Work and worship

Friday, December 14, 1883

At 9AM Sri Ramakrishna was standing on the southeast verandah near the door of his room, with Ramlal by his side. Rākhāl and Lātu were moving about. M. arrived and prostrated himself before the Master.

Sri Ramakrishna said to him affectionately: “You have come. That’s very good. Today is an auspicious day.” It was the last day of the Bengali month and the day of the full moon. M. was going to spend a few days with the Master practising spiritual discipline. The Master had said to him, “If an aspirant practises a little spiritual discipline, then someone comes forward to help him.”

The Master had said to M: “You should not eat every day at the guesthouse of the Kāli temple. The guest-house is intended to supply free food to monks and the destitute. Bring your own cook with you.” M. had accordingly done so. The Master arranged a place for the man to cook and he asked Ramlal to speak to the milkman about milk. A little later Ramlal began to read from the Adhyātma Rāmāyana. The Master and M. listened while he read:

Rāma had married Sita after breaking the great bow of Śiva. On the way to Ayhodhya with His bride, Rāma was confronted by the warrior sage Parasurama, who was about to make trouble for Him. Parasurama threw a bow at Rāma and challenged Him to string it. Dasaratha, Rāma’s father, was seized with fear. With a smile, Rāma took the bow in His left hand and strung it. Then twanging the bow-string, He fixed an arrow and asked Parasurama where to shoot it. That curbed the pride of the warrior sage. Prostrating himself before Rāma, Parasurama worshipped Him as the Supreme Brahman. As Sri Ramakrishna listened to Parasurama’s hymn, he went into a spiritual mood and now and then chanted the name of Rāma in his melodious voice.

Then the Master asked Ramlal to read about Guhaka. Ramlal read: Guhaka, the pariah, was chief of the untouchables and an intimate friend of Rāma. When Rāma, Sita, and Lakshmana were starting into the forest to redeem Dasaratha’s pledge, Guhaka ferried them across the river. Rāma embraced Guhaka tenderly and told him He was going to spend fourteen years in exile, wearing the bark of trees and eating herbs, fruits, and roots that grew in the woods. He promised to visit Guhaka again on His way back to Ayhodhya after the period of exile was over. The pariah king waited patiently. But when the fourteenth year had run out and Rāma had not returned, Guhaka lighted a funeral pyre. He was on the point of entering it when Hanuman arrived as Rāma’s messenger. In a celestial chariot Rāma and Sita soon appeared, and Guhaka’s joy was unbounded.

After the midday meal Sri Ramakrishna lay down on his bed to rest. M. was seated on the floor. Presently Dr. Shyama and a few devotees arrived. The Master sat up on the bed and began to converse with them.

Work and worship

MASTER: “It is by no means necessary for a man always to be engaged in his duties. Actions drop away when one realizes, God, as the flower drops of itself when the fruit appears.

“He who has realized God no longer performs religious duties such as the sandhya. In his case the sandhya merges in the Gayatri. When that happens, it is enough for a person to repeat just the Gayatri mantra. Then the Gayatri merges in Om. After that one no longer chants even the Gayatri; it is enough then to chant simply Om. How long should a man practise such devotions as the sandhya? As long as he does not feel a thrill in his body and shed tears of joy while repeating the name of Rāma or of Hari. People worship God to win money or a lawsuit. That is not good.” A DEVOTEE: “We find that everyone strives after money. Even Keshab Sen married his daughter to a prince.” MASTER: “Keshab’s case is quite different. God provides everything for a genuine devotee, even without his making any effort. The son of a real king gets his monthly allowance. I am not talking of lawyers and men of that sort, who go through suffering in order to earn money, and who become slaves of others to that end. I am speaking of a real prince. A true devotee has no desire. He does not care for money. Money comes to him of itself. The Gitā describes such a devotee as ‘content with what comes to him without effort’. A good brahmin, without any personal motive, can accept food even from the house of an untouchable. He does not desire it; it comes of its own accord.” How to live in the world A DEVOTEE: “Sir, how should one live in the world?” MASTER: “Live in the world as the mud fish lives in the mud. One develops love of God by going away from the