Guest guest Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 ------------------------- MASTER: " It is true that one or two can get rid of the 'I' through samadhi; but these cases are very rare. You may indulge in thousands of reasonings, but still the 'I' comes back. You may cut the peepal-tree to the very root today, but you will notice a sprout springing up tomorrow. Therefore if the 'I' must remain, let the rascal remain as the 'servant I'. As long as you live, you should say, 'O God, Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant.' The 'I' that feels, 'I am the servant of God, I am His devotee' does not injure one. Sweet things cause acidity of the stomach, no doubt, but sugar candy is an exception. ------------------------- Excerpt from The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (Swami Nikhilananda Pub 1944) Vol 1: The Master and Vijay Goswami: Thursday, December 14, 1882 ------------------------- MASTER (to Vijay, smiling): " I understand that they have been finding fault with you for mixing with those who believe in God with form. Is that true? He who is a devotee of God must have an understanding that cannot be shaken under any conditions. He must be like the anvil in a blacksmith's shop. It is constantly being struck by the hammer; still it is unshaken. Bad people may abuse you very much and speak ill of you; but you must bear with them all if you sincerely seek God. Isn't it possible to think of God in the midst of the wicked? Just think of the rishis of ancient times. They used to meditate on God in the forest, surrounded on all sides by tigers, bears, and other ferocious beasts. Wicked men have the nature of tigers and bears. They will pursue you to do you an injury ------------------------- ------------------------- MASTER: " You talk glibly about prema. But is it such a commonplace thing? There are two characteristics of prema. First, it makes one forget the world. So intense is one's love of God that one becomes unconscious of outer things. Chaitanya had this ecstatic love; he 'took a wood for the sacred grove of Vrindavan and the ocean for the dark waters of the Jamuna'. Second, one has no feeling of 'my-ness' toward the body, which is so dear to man. One wholly gets rid of the feeling that the body is the soul. ------------------------- ------------------------- M: " Sir, I like to think of God as formless. " MASTER: " Very good. It is enough to have faith in either aspect. You believe in God without form; that is quite all right. But never for a moment think that this alone is true and all else false. Remember that God with form is just as true as God without form. But hold fast to your own conviction. " ------------------------- ------------------------- MASTER: " Who can ever know God? I don't even try. I only call on Him as Mother. Let Mother do whatever She likes. " ------------------------- ------------------------- " So you must hiss at wicked people. You must frighten them lest they should do you harm. But never inject your venom into them. One must not injure others. " ------------------------- ------------------------- MASTER: " But it is good to have a trace of ego, which makes it possible for a man to feel that he is the servant of God. As long as a man thinks that it is he who is doing his duties, it is very good for him to feel that God is the Master and he God's servant. When one is conscious of doing work, one should establish with God the relationship of servant and Master. " ------------------------- ------------------------- " One's spiritual consciousness is not awakened by the mere reading of books. One should also pray to God. The Kundalini is aroused if the aspirant feels restless for God. To talk of Knowledge from mere study and hearsay! What will that accomplish? ------------------------- ------------------------- " Is it possible for all to comprehend God? God has created the good and the bad, the devoted and the impious, the faithful and the sceptical. The wonders that we see all exist in His creation. In one place there is more manifestation of His Power, in another less. The sun's light is better reflected by water than by earth, and still better by a mirror. Again, there are different levels among the devotees of God: superior, mediocre, and inferior. All this has been described in the Gita. " ------------------------- ------------------------- BRAHMO DEVOTEE: " Sir, why are there so many different opinions about the nature of God? Some say that God has form, while others say that He is formless. Again, those who speak of God with form tell us about His different forms. Why all this controversy? " MASTER: " A devotee thinks of God as he sees Him. In reality there is no confusion about God. God explains all this to the devotee if the devotee only realizes Him somehow. You haven't set your foot in that direction. How can you expect to know all about God? ------------------------- “At the doors of large granaries are placed traps containing fried rice to catch mice. The mice, attracted by the flavour of the fried rice, forget the more solid pleasures of tasting the rice inside the granary, and fall into trap. They are caught therein and killed. Just so is the case with soul. It stands