The Immortal Words of Sri Ramakrishna
In the post above I made mention of the book "The Gospel
of Sri Ramakrishna." The reading of this book kind of marked my entry onto the
spiritual path. It is a book almost without peer, the recording of the
conversations of a Hindu avatar with his disciples. The person of Sri
Ramakrishna was, as it were, the condensation and summation of the whole
history of Hinduism, and at the same time in his practices and teachings he
embodied the truth that all the world's major religions are but different
paths to the same identical source. This book changed my life by giving me an
intimate and living glimpse of a man of a different order, whom many regard as
incarnation of God himself, or an avatar, or a "Son of God."
Thanks to the Internet it is easy to take a dip into this incredible
document. It's title in the original Bengali language is "Sri Ramakrishna
Kathamrita," or "The Immortal Words of Sri Ramakrishna." A new translation has
been published at the following website:
The Gospel of Sri
Ramakrishna It's a massive work, but since it is really just a day by day account of
what went on in Ramakrishna's presence you can really jump in anywhere, or
jump around as you wish.
I would have included a sample chapter here, but the HTML is so heavily
formatted using code and would not reproduce well here. But here are few
random snippets so you can get the flavor of it.
Sri Ramakrishna (to Brahmo bhaktas) - "It is the mind that binds and it is
the mind that liberates. I am a free soul; I may live in the household or in
the forest; there is no bondage for me. I am the child of the Lord, the son of
the king of kings; who will bind me then? When bitten by a snake, if you say
loudly, 'There is no poison in it,' you are rid of the venom. In the same way
if you say emphatically, 'I am not bound; I am free,' you become like that.
You become liberated."
The earlier story of his life Sri Ramakrishna listens to the Bible
Krishna Kishore's faith
"Someone gave me a book on Christianity. I asked him to read it out to me.
It contained 'sin' and 'sin' alone. (To Keshab) Your Brahmo Samaj also speaks
of 'sin' and 'sin' alone. One who constantly speaks, 'I am bound, I am bound,'
that rascal really gets bound! He who repeats day and night, 'I am a sinner, I
am a sinner,' does become a sinner.
"There should be such faith in the name of the Lord, 'I have chanted His
name, shall I be a sinner still? What sin for me! What bondage for me!'
Krishna Kishore is a pious Hindu, a brahmin who worships the Lord with
single-minded devotion. Once he went to Vrindavan. One day while roaming
about, he felt thirsty. He went to a well where he saw a man standing. He said
to him, 'Brother, will you please give me a pot of water? Of what caste are
you?' The man replied, 'Pundit ji, I belong to a low caste a cobbler.'
Krishna Kishore said, 'You say Shiva and now draw water for me.'
"By chanting the name of Bhagavan, the body and mind of man all become
pure.
"Why talk of 'sin' and 'hell' alone? Just say but once, 'I shall not repeat
the wrongs I have done,' and have faith in His name."
================================================== "But one cannot become Raja Janak all at once.
"Raja Janak had performed penance for a long time in solitude. Even while
living in the family one should go into solitude at times. It is good if one
can cry for Bhagavan even for three days in solitude away from home. Even if a
man goes out in solitude for a day when he gets an opportunity and thinks upon
Him, that too is good indeed. People shed pitcherful of tears for wife and
children, but who cries for the Lord, tell me? One should go in solitude at
times and perform sadhana to realize Bhagavan. While attending to particular
duties in the world there are so many difficulties in making the mind steady
in the initial stage. For example, when the trees on the footpath are young,
they may be eaten up by goats or cows for want of fencing. A fence is needed
in the initial stage. When, however, the trunk gets thicker no fence is
needed. Then even an elephant tied to the trunk will not do any harm to it.
