Embedded Files
How to fix the mind on God?
chanting his name and glories without ceasing
holy company
go into solitude and meditate on god
always have good thoughts in your mind
discriminating between real and transitory things, shake off attachment to the perishable things of the world
How to live in the household?
do all your duties while keeping your mind fixed on god
first acquire love of God, then engage in the affairs of the world
to acquire love of God, solitude is needed
by giving your mind to God in solitude, you gain love for him, spiritual knowledge, and dispassion
in the world, there is nothing but thoughts of money and sex
the world is like water and the mind is like milk. do not mix your mind with the world without first turning milk to butter (love of god, spiritual knowledge)
practice discrimination. money and sex are transitory. money has its uses, but cannot be the end.
why should a man forget God for the bones, flesh, fat, urine and excreta which constitute a woman's body?
Can God be seen?
Yes, there is no doubt about it.
go into solitude from time to time, chant his name and glories, practice discrimination.
What state of mind leads to God-realization?
cry with a deep yearning in your heart and you will see God.
Know that God is in all beings. But mix with the good and keep a distance from the bad.
With some, one may have a nodding acquaintance, but with some, even that is not possible.
To protect yourself from bad people, you must make a show of tamas.
You should hiss at bad people to frighten them so they don't harm you, but you must now injure them.
A worldly man doesn’t think of God. Even when he has leisure, he either indulges in empty talk or engages himself in useless activities. He says, ‘I’m not able to sit idle, so I’ll plant a hedge.’ When time hangs heavy, he might even start playing cards.
What is the way out for such a worldly man?
seek the company of holy men
meditate on God in solitude
practice discrimination
pray to God to grant you love and faith
there is nothing higher than faith
Just think of Hanuman’s state of mind! He wanted neither wealth nor honour nor bodily comforts. He longed only for God.
(He goes to Sri Ramakrishna in the natmandir. Thakur is still walking up and down in that dim light – alone, with no companion, like a lion, the king of beasts, who walks alone in the forest. Atmarama, the lion rejoices in being alone, in moving around companionless. M. stands, speechless, and again looks at the great man.)
The heart of the devotee is His dwelling place. It may be that God is manifest in all things, but He is manifest in a special sense in the heart of a devotee of God.
When there was no creation, no moon, no sun, no planets, no earth – nothing but deep darkness – then there was only the formless Divine Mother Mahakali living with Mahakala.
Truly, I tell you, there is nothing wrong in living as a householder, as you are. However, you have to fix your mind on God. Otherwise, it won’t do. Do your work with one hand and hold onto God with the other. When you finish your work, you will hold God with both hands.
It is the mind that matters. If the mind is bound, you are bound; if the mind is free, you are free. The mind gets dyed in the colour into which it is dipped. It is just like a laundered white cloth. You can dip it in any colour – red, blue, or green.
It is the mind that binds and it is the mind that liberates. I am a free soul, I may live in the household or in the forest, there is no bondage for me. I am a child of the Lord, the son of the King of Kings; who will bind me then? If you say emphatically, ‘I am not bound, I am free!’ you become so. You become liberated.
One should have such faith in the name of God that one feels: ‘I have chanted His name. How can I still be a sinner? What sin is there for me? What bondage for me?’
Just say but once, ‘I shall not repeat the wrongs I have done,’ and have faith in His name.
I prayed to my Divine Mother for pure love of God. Holding flowers in my hands I offered them at Her lotus feet and said, ‘O Mother, take Your sin and Your merit, and grant that I may have only pure love for You. Take Your knowledge and take Your ignorance, and grant me pure love for You. Here is Your purity, and here Your impurity; grant me pure love. Take Your dharma and Your adharma, and grant me pure love.’
Why should God-realization not be possible while living in a household? King Janaka realized God.
But one cannot become King Janaka all at once. King Janaka performed austerity in solitude for a long time. Even while living in the family, one must go into solitude at times. It’s good if one can cry for God even for three days in solitude, away from home. But even if a man goes into solitude for
a day when he gets the opportunity, and thinks of Him, that too is good.
One should go into solitude at times and perform spiritual sadhana to realize God. In the beginning there are many difficulties in making the mind steady while attending to all the duties of the world. The mind, in the initial stage, is like a young tree on the footpath; it may be eaten by goats or cows. A fence is needed to protect it.
Take the disease of typhoid. There is a pot of water and tamarind pickles in the room where a patient is lying. If you want to cure this patient, you’ll have to remove him from the room. A worldly man is a typhoid patient, worldly things are pots of water, and the desire for sense enjoyments is his thirst. The mouth begins to water at the mere thought of tamarind pickles. They should not be placed near the patient. Such things are present in the household – the company of a woman and so on. That is why living in solitude is necessary for a cure.
Knowledge of what is real and what is unreal is known as discrimination. God alone is real and eternal. All else is unreal, transitory, lasting just a few days. One must realize this and develop love for God, attachment to God, devotion to Him.
You may or may not accept Radha and Krishna, but make their feelings of attraction and attachment your own. Who has such yearning for God? Make an effort. Only when you yearn for God, will you realize Him.
What about worldly work? Worldly affairs?
Yes, you should attend to that too, as much as is necessary to run the household. But you must cry in a lonely corner and pray to God so that you do all these works selflessly. And you should pray, 'O Lord, please lessen my worldly work, because O Lord, I see that when I am engrossed in too much work, I forget You. I think that I’m doing the work in a selfless way, but it turns out to be with a motive.' You should do only that which comes your way and which appears to be of pressing necessity – this too in the spirit of not expecting any reward. Don’t seek more work. If you do, you will lose sight of God.
In the Kaliyuga one should practice Bhakti Yoga, chanting the Lord’s name and His glories, and prayer.
Devotion also has its sattva. The devotee who possesses the quality of sattva meditates secretly. Perhaps he meditates inside his mosquito net. Everybody thinks he is either sleeping or that he did not sleep well during the night and is late getting up. His attachment to his body is only to the extent of filling his stomach – a simple dish of rice with spinach suffices for him. There is no fuss and bother about his meals, nor in his dress or household furnishings. And a sattvic devotee never flatters anybody for money.
A man with the devotion of tamas has burning faith. Such a devotee forces the Lord like a dacoit forces a man to part with his wealth. ‘Tie him up! Beat him! Kill him!’ Such is the disposition of a dacoit.
