Daily Messages - 2019

Messages from Swami Dayatmananda

01 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Musings on the Kalpataru Day Swami Budhananda

(Swami Budhanandaji has written a beautiful article on Kalpataru event. Dear Readers, Please note—in this article he especially highlights the experiences of Sri Ramachandra Dutta, an intimate devotee of Sri Ramakrishna.)

January 1st is a red letter day in the calendar of the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna everywhere in the world. This day is so important not because it happens to be the first day of the New Year, but because symbolically it came to be the first day of the new life.

On this day in 1886 Sri Ramakrishna showered his unbounded grace on lay devotees who had assembled at the Cossipore garden house, where the Master had been lying seriously ill with cancer in his throat. In the afternoon the Master came downstairs unexpectedly. And within a few minutes he touched each one of them with the flame of his transmuting power. Stopping near him in the garden Sri Ramakrishna had asked, "Well, Girish, what have you found in me that you proclaim me before all as an incarnation?"

At once on his knees, with folded palms raised in adoration, and his voice charged with emotion, Girish replied, "What can an insignificant creature like me say about one whose glory even sages like Vyasa and Valmiki could not measure?"

The intensity of faith with which Girish had uttered these words brought about a volcanic explosion from within the ocean of grace that was Sri Ramakrishna. And he went all out in divine abandon to confer on the devotees greatest blessings of life spiritual irrespective of the consideration of competency.

He spoke in these three simple sentences the greatest blessings of the most high: "what more shall I say! I bless you all. Be illumined!"

These simple words of power set afire the souls of devotees. Forgetting their self-taken promise not to touch his feet while he was ill, they all touched his (saviour) feet in salutation. Deeply moved at this manifestation of their devotion Sri Ramakrishna touched every one of them, as a result of which all of them had some instantaneous spiritual experiences.

Sri Ramakrishna himself had said that the wind of God's grace was always blowing. One had only to unfurl the sail. Here there was no need of even unfurling the sail. The wind itself became the unfurled sail too and lapped up the soul in the empyrean heights of spiritual experiences. This was a violation of spiritual law, which God incarnate alone could indulge in!

Sri Ramakrishna himself had also said that the mother bird does not break the shell of the egg before the chick was mature enough to be born in the inclemency of the world-weather. But here we find the mother bird becoming aggressive with her compassion and breaking eggs before chicks were ready. If this is not God's soul hunger, what is this?

Now, this violation of law, this aggression of compassion, if it happened only for a day, it would be a dead day of bygone history. But the actions of God incarnate on earth, though they may be actions in history, are indeed accents of the Timeless in the heart of time. Even as actions temporal, they are but the manners of the Eternal.

In the "Acts of the Apostles" in the New Testament there is a significant passage which says: "To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs..." (Acts, I. 3.)

The God incarnate on earth even after casting off his corporeal body, stays alive in the "next room" "after his passion," i.e. to say in the singular acts which he had performed while alive on earth. If the wound of Christ's body was not even today bleeding in the mystic world-process, how could the mystics receive stigmata even to this day?

Sri Krishna says in the Gita (IV. 9): Whosoever knows in true light My Divine birth and action will not be born again when he leaves his body; he will attain Me, O Arjuna.

To know the Lord's divine birth and actions in true light would mean understanding the Lord's real nature as absolute spirit and also his embodiment in Maya. Here Sri Krishna gave away a great secret of self-apprehension, which the theistic religions were quick to grasp and profit by. In such religions, therefore, "leela-smarana" or remembrance of divine acts of God incarnate on earth is considered to be one of the most potent spiritual practices.

Srimad Bhagavatam (XII. 4. 40) puts it categorically: The Jiva or the embodied soul, who is scared by the miseries of the world, if he wants to get across the terrific ocean of transmigratory existence, then the only way open to him is to take recourse to the remembrance of the Lord's divine actions; there is no other raft for crossing this ocean.

The embodied soul can apprehend the Nitya or the Eternal, only in his Leela or divine sports as an incarnation. Hence Bhagavatam's emphasis on "leela-smarana" or remembrance of the divine deeds. The Song Celestial of the Timeless has been recorded in the disc of time during the avatarana or descent of the Lord on earth. If the aspirant can bring his power of concentration to the pointedness of a gramophone pin, and set it on the disc of "leela" the eternal music can be heard again. If one can have the Gopi-heart Krishna-flute can be heard on the banks of Yamuna even today. On the banks of Kala-kalindi, or time that flows as Yamuna, the eternal one roams about flute in hand.

The only way of apprehending him is the devout observance of the religious calendar for "leela-smarana," remembrance of divine deeds. Even a religion like Buddhism which leans on atheism finds it necessary to observe a thrice-blessed day.

In the calendar of the Ramakrishna tradition January 1 is one of the most significant days, being the day of the law-breaking aggressive compassion of the Lord. If the devotees of the Lord want this aggression to continue, they must rouse in his heart on this day, the divine "passion" which devotees did on January 1, 1886. If the calf strikes the udder of the mother-cow with its tender lips, how can milk help flowing again?

For the remembrance of the divine deeds of the Lord we must know as many details of those deeds as possible from all available sources.

Our greatest authority in regard to the life of Sri Ramakrishna is Swami Saradananda. His magnum opus Sri Sri Ramakrishna-leelaprasanga (translated as Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master), is a work unexcelled in hagiography in its details, authenticity, rational expositions, interpretative deliberations and illuminating insights.

Such an authority on Sri Ramakrishna's life, Swami Saradananda, did not actually approve of the saying that Sri Ramakrishna had become "Kalpataru" on January 1, 1886. He convincingly argued: "Some devotees like Ramachandra have described the happening of that day as the Master's turning into wish-fulfilling tree (Kalpataru). But, it is more reasonable, it seems to us, to call it 'the self-revelation of the Master,' or the 'bestowal of freedom from fear on all devotees by revealing himself'. The Kalpataru, it is said, gives to all whatever good or bad they ask for. But the Master did not do so; he made clear through that event the fact of his being a God-man and his bestowal of protection against and freedom from fear on all without the slightest discrimination."

Notwithstanding Swami Saradananda's disapproval, this great day has quietly come to prevail in the Ramakrishna world with the word "Kalpataru" indelibly inscribed on its forehead—and this has happened without any theological fight—and neither the sannyasins nor the lay devotees appear to be sorry for that. In all humility we can only take this fact, as the will of the Lord. And this will of the Lord may perhaps be understood this way: as it happened, this day was marked out specially for showering grace only on the lay devotees—as Swami Saradananda has written, "....it is a matter of wonder that none of the Sannyasin disciples of the Master was present there that day—as distinguished from those who were going to become monks." And therefore it would appear that the lay disciple's nomenclature of the great deed has been providentially accepted in preference to the monastic disciple's nomenclature.

"M" the writer of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna has not written any account of the day, proving perhaps the fact that he was absent from the scene.

Swami Saradananda has quoted in Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master the fragmentary personal accounts or personal reactions of the day as given by such eye witnesses as Ramlal Chattopadhyaya and Vaikunthanath Sannyal. There is also the description of the occasion as given by another eye witness, Akshaykumar Sen, in his famous work Ramakrishna Punthi. Akshaykumar also used the word "Kalpataru." These narrations of the day are more or less familiar to the readers of the Ramakrishna literature.

"Kalpataru"— as Rama Chandra Dutta saw and understood it

What have become obscure and not so easily available is the narration of the day as Rama Chandra Dutta saw and understood it. As he was largely responsible in introducing the word "Kalpataru" his following narration of this day will be found interesting:

"Sri Ramakrishna was brought to the Kasipur garden house for treatment. Here he stayed for eight months. It will take one an aeon to narrate all the sports he performed in Kasipur..."

"When his ailments showed no signs of abatement, some devotees would observe fasts in the name of Taraknath while others supplicated to the Master himself for his own recovery. When nothing proved to be of any avail, one day a few devotees submitted with folded hands, 'Lord, why are you feigning this illness? We have tried our very best but with no effect on the illness. We have now realized that unless you yourself deign to find the remedy, there is no other way.'

"In reply he made various funs. But when the devotees persisted in their request he said, 'You have not yet been able to understand the cause of the disease. Every action bears its fruit. Good act bears good fruit and bad, bad; one has to reap the fruit according to the act. If you have had to reap the fruits of all your evil deeds and sins, your future will be terrible. But it is God's way to suffer the fruits of action; therefore all the multitude of your sins I have accepted in my hand.

"'On the day you have given me your power of attorney, on that very day you have been freed from your accumulated sins. Unless sins are eradicated and the body is made pure, relationship with God cannot be established. In human body one has to suffer the consequences of sin. And so the disease, in my body. Through this disease in my body you have become freed of sins and whosoever will self-surrender unto me they too will be released. So it is that I am getting through the suffering for their sins too.'

"Though we all heard these words, we did not quite realise their significance. It was his another fun, we thought. This wise Ramakrishnadeva passed his days feigning illness. Physicians of various sorts, sadhus of different types and a multifarious assortment of common people used to visit him.

"On some days he would saunter about in the garden like one who had no disease at all. On other days from his sore in the throat blood would come out. And the intriguing part of all this was that when the physician gave a medicine for counteracting a certain symptom, on that day that very symptom would get aggravated.

"His body could not stand even the Homeopathy medicine, the taking of one grain of which would throw his entire body into convulsion. Hence the physicians would not easily venture to give him medicine."

"As mentioned above, various sorts of people used to come to him and almost everyone would return satisfied with a feeling of blessedness. And it so came about on January 1, 1886 that he became the Kalpataru. On that day at five in the afternoon when seated on one end of the garden we were all engaged in discussing various topics we found him coming towards us. With transfixed gaze we all kept looking at his face. His entire body being covered with cloth no other part of the body was visible but his face. That lustre and unprecedented beauty of his that we witnessed on that day are just beyond delineation. Gradually he drew near us and raising his right hand said, 'What more shall I tell you. May spiritual consciousness be awakened in all of you.'

"So saying he began to place his palm one by one on the chests of devotees, as a result of which everyone became mad as it were. Whomsoever we saw before us that day we caught him and brought before the Lord and he showered his grace on all. We were all stirred to our depths with joy finding that the Lord had become the Kalpataru.

"Knowing fully well that such a day, so rare to the jivas, will not come again, we began to run hither and thither to seek out persons until none was left. Shouts of victory to Sri Ramakrishna continued to resound in the firmament. Incessant raining of flowers by devotees on the Lord went on and the ocean of Ananda was in deluge.

"All this time he was standing in ecstasy. Then coming back to the normal consciousness he returned to his room.

"Afterwards one day he quietly called this servant and asked, 'Look here, you all say so many things about me. If all that should be true, why then is this miserable state of mine. This sore in the throat, this diseased body—what all these are due to? Gauranga had such beauty, learning, miraculous powers—why do I not have all those powers? Why do I not have such beauty as his and such learning? And can you tell me what the reason is for my leaving Dakshineswar?'

"Hearing such questions of the Master I held his feet and said with folded palms: 'Lord, you are here again with your waggery! Can this ever be within the capacity of the meanest of your servants to discern the cause of your actions? But if such is your behest, then remembering your feet I say, if you give me strength I must be able to tell the reason. You have made me understand that in gross body the manifestation of leela can never be of the same type. Things happen according to the necessity of times.

"'Gaurangadeva acted in the past according to the felt necessities of his times. In this incarnation things cannot proceed in that fashion. Lord, truth to be told, if beauty and miraculous powers were the only means for the salvation of the jivas, we would have long before turned into saints. Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Gauranga, Christ—their unlimited powers, beauty and splendour have all been extolled in the scriptures.

"'And we have been hearing all those tales since our childhood. But why has not that borne any fruit? We came to you hearing that you were a sadhu. But you alone can say how you have entered within our hearts. The place where we would fain have seated God, you have come and occupied that place. How hard we have striven to drive you out from that place so that Parameshwara might be seated there—we have discussed ever so much, presented your case to the pundits saying that you were God incarnate and argued with them with the intention of having our weakness destroyed by them but uphill now nobody has been able to displace you. No body's learning, intelligence and dialectics have been able to disprove that. Helplessly, therefore, we have been forced to call you God.'

"'You have said that like the wealthy ladies who conduct their affairs from behind the screen, you too have been performing your leelas. Seeing your disease, your outer covering, outsiders will fly away. But the fortunate one who will receive a grain of your grace shall understand the mystery of your leela. Lord, you alone know whether by speaking about these few outer things you are wheedling us or settling the issue.

"'But the question arises in my mind: is it possible for one to discern the beingness (or Bhava) of God through such tales of separation-pangs told in regard to the leelas of Radha-krishna, Rama-Sita or Gauranga? Laughing and weeping is the leela of man. When through such leelas they could be considered as God, then is not this disease of yours also the measure of your Leelas, especially when you yourself have divulged the reason for this?'

"'And, Lord, as to the other question; from the day you came out of Dakshineswar the fate of ordinary people has brightened up. Because of this pretext of disease thousands of men and women have had the darshan of your feet.'

"Ramakrishnadeva then said, 'You are telling all these because of your faith.'

"On hearing this from his lips I said, 'Thakur, enough of lengthening the talk! You are acknowledging my faith, for this I am compelled to call you God. I was a heretic, a barbarian and an arch atheist—I to call a man God! God Himself was seeking out a little place in my heart, and forsooth now it appears that by having faith today I have installed you in the position of God! Lord, be that so, give me that strength, that power so that I can really do so. If through my faith being a man you become God, that is not your ordinary leela, again. O, Thakur, God Himself has to stand before man by furnishing so many introductions and testimonials, and do you mean to say that if a man declares another man as God people will just accept that? You may say whatever you are pleased to say and everything behoves you.'

"Even then Ramakrishnadeva continued to say, 'Do I not so much wish to stay at ease?'

"I replied, 'It is all a disappointment for us to try to answer your points. Yet I shall remind you of only one thing and then close my lips. Thakur, one day in the evening standing on the western veranda of your room you said, "Whoever will come with the hankering for realization of God, for attainment of knowledge and seeking to know how he could see Him, his aspirations will be fulfilled."

"'Then laying stress on your words you again said, "O my men, verily his longings will be fulfilled."

"'Thakur, will you tell me who is the man who can tell this? Who is that siddha-Purusha who has the boldness to say so? With our ocular perception we are noticing how heretics without any spiritual practices are getting miraculously transformed. Even after seeing all these are we to have a mistaken opinion about you? If you say so, we are helpless.

"'And when you refer again and again to your disease, may I ask you, one thing: Sri Radha in Brindavan, what was her terrific suffering in the tenth state of viraha caused by separation from Krishna. Can a single day's suffering of Radha be borne by any jiva? Because Radha performed this nara-leela was she ever without Krishna? You yourself have said, "Brahma and shakti are identical."'

"As I said this his face flushed. As soon as the symptoms of ecstasy were discernible I ended the talk."

(May Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda shower their Divine Blessings on all of us on this Auspicious Kalpataru Day.)

---

05 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

5 January 2019

(From M. the Apostle and The Evangelist)

It is 8.30 p.m. now.

M. is seated on a mat in the assembly room along with the bhaktas on the second level of the Morton School. They have just returned from the Navavidhan Brahmo Samaj. The devotees comment on what they have heard there.

M. (to the bhaktas)—So many people praise him now. But how great they must be who loved him in his lifetime! When the divinity gets established, everybody begins to adore one.

He was living in Dakshineswar on seven rupees a month. Besides, he was often as if mad. Who are those, brother, who were able to recognize him then? They are not ordinary men.

Sri Krishna said, "Uddhava, go and bring me quickly the news of the gopis. When I was unknown, I was just a village cowherd boy, the gopis gave me their love with their heart and soul. Please go and bring me the news of these very gopis. For so long I have remained absorbed in my state duties. I shall never be able to repay their debt. Only if they kindly release me themselves from it, will it be possible. Otherwise it can never be paid back."

Can an Avatara be recognized? No, not by man. It was by his will that a few were able to recognize him (Sri Ramakrishna). The Avatara comes exactly like any other man, bringing with him all of man's appendages—grief, pain, good and evil—all. And he hides himself with this veil. But within this he dazzles a very few by revealing his real identity. Seeing the splendour of the sattva behind the veil the devotees are speechless with wonder. They begin to wonder whether he is a man or God. That's why Thakur would sometimes enjoy himself with his devotees by referring to his real self.

He would say, "Why, what have you to say about what Girish says (that Thakur was Avatara)?"

Sometimes he would say, achina gach (an unknown tree). Well, it's there though it can't be recognized. And at he would sing a particular song. None of you has recognized him, who in the garb of a lowly mendicant roams about from home to home.

He who recognizes an Avatara has nothing more to do—that's all he had to. He will achieve everything just by it. But how to recognize him? On one hand you have a man, educated in the western way, so learned, on the other hand there is an illiterate priest, poor to the extreme. But it is the latter who wins at the end—all education, learning, pride of family and character lie at the feet of the indigent Brahmin. By a fraction of the Brahmin-priest's grace, Narendra is today a world-conqueror; and that poor priest is the adored of the world. The rajasic westerners bow their heads at his feet. Is it given to anybody to go to the bottom of the divine sport of the Avatara? It is amazing indeed!

---

06 January 2019

6 January 6, 2019

(From M. The Apostle and the Evangelist)

It is Tuesday tomorrow. M. had gone to Panchanan Ghosh Lane to listen to the kathakata (narration of ancient stories accompanied with music etc.).

M. (to the devotees)—They was talk of the Vrindaban Lila (of Lord Krishna), about the conversation with Uddhava. Uddhava had gone to Mathura to find all about the gopis—he had been sent there by Sri Krishna. Uddhava saw a gopi milking a cow and singing a song of pangs of separation from Sri Krishna. She was not singing a song composed by any other. Whatever emotions gushed out of her heart, lost as she was in them, came out of her throat in a song. Her mind was not in milking. Her child was crying for milk but she was deaf to it. The husband was shouting at her again and again saying, "The child is crying. Come back quickly with milk," but she would not hear him. At last he came and gave her a push. Then she woke as if from sleep. In a choked voice she asked, "Yes, what's the matter?"

Uddhava saw that the milkmaid had almost lost her external consciousness, her mind having completely merged in Krishna's thought, and losing its identity got absorbed in Him and became one with Krishna. Her hands were working mechanically, milking the cow. After a time even this stopped—"O my mind! plunge into the sea of Krishna's beauty,"—bhava samadhi.

The jnana of the jnani-bhakta Uddhava received a big blow. Uddhava, as soon as he came, said to the gopis: "Your beloved Krishna is an Avatara. He is enacting his Lila as a human being. He is the controller of every mind; it's he who presides as the creator, the preserver and the destroyer of the world." Seeing how the Gopis loved Sri Krishna, Uddhava felt ashamed. Said he to himself, "In vain are my jnana and reason. Blessed indeed is the gopi." This is one scene.

Here is another: A gopi is at the spinning wheel spinning yarn, and singing. Her baby boy is calling out, "Mum, give me something to eat. give me to eat." But she is not aware of it. He gives a push; still no external consciousness. She drops the cotton from her hand—her hand lies in her lap. She does not wink, her eyes are like those of the bird hatching its eggs—merged in the Self. One does not know if she is breathing or not. The baby begins to cry lying on the breast of the mother, thinking perhaps that she is dead. Somebody else, hearing the child cry, comes and tugs firmly at her arm. She regains her senses then.

Uddhava, seeing this sight, is speechless. This is a second blow to his jnana and reason. The gopi is almost dead with the pangs of separation from Sri Krishna—"The mind of the gopi has sunk into the sea of Krishna's love." Another scene on the bank of Yamuna. The gopi is carrying three brass-pots of water on her head, and singing as she moves along. She is late today for her bath and storing water. Her companions have left much earlier—she is alone. She places the water-pot at the edge of the water, sits down and rubs both arms with water. She has the song of Krishna's love on her lips. The woods, the land, the bank of the river—the whole world—are drenched in the rays of the full-moon of (the month of) Kartik. The song she sings is the song of Krishna's love, of the joy of love of Rasa (dance of Krishna with gopis).

Uddhava stands on the bank of the Yamuna and sees this Lila. As she sings, the gopi is oblivious of her surroundings as on the night of the Rasa-leela—her soul having sunk in the sea of Krishna's joy. Uddhava notes that the strains of the song have ceased. He comes nearer and lo! The gopi's face is sweetly aglow; her vital-breath, as if, has ceased in her body. The cloth she is wearing has slipped as it is no longer in her grip—she is insensible to her modesty. After a long time, the members of her family reach there searching for her. Because there is no water they are thirsty, so are the cows and the calves. They pull her out of her swoon. Even then she is inebriated with bhava, and she shouts: "O my life-breath, Krishna, my very life!"

This third blow, as with a heavy mace crushes Uddhava's pride of his love to Krishna. He realizes that the gopis' love for Krishna gushing forth from the depth of their hearts and soul, and making them oblivious of their bodies, has the same relation with his own love of Krishna just as a chunk of butter bears to a piece of stone.

Oh, what a force these reciters have! They narrate the Lila as if it is being enacted before their eyes. The audience sat motionless spell bound—having sublimated the emotions, as it were.

This was followed by a song. I remember a couple of lines and present them to you. Please sing these as you go home. The song is by Uddhava:

Blessed the gopis, blessed you are, blessed Vrindaban! Where the love of Krishna has embodied itself!

---

07 January 2019

(From the Imitation of Christ)

Have a Humble Opinion of yourself

It is natural for all of us to desire knowledge, but what is the value of knowledge without respect for God? The most ordinary person who serves God is better than a proud philosopher who neglects himself while studying the stars. If you really know yourself, you will see that nothing about yourself is worthy of praise. "I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets... but if I have no love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:2). When I stand in God's presence, I am judged by the things I do.

Great learning can be a distraction; it can make you try to appear wise in order to win praise. There are many things you can know which will be of little value to your soul, and it is not wise to waste your time on them. Words do not nourish the soul, but a life well-lived brings comfort to the mind. A clear conscience will give you confidence before God.

If you think you know a lot about something, remind yourself that there are many more things you do not know. "Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise" (Rom. 12:16). If you want to learn something worthwhile, learn how to be a nobody.

The most profound and valuable lesson of all is to truly know yourself and to have a humble opinion of yourself.

Think well of others. If you see someone else engaging in a sinful act or a crime, do not let that make you think more highly of yourself. "You do not know how long it may be before you also stumble. All of us are frail; consider yourself no stronger than anybody else!

---

08 January 2019

(From For Seekers of God)

Place: Belur Monastery. Time: Friday, August 2, 1929.

A brahmacharin saluted Mahapurushji, whereupon he remarked:

"Early in the morning, at dusk and at night you should meditate intensively. This place has a tangible spiritual atmosphere. Swamiji brought the relics of the Master on his head and installed him, here. Here there is a special manifestation of Sri Ramakrishna.

"Besides, Swamiji, Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda), Baburam Maharaj (Swami Premananda) and others performed so much spiritual practice here. Swamiji even laid down his body right here. How holy this place is! Nowhere will you find another place more favourable for spiritual practice. This place is steeped in spirituality. How much meditation, study and singing of the names of the Lord has been done here and is still being done! How many devotees visit this place! How many times homa (fire ritual) has been performed here, and what other ceremonials have also been performed!

"The few days you live here be sure to enjoy the bliss of meditation and japa. The more you meditate, the more you will appreciate the holiness of this place. You are devotees of the Master. Call upon him; you will certainly get a response and your heart will be filled with joy."

Brahmacharin: "Often questions arise in my mind which I intend to refer to you."

Mahapurushji (affectionately): "Why don't you tell me the doubts that arise in your mind? But you know all your doubts will be solved from within. The Lord is within us. He is the inner Self of us all. He solves all doubts from within. Of course, you will have to let Him know your problems."

Saying this, he began singing this song:

Stay by yourself, O mind! Why wander here and there? Look within in the inner chamber of your heart, And you will find, right there, whatever you desire... You have everything within you, only you have to seek, my child.

"You are devotees of the Mother. She is protecting you under all conditions and will always do so. If one takes the name of the Lord and starts on a journey, one will not come to grief. By the strength of His name even distress is transformed into a blessing."

Saying this he sang:

Whoever starts upon a journey taking the name of Mother Durga, Shiva, with His almighty trident, surely will protect him.

"In a couplet composed by Tulasidas there is the same idea:

Every phase of the moon is auspicious; Every day an auspicious day. An inauspicious day affects him only who has forgotten the Lord. The day one takes the name of the Lord whole-heartedly is a good day!"

---

09 January 2019

9 January 2019

Absorption Swami Brahmananda

The subtle mind leads the aspirant nearer to God, but it cannot reach God, the supreme Atman. Having reached this stage, the world no longer holds any charm for the aspirant; he becomes absorbed in the consciousness of God. This absorption leads to Samadhi, an experience which cannot be described. It is beyond is and is not. There, there is neither happiness nor misery, neither light nor darkness. All is infinite Being—inexpressible.

Higher still is meditation. When a man practices this form of worship, he keeps up a constant flow of thought toward God and becomes absorbed in the living presence of his Chosen Ideal. He goes beyond prayer and japam, but the sense of duality remains.

Practice japam, whether you like it or not. As you persist, the mind is certain to become absorbed in contemplation.

Hold fast to the truth. Be pure-hearted. The purer you become the more will your mind be absorbed in God: You will be able to see the subtle deceptions of the mind, and you will be able to root them out.

When your mind becomes absorbed in meditation, a fountain of joy will spring up within you. Learn to be absorbed in him. Activity is not the goal. Work without attachment is only a means to absorption in God.

At dead of night the mind becomes absorbed in God with very little effort. The moment you become absorbed in the contemplation of God, you will experience unbounded joy. Days and nights will pass away in the blissful consciousness of God.

By steadfastness alone the mind becomes absorbed in God. Unless absorption is achieved, freedom from the temptations of the world is not possible. Lust, anger, delusion—these are strong foes. Be strong in the strength of God and escape from this net of Maya.

The mind is like a spoiled child always restless. Try repeatedly to steady it by fixing it on the Chosen Ideal, and at last you will become absorbed in him. Meditation means a continuous flow of thought toward God. when meditation ripens, there comes absorption, and Samadhi is experienced.

[To the question, "How can one get the mind absorbed in God?"] Practice meditation regularly.

Can anyone in the primary stage live absorbed day and night in meditation? Therefore you must work, but work without attachment for the good of mankind.

When the mind becomes absorbed, a shining light is first experienced in the mystic vision. With this vision, there comes a kind of higher and nobler joy, and the mind is reluctant to give up this joy and move onward. But if the aspirant goes further, the vision of the light will be concentrated into the form of tile Chosen Ideal and the mind becomes merged in his consciousness.

The more the mind is absorbed within, the greater will be the joy of meditation; and when once you taste joy in your spiritual practices, the desire to continue in them will grow. Then you will no longer have to ask how long you should meditate. Your own mind will tell you.

When you are able to free yourself from these deep-seated subtle desires, when the mind becomes tranquil, then only can you become deeply absorbed in real meditation. The practice of japam and meditation brings the aspirant to this stage.

---

10 January 2019

10 January 2019

Place: Belur Monastery Sunday, August 18, 1929

(Swami Shivananda)

The conversation was about pilgrimages. A monk had just returned from Badrinarayan and such other holy places and some of the monks of the monastery were talking about this pilgrimage.

Mahapurushji: "Visiting holy places is an easy thing. It requires just a little hardship. But to have devotion and faith in God is a rare achievement. You will come across many sadhus who have made pilgrimage on foot to the four dhamas (holy places located at the four corners of India) or have done similar things, but how many of them are genuine sadhus with devotion and discrimination? Of course, it is not that there are no such sadhus, but their number is very limited.

"It is very difficult to make progress in the realm of the Spirit. In the first place, it is practically an impossibility with those who do not have any living ideal. Fortunately, if they come in touch with an ideal personality it becomes somewhat easy to make progress; otherwise they can hardly make any progress. Once the ideal of life is determined one can advance slowly towards that ideal through the grace of God. Of course, everything depends upon God's grace.

"We were very fortunate that we came in touch with such a great personality. We have seen in our life what one should do in order to realize God and what happens to a man after God-realization. He was born as a divine Incarnation (Sri Ramakrishna) and he graciously brought us with him. Is this a small matter? We came in direct touch with God Himself. We saw him and shaped our lives in accordance with his ideal. The path to realize God was made very easy for us. Blessed are we!

"On the other hand, those who have not seen Sri Ramakrishna and have not had the blessed privilege of his holy association are seeing us and are trying to reach the Master and understand him through us. They are more fortunate than thousands of men and women in this world.

"What would you say to this? God Himself came down as man: it happened only the other day. The whole drama was enacted right in front of our eyes! What a fire of intense spiritual discipline did he ignite! Even now people can feel the warmth of that fire. Is this age to be slighted? It is indeed a holy age! In this age, whoever will take the name of Sri Ramakrishna and try to advance spiritually, modelling his life after that of the Master, will find it easier to make progress. If one patterns one's life after the Master's life, casting his life in the mould of the Master, it will be easy for him to realize God. But where are the people who can do that?"

(For Seekers of God)

11 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

From M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

The fifth part of the Kathamrita is under print. As M. is indisposed he is helped by Swami Raghavananda. He is with M. these days.

Swami Raghavananda wants to read out the fifth part to the sadhus.

The topic is: Shyam Bazar of Thakur's native place, followed by the description of the Hari Sabha of Jorasanko.

Thakur is telling about his state in the Hari Sabha—he was in such a state of bhava that it looked as if his body would not last.

'M.: When the account of Gaya was being read out in Thakur's presence, we saw him sobbing and weeping. You see, his past had come back to his mind. He knew who he was—svayameva atmana atmanam vetha tvam purushottama' (Gita 10:15)—Verily You alone know Yourself by Yourself, O Purushottama.

Antevasi: Is it what happened to Chaitanya Deva in Gaya?

M.: Yes. When Chaitanya Deva went to Gaya to perform the rites for his dead father, he went into a deep bhava—he had the vision of God. When Thakur heard it, he began to sob and weep.

Antevasi: Where, in Dakshineswar?

M.: Yes, in Dakshineswar.

Antevasi: The readers of the Kathamrita think that Thakur would not go to Gaya for the reason that he had been born as an avatara there. When the incident of Chaitanya born as an avatara would come to his mind, he would give up his body—this nobody remembers.

'M.: That's why he would not go to Puri also. Chaitanya Deva was there for twenty years. Towards the last twelve years, he was in the mahabhava. Remembering all those things the body would not last, that's why he wouldn't go there. Chaitanya Deva is now Sri Ramakrishna. He himself said: Christ, Chaitanya and I are one.'

'M. (to all present): Thakur said to Swami Vivekananda on the first day, Have you heard of Gaur of Nadia (Chaitanya)? I am he.'

He replied, 'Yes, I hear people saying Gaur, Gaur.' "Our house had not been partitioned till then. It was in that room in front, that Swamiji told me this.

And he also said, 'Mahashaya, has this person gone mad? He says, that he is the same as that Gaur of Nadia.'" (All laugh).

Antevasi: Well, how did Swamiji take it—in what bhava?

M.: What bhava? He was just a boy then. On the top of it he was an English-educated boy.

M. and Swami Raghavananda (in one voice): He did not believe in reincarnation.

Antevasi: I have been corrected. I thought that because Thakur claimed that he was an avatara of Chaitanya Deva that Swamiji had called him mad.

M.: Swamiji took it the same way as any young man would do. He knew English, so he had become all the more sceptical. He did not believe in reincarnation. You see, the Englishmen do not believe in it.

"That's why Thakur swore by it and said it so emphatically to all. You see, all those who had been educated in English used to visit him. Thakur would say, 'Verily I say, the Mother has come—She who stands in front and talks to me.' Only this could make the sceptics believe. Thakur made ordinary men see God as much is possible in these days of disbelief."

M. (laughing): Narendra said: How much he pulls me with great affection here, while I sleep comfortably in my Simla home!

Just see, he who called Thakur a mad man later wrote a hymn with this—'tasmat tvameva sharanam mama dinbandho'—that is to say, O friend of the lowly, You alone are my refuge.

---

12 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Premananda

Let the mouth be closed, and action speak.

Is a person worthy to be called a human being if he cannot give up selfishness, if he cannot give up his pleasures of the senses?

To take the name of Sri Ramakrishna, and at the same time to be selfish! Is there any progress for such a hypocrite? Think wisely and firmly; and act accordingly.

Be completely desireless, but act. Do not be swayed by words of praise or blame, or let your actions be influenced by the opinions of others.

I see no evil in you. Who knows but that you may be a saint tomorrow? God plays with us by putting on various masks. We act under the control of our samskaras [tendencies]. We are all toys in the hands of the good Lord, and he is our refuge.

Trust in the Lord and act. You will then succeed. If you depend on men, you will meet with failure.

But we have lost this truthfulness, and that is why we have come to such a pass groaning under the crushing weight of misery and degradation. Now all our efforts must be directed first to retrieve it; not by mere empty speech, but by sincere action, pledging all our heart and soul to it.

Be active also. Free yourself from all sense of ego, and work selflessly. Be very careful that no sense of leadership or any trace of selfishness enter into you. Whatever you do, do as the servant of the Lord.

"Do or die!" Make this your motto. Rome was not built in a day, neither can the ideal character be formed in one day. It is the sum-total of your every thought and action that makes up your character. Remember this and every moment guard well your thoughts and actions. This is an age when we need workers who seek no results for their actions—and are completely devoted to God. No talk, but action; show by the example of your life.

It is not a lazy man's job. Be up and doing!

---

13 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Adversity

It is no easy thing to dedicate oneself heart and soul to the Lord. Many people boast: 'I have surrendered myself and my all to God. I do only what he tells me to do.' But if we observe their lives we see differently. For the good they do they claim the credit and they boast of their achievements, but when adversity or trouble overtakes them they cry out against the Lord and blame him for their misfortunes. (Swami Brahmananda)

At the time of happiness everybody can remain calm, can discriminate, but one is established in it only if one can remain so even in adversity. At that time man has to summon up great strength. If he yields to weakness then, grief will overwhelm him—will altogether ruin him. (Swami Turiyananda)

Nothing can bar the progress of what God intends to make successful. Unless one passes through the school of adversity, one cannot properly be called a man. We learn much from our troubles.

You should not lose heart in adversity. Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, prayed to Sri Krishna to beset her with adversities, since in adversity alone is He more frequently remembered! (Swami Ramakrishnananda)

---

14 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Swami Ramakrishnananda

Do not sit like that [with chin resting on palm of hand], it is a pensive attitude. You should always cultivate a cheerful attitude.

If you can place yourself at the feet of a true Teacher, your egotism will gradually wear away by that very attitude of yours of a servant.

Divine Mother does not like us to call ourselves Her servants... We are her children to Her, not servants. Always think of yourself as Her child.

[Describing the true attitude of a Jnani:] The story is told that Maya, the personified creative force, came one day to a Jnani or sage and said:

'Am I not very great? See, I have created so many worlds, suns and moons and stars. I am the ruler of such a vast universe.'

'You are the Queen of Zero,' said the sage.

Angry at the lack of regard for her greatness she touched him and he became a camel. He was put in the desert, made to carry heavy burdens over the hot sands and subjected to such cruel treatment that Maya herself at last had pity upon him and released him. Then she asked him if he would not now fall down and worship her.

He only laughed saying, 'I have neither camel's body nor mind. You are not hurting me. You are only slapping your own cheek.' Maya exclaimed angrily, 'You are still incorrigible!' Again she touched him and this time made him an ass. As an ass he was beaten, forced to carry evil-smelling burdens, and to live a miserable existence.

Then once more Maya came to him and asked him to bow down to her. 'Why should I? I am not suffering. The ass's body belongs to you, not to me,' he replied.

At last Maya seeing she could not disturb the serenity of his mind fell prostrate before him saying, 'It is you who are greater.'

---

15 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Where Many Live Together Friction May Occur—Patience and Forgiveness Necessary

Place: Belur Monastery

Time: Friday, July 26, 1929

It was afternoon. Mahapurushji had just finished his shave. Seeing a monastic worker of the orphanage at Baranagore, he called him to his side.

In the course of conversation the Swami said:

If the mind has a natural leaning towards God, one can make time and opportunity for spiritual practice. What is essential is earnestness. If you cannot carry on your spiritual practice here, you won't be able to do so anywhere. The Master used to say, "He who has it here, has it there too."

That is a statement full of truth, my child. Call upon God and pray to Him with great sincerity. He will give you an abundance of devotion and faith. Why should you go? You are doing the Lord's work. Is it a small matter?

Monk: 'In season and out of season, K. says whatever comes to his mind.' Saying this, he started crying.

Mahapurushji: I had a feeling there was a misunderstanding between you two. Why does he use abusive language? I know very well that you do not deserve that treatment. You are a gentle, good-natured person. Why don't you ask K. to come and see me some time? I will explain matters to him.

Do not take it to heart, my child. You know, when pots that are together are moved, friction is inevitable. Do not take it seriously. Misunderstandings are bound to occur sometimes and they are straightened out eventually. It takes two hands to clap. Let him say whatever he wishes. Just endure it all quietly. You will have to be a little humble. You will have to sacrifice a little.

You have dedicated your body, mind and soul to the Master's work. You have renounced everything for his sake. You will have to do this much also for his work. You should practise forbearance, you should sacrifice for his work. The Lord will bless you abundantly.

Monk: Please bless me so that I can do it.

Mahapurushji: Certainly you will be able to. You have my hearty blessings, my child. But you must pray to the Master sincerely, too. He will give you greater strength. You have come here renouncing everything for his sake. There is nothing that he will withhold from you. How will his work go on if you all do not live at peace in one place?

Be patient for his sake, paying no attention to what people say, good or bad. You are all sadhus and have come here with the idea of improving yourselves. You do not have any other desire or wish in your life. You want Him alone. Temporary misunderstandings are inevitable when several work together. They aren't something to be blamed for; it is quite natural. Such misunderstandings come and go; they cannot touch your inner Self, because the main objective of your life is the realization of God. Such petty matters as attachment and aversion cannot deeply affect you. This is what we feel.

Whenever you can, practise japa, meditate upon God and pray to Him sincerely. The moment you have a feeling of weakness or of lacking in anything, tell the Master about it. If you pray very sincerely, you are bound to get a response. Repeat his name often. The repetition of his name will purify your body and mind, washing away all impurities. You have renounced everything in order to be sadhus. The realization of God is the aim of your life, my child.

Your ideal is "to remain unaffected by praise or blame, to be silent and contented with a little". Balance in praise or blame, silence and being satisfied with whatever comes—this is the state you should aim at. You should be absorbed in God. What does it matter to you what people say about you?

---

16 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Anguish / Anxiety / Anxious

Sorrow, bereavement, pain and anguish—this is what the world consists of. Real joy or peace is very rare in this world, and this round of birth and death that is ours, no one can check.

Hari Maharaj used to say: 'The body knows its pain; O my mind, be at peace!' What a beautiful statement! Pain and anguish belong to the body. He who dwells within the body is not affected by them: He is Bliss itself.

There is no need to be anxious about it. Whatever be the Lord's pleasure is definitely for the good of all. (Swami Shivananda)

Throw away all fear and anxiety. Think, 'We are the children of God', then weakness will find no loophole to creep in.

Away with all quarrels and factions. We have come here for only a very short time; why such anxiety for tidying things up? Let others do as they like.

Fear, worries, and anxieties dwell where there are hypocrisy, evil motives, and selfishness. (Swami Premananda)

Just see! Our God is only a verbal affair! A little meditation, a little Japa—this is a poor sort of spiritual life. The heart must burst hungering for Him. An intense anguish must fill it and life should seem to go out without Him—only then it will be right.

A sea is no more than a mud-puddle when you have crossed it. All anxiety and trouble are at the initial stage. (Swami Turiyananda)

Actually very few of us believe in God all the time. How do we know this? Because we allow anxieties and fears to arise in our minds.

All your anxieties and worries come from egotism and selfishness. Let go your little self and they will disappear.

When worries and perplexities rise in our mind it shows we have ceased to believe in God and in that He is caring for us. If we have real faith in God, we can never grow anxious.

Blessed is the man who has faith. He is the happiest of all men because he is free from all anxiety.

You should not be anxious of the future. Whatever takes place here, on this earth, is for our good, for all things are disposed by God. In the meantime, it should be our duty to be dutiful.

It is through sheer ignorance that we bring on ourselves all sorts of groundless anxieties. To work you have the right, but not the fruits thereof. The leader should be a man having not the least egoism. Not "I" but "Thou"—this should be his motto. Remember this and go on working and you are sure to come out victorious... Do not try to have everything done all at once.

It is the greatest relief when we get rid of egotism. It is as if a heavy burden rolled off. At once all our doubts and fears, anxieties and troubles disappear.

Whenever anxiety rises in you, you become an atheist; you do not believe in God and that He cares for you.

If you have real faith you can never grow anxious. Do your duty never grow anxious and do not think of the future. (Swami Ramakrishnananda)

(From What The Disciples Said)

---

17 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Argumentation

It is excellent to see only the good. From a pile of mixed sand and sugar, the ant extracts only the sugar. What do we have to do with quarrels and disputes? (Swami Premananda)

Don't argue unnecessarily just to prove your point. It ruins the spiritual atmosphere. Let people do whatever they like; you should live according to your own ideal. (Swami Adbhutananda)

Once, while I was at Belur, a gentleman came and expressed his regret that we had not married and had renounced the world. By all sorts of arguments, he demonstrated that our supreme Guru Shiva was also married. Owing to ignorance, man tries to support his views with numerous intellectual arguments, and the result is philosophizing. But he gets over all these, once he is blessed with true insight.

The Master used to say, 'The world is an evil place, and you should renounce it.' There was no argument behind it, because he knew that no one can get over his unhappiness without renouncing the world. Once it is realized that a thing is bad, the best thing is to discard it, there is no question of arguing about it.

You better leave these debates and arguments alone. We have got a brain of very limited capacity; and for realizing God, all this hair-splitting is of no use. What you require is burning faith in Him. In order to be firmly established in that faith, you may raise one or two valid points, but nothing more. Our arguments are just like armchair discussions; they lead us nowhere. We argue about God and then go home and lie down in bed. That is not religion, and it does not contribute to peace of mind.

Faith is the foundation of spiritual life. Too much of argumentation is of no avail... In order to be firmly established in that faith, you may raise one or two valid points, but nothing more. Unless you have faith, arguments and discussions will only cloud the issue and create confusion. (Swami Vijnanananda)

---

18 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

On Astrology

(Swami Saradananda)

An enlightened soul does not use occult powers nor does he take recourse to astrology. For astrological calculations are in many cases unreliable.

A true guru has super-sensuous powers. He visualizes the inner body of the disciple and instructs him in accordance with his past and future impressions. This is what seeing the past and the future means. Telling the past and the future by divination with numbers or by the use of astrology is not infallible in most cases.

By consulting the readings of the horoscope people always lose faith in their own capacity and become weak-minded. Readings of the horoscope are made from the movements of the planets and stars, but from those movements nobody can say how far a man's capacity will be manifested. For that reason, self-effort can change the readings of the horoscope this way or that way.

Atheism

(Swami Ramakrishnananda)

The theists are in the core of their hearts true theists as they are always searching for God, though indirectly. Those whose minds are busily engaged in the search for God directly or indirectly cannot be atheists.

Attachment

(Swami Brahmananda)

Do your duties conscientiously, and without attachment. Always remember that you are an instrument in the hands of God and that God himself is the only doer.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that a man will surely attain God if he possesses in an intense degree three kinds of love—the love a chaste wife feels toward her husband, the attraction of the worldly man for the world, and the attachment the miser feels toward his hoarded wealth. This means that the mind must be one-pointed and completely free of all desires but the desire to know God.

If you can perform every action as worship of the Lord, then only will you like to work and feel no attachment to the fruits of your actions.

Without divine attachment and divine love the mind becomes dry and restless.

---

19 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Swami Shivananda

[To the question: "Holy sir, we are worldly people. We have so many attachments and are confronted by so many obstacles. What are we to do?"]

Pray to the Lord! Talk to him!

If anyone feels the same intense longing as would result if these three attachments were united [that of a devoted wife for her husband, of a Mother for her child, and for a miser for his wealth], only then does he have God-vision.

What counts is not the mere renunciation of external attachments; inner attachments must also be given up.

Do not be attached, my child. Lust and gold destroy the manhood of man.

You have to do His work without any attachment. Know it for certain that, if one goes on performing one's duties under the sincere belief that one is doing God's work, one can never suffer spiritually. God protects such a one for ever.

As a result of association with the holy one reaches the state of being freed from all worldly attachments. All wants and desires are then destroyed root and branch, and one feels the nearness of God.

This process of evolution and involution is only another form of the twin forces of attraction or attachment and repulsion or dispassion. It is because of attraction or attachment that souls are drawn to this world, coming back and forth and playing their different embodied roles.

On account of holy association one attains the most covetable state of desirelessness. It destroys attachments at their very roots and brings one very close to God.

Look here. Nothing will accrue to you if you do not have right and proper attachment, affection and love for the Master.

Swami Premananda

To love the devotees of the Lord brings no attachment, it creates no bondage.

Attachment is bondage; yet again, attachment opens the door to liberation to one who becomes attached to God or the guru or to illumined souls.

One must have true Nishta—steadfast, whole-hearted devotion and attachment to that aspect of God which one has chosen to realize. But let that not produce repulsion for the other aspects.

Swami Turiyananda

[To the question: "How to know whether one is progressing towards Him or not?"]

One can know it oneself. Others also can know it. All his passions, lust, anger and greed will wane, his attachment for the objects of the senses will diminish, and he will have peace at heart.

If there be a hole of attachment in the mind, the result of Japa will run out through it.

Nag Mahashaya once said to me, 'Bless my father that he may have true devotion to God.'

'He has already got it,' I replied, 'He is constantly repeating the name of God. What more do you want?'

Nag Mahashaya rejoined, 'What is the use of rowing a boat which is at anchor? My father is much attached to me. What good will his Japa do?'

'If he is not to love a son like you, whom else should he love?' said I. 'Don't say so, don't say so' he cried out, 'only bless that he may lose all attachment for me.'

Death is no more terrible when there is no attachment. One must throw out all attachments. All the trouble is due to love being centred on specific objects. When you dive into the Ganges you don't feel any weight, although there are tons of water overhead. But one feels so burdened when one places a pot of water on one's head! Even the spine may give way!

Attachment to the body is the last and strongest bondage. The parental affection of monkeys is very great. The mother carries the dead body of her young one even after the flesh has dropped off and the skeleton alone is left. But even they, as all other animals, forget everything about their young ones when their own life is at stake.

Even the least attachment for anything gives the mind a loop-hole to direct you as it pleases. You become a slave to it, which is not the case if you are unattached. Lust, attachment, and the like are one and the same thing, varying only in intensity. One must turn the mind away before it gets attached to any object. Otherwise it becomes an impossible task afterwards.

Never think of transient things. That way you can escape attachment.

The common man takes to those activities which tend to perpetuate the bond of attachment. And this is true of the whole world. The only exceptions are the monks, who have found out the evanescence of the world and renounced it.

Attachment and aversion are at the root of all evil. Hence the injunction to relinquish them. For, free of them, one can do with impunity whatever one likes.

Attachment is made up of the ideas of 'me' and 'mine'.

They are fearless because they are unattached. When Mother is known, attachment goes. The world then becomes so small, so insignificant—a little mud puddle.

20 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Attachment

Swami Trigunatitananda

That mind which is attached to more than one thing can never reach the goal. Learn to see God in everything about you. Smear God over everything, and your mind will think of Him alone.

Swami Adbhutananda

Attachments are troublemakers; they fasten the mind with a noose, as it were, and drag it in all directions.

Be attached to no one but God. Only if you hold onto God will your life be meaningful.

Swami Abhedananda

What one seeks, that one gets. You have got what you wanted. When you really hanker after God, He will raise your mind from things of the world and grant you His vision. But as long as you are attached to the world and are strongly inclined to the things of the world can you yearn for the Lord with all your heart?

Swami Ramakrishnananda

If you have the power to go inside yourself, then you have conquered the whole Universe. To go inside oneself means to go away from earthly attachments that hold you down like a captive balloon.

Swami Saradananda

If there is a strong attachment for God and a burning desire to realize Him, all other attractions will drop off.

First, you have to attain knowledge. After attaining knowledge when one returns to this world of diversity, one will see everything as before but will no longer be attached to anything in it. Before realizing the illusion one hopes for water in a mirage, but when one realizes its nature, though one may be seeing the mirage, one no longer expects any water in it. So also, though the world of diversity would still have to be experienced after knowledge, yet one no longer takes it to be real and so has no longer any attachment for it.

Swami Vijnanananda

When, therefore, our entire existence depends on Him, why should we form an attachment for worldly things? Worldly attachments draw people away from God and scorch them in the wildfire of the world.

---

21 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Attitude

Swami Brahmananda

Know that you are worshipping the Lord through your work. If you can work with this attitude, work will not bind you; on the contrary, it will improve you in every way, physically, mentally, intellectually, morally, and spiritually.

It is a lazy attitude to think that all one need do is to associate with the holy.

Swami Shivananda

After attending to your regular work, you will have plenty of time for spiritual practice. It is simply a matter of mental attitude. If the mind has a natural leaning towards God, one can make time and opportunity for spiritual practice.

The Lord looks at your mental attitude—your heart's longing. If one has devotion for Him, nothing else is necessary.

So long as you have this idea clear in your mind that you are doing God's work, you cannot have pride or anything like that. If you have the correct attitude, you need have no fear.

One wavers and moves from one attitude to another, only when one's own conviction is not firm.

It is no good frequenting all sorts of places and mixing with all sorts of people without having become firm in one's own attitude. That shatters one's own conviction. One must get firmly established in one's own spiritual attitude, one must get that attitude fully matured.

One has to get deeply absorbed in spiritual exercises; one must strengthen one's spiritual attitude in one's own mind.

There is no such hard and fast rule that all should have some mantra for mental repetition. For all do not have the same kind of spiritual attitude, nor are all equally qualified.

Swami Premananda

'Let the world be selfish, but that should be no excuse for my becoming selfish'—that should be one's attitude.

Every aspirant must take up a definite attitude towards God and stick to it. He must maintain it under all conditions. There are many (Bhavas) attitudes possible. The Master practiced all Bhavas—as a friend, a lady-friend, and a sweetheart of the Lord, and also in the attitude of Balaram, the brother of Sri Krishna. One can also practice the Bhavas of Shiva.

Swami Turiyananda

Yes, one is bound to admit that 'when one feels oneself as body, one must consider oneself as the servant of the Lord; when one thinks of oneself as the Jiva, the individualized soul, one must consider oneself as a part of Him; and when one feels oneself as the Atman, the Self, one is the same as the Lord Himself.'

There is another attitude, according to which God keeps some in bondage and releases others. But who can assume this attitude? Only he who has realized everything as one and who feels His mercy even amidst great sorrow.

There is a third attitude: Whatever is good is His, and whatever is bad is the result of our own karma. If we continue this attitude, we eventually get rid of the ego.

The new psychology of the West has brought a reaction. Your attitude is to scorn failure, and push onward to success. That is laudable. I like your cheerful, hopeful outlook on life. You use failure as a stepping stone to success. Down today, up tomorrow.

What I call good, you perhaps call bad, and the reverse. Where is the standard? The standard is in our own attitude towards life. Each one has his own standard. And with increased experience and insight, the standard changes.

'I must realize God in this very life!'—that should be your attitude.

---

22 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

From M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

M. (to the devotees): Who are great in the eyes of worldly people? Those who have so much of wealth and money—houses and buildings, people, coaches, name and honour. And who is great in the eyes of Thakur? He who knows nothing else but God—like Narada and Sukadeva.

Thakur renounced money and fame for which the tongue of the worldly begins to water. He would say forcefully, 'I sweep name and fame with the broom.' On hearing the Marwari's proposal to give him ten thousand rupees, he became absolutely unconscious and fell down. Has anyone heard such a thing like absolute unconsciousness anywhere! He had such a deep-seated aversion!

People become unconscious for want of money, and he became unconscious on the matter of receiving money. What an amazing character!

"When he regained consciousness, he said, 'Mother, do You want to enchant me during my last days with money? Mother, do that which shall fix my mind on Your holy feet.'"

He said, 'I received as if a blow of axe on my head. This made me fall unconscious.'

Here is an episode:

Lord, please be gracious enough and grant your darshan to the king (King Pratap Rudra) for once—the king's minister and a great devotee Rai Ramananda, and Vasudeva Saurvbhaum made this request to Chaitanya Deva.

Hearing this, Chaitanya Deva said with a surprise, 'What do you people say? The king is the greatest of worldly man. Meeting him and enjoying sensory enjoyments are one and the same. Have I come to do all this forsaking everything behind?'

The devotees requested him another day also. At this, he replied, 'If that be so, I leave for Alalnath.' Saying so, he immediately left. Then they all went, humbly prayed to him and brought him back. Such is the affair. Is it a small matter?

What is M. thinking about? He again showers the nectarine words.

M. (to the devotees): How much Thakur loved Keshab Sen! What a great man he was! Thakur said (about Keshab), 'He is a divine man.' Even to such a person he said on his face, 'I cannot accept your words. You live with money, fame and honour.'

Keshab Babu had said to Thakur, 'You have attained sixteen annas (full complement) jnana.'

M. (to a new devotee): Is there a way for us other than holy company?

I am reminded of something. A Nanakpanthi sadhu said it. He used to frequent Thakur at that time. It is forty-two years back. I remembered one out of the two things and forgot the other. That too came to my mind just few days back.

It is this: Somebody was performing an yajna of birds at Mansarovar. He hoped that this would bring all kinds of birds to him. So, the hamsa (swan) would also come. The hamsa would definitely be accompanied by the Paramahamsa. Paramahamsa, in other words Narayana.

It means this: By keeping company of sadhus, one can have darshan (Vision) of God.

The guru does not reveal all the things to the disciple immediately. Reason? The disciple shall get frightened. So, he leads him slowly.

M.: That is why, Thakur would say: One cannot ask the people of Calcutta to renounce everything. If I tell that, they will stop coming at all. So I say, 'You people do this and that too. Hold on to God with one hand and with the other live in the world.'

I tell them, 'You people renounce mentally.' Then by coming here frequently, when one oneself understands, realizes that all these—wife, son and relations—are nothing, one shall renounce of one's own accord.

---

23 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

For Seekers of God

Place: Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Bombay

Time: January 28, 1927

At night after supper Swami Shivananda was seated in his room in the Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama at Bombay. Most of the monks and novices of the ashrama were present. One monk said: 'Maharaj, we have heard that the Master used to say, "This is the last birth of those who would come here." Did you yourself ever hear him say it?'

Mahapurushji remained silent for a while and then replied: 'Why, it has been mentioned in the books that have been written about him.'

Monk: 'What is the meaning of this saying of the Master? Does it refer only to those who had seen the Master and had attained devotion and faith through his grace? Or does it mean that this is the last birth of whoever has reverence for him?'

Swami: 'His words meant both. Whoever has deep regard for him, is sincerely devoted to him, and has surrendered himself fully to him, whether he has seen him in the flesh or not, will attain liberation and not be reborn. But self-surrender there must be.'

Monk: 'Maharaj, will those also be free who have taken refuge in him and have joined his Order?'

Swami: Yes, of course, but true liberation calls for complete self-dedication. Even to belong to his fold—is it a mean fortune?'

Monk: 'Why, we don't seem to be making much headway or progress?'

Swami: 'My child, what you have done so far and are doing now, is not negligible. Without his grace even that would have been impossible. How gracious is the Master to you! Not for nothing has he snatched you away from your parents and made you renounce hearth and home. It is because he has been unusually gracious that he has brought you to his fold and given you the opportunity to attain the summum bonum of life.'

Monk: 'But, Maharaj, we do not feel that the works we are engaged in have been very conducive to the development of the spirit of renunciation and dispassion.'

Swami: 'Whatever you are doing here is certainly his work, and you are doing it all for his pleasure. You are not actuated by any selfish worldly desire. These activities of yours will undoubtedly foster a spirit of renunciation and dispassion. Don't think that a life of mendicancy in Rishikesh alone will give you dispassion. For shame! You are certainly on the right track. At present you may not have this consciousness, but in the fullness of time it will grow and you will be established in it. You will realize that everything is his and that you have nothing to regard as your own.'

---

24 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Disciples

Swami Adbhutananda

In doing good to others, we try to forget the apparent distinctions between ourselves and other men. The welfare of others is my welfare—that should be our attitude.

Ah, the folly! Can one force the non-dualist's attitude on one's mind? It is a slow growth.

The garden and its produce belong to the master. The gardener does not own anything. Everything is the master's. But he offers the master's things to him with great devotion and humility. Everything of the world belongs to the Lord, we are His gardeners. 'Thou art my Lord, and I am Thy servant'—actuated by this attitude, and with faith and devotion, we offer the Lord's things to Him. This is Dasya-Bhakti.

'I am and my chosen Deity is—there is nought else besides'—when this attitude comes, the mind becomes purified. This is meditation.

Swami Ramakrishnananda

Do not sit like that [with chin resting on palm of hand], it is a pensive attitude. You should always cultivate a cheerful attitude.

If you can place yourself at the feet of a true Teacher, your egotism will gradually wear away by that very attitude of a servant.

The Divine Mother does not like us to call ourselves Her servants. We are her children to Her, not servants. Always think of yourself as Her child.

[Describing the true attitude of a Jnani:] The story is told that Maya, the personified creative force, came one day to a Jnani or sage and said, 'Am I not very great? See, I have created so many worlds, suns and moons and stars. I am the ruler of such a vast universe.'

'You are the Queen of Zero,' said the sage.

Angry at the lack of regard for her greatness she touched him and he became a camel. He was put in the desert, made to carry heavy burdens over the hot sands and subjected to such cruel treatment that Maya herself at last had pity upon him and released him.

Then she asked him if he would not now fall down and worship her. He only laughed saying, 'I have neither camel's body nor mind. You are not hurting me. You are only slapping your own cheek.'

Maya exclaimed angrily, 'You are still incorrigible!' Again she touched him and this time made him an ass. As an ass he was beaten, forced to carry evil-smelling burdens, and to live a miserable existence. Then once more Maya came to him and asked him to bow down to her.

'Why should I? I am not suffering. The ass's body belongs to you, not to me,' he replied.

At last Maya seeing she could not disturb the serenity of his mind fell prostrate before him saying, 'It is you who are greater.'

Swami Saradananda

Whatever is happening is happening at His command and, if He wills, the situation will change. With this attitude resign yourself to the Lord and be happy and free from cares.

The work that you do is to be performed with a right attitude. You must feel that the duties that you are discharging have been entrusted to you by the Lord. You are doing them only to satisfy Him and not to satisfy your selfish will. No work is menial. Even scrubbing the floor may be turned into worship if there is the remembrance of the Lord within.

Swami Akhandananda

At night you have to take a little less food and try to maintain always an attitude of prayer—a current of higher thoughts. And another idea must occupy your mind—that in this very life I must see God, I must finish my task of calling upon Him.

---

25 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

M. is seated on a chair facing north. All meditate for some time. Thereafter, M. converses on spiritual matters.

M.: What is in one's nature must come about. Sri Krishna said the same thing to Arjuna. Said he—'I shall not fight!'

Vain is this, your saying! Your very nature has war within! Your nature shall compel you to fight—'prakriti stvam niyokshyati' (Gita 18:59).

There is no way out except following one's nature. So, one must connect God with oneself and do it. This is the way. If He is with you, you always remember that one's nature makes one act.

That being so, one keeps oneself separate thinking thus—I am His child, His servant. Then work can't bind him.

M. (to Jagabandhu): Where is the complete program of yesterday's theatre?

Jagabandhu reads all the scenes.

M.: We have also been able to see everything. These people have witnessed it; we must get its benefit. One gains even by hearing. Those who have power of imagination, they attain up to fourteen annas by hearing. Two annas remain the rest.

So, Thakur would say, 'Hearing is better than reading and seeing is better than hearing. Higher than reading is hearing and higher than hearing is seeing.' These people have witnessed it and we have heard it. This has enabled us to see, hear and read. Hearing is next best. We too have been able to do this.

M. (to Antevasi): Let us do some reading of the Kathamrita.

M. asks to read out the first, second and third chapters of the tenth section of the Kathamrita, part III.

Thakur describes his state during the course of conversation and says, "One attains ultimate jnana when one does not remember the amavasya (darkest lunar night) and the purnima (full moon night)."

M.: Thakur says—One does gain ultimate jnana. But Haladhari said, 'Man becomes capricious.' Haladhari's point of view is that of a worldly man having attachment for sensory objects. Those who have their aim as God-realization, who want to gain the state of Shiva (divinity) from that of Jiva, should take Thakur's opinion alone.

When the mind enters samadhi, just as a salt-doll gets dissolved into the sea, one's awareness of the sea vanishes. It is this that the Vedas call the highest aim of man's life. Thakur also said the same from his life's experience.

When the mind that entered samadhi comes down, it sees as if God Himself has become all—the world, its creatures and the twenty four principles. When it descends a little lower, it is in the state he told—amavasya and purnima become the same. In other words, the mind is held back.

The outside affairs proceed of their own accord. Hanuman also had the same state—he could not remember the day, the date, the lunar date, the position of stars; he would only think upon Rama.

"But Thakur's mind was kept in that very state by the Mother. All his states are there to serve as an example. The whole world is covered with a thick fog of materialism. Thakur had such a state of mind to show to the world the ideal of the eternal truth. At this point of time Thakur had such a state—that God-realization is the highest ideal of man. The divine character of Thakur is like a life boat for the devotees in this sea of the world.

People don't put faith in all these states. To understand it, faith in the words of the Guru is essential. Guru means God, avatara—like Thakur.

---

26 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna

Attraction

Swami Brahmananda

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that a man will surely attain God if he possesses in an intense degree three kinds of love—the love a chaste wife feels toward her husband, the attraction of the worldly man for the world, and the attachment the miser feels toward his hoarded wealth.

Austerity

It is easy to practice austerity by not allowing the mind to come into contact with sense-objects, but it is hard to get rid of the mental craving itself.

In this age there is no way other than that of taking shelter at His feet. In the Iron Age, man's span of life is short. And within this short span of life one has to attain Him. There is no time for severe austerities as in olden days.

What is austerity? It is to direct the mind toward God in order to taste divine bliss. In this age it is not necessary to practice physical austerities, such as standing on your head. The path in this age is to create the desire to chant the Lord's name, to be compassionate toward all beings, and to serve holy men.

A little physical austerity also is good some times. For instance, on the day of the new moon, or on the eleventh day after the new or the full moon, eat only one meal.

You must practice severe austerities, but by this I do not mean physical austerities, or the torture of the body. Real austerity consists in the control of the passions. Passion must never be allowed to raise its head. But remember, religion is not for the eunuch, nor for the one who maims his body.

[Body austerities] are not real austerities. Anyone can practice them. The body is easily controlled, but it is another matter to control the mind. It is very difficult to renounce lust and greed, to give up the desire for name and fame.

Real austerity is based upon these three principles: First, take refuge in the truth. Truth is the pillar to which you must always hold while performing any action. Second, conquer lust. Third, renounce all cravings. Observe these three principles. That is real austerity, and the greatest of these is to conquer lust.

Do you think that there is any fixed catalogued price of so much austerity, so much japam, so much charity, etc., for God-realization? None can force realization of Him! But, if you don't keep up a regular spiritual struggle, you will not be able to hold It, when It comes.

---

27 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

The Conversations and Dialogues

Renunciation of Kama-Kanchana—God's Mercy Falls on Those Who Struggle for Realisation—Unconditional Mercy and Brahman Are One

Disciple: Shri Ramakrishna used to say, Swamiji, that a man cannot progress far towards religious realisation unless he first relinquishes lust and greed. If so, what will become of the householders? For their whole minds are set on these two things.

Swamiji: It is true that the mind can never turn to God until the desire for lust and wealth has gone from it, be the man a householder or a Sannyasin. Know this for a fact, that as long as the mind is caught in these, so long true devotion, firmness, and Shraddha (faith) can never come.

Disciple: Where will the householders be, then? What way are they to follow?

Swamiji: To satisfy our smaller desires and have done with them for ever, and to relinquish the greater ones by discrimination—that is the way. Without renunciation God can never be realised—even if Brahma himself enjoined otherwise!

Disciple: But does renunciation of everything come as soon as one becomes a monk?

Swamiji: Sannyasins are at least struggling to make themselves ready for renunciation, whereas householders are in this matter like boatmen who work at their oars while the boat lies at anchor. Is the desire for enjoyment ever appeased?—"It increases ever and ever." (Bhagavata, IX. xix. 14).

Disciple: Why? May not world-weariness come, after enjoying the objects of the senses over and over for a long time?

Swamiji: To how many does that come? The mind becomes tarnished by constant contact with the objects of the senses and receives a permanent moulding and impress from them. Renunciation, and renunciation alone, is the real secret, the Mulamantra, of all Realisation.

Disciple: But there are such injunctions of the seers in the scriptures as these:

"To restrain the five senses while living with one's wife and children is Tapas."

"For him whose desires are under control, living in the midst of his family is the same as retiring into a forest for Tapasya."

Swamiji: Blessed indeed are those who can renounce Kama-Kanchana, living in their homes with their family! But how many can do that?

Disciple: But then, what about the Sannyasins? Are they all able to relinquish lust and love for riches fully?

Swamiji: As I said just now, Sannyasins are on the path of renunciation, they have taken the field, at least, to fight for the goal; but householders, on the other hand, having no knowledge as yet of the danger that comes through lust and greed, do not even attempt to realise the Self; that they must struggle to get rid of these is an idea that has not yet entered their minds.

Disciple: But many of them are struggling for it.

Swamiji: Oh, yes, and those who are doing so will surely renounce by degrees; their inordinate attachment for Kama-Kanchana will diminish gradually. But for those who procrastinate, saying, "Oh, not so soon! I shall do it when the time comes," Self-realisation is very far off. "Let me realise the Truth this moment! In this very life!"—these are the words of a hero. Such heroes are ever ready to renounce the very next moment, and to such the scripture (Jabala Upanishad, 3.) says, "The moment you feel disgust for the vanities of the world, leave it all and take to the life of a monk."

Disciple: But was not Shri Ramakrishna wont to say, "All these attachments vanish through the grace of God when one prays to Him?"

Swamiji: Yes, it is so, no doubt, through His mercy. But one needs to be pure first before one can receive this mercy—pure in thought, word, and deed; then it is that His grace descends on one.

---

28 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

The Conversations and Dialogues

Disciple: But many of them are struggling (to overcome lust and gold) for it.

Swamiji: Oh, yes, and those who are doing so will surely renounce by degrees; their inordinate attachment for Kama-Kanchana will diminish gradually. But for those who procrastinate, saying, "Oh, not so soon! I shall do it when the time comes," Self-realisation is very far off. "Let me realise the Truth this moment! In this very life"—these are the words of a hero. Such heroes are ever ready to renounce the very next moment, and to such the scripture says—"The moment you feel disgust for the vanities of the world, leave it all and take to the life of a monk."

Disciple: But was not Sri Ramakrishna wont to say, "All these attachments vanish through the grace of God when one prays to Him?"

Swamiji: Yes, it is so, no doubt, through His mercy, but one needs to be pure first before one can receive this mercy—pure in thought, word and deed; then it is that His grace descends on one.

Disciple: But of what necessity is grace to him who can control himself in thought, word and deed? For then he would be able to develop himself in the path of spirituality by means of his own exertions!

Swamiji: The Lord is very merciful to him whom He sees struggling heart and soul for Realisation. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His grace will never come.

Disciple: Everyone longs to be good, and yet the mind, for some inscrutable reasons, turns to evil! Does not everyone wish to be good—to be perfect—to realise God?

Swamiji: Know them to be already struggling who desire this. God bestows His mercy when this struggle is maintained.

Disciple: In the history of the Incarnations, we find many persons who, we should say, had led very dissipated lives and yet were able to realise God without much trouble and without performing any Sadhana or devotion. How is this accounted for?

Swamiji: Yes, but a great restlessness must already have come upon them; long enjoyment of the objects of the senses must already have created in these deep disgust. Want of peace must have been consuming their very hearts. So deeply they had already felt this void in their hearts that life even for a moment had seemed unbearable to them unless they could gain that peace which follows in the train of the Lord's mercy. So God was kind to them. This development took place in them direct from Tamas to Sattva.

---

29 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Talks with Swami Vivekananda

Disciple: It appears to me that those who seek to realise God by restraining their senses and renouncing lust and wealth hold to the (free-will) theory of self-exertion and self-help; and that those who take the name of the Lord and depend on Him are made free by the Lord Himself of all worldly attachments, and led by Him to the supreme stage of Realisation.

Swamiji: True, those are the two different standpoints, the former held by the Jnanis, and the latter by the Bhaktas. But the ideal of renunciation is the keynote of both.

Disciple: No doubt about that! But Sri Girish Chandra Ghosh once said to me that there could be no condition in God's mercy; there could be no law for it! If there were, then it could no longer be termed mercy. The realm of grace or mercy must transcend all law.

Swamiji: But there must be some higher law at work in the sphere alluded to by G. C. of which we are ignorant. Those are words, indeed, for the last stage of development, which alone is beyond time, space and causation. But, when we get there, who will be merciful, and to whom, where there is no law of causation? There the worshipper and the worshipped, the meditator and the object of meditation, the knower and the known, all become one—call that Grace, or Brahman, if you will. It is all one uniform homogenous entity!

Disciple: Hearing these words from you, Swamiji, I have come to understand the essence of all philosophy and religion (Vedas and Vedanta); it seems as if I had hitherto been living in the midst of high-sounding words without any meaning.

---

30 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

[Place: Baghbazar, Calcutta. Year: 1897]

Meanwhile Swamiji returned and asked the disciple, "Do the people in your part of the country know much of Sri Ramakrishna?"

Disciple: Only one man, Nag Mahashaya, came to Sri Ramakrishna from our part of Bengal; it is from him that many came to hear of him and had their curiosity excited to know more. But that Sri Ramakrishna was the Incarnation of God, the people there have not yet come to know, and some would not believe it even if told so.

Swamiji: Do you think it is an easy matter to believe so? We who had actual dealings with him in every respect, we who heard of that fact again and again from his own lips, we who lived and stayed with him for twenty-four hours of the day—even we have doubts about it coming on us off and on! So what to speak of others!

Disciple: Did Sri Ramakrishna out of his own lips ever say that he was God, the all-perfect Brahman?

Swamiji: Yes, he did so many times. And he said this to all of us. One day while he was staying at the Cossipore garden, his body in imminent danger of falling off for ever, by the side of his bed I was saying in my mind, "Well, now if you can declare that you are God, then only will I believe you are really God Himself."

It was only two days before he passed away. Immediately, he looked up towards me all on a sudden and said, "He who was Rama, He who was Krishna, verily is He now Ramakrishna in this body. And that not merely from the standpoint of your Vedanta!"

At this I was struck dumb. Even we haven't had yet the perfect faith, after hearing it again and again from the holy lips of our Lord himself—our minds still get disturbed now and then with doubt and despair—and so, what shall we speak of others being slow to believe? It is indeed a very difficult matter to be able to declare and believe a man with a body like ours to be God Himself. We may just go to the length of declaring him to be a "perfected one," or a "knower of Brahman." Well, it matters nothing, whatever you may call him or think of him, a saint or a knower of Brahman, or anything. But take it from me, never did come to this earth such an all-perfect man as Sri Ramakrishna!

In the utter darkness of the world this great man is like the shining pillar of illumination in this age! And by his light alone will man now cross the ocean of Samsara!

---

31 January 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Talks with Swami Vivekananda

Disciple: To me it seems, sir, that true faith comes only after actually seeing or hearing something. Mathur Babu, I have heard, actually saw so many things about Sri Ramakrishna, and thus had that wonderful faith in him.

Swamiji: He who believes not, believes not even after seeing, and thinks that it is all hallucination, or dream and so on. The great transfiguration of Krishna, the Vishwarupa (form universal), was seen alike by Duryodhana and by Arjuna. But only Arjuna believed, while Duryodhana took it to be magic!

Unless He makes us understand, nothing can be stated or understood. Somebody comes to the fullest faith even without seeing or hearing, while somebody else remains plunged in doubt even after witnessing various extraordinary powers for twelve years, with his own eyes!

The secret of it all is His grace! But then one must persevere, so that the grace may be received.

Disciple: Is there, sir, any law of grace?

Swamiji: Yes and no.

Disciple: How is that?

Swamiji: Those who are pure always in body, mind and speech, who have strong devotion, who discriminate between the real and the unreal, who persevere in meditation and contemplation—upon them alone the grace of the Lord descends.

The Lord, however, is beyond all natural laws, is not under any rules and regulations, or just as Sri Ramakrishna used to say, He has the child's nature—and that's why we find some failing to get any response even after calling on Him for millions of births, while someone else whom we regard as a sinful or penitent man, or a disbeliever, would have Illumination in a flash! On the latter the Lord, perhaps, lavishes His grace quite unsolicited! You may argue that this man had good merits stored up from previous life, but the mystery is really difficult to understand.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say sometimes, "Do rely on Him; be like the dry leaf at the mercy of the wind" and again he would say, "The wind of His grace is always blowing; what you need to do is to unfurl your sail."

Disciple: But, sir, this is a most tremendous statement. No reasoning, I see, can stand here.

Swamiji: Ah, the limit of all reasoning and arguing is in the realm of Maya; it lies within the categories of space, time and causation. But He is beyond these categories. We speak of His law, still He is beyond all law. He creates, or becomes, all that we speak of as laws of nature and yet He is outside of them all. He, on whom His grace descends, in a moment goes beyond all law. For this reason there is no condition in grace. It is as His play or sport.

All this creation of the universe is like His play—"It is the pure delight of sport, as in the case of men." Is it not possible for Him who creates, and destroys the universe as if in play to grant salvation by grace to the greatest sinner? But then it is just His pleasure, His play, to get somebody through the practice of spiritual discipline and somebody else without it.

01 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

1 February 2019

(Talks with Swami Vivekananda)

Disciple:—Sir, I can't understand this (Mystery of God's grace).

Swamiji:—And you needn't. Only get your mind to cling to Him as far as you can. For then only the great magic of this world will break of itself. But then, you must persevere. You must take off your mind from lust and lucre, must discriminate always between the real and the unreal—must settle down into the mood of bodilessness with the brooding thought that you are not this body, and must always have the realisation that you are the all-pervading Atman. This persevering practice is called Purushakara (self-exertion—as distinguished from grace). By such self-exertion will come true reliance on Him, and that is the goal of human achievement.

After a pause Swamiji resumed: "Had you not been receiving His grace, why else would you come here at all? Sri Ramakrishna used to say, 'Those who have had the grace of God cannot but come here. Wherever they might be, whatever they might be doing, they are sure to be affected by words or sentiments uttered, from here'.

"Just take your own case—do you think it is possible without the grace of God to have the blessed company of Nag Mahashaya, a man who rose to spiritual perfection through the strength of divine grace and came to know fully what this grace really means?

"'One attains the highest stage after being perfected by the practice of repeated births.' (Gita). It is only by virtue of great religious merit acquired through many births that one comes across a great soul like him. All the characteristics of the highest type of Bhakti, spoken of in the scriptures, have manifested themselves in Nag Mahashaya. It is only in him that we actually see fulfilled the widely quoted text.

"Blessed indeed is your East Bengal to have been hallowed by the touch of Nag Mahashaya's feet!"

---

02 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

2 February 2019

(Talks with Swami Vivekananda)

Swami Suddhananda asked, "What is the real nature of meditation, sir?"

Swamiji:—Meditation is the focussing of the mind on some object. If the mind acquires concentration on one object, it can be so concentrated on any object whatsoever.

Disciple:—Mention is made in the scriptures of two kinds of meditation—one having some object and the other objectless. What is meant by all that, and which of the two is the higher one?

Swamiji:—First, the practice of meditation has to proceed with some one object before the mind. Once I used to concentrate my mind on some black point. Ultimately, during those days, I could not see the point any more, nor notice that the point was before me at all—the mind used to be no more—no wave of functioning would rise, as if it were all an ocean without any breath of air. In that state I used to experience glimpses of supersensuous truth. So I think, the practice of meditation even with some trifling external object leads to mental concentration. But it is true that the mind very easily attains calmness when one practises meditation with anything on which one's mind is most apt to settle down.

This is the reason why we have in this country so much worship of the images of gods and goddesses. And what wonderful art developed from such worship! But no more of that now.

The fact however is that the objects of meditation can never be the same in the case of all men. People have proclaimed and preached to others only those external objects to which they held on to become perfected in meditation. Oblivious of the fact, later on, that these objects are aids to the attainment of perfect mental calmness, men have extolled them beyond everything else. They have wholly concerned themselves with the means, getting comparatively unmindful of the end. The real aim is to make the mind functionless, but this cannot be got at unless one becomes absorbed in some object.

Disciple:—But if the mind becomes completely engrossed and identified with some object, how can it give us the consciousness of Brahman?

Swamiji:—Yes, though the mind at first assumes the form of the object, yet later on the consciousness of that object vanishes. Then only the experience of pure "isness" remains.

Disciple:—Well, sir, how is it that desires rise even after mental concentration is acquired?

Swamiji:—Those are the outcome of previous Samskaras (deep-rooted impressions or tendencies). When Buddha was on the point of merging in Samadhi (superconsciousness), Mara made his appearance. There was really no Mara extraneous to the mind; it was only the external reflection of the mind's previous Samskaras.

Disciple:—But one hears of various fearful experiences prior to the attainment of perfection. Are they all mental projections?

Swamiji:—What else but that? The aspiring soul, of course, does not make out at that time that all these are external manifestations of his own mind. But all the same, there is nothing outside of it. Even what you see as this world does not exist outside. It is all a mental projection. When the mind becomes functionless, it reflects the Brahman-consciousness. Then the vision of all spheres of existence may supervene—"Whatsoever sphere one may call up in mind, Whatsoever is resolved on becomes realised at once." He who, even on attaining this state of unfalsified self-determination, preserves his watchfulness and is free from the bondage of desire, verily attains to the knowledge of Brahman. But he who loses his balance after reaching this state, gets the manifold powers but falls off from the supreme goal.

So saying, Swamiji began to repeat "Shiva, Shiva," and then continued: "There is no way, none whatsoever, to the solution of the profound mystery of this life except through renunciation. Renunciation, renunciation and renunciation—let this be the one motto of your lives."

---

03 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

3 February 2019

(Talks with Swami Vivekananda)

Veda is of the nature of Shabda or of idea. It is but the sum total of ideas. Shabda, according to the old Vedic meaning of the term, is the subtle idea, which reveals itself by taking the gross form later on. So owing to the dissolution of the creation, the subtle seeds of the future creation become involved in the Veda.

Accordingly, in the Puranas you find that during the first Divine Incarnation, the Veda is first made manifest. In this Incarnation the Veda being first revealed, the other creative manifestations began to follow.

Or in other words, all the created objects began to come into concrete being out of the Shabdas, or ideas, in the Veda. For in Shabda, or idea, all gross objects have their subtle forms. Creation had proceeded in the same way in all previous cycles or Kalpas. This you find in the Sandhya Mantra of the Vedas: "The sun, the moon, the earth, the atmosphere, the heaven, the upper spheres, all, the Creator projected in the same manner and process as in previous cycles." Do you understand?"

Disciple:—But, sir, how in the absence of an actual concrete object can the Shabda or idea be applied and for what? And how are the names to be given at all?

Swamiji:—Yes, that is what on first thought seems to be the difficulty. But just think of this. Supposing this jug breaks into pieces, does the idea of a jug become null and void? No. Because, the jug is the gross effect, while the idea, "jug," is the subtle state, or the Shabda-state, of the jug.

In the same way, the Shabda-state of every object is its subtle state, and the things we see, hear, touch, or perceive in any manner, are the gross manifestations of entities in the subtle, or Shabda, state. Just as we may speak of the effect and its cause. Even when the whole creation is annihilated, the Shabda, as the consciousness of the universe or the subtle reality of all concrete things, exists in Brahman as the cause. At the point of creative manifestation, this sum total of casual entities vibrates into activity, as it were, and as being the sonant, material substance of it all, the eternal, primal sound of "Om" continues to come out of itself.

And then from the causal totality, comes out first the subtle image, or Shabda-form, of each particular thing and then its gross manifestation. Now that causal Shabda, or world-consciousness, is Brahman and it is the Veda. This is the purport of Sayana. Do you now understand?

Disciple:—No, sir, I can't clearly comprehend it.

Swamiji:—Well, you understand, I suppose, that even if all the jugs in the universe were to be destroyed, the idea, or Shabda, "jug", would still exist. So if the universe be destroyed—I mean if all the things going to make up the universe be smashed to atoms—why should not the ideas, or Shabdas, representing all of them in consciousness be still existing? And why cannot a second creation be supposed to come out of them in time?

Disciple:—But, sir, if one cries out "jug," "jug," that does not cause any jug to be produced!

Swamiji:—No, nothing is produced if you or I cry out like that; but a jug must be revealed if the idea of it rises in the Brahman which is perfect in its creative determinations. When we see even those established in the practice of religion (Sadhakas) bringing about by will-power things otherwise impossible to happen, what to speak of Brahman with perfect creativeness of will? At the point of creation Brahman becomes manifest as Shabda (Idea), and then assumes the form of "Nada," or "Om."

