Duties of householders

MASTER: “For you, as Chaitanya said, the disciplines to be practised are kindness to living beings, service to the devotees, and chanting the name of God.

(To Surendra) “Why do I say all this to you? You work in a merchant’s office. I say this to you because you have many duties to perform there.

“You tell lies at the office. Then why do I eat the food you offer me? Because you give your money in charity; you give away more than you earn. ‘The seed of the melon is bigger than the fruit’, as the saying goes.

“I cannot eat anything offered by miserly people. Their wealth is squandered in these ways: first, litigation; second, thieves and robbers; third, physicians; fourth, their wicked children’s extravagance. It is like that.

Master praises charity

“Your giving money away in charity is very good. Those who have money should give in charity. The miser’s wealth is spirited away, but the money of the charitable person is saved.

He spends it for a righteous purpose. At Kamarpukur I have seen the farmers cutting channels to irrigate their fields. Sometimes the water rushes in with such force that the ridges around the fields are washed away and the crops destroyed. For this reason the farmers make holes here and there in the ridges. Since the water escapes through the holes, the ridges are not destroyed by the rush of the water. Furthermore, the escaping water deposits soft clay in the fields, which increases their fertility and gives a richer crop. He who gives away in charity achieves great results. He achieves the four fruits: dharma, artha, kama, and moksha.”

The devotees listened with great attention to Sri Ramakrishna’s words.

SURENDRA: “I cannot meditate well. I repeat the Divine Mother’s name now and then.

Lying in bed, I repeat Her name and fall asleep.”

MASTER: “That is enough. You remember Her, don’t you? “There are two kinds of yoga: Mano Yoga and Karma Yoga. To perform, following the guru’s instructions, such pious acts as worship, pilgrimage, and service to living beings is called karmayoga. The duties that Janaka performed are also called karmayoga. The meditation and contemplation of the yogis is called manoyoga.”

“Sometimes I say to myself in the Kāli temple, ‘O Mother, the mind is nothing but Yourself.’ Therefore Pure Mind, Pure Buddhi, and Pure Ātman are one and the same thing.”

It was about dusk. Many of the devotees saluted Sri Ramakrishna and started to go home. The Master went to the west porch. Bhavanāth and M. were with him.

MASTER (to Bhavanāth): “Why do you come here so seldom?”

BHAVANĀTH (smiling): “Sir, I visit you once in a fortnight. I saw you in the street the other day, so I didn’t come here.”

MASTER: “What do you mean? What can you gain by mere seeing? Touch and talk are also necessary.”

The evening worship had begun in the temples. It was the eighth day of the bright fortnight of the moon; the temple domes, the courtyard, the gardens, and the trees were shining in the moonlight. The Ganges was flowing north with a murmuring sound. Sri Ramakrishna sat on the small couch in his room absorbed in contemplation of the Divine Mother.

The evening worship was over. One or two devotees were still in the temple garden. Narendra had left. Sri Ramakrishna was pacing the verandah northeast of his room. M. stood there looking at him. Suddenly he said to M., “Ah, how sweet Narendra’s music is!”

M: “Yes, sir. That song beginning with ‘In dense darkness’ is particularly beautiful.”

MASTER: “You are right. That song has a deep meaning. A part of my mind is still drawn to it.”

M: “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “Meditation in darkness is prescribed in the Tantra.”

Master and Girish

Girish Ghosh came and stood by Sri Ramakrishna, who had started to sing: Is Kāli, my Mother, really black?

The Naked One, of blackest hue,

Lights the Lotus of the Heart. . . . Sri Ramakrishna was filled with divine fervour. Standing with one arm resting on Girish’s body he sang: Why should I go to Ganga or Gaya, to Kasi, Kanchi, or Prabhas, So long as I can breathe my last with Kāli’s name upon my lips? What need of rituals has a man, what need of devotions any more, If he repeats the Mother’s name at the three holy hours?

Rituals may pursue him close, but never can they overtake him. . . . Then he sang: Once for all, this time, I have thoroughly understood;

From One who knows it well, I have learnt the secret of bhava. A man has come to me from a country where there is no night, And now I cannot distinguish day from night any longer; Rituals and devotions have all grown profitless for me. My sleep is broken; how can I slumber any more? For now I am wide awake in the sleeplessness of yoga. O Divine Mother, made one with Thee in yoga-sleep at last, My slumber I have lulled asleep for evermore. I bow my head, says Prasad, before desire and liberation; Knowing the secret that Kāli is one with the highest Brahman, I have discarded, once for all, both righteousness and sin. As Sri Ramakrishna looked at Girish, his ecstatic fervour became more intense.

He sang:

I have surrendered my soul at the fearless feet of the Mother; Am I afraid of Death any more? Unto the tuft of hair on my head Is tied the almighty mantra, Mother Kāli’s name. My body I have sold in the market-place of the world And with it have bought Sri Durga’s name. . . Intoxicated with God, Sri Ramakrishna repeated the lines: My body I have sold in the market-place of the world And with it have bought Sri Durga’s name. Looking at Girish and M. he said, “‘Divine fervour fills my body and robs me of consciousness.’

“Here ‘consciousness’ means consciousness of the outer world. One needs the Knowledge of Reality and Brahman.