Why, I have chanted Her name! How can there be any sin in me? I am Her son! I am the inheritor of Her power and glory! Such must be the spirit.
If you can give a turn to your tamoguna, you can use it to realize God. Force your demands on Him! He’s no stranger. Indeed, He is our own.
And then see how the quality of tamas can be used for the welfare of others. “There are three types of physicians ...
When the ego vanishes, all troubles cease. You may reason a thousand times, but the ego does not disappear. For you and me, it is good to cherish the ‘I’ of a devotee of God. For a devotee, Brahman is with qualities. In other words, God is visible as a person with a form. It is enough to feel that God is a person who listens to your prayers, who creates, preserves, and dissolves – a person who is infinitely powerful. It is easier to reach God by the path of love and devotion.
In Vedanta philosophy there are no forms. Its ultimate principle is that Brahman is the only Reality, and the phenomenal universe made of names and forms is illusory. As long as one cherishes the idea, ‘I am a devotee,’ it is possible to have a vision of the form of God and to see Him as a person. From the standpoint of reasoning, the feeling ‘I am a devotee’ keeps him somewhat away from God.
“Sir, do you believe in rebirth?”
Yes, they say there is rebirth. How can we of tiny intellect understand the actions of God? Many people have said it is so, so I don’t disbelieve.
Look, this boy has ended his life. When I heard about it, I felt very bad. He used to come here ...
I believe it was his last birth. In his previous birth he must have accomplished a lot. Perhaps only a little was left undone and he finished that in this life. One must admit the tendencies of one’s past birth.
Suicide is a great sin. A person who commits suicide will have to return and again suffer the world’s trials and tribulations.
Bound creatures, the worldly, do not wake up. They suffer so much misery, so many trials, so many sorrows. Even then they do not awaken. A camel likes thorny bushes, but the more it eats, the more its mouth bleeds. Yet it keeps on eating the same thorny bush; it doesn’t stop. The worldly suffer so much agony, so much sorrow, yet they revert back to the old self quite soon.
The bound soul may have realized that there is no substance to the world – that it is like a hog plum containing nothing but stone and skin – yet he cannot give it up, cannot turn his mind to God.
A fifty-year-old relative of Keshab Sen was playing cards – as if the time was not yet ripe for him to think of God!
There is yet another sign of a bound soul. If he is lifted from worldly life to a spiritual environment, he will pine away to death. The worm that lives in dung only feels happy there – only there does it thrive. If you put that worm in a pot of rice, it will die.
“What must be the state of mind for a bound soul to attain liberation?”
When one develops deep dispassion by the grace of God, one can be freed from the attachment to ‘lust and greed.’ What is deep dispassion? Mild dispassion is to let whatever is continue as it is, just to go on repeating the name of God. But in one who has deep dispassion, the prana (life breath) becomes restless for God, like a mother restless for the child in her womb. A person who has deep dispassion does not want anything but God. That person sees the world as a deep well and feels that he is drowning in it.
He has great resolve.
What is deep dispassion like? Listen to a story. Once there was a drought in a certain part of the country. All the farmers were busy digging canals to bring water from a distance. One farmer had great determination. He resolved that he would go on digging until water from the river flowed along his whole canal. ... Now his wife came to the field and said, ‘Why haven’t you taken your bath yet? Your rice is getting cold. You always overdo things. If the work is not finished yet, do it tomorrow, or do it after your meal.’ Taking his spade in hand, the farmer drove her off, scolding and shouting, ‘You have no sense! There’s been no rain. There is no crop. What will the children eat? Without food, we will all starve to death! I have vowed that I will bring water to the field today. After that, I will think about bathing and eating.’ Seeing his determination, the woman left. The farmer worked very hard throughout the day and joined the canal to the river in the evening. Then he sat on the bank and enjoyed watching the water gurgle into his field. He was now at peace and full of happiness. He went home and called to his wife, ‘Now bring some oil and prepare a smoke.’ In a carefree mood he took his bath, ate his meal, and retired to bed where he snored happily. This kind of determination illustrates deep dispassion.
Just as a farmer can’t bring water to his field without great determination, in the same way, only with great effort does a man realize God.
Once you develop deep dispassion and realize God, you will no longer have attachment to women. Even if you live in the household, you won’t feel that attraction – there is no danger then. Say there’s a big magnet and a small one. Which will attract the iron with greater force? Surely the big one will exert a stronger pull. God is the big magnet. Compared to Him, woman is a small magnet. What can she do?
Those who have realized God do not look upon women with lustful eyes, so they have nothing to fear. They actually see that women are but manifestations of the Mother of the Universe, so they worship them all as the Mother.
The ego of an embodied soul ends with just three cries if one has a real teacher. But if the guru is unripe, both the guru and the disciple undergo suffering. The disciple doesn’t get rid of his ego or his bondage to the world.
“Sir, why are we bound like this? Why can’t we see God?”
The very ego of man is maya. This egotism has veiled everything. ‘All troubles cease when “I-ness” dies.’ If by the grace of God a man realizes, ‘I am not the doer,’ he becomes a jivanmukta. Then he has nothing to fear.
Just see, I’m creating a barrier in front of my face with this hand towel. You cannot see me, though I am so near. Similarly, God is so near to us all! Even then, we can’t see Him because of the veil of maya. An embodied being is of the essence of Sat-chitananda, but because of maya or ego, it is covered with various unreal qualities (upadhis) and has forgotten its own real Self.
Every unreal quality changes a person’s nature. A man who wears a black-bordered dhoti is at once found to hum the love songs of Nidhu, or he begins to play cards, or automatically he picks up a stick to go for a walk! Even a sickly person begins to whistle as soon as he puts on English boots. And when he climbs stairs, he jumps from one step to the other like an Englishman. If a man is holding a pen in his hand, he begins to scribble the moment he finds a piece of paper. Money is also a great upadhi. As soon as money comes to a man, he becomes so different – he is no longer the same man. A frog had a rupee which he kept in a hole. One day an elephant walked over the hole. Rushing out angrily, the frog raised its foot at the elephant and cried, ‘How dare you walk over me!’ Such is the pride money breeds!
You can get rid of I-consciousness when you attain spiritual knowledge. Attaining it, you go into samadhi, and only in samadhi does ‘I-ness’ disappear. But it is very difficult to attain spiritual knowledge.
