Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

March 23, 1884

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting in his room after his midday meal, with Rakhal, Ram, and some other devotees. He was not quite well. The injured arm was still bandaged.

But in spite of his illness, his room was a veritable mart of joy and he the centre of it. Devotees thronged there daily to see the Master. Spiritual talk went on incessantly, and the very air of the room vibrated with bliss. Sometimes the Master would sing the name and glories of God, and sometimes he would go into samadhi, the devotees being amazed at the ease with which the Master freed himself from the consciousness of the body.

RAM: “There is talk of Narendra’s marrying Mr. R. Mitra’s daughter. Narendra has been offered a large dowry.”

MASTER (smiling): “Yes, Narendra may thus become a leader of society or something like that. He will be an outstanding man, whatever career he follows.”

The Master did not much encourage the conversation about Narendra.

MASTER (to Ram): “Well, can you tell me why I become so impatient when I am ill? Sometimes I ask this man and sometimes that man how I may be cured. You see, one must either believe everyone or no one at all.

“It is God Himself who has become the physicians. Therefore one must believe all of them. But one cannot have faith in them if one thinks of them as mere men.

“Sambhu was fearfully delirious. Dr. Sarvadhikari said that the delirium was due to the strong medicine. Haladhari asked the doctor to feel his pulse. The doctor said: ‘Let me see your eyes. Oh, it is an enlargement of the spleen!’ Haladhari said he had nothing of the sort. But Dr. Madhu gives good medicine.”

RAM: “The medicine by itself does no good, though it greatly helps nature.”

MASTER: “If that is so, why does opium cause constipation?”

Ram referred to Keshab Sen’s death.

RAM: “You were quite right. You said that a gardener uncovers the roots of a good rose-plant so that it may absorb the dew and grow stronger and healthier. The words of a holy man have been fulfilled.”

MASTER: “I don’t know about that. I wasn’t calculating when I said it. It is you who say that.”

RAM: “The Brahmos have published something about you in their magazine.”

MASTER: “Published about me? Why? Why should they write now? I eat and drink and make merry. I don’t know anything else.

“I once asked Keshab, ‘Why have you written about me?’ He said that it would bring people here. But man cannot teach by his own power. One cannot conquer ignorance without the power of God.

“At one time two men were engaged to wrestle. One of them was Hanuman Singh and the other a Mussalman from the Punjab. The Mussalman was a strong, stout man. He had eaten lustily of butter and meat for fifteen days before the day of the wrestling-match, and even on that day. All thought he would be the victor. Hanuman Singh, on the other hand, clad in a dirty cloth, had eaten sparingly for some days before the day of the match and devoted himself to repeating the holy name of Mahavir. (Mahavir, or Hanuman, is the patron deity of wrestlers.) On the day of the match he observed a complete fast. All thought that he would surely be defeated. But it was he who won, while the man who had feasted for fifteen days lost the fight.

“What is the use of printing and advertising? He who teaches men gets his power from God. None but a man of renunciation can teach others. I am the greatest of all fools!” (All laugh.)

A DEVOTEE: “Then how is it that the Vedas and the Vedanta, and many things besides, come out of your mouth?”

MASTER (smiling): “During my boyhood I could understand what the sadhus read at the Lahas’ house at Kamarpukur, although I would miss a little here and there. If a pundit speaks to me in Sanskrit I can follow him, but I cannot speak it myself.

“To realize God is the one goal of life. While aiming his arrow at the mark, Arjuna said, ‘I see only the eye of the bird and nothing else — not the kings, not the trees, not even the bird itself.’

“The realization of God is enough for me. What does it matter if I don’t know Sanskrit?

“The grace of God falls alike on all His children, learned and illiterate — whoever longs for Him. The father has the same love for all his children. Suppose a father has five children. One calls him ‘Baba’, some ‘Ba’, and some ‘Pa’. These last cannot pronounce the whole word. Does the father love those who address him as ‘Baba’ more than those who call him ‘Pa’? The father knows that these last are simply too young to say ‘Baba’ correctly.

“Since this injury to my arm a change has been coming over my mind. I have been feeling much inclined to the Naralila. It is God Himself who plays about as human beings. If God can be worshipped through a clay image, then why not through a man?

