Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Lecture 176 on 03-November-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 ||

Introduction and the Four Classes of Human Beings

ओं जननीं शारदां देवीं रामकृष्णं जगद्गुरुं,

पादपद्मे तयोः श्रित्वा प्रणमामि मुहुर्मुहुः।

oṁ jananīṁ śāradāṁ devīṁ rāmakṛṣṇaṁ jagadguruṁ,

pādapadme tayoḥ śritvā praṇamāmi muhurmuhuḥ.

We are studying the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, the Master and Vijay Krishna Goswami, Thursday, December 14th, 1882. Sri Ramakrishna is now talking about four types of men. Perhaps we might also interpret them as the famous four castes of people. It is just our imagination. Definitely, I think we can do it because the four types of people that Sri Ramakrishna was going to describe, they're all possessing various degrees of this tamoguṇa, rajoguṇa, and sattvaguṇa.

Let us read Sri Ramakrishna's own words. It is said that there are four classes of human beings: the bound, those aspiring after liberation, the liberated, and the ever-perfect. Of these, the first three classes is a very natural progression of evolution from the inorganic to the organic. Slowly through various births, millions of births, a life evolves into a worthy human being and even after being born as a human being.

So now we can apply those classifications. All the three, remember those who are tamoguṇīs. Perhaps they do not know. Tamoguṇa means complete ignorance. So what they see, that is the only reality. These are called materialists. These are called Cārvākas. But higher than that, those who possess rajas but aided, guided by sattvaguṇa, we can say they belong to the Vaiśyas and Kṣatriyas. It has nothing to do with businessmen or politicians. We are talking purely about the manifestation of guṇas. So they have better understanding. Most of them, they believe in these scriptures, they know that there is a God, and they understand intellectually some of these scriptures. They have a bit of longing to go to God. Maybe they would like to first to get some benefits from God, later on they want to go Vaikuṇṭha, Kailāsa, etc., devaloka, etc., paradise, etc., kingdom of heaven, and enjoy. They think worldly type of enjoyment but in a much, much more intensified manner. In our purāṇas, it is called brahmaloka-ānanda.

And then when slowly sattvaguṇa takes possession of them, so they long for liberation because even brahmaloka is a bondage because it also involves rebirth. Once the merit is over, क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति

एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना

गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते

kṣīṇe puṇye martyalokaṁ viśanti

evaṁ trayīdharmamanuprapannā

gatāgataṁ kāmakāmā labhante

Only in one case. That is, those who have a little bit of desires for enjoyment left out. They reach brahmaloka, and then there their desires are completely eliminated through enjoyment, through experience, and then they become possessed of deep dispassion, and then they would not return back. That is classified as krama-mukti. Gradier from earthly world to brahmaloka, from brahmaloka to Brahman state. We can imagine there is nothing wrong in such an imagination.

The Net of Māyā

And Sri Ramakrishna is comparing it, and in many of our scriptures, māyā is compared to a jāla, net. And Sri Ramakrishna interestingly is using that word. Only he is using it as a fishing net. This world is like a fishing net. Men are the fish and God, whose māyā has created this world, is the fisherman. When the fish are entangled in the net, some of them try to tear through its meshes in order to get liberation. They are like the men striving after liberation, but by no means. All of them escape. Only a few jump out of the net with a loud splash and then the fishermen say, "Ahhh, there goes a big one." In like manner, three or four men attain liberation.

Let us remember, let us never forget, whatever comes out of the mouth of Sri Ramakrishna, there would be an equal scriptural teaching. In the Bhagavad Gita we get: मनुष्याणां सहस्रेषु कश्चिद्यतति सिद्धये।

यततामपि सिद्धानां कश्चिन्मां वेत्ति तत्त्वतः॥

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścidyatati siddhaye |

yatatāmapi siddhānāṁ kaścinmāṁ vetti tattvataḥ ||

Among men, among millions of men, not even thousands, millions of men, perhaps one or two, they struggle to attain liberation. Do all of them succeed? Yes, in course of time, but then immediately or soon only very few. यततामपि सिद्धानां कश्चित्

yatatāmapi siddhānāṁ kaścit

Only very few become liberated. But ultimately, every struggling soul must get liberation because nobody can escape that fate. We must go back to the source of our cause, our birth, and we are coming from Brahman, so we have to go back. There is no second choice.

