Message from the Gospel – 20. Associate with Holy People

Message 19 highlighted the necessity of solitude. Here we present the importance of associating with holy people.

MASTER: "It is extremely difficult to practise spiritual discipline and at the same time lead a householder's life.  There are many handicaps: disease, grief, poverty, misunderstanding with one's wife, and disobedient, stupid, and stubborn children.  I don't have to give you a list of them. But still there is a way out.  One should pray to God, going now and then into solitude, and make efforts to realize Him."

NEIGHBOUR: "Must one leave home then?"

MASTER: "No, not altogether.  Whenever you have leisure, go into solitude for a day or two.  At that time don't have any relations with the outside world and don't hold any conversation with worldly people on worldly affairs.  You must live either in solitude or in the company of holy men."

NEIGHBOUR: "How can one recognize a holy man?"

MASTER: "He who has surrendered his body, mind, and innermost self to God is surely a holy man.  He who has renounced 'woman and gold' is surely a holy man.  He is a holy man who does not regard woman with the eyes of a worldly person.  He never forgets to look upon a woman as his mother, and to offer her his worship if he happens to be near her.  The holy man constantly thinks of God and does not indulge in any talk except about spiritual things.  Furthermore, he serves all beings, knowing that God resides in everybody's heart.  These, in general, are the signs of a holy man."

DEVOTEE: "What is the good of holy company?"

MASTER: "It begets yearning for God. It begets love of God. Nothing whatsoever is achieved in spiritual life without yearning. By constant living in the company of holy men, the soul becomes restless for God. This yearning is like the state of mind of a man who has someone ill in the family. His mind is in a state of perpetual restlessness, thinking how the sick person may be cured. Or again, one should feel a yearning for God like the yearning of a man who has lost his job and is wandering from one office to another in search of work. If he is rejected at a certain place which has no vacancy, he goes there again the next day and inquires, 'Is there any vacancy today?'”

"There is another benefit from holy company. It helps one cultivate discrimination between the real and the unreal. God alone is the Real, that is to say, the Eternal Substance, and the world is unreal, that is to say, transitory. As soon as a man finds his mind wandering away to the unreal, he should apply discrimination. The moment an elephant stretches out its trunk to eat a plantain-tree in a neighbour's garden, it gets a blow from the iron goad of the driver."

We may list the advantages of holy company as follows: (i) Holy men constantly talk about God which helps us to remember God all the time; (ii) Constant thinking leads to yearning for God; (iii) It begets love of God; (iv) It helps one cultivate discrimination - every time  the mind sways, holy company pulls the mind  away from bad tendencies.

How to get holy company? We have to seek the holy people. We have to aspire, we have to wish, yearn for holy company. Let us start doing that now.

Message from the Gospel – 19. Solitude Is Necessary

In Message 5 we saw that discrimination and dispassion act as protective shields against bad tendencies such as lust and greed. How to acquire discrimination and dispassion? Practising spiritual discipline in solitude and the company of holy people are the two options. Sri Ramakrishna had explained the importance of both of them.

MASTER: "Haven't you seen the trees on the foot-path along a street? They are fenced around as long as they are very young; otherwise cattle destroy them.  But there is no longer any need of fences when their trunks grow thick and strong.  Then they won't break even if an elephant is tied to them.  Just so, there will be no need for you to worry and fear if you make your mind as strong as a thick tree-trunk.  First of all try to acquire discrimination.  Break the jack-fruit open only after you have rubbed your hands with oil; then its sticky milk won't smear them."

"I said to Keshab Sen further, 'How can the worldly man be cured of his serious disease unless he goes into solitude?' A worldly man is suffering from delirious fever, as it were. Suppose there are pickled tamarind and jars of water in the room of such a patient. Now, how can you expect him to get rid of the disease? Just see, the very mention of pickled tamarind is making my mouth water! (All laugh.) You can very well imagine what will happen if the tamarind is actually put in front of me. To a man, a woman is the pickled tamarind, and his desire for enjoyment, the jars of water. There is neither end nor limit to this desire for worldly enjoyment. And the things are in the patient's very room. Can you expect the patient to get rid of the delirious fever in this fashion? He must be removed for a few days to another place where there are neither pickled tamarind nor water-jars. Then he will be cured. After that if he returns to his old room he will have nothing to fear. 'Woman and gold' cannot do any harm to the man who lives in the world after attaining God. Only then can he lead a detached life in the world as King Janaka did. But he must be careful at the beginning. He must practise spiritual discipline in strict solitude. 'Woman and gold' will not be able to harm you in the least, if you go home and lead a householder's life after increasing your spiritual strength and developing love for the Lotus Feet of God through the practice of spiritual discipline in solitude.”

