The Master's Birthday Celebration At Dakshineswar

Sunday, February 18, 1883

SRI RAMAKRISHNA arrived at Govinda Mukherji’s house at Belgharia, near Calcutta.

Besides Narendra, Ram, and other devotees, some of Govinda’s neighbours were present. The Master first sang and danced with the devotees. After the kirtan they sat down. Many saluted the Master.

Now and then he would say, “Bow before God.”

Master’s attitude toward the wicked “It is God alone”, he said, “who has become all this. But in certain places- for instance, in a holy man-there is a greater manifestation than in others. You may say, there are wicked men also. That is true, even as there are tigers and lions. But one need not hug the ’tiger God’. One should keep away from him and salute him from a distance.

Take water, for instance. Some water may be drunk, some may be used for worship, some for bathing, and some only for washing dishes.

Paths of knowledge and devotion

A NEIGHBOUR: “Revered sir, what are the doctrines of Vedanta?”

MASTER: “The Vedantist says, ‘I am He.’ Brahman is real and the world illusory. Even the ‘I’ is illusory. Only the Supreme Brahman exists. “But the ‘I’ cannot be got rid of. Therefore it is good to have the feeling, ‘I am the servant of God, His son, His devotee.’

“For the Kāli Yuga the path of bhakti is especially good. One can realize God through bhakti too. As long as one is conscious of the body, one is also conscious of objects.

Form, taste, smell, sound, and touch-these are the objects. It is extremely difficult to get rid of the consciousness of objects. And one cannot realize ‘I am He’ as long as one is aware of objects.

The sannyasi is very little conscious of worldly objects. But the householder is always engrossed in them. Therefore it is good for him to feel, ‘I am the servant of God.’” God’s name destroys sin

NEIGHBOUR: “Sir, we are sinners. What will happen to us?”

MASTER: “All the sins of the body flyaway if one chants the name of God and sings His glories. The birds of sin dwell in the tree of the body. Singing the name of God is like clapping your hands. As, at a clap of the hands, the birds in the tree flyaway, so do our sins disappear at the chanting of God’s name and glories.

Again, you find that the water of a reservoir dug in a meadow is evaporated by the heat of the sun. Likewise, the water of the reservoir of sin is dried up by the singing of the name and glories of God.

You must practise it every day. The other day, at the circus, I saw a horse running at top speed, with an Englishwoman standing on one foot on its back. How much she must have practised to acquire that skill!

Weep at least once to see God.

These, then, are the two means: practice and passionate attachment to God, that is to say, restlessness of the soul to see Him.”

Sri Ramakrishna began his midday meal with the devotees. It was about one o’clock. A devotee sang in the courtyard below:

Awake, Mother! Awake! How long Thou hast been asleep In the lotus of the Muladhara! Fulfil Thy secret function, Mother: Rise to the thousand-petalled lotus within the head, Where mighty Śiva has His dwelling; Swiftly pierce the six lotuses And take away my grief, O Essence of Consciousness!

Hearing the song, Sri Ramakrishna went into samādhi; his whole body became still, and his hand remained touching the plate of food. He could eat no more. After a long time his mind came down partially to the plane of the sense world, and he said, “I want to go downstairs.”

A devotee led him down very carefully. Still in an abstracted mood, he sat near the singer. The song had ended. The Master said to him very humbly, “Sir, I want to hear the chanting of the Mother’s name again.”

The musician sang: Awake, Mother! Awake! How long Thou hast been asleep In the lotus of the Muladhara! . . . The Master again went into ecstasy.

February 25, 1883

After his noon meal the Master conversed with the devotees. Ram, Kedār, Nityagopal, M., and others had arrived from Calcutta. Rakhal, Harish, Lātu, and Hazra were living with the Master.

Mr.Choudhury, who had three or four university degrees and was a government officer, was also present. He had recently lost his wife and had visited the Master several times for peace of mind.

MASTER (to Ram and the other devotees): “Devotees like Rakhal, Narendra, and Bhavanath may be called Nityasiddha . Their spiritual consciousness has been awake since their very birth. They assume human bodies only to impart spiritual illumination to others.