The Four Classes of Souls

And then again some fish are so careful by nature that they are never caught in the net. Some beings of the ever-perfect class like Nārada are never entangled in the meshes of worldliness. Most of the fish are trapped but they are not conscious of the net and of their imminent death. No sooner are they entangled than they run headlong, net and all, trying to hide themselves in the mud. They don't make the least effort to get free.

What was Sri Ramakrishna saying? That we want to become free, that unconscious wish is there. But they think to be happy in this world is to be liberated. So that is why there is a beautiful saying in Sanskrit of the materialists called Cārvākas: ऋणं कृत्वा घृतं पिबेत्

ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet

Even if you have to borrow money, then you get some ghee. Ghee is supposed to be very desirable oil and it lends its nectar-like taste to everything that is prepared with it. A good spoonful of ghee in rice makes the rice extraordinarily flavourful and then desirable. That is why in many languages it is called ghee bhāt.

Anyway, the thing is what we need to understand that there are beginners, they are the people who believe in the reality of what they are experiencing. But as they go on being born, they evolve, bodies evolve, and also minds evolve. Understanding evolves so they understand better and better, and after many a birth, then they become completely aware that we are bound, our goal is to realize God. So it takes time. It is not that we are comparing them. Sri Ramakrishna's words contain deep meaning. We have to meditate upon them. The more we meditate, the more we enjoy.

So worldly people are those people, they also like liberation. Liberation from what? Liberation from death, liberation from ill health, liberation from worry and suffering, and from poverty, from everything. They want to be happy, but their understanding and they sincerely believe it that only worldly objects can give them. So Sri Ramakrishna gives beautiful examples. Even if somebody is not happy after marriage, that person thinks I made a, committed a mistake in this particular marriage, but perhaps if I had married someone else, then I would have been happier. But it takes a long time to have that dawning of knowledge that however many times, billions of times you get married, every object is changing. You are also an object, you are also changing, and the interaction between two changing objects is not going really speaking to make us more happy. In fact, the payment we have to make for every type of happiness, small or big, is very heavy. Accordingly, we will have to do that. So there also we have got this problem, but that understanding cannot come all of a sudden. It takes a long time. That is why it is called a Mahāmāyā had spread her net and everybody is caught.

Three types of people are caught, so as they go on evolving. Those who understand worldly happiness as the ultimate goal and these are called materialists. That is, the goal of life is to obtain material happiness. They also realize after many births that there are higher worlds and they strive for higher worlds and the higher the world, the greater is the payment, and that also they are prepared to do it. So that is how some people are after a lot of evolutionary changes, careful. So however careful they are, they have to be dead one day because the fisherman, like death, he pulls the fish out. What do you think he will do? They will be killed. Catching fish is only for the purpose of killing. That's all.

The Nityamuktas (Ever-Free Souls)

But then there is a fourth class of people, Sri Ramakrishna tells, they are called nityamuktas. They come to this world only to help other people like the fourth man. If you remember the story, four people were traveling, suddenly they came across a huge enclosure. From within the enclosure, joyous shouts of music, song, dancing were heard, and they became curious, and then one of them climbed, promising that I am going to tell what is going on inside. And the moment he saw what was going on, he forgot all about the others, jumped inside. So same thing happened to the second man, third man, and the fourth man. He also... Sri Ramakrishna was a superb storyteller. So he climbed there and then he wanted, he promised he will tell those who are below. But he also felt tempted. But then he restrained himself and said no. Such a mart of joy is here. And I want to give the news where this place is like some of the websites point out, go to such and such a website, you will get this benefit. There are many good people are also there. We tend to ignore them. So they help us, guide us in so many ways. So the internet contains good and evil, the world contains good and evil and even higher worlds contain good and evil. Only God alone is beyond good and evil.

