Liberation
Table of Contents
Revered sir, is a man liberated only when he dies on the bank of the Ganges?
It is the Knowledge of God alone that gives liberation. The Jnāni will certainly attain liberation wherever he may die, whether in the charnel-pit or on the bank of the Ganges.
But the bank of the Ganges is prescribed for a bound soul.
Revered sir, why does a man dying in Benares become liberated?
MASTER: “A person dying in Benares sees the vision of Śiva. Śiva says to him: ‘This is My aspect with form, My embodiment in māyā. I assume this form for the sake of the devotees.
Now look. I am merging in the indivisible Satchidananda!’ Uttering these words, Śiva withdraws His form and enables the dying person to see Brahman. “The Puranas say that even a chandala endowed with love of God achieves liberation.
According to this school the name of God is enough to liberate a soul. There is no need of such things as worship, sacrifice, the discipline of Tantra, and the recitation of mantras.
Path of devotion for Kaliyuga
But the teachings of the Vedas are different. According to the Vedas none but a brahmin can be liberated. Further, the worship is not accepted by the gods unless the mantras are recited correctly. One must perform sacrifice, worship, and so on, according to scriptural injunction. But where is the time in the Kaliyuga to perform the Vedic rituals?
Therefore in the Kaliyuga the path of devotion prescribed by Nārada is best. The path of karma is very difficult. Karma becomes a cause of bondage unless it is performed in a spirit of detachment. Further, the life of man nowadays depends on food. He has no time to observe the rituals enjoined by the scriptures.
The patient dies if he tries to cure his fever by taking the decoction of herbs prescribed by the orthodox native physicians. Therefore he should take a modern ‘fever mixture’.
According to Nārada the devotee should sing the name and glories of God. The path of karma is not the right one for the Kaliyuga. Bhaktiyoga is the right path. Do your duties in the world as long as you need them to reap the fruit of the actions of your past lives.
But you must develop love for God and be passionately attached to Him. The singing of the name and glories of God destroys the effect of past action. “You don’t have to perform duties all your life. As you develop unalloyed love and longing for God, your duties become fewer and fewer. After the realization of God they completely drop away. When the young daughter-in-law is pregnant, her mother-in-law lessens her duties. After the birth of the child she doesn’t have to do any household work.
Several young men from the village of Dakshineswar entered the room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. They sat down and began to talk with the Master.
Sir, what is Knowledge?
MASTER: “It is to know that God is the only Reality and that all else is unreal. That which is the Real is also called Brahman. It has another name: Kala, Time. There is a saying,
‘O brother, how many things come into being in Time and disappear in Time!’ “That whieh sports with Kala is called Kāli. She is the Primal Energy. Kala and Kāli, Brahman and Śakti, are indivisible.
“That Brahman, of the nature of Reality, is eternal. It exists in past, present, and future. It is without beginning or end. It cannot be described in words. The utmost that can be said of Brahman is that It is of the very nature of Intelligence and Bliss.
The world is illusory; Brahman alone is real. The world is of the nature of magic. The magician is real but his magic is unreal”
Power of inborn tendencies
If the world is of the nature of illusion-magic-then why doesn’t one get rid of it?
MASTER: “It is due to the samskaras, inborn tendencies. Repeated births in this world of māyā make one believe that māyā is real.
“Let me tell you how powerful inborn tendencies are. A prince had, in a previous birth, been the son of a washerman. While playing with his chums in his incarnation as the prince, he said to them: ‘Stop those games. I will show you a new one. I shall lie on my belly, and you will beat the clothes on my back as the washerman does, making a swishing sound.’
Many youngsters come here. But only a few long for God. These few are born with a spiritual tendency. They shudder at the talk of marriage. Niranjan has said from boyhood that he will not marry.
More than 20 years ago two young men used to come here from Baranagore. One was named Govinda Pal and the other Gopal Sen. They had been devoted to God since boyhood. The very mention of marriage would frighten them. Gopal used to have bhava samādhi. He would shrink from worldly people, as a mouse from a cat. One day he saw the boys of the Tagore family strolling in the garden. He shut himself in the kuthi lest he should have to talk with them.
“Gopal went into samādhi in the Panchavati. In that state he said to me, touching my feet: ‘Let me go. I cannot live in this world any more. You have a long time to wait. Let me go.’ I said to him, in an ecstatic mood, ‘You must come again.’ ‘Very well, I will’, he said. A few days later Govinda came to me. ‘Where is Gopal?’ I asked him. He said, ‘He has passed away.’
“What are the other youngsters about? Money, house, carriage, clothes, and finally marriage. These are the things that keep them busy. If they want to marry, at the outset they make inquiries about the girl. They want to find out for themselves whether she is beautiful.
“There is a person who speaks much ill of me. He is always criticizing me for loving the youngsters. I love only those who are born with good tendencies, pure souls with longing for God, who do not pay any attention to money, creature comforts, and such things.
“If married people develop love for God, they will not be attached to the world. Hirananda is married. What if he is? He will not be much attached to the world.” Hirananda, a member of the Brahmo Samaj, was a native of Sindh. He had met the Master in Calcutta and become devoted to him.
Manilal, the Mārwāri devotees, the Brahmo devotees from Shibpur, and the young men from Dakshineswar saluted Sri Ramakrishna and took their leave.
It was evening. Lamps were lighted on the south and west verandahs. A lamp was lighted in the Master’s room also, and incense was burnt. He was repeating the name of the Divine Mother, absorbed in contemplation of Her. After a while he talked again to the devotees.
There was still some time before the evening worship in the temples. MASTER (to M.): “What need of the sandhya has a man who thinks of God day and night?
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?
Rituals may pursue him close, but never can they overtake him.
Charity, vows, and giving of gifts do not appeal to Madan’s mind; The Blissful Mother’s Lotus Feet are his whole prayer and sacrifice.
The sandhya merges in the Gayatri, the Gayatri in Om. A man is firmly established in spiritual life when he goes into samādhi on uttering ‘Om’ only once.
“There is a sādhu in Hrishikesh who gets up early in the morning and stands near a great waterfall. He looks at it the whole day and says to God: ‘Ah, You have done well! Well done!
How amazing! He doesn’t practise any other form of japa or austerity. At night he returns to his hut. “What need is there even to bother one’s head about whether God is formless or has a form? It is enough for a man to pray to Him, alone in solitude, weeping, ‘O God, reveal Yourself to me as You are.’
God is both inside and outside. It is He who dwells inside us. Therefore the Vedas say, Tattvamasi-That thou art.’ God is also outside us. He appears manifold through māyā;
but in reality He alone exists. Therefore before describing the various names and forms of God, one should say, ‘Om Tat Sat.’
“It is one thing to learn about God from the scriptures, and quite another to see Him.
The scriptures only give hints. Therefore to read a great many scriptures is not necessary. It is much better to pray to God in solitude.
“It isn’t necessary to read all of the Gitā. One can get the essence of the Gitā by repeating the word ten times. It becomes reversed and is then ’tagi’. The essence of the book is: ‘O man, renounce everything and worship God.’”