Gospel Of Sri Ramakrishna

SRI RAMAKRISHNA was seated in his room with his devotees. He spoke highly of Devendranath Tagore’s love of God and renunciation, and then said, pointing to Rakhal and the other young devotees, “Devendra is a good man; but blessed indeed are those young aspirants who, like Sukadeva, practise renunciation from their very boyhood and think of God day and night without being involved in worldly life.

“The worldly man always has some desire or other, though at times he shows much devotion to God. Once Mathur Babu was entangled in a lawsuit. He said to me in the shrine of Kali, ‘Sir, please offer this flower to the Divine Mother.’ I offered it unsuspectingly, but he firmly believed that he would attain his objective if I offered the flower.

“What devotion Rati’s mother had! How often she used to come here and how much she served me! She was a Vaishnava. One day she noticed that I ate the food offered at the Kali temple, and that stopped her coming. Her devotion to God was one-sided. It isn’t possible to understand a person right away.”

It was a winter morning, and the Master was sitting near the east door of his room, wrapped in his moleskin shawl. He looked at the sun and suddenly went into samadhi. His eyes stopped blinking and he lost all consciousness of the outer world. After a long time he came down to the plane of the sense world. Rakhal, Hazra, M., and other devotees were seated near him.

MASTER (to Hazra): “The state of samadhi is certainly inspired by love. Once, at Syambazar, they arranged a kirtan at Natavar Goswami’s house. There I had a vision of Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavan. I felt that my subtle body was walking at Krishna’s heels.

“I went into samadhi when similar devotional songs were sung at the Hari Sabha in Jorashanko in Calcutta. That day they feared I might give up the body.”

After the Master had finished his bath, he again spoke of the ecstatic love of the gopis. He said to M. and the other devotees: “One should accept, the fervent attachment of the gopis to their beloved Krishna. Sing songs like this:

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.”

Again he sang:

I am not going home, O friend,
For there it is hard for me to chant my Krishna’s name. . . .

Sri Ramakrishna had vowed to offer green coconut and sugar to Siddhesvari, the Divine Mother, for Rakhal’s welfare. He asked M. whether he would pay for the offerings.

That afternoon the Master, accompanied by M., Rakhal, and some other devotees, set out in a carriage, for the temple of Siddhesvari in Calcutta. On the way the offerings were purchased. On reaching the temple, the Master asked the devotees to offer the fruit and sugar to the Divine Mother. They saw the priests and their friends playing cards in the temple. Sri Ramakrishna said: “To play cards in a temple! One should think of God here.”

From the temple the Master went to Jadu Mallick’s house. Jadu was surrounded by his admirers, well-dressed dandies. He welcomed the Master.

MASTER (with a smile): “Why do you keep so many clowns and flatterers with you?”

JADU (smiling): “That you may liberate them.” (Laughter.)

MASTER: “Flatterers think that the rich man will loosen his purse-strings for them. But it is very difficult to get anything from him. Once a jackal saw a bullock and would not give up his company. The bullock roamed about and the jackal followed him. The jackal thought: ‘There hang the bullock’s testicles. Some time or other they will drop to the ground and I shall eat them.’ When the bullock slept on the ground, the jackal lay down too, and when the bullock moved about, the jackal followed him. Many days passed in this way, but the bullock’s testicles still clung to his body. The jackal went away disappointed. (All laugh.) That also happens to flatterers.”

Jadu and his mother served refreshments to Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees.

Wednesday, December 19, 1883

It was nine o’clock in the morning. Sri Ramakrishna was talking to M. near the bel-tree at Dakshineswar. This tree, under which the Master had practised the most austere sadhana, stood in the northern end of the temple garden. Farther north ran a high wall, and just outside was the government Magazine. West of the bel-tree was a row of tall pines that rustled in the wind. Below the trees flowed the Ganges, and to the south could be seen the sacred grove of the Panchavati. The dense trees and underbrush hid the temples. No noise of the outside world reached the bel-tree.

