Signs of a perfect soul — Description of the Bauls — Different paths leading to God — Devotion to one's own path and respect for others' — The tides in the Ganges — Master in ecstasy — Advice to Adhar about renunciation — Signs of a real devotee — Master's genuine love for his disciples — God takes charge of His devotees — Living in the world after realization of God — Futility of mere study of scriptures — Futility of reasoning — Glory of God's name — Master at Jadu's garden — His worry over Rakhal's illness.
Sunday, September 7, 1884
IT WAS ABOUT ELEVEN O'CLOCK. The Master was
sitting in his room at Dakshineswar. He had not yet taken his midday
meal.
Arrangements had been made with the musician Shyamdas to entertain
the Master and the devotees with his kirtan. Baburam, M., Manomohan,
Bhavanath, Kishori, Chunilal, Haripada, the Mukherji brothers, Ram,
Surendra, Tarak, Niranjan, and others arrived at the temple garden.
Latu,
Harish, and Hazra were staying with the Master.
When M. saluted Sri Ramakrishna, the Master asked: "Where is Narendra?
Isn't he coming?" M. told him that Narendra could not come.
A brahmin devotee was reading to the Master from a book of devotional
songs by Ramprasad. Sri Ramakrishna asked him to continue. The brahmin
read a song, the first line of which was: "O Mother, put on Thy
clothes."
MASTER: "Stop, please! These ideas are outlandish
and bizarre.' Read something that will awaken bhakti."
The brahmin read:
Who is there that can understand what Mother Kali is?
Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her. . . .
MASTER (to M.): "I got a pain
because I lay too long on one side while
in samadhi yesterday at Adhar's house; so now I'll take Baburam with me
when I visit the houses of the devotees. He is a sympathetic soul."
With these words the Master sang:
How shall I open my heart, O friend?
It is forbidden me to speak.
I am about to die, for lack of a kindred soul
To understand my misery.
Simply by looking in his eyes,
I find the beloved of my heart;
But rare is such a soul, who swims in ecstatic bliss
On the high tide of heavenly love.
MASTER: "The Bauls sing songs like that. They also sing another kind of song:
Stay your steps, O wandering monk!
Stand there with begging-bowl in hand,
And let me behold your radiant face.
"According to the Sakti cult the siddha is called a koul, and
according to
the Vedanta, a paramahamsa. The Bauls call him a sai. They say, 'No one
is
greater than a sai.' The sai is a man of supreme perfection. He doesn't
see
any differentiation in the world. He wears a necklace, one half made of
cow bones and the other of the sacred tulsi-plant. He calls the
Ultimate
Truth 'Alekh', the 'Incomprehensible One'. The Vedas call It 'Brahman'.
About the jivas the Bauls say, 'They come from Alekh and they go unto
Alekh.' That is to say, the individual soul has come from the
Unmanifest
and goes back to the Unmanifest. The Bauls will ask you, 'Do you know
about the wind?' The 'wind' means the great current that one feels in
the
subtle nerves, Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna, when the Kundalini is
awakened.
They will ask you further, 'In which station are you dwelling?'
According
to them there are six 'stations', corresponding to the six psychic
centres
of Yoga. If they say that a man dwells in the 'fifth station', it means
that his
mind has climbed to the fifth centre, known as the Visuddha chakra. (To
M.) At that time he sees the Formless."
Saying this the Master sang:
Within the petals of this flower there lies concealed a subtle space,
Transcending which, one sees at length the universe in Space dissolve.
"Once a Baul came here. I asked him, 'Have you finished the
task of
"refining the syrup"? Have you taken the pot off the stove?' The more
you
boil the juice of sugar-cane, the more it is refined. In the first
stage of boiling
it is simply the juice of the sugar-cane. Next it is molasses, then
sugar, then
sugar candy, and so on. As it goes on boiling, the substances you get
are
more and more refined.
"When does a man take the pot oft the stove? That is, when does a man
come to the end of his sadhana? He comes to the end when he has
acquired
complete mastery over his sense-organs. His sense-organs become
loosened
and powerless, as the leech is loosened from the body when you put lime
on its mouth. In that state a man may live with a woman, but he does
not
feel any lust for her.
"Many of the Bauls follow a 'dirty' method of spiritual discipline. It
is like
entering a house through the back door by which the scavengers come.
"One day I was taking my meal when a Baul devotee arrived. He asked
me, 'Are you yourself eating, or are you feeding someone else?' The
meaning
of his words was that the siddha sees God dwelling within a man. The
siddhas among the Bauls will not talk to persons of another sect; they
call
them 'strangers'.
"The Bauls designate the state of perfection as the 'sahaja', the
'natural'
state. There are two signs of this state. First, a perfect man will not
'smell of
Krishna'. Second, he is like the bee that lights on the lotus but does
not sip
the honey. The first means that he keeps all his spiritual feelings
within
himself. He doesn't show outwardly any sign of spirituality. He doesn't
even
utter the name of Hari. The second means that he is not attached to
woman.
He has completely mastered his senses.
"The Bauls do not like the worship of an image. They want a living
man. That is why one of their sects is called the Kartabhaja. They
worship
the karta, that is to say, the guru, as God.
"You see how many opinions there are about God. Each opinion is a path.
There are innumerable opinions and innumerable paths leading to God."
BHAVANATH: "Then what should we do?"
MASTER: "You must stick to one path with
all your strength. A man can
reach the roof of a house by stone stairs or a ladder or a rope-ladder
or a
rope or even by a bamboo pole. But he cannot reach the roof if he sets
foot
now on one and now on another. He should firmly follow one path.
