Signs of Knowledge

MASTER: There are two signs of knowledge.

1. An unshakable buddhi.

No matter how many sorrows, afflictions, dangers, and obstacles one may be faced with, one’s mind does not undergo any change. It is like the blacksmith’s anvil, which receives constant blows from the hammer and still remains unshaken.

2. Manliness-very strong grit.

If lust and anger injure a man, he must renounce them once for all. If a tortoise once tucks in its limbs, it won’t put them out again though you may cut it into four pieces.

Two kinds of renunciation

(To Thakur Dada and the others) There are two kinds of renunciation: intense and feeble. Feeble renunciation is a slow process; one moves in a slow rhythm. Intense renunciation is like the sharp edge of a razor. It cuts the bondage of māyā easily and at once.

“One farmer labours for days to bring water from the lake to his field. But his efforts are futile because he has no grit. Another farmer, after labouring for two or three days, takes a vow and says, ‘I will bring water into my field today, and not till then will I go home.’

He puts aside all thought of his bath or his meal. He labours the whole day and feels great joy when in the evening he finds water entering his field with a murmuring sound. Then he goes home and says to his wife: ‘Now give me some oil. I shall take my bath.’

After finishing his bath and his meal he lies down to sleep with a peaceful mind.

“A certain woman said to her husband: ‘So-and-so has developed a spirit of great dispassion for the world, but I don’t see anything of the sort in you. He has 16 wives. He is giving them up one by one.’

The husband, with a towel in his shoulder, was going to the lake for his bath. He said to his wife: ‘You are crazy! He won’t be able to give up the world.

Is it ever possible to renounce bit by bit? I can renounce. Look! Here I go.’ He didn’t stop even to settle his household affairs. He left home just as he was, the towel on his shoulder, and went away. That is intense renunciation.

“There is another kind of renunciation, called ‘Markata Vairāgya’, ‘monkey renunciation’.

A man, harrowed by distress at home, puts on an ochre robe and goes away to Benares. For many days he does not send home any news of himself. Then he writes to his people: ‘Don’t be worried about me. I have got a job here.’

“There is always trouble in family life. The wife may be disobedient. Perhaps the husband earns only twenty rupees a month. He hasn’t the means to perform the ‘rice-eating ceremony’ for his baby. He cannot educate his son. The house is dilapidated.

The roof leaks and he hasn’t the money to repair it.

Advantage of a householder’s life

Therefore when the youngsters come here I ask them whether they have anyone at home. (To Mahima) Why should householders renounce the world? What great troubles the wandering monks pass through! The wife of a certain man said to him: ‘You want to renounce the world? Why?

You will have to beg morsels from eight different homes. But here you get all your food at one place. Isn’t that nice?’ “Wandering monks, while searching for a sadavrata, may have to go six miles out of their way. I have seen them travelling along the regular road after their pilgrimage to Puri and making a detour to find an eating-place.

“You are leading a householder’s life. That is very good. It is like fighting from a fort.

There are many disadvantages in fighting in an open field. So many dangers, too.

Bullets may hit you.

“But one should spend some time in solitude and attain Knowledge. Then one can lead the life of a householder. Janaka lived in the world after attaining Knowledge. When you have gained it, you may live anywhere. Then nothing matters.”

MAHlMA: “Sir, why does a man become deluded by worldly objects?”

MASTER: “It is because he lives in their midst without having realized God. Man never succumbs to delusion after he has realized God. The moth no longer enjoys darkness if it has once seen the light.

Practice of continence

To be able to realize God, one must practise absolute continence. Sages like Sukadeva are examples of an urdhvareta.

Their chastity was absolutely unbroken. There is another class, who previously have had discharges of semen but who later on have controlled them. A man controlling the seminal fluid for 12 years develops a special power. He grows a new inner nerve called the nerve of memory. Through that nerve he remembers all, he understands all.

Loss of semen impairs the strength. But it does not injure one if one loses it in a dream. That semen one gets from food. What remains after nocturnal discharge is enough. But one must not know a woman.

The semen that remains after nocturnal discharge is very ‘refined’. The Lahas kept jars of molasses in their house. Every jar had a hole in it. After a year they found that the molasses had crystallized like sugar candy. The unnecessary watery part had leaked out through the hole.

Sannyasi’s absolute self-control

A sannyasi must absolutely renounce woman. You are already involved; but that doesn’t matter.

“A sannyasi must not look even at the picture of a woman. But this is too difficult for an ordinary man. Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni are the seven notes of the scale. It is not possible to keep your voice on ’ni’ a long time.

“To lose semen is extremely harmful for a sannyasi. Therefore he must live so carefully that he will not have to see the form of a woman. He must keep himself away from a woman even if she is a devotee of God. It is injurious for him to look even at the picture of a woman.

He will lose semen in a dream, if not in the waking state.

“A sannyasi may have control over his senses, but to set an example to mankind he should not talk with women. He must not talk to one very long, even if she is a devotee of God.

“Living as a sannyasi is like observing the ekadasi without drinking even a drop of water. There are two other ways of observing the day. You may eat fruit or take luchi and curry. With the luchi and curry you may also take slices of bread soaked in milk.

(All laugh.)

(Smiling) “Absolute fasting is not possible for you.

“Once I saw Krishnakishore eating luchi and curry on an ekadasi day. I said to Hriday, ‘Hridu, I want to observe Krishnakishore’s ekadasi!’ (All laugh.) And so I did one day. I ate my fill. The next day I had to fast.” (Laughter.)