The mind vanishes at the seventh plane and one attains samadhi. What one feels then cannot be described in words.
“The ‘I’ that makes one worldly and attaches one to ‘lust and greed’ is the ‘rascal I.’ Because of it, the individual soul and the Atman appear apart. If a stick is put on water, the water appears to be divided into two. In reality the water is one, but it appears to be two because of the stick. ‘I-ness’ is the stick. Remove the stick and the water will become one as before. What is the ‘rascal I?’ That which says, ‘Don’t you know me? I have so much money. Who’s greater than I?’ If a thief steals ten rupees, the victim first snatches the money back and then gives the thief a good beating. He doesn’t leave him even then. He hands him over to the police and gets him punished.
Usually ‘I-ness’ does not go. You may reason a thousand ways, but this ‘I-ness’ still finds its way back to you. Cut the ashwattha tree today, tomorrow morning you will see it sprouting again. So if ‘I’ does not go, let the rascal remain as the ‘servant-I’: ‘O Lord, You are my Master, I am Your servant.’ Live with this attitude. ‘I am the servant,’ ‘I am the devotee’ – there is no harm in this kind of ‘I-ness.’
In the Kaliyuga life depends on food. With the conviction that I am the body, ‘I-ness,’ does not disappear. So the path of devotion is enjoined for the Kaliyuga. It is an easy path. If you sing His names and glories and pray to Him longingly from the core of your heart, you will attain God. There is no doubt about it.
The feeling of the ‘servant-I’ or the ‘I of a devotee’ or the ‘I of a child’ is only like a line drawn on water. One should have this ego – the ‘servant I.’ That is to say, ‘I am the servant of the Lord, I am His devotee.’ There’s no harm in that. Rather, it leads to God-realization.
The feeling ‘I am He’ is not good. If a person entertains such a feeling of ’I-ness’ but retains identification with his body, it will bring great harm to him – he won’t advance further. And because he cannot understand his own predicament, he deceives others as well as himself. He gradually goes down spiritually.
Devotion alone does not enable you to realize God. Unless you have intense love for God, you cannot attain Him. When your worldly way of thinking disappears completely and your mind goes to Him one hundred percent, only then do you attain God.
When Srimati (Radha) said, ‘I see Krishna everywhere,’ her gopi friends said, ‘How? We can’t see him. Are you delirious?’ Srimati said, ‘Friend, apply the collyrium of love to your eyes and you will be able to see him.’
“How can one see God?”
Not until the mind is purified. Attached to ‘lust and greed,’ the mind remains soiled, it remains covered with dirt. If a needle is covered with mud, a magnet can’t attract it. But when the mud and dirt are washed off, the magnet attracts. You can wash the dirt of the mind with the tears from your eyes.
But though you try a thousand times, nothing is achieved without God’s grace. Without His grace, you cannot see Him. Is it easy to gain His grace? You have to get rid of your ego completely. When you have the feeling that you are the doer, you cannot see God.
Suppose a man is in charge of the storeroom and somebody comes and says to the master of the house, ‘Sir, please give me some provisions from your storeroom.’ The master says, ‘There’s a man in the storeroom. I don’t have to go there.’ God doesn’t appear easily in the heart of the person who feels himself to be the doer.
Only after gaining God’s grace can you have His vision. He is the sun of knowledge. With just one of His rays, this whole world is illumined. That’s how we’re able to know one another and acquire different kinds of knowledge in the world. If God only once brings His light to His own face, we can see Him. You must pray to God, ‘Lord, be kind enough to turn the light of knowledge on Your own face so that I may see You.’
If there is no light in a house, it means poverty. You must light the lamp of knowledge in the heart: ‘Lighting the lamp of knowledge in the house, behold the face of the all-blissful Mother.’
Any untruth is bad.
The point is that even while acting in a play, virtuous people should not use false words or do anything that’s not true.
It’s not good for a devotee to even play such a part. Keeping the mind on such matters for any length of time brings harm. The mind is like a fresh white cloth. It takes on the colour it’s dipped in. By keeping the mind in falsehood for any length of time, it will take on the colour of falsehood.
[-> shouldn't I be spending atleast 4 hours daily in work related to the office? e.g., actual work, getting to know procedures, improving sql server (and then maybe oracle or db2) skills, improving my japanese communication abilities. Else, the mind will get used to getting money by not actually earning it by doing enuough useful work for the employer]
“Sir, what do you experience in the state of samadhi?”
Haven’t you heard about the cockroach becoming a beetle by meditating on a beetle? Do you know how I feel? Like a fish released from a pot into the Ganges.
“Isn’t there the least trace of ego left then?”
Yes, usually a little ego remains. However much you may grind a little piece of gold on a grindstone, a small grain of it remains. Another example is a big fire and its spark. Outer consciousness disappears, but usually a bit of ‘I-ness’ remains for enjoyment. Enjoyment is only possible when there is ‘I’ and ‘you.’ But sometimes He effaces even this ‘I-ness.’ This is called jada samadhi – nirvikalpa samadhi. What this experience is cannot be described in words.
(On the inner wall of Sri Ramakrishna’s room hang pictures of gods and goddesses, among them a picture of Christ holding Peter’s hand to save him from drowning. There is also a stone image of the Buddha.)
“I met another sadhu. He said, ‘Without control over the senses, nothing can be achieved. How does it help merely to cry, ‘Lord, Lord?’”
Do you know what people like that sadhu believe? That one must first practice spiritual disciplines: tranquility (shama), self-control (dama), and forbearance (titiksha). These people strive for nirvana. They are Vedantists. They only meditate on this: ‘Brahman is real and the world illusory.’ It is an extremely difficult path. If the world is illusory, then you too are illusory. Those who say so are also illusory, and what they say is also like a dream. It is a very abstruse philosophy. Do you know how it is? Like burning camphor that leaves no trace. When you burn firewood, you still get an ash residue. After ultimate reasoning comes samadhi. Then there is no awareness of ‘I,’ ‘you,’ and ‘the universe.’
There was a pundit who was very vain. He didn’t accept God with form. But who can understand the ways of God? He revealed Himself to the pundit in the form of Primordial Power. The vision made the pundit unconscious for a long time. After regaining a little consciousness he could only utter, ‘Ka! Ka! Ka!’ (that is, Kali) – just that syllable.
“Is compassion [daya] also bondage?”