So this man, he came back and he is compared to be an avatāra, but we can also take every avatāra brings with him for the spread of this dharma sthāpanā message, you are immortal, there is a way to attain immortality, and you will have to struggle for that. And if you can obtain, all struggles are meant only for getting the grace of the Divine Mother or God. That is the ultimate message of every single scripture, especially from Bhagavad Gita: सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज।

अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः॥

sarvadharmānparityajya māmekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja |

ahaṁ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ||

Grace of God alone can liberate, and there is a corroborating evidence in the Bhagavad Gita itself where the Lord says this māyā is to be overcome but it is Divine māyā. दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया

daivī hyeṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā

It belongs to me. Therefore the purpose of māyā is not to torture you, to bind you, and it gets a lot of happiness out of your suffering. No, this māyā is like a loving mother. It leads the struggling soul, the very first birth itself is a great struggle. Until we become liberated, we will not get out of this karma. That is why: न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत्

na hi kaścitkṣaṇamapi jātu tiṣṭhatyakarmakṛt

No one can remain without activity. Is deep sleep an activity? Yes, like any other activity, taking rest is also an activity. It is an activity which makes other activities less unpleasant, more easy, that is its special purpose, but it also gives us tremendous rest and even animals also rest. Machines are made to rest is the greatest discovery, one of the most great, great discoveries. Machines also become tired. So that's why even huge factories, at least once in six months they put them to rest and then service them, oiling them, removing the dirt, dust, etc. So this is a marvelous piece of knowledge. Our body requires rest, not to speak up, the mind also requires rest, and that is what we get by very naturally arranged by God Himself. After all he is all-knowing, so she knows what to give to each one of us.

Sri Ramakrishna continues. There is a fourth class. They are ever-perfect. That means they attained liberation and they are like Nārada. They are never entangled in the meshes of worldliness. About Nārada, we all hear and then we have some peculiar opinion about him. He is called kalahabhojana, kalahapriya. So wherever, wherever he goes, people fear there is going to be a tug of war. He creates it somehow so cleverly, nobody can guess how it is going to come about. But then the only purpose of Nārada, he gives, to give nāram. Nāram means jñānam, true knowledge. Nāraṁ dadāti iti nāradaḥ. This is the etymological meaning. He who gives right knowledge, correct knowledge is called, through these quarrels. Whatever obstructions are there in both the parties or at least one party, that will be corrected. The person himself understands, "Oh Nārada, I am so grateful to you that I was not conscious. I had this defect within me. But by your grace, which is the grace of God, I have become conscious of it. Now I have no choice but to struggle to overcome it."

The Tragedy of Worldliness

So Sri Ramakrishna continues that most of the fish are trapped, but they are not conscious of the net. That is to say, we are not conscious of the māyā and of the imminent death. Do we lack the knowledge that every one of us are going to die? And there is no guarantee one can die as a fetus, as a child, as a young person, a middle class, a middle-aged person, old person, any time, any place. In any manner we can expect death, but we are not expecting. That is why Sri Ramakrishna often used to burst into song. जीव साजो समरे

jīva sājo samare "Be ready, death has surrounded your house." That means your body and mind, and you will... kāla. How does mṛtyu come? In the form of kāla, time. Beautiful thoughts are there, we have to meditate whenever we are reading this Gospel. That is why we are having this class.

