Advantage of a householder's life

It was 11pm. Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch, resting against a pillow. M. sat on the floor. The Master was conversing with him.

A lamp burnt on a stand near the wall. The Master felt great compassion for his devotees. He wanted to bless M. by accepting his personal service.

MASTER: “My feet ache. Please rub them gently.”

M. seated himself on the small couch and took the Master’s feet on his lap. He stroked them. Now and then Sri Ramakrishna would ask his disciple a question.

MASTER (smiling): “How did you like today’s conversation?”

M: “Very much indeed.”

MASTER (smiling): “How I spoke about the Emperor Akbar!”

M: “It was very good.”

MASTER: “Repeat it to me.”

M: “A fakir came to visit Akbar. The Emperor was saying his prayers. In his prayers he was asking God to give him wealth and riches. Thereupon the fakir was about to leave the room quietly. Later, when the Emperor asked him about it, the fakir said, ‘If I must beg, why should I beg of a beggar?’”

MASTER: “What else did we talk about?”

M: “You told us a great deal about saving up for the future. As long as a man feels that he must try, he should make an effort. How well you told us about it at Sinthi! God takes upon Himself complete responsibility for one who totally depends upon Him. It is like a guardian taking charge of a minor. You also told us that at a feast a child cannot by himself find a place to eat his meal; someone finds a place for him.”

MASTER: “No, that is not quite to the point. I said that the child doesn’t fall if the father leads him and holds his hand.”

M: “You also described the three classes of sādhus. The best sādhu does not move about to get his food; he lives in one place and gets his food there, You told us about that young sādhu who said, when he saw the breasts of a young girl, ‘Why has she those abscesses?’ You told us many other things. about the crow of Pampa Lake. He repeated the name of Rāma day and night. That is why he couldn’t drink the water though he went to its edge. And about the holy man in whose book was written only ‘Om Rāma’. And what Hanuman said to Rāma.”

M: “Hanuman said to Rāma: ‘I saw Sita in Ceylon; but it was only her body. Her mind and soul were lying at Your feet.’ “And about the chatak bird. He will not drink anything but rain-water. And about jnanayoga and bhaktiyoga. You said as long as one is conscious of the ‘jar’, the ego will certainly remain. As long as one is conscious of ‘I’, one cannot get rid of the idea, ‘I am the devotee and Thou art God’.”

MASTER: “No, it is not that; the ‘jar’ doesn’t disappear whether one is conscious of it or not. One cannot get rid of the ‘I’. You may reason a thousand times; still it will not go.”

M. remained silent a few moments.

M: “You had that talk with Ishan Mukherji in the Kāli temple. We were very lucky to be there.”

MASTER (smiling): “Yes, yes. Tell me, what did I say?”

M: “You said that work is only the first step. You told us that you said to Sambhu Mallick, ‘If God appears before you, will you ask Him for a number of hospitals and dispensaries?’

“You said another thing: God does not reveal Himself to a person as long as he is attached to work. You said that to Keshab Sen.”

MASTER: “What did I say?”

M: “As long as the baby plays with the toy and forgets everything else, its mother looks after her cooking and other household duties; but when the baby throws away the toy and cries, then the mother puts down the rice-pot and comes to the baby.

“You said another thing that day: Lakshmana asked Rāma where one could find God; after a great deal of explanation, Rāma said to him, ‘Brother, I dwell in the man in whom you find ecstatic love-a love which makes him laugh and weep and dance and sing.’ "

MASTER: “Ah me! Ah me!”

Sri Ramakrishna sat in silence a few minutes.

M: “That day you spoke only words of renunciation to Ishan. Since then many of us have come to our senses. Now we are eager to reduce our duties. You said that day, ‘Ravana died in Ceylon and Behula wept bitterly for him.’”

Sri Ramakrishna laughed aloud.

M. (humbly): “Sir, isn’t it desirable to reduce the number of one’s duties and entanglements?”

MASTER: “Yes. But it is a different thing if you happen to come across a sādhu or a poor man. Then you should serve him.”

M: “And. that day you spoke very rightly to Ishan about flatterers. They are like vultures on a carcass. You once said that to Padmalochan also.”

MASTER: “No, to Vamandas of Ulo.”

After a while M. sat on the floor near the small couch. Sri Ramakrishna felt sleepy; he said to M.: “Go to sleep. Where is Gopal? Please shut the door.”

Next morning Sri Ramakrishna left his bed very early. As usual, he chanted the holy names of the different gods and goddesses. Now and then he looked at the sacred river.

The morning worship began in the temples of Radhakanta and Mother Kāli. M. had spent the night on the floor of the Master’s room. He left his bed and watched the worship in. the different temples.

Sri Ramakrishna finished his bath and went with M. to the Kāli temple. He asked the disciple to lock the door of his room.

In the temple he took the seat in front of the image of Kāli and offered flowers, sometimes at Her feet and sometimes on his own head. He fanned the Deity. Then he returned to his room and asked M. to unlock the door. Entering the room, he sat on the small couch. He was completely overwhelmed with divine fervour and began to chant the name of God. M. sat alone on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna began to sing about the Divine Mother:

Who is there that can understand what Mother Kāli is? Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her. It is She, the scriptures say, that is the Inner Self Of the yogi, who in Self discovers all his joy; She that, of Her own sweet will, inhabits every living thing. .

Then he sang:

All creation is the sport of my mad Mother Kāli;

By Her māyā the three worlds are bewitched. . . .

He continued:

O Kāli, who can know Thee? Numberless are Thy forms. . .

Again he sang: O Mother, redeem me speedily! From terror of the King of Death I am about to die. M. said to himself, “I wish he would sing: Mother, Thou canst not trick me any more, For I have seen Thy crimson Lotus Feet.”

Strangely enough, no sooner had the thought passed through M.’s mind than Sri Ramakrishna sang the song. A few minutes later he said to M., “What do you think of the present state of my mind?”

M. (smiling): “It is your simple and natural state.”

Sri Ramakrishna sang to himself the following refrain of a song: Unless a man is simple, he cannot recognize God, the Simple One.