Different stages of Spiritual Progress

 

Necessity of Perseverance

Serve and worship God, surrender and be humble to Him. Only when you practice these disciplines with faith and perseverance will you succeed. You will definitely have His vision. If you discontinue your sadhana, your progress will stop. 

A man used to work hard and save money little by little. Once he counted his money and found that he had one thousand rupees. Overwhelmed with joy, he thought: ‘Why should I work anymore? I have one thousand rupees. That is enough.’ So he gave up his job. This insignificant man had very little ambition. He became puffed up because of that small amount of money and cared for no one. But how long does it take to spend one thousand rupees? The entire amount was gone within a few days. Afflicted, he began to search desperately for another job, going from office to office. 

A person who behaves like this will never succeed in spiritual life. One must wait patiently at the door of God, then only will one see Him.  

- Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play, P 397

Knowing God

NEIGHBOUR: "You ask us, sir, to live in the world after knowing God. Can God really be known?" 

MASTER: "God cannot be known by the sense-organs or by this mind; but He can be known by the pure mind, the mind that is free from worldly desires." 

NEIGHBOUR: "Who can know God?" 

MASTER: "Right. Who can really know Him? But as for us, it is enough to know as much of Him as we need. What need have I of a whole well of water? One jar is more than enough for me. An ant went to a sugar hill. Did it need the entire hill? A grain or two of sugar was more than enough." 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 328-29 (28 November 1883)

Discrimination

NEIGHBOUR: "What is discrimination?"

MASTER: "Discrimination is the reasoning by which one knows that God alone is real and all else is unreal. Real means eternal, and unreal means impermanent. He who has acquired discrimination knows that God is the only Substance and all else is non-existent. With the awakening of this spirit of discrimination a man wants to know God.  

On the contrary, if a man loves the unreal - such things as creature comforts, name, fame, and wealth, then he doesn't want to know God, who is of the very nature of Reality. Through discrimination between the Real and the unreal one seeks to know God. 

"Listen to a song: 

           Come, let us go for a walk, O mind, to Kāli, the Wish-fulfilling Tree, 

           And there beneath It gather the four fruits of life. 

           Of your two wives, Dispassion and Worldliness, 

           Bring along Dispassion only, on your way to the Tree, 

          And ask her son Discrimination about the Truth.  …

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 327 (28 November 1883) 

Servant-Master Attitude

 

Fence for Young Plant

NEIGHBOUR: "Must one always live in solitude?" 

MASTER: "Haven't you seen the trees on the foot-path along a street? They are fenced around as long as they are very young; otherwise cattle destroy them. But there is no longer  any  need  of  fences  when  their  trunks  grow  thick  and  strong. Then they won't break even if an elephant is tied to them. 

Just so, there will be no need for you to worry and fear if you make your mind as strong as a thick tree-trunk. First of all try to acquire discrimination. Break the jack-fruit open only after you have rubbed your hands with oil; then its sticky milk won't smear them." 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 327 (28 November 1883)

Divine Mother Embodiment

All women are the embodiments of Śakti. It is the Primal Power that has become women and appears to us in the form of women. 

It is said in the Adhyātma Rāmāyana that Nārada and others praised Rāma, saying: 'O Rāma, Thou alone art all that we see as male, and Sita, all that we see as female. Thou art Indra, and Sita is Indrani; Thou art Śiva and Sita is Sivani; Thou art man, and Sita is woman. 

What more need I say? Thou alone dost exist wherever there is a male, and Sita wherever there is a female.' 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 336 (14 December 1883)