I-consciousness

Sri Ramakrishna remained silent a few moments watching the devotees. He had heard that Mahimacharan did not believe in following a guru. He began the conversation again. Faith in guru

MASTER: “A man should have faith in the words of his guru. He doesn’t have to look into his guru’s character. ‘Though my guru visits the grog-shop, still he is the Embodiment of Eternal Bliss.’

“A man who used to give recitals of the Chandi and the Bhagavata once said, ‘A broomstick is itself unclean, but it cleans dirty places.’ " Mahimacharan studied the Vedānta. His aim was to attain Brahmajnana. He followed the path of knowledge and was always reasoning.

MASTER (to Mahima): “The aim of the Jnāni is to know the nature of his own Self. This is Knowledge; this is liberation. The true nature of the Self is that It is the Supreme Brahman: I and the Supreme Brahman are one. But this Knowledge is hidden on account of māyā.

“I said to Harish; ‘This is the whole thing: the gold is hidden under a few basketfuls of earth, and you must remove the earth.’

“The bhaktas retain ‘I-consciousness’; the jnanis do not. Nangta used to teach how to establish oneself in the true Self, saying, ‘Merge the mind in the buddhi and the buddhi in the Ātman; then you will be established in your true Self.” “But the ‘I’ persists. It cannot be got rid of. Imagine a limitless expanse of water: above and below, before and behind, right and left, everywhere there is water. In that water is placed a jar filled with water. There is water inside the jar and water outside, but the jar is still there. The ‘I’ is the jar.

“Even after attaining Knowledge, the Jnāni keeps his body as before. But the fire of Knowledge burns away his lust and other passions.

Many days ago, during an electric storm, a thunderbolt struck the Kāli temple. We saw that no injury had been done to the doors; only the points of the screws were broken. The doors are the body, and the passions-lust and so forth-are the screws. “A Jnāni loves to talk only about God. He feels pained if one talks about worldly things. But a worldly man belongs to a different class. He always has the turban of ignorance on his head. He always comes back to worldly topics. “The Vedas speak of the ‘seven planes’ of mind. When the Jnāni’s mind ascends to the fifth plane, he cannot listen to anything or talk of anything but God. At that stage only words of wisdom come from his lips. “The Vedas speak of Satchidananda Brahman. Brahman is neither one nor two; It is between one and two. It cannot be described either as existence or as non-existence; It is between existence and non-existence.

“When the devotee develops raga-bhakti, passionate love of God, he realizes Him. But one loses vaidhi-bhakti, formal devotion, as easily as one gains it. This is formal devotion: so much japa, so much meditation, so much sacrifice and homa, so many articles of worship, and the recitation of so many mantras, before the Deity.

Such devotion comes in a moment and goes in a moment. Many people say: ‘Well, friend, we have lived on havishya for so many days! How many times we have worshipped the Deity at our home! And what have we achieved?’ But there is no falling away from raga- bhakti. And who gets this passionate love for God? Those who have performed many meritorious deeds in their past births, or those who are eternally perfect. Think of a dilapidated house, for instance: while clearing away the undergrowth and rubbish one suddenly discovers a fountain fitted with a pipe. It has been covered with earth and bricks, but as soon as they are removed the water shoots up.

Sign of a true devotee

Those who have passionate love for God do not say any such thing as: ‘O brother, how strict I have been about food! But what have I achieved?’

New farmers give up cultivating if their fields do not yield any crops. But hereditary farmers will continue to cultivate their fields whether they get a crop or not. Their fathers and grandfathers were farmers; they know that they too must accept farming as their means of livelihood.

“Only those who have developed raga-bhakti for God may be called His sincere devotees. God becomes responsible for them. If you enter your name in a hospital register, the doctor will not discharge you until you are cured. Those who are held by God have nothing to fear.

The son who holds to his father, while walking along the narrow ridge of a paddy-field, may slip if he absent-mindedly lets go his father’s hand; but if the father holds the son by the hand, there is no such danger. “Is there anything that is impossible for faith? And a true devotee has faith in everything: the formless Reality, God with form, Rāma, Krishna and the Divine Mother.

“Once, while going to Kamarpukur, I was overtaken by a storm. I was in the middle of a big meadow. The place was haunted by robbers. I began to repeat the names of all the deities: Rāma, Krishna, and Bhagavati. I also repeated the name of Hanuman. I chanted the names of them all. What does that mean? Let me tell you. While the servant is counting out the money to purchase supplies, he says, ‘These pennies are for potatoes these for egg-plants, these for fish.’ He counts the money separately, but after the list is completed, he puts the coins together.

“When one develops love of God, one likes to talk only of God. If you love a person, you love to talk and hear about him. A worldly person’s mouth waters while he talks about his son. If someone praises his son, he will at once say to the boy, ‘Go and get some water for your uncle to wash his feet.

“Those who love pigeons are highly pleased if you praise pigeons before them. But if you speak ill of pigeons, they will at once exclaim, ‘Has anyone in your line for fourteen generations ever raised pigeons?’”