BOOK II THE ASCENT OF MAN

 

Chapter 8. Varieties of Aspirants &Their Ideals

Chapter 9. Some Aids to Spiritual Life

Chapter 10. Ways of Spiritual Life

Chapter 11. Spiritual Aspirants and Religious Differences

Chapter 12. Essentials of Spiritual life

Chapter 13. yearning for God

Presented by Veeraswamy Krishnaraj

 

BOOK II THE ASCENTOF MAN

Sayings 227- 638

He who has not given up sinful ways, whose senses have not been restrained, who is unmeditative, and whose mind is devoid of peace, cannot attain Him even by a highly cultivated intelligence.

 O good-looking youth, taking hold of that bow, the mighty weapon of scriptural wisdom (embodied in Om, the sound symbol of the Most High) and fixing the arrow (of the self) rendered sharp by devoted worship, draw it with the mind absorbed in His thought, and hit the mark―even that Imperishable Being.

He in whom are woven the heaven, the earth, the sky, and the mind together with the vital energies, know Him, that Atman alone, and give up all other vain talk. This is the path to Immortality.― The Upaniṣads

 

CHAPTER VIII

VARIETIES OF ASPIRANTS AND

THEIR IDEALS

Some types of aspirants―Characteristics of true aspirants-Kinship of the spiritually-inclined―Ideals of the aspirant entangled in the world―Ideals of the Sannyasin

SOME TYPES OF ASPIRANTS

227. Out of the myriads of paper kites that are seen flying in the air, only one or two gets free by the snapping of the string. So out of hundreds of aspirants practicing spiritual disciplines only one or two gets free from worldly bondage.

 

228. There is a fabled species of birds called ' Homa'. They live so high up in the heavens and love those high regions so dearly that they never come down to the earth. And it is said that they even lay their eggs in the sky, and that their young ones are hatched in mid-air as the eggs fall, pulled down by gravity. No sooner do these fledglings find out that they are falling downwards, than they immediately change their course and instinctively fly up towards their home. Men like Sukadeva, Narada, Jesus and Sankaracharya are like these birds. Even in their boyhood they become free from all attachment to the things of the world and betake themselves to the highest regions of true Knowledge and Divine light.

 

 229. There are two classes of Yogis, hidden and open. The former go through religious practices in secret and keep themselves hidden from public gaze. The latter carry about them the external symbols of the Yogi, such as a staff, and converse freely on spiritual subjects.

 

230. Though it is the general rule that flowers appear first and then fruits, there are some plants and creepers which bear fruits first and then flowers. Similarly, ordinary persons have to go through Sadhanas before they realize God but there is a class of aspirants who realize God first. and then perform the Sadhanas.

 

231. Of the grains of paddy fried in a frying pan, the few that leap out of the pan and burst outside are the best fried, for they are without any mark of charring. On the other hand, everyone of the properly fried grains in the pan is sure to have some charred mark on it, however small. So of all good devotees, those few who give up the world altogether and go out of it are perfect without any spot, while even the best of those who are in the world must have at least some small spot of imperfection in their character.

 

232. Butter churned early in the morning is the best; that churned after sunrise is not so good. Addressing his young disciples who became Saṁnyāsins later on, the Master used to say, ''You are like butter churned early in the morning, while my householder disciples are like butter churned late in the day."

 

233. The young bamboo can be easily bent, but the full grown bamboo breaks when it is bent with force. It is easy to bend the young heart towards God, but the untrained heart of the old escapes the hold whenever it is so drawn.

 

234. The parrot cannot be taught to sing when the vibrating membrane in its throat has hardened too much due to age. It must be taught to sing while young, before the collar line appears on its neck. So in old age it is difficult to learn how to fix the mind on God, but it can be easily learnt in youth.

 

235. A ripe mango may be offered to God or used for some other purpose, but if it is pecked by a crow even once, it is unfit for any use. It can neither be offered to the Deity, nor presented to a Brahmin, nor may it be eaten by the pure. So boys and girls should be dedicated to the service of God before the impurities of worldly desires taint their hearts. Once worldly desires enter their minds, or the demon of sensual pleasures casts his baneful shadow over them, it is very difficult indeed to make them tread the path of virtue.

 

236. The love in the heart of a boy is whole and undivided. When he gets married in time, half of his heart, if not more, is given away to his wife, and when children are born to him, he loses another quarter thereof, while the remaining quarter is divided among father, mother, honour. fame. Pride, dress, and the rest; therefore he has love left to offer to God. Hence if the undivided mind of a boy is directed early enough to God. he may gain His love, and realize Him easily. But it is not quite so easy for grown-up people to do so.

 

237. If you ask whether there is any difference between the Jnanis who live in the world and those who renounce it. I would say that the two are the same. Both of them have the same Jnana in common, But if the Jnani is in the world, he has cause to fear; for life in the midst of sensual attractions is attended with the fear of fall, slight as it is. If you live in a sooty room, you are sure to get a little tainted by the soot, however careful you may be.

 

238. To some one the. Master said: ''Well, you have now come to seek God when you have spent the best part of your life in the world. Had you entered the world after realizing God, what peace and joy you would have found."

 

 239. Q. What is the difference between the Sattvic, the Rajasic and the Tamasic ways of worship?

A. The man who worships from the very depth of his heart without the least ostentation or vanity is a Sattvic worshipper. The man who gives much attention to decorating his house, makes much fuss about music and dancing, and makes all costly and elaborate arrangements for a rich feast when celebrating the worship of the Deity is a Rajasic worshipper. The man who immolates hundreds of innocent goats and sheep on the altar, has dishes of meat and wine for offerings, and is absorbed only in dancing and singing while conducting worship, is a Tamasic worshipper.

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE ASPIRANTS

240. The flint may remain for myriads of years under water and still not lose its inner fire. Strike it with steel whenever you like, and out flashes the glowing spark. So is the true devotee firm in his faith. Though he may remain surrounded by all the impurities of the world, he never loses his faith in and love of, God. He warms up with devout enthusiasm as soon as he hears the 'name' of the Lord.

 

241. Just as gold and brass are tested by a touchstone, so are the sincere and the hypocritical Sadhus distinguished by persecution and calumny.

 

242. The railway engine easily drags with it a train of heavily loaded carriages. So the loving children of God, firm in their faith and devotion feel no trouble in passing through life in spite of all troubles and anxieties, and at the same time they lead many to God along with them.

 

243. When does the attraction of the pleasures of the sense die away? When one realizes the consummation of all happiness and of all pleasures in Godthe indivisible, eternal ocean of bliss. Those who enjoy Him can find no attraction in the cheap, worthless pleasures of the world.

 

244. He who has once tasted the refined crystal of sugar candy finds no pleasure in tasting the dirty treacle (molasses). He who ha's slept in a palace will not find pleasure in lying down in a dirty hovel. The soul that has tasted the sweetness of Divine bliss finds no happiness in the vulgar pleasures of the world.

 

245. The lady, who has a king for her lover will not accept the addresses of a street beggar. The soul that has found favour in the eyes of the Lord does not fall in love with the paltry things of the world.

 

246. It is the nature of the winnowing basket to reject whatever is light and useless, and retain whatever is weighty and good. Such is the nature of all pious souls.

 

247. Sugar and sand may be mixed together, but the ant rejects the sand and carries away the grains of sugar. So the holy Paramahamsas and pious men successfully sift the good from the bad.

 

248. The water of a rapid stream moves round and round in eddies and whirlpools in some places; but passing these it resumes again a straight and swift course. So the heart of the devotee is caught every now and then in the whirlpool of despondency, grief and unbelief; but this is only a momentary aberration and does not last long.

 

249. Wherein is the strength of a devotee? He is a child of God, and his devotional tears are his mightiest weapon.

250. The more you scratch the part affected.by ringworm, the greater grows the itching, and the more the pleasure you derive from scratching. So the worshippers of God never get tired of singing His praise.

 

251. That man whose hair stands on end at the mere mention of the 'name' of God, and from whose eyes flow tears of love―he has indeed reached his last birth.

 

252. What happens when an impure woman tempts a pious man and tries to cast her evil influence upon him. Just as the skin of a ripe mango, when pressed hard, is left in the hand, the stone and the kernel having slipped out of it, so does the mind of the pious man glide away to God, leaving behind its earthly tabernacle to be acted on by the woman.

 

253. The truly religious man is he who does not commit any sin even when he is alone, and when no man observes him., because he feels that God sees him even then. He who can resist the temptations of a young and seductive woman in a lonely forest, where he is unobserved by human eye, through the fear that God sees him and who, through such fear, will not even cast an immoral glance at her,― he is truly a religious man. He who finds a bag full of gold in a lonely and uninhabited house, and resists the temptation of appropriating it, he is a truly religious man. But he who practises religion for the sake of show. through fear of public opinion, cannot be called truly religious. The religion of silence and secrecy is the true religion, but it is all sham and mockery when attended with vaunting and vanity.

 

KINSHIP OF THE SPIRITUALLY-INCLINED

254. The spiritually-minded belong to a caste of their own, beyond all social conventions.

 

255. A woman naturally feels shy to relate to all the conversation she daily holds with her husband. She neither communicates it to anyone nor feels inclined to do so, and if it gets divulged in any way, she feels annoyed. But she would herself relate it to her intimate companion without reserve; nay, she would even be impatient to relate her experience to her and would find pleasure in doing so. Similarly, a devotee of God does not like to relate to anyone but a true Bhakta the ecstatic joy that he experiences in Divine communion; nay, sometimes he is impatient to relate his experiences to such a person and feels happy to do so.

 

256. If a strange animal were to approach a herd of cows. it would soon be driven off by the combined attack of the whole herd. But let a cow come and all the cows would make friends with her. With much mutual licking of bodies. Thus, when one devotee meets another devotee, both experience much delight and are loth to part from each other. But when a scoffer enters their circle, they sedulously avoid him. Sedulous = assiduous

 

257. Why is it that one who loves the Lord does not like to live in solitude? The hemp smoker finds no pleasure in smoking without company. The pious man, like the hemp smoker finds no pleasure in chanting the sacred name of God away from the company of other devotees.

 

IDEALS OF THE ASPIRANT ENTANGLED IN THE WORLD

258. It is said that, when a Tantrika tries to invoke the Deity through the medium of the spirit of the dead, he sits on a fresh human corpse and keeps near him food and wine. In the course of the invocation, if at any time the corps is, as they say, vivified temporarily and opens its mouth, the intrepid invoker must pour the wine and thrust the food into its gaping mouth to appease the elemental that has for the time being taken possession of it. If he does not do so, the invocation is interrupted by the elemental. and the higher spirit does not appear. So, remaining on the carcass of the world, if you desire to attain beatitude, first provide yourself with all the things necessary to pacify the clamour of worldly demands on you; otherwise your devotions will be broken and interrupted by the cares and anxieties of life.

 

259. There is necessity of money, no doubt, in worldly life; but do not ponder much over it and other material gains. Contentment with what comes of its own accord is the best attitude. Do not be anxious to hoard. Those who dedicate their very life and soul to Him, those who are His devotees and have taken refuge in Him, can never think of such worldly matters. With them, expenditure is commensurate with income. As money comes into their hands in one way, it is spent in another.

 

260. A householder disciple: 'Sir, may I try to earn a larger income?

 The Master: 'Yes, if you mean to devote it to the life in the family based on discrimination. But take care that you earn money by honest means. For it is not earning money but the service of the Lord that is your aim; and wealth devoted to God is beyond cavil.

Disciple: How long, Sir, have I obligations to the family?

 The Master: So long as the family is not provided with enough to maintain itself. But if your children can support themselves, you have no more duty to them.

 

 261. To some householder devotees the Master said: ''You will look up money only as a means of getting food, clothes and shelter of worshipping the 'Deity and serving Sadhus and devotees. But it is wrong to hoard it. Bees labour hard to build their hives, but man comes and robs them. You need not renounce 'woman' completely. But after a few children are born, you and your wife should live like brother and sister."

 

262. Q. How can I go through my devotional practices, when I have always to think of my daily bread?

A. He for whom you work will supply you with your necessaries, God made provision for your support before He sent you into this world.

 

263. We possess home, family and children for a short time, but these are all ephemeral. The palm tree itself is real, but when one or two of its fruits fall to the ground, why should we regret it?

 

264. Renunciation of ‘woman and gold' has been laid down only for those that lead a monastic life. Monks must not even look at the pictures of women. Even the thought of spiced pickles causes the mouth to waternot to speak of the sight or the touch of those dainties. But, this hard rule is not meant for men of the world like you (addressing the householder devotees present); it is intended

 purely for monks. As for you, you may go amongst women with a mind unattached and fixed upon God. That your mind may be thus unattached and fixed upon God, it is good that you should often retire into solitudea place away from either men or women; a place where you may be left absolutely to yourself, praying to the Lord with a yearning heart for true knowledge; a place where you may

stay for three days, if not more, or for at least one day, if not three.

Your path, again, as married men, is to live with your wife just as brother and sister, after one or two children are born to you, and to pray to the Lord constantly that hoth of you may have strength to live a perfect life of spirituality and self-control.

 

 265. Live in the world, but be not worldly. As the saying goes, make the frog dance before the snake, but let not the snake swallow the frog.

 

266. A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in the boat. An aspirant may live in the world. But the world should not live within him.

 

267. It matters not if you live the life of a householder, only you must fix your mind on God. Do your work with one hand, and hold the feet of the Lord with the other. When you have no work in the world to do, hold His feet fast to your heart with both your hands.

 

268. What is the state of a man who is in the world but is free from its attachments? He is like a lotus-leaf in water or like a mud-fish in the marsh. Neither of these is polluted by the element in which it lives. The water wets not the leaf, nor does the mud stain the glossy coat of the fish.

 

269. It does not matter much whether you are a family man or not. Always perform your duties unattached with your mind fixed on God. As for instance, the man who has got a carbuncle on his back talks with his friends and others and even carries out undertakings, but his mind is all the while on his pain.

 

 270. Living in the world one is safe, if one has Viveka (discrimination of the Real from the unreal), and Vairagya (dispassion for worldly things), and along with these intense devotion to God.

 

271. What are you to do when you are placed in this world? Give up everything to Him, resign yourself to Him, and there will be no more trouble for you. Then you will come to know that everything is done by His will.

 

272. It may be given even to the householder to see God. It was the case with Raja Janaka, the great royal sage. But one cannot rise to the height of Raja Janaka all of a sudden. Janaka spent many long years in solitude, away from the din and bustle of the world, practicing devotional exercises. Thus it would do infinite good to men of the world, if they will retire now and then into solitude, even for three days at a time, so that God might be realized.

 

273. Some Brahmo boys once told me that they followed Janaka's examplethey lived in the world but quite unattached to it. I said to them that it was easy to say one was Janaka but quite a different matter to be actually one. It is so hard to move among worldly objects without being contaminated. What terrible austerities did not Jnaka practise at the outset! But I do not advise you to go through similar hardships. What I want you to do is to practice devotion, and to live alone for some time in some quiet place. Enter the world after gaining Jnana and Bhakti. The best curd is formed when the milk is left quite still; shaking, or even changing the pot, spoils it. Janaka was unattached; hence one of the epithets applied to him is Videha―literally 'bodiless'. He led the life of a Jivan-mukta. The annihilation of the idea of the body is exceedingly difficult to accomplish. Truly Janaka was a great hero. He handled with ease the two swords one of Knowledge (Jnana) and the other of work (Karma).

 

274. Men always quote the example of king Janaka as a man who lived in the world and yet attained spiritual illumination. But throughout the whole history of mankind he is the solitary example of this type. He was not the rule but the exception. The general rule is that no one can attain spiritual perfection without renounc­ing 'woman and gold'. Do not think yourself to be a Janani. Many centuries have rolled away, and the world has not yet produced a second Janaka.

