CHAPTER III.

THE SHINTI BRAHMO SAMAJ—OCTOBER, 1882

It is Saturday, 28th of October of the year 1882,—the second day of the dark fortnight of the month of Aswin. In the beautiful garden house of Benimadhav Pal at Shinti, a place nearly three miles to the north of Calcutta, the Brahmo devotees are eagerly expecting the arrival of the Master in the evening. For it is the occasion of the half-yearly festival of the Brahmo Samaj, which is held in the garden house, and Sri Ramakrishna, who so dearly loves the Samaj, has been invited to the festival.

The garden house is indeed a beautiful place, and, being extremely solitary, well suited for Divine meditation. Here during the spring and autumn seasons, Sj. Pal celebrates, the festivals of the Brahmo Samaj, to which he invites numerous devotees from Calcutta and the neighbouring villages. On the present occasion, Sivanath and other prominent Brahmos of Calcutta have come to the garden to join in the morning prayers and are now preparing for the evening worship; and their hearts are athrill with the anticipated joy of seeing the blissful appearance of the great saint of Dakshineswar, hearing his fascinating talk about God and his rapturous songs, and witnessing his inspired dance.

The garden is already filled with the numerous invited guests. Some of them are sitting in the cool shade of arbours, others on the grassy bank of the garden lake, but most of them have already occupied convenient seats in the Samaj Hall eagerly awaiting the great one's arrival. . . . . .

The whole place is vibrating with joy. The autumnal sky is reflecting joy in its deep azure bosom. The soft-blowing breeze has been all day long murmuring its sweet message amongst the trees and creepers of the garden. And the whole creation is singing, as it were, its chorus of joy,—

'O the sweet wind blows o'er our heart, the wind of exceeding joy!

'God's goodness has flooded us with its light!'

It is about 4 P. M.; the air is tense with expectation. And lo! there arrives the Mâster with a few devotees in a carriage. The whole assembly stands up to receive him, and as he smilingly takes his seat, a complete silence prevails in the Hall, and all eyes eagerly turn towards the joyous countenance of the Master.

II.

The Master smilingly looks at the devotees and says, "Here is Sivanath. You see, you are devotees, and I am indeed very glad to see you. Ganja^*-smokers would be exceedingly delighted to meet, and would even hug each other. [Laughter.]

"But to those whom I find to be averse to God, I say, 'Go, and sit over there,' or 'Go, have a look at the building.' [Laughter.]

The way of the worldly-minded.

"Again, sometimes, I find that some exceedingly worldly-minded and silly people accompany the devotees. When they find the devotees talking with me long, they cannot sit quiet. They become fidgety and repeatedly whisper, 'When will you go?' 'When will you go?' The devotees perchance would reply, 'Wait a bit, we shall go after some time.' But they get vexed and say, 'All right, you talk; we go and wait in the boat.' [All laugh.]

"If you ask the wordly to renounce everything and devote themselves to the lotus-feet of the Lord, they will never do it. That is why Gour and Nitai, the two brothers, consulted each other and made the following arrangements for attracting them. They said, 'Come, take the name of Hari, and you will have a nice soup of magur fish and the caress of a young damsel!'

"The allurement of the last two items induce many of them to come to take the Lord's name; and when they had tasted a little of the nectar of the Holy Name, they found out that the 'fish soup' was nothing but the streams of tears they shed in their love for God; and the earth was 'the young damsel,' and that the rolling on earth in the rapture of Divine love was the caress of the damsel.

^* Hemp.

Power of the Lord's Name.

"Nitai would employ any means to make men utter the Lord's name. Said Sri Chaitanya, 'Very powerful indeed is the name of God! It may not bring forth any immediate result, but it must one day bear fruit, just as we find that a seed, which had been left long before on the cornice of a building, at last reaches the ground, and sprouts forth and bears fruit,—when the building cracks and is demolished.'

"Just as amongst the men of the world Sattwa, Rajas, or Tamas may predominate, so also has Bhakti (Devotion) its three gunas.

The three Gunas.

