Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Vol. II
CHAPTER XVII.
THE DAKSHINESWAR TEMPLE,—MARCH, 1884.
I.
It is the 23rd of March, 1884. The Master has finished his noonday meal and is sitting in his well-known chamber with Rakhal, Ram and a few other devotees. He has not yet recovered his health; his hand is still bandaged.
But in spite of his illness, our Master's joy knows no bounds. Devotees daily flock to him from all quarters, and in great joy he talks to them of the Lord. Sometimes he sings His praise in over-flowing bliss, and again, to the eternal wonder of the beholders, he plunges into Samadhi and drinks deep of the ineffable bliss of Brahman!
Says Ram, "They are negotiating a marriage between Narendra and R. Mitra's daughter. Mitra has offered a large dowry."
Sri Ramakrishna: (smiling) Yes, it will perhaps come to something like that. And then perchance he will become a leader. Indeed, he would turn out something great whichever way he goes.
The Master does not allow the talk to proceed any further on Narendra.
Sri Ramakrishna: (to Ram) Well, why do I lose all patience when I am ill? I ask this man and that man how I shall be cured!
"The fact is, I must believe either all or none at all.
"It is He who has become the doctors, so I must believe them. But when I look upon them as human, I do not have any faith in them.
"Shambhu was terribly delirious, but Sarbadhikari said it was due to the strong medicine! Haladhari had his pulse examined by the doctor. He said, "Let me see your eyes,—oh, enlargement of the spleen!" But Haladhari declared that there was no such thing.
"Doctor Madhu gives nice medicines."
Ram: Medicine can do no good. It only helps Nature to a certain extent.
Sri Ramakrishna: If it be so, why then does opium stop motion?
Ram alludes to the passing away of Keshab Ch. Sen, saying, "You were quite right, Sir, when you said that the gardener uncovers the roots of the rose plant, if it is of a superior variety, that it may absorb the dew and grow vigorously. Has not the prophecy been fulfilled?"
Sri Ramakrishna; I don't know; I never ventured it. It is you who say so.
Ram: They wrote about you in their paper.
Sri Ramakrishna: To write? What is this? Why write now? I live by myself; I don't know anything.
"I asked Keshab Sen why he wrote about me. He said he did so that men might come to me.
"It is not the power of man that teaches men. Without the power Divine, Avidya can never be vanquished.
The power of God vs. the power of man.
"Once Hanuman Singh and a Punjabi Mussalman engaged in a wrestling competition. The Mussalman was a strong and stout man, and for fifteen days before the wrestling, and even on that day, fed lustily on meat and Ghee, and all thought he would win. But Hanuman Singh was clad in a dirty cloth; he ate sparingly for some days and repeated the name of the Lord, and on the day of the match he fasted completely, and all thought he was certain to be defeated.
"But it was he who won. And he who fed and feasted for fifteen days was vanquished!
"What can writing and publishing do? He who will teach mankind must get his power from God. And, again, if he does not completely renounce the world, he can never be the teacher of men.
"I am the greatest ignoramus!" [All laugh.]
A Devotee: Why then do the Veda and the Vedanta, and many things besides, come from your lips?
Sri Ramakrishna: (smilingly) Because in my childhood I could grasp whatever I heard the Sadhus read in the house of the Laha family; though it is true I misquote a little sometimes.
"If any Pandit speaks in Sanskrit, I can understand him; but I myself cannot speak it.
"To realise Him is the only end of life. When Arjuna aimed his arrow at the mark he said, 'I see nothing but the eye of the bird, I see neither the princes, nor the trees, nor even the bird itself.'
God's love waits not for scholarship.
"I am content if I have realised Him; what if I do not know Sanskrit?
"He bestows His mercy equally on all His children who yearn to know Him, be they learned, or ignorant. Suppose a father has a few children. Some of them can call him 'Papa'; others perhaps can say only 'Ba' or 'Pa' and cannot pronounce the whole word. But will the father love the latter less than the former? He knows that they are mere infants and cannot distinctly call him 'father.' The father, indeed, loves them all in equal measure.
"Since this accident to my hand, a great change has come over me,—my mind is greatly tending towards 'Naralila'. He Himself is sporting as human beings!
"If we can worship Him in earthen images, can we not worship Him in human beings?
Naralila,
"Once a merchant suffered shipwreck near the coast of Ceylon and floated to its shore. When, by the orders of Bibhishana, the man was brought before him, Bibhishana exclaimed, 'Ah, he is the very image of my Ramachandra,—the same human form!' and lost himself in exceeding joy. He then adorned him with precious robes and jewels and offered him worship.
