[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Ramakrishna paramhamsa and bhakti

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HARI AUM

 

Knowledge when spread to others deepens, stregthens

and gains in power. This will melt the ice of

ignorance and lead one to enlightenment.

 

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SHORT clips.

 

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Balagopal

 

NARAYANA NARAYANA NARAYANA

 

 

 

--- " Veena A. Nair " <veeus18 wrote:

 

> 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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