Creation

She [Divine Mother] brings forth this phenomenal world and then pervades it. In the Vedas creation is likened to the spider and its web. The spider brings the web out of itself and then remains in it. 
God is the container of the universe and also what is contained in it.   

Is Kāli, my Divine Mother, of a black complexion? She appears black because She is viewed from a distance; but when intimately known She is no longer so. 
The sky appears blue at a distance; but look at it close by and you will find that it has no colour. The water of the ocean looks blue at a distance, but when you go near and take it in your hand, you find that it is colourless.  

   - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 135 
                       (October 27, 1882)

One Reality Different Names

The Reality is one and the same; the difference is in name and form. It is like water, called in different languages by different names, such as 'jal', 'pani', and so forth.  

There are three or four ghats on a lake. The Hindus, who drink water at one place, call it 'jal'. The Mussalmans at another place call it 'pani'. And the English at a third place call it 'water'. 
All three denote one and the same thing, the difference being in the name only.  

In the same way, some address the Reality as 'Allah', some as 'God', some as 'Brahman', some as 'Kāli', and others by such names as 'Rama', 'Jesus', 'Durga', 'Hari.'  

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 135 
                   (October 27, 1882)

Ego after Samadhi

Love of God

All Troubles due to “I”

Solitude for Householders

Even if one lives in the world, one must go into solitude now and then. It will be of great help to a man if he goes away from his family, lives alone, and weeps for God even for three days.  
Even if he thinks of God for one day in solitude, when he has the leisure, that too will do him good.  

People shed a whole jug of tears for wife and children. But who cries for the Lord? Now and then one must go into solitude and practise spiritual discipline to realize God.

Living in the world and entangled in many of its duties, the aspirant, during the first stage of spiritual life, finds many obstacles in the path of concentration. While the trees on the foot-path are young, they must he fenced around; otherwise they will be destroyed by cattle. The fence is necessary when the tree is young, but it can be taken away when the trunk is thick and strong.  Then the tree won't be hurt even if an elephant is tied to it.   

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 139-40 
                    (October 27, 1882)

Power of Mind

"The mind is everything. A man has his wife on one side and his daughter on the other. He shows his affection to them in different ways. But his mind is one and the same.   

"Bondage is of the mind, and freedom is also of the mind. A man is free if he constantly thinks: 'I am a free soul. How can I be bound, whether I live in the world or in the forest? I am a child of God, the King of Kings. Who can bind me?' 
If bitten by a snake, a man may get rid of its venom by saying emphatically, 'There is no poison in me.' In the same way, by repeating with grit and determination, 'I am not bound, I am free', one really becomes so-one really becomes free.   

"Once someone gave me a book of the Christians. I asked him to read it to me. It talked  about nothing but sin. (To Keshab) Sin is the only thing one hears of at your Brahmo Samaj, too.  The wretch who constantly says, 'I am bound, I am bound' only succeeds in being bound. He who says day and night, 'I am a sinner, I am a sinner' verily becomes a sinner. 
One should have such burning faith in God that one can say: 'What? I have repeated the name of God, and can sin still cling to me? How can I be a sinner any more? How can I be in bondage any more?'  

"If a man repeats the name of God, his body, mind, and everything become pure. Why should one talk only about sin and hell, and such things? Say but once, 'O Lord, I have undoubtedly done wicked things, but I won't repeat them.' And have faith in His name.”  

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 138 
                   (October 27, 1882)

Futility of Mere Lecturing

It’s All in Mind

It is all a question of the mind. Bondage and liberation are of the mind alone. 

The mind will take the color you dye it with. It is like white clothes just returned from the laundry. If you dip them in red dye, they will be red. If you dip them in blue or green, they will be blue or green. They will take only the color you dip them in, whatever it may be. 

Haven't you noticed that, if you read a little English, you at once begin to utter English words: Foot fut it mit? Then you put on boots and whistle a tune, and so on. It all goes together. Or, if a scholar studies Sanskrit, he will at once rattle off Sanskrit verses. 
If you are in bad company, then you will talk and think like your companions. On the other hand, when you are in the company of devotees, you will think and talk only of God.  

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 138 
                   (October 27, 1882)

Divine Mother's Sport

Then the Master sang the following song in his melodious voice: 
            In the world's busy market-place, O Syama, 
                                                              Thou art flying kites; 
            High up they soar on the wind of hope, 
                                                         held fast by maya's string. 
            Their frames are human skeletons, 
                                       their sails of the three gunas made; 
            But all their curious workmanship is merely 
                                                                           for ornament. 
            Upon the kite-strings Thou hast rubbed 
                                               the manja-paste of worldliness, 
            So as to make each straining strand all the 
                                                          more sharp and strong. 
            Out of a hundred thousand kites, 
                                         at best but one or two break free; 
            And Thou dost laugh and clap Thy hands, 
                                              O Mother, watching them! 
            On favouring winds, says Ramprasad, 
                                             the kites set loose will speedily 
            Be borne away to the Infinite, 
                                               across the sea of the world.
  
     - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 136 
                        (October 27, 1882) 

Humans have Inner Differences

Identity of Brahman and Shakti

… Brahman and Shakti are identical. If you accept the one, you must accept the other. It is like fire and its power to burn. If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also. You cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor can you think of the power to burn without fire.  
You cannot conceive of the sun's rays without the sun, nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays.   

What is milk like? Oh, you say, it is something white. You cannot think of the milk without the whiteness, and again, you cannot think of the whiteness without the milk. 