So what do these fish do? They go deeper and deeper into the mud. These fish are like the bound men. They are still inside the net, but they think they are quite safe there. They think they are happy. They think death will never come. They think they are going to enjoy, even though if we open our eyes, everywhere we see how much of struggle is going on. Sometimes I just think about these things. I'm just sharing some of my thoughts with you. How much of knowledge so far we had acquired and then these inevitable wars, spending billions and billions and billions. A fraction of that money can cover health care, educational care, social care, so many cares. This money can be redirected for the discovery of many of the solutions for the variegated problems of life. But then what do people do? They rather do it. And that is the līlā, the drama. What can we do about it?

So a worldly person thinks that I will have to struggle to get happiness by hook or crook, the liberated and the seekers after liberation look on the world as a deep well. Sādhakas, of course, the liberated is not correct to say they look on the world as a deep well. For the liberated person, there is no māyā, there is no deep well, there is nothing called reality. It is like enjoying a drama. Enjoy a drama, both the comedy and the tragedy, but at the same time, you know that it is only a show off, but there is no substance to it. Just like after waking up from dream, that's what we do.

But what happens? The bound creatures entangled in worldliness will not come to their senses at all. They suffer so much misery and agony. They face so many dangers and yet they will not wake up. Sri Ramakrishna, the superb simile giver like Kālidāsa. The camel loves to eat thorny bushes. The more it eats the thorns, the more the blood gushes from its mouth. Still, it must eat thorny plants and will never give them up. A man of worldly nature suffers so much sorrow and affliction, but he forgets it all in a few days and begins his old life over again. This is the greatest tragedy that every suffering we go through can be a great awakener to us.

Five Examples of Worldly Bondage

So Sri Ramakrishna gives beautiful examples. Five such examples he gives below.

First, suppose a man has lost his wife or she has turned unfaithful. No, he marries again. Is this not what is happening when we look around us? All the time it is happening.

Second example, or take the instance of a mother. Her son dies and she suffers bitter grief. But after a few days she forgets all about it. So how does it do? A mother so overwhelmed with sorrow a few days before now attends to her toilet and puts on her jewelry. That means in course of time, my only son died, but then it doesn't make a lasting impression. Like śmaśāna vairāgya, Sri Ramakrishna used to call it śmaśāna vairāgya and prasūti vairāgya. When a mother gives birth to a baby, she goes through unimaginable pain and she thinks in Sri Ramakrishna's imaginary words, "I will never again allow my husband to come to me." But then what good will he do? She gets so much of joy out of the baby. And after a few days, if the husband doesn't come to her, she becomes worried what is going to happen.

Third example, a father becomes bankrupt through the marriages of his daughters, yet he goes on having children year after year. And we can see poor people have got more number of children. And unfortunately, in some countries like India, this terrible evil called giving some money or lands, etc. which is called dowry. Even now it is going on in villages but indirectly. You educate my son, send him to foreign countries. I know some cases where this has happened directly and the poor father-in-law is becoming poorer and still he has no escape.

Fourth example, people are ruined by litigation and they go to court all the same. There are men who cannot feed the children they have, who cannot clothe them or provide decent shelter for them. Yet they have more children every year. Litigation is one thing where only the lawyers gain and nobody else gains. Especially in India, this terrible justice system is the most unjust system in the world. Millions of old cases which are sometimes more than 100 years, are still lying in the court. Neither the governments nor the so-called honorable judges and much less these licensed liars, they go on perpetuating this and useless type of allegations are taken to the highest court. Even the smallest incident, he goes to Supreme Court. My God, it is flooded. I don't know when this liberation will come. Anyway, coming back, this litigation is not a new phenomena. It is part of the Mahāmāyā's jāla.

And then again, the worldly man, the fifth example, is like a snake trying to swallow a mole. A snake can neither swallow the mole nor give it up. Both suffer and Sri Ramakrishna had seen all these things. Including this last example, he said, I hope you remember it, that one day I went to answer calls of nature, jhavtala, that is going out, and then I was coming back. Now while going, I heard the piteous cries of a frog caught in the mouth of a water snake. Neither the snake can swallow the frog nor can it give it up. The agony of both continued for a long time. He said even after when I returned, still I was hearing. Then he also was very observant, says, but if a man is bitten by a cobra, at best once or twice he struggles. Third time everything is over.