"One should enter family life after attaining viveka and vairagya
(discrimination and non-attachment). In the ocean of the world there are
crocodiles of passion, anger, etc. If you enter the water after anointing your
body with turmeric, you need not fear crocodiles. Discrimination and
non-attachment are the turmeric. Knowledge of real and unreal is known as
discrimination. The Lord alone is real, eternal. All else is unreal,
transitory, lasting just a couple of days. One must realize this and develop
love for the Lord. Attraction for the Lord love for Him. The gopis had
such an attraction for Krishna. "
================================================== "Preaching to mankind is very difficult. It is when God manifests and
commissions, only then it is possible. Narada, Sukadeva and some others had
received the commandment. Sankracharya was commissioned by God. If you are not
commissioned, who will listen to you? You know the Calcutta people's mind! So
long as there is fire, the milk comes to the boiling point. As soon as the
fire is withdrawn, nothing happens to it. The people of Calcutta are moody.
They begin digging a well here. Reason, they need water. But they give it up
when they find some rock there. They then start digging at another place. If
they find sand there, they will give up and they start digging at another
point. This is the way they do!
"Again, there are people who think a particular thought and believe it to
be God's commandment. Such an idea is quite a mistaken one. He verily appears
before you and talks. It is then that you receive the commandment. What a
weight then that instruction carries! A mountain is moved by it. Mere
lecturing! People will listen for a few days and later they forget. They do
not act according to that instruction."
================================================== "You must have direct commandment of God, else it would be asserting
yourself to say, 'I teach mankind.' Self assertion is the offspring of
ignorance. Out of ignorance one feels, 'I am the doer.' One becomes a
jivanmukta if one can but realize that God is the sole Actor (in the world
system) and that I am a mere instrument in His hands. All troubles, all want
of peace, come of the notion, 'I am the doer, I am the free agent.' "
==================================================
Sri Ramakrishna (to Keshab and other bhaktas) - You people talk of doing
good to the world. I say, is the world so small? And who are you to do good to
the world? Attain God by performing sadhana (devotional practices). Attain
Him. He will give you power, only then you will be able to do good to others,
otherwise not.
A Particular Bhakta - Should we give up all work so long as we do not
realize God?
Sri Ramakrishna - No, why will you give up work? You will have to do all
this: Meditation upon the Lord, chanting His names and glories, and
undertaking day to day rituals.
The Brahmo Bhakta - And what about the worldly work? About worldly affairs?
Sri Ramakrishna - Yes, you will attend that too, as much as is necessary to
run the household. But you must cry in a lonely corner and pray to God so that
you do all these works in a nishkama manner (selflessly). And you will say, 'O
Lord, please lessen my worldly work, because O Lord, I see that when engrossed
too much in work, I forget You. I think in my mind that I am doing the work in
a nishkama way but it turns out to be sakama (with a selfish motive.) Perhaps
a desire for name and fame crops up when there is increase in giving charity
and distributing free meals.'
"Shambhu Mullick took up the topic of hospitals, dispensaries, schools,
roads and tanks. I said to him, 'You should do only that much that comes to
your way and which appears to be of pressing necessity this too with the
spirit of nishkama. Do not seek more work because if you do so you will lose
sight of the Lord. Say, you go to the Kali ghat and become busy in
distributing alms there. But in that you miss the very darshan of Kali!
(Laughter.) First of all have the darshan of Kali even if you have to push
your way through to reach there. Afterwards you may or may not take to
charity. If you like, do as much as you can. After all, work is meant to
realize the Lord. That's why I said to Shambhu: Suppose the Lord appears
before you, what will you say to Him? 'Please build a number of hospitals and
dispensaries?' (Laughter.) A bhakta never asks for such things. Instead he
says, 'Thakur, grant me place at Your lotus feet, always keep me with You and
grant me pure bhakti at Your lotus feet.'
================================================== All rise to welcome the great saint. He has arrived. Forming a circle,
people surround him from all sides.
A platform has been built in the middle of the main hall of the Samaj
building. This place is full of people. In front is the vestibule. The
Paramahansa Deva is seated there. Some people are seated there too. There are
two rooms on both sides of the vestibule. People are there in those rooms too.
