The Master And M.

Monday, August 20, 1883

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed, inside the mosquito net, meditating. It was 8pm.

M. was sitting on the floor with his friend Hari Babu. Hari, a young man of twenty-eight, had lost his wife about eleven years before and had not married a second time. He was much, devoted to his parents, brothers, and sisters.

Hazra was living at Dakshineswar. Rakhal lived with the Master, though now and then he stayed at Adhar’s house. Narendra, Bhavanath, Adhar, M., Ram, Manomohan, and other devotees visited the Master almost every week.

Hriday, Sri Ramakrishna’s nephew, was ill in his home in the country. The Master was worried about him. One of the devotees had sent him a little money, but the Master did not know it.

When Sri Ramakrishna came out of the mosquito net and sat on the small couch, the devotees saluted him.

MASTER (to M.): “I was meditating inside the net. It occurred to me that meditation, after all, was nothing but the imagining of a form, and so I did not enjoy it. One gets satisfaction if God reveals Himself in a flash. Again, I said to myself, ‘Who is it that meditates, and on whom does he meditate?’ "

M: “Yes, sir. You said that God Himself has become everything-the universe and all living beings. Even he who meditates is God.”

MASTER: “What is more, one cannot meditate unless God wills it. One can meditate when God makes it possible for one to do so. What do you say?”

M: “True, sir. You feel like that because there is no ‘I’ in you. When there is no ego, one feels like that.”

MASTER: “But it is good .to have a trace of ego, which makes it possible for a man to feel that he is the servant of God. As long as a man thinks that it is he who is doing his duties, it is very good for him to feel that God is the Master and he God’s servant. When one is conscious of doing work, one should establish with God the relationship of servant and Master.”

M. was always reflecting on the nature of the Supreme Brahman.

Nature of Brahman

MASTER (to M.): “Like the Ākāśa, Brahman is without any modification. It has become manifold because of Śakti. Again, Brahman is like fire, which itself has no colour. The fire appears white if you throw a white substance into it, red if you throw a red, black if you throw a black. The three gunas-sattva, rajas, and tamas-belong to Śakti alone. Brahman Itself is beyond the three gunas. What Brahman is cannot be described. It is beyond words. That which remains after everything is eliminated by the Vedantic process of ‘Not this, not this’, and which is of the nature of Bliss, is Brahman.

“Suppose the husband of a young girl has come to his father-in-law’s house and is seated in the drawing-room with other young men of his age. The girl and her friends are looking at them through the window. Her friends do not know her husband and ask her, pointing to one young man, ‘Is that your husband?’ ‘No’, she answers, smiling.

They point to another young man and ask if he is her husband. Again she answers no.

They repeat the question, referring to a third, and she gives the same answer. At last they point to her husband and ask, ‘Is he the one?’ She says neither yes nor no, but only smiles and keeps quiet. Her friends realize that he is her husband. “One becomes silent on realizing the true nature of Brahman.

(To M.) “Well, why do I talk so much?”

M: “You talk in order to awaken the spiritual consciousness of the devotees. You once said that when an uncooked luchi is dropped into boiling ghee it makes a sizzling noise.” The Master began to talk to M. about Hazra.

MASTER: “Do you know the nature of a good man? He never troubles others. He doesn’t harass people. The nature of some people is such that when they go to a feast they want special seats. A man who has true devotion to God never makes a false step, never gives others trouble for nothing.

“It is not good to live in the company of bad people. A man should stay away from them and thus protect himself. (To M.) Isn’t that so?”

M: “Yes, sir. The mind sinks far down in the company of the wicked. But it is quite different with a hero, as you say.”

MASTER: “How is that?”

M: “When a fire is feeble it goes out when even a small stick is thrown into it; but a blazing fire is not affected even if a plantain-tree is thrown into it. The tree itself is burnt to ashes.”

The Master asked M. about his friend Hari Babu.

M: “He has come here to pay you his respects. He lost his wife long ago.”

MASTER (to Hari): “What kind of work do you do?”

M: “Nothing in particular. But at home he takes good care of his parents and his brothers and sisters.”

MASTER (with a smile): “How is that? You are like ‘Elder, the pumpkin-cutter’. You are neither a man of the world nor a devotee of God. That is not good. You must have seen the sort of elderly man who lives in a family and is always ready, day or night, to entertain the children. He sits in the parlour and smokes the hubble-bubble. With nothing in particular to do, he leads a lazy life. Now and again he goes to the inner court and cuts a pumpkin; for, since women do not cut pumpkins, they send the children to ask him to come and do it. That is the extent of his usefulness-hence his nickname,

‘Elder, the pumpkin-cutter’.

“You must do ’this’ as well as ’that’. Do your duties in the world, and also fix your mind on the Lotus Feet of the Lord. Read books of devotion like the Bhagavata or the life of Chaitanya when you are alone and have nothing else to do.”

It was about ten o’clock. Sri Ramakrishna finished a light supper of farina pudding and one or two luchis. After saluting him, M. and his friend took their leave.