Sri Krishna - 16,000 wives yet a Brahmachari: Part 2. Nitya Brahmachari and Nitya Upavasi

We received three comments in the last seven days: two comments for the blog, ‘Sri Krishna – 16,000 wives, yet a brahmachari’ and one comment for the blog, ‘Message from the Gospel – 19. Solitude Is Necessary’. All these comments are highly valuable as they provide new insights regarding those topics and also help us learn important lessons.

The comments received for the blog, ‘Sri Krishna – 16,000 wives, yet a brahmachari’ provided a link:

http://www.celextel.org/storiesandanecdotes/krishnanityabrahmachari.html.”

This made us aware of a site celextel.org. We visited this site and read the story mentioned in the link above. The wealth of knowledge available at celextel is simply remarkable.

Whereas our blog provided only the information about Sri Krishna’s brahmacharya, the story at celextel explains what makes Sri Krishna a nitya brahmachari. Here is the story in short:

One day, Krishna informs his wife Rukmani that Sage Durvasa is camping on the other side of the river Yamuna and tells her, “Prepare a sumptuous meal and take it to the sage and feed him. He will be pleased and will bless you.” Rukmani prepares the food but when she goes to the river, she was not able to find any boatman to take her across the river. So, she seeks the help of Krishna. He tells her, “Say to the river that the Nitya brahmachari has asked her to part and let you cross.” Rukmani was surprised but still she says what she was asked to say and the river indeed parts and lets her cross it. Rukmani goes to the sage, feeds him, and the sage was indeed pleased and he blesses her. When she has to leave, she tells him, “Please help me cross the river.” Sage Durvasa says, “Tell the river that the Nitya Upavasi [one who has never eaten food] has asked her to part and let you cross.” Again Rukmani is surprised and thinks, “Just now he had a sumptuous meal, yet he calls himself Nitya Upavasi?”  Still, she doesn’t ask him anything and follows his instruction. The river indeed parts when she tells that the Nitya Upavasi had asked her to part. Rukmani reaches the other side and unable to control her curiosity, asks Krishna, “You called yourself Nitya Brahmachari and the sage called himself Nitya Upavasi after eating the food I offered him. And the river agreed to both and parted. I am not able to understand.” Krishna laughs and tells her, “We are both realized souls. When we perform an action we understand that it is the body which is performing the action. The soul is unattached. That soul does not marry and does not take food.”

That is how Sri Krishna (his soul) is a brahmachari and Sage Durvasa (his soul) is a upavasi. Once we understand this great truth, we can lead a contended and happy life.

Is it possible to remain unattached? When we accomplish something and people praise us, do we have the humility to believe that we are not the doer? When problems confront us and we receive blows left and right, is it possible for us not to blame the Almighty for the misfortune? When we develop the equanimity of mind – to remain unperturbed in success and failure – we may think that we are getting closer to the ideal.

Message from the Gospel – 23. All Can Be Controlled

Sri Ramakrishna had repeated again and again that God cannot be realized without discrimination and renunciation.  This made M. (the author of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna) extremely worried.  He had married and was then a young man of twenty-eight, educated in college in the Western way.  Having a sense of duty, he asked himself, "Do discrimination and dispassion mean giving up 'woman and gold'?" He was really at a loss to know what to do. 

M. (to the Master): "What should one do if one's wife says: 'You are neglecting me.  I shall commit suicide?' "

MASTER (in a serious tone): "Give up such a wife if she proves an obstacle in the way of spiritual life.  Let her commit suicide or anything else she likes.  The wife that hampers her husband's spiritual life is an ungodly wife."

Immersed in deep thought, M. stood leaning against the wall.  Narendra and the other devotees remained silent a few minutes.  The Master exchanged several words with them; then, suddenly going to M., he whispered in his ear: "But if a man has sincere love for God, then all come under his control - the king, wicked persons, and his wife.  Sincere love of God on the husband's part may eventually help the wife to lead a spiritual life.  If the husband is good, then through the grace of God the wife may also follow his example."

Message from the Gospel – 22. God and His Name Are Identical

Sri Ramakrishna emphasizes the power of God’s name and talks about the importance of repeating it thus:

MASTER: "All the sins of the body flyaway if one chants the name of God and sings His glories.  The birds of sin dwell in the tree of the body.  Singing the name of God is like clapping your hands.  As, at a clap of the hands, the birds in the tree flyaway, so do our sins disappear at the chanting of God's name and glories.”

"Again, you find that the water of a reservoir dug in a meadow is evaporated by the heat of the sun.  Likewise, the water of the reservoir of sin is dried up by the singing of the name and glories of God."

"Worldly people will never listen to you if you ask them to renounce everything and devote themselves whole-heartedly to God.  Therefore Chaitanya and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract the worldly.  They would say to such persons, 'Come, repeat the name of Hari, and you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young woman.' Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the name of God.  After tasting a little of the nectar of God's hallowed name, they would soon realize that the 'fish soup' really meant the tears they shed for love of God, while the 'young woman' signified the earth.  The embrace of the woman meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine love.”

"Nitai would employ any means to make people repeat Hari's name.  Chaitanya said: 'The name of God has very great sanctity.  It may not produce an immediate result, but one day it must bear fruit.  It is like a seed that has been left on the cornice of a building.  After many days, the house crumbles, and the seed falls on the earth, germinates, and at last bears fruit.'”