Keeping their necks erect people are standing at the doors of the rooms. There
are steps from one end to the other to go up the vestibule. These steps are
also full of people. There are two or three trees near the steps. There is a
creeper canopy close by. A number of benches are there. Here too people are
gazing at the great saint with their necks erect and ears agog. There is a
path between so many rows of flower and fruit trees. All the trees are waving
gently with the touch of the breeze as if bowing in joy they are giving him a
welcome.
Thakur Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa Deva smilingly takes his seat. Now the
sight of all falls instantly upon his happy and joyful figure. Till the start
of the play, among the spectators some smile, some talk on worldly matters,
some walk about either alone or with friends, some chew the beetle leaf, or
the tobacco and some of them smoke cigarettes. But as soon as the curtain
rises, they all stop talking about all matters and witness the play with full
attention. It is like the garden bees which on seeing the lotus leave other
flowers and come to drink nectar of the lotus. "And I see there are persons of non-serious nature who come with the
bhaktas. They are very worldly-minded and do not like talk about the Lord.
Perhaps they (bhaktas) would be talking of the Lord for long. On the other
hand, these men cannot sit for long and feel restless. Again and again these
people whisper into their ears, 'When are you leaving, when?' Perhaps the
latter sometimes tell, 'Wait for a while, we shall be leaving shortly.' Then
these people get indifferent and say, 'All right, you carry on. We are going
and sitting in the boat.' (All laugh.)
"If you ask worldly people to renounce all and devote themselves at the
feet of the Lord, they do not listen to you. That is why, to attract worldly
people Gaur and Nitai, the two brothers, made a proposition after consulting
each other, 'Soup of magur fish, embrace of a young woman, and repeat the name
of Hari.' In the beginning, so many people came to repeat the name of Hari
tempted by the first two. Then having tasted a bit of the nectar of Hari's
name they realized that the fish soup was nothing compared to the tears
falling in the love of Hari; that 'a young woman' meant the earth and 'embrace
of a young woman' meant to roll about in the dust in the love of Hari.
"Nitai, somehow, used to find some way to make one repeat the name of Hari.
Chaitanya Deva said that there is great importance of the Name of the Lord. It
may not show immediate result but sooner or later it does yield fruit. As for
example, somebody kept a seed on the cornice of a house. After a long time,
the house fell down. The seed then fell on the ground, developed into a tree
and bore fruit too."
================================================== "Do you know how is this? It is like the shoreless ocean of Sachchidananda
(Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute). Water in it turns into ice at places
with the cold of bhakti. This ice takes a form. In other words, at times He
manifests and takes a physical form before the bhakta. When the sun of jnana
rises, the ice melts. Then the Lord does not appear like a person. Also His
form is not visible. What He is cannot be expressed in words. And who is there
to express God? He who is to describe is himself not there. Search as much as
you like you cannot trace the I-ness.
"When one goes on reasoning, the I-ness vanishes completely. First you peel
off the outer red skin of onion, then the soft white one. Continuing to peel
in this way, nothing of the onion remains.
"When the I-ness vanishes, who remains there to look for it? Who is there
to tell in what way comes the bodhebodha of the real nature of Brahman?
"A salt doll went to measure the ocean. As soon as it went in the ocean, it
melted and became one with it. So, who remained to come and give the
information?
"It is the sign of purna jnana (ultimate knowledge) that man becomes silent
on attaining it. Then the salt doll of I-ness gets dissolved in the sea of
Sachchidananda, not a trace of the perception of difference remains then.
"So long as reasoning is not over, man continues to indulge in voluble
discussions. But no sooner does it stop, he becomes silent. When the pitcher
is full of water the water in it and that of the pond becomes one and all
gurgling stops. There is sound only till the pitcher is full.
================================================== Sri Ramakrishna - Yes surely, He can be seen. He is seen with form and He
is seen without form too. How can I explain this to you!
The Brahmo Bhakta - By which method can one see Him?
Sri Ramakrishna - Can you weep longingly for Him?