on the threshold of Divine bliss, which is like millions of the highest worldly pleasures solidified into one; but instead of striving for that bliss, it allows itself to be enticed by the petty pleasures of the world and falls into the trap of Maya, the great illusion, and dies therein. " ---------Sri Ramakrishna ------------------------- MASTER (to the devotees): " Do you know what I see right now? I see that it is God Himself who has become all this. It seems to me that men and other living beings are made of leather, and that it is God Himself who, dwelling inside these leather cases, moves the hands, the feet, the heads. I had a similar vision once before, when I saw houses, gardens, roads, men, cattle — all made of One Substance; it was as if they were all made of wax. ------------------------- ------------------------- MASTER (to Girish): " One can realize God through intense renunciation. But the soul must be restless for Him, as restless as one feels for a breath of air when one's head is pressed under water. " A man can see God if he unites in himself the force of these three attractions: the attraction of worldly possessions for the worldly man, the husband's attraction for the chaste wife, and the child's attraction for its mother. If you can unite these three forms of love and give it all to God, then you can see Him at once. ------------------------- ------------------------- " But why should God make us run about? " thought M. 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. " ------------------------- MAHIMA: " Can a man live in the world if his mind is once directed to God? " MASTER: " Why not? Where will he go away from the world? I realize that wherever I live I am always in the Ayodhya of Rama. This whole world is Rama's Ayodhya. After receiving instruction from His teacher, Rama said that He would renounce the world. Dasaratha sent the sage Vasishtha to Rama to dissuade Him. Vasishtha found Him filled with intense renunciation. He said to Rama: 'First of all, reason with me, Rama; then You may leave the world. May I ask You if this world is outside God? If that is so, then You may give it up.' Rama found that it is God alone who has become the universe and all its living beings. Everything in the world appears real on account of God's reality behind it. Thereupon Rama became silent. ------------------------- The Master Said: " 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 devotee's love? It is like the cow's fondness for fodder mixed with oil-cake. The cow gobbles it down greedily. " ------------------------- All doubts disappear when one sees God. Formal worship drops away after the vision of God. - from " The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna " (Abridged Edition): Pundit Shashadhar ------------------------- The Master Said: " It is God alone 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 for washing dishes. " ------------------------- The Master Said: " The universe and its created beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles, all exist because God exists. Nothing remains if God is eliminated. The number increases if you put many zeros after the figure one; but the zeros don't have any value if the one is not there. " ------------------------- The Master Said: " The nearer you come to God, the more you feel peace. Peace, peace, peace - supreme peace! The nearer you come to the Ganges, the more you feel its coolness. You will feel completely soothed when you plunge into the river. " ------------------------- The Master Said: " One cannot see God if one has the slightest trace of worldliness. Matchsticks, 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. " ------------------------- The Master Said: " How is it ever possible for one man to liberate another from the bondage of the world? God alone, the Creator of this world-bewitching mAyA, can save men from mAyA. There is no other refuge but that great teacher, SatchidAnanda [existance-knowledge-bliss]. How is it ever possible for men who have not realized God or received His command, and who are not strengthened with divine strength, to save others from the prison-house of the world? " ------------------------- The Master Said: " Once a man realizes God through intense dispassion, he is no longer attached to woman. Even if he must lead the life of a householder, he is free from fear of and attachment to woman. Suppose there are two magnets, one big and the other small. Which one will attract the iron? The big one,of course. God is the big magnet. Compared to Him, woman is a small one. He who has realized God does not look upon a woman with the eye 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. " The Master Said: " The camel loves to eat thorny bushes. The more it eats the thorns, the more the blood gushes out from its mouth. Still it must eat thorny plants and will never give them up. The man of worldly nature suffers so much sorrow and affliction, but he forgets it all in a few days and begins his old life over again. Suppose a man has lost his wife or she has turned unfaithful. Lo! He marries again. " om tat sat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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