"Do you know what is the Sattwa of a worldly person? Perhaps his house is in a dilapidated condition, he won't repair it; the pigeons are soiling the hall with their dirt; the court-yard is grown over with moss—he does not care. The furniture of the house is all old, but he does not like to be neat and fashionable. Nor does he care to dress well,—any cloth will do for him. But the man is exceedingly quiet and gentle, kind and guileless and never injures any one.

"A Rajasic man has his signs. He wears a watch with a chain, and several rings on his fingers. His house is finely fitted up with beautiful furniture, and on the walls of the rooms hang pictures of big people, of the queen and the prince. The house is white-washed and spotlessly clean. And he has various costly suits of dress; and his servants wear uniform, and all that.

"A Tamasic man has these signs,—sleep, lust, anger, egotism and such other qualities.

"Similarly, Bhakti has its Sattwa. And the devotee who possesses it, meditates on God in absolute secret, perhaps within his mosquito net; and people think that he is sleeping, and that having had no sleep during the night, he is so tardy to leave his bed. Of his body, he takes only as much care as is needed to appease his hunger; simple rice and greens will do for him. There is no luxury about his clothes or house-fittings. And he never flatters anybody for money.

"If any one has the Rajas of Bhakti, he perhaps paints the caste-mark on his forehead, and wears a rudraksha garland, interspersed with gold beads. [Laughter.] And when he performs his worship, he puts on a silk cloth.

III.

"And he who has the Tamas of Bhakti has a burning faith, and he literally extorts from God, even as the robber falls upon a man and plunders his wealth. 'Bind! Beat! Kill!'—that is his way,—the way of the dacoits."

With this, Sri Ramakrishna bursts into singing with his rapturous voice, looking upwards,—

"O Mother, if I but die with Thy holy name on my lips, then must Thou save this helpless child of Thine.

"I care not if I have killed the sacred cow or the holy Brahmin, or even the child in its mother's womb. O, I care not if I have sinned by drinking, or even by killing a woman.

In spite of these darkest sins, I know I can verily become Brahman, if I but die with Thy holy name on my lips."

Sri Ramakrishna: 'What! I have taken Her name—I, a sinner? I am Her child,—I am an heir to Her glories!' This must be one's firm attitude.

"If you can give a spiritual turn to your tamas, you can realise God. Command Him. He is no stranger to you, He is your own.

"Look here again,—this tamas may be utilised for the service of others. There are three classes of doctors, the highest, the mediocre, and the lowest. The doctor who feels the patient's pulse and goes away after prescribing the medicine, but does not care to know whether it is taken or not, belongs to the lowest kind. He who carefully advises the patient to take the prescribed medicine, and sweetly says, 'How will you be cured unless you take the medicine? Take it,—you are a good boy—I shall myself prepare it for you—he is a mediocre doctor. But the best doctor is he, who, finding all words useless, goes to the extent of putting his knee on the chest of the patient and forcing the medicine down his gullet. This action is no doubt indicative of the tamas of the doctor, but it does good to the patient.

Three classes of religious preachers.

"In the same way there are three classes of religious preachers. Those who merely teach the disciples, but do not care whether they act up to their instructions, belong the lowest class of teachers. Those who, having their disciples' welfare at heart, make repeated endeavours to bring the instructions home to them, implore them to act up to their advice, and show their love to them, come under the middle class. And those who, finding their disciples persistently disobeying their instruction, resort to force in the end,—them I call the best of teachers."

IV.

A Brahmo devotee asks, "Has God any form, or is He formless?"

Ineffable nature of Brahman.

Sri Ramakrishna: 'This much and no further' can never be said of Him. He is without form, and with form as well. To those that are Jnanis, that is, to those whom this world appears as a shadowy dream, He is formless. But the devotee feels that He is one entity, and the world quite another; so to him God appears in His personal aspect with form.

