VIJAY: "Sir, why are we bound like this? Why don't we see God?"
MASTER: "Maya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul. This egotism has covered everything like a veil. 'All troubles come to an end when the ego dies.’ If by the grace of God a man but once realizes that he is not the doer, then he at once becomes a Jivanmukta. Though living in the body, he is liberated. He has nothing else to fear.
"This maya, that is to say, the ego, is like a cloud. The sun cannot be seen on account of a thin patch of cloud; when that disappears one sees the sun. If by the grace of the guru one's ego vanishes, then one sees God.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 168-69
(14 December 1882)
Man is an insignificant creature. He cannot fulfil the difficult task of a teacher without receiving power direct from God.
VIJAY: "Don't the teachings of the Brahmo Samaj bring men salvation?"
MASTER: "How is it ever possible for one man to liberate another from the bondage of the world?
God alone, the Creator of this world-bewitching maya, can save men from maya. There is no other refuge but that great Teacher, Satchidananda.
How is it ever possible for men who have not realized God or received His command, and who are not strengthened with divine strength, to save others from the prison-house of the world?
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 168
(14 December 1882)
The bound creatures, entangled in worldliness, will not come to their senses at all. They suffer so much misery and agony, they face so many dangers, and yet they will not wake up.
The camel loves to eat thorny bushes. The more it eats the thorns, the more the blood gushes from its mouth. Still it must eat thorny plants and will never give them up.
The man of worldly nature suffers so much sorrow and affliction, but he forgets it all in a few days and begins his old life over again.
Suppose a man has lost his wife or she has turned unfaithful. Lo! He marries again.
Or take the instance of a mother: her son dies and she suffers bitter grief; but after a few days she forgets all about it. The mother, so overwhelmed with sorrow a few days before, now attends to her toilet and puts on her jewellery. A father becomes bankrupt through the marriage of his daughters, yet he goes on having children year after year.
People are ruined by litigation, yet they go to court all the same. There are men who cannot feed the children they have, who cannot clothe them or provide decent shelter for them; yet they have more children every year.
Again, the worldly man is like a snake trying to swallow a mole. The snake can neither swallow the mole nor give it up. The bound soul may have realized that there is no substance to the world-that the world is like a hog plum, only stone and skin-but still he cannot give it up and turn his mind to God.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 165
(14 December 1882)
Remember that daya, compassion, and maya, attachment, are two different things.
Attachment means the feeling of 'my-ness' toward one's relatives. It is the love one feels for one's parents, one's brother, one's sister, one's wife and children.
Compassion is the love one feels for all beings of the world. It is an attitude of equality.
If you see anywhere an instance of compassion, as in Vidyasagar, know that it is due to the grace of God. Through compassion one serves all beings. Maya also comes from God. Through maya God makes one serve one's relatives.
But one thing should be remembered: maya keeps us in ignorance and entangles us in the world, whereas daya makes our hearts pure and gradually unties our bonds.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 161
(December 1882)
Speaking of householders entangled in worldliness, the Master said:
"They are like the silk-worm. They can come out of the cocoon of their worldly life if they wish. But they can't bear to; for they themselves have built the cocoon with great love and care. So they die there.
Or they are like the fish in a trap. They can come out of it by the way they entered, but they sport inside the trap with other fish and hear the sweet sound of the murmuring water and forget everything else. They don't even make an effort to free themselves from the trap.
The lisping of children is the murmur of the water; and the other fish are relatives and friends. Only one or two make good their escape by running away. They are the liberated souls."
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 155
(November 15, 1882)
MASTER (to the Marwari devotees): "You see, the feeling of 'I' and 'mine' is the result of ignorance. But to say, 'O God, Thou art the Doer; all these belong to Thee' is the sign of Knowledge. How can you say such a thing as 'mine'? … …
Anger and lust cannot be destroyed. Turn them toward God. If you must feel desire and temptation, then desire to realize God, feel tempted by Him. Discriminate and turn the passions away from worldly objects. When the elephant is about to devour a plaintain-tree in someone's garden, the mahut strikes it with his iron-tipped goad.
"You are merchants. You know how to improve your business gradually. Some of you start with a castor-oil factory. After making some money at that, you open a cloth shop. In the same way, one makes progress toward God. It may be that you go into solitude, now and then, and devote more time to prayer.
"But you must remember that nothing can be achieved except in its proper time. Some persons must pass through many experiences and perform many worldly duties before they can turn their attention to God; so they have to wait a long time. If an abscess is lanced before it is soft, the result is not good; the surgeon makes the opening when it is soft and has come to a head.
Once a child said to its mother: 'Mother, I am going to sleep now. Please wake me up when I feel the call of nature.' 'My child,' said the mother, 'when it is time for that, you will wake up yourself. I shan't have to wake you.' "
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 162
(December 1882)
One must admit the existence of tendencies inherited from previous births.
