God’s Power

 

Faith and Self-surrender

One realizes God even if one believes Him to be formless. One also realizes God if one believes that God has form. 

Two things are necessary for the realization of God; faith and self-surrender. Man is ignorant by nature. Errors are natural to him. Can a one-seer pot hold four seers of milk? Whatever path you may follow, you must pray to God with a restless heart. He is the Ruler of the soul within. He will surely listen to your prayer if it is sincere. Whether you follow the ideal of the Personal God or that of the Impersonal Truth, you will realize God alone, provided you are restless for Him. A cake with icing tastes sweet whether you eat it straight or sidewise. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 867 (22 October 1885)

Dignity and Alertness

 

Mother of All Things

O Mother, Saviour of the helpless, Thou the Slayer of sin! 

In Thee do the three Gunās dwell-sattva, rajas, and tamas. 

Thou dost create the world: Thou dost sustain it and destroy it; 

Binding Thyself with attributes, Thou yet transcendest them; 

             For Thou, O Mother, art the All. 

Kāli Thou art, and Tara, and Thou the Ultimate Prakriti; 

Thou art the Fish, the Turtle, the Boar, and all other Avatars 

Earth, water, air, and fire art Thou, and Thou the sky, 

             O Mother of the Absolute! 

The Samkhya, Patanjala, Mimamsaka, and Nyaya 

For ever seek to fathom Thee and know Thine inmost nature; 

Vedānta and Vaiseshika are searching after Thee; 

            But none of them has found Thee out. 

Though free of limitations, beginningless and without end, 

Yet for Thy loving bhaktas' sake Thou wearest varying forms. 

The terrors of this world Thou dost remove, and Thou dost dwell 

              Alike in present, past, and future. 

Thou dost appear with form, to him who loves Thee as a Person; 

Thou art the Absolute, to him who worships formless Truth. 

Some there are who speak alone of the resplendent Brahman; 

Even this, O Blissful Mother, is nothing else but Thee! 

Each man, according to his measure, makes his image of the Truth,  

            Calling it the Highest Brahman. 

Beyond this does Turiya shine, the Indescribable: 

O Mother of all things, who dost pervade the universe, 

          Everyone of these art Thou! 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 872 (23 October 1885)

Futility of Argument

 

All Sadhanas

 

Master saw Devotees before their Arrival

God reveals the nature of the devotees to me before they arrive. I saw Chaitanya's party singing and dancing near the Panchavati, between the banyan-tree and the bakul-tree. I noticed Balarām there. If it weren't for him, who would there be to supply me with sugar candy and such things? (Pointing to M.) And I saw him too. 

I had seen Keshab before I actually met him - I had seen him and his party in my samādhi. In front of me sat a roomful of men. Keshab looked like a peacock sitting with its tail spread out. The tail meant his followers. I saw a red gem on Keshab's head. That indicated his rajas. He said to his disciples, 'Please listen to what he [meaning the Master] is saying.' I said to the Divine Mother: 'Mother, these people hold the views of "Englishmen". Why should I talk to  them?' Then the Mother explained to  me that it would be like this in the Kaliyuga.  

Keshab and his followers got from here [meaning himself] the names of Hari and the Divine Mother …   

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