Parables

From Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

"That which supports, that which holds together the peoples (of the universe), that is Dharma.

principles of true life

Dharma is not merely a set of beliefs having no necessary connection with the daily life of humanity, but it is the very principles of a

healthy and beneficent life.

Therefore to know those principles and act upon them is to be a true follower of Vaidika Dharma, and to tread the sure road to happiness, individual as well as general.

Knowledge - action - unattached

" Cows are many- coloured ; but the milk (of all) has but one colour. Look on knowledge as the milk, and on the teachers as the cows. Therefore, without attachment, constantly perform action which is duty, for in performing action without attachment, man verily reaches the Supreme. "

" As the ignorant act from attachment to action,

O Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment, desiring the maintenance of mankind."

[Sat, Chit, Ananda] - Maya

" The Rishis, their sins destroyed, their doubts removed,

their selves controlled, intent upon the welfare of all

beings, obtain the Brahma-Nirvana. Sat, Chit and Ananda " Therefore He should be worshipped as that

Consciousness, whose nature is Sat, Chit and Ananda,

Lord of Maya, the Divine, with Maya, the Supreme Lady. Being thus seen as the illusion-producing Power of the

Lord, She is known as the cause of bondage

and also as the path to liberation. As Avidya she deludes ; as Vidya she leads to Her Lord, and as She vanishes in Him as the Atma knows itself as free.

world [water] mind [butter]

"The world is water and the mind milk. If you

pour milk into water they become one; you

cannot find the pure milk any more. But turn the milk into curd and churn it into butter.

Then, when that butter is placed in water,

it will float. So, practise spiritual discipline in solitude and obtain the butter of knowledge and love. Even if you keep that butter in the water of the world the two will not mix. The butter will float.

practise discipline
MASTER: "A little spiritual discipline is necessary in order to know what lies within." M: "Is it necessary to practise discipline all through life?" MASTER: "No. But one must be up and doing in the beginning. After that one need not work hard. The helmsman stands up and clutches the rudder firmly as long as the boat is passing through waves, storms, high wind, or around the curves of a river; but he relaxes after steering through them. As soon as the boat passes the curves and the helmsman feels a favourable wind, he sits comfortably and

just touches the rudder. Next he prepares to unfurl the sail and gets
ready for a smoke. Likewise, the aspirant enjoys peace and calm after passing the waves and storms of 'woman and gold'.

different forms of worship

MASTER: "You were talking of worshipping the clay image. Even if the image is made of clay, there is need for that sort of worship. God Himself has provided different forms of worship. He who is the Lord of the Universe has arranged all these forms to suit different men in different stages of knowledge. "The mother cooks different dishes to suit the stomachs of her different children. Suppose she has five children. If there is a fish to cook, she prepares various dishes from it - pilau, pickled fish, fried fish, and so on - to suit their different tastes and powers of digestion.

Parable of the chameleon

"Listen to a story. Once a man entered a wood and saw a small animal on a tree. He came back and told another man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red colour on a certain tree. The second man replied: 'When I went into the wood, I also saw that animal. But why do you call it red? It is green.' Another man who was present contradicted them both and insisted that it was yellow. Presently others arrived and contended that it was grey, violet, blue, and so forth and so on. At last they started quarrelling among themselves. To settle the dispute they all went to the tree.continued

Parable of the chameleon

They saw a man sitting under it. On being asked, he replied: 'Yes, I live under this tree and I know the animal very well. All your descriptions are true. Sometimes it appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times blue, violet, grey, and so forth. It is a chameleon. And sometimes it has no colour at all. Now it has a colour, and now it has none.' "In like manner, one who constantly thinks of God can know His real nature; he alone knows that God reveals Himself to seekers in various forms and aspects. God has attributes; then again He has none. Only the man who lives under the tree knows that the chameleon can appear in various colours, and he knows, further, that the animal at times has no colour at all. It is the others who suffer from the agony of futile argument.

secure the oil of divine love "If

you enter the world without first cultivating love for

God, you will be entangled more and more. You will be overwhelmed with its danger, its grief, its sorrows. And the more you think of worldly things, the more you will be attached to them. "First rub your hands with oil and then break open the jack-fruit; otherwise they will be smeared with its sticky milk. First secure the oil of divine love, and then set your hands

to the duties of the world."

attain

divine love

But one must go into solitude and meditate to

attain this divine love. To get butter from milk you must let it set into curd in a secluded spot; if it is too much disturbed, milk won't turn into curd. Next, you must put aside all other duties, sit in a quiet spot, and churn the curd. Only then do you get butter.

realize God by.

