One can rightly speak of God only after one has seen Him. He who has seen God knows really and truly that God has form and that He is formless as well. He has many other aspects that cannot be described.
Once some blind men chanced to come near an animal that someone told them was an elephant. They were asked what the elephant was like. The blind men began to feel its body.
One of them said the elephant was like a pillar; he had touched only its leg. Another said it was like a winnowing-fan; he had touched only its ear. In this way the others, having touched its tail or belly, gave their different versions of the elephant.
Just so, a man who has seen only one aspect of God limits God to that alone. It is his conviction that God cannot be anything else.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 191
(11 March 1883)
Some think: 'Oh, I am a bound soul. I shall never acquire knowledge and devotion.'
But if one receives the guru's grace, one has nothing to fear.
Once a tigress attacked a flock of goats. As she sprang on her prey, she gave birth to a cub and died. The cub grew up in the company of the goats. The goats ate grass and the cub followed their example. They bleated; the cub bleated too. Gradually it grew to be a big tiger.
One day another tiger attacked the same flock. It was amazed to see the grass-eating tiger. Running after it, the wild tiger at last seized it, whereupon the grass-eating tiger began to bleat. The wild tiger dragged it to the water and said: 'Look at your face in the water. It is just like mine. Here is a little meat. Eat it.'
Saying this, it thrust some meat into its mouth. But the grass-eating tiger would not swallow it and began to bleat again. Gradually, however, it got the taste for blood and came to relish the meat.
Then the wild tiger said: 'Now you see there is no difference between you and me. Come along and follow me into the forest.'
So there can be no fear if the guru's grace descends on one. He will let you know who you are and what your real nature is.
If the devotee practises spiritual discipline a little, the guru explains everything to him. Then the disciple understands for himself what is real and what is unreal.
God alone is real, and the world is illusory.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 232-33
(4 June 1883)
MARWARI DEVOTEE: "Sir, what is the meaning of the worship of the Personal God? And what is the meaning of God without form or attribute?"
MASTER: "As you recall your father by his photograph, so likewise the worship of the image reveals in a flash the nature of Reality.
"Do you know what God with form is like? Like bubbles rising on an expanse of water, various divine forms are seen to rise out of the Great Ākāśa of Consciousness.
The Incarnation of God is one of these forms. The Primal Energy sports, as it were, through the activities of a Divine Incarnation.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 180
(1 January 1883)
DEVOTEE: "Sir, why has God put us in the world?"
MASTER: "The world is the field of action. Through action one acquires knowledge. The guru instructs the disciple to perform certain works and refrain from others. Again, he advises the pupil to perform action without desiring the result. The impurity of the mind is destroyed through the performance of duty. It is like getting rid of a disease by means of medicine, under the instruction of a competent physician.
Why doesn't God free us from the world? Ah, He will free us when the disease is cured. He will liberate us from the world when we are through with the enjoyment of 'woman and gold'.
Once a man registers his name in the hospital, he cannot run away. The doctor will not let him go away unless his illness is completely cured.
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 185
(9 March 1883)
