Harmony of religions

“I see people who talk about religion constantly quarrelling with one another. Hindus, Muslims, Brahmos, Shaktas, Vaishnavas, Saivas, all quarrel with one another. They haven’t the intelligence to understand that He who is called Krishna is also Shiva and the Primal Śakti, and that it is He, again, who is called Jesus and Allah. There is only one Rāma and He has a thousand names.'

“Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is due to climate, temperament, and name. A lake has many ghats. From one Ghat the Hindus take water in jars and call it ‘jal’. From another Ghat the Muslims take water in leather bags and call it ‘pani’. From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it ‘water’. (All laugh.) Suppose someone says that the thing is not ‘jal’ but ‘pani’, or that it is not ‘pani’ but ‘water’, or that it is not ‘water’ but ‘jal’. It would be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of the friction among sects, their misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they have sincerity and longing of heart.

(To M.) “This is for you. All scriptures-the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras-seek Him alone and no one else, only that one Satchidananda. That which is called Satchidananda Brahman in the Vedas is called Satchidananda Shiva in the Tantra. Again it is He alone who is called Satchidananda Krishna in the Puranas.”

The Master was told that now and then Ram cooked his own food at home.

MASTER (to M.): “Do you too cook your own meals?”

M: “No, sir.”

MASTER: “You may try it. With your meals take a little clarified butter made from cow’s milk. That will purify your body and mind.”

A long conversation ensued about Ram’s household affairs. Ram’s father was a devout Vaishnava and worshipped Krishna daily at home. He had married a second time when Ram was quite young. Both the father and the stepmother lived with Ram at Ram’s house. But Ram was never happy with his stepmother, and this sometimes created a misunderstanding between himself and his father.

They were talking about this when Ram said, “My father has gone to the dogs!”

MASTER (to the devotees): “Did you hear that? The father has gone to the dogs and the son is all right!”

RAM: “There is no peace when my stepmother comes home. There is always some trouble or other. Our family is about to break up. So I say, let her live with her father.” GIRINDRA (to Ram): home?” (Laughter.)

“Why don’t you too keep your wife at her father’s

MASTER (smiling): “Are husband and wife like earthen pots or jars, that you may keep the pot in one place and the lid in another? Shiva in one place and Śakti in another?”

RAM: “Sir, we are quite happy. But when she comes the family is broken up. If such is the case-”

MASTER: “Then build them a separate home. That will be a different thing. You will defray their monthly expenses. How worthy of worship one’s parents are! Rakhal asked me if he could take the food left on his father’s plate. ‘What do you mean?’ I said. ‘What have you become that you cannot?’ But it is also true that good people won’t give anyone, even a dog, the food from their plates.”

GIRINDRA: “Sir, suppose one’s parents are guilty of a terrible crime, a heinous sin?”

MASTER: “What if they are? You must not renounce your mother even if she commits adultery. The woman guru of a certain family became corrupt. The members of the family said that they would like to make the son of the guru their spiritual guide.

But I said: ‘How is that? Will you accept the shoot and give up the yam? Suppose she is corrupt; still you must regard her as your Ishta. ‘Though my guru visits the tavern, still to me he is the holy Nityānanda.’ "

“Are father and mother mere trifles? No spiritual practice will bear fruit unless they are pleased. Chaitanya was intoxicated with the love of God. Still, before taking to the monastic life, for how many days did he try to persuade his mother to give him her permission to become a monk! He said to her: ‘Mother, don’t worry. I shall visit you every now and then.’

(To M., reproachfully) “And let me say this to you. Your father and mother brought you up. You yourself are the father of several children. Yet you have left home with your wife. You have cheated your parents. You have come away with your wife and children, and you feel you have become a holy man. Your father doesn’t need any money from you; otherwise I should have cried, ‘Shame on you!’”

Everybody in the room became grave and remained silent.

MASTER: “A man has certain debts to pay: his debts to the gods and rishis, and his debts to mother, father, and wife. He cannot achieve anything without paying the debt he owes to his parents. A man is indebted to his wife as well. Harish has renounced his wife and is living here. If he had left her unprovided for, then I should have called him an abominable wretch.

“After attaining Knowledge you will regard that very wife as the manifestation of the Divine Mother Herself. It is written in the Chandi, ‘The Goddess dwells in all beings as the Mother.’ It is She who has become your mother.

