage, infinite courage, fearlessness will come. That is why Swami Vivekananda says if you find one word coming like a bomb from the Upanishads, that one word is “be fearless”. In Assam they were asking me solution to the terrorist problem - I said: we have got bombs. We must have serial bomb blasts. Vedantic bombs of fearlessness….to remove that fear of bomb blast; we must have the bomb of fearlessness. That is available in the Upanishads. This knowledge, that I am deathless, ever pure, ever pure atman, has to come to us. If once that comes all problems are solved.

When great Alexander came to India, he was told by his master, when you are going to the great country, please bring some good gift. What is the best gift? You have very good saint there; please bring one good saint from India. He came to India, and when he was passing through a forest, he saw a saint sitting on a rock. He was very much impressed by the aura of his space. After the mediation, he talked to him and was very much impressed by his wisdom. Then Alexander said I want you should come to my country. I assure you; I will build a beautiful palace for you, give nice food, nice cloth, etc but come to my country. The saint smiled and said, why should I come to your country, I am very happy here. This tree gives me fruit; I don’t need any other food. I don’t need any other cloth, the sky is my cloth; I remain without clothes. I am very happy with that. This river is giving beautiful water. I am so happy and satisfied. Why should I come to your country? Alexander said, I have promised my guru that I will bring a very good saint.. The saint said I will not come. Alexander was not in a habit to listen to anybody’s no. He got annoyed and took out his sword. If you don’t come, I will kill you. The saint laughed and said, King, this is most foolish thing you have ever said. Don’t you know your sword cannot pierce me, don’t you know water cannot melt me, don’t you know air cannot dry me, don’t you know the fire cannot burn me……I am the ever pure, blissful, omnipotent, birthless, deathless, atman. Whenever the sword of Alexander came the person standing in front him would collapse. Here the reverse thing happened. He drew out the sword, the saint started laughing loudly. The reverse thing happened; the sword fell down from the hands of Alexander. Then the saint said: you fool, you want me to be taken to you country……I can see through my third eye that you yourself are not going to reach your country…..this is what the history says. He could not reach his country. On the way he had a peculiar kind of sickness and he died. When he was preparing for his death, he called his General and said, prepare a grave for me, and when you put me there, keep my hands like this “ .. “ let the whole world receive the message, Alexander conquered the whole world, but he could not conquer could not conquer himself, and that is why he went empty-handed. That saint conquered himself; at the time of death he was smiling, ‘I accept my defeat’ that is the conquest of the atman over

19 the body. That is Gyan Yoga. The flight of Gyan Yoga takes you beyond the fear of death. But we have to practice; you have to pay the price. If you want to go to Mumbai from here there are so many methods. Easiest, is take a flight, but it is too costly. If you can afford you go by it otherwise take Duronto.

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Royal path — take Raja Yoga is there, don’t worry – if that also is costly, take super fast trains - Karma Yoga. Of course otherwise, ordinary train, which is very cheap. It will take little more time ‘Bhakti Yoga’.

Day after tomorrow I am going to tell which the best is and how to do it. Today but I have already told you something about the Gyan Yoga. Yesterday and today we have discussed something about Gyan Yoga. The second part of Gyan Yoga is more important. Now we have reached the climax. Highest is self, which is beyond all types of bondages, beyond time space and causation. It is infinite in nature. It has infinite knowledge, bliss, and happiness. Now comes the question of the Indian spiritual culture gets to the top of epitome. Now Can there be two infinites? There cannot be and so the next equation is wonderful :

Infinite x infinite added by infinite remains infinite. Remove infinite from infinite, what remains is infinite. So the next conclusion is I and you are not different. We are all that one infinite. There are not two souls. We are all one. Unity of existence is the next epitome. We have forgotten about that message. Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda came into this world to tell us that we have forgotten – there is one , which is supreme reality which is beyond time, space and causation that is transcendental reality. But the same reality is also eminent in the whole world. The same reality is permeating everywhere. The whole world is permeated by the one supreme reality. What ever is there everything is permeated by the same supreme reality and that is why you should enjoy the world by renunciation. You don’t have to renounce your family members, your vehicles, and your property. You have to renounce your attachment to your property, attachment to your family members. What you have to renounce is your ego, selfishness, etc. Do not take anybody’s property, because you and he are not different. The person who is trying to snatch away the property from others one and the same reality what happens – here is that, I am trying to injure myself. When you are trying to injure others, you are trying to injure yourself.

When you are trying to be good to others, you are trying to be good to yourself. Because it is one and the same reality. This is law of karma – I am responsible for what I am. Whatever suffering I am having is because of my Karma in the past. That very thing proves, whatever is my future will be built on my present . Number two, if you good, good will come to you and if you do bad, bad will come to you, and not with ordinary interest but with compound interest….that is why we should be good to others. This formula, the same reality is now permeating the whole world. This is we thought the supreme stage according

20 to the ordinary persons Gyan Yoga. The supreme stage is going to that infinite stage, beyond time, space and causation. Samadhi state is the highest that is given, that has been termed. So any disciple would think that the highest position is to reach to that infinite stage, beyond time, space and causation, conquering the death, becoming immortal and remaining in infinite joy, infinite bliss.

But Sri Ramakrishna was a different type of teacher. Sri Ramakrishna was having cancer, and he was staying in Kashipur garden. At that time Swami Vivekananda just was a college student. He was constantly telling Ramakrishna, please do something for me….Ramkrishna asked him what he wants. I want to remain always in Samadhi – always in the transcendental state, always in the blissful state, like Sukhdeva. Only sometimes I will have body consciousness, I will take some food, and then go into Samadhi. I want to enjoy the blissful Samadhi….any other Guru would have been so happy to listen to these words. Here you have a peculiar guru – Sri Ramakrishna said, Naren, I thought you will be like a Banyan tree under whose shade millions of people will have peace of mind, and you are talking like a selfish person….want to have your own bliss…..only your own bliss, own infinite bliss, joy — there is a state higher than you, is it not you, who sing the song always — There was always a song of Swami Vivekananda and that was also a favourite song of Sri Ramakrishna. Both of them were wonderful singers. Whenever Swami Vivekanand would come, Sri Ramakrihana will say, sing some song Naren, not before you go - that favourite song. That was the song written by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. He was a Sufi Saint, but the song gives the message of whole Vedanta. “ Tuj se humne dilko lagaya, jo kuch hai tho thuhi hai, ek thujko apna paaya …. thuhi hai . – Oh Lord, you are present everywhere. The same reality which beyond time, space and causation is permeating the whole world. Inside every human being the same atman, the same soul. Everywhere, whether in temples, churches, mosques it is the same supreme reality which is being worshipped. Sri Ramakrishna practiced all religions by turn in our own age, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and then he came to a conclusion – as many face, so many pass, because he reached the culmination of the reality, the experience was the same. He said, I myself has practiced all the religions and has come to the conclusion that all religions lead the same goal. Whatever may be the type of person, whether Hindu or Muslim, or poor or rich, inside every human being is the same reality. This is what has been told in Upanishad — Oh, Lord, you are the woman, you are the man, you are the young man, you are the young woman, you are the old man with a stick, Oh Lord, you are present everywhere. Everywhere his hands, his feet, it is the same reality permeating the whole world….. in the search of some beloved, I have gone here and there, but I have found out there none like you…..Really we want to get infinite joy, infinite happiness, infinite love.

Swami Vivekanand says in his religious book, which addresses Bhakti Yoga, Religion of Love. He says there cannot be an infinite love and immortal love between two finite realities which are changing all the time, going towards that and their moods also changing all the time. There can be only an infinite love between an infinite self an infinite paramatman . That is called Bhakti Yoga. That is called the religion of love. We want unlimited love. Our heart cannot be satisfied with less than infinite. A human being can never be satisfied with the finite, because his very nature is infinite, he wants infinite happiness, infinite peace….he wants infinite existence…..he never wants to die, because it is our true nature.

This has been verified by the modern quantum mechanics. It also says that is one supreme reality permeating the whole world. Bell Serums says that all the particles of the whole universe are interconnected in deeper level. David Boom has experimented and verified it, a Nobel prize physicist . Another Nobel Prize physicist Shodinger says, cautiousness is the

21 singular of which the plural is unknown. There is no two. Only one cautiousness and what follows - If I injure you I injure myself, if I serve you I serve myself. That is why Swami Vivekananda said, and from this springs his great advocation for Karma Yoga……someone asked Swami Viveknand, is it true? says that many is real and one unreal, whereas Hinduism says, one is real and many unreal….Budhism says, there is nothing called God, Brahman, Atman - many real, one unreal, Hinduism says, one real, many unreal – is it true, Swami Vivekanand says yes, it is true. I and Sri Ramakrishna have come to add that one and many are the same reality, seen from two different angles at two different times, but it is the same reality. What follows, is not only all – says in her introduction to the complete works of Swami Vivekananda of Nine volumes, what follows not only modes of worship, but all types of work becomes worship…. No difference henceforth between sacred and secular. To work is to worship – to labour is to prey, to renounce is to conquer. That is why Nivedita says, this is the realization which makes Vivekananda a great preacher of Karma, not as divorce from but as expressing Gyan and Bhakti…..To him the workshop, the laboratory, farm, the factory, industry are as true and fit scenes for meeting God with man as the door of a temple or cell of a monk. That is the unique contribution of Swami Vivekananda….Swami Vivekananda made this Gyan yoga so simple for us and practical for us. When Eager went to the U.S. the Americans said you are boasting too much of Indian culture. Why in spite of this spiritual culture your country is slave for 1000 years…..? Swami says, yes, for this, our spirituality is not to be blamed. We had highest knowledge of Vedanta. But our mistake was we did not apply that in our daily life…..Swami Vivekananda says we don’t want Vedanta… what we want is practical Vedanta. This Vedanta should be made practical in our everyday life. This must penetrate every corner. Today Vedanta has come to AMA. So far it was confining itself to the forest, to the farms, temples, monastery…… no. it has to penetrate to the market place, industry, laboratory… some asked Vivekananda, what you have done, nothing new….you are preaching on the knowledge which is already there in the Vedanta. I am not giving anything which is not given in the Upanishad. You know what special thing I have done….this knowledge of Vedanta was forgotten by us…..and that is why we are miserable. Adi Shankaracharya came to this country and revived this Vedanta knowledge, and he wrote commentaries on the great Upanishads, in the light of the modern day, and he brought out this knowledge which we have forgotten. But Shankaracharya kept this knowledge in the Himalayas….in the Ashramas….in the caves, in the forest. I am born to bring this knowledge of great Vedanta to make this in practical life and take this Vedanta to industries, to the industrial houses, to the laboratory, to the factory, to the kitchens, to the houses, to the market, to the AMA. This is the special contribution of Swami Vivekananda & Sri Ramakrishna, this practical Vedanta. That is why Swami Vivekananda said, when he is talking about serving God in Man, when he is talking about Karma Yoga, he is not talking Karma Yoga from an ordinary view point. His Karma Yoga is nothing short of the Gyana Yoga. It is nothing but a refined Gyana Yoga, a practical Vedanta when he talks about. He says, he is not talking about social service.

