MASTER: "If you want to realize God, then you must cultivate intense dispassion. You must renounce immediately what you feel to be standing in your way. You should not put it off till the future. 'Woman and gold' is the obstruction. The mind must be withdrawn from it.
The Master continued: "That is called intense renunciation. No sooner did the man discriminate than he renounced. He went away with the towel on his shoulder. He didn't turn back to settle his worldly affairs. He didn't even look back at his home.
MASTER: "Some people indulge in philosophical speculation and think much of themselves. Perhaps they have studied a little Vedānta. But a man cannot be egotistic if he has true knowledge. In other words, in samādhi man becomes one with God and gets rid of his egotism. True knowledge is impossible without samādhi. In samādhi man becomes one with God. Then he can have no egotism.
"Do you know what it is like? Just at noon the sun is directly overhead. If you look around, then, you do not see your shadow. Likewise, you will not find the 'shadow' of ego after attaining Knowledge, samādhi.
"One cannot realize God without renunciation. Who will accept my words? I have been seeking a companion, a sympathetic soul who will under-stand my feelings. When I see a great devotee, I say to myself, 'Perhaps he will accept my ideal.' But later on I find that he behaves in a different way.
MASTER: "A man attains Brahmajnana as soon as his mind is annihilated. With the annihilation of the mind dies the ego, which says 'I', 'I'. One also attains the knowledge of Brahman by following the path of devotion. One also attains it by following the path of knowledge, that is to say, discrimination. The jnanis discriminate, saying, 'Neti, neti', that is, 'All this is illusory, like a dream.' They analyse the world through the process of 'Not this, not this'; it is māyā. When the world vanishes, only the jivas, that is to say, so many egos, remain.
MASTER: "No. What remains cannot be described. What is remains. How will you know there is a real sun unless there is a reflected sun? 'I-consciousness' is destroyed in samādhi. A man climbing down from samādhi to the lower plane cannot describe what he has seen there." It was late in the evening. Lamps were burning in the drawing-room. Sri Ramakrishna was in a spiritual mood. The devotees sat around him.
MASTER (in the ecstatic mood): "There is no one else here; so I am telling you this. He who from the depth of his soul seeks to know God will certainly realize Him. He must. He alone who is restless for God and seeks nothing but Him will certainly realize Him.
MASTER: "There is such a thing as inborn tendencies. When a man has performed many good actions in his previous births, in the final birth he becomes guileless. In the final birth he acts somewhat like a madcap.
"The youngsters do not enjoy worldly people's company. Rākhāl used to say, 'I feel nervous at the sight of the worldly-minded.' When I was first beginning to have spiritual experiences, I used to shut the doors of my room when I saw worldly people coming.
"Wicked ego" must be killed
MASTER: "It is on account of the ego that one is not able to see God. In front of the door of God's mansion lies the stump of ego. One cannot enter the mansion without jumping over the stump.
"It is not possible to rid oneself of 'I-consciousness'. and as long as one is aware of this 'I-consciousness', one cannot speak of the universe and its living beings as unreal. You cannot get the correct weight of the bel-fruit if you leave out its shell and pits.
"The brick, lime, and brick-dust of which the stairs are made are the same brick, lime, and brick-dust of which the roof is made. The universe and its living beings exist on account of the Reality of Him who is known as Brahman.
Synthesis of the formless Reality and God with form
"The devotees-I mean the vijnanis-accept both God with form and the Formless, both the Personal God and the Impersonal. In a shoreless ocean-an infinite expanse of water-visible blocks of ice are formed here and there by intense cold. Similarly, under the cooling influence, so to say, of the deep love of Its worshipper, the Infinite reduces Itself to the finite and appears before the worshipper as God with form. Again, as, on the rising of the sun, the ice melts away, so, on the awakening of Knowledge, God with form melts away into the same Infinite and Formless.
"As long as a man analyses with the mind, he cannot reach the Absolute. As long as you reason with your mind, you have no way of getting rid of the universe and the objects of the senses-form, taste, smell, touch, and sound.
When reasoning stops, you attain the Knowledge of Brahman. Ātman cannot be realized through this mind; Ātman is realized through Ātman alone. Pure Mind, Pure Buddhi, Pure Ātman-all these are one and the same.
"Just think how many things you need to perceive an object. You need eyes; you need light; you need mind. You cannot perceive the object if you leave out anyone of these three. As long as the mind functions how can you say that the universe and the 'I' do not exist?
"When the mind is annihilated, when it stops deliberating pro and con, then one goes into samādhi, one attains the Knowledge of Brahman.
