Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 158 on 24-February-2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
OM JANANIM SHARADAM DEVIM RAMAKRISHNAM JAGADGURUM PAHADAPADMETAYOH SRIDHVA PRANAMAMI MUHURMUHU
ओम् जननीम् शर्दाम् देवेम् रामक्रिष्णम् जगत् गुरुम् पादपत्मे तयोस्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुरु मुहु
The Master with the Brahmo Devotees
Opening Invocation
Om Jananīm Śāradāṃ Devīm Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum, Pāda-padmetayo śritvā praṇamāmi muhuḥ muhuḥ.
Recap: The Boat Trip with Keshav Chandra Sen
Today we are going to start a new chapter: the Master with the Brahmo devotees. In our last class, we discussed how Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was taken by boat by Keshav Chandra Sen. After a marvellous conversation — and we have to note that most of the talk was only by Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, for in his presence no one really dares to open their mouth and talk — after many hours of a very enjoyable boat trip, Rāmakṛṣṇa was let down somewhere.
The Question of Carriage Hire
Then something noticeable took place. Keshav Chandra Sen had received Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa from Dakshineswar, and they were all enjoying themselves very nicely. But when the time came, it did not occur to them that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had to return to Dakshineswar — and it is a long distance. He is not going to walk back. He requires a carriage. A carriage means one has to hire it. Hiring means one has to pay the price. But none of the Brahmo devotees had ever asked, including Keshav Chandra Sen: "Sir, how are you going to return?"
It is like — just imagine — you invite a Swami to your house, it is a long distance from the āśrama, and then you do not give him anything, you make no arrangements for him to return, and then very smilingly, with the greatest devotion, you bid him goodbye. That is a very interesting point.
So Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa went to Suresh Mitra's house. Suresh Mitra was a very great devotee, one appointed specifically by the Divine Mother to look after Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's needs — even after the passing away of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. But unfortunately, he was not informed that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was coming. They had just hired a carriage and gone to his house. Then only the topic arose: who is going to pay?
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was very humorous. He said, "Even though the master of the house was not there, his people at home know me very well. They know how devoted their master was to me. Surely you can ask for the carriage hire." What a shame that such a great soul had never thought: who is going to pay the carriage hire?
Only when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa visited Īśvara Chandra Vidyāsāgar did Vidyāsāgar show consciousness of this fact. While Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was about to leave, he enquired of M, "Shall I pay the carriage hire?" But M said, "No, the devotees will take care of it." In that instance, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa himself had gone there; Vidyāsāgar did not invite him. But in Keshav's case, Keshav Chandra Sen had invited him, came to Dakshineswar, picked him up, and then left him at a long distance without even thinking: who is going to pay the carriage hire? And many of the Brahmo devotees were in a very good position to pay the fare. Just a small point.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and the Brahmo Samāj
Now we will move on to the next chapter. It is called "The Master with the Brahmo Devotees."
The Brahmo Samāj had done quite a good amount of service to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. It is from them — from the Brahmo Samāj — that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa received the knowledge, by the will of the Divine Mother, that an organisation is very necessary for the propagation of either good or bad ideas. We all know that evil people, cruel people, and gangsters all form friendships. They are not loving each other, but they know the power of unity. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa learned many lessons: that if his mission is to be successful, we need an organisation.
But that was not the only lesson he learned through his association with the Brahmo Samāj, especially with Keshav Chandra Sen. All the future direct disciples — some monks and would-be monks, as well as some of the devotees — were at that time attracted to the Brahmo Samāj. Keshav Chandra Sen especially was a very charismatic orator. Why were these people later compelled to divorce from the Brahmo Samāj, including Vijayakrishna Goswami? Why did they become attracted to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa?
We see that there was not much spirituality in the Brahmo Samāj, but they were doing tremendous good to society through certain very needed reforms. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa understood that the same ancient truths have to be put, explained in modern terms, and moulded so that they can be beneficial to modern people. And that was exactly what Swami Vivekānanda had learned from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and preached.