 

275. If you desire to live in the world unattached, you should first practice devotion in solitude for some time ―a year, six months, a month, or at least twelve days. During this period of retirement, you should constantly meditate upon God and pray to Him for Divine love.

You should think that there is nothing in the world which you may call your own, that those whom you consider as your own are sure to pass away some day or other. God alone is really your own. He is your all-in-all. How to obtain Him?this should be your only concern.

 

276. When you are engaged in devotional practices, keep aloof from those who scoff at them, and also from those who ridicule piety and the pious.

 

277. If you first smear your palms with oil and then cut open the jack, the milky exudation of the fruit will not stick to your hands and inconvenience you. If you first fortify yourself with the 'true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.

 

278. The magnetic needle always points to the North, and hence it is that the sailing vessel does not lose her direction. So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness.

 

279. In the game of hide-and-seek, if the player succeeds in touching the 'Grand-dame' (Boori), he is no longer liable to be made a thief by the seeker. Similarly by once seeing God, we are no longer bound by the fetters of the world. Just as the person touching the Boori is free to go about, wherever he chooses. 'Without being pursued and made a 'thief' so also in the world's playground there is no fear for him who has once touched the feet of God. He attains freedom from all worldly cares and anxieties. and nothing can ever bind him again.

 

280. Alligators love to float on water but as soon as one rises up, it is made a mark by the hunters. Necessarily it is obliged to remain under water and cannot rise to the surface. Yet, whenever it finds a safe opportunity, it rises with a deep whizzing noise, and swims happily on the expanse of water. O man, entangled in the meshes of the world. you too are anxious to swim on the surface of the ocean of bliss but are prevented by the importunate demands of your family. Yet be of good cheer. Whenever you find leisure, call upon God eagerly, pray to Him earnestly and tell Him all your sorrows. In due time, He will surely emancipate you and enable you to swim merrily on the ocean of bliss.

 

281. When you are forced by circumstances to go to a place of temptations, always remember the Divine Mother. She will protect you from the many evils that may be lurking even in your heart, The presence of the Mother will shame you away from evil deeds and evil thoughts.

 

282. The world and Godhow is it possible to harmonize these two? Look at the carpenter's wife. how diversely busy she is! With one hand she stirs the flattened rice in the mortar of a Dhenki, with the other hand she is nursing her child, and at the very same time she bargains with the customer about the flattened rice. Thus, though her occupations are many her mind is fixed on the one idea that the pestle of the Dhenki does not fall on her hand and bruise it. So be in the world, but always remember Him. and never go astray from His path.

 

283. As a boy holding to a post or pillar whirls about it with headlong speed without any fear of falling, so perform your worldly duties, fixing your hold firmly upon God, and you will be free from danger.

 

284. As the village maidens in India carry four or five pots of water placed one over the other upon their head talking all the way with one another about their joys and sorrows, and yet do not allow a single drop of water to spill, so must the traveler in the path of virtue walk along his route. In whatever circumstances he may be placed, let him always take heed that his heart does not swerve from the true path.

 

285. As an unchaste woman, busily engaged in household affair, will all the while be thinking of her secret lover, so do you O man of the world perform your round of worldly duties, but let your heart be fixed always on God.

286. As a wet-nurse in a wealthy family brings up her master's child, loving it as if it were her own. yet knowing well that she has no claim upon it. so you also think that you are but trustees and guardians of your children whose real father is the Lord Himself.

287. As the street minstrel plays the guitar with one hand and with the other strikes a drum, while at the same time he sings a song, so do you, O man of the world, perform all your worldly duties with your hands, never forgetting to repeat and glorify the 'name' of the Lord with all your heart.

288. The maidservant says with reference to her master's house, ''This is our house." All the while she knows that the house is not her own, and that her own house is far away in a distant village of Burdwan or Naddia. Her thoughts are all really directed to her village home. Again, referring to her master's child in her arms, she says, ''My Hari has grown very naughty." or... ''My Hari likes to eat this or that'' and so on. But all the while she knows for certain that Hari is not her own. I tell those who come to me, to lead a life unattached like the maid-servant. I tell them to live unattached to this world ―to be in the world, but not of the world―and at the same time to have their mind directed to God. The heavenly home whence all come. I tell them to pray for Bhakti and base their lives on it.

289. Always consider that your family concerns are not yours; they are God's and you are his servant come here to obey his commands. When this idea becomes firm, there remains nothing indeed that a man may call his own.

290. He is a true hero who performs all the duties of the world 'with his mind fixed' on God. None but a strong man can, while carrying a load of two maunds (more than a hundredweight) on his head, stop to admire a bridal procession passing his way.

291. Those who live in the world and still try to gain salvation are like the soldiers that fight from behind the ramparts of a fort, while the ascetics who renounce the world in search of God are like the soldiers fighting in the open field. To fight the enemy from within the fort is more convenient and far safer than to fight in the open field.

292. Before soldiers go out to meet the enemy, they learn the art of fighting in their barracks, where they do not have to put up with the hardships incidental to action in the open field. So avail yourselves of the conveniences of your Horne life to raise your spiritual condition before you take to the austerities of an ascetic life.

293. He indeed is blessed, in whom all the qualities of head and heart are fully developed and evenly balanced. He acquits himself admirably well in whatever position he may be placed. He is full of guileless faith and love for God, and yet his dealings with others leave nothing to be desired. When he is engaged in world affairs, he is a thorough man of business. In the assembly of the learned he establishes his claims as a man of superior learning, and in debates he shows wonderful powers of reasoning. To his parents he is obedient and affectionate; to his relations and friends he is loving and sweet; to his neighbors he is kind and sympathetic and always ready to do good; to his wife he is the god of love. Such a man is indeed perfect.

IDEALS OF THE SANNYASIN

294. The first birth of a man is from his father; Upanayana marks his second birth, and Sannyasa the third.

295. The mind is much wasted while one is engaged in worldly pursuits. And that loss can be made good, only if one takes to the life of renunciation (Sannyasa).

296. Who is a fit candidate for the holy order of Sannyasins? He who gives up the world altogether without having any thought of the morrow, as to how he will eat or how he will be clothed, is fit to be a true Sannyasin. His mentality must be like that of a man who can, if need be, let himself fall fearlessly from the top of a tall tree, without any thought of saving his own life or limbs.

297. Yogins and Sannyasins are like snakes. The snake does not dig out a hole for itself, but lives in the hole made by the mouse. When one hole becomes uninhabitable, it enters into another hole. Just so Yogins and Sannyasins make no house for themselves, They pass their days in other men's houses―today in one house, tomorrow in another.

298. Sadhus never settle down in a place, where there are no jungles nearby and where food and drink is hard get. 'Jungles' means solitary spots for answering the calls of nature; and 'food and drink' means alms. Sadhus live on alms, they select only those places for their temporary residence where alms can be easily procured. When they get tired in the course of their journey they may halt at a place for a day or two, in spite of the difficulty of procuring alms. But they never stay anywhere if there is scarcity of water and of solitary spots for answering the calls of nature. Good Sadhus never attend to these matters of physical cleanliness in places where they may be observed by others. They finish these things in solitude, far away from the haunts of men.

299. If a white cloth is stained even with a small spot, the stain appears very ugly indeed. So the smallest fault of a holy man becomes painfully prominent.

300. A Sannyasin may himself be perfectly unattached and may have full control over his senses. Yet to set an example to mankind he must make a rigorous renunciation of 'woman and gold.' For only when they notice the thoroughness of the Sannyasin's renunciation, will men take courage, only then will they make efforts to renounce sex and riches. And who indeed will impart this lesson on renunciation, if not the Sannyasin?

301. What is the sign of a genuine Sannyasin and a Tyagi? Both must be entirely unconnected with lust and gold. Should they feel an attachment for gold or be troubled by pollution even in a dream, all their spiritual exercises could come to naught.

302. When one has taken up the garb of a Sannyasin, one has to conduct oneself precisely like a true sadhu. Don' t you see in the drama how the person playing the part of a king always acts like a king and how he who is in the roll of the minister always plays the minister? Once a village clown put on the garb of a Sannyasin and appeared before the Zamindar of the place. The Zamindar wanted to present him with a purse, but he refused to accept it and went away. After a while he came back, having washed himself and changed his dress, and asked for the money that the Zamindar wanted to give. When he dressed like a Sadhu, he could not even touch the money, but now he was ready to feel gratified even with a four-anna bit.

303. A person went to a holy man to get some medicine for his sick child. Carrying the little patient in his arms. The holy man asked him to come next day. Next day, when the man went, the Sadhu said, ''Give no sweets to the child and the child will soon be cured." The man replied, ''Sir, you could have told me this yesterday itself." The Sadhu said.''Yes. I could have, but yesterday I had a quantity of sugar lying before me and seeing that your child would have thought that the Sadhu who advised others not to take sugar but ate it himself was a hypocrite."

304. The man who becomes an ascetic owing to some misunderstanding with his father, or mother. or wife may be called an ascetic-by-disgust. His asceticism is momentarv: he gives up the ascetic way of life as soon as he gets a good lucrative job in a wealthy family.

 305. A disciple: How can we recognize a truly pious man (Sadhu)? The Master: He is truly pious "whose heart and soul are wholly dedicated to God. Truly pious is he who has renounced 'woman and gold'. The truly pious man never views women in the ordinary worldly light. He always remains at a distance from them, and if they happen to come near, he looks on them as his mother and shows respect to them. He thinks constantly of God, and serves all creatures, knowing that He resides in all. These are the general traits of the truly pious.

306. Trust not a Sannyasin, who practices medicine, uses spells and incantations, receives money and displays his piety with the sign-boards of elaborate external marks.

 307. Forgiveness is the true nature of the ascetic,
 

CHAPTER IX

SOME AIDS TO SPIRITUAL LIFE

Caste and external observances― Worship of images― Value of pilgrimages―Pious company―Repetition of Divine 'names'

,

CASTE AND EXTERNAL OBSERVANCES

308. Honour both spirit and form, the sentiment within as well as the symbol without.

309. In a grain of paddy the germ is commonly considered to be the only thing necessary for germination and growth, while the husk is regarded as of no importance; but if the husked grain is sown it will not sprout and grow up into a plant and yield rice. To get a crop one must needs sow the grain with its husk intact. If, however, one wants to get the pure grain itself for eating purposes. One must remove the husk from the seed. So rites and ceremonies are necessary for the growth and perpetuation of a religion. They are the receptacles that contain the germinating seeds of truth; and consequently every man must perform them till he reaches the central truth therein.

310. The oyster that contains the precious pearl is in itself of very little value, but it is essential for the growth of the pearl. The shell itself may prove to be of no use to the man who has secured the pearl. So ceremonies and rites may not be necessary for him who has attained the highest truth, namely God.

311. Rituals are to be observed. But when one advances in spirituality, it is not necessary to observe them for long. Then the mind gets concentrated on God, resulting in communion with Him.

312. When a wound is perfectly healed, the scab falls off of itself; but if the scab be taken off earlier, it bleeds. In the same way, with the advent of Divine illumination all distinctions of caste vanish; but it is wrong for the ignorant to override such distinctions, lest they should lead to undesirable consequences.

313. A fruit that has ripened on the tree and fallen down of itself tastes very sweet, but the one that has been picked and ripened artificially is not so sweet, and soon shrivels up. In like manner, the rules of caste fall away of themselves from him who has attained perfection and has realized the unity of all things; but those who have had no such exalted experience cannot escape the consciousness of superiority and inferiority in others, and have to observe caste distinctions. If in this state of ignorance a man feigns perfection by overriding all caste distinctions and by living a free life, he is surely like the green fruit artificially ripened.

314. It it proper for one who has attained Divine wisdom to keep the Brahminical thread? When the knowledge of the Self is gained, all fetters drop off of themselves. Then there is no distinction between Brahmin and Sudra, between high caste and low caste. Thus the sacred thread, a sign of caste, falls off of itself. But so long as a man is conscious of any distinction and difference, he should not forcibly throw it away.

315. While a storm is blowing, we cannot distinguish between an Asvattha (fig tree) and a Vata (banyan tree). So when the storm of supreme Knowledge blows, there can be no distinction of caste.

316. A true devotee who has drunk deep of Divine love is like a veritable drunkard, and as such cannot always observe the rules of propriety.

317. Once Krishna Kishore asked me. "Why have you cast1 off the sacred thread." When this change came over me, everything was blown away, as if by the great cyclone of Ashvin.2 The old landmarks were swept away. There was no outward consciousness itself. What to speak, then, of taking care of either the holy thread or even of the piece of cloth I used to wear? Lost in intense God-consciousness, I could not even know that I was nude for the greater part of the day. Therefore when Krishna Kishore took me to task for having parted with the sacred thread, I only observed. "You will see it all clearly if you are once seized with madness for the Lord."

1Through God vision and spiritual realization.

2The great cyclone of 1864 in Bengal.

 

318. Those who utter the 'name' of God are holy. Krishna Kishore was a holy man of Ariadaha. Qnce he had been to Brindavan on a pilgrimage., There, one day, in the course of his walk he felt thirsty, and seeing a person standing near a well, he asked him to draw a little water for him. The man said that he was of a very low caste and so was not fit to draw water for a Brahmin. Krishna Kishore said, ''Will you pronounce the name of God and thus make yourself pure?" The man did so and fetched some water for him; and he an orthodox Brahmin drank the water. How great was the power of his faith!

319. As a drunkard sometimes puts his coat on his head and at other times uses it as breeches, so the God-intoxicated man behaves as if he is not conscious of the external world.

320. People of this age care for the essence of everything. They will accept the essentials of religion and not its non-essentials (that is, the rituals. ceremonials. dogmas and creeds).

321. Those who take fish do not want the useless head and tail of the fish, but only the soft middle portion of it; so the ancient rules and commandments of our scriptures must be pruned of all their accretions to make them suit modern times.

WORSHIP OF IMAGES

322. While raising a building, the scaffolding' is indispensable; but when the work is completed, no one feels the necessity of it. So also image-worship is necessary in the beginning, but not afterwards.

323. As a man begins to learn writing by drawing big scrawls before he tries to write a smaller hand. so a person must acquire through power of concentrating his thoughts by fixing the mind first upon forms, and then, after succeeding therein, by fixing it upon the formless.

324. A marksman learns to shoot by first having big objects to shoot at; and as he acquires more and more facility in shooting, he aims more and more easily at the smaller marks on the target. So when the mind has been trained to focus on images having form, it is easy for it to do so on things having no form.

325. As a toy fruit or a toy elephant reminds one of the real fruit and the living animal, so do the images that are worshipped remind one of God Who is formless and eternal.

326. The Master once said to a disciple of his, ''You were talking of images made of clay. There arises a necessity for them too. These various forms used for worship have been provided to suit the needs of different men at different stages of spiritual evolution."

327. The mother so arranges food for her children that each one gets what agrees with him. If she has five children and she gets a big fish to cook, she makes different dishes out of it, and gives each one what suits him exactly. One is given rich Polao with fish; another, of weak digestion, only a little soup; and so on, according to the digestive power of each. (The same in the case with the various symbols and disciplines prescribed for spiritual aspirants.)

328. A disciple: One may believe that God is 'with form'. But surely He is not the earthen image that is worshipped.

The Master: Why call it an earthen image? The Divine image is made of the Spirit.

 329. The Master once said to Keshab Chandra Sen, who was a great iconoclast in his days: ''Why do these images rouse the idea of mud and clay, stone and straw, in your mind? Why can you not realize the presence of the eternal blissful, all-conscious Mother, even in these forms?''

