← The Gospel of Swami RamdasHis talks, as recorded by Swami Satchidananda

1951-08-15

Chapter 3

Anandashram, August 15, 1951

21. Sadhana Bhakti and Sadhya Bhakti

It was 7 a.m. Papa was sitting on his chair in the Bhajan-hall near the radio. Some devotees were sitting in front of him. When S entered the hall, Papa was holding in his hand the book, ‘Stories of Great Bhaktas’, in Hindi. As he opened the book, the words Bhakti and Sadhya Bhakti caught his eyes. In the course of the talk that followed he observed:

"The devotee at first aspires to realise God. He tries to think of Him always. He repeats His name. For him God is somewhere in the heavens, or in temples, or he meditates on Him as residing in his own heart. Finally, by the intensity of his aspiration and devotion, his mind gradually becomes pure and he gets Darshan of God in the form in which he has been conceiving of Him. The devotee realises finally his oneness with Him. Bhakti, up to this stage, can be termed Sadhana bhakti.

"Even after this realisation of God, i.e., after having realised his oneness with Him, the devotee still desires to maintain a sort of relationship with God as between mother and child, master and servant, and so on. He subsequently sees his Beloved everywhere. Nothing else exists for him but his Beloved. He is one with the Beloved and at the same time he is also His child, or servant, or friend and loves Him as such. This love of the devotee for his Beloved does not arise out of desire for anything, not even for any spiritual attainment. This is love for love's sake, for the pure joy of love.

"During his period of sadhana the devotee considered his God as different from the universe, and so he rejected the universe as something unreal. Now that he sees the whole universe as the very manifestation of God, his Beloved, there is nothing for him to reject. So this love for God, which persists even after realising His presence everywhere, is known as Sadhya bhakti or parabhakti.

"Some jnanis do not accept this stage of bhakti. Having realised their oneness with God, they do not go beyond it and see the whole universe as His very manifestation. They consider the world as mere illusion, as non-existent.

"When Ramdas was wandering in ochre robes, whenever he was asked to talk, he talked about bhakti and parabhakti. Some of his sannyasi companions naturally did not subscribe to his views and told Ramdas that his dress, name and talk were inconsistent with each other. He was wearing ochre clothes, but was named simply Ramdas, which was not proper. He should either wear white clothes or change his name to one ending in ananda or some other suffix usually adopted by sannyasins. They further asked how, if he were a sannyasi, he could talk about parabhakti. Ramdas replied that Ram gave him the dress, gave him the name and made him talk on parabhakti, and that until He commanded him to change, he would not do so."

22. Contemplation leads to Oneness with God – Take Ram Nam

The Sri Krishna Vidyalaya students and teachers were celebrating the Independence Day. Papa went to the Vidyalaya at 9 a.m., witnessed the flag-hoisting ceremony, watched the distribution of sweets to the children and saw them start on a procession. He returned to the ashram about 10.30 a.m.

In the afternoon, A Subramania Iyer, Natverlal Shah and S were with Papa in the bhajan-hall. Subramania Iyer asked Papa to explain a paragraph in ‘The Vision’, the ashram magazine, relating to silent meditation.

Papa: Why do you want to discuss all these things? You had better take Ram Nam constantly. These articles are for those who do not meet Ramdas often. You are here always and have heard about it so often. Still Ramdas will tell you. When the mind is contemplating God, thought waves come one by one and subside in it. In between the merging of one thought wave and the rising of another, there is a period of stillness, a state of complete absence of thought. This is pure consciousness. The aim of the aspirant is to prolong the period of this stillness and ultimately have it always. This perfect stillness is the state of samadhi.

When you sit still, silent and serene, with all your senses at rest, in the awareness of your divine self, you feel that you are not an individual tied down to the desires of the flesh, but a purified and enlightened being. You feel that you are the infinite, not a finite being. Now you experience your oneness with God – the Absolute Existence. This experience comes to you after you have remained in a state of perfect stillness, which means samadhi. You have now achieved a state which has been yours from time immemorial, but of which you have been ignorant till now.

Go on repeating Ram Nam continuously, without any break. So long as you have desires for worldly objects and sense-enjoyments, or have worries about mundane matters, you cannot achieve this stillness and have real joy. You should completely surrender everything to God first. Leave off your worries and feel light and free. By proper discrimination between the real and the unreal, give up the desire for worldly enjoyments which are but ephemeral. The more you fill your mind with God, the less will be its desire for sense-pleasures. Bhakti intensifies vairagya. Strenuous effort and regular practice will gradually fill the mind completely with God and there will be no chance for worldly thoughts or desires to enter it. Now you experience immeasurable joy and the moment you utter God's name you go into ecstasy.