Swami Ranganāthanandaji Mahārāj was given very special power by the direct disciples of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, especially by Swami Akhānḍānandaji, who blessed him: "May Sarasvatī reside in your tongue." That means: you are going to become a very powerful orator. But he was not only a mere orator; he was a great personality whose mind used to live on a very high plane. I was very fortunate to be associated with him for so many years.
Such a person delivered lectures not only for ordinary devotees — people who used to attend in thousands at Delhi, at Calcutta, and wherever he toured the whole world — he also created a very positive atmosphere. And more than that, there were people especially associated with the government of India who were very favourably disposed, not spiritually orientated, but they understood the social service. These were the ideals preached not only for one's own spiritual progress — ātmano mokṣārtham — but also jagat-hitāya ca, for the welfare of the world.
How many even today in the government are favourably disposed towards the social service side of the Ramakrishna Mission? That is why they help us a great deal. They have great respect for all of us.
So Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa learned that an organisation is very necessary. Of course, that was why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was attracted to Keshav Chandra Sen and towards the Brahmo Samāj, and vice versa. Keshav Chandra Sen understood Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa better than anybody else in those days. It was he who really made the name of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa popular by wholehearted following and also, in his talks, by very frequently quoting: "Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said this, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said that."
In those days, Keshav Chandra Sen was extraordinarily famous — a cult figure, a very charismatic personality. So many, especially young people, were attracted not only by his personality and his eloquent expositions, but by the ideas of trying to combine the spirit of all religions. Even though he was borrowing a little more heavily from the life of Jesus Christ, he later understood. So even that seed of sarva-dharma-sāmanaya — the harmony of all religions — was already slowly surfacing through these personalities.
And there, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had just to act like a wonderful tree. Imagine a hybrid tree: nowadays several varieties of roses or mangoes are grafted onto one wild root, so that every branch bears its own special type. The ideas of Keshav Chandra Sen had attracted many would-be monks, would-be disciples, and would-be devotees of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. All that Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa needed to do was go to those places and gather them. And the moment both sides came into contact with each other, it was as if this was what the disciples had been searching for their whole lives. They immediately lost all attraction for the Brahmo Samāj and started visiting Dakshineswar, even though Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa himself did not stop visiting the Brahmo Samāj until the very end.
So Keshav Chandra Sen, through the Brahmo Samāj, served Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa by attracting these people. It is not only that others had to learn from Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa; Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also had to find a practical expression through which the dharma-sthāpanā — the establishment of dharma — could be accomplished.
The Festival at Sinthi: October 28, 1882
With this background, we enter the subject. It was October 28, 1882, a Saturday. The semi-annual Brahmo festival, celebrated each autumn and spring, was being held in Beni Madhur Babu's beautiful garden house at Sinthi, about three miles north of Kolkata. Beni Madhur Babu was a Brahmo devotee who had genuine devotion to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, and Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had visited and blessed his house several times.
When the carriage bringing the Master and a few devotees reached the garden house, the assembly stood up respectfully to receive him. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, whenever possible, used to take M and some other devotees with him, though of course only a few people could be accommodated in a horse carriage.
M described it so beautifully: "There was a sudden silence, like that which comes when the curtain in a theatre is about to be rung up. People who had been conversing with one another now fixed their attention on the Master's serene face, eager not to lose one word that might fall from his lips."
What a beautiful description. Somehow their unconscious mind had grasped the fact that here is the holiest of the holy. If God can appear on earth, this would be the best manifestation. Somehow — openly they might not have expressed it, but unconsciously and intuitively — they all understood it.
Shivanath Shastri: A Great Brahmo Leader
There was a Brahmo devotee and great leader whose name was Shivanath Shastri. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa genuinely loved him. When Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa loves somebody, there must be something lovable in that person — some great quality. We are not talking about talents. There are many people who have wonderful talents, but talents alone would not attract Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, even though he could appreciate them. Spirituality is different from talent; character is different from talent.
