Signs of God-vision & Different moods of Liberated Souls

There are signs by which you can know whether a man has truly seen God. One of these is joy; there is no hesitancy in him. He is like the ocean: the waves and sounds are on the surface; below are profound depths. The man who has seen God behaves sometimes like a madman; sometimes like a ghoul, without any feeling of purity or impurity; sometimes like an inert thing, remaining speechless because he sees God within and without; sometimes like a child, without any attachment, wandering about unconcernedly with his cloth under his arm. Again, in the mood of a child, he acts in different ways: sometimes like a boy, indulging in frivolity; sometimes like a young man, working and teaching with the strength of a lion. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 678 (14 December 1884)

Duties of Householders

MASTER: "For you, as Chaitanya said, the disciplines to be practised are kindness to living beings, service to the devotees, and chanting the name of God. 

(To Surendra) "Why do I say all this to you? You work in a merchant's office. I say this to you because you have many duties to perform there. 

"You tell lies at the office. Then why do I eat the food you offer me? Because you give your money in charity; you give away more than you earn. 'The seed of the melon is bigger than the fruit', as the saying goes.  

"I cannot eat anything offered by miserly people. Their wealth is squandered in these ways: first, litigation; second, thieves and robbers; third, physicians; fourth, their wicked children's extravagance. It is like that.   

Your giving money away in charity is very good. Those who have money should give in charity. The miser's wealth is spirited away, but the money of the charitable person is saved. He spends it for a righteous purpose. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 696 (22 February 1885)

Paramhamsa State

 

God Alone Real

 

Faith in Guru

One must have faith in the guru's words. The guru is none other than Satchidananda. God Himself is the Guru.

If you only believe his words like a child, you will realize God. What faith a child has! When a child's mother says to him about a certain man, 'He is your brother', the child believes he really is his brother. The child believes it one hundred and twenty-five percent, though he may be the son of a brahmin, and the man the son of a blacksmith. The mother says to the child, 'There is a bugaboo in that room', and the child really believes there is a bugaboo in the room. Such is the faith of a child! One must have this childlike faith in the guru's words. God cannot be realized by a mind that is hypocritical, calculating, or argumentative.

One must have faith and sincerity. Hypocrisy will not do. To the sincere, God is very near; but He is far, far away from the hypocrite. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 673

           (6 December 1884)

Divine Incarnation and the Ordinary Man

MASTER: “You partake of the nature of him on whom you meditate. By worshipping Śiva you acquire the nature of Śiva. A devotee of Rāma meditated on Hanuman day and night. He used to think he had become Hanuman. In the end he was firmly convinced that he had even grown a little tail. Jnāna is the characteristic of Śiva, and bhakti of Vishnu. One who partakes of Śiva's nature becomes a Jnāni, and one who partakes of Vishnu's nature becomes a bhakta." 

M: "But what about Chaitanyadeva? You said he had both knowledge and devotion." 

MASTER (sharply): "His case was different. He was an Incarnation of God. There is a great difference between him and an ordinary man. The fire of Chaitanya's renunciation was so great that when Sarvabhauma poured sugar on his tongue, instead of melting, it evaporated into air. He was always absorbed in samādhi. How great was his conquest of lust! To compare him with a man! A lion eats meat and yet it mates only once in twelve years; but a sparrow eats grain and it indulges in sex-life day and night. Such is the difference between a Divine Incarnation and an ordinary human being. An ordinary man renounces lust; but once in a while he forgets his vow. He cannot control himself.” 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 688 (27 December 1884)

Last Word in Spirituality

 

Yearning for God-Vision

One must have for God the yearning of a child. The child sees nothing but confusion when his mother is away. You may try to cajole him by putting a sweetmeat in his hand; but he will not be fooled. He only says, 'No, I want to go to my mother.' One must feel such yearning for God. Ah, what yearning! How restless a child feels for his mother! Nothing can make him forget his mother. He to whom the enjoyment of worldly happiness appears tasteless, he who takes no delight in anything of the world - money, name, creature comforts, sense pleasure - becomes sincerely grief-stricken for the vision of the Mother. And to him alone the Mother comes running, leaving all Her other duties. 

Ah, that restlessness is the whole thing. Whatever path you follow - whether you are a Hindu, a Mussalman, a Christian, a Shakta, a Vaishnava, or a Brahmo - the vital point is restlessness. God is our Inner Guide. It doesn't matter if you take a wrong path - only you must be restless for Him. He Himself will put you on the right path. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 673 (6 December 1884)

Giving up Animal Feeling

 

Pure Love

 

Charity - Rama's Will

MASTER: “… Sitting on the bank of the Ganges below the Panchavati, I used to say, 'Rupee is clay and clay is rupee;' Then I threw both into the Ganges." 

BANKIM: "Indeed! Money is clay! Sir, if you have a few pennies you can help the poor. If money is clay, then a man cannot give in charity or do good to others."

MASTER (to Bankim): "Charity! Doing good! How dare you say you can do good to others? Man struts about so much; but if one pours foul water into his mouth when he is asleep, he doesn't even know it; his mouth overflows with it. Where are his boasting, his vanity, his pride, then? 

"A sannyāsi must give up 'woman and gold'; he cannot accept it any more. One must not swallow one's own spittle. When a sannyāsi gives something to another, he knows that it is not himself who gives. Kindness belongs to God alone. How can a man lay claim to it? Charity depends on the will of Rāma. A true sannyāsi renounces 'woman and gold' both mentally and outwardly. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 670 (6 December 1884)

First God

 

Meaning of Radha and Krishna

ADHAR (introducing Bankim [Chandra Chatterji]): "Sir, he is a great scholar and has written many books. He has come here to see you. His name is Bankim Babu." 

MASTER (smiling): "Bankim! Well, what has made you bent?" 

BANKIM (smiling): "Why, sir, boots are responsible for it. The kicks of our white masters have bent my body." 

MASTER: "No, my dear sir! Sri Krishna was bent on account of His ecstatic love. His body was bent in three places owing to His love for Radha. That is how some people explain Sri Krishna's form. 

Do you know why He has a deep-blue complexion? And why He is of such small stature-only three and a half cubits measured by His own hand? God looks so as long as He is seen from a distance. So the water of the ocean looks blue from afar. But if you go near the ocean and take the water in your hand, you will no longer find it blue; it will be very clear, transparent. So the sun appears small because it is very far away; if you go near it, you will no longer find it small. When one knows the true nature of God, He appears neither blue nor small. But that is a far-off vision; one does not see it except in samādhi. As long as 'I' and 'you' exist, name and form will also exist. 

Everything is God's lila. His sportive pleasure. As long as a man is conscious of 'I' and 'you', he will experience the manifestations of God through diverse forms. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 666-67 (6 December 1884)

Sannyasi

 

See God in the World

MAHIMA: "Can a man live in the world if his mind is once directed to God?" 

MASTER: "Why not? Where will he go away from the world? I realize that wherever I live I am always in the Ayodhya of Rāma. This whole world is Rāma's Ayodhya. After receiving instruction from His teacher, Rāma said that He would renounce the world. Daśaratha sent the sage Vasishtha to Rāma to dissuade Him. Vasishtha found Him filled with intense renunciation. He said to Rāma: 'First of all, reason with me, Rāma; then You may leave the world. May I ask You if this world is outside, God? If that is so, then You may give it up.' Rāma found that it is God alone who has become the universe and all its living beings. Everything in the world appears real on account of God's reality behind it. Thereupon Rāma became silent. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 648 (26 October 1884)

Superior Devotee