Pointing to Sri Ramakrishna's picture on the wall, he continued: "He was often in that state; it is called bhavasamadhi."

Subramania Iyer: What kind of repetition of God's name is advised, silent or loud?

Papa: Silent repetition is of course more efficacious. But it is very difficult where there are external disturbances. It needs perfect solitude. For one who is used to mental repetition of Ram Nam, the moment he starts repeating it, the mind becomes perfectly still.

23. A Rubbish Heap – Mataji's Reflections

After some time Papa went out on his usual evening rounds. On his return at about 5 o'clock, he saw Sadhu Balaram, who had arrived only a few minutes back, waiting for him near the gate. Papa greeted him, loudly exclaiming; "Oh Balaram, you have grown stout! How are you? When did you come?"

Balaram fell prostrate at Papa's feet and said: "Papa, I had been to Badri. I am all right."

Papa: Are you still on diet?

Balaram: Yes, Papa.

Papa: All right, go, have your bath and take some food.

It was about 6 p.m. The dinner-bell had gone. The ashramites and visitors were going one by one to the dining-hall, Mataji was taking her round within the ashram compound. S met her near the car-shed. She was looking at the open space outside the shed, where various articles like pieces of firewood, dry leaves and rubbish were lying pell-mell, making the place rather untidy. Pointing that to S Mataji remarked: "See, this is just like our human body. However well and often we may clean it, it becomes dirty again. This place has been cleaned so very often. Still, see how soon rubbish has accumulated here!"

After a pause, she picked up the threads:

"I have a very bad habit. Wherever I go, I see the faults first. In the ashram when I walk round, the many mistakes and irregularities easily catch my sight. Again, I feel I am responsible for all such defects and shortcomings in the ashram. It is not that we have a dearth of workers here. We have forty workers and they are not idle. If, instead of myself, somebody else like our head-master were to get work out of them, things will be done much better, even with a lesser number."

August 16, 1951

24. On Conducting an Ashram

It was 7 a.m. Papa was in the bhajan-hall. Sitting in front of him were a few devotees including Shankar Rao Dhamre (of Shurdi) and Prem Singh, both of Sholapur district, who had recently come. Shankar Rao Dhamre had been thinking seriously of building a small ashram in his land at Shurdi, near Osmanabad. He had written to Papa about it before he came here and Papa had given him permission to do so. The talk now turned on that subject. Papa told him again as follows:

"When the ashram is ready, it may be named ‘Anandashram, Shurdi’. The ashram should be used only for holding satsang, bhajans, kirtans, reading and exposition of scriptures, etc. It should never be used for any worldly purpose like conducting marriages and other social functions. When mahatmas happen to visit your place or near about, invite them to the ashram and hold satsang. Have also regular bhajans there."

Prem Singh then suggested that Janardan Pant Kulkarni might be asked to stay in the ashram to look after the programmes and conduct classes in various religious subjects. Janardan Pant was one of the oldest devotees of Papa and was also a man of learning. Papa approved the suggestion, saying: "Yes, you can ask Janardan Pant to come and stay there. But he should not stay there with his family. The latter may stay in the village, not in the ashram. Please see also that no women are allowed to stay in the ashram at nights. You should be very strict in this matter. Further, do not allow gossipers to stay there. Whoever stays in the ashram must spend most of the time in kirtans and japa. If Janardan Pant comes there, you may entrust all internal matters to him. You need look after only the general management. If anybody offers help in the form of cash or kind, you may accept them and keep correct accounts of receipts and expenses. After the ashram is well-established Ramdas will surely visit the place. One more point to be noted is that you should never press people to do any fixed number of japa within a fixed time. They should be left free in the matter. They should have full joy in doing the japa. Compulsion in this matter is no good. Write to Ramdas every month as to how things are going on there."

