The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - 8

[Guest guest]

Dear Spiritial Brothers and Sisters,

 

I have extracted few significant teachings (to the

best of my capability) from "The Gospel of Sri

Ramakrishna" (Abridged Edition). Here, I place the

eighth part - God-Intoxicated State.

 

 

8. God-Intoxicated State

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* To love God, one must be born with good tendencies.

 

* No salvation is possible for a man as long as he has

desire, as long as he hankers for worldly things.

 

* When God incarnates Himself on earth, He attracts

people through the help of Yogamaya, His Divine Power.

People become spellbound.

 

* Bondage is of the mind, and freedom also is of the

mind.

 

* One must inherit good tendencies to realize God.

 

* Don't find fault with anyone, not even with an

insect. As you pray to God for devotion, so also pray

that you may not find fault with anyone.

 

* Satisfy God and everyone will be satisfied. If He is

pleased, the world is pleased.

 

* One should learn the essence of the scriptures from

the teacher or from a sadhu.

 

* One should learn the essence of the scriptures from

the guru and then practise sadhana.

 

* The essence of the Vedanta is that Brahman alone is

real and the world illusory.

 

* The essence of the Gita is renunciation.

 

* God has made different religions to suit different

aspirants, times, and countries.

 

* One can reach God if one follows any of the paths

with whole-hearted devotion.

 

* God has been described in the Vedas as both with

attributes and without.

 

* Bad people may abuse you very much and speak ill of

you; but you must bear with them all if you sincerely

seek God.

 

* Wicked men have the nature of tigers and bears. They

will pursue you to do you an injury.

 

* One must be careful about these few things. First,

an influential man who has much money and many men

under his control. He can injure you if he wants; you

must be careful while talking to him; perhaps you may

have to approve what he says. Second, a dog. When it

chases you or barks at you, you must stand still, talk

to it gently, and pacify it. Third, a bull. If it runs

after you with lowered horns, you must calm it with a

gentle voice. Fourth, a drunkard. If you arouse his

anger, he will abuse you, naming fourteen generations

of your family. You should say to him: 'Hello uncle!

How are you?' Then he will be mightily pleased and sit

by you and smoke.

 

* The companionship of a holy man is greatly needed

now and then. It enables one to discriminate between

the Real and the unreal.

 

* I ask people to renounce mentally. I do not ask them

to give up the world. If one lives in the world

unattached and seeks God with sincerity, then one is

able to attain Him.

 

* A man should practise spiritual discipline and pray

to God with a longing heart for love at His Lotus

Feet. He should direct his mind to God alone,

withdrawing it from the various objects of the world.

 

* 'I' and 'mine' - that is ignorance. True knowledge

makes one feel: 'O God, You alone do everything'.

 

* God alone, and no one else, is your own.

 

* Knowledge of God - there are two indications of such

knowledge. First, longing, that is to say, love for

God. Second, the awakening of the Kundalini.

 

* When the Kundalini is awakened, one develops

feeling, devotion, and love for God. This is the path

of devotion.

 

* The path of karma (religious rites and rituals) is

very difficult. Through it, one obtains occult powers.

 

* How long must a man continue formal worship? As long

as he has not developed love for God's Lotus Feet, as

long as he does not shed tears and his hair does not

stand on end when he repeats God's name.

 

* You practise japa and austerities, no doubt, but

they all leak out through the holes of your desires.

If there are no desires, the mind naturally looks up

toward God.

 

* Yoga is not possible if there is the slightest

obstacle.

 

* You must surrender the fruit of your action to God.

You must not seek any result for yourself.

 

* The desire for bhakti cannot be called a desire. You

may desire bhakti and pray for it. Practise the tamas

of bhakti and force your demand upon the Divine

Mother.

 

* It is the will of the Great Enchantress (Divine

Mother) that many should remain entangled in the

world.

 

* Only one or two in a hundred thousand get

liberation. The rest are entangled through the will of

the Divine Mother.

 

* Don't forget yourself because of what you hear from

your flatterers. Flatterers gather around a worldly

man.

 

* Worldly men are slaves of three things: they are

slaves of their wives, slaves of their money, slaves

of their masters.

 

* If you realize God, you will get everything else.

First God, then charity, doing good to others, doing

good to the world, and redeeming people.

 

* One cannot develop love of God or obtain the vision

of Him without work. Work means meditation, worship

and the like. The chanting of God's name and glories

is work too. You may also include charity, sacrifice,

and so on.

 

* One cannot get true feeling about God from the study

of books.

 

* To attain God, a man must have certain favourable

conditions: the company of holy men, discrimination,

and the blessings of a real teacher.

 

* Whether a man should be a householder or a monk

depends on the will of Rama. Surrender everything to

God and do your duties in the world.

 

* There exists an Ocean of Consciousness without

limit. From It come all things of the relative plane,

and in It they merge again.

 

* Everything is God's lila, His sportive pleasure.

 

* You cannot preach unless God reveals Himself to you

and gives you the command to preach.

 

* After the birth of one or two children, husband and

wife should live as brother and sister and talk only

of God. Then the minds of both will be drawn to God,

and the wife will be a help to the husband on the path

of spirituality. None can taste divine bliss without

giving up his animal feeling.

 

* If a householder is a genuine devotee, he performs

his duties without attachment; he surrenders the fruit

of his work to God - his gain or loss, his pleasure or

pain.

 

* If a householder gives in charity in a spirit of

detachment, he is really doing good to himself and not

to others. It is God alone that he serves - God , who

dwells in all beings; and when he serves God, he is

really doing good to himself and not to others.

 

* Through selfless work without attachment, he does

good to himself. This is called karma yoga. This too

is a way to realize God. But it is very difficult, and

not suited to the Kaliyuga.

 

* The love that you see in parents is God's love: He

has given it to them to preserve His creation. The

compassion that you see in the kindhearted is God's

compassion: He has given it to them to protect the

helpless.

 

* First realize God, then think of the creation and

other things. If you know one you know all.

 

* God cannot be realized by a mind that is

hypocritical, calculating, or argumentative. One must

have faith and sincerity. To the sincere, God is very

near; but He is far, far away from the hypocrite.

 

* All sins vanish if one only remembers God.

 

 

Love, Light and Peace...

Kumar

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C. P. KUMAR

Scientist 'E1'

National Institute of Hydrology

Jal Vigyan Bhawan

Roorkee - 247667 (Uttaranchal)

INDIA

 

Web Page : http://www.angelfire.com/nh/cpkumar/

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