MASTER (to M.): “But one cannot realize God without renouncing ‘woman and gold’.”

M: “Why? Did not Vasishtha say to Rama, ‘O Rama, You may renounce the world if the world is outside God’?”

MASTER (smiling): “He said that to Rama so that Rama might destroy Ravana. Rama accepted the life of a householder and married to fulfil that mission.”

M. stood there like a log, stunned and speechless.

Sri Ramakrishna went to the Panchavati on his way back to his room. M. accompanied him. It was then about ten o’clock.

M: “Sir, is there no spiritual discipline leading to realization of the Impersonal God?”

MASTER: “Yes, there is. But the path is extremely difficult. After intense austerities the rishis of olden times realized God as their innermost consciousness and experienced the real nature of Brahman. But how hard they had to work! They went out of their dwellings in the early morning and all day practised austerities and meditation. Returning home at nightfall, they took a light supper of fruit and roots.

“But an aspirant cannot succeed in this form of spiritual discipline if his mind is stained with worldliness even in the slightest degree. The mind must withdraw totally from all objects of form, taste, smell, touch, and sound. Only thus does it become pure. The Pure Mind is the same as the Pure Atman. But such a mind must be altogether free from ‘woman and gold’. When it becomes pure, one has another experience. One realizes: ‘God alone is the Doer, and I am His instrument.’ One does not feel oneself to be absolutely necessary to others either in their misery or in their happiness.

“Once a wicked man beat into unconsciousness a monk who lived in a monastery. On regaining consciousness he was asked by his friends, ‘Who is feeding you milk?’ The monk said, ‘He who beat me is now feeding me.'”

M: “Yes, sir. I know that story.”

MASTER: “It is not enough to know it. One must assimilate its meaning. It is the thought of worldly objects that prevents the mind from going into samadhi. One becomes established in samadhi when one is completely rid of worldliness. It is possible for me to give up the body in samadhi; but I have a slight desire to enjoy the love of God and the company of His devotees. Therefore I pay a little attention to my body.

“There is another kind of samadhi, called unmana samadhi. One attains it by suddenly gathering the dispersed mind. You understand what that is, don’t you?”

M: “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “Yes. It is the sudden withdrawal of the dispersed mind to the Ideal. But that samadhi does not last long. Worldly thoughts intrude and destroy it. The yogi slips down from his yoga.

“At Kamarpukur I have seen the mongoose living in its hole up in the wall. It feels snug there. Sometimes people tie a brick to its tail; then the pull of the brick makes it come but of its hole. Every time the mongoose tries to be comfortable inside the hole, it has to come out because of the pull of the brick. Such is the effect of brooding on worldly objects that it makes the yogi stray from the path of yoga.

“Worldly people may now and then experience samadhi. The lotus blooms, no doubt, when the sun is up; but its petals close, again when the sun is covered by a cloud. Worldly thought is the cloud.”

M: “Isn’t it possible to develop both jnana and bhakti by the practice of spiritual discipline?”

MASTER: “Through the path of bhakti a man may attain them both. If it is necessary, God gives him the Knowledge of Brahman. But a highly qualified aspirant may develop both jnana and bhakti at the same time. Such is the case with the Isvarakotis — Chaitanya for example. But the case of ordinary devotees is different.

“There are five kinds of light: the light of a lamp, the light of various kinds of fire, the light of the moon, the light of the sun, and lastly the combined light of the sun and the moon. Bhakti is the light of the moon, and jnana the light of the sun.

“Sometimes it is seen that the sun has hardly set when the moon rises in the sky. In an Incarnation of God one sees, at the same time, the sun of Knowledge and the moon of Love.

“Can everyone, by the mere wish, develop Knowledge and Love at the same time? It depends on the person. One bamboo is more hollow than another. Is it possible for all to comprehend the nature of God? Can a one-seer pot hold five seers of milk?”

