Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

IT WAS THREE O’CLOCK in the afternoon. Sri Ramakrishna had been conversing with Rakhal, Mahimacharan, Hazra, and other devotees, when M. entered the room and saluted him. He brought with him splint, pad, and lint to bandage the Master’s injured arm.

One day, while going toward the pine-grove, Sri Ramakrishna had fallen near the railing and dislocated a bone in his left arm. He had been in an ecstatic mood at the time and no one had been with him.

MASTER (to M.): “Hello! What was ailing you? Are you quite well now?”

M: “Yes, sir, I am all right now.”

MASTER (to Mahima): “Well, if I am the machine and God is its Operator, then why should this have happened to me?”

The Master was sitting on the couch, listening to the story of Mahimacharan’s pilgrimage. Mahima had visited several holy places twelve years before.

MAHIMA: “I found a brahmachari in a garden at Sicrole in Benares. He said he had been living there for twenty years but did not know its owner. He asked me if I worked in an office. On my answering in the negative, he said, ‘Then are you a wandering holy man?’ I saw a sadhu on the bank of the Narmada. He repeated the Gayatri mentally. It so thrilled him that the hair on his body stood on end. And when he repeated the Gayatri and Om aloud, it thrilled those who sat near him and caused their hair to stand on end.”

The Master was in the mood of a child. Being hungry he said to M., “What have you brought for me?” Looking at Rakhal he went into samadhi.

He was gradually coming down to the normal plane. To bring his mind back to the consciousness of the body, he said: “I shall eat some jilipi. I shall drink some water.”

Weeping like a child, he said to the Divine Mother: “O Brahmamayi! O Mother! Why hast Thou done this to me? My arm is badly hurt. (To the devotees) Will I be all right again?” They consoled him, as one would a child, and said: “Surely. You will be quite well again.”

MASTER (to Rakhal): “You aren’t to blame for it, though you are living here to look after me; for even if you had accompanied me, you certainly wouldn’t have gone up to the railing.”

The Master again went into a spiritual mood and said: “Om! Om! Om! Mother, what is this that I am saying? Don’t make me unconscious, Mother, with the Knowledge of Brahman. Don’t give me Brahmajnana. I am but Thy child. I am easily worried and frightened. I want a Mother. A million salutations to the Knowledge of Brahman! Give it to those who seek it. O Anandamayi! O Blissful Mother!”

Uttering loudly the word “Anandamayi”, he burst into tears and said:

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.

Again he said to the Divine Mother: “What wrong have I done. Mother? Do I ever do anything? It is Thou, Mother, who doest everything. I am the machine and Thou art its Operator.

(To Rakhal, smiling) “See that you don’t fall! Don’t be piqued and cheat yourself.”

Again addressing the Mother, Sri Ramakrishna said: “Do I weep because I am hurt? Not at all.

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.”

The Master was again talking and laughing, like a child who, though ailing, sometimes forgets his illness and laughs and plays about.

MASTER (to the devotees): “It will avail you nothing unless you realize Satchidananda. There is nothing like discrimination and renunciation. The worldly man’s devotion to God is momentary — like a drop of water on a red-hot frying-pan. Perchance he looks at a flower and exclaims, ‘Ah, what a wonderful creation of God!’

“One must be restless for God. If a son clamours persistently for his share of the property, his parents consult with each other and give it to him eve though he is a minor. God will certainly listen to your prayers if you feel restless for Him. Since He has begotten us, surely we can claim our inheritance from Him. He is our own Father, our own Mother. We can force our demand on Him. We can say to Him, ‘Reveal Thyself to me or I shall cut my throat with a knife!'”

Sri Ramakrishna taught the devotees how to call on the Divine Mother.

MASTER: “I used to pray to Her in this way: ‘O Mother! O Blissful One! Reveal Thyself to me. Thou must!’ Again, I would say to Her: ‘O Lord of the lowly! O Lord of the universe! Surely I am not outside Thy universe. I am bereft of knowledge. I am without discipline. I have no devotion. I know nothing. Thou must be gracious and reveal Thyself to me.'”

Thus the Master taught the devotees how to pray. They were deeply touched. Tears filled Mahimacharan’s eyes.

Sri Ramakrishna looked at him and 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? . . .

Several devotees arrived from Shibpur. Since they had come from a great distance the Master could not disappoint them. He told them some of the essentials of spiritual life.

MASTER: “God alone is real, and all else illusory. The garden and its owner. God and His splendour. But people look at the garden only. How few seek out the owner!”

A DEVOTEE: “Sir, what is the way?”

MASTER: “Discrimination between the Real and the unreal. One should always discriminate to the effect that God alone is real and the world unreal. And one should pray with sincere longing.”