There is a story about a man who practised the sava-sadhana. He worshipped the Divine Mother in a deep forest. First he saw many terrible visions. Finally a tiger attacked and killed him. Another man, happening to pass and seeing the approach of the tiger, had climbed a tree. Afterwards he got down and found all the arrangements for worship at hand. He performed some purifying ceremonies and seated himself on the corpse. No sooner had he done a little japa than the Divine Mother appeared before him and said: 'My child, I am very much pleased with you. Accept a boon from Me.'
He bowed low at the Lotus Feet of the Goddess and said: 'May I ask You one question, Mother? I am speechless with amazement at Your action. The other man worked so hard to get the ingredients for Your worship and tried to propitiate You for such a long time, but You didn't condescend to show him Your favour. And I, who don't know anything of worship, who have done nothing, who have neither devotion nor knowledge nor love, and who haven't practised any austerities, am receiving so much of Your grace.'
The Divine Mother said with a laugh: 'My child, you don't remember your previous births. For many births you tried to propitiate Me through austerities. As a result of those austerities all these things have come to hand, and you have been blessed with My Vision. Now ask Me your boon.'
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 163-64
(14 December 1882)
Yours is the path of bhakti. That is very good; it is an easy path. Who can fully know the infinite God? And what need is there of knowing the Infinite?
Having attained this rare human birth, my supreme need is to develop love for the Lotus Feet of God.
If a jug of water is enough to remove my thirst, why should I measure the quantity of water in a lake? I become drunk on even half a bottle of wine - what is the use of my calculating the quantity of liquor in the tavern? What need is there of knowing the Infinite?
The various states of mind of the Brahmajnani are described in the Vedas. The path of knowledge is extremely difficult. One cannot obtain jnāna if one has the least trace of worldliness and the slightest attachment to 'woman and gold'.
This is not the path for the Kaliyuga.
- Sri Ramakrishna to Brahmo Devotees,
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 150
(October 28, 1882)
Sri Ramakrishna went to see ‘Wilson Circus’ at Calcutta with devotees. In the circus, a horse raced around a circular track over which large iron rings were hung at intervals. The circus rider, an Englishwoman, stood on one foot on the horse's back, and as the horse passed under the rings, she jumped through them, always alighting on one foot on the horse's back. The horse raced around the entire circle, and the woman never missed the horse or lost her balance.
After the circus, Sri Ramakrishna said to M.: “Did you see how that Englishwoman stood on one foot on her horse, while it ran like lightning? How difficult a feat that must be! She must have practiced a long time. The slightest carelessness and she would break her arms or legs; she might even be killed.
One faces the same difficulty leading the life of a householder. A few succeed in it through the grace of God and as a result of their spiritual practice. But most people fail.
Entering the world, they become more and more involved in it; they drown in worldliness and suffer the agonies of death.
A few only, like Janaka, have succeeded, through the power of their austerity, in leading the spiritual life as householders. Therefore spiritual practice is extremely necessary; otherwise one cannot rightly live in the world.”
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 154
(November 15, 1882)
There is a sign of Perfect Knowledge. Man becomes silent when It is attained. Then the 'I', which may be likened to the salt doll, melts in the Ocean of Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute and becomes one with It. Not the slightest trace of distinction is left.
As long as his self-analysis is not complete, man argues with much ado. But he becomes silent when he completes it.
When the empty pitcher has been filled with water, when the water inside the pitcher becomes one with the water of the lake outside, no more sound is heard. Sound comes from the pitcher as long as the pitcher is not filled with water.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 148
(October 28, 1882)
A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Sir, has God forms or has He none?"
MASTER: "No one can say with finality that God is only 'this' and nothing else. He is formless, and again He has forms.
For the bhakta He assumes forms. But He is formless for the jnani, that is, for him who looks on the world as a mere dream.
The bhakta feels that he is one entity and the world another. Therefore God reveals Himself to him as a Person. But the jnani - the Vedantist, for instance - always reasons, applying the process of 'Not this, not this'. Through this discrimination he realizes, by his inner perception, that the ego and the universe are both illusory, like a dream.
Then the jnani realizes Brahman in his own consciousness. He cannot describe what Brahman is.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 148
(October 28, 1882)
Think of Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, as a shoreless ocean. Through the cooling influence, as it were, of the bhakta's love, the water has frozen at places into blocks of ice.
In other words, God now and then assumes various forms for His lovers and reveals Himself to them as a Person. But with the rising of the sun of Knowledge, the blocks of ice melt. Then one doesn't feel any more that God is a Person, nor does one see God's forms.
What He is cannot be described. Who will describe Him?
He who would do so disappears. He cannot find his 'I' any more.
