Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 167 on 30-June-2026
Full Transcript (Not Corrected)
Opening Invocation
ॐ जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुम् |
पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः ||
Oṃ jananīṃ śāradāṃ devīṃ rāmakṛṣṇaṃ jagadgurum |
pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ ||
Sri Ramakrishna at Surendra's House
Sunday, November 19, 1882.
Question on Theosophy and Superhuman Powers
Surendra's brother: "Sir, what do you think of Theosophy, Master? I have heard that man can acquire superhuman powers through it and perform miracles. I saw a man who had brought a ghost under control. A ghost used to procure various things for his master."
Sri Ramakrishna's Response
"What shall I do with superhuman powers? Can one realise God through them?" Sri Ramakrishna was posing this question. Can one realise God with superhuman powers called siddhis? The clear answer is not only one cannot realise, but they definitely will stand out as an obstruction.
What Are Superhuman Powers?
And we have to understand what is a superhuman power. We fail to recognise that among the people that we know, among the lecturers, wonderful speakers are there who attract a large amount of people—thousands and thousands online, at home. They become very popular. There are people whose writings are so beautiful. Even today, we feel like reading them. There are people who could sing so beautifully. There was one Pannalal Bhattacharya, used to sing devotional songs on the Divine Mother. Probably nobody would be able to sing in that manner—yet so simple way he sings—both he and his brother Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Pannalal and Dhananjaya. But what a tragic life this Pannalal Bhattacharya—they say, I do not know—had to commit suicide because of his wife or whatever reason, I do not know.
Special Manifestations
So what I wanted to point out: if there is some extraordinary manifestation, whether in the form of physical strength, endurance—for example, all the great swimmers, Olympic players—it is all divine manifestation. They are also called special powers. But often what happens is these very powers—they are very hard to persist—they take possession of us and they create egotism: "I am such a great person." Whether it is power, position, wealth—wealth in any sense, the wealth of poetry, wealth of writing, wealth of singing, wealth of composing, anything—it is all a special gift of God, a manifestation of God.
The Bhagavad Gita on Vibhūti
That is why we have seen in the Bhagavad Gītā, tenth chapter, almost at the end:
यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा | तत्तदेवावगच्छ त्वं मम तेजोंऽशसम्भवम् ||
yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṃ śrīmadūrjitam eva vā | tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṃ mama tejo 'ṃśa-sambhavam ||
It is not that siddhis—the supernatural powers or even the special manifestations—are bad, but often they mislead a person. Instead of being grateful to God, instead of remembering God more, they make people forget God. In that sense, they are obstructions.
The Good Use of Powers
First, what is the next point? Supposing a person has got supernatural power, but he is using it only for good—and that is also a great thing to do. There are so many varieties of personalities. There are many people who do not believe in God. Sincerely, they say: "There is no God. Nature is everything." Of course, the question of accepting many lives, past and future, does not arise at all. But it does not mean they are all very bad people. There are so many noble souls who render service, who share and care for other people. God does not care whether you declare yourself as a devotee or not. God only looks for: "What is this person's life? Is he gradually becoming unselfish? And is he sharing what he has got with other people?" That is what God looks into. The more unselfish, the nearer we are to God.
The Danger of Miraculous Powers
But as Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says, often these miraculous—I mean great powers, special powers—they bring more ignorance and more distance from God. And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa himself is telling: "I saw a man who had brought a ghost under control." Do ghosts exist? Sure, because the scriptures tell us. I personally have seen people who have seen ghosts. Our Swami Vireśvaranandaji Mahārāj told us on his visit to Cherrapunjee, where I was at that time so many years back, that he used to see a ghost where he was residing in a hostel. We cannot disbelieve it. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa confirmed it, Swamiji confirmed it, Holy Mother confirmed it, Swami Brahmanandaji confirmed it.
