Mysorean

Advaita says "I am brahma". The body has created all ills. The body makes us ill. We think we are ill if our body is ill. Getting into a body is like gettting into a dense forest thinking I will come out easily. But actually, It is difficult to get out of a dense forest. The entering of a body is equalled to getting into an inaccessible forest. The Atman has entered the perilous body. There is no way to escape the miseries associated with this body.

Anything that is achieved by one man, must be possible to eb attained by everybody. When the awakened soul realizes that he is the infinite soul he realizes that he is the creator of the World. A person who has realized God, sees God in everyone.

For example, there was a lady called Gopalamma (Gopal is Lord Krishna's another name, Amma is mother) who used to live on one end of River Ganga. The other side of which was Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's abode. Gopalamma was a widow ostracized from the society. But she had benevolent in-laws who would give her Rs. 500/- a year towards her livelihood. Gopalamma would donate that to a temple in her neighbourhood and also serve there. In turn, the temple would feed her with two meals per day. She used to stay in a haunted house. Haunted as considered by the local villagers.

One day, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa & a few of his disciples crossed the river and walked into Gopalamma's haunted house. Once Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa entered the house, the ghosts became very restless and went and requested Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa to leave so that they could stay comfortable. When the spiritually enlightened enter, the lesser ghosts couldn't even exist peacefully in His presence. So, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and his disciples left the house. He had not informed the disciples of the incident lest they get scared and create a commotion.

Gopalamma would live in this house peacefully. She was a powerful spiritual person. She would do lots of penance and it helped her gain control over the ghosts. The Ghosts' presence wouldn't bother her at all. Gopalamma attained such heights that she was able to see Lord Krishna everywhere. The Lord would appear in the form of a small child and play with Gopalamma for hours together. Such sessions sometime extended upto months together.

During such sessions, Gopalamma would answer questions from the villagers regarding spirituality and other issues. Lord Krishna would actually answer the questions through Gopalamma. As long as Lord Krishna was there, Gopalamma would be able to answer all the questions. But once the Lord left, Gopalamma would say, "I can't answer anymore. My Lord Krishna has left".

Such is the power of spirituality. The enlightened being feels the oneness with Lord Brahma. This comes to people through hard spiritual exercises. All can escape misery through the knowledge of self.

Do we like whatever we do in our life? For example, if you are living in Mumbai, you have to get up at 4AM and catch the 5.02AM train. Is it enjoyable? Certainly not. This is the misery of our body. When spirituality wakes up, the miseries go away!

(As told by Swami Gautamananda in a discourse on "Brihadaranyaka Upanishad" at Ramakrishna Ashram, Chennai)

Tomorrow: Sloka 14.