DEVOTEE: “But, sir, where is our leisure for these things?”

MASTER: “Those who have the time must meditate and worship. But those who cannot possibly do so must bow down whole-heartedly to God twice a day. He abides in the hearts of all; He knows that worldly people have many things to do. What else is possible for them? You don’t have time to pray to God; therefore give Him the power of attorney. But all is in vain unless you attain God and see Him.”

ANOTHER DEVOTEE: “Sir, to see you is the same as to see God.”

MASTER: “Don’t ever say that again. The waves belong to the Ganges, not the Ganges to the waves. A man cannot realize God unless he gets rid of all such egotistic ideas as ‘I am such an important man’ or ‘I am so and so’. Level the mound of ‘I’ to the ground by dissolving it with tears of devotion.”

DEVOTEE: “Why has God put us in the world?”

MASTER: “To perpetuate His creation. It is His will, His maya. He has deluded man with ‘woman and gold’.”

DEVOTEE: “Why has He deluded us? Why has He so willed?”

MASTER: “If but once He should give man a taste of divine joy, then man would not care to lead a worldly life. The creation would come to an end.

“The grain-dealer stores rice in huge bags in his warehouse. Near them he puts some puffed rice in a tray. This is to keep the rats away. The puffed rice tastes sweet to the rats and they nibble at it all night; they do not seek the rice itself. But just think! One seer of rice yields fourteen seers of puffed rice. How infinitely superior is the joy of God to the pleasure of ‘woman and gold’! To one who thinks of the beauty of God, the beauty of even Rambha and Tilottama (Two celestial dancing-girls of exquisite beauty) appears as but the ashes of a funeral pyre.”

DEVOTEE: “Why do we not feel intense restlessness to realize Him?”

MASTER: “A man does not feel restless for God until all his worldly desires are satisfied. He does not remember the Mother of the Universe until his share of the enjoyment of ‘woman and gold’ is completed. A child absorbed in play does not seek his mother. But after his play is over, he says, ‘Mother! I must go to my mother.’ Hriday’s son was playing with the pigeons, calling to them, ‘Come! Ti, ti!’ When he had had enough of play he began to cry. Then a stranger came and said: ‘Come with me. I will take you to your mother.’ Unhesitatingly he climbed on the man’s shoulders and was off.

“Those who are eternally free do not have to enter worldly life. Their desire for enjoyment has been satisfied with their very birth.”

At five o’clock in the afternoon Dr. Madhusudan arrived. While he prepared the bandage for the Master’s arm, Sri Ramakrishna laughed like a child and said, “You are the Madhusudan (Also a name of Krishna.) of both this world and the next!”

DR. MADHUSUDAN (smiling): “I only labour under the weight of my name.”

MASTER (smiling): ‘Why, is the name a trifling thing? God is not different from His name. Satyabhama tried to balance Krishna with gold and precious stones, but could not do it. Then Rukmini put a tulsi-leaf with the name of Krishna on the scales. That balanced, the Lord.”

The doctor was ready to bandage the Master’s arm. A bed was spread on the floor and the Master, laughing, lay down upon it. He said, intoning the words: “Ah! This is Radha’s final stage. But Brinde says, ‘Who knows what is yet to be?'”

The devotees were sitting around the Master. He sang:

The gopis all were gathered about the shore of the lake.

Sri Ramakrishna laughed and the devotees laughed with him.

After his arm was bandaged he said: “I haven’t very much faith in your Calcutta physicians. When Sambhu became delirious, Dr. Sarvadhikari said: ‘Oh, it is nothing. It is just grogginess from the medicine. And a little while after, Sambhu (Sambhu Mallick died in 1877.) breathed his last.”

It was evening and the worship in the temples was over. A few minutes later Adhar arrived from Calcutta to see the Master. Mahimacharan, Rakhal, and M. were in the room.

ADHAR: “How are you?”

MASTER (affectionately): “Look here. How my arm hurts! (Smiling) You don’t have to ask how I am!”

Adhar sat on the floor with the devotees. The Master said to him, “Please stroke here gently.” Adhar sat on the end of the couch and gently stroked Sri Ramakrishna’s feet.

The Master conversed with Mahimacharan.

MASTER: “It will be very good if you can practise unselfish love for God. A man who has such love says: ‘O Lord, I do not seek salvation, fame, wealth, or cure of disease. None of these do I seek. I want only Thee.’ Many are the people who come to a rich man with various desires. But if someone comes to him simply out of love, not wanting any favour, then the rich man feels attracted to him. Prahlada had this unselfish love, this pure love for God without any worldly end.”

Mahimacharan sat silent. The Master turned to him.

