Trailokya's Songs

Sunday, March 2, 1884

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch in his room, listening to devotional music by Trailokya Sannyal of the Brahmo Samaj. He had not yet recovered from the effects of the injury to his arm, which was still supported by a splint. Many devotees, including, Narendra, Srendra, and M., were sitting on the floor. Narendra’s father, a lawyer of the High Court of Calcutta, had passed away suddenly.

He had not been able to make provision for the family, which consequently faced grave financial difficulties. The members of the family sometimes had to go without food.

Narendra was therefore passing his days in great anxiety.

Trailokya sang about the Divine Mother: O Mother, I hide myself in Thy loving bosom; I gaze at Thy face and cry out, “Mother! Mother!” I sink in the Sea of Bliss and am lost to sense In yoga-sleep; I gaze with unwinking eyes 416Upon Thy face, powerless to turn away. O Mother, I am terrified by this world; My spirit trembles and cries out in fear. Keep me, sweet Mother, in Thy loving bosom; Cover me with the spreading skirt of Thy love. The Master shed tears of love and cried out, “Ah me! Ah me!” Trailokya sang again: O Lord, Destroyer of my shame! Who but Thyself can save The honour of Thy devotee? Thou art the Ruler of my soul, my very life’s Support, And I am Thy slave for evermore. . . .

He continued: Seeking a shelter at Thy feet, I have forever set aside My pride of caste and race, O Lord, And turned my back on fear and shame. A lonely pilgrim on life’s way, Where shall I go for succour now? For Thy sake, Lord, I bear men’s blame; They rail at me with bitter words And hate me for my love of Thee. Both friends and strangers use me ill. Thou art the Guardian of my name; Thou mayest save or slay me, Lord! Upon the honour of Thy servant Rests, O Lord, Thy name as well; Thou art the Ruler of my soul, The glow of love within my heart; Do with me as it pleases Thee! Once more he sang:

Lord, Thou hast taken me from home and made me captive with

Thy love;

Shield me for ever at Thy feet, O Thou Beloved One!

Upon the Nectar of Thy love, feed me both day and night,

And save Premdas, who is Thy slave. The Master again shed tears of joy. He sang some lines from a song of Ramprasad: Glory and shame, bitter and sweet, are Thine alone; This world is nothing but Thy play. Then why, O Blissful One, dost Thou cause a rift in it? 417Addressing Trailokya, the Master said: “Ah! How touching your songs are! They are genuine. Only he who has gone to the ocean can fetch its water.” Trailokya sang again: Thou it is that dancest, Lord, and Thou that singest the song; Thou it is that clappest Thy hands in time with the music’s beat; But man, who is an onlooker merely, foolishly thinks it is he. Though but a puppet, man becomes a god if he moves with Thee; Thou art the Mover of the machine, the Driver of the car; But man is weighted down with woe, dreaming that he is free. Thou art the Root of everything, Thou the Soul of our souls; Thou art the Master of our hearts; through Thine unbounded grace

Thou turnest even the meanest sinner into the mightiest saint. The singing came to an end. The Master engaged in conversation with the devotees.

Process of negation and affirmation & God Himself has become everything

MASTER: “God alone is the Master, and again, He is the Servant.

This attitude indicates Perfect Knowledge. At first one discriminates, ‘Not this, not this’, and feels that God alone is real and all else is illusory.

Afterwards the same person finds that it is God Himself who has become all this-the universe, maya, and the living beings. First negation and then affirmation. This is the view held by the Puranas. A vilwa-fruit, for instance, includes flesh, seeds, and shell. You get the flesh by discarding the shell and seeds.

But if you want to know the weight of the fruit, you cannot find it if you discard the shell and seeds. Just so, one should attain Sarchidananda by negating the universe and its living beings. But after the attainment of Satchidananda one finds that Satchidananda Itself has become the universe and the living beings. It is of one substance that the flesh and the shell and seeds are made, just like butter and buttermilk.

‘How has Satchidananda become so hard?’ This earth does indeed feel very hard to the touch. The answer is that blood and semen are thin liquids, and yet out of them comes such a big creature as man.

Everything is possible for God. First of all reach the indivisible Satchidananda, and then, coming down, look at the universe. You will then find that everything is Its manifestation.

It is God alone who has become everything.

The world by no means exists apart from Him.

