Gospel of Ramakrishna chp 1 to 9

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Chapter 1

 

MASTER AND DISCIPLE

February 1882

M.'s first visit to the Master

IT WAS ON A SUNDAY in spring, a few days after Sri Ramakrishna's birthday, that M.  met him the first time.   Sri Ramakrishna lived at the Kailibari, the temple garden of Mother Kali, on the bank of the Ganges at Dakshineswar.  

M., being at leisure on Sundays, had gone with his friend Sidhu to visit several gardens at Baranagore.   As they were walking in Prasanna Bannerji's garden, Sidhu said: "There is a charming place on the bank of the Ganges where a paramahamsa lives.   Should you like to go there?" M.  assented and they started immediately for the Dakshineswar temple garden.   They arrived at the main gate at dusk and went straight to Sri Ramakrishna's room.   And there they found him seated on a wooden couch, facing the east.  With a smile on his face he was talking of God.  The room was full of people, all seated on the floor, drinking in his words in deep silence. 

M. stood there speechless and looked on.  It was as if he were standing where all the holy places met and as if Sukadeva himself were speaking the word of God, or as if Sri Chaitanya were singing the name and glories of the Lord in Puri with Ramananda, Swarup, and the other devotees. 

Formalities and essentials of religion

Sri Ramakrishna said: "When, hearing the name of Hari or Rāma once, you shed tears and your hair stands on end, then you may know for certain that you do not have to perform such devotions as the sandhya any more.  Then only will you have a right to renounce rituals; or rather, rituals will drop away of themselves.  Then it will be enough if you repeat only the name of Rāma or Hari, or even simply Om." Continuing, he said, "The sandhya merges in the Gayatri, and the Gayatri merges in Om."

M. looked around him with wonder and said to himself: "What a beautiful place! What a charming man! How beautiful his words are! I have no wish to move from this spot." After a few minutes he thought, "Let me see the place first; then I'll come back here and sit down."

As he left the room with Sidhu, he heard the sweet music of the evening service arising in the temple from gong, bell, drum, and cymbal.  He could hear music from the nahabat, too, at the south end of the garden.  The sounds travelled over the Ganges, floating away and losing themselves in the distance.  A soft spring wind was blowing, laden with the fragrance of flowers; the moon had just appeared.  It was as if nature and man together were preparing for the evening worship.  M. and Sidhu visited the twelve Siva temples, the Radhakanta temple, and the temple of Bhavatarini.  And as M. watched the services before the images his heart was filled with joy. 

On the way back to Sri Ramakrishna's room the two friends talked.  Sidhu told M. that the temple garden had been founded by Rani Rasmani.  He said that God was worshipped there daily as Kali, Krishna, and Siva, and that within the gates sadhus and beggars were fed.  When they reached Sri Ramakrishna's door again, they found it shut, and Brinde, the Maid, standing outside.  M., who had been trained in English manners and would not enter a room without permission, asked her, "Is the holy man in?" Brinde replied, "Yes he's in the room."

M: "How long has he lived here?"

BRINDE: "Oh, he has been here a long time."

M: "Does he read many books?"

BRINDE: "Books? Oh, dear no! They're all on his tongue."

M. had just finished his studies in college.  It amazed him to hear that Sri Ramakrishna read no books.   

M: "Perhaps it is time for his evening worship.  May we go into the room? Will you tell him we are anxious to see him?"

BRINDE: "Go right in, children.  Go in and sit down."

Entering the room, they found Sri Ramakrishna alone, seated on the wooden couch.  Incense had just been burnt and all the doors were shut.  As he entered, M. with folded hands saluted the Master.  Then, at the Master's bidding, he and Sidhu sat on the floor.  Sri Ramakrishna asked them: "Where do you live? What is your occupation? Why have you come to Baranagore?" M. answered the questions, but he noticed that now and then the Master seemed to become absent-minded.  Later he learnt that this mood is called bhava, ecstasy.  It is like the state of the angler who has been sitting with his rod: the fish comes and swallows the bait, and the float begins to tremble; the angler is on the alert; he grips the rod and watches the float steadily and eagerly; he will not speak to anyone.  Such was the state of Sri Ramakrishna's mind.  Later M. heard, and himself noticed, that Sri Ramakrishna would often go into this mood after dusk, sometimes becoming totally unconscious of the outer world.   

M: "Perhaps you want to perform your evening worship.  In that case may we take our leave?"

SRI RAMAKRISHNA (still in ecstasy): "No-evening worship? No, it is not exactly that."

After a little conversation M. saluted the Master and took his leave.  "Come again", Sri Ramakrishna said. 

On his way home M. began to wonder: "Who is this serene-looking man who is drawing me back to him? Is it possible for a man to be great without being a scholar? How wonderful it is! I should like to see him again.  He himself said, 'Come again.' I shall go tomorrow or the day after."

Second visit

M.'s second visit to Sri Ramakrishna took place on the southeast verandah at eight o'clock in the morning.  The Master was about to be shaved, the barber having just arrived.  As the cold season still lingered he had put on a moleskin shawl bordered with red.  Seeing M., the Master said: "So you have come.  That's good.  Sit down here." He was smiling.  He stammered a little when he spoke. 

SRI RAMAKRISHNA (to M.): "Where do you live?"

M: "In Calcutta, sir."

SRI RAMAKRISHNA: "Where are you staying here?"

M: "I am at Baranagore at my older sister's-Ishan Kaviraj's house."

SRI RAMAKRISHNA: "Oh, at Ishan's? Well, how is Keshab now? He was very ill."

M: "Indeed, I have heard so too, but I believe he is well now."

Master's love for Keshab

SRI RAMAKRISHNA: "I made a vow to worship the Mother with green coconut and sugar on Keshab's recovery.  Sometimes, in the early hours of the morning, I would wake up and cry before Her: 'Mother, please make Keshab well again.  If Keshab doesn't live, whom shall I talk with when I go to Calcutta?' And so it was that I resolved to offer Her the green coconut and sugar.   

"Tell me, do you know of a certain Mr.  Cook who has come to Calcutta? Is it true that he is giving lectures? Once Keshab took me on a steamer, and this Mr.  Cook, too  was in the party."

M: "Yes, sir, I have heard something like that; but I have never been to his lectures.  I don't know much about him."

Sri Ramakrishna on M.'s marriage

SRI RAMAKRISHNA: "Pratap's brother came here.  He stayed a few days.  He had nothing to do and said he wanted to live here.  I came to know that he had left his wife and children with his father-in-law.  He has a whole brood of them! So I took him to task.  Just fancy! He is the father of so many children! Will people from the neighbourhood feed them and bring them up? He isn't even ashamed that someone else is feeding his wife and children, and that they have been left at his father-in-law's house.  I scolded him very hard and asked him to look for a job.  Then he was willing to leave here. 

"Are you married?"

M: "Yes, sir."

SRI RAMAKRISHNA (with a shudder): "Oh, Ramlal! Alas, he is married!"

Like one guilty of a terrible offence, M. sat motionless, his eyes fixed on the ground.  He thought, "Is it such a wicked thing to get married?"

The Master continued, "Have you any children?"

M. this time could hear the beating of his own heart.  He whispered in a trembling voice, "Yes, sir, I have children."

Very sadly Sri Ramakrishna said, "Ah me! He even has children!"

Thus rebuked M. sat speechless.  His pride had received a blow.  After a few minutes Sri Ramakrishna looked at him kindly and said affectionately: "You see, you have certain good signs.  I know them by looking at a person's forehead, his eyes, and so on.  Tell me, now, what kind of person is your wife? Has she spiritual attributes, or is she under the power of avidya?"

M: "She is all right.  But I am afraid she is ignorant."

MASTER (with evident displeasure): "And you are a man of knowledge!"

M. had yet to learn the distinction between knowledge and ignorance.  Up to this time his conception had been that one got knowledge from books and schools.  Later on he gave up this false conception.  He was taught that to know God is knowledge, and not to know Him, ignorance.  When Sri Ramakrishna exclaimed, "And you are a man of knowledge!", M.'s ego was again badly shocked.

God with and without form

MASTER: "Well, do you believe in God with form or without form?"

M., rather surprised, said to himself: "How can one believe in God without form when one believes in God with form? And if one believes in God without form, how can one believe that God has a form? Can these two contradictory ideas be true at the same time? Can a white liquid like milk be black?"

M: "Sir, I like to think of God as formless."

MASTER: "Very good.  It is enough to have faith in either aspect.  You believe in God without form; that is quite all right.  But never for a moment think that this alone is true and all else false.  Remember that God with form is just as true as God without form.  But hold fast to your own conviction."

The assertion that both are equally true amazed M.; he had never learnt this from his books.  Thus his ego received a third blow; but since it was not yet completely crushed, he came forward to argue with the Master a little more.   

God and the clay image

M: "Sir, suppose one believes in God with form.  Certainly He is not the clay image!"

MASTER (interrupting): "But why clay? It is an image of Spirit."

M. could not quite understand the significance of this "image of Spirit".  "But, sir," he said to the Master, "one should explain to those who worship the clay image that it is not God, and that, while worshipping it, they should have God in view and not the clay image.  One should not worship clay."

God the only real teacher

MASTER (sharply): "That's the one hobby of you Calcutta people - giving lectures and bringing others to the light! Nobody ever stops to consider how to get the light himself.  Who are you to teach others? 

"He who is the Lord of the Universe will teach everyone.  He alone teaches us, who has created this universe; who has made the sun and moon, men and beasts, and all other beings; who has provided means for their sustenance; who has given children parents and endowed them with love to bring them up.  The Lord has done so many things - will He not show people the way to worship Him? If they need teaching, then He will be the Teacher.  He is our Inner Guide.   

"Suppose there is an error in worshipping the clay image; doesn't God know that through it He alone is being invoked? He will he pleased with that very worship.  Why should you get a headache over it? You had better try for knowledge and devotion yourself."

This time M. felt that his ego was completely crushed.  He now said to himself: "Yes, he has spoken the truth.  What need is there for me to teach others? Have I known God? Do I really love Him? 'I haven't room enough for myself in my bed, and I am inviting my friend to share it with me!' I know nothing about God, yet I am trying to teach others.  What a shame! How foolish I am! This is not mathematics or history or literature, that one can teach it to others.  No, this is the deep mystery of God.  What he says appeals to me."

This was M.'s first argument with the Master, and happily his last. 

MASTER: "You were talking of worshipping the clay image.  Even if the image is made of clay, there is need for that sort of worship.  God Himself has provided different forms of worship.  He who is the Lord of the Universe has arranged all these forms to suit different men in different stages of knowledge. 

"The mother cooks different dishes to suit the stomachs of her different children.  Suppose she has five children.  If there is a fish to cook, she prepares various dishes from it - pilau, pickled fish, fried fish, and so on - to suit their different tastes and powers of digestion. 

"Do you understand me?"

Need of holy company & Meditation in solitude

M. (humbly): "Yes, sir.  How, sir, may we fix our minds on God?"

MASTER: "Repeat God's name and sing His glories, and keep holy company; and now and then visit God's devotees and holy men.  The mind cannot dwell on God if it is immersed day and night in worldliness, in worldly duties and responsibilities; it is most necessary to go into solitude now and then and think of God.  To fix the mind on God is very difficult, in the beginning, unless one practises meditation in solitude.  When a tree is young it should be fenced all around; otherwise it may be destroyed by cattle. 

"To meditate, you should withdraw within yourself or retire to a secluded corner or to the forest.  And you should always discriminate between the Real and the unreal.  God alone is real, the Eternal Substance; all else is unreal, that is, impermanent.  By discriminating thus, one should shake off impermanent objects from the mind."

God and worldly duties

M. (humbly):"How ought we to live in the world?"

MASTER: "Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God.  Live with all - with wife and children, father and mother - and serve them.  Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you. 

"A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village.  She brings up her Master's children as if they were her own.  She even speaks of them as 'my Rāma' or 'my Hari'.  But in her own mind she knows very well that they do not belong to her at all. 

"The tortoise moves about in the water.  But can you guess where her thoughts are? There on the bank, where her eggs are lying.  Do all your duties in the world, but keep your mind on God. 

"If you enter the world without first cultivating love for God, you will be entangled more and more.  You will be overwhelmed with its danger, its grief, its sorrows.  And the more you think of worldly things, the more you will be attached to them. 

"First rub your hands with oil and then break open the jack-fruit; otherwise they will be smeared with its sticky milk.  First secure the oil of divine love, and then set your hands to the duties of the world. 

"But one must go into solitude to attain this divine love.  To get butter from milk you must let it set into curd in a secluded spot; if it is too much disturbed, milk won't turn into curd.  Next, you must put aside all other duties, sit in a quiet spot, and churn the curd.  Only then do you get butter.

"Further, by meditating on God in solitude the mind acquires knowledge, dispassion, and devotion.  But the very same mind goes downward if it dwells in the world.  In the world there is only one thought: 'woman and gold'.2

"The world is water and the mind milk.  If you pour milk into water they become one; you cannot find the pure milk any more.  But turn the milk into curd and churn it into butter.  Then, when that butter is placed in water, it will float.  So, practise spiritual discipline in solitude and obtain the butter of knowledge and love.  Even if you keep that butter in the water of the world the two will not mix.  The butter will float. 

Practice of discrimination

"Together with this, you must practise discrimination.  'Woman and gold' is impermanent.  God is the only Eternal Substance.  What does a man get with money? Food, clothes, and a dwelling-place - nothing more.  You cannot realize God with its help.  Therefore money can never be the goal of life.  That is the process of discrimination.  Do you understand?"

M: "Yes, sir.  I recently read a Sanskrit play called Prabodha Chandrodaya.  It deals with discrimination."

MASTER: "Yes, discrimination about objects.  Consider - what is there in money or in a beautiful body? Discriminate and you will find that even the body of a beautiful woman consists of bones, flesh, fat, and other disagreeable things.  Why should a man give up God and direct his attention to such things? Why should a man forget God for their sake?"

How to see God

M: "Is it possible to see God?"

MASTER: "Yes, certainly.  Living in solitude now and then, repeating God's name and singing His glories, and discriminating between the Real and the unreal - these are the means to employ to see Him."

Longing and yearning

M: "Under what conditions does one see God?"

MASTER: "Cry to the Lord with an intensely yearning heart and you will certainly see Him.  People shed a whole jug of tears for wife and children.  They swim in tears for money.  But who weeps for God? Cry to Him with a real cry."

The Master sang:

       Cry to your Mother Syama , with a real cry, O mind!
        And how can She hold Herself from you?
        How can Syama stay away?   
        How can your Mother Kali hold Herself away?

        O mind, if you are in earnest, bring Her an offering
        Of bel-leaves and hibiscus flowers;
        Lay at Her feet your offering
        And with it mingle the fragrant sandal-paste of Love.

Continuing, he said: "Longing is like the rosy dawn.  After the dawn out comes the sun.  Longing is followed by the vision of God. 

"God reveals Himself to a devotee who feels drawn to Him by the combined force of these three attractions: the attraction of worldly possessions for the worldly man, the child's attraction for its mother, and the husband's attraction for the chaste wife.  If one feels drawn to Him by the combined force of these three attractions, then through it one can attain Him. 

"The point is, to love God even as the mother loves her child, the chaste wife her husband, and the worldly man his wealth.  Add together these three forces of love, these three powers of attraction, and give it all to God.  Then you will certainly see Him. 

"It is necessary to pray to Him with a longing heart.  The kitten knows only how to call its mother, crying, 'Mew, mew!' It remains satisfied wherever its mother puts it.  And the mother cat puts the kitten sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes on the floor, and sometimes on the bed.  When it suffers it cries only, 'Mew, mew!' That's all it knows.  But as soon as the mother hears this cry, wherever she may be; she comes to the kitten."

Third visit

It was Sunday afternoon when M. came on his third visit to the Master.  He had been profoundly impressed by his first two visits to this wonderful man.  He had been thinking of the Master constantly, and of the utterly simple way he explained the deep truths of the spiritual life.  Never before had he met such a man. 

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch.  The room was filled with devotees,3  who had taken advantage of the holiday to come to see the Master.  M. had not yet become acquainted with any of them; so he took his seat in a corner.  The Master smiled as he talked with the devotees. 

Narendra

He addressed his words particularly to a young man of nineteen, named Narendranath, who was a college student and frequented the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.  His eyes were bright, his words were full of spirit, and he had the look of a lover of God. 

How the spiritually minded should look upon the worldly

M. guessed that the conversation was about worldly men, who look down on those who aspire to spiritual things.  The Master was talking about the great number of such people in the world, and about how to deal with them. 

MASTER (to Narendra): "How do you feel about it? Worldly people say all kinds of things about the spiritually minded.  But look here! When an elephant moves along the street, any number of curs and other small animals may bark and cry after it; but the elephant doesn't even look back at them.  If people speak ill of you, what will you think of them?"

NARENDRA: "I shall think that dogs are barking at me."

God in every being

MASTER (Smiling): "Oh, no! You mustn't go that far, my child! (Laughter).  God dwells in all beings.  But you may be intimate only with good people; you must keep away from the evil-minded.  God is even in the tiger; but you cannot embrace the tiger on that account.  (Laughter).  You may say, 'Why run away from a tiger, which is also a manifestation of God?' The answer to that is: 'Those who tell you to run away are also manifestations of God - and why shouldn't you listen to them?'

Parable of the "elephant God"

"Let me tell you a story.  In a forest there lived a holy man who had many disciples.  One day he taught them to see God in all beings and, knowing this, to bow low before them all.  A disciple went to the forest to gather wood for the sacrificial fire.  Suddenly he heard an outcry: 'Get out of the way! A mad elephant is coming!' All but the disciple of the holy man took to their heels.  He reasoned that the elephant was also God in another form.  Then why should he run away from it? He stood still, bowed before the animal, and began to sing its praises.  The mahut of the elephant was shouting: 'Run away! Run away!' But the disciple didn't move.  The animal seized him with its trunk, cast him to one side, and went on its way.  Hurt and bruised, the disciple lay unconscious on the ground.  Hearing what had happened, his teacher and his brother disciples came to him and carried him to the hermitage.  With the help of some medicine he soon regained consciousness.  Someone asked him, 'You knew the elephant was coming - why didn't you leave the place?' 'But', he said, 'our teacher has told us that God Himself has taken all these forms, of animals as well as men.  Therefore, thinking it was only the elephant God that was coming, I didn't run away.' At this the teacher said: 'Yes, my child, it is true that the elephant God was coming; but the mahut God forbade you to stay there.  Since all are manifestations of God, why didn't you trust the mahut's words? You should have heeded the words of the mahut God.' (Laughter)

"It is said in the scriptures that water is a form of God.  But some water is fit to be used for worship, some water for washing the face, and some only for washing plates or dirty linen.  This last sort cannot be used for drinking or for a holy purpose.  In like manner, God undoubtedly dwells in the hearts of all - holy and unholy, righteous and unrighteous; but a man should not have dealings with the unholy, the wicked, the impure.  He must not be intimate with them.  With some of them he may exchange words, but with others he shouldn't go even that far.  He should keep aloof from such people."

How to deal with the wicked

A DEVOTEE: "Sir, if a wicked man is about to do harm, or actually does so, should we keep quiet then?"

MASTER: "A man living in society should make a show of tamas to protect himself from evil-minded people.  But he should not harm anybody in anticipation of harm likely to be done him. 

Parable of the snake

"Listen to a story.  Some cowherd boys used to tend their cows in a meadow where a terrible poisonous snake lived.  Everyone was on the alert for fear of it.  One day a brahmachari was going along the meadow.  The boys ran to him and said: 'Revered sir, please don't go that way.  A venomous snake lives over there.' 'What of it, my good children?' said the brahmachari.  'I am not afraid of the snake.  I know some mantras.' So saying, he continued on his way along the meadow.  But the cowherd boys, being afraid, did not accompany him.  In the mean time the snake moved swiftly toward him with upraised hood.  As soon as it came near, he recited a mantra, and the snake lay at his feet like an earthworm.  The brahmachari said: 'Look here.  Why do you go about doing harm? Come, I will give you a holy word.  By repeating it you will learn to love God.  Ultimately you will realize Him and so get rid of your violent nature.' Saying this, he taught the snake a holy word and initiated him into spiritual life.  The snake bowed before the teacher and said, 'Revered sir, how shall I practise spiritual discipline?' 'Repeat that sacred word', said the teacher, 'and do no harm to anybody'.  As he was about to depart, the brahmachari said, 'I shall see you again.'

"Some days passed and the cowherd boys noticed that the snake would not bite.  They threw stones at it.  Still it showed no anger; it behaved as if it were an earthworm.  One day one of the boys came close to it, caught it by the tail, and, whirling it round and round, dashed it again and again on the ground and threw it away.  The snake vomited blood and became unconscious.  It was stunned.  It could not move.  So, thinking it dead, the boys went their way. 

"Late at night the snake regained consciousness.  Slowly and with great difficulty it dragged itself into its hole; its bones were broken and it could scarcely move.  Many days passed.  The snake became a mere skeleton covered with a skin.  Now and then, at night, it would come out in search of food.  For fear of the boys it would not leave its hole during the day-time.  Since receiving the sacred word from the teacher, it had given up doing harm to others.  It maintained its life on dirt, leaves, or the fruit that dropped from the trees. 

"About a year later the brahmachari came that way again and asked after the snake.  The cowherd boys told him that it was dead.  But he couldn't believe them.  He knew that the snake would not die before attaining the fruit of the holy word with which it had been initiated.  He found his way to the place and, searching here and there, called it by the name he had given it.  Hearing the teacher's voice, it came out of its hole and bowed before him with great reverence.  'How are you?' asked the brahmachari.  'I am well, sir', replied the snake.  'But', the teacher asked, 'why are you so thin?' The snake replied: 'Revered sir, you ordered me not to harm any body.  So I have been living only on leaves and fruit.  Perhaps that has made me thinner.'

"The snake had developed the quality of sattva; it could not be angry with anyone.  It had totally forgotten that the cowherd boys had almost killed it. 

"The brahmachari said: 'It can't be mere want of food that has reduced you to this state.  There must be some other reason.  Think a little.' Then the snake remembered that the boys had dashed it against the ground.  It said: 'Yes, revered sir, now I remember.  The boys one day dashed me violently against the ground.  They are ignorant, after all.  They didn't realize what a great change had come over my mind.  How could they know I wouldn't bite or harm anyone?' The brahmachari exclaimed: 'What a shame! You are such a fool! You don't know how to protect yourself.  I asked you not to bite, but I didn't forbid you to hiss.  Why didn't you scare them by hissing?'

"So you must hiss at wicked people.  You must frighten them lest they should do you harm.  But never inject your venom into them.  One must not injure others. 

"In this creation of God there is a variety of things: men, animals, trees, plants.  Among the animals some are good, some bad.  There are ferocious animals like the tiger.  Some trees bear fruit sweet as nectar, and others bear fruit that is poisonous.  Likewise, among human beings, there are the good and the wicked, the holy and the unholy.  There are some who are devoted to God, and others who are attached to the world. 

Four classes of men

"Men may be divided into four classes: those bound by the fetters of the world, the seekers after liberation, the liberated, and the ever-free. 

"Among the ever-free we may count sages like Narada.  They live in the world for the good of others, to teach men spiritual truth. 

"Those in bondage are sunk in worldliness and forgetful of God.  Not even by mistake do they think of God. 

"The seekers after liberation want to free themselves from attachment to the world.  Some of them succeed and others do not. 

"The liberated souls, such as the sadhus and mahatmas, are not entangled in the world, in 'woman and gold'.  Their minds are free from worldliness.  Besides, they always meditate on the Lotus Feet of God. 

"Suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch fish.  Some fish are so clever that they are never caught in the net.  They are like the ever-free.  But most of the fish are entangled in the net.  Some of them try to free themselves from it, and they are like those who seek liberation.  But not all the fish that struggle succeed.  A very few do jump out of the net, making a big splash in the water.  Then the fishermen shout, 'Look! There goes a big one!' But most of the fish caught in the net cannot escape, nor do they make any effort to get out.  On the contrary, they burrow into the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there quietly, thinking, 'We need not fear any more; we are quite safe here.' But the poor things do not know that the fishermen will drag them out with the net.  These are like the men bound to the world. 

"The bound souls are tied to the world by the fetters of 'woman and gold'.  They are bound hand and foot.  Thinking that 'woman and gold' will make them happy and give them security, they do not realize that it will lead them to annihilation.  When a man thus bound to the world is about to die, his wife asks, 'You are about to go; but what have you done for me?' Again, such is his attachment to the things of the world that, when he sees the lamp burning brightly, he says: 'Dim the light.  Too much oil is being used.' And he is on his death-bed!

"The bound souls never think of God.  If they get any leisure they indulge in idle gossip and foolish talk, or they engage in fruitless work.  If you ask one of them the reason, he answers, 'Oh, I cannot keep still; so I am making a hedge.' When time hangs heavy on their hands they perhaps start playing cards."

There was deep silence in the room. 

Redeeming power of faith

A DEVOTEE: "Sir, is there no help, then, for such a worldly person?"

MASTER: "Certainly there is.  From time to time he should live in the company of holy men, and from time to time go into solitude to meditate on God.  Furthermore, he should practise discrimination and pray to God, 'Give me faith and devotion.' Once a person has faith he has achieved everything.  There is nothing greater than faith. 

(To Kedar) "You must have heard about the tremendous power of faith.  It is said in the purana that Rāma, who was God Himself - the embodiment of Absolute Brahman - had to build a bridge to cross the sea to Ceylon.  But Hanuman, trusting in Rama's name, cleared the sea in one jump and reached the other side.  He had no need of a bridge.  (All laugh)

"Once a man was about to cross the sea.  Bibhishana wrote Rama's name on a leaf, tied it in a corner of the man's wearing-cloth, and said to him: 'Don't be afraid.  Have faith and walk on the water.  But look here - the moment you lose faith you will be drowned.' The man was walking easily on the water.  Suddenly he had an intense desire to see what was tied in his cloth.  He opened it and found only a leaf with the name of Rāma written on it.  'What is this?' he thought.  'Just the name of Rāma!' As soon as doubt entered his mind he sank under the water. 
    "If a man has faith in God, then even if he has committed the most heinous sins - such as killing a cow, a brahmin, or a woman - he will certainly be saved through his faith.  Let him only say to God, 'O Lord, I Will not repeat such an action', and he need not be afraid of anything."

When he had said this, the Master sang:

If only I can pass away repeating Durga's name,
How canst Thou then, O Blessed One,
Withhold from me deliverance,
Wretched though I may be?
1 may have stolen a drink of wine, or killed a child unborn,
Or slain a woman or a cow,
Or even caused a brahmin's death;
But, though it all be true,
Nothing of this can make me feel the least uneasiness;
For through the power of Thy sweet name
My wretched soul may still aspire 
Even to Brahmanhood.

Parable of the homa bird

Pointing to Narendra, the Master said: "You all see this boy.  He behaves that way here.  A naughty boy seems very gentle when with his father.  But he is quite another person when he plays in the chandni.  Narendra and people of his type belong to the class of the ever-free.  They are never entangled in the world.  When they grow a little older they feel the awakening of inner consciousness and go directly toward God.  They come to the world only to teach others.  They never care for anything of the world.  They are never attached to 'woman and gold'.

"The Vedas speak of the homa bird.  It lives high up in the sky and there it lays its egg.  As soon as the egg is laid it begins to fall; but it is so high up that it continues to fall for many days.  As it falls it hatches, and the chick falls.  As the chick falls its eyes open; it grows wings.  As soon as its eyes open, it realizes that it is falling and will be dashed to pieces on touching the earth.  Then it at once shoots up toward the mother bird high in the sky."

At this point Narendra left the room.  Kedar, Prankrishna, M., and many others remained. 

Master praises Narendra

MASTER: "You see, Narendra excels in singing, playing on instruments, study, and everything.  The other day he had a discussion with Kedar and tore his arguments to shreds.  (All laugh.)

(To M.) "Is there any book in English on reasoning?"

M: "Yes, sir, there is.  It is called Logic."

MASTER: "Tell me what it says."

M. was a little embarrassed.  He said: "One part of the book deals with deduction from the general to the particular.  For example: All men are mortal.  Scholars are men.  Therefore scholars are mortal.  Another part deals with the method of reasoning from the particular to the general.  For example: This crow is black.  That crow is black.  The crows we see everywhere are black.  Therefore all crows are black.  But there may be a fallacy in a conclusion arrived at in this way; for on inquiry one may find a white crow in some country.  There is another illustration: If there is rain, there is, or has been, a cloud.  Therefore rain comes from a cloud.  Still another example: This man has thirty-two teeth.  That man has thirty-two teeth.  All the men we see have thirty-two teeth.  Therefore men have thirty-two teeth.  English logic deals with such inductions and deductions."

Sri Ramakrishna barely heard these words.  While listening he became absent-minded.  So the conversation did not proceed far.   

When the meeting broke up, the devotees sauntered in the temple garden.  M. went in the direction of the Panchavati.  It was about five o'clock in the afternoon.  After a while he returned to the Master's room.  There, on the small north verandah, he witnessed an amazing sight. 

Sri Ramakrishna was standing still, surrounded by a few devotees, and Narendra was singing.  M. had never heard anyone except the Master sing so sweetly.  When he looked at Sri Ramakrishna he was struck with wonder; for the Master stood motionless, with eyes transfixed.  He seemed not even to breathe.  A devotee told M. that the Master was in samadhi.  M. had never before seen or heard of such a thing.  Silent with wonder, he thought: "Is it possible for a man to be so oblivious of the outer world in the consciousness of God? How deep his faith and devotion must be to bring about such a state!"

Narendra was singing:

Meditate, O my mind, on the Lord Hari,
The Stainless One, Pure Spirit through and through. 
How peerless is the Light that in Him shines!
How soul-bewitching is His wondrous form!
How dear is He to all His devotees!

Ever more beauteous in fresh-blossoming love
That shames the splendour of a million moons,
Like lightning gleams the glory of His form,
Raising erect the hair for very joy. 

The Master shuddered when this last line was sung.  His hair stood on end, and tears of joy streamed down his cheeks.  Now and then his lips parted in a smile.  Was he seeing the peerless beauty of God, "that shames the splendour of a million moons"? Was this the vision of God, the Essence of Spirit? How much austerity and discipline, how much faith and devotion, must be necessary for such a vision!

The song went on:

Worship His feet in the lotus of your heart;
With mind serene and eyes made radiant
With heavenly love, behold that matchless sight. 

Again that bewitching smile.  The body motionless as before, the eyes half Shut, as if beholding a strange inner vision. 

The song drew to a close.  Narendra sang the last lines:

Caught in the spell of His love's ecstasy,
Immerse yourself for evermore, O mind"
In Him who is Pure Knowledge and Pure Bliss. 

The sight of the samadhi, and the divine bliss he had witnessed, left an indelible impression on M.'s mind.  He returned home deeply moved.  Now and then he could hear within himself the echo of those soul-intoxicating lines:

Immerse yourself for evermore, O mind, 
In Him who is Pure Knowledge and Pure Bliss. 

Fourth visit

The next day, too, was a holiday for M. He arrived at Dakshineswar at three o'clock in the afternoon.  Sri Ramakrishna was in his room; Narendra, Bhavanath, and a few other devotees were sitting on a mat spread on the floor.  They were all young men of nineteen or twenty.  Seated on the small couch, Sri Ramakrishna was talking with them and smiling. 

No sooner had M. entered the room than the Master laughed aloud and said to the boys, "There! He has come again." They all joined in the laughter.  M. bowed low before him and took a seat.  Before this he had saluted the Master with folded hands, like one with an English education.  But that day he learnt to fall down at his feet in orthodox Hindu fashion. 

The peacock and the opium

Presently the Master explained the cause of his laughter to the devotees, He said: "A man once fed a peacock with a pill of opium at four o'clock in the afternoon.  The next day, exactly at that time, the peacock came back.  It had felt the intoxication of the drug and returned just in time to have another dose."(All laugh.)

M. thought this a very apt illustration.  Even at home he had been unable to banish the thought of Sri Ramakrishna for a moment.  His mind was constantly at Dakshineswar and he had counted the minutes until he should go again. 

In the mean time the Master was having great fun with the boys, treating them as if they were his most intimate friends.  Peals of side-splitting laughter filled the room, as if it were a mart of joy.  The whole thing was a revelation to M. He thought: "Didn't I see him only yesterday intoxicated with God? Wasn't he swimming then in the Ocean of Divine Love - a sight I had never seen before? And today the same person is behaving like an ordinary man! Wasn't it he who scolded me on the first day of my coming here? Didn't he admonish me, saying, 'And you are a man of knowledge!'? Wasn't it he who said to me that God with form is as true as God without form? Didn't he tell me that God alone is real and all else illusory? Wasn't it he who advised me to live in the world unattached, like a maidservant in a rich man's house?"

Sri Ramakrishna was having great fun with the young devotees; now and then he glanced at M. He noticed that M. sat in silence.  The Master said to Ramlal: "You see, he is a little advanced in years, and therefore somewhat serious.  He sits quiet while the youngsters are making merry." M. was then about twenty-eight years old. 

Hanuman's devotion to Rāma

The conversation drifted to Hanuman, whose picture hung on the wall in the Master's room. 

Sri Ramakrishna said: "Just imagine Hanuman's state of mind.  He didn't care for money, honour, creature comforts, or anything else.  He longed only for God.  When he was running away with the heavenly weapon that had been secreted in the crystal pillar, Mandodari began to tempt him with various fruits so that he might come down and drop the weapon.5 But he couldn't be tricked so easily.  In reply to her persuasions he sang this song:

Am I in need of fruit? 
I have the Fruit that makes this life
Fruitful indeed.  Within my heart
The Tree of Rāma grows,
Bearing salvation for its fruit. 

Under the Wish-fulfilling Tree
Of Rāma do I sit at ease,
Plucking whatever fruit I will.
But if you speak of fruit -
No beggar, I, for common fruit. 
Behold, I go,
Leaving a bitter fruit for you."

As Sri Ramakrishna was singing the song he went into samadhi.  Again the half-closed eyes and motionless body that one sees in his photograph.  Just a minute before, the devotees had been making merry in his company.  Now all eyes were riveted on him.  Thus for the second time M. saw the Master in samadhi. 

After a long time the Master came back to ordinary consciousness.  His face lighted up with a smile, and his body relaxed; his senses began to function in a normal way.  He shed tears of joy as he repeated the holy name of Rāma.  M. wondered whether this very saint was the person who a few minutes earlier had been behaving like a child of five. 

The Master said to Narendra and M., "I should like to hear you speak and argue in English." They both laughed.  But they continued to talk in their mother tongue.  It was impossible for M. to argue any more before the Master.  Though Ramakrishna insisted, they did not talk in English. 

At five o'clock in the afternoon all the devotees except Narendra and M. took leave of  the Master.  As M. was walking in the temple garden, he suddenly came upon the Master talking to Narendra on the bank of the goose-pond.  Sri Ramakrishna said to Narendra: "Look here.  Come a little more often.  You are a new-comer.  On first acquaintance people visit each other quite often, as is the case with a lover and his sweetheart.  (Narendra and M. laugh.) So please come, won't you?"

Narendra, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, was very particular about his promises.  He said with a smile, "Yes, sir, I shall try."

As they were returning to the Master's room, Sri Ramakrishna said to M.: "When peasants go to market to buy bullocks for their ploughs, they can easily tell the good from the bad by touching their tails.  On being touched there, some meekly lie down on the ground.  The peasants recognize that these are without mettle and so reject them.  They select only those bullocks that frisk about and show spirit when their tails are touched.  Narendra is like a bullock of this latter class.  He is full of spirit within."

The Master smiled as he said this, and continued: "There are some people who have no grit whatever.  They are like flattened rice soaked in milk - soft and mushy.  No inner strength!"

It was dusk.  The Master was meditating on God.  He said to M.: "Go and talk to Narendra.  Then tell me what you think of him."

Evening worship was over in the temples.  M. met Narendra on the bank of the Ganges and they began to converse.  Narendra told M. about his studying in college, his being a member of the Brahmo Samaj, and so on. 

It was now late in the evening and time for M.'s departure; but he felt reluctant to go and instead went in search of Sri Ramakrishna.  He had been fascinated by the Master's singing and wanted to hear more.  At last he found the Master pacing alone in the natmandir in front of the Kali temple.  A lamp was burning in the temple on either side of the image of the Divine Mother.  The single lamp in the spacious natmandir blended light and darkness into a kind of mystic twilight, in which the figure of the Master could be dimly seen. 

M. had been enchanted by the Master's sweet music.  With some hesitation he asked him whether there would be any more singing that evening.  "No, not tonight", said Sri Ramakrishna after a little reflection.  Then, as if remembering something, he added: "But I'm going soon to Balarām Bose's house in Calcutta.  Come there and you'll hear me sing."   M. agreed to go. 

MASTER.  "Do you know Balarām Bose?"

M: "No, sir.  I don't."

MASTER: "He lives in Bosepara."

M: "Well, sir, I shall find him."

As Sri Ramakrishna walked up and down the hall with M., he said to him: "Let me ask you something.  What do you think of me?"

M. remained silent.  Again Sri Ramakrishna asked: "What do you think of me? How many annas of knowledge of God have I?"

M: "I don't understand what you mean by 'annas'.  But of this I am sure: I have never before seen such knowledge, ecstatic love, faith in God, renunciation, and catholicity anywhere."

The Master laughed. 

M. bowed low before him and took his leave.  He had gone as far as the main gate of the temple garden when he suddenly remembered something and came back to Sri Ramakrishna, who was still in the natmandir.  In the dim light the Master, all alone, was pacing the hall, rejoicing in the Self as the lion lives and roams alone in the forest. 

In silent wonder M. surveyed that great soul. 

MASTER (to M.): "What makes you come back?"

M: "Perhaps the house you asked me to go to belongs to a rich man.  They may not let me in.  I think I had better not go.  I would rather meet you here."

MASTER: "Oh, no! Why should you think that? Just mention my name.  Say that you want to see me; then someone will take you to me."

M. nodded his assent and, after saluting the Master, took his leave. 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 IN THE COMPANY OF DEVOTEES

March 11, 1882

Master at Balaram's house

ABOUT EIGHT O'CLOCK in the morning Sri Ramakrishna went as planned to Balaram Bose's house in Calcutta. It was the day of the Dolayatra. Ram, Manomohan, Rakhal, Nityagopal, and other devotees were with him. M., too, came, as bidden by the Master.

 

Devotees in trance

The devotees and the Master sang and danced in a state of divine fervour. Several of them were in an ecstatic mood. Nityagopal's chest glowed with the upsurge of emotion, and Rakhal lay on the floor in ecstasy, completely unconscious of the world. The Master put his hand on Rakhal's chest and said: "Peace. Be quiet." This was Rakhal's first experience of ecstasy. He lived with his father in Calcutta and now and then visited the Master at Dakshineswar. About this time he had studied a short while in Vidyasagar's school at Syampukur.

When the music was over, the devotees sat down for their meal. Balaram stood there humbly, like a servant. Nobody would have taken him for the master of the house. M. was still a stranger to the devotees, having met only Narendra at Dakshineswar.

A few days later M. visited the Master at Dakshineswar. It was between four and five o'clock in the afternoon. The Master and he were sitting on the steps of the Śiva temples. Looking at the temple of Radhakanta, across the courtyard, the Master went into an ecstatic mood.

Since his nephew Hriday's dismissal from the temple, Sri Ramakrishna had been living without an attendant. On account of his frequent spiritual moods he could hardly take care of himself. The lack of an attendant caused him great inconvenience.

Bigotry condemned

Sri Ramakrishna was talking to Kāli, the Divine Mother of the Universe. He said: "Mother, everyone says, 'My watch alone is right.' The Christians, the Brahmos, the Hindus, the Mussalmans, all say, 'My religion alone is true.' But, Mother, the fact is that nobody's watch is right. Who can truly understand Thee? But if a man prays to Thee with a yearning heart, he can reach Thee, through Thy grace, by any path. Mother, show me some time how the Christians pray to Thee in their churches. But Mother, what will people say if I go in? Suppose they make a fuss! Suppose they don't allow me to enter the Kāli temple again! Well then, show me the Christian worship from the door of the church."

 

The mind's inability to comprehend God

Another day the Master was seated on the small couch in his room, with his usual beaming countenance. M. arrived with Kalikrishna, who did not know where his friend M. was taking him. He had only been told:  "If you want to see a grog-shop, then come with me. You will see a huge jar of wine there." M. related this to Sri Ramakrishna, who laughed about it. The Master said: "The bliss of worship and communion with God is the true wine, the wine of ecstatic love. The goal of human life is to love God, Bhakti is the one essential thing. To know God through jnāna and reasoning  is extremely difficult."