M: “But what about the grace of God? Through His grace a camel can pass through the eye of a needle.”

MASTER: “But is it possible to obtain God’s grace just like that? A beggar may get a penny, if he asks for it. But suppose he asks you right off for his train fare. How about that?”

M. stood silent. The Master, too, remained silent. Suddenly he said:

“Yes, it is true. Through the grace of God some may get both jnana and bhakti.”

M. saluted the Master and went back to the bel-tree.

At midday, finding that M. had not yet returned, Sri Ramakrishna started toward the bel-tree; but on reaching the Panchavati he met M. carrying his prayer carpet and water-jug. M. saluted the Master.

Sri Ramakrishna said to M: “I was coming to look for you. Because of your delay I thought you might have scaled the wall and run away. I watched your eyes this morning and felt apprehensive lest you should go away like Narayan Shastri. Then I said to myself: ‘No, he won’t run away. He thinks a great deal before doing anything.'”

The same night the Master talked to M., Rakhal, Latu, Harish, and a few other devotees.

MASTER (to M.): “Some people give a metaphysical, interpretation of the Vrindavan episode of Sri Krishna’s life. What do you say about it?”

M: “There are various opinions. What if there are? You have told us the story of Bhishmadeva’s weeping, on his bed of arrows, because he could not understand anything of God’s ways.

“Again, you have told us that Hanuman used to say: ‘I don’t know any thing about the day of the week, the position of the stars, and so forth. I only meditate on Rama.’

“Further, you have said to us that in the last analysis there are two things only: Brahman and Its Power. You have also said that, after the attainment of Brahmajnana, a man realizes these two to be One, the One that has no two.”

MASTER: “Yes, that is true. Your ideal is to reach the goal. You may reach it by going either through a thorny forest or along a good road.

“Diverse opinions, certainly exist. Nangta used to say that the monks could not be feasted because of the diversity of their views. Once a feast was arranged for the sannyasis. Monks belonging to many sects were invited. Everyone claimed that his sect should be fed first, but no conclusion could be arrived at. At last they all went away and the food had to be given to the prostitutes.”

M: “Totapuri was indeed a great soul.”

MASTER: “But Hazra says he was an ordinary man. There’s no use in discussing these things. Everyone says that his watch alone gives the correct time.

“You see, Naravan Shastri developed a spirit of intense renunciation. He was a great scholar. He gave up his wife and went away. A man attains yoga when he completely effaces ‘woman and gold’ from his mind. With some, the characteristics of the yogi are well marked.

“I shall have to tell you something of the six centres. The mind of the yogi passes through these, and he realizes God through His grace. Have you heard of the six centres?”

M: “These are the ‘seven planes’ of the Vedanta.”

MASTER: “Not the Vedanta, but the Vedas. Do you know what the six centres are like? They are the ‘lotuses’ in the subtle body. The yogis see them. They are like the fruits and leaves of a wax tree.”

M: “Yes, sir. The yogis can perceive them. I have read that there is a kind of glass through which a tiny object looks very big. Likewise, through yoga one can see those subtle lotuses.’

Following Sri Ramakrishna’s direction, M. spent the night in the hut at the Panchavati. In the early hours of the morning he was singing alone:

I am without the least benefit of prayer and austerity, O Lord!
I am the lowliest of the lowly; make me pure with His hallowed touch.
One by one I pass my days in hope of reaching Thy Lotus Feet,
But Thee, alas, I have not found. . . .

Suddenly M. glanced toward the window and saw the Master standing there. Sri Ramakrishna’s eyes became heavy with tears as M. sang the line:

I am the lowliest of the lowly; make me pure with Thy hallowed touch.

M. sang again:

I shall put on the ochre robe and ear-rings made of conch-shell;
Thus, in the garb of a yogini, from place to place I shall wander,
Till I have found my cruel Hari. . . .

