Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

IT WAS ABOUT EIGHT O’CLOCK in the morning when M. arrived at the temple garden and found Sri Ramakrishna seated on the small couch in his room. A few devotees were sitting on the floor. The Master was talking to them. Prankrishna Mukherji was there.

Prankrishna belonged to an aristocratic family and lived in the northern part of Calcutta. He held a high post in an English business firm. He was very much devoted to Sri Ramakrishna and, though a householder, derived great pleasure from the study of Vedanta philosophy. He was a frequent visitor at the temple garden. Once he invited the Master to his house in Calcutta and held a religious festival. Every day, early in the morning, he bathed in the holy water of the Ganges. Whenever it was convenient, he would come to Dakshineswar in a hired country boat.

That morning he had hired a boat and invited M. to accompany him to Dakshineswar. The boat had hardly left shore when the river became choppy. M. had become frightened and begged Prankrishna to put him back on land. In spite of assurances, M. had kept saying: “You must put me ashore. I shall walk to Dakshineswar.” And so M. came on foot and found Sri Ramakrishna talking to Prankrishna and the others.

MASTER (to Prankrishna): “But there is a greater manifestation of God in man. You may ask, ‘How is it possible for God to be incarnated as a man who suffers from hunger, thirst, and the other traits of an embodied being, and perhaps also from disease and grief?’ The reply is, ‘Even Brahman weeps, entrapped in the snare of the five elements.’

“Don’t you know how Rama had to weep, stricken with grief for Sita? Further, it is said that the Lord incarnated Himself as a sow in order to kill the demon Hiranyaksha. Hiranyaksha was eventually killed, but God would not go back to His abode in heaven. He enjoyed His sow’s life. He had given birth to several young ones and was rather happy with them. The gods said among themselves: ‘What does this mean? The Lord doesn’t care to return to heaven!’ They all went to Siva and laid the matter before him. Siva came down and urged the Lord to leave the sow body and return to heaven. But the sow only suckled her young ones. (Laughter.) Then Siva destroyed the sow body with his trident, and the Lord came out laughing aloud and went back to His own abode.”

PRANKRISHNA (to the Master): “Sir, what is the Anahata sound?”

MASTER: “It is a spontaneous sound constantly going on by itself. It is the sound of the Pranava, Om. It originates in the Supreme Brahman and is heard by yogis. People immersed in worldliness do not hear it. A yogi alone knows that this sound originates both from his navel and from the Supreme Brahman resting on the Ocean of Milk.”1

PRANKRISHNA: “Sir, what is the nature of the life after death?”

MASTER: “Keshab Sen also asked that question. As long as a man remains ignorant, that is to say, as long as he has not realized God, so long will he be born. But after attaining Knowledge he will not have to come back to this earth or to any other plane of existence.

“The potter puts his pots in the sun to dry. Haven’t you noticed that among them there are both baked and unbaked ones? When a cow happens to walk over them, some of the pots get broken to pieces. The broken pots that are already baked, the potter throws away, since they are of no more use to him. But the soft ones, though broken, he gathers up. He makes them into a lump and out of this forms new pots. In the same way, so long as a man has not realized God, he will have to come back to the Potter’s hand, that is, he will have to be born again and again.

“What is the use of sowing a boiled paddy grain? It will never bring forth a shoot. Likewise, if a man is boiled in the fire of Knowledge, he will not be used for new creation. He is liberated.

“According to the Puranas, the bhakta and the Bhagavan are two separate entities. ‘I’ am one and ‘You’ are another. The body is a plate, as it were, containing the water of mind, intelligence, and ego. Brahman is like the sun. It is reflected in the water. Therefore the devotee sees the divine form.

“According to the Vedanta, Brahman alone is real and all else is maya, dreamlike and unsubstantial. The ego, like a stick, lies across the Ocean of Satchidananda. (To M.) Listen to what I am saying. When this ego is taken away, there remains only one undivided Ocean of Satchidananda. But as long as the stick of ego remains, there is an appearance of two: here is one part of the water and there another part. Attaining the Knowledge of Brahman one is established in samadhi. Then the ego is effaced.

“But Sankaracharya retained the ‘ego of Knowledge’2 in order to teach men. (To Prankrishna) But there are signs that distinguish the man of Knowledge. Some people think they have Knowledge. What are the characteristics of Knowledge? A jnani cannot injure anybody. He becomes like a child. If a steel sword touches the philosopher’s stone, it is transformed into gold. Gold can never cut. It may seem from the outside that a jnani also has anger or egotism, but in reality he has no such thing.