Good Ghosts
And sometimes ghosts do not always mean only evil spirits. There are also good ghosts, as Swami Brahmanandaji used to describe. So once he saw a Vaiṣṇava who had passed away some time back sitting and doing japam by his side, encouraging Swami Brahmanandaji. And he declared: "There are unselfish people—even after death they will do good." And Swami Vivekananda had declared: "Let me throw away this physical body; I will do greater good through my subtle body." And he boldly declared: "I shall not stop until I inspire every man and woman and make them travel towards God." We do not know whether he could do it for everybody, but it is certainly true: he would give up his life even if he could help even a single dog.
Theosophy: Good and Bad
So what is the question? Theosophy? I have to say something: Theosophy at one time—just before India had become free, independent—had done some bad, some good. What was the bad? They started preaching, and people—even the greatest intellectuals—fell into that trap. "There are Himalayan masters sitting in the Himalayas guiding them, and we are the instruments." And there also they declare: "Only a few of us have been chosen because we must be really extraordinarily great."
The Krishnamurti Incident
Unfortunately, they started quarrelling among themselves, and the Himalayan masters—their brains must have been frozen—because these people with whom the Himalayan masters used to communicate, they advised these society leaders to choose a person to be the president of the Theosophical Society. And the moment he declared, very soon he simply publicly said: "I do not believe in Theosophy. I do not want to be tied down with all these things." And he cut himself off completely. How the Himalayan masters were unable to see this person's mind when they declare that "we can see anybody's mind" is beyond my comprehension.
J. Krishnamurti
Anyway, this gentleman became very popular as a preacher. His name was J. Krishnamurti. Even today there are people, and some of his teachings are really extraordinary, but we do not need to go for that. For us, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda are more than enough. And if you wish, you can also take the blessings and grace of Ramana Maharshi—that I can categorically declare.
How to Judge Miracles
So miracles can happen, but how to judge the miracles? Do not say "I want miracles." Are they going to do good or bad? That is what you will have to understand.
The Upanishadic Teaching
Then Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa continues the conversation: "What shall I do with superhuman powers? Can one realise God through them? And if we cannot realise God, then if God is not realised, then everything becomes false." Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is only telling what he declared in the form of ṛṣis earlier in the Vedas, in the Upaniṣads. When we were studying the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, we have seen:
तमेवैकं जानथ आत्मानम् अन्या वाचो विमुञ्चत.
tam evaikaṃ jānatha ātmānam anyā vāco vimuñcata.
So in the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, second part, fifth mantra says: Tam eva ekam ātmānam jānatha—"Try to devote your life to realise that Ātman, that is the only truth." Anyā vācaḥ—"every other aspiration"—vimuñcata—"renounce it, give it up like virulent poison."
The Kena Upanishad
And we have also seen in the Kena Upanishad, when we were studying—I hope you will remember:
इह चेत् अवेदीत् अथ सत्यमस्ति | न चेदिह अवेदीन् महती विनष्टिः || भूतेषु भूतेषु विचित्य धीराः प्रेत्य अस्मात् लोकात् अमृताः भवन्ति ||
iha cet avedīt atha satyam asti | na ced ihāvedīn mahatī vinaṣṭiḥ || bhūteṣu bhūteṣu vicitya dhīrāḥ pretya asmāt lokāt amṛtāḥ bhavanti ||
So in the second chapter, fifth mantra, what does it say? If any human being realises Ātman while still living, he then attains the true goal of life. If he does not know it here in this life while living, a great destruction awaits him. What is that great destruction? Rebirth. Because we do not know the future—what is going to happen next second. Having realised the Self in every being, the wise men relinquish the world and become immortal. This is precisely the teaching of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa.
Swami Vivekananda's Inspiration
This was the awakening inspirational quote Swami Vivekananda used to quote often:
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत | वेदाहमेतं पुरुषं महान्तं आदित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ||
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata | vedāham etaṃ puruṣaṃ mahāntaṃ ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt ||
"I have known that ancient Ṛṣi"—he is declaring his own self-realisation. We get so many such declarations we have read in both the Taittirīya Upaniṣad and Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.