Sri Ramakrishna: “That is a very subtle concept. Compassion comes from sattvaguna. Sattvaguna preserves, rajoguna creates, and tamoguna destroys. But Brahman is beyond the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas. It is beyond nature. “The gunas cannot really reach Brahman. They are like robbers who cannot go out in the open, afraid that they might be arrested. Sattva, rajas, and tamas – all three gunas – are robbers.
The world itself is a forest. In this forest sattva, rajas, and tamas are robbers. They rob a person of spiritual knowledge. Tamoguna wants to destroy
him, and rajoguna binds him to the world. But sattvaguna saves him from rajas and tamas. By taking refuge in sattvaguna, one is saved from lust, anger, and other such evil effects of tamas. Besides, sattvaguna loosens the bonds of the world. But even sattvaguna is a robber. It can’t give spiritual
knowledge. What it does is put you on the road to God. Putting you on the road, it says, ‘Just look, there is your home.’ But sattvaguna remains at a
great distance from the knowledge of Brahman.
“Can one keep an organization intact after attaining the knowledge of Brahman?”
I talked to Keshab Sen about the knowledge of Brahman. Keshab said, ‘Please elaborate further.’ I said, ‘If I talk further, you will not be able to keep your organization intact.’ ‘Then please don’t tell me any more, sir!’ Keshab replied. (All laugh.) Then I said to him,‘“I and mine” – these indicate ignorance. “I am the doer, this is my wife, that is my son, these are my possessions,” honour, respect, and so on – such feelings arise because of ignorance.’ Thereupon Keshab said, ‘Sir, if you give up the “I,” nothing whatsoever will remain!’ I said, ‘Keshab, I’m not asking you to renounce your “I” altogether. Only give up your “unripe I.” “I am the doer, this is my wife or son, I am the guru,” and so on – this pride is the “unripe I.” Give it up. Renounce it and keep the “ripe I” – “I am His servant, I am His devotee, I am not the doer, He is the doer.”’
“Can the ‘ripe I’ create an organization?”
I said to Keshab Sen, ‘I am the leader of the organization, I have made it, I impart instruction to mankind’ – this ‘I’ is the ‘unripe I.’
He who is Bhagavan is Himself the devotee in another form. He Himself is also the Bhagavata (a scripture) in yet another form. “Bhagavata-Bhakta-Bhagavan.”
Hriday once brought a little calf. One day I saw that he tied it in the garden to graze. I asked him, ‘Hriday, why do you tie it there every day?’ Hriday replied, ‘Uncle, I will send this calf to the village. When it grows, it will be yoked to the plough.’ As he said these words, I became
unconscious and fell down. I said to myself, ‘Such are the ways of maya!’ Kamarpukur and Sihore are so far from Calcutta! This little calf will tread so long a path! It will grow there. And later, after so many days, it will pull the plough – this is what is called the world, and this is what is called maya. It was after a long time that I regained consciousness.
[-> we too are similar. born in india. sent off proudly to study at 5. now proudly off to japan to work from morning to evening so as to earn money to feed and educate children! and it perpetuates ...]
You must accept the forms of God. Do you know the significance of the Divine Mother in the form of Jagaddhatri? It is She who supports the world. If She doesn’t support it, doesn’t protect it, the world will fall, it will perish. Jagaddhatri only dawns in the heart of one who can tame the elephant of the mind.
“Mana-matt-kari.” (The mind is a mad elephant.)
That’s why the lion of Simhavahini (Durga, riding a lion) keeps the elephant under its control.
Mere reasoning! I spit on it! I spit on it! It is of no use. (Thakur spits on the ground.) Why make yourself dry by reasoning? As long as you have the
consciousness of ‘I’ and ‘you,’ you must have pure love and devotion at His lotus feet.
As long as the desire for enjoyment remains, so long does one not feel the yearning to know God and attain His vision. A child plays with his toys, forgetting everything else. Cajole him with sandesh, he will eat just a piece of it. When he neither likes his toy nor enjoys the sandesh, he says, ‘I want to go to my mother!’ He doesn’t need more sandesh. If a person he doesn’t know and has never seen says to him, ‘Come with me, I’ll take you to your mother,’ the child goes with him. He goes with anyone who will carry him in his arms to his mother. You develop yearning for God when you’re
finished with the enjoyment of worldly things. Then your only concern is to attain Him. You listen to anything anyone tells you about God.
To cherish the idea ‘I am free’ is very good. If you say again and again, ‘I am free, I am free,’ you become free. On the other hand, if you constantly say, ‘I am bound, I am bound,’ you indeed become bound. He who repeats ‘I am a sinner, I am a sinner,’ that wretch is sure to have a fall. Rather, one should say, ‘I have chanted the name of God, what evil can befall me, what bondage?’
Everyone must reap the consequences of his past actions. One has to accept that there are tendencies from past births and the fruits of these actions are now being played out.
And in that dilapidated house, I saw the face of Simhavahini beaming with glory. You have to believe in the divine presence in an image
of the Deity.
The fact is that pleasure and pain are the characteristics of embodiment. In Kavi Kankan’s Chandi it is said that Kaluvir was sent to jail and stones were placed on his chest, though Kaluvir was a highly favoured child of the Divine Mother, Bhagavati. When one takes on a body, pleasure and pain come with it. Srimanta was a great devotee. And the Divine Mother had great affection for his mother, Khullana. Yet Srimanta suffered so much. He was taken to the cremation ground to be cut into pieces! A woodcutter was another great devotee. The Divine Mother granted him Her vision. She loved him immensely and bestowed on him much grace. Yet the woodcutter was not freed from work. He still had to earn his living by cutting wood. Devaki had the vision of the four-armed Lord Vishnu holding conch, discus, mace, and lotus, but her imprisonment did not end.
The fact is that one reaps the fruit of those past actions which are producing results in this life. One has to remain in the body until the results of those past actions wear out.
Whatever the pleasure and pain of the body may be, a devotee’s spiritual knowledge, the wealth of his love and devotion for God, endures. This treasure is never lost. Just see what calamities the Pandavas suffered! But they never once, in all their troubles, lost their spiritual consciousness. Where can you find such men of knowledge and devotion?