MASTER: "Truthfulness in speech is the tapasya of the Kaliyuga. It is difficult to practise other

austerities in this cycle. By adhering to truth one

attains God. Tulsidas said: 'Truthfulness, obedience to God, and the regarding of others' wives as one's mother, are the greatest virtues. If one does not realize God by practising them, then Tulsi is a liar.'

pray longingly "It is necessary to pray to Him with a longing

heart. The kitten knows only how to call its

mother, crying, 'Mew, mew!' It remains satisfied wherever its mother puts it. The mother cat puts the kitten sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes on the floor, and sometimes on the bed. When it

suffers it cries only, 'Mew, mew! That's all it

knows. As the mother hears this cry, wherever she may be; she comes to the kitten."

see God in all

bow low before them!

In a forest there lived a holy man and his disciples. He taught them to see God in all beings and, knowing this, to bow low before them all. A disciple went to gather wood for the sacrificial fire. Suddenly he heard an outcry: 'Get out of the way! A mad elephant is coming!' The disciple reasoned that the elephant was also God in another form. Then why should he run away from it? He stood still, bowed before the animal, and began to sing its praises.

The mahut of the elephant was shouting: 'Run away! Run away!' But the disciple didn't move. The animal seized him with its trunk, cast him to one side, and went on its way. Hurt and bruised, the disciple lay unconscious on the ground.
..continued

see God in all Hearing what had happened, his teacher and his brother disciples came to him and carried him to the hermitage. With the help of some medicine he soon regained consciousness. Someone asked him, 'You knew the elephant was coming - why didn't you leave the place?' 'But', he said, 'our teacher has told us that God Himself has taken all these forms, of animals as well as men. Therefore, thinking it was only the elephant God that was coming, I didn't run away.' At this the teacher said: 'Yes, my child, it is true that the elephant God was coming; but the mahut God forbade you to stay there. Since all are manifestations of God, why didn't you trust the mahut's words? You should have heeded the words of the mahut God.' (Laughter)

Jiva suffers, Love Siva "One man may read the Bhagavata by the light of a lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light; but the lamp is unaffected. The sun sheds its light on the wicked

as well as on the virtuous.

"You may ask, 'How, then, can one explain misery and sin and unhappiness?

The answer is that these apply only to the jiva; seek Siva.
Brahman is unaffected by them. There is poison in a snake; but though others may die if bitten by it, the snake itself is not affected by the poison.

Brahman is beyond "Men often think they have understood Brahman fully. Once an ant went to a hill of sugar. One grain filled its stomach. Taking another grain in its mouth it started homeward. On its way it thought,

'Next time I shall carry home the whole hill.' That is the
way shallow minds think. They don't know that Brahman is beyond one's words and thought. However great a man

may be, how much can he know of Brahman? Sukadeva

and sages like him may have been big ants; but even they could carry at the utmost eight or ten grains of sugar!

- It is Satchidananda "As for what has been said in the Vedas and the Puranas, do you know what it is like? Suppose a man has seen the ocean, and somebody asks him, 'Well, what is the ocean like?' The first man opens his mouth as wide as he can and says: 'What a sight! What tremendous waves and sounds!' The description of Brahman in the sacred books is like that. It is said in the Vedas that Brahman is of the nature of Bliss - It is Satchidananda. "Suka and other sages stood on the shore of this Ocean of Brahman and saw and touched the water. According to one school of thought they never plunged into it. Those who do, cannot come back to the world again.

Ishvara, mulaprakriti From these two triangles is formed the symbol of Ishvara and His universe, often seen in Temples, the two interlaced, and a point in the centre, the symbol of the ONE, the whole giving the Great Septenary, the Supreme Brahman and the Universe.