Declarations of Realisation
Ahaṃ Manur abhavam, Sūryaś ca—"I became Manu and the Sun"—especially in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. And then in the Taittirīya, we are going to see. Asmāt Annamayāt Kośāt upasaṃkramya—the person gradually removes, destroys his identification with Annamaya Kośa, Prāṇamaya Kośa, Manomaya Kośa, Vijñānamaya Kośa, and then Ānandamaya Kośa. Then he understands:
अहमन्नम् अहमन्नम् अहमन्नम् | अहमन्नादः अहमन्नादः अहमन्नादः | अहं श्लोककृत् अहं श्लोककृत् अहं श्लोककृत् ||
aham annam, aham annam, aham annam | aham annādaḥ, aham annādaḥ, aham annādaḥ | ahaṃ ślokakṛt, ahaṃ ślokakṛt, ahaṃ ślokakṛt ||
So he goes on declaring: "I am the creator, I am the creator, I am the creator. I am the food. I am the eater of the food." These are the declarations of souls who have realised: "I am Ātman. I am Brahman."
Sri Ramakrishna's Declaration
Of course, we do not need to say anything about Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. He said in reply to somebody's question: "Māyā, I am telling you the truth—I have seen God more clearly, more closely than I am seeing you."
Sri Ramakrishna at the Brahmo Samaj Festival
We move on to the next chapter—not chapter, section—November 1882. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa arrived in Calcutta to attend the annual festival of the Brāhma Samāj which was to be celebrated at Manilal Mallik's house. Besides him, some other devotees of the master—Vijay Krishna Goswami and a number of Brāhmos—were present. Vijay was to conduct the worship. At that time, Vijay Krishna Goswami was employed as a member of the Brāhma Samāj to conduct worship, to deliver talks, etc. He was a descendant of the Advaita Goswamin.
The Advaita Goswamin
"Goswamin" means an orthodox brāhmaṇa who was authorised to give initiation to people. But this Advaita Goswamin had nothing to do with Advaita. He was one of the greatest devotees of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, and it is said that he called upon, he prayed, he wept to Kṛṣṇa and said: "Bhagavān, the world has become very bad; please listen." And there is a belief which says that Caitanya Mahāprabhu descended because of the prayers of the Advaita Goswami, and this Vijay Krishna Goswami belonged to his lineage.
Vijay Krishna Goswami
What happened as soon as Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's eyes fell on Vijay Krishna Goswami on his visits to the Brāhma Samāj—because at first Vijay Krishna Goswami was working as an employee of the Brāhma Samāj in what we now call Bangladesh, Dhaka. Only later on he came to know, he met Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, and then he surrendered himself to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. Even though strangely Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa did not initiate him—he said: "You have a separate guru." These are really spiritual mysteries; we cannot understand them.
The Kathak Recites Prahlāda's Story
Then you see, they engaged somebody to recite the stories from the Bhāgavatam for the inspiration of the devotees. They must have done that because of the advice of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and his influence. So they engaged a specialist—nowadays they are called Bhāgavatars, or in Bengal they are called Kathaks. Beautiful voice, loved voice, musical voice, and they can bring a lot of emotion in the hearts of the listeners. And that used to be a very common thing before this YouTube has come, etc. India had always been the repository of spiritual life. So the Kathak recited the life of Prahlāda from the Bhāgavatam.
Prahlāda's Prayer
Afflicted by his father, Prahlāda prayed to Nārāyaṇa: "O God, please give my father holy inclinations." I am especially interested in this story because these mythological stories appear to be—and are received by many of the modern readers as cock-and-bull stories—not understanding how deep a meaning these people have. So Prahlāda was praying to God: look at this great man. The father was torturing him, even gave commandment to kill him by any means possible. But Prahlāda simply surrendered and said: "I do not—it means I do not exist. How can anyone kill me who does not exist? Only when somebody exists can be killed." And what did Prahlāda become? By removing his egotism, he became Nārāyaṇa. That is also called complete self-surrender.
The Meaning of Prahlāda
Now this Prahlāda is nothing but Nārāyaṇa. Every time something is about to happen, simply he says "Nārāyaṇa," and he withdraws into Nārāyaṇa. And so this story we know. But what is worthy to be noted here? The very name of Prahlāda: hlāda means uncontainable bliss, joy. Prahlāda means prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa hlāda—tremendous joy. Why? Because he became Ānanda-svarūpa by becoming one with Sat-Cit-Ānanda. Another name for Nārāyaṇa is Sat-Cit-Ānanda. But these people perceive everything only with the eye of spirituality. Everybody is Nārāyaṇa's manifestation.
