Dear one,
From Sharat I have learned … everything in detail. ‘Better an empty cowshed than a vicious cow’: keep this always in mind. … I am writing not in the hope of gaining any authority for myself, but for your good, and so that the purpose for which the Lord came down may be fulfilled. He gave you into my charge, and through you the world will see great good, though many of you do not yet know it; that is why I am writing so particularly. Remember it. It will be a great sorrow if envy and self-importance grow strong among you. Can those who cannot live together in love, ten of them for ten days, ever establish love in the world? To be bound by rules is not good, true; but in the unripe state one must go by rules; that is, as the Lord used to command, a fence must be put round a young plant, and so on. Secondly, in an idle mind gossip about others, factions and the like come easily. That is why I am writing down the directions that follow. If you act on them, great good will come of it, no doubt. If you do not, all the labour is likely soon to come to nothing.
As for opinions: if anyone accepts Paramahamsadeva as an Avatāra and so on, well and good; if not, well and good. The essence is this: in character Paramahamsadeva goes beyond the Thakurs of old, and in teaching he is more liberal, newer and more progressive than them all; that is, the old ones were all one-sided. The teaching of this new Avatāra or teacher is that now the best of yoga, bhakti, jñāna and karma must be made one, and a new society built. … The old ones were fine, no doubt, but this is the dharma of this age: yoga, jñāna, bhakti and karma in one; jñāna and bhakti given to all, down to the caṇḍāla, to young and old, men and women. Those Keshtas and Vishtus were good Thakurs; but in Ramakrishna everything has come together in one. For ordinary people, and for those just setting out, niṣṭhā is very necessary; that is, teach them: namaskāra to all the other gods, but the pūjā is Ramakrishna's. Without niṣṭhā there is no tejas; without it there is no preaching like Mahavir's. And all those old Thakurs and gods have grown old; now it is a new India, a new Thakur, a new dharma, a new Veda. O Lord, when will our country be freed from the grip of the old! Without bigotry, where do I see any good coming? But there must be tyāga of hatred for others.
May the Lord give you a right buddhi! Two men went to see Jagannath: one saw the deity, the other saw a pui plant!!! My dear fellows, you were all in His sevā, true; but whenever your mind swells up like a hog-plum tree, remember: what of it, that you were with Him? You saw only a pui plant! Had it been otherwise, it would have shown by now. He himself used to say: those dancers and singers, they will go to hell; and the root of that hell is ‘ahaṅkāra’. ‘I too am what he is’: is that so, Madho? ‘He loved me too’: alas, Madhuram, then would you be in this sorry state? … There is still a way: beware! Remember that by His kṛpā men like great gods will be made, wherever His dayā falls. … There is still time, beware! Obedience is the first duty. Do what I tell you, and let me see it done! Do these few little things first; then great things will come in time. No more.
Narendra.
PS. Read this letter to everyone, and if you think it right to act on it, write to me. Tell Rakhal: he who is the servant of all is the master of all. He whose love makes a difference between small and great never becomes a leader. He whose prema knows no pause and no high and low, his prema conquers the world.
Narendra.