world into solitude, now and then, and meditating on God. After that one can live in the world unattached. The mud is there, and the fish has to live in it, but its body is not stained by the mud. Such a man can lead the life of a householder in a spirit of detachment” The Master noticed that M. was listening to his words with great attention. MASTER (looking at M.): “One can realize God if one feels intense dispassion for worldly things. A man with such dispassion feels that the world is like a forest on fire. He regards his wife and children as a deep well. If he really feels that kind of dispassion, he renounces home and family. It is not enough for him to live in the world in a spirit of detachment. 371”‘Woman and gold’ alone is maya. If maya is once recognized, it feels ashamed of itself and takes to flight. A man put on a tiger skin and tried to frighten another man. But the latter said: ‘Ah! I have recognized you! You are our Hare.’ At that the man dressed in the skin went away smiling to frighten someone else. Women as embodiments of the Divine Mother “All women are the embodiments of Śakti. It is the Primal Power that has become women and appears to us in the form of women. It is said in the Adhyātma Rāmāyana that Nārada and others praised Rāma, saying: ‘O Rāma, Thou alone art all that we see as male, and Sita, all that we see as female. Thou art Indra, and Sita is Indrani; Thou art Śiva and Sita is Sivani; Thou art man, and Sita is woman. What more need I say? Thou alone dost exist wherever there is a male, and Sita wherever there is a female.’ (To the devotees) “One cannot renounce by the mere wish. There are prarabdha karma- inherited tendencies-and the like. Once a yogi said to a king, ‘Live with me in the forest and think of God.’ The king replied: ‘That I cannot very well do. I could live with you, but I still have the desire for enjoyment. If I live in this forest, perhaps I shall create a kingdom even here. I still have desires.’ “Natabar Panja used to look after his cows in this garden during his boyhood. He had many desires. Hence he has established a castor-oil factory and earned a great deal of money. He has a prosperous castor-oil business at Alambazar. “There is one sect that prescribes spiritual discipline in company with women. I was once taken to the women belonging to the Kartabhaja sect. They all sat around me. I addressed them as ‘mother’. At that they whispered among themselves: ‘He is still a pravartaka. He doesn’t know the way.’ According to that sect the pravartaka is the beginner. Then comes the sadhaka, the struggling aspirant, and last of all the siddha of the siddha, the supremely perfect. A woman walked over to Vaishnavcharan and sat near him. Asked about it, he answered, ‘She feels just like a young girl.’ One quickly strays from the religious path by looking on woman as wife: But to regard her as mother is a pure attitude.” Some of the devotees took leave of the Master, saying that they were going to visit the temple of Kāli and several of the other temples. M. went walking alone in the Panchavati and other places in the temple garden. He thought about the Master’s assurance that God can be easily realized, and about his exhortation to lead a life of intense renunciation, and his saying that maya, when recognized, takes to flight. Image worship At half past three in the afternoon M. again entered the Master’s room and sat on the floor. A teacher from the Broughton Institution had come with several students to pay a visit to Sri Ramakrishna. They were conversing together. Now and then the teacher asked questions. The conversation was about the worship of images. 372MASTER (to the teacher): “What is wrong with image worship? The Vedānta says that Brahman manifests Itself where there is ‘Existence, Light, and Love’. Therefore nothing exists but Brahman. “How long do small girls play with their dolls? As long as they are not married and do not live with their husbands. After marriage they put the dolls away in a box. What further need is there of worshipping the image after the vision of God?” God-vision through yearning The Master glanced at M. and said: “One attains God when one feels yearning for Him. An intense restlessness is needed. Through it the whole mind goes to God. “A man had a daughter who became a widow when she was very young. She had never known her husband: She noticed the husbands of other girls and said one day to her father, ‘Where is my husband?’ The father replied: ‘Govinda is your husband. He will come to you if you call Him.’ At these words the girl went to her room, closed the door, and cried to Govinda, saying: ‘O Govinda, corne to me! Show Yourself to me! Why don’t You come?’ God could not resist the girl’s piteous cry and appeared before her. “One must have childlike faith-and the intense yearning that a child feels to see its mother. That yearning is like the red sky in the east at dawn. After such a sky the sun must rise. Immediately after that yearning one sees God. “Let me tell you the story of a boy named Jatila. He used to walk to school through the woods, and the journey frightened him; One day he told his mother of his fear. She replied: ‘Why should you be afraid? Call Madhusudana.’ ‘Mother,’ asked the boy, ‘who is Madhusudana?’ The mother said, ‘He is your Elder Brother.’ One day after this, when the boy again felt afraid in the woods, he cried out, ‘O Brother Madhusudana!’ But there was no response. He began to weep aloud: ‘Where are You, Brother Madhusudana? Come to me. I am afraid.’ Then God could no longer stay away. He appeared before the boy and said: ‘Here I am. Why are you frightened?’ And so, saying He took the boy out of the woods and showed him the way to school. When He took leave of the boy, God said: ‘I will come whenever you call Me. Do not be afraid.’ One must have this faith of a child, this yearning. “A brahmin used to worship his Family Deity daily with food offerings. One day he had to go away on business. As he was about to leave the house, he said to his young son: ‘Give the offering to the Deity today. See that God is fed.’ The boy offered food in the shrine, but the image remained silent on the altar. It would neither talk nor eat. The boy waited a long time, but still the image did not move. But the boy firmly believed that God would come down from His throne, sit on the floor, and partake of the food. Again and again he prayed to the Deity, saying: ‘O Lord, come down and eat the food. It is already very late. I cannot sit here any longer.’ But the image did not utter a word. The boy burst into tears and cried: ‘O Lord, my father asked me to feed You. Why won’t You come down? Why won’t You eat from my hands?’ The boy wept for some time with a longing soul. At last the Deity, smiling, came down from the altar and sat before the 373meal and ate it. After feeding the Deity, the boy came out of the shrine room. His relatives said: ‘The worship is over. Now bring away the offering.’ ‘Yes,’ said the boy, ’the worship is over. But God has eaten everything.’ ‘How is that?’ asked the relatives. The boy replied innocently, ‘Why, God has eaten the food.’ They entered the shrine and were speechless with wonder to see that the Deity had really eaten every bit of the offering.” Late in the afternoon Sri Ramakrishna was talking to M. They were standing on the south side of the nahabat. Since it was winter the Master was wrapped in his woolen shawl. MASTER: “Where will you sleep? In the hut in the Panchavati?” M: “Won’t they let me have the room on the upper floor of the nahabat?” M. selected the nahabat because he had a poetic temperament. From there he could see the sky, the Ganges, the moonlight, and the flowers in the garden. MASTER: “Oh, they’ll let you have it. But I suggested the Panchavati because so much contemplation and meditation have been practised there and the name of God has been chanted there so often.” It was evening. Incense was burning in the Master’s room. He was sitting on the small couch, absorbed in meditation. M. was sitting on the floor with Rākhāl, Lātu, and Ramlal. Singing of devotional songs The Master said to M., “The sum and substance of the whole thing is to cultivate devotion for God and love Him.” At Sri Ramakrishna’s request Ramlal sang a few songs, the Master himself singing the first line of each. Ramlal sang: Oh, what a vision I have beheld in Keshab Bharati’s hut! Gora, in all his matchless grace, Shedding tears in a thousand streams! Like a mad elephant He dances in ecstasy and sings, Drunk with an overwhelming love. . . . Then he 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. . . . Sri Ramakrishna said to Ramlal, “Sing that one- ‘Gaur and Nitai, ye blessed brothers’. " Ramlal began the song and the Master joined him: 374Gaur and Nitai, ye blessed brothers! I have heard how kind you are, And therefore I have come to you. When I visited Benares, Śiva, Lord of Kasi, told me Of the Parabrahman’s birth, As man, in Mother Sachi’s home. O Brahman, Thee I recognize! Many a sādhu have I seen, But never one so kind as you. Once at Braja you were born As Kanai and Balai, His brother; Now, once more, in