Likewise,
in order to realize God a man must follow one path with all his
strength.
"But you must regard other views as so many paths leading to God. You
should not feel that your path is the only right path and that other
paths
are wrong. You mustn't bear malice toward others.
"Well, to what path do I belong? Keshab Sen, used to say to me: 'You
belong to our path. You are gradually accepting the ideal of the
formless
God.' Shashadhar says that I belong to his path. Vijay, too, says that
I belong
to his — Vijay's — path."
Sri Ramakrishna walked toward the Panchavati with M. and a few other
devotees. It was midday and time for the flood-tide in the Ganges.
They waited in the Panchavati to see the bore of the tide.
MASTER (to the devotees): "The ebb-tide
and flood-tide are indeed amazing.
But notice one thing. Near the sea you see ebb-tide and flood-tide in a
river, but far away from the sea the river flows in one direction only.
What
does this mean? Try to apply its significance to your spiritual life.
Those
who live very near God feel within them the currents of bhakti, bhava,
and
the like. In the case of a few — the Isvarakotis, for instance — one
sees even
mahabhava and prema.
(To M.) "What is the explanation of the ebb-tide and
flood-tide?"
M: "According to Western astronomy, they are due to the attraction of
the sun and the moon."
In order to explain it, M. drew figures on the earth and began to show
the Master the movement of the earth, the sun, and the moon. The Master
looked at the figures for a minute and said: "Stop, please! It gives me
a
headache."
Presently the tide came up the Ganges. They heard the sound of the
rushing water. The tide struck the bank of the river and flowed toward
the
north. Sri Ramakrishna looked at it intently and exclaimed like a child:
"Look at that boat! I wonder what is going to happen to it."
The Master and M. sat down for a while in the Panchavati, Sri
Ramakrishna
placing his umbrella on the cement platform. The conversation
turned to Narayan. The boy was a student Sri Ramakrishna looked upon
him as Narayana, God Himself, and was very fond of him.
MASTER: "Have you noticed Naran's1
nature? He can mix with all, old and young. One cannot do this without
a special power.
Besides, all love him. Is he really artless?"
M: "I think so."
MASTER: "I understand that he goes to your place. Is that so?"
M: "Yes, sir. He has visited me once or twice."
MASTER: "Will you give him a rupee? Or shall I ask Kali
(A devotee of the Master.) about it?"
M: "Very well, sir. I shall give him the money."
MASTER: "That's fine. It is good to help those
who yearn for God. Thus one makes good use of one's money. What will
you gain by spending
everything on your family?"
Kishori had several children. His salary was too small to support his
family.
Sri Ramakrishna said to M.: "Naran said he would get a job for Kishori.
Please remind him of it."
The Master walked away in the direction of the pine-grove. Returning to
the Panchavati, he said to M.: "Please ask someone to spread a mat
outside
my room. I shall lie down a few minutes. I am coming presently."
When the Master returned to his room, he could not find his umbrella
and exclaimed: "You have all forgotten the umbrella! The busybody
doesn't
see a thing even when it is very near him. A man went to a friend's
house
to light the charcoal for his smoke, though all the time he had a
lighted
lantern in his hand. Another man looked everywhere for his towel.
Finally
he discovered that it had been on his shoulder all the time."
It was about one o'clock in the afternoon. The Master ate the prasad
from
the Kali temple. Then he wanted to rest awhile, but the devotees were
still
sitting in his room. They were asked to go out, and then the Master lay
down. He said to Baburam, "Come here; sit near me." Baburam answered,
"I am preparing betel-leaf." The Master said, "Put your betel-leaf
aside."
The devotees sat under the bakul-tree in the Panchavati. Tarak, who had
just returned from Vrindavan, told them stories of his visit.
A little later Sri Ramakrishna was seated again on his couch, the
devotees
sitting on the floor. Shyamdas was singing with his party. He sang of
the
gopis' grief at their separation from Sri Krishna:
Dry as a desert seemed the happy lake to them:
The chatak died of thirst, gazing toward the clouds.
The Master became somewhat abstracted, but the musician could
not create
a spiritual atmosphere. Sri Ramakrishna asked Nabai of Konnagar to sing
a kirtan. Nabai was Manomohan's uncle. He lived on the bank of the
Ganges, devoting his time to prayer and meditation, and was a frequent
visitor of Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar.
Nabai began the kirtan in a loud voice. The Master left the couch and
began to dance. Immediately Nabai and other devotees began to dance
around him. The atmosphere became intense with spiritual fervour.
After the kirtan, Sri Ramakrishna resumed his seat. With great feeling
he
began to sing of the Divine Mother, his eyes turned upward:
O Mother, ever blissful as Thou art,
Do not deprive Thy worthless child of bliss!
My mind knows nothing but Thy Lotus Feet.
The King of Death scowls at me terribly;
Tell me, Mother, what shall I say to him? . . .
He sang again:
As is a man's meditation, so is his feeling of love;
As is a man's feeling of love, so is his gain;
And faith is the root of all. . . .
He continued:
This world, O Mother, is Thy madhouse! What can I say of all Thy
virtues?
Setting aside Thine elephant, Thou roamest about on foot;
Putting off Thy gems and pearls, O Self-willed Mother,
Thou dost adorn Thy comely neck with a garland of human heads.
Now Thou must rescue Ramprasad out of the forest of this world.