M. saw that the Master was walking with Rakhal.

Friday, December 21, 1883

In the morning the Master and M. were conversing alone under the bel-tree. The Master told him many secrets of spiritual discipline, exhorting him to renounce “woman and gold”. He further said that the mind at times becomes one’s guru.

After his midday meal the Master went to the Panchavati wearing a beautiful yellow robe. Two or three Vaishnava monks were there, clad in the dress of their sect.

In the afternoon a monk belonging to the sect of Nanak arrived. He was a worshipper of the formless God. Sri Ramakrishna asked him to meditate as well on God with form. The Master said to him: “Dive deep; one does not get the precious gems by merely floating on the surface. God is without form, no doubt; but He also has form. By meditating on God with form one speedily acquires devotion; then one can meditate on the formless God. It is like throwing a letter away, after learning its contents, and then setting out to follow its instructions.”

Saturday, December 22, 1883

Rakhal, Harish, M., and Latu had been staying with Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. About nine o’clock in the morning the Master was sitting with them on the southeast verandah of his room, when Balaram’s father and Devendra Ghosh of Syampukur arrived.

A DEVOTEE: “Sir, how does one obtain love for God?”

MASTER: “Go forward. The king dwells beyond the seven gates. You can see him only after passing through all the gates.

“At the time of the installation of Annapurna at Chanak, I said to Dwarika Babu: “Large fish live in the deep water of a big lake. Throw some spiced bait into the water; then the fish will come, attracted by its smell; now and then they will make the water splash. Devotion and ecstatic love are like the spiced bait.

God sports in the world as man. He incarnates Himself as man — as in the case of Krishna, Rama, and Chaitanya. Once I said to Keshab: The greatest manifestation of God is in man. There are small holes in the balk or a field, where crabs and fish accumulate in the rainy season. If you want to find them you must seek them in the holes. If you seek God, you must seek Him in the Incarnations.’

The Divine Mother of the Universe manifests Herself through this three-and-a-half cubit man. There is a song that says:

O Mother, what a machine is this that Thou hast made!
What pranks Thou playest with this toy
Three and a half cubits high! . . .

“One needs spiritual practice in order to know God and recognize Divine Incarnations. Big fish live in the large lake, but to see them one must throw spiced bait in the water. There is butter in milk, but one must churn the milk to get it. There is oil in mustard-seed, but one must press the seed to extract the oil.”

DEVOTEE: “Has God form, or is He formless?”

MASTER: “Wait, wait! First of all you must go to Calcutta; then only will you know where the Maidan, the Asiatic Society, and the Bengal Bank are located. If you want to go to the brahmin quarter of Khardaha, you must first of all go to Khardaha.

“Why should it not be possible to practise the discipline of the formless God? But it is very difficult to follow that path. One cannot follow it without renouncing ‘woman and gold’. There must be complete renunciation, both inner and outer. You cannot succeed in this path if you have the slightest trace of worldliness.

“It is easy to worship God with form. But it is not as easy as all that.

“One should not discuss the discipline of the Impersonal God or the path of knowledge with a bhakta. Through great effort perhaps he is just cultivating a little devotion. You will injure it if you explain away everything as a mere dream.

“Kabir was a worshipper of the Impersonal God. He did not believe in Siva, Kali, or Krishna. He used to make fun of them and say that Kali lived on the offerings of rice and banana, and that Krishna danced like a monkey when the gopis clapped their hands. (All laugh.)

“One who worships God without form perhaps sees at first the deity with ten arms, then the deity with four arms, then the Baby Krishna with two arms. At last he sees the Indivisible Light and merges in It.

“It is said that sages like Dattatreya and Jadabharata did not return to the relative plane after having the vision of Brahman. According to some people, Sukadeva tasted only a drop of that Ocean of Brahman-Consciousness. He saw and heard the rumbling of the waves of that Ocean, but he did not dive into It.