You know the seven notes of the scale: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni. One cannot keep one's voice on 'ni' very long."
Intimate Knowledge of God
Looking at the younger Naren, Sri Ramakrishna said:
"What will you gain by merely being intuitively aware of God's existence? A mere vision of God is by no means everything.
You have to bring Him into your room. You have to talk to Him.
"Some have heard of milk, some have seen milk, and some have drunk milk. Some have seen the king, but only one or two can bring the King home and entertain him."
"I said to Kedār, 'You will never succeed if your mind dwells on "woman and gold".' I wanted to pass my hand over his chest, but I could not.
He has knots and twists inside.
It was like a room smelling of filth, which I could not enter.
His attachment to the world is very deep; it is like a natural emblem of Śiva, whose root spreads as far as Benares. One will never succeed if one is attached to the world-to 'woman and gold'.
Once a man's inner spirit is awakened, once he succeeds in knowing God, he doesn't feel the desire even to know about all this rubbish.
How incoherently a delirious patient talks: 'I shall eat five seers of rice! I shall drink a whole tank of water!' 'Will you?' says the physician. 'All right! You will have them.' Saying this, the physician goes on with his smoke. But he pays attention to what the patient says when the patient is no longer delirious."
MASTER: "Why should you think so? Fix your mind on God, and spiritual consciousness will be awakened in you."
PASUPATI (smiling): "Our union with God is only momentary. It doesn't last any longer than a pipeful of tobacco." (All Laugh.)
MASTER: "What if that is so? Union with God even for one moment surely gives a man liberation.
"Ahalyā said to Rāma, 'O Rāma, it doesn't matter if I am born as a pig or any other being; only bless me that my mind may dwell on Thy Lotus Feet and be filled with real devotion to Thee.'
"Nārada said to Rāma: 'O Rāma, I want from Thee no other favour. Please give me real love for Thee; and please bless me, that I may not come under the spell of Thy world-bewitching māyā.'
"When a man sincerely prays to God, he is able to fix his mind on God and develop real love for His Lotus Feet.
"A man's spiritual consciousness is not awakened unless his kundalini is aroused."
"One's spiritual consciousness is not awakened by the mere reading of books. One should also pray to God. The kundalini is aroused if the aspirant feels restless for God. To talk of knowledge from mere study and heresay! What will that accomplish?
MASTER (to the Vaishnava): "Stop that sizzling noise! When butter containing water is heated over a fire, it makes that sound.
"If a man but once tastes the joy of God, his desire to argue takes wing. The bee, realizing the joy of sipping honey, doesn't buzz about any more. What will you achieve by quoting from books? The pundits recite verses and do nothing else.
MASTER: "Man should possess dignity and alertness. Only he whose spiritual consciousness is awakened possesses this dignity and alertness and can be called a man.
Futile is the human birth without the awakening of spiritual consciousness.
"Lakshmana said, 'O Rāma, even a sage like Vasishthadeva was overcome with grief on account of the death of his sons!' 'Brother,' replied Rāma, 'whoever has knowledge has ignorance also. Whoever is conscious of light is also conscious of darkness. Therefore go beyond knowledge and ignorance.' One attains that state through an intimate knowledge of God. This knowledge is called vijnāna .
"When a thorn enters the sole of your foot you have to get another thorn. You then remove the first thorn with the help of the second Afterwards you throwaway both. Likewise, after removing the thorn of ignorance with the help of the thorn of knowledge, you should throwaway the thorns of both knowledge and ignorance.
"There are signs of Perfect Knowledge. One is that reasoning comes to an end. As I have just said, the butter sizzles and crackles as long as it is not thoroughly boiled."
"A characteristic of tamas is pride. Pride and delusion come from tamas.
Another characteristic of tamas is anger. Through anger one loses one's wits and cannot distinguish between right and wrong.
"Still another feature of tamas is lust.
Difficulty of path of knowledge
"One realizes God by following the path of discrimination and knowledge. But this is an extremely difficult path. It is easy enough to say such things as, 'I am not the body, mind, or intellect; I am beyond grief, disease, and sorrow; I am the embodiment of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute; I am beyond pain and pleasure; I am not under the control of the sense-organs', but it is very hard to assimilate these ideas and practise them. Suppose I see, my hand cut by a thorn and blood gushing out; then it is not right for me to say: 'Why, my hand is not cut by the thorn! I am all right.' In order to be able to say that, I must first of all burn the thorn itself in the fire of Knowledge.
