Festival At Adhar'S House

Sunday, August 3, 1884

SRI RAMAKRISHNA was sitting in his room in the temple garden at Dakshineswar after his midday meal. A party of Bauls from Shibpur, several devotees from Bhawanipur, Balarām, and M. were in the room. Rākhāl, Lātu, and Harish were then living with the Master. They too were present.

The Master began the conversation by addressing the Baul musicians from Shibpur.

MASTER: “Yoga is not possible if the mind dwells on ‘woman and gold’. The mind of a worldly man generally moves among the three lower centres: those at the navel, at the sexual organ, and at the organ of evacuation. After great effort and spiritual practice the Kundalini is awakened. According to the yogis there are three nerves in the spinal column: Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. Along the Sushumna are six lotuses, or centres, the lowest being known as the Muladhara. Then come successively Svadhisthana, Manipura, Anāhata, Visuddha, and Ājnā.

These are the six centres. The Kundalini, when awakened, passes through the lower centres and comes to the Anāhata, which is at the heart. It stays there. At that time the mind of the aspirant is withdrawn from the three lower centres. He feels the awakening of Divine Consciousness and sees Light. In mute wonder he sees that radiance and cries out: ‘What is this? What is this?’ “After passing through the six centres, the Kundalini reaches the thousand petalled lotus known as the Sahasrara, and the aspirant goes into samādhi.

“According to the Vedas these centres are called ‘bhumi’, ‘planes’. There are seven such planes. The centre at the heart corresponds to the fourth plane of the Vedas. According to the Tantra there is in this centre a lotus called Anāhata, with twelve petals.

The centre known as Visuddha is the fifth plane. This centre is at the throat and has a lotus with sixteen petals. When the Kundalini reaches this plane, the devotee longs to talk and hear only about God. Conversation on worldly subjects, on ‘woman and gold’, causes him great pain. He leaves a place where people talk of these matters. “Then comes the sixth plane, corresponding to the centre known as Ājnā.

This centre is located between the eyebrows and it has a lotus with two petals. When the Kundalini reaches it, the aspirant sees the form of God. But still there remains a slight barrier between the devotee and God. It is like a light inside a lantern. You may think you have touched the light, but in reality you cannot because of the barrier of glass. “And last of all is the seventh plane, which, according to Tantra, is the centre of the thousand-petalled lotus. When the Kundalini arrives there, the aspirant goes into 540samādhi. In that lotus dwells Satchidananda Shiva, the Absolute. There Kundalini, the awakened Power, unites with Shiva. This is known as the union of Shiva and Śakti.

Samādhi

When the Kundalini rises to the Sahasrara and the mind goes into samādhi, the aspirant loses all consciousness of the outer world. He can no longer retain his physical body. If milk is poured into his mouth, it runs out again. In that state the life-breath lingers for twenty-one days and then passes out. Entering the ‘black waters’ of the ocean, the ship never comes back. But the Isvarakotis, such as the Incarnations of God, can come down from this state of samādhi. They can descend from this exalted state because they like to live in the company of devotees and enjoy the love of God. God retains in them the ’ego of Knowledge’ or the ’ego of Devotion’ so that they may teach men. Their minds move between the sixth and the seventh planes. They run a boat-race back and forth, as it were, between these two planes.

After attaining samādhi some souls of their own accord keep the ’ego of Knowledge’.

But that ego does not create any attachment. It is like a line drawn on the water.

Hanuman kept the ‘servant ego’ after realizing God in both His Personal and His Impersonal aspects. He thought of himself as the servant of God. The great sages, such as Nārada, Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana, and Sanatkumāra, after attaining the Knowledge of Brahman, kept the ‘servant ego’ and the ’ego of Devotion’. They are like big steamships, which not only cross the ocean themselves but carry many passengers to the other shore.

There are 2 classes of paramahamsas:

1. One affirming the formless Reality
2. One affirming God with form.

Trailanga Swami believed in the formless Reality.

Paramahamsas like him care for their own good alone; they feel satisfied if they themselves attain the goal.

But those paramahamsas who believe in God with form keep the love of God even after attaining the Knowledge of Brahman, so that they may teach spiritual truth to others. They are like a pitcher brimful of water. Part of the water may be poured into another pitcher. These perfected souls describe to others the various spiritual disciplines by which they have realized God. They do this only to teach others and to help them in spiritual life. With great effort men dig a well for drinking water, using spades and baskets for the purpose. After the digging is over, some throw the spades and other implements into the well, not needing them any more. But some put them away near the well, so that others may use them.

“Some eat mangoes secretly and remove all trace of them by wiping their mouths with a towel. But some share the fruit with others. There are sages who, even after attaining 541Knowledge, work to help others and also to enjoy the Bliss of God in the company of devotees. ‘I want to eat sugar. I don’t want to be sugar.’ “The Gopis of Vrindāvan, too, attained the Knowledge of Brahman; but they were not seeking It. They wanted to enjoy God, looking on themselves as His mother, His friend, His handmaid, or His lover.

