Yamaraja and Shiva

'Yamaraja [Lord of death] walked into the presence of Shiva Bhagawan to find the seven [Sapta] great Rishis seated with him. The great Rishis are Paramahamsas [great swans]. Do you want what Paramahamsas are? They are 'mad' people. They are God-mad people. They are sometimes inside God, sometimes out of God, sometimes they even enjoy Maya [God power of illusion/delusion], anything and everything to them is one thing – God. So they are God-mad people. Param means 'supreme' and hamsa - that they are the highest souls, birds that fly all over. They fly up, they fly down, they sit sometimes, they go wherever - they are free. They have the feathers of bhakti [divine love, devotion] and jnana [divine knowledge, wisdom]. They fly everywhere.

So when Yama walked in, he prostrated to Shiva thinking that these five year old boys [the Rishis had taken that form] must prostrate to him. These Rishis are God-conscious – they saw the same thing everywhere, they didn't see Yama, they saw only Shiva. But Yama got very angry, 'They didn't prostrate to me! I'll curse them.' Shiva was smiling. He kept quiet looking at the foolishness of Yama. 'I'll curse and you'll become a dog!' shouted Yama. The seven Rishis became one dog, happily barking away, enjoying itself, wagging its tail. 'Now become a mosquito!' Yama ordered. There was the mosquito whining away, still happy. Whatever form Yama put on them, the Rishis were still happy in that form.

So Shiva Bhagawan said, 'O Yama, don't be foolish! Nothing affects them. Nothing destroys them because they know they can never be destroyed. In whatever form you put them, they will still be God-conscious. They only see one thing in everything – Brahman, Brahman, Brahman [the one universal consciousness]. So what are you cursing? There's no death for them.'

Knowing this, Yamaraja then realises his foolishness and prostrates to the Rishis and asks for forgiveness. They don't mind 'There's nothing to forgive.' They sometimes use natural forms. Without Yama cursing they would take these different forms. They were quite happy, because that's a Lila [divine play].

So Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says there are two aspects in God. The one is Lila and other is Nitya [the 'Absolute' - see Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna]. He coined that term himself. Lila was already in use but he coined Nitya. Lila means that all these names and forms are his play. He is playing through all these names and forms. Then why are we having troubles all the time? First you find out who you are and when you know who you are, then you know who's playing it. Ramakrishna knew who he was therefore he knew who was playing in all these different names and forms.

Nitya means eternal. It is absolute, eternal. Eternal from this point of view that here in the one [Lila], names and forms will apparently change. The other one never changes. The [wet clay] pot can change into a plate, the plate can change into a saucer but the clay itself never changes - Nitya and Lila. So we are caught in the Lila. Nothing bad, divine play, but we don't know it's divine.

Imagine in the darkness you see someone coming, 'Who's that? Look out! My husband is away at present. I'm living alone here, someone must be coming. A lot of money is kept in the house. Please, just close the doors. Call the police'. The police arrive. You find it's just your husband come back. He asks, 'why are you so shocked?' 'Because you're supposed to be away.' 'No, I missed the 'plane, so I came back.' Knowing who he is, the fear goes. Not knowing who he is, then all the money has to be protected. The wife has to be protected, the children have to be protected. God protects all that – don't you worry about it.

Ignorance – just one second of forgetfulness is all it takes for all the fear to come. Do you understand what I'm saying? Just one second of ignorance allows fear to come in. It comes to everybody but some people get rid of it immediately and the others take the whole life. The whole?...life.

Now, coming back to the beginning, following these different laws called sadhana [spiritual practice] and principles, will intensify your longing for God. And when it intensifies the love, then the knowledge will come. And when that knowledge comes you are always free. What knowledge? [Lord] Rama had the knowledge – that this whole world is like a dream from an Absolute point of view. Know that Absolute and know that all this is nothing. It is?...nothing. 'That' is everything. Know that which is all these things. Then it becomes everything. Otherwise this world is nothing. Got it?"