At the next stage, the particular Shabdas, or ideas, that variously existed in former cycles, such as Bhuh, Bhuvah, Swah, cow, man, etc., begin to come out of that "Om". As soon as these ideas appear in Brahman endowed with perfect will, the corresponding concrete things also appear, and gradually the diversified universe becomes manifest. Do you now understand how Shabda is the source of creation?

---

04 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

4 February 2019

(Talks with Swami Vivekananda)

Swamiji rose to pay a visit to the great poet, Babu Girish Chandra Ghosh. Swami Yogananda and the disciple followed him. Reaching Girish Babu's place, Swamiji seated himself and said:

"You see, G. C., the impulse is constantly coming nowadays to my mind to do this and to do that, to scatter broadcast on earth the message of Sri Ramakrishna and so on. But I pause again to reflect, lest all this give rise to another sect in India. So I have to work with a good deal of caution.

"Sometimes I think, what if a sect does grow up. But then again the thought comes—no. Sri Ramakrishna never disturbed anybody's own spiritual outlook; he always looked at the inner sameness. Often do I restrain myself with this thought. Now, what do you say?"

Girish Babu:—What can I say to this? You are the instrument in his hand. You have to do just what he would have you do. I don't trouble myself over the detail. But I see that the power of the Lord is getting things done by you. I see it clear as daylight.

Swamiji:—But I think we do things according to our own will. Yet, that in misfortunes and adversities, in times of want and poverty, he reveals himself to us and guides us along the true path—this I have been able to realise. But alas, I still fail to comprehend in any way the greatness of his power.

Girish Babu:—Yes, he said, "If you understand it to the full, everything will at once vanish. Who will work then, or who will be made to work?"

---

05 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

5 February 2019

(Talks with Swami Vivekananda)

Do you now understand how Shabda is the source of creation?

Disciple:—Yes, I just form some idea of it, but there is no clear comprehension in the mind.

Swamiji:—Well, clear comprehension, inward realisation, is no small matter, my son. When the mind proceeds towards self-absorption in Brahman, it passes through all these stages one by one to reach the absolute (Nirvikalpa) state at last. In the process of entering into Samadhi, first the universe appears as one mass of ideas; then the whole thing loses itself in a profound "Om". Then even that melts away, even that seems to be between being and non-being. That is the experience of the eternal Nada. And then the mind becomes lost in the Reality of Brahman, and then it is done! All is peace!

The disciple sat mute, thinking that none could express and explain it in the way Swamiji was doing, unless the whole thing were matter of one's own experience!

Swamiji then resumed the subject: "Great men like Avataras, in coming back from Samadhi to the realm of 'I' and 'mine,' first experience the unmanifest Nada, which, by degrees, grows distinct and appears as Om, and then from Omkara, the subtle form of the universe as a mass of ideas becomes experienced, and last, the material universe, comes into perception. But ordinary Sadhakas somehow reach beyond Nada through immense practice, and when once they attain to the direct realisation of Brahman, they cannot again come back to the lower plane of material perception. They melt away in Brahman,——'like water in milk.'

"When all this talk on the theory of creation was going on, the great dramatist, Babu Girish Chandra Ghosh, appeared on the scene. Swamiji gave him his courteous greetings and continued his lessons to the disciple.

"Shabdas are again divided into two classes, the Vedic Shabdas and those in common human use. I found this position in the Nyaya book called 'Shabda shakti prakashika.' There the arguments no doubt indicate great power of thought, but, oh, the terminology confounds the brain!"

---

06 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

6 February 2019

The Passing away of Swami Brahmananda By Swami Siddheswarananda

The following letter written by 'Gopal' in 1922 to his father, who was then the third prince of Cochin and later became the Maharaja, gives a clear and vivid account of the Mahasamadhi (Final Illumination) of Swami Brahmananda of revered memory, the first President of the Ramakrishna Order and the Ramakrishna Mission. 'Gopal', who joined the monastery at Madras in 1920, was given sannyasa by Swami Shivananda in 1923 and became Swami Siddheswarananda. He was one of our most popular monks, and successfully worked in Mysore (1925-37) and later in France (1937-57) till his death. He has several books in French to his credit. He was also editor of Vedanta, a periodical conducted by Centre Vedantique Ramakrichna at Gretz.

Shri Ramakrishna Math Mylapore, Madras. 18.4.1922

My dear Father,

Swami Sharvanandaji and I returned here safe and sound on the 15th instant. At last the quite unexpected happened. Shri Maharaj entered into Mahasamadhi on 10th night at 6 minutes to 9 p.m. You know he completely got over the cholera and he was fast recovering his health. At that stage his old complaint, diabetes, began to work. He began to sink fast. He could take only very little food, and the wastage was double or treble the quantity consumed.

The passing away of Shri Maharaj was a unique event and could be expected only of this spiritual son of Shri Ramakrishna. Some five or six days before the mahasamadhi, he said he was not going to retain the body. He told Swami Abhedananda that he was going to give up his body.

Swami Abhedananda replied that he must keep the body for some years more.

"Can you forcibly retain me?" Maharaj asked.

"It is your wish. If you wish a little you can do so. Will you wish, Maharaj?" Swami Abhedananda asked, at which Maharaj only smiled.

Maharaj told his sevaks (attendants) also that he was going to give up the body, and anyone wishing to do seva (service) to him could do it then. Such an attitude on the part of Maharaj frightened us.

At that time the allopathic doctors were full of hope. At last they also became desperate. Ayurvedic treatment was begun. Maharaj was suffering terribly. Yet he was exceptionally calm, and when the doctor asked him about this, he only replied by quoting the verse, sahanam sarvaduhkhanam apratikara purvakam (quiet endurance of all afflictions).

Swami Saradananda also tried to bring his mind to the body and was telling him that they would all go together to Bhuvaneswar after his cure was over, but Maharaj only replied, "All that Lila (play) of mine is over".

Then occurred an event unparalleled in the biography of the great ones since the time of Shri Ramakrishna. It was the eighth night of Maharaj's illness. Though suffering terribly from a burning sensation and pain, he was exceptionally calm.

It was 8 p.m. Maharaj called his disciple and attendant who had been doing untiring service to him for six years, and addressing him in the most affectionate terms blessed him saying, "My son, my child, you have been doing seva to a teacher, what shall I tell you? By my blessing, you will get Brahmajnana. You will realize Brahman. Don't be afraid, my boy".

Then he began to call, one by one, his disciples who were there, and blessed them all, consoling them in the most endearing terms, giving them abhayam (gesture implying that there is nothing to fear), asking them to immerse themselves in the thought of God.

Meanwhile his mind was climbing up and up into the regions of bhava-samadhi. He was seeing Shri Ramakrishna's luminous form, and Maharaj in the most endearing words was asking him, "Where is my Vivek, my Vivekananda?", and Shri Ramakrishna showed him his beloved brother. Seeing the vision of Swamiji, Maharaj said, "Oh, I recognize you". He then called for all of his brothers who were with Shri Ramakrishna, and he showed him all.

Then away from the region of forms and visions, he entered into the region of Pure Intelligence—Brahman.

Coming down from that state he turned to his children, and feeling sorry for them he told those around him, "My boys, ah, you are not able to cut through and get away from Maya, so you are not able to see the visions I am seeing".

He then called for Krishnalal (Swami Dhirananda, one of the old disciples of Swami Vivekananda, whom Maharaj loved much). The very name Krishna threw his mind off from the physical plane and he found himself standing before the most lovely form of Lord Krishna and so Maharaj wept with joy.

You know that Shri Ramakrishna had said that Shri Maharaj was the real Rakhal of Brindaban, the eternal playmate of Shri Krishna. So with all the flush of joy on seeing his divine playmate, in bhava Maharaj said, "Oh, where are my anklets? Let me go and dance with Krishna."

Swami Shivananda (Shri Mahapurush Maharaj), who was then seeing the way in which Maharaj was addressing Krishna in the most sweet words, pointed out that since the time of Shri Ramakrishna, whom he and his fellow-disciples had seen in similar bhava addressing the Lord, they had almost forgotten Shri Ramakrishna's bhavas. And only now, after thirty-six years, in these moments of Shri Maharaj's spiritual mood, they could remember in full what Shri Ramakrishna was.

Swami Shivananda and Swami Saradananda said that Maharaj was then exactly like Shri Ramakrishna, and it is said they even found the body of Maharaj like his. Maharaj remained in this mood for a long time. Coming down from this mood he turned to the disciples and said, "My Krishna is not the Kathor Krishna, my Krishna is not the hard Tapasvi Krishna, my Krishna is the 'Gopi-Krishna'." In these words he gave the key to his whole life. Whoever had seen Maharaj and studied him could not but be struck by his boyish, childlike nature: his whole attitude towards life was that he was playing with it.

After this he was continually seeing Shri Krishna and Shri Ramakrishna, now and then speaking about those beautiful eyes of Lord Krishna, his "Lotus face" and his blue colour. He was seeing the boy Krishna holding him as a chum on his shoulder, and telling him "Come away, come away".

As he descended from those spiritual trances, he began to speak to those around him about the highest Brahmajnana, repeating now and then "Om Brahmatmane namah, Om Paramatmane Namah" etc. I already told you now he blessed the group of people around him. His heart expanded further and blessed all those who had at any time served him. Calling Shri Ramakrishna, he was praying for the welfare of all his spiritual children. Then his heart expanded and blessed all the devotees of the Lord and all the world. You can understand how a Buddha can bless the whole world only by seeing this. This began from 8 p.m., and till 7 a.m. next day, he was in bhava-samadhi all through.

Sharvananda Swami got a good share of the blessings. Maharaj was telling him that he was always with him and that he need not have any fear. Some he asked to love him, some he asked not to forget him. In the same spiritual mood he called Swami Shivanandaji (Mahapurush Maharaj) and addressing him respectfully, as he was elder to Maharaj, asked him to remain at Belur Math and look after the members, thus handing over charge, in a way, to Mahapurush.

Mahapurush was asking him now and then, "What do you want, Maharaj?" to which he replied, "Amritam. The sweet nectar of the Lord's name and nothing more".

Next day when the doctor came (the doctor is a good friend of Maharaj, and one who had seen Shri Guru Maharaj), he told him, "I am going to Shivaloka". The whole of the 9th instant he was exceptionally calm though suffering terribly.

I went to see him on the 9th. It was heart-rending to see him greatly reduced. On the 9th night he vomited three or four times. This depressed our heart very much and we were awaiting the end soon. I was very fortunate to be with him during the last moment. Just a few moments before the end I managed to get a seat near his feet and touch them. With two hundred devotees around him, and with all his brothers such as Swami Shivananda, Swami Saradananda, Master Mahashay and others, with all of us repeating the name of Shri Ramakrishna by his side, Maharaj entered the final illumination. There was a complete calmness on the face.

Generally his eyes were very powerful as if fathoming the depths of everything. During the last moment they became a thousand times more brilliant than in normal times and concentrated as on some distant object. His face expressed his deep meditation. He brought his hands to his breast in salutation, and silently breathing, entered into mahasamadhi.

It is with great difficulty that I have managed to write these details to you. My heart is full. The stunning effect of grief and the agony of despair are only thickening every minute. Our only consolation is the blessing he has poured on all of us, and the assurance of safety he has given us.

He has said, "If there is a necessity to take up a body, I shall come again". His last advice to everyone was to become immersed in the thought of God. So we are all deeply intent on following his advice, and praying that his divine spirit, though freed from the body, may always help us in the many difficulties of our life.

I remain.

Yours affectionately

Gopal

---

07 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

7 February 2019

(Talks with Swami Vivekananda)

Now turning to Girish Babu, Swamiji said: "What do you say, G. C.? Well, you do not care to study all this, you pass your days with your adoration of this and that god, eh?"

Girish Babu:—What shall I study, brother? I have neither time nor understanding enough to pry into all that. But this time, with Sri Ramakrishna's grace, I shall pass by with greetings to your Vedas and Vedanta, and take one leap to the far beyond!

He gets you through all these studies, because he wants to get many a thing done by you. But we have no need of them.

Saying this, Girish Babu again and again touched the big Rig-veda volumes with his head, uttering, "All victory to Ramakrishna in the form of the Veda!"

Swamiji was now in a sort of deep reverie, when Girish Babu suddenly called out to him and said: "Well, hear me, please. A good deal of study you have made in the Vedas and Vedanta, but say, did you find anywhere in them any way for us out of all these profound miseries in the country, all these wailings of grief, all this starvation, all these crimes of adultery and the many horrible sins?"

Saying this he painted over and over again the horrid pictures of society.

Swamiji remained perfectly quiet and speechless, while at the thought of the sorrows and miseries of his fellowmen, tears began to flow out of his eyes, and seemingly to hide his feelings from us, he rose and left the room.

Meanwhile, addressing the disciple, Girish Babu said: "Did you see, Bangal? What a great loving heart! I don't honour your Swamiji simply for being a Pundit versed in the Vedas; but I honour him for that great heart of his which just made him retire weeping at the sorrows of his fellow-beings."

---

08 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

8 February 2019

(Teachings of Swami Brahmananda)

Q: Maharaj, some meditate on the Ishta in the heart, some think of Him in the head, but I visualize Him outside as I see you. Which is the proper way?

A: The process of meditation differs according to the difference in Sadhana. Ordinarily, it is better to meditate on the Ishta in the heart. The body should be considered as a temple and God as residing in it. When the mind becomes steady through continued spiritual practices, then alone can a man have the vision of his Ishta and wherever he feels God intensely—head or heart—there he can carry on his meditation with ease.

D: Generally we find that the mind, after making some progress along the spiritual path, cannot advance further, what is this due to?

M: Weakness of the mind is solely responsible for this mental torpor. According to its capacity, the mind moves up to a certain point, then stops. It cannot advance more. All minds are not of the same capacity, although the capacity can be and must be developed.

Sri Ramakrishna has said that through Brahmacharya the mind can be strengthened more and more, and a strong mind never wavers even when assailed by lust and anger. To such a mind these passions are trifles and they do no harm.

D: Maharaj, you call each one of us to you and inquire about our spiritual progress and our difficulties. You give us fresh courage and enthusiasm. Your encouragement takes away all fear and anxiety and makes us bold and uncompromising.

M: Such an attitude of mind does not always come to me, my child. At times, of course, the mind is in such a state that I feel I could entreat you all, even touching your feet one by one and say, "Do this, my son, do this, I implore you." But again I think, "Who am I to instruct you in all this? God is there, and as He makes us do, so is it done. Whom to ask? God Himself is the cause, God Himself is the instrument and He Himself is all." Why should people take my words even though they ask me? But then you know my boy, when the inspiration comes from within, then people do take them and follow them.

Strive on, my son, strive on and on. Do not waste a moment. At the close of each day, Sri Ramakrishna wept and prayed, "Mother, another day is gone and I am not yet blessed with Your vision!" Even so, yearn for God, my child, and be lost in Him!

Belur Math, December 1915

D: Maharaj, when I sit for meditation, I find my mind roaming about the whole universe. It thinks of no end of things. How to stop this restlessness of the mind?

M: In the beginning this always happens, but you must try diligently to check the mad outgoing tendency of your mind. Never begin your meditation immediately after sitting on your Asana. By discrimination first draw the mind back from its external pursuits and lock it up within, at the sacred feet of your Ishta. Then begin Japa and meditation. If you do this for sometime, the mind will naturally cease to wander.

The easiest way in this Kaliyuga is the path of Japa. By constantly performing Japa, the mind can easily be made calm and steady and finally it will lose itself in the Ishta. There are other paths too. Those are difficult to follow. So, I ask you to perform Japa frequently and along with it think of the Ishta. Japa and meditation should go on simultaneously. This dual method brings quicker success.

---

09 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

9 February 2019

Sayings of Swami Trigunatitanandaji Maharaj

First of all, control over the senses is required. The power of curbing, at will, the outward tendencies is to be acquired first. In one word, one must be perfectly self-controlled.

Spiritual progress is a far cry in the midst of selfishness and narrow-mindedness.

Material things may succeed, but are not lasting; failure will be coming in the wake of success. But in spiritual culture, even a little effort brings success; it never fails, it is never lost.

That mind which is attached to more than one thing can never reach the goal.

Learn to see God in everything about you. Smear God over everything, and your mind will think of Him alone.

Such distinctions as Brahmin, Sudra, etc. belong to the body, and never to the soul.

Sri Ramakrishna would say, "If one has succeeded in discarding his hankerings for sense-enjoyment, one has no other object left that has to be given up afresh."

Never think, "I can't do it, I am weak." Whenever any dejection sets in, remember that saying of the Lord in the Gita, "Yield not to unmanliness!".

What caste can a true devotee or the perfect souls have? When the individual souls merge in God (like rivers in the sea), they can no more have any individuality.

Our devotion must be without any motive. It is extremely bad if our devotion increases when He is kind and it takes to flight when He is cruel or does not heed our prayers. But I concede that for the beginners, devotion cannot be free from motives altogether.

Infinite are His forms and infinite His qualities.

Goodwill is so pure and holy, so strong and vital that even if one cultivates it for oneself, that goodwill converts itself into the welfare of others at last indirectly and imperceptibly; and though in the first stages others come within its purview indirectly, with maturity it works for others even directly.

Keep on praying to God with your whole heart; If the needs arises for you to have a Guru, God will send somebody for you who will be just the man you want.

One must call on Him, no matter whether one does so under the idea that He is cruel or that He is gracious. I have no need of knowing what He really is, nor can there be any end of such knowing; and what does such knowledge count for?

One who keeps one's mind ever filled with goodwill for others can get a thousand faults of his own burnt to ashes and he comes to be remember as a saint.

When that Self will be realized, one will find It present everywhere; and that is one's highest achievement. One's purpose in life is to attain that state.

It does not take even a single life to dedicate oneself to His lotus-feet, nay it does not take even a moment! The only thing needed is the will to do so. So easy it is, and yet we fail!

---

10 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

10 February 2019

Teachings of Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj

Always perform your Sadhana with unswerving steadfastness and do not let a single day pass by without it. Whether you wish or not, sit on your Asana at the appointed hour every day. If you can carry on your practices for three years with such unerring regularity, I assure you that love and attachment for God will grow in you and you will feel yourself nearer to Him. Then you will be prompted from within to call upon Him and Him alone. You will not be able to turn your mind in any other direction. It is at this stage that the joy of Sadhana is felt by an aspirant in his heart.

Without intense love and attachment for God, it is very difficult for a beginner to perform Sadhana in the right way, even after retiring into solitude. In solitude there is always a possibility of serious consequences. Therefore, two of a similar type and temperament should live together. In that case mutual help and guidance may be rendered, should any crisis befall one or the other at any time.

On the other hand, if the number is more than two, gossip and confusion enter in, and nothing is more injurious to spiritual practice than indulgence in worldly talk. By such idle talk not only does the mind lose its higher tendencies and noble aspirations, but it is made to forget God who is the supreme ideal of human life.

11 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

What shall I repeat? The blessed name of God! The name of that form of His which inspires the greatest faith and devotion in you—that is the name you should choose for your Japa. Without a form, meditation is not possible.

What form shall I meditate upon, and where? You must meditate upon that form of His you like best. You can place Him in the heart or outside. A wise Guru, however, will understand the particular form of God that calls forth the greatest faith and regard from the disciple, and will instruct him to meditate on that.

Then there is mental worship. As you do external worship with offerings of flowers, sandal paste, burning of camphor etc., exactly so is the worship in the mind. In the mind you have to picture the form of the Deity you choose, in the mind you are to offer all the holy things used in worship and in the mind, again, you have to adore Him with all the reverence and devotion of your heart in humble supplication.

You have heard enough, now do something and show your worthiness. No more waste of time. Begin from this day, this very evening. For the present, do these two things—Japa and meditation, every morning and evening without fail.

Continue this habit for a couple of years at least. Then you will find great joy, and will know more and more of spiritual mysteries. No more wasting of time, my child. Begin this very day, and go bravely on.

---

12 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

While meditating, sit erect and cross-legged, and hold your hands near your chest or the upper abdomen. Do not begin your meditation immediately after taking your posture. Sit silently for a couple of minutes or so and try to make the mind blank, so that no alien thoughts may cross it. Then begin meditation in right earnest.

For a year or two you will have to exert your mind to the limit of its power. Thereafter meditation will become natural to you. If any day you are hard pressed with work, you may sit for meditation only once, or may finish it in a few minutes, say, in ten or fifteen minutes. In the event of greater pressure, fix your mind on God for a moment, then bow down to Him. You can do this in exceptional circumstances but not always.

Regarding moral conduct, observe these two rules: Be truthful always, and honour and worship all women as mother. You need not trouble yourself with anything more now. The observance of these two rules will make all other moral rules shine in your life. Frequent holy places, study sacred books, and come to me now and then.

Believe in the existence of God, and never feel He does not exist. I tell you, my child, God is. Therefore hold fast to Him in sincere devotion and humility, and pray and pray! No more speculations, no more waste of time, no more idleness. Begin now, this very day, and move forward. I will see to the rest.

1 June 1913

How can love for God grow?

By Sadhana and prayer.

Is it possible to realize God for those who live in the world? Is there anyone outside the world?

No, I mean, living in the family.

It is possible but very difficult.

When dispassion comes, should one renounce the world?

Yes, that is what is called Vairagya. Real vairagya is like fire which is never extinguished. It goes on growing. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, as a fish swims about merrily when put in larger waters, so is the man who has renounced the world. Never does he want to be fettered again.

Who is a Guru?

Guru means one who shows the path to realize the Ishta through a mantra. Upa Gurus can be many. But the Guru is the one that commands, 'Practise these Sadhanas and move with holy men.' In olden times, the custom was to live with the Guru. The Guru would watch over the disciple and if the disciple went astray, the Guru would bring him back. So none but the knower of Brahman, or one far advanced in Sadhana, should be chosen as the Guru.

---

13 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

In olden times, the custom was to live with the guru. The guru would watch over the disciple and if the disciple went astray, the guru would bring him back. So none but a knower of Brahman, or one far advanced in Sadhana, should be chosen as the guru.

How to know him?

By moving with him closely for some time. The guru too will watch his would-be disciple. If the disciple possesses a strong desire for enjoyment and cannot be easily brought round, the guru will not initiate him. He will reject him. Whomsoever the guru chooses, he will keep with him and watch over him. The family guru has one advantage—he knows everything regarding the family to which the disciple belongs.

Varanasi, 3 February 1921

Maharaj, scriptures speak of service to the guru as a necessary means to spiritual realization. How far is this true?

It is necessary at the preliminary stage but afterwards, the mind itself plays the part of the guru when it becomes absolutely pure.

The guru should not be looked upon as a human being. His physical body is the temple in which resides the Lord. If the guru is served with this ideal in mind, one comes to acquire love and devotion for him, which can then be directed towards God.

Belur Math 1918

Complete self-surrender to God is not an easy matter. The mind always creates doubts and raises questions as this: 'I have neither seen nor known God. How can I love and resign myself to Him?'

Once a person complained to Sri Ramakrishna, 'I do not feel inclined to take the name of God.'

'What is it that draws your mind away?' asked Sri Ramakrishna.

'It is my goat, I love it more than anything else,' was the reply.

'Very well,' said Sri Ramakrishna. 'When you feel and serve your goat, think that you are feeding and serving God Himself. Do this sincerely for some time and you will find everything all right.'

The guru shows the disciple the path to life eternal, and protects him from all troubles. Putting great faith in the words of the guru, let the disciple live according to them. After a time he will feel that the impurities of his mind are vanishing and divine light is gradually making its appearance within.

There is no doubt that everything is achieved through faith in the guru. The disciple should not look upon him as an ordinary human being, but as God. Through meditation on, and service to the guru, the disciple is purified both in body and mind. Then the guru appears before the disciple, and revealing the Ishta to the latter, he disappears. Without purity in body and mind one cannot have the vision of God.

There is a verse:

Gururbrahma gururvishnuh

Gururdevo mahesvarah;

Gurureva param brahma

Tasmai Sri Gurave namah.

'Guru is Brahma, guru is Vishnu, guru is Siva Himself. Verily guru is no other than the highest Brahman. Salutations to the guru.'

If the disciple has sincere faith in the guru, it is easy for him to attain divine knowledge and devotion. The one thing needed is faith in the guru. When this is gained, everything is gained.

---

14 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

Realization of God is impossible without purification of the heart. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, 'If the Guru is a perfect and illumined soul, the ego of the disciple is destroyed in no time.

But if the Guru himself is unillumined, then both he and his disciple have to suffer a great deal; the disciple will not be able to get rid of his ego or the fetters that bind him to the world.' It is not possible for an unillumined Guru to bring about the liberation of his disciple. How is it possible for an ordinary man to save another from the fetters of the world? God alone, who is the author of this world-enchanting maya, can free man from its meshes.

Only a knower of God can show the way of liberation to another. But how can he who has not realized God, who has no commission from Him, who has not been strengthened by divine strength, free a soul from the bonds of the world? If the blind leads the blind, both are sure to come to grief. It is only after God-realization one gets the inner vision. Then only can one truly understand the difficulties of another and give him proper instruction.

If a person possesses sincere yearning for God and is eager to follow the spiritual path, he is sure to find a real Guru through the grace of God. Therefore a spiritual aspirant need not feel anxious about finding a Guru.

Those who come under the guidance of a Guru who has attained realization need have no anxiety about their spiritual progress. They have been put on the right track. Now their only task is to follow it. If they meet with any trouble or make any mistake, God is sure to protect them and show them the right course. Having sincere faith in the words of the Guru let them walk along the path shown by him; that is enough.

---

15 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

What is this world like? It is like the country hog plum—containing only stone and skin, but no pulp. Besides, it increases acidity and brings colic to one who eats it.

You are all pure, young souls. Your mind is now under control, undistracted by worldly thoughts. You can realize God easily, if you strive from now itself. You can fix your mind on God without much exertion when you are young. But it is a very hard task to bring the mind under control once it gets scattered.

The Vaishnavas have this beautiful saying: 'The Jiva has the grace of the three—Guru, God and devotees. But without the grace of the one it comes to utter ruin.'

The meaning is: The disciple has received the grace of Guru abundantly, through the grace of God he has also been imbued with noble ideals and he has the company of holy men.

Now what is wanted is the grace of the one, that is, of his own mind. If the mind is favourable everything is accomplished. The grace of the others can be felt only when the mind is free from restlessness. The mind must be brought under control. Unless this is done, all strivings prove of no avail.

It is the nature of the mind to pull a person away from the thought of God and drown him in worldly thoughts. So, I warn you, my boys, beware! Your mind has not yet learned to wander. Before it does so, hold fast the reins.

Just as the mahout first trains the elephant and then makes it do whatever he pleases, so also we have to train the mind in such a way that it may act according to our command. It must not be our master. The only way to train the mind is to lead it to relinquish the desire for enjoyment. The moment this is done, it becomes your slave. It is for this reason that the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures speak again and again of the glory of renunciation.

---

16 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

What is wanted is renunciation. That is the only path, and they alone can realize the glory of renunciation whose mind has not been distracted by the things of the world. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: 'The parrot learns to repeat the words taught to it when it is young. When it grows beyond a certain age, it cannot learn anything. Then it can only squawk in its usual way.'

Divine thoughts leave a deep mark on the mind in young age. It is only in youth that with a little effort one is able to understand them and translate them into practice. How simple and strong is the faith of little boys! They believe what they hear from others and try to act accordingly. They attain success wherever they apply their undistracted mind.

But when age advances, the mind is occupied with many things. It becomes restless and always wants to wander. It loses steadiness and the power of sustained thinking. It is very difficult then to make any deep impression on it. It acquires the tendency to become sceptical. It begins to doubt everything. At last these people reach such a state that it becomes very hard for them to have faith in anything. Therefore, I tell you—do what you want to do, now, when you are young.

We saw in the life of our Master that he used to speak of the life of renunciation particularly to young men. He wanted to impress on their minds the idea that God-realization is the only goal of life. He knew that the young alone would be able to take up this ideal fully.

Fortunately, you are all young and your mind is not tainted by worldly thoughts. Give up all desires and dedicate yourselves solely to God. You cannot have divine bliss and worldly enjoyments at the same time. You cannot get the one without renouncing the other. You cannot give up the lower unless you possess a taste for the higher.

This is the proper time for you to fill your mind with the thought of God to the fullest extent. Make Him your own. 'He is my all'—when this idea is firmly fixed in your mind, all your troubles will come to an end. Then no one will be able to do you harm either here or hereafter.

Does he who has tasted the syrup of sugar-candy relish molasses? Worldly joys lose their flavour when one gets a taste of divine bliss. All objects of enjoyment appear to be not only insignificant but positively bitter.

What I wish to say to you is this—offer yourself heart and soul to God and let Him do with you as He pleases.

---

17 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

The mind becomes pure through Japa. While repeating the mantra you should remember God. Such repetition and remembrance will do much good. Mere repetition without remembrance will not be of any use. I do not say that this is easy. To do it one must have initiation from a Guru.

The Guru determines your Ishta and other things necessary for your spiritual progress. There are many Ishta-devatas. One cannot suit all. Until spiritual knowledge dawns upon you, you have to follow the directions of your Guru. The more you practise, the purer you become.

To practise without the aid of a Guru is always very difficult. A few rare souls of exceptional strength of mind might be able to do so. So it is better to practise under the guidance of a Guru. Then there is no possibility of your committing any mistake. However, you should not remain idle because you have not got a Guru. Begin your spiritual practices at once and the Guru will come in proper time.

The Guru must select the disciple and the disciple must choose the Guru. If one alone selects, it is not so good. Only a perfect soul can really help the disciple. Such a Guru alone will be able to give initiation according to the differences in the nature of the disciples. An ordinary Guru can do no such thing. This latter is ready to give initiation to anyone at any time. When the proper time comes, God will send you your Guru. Until you get such a Guru, your duty is to worship God. If not, your days will be spent in vain. Hence have regular meditation, Japa and Bhajan every day.

---

18 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Brahmananda

Maharaj was seated in the living room surrounded by many devotees. His eyes were half closed.

After some time he said:

"What is the aim of spiritual practice? To know Him, to attain union with Him. Through His grace 'the knot of the heart, which is ignorance is loosed, all doubts are dissolved, all evil effects of deeds are destroyed, when He who is both personal and impersonal is realized.'

Take refuge in Him and earnestly pray for His grace. Why did you come here, renouncing hearth and home? While eating, while lying down, while standing, while sitting, pray to Him: 'Lord, give me the power to feel and understand your grace!'

"We are only travellers in this world. Our eternal abode is at the lotus feet of God. Sri Krishna said in the Gita: 'I am the end of the path, the witness, the Lord, the sustainer. I am the place of abode, the beginning, the friend, and the refuge. I lie under the seen, of all creatures the seed that is changeless.'

"Unfortunate is he who, instead of taking refuge in God, becomes entangled in the world. The blessed feet of the Lord are our eternal home. We must reach them somehow. He alone is the truth. That truth is to be attained. Let not your life pass by in vain.

Almost everyone thinks that what he understands is the only truth and the way for everybody. Sometimes man becomes so egotistic and thinks himself so important that he does not even accept the existence of God. It is this ego that binds a man in Maya. There is no escape until you begin to feel, 'Not I, not I, but Thou, my Lord!'

---

19 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji Maharaj

On Maya and Freedom

Biharilal Sarkar: "Maharaj, we read in the scriptures that God is man's inner guide. If that is true, then why does man suffer so much? How can one who is guided by the ever-pure Satchidananda get involved in evil actions?"

Latu Maharaj: "You have answered your own question. The essential nature of man, which is ever-pure, cannot be polluted by good and evil."

Bihari Babu: "Then do you mean that man has two natures, one affected by good and evil and the other not—or are you saying that good and evil do not really exist?"

Latu Maharaj: "Let me explain: Sri Ramakrishna said, 'Good and evil exist and they are also non-existent.' As long as God keeps the sense of ego in a man, he will perceive duality—both good and evil.

When God takes away the sense of ego, the perception of duality, good and evil also disappears. So long as a man is subject to the law of karma, he is aware of good and evil. When, through God's grace, a man is released from the bonds of karma, the man's awareness of good and evil also goes: for good and evil are the fruits of karma.

As you sow, so you will reap. It is the Lord who established this law of karma for the benefit of the world and mankind. Divine Providence has given man the sense of free will and the principle of karma. It is left to man to do as he wishes. If he chooses to do actions which bring him unhappiness and misery, he alone is responsible, not God."

Bihari Babu: "But Maharaj, the scriptures say that God is guiding man. So the responsibility is God's, not ours."

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, the scriptures are right. It is the responsibility of the operator, not the instrument. But tell me, who is guiding the individual soul who is bound by Maya? Maya herself is acting as the operator. Do you know the nature of Maya's game? She loves to play and wants to play always. She enjoys ups and downs, pleasure and pain, creation and destruction. She loves to raise waves of desires in the mind and does not like to still them.

But God takes charge of the soul which is not bound by Maya. When God guides a man, an uninterrupted current of happiness, peace, and bliss flows in his mind and no other waves of thought can be raised there. He becomes one with that unfathomable, waveless ocean of Satchidananda."

---

20 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji Maharaj

On Maya and Freedom

Maya helps man attain mukti

Bihari Babu: "Maharaj, we know that the scriptures have compared Brahman with the ocean and Maya with the waves on its surface. Now let me ask, what is the difference between the waves and the ocean when both are water? In that case wouldn't being guided by Maya and being guided by God be the same?"

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, from one point of view they are the same, but there is another point of view, too. The Master used to say, 'The waves belong to the ocean, but no one can say that the ocean belongs to the waves.'

Similarly, Maya belongs to God, but Maya is not God. So you cannot say that being guided by Maya is the same as being guided by God. Nevertheless, the ultimate purpose of Maya's guidance is certainly to take the individual soul to God."

Bihari Babu: "But everybody says that Maya deludes the individual soul and leads him astray."

Latu Maharaj: "Maya wants to play constantly. Because Maya's play goes on and on, man cannot see where he is being taken on his journey, so he thinks Maya is taking him in the wrong direction. But look, how can she misdirect us? Isn't God everywhere? Maya has become manifest by God's will and she is working for him."

Bihari Babu: "What! Maya is working for God?"

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, what other motive can she have?"

Bihari Babu: "But the scriptures describe Maya as illusory and world-bewitching; she makes the unreal appear to be real, and her main concern is the delusion of mankind."

Latu Maharaj: "Do you know why people say so? The scriptures speak harshly against Maya because she has qualified the unqualified Brahman. And there is another reason: God alone is real, Maya, by comparison, is unreal, illusory.

But Maya is unreal only in relation to God. From man's standpoint, Maya is avidya, ignorance, which is neither real nor unreal. If you watch Maya carefully, you will see that she is pushing man toward God step by step. With one hand she is deluding man and with the other she is unveiling consciousness before him. She works in a balanced way, without any motive of her own. She balances both happiness and misery, both goodness and evil. Do you know the intention behind all this? To teach us. If Maya's purpose were to lead man astray, she would show us only one aspect, not both.

But because Maya shows us two aspects, she simultaneously deludes and enlightens. True, she causes man much trouble and her path is very roundabout and time-consuming, but eventually it will lead one to God. After you suffer repeated blows and much torment in this world and come to understand Maya's ways, Maya won't be able to hold you anymore. Then you will be released by her sattvic power. That is why she is called the one who makes the impossible possible."

Bihari Babu: "Does Maya have a benign power too?"

Latu Maharaj: "Certainly. Maya is God's power, and can that power be all bad?"

Bihari Babu: "Maharaj, from the way you are talking, Maya seems to be something great."

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, that is true. Maya is great and that greatness is God himself.

The other day a monk explained it nicely:

'Man has already attained God: to try further for realization is useless. This universe belongs to God and man is living in it: thus he has attained salokya-mukti, liberation by living in the same region as God.

God made man in his own image: and thus man has attained sarupya-mukti, liberation by having a form similar to God's.

God is everywhere, so man is always near him: and thus he has attained samipya-mukti, liberation by living close to God.

The only thing that he has not yet attained is sayujya-mukti, becoming one with God.'"

And Maya helps man attain this Sayujya mukti too.

21 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

21 February 2019

TEACHINGS OF SWAMI ADBHUTANANDA

ADVICE TO A DEVOTEE

A Devotee: "Maharaj, why are there so many ups and downs in the mind of a householder?"

Latu Maharaj: "Because the mind of a householder is too involved with worldly objects. Sometimes it goes up as a result of spiritual practices, but it falls back again. The Master used to say: if one ties a rope with a brick at the end of it to the tail of a mongoose, it will be able to climb a wall only as far as the loose rope permits but no farther, because of the weight of the brick. Likewise, the mind of a householder may move toward God, but the weight of worldly objects pulls it back. To keep the mind always in God is a great tapasya: such a mind does not fluctuate between high and low. A thread with stray fibers cannot pass through the eye of a needle; similarly, a mind with desires cannot be absorbed in God.

"When a man's mind becomes fully concentrated on God, he enjoys the bliss of the Atman. But this is very difficult in the householder's life. Disease, sorrow, enjoyment, desire—all these are constant companions of the householder; also physical lethargy and mental restlessness. In addition to these if the man doubts the existence of God, there is no hope of his getting liberation. Often you will find that worldly people are busy with their families, their children, and other mundane matters, but they have no inclination to think about God. Such distracted minds cannot make progress in spiritual life."

A Devotee: "Then should we give up family life and call on God only?"

Latu Maharaj: "Why should you give up your family? Doesn't one's family belong to God? Therefore, call on him who is the real head of the family. One will have to do one's duty in this world. How can you escape it? Wherever you go, the world will follow you. Does it exist outside us? No, everything is in our own minds. If your mind desires enjoyment, you will seek enjoyment even in the forest; and if you don't have that desire for sense objects, you will not want them even if you are surrounded by them. Whether you live in a household or in the forest, you must call on God; otherwise all is in vain.

"Brother Turiyananda used to say, 'Only a fool thinks that he will take his bath in the ocean after the waves have subsided.' Do you think he will ever take his bath? The waves of the ocean will never stop; he will never get his bath, even if he waits his whole life. So I say, wherever you may be, whatever your mental condition, dive deep in the name of God. He who can do this will attain the highest. On the other hand, a man who decides to solve all his problems before he calls on God will never reach the goal; for as long as you have a body, you must experience disease, sorrow, fear, pain, and suffering. 'It is troublesome to have a body.' Anyone who wants to escape from all these troubles will have to hold onto God. God is Satchidananda—Absolute Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. His bliss removes all suffering."

---

22 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

22 February 2019

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

A devotee: "Maharaj, please tell us about the bliss of Brahman."

Latu Maharaj: "Ah, you see, that bliss cannot be compared with any joy you may find in this world. It is inexpressible. Worldly happiness is the product of Maya. Maya operates within the three states of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. But beyond those three is another realm, Turiya, which is extremely difficult to reach. The bliss of that realm is free from Maya. You know how sweet is the joy within Maya. Ordinary people are enchanted by it. They do not even think for a moment how immensely sweeter is God whose Maya is so sweet!"

A devotee: "Maharaj, why do you say that Maya's joy is sweet? It is nothing but scorching flames."

Latu Maharaj: "But you see, most people love that burning sensation."

On another occasion Latu Maharaj said: "Nothing in this world is valuable except bliss. Do you know why people want money, property, wife, and children? Because they think they will get physical and mental happiness from them. So they are ready to work day and night for them. If they would divert that energy toward God, they could get the permanent genuine bliss of Satchidananda instead of the transitory happiness of the world."

ON SURRENDER

Latu Maharaj: "You speak about dependence on God so superficially! If you do not get any response after calling on God for a couple of days, you follow your own way according to your mood, as if you understood the situation better than he.

"Surrendering oneself to God means that one should move at his command. Do not do anything without his command. Even if it means a great loss for you, do not stray from that. Only when you have attained this state can you say that you have truly surrendered yourself to God.

"Brother Vivekananda used to say: 'If I cannot get Rama, shall I live with Shyama? If necessary, let this life be spent in vain for Sri Ramakrishna.' See how he surrendered himself to the Master! He was ready at any moment to give up his life for the Lord over the smallest thing. This is the way one should hold onto the Master; only then can he guide you in the right direction."

A devotee: "Maharaj, why do we not have that kind of dependence on God?"

Latu Maharaj: "It is because you value your intellect and ego more than God. You are not ready to wait for his command, and moreover, you lose patience in a minute."

---

23 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

23 February 2019

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

FEELING FOR OTHERS

"Only a poor man can love the poor. A rich man cannot feel the sufferings of the poor, for no one can understand the sufferings of others unless he has undergone the same suffering."

Brother Vivekananda told Turiyananda: "Brother, I do not know exactly what I have gained by leading this monk's life, but one thing is certain: This [Swami Vivekananda pointed to his heart] has expanded enormously."

"If the desire to do charitable works arises in the mind of a rich man, it shows that his heart has started to feel for the poor. God tests man by making him wealthy, and that is a hard test to pass.

"Tests devised by men are easy to pass, but divine tests are very difficult. God may give plenty of riches to one man, but so delude him by Maya that he will never in his life desire to be charitable. Again, God may give a generous heart to another person, but not give him much money. Blessed indeed are they who are rich yet feel for the poor.

"Money brings vanity. The more egotistic a man is, the farther he is from God, and thus the poorer he is.

"Do not measure the poverty of a man by his possessions. The real measure is how far he is from God. The nearer to the Lord, the richer the man: the more forgetful of the Lord, the poorer and unhappier he is."

---

24 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

24 February 2019

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

ON LUST

A devotee: "How can one overcome lust?"

Latu Maharaj: "Keep a picture of Sri Ramakrishna with you. Whenever lustful feelings arise, you should look at the picture intently. You will find that the senses will gradually be gathered in and the mind will be freed from lust."

ATTITUDE TOWARD WOMEN

Once Latu Maharaj told a group of men devotees: "Some men abuse women, but you should never raise your hand against them. You do not know how much they bear—they are forbearance itself. If you abuse them, where shall they turn? They are aspects of the Divine Mother, and if the Mother is insulted, the Lord is displeased. Thus your well-being lies in making them happy. Their tears will ruin you, as Sita's tears destroyed the whole of Ravana's people."

ON RESTLESSNESS

Latu Maharaj once said to a restless devotee: "Why do you think of all sorts of nonsense when you sit to meditate? Can't you whip your mind? Even if you cannot control your mind and you become disgusted, please don't leave your seat: for if you get up from meditation with that attitude of disgust, you will be in a bad mood all day, and you will feel like beating one person, scolding another, and speaking harshly to a third.

"The Master told us, 'Do not get up from your seat immediately after meditation.' While you are still sitting on the asana [seat for meditation], sing devotional songs for ten or fifteen minutes, and then you will feel calmness in your mind throughout the day."

---

25 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

25 February 2019

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

DESIRES AND SENSE OBJECTS

Latu Maharaj: "Worldly desires have taken up permanent residence in the mind. Sometimes they float on the surface of the mind, and sometimes they are so hidden that it seems they do not even exist. But the closer you are to God, the more you will see the knots of desire hidden in the mind. The more your body and mind are purified, the more the dirt and dross which have accumulated during thousands of lives will be stirred up and will challenge your spirituality. The energy generated by spiritual disciplines forces the impurities to leave the mind, their fort.

"How can they cope against the power of the Lord's name? You see, the desires are very shrewd. They take possession not only of the mind of a person but his sense organs as well. As soon as a desire is aroused in the mind, the sense organs are awakened. The eyes want to see, the ears want to hear, the tongue to taste and speak, the nose to smell, and the body to feel. The hands want to work and the feet carry the person to where the object is. The other sense organs are alert, and whenever the opportunity comes they also enjoy.

"Do you know what the mind does? It conjures up enticing pictures with the imagination. Imagination is man's worst enemy, his greatest tempter, for it creates beautiful pictures of sense pleasures and nearly destroys man's conscience. Thus man is drawn to sense objects.

"Therefore, if you want to control the desire for worldly things, first, control the imagination and don't be deluded by sense enjoyments."

A devotee: "But how can one control the imagination?"

Latu Maharaj: "The imagination can be controlled by withdrawing the mind from the object, although that will not still the mind.

"Sri Ramakrishna said that three things are necessary in the process of perception: the object of perception, the sense organ, and the mind. Perception of the object is not possible if one of these three is missing. So if you can eliminate one of them, the mind will not be able to cognize. It is hard to eliminate the objects of perception. They come and go. We have to encounter them always. How can one live and avoid sense objects? So long as you can avoid the sense objects, your self-control may be intact: but as soon as you come near them again, you will find yourself deluded by their attraction. So instead, try to withdraw either the sense organ or the mind from the object. Then automatically the object will not be perceived.

"The nature of the mind can be changed by chanting the name of the Lord. Gradually desires and doubts cease and the mind dissolves into its causality. Then there is none to think or imagine. Waves of desire in the mind show that the mind is active: the mind becomes pure only when it becomes waveless. The power of God descends on the pure mind, and only then does one realize the Self."

---

26 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

26 February 2019

(Teachings of Swami Vijnananandaji)

Faith is the foundation of spiritual life. Too much of argumentation is of no avail... In order to be firmly established in that faith, you may raise one or two valid points, but nothing more. Unless you have faith, arguments and discussions will only cloud the issue and create confusion.

When, therefore, our entire existence depends on Him, why should we form an attachment for worldly things? Worldly attachments draw people away from God and scorch them in the wildfire of the world.

The Bible describes God in all His three forms, with attributes, without attributes, and as incarnate.

Let us make our minds pure, the rest will be easy; and we shall attain spiritual bliss comparable to nothing else in life. Our worldly pleasures are but a speck of dust, when weighed against that great mountain of joy.

The body is made up of five Bhutas (the word meaning both ghosts and the constituent material elements), and as one would call on Rama to get rid of the fear of ghosts, so also one must take refuge in Rama to be saved from the lures of these elements.

Your body is built through the food you take, and if that is not clean and pure, how can you expect mental perfection?

Likewise, there have been spiritual interpretations of ratha yatra and snanayatra (the Lord's Car Festival). Whoever sees God inside the chariot of the body derives the joy of the Car Festival. In the Katha Upanishad, also, it is written that the body is the chariot and the soul is the charioteer.

The "Festival of Bathing" means dipping oneself in the water of noble and sacred thoughts.

There are three particular regions of the body which are good for the purpose of meditation: the heart, the spot between the eyebrows, and the nerve centre in the brain (sahasrara).

---

27 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

27 February 2019

(Teachings of Swami Vijnananandaji)

Now I shall refer to another story. A very well-read man went to a Sadhu for guidance in the matter of Self-realization. The Sadhu told him: "First of all you have to unlearn all that you have learnt in books, and then you can come to me." So you see that book-learning is useless for the purpose you have in view. The only thing required is faith.

Brahman is like a motionless snake. Shakti is like a snake in motion and that is the kundalini.

From Buddha's life and discourses, we find that action follows thought; as you think, so you act.

You recite "Ram, Ram" (the name of Rama). Do you know what "rum" is? It is an intoxicating drink. You cannot know what it is like unless you drink it. You cannot know the glory of God's name unless you chant it.

To grieve over not having a male child and to think that this means the end of the family line is a very crude way of looking at things. Real children are one's good, liberal, and holy thoughts—also, good deeds. These last forever; there is no death for them.

Her divine light is pervaded everywhere; only man cannot realize it. Babies, six or seven months old, see that light, and seeing it smile and play, moving their arms and legs, at the sight of which people say that they are doing so in a dream.

It is a matter of fact, the company of holy men makes the heart pure forever. It is said that the sage Durvasa once went to visit hell where condemned souls were suffering all sorts of tortures as punishment for their sins. As soon as the sage made his appearance there, they were relieved of their agonies and began to sing the glories of God. Hell seemed to have been transformed into heaven; the reason was that the sage's purity of life had such innate power in it as to deliver those tortured souls from their sins, and save them from the agonies of hell.

People very often are saved if they live in the proximity of spiritually developed souls. Once, on Dussera day, we were staying with Swamiji in Nilambar Mukherji's garden-house at Belur. It was the monastery then. Swamiji was in those days on a very high spiritual plane. That day when I touched his feet in obeisance, I received a strong shock like that of electricity. Anyone going near such persons would feel as if a spiritual zone had been created round about them. Whosoever entered that zone could feel as if an electric force was entering into him from outside. He would have that experience immediately.

Great souls, wherever they are, create a spiritual zone around them; and anybody coming within that zone realizes something like an electric current passing into him. It is a very strange phenomenon, impossible to explain, unless one has experienced it oneself.

Swami Brahmananda also was a reservoir of spiritual power. One day, when he was sitting in deep meditation, his body had become stiff. I was sitting close to him and felt my nerves also getting stiff and taut. This is a wonderful play of energy, one's power involuntarily acting on another.

---

28 February 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

28 February 2019

(Teachings of Swami Vijnananandaji)

The greatest need is to concentrate on Him when we are dying.

The best time for meditation is midnight. You can then achieve results very soon. Nature is in a quiet mood then and the concentration is easier.

Every day you should regularly practise meditation. That helps you to concentrate your mind.

One should try to help others as far as possible, but without beating one's drum. For the rest of the time, one should be all by oneself. In this way concentration of mind will be gradually achieved.

Everybody complains that he cannot concentrate his mind (on God), because it is assailed by all sorts of thoughts. Why not put up a "No admittance" notice and refuse to let those thoughts crowd into the mind?

Do not give up japa and meditation simply because you cannot concentrate your mind properly.

My advice to you all is to forsake idleness. An idle brain is the devil's workshop. You must do everything with concentration and diligence.

Within everybody there is Pure Consciousness. This Consciousness pervades the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, the air, etc., down to the minute being, and it is because of this consciousness that there is motion in everything.

In the transcendental state, i.e. the state of complete union with the Infinite, there is no outward consciousness; only a slight feeling remains there.

Contemplation on God should enable us to gain lordliness over our passions and become masters of our souls.

The question that arises in my mind is, where shall we be after giving up this mortal frame? I asked Mahapurush Maharaj who told me that we would be in the Ramakrishna world where we would be keeping company with the Master.

But I have decided not to go anywhere. To contemplate on the Master all the time and not to forget him even for an instant is to be in his company. That is Ramakrishna Loka—to think of him all the time with heart and soul, never losing him even for a moment.

One should not ask for anything from God, but remain satisfied with whatever He is pleased to grant.

Real welfare lies in using things properly, wrong use of things brings misfortune.

You should be satisfied with whatever you can get to keeping the body fit, and then, go on working selflessly for God.

There is a Hindi couplet which says that jewels, elephants, and houses, indeed, all wealth is just valueless compared to contentment.

It is all so difficult, you cannot have contentment so long as you are subject to worldly desires. Once they disappear, you are free.

Purity, Truthfulness, and honesty should make the cornerstone of your life. And there should be faith. With these a man will have contentment in life, whatever circumstances he may happen to be in.

Contentment in all circumstances is the mark of religious life.

1 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

From M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

The Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Gobind Singh

M. (to all): What a liberal heart Nanak Maharaj had can be seen just by this one incident in Puri. He had gone for the darshan of Lord Jagannath. The priests thought that perhaps he was a Muslim.

M.: So they didn't let him enter the temple. It was then the time of evening arati. What to do? He sat outside and began to sing a song of the Great one. He composed it there and then and sang.

Here is the song:

The sun and the moon are lamps in the big disc of the sky;

The stars shine like so many pearls.

The fragrant breeze from Mount Malaya is the incense,

The wind serves as the fly whisker,

The whole wood is lighted up.

How to perform Your arati,

The destroyer of the pain of rebirths?

The anahat sound is ringing like the flute,

The allured mind is daily thirsty

Like a bee for the honey of the lotus feet of Hari,

Pray grant the water of Thy grace to Nanak-sarang,

So that he may live in Thy Name.

M. (to the Youngman): It is said that as soon as he began to sing this song, all the people came out of the temple to listen to him.

M.: The temple became empty. Just see, what a plan the Lord has to add to the honour of the devotees. Had he allowed Nanak to enter the temple how could have this immortal song been composed? It has become a classical song. It is sung in all the gurudwaras. Its original is in Gurumukhi.

What a high spiritual mood! As if he saw the entire universe performing the arati of the Lord.

The Youngman: One finds the same mood in Emerson.

M.: No, there it is somewhat different—that isn't so high bhava. Nanak saw nature as though it was absorbed in praying to the Lord with joined hands. While the former is imagination, the latter is actual vision.

---

M. (to the devotees): I remember another incident of Guru Nanak. Mardana was his close disciple. He was always with him; he was a Muslim.

Nanak always preached that everything happened by God's will and that all is pre-destined. Mardana's faith in it did not go so far. This is what happened at the time when Guru Nanak was setting out for Mecca.

One day Mardana showed a grain of corn and asked Guru Nanak, 'Guruji, who will eat this grain?'

He answered, 'A hen in Kabul.'

Mardana took that grain and immediately put that in his mouth. While he was devouring it, the grain instead of going into the stomach entered the nasal tube. Though he tried hard it did not come out. Then both of them reached Kabul on their way to Mecca and stayed in an inn. A hen was roaming about in the courtyard. Mardana then sneezed forcing the grain to come out. Like an arrow the hen came and swallowed it.

Guru Nanak laughed and said, 'Have faith. God has arranged everything in advance.'

One sees and hears so much and yet does not believe!

---

2 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

On Overcoming Discouragement

A devotee: "Maharaj, is there any hope for liberation for worldly people like us? Please bless us that we can escape this whirlpool of Maya."

Latu Maharaj: "Why should you be so depressed? Do you think you understand everything about human life? Know that no life goes in vain in God's realm.

Once Brother Shashi gave a very apt illustration to someone like you. A man was out walking and came upon a canal. Seeing that he would have to jump over it in order to continue on his way, he took several strides backward to get a running start for his leap. As he ran forward and jumped over the canal, he covered not only the distance he had moved backward but also the canal itself. Now, can you tell me whether his going backward were helpful or harmful? A man might have to take backward steps in this present life, but he will undoubtedly run forward in the next.

"No life is ever lived in vain. Remember only one thing: Lead a God-centered life. Then the Lord will guide according to His will. He knows our past, present, and future. The wisest course is to surrender to him completely.

"Whether you hold onto the Lord's hand or not does not matter, he is always holding onto yours. There is no doubt about that. He will never abandon you. He is all-merciful."

---

3 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

Forgiveness

A devotee did something wrong and was feeling very bad about it. When Latu Maharaj heard this, he called for the devotee to come and see him.

He told the devotee: "Look here, my son, just because you have made one or two mistakes, you should not give up your spiritual practices and brood over your lapses and feel hopeless. To make mistakes is human. Call on God. He will give you the strength to overcome weakness and destroy your delusion. He is the compassionate one. However great your sins might be, the current of his mercy will not be kept from you. How little is your sin, and yet you are so depressed! Just think of Ajamila and Valmiki.

Compared to their sins, yours are nothing. Do you know what Brother Vivekananda used to say? 'Don't worry about a little spot of ink on the body. It is nothing. If one bathes in God's infinite ocean of mercy, the stains of a thousand ink spots will be washed away.'

So I am telling you, do not grieve. Pray unceasingly. Your bad tendencies will go away in a short time."

Yet the devotee was so ashamed of his conduct that he could not raise his head. Seeing this, Latu Maharaj said: "Before he commits a sin, a man's conscience fills him with shame, yet he brushes it aside. But divine law is such that after the sin is committed, shame overwhelms him again, and he cannot raise his head in front of others."

Even these words could not shake the devotee free from his sense of guilt. Latu Maharaj continued: "What are you ashamed of my son? The Lord has seen everything you have done. You cannot hide anything from him. Since he knows all of it, why should you still be so melancholy? Instead, engage yourself in harder spiritual disciplines, keep the company of holy men, and come here now and then."

These words helped the devotee regain his mental strength. After this conversation with Latu Maharaj, he began to practice spiritual disciplines more vigorously.

---

4 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

On Monastic Life

Latu Maharaj to a monk: "Never forget the goal of monastic life. Don't wear the gerua cloth [the ochre-coloured cloth of a monk] for outward show. The gerua cloth may bring you name and fame, but that will not help you realize God. Go into solitude and practice your spiritual disciplines with all your heart. Only then will you progress quickly. Avoid gossip and politics.

"Is it so easy to be a monk? A real monk longs for God, weeps for God. He does not think about himself and is not disturbed by physical discomfort. A real monk will not see faults in others, and he will have neither attachment nor aversion for anyone. He will be friendly with all.

A real monk must try to ease the sufferings of others, and if he does not have the means, he should encourage them with inspired words so that they can fight against life's odds. He does not hoard for the future and seeks nothing except God. A real monk is free from fear and is straightforward. His behaviour is simple, like a child's. Wherever he goes, he hears the call of God."

Cruelty and Compassion

A devotee: "Maharaj, where is compassion in this world? There seems to be only an unbroken chain of cruelty. The crow attacks the sparrow, the kite attacks the crow, man hunts the kite, and the tiger and the bear attack man."

"If you see cruelty around you," responded Latu Maharaj, "you will find cruelty in God. If you see compassion everywhere, you will witness his infinite compassion. It all depends on your own mind. Always remember that to the pure mind all things are pure."

On Miracles

A young man: "Maharaj, could you teach me something so that I will no longer suffer from poverty?"

Latu Maharaj: "You won't like what I tell you. You want the sort of trick that one uses to make gold out of a handful of dust; but I don't know that trick. I am a monk. I stay in this place and chant the name of the Lord. I can tell you something about God and spiritual life, but you won't be satisfied. You want miraculous powers. Are powers so easy to come by? Are you ready to exert yourself? If you can chant the Lord's name a hundred thousand times a day, then come and sit here."

After hearing these words, the young man hurried away.

---

5 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

Sri Ramakrishna: An Exemplar

"Sri Ramakrishna embodies an ideal for everyone. He was an ideal householder, an ideal monk, an ideal guru, and an ideal disciple. Moreover, his life can serve as an example for all faiths and all sects. He is an ideal for the worshipers of Shakti, as he practiced and attained perfection in all the important Tantric sadhanas. He is an ideal for the Vaishnavites, for his devotion to Hari is unparalleled. He is also an ideal for the Shaivites, as he attained the vision of Lord Shiva too. He is an ideal for the devotees of Ramachandra, for he saw Rama and Sita. He is an ideal for the Vedantins as well, having experienced nirvikalpa samadhi, the culmination of the Vedantic sadhana, within three days. He is also an ideal for the Christians and Mohammedans, because he had the vision of Christ and also of the Prophet."

Sri Ramakrishna's Teaching on Suffering

A devotee: "Maharaj, why should a knower of Brahman like Sri Ramakrishna, who was almost always immersed in samadhi have suffered from such a terrible disease?"

Latu Maharaj: What do I know about that? I heard Master Mahashay [M.] say, 'It is because of the touch of impure people that he suffered so terribly.' Girish Babu used to say, 'It is his divine play—a way to relieve the sufferings of mankind.'

Ram Babu said: 'If the Master had not suffered from such a terrible disease, who could have recognized him? When one is in good health, one can easily fix the mind on God; but he is surely an avatar who can be continually in nirvikalpa samadhi, even when he is sick.'

Brother Loren said at that time: 'He wants to be served by us, so he has contracted this disease. Don't worry. Could we have such a priceless opportunity to serve him if he didn't have this disease? We must not miss this opportunity. Let us serve him in such a way that he will not have the heart to leave us.'

Brother Rakhal said, 'The Master is testing us.' Brother Sharat said, 'Although we may or may not understand it, a great mission is beginning through the Master's illness.' Brother Shashi said: 'Sweet Jesus allowed himself to be crucified for humanity's sake. Our Master, too is suffering excruciating pain in order to remove man's burden of sin.'

Balaram Babu once said to the Master: 'Sir, I am tired of hearing people's critical remarks about your illness. They say, "Your Master is suffering from disease!"' The Master answered, 'Listen, he who forbears, survives and becomes great.' Many people held different opinions about his illness. I don't remember them all.

"The Master used to say, 'Let the body and the disease take care of each other: O mind, be happy.' He felt no pain. I saw that he was floating in bliss. If he had really suffered, could he have given us such joy? He told us: 'Brahman is stainless. Though the three gunas [sattva, rajas, and tamas] are in Brahman, he is separate from them, as the air carries odors but still remains different from and untouched by them. Brahman is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. In Brahman there is no sorrow or pain, no disease or death, no decay or growth. I see everything within this [Sri Ramakrishna pointed to himself]. Brahman and the One who is within the heart are the same.'

Where is the suffering of one who, though sick, can maintain such a high level of spirituality? You people identify yourselves with the body, so when the body suffers you are frightened."

---

6 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Shivananda

Mahapurushji: 'Well, my child, ours is to serve others and purify our minds by service. As Swamiji said, "By doing good to others we do good to ourselves." The object of our service is to promote our own well-being by helping others. While carrying on works like this, one can examine oneself.

Whatever external trials and difficulties may come, you should carry on the work undisturbed. "For one's own salvation and for the good of the world"—this is your life's ideal. Your vision should be directed high. Just as your ideal is noble, so your heart should be big.

'At the back of these communal riots and dissensions I see the hand of the All-beneficent Mother. It is according to Her beneficent will that all this is taking place, and ultimately it will result in good. It will pave the way for unity among the Hindus and they will learn to organize themselves. They will then try to feel for one another. Unity, organization and fellow-feeling, these are very much needed these days.

Above everything else, the Hindus should organize and have unity among themselves. Will lethargy and narrowness of such a long duration come to an end unless there is pressure from outside?

Have faith that all this is happening because of the will of the Mother, and it will promote the well-being of the Hindus as a race. It will bring about a new awakening in the entire nation. The Hindus will prosper in every way because Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji were born amongst them.'

---

7 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Shivananda

At about five o'clock in the afternoon Swami Vijayananda came from Calcutta. Entering Mahapurushji's room, he said: 'Maharaj, a gentleman has donated five hundred rupees for relief and promised to give more if necessary.'

Hearing this news Mahapurushji was very pleased. With folded hands he said, closing his eyes: 'Victory be to the Mother! Who can understand Her play? It is She who in one form is giving pain, and again it is She who in another form is arousing sympathy in people's hearts.'

"The Goddess who is present as compassion in every being, salutation to Her!" With one hand She is killing, with the other She is giving boons and bidding men "Be fearless!"

Swamiji used to say, "Mother Kali is a perfect manifestation of God."

Creation, preservation and dissolution—She is the doer of all these. On one side She is destroying with the sword; on the other side She is granting boons and bidding men "Be fearless!"

This is all the sport of God. In one form He is bringing pain to so many people, persecuting them with famine, sickness and grief; in another form, again, it is He who is inspiring people to remove the distress of humanity.

"Glory be to Thee! Glory be to Thee, Mother! Who will understand Thy ways?" So far no one has been able to understand the Mother, nor will anyone ever be able to. Since the dawn of creation no yogi or rishi has been able to comprehend Her. Infinite is the sport of the Mother.

Who, indeed, can know Thee unless Thou revealest Thyself? The Veda and Vedanta grope in the dark, failing to fathom Thee.

'That is why the Master used to say: "Mother, I don't want to know Thee. Who can know Thee? No one has ever known Thee, nor will anyone ever know Thee. Grant that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching Maya and graciously give me pure devotion and faith at Thy lotus feet. (With folded hands) Mother, give us faith and devotion; endue us with faith and devotion."'

---

8 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

The Apostle and the Evangelist

M. (to Virinchi): Do we have an easy awakening? Just see, what a catastrophe has befallen Japan. Five lakhs of people have lost their lives outright. Why does He do these things? For our learning. How much does the worldly man sorrow for a son, but here so many persons have died together.

People do not accept God, so destruction takes place. How many times has it happened in Japan in the same manner! Even so, do people listen? Do they ever realize?

Adhar Sen was warned against riding a horse by Thakur, when for the first time he fell from the horse, but he did not listen. He fell a second time and died. Thakur said then: 'Mother does not say again and again.' At times she warns. Unless one wakes up, death is sure.

Calcutta, 5th September, 1923 A.D.

M. is seated with the bhaktas. The evening meditation followed by songs is over. M. is now reading out the picturesque account of the Lila of Thakur from the Kathamrita to the devotees.

M. reads:

Sri Ramakrishna, after the midday meals, is resting in the room with the bhaktas in Dakshineshwar. Then comes Gian Babu. He is an M.A., employed in the Government service. He is thinking whether to marry a second time or not, his first wife is dead.

Ramakrishna (seeing Gian): Hello, what a sudden awakening of jnana...! (Laughing) you being Jnana, how is it that you are ajnana (ignorant)? O, I understand, where there is jnana, there is also ajnana. Vasistha Deva, though such a jnani, also wept at the death of his son. You go beyond jnana and ajnana...

I saw (Pandit Shashadhar)—dogmatic, only dry intellectual knowledge he had... Only dry knowledge. It is like the fountain of fireworks, rising up with a sudden hiss, sparkling for a moment and dropping down in the twinkling of an eye.

M. (to the bhaktas): This is the fourth picture. The other three have gone before this. Thakur says, 'You being Jnana, how is it that you are ajnana?' That is, on marrying once you have seen that there is more pain in it than pleasure. You are sad at the passing away of your first wife, yet knowingly you are trying to enter it (household) again. That is why Thakur said this, suggesting indirectly that he should not marry again.

The mind which is to be given to His lotus feet will be spent on other matters. He is encouraging him, at the same time he is also exposing his defects. His encouragement was he has good samskaras, otherwise he could not have Thakur's darshan. So, he is saying: You are Jnana. And also 'ajnana'—meaning thereby that he is entering the household again by remarrying.

Samskaras are very powerful, dragging him. And bookish knowledge, intellectual knowledge is weak; this also he is telling referring to Shashadhar. The fountain of fireworks with a sudden hiss means that there is not much strength within. The flow of knowledge is not uniform.

Reason? This knowledge is derived from books. The knowledge which comes from God is that which He Himself supplies constantly. That's why it is not dry—unending. It is, as if it were, a long sparkling fountain—it does not hiss or die down—it does not go off the beat in talks or in behaviour. It is well-reinforced. That is why it is continuous jnana. This is called the state of a vijnani. It is attained after the supreme realization of Brahman. Chaitanya Deva and Thakur had this state.

---

9 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

After a few moments, reading from the Bhagavata starts; Jagabandhu is reading:

Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: 'O son of Kunti, kill the wretched brahmin who murders sleeping innocent children at night. To pardon such a person is unlawful. He who knows the rules of war will never kill the dead-drunk, the incautious, those frenzied due to natural calamity, asleep, children, women, the unprepared, the surrendering, the mountless and the frightened enemy. Those who are cruel, wily, who by taking away the life of others fortify their own life—punishing them by death will be to their own benefit.

The reason: if wrongs are not checked by punishment or expiation, the downfall of the sinner continues. Therefore, kill this sinful murderer.'

M.: Formerly, all these rules of war were observed. Now it is not so. Even a hospital may be bombed. They are observed in a society which has God-realization as its ideal. Bharatvarsh is such a country. It has fallen and is rising again. It will rise very high. Thakur's advent is just for this reason.

---

10 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

After a few moments, reading from the Bhagavata starts; Jagabandhu is reading:

Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: 'O son of Kunti, kill the wretched brahmin who murders sleeping innocent children at night. To pardon such a person is unlawful. He who knows the rules of war will never kill the drunk, the incautious, those frenzied due to natural calamity, asleep, children, women, the unprepared, the surrendering, the mountless and the frightened enemy. Those who are cruel, wily, who by taking away the life of others fortify their own life—punishing them by death will be to their own benefit. If wrongs are not checked by punishment or expiation, the downfall of the sinner continues. Therefore, kill this sinful murderer.'

M.: Formerly, all these rules of war were observed. Now it is not so. Even a hospital may be bombed. They are observed in a society which has God-realization as its ideal. Bharatvarsh is such a country. It has fallen and is rising again. It will rise very high. Thakur's advent is just for this very reason.

11 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

11 March 2019

(For Seekers of God)

JANMASHTAMI DAY—THE MASTER'S SPIRITUAL ECSTASIES.

Place: Belur Monastery. Time: Sunday, August 17, 1930.

It was Janmashtami day (the birthday of Sri Krishna). Since dawn Mahapurushji had been reciting at short intervals the many names of Sri Krishna. Often he repeated in a sweet voice: "Govinda! Govinda!" He would also chant hymns to Sri Krishna and sometimes he would sing his many names. Gradually the sadhus and brahmacharins of the Math came to see and salute the Swami.

Later, addressing Omkarananda, Mahapurushji said: "Today is a great day. Thousands of years ago, on this day, the Lord God came down to this earth as Sri Krishna for the good of the world. Even today millions of men and women draw inspiration and peace from his name. Devotees of the Lord are filled with spiritual fervour and joy on such a special day.

"We have seen how the Master would have an excess of samadhi on a day like this. In spite of his efforts, he would not be able to control his spiritual fervour. The natural trend of his mind was high. By sheer force he would bring his mind down to this earthly plane. For the good of the world the Mother would keep his mind on a lower level.

"Ah! What a sight it was! He would be so beside himself with spiritual emotion that he could hardly speak. How great was his love for God! Tears would roll down his cheeks in streams. We never saw anyone shedding such tears of love and devotion.

"In The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, here and there, we find brief descriptions of that love. Can it be described in any way? Only he who has seen it understands it. Spiritual emotion, samadhi and experiences of that kind were daily events with him.

"Master Mahashaya (M.) could not be present every day. He would visit the Master at Dakshineswar or elsewhere on Saturday, Sunday or some such holidays and he tried to keep a record of whatever happened in his presence."

---

12 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

12 March 2019

(Teachings of Swami Brahmananda)

ABSORPTION.

The subtle mind leads the aspirant nearer to God, but it cannot reach God, the supreme Atman. Having reached this stage, the world no longer holds any charm for the aspirant; he becomes absorbed in the consciousness of God. This absorption leads to Samadhi, an experience which cannot be described. It is beyond "is" and "is not". There, there is neither happiness nor misery, neither light nor darkness. All is infinite Being—inexpressible.

Higher still is meditation. When a man practices this form of worship, he keeps up a constant flow of thought toward God and becomes absorbed in the living presence of his Chosen Ideal. He goes beyond prayer and japam, but the sense of duality remains.

Practice japam, whether you like it or not. As you persist, the mind is certain to become absorbed in contemplation.

Hold fast to the truth. Be pure-hearted. The purer you become the more will your mind be absorbed in God: You will be able to see the subtle deceptions of the mind, and you will be able to root them out.

As your mind becomes absorbed in meditation, a fountain of joy will spring up within you.

Learn to be absorbed in him. Activity is not the goal of life. Work without attachment is only a means to absorption in God.

At dead of night the mind becomes absorbed in God with very little effort.

The moment you become absorbed in the contemplation of God, you will experience unbounded joy. Days and nights will pass away in the blissful consciousness of God.

By steadfastness alone the mind becomes absorbed in God. Unless absorption is achieved, freedom from the temptations of the world is not possible. Lust, anger, delusion—these are strong foes. Be strong in the strength of God and escape from this net of Maya.

The mind is like a spoiled child always restless. Try repeatedly to steady it by fixing it on the Chosen Ideal, and at last you will become absorbed in him.

Meditation means a continuous flow of thought toward God. When meditation ripens, there comes absorption, and Samadhi is experienced.

[To the question, "How can one get the mind absorbed in God?"] Practice meditation regularly.

Can anyone in the primary stage live absorbed day and night in meditation? Therefore you must work, but work without attachment for the good of mankind.

When the mind becomes absorbed, a shining light is first experienced in the mystic vision. With this vision, there comes a kind of higher and nobler joy, and the mind is reluctant to give up this joy and move onward. But if the aspirant goes further, the vision of the light will be concentrated into the form of the Chosen Ideal and the mind becomes merged in his consciousness.

The more the mind is absorbed within, the greater will be the joy of meditation; and when once you taste joy in your spiritual practices, the desire to continue in them will grow. Then you will no longer have to ask how long you should meditate. Your own mind will tell you.

When you are able to free yourself from these deep-seated subtle desires, when the mind becomes tranquil, then only can you become deeply absorbed in real meditation. The practice of japam and meditation brings the aspirant to this stage.

---

13 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

13 March 2019

(Teachings of Desert Fathers)

ABBOT PAMBO QUESTIONED ABBOT Anthony saying: "What ought I to do?"

And the elder replied: Have no confidence in your own virtuousness. Do not worry about a thing once it has been done. Control your tongue and your belly.

ABBOT JOSEPH of Thebes said: There are three kinds of men who find honour in the sight of God: First, those who, when they are ill and tempted, accept all these things with thanksgiving. The second, those who do all their works clean in the sight of God, in no way merely seeking to please men. The third, those who sit in subjection to the command of a spiritual father and renounce all their own desires.

A BROTHER asked one of the elders: "What good thing shall I do, and have life thereby?"

The old man replied: God alone knows what is good. However, I have heard it said that someone inquired of Father Abbot Nisteros the great, the friend of Abbot Anthony, asking: What good work shall I do, and that he replied: Not all works are alike. For Scripture says that Abraham was hospitable and God was with him. Elias loved solitary prayer, and God was with him. And David was humble, and God was with him. Therefore, whatever you see your soul to desire according to God, do that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe.

THEY said of Abbot Pambo that in the very hour when he departed this life he said to the holy men who stood by him: From the time I came to this place in the desert, and built me a cell, and dwelt here, I do not remember eating bread that was not earned by the work of my own hands, nor do I remember saying anything for which I was sorry even until this hour. And thus I go to the Lord as one who has not even made a beginning in the service of God.

---

14 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

14 March 2019

SOME SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS

A BROTHER asked one of the elders: "How does fear of the Lord get into a man?"

And the elder said: If a man have humility and poverty, and judge not another, that is how fear of the Lord gets into him.

ONCE some brethren went out of the monastery to visit the hermits who lived in the desert. They came to one who received them with joy and seeing that they were tired, invited them to eat before the accustomed time and placed before them all the food he had available. But that night when they were all supposed to be sleeping the hermit heard the cenobites talking among themselves and saying: These hermits eat more than we do in the monastery.

Now at dawn the guests set out to see another hermit, and as they were starting out their host said: Greet him from me, and give him this message: Be careful not to water the vegetables.

When they reached the other hermitage they delivered this message. And the second hermit understood what was meant by the words. So he made the visitors sit down and weave baskets, and sitting with them he worked without interruption. And in the evening when the time came for lighting the lamp, he added a few extra psalms to the usual number, after which he said to them: We do not usually eat every day out here, but because you have come along it is fitting to have a little supper today, for a change.

Then he gave them some dry bread and salt, then added: Here's a special treat for you. Upon which he mixed them a little sauce of vinegar, salt and oil, and gave it to them.

After supper they got up again and started in on the psalms and kept on praying almost until dawn, at which the hermit said: Well, we can't finish all our usual prayers, for you are tired from your journey. You had better take a little rest.

And so when the first hour of the day came, they all wanted to leave this hermit, but he would not let them go. He kept saying: Stay with me a while. I cannot let you go so soon, charity demands that I keep you for two or three days.

But they, hearing this, waited until dark and then under cover of night they made off.

---

15 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

15 March 2019

SOME SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS

AN ELDER said: Here is the monk's life-work: obedience, meditation, not judging others, not reviling, not complaining. For it is written: you who love the Lord, hate evil. So this is the monk's life: not to walk in agreement with an unjust man, nor to look with his eyes upon evil, nor to go about being curious, and neither to examine nor to listen to the business of others. Not to take anything with his hands, but rather to give to others. Not to be proud in his heart, nor to malign others in his thoughts. Not to fill his stomach, but in all things to behave with discretion. Behold, in all this you have the true monk.

AN ELDER said: Cut off from yourself rash confidence, and control your tongue and your belly, and abstain from wine. And if anyone speak to you about any matter do not argue with him. But if he speaks rightly, say: Yes. If he speaks wrongly say to him: You know what you are saying. But do not argue with him about the things he has said. Thus your mind will be at peace.

ABBOT ANTHONY said: Just as fish die if they remain on dry land so monks, remaining away from their cells, or dwelling with men of the world, lose their determination to persevere in solitary prayer. Therefore, just as the fish should go back to the sea, so we must return to our cells, lest remaining outside we forget to watch over ourselves interiorly.

---

16 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

16 March 2019

SOME SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS

ABBOT ARSENIUS prayed to the Lord saying: Lord, lead me to salvation.

And a voice came to him saying: Arsenius, fly from men and you shall be saved. Again, embracing the monastic life, he prayed in the same words. And he heard a voice saying to him: Arsenius, fly, be silent, rest in prayer: these are the roots of non-sinning.

A CERTAIN brother went to Abbot Moses in Scete, and asked him for a good word. And the elder said to him: Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.

AN ELDER saw a certain monk laughing and said to him: In the presence of the Lord of heaven and earth we must answer for our whole life.

IT WAS said of Abbot Agatho that for three years he carried a stone in his mouth until he learned to be silent.

ONE of the brethren questioned Abbot Isidore, the elder of Scete, saying: Why is it that the demons are so grievously afraid of you?

The elder replied: From the moment I became a monk I have striven to prevent anger rising to my lips.

---

17 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

17 March 2019

SOME SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS

ABBOT MACARIUS said: If, wishing to correct another, you are moved to anger, you gratify your own passion. Do not lose yourself in order to save another.

ABBOT HYPERICHIUS said: It is better to eat meat and drink wine, than to slander and devour the flesh of your brother.

ONCE in Scete a bottle of wine from the new vintage was brought in, so that the brethren might have some, each in his goblet. One of the brethren came in and seeing that they had received wine, he ran and hid in the cellar. But the cellar caved in.

When they had heard the noise, they ran and found the brother lying half dead, and they began to rebuke him, saying: It serves you right, because of your vanity.

But the Abbot, giving him every care, said: Forgive my son, for he has done well. And as the Lord lives, this cellar shall not be built again in my time, so that the world may know that for the sake of a glass of wine a cellar collapsed in Scete.

A MONK ran into a party of handmaids of the Lord on a certain journey. Seeing them he left the road and gave them a wide berth.

But the Abbess said to him: If you were a perfect monk, you would not even have looked close enough to see that we were women.

A CERTAIN brother, renouncing the world, and giving the things he owned to the poor, kept a few things in his own possession. He came to Abbot Anthony.

When the elder heard about all this, he said to him: If you want to be a monk, go to that village and buy meat, and place it on your naked body and so return here.

And when the brother had done as he was told, dogs and birds of prey tore at his body.

When he returned to the elder, the latter asked if he had done as he was told. The brother showed him his lacerated body.

Then Abbot Anthony said: Those who renounce the world and want to retain possession of money are assailed and torn apart by devils just as you are.

---

18 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

18 March 2019

SOME SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS

ABBOT ANASTASIUS had a book written on very fine parchment which was worth eighteen pence, and had in it both the Old and New Testaments in full.

Once a certain brother came to visit him, and seeing the book made off with it. So that day when Abbot Anastasius went to read his book, and found that it was gone, he realized that the brother had taken it. But he did not send after him to inquire about it for fear that the brother might add perjury to theft.

Well, the brother went down into the nearby city in order to sell the book. And the price he asked was sixteen pence.

The buyer said: Give me the book that I may find out whether it is worth that much. With that, the buyer took the book to the holy Anastasius and said: Father, take a look at this book, please, and tell me whether you think I ought to buy it for sixteen pence. Is it worth that much?

Abbot Anastasius said: Yes, it is a fine book, it is worth that much.

So the buyer went back to the brother and said: Here is your money. I showed the book to Abbot Anastasius and he said it is a fine book and is worth at least sixteen pence.

But the brother asked: Was that all he said? Did he make any other remarks?

No, said the buyer, he did not say another word.

Well, said the brother, I have changed my mind and I don't want to sell this book after all. Then he hastened to Abbot Anastasius and begged him with tears to take back his book.

But the Abbot would not accept it, saying: Go in peace, brother, I make you a present of it. But the brother said: If you do not take it back I shall never have any peace.

After that the brother dwelt with Abbot Anastasius for the rest of his life.

---

19 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

19 March 2019

SOME SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS

ABBOT THEODORE of Pherme had three good books. And when he had come to Abbot Macarius he said to him: I have three books, and I profit by reading them. Also the brethren ask to borrow them, and they profit also. Now tell me, what ought I to do?

And the elder replied, saying: Those things that you do are good, but better than all else is to possess nothing.

When he had heard this, he went off and sold the above-mentioned books, and gave their price to the poor.

ABBOT AMMONAS said that he had spent fourteen years in Scete praying to God day and night to be delivered from anger.

ABBOT PASTOR said: The virtue of a monk is made manifest by temptations.

AN ELDER said: The reason why we do not get anywhere is that we do not know our limits, and we are not patient in carrying on the work we have begun. But without any labour at all we want to gain possession of virtue.

AN ELDER said: Just as a tree cannot bear fruit if it is often transplanted, so neither can a monk bear fruit if he frequently changes his abode.

A CERTAIN brother came, once, to Abbot Theodore of Pherme, and spent three days begging him to let him hear a word. The Abbot however did not answer him, and he went off sad.

So a disciple said to Abbot Theodore: Father, why did you not speak to him? Now he has gone off sad!

The elder replied: Believe me, I spoke no word to him because he is a trader in words, and seeks to glory in the words of another.

ANOTHER brother asked the same elder, Abbot Theodore, and began to question him and to inquire about things which he had never yet put into practice himself.

The elder said to him: As yet you have not found a ship, and you have not put your baggage aboard, and you have not started to cross the sea: can you talk as if you had already arrived in that city to which you planned to go? When you have put into practice the thing you are talking about, then speak from knowledge of the thing itself!