A person may be highly immoral — even a drunkard, as many famous artists are — and yet have such extraordinary talent that when exhibiting it, it is as if some special god has descended to earth. Whether someone sings or plays an instrument — it is as if they have descended. We have to salute that, for this too is a manifestation of God's power. Wherever you see any special manifestation, it is because there is nothing else except God. All of us, even though we are not aware of it, are nothing but God. We cannot exist if God is not there. But if God is everywhere, then who was Hiraṇyakaśipu? What was the pillar? Who was Prahlāda? If we go deep into it, they were nothing but God. Then why did God become so dramatic? It is his Līlā.
Shivanath was one of those great leaders. He has written his autobiography later on. I tried to find out what he has to say about the Master, but I could not find much. He was mentioning everything else, except Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. When Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa fell ill, Shivanath's devotion had come down considerably. His opinion was that spiritual people should not become ill or sick. Not only that — he expressed the statement that previously Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's mind was in a very high realm, but of late it had come down very much.
What type of intellect is this? I can never understand it. When a person once reaches a higher stage, the question of forgetting it and coming down to a lower stage will never arise.
But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. He understood the good side. He was not ignorant of the downside of Keshav Chandra Sen, of Pratap Chandra Majumdar, and of Shivanath Shastri. But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had developed the quality of looking only at the good side of everybody. So he became joyous: "Ah, here is Shivanath! You see, you are a devotee of God. The very sight of you gladdens my heart."
Then Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa gave a very funny example. In the Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, every now and then we see two special talents of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa: his humorous stories and his parables. So many parables Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa has given that someone had compared him to Kālidāsa himself, who was famous for his similes. He says: "One hemp smoker feels very happy to meet another hemp smoker. Very often they embrace each other in an exuberance of joy."
And devotees understood. The way Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa can express — it is not only the expression, but the expresser himself and how he makes it. That is what makes the difference between a non-talented and a talented person. Even if you want to tell a joke, you must have that talent. Not only must you have a good joke, but you must have a very special way of telling it; otherwise others will be politely laughing without really understanding head or tail of what was spoken. But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was a master humorist — and so also were Swami Vivekānanda, Swami Brahmānanda, many other direct disciples of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, and many of the Swamis of the Ramakrishna Order.
A Brief Digression: Kālidāsa's Wit
Four great poets of the past were praised each for a special quality. Kālidāsa was the first and greatest, acclaimed above all for his similes. Perhaps half a śloka will be beautiful Sanskrit and the other half a simile. I will give just one example.
Once two poor Brāhmaṇas wanted to earn praise from King Bhoja, who was missing Kālidāsa, with a promise that whoever could compose a śloka would receive a lot of money. These two were able to compose only the first line — that was the limit of their talent: Bhojanaṃ dehi rājendra ghṛta-sūpa-samanvitam — "O great king, please give us a very nice meal with ghee and sūpa (South Indian rasam)." All their poetic talent had exhausted itself there.
Then Kālidāsa — whom they did not know — appeared and took pity upon them. He completed the verse in the form of a simile: Śarat-candra-candrikā-mahiṣāñca dhavalaṃ dadhi — "We are South Indians; we love yoghurt, and it should be white like the pure moonlight of the full-moon day that arises in the autumn season, and it should be very thick, made from the milk of a buffalo." Of course, Bhoja Rāja recognised their half-talent and rewarded them, then asked where that completing line came from. In that way he traced Kālidāsa, and they were happily united. Anyway, this is just a small digression.
Worldly Visitors at Dakshineswar
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa became quite popular, and many people — devotees — would come to him, and along with them, unworthy people with no interest in spirituality would also accompany the devotees. At one glance Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa could understand them. He spoke about them:
"Many people visit the temple garden at Dakshineswar. If I see some among the visitors indifferent to God, I say to them, 'You had better sit over there, where you have the freedom not to listen.' Or sometimes I say, 'Go and see the beautiful buildings.'"