Hiranyakashipu's Story
So Prahlāda was also praying: "O God, please give my father holy inclinations." Now what I wanted to convey to you is that Prahlāda need not have prayed to God: "Give my father holy inclinations." Prahlāda's father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, was one of the greatest devotees of God. He was the closest to God. He was supposed to be a Dvārapālaka—one of the watchmen—Jaya and Vijaya. So how did that person—only because of some egotism—all problems come because of egotism only. So because of egotism, his spiritual progress was not complete. So the ṛṣis, out of their kindness—ṛṣis means the grace of God itself came through the instrumentality of the ṛṣis—said: "You have to complete your sādhana, purify your heart." But deliberately they had chosen a particular emotion called terrible enmity, hatred. So Hiraṇyakaśipu wants to fight with God. Why? He wants to be killed by God. What happens when God kills? He becomes God. What happens when you eat—when you kill a chicken? Of course, what I mean—you cook it and eat it—it becomes you. Of course, God need not cook it, but by His very killing, what can God kill? He can only kill ajñāna. Sat can kill asat. Cit can kill acit. Ānanda can kill duḥkha. So what can God kill? Only God can kill ajñāna. He is nothing but the very embodiment of pure consciousness. And so this person is praying to God: "Please come."
The Methodology of Hatred
Why did he adopt this methodology? Because the more inimical feeling we have, the more stronger, unforgettable our memory would be. If you love somebody, you might forget—and usually we do. But if you are angry with somebody, hate somebody, then I can guarantee you can never forget that person. So that is what these devotees want: "We do not want even one billionth metre of distance from You. We want to be with You, in You all the time." But out of this goodness—because he is seeing that my father is none other than Nārāyaṇa only—Prahlāda might have understood: "My father is cherishing some inimical feelings towards God," not understanding that what Prahlāda wants, what his father wants, is exactly one and the same thing.
The Master's Ecstasy
But the Kathak must have been a great singer and exponent, because what happens at these words, at hearing the prayer of Prahlāda, the master wept; he went into an ecstatic mood. Afterwards he began to talk to the devotees, and whenever the subject of bhakti comes, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa goes into ecstasy.
Bhakti Is the Only Essential Thing
"Bhakti is the only essential thing. One obtains love of God by constantly chanting His name and singing His glories."
The Advaitic Path
If we ask any Advaitin: "What is the way to know that I am Brahman?" He says: "First you become a fit recipient by acquiring certain divine qualities—Sādhana-catuṣṭaya-sampatti, viveka (discrimination), vairāgya (dispassion), control over the body and mind, etc., and deep longing for God-realisation." So that is the only way, and then only the teacher will tell this is the Mahāvākya—śravaṇa—which indicates: "You are none other than Brahman. You are Brahman. You will be only Brahman. No change will ever come. But you are thinking 'I am not Brahman.' So you have to get rid of that thinking 'I am not Brahman.' That is called ignorance, and that notion has to be replaced."
As Many Paths as Many Faiths
So that is what we need to see. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: "Jato mat tato path—as many paths, as many faiths—so many paths. Any path can take you." How come? Because God is infinite. You turn in any direction; you cannot help seeing God. There is no other way. That is why in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad it is categorically declared: God is above, God is below, God is in the four directions. That means you will not see anything else excepting God. If you are seeing anything other than Brahman, your vision is because of your ignorance.
- Brahman Is Everything ===
सहस्रशीर्षा पुरुषः सहस्राक्षः सहस्रपात्.
sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt.
It does not mean every man is Brahman. It means Brahman is everything. Now we have to see: God is only manifesting as you, as me, as an insect, as the rock, as the mountain, as the river, as the forest, as everything else. So what is the goal? That is bhakti. Once a person attains bhakti, realisation of God—attainment of bhakti are synonymous. But how to attain bhakti? Bhakti means love of God.