"A man sets milk in a quiet place to curdle, and then he extracts butter from the curd. After once extracting the butter of Devotion and Knowledge from the milk of the mind, if you keep that transformed mind in the water of the world, it will float in the world unattached. But if the mind in its 'unripe' state – that is to say, when it is just like liquid milk – is kept in the water of the world, then the milk and water will get mixed. In that case it will be impossible for the mind to float unattached in the world.” 

"Live in the world but, in order to realize God, hold fast to His Lotus Feet with one hand and with the other do your duties. When you get a respite from your duties, cling to God's Lotus Feet with both hands – live in solitude and meditate on Him and serve Him ceaselessly."

"By turning the mind within oneself one acquires discrimination, and through discrimination one thinks of Truth.  Then the mind feels the desire to go near to God, and after realizing God, you can without any effort gather four fruits, namely, dharma, artha, kama, and moksha.  Yes, after realizing God, one can also get, if one so desires, dharma, artha, and kama, which are necessary for leading the worldly life."

“He who has attained God knows that it is God who has become all this.  Then he sees that God, maya, living beings, and the universe form one whole.  God includes the universe and its living beings. Butter goes with buttermilk, and buttermilk goes with butter.  If there is a thing called buttermilk, then butter also exists; and if there is a thing called butter, then buttermilk also exists.  If the Self exists, then the non-Self must also exist.”

“He who is realized as God has also become the universe and its living beings.  One who knows the Truth knows that it is He alone who has become father and mother, child and neighbour, man and animal, good and bad, holy and unholy, and so forth."

It may not be possible for everybody to go into solitude as and when they like. In life, sometimes we are surrounded by people and at some other times we are alone. Suppose, a situation arises that leaves us alone. Do we have the mental balance to accept that peacefully or does it make us restless? Often, we see people complaining that they are lonely. If they can understand the importance of solitude and learn to utilize it to their advantage, they will be able to consider it as a blessing. The purpose of solitude is to acquire discrimination and dispassion. May the God Almighty shower us with the wisdom to look upon our moments of solitude as an opportunity to practice dispassion and discrimination and enable us to utilize those moments to the fullest.

Message from the Gospel – 18. Bondage and Liberation Are Her Making

The Gospel further quotes Sri Ramakrishna as saying, “Brahman and Śakti are identical.  If you accept the one, you must accept the other.  It is like fire and its power to burn.  If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also.  You cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor can you think of the power to burn without fire.  You cannot conceive of the sun's rays without the sun, nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays.”

"What is milk like? Oh, you say, it is something white.  You cannot think of the milk without the whiteness, and again, you cannot think of the whiteness without the milk.” 

"Thus one cannot think of Brahman without Śakti, or of Śakti without Brahman.  One cannot think of the Absolute without the Relative, or of the Relative without the Absolute.” 

"The Primordial Power is ever at play.  She is creating, preserving, and destroying in play, as it were.  This Power is called Kāli.  Kāli is verily Brahman, and Brahman is verily Kāli.  It is one and the same Reality.  When we think of  It as inactive, that is to say, not engaged in the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, then we call It Brahman.  But when It engages in these activities, then we call It Kāli or Śakti.  The Reality is one and the same; the difference is in name and form.”

"It is like water, called in different languages by different names, such as 'jal', 'pani', and so forth.  There are three or four ghats on a lake.  The Hindus, who drink water at one place, call it 'jal'.  The Mussalmans at another place call it 'pani'.  And the English at a third place call it 'water'.  All three denote one and the same thing, the difference being in the name only.  In the same way, some address   the Reality as 'Allah', some as 'God', some as 'Brahman', some as 'Kāli', and others by such names as 'Rama', 'Jesus', 'Durga', 'Hari.'"

“In the Vedas creation is likened to the spider and its web.  The spider brings the web out of itself and then remains in it.  God is the container of the universe and also what is contained in it.” 

"Is Kāli, my Divine Mother, of a black complexion? She appears black because She is viewed from a distance; but when intimately known She is no longer so.  The sky appears blue at a distance; but look at it close by and you will find that it has no colour.  The water of the ocean looks blue at a distance, but when you go near and take it in your hand, you find that it is colourless."

The Master continued: "Bondage and liberation are both of Her making.  By Her Maya worldly people become entangled in 'woman and gold', and again, through Her grace they attain their liberation.  She is called Saviour, and the remover of the bondage that binds one to the world."

May the grace of the Divine Mother fall on us and liberate us from this cycle of birth and death.

