Restlessness for God-vision

MASTER (to Girish): “One can realize God through intense renunciation. But the soul must be restless for Him, as restless as one feels for a breath of air when one’s head is pressed under water.

“A man can see God if he unites in himself the force of these three attractions: the attraction of worldly possessions for the worldly man, the husband’s attraction for the chaste wife, and the child’s attraction for its mother. If you can unite these three forms of love and give it all to God, then you can see Him at once.

Cry to your Mother Syama with a real cry, O mind!

How can She hold Herself from you?

“If a devotee prays to God with real longing, God cannot help revealing Himself to him. “The other day I told you the meaning of bhakti. It is to adore God with body, mind, and words.

‘With body’ means to serve and worship God with one’s hands, go to holy places with one’s feet, hear the chanting of the name and glories of God with one’s ears, and behold the divine image with one’s eyes. ‘With mind’ means to contemplate and meditate on God constantly and to remember and think of His lila. ‘With words’ means to sing hymns to Him and chant His name and glories.

“Devotion as described by Nārada is suited to the Kaliyuga. It means to chant constantly the name and glories of God. Let those who have no leisure worship God at least morning and evening by whole-heartedly chanting His name and clapping their hands.

“The ’ego of a devotee’ begets no pride; it does not create ignorance. On the contrary it helps one realize God. This ego is no more like the ordinary ego than hinche is like ordinary greens. One generally becomes indisposed by eating greens; but hinche removes excessive bile; it does one good. Sugar candy is not like ordinary sweets.

Sweets are generally harmful, but sugar candy removes acidity.

“Nishtha leads to bhakti; bhakti, when mature, becomes bhava; bhava, when concentrated, becomes mahabhava; and last of all is prema. Prema is like a cord: by prema God is bound to the devotee; He can no longer run away. An ordinary man can at best achieve bhava. None but an Isvarakoti attains mahabhava and prema. Chaitanyadeva attained them.

“What is the meaning of jnanayoga? It is the path by which a man can realize the true nature of his own Self; it is the awareness that Brahman alone is his true nature. Prahlada sometimes was aware of his identity with Brahman. And sometimes he would see that God was one and he another; at such times he would remain in the mood of bhakti.

“Hanuman said, ‘O Rāma, sometimes I find that You are the whole and I a part, sometimes that You are the Master and I Your servant; but, O Rāma, when I have the Knowledge of Reality, I see that You are I and I am You.’”

GIRISH: “Ah!”

Worldly man’s spiritual discipline

MASTER: “Why shouldn’t a man be able to realize God in the world? But he must have discrimination and dispassion; he must have the unshakable awareness that God alone is real and all else is unreal and has but a two days’ existence. It will not do to float on the surface. You must dive deep.”

With these words, the Master sang:

Dive deep, O mind, dive deep in the Ocean of God’s Beauty;

If you descend to the uttermost depths,

There you will find the gem of Love. . . .

MASTER: “You must remember another thing: in the ocean there is danger of alligators, that is to say, of lust and the like.”

GIRISH: “I am not afraid of the King of Death.”

MASTER: “But I am speaking of the danger of the alligators of lust and the like. Because of them one should smear one’s body with turmeric before diving in-the turmeric of discrimination and dispassion.

“Some attain knowledge of God in the world. Mention is made of two classes of yogis: the hidden and the known. Those who have renounced the world are ‘known’ yogis: all recognize them. But the ‘hidden’ yogis live in the world. They are not known.

They are like the maidservant who performs her duties in the house but whose mind is fixed on her children in the country. They are also, as I have told you, like the loose woman who performs her household duties zealously but whose mind constantly dwells on her lover.

It is very hard to cultivate discrimination and dispassion. It is not easy to get rid of the idea, ‘I am the master and all these are mine.’ I saw a deputy magistrate, who earns a salary of eight hundred rupees, paying no attention to a religious discourse.

He had brought one of his children with him and was busy finding a good place for him to sit. I know another man, whom I shall not name, who used to devote a great deal of time to japa; but he bore false witness in court for the sake of ten thousand rupees.

