03/01/2023
🌺Sri Ramakrishna's Gospels🌺:
Involution and evolution – three kinds of devotees
After awhile, Thakur again talks with Bhaduri.
Sri Ramakrishna — You know, he [Dr. Sarkar] is following the path of involution by saying, ‘Not this, not this.’ He is discriminating in this way: the Lord is neither the embodied soul, nor the world. God is there even without His creation. When he [Dr. Sarkar] follows the path of evolution, he will accept everything.
“If you peel off the sheaths of a banana tree, one after the other, you reach its pith.
“The layers of sheath are different from the pith. Neither is the pith the sheath, nor the sheath the pith. At the end, the man sees that the sheath cannot exist without the pith and the pith cannot exist without the sheath. God has Himself become the twenty-four cosmic principles, He Himself has become man. (To the Doctor) There are three kinds of devotees: inferior, mediocre and the superior. The inferior class of devotee says, ‘God is out there.’ He sees the Lord separate from His creation. The devotee of the mediocre class says, ‘The Lord is antaryami].’ He sees the Lord in the heart of all beings. The superior devotee sees that God Himself has become everything. That He alone has become the twenty-four cosmic principles. He sees that everything is filled with God, above and below.
“Please study the Gita, the Bhagavata and the Vedanta. Then you will understand all this.
“Doesn’t God exist within His creation?”
The Doctor — No, he doesn’t exist in a particular object. He exists everywhere. So he can’t be sought after.
The topic of conversation turns to something else. Sri Ramakrishna remains in an ecstatic mood. This can lead to the aggravation of his disease.
The Doctor (to Sri Ramakrishna) — You must control your bhava. I also experience deep bhava. I can dance longer than you.
The Younger Naren (laughing) — What will you do if your bhava increases a little more?
Doctor — My controlling power will also increase with it.
Sri Ramakrishna and M. — You say so.
M. — Can you tell what one experiences in bhava?
After awhile, the topic revolves around money.
Sri Ramakrishna (to the Doctor) — I have no desire for it [money], you already know that. Am I pretending? No, that is not the case.
The Doctor — Even I don’t want it! I keep money in an unlocked box. As for you, of course, there is no question.
Sri Ramakrishna — Jadu Mallick is absent-minded. When he sits for a meal, he absent-mindedly eats anything that is placed before him, whether the food is cooked deliciously or is bad. Even when somebody tells him not to take some article of food because it doesn’t taste good, he says, ‘Does it taste really bad? Yes, you are right!’
Thakur is perhaps hinting that it is one thing to be absent-minded after contemplation on the Lord and quite another thing to be absent-minded after thinking of worldly things.
Glancing at the devotees and pointing at the Doctor, Sri Ramakrishna laughs and says, “You see that when an article is siddha[3] (boiled), it becomes soft. He [the Doctor] was so hard. Now he is softening a little inside.”
The Doctor — When an article is siddha (boiled), its exterior also softens. But in my case, that hasn’t happened so far in this birth. (All laugh.)
The Doctor is ready to leave but he talks again to Thakur.
The Doctor — People take the dust of your feet. Can’t you stop them?
Sri Ramakrishna — Can everybody realize Akhanda Sachchidananda (Indivisible Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute)?
The Doctor — So you will not say what is right.
Sri Ramakrishna — Inclinations are different from man to man. And all men are not equally fit.
The Doctor — Then what are they?
Sri Ramakrishna — Do you know what the difference in inclinations means? Some like to eat fish gravy, others fried fish, others pickled fish, yet others take fish cooked with rice. Then there is also the difference of competency. I say first learn to aim at the banana plant, then at the wick of a lamp, and then at a flying bird.
Vision of the Indivisible – vision of Dr. Sarkar and Hariballab
It is evening. Thakur is absorbed in the contemplation of the Lord. He is so very ill, but it seems his illness has been put aside. Three or four of his intimate disciples seated close by look at him intently. Thakur remains in this state for quite some time.
Now Thakur returns to the normal plane. Mani is seated close to him. Thakur says to him privately, “See, the mind merged into the Indivisible Brahman – and I saw so many things! I saw the Doctor. He will succeed spiritually, but after some time. He will not need much more instruction. And I saw another person. It came to my mind that I should attract him, too. I shall tell you about him later.”