From 8 a.m. Papa was busy attending to correspondence. Upendra Bhatt, a devotee of Rajkot, and recently returned from a visit to Russia. He had written to Papa giving his impressions of that country. Papa replied to him as below:

"After all, a few days' stay can give one only a superficial knowledge of a large country like Russia. The Russians seem to have successfully solved the problem of unemployment and food. But above all, what the soul of man hungers for is the inner spiritual peace. This is the outcome of communion with the divine source of our existence. When this is absent, all the material comforts of life cannot bring real happiness and peace.

"Soon, India will rise in all her glory. Then she will be not only spiritually great, but will have material wealth also in plenty. India has a great destiny to fulfil in the world. Her chief heritage is spiritual power and glory. Her children have only to be awakened and made conscious of this rich inheritance. Our rishis and avatars have left their indelible impress upon us all. They belong to all ages and climes. Our outlook also must be universal."

It was past 8 p.m. Bhajan was just over. Papa was sitting in the bhajan-hall. Mataji came and sat near Papa, who then took out a few letters in Marathi from his letter bag and had them read out to her by an ashramite. Papa was daily reading from the ‘Jnaneshwari Gita’, or ‘the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’, or some such book, explaining to the mothers of the ashram the meaning in Konkani. But due to pressure of work, the mothers were not able to attend for a few days, and the reading had to be suspended. Getting from the library ‘Srimad Bhagavata’ in Kannada Papa resumed the reading session.

25. The Source of Donations

TP of Jhansi, a pensioner and an old devotee of Papa, had recently been in trouble on account of a criminal case filed against him. He was reported to be very miserly. He had been doing private banking business, lending money on security at high rate of interest, and by that means earning a good deal of money. When Papa went to Jhansi and stayed with him, people used to ask him, ‘How is that you, a saint, happen to be the guest of such a miser who is an exacting money-lender?' At this question, Papa said, he would laugh, so also TP. Six or seven months ago TP lent some money on the security of two or three bicycles. It was later found that the bicycles were stolen properties and the police arrested him for possessing them. He was in police lock-up for a few days. He had now been released on bail and the case was still going on. He was asking for blessings from Papa. There was a postcard from him and Papa was talking about it to Mataji.

Mataji: Most of the money we receive is earned by the donors not in a proper and good way, some in the blackmarket, some by heavy interest and some by exploiting the poor in other ways.

Papa: May be. But if we decide not to have anything to do with things which have come such sources, Ramdas can tell you, everybody here will have to starve. First you have to stop getting the provisions. The provision merchant is a pucca blackmarketeer, and even the hay we purchase for cattle passes through the blackmarket.

Mataji did not wish to continue the talk, and went away.

S: Papa, it is true we cannot stop blackmarketing. But at least Papa's devotees should not engage themselves in it.

Papa: Who is a devotee and who is not a devotee? Even the provision merchant claims to be a devotee. The argument of these people is that they are children and they consider God as mother. The children get themselves dirty by rolling in the filth of maya and go the mother. Is it not the mother's duty to clean the children? When She makes them play in filth, it is Her duty to clean them also.

S: The mother once or twice tolerates, but surely the third time gives such a beating that the child never again gets near filth.

There was a peal of laughter.

Papa: Perhaps TP is getting the beating now – very severe beating too.

August 18, 1951

26. Sannyas

7.30 a.m. Papa was sitting in the ashram hall tuning the radio. A Sadhu sitting in front of him requested Papa to initiate him into the order of sannyas, to which Papa replied: "No. Ramdas does not initiate anybody into sannyas. He himself was not initiated by any one. He got the call from within and in obedience to that call, he took sannyas himself. His advice to all who come to him is that they may themselves take sannyas similarly, when they feel strongly the call from within."

9.30 a.m. Papa went to see the new hospital building under construction. On the way, his foot struck against a sharp stone and received a small cut. S informed Mataji about it and requested Ashram hospital nurse, Saraswati, to apply some medicine. Later on, when Papa was about to rest, S enquired about the cut, and Papa said: "You see, you asked Saraswati to apply the medicine; when Ramdas came out of the bathroom she asked Ramdas to show her where the injury was. Ramdas was unable to find out on which leg it was – left or right. She examined both the legs and found that it was on the left leg and applied the medicine."

In the afternoon, Papa was reading the ‘Kathopanishad’ by himself. When S went near him, Papa said: "Many sages lived in our country ages ago without taking formal sannyas. Vasishta, Janaka and others were such jnanis. Sannyas, no doubt, helps spiritual progress. But it should be remembered that sannyas is not the end. One has to go beyond sannyas."