---

20 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

20 March 2019

(Teachings of Swami Shivananda)

Mahapurushji: Is Dakshineswar just an ordinary place? God Himself incarnated for the good of the world, and it is there that He undertook hard austerities and spiritual practices such as the world had not seen before, and, maybe, will not see again. Dakshineswar is the epitome of all the holy places of the world; every particle of its dust is holy. It is a great place of pilgrimage for all aspirants of all sects, be they Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians, or again Shaivas, Saktas, or Vaishnavas. As for the other sacred places of the world, it is either that an aspirant has attained realization through a certain spiritual path in one, or that a realized person has cast off his body in another.

"But Dakshineswar has witnessed the spiritual practices undergone by God Himself. Who indeed can tell of the infinite spiritual moods that found expression there? In the course of time people will realize the greatness of the place; then they will be eager to get the very dust of that sacred spot. The intense spiritual atmosphere of the place can never be destroyed. From the day that I heard that the Mother was not being properly served and worshipped, I have been invoking Her here daily and offering worship mentally.

"To Her I say: 'Mother, have thy offerings here itself; accept our service instead.' I shall be saved from all worries when the temple services and worship are suitably arranged for.... In a way, Mathur Babu made a gift of the whole property to the Master, in all sincerity; but the Master did not accept it then.

"Now his work is spreading on all sides and in many ways. Hence it is necessary to preserve that place. Mother willing, all that will come under the Math."

21 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Shivananda

Mahapurushji: Whenever a religious organization fell, the root cause was the absence of spiritual practices, renunciation, austerity, and so forth. In this organization also, we have nothing to fear and it will all run smoothly so long as detachment and dispassion shine bright; and so long as each member of the organization believes that God-realization is the only goal of life and accordingly engages himself in spiritual practices and austerity.

Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda) used to depict the true outlook of a holy man with the help of a beautiful illustration. He used to say that a monk should think that he is living under a tree even while dwelling in a palace; and even when being supplied with the best food, he should remember that he is, after all, living on alms that is free from all impurity.

This means that the monk should remain detached under all circumstances and keep the attitude of austerity flaming within for ever. One need have no fear so long as the ideal remains unadulterated. It is only the inner consecration to ideal that counts. Besides, whatever you do, you do for God alone, and nothing for yourselves. So, work also becomes a spiritual practice for you. When one performs work as service to Him, one gets rid of the impurities of the mind; there can be no doubt about that. Of course, you have to undertake other forms of spiritual practice along with this.

'Troubles arise only when there is any slackness in spiritual practices. You have to do His work without any attachment. Know it for certain that if one goes on performing one's duties under the sincere faith that one is doing God's work, one can never suffer spiritually. God protects such a one for ever. But the fall comes as soon as egoism and attachment creep in.

The Master used to say that there should be no self-deception in the matter of sticking to the ideal. One need have no fear so long as one clings to the idea: "I am grateful that I am able to do His work, to serve Him through this." One should keep strict vigilance over one's mind, analysing it at every turn.

Whenever you notice that the course of your mind is altering even slightly, you should at once start praying to Him with all humility, and you should apply yourself more intensely to your spiritual practice. And even while working, one has to maintain a constant current of thought about Him.

---

22 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna

How can the mind find joy in external beauty once it becomes absorbed in the feet of the Lord, the Beloved, the source of infinite beauty? Having once tasted of the joy of the infinite, earthly pleasures seem trifling.

I tell you, my son; you will get the highest joy from the Master's name itself; you will get everything from his name—be it spiritual ecstasy or God-absorption.

But everything takes its own time. It will not do to be restless. One has to get deeply absorbed in spiritual exercises; one must strengthen one's spiritual attitude in one's own mind. One may get a temporary enthusiasm by noticing somebody else's spiritual fervour; but then one must remember that all such men had to pass through hard struggle.

Call on Him with the utmost earnestness; repeat His name with all sincerity; and get absorbed in Him through and through. Then you will enjoy the bliss that belongs to one who is free even while in this body.

The real peace comes only when the mind becomes absorbed in Him, not earlier. This is not a thing to come all of a sudden; one has to persevere diligently.

Don't let your time pass idly, my son. You have to be fully absorbed in calling on him; it won't do to be half-hearted.

Gradually, by the repetition of His name and earnest prayers to Him the mind will become absorbed in Him.

Swami Shivananda

You must strive with all the might of your body, mind, and heart to love God, to be melted into his love, and to become absorbed in him.

In order to attain wisdom of God and liberation for one's own self, one need only to receive the sacred mantra from an illumined guru, and, with complete faith, become absorbed in the practice of japam and meditation.

In order to become stabilised in renunciation and dispassion one must try to become absorbed while repeating with single-minded devotion the name of God.

So long as there is the least desire the mind cannot be absorbed in God.

Swami Premananda

Meditation can be on divine forms as well as on Om. As one goes on meditating, the mind gets absorbed in Om. As one goes on repeating Om and reflecting on its meaning, the mind becomes steady, that is to say, it does not give up.

In Samadhi, absorption in God, there is complete destruction of the mind, but it must be the Nirvikalpa absolute Samadhi.

What is meditation but absorption in a subject?

---

23 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Swami Adbhutananda

A thread with stray fibres cannot pass through the eye of a needle; similarly, a mind with desires cannot be absorbed in God.

Realization of God means that one becomes absorbed in him, transcending his attributes and powers. It is not an easy thing!

[To the question: "Is it possible to pour Sadhana into another person?"]

Yes. But not everyone can do that. He who has seen God and been absorbed in his bliss—he can.

Swami Saradananda

Perfect peace will not come until the mind is fully concentrated. You must dwell on God uninterruptedly and be absorbed in the contemplation of His true nature.

If you practice japa and meditation regularly, without break for some years, you will see for yourself what result comes to pass. Your mind will become pure and you will be absorbed in the thought of God. Then you will be reluctant to leave off meditation even for a single day. There will come an inner tranquillity which will fill your heart with joy.

Swami Brahmananda

Pain follows pleasure and every action brings its own reaction.

It is easy to do great deeds, the deeds that bring name and fame. But it is by his small, everyday actions that a man's character is known.

If you can perform every action as worship of the Lord, then only will you like to work and feel no attachment to the fruits of your actions.

Be active, but keep the constant recollection of God.

Certainly it is easier to do a noble deed for the sake of name and fame. But by such deeds a man's real value cannot be measured. To know the real man, examine his daily actions; for it is his everyday actions which reveal his true character. A true karma-yogi will lose himself heart and soul in any undertaking, even though it is of a very menial kind. He is never motivated by the least desire for popular approval.

Truth is the pillar to which you must always hold while performing any action.

But of course there is the effect of Karma. If you do any wrong action, you must suffer from disquiet of mind and other consequences.

Swami Shivananda

Every man should do something good, that is, some selfless deed. By something good I mean activity done without any attachment. If you can help a poor man by giving him food, or educate a needy boy by providing his board and lodging according to your means, that will be sufficient. In cases that are beyond your means you can engage in such good deeds in cooperation with friends of yours. Many activities of this nature you will find close at hand. If you wish to do them, you can easily do so.

[To the question: "Can I continue to be pure and spiritual irrespective of my actions, good or bad?"]

Certainly not. Your good actions contribute to make you more and more spiritual, while the bad ones go to drag you down to samsara and prevent your freeing the soul from the bondage of birth and death: to obtain that freedom is and ought to be the one aim of your having taken birth as a human being.

---

24 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Swami Premananda

Let the mouth be closed, and action speak.

Is a person worthy to be called a human being if he cannot give up selfishness, if he cannot give up his pleasures of the senses? To take the name of Sri Ramakrishna, and at the same time to be selfish! Is there any progress for such a hypocrite? Think wisely and firmly; and act accordingly.

Be completely desireless, but act.

Do not be swayed by words of praise or blame, or let your actions be influenced by the opinions of others.

I see no evil in you. Who knows but that you may be a saint tomorrow? God plays with us by putting on various masks. We act under the control of our samskaras [tendencies]. We are all toys in the hands of the good Lord, and he is our refuge.

Trust in the Lord and act. You will then succeed. If you depend on men, you will meet with failure.

But we have lost this truthfulness, and that is why we have come to such a pass groaning under the crushing weight of misery and degradation. Now all our efforts must be directed first to retrieve it; not by mere empty speech, but by sincere action, pledging all our heart and soul to it.

Be active also. Free yourself from all sense of ego, and work selflessly. Be very careful that no sense of leadership or any trace of selfishness enter into you. Whatever you do, do as the servant of the Lord.

"Do or die!" Make this your motto. Rome was not built in a day, neither can the ideal character be formed in one day. It is the sum-total of your every thought and action that makes up your character. Remember this and every moment guard well your thoughts and actions. This is an age when we need workers who seek no results for their actions—and are completely devoted to God. No talk, but action; show by the example of your life.

It is not a lazy man's job. Be up and doing!

Swami Turiyananda

Some people think that inaction in itself is the ideal. If it be so, why then, the wall also should be considered to have attained Samadhi. Should not one transcend all dualities? To maintain one's mental balance under all circumstances, to remain absolutely unmoved—that indeed is the goal!

Man has to his credit the actions of many previous births, which must work themselves out.

The highest conception is to think that everything is He. Failing that, it is best to think that He is the real agent behind all actions and He is causing us to act.

Yes, as a race you [English and Americans] are very materialistic, but I have met with exceptions. And activity is not bad. I like your energy, you are all up and doing. I see no idleness anywhere. Only that energy should be controlled. It should go inward also, activity in inactivity.

---

25 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Divine Providence has given man the sense of free will and the principle of karma. It is left to man to do as he wishes. If he chooses to do actions which bring him less happiness and more misery, he alone is responsible, not God.

Every action brings a corresponding result. A man will get social merit through his philanthropic activities, but if his ego is involved in those activities, he will not get any spiritual merit. Even the result of a good action turns into a bondage if it is done with ego. None can escape the wheel of karma through self-motivated action. On the other hand, unselfish action destroys the bondages of action and brings liberation to man.

Real yearning for God is the result of associating with the holy, and a person gets the opportunity for holy company only as a result of many good actions.

Other acts do not count so much as a moment's love for the Lord.

[To the question: "Can a man ever do as he likes?"]

Sometimes he thinks he is doing as he likes, but in reality God is guiding all his movements. God is the only doer, nothing is done by man.

[Question: "Then what is the use of man's making any effort to be good or to realize God?"]

You cannot stop acting. Your very nature is to act. Can you remain perfectly quiet even for a moment? This body is born to act. Your hands, your feet, your eyes and ears have a natural tendency to action. As long as you must act, you will want to do that which will bring the most desirable results; so, as long as you act you will have to try to be good, to be virtuous, to be unselfish, in order to get the desirable results you are seeking, and since God is the most desirable result to be attained, you will have to strive to realize Him.

If you want to give up one bad habit you must develop the corresponding good habit, and this requires tremendous Rajas or activity on your part.

In this world we find some beautiful, some ugly; some high, some low; some happy, some miserable; some virtuous, some vicious; some kind, some cruel; some acquiring fame by good deeds, some looked down upon for being scavengers.

If one enquires into the root-causes of such diversities, it is found that past life actions are responsible for them. Our life is moulded by the powers of both divine grace and personal effort. The present life is in part the effect of actions done in past lives. Results of actions done in this life are partly experienced here and partly in the next as fate.

Wipe away the dust, arouse your ambition, stir up your activity and know that all power is latent in you. You are not limited.

---

26 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna

The goal of all paths is the same. Each path is equally powerful. But none should be undertaken to the exclusion of the others: knowledge must unite with devotion. And this unity must be expressed through action. Knowledge without love is dry. Love without service is pure sentimentalism.

When a person is in a vortex of activities, his mind remains below the transcendental plane where spiritual communion is possible.

Let activism come first, then will follow peacefulness; and lastly will come enlightenment.

Sadhana is our attempt to get to Him through every action. You have to do even small things in a perfect way.

Be active and at the same time sensible.

Dedicate your life to good work. God blesses all good action.

What the westerners call fate or destiny, we characterize as the result of our actions in previous births.

From Buddha's life and discourses, we find that action follows thought; as you think, so you act. As loving thoughts help in expanding the consciousness, so do anger, jealousy, and envy lead to its contraction.

If you, too, make proper use of your opportunities, you can also achieve great things. God is behind us always; always remember Him in everything you do. Every action leads to a certain result; you cannot afford to forget that.

These ceremonial functions are not child's play. All our actions have the ultimate aim of attaining spiritual enlightenment or God-realization. Whether you reach that goal through the path of selfless action or through spiritual austerities is of no consequence. But the goal of all action is to receive illumination.

It is useless for people to brag about their actions. It is only through His will that things are happening.

Secondly, whatever God wills is immediately done. We, also, should have the power to translate our wishes into action.

[In order to come nearer to God] you have to adhere to truth and have to be steadfast in this respect. The mind and the tongue must become one. And your action should be in harmony with your speech.

As you think, so you act.

All our actions have the ultimate aim of attaining spiritual enlightenment or God-realization. Whether your efforts in this direction are made through the path of selfless action or through spiritual austerities is of no consequence. But the goal of all efforts is to receive enlightenment.

---

27 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Adversity

It is no easy thing to dedicate oneself heart and soul to the Lord. Many people boast: 'I have surrendered myself and my all to God. I do only what he tells me to do.' But if we observe their lives we see differently. For the good they do they claim the credit and they boast of their achievements, but when adversity or trouble overtakes them they cry out against the Lord and blame him for their misfortunes.

At the time of happiness everybody can remain calm, can discriminate, but one is established in it only if one can remain so even in adversity. At that time man has to summon up great strength. If he yields to weakness then, grief will overwhelm him—will altogether ruin him.

Nothing can bar the progress of what God intends to make successful. Unless one passes through the school of adversity, one cannot properly be called a man. We learn much from our troubles. You should not lose heart in adversity. Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, prayed to Sri Krishna to beset her with adversities, since in adversity alone is He more frequently remembered!

Now regarding advice: in a general way we all believe in giving advice; but applying the advice to our daily lives is a very complex and puzzling affair. Indiscriminate advice never brings the desired result in many cases, it brings just the opposite result. So, we try to give advice only when we care about the person and when we think our words will carry some weight. In the case of someone who is stubborn and very near and dear to us and who, due to his lack of experience is in imminent danger of being harmed by an insincere person, we must take the risk of being disbelieved and misunderstood and offer advice and then leave the matter in the hands of the Lord.

The most important aim in spiritual life is the attainment of God's grace. The breeze of grace is always blowing; unfurl your sails. Give up worldly enjoyments and completely resign yourself to the Lord. You cannot love God and the world at the same time. If you want God, shun temporal pleasures. Ask yourself: 'What is it I want? Do I want this fleeting life of transient pleasures, or do I want the eternal bliss of everlasting life?'

---

28 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

ONCE a certain provincial judge heard of Abbot Moses and went off to Scete to see him. Someone told the elder that the visitor was coming and he rose up to fly into the marshes. But on the way he ran into the judge with his companions.

The judge asked him, saying: Tell us, elder, where is the cell of Abbot Moses?

The elder replied: What do you want with him? The man is a fool and a heretic!

The judge went on and came to the church of Scete and said to the clerics: I heard about this Abbot Moses and came out here to meet him. And an old man heading for Egypt ran into us, and we asked him where was the cell of Abbot Moses, and he said to us: What do you want with him? The man is a fool and a heretic!

But the clerics, hearing this, were saddened and said: What kind of old man was this, who said such things to you about the holy man?

They said: He was a very old elder with a long black robe.

Then the clerics said: Why, that was Abbot Moses himself. And because he did not want to be seen by you, therefore he said those things about himself. Greatly edified, the judge returned home.

---

ABBOT POEMEN said: Unless the desire of gluttony had come into the soul, the mind of man would not have been enkindled by the temptations of the devil.

---

A CERTAIN brother came to Abbot Silvanus at Mount Sinai, and seeing the hermits at work he exclaimed: Why do you work for the bread that perisheth? Mary has chosen the best part, namely to sit at the feet of the Lord without working.

Then the Abbot said to his disciple Zachary: Give the brother a book and let him read, and put him in an empty cell. At the ninth hour the brother who was reading began to look out to see if the Abbot was not going to call him to dinner, and sometime after the ninth hour he went himself to the Abbot and said:

Did the brethren not eat today, Father?

Oh yes, certainly, said the Abbot, they just had dinner. Well, said the brother, why did you not call me?

You are a spiritual man, said the elder, you don't need this food that perisheth. We have to work, but you have chosen the best part. You read all day, and can get along without food!

Hearing this the brother said: Forgive me, Father.

And the elder said: Martha is necessary to Mary, for it was because Martha worked that Mary was able to be praised.

---

29 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ONE of the brethren had sinned, and the priest told him to leave the community. So then Abbot Bessarion got up and walked out with him, saying: I too am a sinner!

---

A BROTHER in Scete happened to commit a fault, and the elders assembled, and sent for Abbot Moses to join them. He, however, did not want to come. The priest sent him a message, saying: Come, the community of the brethren is waiting for you.

So he arose and started off. And taking with him a very old basket full of holes, he filled it with sand, and carried it behind him.

The elders came out to meet him, and said: What is this, Father?

The elder replied: My sins are running out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I come to judge the sins of another!

They, hearing this, said nothing to the brother but pardoned him.

---

A CERTAIN brother inquired of Abbot Pastor, saying: What shall I do? I lose my nerve when I am sitting alone at prayer in my cell.

The elder said to him: Despise no one, condemn no one, rebuke no one, God will give you peace and your meditation will be undisturbed.

---

AN ELDER said: Do not judge a fornicator if you are chaste, for if you do, you too are violating the law as much as he is. For He who said thou shalt not fornicate also said thou shalt not judge.

---

ONE of the Fathers told a story of a certain elder who was in his cell busily at work and wearing a hairshirt when Abbot Ammonas came to him. When Abbot Ammonas saw him wearing a hair-shirt he said: That thing won't do you a bit of good.

The elder said: Three thoughts are troubling me. The first impels me to withdraw somewhere into the wilderness. The second, to seek a foreign land where no one knows me; The third, to wall myself into this cell and see no one and eat only every second day.

Abbot Ammonas said to him: None of these three will do you a bit of good. But rather sit in your cell, and eat a little every day, and have always in your heart the words which are read in the Gospel and thus you can be saved.

---

30 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Some Sayings of the Desert Fathers

ONE of the monks, called Serapion, sold his book of the Gospels and gave the money to those who were hungry, saying: I have sold the book which told me to sell all that I had and give to the poor.

---

ONE of the brethren had been insulted by another and he wanted to take revenge. He came to Abbot Sisois and told him what had taken place, saying: I am going to get even, Father. But the elder besought him to leave the affair in the hands of God. No, said the brother, I will not give up until I have made that fellow pay for what he said.

Then the elder stood up and began to pray in these terms: O God, Thou art no longer necessary to us, and we no longer need Thee to take care of us since, as this brother says, we both can and will avenge ourselves.

At this the brother promised to give up his idea of revenge.

---

ONE of the brothers asked Abbot Sisois: Supposing some robbers or savages attack me and try to kill me: if I can overcome them should I kill them myself?

The elder replied: Not at all. But commit yourself entirely to God. Any evil that comes to you, confess that it has happened to you because of your sins, for you must learn to attribute everything to the dispensation of God's wisdom.

---

THERE was once a great hermit in the mountains and he was attacked by robbers. But his cries aroused the other hermits in the neighbourhood, and they ran together and captured the robbers. These they sent under guard to the town and the judge put them in jail.

But then the brothers were very ashamed and sad because, on their account, the robbers had been turned over to the judge.

They went to Abbot Poemen and told him all about it.

And the elder wrote to the hermit saying: Remember who carried out the first betrayal, and you will learn the reason for the second. Unless you had first been betrayed by your own inward thoughts, you would never have ended by turning those men over to the judge.

The hermit, touched by these words, got up at once and went into the city and broke open the jail, letting out the robbers and freeing them from torture.

---

31 March 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

IT WAS told of Abbot John the Dwarf that once he had said to his elder brother: I want to live in the same security as the angels have, doing no work, but serving God without intermission. And casting off everything he had on, he started out into the desert.

When a week had gone by he returned to his brother. And while he was knocking on the door, his brother called out before opening, and asked: Who are you?

He replied: I am John.

Then his brother answered and said: John has become an angel and is no longer among men. But John kept on knocking and said: It is I. Still the brother did not open, but kept him waiting.

Finally, opening the door, he said: If you are a man, you are going to have to start working again in order to live. But if you are an angel, why do you want to come into a cell?

So John did penance and said: Forgive me, brother, for I have sinned.

---

ABBOT PASTOR said: If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad.

---

THE SAME Father said: If there are three monks living together, of whom one remains silent in prayer at all times, and another is ailing and gives thanks for it, and the third waits on them both with sincere good will, these three are equal, as if they were performing the same work.

---

HE SAID, again: Malice will never drive out malice. But if someone does evil to you, you should do good to him, so that by your good work you may destroy his malice.

---

AND HE also said: He who is quarrelsome is no monk: he who returns evil for evil is no monk: he who gets angry is no monk.

---

A BROTHER came to Abbot Pastor and said: Many distracting thoughts come into my mind, and I am in danger because of them.

Then the elder thrust him out into the open air and said: Open up the garments about your chest and catch the wind in them.

But he replied: This I cannot do. So the elder said to him: If you cannot catch the wind, neither can you prevent distracting thoughts from coming into your head. Your job is to say No to them.

---

ABBOT AMMONAS said: One man carries an axe all his life and never cuts down a tree. Another, who knows how to cut, gives a few swings and the tree is down. This axe, he said, is discretion.

1 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

"The child drinks the mother's milk. So it lives. We also do the same. The Big Mother's milk (Jagadamba's) we are always drinking. Air, water, food—everything is Her milk. During the winter, She is Herself on the body, in the form of cotton and wool, protecting the body. That's also drinking Her milk."

M. sits down on the north side of the terrace. Overwhelmed with emotion he sings:

You are Tara. Though you have assumed the three gunas, You are even beyond the limitless. I know You, merciful Mother! You are the one to free me from all trials and tribulations. You live on sea, You live on land and you are at the root of the Beginning. You live in bodies, in all hearts, both with form and without form.

You are Sandhya, you are Gayatri. You are the nurse of the Universe, O Mother! You enable one to cross the ocean of the world, You, the Ever-Beloved of Shiva.

O Ma, the Controller of the hearts! You are ever awake within. Night and day I live in your lap. Why have you so much affection, love for this lowly child? You are, as though mad in Your Love.

Sometimes lovingly, sometimes with all Your force, You make me drink Your nectar and tell me sweet tales. How You love me! It cannot be calculated. Again and again You redeem me, You the Redeemer of the fallen!

Oh! I have found the secret now: Ma is mine and I Hers. I must walk the path of virtue, listen to You. Sucking at your breast I must be strong and brave, And sing joyfully, "Victory to You, Mother Eternal!"

---

2 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

Ashwatthama was bound and brought before Draupadi.

Seeing his condition, Draupadi said, 'Free him at once... The guru's family to which all reverence is due, will be drowned in the ocean of sorrow—that would be wrong. I am crying, shedding incessant tears all the time at the shocking loss of my sons. Let not his mother Gautami also have to shed tears in the same way.'

M.: Just see. She lost five sons, so much sorrow for her, but even then she did not give up her duty. This is possible only in India. She has lost everything herself but she doesn't pay much heed to that, her object of attention is Gautami. Lest she should have to fall in this fire of grief, that was her only thought. This is what is called divine disposition.

What a heroism in spite of her being a woman. Where others' interest comes first and one's own interest later, there resides this divine disposition. In other words, the abode of God. When the opposite is the case it is animal disposition, human disposition. Sri Krishna was with them, you see.

That is why such a high ideal. Such a thing is rare in the world.

Hearing these great words of Draupadi, Sri Krishna said, 'Yes, the guru's son should not be killed.' A murderer can be killed but as the guru's son he cannot be.

Even so, to save both sides the guilty should be punished and yet his life saved. On Sri Krishna's advice, Arjuna, having pierced a hole in the jewel of his forehead, exiled Ashwatthama. May be the jewel was tied to his top tuft of hair that was cut. This is a death like insult. It is for this reason, I believe, that the people of the west (to the west of Bengal) don't let anybody touch the top tuft of hair.

---

3 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M.: The Apostle and the Evangelist

Mary, the disciple of Jesus, was a prostitute. She was turned into a saint by his contact. After the crucifixion, she was the first to whom Jesus gave darshan. Mary had cried a potful of tears for God. God judges the mind. They who cry for Him, them He lifts into His lap. Genuine tears for Him are needed.

The War of Kurukshetra was over. Dhritarashtra, Kunti and the Pandavas are sitting together. Gandhari is smitten by grief. Sri Krishna consoling her, says, 'Devi, give up your grief. Death will carry away all, sooner or later. Engage your mind in the meditation of the Self.'

Thakur had said: 'One day, I saw in dhyan a Himalayan high tower of dead bodies, and I was sitting in the midst of them.' In other words, the whole world is a cremation ground! Everybody has the impress of death fixed on his face. So the tower of death. If somebody were to think on just this picture and perform japa, he would attain perfection. But who has the awakening?

Q: What is samadhi?

M.: In samadhi, the external-consciousness is lost—one becomes one with Ishwara. So, nobody can tell what one's internal state becomes then. Once a salt-doll had gone to measure the ocean, but got dissolved and itself became the ocean. So who would then come back to report?

The mind is uplifted completely from this external world of rupa-rasa (form and taste). He who reaches that state only knows what happens—it is not possible to make others understand that state fully. It is the state of being beyond mind and speech. Someone has seen the sea. He tries to explain it to another who has not seen it. Just as this attempt is incomplete and hazy so is that. Samadhi cannot be described correctly. It is not possible to explain it by words of mouth. After the samadhi, one feels a continuous flow of a particular ananda, a never ending joy lingers—and there is peace within.

'I am the Self of the Eternal Bliss'—this jnana, this realisation, never disappears. Only a man of samadhi lives alive and awakened in this mortal world. He lives in the world but is not of the world, he is a jivan-mukta.

(After a momentary silence) 'Various are the states of jnana. In a particular state, Thakur used to say: "The plants and trees, the fruits and flowers, the gardener and the entire garden, so to say, appear to be made of wax—all made of Satchidananda."

This state is called visishtadvaita—qualified nondualism.'

---

4 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M.: The Apostle and the Evangelist

M. (to the devotees): There are three bodies within. The gross, the subtle and the causal. Thakur used to refer to the causal body as Bhagavati Tanu (the spiritual body). The food for the gross body is all this: eatables, drinks and so on; the subtle body comprises the mind and the intellect—which also need food.

And the causal body—its food is the effort to attain God. It also needs food.

A man chooses association according to what he is. Thakur cherished the desire to see some bhaktas sitting together and doing japa.

Noting that Latu had woken up late in the morning, Thakur reprimanded him one day and said that if he was not well he could get up, repeat the name of God for a while, after washing his hands and mouth, and lie down again.

"Wayward people could not stay with him. Those who stayed with him had always to engage themselves in some Godly pursuit such as japa etc."

Dharmapada Babu (to M.): Can one remain without meditation on God (which is the food for the causal body)?

M.: Where is the question here of what one can do or cannot, what one should do or should not? It is He who makes us do. Do people act after thinking? He makes us do, there is no way out. It's prakriti, one's nature—there's no question of 'should'—it does not arise at all.

Now M. sings some songs:

Blessed by Thy vision, when, O when, Lord Hari, the embodiment of Love, the wave of blissful knowledge will swell up in my heart? (When will that day dawn on me?)

When will the body be thrilled and the mind and soul enthralled, with tears of joy flowing down the two eyes (beholding Thy enchanting beauty)?

When shall I see in the depths of my heart (drowned deep in emotion) thy loving face aglow with purity and light divine? When shall I fulfill my heart's cherished desire and have Thy touch of embrace?

---

5 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ABBOT PALLADIUS said: The soul that wishes to live according to the will of Christ should either learn faithfully what it does not yet know, or teach openly what it does know. But if, when it can, it desires to do neither of these things, it is afflicted with madness. For the first step away from God is a distaste for learning, and lack of appetite for those things for which the soul hungers when it seeks God.

ONE of the elders said: If a man settles in a certain place and does not bring forth the fruit of that place, the place itself casts him out, as one who has not borne its fruit.

AN ELDER was asked: What does it mean, this word we read in the Bible, that the way is strait and narrow?

And the elder replied: This is the strait and narrow way: that a man should do violence to his judgments and cut off, for the love of God, the desires of his own will. This is what was written of the Apostles: Behold we have left all things and have followed Thee.

ONE of the elders said: It is not because evil thoughts come to us that we are condemned, but only because we make use of the evil thoughts. It can happen that from these thoughts we suffer shipwreck, but it can also happen that because of them we may be crowned.

---

6 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

A BROTHER inquired of Abbot Pastor saying: My soul suffers harm from living with the Spiritual Father that I have. What, then, do you command me to do? Shall I go on staying with him?

Now Abbot Pastor knew that the brother's soul would be harmed by this other Abbot, and he was surprised that he even asked whether he ought to go on staying with him. And he said to him: If you like, stay with him. The brother went off and remained with that Father. But he came back again, saying to Abbot Pastor: It is a great burden on my soul! And still Abbot Pastor did not tell him to leave the man. Finally the brother came back a third time and said: Believe me, I am through with him!

Then the elder said: See! now you are saved, go, and have no more to do with him.

And Abbot Pastor told the same brother: When a man sees that his soul is suffering harm, he has no need to ask advice about it. When it is a matter of secret thoughts, one asks advice, that the elders may test them. But when there are manifest sins there is no need to inquire—you just break off at once.

---

7 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ANOTHER elder said: It happens that one man eats more and yet remains hungry, and another man eats less, and is satisfied. The greater reward belongs to the one who ate more and is still hungry than to him who ate less and is satisfied.

THERE was a certain brother who was praised by all the others in the presence of Abbot Anthony, but when the elder tested him he found that he could not bear to be insulted.

Then Abbot Anthony said: You, brother, are like a house with a big strong gate, that is freely entered by robbers through all the windows.

A CERTAIN brother came to Abbot Poemen and said: What ought I to do, Father? I am in great sadness.

The elder said to him: Never despise anybody, never condemn anybody, never speak evil of anyone, and the Lord will give you peace.

ONE of the brethren asked an elder, saying: Father, do the holy men always know when the power of God is in them?

And the elder replied: No, they do not always know it. For once a very great hermit had a disciple who did something wrong and the hermit said to him: Go and drop dead!

Instantly the disciple fell down dead and the hermit, overcome with terror, prayed to the Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, I beg Thee to bring my disciple back to life and from now on I will be careful what I say. Then right away the disciple was restored to life.

---

8 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ONE of the elders used to say: In the beginning when we got together we used to talk about something that was good for our souls, and we went up and up, and ascended even to heaven.

But now we get together and spend our time in criticizing everything, and we drag one another down into the abyss.

YET another elder said: If you see a young monk by his own will climbing up into heaven, take him by the foot and throw him to the ground, because what he is doing is not good for him.

ABBOT BESSARION, dying, said: The monk should be all eye, like the cherubim and seraphim.

ABBOT PASTOR said: Get away from any man who always argues every time he talks.

A CERTAIN elder said: Apply yourself to silence, have no vain thoughts, and be intent in your meditation, whether you sit at prayer, or whether you rise up to work in the fear of God. If you do these things, you will not have to fear the attacks of the evil ones.

ANOTHER of the elders said: When the eyes of an ox or mule are covered, then he goes round and round turning the mill wheel: but if his eyes are uncovered he will not go around in the circle of the mill wheel.

So too the devil if he manages to cover the eyes of a man, he can humiliate him in every sin. But if that man's eyes are not closed, he can easily escape from the devil.

---

9 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

CERTAIN brethren came from the Thebaid to buy linen, and they said to one another: This opportunity will enable us to see the Blessed Arsenius. But when they came to his cave, his disciple Daniel went in and told him of their wish.

Arsenius replied: Go, my son, receive them and do them honour. But permit me to look upon heaven, and let them go their way. My face, they shall not see.

THE holy Fathers came together and spoke of what would happen in the last generation, and one of them especially, called Squirion, said: We now fulfil the commandments of God.

Then the Fathers asked him: What about those who will come after us?

He replied: Perhaps half of them will keep the commandments of God and will seek the eternal God.

And the Fathers asked: Those who come after these, what shall they do?

He replied and said: The men of that generation will not have the works of God's commandments and will forget His precepts. At that time wickedness will overflow and the charity of many will grow cold. And there shall come upon them a terrible testing. Those who shall be found worthy in this testing will be better than we are and better than our fathers. They shall be happier and more perfectly proven in virtue.

---

10 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

M. sings:

Thou hast removed all my sorrows and charmed my mind with Thy vision. Having Thee, the woes of the seven worlds are forgotten.

M.: Vivekananda sang these songs at the Cossipore Garden after he heard Thakur say: "But I feel very clearly that there is the One within." Thakur had also said, "So long as there is 'I', the master-and-servant relationship is only good." Vivekananda was full of these feelings. Coming down he, therefore, sang these songs.

M. again sings a song:

O mind, you do not know how to farm. Fallow lies the rare field of man's life. Had you cultivated it well it would have yielded gold. Hedge it with the name of Kali; no harm would come to the harvest. The hedge of Goddess Kali with flowing hair is the stoutest of all, Death does not come near it. Now or a hundred years later, you have to forfeit this land. Concentrate, O mind! do your utmost to reap a rich harvest. Sow the seed your Guru has given you and irrigate it with the water of love. And if you cannot do it alone, O mind, take Ramprasad with you for help.

After singing this song, M. sits in silence for a long time. Now he resumes his talk.

M. (to the bhaktas): We are drinking milk from Her breast, through different channels, day and night. At the Goldighi, we saw birds taking bath in the water, one after the other. On seeing it, it came to my mind: Lo! for them also He has provided water beforehand.

(To Gadadhar) "One should, therefore, practise tapasya in solitude—and constantly pray to Thakur: 'Lord, reveal Thyself, reveal Thyself, reveal Thyself!'"

11 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

M. The Apostle and the Evangelist

"See Christ was crucified. Rama was drowned in the River Sarayu. Krishna cast off his body when an arrow from a fowler's bow hit him. According to one version Chaitanya Deva was drowned in the sea. Ramakrishna Deva suffered from cancer for a year.

"Why this suffering even in the case of an avatara? So that people may have hope and courage.

"Again, see Shankaracharya had anal fistula, the Buddha colic pain. The latter was very old. It was as if a cart with a broken wheel was being dragged along, its body being immobile.

'Why did such a thing happen to Thakur? So that, 'Seeing me, the bhaktas may have hope and courage.'

"The Buddha sent for Ananda and told him this: 'The cart is without one wheel. This body is pulling along like this.' "

M. is looking upwards. He sings this song: 'O Mother, seeing your strange antics, O Playful One, I am struck dumb.'

M. (to the bhaktas): Only to bring courage to man—lest one should forget Him in suffering—He who is the giver of the body.

Said Thakur: "Look, I am also suffering. It has to be so, as long as the body lasts."

"Chaitanya Deva was drowned in water. The first time, the fishermen picked him up. The second time, no news of him. This appears to be the most reliable version of his passing away."

---

12 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

On Overcoming Discouragement

A devotee: "Maharaj, is there any hope for liberation for worldly people like us? Please bless us that we can escape this whirlpool of Maya."

Latu Maharaj: "Why should you be so depressed? Do you think you understand everything about human life? Know that no life goes in vain in God's realm.

Once Brother Shashi gave a very apt illustration to someone like you: A man was out walking and came upon a canal. Seeing that he would have to jump over it in order to continue on his way, he took several strides backward to get a running start for his leap. As he ran forward and jumped over the canal, he covered not only the distance he had moved backward but also the canal itself.

Now, can you tell me whether his several steps backward were helpful or harmful? A man might have to take backward steps in this present life, but he will undoubtedly run forward in the next.

"No life is ever lived in vain. Remember only one thing: Lead a God-centered life. Then the Lord will guide you as he likes. He knows our past, present, and future. The wisest course is to surrender to him completely. Whether you hold onto the Lord's hand or not does not matter, he is always holding onto yours. There is no doubt about that. He will never abandon you. He is all-merciful."

Remorse and God's Forgiveness

A devotee did something wrong and was feeling very bad about it. When Latu Maharaj heard this, he called for the devotee to come see him.

He told the devotee: "Look here, my son, just because you have made one or two mistakes, you should not give up your spiritual practices and brood over your lapses and feel hopeless. To make mistakes is human. Call on God. He will give you the strength to overcome weakness and destroy your delusion. He is the compassionate one. However great your sins might be, the current of his mercy will not be kept from you. How little is your sin, and yet you are so depressed! Just think of Ajamila and Valmiki, compared to their sins, yours are nothing.

Do you know what Brother Vivekananda used to say? 'Don't worry about a little spot of ink on the body. It is nothing. If one bathes in God's infinite ocean of mercy, stains of a thousand inkspots will be washed away.' So I am telling you, do not grieve. Pray unceasingly. Your bad tendencies will go away in a short time."

Yet the devotee was so ashamed of his conduct that he could not raise his head.

Seeing this, Latu Maharaj said: "Before he commits a sin, a man's conscience fills him with shame, yet he brushes it aside. But the divine law is such that after the sin is committed, shame overwhelms him again, and he cannot raise his head in front of others."

Even these words could not shake the devotee free from his sense of guilt.

Latu Maharaj continued: "What are you ashamed of my son? The Lord has seen everything you have done. You cannot hide anything from him. Since he knows all of it, why should you still be so melancholy? Instead, engage yourself in harder spiritual disciplines, keep the company of holy men and come here now and then."

These words helped the devotee regain his mental strength. After this conversation with Latu Maharaj, he began to practice spiritual disciplines more vigorously.

---

13 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

On Monastic Life

Latu Maharaj to a monk: "Never forget the goal of monastic life. Don't wear the gerua cloth [the ochre-coloured cloth of a monk] for outward show. The gerua cloth may bring you name and fame, but that will not help you realize God. Go into solitude and practice your spiritual disciplines with all your heart. Only then will you progress quickly. Avoid gossip and politics.

"Is it so easy to be a monk? A real monk longs for God, weeps for God. He does not think about himself and is not disturbed by physical discomfort. A real monk will not see faults in others, and he will have neither attachment nor aversion for anyone. He should be friendly with all.

A real monk must try to ease the sufferings of others, and if he does not have the means, he should encourage them with inspired words so that they can fight against life's odds. He does not hoard for the future and seeks nothing except God. A real monk is free from fear and is straightforward. His behaviour is simple, like a child's. Wherever he goes, he hears the call of God."

Cruelty and Compassion

A devotee: "Maharaj, where is compassion in this world? There seems to be only an unbroken chain of cruelty. The crow attacks the sparrow, the kite attacks the crow, man hunts the kite, and the tiger and the bear attack man."

"If you see cruelty around you," responded Latu Maharaj, "you will find cruelty in God. If you see compassion everywhere, you will witness his infinite compassion. It all depends on your own mind. Always remember that to the pure mind all things are pure."

On Miracles

A young man: "Maharaj, could you teach me something so that I will no longer suffer from poverty?"

Latu Maharaj: "You won't like what I tell you. You want the sort of trick that one uses to make gold out of a handful of dust: but I don't know that trick. I am a monk. I stay in this place and chant the name of the Lord.

I can tell you something about God and spiritual life, but you won't be satisfied. You want miraculous powers. Are powers so easy to come by? Are you ready to exert yourself? If you can chant the Lord's name a hundred thousand times a day, then come and sit here."

After hearing these words, the young man hurried away.

---

14 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

Sri Ramakrishna: An Exemplar

"Sri Ramakrishna embodies an ideal for everyone. He was an ideal householder, an ideal monk, an ideal guru, and an ideal disciple. Moreover, his life can serve as an example for all faiths and all sects. He is an ideal for the worshipers of Shakti, as he practiced and attained perfection in all the important Tantric sadhanas.

He is an ideal for the Vaishnavites, for his devotion to Hari is unparalleled. He is also an ideal for the Shaivites, as he attained the vision of Lord Shiva too. He is an ideal for the devotees of Ramachandra, for he saw Rama and Sita. He is an ideal for the Vedantins as well, having experienced nirvikalpa samadhi, the culmination of the Vedantic sadhana, within three days.

He is also an ideal for the Christians and Mohammedans, because he had the vision of Christ and also of the Prophet."

---

15 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

Sri Ramakrishna's Teaching on Suffering

A devotee: "Maharaj, why should a knower of Brahman like Sri Ramakrishna, who was almost always immersed in samadhi, have suffered from such a terrible disease?"

Latu Maharaj: "What do I know about that? I heard Master Mahashay ['M.'] say, 'It is because of the touch of impure people that he suffered so terribly.'

Girish Babu used to say, 'It is his divine play, a way to relieve the sufferings of mankind.'

Ram Babu said: 'If the Master had not suffered from such a terrible disease, who could have recognized him? When one is in good health, one can easily fix the mind on God, but he is surely an avatar who can be continually in nirvikalpa samadhi, even when he is sick.'

"Brother Loren said at that time: 'He wants to be served by us, so he has contracted this disease. Don't worry. Could we have such a priceless opportunity to serve him if he didn't have this disease? We must not miss this opportunity. Let us serve him in such a way that he will not have the heart to leave us.'

Brother Rakhal said: 'The Master is testing us.'

Brother Sharat said, 'Although we may or may not understand it, a great mission is beginning through the Master's illness.'

Brother Shashi said: 'Sweet Jesus allowed himself to be crucified for humanity's sake. Our Master, too is suffering excruciating pain in order to remove man's burden of sin.'

"Balaram Babu once said to the Master: 'Sir, I am tired of hearing people's critical remarks about your illness. They say: "Your Master is suffering from disease!"'

The Master answered: 'Listen, he who forbears, survives and becomes great.'

Many people held different opinions about his illness. I don't remember them all.

"The Master used to say, 'Let the body and the disease take care of each other, O mind, you be happy.' He felt no pain. Hari Maharaj saw that he was floating in bliss. If he had really suffered, could he have given us such joy?

He told us: 'Brahman is stainless. Though the three gunas [sattva, rajas, and tamas] are in Brahman, he is separate from them, as the air carries odours but still remains different from and untouched by them. Brahman is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. In Brahman there is no sorrow or pain, no disease or death, no decay or growth. I see everything within this [Sri Ramakrishna pointed to himself]. Brahman and the One who is within the heart are the same.'

Where is the suffering of one who, though sick, can maintain such a high level of spirituality? You people identify yourselves with the body, so when the body suffers you are frightened."

---

16 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

THE story is told that one of the elders lay dying in Scete, and the brethren surrounded his bed, dressed him in the shroud, and began to weep. But he opened his eyes and laughed. He laughed another time, and then a third time.

When the brethren saw this, they asked him, saying: Tell us, Father, why you are laughing while we weep?

He said to them: I laughed the first time because you fear death. I laughed the second time because you are not ready for death. And the third time I laughed because from labours I go to my rest. As soon as he had said this, he closed his eyes in death.

---

ABBOT LOT came to Abbot Joseph and said: Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and according as I am able I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts: now what more should I do?

The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said: Why not be totally changed into fire?

---

THEY used to say of Abbot Sisois that unless he quickly lowered his hands and ceased from praying, his mind would be carried away into heaven. And whenever he happened to pray with another brother, he made haste to lower his hands lest his mind be carried away and he remain in another world.

---

ONE of the Fathers said: Just as it is impossible for a man to see his face in troubled water, so too the soul, unless it be cleansed of alien thoughts, cannot pray to God in contemplation.

---

A BROTHER came and stayed with a certain solitary and when he was leaving he said: Forgive me, Father, for I have broken in upon your Rule.

But the hermit replied, saying: My Rule is to receive you with hospitality and to let you go in peace.

---

A BROTHER said to Abbot Pastor: If I give one of my brothers a little bread or something of the sort, the demons spoil everything and it seems to me that I have acted only to please men.

The elder said to him: Even if your good work was done to please, we must still give to our brothers what they need. And he told him this story.

Two farmers lived in a village. One of them sowed his field and reaped only a small and wretched crop. The other neglected to sow anything at all, and so he reaped nothing. Now which of the two will survive, if there is a famine?

The brother replied: The first one, even though his crop is small and wretched.

The elder said to him: Let us also sow, even though our sowing is small and wretched, lest we die in the time of hunger.

---

17 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Memoirs of Swami Adbhutanandaji

'A woman devotee came one day and said to the Holy Mother: "I am very poor, I cannot afford always to bring something for the Master. Today I have prepared some sweets for him and brought it here. Will you kindly take them to him?"

Mother said, "He has already finished his lunch. He does not take anything after that. Why, my daughter, have you brought it so late?"

This set the lady weeping. Soon after the Master came there with unsteady steps, merged in bhava-samadhi, took the things from the devotee's hands, partook a little of it and gave the rest back to her. He then turned to me and said, "Henceforth, my boy, whatever things are brought for me should be taken first to Nahabathkhana, i.e. to Holy Mother and then distributed among the devotees."

A devotee asked, "Maharaj, why did the Master make such a rule?"

Latu Maharaj: Why? It is because during his illness all kinds of people used to come to him. Many of them were not pure, nor did they give presents without motives.

Once it happened like this. I gave something to him during his lunch. He at once cried out, "Whose is this thing? Uh! That fellow's—he is a miser to the marrow. He has sent this with the motive that his son be cured." Saying this he threw the thing out of his dish. Such turned out to be daily occurrences. He used to send all things to Holy Mother so that their bad effects could be obviated by her touch or look.

'Once it so happened that there was a swelling in his legs. He was still at Dakshineswar. Mahendra Kaviraj asked him to take lemons. Brother Yogen used to bring two fresh lemons everyday. The Master would take them daily.

But one day he could not take them. Yogen was astonished. On enquiry it was found that from that day the garden had been leased out to another man for a year. As the Master was given to truth he could not take the lemons that day, for the permission to take the fruits had been obtained not from the new lessee but from the old owner, who, after the leasing out, had no right over the fruits."

In this connection Latu Maharaj narrated another incident, which we give below:

'One day the Master saw a ripe mango fallen under a mango tree of the garden. He could not pick it up. He told one of us, "Hello! There is a mango there, why don't you pick it up and give it over to the manager?" The manager, however, did not take it, he asked the man who brought it to him to eat it.'

---

18 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

On the Truth of Brahman

A Devotee: "Maharaj, the scriptures say that Brahman is seated in the heart of man. What does that mean?"

'Latu Maharaj: "It is just a figure of speech. Words cannot really encompass the truth of Brahman, although the scriptures have tried to describe it in that way. Brahman is everywhere. There is no in or out, high or low, east or west with him. He is one, inherent in everything. He is all-pervading, limitless, eternal. Various attempts have been made to describe Brahman, but what is beyond thought cannot really be expressed in language. He is in everything and, again, is beyond everything. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, Everything has been defiled by the lips of man except the truth of Brahman.'"

A Devotee: "Maharaj, you monks are inscrutable! Instead of making positive statements, you speak only in vague terms! Please tell us what you have understood of this truth."

Latu Maharaj: "You see, this realization cannot be expressed. One uses language to express an idea, but so far no adequate language has been discovered for talking about Brahman.

The Master used to say, 'My boys, I would like to tell you many things, but the Divine Mother presses my lips, as it were, and does not allow me to talk.'

"You speak thousands of words every day. Have you ever thought about where these words come from?"

The devotee: "They must come from the mind."

Latu Maharaj: "Can you say, then, from which part of the mind they come, and in what form? And then, where is the mind itself?"

The devotee, of course, could not reply.

A Devotee ventured: "There is a neural connection between the brain and the tongue, so the mind must be in the brain."

Latu Maharaj: "In what form?"

A Devotee: "As vibration."

Latu Maharaj: "Now tell me whether that vibration is continuous or whether it stops and starts."

Bihari Babu was surprised: "Maharaj, I haven't thought about it."

Latu Maharaj: "Then please think it over."

A Devotee: "Perhaps it stops and then starts again, exciting the nerves of the brain and bringing out the response."

Latu Maharaj: "If the vibration does stop, can you tell me what makes it start again, especially in the case where there is no external stimulus?"

A Devotee: "No, Maharaj, we really can't say."

Latu Maharaj: "So you see, you can express these things up to a point, but no further."

After some time both Bihari Babu and the other devotee saluted Latu Maharaj and took leave of him. As they were approaching their carriage, Bihari Babu said: "I have never heard such words before. This unlettered monk has thought over even such subtle things as these. It is really amazing! We are proud of our scholarship, but in reality he is more learned than we are."

---

19 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

Maya and Freedom

A Devotee: "Maharaj, we read in the scriptures that God is man's inner guide. If that is true, then why does man suffer so much? How can one who is guided by the ever-pure Satchidananda get involved in evil actions?"

Latu Maharaj: "You have answered your own question. The essential nature of man, which is ever-pure, cannot be polluted by good and evil."

A Devotee: "Then do you mean that man has two natures, one affected by good and evil and the other not—or are you saying that good and evil do not really exist?"

Latu Maharaj: "Let me explain. Sri Ramakrishna said, 'Good and evil exist and they are also non-existent.' As long as God keeps the sense of ego in a man, he will perceive duality—both good and evil.

When God takes away the sense of ego, the perception of duality, good and evil also disappears. So long as a man is subject to the law of karma, he is aware of good and evil. When, through God's grace, a man is released from the bonds of karma, the man's awareness of good and evil also goes: for good and evil are the fruits of karma. As you sow, so you will reap. It is the Lord who established this law of karma for the benefit of the world and mankind. Divine Providence has given man the sense of free will and the principle of karma. It is left to man to do as he wishes. If he chooses to do actions which bring him less happiness and more misery, he alone is responsible, not God."

---

20 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

A Devotee: "But Maharaj, the scriptures say that God is guiding man. So the responsibility is God's, not ours."

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, the scriptures are right. It is the responsibility of the operator, not the instrument. But tell me, who is guiding the individual soul who is bound by Maya? Maya herself is acting as the operator. Do you know the nature of Maya's game? She loves to play and wants to play always. She enjoys ups and downs, pleasure and pain, creation and destruction. She loves to raise waves of desire in the mind and does not like to still them.

But God takes charge of the soul which is not bound by Maya. When God guides a man, an uninterrupted current of happiness, peace, and bliss flows in his mind and no other waves of thought can be raised there. He becomes one with that unfathomable, waveless ocean of Satchidananda."

A Devotee: "Yes, Maharaj, we know that the scriptures have compared Brahman with the ocean and Maya with the waves on its surface. Now let me ask, what is the difference between the waves and the ocean when both are water? In that case wouldn't being guided by Maya and being guided by God be the same?"

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, from one point of view they are the same, but there is another point of view, too. The Master used to say: The waves belong to the ocean, but no one can say that the ocean belongs to the waves. Similarly, Maya belongs to God, but Maya is not God. So you cannot say that being guided by Maya is the same as being guided by God. Nevertheless, the ultimate purpose of Maya's guidance is certainly to take the individual soul to God."

A Devotee: "But everybody says that Maya deludes the individual soul and leads him astray."

Latu Maharaj: "Maya wants to play constantly. Because Maya's play goes on and on, man cannot see where he is being taken on his journey, so he thinks Maya is taking him in the wrong direction. But look, how can she misdirect us? Isn't God everywhere? Maya has become manifest by God's will and she is working for him."

A Devotee: "What! Maya is working for God?"

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, what other motive can she have?"

A Devotee: "But the scriptures describe Maya as illusory and world-bewitching; she makes the unreal appear to be real, and her main concern is the delusion of mankind."

Latu Maharaj: "Do you know why people say so? The scriptures speak harshly against Maya because she has qualified the unqualified Brahman. And there is another reason: God alone is real, Maya, by comparison, is unreal, illusory.

But Maya is unreal only in relation to God. From man's standpoint, Maya is avidya, ignorance, which is neither real nor unreal. If you watch Maya carefully, you will see that she is pushing man toward God step by step. With one hand she is deluding man and with the other she is unveiling consciousness before him. She works in a balanced way, without any motive of her own. She balances both happiness and misery, both goodness and evil. Do you know the intention behind all this? To teach us. If Maya's purpose were to lead man astray, she would show us only one aspect, not both.

But because Maya shows us two aspects, she simultaneously deludes and enlightens. True, she causes man much trouble and her path is very roundabout and time-consuming, but eventually it will lead one to God. After you suffer repeated blows and much torment in this world and come to understand Maya's ways, Maya won't be able to hold you anymore. Then you will be released by her sattvic power. That is why she is called the one who makes the impossible possible."

21 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

Removing the Covering of Ignorance

One day Shashadhar Ganguli, a teacher from Malda, asked Latu Maharaj, "Can the Atman be an object of knowledge?"

Latu Maharaj: "An object is something which cannot be known without the help of something else, but the Atman is self-revealing. So you cannot say the Atman is an object of knowledge."

The teacher: "Then why should we want to know the Atman?"

Latu Maharaj: "Because the Atman is our real nature."

The teacher: "If the Atman is our real nature, then why are we not aware of it?"

Latu Maharaj: "Listen, can anyone deviate from his real nature? If he does, it cannot be called his real nature: for it is changeable. Man's real nature is covered by a dense cloud of ignorance, and consequently he appears to be something different, but that does not mean he has deviated from his real nature."

The teacher: "I couldn't follow you. Would you please explain this a little more?"

Latu Maharaj: "All right. Suppose here is a brass pot covered with stains. Looking at it, one may think it is made of something other than brass, but that thought cannot change its nature; the brass pot still remains brass. It is like that."

The teacher: "But Maharaj, that analogy is not suitable here. The brass pot never thinks of itself as not being brass, but man thinks of himself as being something other than the Atman."

Latu Maharaj: "That is not so. Man also does not think that he is something else. He may say, 'my body,' 'my mind,' 'my intellect,' but he never says, 'I am the body,' or 'I am the mind.' He knows that what he calls 'his' is not the same as 'himself.' Man's I-consciousness is always there, he is not devoid of it, only he cannot express it. You can feel hungry or sleepy, but can you tell me who you really are?"

The teacher: "No, Maharaj. But I do feel hunger or fatigue."

Latu Maharaj: "That is what I mean. You are aware of your consciousness, but you are unable to express it."

The teacher: "Why can't I express it?"

Latu Maharaj: "Because your mind is so deeply covered with desires, doubts, and ignorance that your real nature is unable to express itself. Haven't you seen those polishing shops at Mechuabazar in Calcutta where they have glass jars filled with coloured liquids? The metal worker takes a tarnished brass pot and dips it into a jar, and instantly all the tarnish goes away and the pot starts to glitter. Then he dips it into another jar and it turns a golden colour.

Similarly, the cloudy stuff which has been covering our I-consciousness must first be washed away: then we shall see the brilliance of the inmost Self."

The teacher: "How can we wash it away, Maharaj?"

Latu Maharaj: "Dip your mind in the jar of the Lord's name, and all the unclean stuff will be washed away. Then dip it in the jar of the Lord's grace. You will see how beautifully your real nature will shine forth. You will have to clean your mind first. There is no other way. If you want happiness in this world, think of yourself as pure gold and not as gold-plated. The idea of 'mine' produces misery, while the knowledge of the real 'I' [the higher Self] brings bliss. The knowledge of the Self removes ignorance, and this Self is the Atman, the real nature of man."

The teacher: "But the Atman is all-pervading while the 'I' [the lower self] is limited."

Latu Maharaj: "It does not matter. You have seen the jasmine flower; how small it is! On its tiny petal you may find a dewdrop in the morning, and in that dewdrop you can see the reflection of the infinite blue sky. Likewise, the 'I' may be limited, but by the grace of God it can catch the reflection of the infinite Atman."

The teacher: "How can we attain God's grace, Maharaj?"

Latu Maharaj: "Control lust and greed. Practice japam and be charitable. If you can do this, you will find the Lord showering his grace upon you."

---

22 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

On Meditation

A devotee: "Maharaj, is there any difference between the meditation of a jnani [one following the path of knowledge] and that of a bhakta [one who follows the path of devotion]?"

Latu Maharaj: "Yes. A bhakta meditates on the name and form of the Lord, while a jnani meditates on the identity of the individual soul and Brahman. But whatever the object of meditation may be, eventually both aspirants will reach the same goal.

When meditation deepens, both the name and form of the Lord and also the knowledge of the identity of the individual soul and Brahman disappear. That is certain. At that time, only a current of experience which is indescribable remains.

One day the Master told us, intensified meditation brings the knowledge of Oneness."

A devotee: "What is meant by the knowledge of Oneness?"

Latu Maharaj: "Can it be expressed in words? When that knowledge dawns, body-consciousness disappears, the mind stops and even the intellect vanishes: only an uninterrupted Consciousness flows."

---

23 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

The Mystery of Samadhi

Latu Maharaj: "Is samadhi merely a figure of speech? The human mind gets a little glimpse of God only after long and constant practice of concentration and meditation, and only then can one realize God's attributes and powers. Infinite are his attributes, and infinite are his powers! Who can transcend them?

One could spend millions of lives concentrating on just the glories of God, but what would he gain from it? He might comprehend God's glory and power, but that does not mean he has truly experienced him.

Realization of God means that one becomes absorbed in him, transcending his attributes and powers. It is not an easy thing! An aspirant can reach God only if, out of his mercy, God helps him to go beyond his attributes and powers.

It is God's grace alone that enables an aspirant to stop the waves of the mind and dissolve the intellect; otherwise who can stop the functioning of his mind and intellect by his own efforts? And know for certain that one attains samadhi only after the dissolution of his mind and intellect."

A devotee: "Maharaj, do you mean to say that an aspirant cannot attain samadhi through self-effort? We have heard that one attains samadhi by practicing concentration and meditation."

'Latu Maharaj: "What you have heard is true. The samadhi achieved through concentration and meditation is termed by Sri Ramakrishna chetan samadhi.' In this samadhi there is an interplay of ecstasy and power.

But the Master also used to speak of another kind of samadhi in which the mind dissolves and the ego disappears. I am telling you the truth, no one can attain that samadhi without divine grace."

A devotee: "Maharaj, people say practice brings siddhi (success)."

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, you may attain siddhi, but not real samadhi. An aspirant attains siddhi and prosperity through exertion and power, but he realizes God through samadhi. Nobody can express the experience of samadhi. One can hint at God's attributes in words or speak of his power, but God is not limited by these. Infinite are his glories and infinite are his powers! Who can limit God? All spiritual powers and supernatural powers together cannot reveal him.

God is in everything and again he is beyond everything. Just as you have many good qualities and you can do many things, so also you have many powers which you can either show or hide; but these do not reveal your real nature. Your real nature permeates through your qualities and powers, and again, it is beyond them.

An aspirant can have a glimpse of the glory and power of God, but this does not mean he can comprehend God fully. An aspirant realizes God only when God reveals himself to him."

---

24 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

Spiritual Counsel

One evening Dr. De Mello, who had spent some time at the Advaita Ashrama at Mayavati, came to see Latu Maharaj. As he approached the Swami, he could hear him saying to himself, "God is formless and with form too."

Strangely enough, that had been the thought uppermost in Dr. De Mello's mind, and he asked, "If God is with form, then can one see him?"

Latu Maharaj: "Yes, by all means."

Dr. De Mello: "Maharaj, when I was at Mayavati I kept a picture of Jesus Christ on my desk and meditated on him. One day I saw that picture as a living form. All of a sudden that form vanished, and in its stead I saw Sri Ramakrishna.

Then that form also disappeared, giving place to Buddha. Was this a hallucination?"

Latu Maharaj: "Oh, no, no. It was not a hallucination. That is quite common. You are on the right track; continue on. One who has seen one great soul may see many others. Sri Ramakrishna used to see many divine forms."

Dr. De Mello: "Maharaj, I get confused sometimes. I do not know on whom I should meditate."

Latu Maharaj: "Whom do you love the most?"

Dr. De Mello: "I love Jesus Christ and Ramakrishna equally."

Latu Maharaj: "Whom have you loved all along?"

The doctor then told a little of the history of his family, which had been Christian for the four preceding generations.

Then Latu Maharaj advised him: "Meditate on Christ. Have faith in him and pray to him. You will reach your goal."

---

25 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Adbhutanandaji

On Preaching

"Can one preach religion simply by beating a drum? Is religion something external to us, something one person speaks about and another person accepts? Religion is realization, and one cannot realize the truth through noise and fanfare. The more a preacher shouts, the more people's minds turn outward; and unless the mind is turned inward, God-realization is not possible.

"Inevitably, if there is no substance inside, a man's words are empty and carry no conviction. There must be renunciation, dispassion, and genuine love for God, only then will people believe you. The Lord's will works in this peculiar way.

Look at Swami Vivekananda's life. After practicing hard spiritual disciplines he got the command from the Master to preach, and people have accepted what he said. With one lecture Swamiji became world-famous."

On the Guru

A devotee: "Is it absolutely necessary to have a guru in order to make spiritual progress?"

Latu Maharaj: "If you are in earnest about spiritual practices, you should have a teacher, a guru. You can accept the Lord himself as your guru, if you have that much faith in him. But it is better to have a great devotee of God as your guru. Do you know why? What do you do when you feel thirsty and are looking for water? Don't you go to the nearest place where water is available?"

A devotee: "Yes, Maharaj."

Latu Maharaj: "You surely don't go to the ocean which is far away. Isn't that so?"

A devotee: "Yes. If we can get water nearby, why should we go all the way to the ocean?"

Latu Maharaj: "So your question is answered. The human guru is like the water in the river near us, and the Lord is like the water in the ocean. When the thirst for God arises, one should go to a human guru who is near at hand, for he can satisfy your thirst very quickly."

On Cultivating Spiritual Qualities

A devotee: "Maharaj, what are the duties of a householder?"

Latu Maharaj: "If you want to live a happy, contented life, stop criticizing others. Do not find fault with others. It is better to pass the time sleeping than gossiping and criticizing. Keep away from places where you find such talk going on. Try to see the good qualities in others. This is the way to get rid of the habit of fault-finding. Evil qualities pollute the mind of a person who searches for the lapses and shortcomings of others.

"Feel others' sufferings as you feel your own. Take every opportunity to serve people, and do not injure anybody.

"Be grateful to all who help you. Be charitable to all, even to a person who abuses you. And do not run into debt, for debts bring worries.

"Try to be pure and discriminate between good and evil.

Do not perform any action which will prick your conscience. "Do not forget God. Chant his name in the morning and evening, and, if you can, try to meditate at night."

---

26 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

SOME elders once came to Abbot Anthony, and there was with them also Abbot Joseph. Wishing to test them, Abbot Anthony brought the conversation around to the Holy Scriptures. And he began from the youngest to ask them the meaning of this or that text. Each one replied as best he could, but Abbot Anthony said to them: You have not got it yet.

After them all he asked Abbot Joseph: What about you? What do you say this text means?

Abbot Joseph replied: I know not! Then Abbot Anthony said: Truly Abbot Joseph alone has found the way, for he replies that he knows not.

---

JOHN of Thebes said: The monk must be before all else humble. This is the first commandment of the Lord who said: Blessed are the poor of spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

---

ONCE Abbot Macarius was on his way home to his cell from the marshes, carrying reeds, and he met the devil with a reaper's sickle in his path. The devil tried to get him with the sickle, and couldn't.

And he said: I suffer great violence from you, Macarius, because I cannot overcome you. For see, I do all the things that you do. You fast, and I eat nothing at all. You watch, and I never sleep. But there is one thing alone in which you overcome me.

Abbot Macarius said to him: What is that?

Your humility, the devil replied, and only because of it I cannot overcome you.

---

27 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Be Resigned to God—Nothing Can Be Accomplished Without His Grace

Place: Belur Monastery

Time: April 18, 1929

It was about five in the afternoon. A monk saluted Mahapurushji, who inquired, 'Well, do you have anything to ask?' He asked the monk this question, because the monk seldom came at this hour.

Monk: 'Yes, Maharaj, yesterday I went to see M. He spent much time telling us some of Sri Ramakrishna's teachings.'

Swami: 'Ah! he is a great devotee of the Master. You would not hear of anything but the Master from him.'

Monk: 'Maharaj, my mind is very much disturbed. I have not been able to do much spiritual practice. Time is passing fast. What will happen to me?'

Swami: 'My child, be resigned to God. Nothing can be accomplished without His grace. Can man realize Him by spiritual practice alone? If He reveals Himself out of compassion, then alone can one realize Him, otherwise not. Who is competent to reach Him? How long can a man pursue spiritual practice? Say, two hours, four hours or at the most eight hours. Not only that; it is the Lord who is responsible for the desire for spiritual practice. He is the Fountain of all forces! Unless He is gracious and gives us the strength, how can we pursue spiritual practice? That is why I am stressing that you should be resigned to God.

Fervently pray, "O Lord! Be merciful to me." Then alone will He be merciful. It is mercy alone that counts, mercy, mercy. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "One should say 'Thou and Thine' and not 'I and mine.'" What can we do unless He graciously reveals Himself? Grace, grace is what is necessary. Be gracious to us, O Lord!'

Monk: 'Maharaj, I can hardly pray. My mind is so restless! I find it hard to concentrate at times.'

Swami: 'No, you will have to pray and pray very earnestly. Do not be depressed; do not be disheartened. Be in a happy mood and pray. He will give you everything, my child, everything you want. There is nothing He will withhold from you.

He will give you faith, renunciation, purity, discrimination, dispassion and all. Whatever He has He will give you. He embodied Himself as man because He wanted to give you all these virtues. That is why He has brought you here and given you shelter in His Order.

Do not think you are here as a result of your own efforts. Never for a moment cherish that idea! Out of compassion He has drawn you all here. He is the very Ocean of selfless compassion. My child, be resigned to Him. Everything will come in time. I say, you will have everything. He will fill you with devotion and faith.'

'You belong to the Master's fold. You have nothing to be afraid of.'

Saying this, the Swami started singing:

Stay by yourself, O mind!

Why wander here and there?

Look within in the inner chamber of your heart,

And you will find, right there, whatever you desire.

---

28 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

It Is Inner Seeing That Counts

Place: Belur Monastery

Time: Tuesday, April 30, 1929

In the afternoon Srijut Gangacharan Mukherjee, a lawyer from Monghyr, accompanied by his daughter and some devotees of his family, arrived at the monastery.

After saluting Swami Shivananda, Gangacharan Babu said: 'Your body seems to be in a very bad condition, Maharaj. It is much worse than when I saw you last year.'

Swami: 'Yes, my body is in a very bad condition. Every day it is getting worse. The body is subject to six changes. Now it is the time for the last. This is but natural. The nature of the body is like that. All bodies are bound to disintegrate someday.'

Gangacharan Babu: 'In every letter I have received from the monastery there has been news of your failing health. I had a great desire to see you, so I am here.'

Swami (smiling): 'Tell me, what is there in outward seeing? It is inward seeing that counts, and the Lord is within everyone. He is the source of everything in this universe.

"From Him are born energy, mind, all the senses, ether, air, fire, water and earth, which is the support of everything. He is the controller of everything. Through fear of Him the sun gives heat. Again, in Him will everything dissolve.

"From Him this world has come and to Him it will go back. He is the source of this universe. In Him it will dissolve.

"Again, in Him it is active. Birth and death are just a matter of course. Nobody can stop them. God alone is immutable and immortal, pure, enlightened and free by nature. To realize Him within is the ideal of life. Everything is accomplished when one realizes Him. After that it is immaterial whether the body lives or goes. He is ever present within us. He, the Soul of every being, the Heaven of immortality, is within everybody; one must realize that."

---

29 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Shraddha Ceremonies Are Unnecessary for Highly Developed Souls

Gangacharan Babu: 'Maharaj, I have a question in my mind. Does everyone have to be in a disembodied state after death?'

Swami: 'Not necessarily. Why should devotees of the Lord, who have genuine devotion, have to be in the disembodied state? They become one with God and obtain liberation.'

Gangacharan Babu: 'Then what is the meaning of 'Shraddha' and such other funeral rituals prescribed in the scriptures? Doesn't everyone have to perform those rituals annually or at other prescribed times?'

Swami: 'Yes, one has to. It is, of course, the general rule and everyone abides by it. But there are exceptions, as for example, in your wife's case you may perform these rituals, but there will be no harm done if you do not. She was unusually devoted. Her case was different. After her death I vividly saw her going to the abode of Shiva. You may rest assured that she has reached a highly spiritual state.'

Gangacharan Babu suddenly burst into tears and prostrated himself before Mahapurushji's feet, saying: 'Maharaj, please grant this prayer of mine. May I have faith and devotion at the lotus feet of the Mother and at the end of my life may I find refuge at Her feet!' Saying this, he started crying like a child.

Mahapurushji placed his hand on Gangacharan Babu's head and blessed him saying: 'My child, may you have that. Already you have faith and devotion and you will have more. I bless you very much. You will grow spiritually, my child. The Mother is very gracious to you.'

Gangacharan Babu: 'If you say so, it will surely come to pass. The Mother will certainly listen to you. You are my strength, my faith and my all.'

Swami: 'Of course the Mother will listen to me. She will listen to you also. She certainly listens to the person who prays to her sincerely. Grace! Grace! Nothing can be accomplished without Her grace. Glory be to the Lord! Glorified be our compassionate Master!'

---

30 April 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Both Happiness and Sorrow Are Impermanent—He Alone Is Permanent—In Him Is Peace—Hold Fast to Him

Gangacharan Babu's daughter saluted the Swami and begged for his blessings.

The Swami said in a very tender voice: 'May you live in peace, my daughter! Happiness is so rare in this world! Compared with pains and sorrows there is very little happiness.

But those who are devoted to God know some peace in this world. They are not disturbed by whatever pains or sorrows may come to them, because they know that everything comes from God. It is the same God who gives us happiness and again trials and difficulties. That is why they can patiently bear everything as a blessing from God. They are never elated by happiness, nor are they upset by sorrow. Just as happiness is impermanent and short-lived, so is sorrow. It comes and goes; for nothing in this world is permanent. The one abiding Reality and the only Abode of peace is God. Hold fast to Him, my daughter, then alone will you have peace in life.'

Shortly before dusk a woman devotee saluted the Swami and asked: 'Maharaj, how is your body?'

Swami: 'My daughter, my body is not well.'

Woman Devotee: 'You eat so little.'

Swami: 'Yes, I eat just a little rice and soup at noon and a little milk at night. More than that I cannot digest, and, besides, I do not have the inclination to eat this or that.

Eating is necessary for the sustenance of the body. Therefore I eat a little, so that my body will last for some time and I can think about God. I have no other desire except to think and meditate upon God. If I see the Lord in my heart I am happy.

This world is temporary; parents, brothers, friends and companions are all temporary. At death one will leave behind this world and it will remain as it is. Only the Lord, who is the Soul of our soul, exists at all times and will ever exist. He alone is eternal.'

1 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Woman Devotee: 'Maharaj, what will happen to us? Engrossed in Maya, we are so much attached to this world and cannot shake off this attachment. We have so much sorrow and yet we cannot rise above it.'

Swami: 'God alone is our goal: take refuge in Him. He is our all in all.

"Thou art our father and mother.

Thou art our friend and companion.

Thou art our knowledge and wealth.

Thou art our all in all, O Lord!"

He is father, mother, brother, friend, companion and all. Call upon Him earnestly. He will certainly be gracious. In this sorrowful world He alone is peace. The Master used to speak of the camel's habit of eating prickly grass. The happiness of a worldly man is just like that of a camel. Without the grace of God, my daughter, nothing can be accomplished.'

After remaining silent awhile the Swami continued: 'It is not an easy thing to realize the unreality of the world. One cannot have that realization without the grace of God. Cry to Him and pray and you will have His grace. He is right inside. You will realize Him the moment He lifts the veil of ignorance. It is grace and grace alone that we need. There is no other way.'

---

2 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ABBOT PASTOR was asked by a certain brother: How should I conduct myself in the place where I live?

The elder replied: Be as cautious as a stranger; wherever you may be, do not desire your word to have power before you, and you will have rest.

---

A man must breathe humility and the fear of God just as ceaselessly as he inhales and exhales the air.

---

ONE of the elders was asked what was humility, and he said: If you forgive a brother who has injured you before he himself asks pardon.

---

A BROTHER asked one of the elders: What is humility?

The elder answered him: To do good to those who do evil to you.

The brother asked: Supposing a man cannot go that far, what should he do?

The elder replied: Let him go away from them and keep his mouth shut.

---

TO ONE of the brethren appeared a devil, transformed into an angel of light, who said to him: 'I am the Angel Gabriel, and I have been sent to thee'.

But the brother said: Think again, you must have been sent to somebody else. I haven't done anything to deserve an angel. Immediately the devil ran away.

---

IT WAS said of one of the elders that he persevered in a fast of seventy weeks, eating only once a week. This elder asked God to reveal to him the meaning of a certain Scriptural text, and God would not reveal it to him.

So he said to himself: Look at all the work I have done without getting anywhere! I will go to one of the brothers and ask him. When he had gone out and closed the door and was starting on his way, an angel of the Lord was sent to him, saying: The seventy weeks you fasted did not bring you any closer to God, but now that you have humbled yourself and set out to ask your brother, I am sent to reveal the meaning of that text.

And opening to him the meaning which he sought, he went away.

---

3 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ONCE there was an elder in the lower parts of Egypt, and he was a very famous hermit, living all alone in a desert place. Satan brought it about that a woman of easy virtue said to some young men: What will you give me, and I will go out and knock down that hermit of yours. So they agreed on a certain sum they would give her.

And going out one evening she came to his cell pretending to have lost her way. She knocked at his door and he came out. Seeing her he was disturbed and said: How did you get out here?

She pretended to weep, and said: I have lost my way. So, being moved to pity, he let her in to the front room of his cell, and for his part he went on to the inner room and locked the door.

But the unfortunate woman cried out: Father, the wild animals will eat me out here. Once again the elder was disturbed and thought of the Judgment of God, and said: How did this dreadful thing ever happen to me?

And, opening his door, he let her in. And the devil began to shoot flaming arrows into his heart. But he said within himself: The ways of the enemy are darkness, and the Son of God is light. So he lit a lantern. But the temptation continued and he said to himself: Well, let's see whether you will be able to bear the flames of hell. And he put a finger into the flame. But though the flame burned him he did not feel it, so strong was the fire of lust in him. And he went on like that until morning, burning all his fingers.

The unfortunate woman, watching what he was doing, was so struck with terror that she almost turned into stone.

In the morning the two young men came to the hermit and said: Did a woman come here last night?

Yes, said the hermit, she is over there asleep. But they said: Father, she is dead! Then he, throwing back the cloak he had on, showed them his hands and said: Look what she did to me, that child of hell! she has cost me all my fingers.

And having told them all that had taken place he ended with: It is written thou shalt not render evil for evil. So he said a prayer and she revived.

She was converted, and lived chastely for the rest of her life.

---

4 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ABBOT PASTOR said that Abbot John the Dwarf had prayed to the Lord and the Lord had taken away all his passions, so that he became impassible.

And in this condition he went to one of the elders and said: You see before you a man who is completely at rest and has no more temptations.

The elder said: Go and pray to the Lord to command some struggle to be stirred up in you, for the soul is matured only in battles.

And when the temptations started up again he did not pray that the struggle be taken away from him, but only said: Lord, give me strength to go through the fight.

---

ONCE Abbot Macarius was travelling down from Scete to a place called Terenuthin, and he went to spend the night in a pyramid where the bodies of the pagans had been laid to rest years before. And he dragged out one of the mummies and put it under his head for a pillow. The devils, seeing his boldness, flew into a rage and decided to scare him.

And they began to call out from the other bodies, as if calling to a woman: Lady, come with us to the baths. And another demon, as if he were the ghost of a woman, cried out from the body the elder was using as a pillow: This stranger is holding me down and I can't come.

But the elder, far from being frightened, began to pummel the corpse, saying: Get up and go swimming if you are able. Hearing this the demons cried: You win! And they fled in confusion.

---

IT WAS told of Abbot Milido that when he lived in Persia with two disciples, the sons of the Emperor went out on a great hunt, spreading nets for forty miles around, determined to kill everything they caught in them. And the elder was found in the nets with his two disciples. And when they saw him all hairy (he was an awful sight!), they were amazed and asked him whether he were a man or some kind of spirit.

He replied: I am a man and a sinner and I came out here to weep for my sins and to adore the Son of the Living God.

To which they replied: There is no God but sun and water and fire. Adore these, and sacrifice to them.

Oh no, I will not, he said, these are creatures and you are mistaken. You should acknowledge the true God who made these things and everything else besides.

A condemned and crucified criminal is what you call a God! they said, mocking him.

He who was crucified destroyed death, said the elder, and Him I call the true God. So they took him and set him up like a target and shot arrows at him from different sides, and while they were doing this the elder said to them: Tomorrow in this very hour your mother will be childless.

They laughed at him, and started out the next day to continue hunting. And it happened that a stag got through the nets and they went after him on horseback, and coming towards the stag from opposite sides they let fly their arrows and struck one another in the heart and so died, according to the words of the elder.

---

5 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ONCE some robbers came into the monastery and said to one of the elders: We have come to take away everything that is in your cell.

And he said: My sons, take all you want. So they took everything they could find in the cell and started off. But they left behind a little bag that was hidden in the cell.

The elder picked it up and followed after them, crying out: My sons, take this, you forgot it in the cell! Amazed at the patience of the elder, they brought everything back into his cell and did penance, saying: 'This one really is a man of God!'

---

THERE was an elder who had a well-tried novice living with him, and once, when he was annoyed, he drove the novice out of the cell. But the novice sat down outside and waited for the elder.

The elder, opening the door, found him there, and did penance before him, saying: 'You are my Father, because your patience and humility have overcome the weakness of my soul. Come back in; you can be the elder and the Father, I will be the youth and the novice: for by your good work you have surpassed my old age'.

---

A BROTHER asked one of the elders, saying: There are two brothers, of whom one remains praying in his cell, fasting six days at a time and doing a great deal of penance. The other one takes care of the sick. Which one's work is more pleasing to God?

The elder replied: If that brother who fasts six days at a time were to hang himself up by the nose, he could not equal the one who takes care of the sick.

---

ABBOT AGATHO frequently admonished his disciple, saying: Never acquire for yourself anything that you might hesitate to give to your brother if he asked you for it, for thus you would be found a transgressor of God's command. If anyone asks, give to him, and if anyone wants to borrow from you, do not turn away from him.

---

6 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

A CERTAIN brother asked of an elder, saying: If a brother owes me a little money, do you think I should ask him to pay me back?

The elder said to him: Ask him for it once only, and with humility. The brother said: Suppose I ask him once and he doesn't give me anything, what should I do?

Then the elder said: Don't ask him any more.

The brother said again: But what can I do, I cannot get rid of my anxieties about it, unless I go and ask him.

The elder said to him: Forget your anxieties. The important thing is not to sadden your brother, for you are a monk.

---

WHEN people came to buy from Abbot Agatho the things which he had made with the work of his hands, he sold to them in peace. His price for a sieve was a hundred pence, and for a basket two hundred and fifty. When they came to buy he told them the price, and took whatever they gave him, in silence, not even counting the coins.

For he said: What is the use of me arguing with them, and leading them perhaps into sin by perjuring themselves and then, perhaps, if I have some extra money, giving it to the brethren. God does not want alms of this kind from me and it does not please Him if, in order to make my offering, I lead someone into sin.

Then one of the brethren said to him: And how are you ever going to get a supply of bread for your cell?

To which he answered: What need have I, in my cell, of the bread of men?

---

7 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

THERE was a certain elder who, if anyone maligned him, would go in person to offer him presents, if he lived nearby. And if he lived at a distance he would send presents by the hand of another.

---

ABBOT ANTHONY taught Abbot Ammonas, saying: You must advance yet further in the fear of God. And taking him out of the cell he showed him a stone, saying: Go and insult that stone, and beat it without ceasing. When this had been done, St. Anthony asked him if the stone had answered back.

No, said Ammonas.

Then Abbot Anthony said: You too must reach the point where you no longer take offence at anything.

---

ABBOT PASTOR said: Just as bees are driven out by smoke, and their honey is taken away from them, so a life of ease drives out the fear of the Lord from man's soul and takes away all his good works.

---

A CERTAIN Philosopher asked St. Anthony: Father, how can you be so happy when you are deprived of the consolation of books?

Anthony replied: My book, O philosopher, is the nature of created things, and any time I want to read the words of God, the book is before me.

---

8 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ONCE a certain provincial judge came to see Abbot Simon, and the elder took the belt he had on and went up to the top of a date palm as though he were a workman picking dates.

But they, approaching, asked him: Where is the hermit who lives in this part of the desert?

To which he replied: There is no hermit around here. At this they all departed.

On another occasion a different judge came to see him, and his companions, running on ahead of the judge, said: Father, get ready. A judge who has heard about you is on his way out here to ask your blessing.

The elder said: You can be sure I will get ready. And covering himself with all his garments he took some bread and cheese in his hands and sat down in the entry to his cell and began to eat.

The judge and his retainers arrived and saw him eating and hailed him with contempt. Is this the hermit monk we heard so much about? they asked. They swung around immediately and headed back where they had come from.

---

ABBOT JOSEPH asked Abbot Pastor: Tell me how I can become a monk?

The elder replied: If you want to have rest here in this life and also in the next, in every conflict with another say: Who am I? I am nobody.

And judge no one.

---

9 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

ONCE Abbot Anthony was conversing with some brethren, and a hunter who was after game in the wilderness came upon them. He saw Abbot Anthony and the brothers enjoying themselves, and disapproved.