Give your mind to the Being of bliss and consciousness and you will also feel joy. The bliss of God-consciousness is always there, it is only hidden by a veil. The less you are attached to the senses, the more the mind will go towards God. The more Radha advances toward Krishna, the more she smells the sweet fragrance of his body. The more one advances towards God, the more one gains fervour and loving devotion to Him. The more a river advances to the sea, the more one sees its ebb and flow.
(When evening falls, Sri Ramakrishna bows to the Mother of the Universe and chants ‘Haribol,’ clapping his hands. In his room are images of many gods and goddesses: of Dhruva, Prahlada, King Rama, Mother Kali, and Radha-Krishna. He bows down to all the deities, repeating their names, and then he says, “Brahman-Atman-Bhagavan, Bhagavata-Bhakta-Bhagavan, Brahman-Shakti, Shakti-Brahman; Veda, Purana, Tantra, Gita, Gayatri. My only refuge, my only refuge. Not I, not I, but You, only You. I am just the instrument, You are the Being who uses the instrument”)
It is said that truthful speech is the austerity in this Kaliyuga. By sticking to truth, one realizes God. By not sticking to truth, one gradually loses everything. Keeping this in mind, if I say I’m going to answer the call of nature but then feel no need to, I take a wash pot and go to the jhautala anyway. My concern is that I might ultimately lose my regard for truth. I took flowers in my hand and said to the Divine Mother, ‘Mother, here is your knowledge, and here is your ignorance; take them both, and grant me pure love. Here is your purity, and here is your impurity; take them both, and grant me pure love. Here is your good, and here is your evil; take them both, and grant me pure love. Here is your virtue, and here is your vice; take them both, and grant me pure love.’ When I said these things, I could not say, ‘Mother, take your truth and take your untruth.’ I could give up everything to the Divine Mother – but I could not give up truth.
The Avadhuta learned from the kite that as long as one has the fish of desire, there is work to do. And because of work, there is worry, anxiety, and restlessness. As soon as one gives up desires, work no longer binds and one is at peace.
That is why working without expectation of any reward is good. It does not bring restlessness. But it is very difficult to do. I may think that I’m doing selfless work, but somehow selfish motivation creeps in, from where I don’t know. Only with the power that comes from a great deal of spiritual disciplines are a few able to work selflessly. After God-realization, selfless work comes automatically.
A householder must take care of his family, so he has to save. Birds and sadhus don’t lay things away – but a bird does accumulate when it has a chick; it collects food in its beak for its chick.
When you have the feelings of shame, hatred, and fear, you cannot succeed. Feelings of shame, hatred, fear, pride of caste, secretiveness, – these are all bonds. The embodied soul is liberated only when he is free of them.
You shouldn’t be proud of your money. If you think you’re wealthy, another is wealthier than you, and still others wealthier than he. After dusk a
firefly comes out and thinks it lights the world.
(He is married but has not established a conjugal relationship with his wife. He has love and devotion for her and worships her, but he only talks about God with her. He sings of God, worships God, meditates on Him; he has no worldly connection. He sees that God is the only Reality and all else is unreal. He cannot touch money or any metal object – jug or bowl. He cannot touch a woman; if he does, his body shivers at the spot as if stung by a singi fish. His hand twists when money or gold is placed in his palm, like a cripple, and his breathing stops. When he throws them away, he begins to breath normally, as before.)
“We are worldly people, please tell us something.”
After knowing God, keep one hand on His lotus feet and attend to your worldly duties with the other.
If you can realize God, the world will appear unimportant. Whoever knows God sees that He Himself has become the world, its creatures, and all that. You will feed your boy as though you were feeding Gopal. You will see your father and mother as God and the Divine Mother, and you will serve them as though they were. If you live in the family after knowing God, you won’t maintain a worldly relationship with your wife. Both of you, being devotees, will talk only of God, only of divine matters. You will serve the devotees of God, knowing Him to be present in all existence. Both of you will serve God.
“Sir, such a husband and wife can be found nowhere.”
Yes, there are such people, but they are rare. Worldly people cannot recognize them. But both of them have to be good to reach that state. This is possible only when both derive divine joy from it. For this, God’s special grace is necessary. Without it, there is always misunderstanding between them, and one of them has to leave. There is great discord if they don’t agree. The wife may possibly complain day and night, ‘Why did father give me away in marriage to this family? Neither have I myself eaten well, nor have I been able to feed my children. Neither have I good clothes to wear, nor do my children. You have given me not a single piece of jewelry. What joy of life have you given me in this house? You keep on repeating ‘Lord, Lord’ with your eyes closed. Give up this type of madness!’
“There are such obstacles, of course. Then the sons may be disobedient! How troublesome that is! So what is the way, sir?”
It is very difficult to practice spiritual disciplines while living in the family. There are so many hindrances. I don’t have to tell you about these – disease, sorrow, poverty, discord with wife, and sons who are disobedient, ignorant, and foolish. Even so, there is a way. Occasionally you must go into solitude and pray to God. You should make an effort to attain Him.
“Should one leave the family?”
That’s not necessary. But whenever you are free, go to a solitary place and live there for a day or two so that you are detached from family affairs and don’t have to talk of worldly things to any worldly person. Either live in solitude or keep the company of the holy.
As long as you have not realized God, you must renounce, saying, ‘Not this, not this.’ Those who have realized Him know that He has become all – God, maya, individual souls, and the universe. Then they perceive that the world and its beings are nothing but God.
It is the process of evolution and involution. Butter goes with buttermilk and buttermilk goes with butter. If there is buttermilk, there is butter; if there is butter, there is also buttermilk. If there is Atman, there is anatman (non-Atman) too. The Absolute belongs to the same Being as the phenomenal world, and the phenomenal belongs to the same as the Absolute. He who is called Ishvara has Himself become the individual being and the world. He who has understood this knows that God Himself has become all – father, mother, son, neighbour, man and beast, good and bad, purity and impurity.
There is a remedy for the delusion of the world - The company of the holy, chanting His name and glories, and constant prayer to Him. I said to the Divine Mother, ‘Mother, I don’t want knowledge. Take Your knowledge and take Your ignorance. Mother, kindly grant me only pure love at Your lotus feet. I want nothing else.’ As is the disease, so is the remedy. The Lord says in the Gita, ‘O Arjuna, take refuge in me, I shall free you from all your sins.’ Take refuge in God. He will grant you right understanding. He will take up your whole burden. Then all your defects and aberrations will be wiped away. Can you understand Him with this intellect of yours? Can a one-seer jug contain four seers of milk? Besides, can anybody understand God unless He makes him understand? So I say, take refuge in God. Let Him do what He wills. He has His own way in everything. What power does man have?