Nadia, As Gaur and Nitai do you appear, Hiding the shapes that then you wore. In Braja’s pastures running freely, Once you frolicked; now, for play, You roll on the ground in Nadia, Chanting aloud Lord Hari’s name. Laughing, shouting, once you played At Braja with your cowherd friends; And now you chant Lord Hari’s name. O Gaur, how cleverly you hide The dark-blue form you wore at Braja! But your slanting eyes betray you. Through the blessing of your name The sinner is set free, they say; And so my soul is filled with hope. Now with eager heart I hasten To your feet: Lord! I implore you, Keep me safe within their shadow. You redeemed Jagai and Madhai, Wretched sinners though they were; I pray you, do the same for me. I have heard that you embrace All men as brothers, even the outcaste, Whispering in the ears of all Lord Hari’s life-renewing name. Late at night M. sat alone in the nahabat. The sky, the river, the garden, the steeples of the temples; the trees, and the Panchavati were flooded with moonlight. Deep silence reigned everywhere, broken only by the melodious murmuring of the Ganges. M. was meditating on Sri Ramakrishna. 375At three o’clock in the morning M. left his seat. He proceeded toward the Panchavati as Sri Ramakrishna had suggested. He did not care for the nahabat any more and resolved to stay in the hut in the Panchavati. Suddenly he heard a distant sound, as if someone were wailing piteously, “Oh, where art Thou, Brother Madhusudana?” The light of the full moon streamed through the thick foliage of the Panchavati, and as he proceeded he saw at a distance one of the Master’s disciples sitting alone in the grove, crying helplessly, “Oh, where art Thou, Brother Madhusudana?” Silently M. watched him. Saturday, December 15, 1883 Story of Prahlada M. had been staying at Dakshineswar with Sri Ramakrishna. The Master was sitting in his room, listening to the life of Prahlada, which Ramlal was reading from the Bhaktamala. M. was sitting on the floor. Rākhāl, Lātu, and Harish were also in the room, and Hazra was on the verandah. While listening to the story of Prahlada’s love for God, Sri Ramakrishna went into an ecstatic mood. Hiranyakasipu, the king of the demons and father of Prahlada, had put his son to endless torture to divert the boy’s mind from the love of God. But through divine grace all the king’s attempts to kill Prahlada were ineffective. At last God appeared, assuming the form of Nrisimha, the Man-lion, and killed Hiranyakasipu. The gods were frightened at the rage and roaring of the Man-lion and thought that the destruction of the world was imminent. They sent Prahlada to pacify the Deity. The boy sang a hymn to Him in words of love, and the Man-lion, moved by affection, licked Prahlada’s body. Still in an ecstatic mood, the Master said, “Ah! Ah! What love for the devotee!” The Master went into deep samādhi. He sat there motionless. A tear-drop could be seen at the corner of each of his eyes. Master admonishes M. The Master came down to the plane of the sense world and spoke to M., expressing his abhorrence for those who, while practising spiritual discipline, enjoyed sex-life. MASTER: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You have children, and still you enjoy intercourse with your wife. Don’t you hate yourself for thus leading an animal life? Don’t you hate yourself for dallying with a body which contains only blood, phlegm, filth, and excreta? He who contemplates the Lotus Feet of God looks on even the most beautiful woman as mere ash from the cremation ground. To enjoy a body which will not last and which consists of such impure ingredients as intestines, bile, flesh, and bone! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” M. sat there silently, hanging his head in shame. 376MASTER: “A man who has tasted even a drop of God’s ecstatic love looks on ‘woman and gold’ as most insignificant. He who has tasted syrup made from sugar candy regards a drink made from treacle as a mere trifle. One gradually obtains that love for God if one but prays to Him with a yearning heart and always chants His name and glories.” The Master was in an ecstasy of love. He began to dance about the room and sing: Who is singing Hari’s name upon the sacred Ganges’ bank? Is it Nitai that has come, the giver of heavenly love? It was ten o’clock in the morning. Ramlal had finished the daily worship in the Kāli temple. The Master went to the temple accompanied by M. Entering the shrine, the Master sat before the image. He offered a flower or two at the feet of the Divine Mother. Then he put