Maya

Ishvara, mulaprakriti

As the triple nature of Ishvara, Sat Chit Ananda, was symbolically represented by a triangle pointing upwards, like a flame, so is the triple nature of Mulaprakriti symbolised as a

triangle, but now it points downwards, like a drop

of water.

become pure develop love of God

By the philanthropic activities you are really doing good to yourself. If you can do them disinterestedly, your mind will become pure and you will develop love of God. As soon as you have that love you will realize Him. "Man cannot really help the world. God alone does that He who has created the sun and the moon, who has put love for their children in parents' hearts, endowed noble souls with compassion, and holy men and devotees with divine love. The man who works for others, without any

selfish motive, really does good to himself.

cultivate intense zeal for God

One may enter the world after attaining discrimination and dispassion. In the ocean of the world there are six alligators: lust, anger, and so forth. But you need not fear

the alligators if you smear your body with turmeric before

you go into the water. Discrimination and dispassion are the turmeric. Discrimination is the knowledge of what is real

and what is unreal. It is the realization that God alone is the

real and eternal Substance and that all else is unreal, transitory, impermanent. And you must cultivate intense zeal for God. You must feel love for Him and be attracted to Him. The gopis of Vrindvan felt the attraction of Krishna.

Illusoriness of "I" "If one analyses oneself, one doesn't find any such thing as

'I'. Take an onion, for instance. First of all you peel off the
red outer skin; then you find thick white skins. Peel these off one after the other, and you won't find anything inside. "In that state a man no longer finds the existence of his ego. And who is there left to seek it? Who can describe how he feels in that state-in his own Pure Consciousness-about the real nature of Brahman? Once a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean. No sooner was it in the water than it

melted. Now who was to tell the depth?

'Why, we don't see Him

"One

cannot see God if one has even the slightest trace

of worldliness. Match-sticks, if damp, won't strike fire though you rub a thousand of them against the match-box. You only waste a heap of sticks.
The mind soaked in worldliness is such a damp match-stick.

"Is it possible to see God?" MASTER: "Yes, certainly. Living in solitude now and then, repeating God's name and singing His glories, and discriminating between the Real and the unreal - these are the means to employ to see Him."

God is like a child

God's nature like that of a child "I used to see God directly with these very eyes, just as I see you. Now I see divine visions in trance. "After realizing God a man becomes like a child. One acquires the nature of the object one meditates upon. The nature of God is like that of a child. As a child builds up his toy house and then breaks it down, so God acts while creating, preserving, and destroying the universe. Further, as the child is not under the control of any guna, so God is beyond the three gunas-sattva, rajas, and tamas. That is why paramahamsas keep five or ten children with them, that they may assume their nature.

need not hug the 'tiger God'.

Master's attitude toward the wicked

"It is God alone", he said, "who has become all this. But in certain places- for instance, in a holy man-there is a greater

manifestation than in others. You may say, there are wicked

men also. That is true, even as there are tigers and lions; but one need not hug the 'tiger God'. One should keep away from him and salute him from a distance. Take water, for instance. Some water may be drunk, some may be used for worship, some for bathing, and some only for washing dishes."

pure love of God God cannot remain unmoved if you have raga-bhakti, that is, love of God with passionate attachment to Him. Do you know how fond God is of His devotees' love? It is like the cow's fondness for fodder mixed with oilcake. The cow gobbles it down greedily. "Raga-bhakti is pure love of God, a love that seeks God alone and not any worldly end. Prahlada had it. Suppose you go to a wealthy man every day, but you seek no favour of him; you simply love to see him. If he wants to show you favour, you say: 'No, sir. I don't need anything. I came just to see you.' Such is love of God for its own sake. You simply love God and don't want anything from Him, in return."

signs of God-realization

Indications of God-realization "There are certain signs of God-realization. The man in whom longing for God manifests its glories is not far from attaining Him. What are the glories of that longing? They are discrimination, dispassion, compassion for living beings, serving holy men, loving their company, chanting the name and glories of God, telling the truth, and the like. When you see those signs of longing in an aspirant, you can rightly say that for him the vision of God is not far to seek.

signs of God-realization

"The state of a servant's house will tell you unmistakably whether his master has decided to visit it. First, the rubbish and jungle around the house are cleared up. Second, the soot and dirt are removed from the rooms. Third, the courtyard, floors, and other places are swept clean. Finally the master himself sends various things to the house such as a carpet, a hubble-bubble for smoking, and the like. When you see these things arriving, you conclude that the master will very soon come"

Perform duty

The impurity of the mind is destroyed through the performance of duty. It is like getting rid of a disease by means of medicine, under the instruction of a competent physician.

