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Dear ALL,

 

Devotees who came to Sri Ramakrishna were enthralled. But some were

confused about his methods, or really his lack of methods. He would

talk to them about God, tell instructive stories, sing and dance in

the Name of God, and, often, when the Presence of God became

overpowering, he would go into samadhi.

 

Those who came to Sri Ramakrishna were Indian devotees who knew what

to expect from a guru. They knew that a guru should give them

ceremonial initiations into methods and techniques that would lead

them to God realization. But Sri Ramakrishna didn't do that. When hard

pressed by someone, he would sometimes write something on his or her

tongue with his fingertip, but without even saying what it meant.

 

What these devotees didn't yet know was that they had no need of

methods and techniques to take them to God, that they were already in

the presence and company of the Avatara, the human incarnation of God.

 

What Sri Ramakrishna taught his devotees was that they were like a

newborn infant in the loving arms of its Mother, in this case a Divine

Mother, and that they should have that attitude, not the attitude of a

seeker.

 

An ordinary mother gives her child toys to play with to occupy him or

her when she has to go away. And ordinary gurus give their disciples

methods and techniques because God is not there.

 

The toys the Mother gave to devotees of Sri Ramakrishna were toys to

play with in communion with God, not to fill a gap caused by God's

absence, toys with which to enjoy and celebrate the Living Company and

Presence of the Divine.

 

However, Sri Ramakrishna did give certain instructions to his

devotees. He taught them that if they felt distant or separate from

the Divine, that they should pray to God with a longing heart and with

tears in their eyes, and that that would purify the impure ego which

always causes a feeling of separation and isolation.

 

He also insisted that they be extremely attentive in all their

actions, because God is Here and Now. His devotees, though they were

fortunate enough to live daily in the Presence of God, could, if and

when they were not attentive, fall into forgetfulness and darkness

again, by ignoring that Presence.

 

Once, when a devotee who was in charge of Sri Ramakrishna's personal

things became distracted and left the umbrella behind, Sri Ramakrishna

suddenly asked him for it, and then scolded him severely when he

couldn't remember where it was. He said, " I know it is back there

leaning against a tree, even though I am in samadhi and bhava most of

the time. All you have to do is keep track of an umbrella, and you

forget! "

 

It was a rare and wonderful time for those devotees who passed their

days in the company and presence of the living God. And who knows

where or when that time will come again?

 

With Love,

Kumari