"People shed pitcherful of tears for son, wife and money. But who cries for
the Lord? So long as the baby remains cajoled with his pap, his mother attends
to all her household chores like cooking, etc. But when the child has no more
liking for the pap and throwing it away begins to scream, the mother takes
down the rice pan off the fire, comes running and picks up the baby in her
arms."
The Brahmo bhakta - Sir, why are there so many beliefs concerning the
Lord's form? Some say that God is with form, some say that He is formless. And
even among believers in God with form, we hear of so many different forms. Why
such a confusion?
Sri Ramakrishna - Whichever form of God a bhakta sees, he believes in that
alone. In reality, there is no confusion. If He is attained by any means, He
will Himself explain everything. If you have never been to a particular
residential quarter, how can you know everything about it?
================================================== "It means that the man who is always thinking of the Lord can only know His
real nature. He alone knows that He is seen in different forms and in
different moods. He is with qualities and also He is without qualities. It is
only he who lives under the tree, knows that the variegated bird has different
hues, and that sometimes it has no colour at all. Other people just argue,
quarrel and trouble themselves.
"Kabir used to say, 'The One without form is my Father, with form my
Mother.'
"God grants darshan to the bhakta in the form he loves most gracious
loving Lord of the bhakta as He is. The Purana says that God assumed the form
of Rama for the sake of heroic bhakta Hanuman."
================================================== "The Vedas talk of the seven planes in relation to this. These are the
seven states of the mind. When the mind is attached to the world, it has its
location in the generative organ, rectum and naval. The mind does not look
upward in this state, its only concern is 'woman and gold'. The fourth plane
of the mind is the heart. It is here that the mind gains initial awareness.
One sees light all around. Seeing the divine light, he is amazed and exclaims,
'What is this! What is this!' The mind then does not go downwards (towards the
world).
"The fifth plane of the mind is the throat.
When the mind of a person rises to the throat, he loses all his ignorance
and illusion. He does not then like to talk or hear anything except about the
Lord. If someone talks of other matters, he leaves that place.
The sixth plane of the mind is the forehead. When the mind reaches there,
one sees a divine form all the twenty four hours a day. However, a bit of
I-ness subsists even then. Such a person feels intoxicated at the vision of
that supreme and unique form. He tries to touch and embrace this form but
cannot. It is like the light in the lantern. One feels that one can touch the
light but because of the glass in between, one cannot touch it.
In the top of the head is the seventh plane. When the mind rises to it, one
goes into samadhi and the Brahmajnani has direct vision of Brahman. But in
this state the body does not last for many days. He always remains
unconscious, he can eat nothing and if milk is poured into his mouth it runs
out. On this plane, the man dies in twenty one days. This is the state of the
Brahmajnani. For you is the path of bhakti it is a very good and easy
path.
================================================== ================================================== "I believe that it was his last birth. In his previous birth he had done
much of the work, some was left undone. It appears that he accomplished that
much in this life. Sri Ramakrishna - Suicide is a great sin, one will have to return to this
world again and again and suffer its trials and tribulations.
"Even so if a person terminates his life after having the vision of the
Lord, it is not suicide. There is no harm in giving up the body that way. Some
people terminate their lives after attaining jnana. When a gold image has been
cast in an earthen mould, the mould may be preserved, or may be cracked and
thrown away.
"Many years ago, a boy used to come here from Barahnagar. He was about
twenty years old. His name was Gopal Sen. When he would come here, he used to
experience such deep emotions that Hriday had to hold him later he fell
and broke his limbs. The boy suddenly touched my feet and said, 'Sir, I shall
not be able to come here any more. So I take your leave.' A few days later I
heard that he had given up his body.
Sri Ramakrishna - Four classes of human beings have been stated the
bound souls, the seekers after liberation, the liberated and the ever free.
The world is like the fishing net, the jiva (individual soul) like the fish
and the Lord (whose maya constitutes the world) is the fisherman. When fishes
fall into the fisherman's net many of them try to tear the net to escape, i.e.
they try to free themselves. They are like the men seeking liberation.