He will free us_pray for it

"Why doesn't God free us from the world? Ah, He will free us when the disease is cured. He will liberate us from the world when we are through with the enjoyment of 'woman and gold'.

Once a man registers his name in the hospital,

he cannot run away. The doctor will not let him go away unless his illness is completely cured."

vision of aspects of God Parable of the elephant and the blind men "Once some blind men chanced to come near an animal that someone told them was an elephant. They were asked what the elephant was like. The blind men began to feel its body. One of them said the elephant was like a pillar; he had touched only its leg. Another said it was like a winnowing-fan; he had touched only its ear. In this way the others, having touched its tail or belly, gave their different versions of the elephant. Just so, a man who has seen only one aspect of God limits God to that alone. It is his conviction that God cannot be anything else.

Awake to vision of God

Born with God-Consciousness. There is the parable of the Homa bird in the Vedas. The bird lives high up in the sky and never descends to earth. It lays its egg in the sky, and the egg begins to fall. But the bird lives in such a high region that the egg hatches while falling. The fledgling comes out and continues to fall. But it is still so high that while falling it grows wings and its eyes open. Then the young bird perceives that it is dashing down toward the earth and will be instantly killed. The moment it sees the ground, it turns and shoots up toward its mother in the sky. Then its one goal is to reach its mother.

Seeing God in everything

"There was a monastery in a certain place. The monks residing there went out daily to beg their food. One day a monk, while out for his alms, saw a landlord beating a man mercilessly. The compassionate monk stepped in and asked the landlord to stop. But the landlord was filled with anger and turned his wrath against the innocent monk. He beat the monk till he fell

unconscious on the ground. Someone reported the matter

to the monastery. The monks ran to the spot and found their brother lying there. continued

Seeing God in everything

Four or five of them carried him back and laid him on a bed. He was still unconscious. The other monks sat around him sad at heart; some were fanning him. Finally someone suggested that he should be given a little milk to drink. When it was poured into his mouth he regained

consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked around.

One of the monks said, 'Let us see whether he is fully conscious and can recognize us.' Shouting into his ear, he

said, 'Revered sir, who is giving you milk?' 'Brother,'

replied the holy man in a low voice, 'He who beat me is now giving me milk.'

 so is his gain " 'As is a man's feeling of love, so is his gain.' Once two friends were going along the street, when they saw some people listening to a reading of the Bhagavata. 'Come, friend', said the one to the other. 'Let us hear the sacred book.' So saying he went in and sat down. The second man peeped in and went away. He entered a house of ill fame. But very soon he felt disgusted with the place. 'Shame on me!' he said to himself. 'My friend has been listening to the sacred word of Hari; and

see where I am!'

 so is his gain But the friend who had been listening to the Bhagavata also became disgusted. 'What a fool I am!' he said. 'I have been listening to this fellow's blah-blah, and my friend is having a grand time.' In course of time they both died. The messenger of Death came for the soul of the one who had listened to the Bhagavata and dragged it off to hell. The messenger of God came for the soul of the one who had been to the house of prostitution and led it up to heaven.

Different moods of aspirants to realize God "But in order to realize God, one must assume one of these attitudes: nta, Dsya, sakhya, Vtsalya, or Madhur. "nta, the serene attitude. The rishis of olden times had this attitude

toward God. They did not desire any worldly enjoyment. It is like the
single-minded devotion of a wife to her husband. She knows that her husband is the embodiment of beauty and love, a veritable Madan. "Dsya, the attitude of a servant toward his master. Hanuman had this attitude toward Rama. He felt the strength of a lion when he worked for Rama. A wife feels this mood also. She serves her husband with all her heart and soul. A mother also has a little of this attitude, as Yaoda had toward Krishna.

"Sakhya, the attitude of friendship. Friends say to one another, 'Come here and sit near me.' Sridm and other friends sometimes fed Krishna with fruit, part of which they had already eaten, and sometimes climbed on His shoulders.