Then the Master sang:

Who is there that can understand what Mother Kāli is?
Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her....

The Master said, again: "The one goal of life is to cultivate love for God, the love that the milkmaids, the milkmen, and the cowherd boys of Vrindāvan felt for Krishna. When Krishna went away to Mathura, the cowherds roamed about weeping bitterly because of their separation from Him."

Saying this the Master sang, with his eyes turned upward:

Just now I saw a youthful cowherd
With a young calf in his arms;
There he stood, by one hand holding
The branch of a young tree.
"Where are You, Brother Kanai?" he cried;
But "Kanai" scarcely could he utter;
"Ka" was as much as he could say.
He cried, "Where are You, Brother?"
And his eyes were filled with tears.

When M. heard this song of the Master's, laden with love, his eyes were moist with tears.

April 2, 1882

Master's visit to Keshab

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting in the drawing-room of Keshab Chandra Sen's house in Calcutta; it was five o'clock in the afternoon. When Keshab was told of his arrival, he came to the drawing-room dressed to go out, for he was about to call on a sick friend. Now he cancelled his plan. The Master said to him: "You have so many things to attend to. Besides, you have to edit a newspaper. You have no time to come to Dakshineswar; so I have come to see you. When I heard of your illness I vowed green coconut and sugar to the Divine Mother for your recovery. I said to Her, 'Mother, if something happens to Keshab, with whom shall I talk in Calcutta?' "

Sri Ramakrishna spoke to Pratap and the other Brahmo devotees. M. was seated near by. Pointing to him, the Master said to Keshab: "Will you please ask him why he doesn't come to Dakshineswar any more? He repeatedly tells me he is not attached to his wife and children." M. had been paying visits to the Master for about a month; his absence for a time from Dakshineswar called forth this remark. Sri Ramakrishna had asked M. to write to him, if his coming were delayed.

Pundit Samadhyayi was present. The Brahmo devotees introduced him to Sri Ramakrishna as a scholar well versed in the Vedas and the other scriptures. The Master said, "Yes, I can see inside him through his eyes, as one can see the objects in a room through the glass door."

Trailokya sang. Suddenly the Master stood up and went into samādhi, repeating the Mother's name. Coming down a little to the plane  of sense consciousness, he danced and sang:

I drink no ordinary wine, but Wine of Everlasting Bliss,
As I repeat my Mother Kāli's name;
It so intoxicates my mind that people take me to be drunk!
First my guru gives molasses for the making of the Wine;
My longing is the ferment to transform it.
Knowledge, the maker of the Wine, prepares it for me then;
And when it is done, my mind imbibes it from the bottle of the mantra,
Taking the Mother's name to make it pure.
Drink of this Wine, says Ramprasad,  and the four fruits of life are yours.

The Master looked at Keshab tenderly, as if Keshab were his very own. He seemed to fear that Keshab might belong to someone else, that is to say, that he might become a worldly person. Looking at him, the Master sang again:

 

We are afraid to speak, and yet we are afraid to keep still;
Our minds, O Radha, half believe that we are about to lose you!
We tell you the secret that we know -
The secret whereby we ourselves, and others, with our help,
Have passed through many a time of peril;
Now it all depends on you.

Quoting the last part of the song, he said to Keshab: "That is to say, renounce everything and call on God. He alone is real; all else is illusory. Without the realization of God everything is futile. This is the great secret."

The Master sat down again and began to converse with the devotees. For a while he listened to a piano recital, enjoying it like a child. Then he was taken to the inner apartments, where he was served with refreshments and the ladies saluted him.

As the Master was leaving Keshab's house, the Brahmo devotees accompanied him respectfully to his carriage.

Sunday, April 9, 1882

Sri Ramakrishna was seated with his devotees in the drawing-room of Prankrishna Mukherji's house in Calcutta; it was between one and two o'clock in the afternoon. Since Colonel Viswanath4 lived in that neighbourhood, the Master intended to visit him before going to see Keshab at the Lily Cottage. A number of neighbours and other friends of Prankrishna had been invited to meet Sri Ramakrishna. They were all eager to hear his words.

 

God and His glory & Dangers of worldly life

MASTER: "God and His glory. This universe is His glory. People see His glory and forget everything. They do not seek God, whose glory is this world. All seek to enjoy 'woman and gold'. But there is too much misery and worry in that. This world is like the whirlpool of the Viśālākśi. Once a boat gets into it there is no hope of its rescue. Again, the world is like a thorny bush: you have hardly freed yourself from one set of thorns before you find yourself entangled in another. Once you enter a labyrinth you find it very difficult to get out. Living in the world, a man becomes seared, as it were."

A DEVOTEE: "Then what is the way, sir?"

Prayer and holy company & Earnest longing

MASTER: "Prayer and the company of holy men. You cannot get rid of an ailment without the help of a physician. But it is not enough to be in the company of religious people only for a day. You should constantly seek it, for the disease has become chronic. Again, you can't understand the pulse rightly unless you live with a physician. Moving with him constantly, you learn to distinguish between the pulse of phlegm and the pulse of bile."

DEVOTEE: "What is the good of holy company?"

MASTER: "It begets yearning for God. It begets love of God. Nothing whatsoever is achieved in spiritual life without yearning. By constant living in the company of holy men, the soul becomes restless for God. This yearning is like the state of mind of a man who has someone ill in the family. His mind is in a state of perpetual restlessness, thinking how the sick person may be cured. Or again, one should feel a yearning for God like the yearning of a man who has lost his job and is wandering from one office to another in search of work. If he is rejected at a certain place which has no vacancy, he goes there again the next day and inquires, 'Is there an vacancy today?'

"There is another way: earnestly praying to God. God is our very own. We should say to Him: 'O God, what is Thy nature? Reveal Thyself to me. Thou must show Thyself to me; for why else hast Thou created me?' Some Sikh devotees once said to me, 'God is full of compassion.' I said: 'But why should we call Him compassionate? He is our Creator. What is there to be wondered at if He is kind to us? Parents bring up their children. Do you call that an act of kindness? They must act that way.' Therefore we should force our demands on God. He is our Father and Mother, isn't He? If the son demands his patrimony and gives up food and drink in order to enforce his demand, then the parents hand his share over to him three years before the legal time. Or when the child demands some pice from his mother, and says over and over again: 'Mother, give me a couple of pice. I beg you on my knees!' - then the mother, seeing his earnestness, and unable to bear it any more, tosses the money to him.

"There is another benefit from holy company. It helps one cultivate discrimination between the Real and the unreal. God alone is the Real, that is to say, the Eternal Substance, and the world is unreal, that is to say, transitory. As soon as a man finds his mind wandering away to the unreal, he should apply discrimination. The moment an elephant stretches out its trunk to eat a plantain-tree in a neighbour's garden, it gets a blow from the iron goad of the driver."

Explanation of evil

A NEIGHBOUR: "Why does a man have sinful tendencies?"

 

MASTER: "In God's creation there are all sorts of things. He has created bad men as well as good men. It is He who gives us good tendencies, and it is He again who gives us evil tendencies."

NEIGHBOUR: "In that case we aren't responsible for our sinful actions, are we?"

MASTER: "Sin begets its own result. This is God's law. Won't you burn our tongue if you chew a chilli? In his youth Mathur6 led a rather fast life; so he suffered from various diseases before his death.

"One may not realize this in youth. I have looked into the hearth in the kitchen of the Kāli temple when logs are being burnt. At first the wet wood burns rather well. It doesn't seem then that it contains much moisture. But when the wood is sufficiently burnt, all the moisture runs back to one end. At last water squirts from the fuel and puts out the fire.

"So one should be careful about anger, passion, and greed. Take, for instance, the case of Hanuman. In a fit of anger he burnt Ceylon. At last he remembered that Sita was living in the aśoka grove. Then he began to tremble lest the fire should injure her."

NEIGHHBOUR: "Why has God created wicked people?"

MASTER: "That is His will, His play. In His maya there exists avidyā as well as vidyā. Darkness is needed too. It reveals all the more the glory of light. There is no doubt that anger, lust, and greed are evils. Why, then, has God created them? In order to create saints. A man becomes a saint by conquering the senses. Is there anything impossible for a man who has subdued his passions? He can even realize God, through His grace. Again, see how His whole play of creation is perpetuated through lust.

"Wicked people are needed too. At one time the tenants of an estate became unruly. The landlord had to send Golak Choudhury, who was a ruffian. He was such a harsh administrator that the tenants trembled at the very mention of his name.

"There is need of everything. Once Sita said to her Husband: 'Rama, it would be grand if every house in Ayhodhya were a mansion! I find many houses old and dilapidated.' 'But, my dear,' said Rama, 'if all the houses were beautiful ones, what would the masons do?' (Laughter.) God has created all kinds of things. He has created good trees, and poisonous plants and weeds as well. Among the animals there are good, bad, and all kinds of creatures - tigers, lions, snakes, and so on."

Washing away the heart's impurities with tears

NEIGHTBOUR: "Sir, is it ever possible to realize God while leading the life of a householder?"

 

MASTER: "Certainly. But as I said just now, one must live in holy company and pray unceasingly. One should weep for God. When the impurities of the mind are thus washed away, one realizes God. The mind is like a needle covered with mud, and God is like a magnet. The needle cannot be united with the magnet unless it is free from mud. Tears wash away the mud, which is nothing but lust, anger, greed, and other evil tendencies, and the inclination to worldly enjoyments as well. As soon as the mud is washed away, the magnet attracts the needle, that is to say, man realizes God. Only the pure in heart see God. A fever patient has an excess of the watery element in his system. What can quinine do for him unless that is removed?

"Why shouldn't one realize God while living in the world? But, as I said, one must live in holy company, pray to God, weeping for His grace, and now and then go into solitude. Unless the plants on a foot-path are protected at first by fences, they are destroyed by cattle."

Need of a guru

NEIGHBOUR: "Then householders, too, will have the vision of God, won't they?"

 

MASTER: "Everybody will surely be liberated. But one should follow the instructions of the guru; if one follows a devious path, one will suffer in trying to retrace one's steps. It takes a long time to achieve liberation. A man may fail to obtain it in this life. Perhaps he will realize God only after many births. Sages like Janaka performed worldly duties. They performed them, bearing God in their minds, as a dancing-girl dances, keeping jars or trays on her head. Haven't you seen how the women in northwest India walk, talking and laughing while carrying water-pitchers on their beads?"

NEIGHBOUR: "You just referred to the instructions of the guru. How shall we find him?"

MASTER: "Anyone and everyone cannot be a guru. A huge timber floats on the water and can carry animals as well. But a piece of worthless wood sinks, if a man sits on it, and drowns him. Therefore in every age God incarnates Himself as the guru, to teach humanity. Satchidananda alone is the guru.

"What is knowledge? And what is the nature of this ego? 'God alone is the Doer, and none else' - that is knowledge. I am not the doer; I am a mere instrument in His hand. Therefore I say: 'O Mother, Thou art the Operator and I am the machine. Thou art the Indweller and I am the house. Thou art the Driver and I am the carriage. I move as Thou movest me. I do as Thou makest me do. I speak as Thou makest me speak. Not I, not I, but Thou, but Thou.' "

From Prankrishna's house the Master went to Colonel Viswanath's and from there to the Lily Cottage.

--------------------

 

 

Chapter 3

 

VISIT TO VIDYASAGAR

August 5, 1882

PUNDIT  ISWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR was born in the village of Beersingh, not far from Kamarpukur, Sri Ramakrishna's birthplace.  He was known as a great scholar, educator, writer, and philanthropist.  One of the creators of modern Bengali, he was also well versed in Sanskrit grammar and poetry.  His generosity made his name a household word with his countrymen, most of his income being given in charity to widows, orphans, indigent students, and other needy people.  Nor was his compassion limited to human beings: he stopped drinking milk for years so that the calves should not be deprived of it, and he would not drive in a carriage for fear of causing discomfort to the horses.  He was a man of indomitable spirit, which he showed when he gave up the lucrative position of principal of the Sanskrit College of Calcutta because of a disagreement with the authorities.  His affection for his mother was especially deep.  One day, in the absence of a ferryboat, he swam a raging river at the risk of his life to fulfil her wish that he should be present at his brother's wedding.  His whole life was one of utter simplicity.  The title Vidyasagar, meaning "Ocean of Learning", was given him in recognition of his vast erudition. 

Master's visit to the scholar

Sri Ramakrishna had long wanted to visit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.  Learning from M. that he was a teacher at Vidyasagar's school, the Master asked: "Can you take me to Vidyasagar? I should like very much to see him." M. told Iswar Chandra of Sri Ramakrishna's wish, and the pundit gladly agreed that M. should bring the Master, some Saturday afternoon at four o'clock.  He only asked M. what kind of paramahamsa the Master was, saying, "Does he wear an ochre cloth?" M. answered: "No, sir.  He is an unusual person.  He wears a red-bordered cloth and polished slippers.  He lives in a room in Rani Rasmani's temple garden.  In his room there is a couch with a mattress and mosquito net.  He has no outer indication of holiness.  But he doesn't know anything except God.  Day and night he thinks of God alone."

On the afternoon of August 5 the Master left Dakshineswar in a hackney carriage, accompanied by Bhavanath, M., and Hazra.  Vidyasagar lived in Badurbagan, in central Calcutta, about six miles from Dakshineswar.  On the way Sri Ramakrishna talked with his companions; but as the carriage neared Vidyasagar's house his mood suddenly changed.  He was overpowered with divine ecstasy.  Not noticing this, M. pointed out the garden house where Raja Rammohan Roy had lived.  The Master was annoyed and said, "I don't care about such things now." He was going into an ecstatic state. 

The carriage stopped in front of.  Vidyasagar's house.  The Master alighted, supported by M., who then led the way.  In the courtyard were many flowering plants.  As the Master walked to the house he said to M., like a child, pointing to his shirt-button: "My shirt is unbuttoned.  Will that offend Vidyasagar?" "Oh, no!" said M. "Don't be anxious about it.  Nothing about you will be offensive.  You don't have to button your shirt." He accepted the assurance simply, like a child. 

Vidyasagar was about sixty-two years old, sixteen or seventeen years older than the Master.  He lived in a two-storey house built in the English fashion, with lawns on all sides and surrounded by a high wall.  After climbing the stairs to the second floor, Sri Ramakrishna and his devotees entered a room at the far end of which Vidyasagar was seated facing them, with a table in front of him.  To the right of the table was a bench.  Some friends of their host occupied chairs on the other two sides. 

Vidyasagar rose to receive the Master.  Sri Ramakrishna stood in front of the bench, with one hand resting on the table.  He gazed at Vidyasagar, as if they had known each other before, and smiled in an ecstatic mood.  In that mood he remained standing a few minutes.  Now and then, to bring his mind back to normal consciousness, he said, "I shall have a drink of water."

In the mean time the young members of the household and a few friends and relatives of Vidyasagar had gathered around.  Sri Ramakrishna, still in an ecstatic mood, sat on the bench.  A young man, seventeen or eighteen years old, who had come to Vidyasagar to seek financial help for his education, was seated there.  The Master sat down at a little distance from the boy, saying in an abstracted mood: "Mother, this boy is very much attached to the world.  He belongs to Thy realm of ignorance."

Vidyasagar told someone to bring water and asked M. whether the Master would like some sweetmeats also.  Since M. did not object, Vidyasagar himself went eagerly to the inner apartments and brought the sweets.  They were placed before the Master.  Bhavanath and Hazra also received their share.  When they were offered to M., Vidyasagar said: "Oh, he is like one of the family.  We needn't worry about him." Referring to a young devotee, the Master said to Vidyasagar: "He is a nice young man and is sound at the core.  He is like the river Phalgu.  The surface is covered with sand; but if you dig a little you will find water flowing underneath."

After taking some of the sweets, the Master, with a smile, began to speak to Vidyasagar.  Meanwhile the room had become filled with people; some were standing and others were seated. 

MASTER: "Ah! Today, at last, I have come to the ocean.  Up till now I have seen only canals, marshes, or a river at the most.  But today I am face to face with the sagar, the ocean."(All laugh.)

VIDYASAGAR (smiling): "Then please take home some salt water." (Laughter.)

MASTER: "Oh, no! Why salt water? You aren't the ocean of ignorance.  You are the ocean of vidyā, knowledge.  You are the ocean of condensed milk." (All laugh.)

VIDYASAGAR: "Well, you may put it that way."

The pundit became silent.  Sri Ramakrishna said: "Your activities are inspired by sattva.  Though they are rajasic, they are influenced by sattva.  Compassion springs from sattva.  Though work for the good of others belongs to rajas, yet this rajas has sattva for its basis, and is not harmful.  Suka and other sages cherished compassion in their minds to give people religious instruction, to teach them about God.  You are distributing food and learning.  That is good too.  If these activities are done in a selfless spirit they lead to God.  But most people work for fame or to acquire merit.  Their activities are not selfless.  Besides, you are already a siddha."

VIDYASAGAR: "How is that, sir?"

MASTER (laughing): "When potatoes and other vegetables are well cooked, they become soft and tender.  And you possess such a tender nature! You are so compassionate!" (Laughter.)

VIDYASAGAR (laughing): "But when the paste of kalai pulse is boiled it becomes all the harder."

Uninspired scholarship condemned

MASTER: "But you don't belong to that class.  Mere pundits are like diseased fruit that becomes hard and will not ripen at all.  Such fruit has neither the freshness of green fruit nor the flavour of ripe.  Vultures soar very high in the sky, but their eyes are fixed on rotten carrion on the ground.  The book-learned are reputed to be wise, but they are attached to 'woman and gold'.  Like the vultures, they are in search of carrion.  They are attached to the world of ignorance.  Compassion, love of God, and renunciation are the glories of true knowledge."

Vidyasagar listened to these words in silence.  The others, too, gazed at the Master and were attentive to every word he said. 

Vidyasagar was very reticent about giving religious instruction to others.  He had studied Hindu philosophy.  Once, when M. had asked him his opinion of it, Vidyasagar had said, "I think the philosophers have failed to explain what was in their minds." But in his daily life he followed all the rituals of Hindu religion and wore the sacred thread of a brahmin.  About God he had once declared: "It is indeed impossible to know Him.  What, then, should be our duty? It seems to me that we should live in such a way that, if others followed our example, this very earth would be heaven.  Everyone should try to do good to the world."

The world of duality & Transcendental nature of Brahman

Sri Ramakrishna's conversation now turned to the Knowledge of Brahman. 

MASTER: "Brahman is beyond vidyā and avidyā, knowledge and ignorance.  It is beyond maya, the illusion of duality.

"The world consists of the illusory duality of knowledge and ignorance.  It contains knowledge and devotion, and also attachment to 'Woman and gold'; righteousness and unrighteousness; good and evil.  But Brahman is unattached to these.  Good and evil apply to the jiva, the individual soul, as do righteousness and unrighteousness; but Brahman is not at all affected by them. 

"One man may read the Bhagavata by the light of a lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light; but the lamp is unaffected.  The sun sheds its light on the wicked as well as on the virtuous.

"You may ask, 'How, then, can one explain misery and sin and unhappiness?' The answer is that these apply only to the jiva.  Brahman is unaffected by them.  There is poison in a snake; but though others may die if bitten by it, the snake itself is not affected by the poison.

Brahman cannot be expressed in words

"What Brahman is cannot he described.  All things in the world - the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras, the six systems of philosophy - have been defiled, like food that has been touched by the tongue, for they have been read or uttered by the tongue.  Only one thing has not been defiled in this way, and that is Brahman.  No one has ever been able to say what Brahman is."

VIDYASAGAR (to his friends): "Oh! That is a remarkable statement.  I have learnt something new today."

MASTER: "A man had two sons.  The father sent them to a preceptor to learn the Knowledge of Brahman.  After a few years they returned from their preceptor's house and bowed low before their father.  Wanting to measure the depth of their knowledge of Brahman, he first questioned the older of the two boys.  'My child,' he said, 'You have studied all the scriptures.  Now tell me, what is the nature of Brahman?' The boy began to explain Brahman by reciting various texts from the Vedas.  The father did not say anything.  Then he asked the younger son the same question.  But the boy remained silent and stood with eyes cast down.  No word escaped his lips.  The father was pleased and said to him: 'My child, you have understood a little of Brahman.  What It is cannot be expressed in words.'

Parable of ant and sugar hill

"Men often think they have understood Brahman fully.  Once an ant went to a hill of sugar.  One grain filled its stomach.  Taking another grain in its mouth it started homeward.  On its way it thought, 'Next time I shall carry home the whole hill.' That is the way shallow minds think.  They don't know that Brahman is beyond one's words and thought.  However great a man may be, how much can he know of Brahman? Sukadeva and sages like him may have been big ants; but even they could carry at the utmost eight or ten grains of sugar!

"As for what has been said in the Vedas and the Puranas, do you know what it is like? Suppose a man has seen the ocean, and somebody asks him, 'Well, what is the ocean like?' The first man opens his mouth as wide as he can and says: 'What a sight! What tremendous waves and sounds!' The description of Brahman in the sacred books is like that.  It is said in the Vedas that Brahman is of the nature of Bliss - It is Satchidananda.

"Suka and other sages stood on the shore of this Ocean of Brahman and saw and touched the water.  According to one school of thought they never plunged into it.  Those who do, cannot come back to the world again.

Parable of salt doll

"In samādhi one attains the Knowledge of Brahman - one realizes Brahman.  In that state reasoning stops altogether, and man becomes mute.  He has no power to describe the nature of Brahman.

"Once a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean.  (All laugh.) It wanted to tell others how deep the water was.  But this it could never do, for no sooner did it get into the water than it melted.  Now who was there to report the ocean's depth?"

A DEVOTEE: "Suppose a man has obtained the Knowledge of Brahman in samādhi.  Doesn't he speak any more?"

MASTER: "Sankaracharya retained the 'ego of Knowledge' in order to teach others.  After the vision of Brahman a man becomes silent.  He reasons about It as long as he has not realized It.  If you heat butter in a pan on the stove, it makes a sizzling sound as long as the water it contains has not dried up.  But when no trace of water is left the clarified butter makes no sound.  If you put an uncooked cake of flour in that butter it sizzles again.  But after the cake is cooked all sound stops.  Just so, a man established in samādhi comes down to the relative plane of consciousness in order to teach others, and then he talks about God. 

"The bee buzzes as long as it is not sitting on a flower.  It becomes silent when it begins to sip the honey.  But sometimes, intoxicated with the honey, it buzzes again. 

"An empty pitcher makes a gurgling sound when it is dipped in water.  When it fills up it becomes silent.  (All laugh.) But if the water is poured from it into another pitcher, then you will hear the sound again.  (Laughter.)

Rishis of ancient India

"The rishis of old attained the Knowledge of Brahman.  One cannot have this so long as there is the slightest trace of worldliness.  How hard the rishis laboured! Early in the morning they would go away from the hermitage, and would spend the whole day in solitude, meditating on Brahman.  At night they would return to the hermitage and eat a little fruit or roots.  They kept their minds aloof from the objects of sight, hearing, touch, and other things of a worldly nature.  Only thus did they realize Brahman as their own inner consciousness. 

"But in the Kaliyuga, man, being totally dependent on food for life, cannot altogether shake off the idea that he is the body.  In this state of mind it is not proper for him to say, 'I am He.' When a man does all sorts of worldly things, he should not say, 'I am Brahman.' Those who cannot give up attachment to worldly things, and who find no means to shake off the feeling of 'I', should rather cherish the idea 'I am God's servant; I am His devotee.' One can also realize God by following the path of devotion.

Jnani and Vijnāni

"The jnani gives up his  identification with worldly things, discriminating, 'Not this, not this'.  Only then can he realize Brahman.  It is like reaching the roof of a house by leaving the steps behind, one by one.  But the vijnāni, who is more intimately acquainted with Brahman, realizes something more.  He realizes that the steps are made of the same materials as the roof: bricks, lime, and brick-dust.  That which is realized intuitively as Brahman, through the eliminating process of 'Not this, not this', is then found to have become the universe and all its living beings.  The vijnāni sees that the Reality which is nirguna, without attributes, is also saguna, with attributes.

"A man cannot live on the roof a long time.  He comes down again.  Those who realize Brahman in samādhi come down also and find that it is Brahman that has become the universe and its living beings.  In the musical scale there are the notes sa, re ga, ma, pa, dha, and ni; but one cannot keep one's voice on 'ni' a long time.  The ego does not vanish altogether.  The man coming down from samādhi perceives that it is Brahman that has become the ego, the universe, and all living beings.  This is known as vijnāna. 

Path of love is easy

"The path of knowledge leads to Truth, as does the path that combines knowledge and love.  The path of love, too, leads to this goal.  The way of love is as true as the way of knowledge.  All paths ultimately lead to the same Truth.  But as long as God keeps the feeling of ego in us, it is easier to follow the path of love. 

"The vijnāni sees that Brahman is immovable and actionless, like Mount Sumeru.  This universe consists of the three gunas - sattva, rajas, and tamas.  They are in Brahman.  But Brahman is unattached. 

God's supernatural powers

"The vijnāni further sees that what is Brahman is the Bhagavan, the Personal God.  He who is beyond the three gunas is the Bhagavan, with His six supernatural powers.  Living beings, the universe, mind, intelligence, love, renunciation, knowledge - all these are the manifestations of His power.  (With a laugh) If an aristocrat has neither house nor property, or if he has been forced to sell them, one doesn't call him an aristocrat any more.  (All laugh.) God is endowed with the six supernatural powers.  If He were not who would obey Him? (All laugh.)

Different manifestations of God's power

"Just see how picturesque this universe is! How many things there are! The sun, moon, and stars; and how many varieties of living beings! - big and small, good and bad, strong and weak - some endowed with more power some with less."

VIDYASAGAR: "Has He endowed some with more power and others with less?"

MASTER: "As the All-pervading Spirit He exists in all beings, even in the ant.  But the manifestations of His Power are different in different beings;  otherwise, how can one person put ten to flight, while another can't face even one? And why do all people respect you? Have you grown a pair horns? (Laughter.) You have more compassion and learning.  Therefore people honour you and come to pay you their respects.  Don't you agree with me?"

Vidyasagar smiled. 

The Master continued: "There is nothing in mere scholarship.  The object of study is to find means of knowing God and realizing Him.  A holy man had a book.  When asked what it contained, he opened it and showed that on all the pages were written the words 'Om Rama', and nothing else. 

"What is the significance of the Gita? It is what you find by repeating the word ten times.  It is then reversed into 'tagi', which means a person who has renounced everything for God.  And the lesson of.  the Gita is: 'O man, renounce everything and seek God alone.' Whether a man is a monk or a householder, he has to shake off all attachment from his mind. 

"Chaitanyadeva set out on a pilgrimage to southern India.  One day he saw a man reading the Gita.  Another man, seated at a distance, was listening and weeping.  His eyes were swimming in tears.  Chaitanyadeva asked him, 'Do you understand all this?' The man said, 'No, revered sir, I don't understand a word of the text.' 'Then why are you crying?' asked Chaitanya.  The devotee said: 'I see Arjuna's chariot before me.  I see Lord Krishna and Arjuna seated in front of it, talking.  I see this and I weep.'

"Why does a vijnāni keep an attitude of love toward God? The answer is that 'I-consciousness' persists.  It disappears in the state of samādhi, no doubt, but it comes back.  In the case of ordinary people the 'I' never disappears.  You may cut down the Aśwattha tree, but the next day sprouts shoot up.  (All laugh.)

Ego causes our sufferings

"Even after the attainment of Knowledge this 'I-consciousness' comes up, nobody knows from where.  You dream of a tiger.  Then you awake; but your heart keeps on palpitating! All our suffering is due to this 'I'.  The cow cries, 'Hamba!', which means 'I'.  That is why it suffers so much.  It is yoked to the plough and made to work in rain and sun.  Then it may be killed by the butcher.  From its hide shoes are made, and also drums, which are mercilessly, beaten.  (Laughter.) Still it does not escape suffering.  At last strings are made out of its entrails for the bows used in carding cotton.  Then it no longer says, 'Hamba! Hamba!', 'I! I!'   but 'Tuhu! Tuhu!', 'Thou! Thou!'.  Only then are its troubles over.  O Lord, I am the servant; Thou art the Master.  I am the child; Thou art the Mother.  

"Once Rama asked Hanuman, 'How do you look on Me?' And Hanuman replied: 'O Rama, as long as I have the feeling of "I", I see that Thou art the whole and I am a part; Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant.  But when, O Rama, I have the knowledge of Truth, then I realize that Thou art I and I am Thou.'

"The relationship of master and servant is the proper one.  Since this 'I' must remain, let the rascal be God's servant. 

Evil of "I" and "mine"

" 'I' and 'mine' - these constitute ignorance.  'My house', 'my wealth', 'my learning', 'my possessions' - the attitude that prompts one to say such things comes of ignorance.  On the contrary, the attitude born of Knowledge is: 'O God, Thou art the Master, and all these things belong to Thee.  House, family, children, attendants, friends, are Thine.'

"One should constantly remember death.  Nothing will survive death.  We are born into this world to perform certain duties, like the people who come from the countryside to Calcutta on business.  If a visitor goes to a rich man's garden, the superintendent says to him, 'This is our garden', 'This is our lake', and so forth.  But if the Superintendent is dismissed for some misdeed, he can't carry away even his mango-wood chest.  He sends it secretly by the gate-keeper.  (Laughter.)

"God laughs on two occasions.  He laughs when the physician says to the patient's mother, 'Don't be afraid, mother; I shall certainly cure your boy.' God laughs, saying to Himself, 'I am going to take his life, and this man says he will save it!' The physician thinks he is the master, forgetting that God is the Master.  God laughs again when two brothers divide their land with a string, saying to each other, 'This side is mine and that side is your'.  He laughs and says to Himself, 'The whole universe belongs to Me, but they say they own this portion or that portion.'

"Can one know God through reasoning? Be His servant, surrender yourself to Him, and then pray to Him.

(To Vidyasagar, with a smile) "Well, what is your attitude?"

VIDYASAGAR (smiling): "Some day I shall confide it to you."(All laugh)

MASTER (laughing): "God cannot be realized through mere scholarly reasoning."

Intoxicated with divine love, the Master sang:

Who is there that can understand what Mother Kāli is?
Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her. 
It is She, the scriptures say, that is the Inner Self
Of the yogi, who in Self discovers all his joy;
She that, of Her own sweet will, inhabits every living thing. 

The macrocosm and microcosm rest in the Mother's womb;
Now do you see how vast it is? In the Muladhara
The yogi meditates on Her, and in the Sahasrara:
Who but Śiva has beheld Her as She really is?
Within the lotus wilderness She sports beside Her Mate, the Swan.

When man aspires to understand Her, Ramprasad must smile;
To think of knowing Her, he says, is quite as laughable
As to imagine one can swim across the boundless sea. 
But while my mind has understood, alas! my heart has not;
Though but a dwarf, it still would strive to make a captive of the moon. 

 Continuing, the Master said: "Did you notice?

The macrocosm and microcosm rest in the Mother's womb;
Now do you see how vast it is?

Again, the poet says:
                                      Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her.

She cannot be realized by means of mere scholarship. 

Power of faith

"One must have faith and love.  Let me tell you how powerful faith is.  A man was about to cross the sea from Ceylon to India.  Bibhishana said to him: 'Tie this thing in a corner of your wearing-cloth, and you will cross the sea safely.  You will be able to walk on the water.  But be sure not to examine it, or you will sink.' The man was walking easily on the water of the sea - such is the strength of faith - when, having gone part of the way, he thought, 'What is this wonderful thing Bibhishana has given me, that I can walk even on the water?' He untied the knot and found only a leaf with the name of Rama written on it.  'Oh, just this!' he thought, and instantly he sank. 

"There is a popular saying that Hanuman jumped over the sea through his faith in Rama's name, but Rama himself had to build a bridge.

"If a man has faith in God, then He need not be afraid though he may have committed sin - nay, the vilest sin."

Then Sri Ramakrishna sang a song glorifying the Power of faith:

If only I can pass away repeating Durga's name,
How canst Thou then, O Blessed One,
Withhold from me deliverance,
Wretched though I may be?

The Master continued: "Faith and devotion.  One realizes God easily through devotion.  He is grasped through ecstasy of love."

With these words the Master sang again:

How are you trying, O my mind, to know the nature of God?
You are groping like a madman locked in a dark room. 
He is grasped through ecstatic love; how can you fathom Him without it?
Only through affirmation, never negation, can you know Him;
Neither through Veda nor through Tantra nor the six darsanas. 

It is in love's elixir only that He delights, O mind;
He dwells in the body's inmost depths, in Everlasting Joy. 
And, for that love, the mighty yogis practise yoga from age to age;
When love awakes, the Lord, like a magnet, draws to Him the soul. 

He it is, says Ramprasad, that I approach as Mother;
But must I give away the secret, here in the marketplace?
From the hints I have given, O mind, guess what that Being is!

While singing, the Master went into samādhi.  He was seated on the bench, facing west, the palms of his hands joined together, his body erect and motionless.  Everyone watched him expectantly.  Vidyasagar, too, was speechless and could not take his eyes from the Master. 

Brahman and Śakti are identical

After a time Sri Ramakrishna showed signs of regaining the normal state.  He drew a deep breath and said with a smile: "The means of realizing God are ecstasy of love and devotion - that is, one must love God.  He who is Brahman is addressed as the Mother.

He it is, says Ramprasad, that I approach as Mother;
But must I give away the secret, here in the market-place?
From the hints I have given, O mind, guess what that Being is!

"Ramprasad asks the mind only to guess the nature of God.  He wishes it to understand that what is called Brahman in the Vedas is addressed by Him as the Mother.  He who is attributeless also has attributes.  He who is Brahman is also Śakti.  When thought of as inactive, He is called Brahman, and when thought of as the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, He is called the Primordial Energy, Kāli.

"Brahman and Śakti are identical, like fire and its power to burn.  When we talk of fire we automatically mean  also its power to burn.  Again, the fire's power to burn implies the fire itself.  If you accept the one you must accept the other. 

"Brahman alone is addressed as the Mother.  This is because a mother is an object of great love.  One is able to realize God just through love.  Ecstasy of feeling, devotion, love, and faith - these are the means.  Listen to a song:

 

As is a man's meditation, so is his feeling of love;
As is a man's feeling of love, so is his gain;
And faith is the root of all. 
If in the Nectar Lake of Mother Ka1i's feet
My mind remains immersed,
Of little use are worship, oblations, or sacrifice. 

 

Growth of divine love lessens worldly duties

"What is needed is absorption in God - loving Him intensely.  The 'Nectar Lake' is the Lake of Immortality.  A man sinking in It does not die, but becomes immortal.  Some people believe that by thinking of God too much the mind becomes deranged; but that is not true.  God is the Lake of Nectar, the Ocean of Immortality.  He is called the 'Immortal' in the Vedas.  Sinking in It, one does not die, but verily transcends death. 
Of little use are worship, oblations, or sacrifice. 

If a man  comes to love God, he need not trouble himself much about these activities.  One needs a fan only as long as there is no breeze.  The fan may be laid aside if the southern breeze blows.  Then what need is there of a fan?

(To Vidyasagar) "The activities that you are engaged in are good.  It is very good if you can perform them in a selfless spirit, renouncing egotism, giving up the idea that you are the doer.  Through such action one develops love and devotion to God, and ultimately realizes Him. 

"The more you come to love God, the less you will be inclined to perform action.  When the daughter-in-law is with child, her mother-in-law gives her less work to do.  As time goes by she is given less and less work.  When the time of delivery nears, she is not allowed to do any work at all, lest it should hurt the child or cause difficulty at the time of birth.

"By these philanthropic activities you are really doing good to yourself.  If you can do them disinterestedly, your mind will become pure and you will develop love of God.  As soon as you have that love you will realize Him.

"Man cannot really help the world.  God alone does that - He who has created the sun and the moon, who has put love for their children in parents' hearts, endowed noble souls with compassion, and holy men and devotees with divine love.  The man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself. 

"There is gold buried in your heart, but you are not yet aware of it.  It is covered with a thin layer of clay.  Once you are aware of it, all these activities of yours will lessen.  After the birth of her child, the daughter-in-law in the family busies herself with it alone.  Everything she does is only for the child.  Her mother-in-law doesn't let her do any household duties. 

Parable of the wood-cutter

"Go forward.  A wood-cutter once entered a forest to gather wood.  A brahmachari said to him, 'Go forward.' He obeyed the injunction and discovered some sandal-wood trees.  After a few days he reflected, 'The holy man asked me to go forward.  He didn't tell me to stop here.' So he went forward and found a silver-mine.  After a few days he went still farther and discovered a gold-mine, and next, mines of diamonds and precious stones.  With these he became immensely rich.

"Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart.  Then, through His grace one realizes Him in course of time.  God can be seen.  One can talk to him as I am talking to you."

In silent wonder they all sat listening to the Master's words.  It seemed to them that the Goddess of Wisdom Herself, seated on Sri Ramakrishna's tongue was addressing these words not merely to Vidyasagar, but to all humanity for its good.

It was nearly nine o'clock in the evening.  The Master was about to leave. 

Master (to Vidyasagar, with a smile): "The words I have spoken are really superfluous.  You know all this; you simply aren't conscious of it.  There are countless gems in the coffers of Varuna.  But he himself isn't aware of them."

VIDYASAGAR (with a smile): "You may say as you like."

MASTER (smiling): "Oh yes.  There are many wealthy people who don't know the names of all their servants, and are even unaware of many of the precious things in their houses."(All laugh.)

Everybody was delighted with the Master's conversation.  Again addressing Vidyasagar, he said with a smile:  "Please visit the temple garden some time - I mean the garden of Rasmani.  It's a charming place."

VIDYASAGAR: "Oh, of course I shall  go.  You have so kindly come here to see me, and shall I not return your visit?"

MASTER: "Visit me? Oh, never think of such a thing!"

VIDYASAGAR: "Why, sir?  Why do you say that? May I ask you to explain?"

MASTER (smiling): "You see, we are like small fishing-boats.  (All smile.) We can ply in small canals and shallow waters and also in big rivers.  But you are a ship.  You may run aground on the way!" (All laugh.)

Vidyasagar remained silent.  Sri Ramakrishna said with a laugh, "But even a ship can go there at this season."

VIDYASAGR (smiling): "Yes, this is the monsoon season." (All laugh.)

M. said to himself: "This is indeed the monsoon season of newly awakened love.  At such times one doesn't care for prestige or formalities."

Sri Ramakrishna then took leave of Vidyasagar, who with his friends escorted the Master to the main gate, leading the way with a lighted candle in his hand.  Before leaving the room, the Master prayed for the family's welfare, going into an ecstatic mood as he did so.

As soon as the Master and the devotees reached the gate, they saw an unexpected sight and stood still.  In front of them was a bearded gentleman of fair complexion, aged about thirty-six.  He wore his clothes like a Bengali, but on his head was a white turban tied after the fashion of the Sikhs.  No sooner did he see the Master than he fell prostrate before him, turban  and all.   

When he stood up the Master said: "Who is this? Balaram? Why so late in the evening?"

BALARAM: "I have been waiting here a long time, sir."

MASTER: "Why didn't you come in?"

BALARAM: "All were listening to you.  I didn't like to disturb you."  The Master got into the carriage with his companions.   

VIDYASAGAR (to M., softly): "Shall I pay the carriage hire?"

M: "Oh, don't bother, please.  It is taken care of."

Vidyasagar and his friends bowed to Sri Ramakrishna, and the carriage started for Dakshineswar.  But the little group, with the venerable Vidyasagar at their head holding the lighted candle, stood at the gate and gazed after the Master until he was out of sight.

--------------------

 

 

Chapter 4

ADVICE TO HOUSEHOLDERS

August 13, 1882

THE MASTER WAS CONVERSING with Kedār and some other devotees in his room in the temple garden.  Kedār was a government official and had spent several years at Dāccā, in East Bengal, where he had become a friend of Vijay Goswami.  The two would spend a great part of their time together, talking about Sri Ramakrishna and his spiritual experiences.  Kedār had once been a member of the Brahmo Samaj.  He followed the path of bhakti.  Spiritual talk always brought tears to his eyes. 

It was five o'clock in the afternoon.  Kedār was very happy that day, having arranged a religious festival for Sri Ramakrishna.  A singer had been hired by Ram, and the whole day passed in joy. 

Secret of divine communion

The Master explained to the devotees the secret of communion with God. 

MASTER: "With the realization of Satchidananda one goes into samādhi.  Then duties drop away.  Suppose I have been talking about the ostad and he arrives.  What need is there of talking about him then? How long does the bee buzz around? So long as it isn't sitting on a flower.  But it will not do for the sadhaka to renounce duties.  He should perform his duties, such as worship, japa, meditation, prayer, and pilgrimage. 