The Way to Bhakti
So pointing out the goal of life is not enough. One has to point out what is the way to reach that goal. And according to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, he says: "One obtains love of God by constantly chanting His name and singing His glories." So this is the best path. This is the path recommended by the great sage Nārada. Even though Nārada was one of the greatest jñānīs, still he actively propagated throughout the world whenever it is possible and to whomsoever he addresses—or whosoever is ready and willing to listen to him—that Nārāyaṇa is the only reality. What Nārada means is not your philosophical Saguṇa Brahma but Brahman.
Brahman and Śakti
But Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: "Brahman and Śakti are one and the same." That Śakti—the one from whom creation, maintenance, and resolution takes place—that Saguṇa Brahma which is none other than the Nirguṇa Brahma, the highest reality called Brahman. The only way for it is to chant the name of God. And what happens? You might be chanting it mechanically at the beginning, but then as we go on chanting, slowly, slowly a change takes place—albeit unawares—and then we start believing. That is why there is a saying in English language: "If you hear many times, then even the greatest lie becomes a truth." Of course, it never becomes the truth, but it influences our faith, our belief. Why not in the spiritual light also? So go on chanting. Then it makes us thoughtful. The name of God purifies our heart, and then it automatically develops certain qualities like automatic spell-checking.
The AI Analogy
Wherever there are misspelled words, there are programs which you give it freedom. You go on correcting yourself, especially the AI is extremely good at it. You give any text you want, feed it to that, and then you will see that it will not only correct the spelling mistakes, punctuation, commas, full stops, parentheses—everything—even it can put captions for every single idea which is going to be expounded. It puts in capital letters if you wish: "This is the idea you are going to get below." Everybody is talking about AI. There everything—anything in this world, any knowledge—is like a double-edged sword. So knowledge by itself is pure. But how we use that knowledge and the consequences can be evil or they could be for the highest good.
AI Predicting Heart Attacks
One instance I was reading recently: AI predicted that somebody is going to have a heart attack soon. Somehow this person believed in it and he went to the hospital, and the doctors examined him and found out what this man found out by just going on to the internet, and because they prevented him, at least they saved him for the time being. So we should not reject anything, but we should have that intelligence to use something in the right way.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
So this is also what nowadays psychologists have discovered—CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Does it work? Most definitely it will work. So if anybody wants to get rid of certain bad habits—and the name for this habit in Sanskrit language is called saṃskāra. What is a saṃskāra? What is a habit? That which without any conscious effort manifests itself—that is called saṃskāra or habit, and it is very difficult. So CBT: go on repeating, "I do not wish to become angry." At first it looks: "What is this nonsense I am doing?" But go on doing it, and then after some time you become conscious. Supposing after doing this you forgot it and became angry, and then your own conscience will come to bite you, trouble you, makes you feel guilty: "Are you not repeating? I should not become angry."
Pretending to Be Angry
Now, you will have to note down something very important. Becoming angry and pretending to be angry—these are two separate issues. One is a worldly quality, another is a spiritual quality. During course of your duty or discharging your duties, you might have to get angry—pretend to be. You can even shout at that person. But if you are pretending, the moment that incident is over, then you will even forget about that incident. But if you are helplessly being carried away, it will affect you so terribly. The other person might not feel anything, but you will pay the consequences by losing your sleep, your appetite, and showing your sour face to everybody.
How CBT Works
So cognitive behavioral therapy most certainly works out. But for that, you will have to be intelligent and find out: what are the defects that automatically are coming, and how can I prevent them by what mantra—CBT. For example, every morning after your spiritual practice, after repeating the mantra—sacred mantra given to you by your Gurudeva—then separately, so many people pointed out to me: "I am a short-tempered person, and let me try not to lose my temper." You consciously practice it, and then this conscious practice will be a great remedy for our unconscious habit of reacting to certain situations. That is how most definitely it works.