In , we are not doing social service. What we do is worshipping of God in men. Ramakrishna says, the same Lord is present in every human being. Inside every Jiva, there is . We are trying to worship the Shiva. Inside every human being, there is God, irrespective of caste, creed, colour, etc…Swami Vivekananda says, you have so far heard the : I am now giving you some more Mantras : Daridhra devo Bhava — Rogi devo bhava : worship the Lord who comes in the form of poor, in the form of sick. That is why Swami Vivekananda started this Ramakrishna mission. He did not only give the message but he demonstrated it. For demonstration model, he started Ramakrishna Mission and told all the monks, not only meditation, but you have to go for Karma Yoga…..he put all of us

22 into action, and that is why we have so many service projects, lot of rural and tribal development projects. We immediately rush for the disaster management whenever there is any, for removing the suffering. It is part of our worship of God in men. Indoor hospitals, 14, 90 outdoor hospitals, 60 mobile dispensaries. More than one crores patients getting free services from here; six lakhs students in 6000 educational institutions. He kept a demonstration model. All these activities, are not social services, it is worship of God in men. He says, this age is for this type of worship of God in men. He said there are two purposes served. When you serve others, they get the service, you get more, and you get God. When we went to serve the people in the village while the earthquake struck, people there said, we know, you have come here to serve; there may be some selfish interest in it! Nobody comes here to give service because they have some bitter experience everywhere it happens. Then I acknowledged that, I have some selfish interest in coming to you. Then all the villagers realized that here is a person who is at least telling the truth. I said about my selfish purpose. We have given up our heart, home and family members, because for realizing God, for achieving perfection in life. But Swami Vivekananda call to youngsters, not only for your own salvation, but while trying to good to humanity, you must try to achieve that perfection. With that commandment, we have come here to sacrifice our lives. Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda say, if you go to temple, worship God, you will get Mukti, and you will get realization. But if you worship God in men, you will get it quicker. I am interested in getting it quicker, so that I have come to serve you……not for serving you, but for getting my moksha to serve you at your feet. And then this selfishness is good. When I give chapatti to a poor person, he survives, and he gets service, and I get God. It is a double advantage for both persons. Receiver gets and also the giver gets much more. That is why Swami Vivekananda says in his book Karma Yoga, ‘let the giver bill down, and let the receiver stand up and receive, because the person giving is getting more than the person who is receiving – infinite knowledge, infinite bliss, infinite happiness, just by serving others. So Vivekananda’s is a part of Gyana Yoga. This Gyana Yoga is a practical of Vedanta.

Now, tomorrow, we will scan through, go through, and summarize the three Yogas, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Karma Yoga, with beautiful stories. Tomorrow before you leave the hall, in a slip of paper you write the questions if you have any. I will try to reply to them a day after tomorrow [last day] and that day I will tell you what Swami Vivekananda expects from us, how by harmonizing the four Yogas, we can get bliss and peace.

Tomorrow, we are going to discuss about the other three Yogas that are left out. We will meet tomorrow at 6.30.

Thank you!

23 Day Three

Let all be happy, Let all be healthy, let all attain good, let none become miserable…. Peace, peace, peace…

In the last two days we have been discussing about the harmony of four Yogas, for bliss and peace. We have told that the modern man is search of peace of mind. This real ever lasting peace can come only through bliss and this bliss is not to be imported from any corner of the world. It is already there in everybody’s heart. But then the screen has to be removed. There are four ways of removing the screen, and these ways are the four Yogas. Yoga has come from the word, Yuge, to unite. Normally, when we hear Yoga, we have an equation that yoga means, shirshashan, standing on head. No. But the Yoga which I am going to talk is standing on your legs. Normally we say Yoga means, some yogic practices. That is a part of Hata Yoga. It is good for keeping you healthy. But it is a small part of Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga is one of the four Yogas. Yoga is union with the higher self, union of the lower self with the higher self. So this misconception has to be removed.

Swami Vivekanand has given a gift to the modern world. He could foresee the amount of tension that we are going to undergo. So he has already given us a box, which will give us peace of mind, bliss. He has given path in a very simplified manner, in a diluted way without compromising with the quality, the whole gist of all the scriptures, of all the Upanishads, Mahabharata, Bhagavata, – all these he has condensed in only four Yogas, a few lectures. So he has tried to do an impossible job by condensing all this literature, teachings in only a few lectures – 40-50 lectures between December 1895 to March 1896 in New York, where most of these lectures were given. All these four books – Raja Yoga, Gyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga are not written by him. But of course they are based on lectures, except the second portion of Raja Yoga, where there the aphorism of , where he himself gave the translation and commentaries. Others are all lectures but he had a very good stenographer – Goodwin. All these lectures were published during the life time of Swami Vivekananda. He had himself edited it. These are all authentic records of his lectures. In those four yogas, he has already given the whole packages of our stress management for the modern men.

We discussed these two days the high flights of Vedanta, Gyan Yoga. We also talked yesterday about practical Vedanta which is very important for the modern men. Today we shall be discussing about the other three Yogas. We start with the royal path — Raja Yoga. This Raja Yoga consists of ‘ashtanga yoga’. Pathanjali has written aphorisms, Suthras. Swami Vivekananda has written translation and written commentaries on these , but before that in the first part, he was given lectures on various important subjects related to Raja Yoga. Wonderful introduction for the modern man when he says, this is the Yoga which is scientifically worked out method, practically worked out method for the modern men. When you don’t need to have any belief or faith it is a scientifically worked out method where you are going to experiment and find out the truth for yourself. So he has given a beautiful introduction to Raja Yoga, and this Raja Yoga says, science of Raja Yoga proposes to put before humanity a practically and scientifically worked out method of reaching the truth. For every scientific experiment there is a medium necessary. If you want to go for an

24 experiment in chemistry, you should have some chemicals, laboratory material. But here what is the instrument? The instrument is mind. On which thing you are going to experiment? And so it is the experiment by the mind, on the mind, of your mind, on your mind …. That is we are going to be the witness. We are going to control our own mind. This science of control of mind is Raja Yoga. Every yoga is a union, it is yoga. But union can be done either through action (Karma Yoga), through knowledge (Gyan Yoga), through service (Karma Yoga), or action and through the control of mind, i.e. Raja Yoga.

So the Ashtanga Yoga consists of eight limbs. Raja Yoga says, the source of infinite joy, bliss is within. It is potentially divine. But whereas the Gyan wants to go for the process of ‘ Shrvana, , Nidhi Dyasana’ - this self has to be first to be heard, then to be thought of, to be meditated upon. First listen or read the truth in the modern language. Second, reason it out - Manan. Then meditate. So this method is in the Gyan Yoga. But Raja Yoga proposes, and there he says the potential is already there. When the screen is removed you are one with the infinite. Raj Yoga proposes there is a power called ‘ ’, having infinite power. But it is sleeping at the base of the naval – there is a triangle. This Kundalini is sleeping. When you start the process of Ashtanga Yoga, the Kundalini Shakti is aroused and there are two nerves called Ida, and Pingala - left side and right hand side - of our spinal cord. From the middle of the spinal cord, hallow canal goes above. This canal is ‘Shushumna’. Because this canal is a hollow canal, from within this canal rises the Kundalini Shakti, and goes to various ‘’. These charkas are the centers or psychic ‘chakras’ - Mooladara, Swadhistana, - lower charkas. Then Manipur these are the key charkas below the naval. Then Anahata charka. This is heart center. Then comes the Vishudh charka near the throat. Then Agya charka near the forehead, and then comes Sushumna at the top…..when the Kundalini arises, it rises up and up and goes through various chakras and when it reaches the top i.e. Sushumna, it is at that time 100 percent absorption. Then you go to Samadhi, you become one with the infinite. You lose the whole gamut of time, space, causation. You go beyond these. That is the ultimate aim of a Raj Yogi. He wants to reach that infinite joy, happiness. He wants to get that Samadhi state. Nowadays modern people want instant coffee, instant success, and instant Samadhi. There are people to give instant Samadhi – just give $ 500. So many shops have been opened. There is commercialization of spirituality.

There is a happiness industry coming up, flourishing…. There is a recession in every other industry. But the happiness industry is flourishing. There are so many conferences on stress management; so many fake teachers have come forward to befool the fools. Because fools are meant for befooling, for being deceived. So they offer instant Samadhi. There are people to give them also.

But remember, Samadhi state is not very easy to get. There are eight steps : Yama, Niyanma, , pranayam, prathyaharr, dharana, dyan, and Samadhi. What is Yam? Yam and Niyam – Pathanjali says these are all universal vows. You will find them in every religion. Ten qualities - Yama is five , astheya, Brahmacharya, aparigraha, ahinsa. Satya means Truthfulness, aparigrha means non-covetesness, brahmacharya means continous, astheya is non stealing and ahinsa – non violence. Then there are five – shrouch, santosh, tap, swadhyay, ishwar pranidha and they mean Cleanliness (for external and internal), contentment, austerity, study, and surrender to God. Third step is Asana. Then Pranayam, then, Prathyaharr withdrawing the mind at your will. Dharana - Fixing the mind on a particular spot. Dyan – meditation; and then finally Samadhi – full absorption in that state. That is the final aim of a Raj Yogi. Complete cessation of all the vrithis. The science of Raja Yoga says, we are meant to have bliss, we are blissful by nature. 100 percent blissful but at

25 present we are not feeling blissful, because we have so many thoughts in our mind. Our mind is not concentrated. Whenever you find your mind is concentrated, you get the peace of mind. Even if it becomes for a second fully concentrated, you will get that glimpse of that bliss. That is our true nature. Swami Vivekananda gives the example of a ‘lake’. There is a lake and there are so many waves in the lake because of the water. And so you are not able to see your reflection. But when there are no waves, the whole thing is silent and the water is crystal clear – So two things are there - there are no thought waves, it is a pure mind. When the mind becomes pure, the thoughts become still, immediately you get reflection, pure, nice reflection of your face. This is all what we have to do. We don’t have to get Samadhi. Samadhi state is already there. It is being disturbed by our desires and our thoughts.

So the modern gurus say we will give you instant Samadhi but Swami Vivekananda says it is very difficult to control this mind. And this is our experience. Many people tell me, they come to me and then they say Swamiji – I want to have a private talk with you. Then I say – yes please tell me – what is the private talk? Whenever I sit for meditation, all sort of nasty thoughts come to me. I say there is nothing private about it – everything is open secret because all people are telling me the same thing. All have got it. The same people when they sit down for meditation – all sorts of nasty thoughts come and such nasty thoughts that they had never thought will come to their mind. Otherwise they don’t come.

Swami Vivekananda says, it is because of the nature of our mind. Our mind is like a monkey. By nature Monkeys are restless. They go on jumping. Someone made him drink lot of wine. Now you can understand. Then a scorpion stung him. Now you can see how much he will be jumping. Now a ghost entered into him. Swami Vivekananda says we are all like these monkeys. Our mind is already restless. Then we are drinking lot of liquor - wine of desire, I want this, that, this model of car; new mobile….. with computer and so on. We are drinking more of this wine day and night. So the monkeys become more restless. Then scorpion. What is Scorpion? - Scorpion is jealousy. Jealousy is stinging – he has advanced like this, let me pull his legs. With that the mind becomes more restless. Then the ghost of ego has entered –Don’t you know whom am I? I am the M.D – the Managing Director. How dare you do this without consulting me? When the ghost of ego enters, the mind becomes more restless. Swami Vivekananda says it is very difficult to control the mind, but not impossible.