"If you see someone engaged in reasoning even after he has realized God, you may liken him to a bee, which also buzzes a little even while sipping honey from a flower."

The Master was highly pleased with the ostad's music.  He said to the musician, "There is a special manifestation of God's power in a man who has any outstanding gift, such as proficiency in music."

MUSICIAN: "Sir, what is the way to realize God?"

MASTER: "Bhakti is the one essential thing.  To be sure, God exists in all beings.  Who, then, is a devotee? He whose mind dwells on God.  But this is not possible as long as one has egotism and vanity.  The water of God's grace cannot collect on the high mound of egotism.  It runs down.  I am a mere machine. 

Master's respect for other faiths

(To Kedār and the other devotees) "God can be realized through all paths.  All religions are true.  The important thing is to reach the roof.  You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope.  You can also climb up by a bamboo pole. 

 

Many names of one God

"You may say that there are many errors and superstitions in another religion.  I should reply: Suppose there are.  Every religion has errors.  Everyone thinks that his watch alone gives the correct time.  It is enough to have yearning for God.  It is enough to love Him and feel attracted to Him: Don't you know that God is the Inner Guide? He sees the longing of our heart and the yearning of our soul.  Suppose a man has several sons.  The older boys address him distinctly as 'Baba' or 'Papa', but the babies can at best call him 'Ba' or 'Pa'.  Now, will the father be angry with those who address him in this indistinct way? The father knows that they too are calling him, only they cannot pronounce his name well.  All children are the same to the father.  Likewise, the devotees call on God alone, though by different names.  They call on one Person only.  God is one, but His names are many."

Thursday, August 24, 1882. 

Sri Ramakrishna was talking to Hazra on the long northeast verandah of his room, when M. arrived.  He saluted the Master reverently. 

 

Spiritual disciplines necessary at the beginning

MASTER: "I should like to visit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar a few times more.  The painter first draws the general outlines and then puts in the details and colours at his leisure.  The moulder first makes the image out of clay, then plasters it, then gives it a coat of whitewash, and last of all paints it with a brush.  All these steps must be taken successively.  Vidyasagar is fully ready, but his inner stuff is covered with a thin layer.  He is now engaged in doing good works; but he doesn't know what is within himself.  Gold is hidden within him.  God dwells within us.  If one knows that, one feels like giving up all activities and praying to God with a yearning soul."

So the Master talked with M. - now standing, now pacing up and down the long verandah. 

MASTER: "A little spiritual discipline is necessary in order to know what lies within."

M: "Is it necessary to practise discipline all through life?"

MASTER: "No.  But one must be up and doing in the beginning.  After that one need not work hard.  The helmsman stands up and clutches the rudder firmly as long as the boat is passing through waves, storms, high wind, or around the curves of a river; but he relaxes after steering through them.  As soon as the boat passes the curves and the helmsman feels a favourable wind, he sits comfortably and just touches the rudder.  Next he prepares to unfurl the sail and gets ready for a smoke.  Likewise, the aspirant enjoys peace and calm after passing the waves and storms of 'woman and gold'.

"Woman and gold" is the obstruction to yoga

"Some are born with the characteristics of the yogi; but they too should be careful.  It is 'woman and gold' alone that is the obstacle; it makes them deviate from the path of yoga and drags them into worldliness.  Perhaps they have some desire for enjoyment.  After fulfilling their desire, they again direct their minds to God and thus recover their former state of mind, fit for the practise of yoga. 

"Have you ever seen the spring trap for fish, called the 'satka-kal'?"

M: "No, sir, I haven't seen it."

MASTER: "They use it in our part of the country.  One end of a bamboo pole is fastened in the ground, and the other is bent over with a catch.  From this end a line with a hook hangs over the water, with bait tied to the hook.  When the fish swallows the bait, suddenly the bamboo jumps up and regains its upright position. 

"Again, take a pair of scales for example.  If a weight is placed on one side, the lower needle moves away from the upper one.  The lower needle is the mind, and the upper one, God.  The meeting of the two is yoga. 

"Unless the mind becomes steady there cannot be yoga.  It is the wind of worldliness that always disturbs the mind, which may be likened to a candle flame.  If that flame doesn't move at all, then one is said to have attained yoga.

" 'Woman and gold' alone is the obstacle to yoga.  Always analyse what you see.  What is there in the body of a woman? Only such things as blood, flesh, fat, entrails, and the like.  Why should one love such a body?

"Sometimes I used to assume a rajasic mood in order to practise renunciation.  Once I had the desire to put on a gold-embroidered robe, wear a ring on my finger, and smoke a hubble-bubble with a long pipe.  Mathur Babu procured all these things for me.  I wore the gold-embroidered robe and said to myself after a while, 'Mind! This is what is called a gold-embroidered robe.' Then I took it off and threw it away.  I couldn't stand the robe any more.  Again I said to myself, 'Mind! This is called a shawl, and this a ring, and this, smoking a hubble-bubble with a long pipe.' I threw those things away once for all, and the desire to enjoy them never arose in my mind again."

It was almost dusk.  The Master and M. stood talking alone near the  door on the southeast verandah.   

MASTER (to M.): "The mind of the yogi is always fixed on God, always absorbed in the Self.  You can recognize such a man by merely looking at him.  His eyes are wide open, with an aimless look, like the eyes of the mother bird hatching her eggs.  Her entire mind is fixed on the eggs, and there is a vacant look in her eyes.  Can you show me such a picture?"

M: "I shall try to get one."

As evening came on, the temples were lighted up.  Sri Ramakrishna was seated on his small couch, meditating on the Divine Mother.  Then he chanted the names of God.  Incense was burnt in the room, where an oil lamp had been lighted.  Sounds of conch-shells and gongs came floating on the air as the evening worship began in the temple of Kāli.  The light of the moon flooded all the quarters.  The Master again spoke to M.

God and worldly duties

MASTER: "Perform your duties in an unselfish spirit.  The work that Vidyasagar is engaged in is very good.  Always try to perform your duties without desiring any result."

M: "Yes, sir.  But may I know if one can realize God while performing one's duties? Can 'Rama' and 'desire' coexist? The other day I read in a Hindi couplet: 'Where Rama is, there desire cannot be; where desire is, there Rama cannot be.' "

MASTER: "All, without exception, perform work.  Even to chant the name and glories of God is work, as is the meditation of the non-dualist on 'I am He'.  Breathing is also an activity.  There is no way of renouncing work altogether.  So do your work, but surrender the result to God."

God and worldly duties

M: "Sir, may I make an effort to earn more money?"

MASTER: "It is permissible to do so to maintain a religious family.  You may try to increase your income, but in an honest way.  The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God.  Money is not harmful if it is devoted to the service of God."

M: "How long should a man feel obliged to do his duty toward his wife and children?"

MASTER: "As long as they feel pinched for food and clothing.  But one need not take the responsibility of a son when he is able to support himself.  When the young fledgling learns to pick its own food, its mother pecks it if it comes to her for food."

M: "How long must one do one's duty?"

MASTER: "The blossom drops off when the fruit appears.  One doesn't have to do one's duty after the attainment of God, nor does one feel like doing it then.
    "If a drunkard takes too much liquor he cannot retain consciousness.  If he takes only two or three glasses, he can go on with his work.  As you advance nearer and nearer to God, He will reduce your activities little by little.  Have no fear. 

"Finish the few duties you have at hand, and then you will have peace.  When the mistress of the house goes to bathe after finishing her cooking and other household duties, she won't come back, however you may shout after her."

Different groups of devotees

M: "Sir, what is the meaning of the realization of God? What do you mean by God-vision? How does one attain it?"

MASTER: "According to the Vaishnavas the aspirants and the seers of God may be divided into different groups.  These are the pravartaka, the sadhaka, the siddha, and the siddha of the siddha.  He who has just set foot on the path may be called a pravartaka.  He may be called a sadhaka who has for some time been practising spiritual disciplines, such as worship, japa, meditation, and the chanting of God's name and glories.  He may be called a siddha who has known from his inner experience that God exists.  An analogy is given in the Vedanta to explain this.  The master of the house is asleep in a dark room.  Someone is groping in the darkness to find him.  He touches the couch and says, 'No, it is not he.' He touches the window and says, 'No, it is not he.' He touches the door and says, 'No, it is not he.' This is known in the Vedanta as the process of 'Neti, neti', 'Not this, not this'.  At last his hand touches the master's body and he exclaims, 'Here he is!' In other words, he is now conscious of the 'existence' of the master.  He has found him, but he doesn't yet know him intimately. 

"There is another type, known as the siddha of the siddha, the 'supremely perfect'.  It is quite a different thing when one talks to the master intimately, when one knows God very intimately through love and devotion.  A siddha has undoubtedly attained God, but the 'supremely perfect' has known God very intimately. 

Different moods of aspirants

"But in order to realize God, one must assume one of these attitudes: Śānta, Dāsya, sakhya, Vātsalya, or Madhur. 

"Śānta, the serene attitude.  The rishis of olden times had this attitude toward God.  They did not desire any worldly enjoyment.  It is like the single-minded devotion of a wife to her husband.  She knows that her husband is the embodiment of beauty and love, a veritable Madan. 

"Dāsya, the attitude of a servant toward his master.  Hanuman had this attitude toward Rama.  He felt the strength of a lion when he worked for Rama.  A wife feels this mood also.  She serves her husband with all her heart and soul.  A mother also has a little of this attitude, as Yaśoda had toward Krishna. 

"Sakhya, the attitude of friendship.  Friends say to one another, 'Come here and sit near me.' Sridāmā and other friends sometimes fed Krishna with fruit, part of which they had already eaten, and sometimes climbed on His shoulders. 

"Vātsalya, the attitude of a mother toward her child.  This was Yaśoda's attitude toward Krishna.  The wife, too, has a little of this.  She feeds her husband with her very life-blood, as it were.  The mother feels happy only when the child has eaten to his heart's content.  Yaśoda would roam about with butter in her hand, in order to feed Krishna. 

"Madhur, the attitude of a woman toward her paramour.  Radha had this attitude toward Krishna.  The wife also feels it for her husband.  This attitude includes all the other four."

M: "When one sees God does one see Him with these eyes?"

MASTER: "God cannot be seen with these physical eyes.  In the course of spiritual discipline one gets a 'love body', endowed with 'love eyes', 'love ears', and so on.  One sees God with those 'love eyes'.  One hears the voice of God with those 'love ears'.  One even gets a sexual organ made of love."

At these words M. burst out laughing.  The Master continued, unannoyed, "With this 'love body' the soul communes with God."

M. again became serious. 

Seeing God everywhere

MASTER: "But this is not possible without intense love of God.  One sees nothing but God everywhere when one loves Him with great intensity.  It is like a person with jaundice, who sees everything yellow.   Then one feels, 'I am verily He'. 

"A drunkard, deeply intoxicated, says, 'Verily I am Kāli!' The gopis, intoxicated with love, exclaimed, 'Verily I am Krishna!'

"One who thinks of God, day and night, beholds Him everywhere.  It is like a man's seeing flames on all sides after he has gazed fixedly at one flame for some time."

"But that isn't the real flame", flashed through M.'s mind. 

Sri Ramakrishna, who could read a man's inmost thought, said: "One doesn't lose consciousness by thinking of Him who is all Spirit, all Consciousness.  Shivanath once remarked that too much thinking about God confounds the brain.  Thereupon I said to him, 'How can one become unconscious by thinking of Consciousness?' "

M: "Yes, sir, I realize that.  It isn't like thinking of an unreal object.  How can a man lose his intelligence if he always fixes his mind on Him whose very nature is eternal Intelligence?"

MASTER (with pleasure): "It is through God's grace that you understand that.  The doubts of the mind will not disappear without His grace.  Doubts do not disappear without Self-realization. 

"But one need not fear anything if one has received the grace of God.  It is rather easy for a child to stumble if he holds his father's hand; but there can be no such fear if the father holds the child's hand.  A man does not have to suffer any more if God, in His grace, removes his doubts and reveals Himself to him.  But this grace descends upon him only after he has prayed to God with intense yearning of heart and practised spiritual discipline.  The mother feels compassion for her child when she sees him running about breathlessly.  She has been hiding herself; now she appears before the child."

"But why should God make us run about?" thought M

Immediately Sri Ramakrishna said: "It is His will that we should run about a little.  Then it is great fun.  God has created the world in play, as it were.  This is called Mahamaya, the Great Illusion.  Therefore one must take refuge in the Divine Mother, the Cosmic Power Itself.  It is She who has bound us with the shackles of illusion.  The realization of God is possible only when those shackles are severed."

Worship of the Divine Mother

The Master continued: "One must propitiate the Divine Mother, the Primal Energy, in order to obtain God's grace.  God Himself is Mahamaya, who deludes the world with Her illusion and conjures up the magic of creation, preservation, and destruction.  She has spread this veil of ignorance before our eyes.  We can go into the inner chamber only when She lets us pass through the door.  Living outside, we see only outer objects, but not that Eternal Being, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.  Therefore it is stated in the purna that deities like Brahma praised Mahamaya for the destruction of the demons Madhu and Kaitabha. 

"Śakti alone is the root of the universe.  That Primal Energy has two aspects: vidyā and avidyā.  Avidyā deludes.  Avidyā conjures up 'woman and gold', which casts the spell.  Vidyā begets devotion, kindness, wisdom, and love, which lead one to God.  This avidyā must be propitiated, and that is the purpose of the rites of Śakti worship. 

"The devotee assumes various attitudes toward Śakti in order to propitiate Her: the attitude of a handmaid, a 'hero', or a child.  A hero's attitude is to please Her even as a man pleases a woman through intercourse. 

"The worship of Śakti is extremely difficult.  It is no joke.  I passed two years as the handmaid and companion of the Divine Mother.  But my natural attitude has always been that of a child toward its mother.  I regard the breasts of any woman as those of my own mother. 

Master's attitude toward women

"Women are, all of them, the veritable images of Śakti.  In northwest India the bride holds a knife in her hand at the time of marriage; in Bengal, a nut-cutter.  The meaning is that the bridegroom, with the help of the bride, who is the embodiment of the Divine Power, will sever the bondage of illusion.  This is the 'heroic' attitude.  I never worshipped the Divine Mother that way.  My attitude toward Her is that of a child toward its mother. 

"The bride is the very embodiment of Śakti.  Haven't you noticed, at the marriage ceremony, how the groom sits behind like an idiot? But the bride - she is so bold!

His love for Narendra

"After attaining God one forgets His external splendour; the glories of His creation.  One doesn't think of God's glories after one has seen Him.  The devotee, once immersed in God's Bliss, doesn't calculate any more about outer things.  When I see Narendra, I don't need to ask him: 'What's your name? Where do you live?' Where is the time for such questions? Once a man asked Hanuman which day of the fortnight it was.  'Brother,' said Hanuman, 'I don't know anything of the day of the week, or the fortnight, or the position of the stars.  I think of Rama alone.' "

 

October 16, 1882

It was Monday, a few days before the Durga Puja, the festival of the Divine Mother.  Sri Ramakrishna was in a very happy state of mind, for Narendra was with him.  Narendra had brought two or three young members of the Brahmo Samaj to the temple garden.  Besides these, Rakhal, Ramlal, Hazra, and M. were with the Master.  

Narendra had his midday meal with Sri Ramakrishna.  Afterwards a temporary bed was made on the floor of the Master's room so that the disciples might rest awhile.  A mat was spread, over which was placed a quilt covered with a white sheet.  A few cushions and pillows completed the simple bed.  Like a child, the Master sat near Narendranath on the bed.  He talked with the devotees in great delight.  With a radiant smile lighting his face, and his eyes fixed on Narendra, he was giving them various spiritual teachings, interspersing these with incidents from his own life. 

MASTER: "After I had experienced samādhi, my mind craved intensely to hear only about God.  I would always search for places where they were reciting or explaining the sacred books, such as the Bhagavata, the Mahabharata, and the Adhyātma Rāmāyana.  I used to go to Krishnakishore to hear him read the Adhyātma Rāmāyana. 

Krishnakishore's faith

"What tremendous faith Krishnakishore had! Once, while at Vrindāvan, he felt thirsty and went to a well.  Near it he saw a man standing.  On being asked to draw a little water for him, the man said: 'I belong to a low caste, sir.  You are a brahmin.  How can I draw water for you?' Krishnakishore said: 'Take the name of Śiva.  By repeating His holy name you will make yourself pure.' The low-caste man did as he was told, and Krishnakishore, orthodox brahmin that he was, drank that water.  What tremendous faith!

"Once a holy man came to the bank of the Ganges and lived near the bathing-ghat at Ariadaha, not far from Dakshineswar.  We thought of paying him a visit.  I said to Haladhāri: 'Krishnakishore and I are going to see a holy man.  Will you come with us?' Haladhāri replied, 'What is the use of seeing a mere human body, which is no better than a cage of clay?' Haladhāri was a student of the Gita and Vedanta philosophy, and therefore referred to the holy man as a mere 'cage of clay'.  I repeated this to Krishnakishore.  With great anger he said: 'How impudent of Haladhāri to make such a remark! How can he ridicule as a "cage of clay" the body of a man who constantly thinks of God, who meditates on Rama, and has renounced all for the sake of the Lord? Doesn't he know that such a man is the embodiment of Spirit?' He was so upset by Haladhāri's remarks that he would turn his face away from him whenever he met him in the temple garden, and stopped speaking to him. 

"Once Krishnakishore asked me, 'Why have you cast off the sacred thread?' In those days of God-vision I felt as if I were passing through the great storm of Āświn, and everything had blown away from me.  No trace of my old self was left.  I lost all consciousness of the world.  I could hardly keep my cloth on my body, not to speak of the sacred thread! I said to Krishnakishore, 'Ah, you will understand if you ever happen to be as intoxicated with God as I was.'

"And it actually came to pass.  He too passed through a God-intoxicated state, when he would repeat only the word 'Om' and shut himself up alone in his room.  His relatives thought he was actually mad, and called in a physician.  Ram Kaviraj of Natagore came to see him.  Krishnakishore said to the physician, 'Cure me, sir, of my malady, if you please, but not of my Om.' (All laugh.)

"One day I went to see him and found him in a pensive mood.  When I asked him about it, he said: 'The tax-collector was here.  He threatened to dispose of my brass pots, my cups, and my few utensils, if I didn't pay the tax; so I am worried.' I said: 'But why should you worry about it? Let him take away your pots and pans.  Let him arrest your body even.  How will that affect you? For your nature is that of Kha!' (Narendra and the others laugh.) He used to say to me that he was the Spirit, all-pervading as the sky.  He had got that idea from the Adhyātma Rāmāyana.  I used to tease him now and then, addressing him as 'Kha'.  Therefore I said to him that day, with a smile: 'You are Kha.  Taxes cannot move you!'

Master's outspokenness

"In that state of God-intoxication I used to speak out my mind to all.  I was no respecter of persons.  Even to men of position I was not afraid to speak the truth. 

"One day Jatindra came to the garden of Jadu Mallick.  I was there too.  I asked him: 'What is the duty of man? Isn't it our duty to think of God?' Jatindra replied: 'We are worldly people.  How is it possible for us to achieve liberation? Even King Yudhisthira had to have a vision of hell.' This made me very angry.  I said to him: 'What sort of man are you? Of all the incidents of Yudhisthira's life, you remember only his seeing hell.  You don't remember his truthfulness, his forbearance, his patience, his discrimination, his dispassion, his devotion to God.' I was about to say many more things, when Hriday stopped my mouth.  After a little while Jatindra left the place, saying he had some other business to attend to. 

"Many days later I went with Captain to see Rājā Sourindra Tagore.  As soon as I met him, I said, 'I can't address you as "Rājā", or by any such title, for I should be telling a lie.' He talked to me a few minutes, but even so our conversation was interrupted by the frequent visits of Europeans and others.  A man of rajasic temperament, Sourindra was naturally busy with many things.  Jatindra his eldest brother, had been told of my coming, but he sent word that he had a pain in his throat and couldn't go out. 

"One day, in that state of divine intoxication, I went to the bathing-ghat on the Ganges at Baranagore.  There I saw Jaya Mukherji repeating the name of God; but his mind was on something else.  I went up and slapped him twice on the cheeks. 

"At one time Rani Rasmani was staying in the temple garden.  She came to the shrine of the Divine Mother, as she frequently did when I worshipped Kāli, and asked me to sing a song or two.  On this occasion, while I was singing, I noticed she was sorting the flowers for worship absent-mindedly.  At once I slapped her on the cheeks.  She became quite embarrassed and sat there with folded hands. 

"Alarmed at this state of mind myself, I said to my cousin Haladhāri: 'Just see my nature! How can I get rid of it?' After praying to the Divine Mother for some time with great yearning, I was able to shake off this habit. 

His anguish at worldly talk

"When one gets into such a state of mind, one doesn't enjoy any conversation but that about God.  I used to weep when I heard people talk about worldly matters.  When I accompanied Mathur Babu on a pilgrimage, we spent a few days in Benares at Raja Babu's house.  One day I was seated in the drawing-room with Mathur Babu, Raja Babu, and others.  Hearing them talk about various worldly things, such as their business losses and so forth, I wept bitterly and said to the Divine Mother: 'Mother, where have You brought me? I was much better off in the temple garden at Dakshineswar.  Here I am in a place where I must bear about "woman and gold".  But at Dakshineswar I could avoid it.' "

The Master asked the devotees, especially Narendra, to rest awhile, and he himself lay down on the smaller couch. 

His ecstasy in Kirtan

Late in the afternoon Narendra sang.  Rakhal, Lātu, M., Hazra, and Priya, Narendra's Brahmo friend, were present.  The singing was accompanied by the drum: 

Meditate, O my mind, on the Lord Hari,
The Stainless One, Pure Spirit through and through. 
How peerless is the light that in Him shines!
How soul-bewitching is His wondrous form!
How dear is He to all His devotees!

After this song Narendra sang:

Oh, when will dawn for me that day of blessedness
When He who is all Good, all Beauty, and all Truth,
Will light the inmost shrine of my heart?
When shall I sink at last, ever beholding Him,
Into that Ocean of Delight?
Lord, as Infinite Wisdom Thou shalt enter my soul,
And my unquiet mind, made speechless by Thy sight,
Will find a haven at Thy feet. 
In my heart's firmament, O Lord, Thou wilt arise
As Blissful Immortality;
And as, when the chakora beholds the rising moon,
It sports about for very joy,
So, too, shall I be filled with heavenly happiness
When Thou appearest unto me. 

Thou One without a Second, all Peace, the King of Kings!
At Thy beloved feet I shall renounce my life
And so at last shall gain life's goal;
1 shall enjoy the bliss of heaven while yet on earth!
Where else is a boon so rare bestowed?
Then shall I see Thy glory, pure and untouched by stain;
As darkness flees from 1ight, so will my darkest sins
Desert me at Thy dawn's approach. 
Kindle in me, O Lord, the blazing fire of faith
To be the pole-star of my life;
O Succour of the weak, fulfil my one desire!
Then shall I bathe both day and night
In the boundless bliss of Thy Love, and utterly forget
Myself, O Lord, attaining Thee. 

Narendra sang again:

With beaming face chant the sweet name of God
Till in your heart the nectar overflows. 
Drink of it ceaselessly and share it with all!
If ever your heart runs dry, parched by the flames
Of worldly desire, chant the sweet name of God,
And heavenly love will moisten your arid soul. 

Be sure, O mind, you never forget to chant
His holy name: when danger stares in your face,
Call on Him, your Father Compassionate;
With His name's thunder, snap the fetters of sin!
Come, let us fulfil our hearts' desires
By drinking deep of Everlasting Joy,
Made one with Him in Love's pure ecstasy. 

Now Narendra and the devotees began to sing kirtan, accompanied by the drum and cymbals.  They moved round and round the Master as they sang:

Immerse yourself for evermore, O mind,
In Him who is Pure Knowledge and Pure Bliss. 

Next they sang:

Oh, when will dawn for me that day of blessedness
When He who is all Good, all Beauty, and all Truth
Will light the inmost shrine of my heart?

At last Narendra himself was playing on the drums, and he sang with the Master, full of joy: 

With beaming face chant the sweet name of God 

When the music was over, Sri Ramakrishna held Narendra in his arms a long time and said, "You have made us so happy today!" The flood-gate of the Master's heart was open so wide, that night, that he could hardly contain himself for joy.  It was eight o'clock in the evening.  Intoxicated with divine love, he paced the long verandah north of his room.  Now and then he could be heard talking to the Divine Mother.  Suddenly he said in an excited voice, "What can you do to me?" Was the Master hinting that maya was helpless before him, since he had the Divine Mother for his support?

Narendra, M., and Priya were going to spend the night at the temple garden.  This pleased the Master highly, especially since Narendra would be with him.  The Holy Mother, who was living in the nahabat, had prepared the supper.  Surendra bore the greater part of the Master's expenses.  The meal was ready, and the plates were set out on the southeast verandah of the Masters room. 

Near the east door of his room Narendra and the other devotees were gossiping. 

NARENDRA: "How do you find the young men nowadays?"

M: "They are not bad; but they don't receive any religious instructions".

NARENDRA: "But from my experience I feel they are going to the dogs.  They smoke cigarettes, indulge in frivolous talk, enjoy foppishness, play truant, and do everything of that sort.  I have even seen them visiting questionable places."

M: "I didn't notice such things during our student days."

NARENDRA: "Perhaps you didn't mix with the students intimately.  I have even seen them talking with people of immoral character.  Perhaps they are on terms of intimacy with them."

M: "It is strange indeed."

NARENDRA: "I know that many of them form bad habits.  It would be proper if the guardians of the boys, and the authorities, kept their eyes on these matters."

They Were talking thus when Sri Ramakrishna came to them and asked with a smile, "Well, what are you talking about?"

NARENDRA: "I have been asking M. about the boys in the schools.  The conduct of students nowadays isn't all that it should be."

The Master became grave and said to M. rather seriously: "This kind of conversation is not good.  It isn't desirable to indulge in any talk but talk of God.  You are their senior, and you are intelligent.  You should not have encouraged them to talk about such matters."

Narendra was then about nineteen years old, and M. about twenty-eight.  Thus admonished, M. felt embarrassed, and the others also fell silent. 

While the devotees were enjoying their meal, Sri Ramakrishna stood by and watched them with intense delight.  That night the Master's joy was very great. 

After supper the devotees rested on the mat spread on the floor of the Master's room.  They began to talk with him.  It was indeed a mart of joy.  The Master asked Narendra to sing the song beginning with the line: "In Wisdom's firmament the moon of Love is rising full."

Narendra sang, and other devotees played the drums and cymbals:

In Wisdom's firmament the moon of Love is rising full,
And Love's flood-tide, in surging waves, is flowing everywhere. 
O Lord, how full of bliss Thou art! Victory unto Thee!

On every side shine devotees, like stars around the moon;
Their Friend, the Lord All-merciful, joyously plays with them. 
Behold! the gates of paradise today are open wide.

The soft spring wind of the New Day raises fresh waves of joy;
Gently it carries to the earth the fragrance of God's Love,
Till all the yogis, drunk with bliss, are lost in ecstasy. 

Upon the sea of the world unfolds the lotus of the New Day,
And there the Mother sits enshrined in blissful majesty. 
See how the bees are mad with joy, sipping the nectar there!

Behold the Mother's radiant face, which so enchants the heart
And captivates the universe! About Her Lotus Feet
Bands of ecstatic holy men are dancing in delight.

What matchless loveliness is Hers! What infinite content
Pervades the heart when She appears! O brothers, says Premdas,
I humbly beg you, one and all, to sing the Mother's praise!

Sri Ramakrishna sang and danced, and the devotees danced around him. 

A devotee's dream

When the song was over, the Master walked up and down the northeast verandah, where Hazra was seated with M. The Master sat down there.  He asked a devotee, "Do you ever have dreams?"

DEVOTEE: "Yes, sir.  The other day I dreamt a strange dream.  I saw the whole world enveloped in water.  There was water on all sides.  A few boats were visible, but suddenly huge waves appeared and sank them.  I was about to board a ship with a few others, when we saw a brahmin walking over that expanse of water.  I asked him, 'How can you walk over the deep?' The brahmin said with a smile: 'Oh, there is no difficulty about that.  There is a bridge under the water.' I said to him, 'Where are you going?' 'To Bhawanipur, the city of the Divine Mother', he replied.  'Wait a little', I cried.  'I shall accompany you.' "

MASTER: "Oh.  I am thrilled to hear the story!"

DEVOTEE: "The brahmin said: 'I am in a hurry.  It will take you some time to get out of the boat.  Good-bye.  Remember this path and come after me. 

MASTER: "Oh, my hair is standing on end! Please be initiated by a guru as soon as possible."

Shortly before midnight Narendra and the other devotees lay down on a bed made on the floor of the Master's room. 

At dawn some of the devotees were up.  They saw the Master, naked as a child, pacing up and down the room, repeating the names of the various gods and goddesses.  His voice was sweet as nectar.  Now he would look at the Ganges, now stop in front of the pictures hanging on the wall and bow down before them, chanting all the while the holy names in his sweet voice.  He chanted: "Veda, Purana, Tantra; Gita, Gayatri; Bhagavata, Bhakta, Bhagavan." Referring to the Gita, he repeated many times, "Tagi, tagi, tagi." Now and then he would say: "O Mother, Thou art verily Brahman, and Thou art verily Śakti.  Thou art Purusha and Thou art Prakriti.  Thou art Virat.  Thou art the Absolute, and Thou dost manifest Thyself as the Relative.  Thou art verily the twenty-four cosmic principles."

In the mean time the morning service had begun in the temples of Kāli and Radhakanta.  Sounds of conch-shells and cymbals were carried on the air.  The devotees came outside the room and saw the priests and servants gathering flowers in the garden for the divine service in the temples.  From the nahabat floated the sweet melody of musical instruments, befitting the morning hours. 

Narendra and the other devotees finished their morning duties and came to the Master.  With a sweet smile on his lips Sri Ramakrishna was standing on the northeast verandah, close to his own room. 

NARENDRA: "We noticed several sannyasis belonging to the sect of Nanak in the Panchavati."

MASTER: "Yes, they arrived here yesterday.  (To Narendra) I'd like to see you all sitting together on the mat."

As they sat there the Master looked at them with evident delight.  He then began to talk with them.  Narendra asked about spiritual discipline. 

MASTER: "Bhakti, love of God, is the essence of all spiritual discipline.  Through love one acquires renunciation and discrimination naturally."

Disciplines of Tantra

NARENDRA: "Isn't it true that the Tantra prescribes spiritual discipline in the company of woman?"

MASTER: "That is not desirable.  It is a very difficult path and often causes the aspirant's downfall.  There are three such kinds of discipline.  One may regard woman as one's mistress or look on oneself as her handmaid or as her child.  I look on woman as my mother.  To look on oneself as her handmaid is also good; but it is extremely difficult to practise spiritual discipline looking on woman as one's mistress.  To regard oneself as her child is a very pure attitude."

The sannyasis belonging to the sect of Nanak entered the room and greeted the Master, saying, "Namo Narayanaya." Sri Ramakrishna asked them to sit down. 

All is possible with God

MASTFR: "Nothing is impossible for God.  Nobody can describe His nature in words.  Everything is possible for Him.  There lived at a certain place two yogis who were practising spiritual discipline.  The sage Narada was passing that way one day.  Realizing who he was, one of the yogis said: 'You have just come from God Himself.  What is He doing now?' Narada replied, 'Why, I saw Him making camels and elephants pass and repass through the eye of a needle.' At this the yogi said: 'Is that anything to wonder at? Everything is possible for God.' But the other yogi said: 'What? Making elephants pass through the eye of a needle - is that ever possible? You have never been to the Lord's dwelling-place.' "

At nine o'clock in the morning, while the Master was still sitting in his room, Manomohan arrived from Konnagar with some members of his family.  In answer to Sri Ramakrishna's kind inquiries, Manomohan explained that he was taking them to Calcutta.  The Master said: "Today is the first day of the Bengali month, an inauspicious day for undertaking a journey.  I hope everything will be well with you." With a smile he began to talk of other matters. 

When Narendra and his friends had finished bathing in the Ganges, the Master said to them earnestly: "Go to the Panchavati and meditate there under the banyan-tree.  Shall I give you something to sit on?"

Discrimination and dispassion

About half past ten Narendra and his Brahmo friends were meditating in the Panchavati.  After a while Sri Ramakrishna came to them.  M., too, was present. 

The Master said to the Brahmo devotees: "In meditation one must be absorbed in God.  By merely floating on the surface of the water, can you reach the gems lying at the bottom of the sea?"

Then he sang:

Taking the name of Kāli, dive deep down,
O mind, Into the heart's fathomless depths,
Where many a precious gem lies hid. 
But never believe the bed of the ocean bare of gems
If in the first few dives you fail;
With firm resolve and self-control
Dive deep and make your way to Mother Kāli's realm. 

Down in the ocean depths of heavenly Wisdom lie
The wondrous pearls of Peace, O mind;
And you yourself can gather them,
If you but have pure love and follow the scriptures' rule. 
Within those ocean depths, as well,
Six alligators, lurk - lust, anger, and the rest -
Swimming about in search of prey. 
Smear yourself with the turmeric of discrimination;
The very smell of it will shield you from their jaws.
Upon the ocean bed lie strewn
Unnumbered pearls and precious gems;
Plunge in, says Ramprasad, and gather up handfuls there!

Narendra and his friends came down from their seats on the raised platform of the Panchavati and stood near the Master.  He returned to his room with them.  The Master continued: "When you plunge in the water of the ocean, you may be attacked by alligators.  But they won't touch you if your body is smeared with turmeric.  There are no doubt six alligators - lust, anger, avarice, and so on - within you, in the 'heart's fathomless depths'.  But protect yourself with the turmeric of discrimination and renunciation, and they won't touch you. 

Futility of mere lecturing

"What can you achieve by mere lecturing and scholarship without discrimination and dispassion? God alone is real, and all else is unreal.  God alone is substance, and all else is nonentity.  That is discrimination. 

"First of all set up God in the shrine of your heart, and then deliver lectures as much as you like.  How will the mere repetition of 'Brahma' profit you if you are not imbued with discrimination and dispassion? It is the empty sound of a conch-shell. 

"There lived in a village a young man named Padmalochan.  People used to call him 'Podo', for short.  In this village there was a temple in a very dilapidated condition.  It contained no image of God.  Aśwattha and other plants sprang up on the ruins of its walls.  Bats lived inside, and the floor was covered with dust and the droppings of the bats.  The people of the village had stopped visiting the temple.  One day after dusk the villagers heard the sound of a conch-shell from the direction of the temple.  They thought perhaps someone had installed an image in the shrine and was performing the evening worship.  One of them softly opened the door and saw Padmalochan standing in a corner, blowing the conch.  No image had been set up.  The temple hadn't been swept or washed.  And filth and dirt lay everywhere.  Then he shouted to Podo: 

You have set up no image here,
Within the shrine, O fool!
Blowing the conch, you simply make
Confusion worse confounded. 
Day and night eleven bats
Scream there incessantly. 

Purification of mind

"There is no use in merely making a noise if you want to establish the Deity in the shrine of your heart, if you want to realize God.  First of all purify the mind.  In the pure heart God takes His seat.  One cannot bring the holy image into the temple if the droppings of bats are all around.  The eleven bats are our eleven organs: five of action, five of perception, and the mind. 

"First of all invoke the Deity, and then give lectures to your heart's content.  First of all dive deep.  Plunge to the bottom and gather up the gems.  Then you may do other things.  But nobody wants to plunge.  People are without spiritual discipline and prayer, without renunciation and dispassion.  They learn a few words and immediately start to deliver lectures.  It is difficult to teach others.  Only if a man gets a command from God, after realizing Him, is he entitled to teach."

Thus conversing, the Master came to the west end of the verandah.  M stood by his side.  Sri Ramakrishna had repeated again and again that God cannot be realized without discrimination and renunciation.  This made M. extremely worried.  He had married and was then a young man of twenty-eight, educated in college in the Western way.  Having a sense of duty, he asked himself, "Do discrimination and dispassion mean giving up 'woman and gold'?" He was really at a loss to know what to do. 

M. (to the Master): "What should one do if one's wife says: 'You are neglecting me.  I shall commit suicide?' "

MASTER (in a serious tone): "Give up such a wife if she proves an obstacle in the way of spiritual life.  Let her commit suicide or anything else she likes.  The wife that hampers her husband's spiritual life is an ungodly wife."

Immersed in deep thought, M. stood leaning against the wall.  Narendra and the other devotees remained silent a few minutes.  The Master exchanged several words with them; then, suddenly going to M., he whispered in his ear: "But if a man has sincere love for God, then all come under his control - the king, wicked persons, and his wife.  Sincere love of God on the husband's part may eventually help the wife to lead a spiritual life.  If the husband is good, then through the grace of God the wife may also follow his example."

This had a most soothing effect on M.'s worried mind.  All the while he had been thinking: "Let her commit suicide.  What can I do?"

M. (to the Master): "This world is a terrible place indeed."

MASTER (to the devotees): "That is the reason Chaitanya said to his companion Nityananda, 'Listen, brother, there is no hope of salvation for the worldly-minded.' "

On another occasion the Master had said to M. privately: "Yes, there is no hope for a worldly man if he is not sincerely devoted to God.  But he has nothing to fear if he remains in the world after realizing God.  Nor need a man have any fear whatever of the world if he attains sincere devotion by practising spiritual discipline now and then in solitude.  Chaitanya had several householders among his devotees, but they were householders in name only, for they lived unattached to the world."
    It was noon.  The worship was over, and food offerings had been made in the temple.  The doors of the temple were shut.  Sri Ramakrishna sat down for his meal, and Narendra and the other devotees partook of the food offerings from the temple. 

Sunday, October 22, 1882

It was the day of Vijaya, the last day of the celebration of the worship of Durga, when the clay image is immersed in the water of a lake or river. 

About nine o'clock  in the morning M. was seated on the floor of the Master's room at Dakshineswar, near Sri Ramakrishna, who was reclining on the small couch.  Rakhal was then living with the Master, and Narendra and Bhavanath visited him frequently.  Baburam had seen him only once or twice. 

MASTER: "Did you have any holiday during the Durga Puja?"

M: "Yes, sir.  I went to Keshab's house every day for the first three days of the worship."

MASTER: "Is that so?"

M: "I heard there a very interesting interpretation of the Durga Puja."

MASTER: "Please tell me all about it."

M: "Keshab Sen held daily morning prayers in his house, lasting till ten or eleven.  During these prayers he gave the inner meaning of the Durga Puja.  He said that if anyone could realize the Divine Mother, that is to say, could install Mother Durga in the shrine of his heart, then Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Kartika, and Ganesa would come there of themselves.  Lakshmi means wealth, Sarasvati knowledge, Kartika strength, and Ganesa success.  By realizing the Divine Mother within one's heart, one gets all these without any effort whatever."

Sri Ramakrishna listened to the description, questioning M. now and then about the prayers conducted by Keshab.  At last he said to M.: "Don't go hither and thither.  Come here alone.  Those who belong to the inner circle of my devotees will come only here.  Boys like Narendra, Bhavanath, and Rakhal are my very intimate disciples.  They are not to be thought lightly of.  Feed13 them one day.  What do you think of Narendra?"

M: "I think very highly of him, sir."

Narendra's many virtues

MASTER: "Haven't you observed his many virtues? He is not only well versed in music, vocal and instrumental, but he is also very learned.  Besides, he has controlled his passions and declares he will lead a celibate life.  He has been devoted to God since his very boyhood. 

Meditation on God with form

"How are you getting along with your meditation nowadays? What aspect of God appeals to your mind - with form or without form?"

M: "Sir, now I can't fix my mind on God with form.  On the other hand, I can't concentrate steadily on God without form."

MASTER: "Now you see that the mind cannot be fixed, all of a sudden, on the formless aspect of God.  It is wise to think of God with form during the primary stages."

M: "Do you mean to suggest that one should meditate on clay images?"

MASTER: "Why clay? These images are the embodiments of Consciousness."

M: "Even so, one must think of hands, feet, and the other parts of body.  But again, I realize that the mind cannot be concentrated unless one meditates, in the beginning, on God with form.  You have told me so.  Well, God can easily assume different forms.  May one meditate on the form of one's own mother?"

MASTER: "Yes, the mother should be adored.  She is indeed an embodiment of Brahman."

M. sat in silence.  After a few minutes he asked the Master: "What does one feel while thinking of God without form? Isn't it possible to describe it?" After some reflection, the Master said, "Do you know what it is like?" He remained silent a moment and then said a few words to M. about one's experiences at the time of the vision of God with and without form. 