"I cannot tell you how I enjoyed the story when I first heard it.
"On inquiring of him Vaishnava Charan once told me that if any one thinks of his beloved as God Himself, his mind will speedily be drawn towards God. 'Whom dost thou love?' 'I love so-and-so.' 'Then know him to be thy God.' When I went to those parts*, I said, 'I do not hold these opinions. Mine is the filial attitude.'
"I found that those people talk big things. but lead immoral lives. The women asked me if they would not have salvation. I said, 'Yes, you may have salvation if you remain faithful to a single man as your God; but not if you live with five men.'"†
Ram: Kedar Babu, it seems, has been to the 'Kartabhajas.'
* That is, Shyam Bazar, near Kamarpukur.
† The reference is to certain minor sects of Vaishnavism called Kartabhaja, Navarasik, etc., who teach that men and women should live together in the relation of love, looking upon each other as divine, thereby idealising their love, and eventually realising it as the very love of God. The doctrine is undoubtedly very difficult of realisation, and moral lapses amongst its adherents are consequently not to be wondered at. For fuller information regarding these sects and Vaishnava Charan, see p. 217. Vol. II. Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master.
Sri Ramakrishna: He gathers honey from various flowers!
"'He indeed is my Istam,'—if you can have this perfect faith you will realise Him, you will see Him.
"Men of previous generations had very strong faith. Oh, how tremendous was the faith of Haladhari's father! He was going to his daughter's place when he found some very nice flowers and Bilwa leaves growing by the roadside. He gathered them and came all the way back to his house, nearly five miles, to worship the Deity.
"An opera party was acting the story of Rama. Kaikeyi asked Rama to retire to the forests. When Haladhari's father, who was amongst the audience, heard this, he sprang up, and coming forward to him who was acting the part of Kaikeyi, cried out, 'You evil thing!' and tried to burn his face with a lamp.
"At the time of bathing he would meditate, reciting the invocation, 'I meditate on Thee, O red-hued Lord with Thy four faces!' and his face would be bathed in tears!
"When my father used to pass along the road with his wooden sandals on, all the shopkeepers would stand up and say, 'There he comes!'
"When he bathed in the waters of the Haldarpukur, none dared to bathe there at that time. They would wait to know if he had finished his bath.
"He would repeat, 'Raghuvir!' 'Raghuvir!' and his chest would become red.
"This occurred to me also at Brindavan when I saw the cattle returning from their pasture. I was filled with ecstasy and my body became red-coloured.
"Very strong indeed was the faith of men in those days. It is even said that the Divine Mother danced in the form of Kali while the Sadhaka clapped his hands in tune."
A 'Hatha Yogi' has been staying in the hut at Panchavati. He has already secured an ardent devotee in Rama Prasanna, son of Krishna Kishore of Ariadah. The Yogi requires twenty-five rupees monthly for opium and milk. Rama Prasanna therefore has asked the Master to recommend the Yogi to his visitors that they may subscribe something.
The Master says to a few devotees, "Go to the Hatha Yogi at Panchavati and see what sort of man he is."
II.
Enters 'Thakur Dada' with a few friends and makes his obeisance to the Master. He is an inhabitant of Baranagore, about twenty-five years old. His father was a Sanskrit scholar, and he himself is practising 'Kathakata,' the art of telling Scriptural stories. He once left the world under the impulse of religion, but the responsibilities of the family have again fallen on his shoulders.
Sri Ramakrishna: Have you come on foot? Where do you come from?
Dada: Yes, Sir, I came from Baranagore.
Sri Ramakrishna: Have you come here on any business?
Dada: I have come to pay my respects to your holiness. I pray to Him, yet sometimes I feel very restless,—why is it so? For some days I feel great joy, but again there comes a period of great restlessness.
The spiritual mechanic.
Sri Ramakrishna: I see, it is not properly fitting. It will be a nice machine if the mechanic properly fixes the teeth of the wheels. As it is, there is obstruction somewhere.
Dada: Sir, it is exactly as you say.
Sri Ramakrishna: Have you been initiated?
Dada: Yes, Sir, I have.
Sri Ramakrishna: Do you believe in the Mantram? . . . . . .
A friend of 'Thakur Dada' says that he (Dada) can sing well. The Master says, "Why not sing a little?"
Dada sings:
"I shall become a Yogi. I'll dwell in Love's mountain cave, and beside the stream of Thy Bliss I shall lose myself in Thy communion.
"I shall gather the fruits of Truth and appease my hunger for Knowledge with them. And I shall gather the flowers of Dispassion, and lay them at Thy blessed feet.