"Vtsalya, the attitude of a mother toward her child. This was Yaoda's
attitude toward Krishna. The wife too, has a little of this. She feeds her husband with her very life-blood, as it were. The mother feels happy only when the child has eaten to his heart's content. Yaoda would roam about with butter in her hand, in order to feed Krishna. "Madhur, the attitude of a woman toward her paramour. Radha had this attitude toward Krishna. The wife also feels it for her husband. This attitude includes all the other four."

pure love of God

"But do you know the attitude of one who has

realized God? He feels: 'I am the machine, and Thou, O Lord, art the Operator. I am the house and Thou art the Indweller. I am the chariot and Thou art the Driver. I move as Thou movest me; I speak as Thou

makest me speak.'

The 'I-consciousness'
"As

long as God keeps the awareness of 'I' in us, so long do sense-objects exist; and we cannot very well speak of the world as a dream. There is fire in the hearth; therefore the rice and pulse and potatoes and the other vegetables jump about in the pot. They jump about as if to say: 'We are here! We are jumping!' This body is the pot. The mind and intelligence are the water. The objects of the senses are the rice, potatoes, and other vegetables. The 'I-consciousness' identified with the senses says, 'I am jumping about.' And Satchidananda is the fire.

Oneness of God

"The Truth established in the Vedas, the Puranas, and the Tantras is but one Satchidananda. In the Vedas It is called Brahman, in the Puranas It is called Krishna, Rma, and so on, and in the Tantras It is called iva. The one Satchidananda is called Brahman, Krishna, and iva. A man who has seen God sometimes behaves like a madman: he laughs, weeps, dances, and sings. Sometimes he behaves like a child, a child five years oldguileless, generous, without vanity, unattached to anything, not under the control of any of the gunas, always blissful.

Siva = peace and bliss

Shiva, or Mahadeva, or Maheshvara, is the Destroyer, He who frees Atma from imprisoning forms, who destroys Avidya and so gives Vidya, and who, finally rolling up the universe, brings the peace of liberation. His Shakti is Uma, IchchhA, Will, called also,

Brahmavidya, who reveals Brahman. Name

Shiva implies, Ananda, the peace and bliss of Atma, freed from desire and master of mind.

 it is God who has become

"By

taking off, one by one, the sheaths of a banana tree,

one obtains the pith. The sheaths are one thing, and the

pith is another. The sheaths are not the pith, and the pith
is not the sheaths. But in the end one realizes that the pith cannot exist apart from the sheaths, and the sheaths cannot exist apart from the pith; they are part and parcel of one and the same banana tree. Likewise, it is God who has become the twenty-four cosmic principles; it is He who has become man.

kinds of devotees

"There are three kinds of devotees: superior, mediocre,

and inferior. The inferior devotee says, 'God is out there.' According to him God is different from His creation. The mediocre devotee says: 'God is the Antaryami, the Inner Guide. God dwells in everyone's heart. The mediocre devotee sees God in the heart. But the superior devotee sees that God alone has become everything; He alone has become the twenty-four

cosmic principles. He finds that everything, above and

below, is filled with God.

Dr. Sarkar & Master

"Can't you forbid people to salute you by touching your feet?" "Can all comprehend the Indivisible Satchidananda?" DR. SARKAR: "But shouldn't you tell people what is right?" Different disciplines for different temperaments: MASTER: "People have different tastes. Besides, all have not the same fitness for spiritual life. DR. SARKAR: "How is that?" MASTER: "Don't you know what difference in taste is? Some enjoy fish curry; some, fried fish; some, pickled fish; and again, some, the rich dish of fish pilau. Then too, there is difference in fitness. I ask people to learn to shoot at a banana tree first, then at the wick of a lamp, and then at a flying bird."

If U die praying to God

MASTER: "If a man practises spiritual discipline before his death and if he gives up his body praying to God and meditating on Him, when will sin touch him? It is no doubt the elephant's

nature to smear his body with dust and mud,

even after his bath. But he cannot do so if the

mahut takes him into the stable immediately

after his bath."

Parmatman is infinite ocean

"Take the case of the infinite ocean. There is no limit to its water: Suppose a pot is immersed in it: there is water both inside and outside the pot. The Jnni sees that both inside and outside there is nothing but

Parmatman. Then what is this pot? It is 'I-consciousness'.

Because of the pot the water appears to be divided into two parts; because of the pot you seem to perceive

an inside and an outside. One feels that way as long

as this pot of 'I' exists. When the 'I' disappears, what is remains. That cannot be described in words.

'O King, I now understand.'