Impossible can become possible : How? Pathanjali says two methods. Constant practice, practice makes a man perfect. Vairagya means withdrawing the mind. The capacity of withdrawing the mind- i.e. non attachment. With these two things impossible become possible. But it is difficult. Swami Vivekananda says it is difficult to control the mind –Lord Buddha says, it is easy to conquer single handed one lakhs enemies. But is very difficult to conquer your own mind. Lord Mahavir also says the same thing. In the 6th chapter Sri Krishna says to Arjuna , to meditate, Arjuna says, Lord, you have told very rightly, — but it is very difficult. My mind is restless, I cannot meditate. You are telling to meditate but my mind is so restless. I think it is easy to control the wind with your fist, but more difficult to control the mind. Krishna says, Arjuna, you are very right. With practice and ‘vairagya’ you will be able to achieve this impossible task.

Sri Krishna says very difficult to control the mind, Lord Buddha says very difficult to control the mind, Pathanjali says, very difficult to control the mind. He says, you have to practice for a long time, continuously, then only you will achieve this. The modern guru says, controlling the mind is very easy, instant Samadhi I can give. Just give $500. Instant Samadhi will comes but it also goes away instantly. So we should not be discouraged. When we are

26 not able to control the mind, we become a little disappointed. It is a long term process. But one day will come when we will be able to do that.

In the mean time what we should do? We should try to practice Yama, and . You ask the modern man – I want to go/enjoy the Samadhi state. You directly want to go to the eighth floor, but you don’t want to go to the Ground Floor, First Floor… what will happen? Crash. You have to go step by step. Yama, sathya, astheya, brahmacharya, aparigraha, ahinsa. Truthfulness – in the modern age it is very difficult to practice truth. If you practice truth you will be nowhere – you should be pragmatic in approach even parents tell the children, be practical – that means, don’t tell the truth. Old formula was ‘Satyameva Jayathe’. Now the modern formula is – ‘Asatyameva Jayate’. Truth – it is not possible to practice in the modern society.

Astheya - Don’t steal : - yes I do a little bit of black marketing, ofcourse I try to save income tax…….Government is also a thief, so I am also a thief. Brahmacharya – that is very old. Let us have freedom – whatever you want to do we will do. Purity: you forget about it. Not possible for a modern man; Aparigraha – non covetousness, you should not receive gift. I am waiting for the gift. I cannot avoid gift. Ahinsa : I don’t do violence. Of course, I don’t have AK-47, and things like that, but I have this tongue. With that I have so many sharp rebukes that the other person gets flat. That is also violence. Then I cannot practice non violence. All these five we cannot practice. Niyama, shrouc, cleanliness, we cannot. Contentment : I want to be ambitious. I want every day new cars, new dresses, and so on. Tap - Austerity : who wants that. I want air-conditioner. All luxuries, comforts. Swadhayay, Study : no time for that. I don’t believe in God, So modern man says, Yama, Niyama, not practicable. But Samadhi – yes - I want to reach there. You cannot go straight to the eighth floor. We will have to go step by step. We will have to practive Yama and Niyama. Surely, by abhyasa and vairagya we will be able to reach the ultimate goal of fully absorbed in that infinite bliss, joy which is our true nature. Gyan Yoga also reaches the same point, infinite bliss. Raja Yogi is a different process reaches the same goal. Suppose if you find Gyana yoga very difficult to practice, you want to have a short cut, you will have to pay a heavy price. Because you want to go by flight. The second Raja Yoga, royal path, it is very difficult to get reservation in ‘Duronto’. It is also fast, though not as fast as Gyana yoga. But very difficult to practice. There is the third step. What is that? Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is not doing lot of work, some become ‘workaholic’ and say I am a Karma Yogi. Most of the time we are Karma Bhogi. What is Karma bhogi? Whatever work we do, we should reap the result of that. If good karmas, good results, bad karma, bad results…..both will bind us down. We can’t reach that infinite. We can’t reach that stage. Both the type of work are binding on us. How to get rid of the bondage, it is by non attachment. Karma yoga says you need not go to a forest like a Gyan Yogi, or a Raja Yogi. Remaining wherever you are, and whatever is your duty, - no work is inferior – with a simple change of attitude it will convert work into worship and karma will be converted into Karma Yoga. Each one of us has to do karma. We will have to do karma. We will have to do work. But this work at present making us bound, it is leading us astray, leading us down. Same work, same karma can take us to the infinite. Can take us beyond all these things, provided we change the attitude of mind. That we are doing worship not work.

This we can do in two ways. Those who believe in God, Oh, Lord whatever I am doing is for you. Those who do not believe in God has to by will power - no I want to be detached, because it is attachment which brings you all types of bondages. I am not going to be attached. By will power this person has to go for detachment. For a devotee, it is not difficult. I am worshipping the Lord, I am trying to do His job, it is not my work. Oh, Lord,

27 the work I do is also yours, the result of that also goes to you….. Then wherever we are, we can do practice Karma Yoga and reach that infinite happiness and bliss.

Swami Vivekananda gives a beautiful story. Sometimes some people try to practice . There was a Yogi. He was practicing Pranayama. Pranayama is OK, but do not go for . Rujekpura is OK but otherwise dangerous, Anu lombwilomb - same amount of breathe you take in and same amount you take out through another nostril. But when you go for Kumbhaka, initially you will enjoy, you see some light, etc… some sort of miracle powers come. But afterwards, it may lead to astray. Many people come to us saying Kundalini has gone up, now it is not coming down. What to do? Artificially you push the Kundalini up, through Kumbaka, and Pranayama, without the aid — that is why Swami Vivekanand gives a warning in his Introduction to Raj Yoga, - this Raj Yoga should be practiced under the supervision of a competent teacher and not by yourself. Otherwise there is a danger. If you go for Pranayama and particulary all that mKumbaka, etc. without the proper guidance there is a possibility of becoming mad. We have seen many people who have come to us, have become mad, no doctor can cure them, because they try to practice this Raj Yoga, without anybody’s guidance. Raja Yoga requires strict control over food, proper climate, it must be in Himalayas. Fresh air is a must. If you go without proper process, there is a possibility that you may be destroyed. You may end up in a mental hospital. Though it is a royal path, Raj Yoga is a short cut, but sometimes it is dangerous. So he says you should practice it under supervision. But Karma Yoga, no danger. Wherever you are, you can practice, living with the family. You can reach the highest. You can practice karma yoga, get bliss and peace, both.

So Swami Vivekananda gives an example. There was a yogi who was practicing Pranayama, practicing yoga. He was sitting under a tree and meditating deeply. Suddenly from the tree a few leaves fell on his head. Because the leaves fell on his head, his meditation was broken and he became annoyed and looked above. A crow and a crane were quarrelling with each other and because of which the leaves have fallen. Due to this his Samadhi was disturbed. He just looked at those birds with anger. By his yogic power both the birds they got burnt and fell down and died. The yogi was so happy, just by looking at somebody and the birds died of this. I have achieved so much power. This was in the morning. After some time it was a lunch time. He went to the nearby village and stood near a house said “bikshandehi”– he asked for food/alms. From inside there was a voice, ‘please wait for sometime, I am coming with biksha’. This yogi became very much annoyed. This lady has the audacity to tell me wait. She does not know what power I have…. Then came another voice from inside, my dear son, this is not a crow or a crane that it will get burnt. This incident has happened in the morning when no one was there, how did this lady come to know about it? After some time the lady came with some food. He asked her, mother, how did you develop the power? Having practiced for many years, still I have not developed the power of seeing what is happening far away in the forest…. What is the practice you have done? I have not undergone any yogic practices. I am a simple housewife. When you told this, I was serving food for to husband. When I was not married, I used to serve my parents, brothers and sisters. Now I try to do my duty. Now because of this, I have developed these powers. I tried to do my duties with sincerity. That is all that I have done. If you want more knowledge, you go to a particular village; there is a butcher, who will give more knowledge. Saying, OK, he went to that village, just as he was entering the village he saw a butcher cutting the meat into pieces. I have to get knowledge from this butcher, No, I cannot. He was about to turn away…. Then the butcher called, come, Oh, sadhubaba, did that lady send you to me…..he was amazed. The butcher said, please wait. He closed his shop and came to his house. First he washed the feet of his parents, gave them food, and gave food to this .

28 Then the yogi asked so many questions, very intricate philosophical questions and the butcher answered to all the questions posed by the sadhu, intelligently. The yogi was amazed; nobody was able to give such replies to his questions. He said, you have so much philosophical knowledge. In spite of so much knowledge, why are you doing this retched, lowly work. The butcher replied, no work is inferior and no work is superior in this world. Inferior work can even lead you to God, can become Karma Yoga. Every work can be converted into Karma Yoga, because it is not the work, but the attitude of mind that converts work into worship…..all those instructions that he gave forms a part of Mahabharata and that portion is called Vyadha Geeta. The story says, no work is inferior and no work is inferior…..wherever you are, what ever you are doing, whatever comes to your lot, whatever your Swadaharma, whatever the work given to you by the God, can be converted into worship. You need not change the job, work, each can be converted into a worship. Even you are a householder, you can reach the top most, where a ‘sanyasi’ would reach, the same stage a householder can reach, provided that work is converted into worship; provided that non attachment is there; provided the spirit of sacrifice is there….., provided selflessness is there.

This is all needed. Swami Vivekananda has given so many beautiful stories. He gives example, what is a real yagna, real sacrifice. Pandavas, after the battle of Kurushetra they performed a big yagna - huge sacrifice. After lot of gifts were given to the poor people, Brahmins, etc. all the people came together and said, Oh, God, such a great sacrifice never took place in the whole history, this is the greatest yagna/sacrifice we have seen. At that time a mongoose came and said, stop, this is not sacrifice. They said – how come this is not sacrifice? This is the greatest we have done, so many gifts we have given to so many poor people. And you are saying no sacrifice. It said, are you looking at me. What do you find? Half of the body of that mongoose was golden and the rest half was ordinary. Did you look at me? You know why and how this has happened? Listen to the story:

I was in a particular village and the Brahmin was staying, a poor person…..who lives on alms…..he just recites the ‘’. There was a poor Brahmin living in that village with his wife and son and daughter in law. Once there was a severe drought for three years consecutively. There was difficulty in getting ‘biksha’ or ‘alms’ for them. So they were starving. Then the Brahmin, with great difficulty got a little barley floor. He divided it into four parts; these were given to four family members. They cooked and about to eat it. There was a knock on the door. A guest arrived. Now in India a guest is like a God. Atithi Devo Bhava. They said, we are householders and we must respect the God who has come in the form of guest. The guest said, I am hungry, please give me something, otherwise I will die…..The Brahmin said, he is God, he has come to our house. I must respect him; worship and he gave his portion of the food. The guest after eating that portion, started shouting, you have increased my hunger. With this small food, how can I survive? The wife said, it is the duty of the wife to complete the work of my husband. Then she gave her portion of food to him. Even now the guest was not satisfied. Then the son gave his portion. The daughter in law has also given her portion to the guest. Now he was very much satisfied. He blessed them all. That night, all the four persons died of hunger. That time there were very few particles of that food was on the floor. I crept over those particles and half of my body became golden. From that time I am in search of a sacrifice like that. That Yagna will convert my second portion into God. Even this Yagna is also I rolled over all the particles. But my other part of the body has not become Gold. That was the greatest sacrifice; they give only a

29 little flour. How much you donate is not important, with what spirit you give is important…..they gave their whole lives….