“Once a merchant was shipwrecked. He floated to the shore of Ceylon, where Bibhishana was the king of the monsters. Bibhishana ordered his servants to bring the merchant to him. At the sight of him Bibhishana was overwhelmed with joy and said: ‘Ah! He looks like my Rama. The same human form!’ He adorned the merchant with robes and jewels, and worshipped him. When I first heard this story, I felt such joy that I cannot describe it.

“Vaishnavcharan said to me, ‘If a person looks on his beloved as his Ishta, he finds it very easy to direct his mind to God.’ The men and women of a particular sect3 at Syambazar, near Kamarpukur, say to each other, ‘Whom do you love?’ ‘I love so-and-so.’ ‘Then know him to be your God.’ When I heard this, I said to them: ‘That is not my way. I look on all women as my mother.’ I found out that they talked big but led immoral lives. The women then asked me if they would have salvation. ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘if you are absolutely faithful to one man and look on him as your God. But you cannot be liberated if you live with five men.'”

RAM: “I understand that Kedar Babu has recently visited the Kartabhajas’ place.”

MASTER: “He gathers honey from various flowers. (To Ram, Nityagopal, and the others) If a devotee believes one hundred per cent that his Chosen Ideal is God, then he attains God and sees Him.

“People of bygone generations had tremendous faith. What faith Haladhari’s father had! Once he was on the way to his daughter’s house when he noticed some beautiful flowers and vilwa-leaves. He gathered them for the worship of the Family Deity and walked back five or six miles to his own house.

“Once a theatrical troupe in the village was enacting the life of Rama. When Kaikeyi asked Rama to go into exile in the forest, Haladhari’s father, who had been watching the performance, sprang up. He went to the actor who played Kaikeyi, crying out, ‘You wretch!’, and was about to burn the actor’s face with a torch. He was a very pious man. After finishing his ablutions he would stand in the water and meditate on the Deity, reciting the invocation: ‘I meditate on Thee, of red hue and four faces’, while tears streamed down his cheeks.

“When my father walked along the lanes of the village wearing his wooden sandals, the shopkeepers would stand up out of respect and say, ‘There he comes!’ When he bathed in the Haldarpukur, the villagers would not have the courage to get into the water. Before bathing they would inquire if he had finished his bath.

“When my father chanted the name of Raghuvir, his chest would turn crimson. This also happened to me. When I saw the cows at Vrindavan returning from the pasture, I was transported into a divine mood and my body became red.

“Very strong was the faith of the people in those days. One hears that God used to dance then, taking the form of Kali, while the devotee clapped his hands keeping time.”

A hathayogi was staying in the hut at the Panchavati. Ramprasanna, the son of Krishnakishore of Ariadaha, and several other men had become his devotees. The yogi needed twenty-five rupees a month for his milk and opium; so Ramprasanna had requested Sri Ramakrishna to speak to his devotees about the yogi and get some money. The Master said to several devotees: “A hathayogi has come to the Panchavati. Go and visit him. See what sort of man he is.”

A young man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, known as Thakur Dada, entered the room with a few friends and saluted the Master. He lived at Baranagore and was the son of a brahmin pundit. He was practising the kathakata4 in order to earn money to meet his family’s expenses. At one time he had been seized with the spirit of renunciation and had gone away from his family. Even now he practised spiritual discipline at home.

MASTER: “Have you come on foot? Where do you live?”

DADA: “Yes, sir, I have walked from home. I live at Baranagore.”

MASTER: “Have you come here for any particular purpose?”

DADA: “I have come here to visit you. I pray to God. But why do I suffer now and then from worries? For a few days I feel very happy. Why do I feel restless afterwards?”

MASTER: “I see. Things have not been fitted quite exactly. The machine works smoothly if the mechanic fits the cogs of the wheels correctly. In your case there is an obstruction somewhere.”

DADA: “Yes, sir. That must be so.”

MASTER: “Are you initiated?”

DADA: “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “Do you have faith in your mantra?”

A friend of Thakur Dada said that the latter could sing well. The Master asked him to sing.