Therefore I say that a man can realize God in the world, too, but only if he has discrimination and dispassion.”

Master and Girish

GIRISH: “What will happen to this sinner?”

Sri Ramakrishna sang in a tender voice, turning his eyes upward: Meditate on the Lord, the Slayer of hell’s dire woes, He who removes the fear of death; Thinking of Him, the soul is freed from worldly grief And sails across the sea of life in the twinkling of an eye. Consider, O my mind, why you have come to earth; What gain is there in evil thoughts and deeds? Your way lies not through these: perform your penance here By meditating long and deep on the everlasting Lord.

MASTER: “‘Sails across the sea of life in the twinkling of an eye.’ One attains the vision of God if Mahamaya steps aside from the door. Mahamaya’s grace is necessary: hence the worship of Śakti. You see, God is near us, but it is not possible to know Him because Mahamaya stands between. Rāma, Lakshmana, and Sita were walking along. Rāma walked ahead, Sita in the middle, and Lakshmana last. Lakshmana was only two and a half cubits away from Rāma, but he couldn’t see Rāma because Sita-Mahamaya-was in the way.

“While worshipping God, one should assume a definite attitude. I have three attitudes: the attitude of a child, the attitude of a maidservant, and the attitude of a friend. For a long time I regarded myself as a maidservant and a woman companion of God; at that time I used to wear skirts and ornaments, like a woman. The attitude of a child is very good.

“The attitude of a ‘hero’ is not good. Some people cherish it. They regard themselves as Purusha and woman as Prakriti; they want to propitiate woman through intercourse with her. But this method often causes disaster.”

GIRISH: “At one time I too cherished that idea.”

Sri Ramakrishna looked at Girish pensively.

GIRISH: “I still have that twist in my mind. Tell me what I should do.”

Sri Ramakrishna reflected a minute and said, “Give God your power of attorney. Let Him do whatever He likes.”

The conversation then turned to Sri Ramakrishna’s young devotees.

MASTER (to Girish and the others): “In meditation I see the inner traits of these youngsters. They have no thought of acquiring house and property. They do not crave sex pleasure.

Those of the youngsters who are married do not sleep with their wives. The truth is that unless a man has got rid of rajas and has acquired sattva, he cannot steadily dwell in God; he cannot love God and realize Him.”

GIRISH: “You have blessed me.”

MASTER: “How is that? I said that you would succeed if you were sincere.”

Saying this, the Master exclaimed, “Ānandamayi!” and went into samādhi. He remained in that state a long time. Regaining partial consciousness, he said, “Where are those rascals?” M. brought Baburam to him. Sri Ramakrishna looked at Baburam and the other devotees and said, still in ecstasy.

“The bliss of Satchidananda is indeed good; but what about the bliss of divine inebriation?”

He began to sing: 745Once for all, this time, I have thoroughly understood; From One who knows it well, I have learnt the secret of bhava…

Again he sang: 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?

The Master continued, saying, “While praying to the Divine Mother, I said, ‘O Mother, I don’t seek anything else: give me only pure love for Thee.’ "

Sri Ramakrishna was pleased with Girish’s calm mood. He said to him, “This mood of yours is good; the calm mood is the best.”

The Master was seated in the manager’s room. A man entered and said, “Will you see the farce. ‘The Confusion of Marriage’? It is being played now.”

Sri Ramakrishna said to Girish: “What have you done? This farce after the life of Prahlada! First sweets and rice pudding and then a dish of bitter herbs!”

After the theatre, the actresses, following Girish’s instructions, came to the room to salute Sri Ramakrishna. They bowed before him, touching the ground with their foreheads. The devotees noticed that some of the actresses, in saluting the Master, touched his feet. He said to them very tenderly, “Please don’t do that, mother!” After the actresses had left the room, Sri Ramakrishna said to the devotees, “It is all He, only in different forms.”

The carriage was ready at the door. Girish and the others came to the street to see the Master off. As soon as Sri Ramakrishna stepped into the carriage, he went into deep samādhi. Narayan and several other devotees were with him. The carriage started for Dakshineswar.