MASTER: "You see, one must practise spiritual discipline to understand this correctly.  Suppose, there are treasures in a room.  If you want to see them and lay hold of them, you must take the trouble to get the key and unlock the door.  After that you must take the treasures out.  But suppose the room is locked, and standing outside the door you say to yourself: 'Here I have opened the door.  Now I have broken the lock of the chest.  Now I have taken out the treasure.' Such brooding near the door will not enable you to achieve anything.  You must practise discipline. 

Brahman and Divine Incarnations

"The jnanis think of God without form.  They don't accept the Divine Incarnation.  Praising Sri Krishna, Arjuna said, 'Thou art Brahman Absolute.' Sri Krishna replied, 'Follow Me, and you will know whether or not I am Brahman Absolute.' So saying, Sri Krishna led Arjuna to a certain place and asked him what he saw there.  'I see a huge tree,' said Arjuna, 'and on it I notice fruits hanging like clusters of blackberries.' Then Krishna said to Arjuna, 'Come nearer and you will find that these are not clusters of blackberries, but clusters of innumerable Krishnas like Me, hanging from the tree.' In other words, Divine Incarnations without number appear and disappear on the tree of the Absolute Brahman. 

"Kavirdas was strongly inclined to the formless God.  At the mention of Krishna's name he would say: 'Why should I worship Him? The gopis would clap their hands while He performed a monkey dance.' (With a smile) But I accept God with form when I am in the company of people who believe in that ideal, and I also agree with those who believe in the formless God."

M. (smiling): "You are as infinite as He of whom we have been talking.  Truly, no one can fathom your depth."

MASTER (smiling): "Ah! I see you have found it out.  Let me tell you one thing.  One should follow various paths.  One should practise each creed for a time.  In a game of satrancha a piece can't reach the centre square until it completes the circle; but once in the square it can't be overtaken by any other piece."

M: "That is true, sir."

MASTER: "There are two classes of.  yogis: the bahudakas and the kutichakas.  The bahudakas roam about visiting various holy places and have not yet found peace of mind.  But the kutichakas, having visited all the sacred places, have quieted their minds.  Feeling serene and peaceful, they settle down in one place and no longer move about.  In that one place they are happy; they don't feel the need of going to any sacred place.  If one of them ever visits a place of pilgrimage, it is only for the purpose of new inspiration. 

"I had to practise each religion for a time - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity.  Furthermore, I followed the paths of the Saktas, Vaishnavas, and Vedantists.  I realized that there is only one God toward whom all are travelling; but the paths are different. 

"While visiting the holy places, I would sometimes suffer great agony.  Once I went with Mathur to Raja Babu's drawing-room in Benares.  I found that they talked there only of worldly matters - money, real estate, and the like.  At this I burst into tears.  I said to the Divine Mother, weeping: 'Mother! Where hast Thou brought me? I was much better off at Dakshineswar.' In Allahabad I noticed the same things that I saw elsewhere - the same ponds, the same grass, the same trees, the same tamarind-leaves. 

Master's ecstasy at Vrindāvan

"But one undoubtedly finds inspiration in a holy place.  I accompanied Mathur Babu to Vrindāvan.  Hriday and the ladies of Mathur's family were in our party.  No sooner did I see the Kaliyadaman Ghat than a divine emotion surged up within me.  I was completely overwhelmed.  Hriday used to bathe me there as if I were a small child. 

"In the dusk I would walk on the bank of the Jamuna when the cattle returned along the sandy banks from their pastures.  At the very sight of those cows the thought of Krishna would flash in my mind.  I would run along like a madman, crying: 'Oh, where is Krishna? Where is my Krishna?'

"I went to Syamakunda and Radhakunda in a palanquin and got out to visit the holy Mount Govardhan.  At the very sight of the mount I was overpowered with divine emotion and ran to the top.  I lost all consciousness of the world around me.  The residents of the place helped me to come down.  On my way to the sacred pools of Syamakunda and Radhakunda, when I saw the meadows, the trees, the shrubs, the birds, and the deer, I was overcome with ecstasy.  My clothes became wet with tears.  I said: 'O Krishna! Everything here is as it was in the olden days.  You alone are absent.' Seated inside the palanquin I lost all power of speech.  Hriday followed the palanquin.  He had warned the bearers to be careful about me. 

"Gangamayi became very fond of me in Vrindāvan.  She was an old woman who lived all alone in a hut near the Nidhuvan.  Referring to my spiritual condition and ecstasy, she said, 'He is the very embodiment of Radha.' She addressed me as 'Dulali'.  When with her, I used to forget my food and drink, my bath, and all thought of going home.  On some days Hriday used to bring food from home and feed me.  Gangamayi also would serve me with food prepared by her own hands. 

"Gangamayi used to experience trances.  At such times a great crowd would come to see her.  One day, in a state of ecstasy, she climbed on Hriday's shoulders. 

"I didn't want to leave her and return to Calcutta.  Everything was arranged for me to stay with her.  I was to eat double-boiled rice, and we were to have our beds on either side of the cottage.  All the arrangements had been made, when Hriday said: 'You have such a weak stomach.  Who will look after you?' 'Why,' said Gangamayi, 'I shall look after him.  I'll nurse him.' As Hriday dragged me by one hand and she by the other, I remembered my mother, who was then living alone here in the nahabat of temple garden.  I found it impossible to stay away from her, and said to Gangamayi, 'No, I must go.' I loved the atmosphere of Vrindāvan."

About eleven o'clock the Master took his meal, the offerings from temple of Kāli.  After taking his noonday rest he resumed his conversation with the devotees.  Every now and then he uttered the holy word "Om" or repeated the sacred names of the deities. 

After sunset the evening worship was performed in the temples.  Since it was the day of Vijaya, the devotees first saluted the Divine Mother and then took the dust of the Master's feet. 

Tuesday, October 24,1882

It was three or four o'clock in the afternoon.  The Master was standing near the shelf where the food was kept, when Balaram and M. arrived from Calcutta and saluted him.  Sri Ramakrishna said to them with a smile: "I was going to take some sweets from the shelf, but no sooner did I put my hand on them than a lizard dropped on my body.  At once I removed my hand.  (All laugh.)

"Oh, yes! One should observe all these things.  You see, Rakhal is ill, and my limbs ache too.  Do you know what's the matter? This morning as I was leaving my bed I saw a certain person, whom I took for Rakhal.  (All laugh.) Oh, yes! Physical features should be studied.  The other day Narendra brought one of his friends, a man with only one good eye, though the other eye was not totally blind.  I said to myself, 'What is this trouble that Narendra has brought with him?'

"A certain person comes here, but I can't eat any food that he brings.  He works in an office at a salary of twenty rupees and earns another twenty by writing false bills.  I can't utter a word in his presence, because he tells lies.  Sometimes he stays here two or three days without going to his office.  Can you guess his purpose? It is that I should recommend him to someone for a job somewhere else. 

"Balaram comes from a family of devout Vaishnavas.  His father, now an old man, is a pious devotee.  He has a tuft of hair on his head, a rosary of tulsi beads round his neck, and a string of beads in his hand.  He devotes his time to the repetition of God's name.  He owns much property in Orissa and has built temples to Radha-Krishna in Kothar, Vrindāvan, and other places, establishing free guest-houses as well. 

(To Balaram) "A certain person came here the other day.  I understand he is the slave of that black hag of a wife.  Why is it that people do not see God? It is because of the barrier of 'woman and gold'.  How impudent he was to say to you the other day, 'A paramahamsa came to my father, who fed him with chicken curry!'

"In my present of my mind I can eat a little fish soup if it has been offered to the Divine Mother beforehand.  I can't eat any meat, even if it is offered to the Divine Mother; but I taste it with the end of my finger lest She should be angry.  (Laughter.)

"Well, can you explain this state of my mind? Once I was going from Burdwan to Kamarpukur in a bullock-cart, when a great storm arose.  Some people gathered near the cart.  My companions said they were robbers.  So I began to repeat the names of God, calling sometimes on Kāli, sometimes on Rama, sometimes on Hanuman.  What do you think of that?"

Was the Master hinting that God is one but is addressed differently by different sects?

MASTER (to Balaram):  "Maya is nothing but 'woman and gold'.  A man living in its midst gradually loses his spiritual alertness.  He thinks all is well with him.  The scavenger carries a tub of night-soil on his head, and in course of time loses his repulsion to it.  One gradually acquires love of God through the practice of chanting God's name and glories.  (To M.) One should not be ashamed of chanting God's holy name.  As the saying   goes, 'One does not succeed so long as one has these three: shame, hatred, and fear.'

"At Kamarpukur they sing kirtan very well.  The devotional music is sung to the accompaniment of drums. 

(To Balaram) "Have you installed any image at Vrindāvan?"

BALARAM: "Yes, sir.  We have a grove where Krishna is worshipped."

 

--------------------

 

Chapter 5

 

THE MASTER AND KESHAB

October 27, 1882

Master's boat trip with Keshab

IT WAS FRIDAY, the day of the Lakshmi Puja.  Keshab Chandra Sen had arranged a boat trip on the Ganges for Sri Ramakrishna. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon the steamboat with Keshab and his Brahmo followers cast anchor in the Ganges alongside the Kāli temple at Dakshineswar.  The passengers saw in front of them the bathing-ghat and the chandni.  To their left, in the temple compound, stood six temples of Śiva, and to their right another group of six Śiva temples.  The white steeple of the Kāli temple, the tree-tops of the Panchavati, and the silhouette of pine-trees stood high against the blue autumn sky.  The gardens between the two nahabats were filled with fragrant flowers, and along the bank of the Ganges were rows of flowering plants.  The blue sky was reflected in the brown water of the river, the sacred Ganges, associated with the most ancient traditions of Aryan civilization.  The outer world appeared soft and serene, and the hearts of the Brahmo devotees were filled with peace. 

Master in samādhi

Sri Ramakrishna was in his room talking with Vijay and Haralal.  Some disciples of Keshab entered.  Bowing before the Master, they said to him: "Sir, the steamer has arrived.  Keshab Babu has asked us to take you there." A small boat was to carry the Master to the steamer.  No sooner did he get into the boat than he lost outer consciousness in samādhi.  Vijay was with him. 

M. was among the passengers.  As the boat came alongside the steamer, all rushed to the railing to have a view of Sri Ramakrishna.  Keshab became anxious to get him safely on board.  With great difficulty the Master was brought back to consciousness of the world and taken to a cabin in the steamer.  Still in an abstracted mood, he walked mechanically, leaning on a devotee for support.  Keshab and the others bowed before him, but he was not aware of them.  Inside the cabin there were a few chairs and a table.  He was made to sit on one of the chairs, Keshab and Vijay occupying two others.  Some devotees were also seated, most of them on the floor, while many others had to stand outside.  They peered eagerly through the door and windows.  Sri Ramakrishna again went into deep samādhi and became totally unconscious of the outer world. 

As the air in the room was stuffy because of the crowd of people, Keshab opened the windows.  He was embarrassed to meet Vijay, since they had differed in certain principles of the Brāhrno Samaj and Vijay had separated himself from Keshab's organization, joining another society. 

The Brahmo devotees looked wistfully at the Master.  Gradually he came back to sense consciousness; but the divine intoxication still lingered.  He said to himself in a whisper: "Mother, why have You brought me here? They are hedged around and not free.  Can I free them?" Did the Master find that the people assembled there were locked within the prison walls of the world? Did their helplessness make the Master address these words to the Divine Mother?

God dwells in devotee's heart

Sri Ramakrishna was gradually becoming conscious of the outside world.  Nilmadhav of Ghazipur and a Brahmo devotee were talking about Pavhari Baba.  Another Brahmo devotee said to the Master: "Sir, these gentlemen visited Pavhari Baba.  He lives in Ghazipur.  He is a holy man like yourself." The Master could hardly talk; he only smiled.  The devotee continued, "Sir, Pavhari Baba keeps your photograph in his room." Pointing to his body the Master said with a smile, "Just a pillow-case."

The Master continued: "But you should remember that the heart of the devotee is the abode of God.  He dwells, no doubt, in all beings, but He especially manifests Himself in the heart of the devotee.  A landlord may at one time or another visit all parts of his estate, but people say he is generally to be found in a particular drawing-room.  The heart of the devotee is the drawing-room of God.

Attitude of jnānis and bhaktās

"He who is called Brahman by the jnanis is known as Ātman by the yogis and as Bhagavan by the bhaktas.  The same brahmin is called priest, when worshipping in the temple, and cook, when preparing a meal in the kitchen.  The jnani sticking to the path of knowledge, always reasons about the Reality, saying, 'Not this, not this'.  Brahman is neither 'this' nor 'that'; It is neither the universe nor its living beings.  Reasoning in this way, the mind becomes steady.  Then it disappears and the aspirant goes into samādhi.  This is the knowledge of Brahman.  It is the unwavering conviction of the jnani that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory.  All these names and forms are illusory, like a dream.  What Brahman is cannot be described.  One cannot even say that Brahman is a Person.  This is the opinion of the jnanis, the followers of Vedanta philosophy. 

"But the bhaktas accept all the states of consciousness.  They take the waking state to be real also.  They don't think the world to be illusory, like a dream.  They say that the universe is a manifestation of God's power and glory.  God has created all these - sky, stars, moon, sun, mountains, ocean, men, animals.  They constitute His glory.  He is within us, in our hearts.  Again, He is outside.  The most advanced devotees say that He Himself has become all this - the twenty-four cosmic principles, the universe, and all living beings.  The devotee of God wants to eat sugar, not to become sugar.  (All laugh.) 

"Do you know how a lover of God feels? His attitude is: 'O God, Thou are the Master, and I am Thy servant.  Thou art the Mother, and I am Thy child.' Or again: 'Thou art my Father and Mother.  Thou art the Whole, and I am a part.' He doesn't like to say, 'I am Brahman.'

Attitude of yogis

"The yogi seeks to realize the Paramatman, the Supreme Soul.  His ideal is the union of the embodied soul and the Supreme Soul.  He withdraws his mind from sense-objects and tries to concentrate it on the Paramatman.  Therefore, during the first stage of his spiritual discipline, he retires into solitude and with undivided attention practises meditation in a fixed posture. 

"But the Reality is one and the same.  The difference is only in name.  He who is Brahman is verily Ātman, and again, He is the Bhagavan.  He is Brahman to the followers of the path of knowledge, Paramatman to the yogis, and Bhagavan to the lovers of God."

The steamer had been going toward Calcutta; but the passengers, with their eyes fixed on the Master and their ears given to his nectar-like words, were oblivious of its motion.  Dakshineswar, with its temples and gardens, was left behind.  The paddles of the boat churned the waters of the Ganges with a murmuring sound.  But the devotees were indifferent to all this.  Spellbound, they looked on a great yogi, his face lighted with a divine smile, his countenance radiating love, his eyes sparkling with joy-a man who had renounced all for God and who knew nothing but God.  Unceasing words of wisdom flowed from his lips. 

Reasoning of jnanis

MASTIER: "The jnanis, who adhere to the non-dualistic philosophy of Vedanta, say that the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, the universe itself and all its living beings, are the manifestations of Śakti, the Divine Power.  If you reason it out, you will realize that all these are as illusory as a dream.  Brahman alone is the Reality, and all else is unreal.  Even this very Śakti is unsubstantial, like a dream.

"But though you reason all your life, unless you are established in samādhi, you cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of Śakti.  Even when you say, 'I am meditating', or 'I am contemplating', still you are moving in the realm of Śakti, within Its power. 

Identity of Brahman and Śakti

"Thus Brahman and Śakti are identical.  If you accept the one, you must accept the other.  It is like fire and its power to burn.  If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also.  You cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor can you think of the power to burn without fire.  You cannot conceive of the sun's rays without the sun, nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays. 

"What is milk like? Oh, you say, it is something white.  You cannot think of the milk without the whiteness, and again, you cannot think of the whiteness without the milk. 

"Thus one cannot think of Brahman without Śakti, or of Śakti without Brahman.  One cannot think of the Absolute without the Relative, or of the Relative without the Absolute. 

"The Primordial Power is ever at play.  She is creating, preserving, and destroying in play, as it were.  This Power is called Kāli.  Kāli is verily Brahman, and Brahman is verily Kāli.  It is one and the same Reality.  When we think of  It as inactive, that is to say, not engaged in the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, then we call It Brahman.  But when It engages in these activities, then we call It Kāli or Śakti.  The Reality is one and the same; the difference is in name and form.

"It is like water, called in different languages by different names, such as 'jal', 'pani', and so forth.  There are three or four ghats on a lake.  The Hindus, who drink water at one place, call it 'jal'.  The Mussalmans at another place call it 'pani'.  And the English at a third place call it 'water'.  All three denote one and the same thing, the difference being in the name only.  In the same way, some address   the Reality as 'Allah', some as 'God', some as 'Brahman', some as 'Kāli', and others by such names as 'Rama', 'Jesus', 'Durga', 'Hari.' "

Different manifestations of Kāli

KESHAB (with a smile): "Describe to us, sir, in how many ways Kāli, the Divine Mother, sports in this world."

MASTER (with a smile): "Oh, She plays in different ways.  It is She alone who is known as Maha-Kāli, Nitya-Kāli, Smasana-Kāli, Raksha-Kāli, and Syama-Kāli.  Maha-Kāli and Nitya-Kāli are mentioned in the Tantra philosophy.  When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth  and when darkness was enveloped in darkness, then the Mother, the Formless One, Maha-Kāli, the Great Power, was one with Maha-Kala, the Absolute. 

"Syama-Kāli has a somewhat tender aspect and is worshipped in the Hindu  households.  She is the Dispenser of boons and the Dispeller of fear.  People worship Raksha-Kāli, the Protectress, in times of epidemic, famine, earthquake, drought, and flood.  Smasana-Kāli is the embodiment of the power of destruction.  She resides in the cremation ground, surrounded by corpses, jackals, and terrible female spirits.  From Her mouth flows a stream of blood, from Her neck hangs a garland of human heads, and around Her waist is a girdle made of human hands. 

Beginning of a cycle

"After the destruction of the universe, at the end of a great cycle, the Divine Mother garners the seeds for the next creation.  She is like the elderly mistress of the house, who has a hotchpotch-pot in which she keeps different articles for household use.  (All laugh.)

"Oh, yes! Housewives have pots like that, where they keep 'sea-foam', blue pills, small bundles of seeds of cucumber, pumpkin, and gourd, and so on.  They  take them out when they want them.  In the same way, after the destruction of the universe, my Divine Mother, the Embodiment of Brahman, gathers together the seeds for the next creation.  After the creation the Primal Power dwells in the universe itself.  She brings forth this phenomenal world and then pervades it.  In the Vedas creation is likened to the spider and its web.  The spider brings the web out of itself and then remains in it.  God is the container of the universe and also what is contained in it. 

"Is Kāli, my Divine Mother, of a black complexion? She appears black because She is viewed from a distance; but when intimately known She is no longer so.  The sky appears blue at a distance; but look at it close by and you will find that it has no colour.  The water of the ocean looks blue at a distance, but when you go near and take it in your hand, you find that it is colourless."

The Master became intoxicated with divine love and sang:

Is Kāli, my Mother, really black?
The Naked One, of blackest hue,
Lights the Lotus of the Heart.  .  .  . 

The Master continued: "Bondage and liberation are both of Her making.  By Her Maya worldly people become entangled in 'woman and gold', and again, through Her grace they attain their liberation.  She is called Saviour, and the remover of the bondage that binds one to the world."

Divine Mother's sport

Then the Master sang the following song in his melodious voice:

In the world's busy market-place, O Syama, Thou art flying kites;
High up they soar on the wind of hope, held fast by maya's string.
Their frames are human skeletons, their sails of the three gunas made;
But all their curious workmanship is merely for ornament.
Upon the kite-strings Thou hast rubbed the manja-paste of worldliness,
So as to make each straining strand all the more sharp and strong.
Out of a hundred thousand kites, at best but one or two break free;
And Thou dost laugh and clap Thy hands, O Mother, watching them!
On favouring winds, says Ramprasad, the kites set loose will speedily
Be borne away to the Infinite, across the sea of the world.

The Master said: "The Divine Mother is always playful and sportive.  This universe is Her play.  She is self-willed and must always have Her own way.  She is full of bliss.  She gives freedom to one out of a hundred thousand."

A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "But, sir, if She likes, She can give freedom to all.  Why, then, has She kept us bound to the world?"

MASTER: "That is Her will.  She wants to continue playing with Her created beings.  In a game of hide-and-seek the running about soon stops if in the beginning all the players touch the 'granny'.  If all touch her, then how can the game go on? That displeases her.  Her pleasure is in continuing the game.  Therefore the poet said:

Out of a hundred thousand kites, at best but one or two break free;
And Thou dost laugh and clap Thy hands, O Mother, watching them!

Reassurance to householders

"It is as if the Divine Mother said to the human mind in confidence, with a sign from Her eye, 'Go and enjoy the world.' How can one blame the mind? The mind can disentangle itself from worldliness if, through Her grace, She makes it turn toward Herself.  Only then does it become devoted to the Lotus Feet of the Divine Mother."

Whereupon Sri Ramakrishna, taking upon himself, as it were, the agonies of all householders, sang a song complaining to the Divine Mother:

Mother, this is the grief that sorely grieves my heart,
That even with Thee for Mother, and though I am wide awake,
There should be robbery in my house. 
Many and many a time I vow to call on Thee,
Yet when the time for prayer comes round, I have forgotten.
Now I see it is all Thy trick.

As Thou hast never given, so Thou receivest naught;
Am I to blame for this, O Mother? Hadst Thou but given,
Surely then Thou hadst received;
Out of Thine own gifts I should have given to Thee. 
Glory and shame, bitter and sweet, are Thine alone;
This world is nothing but Thy play. 
Then why, O Blissful One, dost Thou cause a rift in it?

Says Ramprasad: Thou hast bestowed on me this mind,
And with a knowing wink of Thine eye
Bidden it, at the same time, to go and enjoy the world. 
And so I wander here forlorn through Thy creation,
Blasted, as it were, by someone's evil glance,
Taking the bitter for the sweet,
Taking the unreal for the Real.

The  Master continued: "Men are deluded through Her maya and have become attached to the world. 

Says Ramprasad: Thou hast bestowed on me this mind,
And with a knowing wink of Thine eye
Bidden it, at the same time, to go and enjoy the world."

BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Sir, can't we realize God without complete renunciation?"

MASTFR (with a laugh): "Of course you can! Why should you renounce everything? You are all right as you are, following the middle path-like molasses partly solid and partly liquid.  Do you know the game of nax? Having scored the maximum number of points, I am out of the game.  I can't enjoy it.  But you are very clever.  Some of you have scored ten points, some six, and some five.  You have scored just the right number; so you are not out of the game like me.  The game can go on.  Why, that's fine! (All laugh.)

"I tell you the truth: there is nothing wrong in your being in the world.  But you must direct your mind toward God; otherwise you will not succeed. 
Do your duty with one hand and with the other hold to God.  After the duty is over, you will hold to God with both hands. 

Bondage and liberation are of the mind

"It is all a question of the mind.  Bondage and liberation are of the mind alone.  The mind will take the colour you dye it with.  It is like white clothes just returned from the laundry.  If you dip them in red dye, they will be red.  If you dip them in blue or green, they will be blue or green.  They will take only the colour you dip them in, whatever it may be.  Haven't you noticed that, if you read a little English, you at once begin to utter English words: Foot fut it mit? Then you put on boots and whistle a tune, and so on.  It all goes together.  Or, if a scholar studies Sanskrit, he will at once rattle off Sanskrit verses.  If you are in bad company, then you will talk and think like your companions.  On the other hand, when you are in the company of devotees, you will think and talk only of God. 

"The mind is everything.  A man has his wife on one side and his daughter on the other.  He shows his affection to them in different ways.  But his mind is one and the same. 

"Bondage is of the mind, and freedom is also of the mind.  A man is free if he constantly thinks: 'I am a free soul.  How can I be bound, whether I live in the world or in the forest? I am a child of God, the King of Kings.  Who can bind me?' If bitten by a snake, a man may get rid of its venom by saying emphatically, 'There is no poison in me.' In the same way, by repeating with grit and determination, 'I am not bound, I am free', one really becomes so-one really becomes free. 

"Once someone gave me a book of the Christians.  I asked him to read it to me.  It talked about nothing but sin.  (To Keshab) Sin is the only thing one hears of at your Brahmo Samaj, too.  The wretch who constantly says, 'I am bound, I am bound' only succeeds in being bound.  He who says day and night, 'I am a sinner, I am a sinner' verily becomes a sinner. 

Redeeming power of faith

"One should have such burning faith in God that one can say: 'What? I have repeated the name of God, and can sin still cling to me? How can I be a sinner any more? How can I be in bondage any more?'

"If a man repeats the name of God, his body, mind, and everything become pure.  Why should one talk only about sin and hell, and such things? Say but once, 'O Lord, I have undoubtedly done wicked things, but I won't repeat them.' And have faith in His name."

Sri Ramakrishna became intoxicated with divine love and sang:

If only I can pass away repeating Durga's name,
How canst Thou then, O Blessed One,
Withhold from me deliverance,
Wretched though I may be? .  .  .

Master's prayer

Then he said: "To my Divine Mother I prayed only for pure love.  I offered flowers at Her Lotus Feet and prayed to Her: 'Mother, here is Thy virtue, here is Thy vice.  Take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee.  Here is Thy knowledge, here is Thy ignorance.  Take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee.  Here is Thy purity, here is Thy impurity.  Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee.  Here is Thy dharma, here is Thy adharma.  Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee.'

 (To the Brahmo devotees) "Now listen to a song by Ramprasad:

Come, let us go for a walk, O mind, to Kāli, the Wish-fulfilling Tree,
And there beneath It gather the four fruits of life. 
Of your two wives, Dispassion and Worldliness,
Bring alone Dispassion only, on your way to the Tree,
And ask her son Discrimination about the Truth.

When will you learn to lie, O mind, in the abode of Blessedness,
With Cleanliness and Defilement on either side of you?
Only when you have found the way
To keep these wives contentedly under a single roof,
Will you behold the matchless form of Mother Syama.

Ego and Ignorance, your parents, instantly banish from your sight;
And should Delusion seek to drag you to its hole,
Manfully cling to the pillar of Patience. 
Tie to the post of Unconcern the goats of Vice and Virtue,
Killing them with the sword of Knowledge if they rebel. 
With the children of Worldliness, your first wife, plead from a goodly distance,
And, if they will not listen, drown them in Wisdom's sea. 
Says Ramprasad: If you do as I say,
You can submit a good account, O mind, to the King of Death,
And I shall be well pleased with you and call you my darling. 

"Why shouldn't one be able to realize God in this world? King Janaka had such realization.  Ramprasad described the world as a mere 'framework of illusion'.  But if one loves God's hallowed feet, then-

This very world is a mansion of mirth;
Here I can eat, here drink and make merry. 
Janaka's might was unsurpassed;
What did he lack of the world or the Spirit?
Holding to one as well as the other,
He drank his milk from a brimming cup! (All laugh.)

"But one cannot be a King Janaka all of a sudden.  Janaka at first practised much austerity in solitude. 

Solitude for householders

"Even if one lives in the world, one must go into solitude now and then.  It will be of great help to a man if he goes away from his family, lives alone, and weeps for God even for three days.  Even if he thinks of God for one day in solitude, when he has the leisure, that too will do him good.  People shed a whole jug of tears for wife and children.  But who cries for the Lord? Now and then one must go into solitude and practise spiritual discipline to realize God.  Living in the world and entangled in many of its duties, the aspirant, during the first stage of spiritual life, finds many obstacles in the path of concentration.  While the trees on the foot-path are young, they must he fenced around; otherwise they will be destroyed by cattle.  The fence is necessary when the tree is young, but it can be taken away when the trunk is thick and strong.  Then the tree won't be hurt even if an elephant is tied to it. 

 

Malady of worldly people and its cure

"The disease of worldliness is like typhoid.  And there are a huge jug of water and a jar of savoury pickles in the typhoid patient's room.  If you want to cure him of his illness, you must remove him from that room.  The worldly man is like the typhoid patient.  The various objects of enjoyment are the huge jug of water, and the craving for their enjoyment is his thirst.  The very thought of pickles makes the mouth water; you don't have to bring them near.  And he is surrounded with them.  The companionship of woman is the pickles.  Hence treatment in solitude is necessary. 

 

"One may enter the world after attaining discrimination and dispassion.  In the ocean of the world there are six alligators: lust, anger, and so forth.  But you need not fear the alligators if you smear your body with turmeric before you go into the water.  Discrimination and dispassion are the turmeric.  Discrimination is the knowledge of what is real and what is unreal.  It is the realization that God alone is the real and eternal Substance and that all else is unreal, transitory, impermanent.  And you must cultivate intense zeal for God.  You must feel love for Him and be attracted to Him.  The gopis of Vrindāvan felt the attraction of Krishna.  Let me sing you a song:

Listen! The flute has sounded in yonder wood. 
There I must fly, for Krishna waits on the path. 
Tell me, friends, will you come along or no?
To you my Krishna is merely an empty name;
To me He is the anguish of my heart. 
You hear His flute-notes onlv with your ears,
But, oh, I hear them in my deepest soul. 
I hear His  flute calling: 'Radha come out!
Without you the grove is shorn of its loveliness.' "

The Master sang the song with tears in his eyes, and said to Keshab and the other Brahmo devotees: "Whether you accept Radha and Krishna, or not, please do accept their attraction for each other.  Try to create that same yearning in your heart for God.  Yearning is all you need in order to realize Him."

Gradually the ebb-tide set in.  The steamboat was speeding toward Calcutta.  It passed under the Howrah Bridge and came within sight of the Botanical Garden.  The captain was asked to go a little farther down the river.  The passengers were enchanted with the Master's words, and most of them had no idea of time or of how far they had come. 

Keshab began to serve some puffed rice and grated coconut.  The guests held these in the folds of their wearing-cloths and presently started to eat.  Everyone was joyful.  The Master noticed, however, that Keshab and Vijay rather shrank from each other, and he was anxious to reconcile them. 

Disagreements necessary for enriching life

MASTEIR (to Keshab): "Look here.  There is Vijay.  Your quarrel seems like the fight between Śiva and Rama.  Śiva was Rama's s guru.  Though they fought with each other, yet they soon came to terms.  But the grimaces of the ghosts, the followers of Śiva, and the gibberish of the monkeys, the followers of Rama, would not come to an end! (Loud laughter.) Such quarrels take place even among one's own kith and kin.  Didn't Rama fight with His own sons, Lava and Kusa? Again, you must have noticed how a mother and daughter, living together and having the same spiritual end in view, observe their religious fast separately on Tuesdays, each on her own account-as if the welfare of the mother were different from the welfare of the daughter.  But what benefits the one benefits the other.  In like manner, you have a religious society, and Vijay thinks he must have one too.  (Laughter.) But I think all these are necessary.  While Sri Krishna, Himself God Incarnate, played  with the gopis at Vrindāvan, trouble-makers like Jatila and Kutila appeared on the scene.  You may ask why.  The answer is that the play does not develop without trouble-makers.  (All laugh.) There is no fun without Jatila and Kutila.  (Loud laughter.)

"Ramanuja upheld the doctrine of Qualified Non-dualism.  But his guru was a pure non-dualist.  They disagreed with each other and refuted each other's arguments.  That always happens.  Still, to the teacher the disciple is his own."

All rejoiced in the Mastcr's company and his words. 

MASTER (to Keshab): "You don't look into people's natures, before you make them  your disciples, and so they break away from you. 

"All men look alike, to be sure, but they have different natures.  Some have an excess of sattva, others an excess of rajas, and still others an excess of tamas.  You must have noticed that the cakes known as puli all look alike.  But their contents are very different.  Some contain condensed milk, some coconut kernel, and others mere boiled kalai pulse.  (All laugh)

Master's humility

"Do you know my attitude? As for myself, I eat, drink, and live happily.  The rest the Divine Mother knows.  Indeed, there are three words that prick my flesh: 'guru', 'master', and 'father'. 

"There is only one Guru, and that is Satchidananda.  He alone is the Teacher.  My attitude toward God is that of a child toward its mother.  One can get human gurus by the million.  All want to be teachers.  But who cares to be a disciple?

Difficulty of preaching

"It is extremely difficult to teach others.  A man can teach only if God reveals Himself to him and gives the command.  Narada, Sukadeva, and sages like them had such a command from God, and Sankara had it too.  Unless you have a command from God, who will listen to your words?

"Don't you know how easily the people of Calcutta get excited? The milk in the kettle puffs up and boils as long as the fire burns underneath.  Take away the fuel and all becomes quiet.  The people of Calcutta love sensations.  You may see them digging a well at a certain place.  They say they want water.  But if they strike a stone they give up that place; they begin at another place.  And there, perchance, they find sand; they give up the second place too.  Next they begin at a third.  And so it goes.  But it won't do if a man only imagines that he has God's command. 

"God does reveal Himself to man and speak.  Only then may one receive His command.  How forceful are the words of such a teacher! They can move mountains.  But mere lectures? People will listen to them for a few days and then forget them.  They will never act upon mere words. 

"At Kamarpukur there is a small lake called the Haldarpukur.  Certain people used to befoul its banks every day.  Others who came there in the morning to bathe would abuse the offenders loudly.  But next morning they would find the same thing.  The nuisance didn't stop.  (All laugh.) The villagers finally informed the authorities about it.  A constable was sent, who put up a notice on the bank which read: 'Commit no nuisance.' This stopped the miscreants at once.  (All laugh.)

"To teach others, one must have a badge of authority; otherwise teaching becomes a mockery.  A man who is himself ignorant starts out to teach others-like the blind leading the blind! Instead of doing good, such teaching does harm.  After the realization of God one obtains an inner vision.  Only then can one diagnose a person's spiritual malady and give instruction. 

"Without the commission from God, a man becomes vain.  He says to himself, 'I am teaching people.' This vanity comes from ignorance, for only an ignorant person feels that he is the doer.  A man verily becomes liberated in life if he feels: 'God is the Doer.  He alone is doing everything.  I am doing nothing.'   Man's sufferings and worries spring only from his persistent thought that he is the doer. 

Doing good to others

"You people speak of doing good to the world.  Is the world such a small thing? And who are you, pray, to do good to the world? First realize God, see Him by means of spiritual discipline.  If He imparts power, then you can do good to others; otherwise not."

A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Then, sir, we must give up our activities until we realize God?"

MASTER: "No.  Why should you? You must engage in such activities as contemplation, singing His praises, and other daily devotions."

BRAHMO: "But what about our worldly duties-duties associated with our earning money, and so on?"

MASTER: "Yes, you can perform them too, but only as much as you need for your livelihood.  At the same time, you must pray to God in solitude, with tears in your eyes, that you may be able to perform those duties in an unselfish manner.  You should say to Him: 'O God, make my worldly duties fewer and fewer; otherwise, O Lord, I find that I forget Thee when I am involved in too many activities.  I may think I am doing unselfish work, but it turns out to be selfish.' People who carry to excess the giving of alms, or the distributing of food among the poor, fall victims to the desire of acquiring name and fame. 

"Sambhu Mallick once talked about establishing hospitals, dispensaries, and schools, making roads, digging public reservoirs, and so forth.  I said to him: 'Don't go out of your way to look for such works.  Undertake only those works that present themselves to you and are of pressing necessity-and those also in a spirit of detachment.' It is not good to become involved in many activities.  That makes one forget God.  Coming to the Kalighat temple, some, perhaps, spend their whole time in giving alms to the poor.  They have no time to see the Mother in the inner shrine! (Laughter.) First of all manage somehow to see the image of the Divine Mother, oven by pushing through the crowd.  Then you may or may not give alms, as you wish.  You may give to the poor to your heart's content, if you feel that way.  Work is only a means to the realization of God.  Therefore I said to Sambhu, 'Suppose God appears before you; then will you ask Him to build hospitals and dispensaries for you?' (Laughter.) A lover of God never says that.  He will rather say: 'O Lord, give me a place at Thy Lotus Feet.  Keep me always in Thy company.  Give me sincere and pure love for Thee.'

Path of devotion most elective for Kaliyuga

"Karmayoga is very hard indeed.  In the Kaliyuga it is extremely difficult to perform the rites enjoined in the scriptures.  Nowadays man's life is centred on food alone.  He cannot perform many scriptural rites.  Suppose a man is laid up with fever.  If you attempt a slow cure with the old-fashioned indigenous remedies, before long his life may be snuffed out.  He can't stand much delay.  Nowadays the drastic 'D Gupta' mixture is appropriate.  In the Kaliyuga the best way is bhaktiyoga, the path of devotion-singing the praises of the Lord, and prayer.  The path of devotion alone is the religion for this age.  (To the Brahmo devotees) Yours also is the path of devotion.  Blessed you are indeed that you chant the name of Hari and sing the Divine Mother's glories.  I like your attitude.  You don't call the world a dream like the non-dualists.  You are not Brahmajnanis like them; you are bhaktas, lovers of God.  That you speak of Him as a Person is also good.  You are devotees.  You will certainly realize Him if you call on Him with sincerity and earnestness."

The boat cast anchor at Kayalaghat and the passengers prepared to disembark.  On coming outside they noticed that the full moon was up.  The trees, the buildings, and the boats on the Ganges were bathed in its mellow light.  A carriage was hailed for the Master, and M. and a few devotees got in with him.  The Master asked for Keshab.  Presently the latter arrived and inquired about the arrangements made for the Master's return to Dakshineswar.  Then he bowed low and took leave of Sri Ramakrishna. 

The carriage drove through the European quarter of the city.  The Master enjoyed the sight of the beautiful mansions on both sides of the well lighted streets.  Suddenly he said: "I am thirsty.  What's to be done?" Nandalal, Keshab's nephew, stopped the carriage before the India Club and went upstairs to get some water.  The Master inquired whether the glass had been well washed.  On being assured that it had been, he drank the water. 

As the carriage went along, the Master put his head out of the window and looked with childlike enjoyment, at the people, the vehicles, the horses, and the streets, all flooded with moonlight.  Now and then he heard European ladies singing at the piano.  He was in a very happy mood. 

The carriage arrived at the house of Suresh Mitra, who was a great devotee of the Master and whom he addressed affectionately as Surendra.  He was not at home.

The members of the household opened a room on the ground floor for the Master and his party.  The cab fare was to be paid.  Surendra would have taken care of it had he been there.  The Master said to a devotee: "Why don't you ask the ladies to pay the fare? They certainly know that their master visits us at Dakshineswar.  I am not a stranger to them."(All laugh.)

Narendra, who lived in that quarter of the city, was sent for.  In the mean time Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees were invited to the drawing-room upstairs.  The floor of the room was covered with a carpet and a white sheet.  A few cushions were lying about.  On the wall hung an oil painting especially painted for Surendra, in which Sri Ramakrishna was pointing out to Keshab the harmony of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other religions.  On seeing the picture Keshab had once said, "Blessed is the man who conceived the idea."

Sri Ramakrishna was talking joyously with the devotees, when Narendra arrived.  This made the Master doubly happy.  He said to his young disciple, "We had a boat trip with Keshab today.  Vijay and many other Brahmo devotees were there.  (Pointing to M.) Ask him what I said to Keshab and Vijay about the mother and daughter observing their religious fast on Tuesdays, each on her own account, though the welfare of the one meant the welfare of the other.  I also said to Keshab that trouble-makers like jatila and Kutila were necessary to lend zest to the play.  (To M.) Isn't that so?"

M: "Yes, sir.  Quite so."

It was late.  Surendra had not yet returned.  The Master had to leave for the temple garden, and a cab was brought for him.  M. and Narendra saluted him and took their leave.  Sri Ramakrishna's carriage started for Dakshineswar through the moonlit streets.

 

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Chapter 6

 

THE MASTER WITH THE BRAHMO DEVOTEES (I)

 

October 28, 1882

IT WAS SATURDAY.  The semi-annual Brahmo festival, celebrated each autumn and spring, was being held in Benimadhav Pal's beautiful garden house at Sinthi, about three miles north of Calcutta.  The house stood in a secluded place suited for contemplation.  Trees laden with flowers, artificial lakes with grassy banks, and green arbours enhanced the beauty of the grounds.  Just as the fleecy clouds were turning gold in the light of the setting sun, the Master arrived.

Many devotees had attended the morning devotions, and in the afternoon people from Calcutta and the neighbouring villages joined them.  Shivanath, the great Brahmo devotee whom the Master loved dearly, was one of the large gathering of members of the Brahmo Samaj who had been eagerly awaiting Sri Ramakrishna's arrival.

When the carriage bringing the Master and a few devotees reached the garden house, the assembly stood up respectfully to receive him.  There was a sudden silence, like that which comes when the curtain in a theatre is about to be rung up.  People who had been conversing with one another now fixed their attention on the Master's serene face, eager not to lose one word that might fall from his lips.

