Different paths to suit different tastes

(To the pundit) “Please don’t say anything to Mani Mallick. There are different tastes. There are also different powers of digestion. God has made different religions and creeds to suit different aspirants. By no means all are fit for the Knowledge of Brahman.

Therefore the worship of God with form has been provided.

The mother brings home a fish for her children. She curries part of the fish, part she fries, and with another part she makes pilau. By no means all can digest the pilau.

So she makes fish soup for those who have weak stomachs. Further, some want pickled or fried fish. There are different temperaments. There are differences in the capacity to comprehend.”

All sat in silence. Sri Ramakrishna said to the pundit, “Go and visit the temples and take a stroll in the garden.” It was about half past five in the afternoon. The pundit left the room with his friends and several of the devotees.

After a while the Master went with M. toward the bathing-ghat on the Ganges. He said to M., “Baburam now says, ‘What shall I gain by study?’ “On the bank of the river he met the pundit and said to him, “Aren’t you going to the Kāli temple?” The pundit said: “Yes, sir.

Let us go together.” With a smiling face Sri Ramakrishna proceeded to the temple through the courtyard. He said to the pundit, “Listen to a song.”

He sang:

Is Kāli, my Mother, really black? The Naked One, of blackest hue, Lights the Lotus of the Heart. . . .

As he was going through the courtyard, he quoted to the pundit from a song:

Lighting the lamp of Knowledge in the chamber of your heart, Behold the face of the Mother, Brahman’s Embodiment. They came to the temple. Sri Ramakrishna saluted the Divine Mother, touching the ground with his forehead.

Red hibiscus flowers and vilwa-leaves adorned the Mother’s feet. Her three eyes radiated love for Her devotees. Two of Her hands were raised as if to give them boons and reassurance.

The other two hands held symbols of death. She was clothed in a sari of

Benares silk and was decked with ornaments.

Referring to the image, one of the party remarked, “I heard it was made by the sculptor Nabin.” The Master answered: “Yes, I know. But to me She is the Embodiment of Spirit.” As Sri Ramakrishna was coming back to his room with the devotees, he said to Baburam, “Come with us.” M. also joined them.

It was dusk. The Master was sitting on the semicircular porch west of his room. Baburam and M. sat near him. He was in a mood of partial ecstasy.

Rakhal was not then living with Sri Ramakrishna, and therefore the Master was having difficulties about his personal service. Several devotees lived with him, but he could not bear the touch of everyone during his spiritual moods.

He hinted to Baburam: “Do stay with me. It will be very nice. In this mood I cannot allow others to touch me.”

The pundit entered the Master’s room after visiting the temples. The Master said to him from the porch, “Take some refreshments.” The pundit said that he had not yet performed his evening devotions. At once Sri Ramakrishna stood up and sang in an exalted mood:

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? What need of rituals has a man, what need of devotions any more, If he repeats the Mother’s name at the three holy hours? . . .

Intoxicated With ecstatic love, the Master said: “How long should one perform devotions? So long as one’s mind does not merge in God while repeating Om.”

PUNDIT: “Then let me eat the refreshments. I shall perform the devotions later on.”

MASTER: “No, I don’t want to obstruct the current of your life. It is not good to renounce anything before the proper time arrives. When the fruit ripens, the flower drops off of itself. One shouldn’t forcibly tear off the green branch of a coconut tree. That injures the tree.”

Surendra was about to leave. He invited his friends into his carriage. The Master, still in an ecstatic mood, said, “Don’t take more people than your horse can draw.” Suredra took leave of Sri Ramakrishna. The pundit left the room to perform his worship. M. and Baburam saluted the Master. They were about to leave for Calcutta. Sri Ramakrishna was still in an ecstatic mood.

MASTER (to M.): “I cannot utter a word now. Stay a few minutes.”

M. again took his seat and waited for the Master’s command. Sri Ramakrishna motioned to Baburam to take a seat and asked him to fan him a little. M. also took part in rendering this personal service to the Master.

MASTER (to M., tenderly): “Why don’t you come here so frequently now?”

M: “Not for any special reason. I have been rather busy at home.”

MASTER: “Yesterday I came to know Baburam’s inner nature. That is why I have been trying so hard to persuade him to live with me. The mother bird hatches the egg in proper time. Boys like Baburam are pure in heart. They have not yet fallen into the clutches of ‘woman and gold’. Isn’t that so?”

M: “It is true, sir. They are still stainless.”

MASTER: “They are like a new pot. Milk kept in it will not turn sour.”

M: “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “I need Baburam here. I pass through certain spiritual states when I need someone like him. He says he must not, all at once, live with me permanently, for it will create difficulties. His relatives will make trouble. I am asking him to come here Saturdays and Sundays.”

Master’s advice to householders

The pundit entered the room with his friends. He had finished his devotions and was ready to eat the refreshments. One of his companions asked the Master: “Shall we succeed in spiritual life? Please tell us what our way is.”

MASTER: “You all have the yearning for liberation. If an aspirant has yearning, that is enough for him to realize God. Don’t eat any food of the sraaddha ceremony. Live in the world like an unchaste woman. She performs her household duties with great attention, but her mind dwells day and night on her paramour. Perform your duties in the world but keep your mind always fixed on God.

The pundit finished eating his refreshments.

MASTER (to the pundit): “You have read the Gitā, no doubt. It says that there is a special power of God in the man who is honoured and respected by all.” The pundit quoted the verse from the Gitā.

MASTER: “You surely possess divine power.”

PUNDIT: “Shall I labour with perseverance to finish the task that I have accepted?”

Sri Ramakrishna forced himself, as it were, to say, “Yes.” He soon changed the conversation.

MASTER: “One cannot but admit the manifestation of power. Vidyasagar once asked me, ‘Has God given more power to some than to others?’ I said to him: ‘Certainly. Otherwise, how can one man kill a hundred? If there is no special manifestation of power, then why is Queen Victoria so much honoured and respected? Don’t you admit it?’ He agreed with me.”

The pundit and his friends saluted the Master and were about to take their leave. Sri Ramakrishna said to the pundit: “Come again. One hemp-smoker rejoices in the company of another hemp-smoker. They even embrace each other. But they hide at the sight of people not of their own kind. A cow licks the body of her calf; but she threatens a strange cow with her horns.”

(All laugh.)

The pundit left the room. With a smile the Master said: “He has become ‘diluted’ even in one day. Did you notice how modest he was? And he accepted everything I said.” Moonlight flooded the semicircular porch. Sri Ramakrishna was still seated there. M. was about to leave.

MASTER (tenderly): “Must you go now?”

M.: “Yes, sir. Let me say good-bye.”

MASTER: “I have been thinking of visiting the houses of the devotees. I want to visit yours also. What do you say?”

M.: “That will be very fine.”