The important thing is to love Him, to have longing for Him. Then you may take whatever path you like, whether you believe in God with form or God without form, whether you believe that God incarnates as a man or not. It is enough to have devotion for Him. He Himself will then tell you what He is.
If you must be mad, be not mad for the things of this world. Be mad for God!
Feeding others is also a kind of service to God. What do you say? God is in all beings in the form of the fire of hunger. Feeding someone means making an offering to Him. Even so, at [religious] feasts one shouldn’t feed a wicked person, such as those who have committed adultery, fornication, and other vile sins, those who are drowned in sensuality. The earth on which they stand is polluted more than seven cubits deep.
The idea ‘I am the doer,’ comes from ignorance. ‘Oh Lord, You are the doer’ – this is knowledge. The Lord alone is the doer and all others are non-doers. You bring upon yourself such trouble if you say, ‘I, I.’ You can understand if you consider the state of a calf. The calf bellows, ‘Hamma, hamma,’ that is, ‘I, I.’ See what troubles befall it! ... Then it makes the sound, ‘Tuhum, tuhum,’ (Thou, Thou). Then it no longer says, ‘Hamma, hamma.’ Only saying ‘Tuhum, tuhum’ releases, brings liberation. Similarly, when an embodied soul says, ‘O Lord, I am not the doer, You are the Doer; I am an instrument, You are the Being who uses the instrument,’ his trials and tribulations in the world cease. Only then is the embodied soul liberated; it doesn’t have to return to this field of activity.
Karma Yoga is very difficult. That’s why you must pray to God, ‘O Lord, lessen my work. And whatever the work you have for me, may I, by Your grace, be able to perform it without attachment. Besides that, grant that I may have no desire to engage myself in more work.’ It is not possible to give up work. To meditate – that, too, is work. When you have gained love for God, your worldly work decreases by itself. And then you don’t like it anymore. Who likes water sweetened with molasses after having tasted water sweetened with sugar candy?
The aim of life is to realize God. Work is only the first chapter of human life. It can’t be the aim of life. Even selfless work is only a means, not the end.
Why should we forget Him and destroy ourselves with so much work? When He is attained, hospitals and dispensaries may be built if He so wills. I say that work is only the first chapter of human life; it is not the end of life. Take to spiritual practice and go forward. As you practice and advance further, you will come to know in the end that God is the only Reality and all else is unreal – and that the aim of life, truly, is to realize God. Pray to God with a longing heart, ‘Oh Lord, grant me love and devotion at Your lotus feet and reduce my work. Whatever work you give me to do, grant that I may be able to do it selflessly.’
‘I and mine’: this is ignorance. Rasmani built the Kali Temple – everybody says this. Nobody says that God built it. So-and-so founded the Brahmo Samaj – everybody says so. Nobody says that it came into being only by the will of God. ‘I am the doer’: this is ignorance. ‘O Lord, You are the doer, I do nothing; You are the operator, I am the machine’: this is knowledge. ‘O Lord, nothing is mine. This temple is not mine, the Kali Temple is not mine, the Samaj is not mine – these are all Yours. Wife, son, family – none of these is mine – they are all Yours’: this is knowledge.
People say, ‘This is mine, it belongs to me.’ Loving all such objects as your own is maya. But loving all things is compassion. ‘I love only the members of the Brahmo Samaj,’ or ‘I love only my family’: this is maya. To love only your compatriots is maya. To love people of all countries, to love followers of all religions, comes from love of God, from compassion. Maya binds man. It takes one away from God. Compassion leads one towards Him.
It is ‘lust and greed’ that take a man away from God. They are obstacles to God-realization. Everybody praises his own wife, whether or not she is good. (All laugh.) Whether one’s wife is good or not, if you ask what kind of a wife he has, a man will immediately say, ‘Sir, she is good indeed.’
Only ignorant people say you shouldn’t overdo your love and devotion for God. Is there any limit to love for God? So I say to you, immerse yourself in the sea of Sat-chit-ananda.
Kites and vultures soar very high, but their eyes remain fixed on the charnel pits where carcasses of dead animals are thrown. Do you know what I mean by charnel pits? ‘Lust and greed.’
If you can cultivate love and devotion for God sitting here, what is the need to go on pilgrimage? When I went to Kashi, I saw that the trees were the
same, the tamarind leaves were also the same. If you do not develop love for God at places of pilgrimage, your visit to those places has been of no
use. Love for God alone is the essential thing, the only thing needed. Do you know what I mean by kites and vultures? Many people come here and they talk big and say, ‘We have performed many of the rites and duties enjoined by the holy books.’ But their minds remain attached to the world. They are
busy with money, name and honour, comfort, and so on.
The pundit: “Sir, if there are religious teachers of the highest class, why do you say that one doesn’t gain knowledge till the right time?”
That’s right. But think: if the medicine doesn’t reach the stomach, if it is vomited, what can the physician do? Then even the physician of the highest class is helpless.
You should instruct only after judging the listener. You people instruct without having examined the receptacle. When a boy comes to me, I ask him about his family. Suppose his father is dead and he has left some debts. How can the boy give his mind to God?
Once a group of Sikh soldiers came to the temple at Dakshineswar. I met them in front of Mother Kali’s shrine. One of them said, ‘God is very kind.’ I said, ‘Are you sure? How do you know?’ He said, ‘Why Maharaj, God gives us food. He cares so much for us!’ I said, ‘What is that to wonder at? God is the father of all. If a father doesn’t look after his son, who else will? Will people of the neighbourhood do it?
Narendra: “So shouldn’t God be called merciful?”
Am I stopping you from calling Him merciful? What I mean is that God is our own. He’s not a stranger.
The devotee of God is greater than God because the devotee carries God in his heart: ‘The devotee thinks of Me as small and of himself as great.’
(They all feel joy.) Yashoda wanted to bind Krishna to her with a rope. She thought that if she didn’t look after him, no one else would. Sometimes God is the magnet and the devotee a needle. By His power of attraction, He pulls the devotee. But sometimes the devotee becomes the magnet and God the needle. The devotee’s attraction is so strong that, enchanted by his ecstatic love, God Himself comes to him.