However, all those who try to escape cannot run away. Only a few fishes slip
out with a splash. Then people call out, 'There goes the big fish.' Such two
or four beings are the liberated ones. Some fishes are so cautious by nature
that they never fall into the net. Narada and such other saints are ever free;
they never fall in the net of the world. However, most of the fish keep lying
in the net unaware of the fact that they have fallen into a net and will die.
Remaining in the net, they dart straight ahead taking the net along and try to
hide their body into the mud. They make no attempt to escape, rather they fall
deeper into the mud. They are like the bound souls. They live in the net and
think, 'We are quite happy here.' The bound jivas remain attached to the world
that is to 'woman and gold'. They remain sunk in the sea of evil and think
that they are very happy there. Those who seek for liberation and those who
are liberated look upon the world as a death well, they don't like it. So,
some of them having attained jnana and the vision of Bhagavan give up their
bodies. However, giving up body in this way is a far cry.
"The bound creatures, the worldly men, don't get awareness by any means.
They suffer so much misery, so many trials, and so many sorrows; even then
they don't get awakening.
"The camel likes thorny bushes but the more it eats, the more it bleeds
from its face. Even so, it continues to eat the same thorny bush and does not
leave it. The worldly man suffers so much agony, so much sorrow, yet he
reverts back to his old self quite soon. Perhaps his wife has died or she has
proved faithless to him, yet he marries again. Perhaps he has lost his son and
suffered so much of sorrow, yet he forgets all this in a few days. The mother
of this boy, who was beside herself with grief, ties up her hair again and
bedecks herself with jewellery. In the same way though people spend all in the
marriage of their daughters, they continue giving birth to more children year
after year. They lose all in litigation. Yet they again go to law! They cannot
feed the children they have, neither can they educate them, nor can they look
after them properly, still they beget more children every year.
================================================== Rakhal is not well. Sri Ramakrishna tells the bhaktas about it.
While speaking thus, Sri Ramakrishna goes
into a peculiar state of bhava. It seems that it is the same bhava that
Yashoda used to have when she would see Sri Krishna. The bhaktas are seeing
this amazing scene. At this moment everything is still. Uttering the name of
Govinda, Thakur Sri Ramakrishna, the God-incarnate for the bhakta, goes into
samadhi. His body is still like a picture, his sense organs as if have ceased
working and his sight is fixed towards the tip of the nose. One can't say
whether he is breathing or not. Only his body is lying on the earth while the
bird of his soul is perhaps soaring in the sky of God-consciousness. Whither
has gone he who was for so long worrying for the child with a mother's
tenderness? Is this amazing transformation of bhava known as samadhi?
Just then dressed in gerua (ochre) clothes, an unknown Bengali enters the
room and sits on the floor. "Vairagya (dispassion) is of three or four kinds: Having got scalded by the
fire of the world, one puts on the gerua such a dispassion does not last
long. A man is perhaps out of work. So, putting on the gerua, he leaves for
Kashi. After three months his family gets a letter, 'I have a job now, I shall
return home after a few days. Please don't worry.' And there is a man who has
everything, who lacks nothing, but does not have liking for anything. Sitting
alone, he weeps for Bhagavan. This kind of dispassion is genuine dispassion.
"Untruth is not at all good. Not even a false garb. If one's garb does not
correspond to one's mind, it gradually brings complete ruin. By uttering lies
or practising falsehood one gradually loses the fear of it. It is rather
better to put on white clothes. There is attachment in the mind and also there
is a fall within; but outwardly there is gerua. This is highly dreadful."
================================================== Sri Ramakrishna - Vidyasagar has scholarship, he has kindness but he lacks
insight. Gold lies buried within him. Had he discovered this gold, so much of
external activity that he does would have been reduced; finally, he would have
given it up completely. Had he known that the Lord resides inside within the
heart, his mind would have gone in meditation and contemplation on Him. Having
performed nishkama karma (selfless work) for a long time, some people develop
dispassion in the end and their mind goes to God the mind gets absorbed
in the Lord.