Abbot Anthony said: Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it. This he did. Now shoot another, said the elder. And another, and another.

The hunter said: If I bend my bow all the time it will break.

Abbot Anthony replied: So it is also in the work of God. If we push ourselves beyond measure, the brethren will soon collapse. It is right, therefore, from time to time, to relax their efforts.

---

ONE of the holy Fathers said to the monks who asked him about the reason for renunciation: My sons, it is right that we should hate all rest in this present life, and hate also pleasures of the body and the joys of the belly. Let us not seek honour from men: then Our Lord Jesus Christ will give us heavenly honours, rest in eternal life, and glorious joy with His angels.

---

ABBOT ZENO told us that once when he was on his way to Palestine he sat down under a tree, weary with journeying. Now he was right next to a field full of cucumbers. In his heart he thought to get up and help himself to the cucumbers, to repair his strength. For, he said, it would be no great thing to take a few of them.

But replying to himself in his thoughts, he said: When thieves are condemned by the judges they are given over to torture. So I ought to test myself and see if I can stand the torments which are suffered by robbers. And rising up at that very hour he stood in the hot sun for five days and roasted his body.

Then he said in his thoughts: I could not stand the torments, hence I ought not to steal, but to work with my hands according to the custom, and live on the fruit of my labour, as the Holy Scripture says: Because thou shalt eat of the work of thy hands, blessed shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. This, certainly, is what we sing every day in the sight of the Lord!

---

THE elders and all the monks dwelling in the desert of Scete came together in council and agreed that Father Isaac should be ordained priest to serve the Church in that solitary place, where at stated days and hours the monks living in the desert come together for worship.

But Abbot Isaac, hearing the decision that had been taken, fled to Egypt and hid himself in a field among the bushes, deeming himself unworthy of the honour of the priesthood.

A large number of the monks set out after him, to catch him. Now when they had stopped at evening in that same field to rest, weary with their journey (for it was now night), they turned loose the ass that carried their baggage, and let him eat grass. Now while the ass was feeding, he came to the place where Abbot Isaac was hiding.

And at daybreak, the monks, in search of the ass, came to the place where the old man had hidden himself. Marvelling at the dispensation of God, they seized him and were about to tie him up and take him prisoner and lead him away.

But the venerable elder did not allow them, saying: Now I can no longer oppose you since it is perhaps the will of God that I, though unworthy, should receive priestly orders.

---

10 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

THERE were two brother monks living together in a cell and their humility and patience was praised by many of the Fathers.

A certain holy man, hearing of this, wanted to test them and see if they possessed true and perfect humility. So he came to visit them. They received him with joy, and all together they said their prayers and their psalms, as usual. Then the visitor went outside the cell and saw their little garden, where they grew their vegetables.

Seizing his stick, he rushed in with all his might and began to destroy every plant in sight so that soon there was nothing left at all. Seeing him the two brothers said not one word. They did not even show sad or troubled faces. Coming back into the cell they finished their prayers for Vespers, and paid him honour, saying: Sir, if you like, we can get one cabbage that is left, and cook it and eat it, for now it is time to eat.

Then the elder fell down before them, saying: I give thanks to my God, for I see the Holy Spirit rests in you.

---

ONE of the brothers asked an elder saying: Would it be all right if I kept two pence in my possession, in case I should get sick.

The elder, seeing his thoughts and that he wanted to keep them, said: Keep them.

The brother, going back to his cell, began to wrestle with his own thoughts, saying: I wonder if the Father gave me his blessing or not.

Rising up, he went back to the Father, inquiring of him and saying: In God's name, tell me the truth, because I am all upset over these two pence.

The elder said to him: Since I saw your thoughts and your desire to keep them, I told you to keep them. But it is not good to keep more than we need for our body. Now these two pence are your hope. If they should be lost, would not God take care of you? Cast your care upon the Lord, then, for He will take care of us.

11 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

THERE were two elders living together in a cell, and they had never had so much as one quarrel with one another. One therefore said to the other: Come on, let us have at least one quarrel, like other men. The other said: I don't know how to start a quarrel. The first said: I will take this brick and place it here between us. Then I will say: It is mine. After that you will say: It is mine. This is what leads to a dispute and a fight.

So then they placed the brick between them, one said: It is mine, and the other replied to the first: I do believe that it is mine. The first one said again: It is not yours, it is mine.

So the other answered: Well then, if it is yours, take it! Thus they did not manage after all to get into a quarrel.

---

ABBOT MARK once said to Abbot Arsenius: It is good, is it not, to have nothing in your cell that just gives you pleasure. For example, once I knew a brother who had a little wildflower that came up in his cell, and he pulled it out by the roots.

Well, said Abbot Arsenius, that is all right. But each man should act according to his own spiritual way. And if one were not able to get along without the flower, he should plant it again.

---

ONCE they asked Abbot Agatho: Which is greater: Bodily asceticism, or watchfulness over the interior man?

The elder said: A man is like a tree. His bodily works are like the leaves of the tree, but interior self-custody is like the fruits. Since, then, it is written that every tree not bearing good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire, we must take all care to bear this fruit, which is in the custody of the mind. But we also need leaves to cover and adorn us: and that means good works done with the aid of the body.

This Abbot Agatho was wise in understanding and tireless in his work and ready for everything. He applied himself energetically to manual labour, and was sparing in his food and clothing.

---

THE same Abbot Agatho would say: Even if an angry man were to revive the dead, he would not be pleasing to God because of his anger.

---

12 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Desert Fathers

THERE was a certain elder who had fasted valiantly for fifty years and he said: I have put out the flames of lust, and avarice and vainglory.

Abbot Abraham heard about it, and came to him asking: Did you really say that?

I did, he replied.

Then Abbot Abraham said: So you go into your cell, and there is a woman lying on your mat. Can you think that she is not a woman?

He said, No, but I fight my thoughts so that I don't touch that woman.

Then, said Abbot Abraham, you have not killed fornication. The passion is alive, but it is bound.

And now supposing you are on a journey and in the road among the stones and broken pottery you see some gold: can you think of it as if it were like the other stones?

No, he replied, but I resist my thoughts so that I do not pick it up.

Then Abbot Abraham said: You see, the passion is alive. But it is bound.

Then Abbot Abraham said again: You hear about two brothers, of whom one likes you and speaks well of you and the other hates you and speaks evil of you. They come to you: and do you receive them both alike?

No, he replied, but I am tormented inside, trying to be just as nice to the one who hates me as I am to the other.

Abbot Abraham said: The passions live, then. But in the saints they are only, to some extent, bound.

---

ONCE some of the elders came to Scete, and Abbot John the Dwarf was with them. And when they were dining, one of the priests, a very great old man, got up to give each one a little cup of water to drink, and no one would take it from him except John the Dwarf.

The others were surprised, and afterwards they asked him: How is it that you, the least of all, have presumed to accept the services of this great old man?

He replied: Well, when I get up to give people a drink of water, I am happy if they all take it; and for that reason on this occasion I took the drink, that he might be rewarded, and not feel sad because nobody accepted the cup from him. And at this all admired his discretion.

---

Father, what it is to hate evil?

The Father said: That man hates evil who hates his own sins, and looks upon every brother as a saint, and loves him as a saint.

---

13 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Shivananda

A young man came to the monastery and saluted the Swami, who inquired: 'Hello! how are you?'

Young man: 'My body is all right, Maharaj, but my mind is very restless. I do not have any peace of mind. I am very disturbed mentally.'

Swami: 'The fact that you have this restlessness of mind shows that the Mother is gracious to you. The earnestness to realize Her and the lack of peace because you have not been able to do so are symptoms of Her grace. As a result of good deeds performed in many incarnations and through the grace of God, one has this desire for liberation.

Now sincerely cry and pray: "Mother, reveal Thyself to me. I am weak, devoid of spiritual discipline and devotion! Be gracious and appear to me!" Do not pay heed to anything else and continue calling upon Her.

Whether the mind is concentrated or not, do not give up calling upon Her. Be steady and hold to the ideal even as a hereditary farmer. If you do that you will certainly receive Her grace. Therefore, I say, where would you be roaming about? Call upon the Mother staying at home. Right there the Mother will vouchsafe to you the realization of the unreality of the world and will snap your worldly ties.'

Young man: 'Sometimes I enjoy my meditation; at other times I cannot control the mind at all.'

Swami: 'That is how the mind behaves. It has a wavelike motion. Haven't you seen waves? Here comes a high wave followed by a deep hollow, and a wave comes again.

The fact that sometimes you lose control over your mind signifies that a big wave will come and you will have great peace. But genuine devotees will not lose their balance because of joy or be depressed by sorrow.

Everything depends upon the will of the Mother. Knowing that the Mother is ever merciful, continue to call upon Her. Let the Mother keep you in whatever state She pleases. In this way eventually you will have unmixed bliss and a full vision of the Mother! My boy, do not be disturbed under any circumstances. The Mother has been gracious to you and will be even more gracious, I assure you.

'Inwardly call upon the Mother. Is She outside yourself? Go to the shrine for a while and pay your respects to the Master. Then have your prasada.'

---

14 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Shivananda

The Rules Framed by Swamiji for the Guidance of the Order

Place: Belur Monastery

Time: Monday, May 13, 1929

It was morning. Mahapurushji was seated in his room. Many sadhus of the monastery were present, and the conversation turned on various topics. For the last few days a class was being held late in the evening, attended by almost all the monastic members. The rules formulated by Swami Vivekananda for the guidance of the Order were being studied at this class. One by one the rules were read and discussed. Swamis Suddhananda, Virajananda, and others present answered questions on difficult points.

With regard to the class Mahapurushji said: 'To hold a class like this is very good. This is a monastery. Here worship, study, meditation, japa and things of that nature should continue all the time.'

A monk: 'Nowadays the rules for the guidance of the Order are being read.'

Swami: 'That is very good. The words of Swamiji are those of a seer, expressed aphoristically. How many ideas are contained in each of his utterances! Many new things will be brought to light by discussing these rules. The more discussions of this kind you have at the monastery the better.

'Everyone should direct his attention to the ideal of his life. Devotion to God, faith, love, sympathy, fellow-feeling, purity—all these one should strive after. We have renounced our hearth and home and joined the Order. What is the meaning of this? Why are we here, living this organized life in the Order? We should pray earnestly so that we grow in the spirit of renunciation.'

A monk was standing nearby. Addressing him Mahapurushji said, 'Well, do you attend this class?'

Monk: 'No, sir. After the day's hard work I feel extremely tired in the evening. That is why I cannot attend the class.'

Swami: 'No, it is good to listen to these discussions. Swamiji was a seer with distant vision. He knew what would happen in the future, and therefore formulated these rules for the guidance of the Order. The more we discuss his words and try to practise them in life, the better for us. We are monks and the realization of God is the whole object of our lives. This world is a dangerous place. Here it is very difficult to pursue the ideal in the midst of multifarious activities. Sometimes there is the danger of one's having lapses.

As the Master used to say: "Children's feet slip while walking along the high pathways across fields. The child who holds his father's hand may sometimes lose his balance and fall down. But the child whose hand is held by his father is not in danger of falling."

Similarly, we too are treading the narrow and crooked path of this world and there is great danger of our falling down. But there is no danger of our falling if the Master holds us by the hand. The Master is certainly holding us by the hand; otherwise who knows where and when we would have fallen?

One should therefore earnestly pray: "Lord, may you hold our hand! Weak as we are, we are in danger of having lapses at every step, but we shall be safe if you hold us by the hand." He is the life of our life dwelling within. Sincere prayer will certainly bring response from him. He is the prophet of this age, born as Sri Ramakrishna for the establishment of religion. He will certainly be gracious to us. He is already gracious; otherwise he would not have brought us here. "He, the Lord of the Universe, born as the prophet of this age"—these are Swamiji's very words.

He is the prophet of this age. It will certainly be for a person's good to take refuge in him in this age. Let us surrender ourselves to him and pray (with folded hands):

"Master, may we grow in renunciation and dispassion! Make us pure! May we grow in love and sympathy! May you hold us by the hand!"

'Calumny, gossip and things of that nature are very bad. They drag the mind down. As long as one can, one should practise meditation, worship and study; the rest of the time one should keep silent, thinking about God. It is a good practice. Organization has its necessity and usefulness. That is why Swamiji founded this Order and introduced works of service for self-purification.'

---

15 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Shivananda

Devotion Is Essential

Place: Belur Monastery

Time: Thursday, May 9, 1929

A devotee wrote a letter begging for a pair of slippers used by Mahapurushji. It was his heart's desire to worship the slippers. Swami Shivananda remarked in that connection:

'Whether he worships the slippers or whatever else he may do, the most essential thing is devotion to God. God looks at one's sincerity. He dwells within every heart. Whatever is done with devotion pleases the Lord. Don't you see how people fashion images of Shiva with clay and worship them, thereby gaining in faith and devotion and attaining enlightenment and liberation?

Although it is only a clay image of Shiva, if it is worshipped with love and devotion, the Lord is pleased and accepts the worship. What is made of inert clay becomes conscious and living. The essence of everything is devotion.

Wherever there is devotion, know for certain that the grace of the Lord is there. External worship and things of that sort are just means to an end.'

The Anniversary of Buddha's Birth, The Thrice Blessed Day—Buddha's Renunciation—The Middle Path—Discussion of Buddhist Philosophy at the Cossipore Garden—Swamiji's Experience Under the Bodhi Tree

Place: Belur Monastery

Time: Thursday, May 23, 1929

It was the full moon day of the month of Vaishakha, the anniversary of the birth of Buddha. In the afternoon there was discussion on the life of Buddha. Several monks spoke.

The image of Buddha had been decorated with flowers, garlands and greens. Devotional songs were sung, followed by the reading of the biography of the Blessed One. The life and teaching of Buddha were discussed.

After supper Swami Omkarananda came to Mahapurushji's room and in the course of conversation remarked: 'It is a great day. Here at the monastery we have been observing it. In the afternoon we had lectures.'

Mahapurushji: 'Yes, it is indeed a great day, the thrice blessed day! Well, did you have that song? "For peace I seek; but where can peace be found? Whence have I come, and whither shall I go?"'

Swami Omkarananda: 'No, we didn't have that song because nobody knew it very well.'

Mahapurushji: 'That is an excellent song composed by Girish Babu.'

Saying this Mahapurushji sang the song.

Then he remarked: 'How beautifully Girish Babu worded it! He got the idea from the Lalitavistara which describes this feeling nicely. Buddha, then Prince Siddhartha, was making merry with his wife, Gopa, when some angels flying through space sang this song. Hearing it unexpectedly, Buddha was startled and an awakening came to him.

He said: "Who is singing that song? I know it very well. 'For peace I seek; but where can peace be found?' that is a song I have always known."

After hearing that song the trend of Buddha's mind suddenly changed. He could not give his heart to enjoyment any more, constantly remaining in a state of dispassion. King Shuddhodana, Buddha's father, coming to know of this, tried various means to divert Buddha's mind, and by placing many temptations before him hoped to draw his mind to the pleasures of the world. But Buddha being fully awakened, all efforts in this direction proved futile. Then one night he left the palace.

About the middle path also, Girish Babu composed a song containing ideas found in the Lalitavistara:

My lovely vina, strung with care

With many a strand,

The rarest melodies will yield

Beneath a master's hand;

Let it be but rightly tuned!

Not high nor low?

And from it in a hundred streams

Enchanting songs will flow.

But over-slack, the strings are dumb

And the music dies;

While overstretched, they snap in twain,

And away the music flies.

---

16 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

For Seekers of God

'That was indeed a time. What renunciation, dispassion and austerity we had! When God comes to this world as a man, then flows a current of spirituality. Many are blessed by getting the light of knowledge; many attain emancipation.'

Swami Omkarananda: 'In the hills of Pareshnath as many as twenty-five monks attained illumination. Out of that number fifteen or sixteen were Jain monks, the rest Buddhists.'

Mahapurushji: 'At one time we too discussed Buddhist philosophy a great deal. That was long ago. At that time we, including Swamiji and others, were living with the Master at the garden house at Cossipore. Swamiji was well versed in Buddhism. We too read a little. We used to have hot arguments.

In those days we didn't believe in the existence of God. Some of the devotees felt very much hurt to note this tendency in us. Swamiji himself would not say much. He would egg me on. I would argue my point vigorously. Swamiji would listen quietly and enjoy the fun. Sometimes I would even say that it was harmful to have body-consciousness, for it would be a handicap in meditation. Even the thought of God would not allow the mind to be free from modifications. It was not that we only expressed ourselves that way; our meditations and experiences also were of that nature. We couldn't think otherwise in those days; we were so absorbed in those ideas.

Some devotees brought the matter to the notice of the Master who remarked: "What they say is also true. There is a stage in spiritual life when the seeker does not admit the existence of God."

This tendency of ours lasted quite long. Even after we moved to the monastery at Baranagore, after the death of the Master, these ideas continued. We were still atheistic.

One day the Master appeared to me and said: "Well, the Guru is all in all. There is no one higher than the Guru."

The moment I had that vision these ideas left me and did not return again. Sri Ramakrishna was a divine incarnation born to establish religion. Why should he allow a narrow or one-sided idea in us?'

---

17 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Shivananda

Swami Omkarananda: 'Didn't you once slip off to Bodh Gaya during the Master's lifetime without telling him anything about it?'

Mahapurushji: 'Yes, we went with Swamiji. There we sat for meditation under the Bodhi tree. We became quite absorbed in meditation. Suddenly Swamiji burst into tears in a state of spiritual ecstasy and embraced me. I was seated by his side. Later he came down to the normal plane and became absorbed in deep meditation again.

The next day, in the course of conversation, I asked Swamiji about this matter.

He replied: "I felt a deep pang in my heart. Everything here is as it was before. Here in Bodh Gaya we have Buddha's ideas in an intensified form. His renunciation, his dispassion, his great compassion and deep spirituality, all these are here; but where is he, the living embodiment of those ideas and ideals? I so keenly felt the absence of Lord Buddha that I couldn't control myself. That is why I burst into tears and embraced you." The few days that we spent in Bodh Gaya we were in a very blissful mood.'

'Yes, after illumination Buddha experienced so much joy that he walked up and down the whole night. He walked around in an ecstatic mood, enjoying the bliss of Self-realization.'

That night we had long discussions about Lord Buddha.

---

18 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Swami Shivananda

When a devotee saluted the Swami and inquired about his health he remarked: 'My body is not at all well. How can it be well, my child? From now on the body will become feeble. That is the nature of the body. The body is subject to a sixfold change.'

Devotee: 'You can be well if you only will!'

Mahapurushji: 'No, my child, that cannot be. All bodies are bound to disintegrate some day. "To-day or after a century it will be confiscated", don't you know that? The body has its death; that is certain. This body of mine has lived a long time—seventy-six or seventy-seven years. How much longer can it live?

If the body dies, what is that to me? I am certainly not the body. The Master has been kind enough to reveal this to me. The body made of the five elements will go back to the five elements, and I myself will pass on to that divine realm, the abode of immortality, where there is neither old age nor death, neither happiness nor unhappiness.

The Master has been gracious enough to reveal that knowledge to me and he continues to give me more and more of it.'

---

19 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

In an Organization Where Many Live Together Friction May Occur—Patience and Forgiveness Necessary

Place: Belur Monastery

Time: Friday, July 26, 1929

It was afternoon. Mahapurushji had just finished his shave. Seeing a monastic worker of the orphanage at Baranagore, he called him to his side.

In the course of conversation the Swami remarked: 'How can you leave now? Let S. return; then perhaps you may go. And why do you want to go at all? Even here, after attending to your regular work, you will have plenty of time for spiritual practice. It is simply a matter of mental attitude. If the mind has a natural leaning towards God, one can make time and opportunity for spiritual practice. What is essential is earnestness. If you cannot carry on your spiritual practice here, you won't be able to do so anywhere.

The Master used to say, "He who has it here, has it there too." That is a statement full of truth, my child. Call upon God and pray to Him with great sincerity. He will give you an abundance of devotion and faith. Why should you go? You are doing the Lord's work. Is it a small matter?'

Monk: 'In season and out of season, K. says whatever comes to his mind.' Saying this, he started crying.

Mahapurushji: 'I had a feeling there was a misunderstanding between you two. Why does he use abusive language? I know very well that you do not deserve that treatment. You are a gentle, good-natured person. Why don't you ask K. to come and see me some time? I will explain matters to him.

Do not take it to heart, my child. You know, when pots that are together are moved, friction is inevitable. Do not take it seriously. Misunderstandings are bound to occur sometimes and they are straightened out eventually. It takes two hands to clap. Let him say whatever he wishes. Just endure it all quietly. That will prevent misunderstandings. You will have to be a little humble. You will have to sacrifice a little. You have dedicated your body, mind and soul to the Master's work. You have renounced everything for his sake. You will have to do this much also for his work. You should practise forbearance, you should sacrifice for his work. The Lord will bless you abundantly.'

Monk: 'Please bless me so that I can do it.'

Mahapurushji: 'Certainly you will be able to. You have my hearty blessings, my child. But you must pray to the Master sincerely, too. He will give you greater strength. You have come here renouncing everything for his sake. There is nothing that he will withhold from you. How will his work go on if you all do not live at peace in one place? Be patient for his sake, paying no attention to what people say, good or bad. You are all sadhus and have come here with the idea of improving yourselves. You do not have any other desire or wish in your life. You want him alone.

Temporary misunderstandings are inevitable when several work together. They aren't something to be blamed for; it is quite natural. Such misunderstandings come and go; they cannot touch your inner Self, because the main objective of your life is the realization of God. Such petty matters as attachment and aversion cannot deeply affect you. This is what we feel. The work that you are carrying on is being done in a spirit of service. This work is purifying your mind day by day. You have no selfish motive in your work. You should carry on your spiritual practices along with your works of service. Whenever you can, practise japa, meditate upon God and pray to Him sincerely.

The moment you have a feeling of weakness or of lacking in anything, tell the Master about it. If you pray very sincerely, you are bound to get a response. Repeat his name often. The repetition of his name will purify your body and mind, washing away all impurities. You have renounced everything in order to be sadhus. The realization of God is the aim of your life, my child. Your ideal is "to remain unaffected by praise or blame, to be silent and contented with a little". Balance in praise or blame, silence and being satisfied with whatever comes—this is the state at which you should aim. You should be absorbed in God. What does it matter to you what people say about you?'

---

20 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Shivananda

The Greatness of Puri

"After arriving in Puri, I didn't go for the darshan of Jagannath. Maharaj noticed this and one day asked me, 'Well, brother Tarak, won't you go to see Lord Jagannath?'

'I will go soon,' I replied. Actually, the deity at the Jagannath temple is not very beautiful, and I had heard Swamiji often make fun of it. That is why I was not much inclined to visit the temple.

But I went to the temple one day, since Maharaj had asked me to. Lo! When I was standing in front of the altar, an extraordinary thing happened! Lord Jagannath graciously granted me the vision of His universal form. I was completely overwhelmed and sort of lost control over myself.

Somehow I was able to make pranams and come out of the temple. Returning to our place of residence, I lay down quietly on the bed. When I next met Maharaj, he asked me with a laugh about my visit to the Jagannath temple.

I was still intoxicated with the vision I had had. I said, 'It was a very blissful experience.' It was as if Maharaj had somehow come to know about the vision I had had. After that, I visited the temple many times. On my later visits to Puri, one of the first things I would do on reaching there was visit the temple.

Lord Jagannath is a highly awakened deity. I now understand why Maharaj visits Puri so often."

21 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda (Khoka Maharaj)

Ganga Puja is celebrated at Belur Math every year. After worshipping the Ganga with flowers, etc., fruits and sweets are offered to it. These are thrown into the river from the steps of the ghat. Monastics stand in the river, close to the steps, waiting to catch the fruits and sweets! Among them would be present the child-like Khoka Maharaj.

Although he didn't know how to swim, he would stand in waist-deep water and eat the offerings right there like a young boy.

Together with two other brahmacharis, I too was standing and waiting in the Ganga that year. Khoka Maharaj also came and started to eat the offerings. Some of us dove underwater, caught hold of his legs, and tried to pull his feet out from under him. Helpless, he made a lunge at me and kept himself from falling into water by throwing his arms round my neck, giggling all the while. So, I had to walk up the steps carrying him in my arms.

Khoka Maharaj was so simple and unassuming that we considered him to be one of us. We would forget that he was a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna himself. He greatly sympathized with us and was loved dearly by all the monks. He did not want to receive anybody's service.

Once, while bathing in the Ganga, I saw him entering the water with a small bucket in his hand. When I asked him what was in the bucket, he laughed and said: "I have brought some clothes to wash, but will wait till you finish your bath." I quickly took the bucket away from him and washed his clothes.

He used to eat very little. His teeth had fallen out and since he didn't have any dentures, a little rice and dal would constitute his meal. He would do various types of work on his own and would feel intensely for people who were poor and distressed.

He would smoke tobacco in a hand-held bulbous hookah a few times a day. He smoked a little just before going to sleep also. Once, I had the opportunity to give him a massage every evening and arrange for his smoke.

One day, while I was massaging him, he said, "Shankar, today I will not smoke before going to sleep." Wondering if this was due to some lapse on my part, I requested him to tell me the reason for this. In reply he laughed and said: "You haven't done anything wrong.

Yesterday, the Master came in the dead of night. He sat on my bed and told me with some irritation, 'Khoka, you smell so much of tobacco that I am unable to sit near you.' Saying this, he went away. That is why I no longer want to smoke at night."

I was stunned to hear this. He was talking about the Master's vision as if it was a most ordinary thing! My hair stood on end and my tongue failed me. Thinking that it would be improper for me to sit on the cot on which the Master had sat, I immediately knelt down on the ground beside the bed and continued my massage. Khoka Maharaj grew very serious after telling about his vision of the Master. I mentally made pranams to the cot on which the Master had sat, and thinking about the Master's divine relationship with his disciples, slowly left the room.

Khoka Maharaj reduced his smoking after this, and gave it up completely when it was suspected that he had some disease of the lungs.

(From Divine Realm by Swami Apurvanandaji)

---

22 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda

During his stay in Vrindavan, Subodhananda circumambulated the playground of Krishna, a distance of 168 miles. He covered this long journey alone without any belongings.

One day a woman saw him, and inflamed by lust, attacked him from behind. Frightened, he prayed to the Master aloud for protection. Immediately, the woman fell on the ground, unconscious.

---

From Vrindavan, Subodhananda left for a pilgrimage in the Himalayas. He visited the holy shrines of Kedarnath and Badrinath. While he was practising austerities in Haridwar, the following incident occurred.

The Swami narrates: I had been suffering from fever for two months. I was so weak that I could not lift my water pot to pour water into my mouth. One night when I went near the water pot to quench my thirst, I fell down on the floor unconscious.

When I regained consciousness, my feelings were hurt and I cried:

"Master, I am suffering terribly. There is none to look after me. You didn't give me sufficient strength even to drink a glass of water by myself."

Thinking thus I fell asleep. Then I saw [in a dream or vision] the Master stroking my body with his hand, and he said: "Why are you anxious? Don't you see I am always near you? What do you want—attendants or money?"

I replied: "I don't want none of those things. I can't avoid disease as long as I have a body. May I never forget you: that is all I want. Be with me wherever I go."

Next day early in the morning I heard a voice from outside, "Maharaj, please open the door."

I got up and opened the door. A young monk told me: "Please tell me what you need. I shall beg food for you."

I said to him, "I don't want anything."

When I asked how he knew about me, he said that he had arrived there a couple of days earlier to perform a religious rite at the Brahmakunda. The previous night Mother Durga had appeared to him in a vision and said, "You will get more virtue by serving that sick monk in the cottage than by performing this religious rite."

So early in the morning the monk came to my cottage and realized that his vision was true. Tears trickled from my eyes. I controlled myself and asked the young monk to let me live alone.

On the same day another monk received fifty rupees by money order. He came to me and said: "You are suffering from fever. You need food and medicine. Please use this money."

I declined his offer. Early the next morning the young monk came again and told me that at night Mother Durga had exhorted him to serve me as before. Then I told him politely that I really didn't need any service and that perhaps Mother Durga had asked him to serve someone else. The young monk left.

Then I prayed to the Master: "Please don't tempt me anymore. I am glad that you have crushed my pique."

The young monk came also on the third day, but never again.

---

23 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda

When Subodhanandaji was practising austerities in Gaya he had a life-threatening experience which he later described:

"It was the month of August. I saw a person wade through the Phalgu River and reach the other side. It was waist-deep, so I also decided to cross. My companion knew how to swim, but I didn't.

Suddenly the river swelled with a strong current because of heavy rain. When I had crossed a certain distance, I suddenly found myself in throat-deep water.

I realized that there was very little chance of saving my life. So I said to my companion: 'I don't know where this current will take me. There is little chance for my life. Please convey my salutations to my brother disciples.'

Then I prayed to the Master, 'Please accept my last pranam.' As soon as I said that, I was completely submerged. I felt that someone held my hand and pulled me through that gushing stream to the other side of the river."

---

During his itinerant days, Subodhananda would sometimes sleep under a tree by the side of a road. The ground was his bed, and his arms were his pillow.

He described one night's experience while he was passing through Bihar or Uttar Pradesh:

"Once on my way I slept under a banyan tree at night. After a while I had a dream.

I saw an old woman telling me: 'Quick, get up. Because of you the snakes are unable to get out of their holes. Go forward a little, and you will find a police station. You can spend the night there.'

'Will they allow me to stay?' I asked her.

She said: 'Yes, they will allow you to sleep there. When you knock at their door, they will ask, "Who are you?" Say to them, "I am a mendicant."'

I awoke and according to the instructions of the old woman, I got shelter in the veranda of the police station. The next morning I went to check the ground under the banyan tree and found many holes. The local people told me that the place was infested with cobras."

Someone asked the swami, "Who was that woman?" After a brief silence, the swami replied, "It was the Divine Mother."

---

24 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda

In 1897 Subodhananda gave a lecture to the Young Men's Hindu Association in Madras on "Sannyasa and Brahmacharya," which was published in the November 1898 issue of Prabuddha Bharata.

Following are some excerpts:

Sannyasa is the renunciation of all selfish motives and desires. Before I explain what sannyasa is, I should speak to you about brahmacharya; for unless the latter is realized, no sannyasa or renunciation is possible.

The observance of brahmacharya requires strict regulation of one's diet, habits, and thoughts. Of all the injunctions prescribed for this stage, the greatest stress is laid by the scriptures upon the complete mastery of the sexual instinct. Nothing should be sensed or done by the aspirant that might directly or otherwise tend to arouse the animal in him or her. In this way one is directed to bring one's mind under full control. He who is not a slave to his senses and mind, but on the contrary has made them his slaves, is a true brahmacharin.

All the religions of the world preach this brahmacharya and sannyasa, both of which have one and the same end in view, namely, to lift the mind up from all sensual concerns towards God. When the mind reaches God it enjoys divine bliss.

Our Master used to say that if we wanted to pass a thread through the eye of a needle all the scattered fibres of the thread should be brought to a point and then alone could we make it go through the needle; otherwise, if the fibres were allowed to point in all directions they would prevent the thread from passing through the eye; similarly, if we want to lift our mind up towards God, we must bring it back from all external things and concentrate it on one point.

Our Master says that as rain water does not stand upon high ground but always seeks a lower level, similarly, those who are puffed up with vanity cannot retain any faith in God, for faith always seeks the hearts of the humble and the meek.

As long as there are quarrels among different individuals and sects, they do not rise up to realize the highest truth.

"My God is the true God, your God is false," is the talk of men groping in the darkness of ignorance.

When a man realizes God he cannot quarrel. But when he is distant from God, he is more or less given to quarrelling.

---

25 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda

Swamiji noticed that Subodhananda avoided women; he didn't even talk to them.

One day Swamiji said: "Khoka, women devotees come to hear about the Master; please talk to them. If you avoid them, where will they go? They are the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Treat them as your mother or daughter."

From then on, Subodhananda would associate with women and address them as "Mother."

When Vivekananda's Western women devotees came to Belur Math, he would send Subodhananda to look after them and supply their needs.

Once Subodhananda said to Swamiji: "Please excuse me. I can neither speak English properly nor can I understand their language."

Swamiji said: "You will not have to worry about that. When they tell you 'Thank you,' you say to them, 'I don't care.'"

However, when Subodhananda followed Swamiji's instruction, the women devotees were puzzled. They laughed when they discovered that it was Swamiji's mischief.

---

Once Subodhananda was going to Kolkata from Belur Math by steamer. On the way, a few young men from Bali started criticizing Vivekananda.

Subodhananda boldly told them: "Do you give any donation to Belur Math? If so, please stop it from today. What will you gain by criticizing Swamiji? Neither will your criticism make Swamiji's hands fall off, nor will your praise help him grow two more hands."

When he heard that those young men did not help Belur Math, the swami said: "Then why do you criticize unnecessarily? Can you appreciate the monks? You work like slaves under English officers and you are supposed to flatter them; if you make any mistake, they will kick you out with their boots."

A few days later, one of those young men came to Belur Math and apologized to Subodhananda: "Maharaj, the other day out of sheer ignorance, we did wrong. Your words came true. One of us was kicked out of the office by an English officer."

---

26 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda

Subodhananda's love and respect for Swamiji was phenomenal. Once in Varanasi, Swami Raghavananda asked him: "Maharaj, who is greater—Trailinga Swami or Swamiji?" Subodhananda replied: "Trailinga Swami is the greatest among men, but Swamiji is Shiva Himself.

If anybody criticized Swamiji before the Master, he would say, 'Here the Lord Shiva has been criticized, please sprinkle a little Ganga water.'"

As a Guru, and Trips to East Bengal

Subodhananda's unassuming nature and plain clothing hid the fact that he was a great soul and a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna; but his renunciation and simple, joyful face attracted devotees. In the monastery he wore an ochre cloth, a T-shirt, and a pair of slippers. He washed his own clothes, and ate with the other monks on the floor of the dining room.

Subodhananda was reluctant to give spiritual instructions to devotees. If anybody approached him for initiation, he would say: "What do I know about initiation? I am a Khoka. You go to Swami Brahmananda or Holy Mother—they are highly spiritual."

Once Holy Mother said: "Why does Khoka not initiate people? As long as the Master's disciples are alive, let the people receive their grace."

He also received a command from the Master to instruct people. In 1915 Subodhananda began to initiate devotees.

---

27 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda

Once in later years some devotees from East Bengal came to Swami Shivananda, then the president of the Ramakrishna Order, and invited him to Dhaka. The swami was not well, so he asked Subodhananda to go instead.

Subodhananda replied: "Oh, no, I can't go there. There are many big rivers in East Bengal and I am afraid to cross them." Knowing his nature, Shivananda did not press him any further at that time.

However, on 7 May 1924, Subodhananda went to dedicate the Ramakrishna Temple at Sonargaon, Dhaka, at the behest of Shivananda.

"People of East Bengal," said Shivananda, "are greatly devoted to Sri Ramakrishna. Please initiate them."

Subodhananda obeyed and initiated many people, even children. After returning to Belur Math, he informed Shivananda that he had initiated one and all, including children.

Shivananda asked, "How will the children practise meditation and japa?"

He replied, "You ordered me to initiate everybody, so I deprived none."

---

Subodhananda was extremely self-effacing and did not consider himself to be a guru. Once a woman disciple asked him: "Swami, I don't know the Gayatri mantra or ritual or chanting. People practise the Gayatri thrice a day. Could you teach me all those disciplines?"

Subodhananda said humbly: "Mother, I don't know all those things either. You see, I am a Khoka (Baby). I have given you what I have received from the Master, what I have known from my own experience, and what has kept me in a blissful state. Please control your mind and practise japa and meditation."

---

28 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Reminiscences of Swami Subodhananda

After Vivekananda returned from the West in 1897, he founded the Ramakrishna Mission. He asked his brother-disciples to propagate practical Vedanta as taught by Sri Ramakrishna for the good of humanity. Swamiji wanted his brother-disciples to become accustomed to speaking in public, so he persuaded them to give weekly lectures by turn in the Alambazar Monastery.

When Subodhananda's turn came he tried in vain to be excused. The other monks thought that this was very funny and gathered eagerly in the hall to watch Khoka.

At last Subodhananda mounted the platform—miserable and unwilling—and opened his mouth to speak. But before he could say a word, the building began to vibrate and rock, and trees crashed down outside. This was the devastating earthquake of 12 June 1897. The meeting was dissolved.

Swamiji humorously said, "Well, Khoka, you have made an earth-shaking speech!" All laughed, including Subodhananda.

---

Swamiji noticed that Subodhananda avoided women; he didn't even talk to them. One day Swamiji said: "Khoka, women devotees come to hear about the Master; please talk to them. If you avoid them, where will they go? They are the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Treat them as your mother or daughter."

From then on, Subodhananda would associate with women and address them as "Mother."

When Vivekananda's Western women devotees came to Belur Math, he would send Subodhananda to look after them and supply their needs.

Once Subodhananda said to Swamiji: "Please excuse me. I can neither speak English properly nor can I understand their language."

Swamiji said: "You will not have to worry about that. When they tell you 'Thank you,' you say to them, 'I don't care.'"

However, when Subodhananda followed Swamiji's instruction, the women devotees were puzzled. They laughed when they discovered that it was Swamiji's mischief.

---

From his boyhood, Subodhananda loved to drink tea. One night at Belur Math, Vivekananda was meditating in his room; Brahmananda and Subodhananda were sleeping in the next room. When Swamiji finished his meditation, he woke up Subodhananda and asked if he would mind bringing him a pipe to smoke. Subodhananda did so, and Vivekananda was so pleased that he exclaimed impulsively, "Any boon you ask for shall be granted!"

"What could I possibly ask for?" said Subodhananda. "The Master gave us everything we need."

But Brahmananda said, "No, Khoka, ask for something."

So Subodhananda considered carefully and then said, "Grant me this—that I may never, for the rest of my life, miss my daily cup of tea."

Many years later, Subodhananda was asked whether this boon had really been granted. He answered that it had and that the tea had sometimes arrived without his expectation, just as he was about to go to sleep at night.

---

29 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Talks by Swami Saradananda

Disciple: "—instructs his disciples not to practise Japa without taking bath etc. Are such observances compulsory?"

Swami: "The Master came to make religion easy. People were being crushed under the weight of rules and regulations. To repeat the Lord's name and to worship Him no special time and place are necessary. In whatever condition one may be, one can take His name.

The Master never used to give too much importance to these external observances.

As to means, adopt whichever suits you best. If you like God with form, that will also lead you to the goal. If you like God without form, well and good; stick to it and you will progress. If you doubt His very existence, then better put the question to Him thus: 'I do not know whether Thou existeth or not, whether Thou art formless or with form. Do Thou make known to me Thy real nature.'

As to changing of clothes, taking bath, and other external observances, if you can observe them, well and good; if not, go on calling on Him without paying much attention to all these.

The Master once sang a song to me and told me, 'Assimilate any one of these ideas and you will reach the goal.' The song runs as follows:

'O Lord, Thou art my everything, the sole support of my life, the quintessence of reality. There is none else besides Thee in this world whom I can call as my own.

'Thou art happiness, peace, help, wealth, knowledge, intellect, and strength; Thou art the dwelling house and the pleasure garden; Thou art the friend and relative.

'Thou art this present life, the sole refuge; Thou art the life hereafter and the heaven; Thou art the injunction of the scriptures, the Guru full of blessings, and the store of infinite bliss.

'Thou art the way and the goal; Thou art the creator and preserver and the worshipped; Thou art the father that punishest Thy child, the loving mother and the storehouse of infinite bliss art Thou.'"

---

30 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Saradananda

Disciple: "The Master used to say that Sraddha food is harmful to Bhakti. Why is it so?"

Swami: "The object of food is to build a strong body and a fine intellect. Unless the body and the mind are pure it is not possible to go through spiritual practices. It is the food offered to God that builds a pure body and mind.

The Sraddha food is offered to the manes and not to God and as a result instead of building a pure mind and body it affects people otherwise. Food builds the body and the mind and the nature of the food also affects them.

In Chaitanya's life we have a case where an ordinary man who happened to touch him in a state of ecstasy was also overpowered by religious emotions. He was prescribed to take Sraddha food to get over these emotions and as a matter of fact this food did put an end to that person's ecstatic moods."

Disciple: "Why is the time of an eclipse considered auspicious for the practice of Japa?"

Swami: "Man becomes thoughtful when such a natural phenomenon takes place. Eclipse brings about a great change in the sphere of nature. At such a juncture when nature passes from one condition to another, the mind becomes calm and so the time is favourable for the practice of Japa and meditation."

Disciple: "Have any realized God through mere work?"

Swami: "Through selfless work the mind gets purified. And when the mind becomes pure, there arise Knowledge and devotion in it. Knowledge is the very nature of the Self but being covered with ignorance it is not manifest. The object of selfless work is to remove this covering. As a matter of fact Knowledge dawns as soon as the mind becomes pure.

In the Mahabharata you have the story of the chaste lady who attained Knowledge through service to her husband and through other household duties. In the Gita also you find, 'By work alone Janaka and others attained perfection.' Not one but many attained perfection through work, for the text adds 'and others'.

Disciple: "Does work here mean Japa, meditation, etc.?"

Swami: "No. That meaning is given by the commentators. If it were so then Sri Krishna would have asked Arjuna to ring bells and wave lights before an image of God. Instead, he made him fight."

---

31 May 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Saradananda

Disciple: "Did Arjuna fight without any sense of ego, as an instrument in the hands of the Lord?"

Swami: "Certainly. If the ego persists even after the vision of the Universal Form, then of what use is the vision? Arjuna says, 'My delusion is destroyed and I have regained memory through Thy grace.'"

Disciple: "What is the meaning of the word 'memory' in that verse?"

Swami: "Arjuna had forgotten the teachings of the scriptures and of the Guru. All those principles, adhering to which Arjuna was progressing he had forgotten, overcome by delusion. Fear, love of relatives, and respect for his elders had created this delusion.

The Advaitists interpret 'memory' as 'the regaining of the consciousness of his real nature'. They too have given a very fine interpretation.

"When the Vaishnavas progress in their spiritual practice and reach the Advaita consciousness, they avoid it and try to keep permanently a relationship with the Lord. They consider that to become one with Him is an obstacle in their way and so the moment they get a scent of this consciousness they become alert to ward it off.

In fact to Santa-bhava, or the peaceful devotion, which is the culmination of Advaita Sadhana, they give the lowest place. They develop the emotional side and direct it towards the Lord—this they think to be the highest goal. From the highest pitch of emotion we have the Madhura-bhava or the sweet conjugal relationship with the Lord."

Disciple: "What is the meaning of the verse, 'Relinquishing all Dharmas take refuge in Me alone' etc.?"

Swami: "Here Dharma means ritualistic works, Japa, etc. Tilak interprets it as the Dharma spoken of in the Mahabharata, viz. service to parents, guests, etc. But this is not correct, for even through such service some attained Knowledge. His interpretation of the Gita is one-sided, for he wants to show that the object of the whole Gita is to establish the superiority of the path of work. The Gita praises highly self-effort (Purushakara). In this verse the Lord hints that this self-effort has a limit."

1 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Saradananda

Disciple: "Why is the Kundalini imagined to be like a snake?"

Swami: "I am not sure of the exact reason; probably because of the impressions of myriads of lives heaped up in coils or of the upward motion of the awakened Kundalini which is in a zig-zag way like that of a serpent. Describing the Kundalini the Master once said, while in ecstasy, 'Have you seen the serpent?'"

Disciple: "What is the nature of the meditation on the formless?"

Swami: "The meditation of the Lord in the Sahasrara, which you do at the time of Bhuta Suddhi in ceremonial worship, is meditation on the formless. When you do not like any form meditate on the formless. If the meditation on the form of the Guru is more appealing at any time then better meditate on the Guru, for the Lord manifests through the Guru."

Disciple: "Is mechanical repetition of the Mantra of any use?"

Swami: "The Tantras say that through the repetition of the Mantra, realization is attained. I should think so."

Disciple: "I am trying to follow all your instructions, but somehow I find that I am not quite at home in my spiritual practices. Sometimes they are mechanical without any life in them."

Swami: "If you follow the same routine every day it is but natural that you should feel so sometimes. But then on those days when you like any particular portion of the Sadhana, devote yourself to that and let the other parts go. In this way probably you may be neglecting particular practices for three or four days at a stretch. But that does not matter. When you renew these practices you will find delight in them.

"Before you meditate think of the Master. If you do that you will see that whatever you do will yield good results. Sometimes think that he is in everything and everywhere. That you are, as it were, immersed in him even as a pot is immersed in the ocean. Think thus: 'That Supreme State of the all-pervading Deity the sages realize for all time like the sky extending as far as sight can go.' He knows everything about you. You cannot hide anything from him. He knows even your inmost thoughts.

"Of course one is much benefited by regular practice. If one practises regularly for some time every day, one gains strength and finds pleasure in spiritual practices."

Disciple: "I have read much about the Master. Through books I have been able to know much about his life. Yet when I think of his life I do not find pleasure in it. Why is it so?"

Swami: "To find pleasure in anything both the brain and the heart must unite. Through mere intellectualism one does not get pleasure. Everything becomes lifeless. If what you have read about the Master appeals also to your heart then alone you will get delight by thinking on his life. He would then seem to be living."

---

2 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Saradananda

Disciple: "Formerly I was eager to give up service and devote myself wholly to spiritual practices. Now I do not feel such hankering. There is no desire for change of environment. But then I find that the mind is more and more attracted towards Japa and meditation and the reading of the scriptures. How is it that I do not have nowadays that former longing for solitude?"

Swami: "What of that? The scriptures say that if one can attain Knowledge through spiritual practices even when he is engaged in work then one need not give up work. Have you not heard of Dharma-Vyadha? Even the work of a butcher he did not think to be bad after he had attained Knowledge. If the mind is drawn towards Him then where is the need for change of environment? When nothing is possible without His will, then what is the use of planning? It is better to depend on Him and do as He makes us do. Moreover, if you change your environment it will require an effort to get yourself adjusted to the new conditions. Therefore let the environment remain as it is. In these circumstances go on calling on Him. When, through His will, the environment will change, then accept it."

The question of Karma Yoga was raised by someone, and the Swami said: "'You have no right to the results of your work,' the result depends on various factors among which your effort is only one. The aspirant must try all means for the fulfilment of his immediate duty but should not get disappointed if he is not successful. For though one of the factors may be fulfilled well, yet the work may not turn out successful for want of the other factors. Hence to do one's best and be at peace without being anxious about the result is called Karma Yoga."

Disciple: "Does 'Renouncing every undertaking' (Gita) mean the renunciation of all work or the performance of work without the idea of ego?"

Swami: "Do the work in hand to the best of your abilities. You have to plan or utilize various means for the fulfilment of this work. But then do not take in fresh work. Do to the best of your abilities that work which has fallen to your share. It is not good to take up work aggressively. If you take up work like that you will find that you cannot perform any of them well. As a result you get worried and your mind is upset."

There was a talk on the refraction of light and the Swami in the course of conversation said: "When I was travelling by train through Gujerat I used to see water on either side of the line extending for miles and miles. I wondered whence so much water could come? But afterwards it struck me that it must have been the mirage.

"After one realizes God, the world seems to be a mere appearance like the mirage. There is nothing in it that can attract one. Just as one who sees water in a mirage knows full well that there is no water there; so also, though the world of names and forms is there, one knows that it is all Maya, an illusion.

"First, you have to attain Knowledge. After attaining Knowledge when one returns to this world of diversity, one will see everything as before but will no longer be attached to anything in it. Before realizing the illusion one hopes for water in a mirage, but when one realizes its nature, though one may be seeing the mirage, one no longer expects any water in it. So also, though the world of diversity would still have to be experienced after Knowledge, yet one no longer takes it to be real and so has no longer any attachment for it."

---

3 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Saradananda

B: "Maharaj, the Master has exhorted us to 'make the thought tally with speech.' What does it mean?"

Swami: "That you must be sincere, that your inner life should tally with the outer."

B: "It is naturally so. Whatever we speak we think in our mind."

Swami: "But is it not rare? We utter the name of the Lord superficially, too superficially. We say, 'I am Thy servant; Thou art my Master; Thou art my Lord; I have renounced all for Thee; I call Thee, Lord, come unto me.' But we harbour withal all sorts of evil thoughts in the mind. This won't do. As you speak, so you must think. This means, while you take the name of the Lord think of Him alone. Sri Chaitanya used to say, 'That is verily That.' That is to say, Name is verily God Himself. They are inseparable."

B: "Well, Maharaj, is mere repetition of Name enough in the beginning?"

Swami: "So it is. But the Idea corresponding to the Name slowly grows."

D: "We have the infinite compassion of the Master and Swamiji upon us. You too have showered blessings on us. Yet we do not seem to be making any appreciable progress."

Swami: "Compassion and blessing undoubtedly are there. But can deep-rooted Samskaras (past impressions) be erased in a day? They are erased gradually. You have renounced home for the sake of God—this itself is an attainment. You are surely progressing, and you will do so more and more. The Master and Swamiji have infinite compassion on us. Make up your minds now and plunge into Sadhana (spiritual practice). You will then see for yourselves whether you progress or not. You must labour hard before you realize the Truth."

B: "What are we to do if any other image than that of the Ishta (Chosen Deity) appears during meditation?"

Swami: "Think then that the Ishta has appeared in that form. Thus the form will slowly disappear and the Ishta will reappear."

M: "Should we do so whatever be the form that appears?"

Swami: "No. Do this only when the form of a saint appears."

M: "What about an ordinary form?"

Swami: "Drive that resolutely away, and try to reinstall the image of the Ishta with all your might. How can you meditate on a shoe-maker's shop if it suddenly comes and distracts your mind?"

S: "The Master used to say, 'After making the knowledge of Oneness your own you can go wherever you like.' What does it mean?"

Swami: "Not 'Go wherever you like', but 'Do whatever you like.' He meant evidently that after attaining Supreme Knowledge one cannot commit any evil deed. How can one who has realized God or attained Knowledge through discrimination, renunciation, love, devotion and purity, do mischief? Such a man necessarily can do no wrong."

R: "Is it possible to attain the knowledge of Oneness through Sakara Upasana (worship of Divine Forms)?"

Swami: "Why not? It leads to the knowledge of Oneness in time."

B: "How does it culminate, Maharaj? Is it that immanence of God is realized in all, or does everything disappear completely?"

Swami: "Both. You will understand it as you progress in your Sadhana. Practise, and you will feel. What's the use of idle talk? Take to Japa and meditation for some time at least. Otherwise, it will be like the utterance of the some wandering Sadhus, 'divinity is verily my own nature' and then enjoying palatable dishes. Labour hard and you will know everything in time. No use putting such abstruse questions. It will lead to nothing. Everyone talks but no one does anything. Exertion brings its own reward. Why not practise as per the instructions you received?"

---

4 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Saradananda

B: "Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda) has said, 'Meditate in the heart.' By 'heart' what particular spot is meant?"

Swami: "(Placing his hand on the heart) This is what we usually mean—the pit of the stomach. This is the heart. Here one should meditate on the Ishta, seated on a red lotus of eight petals. The image of the Guru in a white lotus should be meditated upon in the head above the eye-brows."

"Who is an Isvarakoti?"

Swami: "I am not an Isvarakoti that I can properly explain it."

H: "I wish to know what the scriptures say about it."

Swami: "Isvarakotis come to the world to fulfil some divine missions. They are born with perfect Knowledge. Such were sages like Narada, Sukadeva, and others. According to Vedanta they are born with the veil of Maya."

H: "What then is the difference between a Jivanmukta and an Isvarakoti?"

Swami: "An ordinary Jiva has to attain everything through tremendous exertion. When he reaches the Advaita stage he can no longer return to the ordinary plane of existence. But Isvarakotis are born with Incarnations for the good of the world with Maya's veil outside but perfect Knowledge within. They can come down even from the Supreme State. But is it possible for ordinary souls?"

"Is an Incarnation always conscious of his real nature?"

Swami: "Yes, he is always established in perfect Knowledge. But according to his sweet will, he occasionally puts on the veil of Maya."

"What is then the significance of his spiritual Sadhana?"

Swami: "Putting on the veil of his own choice he feels wants like ordinary mortals. This explains his Sadhana etc. Do you know what others are like? They are like salt dolls which go to sound the depths of the sea. They get dissolved in the sea water and never return."

K: "Maharaj, is it due to the difference in power or Knowledge?"

Swami: "It is due to the difference in power (Sakti). You know what the Master said about it. Three men were taking a walk. Suddenly they heard sweet sounds, music, etc., inside a big enclosure. Finding no door to go into the enclosure, one of them fetched a ladder and got upon the wall with great difficulty. He saw to his amazement that there was a wonderful performance of dance, music, and the like. Overwhelmed with joy, he at once leapt inside without saying anything about this to his companions. The second man also went up and leapt in like the first.

"But the third behaved differently. Standing on the wall he also saw what was going on inside. But he thought: 'Should I be so selfish as to enjoy this alone? No. Let me call others. Let them come and see and enjoy.' So thinking, he descended, called many people together and told them of what he saw inside the walls.

"Incarnations are like this. It is due to difference in the manifestation of Sakti. It is a great heart alone that can share with others what it acquires after hard struggle. What a renunciation! What a patience! All these show the degrees of manifestation of power."

B: "Maharaj, did Totapuri reach the Advaita state?"

Swami: "(After a pause) Why do you ask such a question? Am I Totapuri that I should know everything about him? You can easily find out from books which deal with these things."

B: "I ask this because you have just said that it is Isvarakotis and Avataras alone that can return to the normal plane after reaching the Advaita consciousness in the Nirvikalpa Samadhi."

Swami: "Why? What happens with the Jivanmuktas? They also live after attaining Knowledge. It is a thing of realization alone. Mere questions don't help. Be pure. Give up evil thoughts and work hard. Gradually you will come to understand everything. It is impossible to understand these things without intuitive knowledge. Practise hard. Don't take up spiritual practice in the spirit of forced labour."

---

5 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Saradananda

R: "You have placed heavy work of the Mission upon our shoulders. How can one devote oneself completely to Sadhana with such heavy work?"

Swami: "Heavy work, indeed! Don't you realize that had there been no such work, you would not have done even what little you are doing now? Give up work for a single day if you can. Take meals from the Chatra and practise hard. Let me see how far you can proceed. You won't be able to do this even for a day. After a few days you will be idling away your time. Swamiji started these works for the service of humanity—service with the fullest knowledge that man is a veritable symbol of the Lord. This is a new path—a simple, easy path. But this does not suit you! Why not leave work and see the result? You will fail to do even what little Sadhana you are putting in in the midst of work.

"Now you are performing selfless work, but if you give it up, you will plunge headlong into selfishness. This will be the result. Don't you see how hard people in the world have to work! Why not enter into the world and see the fun? Many people are at their wit's end simply for serving their parents.

"This won't do. One can certainly gain one's goal even in the midst of work. Is there any shade of difference between spiritual practice and the work of the Mission, which is the Master's work? One's longing for spiritual practice loses much of its keenness when work is abandoned. As long as there is obstruction in the path, there is manifestation of power. So long as one lives in one's home, one's desire to become a Sadhu remains intense. But how long do good intentions prevail after one has become a Sadhu?

(Keeping silence for a while)

"Various causes such as regular study, special care of parents, marriage affairs, etc., offer obstruction, and consequently the power is increased. But when one renounces home, one thinks that the goal has been reached and struggles no more. Take for instance an embankment. Water presses hard to break away as long as there is the embankment. But when it finds a way out it is spread all over. Nothing is left of that force. Being scattered all over, the concentrated force is lost."

K: "It may also finally stop without forcing a way out and thus lose all its strength."

Swami: "Yes, sometimes it is actually so. Power seeks channels for its manifestation, and gathers force in the midst of obstructions.

"The Mantra that you have received—why not repeat it regularly? But this none of you will do. Follow your Guru's instructions. How many of you do it? At most one sits for half an hour, that too not in a calm mood and tells the beads as if it is a drudgery and then gets up. This won't do. Who has been following the rules after receiving the Mantra?

"One nowadays takes a fancy for Sannyasa. This seems to be your usual way. Sannyasa means an inward unfoldment. Mere formality cannot go far. Is there anything in formality? One must make oneself fit for Sannyasa. This requires an inward growth. How many people work in a true spirit? Working like a day-labourer—what can it pay? It is the spirit—that we are serving Narayana in human forms and that the Ishta is in all men—that alone counts in the long run."

---

6 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

A thread with stray fibres cannot pass through the eye of a needle; similarly, a mind with desires cannot be absorbed in God.

Realization of God means that one becomes absorbed in him, transcending his attributes and powers. It is not an easy thing!

[To the question: "Is it possible to pour Sadhana into another person?"] Yes. But not everyone can do that. He who has seen God and been absorbed in his bliss, only he can. —Swami Adbhutananda

Perfect peace will not come until the mind is fully concentrated. You must dwell on God uninterruptedly and be absorbed in the contemplation of His true nature.

If you practice japa and meditation regularly, without break for some years, you will see for yourself what result comes to pass. Your mind will become pure and you will be absorbed in the thought of God. Then you will be reluctant to leave off meditation even for a single day. There will come an inner tranquillity which will fill your heart with joy. —Swami Saradananda

Pain follows pleasure and every action brings its own reaction.

It is easy to do great deeds, the deeds that bring name and fame. But it is by his small, everyday actions that a man's character is known.

If you can perform every action as worship of the Lord, then only will you like to work and feel no attachment to the fruits of your actions.

Be active, but keep the constant recollection of God.

Certainly it is easier to do a noble deed for the sake of name and fame. But by such deeds a man's real value cannot be measured. To know the real man, examine his daily actions; for it is his everyday actions which reveal his true character. A true karma-yogi will lose himself heart and soul in any undertaking, even though it is of a very menial kind. He is never motivated by the least desire for popular approval.

Truth is the pillar to which you must always hold while performing any action.

But, of course, there is the effect of Karma. If you do any wrong action, you must suffer from disquiet of mind and other consequences. —Swami Brahmananda

Every man should do something good, that is, some selfless deed. All by nature work to support themselves and their families. By something good I mean activity done without any attachment. If you can help a poor man by giving him food, or educate a needy boy by providing his board and lodging according to your means, that will be sufficient. In cases that are beyond your means you can engage in such good deeds in cooperation with friends of yours. Many activities of this nature you will find close at hand. If you wish to do them, you can easily do so.

[To the question: "Can I continue to be pure and spiritual irrespective of my actions, good or bad?"]

Certainly not. Your good actions contribute to make you more and more spiritual, while the bad ones go to drag you down to samsara and prevent your freeing the soul from the bondage of birth and death: to obtain that freedom is and ought to be the one aim of your having taken birth as a human being. —Swami Shivananda

---

7 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Let the mouth be closed, and action speak.

Is a person worthy to be called a human being if he cannot give up selfishness, if he cannot give up his pleasures of the senses? To take the name of Sri Ramakrishna, and at the same time to be selfish! Is there any progress for such a hypocrite? Think wisely and firmly; and act accordingly.

Be completely desireless, but act.

Do not be swayed by words of praise or blame, or let your actions be influenced by the opinions of others.

I see no evil in you. Who knows but that you may be a saint tomorrow? God plays with us by putting on various masks. We act under the control of our samskaras (tendencies). We are all toys in the hands of the good Lord, and he is our refuge.

Trust in the Lord and act. You will then succeed. If you depend on men, you will meet with failure.

But we have lost this truthfulness, and that is why we have come to such a pass groaning under the crushing weight of misery and degradation. Now all our efforts must be directed first to retrieve it; not by mere empty speech, but by sincere action, pledging all our heart and soul to it.

Be active also. Free yourself from all sense of ego, and work selflessly. Be very careful that no sense of leadership or any trace of selfishness enter into you. Whatever you do, do as the servant of the Lord.

"Do or die!" Make this your motto. Rome was not built in a day, neither can the ideal character be formed in one day. It is the sum-total of your every thought and action that makes up your character. Remember this and every moment guard well your thoughts and actions. This is an age when we need workers who seek no results for their actions, and are completely devoted to God. No talk, but action; show by the example of your life.

It is not a lazy man's job. Be up and doing!

They think that inaction in itself is the ideal. If it be so, why then, the wall also should be considered to have attained Samadhi. Should not one transcend all dualities? To maintain one's mental balance under all circumstances, to remain absolutely unmoved—that indeed is the goal!

Man has to his credit the actions of many previous births, which must work themselves out.

The highest conception is to think that everything is He. Failing that, it is best to think that He is the real agent behind all actions and He is causing us to act.

Yes, as a race you [English and Americans] are very materialistic, but I have met with exceptions. And activity is not bad. I like your energy, you are all up and doing. I see no idleness anywhere. Only that energy should be controlled. It should go inward also, activity in inactivity.

When anything has to be done, always be the first to do it. Others will follow. But unless you do first, no one will do.

---

8 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Divine Providence has given man the sense of free will and the principle of karma. It is left to man to do as he wishes. If he chooses to do actions which bring him less happiness and more misery, he alone is responsible, not God.

Every action brings a corresponding result. A man will get social merit through his philanthropic activities, but if his ego is involved in those activities, he will not get any spiritual merit. Even the result of a good action turns into a bondage if it is done with ego. None can escape the wheel of karma through self-motivated action. On the other hand, unselfish action destroys the bondages of action and brings liberation to man.

Real yearning for God is the result of associating with the holy, and a person gets the opportunity for holy company only as a result of many good actions.

Other acts do not count so much as a moment's love for the Lord.

[To the question: "Can a man ever do as he likes?"]

Sometimes he thinks he is doing as he likes, but in reality God is guiding all his movements. God is the only Doer, nothing is done by man.

[Question: "Then what is the use of man's making any effort to be good or to realize God?"]

You cannot stop acting. Your very nature is to act. Can you remain perfectly quiet even for a moment? This body is born to act. Your hands, your feet, your eyes and ears have a natural tendency to action. As long as you must act, you will want to do that which will bring the most desirable results; so, as long as you act you will have to try to be good, to be virtuous, to be unselfish, in order to get the desirable results you are seeking, and since God is the most desirable result to be attained, you will have to strive to realize Him.

If you want to give up one bad habit you must develop the corresponding good habit, and this requires tremendous Rajas or activity on your part.

In this world we find some beautiful, some ugly; some high, some low; some happy, some miserable; some virtuous, some vicious; some kind, some cruel; some acquiring fame by good deeds, some looked down upon for being scavengers.

If one enquires into the root-causes of such diversities, it is found that past life actions alone are responsible for them. Our life is moulded by the powers of both divine grace and personal effort. The present life is in part the effect of actions done in past lives. Results of actions done in this life are partly experienced here and partly in the next as fate.

Wipe away the dust, arouse your ambition, stir up your activity and know that all power is latent in you. You are not limited.

The goal of all these three paths is the same. Each path is equally powerful. But none should be undertaken to the exclusion of the others: knowledge must unite with devotion. And this unity must be expressed through action. Knowledge without love is dry. Love without service is pure sentimentalism.

When a person is in a vortex of activities, his mind remains below the transcendental plane where spiritual communion is possible.

Let activism come first, then will follow peacefulness; and lastly will come enlightenment.

Sadhana is our attempt to get to Him through every action. You have to do even small things in a perfect way.

Be active and at the same time sensible.

Dedicate your life to good work. God blesses all good action.

---

9 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Karma

What the westerners call fate or destiny, we characterize as the result of our actions in previous births.

From Buddha's life and discourses, we find that action follows thought; as you think, so you act. As loving thoughts help in expanding the consciousness, so do anger, jealousy, and envy lead to its contraction.

If you, too, make proper use of your opportunities, you can also achieve great things. God is behind us always; always remember Him in everything you do. Every action leads to a certain result, never forget that.

These ceremonial functions are not child's play. All our actions have the ultimate aim of attaining spiritual enlightenment or God-realization. Whether you reach that goal through the path of selfless action or through spiritual austerities is of no consequence. But the goal of all action is to receive illumination.

It is useless for people to brag about their actions. It is only through His will that things are happening.

Secondly, whatever God wills is immediately done. We, also, should have the power to translate our wishes into action.

[In order to come nearer to God] you have to adhere to truth and have to be steadfast in this respect. The mind and the tongue must become one. And your action should be in harmony with your speech.

As you think, so you act.

All our actions have the ultimate aim of attaining spiritual enlightenment or God-realization. Whether your efforts in this direction are made through the path of selfless action or through spiritual austerities is of no consequence. But the goal of all efforts is to receive enlightenment.

Every action has its inevitable result: we cannot afford to forget that.

Adversity

It is no easy thing to dedicate oneself heart and soul to the Lord. Many people boast: 'I have surrendered myself and my all to God. I do only what he tells me to do.' But if we observe their lives we see differently. For the good they do they claim the credit and they boast of their achievements, but when adversity or trouble overtakes them they cry out against the Lord and blame him for their misfortunes.

At the time of happiness everybody can remain calm, can discriminate, but one is established in it only if one can remain so even in adversity. At that time man has to summon up great strength. If he yields to weakness then, grief will overwhelm him, will altogether ruin him.

Nothing can bar the progress of what God intends to make successful. Unless one passes through the school of adversity, one cannot properly be called a man. We learn much from our troubles.

You should not lose heart in adversity. Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, prayed to Sri Krishna to beset her with adversities, since in adversity alone is He more frequently remembered!

---

10 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

Advice

Now regarding advice: in a general way we all believe in giving advice; but applying the giving of advice to our daily lives is a very complex and puzzling affair. Indiscriminate advice never brings the desired result in many cases, it brings just the opposite result.

So, we try to give advice only when we care about the person and when we think our words will carry some weight. In the case of someone who is stubborn and very near and dear to us and who, due to his lack of experience is in imminent danger of being harmed by an insincere person, we must take the risk of being disbelieved and misunderstood and offer the advice and then leave the matter in the hands of the Lord.

Aim

The most important aim in spiritual life is the attainment of God's grace. The breeze of grace is always blowing; unfurl your sails. Give up worldly enjoyments and completely resign yourself to the Lord. You cannot love God and the world at the same time. If you want God, shun temporal pleasures. Ask yourself: 'What is it I want? Do I want this fleeting life of transient pleasures, or do I want the eternal bliss of everlasting life?' You must never forget the aim of life.

You have to consider spiritual practice the chief aim of your lives, as for the other work and activities, lectures, discourses, and so on—they are but secondary.

It is very easy to expand activities and gain fame; the really difficult task is to spend one's whole life in a continuous stream of hard spiritual practices for the sole aim of God-realization.

The chief aim of life is the realization of God. That does not depend on any particular locality.

Whatever, like reading and writing you may be at, keep it in mind that the realization of God alone is the aim of life.

Your good actions contribute to make you more and more spiritual, while the bad ones go to drag you down to samsara and prevent your freeing the soul from the bondage of birth and death. To obtain that freedom is and ought to be the one aim of your having taken birth as a human being.

What we should aim for is to remain unselfish ourselves, even though the world is selfish.

Have one aim in life, namely to know Mother.

To realise God is the aim of every human being whether he knows it or not.

Be truthful and good and have no sensual desires. Let this be your end and aim.

We must not cease to strive for the highest even though it seems unattainable. We must keep God as our ideal and aim; that will pull us on. If a man aims at the sky, at least he may strike the top of a tree. If he aims at the top of the tree, he may not get above ground.

Human nature is all the same, dresses differ. One man may wear a coat and trousers. I may wear this one simple cloth; but underneath, the nature is all the same. What is there in dress? Naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked I shall have to go away, but behind all dress, all ceremonies and religious rites is this one idea—to realize God. Hindus, Jains, Christians, Buddhists, Mohammedans all agree in this. To realize God is the aim of religion.

The four kinds of spiritual practices Jnana, Yoga, Karma, and Bhakti are meant for four classes of men. But the aim is the same—to kill the lower Self.

The aim of the scriptures is to teach people how to develop the spirit of renunciation in life. To know Him, to be united with Him by prayer and meditation, is the noblest aim and aspiration of life.

You are to watch whether your love for God is increasing day by day. This must be your aspiration and aim.

Try to cultivate pure and whole-hearted love for God. That should be the aim of your life.

11 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Talks By Swami Turiyananda

7th June, 1915

Swami S: "One may have any amount of Samadhi and Dhyana (spiritual concentration and meditation), but one must never forget to love Him. What is the use of this life if one does not love Him?"

Swami: "Yes, one is bound to admit that 'when one feels oneself as body, one must consider oneself as the servant of the Lord; when one thinks oneself as the Jiva, the individualized soul, one must consider oneself as a part of Him; and when one feels oneself as the Atman (Self), one is the same as the Lord Himself.

"How can a man who runs for a remedy at the slightest suffering, refuse to submit to the Lord?"

(The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna was being read.)

The Swami observed:

"Dakshineswar was in those days as divine and blissful as Kailasa. From morning till one in the afternoon, all were busy preparing for the worship of the Deities and then worshipping them; while Sri Ramakrishna himself was always talking about God, and people sat spell-bound listening to him." The atmosphere vibrated with thoughts of God. Even his jokes and funs related to God and culminated in Samadhi. He would rest after the midday meal, but only for a short while. The rest of his day was given to discoursing about God. In the evening he would visit the Kali temple and there fan the Mother, then return to his room reeling under divine intoxication. He would often ask those who practised Sadhana if they felt a kind of intoxication in the morning and evening.

At night there was scarcely any sleep for him. No sooner had he lain down than he would get up and rouse all who slept in his room, saying, 'Do not sleep so much. Get up and meditate.' He would then lie down again and get up by early dawn and recite the names of God in his inimitable sweet voice. Others also would get up and sit down to Japa and meditation. Now and then he would go up to them and correct their postures."

---

12 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Talks By Swami Turiyananda

10th June

Swami: "In order to realize the Self, you have to scale the highest peak of renunciation."

11th June

Swami: "Is it easy to detach the mind from all objects? Only a hero can do that. The external objects are ever trying to enter into your mind and conquer you. In the mind itself there are many layers, one upon another. It is no use merely closing the eyes and ears."

Swami: "X wants to finish studying Raja Yoga quickly. But we poured out our very life in this quest. We have been doing this ever since our childhood. Yet even now the mind has not been purified. There are still attachment and hatred in it... O Lord, make me the servant of the servant of Thy servant!

Egotism is no good; it is extremely pernicious. Egotism is like drinking wine, it leads astray the senses. The Master used to say that water accumulates only in a low land. Only in humility the good qualities of the mind and heart become manifest. Pride always holds the head high. That which is elastic and unbreakable like steel, that indeed is strength. He alone is strong, who can live in harmony with different natures in a spirit of amicable compromise.

"Make yourself for ever His, then there will be no more fear. Swamiji (Vivekananda) used to say, 'Since you have been born on earth, leave a lasting mark on it.'

At the Baranagore Math he said, 'Let me tell you, our names will be recorded in history.' Swami Yogananda ridiculed him.

But Swamiji replied: 'Well, well, you will see. I can convince everyone of the truths of Vedanta. If you will not listen to me, I shall go to the Pariah villages and teach Vedanta to the villagers.'

"If you want to preach, you must also give something. Preaching is not merely lecturing to a class or explaining a book. You have to give them something. Therefore you must accumulate spirituality beforehand... And never pride yourself on your having gained control over the passions. If you do, they will at once raise their heads. Ever pray to him, 'O Lord, save me from them.'"

---

13 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Talks By Swami Turiyananda

"There are several obstructions to concentration: Laya, Vikshepa, Kashaya, Rasasvada. Laya is the mind being overcome by Tamas (inertia)—the mind falls asleep and loses consciousness. Most aspirants are held down by Laya. Vikshepa is the scattering of the mind on multifarious objects. Kashaya is finding meditation distasteful—one feels disinclined to meditate. But one must still persist. Rasasvada is the mind being fascinated by the vision of divine forms and refusing to ascend higher. Passions will last so long as the body lasts. But through His grace they cannot raise their heads."

15th June

Swami: "It is no good merely working. Work is drudgery if there is no spiritual feeling behind it."

16th June

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna was read. In one passage Sri Ramakrishna was mentioned as saying: "It is not true that He can be realized through work. But through unselfish work grows the eager longing to realize Him. This eager longing draws down His grace and then man realizes Him."

Apropos of this, the Swami said:

"A little casual reading of the scriptures and a little meditation are not enough to realize the Lord. You must yearn to see Him. The heart must pant and pine for Him. The Master said to us: 'It is because I had such intense longing for the Mother that She gave me every convenience—She gave me this Kali Temple and Mathur Babu.'

If there is sincere longing for God, everything becomes favourable. "There is no other way than Bhakti."

Swami S: "Quite true. Meditate on His lotus-feet; the senses will withdraw of themselves and the mind will lose itself in Him. Ramprasad says in a song that devotion is at the root of all spiritual achievements.

Ramprasad was in a sense the ideal of Sri Ramakrishna. The Master used to say: 'Mother, Thou hast revealed Thyself to Ramprasad; why shouldst Thou not to me?' The Master's teaching is Bhakti tempered with Jnana."

---

14 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Talks By Swami Turiyananda

20th June

Swami: "'When will that day come when the very utterance of the name of God will bring tears to my eyes?' (To the disciple) Do you cry when you take His name? Ah, what a supernal condition! Just consider!—The very utterance of His name makes you cry!"

Swami S.: "When I first used to go to the Master, I would often feel inclined to cry. One night I cried much on the riverside near the bakul tree. Just at that time the Master in his room was enquiring where I had gone. When I returned to him, he asked me to sit down and said: 'The Lord is greatly pleased if one cries to Him. The tears of love wash away all mental impurities accumulated through ages. It is very good to cry to God.'

"Another day I was meditating in the Panchavati grove. My concentration became very deep. Just then the Master came towards me from the side of the jhav tree. As soon as he looked at me, I burst into tears.

The Master stood still. I felt something creeping up inside my bosom and I was overcome by an irrepressible fit of shaking. The Master remarked that this crying was not for nothing, it was a sort of ecstasy. I then followed him to his room where he gave me something to eat. The awakening of the Kundalini was an easy matter for him. He could do this even without touching, by merely standing near by."

21st June

Swami: "Man is trying hard to make himself happy. But nothing succeeds unless God wills it. Freedom can be realized in two ways, by identifying oneself with Him and by living in eternal self-surrender to Him. There can be no freedom of will away from Him.

"Reliance on one's apparent self leads to ruin. To presume to be all-knowing is extremely harmful. Self-reliance or self-confidence means faith in the Higher Self. To persist in remaining what one already is or in holding on to one's preconceived opinions at any cost—such self-importance is bad."

22nd June

Swami: "One must have the capacity to love. Oh, how madly we used to love in our boyhood! I loved my brothers so much that the thought of renouncing them to become a Sannyasin, used to make me cry. But afterwards the Master snapped these ties one by one.

He once asked S.: 'Whom do you love?'

S. said: 'I do not love anyone.'

'Oh, you dry fellow!' the Master remarked."

---

15 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Talks By Swami Turiyananda

Swami: "You can never be emancipated by adoring a man as man—you must look upon him as God. However great he may be in spiritual wisdom and dispassionateness. However highly endowed he may be with spiritual powers, the worship of man will not give you liberation, if you do not perceive him as God Himself. Without such a consciousness, his worship may serve to communicate to you his spiritual qualities and powers, but nothing more.

If you worship a Divine Incarnation, knowing him as such or not, he will surely grant you God-realization. Sisupala attained God-realization even by hating Sri Krishna. The Gopis realized God even though they considered Sri Krishna as only their lover. A Gopi was shut up in her room by her husband. Her intense anguish at being separated from Sri Krishna destroyed her sins; and the joy she felt by meditating on him destroyed her religious merits (Punya); and she was liberated."

Disciple: "But we are told that when devotion grows intense, one forgets the Divine majesties of God."

Swami: "That is after the devotee has realized God. He then carefully obliterates all consciousness of Divine powers in order to be able to approach Him closer and closer.

The Gopis were not ordinary human beings. Theirs were spiritual bodies.

Continence is essential for Divine realization. If one can maintain Brahmacharya for twenty-eight years, one will realize Bhakti, Jnana, everything.

Lust is called Manasija, 'born in the mind'. Only a hero can conquer the senses and go beyond them to the super-conscious planes.

"I do not agree with you if you consider stubbornness as strength. Stubbornness is a cloak for weakness. The weak put it on in order to hide their weakness. Real strength knows how to bend and yet regain its true position."

---

16 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Spiritual Talks By Swami Turiyananda

26th June

Swami: "Swami P. has written: 'We are not living on the plane of surmise, but of actual perception.'... We must remember from time to time why we renounced the world and test ourselves if we are really progressing towards the goal."

27th June

Swami: "His (Sri Ramakrishna's) initiation was no ordinary thing—he would wake up spiritual consciousness at once. He would write some characters on the tongue and the disciple would feel something heaving up, wave after wave, within his chest.

He asked me if I would like to have Abhisheka (Tantrik initiation).

I said, 'I do not know.'

'Then you need not have it,' he replied. Once when I was returning from the Kali temple, after saluting the Mother, he said about me, 'His "home" is that high Power from which proceed name and form.'

"I felt an intense longing for liberation. I wanted very much to realize God even in this very life."

28th June

Swami: "We have seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears. The tremendous enthusiasm of Swami Vivekananda for God-realization used to dumbfound us and make us despair of ourselves, in spite of all encouragement and assurance from the Master. And we would think that this life would go in vain, without realizing God. But at last favourable days came through the grace of the Master.

"You will be struck dumb with wonder if I tell you the story of Swami Vivekananda's wandering days—the life of extreme renunciation he then lived. Once in those days he wrote to me that he was passing his days 'like the crows, feeding himself—devoid of self-respect—at the house of others in great fear.'"

---

17 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON ANGER

But no effort is wasted. Lust, greed, anger, all gradually leave a man who practices spiritual disciplines.

Anger is controlled through patience. Be patient, forbearing, and humble.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say: "He who can forbear, lives. He who cannot, is lost."

He used to say that the power of the mind becomes strengthened by the practice of continence. A man so strengthened is not overcome by lust and anger. Passions seem trivial to it.

Meditation is possible, if you can keep lust, anger, and all other passions under control. If any of them grows strong, you cannot have meditation.

Have faith, have self-confidence. Convince yourself, "We are devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. We are free souls. Assuredly we shall realize God." Have this firm conviction, and then alone you can overcome the furious enemies, lust and anger and greed.

Those who have faith in God cannot be harmed by lust and anger, though these may arise occasionally.

You desire to follow the path of renunciation. Naturally your relatives will not like it and they will try to dissuade you. Nevertheless you must not be angry with them, nor should you speak harshly to them. If you want to be a holy man, learn to bear and forbear.

If there is concentration on any single object, there the idea of God manifests itself. Lust, anger, fear, affection—any of these may bring about concentration... anger—as with Kamsa.

Anger is a concentrated form of lust. It makes one lose one's head completely. Lust does not so absolutely overwhelm the mind.

Lust, anger, and avarice—these are but different forms of the same thing. They are the eternal enemies of the Jnani, and destroyers of knowledge and wisdom. Join the senses to the Lord. That is the way to teach the senses a lesson.

With the gradual increase of love for God, lust, anger, etc. wane out.

I do not get angry. But I use the semblance of anger for a purpose. He is a fool who cannot get angry, he is a wise man who will not. Try to be one with all.

Never antagonize. In the degree that you do, you are not feeling oneness. If anyone says anything against you, never get angry or resist it. Analyse carefully and see if it is true. If it is true, correct it. If it is not true, then what is that to you? "Whose is the gift if the one to whom it is offered does not accept it?" [Buddha].

Whenever he saw somebody angry Sri Ramakrishna would say: "Don't touch him. He has become an untouchable. If you touch him, you will have to bathe to purify yourself again." It is a waste of energy, a fruitless endeavour, to try to calm a person who has lost his temper. It works better if you talk to him when he has regained his composure.

Realise the idea that you are the witness of the mind. Lust, anger, and other deadly enemies are the attributes of the mind, and so they cannot touch the soul. Raise your mind to the Ajna Chakra centre between the eyebrows, and ponder over the truth that lust, anger, and the rest are not the attributes of the soul. Meditate on this idea.

Hatred and anger are signs of ego. If a man hates anyone or gets angry with anyone, you may be sure he has not conquered his ego and cannot feel true love in his heart.

And what can mere sitting quiet do? For I find you getting irritated at the slightest provocation; your mind is full of anger. Can that be the result of long meditation in the shrine? The Master used to say that attainment of perfection means becoming gentle.

Maintain your equanimity under all circumstances.

The whole mind is packed with anger and passion. Weep and pray! How piteously they cry for their children and wives! But how few cry for the Lord?

Suppose, for instance, that when you come down from the shrine, I do not speak to you affably a single word that you like, and so you become angry. Now if this be so, what good is it that you sat in the shrine for such a long time?

(Swamiji used to say, "During group singing the emotion may be aroused and he may fall down in a trance; but when that is over, his mind turns to enjoyment. What kind of trance is that?" Swamiji was very much against such emotionalism.)

As you think, so you become. As thoughts of love help in expanding the self, so do thoughts of anger and jealousy lead to its contraction.

Unless one can restrain one's passion, anger, etc. it is impossible to get anywhere near God.

If you want to control your passion, anger, etc., you have to meditate on the Master and the Holy Mother and you will then be free from all degrading thoughts.

---

18 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON ANXIETY

By Swami Shivananda

Sorrow, bereavement, pain and anguish—this is what the world consists of. Real joy or peace is very rare in this world, and this round of birth and death that is ours, no one can know.