Chanting and Personality Development
In fact, if simply mechanically, parrot-wise repeating the name of one iṣṭa-mantra is not going to be of much help, unless we try to develop our personality through the development of certain divine qualities: ahiṃsā, samatā, tuṣṭiḥ, śrīḥ, dhṛtiḥ, etc. So that is called cognitive—means consciously; behavioral therapy—means what? Bringing about slowly, removing, converting the old saṃskāras into good saṃskāras. And this is the method Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is advising to his devotees—we find it throughout the Gospel. Not only Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, anybody, any great saint—whether it be Tulasīdāsa, Mīrābāī, Surdāsa, Tyāgarāja, Purandara Dāsa, Nāmadeva, Tuko—you name it, and we will get it.
Bhakti and Singing
So bhakti is the only essential thing, but how does one get it? One obtains love of God by constantly chanting His name and singing His glories. You see, it is called vāk-jñāna. If somebody can definitely go on singing God's name—not only chanting but if possible singing. Of course, if your voice is so bad, you sing for yourself. God does not mind. Only other people may mind, and if they mind, it is a wonderful quality you have, because if you want solitude, start singing, and anybody will not approach you. And if they are nearby, suddenly they start looking at their watches and then saying: "Oh, I forgot there is an urgent work I have to do." And then inside you know what, why they are behaving like that. Outside you pretend: "Please go and attend." The less number of people, the more that is what is said: nirjana maje maje nirjanasthāne jābi—nirjana means where people are not. The most problematic thing about the saying is it is not the external presence of people; it is the internal attachment to people. That is very important.
Fanaticism
Then as usual, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is repeating how much of this fanaticism between religions and religions, between communities and communities, between castes and castes. Fanaticism. One should not think: "My religion alone is the right path, and other religions are false." If anybody—any religion is trying to convert other people to their own religion—it is a sure sign that they are all fanatics. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa categorically declares, not out of reasonable thinking or rational thinking, but through actual experience. That is why he said, and that is why Holy Mother said: "Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had practised different religions, so that he can authentically say—not intellectually, not rationally, but experientially—he can say: I have followed so many important paths, and I reached the same Reality."
God Can Be Realised by Every Path
So God can be realised by every path. God can be realised by means of all paths—it is enough to have sincere yearning for God. This is the clue. It is not the path; it is in—one must have sincere yearning for God. Infinite are the paths and infinite are the opinions. If somebody is sincere, then everything becomes possible.
The Story of the Farmer's Son
And for that, we must recollect one of the stories of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. There was a farmer, and he had a son. One day the son had been bitten by a snake, or fallen asleep? He was about to die. And then he considered, he brought one physician who said: "It is a very difficult thing. But one, it can be cured, but it is impossible—almost impossible—to cure. So there must be a poison, but that poison must be collected under some peculiar circumstances." He described it. So what are those conditions? There must be a skull. Near that skull, there must be a frog. And that frog must be seen by a cobra, a poisonous snake, and it should try—the snake should run after it to kill it—and in order to escape, the frog has to jump over the skull. But the poison of the snake should fall into the skull, and it should happen when it is raining and a particular star is in ascendancy. How impossible this is to fulfil all these conditions! But the farmer had tremendous faith. So he started; he reached a crematorium. Suddenly he saw a skull: "Lord, you have provided a skull. Now please fulfil." Suddenly it became cloudy; started to rain. Suddenly he heard the croak of a frog, and suddenly he saw a cobra, and it was running to catch this frog which was near the skull, and it lifted its hood and jumped to kill the frog. The frog jumped away, but the poison fell into the skull, and then a few drops of rainwater also had fallen. And joyfully the farmer brought it, and his son was saved. The parable itself is so impossible—so many conditions. But what is impossible for God? That is called sincerity—sincere faith in God. God can do anything He wants. There is nothing impossible.
The Purpose of Māyā
That is the definition of Māyā also: whatever is impossible—asambhava—becomes sambhava by the grace of Māyā. And Māyā is nothing but the grace of God. If you study Advaita Vedānta, Māyā is considered as the greatest obstacle, the most poisonous obstacle for human progress. But as we discussed so many times—especially the light thrown by Swami Adhūtānandaji Mahārāj—Māyā is the greatest grace of God, and the ultimate purpose of Māyā is only to bring people to God. So Māyā makes him suffer only to awaken the person: "You are going to be a prisoner of this ignorance and of terrible suffering so long as you do not turn towards God." The only remedy is to go nearer to God and be in His lap. Then you will be swimming in the ocean of bliss.
