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The Master was gradually regaining consciousness of the outer world. Looking at the devotees he said: “Years ago I used to be amazed to see people keeping kai fish alive in a pot of water. I would say: ‘How cruel these people are! They will finally kill the fish.’
But later, as changes came over my mind, I realized that bodies are like pillow-cases. It doesn’t matter whether they remain or drop off.”
BHAVANĀTH: “Then may one injure a man without incurring sin? Kill him?”
Yes, it is permissible if one has achieved that state of mind. But not everyone has it. It is the state of Brahmajnana.
By coming down a step or two from samādhi I enjoy bhakti and bhakta.
There exist in God both vidyā and avidyā.
Vidyā-māyā leads one to God, and Avidyā-māyā away from Him. Knowledge, devotion, compassion, and renunciation belong to the realm of vidyā. With the help of these a man comes near God.
One step more and he attains God, Knowledge of Brahman.
In that state he clearly feels and sees that it is God who has become everything. He has nothing to give up and nothing to accept. It is impossible for him to be angry with anyone.
One day I was riding in a carriage. I saw two prostitutes standing on a verandah. They appeared to me to be embodiments of the Divine Mother Herself. I saluted them.
“When I first attained this exalted state I could not worship Mother Kāli or give Her the food offering. Haladhāri and Hriday told me that on account of this the temple officer had slandered me. But I only laughed; I wasn’t in the least angry.
Attain Brahmajnana and then roam about enjoying God’s lila.
A holy man came to a town and went about seeing the sights. He met another sādhu, an acquaintance. The latter said:
(All laugh.)
M (to himself): “Tasting God’s lila after Brahmajnana! Climbing down to the ordinary plane of consciousness after the attainment of samādhi!” Knowledge of Brahman
(to M. and the others): “Is it an easy thing to obtain the Knowledge of Brahman? It is not possible unless the mind is annihilated. The guru said to the disciple, ‘Give me your mind and I shall give you Knowledge.’ In this state one enjoys only spiritual talk and the company of devotees.
(To Ram) “You are a physician. You know that medicine works only when it mixes with the patient’s blood and becomes one with it. Likewise, in the state of Brahmajnana one sees God both within and without. One sees that it is God Himself who has become the body, mind, life, and soul.”
A man attains Brahmajnana as soon as his mind is annihilated. With the annihilation of the mind dies the ego, which says ‘I’, ‘I’.
One also attains the knowledge of Brahman by following the path of devotion. One also attains it by following the path of knowledge, that is to say, discrimination. The jnanis discriminate, saying, ‘Neti, neti’, that is, ‘All this is illusory, like a dream.’ They analyse the world through the process of ‘Not this, not this’; it is māyā. When the world vanishes, only the jivas, that is to say, so many egos, remain.
“Each ego may be likened to a pot. Suppose there are ten pots filled with water, and the sun is reflected in them. How many suns do you see?”
GIRISH: “That real sun, sir.”
No. What remains cannot be described. What is remains. How will you know there is a real sun unless there is a reflected sun? ‘I-consciousness’ is destroyed in samādhi.
A man climbing down from samādhi to the lower plane cannot describe what he has seen there." It was late in the evening. Lamps were burning in the drawing-room. Sri Ramakrishna was in a spiritual mood. The devotees sat around him.
(in the ecstatic mood): “There is no one else here; so I am telling you this. He who from the depth of his soul seeks to know God will certainly realize Him. He must. He alone who is restless for God and seeks nothing but Him will certainly realize Him.
“Those who belong to this place have already come. Those who will come from now on are outsiders. Such people will come now and then. The Divine Mother will tell them: ‘Do this. Call on God in this way.’
“Why doesn’t man’s mind dwell on God? You see, more powerful than God is His Mahamaya, His Power of Illusion. More powerful than the judge is his orderly.
(All laugh.)
The all-powerful māyā
“Rāma said to Nārada: ‘I am very much pleased with your prayer. Ask a boon of Me.’ Nārada replied, ‘O Rāma, may I have pure devotion to Your Lotus Feet, and may I not be deluded by Your world-bewitching māyā!’ Rāma said, ‘Be it so: ask for something else.’ Nārada replied, ‘No, Rāma, I do not want any other boon.’
“Everyone is under the spell of this world-bewitching māyā. When God assumes a human body, He too comes under the spell. Rāma wandered about weeping for Sita. ‘Brahman weeps entangled in the snare of the five elements.’ But you must remember this: God, by His mere will, can liberate Himself from this snare.”
BHAVANĀTH: “The guard of a railway train shuts himself of his own will in a carriage; but he can get out whenever he wants to.’
BHAVANĀTH (smiling): “Ordinary men are like the third-class passengers on a railway train. When the doors of their compartments are locked, they have no way to get out.”
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