"The kind of work Ishwara Vidyasagar does is very good. Kindness is very
good. There is, however, a great difference between daya (kindness) and maya.
Kindness is good, maya is not good. Maya is love for one's own near and dear
ones wife, son, brother, sister, brother's son, sister's son, father and
mother love for these. Kindness, however, is the equal affection for all
beings."
================================================== While talking to the Mother, he uttered it once, "Mother, why You have
given him only one kala (one sixteenth part of divine power)?" Thakur remains
silent for a moment. He again says, "I understand Mother. This one kala will
be enough for him. This one kala alone will enable him to do Your work
to preach mankind."
Does Thakur transmit spiritual powers to his inner disciples in this way?
What is it all about? Later these disciples would teach mankind is he
making arrangements for this? "Who is a superior devotee? He who sees after attaining Brahmajnana that
God alone has become the universe and the twenty-four categories. He first
reaches the roof by discriminating 'not this, not this.' Then he sees that the
steps are also made of the same material brick, lime, and brick-dust
with which the roof is made. Then he sees that Brahman Himself has
become the creatures and the universe, all.
"Mere reasoning! I spit on it! I spit on it! It is of no use."
Thakur spits the nectar of his
mouth. (To Govinda) "At times I say, 'You are I and I am You!' And sometimes it
remains only You. The 'I' then disappears and is not traceable.
"It is Shakti that becomes the avatara. According to one school of thought,
Rama and Krishna are but the two waves of the Ocean of chidananda (Bliss and
Consciousness).
"After the attainment of advaita jnana (knowledge of non-duality) comes
chaitanya (consciousness). Then I see that God alone inheres all the things as
consciousness. After consciousness comes ananda (bliss).
(To M.) "I say to you, 'Don't disbelieve in the forms; in the forms of the
Lord. Have faith that God has forms and meditate on the form that you love
most.'
(To Govinda) "Do you know what it is? So long as the desire for sensory
enjoyments remains, the earnest longing for knowing God and His realization
does not come. The child plays with his toys forgetting everything else.
Cajole him with sandesh, he will eat just a piece of it. When he does not like
even his toy and does not relish sandesh he says, 'I will go to the mother.'
He no longer likes sandesh. A person whom he does not know, whom he has never
seen, if he says to it, 'Come along, I shall take you to your mother,' the
child will go with him. He will go with anyone who carries it in his arms.
"When one has done with the enjoyment of worldly things, one becomes
restless for the Lord. How to realize Him remains his only concern. He listens
to everybody who tells him anything about God."
http://www.kathamrita.org/kathamrita.htm
==================================================
Instruction to Brahmos Christianity, Brahmo
Samaj and concept of sin
Brahmo Samaj and
Raja Janak way in household to live in solitude and viveka
(discrimination)
"It is Guru alone
who is Sachchidananda. It is only He who will preach. I for my part feel like
a child. You can find lakhs of men as gurus. Every one wants to be a guru. Who
wants to be a disciple?
"The person who
preaches must have the badge of authority. Without it, it is all ridiculous.
We do not instruct ourselves but preach to others! It is like the blind
leading the blind. (Laughter.) It brings more harm than good. It is only when
you have seen God that you can see through other people and understand what
diseases (of the soul) they have been take with. You can then instruct them.
It is as if all are thirsting after the divine
appear-ance! It is at this time that the carriage of the Paramahansa Deva
reaches in front of the Samaj building.
"When I
see a person whose mind is not in the Lord, I tell him, 'Please go and sit
there.' Or I say, 'See what a beautiful building this is! (Rani Rasmani's Kali
Temple, etc.) Go and see it. (All laugh.)
Sri Ramakrishna -
One cannot reach the end of God. He is formless and then with form too. For a
bhakta He is with form. For a jnani, that is to say, for him who takes the
world like a dream, He is formless. The bhakta thinks that he is one and the
world another, that is why the Lord manifests Himself to him as 'Personal
God.' Jnanis such as the Vedantins reason, 'Not this, not this.' By so
reasoning the jnani has the bodhebodha [inner feeling of the real nature of
God] that his individuality is an illusion and so the world is like a dream.