Avidyā Māyā and Vidyā Māyā
This concept that Mahāmāyā's only goal is not to delude people but to prepare—and this is how I have understood it. The Avidyā Māyā—what does it do? It makes every human being acquire the qualities required. Usually we do not sit down and go on trying: "I want this spiritual quality, that spiritual quality." But as we go on suffering, we understand gradually: the only way we can escape is by developing what is called puṇyam—by doing puṇyam, by developing—by leading a life of dharma. And dharma is nothing but acquiring all the qualities which are described in the 16th chapter of the Bhagavad Gītā as Daivī Sampat. And that can be done only by overcoming the demonic qualities. Once a person is ready, it is like passing lower classes, and then he enters the university—that is also under the Avidyā realm. But once a person successfully passes through hard work, then when he is about to enter into the highest course—PhD—that is called Vidyā Māyā, making a person ready for the reception of that highest knowledge in the form of Mahāvākya.
Mahāvākya for the Devotee
And this Mahāvākya in Advaita, as we have seen—Ahaṃ Brahmāsmi—especially this occurs in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. But in the bhaktā's words, they say: "Mahāvākya is that you are the child of God." So He is your mother, He is your father, He is everything to you. This is the Mahāvākya for the devotees.
God Realisation Is the Only Goal
So one must realise God. God-realisation is the only goal of life. And now Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is telling that categorically: "God can be seen." Seen means—here I am seeing a mango tree, I am seeing another person—not like that. God can be seen—that means God can be understood as He is the only reality: Satyam, jñānam, anantam Brahma—"I am that Brahman."
Sri Ramakrishna's Bold Declaration
And then Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: "Let me tell you one thing—God can be seen." How can he declare it so boldly, so categorically? Because we have seen throughout the Upaniṣads—practically every Upaniṣad, whether it is declared or not—this declaration of the teacher: "I have known."
वेदाहमेतं पुरुषं महान्तं आदित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् | तमेवं विदित्वा अतिमृत्युमेति नान्यः पन्था विद्यते अयनाय ||
vedāham etaṃ puruṣaṃ mahāntaṃ ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt | tam evaṃ viditvā atimṛtyum eti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate 'yanāya ||
- The Brihadaranyaka Declaration ===
So recently we have seen in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, in the first chapter especially—the first chapter, fourth section:
ब्रह्म वा इदमग्रे आसीत्, तत् आत्मानम् एव अवेत् अहं ब्रह्मास्मि इति | तस्मात् तत् सर्वम् अभवत् || तत् यो यो देवानाम् प्रत्यबुध्यत स एव तत् अभवत् | तथा ऋषीणाम्, तथा मनुष्याणाम् || तद् एतत् प्रश्नं प्रसरं वामदेवः प्रतिपेदे अहं मनुरभवं सूर्यश्च इति | तद् इदम् अपि एतर्हि य एवं वेद अहं ब्रह्मास्मि इति स इदं सर्वं भवति ||
brahma vā idam agre āsīt, tat ātmānam eva avet ahaṃ brahmāsmi iti | tasmāt tat sarvam abhavat || tat yo yo devānām pratyabudhyata sa eva tat abhavat | tathā ṛṣīṇām, tathā manuṣyāṇām || tad etat praśnaṃ prasaraṃ vāmadevaḥ pratipede ahaṃ manur abhavaṃ sūryaś ca iti | tad idam api etarhi ya evaṃ veda ahaṃ brahmāsmi iti sa idaṃ sarvaṃ bhavati ||
Even the very chanting of this mantra is extraordinarily inspiring. The brief meaning of this is: In the beginning, this universe was indeed Brahman alone. Before the universe came, Brahman was in the form of the insuperable material cause as well as intelligent cause. It knew itself: "I am Brahman." It knew itself: "I am all this." And then having said this, the Upaniṣad is telling: whichever of the gods realised this, he also became Brahman. Whoever realises "I am Brahman," he knows "I am Brahman." Likewise among the seers, likewise among men. How do we know? Because seeing this truth like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa—or Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, like Ṛṣi Vāmadeva—the seer Vāmadeva declared: "I became Manu, and I became this Sun"—means I became this entire creation. And not only at that time—the doubt might come: "Maybe there were people who were capable of realising it, but probably not me." No—even now, whoever knows this "I am Brahman" becomes all this. Once a person knows "I am God," and God is everything, therefore this person knows "I am everything."