27. Evil, the Creation of the Ignorant Mind

Continuing, he said: "The question is generally asked why there should be so much evil in the world when there is God, who is all love and compassion. But Ramdas does not see evil anywhere. Everywhere it is He and nothing but He. Everything is done by Him alone and He does everything only for good. The so-called evil is not evil. Good cannot come out of evil. Good comes only out of good. So there is no evil in the world. Evil is only the creation of the ignorant mind.

"The jnanis say that the whole world is but the creation of the mind. For one whose mind is absolutely still, the world does not exist. But this is the view of the jnanis. The bhaktas do not care whether the world is real or otherwise. Whatever they see they take as nothing but the manifestation of their Beloved Lord."

“Coming back to the point that good alone comes out of even the so-called evil, let us look at our own present-day national affairs. What Pakistan does for India may apparently seem to be a great evil. But you will see in course of time, that good alone will come out of it. By the threats of war that Pakistan is holding out, all parties and communities in India are coming closer and closer together. Thus strong and powerful national unity is developed here. So Pakistan's threats cannot be considered as evil. It is really good, though it may apparently look otherwise. In spite of the war-cries in Pakistan, Ramdas does not think that there will be a war between Pakistan and India. There cannot be."

28. Mataji – a Pucca Communist

In the evening, Papa went out to see the houses which had been newly built by the ashram for the workers. Ramkishor and S followed him. Two houses were ready for occupation. They looked nice, well-planned and well-finished. They were quite spacious with proper arrangements for kitchen, store-room, bath, etc. Papa remarked that they were very good. He said: "Mataji has built bungalows for the workers. But we do not know how well they will be used and kept by them. She wants to build houses for all the workers. What do you think of her? Her’s is pucca communism without its evils. She believes in giving equal treatment and equal comforts to all, without making any distinction of caste, creed, wealth or social position and she puts her ideal into practice. Let her have her own way."

In those days, to avoid exposure to cold, a piece of flannel used to be wound round Papa's waist in the evening. At 5.30 p.m. seeing the flannel lying near him on the stool, S asked, "Papa, have you abandoned this?"

Papa: Yes, these upadhis have to be given up, one by one. Why, not only these – finally this body also will be abandoned. So let us see if Ramdas can manage without the flannel today.

Just before bedtime S gave Papa, as usual, a piece of sugar candy, when Papa asked: "Who brought this sugar candy? Was it the mother who came this evening?" S answered, "Yes". Then Papa said: "She is, indeed, a good mother. Let her come again and again. When she came, Ramdas was looking to see if she had anything with her. He was so happy when she took out a packet and gave Ramdas a piece of sugar candy."

At this there was loud laughter among the devotees present.

When Papa lay down on the bed, Motiben and S began to massage his body. Motiben remarked: "Nowadays, Papa is very careful in adjusting the quantity of his food. He is always hesitating to eat, perhaps he is afraid of the weighing machine." Papa's weight was being taken every Monday. Those few weeks his weight had been on the increase and he was trying to bring it down to one hundred and fifteen pounds as suggested by doctors.

Papa: This weighing business and urine test (for sugar on account of diabetic trouble) should be stopped! Mahatma Gandhi has said that we should take food like medicine. We have to adjust our daily food in such a way that we take only what is required.

29. Mataji's Old Relations – New Perspective

Mataji was in the room in the bhajan-hall. Prem Singh's wife and her sister, who had come from Sholapur, requested her to show them the ashram photo albums. So Mataji took all the albums out and began showing them one by one. The sisters were eagerly looking at and questioning Mataji about the photographs. In one of the albums there was a picture taken in Bombay in 1949, of Mataji with her eldest son Ganesh, his daughter and Mataji's two brothers. When S pointed out to that photo and asked if it was not Ganesh, the attention of the sisters too was drawn to it. Then they asked Mataji to explain who they all were in that picture. In the same room there was a photograph on the wall, taken many year ago, of Mataji and her husband. Pointing to that she said: "Look at the woman sitting there. This (showing Ganesh's picture in the album) is that woman's son. The other two in this picture (her brothers) are this boy's uncles." S had a hearty laugh over the way Mataji was describing her own son and brothers to the ladies. Looking at S Mataji said, "Some people seem to think that I am now keeping Ganesh and Narayan at a distance. That is wrong. What difference is there to me now between them and others? I would never keep them away. They are loved by me as much as others are."