There is another class of devotees, known as K ripasiddha , that is to say, those on whom the grace of God descends all of a sudden and who at once attain His vision and Knowledge. Such people may be likened to a room that has been dark a thousand years, which, when a lamp is brought into it, becomes light immediately, not little by little.

Those who lead a householder’s life should practise spiritual discipline; they should pray eagerly to God in solitude. (To Mr. Choudhury) God cannot be realized through scholarship. Who, indeed, can understand the things of the Spirit through reason?

No, all should strive for devotion to the Lotus Feet of God.

Infinite are the glories of God! How little can you fathom them! Can you ever find out the meaning of God’s ways?

Bhishma was none other than one of the eight Vasus, but even he shed tears on his bed of arrows. He said: ‘How astonishing! God Himself is the companion of the Pandava brothers, and still there is no end to their troubles and sorrows!’ Who can ever understand the ways of God?

A man thinks, ‘I have practised a little prayer and austerity; so I have gained a victory over others.’ But victory and defeat lie with God. I have seen a prostitute dying in the Ganges and retaining consciousness to the end.”

MR. CHOUDHURY: “How can one see God?”

MASTER: “Not with these eyes. God gives one divine eyes; and only then can one behold Him. God gave Arjuna divine eyes so that he might see His Universal Form. “Your philosophy is mere speculation. It only reasons. God cannot be realized that way.

God cannot remain unmoved if you have raga-bhakti, that is, love of God with passionate attachment to Him. Do you know how fond God is of His devotees’ love? It is like the cow’s fondness for fodder mixed with oil-cake. The cow gobbles it down greedily.

Raga-bhakti is pure love of God, a love that seeks God alone and not any worldly end.

Prahlada had it. Suppose you go to a wealthy man every day, but you seek no favour of him; you simply love to see him. If he wants to show you favour, you say: ‘No, sir. I don’t need anything. I came just to see you.’ Such is love of God for its own sake. You simply love God and don’t want anything from Him, in return.”

Saying this, the Master sang:

Though I am never loath to grant salvation, I hesitate indeed to grant pure love. Whoever wins pure love surpasses all;

He is adored by men; He triumphs over the three worlds. . . . He continued, “The gist of the whole thing is that one must develop passionate yearning for God and practise discrimination and renunciation.” Guru and Ishta

MR. CHOUDHURY: “Sir, is it not possible to have the vision of God without the help of a guru?”

MASTER: “Satchidananda Himself is the Guru. At the end of the Shavasadhana , just when the vision of the Ishta is about to take place, the guru appears before the aspirant and says to him, ‘Behold! There is your Ishta.’ Saying this, the guru merges in the Ishta.

He who is the guru is also the Ishta. The guru is the thread that leads to God.

Women perform a ritualistic worship known as the ‘Ananta-vrata’, the object of worship being the Infinite. But actually the Deity worshipped is Vishnu. In Him are the ‘infinite’ forms of God.

(To Ram and the other devotees) “If you asked me which form of God you should meditate upon, I should say: Fix your attention on that form which appeals to you most; but know for certain that all forms are the forms of one God alone.

“Never harbour malice toward anyone. Śiva, Kāli, and Hari are but different forms of that One. He is blessed indeed who has known all as one. Outwardly he appears as Śiva’s devotee, But in his heart he worships Kāli, the Blissful Mother, And with his tongue he chants aloud Lord Hari’s name.

“The body does not endure without a trace of lust, anger, and the like. You should try to reduce them to a minimum.”

Looking at Kedār, the Master said: “He is very nice. He accepts both the Absolute and the Relative. He believes in Brahman, but he also accepts the gods and Divine Incarnations in human form.”

In Kedār’s opinion Sri Ramakrishna was such an Incarnation.

Looking at Nityagopal, the Master said to the devotees, “He is in a lofty mood.

(To Nityagopal) “Don’t go there too often. You may go once in a while. She may be a devotee, but she is a woman too. Therefore I warn you. “The sannyasi must observe very strict discipline. He must not look even at the picture of a woman. But this rule doesn’t apply to householders. An aspirant should not associate with a woman, even though she is very much devoted to God.

A sannyasi, even though he may have subdued his passions, should follow this discipline to set an example to householders. 203"Worldly people learn renunciation by seeing the complete renunciation of a monk;

otherwise they sink more and more. A sannyasi is a world teacher.”