Trailanga Swami and Bhāskarānanda

Characteristics of divine love

MASTER: “You talk glibly about prema. But is it such a commonplace thing? There are two characteristics of prema. First, it makes one forget the world. So intense is one’s love of God that one becomes unconscious of outer things. Chaitanya had this ecstatic love; he ’took a wood for the sacred grove of Vrindāvan and the ocean for the dark waters of the Jamuna’. Second, one has no feeling of ‘my-ness’ toward the body, which is so dear to man. One wholly gets rid of the feeling that the body is the soul.

Indications of God-realization

“There are certain signs of God-realization. The man in whom longing for God manifests its glories is not far from attaining Him. What are the glories of that longing? They are discrimination, dispassion, compassion for living beings, serving holy men, loving their company, chanting the name and glories of God, telling the truth, and the like. When you see those signs of longing in an aspirant, you can rightly say that for him the vision of God is not far to seek.

“The state of a servant’s house will tell you unmistakably whether his master has decided to visit it. First, the rubbish and jungle around the house are cleared up. Second, the soot and dirt are removed from the rooms. Third, the courtyard, floors, and other places are swept clean.

Finally the master himself sends various things to the house such as a carpet, a hubble-bubble for smoking, and the like. When you see these things arriving, you conclude that the master will very soon come”

A DEVOTEE: “Sir, should one first practise discrimination to attain self-control?”

MASTER: “That is also a path. It is called the path of vichara, reasoning. But the inner organs3 are brought under control naturally through the path of devotion as well. It is rather easily accomplished that way. Sense pleasures appear more and more tasteless as love for God grows. Can carnal pleasure attract a grief-stricken man and woman the day their child has died?”

Efficacy of japa and prayer

DEVOTEE: “How can I develop love for God?”

MASTER: “Repeat His name, and sins will disappear. Thus you will destroy lust, anger, the desire for creature comforts, and so on.”

DEVOTEE: “How can I take delight in God’s name?”

MASTER: “Pray to God with a yearning heart that you may take delight in His name. He will certainly fulfil your heart’s desire.”

So saying, the Master sang a song in his sweet voice, pleading with the Divine Mother to show Her grace to suffering men:

O Mother, I have no one else to blame:

Alas! I sink in the well these very hands have dug. With the six passions for my spade, I dug a pit in the sacred land of earth; And now the dark water of death gushes forth! How can I save myself, O my Redeemer? Surely I have been my own enemy; How can I now ward off this dark water of death? Behold, the waters rise to my chest! How can I save myself? O Mother, save me! Thou art my only Refuge; with Thy protecting glance Take me across to the other shore of the world.

The Master sang again:

What a delirious fever is this that I suffer from! O Mother, Thy grace is my only cure. False pride is the fever that racks my wasted form; “I” and “mine” are my cry. Oh, what a wicked delusion! My quenchless thirst for wealth and friends is never-ceasing;

How, then, shall I sustain my life?

Talk about things unreal, this is my wretched delirium, And I indulge in it always, O Giver of all good fortune! My eyes in seeming sleep are closed, my stomach is filled With the vile worms of cruelty.

Alas! I wander about absorbed in unmeaning deeds; Even for Thy holy name I have no taste, O Mother! I doubt that I shall ever be cured of this malady. Then the Master said: " ‘Even for Thy holy name I have no taste.’ A typhoid patient has very little chance of recovery if he loses all taste for food; but his life need not be despaired of if he enjoys food even a little. That is why one should cultivate a taste for God’s name. Any name will do-Durga, Krishna, or Śiva. Then if, through the chanting of the name, one’s attachment to God grows day by day, and joy fills the soul, one has nothing to fear. The delirium will certainly disappear; the grace of God will certainly descend.

Parable of the two friends

" ‘As is a man’s feeling of love, so is his gain.’ Once two friends were going along the street, when they saw some people listening to a reading of the Bhagavata. ‘Come, friend’, said the one to the other. ‘Let us hear the sacred book.’ So saying he went in and sat down.

The second man peeped in and went away. He entered a house of ill fame. But very soon he felt disgusted with the place. ‘Shame on me!’ he said to himself. ‘My friend has been listening to the sacred word of Hari; and see where I am!’ But the friend who had been listening to the Bhagavata also became disgusted. ‘What a fool I am!’ he said. ‘I have been listening to this fellow’s blah-blah, and my friend is having a grand time.’ In course of time they both died. The messenger of Death came for the soul of the one who had listened to the Bhagavata and dragged it off to hell. The messenger of God came for the soul of the one who had been to the house of prostitution and led it up to heaven.

