Guru – God’s Command

God alone is the Doer, and we are all His instruments. Therefore it is impossible even for a Jnāni to be egotistic. The writer of a hymn to Śiva felt proud of his achievement; but his pride was dashed to pieces when Śiva's bull bared his teeth. He saw that each tooth was a word of the hymn. Do you understand the meaning of this? These words had existed from the beginning less past. The writer had only discovered them. 

It is not good to be a guru by profession. One cannot be a teacher without a command from God. He who says he is a guru is a man of mean intelligence. Haven't you seen a balance? The lighter side goes higher. He who is spiritually higher than others does not consider himself a guru. Everyone wants to be a teacher, but a disciple is hard to find.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 794 (13 June 1885)

Guardian for Minor

A guardian is appointed only for a minor. A boy cannot safeguard his property; therefore the king assumes responsibility for him. God does not take over our responsibilities unless we renounce our ego. 

Once Lakshmi and Narayana were seated in Vaikuntha, when Narayana suddenly stood up. Lakshmi had been stroking His feet. She said, 'Lord, where are You going?' Narayana answered: 'One of My devotees is in great danger. I must save him.' With these words He went out. But He came back immediately. Lakshmi said, 'Lord, why have You returned so soon?'  Narayana smiled and said: The devotee was going along the road overwhelmed with love for Me. Some washermen were drying clothes on the grass, and the devotee walked over the clothes. At this the washermen chased him and were going to beat him with their sticks. So I ran out to protect him.' 'But why have You come back?' asked Lakshmi. Narayana laughed and said: 'I saw the devotee himself picking up a brick to throw at them. (All laugh.) So I came back.' 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 790 (13 June 1885)

Nature of the Worldly

Worldly people are in a state of chronic intoxication - mad with 'woman and gold'; they are insensible to spiritual ideas. That is why I love the youngsters not yet stained by 'woman and gold'. They are 'good receptacles' and may become useful in God's work. But as for worldly people, you lose almost everything while trying to eliminate the worthless stuff in them. They are like bony fish - almost all bones and very little meat. 

Worldly people are like mangoes struck by hail. If you want to offer them to God, you have to purify them by sprinkling them with Ganges water. Even then they are seldom used in the temple worship. If you are to use them at all, you have to apply Brahmajnana, that is to say, you have to persuade yourself that it is God alone who has become everything.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 781 (23 May 1885)

Previous Life Sadhana

 

Story of Ranjit Raya

By dint of austerity, a man, may obtain God as his son. By the roadside on the way to Kamarpukur is Ranjit Raya's lake. Bhagavati, the Divine Mother, was born as his daughter.  Even now people hold an annual festival there in the month of Chaitra, in honour of this divine daughter. I feel very much like going there. 

Ranjit Raya was the landlord of that part of the country. Through the power of his tapasya he obtained the Divine Mother as his daughter. He was very fond of her, and she too was much attached to him; she hardly left his presence. One day Ranjit Raya was engaged in the duties of his estate. He was very busy. The girl, with her childlike nature, was constantly interrupting him, saying: 'Father, what is this? What is that?' Ranjit Raya tried, with sweet words, to persuade her not to disturb him, and said: 'my child, please leave me alone. I have much work to do.' But the girl would not go away. At last, absent-mindedly, the father said, 'Get out of here!' On this pretext she left home. A pedlar of conch-shell articles was going along the road. From him she took a pair of bracelets for her wrists. When he asked for the price, she said that he could get the money from a certain box in her home. Then she disappeared. Nobody saw her again. In the mean time the pedlar came to the house and asked for the price of his bracelets. When she was not to be found at home, her relatives began to run about looking for her. 

Ranjit Raya sent people in all directions to search for her. The money owed to the pedlar was found in the box, as she had indicated. Ranjit Raya was weeping bitterly, when people came running to him and said that they had noticed something in the lake. They all ran there and saw an arm, with conch-shell bracelets on the wrist, being waved above the water. A moment afterwards it disappeared. Even now people worship her as the Divine Mother at the time of the annual festival. 

(To M.) All this is true.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 797 (13 July 1885)

Only 'HE'

 

Sincere Yearning enables one to Realize God

The world is like an overcast sky that steadily pours down rain: the face of the sun is seldom seen. There is mostly suffering in the world. On account of the cloud of 'woman and gold' one cannot see the sun. Some people ask me: 'Sir, why has God created such a world? Is there no way out for us?' I say to them: 'why shouldn't there be a way out? Take shelter with God and pray to Him with a yearning heart for a favorable wind, that you may have things in your favor. If you call on Him with yearning, He will surely listen to you.' 

A man had a son who was on the point of death. In frenzy he asked remedies of different people. One of them said:' 'Here is a remedy: First it must rain when the star Svati is in the ascendant; then some of the rain must fall into a skull; then a frog must come there to drink the water, and a snake must chase it; and when the snake is about to bite the frog, the frog must hop away and the poison must fall into the skull. You should give the patient a little of the poison and rain-water from the skull.' The father set out eagerly to find the medicine when the star Svati was in the sky. It started raining. Fervently he said to God, 'O Lord, please get a skull for me.' Searching here and there, he at last found a skull with rain-water in it. Again he prayed to God, saying, 'O Lord, I beseech Thee, please help me find the frog and the snake.' Since he had great longing, he got the frog and the snake also. In the twinkling of an eye he saw a snake chasing a frog, and as it was about to bite the frog, its poison fell into the skull. 