Thakur Dada sang:

I shall become a yogi and dwell in Love’s mountain cave;
I shall be lost in yoga beside the Fountain-head of Bliss.
I shall appease my hunger for Knowledge with the fruit of Truth;
I shall worship the feet of God with the flower of Dispassion.

I shall not seek a well to slake the burning thirst of my heart,
But I shall draw the water of Peace into the jar of my soul.
Drinking the glorious Nectar of Thy blessed Lotus Feet,
I shall both laugh and dance and weep and sing on the heights of Joy.

MASTER: “Ah, what a nice song! “Fountain-head of Bliss’! ‘Fruit of Truth’! ‘Laugh and dance and weep and sing’! Your song tastes very sweet to me. Why should you worry?

“Pleasure and pain are inevitable in the life of the world. One suffers now and then from a little worry and trouble. A man living in a room full of soot cannot avoid being a little stained.”

DADA: “Please tell me what I should do now.”

MASTER: “Chant the name of Hari morning and evening, clapping your hands. Come once more when my arm is healed a bit.”

Mahimacharan entered the room and saluted the Master. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: “Ah! He has sung a nice song. Please sing it again.” Thakur Dada repeated the song.

MASTER (to Mahima): “Please recite that verse, the one about devotion to Hari.”

Mahimacharan recited, quoting 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?

MASTER: “Recite that part also — ‘Obtain from Him the love of God’.”

Mahima recited:

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: “Yes, Sankara will bestow the love of God.”

MAHIMA: “One who is free from bondage is the eternal Siva.”

MASTER: “Shame, hatred, fear, hesitation — these are the shackles. What do you say?”

MAHIMA: “Yes, sir. And also the desire to conceal, and shrinking before praise.”

MASTER: “There are two signs of knowledge. First, an unshakable buddhi. No matter how many sorrows, afflictions, dangers, and obstacles one may be faced with, one’s mind does not undergo any change. It is like the blacksmith’s anvil, which receives constant blows from the hammer and still remains unshaken. And second, manliness — very strong grit. If lust and anger injure a man, he must renounce them once for all. If a tortoise once tucks in its limbs, it won’t put them out again though you may cut it into four pieces. (To Thakur Dada and the others) There are two kinds of renunciation: intense and feeble. Feeble renunciation is a slow process; one moves in a slow rhythm. Intense renunciation is like the sharp edge of a razor. It cuts the bondage of maya easily and at once.

“One farmer labours for days to bring water from the lake to his field. But his efforts are futile because he has no grit. Another farmer, after labouring for two or three days, takes a vow and says, ‘I will bring water into my field today, and not till then will I go home.’ He puts aside all thought of his bath or his meal. He labours the whole day and feels great joy when in the evening he finds water entering his field with a murmuring sound. Then he goes home and says to his wife: ‘Now give me some oil. I shall take my bath.’ After finishing his bath and his meal he lies down to sleep with a peaceful mind.

“A certain woman said to her husband: ‘So-and-so has developed a spirit of great dispassion for the world, but I don’t see anything of the sort in you. He has sixteen wives. He is giving them up one by one.’ The husband, with a towel on his shoulder, was going to the lake for his bath. He said to his wife: ‘You are crazy! He won’t be able to give up the world. Is it ever possible to renounce bit by bit? I can renounce. Look! Here I go.’ He didn’t stop even to settle his household affairs. He left home just as he was, the towel on his shoulder, and went away. That is intense renunciation.

“There is another kind of renunciation, called ‘markatavairagya’, ‘monkey renunciation’. A man, harrowed by distress at home, puts on an ochre robe and goes away to Benares. For many days he does not send home any news of himself. Then he writes to his people: ‘Don’t be worried about me. I have got a job here.’

“There is always trouble in family life. The wife may be disobedient. Perhaps the husband earns only twenty rupees a month. He hasn’t the means to perform the ‘rice-eating ceremony’ for his baby. He cannot educate his son. The house is dilapidated. The roof leaks and he hasn’t the money to repair it.

