Free Will

It is God alone who has planted in man’s mind what the ‘Englishman’ calls free will.

People who have not realized God would become engaged in more and more sinful actions if God had not planted in them the notion of free will. Sin would have increased if God had not made the sinner feel that he alone was responsible for his sin.

“Those who have realized God are aware that free will is a mere appearance. In reality man is the machine and God its Operator, man is the carriage and God its Driver.”

It was about 4PM. Rākhāl and several other devotees were listening to a kirtan by M. in the hut at the Panchavati. Rākhāl went into a spiritual mood while listening to the devotional song. After a while the Master came to the Panchavati accompanied by

Baburam and Harish. Other devotees followed.‘RĀKHĀL: “How well he [referring to M.] sang kirtan for us! He made us all very happy.”

The Master sang in an ecstatic mood:

O friends, how great is my relief To hear you chanting Krishna’s name! . . .

To the devotees he said, “Always sing devotional songs” Continuing, he said: “To love God and live in the company of the devotees: that is all. What more is there?” He said, again: “When Krishna went to Mathura, Yaśoda came to Radha, who was absorbed in meditation.

Afterwards Radha said to Yaśoda: ‘I am the Primordial Energy. Ask a boon of Me.’ ‘What other boon shall I ask of You?’ said Yaśoda. Only bless me that I may serve God with my body, mind, and tongue; that I may behold His devotees with these eyes, that I may meditate on Him with this mind, and that I may chant His name and glories with this tongue.’

“But those who are firmly established in God may do as well without the devotees. This is true of those who feel the presence of God both within and without. Sometimes they don’t enjoy the devotees’ company. You don’t whitewash a wall inlaid with mother of pearl-the lime won’t stick.”

The Master returned presently from the Panchavati, talking to M.

MASTER: “You have the voice of a woman. Can’t you practise a song such as this? Tell me, friend, how far is the grove Where Krishna, my Beloved, dwells?

(To M., pointing to Baburam) “You see, my own people have become strangers; Ramlal and my other relatives seem to be foreigners. And strangers have become my own. Don’t you notice how I tell Baburam to go and wash his face? The devotees have become relatives.

(Looking at the Panchavati) “I used to sit there. In course of time I became mad. That phase also passed away. Kala, Śiva, is Brahman. That which sports with Kala is Kāli, the Primal Energy. Kāli moves even the Immutable.”

Saying this, the Master sang: My mind is overwhelmed with wonder, Pondering the Mother’s mystery; Her very name removes The fear of Kala, Death himself; Beneath Her feet lies Maha-Kala. . . .

Then he said to M.: “Today is Saturday. Go to the temple of Kāli.“As the Master came to the bakul-tree he spoke to M. again: “Chidatma and ChitŚakti. The Purusha is the Chidatma and Prakriti the ChitŚakti. Sri Krishna is the Chidatma and Sri Radha the ChitŚakti. The devotees are so many forms of the ChitŚakti. They should think of themselves as companions or handmaids of the ChitŚakti, Sri Radha. This is the whole gist of the thing.’”

After dusk Sri Ramakrishna went to the Kāli temple and was pleased to see M. meditating there.

The evening worship was over in the temples. The Master returned to his room and sat on the couch, absorbed in meditation on the Divine Mother. M. sat on the floor. There was no one else in the room.

The Master was in samādhi. He began to come gradually down to the normal plane. His mind was still filled with the consciousness of the Divine Mother. In that state he was speaking to Her like a small child making importunate demands on his mother. He said in a piteous voice: “Mother, why haven’t You revealed to me that form of Yours, the form that bewitches the world?

I pleaded with You so much for it. But You wouldn’t listen to me. You act as You please.”

The voice in which these words were uttered was very touching.

He went on: “Mother, one needs faith. Away with this wretched reasoning! Let it be blighted! One needs faith-faith in the words of the guru, childlike faith. The mother says to her child, ‘A ghost lives there’; and the child is firmly convinced that the ghost is there. Again, the mother says to the child, ‘A holy man is there’, and the child is sure of it.

Further, the mother says, pointing to a man, ‘He is your elder brother’, and the child believes that the man is one hundred and twenty-five per cent his brother. One needs faith. But why should I blame them, Mother? What can they do? It is necessary to go through reasoning once. Didn’t You see how much I told him about it the other day? But it all proved useless.”

The Master was weeping and praying to the Mother in a voice choked with emotion. He prayed to Her with tearful eyes for the welfare of the devotees: “Mother, may those who come to You have all their desires fulfilled! But please don’t make them give up everything at once, Mother. Well, You may do whatever You like in the end. If You keep them in the world, Mother, then please reveal Yourself to them now and then.

Otherwise, how will they live? How will they be encouraged if they don’t see You once in a while? But You may do whatever You like in the end.”

The Master was still in the ecstatic mood. Suddenly he said to M: “Look here, you have had enough of reasoning. No more of it. Promise that you won’t reason any more.”

M. (with folded hands): “Yes, sir. I won’t.“MASTER: “You have had enough of it. When you came to me the first time, I told you your spiritual Ideal. I know everything about you, do I not?”

M. (with folded hands): “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “Yes, I know everything: what your Ideal is, who you are, your inside and outside, the events of your past lives, and your future. Do I not?”

M. (with folded hands): “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “I scolded you on learning that you had a son. Now go home and live there.

Let them know that you belong to them. But you must remember in your heart of hearts that you do not belong to them nor they to you.”

M. sat in silence. The Master went on instructing him.

MASTER: “You have now learnt to fly. But keep your loving relationship with your father. Can’t you prostrate yourself before him?”

M. (with folded hands): “Yes, sir. I can.”

MASTER: “What more shall I say to you? You, know everything. You understand, don’t you?”

M. sat there without uttering a word.

MASTER: “You have understood, haven’t you?”

M: “Yes, sir, I now understand a little.”

MASTER: “No, you understand a great deal. Rākhāl ’s father is pleased about his staying here.”

M. remained with folded hands.

MASTER: “Yes, what you are thinking will also come to pass.”

Sri Ramakrishna now came down to the normal state of mind. entered the room. At the Master’s bidding Ramlal sang: Rākhāl and Ramlal Who is the Woman yonder who lights the field of battle?

Darker Her body gleams even than the darkest storm-cloud

And from Her teeth there Bash the lightning’s blinding flames… He sang again:

Who is this terrible Woman, dark as the sky at midnight?

Who is this Woman dancing over the field of battle?…MASTER: “The Divine Mother and the earthly mother. It is the Divine Mother who exists in the form of the universe and pervades everything as Consciousness.

The earthly mother gives birth to this body. I used to go into samādhi uttering the word ‘Ma’. While repeating the word I would draw the Mother of the Universe to me, as it were, like the fishermen casting their net and after a while drawing it in. When they draw in the net they find big fish inside it.

“Gauri once said that one attains true Knowledge when one realizes the identity of Kāli and Gaurānga. That which is Brahman is also Śakti, Kāli. It is That, again, which, assuming the human form, has become Gaurānga.”

At the Master’s request, Ramlal sang again, this time about Gaurānga.

MASTER (to M.): “The Nitya and the Lila are the two aspects of the Reality. God, plays in the world as man for the sake of His devotees. They can love God only if they see Him in a human form; only then can they show their affection for Him as their Brother, Sister, Father, Mother, or Child.

It is just for this love of the devotees that God contracts Himself into a human form and descends on earth to play His lila.”