Unwavering devotion to God
Table of Contents
Tuesday, October 16, 1883
Sri Ramakrishna was in his room with Rakhal , Balarām’s father, Beni Pāl, M., Mani Mallick, Ishan, Kishori, and other devotees.
MASTER: “Liberal-minded devotees accept all the forms of God: Krishna, Kāli, Śiva, Rāmā, and so on.”
BALARĀM’S FATHER: “Yes, sir. It is like a woman’s recognizing her husband, whatever clothes he wears.”
MASTER: “But again, there is a thing called nishtha, single-minded devotion. When the gopis went to Mathura they saw Krishna with a turban on His head. At this they pulled down their veils and said, ‘Who is this man? Where is our Krishna with the peacock feather on His crest and the yellow cloth on His body?’ Hanuman also had that unswerving devotion. He came to Dwaraka in the cycle of Dwapara.
Krishna said to Rukmini, His queen, ‘Hanuman will not be satisfied unless he sees the form of Rāmā.’ So, to please Hanuman, Krishna assumed the form of Rāma.
“But, my dear sir, I am in a peculiar state of mind. My mind constantly descends from the Absolute to the Relative, and again ascends from the Relative to the Absolute. “The attainment of the Absolute is called the Knowledge of Brahman. But it is extremely difficult to acquire. A man cannot acquire the Knowledge of Brahman unless he completely rids himself of his attachment to the world. When the Divine Mother was born as the daughter of King Himalaya, She showed Her various forms to Her father. The king said, ‘I want to see Brahman.’ Thereupon the Divine Mother said: ‘Father, if that is your desire, then you must seek the company of holy men. You must go into solitude, away from the world, and now and then live in holy company.’
The many and the One
“The manifold has come from the One alone, the Relative from the Absolute. There is a state of consciousness where the many disappears, and the One, as well; for the many must exist as long as the One exists. Brahman is without comparison. It is impossible to explain Brahman by analogy. It is between light and darkness. It is Light, but not the light that we perceive, not material light.
“Again, when God changes the state of my mind, when He brings my mind down to the plane of the Relative, I perceive that it is He who has become all these-the Creator, maya, the living beings, and the universe.
“Again, sometimes He shows me that He has created the universe and all living beings. He is the Master, and the universe His garden. Knowledge and ignorance
“‘He is the Master, and the universe and all its living beings belong to Him’-that is Knowledge. And, ‘I am the doer’, ‘I am the guru’, ‘I am the father’-that is ignorance.
‘This is my house; this is my family; this is my wealth; these are my relatives’-this also is ignorance.”
BALARĀM’S FATHER: “That is true, sir.”
MASTER: “As long as you do not feel that God is the Master, you must come back to the world, you must be born again and again. There will be no rebirth when you can truly say, ‘O God, Thou art the Master.’ As long as you cannot say, ‘O Lord, Thou alone art real’, you will not be released from the life of the world. This going and coming, this rebirth, is inevitable. There will be no liberation. Further, what can you achieve by saying, ‘It is mine’? The manager of an estate may say, ‘This is our garden; these are our couches and furniture.’ But when he is dismissed by the master, he hasn’t the right to take away even a chest of worthless mango-wood given to him for his use.
“The feeling of ‘I and mine’ has covered the Reality. Because of this we do not see Truth. Attainment of Chaitanya, Divine Consciousness, is not possible without the knowledge of Advaita, Non-duality. After realizing Chaitanya one enjoys Nityananda, Eternal Bliss. One enjoys this Bliss after attaining the state of a paramahamsa. “Vedānta does not recognize the Incarnation of God. According to it, Chaitanyadeva is only a bubble of the non-dual Brahman.
“Do you know what the vision of Divine Consciousness is like? It is like the sudden illumination of a dark room when a match is struck.
“The Incarnation of God is accepted by those who follow the path of bhakti. A woman belonging to the Kartabhaja sect observed my condition, and remarked: ‘You have inner realization. Don’t dance and sing too much. Ripe grapes must be preserved carefully in cotton. The mother-in-law lessens her daughter-in-law’s activities when the daughter- in-law is with child. One characteristic of God-realization is that the activities of a man with such realization gradually drop away. Inside this man [meaning Sri Ramakrishna] is the real Jewel.’
“Watching me eat, she remarked, ‘Sir, are you yourself eating, or are you feeding someone else?’
“The feeling of ego has covered the Truth. Narendra once said, ‘As the “I” of man recedes, the “I” of God approaches.’ Kedār says, ‘The more clay there is in the jar, the less water it holds.’
“Krishna said to Arjuna: ‘Brother, you will not realize Me if you possess even one of the eight siddhis.’ These give only a little power. With healing and the like one may do only a little good to others. Isn’t that true?
“Therefore I prayed to the Divine Mother for pure love only, a love that does not seek any return. I never, asked for occult powers.”
While talking thus, Sri Ramakrishna went into samādhi. He sat there motionless, completely forgetful of the outer world. Then, coming down to the sense world, he sang:
Ah, friend! I have not found Him yet, whose love has driven me mad. . . .
At the Master’s request, Ramlal sang a song describing how Chaitanya embraced the monastic life:
Oh, what a vision I have beheld in Keshab Bharati’s hut! Gora, in all his matchless grace, Shedding tears in a thousand streams! Like a mad elephant He dances in ecstasy and sings, Drunk with an overwhelming love. Rolling flat upon the ground and swimming in his tears, He weeps and shouts Lord Hari’s name, Piercing the very heavens with his cries, Loud as a lion’s roar;
Then most humbly he begs men’s love, To feel himself the servant of Cod. Shorn of his locks, he has put on the yogi’s ochre robe; Even the hardest heart must melt To see his pure and heavenly love. Smitten by man’s deep woe, He has abandoned everything And pours out love unstintingly. Oh, would that Premdas were his slave and, passing from door to door,
Might sing Gaurānga’s endless praise!
The Master asked Mani Mallick to quote the words of Tulsidas to the effect that one who had developed love of God could not observe caste distinctions.
MANI: “The throat of the chatak bird is pierced with thirst. All around are the waters of the Ganges, the Jamuna, the Saraju, and of innumerable other rivers and lakes; but the bird will not touch any of these. It only looks up expectantly for the rain that falls when the star Svati is in the ascendant.”
That means that love for the Lotus Feet of God is alone real, and all else illusory.
MANI: “Tulsi also said: ‘At the touch of the philosopher’s stone, the eight metals become gold. Likewise all castes, even the butcher and the untouchable, become pure by repeating Hari’s name. Without Hari’s name the people of the four castes are but butchers.’”
The hide that the scriptures forbid one to touch can be taken inside the temple after it has been tanned.