a flower on his own head and began to meditate. He sang a song to the Divine Mother: Thy name, I have heard, O Consort of Śiva, is the destroyer of our fear, And so on Thee I cast my burden: Save me! Save me, O kindly Mother! Sri Ramakrishna returned from the Kāli temple and sat on the southeast verandah of his room. He ate some refreshments which had been offered at the temple, and the devotees also received a share. Rākhāl sat by the Master and read about Lord Erskine from Self-Help by Smiles. MASTER (to M.): “What does the book say?” M: “It says that Lord Erskine performed his duty without desiring any result for himself. Disinterested duty.” MASTER: “That is very good. But the characteristic of a man of Perfect Knowledge is that he doesn’t keep a single book with him. He carries all his Knowledge on the tip of his tongue. There’s the instance of Sukadeva. Books-I mean the scriptures-contain a mixture of sand and sugar. The sādhu takes the sugar, leaving aside the sand. He takes only the essence.” Vaishnavcharan, the musician, arrived and sang a few devotional songs. M. spent the night in the nahabat. Sunday, December 16, 1883 Sri Ramakrishna was seated with M. on the semicircular porch of his room at about ten o’clock in the morning. The fragrance of gardenias, jasmines, oleanders, roses, and other flowers filled the air. The Master was singing looking at M: 377Thou must save me, sweetest Mother! Unto Thee I come for refuge, Helpless as a bird imprisoned in a cage. I have done unnumbered wrongs, and aimlessly I roam about, Misled by maya’s spell, bereft of wisdom’s light, Comfortless as a mother cow whose calf has wandered far away. MASTER: “But why? Why should I live like a ‘bird imprisoned in a cage’? Fie! For shame!” As the Master said these words he went into an ecstatic mood. His body became motionless and his mind stopped functioning; tears streamed down his cheeks. After a while he said, “O Mother, make me like Sita, completely forgetful of everything-body and limbs-, totally unconscious of hands, feet, and sense-organs-only the one thought in her mind, ‘Where is Rāma?’ " Was the Master inspired by the ideal of Sita to teach M. the yearning that a devotee should feel for God? Sita’s very life was centred in Rāma. Completely absorbed in the thought of Rāma, Sita forgot even the body, which is so dear to all. At four o’clock in the afternoon Mr. Mukherji, a relative of Prankrishna, arrived in the company of a brahmin well versed in the scriptures. MUKHERJI: “I am very happy to meet you, sir.” MASTER: “God dwells in all beings. He is the gold in all. In some places it is more clearly manifest than in others. God dwells in the worldly-minded, no doubt, but He is hidden there, like gold under deep layers of clay.” MUKHERJI: “Sir, what is the difference between worldly and other-worldly things?” Brahman and the world MASTER: “While striving for the realization of God, the aspirant has to practise renunciation, applying the logic of ‘Neti, neti’-‘Not this, not this’, But after attaining the vision of God, he realizes that God alone has become all things. “At one time Rāma was overpowered by the spirit of renunciation. Dasaratha, worried at this, went to the sageVasishtha and begged him to persuade Rāma not to give up the world. The sage came to Rāma and found him in a gloomy mood. The fire of intense renunciation had been raging in the Prince’s mind. Vasishtha said: ‘Rāma, why should You renounce the world? Is the world outside God? Reason with me.’ Rāma realized that the world had evolved from the Supreme Brahman. So, He said nothing. “Buttermilk is made from the same substance as butter. One who realizes this knows that butter goes with buttermilk and buttermilk with butter. After separating the butter with great effort-that is to say, after attaining Brahmajnana-you will realize that as long as butter exists, buttermilk also must exist. Wherever there is butter there must be 378buttermilk as well. As long as one feels that Brahman exists, one must also be aware that the universe, living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles exist as well. Nature of Brahman “What Brahman is cannot be described in words. Everything has been polluted, like food that has touched the tongue-that is, everything has been described in words. But no one has been able to describe Brahman. It is therefore unpolluted. I said this to Vidyasagar and he was delighted. “But the Knowledge of Brahman cannot be realized if the aspirant is worldly-minded even in the slightest degree. He succeeds in acquiring this Knowledge only when his mind is totally free from ‘woman and gold’. Parvati once said to Her father, ‘Father, seek the company of holy men if you want the Knowledge of Brahman.’ " Addressing Mr. Mukherji, Sri Ramakrishna said: “You are rich, and still you call on God. That is very good indeed. It is said in the Gitā that those who fall from the path of yoga are born in their next birth as devotees of God in rich families.” Mr. Mukherji quoted the line from the Gitā. MASTER: “God, if He so desires, can keep a Jnāni in the world too. The world and all living beings have been created by His will. But He is self-willed.” MUKHERJI (with a smile): “How can God have any will? Does He lack anything?” MASTER (with a smile): “What’s wrong in that? Water is water whether it is still or in waves. The snake is a snake whether it is coiled up motionless or wriggles along. A man is the same man whether sitting still or engaged in action. “How can you eliminate from the Reality the universe and its living beings? If you do that, It will lack Its full weight. You cannot find out the total weight of the bel-fruit if you eliminate the seeds and shell. “Brahman is unattached. One finds good and bad smells in the air, but the air itself is untainted. Brahman and Śakti are identical. It is the Primordial Power that has become the world and all living beings.” MUKHERJI: “Why does one deviate from the path of yoga?” MASTER: “As the saying goes: ‘In my mother’s womb I was in a state of yoga; coming into the world, I have eaten its clay. The midwife has cut one shackle, the navel cord; but how shall I cut the shackle of maya?’ “Woman and gold” “Maya is nothing but ‘woman’ and ‘gold’. A man attains yoga when he has freed his mind from these two. The Self-the Supreme Self-is the magnet; the individual self is the needle. The individual self experiences the state of yoga when it is attracted by the 379Supreme Self to Itself. But the magnet cannot attract the needle if the needle is covered with clay; it can draw the needle only when the clay is removed. The clay of ‘woman’ and ‘gold’ must be removed.” MUKHERJI: “How can one remove it?” MASTER: “Weep for God with a longing heart. Tears shed for Him will wash away the clay. When you have thus freed yourself from impurity, you will be attracted by the magnet. Only then will you attain yoga.” MUKHERJI: “Priceless words!” MASTER: “If a man is able to weep for God, he will see Him. He will go into samādhi. Perfection in yoga is samādhi. A man achieves kumbhaka without any yogic exercise if he but weeps for God. The next stage is samādhi. “There is another method -that of meditation. In the Sahasrara, Śiva manifests Himself in a special manner. The aspirant should meditate on Him. The body is like a tray; the mind and buddhi are like water. The Sun of Satchidananda is reflected in this water. Meditating on the reflected sun, one sees the Real Sun through the grace of God. “But the worldly man must constantly live in the company of holy men. It is necessary for all, even for sannyasis. But it is especially necessary for the householder. His disease has become chronic because he has to live constantly in the midst of ‘woman and gold’.” MUKHERJI: “Yes, sir. The disease has indeed become chronic” MASTER: “Give God the power of attorney. Let Him do whatever He wants. Be like a kitten and cry to Him with a fervent heart. The mother cat puts the kitten wherever she wants to. The kitten doesn’t know anything. It is left sometimes on the bed and sometimes near the hearth.” MUKHERJI: “It is good to read sacred books like the Gitā.” MASTER: “But what will you gain by mere reading? Some have heard of milk, some have seen it, and there are some, besides, who have drunk it. God can indeed be seen; what is more, one can talk to Him. Different stages of spiritual progress “The first stage is that of the beginner. He studies and hears. Second is the stage of the struggling aspirant. He prays to God, meditates on Him, and sings His name and glories. The third stage is that of the perfect soul. He has seen God, realized Him directly and immediately in his inner Consciousness. Last is the stage of the supremely perfect, like Chaitanya. Such a devotee establishes a definite relationship with God, looking on Him as his Son or Beloved.” 