And interestingly, Sri Ramakrishna compares this cobra to a sadguru. If a guruuuuuu..... Then the disciples also suffer and the guru also suffers, but we have to remember this golden law of life. What is it? We get what we deserve. An asat guru gets asat disciples. An asat disciple also gets one asat guru only. There is no exception to this rule. This is called karma siddhānta.

The Awakening from Worldly Bondage

So Sri Ramakrishna says this is the condition of most of us. The bound soul may have realized that there is no substance to the world, that the world is like a hog plum, only stone and skin, but still he cannot give it up and turn his mind to God. But then I have to say, this is also a part of the evolutionary process. Nowadays, one is just born and then immediately becomes enlightened and then understands this world is completely a bondage to me, a big net, I am going to die, and they may not only die, they may torture me. Simply that is also very interesting example we have to understand. If somebody takes up a gun and then cuts off or shoots the person's head or takes a sharp knife and then cuts off the throat in one stroke, it is possible then that suffering is over in the shortest possible time. Even buffalo's heads are severed when they are supposed to be offered to the Divine Mother Kālī or Durgā. So it is possible. But then this terrible torturing, severing the limbs one by one, keeping the people alive. This is called torturing. And people, there are people, there are countries, there are governments who practice this one. So even after going through them, would people wake up? No. So they think this is a one-off experience and it will not come, and most of us think it will come only to other people, not to me.

And then Sri Ramakrishna is acutely observing how do we know that we can truthfully claim that we are spiritual aspirants? And for that he gives an example. That how we spend our time. How does a sāttvika person spend his time? Rājasika person spends his time? Tāmasika person spends his time? Sri Ramakrishna is giving a practical example. He gave many other examples. I once met a relative of Keshab Sen, 50 years old. He was playing cards, as if the time had not come for him to think of God.

Of course, we have to understand the concept of time scale 100 years back. 50 years is almost old age because if somebody survives up till 60, it is called pūrṇa āyus, as if he lived 100 years. That is why at the age of 60 he has to get up a special ceremony called tulābhāra and then call all his family members who are scattered and friends and relatives and poor people and distribute his wealth in accordance to his capacity. That is called ṣaṣṭyabdapūrti utsava, the end of the 60 years because they consider 60 years as 100 years. After that if somebody lives according to karmaphala, then it is a bonus. So I say if a person has suffered from severe heart attack and then somehow he is saved by modern medicine, modern doctors, then every living day is a bonus day. After 60, we must consider ourselves, everyday is a bonus day, and we should try to lead the best type of life that we can, and that is how we can really try to be the children of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, and Swami Vivekananda. It is very, very important for us to know about it.

So here is 50 years old, for those days which was quite an age, he was playing cards as if the time had not yet come for him to think of God, because any time he might die. And then Sri Ramakrishna continues, there is another characteristic of the bound soul. If you remove him from his worldly surroundings to his spiritual environment, he will pine away. The worm that grows in filth feels very happy there. It thrives in filth. It will die if you put it in a pot of rice. And many devotees were there. They all became stunned. What can they say? Because Sri Ramakrishna was describing their condition, not somebody else's condition.

So each one of us must ask, how am I able to spend my time? Is it going in watching videos, in reading the newspapers, in reading useless types of books, gaining useless types of information, etc.? I narrated some incidents, but I would like just to narrate or re-narrate. There was one senior swami who was an extraordinarily holy person. And he was looking after the cash at Belur Math, and he was also a learned person. He used to conduct classes on the commentary of Śaṅkarācārya for the people who are interested at night time. I also occasionally attended because I was at the training center. After a few years, I came to know that he became paralyzed. Immediately he was taken to our own hospital, Seva Pratishthan in Calcutta, and he was admitted to a special ward which is reserved only for the inmates of Ramakrishna Mission, sādhus, monks, brahmacārīs.