330. If a worshipper is convinced that the images of the Deity in the shape of various Gods and Goddesses are verily divine, he reaches God by their worship. But if he holds them to be nothing better than mud and straw and clay, to him the worship of such images does no good.

331. If there is anything wrong in image-worship, does He not know that all worship is meant for Him? He will surely be pleased to accept the worship, knowing that it is meant for Him alone. Love God; that is the duty nearest to you.

332. When one sees God. one realizes that everything, images and all, is a manifestation of the Spirit. To him the image is not made of clay but of Spirit.

VALUE OF PILGRIMAGES

333. The Milk of the cow in reality pervades the whole body of the animal through its blood, but you cannot milk it by squeezing the ears or the horns; you can get the milk only from the teats. Similarly, God pervades the universe everywhere, but you cannot see Him everywhere. He manifests Himself more readily in sacred temples which are full of the spirit of devotion diffused by the life and spiritual practices of the devotees of former times.

334. Know that there must be manifestation of God in Places where countless people have for long practiced austerity. Japa, meditation, prayer and worship with a view to realize Him. Through their devotion, spiritual ideas are present in these places in a solidified form, as it were. Hence there man easily feels the awakening of spirituality and realizes Him. From time immemorial. numberless Sadhus, devotees and men of realization have come to these holy places to have a vision of God, and have prayed to Him with an outpouring of their hearts, setting aside all worldly desires. Therefore, though equally present everywhere, God manifests Himself specially in these places. Water can be had anywhere by digging into the earth. When, however, there is a well or a tank or a lake, one has not to dig for water. but can get it whenever one likes.

335. As cows. after eating their fill, lie down quietly at a place and chew the cud, so after visiting a sacred spot or a place of pilgrimage. you must take hold of the holy thoughts that rose in the mind while there, sit down in a solitary corner and think of them till you are immersed in them. You must not devote yourself to the pursuit of the senses and drive away such higher ideas from your mind immediately after you leave those places.

336. Travel in all the four quarters of the earth, you will find nothing (no true religion) anywhere. Whatever there is, is only here (i.e. in one's own heart) .

337. When the Master was alive, many of his disciples used to express to him their desire to visit holy places, and to them he used to reply: "Well, he who has got it (spirituality) here (i.e. in the company of the Master or within himself) has got it there (i.e. in holy places) also. Whereas he who has not got it here, has not got it there either", or ''He who has got the spirit of devotion already within his heart, will find it more intensified in holy places. But of what profit will it be to him who has no devotion at all? We often hear that the son of so-and-so has run away from home and has gone to Benares or some such place. But later on we hear again that with great effort he has managed to secure a job there, and has sent money and news about himself to his family. People go to live in some sacred place, but many

there are who open shops there and take to business. Going to the western provinces in the company of Mathuranath, I found the environment there just the same as here. The mango trees, the tamarind trees or the bamboo groves―they were exactly similar to those of these parts. Hence I told Hriday, ''Well what have we come to see here? Things are just the same here as well as there, with this one point of difference, that the inhabitants of these places seem to have better digestion.'

 

BENEFITS OF PIOUS COMPANY

338. Milk and water. when brought into contact, are sure to get mixed, and the milk can never be separated again. Similarly if the aspirant thirsting after self-improvement mixes indiscriminately with all sorts of worldly people, not only does he lose his ideal, but also his former faith, love and zeal; they die away imperceptibly.

339. The companionship of the holy and the wise is one of the main elements of spiritual progress.

340. Many warm themselves in the fire kindled by someone else who has taken the trouble of collecting the firewood and other necessary things: similarly, many fix their mind on the Lord by associating with, and following the instruction of, holy men who have come to know the Lord after a good deal of hard penance.

,341. If a man sees a pleader. he naturally thinks of lawsuits and courts. Similarly, on seeing a pious devotee, one is reminded of God and of the life hereafter.

342. How should one pass one's life? As the fire in the hearth is stirred from time to time with a poker to make it burn brightly and prevent it from going out, so the mind should be occasionally invigorated by the society of the pious.

343. As the blacksmith keeps alive the fire of his furnace by blowing the bellows, so the mind should be kept clean and glowing with the help of pious company.

344. The society of pious men is like the water in which rice is washed. This rice-water has the potency of dissipating alcoholic intoxication. So does the society of the pious relieve worldly men, drunk with the wine of vain desires, from their intoxication.

345. The agent of a rich Zemindar, when he goes into rural localities away from the seat of his master, tyrannizes over the tenants in various ways. But when he comes back to the headquarters, and is under the eyes of his master, he changes his ways, becomes very pious, treats the tenants kindly, investigates into all their grievances fully, and tries to mete out justice impartially to all. The tyrannical agent becomes good through the fear of the master and also by reason of his society. Similarly does the society of the pious make even the wicked righteous, awakening awe and reverence in them.

346. Even moist wood placed upon a fire soon becomes dry and finally begins to burn. Similarly, the Society of the pious drives away the moisture of greed and lust from the hearts of worldly persons, and then the fire of Viveka (discrimination) burns steadily in them.

347. In the Puranas we are told that when Uma, the Mother of the universe, incarnated Herself as the daughter of the Himalayas. She blessed Her father with the vision of the various manifestations of the omnipotent Mother. But when Giriraj (the king of mountains) asked Her to show him the Brahman of the Vedas. Uma said, ''O father, if you wish to realize Brahman, you must live in the company of holy menmen who have entirely given up the world!

348. If you wash an elephant well and leave it at large, it is sure to make itself dirty in no time; but if, after the wash, you tie it down in its stable, it will remain clean. So, if by the good influences of holy men you once become pure in spirit, and then allow yourself to mix freely with worldly men, you are sure to lose that purity soon; but if you keep your mind fixed on God, you will never more get soiled in spirit.

REPETITION OF DIVINE NAMES

349. The best thing for people whose minds are attracted by sense-objects is to cultivate the dualistic attitude and chant loudly the 'name' of the Lord as mentioned in Narada-pancharatra (a work of devotion).

350. The Master said to a devotee: ''Through the path of devotion, the subtle senses come readily and naturally under control. Carnal pleasures become more and more insipid as Divine love grows in your heart. Can the pleasures of the body attract a husband and wife on the day their child has died?

 Devotee: But I have not learnt to love Him.

The Master: Take His name constantly, This will cleanse all sin, lust, anger and all desire for the pleasures of the body will vanish.

Devotee: But I do not find delight in His 'name'.

The Master: Then pray with a yearning heart that He may teach you to relish His 'name'. Undoubtedly He will grant your prayer… ''I find no delight in Thy 'name'!― If a delirious patient loses all taste for food, you must despair of his life. But if he relishes food even slightly, you may hope for his recovery. So I say, ''Find joy in his 'name.' "Durga, Krishna, Siva―any name will do. And if you daily feel a greater attraction for taking His 'name' and a greater joy in it, you need fear no more. The delirium must get cured, and His grace will surely descend on you.

351. Why is the 'name' insignificant? He and His 'name' are not different. Satyabhama failed to balance the Lord with gold and jewels. But Rukmini succeeded when she placed a Tulsi leaf and the 'name' of Krishna in the other pan of the balance.

352. If you wish to see God, have, firm faith in the efficacy of repeating the 'name' of Hari and try to discriminate the real from the unreal.

353. Sri Chaitanya has said: ''Very powerful indeed is the Lord's 'name.' It may not bring about immediate result, but it must one day bear fruit, just as we find that a seed left long ago on the cornice of a building at last reaches the ground, germinates, grows into a tree, and bears fruit, perhaps when the building cracks and is demolished.

354. Knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, in whatever state of mind a man utters God's 'name', he acquires the merit of such utterance. A man who voluntarily goes to a river and bathes therein gets the benefit of the bath; so does he also who has been pushed into the water by another, or who, when sleeping soundly, has water thrown upon him.

355. In whatever way one falls, whether consciously or unconsciously, into the lake of immortality, one becomes immortal by the mere immersion. Whoever utters the 'name' of God, howsoever pronounced, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, finds immortality in the end.

356. To a religious teacher who said that His 'name' alone is sufficient for Divine realization, the Master said: ''Yes, no doubt the holy 'name' is very effective; but is it sufficient without Love? The soul must hunger for God. What will it avail if I repeat His 'name' while I allow my mind to be attached to 'woman and gold'? Mere muttering of magic incantations will not heal up a scorpion sting. You must also apply the smoke of burning cowdung.1 No doubt, man is purged of his sins by once uttering His 'name'. But the next moment he takes to various sinful ways of living. He has no strength of mind to take a vow that he will no more commit any sin. Ablutions in the Ganges take away all sins, but little do they avail. The story goes that the sins lie in ambush on the trees on the banks, and when the man returns after his bath, those old sins jump down on his shoulders. So, you see, before he has proceeded a few steps, they are on him again, they have possessed him once more. Therefore take the 'name' of the Lord always, but pray to him at the same time that you may gain love for Him, and that your attachment to money, fame and physical comfortsall transient things―may grow less and less.

1 The reference is to a simple recipe of the village housewife for scorpion sting.

357. Sing with Bhakti the hallowed 'name' of the Lord, and the mountain of your sins will vanish, just as a mountain of cotton will burn to ashes and disappear if but a spark of fire falls on it.

358. The devotional practices of the worldly-minded are only for the time being. They leave no lasting impression behind. But those who are solely devoted to God chant His 'name' with every breath. Some chant 'Om Ram Om' constantly within themselves. The votaries of the path of Knowledge chant ''So'ham''. Of some, again, the tongue moves constantly (i.e., utters prayers of some Mantra) .

359. Japa means repeating the 'name' of the Lord silently, sitting in a quiet place. If one continues the repetition with concentration and devotion, one is sure to be blessed to have God-realization with Divine visions ultimately. Suppose big log of wood is immersed in the Ganges with one end attached to a chain, which is fixed on the bank. Following the chain, link by link, you can gradually dive into the water and trace your way to it. In the same manner, if you become absorbed in the repetition of His holy name, you will eventually realize Him.

360. The Master would often say: "Chant the 'name' of Hari (God) morning and evening, clapping your hands all the while; all your sins and afflictions will then leave you. If you clap your hands standing under a tree, the birds perching on it will fly away. So if you chant the 'name' of Hari clapping your hands at the same time, the birds of evil thoughts will fly away from the tree of your body."

CHAPTER X

WAYS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE

Some obstacles to spiritual life―Influence of past impressions―Pitfalls of occult powers―Alms and charity―Dress and food―Attitude towards the body―Attitude towards sufferings―Forbearance―Reticence―Humility and self-respect―Simplicity―Conquest of desires―Attitude towards women―Devotee and his family―Prayer and devotion.

 

SOME OBSTACLES TO SPIRITUAL LIFE

361. God comes not where reign timidity, hatred and fear.

362. The heavier scale of a balance goes down while the lighter rises up. Similarly, he who is weighed down by the many cares and anxieties of the world sinks down into it, while he who has fewer rises up towards the feet of the Lord.

363. One who spends his time in discussing the good and bad qualities of others simply wastes his own time.

For it is time spent neither in thinking about one's own self nor about the Supreme Self, but in fruitless thinking of others' selves.

364. In what condition of mind is the vision of God obtained? When the mind is perfectly tranquil. When the sea of one's mind is agitated by the wind of desires, it cannot reflect God and then God-vision is impossible.

 365. Though a person's stomach may be full and he is suffering from dyspepsia in addition his tongue will water naturally at the sight of sweet delicacies and savory sauces. Similarly a man may not have the slightest covetousness in him; yet the sight of wealth and other objects of temptation will unsettle his mind, howsoever holy he may be.

366. Be not like the frog in the well. The frog in the well knows nothing bigger and grander than its well. So are all bigots. They do not see anything better than their own creed.

367. The great Sankaracharya had a foolish disciple who used to imitate his Master in all matters. Sankara uttered ''Sivo'ham'' (I am Siva); the disciple also repeated "Sivo'ham''. To correct his disciple's folly, Sankara one day, while passing by a smithy, took a potful of molten iron and swallowed it; and then he asked that disciple also to do the same, Of course, the disciple could not imitate this act of his Master, and thenceforward he left off saying ''Sivo'ham''. Base imitation is always bad, but an attempt to correct one's own self by the noble examples of the great ones is always good.

INFLUENCE OF PAST IMPRESSIONS

368. How strong is the influence of Samskaras (impressions of the Past) ? In a certain place there were seated some Sannyasins, when a young woman chanced to pass by. All of them continued as before to mediate upon God except person, who stole a glance at her. This man who was attracted by her beauty had been a householder formerly and was the father of three children when he became a Sannyasin.

369. Once I saw two castrated bulls at a certain place, just then a cow passed that way, and I noticed that at the sight of it one of the bullocks got excited with passion while the other remained quiet. Seeing the strange behaviour of this bullock, I made enquiries into its past history, and came to know that it was castrated after it had grown up and had mated with cows, while the other was castrated quite young. Such is the effect of the impressions of past habits on the mind. The Sadhus who renounce the world without enjoying sexual pleasures never get excited at the sight of women, but those who assume the yellow garb in their advanced age, after having tasted the pleasures of family life are liable to have the impressions of their past revived, even after years of self-control.

370. When the mind dwells in the midst of evil propensities, it is like a high-caste Brahmin living in the quarters of the outcastes, or like a gentleman dwelling in the slums of a big town.

371. A person once said, ''After my boy Harish has grown up. I shall get him married, and then leaving the family in his charge. I shall renounce the world and take to the practice of Yoga." At this, the Master remarked, ''You will never find any opportunity to cultivate devotion to God. You will hereafter say, 'Harish and Girish are very much attached to me. Oh, they will miss my company if I retire from the world. Let Harish have a son first, and let me see his son also married.' Thus there will be no end to your desires."

PITFALL OF OCCULT POWERS

372. Visit not miracle-mongers and those who exhibit occult powers. These men are stragglers from the path of Truth. Their mind have become entangled in psychic powers, which are like veritable meshes in the way of the pilgrim to Brahman. Beware of these powers., and desire them not. 373. Those that are of low tendencies seek for occult powers which help in healing diseases, winning lawsuits, walking on the surface of water and such other matters. True devotees seek nothing but the lotus-feet of the Lord.

374. Krishna once said to Arjuna, ''If you desire to attain Me, know that it would never be possible so long as you possess even a single one of the eight psychic powers (Ashta Siddhis)." For occult powers increase man's egotism and thus make him forgetful of God.

375. A man, after fourteen years of hard penance in a solitary forest, obtained at last the power of walking on water. Overjoyed at this acquisition, he went to his Guru and said, ''Master, I have acquired the power of walking on water," The Guru rebuked him, saying: ''Fie upon you. Is this the result of your fourteen years of labour? What you have attained is only worth a pice. What you could accomplish only after fourteen years of labour ordinary men can do by paying a pice to the boatman."

376. Siddhis or psychic powers are to be avoided like filth. These come of themselves by virtue of Sadhanas or religious practices, and Samyama or control of the senses. But he who sets his mind on Siddhis remains stuck thereto, and he cannot rise higher.

377. There was a man named Chandra1 who acquired the power called Gutika-siddhi. Keeping an amulet (Gutika) with him. he could roam anywhere at will or penetrate into any place without being seen by any person. The man was at first devoted to God and was austere in his spiritual disciplines, Later on, however, when he came to possess that power, he began to use it for satisfying the demands of his lower nature. I warned him against doing so, but he paid no heed. He used to frequent unseen a gentleman's house and had illicit amour with a young lady of the family. He lost all his power thereby, and became a fallen soul.

I This Chandra also was a disciple of the Master's Guru Bhairavi, the Brahmana woman, of whom we have made mention in the Introduction. Thus the Master had occasion to be acquainted with him.