Thus one cannot think of Brahman without Shakti, or of Shakti without Brahman. One cannot think of the Absolute without the Relative, or of the Relative without the Absolute. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 134 
                   (October 27, 1882)

All is possible with God

Nothing is impossible for God. Nobody can describe His nature in words. Everything is possible for Him. 

There lived at a certain place two yogis who were practicing spiritual discipline. The sage Narada was passing that way one day. Realizing who he was, one of the yogis said: 'You have just come from God Himself. What is He doing now?' 
Narada replied, 'Why, I saw Him making camels and elephants pass and repass through the eye of a needle.' 
At this the yogi said: 'Is that anything to wonder at? Everything is possible for God.' But the other yogi said: 'What? Making elephants pass through the eye of a needle - is that ever possible? You have never been to the Lord's dwelling-place.' 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 124 
                  (October 16, 1882)

Satchidananda is Guru

Brahman Alone is Real

Attitude of Jnānis and Bhaktās

He who is called Brahman by the jnanis is known as Ātman by the yogis and as Bhagavan by the bhaktas. The same brahmin is called priest, when worshipping in the temple, and cook, when preparing a meal in the kitchen. 

The jnani sticking to the path of knowledge, always reasons about the Reality, saying, 'Not this, not this'. Brahman is neither 'this' nor 'that'; It is neither the universe nor its living beings. Reasoning in this way, the mind becomes steady.  Then it disappears and the aspirant goes into samādhi. 
This is the knowledge of Brahman. It  is the unwavering conviction of the jnani that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory. All these names and forms are illusory, like a dream. What Brahman is cannot be described. One cannot even say that Brahman is a Person. 
This is the opinion of the jnanis, the followers of Vedanta philosophy.   

But the bhaktas accept all the states of consciousness. They take the waking state to be real also. They don't think the world to be illusory, like a dream. They say that the universe is a manifestation of God's power and glory. God has created all these - sky, stars, moon, sun, mountains, ocean, men, animals. They constitute His glory. He is within us, in our hearts. Again, He is outside. 
The most advanced devotees say that He Himself  has  become  all  this  -  the twenty-four cosmic principles, the universe, and all living beings. 
The devotee of God wants to eat sugar, not to become sugar. (All laugh.) 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 133 
                  (October 27, 1882)

First Ecstasy

In that part of the country [Kamarpukur] children are given puffed rice to eat from small baskets. Those who are poor and have not baskets eat from the corner of their wearing cloth. Boys go out to play on the roads or in the fields carrying puffed rice either in a basket or in the corner of their cloth. 

It was June or July. I was then six or seven years old. One morning I took some puffed rice in a small basket and was eating it as I walked along the narrow ridges of the rice fields. In one part of the sky a beautiful black cloud appeared, heavy with rain. I was watching it and eating the puffed rice. Very soon the cloud covered almost the whole sky. Then a flock of cranes came flying, white as milk against the black cloud. 

It was so beautiful that I became absorbed in the sight; I lost consciousness of everything outside of myself. I fell down, and the puffed rice was scattered over the ground. I cannot say how long I was in that state. Some people saw this and carried me home. 
That was the first time I lost external consciousness due to ecstasy. 

          - Sri Ramakrishna, 
                    Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play, P 167

Avatar and Individual Soul

Disciplines of Tantra

Different Attitudes of Aspirants

 … in order to realize God, one must assume one of these attitudes: Śānta, Dāsya, sakhya, Vātsalya, or Madhur.
   
Śānta, 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.
   
Dāsya, 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 Yaśoda had toward Krishna.   

Sakhya, the attitude of friendship. Friends say to one another, 'Come here and sit near me.' Sridāmā and other friends sometimes fed Krishna with fruit, part of which they had already eaten, and sometimes climbed on His shoulders.   
Vātsalya, the attitude of a mother toward her child. This was Yaśoda'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. Yaśoda 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. 

           - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 115 
                              (August 24, 1882)

One God

God and Worldly Duties

MASTER: "Perform your duties in an unselfish spirit. … … 
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." 

                - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 113-14 
                   (August 24, 1882)

Seeing God Everywhere

Money and Worldly Duties

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." 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 114 
                    (August 24, 1882)

Drawing-room of God

Spiritual Disciplines

MASTER: "A little spiritual discipline is necessary in order to know what lies within." 

M: "Is it necessary to practice 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 favorable 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'.” 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 112 
                    (August 24, 1882)

Bhakti – Essence of Spiritual Discipline

Many Names of One God

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. 

                        - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 112 

                            (August 13, 1882) 

All Religions are True

Parable of the Wood-Cutter

"Go forward. A wood-cutter once entered a forest to gather wood. A brahmachari said to him, 'Go forward.' 
He obeyed the injunction and discovered some sandal-wood trees. After a few days he reflected, 'The holy man asked me to go forward. He didn't tell me to stop here.' 
So he went forward and found a silver-mine. After a few days he went still farther and discovered a gold-mine, and next, mines of diamonds and precious stones. With these he became immensely rich." 

"Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then, through His grace one realizes Him in course of time. God can be seen. One can talk to him as I am talking to you."

In silent wonder they all sat listening to the Master's words. It seemed to them that the Goddess of Wisdom Herself, seated on Sri Ramakrishna's tongue was addressing these words not merely to Vidyasagar, but to all humanity for its good. 

                        - Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 109 

                            (August 5, 1882)