The devotees burst into laughter, understanding what he meant.
"Sometimes I find that the devotees of God are accompanied by worthless people. Their companions are immersed in gross worldliness and do not enjoy spiritual talk at all. Since the devotees keep on for a long time talking with me about God, the others become restless. Finding it impossible to sit there any longer, they whisper to their devotee friends, 'When shall we be going? How long will you be staying here?' And the devotees say, 'Wait a bit. We shall go after a little while.' Then the worldly people say in a disgusted tone, 'Well then, you can talk — we shall wait for you in the boat.'"
Again everybody laughs. There is profound meaning in every sentence that comes from the mouth of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, because he was God himself, and God is another name for pure knowledge — sat-cit-ānanda-svarūpa.
The Power of Chaitanya's Method: Attracting the Worldly
Why is he telling us this? Worldly people will never listen to you if you ask them to renounce everything and devote themselves wholeheartedly to God. Therefore Chaitanya and Nityānanda — called "Nimāi" and "Nityāi" for short — after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract worldly people. They would say to such persons: "Come, come! Repeat the name of Hari and you shall have a delicious soup of maguṛa fish and the embrace of a young woman!"
Many people, attracted by the fish and the mention of the woman, would chant the name of God. After tasting a little of the nectar of God's hallowed name, they would soon realise that the "fish soup" really meant the tears they shed for love of God, while the "young woman" signified the earth, and the "embrace of the woman" meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine love.
Of course, I am just adding a few words so that we can enjoy Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's words. The way M wrote this Gospel of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa — we have to imagine we are also present among those devotees. There is no distance of time or space. We can be anywhere in it with just a thought. We can go to Mars, to Saturn, to the very Sun, to Brahmaloka. What do you think Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was doing whenever he used to go into samādhi? He was going into different lokas to enjoy that flavour. But he knew that these are all manifestations of Brahman only — that is called Līlā.
The Divine Mother had commanded Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa: after he was continuously in the state of nirvikalpa samādhi for six long months at a stretch following the departure of his Vedānta Guru Tautapuri Mahārāj — a sādhu came, beat Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa until he came back to consciousness, and tried to put a little food into his mouth. Then, at the end of six months, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was commanded by the Divine Mother: "Bhāva-mukhe thāko" — sometimes you will be absorbed in nirvikalpa samādhi, sometimes in savikalpa samādhi. That savikalpa samādhi is called the Līlā. Nitya and Līlā. You sit in between: you look at Nitya, then you look at Līlā. It is like a person sitting on the very doorstep — he can look outside, which is comparable to Līlā, and he can look inside, which is comparable to Nitya. Once a person attains that state, the mind cannot come down from that level.
The Sacredness of God's Name
The topic now turned to the greatness of God. God's name is sacred and pure.
Every day we probably go on singing a song in the hymn composed by Swami Abhedānanda:
Prakṛtim paramām abhayāṃ varadāṃ pavītrām, Cāritaṃ yasyāḥ pavitraṃ jīvanaṃ tathā, Pavitratā-svarūpāṇyai tasyai kurmo namo namaḥ.
(Another version ends: Tasyai devyai namo namaḥ.)
"To the Mother — Pavitram cāritam yasyāḥ — whose conduct is absolutely pure; pavitraṃ jīvanaṃ tathā — one whose whole life is an embodiment of purity; pavitratā-svarūpāṇyai — her very essence is nothing but pure sacredness — we bow to her again and again."