 

378. Sometimes it is very dangerous to have occult powers. Tota Puri told me that once a great Siddha (a spiritual man possessing psychic powers) was sitting on the seashore when there came a great storm. The Siddha. being greatly distressed by it, exclaimed, ''Let the storm

cease." and his words were fulfilled. Just then a ship was going at a distance with all sails set, and as the wind suddenly died away, it capsized. drowning all who were on board the ship. Now the sin of causing the death of so many persons accrued to the Siddha, and for that reason he lost all his occult powers and had to suffer in purgatory.

379. At the time of my practising austere Sadhanas under the Panchavati, a man named Girija1 came there. He was a great Yogi. Once when I wanted to come to my room in the dark night, he raised his arm and a strong light emanated from his armpit and lighted the whole path. On my advice he gave up using that power and turned his mind to the realization of the highest Reality. He lost that power subsequently, no doubt, but gained in true spirituality. 1 This Girija too was a disciple of the Bhairavi Brahmani.

 

380. A beggar would indeed be acting very foolishly were he to go to the kings palace and beg for such insignificant things as a gourd or pumpkin. Similarly, a devotee would be acting foolishly were he to appear at the threshold of the King of kings and beg for psychic powers, neglecting the priceless gifts of true Knowledge and love of God.

381. A youthful disciple of the Master once acquired facility in thought-reading. Overjoyed at this he spoke to the Master about his attainment. The Master thereupon rebuked him, saying, ''Shame on you, child; do not 'waste your energies on these petty things."

382. A disciple once told Sri Ramakrishna that in the course of his meditation he could see things as they actually happened at a distance and also what some people were doing at the time, and that on subsequent enquiry the visions proved to be true. The Master said to him, ''My boy, for some days don't meditate. These powers are obstacles to the realization of God."

 

ALMS AND CHARITY

 383. Why is it that people are fed at a religious feast? Do you not think that it is the same as offering a sacrifice to God, who is the Fire of Life in all creatures? But bad men, not God-fearing, guilty of adultery and so forth, should on no account be entertained at such feasts. Their sins are so great that even several cubits of earth under where they sit become polluted.

384. Once a butcher was taking a cow to a distant slaughter-house. Being ill-treated by the butcher, the cow got unruly on the way, and the man found it very difficult to drive her. After several hours, he reached a village at noon, and being thoroughly exhausted, he went to an alms-house near by and partook of the food freely distributed there. Feeling himself quite refreshed after a full meal, the butcher was able to lead the cow easily to the destination. Now, a part of the sin of killing that cow fell to the donor of the food distributed at the alms-house. So even in giving food and alms in charity, one should discriminate and see that the recipient is not a vicious and sinning person likely to use the gift for evil purposes.

 

385. Thus goes the law: Those who made large charities in former life are born rich in this. But then this world is His Maya, and the process of Maya is beset with many irregularities―none can comprehend it.

 

DRESS AND FOOD

386. What is the good of wearing the orange coloured dress of an ascetic? What is there in the dress? The orange dress brings with it pure associations. The wearing of worn out shoes and torn clothes brings thoughts of one's low state into the mind; dressing smartly in trousers and coats with patent leather shoes on, makes one naturally feel rather elated with pride and vanity; by wearing the black-bordered Dhoti of fine muslin, one feels impelled to be lively and to sing love songs perhaps. The wearing of the orange garb of the Sannyasin causes sacred thoughts naturally to rise in the mind. Every kind of dress has its own associations, although dress in itself has no special significance.

 

387. A young plant should always be protected against goats and cows and the mischief of little urchins by a fence. But when it becomes a big tree, a flock of goats or a herd of cows can freely find shelter under its spreading boughs and fill their stomachs with its leaves. So when your faith is yet in its infancy, you should protect it from the evil influences of bad company and worldliness. But when you grow strong in faith, no worldliness or evil inclination will dare approach your holy presence, and many who are wicked will become godly through your holy contact.

 

388. Once a student questioned Sri Ramakrishna: ''Sir, as the same God dwells in every being, what harm is there in accepting food from any and every man's hands? In reply the Master asked him whether he was a Brahmana. When the student said, ''Yes", the Master remarked, ''That is why you put me the question. Suppose you light a match and heap over it a lot of dry wood. What would become of the fire?" The student replied, ''The fire will get extinguished, being choked by the pile." Again the Master said, ''Suppose a wild fire is blazing and you throw into it a lot of green banana trees, What would' become of these trees. The student replied, ''Surely they will be reduced to ashes in a moment. ''Similarly,'' said the Master, '' if the spirituality in you is very weak, there is every danger of its being smothered by eating indiscriminately from all hands. But if it is strong, no food will affect you."

389. Once I was initiated by a Mohammedan teacher and was given the 'name' of Allah to repeat. I repeated the 'name' for several days, strictly observing their ways, and eating their food. During that period, I could not go to the temple of Mother Kali, or take the names of Hindu gods and goddesses.

 

390. Eat not in the feast given at a funeral ceremony; for such food destroys all devotion and Love. Also do not take food in the house of a priest who lives by conducting sacrificial rites for others.

 

391. Q. As regards eating, should not one eat what one gets?

A. That depends upon the spiritual state. In the path of Jnana it produces no harm. When a Jnani eats, he offers the food as an oblation in the fire of Kundalini. But for a Bhakta, it is different. A Bhakta should eat only pure food, such food as he can freely offer to his beloved Lord. Animal food is not for a Bhakta. At the same time I must say that if a man loves God, even while living upon pork, he is blessed; and wretched is he who lives on milk and rice or on Havishyanna (unspiced food) but whose mind is absorbed in 'woman and gold'.

392. He who eats simple non-stimulating vegetable food. but does not desire to attain God, ―for him that simple food is as bad as beef. But he who eats beef and desires to attain God, ―for him beef is as good as the food of the gods.

393. Eat to your satisfaction in the day, but let your meal at night be light and small in quantity.

394. That food alone should be taken by the devotee which does not heat the system or unsettle the mind.

 

ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE BODY

 

 395. Q. How is one to conquer the love of the body?

 

 A. The human frame is made up of decaying matter. It is a collection of flesh, bonemarrow, blood and other unclean substances subject to putrefaction. By such constant analysis of the body one's love of it vanishes.

396. One does not care for the cage when the bird has flown away from it. And when the bird of life flies away, no one cares for the body left behind.

 

397. If this body is worthless and transitory, why do pious and devout men take care of it? No one takes care of an empty box, but all protect with care a chest full of precious jewels, gold and costly articles. The pious soul cannot help taking care of the body because God dwells in it. All our bodies form the treasure-house of the Deity.

 

ATTITUDE TOWARDS SUFFERING

 

398. Disease is the tax which the soul pays for the use of the body, as the tenant pays house-rent for the use of the house.

399. Iron must be heated again and again and hammered a hundred times before it becomes good steel. Then only it becomes fit to be made into a sharp sword, and can be bent in any way you like. So man must be heated several times in the furnace of tribulations and hammered with the persecutions of the world before he becomes pure and humble, and fit to enter the presence of God.

 

400. The Master once said to Keshab Chandra Sen while the latter was ill, ''You are suffering; but your illness has a deep meaning. In this body you have gone through various stages of spiritual development; the body is now suffering from the reaction. When the spiritual waves arise, the consciousness of the body vanishes, but it tells upon the body in the end. When a big steamer plies on the Ganges, the waves dash against the shore for sometime after the steamer has passed. The larger the boat, the bigger the waves, and sometimes they even break down the banks. If an elephant enters a small hut, the hut shakes and falls down. So also the experience of spiritual ecstasy shakes and sometimes shatters the body of the devotee. Do you know the consequence of this? If a house catches fire, many things are burnt. Similarly, the fire of Divine wisdom burns all passions, anger and other evils, and in the end destroys the consciousness of 'I, me and mine'. The body suffers then a severe shock and is shattered. You may think, that everything is finished, but as long as there is the least vestige of the ego, He will not make you free. If you are admitted as a patient in a hospital, you will not be discharged unless you are perfectly cured."

 

401. The Master said to Keshab, while the latter was ill: ''The gardener sometimes exposes the roots of rose bushes, so that the dew may fall upon them. Sometimes he trims off some of the roots, so that the flowers may become larger. Perhaps, the Lord is preparing you to do greater works."

 

402. Expressing his own attitude towards illness, the Master said: ''Let the disease run its course and let the body suffer, but, O mind, be thou ever in bliss."

 

403. The power and glory of Knowledge and faith never fail a true devotee, whatever be the joy and suffering his body undergoes. His Knowledge and faith never get dim. See how severe were the tribulations that visited the Pandavas, yet not for a moment did the light of Knowledge desert them.

 

FORBEARANCE

 

404. In the Bengali alphabet no three letters are alike in sound except the three sibilants (Sa, Sha, and Sa); and they all mean for us. forbear', forbear', . forbear'. (In Bengali Sa means forbear. It is derived from the Sanskrit root Sah.) This shows that even from our childhood we are made to learn forbearance through our very alphabet. The quality of forbearance is of the highest importance to every man.

 

405. Look at the anvil of a blacksmithhow it is hammered and beaten; yet it moves not from its place. Let men learn patience and endurance from it.

 

RETICENCE

406. Keep your own sentiments and faith to yourself. Do not talk about them abroad. Otherwise, you will be a great loser.

 

407. The more a person conceals his devotional practices from others, the better for him.

 

HUMILITY AND SELF-RESPECT

 

408. It is a great degradation to be conceited. Look at the crow―how wise it thinks itself to be! It never falls into a snare. It flies off at the slightest approach of danger, and steals food with the greatest dexterity. But the poor creature cannot help eating filth. This is the result of being over-wise or having the wisdom of a pettifogger.

 

409. To become great one must be humble. The nest of the sky-lark is on the earth below, but it soars high into the sky. High ground is not fit for cultivation; low ground is necessary, so that water may stand on it.

 

410. The tree laden with fruits always bends low. If you wish to be great, be lowly and meek.

 

411. Our duty is to fall down and adore where others only bow.

 

412. One should not entertain egotistical feeling, such as the conceit of the preacher, ''I am lecturing, hear me, all of you!" Egotism exists in ignorance, not in Knowledge. He attains the Truth who is devoid of conceit. The rain water stands in low places, but runs off from high places.

413. In a balance, the scale that is heavy bends down, but the lighter one rises up. So the man of merit and ability is always humble and meek, while the fool is puffed up with vain conceit.

 

414. Be as devoid of vanity as the cast-away leaf carried by the high wind.

 

415. If you wish to thread a needle, make the thread pointed and remove all protruding fibers. Then it will easily pass through the eye of the needle. So, if thou wish to concentrate your heart and soul on God, be meek, humble and poor in spirit and remove all the spreading filaments of desire.

 

416. Many a man with a show of humility says, ''I am like an earthworm groveling in the dust." In this way thinking themselves always to be worms, in time they became weak in spirit like worms. Let not despondency ever enter into your heart. Despair is the greatest enemy in the Jfath of progress. As a man thinks, so he becomes."

 

417. A true man (Manush) is only he who is a Manush―one endowed with a sense of self-respect. Others are men only in name.

 

418. No pride is pride that expresses the glory of the soul. No humility is humility that humiliates the self.

 

SIMPLICITY

 

419. Till one becomes simple like a child, one cannot get divine illumination. Forget all the worldly knowledge that you have acquired and become as ignorant of it as a child; then you will get the knowledge of the Truth.

 

420. Simple-mindedness takes one easily to God. If a person is simple, spiritual instructions easily fructify in him, as seeds germinate easily and grow to bear fruit soon when sown in tilled soil free from stones.

 

421, The Master used to say, ''People become simple-minded only in consequence of much penance. God can never be attained except with a simple mind. It is to the simple-minded that He reveals His own nature." But to safeguard people from developing into simpletons in the name of simplicity and truthfulness, the Master would also sound a note of warning: " You are to be a devotee but not a simpleton on that account." or again, ''Always you must discriminate in your mind between the true and the false, the eternal and the transient;

and then leaving aside all that is transient, you should fix your mind upon that alone which is eternal."

 

CONQUEST OF DESIRES

 

422. He is a true man who is dead even in this life that is, whose passions and propensities have been curbed to extinction as in a dead body.

 

423. So long as the heavenly expanse of the heart is troubled and disturbed by the gusts of desire, there is little chance of our beholding therein the brightness of God. The beatific vision dawns only in the heart that is calm and rapt in Divine communion.

 

424. God cannot be seen so long as there is the slightest taint of desire. Therefore have your minor desires satisfied, and renounce the major ones by right reasoning and discrimination.

 

425. As one who is standing by the brink of a deep well is always careful lest he should fall into it, even so should one living in the world be always on his guard against its temptations. He who has once fallen into the well of the' world, so full of temptations, can hardly come out of it uninjured and stainless.

 

426. On being asked when the enemies of man, such as lust. anger. etc., will be vanquished, the Master replied: ''So long as these passions are directed towards the world and its objects, they behave like enemies. But when they are directed towards God, they become the best friends of man, for then they lead him unto God. The lust for the things of the world must be changed into the hankering for God, the anger that man feels in relation to his fellow man should be turned toward God for not revealing Himself to him. One should deal with all the passions in the same manner. These passions cannot be eradicated but can be educated."

 

427. Mandodari told her royal husband Ravana, ''If you are so intent upon having Sita as your queen, why don't you impose on her by assuming the form of her husband Rama with the help of your magical powers? " ''Fie on you!" explained Ravana, ''Can I stoop to the pleasures of the senses while I am in the holy form of Ramaa form the very thought of which fills my heart with such unspeakable joy and blessedness that even the highest heaven appears to me worthless?

 

428. When an elephant is let loose, it goes about uprooting trees and shrubs; but as soon as the driver applies the hook on its head it becomes quiet. So the mind, when unrestrained, wantons in the luxuriance of idle thoughts, but becomes at once calm when pulled up with the goad of discrimination.

 

429. The more a man's attachment to the world, the less he is likely to attain Knowledge. The less his attachment to the world, the more is the probability of his gaining Knowledge.

 

430. When butter is produced by churning curds, it should not be kept in the same vessel with the buttermilk, for then it will lose something of its sweetness and hardness. It should be kept in pure water and in a different vessel. Similarly after attaining partial perfection in the world, if one still continues to mix with the worldly and remains in the midst of the temptations of the world, one is likely to become tainted, but one can remain pure by living out of the world.

 

431. Q. How may we conquer the old Adam that is in us?

A. When the flower develops into fruit. the petals drop off of themselves. So, when the divinity in you increases, the weakness of human nature in you will vanish of its own accord.

 

432. If once through intense Vairagya (dispassion) one attains God, then the inordinate temptations of lust fall off, and a man finds himself in no danger from his own wife. If there are two magnets at an equal distance from a piece of iron. which of them will draw it with a stronger force? Certainly the larger. Verily God is the larger magnet; what can the smaller magnet (' woman') do against it?

 

433." Q. How does the attraction of sensual pleasures die away?

A. In God, who is at once the embodiment of all happiness and pleasures. They who realize Him can find no attraction in the mean and worthless pleasures of the world.

 

434, Taking Helancha (a medicinal herb) is not the same as taking a pot-herb, and taking a piece of sugar candy is not the same as taking common sweets; for Helancha and sugar candy are not injurious to health and even a sick man may use them. The mystic Pranava, too, is no mere word but a phonetic symbol of the Divinity. In the same way the desire for holiness and devotion cannot be deemed to be equal to the common polluting desires of the world.

 

ATTITUDE TOWARDS WOMEN

435. All women are parts of' the Divine Mother, and therefore they should be looked upon as mothers by all.

 

436. Women, whether naturally good or not, whether chaste or unchaste, should always be looked upon as images of the blissful Divine Mother.