Message from the Gospel – 17. God Is One

Message 16 concluded with the words, ‘The mystery about God will remain forever’ as it is impossible to comprehend the infinite. Our each attempt may let us get a glimpse of the infinite but nobody can claim that he/she has understood God 100%. This is the reason for the differences found among different religions. Even among the Hindu religious seers, Sankaracharya’s perception of God was different from that of Ramanujacharya and Madhwacharya. Accordingly, the followers of each of them hold different views about God. The worshippers of Shakthi or Kali, the Divine Mother, differed from all of them. There is no similarity between Krishna and Kali or between Ram and Shiva. If this is the situation among Hindus, what can be said about the worshipers of Jesus and Allah? Even among Christians, Protestants and Catholics hold different beliefs. Among Muslims also there are many subsects. 

    

Sri Ramakrishna says, “Don't harbour malice toward anybody. Don't turn up your nose in hatred and say: 'Oh, this man believes in God with form and not in the formless God. That man believes in the formless God and not in God with form. This man is a Christian. This man is a Hindu. And this man is a Musslman.' It is God alone who makes people see things in different ways. Know that people have different natures. Realize this and mix with them as much as you can. And love all. But enter your own inner chamber to enjoy peace and bliss.

Lighting the lamp of Knowledge in the chamber of your heart, 
Behold the face of the Mother, Brahman's Embodiment.

You can see your true Self only within your own chamber.  The cowherds take the cows to graze in the pasture. There the cattle mix. They all form one herd. But on returning to their sheds in the evening they are separated. Then each stays by itself in its own stall. Therefore I say, dwell by yourself in your own chamber."

    

Sri Ramakrishna condemns religious quarrels. He says, "It is not good to harbour malice.  The Saktas, the Vaishnavas, and the Vedantists quarrel among themselves.  That is not wise.  Padmalochan was court pundit of the Maharaja of Burdwan.  Once at a meeting the pundits were discussing whether Shiva was superior to Brahma, or Brahma to Shiva.  Padmalochan gave an appropriate reply.  'I don't know anything about it', said he.  'I haven't talked either to Shiva or to Brahma.'"

    

Let there be as many religions as there are humans. It is still possible to live peacefully if only we understand that each one’s belief is the perception of one of the infinite attributes of God and that nobody’s view is wrong. More on this in the next blog…

Message from the Gospel – 16. God's True Nature

Sri Ramakrishna says, "The nature of Brahman cannot be described.  About It one remains silent.  Who can explain the Infinite in words? However high a bird may soar, there are regions higher still.  What do you say?"

PREACHER: "Yes, sir, it is so stated in the Vedanta philosophy."

MASTER: "Once a salt doll went to the ocean to measure its depth.  But it could not come back to give a report.  According to one school of thought, sages like Sukadeva saw and touched the Ocean of Brahman, but did not plunge into It."

"Once I said to Vidyasagar, 'Everything else but Brahman has been polluted, as it were, like food touched by the tongue.' In other words, no one has been able to describe what Brahman is.  A thing once uttered by the tongue becomes polluted.  Vidyasagar, great pundit though he was, was highly pleased with my remarks.”

"It is said that there are places near Kedār that are covered with eternal snow; he who climbs too high cannot come back.  Those who have tried to find out what there is in the higher regions, or what one feels there, have not come back to tell us about it.”

"After having the vision of God man is overpowered with bliss.  He becomes silent.  Who will speak? Who will explain?”

"The king lives beyond seven gates.  At each gate sits a man endowed with great power and glory.  At each gate the visitor asks, 'Is this the king?' The gate-keeper answers, 'No.  Not this, not this.' The visitor passes through the seventh gate and  becomes overpowered with joy.  He is speechless.  This time he doesn't have to ask, 'Is this the king?' The mere sight of him removes all doubts."

PREACHER: "Yes, sir, it is so described in Vedanta."

MASTER: "When the Godhead is thought of as creating, preserving, and destroying, It is known as the Personal God, Saguna Brahman, or the Primal Energy, Ādyāśakti.  Again, when It is thought of as beyond the three gunas, then It is called the Attributeless Reality, Nirguna Brahman, beyond speech and thought; this is the Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman.”

"Under the spell of God's maya man forgets his true nature.  He forgets that he is heir to the infinite glories of his Father.  This divine maya is made up of three gunas.  And all three are robbers; for they rob man of all his treasures and make him forget his true nature.  The three gunas are sattva, rajas, and tamas.  Of these, sattva alone points the way to God.  But even sattva cannot take a man to God.”

 

"Let me tell you a story.  Once, a rich man was passing through a forest, when three robbers surrounded him and robbed him of all his wealth.  After snatching all his possessions from him, one of the robbers said: 'What's the good of keeping the man alive? Kill him.' Saying this, he was about to strike their victim with his sword, when the second robber interrupted and said: 'There's no use in killing him.  Let us bind him fast and leave him here.  Then he won't be able to tell the police.' Accordingly, the robbers tied him with a rope, left him, and went away.”