"The Jnani—for instance, the Vedantin—constantly discriminates the Truth, negating all phenomena, saying, 'Not this,' 'Not this.' As a result of such discrimination, there awakens in him the consciousness that 'all are false—the ego, the world and all—like evanescent dreams.' Then the Jnani realises Brahman in his own consciousness, but cannot describe what His nature is by the words of mouth. Do you know what It is like? It is like a vast ocean, an ocean of Sachchidananda (Absolute Existence-Knowledge-Bliss)—an infinite expanse, no shores to bound it anywhere,—but here and there its water gets congealed into ice through the cold of Bhakti—gets solidified in the form of ice; that is He actually manifests Himself before His devotees, assuming some personal forms. But with the rising of the sun of Jnana, the ice melts away, and then He is no more felt to have a personal aspect, and hence one cannot see His personal forms any more. What He is, then nobody can tell. Who can say? The one who can say has vanished, no trace of his 'I' is found there.

"When one proceeds with the analysis of the Self, the ego or the 'I' vanishes away with the process. Just like the onion, peel off first the outer red skin, then the next thick white one, then again the next and so on, the whole thing disappears, and you find no kernel within.

"When one finds no more the existence of his 'I'—and who is left there to seek it then?—there, at that state, who would express how one realises Brahman in Consciousness (intelligence)? Once a salt doll came to measure the depth of the ocean, but no sooner did it enter the waters of the ocean than it got dissolved in it, and so none remained to give information about the depth.

"It is the sign of Knowledge that, when it dawns fully on man, he becomes silent. Then the salt doll of 'I' melts away into the Ocean, becoming one with it,—there remains not even the slightest consciousness of separateness.

"When a farmer cuts open a channel to bring water into his field from the neighbouring tank, the water flows out with great noise. But when the water of the field comes up to the same level as that of the tank, such noise is no more heard.

"So long as this self-analysis does not find its end, man argues and discusses with much ado; but he becomes silent as soon as the finale is reached. When the pitcher becomes full, i.e., when the water inside the immersed jar gets united with the outside water of the tank—then you hear sound no more. The gurgling sound is heard only so long as the jar is not full. They used to say in olden days that 'no ship returns after having once entered into the black waters of the high sea.'

The 'I' dies hard.

"All difficulties disappear when dies the 'I.' But howsoever you may argue, analyse or ratiocinate, the ego never disappears completely. Hence for men like you and me, it is good to have the ego of a devotee—that 'I am a devotee of God.' For the devotee He is the Saguna Brahman, i.e., the God of infinite attributes. He manifests as a person with forms. He also hears prayers. Whatever prayers you utter are made to Him only. You are not Vedantins or Jnanins. You are Bhaktas. It does not matter much whether you accept the forms of God or not. It is enough to have the feeling that God is a person,—a person who hears our prayers, who creates, preserves and destroys the universe—a person of infinite power. He is easily attained through the path of Bhakti."

God-realisation.

A Brahmo devotee: Sir, can God be seen? If so, why do we not see Him?

Sri Ramakrishna: Yes, surely He can be seen. One can see His forms, as well as His formless expression. But how can I make you comprehend it?

Devotee: By what means can He be seen then?

Sri Ramakrishna: Can you weep for Him with intense longing of the heart? Men weep a jugful of tears for children, for wife, for money, etc. But who weeps for God? So long as a child remains engrossed in play with its toys, the mother engages herself in cooking or other household works. But when it finds no more satisfaction in toys, it throws them aside and weeps out with a loud cry for the mother. Then the mother can remain no longer in the kitchen; she drops down the rice pot perhaps from the hearth, and runs in hot haste to the child and takes it up in her lap.

Devotee: How is it then, Sir, that there is so much difference of opinion about the real nature of God? Some say that He has form, and some that He has none,—and again we hear of various forms of God from those that maintain that He is with form! Why all this confusion?

Sri Ramakrishna: As a devotee realises, so he opines; but in reality there is no confusion in it in the least. First you should attain God somehow, then He Himself will make everything clear to you. Never having made any move towards that quarter, how could you expect to get all knowledge about Him?

"Listen to a parable. Once a man went to a garden and saw there a small animal on a tree. He came and told the fact to another man, saying that he had seen a beautiful red creature on a certain tree there in the garden. The other man contested, 'Why, I too have seen the animal there, when I went to the garden; but it is not red, as you say; it is green.' There was present another man who bawled out, 'Nay, nay, I too have seen it, it is yellow.' There were others again, some of whom contended that it was white, some blue, some violet, and so on, and thus there arose a big quarrel. Subsequently they all went to the garden to verify the matter and saw a man sitting underneath the tree. On being asked, the man said, 'Well, Sir, I remain always beneath this tree, and I know the animal very well. What you all say differently about the animal is very true. It takes different colours at different times,—sometimes red, sometimes blue, sometimes yellow and so on. And sometimes I find it again devoid of all colours.'

