Devotees' Detachment From The World

Tuesday, January 5, 1886

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed and talking to M. No one else was in the room. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

MASTER: “If Kshirode makes a pilgrimage to Gangasagar, then please buy a blanket for him.”

Sri Ramakrishna was silent a few minutes. Then he continued.

MASTER: “Well can you tell me what is happening to these youngsters? Some are running off to Puri, and some to Gangasagar. All have renounced their homes. Look at Narendra! When a man is seized with the spirit of intense renunciation, he regards the world as a deep well and his relatives as venomous cobras.”

M: “Yes, sir. Life in the world is full of suffering.”

MASTER: “Yes, it is the suffering of hell-and that from the very moment of birth! Don’t you see what a trouble one’s wife and children are?”

M: “Yes, sir. You yourself said: ‘These youngsters have no relationship whatsoever with the world. They owe nothing to the world, nor do they expect anything from it. It is the sense of obligation that entangles a man in the world.’ “MASTER: “Don’t you see how Niranjan is? His attitude toward the world is this: ‘Here, take what is Thine, and give me what is mine.’ That is all. He has no further relationship with the world. There is nothing to pull him from behind.

“‘Woman and gold’ alone is the world. Don’t you see that if you have money you want to lay it by?”

M. burst out laughing. Sri Ramakrishna also laughed. M: “One thinks a great deal before taking the money out. (Both laugh.) But once you said at Dakshineswar that it is quite different if one is able to live in the world free from the three Gunās .” MASTER: “Yes-like a child!” M: “Yes, sir. But it is exceedingly difficult; it requires tremendous power.” Sri Ramakrishna remained silent. M: “Yesterday they went to Dakshineswar to meditate. I had a dream.” MASTER: “What did you dream?” M: “I dreamt that Narendra and some others had become sannyāsis. They were sitting around a lighted fire, I too was there. They were smoking tobacco and blowing out puffs of smoke. I told them that I could smell hemp.” MASTER: “Mental renunciation is the essential thing. That, too, makes one a sannyāsi.” Sri Ramakrishna kept silent a few minutes and then went on. MASTER: “But one must set fire to one’s desires. Then alone can one succeed.” M: “You said to the pundit of the Mārwāris from Burrabazar that you had the desire for bhakti. Isn’t the desire for bhakti to be counted as a desire?”. MASTER: “No, just as Hinche greens are not to be counted as greens. Hinche restrains the secretion of bile.

“Well, all my joy, all my ecstasy-where are they now?”

M: “Perhaps you are now in the state of mind that the Gitā describes as beyond the 3 Gunās . Sattva, rajas, and tamas are performing their own functions, and you yourself are unattached-unattached even to sattva.”

MASTER: “Yes, the Divine Mother has put me into the state of a child. Tell me, won’t the body live through this illness?“The Master and M. became silent. Narendra entered the room. He was going home to settle his family affairs.

Since his father’s death Narendra had been in great distress about his mother and brothers. Now and then they had been threatened with starvation. Narendra was the family’s only hope: they expected him to earn money and feed them.

But Narendra could not appear for his law examination; he was passing through a state of intense renunciation. He was going to Calcutta that day to make some provision for the family. A friend had agreed to lend him one hundred rupees. That would take care of the family for 3 months.

NARENDRA: “I am going home. (To M.) I shall visit Mahimacharan on the way. Will you come with me?” M. did not want to go. Looking at M., Sri Ramakrishna asked Narendra, “Why?” NARENDRA: “I am going that way; so I shall stop at Mahima’s place and have a chat with him.” Sri Ramakrishna looked at Narendra intently. NARENDRA: “A friend who comes here said he would lend me a hundred rupees. That will take care of the family for three months. I am going home to make that arrangement.” Sri Ramakrishna remained silent and looked at M. M. (to Narendra): “No; you go ahead. I shall go later.” Thursday, March 11, 1886 It was eight o’clock in the evening. Sri Ramakrishna was in the big hall on the second floor. Narendra, Śaśi, M., Sarat, and the elder Gopal were in the room. Sri Ramakrishna was lying down. Sarat stood by his bed and fanned him. The Master was speaking about his illness. MASTER: “If some of you go to Dakshineswar and see Bholanath, he will give you a medicinal oil and also tell you how to apply it.” THE ELDER GOPAL: “Then we shall go for the oil tomorrow morning.” M: “If someone goes this evening he can bring the oil.” ŚAŚI: “I can go.” MASTER (pointing to Sarat): “He may go.“After a time Sarat set out for Dakshineswar to get the oil from Bholanath. The devotees, sitting around Sri Ramakrishna’s bed, were silent. Suddenly the Master sat up. He spoke to Narendranath. Brahman is beyond the Gunās MASTER: “Brahman is without taint. The three Gunās are in Brahman, but It is Itself untainted by them.

“You may find both good and bad smells in the air; but the air itself is unaffected.

“Sankaracharya was going along a street in Benares. An outcaste carrying a load of meat suddenly touched him. ‘What!’ said Sankara. ‘You have touched me!’ ‘Revered sir,’ said the outcaste, ‘I have not touched you nor have you touched me. The Ātman is above all contamination, and you are that Pure Ātman.’