The devotee who calls upon God while living in the household is brave and a real hero. God says: ‘He who has renounced the world will naturally call upon Me and serve Me. There is no bravery in that. If he does not call upon Me, others will say, “Shame on him!” But the man who, while living in the midst of worldly duties, calls upon Me and looks after Me – after having pushed away a twenty-maund stone, as it were – he is really blessed! He is brave, a hero indeed!’
Live in the world like an ant. In the world is both the True and the transitory, all mixed up, just as sugar is mixed with sand. Be an ant and
take only the sugar.
Water and milk are mixed together, and so are spiritual joy and worldly pleasures. Like a swan, you must take only the milk and leave the water.
And be like the waterfowl. When water touches its body, it flutters its wings and shakes it off. Or become like a mud fish. It lives in mud, but look at its body: it is clean and shines brightly.
In the world there is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.
Krishna spoke of this to Arjuna. He said, ‘Brother, listen. If a person has even one of the eight occult powers, he cannot attain Me.’ Because with occult power comes pride, and when there is even a trace of pride, a person cannot reach God.
There is no end to divine states. There is always a state higher than the one before.
You have to be firm in one ideal. Dive. Without diving deep, you cannot reach the gems at the bottom of the sea. It is of no help to swim on the surface.
If you look for God with a longing heart, you can see Him, you can know Him, you can talk to Him just as I am talking to you. I tell you truly, you can see Him.
Can one reach God by reading scriptures? By reading scriptures you might at most understand that He exists. But unless you yourself dive deep, you cannot see God. Only when you have dived deep and He lets you know Him are all your doubts removed. You may read a book a thousand times, you may chant a thousand verses, but you cannot comprehend God without earnestly diving into Him.
Of what use are scriptures or other holy books alone? Without His grace nothing can happen. Seek for God with a longing heart! By His grace you will see Him. He will talk to you.
The sub-judge: “Does He shower His grace more on one than another? If that is so, God is guilty of partiality.”
What do you mean! Take the two words ghorata and sarata. Both have -ta as a suffix. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar also said what you are saying. He asked, ‘Sir, has God given more power to one than another?’ I replied, ‘He is present in every being as the all-pervading Spirit,2 so he is in everything. Just as He is in me, He is in an ant, too. But there is special manifestation of God’s power in some. If everybody is equal, why have we come to see you when we hear your name, Ishwar Vidyasagar? Have you two horns that we have come to see? That is not so. You are generous, you
are learned. You are well-known because you have more of these qualities than others. You know, there are people who can defeat a hundred men
single-handedly; others run away in fear of a single person.’ If there is no special power, why would people consider Keshab so great?
The Gita says: ‘If a person is considered great by many, whether it is because of his learning, his ability to sing and play musical instruments, his oratory, or anything else, know it for certain that he has within him a special power of God.’
Why should you have to renounce? If you have to fight, it is better to fight from within a fort. You have to fight against your senses and against hunger and thirst. It is good that all these are fought while living in the household. Moreover, in the Kaliyuga life depends on food. If you have nothing to eat, all talk of God will be knocked out of your brain. A person said to his wife, ‘I am going to leave the family.’ The wife was a somewhat sensible woman. She said, ‘Why do you have to wander about? When you don’t have to beg your bread from ten homes, go, but if you have
to do that, it is better to be in one house.’ Why do you have to renounce the home? It is convenient there. You don’t have to worry about food, and there is no harm in living with your wife. In a family, all your bodily needs are easily met. If you fall ill, you have people to nurse you. Janaka, Vyasa, and Vasishtha lived in the family after attaining spiritual knowledge. They wielded both swords – the one of knowledge and the other of action.
sub-judge: “Sir, how do you know when you have attained knowledge?”
When you have attained knowledge, you no longer see God at a distance. He is no longer ‘He’ – He becomes ‘this.’ Then He is seen in your own heart. God is in everybody. Whoever seeks Him finds Him.
I have chanted His name – Ishvara or Rama or Hari. How can I be a sinner? You must have such faith as this! You must have faith in the power of
God’s name!
Well, give God the power of attorney. If you give your burden to a good person, can he ever do you wrong? Give Him your entire burden with a sincere heart, and then be at peace. Do only the work He assigns to you.
A kitten doesn’t have a calculating mind. It just cries, ‘Mew, mew.’ If its mother puts it in the kitchen, it lies there. It only mews for its mother. And when the mother puts it on a bed, it is the same: it just repeats, ‘Mew, mew.’
The sub-judge: “We are householders. How long do we have to attend to worldly duties?”
Of course you have duties to do – to bring up your children, to provide for your wife, and to save money for her when you are no more. If you don’t do these, you are a heartless fellow. Sukadeva and other sages had compassion. A person who has no compassion is not a human being.
The sub-judge: “What is one’s duty toward one’s wife?”
During your lifetime you must instruct her in religion and must provide for her. If she is chaste, you must make plans for her care when you are gone.
However, when a person is overwhelmed with spiritual knowledge, he is left with no duties to perform. God takes charge when you are no longer
able to do so. When a zemindar dies, leaving behind a minor son, a guardian takes the entire responsibility for the boy. It is a matter of law. You
know that quite well.
Trailokya: “What are the signs of a householder’s having attained knowledge of God?”
Tears flow from his eyes, and the hair on his body stands on end at the name of God. No sooner does he hear the sweet name of God than the hair on his body stands on end and a stream of tears flows from the eyes. As long as there is attachment to worldly things, as long as there is attraction for ‘lust and greed,’ body-consciousness doesn’t leave you. The fewer the attachments, the nearer you are to knowledge of the Self, and to the same extent, body-consciousness becomes less. One attains knowledge of the Atman when attachment to the world has completely disappeared. Then one
begins to feel that the soul is one and the body another. It is difficult to separate the kernel of a coconut from its shell with a knife until the water in it has dried up. When the water is dried up, you only have to strike and shake it and the kernel becomes detached. This is called a dry coconut.
The signs of God-realization are that a man becomes like a dry coconut – he is rid of identification with the body. Pleasure and pain of the body are no longer his concern. He does not seek comforts for the body. He roams about as one liberated in this very life.
Kali’s devotees are free in this very life. They are full of unending joy.