Master's joy on seeing Shivanāth

At the sight of Shivanath the Master cried out joyously: "Ah! Here is Shivanath! You see, you are a devotee of God.  The very sight of you gladdens my heart.  One hemp-smoker feels very happy to meet another.  Very often they embrace each other in an exuberance of joy."

The devotees burst out laughing.

Worldly people's indifference to spiritual life

MASTER: "Many people visit the temple garden at Dakshineswar.  If I see some among the visitors indifferent to God, I say to them, 'You had better sit over there.' Or sometimes I say, 'Go and see the beautiful buildings.' (Laughter.)

"Sometimes I find that the devotees of God are accompanied by worthless people.  Their companions are immersed in gross worldliness and don't enjoy spiritual talk at all.  Since the devotees keep on, for a long time, talking with me about God, the others become restless.  Finding it impossible to sit there any longer, they whisper to their devotee friends: 'When shall we be going? How long will you stay here?' The devotees say: 'Wait a bit.  We shall go after a little while.' Then the worldly people say in a disgusted tone: 'Well, then, you can talk.  We shall wait for you in the boat.' (All laugh.)

Power of God's name

"Worldly people will never listen to you if you ask them to renounce everything and devote themselves whole-heartedly to God.  Therefore Chaitanya and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract the worldly.  They would say to such persons, 'Come, repeat the name of Hari, and you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young woman.' Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the name of God.  After tasting a little of the nectar of God's hallowed name, they would soon realize that the 'fish soup' really meant the tears they shed for love of God, while the 'young woman' signified the earth.  The embrace of the woman meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine love.

"Nitai would employ any means to make people repeat Hari's name.  Chaitanya said: 'The name of God has very great sanctity.  It may not produce an immediate result, but one day it must bear fruit.  It is like a seed that has been left on the cornice of a building.  After many days the house crumbles, and the seed falls on the earth, germinates, and at last bears fruit.'

Three classes of devotees

"As worldly people are endowed with sattva, rajas, and tamas, so also is bakti characterized by the three gunas. 

"Do you know what a worldly person endowed with sattva is like? Perhaps his house is in a dilapidated condition here and there.  He doesn't care to repair it.  The worship hall may be strewn with pigeon droppings and the courtyard covered with moss, but he pays no attention to these things.  The furniture of the house may be old; he doesn't think of polishing it and making it look neat.  He doesn't care for dress at all; anything is good enough for him.  But the man himself is very gentle, quiet, kind, and humble; he doesn't injure anyone. 

"Again, among the worldly there are people with the traits of rajas.  Such a man has a watch and chain, and two or three rings on his fingers.  The furniture of his house is all spick and span.  On the walls hang portraits of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and other prominent people; the building is whitewashed and spotlessly clean.  His wardrobe is filled with a large assortment of clothes; even the servants have their livery, and all that. 

"The traits of a worldly man endowed with tamas are sleep, lust, anger, egotism, and the like.

Three kinds of bhakti

"Similarly, bhakti, devotion, has its sattva.  A devotee who possesses it meditates on God in absolute secret, perhaps inside his mosquito net.  Others think he is asleep.  Since he is late in getting up, they think perhaps he has not slept well during the night.  His love for the body goes only as far as appeasing his hunger, and that only by means of rice and simple greens.  There is no elaborate arrangement about his meals, no luxury in clothes, and no display of furniture.  Besides, such a devotee never flatters anybody for money. 

"An aspirant possessed of rajasic bhakti puts a tilak on his forehead and a necklace of holy rudraksha beads, interspersed with gold ones, around his neck.  (All laugh.) At worship he wears a silk cloth.

"A man endowed with tamasic bhakti has burning faith.  Such a devotee literally extorts boons from God, even as a robber falls upon a man and plunders his money.  'Bind! Beat! Kill!'-that is his way, the way of the dacoits."

Utilizing Tamas for spiritual welfare

Saying this, the Master began to sing in a voice sweet with rapturous love, his eyes turned upward:

Why should I go to Ganga or Gaya, to Kasi, Kanchi, or Prabhas,
So long as I can breathe my last with Kāli's name upon my lips?
What need of rituals has a man, what need of devotions any more,
If he repeats the Mother's name at the three holy hours?
Rituals may pursue him close, but never can they overtake him. 
Charity, vows, and giving of gifts do not appeal to Madan's mind;
The Blissful Mother's Lotus Feet are his whole prayer and sacrifice.
Who could ever have conceived the power Her name possesses?
Śiva Himself, the God of Gods, sings Her praise with His five mouths!

The Master was beside himself with love for the Divine Mother.  He sang with fiery enthusiasm:

If only I can pass away repeating Durga's name,
How canst Thou then, O Blessed One,
Withhold from me deliverance,
Wretched though I may be? .  .  .

Then he said, "One must take the firm attitude: 'What? I have chanted the Mother's name.  How can I be a sinner any more? I am Her child, heir to Her powers and glories.'

"If you can give a spiritual turn to your tamas, you can realize God with its help.  Force your demands on God.  He is by no means a stranger to you.  He is indeed your very own.

Illustration of physicians

"Again, you see, the quality of tamas can be used for the welfare of others.  There are three classes of physicians: superior, mediocre, and inferior.  The physician who feels the patient's pulse and just says to him, 'Take the medicine regularly' belongs to the inferior class.  He doesn't care to inquire whether or not the patient has actually taken the medicine.  The mediocre physician is he who in various ways persuades the patient to take the medicine, and says to him sweetly: 'My good man, how will you be cured unless you use the medicine? Take this medicine.  I have made it for you myself.' But he who, finding the patient stubbornly refusing to take the medicine, forces it down his throat, going so far as to put his knee on the patient's chest, is the best physician.  This is the manifestation of the tamas of the physician.  It doesn't injure the patient; on the contrary, it does him good.

 

Three types of gurus

"Like the physicians, there are three types of religious teachers.  The inferior teacher only gives instruction to the disciples but makes no inquiries about their progress.  The mediocre teacher, for the good of the student, makes repeated efforts to bring the instruction home to him, begs him to assimilate it, and shows him love in many other ways.  But there is a type of teacher who goes to the length of using force when he finds the student persistently unyielding; I call him the best teacher."

 

No finality about God's nature

A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Sir, has God forms or has He none?"

 

MASTER: "No one can say with finality that God is only 'this' and nothing else.  He is formless, and again He has forms.  For the bhakta He assumes forms.  But He is formless for the jnani, that is, for him who looks on the world as a mere dream.  The bhakta feels that he is one entity and the world another.  Therefore God reveals Himself to him as a Person.  But the jnani-the Vedantist, for instance-always reasons, applying the process of 'Not this, not this'.  Through this discrimination he realizes, by his inner perception, that the ego and the universe are both illusory, like a dream.  Then the jnani realizes Brahman in his own consciousness.  He cannot describe what Brahman is.

"Do you know what I mean? Think of Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, as a shoreless ocean.  Through the cooling influence, as it were, of the bhakta's love, the water has frozen at places into blocks of ice.  In other words, God now and then assumes various forms for His lovers and reveals Himself to them as a Person.  But with the rising of the sun of Knowledge, the blocks of ice melt.  Then one doesn't feel any more that God is a Person, nor does one see God's forms.  What He is cannot be described.  Who will describe Him? He who would do so disappears.  He cannot find his 'I' any more.

Illusoriness of "I"

"If one analyses oneself, one doesn't find any such thing as 'I'.  Take an onion, for instance.  First of all you peel off the red outer skin; then you find thick white skins.  Peel these off one after the other, and you won't find anything inside.

"In that state a man no longer finds the existence of his ego.  And who is there left to seek it? Who can describe how he feels in that state-in his own Pure Consciousness-about the real nature of Brahman? Once a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean.  No sooner was it in the water than it melted.  Now who was to tell the depth?

Sign of Perfect Knowledge

"There is a sign of Perfect Knowledge.  Man becomes silent when It is attained.  Then the 'I', which may be likened to the salt doll, melts in the Ocean of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute and becomes one with It.  Not the slightest trace of distinction is left.

"As long as his self-analysis is not complete, man argues with much ado.  But he becomes silent when he completes it.  When the empty pitcher has been filled with water, when the water inside the pitcher becomes one with the water of the lake outside, no more sound is heard.  Sound comes from the pitcher as long as the pitcher is not filled with water.

"People used to say in olden days that no boat returns after having once entered the 'black waters' of the ocean.

"All trouble and botheration come to an end when the 'I' dies.  You may indulge in thousands of reasoning, but still the 'I' doesn't disappear.  For people like you and me, it is good to have the feeling, 'I am a lover of God.'

Personal God for devotees

"The Saguna Brahman is meant for the bhaktas.  In other words, a bhakta believes that God has attributes and reveals Himself to men as a Person, assuming forms.  It is He who listens to our prayers.  The prayers that you utter are directed to Him alone.  You are bhaktas, not jnanis or Vedantists.  It doesn't matter whether you accept God with form or not.  It is enough to feel that God is a Person who listens to our prayers, who creates, preserves, and destroys the universe, and who is endowed with infinite power.

"It is easier to attain God by following the path of devotion."

BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Sir, is it possible for one to see God? If so, why can't we see Him?"

MASTER: "Yes, He can surely be seen.  One can see His forms, and His formless aspect as well.  How can I explain that to you?"

Intense longing enables one to see God

BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "What are the means by which one can see God?"

MASTER: "Can you weep for Him with intense longing of heart? Men shed a jugful of tears for the sake of their children, for their wives, or for money.  But who weeps for God? So long as the child remains engrossed with its toys, the mother looks after her cooking and other household duties.  But when the child no longer relishes the toys, it throws them aside and yells for its mother.  Then the mother takes the rice-pot down from the hearth, runs in haste, and takes the child in her arms."

 

Why so much controversy about God?

BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Sir, why are there so many different opinions about the nature of God? Some say that God has form, while others say that He is formless.  Again, those who speak of God with form tell us about His different forms.  Why all this controversy?"

MASTER: "A devotee thinks of God as he sees Him.  In reality there is no confusion about God.  God explains all this to the devotee if the devotee only realizes Him somehow.  You haven't set your foot in that direction.  How can you expect to know all about God?

Parable of the chameleon

"Listen to a story.  Once a man entered a wood and saw a small animal on a tree.  He came back and told another man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red colour on a certain tree.  The second man replied: 'When I went into the wood, I also saw that animal.  But why do you call it red? It is green.' Another man who was present contradicted them both and insisted that it was yellow.  Presently others arrived and contended that it was grey, violet, blue, and so forth and so on.  At last they started quarrelling among themselves.  To settle the dispute they all went to the tree.  They saw a man sitting under it.  On being asked, he replied: 'Yes, I live under this tree and I know the animal very well.  All your descriptions are true.  Sometimes it appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times blue, violet, grey, and so forth.  It is a chameleon.  And sometimes it has no colour at all.  Now it has a colour, and now it has none.'

"In like manner, one who constantly thinks of God can know His real nature; he alone knows that God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms and aspects.  God has attributes; then again He has none.  Only the man who lives under the tree knows that the chameleon can appear in various colours, and he knows, further, that the animal at times has no colour at all.  It is the others who suffer from the agony of futile argument.

"Kabir used to say, 'The formless Absolute is my Father, and God with form is my Mother.'

"God reveals Himself in the form which His devotee loves most.  His love for the devotee knows no bounds.  It is written in the Purana that God assumed the form of Rama for His heroic devotee, Hanuman.

Vedantic Non-dualism

"The forms and aspects of God disappear when one discriminates in accordance with the Vedanta philosophy.  The ultimate conclusion of such discrimination is that Brahman alone is real and this world of names and forms illusory.  It is possible for a man to see the forms of God, or to think of Him as a Person, only so long as he is conscious that he is a devotee.  From the standpoint of discrimination this 'ego of a devotee' keeps him a little away from God.

"Do you know why images of Krishna or Kāli are three and a half cubits high? Because of distance.  Again, on account of distance the sun appears to be small.  But if you go near it you will find the sun so big that you won't be able to comprehend it.  Why have images of Krishna and Kāli a dark-blue colour? That too is on account of distance, like the water of a lake, which appears green, blue, or black from a distance.  Go near, take the water in the palm of your hand, and you will find that it has no colour.  The sky also appears blue from a distance.  Go near and you will see that it has no colour at all.

"Therefore I say that in the light of Vedantic reasoning Brahman has no attributes.  The real nature of Brahman cannot be described.  But so long as your individuality is real, the world also is real, and equally real are the different forms of God and the feeling that God is a Person.

"Yours is the path of bhakti.  That is very good; it is an easy path.  Who can fully know the infinite God? and what need is there of knowing the Infinite? Having attained this rare human birth, my supreme need is to develop love for the Lotus Feet of God.

"If a jug of water is enough to remove my thirst, why should I measure the quantity of water in a lake? I become drunk on even half a bottle of wine-what is the use of my calculating the quantity of liquor in the tavern? What need is there of knowing the Infinite?

"The various states of mind of the Brahmajnani are described in the Vedas.  The path of knowledge is extremely difficult.  One cannot obtain jnāna if one has the least trace of worldliness and the slightest attachment to 'woman and gold'.  This is not the path for the Kaliyuga.

Seven planes of the mind

"The Vedas speak of seven planes where the mind dwells.  When the mind is immersed in worldliness it dwells in the three lower planes- at the naval, the organ of generation, and the organ of evacuation.  In that state the mind loses all its higher visions-it broods only on 'woman and gold'.  The fourth plane of the mind is at the heart.  When the mind dwells there, one has the first glimpse of spiritual consciousness.  One sees light all around.  Such a man, perceiving the divine light, becomes speechless with wonder and says: 'Ah! What is this? What is this?' His mind does not go downward to the objects of the world.

"The fifth plane of the mind is at the throat.  When the mind reaches this, the aspirant becomes free from all ignorance and illusion.  He does not enjoy talking or hearing about anything but God.  If people talk about worldly things, he leaves the place at once.

"The sixth plane is at the forehead.  When the mind reaches it, the aspirant sees the form of God day and night.  But even then a little trace of ego remains.  At the sight of that incomparable beauty of God's form, one becomes intoxicated and rushes forth to touch and embrace it.  But one doesn't succeed.  It is like the light inside a lantern.  One feels as if one could touch the light, but one cannot on account of the pane of glass.

"In the top of the head is the seventh plane.  When the mind rises there, one goes into samādhi.  Then the Brahmajnani directly perceives Brahman.  But in that state his body does not last many days.  He remains unconscious of the outer world.  If milk is poured into his mouth, it runs out.  Dwelling on this plane of consciousness, he gives up his body in twenty-one days.  That is the condition of the Brahmajnani.  But yours is the path of devotion.  That is a very good and easy path.

"Once a man said to me, 'Sir, can you teach me quickly the thing you call samādhi?' (All laugh.)

Duties drop away with deepening of spiritual mood

"After a man has attained samādhi all his actions drop away.  All devotional activities, such as worship, japa, and the like, as well as all worldly duties, cease to exist for such a person.  At the beginning there is much ado about work.  As a man makes progress toward God, the outer display of his work becomes less and less-so much so that he cannot even sing the name and glories of God.  (To Shivanath) As long as you were not here at the meeting, people talked a great deal about you and discussed your virtues.  But no sooner did you arrive here than all that stopped.  Now the very sight of you makes everyone happy.  People now simply say, 'Ah! Here is Shivanath Babu.' All other talk about you has stopped.

 

What happens after samādhi

"After attaining samādhi, I once went to the Ganges to perform tarpan.  But as I took water in the palm of my hand, it trickled down through my fingers.  Weeping, I said to Haladhāri, 'Cousin, what is this?' Haladhāri replied, 'It is called galitahasta in the holy books.' After the vision of God, such duties as the performance of tarpan drop away.

"In the kirtan the devotee first sings, 'Nitai amar mata hati.' As the devotional mood deepens, he simply sings, 'Hati! Hati!' Next, all he can sing is 'Hati'.  And last of all he simply sings, 'Ha!' and goes into samādhi.  The man who has been singing all the while then becomes speechless.

"Again, at a feast given to the brahmins one at first hears much noise of talking.  When the guests sit on the floor with leaf-plates in front of them, much of the noise ceases.  Then one hears only the cry, 'Bring some luchi!'
As they partake of the luchi and other dishes, three quarters of the noise subsides.  When the curd, the last course, appears, one hears only the sound 'soop, soop' as the guests eat the curd with their fingers.  Then there is practically no noise.  Afterwards all retire to sleep, and absolute silence reigns.

"Therefore I say, at the beginning of religious life a man makes much ado about work, but as his mind dives deeper into God, he becomes less active.  Last of all comes the renunciation of work, followed by samādhi.

"Generally the body does not remain alive after the attainment of samādhi.  The only exceptions are such sages as Narada, who keep their bodies alive in order to bring spiritual light to others.  It is also true of Divine Incarnations, like Chaitanya.  After the well is dug, one generally throws away the spade and the basket.  But some keep them in order to help their neighbours.  The great souls who retain their bodies after samādhi feel compassion for the suffering of others.  They are not so selfish as to be satisfied with their own illumination.  You are well aware of the nature of selfish people.  If you ask them to spit at a particular place, they won't, lest it should do you good.  If you ask them to bring a sweetmeat worth a cent from the store, they will perhaps lick it on the way back.  (All laugh.)

"But the manifestations of Divine Power are different in different beings.  Ordinary souls are afraid to teach others.  A piece of worthless timber may itself somehow float across the water, but it sinks even under the weight of a bird.  Sages like Narada are like a heavy log of wood, which not only floats on the water but also can carry men, cows, and even elephants.

(To Shivanath and the other Brahmo devotees) "Can you tell me why you dwell so much on the powers and glories of God? I asked the same thing of Keshab Sen.  One day Keshab and his party came to the temple garden at Dakshineswar.  I told them I wanted to hear how they lectured.  A meeting was arranged in the paved courtyard above the bathing-ghat on the Ganges, where Keshab gave a talk.  He spoke very well.  I went into a trance.  After the lecture I said to Keshab, 'Why do you so often say such things as: "O God, what beautiful flowers Thou hast made! O God, Thou hast created the heavens, the stars, and the ocean!" and so on?' Those who love splendour themselves are fond of dwelling on God's splendour.

"Once a thief stole the jewels from the images in the temple of Radhakanta.  Mathur Babu entered the temple and said to the Deity: 'What a shame, O God! You couldn't save Your own ornaments.' 'The idea!' I said to Mathur.  'Does He who has Lakshmi for His handmaid and attendant ever lack any splendour? Those jewels may be precious to you, but to God they are no better than lumps of clay.  Shame on you! You shouldn't have spoken so meanly.  'What riches can you give to God to magnify His glory?'

"Therefore I say, a man seeks the person in whom he finds joy.  What need has he to ask where that person lives, the number of his houses, gardens, relatives, and servants, or the amount of his wealth? I forget everything when I see Narendra.  Never, even unwittingly, have I asked him where he lived, what his father's profession was, or the number of his brothers.

"Dive deep in the sweetness of God's Bliss.  What need have we of His infinite creation and unlimited glory?"

The Master sang:

Dive deep, O mind, dive deep in the Ocean of God's Beauty;
If you descend to the uttermost depths,
There you will find the gem of Love.

Go seek, O mind, go seek Vrindāvan in your heart,
Where with His loving devotees
Sri Krishna sports eternally.

Light up, O mind, light up true wisdom's shining lamp,
And let it burn with steady flame
Unceasingly within your heart.

Who is it that steers your boat across the solid earth?
It is your guru, says Kubir;
Meditate on his holy feet.

Sri Ramakrishna continued: "It is also true that after the vision of God the devotee desires to witness His lila.  After the destruction of Ravana at Rama's hands, Nikasha, Ravana's mother, began to run away for fear of her life.  Lakshmana said to Rama: 'Revered Brother, please explain this strange thing to me.  This Nikasha is an old woman who has suffered a great deal from the loss of her many sons, and yet she is so afraid of losing her own life that she is taking to her heels!' Rama bade her come near, gave her assurance of safety, and asked her why she was running away.  Nikasha answered: 'O Rama, I am able to witness all this lila of Yours because I am still alive.  I want to live longer so that I may see the many more things You will do on this earth.' (All laugh.)

(To Shivanath) "I like to see you.  How can I live unless I see pure-souled devotees? I feel as if they had been my friends in a former incarnation."

Reincarnation of soul & Inscrutability of God's ways

A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Sir, do you believe in the reincarnation of the soul?"

MASTER: "Yes, they say there is something like that.  How can we understand the ways of God through our small intellects? Many people have spoken about reincarnation; therefore I cannot disbelieve it.  As Bhishma lay dying on his bed of arrows, the Pandava brothers and Krishna stood around him.  They saw tears flowing from the eyes of the great hero.  Arjuna said to Krishna: 'Friend, how surprising it is! Even such a man as our grandsire Bhishma-truthful, self-restrained, supremely wise, and one of the eight Vasus-weeps, through maya, at the hour of death.' Sri Krishna asked Bhishma about it.  Bhishma replied: 'O Krishna, You know very well that this is not the cause of my grief.  I am thinking that there is no end to the Pandavas' sufferings, though God Himself is their charioteer.7 A thought like this makes me feel that I have understood nothing of the ways of God, and so I weep.' "

It was about half past eight when the evening worship began in the prayer hall.  Soon the moon rose in the autumn sky and flooded the trees and creepers of the garden with its light.  After prayer the devotees began to sing.  Sri Ramakrishna was dancing, intoxicated with love of God.  The Brahmo devotees danced around him to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals.  All appeared to be in a very joyous mood.  The place echoed and re-echoed with God's holy name.  When the music had stopped, Sri Ramakrishna prostrated himself on the ground and, making salutations to the Divine Mother again and again, said: "Bhagavata-Bhakta-Bhagavan! My salutations at the feet of the jnanis! My salutations at the feet of the bhaktas! I salute the bhaktas who believe in God with form, and I salute the bhaktas who believe in God without form.  I salute the knowers of Brahman of olden times.  And my salutations at the feet of the modern knowers of Brahman of the Brahmo Samaj!"

Then the Master and the devotees enjoyed a supper of delicious dishes, which Benimadhav, their host, had provided.

Wednesday, November 15, 1882

Master at the circus

Sri Ramakrishna, accompanied by Rakhal and several other devotees, came to Calcutta in a carriage and called for M. at the school where he was teaching.  Then they all set out for the Maidan.  Sri Ramakrishna wanted to see the Wilson Circus.  As the carriage rolled along the crowded Chitpore Road, his joy was very great.  Like a little child he leaned first out of one side of the carriage and then out of the other, talking to himself as if addressing the passers-by.  To M. he said: "I find the attention of the people fixed on earthly things.  They are all rushing about for the sake of their stomachs.  No one is thinking of God."

They arrived at the circus.  Tickets for the cheapest seats were purchased.  The devotees took the Master to a high gallery, and they all sat on a bench.  He said joyfully: "Ha! This is a good place.  I can see the show well from here." There were exhibitions of various feats.  A horse raced around a circular track over which large iron rings were hung at intervals.  The circus rider, an Englishwoman, stood on one foot on the horse's back, and as the horse passed under the rings, she jumped through them, always alighting on one foot on the horse's back.  The horse raced around the entire circle, and the woman never missed the horse or lost her balance.

When the circus was over, the Master and the devotees stood outside in the field, near the carriage.  Since it was a cold night he covered his body with his green shawl.

Necessity of spiritual discipline

Sri Ramakrishna said to M.: "Did you see how that Englishwoman stood on one foot on her horse, while it ran like lightning? How difficult a feat that must be! She must have practised a long time.  The slightest carelessness and she would break her arms or legs; she might even be killed.  One faces the same difficulty leading the life of a householder.  A few succeed in it through the grace of God and as a result of their spiritual practice.  But most people fail.  Entering the world, they become more and more involved in it; they drown in worldliness and suffer the agonies of death.  A few only, like Janaka, have succeeded, through the power of their austerity, in leading the spiritual life as householders.  Therefore spiritual practice is extremely necessary; otherwise one cannot rightly live in the world."

The Master got into the carriage with the devotees and went to Balaram Bose's house.  He was taken with his companions to the second floor.  It was evening and the lamps were lighted.  The Master described the feats he had seen at the circus.  Gradually other devotees gathered, and soon he was engaged in spiritual talk with them.

Master on caste-system

The conversation turned to the caste-system.  Sri Ramakrishna said: "The caste-system can be removed by one means only, and that is the love of God.  Lovers of God do not belong to any caste.  The mind, body, and soul of a man become purified through divine love.  Chaitanya and Nityananda scattered the name of Hari to everyone, including the pariah, and embraced them all.  A brahmin without this love is no longer a brahmin.  And a pariah with the love of God is no longer a pariah.  Through bhakti an untouchable becomes pure and elevated."

 

Entanglement of householders

Speaking of householders entangled in worldliness, the Master said: "They are like the silk-worm.  They can come out of the cocoon of their worldly life if they wish.  But they can't bear to; for they themselves have built the cocoon with great love and care.  So they die there.  Or they are like the fish in a trap.  They can come out of it by the way they entered, but they sport inside the trap with other fish and hear the sweet sound of the murmuring water and forget everything else.  They don't even make an effort to free themselves from the trap.  The lisping of children is the murmur of the water; and the other fish are relatives and friends.  Only one or two make good their escape by running away.  They are the liberated souls."

 

The Master then sang:

When such delusion veils the world, through Mahamaya's spell,
That Brahma is bereft of sense,
And Vishnu loses consciousness,
What hope is left for men?

The narrow channel first is made, and there the trap is set;
But open though the  passage lies,
The fish, once safely through the gate,
Do not come out again.

The silk-worm patiently prepares its closely spun cocoon;
Yet even though a way leads forth,
Encased within its own cocoon,
The worm remains to die.

The Master continued: "Man may be likened to grain.  He has fallen between the millstones and is about to be crushed.  Only the few grains that stay near the peg escape.  Therefore men should take refuge at the peg, that is to say, in God.  Call on Him.  Sing His name.  Then you will be free.  Otherwise you will be crushed by the King of Death."

The Master sang again:

Mother! Mother! My boat is sinking, here in the ocean of this world;
Fiercely the hurricane of delusion rages on every side!
Clumsy is my helmsman, the mind; stubborn my six oarsmen, the passions;
Into a pitiless wind
I sailed my boat, and now it is sinking!
Split is the rudder of devotion; tattered is the sail of faith;
Into my boat the waters are pouring! Tell me, what shall I do?
For with my failing eyes, alas! nothing but darkness do I see. 
Here in the waves I will swim,
O Mother, and cling to the raft of Thy name!

Mr.  Viswas had been sitting in the room a long time; he now left.  He had once been wealthy but had squandered everything in an immoral life.  Finally he had become indifferent to his wife and children.  Referring to Mr.  Viswas, the Master said: "He is an unfortunate wretch.  A householder has his duties to discharge, his debts to pay: his debt to the gods, his debt to his ancestors, his debt to the rishis, and his debt to wife and children.  If a wife is chaste, then her husband should support her; he should also bring up their children until they are of age.  Only a monk must not save; the bird and the monk do not provide for the morrow.  But even a bird provides when it has young.  It brings food in its bill for its chicks."

BALARAM: "Mr.  Viswas now wants to cultivate the company of holy people."

MASTER (with a smile): "A monk's kamandalu goes to the four principal holy places with him, but it still tastes bitter.  Likewise, it is said that the Malaya breeze turns all trees into sandal-wood.  But there are a few exceptions, such as the cotton-tree, the Aśwattha, and the hog plum.

"Some frequent the company of holy men in order to smoke hemp.  Many monks smoke it, and these householders stay with them, prepare the hemp, and partake of the prasad."

Thursday, November 16, 1882

The Master had come to Calcutta.  In the evening he went to the house of Rajmohan, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, where Narendra and some of his young friends used to meet and worship according to the Brahmo ceremonies.  Sri Ramakrishna wanted to see their worship.  He was accompanied by M. and a few other devotees.

The Master was very happy to see Narendra and expressed a desire to watch the young men at their worship.  Narendra sang and then the worship began.  One of the young men conducted it.  He prayed, "O Lord, may we give up everything and be absorbed in Thee!" Possibly the youth was inspired by the Master's presence and so talked of utter renunciation.  Sri Ramakrishna remarked in a whisper, "Much likelihood there is of that!" Rajmohan served the Master with refreshments.

Sunday, November 19, 1882

It was the auspicious occasion of the Jagaddhatri Puja, the festival of the Divine Mother.  Sri Ramakrishna was invited to Surendra's house in Calcutta; but first he went to the house of Manomohan in the neighbourhood.

The Master was seated in Manomohan's parlour.  He said: "God very
much relishes the bhakti of the poor and the lowly, just as the cow relishes fodder mixed with oil-cake.  King Duryodhana showed Krishna the splendour of his wealth and riches, but Krishna accepted the hospitality of the poor Vidura.  God is fond of His devotees.  He runs after the devotee as the cow after the calf."

The Master sang:

And, for that love, the mighty yogis practise yoga from age to age;
When love awakes, the Lord, like a magnet, draws to Him the soul.

Then he said: "Chaitanya used to shed tears of joy at the very mention of Krishna's name.  God alone is the real Substance; all else is illusory.  Man can realize God if he wants to, but he madly craves the enjoyment of 'woman and gold'.  The snake has a precious stone in its head, but it is perfectly satisfied to eat a mere frog.

"Bhakti is the one essential thing.  Who can ever know God through reasoning? I want love of God.  What do I care about knowing His infinite glories? One bottle of wine makes me drunk.  What do I care about knowing how many gallons there are in the grog-shop? One jar of water is enough to quench my thirst.  I don't need to know the amount of water there is on earth."

Sri Ramakrishna arrived at Surendra's house.  Many devotees had assembled there, including Surendra's elder brother, who was a judge.

Futility of reasoning

MASTER (To Surendra's brother): "You are a judge.  That is very good.  But remember, everything happens through God's power.  It is He who has given you your high position; that is how you became a judge.  People think it is they who are great.  The water from the roof flows through a spout that is shaped like a lion's head.  It looks as if the lion  were bringing the water out through its mouth.  But look at the source of the water! A cloud gathers in the sky and rain falls on the roof; then the water flows through the pipe and at last comes out through the spout."

SURENDRA'S BROTHER: "The Brahmo Samaj preaches the freedom of women and the abolition of the caste-system.  What do you think about these matters?"

MASTER: "Men feel that way when they are just beginning to develop spiritual yearning.  A storm raises clouds of dust, and one cannot distinguish between the different trees-the mango, the hog plum, and the tamarind.  But after the storm blows over, one sees clearly.  After the first storm of divine passion is quelled, one gradually understands that God alone is the Highest Good, the Eternal Substance, and that all else is transitory.  One cannot grasp this without tapasya and the company of holy men.  What is the use of merely reciting the written parts for the drum? It is very difficult to put them into practice on the instrument.  What can be accomplished by a mere lecture? It is austerity that is necessary.  By that alone can one comprehend.   

"You asked about caste distinctions.  There is only one way to remove them, and that is by love of God.  Lovers of God have no caste.  Through this divine love the untouchable becomes pure, the pariah no longer remains a pariah.  Chaitanya embraced all, including the pariahs.

"The members of the Brahmo Samaj sing the name of Hari.  That is very good.  Through earnest prayer one receives the grace of God and realizes Him.  God can be realized by means of all paths.  The same God is invoked by different names."

Master on Theosophy

SURENDRA'S BROTHER: "Sir, what do you think of Theosophy?"

MASTER: "I have heard that man can acquire superhuman powers through it and perform miracles.  I saw a man who had brought a ghost under control.  The ghost used to procure various things for his master.  What shall I do with superhuman powers? Can one realize God through them? If God is not realized then everything becomes false."

November 1882

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when Sri Ramakrishna arrived in Calcutta to attend the annual festival of the Brahmo Samaj, which was to be celebrated at Manilal Mallick's house.  Besides M. and other devotees of the Master, Vijay Goswami and a number of Brahmos were present.  Elaborate arrangements had been made to make the occasion a success.  Vijay was to conduct the worship.

The kathak recited the life of Prahlada from the Purana.  Its substance was as follows: Hiranyakasipu, Prahlada's father, was king of the demons.  He bore great malice toward God and put his own son through endless tortures for leading a religious life.  Afflicted by his father, Prahlada prayed to God, "O God, please give my father holy inclinations."

At these words the Master wept.  He went into an ecstatic mood.  Afterwards he began to talk to the devotees.

MASTER: "Bhakti is the only essential thing.  One obtains love of God by constantly chanting His name and singing His glories.  Ah! What a devotee Shivanath is! He is soaked in the love of God, like a cheese-cake in syrup.

"One should not think, 'My religion alone is the right path and other religions are false.' God can be realized by means of all paths.  It is enough to have sincere yearning for God.  Infinite are the paths and infinite the opinions.

The pure in heart see God

"Let me tell you one thing.  God can be seen.  The Vedas say that God is beyond mind and speech.  The meaning of this is that God is unknown to the mind attached to worldly objects.  Vaishnavcharan used to say, 'God is known by the mind and intellect that are pure.' Therefore it is necessary to seek the company of holy men, practise prayer, and listen to the instruction of the guru.  These purify the mind.  Then one sees God.  Dirt can be removed from water by a purifying agent.  Then one sees one's reflection in it.  One cannot see one's face in a mirror if the mirror is covered with dirt.

"After the purification of the heart one obtains divine love.  Then one sees God, through His grace.  One can teach others if one receives that command from God after seeing Him.  Before that one should not 'lecture'.  There is a song that says:

You have set up no image here,
Within the shrine, O fool!
Blowing the conch, you simply make
Confusion worse confounded.

"You should first cleanse the shrine of your heart.  Then you should install the Deity and arrange worship.  As yet nothing has been done.  What can you achieve by blowing the conch-shell and simply making a loud noise?"

Vijay sat on a raised stool and conducted the worship according to the rules of the Brahmo Samaj.  Afterwards he sat by the Master.

MASTER (to Vijay): "Will you tell me one thing? Why did you harp so much on sin? By repeating a hundred times, 'I am a sinner', one verily becomes a sinner.  One should have such faith as to be able to say, 'What? I have taken the name of God; how can I be a sinner?' God is our Father and Mother.  Tell Him, 'O Lord, I have committed sins, but I won't repeat them.' Chant His name and purify your body and mind.  Purify your tongue by singing God's holy name."

December 1882

In the afternoon Sri Ramakrishna was seated on the west porch of his room in the temple garden at Dakshineswar.  Among others, Baburam, Ramdayal, and M. were present.  These three were going to spend the night with the Master.  M. intended to stay the following day also, for he was having his Christmas holidays.  Baburam had only recently begun to visit the Master.

MASTER (to the devotees): "A man becomes liberated even in this life when he knows that God is the Doer of all things.  Once Keshab came here with Sambhu Mallick.  I said to him, 'Not even a leaf moves except by the will of God.' Where is man's free will? All are under the will of God.  Nangta was a man of great knowledge, yet even he was about to drown himself in the Ganges.  He stayed here eleven months.  At one time he suffered from stomach trouble.  The excruciating pain made him lose control over himself, and he wanted to drown himself in the river.  There was a long shoal near the bathing-ghat.  However far he went into the river, he couldn't find water above his knees.  Then he understood everything and came back.  At one time I was very ill and was about to cut my throat with a knife.  Therefore I say: 'O Mother, I am the machine and Thou art the Operator; I am the chariot and Thou art the Driver.  I move as Thou movest me; I do as Thou makest me do.' "

The devotees sing kirtan in the Master's room:

Dwell, O Lord, O Lover of bhakti,
In the Vrindāvan of my heart,
And my devotion unto Thee
Will be Thy Radha, dearly loved;
My body will be Nanda's home,
My tenderness will be Yaśoda,
My longing for deliverance
Will be Thy gentle gopi maids.
Lift the Govardhan of my sin
And slay my six unyielding passions,
Fierce as the demons sent by Kamsa!
Sweetly play the flute of Thy grace,
Charming the milch cow of my mind;
Abide in the pasture of my soul.
Dwell by the Jamuna of my yearning,
Under the banyan of my hope,
For ever gracious to Thy servant;
And, if naught but the cowherds' love
Can hold Thee in Vrindāvan's vale,
Then, Lord, let Dasarathi, too,
Become Thy cowherd and Thy slave.

Again they sang:

Sing, O bird that nestles deep within my heart!
Sing, O bird that sits on the Kalpa-Tree of Brahman!
Sing God's everlasting praise.
Taste, O bird, of the four fruits of the Kalpa-Tree,
Dharma, artha, kama, moksha.
Sing, O bird, "He alone is the Comfort of my soul!"
Sing, O bird, "He alone is my life's enduring Joy!"
O thou wondrous bird of my life,
Sing aloud in my heart! Unceasingly sing, O bird!
Sing for evermore, even as the thirsty chatak
Sings for the raindrop from the cloud.

A devotee from Nandanbagan entered the room with his friends.  The Master looked at him and said, "Everything inside him can be seen through his eyes, as one sees the objects in a room through a glass door." This devotee and his brothers always celebrated the anniversary of the Brahmo Samaj at their house in Nandanbagan.  Sri Ramakrishna had taken part in these festivals.

The evening worship began in the temples.  The Master was seated on the small couch in his room, absorbed in meditation.  He went into an ecstatic mood and said a little later: "Mother, please draw him to Thee.  He is so modest and humble! He has been visiting Thee." Was the Master referring to Baburam, who later became one of his foremost disciples?

Why so much suffering in God's creation?

The Master explained the different kinds of samādhi to the devotees.  The conversation then turned to the joy and suffering of life.  Why did God create so much suffering?

M: "Once Vidyasagar said in a mood of pique: 'What is the use of calling on God? Just think of this incident: At one time Chenghiz Khan plundered a country and imprisoned many people.  The number of prisoners rose to about a hundred thousand.  The commander of his army said to him: "Your Majesty, who will feed them? It is risky to keep them with us.  It will be equally dangerous to release them.  What shall I do?" Chenghiz Khan said: "That's true.  What can be done? Well, have them killed." The order was accordingly given to cut them to pieces.  Now, God saw this slaughter, didn't He? But He didn't stop it in any way.  Therefore I don't need God, whether He exists or not.  I don't derive any good from Him.'"

MASTER: "Is it possible to understand God's action and His motive? He creates, He preserves, and He destroys.  Can we ever understand why He destroys? I say to the Divine Mother: 'O Mother, I do not need to understand.  Please give me love for Thy Lotus Feet.' The aim of human life is to attain bhakti.  As for other things, the Mother knows best.  I have come to the garden to eat mangoes.  What is the use of my calculating the number of trees, branches, and leaves? I only eat the mangoes; I don't need to know the number of trees and leaves."

Baburam, M., and Ramdayal slept that night on the floor of the Master's room.

It was an early hour of the morning, about two or three o'clock.  The room was dark.  Sri Ramakrishna was seated on his bed and now and then conversed with the devotees.

Compassion and attachment

MASTER: "Remember that daya, compassion, and maya, attachment, are two different things.  Attachment means the feeling of 'my-ness' toward one's relatives.  It is the love one feels for one's parents, one's brother, one's sister, one's wife and children.  Compassion is the love one feels for all beings of the world.  It is an attitude of equality.  If you see anywhere an instance of compassion, as in Vidyasagar, know that it is due to the grace of God.  Through compassion one serves all beings.  Maya also comes from God.  Through maya God makes one serve one's relatives.  But one thing should be remembered: maya keeps us in ignorance and entangles us in the world, whereas daya makes our hearts pure and gradually unties our bonds.

"God cannot be realized without purity of heart.  One receives the grace of God by subduing the passions-lust, anger, and greed.  Then one sees God.  I tried many things in order to conquer lust.

"When I was ten or eleven years old and lived at Kamarpukur, I first experienced samādhi.  As I was passing through a paddy-field, I saw something and was overwhelmed.  There are certain characteristics of God-vision.  One sees light, feels joy, and experiences the upsurge of a great current in one's chest, like the bursting of a rocket."

The next day Baburam and Ramdayal returned to Calcutta.  M. spent the day and the night with the Master.

December 1882

It was afternoon.  The Master was sitting in his room at Dakshineswar with M. and one or two other devotees.  Several Marwari devotees arrived and saluted the Master.  They requested Sri Ramakrishna to give them spiritual instruction.  He smiled.

MASTER (to the Marwari devotees): "You see, the feeling of 'I' and 'mine' is the result of ignorance.  But to say, 'O God, Thou art the Doer; all these belong to Thee' is the sign of Knowledge.  How can you say such a thing as 'mine'? The superintendent of the garden says, 'This is my garden.' But if he is dismissed because of some misconduct, then he does not have the courage to take away even such a worthless thing as his mango-wood box.  Anger and lust cannot be destroyed.  Turn them toward God.  If you must feel desire and temptation, then desire to realize God, feel tempted by Him.  Discriminate and turn the passions away from worldly objects.  When the elephant is about to devour a plaintain-tree in someone's garden, the mahut strikes it with his iron-tipped goad.