Again he sang:
Why should I go to Ganga or Gaya, to Kasi, Kanchi, or Prabhas,
So long as I can breathe my last with Kali's name upon my lips? . . .
And again:
Dwell, O mind, within yourself;
Enter no other's home.
If you but seek there, you will find
All you are searching for. . . .
And then:
The black bee of my mind is drawn in sheer delight
To the blue lotus flower of Mother Syama's feet. . . .
And then:
Cherish my precious Mother Syama
Tenderly within, O mind;
May you and I alone behold Her,
Letting no one else intrude. . . .
As the Master sang this last song he stood up. He was almost intoxicated with divine love. Again and again he said to the devotees, "Cherish my precious Mother Syama tenderly within." Then he danced and sang;
Is Kali, my Mother, really black?
The Naked One, of blackest hue,
Lights the Lotus of the Heart. . . .
The Master reeled as he sang. Niranjan came forward to hold
him. The
Master said to him softly, "Don't touch me, you rascal!" Seeing the
Master
dance, the devotees stood up. He caught hold of M.'s hand and said:
"Don't
be foolish! Dance!"
Sri Ramakrishna resumed his seat, still charged with divine ecstasy.
Coming down a little to the normal state, he said: "Om! Om! Om! Om! Om!
Om Kali!" Again he said, "Let me have a smoke." Many of the devotees
stood around. Mahimacharan was fanning him. The Master asked him to
sit down and recite from the scriptures. Mahimacharan recited from the
Mahanirvana Tantra:
Om. I bow to Thee, the Everlasting Cause
of the world;
I bow to Thee, Pure Consciousness, the Soul that sustains the whole
universe.
I bow to Thee, who art One without duality, who dost bestow liberation;
I bow to Thee, Brahman, the all-pervading Attributeless Reality.
Thou alone art the Refuge, the only Object of adoration;
Thou art the only Cause of the universe, the Soul of everything that is;
Thou alone art the world's Creator, Thou its Preserver and Destroyer;
Thou art the immutable Supreme Lord, the Absolute; Thou art unchanging
Consciousness.
Dread of the dreadful! Terror of the terrible!
Refuge of all beings! Purity of purifiers!
Thou alone dost rule over those in the high places,
Supreme over the supreme, the Protector of protectors.
Almighty Lord, who art made manifest as the Form of all, yet art
Thyself unmanifest and indestructible;
Thou who art imperceptible to the senses, yet art the very Truth;
Incomprehensible, imperishable, all-pervading, hidden, and without form;
O Lord! O Light of the Universe! Protect us from harm.
On that One alone we meditate; that One is the sole object of our
worship;
To That alone, the non-dual Witness of the Universe, we bow.
In that One who alone exists and who is our sole eternal Support, we
seek refuge,
The self-dependent Lord, the Vessel of Safety in the ocean of existence.
Sri Ramakrishna listened to the hymn with folded hands. After
it was
sung he saluted Brahman. The devotees did likewise.
Adhar arrived from Calcutta and bowed down before the Master.
MASTER (to M.): "We have had such joy today!
How much joy Hari's name creates! Is it not so?"
M: "Yes, sir."
Mahimacharan was a student of philosophy. That day he too had chanted
the name of Hari and danced during the kirtan. This made the Master
very happy.
It was about dusk. Many of the devotees took their leave. A lamp was
lighted in Sri Ramakrishna's room and incense was burnt. After some
time
the moon came out, flooding the sky with its light.
Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his couch. He was in a spiritual mood,
absorbed in contemplation of the Divine Mother. Now and then he chanted
Her hallowed name. Adhar was sitting on the floor. M. and Niranjan,
too,
were there. Sri Ramakrishna began to talk to Adhar.
MASTER: "What! You have come just now! We
have had so much kirtan
and dancing. Shyamdas began the kirtan. He is Ram's music teacher. But
I
didn't enjoy his singing very much; I didn't feel like dancing. Later I
heard
about his character. I was told that he had as many mistresses as there
are
hairs on a man's head.
"Didn't you get the job?"
Adhar held the post of deputy magistrate, a government post that
carried
with it great prestige. He earned three hundred rupees a month. He had
applied for the office of vice-chairman of the Calcutta Municipality.
The
salary attached to this office was one thousand rupees. In order to
secure it,
Adhar had interviewed many influential people in Calcutta.
MASTER (to M. and Niranjan): "Hazra
said to me, 'Please pray to the
Divine Mother for Adhar, that he may secure the job.' Adhar made the
same request to me. I said to the Mother: 'O Mother, Adhar has been
visiting
You. May he get the job if it pleases You.' But at the same time I said
to
Her: 'How small-minded he is! He is praying to You for things like that
and not for Knowledge and Devotion.'
(To Adhar) "Why did you dance attendance on all
those small-minded
people? You have seen so much; you have heard so much! 'After reading
the
entire Ramayana, to ask whose wife Sita is!'"
ADHAR: "A man cannot but do these things if he
wants to lead a house-holder's life. You haven't forbidden us to, have
you?"
MASTER: "Nivritti alone is good, and not
pravritti.2
Once, when I was in
a God-intoxicated state, I was asked to go to the manager of the Kali
temple
to sign the receipt for my salary.3
They all do it here. But I said to the
manager: 'I cannot do that. I am not asking for any salary. You may
give it to
someone else if you want.' I am the servant of God alone. Whom else
shall
I serve? Mallick noticed the late hours of my meals and arranged for a
cook.
