Krishnakishore's faith in God

“One day a holy man came to the bathing-place on the Ganges at Ariadaha. We talked about seeing him. Haladhāri said, ‘What shall we gain by seeing the body of a man, a mere cage made of the five elements?’ Krishnakishore heard about it and said: ‘What?

Did Haladhāri ask what would be gained by visiting a holy man? By repeating the name of Krishna or Rāma a man transforms his physical body into a spiritual body. To such a man everything is the embodiment of Spirit. To him Krishna is the embodiment of Spirit, and His sacred Abode is the embodiment of Spirit.’ He also said, ‘A man who utters the name of Krishna or Rāma even once reaps the result of a hundred sandhyas.’ “One of his sons chanted the name of Rāma on his death-bed. Krishnakishore said, ‘He has nothing to worry about; he has chanted the name of Rāma.’ But now and then he wept. After all, it was the death of his own son.

Nothing whatsoever is achieved by the performance of worship, japa, and devotions, without faith. Isn’t that so?”

M: “Yes, sir. That is true.”

MASTER: “I see people coming to the Ganges to bathe. They talk their heads off about everything under the sun. The widowed aunt says: ‘Without me they cannot perform the Durga Puja. I have to look after even the smallest detail. Again, I have to supervise everything when there is a marriage festiva1 in the family, even the bed of the bride and groom.’”

M: “Why should we blame them? How else will they pass the time?”

MASTER (with a smile): “Some people have their shrine rooms in their attics. The women arrange the offerings and flowers and make the sandal-paste. But, while doing so, they never say a word about God. The burden of the conversation is: ‘What shall we cook today? I couldn’t get good vegetables in the market. That curry was delicious yesterday.

That boy is my cousin. Hello there! Have you that job still? Don’t ask me how I am. My Hari is no more.’ Just fancy! They talk of such things in the shrine room at the time of worship!”

M: “Yes, sir, it is so in the majority of cases. As you say, can one who has passionate yearning for God continue formal worship and devotions for long?”

Sri Ramakrishna and M. were now conversing alone.

M: “Sir, if it is God Himself who has become everything, then why do people have so many different feelings?”

MASTER: “Undoubtedly God exists in all beings as the All-pervading Spirit, but the manifestations of His Power are different in different beings. In some places there is a manifestation of the power of Knowledge; in others, of the power of ignorance. In some places there is a greater manifestation of power than in others. Don’t you see that among human beings there are cheats and gamblers, to say nothing of men who are like tigers. I think of them as the ‘cheat God’, the ’tiger God’.”

M. (with a smile): “We should salute them from a distance. If we go near the ’tiger God’ and embrace him, he may devour us.”

MASTER: “He and His Power, Brahman and Its Power-nothing else exists but this. In a hymn to Rāma, Nārada said: ‘O Rāma, You are Śiva, and Sita is Bhagavati; You are Brahma, and Sita is Brahmani; You are Indra, and Sita is Indrani; You are Narayana, and Sita is Lakshmi. O Rāma, You are the symbol of all that is masculine, and Sita of all that is feminine.’ "

M: “Sir, what is the Spirit-form of God like?”

Sri Ramakrishna reflected a moment and said softly: “Shall I tell you what it is like? It is like water. . . . One understands all this through spiritual discipline. “Believe in the form of God. It is only after attaining Brahmajnana that one sees non- duality, the oneness of Brahman and Its Śakti. Brahman and Śakti are identical, like fire and its power to burn. When a man thinks of fire, he must also think of its power to burn. Again, when he thinks of the power to burn, he must also think of fire. Further, Brahman and Śakti are like milk and its whiteness, water and its wetness.

Vijnāna or Transcendental Knowledge

“But there is a stage beyond even Brahmajnana. After jnāna comes vijnāna. He who is aware of knowledge is also aware of ignorance. The sage Vasishtha was stricken with grief at the death of his hundred sons.

Asked by Lakshmana why a man of knowledge should grieve for such a reason, Rāma said, ‘Brother, go beyond both knowledge and ignorance.’ He who has knowledge has ignorance also. If a thorn has entered your foot, get another thorn and with its help take out the first; then throwaway the second also.”

M: “Should one throwaway both knowledge and ignorance?”

MASTER: “Yes. That is why one should acquire vijnāna. You see, he who is aware of light is also aware of darkness. He who is aware of happiness is also aware of suffering. He who is aware of virtue is also aware of vice. He who is aware of good is also aware of evil. He who is aware of holiness is also aware of unholiness. He who is aware of ‘I’ is also aware of ‘you’.

“What is vijnāna? It is knowing God in a special way. The awareness and conviction that fire exists in wood is jnāna, knowledge. But to cook rice on that fire, eat the rice, and get nourishment from it is vijnāna. To know by one’s inner experience that God exists is jnāna. But to talk to Him, to enjoy Him as Child, as Friend, as Master, as Beloved, is vijnāna. The realization that God alone has become the universe and all living beings is vijnāna.

“According to one school of thought, God cannot be seen. Who sees whom? Is God outside you, that you can see Him? One sees only oneself. Having once entered the ‘black waters’ of the ocean, the ship does not come back and so cannot describe what it experiences.”

M: “It is true, sir. As you say, having climbed to the top of the monument, one becomes unaware of what is below: horses and carriages, men and women, houses, shops and offices, and so on.”

MASTER: “I don’t go to the Kāli temple nowadays. Is that an offence? At one time Narendra used to say, ‘What? He still goes to the Kāli temple!’ "

M: “Every day you are in a new state of mind. How can you ever offend God?”

MASTER: “Someone said to Sen, about Hriday: ‘He is very ill. Please bring two pieces of cloth and a couple of shirts for him. We will send them to his village.’ Sen offered only two rupees. How do you explain that? He has so much money, and yet he is so miserly!

What do you say to that?”

M: “Those who seek God cannot behave that way-I mean those whose goal is the attainment of Knowledge.”

MASTER: “God alone is the Reality and all else is unreal.”