Essence of Gita

What is the lesson of the Gitā? It is what you get by repeating the word ten times. As you repeat 'Gitā', 'Gitā', the word becomes reversed into 'tagi', 'tagi' - which implies renunciation. 

He alone has understood the secret of the Gitā who has renounced his attachment to 'woman and gold' and has directed his entire love to God. It isn't necessary to read the whole of the Gitā. The purpose of reading the book is served if one practises renunciation. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 917 (30 October 1885)

Story of the Bhagavata Scholar

Listen to a story. There was a king who used daily to hear the Bhagavata recited by a pundit. Every day, after explaining the sacred book, the pundit would say to the king, 'O King, have you understood what I have said?' And every day the king would reply, 'You had better understand it first yourself.' The pundit would return home and think: 'Why does the king talk to me that way day after day? I explain the texts to him so clearly, and he says to me, "You had better understand it first yourself." What does he mean?' 

The pundit used to practise spiritual discipline. A few days later he came to realize that God alone is real and everything else-house, family, wealth, friends, name, and fame-illusory. Convinced of the unreality of the world, he renounced it. As he left home he asked a man to take this message to the king: 'O King, I now understand.' 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 917 (30 October 1885)

 

God Alone is the agent of actions

 

Wicked Ego and Spiritualised Ego

Even after attaining Jnāna, the Jnāni can live in the world, retaining Vidyā-māyā, that is to say, bhakti, compassion, renunciation, and such virtues. This serves him, two purposes: first, the teaching of men, and second, the enjoyment of divine bliss. If a Jnāni remains silent, merged in samādhi, then men's hearts will not be illumined. Therefore Sankaracharya kept the 'ego of Knowledge'. And further, a Jnāni lives as a devotee, in the company of bhaktas, in order to enjoy and drink deep of the Bliss of God. 

The 'ego of Knowledge' and the 'ego of Devotion' can do no harm; it is the 'wicked I' that is harmful. After realizing God a man becomes like a child. There is no harm in the 'ego of a child'. It is like the reflection of a face in a mirror: the reflection cannot call names. Or it is like a burnt rope, which appears to be a rope but disappears at the slightest puff. The ego that has been burnt in the fire of Knowledge cannot injure anybody. It is an ego only in name.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 940 (11 March 1886)

Praising the Gitā

 

Nature of Consciousness

MASTER (to Dr. Sarkar): "You said a very fine thing. No one else has said before that samādhi is the result of the union of the mind with God. You alone have said that. 

"Shivanath said that one lost one's head by too much thinking of God. In other words, one becomes unconscious by meditating on the Universal Consciousness. Think of it! Becoming unconscious by contemplating Him who is of the very nature of Consciousness, and whose Consciousness endows the world with consciousness! 

"And what does your 'science' say? This combined with this produces that; that combined with that produces this. One is more likely to lose consciousness by contemplating those things - by handling material things too much." 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, P 915-16 (30 October 1885)

Master’s Vision of Unity