In the Rajsuya yagna, the Pandavas gave so many ornaments, elephants, so many horses, so much gift, but that was nothing compared to this Brahmin’s sacrifice, whole family giving their lives. What is Sacrifice? Sacrifice is practicing , service, unselfishness – that is the real sacrifice. That is real yagna. That yagna os greatest where you sacrifice yourself. Swami Vivekananda says in the book on Karma Yoga. We have this kind of sacrifice among householders, and that is why householders’ life was considered very great, as great as that of a monk. But then gradually lost the spirit of sacrifice. I want more for myself, I want more money, car etc.….. The next door person may be dying of starvation, but I don’t mind. Let me get the whole thing. 22 per cent of our population is below the poverty line. They don’t get the next meal. We have so much to throw during the marriage ceremonies. Is it the life of a householder? Swami Vivekananda said, “As long as millions of people are living in poverty, I hold every man as a traitor, who have been educated at their expense, pay no heed to them. We are all traitors. We have lost that spirit of sacrifice. Karma Yoga demands that sacrifice. This spirit of service, unselfishness. Then, that householder will become equal to a monk.

Swami Vivekanand gives another story. There was a king. A thought came to his mind, who is greater, a monk or a householder. He made a declaration, saying, anyone who gives answer properly to this question, will be rewarded. Who cannot give answer will be punished. A householder came. He said a householder is greater. The king said to prove it. He could not prove it and was sent to prison. A monk came and said a monk is greater. He could not prove and it and so was sent to jail. Finally a monk came. He said, King, both householders and monks are great in their own place. He was asked to prove it. The monk said he will, but the king has to accompany him incognito. The king agreed and along with the monk went on a tour. While they were travelling, they came to a particular place where the king of that place was arranging for a special type of function. In the olden days there used to be ‘Swayamwara’, the princess was to be married. The princess herself will choose her own husband. All the princes will come and they will cry what is the specialty of their prince. They will be in the queue. Princess will go on the elephant and they will say what is special about their King…..she will go further till she is satisfied with a person and put her garland.

They just waited to see what is happening there. Now the princess of that place was the most beautiful women in the whole world. But she wanted a most handsome husband. So many times the search has failed as she could not get the husband of her choice. This time more princes have come from various parts of the country to participate. They were also sitting in a row. The princess was going around and rejecting all. Everyone thought this time also the ‘swayamvar’ will fail. Suddenly her eyes fell on a monk, who was passing through, going from one forest to the other. He was curious to know what is going on there. He did not know the process of ‘swayamvar’ also. He was curiously trying to know what is happening. The Princess saw his face who was handsome and immediately she put the garland on his neck. The monk removed the garland immediately. The King said so many princes are waiting to get married to my beautiful daughter, he has already got my daughter and yet the foolish fellow is removing the garland. May be he is a beggar after all, sanyasi! Then the king said, do not worry, at the end you give, don’t give now, it will disturb — The King said, I don’t a son, so whenever my daughter will get married my son in law will get half of my kingdom and when I will die, my son in law will get the full kingdom….. Now

30 with half kingdom you can maintain my daughter. The sanyasi said, what I have got to do with marriage, what I should do with the kingdom. He immediately ran. The King said, after a long time, I got a person of my choice, I am not going to leave him. He also ran after him. This sanyasi, and the king who came to observe this, ran after them. In the evening, the monk disappeared into the forest. The King with his daughter sitting under a tree started weeping. At that time the Monk came to them and said, do not worry, tomorrow I can take you to the palace. So we have to spend the night here somehow.

They all took rest under a tree. On the top of the tree there was a bird living with his wife and three little ones. The bird told his wife, see, we have some guest here. As householders, it is our duty to serve the guests. It went here and there, it was winter. It was severe cold. They brought some firewood and put some fire and put it down there and some wood. They all got relief from the cold and were happy. They looked at the birds with gratitude. Now the birds said, they are our guest, went round searching for food. During night it could not get any food. One of the birds said, we could not feed them. I will sacrifice my life for fulfilling the duty of a householder. It fell down in the fire. These three people were stunned, these birds did so much for us, and now he has killed himself. They could not eat the meat of the bird. The wife of the bird said, they are not taking the food, the sacrifice of my husband has gone in vain. She said, as a wife, it is my duty to complete the duty of my husband which was unfinished, I will complete that, saying she also fell in the fire below. Even then the guests could not eat the meat. Then the three children, we are householders, as children it is the duty to respect the wishes of our parents and to complete their unfinished work. Then all the three young birds went into the fire. These three people were much disturbed, and felt very sorry.

Next day they took the princess and others put them into the palace. Then the monk told, did you get the reply for your question? Who is great? Remember, each is great in his own place. A monk’s life is as great as that of a householder and a householder’s as great as of a monk’s ….. both have separate type of duties. A monk has got his own duty. If you want to become a monk become a monk like that for whom the most beautiful girl of the whole world, was nothing. For him the wealth of the whole world, the kingdom of the whole world was nothing. Be a monk like him. If you want to be a householder, be a householder like that bird ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of serving others. Between the ideal householder and this ideal ‘sanyasin’, none is greater, none is inferior. Each is great in his own place…..

Swami Vivekananda, has thus, described that by performing the duties nearest to us, with the spirit of unselfish service if you performed the duty, with the spirit of sacrifice if you perform the duty each and every work, can be converted into worship. Lasly, he gives the example of Buddha. There are two types of Karma Yoga, one, as told, those believe in God, whatever work I do is for God. Even those who don’t believe in God, then also Karma Yoga you can practice, but then you have to have a will power. Swami Vivekananda also emphasis that the main point required in Karma Yoga is spirit non attachment. Once you get attached, then you cannot perform Karma Yoga. So remain unattached. Do the whole work, but remain aloof. It is attachment that brings misery. The world does not bring misery. It is attachment to the fruit, to the work bring misery. Do the whole thing, but remain detached. This spirit of detachment is a must.

Swami Vivekananda gives the example of Buddha did not believe in God. He only said be good and do good. He is an ideal karma yogi – working for work sake. Do good for others for good sake. No other motive, with no expectation of any reward, result. No expectation of

31 even vote of thanks. That is the real service. Swami Vivekanand says true Karma Yogi will reach the same stage provided he is unattached. There is a beautiful sentence you get in Karma Yoga. Swami Vivekanand says, even if a person has not studied a single scripture in the whole world, even if a person has not entered a single temple, church or mosque, if he has not practiced any ritual of any religion, but if the simple power of actions have brought him to the point,, where he is ready to sacrifice his own life for the sake of others, he will reach the same point where a Raja Yogi reaches through his practice of Raja Yoga, where a Gyani will reach through his practice of Gyana Yoga, wherever a devotee reaches his practice of Bhakti yoga, to this same point this Karma Yogi will reach without going to a single temple, church or a mosque….this is a bold statement by Swami Vivekananda. What is required is be good, do good. This type of Karma Yoga is most suitable for a modern man, who does not want to believe in God, does not matter. Even then he can reach perfection. But are you unselfish, is the question. Swami Vivekananda says unselfish will pay in the long run, unfortunately people do not have the passions to practice it.

Then we come to Bhakti Yoga. For those who believe in God, Bhakti Yoga is the best. Go by flight, you will reach soon Mumbai. This is Gyan Yoga. If you don’t have money, go by Duronto, RajYoga – royal path. If uou cannot get reservation — don’t worry, this is Karma Yoga, fast train, express. No reservation, there is a passenger train – Bhakti Yoga…. It is the easiest path. You need to do anything, everything is done by the God for you. You have to simply surrender yourself. But you must have faith in God - Narsi Mehta, Meera Bai - but that is Parabhakti…While describing about Bhakti Yoga - There are two types of Bhakti - Two stages of Bhakti yoga. One is Apara Bhakti and the other is Parabhakti. One is Goni Bhakti - preparatory Bhakti and one is Mukhya bhakti. In the preparatory stage we have to take out a symbol , an ‘ishta devata’ – any God that you believe in, take up a form of any God, and try to worship everyday. Try to pray, try to practice some rituals, go to the temple regularly, chant some mantras, slokas, are all part of Bhakti Yoga. By doing this you will gradually develop love towards your ‘Isht Devta’. But you must have one ; Ishta Devta;, one ishta , and one guru. Some say modern age, we want to change to new model car, like that they want to change guru. No. you should not. There may be many guru, but Diksha guru can be only one. When you try to get guidance from so many persons, finally you will be destroyed. Find out a proper guru/guide,take one isht mantra, repeat that mantra, mantra , performance of rituals, stothras, prayers, are preparatory stage of Bhakti. What will happen – gradually you will start loving it?

Once love comes, no need of going through rituals. Just love God for love’s sake. I love my Lord with all my heart, all my soul. Loving God with all thy heart, soul, strength – this is what is told in the bible. That should be infinite love. That infinite love is possible within infinite ‘atma’ and infinite paramatman. It is not possible between two finite realities which will change all the time, and their moods also change all the time, and both go towards death. Swami Vivekananda gives a triangle of this Bhakti Yoga. They are : three conditions are necessary for true love or true Bhakti. One is true love knows no bargaining. Bargaining is simple commercialization that is simple shop keeping. Now a days most people they don’t want God but want from God. These are all worldly desires; let my son get job, daughter married, and husband get transfer. Everyday we have a big list of demands. It is worse than shop keeping. When you go to a shop, you say this is one hundred rupees, give me items worth one hundred rupees. First you carry out my wish, and then I will carry put some service for you, that too, a little bit of milk.

Sri Krishna says, there are four types of devotees. There is some calamities, people are suffering. God, please save me, us – this is one type of devotees. Only when there is crisis

32 people come to Him. It is better than not remembering. God is so merciful who sends some suffering or the other so that we continue to call on Him. Kunti Mata was asked by Sri Krishna to ask for some boon. If you are so kind, please bless with us so that we can get so many calamities she said. She said, the truth is, whenever there is a calamity, we remember you, otherwise we will forget about you. Whenever we have a calamity we remember you, and whenever we remember you, we have your ‘darshan’. So Lord go on giving us calamities. We cannot be that much courageous like Kunti Mata. Or we can say, Oh, Lord, if calamities are good to us, at least give us the power of undergoing that suffering. But true lover never asks anything from Him. There is no shop keeping – love for love sake. There is a song. That will be very fitting for the devotee. A true devotee says, whatever you do, I am not going to stop loving you. I want you. The true love knows no bargaining. This is true for any love, but much more true for the divine love, between the Lord and the devotee.

The triangle of love says, first, no bargaining. Second, true love knows no fear. Swami Vivekenand when he was talking to American devotees, I know all of you women, you are so faint hearted. If a lion or tiger roars, you will run away. If you are walking on the road and suddenly there is a tiger you will get afraid. But when your child is on the road and there comes a tiger, you will run there to save the child and face the tiger. Then all fear gone. When there is a true love, the fear goes away. You love the child and hence, the fear of the tiger goes away……so love knows no fear, no bargaining and love also knows no giving up…. you may give up, but I am not going to give up. So Swami Vivekananda says, this triangle of love, that is, we have to remember God, and these are the two types of Bhakti, i.e. aparabhakti, parabhakti, gonibhakti and mukhya bhakti.

