Worldly man's charity

MASTER: “What? Do you mean that one must first save money and then seek God? And you talk about charity and kindness! A worldly man spends thousands of rupees for his daughter’s marriage. Yet, all the while, his neighbours are dying of starvation;

He finds it hard to give them two morsels of rice; he calculates a thousand times before giving them even that much. The People around him have nothing to eat; but what does he care about that? He says to himself: ‘What can I do? Let the rascals live or die. All I care about is that the members of my family should live well.’ And they talk about doing good to others!”

TRAILOKYA: “But, sir, there are good people in the world as well. Take the case of Pundarika Vidyanidhi, the devotee of Chaitanya. He lived in the world.”

MASTER: “He had drunk wine up to his neck. If he had drunk a little more, he couldn’t have led a worldly life.”

Trailokya remained silent. M said aside to Girish, ‘Then what he has written is not true."

GIRISH (to Trailokya): “Then what you have written is not true.”

TRAILOKYA: “Why so? Doesn’t he [meaning Sri Ramakrishna] admit that a man can lead a spiritual life in the world?”

MASTER: “Yes, he can. But such a man should first of all attain Knowledge and then live in the world. First he should realize God. Then ‘he can swim in a sea of slander and not be stained.’

After realizing God, a man can live in the world like a mudfish. The world he lives in after attaining God is the world of vidyā. In it he sees neither woman nor gold.

He finds there only devotion, devotee, and God. You see, I too have a wife, and ‘a few pots and pans in my room; I too feed a few vagabonds; I too worry about the devotees-

Habi’s mother for instance-when they come here.”

A DEVOTEE (to Trailokya): “I have read in your book that you do not believe in the Incarnation of God. You said so in connection with Chaitanya.”

TRAlLOKYA: “Why, Chaitanya himself protested against the idea of Divine Incarnation.

Once, in Puri, Advaita and the other devotees sang a song to the effect that Chaitanya was God. At this Chaitanya shut the door of his room. Infinite are the glories of God. As he [meaning Sri Ramakrishna] says, the devotee is the parlour of God. Suppose a parlour is very well furnished; does that mean that the master of the house has exhausted all his power and splendour in that one parlour?”

GIRISH: “He [meaning Sri Ramakrishna] says that prema alone is the essence of God; we need the man through whom this ecstatic love of God flows. He says that the milk of the cow flows through the udder; we need the udder; we do not care for the other parts of the cow-the legs, tail, or horns.”

TRAILOKYA: “The milk of God’s prema flows through an infinite number of channels. God has infinite powers.”

GIRISH: “But what other power can stand before prema?”

TRAILOKYA: “It is possible if He who has the power wants it. Everything is in God’s power.”

GIRISH: “Yes, I admit that. But there is also a thing called the power of avidyā.”

TRAILOKYA: “Is avidyā a thing? Does there exist a substance called avidyā? It is only a negation, as darkness is the negation of light. There is no doubt that we prize prema most: what is a drop to God is an ocean to us. But if you say that prema is the last word about God, then you limit God Himself.”

MASTER (to Trailokya and the other devotees): “Yes, yes, that is true. But an ounce of wine makes me drunk. What need have I to count the gallons of wine in the tavern? What need have we to know about the infinite powers of God?”

GIRISH (to Trailokya): “Do you believe in the Incarnation of God?”

TRAILOKYA: “God incarnates Himself through His devotees alone. There cannot be a manifestation of infinite powers. It simply isn’t possible. It is impossible for any man to manifest infinite powers.”

GIRISH: “You can serve your children as ‘Brahma Gopala’. Then why isn’t it possible to worship a great soul as God?”

MASTER (to Trailokya): “Why all this bother about infinity? If I want to touch you, must I touch your entire body? If you want to bathe in the Ganges, must you touch the whole river from Hardwar down to the ocean?

" ‘All troubles come to an end when the ego dies.’ As long as a trace of ‘I-consciousness’ remains, one is conscious of difference. Nobody knows what remains after the ‘I’ disappears. Nobody can express it in words. That which is remains. After the ‘I’ disappears one cannot say that a part manifests through this man and the rest through another. Satchidananda is the ocean. The pot of ‘I’ is immersed in it. As long as the pot exists, the water seems to be divided into two parts: one part inside the pot and the other part outside it. But when the pot is broken there is only one stretch of water. One cannot even say that. Who would say that?”

After the discussion Sri Ramakrishna became engaged in pleasant conversation with Trailokya.

MASTER: “You are happy. Isn’t that so?”