380M., Rākhāl, Jogin, Lātu, and the other devotees were entranced by these words of divine realization. Mr. Mukherji and his friend were taking leave of the Master. After saluting him, they stood up. The Master also stood up to show them courtesy. MUKHERJI (smiling): “That you should stand up or sit down!” MASTER (smiling): “But what’s the harm? Water is water whether it is placid or in waves. I am like a cast-off leaf in the wind. The wind blows that leaf wherever it lists. I am the machine and God is its Operator.” Mr. Mukherji and his friend left the room. M. thought: “According to the Vedānta all is like a dream. Are all these-the ego, the universe, and the living beings-unreal then?” M. had studied a little of the Vedānta. He also had read the German philosophers, such as Kant and Hegel, whose writings are only a faint echo of the Vedānta. But Sri Ramakrishna did not arrive at his conclusions by reasoning, as do ordinary scholars. It was the Divine Mother of the Universe who revealed the Truth to him. These were the thoughts that passed through M.’s mind. A little later Sri Ramakrishna and M. were conversing on the porch west of the Master’s room. No one else was there. It was a late winter afternoon, and the sun had not yet gone below the horizon. Is the world unreal? M: “Is the world unreal?” MASTER: “Why should it be unreal? What you are asking is a matter for philosophical discussion. “In the beginning, when a man reasons following the Vedantic method of ‘Not this, not this’, he realizes that Brahman is not the living beings, not the universe, not the twenty- four cosmic principles. All these things become like dreams to him. Then comes the affirmation of what has been denied, and he feels that God Himself has become the universe and all living beings. “Suppose you are climbing to the roof by the stairs. As long as you are aware of the roof, you are also aware of the stairs. He who is aware of the high is also aware of the low. But after reaching the roof you realize that the stairs are made of the same materials-brick, lime, and brick-dust-as the roof. “Further, I have given the illustration of the bel-fruit. unchangeability belong to one and the same Reality. Both changeability and “The ego cannot be done away with. As long as ‘I-consciousness’ exists, living beings and the universe must also exist. After realizing God, one sees that, it is He Himself who 381has become the universe and the living beings. But one cannot realize this by mere reasoning. “Śiva has two states of mind. First, the state of samādhi, when He is transfixed in the Great Yoga. He is then Ātmārāma, satisfied in the Self. Second, the state when He descends from samādhi and keeps a trace of ego. Then He dances about, chanting, ‘Rāma, Rāma!’” Did the Master describe Śiva to hint at his own state of mind? It was evening. Sri Ramakrishna was meditating on the Divine Mother and chanting Her holy name. The devotees also went off to solitary places and meditate on their Chosen Ideals. Evening worship began at the temple garden in the shrines of Kāli, Radha- Krishna, and Śiva. It was the second day of the dark fortnight of the moon. Soon the moon rose in the sky, bathing temples, trees, flowers, and the rippling surface of the Ganges in its light. The Master was sitting on the couch and M. on the floor. The conversation turned to the Vedānta. MASTER (to M.): “Why should the universe be unreal? That is a speculation of the philosophers. After realizing God, one sees that it is God Himself who has become the universe and all living beings. Divine Mother is the Universal Consciousness “The Divine Mother revealed to me in the Kāli temple that it was She who had become everything. She showed me that everything was full of Consciousness. The Image was Consciousness, the altar was Consciousness, the water-vessels were Consciousness, the door-sill was Consciousness, the marble floor was Consciousness-all was Consciousness. “I found everything inside the room soaked, as it were, in Bliss-the Bliss of Satchidananda. I saw a wicked man in front of the Kāli temple; but in him also I saw the Power of the Divine Mother vibrating. “That was why I fed a cat with the food that was to be offered to the Divine Mother. I clearly perceived that the Divine Mother Herself had become everything-even the cat. The manager of the temple garden wrote to Mathur Babu saying that I was feeding the cat with the offering intended for the Divine Mother. But Mathur Babu had insight into the state of my mind. He wrote back to the manager: ‘Let him do whatever he likes. You must not say anything to him.’ “After realizing God, one sees all this aright-that it is He who has become the universe, living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles. But what remains when God completely effaces the ego cannot be described in words. As Ramprasad said in one of his songs, ‘Then alone will you know whether you are good or I am good!’ I get into even that state now and then. 382"A man sees a thing in one way through reasoning and in an altogether different way when God Himself shows it to him.” Monday, December 17, 1883 It was about eight o’clock in the morning. Sri Ramakrishna was in his room with M., when Dr. Madhu arrived and sat down beside the Master on the small couch. He was an elderly man and full of wit. He used to visit the Master when the latter felt indisposed. MASTER: “The whole thing, in a nutshell is that one must develop ecstatic love for Satchidananda. What kind of love? How should one love God? Gauri used to say that one must become like Sita to understand Rāma; like Bhagavati, the Divine Mother, to understand Bhagavan, Śiva. One must practise austerity, as Bhagavati did, in order to attain Śiva. One must cultivate the attitude of Prakriti in order to realize Purusha-the attitude of a friend, a handmaid, or a mother. “I saw Sita in a vision. I found that her entire mind was concentrated on Rāma. She was totally indifferent to everything-her hands, her feet, her clothes, her jewels. It seemed that Rāma had filled every bit of her life and she could not remain alive without Rāma.” M: “Yes, sir. She was mad with love for Rāma.” MASTER: “Mad! That’s the word. One must become mad with love in order to realize God. But that love is not possible if the mind dwells on ‘woman and gold’. Sex-life with a woman! What happiness is there in that? The realization of God gives ten million times more happiness. Gauri used to say that when a man attains ecstatic love of God all the pores of the skin, even the roots of the hair, become like so many sexual organs, and in every pore the aspirant enjoys the happiness of communion with the Ātman. “One must call on God with a longing heart. One must learn from the guru how God can be realized. Only if the guru himself has attained Perfect Knowledge can he show the way. “A man, gets rid of all desires when he has Perfect Knowledge. He becomes like a child five years old. Sages like Dattatreya and Jadabharata had the nature of a child.” M: “One hears about them. But there were many others like them that the world doesn’t hear about.” MASTER: “Yes. The Jnāni gets rid of all desire if any is left, it does not hurt him. At the touch of the philosopher’s stone the sword is transformed into gold. Then that sword cannot do any killing. Just so, the Jnāni keeps only a semblance of anger and passion. They are anger and passion only in name and cannot injure him.” 383M: “Yes, sir. The Jnāni goes beyond the three gunas, as you say. He is not under the control of any of the gunas-sattva, rajas, or tamas. All these three are so many robbers, as it were.” MASTER: “Yes, one must assimilate that.” M: “In this world there are perhaps not more than three or four men of Perfect Knowledge.” MASTER: “Why do you say that? One sees many holy men and sannyasis in the monasteries of upper India.” M: “Well, I too can become a sannyasi like one of those.” The Master fixed his gaze on M. and said, “By renouncing everything?” M: “What can a man achieve unless he gets rid of maya? What will a man gain by merely being a sannyasi, if he cannot subdue maya?” Both remained silent a few minutes. M: “Sir, what is the nature of the divine love transcending the three gunas?” MASTER: “Attaining that love, the devotee sees everything full of Spirit and Consciousness. To him ‘Krishna is Consciousness, and His sacred Abode is also Consciousness’. The devotee, too, is Consciousness. Everything is Consciousness. Very few people attain such love.” DR. MADHU: “The love transcending the three gunas means, in other words, that the devotee is not under the control of any of the gunas.” MASTER (smiling): “Yes, that’s it. He becomes like a child five years old, not under the control of any of the gunas.” The Master was resting after his noon meal. Mani Mallick arrived and saluted him. Sri Ramakrishna remained lying on the couch and said a word or two to Mani. MANI: “I hear you visited Keshab Sen.” MASTER: “Yes. How is he now?” MANI: “He hasn’t recovered to any extent from his illness.” MASTER: “I found him to be very rajasic. I had to wait a long time before I could see him.” The Master sat up on the couch and continued his conversation with the devotees. 384MASTER (to M.): “I became mad for Rāma. I used to walk about carrying an image of Ramlala given to me by a monk. I bathed it, fed it, and laid it down to sleep. I carried it wherever I went. I became mad for Ramlala.”