The Bauls from Shibpur began to sing to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument. A line in the first song was:

We are sinners: redeem us, O merciful Lord!

MASTER (to the devotees): “It is the attitude of a beginner to worship God out of fear.

Please sing about God-realization-songs expressing divine joy.

(To Rākhāl ) “How well they sang that song the other day at Nabin Niyogi’s house: ‘Be drunk, O mind, be drunk with the Wine of Heavenly Bliss’! While singing religious songs one should not constantly refer to one’s worries. One should rather feel joyous and ecstatic as one chants God’s name.

A DEVOTEE: “Sir, won’t you sing?”

MASTER: “What shall I sing? Well, I may sing when the spirit moves me.”

After a few minutes the Master began to sing. His eyes were turned upward.

He sang:

Behold the waves of Gora’s ecstatic love; Under them all the universe lies submerged! And in his love I, too, long to be drowned. O friend, Gaurānga’s love has swallowed me; Who else feels for our misery like Gaurānga, Dragging us from the mire of worldliness? He sang again: Dive deep, O mind, dive deep in the Ocean of God’s Beauty; If you descend to the uttermost depths, There you will find the gem of Love. . . . Then he sang about the Divine Mother: Can everyone have the vision of Syama? Is Kāli’s treasure for everyone?

Oh, what a pity my foolish mind will not see what is true! . . .

He continued:

The black bee of my mind is drawn in sheer delight To the blue lotus flower of Mother Syama’s feet. . . .

And again:

O Mother, what a machine is this that Thou hast made! What pranks Thou playest with this toy Three and a half cubits high! . . .

As Sri Ramakrishna sang the last song he went into samādhi. The devotees sat speechless, gazing at his radiant figure. After some time he regained partial consciousness of the world and began to talk to the Divine Mother.

The Master said, “Mother, please come down from up there.” Did he feel his mind still lingering in the seventh plane of consciousness, the thousand petalled lotus of the Sahasrara? “Please do come down”, he said. “Don’t torment me that way. Be still, Mother, and sit down.

“O Mother, everybody’s future is determined by the tendencies of his previous births. What shall I say to these people? Nothing can be achieved without discrimination and renunciation.”

Sri Ramakrishna had now regained full consciousness of the world, and he continued:

“There are many kinds of renunciation. One of them may be called ‘Markata Vairāgya’, ‘Monkey Renunciation’. It is a false renunciation stimulated by the afflictions of the world. That renunciation doesn’t last long. Then there is real renunciation. A man with everything in the world, lacking nothing, feels all to be unreal.

“It is not possible to acquire renunciation all at once. The time factor must be taken into account. But it is also true that a man should hear about it. When the right time comes, he will say to himself, ‘Oh yes, I heard about this.’

You must also remember another thing. By constantly hearing about renunciation one’s desire for worldly objects gradually wears away. One should take rice-water in small doses to get rid of the intoxication of liquor. Then one gradually becomes normal.

An aspirant entitled to the Knowledge of God is very rare. It is said in the Gitā that one in thousands desires to know God, and again, that among thousands who have such a desire, only one is able to know Him.”

A devotee quoted the text from the Gitā.

MASTER: “As your attachment to the world diminishes, your spiritual knowledge will increase. Attachment to the world means attachment to ‘woman and gold’.

Prema, the rarest love of God

“It is not given to everybody to feel prema, ecstatic love of God. Chaitanya experienced it. An ordinary man can at the most experience bhava. Only the Isvarakotis, such as Divine Incarnations, experience prema. When prema is awakened the devotee not only feels the world to be unreal, but forgets even the body, which everyone loves so intensely.

“In a Persian book it is said that inside the skin is the flesh, inside the flesh the bone, inside the bone the marrow, and so on, but that prema is the innermost of all. One becomes soft and tender through prema. On account of this prema, Krishna became tribhanga.

“Prema is the rope by which you can tether God, as it were. Whenever you want to see Him you have merely to pull the rope. Whenever you call Him, He will appear before you.

The mature stage of bhakti is bhava. When one attains it one remains speechless, thinking of Satchidananda. The feeling of an ordinary man can go only that far. When bhava ripens it becomes mahabhava. Prema is the last. You know the difference between a green mango and a ripe one. Unalloyed love of God is the essential thing. All else is unreal.

“Once Rāma was pleased with the prayer of Nārada and told him to ask for a boon. Nārada prayed for pure love and said further, ‘O Rāma, please grant that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching māyā.’ Rāma said: ‘That is all right. But ask for something else.’ Nārada replied: ‘I don’t want anything else. I pray only for pure love.’