The Power of woman and gold

“‘Woman and gold’ alone is the world. It makes one forget God.”

GIRISH: “But how can we get rid of ‘woman and gold’?”

MASTER: “Pray to God with a yearning heart. Pray to Him for discrimination. ‘God alone is real and all else illusory’-this is discrimination. One strains water through a fine sieve in order to separate the dirt from it. The clear water goes through the sieve leaving the dirt behind. Apply the sieve of discrimination to the world. Live in the world after knowing God. Then it will be the world of vidyā.

“Just see the bewitching power of women! I mean the women who are the embodiment of avidyā, the power of delusion. They fool men, as it were. They take away their inner substance.

When I see a man and woman sitting together, I say to myself, ‘Alas, they are done for’ (Looking at M.) Haru, such a nice boy, is possessed by a witch. People ask: ‘Where is Haru? Where is he?’ But where do you expect him to be? They all go to the banyan and find him sitting quietly under it. He no longer has his beauty, power, or joy. Ah! He is possessed by the witch that lives in the banyan. “If a woman says to her husband, ‘Go there’, he at once stands up, ready to go. If she says, ‘Sit down here’, immediately he sits down.

“A job-seeker got tired of visiting the manager in an office. He couldn’t get the job. The manager said to him, ‘There is no vacancy now; but come and see me now and then.’ This went on for a long time, and the candidate lost all hope. One day he told his tale of woe to a friend. The friend said: ‘How stupid you are! Why are you wearing away the soles of your feet going to that fellow? You had better go to Golap. You will get the job tomorrow.’

‘Is that so?’ said the candidate. ‘I am going right away.’ Golap was the manager’s mistress. The candidate called on her and said: ‘Mother, I am in great distress.

You must help me out of it. I am the son of a poor brahmin. Where else shall I go for help? Mother, I have been out of work many days. My children are about to starve to death. I can get a job if you but say the word.’ Golap said to him, ‘Child, whom should I speak to?’ She said to herself: ‘Ah, the poor brahmin! He has been suffering too much.’ The candidate said to her, ‘I am sure to get the job if you just put in a word about it to the manager.’ Golap said, ‘I shall speak to him today and settle the matter.’ The very next morning a man called on the candidate and said, ‘You are to work in the manager’s office, beginning today.’ The manager said to his English boss: ‘This man is very competent. I have appointed him. He will do credit to the firm.’

“All are deluded by ‘woman and gold’. But I do not care for it at all. And I swear to you that I do not know anything but God.”

A DEVOTEE: “Sir, a new sect, named, ‘Nava Hullol’, has been started. Lalit Chatterji is one of the members.”

MASTER: “There are different views. All these views are but so many paths to reach the same goal. But everyone believes that his view alone is right, that his watch alone keeps correct time.”

GIRISH (to M.): “Do you remember what Pope says about it?

‘Tis with our judgments as our watches, none

Go just alike, yet each believes his own.”

MASTER (to M.): “What does it mean?”

M: “Every one thinks that his own watch keeps the correct time. But different watches do not give the same time.”

MASTER: “But however wrong the watches may be, the Sun never makes a mistake.

One should check one’s watch with the sun.”

A DEVOTEE: Mr. X- tells lies.

Efficacy of truthfulness

MASTER: “Truthfulness in speech is the tapasya of the Kaliyuga. It is difficult to practise other austerities in this cycle. By adhering to truth one attains God. Tulsidas said:

‘Truthfulness, obedience to God, and the regarding of others’ wives as one’s mother, are the greatest virtues. If one does not realize God by practising them, then Tulsi is a liar.’ “Keshab Sen assumed his father’s debts. Others would have repudiated them. I visited Devendra’s Samaj at Jorashanko and found Keshab meditating on the dais. He was then a young man.

I said to Mathur Babu, ‘Of all who are meditating here, this young man’s “float” alone has sunk under water. The “fish” is biting at the hook.’

“There was a man-whom I shall not name-who for ten thousand rupees told a lie in court. In order to win the lawsuit he made me give an offering to the Divine Mother. He said to me, ‘Father, please give this offering to the Mother.’ Trusting him like a child, I gave the offering.”

DEVOTEE: “A nice man indeed!”

MASTER: “But he had such faith in me that he believed the Mother would grant his prayer if I but made the offering.”