And then a miraculous change had come in his routine. He gave up all these Upaniṣads, commentaries, everything. Only one book he kept, The Gospel of Holy Mother, and he would go on reading it, meditate, go on thinking, and he could not get up. He would be lying down only. Perhaps occasionally the attendants would keep him half-reclined by putting some pillows, etc. But whatever he is doing, he stopped talking, and people had high respect for him, so they used to go and visit, and he would not talk much. So this is how he passed his time.

And one night at midnight, he suddenly woke up and called out to the one or two monks who were there by his side, and he said, "Brothers, Mother has come. She wants me to go with her right now. I am leaving. Take care of yourselves." He said this and gave up his body. Now we don't know what he was doing. I am only seeing he was reading the Gospel of Holy Mother, but then we know he was meditating, trying to pray wholeheartedly, "Oh Mother, you are my only refuge, there is no other way for me." How do we know? Because, अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्

antakāle ca māmeva smaranmuktvā kalevaram

So he remembered the Divine Mother, and for that he was trying to remember all the time by reading, and his prayer must have been wholehearted prayer. That's why the Mother has come. Do you think she's going to take him somewhere and then say you have to be born? No, I do not think so. He is liberated by Mother's grace. What cannot be achieved by the grace of the Divine Mother? That's why there are beautiful songs on Mother Kālī. So Kālī's bhakta is a very intelligent person. So he enjoys the world. Aihik, vaidik, du-dik rekhe kheyechilo dudher bāti. That is, a child of the Divine Mother would also enjoy the world and would also get liberation because it is the same mother who gives dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa.

Cultivating Renunciation and Yearning for God

Then after hearing this beautiful story, and there were many devotees and they would understand it according to their own capacity. Now remember Vijay Krishna Goswami, he was one of the greatest devotees descending from Advaita Goswami. So he is asking Sri Ramakrishna that who are fit for liberation? Who are the people who are fit for liberation? Then he is putting it this way: What must be the bound soul's condition of mind be in order to achieve liberation? So what should be the mental attitude of a person who is bound for liberation?

And then Sri Ramakrishna, because he himself had gone through these states, "Oh Mother, another day has passed away in vain without seeing you." Remember, without seeing you means is not like our seeing each other. Seeing you means knowing that I am the potent, I am the divine. Now we are potentially divine, but by Mother's grace, we realize we are the divine. That is the job of every teacher. He says, "You are that, tattvamasi, you are Brahman." But then through manana, through nididhyāsana, we will have to struggle to realize that one.

And at the end, the end result of every struggle through any path, and predominantly there are four paths as we all know: karma yoga, bhakti yoga, rāja yoga, and jñāna yoga. What is the result of striving our level best following any particular path? That the knowledge dawns, the understanding dawns, that through struggle one cannot attain liberation, that firm conviction. That only the grace of God, yamevaiṣa vṛṇute, only by whose grace the knowledge of our true self will be bestowed. That is what Śiva does in Varanasi. So we have to have that kind of mind where we do not want anything else.

Sri Ramakrishna, in his own beautiful way, he tries to give several similes, but one of the similes is: The child is completely preoccupied in play and even though mother is calling, it is past your eating time. But then the child is so happy, but then his hunger overcomes and then he throws the whole play materials and then he starts crying, "Maa jabo, I want mother only. I don't want anything else." So he will not take rest until he is gathered by mother in her loving arms and then feed him. So Vijay's question is very important. Who is fit for liberation? We have to ask, am I fit for liberation? Am I longing? Am I dying because I have not realized God? Do I have that parama vyākulatā? Tad vihīne paramavyākulatā iti. तद्विहीने परमव्याकुलतेति

tadvihīne paramavyākulateti

Nārada Bhakti Sūtras. He clearly says who is a bhakta, that if he happens to forget, then he will be restless like a child separated from its mother.

