How to cultivate longing for God

ATUL: “How can we keep our minds on God?”

MASTER: “Abhyāsa Yoga, the yoga of practice. You should practise calling on God every day. It is not possible to succeed in one day; through daily prayer you will come to long for God.

“How can you feel that restlessness if you are immersed in worldliness day and night?

Formerly Jadu Mallick enjoyed spiritual talk; he liked to engage in it himself. But nowadays he doesn’t show that much interest. He surrounds himself with flatterers day and night and indulges in worldly talk.”

It was dusk. The lamp was lighted in the room. Sri Ramakrishna chanted the divine names. He was singing and praying. He said, “Chant the name of Hari, repeat the name of Hari, sing the name of Hari.” Again he said, “Rāma! Rāma! Rāma!” Then: “O Mother!

Thou dost ever enjoy Thine eternal Sports. Tell us, O Mother, what is the way? We have taken refuge in Thee; we have taken shelter at Thy feet.”

Finding Girish restless, Sri Ramakrishna remained silent a moment. He asked Tejchandra to sit near him. The boy sat near the Master. He whispered to M. that he would have to leave soon.

MASTER (to M.): “What did he say?”

M: “He said he would have to go home.”

MASTER: “Why do I attract these boys to me so much? They are pure vessels untouched by worldliness. A man cannot assimilate instruction if his mind is stained with worldliness. Milk can be safely kept in a new pot; but it turns sour if kept in a pot in which curd has been made. You may wash a thousand times a cup that has held a solution of garlic, but still you cannot remove the smell.”

Master at the theatre

Sri Ramakrishna arrived at the Star Theatre, on Beadon Street, to see a performance of Vrishaketu He sat in a box, facing the south. M. and other devotees were near him.

MASTER (to M.): “Has Narendra come?”

M: “Yes, sir.”

The performance began. Karna and his wife Padmavati sacrificed their son to please God, who had come to them in the guise of a brahmin to test Karna’s charity. During this scene one of the devotees gave a suppressed sigh. Sri Ramakrishna also expressed his sorrow.

After the play Sri Ramakrishna went to the recreation room of the theatre. Girish and Narendra were already there. The Master stood near Narendra and said, “I have come.” Sri Ramakrishna took a seat. The orchestra was playing in the auditorium.

MASTER (to the devotees): “I feel happy listening to the concert. The musicians used to play on the sanai at Dakshineswar and I would go into ecstasy. Noticing this, a certain sādhu said, ‘This is a sign of the Knowledge of Brahman.’”

The orchestra stopped playing and Sri Ramakrishna began the conversation.

MASTER (to Girish): “Does this theatre belong to you?”

GIRISH: “It is ours, sir.”

MASTER: “‘Ours’ is good; it is not good to say ‘mine’. People say ‘I’ and ‘mine’; they are egotistic, small-minded people.”

NARENDRA: “The whole world is a theatre.”

MASTER: “Yes, yes, that’s right. In some places you see the play of vidyā and in some, the play of avidyā.”

NARENDRA: “Everything is the play of vidyā.”

MASTER: “True, true. But a man realizes that when he has the Knowledge of Brahman; But for a bhakta, who follows the path of divine love, both exist-Vidyā-māyā and Avidyā- māyā.

“Please sing a little.”

Narendra sang:

Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness waves of ecstatic love arise:

Rapture divine! Play of God’s Bliss! Oh, how enthralling! Wondrous waves of the sweetness of God, ever new and ever enchanting, Rise on the surface, ever assuming Forms ever fresh. Then once more in the Great Communion all are merged, as the barrier walls Of time and space dissolve and vanish: Dance then, O mind! Dance in delight with hands upraised, chanting Lord Hari’s holy name.

As Narendra sang the words, “Then once more in the Great Communion all are merged”, Sri Ramakrishna said to him, “One realizes this after attaining the Knowledge of Brahman; then all is vidyā, Brahman, as you said.” As Narendra sang the line, “Dance in delight with hands upraised, chanting Lord Hari’s holy name”, the Master said to him,

“Sing that line twice.”

After the song Sri Ramakrishna resumed the conversation.

GIRISH: “Devendra Babu hasn’t come. He says in a mood of wounded pride: ‘We haven’t any stuff inside us, no filling of thickened milk. We are filled only with worthless lentil-paste. Why should we go there?”

MASTER (surprised): “Does he say that? He never said so before.” Sri Ramakrishna took some refreshments and handed some to Narendra.

JATIN DEVA (to the Master): “You always say: ‘Narendra, eat this! Eat that!’ Are the rest of us fools? Are we like straw washed ashore by the flood-tide?”

Sri Ramakrishna loved Jatin dearly. Jatin visited the Master now and then at Dakshineswar and occasionally spent the night there. He belonged to an aristocratic family of Sobhabazar. The Master said laughingly to Narendra, “He is talking about you.”

Sri Ramakrishna laughed and showed his affection to Jatin by touching his chin. He said to Jatin, “Come to Dakshineswar; I’ll give you plenty to eat.”

The Master went into the auditorium to see a farce. He sat in a box. He laughed at the conversation of the maidservant. After a while he became absent-minded and whispered a few words to M.

MASTER (to M.): “Well, is what Girish Ghosh says true?”

Girish had lately been speaking of Sri Ramakrishna as an Incarnation of God.

M: “Yes, sir, it must be true. Otherwise why should it appeal to our minds?”

MASTER: “You see, a change is coming over me. The old mood has changed. I am not able to touch any metal now.”

M. listened to these words in wonder.

MASTER: “There is a very deep meaning in this new mood.” Was the Master hinting that a God-man cannot bear any association with worldly treasure?

MASTER (to M.): “Well, do you notice any change in me?”

M: “In what respect, sir?”

MASTER: “In my activities.”

M: “Your activities are increasing as more people come to know about you.”

MASTER: “Do you see? What I said before is now coming true.”

After a few moments he said, “Can you tell me why Paltu can’t meditate well?”

Sri Ramakrishna was ready to leave for Dakshineswar. He had remarked to a devotee about Girish, “You may wash a thousand times a cup that has held a solution of garlic; but is it ever possible to get rid of the smell altogether?” Girish was offended by this remark. When the Master was about to leave, Girish spoke.

GIRISH: “Will this smell of garlic go?”

MASTER: “Yes, it will.”

GIRISH: “So you say it will.”

MASTER: “All smell disappears when a blazing fire is lighted. If you heat the cup smelling of garlic, you get rid of the smell; it becomes a new cup.

“The man who says he will not succeed will never succeed. He who feels he is liberated is indeed liberated; and he who feels he is bound verily remains bound. He who forcefully says, ‘I am free’ is certainly free; and he who says day and night, ‘I am bound’ is certainly bound.”