“A brahmachari once said to me, ‘One who goes beyond Kedar cannot keep his body alive.’ Likewise, a man cannot preserve his body after attaining Brahmajnana.1 The body drops off in twenty-one days.

“There was an infinite field beyond a high wall. Four friends tried to find out what was beyond the wall. Three of them, one after the other, climbed the wall, saw the field, burst into loud laughter, and dropped to the other side. These three could not give any information about the field. Only the fourth man came back and told people about it. He is like those who retain their bodies, even after attaining Brahmajnana, in order to teach others. Divine Incarnations belong to this class.

“Parvati was born as the daughter of King Himalaya. After Her birth She revealed to the king Her various divine forms. The father said: ‘Well, Daughter, You have shown me all these forms. That is nice. But You have another aspect, which is Brahman. Please show me that.’ ‘Father,’ replied Parvati, ‘if you seek the Knowledge of Brahman, then renounce the world and live in the company of holy men.’ But King Himalaya insisted. Thereupon Parvati revealed Her Brahman-form, and immediately the king fell down unconscious.

“All that I have just said belongs to the realm of reasoning. Brahman alone is real and the world illusory — that is reasoning. And everything but Brahman is like a dream. But this is an extremely difficult path. To one who follows it even the divine play in the world becomes like a dream and appears unreal; his ‘I’ also vanishes. The followers of this path do not accept the Divine Incarnation. It is a very difficult path. The lovers of God should not hear much of such reasoning.

“That is why God incarnates Himself as man and teaches people the path of devotion. He exhorts people to cultivate self-surrender to God. Following the path of devotion, one realizes everything through His grace — both Knowledge and Supreme Wisdom.

“God sports in this world. He is under the control of His devotee. ‘Syama, the Divine Mother, is Herself tied by the cord of the love of Her devotee.’

“Sometimes God becomes the magnet and the devotee the needle, and sometimes the devotee becomes the magnet and God the needle. The devotee attracts God to him. God is the Beloved of His devotee and is under his control.

“According to one school, the gopis of Vrindavan, like Yasoda, had believed in the formless God in their previous births; but they did not derive any satisfaction from this belief. That is why later on they enjoyed so much bliss in the company of Sri Krishna in the Vrindavan episode of His life. One day Krishna said to the gopis: ‘Come along. I shall show you the Abode of the Eternal. Let us go to the Jamuna for a bath.’ As they dived into the water of the river, they at once saw Goloka. Next they saw the Indivisible Light. Thereupon Yasoda exclaimed: ‘O Krishna, we don’t care for these things any more. We would like to see You in Your human form. I want to take You in my arms and feed You.’

“So the greatest manifestation of God is through His Incarnations. The devotee should worship and serve an Incarnation of God as long as He lives in a human body. ‘At the break of day He disappears into the secret chamber of His House.’

Not all, by any means, can recognize an Incarnation of God. Assuming a human body, the Incarnation falls a victim to disease, grief, hunger, thirst, and all such things, like ordinary mortals. Rama wept for Sita. ‘Brahman weeps, entrapped in the snare of the five elements.’

“It is said in the Purana that God, in His Incarnation as the Sow, lived happily with His young ones even after the destruction of Hiranyaksha.2 As the Sow, He nursed them and forgot all about His abode in heaven. At last Siva killed the sow body with his trident, and God, laughing aloud, went to His own abode.”

In the afternoon Bhavanath arrived. Rakhal, M., Harish, and other devotees were in the room.

MASTER (to Bhavanath): “To love an Incarnation of God — that is enough. Ah, what ecstatic love the gopis had for Krishna!”

Sri Ramakrishna began to sing, assuming the attitude of the gopis:

O Krishna! You are the Soul of my soul. . . .

Then he sang:

I am not going home, O friend,
For there it is hard for me to chant my Krishna’s name. . . .

And again:

O Friend, that day I stood at my door as You were going to the woods. . . .