The jnani has the bodhebodha of Brahman (understands Brahman with his
intellect). What God is, he just cannot express by the word of mouth.
A Brahmo bhakta asked, "Sir, can we see the Lord? If
so, why don't we see Him?"
"Listen to a story.
A man went out to answer the call of nature. He saw a bird perched on a tree.
On his return he said to another man, 'See, I saw a beautiful red coloured
bird on that tree.' The other man replied, 'When I went there to answer the
call of nature, I also saw it. But it is not of red colour, it is green.' Yet
another man said, 'No, no, I also saw it. It is yellow.' In the same manner
many others said, 'No, it is of tobacco, brinjal, blue colour and so on.' All
this resulted in a quarrel. Then they went to the foot of the tree and saw a
man sitting there. When asked he said, 'I live under this tree. I know the
bird very well. Whatever you are saying is all true. It is sometimes red,
sometimes green, sometimes yellow, sometimes blue and also of many more
colours. See, it has many colours. Besides, at times I find that it has no
colour at all. Now it is with qualities, now without qualities.'
Sri Ramakrishna -
The Vedas describe the different states of a Brahmajnani. However, this path,
the path of jnana, is a very difficult path. If the least trace of worldly
wisdom, or that of attachment to 'women and gold' persists one cannot attain
jnana. This path is not for the age of Kali.
"After samadhi the
general rule is that the person dies. But some persons like Narada and
avataras like Chaitanya Deva live for instructing mankind. After digging the
well, some people send off the spade and the basket. There are some who keep
them thinking that these may perhaps be needed by their neighbours. In the
same way, the mahapurushas (high spiritual personalities) feel greatly
concerned for the troubles of common man. They are not so selfish so as to be
satisfied with their own attainment of jnana. You know well how the selfish
people behave. If you ask them to urinate here, they won't lest it should
later do you good. (All laugh.) If you ask them to bring sandesh for a pice
from a shop, they will lick it on their way. (All laugh.)
Sri Ramakrishna (to
Vijay, M. and other bhaktas) - See, this boy has terminated his life. When I
heard it, I felt very bad. He used to come here, he was a schoolboy but he
would often say that he had no liking for the world. He had lived with some
relatives for a few days in the West (in the west of Bengal, i.e. Uttar
Pradesh or Punjab etc.). He would occasionally meditate sitting in some
solitary plain, forest or hill. He used to tell me that he had strange visions
of various forms of the Lord.
...
A bhakta says, "I
feel frightened to hear of the suicide."
After his midday meal, Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna is
taking some rest. The same room in the Kali Temple at Dakshineswar. The Ganga
is flowing in front; to the west. The flood tide has started at 2 o'clock. A
few bhaktas have arrived. Among them are Brahmo bhaktas Amrit and sweet
singer Trailokya who has charmed the minds of the young and the old so many
times by singing the glories of divine sport in Keshab's Brahmo Samaj.
Sri Ramakrishna - Look here, Rakhal is not well. I say,
could soda water be of any help? O Father, what shall happen! Rakhal, you take
some prasad of Jagannath.
Sri Ramakrishna (at the
sight of the gerua) - And why this gerua? What can be achieved by merely
wearing the cloth? (Laughter.) Somebody said, 'Giving up the Chandi, he has
taken to the drum previously he used to sing the hymns of Chandi, now he
beats the drum!' (All laugh.)
A Bhakta - Sir, you
have met Vidyasagar. How did you find him?
Sri Ramakrishna remains merged in samadhi day and
night. How his days and nights pass! At times he talks of God or takes part in
singing hymns with the bhaktas. At about three or four o'clock M. sees that
Sri Ramakrishna is seated on the smaller cot lost in divine emotion.
After some time he begins to talk to the Divine Mother.
"Why remain dry by reasoning? So long as you have the
consciousness of 'I' and 'You', have pure devotion at His lotus feet.
