Message from the Gospel – 5. Discrimination and Dispassion Are the Protective Shields

When a human being travels through the ocean of life, there is a danger of being attacked by the alligators such as lust and greed. How to save oneself from the alligators? Sri Ramakrishna says, smear your body with turmeric before diving in – the turmeric of discrimination and dispassion.

To the question, "What is discrimination?" by a devotee, Sri Ramakrishna answers, "Discrimination is the reasoning by which one knows that God alone is real and all else is unreal.  Real means eternal, and unreal means impermanent.  He who has acquired discrimination knows that God is the only Substance and all else is non-existent.  With the awakening of this spirit of discrimination a man wants to know God.  On the contrary, if a man loves the unreal – such things as creature comforts, name, fame, and wealth, then he doesn't want to know God, who is of the very nature of Reality.  Through discrimination between the Real and the unreal one seeks to know God.”

He says further, "'Woman and gold' is impermanent.  God is the only Eternal Substance.  What does a man get with money? Food, clothes, and a dwelling-place - nothing more.  You cannot realize God with its help.  Therefore money can never be the goal of life.  That is the process of discrimination.

 

Consider - what is there in money or in a beautiful body? Discriminate and you will find that even the body of a beautiful woman consists of bones, flesh, fat, and other disagreeable things.  Why should a man give up God and direct his attention to such things? Why should a man forget God for their sake?"

Regarding dispassion, Sri Ramakrishna says, "If you want to realize God, then you must cultivate intense dispassion. You must renounce immediately what you feel to be standing in your way. You should not put it off till the future. 'Woman and gold' is the obstruction. The mind must be withdrawn from it.”

On another occasion he explains, "Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God.  Live with all – with wife and children, father and mother – and serve them.  Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you."

"A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village.  She brings up her Master's children as if they were her own.  She even speaks of them as 'my Rāma' or 'my Hari'.  But in her own mind she knows very well that they do not belong to her at all.”

Attachment brings bondage. Non-attachment ensures freedom. Therefore, says Sri Ramakrishna, “When you plunge in the water of the ocean, you may be attacked by alligators.  But they won't touch you if your body is smeared with turmeric.  There are no doubt six alligators - lust, anger, avarice, so on¹ - within you, in the 'heart's fathomless depths'.  But protect yourself with the turmeric of discrimination and renunciation, and they won't touch you.” 

-----------------------------

¹The six passions of the mind or the six enemies that ruin a human being are lust, anger, avarice (greed), blind attachment, pride, and jealousy.