"So only he who thinks of God always can know His real nature. He knows that He manifests Himself in various forms, in various ways, that He is with attributes and also He is the attributeless Absolute. Only the man who lives underneath the tree knows well that the chameleon puts on different colours at different times, and sometimes no colour at all: others only exhaust themselves in futile disputation.

"Kabir^* used to say, 'The formless Absolute is my father, and the God (in His relative aspect) with form is my mother."

"He appears exactly in the same form in which His devotee likes to see Him. Ah! Is He not of infinite grace towards His devotees? The Purana tells us that He assumed the form of Rama for the sake of His mighty devotee Hanuman.

"But form and all disappear before the ratiocination of the Vedanta. The final conclusion of that reasoning is that Brahman alone is true and the world of Name and Form is false. So long as you have the feeling that 'I am a devotee,' it becomes possible to comprehend God as a person and see His manifestation in various forms. But in the eye of reason, even the ego of the devotee must appear as a separating factor that has kept him at a slight distance from the Truth. Do you know why the form of Krishna or Kali appears three and a half cubits long?—Because of its distance. Even the sun appears small on account of its distance. Go near it and it would appear so big as beyond all your comprehension. And again, know you the reason why the form of Krishna or Kali is of dark blue hue?—that too on account of the distance. Just like the water of a big tank,—from a distance it appears green, blue or dark; but when you go near it and take some in your hand, you find it has no colour at all. The sky is blue at a distance, but has no colour near you.

^* The famous saint of Northern India, who was claimed as their own by the Hindus and Mohammedans alike.

"Hence I say, Brahman is without any attribute (Absolute) in the eye of the ratiocination of the Vedanta. What His real nature is cannot be expressed by word of mouth. But so long as you feel your individuality as real, the world also is real and real are the different forms of the Divine manifestation—real also is the perception of God's personality.

"Yours is the path of Bhakti. This is a very good, a very easy path. Who can know fully the infinite God? And where even is the necessity to know Him fully? Having received this precious human birth, ours is only to get Bhakti at the hallowed feet of the Lord. If a jugful of water can quench my thirst, where is the necessity for me to measure the quantity of water the tank contains? I get quite tipsy even with half a bottle of wine, why then the endeavour to measure how much wine the tavern possesses?

VI.

Sri Ramakrishna: In the Vedas, mention has been made of the different states of a Brahma-Jnanin. But the path of Jnana is the most difficult path; Jnana never comes so long as there is the least trace of worldly desires—the least attachment for Kamini-Kanchana. But this path is not for the Kali Yuga.

The seven planes of the mind.

"The Vedas speak of the seven planes where the mind dwells. When the mind broods over the worldly ways, its habitat is in linga,^* guhya^* and nabhi^*; in that state the mind loses all its higher visions,—it remains engrossed in the lust of woman and money.

"The fourth plane is the heart. When the mind rises to this plane, then comes the first awakening of the soul,—the man sees a kind of divine light everywhere, and makes an ejaculation of awe and wonder. At this stage the mind never stoops low to the worldly pleasures.

"The Kantha^* is the fifth plane of the mind. When the mind comes there, all ignorance or nescience disappears. Then one does not like to hear or speak of anything but God. If he finds anybody talking of things other than God, he at once leaves his presence.

"The sixth is in the forehead. When the mind reaches this plane, one witnesses Divine expression all day and night. Even then there remains a slight consciousness of 'I'. The man, having seen that unique manifestation, becomes mad with joy and rushes to embrace it, but cannot do so. It is like the light of a lamp: one feels as if one can touch the light, but no, the glass intervenes and prevents it.

^* Generative organ, Excretory organ, Navel, Throat.