And now Sri Ramakrishna is answering, the Master: He can free himself from attachment to "woman and gold" if by the grace of God he cultivates a spirit of strong renunciation. So viveka, vairāgya. And vairāgya brings in its turn the sixfold control: śama, dama, titikṣā, śraddhā, samādhāna, uparati. These are called sixfold qualities of the mind. That means complete control of both the body and the mind, and that can come only if a person has the right discrimination which must lead to the natural giving up of every worldly attraction like kākaviṣṭhā, like the droppings of the crow. And when sometimes from the trees, the crows, the birds, they drop because they don't know, they have no intention. But then do we think these are the most precious things? Now of course, everything has got an exception. So in Brazil there are some kind of animals and they eat a particular type of berry, it's like orange, and then after digesting it discharges the seed which looks like coffee seed. And that is the costliest coffee in the whole world. So there are factories and they employ people, they search for these animals' droppings, bring them and huge factories are set up to clean them and then finally it's called kopi, KOPI. Unfortunately, they should remember the word kaupīnam.

Anyway, so Sri Ramakrishna's assurance that what is the bondage actually? What are we attached to? We are not attached to anything excepting happiness. And to be happy, we have to be alive, and to be happy, we have to be aware. So our whole struggle is for actually ānanda, and we mistakenly think ānanda comes, ānanda is a part of an object, a sweet for example. We do not understand. It is like a camel trying to chew the thorny bush. So it's a most wonderful example and Śaṅkarācārya also beautifully unfolds the psychological explanation how we get happiness from objects.

So what happens when I lack happiness, then I strive to remove that happiness. And this lack of happiness can be because of hunger, because of thirst, because of many other reasons. So if I'm hungry, only food can satisfy, and what type of food? Any food will give me, remove, is capable of removing my hunger. But I am accustomed, I want only that particular food ever since birth I am accustomed to, and that enhances the happiness, so we think. So when we obtain that kind of food that is called object, then when we are filling the stomach with that food, what happens? My hunger slowly disappears. Hunger created desire for food, and that desire covered up my own natural happiness. When I am not hungry, I was quite happy. When hunger came, then there was a veil, a blockade of that happiness. As I go on eating food, then my hunger diminishes, and when I am completely satiated, then that desire disappears, desire for food. Why does it disappear? Because I got sufficient food, and then that removes that earlier brought up, brought on, that I am not happy because I am hungry, I am not happy because I am thirsty, I am not happy because I want to eat sweet, I am not happy because it is cold, I am not happy because I am hot. I am not happy because somebody did not respect me. Like that we go on. When that obstruction is removed, we don't get happiness, but we remove the obstruction to the happiness which is already within us.

So what does an object do? It doesn't contain any happiness, neither unhappiness, but it has sometimes the capacity to remove my need. By removing the need, the unhappiness created by that need is also removed. As it were, the light that was covered up by that desire, it will disappear. Now I become happy. This is only with regard to one particular object. But the mind has got innumerable types of desires. Therefore, I do not really feel so very happy because every desire means my natural happiness is covered up. So that is really what is called attachment to objects means, wrong understanding that happiness is outside me and if I obtain this object, then I will be a very happy person. But then if you observe even a little bit, I am changing, the objects are changing. So with the same mango fruit, when it becomes rotten after a few days, it emits a foul smell. Will it be desirable again? Any type of food, just keep it for a few days, you will understand what is happening.

So Sri Ramakrishna tells one can free oneself from attachment to "woman and gold." So "woman and gold," kāma-kāñcana, is the main obstruction. How are they obstructions? Because every person thinks, even the most advanced spiritual person also is liable to think that happiness comes from sex, happiness comes from possession of money, power, position, etc. But if by the grace of God, if one cultivates a spirit of strong renunciation, then he can free himself and he becomes free. What is the strong renunciation? One who has only a mild spirit of renunciation says, "Well, well, all will happen in the course of time. Let me now simply repeat the name of God." That means there is no longing, but he has some faith, so he does the japa. That's fine. But a man possessed of a strong spirit of renunciation feels restless for God as the mother feels for her own child.