The devotees who had gone to the Panchavati to visit the hathayogi came back.

MASTER (addressing them): “Well, what do you think of him? I dare say you have measured him with your own tape.”

Sri Ramakrishna saw that very few of the devotees were willing to give money to the hathayogi.

MASTER: “You don’t like a Sādhu if you have to give him money. Rajendra Mitra draws a salary of eight hundred rupees a month. He had been to Allahabad to see the kumbhamela.

I asked him, ‘Well, what kind of Sādhus did you see at the fair?’ Rajendra said: ‘I didn’t find any very great Sādhu there. I noticed one, it is true. But even he accepted money.’

“I say to myself, ‘If no one gives money to a Sādhu, then how will he feed himself?’

There is no collection plate here; therefore all come. And I say to myself: ‘Alas! They love their money. Let them have it.’ "

The Master rested awhile. A devotee sat on the end of the small couch and gently stroked his feet. The Master said to him softly: “That which is formless again has form.

One should believe in the forms of God also. By meditating on Kāli the aspirant realizes God as Kāli. Next he finds that the form merges in the Indivisible Absolute. That which is the Indivisible Satchidananda is verily Kāli.”

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the semicircular porch west of his room, talking with Mahima and other devotees about the hathayogi. The talk drifted to Ramprasanna, the son of Krishnakishore. The Master was fond of the young man.

MASTER: “Ramprasanna roams about aimlessly. The other day he came here and sat in the room, but he did not speak a word. He pressed his nostrils with his fingers, practising pranayama. I offered him something to eat, but he wouldn’t take it. On another occasion I had asked him to sit by me. He squatted on the floor placing one leg upon the other. He was rather discourteous to Captain. I weep at his mother’s suffering.

(To Mahima) “Ramprasanna asked me to speak to you about the hathayogi. The yogi’s daily expenses are six and a half ānnās . But he won’t tell you about it himself.”

MAHIMA: “Who will listen to him even if he does?”

Mani Sen of Panihati entered the room with several friends, one of whom was a physician. Mani asked the Master about his injured arm. The doctor did not approve of the medicine prescribed by Pratap Mazumdar. The Master said to him: “Why should you say that? Pratap is no fool. "

Suddenly Lātu cried out, “Oh! The medicine bottle has dropped and broken.”

It was not yet dusk. The Master, seated on the couch, was talking to M. Mahimacharan was on the semicircular porch engaged in a loud discussion of the scriptures with the physician friend of Mani Sen. Sri Ramakrishna heard it and with a smile said to M.:

“There! He is delivering himself. That is the characteristic of rajas. It stimulates the desire to ’lecture’ and to show off one’s scholarship. But sattva makes one introspective. It makes one hide one’s virtues. But I must say that Mahima is a grand person. He takes such delight in spiritual talk.”

Adhar entered the room, saluted the Master, and sat by M.’s side. He had not come for the past few days.

MASTER: “Hello! Why haven’t you come all these days?”

ADHAR: “Sir, I have been busy with so many things. I had to attend a conference of the school committee and various other meetings.”

MASTER: “So you completely lost yourself in schools and meetings and forgot everything else?”

ADHAR: “Everything else was hidden away in a corner of my mind. How is your arm?”

MASTER: “Just look. It is not yet healed. I have been taking medicine prescribed by Pratap.”

After a time the Master suddenly said to Adhar: “Look here. All these are unreal-meetings, school, office, and everything else. God alone is the Substance, and all else is illusory. One should worship God with one’s whole mind.”

Adhar sat without speaking a word.

MASTER: “All else is illusory. This moment the body is and the next moment it is not. One must make haste to worship God. “But you don’t have to renounce everything. Live in the world the way the tortoise does.

The tortoise roams about in the water but keeps its eggs on land. Its whole mind is on the eggs.

What a nice state of mind Captain has developed! He looks like a rishi when he is seated to perform worship. He performs the Ārati with lighted camphor and recites beautiful hymns. When he rises from his seat after finishing the worship, his eyes are swollen from emotion, as if bitten by ants.

Besides, he always devotes himself to the study of the sacred books, such as the Gitā and the Bhagavata. Once I used one or 2 English words before him, and that made him angry. He said, ‘English-educated people are profane.’

After a while Adhar said humbly to the Master: “Sir, you haven’t been to our place for a long time. The drawing-room smells worldly and everything else appears to be steeped in darkness.”

The Master was deeply touched by these words of his devotee. He suddenly stood up and blessed M. and Adhar in an ecstatic mood, touching their heads and hearts. In a voice choked with love the Master said: “I look upon you as Narayana Himself. You are indeed my own.”

Mahimacharan entered the room.

MASTER (to Mahima): “What I said about aspirants practising continence is true. Without chastity one cannot assimilate these teachings.

“Once a man said to Chaitanya: ‘You give the devotees so much instruction. Why don’t they make much progress?’ Chaitanya said: ‘They dissipate their powers in the company of women. That is why they cannot assimilate spiritual instruction. If one keeps water in a leaky jar, the water escapes little by little through the leak.’ "

Mahima and the other devotees remained silent. After a time Mahima said, “Please pray to God for us that we may acquire the necessary strength.”

MASTER: “Be on your guard even now. It is difficult, no doubt, to check the torrent in the rainy season. But a great deal of water has gone out. If you build the embankment now it will stand.