Compassion Versus Attachment
Table of Contents
Baburam, M., and Ramdayal slept that night on the floor of the Master’s room.
It was 2am and the room was dark. Sri Ramakrishna was seated on his bed and now and then conversed with the devotees.
Compassion and attachment
Remember that daya, compassion, and maya, attachment, are 2 different things.
Attachment means the feeling of ‘my-ness’ toward one’s relatives.
- It is the love one feels for one’s parents, one’s brother, one’s sister, one’s wife and children.
Compassion is the love one feels for all beings of the world.
- It is an attitude of equality.
If you see anywhere an instance of compassion, as in Vidyasagar, know that it is due to the grace of God. Through compassion one serves all beings. Maya also comes from God.
Through maya God makes one serve one’s relatives. But one thing should be remembered: maya keeps us in ignorance and entangles us in the world, whereas daya makes our hearts pure and gradually unties our bonds.
“God cannot be realized without purity of heart. One receives the grace of God by subduing the passions-lust, anger, and greed. Then one sees God. I tried many things in order to conquer lust.
“When I was 11 years old and lived at Kamarpukur, I first experienced samādhi. As I was passing through a paddy-field, I saw something and was
overwhelmed. There are certain characteristics of God-vision.
One sees light, feels joy, and experiences the upsurge of a great current in one’s chest, like the bursting of a rocket.”
The next day Baburam and Ramdayal returned to Calcutta. M. spent the day and the night with the Master.
December 1882
It was afternoon. The Master was sitting in his room at Dakshineswar with M. and one or two other devotees. Several Marwari devotees arrived and saluted the Master. They requested Sri Ramakrishna to give them spiritual instruction. He smiled.
MASTER (to the Marwari devotees): “You see, the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is the result of ignorance. But to say, ‘O God, Thou art the Doer; all these belong to Thee’ is the sign of Knowledge. How can you say such a thing as ‘mine’?
The superintendent of the garden says, ‘This is my garden.’ But if he is dismissed because of some misconduct, then he does not have the courage to take away even such a worthless thing as his mango-wood box. Anger and lust cannot be destroyed. Turn them toward God. If you must feel desire and temptation, then desire to realize God, feel tempted by Him. Discriminate and turn the passions away from worldly objects. When the elephant is about to devour a plaintain-tree in someone’s garden, the mahut strikes it with his iron-tipped goad.
“You are merchants. You know how to improve your business gradually. Some of you start with a castor-oil factory. After making some money at that, you open a cloth shop. In the same way, one makes progress toward God. It may be that you go into solitude, now and then, and devote more time to prayer.
“But you must remember that nothing can be achieved except in its proper time. Some persons must pass through many experiences and perform many worldly duties before they can turn their attention to God; so they have to wait a long time. If an abscess is lanced before it is soft, the result is not good; the surgeon makes the opening when it is soft and has come to a head. Once a child said to its mother: ‘Mother, I am going to sleep now. Please wake me up when I feel the call of nature.’ ‘My child,’ said the mother, ‘when it is time for that, you will wake up yourself. I shan’t have to wake you.’ "
The Marwari devotees generally brought offerings of fruit, candy, and other sweets for the Master. But Sri Ramakrishna could hardly eat them. He would say: “They earn their money by falsehood. I can’t eat their offerings.” He said to the Marwaris: “You see, one can’t strictly adhere to truth in business. There are ups and downs in business.
Nanak once said, ‘I was about to eat the food of unholy people, when I found it stained with blood.’ A man should offer only pure things to holy men. He shouldn’t give them food earned by dishonest means. God is realized by following the path of truth.
One should always chant His name. Even while one is performing one’s duties, the mind should be left with God. Suppose I have a carbuncle on my back. I perform my duties, but the mind is drawn to the carbuncle. It is good to repeat the name of Rama. ‘The same Rama who was the son of King Dasaratha has created this world. Again, as Spirit, He pervades all beings. He is very near us; He is both within and without.’ "