Brahman is the innermost Reality

Thursday, August 27, 1885

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting in his room at Dakshineswar. It was five o’clock in the afternoon. There were two or three devotees with him. While with the devotees he never gave a thought to his physical illness, often spending the whole day with them talking and singing.

Doctor Madhu was treating Sri Ramakrishna. He frequently visited the Master at Dakshineswar, coming by country boat from Calcutta. The devotees were very much worried about the Master; it was their secret desire that the physician should see him daily. M. said to the Master, “Doctor Madhu is an experienced physician. It will be nice if he sees you every day.”

Pundit Shyamapada of Antpur arrived. It was dusk. The pundit went to the bank of the Ganges to perform his evening worship; he had some amazing visions during the worship. He returned to the Master’s room and sat on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna had just finished meditation and the chanting of the holy names. He was sitting on the small couch and M. on the foot-rug. Rakhal, Lātu, and the others were in and out of the room.

Brahman is the innermost Reality

MASTER (to M, pointing to the pundit): “He is very nice. (To the pundit) Where the mind attains peace by practising the discipline of ‘Neti, neti’, there Brahman is.

“The king dwells in the inmost room of the palace, which has seven gates. The visitor comes to the first gate. There he sees a lordly person with a large retinue, surrounded on all sides by pomp and grandeur. The visitor asks his companion, ‘Is he the king?’ ‘No’, says his friend with a smile.

“At the second and the other gates he repeats the same question to his friend. He finds that the nearer he comes to the inmost part of the palace, the greater is the glory, pomp, and grandeur. When he passes the seventh gate he does not ask his companion whether it is the king; he stands speechless at the king’s immeasurable glory. He realizes that he is face to face with the king. He hasn’t the slightest doubt about it.”

PUNDIT: “One sees God beyond the realm of māyā.”

Futility of mere scholarship

MASTER: “But after realizing God one finds that He alone has become māyā, the universe, and all living beings. This world is no doubt a ‘framework of illusion’, unreal asa dream. One feels that way when one discriminates following the process of ‘Not this, not this’. But after the vision of God this very world becomes ‘a mansion of mirth’. “What will you gain by the mere study of scriptures? The pundits merely indulge in reasoning.”

PUNDIT: “I hate the idea of being called a pundit.”

MASTER: “That is due to the grace of God. The pundits merely indulge in reasoning. Some have heard of milk and some have drunk milk. After you have the vision of God you will find that everything is Narayana. It is Narayana Himself who has become everything.”

The pundit recited a hymn to Narayana . Sri Ramakrishna was overwhelmed with joy.

PUNDIT (quoting from the Gitā.): “‘with the heart concentrated by yoga, with the eye of evenness for all things, he beholds the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self.’ "

MASTER: “Have you read the Adhyātma Rāmāyana?”

PUNDIT: “Yes, sir, a little.”

MASTER: “The book is filled with ideas of knowledge and devotion. The life of Savari and the hymn by Ahalyā are filled with bhakti.

‘But you must remember one thing: God is very far away from the mind tainted with worldliness.”

PUNDIT: “Yes, sir. God is far, far away from worldly intelligence. And God is very near, where that does not exist. I visited a certain Zamindār, one Mukherji of Uttarpara. He is now an elderly man; but he listens only to stories and novels.”

MASTER: “It is further said in the Adhyātma Rāmāyana that God alone has become the universe and its living beings.”

The pundit was delighted. He recited a hymn to that effect from the tenth chapter of the Bhagavata:

O Krishna! Krishna! Mighty Yogi! Thou art the Primal Supreme Purusha:

This universe, manifest and unmanifest, is Thy form, as the sages declare.

Thou alone art the soul, the sense-organs, the Lord dwelling in the bodies of all:

Thou art the subtle Great Prakriti, made of sattva, rajas, and tamas;

Thou alone art the Purusha, the Lord dwelling in the bodies of all.As Sri Ramakrishna listened to the hymn he went into samādhi. He remained standing.

The pundit was seated. The Master placed his foot on the pundit’s lap and chest, and smiled.

The pundit clung to his feet and said, “O Guru! Please give me God Consciousness.” After the pundit had left the room Sri Ramakrishna said to M.: “Don’t you see that what I have said is coming to pass? Those who have sincerely practised meditation and japa must come here.”

It was 10am. Sri Ramakrishna ate a little farina pudding and lay down. He asked M. to stroke his feet. A few minutes later he asked the disciple to massage his body and chest gently.

He enjoyed a short nap. Then he said to M.: “Now go to sleep. Let me see if I can sleep better when I am alone.” He said to Ramlal, “He [meaning M.] and Rakhal may sleep in the room.”