“All the women you see are only She, the Divine Mother. That is why I cannot rebuke even Brinde, the maidservant. There are people who spout verses from the scriptures and talk big, but in their conduct they are quite different. Ramprasanna is constantly busy procuring opium and milk for the hathayogi. He says that Manu enjoins it upon man to serve the Sādhu. But his old mother hasn’t enough to eat. She walks to the market to buy her own groceries. It makes me very angry.

“But here you have to consider another thing. When a man is intoxicated with ecstatic love of God, then who is his father or mother or wife? His love of God is so intense that he becomes mad with it. Then he has no duty to perform. He is free from all debts.

What is this divine intoxication? In this state a man forgets the world. He also forgets his own body, which is so dear to all. Chaitanya had this intoxication.

He plunged into the ocean not knowing that it was the ocean. He dashed himself again and again on the ground. He was not aware of hunger, of thirst, or of sleep. He was not at all conscious of any such thing as his body.”

All at once Sri Ramakrishna exclaimed, “Ah, Chaitanya!” and stood up.

MASTER (to the devotees): “Chaitanya means ‘Undivided Consciousness’.

Vaishnavcharan used to say that Gaurānga was like a bubble in the Ocean of Undivided Consciousness.

(To the elder Gopal) “Do you intend to go on a pilgrimage now?”

GOPAL: “Yes, sir. I should like to wander about a little.”

RAM (to Gopal): “He [meaning the Master] says that one becomes a kutichaka after being a vahudaka. The Sādhu that visits many holy places is called a vahudaka. He whose craving for travel has been satiated and who sits down in one place is called a kutichaka.

“He also tells us a parable. Once a bird sat on the mast of a ship. When the ship sailed through the mouth of the Ganges into the ‘black waters’ of the ocean, the bird failed to notice the fact. When it finally became aware of the ocean, it left the mast and flew north in search of land. But it found no limit to the water and so returned. After resting awhile it flew south. There too it found no limit to the water. Panting for breath the bird returned to the mast. Again, after resting awhile, it flew east and then west. Finding no limit to the Water in any direction, at last it settled down on the mast of the ship.”

MASTER (to the elder Gopal and the other devotees): “As long as a man feels that God is ’there’, he is ignorant. But he attains Knowledge when he feels that God is ‘here’. “A man wanted a smoke. He went to a neighbour’s house to light his charcoal. It was the dead of night and the household was asleep. After he had knocked a great deal, someone came down to open the door. At sight of the man he asked, ‘Hello! What’s the matter?’

The man replied: ‘Can’t you guess? You know how fond I am of smoking. I have come here to light my charcoal.’ The neighbour said: ‘Ha! Ha! You are a fine man indeed! You took the trouble to come and do all this knocking at the door! Why, you have a lighted lantern in your hand!’

(All laugh.)

“What a man seeks is very near him. Still he wanders about from place to place.”

RAM: “Sir, I now realize why a guru asks some of his disciples to visit the four principal holy places of the country. Once having wandered about, the disciple discovers that it is the same here as there. Then he returns to the guru. All this wandering is only to create faith in the guru’s words.”

After this conversation had come to an end, Sri Ramakrishna extolled Ram’s virtues.

MASTER (to the devotees): “How many fine qualities Ram possesses! How many devotees he serves and looks after! (To Ram) Adhar told me that you showed him great kindness.”

Adhar was a beloved householder devotee of the Master. He had recently arranged some religious music at his house. The Master and many devotees had been present. But Adhar had forgotten to invite Ram, who was a very proud man and had complained about it to his friends. So Adhar had gone to Ram’s house to express his regret for the mistake.

RAM: “It wasn’t really Adhar’s mistake. I have come to know that Rakhal is to blame.

Rakhal was given charge-”

MASTER: “You mustn’t find fault with Rakhal. He’s a mere child. Even now you can bring out his mother’s milk by squeezing his throat.”

RAM: “Sir, why should you speak that way? It was such an occasion!”

MASTER: (interrupting): “Adhar simply didn’t remember to invite you. He is absent-minded. The other day he went with me to Jadu Mallick’s house. As we took our leave, I said to him, ‘You haven’t offered anything to the Goddess in the chapel’ ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘I didn’t know one should.’

(To Ram) “Suppose he didn’t invite you to his house. Why such a fuss about going to a place where the name of the Lord was sung? One may go unasked to participate in religious music. One doesn’t have to be invited.”