MASTER: "Listen to a story. There was a king who used daily to hear the Bhagavata recited by a

pundit. Every day, after explaining the sacred

book, the pundit would say to the king, 'O King, have you understood what I have said?' And every day the king would reply, 'You had better understand it first yourself.' The pundit would

return home and think: 'Why does the king talk to

me that way day after day?

'O King, I now understand.'

I explain the texts to him so clearly, and he says to me,

"You had better understand it first yourself." What does he mean?' The pundit used to practise spiritual discipline. A few days later he came to realize that God alone is real and everything else_ house, family, wealth, friends, name, and fame-illusory. Convinced of the unreality of the world, he renounced it. As he left home he asked a man to take this message to the king: 'O King, I now

understand.'

God is very near U

"A man wanted a smoke. He went to a neighbour's house to light his charcoal. It was the dead of night and the household was asleep. After he had knocked a great deal, someone came down to open the door. At sight of the man he asked, 'Hello! What's the matter?' The man replied: 'Can't you guess? You know how fond I am of smoking. I have come here to light my charcoal.' The neighbour said: 'Ha! Ha! You are a fine man indeed! You took the trouble to come and do all this knocking at the door! Why, you have a lighted lantern in your hand!' (All laugh.) "What a man seeks is very near him. Still he wanders about from place to place."

practice spiritual discipline, C God

MASTER: "Proof? God can be seen. By practising spiritual discipline one sees God, through His grace. The rishis directly realized the Self. One cannot know the truth about God through science. Science gives us information only about things perceived by the senses, as for instance: this material mixed with that material gives such and such a result, and that material mixed with this material gives such and such a result. "For this reason a man cannot comprehend spiritual things with his ordinary intelligence. To understand them he must live in the company of holy persons. You learn to feel the pulse by living with a physician."

reveal Thyself to me!'

MASTER: "The best path for this age is the path of bhakti: to sing the name and glories of God and pray to Him with a longing heart, 'O God, give me knowledge, give me devotion, and reveal Thyself to me!' The path of karma is extremely difficult. Therefore one should pray: 'O God, make my duties fewer and fewer;

and may I, through Thy grace, do the few duties that Thou
givest me without any attachment to their results! May I have no desire to be involved in many activities!'

path of bhakti & Karma

"It is not possible to give up work altogether. Even to

think or to meditate is a kind of work. Begin with dutiful life. As you develop love for God, your worldly activities become fewer and fewer of themselves. And you lose all interest in them. Can one who has tasted a drink made of sugar candy enjoy a drink made of ordinary molasses? Know the Self the chariot-owner, the body the chariot ; know Reason the charioteer, and the mind as the reins ; they call the senses the horses, the sense-objects their province. Charioteer may control through reins the horses.

take the truth "Live in the world like an ant. The world contains a mixture of truth and untruth, sugar and sand. Be an ant and take the sugar. "Again, the world is a mixture of milk and water, the bliss of God-Consciousness and the pleasure of senseenjoyment. Be a swan and drink the milk, leaving the water aside. "Live in the world like a waterfowl. The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off. Live in the world like a mudfish. The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny. "The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth." Sri Ramakrishna

Divine bliss is the highest

"Though

the chatak bird is about to die of a parched

throat, and around it there are seven oceans, rivers, and lakes overflowing with water, still it will not touch that

water. Its throat is cracking with thirst, and still it will not
drink that water. It looks up, mouth agape, for the rain to fall when the star Svati is in the ascendant. 'To the chatak

bird all waters are mere dryness beside Swati water.

However much a bhakta may experience physical joy and sorrow, he always has knowledge and the divine love. This treasure never leaves him.

wine of ecstatic love

Another day the Master was seated on the small couch in his room, with his usual beaming countenance. M. arrived with Kalikrishna, who did not know where his friend M.

was taking him. He had only been told: "If you want to see
a grog-shop, then come with me. You will see a huge jar of wine there."

M. related this to Sri Ramakrishna,

who laughed about it.