“Therefore when the youngsters come here I ask them whether they have anyone at home. (To Mahima) Why should householders renounce the world? What great troubles the wandering monks pass through! The wife of a certain man said to him: ‘You want to renounce the world? Why? You will have to beg morsels from eight different homes. But here you get all your food at once place. Isn’t that nice?’

“Wandering monks, while searching for a sadavrata,5 may have to go six miles out of their way. I have seen them travelling along the regular road after their pilgrimage to Puri and making a detour to find an eating-place.

“You are leading a householder’s life. That is very good. It is like fighting from a fort. There are many disadvantages in fighting in an open field. So many dangers, too. Bullets may hit you.

“But one should spend some time in solitude and attain Knowledge. Then one can lead the life of a householder. Janaka lived in the world after attaining Knowledge. When you have gained it, you may live anywhere. Then nothing matters.”

MAHIMA: “Sir, why does a man become deluded by worldly objects?”

MASTER: “It is because he lives in their midst without having realized God. Man never succumbs to delusion after he has realized God. The moth no longer enjoys darkness if it has once seen the light.

“To be able to realize God, one must practise absolute continence. Sages like Sukadeva are examples of an urdhareta. (A man of unbroken and complete continence.) Their chastity was absolutely unbroken. There is another class, who previously have had discharges of semen but who later on have controlled them. A man controlling the seminal fluid for twelve years develops a special power. He grows a new inner nerve called the nerve of memory. Through that nerve he remembers all, he understands all.

“Loss of semen impairs the strength. But it does not injure one if one loses it in a dream. That semen one gets from food. What remains after nocturnal discharge is enough. But one must not know a woman.

“The semen that remains after nocturnal discharge is very ‘refined’. The Lahas kept jars of molasses in their house. Every jar had a hole in it. After a year they found that the molasses had crystallized like sugar candy. The unnecessary watery part had leaked out through the hole.

“A sannyasi must absolutely renounce woman. You are already involved; but that doesn’t matter.

“A sannyasi must not look even at the picture of a woman. But this is too difficult for an ordinary man. Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni are the seven notes of the scale. It is not possible to keep your voice on ‘ni’ a long time.

“To lose semen is extremely harmful for a sannyasi. Therefore he must live so carefully that he will not have to see the form of a woman. He must keep himself away from a woman even if she is a devotee of God. It is injurious for him to look even at the picture of a woman. He will lose semen in a dream, if not in the waking state.

“A sannyasi may have control over his senses, but to set an example to mankind he should not talk with women. He must not talk to one very long, even if she is a devotee of God.

“Living as a sannyasi is like observing the ekadasi without drinking even a drop of water. There are two other ways of observing the day. You may eat fruit or take luchi and curry. With the luchi and curry you may also take slices of bread soaked in milk. (All laugh.)

(Smiling) “Absolute fasting is not possible for you.

“Once I saw Krishnakishore eating, luchi and curry on an ekadasi day. I said to Hriday, ‘Hridu, I want to observe Krishnakishore’s ekadasi!’ (All laugh.) And so I did one day. I ate my fill. The next day I had to fast.” (Laughter.)

The devotees who had gone to the Panchavati to visit the hathayogi came back.

MASTER (addressing them): “Well, what do you think of him? I dare say you have measured him with your own tape.”

Sri Ramakrishna saw that very few of the devotees were willing to give money to the hathayogi.

MASTER: “You don’t like a sadhu if you have to give him money. Rajendra Mitra draws a salary of eight hundred rupees a month. He had been to Allahabad to see the kumbhamela. I asked him, ‘Well, what kind of sadhus did you see at the fair?’ Rajendra said: ‘I didn’t find any very great sadhu there. I noticed one, it is true. But even he accepted money.’

“I say to myself, ‘If no one gives money to a sadhu, then how will he feed himself?’ There is no collection plate here; therefore all come. And I say to myself: ‘Alas! They love their money. Let them have it.'”

The Master rested awhile. A devotee sat on the end of the small couch and gently stroked his feet. The Master said to him softly: “That which is formless again has form. One should believe in the forms of God also. By meditating on Kali the aspirant realizes God as Kali. Next he finds that the form merges in the Indivisible Absolute. That which is the Indivisible Satchidananda is verily Kali.”

