Faith is the root of all, Ramakrishna

[Guest guest]

Dear Holy Family,Sri Ramakrishna described the two perennial types of devotees as follows:There are two kinds of devotees, one is like the baby monkey. It holds by might and main to its mother's back as she flies through the treetops. The other is like the kitten which merely cries "mew, mew"; the mother gently carries her kitten to wherever she feels is right for her child and places it there, the kitten just cries, "mew, mew". Both attitudes represent devotees of faith.Sri Ramakrishna, it would have to be admitted, seems to favor the attitude of the kitten. He says that if the monkey looses its grasp on its mother for even an instant, it falls to its death. And He Himself seems to have practiced in the way of the kitten.In His days of sadhana, He says that he opened His jaws so wide that they seemed to encompass the entire cosmos and cried "Maa" from the very depths of His soul.Nor was His sadhana a structured or disciplined thing; He was driven to virtually forget both food and sleep for twelve years by an overwhelming longing for the Mother.And that-in addition to faith-brings one to the second of His two great principles of successful sadhana:"Longing is the one thing needful". Whatever is one's path, according to Sri Ramakrishna, if one has immense Faith in that path, combined with intense Longing for God, there is nothing to worry about, the desired result is certain.Respectfully,Tanmaya