Referring to Lalit Babu, Sri Ramakrishna said: “Is it an easy matter to get rid of pride?

There are very few who are without pride. Balarām is one of them. (Pointing to a devotee) And here is another. Other people in their position would have swelled with pride. They would have parted their hair and showed other traits of tamas. They would have been proud of their learning. The ‘fat brahmin’ [referring to Prankrishna] still has a little of it.

To M.) Mahima Chakravarty has read many books, hasn’t he?”

M: “Yes, sir, he has read a great deal.”

MASTER (smiling): “I wish he and Girish could meet. Then we could enjoy a little discussion.”

GIRISH (smiling): “Doesn’t he say that by means of sādhanā all people can be like Sri Krishna?”

MASTER: “Not exactly that, but something like it.”

DEVOTEE: “Sir, can all be like Sri Krishna?”

Special traits of a Divine Incarnation

MASTER: “An Incarnation of God or one born with some of the characteristics of an Incarnation is called an Isvarakoti. An ordinary man is called a jiva or jivakoti. By dint of sādhanā a jivakoti can realize God; but after samādhi he cannot come back to the plane of relative consciousness.

“The Isvarakoti is like the king’s son. He has the keys to all the rooms of the seven- storey palace; he can climb to all the seven floors and come down at will. A jivakoti is like a petty officer. He can enter some of the rooms of the palace; that is his limit.

“Janaka was a Jnāni. He attained Knowledge by means of his sādhanā . But Sukadeva was Knowledge itself.”

GIRISH: “Ah!”

Nārada and Sukadeva

MASTER: “Sukadeva did not attain Knowledge through sādhanā . Like Sukadeva, Nārada also had the Knowledge of Brahman. But he retained bhakti in order to teach people. Prahlada sometimes assumed the attitude of ‘I am He’, sometimes that of a servant of God, and sometimes that of His child. Hanuman also was like that.

“All may wish for such a lofty state, but all cannot attain it. Some bamboos are hollower than others; some are more solid inside.”

A DEVOTEE: “You say that your spiritual experiences are for others to refer to. Tell us what we should do.”

Master urges intense dispassion

MASTER: “If you want to realize God, then you must cultivate intense dispassion. You must renounce immediately what you feel to be standing in your way. You should not put it off till the future. ‘Woman and gold’ is the obstruction. The mind must be withdrawn from it.

“One must not be slow and lazy. A man was going to bathe; he had his towel on his shoulder. His wife said to him: ‘You are worthless. You are getting old and still you cannot give up some of your habits. You cannot live a single day without me. But look at that man! What a renouncer he is!’

“HUSBAND: ‘Why? What has he done?’

“WIFE: ‘He has sixteen wives and he is renouncing them one by one. You will never be able to renounce.’

HUSBAND: ‘Renouncing his wives one by one! You are crazy. He won’t be able to renounce. If a man wants to renounce, does he do it little by little?’

WIFE (smiling): ‘Still he is better than you.’

“HUSBAND: ‘You are silly; you don’t understand. He cannot renounce. But I can. See! Here I go!’ "

The Master continued: “That is called intense renunciation. No sooner did the man discriminate than he renounced. He went away with the towel on his shoulder. He didn’t turn back to settle his worldly affairs. He didn’t even look back at his home. “He who wants to renounce needs great strength of mind. He must have a dare-devil attitude like a dacoit’s. Before looting a house, the dacoits shout: ‘Kill! Murder! Loot!’

“Cultivate devotion and love of God and so pass your days. What else can you do? When Krishna went away, Yaśoda became insane with grief and visited Radha. Radha was moved by her sorrow and appeared before her as Ādyāśakti . She said, ‘My child, ask a boon of Me.’ Yaśoda replied: ‘Mother, what else shall I ask of You? Bless me that I may serve Krishna alone with my body, mind, and speech; that I may behold His devotees with these eyes; that I may go with these feet to the place where His divine sport is manifested; that I may serve Him and His devotees with these hands; and that I may devote all my sense-organs to His service alone.’ "

As Sri Ramakrishna uttered these words, he was about to go into ecstasy.

Suddenly he exclaimed: “Kāli, the Embodiment of Destruction! No, Nityakali, my eternal Divine Mother” With great difficulty he restrained himself. He was starting to say more about Yaśoda, when Mahendra Mukherji arrived.