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the semicircular porch west of his room, talking with Mahima and other devotees about the hathayogi. The talk drifted to Ramprasanna, the son of Krishnakishore. The Master was fond of the young man.

MASTER: “Ramprasanna roams about aimlessly. The other day he came here and sat in the room, but he did not speak a word. He pressed his nostrils with his fingers, practising pranayama. I offered him something to eat, but he wouldn’t take it. On another occasion I had asked him to sit by me. He squatted on the floor placing one leg upon the other. He was rather discourteous to Captain. I weep at his mother’s suffering.

(To Mahima) “Ramprasanna asked me to speak to you about the hathayogi. The yogi’s daily expenses are six and a half annas. But he won’t tell you about it himself.”

MAHIMA: “Who will listen to him even if he does?”

Mani Sen of Panihati entered the room with several friends, one of whom was a physician. Mani asked the Master about his injured arm. The doctor did not approve of the medicine prescribed by Pratap Mazumdar. The Master said to him: “Why should you say that? Pratap is no fool.”

Suddenly Latu cried out, “Oh! The medicine Bottle has dropped and broken.”

It was not yet dusk. The Master, seated on the couch, was talking to M. Mahimacharan was on the semicircular porch engaged in a loud discussion of the scriptures with the physician friend of Mani Sen. Sri Ramakrishna heard it and with a smile said to M.: “There! He is delivering himself. That is the characteristic of rajas. It stimulates the desire to lecture and to show off one’s scholarship. But sattva makes one introspective. It makes one hide one’s virtues. But I must say that Mahima is a grand person. He takes such delight in spiritual talk.”

Adhar entered the room, saluted the Master, and sat by M.’s side. He had not come for the past few days.

MASTER: “Hello! Why haven’t you come all these days?.”

ADHAR: “Sir, I have been busy with so many things. I had to attend a conference of the school committee and various other meetings.”

MASTER: “So you completely lost yourself in schools and meetings and forgot everything else?”

ADHAR: “Everything else was hidden away in a corner of my mind. How is your arm?”

MASTER: “Just look. It is not yet healed. I have been taking medicine prescribed by Pratap.”

After a time the Master suddenly said to Adhar: “Look here. All these are unreal — meetings, school, office, and everything else. God alone is the Substance, and all else is illusory. One should worship God with one’s whole mind.”

Adhar sat without speaking a word.

MASTER: “All else is illusory. This moment the body is and the next moment it is not. One must make haste to worship God.6

“But you don’t have to renounce everything. Live in the world the way the tortoise does. The tortoise roams about in the water but keeps its eggs on land. Its whole mind is on the eggs.

“What a nice state of mind Captain has developed! He looks like a rishi when he is seated to perform worship. He performs the arati with lighted camphor and recites beautiful hymns. When he rises from his seat after finishing the worship, his eyes are swollen from emotion, as if bitten by ants. Besides, he always devotes himself to the study of the sacred books, such as the Gita and the Bhagavata. Once I used one or two English words before him, and that made him angry. He said, ‘English-educated people are profane.'”

After a while Adhar said humbly to the Master: “Sir, you haven’t been to our place for a long time. The drawing-room smells worldly and everything else appears to be steeped in darkness.”

The Master was deeply touched by these words of his devotee. He suddenly stood up and blessed M. and Adhar in an ecstatic mood, touching their heads and hearts. In a voice choked with love the Master said: “I look upon you as Narayana Himself. You are indeed my own.”

Mahimacharan entered the room.

MASTER (to Mahima): “What I said about aspirants practising continence is true. Without chastity one cannot assimilate these teachings.

“Once a man said to Chaitanya: ‘You give the devotees so much instruction. Why don’t they make much progress?’ Chaitanya said: ‘They dissipate their powers in the company of women. That is why they cannot assimilate spiritual instruction. If one keeps water in a leaky jar, the water escapes little by little through the leak.'”

Mahima and the other devotees remained silent. After a time Mahima said, “Please pray to God for us that we may acquire the necessary strength.”

MASTER: “Be on your guard even now. It is difficult, no doubt, to check the torrent in the rainy season. But a great deal of water has gone out. If you build the embankment now it will stand.”