God Is Beyond Mind and Speech
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says: "The Vedas say that God is beyond mind and speech." This also we get in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad. Where do we get?
यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते अप्राप्य मनसा सह | आनन्दं ब्रह्मणो विद्वान् न बिभेति कुतश्चन ||
yato vāco nivartante aprāpya manasā saha | ānandaṃ brahmaṇo vidvān na bibheti kutaścana ||
What does it mean? "From which"—means from which Brahman—words turn back along with the mind, unable to reach it. But he who knows that bliss of Brahman fears nothing at all. So this is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa wants to say: that nobody can describe what God is like. But he says in a negative way: about God, one should never say "He is only this much and not more." Tākke iti kattenai—one should not put a limit and say: "He is available only in my religion, in my country, in my house." No—once God is beyond mind and speech.
Sri Ramakrishna and the Upanishads
So this is every teaching of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa—a beautiful echo of the Vedas and the Upaniṣads. In fact, two scholars separately published two books: Sri Ramakrishna and the Shruti (the scriptures). And these persons have collected some of the sayings of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and then where they are to be found in the Upaniṣads, and they have pointed out: "This teaching is nothing but that teaching of the Upaniṣad only put in simple Bengali language, simple English language."
The Meaning of "Beyond Mind and Speech"
So we have seen just now—this is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says. But then what is the meaning that "God is beyond mind and speech"? Because if He is really beyond mind and speech, then there is no way to convey that knowledge of God to others. Because even the person who wants to talk—what does he say?
आश्चर्यवत् पश्यति कश्चिदेनम् | आश्चर्यवद् वदति तथैव चान्यः | आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः शृणोति | श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् ||
āścaryavat paśyati kaścid enam | āścaryavad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ | āścaryavac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti | śrutvāpyenaṃ veda na caiva kaścit ||
"It is such a wonder that the person becomes mute, unable to express." If the scripture really means He is beyond the mind and speech, then there would be no teacher left out who could say something about God—Brahman—and there would be nobody who can be enlightened. But is that the meaning? No. This is where Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is telling: this is the meaning.
Known by a Pure Mind
"God is unknown to the mind attached to worldly objects." And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is always quoting from where he heard it: Vaiṣṇavācāran used to say: "God is known by the mind and intellect that are pure." And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa continues: "God cannot be known to an impure mind, which is called a worldly mind. But God certainly can be known to the mind not attached to worldly objects. God is known by the mind and intellect that are pure."
The Mirror Analogy
And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa continues: "Therefore it is necessary to seek the company of holy men, practise prayer, and listen to the instruction of the Guru. These purify the mind; then one sees God. Dirt can be removed from water by a purifying agent; then one sees one's reflection in it. One cannot see one's face in a mirror if the mirror is covered with dirt. But if the same dirt is removed from the mirror, one can see crystal-clearly one's own reflection."
Divine Love Comes Through Purification
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa continues: "After the purification of the heart, one obtains divine love." And then he says: "After obtaining divine love, then one can see God through His grace."
Without a Guru
"Without a guru, one cannot realise God." What does it mean? It means a guru is nothing but the manifestation of the grace of God. When God's grace descends upon a person, then He will bring a right teacher to the very heart of this devotee. And a guru is none other than Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara—which we go on chanting with devotion practically every day. But guru, scripture, and God—they are not three separate things. That is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa used to chant every day, morning and at dawn and dusk: "Bhāgavata, Bhakta, Bhagavān." But one can see God only through His grace.
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!