 

437. Q. How should we look upon the fair sex?

A. He who has known the Real, who is blessed with the vision of God, does not regard them with any fear. He sees them as they really are―parts of the Divine Mother of the universe. So he not only pays all honour and respect to women, but actually worships them as a son does his mother.

438. Q. How can we conquer lust?

A. Look upon all women as your own mother. Never look a woman in the face, but always look at her feet. All evil thoughts will then flyaway.

 

439. The woman who observes continence even while living with her husband, is veritably the Divine Mother Herself.

 

440. Q. Sir, what do you think of the mode of devotional practices in the company of women, as enjoined by the Tantras ?

A. Those are not safe paths; they are very difficult and are often attended with slips. There are three ways of practicing devotion (according to the Tantras)―one may cultivate the attitude of the 'hero', or the 'hand-maid, or the 'son' towards the Divine Mother. Mine is the attitude of the son. To think of oneself as the hand-maid of the Divine Mother is also good, but the path of the 'hero'1 is fraught with danger. Very pure is the path of ''sonship" (i.e. thinking of oneself as the son of the Divine Mother).

I It is called Virachara in the Tantras. In this path the devotee has to worship the Goddess as his Divine Consort, taking a woman as the vice deus.

 

441. Do you aspire after Divine grace? Then propitiate the Mother, the Primal Divine Energy (Sakti). Yes, She is Mahamaya Herself. She it is Who has deluded the whole world, and is conjuring up the triple device of creation, maintenance and dissolution. She has spread a veil of ignorance over all, and unless She unbars the gate, none can enter the 'Inner Court'. Left outside, we see only the external things, but the Eternal One, Sachchidananda, remains ever beyond our ken.

 

 The Divine Sakti has two aspects― Vidya and Avidya. Avidya deludes and is the mother of Kamini Kanchana, 'woman and gold'; and it binds. But Vidya is the source of devotion, kindness, knowledge and love, and it takes us towards God.


 

This Avidya has to be propitiated, and hence the institution of Sakti worship. Various are the ways of worship, for gratifying Her―as Her 'handmaid', or 'hero', or 'child'. Sakti-sadhana is no joke, there are very strenuous and dangerous practices in it. I passed two years as Mother's 'hand-maid' and 'friend'. Mine, however, is the mood of the 'child', and to me the breasts of any women are like unto my mother's.

Women are so many images of Sakti. In the western parts of this country the bridegroom holds a knife in his hand during marriage, and in Bengal, a nut-cracker. The idea is that he will cut the bonds of Maya with the help of the bride who is Sakti Herself. This is Virabhava, 'the way of the hero'. But I never practised it. Mine is the attitude of the 'child'.

 

DEVOTEE AND HIS FAMILY

442. Q. Suppose a wife tells her husband who is given to religious practices. If you do not look after me properly, I will commit suicide.' What should one do in that case?

A. One should give up such a wife―the wife that stands in the way to God-realization. Let her commit suicide or let her not. The wife who thus puts obstacles in one's path to God is an embodiment of Avidya (nescience). But then all become amenable to one who has a sincere devotion to God ―even the king, wicked persons and the wife. If one has true devotion, then one's wife also gradually turns Godward. If one is good-natured, it is quite possible that she too becomes good through the grace of God.

 

443. Father and mother are of prime importance to man. Unless they are pleased, no devotional practice will be of any avail. Look at Sri Chaitanya. Though mad with love of God, he took much pains to console his mother before he took Sannyasa. He told her, ''Mother, do not be sorry. I will come now and then to see you." There are so many debts that one has to repay―the debt to the gods, the debt to the Rishis, and also the debt to the parents and the wife. No pious work can succeed unless the debt to the parents is paid off. There is a debt even to the wife. Harish is staying here, having renounced his wife. If his wife had not been provided for, I would have called him a wicked fellow. Ramaprasanna is always wandering about for milk and opium for the Hatha Yogi. He says that Manu has enjoined service to Sadhus. Meanwhile, his old mother is starving and has to do her own shopping. I feel so angry at this.

 

444. But there is one consideration. If a man becomes mad with love of God, then who is father, who is mother and who is wife? He loves God so deeply that he becomes mad. He has no duty, he is absolved from all debts. When a man reaches that state, he forgets the whole world; he becomes unconscious of even the body which is so dear to everyone.

 

445. The parents deserve the highest respect in this world. As long as they live, they should be served to the best of one's capacity, and after their death, their post-funeral rites ought to be performed according to one's means. Even if the son be the poorest of the poor, and has no means to perform the post-funeral rites of his parents, he should resort to the forest and shed tears there, remembering his inability. Only then can he free himself from his obligation to them. For the sake of God alone, one may disobey one's parents without incurring sin. As for instance, Prahlada did not refrain from taking the name of Lord Krishna, although prohibited by his father to do so. And Dhruva went to the forest in order to practice austerities, even though forbidden by his mother. They had not done any wrong in this.

 

Prayer and Devotion

446. Q. Should we pray aloud to God?

A.     Pray to Him in any way you like. He is always sure to hear you. He can hear even the footfall of an ant.

 

447. Q. Is there really any efficacy in prayers?

A. Yes. When mind and speech unite in earnestly asking for a thing, that prayer is answered. Of no avail are the prayers of that man who says with his mouth, ''These are all Thine, O Lord! and at the same time thinks in his heart that all of them are his.

 

448. Be not a traitor to your thoughts. Be sincere; act according to your thoughts; and you shall surely succeed. Pray with a sincere and simple heart, and your prayers will be heard.

 

449. What you think, that you should speak. Let there be harmony between your thoughts and word. Otherwise, if you merely say God is your all in all while in your mind you have made the world your all in all, you cannot derive any benefit thereby.

 

450. To approach a mighty monarch a man must ingratiate himself with the officials who keep the gate and guard the throne. So, to reach the Almighty Lord and obtain His grace, one must practice much devotion, serve many devotees, and keep for long the company of the wise.

 

451. Do not let worldly thoughts and anxieties disturb your mind. Do everything that is necessary in the proper time, and let your mind be always fixed on God.

 

452. There is little fear that a ship will drift or run into danger as long as its compass points due North. So the ship of life steers clear of every danger, if the mind, its compass needle, is always turned towards God without oscillation.

 

453. How to pray is the next question. Let us not pray for things of the world, but pray like saint Narada. Narada said to Ramachandra, ''O Rama, grant that I may be favoured with Bhakti (love, devotion and self-surrender) for Thy lotus-feet." ''Be it so, Narada." said Rama, ''but will you not ask for anything else? "

Narada replied, ''Lord, may it please Thee to grant that I may not be attracted by Thy Māyā, which fascinates the universe.'' Ramachandra said once more, ''Be it so, Narada, but will you not ask for anything else?" Narada replied, ''No Lord, that is all I pray for."

 

454. If you cannot settle whether God has form or not, then pray in this way: ''O Lord, I cannot understand whether thou art with form or without. Whatever mayst Thou be, have mercy on me. Do reveal. Thyself unto me."


 

455. One may attribute the various forms and aspects of God that are current in society to imagination, and may have no faith in them. Yet God will shower His grace on a person if he believes in a Divine Power that creates and directs the world, and prays with a distressed heart, ''O God, I do not know Thy real nature. Deign to reveal Thyself to me as Thou really art."

 

456. God is extremely attentive, my boys. He has heard, every time you have prayed to Him. He will surely reveal Himself to you some day or other at least at the time of death.
 

 

 

CHAPTER XI

SPIRITUAL ASPIRANTS AND RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES

 

God of all religions the same―Different religions as paths to God―Cause and cure of fanaticism―Right attitude towards religious differences―Attitude to towards secret cults

 

GOD OF ALL RELIGIONS THE SAME

457. As one and the same water is called by different names by different peoples, some calling it 'water' some 'Vari', some 'Aqua' and some 'Pani', so the one Sachchidananda―Existence-Intelligence- Bliss Absolute―is invoked by some as God, by some as Allah, by some as Hari and by others as Brahman.

 

458. In a potter's shop there are vessels of different shapes and forms―pots, jars, dishes, plates, etc,―but all made of the same clay. So God is one, but He is worshipped in different ages and climes under different names and aspects.

 

459. As the same sugar is made into various figures of birds and beasts, so the one sweet Divine Mother is worshiped in various climes and ages under various names and forms.

 

460. Various ornaments are made of gold. Although the substance is the same, they are called variously and appear different in form. So one and the same God is worshipped in different countries, and ages under different names and forms. He may be worshipped in various ways according to different conceptionssome loving to call Him as father and others as mother, some as friend and others as beloved, some, again as the innermost treasure of their heart and others as their sweet little childbut it is always one and the same God that is worshipped in all these diverse relations.

 

461. Once a dispute arose among the learned men at the court of the Maharajah of Burdwan as to who was the greater of the two Deities. Siva and Vishnu. Some of the courtiers said that Siva was greater, while the others gave preference to Vishnu. When the dispute grew hot. a wise Pandit remarked, ''Sir. I have seen neither Siva nor Vishnu. How can I say who is the greater of the two" Similarly, do not try to compare one Deity with another. When you will see one of them. you will come to know that they are all the manifestations of the same Brahman.

 

DIFFERENT RELIGIONS AS PATHS TO GOD

462. There are several bathing ghats in a large tank. Whoever goes choosing whichever ghat he pleases to take a bath or to fill his vessel reaches the water, and it is useless to quarrel with one another by calling one's ghat better than another's Similarly, there are many ghats that lead to the water of the fountain of Eternal Bliss. Every religion of the world is one such ghat. Go direct with a sincere and earnest heart through anyone of these ghats, and you shall reach the water of Eternal Bliss. But say not that your religion is better than that of another.

 

463. Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through that you will realize Him.

 

464. Different creeds are but different paths to reach the one God. Diverse are the ways that lead to the temple of Mother Kali at Kalighat in Calcutta. Similarly various are the paths that take men to the house of the Lord. Every religion is nothing but one of these paths.

 

465. Some years ago when the Hindus and the Brahmos were preaching their respective religions with true earnestness and great zeal, someone asked the Master what his opinion was regarding both the parties. To this the Master said, ''I see that my Divine Mother is getting

Her work done through both these parties."

 

466. Questioned by a pious Brahmo as to what constituted the difference between Hinduism and Brahmoism, the Master said that the difference is the same as that between a single note and the whole gamut. The Brahmo religion is content with the single note of the Brahman, while the Hindu religion is made up of several notes, which together produce a sweet harmony.

 

467. As one can ascend to the top of a house by means of a ladder, a bamboo, a staircase or a rope, so also diverse are the ways of approaching God, and every religion in the world shows one of the ways.

 

468. The light of the gas lamp illuminates various localities with varying intensity, but the sustenance of light, namely, the gas, comes from one common store. So the religious teachers of all lands and of all ages are but so many lamps through which the light of the Spirit streams constantly from the one almighty source.

469. The cries of all jackals are the same. So are the teachings of all the wise ones are the same.

 

The Cause and Cure of Fanaticism

470. Through ignorance a common man considers his own religion to be the best and makes much useless clamour; but when his mind is illumined by true Knowledge all sectarian quarrel disappears.

 

471. Two persons were hotly disputing as to the colour of a chameleon. One said, ''The chameleon on that palm tree is of a beautiful red colour." The other contradicted him saying, ''You are mistaken, the chameleon is not red but blue." Being unable to settle the matter by argument, both went to a man who always lived under that tree and had watched the chameleon in all its phases. One of the disputants asked. "Sir, is not the chameleon on that tree of a red colour?" The man replied, ''Yes, sir." The other disputant. Said, ''What do you say? How is that possible? Surely it is not red, but blue!" The man again humbly replied, ''Yes, sir." He knew that the chameleon constantly changed its colour. So he said, 'Yes' to both the conflicting views ―God who is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute has likewise various forms. The devotee, who has seen God only in one aspect knows that and that aspect alone. None but he who has seen Him in manifold aspects can say, ''All these forms are of the one God, for God is multiform." He is formless and with form, and many are His forms which no one knows.

 

472. Dal (sedge) does not grow in large tanks with pure water. It grows only in small, stagnant and miasmatic pools. Similarly Dal (schism) does not occur in a party whose members are guided by pure, broad and unselfish motives. It appears only in the party whose members are selfish, insincere and bigoted.

 

473. Is it good to create sects (Dal)? Here is a pun on the word 'dal' which means in Bengali both a'" sect' or 'party' and 'the rank growth on the surface of a stagnant pool '. The 'dal' cannot grow in flowing water; it grows only in stagnant pools. He whose heart constantly flows towards the Lord has no time for anything else. He who seeks fame and honour forms sects.'

 

474. Men may partition their lands by measuring rods and boundary lines, but no one can so partition the all-embracing sky overhead. The individual sky surrounds all and includes all. So the unenlightened man in his ignorance says that his religion is the only true one and that it is the best. But when his heart is illumined by the light of true Knowledge, he comes to know that above all these wars of sects and creeds is the one Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute (Akhanda Sachchidananda).

 

RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS. RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES

 

475. Whoever performs devotional exercises with the belief, that there is but one God is bound to attain Him, no matter in what aspect. name or manner He is worshipped.

 

476. You will advance whatever way you meditate on Him or recite His holy names. The cake made of sugar candy will taste equally sweet. whether it is held straight or oblique when you eat it.

 

477. Q. If the God of every religion is the same, why is it then that God is painted differently by different religionists?

A. God is one, but His aspects are many. As the master of a house is father to one, brother to another and husband to a third, and is called by different names by different persons, so the one God is described in various ways according to the particular aspect in which He appears to His particular worshipper.

 

478. As a mother in nursing her sick children, gives rice and curry to one, sago and arrowroot to another, and bread and butter to a third. so the Lord has laid out different paths for different men suitable to their natures.

 

479. Sankaracharya' s exposition of the Vedanta is indeed true, and true also is what Ramanuja speaks of it­― his Visishtadvaita philosophy.

 

480. Let a man be a Christian in the matter of mercy, a Moslem in the matter of strict observance of external forms, and a Hindu in the matter of universal charity towards all living creatures.

 

481. When you go out and mix with people, you should have love for them all; mix with them freely and become one with them. You should not shrug your shoulders and hate them, saying, ''They believe in a Personal God, and not in the impersonal, or " They believe in the Impersonal, and not in the Personal," or ''He is a Christian, a Hindu, or a Mussalman." Man understands about Him only so much as He makes him understand.

Moreover, knowing that men are of different tendencies, you should mix with them as much as you can. And you should love all. Then returning to your own 'home' (heart) you will enjoy bliss and peace. There you will meet your own real self.

 

482. Every man should follow his own religion. A Christian should follow Christianity, and a Mohammedan Mohammedanism. For the Hindu the ancient path, the path of the Aryan Rishis, is the best.

 

483. A truly religious mall should think that other religions are also so many paths leading to the Truth. We should always maintain an attitude of respect towards other religions.

 

484. Dispute not. As you rest firmly on your own faith and opinion, allow others also equal liberty to stand by their own faith and opinion. By mere disputation you will never succeed in convincing another of his error. When the grace of God descends on him, every man will understand his own mistakes.

 

485. One day the Master was heard talking to the Mother of the universe, in a God-intoxicated state: ''Mother, everyone says, 'My watch keeps correct time.' The Christians, the Hindus, the Mohammedans, all say, 'My religion is the true religion. 'But Mother, nobody's watch is exact. Who can truly know Thee? But again, if one seeks Thee with a yearning heart. one can reach Thee by Thy grace through any path, through any religion."