“From a distance a burnt string lying on the ground may look like a real one; but if you come near and blow at it, it disappears altogether. The anger and egotism of a jnani are mere appearances; they are not real.

“A child has no attachment. He makes a play house, and if anyone touches it, he will jump about and cry. The next moment he himself will break it. This moment he may be very attached to his cloth. He says: ‘My daddy has given it to me. I won’t part with it.’ But the next moment you can cajole him away from it with a toy. He will go away with you, leaving the cloth behind.

“These are the characteristics of a jnani. Perhaps he has many luxuries at home — couch, chairs, paintings, and equipage. But any day he may leave all these and go off to Benares.

“According to Vedanta the waking state, too, is unreal. Once a wood-cutter lay dreaming, when someone woke him up. Greatly annoyed, he said: ‘Why have you disturbed my sleep? I was dreaming that I was a king and the father of seven children. The princes were becoming well versed in letters and military arts. I was secure on my throne and ruled over my subjects. Why have you demolished my world of joy?’ ‘But that was a mere dream’, said the other man. ‘Why should that bother you?’ Fool!’ said the wood-cutter. ‘You don’t understand. My becoming a king in the dream was just as real as is mv being a wood-cutter. If being a wood-cutter is real, then being a king in a dream is real also.'”

Prankrishna always talked about jnana. Was this why the Master described the state of the jnani? Now he proceeded to describe the state of the vijnani.

MASTER: “Jnana is the realization of Self through the process of ‘Neti, neti’, ‘Not this, not this’. One goes into samadhi through this process of elimination and realizes the Atman.

“But vijnana means Knowledge with a greater fullness. Some have heard of milk, some have seen milk, and some have drunk milk. He who has merely heard of it is ‘ignorant’. He who has seen it is a jnani. But he who has drunk it has vijnana, that is to say, a fuller knowledge of it. After having the vision of God one talks to Him as if He were an intimate relative. That is vijnana.

“First of all you must discriminate, following the method of ‘Neti, neti’: ‘He is not the five elements, nor the sense-organs, nor the mind, nor the intelligence, nor the ego. He is beyond all these cosmic principles.’ You want to climb to the roof; then you must eliminate and leave behind all the steps, one by one. The steps are by no means the roof. But after reaching the roof you find that the steps are made of the same materials — brick, lime, and brick-dust — as the roof. It is the Supreme Brahman that has become the universe and its living beings and the twenty-four cosmic principles. That which is Atman has become the five elements. You may ask why the earth is so hard, if it has come out of Atman? All is possible through the will of God. Don’t you see that bone and flesh are made from blood and semen? How hard ‘sea-foam’3 becomes!

“After attaining vijnana one can live in the world as well. Then one clearly realizes that God Himself has become the universe and all living beings, that He is not outside the world.

(To Prankrishna) “The fact is that one must have the ‘spiritual eye’. You will develop that eye as soon as your mind becomes pure. Take for instance the Kumari Puja. I worshipped a virgin. The girl, to be sure, had all her human imperfections; still I regarded her as the Divine Mother Herself.

“On one side is the wife and on the other the son. Love is bestowed on both, but in different ways. Therefore it comes to this, that everything depends upon the mind. The pure mind acquires a new attitude. Through that mind one sees God in this world. Therefore one needs spiritual discipline.

“Yes, spiritual discipline is necessary. You should know that a man becomes easily attached to a woman. A woman naturally loves a man, and a man also naturally loves a woman. Therefore both fall speedily from their spiritual ideal. But it also must be said that there is a great advantage in leading the life of a householder. In case of urgent necessity a man may live with his wife.

(Smiling) “Well, M., why are you smiling?”

M. (to himself): “The Master makes this much allowance for householders since they cannot renounce everything. Is complete and absolute continence impossible for a householder?”

The hathayogi who had been living in the Panchavati entered the room. He was in the habit of taking milk and opium. He did not eat rice or other food and had no money to buy the milk and opium. The Master had talked with him in the Panchavati. The hathayogi had told Rakhal to ask the Master to make some provision for him, and Sri Ramakrishna had promised ito speak about it to the visitors from Calcutta.

HATHAYOGI (to the Master): “What did you say to Rakhal about me?”

MASTER: “I said that I would ask some rich visitors to help you. But — (to Prankrishna) you, perhaps, do not like these yogis?”