MASTER: “Now let me tell you something that will agree with your mood. According to the Vedanta one has to know the real nature of one’s own Self. But such knowledge is impossible without the renunciation of ego. The ego is like a stick that seems to divide the water in two. It makes you feel that you are one and I am another. When the ego disappears in samadhi, then one knows Brahman to be one’s own inner consciousness.

“One must renounce the ‘I’ that makes one feel, ‘I am Mahima Chakravarty’, ‘I am a learned man’, and so on. But the ‘ego of Knowledge’ does not injure one. Sankaracharya retained the ‘ego of Knowledge’ in order to teach mankind.

“One cannot obtain the Knowledge of Brahman unless one is extremely cautious about women. Therefore it is very difficult for those who live in the world to get such Knowledge. However clever you may be, you will stain your body if you live in a sooty room. The company of a young woman evokes lust even in a lustless man.

“But it is not so harmful for a householder who follows the path of knowledge to enjoy conjugal happiness with his own wife now and then. He may satisfy his sexual impulse like any other natural impulse. Yes, you may enjoy a sweetmeat once in a while. (Mahimacharan laughs.) It is not so harmful for a householder.

“But it is extremely harmful for a sannyasi. He must not look even at the portrait of a woman. A monk enjoying a woman is like a man swallowing the spittle he has already spat out. A sannyasi must not sit near a woman and talk to her, even if she is intensely pious. No, he must not talk to a woman even though he may have controlled his passion.

“A sannyasi must renounce both ‘woman’ and ‘gold’. As he must not look even at the portrait of a woman, so also he must not touch gold, that is to say, money. It is bad for him even to keep money near him, for it brings in its train calculation, worry, insolence, anger, and such evils. There is an instance in the sun: it shines brightly; suddenly a cloud appears and hides it.

“That is why I didn’t agree to the Marwari’s depositing money for me with Hriday. I said: ‘No, I won’t allow even that. If I keep money near me, it will certainly raise clouds.’

“Why all these strict rules for a sannyasi? It is for the welfare of mankind as well as for his own good. A sannyasi may himself lead an unattached life and may have controlled his passion, but he must renounce ‘woman and gold’ to set an example to the world.

“A man will have the courage to practise renunciation if he sees one hundred per cent renunciation in a sannyasi. Then only will he try to give up ‘woman and gold’. If a sannyasi does not set this example, then who will?

“One may lead a householder’s life after realizing God. It is like churning butter from milk and then keeping the butter in water. Janaka led the life of a householder after attaining Brahmajnana.

“Janaka fenced with two swords, the one of jnana and the other of karma. The sannyasi renounces action; therefore he fences with one sword only, that of knowledge. A householder, endowed with knowledge like Janaka’s, can enjoy fruit both from the tree and from the ground. He can serve holy men, entertain guests, and do other things like that. I said to the Divine Mother, ‘O Mother, I don’t want to be a dry sadhu.’

“After attaining Brahmajnana one does not have to discriminate even about food. The rishis of olden times, endowed with the Knowledge of Brahman and having experienced divine bliss, ate everything, even pork.

(To Mahima) “Generally speaking there are two kinds of yoga: karma-yoga and manoyoga, that is to say, union with God through work and through the mind.

“There are four stages of life: brahmacharya, garhasthya, vanaprastha, and sannyas. During the first three stages a man has to perform his worldly duties. The sannyasi carries only his staff, water-pot, and begging-bowl. He too may perform certain nityakarma, but his mind is not attached to it; he is not conscious of doing such work. Some sannyasis perform nityakarma to set an example to the world. If a householder or a man belonging to the other stages of life performs action without attachment, then he is united with God through such action.

“In the case of a paramahamsa, like Sukadeva, all karmas — all puja, japa, tarpan, sandhya, and so forth — drop away. In this state a man communes with God through the mind alone. Sometimes he may be pleased to perform outward activities for the welfare of mankind. But his recollection and contemplation of God remain uninterrupted.”

It was about eight o’clock in the evening. Sri Ramakrishna asked Mahimacharan to recite a few hymns from the scriptures. Mahima read the first verse of the Uttara Gita, describing the nature of the Supreme Brahman:

He, Brahman, is one, partless, stainless, and beyond the ether;
Without beginning or end, unknowable by mind or intelligence.

Finally he came to the seventh verse of the third chapter, which reads:

The twice-born1 worships the Deity in fire,
The munis contemplate Him in the heart,
Men of limited wisdom see Him in the image,
And the yogis who have attained samesightedness
Behold Him everywhere.

No sooner did the Master hear the words “the yogis who have attained samesightedness” than he stood up and went into samadhi, his arm supported by the splint and bandage. Speechless, the devotees looked at this yogi who had himself attained the state of samesightedness.