It may take time for us to go to Parabhakti level – Narsi Mehta, Meera Bai. They had already undergone the experience of ‘Parabhakti’. When that Bhakti comes, God takes care of life of those Bhaktas. That is why Sri Krishna say, I take upon myself the burden of giving them whatever they want and giving protection to them. There are so many devotees who got this experience that Lord helps them during the time of crisis and calamities. When a Bhakta gets some adverse situation, he is not afraid. He says, Oh, Lord, everything is your wish. Whatever you want to do you do. The greatest calamity for a devotee is a blessing from the Lord. When Narsi Mehta got the news that his wife has died, — what we would have done is I worshipped you Lord, and you have taken and you have given me the result. But Narsi Mehta said, God, very nice, I will be able to fully concentrate God on you. So, a devotee never stays away from the path of the Lord. He sticks on. He never falters. He surrenders completely. This is the easiest path of devotion. Because here love is the beginning and love is in the end, and love is the means and love is the end. Whenever this love comes, it is natural thing for us and it is always giving us a feeling of a relief, because love is always very relishable. When the true love comes, the whole life becomes very sweet. You get peace. Ultimately when you reach ‘Parabhakti’, you become one with God and that is bliss.

A devotee through Bhakti Yoga comes to the same point – that is infinite happiness, infinite joy, infinite bliss, where a Raj Yogi comes with his absorption in Samadhi, where a Gyani comes with his union with the Supreme Self, where a Karma Yogi comes with Supreme Self obligation. He never thinks about himself. He becomes one with the whole universe. He has not got his own ego. So he becomes one with the whole universe. He always thinks of others, and naturally when he thinks of others, his self is gone. When this self is gone, the Supreme self automatically comes. After all, all these Yogas, what are they doing? It is a negative process. As I told earlier, We are already blissful. Our very nature is Sat Chit Ananda. But it is our ego which is coming between this infinite bliss and ourselves. These four yogas are trying to remove this ego. How? A devotee says, ‘Oh Lord, I am not there, I

33 am not there’. You are the only person. I am nothing. So he is trying to negate himself, and has his whole attention on the Lord. So his selfish ego is gone and he becomes one with the bliss. What a Gyani is trying to do is, ‘I am not the body’. Am I the body? No. Sometimes we say, my health is not good, so I am not the body. Am I the mind? No. I am not the mind, sometimes my mood is not good. I am not the mind. Am I the intellect? No. I am not the intellect. Today, my intellect is not working. Intellect is mine. Am I the heart? No – Today I am very sad. I am not the heart. Then who am I? I am that Supreme Self………

When you remove the false ego, the real self comes. This is Gyan Yoga. Raja Yoga. When the vrithi of ‘I’ also dies out, this waveless motion, there is no motion, no wave, and then you get the reflection. Then ultimately, all the paths are leading to the same supreme goal. You can take up whatever path you want to choose. Which will be the best for a modern man? This will be replied by Swami Vivekananda tomorrow. Tomorrow I am going to answer you questions. I will tell about the Yoga – which is best suited for the modern man.

34 Day Four

Let all be happy, let all be healthy, let all attain good, let none get misery, let there be peace, peace, peace…..

We start our last day’s discussion with a beautiful prayer. Swami Vivekananda says in his book on Raja Yoga, that before you start your meditations have a prayer, thoughts of holiness and goodwill to all the directions of the world, it will have a very good effect on the mind. There he says, at long last, you will understand,not now, that the best way to be happy is to see that others are happy, and the best way to get peace of mind is to pray for other’s peace of mind, and that is why he says before starting meditation, do prayer. Then we will see the miraculous result, of this prayer. If that is really an unselfish prayer, whether the other person gets benefit or not, peace of mind, surely you will get peace of mind. This is a wonderful thing. This can be experimented. But it has to be a sincere prayer. Some pray, let all be happy, - minus my mother in law! Don’t put a bracket there. The whole day you may quarrel, does not matter, but during meditation when you are praying, let us have an unselfish prayer. Unselfish prayer, says Swami Vivekananda, will pay in the long run. Unfortunately people do not have the patience to practice it. He gives a practical suggestion: those of you who can afford you must have a small room, because any amount of theoretical talk is not going to help you. Swami Vivekananda says you should have some practice. One ounce of practice is of more worth than tonnes of teaching. So Swami Vivekananda says there will be no benefit if we don’t practice it.

Even if you open the gift of these four Yogas and study them it will be of no use. First, we should study, then hear the truth and finally reason it out and meditate. So you have to practice this Raja Yoga, whatever little, and it is a must. Practice of meditation becomes easier, spiritual practices become easier, when there is a congenial atmosphere. Those of you can afford you can have a small room, a chapel or a shrine. Or at least a corner of the room and in that room you should not enter with unholy thoughts. Don’t allow anybody else to enter with unholy thoughts. Keep some photographs of holy personalities, Gods, Goddesses. Offer flowers, incense and keep it very clean and holy and chant mantras, , keertans, chant Shlokas. After some time you will find the whole place is vibrating, is full of holy vibrations. Whenever you are in depression, distress, when you go that room you will get peace. This is the basic philosophy behind any temple. But we have lost that. Now in temples, lot of noise, most of the socialization is seen there. Basically the temples were started because when so many people worship, saying prayers, gradually vibrations will come and that place would become a holy place. Try to prepare those holy places.

In the last three days, we started with this one – that harmony of four Yogas for peace and bliss. We said that the modern man is in search of peace. Today also you might have seen in the newspaper that two youngsters have committed suicide. We had in the afternoon a program how to overcome tension of examination, a program for the students. Special programmes are being prepared for how to overcome tension. This has become a phenomena that now everybody is under tension and in search of peace. This is the right time that we open the gift that has remained unopened for more than 100 years. Swami Vivekananda gave this gift of four Yogas. He condensed the whole of scriptures, Vedanta,

35 Upanishad, Philosophy, Bhagavata, Ramayana, — in these 50 lectures and commentary and aphorisms. All these books on four Yogas are not written by him. These are based on his lectures. Fortunately he had a very good stenographer, Goodwin, faithful. They were all very thoroughly edited by Swami Vivekananda himself. It is almost written by him. The translation of the aphorism with the commentary was written by Swami Vivekananda on Raja Yoga, i.e. Patanjali Yoga sutras. Rest of all these were edited after his lectures. Because these are based on lectures, they are so direct. You feel as if he is talking to you. There is so much of element of that inspiration. Romarola says after 30 years, when I read these books I felt like an electric shock. What would have been the effect, transformation within a span of four months – December 1895 to March 1896? In New York Swami Vivekananda gave all these lectures on Raj Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gyan Yoga, and Karma Yoga – more than 50 lectures. All these we have tried to condense into these four lectures and I confess, I have failed. It is not possible. Even to condense one lecture of Swamiji, to discuss one lecture of Swami Vivekananda, it is not possible within four days. That is why I told at the beginning that I would just give an outline and after getting the outline, if you could get inspiration to read these four books in detail, then I will think I am rewarded. First thing is reading and listening, second contemplation on that, and third putting it into practice. I hope at least this much will be done.

So we started how peace of mind is very much needed, but that peace of mind we are searching from the external objects. At last long we will understand that it is not possible to get ever lasting peace unless and until we get bliss. That bliss is not outside but is already there. Only we have forgotten about that. There is a screen of ignorance. Remove the screen, - there are four methods of removing the screen, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Gyan Yoga. Swami Vivekananda says in the book of Raja Yoga that each soul is potentially divined, the goal of human life is to manifest the divinity within by controlling the nature external and internal, do this either by work, worship, psychic control of philosophy by one or more or all of these and be free. This is the whole of religion, dogma, rituals, worships, temples, churches, mosque are but secondary details.

So we first took up Gyan yoga, the song of Sanyasin we left out, necessity of religion we did not discuss because of shortage of time; the real nature of man we discussed and there we discussed two stories, the story of a lioness and a sheep and also the story of Alexander the Great who came and the monk said I am the birthless, deathless, ever pure ever blissful atman.

Then we talked about Maya – three lectures on Maya. They are masterpieces. Swamiji was his best when he talked about Maya. No one has given such a nice explanation of Maya. Swamiji says we are all confused – what is Maya, it is illusion, or delusion – no it is not. It is a simple statement of facts. So many contradictions you see. There we also discussed about the story of Narada. 12 years has passed. The Lord says half an hour. You have gone half an hour and still you have not brought water…. 12 years is equal to half an hour! Half an hour is equal to 12, that is Maya.

We went through the Maya and the freedom, Maya and the evolution, the conception of God, Maya and illusion. Then we went through absolute and the manifestation that was very nice explanation. What is absolute beyond time space and causation.

Then the lecture on ‘God in everything’. Every person who is living in the world should read this. That will help us. It is based on Isha Vasho Upanishad - living in the world how can we reach that infinite.

36

Then comes the beautiful lecture on realization based on the story of Kathoupanishad, how Nachiketa goes to Yam Raja and he asks the three boons. Then there is a beautiful allegory of the chariot, the self is like the charioteer and this body is like the chariot. If you want to reach the supreme self body has to be strong, mind has to be strong, the reigns have to be strong, the chariot have to be strong, the charioteer has to be strong and the master who is sitting in the chariot should be awake. The charioteer does not lose the grip. If the mind is controlled it will control all the horses, senses etc. Otherwise it will meet with the accident. Whenever it is trying to meet with an accident the master has to be awakened. In Upanishad it says, arise, awake, go to a master and get knowledge. This path is very difficult to cross, like walking on the edge of a razor.

Then we discussed something about unity in diversity; the freedom of the soul, the cosmos, the macro cosum, the cosmos in the micro. The cosmos in the micro, we came across the beautiful presentation of the law of karma, where Swami Vivekananda says, he comes to the top of his prophetic utterance, and says, this law of Karma, this knowledge of the self says whatever you are suffering is because of your self, blame nobody because I am the creator of my own destiny. He says, blame neither man, nor God, nor anyone in the world, when you find yourself suffering blame yourself and try to do better. Nobody is responsible for your suffering. You feel for your suffering, your mother in law is responsible. Why did you get such a mother in law? It is your Karma. You say you are perfectly all right and your husband is bad. But why did you get such a husband? It is your Karma. Ultimately I am responsible for whatever suffering I am having. Blame neither man, nor God, nor anyone else when you are suffering, blame yourself……and try to do better. This is the only solution of the problem. Please listen – all the people whoa re under stress. Those who blame others, alas, the number are increasing everyday. They are generally miserable with helpless brains. They have brought themselves to that past, through their own mistakes and blame others. This does not alter their position. This will not serve them in any way. This attempt to throw the blame upon others only weakens them more. Therefore, blame none for your own faults and stand on your own feet and take the whole responsibility upon yourselves. Say, this misery which I am suffering from is of my own doing, that very thing proves that it will have to be undone by me alone. That which I have created I can only demolish, the one created by someone else, I will never able to destroy. Therefore, stand up, be bold, be strong, take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within you. Therefore, make your own future, let the dead past buries dead. The infinite future is before you and you must always remember that each word, thought and deed is a store for you, and bad thoughts and bad deeds are ready to pounce upon you as tigers. So also there is the inspiring hope that the good thoughts and good deeds/works are ready with a power of a 100,000 angels to defend you always and for ever. What an inspiring note! Let us not bother. We may be suffering. We may have done bad karmas. Forget about it. You must not forget that we have done thousands of bad karmas in the past. We have also done thousands of good karmas also in the past. They are all going to fructify. This is a temporary phase, it will go. Again the good karmas will start acting and a bright future is awaiting us. Like the bad thoughts are ready to spring upon you like tigers, the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with a 100,000 angels to defend always and for ever. So law of karma is very important for us to know to get rid of our lack of peace of mind, the micro cosum use that, then immortality, the atman, the atman its bondage and freedom, — all these lectures we skipped because of shortage of time.