Prankrishna remained silent. The hathayogi left the room and the conversation went on.

MASTER (to Prankrishna and the others): “If a man leads a householder’s life he must have unflagging devotion to truth. God can be realized through truth alone. Formerly I was very particular about telling the truth, though now my zeal has abated a little. If I said, ‘I shall bathe’, then I would get into the water of the Ganges, recite the mantra, and sprinkle a little water over my head. But still there would remain some doubt in me as to whether my bath was complete. Once I went to Ram’s house in Calcutta. I happened to say, ‘I shall not take any luchi.’ When I sat down for the meal I felt hungry. But I had said I would not eat the luchi; so I had to fill my stomach with sweets. (All laugh.)

“But my zeal for truthfulness has abated a little now. Once I said I would go to the pine-grove, but then I felt I had no particular urge to go. What was to be done? I asked Ram (Ram Chatterji, the priest in the Radihakanta temple.) about it. He said I didn’t have to go. Then I reasoned to myself: ‘Well, everyone is Narayana. So Ram, too, is Narayana. Why shouldn’t I listen to him? The elephant is Narayana no doubt, but the mahut is Narayana too. Since the mahut asked me not to go near the elephant, then why shouldn’t I obey him?’ Through reasoning like this my zeal for truthfulness is slightly less strong now than before.

“I find a change coming over me. Years ago Vaishnavcharan said to me, ‘One attains Perfect Knowledge when one sees God in man.’ Now I see that it is God alone who is moving about in various forms: as a holy man, as a cheat, as a villain. Therefore I say, ‘Narayana in the guise of the sadhu, Narayana in the guise of the cheat, Narayana in the guise of the villain, Narayana in the guise of the lecher.’

“Now my problem is how I can feed all of you. I want to feed everyone. So I keep one at a time with me and feed him.”

Prankrishna (looking at M. and smiling): “A fine man, indeed! (To the Master) He would not let us go till we put him ashore.”

MASTER (smiling): “Why? What happened?”

PRANKRISHNA: “He was in our boat. Seeing that the river was slightly rough, he insisted on being put ashore. (To M.) How did you come?”

M. (smiling): “On foot.”

Sri Ramakrishna laughed.

PRANKRISHNA (to the Master): “Sir, I am thinking now of giving up my work. One who is involved in activity cannot accomplish anything. (Pointing to his companion) I am training him to do my work. After I resign, he will relieve me. Work has become intolerable.”

MASTER: “Yes, work is very troublesome. It is now good for you to meditate on God for a few days in solitude. No doubt you say that you would like to give up your work. Captain said the same thing. Worldly people talk that way; but they don’t succeed in carrying out their intention.

“There are many pundits who speak words of wisdom. But they merely talk; they don’t live up to them. They are like vultures, which soar very high but keep their gaze fixed on the charnel-pit. What I mean is that these pundits are attached to the world, to ‘woman and gold’. If I hear that pundits are practising discrimination and dispassion, then I fear them. Otherwise I look upon them as mere goats and dogs.”

Prankrishna saluted the Master and took his leave. He said to M., “Will you come with us?”

M: “No, sir! Catch me going with you again! Good-bye.”

Prankrishna laughed and said, “I see you won’t come in the boat.”

M. took a little stroll near the Panchavati and bathed in the river. Then he went to the temples of Radhakanta and Kali and prostrated himself before the images. He said to himself: “I have heard that God has no form. Then why do I bow before these images? Is it because Sri Ramakrishna believes in gods and goddesses with form? I don’t know anything about God, nor do I understand Him. The Master believes in images; then why shouldn’t I too, who am so insignificant a creature, accept them?”

M. looked at the image of Kali. Me saw that the Divine Mother holds in Her two left hands a man’s severed head and a sword. With Her two right hands She offers boons and reassurance to Her devotees. In one aspect She is terrible, and in another She is the ever affectionate Mother of Her devotees. The two ideals are harmonized in Her. She is compassionate and affectionate to Her devotees, to those who are submissive and helpless. It is also true that She is terrible, the “Consort of Death”. She alone knows why She assumes two aspects at the same time.

M. remembered this interpretation of Kali given by the Master. He said to himself, “I have heard that Keshab accepted Kali in Sri Ramakrishna’s presence. Is this, as Keshab used to say, the Goddess, all Spirit and Consciousness; manifesting Herself through a clay image?”