He gave me one rupee for a month's expenses. That embarrassed me. I had
to run to him whenever he sent for me. It would have been quite a
different
thing if I had gone to him of my own accord.
"In leading the worldly life one has to humour mean-minded people and
do many such things. After the attainment of my exalted state, I
noticed
how things were around me and said to the Divine Mother, 'O Mother,
please change the direction of my mind right now, so that I may not
have
to flatter rich people.'
(To Adhar) "Be satisfied with the job you have.
People hanker after a
post paying fifty or a hundred rupees, and you are earning three
hundred
rupees! You are a deputy magistrate. I saw a deputy magistrate at
Kamarpukur.
His name was Ishwar Ghoshal. He had a turban on his head. Men's
very bones trembled before him. I remember having seen him during my
boyhood. Is a deputy magistrate a person to be trifled with?
"Serve him whom you are already serving. The mind becomes soiled by
serving but one master. And to serve five masters!
"Once a woman became attached to a Mussalman and invited him to her
room. But he was a righteous person; he said to her that he wanted to
use
the toilet and must go home to get his water-jar for water. The woman
offered him her own, but he said: 'No, that will not do. I shall use
the jar
to which I have already exposed myself. I cannot expose myself before a
new one.' With these words he went away. That brought the woman to
her senses. She understood that a new water-jar, in her case, signified
a
paramour."
Narendra was in straitened circumstances on account of his father's
unexpected death. He had been seeking a job to maintain his mother,
brothers, and sisters. He had served a few days as headmaster of the
Vidyasagar School at Bowbazar.
ADHAR: "May I ask if Narendra would accept a job?"
MASTER: "Yes, he would. He has his mother, brothers, and sisters to
support."
ADHAR: "Well, Narendra can support his family with fifty or with a
hundred rupees. Will he try for a hundred?"
MASTER: "Worldly people think highly of their wealth. They feel that
there is nothing like it. Sambhu said, 'It is my desire to leave all my
property
at the Lotus Feet of God.' But does God care for money? He wants from
His devotees knowledge, devotion, discrimination, and renunciation.
"After the theft of the jewelry from the temple of Radhakanta, Mathur
Babu said: 'O God, You could not protect Your own jewelry! What a
shame!'
Once he wanted to give me an estate and consulted Hriday about it. I
overheard
the whole thing from the Kali temple and said to him: 'Please don't
harbour any such thought. It will injure me greatly.'"
ADHAR: "I can tell you truthfully, sir, that not more than six or seven
persons like you have been born since the creation of the world."
MASTER: "How so? There certainly are
people who have given up
everything for God. As soon as a man gives up his wealth, people come
to know
about him. But it is also true that there are others unknown to people.
Are
there not such holy men in upper India?"
ADHAR: "I know of at least one such person in Calcutta. He is
Devendranath Tagore."
MASTER: "What did you say? Who has enjoyed the world as much as he?
Once I visited him at his house with Mathur Babu. I saw that he had
many
young children. The family physician was there writing out
prescriptions.
If, after having eight children, a man doesn't think of God, then who
will?
If, after enjoying so much wealth, Devendranath hadn't thought of God,
then people would have cried shame upon him."
NIRANJAN: "But he paid off all his father's debts."
MASTER: "Keep quiet! Don't torment me any more. Do you call anyone
a man who doesn't pay off his father's debts if he is able to? But I
admit
that Devendranath is infinitely greater than other worldly men, who are
sunk in their worldliness. They can learn much from him.
"There is an ocean of difference between a real all-renouncing devotee
of
God and a householder devotee. A real sannyasi, a real devotee who has
renounced the world, is like a bee. The bee will not light on anything
but
a flower. It will not drink anything but honey. But a devotee leading
the
worldly life is like a fly. The fly sits on a festering sore as well as
on a
sweet-meat. One moment he enjoys a spiritual mood, and the next moment
he is
beside himself with the pleasure of 'woman and gold'.
"A devotee who has really and truly renounced all for God is like the
chatak bird. It will drink only the rain-water that falls when the star
Svati
is in the ascendant. It will rather die of thirst than touch any other
water,
though all around there may lie seven oceans and rivers full to the
brim with
water. An all-renouncing devotee will not touch 'woman and gold'. He
will
not keep 'woman and gold' near him lest he should feel attached."
ADHAR: "But Chaitanya, too, enjoyed the world."
MASTER (amazed): "What? What did he enjoy in the
world?"
ADHAR: "Scholarship! Honour!"
MASTER: "It was honour in the sight of others, but nothing to him.
Whether you — a deputy magistrate — or this youngster Niranjan honours
me, it is all the same to me. And I tell you this truthfully: the idea
of
controlling a wealthy man never enters my mind. Surendra once said,
rather
condescendingly, that Rakhal's father could sue me for letting Rakhal
(Rakhal then was a minor.) stay
with me. When I heard this from Manomohan, I said: 'Who is this
Surendra?
How does he dare make a remark like that? He keeps a carpet and
pillow here and gives me some money. Is that his excuse for daring to
make
such an impudent remark?'"
ADHAR: "I understand that he gives ten rupees a month. Isn't that so?"
MASTER: "That covers two months' expenses. The devotees stay here and
he gives the money for their service. It is he who earns the merit.
What is
that to me? Is it for my personal gain that I love Narendra, Rakhal,
and
the others?"
M: "Your love for them is like a mother's for her children."
MASTER: "But even behind the mother's love lies
her hope that the
children will support her later on. But I love these youngsters because
I see in
them Narayana Himself. These are not mere words.
