Jnana Bhakti and Prema Bhakti (Excerpt from Talks with Ramkrishna Paramhans)

[Guest guest]

Sri Ramakrishna at a Devotee's House in Calcutta

 

Sri Ramakrishna (to the narrator) — The bhakti of the gopis is prema

bhakti[77]. It is avyabhicharini[78] and single-minded bhakti. Do

you know what vyabhicharini[79] bhakti is? It is bhakti mixed with

jnana. In it one believes that Krishna has become all – he is the

Supreme Brahman, he is Rama, he is Shiva and he is Shakti. But prema

bhakti is not mixed with jnana. Hanuman came to Dwaraka and said, `I

want to see Sita and Rama.' Bhagavan [sri Krishna] said to

Rukmini, `Please assume the form of Sita. Otherwise, there will be

no escape from Hanuman.' When the Pandavas were performing Rajasuya

Yajna, many kings were present. They all made Yudhisthira sit on his

throne and paid obeisance to him. Bibhishana said, `I shall only pay

obeisance to Narayana (Vishnu) and to none else.' Then Sri Krishna

himself lay prostrate before Yudhisthira to pay his obeisance.

Thereafter, Bibhishana did the same, with his crown on his head.

 

"Do you know what it is like? It is like a bride in the family. She

serves her husband's younger and elder brothers, his father and also

her own husband. She gives them water to wash their feet and a

towel. She provides a low wooden seat for them all. But she has

quite another type of relationship with her husband.

 

"Prema bhakti is comprised of the two feelings, `I' and `mine'.

Yashoda thinks, `Who will look after Gopal (Krishna) if I don't do

so? He may fall ill if I don't.' Yashoda does not know that Krishna

is Bhagavan Himself. On the other hand, she feels, `He is mine.' She

knew: Krishna is mine, that Gopal is my own. Uddhava said, `Your

Krishna is Bhagavan Himself. He is the Lord of the Universe. He is

no ordinary being.' Yashoda replied, `I am not asking you about your

Lord. I am asking you about my Gopal – my Gopal, not the Lord.'

 

"What single-minded devotion the gopis had! Only after many, many

entreaties to enter the royal court did the doorkeeper take them to

Krishna. But when they saw a person with a turban, they stood with

bowed heads. `Who is this person with a turban?' they asked among

themselves. `Shall we lose our chastity by talking to this man?

Where is the beloved of our souls who wears yellow robes and a crest

of peacock feathers?'

 

"See, what single-minded devotion they had for Him! A unique kind of

mood persists in Vrindavan. People around Dwaraka worship Krishna,

Arjuna's friend. They have little regard for Radha."

 

A Devotee — Which is better: bhakti mixed with jnana or prema bhakti?

 

Sri Ramakrishna — Unless one has intense love for the Lord, one

cannot attain prema bhakti (ecstatic love) and does not consider Him

as one's very own. Three friends were going through a forest when

they saw a tiger. One of them said, `Brother, we are done for.' The

second said, `Why should we die? Let's call on the Lord.' And the

third one said, `No, why trouble Him? Come, let's climb a tree!'

 

"The person who said, `We are done for,' did not know that the Lord

is the savior. He who said, `Let's call on the Lord,' was a jnani.

He knew that the Lord creates, preserves and dissolves. And he who

said, `Why should we trouble Him? Come, let's climb a tree,' had

prema (intense love) in his heart; he had deep love for God. Such a

love has this characteristic: the one who has it considers himself

more powerful than the beloved. He does not want his beloved

troubled. He wants to save his beloved from even the prick of a

thorn."