"No more in the loathsome 'well' shall I seek for drink to quench life's thirsting void. In the waters of Thy Peace I shall fill the cup of my heart.
"Sometimes again, having drunk deep of Thy nector, I'll climb the summit of Ecstasy, and laugh and cry and dance and sing. I shall become a Yogi. I'll dwell in Love's mountain cave."
Sri Ramakrishna: Ah, a nice song! 'Stream of Thy Bliss,' 'fruits of Truth,' 'laugh and cry and dance and sing.'
"Your song appears so sweet to me,—for what more should you care?
"Joy and woe, pleasure and pain, these have to be enjoyed and suffered, so long as you live in the world; there must be a little peacelessness. You cannot avoid a little staining if you dwell in a sooty room."
Dada: Now instruct me, Sir, what I am to do.
Sri Ramakrishna: Every morning and evening take the name of the Lord, clapping your hands to keep time, and crying 'Haribol,' 'Haribol.'
"And come here once again,—first let my hand be cured a bit."
Mahimacharan comes in and salutes, the Master. The Master tells him, "Ah, what a nice song he has sung to me! (To Dada) Just sing it again, will you?"
And Dada complies, singing,
"I shall become a Yogi, I'll dwell in Love's mountain cave, etc."
When the singing is over, the Master asks Mahimacharan to recite certain stanzas on God-Devotion. He quotes them from 'Narada Pancharatra,' reciting:
"If Hari be worshipped, what need is there for Tapasya? What purpose will Tapasya serve, if Hari be not worshipped? If Hari be realised within and without, then what need is there for Tapasya? Of what avail will one's Tapasya be, if Hari be not realised within and without?"
Sri Ramakrishna: Recite that also,—'Get from Him the mature Hari Bhakti.'
Mahimacharan continues, "Cease, O Brahmin, cease, what will you gain by Tapasya? My child, go ere long to Sankara*, the Ocean of Knowledge, and get from Him the mature Hari Bhakti, as taught by Sri Vaishnava, that will sever like an axe the strong bonds of Samsara."
Sri Ramakrishna: Sankara will grant Hari Bhakti.
Mahima: 'Siva is ever free from bondage.'
Sri Ramakrishna: Shyness, hatred, fear, hesitation,—these are bondages; what do you say?
Mahima: Yes, Sir. And to try to conceal, to blush before praise, these too.
Signs of Knowledge.
Sri Ramakrishna: There are two signs of knowledge. The first is 'an unshakable mind.' Even the keenest sorrows and sufferings, the greatest dangers and calamities, cannot affect him, like unto the anvil in the smithy, receiving constant hammer blows. The second is 'manliness'—strong determination. 'Lust and anger are harmful? This moment I shake them off.' If a tortoise once draws its legs within, it will never never thrust them out, even though you cut it into four pieces.
* Siva.
"(To Thakur Dada). There are two sorts of Vairagya, intense and feeble. The feeble dispassion is a slow process, dragging on half-heartedly. But the intense dispassion is like the edge of a sharp razor, easily cutting the bonds of Maya.
"There was a certain farmer who laboured in vain for days to let water into his field from a tank, because he had no determination. But there was another, who, after working a few days, resolved that he must bring water that very day; and he put aside all thought of bath and meal, and worked all the day long till, by evening, the water flowed in murmuringly, and his joy knew no bounds. Then he went home and called his wife, saying, 'Bring oil, now I'll have my bath,' and he bathed and ate and lay down to sleep with a peaceful mind.
Three sorts of Vairagya.
"A certain wife said to her husband, 'So and so has conceived a great dispassion for the world. But you cannot do anything. He has sixteen wives and he is renouncing them one by one.' The husband with towel on his shoulders, was going to bathe. He said, 'You silly! He will never give up; do you think there can be renunciation by instalments? I can renounce! Look here, I go!' And he did not wait to settle his home affair; he left his house just as he was, towel and all, and went away. And this indeed is intense dispassion!
"There is another sort of dispassion called 'the monkey dispassion.' Harrowed by vexations and distresses at home, one sometimes puts on the Gerua cloth and goes away to Benares; and for a long time there is no news about him. Then comes a letter from him, saying, 'Don't you worry about me; I have secured employment here.'
"The vexations of the world are inevitable. The wife perhaps is disobedient; the monthly salary may be barely twenty rupees; he perchance cannot afford to celebrate his child's 'Annaprasana' ceremony or to properly educate his children; the house is dilapidated,—the roof is leaky, and he has no money to pay for its repair!
"That is why when any boys come here, I ask them whom they have got at home. (To Mahima) What is the need of your giving up the world? How the Sadhus suffer! A certain wife told her husband, 'You want to renounce the world? Why? You will have to beg your food then from eight homes; here you get it at one home,—that is much better.'