 

486. Some ardent moralists among the Master's disciples often found fault with certain people of great spiritual attainments, because some of the practices they followed, being of the secret rites of the Saktas and Vaishnavas, seemed to violate the ordinary rules of morality. To them the Master used to reply: "They are not to be blamed for that. For they had the thorough conviction that the paths they followed in themselves led to God-realization. Whatever is ardently believed in and adopted as a means to God-realization should not be found fault with. No aspirant's attitude should be condemned, since any attitude, if sincerely followed, is sure to lead to God, Who is the consummation of them all. Go on calling upon Him, each in his own way, and don't find fault with another's path or take to it as your own."

 

487. With a view to remove the antagonism of his disciples towards these secret cults, the Master would sometimes speak to them about his views regarding them as follows: "Well, why should you cherish hatred towards them? Know them also to be paths, though they may be dirty. There may be diverse entrances to a house―the front gate, the back-door and the door for the scavenger who comes to clean the dirty places in the house. Know these cults to be akin to this last-mentioned door. No matter by which door one enters, when one is within the house, one reaches the same place as others reach. Are you therefore to imitate these people or mix with them? Certainly not. But do not hate them in any way.

 

CHAPTER XII

ESSENTIALS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE

Some conditions of spiritual enlightenment―Faith―Resignation to God―Necessity of Ishta or Chosen Deity―Truth―Brahmacharya or continence― Viveka or discrimination― Vairagya or aversion for worldly Objects―Perseverance―Spiritual practice―Concentration and meditation

 

SOMECONDITIONSOF SPIRITUALENLIGHTENMENT

488. If a person possessed by an evil spirit becomes conscious that he is so possessed, the evil spirit at once leaves him. Similarly the Jiva which is possessed by the evil spirit of Māyā, on realizing that he is so possessed, becomes at once free from it.

 

489. He alone enters the Kingdom of Heaven who is not a thief of his own thoughts. In other words. guilelessness and simple faith are the roads to that Kingdom.

 

490. A person once said, ''The innate nature of a substance can never be changed.'' Another retorted, ''When fire enters charcoal, it destroys its innate blackness.'' So when the mind is burnt by the fire of Knowledge, its innate nature, too is destroyed, and it ceases to be a snare.

 

491. The mind is everything. If the mind loses its liberty, you lose yours. If the mind is free, you too are free. The mind may get dyed in any colour, like a white cloth fresh from the laundry. Study English, and you must mix English words in your talk in spite of yourself. The Pandit who studies Sanskrit must quote verses. If the mind is kept in bad company, the evil influence of it will colour one's thoughts and conversations. Placed in the midst of devotees, the mind is sure to meditate on God and God alone. It changes its nature according to the things amongst which it lives and acts.

 

492. The mind is everything. The attraction for the wife is of one kind, and the affection for the child is of quite a different nature. On one side is one's wife, on another side is the child; one caresses both, but is moved by quite different impulses.

 

493. Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say, ''I am a free soul. I am a son of God! Who can bind me?" free you shall be. If one is bitten by a snake and can say with all the force of will and faith, ''There is no venom, there is no venom," one will surely get rid of the venom.

 

494. Q. When shall I be free ?

A. When 'l' shall cease to be. 'I and mine' is Ignorance. 'Thou and Thine' is Knowledge.

 

 

FAITH

495. To a disciple who criticised some people's faith as 'blind faith,' the Master remarked, ''Well, can you explain to me what you mean by 'blind faith'? ls not faith wholly 'blind'? What then are its eyes? Say either 'faith' or 'knowledge'. Or else, what is this queer notion that faith in some instances is 'blind' and in others is with eyes'?''

 

496. Man suffers through lack of faith in God.

 

497. There are physiological signs indicating who will be endowed with faith and who not. The bony sort of fellows. the hollow-eyed, the squint-eyed―all these types cannot have faith easily.

 

498. To kill another. sword and shield are needed, whilst to kill oneself even a pin will do. So to teach others one must study many scriptures and sciences, while to acquire spiritual illumination for oneself, firm faith in a single motto will suffice.

 

499. There are various sects and creeds among the Hindus. Which of them should we adopt? Parvati once asked Mahadeva, ''O Lord, what is the root of the 'eternal, everlasting, all-embracing Bliss? To her Mahadeva replied, ''The root is faith." So, the peculiarities of creeds and sects matter little or nothing. Let everyone take to devotional practices and perform the duties of his own creed with faith.

 

500. Knowledge relating to God keeps pace with faith. Where there is little faith, it is idle to look for much Knowledge. The cow which is over-nice in matters of eating is not liberal in its supply of milk. But the cow which welcomes all kinds of food―herbs. Leaves, grass, husks, straw and the rest and eats them up with great appetite, gives an abundant supply. Her milk comes down

from the udder into the pail in torrents.

 

 501. He who has faith has all, and he who lacks it lacks all.

 

502. If you are keen on realizing God, repeat His name with firm faith, and try to discriminate the Real from the unreal.

 

503. Unless one becomes childlike in faith, it is difficult to realize God. If the mother says to the child, ''He is your brother," the child fully believes that the person referred to is really his brother. If the mother says, ''Don't go there, there is a bogy," the child is indeed convinced that there is a bogy. God is moved to pity when He sees in a man that kind of childlike faith. None can attain God with the calculating nature of the worldly-minded.

 

504. One day, Sri Krishna, while going in a chariot along with Arjuna, looked up to the sky and said, ''Behold! What a nice flight of pigeons there.'' Arjuna at once turned his eyes in that direction and exclaimed, ‘‘Really, friend, very beautiful pigeons indeed!" But the very next moment Sri Krishna looked again and said, ‘‘No, friend, they are not pigeons, it seems," Arjuna, too saw again and said, ‘‘True, they are not pigeons." Now try to understand the meaning of this. A great adherent of truth that Arjuna was, he did not possibly assent to whatever Sri Krishna said, simply for flattering him. Just he had such an unflinching faith in Sri Krishna that he perceived at once actually whatever Sri Krishna said.

 

505. Boil your sugar well over a burning fire. As long as there is dirt or impurity in it, the sweet infusion will smoke, and simmer. But when all the impurity and scum are cast out, there is neither smoke nor sound; only the delicious crystalline syrup heaves in its unmixed worth. Then whether liquid or solid, it becomes the delight of men and gods. Such, is the character of the man of faith.

 

506. A man wanted to cross a river. A sage gave him an amulet and said, ''This will carry you across." The man, taking it in his hand. began to walk over the water. Before he had gone half the way, he was seized with curiosity, and opened the amulet to see what was in it. Therein he found written on a piece of paper, the sacred name of Rama, the Lord. At this the man said depreciatingly, ''Is this the whole secret?" No sooner did this skepticism enter his mind than he sank down. It is faith in the 'name' of the Lord that works wonders; for faith is life and want of faith is death.

 

507. A disciple who had firm faith in the infinite power of his Guru walked over a river by simply uttering his name. Seeing this. the Guru thought, ‘‘Well, is there such a power in my mere name? Then how much great and powerful must I be." The next day, the Guru also tried to walk over the river uttering, 'I', 'I', 'I', but no sooner did he step into the water than he sank down and was soon drowned; for the poor man did not know how to swim even. Faith can achieve miracles while vanity or egotism brings about the destruction of man.

 

508. Sri Ramachandra, who was God incarnate, had to bridge the ocean before he could cross over to Lanka (Ceylon). But Hanuman, his faithful monkey devotee and servant crossed the ocean at one leap, because of his firm faith in Rama. Here the servant achieved more than the master, simply through faith.

 

509. A king guilty of the heinous sin of killing a Brahmin went to the hermitage of a Rishi to learn what penance he must perform in order to be purified. The Rishi was absent, but his son was in the hermitage. Hearing the case of the king, he said, ‘‘Repeat the 'name' of God (Rama) three times, and your sin will be expiated." When the Rishi came back and heard of the penance prescribed by his son, he remarked indignantly. "Sins committed in myriads of births are purged immediately by uttering the name of the Almighty but once. How weak must be your faith, ''O fool, since you have ordered the holy 'name' to be repeated thrice? For this weakness of your faith. You shall become an outcaste." And the son became Guhaka of the Ramayana.

 

510. The stone may remain in water for numberless years: yet the water will never penetrate into it. But clay is soon soaked into mud by the contact of water. So the strong heart of the faithful does not despair in the midst of trials and persecutions, but the man of weak faith is shaken even by the most trifling cause.

 

511. One becomes as one thinks. They say that by constantly thinking of a particular kind of insect (Bhramarakita), a cockroach is transformed into the insect. Similarly he who constantly thinks of the Bliss Absolute himself becomes full of bliss.

 

512. Why talk of sin and hell-fire all the days of your life? Chant the 'name' of God. Do say, but once, ''I have, O Lord, done things that 1 ought not to have done and I have left undone things that I ought to have done. O Lord, forgive me!'' Saying this, have faith in Him, and you will be purged of all sins.

 

513. The faith-healers of India order their patients to repeat with full conviction the words, ''There is no illness, at all." The patients repeat them, and this mental suggestion helps to drive off the disease. So if you think yourself to be morally weak, you will actually become so in a short time. Know and believe that you are of immense power, and then power will come to you at last.

 

514. He who thinks that he is a Jiva, verily remains as a Jiva; but he who considers himself to be God, verily becomes a God. As one thinks, so does one become.

 

RESIGNATION TO GOD

515. He who can resign himself to the will of the Almighty with simple faith and guileless love realizes the Lord very quickly.

 

516. To live in the world or to leave it depends upon the will of God. Therefore work, leaving everything to Him. What else can you do ?

 

517. A shallow pool of water in an open field will soon be dried up, though no one may lessen the quantity of its water by using it. So a sinful man is sometimes purified by simply resigning himself totally and absolutely to the mercy and grace of God.

 

518. Q: What are we to do when we are placed in this world?

A. Give up everything to Him, resign yourself to Him, and there will be no mere trouble for you. Then you will come to know His will.

 

519. There is no path safer and smoother than that of Ba-kalama (power of attorney). Here Ba-kalama means here resigning oneself to the will of the Almighty and having no feeling that anything is one's own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

520. The young of a monkey clasps and clings to its mother tightly when she moves about. The kitten on the other hand does not do so but mews piteously, and the mother grasps it by the neck. If the young of the monkey lets go its hold of its mother, it falls down and gets hurt. This is because it relies upon its own strength. But the kitten runs no such risk, as the mother herself carries it about from place to place. Such is the difference between self-reliance and entire resignation to the will of God.

 

521. A father was once passing through a field with his two little sons. He was carrying one of them in his arms while the other was walking along with him holding his hand. They saw a kite flying, and the latter boy, giving up his hold on his father's hand, began to clasp with joy, crying, '' Behold, papa, there is a kite!" But immediately he stumbled down and got hurt. The boy who was carried by the father also clapped his hands with joy, but did not fall, as his father was holding him. The first boy represents self-help in spiritual matters, and the second self-surrender.

 

522. Blessed Radha was once called to prove her chastity. She was subjected to the ordeal of fetching water in a jar with thousand holes. She succeeded in doing so without even a drop of water leaking out, and everyone applauded her, declaring that such a chaste woman never was and never will be. At this Radha exclaimed, ''Why do you heap praise on me? Say rather, 'Glory to Krishna!' Glory to Him alone! I um only a handmaid of His."

 

523. What is the nature of absolute reliance on God? It is like that happy state of relaxation felt by a fatigued worker when reclining on a pillow, he smokes at leisure after a day's hard work. It is the cessation of all anxieties and worries.

 

524. Live here like a leaf cast off after being used for taking food. It is at the mercy of the winds; it is blown here and there; sometimes indoors and sometimes abroad in dirty places. Well, now you are placed here; all right, remain here. And when He will take you away and put you in a better place, then too, you should say 'Amen' and resign to His will with perfect unattachment. Let things take care of themselves.

 

NECESSITY OF ISHTA OR CHOSEN DEITY

525. The young wife in a family respects her father-in-law and mother-in-law, ministers to their wants, and does not despise or disobey them; but at the same time she loves her husband more than any of them. In the same way be firm in your devotion to your own Chosen Deity (Ishta), but do not despise other Deities. Honour them too; for they all represent one Authority and one Love.

 

526. In the play of dice called Ashta-kashta, the pieces must pass through all the squares of the chequer before they reach the central square of rest and non-return. But as long as a pawn does not reach the central square, it is liable to return again and again to its starting point and commence its weary journey over and over again. If, however, two pawns happen to start their journey in unison and move jointly from square to square, they cannot be forced back by any winner. Similarly, those who start on their career of devotional practices, first uniting themselves with a Guru and an lshta, have no fear of reverses and difficulties on the way. Their progress will be smooth, unimpeded and without any retrogression.

 

527. Many roads lead to Calcutta. Dr. Doubtful started from his home in a distant village to go to the metropolis. He asked a man on the road, ‘‘Which is the shortest route to Calcutta?" The man said, ''Follow this road." Proceeding some distance, he met another man and asked him, ''Is this the shortest road to Calcutta? The man replied, ''Oh no! You must retrace your steps and take the road to your left." The man did so. Going .along that new road for some distance, he met a third man who pointed out another road to Calcutta. Thus Dr. Doubtful made no progress, but spent the whole day in changing roads. One who really wishes to reach Calcutta must stick to a single road pointed out by an honest man; so also those who want to reach God must follow steadily one particular guide.

 

528. A man began to sink a well, but having dug down to a depth of twenty cubits, he could not find any trace of water there. So he gave up that site and selected another spot for the purpose. There he dug still deeper, but even then could not find tiny water. So he selected yet another site and dig deeper than before. But it was also of no avail.

 At last in utter disgust he gave up the task altogether. The total depth of all these three wells was only a little short of one hundred cubits. Had he the patience to devote even half of the whole of this labor to his first well, instead of changing the site again and again, he would surely have succeeded in getting water. The same is the case with men who continually change their faith. In order to succeed we have to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to one object of faith without being in the least doubtful as to its worth.

 

529. As a chaste woman wholly devoted to her husband is united with him forever even after death, so the man who is solely devoted to his own Chosen Deity certainly obtains union with God.

 

TRUTH

530. Have Bhakti within and give up all cunning and deceit. Those who are engaged in business, such as work in office or trade. should also stick to truth. Truthfulness is the Tapasya (austerity) of this age of Kali.

 

531. Unless one always speaks the truth, one cannot find God Who is the soul of truth.

 

532. One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.

 

533. Everything false is bad. Even false garb is bad. If your mind is not quite in accord with the garb, then terrible ruin, shall visit you. In this way. one grows hypocritical. and all fear of doing wrong or uttering falsehood disappears.

 

534. A certain person, deeply involved in debt feigned madness to escape the consequences of his liabilities. Physicians failed to cure his disease; and the more medicines were administered to him the greater became his madness. At last a wise physician found out the truth, and taking the man feigning madness aside, rebuked him saying, ''U Sir, what are you doing? Beware that by feigning madness you do not become actually mad. Already I see some genuine signs of insanity in you." This warning roused the man from his folly and he left off feigning madness. You will actually become what you constantly pose yourself to be.

 

BRAHMACHARY A OR CONTINENCE

535. As one's face may be seen reflected in a sheet of glass coated with quick silver, so the glorious image of the Almighty God can be seen reflected in the heart of a person who has preserved his power and purity through perfect continence.

 

536. Unless one practises absolute continence, one cannot comprehend the subtle truths of spirituality.

 

537. Sukadeva was an Urdhvaretas (a man of complete and unbroken continence); he had never any emission of semen. There was another class called Dhairyaretas, who had discharge of semen at one time but subsequently practiced absolute continence. If a man remains a Dhairyaretas continually for twelve years, he acquires a superhuman power. A new nerve is deve­loped in him. It is called the 'nerve of intelligence' (Medhanadi), and he can remember everything and know everything.

