Ishan of Bhawanipur asked Sri Ramakrishna, “Sir, why have you renounced the world? The scriptures extol the householder’s life as the best.”
Master: “I don’t know much about what is good and what is bad. I do what God makes me do and speak what he makes me speak.”
Ishan: “If everybody renounced the world, they would be acting against God’s will.”
Master: “Why should everybody renounce? On the other hand, can it be the will of God that all should revel in ‘woman and gold’ [meaning lust and greed] like dogs and jackals? Has He no other wish? Do you know what accords with His will and what is against it?
You say that God wants everybody to lead a worldly life. But why don’t you see it as God’s will when your wife and children die? Why don’t you see His will in poverty, when you haven’t a morsel to eat?
Maya won’t allow us to know the will of God. On account of God’s maya, the unreal appears as real and the real as unreal. The world is unreal. This moment it exists and the next it disappears. But on account of His maya, it appears real. It is only through His maya that ego seems to be the doer. Furthermore, on account of this maya a man regards his wife and children, his brother and sister, his father and mother, his house and property, as his own.
There are two aspects of maya: vidya and avidya. Avidya deludes one with worldliness, and vidya – wisdom, devotion, and the company of holy men – leads one to God.
He who has gone beyond maya, through the grace of God, views alike both vidya and avidya. Worldly life is a life of enjoyment. After all, what is there to enjoy in ‘woman and gold’? As soon as a sweetmeat has gone down the throat, one doesn’t remember whether it tasted sweet or sour.
But why should everybody renounce? Is renunciation possible except in the fullness of time?...”
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