"The head is the seventh plane, attaining which, man falls into Samadhi, and the Jnani realises Brahman. At that stage the body does not last for a long time. He remains always unconscious to the external world—he cannot eat anything; if milk is poured into his mouth, it trickles down outside. He dies after remaining twenty-one days in this plane.

"This is the most difficult path of the Brahma-Jnanis,—but it is not for you. Yours is the path of Bhakti. The path of Bhakti is a very good path, and very easy also.

Samadhi and the cessation of work.

"Once a man asked me, 'Well, Sir, can you quickly teach me Samadhi?' [Laughter.] After the attainment of Samadhi, all Karma drops off—Karma such as external worship, counting beads, etc., or the worldly activities. In the beginning there remains a great ado of work. But the more one proceeds towards God, the less becomes the ado, so much so that there eventually stops even the praying or singing the glorious names to the Lord. [To Sivanath.^*] So long as you do not come to the meeting, much talk about your name, attainments, qualities, etc., passes round; but the moment you come in all such talk ceases; everybody feels joy then at your sight; they simply cry out, 'Here comes Sivanath Babu,'—and there stops all further talk about you.

"When my present state (of life) came about I found one day, while going to perform tarpana in the Ganges, that all the water was falling down through the interstices of my fingers. Then I asked Haladhari with tears, 'Brother, what is this, what has happened to me?' Haladhari replied, 'It is called galita-hasta. After the realisation of God, the compulsion of all such duties like the performance of tarpana, etc., drops off.'

"In the Sankirtan^† they first sing, 'Nitai amar mata hati' (my Nitai is a mad elephant) 'Nitai amar mata hati;' and gradually, as the devotional mood deepens they simply utter, 'hati hati'; subsequently the word 'hati' is hushed within the mouth, and the Bhava-Samadhi is reached while uttering simply 'ha—' 'ha—.' Then a dead calm comes over the man who has been hitherto doing the Kirtana.

^* Sivanath Shastri of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.

^† Sankirtan in Bengal consists of the singing of devotional songs by a number of people in chorus to the accompaniment of a peculiar dance keeping time with the song.

‡ This is the first line of a devotional song in praise of Nitai, i. e., Nityananda, the first apostle of Lord Gauranga of Nadia. It means that Nitai is as great in strength as an elephant, and mad with God-love.

"As at a feast: in the beginning there is a great hue and cry. When the guests sit down to their leaves (plates), the noise subsides a little; still there remains the cry of the call for the dishes. Next, when they commence eating, you find three-fourths of the noise gone. When curd, the last course, is served, then there is practically no noise, only 'soop,' 'soop.' After the dinner, they all go to sleep, and a perfect silence reigns.

"So I say, in the beginning there is much fuss of Karma. But the more you proceed towards God, the less it becomes. Finally comes the complete renunciation of work and the attainment of Samadhi.

"When the daughter-in-law is in the family way, the lady of the house—the mother-in-law—curtails her work; at the tenth month she is given almost no work to do. When the child is born, there comes a complete relief from household work. The mother remains with the babe, while the other members of the family look after the work of the house.

God-realisa ion and the preaching of works.

"Generally, the body does not remain long after the attainment of Samadhi. But to some it remains for teaching the world, as it did, for instance, to Narada and others and also to such God-incarnations as Chaitanya. After the well is dug, some throw away all the spades and baskets, but others again keep them with the idea that they may be of some use to their neighbours. Such great souls are moved with pity by the sufferings of the world. They are not so selfish as to care only for their own attainment of the Jnanam.

"But there is a difference in manifestation of powers. Ordinary souls fear to take up the task of teaching the world. The worthless timber only manages to keep itself afloat somehow; no sooner does a bird sit on it than it goes down at once. But Narada, and others like him, are not like that. They are big logs of wood which not only float themselves, but carry many men and animals across the river.

VII.

(To Sivanath) "I say why do you dwell so much on the glories of God? I also asked that of Keshab Sen. When once Keshab and his party were there, I wanted to hear how they lectured. So they held a meeting on the terrace over the Ganges and Keshab delivered a sermon. He spoke nicely; I went into a trance. After the lecture I said to Keshab, 'Why do you say all this—"O God what beautiful flowers Thou hast made! Thou hast created the sky, the stars and the sea!" Those who are fond of splendour, themselves only like to speak of God's glories.

