Is it necessary to have a guru?

A DEVOTEE: “Sir, is it necessary to have a guru?”

MASTER: “Yes, many need a guru. But a man must have faith in the guru’s words. He succeeds in spiritual life by looking on his guru as God Himself. Therefore the Vaishnavas speak of Guru, Krishna, and Vaishnava.

“One should constantly repeat the name of God.

The name of God is highly effective in the Kaliyuga. The practice of yoga is not possible in this age, for the life of a man depends on food. Clap your hands while repeating God’s name, and the birds of your sin will fly away. “One should always seek the company of holy men. The nearer you approach the Ganges, the cooler the breeze will feel. Again, the nearer you go to a fire, the hotter the air will feel.

“But one cannot achieve anything through laziness and procrastination. People who desire worldly enjoyment say about spiritual progress: ‘Well, it will all happen in time. We shall realize God some time or other.’

“I said to Keshab Sen: ‘When a father sees that his son has become restless for his inheritance, he gives him his share of the property even three years before the legal time. A mother keeps on cooking while the baby is in bed sucking its toy. But when it throws the toy away and cries for her, she puts down the rice-pot and takes the baby in her arms and nurses it.’ I said all this to Keshab.

“It is said that, in the Kaliyuga, if a man can weep for God one day and one night, he sees Him.

“Feel piqued at God and say to Him: ‘You have created me. Now You must reveal Yourself to me.’ Whether you live in the world or elsewhere, always fix your mind on God. The mind soaked in worldliness may be compared to a wet match-stick. You won’t get a spark, however much you may rub it. Ekalavya placed the clay image of Drona, his teacher, in front of him and thus learnt archery. Go forward. The wood-cutter, following the instructions of the holy man, went forward and found in the forest sandal-wood and mines of silver and gold; and going still farther, he found diamonds and other precious stones.

“The ignorant are like people living in a house with clay walls. There is very little light inside, and they cannot see outside at all. But those who enter the world after attaining the Knowledge of God are like people living in a house made of glass. For them both inside and outside are light. They can see things outside as well as inside. “Nothing exists except the One. That One is the Supreme Brahman. So long as He keeps the ‘I’ in us, He reveals to us that it is He who, as the Primal Energy, creates, preserves, and destroys the universe.

That which is Brahman is also the Primal Energy. Once a king asked a yogi to impart Knowledge to him in one word. The yogi said, ‘All right; you will get Knowledge in one word.’ After a while a magician came to the king. The king saw the magician moving two of his fingers rapidly and heard him exclaim, ‘Behold, O King! Behold.’ The king looked at him amazed when, after a few minutes, he saw the two fingers becoming one. The magician moved that one finger rapidly and said, ‘Behold, O King! Behold.’ The implication of the story is that Brahman and the Primal Energy at first appear to be two.

But after attaining the Knowledge of Brahman one does not see the two. Then there is no differentiation; it is One, without a second -Advaita-non-duality.” The Master was very happy to see a musician who had come with the devotees from Belghariā. Some time before, Sri Ramakrishna had gone into an ecstatic mood on hearing his devotional music. At the Master’s request the musician sang a few songs, one of which described the awakening of the Kundalini and the six centres:

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 Siva has His dwelling;

Swiftly pierce the six lotuses And take away my grief, O Essence of Consciousness!

MASTER: “The song speaks of the Kundalini’s passing through the six centres. God is both within and without. From within He creates the various states of mind. After passing through the six centres, the jiva goes beyond the realm of maya and becomes united with the Supreme Soul. This is the vision of God.

One cannot see God unless maya steps aside from the door. Rāma, Lakshmana, and Sita were walking together. Rāma was in front, Sita walked in the middle, and Lakshmana followed them. But Lakshmana could not see Rāma because Sita was between them. In like manner, man cannot see God because maya is between them. (To Mani Mallick) But maya steps aside from the door when God shows His grace to the devotee. When the visitor stands before the door, the door-keeper says to the master,

Sir, command us, and we shall let him pass.’

There are two schools of thought: the Vedānta and the Purana. According to the Vedānta this world is a ‘framework of illusion’, that is to say, it is all illusory, like a dream. But according to the Purana, the books of devotion, God Himself has become the twenty-four cosmic principles. Worship God both within and without. “As long as God keeps the awareness of ‘I’ in us, so long do sense-objects exist; and we cannot very well speak of the world as a dream. There is fire in the hearth; therefore the rice and pulse and potatoes and the other vegetables jump about in the pot. They jump about as if to say: ‘We are here! We are jumping!’ This body is the pot. The mind and intelligence are the water. The objects of the senses are the rice, potatoes, and other vegetables. The ‘I-consciousness’ identified with the senses says, ‘I am jumping about.’ And Satchidananda is the fire. “Hence the Bhakti scriptures describe this very world as a ‘mansion of mirth’.

Ramprasad sang in one of his songs, ‘This world is a framework of illusion.’ Another devotee gave the reply, ‘This very world is a mansion of mirth.’ As the saying goes, ‘The devotee of Kali, free while living, is full of Eternal Bliss.’

The bhakta sees that He who is God has also become maya. Again, He Himself has become the universe and all its living beings.

The bhakta sees God, maya, the universe, and the living beings as one. Some devotees see everything as Rāma: it is Rāma alone who has become everything.

Some see everything as Radha and Krishna. To them it is Krishna alone who has become the 24 cosmic principles. It is like seeing everything green through green glasses.

But the Bhakti scriptures admit that the manifestations of Power are different in different beings. It is Rāma who has become everything, no doubt; but He manifests Himself more in some than in others. There is one kind of manifestation of Rāma in the Incarnation of God, and another in men.

Even the Incarnations are conscious of the body. Embodiment is due to maya. Rāma wept for Sita. But the Incarnation of God puts a bondage over His eyes by His own will, like children playing blindman’s buff. The 268children stop playing when their mother calls them. It is quite different, however, with the ordinary man. The cloth his eyes are bandaged with is fastened to his back with screws, as it were. There are eight fetters. Shame, hatred, fear, caste, lineage, good conduct, grief, and secretiveness-these are the eight fetters. And they cannot be unfastened without the help of a guru.