"You are merchants.  You know how to improve your business gradually.  Some of you start with a castor-oil factory.  After making some money at that, you open a cloth shop.  In the same way, one makes progress toward God.  It may be that you go into solitude, now and then, and devote more time to prayer.

"But you must remember that nothing can be achieved except in its proper time.  Some persons must pass through many experiences and perform many worldly duties before they can turn their attention to God; so they have to wait a long time.  If an abscess is lanced before it is soft, the result is not good; the surgeon makes the opening when it is soft and has come to a head.  Once a child said to its mother: 'Mother, I am going to sleep now.  Please wake me up when I feel the call of nature.' 'My child,' said the mother, 'when it is time for that, you will wake up yourself.  I shan't have to wake you.' "

The Marwari devotees generally brought offerings of fruit, candy, and other sweets for the Master.  But Sri Ramakrishna could hardly eat them.  He would say: "They earn their money by falsehood.  I can't eat their offerings." He said to the Marwaris: "You see, one can't strictly adhere to truth in business.  There are ups and downs in business.  Nanak once said, 'I was about to eat the food of unholy people, when I found it stained with blood.' A man should offer only pure things to holy men.  He shouldn't give them food earned by dishonest means.  God is realized by following the path of truth.  One should always chant His name.  Even while one is performing one's duties, the mind should be left with God.  Suppose I have a carbuncle on my back.  I perform my duties, but the mind is drawn to the carbuncle.  It is good to repeat the name of Rama.  'The same Rama who was the son of King Dasaratha has created this world.  Again, as Spirit, He pervades all beings.  He is very near us; He is both within and without.' "

--------------------

 Chapter 7

 

THE MASTER AND VIJAY GOSWAMI

 

Thursday, December 14, 1882

IT WAS AFTERNOON.  Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed after a short noonday rest.  Vijay, Balaram, M., and a few other devotees were sitting on the floor with their faces toward the Master.  They could see the sacred river Ganges through the door.  Since it was winter all were wrapped up in warm clothes.  Vijay had been suffering from colic and had brought some medicine with him.

Vijay, the Brahmo preacher

Vijay was a paid preacher in the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, but there were many things about which he could not agree with the Samaj authorities.  He came from a very noble family of Bengal noted for its piety and other spiritual qualities.  Advaita Goswami, one of his remote ancestors, had been an intimate companion of Sri Chaitanya.  Thus the blood of a great lover of God flowed in Vijay's veins.  As an adherent of the Brahmo Samaj, Vijay no doubt meditated on the formless Brahman; but his innate love of God, inherited from his distinguished ancestors, had merely been waiting for the proper time to manifest itself in all its sweetness.  Thus Vijay was irresistibly attracted by the God-intoxicated state of Sri Ramakrishna and often sought his company.  He would listen to the Master's words with great respect, and they would dance together in an ecstasy of divine love.

It was a week-day.  Generally devotees came to the Master in large numbers on Sundays; hence those who wanted to have intimate talks with him visited him on week-days.

Tendencies from previous births

A boy named Vishnu, living in Ariadaha, had recently committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor.  The talk turned to him.

MASTER: "I felt very badly when I heard of the boy's passing away.  He was a pupil in a school and he used to come here.  He would often say to me that he couldn't enjoy worldly life.  He had lived with some relatives in the western provinces and at that time used to meditate in solitude, in the meadows, hills, and forests.  He told me he had visions of many divine forms.

"Perhaps this was his last birth.  He must have finished most of his duties in his previous birth.  The little that had been left undone was perhaps finished in this one.

"One must admit the existence of tendencies inherited from previous births.  There is a story about a man who practised the sava-sadhana.l He worshipped the Divine Mother in a deep forest.  First he saw many terrible visions.  Finally a tiger attacked and killed him.  Another man, happening to pass and seeing the approach of the tiger, had climbed a tree.  Afterwards he got down and found all the arrangements for worship at hand.  He performed some purifying ceremonies and seated himself on the corpse.  No sooner had he done a little japa than the Divine Mother appeared before him and said: 'My child, I am very much pleased with you.  Accept a boon from Me.' He bowed low at the Lotus Feet of the Goddess and said: 'May I ask You one question, Mother? I am speechless with amazement at Your action.  The other man worked so hard to get the ingredients for Your worship and tried to propitiate You for such a long time, but You didn't condescend to show him Your favour.  And I, who don't know anything of worship, who have done nothing, who have neither devotion nor knowledge nor love, and who haven't practised any austerities, am receiving so much of Your grace.' The Divine Mother said with a laugh: 'My child, you don't remember your previous births.  For many births you tried to propitiate Me through austerities.  As a result of those austerities all these things have come to hand, and you have been blessed with My Vision.  Now ask Me your boon.' "

Suicide after the vision of God

A DEVOTEE: "I am frightened to hear of the suicide."

MASTER: "Suicide is a heinous sin, undoubtedly.  A man who kills himself must return again and again to this world and suffer its agony.

"But I don't call it suicide if a person leaves his body after having the vision of God.  There is no harm in giving up one's body that way.  After attaining Knowledge some people give up their bodies.  After the gold image has been cast in the clay mould, you may either preserve the mould or break it.

"Many years ago a young man of about twenty used to come to the temple garden from Baranagore; his name was Gopal Sen.  In my presence he used to experience such intense ecstasy that Hriday had to support him for fear he might fall to the ground and break his limbs.  That young man touched my feet one day and said: 'Sir, I shall not be able to see you any more.  Let me bid you good-bye.' A few days later I learnt that he had given up his body. 

Four classes of men

"It is said that there are four classes of human beings: the bound, those aspiring after liberation, the liberated, and the ever-perfect.

 

Parable of the fish and the net

"This world is like a fishing-net.  Men are the fish, and God, whose maya has created this world, is the fisherman.  When the fish are entangled in the net, some of them try to tear through its meshes in order to get their liberation.  They are like the men striving after liberation.  But by no means all of them escape.  Only a few jump out of the net with a loud splash, and then people say, 'Ah! There goes a big one!' In like manner, three or four men attain liberation.  Again, some fish are so careful by nature that they are never caught in the net; some beings of the ever-perfect class, like Narada, are never entangled in the meshes of worldliness.  Most of the fish are trapped; but they are not conscious of the net and of their imminent death.  No sooner are they entangled than they run headlong, net and all, trying to hide themselves in the mud.  They don't make the least effort to get free.  On the contrary, they go deeper and deeper into the mud.  These fish are like the bound men.  They are still inside the net, but they think they are quite safe there.  A bound creature is immersed in worldliness, in 'woman and gold', having gone deep into the mire of degradation.  But still he believes he is quite happy and secure.  The liberated, and the seekers after liberation, look on the world as a deep well.  They do not enjoy it.  Therefore, after the attainment of Knowledge, the realization of God, some give up their bodies.  But such a thing is rare indeed.

 

Worldly-minded forget their lessons

"The bound creatures, entangled in worldliness, will not come to their senses at all.  They suffer so much misery and agony, they face so many dangers, and yet they will not wake up.

"The camel loves to eat thorny bushes.  The more it eats the thorns, the more the blood gushes from its mouth.  Still it must eat thorny plants and will never give them up.  The man of worldly nature suffers so much sorrow and affliction, but he forgets it all in a few days and begins his old life over again.  Suppose a man has lost his wife or she has turned unfaithful.  Lo! He marries again.

"Or take the instance of a mother: her son dies and she suffers bitter grief; but after a few days she forgets all about it.  The mother, so overwhelmed with sorrow a few days before, now attends to her toilet and puts on her jewelry.  A father becomes bankrupt through the marriage of his daughters, yet he goes on having children year after year.  People are ruined by litigation, yet they go to court all the same.  There are men who cannot feed the children they have, who cannot clothe them or provide decent shelter for them; yet they have more children every year.

"Again, the worldly man is like a snake trying to swallow a mole.  The snake can neither swallow the mole nor give it up.  The bound soul may have realized that there is no substance to the world-that the world is like a hog plum, only stone and skin-but still he cannot give it up and turn his mind to God.

"I once met a relative of Keshab Sen, fifty years old.  He was playing cards.  As if the time had not yet come for him to think of God!

"There is another characteristic of the bound soul.  If you remove him from his worldly surroundings to a spiritual environment, he will pine away.  The worm that grows in filth feels very happy there.  It thrives in filth.  It will die if you put it in a pot of rice."

All remained silent.

Bondage removed by strong renunciation

VIJAY: "What must the bound soul's condition of mind be in order to achieve liberation?"

MASTER: "He can free himself from attachment to 'woman and gold' if, by the grace of God, he cultivates a spirit of strong renunciation.  What is this strong renunciation? One who has only a mild spirit of renunciation says, 'Well, all will happen in the course of time; let me now simply repeat the name of God.' But a man possessed of a strong spirit of renunciation feels restless for God, as the mother feels for her own child.  A man of strong renunciation seeks nothing but God.  He regards the world as a deep well and feels as if he were going to be drowned in it.  He looks on his relatives as venomous snakes; he wants to fly away from them.  And he does go away.  He never thinks, 'Let me first make some arrangement for my family and then I shall think of God.' He has great inward resolution.

Parable of the two farmers

"Let me tell you a story about strong renunciation.  At one time there was a drought in a certain part of the country.  The farmers began to cut long channels to bring water to their fields.  One farmer was stubbornly determined.  He took a vow that he would not stop digging until the channel connected his field with the river.  He set to work.  The time came for his bath, and his wife sent their daughter to him with oil.  'Father,' said the girl, 'it is already late.  Rub your body with oil and take your bath.' 'Go away!' thundered the farmer.  'I have too much to do now.' It was past midday, and the farmer was still at work in his field.  He didn't even think of his bath.  Then his wife came and said: 'Why haven't you taken your bath? The food is getting cold.  You overdo everything.  You can finish the rest tomorrow or even today after dinner.' The farmer scolded her furiously and ran at her, spade in hand, crying: 'What? Have you no sense? There's no rain.  The crops are dying.  What will the children eat? You'll all starve to death.  I have taken a vow not to think of bath and food today before I bring water to my field.' The wife saw his state of mind and ran away in fear.  Through a whole day's back-breaking labour the farmer managed by evening to connect his field with the river.  Then he sat down and watched the water flowing into his field with a murmuring sound.  His mind was filled with peace and joy.  He went home, called his wife, and said to her, 'Now give me some oil and prepare me a smoke.' With serene mind he finished his bath and meal, and retired to bed, where he snored to his heart's content.  The determination he showed is an example of strong renunciation.

"Now, there was another farmer who was also digging a channel to bring water to his field.  His wife, too, came to the field and said to him: 'It's very late.  Come home.  It isn't necessary to overdo things.' The farmer didn't protest much, but put aside his spade and said to his wife, 'Well, I'll go home since you ask me to.' (All laugh) That man never succeeded in irrigating his field.  This is a case of mild renunciation.

"As without strong determination the farmer cannot bring water to his field, so also without intense yearning a man cannot realize God.  (To Vijay) Why don't you come here now as frequently as before?"

VIJAY: "Sir, I wish to very much, but I am not free.  I have accepted work in the Brahmo Samaj."

Attachment to "woman" creates bondage

MASTER: "It is 'woman and gold' that binds man and robs him of his freedom.  It is woman that creates the need for gold.  For woman one man becomes the slave of another, and so loses his freedom.  Then he cannot act as he likes.

 

Story of Govindaji's priests

"The priests in the temple of Govindaji at Jaipur were celibates at first, and at that time they had fiery natures.  Once the King of Jaipur sent for them, but they didn't obey him.  They said to the messenger, 'Ask the king to come to see us.' After consultation, the king and his ministers arranged marriages for them.  From then on the king didn't have to send for them.  They would come to him of themselves and say: 'Your Majesty, we have come with our blessings.  Here are the sacred flowers of the temple.  Deign to accept them.' They came to the palace, for now they always wanted money for one thing or another: the building of a house, the rice-taking ceremony of their babies, or the rituals connected with the beginning of their children's education.

 

Story of twelve hundred nedas

"There is the story of the twelve hundred nedas and thirteen hundred nedis.  Virabhadra, the son of Nityananda Goswami, had thirteen hundred 'shaven-headed' disciples.  They attained great spiritual powers.  That alarmed their teacher.  'My disciples have acquired great spiritual powers', thought Virabhadra.  'Whatever they say to people will come to pass.  Wherever they go they may create alarming situations; for people offending them unwittingly will come to grief.' Thinking thus, Virabhadra one day called them to him and said, 'See me after performing your daily devotions on the bank of the Ganges.' These disciples had such a high spiritual nature that, while meditating, they would go into samādhi and be unaware of the river water flowing over their heads during the flood-tide.  Then the ebb-tide would come and still they would remain absorbed in meditation.

"Now, one hundred of these disciples had anticipated what their teacher would ask of them.  Lest they should have to disobey his injunctions, they had quickly disappeared from the place before he summoned them.  So they did not go to Virabhadra with the others.  The remaining twelve hundred disciples went to the teacher after finishing their meditation.  Virabhadra said to them: 'These thirteen hundred nuns will serve you.  I ask you to marry them.' 'As you please, revered sir', they said.  'But one hundred of us have gone away.' Thenceforth each of these twelve hundred disciples had a wife.  Consequently they all lost their spiritual power.  Their austerities did not have their original fire.  The company of woman robbed them of their spirituality because it destroyed their freedom.

Degrading effect of serving others

(To Vijay) "You yourself perceive how far you have gone down by being a servant of others.  Again, one finds that people with many university degrees, scholars with their vast English education, accept service under their English masters and are daily trampled under their boots.  The one cause of all this is woman.  They have married and set up a 'gay fair' with their wives and children.  Now they cannot go back, much as they would like to.  Hence all these insults and humiliations, all this suffering from slavery.

"Once a man realizes God through intense dispassion, he is no longer attached to woman.  Even if he must lead the life of a householder, he is free from fear of and attachment to woman.  Suppose there are two magnets, one big and the other small.  Which one will attract the iron? The big one, of course.  God is the big magnet.  Compared to Him, woman is a small one.  What can 'woman' do?"

Worshipping woman as Divine Mother

A DEVOTEE: "Sir, shall we hate women then?"

MASTER: "He who has realized God does not look upon a woman with the eye of lust; so he is not afraid of her.  He perceives clearly that women are but so many aspects of the Divine Mother.  He worships them all as the Mother Herself.

(To Vijay) "Come here now and then.  I like to see you very much."

VIJAY: "I have to do my various duties in the Brahmo Samaj; that is why I can't always come here.  But I shall visit you whenever I find it possible."

Difficulties of preaching

MASTER (to Vijay): "The task of a religious teacher is indeed difficult.  One cannot teach men without a direct command from God.  People won't listen to you if you teach without such authority.  Such teaching has no force behind it.  One must first of all attain God through spiritual discipline or some other means.  Thus armed with authority from God, one can deliver lectures.

"After receiving the command from God, one can be a teacher and give lectures anywhere.  He who receives authority from God also receives power from Him.  Only then can he perform the difficult task of a teacher.

"An insignificant tenant was once engaged in a lawsuit with a big landlord.  People realized that there was a powerful man behind the tenant.  Perhaps another big landlord was directing the case from behind.  Man is an insignificant creature.  He cannot fulfil the difficult task of a teacher without receiving power direct from God."

VIJAY: "Don't the teachings of the Brahmo Samaj bring men salvation?"

MASTER: "How is it ever possible for one man to liberate another from the bondage of the world? God alone, the Creator of this world-bewitching maya, can save men from maya.  There is no other refuge but that great Teacher, Satchidananda.  How is it ever possible for men who have not realized God or received His command, and who are not strengthened with divine strength, to save others from the prison-house of the world?

"One day as I was passing the Panchavati on my way to the pine-grove, I heard a bullfrog croaking.  I thought it must have been seized by a snake.  After some time, as I was coming back, I could still hear its terrified croaking.  I looked to see what was the matter, and found that a water-snake had seized it.  The snake could neither swallow it nor give it up.  So there was no end to the frog's suffering.  I thought that had it been seized by a cobra it would have been silenced after three croaks at the most.  As it was only a water-snake, both of them had to go through this agony.  A man's ego is destroyed after three croaks, as it were, if he gets into the clutches of a real teacher.  But if the teacher is an 'unripe' one, then both the teacher and the disciple undergo endless suffering.  The disciple cannot get rid either of his ego or of the shackles of the world.  If a disciple falls into the clutches of an incompetent teacher, he doesn't attain liberation."

Ego alone the cause of bondage

VIJAY: "Sir, why are we bound like this? Why don't we see God?"

MASTER : "Maya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul.  This egotism has covered everything like a veil.  'All troubles come to an end when the ego dies.' If by the grace of God a man but once realizes that he is not the doer, then he at once becomes a Jivanmukta.  Though living in the body, he is liberated.  He has nothing else to fear.

"This maya, that is to say, the ego, is like a cloud.  The sun cannot be seen on account of a thin patch of cloud; when that disappears one sees the sun.  If by the grace of the guru one's ego vanishes, then one sees God.

"Rama, who is God Himself, was only two and a half cubits ahead of Lakshmana.  But Lakshmana couldn't see Him because Sita stood between them.  Lakshmana may be compared to the jiva, and Sita to maya.  Man cannot see God on account of the barrier of maya.  Just look: I am creating a barrier in front of my face with this towel.  Now you can't see me, even though I am so near.  Likewise, God is the nearest of all, but we cannot see Him on account of this covering of maya.

Maya  creates upadhis

"The jiva is nothing but the embodiment of Satchidananda.  But since maya, or ego, has created various upadhis, he has forgotten his real Self.

"Each upadhi changes man's nature.  If he wears a fine black-bordered cloth, you will at once find him humming Nidhu Babu's love-songs.  Then playing-cards and a walking-stick follow.  If even a sickly man puts on high boots, he begins to whistle and climbs the stairs like an Englishman, jumping from one step to another.  If a man but holds a pen in his hand, he scribbles on any paper he can get hold of-such is the power of the pen!

"Money is also a great upadhi.  The possession of money makes such a difference in a man! He is no longer the same person.  A brahmin used to frequent the temple garden.  Outwardly he was very modest.  One day I went to Konnagar with Hriday.  No sooner did we get off the boat than we noticed the brahmin seated on the bank of the Ganges.  We thought he had been enjoying the fresh air.  Looking at us, he said: 'Hello there, priest! How do you do?' I marked his tone and said to Hriday: 'The man must have got some money.  That's why he talks that way.' Hriday laughed.

"A frog had a rupee, which he kept in his hole.  One day an elephant was going over the hole, and the frog, coming out in a fit of anger, raised his foot, as if to kick the elephant, and said, 'How dare you walk over my head?' Such is the pride that money begets!

"One can get rid of the ego after the attainment of Knowledge.  On attaining Knowledge one goes into samādhi, and the ego disappears.  But it is very difficult to obtain such Knowledge.

Seven planes of the mind

"It is said in the Vedas that a man experiences samādhi when his mind ascends to the seventh plane.  The ego can disappear only when one goes into samādhi.  Where does the mind of a man ordinarily dwell? In the first three planes.  These are at the organs of evacuation and generation, and at the navel.  Then the mind is immersed only in worldliness, attached to 'woman and gold'.  A man sees the light of God when his mind dwells in the plane of the heart.  He sees the light and exclaims: 'Ah! What is this? What is this?' The next plane is at the throat.  When the mind dwells there he likes to hear and talk only of God.  When the mind ascends to the next plane, in the forehead, between the eyebrows, he sees the form of Satchidānanda and desires to touch and embrace It.  But he is unable to do so.  It is like the light in a lantern, which you can see but cannot touch.  You feel as if you were touching the light, but in reality you are not.  When the mind reaches the seventh plane, then the ego vanishes completely and the man goes into samādhi."

 

Indescribability of highest plane

VIJAY: "What does a man see when he attains the Knowledge of Brahman after reaching the seventh plane?"

MASTER: "What happens when the mind reaches the seventh plane cannot be described.

"Once a boat enters the 'black waters' of the ocean, it does not return.  Nobody knows what happens to the boat after that.  Therefore the boat cannot give us any information about the ocean.

"Once a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean.  No sooner did it enter the water than it melted.  Now who could tell how deep the ocean was? That which could have told about its depth had melted.  Reaching the seventh plane, the mind is annihilated; man goes into samādhi.  What he feels then cannot be described in words.

The "wicked I"

"The 'I' that makes one a worldly person and attaches one to 'woman and gold' is the 'wicked I'.  The intervention of this ego creates the difference between jiva and Ātman.  Water appears to be divided into two parts if one puts a stick across it.  But in reality there is only one water.  It appears as two on account of the stick.  This 'I' is the stick.  Remove the stick and there remains only one water as before.

"Now, what is this 'wicked I'? It is the ego that says: 'What? Don't they know me? I have so much money! Who is wealthier than I?' If a thief robs such a man of only ten rupees, first of all he wrings the money out of the thief, then he gives him a good beating.  But the matter doesn't end there: the thief is handed over to the police and is eventually sent to jail.  The 'wicked I' says: 'What? Doesn't the rogue know whom he has robbed? To steal my ten rupees! How dare he?' "

VIJAY: "If without destroying the 'I' a man cannot get rid of attachment to the world and consequently cannot experience samādhi, then it would be wise for him to follow the path of Brahmajnāna to attain samādhi.  If the 'I' persists in the path of devotion, then one should rather choose the path of knowledge."

The "servant I"

MASTER: "It is true that one or two can get rid of the 'I' through samādhi; but these cases are very rare.  You may indulge in thousands of reasonings, but still the 'I' comes back.  You may cut the peepal-tree to the very root today, but you will notice a sprout springing up tomorrow.  Therefore if the 'I' must remain, let the rascal remain as the 'servant I'.  As long as you live, you should say, 'O God, Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant.' The 'I' that feels, 'I am the servant of God, I am His devotee' does not injure one.  Sweet things cause acidity of the stomach, no doubt, but sugar candy is an exception.

"The path of knowledge is very difficult.  One cannot obtain Knowledge unless one gets rid of the feeling that one is the body.  In the Kaliyuga the life of man is centred on food.  He cannot get rid of the feeling that he is the body and the ego.  Therefore the path of devotion is prescribed for this cycle.
This is an easy path.  You will attain God if you sing His name and glories and pray to Him with a longing heart.  There is not the least doubt about it.

"Suppose you draw a line on the surface of water with a bamboo stick.  The water appears to be divided into two parts; but the line doesn't remain for any length of time.  The 'servant I'or the 'devotee I' or the 'child I' is only a line drawn with the ego and is not real".

The "ego of a devotee"

VIJAY (to the Master): "Sir, you ask us to renounce the 'wicked I'.  Is there any harm in the 'servant I'?"

MASTER: "The 'servant I'-that is, the feeling, 'I am the servant of God, I am the devotee of God'-does not injure one.  On the contrary, it helps one to realize God."

VIJAY: "Well, sir, what becomes of the lust, anger, and other passions of one who keeps the 'servant I'?"

MASTER: "If a man truly feels like that, then he has only the semblance of lust, anger, and the like.  If, after attaining God, he looks on himself as the servant or the devotee of God, then he cannot injure anyone.  By touching the philosopher's stone a sword is turned into gold.  It keeps the appearance of a sword but cannot injure.

"When the dry branch of a coconut palm drops to the ground, it leaves only a mark on the trunk indicating that once there was a branch at that place.  In like manner, he who has attained God keeps only an appearance of ego; there remains in him only a semblance of anger and lust.  He becomes like a child.  A child has no attachment to the three gunas-sattva, rajas, and tamas.  He becomes as quickly detached from a thing as he becomes attached to it.  You can cajole him out of a cloth worth five rupees with a doll worth an ānnā, though at first he may say with great determination: 'No, I won't give it to you.  My daddy bought it for me.' Again, all persons are the same to a child.  He has no feeling of high and low in regard to persons.  So he doesn't discriminate about caste.  If his mother tells him that a particular man should be regarded as an elder brother, the child will eat from the same plate with him, though the man may belong to the low caste of a blacksmith.  The child doesn't know hate, or what is holy or unholy.

"Even after attaining samādhi, some retain the 'servant ego' or the 'devotee ego'.  The bhakta keeps this 'I-consciousness'.  He says, 'O God, Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant; Thou art the Lord and I am Thy devotee.' He feels that way even after the realization of God.  His 'I' is not completely effaced.  Again, by constantly practising this kind of 'I-consciousness', one ultimately attains God.  This is called bhaktiyoga.

"One can attain the Knowledge of Brahman, too, by following the path of bhakti.  God is all-powerful.  He may give His devotee Brahmajnāna also, if He so wills.  But the devotee generally doesn't seek the Knowledge of the Absolute.  He would rather have the consciousness that God is the Master and he the servant, or that God is the Divine Mother and he the child."

VIJAY: "But those who discriminate according to the Vedanta philosophy also realize Him in the end, don't they?"

Path of bhakti is easy

MASTER: "Yes, one may reach Him by following the path of discrimination too: that is called Jnanayoga.  But it is an extremely difficult path.  I have told you already of the seven planes of consciousness.  On reaching the seventh plane the mind goes into samādhi.  If a man acquires the firm knowledge that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory, then his mind merges in samādhi.  But in the Kaliyuga the life of a man depends entirely on food.  How can he have the consciousness that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory? In the Kaliyuga it is difficult to have the feeling, 'I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am not the twenty-four cosmic principles; I am beyond pleasure and pain, I am above disease and grief, old age and death.' However you may reason and argue, the feeling that the body is identical with the soul will somehow crop up from an unexpected quarter.  You may cut a peepal-tree to the ground and think it is dead to its very root, but the next morning you will find a new sprout shooting up from the dead stump.  One cannot get rid of this identification with the body; therefore the path of bhakti is best for the people of the Kaliyuga.  It is an easy path.

"And, 'I don't want to become sugar; I want to eat it.' I never feel like saying, 'I am Brahman.' I say, 'Thou art my Lord and I am Thy servant.' It is better to make the mind go up and down between the fifth and sixth planes, like a boat racing between two points.  I don't want to go beyond the sixth plane and keep my mind a long time in the seventh.  My desire is to sing the name and glories of God.  It is very good to look on God as the Master and oneself as His servant.  Further, you see, people speak of the waves as belonging to the Ganges; but no one says that the Ganges belongs to the waves.  The feeling, 'I am He', is not wholesome.  A man who entertains such an idea, while looking on his body as the Self, causes himself great harm.  He cannot go forward in spiritual life; he drags himself down.  He deceives himself as well as others.  He cannot understand his own state of mind.

Prema-bhakti

"But it isn't any and every kind of bhakti that enables one to realize God.  One cannot realize God without prema-bhakti.  Another name for prema-bhakti is raga-bhakti.  God cannot be realized without love and longing.  Unless one has learnt to love God, one cannot realize Him.

"There is another kind of bhakti, known as vaidhi-bhakti, according to which one must repeat the name of God a fixed number of times, fast, make pilgrimages, worship God with prescribed offerings, make so many sacrifices, and so forth and so on.  By continuing such practices a long time one gradually acquires raga-bhakti.  God cannot be realized until one has raga-bhakti.  One must love God.  In order to realize God one must be completely free from worldliness and direct all of one's mind to Him.

"But some acquire raga-bhakti directly.  It is innate in them.  They have it from their very childhood.  Even at an early age they weep for God.  An instance of such bhakti is to be found in Prahlada.  Vaidhi-bhakti is like moving a fan to make a breeze.  One needs the fan to make the breeze.  Similarly, one practises japa, austerity, and fasting, in order to acquire love of God.  But the fan is set aside when the southern breeze blows of itself. 
Such actions as japa and austerity drop away when one spontaneously feels love and attachment for God.  Who, indeed, will perform the ceremonies enjoined in the scriptures, when mad with love of God?

"Devotion to God may be said to be 'green' so long as it doesn't grow into love of God; but it becomes 'ripe' when it has grown into such love.

"A man with 'green' bhakti cannot assimilate spiritual talk and instruction; but one with 'ripe' bhakti can.  The image that falls on a photographic plate covered with black film5 is retained.  On the other hand, thousands of images may be reflected on a bare piece of glass, but not one of them is retained.  As the object moves away, the glass becomes the same as it was before.  One cannot assimilate spiritual instruction unless one has already developed love of God."

VIJAY: "Is bhakti alone sufficient for the attainment of God, for His vision?"

MASTER: "Yes, one can see God through bhakti alone.  But it must be 'ripe' bhakti, prema-bhakti and raga-bhakti.  When one has that bhakti, one loves God even as the mother loves the child, the child the mother, or the wife the husband.

"When one has such love and attachment for God, one doesn't feel the attraction of maya to wife, children, relatives, and friends.  One retains only compassion for them.  To such a man the world appears a strange land, a place where he has merely to perform his duties.  It is like a man's having his real home in the country, but coming to Calcutta for work; he has to rent a house in Calcutta for the sake of his duties.  When one develops love of God, one completely gets rid of one's attachment to the world and worldly wisdom.

"One cannot see God if one has even the slightest trace of worldliness.  Match-sticks, if damp, won't strike fire though you rub a thousand of them against the match-box.  You only waste a heap of sticks.  The mind soaked in worldliness is such a damp match-stick.  Once Sri Radha said to her friends that she saw Krishna everywhere-both within and without.  The friends answered: 'Why, we don't see Him at all.  Are you delirious?' Radha said, 'Friends, paint your eyes with the collyrium of divine love, and then you will see Him.'

(To Vijay) "It is said in a song of your Brahmo Samaj:

O Lord, is it ever possible to know Thee without love,
However much one may perform worship and sacrifice?

"If the devotee but once feels this attachment and ecstatic love for God, this mature devotion and longing, then he sees God in both His aspects, with form and without form."

Purity of heart

VIJAY: "How can one see God?"

MASTER: "One cannot see God without purity of heart.  Through attachment to 'woman and gold' the mind has become stained-covered with dirt, as it were.  A magnet cannot attract a needle if the needle is covered with mud.  Wash away the mud and the magnet will draw it.  Likewise, the dirt of the mind can be washed away with the tears of our eyes.  This stain is removed if one sheds tears of repentance and says, 'O God, I shall never again do such a thing.' Thereupon God, who is like the magnet, draws to Himself the mind, which is like the needle.  Then the devotee goes into samādhi and obtains the vision of God.

 

God's grace is the ultimate help

"You may try thousands of times, but nothing can be achieved without God's grace.  One cannot see God without His grace.  Is it an easy thing to receive the grace of God? One must altogether renounce egotism; one cannot see God as long as one feels, 'I am the doer.' Suppose, in a family, a man has taken charge of the store-room; then if someone asks the master, 'Sir, will you yourself kindly give me something from the store-room?', the master says to him: 'There is already someone in the store-room.  What can I do there?'

"God doesn't easily appear in the heart of a man who feels himself to be his own master.  But God can be seen the moment His grace descends.  He is the Sun of Knowledge.  One single ray of His has illumined the world with the light of knowledge.  That is how we are able to see one another and acquire varied knowledge.  One can see God only if He turns His light toward His own face.

"The police sergeant goes his rounds in the dark of night with a lantern6 in his hand.  No one sees his face; but with the help of that light the sergeant sees everybody's face, and others, too, can see one another.  If you want to see the sergeant, however, you must pray to him: 'Sir, please turn the light on your own face.  Let me see you.' In the same way one must pray to God: 'O Lord, be gracious and turn the light of knowledge on Thyself, that I may see Thy face.'

"A house without light indicates poverty.  So one must light the lamp of  Knowledge in one's heart.  As it is said in a song:

Lighting the lamp of Knowledge in the chamber of your heart,
Behold the face of the Mother, Brahman's Embodiment."

As Vijay had brought medicine with him, the Master asked a devotee to give him some water.  He was indeed a fountain of infinite compassion.  He had arranged for Vijay's boat fare, since the latter was too poor to pay it.  Vijay, Balaram, M., and the other devotees left for Calcutta in a country boat.

Monday, January 1, 1883

At eight o'clock in the morning Sri Ramakrishna was seated on a mat spread on the floor of his room at Dakshineswar.  Since it was a cold day, he had wrapped his body in his moleskin shawl.  Prankrishna and M. were seated in front of him.  Rakhal, too, was in the room.  Prankrishna was a high government official and lived in Calcutta.  Since he had had no offspring by his first wife, with her permission he had married a second time.  By the second wife he had a son.  Because he was rather stout, the Master addressed him now and then as "the fat brahmin".  He had great respect for Sri Ramakrishna.  Though a householder, Prankrishna studied the Vedanta and had been heard to say: "Brahman alone is real and the world illusory.  I am He." The Master used to say to him: "In the Kaliyuga the life of a man depends on food.  The path of devotion prescribed by Narada is best for this age."

A devotee had brought a basket of jilipi for the Master, which the latter kept by his side.  Eating a bit of the sweets, he said to Prankrishna with a smile: "You see, I chant the name of the Divine Mother; so I get all these good things to eat.  (Laughter.) But She doesn't give such fruits as gourd or pumpkin.  She bestows the fruit of Amrita, Immortality-knowledge, love, discrimination, renunciation, and so forth."

A boy six or seven years old entered the room.  The Master himself became like a child.  He covered the contents of the basket with the palm or his hand, as a child does to conceal sweets from another child lest the latter should snatch them.  Then he put the basket aside.

Suddenly the Master went into samādhi and sat thus a long time.  His body was transfixed, his eyes wide open and unwinking, his breathing hardly perceptible.  After a long time he drew a deep breath, indicating his return to the world of sense.

Vision of Divine Mother

MASTER (to Prankrishna): "My Divine Mother is not only formless, She has forms as well.  One can see Her forms.  One can behold Her incomparable beauty through feeling and love.  The Mother reveals Herself to Her devotees in different forms.

"I saw Her yesterday.  She was clad in a seamless ochre-coloured garment, and She talked with me.

"She came to me another day as a Mussalman girl six or seven years old.  She had a tilak on her forehead and was naked.  She walked with me, joking and frisking like a child.

"At Hriday's house I had a vision of Gauranga.  He wore a black-bordered cloth.

"Haladhāri used to say that God is beyond both Being and Non-being.  I told the Mother about it and asked Her, 'Then is the divine form an illusion?' The Divine Mother appeared to me in the form of Rati's mother and said, 'Do thou remain in Bhāva' I repeated this to Haladhāri.  Now and then I forget Her command and suffer.  Once I broke my teeth because I didn't remain in bhava.  So I shall remain in bhava unless I receive a revelation from heaven or have a direct experience to the contrary.  I shall follow the path of love.  What do you say?"

PRANKRISHNA: "Yes, sir."

MASTER: "But why should I ask you about it? There is Someone within me who does all these things through me.  At times I used to remain in a mood of Godhood and would enjoy no peace of mind unless I were being worshipped.

"I am the machine and God is the Operator.  I act as He makes me act.  I speak as He makes me speak.  Keep your raft, says Ramprasad, afloat on the sea of life, Drifting up with the flood-tide, drifting down with the ebb.

"It is like the cast-off leaf before a gale; sometimes it is blown to a good place and sometimes into the gutter, according to the direction of the wind.

"As the weaver said in the story: 'The robbery was committed by the will of Rama, I was arrested by the police by the will of Rama, and again, by the will of Rama, I was set free.'

"Hanuman once said to Rama: 'O Rama, I have taken refuge in Thee.  Bless me that I may have pure devotion to Thy Lotus Feet and that I may not be caught in the spell of Thy world-bewitching maya.'

"Once a dying bullfrog said to Rama: 'O Rama, when caught by a snake I cry for Your protection.  But now I am about to die, struck by Your arrow.  Hence I am silent.'

God's nature like that of a child

"I used to see God directly with these very eyes, just as I see you.  Now I see divine visions in trance.

"After realizing God a man becomes like a child.  One acquires the nature of the object one meditates upon.  The nature of God is like that of a child.  As a child builds up his toy house and then breaks it down, so God acts while creating, preserving, and destroying the universe.  Further, as the child is not under the control of any guna, so God is beyond the three gunas-sattva, rajas, and tamas.  That is why paramahamsas keep five or ten children with them, that they may assume their nature."

Sitting on the floor in the room was a young man from Agarpara about twenty-two years old.  Whenever he came to the temple garden, he would take the Master aside, by a sign, and whisper his thoughts to him.  He was a new-comer.  That day he was sitting on the floor near the Master.

MASTER (to the young man): "A man can change his nature by imitating another's character.  He can get rid of a passion like lust by assuming the feminine mood.  He gradually comes to act exactly like a woman.  I have noticed that men who take female parts in the theatre speak like women or brush their teeth like women while bathing.  Come again on a Tuesday or Saturday.

(To Prankrishna) "Brahman and Śakti are inseparable.  Unless you accept Śakti, you will find the whole universe unreal-'I', 'you', house, buildings, and family.  The world stands solid because the Primordial Energy stands behind it.  If there is no supporting pole, no framework can be made, and without the framework there can be no beautiful image of Durga.

"Without giving up worldliness a man cannot awaken his spiritual consciousness, nor can he realize God.  He cannot but be a hypocrite as long as he has even a trace of worldly desire.  God cannot be realized without guilelessness. 

Cherish love within your heart; abandon cunning and deceit:
Through service, worship, selflessness, does Rama's blessed vision come.

Even those engaged in worldly activities, such as office work or business, should hold to the truth.  Truthfulness alone is the spiritual discipline in the Kaliyuga."

PRANKRISHNA: "Yes, sir.  It is said in the Mahanirvana Tantra: 'O Goddess, this religion enjoins it upon one to be truthful, self-controlled, devoted to the welfare of others, unagitated, and compassionate.'"

MASTER: "Yes.  But these ideas must be assimilated."

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch.  He was in an ecstatic mood and looked at Rakhal.  Suddenly he was filled with the tender feeling of parental love toward his young disciple and spiritual child.  Presently he went into samādhi.  The devotees sat speechless, looking at the Master with wondering eyes. 

Regaining partial consciousness, the Master said: "Why is my spiritual feeling kindled at the sight of Rakhal? The more you advance toward God, the less you will see of His glories and grandeur.  The aspirant at first has a vision of the Goddess with ten arms;8 there is a great display of power in that image.  The next vision is that of the Deity with two arms; there are no longer ten arms holding various weapons and missiles.  Then the aspirant has a vision of Gopala, in which there is no trace of power.  It is the form of a tender child.  Beyond that there are other visions also.  The aspirant then sees only Light.

"Reasoning and discrimination vanish after the attainment of God and communion with Him in samādhi.  How long does a man reason and discriminate? As long as he is conscious of the manifold, as long as he is aware of the universe, of embodied beings, of 'I' and 'you'.  He becomes silent when he is truly aware of Unity.  This was the case with Trailanga Swami.

"Have you watched a feast given to the brahmins? At first there is a great uproar.  But the noise lessens as their stomachs become more and more filled with food.  When the last course of curd and sweets is served, one hears only the sound 'soop, soop' as they scoop up the curd in their hands.  There is no other sound.  Next is the stage of sleep-samādhi.  There is no more uproar.

(To M. and Prankrishna) "Many people talk of Brahmajnāna, but their minds are always preoccupied with lower things: house, buildings, money, name, and sense pleasures.  As long as you stand at the foot of the Monument,10 so long do you see horses, carriages, Englishmen, and Englishwomen.  But when you climb to its top, you behold the sky and the ocean stretching to infinity.  Then you do not enjoy buildings, carriages, horses, or men.  They look like ants. 

"All such things as attachment to the world and enthusiasm for 'woman and gold' disappear after the attainment of the Knowledge of Brahman.  Then comes the cessation of all passions.  When the log burns, it makes a crackling noise and one sees the flame.  But when the burning is over and only ash remains, then no more noise is heard.  Thirst disappears with the destruction of attachment.  Finally comes peace.

"The nearer you come to God, the more you feel peace.  Peace, peace, peace-supreme peace! The nearer you come to the Ganges, the more you feel its coolness.  You will feel completely soothed when you plunge into the river.

"But the universe and its created beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles, all exist because God exists.  Nothing remains if God is eliminated.  The number increases if you put many zeros after the figure one; but the zeros don't have any value if the one is not there."

The Master continued: "There are some who come down, as it were, after attaining the Knowledge of Brahman-after samādhi-and retain the 'ego of Knowledge' or the 'ego of Devotion', just as there are people who, of their own sweet will, stay in the market-place after the market breaks up.  This was the case with sages like Narada.  They kept the 'ego of Devotion' for the purpose of teaching men.  Sankaracharya kept the 'ego of Knowledge' for the same purpose.

"God cannot be realized if there is the slightest attachment to the things of the world.  A thread cannot pass through the eye of a needle if the tiniest fibre sticks out.