So a man who has got that longing, yearning for God, then how does he feel? As the mother feels for her own child. Earlier we gave the examples of how the child feels when it is separated from its mother. But then the mother, have we ever sat down to think how much the mother feels longing that her child should be with her? Then only it makes her very happy, especially a mother. And God is like our mother. That is why she is called: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके।

शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते॥

sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalye śive sarvārthasādhike |

śaraṇye tryambake gauri nārāyaṇi namo'stu te ||

Sri Ramakrishna is describing a man of strong renunciation: Seeks nothing but God. He regards the world as a deep well and feels as if he were going to be drowned in it. He looks on his relatives as venomous snakes. He wants to fly away from them. Perhaps it is difficult for us to understand this description. Do our relatives? What do you mean by relatives? Long-distance relatives? Somebody who is my father's or mother's brothers and sisters. You observe that however close they were, after marriage, everybody has got their own net of māyā. So it is not like that, especially if they happen to be worldly people. So such a person for them, for him, every member who is a worldly person is like a venomous snake. So he wants to fly away from them, and he does go away. He never thinks, "Let me first make some arrangement for my family and then I shall think of God." He has a great inward resolution.

The Farmers: Strong vs. Mild Renunciation

And then Sri Ramakrishna tells the beautiful story. We know the story of two farmers. And one farmer was cultivating his field. It was a time of drought. There was not much water, but there was a source of water, perhaps a river, and he works back-breaking work from morning till evening. I am only short-running this story. And then his daughter comes with food at noon, and then he drives her away with a stick. Then his wife comes. He also shouts at her and drives her away. But then he works back-breaking work. He had taken a vow, "Until water enters into my field, I will not rest even if it takes 3 days." And he would have done so because he was a man of such a strong will. So then at the sunset, he saw the sweet murmuring sound of water slowly seeping into his field. He felt greatly satisfied, went home, took bath, and then he had food, heartily he must have enjoyed, and then he took up some smoking and then he slept with a sound snoring.

Whereas the just opposite happened to another farmer by the neighbor. He was also struggling. Then the moment his wife came and said, "You need not do so much of hard work, tomorrow is there, you can do as well." He said, "Since you are insisting, I cannot say no to you," and he eats food. By that time, it is already late in the evening, so he goes home, "Tomorrow I can do it." So these are the beautiful stories Sri Ramakrishna had said. He had maybe he had heard it, maybe he had created it, we are not sure about it. So the first farmer scolded his wife, ran at her, spade in hand. What a beautiful description. And the wife saw his state of mind and ran away in fear. And then his mind was filled with peace and joy when water, he succeeded in bringing water to his field. Now about that weak-minded farmer, strong renunciation requires strong willpower also. They go together.

Now there was another farmer and then his wife came and said, "This is very late, come, come home. It's not necessary to overdo things." And the farmer didn't protest much because if she did not come, he himself would have gone away. But put aside his spade and said to his wife, "Well, I will go home since you asked me to," and all the devotees were laughing. That man never succeeded in irrigating his field. This is a case of mild renunciation.

Now Sri Ramakrishna concludes: "As without strong determination a farmer cannot bring water to his field, so also without intense yearning a man cannot realize God." Then Ramakrishna turned to Vijay and said, "Why don't you come here now as frequently as before?" Vijay: "Sir, I wish to come very much, but I am not free. I have accepted work in the Brahmo Samaj."

Even though all these ideas are old ideas only, many times repeated, and we require until we develop strong sense of renunciation, this satsaṅg is absolutely necessary, and there is a special power in this Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. We will have to understand that point.

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!