Faith in the Guru

“One must get instruction from a guru. Once a man was looking for a stone image of Śiva. Someone said to him: ‘Go to a certain river. There you will find a tree. Near it is a whirlpool. Dive into the water there, and you will find the image of Śiva.’ So I say that one must get instruction from a teacher.”

ISHAN: “That is true, sir.”

MASTER: “It is Satchidananda that comes to us in the form of the guru. If a man is initiated by a human guru, he will not achieve anything if he regards his guru as a mere man. The guru should be regarded as the direct manifestation of God. Only then can the disciple have faith in the mantra given by the guru. Once a man has faith he, achieves all. The sudra Ekalavya learnt archery in the forest before a clay image of Drona; He worshipped the image as the living Drona; that by itself enabled him to attain mastery in archery.

“Don’t mix intimately with brahmin pundits. Their only concern is to earn money. I have seen brahmin priests reciting the Chandi while performing the swastyayana. It is hard to tell whether they are reading the sacred book or something else. They turn half the pages without reading them. (All laugh.)

“A nail-knife suffices to kill oneself. One needs sword and shield to kill others. That is the purpose of the sastras.

“One doesn’t really need to study the different scriptures. If one has no discrimination, one doesn’t achieve anything through mere scholarship, even though one studies all the six systems of philosophy. Call on God, crying to Him secretly in solitude. He will give all that you need.”

Sri Ramakrishna had heard that Ishan was building a house on the bank of the Ganges for the practice of spiritual discipline. He asked Ishan eagerly: “Has the house been built? Let me tell you that the less people know of your spiritual life, the better it will be for you. Devotees endowed with sattva meditate in a secluded corner or in a forest, or withdraw into the mind.

Sometimes they meditate inside the mosquito net.” Now and then Ishan invited Hazra to his house. Hazra had a craze for outward purity. Sri Ramakrishna often discouraged him in this.

MASTER (to Ishan): “Let me tell you another thing. Don’t be over-fastidious about outward purity. Once a sādhu felt very thirsty. A water-carrier was carrying water in his skin water-bag, and offered the water to the holy man. The sādhu asked if the skin was clean.

The carrier said: ‘Revered sir; my skin bag is perfectly clean. But inside your skin are all sorts of filthy things. That is why I can ask you to drink water from my skin. It won’t injure you.’ By ‘your skin’, the carrier meant the body, the belly, and so forth. “Have faith in the name of God. Then you won’t need even to go to holy places.”

Sri Ramakrishna sang, intoxicated with divine fervour:

Why should I go to Ganga or Gaya, to Kasi, Kanchi, or Prabhas, So long as I can breathe my last with Kāli’s name upon my lips? Ishan remained silent.

MASTER (to Ishan): “Tell me if you have any more doubts.”

ISHAN: “You said everything when you spoke of faith.”

MASTER: “God can be realized by true faith alone. And the realization is hastened if you believe everything about God. The cow that picks and chooses its food gives milk only in dribblets, but if she eats all kinds of plants, then her milk flows in torrents.

“Once I heard a story. A man heard the command of God that he should see his Ideal Deity in a ram. He at once believed it. It is God who exists in all beings. “A guru said to his disciple, ‘It is Rāma alone who resides in all bodies.’ The disciple was a man of great faith. One day a dog snatched a piece of bread from him and started to run away. He ran after the dog, with a jar of butter in his hand, and cried again and again: ‘O Rāma, stand still a minute. That bread hasn’t been buttered.’

“What tremendous faith Krishnakishore had! He used to say, ‘By chanting “Om Krishna, Om Rāma”, one gets the result of a million sandhyas.’ Once he said to me secretly, ‘I don’t like the sandhya and other devotions any more; but don’t tell anyone.’

“Sometimes I too feel that way. The Mother reveals to me that She Herself has become everything. One day I was coming from the pine-grove toward the Panchavati. A dog followed me. I stood still for a while near the Panchavati. The thought came to my mind that the Mother might say something to me through that dog.

“You were absolutely right when you said that through faith alone one achieves all.”

ISHAN: “But we are householders.”

MASTER: “What if you are? Through His grace even the impossible becomes possible. Ramprasad sang, ‘This world is a mere framework of illusion.’ Another man composed a song by way of reply:

This very world is a mansion of mirth; Here I can eat, here drink and make merry. Janaka’s might was unsurpassed; What did he lack of the world or the Spirit? Holding to one as well as the other, He drank his milk from a brimming cup!

“One should first realize God through spiritual discipline in solitude, and then live in the world. Only then can one be a King Janaka. What can you achieve otherwise?

“Further, take the case of Śiva. He has everything-Kartika, Ganesa, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati. Still, sometimes He dances in a state of divine fervour, chanting the name of Rāma, and sometimes He is absorbed in samādhi.”