“Verily, the Lord looks into a man’s heart and does not judge him by what he does or where he lives. ‘Krishna accepts a devotee’s inner feeling of love.’

“In the Kartabhaja sect, the teacher, while giving initiation, says to the disciple, ‘Now everything depends on your mind.’ According to this sect, ‘He who has the right mind find the right way and also achieves the right end.’ It was through the power of his mind that Hanuman leapt over the sea. ‘I am the servant of Rāma; I have repeated the holy name of Rāma. Is there anything impossible for me?’-that was Hanuman’s faith.

“Ignorance lasts as long as one has ego. There can be no liberation so long as the ego remains. ‘O God, Thou art the Doer and not I’-that is knowledge.

“By being lowly one can rise high. The chatak bird makes its nest on low ground, but it soars very high in the sky. Cultivation is not possible on high land; in low land water accumulates and makes cultivation possible.

“One must take the trouble to seek the company of holy persons. In his own home a man hears only worldly talk; the disease of worldliness has become chronic with him. The caged parrot sitting on its perch repeats, ‘Rāma! Rāma!’ But let it fly to the forest and it will squawk in its usual way.

“Mere possession of money doesn’t make a nobleman. One sign of the mansion of a nobleman is that all the rooms are lighted. The poor cannot afford much oil, and consequently cannot have so many lights. This shrine of the body should not be left dark; one should illumine it with the lamp of Wisdom. Lighting the lamp of knowledge in the chamber of your heart, Behold the face of the Mother, Brahman’s Embodiment.

“Everyone can attain Knowledge. There are two entities: Jivatma, the individual soul, and Paramatma, the Supreme Soul. Through prayer all individual souls can be united to the Supreme Soul. Every house has a connection for gas, and gas can be obtained from the main storage-tank of the Gas Company. Apply to the Company, and it will arrange for your supply of gas. Then your house will be lighted.

“In some people spiritual consciousness has already been awakened; but they have special marks. They do not enjoy hearing or talking about anything but God. They are like the chatak, which prays for rain-water though the seven oceans, the Ganges, the Jamuna, and the rivers near it are all filled with water. It won’t drink anything but rain- water, even though its throat is burning with thirst.”

The Master wanted to hear a few songs. Ramlal and a brahmin official of the temple garden sang:

Dwell, O Lord, O Lover of bhakti, In the Vrindāvan of my heart, And my devotion unto Thee Will be Thy Radha, dearly loved. . . . And again: The dark cloud of the summer storm fades into nothingness, When, flute in hand and a smile on His lips, Lighting the world with His loveliness, Krishna, the Dark One, appears. His dazzling yellow robe outgleams even the lightning’s glare; A wreath of wild-flowers interwoven Gently swings from His youthful breast And softly kisses His feet. See, there He stands, the Lord of life, the Moon of Nanda’s line,

Outshining all the moons in heaven And with the splendour of His rays Flooding the Jamuna’s bank! 226He stands there, stealing the maidens’ hearts; He lures them from hearth and home. Krishna enters my own heart’s shrine, And with His flute-note steals away My wisdom, life, and soul. To whom shall Ganga Narayana pour out his tale of woe? Ah, friend, you might have understood Had you but gone to the Jamuna’s bank To fill your water-jar!

Again they sang:

High in the heaven of the Mother’s feet, my mind was soaring like a kite, When came a blast of sin’s rough wind that drove it swiftly toward the earth. . . . Zeal for the Lord destroys sin

MASTER (to the devotees): “As the tiger devours other animals, so does the ’tiger of zeal for the Lord’ eat up lust, anger, and the other passions. Once this zeal grows in the heart, lust and the other passions disappear. The gopis of Vrindāvan had that state of mind because of their zeal for Krishna.

“Again, this zeal for God is compared to collyrium. Radha said to her friends, ‘I see Krishna everywhere.’ They replied, ‘Friend, you have painted your eyes with the collyrium of love; that is why you see Krishna everywhere.’ “They say that when your eyes are painted with collyrium made from the ashes of a frog’s head you see snakes everywhere.