(To Adhar) "Listen. There is no scarcity of moths
when the lamp is
lighted. When God is realized, He Himself provides everything for His
devotees. He sees that they do not lack anything. When God is enshrined
in the heart, many people come forward to offer their services.
Once a young sannyasi went to a householder to beg his food. He had
lived as a monk from his very birth; he knew nothing of worldly
matters.
A young daughter of the householder came out to give him alms. He
turned
to her mother and said, Mother, has this girl abscesses on her chest?'
The
mother said: 'No, my child. God has given her breasts to nurse her
child
when she becomes a mother. Thereupon the sannyasi said: "Then why
should I worry about myself? Why should I beg my food? He who has
created me will certainly feed me.
"Listen If a woman renounces everything for her paramour, she can say
to him, if need be, You wretch! I shall sit on your chest and devour
you.'
Nangta told me of a certain king who gave a feast to the sadhus, using
plates and tumblers of gold. I noticed in the monasteries at Benares
with
what great respect the abbots were treated. Many wealthy up-country
people stood before them with folded hands, ready to obey their
commands.
But a true sadhu, a man who has really renounced everything, seeks
neither
a gold plate nor honour. God sees that he lacks nothing. God gives the
devotee everything that is needed for realizing Him.
(To Adhar) "You are an executive officer. What shall
I say to you? Do
whatever you think best. I am an illiterate person."
Adhar (smiling, to the devotees): "Now he is
examining me."
MASTER (smiling). "Dispassion alone is good. Do
you see, I didn't sign
the receipt tor my salary? God alone is real and all else is illusory."
Hazra entered the room and sat with the devotees on the floor. Hazra
repeated now and then, "Soham! Soham!, I am He! I am He!" To Latu and
other devotees he often said: "What does one gain by worshipping God
with offerings? That is merely giving Him things that are His already."
He
had said this once to Narendra.
The Master spoke to him.
MASTER: "I explained to Latu who the object of the devotee's worship
is."
HAZRA: "The devotee really prays to his own Self."
MASTER: "What you say is a very lofty thought. The aim of spiritual
discipline, of chanting Gods name and glories, is to realize just that.
A man
attains everything when he discovers his true Self in himself. The
object
of sadhana is to realize that. That also is the purpose of assuming a
human
body. One needs the clay mould as long as the gold image has not been
cast; but when the image is made, the mould is thrown away. The body
may be given up after the realization of God.
"God is not only inside us; He is both inside and outside. The Divine
Mother showed me in the Kali temple that everything is Chinmaya, the
Embodiment of Spirit; that it is She who has become all this — the
image,
myself, the utensils of worship, the door-sill, the marble floor.
Everything is
indeed Chinmaya.
"The aim of prayer, of spiritual discipline, of chanting the name and
glories of God, is to realize just that. For that alone a devotee loves
God.
These youngsters (Referring to Latu and the others.)
are on a lower level; they haven't reached a high
spiritual state. They are following the path of bhakti. Please don't
tell them
such things as 'I am He'."
Like the mother bird brooding over her chicks, Sri Ramakrishna was
alert
to protect his devotees.
Adhar and Niranjan went out on the porch to take refreshments.
Presently
they returned to the room.
ADHAR (smiling): "We talked about so many
things. (Pointing to M.) But he didn't utter a word."
MASTER: "In Keshab's organization there was a young man
with four university degrees. He laughed when he saw people arguing
with me. He
said: 'To argue with him! How silly!' I saw him again, later on, at one
of
Keshab's meetings. But then he did not have the same bright complexion."
Sri Ramakrishna sat on the floor for his supper. It was a light meal of
a
little farina pudding and one or two luchis that had been offered in
the Kali
temple. M. and Latu were in the room. The devotees had brought various
sweets for the Master. He touched a sandesh and asked Latu, "Who is the
rascal that brought this?" He took it out of the cup and left it on the
ground. He said to Latu and M.: "I know all about him. He is immoral."
LATU: "Shall I give you this sweet?"
MASTER: "Kishori brought it."
LATU: "Will it suit you?"
MASTER (smiling): "Yes."
M. had received an English education. Sri Ramakrishna said to him:
"It is not possible for me to eat things offered by anyone and
everyone. Do
you believe this?"
M: "Gradually I shall have to believe all these things."
MASTER: "Yes, that is so."
After finishing the meal Sri Ramakrishna washed his mouth. He said to
M.,
"Then will you give the rupee to Naran?" "Yes," said M., "certainly I
will."
The moon rose in 'the clear autumn sky and was reflected in the river.
It
was ebb-tide in the Ganges and the river flowed south toward the sea.
Sunday, September 14, 1884
Sri Ramakrishna was sitting in his room with Narendra,
Bhavanath, the
Mukherji brothers, and other devotees. Rakhal was staying with Balaram
at
Vrindavan and was laid up with an attack of fever. Narendra was
preparing
himself for his coming law examination.
About eleven o'clock Jnan Babu arrived. He was a government official
and had received four university degrees.
MASTER (at the sight of Jnan Babu): "Well!
Well! This sudden awakening of 'knowledge'! ("Jnan
Means knowledge)
JNAN (smiling): "You must admit, sir,
that one sees the awakening of knowledge as a result of very good
fortune."