37 The real and the apparent man: Swami Vivekananda says that the real man is the atman having infinite power. The apparent man is in a relative field. Once we know that we have got that infinite power, real nature, tremendous power will come. Tell everyone that you are divine. You are not the tiny body mind complex. Behind that is the ‘atman’. All of us are having lot of worries, anxiety, fears, etc…. If one million part of men and women who live in this world, simply sit down and for a few minutes say, You are all God, Oh ye man, Oh ye, animals, living being - you are all the manifestations of one living deity, the whole world will be changed in half an hour. Instead of throwing tremendous bomb shells of hatred into every corner, instead of projecting currents of jealousy and evil thought in every country, people will think that it is all ‘He’. So Swami Vivekananda was much ahead of his time. 110 years back he has told, but we are still not ready to accept such modern thoughts.

Realization of universal religion: Swami Vivekananda says he dreamt about the universal religion. At the end of that he talks he says I accept all religions that were in the past, and worship with them all. I worship God with every one of them in whatever form they worship him, I shall go to the mosque of the Mohammadin, I shall enter the Christian’s Church and kneel before the crucifix, I shall enter the Bhuddistic temple and where I can take refuge in the Buddha and his law. I shall go into the forest and sit down in the meditation with the Hindu who is trying to see the lights which enlightens the heart of everyone. Not only shall I do all these, but I shall keep my heart open for all that may come in the future. He is the universal man. We are talking about globalization. Where is global peace? Global peace cannot come till there is a global civilization. Global civilization will not come till we have global personality like Swami Vivekananda. He has already come but the gift is unopened. He is the global personality, universal personality talking about universal religion. This is the right time. We were not prepared 110 years back. Now the globalization has come on the economic front, and now the communication technology has developed so much that the world is united more than ever. Now there is a global village. This is the right time. Swami Vivekanand’s universal religion can be fulfilled. He says not only I shall do all these, but I shall keep my heart open for all that may come in the future….Is god books finished, or still a continuous revelation going on. It is a marvelous book these spiritual revelation of the world the Bible, the , the Quran, and other sacred books. An infinite number of pages are yet to be unfolded. I would leave it open for all of them. What a broad concept.

Then last lecture of Gyan Yoga, the ideal of universal religion. He dreamt. He says I don’t know whether the dream will be fulfilled, but there is no harm in dreaming. He could foresee - he says for the future of the civilization he could foresee a global civilization that will be emerging, for global peace. He says for future civilization he says we must have a global religion. Swami Vivekananda says, what I want to propagate is a religion that will equally be acceptable to all minds, it must be equally philosophical, equally emotional, equally mystic and equally conducive to action. If professors from college come, they will quote reason. Let them have it as much as they want. There will be a point beyond which they will think they cannot go without breaking with reason. They will say these ideas of God and salvation are superstitious, give them up. I say, Mr. Philosopher, this body of yours is a biggest superstition, give it up. Don’t go home for dinner or to your philosophical chair. Give up the body. If you cannot, cry, and sit down. For religion must be able to show how to realize the philosophy, that teaches us that this world is one, that there is but one existence in the whole universe. Similarly the mystic comes, we must welcome him, be ready to given him the science of mental and the analysis, and practically demonstrate before him. If emotional people come, we must sit, laugh and weep with them in the name of the Lord. We must drink the cup of love and become mad. If the analytical worker comes we must work

38 with him with all the energy we have. This combination will be ideal of the nearest approach to a universal religion. Swami Vivekananda says would to God that all men were so constituted that in their minds, all this elements of philosophy, mysticism, emotion, and of work were equally present in full. That is the ideal. My ideal of a perfect man. Swami Vivekananda himself was the best example, he was a perfect man. His Guru Ramakrishna was a perfect man. He had all these four faculties – Sharda , and all the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna – they were all, all rounded personality. All the four Yogas were practiced by them in a harmonious way. So Swami Vivekananda says that is my ideal of a perfect man. Everyone who has one or two element of this character, I consider is one sided. This world is full of almost such one sided men with knowledge of that one road only in which they move. Anything else is dangerous and horrible to them.

Why we kept this topic Harmony of four Yogas? Now listen, I kept this for the last day. What is Swami Vivekanand’s view, which Yoga is supreme? Now listen to him.

To become harmoniously balanced in all these four directions, is my ideal of religion, and this religion is attained by what we in India call Yoga, or union. To the worker it is union between man and the whole of humanity, to the mystic between his lower and higher self; to the lover a union between himself and the God of love and to the philosopher it is a union of all existence. This is what is meant by Yoga.

The four different Yogas are in different names. The man who seeks after this kind of union is called a Yogi, the worker is called the Karma Yogi; he who seeks the union through love is called the Bhakti Yogi; he who seeks it through mysticism is called Raja Yogi; and he who seeks it through philosophy is called Gyan Yogi. Thus this word ‘yogi’ comprises all. Then he gives the gist of all the other yogas. Swami Vivekanand says all the four Yogas are independently capable of taking us to the supreme, infinite knowledge, infinite existence, infinite bliss. You may take up any Yoga which may suit you according to your temperament. He says the ideal perfect man is who has got all these four Yogas combined in him – who practices all these four Yogas.

Romarola the Nobel Prize Winner says beautifully, that Swami Vivekanand in two words – equilibrium and synthesis, the whole genius of Swami Vivekanand will be summed up. He says, he rode on all the four horses [ yogas] simultaneously. He practiced all these four Yogas together. The best Yoga depends upon you. Swami Vivekanand says, the best is combination of all the four Yogas. Why? There are so many reasons for this. First is, Each and every individual has got so many faculties. In the modern field of management, they say if you really want to manage, if you really want to have profit, then what you should have for productivity and profitability, you must have the maximum utilization of resources. That will give you productivity, profitability and prosperity. Similarly, what will give us maximum benefits – if we utilize maximum utilization of all the faculties that will make us reach the goal quicker. By Raja Yoga also you can reach the goal, by Karma Yoga also you can reach. If you can reach the goal by all the four Yogas, why not combine all the four and reach the goal quicker.

Second, we have all the faculties and why not use all the faculties. We have got hands to work; we have sense organs, why not work for the Lord. We will have to do work. Why not convert work into worship. That is Karma Yoga. We have the brain. With the brain why don’t we reason out? What is the true reality? Who am I? Am I this body? No. Am I the mind, No. Am I the heart, No. Then who am I? I am the infinite knowledge, absolute bliss, Sat Chit Ananada. Let us reason it out with our brain. Utilize this brain for reaching God.

39 We also have got the mind, with this mind we can meditate on God. Let us meditate on God – that is RajaYoga. Everyone of us has got a heart and we want to give Love and we want to receive Love. Why not love the most lovable…., why not love the supreme; why not love the supreme being by loving whom we don’t have to repent. Many youngsters come to me, that I loved that girl so much, she has gone away with other man, what should I do’? Weep. No need of repentance. But you don’t come to repentance when we love God. We want to receive unlimited love, want to have infinite love. We want to give infinite love. It is possible by loving God. So love God. When we have this heart, let us make use of this heart also. So maximum use of all these faculties. Combine all the four Yogas and get the maximum advantage of all the four Yogas and reach the goal quicker. This is one reason why we should go for the Harmony of all the four Yogas. All the four Yogas have got some speciality, got some special advantages. But all the four Yogas have certain distinct disadvantages also.

For example: Gyan Yoga, it is a short cut. It is a flight – don’t believe that you are the body not the mind. You are the Atman, ever pure, ever blissful. Immediately you got the knowledge. Then you have to live what is unreal. Are you ready to give up? Are you having Vairagya, or are you having renunciation? Are you having power of discrimination? Are you ready to spend that much money for a flight? It is costly. If you are not ready to give up, to renounce, you cannot afford - this Gyan Yoga takes lot of your renunciation. All are not ready for that though it is a short cut. It is also very difficult to walk on that path. Third Gyan Yoga becomes dry, because it is dry reasoning. Swami Vivekananda says, why can’t you mix a little bit Bhakti with that Gyana. Then it becomes palatable, sweeter. Another thing, this Gyan Yoga, though it is a short cut, sometimes it is dangerous also. That time, if you have a little bit of mixing of Bhakti, it will help you. When Swami Vivekananda was in America, whatever he will speak you will feel that this is the only Yoga you should practice. A lady told whatever Yoga you talk about, we feel like practicing it. We get confused. Please tell us what Yoga we should practice. Swami Vivekananda said, madam, don’t be one sided. Keep everything open. What I do?I meditate on my atman and enjoy the bliss of the atman. But when I get stomach ache, I say, oh, mother please save me. I work both ways. Why should I be one sided? So mix a little bit of Bhakti with Gyana when necessary. Bhakti Yoga is the easiest path, anybody can practice. The problem is sometimes we lose faith in God. If there is no faith in God how can you love God. That is the first thing. The second thing is, Swami Vivekananda, says, in the Bhakti Yoga sometimes the devotees become sentimental nonsense. They become too much emotional. They become non practical and non pragmatic. That is why Sri Ramakrishna says, be a devotee, don’t be a fool. But some devotees become fool and they are washed away in emotions. Another disadvantage of Bhakti Yoga is fanaticism – my god alone is true and all other are false. So, kill all others. In fact, in Islam and Christianity they are follower of Bhakti Yoga. Jainism and Buddhism follow Gyan Yoga. In Bhakti Yoga, the fanaticism comes. You mix Gyan Yoga; you become a little more rational, so that emotional element would be subdued and controlled.

Then Raja Yoga. It is a royal path. Sometimes it is dangerous. If you go more for Pranayama and kumbaka – one may go to the mental hospital. If you do more of practice of Raja Yoga, sometimes in the beginning when you get this psychic powers you are encouraged more and more and suddenly the ‘kundalini’ goes up and not coming down. Then they come to us. Even the psychiatrists do not know what to do with those patients. So there is a danger in this Raja Yoga. This Raja Yoga can be reduced if you mix Karma Yoga with Raja Yoga. For one hour in the morning and for one hour in the evening you practice Raja Yoga, and the whole day you mix Karma Yoga with humanity.