Various instructions to householders
Shyam Basu, Dr. Dukari, and one or two other devotees have arrived. Thakur is now talking to them.
Shyam Basu — Oh, what a wonderful thing you told us the other day!
Sri Ramakrishna (smiling) — What was that?
Shyam Basu — About what remains when one goes beyond jnana (knowledge) and ajnana (ignorance).
Sri Ramakrishna (smilingly) — Vijnana! The knowledge of many things is ignorance. Jnana consists of knowing that the Lord dwells in all beings. Knowing the Lord intimately is vijnana. Talking with the Lord, knowing Him as your near and dear one, is called vijnana.
‘There is the element of fire in wood, and fire is the essence. Knowing this is jnana. Burning this fire-wood, cooking rice over it, eating it, and then becoming strong is vijnana.”
Shyam Basu (smiling) — And you said something about the thorn.
Sri Ramakrishna (smiling) — Yes, just as when a thorn pricks your foot, you look for another thorn to take it out. With the latter thorn you take out the former one and then throw both of them away. In the same way, to take out the thorn of ajnana, you have to acquire the thorn of jnana. When ignorance is dispelled, you throw away both knowledge and ignorance.
“Then comes vijnana.”
Thakur is pleased with Shyam Basu. Shyam Basu is quite an elderly person and is now keen to meditate on the Lord for some days. Hearing of the Paramahamsa Deva [meaning Sri Ramakrishna], he has come to see him. He had seen him once before.
Sri Ramakrishna (to Shyam Basu) — Give up worldly matters completely. Talk of nothing else but God. When you come across worldly people, leave quietly. You have lived a worldly life for so long. You have seen that it is all hollow within, that the Lord is the only substance. All else is non-substance. The Lord alone is Reality, all else is ephemeral. What is this worldly life? It is like the fruit of the hog-plum tree. You feel like eating it, but what substance has it within? If you eat kernel and rind, it gives you indigestion.
Shyam Basu — True, sir. What you say is indeed true.
Sri Ramakrishna — You have engaged in worldly matters for so long. If you give your mind to this confusion any more, you will not be able to contemplate the Lord. Passing some days in solitude is essential. The mind will not settle down unless you live in solitude. You should arrange for a place of meditation a little away from your home.
Shyam Basu remains silent for awhile. Perhaps he is reflecting on something.
Sri Ramakrishna (smiling) — And see, you have lost all your teeth, so why celebrate Durga Puja now? (All laugh.) Someone asked, ‘Why don’t you celebrate the Durga Puja now?’ The other fellow replied, ‘Because now I have no teeth. I have lost the strength to chew goat meat.’
Shyam Basu — What sweet words!
Sri Ramakrishna (smiling) — In worldly life sugar and sand are mixed together. Like an ant, you must leave the sand and sift out the sugar. Only the adept can sift the sugar out. Arrange for a solitary place to contemplate Him – a place for meditation. Do please arrange it. I shall visit you there once.
Everybody remains silent for awhile.
Shyam Basu — Sir, is there birth after death? What will happen at the end of this life?
Sri Ramakrishna — Ask the Lord about it and call on Him sincerely. He will tell you. He will certainly make you understand. If you talk to Jadu Mallick, he himself will tell you how many houses, how much money, and how many company shares he possesses. It’s not right to try to know all this beforehand. First attain the Lord. He will make you understand what you want to know.
Shyam Babu — Sir, how many misdeeds a man does while leading a worldly life! How many sins he commits! Can this man attain the Lord?
Sri Ramakrishna — If a man practices spiritual disciplines before quitting his body, if he casts off his body while calling upon the Lord, while practicing spiritual disciplines, sins can never touch him. The elephant’s nature is to smear itself again with dust after being bathed, but if the mahut pushes it inside its stable just after washing it, the elephant cannot soil itself.
Thakur is suffering enormous pain! The devotees are amazed how he, the compassionate one, the sea of motiveless grace, grieved at the sufferings of mankind, night and day thinks of the welfare of humanity. He is encouraging the devotee, he grants him fearlessness, by telling him, “If one quits one’s body while calling upon the Lord, one is never touched by sins.”