MASTER (smiling): "You are Jnan. Then why should
you have ajnan, ignorance? Oh, I understand. Where there is knowledge
there is also
ignorance. The sage Vasishtha was endowed with great knowledge and
still
he wept at the death of his sons. Therefore I ask you to go beyond both
knowledge and ignorance. The thorn of ignorance has pierced the sole of
a
man's foot. He needs the thorn of knowledge to take it out. Afterwards
he
throws away both thorns. The jnani says, 'This world is a "framework of
illusion".' But he who is beyond both knowledge and ignorance describes
it
as a 'mansion of mirth'. He sees that it is God Himself who has become
the
universe, all living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles.
"A man can live in the world after attaining God. Then he can lead the
life of detachment. In the country I have seen the women of the
carpenter
families making flattened rice with a husking-machine. With one hand
one
of them turns the paddy in the hole and with the other she holds a
nursing
child. At the same time she talks with the buyer. She says to him: 'You
owe
me two annas. Pay it before you go.' But seventy-five per cent of the
woman's
mind is on her hand lest it should be crushed by the pestle of the
husking-machine.
"A man should do his worldly duties with only twenty-five per cent of
his mind, devoting the rest to God."
Referring to Pundit Shashadhar, the Master said to the devotees, "I
found
him monotonous — engaged in the dry discussion of philosophy.
"He alone who, after reaching the Nitya, the Absolute, can dwell in the
Lila, the Relative, and again climb from the Lila to the Nitya, has
ripe
knowledge and devotion. Sages like Narada cherished love of God after
attaining the Knowledge of Brahman. This is called vijnana.
"Mere dry knowledge is like an ordinary rocket: it bursts into a few
sparks
and then dies out. But the Knowledge of sages like Narada and Sukadeva
is like a good rocket: for a while it showers balls of different
colours, and
then it stops; again it throws out new balls, and again it stops; and
thus it
goes on. Those sages had prema for God. Prema is the rope by which one
can reach Satchidananda."
The Master finished his midday meal and rested a few minutes.
Bhavanath,
M., the Mukherji brothers, Hazra, and several other devotees sat down
under
the bakul-tree and began to converse. The Master stopped there awhile
on
his way to the pine-grove.
HAZRA (to the younger Gopal): "Please
prepare a smoke for him [meaning the Master]."
MASTER (smiling): "Why don't you admit that you
want it?" (All laugh.)
MUKHERJI (to Hazra): "You must have learnt
much wisdom from him [meaning the Master]."
MASTER (smiling): "No, he has been wise
like this from his boyhood." (All laugh.)
Presently Sri Ramakrishna returned from the pine-grove. The devotees
noticed that he was in an ecstatic mood and was reeling like a
drunkard.
After reaching his room he regained the normal state.
Many devotees gathered in the room. Among them was a new-comer, a
sadhaka from Konnagar, who looked over fifty years of age and seemed to
have great vanity of scholarship.
The Master stood in the middle of the room and suddenly said to M.,
"He came here — Naran."
Narendra was engaged in a discussion with Hazra and a few others on
the verandah. They could be heard from the room.
MASTER (referring to Narendra): "The
chatterbox! But he is now much worried about his family."
M: "Yes, sir, it is true."
MASTER: "Once he said that he would look upon
adversity as his good fortune. Isn't that so?"
M: "He has great strength of mind."
A DEVOTEE: "Does he lack strength in anything?"
Pointing to the sadhaka from Konnagar, a devotee said to the Master:
"Sir,
he has come to visit you. He has some questions to ask." The sadhaka
was
seated erect, his chin up.
SADHAKA: "Sir, what is the way?"
MASTER: "Faith in the guru's words. One
attains God by following the guru's instructions step by step. It is
like reaching
an object by following the trail of a thread."
SADHAKA: "Is it possible to see God?"
MASTER: "He is unknowable by the mind engrossed
in worldliness. One
cannot attain God if one has even a trace of attachment to 'woman and
gold'.
But He is knowable by the pure mind and the pure intelligence — the
mind
and intelligence that have not the slightest trace of attachment. Pure
Mind,
Pure Intelligence, Pure Atman, are one and the same thing."
SADHAKA: "But the scriptures say, 'From
Him words and mind return baffled.' He is unknowable by mind and words."
MASTER: "Oh, stop! One cannot understand
the meaning of the scriptures
without practising spiritual discipline. What will you gain by merely
uttering
the word 'siddhi'? (Indian hemp.) The
pundits glibly quote the scriptures; but what
will that accomplish? A man does not become intoxicated even by rubbing
siddhi on his body; he must swallow it. What is the use of merely
repeating,
There is butter in the milk'? Turn the milk into curd and churn it.
Only
then will you get butter."
SADHAKA: "You talk about churning butter.
But you too. are quoting the scriptures."
MASTER : "What will one gain by merely quoting or hearing the
scriptures?
One must assimilate them. The almanac makes a forecast of the rainfall
for
the year, but you won't get a drop by squeezing its pages."
SADHAKA: "You talk about churning butter. Have you done it yourself?"
MASTER: "You don't have to bother about what I
have or haven't done.
Besides, it is very difficult to explain these things to others.
Suppose someone
asks you, 'What does ghee taste like?' Your answer will be, 'Ghee
tastes
like ghee.'
"To understand these things one needs to live with holy men, just as to
understand the pulse of bile,4
of phlegm, and so on, one needs to live with a physician."
SADHAKA: "There are some people who are irritated by others' company."
MASTER: "That happens only after the attainment of Knowledge, after
the realization of God. Shouldn't a beginner live in the company of
holy men?"
The sadhaka sat in silence a few moments. Then he said with some
irritation:
"Please tell me whether you have realized God either directly or
intuitively.