40 Karma Yoga is very good. Every one has to do Karma Yoga. It is most simple for the modern man. It is a most important Yoga. Everyone is busy with work. We are not getting time for meditation. We are not getting time for study, for prayer, not getting time to go temple or to the Satsang. Convert work into worship. Whatever work we do we convert into worship. An ordinary housewife, she got so much yogic power without practicing any yogic power and that the butcher rose to a height of spirituality. All work into worship. That is also very easy. When you are trying to do Karma Yoga, you are serving humanity and when we serve, we get success. When we get success, our ego increases. When ego comes, the spirituality has gone. I have opened a big hospital, and I am serving so many lakhs of patients. Ego will come at that time. At that time mix a little bit of Bhakti along with Karma Yoga. Oh Lord, I have not done anything. it is because of your grace that so much of work is to be done. Lord, it is your credit. Then ego will not come.

So if you have the combination of all the four Yogas, all the advantages, of all the four Yogas will be added up and all the disadvantages of all the four Yogas will be eliminated. That is why harmony of four Yogas. Swami Vivekananda says, my ideal of a Harmony of Yogas, all the four Yogas should be practiced simultaneously. When you practice all the four Yogas, all the elements of a personality are being developed and you will have a harmonious development of personality. So Harmony of four Yogas will give us harmonious development as a personality, i.e. development of physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual, all the dimensions of personality. Philosophical dimension, by Gyan Yoga, the psychic dimension by Raja Yoga and our working attitude, Karma Yoga, and our devotional aspect that also will be developed because of Bhakti Yoga. So harmonious development of the personality will take place when we have harmony of all the four yogas when we practice this in our daily life.

Swami Vivekananda designed the emblem of Sri Ramakrishna Mission. when he started the organization in the name of his master in 1897 for implementing the message of Guru Sri Ramakrishna of worshipping the divine in human beings. A day before we talked about practical Vedanta aspect. How Swami Vivekananda says that a new type of weightage came on the onset of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. So far we have been worshipping the God beyond transcendental beyond time, space and causation. But they say that the same Brahman is imminent in the whole universe. We have forgotten about it. So worship the God in human beings. Not only worship the God who is beyond time, space and causation; worhip the God within human being – Daridhra Narayan, Rogi Narayan – these are all Narayanas, you worship them and that gives you direct realization. It is a double edged sword, the person who gets served gets the advantage, and the person who serves much more. Infinite knowledge, infinite existence, infinite bliss gets perfection, this is a double edged sword which works with this practical Vedanta and the Karma Yoga emanating from this Gyan Yoga – this practical Vedanta, Vedanta in everyday life. That is why Swami Vivekanand says with the application of practical Vedanta a fisherman would become a better fisherman, a student will become a better student, a manager will become a better manager, an executive will become a better executive and so on. This will be practiced everywhere, in a market place, in a factory, in the homes, shops, in the laboratories etc. Everywhere this practical Vedanta can be practiced. That is why this Sri Ramakrishna mission was started as a demonstration model. Swami Vivekananda gave an exholtation. So far all the monks have had only one objective — ‘atmano moksha’ – we want to reach perfection. We want to have bliss, infinite bliss, infinite knowledge, infinite existence – that is our true nature. We want to reach that perfection. All the monks gave up their heart and home for getting this infinite knowledge, bliss and existence. Swami Vivekananda said, no, he changed the motto - from ‘atmano mokshartham’ which was the motto for thousands of

41 years for all the monks; he was a revolutionary monk. He gave a new motto - both the things have to be done simultaneously.

When anybody wanting to join Sri Ramakrishna order, any young man, we take an interview. If he says he wants to do social service, we will say he is not fit for us and ask him to join any other organization which are doing much more social service. Some youngsters would say, I want to realize God. I want only perfection. I am not bothered about what is happening to others. I want to reach perfection in this life. I want to realize God. I want to Mukhti, Nirvana, enlightenment in this very life. We will say this is not the place for him. Go to Himalayas or some other ‘ashrams’. All the other religious organizations have only one view, do pooja, eat the ‘Prasad’ of Bhagwan, etc. or meditate in Himalays, and get Mukhti. It is not. Here who will be accepted - those who want to remain in the society, serving the society not as human being, but as manifest of the divine. Then also, at the same time try to practice all these four Yogas, they only will be taken in our Sri Ramakrishna Mission. So Swami Vivekananda says, harmonious ways of blending of all these four Yogas, those who will practice all the four Yogas. They will only be accepted in our Sri Ramakrishna order. So he himself designed the motto – it is a registered emblem. No other organization can use this and if they use we can take legal action against them. It is a registered symbol designed by Swami Vivekananda himself. In every book you might have seen this symbol. That gives the philosophy of what we are trying to do. This is the basic philosophy.

Swamiji shows a book and then says - Here you find there is a serpent, a coiled serpent. Then there is a lotus, waves of water, a sun and also a Swan. Here it is written this serpent represents the ‘the kundalini shakthi’ – in Raja Yoga says there is in ‘Mooladhar’, there is a kundalini shakthi which is sleeping there in the triangle shape. There are two nerves ‘ ida and pingala’ in between there is a spinal cord, within the spinal cord, there is a hollow canal called ‘shushumna’, from within the shushumna canal, the kundalini shakti rises like a serpent, and goes from Mooladhar, swadishtan, Manipur – [these are the three psychic charkas], not biological chakras. They go up, then anahata – heart center, vishudha, throat center, and then ‘aagya charka – forehead, and then Shushmna.

When it reaches shushumna, you get Samadhi – you get absorbed and get infinite bliss, infinite knowledge, infinite existence. This is the stage where you reach. It moves, the Kundalini shakthi moves in a serpent form. This serpents denotes Kundalini shakthi, and Kundalini shakhti denotes practice of Raja Yoga, practice of Raja Yoga. Bacially Rahja Yoga means awaken of Kundalini and letting it reach the shushumna, letting it reach the Sahasra and getting infinite knowledge.

Now lotus flower represents Bhakti, It represents love. It represents Bhakti Yoga. Then the waves of water or waves of Karma, Karma Yoga. Sun represents knowledge, that is Gyana Yoga. Hansa is equal to Paramahansa – Paramatman – is the Lord, is the supreme self – the absolute. This is how the paramatman, paramahansa can be attained, by combination of these four Yogas. This is the harmony of four Yogas, which will give peace not only in our daily life but will also take up to the bliss which is our birth right. The bliss which is already there but we have forgotten it.

So the monks and devotees of Sri Ramkrishna Mutt and Mission, how are they trying to practice this four Yogas in their daily life. In most of the Ashram we have Mangala aarthi, in the shrine. Excepting Advaita shram, Swami Vivekananda wanted only Aadvaita will be practiced, no God there, no superstition, no Bhakti, no devotion…..So morning there is

42 Mangala aarthi. All the monks and devotees will sit down. After the arthi, there is ; then there will be vedic chanting, Gita chanting, some shlokas from the Geeta. There will be meditation. So now what has to be done?

We have chanted mantras, we have done devotional songs, Bhakti yoga – we have done aarthi, which is Bhakti Yoga; we have read out something from Gita, which is Gyana Yoga. Then we have practice mediation. Again in the evening, there is an evening ‘aarthikam’ and a song composed by Swami Vivekanand himself which is sung in almost all the branches of Sri Ramakrishna Mutt – 172 – but we have 1000 non affiliated centers all over the world, many household disciples houses also. This was composed and set music by him. Even as a college student he has written a book on Music – Sangeet Kalpataru. He was a poet, a musician, he was gymnastic - his was an all rounded personality, harmonious blending of all and equally an expert in all the four Yogas. He was a genius. He was a unique personality and you will never get such a multi facet person in the whole world, and in the whole history. Look at the whole history of last 5000 years. He combined all the four Yogas. He was a great administrator, an institution builder. He was a journalist, he was a writer, a poet - 9 volumes, he wrote. There were eight volumes, now the ninth volume has come. His lectures, his letters, all the four Yogas – you can see the amount of written work that he has done, the amount of poems he had written, the amount of literary work that he has brought out. Hundreds of lectures he has given in his very short life. He really gave up his body on 4th July 1902, before a few days he said he will give up his body. Someone asked him why should he give up his body at the young age – he was only 35 years of age. He said that he has done enough for the next 1500 years! It will take 1500 years for us to understand his message and to implement it. Then again he will come and give us another food. This itself is so much. So much he has already given in this short span. At the age of 30 he has started opening his box. He went to Chicago. Till that time, nobody knew him. He was just accumulating his powers. Most important power is from Sri Ramakrishna. Within nine years he has played his game. He did not play one-day, 20-20, 10-10 etc…. he was so fast. He has given so much, a multi faceted personality. In all these four years - he himself composed the song, set to music. In the evening, we have again prayer. After the prayer we have some readings – from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, the world famous book. It has been translated in all the languages of the world. Mehnath Gupta M, used to go to Sri Ramakrishna. Accidentally he came to meet him. He started to commit suicide. Suddenly after meeting Sri Ramakrishna, he gave up the idea of suicide and got so much of peace of mind, wrote down all the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna in his diary, later on with the request of Sri Ramakrishna, published his diary in the form a book called ‘ Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’…. Millions of copies have been sold in various languages of the world, in Indian languages and Japanese, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Dutch, German, French and so on. So Mediation, reading of the book and prayer. So in the morning we have done prayer – Bhakti Yoga; Reading – Gyana Yoga, Meditation – Raja Yoga. Again in the evening prayer, reading, meditation and the whole day Karma Yoga. That is how we are trying to practice. It is very easy. We are demonstrating. We are also living the same life. We are not living a different kind of life. Swamy Viveknand said we have to live in the society, and demonstrate. Living in the society and doing the same work that you are doing, perhaps we are working more than you, more number of hours than you – but practicing these four Yogas. Work can be converted into worship. One of our Swamijis were asking Sri Ramakrishna how to practice this Karma Yoga. He gave a beautiful solution. Practice sandwich - mothers know this. What they will do, they will take a piece of bread, and then afterwards they will put some sort of masala, cucumber, cheese, chutni, etc. again they will put a second piece of bread on that. So you already got this one. Similarly, what you should do is, get up in the morning and say Oh, Lord, whatever I do, today, I dedicate it

43 to and the fruits of the work is also dedicated to you. Then the whole day you go on working – masala of the sandwich. Then at night, whatever I had done today is dedicated to you and the fruit also is dedicated to you. The sandwich is ready.

Similarly we are trying to do Karma Yoga. The whole day we do karma, worship God in men. But in the morning, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gyan Yoga, and again in the evening Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gyan Yoga and in between is the Karma. We can have a small sandwiches also in between…..While going to the office, or the school, whatever work I am doing all dedicated unto you, and fruits also dedicated to you. After coming from the office, Oh, Lord, whatever I had done, all dedicated to you, whatever, good or bad. Actually bad work cannot be dedicated to God but try to do less of bad work. This is Sandwich Sadhana.