TRAILOKYA: “But I shall become my old self again as soon as I leave this place. Here I feel very much the awakening of spiritual consciousness.”

MASTER: “You don’t have to be afraid of walking on thorns if you are wearing shoes. You needn’t be afraid of ‘woman and gold’ if you know that God alone is real and all else illusory.”

It was about nine o’clock in the evening. Balarām took Trailokya to another room and gave him refreshments. Sri Ramakrishna began to tell the devotees about Trailokya and people of his views.

MASTER (to Girish, M., and the other devotees): “Do you know what these people are like? They are like a frog living in a well, who has never seen the outside world. He knows only his well; so he will not believe that there is such a thing as the world. Likewise, people talk so much about the world because they have not known the joy or God.

(To Girish) “Why do you argue with them so much? They busy themselves with both-the world and God. One cannot understand the joy of God unless one has tasted it. Can anybody explain sex pleasure to a five-year-old boy? Worldly people talk about God only from hearsay. Children, hearing their old aunts quarrelling among themselves, learn to say, ‘There is my God’, ‘I swear by God.’

“But that doesn’t matter. I don’t blame such people. Can all comprehend the Indivisible Satchidananda? Only twelve rishis could recognize Ramachandra. All cannot recognize an

Incarnation of God. Some take him for an ordinary man, some for a holy person, and only a few recognize him as an Incarnation.

“One offers a price for an article according to one’s capital. A rich man said to his servant: ‘Take this diamond to the market and let me know how different people price it.

Take it, first of all, to the egg-plant seller.’ The servant took the diamond to the egg-plant seller. He examined it, turning it over in the palm of his hand, and said, ‘Brother, I can give nine seers of egg-plants for it.’ ‘Friend,’ said the servant, ‘a little more-say, ten seers.’

The egg-plant seller replied: ‘No, I have already quoted above the market price. You may give it to me if that price suits you.’ The servant laughed. He went back to his master and said: ‘Sir, he would give me only nine seers of egg-plants and not one more.

He said he had offered more than the market price.’ The master smiled and said: ‘Now take it to the cloth-dealer. The other man deals only in egg-plants. What does he know about a diamond?

The cloth-dealer has a little more capital. Let us see how much he offers for it.’ The servant went to the cloth-dealer and said: ‘Will you buy this? How much will you pay for it?’ The merchant said: ‘Yes, it is a good thing. I can make a nice ornament out of it. I will give you nine hundred rupees for it.’

‘Brother,’ said the servant, ‘offer a little more and I will sell it to you. Give me at least a thousand rupees.’ The cloth-dealer said: ‘Friend, don’t press me for more. I have offered more than the market price.

I cannot give a rupee more. Suit yourself.’ Laughing the servant returned to his master and said: ‘He won’t give a rupee more than nine hundred. He too said he had quoted above the market price.’

The master said with a laugh: ‘Now take it to a jeweller. Let us see what he has to say.’ The servant went to a jeweller. The jeweller glanced at the diamond and said at once, ‘I will give you one hundred thousand rupees for it.’

“They talk of practising religion in the world. Suppose a man is shut up in a room. All the doors and windows are closed. Only a little light comes through a hole in the ceiling. Can he see the sun with that roof over his head? And what will he do with only one ray of light? ‘Woman and gold’ is the roof. Can he see the sun unless he removes the roof? Worldly people are shut up in a room, as it were.

Discussion about Divine Incarnations

“The Incarnations of God belong to the class of the Isvarakotis. They roam about in the open spaces. They are never imprisoned in the world, never entangled by it. Their ego is not the ’thick ego’ of worldly people. The ego, the ‘I-consciousness’, of worldly people is like four walls and a roof: the man inside them cannot see anything outside.

The ego of the Incarnations and other Isvarakotis is a ’thin ego’: through it they have an uninterrupted vision of God. Take the case of a man who stands by a wall on both sides of which there are meadows stretching to infinity. If there is a hole in the wall, through it he can see everything on the other side. If the hole is a big one, he can even pass through it. The ego of the Incarnations and other Isvarakotis is like the wall with a hole.

Though they remain on this side of the wall, still they can see the endless meadow on the other side. That is to say, though they have a human body, they are always united with God. Again, if they will, they can pass through the big hole to the other side and remain in samādhi.

If the hole is big enough, they can go through it and come back again. That is to say, though established in samādhi, they can again descend to the worldly plane.”

The devotees listened breathlessly to these words about the mystery of Divine Incarnation.