Ramakrishna paramhamsa and bhakti

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Om Namo Narayanaya. I have been reading books on Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, one of the great proponents of Advaita. The Paramhamsa became more well known outside Calcutta and outside India when his most beloved devotee Swami Vivekananda carried his master’s messages to the Western world. One of the devotees, Mahendra Gupta spent a lot of time with Ramakrishna in his final years and recorded for posterity all their conversations during the different meetings that Ramakrishna had with different people. That book, “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrisha” is an easy to read book written for the layman; the Paramhamsa, himself illiterate but able to speak fluently on the Vedas with his knowledge obtained though Divine Grace, spoke simply and explained concepts in a language that the common man could understand. Here are some extracts from the book on what Ramakrishna Paramhamsa has said about bhakta, jnani, and God: ------------------ For the bhakta

God assumes many forms. The bhakta feels that he is one entity and the world another. Therefore God reveals Himself to the bhakta as a Person. For the jnani, God is formless. The jnani always reasons, applying the process of neti, neti “not this, not this”. Through this discrimination he realizes that the ego and universe both are illusory, like a dream. Then the jnani realizes God in his own consciousness. Giving an analogy, Ramakrishna says “imagine an ocean, the shoreless ocean of existence-knowledge-bliss absolute; through the cooling influence of the bhakta’s love, the water has frozen in places into solid blocks of ice. These blocks represent the different forms of the Lord. In other words, God reveals Himself to bhaktas as a Person. But with the rising of the sun of Knowledge, the blocks of ice melt. Then one doesn’t feel any more that God is a Person, nor does he see any of God’s forms. What He is cannot be described. Who will describe Him? The person to describe

has disappeared; he cannot find his ‘I’ anymore. Just as when an onion’s layers are peeled one after another, if you keep peeling, you come to a point where there is nothing left; similarly, in that state man no longer finds his ego; just like a salt doll going into the ocean to measure its depth; as soon as the doll touches water, it melts. Now who is left to tell about the depth? So this ‘I’ which is like the salt doll melts in the ocean of existence-knowledge-bliss and becomes one with it”. “As long as man’s self-analysis is not complete, man argues a lot. But when he reaches the state where the ‘I’ dies, there are no more arguments, no more noises; just as noises are heard when a pitcher is being filled with water in the river; but as soon as it is filled no sounds are heard” So how does a person become a bhakta in the true sense? Once someone told the Master: “They say that you are like a person who can dance freely while balancing a brimful pitcher on your head” Paramhamsa: “Yes, keep your minds on the pitcher, on God-consciousness, while performing the complex dance of responsibilities, including family life and career. Give 75% of your mind to God and operate with 25%

in the world. You will be able to participate effectively in all responsibilities. Religious people speculate constantly about the final goal.-salvation, beatific mission, mystic mission, etc. But they rarely attain it during this life. Why? -- Because they remain satisfied with studying and chanting the scriptures, with doing the ancient rituals and praying at specified times. Can anyone attain God-consciousness simply by studying and contemplating the Vedas and the Vedanta? There always remains a clear distinction between worship of God and actual God realization. In order to get intoxicated with something, it is not enough to rub that thing against the skin or by repeating the name of the substance, but one has to swallow it. In the same way one has to become intoxicated by God-presence. Discover God’s energy within your own being. You have to intensely long for God,

yearn for God with every cell in your body. How will you know that ceremonial worship has become unnecessary? When you shed profuse tears, and feel currents of ecstasy flowing through your body while chanting God’s names. When the fruit appears, the flower petals fall away from the tree. Ecstatic love for God—which is God’s love expressed through the human soul- is the fruit; the rituals and scriptural study are the flower petals”. “O beloved companions, no one can reach the level of uncompromising spiritual intensity through scholarship alone. Even the most excellent

understanding of a sacred text, or a radical philosophical treatise does not generate the realization of its living energy in daily life. What is necessary is to pray without ceasing, to reach a state in which the sacred message or the high philosophical teaching is being profoundly assimilated with each breath, each thought, each perception”. “Live in the world like a maid servant in a rich man’s house. She bathes, washes, feeds her master’s children and takes good care of them, but in her heart she knows that they do not belong to her. No sooner is she dismissed than all is over; she has no more relationship with the children”. Similarly do all your household duties, thinking always that you are doing it for God and letting go of things because nothing belongs to you;

everything comes from and goes back to God. ---- If you are truly spiritually inclined, this is a great read. Another smaller equally readable book is "Great Swan : Meetings with Ramakrishna" by Lex Hixon, a devotee of Sarada Ma, Ramakrishna's wife. Om Namo Narayanaya.

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