.The

Master said: "The bliss of worship and communion

with God is the true wine, the wine of ecstatic love. The
goal of human life is to love God, Bhakti is the one essential thing. To know God through jnna and reasoning is difficult."

water-pitchers on heads

MASTER: "Everybody will surely be liberated. But one should follow the instructions of the guru; if one follows a devious path, one will suffer in trying to retrace one's

steps. It takes a long time to achieve liberation. A man

may fail to obtain it in this life. Perhaps he will realize God only after many births. Sages like Janaka performed worldly

duties. They performed duties, bearing God in their

minds, as a dancing-girl dances, keeping jars or trays on her head. Haven't you seen how the women in northwest India walk, talking and laughing while carrying water-pitchers on their heads?

have faith and love

What is the significance of the Gita? It is what you find by repeating the word ten times. It is then reversed into 'tagi which means a person who has renounced everything for God. And the lesson of. the Gita is: 'O man, renounce everything and seek God alone.' Whether a man is a monk or a householder, he has to shake off all attachment from his mind. One must have faith and love. There is a popular saying that Hanuman jumped over the sea through his faith in Rama's name, but Rama himself had to build a bridge.

Parable of the wood-cutter

"Go forward. A wood-cutter once entered a forest to gather wood. A

brahmachari said to him, 'Go forward.' He obeyed the injunction and discovered some sandal-wood trees. After a few days he reflected, 'The holy man asked me to go forward. He didn't tell me to stop here.' So he went forward and found a silver-mine. After a few days he went still farther and discovered a gold-mine, and next, mines of diamonds and precious stones. With these he became immensely rich. "Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then, through His grace one realizes Him in course of time. God can be

seen. One can talk to him as I am talking to you."

sees the Self as all

"Therefore having thus become wise, calm,

subdued, dispassionate, enduring, collected, he

sees the Self in the Self, he sees the Self as all ; nor does sin overcome him, he overcomes all sin ; nor does sin consume him, he consumes all sin. Free from sin, free from passion, he becomes a Brahmana ( of the nature of Brahman) ; this the Brahman-world'

three aspects To see the Self is Jnana, is wisdom ; to love the Self is

Bhakti, devotion ; to serve the Self is Karma, action.

Such Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, are the three Margas, ways, to Moksha, liberation. The Jnana Marga is for those in whom Chit predominates; the Bhakti Marga for those in whom Ichchha predominates; the Karma Marga for those in whom Kriya predominates. But in each path, as each Jivatma is triune, the evolution of all of its three aspects must be carried on.

For a householder "How ought we to live in the world?" MASTER: "Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Live with all - with wife and children, father and mother and serve them. Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you. "A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village. She brings up her Master's

children as if they were her own.

"But one need not fear anything if one has received the grace of God. It is rather easy for a child to stumble if he holds his father's hand; but there can be no such fear if the father holds the child's hand. A man does not have to suffer any more if God, in His grace, removes his doubts and

reveals Himself to him. But this grace descends upon him

only after he has prayed to God with intense yearning of heart and practised spiritual discipline. The mother feels

compassion for her child when she sees him running about
breathlessly. She has been hiding herself; now she appears before the child."

"But why should God make us run about?" Immediately Sri Ramakrishna said: "It is His will that we should run about a little. Then it is great fun. God has created the world in play, as it were. This is called Mahamaya, the Great Illusion. Therefore one must take refuge in the Divine Mother, the Cosmic Power Itself. It

is She who has bound us with the shackles of illusion.

The realization of God is possible only when those shackles are severed

Dakshineshwar temple

The whole symbolic world is represented in the temple garden

the Trinity of the Nature Mother (Kli),

the Absolute (iva), and Love (Radhknta), the Arch spanning heaven and earth. The terrific Goddess of the Tantra, the soul-enthralling Flute-Player of the Bhgavata, and the Self-absorbed Absolute of the Vedas live together, creating the greatest synthesis of religions. All aspects of Reality are represented

there.

the temple garden

But of this divine household, Kli is the pivot, the sovereign Mistress. She is Prakriti, the Procreatrix,

Nature, the Destroyer, the Creator.

Nay, She is something greater and deeper still for those who have eyes to see. She is the Universal Mother, "my Mother" as Ramakrishna would say,

Universal Mother

the All-powerful, who reveals Herself to Her children under different aspects and Divine

Incarnations, the Visible God, who leads the elect

to the Invisible Reality; and if it so pleases Her, She takes away the last trace of ego from created beings and merges it in the consciousness of the Absolute, the undifferentiated God. Through Her

grace "the finite ego loses itself in the illimitable

Ego- tman - Brahman".