If one takes shelter with God and prays to Him with great longing, God will surely listen; He will certainly make everything favorable.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 793 (13 June 1885)

Magician and His Magic

The truth is that God alone is real and all else unreal. Men, universe, house, and children - all these are like the magic of the magician. The magician strikes his wand and says: 'Come delusion! Come confusion!' Then he says to the audience, 'Open the lid of the pot; see the birds fly into the sky.' But the magician alone is real and his magic unreal. The unreal exists for a second and then vanishes. 

Śiva was seated in Kailas. His companion Nandi was near Him. Suddenly a terrific noise arose. 'Revered Sir,' asked Nandi, 'what does that mean?' Śiva said: 'Ravana is born. That is its meaning.' A few moments later another terrific noise was heard. 'Now what is this noise?' Nandi asked. Śiva said with a smile, 'Now Ravana is dead. Birth and death are like magic: you see the magic for a second and then it disappears. God alone is real and all else unreal. Water alone is real; its bubbles appear and disappear. They disappear into the very water from which they rise. 

God is like an ocean, and living beings are its bubbles. They are born there and they die there. Children are like the few small bubbles around a big one. 

God alone is real. Make an effort to cultivate love for Him and find out the means to realize Him.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 787-88 (13 June 1885)

Advice to the Worldly

A DEVOTEE: "Sir, what is the way for worldly people?" 

MASTER: "The Company of holy men. Worldly people should listen to spiritual talk. They are in a state of madness, intoxicated with 'woman and gold'. A drunkard should be given rice-water as an antidote. Drinking it slowly, he gradually recovers his normal consciousness. 

A worldly person should also receive instructions from a sadguru, a real teacher. Such a teacher has certain signs. You should hear about Banāras only from a man who has been to Banāras and seen it. Mere book-learning will not do. One should not receive instruction from a pundit who has not realized the world to be unreal. Only if a pundit has discrimination and renunciation is he entitled to instruct.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 780 (23 May 1885)

Knowledge of Brahman

 

Water and Ice

 

Master's Vision of Māyā

"One day He [God] showed me the māyā of Mahamaya. A small light inside a room began to grow, and at last it enveloped the whole universe.  

Further, He revealed to me a huge reservoir of water covered with green scum. The wind moved a little of the scum and immediately the water became visible; but in the twinkling of an eye, scum from all sides came dancing in and again covered the water. He revealed to me that the water was like Satchidananda, and the scum like māyā. On account of māyā, Satchidananda is not seen. Though now and then one may get a glimpse of It, again māyā covers It."   

- Sri Ramakrishna, Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 831 (9 August 1885)

Newspaper Knowledge

A DEVOTEE: "Bankim has written a life of Krishna." 

MASTER: "He accepts Krishna but not Radhika." 

CAPTAIN: "I see he doesn't accept Krishna's lila with the gopis."  

MASTER: "I also hear that Bankim says that one needs passions such as lust." 

A  DEVOTEE:  "He  has  written  in  his  magazine  that  the  purpose  of  religion  is  to  give expression to our various faculties: physical, mental, and spiritual." 

CAPTAIN: "I see. He believes that lust and so forth are necessary. But he doesn't believe that Sri Krishna could enjoy His sportive pleasure in the world, that God could incarnate Himself in a human form and sport in Vrindāvan with Radha and the gopis."  

MASTER (smiling): "But these things are, not written in the newspaper. How could he believe them? 

"A man said to his friend, 'Yesterday, as I was passing through a certain part of the city, I saw a house fall with a crash.' 'Wait', said the friend. 'Let me look it up in the newspaper.' But this incident wasn't mentioned in the paper. Thereupon the man said, 'But the paper doesn't mention it.' His friend replied, 'I saw it with my own eyes.' 'Be that as it may, said the man, 'I can't believe it as long as it isn't in the paper.' 

"How can Bankim believe that God sports about as a man? He doesn't get it from his English education. … … ” 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 789 (13 June 1885)

Original and Reflection

MASTER: "A man attains Brahmajnana as soon as his mind is annihilated. With the annihilation of the mind dies the ego, which says 'I', 'I'. One also attains the knowledge of Brahman by following the path of devotion. One also attains it by following the path of knowledge,  that  is  to  say,  discrimination.  The  jnanis  discriminate,  saying,  'Neti,  neti', that is, 'All this is illusory, like a dream.' They analyse the world through the process of 'Not this, not this'; it is māyā. When the world vanishes, only the jivas, that is to say, so many egos, remain. Each ego may be likened to a pot. Suppose there are ten pots filled with water, and the sun is reflected in them. How many suns do you see?"  

A DEVOTEE: "Ten reflections. Besides, there certainly exists the real Sun." 

MASTER: "Suppose you break one pot. How many suns do you see now?" 

DEVOTEE: "Nine reflected suns. But there certainly exists the real sun." 

MASTER: "All right. Suppose you break nine pots. How many suns do you see now?" 

DEVOTEE: "One reflected sun. But there certainly exists the real sun." 

MASTER (to Girish): "What remains when the last pot is broken?" 

GIRISH: "That real sun, sir." 

MASTER: "No. What remains cannot be described. What is remains. How will you know there is a real sun unless there is a reflected sun? 'I-consciousness' is destroyed in samādhi. A man climbing down from samādhi to the lower plane cannot describe what he has seen there." 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 776-77 (09 May 1885)

Futility of Mere Scholarship