Once there was a cook at Jairambati, a woman, and unfortunately — I do not know exactly how it happened — a crow passed filth on her. It was winter, and she wanted to take a bath in the pond, which is highly dangerous because it is full of germs and it was very cold. Holy Mother advised her: "Don't do that. Just wash it off; nothing happens." But she was a superstitious woman. "Alright, then sprinkle a few drops of Gaṅgā water." That too did not satisfy her. At last Holy Mother said, "Touch me." Then the woman came to her senses, touched Holy Mother, and felt relieved. Pavitratā-svarūpāṇyai — she is the very embodiment of purity.
There is also a beautiful verse explaining the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma:
Pavitrāṇāṃ pavitramo maṅgalānāṃ ca maṅgalam, Daivatam daivatānāṃ ca bhūtānāṃ yo'vyayaḥ pitā.
"He is the very embodiment of purity — not only purity. Maṅgalānāṃ ca maṅgalam — the greatest good will come by just uttering His name. Such is the greatness of His very name. Daivatam daivatānāṃ ca — He is the God of all gods and of everybody. Avyayaḥ pitā — He is the Father, the Creator of all of us. The whole creation comes from Him."
Then in the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma a beautiful word comes: Akṣaraḥ. What is akṣara? Akṣara means that which loses its essence is called kṣara; that which never loses its essence is called akṣara — that is also called Satyam, that is also called God. But there was a great Viśiṣṭādvaita commentator who gave a marvellous meaning. He said: if any person, even by mistake, once sincerely says, "Oh Lord, I belong to You" — this was the promise of Rāma to Vibhīṣaṇa in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. Rāma tells Vibhīṣaṇa and others: "If anybody once sincerely says to me, 'Oh Rāma, I belong to You,' thereafter I will never let him go from my hand. So let him once hand over his hand to me. Thereafter he may try to run away from me, but I will not let him go." That is called Akṣara. What a beautiful interpretation!
And that is exactly what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa also said on another occasion: "Even if a man once in his whole life prays very sincerely, 'Oh Lord, I belong to You,' such a person ultimately has to come to me — I am not going to leave him."
This means he is going to be liberated, because Rāmakṛṣṇa said: "He who was Rāma, he who was Kṛṣṇa" — and by extension, he who was the Buddha, he who was Jesus, he who was Chaitanya — all the previous incarnations, the daśāvatāra, in fact the infinite number of avatāras, they are all in essence the same. Different dress, different nature, different qualities necessary to correct people's behaviour and guide them — that is called dharma-sthāpanā, the establishment of dharma, depending on the conditions of that particular society in those times.
One of the biggest problems with a certain approach to religion is the refusal to interpret sacred teachings in ways suitable for changing conditions. That is what Swami Ranganāthanandaji Mahārāj did in his talks on "eternal values for a changing society." Values are eternal; truth will never change. But its expression, manifestation, and utility must be adjusted according to the understanding of the changing society. That is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had come for. If we look at Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa through the lens of "eternal values for a changing society," we understand things much better.
The Seed of God's Name
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa continued on how great is the purity and sacredness of God's name. Nityāi — Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu's eternal companion Nityānanda, called "Nityāi" for short; and "Nimāi" is Chaitanya himself — inseparable friends. Nityāi would employ any means to make people repeat Hari's name.
There is a beautiful saying in Bengali, of which this is the translation. 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; then it germinates and at last bears fruit."
So we are impatient: "Oh, I have been taking God's name since my childhood!" In fact, if you recollect, this was one of the retorts that the mother of Swami Vivekānanda had given. Swamiji had the habit of repeating God's name as soon as he got up from his bed. But then his father suddenly had a heart attack and passed away. As soon as he passed away, all their relatives and friends became enemies. They tried to squeeze everything from Viśvanātha Datta's family — that is, Bhuvaneshwari Devi and her children. The proper description is not given, but terrible were the conditions that Swamiji had to undergo.
