Maya is the cause of ignorance

Saturday, July 14, 1883

Sri Ramakrishna arrived at Adhar’s house in Calcutta. Rakhal, M., and other devotees were with the Master. Adhar had arranged to have Rajnaraya, the famous singer, and his party, recite the Chandi.

Rajnarayan began the recital in the worship hall. He sang:

I have surrendered my soul at the fearless feet of the Mother; Am I afraid of Death any more? . . . As the Master listened, he became filled with divine fervour and joined the musicians. Now and then he improvised an appropriate line. Suddenly he went into samādhi and stood still.

The singer sang again:

Who is the Woman yonder who lights the field of battle? Darker Her body gleams even than the darkest storm-cloud, And from Her teeth there flash the lightning’s blinding flames! Dishevelled Her hair is flying behind as She rushes about, Undaunted in this war between the gods and the demons. Laughing Her terrible laugh, She slays the fleeing asuras, And with Her dazzling flashes She bares the horror of war. How beautiful on Her brow the drops of moisture appear!

About Her dense black hair the bees are buzzing in swarms; The moon has veiled its face, beholding this Sea of Beauty. Tell me, who can She be, this Sorceress? Wonder of wonders! Śiva Himself, like a corpse, lies vanquished at Her feet. Kamalakanta has guessed who She is, with the elephant’s gait; She is none other than Kāli, Mother of all the worlds.

Sri Ramakrishna was in deep samādhi.

Saturday, July 21, 1883

At 4pm Sri Ramakrishna, with Ramlal and one or two other devotees, started from Dakshineswar for Calcutta in a carriage.

As the carriage passed the gate of the Kāli temple, they met M. coming on foot with four mangoes in his hand. The carriage stopped and M. saluted the Master. Sri Ramakrishna was going to visit some of his devotees in Calcutta.

MASTER (to M., with a smile): “Come with us. We are going to Adhar’s house.”

M. got joyfully into the carriage. Having received an English education, he did not believe in the tendencies inherited from previous births. But he had admitted a few days before that it was on account of Adhar’s good tendencies from past births that he showed such great devotion to the Master. Later on he had thought about this subject and had discovered that he was not yet completely convinced about inherited tendencies. He had come to Dakshineswar that day to discuss the matter with Sri Ramakrishna.

MASTER: “Well, what do you think of Adhar?”

M: “He has great yearning for God.”

MASTER: “Adhar, too, speaks very highly of you.”

M. remained silent awhile and then began to speak of past tendencies.

M: “I haven’t much faith in rebirth and inherited tendencies. Will that in any way injure my devotion to God?”

Everything is possible for God

MASTER: “It is enough to believe that all is possible in God’s creation. Never allow the thought to cross your mind that your ideas are the only true ones, and that those of others are false. Then God will explain everything.

“What can a man understand of God’s activities? The facets of God’s creation are infinite. I do not try to understand God’s actions at all. I have heard that everything is possible in God’s creation, and I always bear that in mind. Therefore I do not give a thought to the world, but meditate on God alone. Once Hanuman was asked, ‘What day of the lunar month is it?’ Hanuman said: ‘I don’t know anything about the day of the month, the position of the moon and stars, or any such things. I think of Rāma alone.’

“Can one ever understand the work of God? He is so near; still it is not possible for us to know Him. Balarama did not realize that Krishna was God.”

M: “That is true, sir.”

Maya is the cause of ignorance

MASTER: “God has covered all with His maya. He doesn’t let us know anything. Maya is ‘woman and gold’. He who puts maya aside to see God, can see Him. Once, when I was explaining God’s actions to someone, God suddenly showed me the lake at Kamarpukur.

I saw a man removing the green scum and drinking the water. The water was clear as crystal. God revealed to me that Satchidananda is covered by the scum of maya. He who puts the green scum aside can drink the water.

“Let me tell you a very secret experience. Once I had entered the wood near the pine- grove, and was sitting there, when I had a vision of something like the hidden door of a chamber. I couldn’t see the inside of the chamber. I tried to bore a hole in the door with a nail-knife, but did not succeed. As I bored, the earth fell back into the hole and filled it. Then suddenly I made a very big opening.”

Uttering these words, the Master remained silent. After a time he said: “These are very profound words. I feel as if someone were pressing my mouth. . . . I have seen with my own eyes that God dwells even in the sexual organ. I saw Him once in the sexual intercourse of a dog and a bitch.

“The universe is conscious on account of the Consciousness of God. Sometimes I find that this Consciousness wriggles about, as it were, even in small fish.” The carriage came to the crossing at Shovabazar in Calcutta. The Master continued, saying, “Sometimes I find that the universe is saturated with the Consciousness of God, as the earth is soaked with water in the rainy season.

“Well, I see so many visions, but I never feel vain about them.”

M. (with a smile): “That you should speak of vanity, sir!”

MASTER: “Upon my word, I don’t feel vanity even in the slightest degree.”

M: “There once lived a man in Greece, Socrates by name. A voice from heaven said that he was wise among men. Socrates was amazed at this revelation. He meditated on it a long time in solitude and then realized its significance. He said to his friends, ‘I alone of all people have understood that I do not know anything.’ But every man believes he is wise. In reality all are ignorant.”

MASTER: “Now and then I think, ‘What is it I know that makes so many people come to me?’ Vaishnavcharan was a great pundit. He used to say to me: ‘I can find in the scriptures all the things you talk about. But do you know why I come to you? I come to hear them from your mouth.’ "

M: “All your words tally with the scriptures. Navadvip Goswami also said that the other day at the festival at Pānihāti. You told us that day that by repeating the word ‘Gitā’ a number of times one reverses it and it becomes ’tagi’, which refers to renunciation.

Renunciation is the essence of the Gitā. Navadvip Goswami supported your statement from the grammatical standpoint.”

MASTER: “Have you found anyone else resembling me-any pundit or holy man?”

M: “God has created you with His own hands, whereas He has made others by machine.

All others He has created according to law.”

MASTER (laughing, to Ramlal and the other devotees): “Listen to what he is saying!”

Sri Ramakrishna laughed for some time, and said at last. “Really and truly I have no pride-no, not even the slightest bit.”

M: “Knowledge does us good in one respect at least; it makes us feel that we do not know anything, that we are nothing.”

MASTER: “Right you are! I am nothing. I am nobody. “Do you believe in English astronomy?”

M: “It is possible to make new discoveries by applying the laws of Western astronomy.

Observing the irregular movement of Uranus, the astronomers looked through their telescopes and discovered Neptune shining in the sky. They can also foretell eclipses.”

MASTER: “Yes, that is so.”