Advantages of the householder life
"Sadhus have sometimes to make a detour of six miles in search of 'Sadabrata*'. I have noted that Sadhus returning from their pilgrimage to Jagannatha have to leave the direct pathway to seek for alms.
"This is very nice,—to fight from within the fort. There are many difficulties when fighting in an open field,—many dangers; there is risk of being shot down.
"But you should repair into the solitude for a time and return to the world only after attaining Knowledge. Janaka lived in the world after having achieved Illumination. And what does it matter where you live, when you have gained Knowledge?"
Mahima: Sir, why is man attached to sense-objects?
Sri Ramakrishna: It is because man lives amongst them without having realising the Lord beforehand. Man never suffers delusion after he has realised Him.
"If the moth can once catch the glimpse of light, it will never more remain content with darkness.
"To realise Him, one must practise absolute continence.
"Shukadeva was 'Urdharetah†'; he never had any emission of semen.
* A gift of food-articles to mendicants and wayfarers, as an act of merit.
† 'Urdharetah' is one whose semen has never come downwards; i. e., a man of complete and unbroken continence.
God-vision and continence.
"There is another class called 'Dhairyaretah*'. They had the discharge of semen formerly, but now they are practising absolute continence. If a man remains 'Dhairyaretah' continually for twelve years, he acquires a superhuman power. A new nerve is developed in him; it is called the 'nerve of intelligence', and he can remember everything and know everything.
"Loss of semen impairs strength. But the semen that is lost in nocturnal emission is not harmful; that is due to diet. What remains is sufficient. But never for all that should one know any woman. The semen that remains after all this discharge is preserved in a refined condition. The Lahas kept molasses in jars with holes at their bottoms. After one year it was found that the molasses had crystallized into sugar-candy and the watery portion had leaked out through the holes.
"The Sannyasin must renounce woman completely. But if you are already engrossed, you need not mind. The Sannyasin must not see even the picture of a woman. But the ordinary man cannot be so strict. Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, nee,—it is not possible to keep your voice in the pitch of nee for a long time.
The rigors of a Sannyasin's life.
"Seminal discharge is extremely injurious to Sannyasins. They, therefore, must always be on their guard that they may not see the form of woman. They must avoid the proximity of even a devout woman. . . . . . . .
* 'Dhairyaretah' is explained in the next sentence.
"The Sannyasin may have full control over his senses, but, as an example to mankind, he must desist from conversing with woman: no, even if she is a Bhakta, he must not talk long with her.
"The Sannyasin observes an absolute fast on the Ekadashi*. There are two other kinds of Ekadashi; you may observe it by taking either fruits and vegetables, or luchi† and curry. [Laughter.] In the latter case, you may also have a few breads soaked in milk. [Laughter.]
"(Smilingly) You cannot observe the Ekadashi of the absolute fasting. I once found Krishnakishore observing his Ekadashi with luchi and curry. I said to Hridu, 'Hridu, I also want to observe Krishnakishore's Ekadashi.' [Laughter.] And so I did one day,—I ate my fill. I could not take anything next day." [All laugh.]
Those who went to the Hatha Yogi in the Panchavati have come back. The Master asks them, "Halloo, how did you find him? Did he not measure you with a tape?"
The Master finds that few are willing to pay anything to the Hatha Yogi. He says,
* The fast observed on the eleventh day of every fortnight.
† Luchi is a sort of bread made of flour and fried in clarified butter.
"The moment you have to pay anything to a Sadhu you begin to dislike him. Rajendra Mitra, drawing a salary of eight hundred rupees came here on his return from the Kumbha Mela† at Allahabad. I asked him, 'Tell me, how did you find the Sadhus at the Mela?' He replied, 'I did not find any very great Sadhu there. And the one I found accepted money.'
"So I think, if nobody would pay anything to the Sadhu, how would he maintain himself? None has to pay anything here, so they all come. And I say to myself, 'Ah, they love money so much,—let them have it!'"
The Master is enjoying a short rest. One of the devotees is sitting at the lower end of the small cot, shampooing the Master's sacred feet. The Master tells him in a low voice, "He that is formless, even He has form. His form-aspect also must be admitted. By constant meditation on the form of Kali, the Sadhaka does indeed realise Him in the Kali form. He next finds that form merging in the Undivided Absolute. The Akhanda Sachchidananda and Kali,—they are indeed the same Entity."
III.
The Master is sitting in the western circular porch, talking with Mahimacharan and other devotees about the Hatha Yogi. Rama Prasanna is the son of a devotee: the Master therefore loves him.