Brahman and māyā

“Of Brahman and māyā, the Jnāni rejects māyā.

Māyā is like a veil. You see, I hold this towel between you and the lamp. You no longer see the light of the lamp.” Sri Ramakrishna put the towel between himself and the devotees.

MASTER: “Now you cannot see my face any more. As Ramprasad said, ‘Raise the curtain, and behold!’ “The bhakta, however, does not ignore māyā. He worships Mahamaya. Taking refuge in Her, he says: ‘O Mother, please stand aside from my path. Only if You step out of my way shall I have the Knowledge of Brahman.’ The jnanis explain away all three states- waking, dream, and deep sleep. But the bhaktas accept them all. As long as there is the ego, everything else exists. So long as the ‘I’ exists, the bhakta sees that it is God who has become māyā, the universe, the living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles.” Narendra and the other devotees sat silently listening. MASTER: “But the theory of māyā is dry. (To Narendra) Repeat what I said.” NARENDRA: “Māyā is dry.” Sri Ramakrishna affectionately stroked Narendra’s face and hands and said: “Your face and hands show that you are a bhakta. But the Jnāni has different features; they are dry.

Wicked ego and spiritualised ego “Even after attaining Jnāna, the Jnāni can live in the world, retaining Vidyā-māyā, that is to say, bhakti, compassion, renunciation, and such virtues. This serves him, twopurposes: first, the teaching of men, and second, the enjoyment of divine bliss. If a Jnāni remains silent, merged in samādhi, then men’s hearts will not be illumined.

Therefore Sankaracharya kept the ’ego of Knowledge’. And further, a Jnāni lives as a devotee, in the company of bhaktas, in order to enjoy and drink deep of the Bliss of God.

“The ’ego of Knowledge’ and the ’ego of Devotion’ can do no harm; it is the ‘wicked I’ that is harmful. After realizing God a man becomes like a child. There is no harm in the ’ego of a child’. It is like the reflection of a face in a mirror: the reflection cannot call names. Or it is like a burnt rope, which appears to be a rope but disappears at the slightest puff. The ego that has been burnt in the fire of Knowledge cannot injure anybody. It is an ego only in name.”

“Returning to the relative plane after reaching the Absolute is like coming back to this shore of a river after going to the other side. Such a return to the relative plane is for the teaching of men and for enjoyment-participation in the divine sport in the world.”

Sri Ramakrishna was talking in a very low voice. Addressing the devotees, he said: “The body is so ill, but the mind is free from Avidyā-māyā. Let me tell you, there is no thought in my mind of Ramlal or home or wife. But I have been worrying about Purna, that kayastha boy. I am not in the least anxious about the others.

“It is God alone who has kept this Vidyā-māyā in me, for the good of men, for the welfare of the devotees.

No liberation for Divine Incarnations

But if one retains Vidyā-māyā one comes back to this world. The Avatars keep this Vidyā-māyā. So long as a man has even the slightest desire, he must be born again and again. When he gets rid of all desires, then he is liberated. But the bhaktas do not seek liberation.

If a person dies in Benares he attains liberation; he is not born again. Liberation is the goal of the jnanis.”

NARENDRA: “The other day we went to visit Mahimacharan.”

MASTER (smiling): “Well?”

NARENDRA: “I have never before met such a dry Jnāni.”

MASTER (smiling): “What was the matter?”

NARENDRA: “He asked us to sing. Gangadhar sang:

Radha is restored to life by hearing her Krishna’s name

She looks about; in front of her she sees a tamala tree.“On hearing this song, Mahimacharan said: ‘Why such songs here? I don’t care for love and all that nonsense. Besides, I live here with my wife and children. Why all these songs here?’ "

MASTER (to M.): “Do you see how afraid he is?”

Sunday, March 14, 1886

Sri Ramakrishna sat facing the north in the large room upstairs. It was evening. He was very ill. Narendra and Rākhāl were gently massaging his feet. M, sat near by. The Master, by a sign, asked him, too, to stroke his feet. M. obeyed.

The previous Sunday the devotees had observed Sri Ramakrishna’s birthday with worship and prayer. His birthday the year before had been observed at Dakshineswar with great pomp; but this year, on account of his illness, the devotees were very sad and there was no festivity at all.

The Holy Mother busied herself day and night in the Master’s service. Among the young disciples, Narendra, Rākhāl, Niranjan, Sarat, Śaśi, Baburam, Jogin, Lātu, and Kāli had been staying with him at the garden house. The older devotees visited him daily, and some of them occasionally spent the night there.

That day Sri Ramakrishna was feeling very ill. At midnight the moonlight flooded the garden, but it could wake no response in the devotees’ hearts. They were drowned in a sea of grief. They felt that they were living in a beautiful city besieged by a hostile army. Perfect silence reigned everywhere. Nature was still, except for the gentle rustling of the leaves at the touch of the south wind. Sri Ramakrishna lay awake. One or two devotees sat near him in silence. At times he seemed to doze.