Hari Maharaj (Swami Turiyananda) used to say: "The body knows its pain; O my mind, be at peace!" What a beautiful statement! Pain and anguish belong to the body. He who dwells within the body is not affected by them: He is Bliss itself.

There is no need to be anxious about it. Whatever be the Lord's pleasure is definitely for the good of all.

By Swami Premananda

Throw away all fear and anxiety. Think, "We are the children of God," then weakness will find no loophole to creep in.

Away with all quarrels and factions. We have come here for only a very short time; why such anxiety for tidying things up? Let others do as they like.

Fear, worries, and anxieties dwell where there are hypocrisy, evil motives, and selfishness.

By Swami Turiyananda

Just see! Our God is only a verbal affair. A little meditation, a little Japa—this is a poor sort of life. The heart must burst hungering for Him. An intense anguish must fill it and life should seem to go out without Him—only then it will be right.

A sea is no more than a mud-puddle when you have crossed it. All anxiety and trouble are at the initial stage.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Actually very few of us believe in God all the time. How do we know this? Because we allow anxieties and fears to arise in our minds. All your anxieties and worries come from egotism and selfishness. Let go your little self and they will disappear.

When worries and perplexities rise in our mind it shows we have ceased to believe in God and in that He is caring for us. If we have real faith in God, we can never grow anxious.

Blessed is the man who has faith. He is the happiest of all men because he is free from all anxiety.

You should not be anxious of the future. Whatever takes place here, on this earth, is for our good, for all things are disposed by God. In the meantime, it should be our duty to be dutiful.

It is through sheer ignorance that we bring on ourselves all sorts of groundless anxieties. To work you have the right, but not the fruits thereof. The leader should be a man having not the least egoism. Not "I" but "Thou"—this should be his motto. Remember this and go on working and you are sure to come out victorious. Do not try to have everything done all at once.

---

19 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON ARGUMENT

It is excellent to see only the good. From a pile of mixed sand and sugar, the ant extracts only the sugar. What do we have to do with quarrels and disputes?

By Swami Premananda

Don't argue unnecessarily just to prove your point. It ruins the spiritual atmosphere. Let people do whatever they like; you should live according to your own ideal.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Once, while I was at Belur, a gentleman came and expressed his regret that we had not married and had renounced the world. By all sorts of arguments, he demonstrated that our supreme Guru Shiva was also married.

Owing to ignorance, man tries to support his views with numerous intellectual arguments, and the result is philosophizing. But he gets over all these, once he is blessed with true insight.

The Master used to say, "The world is a bad place, and you should renounce it." There was no argument behind it, because he knew that no one can get over his unhappiness without renouncing the world. Once it is realized that a thing is bad, the best thing is to discard it, there is no question of arguing about it.

You better leave these debates and arguments alone. We have got a brain of very limited capacity; and for realizing God, all this hair-splitting is of no use. What you require is burning faith in Him. In order to be firmly established in that faith, you may raise one or two valid points, but nothing more. Our arguments are just like armchair discussions; they lead us nowhere.

We argue about God and then go home and lie down in bed. That is not religion, and it does not contribute to peace of mind.

Faith is the foundation of spiritual life. Too much of argumentation is of no avail. In order to be firmly established in that faith, you may raise one or two valid points, but nothing more. Unless you have faith, arguments and discussions will only cloud the issue and create confusion.

ON ATTACHMENT

By Swami Brahmananda

Do your duties conscientiously, and without attachment. Always remember that you are an instrument in the hands of God and that God himself is the only doer.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that a man will surely attain God if he possesses in an intense degree three kinds of love—the love a chaste wife feels toward her husband, the attraction of the worldly man for the world, and the attachment the miser feels toward his hoarded wealth. This means that the mind must be one-pointed and completely free of all desires but the desire to know God.

If you can perform every action as worship of the Lord, then only will you like to work and feel no attachment to the fruits of your actions.

Without divine attachment and divine love the mind becomes dry and restless.

[To the question: "Holy sir, we are worldly people. We have so many attachments and are confronted by so many obstacles. What are we to do?"]

Pray to the Lord! Talk to him!

---

20 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON ATTACHMENT

What counts is not the mere renunciation of external attachments; inner attachments must also be given up.

Do not be attached, my child. Lust and gold destroy the manhood of man.

You have to do His work without any attachment. Know it for certain that, if one goes on performing one's duties under the sincere belief that one is doing God's work, one can never suffer spiritually. God protects such a one for ever.

As a result of association with the holy, one reaches the state of being freed from all worldly attachments. All wants and desires are then destroyed root and branch, and one feels the nearness of God.

This process of evolution and involution is only another form of the twin forces of attraction or attachment and repulsion or dispassion. It is because of attraction or attachment that souls are drawn to this world, coming back and forth and playing their different embodied roles.

On account of holy association one attains the most covetable state of desirelessness. It destroys attachments at their very roots and brings one very close to God.

Look here. Nothing will accrue to you if you do not have right and proper attachment, affection and love for the Master.

By Swami Premananda

To love the devotees of the Lord brings no attachment, it creates no bondage.

Attachment is bondage; yet again, attachment opens the door to liberation to one who becomes attached to God or the guru or to illumined souls.

One must have true Nishta—steadfast, whole-hearted devotion and attachment to that aspect of God which one has chosen to realize. But let that not produce repulsion for the other aspects.

By Swami Turiyananda

[To the question: "How to know whether one is progressing towards Him or not?"]

One can know it oneself. Others also can know it. All his passions, lust, anger and greed will wane, his attachment for the objects of the senses will diminish, and he will have peace at heart.

If there be a hole of attachment in the mind, the result of Japa will run out through it.

Nag Mahashaya said to me, "Bless my father that he may have true devotion to God." "He has already got it," I replied, "He is constantly repeating the name of God. What more do you want?"

Nag Mahashaya rejoined, "What is the use of rowing a boat which is at anchor? My father is much attached to me. What good will his Japa do?"

"If he is not to love a son like you, whom else should he love?" said I.

"Don't say so, don't say so," he cried out, "only bless that he may lose all attachment for me."

Death is no more terrible when there is no attachment. One must keep out attachment. All the trouble is due to love being centred on specific objects. When you dive into the Ganges you don't feel any weight, although there are tons of water overhead. But one feels so burdened when one places a pot of water on one's head! Even the spine may give way.

Attachment to the body is the last and strongest bondage. The parental affection of monkeys is very great. The mother carries the dead body of her young one even after the flesh has dropped off and the skeleton alone is left. But even they, as all other animals, forget everything about their young ones when their own life is at stake.

Even the least attachment for anything gives the mind a loop-hole to direct you as it pleases. You become a slave to it, which is not the case if you are unattached.

Lust, attachment, and the like are one and the same thing, varying only in intensity. One must turn the mind away before it gets attached to any object. Otherwise it becomes an impossible task afterwards.

Never think of transient things. That way you can escape attachment.

The common man takes to those activities which tend to perpetuate the bond of attachment. And this is true of the whole world. The only exceptions are the monks, who have found out the evanescence of the world and renounced it.

Attachment and aversion are at the root of all evil. Hence the injunction to relinquish them. For, free of them, one can do with impunity whatever one likes.

Attachment is made up of the ideas of "me" and "mine."

They are fearless because they are unattached. When Mother is known, attachment goes. The world then becomes so small, so insignificant—just a little mud puddle.

---

21 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON ATTACHMENT

That mind which is attached to more than one thing can never reach the goal. Learn to see God in everything about you. Smear God over everything, and your mind will think of Him alone.

Attachments are troublemakers; they fasten the mind with a noose, as it were, and drag it in all directions.

Be attached to no one but God. Only if you hold onto God will your life be meaningful.

What one seeks, that one gets. You have got what you wanted. When you really hanker after God, He will raise your mind from things of the world and grant you His vision. But as long as you are attached to the world and are strongly inclined to the things of the world can you yearn for the Lord with all your heart?

If you have the power to go inside yourself, then you have conquered the whole Universe. To go inside oneself means to go away from earthly attachments that hold you down like a captive balloon.

If there is a strong attachment for God and a burning desire to realize Him, all other attractions will drop off.

First, you have to attain knowledge. After attaining knowledge when one returns to this world of diversity, one will see everything as before but will no longer be attached to anything in it. Before realizing the illusion one hopes for water in a mirage, but when one realizes its nature, though one may be seeing the mirage, one no longer expects any water in it. So also, though the world of diversity would still have to be experienced after knowledge, yet one no longer takes it to be real and so has no longer any attachment for it.

When, therefore, our entire existence depends on Him, why should we form an attachment for worldly things?

Worldly attachments draw people away from God and scorch them in the wildfire of the world.

22 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Body

By Swami Brahmananda

Give your body and mind to worldly enjoyments, and the world will destroy them both. Devote them to God and his service, and you will enjoy bodily health, peace of mind, and spiritual joy.

It is good to laugh every day. It relaxes the body and the mind.

God is greatly manifest in the human body. Try to understand this truth.

The body is the temple of God, and one should practice worship and meditation within it. Though temples may serve as aids to the beginner, they are but symbols of God's greatest of all temples, the human heart.

To nourish the body, mind, and brain, and to secure their fullest development, continence is essential.

The body and mind are closely related. When the body is disturbed, the mind also becomes disturbed. Therefore, particular care must be given to the diet in order to keep the body healthy.

Consider the body as the temple and see the Lord installed therein.

The mind is intimately related to the body. If the stomach is upset, you can never have good meditation. Hence it is that there are so many restrictions about food.

"The stomach should be half filled with food and a quarter with water, the other quarter being left vacant for passage of air."

By Swami Shivananda

One must have regular physical exercise every day. Our scriptures say, "A good physique is the first requisite of spirituality." For spiritual advancement one must first make the body strong.

Unless the body is sufficiently strong, it would not be able to stand the reaction of a deep spiritual experience. A mental derangement or a total physical breakdown may result.

Pain and anguish belong to the body. He who dwells within the body is not affected by them. He is Bliss itself. He dwells within everybody.

My child, the body is short-lived but the Spirit is eternal, and the relationship with the Spirit is also eternal. However much you may try, this body cannot last always. Man suffers so much by ignorantly identifying himself with the body. Do you know the way out?

The way out is to know Him. He is Purity, Knowledge and Freedom itself. He is the Indwelling Spirit of all. By knowing Him, man goes beyond pain and sorrow.

The body has to die one day or another; not a single body is immortal. It is as sure as anything that this body made of the different elements will again disintegrate into them. Hence take refuge in the Lord who is the eternal Truth, the everlasting, unchanging, conscious Self of every being.

You may well avoid those things [foods] that excite the nerves too much. Food is not meant for the mere gratification of the sense of taste. It is meant for the maintenance of the body, and the maintenance of the body is meant for God-realization.

This body will have to follow the natural six changes—namely, be born, exist, grow, be transformed, get worn out, and die. So, what is the sense in worrying about it?

Unless our body is kept in equilibrium, we cannot concentrate our mind on our Ishta Devata. So, we should take such food as suits our constitution.

---

23 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Attraction

By Swami Brahmananda

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that a man will surely attain God if he possesses in an intense degree three kinds of love—the love a chaste wife feels toward her husband, the attraction of the worldly man for the world, and the attachment the miser feels toward his hoarded wealth.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

The attraction towards the world means egotism, attraction towards God means self-surrender.

Religion begins when attraction towards God is greater than attraction towards the world.

Religion begins with attraction to God, and no soul will ever find real satisfaction until it has reached God.

Austerity

By Swami Brahmananda

It is easy to practice austerity by not allowing the mind to come into contact with sense-objects, but it is hard to get rid of the mental craving itself.

In this age there is no way other than that of taking shelter at His feet. In the Iron Age, man's span of life is short. And within this short span of life one has to attain Him. There is no time for severe austerities as in olden days.

What is austerity? It is to direct the mind toward God in order to taste divine bliss. In this age it is not necessary to practice physical austerities, such as standing on your head. The path in this age is to create the desire to chant the Lord's name, to be compassionate toward all beings, and to serve holy men.

A little physical austerity also is good sometimes. For instance, on the day of the new moon, or on the eleventh day after the new or the full moon, eat only one meal.

You must practice severe austerities, but by this I do not mean physical austerities, or the torture of the body. Real austerity consists in the control of the passions. Passion must never be allowed to raise its head. But remember, religion is not for the eunuch, nor for the one who maims his body.

[Body austerities] are not real austerities. Anyone can practice them. The body is easily controlled, but it is another matter to control the mind. It is very difficult to renounce lust and greed, to give up the desire for name and fame.

Real austerity is based upon these three principles: First, take refuge in the truth. Truth is the pillar to which you must always hold while performing any action. Second, conquer lust. Third, renounce all cravings. Observe these three principles. That is real austerity, and the greatest of these is to conquer lust.

Do you think that there is any fixed catalogued price of so much austerity, so much japam, so much charity, etc., for God-realization?

None can force realization of Him! But, if you don't keep up a regular spiritual struggle, you will not be able to hold It, when It comes.

By Swami Shivananda

It is not possible for everyone to practise hard austerities, but then through prayer everything is attained.

How can one stand the strain of austerities and spiritual disciplines without a good physique? You are young, you should take regular physical exercise. You do not have to be champion athletes, but you should exercise for good health.

Yes, spiritual exercises are very necessary, and so also are austerities. The only means of keeping the course of one's life directed towards God is spiritual effort. But why should one think that this spiritual struggle and austerity can have only one form?

Look here, for instance: what suffering you undergo, and what a fight you have to wage against adverse circumstances, to carry on God's work. This too is a kind of austerity and spiritual struggle. The one idea that you always have to keep burning in your heart is that whatever you do is for His sake, for His service—nothing for yourselves.

Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda) also used to say that it is not at all safe for a monk to live a solitary life in the early stages; he should have at least one companion.

Does austerity mean merely moving about in places like Rishikesh, Uttarkashi, and such other hill and forest regions?

Being indifferent to praise and blame, honour and dishonour, and happiness and sorrow, and with the mind fixed on God alone, being immersed in meditation and prayer—this is what is called austerity. Mere self-mortification on the bodily plane is not austerity.

By Swami Premananda

Austerity means making the lips correspond with the heart.

Man achieves greatness, large-heartedness, and guilelessness by the tapasya [practice of austerity] of many births and only through the grace of God.

By Swami Turiyananda

Even if a single organ remains uncontrolled, all austerities, all efforts after spirituality become useless even as when there is a single hole in a pitcher; all the water escapes through that.

"If the Lord is ever present inside and outside, then with what object should you undergo austerities? And if He be not inside and outside, of what avail are these austerities?" In other words, we must go through them betaking ourselves to God.

By Swami Adbhutananda

You will have to discriminate between the real and the unreal. To keep one's discrimination alert is a great austerity.

By Swami Abhedananda

If you desire to have firm and unshakeable faith and devotion to the Lord, you should also take to Tapasya, hard austerities. Tapasya does not mean aimless wandering hither and thither, it really means regular steadfast Japa, meditation, and self-control.

Vedanta cannot be understood except through austerities.

By Swami Saradananda

The more you practice austerities and meditation, the more you will enjoy the blessings of God. Without practice nothing can be achieved.

By Swami Akhandananda

It is not an easy task you have taken up. How much of renunciation and service and Tapasya austerity is involved in this work! This is real Sadhana. In the morning you come here after a bare meal. Others enjoy a full meal at noon—this is renunciation. Then you have to stay seated in this small room—this is Tapasya. Then again from the books sold here, people are getting the ideas of our Master and Swamiji. It is through your hands that they are reaching the people. This is a great service to the Master. Do you think that only the service done in the shrine is service to him?

---

24 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Aversion

By Swami Turiyananda

Attachment and aversion are at the root of all evil. Hence the injunction to relinquish them. For, free of them, one can do with impunity whatever one likes.

They say that a devotee always beholds the Lord. It is quite true. In the Bible it is written: "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." All this is very true.

Bliss

By Swami Brahmananda

Be up and doing! Waste no more time. The senses now are strong, and must be kept under control. This is a difficult task, no doubt, but if you practice meditation continuously for seven or eight years you will find peace and bliss, and enjoy the fruits of your practices. Even after one year of steady practice you will find some result.

By Swami Shivananda

Pain and anguish belong to the body. He who dwells within the body is not affected by them: He is Bliss itself. He dwells within everybody. Everyone is in essence That.

Repeat God's name, meditate on Him, and pray to Him from the bottom of your heart; then only you will have bliss.

When one goes on repeating the name of the chosen Deity with intense love, one becomes gradually filled with an ineffable bliss. When that bliss becomes continuous, it is also a kind of meditation. Meditations are of various kinds. Go on meditating on the blessed, effulgent form of the Lord with the greatest love, and imagine that every recess of your heart shines with the light emanating from His form.

As you go on thinking thus, you will feel that your whole being becomes suffused with inexpressible joy. Gradually the form also will get dissolved, and you will have the feeling of a kind of bliss associated with consciousness.

All doubts have their lodgement in things outside. The more the mind becomes indrawn, and the more it approaches the innermost core, the more free it becomes from doubts. Then pure bliss reigns supreme; the mind becomes suffused with divine love.

Yoga and bhoga—union with God and sense-enjoyment—cannot go together. One cannot get any taste of the bliss of Brahman unless one gives up the happiness of this world.

You have to spend your time in meditating on Him, repetition of His name, recollection of Him, reading about Him, reflecting on Him, and prayer to Him. Then only will you get real bliss and peace in life, and your taking refuge in Him will be fruitful.

Realize God through spiritual practices even in this life, and be free even while in this body. Call on Him with the utmost earnestness; repeat His name with all sincerity; and get absorbed in Him through and through. Then you will enjoy the bliss that belongs to one who is free even while in this body.

He is full of love, full of bliss; the more you can think of Him, the more blissful you will be.

When the ideas of time and space are eliminated then all that remains is Bliss alone—Existence-Consciousness-Bliss intensified.

When the mind transcends names and forms you come to the acme of realization; then everything is full of Bliss, everything is full of Consciousness.

As the activity outside diminishes, the activity inside increases. For the mine of the supreme Bliss is nowhere else but within.

All work is the Master's work. If you but comprehend this firmly well, that itself will keep you in bliss.

---

25 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Body

By Swami Premananda

Pay some special attention to the body. Regularity in bathing, eating, and so on is desirable.

To see the Lila of the Lord in a human body is a very exalted state.

He who has received initiation has his body purified.

The root cause of all desire is the ego and our identity with the physical body.

Remember your body is not made for personal pleasure or enjoyment. It is for the purpose of spreading devotion, knowledge, ecstasy, and rapturous revelations that were expressed through Sri Ramakrishna.

By Swami Turiyananda

If you feel that all pain and suffering are of the body, not your own, and that you are separate from the body, only then are you right.

Let the pain know and the body know, but you, oh my mind, remain forever in bliss!

Please know that one's own body too is included in one's "world."

Yes, one is bound to admit that when one feels oneself as body, one must consider oneself as the servant of the Lord.

It is in the human body that the gates to Freedom open. So every man should be on his guard to make a good use of his life. Enjoyment is possible in other bodies also, but freedom is not.

Attachment to the body is the last and strongest bondage.

The great elements, egoism, intellect, and also the unmanifested, the ten senses, desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the body, consciousness, fortitude—these, briefly described, constitute the Kshetra [lit., field] and its modifications. The Kshetrajna, the soul alone is real, and its reality makes the Kshetra—the body, mind, etc., appear as real.

[To the question, "Is it not our duty to keep our body healthy?"]

Yes, but from the highest standpoint body itself is the great disease. We want to go beyond the idea of body and to realize that we are the Atman. It is the love for our body that stands in the way to our realization of that higher state where we can say: "I am not this body, I am the Atman, the body is an illusion." As long as we love the body we cannot realise the Soul and we shall be born again and again. But when we love the Atman then we become indifferent towards the body and when all love for the body goes, liberation will come very soon.

This is just the way the body is—all right today and ill the next day. After all, it can only move toward its destruction. One's body is not eternal; one day or another it has to go. So why all the fuss?

After all, whatever the Divine Mother wishes, that alone will be done. Let the body undergo whatever it has to undergo.

---

26 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Bondage

By Swami Brahmananda

You have embraced the monastic life, renouncing everything. It does not become you to try to exercise authority over others. That brings great bondage. Whatever you do, know that it is the Lord's work you are doing.

By Swami Shivananda

The Gita lays stress on personal effort. "The self must be raised by the self, so let no one weaken this self. For this self is the friend of oneself and this self is the enemy of oneself." One has to liberate oneself from bondage, one should never be despondent.

Sri Ramakrishna is God Himself; he is the very Self of all creatures. Once you can realize him, your worldly bondage will be cut asunder forever; you will not have to undergo the round of birth and death any more.

Is Samadhi such an easy thing? When that most excellent and unequalled Para Brahman, the Supreme Reality is beheld as Self, all the bondages of the heart of the seer, such as inherited ignorance, etc., are rent asunder, all doubts get resolved and the store of accumulated Karma wears out.

By Swami Premananda

Do you know of what this net of Maya is comprised? Sense objects, lust, gold, name, fame, ego, vanity, selfishness, and so on. With all these, Maya binds the mind of man. Come out of this net, and the mind will run straight to God. All bondage is in the mind. All freedom is in the mind.

The Lord does his own work. You be the instrument. If the idea that "I am the doer" gets hold of a person, it will be the cause of bondage; and no permanent good ever comes out of such deeds.

Don't think of the work you do as a task at all; try to do it in an unselfish way, not seeking for the results. That will break bondage. The self-same medicine will give different results, according to the type of ingredients taken with it. Thus work is in one sense a bondage; yet if it can be done in a detached way, in a spirit of dedication to God, that same work will give you devotion and liberation. Confusion will arise and bondage results if you keep your eye on name, fame, or some other worldly objective.

Everyone is good; only the little ego is bad. Shun this and you will be freed from all bondages.

Nobody seeks any remedy until he knows he is sick. When a man feels that he is diseased, then he calls for a doctor and follows his advice. If you feel that life in the world is a great bondage, and that the world is an abode of misery, there will come distaste for worldly enjoyments and your love for God will increase. You will then be interested in taking the remedy, which is to think of your Chosen Ideal and to repeat his name.

To love the devotees of the Lord brings no attachment, it creates no bondage.

Attachment is bondage; yet again, attachment opens the door to liberation to one who becomes attached to God or the guru or to illumined souls.

Many people think of work as the cause of bondage, but any yoga may be the cause of bondage if it is not followed correctly.

By Swami Turiyananda

When the idea of bondage comes in the mind, then there is bondage; otherwise, who can bind you? You are always free.

Some there are, who are afraid of work and try to avoid it. That makes their bondage and selfishness lasting.

Animals have no conscience, hence they have no merit or demerit. They have obviously got intelligence, but there it ends. Only men can do fresh work, because they have got a conscience. Men only have got the idea of bondage, which other creatures have not. Only when there is the idea of bondage, can there be any real effort for liberation. Don't you see how a prisoner struggles for release? It is only when there is the idea that the world is a bondage, that a man can strive for liberation. His failure to understand this takes him through the endless cycles of births and deaths.

You may love all the beings in the world and be not at all under bondage, but the moment you allow your love to be centred on any special object, you are bound. If you can get rid of these loads, then only can you attain to peace and liberation.

Attachment to the body is the last and strongest bondage. The parental affection of monkeys is very great. The mother carries the dead body of her young one even after the flesh has dropped off and the skeleton alone is left. But even they, as all other animals, forget everything about their young ones when their own life is at stake.

The common man takes to those activities which tend to perpetuate the bond of attachment.

The individual is bound. Like a tethered cow he is free to a certain extent only, not fully. But he is emancipated if he utilizes that limited freedom in a proper way. He does not do it, but rather abuses it in various ways.

Brahman alone is real, everything else is unreal and the human soul is that Brahman. The lion shut up in a cage thinks he is caught, and escape impossible. He does not know that one blow from his mighty paw would demolish the cage and set him free. We are bound by the delusion of ignorance. Tear away the delusion and be free.

Bondage and freedom are both in the mind. Atman is beyond mind.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Even the result of a good action turns into a bondage if it is done with ego.

By Swami Abhedananda

That you are feeling the bondage of the world and finding no peace is in itself a means of progress in the spiritual world.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

All bondage comes to an end when man realizes Him.

By Swami Akhandananda

Once a king asked a Sannyasi, "How can the bondage of worldly life be got rid of?" The Sannyasi took the king to the hall of the palace and told him, "Catch hold of the pillar." The king did as he was asked. Then the Sannyasi said, "Let go the pillar."

The king acted accordingly and the Sannyasi remarked, "Thus will the bondage go."

---

27 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Book Learning

By Swami Brahmananda

It is as impossible to conquer lust or control the mind by the mere study of books as it is to walk on air.

No scriptures or books can create such pure impressions or transform a man's life as much as contact with an enlightened soul.

Read Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" and similar other books and try to understand their meaning. The more you will read, the newer and deeper will be the import you will discover in them.

But you cannot be as impressed by reading books as by observing holy men.

By Swami Shivananda

Discussions and perusal of books containing dry arguments will only confuse your head. I should now advise you to read the lives of great Bhaktas who have attained God.

By Swami Premananda

It is when His grace descends that infinite knowledge unfolds. Then one no longer cares for the study of the scriptures. Direct knowledge is one thing and "book knowledge" is another. This, however, does not mean that one should give up the study of the scriptures, for as Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "A fan is needed until the spring breeze blows."

By Swami Turiyananda

[Upon finding a student studying a book on New Thought:]

Go to the source. Don't waste your time reading the ideas of every fool who wants to preach religion. There are thousands of books on religion. You cannot read them all. Therefore select the best. Only those who have realized the truth can speak with authority. Otherwise it is the blind leading the blind. Both come to grief; both fall into the ditch.

By Swami Abhedananda

Just by reading a book or two on the Vedas, one cannot know their real import.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Man does not become really wise by reading books written by men, whose earth-bound minds have not the power to soar in the infinite firmament of Truth, whose speculations end in agnosticism, scepticism or atheism, whose moral principles wanting the basis of Eternity are little better than jargon, and whose ignorance keeps them confined in the limited span of a precious life, bounded on both sides by birth and death.

Never read such books which presume to judge these great ones, the dust of whose feet alone can save us. How can they who are mere intellectuals fathom the greatness of these spiritual giants? To read or hear the criticism of these God-men is a great sin.

By Swami Saradananda

But mere reading is not enough. Unless you practice, you will not assimilate the teachings.

By Swami Vijnanananda

[Commenting on a book]

Yes, it is well written, undoubtedly. But do you know what I feel about it? Such erudition does not seem to be worth the name. The author took up the task of writing such a sacred book—but was there the necessary sadhana, spiritual practice behind it? Where is that purity of realization that such a work calls for? It seems to me that there is no harmony between the ideal and practice. And that reduces the whole thing to a mockery of religion, as it were. Such erudition is ultimately worthless.

Now I shall refer to another story. A very well-read man went to a Sadhu for guidance in the matter of Self-realization. The Sadhu told him: "First of all you have to unlearn all that you have learnt in books, and then come to me."

So you see that book-learning is useless for the purpose you have in view. The only thing required is faith. Book-learning is of no avail for God-realization.

---

28 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Brahmacharya

By Swami Premananda

Brahmacharya means performing the ritualistic worship, doing japa, meditating, and studying, with faith and reverence.

For a householder to neglect his duty, for a brahmachari to give up his vows, for a monk to be restless with passions—these are hypocrisies.

On Brahman

By Swami Brahmananda

Don't you realize that sound is Brahman? Music is "sound-Brahman." This truth is experienced, if one meditates.

What does Vedanta mean by saying that Brahman is true and the world false? That the world as we see it now is false. The world vanishes in Samadhi, but you feel that you are experiencing a great joy.

By Swami Shivananda

That mind in which there are no mentations or desires cannot be called mind. In that state there exists only an all-pervading consciousness, power, or Brahman—whatever you may call it.

When the mind becomes free from impressions and desires, it cannot strictly speaking be called mind any longer, it becomes synonymous with the one Universal Intelligence, the Supreme Energy or Brahman—give it any name you please.

What are called space, time and causation in English are desa, kala and nimitta in our language. Brahman is beyond these categories.

These trees, plants, flowers, devotees, myself, and everything belong to Him. Their existence depends on His existence. Apart from Him nothing exists. He is Existence Absolute. In Him exists this manifoldness particularized by names and forms as various objects as Hari, Rama, the sun, the moon, etc. Because He exists, these, depending on Him, exist. He is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.

By Swami Turiyananda

Taken as a whole, it is Brahman that comes to be true. Knowledge is, so long as ignorance is. In fact, when ignorance goes away, knowledge also vanishes with it. Knowledge is simply a means to an end and not the end itself.

It is Brahman alone that exists. When we say that Brahman is Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, we do not mean that Brahman is actually that, but that it is the nearest approximation. Brahman is not untruth; it is not ignorance; it is not misery. To explain this, Brahman is described as Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. But, truly speaking, Brahman is beyond the reach of words and thought.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Biharilal Sarkar: "Maharaj, the scriptures say that Brahman is seated in the heart of man. What does that mean?"

A: It is just a figure of speech. Words cannot really encompass the truth of Brahman, although the scriptures have tried to describe it in that way.

Brahman is everywhere. There is no in or out, high or low, east or west with him. He is one, inherent in everything. He is all-pervading, limitless, eternal. Various attempts have been made to describe Brahman, but what is beyond thought cannot really be expressed in language. He is in everything and, again, is beyond everything.

The Reality is one, and that is Brahman. Brahman alone is real and everything else is unreal. Impress these thoughts again and again upon the mind, and gradually true discrimination will arise.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

God's will power is the cause of nature and God Himself is the source of His will power. It is beyond the capacity of human intelligence to ascertain the First Cause of God without the knowledge of Brahman, the self-existent, beginningless One without a second.

By Swami Saradananda

Brahman and Brahman's power are non-different, like fire and its power of combustion. The scriptures speak of this Brahman as the Cosmic Person Virat and the power associated with Him as the Mother of the universe. That is why the presiding deity of Gayatri is sometimes spoken of as the Cosmic person, and sometimes as the Mother of the universe. That is why there is no contradiction in imagining either way.

By Swami Akhandananda

Ascertaining the real nature of Brahman? It is like the smile of a man having naturally exposed teeth. He seems to be smiling always—even when not really smiling. Brahman is always self-evident, It does not wait for anyone to ascertain It. Like the sun It is shining. Why is It not seen then? Because your eyes are blindfolded, because there is the cloud of Maya before you.

These aspects are common to all things. Everything has existence; everything expresses itself; and everything is dear to someone or other. Existence, Consciousness and Bliss—this is Brahman.

By Swami Vijnanananda

Brahman is like a motionless snake. Shakti is like a snake in motion and that is the kundalini.

---

29 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Buddha

By Swami Brahmananda

Think of Buddha. What determination he had! After years of searching he finally sat himself down under a tree, determined to realize God then and there or die in the attempt.

Like the Buddha, one should be bold. See what a mighty renunciation he had! To realize God he gave up all his royal comforts without a thought. What a severe course of discipline he underwent! Then, when in spite of everything he could not realize God, he took his bath in the sacred Nirajana, a rivulet at Buddha Gaya, and sat down with this resolve: "Let this body go; but until I have attained illumination, I will not rise." And the illumination came!

By Swami Shivananda

Have you not read in the life of Buddha what kind of terrors Maya faced Buddha himself with in the form of Mara? But Buddha remained in his seat with unflinching determination and he made the resolve: "May my body shrivel up on this very seat; may my skin, bones and flesh be reduced to nothing; but this body shall not move away from here without attaining that enlightenment which seldom comes to a man during innumerable births." What a strong resolution it was! At long last Mother became propitious. She opened the door of nirvana, and Buddha had his wish fulfilled. He became Buddha, the enlightened One.

By Swami Premananda

In his own life, Buddha exemplified dispassion. He asked for nothing for himself, not even liberation. All his struggles were for the good of mankind. Out of dispassion springs knowledge.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Those who believe that Buddha was an atheist are very wrong. His silence about God or Soul was that of a mystic. He was a Jnani and taught the Aryan faith. His religion can certainly lead an aspirant to God-vision. So we Hindus worship him as an Incarnation of God.

By Swami Vijnanananda

From Buddha's life and discourses, we find that action follows thought; as you think, so you act.

On Carefulness

By Swami Turiyananda

There was a hunter who had been walking all day in the forest but had not been able to get any quarry. Dejected and tired he rested under a tree. His hunting companion, a hawk, was sitting close beside him. The hunter was very thirsty but no water could be found.

Then he noticed that water was slowly dropping down from the tree. Delighted, he put down his cup to catch the precious water. Drip, drip, it fell down into the cup, drop by drop. At last the cup was filled and greedily the hunter stretched out his hand to take it. But just before his hand reached the cup, the hawk with a swift movement upset it. The water was lost.

The hunter terribly annoyed scolded the hawk and replaced the cup. Again the cup was slowly filling up and when it was filled, the hunter, happy to get a drink of fresh water at last, once more stretched out his hand to take it. But the hawk upset the cup as before.

The hunter was now beside himself with rage and killed his hawk with one terrible blow. He placed the cup again, certain of getting water this time. And while he was waiting for the cup to fill up he looked up to see where the water came from. And what did he see? A large snake was hanging down from a branch high up in the tree. Its mouth was wide open and from its mouth drop by drop poison was falling into the cup. This was what he had taken to be water. The hawk had twice saved his life. And he had killed her.

With unspeakable regret the hunter buried his old friend who had served him many years and at last had saved his life. So you see, do not throw away what may be your best friend. Consider carefully.

---

30 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Chanting

By Swami Vijnanananda

You recite "Ram, Ram" the name of Rama. Do you know what "rum" is? It is an intoxicating drink. You cannot know what it is like unless you drink it. You cannot know the glory of God's name unless you chant it!

On Charity

By Swami Brahmananda

Do you think that there is any fixed catalogued price of so much austerity, so much japam, so much charity, etc., for God-realization? None can force realization of Him! But, if you don't keep up a regular spiritual struggle, you will not be able to hold It when It comes.

By Swami Shivananda

Every man should do something good, that is, some selfless deed. All by nature work to support themselves and their families. By something good I mean activity done without any attachment. If you can help a poor man by giving him food, or educate a needy boy by providing his boarding and lodging according to your means, that will be sufficient.

In cases that are beyond your means you can engage in such good deeds in cooperation with friends of yours. Many activities of this nature you will find close at hand. If you wish to do them, you can easily do so.

With the practice of meditation peace of mind will grow, and then alone will you be in a position to undertake humanitarian activities in the right spirit. Meditation on God will obliterate the ego, and He will then be all in all. Only when your mind reaches this state, will you be able to do genuine philanthropic work.

By Swami Premananda

If God, the dispenser of the universe, is not generous, people's wants can never be satisfied by man's charity alone.

By Swami Turiyananda

What will it avail if one makes charity with money stolen from others? To live long on the charity of others is as good as death.

It is useless for a slanderer to repeat the name of God. This is why Jesus said, "Therefore if thou bringest thy gift to the altar; and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift."

We are all in the world, and where can we go, leaving it aside? But doing good to the world is not an end in itself.

The world will remain as it is. As Sri Ramakrishna used to say, it is but a dog's tail, which won't straighten. In trying to help the world, you help yourself, you realize your Freedom.

Even in such charities, there is a subtle selfishness. ...One doubtless has an eye on fame.

By Swami Adbhutananda

If the desire to do charitable works arises in the mind of a rich man, it shows that his heart has started to feel for the poor.

God tests a man by making him wealthy, and that is a hard test to pass. Tests devised by men are easy to pass, but divine tests are very difficult. God may give plenty of riches to one man, but so delude him by Maya that he will never in his life desire to be charitable.

Again, God may give a generous heart to another person, but not give him much money. Blessed indeed are they who are rich and yet feel for the poor.

Control lust and greed. Practice japam and be charitable. If you can do this, you will find the Lord showering his grace upon you.

To do good to others is, after all, only a social activity; it has nothing to do with God-realization.

Moreover, philanthropic works may do good to others, but what about you? Can you explain to me what benefit working for others will bring you?

Every action brings a corresponding result. A man will get social merit through his philanthropic activities, but if his ego is involved in those activities, he will not get any spiritual merit. Even the result of a good action turns into a bondage if it is done with ego.

By Swami Vijnanananda

Help the helpless, but without hoping for any return.

1 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

CHASTITY

By Swami Brahmananda

Look, if a person practices chastity properly, he can do the work of twenty-five men. Work never tires him out. He no longer requires so much sleep; four or five hours are plenty—more sleep is a disease.

By Swami Turiyananda

If the youths are convinced of the utility of chastity and the evils of its opposite, they may afterwards marry and turn out decent citizens. Those who are spiritually bent are free from temptation, for chastity is the bed-rock of spirituality. Unless one is chaste, the mind is never steady. The best element in our body is preserved by chastity. If there is no chastity the mind-stuff becomes unsteady. Then the image of the Chosen Deity Ishta is no more clearly reflected in it.

Through the power of Ojas the knowledge of Brahman unfolds itself. The knowledge already exists, we have only to unfold it. If you can maintain your chastity for twelve years, the mind gets steady, with the result that the knowledge unfolds itself.

By Swami Saradananda

Of all disciplines chastity is the foremost. It is fundamental; all other disciplines will follow naturally if one practices this primary virtue.

See also: Continence.

COMPANY OF THE HOLY

By Swami Brahmananda

The holy company you keep, the spiritual talk you hear all make an impression on your mind. A bumble-bee hiding in a fragrant flower offered in the worship touches the feet of the Lord. Similarly, by the grace and association of a holy man, one surpasses even the gods and attains liberation.

Once the mind tastes sweetness in the thought of God there is nothing to fear. Seek the association of the holy so that you may acquire that taste.

Keep association with the holy. Go to one who knows the path, learn about the path, and walk on the path. Then alone you will reach your destination some day. Then alone will arise faith and devotion.

If one can really surrender oneself to God, then everything becomes easy; but it is not so easy to do this. Without divine grace it is not possible to take refuge in God. And in order to feel this grace one must associate with holy men, read sacred books, and pray earnestly.

You have seen a holy man, you have bowed to him, you have touched his feet. What more questions can there be?

Practice continence, japam, and meditation, and seek the company of the holy.

Not all men know what is best for them; therefore they should seek the society of holy men. Unless a man spends some time in solitude or in the company of the holy, he cannot understand his own mind. It is very difficult to grow spiritually in the midst of tumult and confusion.

Do you know why you should seek the society of holy men? Their experiences are a great help to a spiritual aspirant. When you visit a strange place, if you have the help of a reliable guide you will quickly see all that is worth seeing there; also he will save you from the dangers and difficulties into which a stranger is likely to fall. Similarly, from the company of advanced souls you will gather many valuable hints, and your efforts will be simplified.

[To the question: "Maharaj, how does devotion to God grow?"]

Keep the company of the holy; listen to their teachings and mould your life after their pattern. But without continence and the practice of meditation you cannot grasp the spirit of the enlightened ones; nor can you understand the scriptures.

Blessed is he who finds association with an enlightened soul.

---

30 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON CHANTING

By Swami Vijnanananda

You recite "Ram, Ram" the name of Rama. Do you know what "rum" is? It is an intoxicating drink. You cannot know what it is like unless you drink it. You cannot know the glory of God's name unless you chant it!

ON CHARITY

By Swami Brahmananda

Do you think that there is any fixed catalogued price of so much austerity, so much japam, so much charity, etc., for God-realization? None can force realization of Him! But, if you don't keep up a regular spiritual struggle, you will not be able to hold It when It comes.

By Swami Shivananda

Every man should do something good, that is, some selfless deed. All by nature work to support themselves and their families. By something good I mean activity done without any attachment. If you can help a poor man by giving him food, or educate a needy boy by providing his boarding and lodging according to your means, that will be sufficient.

In cases that are beyond your means you can engage in such good deeds in cooperation with friends of yours. Many activities of this nature you will find close at hand. If you wish to do them, you can easily do so.

With the practice of meditation peace of mind will grow, and then alone will you be in a position to undertake humanitarian activities in the right spirit. Meditation on God will obliterate the ego, and He will then be all in all. Only when your mind reaches this state, will you be able to do genuine philanthropic work.

By Swami Premananda

If God, the dispenser of the universe, is not generous, people's wants can never be satisfied by man's charity alone.

By Swami Turiyananda

What will it avail if one makes charity with money stolen from others? To live long on the charity of others is as good as death.

It is useless for a slanderer to repeat the name of God. This is why Jesus said, "Therefore if thou bringest thy gift to the altar; and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift."

We are all in the world, and where can we go, leaving it aside? But doing good to the world is not an end in itself.

The world will remain as it is. As Sri Ramakrishna used to say, it is but a dog's tail, which won't straighten. In trying to help the world, you help yourself, you realize your Freedom.

Even in such charities, there is a subtle selfishness. ...One doubtless has an eye on fame.

By Swami Adbhutananda

If the desire to do charitable works arises in the mind of a rich man, it shows that his heart has started to feel for the poor.

God tests a man by making him wealthy, and that is a hard test to pass. Tests devised by men are easy to pass, but divine tests are very difficult. God may give plenty of riches to one man, but so delude him by Maya that he will never in his life desire to be charitable.

Again, God may give a generous heart to another person, but not give him much money. Blessed indeed are they who are rich and yet feel for the poor.

Control lust and greed. Practice japam and be charitable. If you can do this, you will find the Lord showering his grace upon you.

To do good to others is, after all, only a social activity; it has nothing to do with God-realization.

Moreover, philanthropic works may do good to others, but what about you? Can you explain to me what benefit working for others will bring you?

Every action brings a corresponding result. A man will get social merit through his philanthropic activities, but if his ego is involved in those activities, he will not get any spiritual merit. Even the result of a good action turns into a bondage if it is done with ego.

By Swami Vijnanananda

Help the helpless, but without hoping for any return.

---

2 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

HOLY COMPANY

By Swami Shivananda

Merely to keep the company of the holy is not enough. You must open your heart and ask them to solve your doubts. You must carefully observe their lives and imitate their example. It is a lazy man's attitude to think that all one need do is to associate with the holy. Needless to say, association is also very important. For in their company doubts are removed and pure thoughts are awakened. No scriptures or books can create such pure impressions or transform a man's life as much as contact with an enlightened soul.

True solitude lies beyond the mind and intellect. It is identical with the Most Tranquil. Therefore, it is better for a beginner to live in the company of holy men.

When your mind becomes purified by the influence of holy men and when you practice spiritual disciplines, yearning will grow.

One benefit of the society of holy men is that you can observe their character. You cannot be as impressed by reading books as by observing holy men.

And come to the monastery now and then. Many monks live here; you should associate with them. Even the sight of holy men generates thoughts about God in one's heart.

And then, there is such a thing as the companionship of the good; it saves men. It is absolutely necessary to live in the company of holy men.

So also, you may associate with holy men and study the scriptures; but unless you practise spiritual disciplines, nothing will avail.

As far as possible keep holy company, avoiding the association of worldly people.

Look here, the Lord Himself says that holy association is unique—without any parallel. On account of holy association one attains the most covetable state of desirelessness. It destroys attachments at their very roots and brings one very close to God. How much spiritual discipline can man perform with his limited capacity?

Holy company is so effective that it generates love of God. Who is genuinely holy? Only he in whose heart is installed the Lord. One is blessed with the company and grace of a truly holy man as a result of good deeds performed in many lives. Holy association can change the course of one's entire life and bring about results that last for a very long time. We know it from our own experience.

For instance, we would spend an hour or two with the Master—sometimes there would be very little talk or exchange of words. The effect of his association lasted for days. We remained in a state of spiritual intoxication, as it were, absorbed in the thought of God. One is bound to have one's spiritual impulses roused if one comes in contact with an illumined soul.

How do we know whether a person has truly realized God or not? Herein is the test: the presence of a man of God will evoke spiritual thoughts and emotions. In the Vaishnava literature there is a beautiful passage the import of which is: "Know him to be a man of God—the foremost of devotees—by meeting whom one spontaneously feels like repeating the name of the Lord." Just as in approaching fire one feels the heat, in the same way one is filled with the thoughts of God by meeting a man of God. Just as the insect finds itself lodged upon the altar because of its association with flowers, similarly the company of the holy one redeems sinners.

It is not that in this world one needs holy company only in adversity, trial and tribulation; those who are in affluent circumstances, brought up in the lap of luxury, need holy company all the more. Even such people, infatuated by sense pleasures, may lose their interest in the so called evanescent things of this world, if they luckily happen to be in holy company. As a result, they too may be directed towards God and be finally blessed by attaining Him, the source of abiding joy.

But the most essential thing at the start is the company of holy men who have themselves made sufficient progress in this direction.

---

3 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

HOLY COMPANY

By Swami Premananda

God Himself blesses one with the power of meditation who thinks of Him. He it is again who ordains holy company, pure mind, and sound intellect.

Through His grace a sadhaka finds holy association, his mind becomes purified and he becomes endowed with right understanding.

Be like the fish playing happily in the ocean and not like the fish in the narrow ditch. Let your consciousness expand into the infinite and limitless. Live in the society of the holy, chant the Lord's name, and go beyond all limits.

What do you understand of holy association? You have to watch their lives, see their purity, their devotion, love and compassion, and imitate these things in your own lives. By imitating the holy, devotion increases and the heart becomes purified. The association of the holy is the only remedy for worldliness, for a holy man is the living manifestation of God.

Craving for sense objects is like the green algae that obscures the clear water of a pond; association of the holy is like the stick used to remove it, that the water may shine through.

By Swami Turiyananda

To make oneself fit, association with monks and occasional retirement into solitude are necessary.

With whatever evil tendencies one may come, one is sure to improve in holy company. As when you go to an attar shop, the scent will enter your nostrils, whether you want it or not. Well, people are not often inclined to associate with holy persons, and few have the capacity to do so.

Sri Ramakrishna would be talking and the devotees listening, but their companions would whisper, "Well, let us go, how long will you be listening?" Well, holy association is bound to produce good effects, for life only can communicate life.

Association is the root cause of everything. "From association grows attachment," says the Gita. There is a saying: "Tell me what company he keeps and I will tell you what he is." Association with holy people purifies the mind. But they must be really holy men. The outward garb alone does not make a man holy. He is really a holy man, who has made God his own.

By Swami Adbhutananda

If you always think of a holy person, you will become holy and pure; if you think of a thief, you will become a thief. Pure character is formed by close association with the holy.

Real yearning for God is the result of associating with the holy, and a person gets the opportunity for holy company only as a result of many good actions. At first it is hard to realize the value of holy company, but one eventually comes to understand its effect.

This wicked mind cannot rest for a second. It is on a run in all directions. One must keep a vigilant watch over its workings, and where it goes. For this the company of holy men is very important, and prayer and meditation.

By Swami Akhandananda

Faith and conviction of mind will grow according to your surroundings. That is why the company of holy men, Sadhu sanga, is necessary. They always feel: Brahman alone is real and all else unreal.

The company of Sadhus is very necessary. We have sought to come in contact with Sadhus wherever possible. Without Sadhu sanga holy company how can any good thing come to you?

By Swami Vijnanananda

It is a matter of fact, the company of holy men makes the heart pure forever. It is said that the sage Durvasa once went to visit hell where condemned souls were suffering all sorts of tortures as punishment for their sins. As soon as the sage made his appearance there, they were relieved of their agonies and began to sing the glories of God. Hell seemed to have been transformed into heaven; the reason was that the sage's purity of life had such innate power in it as to deliver those tortured souls from their sins, and save them from the agonies of hell.

People very often are saved if they live in the proximity of spiritually developed souls. At one time we were staying in Nilambar Mukherji's garden-house at Belur. It was the monastery then. I was in those days on a very high spiritual plane. One day when I touched Swamiji's feet in obeisance, I received a strong shock like that of electricity. Anyone going near such persons would feel as if a spiritual zone had been created round about them. Whosoever entered that zone could feel as if an electric force was entering into him from outside. He would have that experience immediately.

Great souls, wherever they are, create a spiritual zone around them; and anybody coming within that zone realizes something like an electric current passing into him. It is a very strange phenomenon impossible to explain, unless one has experienced it oneself.

Swami Brahmananda also was a reservoir of spiritual power. One day, when he was sitting in deep meditation, his body had become stiff. I was sitting close to him and felt my nerves also getting stiff and taut. This is a wonderful play of energy, one's power involuntarily acting on another.

---

4 June 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

CONCENTRATION

By Swami Brahmananda

Initiation into a Mantra helps concentration of mind, otherwise your mind will change and fluctuate; today you will like the Kali-form, tomorrow the Hari-form, and next day perhaps the formless aspect of God. And thus your mind will not be concentrated on any one.

In order to have meditation and concentration, you must practise in solitude; the more you will try, the more you will achieve.

With the aid of a mantram it is easier to practice concentration of the mind on one's Chosen Ideal of God. Without a mantram the mind wanders from one conception of God to another, and never succeeds in concentrating upon any. And without achieving perfect concentration nothing can be accomplished in the spiritual life. Therefore the aid of a guru is very necessary. He helps the disciple to choose his own particular Ideal, according to his temperament, and then gives the mantram best suited to the attainment of concentration on that Ideal.

The taste for spiritual life cannot be had all at once. No! One has to struggle hard for it. All our energies must be concentrated toward that one achievement; they must not be wasted in any other direction.

Concentrate the whole mind and direct it toward God until he becomes revealed.

Learn to perform all duties, great or small, with a concentrated mind. He who can concentrate his mind in action can also concentrate when practicing meditation.

All mental, physical, and spiritual energies must be concentrated. Then only can you reach God.

Through gradual practice the mind has to be concentrated upon God. Keep a sharp eye on the mind and see that no undesirable thoughts or distractions enter in. Whenever they try to crowd in, turn the mind toward God and pray earnestly. Through such practice the mind is brought under control and becomes purified.

Before you begin your meditation, read devotional scriptures. This will help you to concentrate the mind on God.

Wake up early in the morning. Wash yourself and choose a firm seat. Command your mind in this way. "Mind, keep still! Let no distractions enter!" With the strength of the intelligent will keep the mind under control. Soon it will become concentrated. Then no distractions will arise.

Is it easy to meditate? If you happen to eat a little too much, you cannot concentrate your mind.

Practice is the means of concentrating the mind.

By Swami Shivananda

The best form of japa is to repeat the Lord's name mentally. When one repeats the name over the rosary or on the fingers one keeps track of the number of times to a certain extent and cannot give undivided attention to the japa. It stands in the way of concentration.

It is a bit difficult to have concentration in the initial stages. Meditation becomes more natural when one gets real love for God as a result of His grace and one's constant prayer and japa.

It is good to have a fixed seat for one's meditation and japa, for that creates an atmosphere and helps the mind to become concentrated quickly.

Unless our body is kept in equilibrium, we cannot concentrate our mind on our Ishta Devata. So, we should take such food as suits our constitution.

By Swami Premananda

Soon you will be blessed with concentration of mind, you need have no anxiety on that score. God Himself blesses one with the power of meditation who thinks of Him.

Through God's grace, when your mind becomes concentrated, Samadhi is attained.

In the world the mind is scattered on various things, on lust and gold. It is the function of Avidya, ignorance not to allow the mind to be concentrated. But our task is to develop concentration. Spiritual discipline is nothing but the bringing together of the scattered mind.

By Swami Turiyananda

There are several obstructions to concentration: Laya, Vikshepa, Kashaya, Rasasvada. Laya is the mind being overcome by Tamas inertia—the mind falls asleep and loses consciousness. Most aspirants are held down by Laya. Vikshepa is the scattering of the mind on multifarious objects. Kashaya is finding meditation distasteful—one feels disinclined to meditate. But one must still persist. Rasasvada is the mind being fascinated by the vision of divine forms and refusing to ascend higher.

One may have any amount of Samadhi and Dhyana spiritual concentration and meditation, but one must never forget to love Him.

If there is concentration on any single object, there the idea of God manifests itself. Lust, anger, fear, affection—any of these may bring about concentration. Lust as in the case of the Gopis; anger—as with Kamsa; fear—as in the case of Shishupala; affection—as with Mother Yashoda; and so on.

Lust, anger, fear, affection, amity, and friendship—those who always cherish any of these feelings towards God, assuredly attain to concentration on Him. But can such things happen unless the mind is absolutely pure? Never think of it!

The author of the Yoga-Sutras says, "By carefully persisting in practice, for long and without intermission, the concentration becomes steady." We must attain to a steady concentration. The young plant needs to be hedged round, but when the tree is big, it requires protection no more.

Nothing drops from the skies all of a sudden. Why don't all have concentration? Because they don't fulfil the conditions necessary for it, viz. absolute continence. This is known as strength. What can you expect of one who lacks this strength?

One can explain a thing if only one has a clear grasp of it, which is the outcome of concentration. By concentrating on a subject, its inner secrets are revealed.

The mind can be concentrated in many ways, through meditation, singing, reading, etc.

If you can't give proper attention to little things, how are you going to concentrate on great matters? Remember, a person may be drawn to the absolute Brahman, but he can still keep his attention on detail!

Because you are able to control your mind and concentrate, success comes to you. In the same manner, if one can call on God with all one's mind and with all one's heart, one will surely realize him.

The Master used to say, one should canalize the same energy in a different direction. Take your mind from your profession of doctoring, and call on the Lord. That is extreme dispassion. In your mundane work you enjoy success. If you can turn your mental current to another plane, you will attain success there in the same way. Surely you will reach your goal.

---

5 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

CONCENTRATION

By Swami Adbhutananda

One must concentrate on God. If you cannot concentrate sufficiently on your studies, how can you expect to be able to call on God?

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

"I" is at the root of all our miseries. Hence our primary duty should be to get rid of it somehow or other. This can be done by the service of the great, by good works without caring for results, by concentration or discrimination.

By Swami Saradananda

Repeat the mantra with unwavering devotion. The seed has been sown. Now you must water it with unfailing faith. You may use your beads as a help in concentration. The need for not letting the beads "go hungry" is for the purpose of getting into the habit and lessening the distraction of the mind while counting them. All this is necessary to create yearning for God.

What is known as the destruction of the mind in Vedantic literature is not a state of vacuum. It is a state of deep concentration. The mind is to be made absolutely one-pointed through meditation on God.

Perfect peace will not come until the mind is fully concentrated.

You have written that at the time of meditation you find it difficult to think of the lotus. While meditating on your Chosen Ideal if you are able to visualize the form, it does not matter whether you visualize the lotus or not. Again, if you cannot bring before your vision the luminous form of your guru, think of him as you have seen him with your eyes. All these devices have been prescribed in the scriptures only as aids to the concentration of the mind.

It is only a strong person with sufficient will power who can concentrate and fix his mind on God.

By Swami Vijnanananda

The greatest need is to concentrate on Him when we are dying.

The best time for meditation is midnight. You can then achieve results very soon. Nature is in a quiet mood then and the concentration is easier.

Every day you should regularly practise meditation. That helps you to concentrate your mind.

One should try to help others as far as possible, but without beating one's drum. For the rest of the time, one should be all by oneself. In this way concentration of mind will be gradually achieved.

Everybody complains that he cannot concentrate his mind on God, because it is assailed by all sorts of thoughts. Why not put up a "No admittance" notice and refuse to let those thoughts crowd into the mind?

Don't give up japa and meditation simply because you cannot concentrate your mind properly.

My only advice to you all is to forsake idleness. An idle brain is the devil's workshop. You must do everything with concentration and diligence.

---

6 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

CONSCIOUSNESS

By Swami Shivananda

He resides in the heart of man as consciousness.

When meditation is very deep one loses all sense of past and future. There is simply consciousness of the present, and that vaguely.

When the mind transcends names and forms you come to the acme of realization. Then everything is full of Bliss, everything is full of Consciousness.

By Swami Premananda

Be like the fish playing happily in the ocean and not like the fish in a narrow ditch. Let your consciousness expand into the infinite and limitless.

By Swami Turiyananda

At first you are to transcend Tamas, then Rajas and finally you are to go beyond even Sattva itself. Then you realize the Self as pervading everything. You find that He alone exists, and nothing else. And that is called the state of transcendental consciousness.

It is this dual consciousness which is at the root of all evils. With the destruction of duality, all fear departs.

By Swami Adbhutananda

When that knowledge dawns, body consciousness disappears, the mind stops and even the intellect vanishes; only an uninterrupted Consciousness flows.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Man is Samvit, consciousness Absolute.

By Swami Vijnanananda

With everybody there is consciousness. This consciousness pervades the earth, the sun the moon, the stars, the sky, the air, etc., down to the minute being, and it is because of this consciousness that there is motion in everything.

In the transcendental state, i.e. the state of complete union with the Infinite, there is no outward consciousness; only a slight feeling remains there.

---

7 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

CONTEMPLATION

By Swami Brahmananda

The way of steadying and purifying the mind is to retire into solitude, control all cravings, and engage yourself in contemplation and meditation. The more you occupy the mind with holy thoughts, the greater will be your spiritual unfoldment.

Yes, you must work. But I insist that you devote yourselves to spiritual practices and meditation. Even though I may not ask you to work, your nature will force you to work. It is difficult to engage the mind in contemplation of God; but you are monks, therefore work must not be the sole purpose of your lives.

It is good to rise early in the morning. The time best suited for contemplation is when night passes into day, and when day passes into night. It is then that the sushumna becomes active, and one breathes through both nostrils. As a general rule, we breathe through only one nostril at a time. This causes restlessness of the mind. Spiritual aspirants should observe when they are breathing through both nostrils; the sushumna is active then. Those times are the most helpful to contemplation, and we should take advantage of them.

You must spend your time in worship of God, in service to holy men, and in contemplation. This is the only way to mould your character.

The most suitable hours for prayer and contemplation are those at the junction of day and night, and at midnight. Daytime has many distractions. At night, nature takes on a quiet aspect, so that night-time is best for the practice of contemplation.

The more you devote yourself to the contemplation of God, the more fruitful your life will become. Lose yourself day and night in his contemplation, in singing his praises and glory; only then will you be blessed with his vision.

[To the question: "Isn't it difficult to live a purely contemplative life?"]

Do not give up because it seems hard. Try again and again. Through practice it becomes easy.

By Swami Shivananda

Practise constant recollection and contemplation of God. One has to form the habit. Remember and think of Him continually, while walking, eating, lying down and even when you are actively busy. Let it be as if an undercurrent is all the time flowing. If you practise in this manner for a while, remembrance and contemplation of Him will soon be unconsciously within you; you will be repeating His name even while asleep.

By Swami Abhedananda

Repeat the great truth: "I am Brahman," and contemplate on the soul which is the witness, the inspirer, the absolute, the one without any attribute.

By Swami Saradananda

You must dwell on God uninterruptedly and be absorbed in the contemplation of His true nature.

When the mind is idle, all kinds of negative thoughts arise and create trouble. There is an old saying that an idle brain is the devil's workshop. It is true. The mind abhors a vacuum. It needs to be filled. However, it is necessary to devote some time to silence and contemplation.

By Swami Vijnanananda

Contemplation on Him should enable us to gain mastery over our passions and become masters of our souls.

A question that arises in my mind is, where shall we be after giving up this mortal frame? I asked Mahapurush Maharaj who told me that we would be in the Ramakrishna world where we would be keeping company with the Master. But I have decided not to go anywhere. To contemplate on the Master all the time and not to forget him even for an instant is to be in his company. That is the Ramakrishna world—to think of him all the time with heart and soul, never losing him even for a moment.

---

8 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

CONTENTMENT

By Swami Brahmananda

Contentment with the external conditions, yes, but never be contented with your state of spiritual growth. Become dissatisfied. Try to move ever onward in your search. Do not stop until you have found the diamond mine!

Like a fallen leaf tossed to and fro by the wind, the one-pointed man is content to remain wherever the Lord places him. He has no will or desire of his own. He can live in the world and at the same time dive into the ocean of knowledge and bliss.

By Swami Shivananda

There's no contentment in the non-Self; true contentment comes from knowledge of the Self. And one has to seek that contentment within oneself. Peace is within, not outside.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Contentment is an obstacle to spiritual progress.

It is true, people do practice Sadhana to find peace. But if the aspirant forgets God after finding some peace, how can he make any further progress? If there is no dissatisfaction, longing for God does not come.

The door to the spiritual path does not open unless the aspirant is filled with peace externally and internally. But once the door to the spiritual realm opens, discontentment again begins. However, this is a mysterious kind of discontentment which I cannot explain to you. In this state the aspirant can neither sit idle nor can he progress quickly. Spiritual disciplines and austerity are necessary to understand this.

Be satisfied with whatever you need for your daily living and don't desire more. Too many worldly belongings displace the thought of the God from the mind.

Believers remain satisfied. They depend on the Lord and enjoy contentment. One should avoid the company of the non-believer. They themselves suffer and pass on their discontent to others.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Do not be content with the little things of this world. This Universe is like a baby's toy. Throw it away. Claim your eternal heritage. This little span of life is not yours; your life has no beginning, no end.

You want me to advise you how to get rid of the entanglements of this world, in answer to which let me remind you that what has been brought about by myriads of births cannot be done away within a day. Yes. You are right. We should escape the snare of samsara even from this moment. For, who knows when death will snatch us away from the loving embrace of our family; but that does not mean we should make a sudden resolution in the course of our lives.

The best way to success is to remain pleased in whatever state Sri Ramakrishna has been pleased to place you, keeping your mind always turned toward Him, as a boy always turns towards his parent. Stay peacefully where the Lord has been pleased to keep you. Read and ponder upon the sayings of Sri Ramakrishna.

Be contented with whatever comes to you knowing that all things proceed from Sri Krishna directly. Do not forget to pray to Him incessantly. Always confide yourselves to His care. Be calm and quiet.

Contentment is the only watchword that can ensure us a safe passage through adverse circumstances. God is good, God does all. Therefore, He can do nothing but good. This is what all religions teach; abide by it and peace of mind will naturally follow.

By Swami Saradananda

The Lord is making you His own. He will not allow even the slightest ego to remain within you. The sufferings and difficulties you are undergoing are intended to make you realize that you have no independent will of your own. It is given over to the Lord. Therefore, be contented with what He does and wherever He keeps you.

Never be contented until the goal is reached.

By Swami Vijnanananda

One should not ask for anything from God, but remain satisfied with whatever He is pleased to give. Real welfare lies in using things properly, wrong use of things brings misfortune.

Purity, Truthfulness, and honesty should be the cornerstone of your life. And there should be faith. With these a man will have contentment in life, whatever circumstances he may happen to be in. Contentment in all circumstances is the mark of religious life.

---

8 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

The story of the single-mindedness of the Poet Hafez

(Respected Gangadhar Maharaj (Swami Akhandananda) began telling the story of Hafez i.e., Muhammad Shamsuddin Hafez, a famous Persian [Iranian] Saint-poet)

Hafez was a poor Muslim beggar. He used to pass his days in great hardship by begging. One day Hafez entered the house of a young prostitute to beg. She was a very beautiful woman. While giving alms from behind a curtain, her exquisite beauty caught the eyes of Hafez and he was charmed. The passion-stricken beggar then began to think: I am very poor, just a beggar in the street, and that woman is a greedy prostitute.

How is it possible for me to have her? It was like a dwarf attempting to grab the moon. How could the penniless Hafez think of getting one whom the rich young men of the city coveted? It was a big ambition for him. However, he decided that his wish would be fulfilled if he could save up some money.

From that day, Hafez started saving half of whatever he collected by begging, even if he had to remain half fed. He also started getting money by selling dried cow dung cakes. His ambition was to save enough money and then obtain her. Hafez, who was half fed and afflicted with hunger, used to do something strange.

At the end of night, without anyone's knowledge, he would complete all the chores of the prostitute's household—like sweeping, washing the utensils, storing water, etc.—and slip away. On waking in the morning, the maidservants would be surprised to see their chores already done, and wonder who it was who stealthily did all their chores.

After some days had passed like this, the mistress of the house started thinking that the person who did her household chores might be a thief. He must have some other motive. Somehow or other, he must be identified. Resolving thus, the mistress gave orders to the maids: "Tonight you must lie down and pretend to be asleep. I too shall remain awake. We must get this person who is coming."

She also said, "Do not catch him right away. When he tries to slip away after finishing his work, only then call me. But, be careful. In no way should he be treated cruelly."

Everyone got ready to catch that weird, unconcerned thief who worked only for the benefit of others. Then Mr. Thief, lost in love for the prostitute, arrived at the usual time and completed all his duties. But just as he was ready to slip away, the woman for whom he remained half fed to save money, whom he loved more than his own life, stood there right in front of him.

Seeing her, Hafez stood motionless. Noticing the dry hair and torn clothes of the benevolent beggar, the mistress of the house ordered her attendants to bathe him after massaging his body with scented oil, and then dress him in new clothes, feed him with tasty food, and take him to her room. Ever famished with hunger, Hafez tasted all those things that he had never tasted before in his life and was beside himself with joy.

After he finished his bath and meal, the lover Hafez was brought into the room of his ladylove. There he was seated on the costly bed, and then the mistress of the house came and said, "I shall come back and talk to you about your particulars and also why you have been coming and secretly doing my household chores. In the meantime, you can relax comfortably in this room."

The long-cherished wish of Hafez was going to be fulfilled that evening. He was totally immersed in his own happy thoughts. Sitting alone in the room he was thinking of many things and was waiting for the time to pass. The day appeared to him rather too long. With much impatience he waited for evening to come. The cursed evening never seemed to arrive, and the sun also was showing no signs of setting.

When the afternoon finally came, he again and again went out of the room to see how much longer it would be for the sun to set. To him, an instant seemed like an age. In due course, the sun, witness to all the good and evil deeds of human beings, did set on the horizon. With an eager heart, Hafez waited for that auspicious moment when his ever-cherished sweetheart would arrive. Just then a maid entered the room to light the lamp.

Seeing her lighting the lamp, the steadfast Hafez was reminded that he too had an obligation to light the lamp in the Pir's darga [a mausoleum of a Muslim saint]. Should he make an exception that day? Certainly not! No sooner had that thought come to his mind than Hafez—the respectful, steadfast, and loving devotee of the Pir at once ran to light the lamp in the Pir's darga ignoring his long-cherished object of enjoyment, for whom he had so long been seized with a strong desire, for whom he had so long saved money, even remaining half fed.

After lighting the lamp, Hafez saw two fakirs [Muslim monks] drinking. He was also offered the drink, but he became angry and said, "You rogues, I am a Muslim. How could you offer me a drink?"

As Hafez did not agree to drink even after repeated requests, the fakirs threw the glass on the ground. The glass broke, but there was no liquid found inside. Seeing that, a thought dawned in Hafez's mind. He then begged for the wine, but the fakirs did not give him any. They said, "We offered you the last glass, but you refused. There is no more for you."

After repeated requests by Hafez, they said, "If you lick the spot where the glass broke, you may get something." With great faith, Hafez licked the spot just a little. At once he became intoxicated with divine love and his thirst for enjoyment has vanished forever.

Meanwhile the prostitute, not finding Hafez in the room that evening, set out from her house. After making enquiries from the village people, she came to the place where the beggar was sitting with his eyes overflowing with tears of love. He was intoxicated with love.

The overwhelmed lover Hafez, through gestures, asked her also to lick the spot. Having done so, she too became intoxicated with divine love and the course of her life changed. A moment's companionship with a devotee of God helped her to gain a new life, and she became immersed in the worship of God.

From that day on, the lover Hafez sat in his hut repeating the name of Allah. Only at the end of the day would he go out to beg and to light the lamp in the Pir's darga. Only then could he be seen as he collected the rubbish from the street, otherwise, he was never seen anywhere.

Thus day after day, month after month, year after year passed. Once his neighbours, not seeing him come out for begging for some days, entered his room and found that the dedicated ascetic had left his mortal body. There his dead body was lying, and also a torn mattress, a water pitcher, a broken plate, and his main asset—seven large earthen containers. These were filled with the rubbish that he had collected.

Besides this, every day whatever idea arose in the mind of Hafez, who was intoxicated in love, he wrote on scraps and then dropped them in the container. After his passing away, scholars salvaged those writings and published the collection. It became a world-famous book—"Diwan-e-Hafez," or "Hafez, the Intoxicated."

Gangadhar Maharaj then remarked (to Mahapurush Maharaj): "Just see, steadfastness saved Hafez from danger."

(From: "Swami Akhandananda as we saw him" by Swami Chetanananda)

---

10 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Tolerance Will Win Out

One day the Buddha was giving a lecture to all the monks at Jeta Grove, Sravasti. He said that long ago the Heavenly God Indra and his host of devas waged a battle against the Asuras. One day Indra said to the King of the Asuras, "Today let us not count the victor by the amount of bloodshed. Why don't we decide the winner by holding a debate?"

In response, the King of the Asuras said, "Certainly, but who will be the judge?"

Indra said, "Of the devas and of the Asuras there are beings of great wisdom and eloquence. Let us have them decide who should be victorious."

Then the King of the Asuras replied, "You may speak first."

Instead of speaking first, however, the Heavenly King humbly said, "I could speak first, but as you are the previous king of the firmament, you should have precedence. Please speak first."

The King of the Asuras said, "A foolish person puts up with insults because of fear, and yet prides himself in believing his tolerance makes him superior to the aggressor."

Indra rejoined, "Even though a foolish person puts up with insults because of fear, being tolerant actually brings us the greatest benefits. The virtue of tolerance outweighs all the fame and fortune in the world."

The King of the Asuras then said, "Lacking wisdom, foolish people need to be forced to do right. They are just like lazy cows that need to be prodded along by the horns of more vigorous cows breathing down their necks from behind. Hence, the best way to control the foolish is by whips and spurs."

The Heavenly King countered, "I think to control the foolish, forbearance is the best way. When confronted by an agitated person, if one can wait in peace and silence, their fury will die down naturally. A person without hatred or vexations is a saint or the disciple of a saint. This is the kind of person that we should draw close to. A person whose mind is loaded with great anger and therefore gets angry easily will encounter obstacles as high as a mountain.

On the other hand, if one can control one's anger as soon as it arises, like taming a wild horse with a harness, then one will have done a good deed."

The devas and asuras who acted as judges for the debate thought that the arguments of King of the Asuras were based on the use of conflict and force, whereas Indra advocated putting arguments and competitions to rest with a mind free of anger and malice. In consequence, all of the judges awarded Indra the victory.

The Buddha told the monks, "Indra is free of care in the heavens because he always practices tolerance and also praises the ways of tolerance. Likewise, if you can practice and praise tolerance, then you are truly leaving the home life."

After they heard the Buddha's talk, all of the monks felt blessed and pledged to abide by the Buddha's teachings.

(From the Web)

---

11 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

CONTINENCE

By Swami Brahmananda

[To the question: "Is it ever possible to attain Samadhi after a short time?"]

A: Yes, if a man has lived an absolutely continent life.

Make your mind strong through the observance of continence and the practice of meditation.

Great strength can be acquired through the practice of continence. A true celibate can do the work of twenty-five men. Practice continence, japam, and meditation, and seek the company of the holy.

Perfect continence is the sole condition of success in spiritual life. But it is difficult, even impossible, to practice absolute purity without love and faith in God. The world is full of temptations which arouse passions; every day you will see ninety-nine percent of the people rushing in mad pursuit after sensual pleasures. Your mind is in constant danger of becoming contaminated, therefore, you must engage your mind in thinking good thoughts, studying good books, and discussing uplifting subjects.

You must spend your time in worship of God, in service to holy men, and in contemplation. This is the only way to mould your character. First of all, be firm in your vow of chastity. Everything else will follow. You cannot live a continent life unless you devote yourself to God, and without continence realization of God is impossible. Unless you realize God you will not find happiness, and without happiness life is vain.

Learn to speak the truth always, and observe continence.

In a chaste man a special spiritual nerve is developed. With its aid, his memory, his capacity for spiritual understanding, and his faith in God increase. He is able to experience spiritual truths which lie beyond the reach of the senses. That is the reason why religious teachers stress the ideal of chastity.

But without continence and the practice of meditation you cannot grasp the spirit of the enlightened ones; nor can you understand the scriptures.

Practice chastity. If one remains continent for twelve years, he attains the highest.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that the power of the mind becomes strengthened by the practice of continence. A man so strengthened is not overcome by lust and anger. Passions seem trivial to it.

I can tell you from my own experience that it is not possible to meditate properly unless you keep continent.

The craving of lust is very subtle, and extremely difficult to control. That is why a spiritual aspirant must always be careful in associating with the opposite sex. Through continence a special power is stored up in the brain. If a man becomes established in continence, he will begin to see the expression of God everywhere. But, remember, it is not possible to practice continence without devoting yourself to the practice of japam.

12 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Continence

By Swami Shivananda

Practice of continence is essential even for these physical feats. Whatever line of work a person may undertake, the secret of success is continence.

One must practise absolute continence if one desires to have this higher knowledge. As a result of prolonged continence, practised heart and soul in all the planes of existence, the body and mind become fit for leading a divine life. For reaching the state of Brahmanhood, the brain develops a new nerve and all the cells in the body become transformed. One must observe absolute continence.

If there be unbroken Brahmacharya, continence, Samadhi can be attained with little effort.

By Swami Turiyananda

Continence is essential for Divine realization. If one can maintain Brahmacharya for twenty-eight years, one will realize Bhakti, Jnana, everything.

"From continence comes strength." We must make ourselves fit. Before taking up any work, make yourself fit for it.

For the accumulation of spiritual power absolute continence is needed.

Nothing drops from the skies all of a sudden. Why don't all have concentration? Because they don't fulfil the conditions necessary for it, viz. absolute continence. This is known as strength.

By Swami Trigunatitananda

It is not in India alone that continence has been given such a dominant and absolutely necessary position in the domain of religion; all countries and all religions sing its praise in the same way. They all speak of the same kind of continence here and elsewhere.

Sri Ramakrishna would say, "He who can give up his wife, can also renounce the world," that is to say, if one has succeeded in discarding his hankerings for sense-enjoyment, one has no other object left that has to be given up afresh.

---

13 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Control of Mind & Senses

By Swami Brahmananda

[To the question: "Maharaj, I cannot control my mind. Many distracting thoughts arise. What shall I do? Will I be able to practice any spiritual disciplines? How can I worship and meditate?"]

A: Pray to the Lord. Practice with regularity. Gradually, the mind will become inclined to worship and meditation.

In the beginning the mind will refuse to come under control, but force it, urge it, entreat it in order to fix it on meditation.

Man's mind is forever restless. It remains distracted for many reasons. Association with the holy will bring it under control.

Wake up early in the morning. Wash yourself and choose a firm seat. Command your mind in this way: "Mind, keep still! Let no distractions enter!" With the strength of the intelligent will, keep the mind under control. Soon it will become concentrated. Then no distractions will arise. A man can train horses and elephants and bring them under control; can't he learn to train his own mind?

Mould your minds now; when once the mind is moulded there is nothing to fear. When you can bring the mind under control you will have achieved much. Whip it whenever it tries to run away.

Struggle! Struggle hard to control the outgoing mind and fix it on God. When you can do this, you will realize what joy is in spiritual life, what fun.

First of all, the mind, which is the ruler of the senses, must be controlled. After that the mind and the intellect must be merged in the Atman. Who are your enemies? Your own senses. But if you can control them they will become your friends.

The tendency of the lower mind is downward, toward worldliness. This tendency must somehow be controlled. Hold the reins tightly. As an expert trainer controls and trains the elephant, so must you learn to train and control your mind. Be its master. Let it not control you. Teach it to give up all craving for fleshly enjoyments. When the mind is once freed from craving it becomes your slave.

Keep a sharp eye on the mind and see that no undesirable thoughts or distractions enter it. Whenever they try to crowd in, turn the mind toward God and pray earnestly. Through such practice the mind is brought under control and becomes purified.

It is as impossible to conquer lust or control the mind by the mere study of books as it is to walk on air.

Meditation, in the primary stage, is like waging a war with the mind. With effort the restless mind has to be brought under control and placed at the feet of the Lord. But in the beginning, take care that you do not overtax your brain. Go slowly, then gradually intensify your effort.

Unless you meditate, you cannot control the mind, and unless the mind is controlled, you cannot meditate. But if you think: "First let me control the mind and then I shall meditate"—you will never succeed. You must steady your mind and meditate at the same time.

It is good to devote a little time each day to God. The only way to control the mind and find peace is to chant the name of God and meditate on him.

In the beginning the mind will refuse to come under control, but force it, urge it, entreat it in order to fix it on meditation. Faith and regularity are very important; nobody can succeed in anything without them.

The mind deludes us in many ways. We must control it and direct it along the right path.

Meditation is possible, if you can keep lust, anger, and all other passions under control.

---

14 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Control of Mind & Senses

By Swami Shivananda

The rascal mind causes all the trouble. You must control this mind or it will take you here and there. However, sincere efforts will bring self-control.

When disciplined, this wicked mind behaves right; it functions as the guru, repeats His name, guides the aspirant along righteous ways and gives him inspiration in noble undertakings.

Practise self-control constantly, pray sincerely to the Lord and discriminate between the real and the unreal. My child, self-control cannot be accomplished in a day.

The fact that sometimes you lose control over your mind signifies that a big wave will come and you will have great peace.

Of course you have my blessings. But you will have to exert yourself too. You have children. From now on practise a little self-control and change the course of your life. You have had enough of enjoyment; now of course, force alone will not help; but if you struggle sincerely, in time he will make your body and mind pure.

[To the question: "Father, I have a question to ask. The scriptures declare that one cannot realize God unless one observes strict Brahmacharya. The mind does not become pure unless there is Brahmacharya. Now, please tell me how can I observe this? Should I be very strict about food and such other things?"]

A: No, my daughter, you need not be very strict about these matters. Only use your discrimination a little more when following the usual routine. You may well avoid those things that excite the nerves too much. Food is not meant for the mere gratification of the sense of taste; it is meant for the maintenance of the body. And the maintenance of the body is meant for God-realization. It is better to avoid those kinds of food that create mental disturbance and prevent the mind from concentrating on God.

Brahmacharya does not mean the mere control of food. The real Brahmacharya is the control of all the sense-organs. Unless one can do that, the realization of divine bliss is a far cry. Is it possible to get the bliss of Brahman unless one can forsake the pleasures of this trifling body?

Self-control will come as a matter of course if one repeats God's name constantly, and is earnest in spiritual endeavours. The name of God has such intrinsic power that all the internal and external organs become naturally subdued by it.

If one but takes to meditation and japa and prays to Him constantly, one's mental tendencies get the proper direction, and one's senses come under control.

Mere verbal assent will not do. It requires quite a lot of self-control and intense spiritual struggle.

Yes, some minds are rebellious like that, but there is a way for bringing even such a mind under control. Even such a restless mind can be trained gradually and made to concentrate on God. Do not begin meditating or making japa as soon as you sit down on your seat. First, start with a calm prayer to the Master. The Master is Samadhi incarnate. If you can pray to him sincerely and think of him, the mind will become concentrated.

By Swami Premananda

Rules and regulations can govern behaviour; but they cannot control the mind.

Those who are guileless and devoted to truth, self-controlled, and lovers of God, are the living gods, the rishis and siddhas; even though they wear human bodies.

God dwells in all. He is within your heart. Pray to him, weep before him, and you will find energy and strength. Your mind will come under control.

As you grow older, it will become impossible for you to control your mind.

Through the faithful practice of discrimination and spiritual disciplines the mind gradually comes under control. Yet to try to force the mind under control all at once may prove disastrous. It must be done gradually and with patience. The angler has to sit patiently and wait.

Cling to the pillar of patience whenever the mind is drawn toward the whirlpool of delusion. Even when a large fish swallows the bait and is caught on the hook, the angler still plays awhile before drawing his catch to the bank. To land it forcibly might break the line.

---

15 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Control of Mind & Senses

By Swami Turiyananda

A devotee from America had written to me about controlling the mind. In reply I wrote to him that whenever he sat for meditation, he should think that there was hanging in front of his chest, the notice "No Admission," indicating that nothing except the thought of his "Ishta," Chosen Deity should enter there. This way, disturbing thoughts can gradually be eliminated.

The devotee later acknowledged that he was much benefited by this advice. Yes, that is how you have to emancipate yourself—there is nobody other than yourself, who is your emancipator.

A man who has controlled all other senses except the palate is not to be considered a master of his senses. When the hankering of the palate is controlled, everything else is controlled. When the palate is controlled the sex impulse is also controlled. Unless the senses are brought under control there cannot be any spiritual progress.

Even if a single organ remains uncontrolled, all austerities all efforts after spirituality become useless even as when there is a single hole in a pitcher, all the water escapes through that.

Control of the senses is not to be brought about by a violent effort. Only by realizing Him is it perfectly achieved. But at first one must struggle for this end. Afterwards it becomes quite natural. Still one should not be overconfident. Just as the intelligent hunter catches a deer and ties it up, so after succeeding in controlling the organs one should be alert, and continue to hold the mind and organs in check.

If you perfectly control your senses from now on you will be blessed with His vision.

Books on yoga say that all power is in us. We must control the mind through proper discipline, then only will its power be manifested.

First you have to prepare the mind. After that, any subject to which you may apply it will stand explained. The method of controlling the mind is by seriously watching it for some length of time. It can be done both by love and by discipline, according to circumstances. The mind should be under your control—it must not be allowed to ride on you, for then the tables will be turned.

Control the mind, be not controlled by it.

With unflagging perseverance the mind must be again and again brought back to the Atman. Of course, repeated and incessant efforts are necessary, but the mind at last will come under your control and remain calmly fixed on the Atman.

