Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Sanjay Bose

THE MASTER WAS CONVERSING with Kedar and some other devotees in his room in the temple garden. Kedar was a government official and had spent several years at Dacca, 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. Kedar 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. Kedar 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.

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

MASTER: “With the realization of Satchidananda one goes into samadhi. 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.

(To Kedar 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.

“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.

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’.

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 Kali. The light of the moon flooded all the quarters. The Master again spoke to M.

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.”

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.”

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.

“But in order to realize God, one must assume one of these attitudes: santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, or madhur.

“Santa, 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.

“Dasya, 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 Yasoda had toward Krishna.

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

“Vatsalya, the attitude of a mother toward her child. This was Yasoda’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. Yasoda 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 eves. In the course of spiritual discipline one gets a ‘love body’, endowed with ‘love eves’, ‘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.

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 Kali!’ 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.”

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 Purana that deities like Brahma praised Mahamaya for the destruction of the demons Madhu and Kaitabha.

“Sakti alone is the root of the universe. That Primal Energy has two aspects: vidya and avidya. Avidya deludes. Avidya conjures up ‘woman and gold’, which casts the spell. Vidya begets devotion, kindness, wisdom, and love, which lead one to God. This avidya must be propitiated, and that is the purpose of the rites of Sakti worship. ( In this worship a woman is regarded as the representation of the Divine Mother.)

“The devotee assumes various attitudes toward Sakti 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 Sakti 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.

“Women are, all of them, the veritable images of Sakti. 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 Sakti. Haven’t you noticed, at the marriage ceremony, how the groom sits behind like an idiot? But the bride — she is so bold

“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 samadhi, 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 Adhyatma Ramayana. I used to go to Krishnakishore to hear him read the Adhyatma Ramayana.

“What tremendous faith Krishnakishore had! Once, while at Vrindavan, 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 Siva. 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 Haladhari; ‘Krishnakishore and I are going to see a holy man. Will you come with us?’ Haladhari replied, ‘What is the use of seeing a mere human body, which is no better than a cage of clay?’ Haladhari 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 Haladhari 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 Haladhari’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 Aswin, (The Master referred to the great cyclone of 1864.) 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 Adhyatma Ramayana. 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!’

“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 (A titled aristocrat of Calcutta.) 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 Raja (A title conferred on Sourindra by the Government of India. The word “raja” really means “ruler of a kingdom”.) Sourindra Tagore. As soon as I met him, I said, ‘I can’t address you as “Raja”, 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 Kali, 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 Haladhari: ‘Just see my nature! How can I get rid of it?’ After praying to the Divine Mother tor some time with great yearning, I was able to shake off this habit.

“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 hear 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.

Late in the afternoon Narendra sang. Rakhal, Latu, (A young disciple of the Master, who later became a monk under the name of Swami Adbhutananda.) 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;
I 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 light, 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?

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ADVICE TO HOUSEHOLDERS
Secret of divine communion — Master’s respect for other faiths — Many names of one God — Spiritual disciplines necessary at the beginning — “Woman and gold” is the obstruction to yoga — God and worldly duties — Duty toward family — Different groups of devotees — Different moods of aspirants — Seeing God everywhere — Worship of the Divine Mother — Master’s attitude toward women — His love for Narendra — Krishnakishore’s faith — Master’s outspokenness — His anguish at worldly talk — His ecstasy in kirtan — A devotee’s dream — Disciplines of Tantra — All is possible with God — Discrimination and dispassion — Futility of mere lecturing — Purification of mind — Narendra’s many virtues — Meditation on God with form — Brahman and Divine Incarnations — Master’s ecstasy at Vrindavan.

August 13, 1882

It was five o’clock in the afternoon. Kedar 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.

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

“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.”

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

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.

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?”

“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.”

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

M: “I shall try to get one.”

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: “Sir, may I make an effort to earn more money?”

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

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.

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

“But in order to realize God, one must assume one of these attitudes: santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, or madhur.

“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?”

At these words M. burst out laughing. The Master continued, unannoyed, “With this ‘love body’ the soul communes with God.”

M. again became serious.

“A drunkard, deeply intoxicated, says, ‘Verily I am Kali!’ 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.

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 why should God make us run about?” thought M.

“The bride is the very embodiment of Sakti. Haven’t you noticed, at the marriage ceremony, how the groom sits behind like an idiot? But the bride — she is so bold!

October 16, 1882

“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 Adhyatma Ramayana. 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!’

“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 (A titled aristocrat of Calcutta.) 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.

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

After this song Narendra sang:

Narendra sang again:

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 . . .

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, (By this name Sri Ramakrishna’s wife was known among his devotees.) who was living in the nahabat, had prepared the supper. Surendra (The name by which Sri Ramakrishna addressed Suresh Mitra, a beloved householder disciple.) 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 Master’s 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 instruction.”

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.

Reference -https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/gospel/volume_1/04_advice_to_householders.htm