Later on, Bhuvaneshwari Devi used to narrate — after the passing away of Swami Vivekānanda — how many days he used to come home without having eaten food but telling a white lie: "I have been invited and had my full meal." He would come chewing a betel leaf to show that he had eaten, since betel nut and betel leaf are generally given after a special meal. But the whole day he had not eaten anything. Such were the conditions they had to go through.
So one day Narendranath got up from bed and started taking God's name, and Bhuvaneshwari Devi's patience came to an end. "Stop taking God's name! You have been taking his name from your very birth — what has he done for you?" That brought about a shock in Swami Vivekānanda's life.
So there are people — not for one year, not for ten years, not for twenty or sixty or even ninety or a hundred years — who may not feel anything. But there will be a great change, a great transformation going on from the very bottom that we may not recognise. We think nothing is happening, but really that is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is quoting from Chaitanya Mahāprabhu: "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."
Bhakti According to the Three Guṇas
Then Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa changed the topic: bhakti characterised by the three guṇas. We are all familiar with guṇas — sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa explains in the most exquisite manner: "As worldly people are endowed with sattva, rajas, and tamas, so also is bhakti characterised by the three guṇas."
What does Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa mean? When a person is endowed with tamo-guṇa, he may have some bhakti, but that bhakti has to express itself through that dominant guṇa called tamas. Similarly, when a person has more rajas than the other two guṇas — and no guṇa is completely absent; you cannot isolate one guṇa from the others, but one can dominate — just as sometimes our desire to act dominates, sometimes we feel like expressing our emotion, sometimes our will power becomes very dominant, and sometimes our intellect takes over. At different times, different faculties take over. That is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa means here.
The Sāttvika Devotee
"Do you know what a worldly person endowed with sattva is like? Perhaps his house is in a dilapidated condition here and there — he does not care to repair it. A worship hall may be strewn with pigeon droppings and the courtyard covered with moss, but he pays no attention to these things. The furniture of the house may be old; he does not think of polishing it and making it look neat. He does not care for dress at all — anything is good enough for him. But the man himself is very gentle, quiet, kind, and humble. He does not injure anyone."
We have to note very carefully: a tāmasika person also does the same thing — does not repair his house or polish his furniture — but that shows his laziness, his dislike of exertion. Here, in the sāttvika case, he is simply not attached.
If you go to Nagamahasaya's house: he had a talent, he could earn a lot of money, for he was one of the greatest and most effective homoeopathic physicians. But he decided to be a devotee of God, pure sattva-guṇa to an astonishing degree. When somebody came during his absence and saw that white ants were eating away the pillars of his house, he thought he was doing a great service to Nagamahasaya and removed all of them — many of whom must have died. When Nagamahasaya came back, that was the first thing he noticed. He said: "What have you done? For generations together, they have been living here with the greatest feeling of security — that nobody is going to throw them out of their home. But you came and threw them out!"
It was not a mere expression of words. He immediately went and found where the devotee had thrown them. Many thousands of white ants were still alive. Lovingly he brought them back and placed them where they had been, and promised them: "In future nobody is ever going to make you homeless — I give you my word." We cannot imagine such sattva-guṇa.
His bedroom was the only room in his whole house that had not become leaky. So whenever respectable guests came, both husband and wife would vacate their bedroom and accommodate the guests there. All other rooms were leaky — and especially East Bengal is known for too much rain — so they would spend the whole night chanting the name of God. His wife Śarat Kāminī was one of the greatest saintly ladies, and she had the good fortune of feeding Swami Vivekānanda.
So Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is describing: a sāttvika person does not repair his house because he does not want to waste his time in trivial affairs. He is not a lazy person; he is not lethargic. He simply wants to lead as simple a life as possible.
The Rājasika Devotee
"Again, among the worldly there are people with the traits of rajas. Such a man has a watch and chain and two or three rings on his fingers. The furniture of his house is all spic and span. On the walls hang portraits of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and other prominent people. The building is whitewashed and spotlessly clean. His wardrobe is filled with a large assortment of clothes. Even the servants have their livery."