“All elements finally merge in Ākāśa. Again, at the time of creation, Ākāśa evolves into mahat and mahat into Ahamkāra. In this way the whole world-system is evolved. It is the process of involution and evolution. A devotee of God accepts everything.

He accepts the universe and its created beings as well as the indivisible Satchidananda.

But the yogi’s path is different. He does not come back after reaching the Paramatman, the Supreme Soul. He becomes united with It.

“The ‘partial knower’ limits God to one object only. He thinks that God cannot exist in anything beyond that.

3 Classes of devotees

There are three classes of devotees.

1. The lowest one says, ‘God is up there.’ That is, he points to heaven.

The mediocre devotee says that God dwells in the heart as the ‘Inner Controller’. But the highest devotee says: ‘God alone has become everything. All that we perceive is so many forms of God.’ Narendra used to make fun of me and say: ‘Yes, God has become all! Then a pot is God, a cup is God!’ (Laughter.)

All doubts disappear when one sees God. It is one thing to hear of God, but quite a different thing to see Him. A man cannot have one hundred per cent conviction through mere hearing. But if he beholds God face to face, then he is wholly convinced.

“Formal worship drops away after the vision of God. It was thus that my worship in the temple came to an end. I used to worship the Deity in the Kāli temple. It was suddenly revealed to me that everything is Pure Spirit. The utensils of worship, the altar, the door-frame-all Pure Spirit. Men, animals, and other living beings-all Pure Spirit. Then like a madman I began to shower flowers in all directions. Whatever I saw I worshipped.

“One day, while worshipping Śiva, I was about to offer a bel-leaf on the head of the image, when it was revealed to me that this Virat, this Universe, itself is Śiva. After that my worship of Śiva through the image came to an end. Another day I had been plucking flowers, when it was revealed to me that the flowering plants were so many bouquets.”

TRAILOKYA: “Ah! How beautiful is God’s creation!”

MASTER: “Oh no, it is not that. It was revealed to me in a flash. I didn’t calculate about it. It was shown to me that each plant was a bouquet adorning the Universal Form of God. That was the end of my plucking flowers. I look on man in just the same way.

When I see a man, I see that it is God Himself who walks on earth, as it were, rocking to and fro, like a pillow floating on the waves. The pillow moves with the waves. It bobs up and down.

The body has, indeed, only a momentary existence. God alone is real. Now the body exists, and now it does not. Years ago, when I had been suffering terribly from indigestion, Hriday said to me, ‘Do ask the Mother to cure you.’ I felt ashamed to speak to Her about my illness. I said to Her: ‘Mother, I saw a skeleton in the Asiatic Society Museum. It was pieced together with wires into a human form. O Mother, please keep my body together a little, like that, so that I may sing Thy name and glories.’

Why this desire to live? After Ravana’s death Rāma and Lakshmana entered his capital and saw Nikasha, his old mother, running away. Lakshmana was surprised at this and said to Rāma, ‘All her children are dead, but still life attracts her so much!’ Rāma called Nikasha to His side and said: ‘Don’t be afraid. Why are you running away?’ She replied: ‘Rāma, it was not fear that made me flee from You. I have been able to see all these wondrous actions of Yours simply because I am alive. I shall see many more things like these if I continue to live. Hence I desire to live.’

Without desires the body cannot live. (Smiling) I had one or two desires. I prayed to the Mother, ‘O Mother, give me the company of those who have renounced “woman and gold”.’ I said further: ‘I should like to enjoy the society of Thy jnanis and bhaktas.

So give me a little strength that I may walk hither and thither and visit those people.’ But She did not give me the strength to walk.”

TRAlLOKYA (smiling): “Have all the desires been fulfilled?”

MASTER (smiling): “No, there are still a few left. (All laugh.) “The body is really impermanent. When my arm was broken I said to the Mother,

‘Mother, it hurts me very much.’ At once She revealed to me a carriage and its driver.

Here and there a few screws were loose. The carriage moved as the driver directed it. It had no power of its own.

“Why then do I take care of the body? It is to enjoy God, to sing His name and glories, and to go about visiting His jnanis and bhaktas.”

Narendra was sitting on the floor in front of the Master.

MASTER (to Trailokya and the other devotees): “The joys and sorrows of the body are inevitable. Look at Narendra. His father is dead, and his people have been put to extreme suffering. He can’t find any way out of it. God places one sometimes in happiness and sometimes in misery.”

TRAILOKYA: “Revered sir, God will be gracious to Narendra.”