Be up and doing. Once the mind is brought under control, there is no more fear. It is the mind which creates all troubles.

[To the question: "If we mix with people, everything becomes upset."]

A: Avoid company so long as the mind is not under control. And when the habit has once been formed, there is no harm in mixing with people.

One should have great determination. We must control the mind and not allow the mind to control us. Here is my towel. With this I shall rub the body at my pleasure; similarly, we ought to be able to use the mind according to our will. We should ride the horse and not allow the horse to ride us. Let there be no reversal of the right process. The horse before the cart and not the cart before the horse.

Swami Vivekananda would say, "The mind must be made like a lump of earth; wherever I shall throw it, it must stick."

Yes, as a race you English and Americans are very materialistic, but I have met with exceptions. And activity is not bad. I like your energy, you are all up and doing. I see no idleness anywhere. Only that energy should be controlled. It should go inward also, activity in inactivity. But not laziness, mind you.

Because you are able to control your mind and concentrate, success comes to you.

---

16 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Control of Mind & Senses

By Swami Trigunatitananda

The most effective means of getting control over the senses is to look upon all women as one's mother. You are apt to look on them otherwise from your very childhood, and you never call on women as mothers with all sincerity, that is why the problem of sense-control becomes so difficult. Just as on seeing an image of any goddess, we have a natural inclination to salute her, to worship her, and to pray to her, so also may our devotion be aroused on seeing any woman, and may we feel a natural inclination from within to bow down to her!

If you do not believe in a Mantra, that too is not imperative. A Mantra is needed for bringing the mind under one's control. One who succeeds in controlling the mind, has not much need of a Mantra.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Even if you cannot control your mind and you become disgusted, please don't leave your seat; for if you get up from meditation with that attitude of disgust, you will be in a bad mood all day, and you will feel like beating one person, scolding another and speaking harshly to a third.

Do you know what the mind does? It conjures up enticing pictures with the imagination. The imagination is man's worse enemy, his greatest tempter, for it creates beautiful pictures of sense pleasures and nearly destroys man's conscience. Thus man is drawn to sense objects. Therefore, if you want to control the desire for worldly things, control the imagination and don't be deluded by sense enjoyments.

The imagination can be controlled by withdrawing the mind from the object, although that will not still the mind. Sri Ramakrishna said that three things are necessary in the process of perception: the object of perception, the sense organ, and the mind. Perception of the object is not possible if one of these three is missing. So if you can eliminate one of them, the mind will not be able to cognize.

It is hard to eliminate the objects of perception. They come and go. We have to encounter them always. How can one live and avoid sense objects? So long as you can avoid the sense objects, your self-control may be intact; but as soon as you come near them again, you will find yourself deluded by their attraction. So instead, try to withdraw either the sense organ or the mind from the object. Then automatically the object will not be perceived.

By practicing truthfulness for twelve years the body and mind become controlled and one is unable to say anything that is untrue or absurd.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

If you would raise your Self, you must crucify the body and conquer the senses.

---

17 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Control of Mind & Senses

By Swami Saradananda

You are to calm your mind by single-minded devotion to God and by reflecting on the ultimate Reality as the foundation of all existence.

You have asked why in spite of your sincere efforts the mind is so unruly that it refuses to come under control and you are not able to fix it on God. The reason is that the mind is not yet pure. Have you not heard that Sri Ramakrishna used to say that the image of the moon is not clearly reflected in a pool that is agitated and muddy? When the water is steady and transparent the image is visible; then the image is not broken up into fragments. Remember that the same is true of the mind.

But do not give up the spiritual struggle. It is hard to control the mind; but it can and must be done. There is no other way. The more you think of the Lord, the more other thoughts decrease. There must be a continuous flow of one thought—the thought of God—during the period of wakefulness. Then, at the time of meditation or in sleep, unbecoming thoughts will not find any peephole to enter.

To attain peace one has to practice control of the senses and the mind.

Conflicting desires arise in the mind. Because of those desires the mind is constantly lashed into waves. As long as these waves form, the mind is restless. In order to control these waves which give rise to thoughts of a worldly and distracting nature, one must live a life of self-discipline.

The mind has tremendous potentialities. It is the storehouse of infinite energy. Through control and inner check we can unfold these potentialities and gradually develop the power to work toward good.

If evil thoughts appear be indifferent to them. They come due to the impressions of previous lives and it is good that they rise to the conscious plane; it will be easier for you to control them.

The means for bringing the fickle mind under control are dispassion and practice—Vairagya and Abhyasa. This statement is in the Gita. There is no other way.

By Swami Vijnanananda

When we have control over our passions, we shall succeed; we shall ourselves then feel that we are advancing towards God. When the mind is completely under your control, it will have nothing to exist on except noble thoughts.

After the dissolution of the mortal frame, the soul takes a subtle form and more intensely reaps the harvest of previous deeds. If one can control one's senses and transcend the bounds of time and space, one is in a position to summon the souls of dead persons, and get a response from them. They also respond as people respond to us when we call them.

God pervades everything. But, of course, it is a joyful experience. He is inside and outside. When you realize that He is within you, the senses get controlled once for all; and it is for this that you have renounced everything, do you understand?

If you want to control your passions, you have to meditate constantly on the Master and the Holy Mother, and all degrading thoughts will at once cease to trouble you.

The mind, after all, is yours, and you say it is not under your control! Does that sound reasonable? Why should you allow the mind to rise above you and rule you? There is a saying: Although the guru, Krishna, and the Vaishnava, all, are kind to me, unkindness on the part of one sets everything to nought! The unkind one is the mind, it ruins everything.

When the mind is overcome with evil thoughts, it becomes dejected and inactive like a mouse in the grip of a cat. But why should you allow it to be like that? In such situations you should summon up within you the strength of a lion and shake off all evil thoughts. It is no excuse to say that your mind is not under your control. Why would you let your mind take the upperhand?

God is both inside and outside you. When you realize that He is within you, your passions will be under control.

---

18 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Craving

By Swami Brahmananda

The way of steadying and purifying the mind is to retire into solitude, control all cravings, and engage yourself in contemplation and meditation.

Rare indeed is he who has attained unalloyed bliss! Only that man who is free from all cravings can find unending joy.

It is easy to practice austerity by not allowing the mind to come into contact with sense-objects, but it is hard to get rid of the mental craving itself. And of all cravings the subtle desire of the organ of taste is the most difficult to overcome. A man loses this craving only when he is in a high spiritual state.

We must pray and cry unto God that he may awaken in us longing for him and that our cravings for enjoyment may be wiped out.

Cravings—such as for woman and gold, for name and fame—arise again and may lead one farther away from God. Unless you beware of this thief in the form of cravings he will steal all the goodness in you, and you will drown in the bottomless ocean of worldliness. But, on the other hand, there is the ocean of divine grace—if anyone will sincerely call on Him but once. The Master used to say: "If you move one step toward Him, He comes down ten steps towards you."

When a man has renounced all worldly cravings and regards God as his own, God is very near. Such a man binds God to him with the fetters of love.

Is it easy to renounce bodily cravings? Only if one has God's grace and has practiced severe spiritual disciplines in past lives, can he have the strength to renounce the world in this life. Teach your mind to give up all craving for fleshly enjoyments. When the mind is once freed from craving it becomes your slave.

As you sit down to meditate, think of the cravings of the mind as mere dreams, look upon them as unreal. They can never attach themselves to the mind.

If you have the craving for fleshly enjoyments or the slightest desire for name and fame you cannot reach God. As Nag Mahashaya used to say, "It is like trying to row an anchored boat."

Real austerity is based upon these three principles: First, take refuge in the truth. Truth is the pillar to which you must always hold while performing any action. Second, conquer lust. Third, renounce all cravings. Observe these three principles. That is real austerity, and the greatest of these is to conquer lust.

The more intensely you analyse yourself the more you will understand the condition of your own mind, and you will be able to eliminate the subtler cravings.

By Swami Shivananda

God sees one's mind. He becomes gracious where He sees sincere craving. There is no injustice in His domain.

By Swami Premananda

If a pitcher has a hole in the bottom, water poured into it will flow out. No water can be kept in it. The holes in a spiritual aspirant are worldly cravings. The materials by which such holes can be repaired and kept closed are: hearing the truth of God, meditating on him, chanting his name, reading sacred books, ritual worship, prayer, and so on. At every step you will be tested. Be careful, very careful.

Craving for sense objects is like the green algae that obscures the clear water of a pond; association of the holy is like the stick used to remove it, that the water may shine through. However, cravings are never entirely uprooted until the Atman is realized.

---

19 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Craving

By Swami Turiyananda

Well, the whole trouble is due to these two—the palate and the sexual instinct. In the Himalayas there are lots of solitary places suited for spiritual practices, but why can't the monks live there? Owing to the urge of the tongue. The craving for delicacies drives them out of those places.

A man who has controlled all other senses except the palate is not to be considered a master of his senses. When the hankering of the palate is controlled, everything else is controlled.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Dissatisfaction and craving for worldly enjoyments are signs of a diseased mind.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Evolution means wanting something more. It implies a craving. A craving for more of God makes us evolve spiritually, a craving for outer things or earthly powers brings material evolution. The same craving is in the ant, in the angel, in man and in the Siddhas, Seers.

By Swami Saradananda

A true leader is he who never hampers that craving for attaining freedom, his only concern being to see to it that when the person concerned gets liberty, he does not misuse it.

Those who lead an unregulated life and think impure thoughts lose their powers and strength of mind. They are at the mercy of passing desires and the feverish cravings of the senses and are slaves.

As it is natural for the body to crave food and rest, so it is natural for the mind to crave the objects of the senses. Sri Ramakrishna used to say the sin of the mind is no sin. Free your mind of all anxieties on that score.

---

20 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Criticism

By Swami Brahmananda

Play with God, sing his glory, enjoy the fun! Why should you criticize others? Associate with everybody freely. Be happy with them. Do not indulge in gossip. Only a wicked-hearted man busies himself finding fault with others.

By Swami Shivananda

It is true that one feels bad if one has to deal with worldly people all the time. One thing I would specially advise you: whenever you talk with a person, never indulge in criticisms of others nor listen to them. If you hear any criticism, keep quiet without taking part in it. Mind this particularly. Gossip, active or passive, tarnishes the mind and lowers it very much. It is a handicap to devotion for God.

By Swami Premananda

To be disturbed in mind by petty incidents is not worthy of selfless workers. You are spiritual aspirants, chosen devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. Do not pay any heed to the criticisms of others.

By Swami Adbhutananda

If you want to live a happy, contented life, stop criticizing others. Do not find fault with others. It is better to pass the time sleeping than gossiping and criticizing. Keep away from places where you find such talk going on. Try to see the good qualities in others. This is the way to get rid of the habit of fault-finding. Evil qualities pollute the mind of a person who searches for the lapses and shortcomings of others.

By Swami Akhandananda

If a fool criticizes a superior person, wise people take no notice of it at all. If someone comes and shouts, "Krishna is a lewd fellow!", have we got either to lend our ears to him or to be all up to contradict him? He that has realized the mystery of spiritual persons is all right let others understand it in time. At Alwar I went into a house for a night's halt. During the talk after dinner, someone started to belittle Swamiji. I protested and left the house then and there.

---

21 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Dejection

By Swami Shivananda

Certainly, it won't do to be dejected so soon like that. You must have faith and patience. You have to be persistently up and doing. What will you gain by dejection and moaning just because you cannot achieve anything with a little effort?

By Swami Turiyananda

Once a devotee felt a little dejected and the Swami noticing it, said: When we were living at the old Math, now many years ago, it happened once that I was very sad. I could not make any progress for some time and everything looked dark to me. I was walking up and down on the flat roof of the Math. It was evening and the moon was hidden by clouds. Sleep was impossible for me, I was so unhappy. Then suddenly from behind the clouds the moon emerged and everything looked bright and beautiful.

As soon as I saw that, I thought: "See, the moon was there all the time but I could not see her. So the Atman is also ever present, shining in its own glory, but I did not see it. The cloud of ignorance stood between the Atman and my intellect overshadowing my mind." And at once I felt strong again, my doubts all gone.

On another occasion the Swami told me how many years ago when he was travelling on foot as a Sannyasi, in India, the thought was tormenting him, that he was living a useless, vagabond life. Everyone is doing something in this world, but what am I doing, [he thought] it became very painful, and I could not shake off this thought. I thought of myself as a little, insignificant, useless creature. I was utterly dejected and threw myself down under a tree.

There I fell asleep and I had a dream. I saw myself lying on the ground and then to my surprise I saw that my body began to expand in all directions. It went on expanding and expanding, there was no end to it. At last it seemed to cover the whole world. Then it occurred to me: See how great you are; you are covering the whole world. Why do you think your life is useless? A grain of Truth will cover the whole world of delusion. Get up, be strong and realise the Truth. That is the greatest life. I awoke and jumped up and all my doubts had vanished.

By Swami Trigunatitananda

Never think, "I can't do it, I am weak." Whenever any dejection sets in, remember that saying of the Lord in the Gita, "Yield not to unmanliness!"

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Be always of good cheer. Never allow sorrow or dejection to take possession of your soul which is ever free and blissful.

By Swami Saradananda

You have written that there have been lapses ten times before in the past. Even if there be ten times more in the future, you should not be dejected. Constantly brooding about things over which you now have no control will cause more harm than good. This will surely jeopardize your spiritual life. Dirt cannot be washed by dirt. Even charcoal loses its blackness when it comes in contact with fire. Similarly, lust cannot remain when the image of God pervades the mind.

By Swami Akhandananda

Never think "I cannot do this, I am weak." Whenever you are in dejection always remember what the Lord has declared in the Gita: "Do not be under the spell of unmanliness; it does not befit you. Shake off this mean faint-heartedness and get up, Hero."

By Swami Vijnanananda

When the mind is overcome with evil thoughts, it becomes dejected and inactive like a mouse in the grip of a cat. But why should you suffer it to be like that? In situations like that, you should summon up within you the strength of a hero and shake off all evil thoughts. This is the only way out.

Never give way to despair or dejection. Without perseverance nothing great can be achieved.

---

22 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Death

By Swami Turiyananda

At the time of death an outer power struggles with the inner power. These two powers are not different. They are like concentric circles, the bigger one trying to destroy the other.

Once when I was at the point of death at Puri, I perceived this distinctly; as if I had one foot outside the door and another inside. I could see both sides. Death is no more terrible when there is no attachment. One must keep out attachment. All the trouble is due to love being centred on specific objects.

[Referring to a toe-nail which had come off of itself:]

Thus is the body left behind, and the soul flies off, though, of course, not unperceived—the mind, the ego feels its departure.

(To a devotee) You have died, why do you again think of yourself? Have you not given everything over to Mother? Why then think of yourself again?

By Swami Saradananda

Forgetfulness of God is as good as death.

If the Divine Mother does not come now, She will surely appear before you at the time of your death and free you from all the cares of the world.

The cumulative effect of the karmas of the individual's entire life will be the guiding factor in forming the Lord's decision to shape the destiny of the soul for its sojourn through the path of light or the path of darkness.

But the karma yogi who has worked with the attitude of seeing "inaction in action" will attain knowledge that will cut all his bonds and make him free. By the grace of the Lord he will know that his soul will not go to any place but will enter into the realm of bliss when the flame of life is extinguished.

By Swami Akhandananda

Now, if you are afraid of a man and cannot face him boldly, how will you face death? Death has no fixed time. It may come any time, may be right now.

By Swami Vijnanananda

The most remarkable phenomenon is that all men, all animals, desire to live forever. This shows the immortality of all created things. Yes, it is really so. The One that is within us is without beginning and without end, without birth or death. There is nothing like death there.

One who knows the use of time and lives it properly in all respects will gain victory over time, i.e., over life and death.

After death, worldly desires continue in a subtle form. Death only destroys the gross body, but the senses, the mind and intelligence remain in a subtle form. In that subtle body, enjoyments are still more acute. Even in the causal state, the "mind" exists in the form of "seed." In the supra-mental state only, one attains perfect illumination. It is not enough, therefore, to try for physical development only; what is wanted is all-round advancement—physical, mental and spiritual.

The One that is within us all, is without beginning and without end, without birth or death. There is nothing like death there. As you discard an old shirt, so does He discard the body when it becomes inefficient, and enters another.

The man who has lost his character is really dead. Compared to this moral death, death in a physical sense is of little consequence. One who has lost one's moral anchorage will suffer for it in many, many lives to come.

After the dissolution of the mortal frame, the soul takes a subtle form and more intensely reaps the harvest of previous deeds.

Your thoughts at the time of death will determine your destination after death. There is a story that, on the eve of a pious Christian's death, angels placed before him a picture of Jesus Christ; but, at the suggestion of Satan, he turned to the other side and looked at the picture of his sweetheart. The result was that he went to hell; it was the effect of surrendering to the allurements of Satan.

The greatest need is to concentrate on Him when we are dying. Then, all those whom we thought of as our near and dear ones in our lives, forsake us. We very often find that for want of purity of heart and concentration on God, people get terribly afraid on the eve of death; some cry out in fear at the sight of hideous apparitions of the messengers of death. But the glory of God's name saves us from these fears and also delivers us for all the time from the clutches of death.

At the time of death, a man loses his wits, he becomes enveloped in a sort of mental darkness. If only once he can utter the name of God at that time, he may be saved as God takes charge of him. Unless one has acquired the habit of constantly thinking of God by long practice, everything becomes confused on account of the pangs of death, and one cannot think of God even once. So what is necessary is constantly meditate on Him and pray to Him. You have to remember God and call on Him constantly, so that at the time you leave this world He may occupy your thoughts.

Death is a painful thing because from birth to death life throbs in this body. Therefore one gets too much attached to this body that it becomes very painful when one has to give it up. Just see, if you possess a thing even for a few days, you get attached to it; and hence it is no wonder that one should feel so painful to give up this body which one has cherished from birth.

---

23 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Death

By Swami Brahmananda

This life may end at any moment. No one knows when. Equip yourself for the journey with spiritual treasures. To arrive empty-handed at an unknown place involves much suffering and sorrow. Birth is inevitably followed by death. At death you go to an unknown place, so you must prepare yourself for the journey.

By Swami Shivananda

Birth and death are just a matter of course. Nobody can stop them. God alone is immutable and immortal—pure, enlightened and free by nature.

[To the question: "Does everyone have to be in a disembodied state after death?"]

Not necessarily. Why should devotees of the Lord who have genuine devotion have to be in the disembodied state? They become one with God and obtain liberation.

Real joy or peace is very rare in this world, and this round of birth and death that is ours, no one can check. Man has no hand in it. God alone is responsible for the creation, maintenance and dissolution of this world, and it is by His will that all beings are born into it. He keeps them as long as He wants, and takes them away whenever He wishes. We should know for certain that God is the Lord of birth, maintenance and death. It is He who sends souls here to become parents, wives, children, friends and relatives, and He keeps them entangled in some relationship or other, taking them back whenever He wishes.

Once you can realize him, your worldly bondage will be cut asunder for ever; you will not have to undergo the round of birth and death any more.

[Concerning the suicide of a woman devotee:] I heard that she killed herself with opium. She did so, because she could no longer bear the pain she was suffering from her disease. In any case, her soul will reach the Master, for she was devoted to him. She had great reverence for the monks of this monastery, as also for us. Her Prarabdha, accumulated results of past works, had that fruit in store for her, and hence she had to do so. But her future course will certainly be good, though, in such a case, the soul has to remain for some time under a cover of something like darkness.

Men can be saved only if they take note of all this for a while and think of the transitoriness of worldly things. They rather remain merged in Maya. It is good to think of death now and again. One can hardly enumerate the infinite ways in which the ephemeral nature of the world becomes revealed before people's very eyes. Still, they are not awakened.

Besides, nobody has any control over birth and death—all these happen according to the will of God. He alone knows how long He will keep anyone in this world. All bodies die; there's no exception to this rule. Your son is gone; you, too, have to go some day. Your wife, son, daughter, in fact all whom you consider to be your very own—all have to depart; none can live eternally.

In the Gita the Lord says: "Anyone born must surely die, and anyone dead must surely be reborn. So you must not lament for something that is inevitable." Death being inevitable for anyone coming to this earth, He forbids us to lament. None in this world is really your own whom you think to be so. Only God is truly your own. He keeps company in life and death; He is the Soul of one's soul. The relationship with Him is eternal.

Those who have resigned themselves at the feet of the Lord have nothing to worry about. He will certainly take care of them, gathering them in His arms, if not in this life, at least at the dying moment.

And our relationship with the Lord is eternal; it is not destroyed with the death of the body.

It is good to think of death at times. In how many ways is the evanescence of everything driven home to man, and yet he does not wake up!

Miracles of this nature do happen! Even now we hear about the extraordinary deaths of some devotees. Such persons have superconscious visions and experiences at the moment of their death. They pass on repeating the name of the Master and are united with him in his divine realm. His devotees are bound to do well and to reach higher planes of consciousness after death.

Listen, whenever the thought of your wife [who had just died and to whom he was devoted] comes to your mind, feel that she is lying on the lap of God. Can anyone take a better care of her than God?

Is there death at any time to the real gurus who are persons possessing the knowledge of the Absolute? They only cast away this physical sheath, but they are alive and are present always, in the subtle body, and do good to the devotees who resort to them.

By Swami Premananda

There is nothing more certain in this world than death. In order that we may transcend death, the scriptures advise us to keep the company of the holy. But it is not enough to listen to advice. We must practice it. Do not ever doubt that those who have even once in their lives taken the name of Sri Ramakrishna will come to him. You are regularly engaged in the service of the Lord; you need have no fear. Know that you belong to the Lord, and that the Lord is your eternal treasure. It is natural that your mother will grieve at her son's death. But by the grace of the Lord, who is the ocean of mercy, she will find relief. He is the pillar, and if a man holds on to him he becomes immortal.

Never give any thought to the idea that you are bound souls. You are free! Chant the name of the Lord and even the king of death will be afraid to approach you.

Practice meditation and japa with your whole heart, even the terror of death will fly away.

Attain Him even in this very life. There is no other way to cross this vast desert of worldliness, the abode of suffering and death.

But you must not infer from this that you are to sin now and take the name of the Mother at the moment of death. Unless you repeat Her name even from now with great faith and strength of mind, you will not even remember it at the moment of death.

---

25 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Delusion

By Swami Premananda

And egoism—it is truly hellish! It is this egoism that has kept the whole world under delusion. Only with the greatest austerity can one be completely freed from ego.

By Swami Turiyananda

It is very difficult to understand the intricacies of the mind without being an advanced aspirant. How many are the ways in which the mind is deluding us! If anyone points out the delusions, we find excuses for them! We do not understand how many kinds of self-love are in us.

Brahman alone is real, everything else is unreal and the human soul is that Brahman. The lion shut up in a cage thinks he is caught and escape impossible. He does not know that one blow from his mighty paw would demolish the cage and set him free.

We are bound by the delusion of ignorance. Tear away the delusion and be free. All power is within you, for you are the Atman. With the sword of knowledge, sever the veil of Maya, and assert your divine nature.

But we have to be careful. Maya is so powerful that we are so easily caught and deluded.

By Swami Adbhutananda

On a moonless night one man cannot recognize another, however close they may be standing; similarly, a man cannot see his innermost self due to the dark covering of delusion.

Dependence on God

By Swami Shivananda

Your dependence on the Master and Swamiji and your faith in them is at the root of this success. Don't you ever forget it. Always pray that you remain His servant always, and that you may go on doing the work as service to the Master.

The Lord is spreading His own message amongst so many people, making you His instrument. For this consider yourself thankful, and may He never let any other idea enter your mind. Always remember Him and contemplate Him. No fear! Don't be frightened! If you are dependent on God, then you will see that He is with you. Even in the midst of the fire of name and fame, He will always protect you.

Never expect anything from anybody, neither at the present time nor in the future. If you have to ask anything, then ask it of Him.

By Swami Premananda

A devotee must depend entirely on the Lord. He must accept the Lord's will, whatever that may be. "Whatever condition you may place me in Mother—whether under a tree, with ashes to adorn my body, or on a royal throne, adorned with silver, gold and diamonds—it is for my good, provided I do not forget thee."

---

26 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Delusion

By Swami Turiyananda

One should always stick to the Lord; if one succeeds in making this a habit, then the purpose is achieved. Then only the Lord is known to be present within and without; the cycle of events in the world cannot then disturb one's equanimity or make one restless. Not that disturbing things do not happen—they always do, but they go as they come, without being able to affect us in any way.

"None else, He alone is my all in all"—when you will feel like this and will not rely on anything, then will you be right. Now you are depending on earthly things, on wealth, man, and learning. Even great scholars get mad by a single screw getting loose in the brain. We do not rely on God. We rely on our money; our relations, our friends. When nothing will intervene between you and Him, then you will realize Him. Sri Krishna had broken all the ties of the Gopis. But their sense of shame still remained. That tie also he broke at last. When the Lord sees that man is finding it hard to give up anything for Him, then He Himself takes it away. "Lord, take all things away from me, even those that I have kept hidden in my inmost heart." "If, O man, thou wilt cross the ocean of relative existence, thou must give up desires for earthly things."

Nowadays the theory of Mahamaya or a Universal Force manipulating everything, appeals to me very much. I haven't got words to tell you how much I like it. It is because the mind has accepted the truth of it.

Swamiji also in his later days used to have great faith in Mahamaya. To be like an automaton in Her hands is easier said than done. If we submit to Her, She never fails to protect us. With the advance of age there comes a time when, instead of leaning on the theory of causation, we naturally resign ourselves to the Divine Mother.

What is wanted is dependence on God. One must surrender everything to Him.

Depend on Mother for everything. Trust in Her, and She will guide you. She will not let you go astray.

Mother is kind to send pain. It is for our good. Only we are so self-loving, we don't realize it. We must depend on Her alone, and on nothing else. Certainly we must depend on her for our external wants, for everything. Our body, mind, and soul are given to Mother. On whom else then should we depend on? Let her give or let her take—it is all the same. Why should we care? When once given, how can we demand again? Blessed is he who can realize this.

---

27 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Delusion

By Swami Adbhutananda

You speak about dependence on God so superficially. If you do not get any response after calling on God for a couple of days, you follow your own way according to your mood, as if you understood the situation better than he.

[To a devotee's question: Maharaj why do we not have that kind of dependence on God?]

It is because you value your intellect and ego more than God. You are not ready to wait for his command, and moreover, you lose patience in a minute.

Look, when you dive deep into the Ganga, though there are thousands of pounds of water above you, you don't feel that weight. Similarly, if you plunge into God's creation yet still hold onto him, you will not feel its burden. Then the world becomes a place of merriment.

Remember this beautiful saying of Tulasidas: "He who takes refuge in God is protected by him." A huge elephant may be swept away by the current of the river, but the small fish who lives in the river can even swim against its current. Remember that if you depend on God, he will take care of you in all circumstances.

Believers remain satisfied. They depend on the Lord and enjoy contentment. One should avoid the company of the non-believers. They themselves suffer and pass on their discontent to others.

What is the use of prayer and meditation if you have no dependence on Him? Everything else is useless if you lack in this.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Pleasure and pain are the inevitable companions of every human being. When one comes, the other departs but neither can remain long. Knowing this we must not be swept out of our wits under their influence. Depend upon God entirely and do your duty. Always abide by the will of God and take everything in the best light.

Few of us believe in God all the time. As long as we have two or three rupees in the pocket, we think we can depend on ourselves. Only when the last penny is gone and we do not know where to get another, do we begin to trust God. But the man who depends on himself is never safe, while the man who has perfect faith in God is never in danger.

By Swami Saradananda

Depending on Him, resign yourself to His care. Let Him decide what is best for you.

If you carry on your spiritual practices with implicit faith in the Lord who is your own, you will understand everything in due time. It will gradually be revealed to you how you can cultivate absolute reliance on God while performing your duties.

Therefore give up all attempts to understand spiritual truths with your limited intellect. Have absolute faith in the Lord; rely on Him and practice spiritual disciplines.

Depend upon God and stand on your own feet. Remember the words of the Upanishads and dive deep into spiritual practice, never be contented until the goal is reached.

Peace of mind can be had by spending more time in meditation and other spiritual practices and by depending on the Lord.

When nothing is possible without His will, then what is the use of planning? It is better to depend on Him and do as He makes us do.

By Swami Akhandananda

While travelling in Gujarat, once some dacoits would have killed me, if I had had any money with me. Ah, what a state of dependence upon God it was, always thinking of Him! Money makes us forget God. Dependence on God is true self-reliance. Dependence on money is not. Don't you see, those who earn money cannot rely upon God in the proper spirit? The two cannot go together. It is dangerous to have your legs in two boats!

Man enters family life and gets involved in worldly affairs. But if he takes refuge in the Lord and then attends to the duties of life, he can withstand much better the storms and stresses of the world, all of which he can ignore by his dependence on God's dispensation.

---

28 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Depression

By Swami Brahmananda

In the primary stage, the aspirant should slowly but steadily increase his hours of meditation. Otherwise, if, because of a momentary enthusiasm, he suddenly tries to increase his hours of meditation, he will find the reaction difficult to bear. He will become depressed, and then he will lose the power to meditate. It is a difficult task to lift a depressed mind and turn it back to spiritual practices.

It is but natural that you feel depressed now and then.

By Swami Turiyananda

Faith saves us. Everyone feels depressed at times; but all do not show it.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Why should you be so depressed? Do you think you understand everything about human life? Know that no life goes in vain in God's realm. Once Brother Shashi gave a very apt illustration to someone like you. A man was out walking and came upon a canal. Seeing that he would have to jump over it in order to continue on his way, he took several strides backward to get a running start for his leap. As he ran forward and jumped over the canal, he covered not only the distance he had moved backward but also the canal itself. Now, can you tell me whether his several steps backward were helpful or harmful? A man might have to take backward steps in this present life, but he will undoubtedly run forward in the next.

By Swami Saradananda

You feel depressed because your faith is lukewarm. You must cultivate self-confidence.

When you feel depressed, you must drive away that feeling by saying, "I belong to the Lord, He is my very own. I am His child. He is holding me by the hand and will surely do what is good for me." These thoughts will bring strength to your nerves and faith in your heart.

You should drive away all depressive thoughts, telling yourself that it is the nature of the mind to have passions and they arise due to past habit. Fix your mind on God and they will leave you alone. Bestow no thought on what is past. If negative thoughts arise, pay no attention; consider them as insignificant things, beneath your notice.

Whenever you feel miserable and spiritual life seems dry, you must drive these feelings away by thinking that you are His servant, His child, a part of Himself and that your Chosen Ideal is always there holding you by His hand. You are safe in His care, and nothing but good will come to you in the end. Remembering this you must pick up strength and banish from your heart all depressing thoughts. Despondency is the greatest obstacle in spiritual life. It saps energy and destroys your ability to struggle.

By Swami Akhandananda

Have you read the book, "Up From Slavery"—the great story of service, of educating the people? It tells of how they made their own bricks with which they built the school. In the beginning they were unable to do so; but after repeated failure they succeeded. He that is born with a mission does not stop at obstacles. He is never depressed: he will finish his work and then only rest.

---

29 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Desire

By Swami Brahmananda

Out of thousands, perchance one desires for God. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that a man will surely attain God if he possesses in an intense degree three kinds of love—the love a chaste wife feels toward her husband, the attraction of the worldly man for the world, and the attachment the miser feels toward his hoarded wealth. This means that the mind must be one-pointed and completely free of all desires but the desire to know and love God.

Later, when the mind has attained perfect purity, you will have but one desire—to devote yourself to contemplation always. Because the mind is gross it runs after gross things, but as it becomes pure and subtle it will run after God—the pure consciousness.

Purify your mind so that no worldly desire can arise in it.

"I want to taste sugar but not become sugar" is for the man who has not yet tasted sugar. When a devotee begins to taste the sweetness of God, he will desire to achieve oneness with him.

As long as a man desires the things of the world, it is not possible for him to have any earnest desire to know God. As long as a child is absorbed in his toys he forgets his mother, but as soon as he tires of them he cries for her, and is not happy till he sees her. Similarly, when a man tires of the playthings of the world his heart yearns for God, and he struggles with all his mind and will to find him.

The desire to live a pure and holy life does not come easily, know this for a certainty. The grace of God is upon all those in whom this desire is awakened. In the world man receives repeated blows. He suffers much, and yet the desire to walk the path of God does not enter into his heart. He knows full well that every time he puts his hand in the fire it will burn, yet still he does it. Not only so; he uses every inducement to encourage others to do the same and regards that man as crazy who desists.

Like a fallen leaf tossed to and fro by the wind, the one-pointed man is content to remain wherever the Lord places him. He has no will or desire of his own. He can live in the world and at the same time dive into the ocean of knowledge and bliss.

If you have the craving for fleshly enjoyments or the slightest desire for name and fame you cannot reach God. As Nag Mahashaya used to say, "It is like trying to row an anchored boat." He also used to say, "It is easy to get name and fame. But holy is he who can renounce them."

Hold on for a little while. Do not give your mind up to objects of desire. You must exercise great self-control, in everything. Objects of desire! They will follow you like slaves. Then, through His grace, you will find you have no desire for them nor will you feel any attachment to them.

Effort must be your motto if you want to grow spiritually. Keep watch over every small desire which arises and control it.

My child, if you wish to make your life blessed, if you desire your own good, then dive deep into meditation. Do not float on the surface but repeat the name of the Lord and dive deep.

When you are able to free yourself from these deep-seated desires, when the mind becomes tranquil, then only can you become deeply absorbed in real meditation.

During meditation think that desires for worldly things are worthless. This will leave a good impression on the mind. As you drive away the desires from your mind, good thoughts and feelings will come to you.

---

30 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Desire

By Swami Shivananda

The base of all desires are lust and greed.

One can have that much desire as is absolutely necessary for self-preservation. The main object of self-preservation is to be able to call on the Lord whole-heartedly and to do works in His service that is all.

Renunciation means doing away with the three foremost desires [according to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the desires for progeny, wealth and popularity.] A devotee accepting the dualistic view renounces all desires except the desire for God. He alone is to be desired in life. The desire to realize Him is not really a desire at all.

Don't you know it is very hard to digest fame? Those who do not have Self-realization can hardly rise above the desire for name and fame.

As a result of good deeds performed in many incarnations and through the grace of God, one has this desire for liberation.

It will not do to have mere external renunciation; one must eradicate from one's very mind any desire for "lust and gold."

It is only by realizing Him that one gets rid of all passions and desires, attains fullness, and becomes the Self Itself.

It is He who fulfils all desires if one but prays with earnestness. He is the ordainer of all the desired results of everybody. It is He who vouchsafes all the fruits that people want be these virtue, secular prosperity, enjoyment, or liberation.

As a result of association with the holy one reaches the state of being freed from all worldly attachments. All wants and desires are then destroyed root and branch, and one feels the nearness of God.

Eternal peace cannot come so long as passions and desires persist; and those passions and desires cannot be wholly uprooted without the grace of God.

When the mind becomes free from impressions and desires, it cannot, strictly speaking, be called mind any longer—it becomes synonymous with the one Universal Intelligence, Divine Mother or Brahman give it any name you please.

It is impossible to obtain peace that is abiding so long as one is subject to desires, and one cannot wholly uproot desires without divine grace.

Dispassion depends upon past impressions, Samskaras. One gets it only when one is free from all desires and not otherwise. If any desire is left in the mind this spirit of renunciation cannot come.

Now and then a desire for enjoyment may be felt. Never mind, it is nothing; discriminate and renounce such desires.

Desire begets misery, to be without desires is bliss. Desire for enjoyment no doubt has to be given up. But then all desires are not to be given up. It is only material desires that are to be given up. But the desire to realize God, the desire for knowledge and devotion are not to be given up.

That mind in which there are no mentations or desires cannot be called mind.

---

31 July 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Desire

By Swami Premananda

Surrender all desire for name and fame to the Lord. If some little name or fame comes your way, it won't harm you.

Be not self-seeking try to be desireless, and take your refuge in the Lord, who is the doer of all good.

You are young. Your passions are naturally strong, and desires for enjoyment will arise inevitably. You need to be very careful. Think that you are the servant of the Lord, that you are strong in the strength of the Lord. How could lust overcome you! You have to be strong and a hero, and at the same time calm and tender.

Let the strong wind of dispassion rise in your minds, that the trees of desire be uprooted. Then, even as birds fly from the shelter of trees before a strong wind, will the ignorance of selfishness, jealousy, hatred, and egoism take flight from your hearts.

So long as there remains one desire in the heart, it is not possible to attain Samadhi. However, the desire to know God and to love Him cannot be considered a desire in the ordinary sense. The only desire a monk should have in his heart is the desire to realize God.

You must uproot the very tree of desire with the strong wind of dispassion. Free your minds from all desires, and peace will reign in your hearts. To be liberated means to be desireless.

Desire, again, is of two kinds—good and evil. That desire which tightens the bonds of ignorance is evil; that which loosens the bonds is good. Therefore, the desire to associate with the holy or to serve them, and the desire to work selflessly for the good of others are good desires.

There are desires also of a gross and subtle kind. Gross desires are the desires for wealth, pleasure, and enjoyments. Sometimes it happens that after a man has succeeded in freeing himself from these gross desires after great struggles and hard spiritual disciplines, he succumbs to the subtle desire for recognition, name, or fame. These, too, have to be overcome by the practice of spiritual discrimination. The root cause of all desire is the ego and our identity with the physical body.

It is also true that unless the desires are left behind you cannot have the vision of God. Desirelessness and the vision of God are like the opposite sides of the same leaf.

The truth is, it is not possible to realize God unless one becomes completely desireless.

So long as there is the least desire the mind cannot be absorbed in God. Along with meditation and repetition of the Lord's name, we must reason keenly and carefully we must search out the desires hiding in the dark corners of the mind and drive them away. This is what is called in the Gita as "saving the self by the self." Thus we are to conquer the mind. We shall then find Peace Everlasting within ourselves and become sages. Simply meditating or repeating God's name, without any effort at rooting out the desires, will not do.

1 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DESIRE

By Swami Turiyananda

When he was wandering about as an itinerant monk, Swamiji (Swami Vivekananda) saw on the wall of a dilapidated temple a couplet written in Hindi with charcoal. Nobody knew who had written this couplet or where the writer had got it from. But how beautiful its meaning was! It is as follows: "Oh! desire, you are the lowliest of the lowly. You are like the tanner or the scavenger. This Atman of mine was Brahman Itself—but coming near you, how small you have converted it into!"

Supreme devotion cannot be had so long as there is the slightest desire in the mind.

Desires keep us apart from God. But one day we shall have to eradicate all desires and call on Him. What if the body dies while calling on Him?

However great a man may be, whatever great deeds he may be doing, some day he will have to be desireless.

If you find a man's desire for sense-enjoyments is growing less and less and his love is extending over all beings, then you may know that he is progressing towards God.

It is very difficult to realize God. The slightest desire blocks the way.

How beautifully Tulasidas expressed it: "Where Rama the Lord is, there is no Kama, desire; and where there is Kama, there Rama is not. Both can never co-exist like the sun and darkness."

How difficult to hold the mind forever above the world! It wants to come down. It is indeed very hard to escape the grip of desire. As Sri Ramakrishna would say, "Even he who has no one to call his own rears up a cat and creates homely attachments."

We have been reading these few days of the selfish prayers in the Rudradhyaya: "Do not destroy my cows. Ever turn thy benignant face on me. Come putting aside thy bow and arrows. And humble my enemies and chastise them." Well, such prayers come out of selfishness. But when one is rid of body-consciousness, one does not feel these desires.

If one realizes God, to him the world is a paradise and everything in it yields whatever he desires.

Duality is nothing. It has come only from here (pointing to his heart). It vanishes, if one will only shake it off with a will. If one does not want sense-enjoyment, if one hates the approach of any thought of it in the mind, of their own accord will all desires for sense-objects fly away. Suppose I do not like the company of a particular individual, do not talk with him, thus showing my constant dislike for him, then in a few days he of his own accord will stop coming to me. One succeeds in driving away the desires for sense-enjoyments, if only one makes an effort for that. It is because we cling to sense-objects that desire for them does not leave us.

Ordinarily we know only the surface waves of our mind. But through Yoga practice we learn to go deeper. By watching and studying our own minds we dive below the surface consciousness, and observe what is going on there. Many Samskaras—latent desires and tendencies—are stored up there, waiting for an opportunity express themselves. These we can discover before they rise to the surface.

This is very important, for once a thought has come to the surface it is extremely difficult to control. But at an early stage, before it has fully developed and gathered strength, it is easy to manipulate. This is called "seeing our thoughts in seed form." The seed is easily destroyed, but when it is germinated and grown into a big strong tree, it requires great strength and effort to cut it down. So we must crush our desires in their early, undeveloped stages. Yogis can do this. They keep down undesirable thoughts in the germ state by smothering them beneath thoughts of an opposite nature. Thus they conquer all evil tendencies hatred with love, anger with kindness and so on.

Have you seen people play chess? The players sometimes overlook a move because their minds are set on winning the game. But the looker-on will see the move, because his mind is calm, not disturbed by the desire to win. We become ambitious, and thus lose clearness of vision. Ambition sweeps us along, and all prudence is thrown to the winds. Our desires make us blind.

It is true that one cannot give up all desires; but if the mind becomes discriminating, desires cannot exert their previous power. You read in the Yoga Vasishta, "If one moves about with discrimination as one's friend, one does not fall prey even to great temptations." And that is actually true. If one maintains discrimination steady and strong, no illusion can ever overpower. If you constantly remember that the world is unreal, what can desires do? There is no harm in fulfilling small desires, but those which make one forget the Lord are dangerous. It does not matter that you have to live in the world; if you but keep remembrance of the Lord, desires cannot lead you astray.

To be born for selfish purpose i.e. to enjoy sense pleasures alone deserves censure. But certainly there is nothing wrong in a person's being reborn without any selfish desire.

---

2 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DESIRE

By Swami Adbhutananda

A thread with stray fibers cannot pass through the eye of a needle; similarly, a mind with desires cannot be absorbed in God.

Worldly desires have taken up permanent residence in the mind. Sometimes they float on the surface of the mind, and sometimes they are so hidden that it seems they do not even exist. But the closer you are to God, the more you will see the knots of desire hidden in the mind. The more our body and mind are purified, the more the dirt and dross which have accumulated during thousands of lives will be stirred up and will challenge your spirituality. The energy generated by spiritual disciplines forces the impurities to leave the mind, their fort. How can they cope against the power of the Lord's name? You see, the desires are very shrewd. They take possession not only of the mind of a person but his sense organs as well. As soon as desire is aroused in the mind, the sense organs are awakened. The eyes want to see, the ears want to hear, the tongue to taste and speak, the nose to smell, the body to feel. The hands want to work and the feet carry the person to where the object is. The other sense organs are alert, and whenever the opportunity comes they also enjoy.

Do you know what the mind does? It conjures up enticing pictures with the imagination. The imagination is man's worse enemy, his greatest tempter, for it creates beautiful pictures of sense pleasures and nearly destroys man's conscience. Thus man is drawn to sense objects. Therefore, if you want to control the desire for worldly things, control the imagination and don't be deluded by sense enjoyments.

The nature of the mind can be changed by chanting the name of the Lord. Gradually desires and doubts cease and the mind dissolves into its causality. Then there is none to think or imagine. Waves of desire in the mind show that the mind is active; the mind becomes pure only when it becomes waveless.

Whatever you want you will get. But if you want to be spiritual, you cannot want anything else. The Master used to say, "Whatever you want from God you will receive. But if you want Him only, then all your other wants will be fulfilled as well."

Be satisfied with whatever you need for your daily living and don't desire more. Too many worldly belongings displace the thought of the Reality from the mind.

He who has learned to discriminate can successfully overcome lust and greed. So, cultivate your discrimination and conscience. How can you struggle against evil tendencies if your intellect is not trained to differentiate between good and evil?

First clear out the rubbish which has entered the mind through the gates of the sense organs, and then put a "NO ADMITTANCE" sign in front of each gate. Those bad thoughts which ignore the notice and still come in, you will have to hand over to the police, which is our conscience. With the help of the police you must evict the impure tendencies from the mind and then install the Lord there. This is the way to conquer lust and desire.

Desire begets wants in the mind of man. And if he has no desires, he has no wants. Love for God destroys desire.

How many people want to hear about God? That desire comes through God's special grace.

Desire, freed from hankering for results, leads to the purification of the heart, and the knowledge of the Self dawns when the mind becomes pure.

If you are running temperature, everything tastes bitter, you do not like sweets. Even so, so long as you have the desire to enjoy worldly things, you can have no taste for prayer, meditation, fasts, and vigils—all taste bitter. When this worldly fever subsides, prayer, meditation, etc., taste sweet. The mind settles quickly on God. Temptation cannot sweep you off your feet.

As long as you suffer from a sense of want, you cannot sincerely call on God. And man has no end of wants. This sense is so peculiar that the more you think of it, the intenser and wider it becomes. Therefore it is that those who want God should tread the path of renunciation.

---

3 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DESIRE

By Swami Abhedananda

Man is a slave to his passion, which is the same as desires, and desires are ever associated with selfishness. Selfishness means the desire to seek for food and raiment and happiness for oneself and one's family, without any consideration as to whether one's countrymen fare ill or well. The idea of looking on others as oneself never springs in them.

This selfishness itself is ignorance. That is why any mental tendency or idea that is associated with selfishness is narrow. This keeps a man confined within his own body or limited self, his mind never expands. He thinks that whatever is favourable to himself is good, and whatever is unfavourable is bad. Such people never get any peace in this world, their mind is ever aflame with peacelessness.

Desires are of two kinds—good and bad. When desires are associated with selfishness, they are bad, but when desires are motiveless or selfless, they are good. Lust, anger, and greed—these three spring from bad desires, and they harm men. The men of realization go beyond desires. To go beyond desires means to become free from desires or hankering for results. Desires, freed from hankering for results, leads to the purification of the heart, and the knowledge of the Self dawns when the mind becomes pure. Virtue and vice arise from desires. One can have no peace so long as one is a slave to desires. Peace means the conquest of desires. And the way to the conquest of desires is through doing good to others, striving for the welfare of others.

Diverse are the desires of man, a thousand desires hide themselves behind any one of them. Thus there is no end of desires—one following the other in unending succession. That is why the enlightened ones speak of annihilating desires.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

What makes the mind impure? Desire. Free the mind of all desires, and at once it becomes pure. A man, who has no idea of God, can never get rid of desire. The lover of God sees that instead of bringing enjoyment, these desires are the source of all miseries. He understands that in God alone he can find the satisfaction of all desires, for He is infinite bliss, and all other pleasures are finite and perishable.

Desire concretised is body.

Desire to be desireless is no desire.

It is not easy to free the mind of desires. God alone can do it. A man who has no idea of God will never get rid of desires. He will say. "If I have no desire, what differences will there be between me and the wall? It is desire alone that gives me enjoyment. For every desire, there is a satisfaction in the world. Why, then, should I give up desire?" The man who has devotion for God, however, sees that instead of bringing enjoyment, these desires are the source of all his sufferings. He realizes that in God alone can he find satisfaction for all desires.

If you wish to see God, the only way is to get rid of all selfish desires and make the mind single.

Mind is like a big mirror which gives a perfect reflection but which has been so thickly covered with dirt that nothing can be seen in it. The more you can rub off that dirt the more you will be able to see yourself in it. The more you can remove the least speck of dust the more you can get a perfect image of your true Self. What is that dirt that hides the image? Selfish desires.

Desire is a very dangerous thing. Sometimes we think we have killed all selfish desire; but somewhere in our mind there lingers some remnant; and as from a spark left in the corner of the hearth may come again a big fire, so out of that small remnant may spring a huge fire of desire.

[To the question, "Could not God free us from ignorance at once if He wished?"]

A: Surely; but He is so infinitely loving that He does not wish to molest us. So long as He sees that we really cling to our ignorance and our desires He does not come to free us. Only when we turn all our desires to Him, then He comes and selfishness and ignorance go away. But we must not bribe the mind, we must not pretend to be free from desires. The feeling must be absolutely sincere; no fraud or bribery.

Desires cannot be quenched by satisfaction, but by dissociation. The more one yields to them the more they will burn him. When desires are extinguished, perfection which is within our being will be revealed.

---

4 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DESIRE

By Swami Saradananda

It is a pity that man does not want God from the bottom of his heart. If he really wants him, he will surely find him.

If it is the will of Mother, do you think that it will take time to grant the vision and fulfil the desire of our heart? When you belong to her, there is no question that visions and experiences will be yours some day in your life.

Conflicting desires arise in the mind. Because of these desires the mind is constantly lashed into waves. As long as these waves form, the mind is restless. In order to control these waves which give rise to thoughts of a worldly and distracting nature, one must live a life of self-discipline.

Those who lead an unregulated life and think impure thoughts lose their powers and strength of mind. They are at the mercy of passing desires and the feverish cravings of the senses and are slaves.

What should one do if in spite of these arguments the mind refuses to listen? In that case you should enjoy the object of desire once or twice, while discriminating between the real and the unreal. Small desires, such as sweets, can be renounced in this way after enjoying them with proper discrimination.

But it is dangerous to apply this same method to major desires. The moment an aspirant begins to gratify them, he becomes so involved that he cannot extricate himself. Therefore these major desires have to be renounced and uprooted completely from the mind by realizing the danger and the defects inherent in them. If they are given free rein, they will stifle the power of discrimination.

If you ask why the Lord does not remove all desires from your mind, the answer is that He knows that you will be free from the bondage of the world after some years so there is no necessity to forcibly drive them away.

Desire is like a fire which always craves new sensations. If you ignore its demand, it will burn itself out and be extinguished. Therefore, carry on your meditation without paying any notice to the intrusion of distracting thoughts.

If there is a strong attachment for God and a burning desire to realize Him, all other attractions will drop off.

By Swami Akhandananda

Self-evolution is impossible in a narrow atmosphere of selfishness. Even with an iota of desire for sense-enjoyment, this is impossible.

If you have a desire for sense-enjoyments, then there can be no spiritual attainments. If you are really after spiritual life, then bid farewell to desires.

In worldly life, people are all absorbed in the desire for enjoyment. How will this desire be burnt away? Some heat is necessary first, to dry up the mind soaked with thoughts of enjoyment. The Sadhu gives you that heat. But then if your mind is like a flint, it is a different tale. It may remain a thousand years under water, but it will emit fire when you strike it. But how many such are there? Not many.

By Swami Vijnanananda

It is desire that is the root of all evil, and no one else is at fault.

He is all-pervading, He is within you all, and He knows everything. Confide in Him, but you must be careful not to go to Him with selfish desires.

You cannot have contentment so long as you are subject to worldly desires. Once they disappear you are free.

The most remarkable phenomenon is that all men, all animals desire to live forever. This shows the immortality of all created things. Yes, it is really so.

God had fulfilled every desire that arose in his mind. He acts like a valet to provide us with whatever we want. Is He to blame or are we? It is desire that is the root of all evil, and no one else is at fault. That is why a discriminating person says to God: Let your work remain with you, I am not the doer, I am but an instrument.

If you can get rid of all your desires, rebirth will not take place. We provide new impetus to our karmas in every birth, thus continuing the cycle of rebirths. But if we check it completely, that is if we rise over our desires, we will have no further rebirths. When the desires are gone, you are free.

After death, worldly desires continue to remain in a subtle form. Death only destroys the gross body, but the senses, mind, and intelligence, all remain in a subtle form. In that subtle body sense enjoyments are all the more acute. After the subtle state comes the causal state: even then the mind and other phenomena exist in the form of seed. In the supra-mental state only one attains perfect illumination.

---

5 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DESPAIR

By Swami Brahmananda

No, no. There is no cause for despair. The effect of meditation is inevitable.

By Swami Shivananda

Know for certain that the impossible becomes possible through His grace. Never allow despair to enter your mind. Don't worry.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Man can attain peace if he gives up worldly enjoyment, for such enjoyment is the source of sorrow and sufferings, disease and despair.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Let me remind you of certain passages from the Gita which console, invigorate and drive away despair from the minds of even the most dejected. When Arjuna asked Sri Bhagavan about the man who had gone astray from the true path in the midst of his progress and about such a one losing both worldly and religious concerns the Bhagavan replied, "Oh! Dear Friend, the man who does even the least of good deeds never becomes wretched in his after-life. He takes his birth in the home of the holy and the pious and begins a life of godliness and piety." Hence, if even for a second you do feel or think a good thought, it is sure to be of great gain to you. Never give way to despair, for it is the Lord Himself that consoles every son of man, promising "Oh! Arjuna! declare it before all men that My devotee never meets with misfortune or destruction."

By Swami Saradananda

Do not despair if at the beginning you do not get any result from your spiritual practices and worship. If you keep up the practice with patience and resolution, you will get its result at the right time, there is no doubt about it. Later on, if you proceed still further, you will come to understand everything from within.

By Swami Vijnanananda

The river of time is flowing on. Will it only do to be drifting with the current? You have got to cross the river, and you can get across only when you swim with the help of that current. Never give way to despair and dejection. Without perseverance nothing great can be achieved.

You should go on telling your beads morning and evening even though the mind wanders. You should never give it up; and there is no reason to despair either. In time everything will come out all right. Your mind may not settle always on your object of worship, but it must get settled for some time at least, maybe once in fifteen minutes? That should be enough.

---

6 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DESPONDENCY

By Swami Shivananda

Low thoughts will come and go. Don't mind them. Through His grace, as a result of constant practice, you will get through.

Don't yield to despondency. It makes the mind restless. Always think that you are all blessed, that you are the children of the Lord.

By Swami Saradananda

Despondency is the greatest obstacle in spiritual life. It saps energy and destroys your ability to struggle.

If despondency comes, then drive it away by thinking thus: I am His handmaid, His daughter, His part and parcel; my guru and my chosen Deity are always holding me by the hand and they are doing that which is for my good. Bring courage to your mind by thus thinking; and thinking of Sri Sri Thakur, daily perform the japa of that mantra about the repetition of which I have already told you. If the mind does not become steadily fixed at the feet of Sri Sri Thakur, then pray to Him with yearning—"Thakur, please make my mind steady." Know definitely that Sri Sri Thakur hears all your prayers and is able to know all your thoughts and moods. Whatever you ask from Him with yearning, that indeed you will get.

ON DETACHMENT

By Swami Brahmananda

Outward renunciation will follow if you detach your mind from the transitory, unreal objects of the world and attach it to God.

By Swami Shivananda

The discrimination between the Real and the unreal gives rise to detachment.

Those who have real dispassion and sincere detachment have nothing to fear at any time. God will reveal Himself in their hearts; He will fulfil their life's goal by His blessed vision.

The main factors that count are renunciation, detachment, purity and sincere hankering for God-realization.

My son, you have asked me how you should live in the world. About this, the Master himself said that while performing duties in the world, one should keep one's mind in God. Therefore, while living in the world you should be detached from it, even as a maidservant does all kinds of work in the house of a rich man, although her whole heart is in her home in the country.

---

7 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DETACHMENT

By Swami Turiyananda

Is it easy to detach the mind from all objects? Only a hero can do that. The external objects are ever trying to enter into your mind and conquer you. In the mind itself there are many layers, one upon another. It is no use merely closing the eyes and ears.

Who enjoys the show? The actor or the spectator? Learn to be the witness. Stand aside and watch the play. Don't get involved.

By Swami Abhedananda

Peace arises from detachment.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

When a man is vilified and yet shows no resentment or even annoyance, you may be sure he has conquered his ego and is completely detached.

By Swami Saradananda

The aim of the scriptures is to teach people how to develop the spirit of renunciation in married life. Through worldly experience, with its joys and sorrows, they will come to know the value of detachment, without which no happiness is obtained.

Those who are attracted to objects of the senses have to learn detachment through experience and for them the scriptures have advocated the second course of living in the world but not being of the world.

If a person performs his duties properly and his life embodies the spirit of detachment throughout, he will ultimately attain the highest goal. In other words, he will see God in everything and attain pure knowledge, which will burn all the seeds of karma. He will not be born again, and his soul will merge itself into Brahman, at the dissolution of his body.

Practice and detachment are necessary to bring one-pointedness to the naturally restless and out-going mind.

By Swami Vijnanananda

One who can detach his mind from material things will see the effulgent light of Brahman and His presence in everything.

Whenever the mind becomes pure and holy by being detached from material things, it reflects the effulgent light of God. For a man who has got that realization, the world ceases to exist. We fail to see God because our mind cannot go beyond the confines of the world and its objects.

Consider yourself as one detached from the mind. Unless you are completely detached from everything, your meditation and prayer, work and learning will be of no avail.

---

8 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DETERMINATION

By Swami Brahmananda

Think of Buddha. What tremendous determination he had! After years of searching he finally sat himself down under a tree, determined to realize God then and there or die in the attempt. That is what is needed.

By Swami Shivananda

As for our blessings, it is always there to be sure. You, too, have to engage yourself in spiritual practices with determination.

What is wanted is intensity, yearning and sincerity. Once you have the yearning in your mind, success is near at hand. All this does not happen in a single day. Persist in your efforts with determination, and everything will come about in due course. The purer the receptacle the quicker is His manifestation.

I warn you further that no speedy result can be expected in this path. One has to go on persevering in the path, day after day, month after month, year after year with the same determination—one has to make spiritual efforts.

Mere talk will not do; one has to act. With firm determination, one has to strive for God-realization. Make a start from this very day; for life is fleeing every moment. Nobody can say when one will hear the call for departure; so don't waste a single day. Those who think that these things can be put off for the future never do anything. They will be tossed to this current of birth and death for infinite ages.

By remembering him and reflecting on him the mind and heart get purified. Apply yourself with determination. I tell you, you will gain everything.

By Swami Turiyananda

Clench your fists and say: I will conquer! Now or never—make that your motto, even in this life I must see God. That is the only way. What you know to be right, do that and do that at once, do not let any chance go by. The way to failure is paved with good intentions. That will not do. Remember, this life is for the strong, the persevering: the weak go to the wall. And always be on your guard. Never give in.

Circumstances may or may not be favourable, but who cares? We must strain every nerve to accomplish the thing. If you are determined to do it at any cost, you will find that obstacles which you thought would overpower you, ultimately turn out to help you. But you must struggle sincerely. Does one find circumstances always propitious?

Consider what you have got to do as your duty and go on. Are you not undecaying and immortal always? So why should you go about seeking favourable circumstances? It is you who have projected all this. One wishing to bathe in the sea waits and waits, with the idea that one would have a plunge when the waves would have subsided. Nonsense! Will that moment ever come! Instead of doing so, you buffet against the waves, have your bath, and come out. The sea remains always the same.

So in this world, you must manage to call upon the Lord in the midst of these waves. It is a wild-goose-chase to be on the look-out for opportunities. Now or never! Apply yourselves to it, and disadvantages will turn into advantages.

To root out tendencies is an uphill task. But if one has the determination to say, "what if I have once done something wrong? Now I know what it is; so I won't do it any more," then one can get through.

The only remedy against that [rebirth because of sex connections] is to take refuge in the Lord and give up that clinging to flesh with a firm determination saying "I won't do it again." In that case, all the sins done previously will be forgiven. But a person must not play the hypocrite. Then all the old sins will come down upon him and exact their dues with compound interest.

One should have great determination. We must control the mind and not allow the mind to control us.

The best period of your life is slipping by. It won't return. But if you practise, you will see for yourself that within a few days a change will come over you. Everything will become clear and easy. Good impressions will establish themselves. Start now. Tell yourself: "I shall do it!" Be a determined spiritual aspirant.

Say: "Either I succeed in the practice of repeating God's holy name, or I shall die in the attempt."

By Swami Vijnanananda

The only way out is to think of the Divine Mother, night and day, to surrender ourselves to Her unreservedly, with the determination to free ourselves from passions, and to effect a complete suppression of them.

---

9 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DEVOTEES

By Swami Brahmananda

A devotee likes the form of God. He calls upon him, he sings his praise, he chants his name and sees his shining form. Sometimes he weeps and sometimes he laughs. In the end, the devotee and the man of knowledge become one.

By Swami Shivananda

A devotee accepting the dualistic view, renounces all desires except the desire for God. He alone is to be desired in life. The desire to realize Him is not really a desire at all.

Happiness is so rare in this world! Compared with pains and sorrows there is very little happiness. But those who are devoted to God alone know some peace in this world. They are not disturbed by whatever pains or sorrows may come to them, because they know that everything comes from God.

It is the same God who gives us happiness and again trials and difficulties. That is why they can patiently bear everything as a blessing from God. They are never elated by happiness, nor are they upset by sorrow. Just as happiness is impermanent and short-lived, so also is sorrow.

It is very difficult for an average person to stand the actions and reactions of this world. A genuine devotee, because of his faith in God is never overwhelmed by these.

If devotees are served properly it pleases the Master. He used to say, "The scripture, the devotee and the Lord"—these three are identical. Yet he is more manifest in Sadhus and devotees."

A true devotee relies on the Lord under all circumstances, like a kitten on its mother. He calls on Him with tears and prays to Him with all humility. He alone knows when to grant the vision of Himself to the devotee. Take refuge in Him and keep waiting at His door, praying all the while with heart and soul for faith, devotion, and love. He will fill your heart to the brim.

God creates all the necessary opportunities for those who are sincere devotees.

A true devotee does not worry about this birth or that. That's all a very low idea.

Well, it is not good for the devotees of God to roam about too much; that hinders the growth of true devotion. Hence one should sit down somewhere after seeing some holy places; and then one should occupy oneself fully with one's spiritual efforts. That helps the development of spiritual intensity and love for God. Too much moving about hither and thither dries up spiritual intensity.

Who is a devotee? It is the Lord Himself who, in a way, becomes embodied as a devotee in order to taste the bliss of His own divine sport. That is why the Master used to say: "The scripture, the devotee and the Lord—are one and the same," and he would salute them. The words of the Lord are treasured in the scriptures and He is seated in the hearts of His devotees.

God graciously reveals Himself in the heart of a devotee who always meditates upon Him. What is needed is meditation—constant remembrance and thinking of Him.

A genuine devotee is like a kitten. In whatever position God places him, he is satisfied and calls upon Him, faithfully carrying on his spiritual practices and devotions.

God favours His devotee. It is love and devotion that please Him. He manifests Himself in the heart of a devotee who is sincere and earnest.

---

10 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DEVOTEES

By Swami Premananda

One must have deep emotion, and at the same time one must reason out everything uncompromisingly. One must give play to one's intellect else, there is no way out. That is why the Master said, "You should be a devotee, but that's no reason why you should be a fool."

Can one become a great devotee of God simply by dancing and jumping, or by quoting plentifully from the Scriptures? What is wanted is freedom from selfishness—freedom from egotism.

The Master used to say, "The devotees belong to a class by themselves. They are neither Brahmins nor non-Brahmins, neither are they Hindus nor Muslims. The devotees belong to the divine class—God's relatives and blood relations—His very own."

Those devotees who have made their homes into ashramas, as it were, are indeed blessed. Such dwellings will become purified through service to devotees and visits of holy men.

Do you remember the parable of two kinds of farmers, the amateur farmers, and the ones who are farmers by birth and profession, who persevere and never give up farming? In the same way, a real devotee does not despair and give up his devotion to the Lord and his practice of meditation just because he is unable for some time to become absorbed in his meditation. He holds fast to the Lord at all times, under all circumstances, in happiness and in misery, in disease and in health, in peace and in unrest.

A devotee must depend entirely on the Lord. He must accept the Lord's will, whatever that may be. "Whatever condition you may place me in Mother—whether under a tree, with ashes to adorn my body; or on a royal throne, adorned with silver, gold and diamonds—it is for my good, provided I do not forget thee."

The devotees of our Lord are free-while-living. Be and move like heroes—strong in the strength of the Lord. If any weakness arises, pray to the Lord in solitude. He will give you strength and right understanding and will lead you to himself.

He who is a devotee of God is the life of our lives. He is our very own. This world would be enveloped in total darkness if there were no devotees of the Lord.

Pride, vanity, or egotism cannot touch those who are true devotees of the Lord.

Ah! The devotees of the Lord, display exemplary lives; let others learn from you how to live pure, selfless lives, desiring nothing else but the love of the Lord. Usher into the world a new age, in which people will learn to love the Lord and find peace and strength in him. Let your deeds speak—not mere words, not theories.

The devotees seek nothing but the grace of the Lord.

Devotees should converse about the Lord with one another. Our lives become vain if we have no love for devotees of the Lord. Devotees are our own—there should be no consideration of caste or race, for they have none. To love the devotees of the Lord brings no attachment, it creates no bondage.

11 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Devotees

By Swami Turiyananda

Do you ask, "Will not the Lord do anything for His devotee?" Yes, He will. But you will have to become a devotee first, you must learn to feel devotion for Him.

The true devotees always say "Thou" and "Thine," that is to say, "Lord, Thou art everything, and everything is Thine." Wherein does this differ from Advaita? But if a devotee says "I" and "mine" and feels himself separate from and independent of Him, it is an extremely harmful dualism. Such a devotee is greatly deluded. The Master would often repeat "Not I, not I," "Thou, Thou," "I am Thy servant, I am Thy servant." A devotee must completely renounce all "I" and "mine."

The Jnanis following the path of knowledge meditate in the head, the devotees in the heart.

The only case in which predestination holds good is the resignation of the perfect devotee. He works automatically. There is no difference whatever between his will [the perfect devotee's] and the Divine will. But that too has its test—no wicked action can be done by him. Such a devotee never takes a false step.

They say that a devotee always beholds the Lord. It is quite true. In the Bible it is written: "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but, whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath." All this is very true.

A true devotee cannot have a permanent fall. Even if he falls, he is bound to rise again through the grace of the Lord.

Eternal damnation! Nonsense! I do not believe it. God has His work done even by the apparent lapse of a devotee.

Wherever he be, the devotee is ever full of the nectar of love and bliss Divine.

By Swami Trigunatitananda

What caste can a true devotee or the perfect souls have? When the individual souls merge in God like rivers in the sea, they can no more have any individuality. So how can there be then the distinction of caste? Such distinctions as Brahmin, Shudra, etc. belong to the body, and never to the soul.

By Swami Adbhutananda

[To the question: "How can an aspirant grasp Brahman which is infinite?"]

A: You have heard music, you have seen how the strings of a Sitar bring out songs. In the same way the life of a devotee expresses Divinity.

Don't ask for anything from God, for he knows everything. It is sometimes amazing how he fulfils the needs of his devotees.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

If we love God for what we can get from Him in the world, we really love the world, not God, and we can never be true devotees. A true devotee loves God just for the joy of loving Him, because God is the Beloved.

A true devotee is like that, he never thinks of himself. He is so full of the thought of God that his own self is forgotten. So every devotee must practise discrimination to be a true devotee. All these things—going to Temples, waving burning camphor, singing holy songs are for beginners. They are the first standard. They are meant for people who in the midst of their worldly activities might not otherwise remember God. A man is hurrying by on some matter of business, he looks up and sees the gate tower of the Temple and for a moment he remembers, "there is a God." That is good, but it is only the initial stage.

A true devotee takes God's name with every breath, is filled with sincere devotion and offers flowers, leaves and water to God without any selfish motive, saying, "Mother Divine, worship and prayer are nothing but opportune moments to call on you."

The devotee's heart is the parlour of God. He is One in experience; but many when approached intellectually.

The perennial spring, which is not only full in itself, but also springs out of itself with overflowing munificence for the sake of others. A true devotee is like that. He lives not so much for himself as for his Beloved and for those who belong to Him.

As the devotee empties himself of himself, he is infilled with God.

By Swami Akhandananda

The very appearance and movement of those who earnestly call on God become something uncommon and impressive. Their very presence brings happiness. Their faces are always happy, their hearts are pure, and their minds are free from likes and dislikes. They are ever eager to remain merged in the Bliss that is God. To them worldly good and evil lose their distinction—both are equal to them.

You must bargain. He that is cheated here, is cheated there. He that has it here, has it there also. Why should you be cheated in order to practise religion? Why should you be a fool because you are a devotee? The cheater and the cheated—both are equally bad.

By Swami Vijnanananda

As is the devotee, so is his God.

God is Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss. Many are His names and endless are His manifestations. As the devotee looks upon Him, so does He manifest Himself to Him. To some, therefore, He reveals Himself as Kali, to some as Rama, to some as Krishna or Shiva, and so on. It all depends on the devotee's own mental constitution.

---

12 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Devotion

By Swami Brahmananda

Attain knowledge and devotion, then serve God in mankind. Work is not the end of life. Disinterested work is a means of attaining devotion.

What is morality? If one acquires devotion to God, morality and purity will follow without one even trying to be moral or pure.

[To a devotee who was feeling severe dryness and lack of devotion:]

Why worry about it? The waves of the ocean rise high, then go down again, and again they rise. The mind is like that. But please do not be troubled.

First know Him. After God-realization you may live in the world and your feet will not tread the wrong path. The world's Maya will not be able to bind you. Then, no matter which way you follow—whether the way of knowledge or the way of devotion, or the way of work—you and others will benefit immensely, and your human birth will be blessed.

Keep association with the holy. Go to one who knows the path, learn about the path, and walk on the path. Then alone you will reach your destination someday. Then alone will arise faith and devotion.

Work, devotion, discrimination—each one is a path to reach union with God. With the same whole-souled devotion with which a devotee worships the Lord in the shrine he must serve the Lord in the poor, in the sick, in the lowly. Practice any spiritual discipline with faith and devotion; in the end it will lead you to the same goal.

If you approach him with devotion, he will surely reveal himself. One can see him with the eye of devotion.

To have faith in Him, to be devoted to Him, to praise His glories—these are the only duties in life.

The one purpose of human life is to attain devotion to God and spiritual illumination; otherwise life is vain and meaningless.

As children swing around a pillar in their play, holding tightly to it for their support, so must you hold fast to God—the Pillar of life. Whichever path you follow, whether it be the path of work, or of devotion, or of knowledge you will reach him. Hold fast to the Pillar, and your life will be blessed, and you in turn will become a blessing to mankind.

You may think: "Let us have yearning, faith, and devotion first, then we shall begin our spiritual practices." But is that possible? Can we see the day before the break of dawn? When the Lord comes, love, devotion, and faith follow him as his retinue.

Devotion, self-surrender, and all other virtues will grow from within as you practice meditation.

There is the path of devotion and there is the path of knowledge. In the end, the devotee and the man of knowledge become one.

Without renunciation there can be no faith nor devotion.

When you can feel and know that you are helpless and alone, that you have no other refuge but God; when you feel that you have nothing in life to look forward to, then only will devotion to God arise in you.

True devotion, faith and knowledge, are the results of long persistence in spiritual practices.

Make the mind one-pointed—like the mariner's compass. In whatever direction the ship may sail, the compass always points to the north and keeps the ship on its course. Keep your mind pointed toward God, and your boat will sail smoothly. A man who does this never loses his faith and devotion, even if he is thrown into an evil environment.

The effect of meditation is inevitable. You are bound to get results if you practice japam with devotion, or even without, for devotion will follow.

[To the question: "Maharaj, how does devotion to God grow?"]

Keep the company of the holy; listen to their teachings and mould your life after their pattern. But without continence and the practice of meditation you cannot grasp the spirit of the enlightened ones; nor can you understand the scriptures.

The man of true devotion yearns for God without becoming impatient. Even if he sees no light he will not give up his devotions.

The more a man realizes that the world is barren, the more intense becomes his devotion to God and the greater is his peace. The greater the thirst, the sweeter the water.

Devote yourself to God. God is. Do not doubt his existence. I am telling you, my child, God is. Know for certain that he is.

Work, devotion, discrimination—each one is a path to reach union with God.

---

13 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Devotion

By Swami Shivananda

When the mind is purified, even the slightest suggestion would fill your heart with devotion for the Lord.

It is easy to take the vow of monasticism, but a person cannot have supreme devotion and knowledge without God's grace. The Lord is sure to grant the desire of one who sincerely yearns for devotion and knowledge.

God is antaryamin, the Inner Controller dwelling within. He judges by your heart. He sees how much devotion you have, not the amount of time you spend on meditation. He dwells within every heart. Whatever is done with devotion pleases the Lord.

The Lord looks at your mental attitude—your heart's longing. If one has devotion for Him, nothing else is necessary. If one could repeat His name with sincere devotion even once, that would fill one's heart with joy. That would be of more value than repeating His name a hundred thousand times mechanically.

Visiting holy places is an easy thing. It requires just a little hardship. But to have devotion and faith in God is a rare achievement.

Without devotion and faith, worship is meaningless. It is faith and devotion that make the earthen image living and conscious.

What is essential is to have faith in and devotion to His lotus feet; when that is there, everything is achieved.

It is through constant devotion and meditation that God becomes gracious and reveals Himself in the heart of the devotee.

One can have true and firm devotion only when one is vouchsafed this knowledge [the knowledge of God], and not otherwise. Pure knowledge and pure devotion are the same. And all that comes from the grace of the Divine Mother alone.

Peace is within, it is not outside. Knowledge, devotion, love of God—all that lies within.

God is a lover of His devotees; He is satisfied with love and devotion alone. He reveals Himself wherever there are yearning and love.

Illumination, love and devotion, and similar states belong to the realm of the Spirit.

Gossip, active or passive, tarnishes the mind and lowers it very much. It is a handicap to devotion for God.

If knowledge lacks devotion, what kind of knowledge is it? Knowledge without devotion is not enough; realization is impossible without devotion.

The most important thing in life is to attain pure devotion at the lotus feet of the Mother; that is also the purpose of worship.

Do the work of serving the Master and the gods with much application and attention, so that there may not be the slightest flaw. Through this service will be effected the purification of the mind-stuff and the attainment of devotion.

You may, at first, meet with failures. But if you have Bhakti attached to your determination to realize God, you will surely make rapid progress in course of time.

Life is useless, if it is not devoted to the service of God and is spent only in amassing wealth.

By Swami Premananda

Reduce the external paraphernalia and serve men as God with all love and utmost sincerity. This will certainly bring you devotion and liberation.

To make mankind your own by loving all—that is real jnana, the real bhakti of this age.

Devotion and faith are unique. Man is always intent on outward things—name, fame, honour, and so on. We want intense, maddening love for God, firm and unshakable faith, and infinite confidence.

The only way to receive love and devotion is by the means of truth and purity. Be pure. Increase your faith and devotion and you will get everything. You will become perfect.

Faith and devotion—these are the greatest treasures in life. Material prosperity oftentimes may bring ruin to an individual.

One finds no peace without devotion to God.

It is not good for everybody to do as he pleases. There must be some restraint. In order that devotion to God may arise and right understanding may come, there has to be a fence around a spiritual aspirant in his early days; just as a fence needs to be erected round a young plant to protect it from wild animals. Man attains God by purity, guilelessness, and steadfast devotion to him. Nothing other than devotion to God can bring peace to the arid heart.

No one can become spiritually great by just offering a few flowers to the Lord and showing a little emotion. Have intense devotion and be immersed in the thought of Sri Ramakrishna. Be discriminative. Exercise and cultivate your intellect.

Devotion is necessary, as well as discrimination and knowledge.

By imitating the holy, devotion increases and the heart becomes purified. The association of the holy is the only remedy for worldliness, for a holy man is the living manifestation of God.

Indifference is a lack of one-pointed devotion to the Chosen Ideal. Never be indifferent. Be broad-minded and liberal; and at the same time, hold fast to your Chosen Ideal.

Struggle hard to have love and devotion for Him and you will attain Him. He is the very life of our life, the soul of our soul.

---

14 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Devotion

By Swami Turiyananda

Do you ask, "Will not the Lord do anything for His devotee?" Yes, He will. But you will have to become a devotee first, you must learn to feel devotion for Him. And devotion, Bhakti, is no trifling thing. You have to give Him your mind, life, everything. If you cannot do that, then cry to Him for not having attained Him, for not loving Him. People have to shed potfuls of tears before they can earn money. If you do not do that for God, why should He do anything for you?

The Master used to say, "Do whatever you like after making the knowledge of oneness your own." That is to say; know the Lord as the soul of your soul, the life of your life, the eye of your eye, and love Him. Nothing else than this, such as asking things of God, is true devotion. Supreme devotion cannot be had so long as there is the slightest desire in the mind.

There are two forms of Bhakti devotion: Firstly, the ritualistic or obligatory devotion, such as, one should practise so much Japa or one should perform Puja in such and such a way.

Then there is the loving devotion. At this stage the devotee thinks ardently of God. He finds no pleasure in things unrelated to God. Above all, perseverance is necessary. It will not do to discontinue practice if a little effort does not produce the desired effect. It is said that a man practised so intensely that an ant-hill grew upon him (Valmiki).

We want Bhakti devotion. If one has but Bhakti, what else is needed?

Jnana fully evolved, becomes Bhakti. Practice of knowledge leads the mind higher and higher, beyond the bounds of duality. But true Bhakti is its own end.

[On the merit of bathing and other religious performances.]

It all depends on our mental attitude, on our faith and belief. Where there is true devotion, the result is good. Devotion purifies the mind. We must try to see Mother in everything. That will make us spiritual.

Many people are devoted to the Lord under favourable conditions, but blessed is he who even under stress and in suffering can remain on a higher plane where the mind delights in the thought of the Lord. Having dedicated himself completely to God, he has no attachment to the body.

By Swami Trigunatitananda

Our devotion must not be dependent on any particular action, quality, or form of His; our devotion must be without any motive. It is extremely bad if our devotion increases when He is kind and it takes to flight when He is cruel or does not heed our prayers. But I concede that for the beginners, devotion cannot be free from motives altogether.

---

15 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Devotion

By Swami Adbhutananda

Devotion is impossible if the mind is disturbed.

The Lord does not accept anything that is not presented in devotion.

The main thing in spiritual life is to have love, devotion, and faith in God. He is our close relative. He lives in the hearts of all beings.

If one is not a jnani, how is it possible to be "devoted to the One alone," as Krishna states in the Gita? That One alone is real and all else is unreal. If you don't realize this truth, how can you have devotion for the One? So long as you are aware of duality, you cannot have love for the One. A jnani does not see God with a divided intellect. He knows that God is his very soul. What is dearer to a man than his own Self?

Cast off hypocrisy. It is because of this that you do not progress. If your devotion is genuine, there is no reason why you should not progress and realize God.

Devotion without and duplicity within—that is too dangerous. The Lord is far, far away from such a mind. The minds of such people are full of selfish motives. So they make no spiritual progress.

By Swami Abhedananda

If you desire to have firm and unshakable faith and devotion to the Lord, you should also take to Tapasya, hard austerities.

Pure and absolute single-minded devotion to the Lord is what you should cultivate.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

If we are caught in a labyrinth and someone comes and says, "I can show you the way out," what do we do? We follow him. And the gratitude we feel is what we call worship and devotion.

If you would find the Supreme Reality, which lies behind all these hollow unrealities, you must be wholly devoted to it. You must worship the living God with your whole heart and give up the worship of things that perish. You must feel the utter hollowness of everything but Truth, as Nachiketa did. Wealth, kingdoms, enjoyments, power were to him nothing—less than zero. He wanted nothing but Truth and Truth was bound to come to him. You must have the same firm conviction about the hollowness of the material world and seek God with undivided devotion; then he will surely come to you.

[To the question: "What kind of devotion takes us to God?"]

The child's devotion to the Mother.

[To the question: "What is meant in the Gita by steadfastness in devotion?"]

Steadiness in devotion means that though you may be busy with many things still your mind is always turned to God. You may not feel the same ardour always, but so long as the hunger for God is there you are steady in devotion.

Fill your heart with devotion and your mind will turn naturally to God.

A whole-souled devotion is the only way to realise Him. This is the general, as well as the special, teaching.

The path of devotion is the best, as it is the most natural. Be devoted to God who is inside you. You are the most real temple of God. The temples outside are mere reminders of the real inner Temple.

Devotion can accomplish anything.

[To the question: "But do not great devotees often complain of dryness of heart?"]

That very complaining shows that their devotion is strong, even though they may not seem to express it so well as at other times. The very fact that they are restless proves that this dryness of heart is an unnatural condition for them, just as the fish feels dryness and jumps about when it is out of water, water being its natural element. Their devotion is not lessened in any way. So long as the hunger for devotion to God is there, a man is steady in devotion. True devotion is selfless. Whether the Beloved is rich or poor, still the devotee's whole soul is for Him and no one else. He does not want anything but God. Like the Gopis of Vrindavan he does not like to know, whether God is all-powerful or not. He knows Him to be his Beloved, that is all. He always wants to give something to God; but never wants to get anything from Him.

If you have the power to go inside yourself, then you have conquered the whole Universe. To go inside oneself means to go away from earthly attachments that hold you down like a captive balloon. Though it is very very difficult to go inside, it is possible through either discrimination or devotion.

---

16 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Devotion

By Swami Saradananda

The mind gets purified through selfless work. And when the mind becomes pure, knowledge and devotion are manifested in it.

If your devotion to God increases and your mind is drawn towards his lotus feet, He will provide you with the opportunity and everything will be favourable and all your problems will be overcome in an unexpected manner. By His grace the world will drop off like the water from the back of a duck.

To sing the glory of the Lord in the company of devotees is a means to devotion, if the right mood and proper atmosphere is kept up.

The goal of all the paths is the same. Each path is equally powerful. But none should be undertaken to the exclusion of the others: knowledge must unite with devotion. And this unity must be expressed through action. Knowledge without love is dry. Love without service is pure sentimentalism.

If you think that posture and purification of the nerves will be helpful in fostering the spirit of devotion in your mind, you may do them.