When Madhur Babu came to Vārāṇasī bringing Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa with him, he behaved like a Rāja. He arranged for Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa to be carried in a beautiful palanquin with a full security guard in front and at the back. Not that anybody was going to harm Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, but to show off. A servant used to hold a large silver umbrella over his head; of course everybody used to make way for him. He rewarded the priests also adequately with large gifts of money, clothes, and so on — otherwise nobody would respect him.
"On the contrary, the traits of a worldly man endowed with tamas are: sleep, lust, anger, egotism, and the like."
The Bhakti of the Sāttvika, Rājasika, and Tāmasika Devotee
Having briefly described the three types of worldly person, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa elaborates a little more on how these three guṇas manifest in devotion.
"Similarly, bhakti has its sattva. A devotee who possesses it meditates on God in absolute secret — perhaps inside his mosquito net. Others think he is asleep. Since he is late in getting up, they think perhaps he has not slept well during the night. His love for the body goes only as far as appeasing his hunger, and that only by means of rice and simple greens. There is no elaborate arrangement about his meals, no luxury in clothes, no display of furniture. Besides, such a devotee never flatters anybody for money."
This is another description of the sāttvika devotee. A person with sattva derives such great joy — we have to understand why people put on so many golden ornaments and fine saris and silk chadars. It is because they think they must exhibit their wealth so that others should respect them; they derive their ānanda — their happiness — from that. But the greater ānanda, as we have been seeing in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad — śrotriya syāca akāmahatasya — the higher a person climbs, the nearer he comes to God, and the greater also will be his joy.
"What about a rājasika person endowed with bhakti? An aspirant sādhaka possessed of rājasika bhakti puts a tilaka on his forehead and a necklace of holy rudrākṣa beads interspersed with gold ones around his neck. At worship he wears a silk cloth."
All laugh at this — not only at the analogy, but at the beautiful way Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa expresses it.
The Tāmasika Devotee: Burning Faith
"But what about a tāmasika bhakta? A man endowed with tāmasika bhakti has burning faith."
This is the crucial difference between a tāmasika worldly person and a tāmasika bhakta. The tāmasika bhakta has burning faith. "Such a devotee literally extorts boons from God, even as a robber falls upon a man and plunders his money — bind, beat, kill! That is his way, the way of the dacoits."
Now I just remembered a beautiful anecdote in the life of Rani Rashmani. She was once travelling with some security guards, but in those days there were highway robbers. And these days those very robbers have incarnated themselves as what is called internet robbers — "phishers" (not with an 'f-i,' but 'p-h') — well, both are fishing only, no doubt about it! Those people had only limited needs; but these people are millionaires and billionaires, squeezing all that money from their own customers. So every big company is trying to pull everybody and keep them in their own environment, not allowing them to get out to alternative means. There is a lot of protest against it, but this is the nature of things: highway robbers will always be there; only the way of robbing has changed. Previously they used to fall upon, rob, beat, and kill. But nowadays it is: "We are your greatest friends." You know better than me what that means. Why am I talking about it? Because the nature of people will never change. This world will always be a mixture of good and evil.
So: a man endowed with tāmasika bhakti has burning faith. Saying this, the Master began to sing in a voice sweet with rapturous love, his eyes turned upwards. But then he says something very, very important for us to understand. So much is the burning faith of this tāmasika devotee: "If only I can pass away, O Mother, repeating your name — O Durgā! — let me see how you can withhold yourself and be away from me!"
These are very beautiful thoughts. Sometimes perhaps we have to start with tāmasika bhakti. We will talk about this in our next class.
Closing Prayer
Om Jānānāṃ Śāradāṃ Devīṃ Rāmakṛṣṇaṃ Jagadgurum
Pada Padme Tayo Śṛtvā Praṇamāmi Muhur Muhuh
May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda bless us all with bhakti.
Jai Ramakrishna!