You may answer me if you are able, or you may keep silent if you
wish." The Master said with a smile: "What shall I say? One can only
give
a hint."
SADHAKA: "Then tell us that much."
Narendra was going to sing. He said, "No one has brought a pakhoaj."
THE YOUNGER GOPAL:
"Mahimacharan has one."
MASTER (interrupting): "No, we don't
want anything of his here."
A devotee from Konnagar sang a song. Every now and then Sri Ramakrishna
glanced at the sadhaka. The singer and Narendra became engaged
in a furious discussion about musical technique. The sadhaka said to
the
singer, "What is the use of such discussions?" Referring to another man
who
had joined in the discussion, Sri Ramakrishna said to the sadhaka, "Why
didn't you scold him, too?" It could be seen that the sadhaka was not
on
friendly terms with his companions from Konnagar.
Narendra sang:
O Lord, must all my days pass by so utterly in vain?
Down the path of hope I gaze with longing, day and night. . . .
The sadhaka closed his eyes in meditation as he listened to
the song. It was
four o'clock in the afternoon. The rays of the setting sun fell on his
body.
Sri Ramakrishna quickly opened an umbrella and placed it near the door
so
that the sun might not disturb the sadhaka.
Narendra sang again:
How shall I call on Thee, O Lord, with such a stained and worldly mind?
Can a straw remain unharmed, cast in a pit of flaming coals?
Thou, all goodness, art the fire, and I, all sin, am but a straw:
How shall I ever worship Thee?
The glory of Thy name, they say, redeems those even past redeeming;
Yet, when I chant Thy sacred name, alas! my poor heart quakes with
fright.
I spend my life a slave to sin; how can I find a refuge, then,
O Lord, within Thy holy way?
In Thine abounding kindliness, rescue Thou this sinful wretch;
Drag me off by the hair of my head and give me shelter at Thy feet.
Again he sang:
Sweet is Thy name, O Refuge of the humble!
It falls like sweetest nectar on our ears
And comforts us, Beloved of our souls!
The priceless treasure of Thy name alone
Is the abode of Immortality,
And he who chants Thy name becomes immortal.
Falling upon our ears, Thy holy name
Instantly slays the anguish of our hearts,
Thou Soul of our souls, and fills our hearts with bliss!
As Narendra sang the line, "And he who chants Thy name becomes
immortal",
the Master went into samadhi. At first his fingers, especially the
thumbs, began to tremble. The devotees from Konnagar had never seen the
Master in samadhi. Seeing him silent, they were about to leave the
room.
Bhavanath said to them: "Why are you going away? This is his samadhi."
The devotees resumed their places.
Narendra sang:
I have laboured day and night
To make Thy seat within my heart;
Wilt Thou not be kind to me,
O Lord of the World, and enter there?
Sri Ramakrishna, still in the ecstatic mood, came down from his couch to the floor and sat by Narendra. The beloved disciple sang again:
In Wisdom's firmament the moon of Love is rising full,
And Love's flood-tide, in surging waves, is flowing everywhere.
O Lord, how full of bliss Thou art! Victory unto Thee! . . .
As Narendra sang the last line, Sri Ramakrishna stood up,
still absorbed
in samadhi.
After a long time the Master regained partial consciousness of the
world
and sat down on the mat. Narendra finished his singing, and the tanpura
was put back in its place. The Master was still in a spiritual mood and
said:
"Mother, tell me what this is. They want someone to extract the butter
for
them and hold it to their mouths. They won't throw the spiced bait into
the lake. They won't even hold the fishing-rod. Someone must catch the
fish
and put it into their hands! How troublesome! Mother, I won't listen to
any more argument. The rogues force it on me. What a bother! I shall
shake
it off. God is beyond the Vedas and their injunctions. Can one realize
Him
by studying the scriptures, the Vedas, and the Vedanta? (To
Narendra) Do
you understand this? The Vedas give only a hint."
Narendra wanted the tanpura again. The Master said, "I want to sing."
He was still in an ecstatic mood and sang:
Mother, this is the grief that sorely grieves my heart,
That even with Thee for Mother, and though I am wide awake,
There should be robbery in my house. . . .
The Master said, "Mother, why do You make me argue?" He sang again:
Once for all, this time, I have thoroughly understood;
From One who knows it well, I have learnt the secret of bhava. . . .
The Master said, "I am quite conscious." But he was still groggy with divine fervour. He sang once more:
I drink no ordinary wine, but Wine of Everlasting Bliss,
As I repeat my Mother Kali's name;
It so intoxicates my mind that people take me to be drunk! . . .
Sri Ramakrishna had said, "Mother, I won't listen to any more argument." Narendra sang:
O Mother, make me mad with Thy love!
What need have I of knowledge or reason? . . .
Sri Ramakrishna said with a smile: "O Mother, make me mad! God
cannot
be realized through knowledge and reasoning, through the arguments in
the scriptures." He had been pleased with the singing of the musician
from
Konnagar and said to him humbly: "Please sing about the Divine Mother.
Please — one song."
MUSICIAN: "You must excuse me, sir."
MASTER (bowing with folded hands):
"No, sir. I can enforce this demand."
Saying this, Sri Ramakrishna sang a few lines from a kirtan, assuming
the attitude of a gopi:
Radha has every right to say it;
She has kept awake for Krishna.
She has stayed awake all night,
And she has every right to be piqued.