If one analyses oneself, one doesn't find any such thing as 'I'. Take an onion, for instance. First of all you peel off the red outer skin; then you find thick white skins. Peel these off one after the other, and you won't find anything inside.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 148
(October 28, 1882)
To teach others, one must have a badge of authority; otherwise teaching becomes a mockery. A man who is himself ignorant starts out to teach others - like the blind leading the blind! Instead of doing good, such teaching does harm.
After the realization of God one obtains an inner vision. Only then can one diagnose a person's spiritual malady and give instruction. Without the commission from God, a man becomes vain. He says to himself, 'I am teaching people.' This vanity comes from ignorance, for only an ignorant person feels that he is the doer.
A man verily becomes liberated in life if he feels: 'God is the Doer. He alone is doing everything. I am doing nothing.'
Man's sufferings and worries spring only from his persistent thought that he is the doer.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 142
(October 27, 1882)
It is extremely difficult to teach others. A man can teach only if God reveals Himself to him and gives the command. Narada, Sukadeva, and sages like them had such a command from God, and Sankara had it too.
Unless you have a command from God, who will listen to your words? … …
… But it won't do if a man only imagines that he has God's command. God does reveal Himself to man and speak. Only then may one receive His command.
How forceful are the words of such a teacher! They can move mountains. But mere lectures? People will listen to them for a few days and then forget them. They will never act on mere words.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 141-42
(October 27, 1882)
BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Sir, is it possible for one to see God? If so, why can't we see Him?"
MASTER: "Yes, He can surely be seen. One can see His forms, and His formless aspect as well. How can I explain that to you?"
BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "What are the means by which one can see God?"
MASTER: "Can you weep for Him with intense longing of heart? Men shed a jugful of tears for the sake of their children, for their wives, or for money. But who weeps for God?
So long as the child remains engrossed with its toys, the mother looks after her cooking and other household duties. But when the child no longer relishes the toys, it throws them aside and yells for its mother. Then the mother takes the rice-pot down from the hearth, runs in haste, and takes the child in her arms."
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 149
(October 28, 1882)
Listen to a story. Once a man entered a wood and saw a small animal on a tree. He came back and told another man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red color on a certain tree.
The second man replied: 'When I went into the wood, I also saw that animal. But why do you call it red? It is green.'
Another man who was present contradicted them both and insisted that it was yellow. Presently others arrived and contended that it was grey, violet, blue, and so forth and so on. At last they started quarreling among themselves.
To settle the dispute they all went to the tree. They saw a man sitting under it. On being asked, he replied: 'Yes, I live under this tree and I know the animal very well. All your descriptions are true. Sometimes it appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times blue, violet, grey, and so forth. It is a chameleon. And sometimes it has no color at all. Now it has a color, and now it has none.'
In like manner, one who constantly thinks of God can know His real nature; he alone knows that God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms and aspects. God has attributes; then again He has none. Only the man who lives under the tree knows that the chameleon can appear in various colors, and he knows, further, that the animal at times has no color at all.
It is the others who suffer from the agony of futile argument.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 149-50
(October 28, 1882)
The ever-pure Brahman has been transformed into the Ganges to purify all beings.
So the Ganges is truly Brahman in the form of water.
The minds of all who live on the bank of the Ganges become divine, and the spiritual inclinations of these people manifest spontaneously. The air filled with moisture of the Ganges purifies the land as far as it blows. The people who live in that area are endowed with good conduct, devotion to God, steadfastness, generosity, and austerity by the grace of Ganges, the daughter of the great Himalayas.
- Sri Ramakrishna,
Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play, P 193
One may enter the world after attaining discrimination and dispassion.
In the ocean of the world there are six alligators: lust, anger, and so forth. But you need not fear the alligators if you smear your body with turmeric before you go into the water.
Discrimination and dispassion are the turmeric.
Discrimination is the knowledge of what is real and what is unreal. It is the realization that God alone is the real and eternal Substance and that all else is unreal, transitory, impermanent. And you must cultivate intense zeal for God. You must feel love for Him and be attracted to Him.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 140
(October 27, 1882)
The disease of worldliness is like typhoid. And there are a huge jug of water and a jar of savory pickles in the typhoid patient's room.
If you want to cure him of his illness, you must remove him from that room.
The worldly man is like the typhoid patient. The various objects of enjoyment are the huge jug of water, and the craving for their enjoyment is his thirst. The very thought of pickles makes the mouth water; you don't have to bring them near. And he is surrounded with them.
The companionship of woman is the pickles. Hence treatment in solitude is necessary.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 140
(October 27, 1882)
To my Divine Mother I prayed only for pure love. I offered flowers at Her Lotus Feet and prayed to Her:
'Mother, here is Thy virtue, here is Thy vice. Take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee.
Here is Thy knowledge, here is Thy ignorance. Take them both and grant me only pure love for Thee.
Here is Thy purity, here is Thy impurity. Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee.
Here is Thy dharma, here is Thy adharma. Take them both, Mother, and grant me only pure love for Thee.'
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 138
(October 27, 1882)
