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)
… 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)
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)
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)