"Many people think they cannot have knowledge or understanding of God without reading books. But hearing is better than reading, and seeing is better than hearing. Hearing about Benares is different from reading about it; but seeing Benares is different from either hearing or reading.
"When a man develops pure sattva, he thinks only of God.
He does not enjoy anything else.
Some are born with pure sattva as a result of their Prārabdha karma.
Through unselfish action one finally acquires pure sattva.
Sattva mixed with rajas diverts the mind to various objects. From it springs the conceit of doing good to the world. To do good to the world is extremely difficult for such an insignificant creature as man. But there is no harm in doing good to others in an unselfish spirit. This is called unselfish action. It is highly beneficial for a person to try to perform such action. But by no means all succeed, for it is very difficult. Everyone must work. Only one or two can renounce action. Rarely do you find a man who has developed pure sattva. Through disinterested action sattva mixed with rajas gradually turns into pure sattva.
"No sooner does a man develop pure sattva than he realizes God, through His grace.
"Ordinary people cannot understand pure sattva.
Hem once said to me: 'Well, priest! The goal of a man's life is to acquire name and fame in the world. Isn't that true?' "
MASTER: "But a man who feels intense renunciation within doesn't calculate that way. He doesn't say to himself, 'I shall first make an arrangement for the family and then practise sādhanā.'
No, he doesn't feel that way if he has developed intense dispassion.
A goswami said in the course of his preaching, 'If a man has ten thousand rupees he can maintain himself on the income; then, free from worries, he Can pray to God.'
"Keshab Sen also said something like that.
He said to me:
'Sir, suppose a man wants, first of all, to make a suitable arrangement of his property and estate and then think of God; will It be all right for him to do so? Is there anything wrong about it?'
I said to him:
'When a man feels utter dispassion, he looks on the world as a deep well and his relatives as venomous cobras. Then he cannot think of saving money or making arrangements about his property.' God alone is real and all else illusory. To think of the world instead of God!
On knowledge and ignorance
"Go beyond knowledge and ignorance; only then can you realize God.
To know many things is ignorance.
Pride of scholarship is also ignorance.
The unwavering conviction that God alone dwells in all beings is Jnāna, knowledge.
To know Him intimately is vijnāna, a richer Knowledge
if a thorn gets into your foot, a second thorn is needed to take it out. When it is out both thorns are thrown away. You have to procure the thorn of knowledge to remove the thorn of ignorance; then you must set aside both knowledge and ignorance. God is beyond both knowledge and ignorance. Once Lakshmana said to Rāma, 'Brother, how amazing it is that such a wise man as Vasishtha wept bitterly at the death of his sons!' Rāma said: 'Brother, he who has knowledge must also have ignorance. He who has knowledge of one thing must also have knowledge of many things. He who is aware of light is also aware of darkness.' Brahman is beyond knowledge and ignorance, virtue and vice, merit and demerit, cleanliness and uncleanliness."
SHYAM: "What is the distinction between the gross body and the subtle body?"
MASTER: "The body consisting of the five gross elements is called the gross body. The subtle body is made up of the mind, the ego, the discriminating faculty, and the mind-stuff. There is also a causal body, by means of which one enjoys the Bliss of God and holds communion with Him. The Tantra calls it the Bhagavati Tanu, the Divine Body. Beyond all these is the Maha-karana, the Great Cause. That cannot be expressed by words.
Master's advice to Shyam Basu
MASTER (to Shyam Basu):
"Give up worldly talk altogether.
Don't talk about anything whatever but God.
If you see a worldly person coming near you, leave the place before he arrives.
You have spent your whole life in the world. You have seen that it is all hollow. Isn't that so?
God alone is Substance, and all else is illusory.
God alone is real, and all else has only a two days existence.
What is there in the world? The world is like a pickled hog plum: one craves for it. But what is there in a hog plum? Only skin and pit. And if you eat it you will have colic."
When the mind is united with God, one sees Him very near, in one's own heart. But you must remember one thing. The more you realize this unity, the farther your mind is withdrawn from worldly things
His intense dispassion
NARENDRA: "I have no more taste for the world. I do not relish the company of those who live in the world-of course, with the exception of one or two devotees."
Narendra became silent again. A fire of intense renunciation was burning within him. His soul was restless for the vision of God. He resumed the conversation.
"Sri Ramakrishna said that one must pant and pine for God; only then may one have the vision of Him."
"When the soul longs and yearns for God like that, then you will know that you do not have long to wait for His vision. The rosy colour on the eastern horizon shows that the sun will soon rise."
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