The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - 5

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• After attaining Knowledge, some people give up their bodies.

 

• Bound creatures, entangled in worldliness, will not come to

their senses at all. They suffer so much misery and agony, they face

so many dangers, and yet they will not wake up.

 

• Without intense yearning, a man cannot realize God.

 

• He, who has realized God, does not look upon a woman with the

eyes of lust; so he is not afraid of her. He perceives clearly that

women are but so many aspects of the Divine Mother. He worships them

all as the Mother Herself.

 

• If a disciple falls into the clutches of an incompetent

teacher, he doesn't attain liberation.

 

• Maya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul. This

egotism has covered everything like a veil. 'All troubles come to an

end when the ego dies.'

 

• If by God's grace, a man but once realizes that he is not the

doer, then he at once becomes a jivanmukta: though living in the

body, he is liberated. He has nothing else to fear.

 

• If by the guru's grace, one's ego vanishes, then one sees God.

 

• A man can get rid of the ego after the attainment of

Knowledge.

 

• He, who has attained God, keeps only an appearance of ego;

there remains in him only a semblance of anger and lust.

 

• One may reach God by following the path of discrimination

too: that is called jnana yoga. But it is an extremely difficult path.

 

• One cannot realize God without prema-bhakti. Another name for

prema-bhakti is raga-bhakti (supreme love, which makes one attached

only to God). God cannot be realized without love and longing. Unless

one has learnt to love God, one cannot realize Him.

 

• Similarly, one practises japa, austerity, and fasting, in

order to acquire love of God. Such actions as japa and austerity drop

away when one spontaneously feels love of God.

 

• One cannot assimilate spiritual instruction unless one has

already developed love of God.

 

• One cannot see God without purity of heart.

 

• One must altogether renounce egotism; one cannot see God as

long as one feels, 'I am the doer'.

 

• The impurity of the mind is destroyed through the performance

of duty.

 

• One should not reason too much. Too much reasoning throws the

mind into confusion.

 

• One cannot be spiritual as long as one feels shame, hatred,

or fear.

 

• Ordinary people do not recognize the advent of an Incarnation

of God. He comes in secret.

 

• Chant God's name, and with it pray to Him that you may have

love for Him. Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory

things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and

less every day.

 

• The constant company of holy men is necessary. They introduce

one to God.