"The anger and lust of a man who has realized God are only appearances.  They are like a burnt string.  It looks like a string, but a mere puff blows it away.

"God is realized as soon as the mind becomes free from attachment.  Whatever appears in the Pure Mind is the voice of God.  That which is Pure Mind is also Pure Buddhi; that, again, is Pure Ātman, because there is nothing pure but God.  But in order to realize God one must go beyond dharma and adharma."

The Master sang in his melodious voice:

Come, let us go for a walk, O mind, to Kāli, the Wish-fulfilling Tree,
And there beneath It gather the four fruits of life.  .  .  .

Sri Ramakrishna went out on the southeast verandah of his room and sat down.  Prankrishna and the other devotees accompanied him.  Hazra, too, was sitting there.  The Master said to Prankrishna with a smile: "Hazra is not a man to be trifled with.  If one finds the big dargah here, then Hazra is the smaller dargah." All laughed at the Master's words.  A certain gentleman, Navakumar by name, came to the door and stood there.  At sight of the devotees he immediately left.  "Oh! Egotism incarnate!" Sri Ramakrishna remarked.

About half past nine in the morning Prankrishna took leave of the Master.  Soon afterwards a minstrel sang some devotional songs to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument.  The Master was listening to the songs when Kedār Chatterji, a householder devotee, entered the room clad in his office clothes.  He was a man of devotional temperament and cherished the attitude of the gopis of Vrindāvan.  Words about God would make him weep.

The sight of Kedār awakened in the Master's mind the episode of Vrindāvan in Sri Krishna's life.  Intoxicated with divine love, the Master stood up and sang, addressing Kedār:

Tell me, friend, how far is the grove
Where Krishna, my Beloved, dwells?
His fragrance reaches me even here;
But I am tired and can walk no farther.  .  .  .

Sri Ramakrishna assumed the attitude of Sri Radha to Krishna and went into deep samādhi while singing the song.  He stood there, still as a picture on canvas, with tears of divine joy running down his cheeks.

Kedār knelt before the Master.  Touching his feet, he chanted a hymn:

We worship the Brahman-Consciousness in the Lotus of the Heart,
The Undifferentiated, who is adored by Hari, Hara, and Brahma;
Who is attained by yogis in the depths of their meditation;
The Scatterer of the fear of birth and death,
The Essence of Knowledge and Truth, the Primal Seed of the world.

After a time the Master regained consciousness of the relative world.  Soon Kedār took his leave and returned to his office in Calcutta.

At midday Ramlal brought the Master a plate of food that had been offered in the Kāli temple.  Like a child he ate a little of everything.

Later in the afternoon several Marwari devotees entered the Master's room, where Rakhal and M. also were seated.

A MARWARI DEVOTEE: "Sir, what is the way?"

Two ways of God-realization

MASTER: "There are two ways.  One is the path of discrimination, the other is that of love.  Discrimination means to know the distinction between the Real and the unreal.  God alone is the real and permanent Substance; all else is illusory and impermanent.  The magician alone is real; his magic is illusory.  This is discrimination.

"Discrimination and renunciation.  Discrimination means to know the distinction between the Real and the unreal.  Renunciation means to have dispassion for the things of the world.  One cannot acquire them all of a sudden.  They must be practised every day.  One should renounce 'woman and gold' mentally at first.  Then, by the will of God, one can renounce it both mentally and outwardly.  It is impossible to ask the people of Calcutta to renounce all for the sake of God.  One has to tell them to renounce mentally.

Constant practice urged

"Through the discipline of constant practice one is able to give up attachment to 'woman and gold'.  That is what the Gita says.  By practice one acquires uncommon power of mind.  Then one doesn't find it difficult to subdue the sense-organs and to bring anger, lust, and the like under control.  Such a man behaves like a tortoise, which, once it has tucked in its limbs, never puts them out.  You cannot make the tortoise put its limbs out again, though you chop it to pieces with an axe."

MARWARI DEVOTEE: "Revered sir, you just mentioned two paths.  What is the other path?"

MASTER: "The path of bhakti, or zealous love of God.  Weep for God in solitude, with a restless soul, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.  Cry to your Mother Syama with a real cry, O mind! And how can She hold Herself from you? "

MARWARI DEVOTEE: "Sir, what is the meaning of the worship of the Personal God? And what is the meaning of God without form or attribute?"

MASTER: "As you recall your father by his photograph, so likewise the worship of the image reveals in a flash the nature of Reality.

"Do you know what God with form is like? Like bubbles rising on an expanse of water, various divine forms are seen to rise out of the Great Ākāśa of Consciousness.  The Incarnation of God is one of these forms.  The Primal Energy sports, as it were, through the activities of a Divine Incarnation.

"What is there in mere scholarship? God can be attained by crying to Him with a longing heart.  There is no need to know many things.

"He who is an Āchārya has to know different things.  One needs a sword and shield to kill others; but to kill oneself, a needle or a nail-knife suffices.

"One ultimately discovers God by trying to know who this 'I' is.  Is this 'I' the flesh, the bones, the blood, or the marrow? Is it the mind or the buddhi? Analysing thus, you realize at last that you are none of these.  This is called the process of 'Neti, neti', 'Not this, not this'.  One can neither comprehend nor touch the Ātman.  It is without qualities or attributes.

"But, according to the path of devotion, God has attributes.  To a devotee Krishna is Spirit, His Abode is Spirit, and everything about Him is Spirit."

The Marwari devotees saluted the Master and took their leave.

At the approach of evening Sri Ramakrishna went out to look at the sacred river.  The lamp was lighted in his room.  The Master chanted the hallowed name of the Divine Mother and meditated on Her.  Then the evening worship began in the various temples.  The sound of gongs, floating on the air, mingled with the murmuring voice of the river.  Peace and blessedness reigned everywhere.

--------------------

 

 

Chapter 8

 

THE MASTER'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT DAKSHINESWAR

 

Sunday, February 18, 1883

SRI RAMAKRISHNA arrived at Govinda Mukherji's house at Belgharia, near Calcutta.  Besides Narendra, Ram, and other devotees, some of Govinda's neighbours were present.  The Master first sang and danced with the devotees.  After the kirtan they sat down.  Many saluted the Master.  Now and then he would say, "Bow before God."

Master's attitude toward the wicked

"It is God alone", he said, "who has become all this.  But in certain places- for instance, in a holy man-there is a greater manifestation than in others.  You may say, there are wicked men also.  That is true, even as there are tigers and lions; but one need not hug the 'tiger God'.  One should keep away from him and salute him from a distance.  Take water, for instance.  Some water may be drunk, some may be used for worship, some for bathing, and some only for washing dishes."

 

Paths of knowledge and devotion

A NEIGHBOUR: "Revered sir, what are the doctrines of Vedanta?"

MASTER: "The Vedantist says, 'I am He.' Brahman is real and the world illusory.  Even the 'I' is illusory.  Only the Supreme Brahman exists.

"But the 'I' cannot be got rid of.  Therefore it is good to have the feeling, 'I am the servant of God, His son, His devotee.'

"For the Kāli Yuga the path of bhakti is especially good.  One can realize God through bhakti too.  As long as one is conscious of the body, one is also conscious of objects.  Form, taste, smell, sound, and touch-these are the objects.  It is extremely difficult to get rid of the consciousness of objects.  And one cannot realize 'I am He' as long as one is aware of objects.

"The sannyasi is very little conscious of worldly objects.  But the householder is always engrossed in them.  Therefore it is good for him to feel, 'I am the servant of God.'"

God's name destroys sin

NEIGHBOUR: "Sir, we are sinners.  What will happen to us?"

MASTER: "All the sins of the body flyaway if one chants the name of God and sings His glories.  The birds of sin dwell in the tree of the body.  Singing the name of God is like clapping your hands.  As, at a clap of the hands, the birds in the tree flyaway, so do our sins disappear at the chanting of God's name and glories.

"Again, you find that the water of a reservoir dug in a meadow is evaporated by the heat of the sun.  Likewise, the water of the reservoir of sin is dried up by the singing of the name and glories of God.

"You must practise it every day.  The other day, at the circus, I saw a horse running at top speed, with an Englishwoman standing on one foot on its back.  How much she must have practised to acquire that skill!

"Weep at least once to see God.

"These, then, are the two means: practice and passionate attachment to God, that is to say, restlessness of the soul to see Him."

Sri Ramakrishna began his midday meal with the devotees.  It was about one o'clock.  A devotee sang in the courtyard below:

Awake, Mother! Awake! How long Thou hast been asleep
In the lotus of the Muladhara!
Fulfil Thy secret function, Mother:
Rise to the thousand-petalled lotus within the head,
Where mighty Śiva has His dwelling;
Swiftly pierce the six lotuses
And take away my grief, O Essence of Consciousness!

Hearing the song, Sri Ramakrishna went into samādhi; his whole body became still, and his hand remained touching the plate of food.  He could eat no more.  After a long time his mind came down partially to the plane of the sense world, and he said, "I want to go downstairs." A devotee led him down very carefully.  Still in an abstracted mood, he sat near the singer.  The song had ended.  The Master said to him very humbly, "Sir, I want to hear the chanting of the Mother's name again."

The musician sang:

Awake, Mother! Awake! How long Thou hast been asleep
In the lotus of the Muladhara! .  .  .
The Master again went into ecstasy.

 

February 25, 1883

After his noon meal the Master conversed with the devotees.  Ram, Kedār, Nityagopal, M., and others had arrived from Calcutta.  Rakhal, Harish, Lātu, and Hazra were living with the Master.  Mr.Choudhury, who had three or four university degrees and was a government officer, was also present.  He had recently lost his wife and had visited the Master several times for peace of mind.

MASTER (to Ram and the other devotees): "Devotees like Rakhal, Narendra, and Bhavanath may be called Nityasiddha.  Their spiritual consciousness has been awake since their very birth.  They assume human bodies only to impart spiritual illumination to others.

"There is another class of devotees, known as Kripasiddha, that is to say, those on whom the grace of God descends all of a sudden and who at once attain His vision and Knowledge.  Such people may be likened to a room that has been dark a thousand years, which, when a lamp is brought into it, becomes light immediately, not little by little.

Mystery of God's ways

"Those who lead a householder's life should practise spiritual discipline; they should pray eagerly to God in solitude.  (To Mr.  Choudhury) God cannot be realized through scholarship.  Who, indeed, can understand the things of the Spirit through reason? No, all should strive for devotion to the Lotus Feet of God.

"Infinite are the glories of God! How little can you fathom them! Can you ever find out the meaning of God's ways?

"Bhishma was none other than one of the eight Vasus, but even he shed tears on his bed of arrows.  He said: 'How astonishing! God Himself is the companion of the Pandava brothers, and still there is no end to their troubles and sorrows!' Who can ever understand the ways of God?

"A man thinks, 'I have practised a little prayer and austerity; so I have gained a victory over others.' But victory and defeat lie with God.  I have seen a prostitute dying in the Ganges and retaining consciousness to the end."

God-vision through pure love

MR.  CHOUDHURY: "How can one see God?"

MASTER: "Not with these eyes.  God gives one divine eyes; and only then can one behold Him.  God gave Arjuna divine eyes so that he might see His Universal Form.

"Your philosophy is mere speculation.  It only reasons.  God cannot be realized that way.

"God cannot remain unmoved if you have raga-bhakti, that is, love of God with passionate attachment to Him.  Do you know how fond God is of His devotees' love? It is like the cow's fondness for fodder mixed with oil-cake.  The cow gobbles it down greedily.

"Raga-bhakti is pure love of God, a love that seeks God alone and not any worldly end.  Prahlada had it.  Suppose you go to a wealthy man every day, but you seek no favour of him; you simply love to see him.  If he wants to show you favour, you say: 'No, sir.  I don't need anything.  I came just to see you.' Such is love of God for its own sake.  You simply love God and don't want anything from Him, in return."

Saying this, the Master sang:

Though I am never loath to grant salvation,
I hesitate indeed to grant pure love.
Whoever wins pure love surpasses all;
He is adored by men;
He triumphs over the three worlds.  .  .  .

He continued, "The gist of the whole thing is that one must develop passionate yearning for God and practise discrimination and renunciation."

Guru and Ishta

MR.  CHOUDHURY: "Sir, is it not possible to have the vision of God without the help of a guru?"

 

MASTER: "Satchidananda Himself is the Guru.  At the end of the Shavasadhana, just when the vision of the Ishta is about to take place, the guru appears before the aspirant and says to him, 'Behold! There is your Ishta.' Saying this, the guru merges in the Ishta.  He who is the guru is also the Ishta.  The guru is the thread that leads to God.  Women perform a ritualistic worship known as the 'Ananta-vrata', the object of worship being the Infinite.  But actually the Deity worshipped is Vishnu.  In Him are the 'infinite' forms of God.

(To Ram and the other devotees) "If you asked me which form of God you should meditate upon, I should say: Fix your attention on that form which appeals to you most; but know for certain that all forms are the forms of one God alone.

"Never harbour malice toward anyone.  Śiva, Kāli, and Hari are but different forms of that One.  He is blessed indeed who has known all as one.  Outwardly he appears as Śiva's devotee, But in his heart he worships Kāli, the Blissful Mother, And with his tongue he chants aloud Lord Hari's name.

"The body does not endure without a trace of lust, anger, and the like.  You should try to reduce them to a minimum."

Looking at Kedār, the Master said: "He is very nice.  He accepts both the Absolute and the Relative.  He believes in Brahman, but he also accepts the gods and Divine Incarnations in human form."

In Kedār's opinion Sri Ramakrishna was such an Incarnation. 

Looking at Nityagopal, the Master said to the devotees, "He is in a lofty mood.

(To Nityagopal) "Don't go there too often.  You may go once in a while.  She may be a devotee, but she is a woman too.  Therefore I warn you.

"The sannyasi must observe very strict discipline.  He must not look even at the picture of a woman.  But this rule doesn't apply to householders.  An aspirant should not associate with a woman, even though she is very much devoted to God.  A sannyasi, even though he may have subdued his passions, should follow this discipline to set an example to householders.

"Worldly people learn renunciation by seeing the complete renunciation of a monk; otherwise they sink more and more.  A sannyasi is a world teacher."

Friday, March 9, 1883

Life of worldliness

About nine o'clock in the morning the Master was seated in his room with Rakhal, M., and a few other devotees.  It was the day of the new moon.  As usual with him on such days, Sri Ramakrishna entered again and again into communion with the Divine Mother.  He said to the devotees: "God alone exists, and all else is unreal.  The Divine Mother has kept all deluded by Her maya.  Look at men.  Most of them are entangled in worldliness.  They suffer so much, but still they have the same attachment to 'woman and gold'.  The camel eats thorny shrubs, and blood gushes from its mouth; still it will eat thorns.  While suffering pain at the time of delivery, a woman says, 'Ah! I shall never go to my husband again.' But afterwards she forgets.

"The truth is that no one seeks God.  There are people who eat the prickly leaves of the pineapple and not the fruit."

DEVOTEE: "Sir, why has God put us in the world?"

MASTER: "The world is the field of action.  Through action one acquires knowledge.  The guru instructs the disciple to perform certain works and refrain from others.  Again, he advises the pupil to perform action without desiring the result.  The impurity of the mind is destroyed through the performance of duty.  It is like getting rid of a disease by means of medicine, under the instruction of a competent physician.

"Why doesn't God free us from the world? Ah, He will free us when the disease is cured.  He will liberate us from the world when we are through with the enjoyment of 'woman and gold'.  Once a man registers his name in the hospital, he cannot run away.  The doctor will not let him go away unless his illness is completely cured."

Master's love for Rakhal

During these days Sri Ramakrishna's heart overflowed with motherly love like the love Yaśoda felt for Krishna.  So he kept Rakhal with him.  Rakhal felt toward the Master as a child feels toward its mother.  He would sit leaning on the Master's lap as a young child leans on its mother while sucking her breast.

Rakhal was thus seated by the Master when a man entered the room and said that a high tide was coming in the Ganges.  The Master and the devotees ran to the Panchavati to see it.  At the sight of a boat being tossed by the tide, Sri Ramakrishna exclaimed: "Look! Look! I hope nothing happens to it."

They all sat in the Panchavati.  The Master asked M. to explain the cause of the tide.  M. drew on the ground the figures of the sun, moon, and earth and tried to explain gravitation, ebb-tide, flood-tide, new moon, full moon, eclipse, and so forth.

MASTER (to M.): "Stop it! I can't follow you.  It makes me dizzy.  My head is aching.  Well, how can they know of things so far off?

"You see, during my childhood I could paint well; but arithmetic would make my head spin.  I couldn't learn simple arithmetic."

Sri Ramakrishna returned to his room with the devotees.  Looking at a picture of Yaśoda, on the wall, he said: "It is not well done.  She looks like a garland-seller."

Adhar's first visit

The Master enjoyed a nap after his noon meal.  Adhar and other devotees gradually gathered.  This was Adhar's first visit.  He was a deputy magistrate and about thirty years old.

 

Much reasoning condemned

ADHAR (to the Master): "Sir, I have a question to ask.  Is it good to sacrifice animals before the Deity? It certainly involves killing."

MASTER: "The sastra prescribes sacrifice on special occasions.  Such sacrifice is not harmful.  Take, for instance, the sacrifice of a goat on the eighth day of the full or new moon.

"I am now in such a state of mind that I cannot watch a sacrifice.  Also I cannot eat meat offered to the Divine Mother.  Therefore I first touch my finger to it, then to my head, lest She should be angry with me.

"Again, in a certain state of mind I see God in all beings, even in an ant.  At that time, if I see a living being die, I find consolation in the thought that it is the death of the body, the soul being beyond life and death.

"One should not reason too much; it is enough if one loves the Lotus Feet of the Mother.  Too much reasoning throws the mind into confusion.  You get clear water if you drink from the surface of a pool.  Put your hand deeper and stir the water, and it becomes muddy.  Therefore pray to God for devotion.

"Behind Dhruva's devotion there was desire.  He practised austerities to gain his father's kingdom.  But Prahlada's love for God was motiveless-a love that sought no return."

A DEVOTEE: "How can one realize God?"

MASTER: "Through that kind of love.  But one must force one's demand on God.  One should be able to say: 'O God, wilt Thou not reveal Thyself to me? I will cut my throat with a knife.' This is the tamas of bhakti."

DEVOTEE: "Can one see God?"

MASTER: "Yes, surely.  One can see both aspects of God-God with form and without form.  One can see God with form, the Embodiment of Spirit.  Again, God can be directly perceived in a man with a tangible form.  Seeing an Incarnation of God is the same as seeing God Himself.  God is born on earth as man in every age."

March 11, 1883

Master's birthday celebration

It was Sri Ramakrishna's birthday.  Many of his disciples and devotees wanted to celebrate the happy occasion at the Dakśineśwar temple garden.

From early morning the devotees streamed in, alone or in parties.  After the morning worship in the temples sweet music was played in the nahabat.  It was springtime.  The trees, creepers, and plants were covered with new leaves and blossoms.  The very air seemed laden with joy.  And the hearts of the devotees were glad on this auspicious day.

M. arrived early in the morning and found the Master talking smilingly to Bhavanath, Rakhal, and Kalikrishna.  M. prostrated himself before him.

MASTER (to M.): "I am glad you have come.

(To the devotees) "One cannot be spiritual as long as one has shame, hatred, or fear.  Great will be the joy today.  But those fools who will not sing or dance, mad with God's name, will never attain God.  How can one feel any shame or fear when the names of God are sung? Now sing, all of you."

Bhavanath and his friend Kalikrishna sang:

Thrice blessed is this day of  joy!

May all of us unite, O Lord,
To preach Thy true religion here
In India's holy land!
Thou dwellest in each human heart;
Thy name, resounding everywhere,
Fills the four corners of the sky.
Today Thy devotees proclaim
Thy boundless majesty.
We seek not wealth or friends or fame,
O Lord!  No other hope is ours.
For Thee alone Thy devotees
Long with unflagging love.
Safe at Thy feet, what fear have we
Of death or danger? We have found
The Fount of Immortality.
To Thee the victory, O Lord!
To Thee the victory!

As Sri Ramakrishna listened to the song with folded hands, his mind soared to a far-off realm.  He remained absorbed in meditation a long time.  After a while Kalikrishna whispered something to Bhavanath.  Then he bowed before the Master and rose.  Sri Ramakrishna was surprised.  He asked, "Where are you going?"

BHAVANATH: "He is going away on a little business."

MASTER: "What is it about?"

BHAVANATH: "He is going to the Baranagore Workingmen's Institute."

MASTER: "It's his bad luck.  A stream of bliss will flow here today.  He could have enjoyed it.  But how unlucky!"

Sri Ramakrishna did not feel well; so he decided not to bathe in the Ganges.  About nine o'clock a few jars of water were taken from the river, and with the help of the devotees he finished his bath on the verandah east of his room.

After bathing, the Master put on a new wearing-cloth, all the while chanting the name of God.  Accompanied by one or two disciples he walked across the courtyard to the temple of Kāli, still chanting Her hallowed name.  His eyes had an indrawn look, like that of a bird hatching her eggs.

On entering the temple, he prostrated himself before the image and worshipped the Divine Mother.  But he did not observe any ritual of worship.  Now he would offer flowers and sandal-paste at the feet of the image, and now he would put them on his own head.  After finishing the worship in his own way, he asked Bhavanath to carry the green coconut that had been offered to the Mother.  He also visited the images of Radha and Krishna in the Vishnu temple.

When the Master returned to his room, he found that other devotees had arrived, among them Ram, Nityagopal, and Kedār.  They all saluted the Master, who greeted them cordially.

He asked Nityagopal, "Will you eat something now?" "Yes", the devotee answered.  Nityagopal, who was twenty-three or twenty-four years old and unmarried, was like a child.  His mind was always soaring in the spiritual realm.  He visited the Master sometimes alone and sometimes in Ram's company.  The Master had observed the spiritual state of his mind and had become very fond of him.  He remarked now and then that Nityagopal was in the state of a paramahamsa.

Warning to monks

After Nityagopal had finished eating, the Master took him aside and gave him various instructions.

A certain woman, about thirty-one years old and a great devotee, often visited Sri Ramakrishna and held him in high respect.  She had been much impressed by Nityagopal's spiritual state and, looking upon him as her own son, often invited him to her house.

MASTER (to Nityagopal): "Do you go there?"

NITYAGOPAL (like a child): "Yes, I do.  She takes me".

MASTER: "Beware, holy man! Go there once in a great while, but not frequently; otherwise you will slip from the ideal.  Maya is nothing but 'woman and gold'.  A holy man must live away from woman.  All sink there.  'Even Brahma and Vishnu struggle for life in that whirlpool.' "

Nityagopal listened to these words attentively.

M. (to himself): "How strange! This young man has developed the state of a paramahamsa.  That is what the Master says now and then.  Is there still a possibility of his falling into danger in spite of his high spiritual state? What an austere rule is laid down for a sādhu! He may slip from his ideal by associating intimately with women.  How can an ordinary man expect to attain liberation unless such a high ideal is set by holy men? The woman in question is very devout; but still there is danger.  Now I understand why Chaitanya punished his disciple, the younger Haridas, so severely.  In spite of his teacher's prohibition, Haridas conversed with a widow devotee.  But he was a sannyasi.  Therefore Chaitanya banished him.  What a severe punishment! How hard is the rule for one who has accepted the life of renunciation! Again, what love the Master cherishes for this devotee! He is warning him even now, lest he should run into danger in the future."

"Beware, holy man!" These words of the Master echoed in the hearts of the devotees, like the distant rumbling of thunder.

The Master went with the devotees to the northeast verandah of his room.  Among them was a householder from the village of Dakśineśwar, who studied Vedanta philosophy at home.  He had been discussing Om with Kedār before the Master.  He said, "This Eternal Word, the Anāhata Śabda, is ever present both within and without."

MASTER: "But the Word is not enough.  There must be something indicated by the Word.  Can your name alone make me happy? Complete happiness is not possible for me unless I see you."

DEVOTEE: "That Eternal Word itself is Brahman."

MASTER (to Kedār): "Oh, don't you understand? He upholds the doctrine of the rishis of olden times.  They once said to Rama: 'O Rama, we know You only as the son of Dasaratha.  Let sages like Bharadvaja worship You as God Incarnate.  We want to realize Brahman, the Indivisible Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.' At these words Rama smiled and went away."

KEDĀR: "Those rishis could not recognize Rama as an Incarnation of God.  They must have been fools,"

MASTER (seriously): "Please don't say such a thing.  People worship God according to their tastes and temperaments.  The mother cooks the same fish differently for her children, that each one may have what suits his stomach.  For some she cooks the rich dish of pilau.  But not all the children can digest it.  For those with weak stomachs she prepares soup.  Some, again, like fried fish or pickled fish.  It depends on one's taste.

Incarnation of  God

"The rishis followed the path of jnāna.  Therefore they sought to realize Brahman, the Indivisible Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.  But those who follow the path of devotion seek an Incarnation of God, to enjoy the sweetness of bhakti.  The darkness of the mind disappears when God is realized.  In the Purana it is said that it was as if a hundred suns were shining when Rama entered the court.  Why, then, weren't the courtiers burnt up? It was because the brilliance of Rama was not like that of a material object.  As the lotus blooms when the sun rises, so the lotus of the heart of the people assembled in the court burst into blossom."

As the Master uttered these words, standing before the devotees, he suddenly fell into an ecstatic mood.  His mind was withdrawn from external objects.  No sooner did he say, "the lotus of the heart burst into blossom", than he went into deep samādhi.  He stood motionless, his countenance beaming and his lips parted in a smile.

After a long time he returned to the normal consciousness of the world.  He drew a long breath and repeatedly chanted the name of Rama, every word showering nectar into the hearts of the devotees.  The Master sat down, the others seating themselves around him.

MASTER (to the devotees): "Ordinary people do not recognize the advent of an Incarnation of God.  He comes in secret.  Only a few of His intimate disciples can recognize Him.  That Rama was both Brahman Absolute and a perfect Incarnation of God in human form was known only to twelve rishis.  The other sages said to Him, 'Rama, we know You only as Dasaratha's son.'

"Can everyone comprehend Brahman, the Indivisible Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute? He alone has attained perfect love of God who, having reached the Absolute, keeps himself in the realm of the Relative in order to enjoy the divine lila.  A man can describe the ways and activities of the Queen if he has previously visited her in England.  Only then will his description of the Queen be correct.  Sages like Bharadvaja adored Rama and said: 'O Rama, You are nothing but the Indivisible Satchidananda.  You have appeared before us as a human being, but You look like a man because You have shrouded Yourself with Your own maya.' These rishis were great devotees of Rama: and had supreme love for God."

Master's different spiritual moods

Presently some devotees from Konnagar arrived, singing kirtan to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals.  As they reached the northeast verandah of Sri Ramakrishna's room, the Master joined in the music, dancing with them intoxicated with divine joy.  Now and then he went into samādhi, standing still as a statue.  While he was in one of these states of divine unconsciousness, the devotees put thick garlands of jasmine around his neck.  The enchanting form of the Master reminded the devotees of Chaitanya, another Incarnation of God.  The Master passed alternately through three moods of divine consciousness: the inmost, when he completely lost all knowledge of the outer world; the semi-conscious, when he danced with the devotees in an ecstasy of love; and the conscious, when he joined them in loud singing.  It was indeed a sight for the gods, to see the Master standing motionless in samādhi, with fragrant garlands hanging from his neck, his countenance beaming with love, and the devotees singing and dancing around him.

When it was time for his noon meal, Sri Ramakrishna put on a new yellow cloth and sat on the small couch.  His golden complexion, blending with his yellow cloth, enchanted the eyes of the devotees.

After his meal Sri Ramakrishna rested a little on the small couch.  Inside and outside his room crowded the devotees, among them Kedār, Suresh, Ram, Manomohan, Girindra, Rakhal, Bhavanath, and M. Rakhal's father was also present.

Efficacy of earnest japa

A Vaishnava goswami was seated in the room.  The Master said to him: "Well, what do you say? What is the way?"

GOSWAMI: "Sir, the chanting of God's name is enough.  The scriptures emphasize the sanctity of God's name for the Kaliyuga."

MASTER: "Yes, there is no doubt about the sanctity of God's name.  But can a mere name achieve anything, without the yearning love of the devotee behind it? One should feel great restlessness of soul for the vision of God.  Suppose a man repeats the name of God mechanically, while his mind is absorbed in 'woman and gold'.  Can he achieve anything? Mere muttering of magic words doesn't cure one of the pain of a spider or scorpion sting.  One must also apply the smoke of burning cow-dung."

GOSWAMI: "But what about Ajamila then? He was a great sinner; there was no sin he had not indulged in.  But he uttered the name of Narayana on his death-bed, calling his son, who also had that name.  And thus he was liberated."

MASTER: "Perhaps Ajamila had done many spiritual things in his past births.  It is also said that he once practised austerity; besides, those were the last moments of his life.  What is the use of giving an elephant a bath? It will cover itself with dirt and dust again and become its former self.  But if someone removes the dust from its body and gives it a bath just before it enters the stable, then the elephant remains clean.  .

"Suppose a man becomes pure by chanting the holy name of God, but immediately afterwards commits many sins.  He has no strength of mind.  He doesn't take a vow not to repeat his sins.  A bath in the Ganges undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what does that avail? They say that the sins perch on the trees along the bank of the Ganges.  No sooner does the man come back from the holy waters than the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees.  (All laugh.) The same old sins take possession of him again.  He is hardly out of the water before they fall upon him.

"Therefore I say, chant the name of God, and with it pray to Him that you may have love for Him.  Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.

Dogmatism condemned

(To the goswami) "With sincerity and earnestness one can realize God through all religions.  The Vaishnavas will realize God, and so will the Saktas, the Vedantists, and the Brahmos.  The Mussalmans and Christians will realize Him too.  All will certainly realize God if they are earnest and sincere.

"Some people indulge in quarrels, saying, 'One cannot attain anything unless one worships our Krishna', or, 'Nothing can be gained without the worship of Kāli, our Divine Mother', or, 'One cannot be saved without accepting the Christian religion.' This is pure dogmatism.  The dogmatist says, 'My religion alone is true, and the religions of others are false.' This is a bad attitude.  God can be reached by different paths.

"Further, some say that God has form and is not formless.  Thus they start quarrelling.  A Vaishnava quarrels with a Vedantist.

"One can rightly speak of God only after one has seen Him.  He who has seen God knows really and truly that God has form and that He is formless as well.  He has many other aspects that cannot be described.

Parable of the elephant and the blind men

"Once some blind men chanced to come near an animal that someone told them was an elephant.  They were asked what the elephant was like.  The blind men began to feel its body.  One of them said the elephant was like a pillar; he had touched only its leg.  Another said it was like a winnowing-fan; he had touched only its ear.  In this way the others, having touched its tail or belly, gave their different versions of the elephant.  Just so, a man who has seen only one aspect of God limits God to that alone.  It is his conviction that God cannot be anything else.

 

Illustration of the ocean and the ice

(To the goswami) "How can you say that the only truth about God is that He has form? It is undoubtedly true that God comes down to earth in a human form, as in the case of Krishna.  And it is true as well that God reveals Himself to His devotees in various forms.  But it is also true that God is formless; He is the Indivisible Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.  He has been described in the Vedas both as formless and as endowed with form.  He is also described there both as attributeless and as endowed with attributes.

"Do you know what I mean? Satchidananda is like an infinite ocean.  Intense cold freezes the water into ice, which floats on the ocean in blocks of various forms.  Likewise, through the cooling influence of bhakti, one sees forms of God in the Ocean of the Absolute.  These forms are meant for the bhaktas, the lovers of God.  But when the Sun of Knowledge rises, the ice melts; it becomes the same water it was before.  Water above and water below, everywhere nothing but water.  Therefore a prayer in the Bhagavata says: 'O Lord, Thou hast form, and Thou art also formless.  Thou walkest before us, O Lord, in the shape of a man; again, Thou hast been described in the Vedas as beyond words and thought.'

"But you may say that for certain devotees God assumes eternal forms.  There are places in the ocean where the ice doesn't melt at all.  It assumes the form of quartz."

KEDĀR: "It is said in the Bhagavata that Vyāsa asked God's forgiveness for his three transgressions.  He said: 'O Lord, Thou art formless, but I have thought of Thee in my meditation as endowed with form; Thou art beyond speech, but I have sung Thee hymns; Thou art the All-pervading Spirit, but I have made pilgrimages to sacred places.  Be gracious, O Lord, and forgive these three transgressions of mine.'"

MASTER: "Yes, God has form and He is formless too.  Further, He is beyond both form and formlessness.  No one can limit Him."

Rakhal's father was sitting in the room.  At that time Rakhal was staying with the Master.  After his mother's death his father had married a second time.  Now and then he came to Dakśineśwar because of Rakhal's being there.  He did not raise much objection to his son's living with the Master.  Being a wealthy man of the world, he was always involved in litigation.  There were lawyers and deputy magistrates among Sri Ramakrishna's visitors.  Rakhal's father found it profitable to cultivate their acquaintance, since he expected to be benefited by their counsels in worldly matters.

Now and then the Master cast a glance at Rakhal's father.  It was his cherished desire that Rakhal should live with him permanently at Dakśineśwar.

Rakhal's inborn spiritual nature

MASTER (to Rakhal's father and the devotees): "Ah, what a nice character Rakhal has developed! Look at his face and every now and then you will notice his lips moving.  Inwardly he repeats the name of God, and so his lips move.

 

Parable of the Homa bird

"Youngsters like him belong to the class of the ever-perfect.  They are born with God-Consciousness.  No sooner do they grow a little older than they realize the danger of coming in contact with the world.  There is the parable of the Homa bird in the Vedas.  The bird lives high up in the sky and never descends to earth.  It lays its egg in the sky, and the egg begins to fall.  But the bird lives in such a high region that the egg hatches while falling.  The fledgling comes out and continues to fall.  But it is still so high that while falling it grows wings and its eyes open.  Then the young bird perceives that it is dashing down toward the earth and will be instantly killed.  The moment it sees the ground, it turns and shoots up toward its mother in the sky.  Then its one goal is to reach its mother.

"Youngsters like Rakhal are like that bird.  From their very childhood they are afraid of the world, and their one thought is how to reach the Mother, how to realize God.

"You may ask, 'How is it possible for these boys, born of worldly parents and living among the worldly-minded, to develop such knowledge and devotion?' It can be explained.  If a pea falls into a heap of dung, it germinates into a pea-plant none the less.  The peas that grow on that plant serve many useful purposes.  Because it was sown in dung, will it produce another kind of plant?

"Ah, what a sweet nature Rakhal has nowadays! And why shouldn't it be so? If the yam is a good one, its shoots also become good.  (All laugh.) Like father like son."

M. (aside to Girindra): "How well he has explained God with and without form! Do the Vaishnavas believe only in God with form?"

GIRINDRA: "Perhaps so.  They are one-sided."

M: "Did you understand what he meant by the 'eternal form' of God? That 'quartz'? I couldn't grasp it well."

MASTER (to M.): "Well, what are you talking about?"

M. and Girindra smiled and remained silent.

Later in the afternoon the devotees were singing in the Panchavati, where the Master joined them.  They sang together in praise of the Divine Mother:

High in the heaven of the Mother's feet, my mind was soaring like a kite,
When came a blast of sin's rough wind that drove it swiftly toward the earth.
Maya disturbed its even flight by bearing down upon one side,
And I could make it rise no more.
Entangled in the twisting string of love for children and for wife,
Alas! my kite was rent in twain.

It lost its crest of wisdom soon and downward plunged as I let it go;
How could it hope to fly again, when all its top was torn away?
Though fastened with devotion's cord, it came to grief in playing here;
Its six opponents worsted it.
Now Nareschandra rues this game of smiles and tears, and thinks it better
Never to have played at all.

The singing continued.  Sri Ramakrishna danced with the devotees.  They sang:

The black bee of my mind is drawn in sheer delight
To the blue lotus flower of Mother Syama's feet,
The blue flower of the feet of Kāli, Śiva's Consort;
Tasteless, to the bee, are the blossoms of desire.
My Mother's feet are black, and black, too, is the bee;
Black is made one with black! This much of the mystery
My mortal eyes behold, then hastily retreat.
But Kamalakanta's hopes are answered in the end;
He swims in the Sea of Bliss, unmoved by joy or pain.

The kirtan went on:

O Mother, what a machine is this that Thou hast made!
What pranks Thou playest with this toy
Three and a half cubits high!
Hiding Thyself within, Thou holdest the guiding string;
But the machine, not knowing it,
Still believes it moves by itself.
Whoever finds the Mother remains a machine no more;
Yet some machines have even bound
The Mother Herself with the string of Love.

It was a very happy day for all.

The Master, accompanied by M., was coming back to his room, when he met Trailokya, a Brahmo devotee, on the way.  Trailokya bowed before the Master.

MASTER: "They are singing in the Panchavati.  Won't you go there?"

TRAILOKYA: "What shall I do there?"

MASTER: "Why, you will enjoy the music."

TRAILOKYA: "I have been there already."

MASTER: "Well, well! That's good."

It was about six o'clock in the evening.  The Master was sitting with the devotees on the southeast verandah of his room.

MASTER: "A holy man who has renounced the world will of course chant the name of God.  That is only natural.  He has no other duties to perform.  If he meditates on God it shouldn't surprise anybody.  On the other hand, if he fails to think of God or chant His holy name, then people will think ill of him.

"But it is a great deal to his credit if a householder utters the name of the Lord.  Think of King Janaka.  What courage he had, indeed! He fenced with two swords, the one of Knowledge and the other of work.  He possessed the perfect Knowledge of Brahman and also was devoted to the duties of the world.  An unchaste woman attends to the minutest duties of the world, but her mind always dwells on her paramour.

"The constant company of holy men is necessary.  The holy man introduces one to God."

KEDĀR: "Yes, sir.  The great soul is born in the world for the redemption of humanity.  He leads others to God, just as a locomotive engine takes along with it a long train of carriages.  Or again, he is like a river or lake that quenches the thirst of many people."

The devotees were ready to return home.  One by one they saluted the Master.  At the sight of Bhavanath Sri Ramakrishna said: "Don't go away today.  The very sight of you inspires me." Bhavanath had not yet entered into worldly life.  A youth of twenty, he had a fair complexion and handsome features.  He shed tears of joy on hearing the name of God.  The Master looked on him as the embodiment of Narayana.

Thursday, March 29, 1883

The Master had taken a little rest after his noon meal, when a few devotees arrived from Calcutta, among them Amrita and the well-known singer of the Brahmo Samaj, Trailokya.

Rakhal was not feeling well.  The Master was greatly worried about him and said to the devotees: "You see, Rakhal is not well.  Will soda-water help him? What am I to do now? Rakhal, please take the prasad from the Jagannath temple."

Even as he spoke these words the Master underwent a strange transformation.  He looked at Rakhal with the infinite tenderness of a mother and affectionately uttered the name of Govinda.  Did he see in Rakhal the manifestation of God Himself? The disciple was a young boy of pure heart who had renounced all attraction to lust and greed.  And Sri Ramakrishna was intoxicated day and night with love of God.  At the sight of Rakhal his eyes expressed the tender feelings of a mother, a love like that which had filled the heart of Mother Yaśoda at the sight of the Baby Krishna.  The devotees gazed at the Master in wonder as he went into deep samādhi.  As his soul soared into the realm of Divine Consciousness, his body became motionless, his eyes were fixed on the tip of his nose, and his breathing almost ceased.

Renunciation, false and true

An unknown Bengali, dressed in the ochre cloth of a monk, entered the room and sat on the floor.  The Master's mind was coming down to the ordinary plane of consciousness.  Presently he began to talk, though the spell of samādhi still lingered.

MASTER (at the sight of the ochre cloth): "Why this gerrua? Should one put on such a thing for a mere fancy? A man once said, 'I have exchanged the Chandi for a drum.' At first he used to sing the holy songs of the Chandi; now he beats the drum.  (All laugh.)

"There are three or four varieties of renunciation.  Afflicted with miseries at home, one may put on the ochre cloth of a monk; but that renunciation doesn't last long.  Again, a man out of work puts on an ochre wearing-cloth and goes off to Benares.  After three months he writes home: 'I have a job here.  I shall come home in a few days.  Don't worry about me.' Again, a man may have everything he wants.  He lacks nothing, yet he does not enjoy his possessions.  He weeps for God alone.  That is real renunciation.

"No lie of any sort is good.  A false garb, even though a holy one, is not good.  If the outer garb does not correspond to the inner thought, it gradually brings ruin.  Uttering false words or doing false deeds, one gradually loses all fear.  Far better is the white cloth of a householder.  Attachment to worldliness, occasional lapses from the ideal, and an outer garb of gerrua- how dreadful!