If you practice these four Yogas, two things will happen. We will get peace and happiness in everyday life. Why? When we pray everyday, when we do Bhakti Yoga, when we pray, we chant the mantras; all these are part of Bhakti Yoga, and when we read some elevating books like Gyan Yoga, Gita or Upanishads, then we get the positive thoughts. Then we also do meditation. Meditation is the best antidote for Stress Management. Nowadays, most of the psychologists have agreed that most of the diseases are psychosomatic in nature. If you want to lower the blood pressure, if you don’t want to have by-pass surgery, if you want to have good physical health, then also meditation is necessary. If you want to have best stress management, then also the meditation is necessary. Meditation will give you stress management, reading of good books will give you positive thoughts, practice of prayer and worship will give you smoothening effect, make your life rosy, because you are loving God and offering them. Prayer is the best medium for the stress management, because when you pray sincerely, the prayer is heard. When the sincere prayer is there, you are ventilating your negative thoughts if they come out. So prayer is very effective. Prayer – Bhakti Yoga, Meditation – Raja Yoga, Reading – Gyana Yoga. When we practice these three Yogas, and unselfish service, the best way to get piece of mind in everyday life is to serve others unselfishly. We saw in the Karma Yoga, the story of that Mahabharata – that Mongoose whose half body became Golden by rolling on the barley floor particles were there. Even the great Rajsuya is nothing compared to that sacrifice. That spirit of sacrifice, that unselfish service will give you so much of peace of mind. It will reduce the tension, give you the peace. So these four Yogas when they are combined in your daily life, maximum of faculty will develop, we will have the harmonious development of the personality and that will give us peace of mind in everyday life. Gradually this will lead us to the supreme peace. That is the bliss, which is already there. but we have forgotten. That is why we are telling the four combinations of four Yogas. Harmonious development of the personality, by practicing all the four Yogas simultaneously. Swami Vivekananda’s personality is an ideal example. He was an expert in meditation in childhood. He used to play meditation. One day when he was so much absorbed in meditation, a serpent came and all the children ran away – at that time his name was Bhile – because Vireshwar Mahadev is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva. Vireshwar Shiva blessed his mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi and that is how she got him. So Bhile was absorbed and when all the children ran away and he could not notice that also. The whole life he was always in meditation. He had no cautiousness about his body. When he was talking about Maya, you see his picture in meditation pose. You will find him like Buddha. He went into Samadhi, the super-conscious state. Even in America many times he went into Samadhi. He used to be fully absorbed. Sometimes he would sit in a tram car in America to go to a particular place for lecture, and he will forget to get down where he wanted to go. He is so fully absorbed in meditation.

44 One day Swamiji was going to deliver his lecture. He came from his room and was going to the lecture room. He came to the door of the lecture room and he again returned and went to his room. He was doing this for three or four times. Now, the devotees who had organized were telling him to come. He will go to his room and was standing before the mirror. The people around him asked what is special today. Swamiji said ‘to day my mind is in a high state that I have forgotten that I have a body. Unless and until I get a body conscious, I will not speak. So I am telling again and again ‘you are body, you are body’. But as soon as I go out of the room, I lose the consciousness. Again I am going to the mirror and say, ‘see here is your body, your body’ to my mind. But again it comes to the highest state. We have to work hard to elevate our mind to that super conscious state and he has to work hard to bring it down to the level so that he can talk to us. From that great height, he has given this great message in these four small books. But it is a gift unopened. Elines Stark says, Swami Vivekananda came – and all the problems of the modern humanity is solved, how to overcome tension, how to get peace, how to get bliss, everything is solved. But unfortunately, the gift is unopened. In India also, still we have not opened the gift. Because we are having lot of problems, it is high time we opened the gift in the form of these four Yogas. I will request you to start reading these four Yogas. I have already told you whatever we had seen in the Gyan Yoga; in Raj Yoga also we had discussed about Author’s preface, we had also discussed about introductory notes, and the first steps. We discussed these briefly but we skip the chapters, the ‘prana, ‘psychic prana’, the control of psychic prana, the prathyaharan dharana, Gyan and Samadhi, etc. we had to skip due to shortage of time.

We have taken only a few aphorisms. Then we looked at Yama and Niyama. We also took a few ‘sutras’, i.e. how to control the mind by ‘abhyas’ and’ vairagya’. We will have to practice for a long time. Some of the aphorisms we have taken but most of the things we had to skip. Then we went for Karma Yoga. In Karma Yoga, the first chapter we skipped, karma in its effect on character. Each is great in its own place. We discussed this in detail with a story of that King and that Sanyasin, that Swayamvar of that princess. Then the Sanyasin is telling the king ‘each is great in his own place, if you want to become a Sanyasi, become a sanyasi like him. For him the most beautiful girl of the whole world is nothing, for him the whole Kingdom of the world is nothing. He has fully renounced everything. He is the full period of renunciation. If you want to become a householder, become the householder like that bird, ready to sacrifice the life for serving others. Between a householder and monk, nobody is superior and nobody is inferior, which we have seen.

The secret of work: non attachment is the main thing. Attachment is the source of all our misery. As long as the attachment is there work cannot be converted into worship. Unattachment does not mean that we will become like walls and animals. Attachment is the source of all our miseries and attachment is the source of all our pleasures also. Swami Vivekananda gave a beautiful solution to this. We must have as much power of attachment as that of detachment. Ready to attach and ready to detach at any moment. That is my ideal. This will come the secret of work, and there the spirit of sacrifice is necessary, unselfishness is necessary. There was the beautiful story of the mongoose turning into half gold. What is duty? By performing the duty which is given to us as ‘Swadharma, only by performing the duty in a proper manner, sincerely, with unselfishness, we can reach the highest, as the household lady, just by performing, by serving her husband, God gives psychic powers, more than that Yogi who was practicing under that tree.

Vyadha, the worst possible action. But then, with this unselfish unattachment he was performing, he read the pinnacle of spirituality and he gave this discourses, which are called Vyadha Gita in Mahabharata……This demonstrates only by performing duty you can reach

45 the highest. That is the supreme benefit of the Karma Yoga. We need not go to the forest or to the caves - wherever we are by practicing whatever duty has been given to us, whatever post, whatever business we are doing, we need not change anything. Wherever we are we can get to the highest by performing the Karma Yoga.

Then we help ourselves not the world. We could not discuss much. But here, the main point that Swamiji has given is that ultimately we will have give up this fanaticism that I am going to change this world. World has been there for so many years, and we gave the beautiful story of the ghost also.

Non attachment: is completely self abnegation. Swamiji says, ultimately it is the non attachment to our own ego. Unless and until we have got self abnegation we will not be able to perform proper Karma Yoga.

Freedom chapter we have skipped. The ideal of Karma Yoga, where Swamiji says, Buddha is the ideal Karma Yogi. He says, if you do not believe in God, does not matter; do good and be good. By that only you will reach the perfection. Buddha did not believe, but he said his heart bleed for a goat which was going to be sacrificed. Do you have that heart, do you feel for others? Try to do good to others, and with that only you will reach the supreme. That is the beauty of Karma Yoga.

Lastly Bhakti Yoga. We discussed this briefly. Swamiji says it is nothing but love to the supreme. The philosophy of Ishwara we did not discuss. Spiritual realization and the aim of Bakthi Yoga also we could not discuss. The need of a Guru we had discussed indirectly that a Guru is a must. For everything you want a Guru, for judo you need a guru, for music you need a guru, for math you need a tutor, when spirituality comes you say you don’t need a Guru. Swami Brahmanandji used to say, when asked do you need a Guru, he said even these days ‘pick pocketers’ have their Guru! We must be very cautious in selecting our Guru. We also discussed this.

Similarly, the four qualities of the disciple. We have discussed all these. Qualification of the aspirant and the teacher……this also we have discussed. God himself comes in the form of incarnations. That has been told.

Mantra – Aum - Aum is a very beautiful word. The whole world was created by a spota and that spota and that initial word is Aum – made of A U M. he has given the importance of chanting AUM.

Worship of substitutes and images the chosen idols. We have talked about ‘ishta devta’ and those who have faith in this worship of the images. They must go about it. Do not worry. If you don’t have faith, do not go. Those who have faith let them go to worship of the images.

Maharaja of Alwar said he has no belief in images. There is a story how he taught him what is the importance of image worship, by telling the Diwanji ‘Spit on the photograph of Maharaja’. You are not able to spit, because it is not a photograph. You are seeing Maharaja in that photograph. Similarly, a devotee sees God in that image. He does not say ‘stone’, I give you flower….Oh, Lord, I give you flower…..Previously he did not believe. He was a member of the Samaj. He had given a declaration that he will not bow down to any image. But after Sri Ramakrishna performed that miracle and he was converted and so he says, images can also be worshipped.

46 The methods and means have been told. Then Parabhakti reaches the highest pinnacle of Bhakti. The preparatory renunciation and Bhakta’s renunciation results from love, automatically it comes. Then he does not bother about all these worldly things. He is full of ‘masti’, full of intoxication of love. It is a ‘parabhakti’. When Parabhakti comes, a new world opens - , or Meerabai, or Narsi Mehta – they are dancing in joy. They are least bothered who tells what……we get so much scared what others will say.

The forms of love - manifestation we skipped. Universal love and how it leads to self surrender. That we discussed a little. The higher knowledge and the higher love one in the true lover. The triangle of love we had discussed. Love knows no fear, no bargaining, no shop keeping, and love knows no rival, whomsoever I am loving, for me he is the highest……

The God of love is his own proof. Human presumptive is the divine ideal of love.

Swamiji was an ideal personality. When he talks about Bhakti Yoga, we will feel is it told by Swami Vivekananda…?. We thought Swamiji was a great rationalist and thinking and arguments and he was a son of a lawyer. He reasons out but here his own true self comes out. He says, Sri Ramakrishna was all, Bhakti without, Gyan within and I, Gyana without and Bhakti within….. full of supreme love. So much so, in his last days, he could not utter the name of Sri Ramakrishna. He used to feel so much sentimental about. So the brother disciples had to be careful that Sri Ramakrishna’s name does not come. He was all Bhakta within, Gyana without. When you read Bhakti Yoga you will come to know what a great Bhakta he was. When you read Gyan Yoga what great spiritual flight, flying high - So he was a Gyani, a Bhaktha, a great Karma Yogi. He has done so much of work, so many lectures he has delivered, so many articles and poems he has written, so much of traveling he has done, so much of work for the good of humanity he did. Not only that, for his demonstration he started Sri Ramakrishna Mission and institution build up. He inspired so many people.

You see the complete works of Swami Vivekananda that itself will show how much work he has done.So many letters he has written, so much conversations, so many lectures on these four Yogas he gave. He was a great Raja Yogi, Karma Yogi, — he was an expert in mediation right from his childhood. Even in America he will go deep into meditation. He will forget about his body. He had to go in front of the mirror to remind that I am the body. On 4th July 1902 in the evening and he was meditating. A Brahmachari was serving him. His last words were “meditate till I call on you”. He himself went on meditation and at the flight of his meditation he went to the other world leaving his body here on this world. He had told Harrick Hamen, it may that I shall find it good to out of this body to cast it off as a disused garment, but I shall not cease to work. I shall inspire men everywhere until the world shall know that it is one with God. So Swamiji is still there in fine form, particularly present in his books. That is why these four books are not books. Swamiji is present here. You can feel his presence when you read this. That is why you get that electric shock, this liveliness. We have got this nectar, this whole package. You need not go anywhere else to get rid of your tension, of getting peace, etc. But of course only reading is not enough. First reading, then we have to meditate on that, think about it, and reason it up. Third, you have to practice. Even a little bit of practice will take us beyond this and will take us to the reality.

A few questions and answers Q & A: [[not transcribed]]]]

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