Singing the name and glory of God with other devotees helps to increase devotion and faith.

[To the question: "Have any realized God through mere work?"]

Through selfless work the mind gets purified. And when the mind becomes pure, there arise knowledge and devotion in it.

By Swami Akhandananda

The things that really count are faith and devotion. You ask me, how the Lord is to be worshipped? It is through devotion. Offer flowers to Him. Mantras and formalities I do not know; those who perform such formal worship know all that.

What devotion to spiritual rules the Muslims have! The Amir of Afghanistan was seeing the exhibition as a state guest with the Governor-General of India. There in the exhibition ground he sat down for Namaz just at the stated time!

Hafiz, the Persian poet, would write his lines on broken pieces of earthen pots. Every evening he would go to light a lamp at the grave of a dear one. One day a girl made a tryst with him for the evening. Hafiz was waiting at the appointed time and place. Suddenly he remembered that he was to visit the temple of his beloved. He at once left everything and hurried to the spot. Devotion to a routine saved him.

An outward show of devotion does not last long. It vanishes soon after its appearance. Such devotion is generally imitative. In the beginning there is excessive display of devotion, later on, nothing is left. That is not good. The devotion that endures is good. What is the good of making a show of one's devotion?

By Swami Subodhananda

Pray to Him with utmost devotion and faith, and He will show you the path that leads to Him. He Himself will grant everything—devotion, faith, and all else that one needs.

---

17 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Discipleship

By Swami Brahmananda

Sri Ramakrishna used to say: "Gurus can be had by the thousands, but rare is a disciple." There are plenty of people to give advice, but how many are there to listen to it? If a man has faith in the words of his guru and follows them, then all his doubts and troubles vanish. If a man has faith in the words of his guru, God will meet all his wants. Holding him by the hand, He will lead him on the right path.

With unwavering faith in the words of the guru, the disciple must regularly practice repetition of the mantram and meditation on its meaning. Thus will he find peace of heart.

That disciple who has the grace of the guru knows the path. Let him follow it diligently.

By Swami Turiyananda

It is very difficult to be a disciple. Haven't you heard the story? A man wanted to be a disciple. He went to a Guru and said, "Sir, make me a disciple." The Guru replied, "Will you be able to be one? A disciple has to draw water, fetch wood, and serve the teacher. Will you be able to do all this?"

Then the man said, "And what has the Guru to do?"

The teacher replied, "Not much to speak of. He sits at ease and flow and then gives a little instruction. That's all."

Then the man said, "If you think it difficult for me to be a disciple why don't you make me a Guru instead?" How funny, everybody wants to reap the harvest without sowing the seed.

The disciple should obey through love, and not through fear. The latter would be slavery.

By Swami Saradananda

Nothing can sever the spiritual relationship between the guru and his disciple. It is something eternal. But the disciple must listen to the words of the teacher and carry out his instructions. If any impediment arises, the guru comes forward and removes it. Success depends on the sincerity and effort on the part of the disciple.

The disciple must practice hard with patience and determination, until he attains the direct vision of God within the sanctuary of his heart.

---

18 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Discouragement

By Swami Brahmananda

Never be discouraged by your failures. Repeated failure is inevitable in the beginning, but keep your faith and redouble your efforts. Try hard to live up to your ideal.

By Swami Premananda

Never be discouraged, but practice with perseverance.

Fie on you! Why should you fail? Do not allow such thoughts to enter your mind.

By Swami Turiyananda

Don't get discouraged or disheartened. Why should it be always sunshine and good times? Let Mother's will be done. Never mind sunshine or rain, we must not forget Mother at any time. Even if we don't see Her, why should we lose heart? She appears again in our view. She knows what is best for us. Once we have given over to Her, what right have we to think of ourselves again? It is not so easy to do as to say—of that I am sure, but there is no other way out. Whether we see or don't see, Mother is our only place of rest. There are ups and downs in all hearts, but we should not give way to them.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

You need not complain that you are not successful in your attempts; so it is with almost all men. Only those who are already perfect, only a few Mahatmas, can assert that they are thoroughly pure in body, mind and action. To err is human. The only thing we should look after is never to forget loving Him, the Master of the Universe. Therefore take heart, and though you fall every now and then, try to rise up. Every child before it learns to walk falls down a hundred thousand times. I can assure you God helps those who help themselves.

Be not displeased with yourself. You are the child of God and by being displeased with yourself, you are displeased with God's child. Is it not bad? Honour yourself then, for you are the child of God, who by creating you has not committed any mistake—for He is above all mistakes. As such, He is sure to do something through you, something for which He has brought you down here, in this world.

By Swami Saradananda

Don't get disheartened if you do not have the results of your spiritual practices in the beginning. You will surely see the results in due time if you practice with patience and perseverance. Afterwards, when you progress more, you will understand everything yourself.

---

19 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Discrimination

By Swami Brahmananda

Work, devotion, discrimination—each one is a path to reach union with God.

If through discrimination you can impress upon your mind the joy and fullness of the spiritual life and the folly of worldly attachments, it will devote itself more and more to God, and you will find yourself freed from all distracting thoughts.

Begin your spiritual life this moment; direct your mind toward God either through japam, or through meditation, or through discrimination. Know that each of these means is equally effective. Take any one of them and drown yourself in the ocean of bliss. Ask no more questions. First do something, and then ask questions!

In the domain of Maya there is both vidya that which leads a man to God and avidya that which leads a man away from God. Vidya is spiritual discrimination and renunciation. By taking refuge in vidya, you take refuge in God; while avidya, which consists of lust, anger, greed, egotism, attachment, and envy drags a man down to the level of a brute. If you cultivate discrimination and renunciation, avidya will be destroyed. If you yield to avidya, God remains far away and suffering will be your lot. There are both vidya and avidya. Man has the power to choose the one or the other, and on the nature of his choice will depend his success or failure in life, and he will reap the fruits of his choosing.

And merely seeing a great soul won't do. One must meditate and assimilate, one must have discrimination and dispassion.

By Swami Shivananda

Practice, continual practice, and discrimination are what is needed.

Whatever you have to do for them, do so with the idea that you are serving Narayana in those forms; then you won't get attached too much. And along with all this you must have your power of discrimination wide awake. The discrimination between the Real and the unreal gives rise to detachment.

The more you grow in discrimination and dispassion, the more power you will manifest. Even if you yourself are not aware of it, others will feel it.

Dispassion depends upon past impressions Samskaras. One gets it only when one is free from all desires and not otherwise. If any desire is left in the mind this spirit of renunciation cannot come. It comes through enjoyment tempered with discrimination. And of course, there is need for spiritual practice too. But the one thing necessary is His grace.

By Swami Premananda

You are to discriminate and find the path that is good for you and that will lead you to your goal.

Devotion is necessary, as well as discrimination and knowledge.

It is not a lazy man's job. Be up and doing! Have strong discrimination Think like this: "I will be perfect in this very life. I will be unattached. I will become a Jivanmukta—freed while living. Why should anything be impossible for me?"

Retire into solitude occasionally; practice discrimination and self-analysis, and try to discover the subtle obstacles that obstruct your path to spiritual progress. You will find that there are many subtle impressions, habits of thought and action lying dormant and hidden in the subconscious regions of the mind. Analyse yourself in solitude, find out the obstacles and then struggle without compromise to remove them.

Through the faithful practice of discrimination and spiritual disciplines the mind gradually comes under control.

Taking vows and fasting on special days like this help us to develop discrimination and dispassion. They are aids in purifying the heart and thus prepare us for God-vision and realization.

---

20 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Discrimination

By Swami Turiyananda

Eating, sleeping, fear, and sexual intercourse—these are common features of both animal. The speciality of man is that he has Viveka, discrimination, and can distinguish right from wrong. The lower a man is, the greater is his joy in sense-objects. The higher he is, the greater is his pleasure in knowledge, a subtle joy which low natures cannot appreciate. See how they are spending their days in drinking, hunting, and running after women—just like beasts. What advantage is gained, being born a man, if we do not refine and elevate our faculties? Those who have a refined mind can never stoop to these things.

Those who have not good reasoning powers, become easily biased towards one side.

Anyway, it is good fortune to have this feeling of Vairagya. And what is Vairagya but the discrimination between the Self and the non-Self? Discrimination between "Purusha and Prakriti" is another name for it.

"There the sun does not shine, nor the moon, nor stars, nor even lightning. How can fire be there? It shining, everything else shines. Through Its lustre all this is shining."

We have mixed up the subject and the object. They can be separated. I am the subject—not the object. The whole universe up to Buddhi, the intellect falls under the category of the object. "There being no further cause, the First Cause is uncaused." How much must they have thought who first discovered these truths!

Discrimination must be thorough, or it is of no use. Children often say, "Heaven bear witness!" What a funny idea! They have picked up the phrase from someone. They do not reason on the idea, so they say it.

As a bird flies to the sky with its two wings, so we must have the two wings of discrimination and renunciation. To climb to the edifice of liberation. If one has real discrimination and renunciation, one is safe. A man runs after water in a mirage only so long as he mistakes the mirage for real water: Once the delusion is broken, nobody goes after a mirage for water.

Constant discrimination sharpens the intellect. Truth reveals itself to a man who is always discriminating to attain it. One must always keep the sword of discrimination ready at hand.

Words of supreme knowledge carry no meaning to an ordinary man with a limited vision. Through discrimination the ordinary sense-knowledge vanishes. Take for example this house. It is nothing but a conglomeration of atoms; so is the body. Discrimination pushed further will reduce even the atoms to one entity—the Absolute Existence. As Sri Ramakrishna would say, "The Palmyra tree is true and not its branches or fruits, for they drop off. Brahman alone is real; the world is changing."

Knowledge dawns when discrimination is perfect.

Rather than besmearing the body with mud and then undergoing the trouble of washing it, is it not better to keep at a safe distance from mud? But how many can do that? So Sri Ramakrishna would say that it is better to have a little of worldly enjoyment. But then it must be accompanied with due discrimination. Through this cycle of birth and death one is gradually moving towards Him.

What a great power is imbedded in words! Though we may be repeating that all is unreal, that this world is false, yet suppose I tell you a harsh word it disturbs your mind. When there is so much power in evil words, why should there not be power in the Vedic dicta, I am Brahman, etc.? But as we have no faith in the Vedic dicta or Mantras, they do not become effective in our life. Words, again, are of two kinds—spoken and written. Something is written in a letter. On reading that, you will have a reaction, good or bad, in your mind. And again—how funny!—there will not be the same effect upon each and all. Some will be affected. Only those who are concerned with a particular thing—they only will be affected. While we discriminate, it seems that there is nothing; but a moment after, everything comes. If there is no object of sense-enjoyment in front of you when you discriminate, you may feel that you have no weakness. But as soon as the object of temptation comes, you are upset. We discriminate, no doubt, but after doing that for some time, we give up the habit.

One must be established in discrimination. One must dwell in that. Without that no result will come. He is indeed wise whose mind does not react though the objects of enjoyment come before him. This is the test. When your mind has attained to that stage, then only you can be sure that it is all right.

It is true that one cannot give up all desires; but if the mind becomes discriminating, desires cannot exert their previous power. You read in the Yoga Vasishta, "if one moves about with discrimination as one's friend, one does not fall prey even to great temptations." And that is actually true. If one maintains discrimination steady and strong, no illusion can ever overpower a man. If you can constantly remember that the world is unreal, what can desires do?

By Swami Adbhutananda

Whenever your mind runs after sense enjoyments, use your discrimination. Look, the sense objects are impermanent, they come and go. Be satisfied with whatever you need for your daily living and don't desire more. Too many worldly belongings displace the thought of the Reality from the mind. The Reality is one, and that is Brahman. Brahman alone is real and everything else is unreal—Impress these thoughts again and again upon your mind, and gradually true discrimination will arise.

You will have to discriminate between the real and the unreal. To keep one's discrimination alert is a great austerity. He who has learned to discriminate can successfully overcome lust and greed. So, cultivate your discrimination and conscience. How can you struggle against evil tendencies if your intellect is not trained to differentiate between good and evil?

Ah, the folly! Can one force the non-dualist's attitude on one's mind? It is a slow growth. The Master used to say, "When the fruit grows big, the flower drops of itself." Just imagine what true non-dualism means—the Master could not walk on grassy plots! Such becomes the self-identification with all things when one realizes the Atman-Brahman. But one must keep sharpened one's power of discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the one and the many from the very beginning of one's Sadhana.

---

21 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Discrimination

By Swami Abhedananda

Raise a wall all around your mind by your discrimination. Do not allow the distraction of external circumstances to enter your mind.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

[To the question: "If we go beyond the mind, do we give up the habit of discrimination?"]

To be able to go beyond the mind is the result of the highest discrimination.

The first personal pronoun ("I") is at the root of all our miseries. Hence our primary duty should be to get rid of it somehow or other. This can be done by the service of the great, by good works without caring for results, by concentration or discrimination.

Every devotee must practice discrimination to be a true devotee.

Discrimination, as the messenger of God, moves with us always. Its forgetfulness sets at naught all our spiritual endeavours.

He on whom faith descends is very fortunate. He needs nothing else. He is saved and the only prophylactic he needs is discrimination.

If you have the power to go inside yourself, then you have conquered the whole Universe. To go inside oneself means to go away from earthly attachments that hold you down like a captive balloon. Though it is very difficult to go inside, it is possible through either discrimination or devotion.

By Swami Saradananda

The Master used to say that the mind is like a mad horse, which is prone to running hither and thither, and just as a coachman controls the horse with the reins, so must a man direct the mind with the power of discrimination, which is already in him. If men are guided by this discrimination, they never come to grief.

It is an undeniable fact, proven by experience, that the mind will not pursue an object of enjoyment for long if it is enjoyed with proper discrimination. Sri Ramakrishna repeatedly said that discrimination between the real and the unreal was imperative for a spiritual aspirant.

Therefore these major desires have to be renounced and uprooted completely from the mind by realizing the danger and the defects inherent in them. If they are given free rein, they will stifle the power of discrimination.

Pray to Him with a concentrated mind and always discriminate between what you really are and what you appear to be. Always use the power of right understanding, and you will know for yourself where you are, how much you have progressed, and how far you have to go to reach your destination.

---

22 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Discrimination

By Swami Akhandananda

Discriminate: there is no real happiness in life, as misery follows happiness: life after life this oscillation between this pair of opposites is continuing. No more of this. Now start on the search for unalloyed happiness. Seek that happiness which is not adulterated. People are so accustomed to adulterated food that they have forgotten the taste of really good food. Further; they have lost the power to digest it. Nowadays, if someone gets adulterated food at a cheap price, he will not want pure food.

The way is: earnestness, discrimination, and dispassion. Dispassion is of various kinds—the dispassion that comes at the cremation ground, and the dispassion resulting out of discrimination.

Swamiji once told us at the Baranagore monastery: "You see, we shall all be sincere; our dispassion will not be like that of the householders. They also have a kind of dispassion at the cremation ground, when they see the body of a loved one burning to ashes. That dispassion is temporary. It is common to all. But when they go back to their houses, they forget everything, due to Maya. They merge in it.

But we have known what the worldly life is. We are not going back to it. It is very well, if we can realize God; but even if we cannot, we are not going back. We shall proceed slowly, sailing onwards. When the wind is favourable, we shall unfurl the sail; when it is against us, we shall stop; but never go back!"

The worldly life is partly God's creation—for instance, this life and the parents; and partly human creation, such as marriage and children. What are these after all? If you cannot delay the death of your beloved for a moment, or if he or she cannot hold back your death for a day, who is he or she to you? Or who are you to them? This is discrimination.

By Swami Vijnanananda

That is why a discriminating person says to God: "Let your work remain with you, I am not the doer, I am but an instrument."

The function of the heart is love and devotion, and that of the brain is to discriminate between the good and bad. This love and this discrimination have to be combined for the purpose of God-realization.

---

23 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Disease

By Swami Brahmananda

Meditation gives not only mental peace, but also physical health—you will have less of disease. So one must practise meditation even for physical improvement.

By Swami Premananda

Why think merely of your disease and ill health? Know always, and under all circumstances, "I belong to the Lord. The Lord is my eternal treasure; he is the one Reality, the source of my well-being." Always think, "naham," "naham," not I, not I, but Thou, my Lord.

By Swami Turiyananda

Yes, one can cure disease by the power of mystic formulas. But by His will, I have learnt to have greater faith in Him who is at the back of that power.

[To the question: "Is it not our duty to keep our body healthy?"]

Yes, but from the highest standpoint body itself is the great disease.

Very few people have everything just as they want it. Disease and suffering are ever present. He who calls on the Lord no matter what his circumstances are, he alone can succeed.

By Swami Adbhutananda

As long as you have a body, you must experience disease, sorrow, fear, pain, and suffering. Anyone who wants to escape from all these troubles will have to hold onto God.

A man can attain peace if he gives up worldly enjoyment, for such enjoyment is the source of sorrow and sufferings, disease and despair.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

[To the question: "Can you tell me, Swamiji, why this disbelief assails us?"]

This disbelief is almost an insurmountable obstacle in spiritual life. It is not only an obstacle but a disease!

By Swami Saradananda

Frankly, doubt is a sign of disease. It is not the mind's normal condition.

---

24 August 2019

Ten Commandments of Bhagavan Sri Krishna

By Swami Vimalananda

In the Gita there are some passages which are directly addressed to the Jiva in the second person singular number of the imperative mood, as Vidhi. Ten of these collected passages may be considered as the "ten commandments of Sri Krishna."

O Krishna I am at thy command. I have surrendered myself at thy feet. Teach me and mould me.

1. (Learn fully from Me.)

In this life you should work after acquiring a proper knowledge of the commands and rules of the Scriptures, through which I speak.

1. On no account you should grieve over anything whatsoever.

This is the second commandment of Bhagavan enjoining on us to—be cheerful and to be equal to all situations. How are we to acquire that strength? The answer is in the third commandment.

1. Strive always to remove sin and evil.

But we have no strength for it. What shall we do? The next commandment shows a way.

1. Shake off this mean spirit and arise.

The Lord is all-powerful. He is satya sankalpah. He has commanded us to shed all weakness and to exert manfully.

1. Resolve yourself to practise yoga. Yearn to get Me.

The Lord has commanded us to arise, and we shall arise. But we have to practise the method of union;

1. This life and world of yours is not eternal and is joyless. So the only way open to you here is to resort to Me.
2. You must understand that all beings have their cause and seed in Me. You must endeavour to see all this as My form. You must fix once for all in mind that all creatures have their residence in Me.
3. You must do the allotted work always. You must correctly, thoroughly and joyfully do the appointed duty. Do it without narrow selfish attachments. Do it as My work dedicating it to Me. Consider yourself a mere occasion of your work.
4. Take for your support buddhi yoga and always give your mind to Me. Bring back and place the running thoughts in Me and push your thinking faculty into My focus.
5. I promise, you are dear to Me.

Let us feel at every moment that we are dear and precious to the Lord, however unclean we may be. When this faith is strong, when we have the sincere conviction that the Lord in His infinite mercy and affection is ever watching us, seeking only for a moment when we whole-heartedly turn towards Him, with the earnest longing that He should receive us and hug us to His bosom, then—at that very moment—we are on the path to liberation and blessedness.

May these commandments make an appeal directly to us and render us strong, illumined and peaceful.

---

25 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Dispassion

By Swami Brahmananda

Dispassion is the first principle of spiritual life. A man of learning may write books or give lectures, but if he has no dispassion in his heart and if he does not practice what he teaches, his words cannot be effective for they have no power behind them. They merely create a momentary sensation.

Without dispassion toward the world, faith and love do not grow. You must have dispassion. To lose the ego in God is dispassion.

When a man finds no peace in the world, dispassion grows within him and he is drawn to God.

[To the question: "Should a man renounce the world if dispassion arises?"]

"Yes" he should. Once a true dispassion is awakened, it will spread like a forest fire. As Sri Ramakrishna used to say: When once a man of renunciation is released from the bondage of the world, he never wants to be caught again. He is like a fish that has escaped from the net.

Sri Ramakrishna was born in this age to teach mankind that dispassion is the ideal of human life.

Be dispassionate. To find goodness and attain peace, you must give up everything for God. If he has the will, man can be dispassionate and realize God. Therefore, renounce all cravings and hold on tightly to Him.

And merely seeing a great soul won't do. One must meditate and assimilate, one must have discrimination and dispassion.

When once you have dispassion for all worldly things, it never dies; on the other hand, it grows like fire. After one has once come out of the world, one never wants to go back to it.

By Swami Shivananda

Whatever you are doing here is certainly His work, and you are doing it all for His pleasure. You are not actuated by any selfish worldly desire. These activities of yours will undoubtedly foster a spirit of renunciation and dispassion. Don't think that a life of mendicancy in Rishikesh alone will give you dispassion.

Those who have real dispassion and sincere detachment have nothing to fear at any time. God will reveal Himself in their hearts; He will fulfil their life's goal by His blessed vision.

This process of evolution and involution is only another form of the twin forces of attraction or attachment and repulsion or dispassion. It is because of attraction or attachment that souls are drawn to this world, coming back and forth and playing their different embodied roles.

The more you grow in discrimination and dispassion, the more power you will manifest. Even if you yourself are not aware of it, others will feel it.

[Dispassion] depends upon past impressions Samskaras. One gets it only when one is free from all desires and not otherwise.

---

26 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Dispassion

By Swami Premananda

To be dispassionate means to be freed from passions and from egoism. To achieve that end man practices spiritual disciplines.

Dispassion can arise only in a heart that is pure. Out of dispassion springs knowledge.

Let the strong wind of dispassion rise in your minds, that the trees of desire be uprooted. Then, even as birds fly from the shelter of trees before a strong wind, will the ignorance of selfishness, jealousy, hatred, and egoism take flight from your hearts. Then shall peace follow and fill your lives, even as calm follows the storm.

Keep alive the fire of dispassion and renunciation within you, and let your mind be renewed by the deep impression of purity.

Sometimes dispassion arises suddenly in a man, due to frustration. Sense objects become like bitter poison to him. But such dispassion is like the fire kindled in a heap of straw. It soon burns itself out. In order to become stabilized in renunciation and dispassion one must try to become absorbed while repeating with single-minded devotion the name of God.

With the fire of dispassion, burn away all the impurities of the unregenerate mind. Then only will you realize God and feel his grace. Then only will you see the One, infinite, omnipresent, blissful God dwelling within your own hearts and within the hearts of all beings.

Taking vows and fasting on special days help us to develop discrimination and dispassion. They are aids in purifying the heart and thus prepare us for God-vision and realization. It is important for every spiritual aspirant to observe such vows, to perform worship, and to pray.

Vairagya dispassion and Tamas are quite different things.

By Swami Turiyananda

Dispassionateness first originates by seeing the evil clinging to sense objects. Until a man begins to see the dark side of life, no spiritual advice is of any avail to him.

He is daily going down into Tamas, becoming more and more lazy in the name of spiritual progress. They think that inaction in itself is the ideal. If it be so, why, then the wall also should be considered to have attained Samadhi.

Should not one transcend all dualities? To maintain one's mental balance under all circumstances, to remain absolutely unmoved that indeed is the goal!

Just as you are giving your entire attention to your work as a physician, give it to God. You will see the results: you will get his vision at once. The Master used to say, "One should turn the corner." That is to say, one should canalize the same energy in a different direction. Take your mind from your profession of doctoring, and call on the Lord. That is extreme dispassion.

By Swami Saradananda

One becomes dispassionate toward the world by seeing the emptiness of chasing mundane pleasures and clinging to transitory things. Until a man is ready and sees through the appearance of the world, no spiritual instruction will be of any avail. First the ground is to be prepared, and then alone will the seeds take root and grow into beautiful plants.

The means for bringing the fickle mind under control are dispassion and practice. There is no other way.

By Swami Akhandananda

Whenever you feel the spirit of dispassion, leave the worldly life. This is enjoined in the Jabala Upanishad. There is no particular age or time prescribed for final renunciation of worldly life.

Practice is essential; intense dispassion is also necessary; otherwise no progress is possible.

The way is: earnestness, discrimination, and dispassion. Dispassion is of various kinds—the dispassion that comes at the cremation ground, and the dispassion resulting out of discrimination.

Swamiji once told us at the Baranagore monastery: "You see, we shall all be sincere; our dispassion will not be like that of the householders. They also have a kind of dispassion at the cremation ground, when they see the body of a loved one burning to ashes. That dispassion is temporary. It is common to all. But when they go back to their houses, they forget everything, due to Maya. They merge in it.

But we have known what the worldly life is. We are not going back to it. It is very well, if we can realize God; but even if we cannot, we are not going back. We shall proceed slowly, sailing onwards. When the wind is favourable, we shall unfurl the sail; when it is against us, we shall stop; but never go back!"

In the beginning you have to be a pessimist: to feel as if everything is bad—this birth, death, old age, disease—everything of this world is full of misery. Only with this kind of thinking will dispassion come.

Dispassion of the kind seen or felt in the cremation ground or of the imitation brand, is of no use. It is temporary. Somebody comments or criticizes, and dispassion fades away and you are where you were.

---

27 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Dissatisfaction

By Swami Adbhutananda

Dissatisfaction and craving for worldly enjoyments are signs of a diseased mind.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

The very fact that he is dissatisfied with his finite nature shows that it is not his natural condition. The fact that he has infinite ambition, that he has insatiable hunger for more and more, proves that he is infinite by nature; and that is why he is always dissatisfied with whatever is finite.

Distraction

By Swami Brahmananda

If through discrimination you can impress upon your mind the joy and fullness of the spiritual life and the folly of worldly attachments, it will devote itself more and more to God, and you will find yourself freed from all distracting thoughts.

By Swami Shivananda

[To the question: "I work in the Publication Department in Calcutta, where the atmosphere is different I feel distraction."]

Get up early in the morning and meditate and make japa to your heart's content. That will keep your mind on a higher level. I myself do that. I meditate in the morning, and the whole day passes, as it were, in intoxication.

By Swami Premananda

Even amongst the spiritual aspirants who are more advanced, distractions arise during the hour of meditation. It is not merely true of you alone. You must therefore pray to God and keep watch over the vagaries of your mind. Also whenever the mind may wander about, whatever distracting thoughts may arise in the mind, learn to feel in all those distractions the all-pervading presence of your Chosen Ideal.

It is the restlessness of your mind that forces you out of your seat. Worldly desires and past habits are like that. They are the distractions. Little by little, and with untiring patience a man must free himself from all mental distractions. This can be done with the aid of the intelligent will.

By Swami Saradananda

Conflicting desires arise in the mind. Because of these desires the mind is constantly lashed into waves. As long as these waves form, the mind is restless. In order to control these waves which give rise to thoughts of a worldly and distracting nature, one must live a life of self-discipline.

Take Sri Sri Jagannath Deva's rice prasad every day for a few days; and when sitting for meditation, at the very beginning think: My Chosen Ideal is everywhere, covering everything like the unbroken sea of Satchidananda, and I am always in Him. He is everywhere, within me and outside of me. Concentrate on this thought for some time, meditate, and make japa as usual. Then the distractions of the mind will go away.

---

28 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Divine Incarnation

By Swami Brahmananda

He is infinite and formless, and yet he is also with form.

It is beyond the power of the mind to understand the devious ways through which God leads man to himself.

By Swami Shivananda

The doings of a divine Incarnation are beyond the reach of the average intellect. How would you or the nation understand the way of divine action? When God embodies Himself as man, He does so for no particular race or nation, but for the good of the whole world.

God exists eternally and from age to age embodies Himself as man for the good of the world. That is because of His pure compassion. He is self-sufficient, pure, intelligent and free by nature. He does not have any purpose to serve in this world. Being complete in Himself, He has nothing to attain or not to attain.

When the world becomes burdened and there is prevalence of irreligion, the all-merciful Lord by His own free will incarnates Himself as man to save the fallen and ameliorate the lot of the world.

When God comes to this world as a man, then flows a current of spirituality. Many are blessed by getting the light of knowledge; many attain emancipation.

There have always been various religious paths and countless scriptures and holy places in every country. In spite of that, why is there a decline in religion? The reason is because in course of time all those ideas become lost. Therefore God incarnates Himself so as to explain the subtleties of religion and to show the ideal.

[To the question: "Maharaj, does an incarnation retain the fullest consciousness of his divinity all the time?"]

A: Well, he does, to be sure. Look at Sri Krishna's life, for instance. From his very birth onward, he gave proofs of his divinity. But it is true that the outer expression of that divinity is not the same in all the incarnations, though they themselves have the fullest consciousness of their Godhood. It is only for the spiritual good of the world that their power is manifested. All that they do is out of mercy, for an avatara is not born as the result of karma. And how can he have any ignorance? It is the eternal Brahman in His fullness, the Lord of Maya, who descends with the help of Maya; and He returns to His own real state after the need of the age is fulfilled.

All the spiritual practice that the Avatara undertakes, all the hard austerities he undergoes, are merely to set an example to others, to hold an ideal before men. For he is God, he is infinity itself where can he have any finitude? As long as the avatars remain in their human bodies in this world, all their actions appear to conform to human norms; they are happy at things that make others happy, and unhappy at those that make men unhappy. So much so, one comes to think that they do not retain their divine consciousness fully.

Such activities, which ordinary people consider to be amazing and impossible, are quite as natural to the incarnations as inhalation and exhalation. They do not have to get all that as a result of long and strenuous practice. Supernatural things happen at their mere wish.

How could the world understand God's ways if He did not manifest Himself as man among His devotees? He is born as man in order to redeem embodied beings, and even when He gives up the gross body, His power continues through His devotees. Just see how the divine power of Sri Ramakrishna is working even after his death, bringing hundreds of seekers here! How beautiful is the idea! The Lord Himself is born as His devotee. Although He is omnipresent and infinite, He comes to us in a finite form for our good.

Well, K, the doings of a Divine Incarnation are beyond the reach of the average intellect. How can you or the nation understand the ways of divine action? When God embodies Himself as a man, He does so for no particular race or nation, but for the good of the whole world.

[Jesus] was neither a Jew nor a Gentile. He belonged to a category far above all these: he was an incarnation of the power of God. He was born as man in this world to save the souls of men.

---

29 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Divine Incarnation

By Swami Premananda

While it is true that every divine incarnation and God-man embodied all the great ideals, yet each one emphasized one particular ideal. For instance, Sri Chaitanya was the very embodiment of love. Just as congealed water takes the form of ice, so congealed love took the form of Sri Chaitanya. In the same way, Shankara was the embodiment of knowledge, Buddha the embodiment of renunciation, and Sri Krishna the embodiment of selfless work.

God is the God of all; His grace is upon all mankind. But the so-called devotees of God fail to transcend the narrow bounds of hatred, jealousy, injury to others, and sectarian quarrels. God incarnates to break such barriers.

Again, his followers create boundaries, claiming to preach new and marvellous ideas, proclaiming that such a liberal spirit has not existed before; condemning all other forms and sects of religion as narrow, superstitious, and wrong—theirs alone being eternal, true and right.

Just as the Lord has covered us with His Maya, He also graciously incarnates Himself and undertakes spiritual practices in order to show how we are to rend asunder the Maya. He Himself is also breaking the creations of Maya.

A man once went to a garden with his several sons. The sons played about. Some plucked flowers, some plucked green coconuts, but one went to angle in the tank. When it was evening, the man called all his sons. All came except the one who was fishing. The father sent for him again and again but he would not come—he was deeply absorbed in catching fish. When it was quite dark, the father himself went, broke the fishing rod to pieces, and dragged the boy to the carriage. Thus does the Lord come from time to time, to shatter our playthings, and drag us to him.

By Swami Turiyananda

It is true the Brahma Sutras have stipulated that prophets and Incarnations cannot create or destroy the world, these functions belonging to God. But it is not that they lack the power to create, etc., they simply do not want to create. Possession of all powers is a sine qua non of the attainment of Mukti.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

You cannot worship God directly, for you can have no conception of Him except through such man-Gods. If man-Gods like Sri Ramakrishna did not take their birth here, who could know anything about God? They are Columbuses in the land of spirituality.

The great incarnations like Christ, Krishna, Buddha were perfectly clear mirrors which gives us a perfect reflection. They did not bring us anything new. Truth is always existent. Christianity existed before Christ. Christ was only the mouthpiece. Mohammedanism existed before Mohammed. Mohammed was only the mouthpiece. Each one was a reflector of eternal Truth, but one man catches the light from Christ who he says, "Christ has given me the Truth. I belong to Christ. I am a Christian." Another sees the light through Mohammed and says, "I am a Mohammedan." A third says, "Buddha is Truth. I belong to Buddha." So each great teacher has his followers who believe that the Truth can come from him alone; but all teachers reflect the same Truth.

[To the question: "God being infinite, why and how does He incarnate?"]

Swami: Man also has forgotten his infinite nature and thinks he is finite. If it is thus possible for man to be finite and infinite at the same time, how much more must it be possible for God to be so. An Incarnation of God, of course, has body and mind like man; but He has the power to separate Himself from body and mind easily.

Sleep overpowers a man but never an Incarnation, who has mastery over His body when he is awake; over his mind, when dreaming; over his consciousness when asleep. A Divine Incarnation is complete master of all his being in waking, dream and sleep. From the highest being down to a blade of grass all living organisms are a peculiar mixture of the finite and infinite.

An incarnation also is no exception to the rule. But He only appears finite, though all the time Infinite. Though he seems to be finite in power He is actually omnipotent. But few can recognize the perfect and divine nature of an Incarnation, so all treat Him as an ordinary being.

---

30 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Divine Incarnation

By Swami Saradananda

Prophets and incarnations who have come and gone have shown us one thing, that we too can become heirs of knowledge and power like themselves—if we only have the will. If we struggle, walking the path taken by them, we too will reach that goal one day. If it were not so, the life of an avatar would have no meaning.

By Swami Akhandananda

Is it so easy to realize the Self? Incarnations, Avatars of God are God Himself, yet they themselves have to struggle so much, not to speak of others.

The Divine Incarnations express the ideas of worldly people, by imposing their limitations upon themselves.

The Incarnation of God is a complete and perfect ideal. As much of it as you can comprehend will be yours.

An Incarnation of God has certain characteristics. He is never affected by delusion or bereavement. He leads an ideal life.

An Incarnation of God has His own time and place. He comes when many people stricken with misery piteously call on Him day and night and pray with a simple heart: "Lord, never shall I do such things again. Bring my miseries to an end. I make an offering of all my Karma to you. Appear before me."

Or when, at the time of decay of religion, spiritual men begin praying to God, "Lord, come down on earth and re-establish the reign of law." Then, if the time is ripe, God incarnates as a man, and suffers. He has no Karma of His own. Why then does He suffer so much from birth to death? Those who desire to love an Incarnation of God must also be ready to suffer like Him.

By Swami Vijnanananda

The Bible describes God in all His three forms, with attributes, without attributes, and as incarnate. Whenever God incarnates Himself in human form, He reveals Himself as such, as men would not understand Him otherwise.

What is wanted is faith, faith alone. But we must have that faith implanted in us if we want to see God, whereas divine incarnations already have it. That is the only difference. They have seen God; we too will certainly see Him; only it is a matter of time.

---

31 August 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Doubt

By Swami Brahmananda

If a man has faith in the words of his guru and follows them, then all his doubts and troubles vanish.

Do not doubt that He exists. Faith is the one thing needed, intense faith! Let not doubts get hold of your mind.

Doubts will come until you have realized God; therefore you must hold to God and pray. Think to yourself: "God is, but because of the impurities of my mind I cannot see him. When my heart and mind have become purified, then, through his grace I shall surely see him!"

And this resignation should be inspired by the right spirit and faith. No doubt must enter your heart; it is no use "taking the name of God to cross the river and at the same time raising your cloth to keep it dry!"

He who has faith in God is freed from doubts.

He who has no faith in God doubts everything. He who has faith in God overcomes all doubts.

Needless to say, association [with the holy] is also very important. For in their company doubts are removed and pure thoughts are awakened.

By Swami Shivananda

The truth is that if one has sincerity one is seldom beset by doubts; or even if a doubt arises, God Himself gets it solved from within.

Of course, it is true that all doubts cannot be dispelled till one is face to face with God Himself.

Never have any doubt about His grace; never allow even such a thought to cross your mind.

Is Samadhi such an easy thing? When that most excellent and unequalled Parabrahman, the Supreme Reality, is beheld as Self, all the bondages of the heart of, such as inherited ignorance, etc., are rent asunder, all doubts get resolved and the store of accumulated Karma other than that of Prarabdha wears out.

By Swami Turiyananda

Do the work started by Swamiji in the right spirit. From that itself will come Samadhi or any other supreme spiritual attainment. Have no doubt. Plunge headlong into work.

When the mind becomes impure, doubts immediately make their appearance.

Don't have any doubts. Know that what you are doing is the Lord's work; give your whole heart and soul to it.

By Swami Adbhutananda

He who fears and doubts cannot make any progress either in the spiritual or worldly sphere. The mind is cramped. He alone is a hero, he alone attains greatness, who moves forward to realize the truth without caring whether the world is real or not.

If a man doubts the existence of God, there is no hope of his getting liberation.

The nature of the mind can be changed by chanting the name of the Lord. Gradually desires and doubts cease and the mind dissolves into its causality. Then there is none to think or imagine.

Doubt arises in the mind of an aspirant if he does not practice spiritual disciplines, and doubt is the root of all troubles.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

It is the greatest relief when we get rid of egotism. It is as if a heavy burden rolled off. At once all our doubts and fears, anxieties and troubles disappear.

When you have reached a definite conclusion about a thing you cease to think about it. So thinking and doubting are synonymous. If you make much of mind, you make much of doubt. People are sceptics, why? Because they make much of this little mind. But the mind never directs a man properly. Go beyond the mind and you will go beyond all doubt. Inside the body there is desire and greed; inside the mind, there is doubt; inside the world there is change, there is death. Go beyond these and you will find peace and bliss. Until you go beyond them, you can never realise what peace and bliss mean.

Beyond the darkness of doubt shines the region of eternal light and infinite bliss.

This disbelief is almost an insurmountable obstacle in the spiritual life. It is not only an obstacle but also a disease.

1 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DOUBT

By Swami Saradananda

Never allow any doubts to cross your mind. The moment a doubt arises, immediately think of the Lord and be convinced that whatever takes place by His will is always for your good. Whatever is happening is happening at His command and, if He wills, the situation will change. With this attitude resign yourself to the Lord and be happy and free from cares.

Instead of doubting yourself, feel that you are the possessor of infinite strength and have the might to overcome all difficulties. It is the strong, the heroic, who do noble deeds and become great. Those who are weak and vacillating are lost like broken clouds in the sky.

Frankly, doubt is a sign of disease. It is not the mind's normal condition.

If you are in doubt, pray to Him in this way: "God, if you really exist, do such and such a thing for me that I may believe in you." Even such a prayer is helpful.

By Swami Vijnanananda

Take care that doubts of any sort do not assail you. To doubt is to sin.

ON DREAMS

By Swami Brahmananda

Dreams about enlightened souls, gods and goddesses, and divine incarnations, are real experiences. They are actual visitations. Many spiritual truths are revealed to one in dreams. The effect and impression of such dreams remain. But one must not speak of them to anybody.

By Swami Premananda

Sometimes dreams may come true, but most of the time they are mere dreams, and not true. But to dream of holy men is good, auspicious. You must not, however, speak of such dreams to anybody and everybody.

Live and act and mould your character in the waking state.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

[To the question: "How do we remember our dreams?"]

When you are asleep and dream you lose the consciousness of your physical body, but you don't lose consciousness of your Self. That occupies your consciousness and records the dream.

By Swami Saradananda

If the vision of the cremation ground comes during your meditation and dreams, it is good, not bad.

---

2 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DUTY

By Swami Brahmananda

I will declare again and again and emphasize this truth—that however busy you may be in carrying out your duties, you must practise Japa and meditation. If you work and forget God, egotism and pride will overpower you.

The Master used to tell a parable about the maid servant in a rich man's house. She talks of her master's home and possessions as hers and she brings up his children as if they were her own, but in her heart of hearts she knows that none of these belong to her.

In the same way, we have to live in this world and do our duties; but in our heart of hearts we must realize that nothing belongs to us, nobody belongs to us. Our only true abode is at the lotus feet of the Lord, and that is where we must go.

Do your duties in the world while taking refuge in the Lord.

In favourable or in adverse circumstances, feel that you have none but him and that you are serving him through the faithful discharge of your allotted duties.

The Lord's name is the only truth; everything else is unreal. To have faith in Him, to be devoted to Him, to praise His glories—these are the only duties in life.

Do your duties conscientiously, and without attachment. Always remember that you are an instrument in the hands of God and that God himself is the only doer. Keep your mind fixed on God.

When the mind has been purified by prayer and contemplation, it will direct you from within. Even in your daily duties, this inner guru will guide you and will continue to help you until the goal is reached.

Learn to perform all duties great or small, with a concentrated mind. He who can concentrate his mind in action can also concentrate when practicing meditation.

[To the question: "You always insist that I must serve my father. Isn't it better to become a monk and serve you?"]

A: Indeed it is. But will the mere wearing of the gerua cloth make you a monk? You have a duty to perform in serving your sick father. I am asking you to serve your father, my child, and at the same time to continue your regular spiritual practices. Such service will help you in your spiritual growth.

No matter how busy you may be in carrying out your duties, you must practice regular japam and meditation.

By Swami Shivananda

Perform your duties, but at the end of the day do not fail to call on God with great yearning at least once. Duties and responsibilities there are, of course, I do not ask you to neglect them; but in the midst of everything think of the Lord, pray to Him, repeat His name and do similar spiritual practices.

When you meditate, though for a short time, try to detach yourself completely from your work. Shaking off all worries and withdrawing yourself from everything, seek to be established in your own Self. You should practise this at least once a day, even if only for a short while.

Naturally you have your duties and responsibilities in the world, your pains and pleasures there; but all these are transient. This world is unreal: there can be nothing more certain than that.

You may attend to a hundred and one duties, or earn crores of rupees, but know in your heart of hearts that all these are impermanent and some day will have to be left behind. The one abiding reality is God.

As long as this creation lasts duties and responsibilities will exist. But in the midst of all these you will have to make a little time to call upon the Lord in seclusion; otherwise you will come to grief. There is not so much danger if one can hold on to God. It is very necessary to remember Him. With one hand hold on constantly to His lotus feet, and with the other perform the duties of the world. When all your duties are over, you should hug the lotus feet of God to your heart with both hands.

Know it for certain that, if one goes on performing one's duties under the sincere belief that one is doing God's work, one can never suffer spiritually.

Spiritual practice is a bounden duty, something of prime importance. It was stressed in the past and it will be so in future, as it should be now.

My son, you have asked me how you should live in the world. About this, the Master himself said that while performing duties in the world, one should keep one's mind in God. Therefore, while living in the world you should be detached from it, even as a maidservant does all kinds of work in the house of a rich man, although her whole heart is in her home in the country. Serve your wife, children and relatives, but know in the depths of your being that the only one who is your very own is the Lord. There is none else who is really your own. That does not mean that you are to neglect your wife and children. Instead, serve them, knowing that they were brought to you by the Lord Himself. Talk with them about God, and try to direct their minds to Him. Live in the world, but do not allow the mind to become bound to it.

The teachings of Swami Vivekananda are very great; they are, indeed, conducive to the well-being of souls. They are badly needed in these days. We, the Indians, have become very inert. Our so called spiritual tendencies are the outcome of this decadent condition; it is inertia posing as goodness. That is why we feel that we should retire to a forest in order to call upon God in preference to performing our duties in the world. How difficult this life is—that of exclusive meditation away from the world—is known only to those who have taken to it. If that were the right pattern to be followed by all at this time, Sri Ramakrishna, who is the ideal of this age, would have taught his disciples accordingly; he himself would have set the example.

Swami Vivekananda and the other great disciples of the Master would also have acted and taught people the same way. Continue the work you are doing in the world while engaging in some form of selfless activity.

We are not to decide what God should do. A Bhakta, when engaged in doing his duty to God, does not feel that what is being done to him is a pain at all.

---

3 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DUTY

By Swami Premananda

If really you have offered your all, your mind and heart to God, then you are beyond all duties; you are no longer "you," neither have you anything that is "yours."

To keep recollectedness of him is the one duty of man.

By Swami Turiyananda

May Mother give you strength to do that which seems your duty to the world first, and then giving up everything devote yourself wholly to Mother when you have finished that duty.

Do your duty manfully in whatever station of life you may be put and prove yourself "a Mother's child" by bringing all sorts of circumstances under your feet, having full consciousness that you are above them all, and they have no power to frighten you, far less to gain ascendancy over you in any way. May Mother give you strength and vigour to accomplish this.

To be in the world and maintain the family, to fulfil one's duties this also is certainly religion. Nothing will be gained by giving up all of a sudden. One cannot climb to the roof in one bound.

It is selfishness that is impure. First of all a man should perform his duties according to his caste and order of life and when the mind is thus purified, he should approach a qualified teacher for the attainment of Self-knowledge. There is no way out unless one has fulfilled one's duties. And the moment you have truly finished the duties of one order of life, those of the next naturally come up.

There is no freedom, no respite until you have done your duties. That which you have given up without performing, will be waiting for you, only to appear again. Face the brute! You can't save yourself by flight. Taking up the monastic life will be advantageous, while the householder's life is disadvantageous—such considerations are futile. You cannot come to the next stage without performing the duties of the previous one.

Aspire after higher things but never shirk the present duties. Don't do that. The case of those who live a celibate life from their boyhood is different. They have come with such good tendencies that even if they live in the world, they will live there as Sannyasis. You are what you are—you cannot jump to a higher stage.

Avoidance is not good, nor is it possible. Do your duties in the world but think of God all the while.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Why should you give up your family? Doesn't one's family belong to God? Therefore, call on him who is the real head of the family. One will have to do one's duty in this world. How can you escape it? Wherever you go, the world will follow you.

[To a young man who planned to give up his job and pass the rest of his days practicing spiritual disciplines and making pilgrimages to various temples and shrines:]

A: So you would like to be a vagabond and avoid the duties expected of you by your parents! No! Your duty now is to serve your parents and especially your old grandmother, who has cared for you from your childhood, with complete resignation to the will of God.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Depend upon God entirely and do your duty. Always abide by the Will of God and take everything in the best light. You should not be anxious of the future. Whatever takes place here, on this earth, is for our good, for all things are disposed by God. In the meantime, it should be our duty to be dutiful.

Try to be dutiful to yourself, dutiful towards your wife and dutiful to your children, if you have any. Be dutiful to your relations, your friends and your neighbours. Be charitable, honest, plain and truthful. Above all have an intense devotion and love for God, the author of your being. Lead this life, until it becomes one with your nature. Be an ideal householder first, for then alone will you be able to be a real Yogi.

Be always vigilant in carrying out your duties. Shake off all dullness from within you. Laziness is the worst of all sins. To fight is your duty. Whether you gain or lose entirely depends on God.

The first personal pronoun ("I") is at the root of all our miseries. Hence our primary duty should be to get rid of it somehow or other.

Do your duty for God's sake; know that all belongs to God, and you will reach freedom and wisdom in time. This is Karma Yoga.

There is a widespread mistaken notion that religious life cannot be lived in the family. There is nothing unholy or unspiritual per se in a family life. A bachelor has, no doubt, comparatively more freedom of action than the married. He has no doubt to look to the fulfilment of his duties towards his parents, before he wishes to breath a freer atmosphere than that of the home. But a married man has, besides this, other duties to perform, viz., duties to his wife who has a claim to spiritual participation in his lot, to society, for who else is to maintain the Brahmacharin or the Sannyasin, and to posterity, through the bringing up of his children in such a way as to be serviceable to society.

Such being the case, there must be something that will occasionally remind us as to who we are, and of what we should do, so that we may not be altogether forgetful of our duties here. It is religion that fulfils this purpose.

---

4 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON DUTY

By Swami Saradananda

You complain that thoughts of duties sometimes intrude when you sit for meditation. All minds are in the same predicament. You cannot escape this even if you leave work and retire to a forest.

Since past mental tendencies cannot assert themselves during the performance of duties, you should apply your whole mind to them. Selfless work is the best means of winning a victory over past tendencies.

Wherever you are, you must obey the orders of your superiors and perform your duties to the best of your ability.

If you carry on your spiritual practices with implicit faith in the Lord who is your own—you will understand everything in due time. It will gradually be revealed to you how you can cultivate absolute reliance on God while performing your duties.

You should analyse your mind and see whether you have been able to cover every bit of work with the spirit of God and judge whether the duties you are performing are for His sake or for the propitiation of your spurious self.

The work that you do is to be performed with a right attitude. You must feel that the duties that you are discharging have been entrusted to you by the Lord. You are doing them only to satisfy Him and not to satisfy your selfish will. No work is menial.

If a worker performs his duties properly and his life embodies the spirit of detachment throughout, he will ultimately attain the highest goal. In other words, he will see God in everything and attain pure knowledge, which will burn all the seeds of karma. He will not be born again, and his soul will merge itself into Brahman, at the dissolution of his body.

It is your immediate duty to make provision for the maintenance of your parents. The aspirant must try all means for the fulfilment of his immediate duty but should not get disappointed if he is not successful. For though one of the factors may be fulfilled well, yet the work may not turn out successful for want of the other factors. Hence to do one's best and be at peace without being anxious about the result is called Karma-Yoga.

By Swami Akhandananda

Do your duty, and in the midst of duty keep alive the idea that you are doing His work.

By Swami Subodhananda

Man enters family life and gets involved in worldly affairs. But if he takes refuge in the Lord and then attends to the duties of life, he can withstand much better the storms and stresses of the world, all of which he can ignore by his dependence on God's dispensation.

By Swami Vijnanananda

The supreme duty of man is to remember Him always, whether one is engaged in consciously repeating His name or not. Every breath of ours should be associated with Him, in our mind.

It is the duty of everyone to donate a certain portion of income for the public good. For, that is the law of nature. You will get back whatever you give. A change in your circumstances today may reduce you tomorrow to penury and make you dependent on others. You suffer as a result of your own past actions, and that is why you should devote a portion of your income for the food of others, instead of appropriating it entirely to yourself.

Our duty is to make ourselves His slaves, to think and work for Him and meditate on Him. Whatever we do should be a dedication at the feet of Mother. Her external manifestations are time, space, and causality. As the perfect embodiment of all wisdom, She points out where our duty lies; and that is exactly what we have got to do, my brother, that is what we have got to do.

In fact, He performs his own duty. Can we do any good to anybody?

The greatest duty of man is to keep his mind centred on God. With every breath we should think of Him.

While doing your allotted duties, you should all the time be thinking of Him in the same way (as the Master said) as a woman thinks of her paramour.

Your duty is to endeavour to be truthful under all circumstances. But if at times, owing to special reasons, you have to utter a falsehood, it need not worry you too much, because while you are subordinate to another person, you cannot help obeying him.

You have got to be very punctilious in doing your duty. Work has to be done always with a sense of duty, but without an eye for the results.

You should behave in the world, the Master used to say, just as servants and maid-servants do in the households of their masters. They serve their masters and do all their work; but all the time they think of their own relatives living in their village homes. Similarly you have to perform all your worldly duties, but your mind should always be fixed on God.

One's duty is to lead an honest, pious, and selfless life, and above all, to conduct oneself as the servant of God.

Work has to be done always, but without much concern for results. Do it as a part of your duty.

---

5 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

EARNESTNESS

By Swami Brahmananda

He dwells in the hearts of his devotees. Call on him earnestly.

By Swami Shivananda

The fact that you have this restlessness of mind shows that the Mother is gracious to you. The earnestness to realize Her and the lack of peace because you have not been able to do so are symptoms of Her grace.

What is necessary, my child, is earnestness. The Mother dwells in every heart and She does not take into consideration how much time you put into your practice, but only how sincerely you do it.

The more earnestness you have in your practice, the greater will be the joy.

Sincerity, earnestness, purity—these form the main foundation of a spiritual life.

Anyone who earnestly wants divine joy surely gets it.

He reveals Himself whenever one supplicates Him with earnestness and tears in the eyes.

It is not possible to serve the great saints in the real sense, unless one has one's mind purified through spiritual efforts. And the other thing necessary is absolute earnestness.

He manifests Himself in the heart of a devotee who is sincere and earnest.

By Swami Premananda

Earnestness itself is a Mantra, but not all can have it.

No teaching can help one who is not in earnest.

By Swami Turiyananda

Whether a man will succeed in attaining realization or not depends upon the amount of earnestness he has. This is the test.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Who says it is all dark? Search for Him earnestly; you are sure to see Him. Appeal to Him, and I can dare say, if you are really earnest, the answer will come.

By Swami Akhandananda

The very appearance and movement of those who earnestly call on God become something uncommon and impressive. Their very presence brings happiness. Their faces are always happy, their hearts are pure, and their minds are free from likes and dislikes. They are ever eager to remain merged in the Bliss that is God. To them worldly good and evil lose their distinction—both are equal to them.

Certainly, He will come to you. Only one thing is needed: your yearning, your earnest longing. You have to call on Him with earnestness.

Be earnest, be impatient. Not that you have to repeat His name so many hundreds of times, or that you have to do so much penance. But you have to cry aloud earnestly and piteously.

The way is: earnestness, discrimination, and dispassion.

By Swami Subodhananda

If one calls on the Lord with sincere earnestness, He reveals Himself in the form of one's chosen deity.

---

6 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

EATING

By Swami Brahmananda

Eat very little after sunset. The brain must be kept cool in order to meditate. Eat only to keep the body healthy; health is essential in the practice of spiritual disciplines.

Meditation is not such an easy matter. When you have eaten too much, the mind becomes restless.

By Swami Shivananda

As a matter of fact, eating is just like taking medicine. The sickness of hunger should be doctored. Hunger is a kind of ailment. Just as medicine relieves sickness, so food alleviates hunger. One should bear this in mind while eating.

The Atman is free from hunger and similar limitations. It is pure intelligence, unaffected by anything. Hunger, thirst and so on are characteristics of the body and not of the Atman.

ECSTASY

By Swami Premananda

The worldly man is drunk with the objects of sense, with name, with fame, with lust, with gold. Be you also drunk, but be drunk with selfless works, with love of God, with ecstasy, with Samadhi!

By Swami Vijnanananda

Japa will consummate in meditation and meditation will lead to ecstasy.

EDUCATION

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

True education consists in the sacrifice of vanity and the manifestation of the God within.

By Swami Saradananda

Give a little attention to your own studies. Know them also to constitute a limb of spiritual life. Because, if you cannot, by acquiring worldly education, make provision for coarse food and clothing, then meditation on and thought of God will become impossible.

By Swami Vijnanananda

Everybody shouts for more education, but the only result of it is the creation of a set of slavish job-seekers. But do you think men of real genius have any use for this kind of education? They do not care at all for such education.

Modern English education has created a slave mentality among us. Akbar, Ranjit Singh, Shivaji—all of them were practically illiterate people. Our Master himself was a man of little education and attached no value to bookish education. He wanted man to imbibe learning from God's own words. He looked askance at bookish knowledge.

---

7 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

EGO

By Swami Brahmananda

Man suffers because of his ignorance. This ignorance is his sense of ego. When a man is free from this egoism, surrendering his life, his mind, and his intellect at the blessed feet of the Lord of all, renouncing all that he calls his own—then is he blessed indeed. That man alone is truly happy.

Everybody thinks he is infallible. Deluded by egoism, man regards himself as very important. He does not even want to believe in the existence of God. He never seriously considers how little he can understand with his intellect.

The aim of all spiritual practice is to destroy the sense of ego. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: "when the ego dies all troubles cease." As long as we are egotistic, so long is He at a distance. The Master used to give this illustration: "As long as the manager is in the storeroom, the head of the house does not go there. If anybody asks something of him, He directs that person to the manager."

Sometimes man becomes so egotistic and thinks himself so important that he does not even accept the existence of God. It is this ego that binds a man in Maya. There is no escape until you feel, "Not I, not I, but Thou, my Lord!"

The sage Narada attained devotion and knowledge of Brahman by serving holy men. Ego is destroyed through service.

Under no circumstances give up your spiritual practices. If you give up the practices of japam and meditation and engage yourself solely in work, egoism is bound to arise in you, and you will become the source of quarrels and disharmony.

Renunciation is of the first importance; it destroys all ego.

Without dispassion toward the world, faith and love do not grow. You must have dispassion. To lose the ego in God is dispassion.

By Swami Shivananda

Unless work is accompanied by meditation, japa and other spiritual practices, its very spirit is lost. Then one forgets it is the Lord's work and not his own. Egotism and pride come and instead of being purified by the work, the heart becomes defiled.

Meditation on God will obliterate the ego, and He will then be all in all. Only when your mind reaches this state, will you be able to do genuine philanthropic work.

Know it for certain that, if one goes on performing one's duties under the sincere belief that one is doing God's work, one can never suffer spiritually. God protects such a one for ever. But the fall comes as soon as egoism and attachment creep in.

Along with work, you should practise meditation and japa regularly; that helps in maintaining a balance. And a little intrusion by pride and egotism is not a thing to be worried about; for God Himself will put you under the circumstances necessary for the wiping out of that little defect. As for pride and egotism, these can come even to the man engaged in austerities in solitude, who may then think that he has become a big ascetic.

If you are true to yourself, if your thoughts and actions are in accord with each other, pride and egotism can never assail you, whether you are engaged in spiritual practice or service to God.

One must have diligence so long as one has the notion of ego.

By Swami Premananda

We have to make a single community of this whole world and if there is anything that is to be treated as an alien, it is "me and mine." This "me and mine" is the worst enemy. This great enemy has to be killed, extirpated. Then only will this whole world become your own of God—and full of peace and happiness. And he alone will be able to impart this lesson who has killed "me and mine."

No! Sri Ramakrishna did not make us great; he made us "nobodies." You also have to become "nobodies." Wipe out all vanity and all sense of ego. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "When the ego dies, all troubles cease." "Not I, not I, but thou, Lord."

Look at the life of Nag Mahashaya! There was not the least trace of ego in him. G. C. Ghosh used to say, "Maya tried to bind Nag Mahashaya and Vivekananda in her net, but Nag Mahashaya became smaller than the smallest, so that Maya's net could not hold him, and Vivekananda grew bigger and bigger; he became one with the infinite, and the net was too small to bind him."

Always remember, the Lord is the "doer." If ever the idea that "I am the doer" enters into your head, the Lord instantly flies away. All efforts then will be in vain. Therefore I say, be careful, holy man, "Let not the 'unripe' ego' ever enter your heart." Pray that you may only be the instrument in the hands of the Lord, through his grace. Then only will you become a real karma yogi.

He alone is the teacher of mankind who is free from all sense of ego.

Overpowered by ignorance, man remains subject to anger and egoism. To be dispassionate means to be freed from passions and from egoism. To achieve that end man practices spiritual disciplines. And egoism—it is truly hellish! It is this egoism that has kept the whole world under delusion. Only with the greatest austerity can one be completely freed from ego.

Pride, vanity, or egotism cannot touch those who are true devotees of the Lord.

Be active also. Free yourself from all sense of ego, and work selflessly. Be very careful that no sense of leadership or any trace of selfishness enter into you. Whatever you do, do as the servant of the Lord.

Let the strong wind of dispassion rise in your minds, that the trees of desire be uprooted. Then, even as birds fly from the shelter of trees before a strong wind, will the ignorance of selfishness, jealousy, hatred, and egoism take flight from your hearts. Then shall peace follow and fill your lives, even as calm follows the storm.

Do not pay any attention to the opinions of others, good or bad. What is necessary above all is to see God—in this life, in this very body. Then, from your mouth will come forth the word of God; egotism and conceit will have left you.

If you wish to become holy, you must sacrifice all ego.

The essence of Sri Ramakrishna's teaching is that one should give up all pride and egotism.

Even pity comes out of egotism. Have you not heard the Master's stories of the tiger-Narayana and the elephant-Narayana? If we are to live away from a tiger and an elephant, are we to hate or pity them? Salute them from afar, thinking that it is through the will of God that they are what they are, and that it is through His will again that you are what you are, and that His will can, in a moment, redeem them forever and drag you down.

Destroy your pride and egotism once for all.

---

8 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

EGOTISM

By Swami Turiyananda

[To the young Sannyasis:]

Do you think that by these works of yours, you have done something unique? What you are doing, I can get done by scavengers for a pay of one rupee a month. And as for those of you who are working in the office, better workers than you can be obtained by spending a few rupees a month. So is there anything to be vain about what you are doing?

Egotism is no good; it is extremely pernicious. Egotism is like drinking wine, it leads astray the senses. The Master used to say that water accumulates only in a low land. Only in humility the good qualities of the mind and heart become manifest. Pride always holds the head high.

The more you will free yourself of egotism and become His instrument, the more you will realize peace. The more you will feel that God is the only doer, not you, the more will your heart be filled with peace.

There is another attitude. Whatever is good is His, and whatever is bad is the result of our own karma. If we continue this attitude, we may eventually get rid of the ego.

Humility does not come so long as there is any egotism left.

The evil is not in the world, it is in the persons. It is all a matter of understanding. If we understand each other better, there would be less evil. But who wants to understand? Everyone is shut up within his own ego. From that prison we judge the world. The remedy is to see the Lord in all.

By Swami Adbhutananda

[To a devotee's question: "Maharaj, why do we not have that kind of dependence on God?"]

It is because you value your intellect and ego more than God. You are not ready to wait for his command, and moreover you lose patience in a minute.

Money brings vanity. The more egotistic a man is, the farther he is from God, and thus the poorer he is. Do not measure the poverty of a man by his possessions. The real measure is how far away he is from God. The nearer to the Lord, the richer the man; the more forgetful of the Lord, the poorer and unhappier he is.

As long as God keeps the sense of ego in a man, he will perceive duality, good and evil. When God takes away the sense of ego, the perception of duality, good and evil, disappears.

A man will get social merit through his philanthropic activities, but if his ego is involved in those activities, he will not get any spiritual merit. Even the result of a good action turns into a bondage if it is done with ego.

By Swami Abhedananda

Purification of mind means nothing but the annihilation of the ego-centric idea and removal of selfishness from the mind. The more the mind expands, the more are the egoistic ideas annihilated.

---

9 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

EGOTISM

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

The attraction towards the world means egotism.

Almost all men in the world have usurped the throne where God should sit. On that throne where God should be, a most worthless slave has been given place. This is the ego. When you know this, then drive out the ego. When you do this and become the slave or servant of God instead, you will realize your eternal nature. Being one with God, all fear of death will go, peace will come to you, and you will taste true (Ananda) bliss.

It is true that every soul, so long as it is in a body, has a little bit of ego. If there were no ego, what remains? Only God.

When you live constantly in the presence of Divinity, the ego loses its power; but so long as the ego rules a man, he is a bond-slave. All your anxieties and worries come from egotism and selfishness. Let go your little self and they will all disappear.

All Maya is localized in ego. Pull out the foundation and the whole house will collapse. Take away the ego and the whole structure of Maya will fall. Then you will realize a state of perfect calmness.

Try to get rid of the ego by cultivating a sense of oneness. Think you are in no way superior to any living being that the smallest insect crawling there is just as you are, and has just as much right to live. When we lose all sense of separateness, egotism will go, the mind will become single or pure, and only God will be there.

Intellectuality is based on ego and spirituality is based on annihilation of ego.

We are all only puppets in the hands of God. When we understand this all pride and ambition, all vanity and egotism will go.

What keeps us from seeing God? Selfishness, egotism, ambition, vanity, pride. The more we can minimize these, the sooner will we come to the goal. If we can get rid of them altogether, then freedom is ours.

Vengeance is based on egotism and malice.

Now it seems to you easier to love the world than to love God. That is because the ego blinds our sight so that we cannot perceive the beauty of God. This ego must be conquered. It is always a falsifier. It places itself on the throne, which belongs to God, and tries to hide God. So long as the ego is on the throne, we can never hope to see or love God.

Hatred and anger are signs of ego. If a man hates anyone or gets angry with anyone, you may be sure he has not conquered his ego and cannot feel true love in his heart. What is the ego? A mere soap-bubble. One blow will break it and reveal its hollowness. We must get rid of ego and reach the state where we can say sincerely, "Not I, not I," but "Thou." When you have been able to put down the ego, love of God will come of itself.

Of course, complete self-surrender can come only when one is free from egotism—the most invulnerable enemy. The idea that "I am so-and-so" is the cause of repeated births and deaths. The more you can get rid of it, the more will you be able to realize your spiritual nature, which is obscured by "I."

Hence our primary duty should be to get rid of it somehow or other. This can be done by the service of the great, by good works without caring for results, by concentration or discrimination. The first is the easiest and the best. If you can place yourself at the feet of a true Teacher, your egotism will gradually wear away by that very attitude of yours of a servant.

If a man actually places himself under the guidance of Sri Ramakrishna he is sure at once to be saved by Him. But very few, almost none can do it, as every man is more or less an egotist.

What in the West they call the devil, we here in India call ego. In the West they externalize their devil. Here, too, they do it, but not in the same way. The West also puts its God far off up there somewhere, while the Hindu keeps Him inside. It is the greatest relief when we get rid of egotism. It is as if a heavy burden rolled off. At once all our doubts and fears, anxieties and troubles disappear. When the "I" is gone, nothing remains but God or Divinity. Let Him exist alone in his glory.

What keeps us from seeing God? Our egotism. The more you can minimize that, the nearer you will approach the goal. If you can throw it away altogether, then freedom is yours. The more you can keep your mind on God, the more quickly you will reach Him.

You know before a great light, lesser lights disappear; so before the effulgent glory of God, the little glory of the ego will completely vanish, as stars vanish when the sun rises. You must therefore practise the Presence of God inside you.

Intellectuality and spirituality are diametrically opposed to each other. Intellectuality is based on ego and spirituality on annihilation of ego.

How to attain wisdom? If we throw away egotism we shall know that God and man are one. Sri Ramakrishna used to say that if we thrust a stick in water the water seems to be divided and we see a right-hand current and a left-hand current. But take the stick out, at once the water becomes one, and right-hand and left-hand divisions disappear. So are we. It is the stick of ego thrust into the water of our mind which makes us think there are two currents—moral and immoral, good and bad, light and darkness, pleasure and pain. Throw away the "I." If you can do it for one moment then you will know that you and God are one.

By Swami Saradananda

The Lord is making you His own. He will not allow even the slightest ego to remain within you. The sufferings and difficulties you are undergoing are intended to make you realize that you have no independent will of your own. It is all given over to the Lord. Therefore, be contented with what He does and wherever He keeps you.

The more one purifies these internal organs, the more one is able to detect and interpret correctly the will of the Universal Mind. This knowledge has a transforming effect on the life and character of the individual. His unripe ego dies forever. Like a machine moved by the operator, he is a tool in the hands of God. He becomes incapable to doing anything wrong. He does not take a false step nor do his feet slip from the path.

By Swami Vijnanananda

Through wealth and honour our egotism is bloated up, and there is no greater obstacle in the spiritual path than egotism.

Worldly riches only swell our egotism and pride, and there is no greater impediment in the pursuit of religious path than this.

Indeed, it is this ego born of ignorance, that blinds our vision. God's glory is manifest all around us, but still we do not see Him, the reason being that we are reluctant to cast off the veil of ignorance that covers our vision.

---

10 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON EMOTION

By Swami Brahmananda

Yes, you must yearn to realize him, but do not be carried away by temporary emotions, nor give expression to them. To intensify your spiritual emotions you must hold them within. If you give vent to them, they will exhaust themselves. Then dryness may follow.

By Swami Akhandananda

Suppose, for instance, that when you come down from the shrine, I do not speak to you affably a single word that you like, and so you become angry. Now if this be so, what good is it that you sat in the shrine for such a long time?

Swamiji used to say, "During group singing, somebody's emotion may be aroused and he may fall down in a trance; but when that is over, his mind turns to enjoyment. What kind of trance is that?" Swamiji was very much against such emotionalism.

EVER-FREE ISHVARAKOTI

By Swami Shivananda

The ever-perfected souls are, as it were, the living emblems of God. Association with them and service rendered to them carry one to God. But it is most difficult to serve them or live with them.

By Swami Turiyananda

Those who go to God without seeking Nirvana are Ishvarakotis belong to the divine class.

[Referring to the Adhikarika beings, i.e., those entrusted with the management of the world:]

Their case is different. They come with perfect knowledge from their very birth. It is only they who can come down again from a state of union with Brahman. For this purpose they allow some little trace of desire to remain in their mind.

Swamiji used to say that India never felt the want of the Jivanmukta the living-free. He said that he had himself seen at least fifteen or sixteen of them; and that even in the darkest days of India, spiritual giants were born.

---

11 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON EVIL

By Swami Brahmananda

If you do not work, evil thoughts and unnecessary cares will occupy your mind.

Man is composed of both good and evil. It is easy to see the evil in others but a holy man is he who can overlook their evil qualities and help them to become pure and holy.

Never find fault or criticize others. Such a habit is harmful to yourself. By thinking continually of the evil of others, the evil will impress itself upon your own mind and the good that is in you will be over-shadowed.

[Disciple: "I am told you saw a spirit also at Dacca."]

Yes, in that house where we stayed. On the second day of our arrival there, I saw it, looking like a Mussulman, standing at the door. This made me sad, and I thought I would leave the house if I saw it again. But it did not appear any more. Much singing of the holy names went on there. That is perhaps why it fled. Evil spirits cannot stand the name of God.

By Swami Shivananda

[To the question: "What would be the condition of this world if every individual man were truly spiritual?"]

Prima facie, such a question is absurd and illogical, for evil as it is cannot altogether disappear from this world. It will ever remain a concomitant part of good.

If evil thoughts come to your mind, don't pay any heed to them. There are impressions of past lives in the mind and now and then they come to the conscious plane.

[To the question: "How is it that sometimes evil thoughts come to the mind?"]

That is quite natural. Pray to the Lord for strength, knowledge and dispassionateness. Pray to Him with all your heart for His grace, and for devotion and faith.

By Swami Premananda

Know for certain that in this world of relativity, there will always be good and evil, pleasure and pain, praise and blame.

Man will come to know what real happiness is. The Lord is the doer of good and by his holy name all that is evil will disappear.

Evil thoughts are to be driven away by good thoughts.

Always keep in mind that the Lord is the doer of good, and no evil can befall if one depends upon him.

Desire, again, is of two kinds—good and evil. That desire which tightens the bonds of ignorance is evil; that which loosens the bonds is good.

By Swami Turiyananda

With whatever evil tendencies one may come, one is sure to improve in holy company. As when you go to an Attar shop, the scent will enter your nostrils, whether you will it or not.

And as Gaudapada says, when knowledge comes, all duality vanishes. It is this dual consciousness which is at the root of all evils.

Attachment and aversion are at the root of all evil. Hence the injunction to relinquish them. For, free of them, one can do with impunity whatever one likes.

The seed is easily destroyed, but when it has germinated and grown into a big strong tree, it requires great strength and effort to hew it down. So we must crush our desires in their early, undeveloped stages. Yogis can do this. They keep down undesirable thoughts in the germ state by smothering them beneath thoughts of an opposite nature. Thus they conquer all evil tendencies—hatred with love, anger with kindness and so on.

A suspicious mind sees evil everywhere, a trusting mind sees only good. A quarrelsome person constantly finds something to quarrel about; a peaceful person finds no one to quarrel with. I find so many people here with fixed notions. They have one set idea that colours everything. They cannot get away from it. Everything is explained according to that one idea.

Some persons always want to argue. They often have little brain, cannot see a point, still they must argue. Then there are over sensitive persons. They are always on the defensive. Whatever general statement you make, they take as being directed towards them, to attack them. All these are causes for evil. But the evil is not in the world, it is in the persons. It is all a matter of misunderstanding. If we understand each other better there would be less evil.

[To the question: "Why is there so much evil in the world?"]

Tulasidas says, "to the good the world is full of good, but to the bad the world is full of evil." The world is neither good nor bad. What I call good, you perhaps call bad, and the reverse. Where is the standard? The standard is in our own attitude towards life. Each one has his own standard. And with increased experience and insight, the standard changes. The pity is that we still recognize evil. When we become perfectly good ourselves, the whole world will appear good. We see only the reflection of our own minds. See the Lord always in everything, and you will see no evil.

---

12 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON EVIL

By Swami Adbhutananda

The essential nature of man, which is ever-pure, cannot be polluted by good and evil.

As long as God keeps the sense of ego in a man, he will perceive duality—good and evil. When God takes away the sense of ego, the perception of duality, good and evil, disappears.

Evil qualities pollute the mind of a person who searches for the lapses and shortcomings of others.

He who has learned to discriminate can successfully overcome lust and greed. So, cultivate your discrimination and conscience. How can you struggle against evil tendencies if your intellect is not trained to differentiate between good and evil?

First clear out the rubbish which has entered the mind through the gates of the sense organs, and then put a "NO ADMITTANCE" sign in front of each gate. Those bad thoughts which ignore the notice and still come in, you will have to hand over to the police, which is our conscience. With the help of the police you must evict the impure tendencies from the mind and then install the Lord there.

By Swami Abhedananda

It is by the power of habit that evil thoughts rise in the mind. Form a contrary habit by continued practice, and gradually the habit of evil thoughts may not arise in the mind.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

[To the question: "How has evil come?"]

The dualists say that all the good in man belongs to God and all the bad belongs to the man himself. The monists say that all belongs to God, both good and bad.

In reality all is God. It is He who actuates the evil-doer as well as the saint. A man has sugar candy to sell in the shape of a mango or a bird or a dog. A little boy says to his father, "Please buy me that bird." He thinks it will taste sweeter than the mango or the dog, whereas in reality they are all alike. In the same way man looks at the world and calls this good and this bad, but as a matter of fact it is all made out of the same substance. God has created both good and evil; but He is beyond both. He has created the two parties and set them warring against each other, while He looks on as the Witness. All this warring of good and bad, pleasure and pain, is merely the play of God; this whole creation is His play.

By Swami Saradananda

If evil thoughts appear, be indifferent to them. They come due to the impressions of previous lives and it is good that they rise to the conscious plane; it will be easier for you to control them.

[To the question: "Frequently evil thoughts arise in my mind. How can I be saved from them?"]

One should drive them away resolutely. You have read in the Gita "The Self is attained by continual practice and renunciation." There is no other way. Surrender yourself to the Lord. Make Him your own and evil thoughts will pass away. It is absolutely necessary to make Him your own.

By Swami Akhandananda

To those who earnestly call on God worldly good and evil lose their distinction—both are equal to them.

[To the question of why there was so much evil in the world:]

Whenever you see others do evil, tell yourself not to imitate them, but to learn from your observations. The vile that you see is meant to teach you not to do such things. That is what you have to learn, but do not hate the evil-doers.

By Swami Subodhananda

Nothing will ever end in evil by the will of Him who is all good.

By Swami Vijnanananda

It is desire that is the root of all evil.

Making compromises with evil leads only to self-deceit. You can satisfy your lower self, but your higher self will cry out one day for a satisfactory explanation. And failure to provide that will lead to certain retribution.

When the mind is overcome with evil thoughts, it becomes dejected and inactive like a mouse in the grip of a cat. But why should you suffer it to be like that? In situations like that, you should summon up within you the strength of a hero and shake off all evil thoughts. This is the only way out. It is no excuse to say that your mind is not under your control. Why should you let your mind take the upperhand?

[To the question: "What is the significance of the disgusting, erotic carvings that you find on the walls of the Jagannath temple?"]

What you see on the walls is only an expression of worldly affairs. That is the sort of thing in which the world is engrossed. You have got to transcend all these and enter the temple; and only if you can see and touch Him with a pure and sincere heart, can you hope for God's everlasting peace. Outside the temple, it is worldliness; inside it, is God.

The Master was the living embodiment of purity. Contemplation of him or taking his name makes you free from all evil thoughts. The mind goes up on a higher plane, the kundalini, the coiled-up vital force is roused.

Never give way to evil thoughts. When they come, pray earnestly to the Master, and you will be rid of them.

---

13 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

ON EVOLUTION

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Evolution means wanting something more. It implies a craving. A craving for more of God makes us evolve spiritually, a craving for outer things or earthly powers brings material evolution. The same craving is in the ant, in the angel, in man and in the Siddhas (Perfected ones). Man worships the gods to satisfy this craving.

In the West they have found out evolution, while here in India we have found out revolution, the Samsara Chakra or wheel of creation. We have discovered that everything moves in cycles. In the week we have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and again in the next week we have the same Monday, Tuesday, etc. The months are January, February, March and again next year the same January, February, March. The seasons rotate. The sun rises and sets again. Everything in the heavens is revolving.

Thus throughout Nature we find rotation or motion in a circle. The evolution theory cannot be final; even granted that evolution would go on throughout eternity, still the result would be finite and compared to infinity it would be infinitesimally small.

Man is made in the image of God; that is, man possesses all the powers of God, but in a miniature form. Evolution is a process of "rolling out." As we evolve spiritually, the inner powers become more and more manifest.

The difference between Kapila's evolution and western evolution is that while western evolution is a universal evolution and is imperfectly worked out, Kapila's evolution is individual and perfectly worked out. Kapila's evolution is really revolution. Like the bullock tied to the oil-press, who may walk nine or ten miles a day, yet does not go away from the oil-press but always remains in the same spot; so we remain tied to nature in the same way. In nature, we find things not progressing, but going in a circle. In creation it is never evolution but always revolution. In the wheel of earthly life, the days, the months, the seasons, revolve in a circle. Kapila thinks that evolution is only of mind and body. But according to absolute idealism evolution is an illusion. We must evolve as individuals, and the final end of all evolution is to realize that we are infinite, and not finite.

---

14 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

EXPERIENCE

By Swami Vijnanananda

Religion is not a matter of discursive reasoning or scholarship; it is a matter of experience. Kant was such a great philosopher, yet he said that marriage was a necessity! What the sages have said are all based on their own experience and not on hearsay.

FAITH

By Swami Brahmananda

If a man has faith in the words of his guru and follows them, then all his doubts and troubles vanish. If a man has faith in the words of his guru, God will meet all his wants. Holding him by the hand, He will lead him on the right path.

In the beginning the mind will refuse to come under control, but force it, urge it, entreat it in order to fix it on meditation. Faith and regularity are very important; nobody can succeed in anything without them.

Keep association with the holy. Go to one who knows the path, learn about the path, and walk on the path. Then alone you will reach your destination someday. Then alone will arise faith and devotion.

One must have faith that the one Brahman is in man, woman, in all creatures; and with that faith one must learn to serve Shiva in the form of Jiva.

Practice any spiritual discipline with faith and devotion; in the end it will lead you to the same goal. Be simple and guileless. Without simplicity and childlike faith nobody can realize him.

To have faith in Him, to be devoted to Him, to praise His glories—these are the only duties in life. Ignorance must be overcome in this very life. This will not be easy unless you can devote yourself wholeheartedly to the work of the spirit. Faith is the one thing needed, intense faith! Let not doubts get hold of your mind.

Keep your mind fixed on God. It is not always easy to keep the mind steady in God while working; the ego creeps in. But never be discouraged by your failures. Repeated failure is inevitable in the beginning, but keep your faith and redouble your efforts. Try hard to live up to your ideal.

With unwavering faith in the words of the guru, the disciple must regularly practice repetition of the mantram and meditation on its meaning. Thus will he find peace of heart.

You may think: "let us have yearning, faith and devotion first, then we shall begin our spiritual practices." But is that possible? Can we see the day before the break of dawn? When the Lord comes, love, devotion, and faith follow him as his retinue.

Real faith cannot be had at the beginning. First realization, then faith. At first the spiritual aspirant must pin his faith, blind faith, it may be—in the words of his guru or some great soul; only then can he advance toward the goal.

Women generally have greater results in less time because their faith is greater.

But this resignation should be inspired by the right spirit and faith. No doubt must enter your heart; it is no use "taking the name of God to cross the river and at the same time raising your cloth to keep it dry."

---

15 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of the Direct Disciples

FAITH

By Swami Brahmananda

Have intense faith in God and in his name; know that they are not different; He dwells in the hearts of his devotees. Call on him earnestly.

Have intense faith in the words of the guru, and follow his precepts faithfully. Thus will the impurities of the mind be washed away and the light of knowledge dawn.

Enlightenment comes quickly to one who has faith in the guru. But one must learn to see God in the guru. The guru must never be regarded as a mere man.

Faith! Without faith none can attain God. He who has true faith has certainly reached God. If you have faith in one penny it has value, but if you have no faith even in a gold piece, it has no value for you. He who has faith in God is freed from doubts. Without renunciation there can be no faith nor devotion.

Faith, intense faith, is what is needed. He who has faith has everything. He who has no faith in God doubts everything. He who has faith in God overcomes all doubts.

Without dispassion toward the world, faith and love do not grow. Have intense faith in the power of God's name and meditate on him.

First, have faith in God, know that he is. Be firmly convinced that to realize him is the only purpose of life. By knowing him man reaches eternal life and infinite happiness, and all the problems of his life are solved.

In a chaste man a special spiritual nerve is developed. With its aid, his memory, his capacity for spiritual understanding, and his faith in God increase.

Have tremendous faith in yourself. Say to yourself, "I can know God"—With this faith forge ahead and you will reach him. Then your life will be blessed.

True devotion, faith and knowledge, are the results of long persistence in spiritual practices.

Have faith and dive deep into the fathomless ocean, and you are sure to find the eternal treasure, the pearl beyond price. Do not lose heart if, after a little struggle, you fail to find it.