MASTER (with a smile): “But when? It is true that no one starves at the temple of Annapurna in Benares; but some must wait for food till evening. “Once Hriday asked Sambhu Mallick for some money. Sambhu held the views of ‘Englishmen’ on such matters. He said to Hriday: ‘Why should I give you money? You can earn your livelihood by working. Even now you are earning something.

The case of a very poor person is different. The purpose of charity is fulfilled if one gives money to the blind or the lame.’

Thereupon Hriday said: ‘Sir, please don’t say that. I don’t need your money. May God help me not to become blind or deaf or extremely poor! I don’t want you to give, and I don’t want to receive.’ "

The Master spoke as if piqued because God had not yet shown His kindness to Narendra. Now and then he cast an affectionate glance at his beloved disciple.

NARENDRA: “I am now studying the views of the atheists.” MASTER: “There are two doctrines: the existence and the non-existence of God. Why don’t you accept the first?”

SURENDRA: “God is just. He must look after His devotees.”

MASTER: “It is said in the scriptures that only those who have been charitable in their former births get money in this life. But to tell you the truth, this world is God’s maya. And there are many confusing things in this realm of maya. One cannot comprehend them.

God’s ways are inscrutable

“The ways of God are inscrutable indeed. Bhishma lay on his bed of arrows. The Pandava brothers visited him in Krishna’s company. Presently Bhishma burst into tears. The Pandavas said to Krishna: ‘Krishna, how amazing this is! Our grandsire Bhishma is one of the eight Vasus. Another man as wise as he is not to be found. Yet even he is bewildered by maya and weeps at death.’

‘But’, said Krishna, ‘Bhishma isn’t weeping on that account. You may ask him about it.’ When asked, Bhishma said: ‘O Krishna, I am unable to understand anything of the ways of God; God Himself is the constant companion of the Pandavas, and still they have no end of trouble. That is why I weep.

When I reflect on this, I realize that one cannot understand anything of God’s ways.’

“God has revealed to me that only the Paramatman, whom the Vedas describe as the Pure Soul, is as immutable as Mount Sumeru, unattached, and beyond pain and pleasure. There is much confusion in this world of His maya. One can by no means say that ’this’ will come after ’that’ or ’this’ will produce ’that’.” SURENDRA (smiling): “If by giving away money in a. previous birth one gets wealth in this life, then we should all give away money now.” MASTER: “Those who have money should give it to the poor and needy.

(To Trailokya) Jaygopal Sen is well-to-do. He should be charitable. That he is not so is to his discredit. There are some who are miserly even though they have money. There is no knowing who will enjoy their money afterwards.

Jaygopal came here the other day. He drove over here in a carriage. The lamps were broken, the horse seemed to have been returned from the charnel-house, and the coachman looked as if he had just been discharged from the Medical College Hospital.

And he brought me two rotten pomegranates!” (All laugh.)

SURENDRA: “Jaygopal Babu belongs to the Brahmo Samaj. I understand that now there is not one worth-while man in Keshab’s organization. Vijay Goswami, Shivanath, and other notables have organized the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.”

MASTER (smiling): “Govinda Adhikari, it is said, would not keep good actors in his theatre lest they should claim a share of the profit. (All laugh.)

“The other day I saw a disciple of Keshab. A theatrical performance was being given in Keshab’s house, and I saw the disciple dancing on the stage with a child in his arms. I understand that this man delivers ’lectures’. He had better lecture to himself.”

Trailokya sang:

Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness waves of ecstatic love arise:

Rapture divine! Play of God’s Bliss! Oh, how enthralling!

Wondrous waves of the sweetness of God, ever new and ever enchanting,

Rise on the surface, ever assuming Forms ever fresh.

Then once more in the Great Communion all are merged, as the barrier walls Of time and space dissolve and vanish:

Dance then, O mind!

Dance in delight, with hands upraised, chanting Lord Hari’s holy name.

Sri Ramakrishna requested Trailokya to sing the song beginning, “O Mother, make me mad with Thy love”.

Trailokya sang: O Mother, make me mad with Thy love! What need have I of knowledge or reason? Make me drunk with Thy love’s Wine: O Thou who stealest Thy bhaktas’ hearts, Drown me deep in the Sea of Thy love! Here in this world, this madhouse of Thine Some laugh, some weep, some dance for joy: Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gaurānga, All are drunk with the Wine of Thy love. O Mother, when shall I be blessed By joining their blissful company?