The glory vs. the sweetness of the Lord.

"When the ornaments of Radhakanta were stolen, Sejo Babu said, 'For shame, Lord! You could not save your own jewels.' I rebuked him, saying, 'What ideas are these of yours? He, of Whom Lakshmi herself is the handmaid, does He ever lack splendour? To you alone these jewels are precious things, but to God, they are mere clods of earth. Fie! never utter such mean things; what can you do to magnify His glory?' So I say, a man seeks the person whom he delights in; what is the use of knowing his whereabouts, or the number of his houses, gardens and servants? When I see Narendra, I forget everything else: never have I even unwittingly asked him where he lived, who or his father was, how many brothers he had. Be immersed in the sweetness of His bliss. Infinite is His creation and infinite is His glory. What is the use of our knowing all other things?"

And again flow streams of music from the Master's divinely sweet voice,

"Dive deep, dive deep, O mind, dive deep into the Ocean of Beauty. And search deeper and deeper to the bottom; only then can you find the great Pearl of Love!

"In thine own heart abides Brindavan, the home of Love; only seek and discover it! And for ever and ever will the Light of Wisdom illumine thy mind!

"Who is he that can steer his boat on land? Says Kabir "listen, O listen! meditate ever on the Guru's hallowed feet!'

Sri Ramakrishna: It is true, however, that when the devotee has realised God he wishes to witness His leela. When Ramachandra entered the city of the Rakshasas after the destruction of Ravana, the old Nikasha began to run away. Lakshmana said, 'How is this, Rama? This Nikasha is so aged and has suffered so much from the loss of her sons. Yet she is afraid of life and is running away.' Rama bade her have no fear and called her near him to learn why she was flying. Nikasha replied, 'O Rama, it is because I have lived so long that I could witness so much of your leela; I therefore desire to live longer, that I shall see still more of your 'play.' [Laughter.]

(To Sivanath) "I like to see you. And how can I live except in the society of the pure-souled? They indeed appear to me as friends of my previous birth!"

A Brahmo devotee inquires of the Master whether he believes in re-incarnation.

Sri Ramakrishna: Yes, they say there is re-incarnation. How can our narrow understanding conceive the ways of God? Many have admitted its truth; I therefore cannot disbelieve it. As Bhishma lay dying on his bed of arrows, he was found shedding tears. Sri Krishna and the Pandavas were standing by. Arjuna exclaimed, 'How strange, brother! Our grandfather who is Bhishma himself, truthful, wise, master of his self, and one amongst the eight Vasus^*, even he is overcome by Maya in his dying hour and is shedding tears.' When this was communicated to Bhishma, he replied, 'O Krishna, you know full well I am not crying for that. But when I think that the Pandavas, whom the Lord Himself is serving as a charioteer, have no end to their troubles and tribulations, then the thought that I could not in the least comprehend the ways of God so overpowers me that I cannot restrain my tears.'"

VIII.

Now begins the evening service of the Samaj. It is nearly 8-30 P.M. After about two hours' dark-ness, the moon has risen in the sky, and the whole garden is flooded with her clear silvery rays. The devotees are chanting the praise of the Lord in the prayer hall, and the Master, intoxicated with the love of God, has begun to dance in overflowing rapture, and the devotees have encircled him, singing and dancing to the time of khol and cymbals. An ecstatic madness has seized them all, as if they had seen God face to face! Loud rises the chant of the Lord's name; and verily the neighbours, as they hear the holy chant, bless the host of the festival from their inmost heart.

Singing is over: Sri Ramakrishna now bows low to the ground in salutation to the Mother of the universe, and as he salutes, he says, "Bhagavat, Bhakta, Bhagavan! Salutations at the feet of the Jnani! Salutations at the feet of the Bhakta! Salutations to the devotee who believes in God with form! Salutations to him who believes in God without form! Salutations to the ancient knowers of Brahman! Salutations to the modern knowers of the Brahmo Samaj!"

^* Vasus are a class of deities.

And Benimadhav entertains the Master and the devotees with various preparations of delicacies; and in great joy, the Master partakes of the Prasadam.