Radha said to her friends: "I have loved to see Krishna from my childhood.  My finger-nails are worn off from counting the days on them till I shall see Him.  Once He gave me a garland.  Look, it has withered, but I have not yet thrown it away.  Alas! Where has the Moon of Krishna risen now? Has that Moon gone away from my firmament, afraid of the Rahu of my pique? Alas! Shall I ever see Krishna again? O my beloved Krishna, I have never been able to look at You to my heart's complete satisfaction.  I have only one pair of eyes; they blink and so hinder my vision.  And further, on account of streams of tears I could not see enough of my Beloved.  The peacock feather on the crown of His head shines like arrested lightning.  The peacocks, seeing Krishna's dark-cloud complexion, would dance in joy, spreading their tails.  O friends, I shall not be able to keep my life-breath.  After my death, place my body on a branch of the dark tamala tree and inscribe on my body Krishna's sweet name."

The Master said: "God and His name are identical; that is the reason Radha said that.  There is no difference between Rama and His holy name."

“One gradually acquires love of God through the practice of chanting God's name and glories.  (To M.) One should not be ashamed of chanting God's holy name.  As the saying  goes, 'One does not succeed so long as one has these three: shame, hatred, and fear.'”

"You must practise it every day.  The other day, at the circus, I saw a horse running at top speed, with an Englishwoman standing on one foot on its back.  How much she must have practised to acquire that skill!”

"These, then, are the two means: practice and passionate attachment to God, that is to say, restlessness of the soul to see Him."

(To the devotees) "One cannot be spiritual as long as one has shame, hatred, or fear.  Great will be the joy today.  But those fools who will not sing or dance, mad with God's name, will never attain God.  How can one feel any shame or fear when the names of God are sung? Now sing, all of you."

A Vaishnava goswami was seated in the room.  The Master said to him: "Well, what do you say? What is the way?"

GOSWAMI: "Sir, the chanting of God's name is enough.  The scriptures emphasize the sanctity of God's name for the Kaliyuga."

MASTER: "Yes, there is no doubt about the sanctity of God's name.  But can a mere name achieve anything, without the yearning love of the devotee behind it? One should feel great restlessness of soul for the vision of God.  Suppose a man repeats the name of God mechanically, while his mind is absorbed in 'woman and gold'.  Can he achieve anything? Mere muttering of magic words doesn't cure one of the pain of a spider or scorpion sting.  One must also apply the smoke of burning cow-dung."

GOSWAMI: "But what about Ajamila then? He was a great sinner; there was no sin he had not indulged in.  But he uttered the name of Narayana on his death-bed, calling his son, who also had that name.  And thus he was liberated."

MASTER: "Perhaps Ajamila had done many spiritual things in his past births.  It is also said that he once practised austerity; besides, those were the last moments of his life.  What is the use of giving an elephant a bath? It will cover itself with dirt and dust again and become its former self.  But if someone removes the dust from its body and gives it a bath just before it enters the stable, then the elephant remains clean.” 

"Suppose a man becomes pure by chanting the holy name of God, but immediately afterwards commits many sins.  He has no strength of mind.  He doesn't take a vow not to repeat his sins.  A bath in the Ganges undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what does that avail? They say that the sins perch on the trees along the bank of the Ganges.  No sooner does the man come back from the holy waters than the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees.  (All laugh.) The same old sins take possession of him again.  He is hardly out of the water before they fall upon him.”

"Therefore I say, chant the name of God, and with it pray to Him that you may have love for Him.  Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day. Weep at least once to see God.”

Message from the Gospel – 21. God Can Be Known

NEIGHBOUR: "You ask us, sir, to live in the world after knowing God.  Can God really be known?"

MASTER: "God cannot be known by the sense-organs or by this mind; but He can be known by the pure mind, the mind that is free from worldiy desires."

NEIGHBOUR: "Who can know God?"

MASTER: "Right.  Who can really know Him? But as for us, it is enough to know as much of Him as we need.  What need have I of a whole well of water? One jar is more than enough for me.  An ant went to a sugar hill.  Did it need the entire hill? A grain or two of sugar was more than enough."

NEIGHBOUR: "Sir, we are like typhoid patients.  How can we be satisfied with one jar of water? We feel like knowing, the whole of God."

MASTER: "That's true.  But there is also medicine for typhoid."

NEIGHBOUR: "What is that medicine, sir?"

MASTER: "The company of holy men, repeating the name of God and singing His glories, and unceasing prayer.  I prayed to the Divine Mother: 'Mother, I don't seek knowledge.  Here, take Thy knowledge, take Thy ignorance.  Give me only pure love for Thy Lotus Feet.' I didn't ask for anything else.”

"As is the disease, so must the remedy be.  The Lord says in the Gitā: 'O Arjuna, take refuge in Me.  I shall deliver you from all sins.' Take shelter at His feet: He will give you right understanding.  He will take entire responsibility for you.  Then you will get rid of the typhoid.  Can one ever know God with such a mind as this? Can one pour four seers of milk into a one-seer pot? Can we ever know God unless He lets us know Him? Therefore I say, take shelter in God.  Let Him do whatever He likes.  He is self-willed.  What power is there in a man?"

"There is another way: earnestly praying to God. God is our very own. We should say to Him: 'O God, what is Thy nature? Reveal Thyself to me. Thou must show Thyself to me; for why else hast Thou created me?' Some Sikh devotees once said to me, 'God is full of compassion.' I said: 'But why should we call Him compassionate? He is our Creator. What is there to be wondered at if He is kind to us? Parents bring up their children. Do you call that an act of kindness? They must act that way.' Therefore we should force our demands on God. He is our Father and Mother, isn't He? If the son demands his patrimony and gives up food and drink in order to enforce his demand, then the parents hand his share over to him three years before the legal time. Or when the child demands some pice from his mother, and says over and over again: 'Mother, give me a couple of pice. I beg you on my knees!' - then the mother, seeing his earnestness, and unable to bear it any more, tosses the money to him.”

Let us yearn for God and we can earn Him.

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.