Make the mind one-pointed like the mariner's compass. In whatever direction the ship may sail, the compass always points to the north and keeps the ship on its course. Keep your mind pointed toward God, and your boat will sail smoothly. A man who does this never loses his faith and devotion, even if he is thrown into an evil environment.

Faith! Have intense faith in the words of the guru and you will achieve everything. Without faith in the words of the guru, spiritual life is fruitless. Give yourself up to him as a kitten gives itself up to its mother. Then he will look after you, help you, and guide you.

Never lose faith in yourself. The Lord will do everything for you. Have faith in him. Repeat his name. He will reveal the truth to you.

[To the question: "Maharaj, it is all so very mysterious! N. and T. were such advanced souls, and they were also blessed by the Master, yet they went wrong. Some believe that whoever has seen the Master is saved. Ram Babu also held that view."]

A: His case was exceptional. He had such tremendous faith! And towards the end, he renounced everything in pursuit of his spiritual mood. Others only profess faith, but they do not possess it.

Teachings of the Direct Disciples (Continued)

16 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Faith

By Swami Shivananda

To have devotion and faith in God is a rare achievement.

Without devotion and faith, worship is meaningless. It is faith and devotion that make the earthen image living and conscious.

It is very difficult for an average person to stand the actions and reactions of this world. A genuine devotee, because of his faith in God, is never overwhelmed by these.

One must have faith in the guru—the faith of a child.

What is essential is to have faith in and devotion to His lotus feet; when that is there, everything is achieved.

One has to tread steadily the path indicated by a perfect guru. This is a difficult path, my son. One must need to have steadfastness, faith, and above all untiring diligence. As a man can never get water if he goes on shifting his site for a well as soon as he strikes hard ground, so also an aspirant can never succeed in his spiritual quest if he cannot continue in the same path with perseverance.

If you are ready to live with this blind faith, I am also ready to teach you whatever I know without any reserve.

Otherwise, you can go and have your logic-chopping to your heart's content; and then come when the time arrives.

This is not fanaticism; this is a felt truth. We know it for certain that the Master is none other than the eternal supreme Brahman Itself. One must have this faith.

You are a good boy; you are intelligent, as well as learned; you are energetic and enthusiastic, too. You have read much, and you may read more. But along with all that, you have to get your mind fixed. Develop a love for God in your heart, be earnest, and call on Him. Then you will find that everything will be fulfilled in time.

There is only one way out, and that is faith. If one has the sincerest faith that the Master is the incarnation for this age, that he is none other than God Himself, and that one has been blessed by one of his sons, then one need have nothing more to worry—one has already reached the goal of life. It is the Master himself who sits in my heart as the guru and blesses the devotees.

There is only one way out, and that is faith.

---

17 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Faith

By Swami Premananda

Call forth faith—faith in the Guru's words, faith in holy men's teachings, faith in the scriptures, then only you can have results. Mere namby-pamby attitude will be of no avail.

Devotion and faith are unique. Man is always intent on outward things—name, fame, honour, and so on. We want intense, maddening love for God, firm and unshakable faith, and infinite confidence.

Have firm faith in your own self. "I will surely find God, I can never fail." This self-confidence and firm determination are needed.

Have faith, have self-confidence. Convince yourself "We are devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. We are free souls. Assuredly we shall realize God." Have this firm conviction, and then alone you can overcome the furious enemies, lust and anger and greed.

Faith and devotion—these are the greatest treasures in life. Material prosperity oftentimes may bring ruin to an individual.

Faith and devotion transform a man into a god, a saint, a free soul.

Those who have faith in God cannot be harmed by lust and anger, though these may arise occasionally.

If one has faith in God's hallowed name, all delusion will be destroyed in him by God's power.

Have faith. You have taken the holy name of Sri Ramakrishna, you will be free, you will attain perfection in this very life—have this firm conviction. Never harbour any doubt.

God is love. Have faith and conviction that he protects those who take refuge in him.

May the Lord help you and give you strength. Have faith in him. He is ours and we belong to him.

Guard yourself against fanaticism. Never disturb the faith of another. Never say, "We belong to the sect of Sri Ramakrishna. He is the only saviour, he is the greatest avatar; therefore, all people must worship him!"

In order to attain liberation for one's own self, one need only to receive the sacred mantra from an illumined guru and, with complete faith, become absorbed in the practice of japam and meditation.

Let us steal this treasure and make ourselves wealthy. No brute force is necessary to obtain this fortune. Strength of conviction, faith, and reverence are all that is needed.

Have faith in the words of your guru, faith in other holy men, and faith in the scriptures. Then you will reap the harvest.

By Swami Turiyananda

So you have learnt to belittle the Ganga simply because you have read a few English books. But do you know how hard Swamiji had hit at this disrespectful mentality towards our sacred traditions, cultivated by those who have acquired some English education? Oh! how he would lose himself while chanting the hymn to the Ganga! And why him alone! How many of them, from Acharya Shankara downwards, have sung hymns in praise of the Ganga! Try to have some Shraddha reverence and faith.

He who truly has this faith, has already reached the goal. But is it easy to have that faith? One must beware of self-delusion. Those who have absolute trust in God will be at once purified through His grace, though they might have committed heinous sins before.

In how many ways does God help man and push him forward! At first He presents supernatural phenomena before him and thus strengthens his faith.

[On the merit of bathing and other religious performances.]

It all depends on our mental attitude, on our faith and belief.

Planning is useless, for Mother knows already what will come to pass. We plan because we don't have absolute faith. It requires great faith not to plan. What does it matter, Kashmir or Calcutta? Mother is everywhere.

We should not judge harshly those who try to harm us. Never lose faith in Mother. Faith saves us. Everyone feels depressed at times; but all do not show it.

---

18 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Faith

By Swami Adbhutananda

Although everyone cannot see God, one should have faith in his existence, and that faith is the key to seeing God. First have faith in God and then love his children.

Have faith in your guru. Be loyal to him, even like a cow that never leaves its master, whether it is fed or not. Say, "I am your servant and you are my Master."

The main thing in spiritual life is to have love, devotion, and faith in God. He is our close relative. He lives in the hearts of all beings.

By Swami Abhedananda

If you desire to have firm and unshakable faith and devotion to the Lord, you should also take to Tapasya, hard austerities. Tapasya does not mean aimless wandering hither and thither; it really means regular and steadfast Japa, meditation, and self-control.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Actually very few of us believe in God all the time. How do we know this? Because we allow anxieties and fears to arise in our minds. If we really have faith in God and in His infinite power of goodness, we can never feel fearful about anything.

When worries and perplexities rise in our mind, it shows we have ceased to believe in God and in that He is caring for us. If we have real faith in God, we can never grow anxious.

Faith in God is the foundation of all life, both spiritual and physical. If you should put faith in God on one side and the Lord of the whole universe on the other, I would take faith in God. Blessed is the man who has faith. He is the happiest of men, because he is free from all anxiety. We are all only puppets in the hands of God. When we understand this, all pride and ambition, all vanity and egotism will go. For that reason is the man blessed who has faith, because he has realised his puppet nature.

[To the question: "How can we get such faith as Prahlada had?"]

A: The more you can purify yourself, the more that faith will come. Although Prahlada was put into boiling oil, although he was thrown under the feet of a mad elephant and over the highest precipice, he was not hurt because of his faith. But it was not blind faith that he had. It was a faith based on realisation; and if you have the same faith, you will be more powerful than the whole universe. Nothing can put you down. Our faith is too faltering.

Few of us believe in God all the time. As long as we have three or four rupees in our pocket, we think we can depend on ourselves. Only when the last anna is gone and we do not know where to get another, do we begin to trust in God. But the man who depends on himself is never safe, while the man who has perfect faith in God is never in danger.

"A plant," says Sri Ramakrishna, "should be kept under special guard by fencing it around, lest goats make a feast over it. But, when it becomes a tree, hundreds of goats may take shelter under its spreading boughs." So, when a little faith and a spirit of renunciation shoot forth fortunately in one's mind, one should preserve and nurture them with special care, by keeping aloof from all worldly men; but when they are once firmly rooted within, none can shake them at all.

Whenever anxiety rises in you, you become an atheist; you do not believe in God and that He cares for you. If you have real faith you can never grow anxious.

In order to know the ultimate reality one must place implicit faith in the preceptor and scripture. Haphazard attempts will not do.

He on whom faith descends is very fortunate. He needs nothing else. He is saved and the only thing he needs is discrimination.

---

19 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Faith

By Swami Saradananda

What really comes through spiritual practice is this unswerving faith—faith in the words of the Guru, in the Lord, in the scriptures.

The Master would compare the mind to a packet of mustard seeds, "If the packet is once untied, the seeds get scattered in all directions. How difficult it is to collect them again! Some are perhaps lost for ever." But absolute faith makes the impossible possible.

You must have faith in the enlightened souls and carry on your religious practices accordingly. Trying to understand the pros and cons of their teachings with our impure minds occupied as they are with thoughts of the world leads nowhere. Give up the attempt to understand everything and start your spiritual practices by relying on what the Master has taught.

You feel depressed because your faith is lukewarm. You must cultivate self-confidence. Without Shraddha, or firm faith in oneself, man is no man; he is a bundle of negatives. He accomplishes nothing. Believe that you have the power to achieve anything that your heart sets itself upon. Keep your faith firm and repeat the name of the Lord. You will know everything from within yourself.

If you carry on your spiritual practices with implicit faith in the Lord who is your own—you will understand everything in due time. It will gradually be revealed to you how you can cultivate absolute reliance on God while performing your duties.

When you feel depressed, you must drive away that feeling by saying, "I belong to the Lord, He is my very own. I am His child. He is holding me by the hand and will surely do what is good for me." These thoughts will bring strength to your nerves and faith in your heart.

Do not be too inquisitive. Give up all attempts to understand spiritual truths with your limited intellect. Have absolute faith in the Lord; rely on Him and practice spiritual disciplines.

Have faith in Him who never forgets His devotees, even though they forget Him. Listen to what Sri Krishna says in the Gita: "The Lord lives in the heart of every creature. He turns them round and round upon the wheel of His Maya. Take refuge utterly in Him. By His grace you will find supreme peace, the state which is beyond all change."

What really counts in the spiritual domain is this faith—faith in the words of one's Guru, in the Lord, in the scriptures. "The Guru has asked me to do such and such a thing, if I act up to his instructions I am sure to attain success, it can never be otherwise." Such burning faith in the words of the Guru is what is really required.

---

20 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Faith

By Swami Akhandananda

The things that really count are faith and devotion.

Have faith, and realize that everything is He, and He is everything. There is nothing without Him. He has created everything out of Himself. Have faith that we have to regain our lost Self and "Stop not till the goal is reached."

Faith and conviction of mind will grow according to your surroundings. That is why the company of holy men Sadhu sanga is necessary. They always feel: Brahman alone is real and all else unreal.

By Swami Vijnanananda

If you remain steadfast in your faith, entertaining no prejudice against other faiths, and hold fast to the truth in all circumstances, then the Divine Mother will come and guide you. For that, however, you have to exercise self-restraint and undergo mental training.

The Hindus know perfectly well what this training means—to be pure in body, to be non-covetous, and not to accept gifts from anyone.

We should hold fast to faith and never lose it. With all the strength of this faith, we should, in all simplicity, patiently pray to the Mother to make us pure in heart, and She will certainly grant our prayer.

What you require is hope, faith, and patience; and gradually you will reach the goal.

You must have reverential faith in the words of great souls. Really great men declare from the junction of conscious and superconscious stages that they are willing to be born a thousand times for the welfare of humanity. Once they transcend that stage, these ideas no longer exist.

Faith there is, certainly; there is nobody in the world without faith. Without it, you would not be able to take a single breath.

You better leave these debates and arguments alone. We have got a brain of very limited capacity; and for realizing God, all this hair-splitting is of no use. What you require is burning faith in Him. In order to be firmly established in that faith, you may raise one or two valid points, but nothing more. Our arguments are just like armchair discussions; they lead us nowhere. We argue about God and then go home and lie down in bed. That is not religion, and it does not contribute to peace of mind.

What is wanted is such faith, faith alone. But we must have that faith implanted in us if we want to see God, whereas divine incarnations already have it. That is the only difference. They have seen God; we too will certainly see Him, only it is a matter of time.

Belief is of three kinds: unquestioning faith, believing from another's example, and believing after realizing the truth through one's own experience. [To the question: "Which one is the best?"] Any kind of faith is good. Faith is the foundation of spiritual life. If, unfortunately, there be anyone with no kind of faith in him, you have only to hold him down under the water of the Ganga, and not let him come up for a time even if he wants to. He will then believe. [To the question: "Does that bring about faith?"] Yes, God holds us down in this way in the ocean of the world.

You will have to subjugate your passions and hold fast to the faith that God exists everywhere.

What you require is a good deal of faith, reliance, and patience; and with all this you will gradually reach the goal. You should hold fast to faith and never lose it. You cannot find anybody in the world who does not at all cling to some sort of faith. Without faith you cannot even take a single breath.

Faith is the foundation of spiritual life. Too much of argumentation is of no avail. You have got a brain of a very limited capacity. What is needed is faith, burning faith in Him. In order to be firmly established in that faith, you may raise one or two valid points, but nothing more. Unless you have faith, arguments and discussions will only cloud the issue and create confusion. Take the instances of Kant and other philosophers. In the end they say that one cannot be sure that God exists, although behind the creation there is something which guides it in an orderly fashion. What does all that amount to? On the other hand, one can see God, talk with Him, and touch Him. Do they say such things? Then what is the use of their philosophy? What do we then gain by reading these works on philosophy? Book-learning is of no avail for God-realization. The only thing required is faith.

Purity, truthfulness, and honesty should make the cornerstone of your life. And there should be faith.

What you require is a good deal of faith, patience, and reliance, and gradually you will reach the goal. Repeat His name and peace will be yours.

---

21 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Family

By Swami Shivananda

This world is neither yours nor mine. It is God's creation. Those whom you think to be yours really belong to God. You have to live in this world with this belief as the background. Wife, son, daughter, relatives, friends all are but so many creatures of God. Whatever you have to do for them, do so with the idea that you are serving Narayana in those forms; then you won't get attached too much. And along with all this you must have your power of discrimination wide awake. The discrimination between the Real and the unreal gives rise to detachment.

You must serve all the members of your family wife, children, and other relatives but you must know in your innermost being that God alone is your nearest and dearest. Apart from Him there is none whom you can really call your own. That does not mean, however, that you must neglect your family; you must serve them to the best of your capacity, considering them to be the children of God, or to be so many parts of God Himself, entrusted to your care. You must talk with them about God and try to instil in their minds a true love for God.

By Swami Turiyananda

But can one give up the householder's life though it is no more appealing, when there are wife and children? What then will be their fate? It is selfishness, pure and simple. To be in the world and maintain the family, to fulfil one's duties this also is certainly religion.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Why should you give up your family? Doesn't one's family belong to God? Therefore, call on him who is the real head of the family. One will have to do one's duty in this world. How can you escape it? Wherever you go, the world will follow you. Does it exist outside us? No, Family—everything is in our own minds. If your mind desires enjoyment, you will seek enjoyment even in the forest; and if you don't have that desire for sense objects, you will not want them even if you are surrounded by them. Whether you live in a household or in the forest, you must call on God, otherwise all is in vain.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

There is a widespread mistaken notion that religious life cannot be lived in the family. There is nothing unholy or unspiritual per se in a family life. There is a full scope for unselfishness in the matter of working for others who need one's protection, even in the householder's life.

A bachelor has, no doubt, comparatively more freedom of action than the married. He has no doubt to look to the fulfilment of his duties towards his parents, before he wishes to breath a freer atmosphere than that of the home. But a married man has, besides this, other duties to perform, viz., duties to his wife who has a claim to spiritual participation in his lot, to society—for who else is to maintain the Brahmacharin or the Sannyasi? And to posterity, through the bringing up of his children in such a way as to be serviceable to society. It would be impossible to have any field of service properly attended to, if all married people were to break their marital ties and straight away turned Sannyasis!

---

22 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Family

By Swami Subodhananda

Man enters family life and gets involved in worldly affairs. But if he takes refuge in the Lord and then attends to the duties of life, he can withstand much better the storms and stresses of the world.

On Fasting

By Swami Adbhutananda

I think fasting is too difficult for you. You should take a little food.

[Devotee: "No. I don't want to take anything before performing the worship"]

Such determination is good; but if fasting takes your mind away from God, what use is it? Rather, be determined to perform the worship with devotion. Don't place a higher value on fasting. That is mere obstinacy, which is of no real benefit. If your mind is dwelling on food instead of God, how can you perform the worship with love and devotion? Devotion is impossible if the mind is disturbed.

By Swami Vijnanananda

[To the Question: "What is the significance of baths, fasting, etc., undertaken at special occasions? Have these any particular religious significance?"]

Well, though not so much for those who are constantly engaged in the contemplation of God, for ordinary people, these observances are, certainly, of great value because on these occasions, their minds turn towards God.

On Fate

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Results of actions done in this life are partly experienced here and partly in the next as fate.

Worldly people are immersed in egoism. But when they are oppressed by misery, grief, sickness, poverty and failure, when every effort, every undertaking, all care and cleverness fail, they think of fate and say it cannot be avoided.

I have great faith in what is called fatalism, but I cannot accept that fate is irremovable. I do not believe that good and bad, virtue and vice, happiness and misery and all pairs of opposites stored in the chamber of fate are irremovable.

None but the supreme self is immutable, indivisible, incombustible, and indestructible in this universe.

Wherever there is disease, there is remedy. Light follows darkness. Repression is shadowed by relief. Virtue succeeds vice. This is the eternal law of nature. If one uniform Law prevails in all matters why then should fate be an exception? If there be no way to lessen the burden of miseries why then do people acquire piety? What is the necessity of doing good to others, making charity, practicing austerity, studying scriptures, going on pilgrimage, and offering prayers? What is the need of Divine incarnations if there be no escape from what is fated?

What then is the significance of the title of Christ as the Saviour, of Mohammed as the Prophet, of Sri Ramakrishna as the obliterator of Fate? Lord Sri Krishna has clearly said: "Take shelter only in Me, I shall liberate you from all sins."

The Saviour of our age has declared that penitent tears can wash off the sins of many lives.

Swami Vivekananda has given the name of Kapalamochana Redeemer of Fate to the Avatars. When God's grace descends even the inevitable can be averted.

---

23 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Fate

By Swami Vijnanananda

But there are two things which have to be taken into account. One is fate and the other is human effort. What the westerners call fate or destiny, we characterize as the result of our previous actions.

On Fault-Finding

By Swami Brahmananda

Learn to acquire love and sympathy toward all. Overlook the faults of others. If you cannot help an evil man become good of what use is your spiritual life?

Never find fault or criticize others. Such a habit is harmful to yourself. By thinking continually of the evil of others, the evil will impress itself upon your own mind and the good that is in you will be over-shadowed.

Only a wicked-hearted man busies himself finding fault with others.

Never run down a fellowman or slight him. Everyone sees the fault in others. Give him your love, make him your own, and help him to overcome his weaknesses. A man is composed of both good and evil. It is easy to see the evil in others but a holy man is he who can overlook their evil qualities and help them to become pure and holy.

By Swami Premananda

This lesson I have learnt at the feet of the Master. When the boys do any wrong, I reason and find that they are not at fault. Whatever fault there is, is mine. I do not harbour the idea that I am good. I have come to learn. There is no end to learning. May the Master give us right understanding—this is my prayer. By observing the faults of others we are gradually infected by them. We have not come to look at the faults of others and to correct them. But it is only to learn that we are here. Lord, Thou art everything. Whom should I scold? Everything is He; there is only a difference in the quantity of dust that covers the gold.

Now, the point is that one should make oneself free from selfishness. Instead of finding fault with the world, one should first find one's own fault. Bearing with all the selfishness of the world, we must become free from the least touch of it—that is our ideal.

When one goes on finding fault with others, one becomes imperceptibly infected with those faults. We have not come to this world either for fault-finding or for correcting others, we have come simply to learn. We must always ask ourselves, what we have learnt. If you can, love others, and then you will be blessed with peace and happiness.

Do not see the defects of one another; see the good, the merits only. As Sri Ramakrishna said, be like the winnowing basket that retains the good grain, while rejecting the chaff; not like a sieve that lets the good material drop through and holds back what is worthless. We should move about freely, seeing the world as the manifestation of Rama. To hate and injure anyone is to hate and injure Rama, who pervades the whole world.

Learn to see your own faults and weaknesses. If you know that the ideal is to make the lips correspond to the heart, what are you doing to achieve that? Will you be healed of your sickness if I take the medicine for you? Find out your weaknesses, repent and promise not to repeat, but struggle to achieve purity of heart.

When we go on noticing the defects in others, those very defects gradually infect us. It is not for us to see faults in others or to reform them. It is for us to live and learn. Let us constantly examine ourselves to see what we have learned.

---

24 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Fault-Finding

By Swami Turiyananda

Everyone wants to exhibit his good side and conceal his defects. Whoever can speak out his own faults frankly, will get rid of them. It is not easy to confess one's weaknesses. If anyone can, know that he has worth in him.

Is not every man God Himself? "The Lord abides in every heart." If one fails to realize this, it is one's own fault, none else's.

We are like dogs in glass houses, barking at our own reflections. We see another's sushupti deep sleep, not our own. We should be strict with our faults and lenient with the faults of others.

If faults are to be noticed, look at your own. Being aware of the defects in others only serves to show your own defective nature.

By Swami Adbhutananda

Try to see the good qualities in others. This is the way to get rid of the habit of fault finding. Evil qualities pollute the mind of a person who searches for the lapses and shortcomings of others.

See your own faults. Never criticize anyone; it is a great sin. It contracts the mind and pollutes the heart. Always look for the good qualities in others. If fault finding becomes your habit, you will always see faults in them. Everyone has both good and bad in him. Only God is free from fault and full of divine qualities.

Never talk ill of anybody, be he a devotee, a monk, or an ordinary householder, nor despise any for a wrong act. After all, everyone is a child of the Lord. Who knows today's sinning will not make him a saint tomorrow? Other acts do not count so much as a moment's love for the Lord. Blessed is he who has loved Him even for a moment. Saint or sinner, the Lord loves all. It is a great sin to find fault with others. You will invariably find that it is such people as never do a good act themselves who easily see defects in others and energetically spread rumours.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

If you would help others you must look at the bright side of every one. Every man has his weaknesses. But you must overlook them and see only his good qualities. You must give up all fault-finding. If you want to find fault, let it be with yourself.

One standing on the sea level looks at another climbing the Himalayas on a pilgrimage to Kedarnath and Badrinath. The pilgrim shall have to face ups and downs in his sacred march on the mountains. His apparent descents do not retard his progress but bring him only nearer to higher ascents till the destination is reached. On that account the on-looker from the plains should not judge him in bad light and think low of him.

The ideal of every religion is God and God alone. Hence we must not find fault with other forms of religion or with differences in external manners and customs. That which makes up the external is the shell side. It is always rough and hard, yet it has one advantage, it preserves the kernel.

By Swami Akhandananda

One should not blame anyone without knowing facts fully. One should rather find fault with oneself first.

---

25 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Fear

By Swami Brahmananda

Once the mind tastes the sweetness in the thought of God there is nothing to fear.

Fear? You are coming to Sri Ramakrishna. What fear can there be? We all of us are his children. Don't be afraid! The Lord does not care about externals; he sees our inmost heart. There should be no fear in approaching him.

Chant his name. For a few days it will be difficult; then he will do everything for you. Have no more fear. You will realize great bliss. You will know what fun life can be.

Only God can know himself. Be a god, that you may know the infinite God. In that knowledge there is neither want nor fear: The very thought of such knowledge is uplifting.

If you chant his name, all your bonds will be broken, and you will become fearless.

Banish all fear and weakness. Never weaken your mind by thinking of past mistakes. Sin? Sin exists only in man's eye. In God's eye there is no sin. One glance of his and the sins of innumerable births are wiped away.

You have come to Sri Ramakrishna. Hold on to him. You will have nothing to fear.

By Swami Shivananda

Know for certain that those who are sincerely seeking God, the embodiment of Truth, will undoubtedly be led by Him along the right path. They have no reason to be afraid. Once the mind becomes absorbed in His lotus feet there is no fear any more.

Why should you be afraid, my son? Continue at His door taking shelter with Him; He never disappoints a supplicant.

My daughter, the mind can be absolutely free from fear if it thinks about God.

Always remember Him and contemplate Him. No fear! Don't be frightened! If you are dependent on God, then you will see that He is protecting you. Even in the midst of the fire of name and fame, He will always protect you.

In this struggle for life there will always be hope and fear. Life without struggles is no life at all. But if there are only fear and misery, they hamper man's growth—they do not allow him to progress.

---

26 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Fear

By Swami Adbhutananda

As long as you have a body, you must experience disease, sorrow, fear, pain, and suffering. Anyone who wants to escape from all these troubles will have to hold onto God. His bliss removes all suffering.

Do not fear, for some day the grace of the Lord will come to you. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "Before evening you will receive a leaf plate (food)." Have patience and wait.

He who fears and doubts cannot make any progress either in the spiritual or worldly sphere. The mind is cramped. He alone is a hero, he alone attains greatness, who moves forward to realise the truth without caring whether the world is real or not.

By Swami Ramakrishnananda

Actually very few of us believe in God all the time. How do we know this? Because we allow anxieties and fears to arise in our minds. If we really have faith in God and in His infinite power of goodness, we can never feel fearful about anything.

Aloneness means singleness. When there are two, there is always fear. We think we need a companion to protect us. If we have to go out on a dark night or if we have to enter an unlighted house, we want another person with us.

In reality fearlessness exists only when we are alone. When we are alone we can dance or sing or make faces, do whatever we like; but let a friend come and at once we begin to be careful about what we do. There comes a sense of constraint. We grow self-conscious. Fear exists when there is duality, fearlessness exists when there is only One. Since we cannot be happy so long as we fear, we shall not be able to find peace until we can say, "I am alone. I need nothing."

It is rank foolishness to sit down in the midst of the mire for fear of falling in the attempt to get across. Do not forget the golden precept. "Try, try, try again." Remember Bruce of Scotland, who though defeated six times, conquered at last, the seventh time.

If, by vicarious atonement, you mean self-surrender, and I think that it is its proper meaning, then there is almost no one in the world qualified for it. If I am here and if I like to be happy here. I must do that which will make me perfectly happy, free from all fears. As God, the all-powerful, and all merciful is to take care of me, I being His son, have no fears. God is both father and mother to you.

It is the greatest relief when we get rid of egotism. It is as if a heavy burden rolled off. At once all our doubts and fears, anxieties and troubles disappear.

Man is too often afraid to surrender. He thinks he will lose something; but one never loses when one gives oneself absolutely to God.

By Swami Saradananda

This much I can say: "He who dwells in God has nothing to fear from the world. He will be protected from all dangers and difficulties."

By Swami Akhandananda

Always be cheerful, have a smiling face. Why fear? Why worry? Don't unnecessarily put on a grave face. Let not others think, "Oh, he is thinking something very seriously."

Swamiji said, "Fear is the greatest sin." Coward!

By Swami Vijnanananda

We are the children of the Mother; so, what have we got to fear? Let us hold fast to the truth and pray to Her, and She will surely confer on us Her blessings.

You see, God is always inside and also outside, telling us to shed fears and worries. "You can't run away from Me," says He. "You want to play about a little. Well, go on playing. But I am ever inside you; seek and ye shall find. The moment you attain complete mastery over your passions, you will get Me within you, effulgent and blissful."

For the sake of the devotees, the Mother comes with ten arms, and says: "Shed your fears. You have made Me your sole refuge, and I am, therefore, protecting you with ten arms. Death will be powerless to come anywhere near you. It is for you that I hold a sword."

Repeat His name, my brother, repeat it as much as you can. You will have nothing to fear.

We very often notice that people are in the grip of a terrible fright at the time of death; this happens because their minds are not absorbed in holy thoughts and are not centred on God. The glory of God's name not only saves us from all these fears but also delivers us for all time from the clutches of death.

What is there to be afraid of? We are the children of the Mother. Hold fast to the way of truth and pray to her. She will certainly do what is good for you.

---

27 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

On Food

By Swami Brahmananda

It is easy to practice austerity by not allowing the mind to come into contact with sense-objects, but it is hard to get rid of the mental craving itself. And of all cravings the subtle desire of the organ of taste is the most difficult to overcome. A man loses this craving only when he is in a high spiritual state.

[To the question: "Should we avoid eating meat, since it entails killing"]

A: Nonsense! The Buddhists say: "Harmlessness is the highest virtue." What does this mean? You can understand the significance of this only when you have attained Samadhi, when you have reached enlightenment and have seen God in all creatures. Until then mere talk is useless. When you can see the same God in the ant as in yourself, then you can practice this virtue. You may talk of "not killing" but can you possibly avoid killing? What would you eat? Potatoes? Plant a potato underground, it shots forth young sprouts. Has the potato no life? Would you eat rice? Plant a paddy grain in the earth, it grows into a rice plant. You want to drink water? Examine a drop of water under a microscope and see how many millions of tiny lives are there. You must breathe to live. Yet with every breath you kill millions of creatures. Do you see any harm in that? You think you lose your religion if you take a little fish. Such arguments are foolish. The ancient Hindus held no such ideas. These are later Buddhist and Vaishnavite interpolations.

Just as a cow yields much milk when it is well fed, so when the mind is fed spiritual food it will yield greater tranquillity. Spiritual food consists of meditation, prayer, contemplation and japam.

The spiritual aspirant should eat very little food after sunset. Begin by taking three-fours of your usual amount, then reduce the quantity to one half. In the beginning you may notice it, but the body will soon adjust itself and remain healthy and active.

While undergoing intense disciplines it is good to cut down the quantity of food to a minimum. Japam and meditation are not possible on a full stomach, because the greater part of your energy will be squandered in digesting the food, and the mind will remain disturbed. That is why moderation in habits, in food, in recreation, in everything, has been so strongly enjoined by the Gita.

Thirdly, control the appetite. Take only that food which is nourishing and easily digested. Avoid food that excites or produces lethargy. Eat very little after sunset. The brain must be kept cool in order to meditate. Eat only to keep the body healthy; health is essential in the practice of spiritual disciplines.

The body and mind are closely related. When the body is disturbed, the mind also becomes disturbed. Therefore, particular care must be given to the diet in order to keep the body healthy.

Under no circumstances should an aspirant fill more than one-half of his stomach with food.

Meditation is not such an easy matter. When you have eaten too much, the mind becomes restless.

The mind is intimately related to the body. If the stomach is upset, you can never have good meditation. Hence it is that there are so many restrictions about food. "The stomach should be filled half with food and a quarter with water, the other quarter being left vacant for passage of air."

---

28 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

(Today is the birthday of Swami Akhandanandaji Maharaj)

28th January, 1935

After evening prayer a "Devotee" was sitting at the feet of Swami Akhandananda at the Sargachi Ashrama. Some of the Brahmacharins (novices) after finishing their evening duties in the Shrine, came and sat near "Baba"—for that was how the Swami was called in the Ashrama.

With folded hands Baba began to recite in a prayerful tone: Asato ma sadgamaya...... "Lead me from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to Light, from death to Immortality."

Silence prevailed for some time and then Baba began to speak:

"It is said in the Isavasya-Upanishad, 'Those that do not struggle for Self-realization destroy themselves. It is better for one to die in an attempt to know the Self.'

"What is the Self? First, the Self has to be heard, then It has to be thought upon and lastly, It has to be meditated upon.

"Yajnavalkya explains this to Maitreyi, his wife: 'The Self is the dearest of all. Everything is dear because of the Self. The husband is not dear because of the husband, but because of the Self. The wife is not dear because of the wife, but because of the Self.' And so on.

"This Self alone IS. Nothing else exists. Everything is for the Self and goes back to the Self. The divine soul is sleeping in everyone. It is to be roused. Everyone is always trying to express that Self—this struggling is Sadhana.

"Whatever you are doing is Sadhana—only sometimes it is done consciously, at other times unconsciously. When that Self is realized, you will feel Its presence everywhere. This is Siddhi (Perfection). The goal is to reach this state. Everybody must get back this realization, because that is our real nature. Never think 'I cannot do this, I am weak'. Whenever you are in dejection always remember what the Lord has declared in the Gita:

"'Do not be under the spell of unmanliness; it does not befit you. Shake off this faint-heartedness and get-up, O Hero'!

"Arjuna thought, 'Better die than inflict injury on these near and dear ones'. The Lord is his Charioteer, his Guide and Guru, his friend—he has forgotten all this. He is bewildered by the illusions of Maya. So the Lord is encouraging him to realize the Self. That is what He has been doing all through the ages.

"Is it so easy to realize the Self? Incarnations (Avatars) of God are God Himself, yet they themselves have to struggle so much, not to speak of others.

"There is no other way. Call upon God with all your heart. Go on telling Him, 'Show Thyself to me. I do not want anything else. I do not want the happiness of Heaven. I want You. O Lord, bring my desires to an end. Self-evolution is impossible in a narrow atmosphere of selfishness. Even with an iota of desire for sense-enjoyment, this is impossible.

---

"O Lord, how shall I ask You for a happy life? Whenever You have incarnated never have You tasted a happy life. You have lived a life of the greatest suffering.

"As Rama, the Prince of Ayodhya, You spent years in exile in the forest and again You lost Sita who was recovered only after much trouble.

"As Krishna, too, though a royal child, You were born in a prison, deprived of Your own mother's milk and brought up among cowherds. Your entire life was spent in wars and in punishing the wicked. With no time for rest in Your personal life, You strove to establish peace on earth. Yet everyone holds You responsible for the Kurukshetra war, and You welcomed all the blame and curse. You never sat on a throne. You saw your kith and kin die before You and at last embraced death from a hunter's arrow shot by chance.

"As Buddha and Christ also, You have suffered much, with no place to lay Your head on.

"Then again, in Your latest manifestation (as Sri Ramakrishna) how much You suffered!—only to show the world that none of your previous manifestations are wrong, that spiritual life is not a day-dream. An example of humility, You came to teach humility to arrogant humanity. You had no outward indication that You were an Incarnation of God. Someone mistook You for a gardener and at his bidding You at once plucked a flower for him. Someone took You to be a servant: You served him tobacco. You cleaned the place where beggars used to eat. Lastly, You swept the latrine of the sweeper!"

---

29 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Akhandananda

"We have no other way but to repeat HIS name and meditate on HIM and to purify the mind—do some selfless work of service.

"Chaitanyadeva came specially to preach the glory of God's name and he says:

(nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktiḥ tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ)

"'You have so many names and each one of Your names is filled with power. There is no prescribed time and place to repeat and remember Your name. You are so kind. Yet, oh Lord, I am so unfortunate that I have no love for any of Your names.'

"'If Chaitanyadeva himself talks in this strain, what to speak of others? But the Divine Incarnations express the ideas of worldly people, by imposing their limitations upon themselves.

"The present religion is the harmony of all previous religions—of the paths of knowledge, devotion and work. We want knowledge, we want devotion, we want work. Any one of the three in itself will not suffice, we want all the three.

Our Master (Sri Ramakrishna) and Swamiji (Vivekananda) make a complete ideal. You are to advance with these ideals before you. What more? Look at their renunciation and spiritual practices. Again look at their feeling for the sufferings of the people and their attempts to ameliorate them. This is spiritual life. This is the goal and the purpose of your life.

"You have read science and allied subjects. All right, read more about them; but know all these to be within Maya, on this side of Maya, and we have to go beyond Maya, to the other side of Maya. Maya is like magic and we have to see the magician. But then the path beyond Maya is through Maya.

"Meet the Babu (the rich man) first: he will tell you how many gardens and houses he has. Which is greater—the owner or his gardens?

"Some people think initiation is enough, what to speak of initiation from a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa! Don't think that way. Always keep before your mind how much spiritual practice he underwent, and his disciples also. They are the ideals to follow.

"What is spiritual practice (Sadhana)? Whatever you do is your Sadhana. When you go to some place, think you are on the way to see Him. When you eat, think you eat to live and live to obtain Him.

"All work is Sadhana. If ever you think that this work will not lead to Him, leave it at once. Sadhana is our attempt to get to Him through every action.

"Always be cheerful, have a smiling face. Why fear? Why worry? Don't unnecessarily put on a grave face. Let not others think, 'Oh, he is thinking something very seriously.' Our Master used to tell us, 'I am pained when I see you with your chin resting on your palm.' He could not bear this sight.

"I have said enough. Now set to work with that great ideal before you. This is life. What is life worth without Him? Happiness? Where is happiness? Everywhere it is misery and suffering. With closed eyes they cry 'Oh, it is happiness, happiness.' With eyes open you can see it is all agony, want and protest. None is satisfied, none happy.

"There is no happiness here, no peace. How can there be? This is not our place—this narrowness, selfishness. We want freedom from all these. That is real happiness, that is real satisfaction. That is peace and bliss."

---

30 September 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations with Swami Akhandananda

"We have no other way but to repeat HIS name and meditate on HIM and to purify the mind—do some selfless work of service.

"Chaitanyadeva came specially to preach the glory of God's name and he says:

"'You have so many names and each one of Your names is filled with power. There is no prescribed time and place to repeat and remember Your name. You are so kind. Yet, oh Lord, I am so unfortunate that I have no love for any of Your names.'

"'If Chaitanyadeva himself talks in this strain, what to speak of others? But the Divine Incarnations express the ideas of worldly people, by imposing their limitations upon themselves.

"The present religion is the harmony of all previous religions—of the paths of knowledge, devotion and work. We want knowledge, we want devotion, we want work. Any one of the three in itself will not suffice, we want all the three. Our Master (Sri Ramakrishna) and Swamiji (Vivekananda) make a complete ideal. You are to advance with these ideals before you. What more? Look at their renunciation and spiritual practices. Again look at their feeling for the sufferings of the people and their attempts to ameliorate them. This is spiritual life. This is the goal and the purpose of your life.

"You have read science and allied subjects. All right, read more about them; but know all these to be within Maya, on this side of Maya, and we have to go beyond Maya, to the other side of Maya. Maya is like magic and we have to see the magician. But then the path beyond Maya is through Maya.

"Meet the Babu (the rich man) first: he will tell you how many gardens and houses he has. Which is greater—the owner or his gardens?

"Some people think initiation is enough, what to speak of initiation from a disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa! Don't think that way. Always keep before your mind how much spiritual practice he underwent, and his disciples also. They are the ideals to follow.

"What is spiritual practice (Sadhana)? Whatever you do is your Sadhana. When you go to some place, think you are on the way to get Him. When you eat, think you eat to live and live to get Him.

"All work is Sadhana. If ever you think that this work will not lead to Him, leave it at once. Sadhana is our attempt to get to Him through every action."

Spiritual Teachings - October 2019

1 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations with Swami Akhandananda

"Always be cheerful, have a smiling face. Why fear? Why worry? Don't unnecessarily put on a grave face. Let not others think, 'Oh, he is thinking something very seriously!' Our Master used to tell us, 'I am pained when I see you with your chin resting on your palm.' He could not bear this sight.

"I have said enough. Now set to work with that great ideal before you. This is life. What is life worth without God? Happiness? Where is happiness? Everywhere it is misery and suffering. With closed eyes they cry: 'Oh, it is happiness, happiness.' With eyes open you can see it is all agony, want and protest. None is satisfied, none happy.

"There is no happiness here, no peace. How can there be? This is not our place—this narrowness, selfishness. We want freedom from all these. That is real happiness, that is real satisfaction. That is peace and bliss.

"Live in the world as long as it is essentially necessary, but it must be with Him. See in everything His infinite manifestation.

"Have faith, and realize that everything is He, and He is everything. There is nothing without Him. He has created everything out of Himself.

"Have faith that we have to regain our lost Self and 'Stop not till the goal is reached.' Remember these words of Swamiji, 'Do not forget the ideal—do not cut it down.' Let this body perish, still do not lower the ideal. Pray for strength. Pray always."

8th March, 1935

The birthday celebration of Sri Ramakrishna was over. The Devotee thought of going from Calcutta to Swami Akhandananda at Sargachi, to spend the weekend with him. So with some presents and offerings he reached Sargachi by the 8 p.m. train, to find Baba waiting for him.

Very affectionately Baba asked, "What have you brought for me?" The Devotee at once produced from his bag the sweets and fruits which he had brought with him. Baba was very glad. The Devotee then distributed some sweets and rubber balls to the orphan boys of the Ashrama.

The Devotee sat very close to the feet of Baba, and the latter began to speak.

"Don't think I will be writing long letters full of instructions such as they (meaning Swami Vivekananda and other brother disciples) have done. I can't. You see, I have so much to do; moreover look at my age and then make your demands.

"It is not my job to become a 'Guru', but you see, when real devotees come and want Him, I can't deny the help they need. I take them to the Master and say, 'O Lord, Your devotees have come, please accept them.' I offer them to Him and He will do whatever is to be done.

"Learn to love Him, call on Him earnestly with the love of a lover. You have none other. Just think, 'He alone exists, He has become all.' If you want to see Him, just pray: 'O Lord, bless me, reveal Yourself to me. You have declared that whoever will come 'here', You will bless them. You will appear before them. Now You are promise-bound.'

"Certainly, He will come to you. Only one thing is needed: your yearning, your earnest longing. He has not spoken of anything else, He wants nothing else. You have to call on Him with earnestness.

"Pray: 'O Lord, give unto me this yearning, make me mad for You.' Let people say, so-and-so has become mad for God. People may become mad for so many things. Why not you for God? In a sense, everyone is mad in this world of Maya. Brahman alone is Real and the world unreal."

---

2 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations with Swami Akhandanandaji

9th March, 1935

After evening Arati (waving of lights to the Deity in the shrine) and prayers, Baba was sitting silently and alone in his reclining chair. With folded hands he was praying:

(ॐ Oh Lord!! Tejosi Tejo Mayi Dehi Veeryamasi Veeryam Mayi Dehi Balamasi Balam Mayi Dehi Ojosi Ojo Mayi Dehi Manyurasi Manyum Mayi Dehi Sahosi Saho Mayi Dehi)

"Thou art Strength: give unto me strength. Thou art Spiritual Power; give unto me spiritual power etc."

Next he seemed to be talking to himself.

"Ascertaining the real nature of Brahman? It is like the smile of a man having naturally exposed teeth. He seems to be smiling always—even when not really smiling. Brahman is always self-evident. It does not wait for anyone to ascertain It. Like the sun It is shining. Why is It not seen then? Because your eyes are blindfolded: because there is the cloud of Maya before you. Your mind is dirty. Wash it, cleanse it—this is Sadhana (spiritual struggle and practice). Faith and conviction of mind will grow according to your surroundings. That is why the company of holy men (Sadhu-sanga) is necessary. They always feel: Brahman alone is real and all else unreal."

On hearing this, the Devotee was musing within, "Who is a holy man, a real Sadhu?" At once Baba took up, as it were, the unuttered question and answered:

"And who is a Sadhu? He is a Sadhu who is thinking of God always, depending on Him under all circumstances, and is without ego and selfishness. 'Not I, not I, but Thou, but Thou.' Are we doing anything? Can we do anything by ourselves? Seated there (showing the heart) He is doing and getting everything done. I am speaking the truth to you: at every step of life I have felt this. Without His will and grace, nobody has any power to do anything. 'O Lord, not I, not I, but Thou, but Thou.' These are the words uttered by the Master. These are like the great aphoristic dicta (Maha-vakyas) revealing the supreme truth. You can attain perfection by repeating them: 'Naham, naham'; 'tuhu, tuhu'—'Not I, not I': 'but Thou, but Thou.'"

10th March, 1935

After his bath, Baba put on a blue silken robe (Alkhalla) sent by a tailor-disciple of Calcutta and was very happy. Further he tied his long hair with a handkerchief of the same blue silk and looked like a Muslim fakir. At times he was uttering:

"Oh my mind, take the name of Allah And make the Prophet your guide. With the help of Allah you shall Cross the river of life."

He was smiling and telling stories of devout Muslims and of the Islamic Sadhana of Sri Ramakrishna. About a local mystic-poet he said:

"Lalan Fakir's follower sang some mystical songs of his composition describing the body as the vehicle of the soul. I asked him, 'Where did you get these ideas? These are ours.'

He retorted: 'What is "ours" and "yours" in spiritual life?' I took down many of those 'body-mystery' (deha-tattva) songs which are still with me.

"What devotion to spiritual rules the Muslims have! The Amir of Afghanistan was seeing the exhibition as a state guest with the Governor-General of India. There in the exhibition ground he sat down for Namaz just at the stated time!

"Hafiz, the Persian poet, would write his lines on broken pieces of earthen pots. Every evening he would go to light a lamp at the grave of a dear one. One day a girl made a tryst with him for the evening. Hafiz was waiting at the appointed time and place. Suddenly he remembered that he was to visit the grave of his beloved. He at once left everything and hurried to the spot. Devotion to a routine saved him."

A young man had come to the Sargachi Ashrama for initiation—a simple man from a village. During the day he had approached Baba twice for the purpose, and now in the evening, as he approached him again, the young man was mildly scolded: "What kind of an aspirant are you? First see, hear and then select your Guru." With a smile on his lips he said, "You are seeing me all the day taking the name of Allah. You are not yet sure whether I am a Hindu or a Mussalman! Are you ready to repeat the name of Allah? First understand that our Master believed in all religions, then think of initiation."

Later he met him alone and asked him with a smile, "Do you believe in all these?" He was, however, initiated the next day.

Next morning in the hall, Baba was reclining on his chair and the Devotee was seated close by. Small boys of the Ashrama orphanage were preparing their lessons at the far end of the hall. Baba was speaking to the Devotee:

"For God you must renounce 'lust and gold'; then finer desires—desire for name and fame—finer and finer, by degrees. As renunciation has no limits, so bliss is also without any limit. Bliss comes out of renunciation. The more the renunciation, the more the bliss.

"Men need an ideal—an ideal of renunciation. So He comes to show the ideal according to the need of the time and place. Renunciation is true manhood—something greater than the state of Deva, greater than godhood. For even the Devas have to depend upon the renunciation of man: see for example the laying down of his body by Dadhichi.

"The Incarnation of God is a complete and perfect ideal. As much of it as you can comprehend is yours. The expansive ocean is fathomless, but a small receptacle can hold only a little of its water. If the receptacle be lost in the ocean? Let it be so.

Renunciation is essential. To get something good, you have to renounce its opposite, the bad. And if you renounce the good, you will have the bad thing."

---

3 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations with Swami Akhandanandaji

"If you have a desire for sense-enjoyments, then there can be no spiritual attainments. If you are really after spiritual life, then bid farewell to desires. Discriminate thus: there is no real happiness in life, as misery follows happiness: life after life this oscillation between this pair of opposites is continuing. No more of this. Now start on the search for unalloyed happiness. Seek that happiness which is not adulterated. People are so accustomed to adulterated food that they have forgotten the taste of really good food. Further, they have lost the power to digest it. Nowadays, if someone gets adulterated food at a cheap price, he will not want pure food."

Evening Arati was over. After a long silence, Baba was singing to himself:

"O Mother, I hide myself in Thy loving bosom I gaze at Thy face and cry out 'Mother! Mother!'"

"Just think: here's a little child on the lap of its mother. It looks at the mother. It is full of joy; sometimes it desires to be merged in the mother so that nobody may see it. 'Only my mother and I, and nothing else.' It looks at the mother: goes on looking at her and when overjoyed and unable to suppress its joy, it babbles 'Ma, ma, ma, ma'.

"The child is with the mother, on her very lap: there is no need to call her, but this is a needless call out of a causeless joy.

"Then in this song there are other mystifying lines, but we used to sing only those two lines for hours together at Dakshineswar. The Master would be smiling sweetly and would join us in the chorus:

'O Mother, I hide myself in Thy loving bosom; I gaze at Thy face and cry out 'Mother! Mother!'"

Next morning, seated in his room wrapped in a rough silken Chaddar, Baba was reciting a Sanskrit hymn with folded hands. The Devotee stood outside and heard the recitation. It was Pramadadas Mitra's 'Hymn to Sri Ramakrishna' beginning with Visuddha-Vijnanam.

---

4 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Talks with Swami Akhandanandaji

25th April, 1936 (The auspicious day of 'Akshaya-tritiya')

Sometime later, Baba talked a little about 'common sense.' "Swamiji conquered the mind of the West—not so much by Vedanta but more by his common sense. Nowadays it is very rare. Far from being developed, it is destroyed in the universities. Indeed I have seen young M.A.'s and B.A.'s talk like fools; but you will find here the poor peasants of the villages talking with common sense."

In the evening, with the upper part of his body bare, Baba was singing loudly:

"The Vedas are proclaiming His glory, Siva, Suka, Narada—all are proclaiming His glory. They are glorifying Him all through the ages But never do they come to His end."

Baba then said: "The Sadhus (monks) of Rishikesh would sing such songs. How sublime the idea and how grave the tune!"

Regarding early rising, Baba spoke thus:

"The Maharaja of Khetri would rise late. One day I told him that those who eat too much and rise late can never attain prosperity. From that day the Maharaja began to rise early—even earlier than me. I would get up and find him standing and smiling at me. Some days he would be walking on the roof: some other days I would find him reading in the library with the help of a lamp.

"Our Master and his disciples all used to rise early. One night I slept in the same room with Swami Saradananda. After the Mangalarati (the morning service in the shrine) we got up quickly. I had thought, 'Our Master is up—how can I be sleeping?' Just then the Swami tried to awaken me by making a little noise with the window shutters. But I let him know that I was already awake.

"Lest I should be late in rising, I used to address myself at bedtime, 'Akhandananda, you must get up at three o'clock'. Just at three, someone would call me, 'O, Akhandananda, get up, it is three o'clock.'

I do not know when the Master or Swamiji slept. Whenever I called them during the night, the response was immediate. The higher the life, the less the sleep. The body must be strong and stout. Rise early: meditate a little, on the bed itself—for the mind then is naturally calm. Later, roll up your bedding, cleanse the room, sprinkle some water. Do every bit of work with a purpose."

About making purchases, Baba was instructing someone: "You must bargain. He that is cheated here, is cheated there. He that has it here, has it there also. Why should you be cheated in order to practise religion? Why should you be a fool in order to become a devotee? The cheater and the cheated—both are equally bad."

It was just noon on a day in May. It was very hot. Baba called the Devotee to pay off the cucumber-vendor. Baba was haggling with him just for two pice. The man was standing outside and Baba, just back from his bath, was standing on the threshold with a wet towel on his head. The Devotee felt a bit annoyed, thinking "Why is Baba acting this way? He himself is suffering and making that dealer also suffer." At last they settled by yielding one pice on either side.

Then Baba turned to the Devotee: "You are all city-bred people. You cannot understand these things. You pay whatever the seller asks. That is not the way. The man is now homeward bound, he won't like to carry his cucumbers back. But as I found you impatient, counting the money, I went up by one pice.

"When I travelled in the mountains and forests, I did not touch money. But since the Master has settled me in these worldly activities, I must see that there is less expenditure and more income. Moreover, we are dealing with public money. The devotees have to earn it by the sweat of their brow. They are giving it in the name of the Master: they are not giving it to you or to me personally. It is our duty to see how even one pice can be saved."

---

5 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations with Swami Akhandanandaji

A young man had sought guidance as to what he should do, now that he was feeling a great impulse for renunciation. After listening fully to the letter, Baba said simply:

"His impulse is but a passing phase. If it were real renunciation nobody would write like that; the man would leave the home silently. You know the story of the farmer who left his hearth and home, with a towel on his shoulder, when his wife informed him that her brother was renouncing the worldly life bit by bit. The farmer heard everything and then said, 'My good lady, that is not the way to renounce the world. Just see, this is the way!' And off he went, for good.

"Another farmer dreamt in the night that he had seven sons. After he awoke, he found none. In the meantime news had come that his only real son had died. He could not decide for whom he should mourn: whether for this one or for those seven. The dream state seemed to him as real as the waking state. If the seven sons of the dream were unreal, this one of the waking life was also unreal. Thinking thus he left his home in a spirit of dispassion."

Another young man had written asking whether or not he should marry. Baba's response was:

"As if I should tell him 'Go and get married'! His plea is: Mother has asked him to marry, brother is asking him to marry; but he himself has no such desire in the least. You will see, he will surely marry. Otherwise why should he write like that?"

Baba was speaking about his dreams:

"Generally I do not get any dreams about the Master. But at times I see Swamiji and Maharaj in my dreams. Yet when I am very anxious about anything, I see the Master. Once I was thinking anxiously, 'Who will perform the early morning Arati, and how?' Later the Master appeared in dream and said, 'Nothing elaborate need be done, only one incense-stick will do.'

"At such times I used to clearly see the Master as in the days of Dakshineswar in that very room with these cots and beds. He manages his own affairs. Just see, today there were no sweets, I was wondering how to manage. Unexpectedly a devotee has come with fine sweets. I have witnessed such things many a time."

---

6 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations with Swami Akhandanandaji

May, 1936

Swami Akhandananda was speaking to a Sevak (attendant):

"Perhaps you are thinking that you are spending your days in vain. I am telling you the truth: whatever you are doing is a great deal of service to me and through that you are progressing. With the responsibility upon you, I haven't got to worry about it. Everybody is busy about himself. Nobody looks after me. Merely serving the physical body is not enough. Serving the mind is also a service."

The brother of a devoted attendant had been initiated in the morning. In the evening Baba called the two brothers, and asked them to sit by him on either side and rub an ointment on his rheumatic arms. While they were doing this with great joy, Baba was silently reclining on the chair.

After some time he spoke:

"Till now you have been 'blood brothers'; from today you become spiritual brothers. There is no separation in spiritual relations. I am also feeling great joy. This is very nice."

One hot evening Baba was resting outside on a camp cot in the open verandah to the south. A devotee from Malda was singing a Baul song with great emotion:

"Just by a look, the 'man of your heart' can be known, The river of his desires has dried up And the river of his love is full to the brim. It is not at all difficult to recognise the 'man'. But it is very difficult to find out one."

The song went on for a long time and Baba was greatly pleased. At the end he commented: "Do you know what a man who cannot sing is called? A donkey. Swamiji would not call him a complete man. One of the characteristics of man is his power to sing, because it comes from the heart."

In the dim light of a candle in the hall, Baba was sitting silently on his reclining chair, one or two devoted disciples squatting at his feet. After some time he began to speak:

"How long will you keep turning the rosary beads? Call on Him with intense longing. Gradually everything will come to a standstill. The rosary beads will stop, the fingers will not move, even the lips will not open to utter His name. All bonds will fall off, even that of clothes.

"While repeating the name of the Lord, you will see His form—effulgent and smiling. You will also smile and then weep, and say: 'Why did You not appear before? Why have you come so late?'

"Be earnest, be impatient. Not that you have to repeat His name so many hundreds of times, or that you have to do so much penance. But you have to cry aloud earnestly and piteously, 'Appear before me, appear You must. To so many devotees You have appeared; why not me? You have declared that whoever shall weep for You, to him You will surely come. Then why are You not coming to me? Show Yourself to me.' Cry to Him with a heart full of yearning. The Master would ask us, 'Did you call on Him with tears today?' If we answered 'yes', he would be very glad. Again he would ask, 'From which corner—outer or inner—of the eyes did the tears trickle down?' And then he would proceed to explain that tears coming from the corners near the nose are tears of repentance, and those from the outer corners are tears of love."

---

7 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations with Swami Akhandanandaji

"Every one of those who came to the Master experienced these spiritual ecstasies to a greater or lesser degree. They would experience some of the eight spiritual modifications resulting in laughter, weeping, dancing and singing etc. Then in ecstasy, they would laugh and weep and dance and sing. Swamiji, no doubt, experienced all these. But as he was strong enough to control his emotions, there was little outward expression. And our Master? Ecstasy was his very nature.

"Just start here and now. Pray to Him with tears. Just speak to him, 'Why have I no such experience? Why do I not see You? Why am I not eager to see You? Why do I not develop an earnest desire to see You?'"

Another evening Baba retired to bed early. His secretary came to take down notes of his 'Reminiscences' but went away on seeing Baba in bed. He came back after a while and found Baba sitting up on his bed ready to dictate.

He said to the secretary, "Why did you not call me? You thought I was sleeping, didn't you? Oh, no, no. These boys were repeating the name of Siva. Oh, Siva, Siva! Thinking of Siva, the Infinite, one becomes the Infinite. A part of the Infinite is also infinite: the sky, stars, universe—all disappear in deep meditation. Hearing the scriptural instruction from the Guru, the disciple merges in deep meditation, and realizing this state, exclaims in wonder: 'Where is the universe gone? It was here just now: who has removed it and whither?'"

About eight o'clock one evening, Baba was lying on his cot. The inmates and devotees came to pay their respects to him. He got up and began to speak in an inspired mood.

"You have got to cultivate all the three—hands, head and heart. The word 'hands' stands for physical labour; the 'head' for intellect; and by 'heart' is meant love. Swamiji wrote to me: 'It is the heart that conquers. Everyone can understand the language of the heart.'

In Swamiji there was a harmonious development of all the three. We have to start with the first. We may not be as spiritual as Swamiji, we may not have a head or heart like his, but we can follow him at least on the plane of physical labour. At the Math he once cleansed the big utensils of the kitchen. Can we not cleanse at least a single cup? Do you know, he once cleansed the latrine at Belur Math? One day he found it unclean. He was carrying two full buckets of water for cleaning. When other inmates saw it from a distance, they came running and said, 'Swamiji, you'! Smilingly Swamiji returned the question: 'Only now (i.e., so late) 'Swamiji, you?'"

One morning Baba's secretary was writing in reply to a letter addressed to him: "Now I have become old etc." At once Baba straightened his spine and disapproving the statement said, "Have I become old?—Impossible! Cut it out. I am still young, young in spirit!"

Clenching his fist tightly he repeated, "I am younger than all of you here. My body may not move about as it did before, but my spirit is as active as a child's and wants to do something always. Don't you see? Just see, I was a bit tired and was lying down still desirous of doing something, I thought of getting some letters written by you, and you are writing 'I have become old'!" Never!

---

8 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

The postman came with a money order. The attendant received it and later showed the coupon to Baba. At once he asked, "Where is the address of the sender? You don't know? That's no excuse. You had no desire to know. You didn't bother to know. You could have written down the address from the money order form. You could have asked for it. You could find it in the 'address Register.'

"In such ordinary matters you act like this, and you are aspiring to knowledge of Brahman! Is that so easy to attain? How keen must be the desire and how long you have to struggle! Then only can you 'know'. Do you understand (this secret)? First the desire to know, then the struggle and then the success."

One afternoon when nobody was nearby and Baba called for someone to pour water on his hands, the Devotee had to attend on him. Washing over, Baba took the pot of water and taught the Devotee how to pour water saying, "Do it like this. Hold the pot with your fingers outside; never put them within." He came back, tired, sat in his room and continued in a very tender tone:

"You have to do even small things in a perfect way. Doing the inside work very carefully and the outside haphazardly, is not the way. You have to do every work with due care. Whenever you do any work, put your whole mind to it.

And you have to think thus: 'This very work is my Sadhana (spiritual practice); this will help me to realize God.'

Dr. Ganguli (a nurse in Dacca) tends a garden in her spare time and thinks: 'This is the garden of my Beloved God. I am watering it so that when the plants blossom, I shall decorate my Beloved with those flowers.' The trend of thought should be like that. This is meditation along with work—this is Sadhana."

In the evening on a camp-cot in the open veranda overlooking the small garden of 'Binod Kutir', Baba was singing in a very low tone a song in Hindi (perhaps an adaptation from the Persian poet Hafiz):

"Beloved, thy smiling face has charmed me And has kindled the fire of love within!"

The attendant was gently fanning him: Baba explained the song to him:

"The word for love is 'ishk' in Persian. Two kinds of love are spoken of in these songs—Ishk Hakiki and Ishk Majaji. The first is spiritual or true love, and the other is human or temporal love. I heard this song in a city somewhere in western India. Of course a lover was singing this with his beloved girl in mind, but when it reached my ears I was reminded of my Beloved, the Master. Who else has a smiling face? I have seen only one truly smiling face and it was His! It has kindled the flame of love within me!"

---

9 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

"There is only one way to know Him. Lord Krishna even said it, 'Mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te' (Gita 7:14). (Those who take refuge in Me alone, they cross over this illusion). By holding Me alone you will know Me. Crossing over the illusion means to know Him. The same thing he has said in another way, 'Tatprasadat param shantim sthanam prapsyasi sashvatam' (Gita 18:62). (By His grace you will gain supreme peace and eternal abode).

It is only by God's grace that you can know Him, and gain permanent peace and shelter forever. There is no other way."

M. (to Mohan) – By learning you cannot gain Him. 'Pravachanena na labhyah,' 'Na bahuna shrutena' (Katha Upanishad 1.II.23). (He cannot be known through much study, nor through much learning). Neither by discourse nor by hearing you can attain Him. He is not even attained by the mind alone. 'Yanmanasa na manute' (Kena Upanishad I.6). (That which man does not comprehend with the mind). All these are words of the Veda.

"Many great pundits used to go to the Paramahansa Deva. They would sit before him with folded hands.

"The room was full of people when Thakur was talking to the Mother of the Universe. He was saying, 'Mother, what is there in learning? Who can know you by his learning? For shame!'

(Smiling) Sometimes he would laugh and say, 'These pundits do soar very high but their sight remains fixed to the charnel-pits,' — that is to say in the world, in woman and gold.

"Padmalochan, Narayana Shastri, Shashadhar Chudamani, Vaishnava Charan – all these people used to come to Thakur. He himself went to see Vidyasagar. Gauri Pundit of Indesh also came to see him. He also met Dayananda Saraswati."

M. (to the man from Bankura) – If you pray to Him, He tells you how He can be attained.

Or He may send somebody who teaches him.

"One devotee was calling on Thakur most earnestly. He was calling on him in his heart. This was not known to anybody. Thakur sent another devotee saying, 'Go and tell him how to do it.' And he himself went to another devotee. Why? For he was calling on Him yearningly, he was crying. The devotee was wonder-struck on seeing. Said he, 'It was I who had to go to you. You have come yourself.' Thakur laughed and said, 'Yes, sometimes even the needle attracts the magnet.' One must pray to Him with a longing heart. When you do so He lets you know."

---

10 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

One evening the gathering was quite a large one and the discussion centred on Tibet. Someone asked, "What attracted you to Tibet? What did you actually find there?" Baba began to speak:

"Why did I go to Tibet? After the Master passed away I felt no attraction for anything. Only one thought reigned—where shall I find him again? Sometimes I felt, certainly in the Himalayas I shall find him. The Himalayas are the abode of the gods. Even as a boy, whenever I heard of Kedarnath and Badarinath, of Kailas and Manasarovar from wandering monks I had thought of going away to those places. When I grew older I heard there were still in Tibet large Buddhist monasteries. I thought of visiting them.

"O the Himalayas! Tier after tier of towering mountains, some under everlasting snow—immaculately white, silent and serene! How many days and nights I spent in those snowy regions! It seemed that the places were all familiar to me, perhaps from some time long ago.....

"The Lamas picked me up from the snow and took me into Thuling Math (a Buddhist monastery in western Tibet). My half-clad body was almost frozen. They found in my body certain signs and exclaimed 'ge-lang', which meant, I learnt later on, "a man of continence." Such people are very much honoured by them. So they asked me to stay on in their monastery.

"One day they took the Master's (Sri Ramakrishna's) photo from me, placed it on the altar near the Buddha and performed Arati by waving a light. They eagerly enquired: 'Where did you get it? Who is he? These eyes are not of a man. They are of God. This is the Buddha!' After some days they gave the photo back to me.

"There are so many monasteries—the strength of inmates in some being 4,000 in some even 7,000. In the middle of the hall a big kettle of water is kept over a fire. Not tea leaves, but tea tablets are put in the water and raw tea is taken from time to time. Monks are seated meditating on stone chairs constructed along the walks.

"I learnt the Tibetan language in a fortnight. Sometimes the women would talk to me. 'Have you no mother and sister?' they would ask. 'Why have you left your home? Why not marry and settle here?' I would reply 'You are all my mothers; whom shall I marry?'

"I felt sympathy for the miseries of the common man in Tibet and indirectly criticized the luxurious life of the monks. This was reported to the Head Lama. I was called and warned. My friend asked me to leave Tibet. On my way back via Ladakh (Kashmir) in a Tibetan costume, I was arrested and kept under observation, till the British Regent was satisfied as to my identity and bonafides, that I had no connection with politics. I was set free but the police shadowed me up to Baranagar Math."

Baba was talking with a style of pronunciation peculiar to East Bengal, to a Brahmacharin (novice in the monastery).

"'Mysterious are the ways of work', do you understand? Karma-yoga is a very difficult path. The path of meditation is a much easier one. What you meditate upon is not unknown to me. Your meditation is only to avoid work! Work, work, till you are tired. Work is something positive, the result of which you can perceive. It does good to you as well as to others. Work, but then work is worship. That is Yoga. He who meditates well attains power to work more efficiently. He is never tired, because his energy is not misspent in any way: he is never annoyed nor worried, he is not attached to anything. Always be calm, go on working without any fatigue. This is the test: whether the mind is working properly or not, can be understood from this."

---

11 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

One day Baba narrated many incidents of his life including some concerning his spiritual life and Sadhana:

"In my boyhood I used to worship Siva every day. I would mould an image of Siva in clay and worship His symbol with water, flowers and Bilva leaves. Lastly I would recite some prayers. At the time of ablutions in the Ganges, I would practice Kumbhaka (retention of breath: the middle part of the Praṇayama) while under water. When I met the Master, he told me 'You need not do so many things. Devotion and faith are enough'.

"At Baranagar, after the passing away of the Master, everyone was burning with the fire of renunciation, everyone was anxious for a vision of the Master. The evenings were spent by the Ganga and the nights at the cremation ground, in meditation and Japa (repetition of the Lord's name). With the chirping of the birds at dawn, we would come back to the Math after a bath in the river. Some days while discussing the life and teachings of the Master at the Math, we would sit down just as we were, and would become absorbed in deep meditation.

"At Rishikesh the bells would ring at the alms-house for monks calling the monks and holy men for their alms. I would not like to leave my seat. Then sometimes in the afternoon I would stand at the door of a householder. A mother would come out and ask: 'Why my child, so late? Did you not hear the bell?' I would say: 'Mother, I was in meditation and did not like to get up'. The mother would say: 'Very well, I shall prepare something for you. Wait a little and I'll send it to you'. Later she would make a habit of keeping two chapatis (unleavened bread) for me.

"As a boy I worshipped Siva made out of clay. In the Himalayas I have seen the living Siva. Our Master is living and moving in all as Narayana. The seed of this Religion of Service was in him. Therefore you now see the tree and its branches. At Deoghar he said to Mathur Babu: 'Feed these poor people, give them clothing and oil (for anointing their heads in the scorching heat), or else I will not proceed to Varanasi (for pilgrimage). That is how the wheel of this Religion of Service for this age, started rolling.

"That is why I always repeat: Work, work; serve others. It is something positive, something palpable. We know what you meditate on, and how much you meditate! I was travelling with Swamiji in the Himalayas. We found a Sadhu seemingly meditating with his whole body covered. But Swamiji cried out, 'O he is sleeping and snoring. Put him to the yoke; then perhaps he may attain spirituality someday.'

"Observing these things, Swamiji concluded, 'With the highest ideals of Sattva (tranquillity) on the lips, the country is sinking into the abyss of Tamas (darkness)' That is why he said: 'To recover from this, the whole body from head to foot must be electrified by Rajas (activity).'

Therefore he laid so much stress upon work. Go on working, come what may. Some good will surely come of it. There is no courage in you, no faith, no strength. Fear has overcome you, so you shirk work. You think, 'If I fail, people will blame me.' Let them blame you. Go on working in the name of the Master with faith and courage and depend upon Him.

"I travelled in the Himalayas, leaping, as it were, from peak to peak. When I reached the top of one peak, I would find another peak obstructing the view. After a rest I would think of scaling it: so I would start off again.

"When I say that most of you have to work if you want to live a spiritual life, I am telling you the truth. Keep working till you are tired. Only keep one point clear, that is, you are doing it for God, for the Master. This idea must be maintained always: otherwise trouble is in store."

---

12 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

"Satyen (Swami Atmabodhananda) of Udbodhan Math used to sell books from a small book-shop in College Street, Calcutta, when he was an inmate of the Advaita Ashrama. He would take a simple meal at 10 a.m. and spend the whole day in the book shop. I knew how he felt and what he was thinking. One day I chanced to visit him there, and standing just in front of the shop I gave him a good lecture which Satyen remembers even now. He told me, 'Maharaj, that inspiration is still driving me!'

I told him: 'It is not an easy task you have taken up. How much of renunciation and service and Tapasya (austerity) is involved in this work! This is real Sadhana. In the morning you come here after a bare meal. Others enjoy a full meal at noon—this is renunciation. Then you have to stay seated in this small room—this is Tapasya. Then again from the books sold here, people are getting the ideas of our Master and Swamiji. It is through your hands that they are reaching the people. This is a great service to the Master. Do you think that only the service done in the shrine is service to him?'

"To you also I say: bring in this idea, 'Whatever I am doing is Sadhana.' Give up at once any work that you cannot think of as Sadhana. You are eating—think of this as an offering to Him within. You are walking or going around the city—think that you are circumambulating the temple. Even when lying down or sleeping, look upon that also as Sadhana. When lying down you are prostrating before Him, and when sleeping you are meditating. Every moment will then be filled up by the thought of Him. This grand idea is well expressed in a song of Ramprasad (A devotee of Kali):

'When I lie down, O Mother, I salute You in prostration; While I sleep, I meditate on You; When I eat, I offer oblations to You within; When I go round the city, I think I am going round Your temple; O my mind, worship the Mother in every work you do. Worship the Mother in any way you like! Every way is a way to Her.'"

One evening in the outer veranda, with one or two devotees present, Baba was speaking:

"Do not sleep too long. Yogis sleep for four hours; Bhogis (those seeking enjoyment) sleep for six hours and Rogis (patients) still more.

The other day I was delighted to read in the Udbodhan these words of Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda), 'Sleep for more than four hours is a kind of disease, which requires treatment.'

You say less sleep makes the body weak? Just the opposite—too much sleep is what makes one weak, specially sleep in the day time. During the midday take a little rest with a book or two beside you for reading.

"You should pray to the Master saying: 'O Lord, remove my desires for enjoyment.' Sleeping is also an enjoyment that must be renounced if you really aspire after the vision of God. How can one sleep who really aspires after God? Day and night one thought will be burning within him: when and where and how shall I have His vision? 'O, this day is spent in vain, I have not yet realized God. I have not yet shed a single tear for Him!' How can a spiritual aspirant sleep away his life? He cannot. He must keep waking—who knows when God will come!

"The Master would teach us how to pray. Sitting on his cot with legs out-stretched like a child he would cry 'O Mother, come to me, do come. I cannot bear the separation. How can You be at peace, away from Your little son? How can You, forgetful of me, busy Yourself with other things? Come, O Mother, come and take me up in Your arms!' At such times he would cry like an utterly forlorn child just to show us how a child in distress pines for its mother. The idea awakened his feelings to such a degree that he would actually cry like a child restless to see its mother.

'After some time Sri Ramakrishna would become still and begin saying with tears, in a trembling voice: 'O Mother, I am without any Sadhana, without Bhajan. O Mother, give me knowledge, give me devotion, O Mother, may I have a mind fixed at Your feet!'

"Another day, taking me to a solitary place he taught me how to meditate. '

Just see, in the beginning of meditation, when the mind goes this way or that, make yourself repeat the holy Mantra with the greatest concentration. If you are not able to do so, leave it and meditate according to the tendency of the mind.' In this way, repetition of the divine name or Mantra will go on along with the meditation.

"Just imagine that your Chosen Deity (Ishta-Devata) is seated in the temple of your heart, with a serene and smiling look and that you are performing Arati by waving the lights, burning camphor, a flower and then a chamara (fan made from a yak's tail). Continue this Arati as long as you can. When it is finished, think that you start making garlands with flowers of various kinds, large and very beautiful and of sweetest fragrance. When this is over, suddenly fresh new flowers will come in, and you will begin to offer them at the feet of your Beloved—handfuls of lotuses, of white, red and other colours. When they have been exhausted you will find a heap of Jaba (hibiscus) by your side. You will go on offering them all, while flowers keep on coming to you, one kind after another, there's no end to it.

"Do not allow this trend of thought to come to an end. After flowers, come fruits and sweets in all their varieties and you are offering them to your Beloved. In this way let your mind cling to your Chosen Deity. The natural tendency of the mind is towards enjoyment of the objects of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste). Enjoy these with your Chosen Deity. Then the enjoyment will lose its evil effect and become divinized."

---

13 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

"Constant remembrance of God," continued Baba, "and ultimate reliance upon Him under all circumstances is Sadhana. This is the last word in one's Sadhana.

"We have seen the Master, have learnt from him and have built our lives accordingly as far as we could. If you do not build your lives thus, after seeing his sons and hearing about his life and Sadhana what is the use of all this? How fortunate you are, compared to those that will come after you!

"Pray always—day in, day out: 'O Lord, come to me, appear before me: so many people of distant lands—of Europe and America, Australia and Africa—have been blessed by You. To many You are appearing even now, but You do not come to me who are so near to You (i.e. here in Your own country)! Give me faith, devotion, one after another.' Let this thought prick your heart like a thorn: 'O, I have not seen You even today.'"

18th May, 1935 (Buddha Purnima)

A young disciple perhaps, had written to Baba about his mental unrest. As soon as he got up after offering his salutation, Baba began to speak:

"What shall I do? Whatever was to be given to you was given all at once. Now it is your turn. You do not get peace, you are not happy in a family atmosphere! Who has compelled you to remain there? There are so many forests, so many Ashramas (monasteries and retreats); go to any of them. The company of Sadhus (holy men and monks) is essential: doing some work is absolutely necessary for peace. Work to your heart's content and you will get peace."

As a part of the celebrations next day, a meeting was to be held. Baba was dictating an address to be read there – his secretary was taking down notes. In the address Baba depicted how the work had begun here, starting with famine relief in 1897 and culminating in the dedication of the temple in the year 1929.

After a while Baba began to speak, addressing the devotees, who were sitting nearby:

"My coming here was due to the command of the Master. During the famine of 1897 I came from Calcutta to Chandannagar. A desire arose in my mind to go to Navadwip from there. Afterwards I wanted to wander further along the bank of the Ganga. Thus I came to Beldanga. There on the bank of the Ganga I saw a muslim girl weeping—her pitcher was broken. With whatever little money I had I bought her a pitcher and also some flattened rice. Immediately afterwards, ten or twelve famine-stricken people surrounded me. They said, 'Baba, do give us some food.' From that time on I became 'Baba' With whatever money was left, I bought more flattened rice and gave them and then went forward from there. Evening found me near the Bhavta station and I spent the night there. In the morning I wanted to proceed north. But at Mahula I got an invitation for the worship of Annapurna (Goddess of food). From then on, by the will of the Master, I became engaged in his work and got stuck in this place.

"In this land of famine our Master manifested himself as Annapurna. That is why we make arrangements to feed the people. I had no idea of building a temple here. It came at last by His will. The temple could not be completed on the birthday of the Master. It was completed only the day before the Annapurna Puja and next day—the day of the Puja—the temple was dedicated.

Spiritual life is not possible with an empty stomach, so real 'religion' in a country of chronic hunger is feeding the poor: then comes education and medical service. That is why here I teach them a bit of modern agriculture and something of health and hygiene."

---

14 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

19th May, 1935, Morning:

The whole Ashrama was vibrating with a spirit of joy and dedication. Once when the Devotee approached Baba, he was in a mood of scolding, perhaps because of the disobedience of some one. He was saying:

"Everybody says, 'The Guru's words are to be respected like the words of Veda.' Nobody however obeys the Guru, nobody keeps his word. Our Master did not give us too many instructions: but one thing he said, I remember: 'Never (in dejection) think with your chin on your palm.' To the letter I follow it. The young men of today will do just the reverse of what you ask them to do, that is why I do not ask anybody to do anything. Let us play our part well and go away. Never have I thought with the chin on palm. Why should I act that way? I have received his love and care, his assurance. I am full of joy always."

That evening in course of conversation Baba said:

"'The Self cannot be attained by the weak......' Understand? Just build up a strong body. A healthy, strong body alone can have healthy thoughts. Otherwise a weak mind weaves a cobweb of thoughts.

"Our Master, Sri Ramakrishna, in his universal form is God: here in his particular form he is Annapurna. That is why I don't feel happy if people do not get proper food here."

Letters of Vijaya (Puja Greetings) were pouring in every day. Baba asked the Devotee to answer some of them. There were some letters in English among others. Baba said: "Write with fullest freedom, as if you were answering your own letters. Go on writing, I shall see them later on."

The birthday celebration of Swami Vivekananda

The day was spent in festive joy. In the evening a simple young man—perhaps a new spiritual seeker—from East Bengal asked, "Do you remember the Master quite well?"

Baba: Certainly. Whom else shall I remember?

Young man: In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by "M", we do not find your name except in one or two places.

Baba: So I did not go to him!

The young man, taken aback, remained silent.

Baba explained: "Do you know the fact? 'M' used to go to the Master mostly on holidays and on those days householders came in large numbers. We went usually on other days and spent the nights there. During the day I would fly off to the Panchavati or to the temples if too many people entered the Master's room."

The young man was initiated the next morning and in the evening he asked, "Tell me something about the Master."

Baba: What more shall I say? Everything is now printed in books. Moreover how can I go on talking the whole day and then again in the evening?

Disciple: I want to hear something about the Master from you—when you saw him and how you felt. Who knows whether I shall get another opportunity or not?

Baba: When I first went to him I was very young. His room in Dakshineswar was always charged with spirituality. Everybody felt it more or less. Spiritual craving would be awakened easily. One could get the fruits of the Sadhana (spiritual striving) of a hundred lives merely by sitting in that room. The Master's divine ecstasies could be seen frequently. How can these be forgotten? One word from his lips would simplify the teachings of the Vedas and the Vedanta.

The Master asked me, "Do you know Naren—a Calcutta boy, with prominent eyes and with mind indrawn? Go to him and mix with him." The very next day I went to him and felt attracted to him. Later I followed him like a shadow.

"At that time I had been observing the austerities of religious life and taking a vegetarian diet; but Swamiji scolded me saying, 'This has nothing to do with spiritual life'. I would not yield in the beginning. Then the Master also said, 'Why should you be so austere? Go and take the Prasada (offered food) from the Kali temple. The Master would notice to which temple I was going. I would go to the Kali temple and take the sacred Prasada given there. Memories are rushing into my mind. If I go on telling of them, it will never end. How much indeed has been published? One fourth or even a fourth of that!"

---

15 October 2019

Jai Ramakrishna

Conversations of Swami Akhandanandaji

"Oh, so many things about Swamiji are coming to my mind. When he would lay emphasis upon a certain idea, for the time being everyone present would feel that that idea was the whole truth and all else was nothing. In the Belur Math by the Ganga, from day to day he would talk about so many kinds of ideas and the Math would be filled with each idea in turn. The day he talked about Siva, we would feel that Swamiji was Siva Himself—he was Sankara: the Math would be surcharged with that idea. On a certain day he would be talking about Buddha and we would feel that this was a Buddhist monastery—everything calm and quiet. Again on another day when he started talking about Radharani, all barriers drop. It seemed he was the divine Gopi and the entire Math was full to the brim with the sweet love of the Gopi. How many times he said that Radha was not of flesh and blood: Radha was the foam (essence) of the ocean of love."

19th January, 1936: Early Morning

Miss MacLeod, the great 'Joe' of Swamiji and the 'Tantine' of devotees, now somewhat aged, had not yet seen Sargachi. So she had taken all the trouble to come up here. Maybe this would be her last opportunity to see Swami Akhandananda here. She had brought her food with her—only she wanted some milk from the Ashrama.

After breakfast the two ardent devotees of Swami Vivekananda began to talk about him, sitting on the floor of the shrine-room itself.

Baba: Yes, I have seen Swamiji after his passing away, as clearly as I see you now: otherwise I could not have lived. Separation from him was so painful that I was going to commit suicide, but I was prevented by Swamiji. He caught my hand as I was about to jump under a running train.

Miss MacLeod: Yes, he lives in you, in me, in all. He cannot die. He is the Atman. They say Swamiji was a great teacher but I and many others know him also to have been a great learner. He learnt from all, so he conquered all. He would be learning something always, so he was always fresh, never monotonous,—never repeating the same thing.

Baba: Yes, that was the teaching of our Master. On his death-bed, though hardly able to speak because of throat-cancer, the Master would strongly protest against anybody's saying "I know". At once he would say "You know? What do you know of the Infinite? Don't say this anymore. Rather say, 'Friend, as long as I live, so long do I learn.'"

Miss MacLeod: Give me your message for the coming Centenary (of Sri Ramakrishna). They want it.

Baba: I have no message of my own but I have this message from the Lord. I am infinite and eternal—what is a centenary for me?

Miss MacLeod: All right, I shall take this message with me.

The entire morning they spent in talks about Swamiji and Sri Ramakrishna. They walked and looked around the Ashrama with the enthusiasm of young people.

At the altar of the shrine, pleased to find the crystal figure of Swamiji—prepared under her direction and presented to some selected centres of the Ramakrishna Mission— Miss MacLeod looked at it affectionately and was heard to remark as if in soliloquy, "Yes, nothing but crystal can represent Swamiji."