"After a while the third robber returned to the rich man and said: 'Ah! You're badly hurt, aren't you? Come, I'm going to release you.' The third robber set the man free and led him out of the forest.  When they came near the highway, the robber said, 'Follow this road and you will reach home easily.' 'But you must come with me too', said the man.  'You have done so much for me.  We shall all be happy to see you at our home.' 'No,' said the robber, 'it is not possible for me to go there.  The police will arrest me.' So saying, he left the rich man after pointing out his way.”

"Now, the first robber, who said: 'What's the good of keeping the man alive? Kill him', is tamas.  It destroys.  The second robber is rajas, which binds a man to the world and entangles him in a variety of activities.  Rajas makes him forget God.  Sattva alone shows the way to God.  It produces virtues like compassion, righteousness, and devotion.  Again, sattva is like the last step of the stairs.  Next to it is the roof.  The Supreme Brahman is man's own abode.  One cannot attain the Knowledge of Brahman unless one transcends the three gunas."

One has to transend the three gunas – sattva, rajas, and tamas – to understand the nature of Brahman. It cannot be described in words as it is beyond speech and thought. Each aspirant has to understand It only through personal experience. Every experience may be different as who can experience all of the infinite in one go? So the mystery about God will remain forever! 


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'MASTER' stands for Sri Ramakrishna as he was referred in the Gospel.

Message from the Gospel – 15. Pray for Pure Love

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna presents countless number of incidents displaying the God-intoxicated ecstatic love of Sri Ramakrishna. This fact compelled me to write one more blog on this subject even though I had already written about the importance of ‘love for God’ in Messages 11 and 14.

Sri Ramakrishna says, “I prayed to the Divine Mother: 'O Mother; here, take Thy dharma; here, take Thy adharma; and give me pure love for Thee. Here, take Thy virtue; here, take Thy vice; and give me pure love for Thee. Here, take Thy knowledge; here, take Thy ignorance; and give me pure love for Thee.' You see, I didn't ask even for knowledge or public recognition. When one renounces both dharma and adharma, there remains only pure love of God – love that is stainless, motiveless, and that one feels only for the sake of love."

To the question, “How can one realize God?”, he says, "Attachment to God, or, in other words, love for Him.  And secondly, prayer."

BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "Which one is the way – love or prayer?"

MASTER: "First love, and then prayer." 

The Master sang:

Cry to your Mother Syama with a real cry, O mind!
And how can She hold Herself from you?
How can Syama stay away? .  .  .

Continuing, the Master said: "And one must always chant the name and glories of God and pray to Him.  An old metal pot must be scrubbed every day.  What is the use of cleaning it only once? Further, one must practise discrimination and renunciation; one must be conscious of the unreality of the world."

"Bhakti, love of God, is the essence of all spiritual discipline.  Through love one acquires renunciation and discrimination naturally."

"The meaning of bhakti is to adore God with body, mind, and words. 'With body' means to serve and worship God with one's hands, go to holy places with one's feet, hear the chanting of the name and glories of God with one's ears, and behold the divine image with one's eyes. 'With mind' means to contemplate and meditate on God constantly and to remember and think of His lila.¹ 'With words' means to sing hymns to Him and chant His name and glories.”

"Devotion as described by Nārada is suited to the Kaliyuga. It means to chant constantly the name and glories of God. Let those who have no leisure worship God at least morning and evening by whole-heartedly chanting His name and clapping their hands.”

"Ahalyā once said to Rāma  'O Rāma, I have no objection to being born even as a pig. But please grant that I may have pure love for Thy Lotus Feet. I do not want anything else.'”

"Nārada went to Ayodhya to remind Rāma that He was to kill  Ravana . At the sight of Rāma and Sita, he began to sing their glories. Gratified at Nārada's devotion, Rāma said: 'Nārada, I am pleased with your prayer. Ask a boon.' Nārada replied, 'O Rāma, if Thou must give me a boon, then grant that I may have pure love for Thy Lotus Feet and that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching māyā. Rāma said, 'Ask something more.' 'No, Rāma,' answered Nārada, 'I do not want anything else. I want only pure love for Thy Lotus Feet, a love that seeks no return.'”

We may spend our whole life thinking and talking about this one aspect: pure love for God, a love that seeks no return. Still we would not have exhausted all that can be said about it. Well, if we can spend our whole life thinking and talking about this single aspect, it only means that we have understood the aim and the goal of life, and the purpose of being born as a human has been served, indeed.

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¹ ‘lila’ means divine plays.