Then he said to the musician: "My dear sir, you are a child of
the Divine
Mother. She dwells in all beings. Therefore I have every right to
enforce
my demand. A farmer said to his guru, 'I shall get my mantra from you
by
beating you, if I have to.'"
MUSICIAN (smiling): "By a shoe-beating?'
MASTER (smiling): "No! I won't go that far."
Again in an abstracted mood Sri Ramakrishna said: "The beginner, the
struggling, the perfect, and the supremely perfect. Which are you —
perfect
or supremely perfect? Come along! Sing for us."
The musician complied. He sang just a melody.
MASTER: "My dear sir, that too makes me happy."
The musician then sang a song. When the music was over, the devotees
from Konnagar saluted the Master and took their leave. The sadhaka
bowed
before him with folded hands and said, "Holy man, let me say good-bye."
Sri Ramakrishna, still in an ecstatic mood, was talking to the Divine
Mother.
MASTER: "Mother, is it You or I? Do I do anything? No. no! It is You.
Was it You who heard the arguments all this time, or was it I? No, not
I.
It was You."
Sri Ramakrishna became conscious of the outer world and began to
converse
with Narendra, Bhavanath, and the other devotees. They were talking
about the sadhaka.
BHAVANATH (smiling): "What kind of man is he?"
MASTER: "He is a tamasic devotee."
BHAVANATH: "He can certainly recite Sanskrit verses."
MASTER: "Once I said to a man about a sadhu: "He is a rajasic sadhu.
Why should one give him food and other presents?' At this another sadhu
taught me a lesson by saying to me: 'Don't say that. There are three
classes
of holy men: sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic.' Since that day I have
respected
holy men of all classes."
NARENDRA (smiling): "What? Is it like
the elephant God'? All, indeed are God."
MASTER (smiling): "It is God Himself who sports
in the world as both
vidya and avidya. Therefore I salute both. It is written in the Chandi:
The
Divine Mother is the good fortune of the blessed and the ill fortune of
the
unlucky.' (To Bhavanath) Is that mentioned in the
Vishnu Purana?"
BHAVANATH (smiling): "I don't know, sir. The
devotees
from Konnagar did not understand your samadhi and were about to leave
the room."
MASTER: "Who was it that asked them to remain?"
BHAVANATH (smiling): "It was I."
MASTER: "My child, you are equally good in bringing
people here and in driving them away."
The conversation turned to the argument that Narendra had had with
the musician from Konnagar.
MUKHERJI: "Narendra didn't spare him."
MASTER: "That's right. One needs such grit.
This is called the influence
of tamas on sattva. Must a man listen to everything another man says?
Should
one say to a prostitute, 'All right, you may do whatever you like'?
Must one
listen to her? At one time Radha was piqued. A friend said, 'Her ego
has
been roused.' Brinde, another friend, said: 'Whose is this ego? Her ego
belongs to Krishna alone. She is proud in the pride of Krishna.'"
The conversation turned to the glory of God's name.
BHAVANATH: "I feel such relief while chanting the name of Hari."
MASTER: "He who relieves us of sin is Hari. He relieves us of our three
afflictions in the world. Chaitanya preached the glory of Hari's name;
so it
must be good. You see, he was such a great scholar, and an Incarnation
too.
Since he preached that name, it must be good. (Smiling)
Once some
peasants were invited to a feast. They were asked if they would eat a
preparation
of hog plum. They answered: 'You may give it to us if the gentlemen
have eaten it. If they enjoyed it, then it must be good.' (All
laugh.)
(To the Mukherji brothers) "I should like to visit
Shivanath. I won't have to hire a carriage if you take me in yours."
MUKHERJI: "All right, sir, we shall set a day."
MASTER (to the devotees): "Do you think the Brahmos
will like me?
They criticize those who believe in God with form."
Mahendra Mukherji wanted to go on a pilgrimage. He told Sri Ramakrishna
so.
MASTER (smiling): "How is that? Do you want
to go when the sprout
of divine love has hardly come up? First comes the sprout, then the
tree,
then the fruit. We are so happy to have you here to talk to."
MAHENDRA: "I feel like visiting the holy places
a little. I shall return soon."
It was about five o'clock in the afternoon. Sri Ramakrishna left his
room.
The devotees were walking in the garden. Many of them were about to
leave.
The Master was conversing with Hazra on the north verandah. They
were talking of Narendra's frequent visits to Annada, the eldest son of
the
Guhas.
HAZRA: "I hear that Annada is now practising austerity.
He lives on very little food and eats rice once every four days."
MASTER: "Is that so? 'Who knows? One may realize
God even by means of a religious garb.'"
HAZRA: "Narendra sang the agamani."5
MASTER (eagerly): "How did he sing it?"
Kishori stood close by. The Master said to him, "Are you well?"
A little later the Master was standing on the west porch. Since it was
autumn, he had put on a flannel shirt dyed with ochre. He asked
Narendra,
"Is it true that you6
sang the agamani?"
Accompanied by Narendra and M., Sri Ramakrishna walked to the
embankment of the Ganges.
Narendra sang the agamani:
Tell me, my Uma, how have you fared, alone in the Stranger's
(Siva, Uma's Husband.) house?
People speak so much ill of us! Alas, I die of shame!'
My Son-in-law smears His body with ashes from the funeral pyre
And roams about in great delight;
You too, along with Him, cover with ash your golden skin.
He begs the food that He eats! How can I bear it, being your mother?
This time, when He returns to claim you, I shall say to Him,
"My daughter Uma is not at home."