"It is not proper for a righteous person to tell a lie or do something false even in a dramatic performance.  Once I went to Keshab's house to see the performance of a play called Nava-Vrindāvan.  They brought something on the stage which they called the 'Cross'.  Another actor sprinkled water, which they said was the 'Water of Peace'.  I saw a third actor staggering and reeling in the role of a drunkard." 

A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "It was K-."

MASTER: "It is not good for a devotee to play such parts.  It is bad for the mind to dwell on such subjects for a long while.  The mind is like white linen fresh from the laundry; it takes the colour in which you dip it.  If it is associated with falsehood for a long time, it will be stained with falsehood.

"Another day I went to Keshab's house to see the play called Nimai Sannyas .  Some flattering disciples of Keshab spoiled the whole performance.
One of them said to Keshab, 'You are the Chaitanya of the Kaliyuga.' Keshab pointed to me and asked with a smile, 'Then who is he?' I replied: 'Why, I am the servant of your servant.  I am a speck of the dust of your feet.' Keshab had a desire for name and fame.

(To Amrita and Trailokya) "Youngsters like Narendra and Rakhal are ever-perfect.  Every time they are born they are devoted to God.  An ordinary man acquires a little devotion after austerities and a hard struggle.  But these boys have love of God from the very moment of their birth.  They are like the natural image of Śiva, which springs forth from the earth and is not set up by human hands.

Nature of the ever-perfect

"The ever-perfect form a class by themselves.  Not all birds have crooked beaks.  The ever-perfect are never attached to the world.  There is the instance of Prahlada.

"Ordinary people practise spiritual discipline and cultivate devotion to God; but they also become attached to the world and are caught in the glamour of 'woman and gold'.  They are like flies, which sit on a flower or a sweetmeat and light on filth as well.

"But the ever-perfect are like bees, which light only on flowers and sip the honey.  The ever-perfect drink only the Nectar of Divine Bliss.  They are never inclined to worldly pleasures.

"The devotion of the ever-perfect is not like the ordinary devotion that one acquires as a result of strenuous spiritual discipline.  Ritualistic devotion consists in repeating the name of God and performing worship in a prescribed manner.  It is like crossing a rice-field in a roundabout way along the balk.  Again, it is like reaching a near-by village by boat in a roundabout way along a winding river.

"One does not follow the injunctions of ceremonial worship when one develops raga-bhakti, when one loves God as one's own.  Then it is like crossing a rice-field after the harvest.  You don't have to walk along the balk.  You can go straight across the field in any direction.

"When the country is flooded deep with water, one doesn't have to follow the winding river.  Then the fields are deep under water.  You can row your boat straight to the village.

"Without this intense attachment, this passionate love, one cannot realize God."

Master's experiences in samādhi

AMRITA: "Sir, how do you feel in samādhi?"

 

MASTER: "You may have heard that the cockroach, by intently meditating on the Bhramara, is transformed into a Bhramara.  Do you know how I feel then? I feel like a fish released from a pot into the water of the Ganges."

AMRITA: "Don't you feel at that time even a trace of ego?"

MASTER: "Yes, generally a little of it remains.  However hard you may rub a grain of gold against a grindstone, still a bit of it always remains.  Or again, take the case of a big fire; the ego is like one of its sparks.  In samādhi I lose outer consciousness completely; but God generally keeps a little trace of ego in me for the enjoyment of divine communion.  Enjoyment is possible only when 'I' and 'you' remain.

"Again, sometimes God effaces even that trace of 'I'.  Then one experiences jada samādhi or nirvikalpa samādhi.  That experience cannot be described.  A salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean, but before it had gone far into the water it melted away.  It became entirely one with the water of the ocean.  Then who was to come back and tell the ocean's depth?"

--------------------

 

 Chapter 9

 

ADVICE TO THE BRAHMOS

 

Saturday, April 7, 1883

SRI RAMAKRISHNA was visiting Balarām in Calcutta, with Narendra, Bhavanath, Rākhāl , M., and others.  Balarām, at the Master's bidding, had invited some of the young devotees to lunch.  Sri Ramakrishna often said to him, "Feed them now and then; that will confer on you the merit of feeding holy men." The Master looked on his young disciples, yet untouched by "woman and gold", as veritable embodiments of God.

A few days earlier Sri Ramakrishna had been to Keshab's house with Narendra and Rākhāl  to see a performance of the play entitled Nava-Vrindāvan.  Narendra had taken part in the performance, in which Keshab had played the role of Pavhari Baba.

MASTER: "Keshab came on the stage in the role of a holy man and sprinkled the 'Water of Peace'.  But I didn't like it.  The idea of sprinkling such water on a theatrical stage after a performance!

"Another gentleman played the part of Sin.  That is not good either.  One should not commit sin; one should not even feign it."

Narendra's music

The Master wanted to hear Narendra sing.  The young disciple was not feeling well, but at the Master's earnest request he sang to the accompaniment of the Tānpura:

 

Sing, O bird that nestles deep within my heart!
Sing, O bird that sits on the Kalpa-Tree of Brahman!
Sing God's everlasting praise.  .  .  .

Then he sang:

Brahman, Joy of the whole universe, Supreme Effulgence;
God beginningless, Lord of the world, the very Life of life! .  .  .

And again:

O King of Kings, reveal Thyself to me!
I crave Thy mercy.  Cast on me Thy glance!
At Thy dear feet I dedicate my life,
Seared in the fiery furnace of this world. 

My heart, alas, is deeply stained with sin;
Ensnared in maya, I am all but dead. 
 Compassionate Lord! Revive my fainting soul
With the life-giving nectar of Thy grace.

Narendra continued:

Upon the tray of the sky blaze bright
The lamps of Sun and moon;
Like diamonds shine the glittering stars
To deck Thy wondrous form.
The sweet Malaya breeze blows soft,
For fragrant incense smoke;
The moving air sways to and fro
The fan before Thy holy face:
Like gleaming votive lights
The fresh and flowery groves appear.
How wonderful Thy worship is,
O Slayer of birth and death!
The sacred Om, from space arisen,
Is the resounding drum.
My mind craves nectar day and night
At Hari's Lotus Feet;
Oh, shower the waters of Thy grace
On thirsty Nanak, blessed Lord;
And may Thy hallowed name
Become his everlasting home!

He sang again:

In Wisdom's firmament the moon of Love is rising full,
And Love's flood-tide, in surging waves, is flowing everywhere. 
O Lord, how full of bliss Thou art! Victory unto Thee! .  .  .

Then at the Master's bidding Bhavanath sang:

Where is a friend like Thee, O Essence of Mercy?
Where is another friend like Thee
To stand by me through pain and pleasure?
Who, among all my friends, forgives my failings,
Bringing me comfort for my grief,
Soothing my spirit in its terror?
Thou art the Helmsman who dost steer life's craft
Across the world's perilous sea;
Thy grace it is alone, O Lord,
That silences my raging passions' storm.
Thou pourest out the waters of peace
Upon my burning, penitent soul:
And Thine is the bosom that will shelter me
When every other friend I own
Deserts me in my dying hour.

True renunciation

Narendra said to the Master with a smile, referring to Bhavanath, "He has given up fish and betel-leaf."

MASTER: "Why so? What is the matter with fish and betel-leaf? They aren't harmful.  The renunciation of 'woman and gold' is the true renunciation.

"Where is Rākhāl ?"

A DEVOTEE: "He is asleep, sir."

MASTER (with a smile): "Once a man went to a certain place to see a theatrical performance, carrying a mat under his arm.  Hearing that it would be some time before the performance began, he spread the mat on the floor and fell asleep.  When he woke up it was all over.  (All laugh.) Then he returned home with the mat under his arm."

Ramdayal was very ill and lay in bed in another room.  The Master went there to inquire about him.

About four o'clock in the afternoon some members of the Brahmo Samaj arrived.  The Master began to converse with them.

Study of scriptures for the beginner

A BRAHMO: "Sir, have you read the Panchadasi?"

MASTER: "At first one should hear books like that and indulge in reasoning.  But later on-

Cherish my precious Mother Syama
Tenderly within, O mind;
May you and I alone behold Her,
Letting no one else intrude.

"One should hear the scriptures during the early stages of spiritual discipline.  After attaining God there is no lack of knowledge.  Then the Divine Mother supplies it without fail.

"A child spells out every word as he writes, but later on he writes fluently. 

"The goldsmith is up and doing while melting gold.  As long as the gold hasn't melted, he works the bellows with one hand, moves the fan with the other, and blows through a pipe with his mouth.  But the moment the gold melts and is poured into the mould, he is relieved of all anxiety.

"Mere reading of the scriptures is not enough.  A person cannot understand the true significance of the scriptures if he is attached to the world.Though with intense delight I learnt many poems and dramas,I have forgotten them all, entrapped in Krishna's love.

"Keshab enjoys the world and practises yoga as well.  Living in the world, he directs his mind to God."

A devotee described the Convocation of Calcutta University, saying that the meeting looked like a forest of human heads.

MASTER: "The feeling of the Divine is awakened in me when I see a great crowd of people.  Had I seen that meeting, I should have been overwhelmed with spiritual fervour."

Sunday, April 8, 1883

It was Sunday morning.  The Master, looking like a boy, was seated in his room, and near him was another boy, his beloved disciple Rākhāl .  M.entered and saluted the Master.  Ramlal also was in the room, and Kishori, Manilal Mallick, and several other devotees gathered by and by.

Manilal Mallick, a business man, had recently been to Benares, where he owned a bungalow.

Trailanga Swami and Bhāskarānanda

MASTER: "So you have been to Benares.  Did you see any holy men there?"

 

MANILAL: "Yes, sir.  I paid my respects to Trailanga Swami, Bhaskarananda, and others."

MASTER: "Tell us something about them."

MANILAL: "Trailanga Swami is living in the same temple where he lived before-on the  Manikarnika Ghat; near the Benimadhav Minaret.  People say he was formerly in a more exalted spiritual state.  He could perform many miracles.  Now he has lost much of that power."

MASTER: "That is the criticism of worldly people."

MANILAL: "Trailanga Swami keeps a strict vow of silence.  Unlike him, Bhaskarananda is friendly with all."

MASTER: "Did you have any conversation with Bhaskarananda?"

MANILAL: "Yes, sir.  We had a long talk.  Among other things we discussed the problem of good and evil.  He said to me: 'Don't follow the path of evil.  Give up sinful thoughts.  That is how God wants us to act.  Perform only those duties that are virtuous.' "

The seer of God transcends good and evil

MASTER: "Yes, that is also a path, meant for worldly-minded people.  But those whose spiritual consciousness has been awakened, who have realized that God alone is real and all else illusory, cherish a different ideal.  They are aware that God alone is the Doer and others are His instruments.

"Those whose spiritual consciousness has been awakened never make a false step.  They do not have to reason in order to shun evil.  They are so full of love of God that whatever action they undertake is a good action.  They are fully conscious that they are not the doers of their actions, but mere servants of God.  They always feel: 'I am the machine and He is the Operator.  I do as He does through me.  I speak as He speaks through me.  I move as He moves me.'

"Fully awakened souls are beyond virtue and vice.  They realize that it is God who does everything.

Seeing God in everything

"There was a monastery in a certain place.  The monks residing there went out daily to beg their food.  One day a monk, while out for his alms, saw a landlord beating a man mercilessly.  The compassionate monk stepped in and asked the landlord to stop.  But the landlord was filled with anger and turned his wrath against the innocent monk.  He beat the monk till he fell unconscious on the ground.  Someone reported the matter to the monastery.  The monks ran to the spot and found their brother lying there.  Four or five of them carried him back and laid him on a bed.  He was still unconscious.  The other monks sat around him sad at heart; some were fanning him.  Finally someone suggested that he should be given a little milk to drink.  When it was poured into his mouth he regained consciousness.  He opened his eyes and looked around.  One of the monks said, 'Let us see whether he is fully conscious and can recognize us.' Shouting into his ear, he said, 'Revered sir, who is giving you milk?' 'Brother,' replied the holy man in a low voice, 'He who beat me is now giving me milk.'

"But one does not attain such a state of mind without the realization of God."

MANILAL: "Sir, what you have just said applies to a man of a very lofty spiritual state.  I talked on such topics in a general way with Bhaskarananda."

MASTER: "Does he live in a house?"

MANILAL: "Yes, sir.  He lives with a devotee."

MASTER: "How old is he now?"

MANILAL: "About fifty-five."

MASTER: "Did you talk about anything else?"

MANILAL: "I asked him how to cultivate bhakti.  He said: 'Chant the name of God.  Repeat the name of Rāma.' "

MASTER: "That is very good."

The worship was over in the temples and the bells rang for the food offerings in the shrines.  As it was a summer noon the sun was very hot.  The flood-tide began in the Ganges and a breeze came up from the south.  Sri Ramakrishna was resting in his room after his meal.

The people of Basirhat, Rākhāl 's birth-place, had been suffering from a severe drought during the summer months.

MASTER (to Manilal): "Rākhāl  says that the people in his native village have been suffering seriously from a scarcity of water.  Why don't you build a reservoir there? That will do the people good.  (Smiling) You have so much money; what will you do with all your wealth? But they say that telis are very calculating." (All laugh.)

Manilal was truly a calculating man, though he suffered no lack of money.  In later years he set up an endowment of twenty-five thousand rupees for the maintenance of poor students.

Manilal made no answer to these words of the Master about his caste characteristics.  Later on, in the course of the conversation, he remarked casually: "Sir, you referred to a reservoir.  You might as well have confined yourself to that suggestion.  Why allude to the 'oil-man caste' and all that?"

Some of the devotees smiled to themselves.  The Master laughed.

Presently a few elderly members of the Brahmo Samaj arrived.  The room was full of devotees.  Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed, facing the north.  He kept smiling, and talked to the Brahmo devotees in a joyous mood.

Characteristics of divine love

MASTER: "You talk glibly about prema.  But is it such a commonplace thing? There are two characteristics of prema.  First, it makes one forget the world.  So intense is one's love of God that one becomes unconscious of outer things.  Chaitanya had this ecstatic love; he 'took a wood for the sacred grove of Vrindāvan and the ocean for the dark waters of the Jamuna'.  Second, one has no feeling of 'my-ness' toward the body, which is so dear to man.  One wholly gets rid of the feeling that the body is the soul.

 

Indications of God-realization

"There are certain signs of God-realization.  The man in whom longing for God manifests its glories is not far from attaining Him.  What are the glories of that longing? They are discrimination, dispassion, compassion for living beings, serving holy men, loving their company, chanting the name and glories of God, telling the truth, and the like.  When you see those signs of longing in an aspirant, you can rightly say that for him the vision of God is not far to seek.

"The state of a servant's house will tell you unmistakably whether his master has decided to visit it.  First, the rubbish and jungle around the house are cleared up.  Second, the soot and dirt are removed from the rooms.  Third, the courtyard, floors, and other places are swept clean.  Finally the master himself sends various things to the house such as a carpet, a hubble-bubble for smoking, and the like.  When you see these things arriving, you conclude that the master will very soon come"

A DEVOTEE: "Sir, should one first practise discrimination to attain self-control?"

MASTER: "That is also a path.  It is called the path of vichara, reasoning.  But the inner organs3 are brought under control naturally through the path of devotion as well.  It is rather easily accomplished that way.  Sense pleasures appear more and more tasteless as love for God grows.  Can carnal pleasure attract a grief-stricken man and woman the day their child has died?"

Efficacy of japa and prayer

DEVOTEE: "How can I develop love for God?"

 

MASTER: "Repeat His name, and sins will disappear.  Thus you will destroy lust, anger, the desire for creature comforts, and so on."

DEVOTEE: "How can I take delight in God's name?"

MASTER: "Pray to God with a yearning heart that you may take delight in His name.  He will certainly fulfil your heart's desire."

So saying, the Master sang a song in his sweet voice, pleading with the Divine Mother to show Her grace to suffering men:

 

O Mother, I have no one else to blame:
Alas! I sink in the well these very hands have dug.
With the six passions for my spade,
I dug a pit in the sacred land of earth;
And now the dark water of death gushes forth!
How can I save myself, O my Redeemer?

Surely I have been my own enemy;
How can I now ward off this dark water of death?
Behold, the waters rise to my chest!
How can I save myself? O Mother, save me!
Thou art my only Refuge; with Thy protecting glance
Take me across to the other shore of the world.

The Master sang again:

What a delirious fever is this that I suffer from!
O Mother, Thy grace is my only cure.
False pride is the fever that racks my wasted form;
"I" and "mine" are my cry.  Oh, what a wicked delusion!
My quenchless thirst for wealth and friends is never-ceasing;
How, then, shall I sustain my life?
Talk about things unreal, this is my wretched delirium,
And I indulge in it always, O Giver of all good fortune!

My eyes in seeming sleep are closed, my stomach is filled
With the vile worms of cruelty.
Alas! I wander about absorbed in unmeaning deeds;
Even for Thy holy name I have no taste, O Mother!
I doubt that I shall ever be cured of this malady.

Then the Master said: " 'Even for Thy holy name I have no taste.' A typhoid patient has very little chance of recovery if he loses all taste for food; but his life need not be despaired of if he enjoys food even a little.  That is why one should cultivate a taste for God's name.  Any name will do-Durga, Krishna, or Śiva.  Then if, through the chanting of the name, one's attachment to God grows day by day, and joy fills the soul, one has nothing to fear.  The delirium will certainly disappear; the grace of God will certainly descend.

Parable of the two friends

" 'As is a man's feeling of love, so is his gain.' Once two friends were going along the street, when they saw some people listening to a reading of the Bhagavata.  'Come, friend', said the one to the other.  'Let us hear the sacred book.' So saying he went in and sat down.  The second man peeped in and went away.  He entered a house of ill fame.  But very soon he felt disgusted with the place.  'Shame on me!' he said to himself.  'My friend has been listening to the sacred word of Hari; and see where I am!' But the friend who had been listening to the Bhagavata also became disgusted.  'What a fool I am!' he said.  'I have been listening to this fellow's blah-blah, and my friend is having a grand time.' In course of time they both died.  The messenger of Death came for the soul of the one who had listened to the Bhagavata and dragged it off to hell.  The messenger of God came for the soul of the one who had been to the house of prostitution and led it up to heaven.

"Verily, the Lord looks into a man's heart and does not judge him by what he does or where he lives.  'Krishna accepts a devotee's inner feeling of love.'

"In the Kartabhaja sect, the teacher, while giving initiation, says to the disciple, 'Now everything depends on your mind.' According to this sect, 'He who has the right mind find the right way and also achieves the right end.' It was through the power of his mind that Hanuman leapt over the sea.  'I am the servant of Rāma; I have repeated the holy name of Rāma.  Is there anything impossible for me?'-that was Hanuman's faith.

"Ignorance lasts as long as one has ego.  There can be no liberation so long as the ego remains.  'O God, Thou art the Doer and not I'-that is knowledge.

"By being lowly one can rise high.  The chatak bird makes its nest on low ground, but it soars very high in the sky.  Cultivation is not possible on high land; in low land water accumulates and makes cultivation possible.

"One must take the trouble to seek the company of holy persons.  In his own home a man hears only worldly talk; the disease of worldliness has become chronic with him.  The caged parrot sitting on its perch repeats, 'Rāma! Rāma!' But let it fly to the forest and it will squawk in its usual way.

"Mere possession of money doesn't make a nobleman.  One sign of the mansion of a nobleman is that all the rooms are lighted.  The poor cannot afford much oil, and consequently cannot have so many lights.  This shrine of the body should not be left dark; one should illumine it with the lamp of Wisdom.  Lighting the lamp of knowledge in the chamber of your heart, Behold the face of the Mother, Brahman's Embodiment.

"Everyone can attain Knowledge.  There are two entities: Jivatma, the individual soul, and Paramatma, the Supreme Soul.  Through prayer all individual souls can be united to the Supreme Soul.  Every house has a connection for gas, and gas can be obtained from the main storage-tank of the Gas Company.  Apply to the Company, and it will arrange for your supply of gas.  Then your house will be lighted.

"In some people spiritual consciousness has already been awakened; but they have special marks.  They do not enjoy hearing or talking about anything but God.  They are like the chatak, which prays for rain-water though the seven oceans, the Ganges, the Jamuna, and the rivers near it are all filled with water.  It won't drink anything but rain-water, even though its throat is burning with thirst."

The Master wanted to hear a few songs.  Ramlal and a brahmin official of the temple garden sang:

Dwell, O Lord, O Lover of bhakti,
In the Vrindāvan of my heart,
And my devotion unto Thee
Will be Thy Radha, dearly loved.  .  .  .

And again:

The dark cloud of the summer storm fades into nothingness,
When, flute in hand and a smile on His lips,
Lighting the world with His loveliness,
Krishna, the Dark One, appears.

His dazzling yellow robe outgleams even the lightning's glare;
A wreath of wild-flowers interwoven
Gently swings from His youthful breast
And softly kisses His feet.

See, there He stands, the Lord of life, the Moon of  Nanda's line,
Outshining all the moons in heaven
And with the splendour of His rays
Flooding the Jamuna's bank!

He stands there, stealing the maidens' hearts;
He lures them from hearth and home.
Krishna enters my own heart's shrine,
And with His flute-note steals away
My wisdom, life, and soul.
To whom shall Ganga Narayana pour out his tale of woe?
Ah, friend, you might have understood
Had you but gone to the Jamuna's bank
To fill your water-jar!

Again they sang:

High in the heaven of the Mother's feet, my mind was soaring like a kite,
When came a blast of sin's rough wind that drove it swiftly toward the earth.  .  .  .

 

Zeal for the Lord destroys sin

MASTER (to the devotees): "As the tiger devours other animals, so does the 'tiger of zeal for the Lord' eat up lust, anger, and the other passions.  Once this zeal grows in the heart, lust and the other passions disappear.  The gopis of Vrindāvan had that state of mind because of their zeal for Krishna.

"Again, this zeal for God is compared to collyrium.  Radha said to her friends, 'I see Krishna everywhere.' They replied, 'Friend, you have painted your eyes with the collyrium of love; that is why you see Krishna everywhere.'

"They say that when your eyes are painted with collyrium made from the ashes of a frog's head you see snakes everywhere.

Traits of bound souls

"They are indeed bound souls who constantly dwell with 'woman and gold' and do not think of God even for a moment.  How can you expect noble deeds of them? They are like mangoes pecked by a crow, which may not be offered to the Deity in the temple, and which even men hesitate to eat.

"Bound souls, worldly people, are like silk-worms.  The worms can cut through their cocoons if they want, but having woven the cocoons themselves, they are too much attached to them to leave them.  And so they die there.

"Free souls are not under the control of 'woman and gold'.  There are some silk-worms that cut through the cocoon they have made with such great care.  But they are few and far between.

"It is maya that deludes.  Only a few become spiritually awakened and are not deluded by the spell of maya.  They do not come under the control of 'woman and gold'.

Two classes of perfect souls

"There are two classes of perfect souls: those who attain perfection through spiritual practice, and those who attain it through the grace of God.  Some farmers irrigate their fields with great labour.  Only then can they grow crops.  But there are some who do not have to irrigate at all; their fields are flooded by rain.  They don't have to go to the trouble of drawing water.  One must practise spiritual discipline laboriously, in order to avoid the clutches of maya.  Those who attain liberation through the grace of God do not have to labour.  But they are few indeed.

 

The ever-perfect

"Then there is the class of the ever-perfect.  They are born in each life with their spiritual consciousness already awakened.  Think of a spring whose outlet is obstructed.  While looking after various things in the garden, the plumber accidentally clears it and the water gushes out.  Yet people are amazed to see the first manifestations of an ever-perfect soul's zeal for God.  They say, 'Where was all this devotion and renunciation and love?'" 

The conversation turned to the spiritual zeal of devotees, as illustrated in the earnestness of the gopis of Vrindāvan.  Ramlal sang:

 

Thou art my All in All, O Lord!-the Life of my life, the Essence of essence;
In the three worlds I have none else but Thee to call my own.
Thou art my peace, my joy, my hope; Thou my support, my wealth, my glory;
Thou my wisdom and my strength.
Thou art my home, my place of rest; my dearest friend, my next of kin; My present and my future, Thou; my heaven and my salvation. 
Thou art my scriptures, my commandments; Thou art my ever gracious Guru;
Thou the Spring of my boundless bliss.
Thou art the Way, and Thou the Goal; Thou the Adorable One, O Lord!
Thou art the Mother tender-hearted; Thou the chastising Father;
Thou the Creator and Protector; Thou the Helmsman who dost steer
My craft across the sea of life.

MASTER (to the devotees): "Ah! What a beautiful song!-'Thou art my All in All.' "

Ramlal sang again, this time describing the pangs of the gopis on being separated from their beloved Krishna:

Hold not, hold not the chariot's wheels!
Is it the wheels that make it move?
The Mover of its wheels is Krishna,
By whose will the worlds are moved.  .  .  .

The Master went into deep samādhi.  His body was motionless; he sat with folded hands as in his photograph.  Tears of joy flowed from the corners of his eyes.  After a long time his mind came down to the ordinary plane of consciousness.  He mumbled something, of which only a word now and then could be heard by the devotees in the room.  He was saying: "Thou art I, and I am Thou-Thou eatest-Thou-I eat! . . .    What is this confusion Thou hast created?"

Continuing, the Master said: "I see everything like a man with jaundiced eyes! I see Thee alone everywhere.  O Krishna, Friend of the lowly! O Eternal Consort of my soul! O Govinda!"

As he uttered the words "Eternal Consort of my soul" and "Govinda", the Master again went into samādhi.  There was complete silence in the room.  The eager and unsatiated eyes of the devotees were fixed on the Master, a God-man of infinite moods.

Adhar Sen arrived with several of his friends.  He was a deputy magistrate, about thirty years old.  This was his second visit to the Master.  He was accompanied by his friend Saradacharan, who was extremely unhappy because of the death of his eldest son.  A retired deputy inspector of schools, Saradacharan devoted himself to meditation and prayer.  Adhar had brought his friend to the Master for consolation in his afflicted state of mind.

Coming down from samādhi, the Master found the eyes of the devotees fixed on him.  He muttered to himself, still in an abstracted mood.

Worldly people’s lack perseverance

Then, addressing the devotees, Sri Ramakrishna said: "The spiritual wisdom of worldly people is seen only on rare occasions.  It is like the flame of a candle.  No, it is rather like a single ray of the sun passing through a chink in a wall.  Worldly people chant the name of God, but there is no zeal behind it.  It is like children's swearing by God, having learnt the word from the quarrels of  their aunts.

"Worldly people have no grit.  If they succeed in an undertaking, it is all right, but if they don't succeed, it scarcely bothers them at all.  When they need water, they begin to dig a well.  But as soon as they strike a stone, they give up digging there and begin at another place.  Perhaps they come to a bed of sand.  Finding nothing but sand, they give that place up too.  How can they succeed in getting water unless they continue to dig persistently where they started?

"Man reaps the harvest of his own past actions.  Hence you read in the song:

O Mother, I have no one else to blame:

Alas! I sink in the well these very hands have dug.

" 'I' and 'mine'-that is ignorance.  By discriminating you will realize that what you call 'I' is really nothing but Ātman.  Reason it out.  Are you the body or the flesh or something else? At the end you will know that you are none of these.  You are free from attributes.  Then you will realize that you have never been the doer of any action, that you have been free from virtue and faults alike, that you are beyond righteousness and unrighteousness.

"From ignorance a man says, 'This is gold and this is brass.' But a man of Knowledge says, 'It is all gold.'

"Reasoning stops when one sees God.  But there are instances of people who have realized God and who still continue to reason.  Again, there are people who, even after having seen God, chant His name with devotion and sing His glories.

"How long does a child cry? So long as it is not sucking at its mother's breast.  As soon as it is nursed it stops crying.  Then the child feels only joy.  Joyously it drinks the milk from its mother's breast.  But it is also true that, while drinking, the child sometimes plays and laughs.

"It is God alone who has become everything.  But in man He manifests Himself the most.  God is directly present in the man who has the pure heart of a child and who laughs and cries and dances and sings in divine ecstasy."

By this time Sri Ramakrishna had become better acquainted with Adhar, who related the cause of his friend's grief.  The Master sang, as if to himself:

To arms! To arms, O man! Death storms your house in battle array!
Bearing the quiver of knowledge, mount the chariot of devotion;
Bend the bow of your tongue with the bow-string of love,
And aim at him the shaft of Mother Kāli's holy name.
Here is a ruse for the fray: You need no chariot or charioteer;
Fight your foe from the Ganges' bank, and he is easily slain.

 

Master consoles a bereaved father

Then he said: "What can you do? Be ready for Death.  Death has entered the house.  You must fight him with the weapon of God's holy name.  God alone is the Doer.  I say: 'O Lord, I do as Thou doest through me.  I speak as Thou speakest through me.  I am the machine and Thou art the Operator.  I am the house and Thou art the Indweller.  I am the engine and Thou art the Engineer.' Give your power of attorney to God.  One doesn't come to grief through letting a good man assume one's responsibilities.  Let His will be done.

"But isn't your grief for your son only natural? The son is one's own self reborn.  Lakshmana ran to Ravana when the latter fell dead on the battlefield.  Looking at Ravana's body, he found that everyone of his bones was full of holes.  Thereupon he said to Rāma: 'O Rāma, glory be to Your arrows! There is no spot in Ravana's body that they have not pierced.' 'Brother,' replied Rāma, 'the holes you see in his bones are not from My arrows.  Grief for his sons has pierced them through and through.  These holes are the marks of his grief.  It has penetrated his very bones.'

"But house, wife, and children are all transitory; they have only a momentary existence.  The palm-tree alone is real.  One or two fruits have dropped off.  Why lament?

"God is engaged in three kinds of activity: creation, preservation, and destruction.  Death is inevitable.  All will be destroyed at the time of dissolution.  Nothing will remain.  At that time the Divine Mother will gather up the seeds for the future creation, even as the elderly mistress of the house keeps in her hotchpotch-pot little bags of cucumber seeds, 'sea-foam', blue pills, and other miscellaneous things.  The Divine Mother will take Her seeds out again at the time of the new creation."

Sri Ramakrishna began to talk with Adhar on the verandah north of his room.

MASTER (to Adhar): "You are a deputy magistrate.  Remember that you have obtained your position through the grace of God.  Do not forget Him, but remember that all men must one day walk down the same path.  We stay in the world only a couple of days.

"This world is our field of activity.  We are born here to perform certain duties.  People have their homes in the country but come to Calcutta to work.

"It is necessary to do a certain amount of work.  This is a kind of discipline.  But one must finish it speedily.  While melting gold, the goldsmith uses everything-the bellows, the fan, and the pipe-so that he may have the hot fire he needs to melt the metal.  After the melting is over, he relaxes and asks his attendant to prepare a smoke for him.  All this time his face has been hot and perspiring; but now he can smoke.

"One must have stern determination; then alone is spiritual practice possible.  One must make a firm resolve.

"There is great power in the seed of God's name.  It destroys ignorance.  A seed is tender, and the sprout soft; still it pierces the hard ground.  The ground breaks and makes way for the sprout.

"The mind becomes very much distracted if one lives long in the midst of 'woman and gold'.  Therefore one must be very careful.  But monks do not have much to fear.  The real sannyasi lives away from 'woman and gold'.  Therefore through the practice of spiritual discipline he can always fix his mind on God.

"True sannyasis, those who are able to devote their minds constantly to God, are like bees, which light only on flowers and sip their honey.  Those who live in the world, in the midst of 'woman and gold', may direct their attention to God; but sometimes their minds dwell also on 'woman and gold'.  They are like common flies, which light on a piece of candy, then on a sore or filth.

"Always keep your mind fixed on God.  In the beginning you must struggle a little; later on you will enjoy your pension."

Sunday, April 15, 1883

Surendra, a beloved lay disciple of the Master, had invited him to his house on the auspicious occasion of the Annapurna Puja.  It was about six o'clock when Sri Ramakrishna arrived there with some of his devotees.  The image of the Divine Mother had been installed in the worship hall.  At Her feet lay Hibiscus flowers and vilwa-leaves; from Her neck hung a garland of flowers.  Sri Ramakrishna entered the hall and bowed down before the image.  Then he went to the open courtyard, where he sat on a carpet, surrounded by his devotees and disciples.  A few bolsters lay on the carpet, which was covered with a white linen sheet.  He was asked to lean against one of these, but he pushed it aside.

 

Difficulty of overcoming vanity

MASTER (to the devotees): "To lean against a bolster! You see, it is very difficult to give up vanity.  You may discriminate, saying that the ego is nothing at all; but still it comes, nobody knows from where.  A goat's legs jerk for a few moments even after its head has been cut off.  Or perhaps you are frightened in a dream; you shake off sleep and are wide awake, but still you feel your heart palpitating.  Egotism is exactly like that.  You may drive it away, but still it appears from somewhere.  Then you look sullen and say: 'What! I have not been shown proper respect!'"

KEDĀR: "One should be lowlier than a straw and patient as a tree."

MASTER: "As for me, I consider myself as a speck of the dust of the devotee's feet."

Vaidyanath arrived.  He was a well-educated man, a lawyer of the High Court of Calcutta.  With folded hands he saluted the Master and took his seat at one side.

SURENDRA (to the Master): "He is one of my relatives."

MASTER: "Yes, I see he has a nice nature."

SURENDRA: "He has come here because he wants to ask you a question or two."

Different manifestations of divine power

MASTER (to Vaidyanath): "All that you see is the manifestation of God's Power.  No one can do anything without this Power.  But you must remember that there is not an equal manifestation of God's Power in all things.  Vidyasagar once asked me whether God endowed some with greater power than others.  I said to him: 'If there are no greater and lesser manifestations of His Power, then why have we taken the trouble to visit you? Have you grown two horns?' So it stands to reason that God exists in all beings as the All-pervasive Power; but the manifestations of His Power are different in different beings."

 

Free will and God's will

VAIDYANATH: "Sir, I have a doubt.  People speak of free will.  They say that a man can do either good or evil according to his will.  Is it true? Are we really free to do whatever we like?"

MASTER: "Everything depends on the will of God.  The world is His play.  He has created all these different things-great and small, strong and weak, good and bad, virtuous and vicious.  This is all His maya, His sport.  You must have observed that all the trees in a garden are not of the same kind.

"As long as a man has not realized God, he thinks he is free.  It is God Himself who keeps this error in man.  Otherwise sin would have multiplied.  Man would not have been afraid of sin, and there would have been no punishment for it.

"But do you know the attitude of one who has realized God? He feels: 'I am the machine, and Thou, O Lord, art the Operator.  I am the house and Thou art the Indweller.  I am the chariot and Thou art the Driver.  I move as Thou movest me; I speak as Thou makest me speak.'

(To Vaidyanath): "It is not good to argue.  Isn't that so?"

VAIDYANATH: "Yes, sir.  The desire to argue disappears when a man attains wisdom."

The Master, out of his stock of a dozen English words, said, "Thank you!" in the most charming way, and all laughed.

MASTER (to Vaidyanath): "You will make spiritual progress.  People don't trust a man when he speaks about God.  Even if a great soul affirms that he has seen God, still the average person will not accept his words.  He says to himself, 'If this man has really seen God, then let him show Him to me.' But can a man learn to feel a person's pulse in one day? He must go about with a physician for many days; only then can he distinguish the different pulses.  He must be in the company of those with whom the examination of the pulse has become a regular profession.

"Can anyone and everyone pick out a yarn of a particular count? If you are in that trade, you can distinguish in a moment a forty-count thread from a forty-one."

The kirtan was about to begin.  Some Vaishnavas were seated on one side with their mridangas and cymbals.  A drummer began to play on his instrument preparatory to the singing.  The sweet and melodious sound of the mridanga filled the courtyard, calling to mind the ecstatic kirtan of Sri Gaurānga.  The Master passed into a deep spiritual state.  Now and then he looked at the drummer and said, "Ah! Ah! My hair is all standing on end."

The singers asked what kind of song they should sing.  The Master said humbly, "Something about Gaurānga, if you please."

The kirtan began.  They sang about the celestial beauty of Sri Gaurānga:

The beauty of Gaurānga's face
Glows brighter than the brightest gold;
His smile illumines all the world.
Who cares for even a million moons
Shining in the blue autumn sky?

The chief musician added improvised lines as they sang: "O friend, his face shines like the full moon!" "But it does not wane nor has it any stain." "It illumines the devotee's heart." Again he improvised: "His face is bathed with the essence of a million moons."

At these words the Master went into deep samādhi.  After a short while he regained consciousness of the sense world.  Then he suddenly stood up, overpowered by his spiritual mood, and sang improvised lines with the professionals, thinking himself to be a milkmaid of Vrindāvan gone mad with the beauty of Sri Krishna's form: "Whose fault is it-my mind's or His beauty's?" "In the three worlds I see nothing but my beloved Krishna."

The Master danced and sang.  All remained spellbound as they watched.  The chief musician sang the words of a gopi: "O flute, pray stop.  Can you not go to sleep?" One of the musicians added a new line: "How can it sleep? It rests on Krishna's lips."

The Master sat down.  The music went on.  They sang, assuming the mood of Radha: "My eyes are blinded.  My ears are deaf.  I have lost the power of smell.  All my senses are paralysed.  But, alas, why am I left alone?"

Finally the musicians sang of the union of Radha and Krishna:

Radha and Krishna are joined at last in the Nidhu Grove of Vrindāvan;
Incomparable their beauty, and limitless their love!
The one half shines like yellow gold, the other like bluest sapphire;
Round the neck, on one side, a wild-flower garland hangs,
And, on the other, there swings a necklace of precious gems.
A ring of gold adorns one ear, a ring of shell the other;
Half of the brow is bright as the blazing midday sun,
The other softly gleams with the glow of the rising moon.
Upon one half of the head a graceful peacock feather stands,
And, from the other half, there hangs a braid of hair.

As the music came to a close the Master said, "Bhagavata-Bhakta-Bhagavan", and bowed low to the devotees seated on all sides.  He touched with his forehead the ground made holy by the singing of the sacred music. 

It was now about half past nine in the evening.  Surendra entertained the Master and the devotees with a sumptuous feast.  When it was time to take leave of their host, the Master, the devotees, and Surendra entered the worship hall and stood before the image.

SURENDRA (to the Master): "No one has sung anything about the Divine Mother today."

MASTER (pointing to the image): "Ah! Look at the beauty of the hall.  The light of the Divine Mother seems to have lighted the whole place.  Such a sight fills the heart with joy.  Grief and desire for pleasure disappear.

"But can one not see God as formless Reality? Of course one can But not if one has the slightest trace of worldliness.  The.  rishis of olden times renounced everything and then contemplated Satchidananda, the Indivisible Brahman.

"The Brahmajnanis of modern times sing of God as 'immutable, homogeneous'.  It sounds very dry to me.  It seems as if the singers themselves don't enjoy the sweetness of God's Bliss.  One doesn't want a refreshing drink made with sugar candy if one is satisfied with mere coarse treacle.

"Just see how happy you are, looking at this image of the Deity.  But those who always cry after the formless Reality do not get anything.  They realize nothing either inside or outside."

The Master sang a song to the Divine Mother:

O Mother, ever blissful as Thou art,
Do not deprive Thy worthless child of bliss!
My mind knows nothing but Thy Lotus Feet. 
The King of Death scowls at me terribly;
Tell me, Mother, what shall I say to him?

It was my heart's desire to sail my boat
Across the ocean of this mortal life,
O Durga, with Thy name upon my lips.
I never dreamt that Thou wouldst drown me here
In the dark waters of this shoreless sea.

Both day and night I swim among its waves,
Chanting Thy saving name; yet even so
There is no end, O Mother, to my grief.
If I am drowned this time, in such a plight,
No one will ever chant Thy name again.

Again he sang:

Repeat, O mind, my Mother Durga's hallowed name!
Whoever treads the path, repeating "Durga! Durga!",
Śiva Himself protects with His almighty trident.
Thou art the day, O Mother! Thou art the dusk and the night. 
Sometimes Thou art man, and sometimes woman art Thou. 
Thou mayest even say to me: "Step aside! Go away!"
Yet I shall cling to Thee, O Durga! Unto Thy feet
As Thine anklets I shall cling, making their tinkling sound.
Mother, when as the Kite Thou soarest in the sky,
There, in the water beneath, as a minnow I shall be swimming;
Upon me Thou wilt pounce, and pierce me through with Thy claws.
Thus, when the breath of life forsakes me in Thy grip,
Do not deny me the shelter of Thy Lotus Feet!

The Master saluted the divine image.  As he came down the steps, he called softly to Rākhāl : "Where are my shoes? Are they missing?"

As the Master got into the carriage, Surendra and the other devotees bowed down before him.  Then the carriage started for Dakshineswar.  The moon still lighted the streets.

  

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