When you see tears begin to flow and the hair on the body stand on end at the very name of God, know that attachment to ‘lust and greed’ has
disappeared and that one has realized God. If a matchstick is dry, strike it just once, and it will light. If it is wet, you may strike it fifty times, but it won’t ignite. You’ve just wasted the wooden sticks. If your mind is immersed in the liquid of worldly pleasures and is wet with ‘lust and greed,’ inspiration for God-consciousness will not arise. You may try a thousand times, but all your efforts will be in vain. It is only when the liquid of attachment to worldly pleasures dries up that there is instantaneous inspiration for God.
Trailokya: “How do we dry up our craving for worldly pleasures?”
Call on the Divine Mother with a longing heart. The liquid of worldly desire dries up on seeing Her; your attachment to ‘lust and greed’ will fully disappear. It happens at the very moment you realize that she is your own Mother. She is not your stepmother; She is your own Mother! Be earnest and even stubborn with Her! A boy holds onto his mother’s sari when he asks her for money to buy a kite. Perhaps the mother is busy talking to other women, and at first she refuses outright, saying, ‘No, your father doesn’t want me to give you any money. I’ll ask him when he comes. You might cause an accident by playing with a kite now.’ But when the boy starts crying and refuses to leave, the mother says to her friends, ‘Just wait a minute, sisters. Let me pacify this boy. I’ll be right back.’ Saying this, she opens her cash box with a key and throws a pice to the boy. You also must become stubborn with the Mother. She will certainly grant you Her vision.
Well, do you think pride and ego come from knowledge or from ignorance? Pride is characteristic of the tamoguna and comes from ignorance. It becomes a
veil through which one cannot see God. All troubles cease when the ego vanishes. Pride is of no use. Neither this body nor wealth is going to last. A
drunkard was looking at an image of Durga. Seeing her decoration and adornments he said, ‘Mother, You may decorate Yourself as much as You like, but
after two or three days, they will pull You out and throw You into the Ganges!’ So I tell everybody – whether a judge or anybody else – all this is for two days only. So give up pride and ego.
The characteristics of sattva, rajas, and tamas are quite different. The signs of the tamoguna are pride, sloth, gluttony, lust, anger, and so on. A
rajoguni has a tendency to involve himself more and more in work and to dress well. He keeps his house clean and tidy. He also keeps a photo of the
queen in the drawing room. When he meditates on God, he puts on a pure silk cloth and a string of rudraksha and gold beads. ... A sattvaguna person is very calm and quiet. Any clothes do for him. He earns only enough to live on and would never flatter anybody for money. His house remains in want of repair, he doesn’t worry about his children’s clothing, he makes no effort for name or fame. He meditates and gives away in charity secretly, so that nobody comes to know of it. He meditates inside a mosquito net so people think that he did not sleep at night and is sleeping late into the morning. Sattvaguna is the last step of the staircase. After it comes the roof. After sattvaguna is acquired, God-realization is not far off. Just a little more progress and He is attained. (To the subjudge) You said that all people are equal. Just see how many different natures there are!
And then there are many other kinds of human being: the ever-free, the liberated, aspirants, and the bound. There are so many different types! Narada and Sukadeva are ever-free. They are like a steamboat which not only crosses over but also carries big animals, even an elephant. They are like the superintendent of an estate. Having governed one part, he goes to govern another. Then there are seekers after liberation .... The bound person repeats those very actions that made him suffer so much in the first place. He is like a camel which bleeds profusely when it eats thorny bushes, but it doesn’t give up eating them. If he goes on pilgrimage, he doesn’t find time to meditate on God. He tires himself out just carrying the luggage of his wife and children. In the temple all he does is get holy water for his son to drink and make him bow to the Deity and so on. He
earns money by telling lies, cheating, and flattery. Such a person looks down on those who call upon God and meditate on Him, saying they are mad. (To
the sub-judge) There are so many kinds of men, you see! You said men were equal. But how many varieties there are! Some have more power, some less.
The Gita says the same thing, that you will carry with you to your next life what you think at the time of your death. King Bharata left his body repeating, ‘Deer, deer.’ So he was reborn as a deer. If you think of God at the time of death, you attain Him, and then you don’t have to return to this world. ... If a person thinks of God at the time of death, the mind is purified. Such a mind does not get another chance to become attached to ‘lust and greed.’ People have no faith in God. That’s why they suffer so much from the consequences of actions. ... You must prepare beforehand, so that your mind is in God at the time of death. The way is in constant practice. Then you will remember God in your last moments.
Brahmo devotee: “We’ve had a nice conversation. Very nice indeed!”
Oh, I’ve just been talking at random. But do you know my inner state of mind? ‘I am the instrument and He is the operator; I am the dwelling and He is the dweller; I am the engine, He is the engineer; I am the chariot, He is the charioteer. I move as He makes me move; I do as He makes me do.’
As is the devotee, so is the provision made by him. The sattvic devotee provides the rice pudding, the rajasic one offers fifty dishes to the deity, while the tamasic devotee sacrifices a goat or some other animal.
What are pride and ego? Do they result from knowledge or from ignorance? Only the person who has no pride can attain knowledge. Rainwater flows down from a higher level; it stands at a lower level.
As long as you have egotism, you cannot gain knowledge. You also can’t attain liberation. You will have to come again and again to this world. A
calf bellows ‘hamba hamba’ (‘I, I’), so it has to undergo so much suffering! ... When the sound ‘tuhun tuhun’ (‘you, you’) is uttered by the carder’s string, only then is it freed. It no longer says, ‘I, I,’ only ‘you, you.’ In other words, ‘God, You are the doer; I do nothing. You are the operator; I am the machine. Indeed, You are all.’
Guru, father, and doer – these three words prick my body like thorns. I am His son, His eternal child. How can I be a father? God is the doer; I do
nothing. He is the operator; I am the machine. If anyone calls me guru, I say to him, ‘What guru? Away with you, rascal!’ There is no guru other than Sat-chit-ananda (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute). Except for Him, there is no shelter. He alone is the pilot that takes one across the sea of the world.
You prayed to God addressing Him, ‘Mother, Mother.’ This is very good. They say that one is attracted more by mother than by father. You can force your mother, but you can’t force your father. Carts full of money were being brought from the estate of Trailokya’s mother with many men in red turbans guarding it with sticks in their hands. Trailokya was waiting on the side of the road with his people. He forcibly took the whole treasure. You can use a great deal of force when it concerns your mother’s treasure. Don’t they say that a mother can’t go to law against her son?
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