 

538. If a man practices absolute continence for twelve years, the Medhanadi will open (i.e., his powers and understanding will blossom). His understanding will become capable of penetrating and comprehending the subtlest of ideas. With such an understanding man can realize God. God can be attained only through a purified understanding of this type.

 

539. Waste of the vital f1uid entails "loss of energy.'' Involuntary emission, however, is not of much consequence. That is due to food. But still one (a truly spiritual man) should not know any woman carnally.

 

540. He who has relinquished sexual enjoyment had indeed renounced the world! God is indeed very near him!

 

VIVEKA OR DISCRIMINATION

541.  Practice discrimination. 'Woman' and 'gold' are both unreal; the one reality is God. Of what use is money? Why, it gives us food and clothing and a place to live in. Thus far it is useful, and no further. Surely you cannot see God with the help of money. Money is certainly not the end of life. This is the process of discrimination. What is there in money or in the beauty of women? Using your discrimination you shall find that the body of the most beautiful woman is made up only of flesh and blood, skin and bones, fat and marrow, nay, as in the case of all animals, of entrails, urine, excreta, and the rest. The wonder is that man can lose sight of God, and give his mind entirely to things of such kind!

 

542. Viveka and VairagyaViveka means the sifting of the real from the unreal; and Vairagya, indifference to  the objects of the world. They do not come all on a sudden; they have to be practiced daily.  'Woman and gold' have to be renounced, first mentally, and God willing, they should be renounced afterwards both internally and externally. It is said in the Gita that by Abhyasa Yoga (continuous practice of meditation), dislike for 'woman and gold' is engendered. Continuous practice brings to the mind extraordinary power; then nobody feels difficulty in subjugating the senses, passions, and lust. It is like a tortoise that never stretches out its limbs, once it has drawn them in. Even if you cut it to pieces, it would never stretch them out.

 

 543. Q. Is this world unreal?

 A. It is unreal so long as you do not know God.

For you do not see Him in everything, and so fasten yourself to the world with the tie of  'I and mine'. Being thus deluded by ignorance, you become attached to sense-objects and sink deeper and deeper into the abyss of Maya. Maya makes men so utterly blind that they cannot get out of its meshes even when the way lies open. You yourself know how unreal this worldly life is. Think a little of the very house that you are in. How many men were born and how many died in it! Things of the world appear before us for a moment and vanish in the next. Those whom you know to be your own will cease to exist for you, the moment you close your eyes in death. How strong is the hold of attachment upon a worldly man! There is nobody in the family who requires his attention, yet for the sake of grandson he cannot go to Benares to practice devotion. ''What will become of my Hari," is

the one thought that keeps him bound to the world. In a Ghuni (a trap for catching fish) the way out is always open, yet the fish do not get out of it. The caterpillar shuts itself up in its own cocoon and perishes. Being of such a nature, is not this mundane life (Samsara) unreal and evanescent?

 

544. Do you know how egotism is to be destroyed? When they husk corn, they stop from time to time to examine the grain, and see if the husking is complete. When they weigh some fine things in a delicate balance, they often stop and adjust the needle to test if the point is accurate. So now and then I used to abuse myself with strong denunciations to see whether my ego still rose within me are not. At times I used to ponder thus over the nature of the body: ''Look at this body. What is it but a cage of flesh and bones! It contains nothing but blood, pus and such other impure matter. It is strange that so much pride is felt with regard to this!

 

545. Suppose rice is boiling in the pot. To test whether it is properly boiled. you take one grain from it and press the same between your fingers. At once you come to know whether the whole pot of rice is boiled or not. Surely you would not press each and every grain of rice? Just as you know the condition of the rice by testing only a few grains, so also you can know whether the world is real or unreal eternal or ephemeral. existent or non­-existent, by examining two or three objects in it. Man is born, lives for some days, and then dies. So too are animals and trees. Discriminating like this, you come to know that the same is the fate of all things endowed with name and form, even of the earth, the sun and moon. Do you not thus come to understand the nature of all things in the universe? When you thus recognize the world to be unreal and ephemeral, you will no longer have any love of it. You will renounce it from the mind, and become free from all desires. When you succeed in this act of renunciation, you come to know God who is the cause of the universe. One who gains the realization of God in this way― if he is not all knowing, what else is he ?

 

VAIRAGYA

546. Even when we are blinded to reality by the fulfilment of every worldly desire, there may arise in us the question, ''Who am I who enjoy all this?" This may be the moment in which a revelation of the secret begins.

 

547. In a forest full of thorns and briars it is impossible to walk bare-footed. One can do so if the whole forest is covered with leather, or if one's own feet are protected with leather shoes. It is impossible to cover the whole forest with leather, so it is wiser to protect one's feet with shoes. Similarly, in this world man is troubled with innumerable wants and desires, and there are only two possible ways of escape from them. viz.. either to have all those wants satisfied, or to give up all of them. But it is impossible to satisfy all human wants; for with every attempt to satisfy them, new wants arise. So it is wiser to decrease one's wants by contentment and the knowledge of Truth.

 

548. It is very pleasant to scratch an itching ringworm, but the sensation one gets afterwards is very painful and intolerable. So the pleasures of this world are very attractive in the beginning, but their consequences are terrible to endure and contemplate.

 

549. A kite with a fish in its beak was chased by a large number of crows and screaming kites, pecking at it and trying to snatch away the fish. In whichever direction it went the flock of kites and crows also followed it. Tired of this annoyance, the kite threw away the fish which was instantly caught by another kite. At once the flock of kites and crows turned to the new possessor of the fish. The first kite was left unmolested; it calmly perched upon the branch of a tree. Seeing it in this quiet and tranquil state, the Avadhuta saluted it and said, ‘‘You are my Guru, O kite; you have taught me that so long as man does not throw off the burden of worldly desires, he cannot escape from worldly distractions and be at peace with himself."

 

550. A shy horse does not move straight when its eyes are not protected by eyeflaps. Similarly, the mind of a worldly man, restrained from looking around by the eyeflaps of discrimination and aversion for worldly objects, will not stumble, or stray into evil paths.

 

551. When paper is wetted with oil. it cannot be written upon. So the soul stained by the oil of vice and luxury is unfit for spiritual devotion. But when the paper wetted with oil is overlaid with chalk, it may be written upon; so when such a soul is 'chalked' over with renunciation, it becomes fit agai for spiritual progress.

 

552. There is a venomous spider, whose poison no medicine can counteract till the wound is magnetized by passes with turmeric roots held in the hand. After the wound is thus treated, other remedies are seen to produce their effect. So when the spider of lust and wealth has infected a man, he must first get thoroughly saturated with the magnetic remedy of renunciation before he can have any spiritual progress.

 

553.  If you put a purifying agent, say, a piece of alum, into a vessel of muddy water, the impurities settle down at the bottom and the water is made clear. Discrimination and dispassion for worldly objects are the two purifying agents. It is through these that the worldly man ceases to be worldly and becomes pure.

 

554. The caterpillar lets itself imprisoned in its own cocoon. So the worldly soul is caught in the meshes of its own desires. But when the caterpillar develops into a bright and beautiful butterfly, it bursts the cocoon and flies out enjoying freely light and air. So the worldly soul can fly out of the meshes of Maya with the wings of dis­crimination and dispassion for worldly things.

 

555. Reverse turns the key of the room wherein God lives. To reach Him you have to renounce the world and all.

 

556. It is useless to pore over the holy scriptures if one's mind is not endowed with Viveka and Vairagya. No spiritual progress can be made without these.

 

557. How may one attain God? One has to sacrifice body, mind and riches to find Him.

 

558. What must be the condition of the mind of a bound soul before he can hope to be liberated.  If by the grace of Go, he can acquire intense dispassion for worldly things, then only can he be released from the attachment to 'woman and gold'. 'And what is this intense dispassion, this vehement desirelessness? ''By and by I shall realize God''―this is the attitude of feeble Vairagya. But he whose Vairagya is acute and strong his heart longs and pants for God,  even as the mother's heart pants for her child. He never seeks anything but God, and to him the world appears as a veritable well wherein he fears he may be drowned any moment. To him his relations then seem so many venomous serpents from whom he is inclined to fly away. And such is the strength of his impulse and determination that he never­ thinks of settling his domestic affairs first before he would seek the Lord.

 

559. Why does a God-lover renounce everything for the sake of Him Whom he loves? The moth after seeing a light has no mind to return to darkness; the ant dies in the heap of sugar but does not turn back. So the God-lover gladly sacrifices his life for the attainment of Divine bliss, and cares for nothing else.

 

560. One becomes a real Jnani. a true Paramahamsa, only when one has tested all possible conditions of life, from the humblest position of a scavenger to the highest role of a king, through observation, report of others and actua1 experience, and has become convinced thereby of the trivial nature of all worldly enjoyments.

 

561. Jnana never comes without renunciation of lust and possessions. With the dawn of renunciation is destroyed all ignorance, all Avidya. Many things can be burnt by means of a lens held in such a manner that the rays of the sun falls on it directly, but you cannot use it so in the shade of a room. Even so with the mind. You must take it out of the dark cell of this world and expose it to the full blaze of self-effulgent Divinity. Then alone true renunciation will come, and with it all ignorance will be destroyed.

 

562. Knowledge (jnana) cannot be communicated all at once. Its attainment is a question of time. Suppose a fever is of a severe type, the doctor cannot give quinine in that circumstance. He knows that it will do no good. The fever must first leave the patient. which depends upon time, and then quinine or any other medicine should be administered. Analogous is the case with a man who seeks Knowledge. Religious precepts often prove useless as long as one is immersed in worldliness. Allow a man a certain time for the enjoyment of the things of the world. When his attachment to the world has somewhat lessened. then comes the time for fruitful religious instructions. Till then all such instructions will only be lost upon him.

 

563. In a room away from their mother, little children play with dolls just as they like; but as soon as the mother comes in, they throw aside the dolls and run to her crying, ''Mamma, Mamma". You also are now playing in this world, deeply absorbed in the dolls of wealth, honour and fame, without caring for anything else. But if once you see the Divine Mother in you, you will no more find pleasure in any of these, be it wealth, honour or fame. Leaving them all away, you will run to Her.

 

564. Vairagya is of many kinds. One kind of it springs from acute pain due to 'worldly misery. But the better kind arises from the consciousness that all worldly blessings, though within one's reach, are transitory and are not worth enjoying. Thus, having all, he has not anything.

 

565. How many kinds of Vairagya are there? Generally two: the intense and the moderate. Intense Vairagya is like digging a large tank in one night until it gets filled with water then and there. Moderate Vairagya is slow in its growth and procrastinating. There

is no knowing when it will become complete.

 

566. A person was going to a river to bathe when he heard that a certain gentleman had been preparing for some days past to renounce the world and become a sannyasin. This somehow produced a conviction in the man's mind that the Sannyasin's is the highest mode of life. He immediately determined to be a Sannyasin and without returning home went away in his half-naked condition. This illustrates intense Vairagya.

 

567. Dive deep into the ocean of the Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. Fear not those deep sea monsters―avarice and anger. Paint yourself thickly with the turmeric of Viveka and Vairagya and these alligators will not approach you; for the scent of this turmeric is too much for them.

 

PERSEVERANCE

568. Do you know how peasants buy their teams? Oh, they are expert in these matters, and know very well how to distinguish the good ones from the bad. They know how to find out the mettle of an animal. They simply touch the tail, and the effect is miraculous. Those that have no mettle in them will offer no resistance, but lie down on the ground as if they are going to sleep. But those that have mettle will jump about as if in protest against the liberty taken with them. The peasants will choose the latter.

One must have the true mettle of a man within, if one wishes to be successful in life. But there are many who have no grit in them―who are like popped rice soaked in milk, soft and cringing! No strength within! No capacity for sustained effort! No power of will! They are failures in life.

 

569. The angler, anxious to hook a big fish, waits calmly for hours together of having thrown the bait and the hook into water. Similarly the devotee who patiently goes on with his devotions is sure at last to find his God.

 

570. The hereditary peasant does not give up tilling the soil, though it may not rain for twelve years; but a merchant who has recently taken to agriculture is discouraged by one season of drought. The true believer is never discouraged even if he fails to see God in spite of lifelong devotion.

 

571. He who will learn to swim must attempt swimming for some days. None can venture to swim in the sea after a single day's practice. So if you want to swim in the sea of Brahman, you must make many ineffectual attempts at first before you can successfully swim therein at last.

 

572. The new-born calf feels unsteady and tumbles down scores of times before it learns to stand steady. So in

the path of devotion slips are many and frequent until success is firmly achieved.

 

573. Two persons. it is said, together began invoking the Goddess Kali by the terrible rite called Savasadhana. One invoker was frightened to insanity by the terrible visions appearing in the earlier portion of the night, while the other was favoured with the vision of the Divine Mother at the end of the night. The latter said to the Goddess, ''Mother, why did the other man become mad?

The Deity answered, ''You too O child. did become mad many times in your previous births, and now at last you have seen Me."

Savasadhana = This tantric rite is performed in a cremation ground in the darkness of night, the Sadaka seating himself on a corpse.

 

574. Q. Peace comes to our heart but rarely, and then it does not last long. Why is it so ?

A. The fire made by burning bamboo is soon extinguished unless kept alive by constant blowing. Uninterrupted devotion is necessary to keep alive the fire of spirituality.

 

575. If you fill an earthen vessel with water and set it apart on a shelf, all the water in it evaporates in a few days; but if you keep it immersed in water, it will remain full as long as it is there. Such is the case with your love of God. If you cultivate love of God for a time, and afterwards employ yourself in other affairs forgetting Him, there you would soon find that your heart has become empty of that precious love. But if you keep your blissful heart immersed always in holy love and faith, it is sure to remain ever full to overflowing with the divine fervour of that sacred love.

 

576. So long as there is fire beneath the vessel, the milk in it boils and bubbles, but remove the fire and the milk stands still again.

So the heart of the neophyte boils with enthusiasm only so long as he goes on with his spiritual exercises.

 

577. How long does godliness remain in man? Iron is red so long as it is in the fire, but it becomes black the moment it is removed from fire. So man is imbued with God so long as he is in communion with Him.

 

578. The mind is like the curly hair of a Negro; you may draw it straight as long as you please, but the moment you let it go it again becomes curled. As long as the mind is forcibly kept straight and steady, it works well and to advantage, but when you slacken your vigilance, it turns away from the right path.

 

579. Tota Puri used to say, ‘‘If a brass vessel is not scoured daily, it gets dim in colour. So if a man does not meditate daily on the Deity, his heart will get impure," To him the Master once replied that a gold vessel does not require daily cleaning. The man who has reached God no more needs the help of prayers and penances.

Tota Puri = The itinerant monk who initiated the Master into the practice of Advaita Vedanta.

 

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

580. To drink pure water from a shallow pond one should gently take the water from the surface without disturbing it in the least. If it is disturbed, the sediments rise up and make the whole water muddy. If you desire to be pure, have firm faith, and slowly go on with your devotional practices. without wasting your energy in useless scriptural discussions and arguments. Your little brain will otherwise be muddled.  


 

581. There are many who inquire about the houses, and riches of a wealthy citizen of Calcutta like Jadunath Mullick, but only a few go to see him personally and cultivate his acquaintance. Similarly, many are the men who study scriptures and talk of religion, but very few are those who wish to see God or take pain to approach Him.

 

582. Adopt adequate means for the end you seek to attain. You cannot get butter by crying yourself hoarse, saying, ''There is butter in the milk.'' If you wish to get butter, turn the milk into curd and churn it well, and then you will have butter. So if you long to see God, take to spiritual practices (Sadhanas). What is the good of merely crying, ''O God! O God!''