After a long time the ‘Master regained consciousness of the outer world and took his seat. He asked Mahima to recite verses describing the love of God. The latter recited from the Narada Pancharatra:

What need is there of penance if God is worshipped with love?
What is the use of penance if God is not worshipped with love?
What need is there of penance if God is seen within and without?
What is the use of penance if God is not seen within and without?

O Brahman! O my child! Cease from practising further penances.
Hasten to Sankara, the Ocean of Heavenly Wisdom;
Obtain from Him the love of God, the pure love praised by devotees,
Which snaps in twain the shackles that bind you to the world.

MASTER: “Ah! Ah!”

On hearing these verses the Master was about to go again into an ecstatic mood, but he restrained himself with effort.

Mahima read from the Yativanchaka:

I am She, the Divine Mother, in whom the illusion of the universe of animate and inanimate things is seen, as in magic, and in whom the universe shines, being the play of Her mind. I am She, the Embodiment of Consciousness, who is the Self of the universe, the only Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss.

When the Master heard the line, “I am She, the Embodiment of Consciousness”, he said with a smile, “Whatever is in the microcosm is also in the macrocosm.”

Next Mahima read the Six Stanzas on Nirvana:

Om. I am neither mind, intelligence, ego, nor chitta,
Neither ears nor tongue nor the senses of smell and sight;
Nor am I ether, earth, fire, water, or air:
I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Siva! I am Siva!

I am neither the prana, nor the five vital breaths,
Neither the seven elements of the body nor its five sheaths,
Nor hands nor feet nor tongue, nor the organs of sex and voiding:
I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Siva! I am Siva!

Neither loathing nor liking have I, neither greed nor delusion;
No sense have I of ego or pride, neither dharma nor moksha;
Neither desire of the mind nor object for its desiring:
I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Siva! I am Siva!

Neither right nor wrongdoing am I, neither pleasure nor pain,
Nor the mantra, the sacred place, the Vedas, the sacrifice;
Neither the act of eating, the eater, nor the food:
I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Siva! I am Siva!

Death or fear I have none, nor any distinction of caste;
Neither father nor mother nor even a birth have I;
Neither friend nor comrade, neither disciple nor guru:
I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Siva! I am Siva!

I have no form or fancy; the All-pervading am I;
Everywhere I exist, yet I am beyond the senses;
Neither salvation am I, nor anything that may be known:
I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am Siva! I am Siva!

Each time Mahima repeated: “I am Siva! I am Siva!”, the Master rejoined with a smile: “Not I! Not I! Thou art Knowledge Absolute.”

Mahima read a few more verses and also a description of the six psychic centres of the body. He said that in Benares he had witnessed the death of a yogi in the state of yoga.

MAHIMA: “There are fine passages in the Rama Gita.”

MASTER: “You are speaking of the Rama Gita. Then you must be a staunch Vedantist. How many books of that kind the sadhus used to read here!”

Mahima recited the description of Om:

It is like the unceasing flow of oil, like the long peal of a bell.

About the characteristics of samadhi he read: “The man established in samadhi sees the upper region filled with Atman, the nether region filled with Atman, the middle region filled with Atman. He sees all filled with Atman.”

Adhar and Mahima saluted the Master and departed.

At noon the following day, after his midday meal, Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch, when Ram, Surendra, and a few other devotees arrived from Calcutta. They were worried about the Master’s injured arm. The arm was bandaged. M. was present.

MASTER (to the devotees): “The Mother has put me in such a state of mind that I cannot hide anything from anyone. Mine is the condition of a child. Rakhal doesn’t understand it. He covers my injured arm, wrapping my body with a cloth lest others should see my injury and criticize me. He took Dr. Madhu aside and reported my illness. But I shouted and said: ‘Hello! Where are you, Madhusudan? Come and see. My arm is broken!’

“I used to sleep in the same room with Mathur and his wife. They took care of me a if I were their own child. I was then passing through a state of divine madness. Mathur would ask me, ‘Father, do you hear our conversation?’ ‘Yes’, I would reply.

“Once Mathur’s wife became suspicious of his movements and said to him, ‘If you go anywhere, he (The Master.) must accompany you.’ One day Mathur went to a certain place and asked me to wait downstairs. He returned after half an hour and said to me: ‘Come, father, let us go now. The carriage is waiting.’ When Mathur’s wife asked me about it, I reported the thing correctly. I said to her: ‘We went to a certain house. He told me to stay downstairs and himself went upstairs. He came down after half an hour and we left the place.’ Of course she understood the thing in her own way.

“A partner of Mathur’s estate used to take fruits and vegetables stealthily from the temple garden. When the other partners asked me about it, I told them the exact truth.”