† It is a gathering of Hindu Sadhus, in which millions of men and women assemble from all India, held every twelve years in certain fixed places.
Sri Ramakrishna: Rama Prasanna is always roaming about aimlessly. The other day he came here, but he did not utter a single word; he remained closing his nostrils with his fingers, performing Pranayama. I offered him some refreshments: he refused them. On another occasion, I called him to me,—he sat down folding one leg on the other, pointing if towards 'Captain*'. I shed tears at his mother's suffering.
"He asked me to tell you about the Hatha Yogi,—he needs six and a half annas daily. But he himself won't request it of you."
Mahima: And who'll heed him even if he requests? [The Master and others laugh.]
The Master comes back into his room and sits down on the cot. Sj. Mani Sen of the Peneti Temple and some of his friends have come to visit the Master. One of the friends is a doctor. Mani sen inquires about the Master's hand.
The Master is under the treatment of Dr. Pratap Ch. Mazumdar. But the doctor friend of Sj. Sen does not approve of his prescription. The Master says, "He is no fool; why do you talk like that?"
It is not yet evening. Mani is sitting on a small mat near the Master's cot. The Master remarks to him, on hearing Mahimacharan hotly discussing the Shastras with the doctor friend of Mani Sen. "There, he is delivering himself," says the Master, "It is all Rajas. Rajas incites a man to show his learning and to lecture. But Sattwa makes him introspective and unobtrusive. But he is a very nice man,—so enthusiastic in the words of God!"
* 'Captain' is the epithet given by Sri Ramakrishna to Sj. Biswanath Upadhyay, Agent of the Nepal Government in Calcutta.
When Mani Sen and his friends have departed, the Master says of the doctor, "I know him. I said of him to Jadu Mallik, 'This your doctor is worthless, more dull-witted than doctor so-and-so.'"
Adhar comes in and salutes the Master and sits beside M. Sj. Adhar Sen is a Deputy Magistrate; he lives at Benetola in the Sova Bazar Section of Calcutta and is about thirty years old. For a long time he had been wont to come to Dakshineswar every evening after his day's work. But he has been absent for the last few evenings.
Sri Ramakrishna: Halloo, why did you not come all these days?
Adhar: Sir, I was quite overwhelmed with work. I had to attend a meeting of the School Committee and various other meetings.
Sri Ramakrishna: So you completely lost yourself in schools and meetings!
Adhar: Yes, Sir; everything was forgotten. What is the present condition of your hand?
Sri Ramakrishna: Just see, it is not yet cured. I have been taking Pratap's medicine.
Think of God alone.
After a short pause, the Master suddenly speaks to Adhar: "Look here, all these things are transitory; these meetings and schools—these are all evanescent. God alone is real and everything else is unreal. And to His worship alone, you should devote your whole heart."
Adhar remains silent.
Sri Ramakrishna: All these indeed is transient! This body has only a momentary existence, and one must make haste to worship and realise Him.
"You need not renounce everything completely. Live in the world like the tortoise. The tortoise itself lives in the water, but keeps its eggs on land and its whole mind dwells on them as they lie there.
"'Captain' has developed a nice character. When he sits to worship, he looks just like a Rishi. He performs the Aratrikam by burning camphor, and recites beautiful invocations. And when he finishes his worship, his eyes look as though they had been bitten by ants. And he always reads the Gita and the Bhagavatam.
"I once spoke a few English words before him. He became angry and said, 'The English-educated people are unholy.'"
A short while after, Adhar entreats the Master saying, "It is a long time since you have been to our house. The drawing-room smells stuffy and everything is, as it were, steeped in darkness."
These words of the devotee fill the Master with an exceeding love, and suddenly standing up, he touches Adhar and M. on the head and heart and blesses them. And with great affection, he says, "I see you as Narayana Himself! You are verily my own!"
Mahimacharan returns to the Master's room and squats on the floor.
Sri Ramakrishna: (to Mahima) It is all true what you then said about the 'Dhairyareta'. Unless one practises continence, one cannot assimilate these teachings. A man once asked Chaitanyadeva, 'You are instructing them so carefully, why do they not make any progress?' He replied, 'They waste everything by intercourse with women; they cannot retain my teachings.' If you keep water in a leaky jar all water will go out by and by.
Mahimacharan and other devotees remain silent for sometime. Then he says to the Master, "Sir, pray to God for our sake that He may grant us the needed strength!"
Sri Ramakrishna: Be still on your guard! True, it is the flood of the rains,—very hard to be stemmed. But much water has already flowed out; if you build the dam now, it will stand.