 

583. If a man desires to see the king in his palace, he will have to go to the palace and pass through all the gates; but, if, after entering the outermost gate only, he exclaims, ''Where is the king?" he will not find him. He must go through the seven gates, and then he will see the king.

 

584. Effort is necessary for realization. One day in Bhava Samadhi (spiritual absorption), I saw the Haldarpukur and found there a rustic taking water. He removed the sedges from the surface and examined it now and again, taking it up in his hand. It was shown to me, as if to signify that, just as water can never be seen unless one removes the sedge, love of God and realization of Him cannot be had if one does not work for it. Meditation, repeating the name' of the Lord, singing His glories, praying to Him. Charity, performance of sacrifices―these are the holy works that lead to God.

 Haldarpukur = A big tank situatedjust in front of the ancestral house of Sri Ramakrishna in his native village, Kamarpukur.

 

585. Even Sri Krishna want through tremendous spiritual practises relating to the worship of the Radha yantra. The Yantra is the Brahmayoni (Creative Power of Brahman), and the Sadhana consisted of its worship and meditation. From this Brahmayoni there spring myriads of worlds!

 

586. The course of Sadhana is of three kinds. viz.( I) of the nature of birds. (2) of the nature of monkeys and (3) of the nature of ants.

(1) The bird comes and pecks at a fruit which perhaps falls down at the jerk and the bird cannot get it for eating, So there are devotees who try to rush on with devotional practices with such violence that it often frustrates their attempts.

(2) It is the nature of the monkey to jump from branch to branch, holding a fruit in its mouth, and while jumping, the fruit often falls down from its mouth. Thus at times, distracted by the changing events of life the aspirants lose sight of the devotional path. if the grasp is not firm.

(3) The ant creeps gently and steadily towards a grain of food, and carries it back to its hole where it enjoys it comfortably. The course of Sadhana like that of the ant is considered the best―there is sureness of attaining and enjoying the fruit.

 

587. He who is fond of fishing, and wishes to be informed if good fish abound in a certain pond, goes to those persons who have already fished in it, and eagerly asks them, ''Is it true that there are big fish in this pond? And what is the most suitable bait to catch them?" Having gathered the necessary information from them, he resorts to the pond with his fishing rod, waits there patiently after throwing his line, and allures the fish with dexterity. At last he succeeds in hooking a large and beautiful dweller of the deep. Similarly, with implicit trust in the sayings of holy saints and sages, one must try to secure God in one's own heart with the bait of devotion, and the rod and hook of one's mind. With unceasing patience one must wait for the fullness of time. Then only can one catch the Divine fish.

 

588. The Master used to say, ''Will you be able to obey to the fullest extent the commands that I give you? Verily, I tell you, your salvation is assured if you put into practice even one-sixteenth of what I say to you."

 

589. Spiritual practices (Sadhanas) are absolutely necessary for Self-knowledge, but if there is perfect faith, then a little practice is enough.

 

590. Once a person comes to believe in the power of His holy 'name' and feels inclined to repeat it constantly, neither discrimination nor devotional exercises of any sort are necessary for him. All doubts are set at rest, the mind becomes pure, and the Lord Himself is realized through the force of His holy name.

 

591. The Vedas and the Puranas must be read and heard, but one must act according to the precepts of the Tantras. The 'name' of Lord Hari must be uttered by the mouth and heard with the ear as well.. Indeed in some diseases it is necessary not only to apply medicine externally but also to take it internally.

 

592. There are two kinds of Siddhas (perfect men)―Sadhana-siddhas and Kripa-siddhas (those who have gained perfection through religious discipline and those who have gained perfection through grace). To get a good crop, some have to irrigate their fields with great labour by cutting canals, or by drawing water. But some others are lucky enough to be saved all this trouble for getting water; for there comes the rain and floods the whole field. Almost all have to perform devotional practices assiduously in order to get freedom from the shackles of Maya. But Kripasiddhas are saved from all this trouble; they attain perfection through the grace of God. Their number, however. is extremely small.

 

CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION

593. Meditation and contemplation should be kept up always.

 

594. Throwing away all work, you must meditate upon God in the evening. The thought of God naturally comes to the mind at dusk. Everything was visible a while ago, but ah! now it is all shrouded in darkness. Who has done this? Such thoughts come to the mind. Haven't you marked how the Mohammedans give up all work and sit down to pray in the evening ?

 

595. As it is very difficult to gather the mustard seeds that escape out' of a torn package and are scattered in all directions, so it is not a very easy affair to ingather and concentrate the mind which runs after worldly things in diverse directions.

 

596. Meditate on God either in an obscure corner, or in the solitude of forests, or within the silent sanctuary of your own heart.

 

597. In the beginning a man should try to concentrate his mind always in a lonely place; otherwise many things may distract him. If we put milk and water together, they are sure to get mixed; but if the milk is changed into butter by churning, the transformed milk (i.e. butter), instead of mixing with water, will float upon it. So when a man has gained the power of mental concentration by constant practice, his mind will always rise above his environment and rest in God, wherever he might stay.

 

598. The Master sometimes used to instruct his disciples: " Before beginning your meditation, think of this (me)

for some time. Do you know why I say so? Because, on account of your faith in this (me), your thoughts, if directed towards this (me), will at once turn Godward. It is just as a herd of cows reminds one of a cowboy; or the son, the father; or the lawyer, of the law-court. The mind that remains scattered over a thousand and one objects will be collected together when you will think of this (me) ; and if the mind, thus concentrated, is then directed towards, God, meditation in its true sense will be possible''

 

599. The easiest way of concentrating the mind is to fix it on the flame of a candle. Its inmost blue portion corresponds to the causal body or the Karanasarira. By fixing the mind on it, the power of  cocentration is soon obtained. The luminous portion that envelops the blue flame represents the Sukshmasarira or the subtle body; and outside of that there is what represents the gross body or the Sthulasarira.

 

600. Referring to the days of his Sadhana. the Master used to tell his disciples, ''Well, my boys, in those days before meditating upon God I would imagine as if I was thoroughly washing the mind of all the various impurities (evil thoughts, desires. etc.) that were there, and then installing the Deity therein. Do like this."

 

601. During meditation you should imagine as if you are tying your mind to the lotus feet or the Deity with a silk thread, so that it may not wander away from there. But why must the thread be silken? Since His lotus feet are too delicate, any other band will give Him pain.

 

602, In the course of his meditation. a beginner sometimes falls into a kind of sleep that goes by the name of Yoganidra. At that time he invariably sees some kind of Divine visions.

 

603. Do you know how a man of Satvika (pure) nature meditates? He meditates in the dead of night. Upon his bed, within the mosquito-curtain, so that he may not be seen by others.

 

604. Be diluted in the Lord even as the crude medicine is diluted by spirit.

 

605. When all the c1amouringsof the mind are hushed, there comes the suspension of breath or the state of Kumbhaka. The Kumbhaka comes even through Bhakti Yoga; through intense love of God also the breath is suspended.

 

606. Deep meditation brings out the real nature of the object of meditation, and infuses it into the soul of the meditator.

 

607. An Avadhuta (a great Yogi) once saw a bridal procession passing along a meadow with much pomp to the accompaniment of drums and trumpets. Hard by the way through which the procession was passing, he saw a hunter so deeply absorbed in aiming at a bird that he was perfectly inattentive to the procession and did not cast even a side glance at it. The Avadhuta, saluting the hunter. Said, ''Sir, you are my Guru. When I sit in meditation. let my mind be concentrated on the object of meditation as yours

has been on the bird."

 

608. An angler was fishing in a pond. The Avadhuta approaching him asked, ''Brother, which road leads to Benares?" The man was at that time all attention to his fishing-rod, as the float was indicating that a fish was nibbling at the bait. So he did not give any reply to the question. When the fish was caught, he turned round and said, ''What was it you were saying, sir?" The Avadhuta saluted him and said, ''Sir, you are my Guru. When I sit in contemplation of the Supreme Being, let me follow your example and not attend to anything else before finishing my meditation.''

 

609. Once a heron was slowly moving towards the edge of a pond to catch a fish. Behind, there was a hunter aiming an arrow at it; but the bird was totally unmindful of this fact. The Avadhuta, saluting the heron said, ''When I sit in meditation, let me follow your example and never turn back to see who or what is behind me.''

 

610. ''To him, who is perfect in meditation, salvation is very near." is an old saying. Do you know when a man becomes perfect in meditation? When, on sitting down to meditate, he becomes immediately surrounded with divine atmosphere and his soul communes with God.

 

611. There comes deep concentration in meditation when nothing else can be seen or heard. Even perceptions and feelings disappear. A snake may crawl over the body, but one does not feel it. Neither the person meditating nor the snake feels it.

 

612. He who at the time of contemplation becomes so unconscious of everything outside that he would not know if birds were to nest in his hairsuch a man has really acquired the perfection of meditative power.

 

613. In deep meditation all the functions of the senses are inhibited. The outward flow of the mind comes to a dead stop as if the door of the outer apartment is closed. All the five objects of the senses―light, sound, taste, touch and smell―lie outside unperceived. At first, visions of sense objects appear before the mind during meditation but when it becomes deep, they never rise at all―they lie outside, debarred.

 

614. The secret is that the union with God (Yoga) can never happen unless the mind is rendered absolutely calm. Whatever be the 'path' you follow for God-realization. The mind is always under the control of the Yogi, and not the Yogi under the control of his mind.


 

CHAPTER XIlJ

YEARNING FOR GOD

Be mad for God―Nature of true yearning―Sole condition of God-realization

 

BE MAD FOR GOD

615. If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.

 

616. Some men shed streams of tears because sons are not born to them, others eat away their hearts in sorrow because they cannot get riches. But alas! how many are there who sorrow and weep for not having seen the Lord!  Very few indeed! Verily.he who seeks the Lord, who weeps for Him, attains Him.

 

617. He who yearns after God cannot bestow any thought of such trifles as food and drink.

 

618. He,  who feels thirsty does not discard the water of the river merely because it is muddy, nor does he begin to dig a well to find clear water. So he who feels real spiritual thirst does not discard the religion near at hand, be it Hinduism or any other, nor does he create a new religion for himself. A really thirsty man has no time for such deliberations.

 

NATURE OF TRUE YEARNING

619. Let your heart pant for Him as a miser longs for gold.

 

620. As the drowning man pants hard for breath, so must one's heart yearn for the Lord before one can find Him.

 

621." Do you know what kind of Love is required for gaining the Lord? Just as a dog with a bruised head runs restlesssly, so must one become distressed for His sake.

 

622. O heart, call on your almighty Mother sincerely and you will see how She quickly comes running to you. When one calls on God with heart and soul, He cannot remain unmoved.

 

623: Did you know how intense our love of God should be? The love that a devoted wife possesses for her beloved husband, the attachment that a miser feels for his hoarded wealth, and the clinging desire that the worldly-minded foster for the things of the worldwhen the intensity of your heart's longing for the Lord is equal to the sum of these three, then you will attain Him.

 

624. Jesus Christ was one day walking along the seashore when a devotee approached him and asked him, ''Lord, how can one attain God?'' Jesus directly walked into the sea with the enquirer and immersed him in the water. After a short time, he released him, and raising him by the arm, and asked him, ''How did you feel? The devotee replied, ''I felt as though my last moment had

come―the condition was desperate." Upon this Jesus said, ''You shall see the Father when your heart pants for Him as it has panted for a breath of air just now."

This story is not in the Bible and there is something in the Bible coming near it. It might be in an 'apocrypha' and Sri Ramakrishna might have heard it from somebody acquainted with it.

 

 

625. I must attain God in this very life; yea, in three days I must find Him; nay, with a single utterance of His name I will draw Him to me―with such violent Love the devotee can attract the Lord and realize Him quickly. But devotees who are lukewarm in their Love take ages to find Him, indeed, if they find Him at all.

 

626. Why this attitude of an idler, that if realization is not possible in this birth, it will come in the next? There should not be such sluggishness in devotion. The goal can never be reached unless a man makes his mind strong, and firmly resolves that he must realize God in this very birth, nay, this very moment. In the countryside, when cultivators go to purchase bullocks, they first touch the tails of the animals. Some of the bullocks do not make any response to this. Rather, they relax all their limbs and lie down on the ground. At once the cultivators understand them to be worthless. There are some others that jump about and behave violently the moment their tails are touched, and the peasants can immediately know that they will be very useful. Their choice is then made from among this active type. Slothfulness is not at all desirable. Gather strength, firm faith, and say that you must realize God this very moment. Then only can you succeed.

 

SOLE CONDITION OF GOD REALISATION

Sole Condition of God-Realization

 

627. What means should we adopt in order to get free from the clutches of Maya? He who yearns to be free from its clutches is shown the way by God Himself. Only ceaseless yearning is needed.

 

628. A devotee asked the Master, ''By what means can He be seen ?" and the Master replied, ''Can you weep for Him with intense longing? Men weep jugfuls of tears for children, wife, money, etc. but who weeps for God? So long as a child is engrossed in play with its toys, the mother engages herself in cooking and other household works. But when the little one finds no more satisfaction in toys, throws them aside and loudly cries for its mother, she can no longer remain in the kitchen. She drops down the rice pot, perhaps, from the hearth, and runs in hot haste to the child and takes it up in arms."

 

629, He finds God quickest, whose concentration and yearning are strongest.

 

630. In this age of Kali three days' ardent yearning to see God is enough for a man to obtain Divine grace.

 

631. Uncle moon is the uncle of all children. So also God is everyone's, All have got the right to call on the Lord. Whoever calls on Him becomes blessed by realizing Him. If you call on Him, you too can realize Him.

 

632. Verily, tell you he who wants Him finds Him. Go and verify it in your own life. Try for three days, try with genuine zeal. and you are sure to succeed.

 

 633. Pray to the Divine Mother, begging her to give you unswerving love and adamantine faith.

 

634. Where does the strength of an aspirant lie? He is a child of God, and tears are his greatest strength. As a mother fulfils the desires of a child who weeps and importunes her. so does the Lord grant to His weeping child whatever he is crying for.

 

635. A certain man once said to the Master, ''I am now fifty-five years old. I have been engaged in the search for the Lord for fourteen years, Ī have followed the advice of my teachers, had been to all the sacred places of pilgrimage, and have seen many a holy man; but I have gained nothing." Hearing this the Master replied, ''I assure you, he who yearns for Him shall find Him.

Look at me and take heart."

 

636. The child said, ‘‘Mother dear, wake me up when I shall be hungry." The mother replied, "Darling hunger itself will awaken you."

 

637. As a child beseeches its mother for toys and pice, weeping and teasing her, so he who weeps inwardly, intensely longing to see Him, like an innocent child, and knowing Him to be his nearest and dearest, is rewarded at last with the vision Divine. God can no longer remain hidden from such an earnest and importunate seeker.

 

638. In Yatras depicting the life of Krishna, the play commences with the beating of drums and the loud singing of  'O Krishna, come! Come. O dear!' But the person who plays the part of Krishna pays no heed to the noise and goes on complacently chatting and smoking in the green-room behind the stage. But as soon as the noise ceases and the pious sage Narada, overflowing with love, enters the stage with sweet and soft music and summons Krishna to appear, Krishna finds that he can no longer remain indifferent. Hurriedly he then enters stage. As long as the spiritual aspirant calls on the Lord with mere lip-prayers―'Come, O Lord' ―the Lord will not appear. When the Lord comes, the heart of the devotee melts into divine emotion, and all loud utterances cease forever. The Lord cannot tarry when His devotee calls on Him from the depth of his heart overflowing with profound Love.

 

End of Book Two, Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna.