CHAPTER II.
GOD PERSONAL, THE OMNIPOTENT MOTHER3 AND HER POWERS.
The steamer has already left and is on its way back to Calcutta. Many are those who look on Sri Râmakrishna with eyes that do not move and who drink in the nectar of the words that drop from his hallowed lips. They cannot feel that the steamer is in motion. The Temple-garden is left behind him and the eye can no longer see the picture of that beautiful temple. Beneath are the sacred waters that reflect the blue firmament above. But the murmur of the waves—with crests of foam into which they are broken as the steamer cleaves through the water is lost on the devotees. The magic of the Blessed Vision has thrown a charm over them. They have before them a wonderful Being a God-in-Man and a Man-in-God, with smiles playing about his sweet face radiant with the joy of the Lord, with eyes the beauty of which is enhanced by the collyrium of Divine Love. They look, as if charmed, on one who has given up the world and its pleasures, on one intoxicated with the love of the Lord, on one who looks not for anything except the Lord.
1 Bhagavân.
2 Bhaktas.
3 Sakti or Kali
The conversation goes on.
God the Absolute and God the Creator.
Sri Râmakrishna:—According to the Non-dualistic Vedanta Philosophy as explained by Sankara, God the absolute (Brahman) is the only reality; and the phenomenal world before us is unreal. The Personal God, the Divine Mother1 Who manifests Herself to us as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer is not a reality in the absolute sense, that is, in the sense in which the Absolute is understood to be Real. But it is impossible for an ordinary mortal to go beyond the jurisdiction of God Personal, however he may reason, saying, 'Not this, not this,'—unless, stripped of his relative sensuous nature, his soul becomes one with the Absolute2 Unconditioned God, in that blessed, serene and ecstatic state called Samadhi. When one says 'I am meditating upon God,' even then, one is going about within that jurisdiction. One cannot shake oneself free from the idea of a Personal God possessed of Attributes.
One God.
Thus God the Absolute and God Omnipotent and Personal are the same. A belief in the one implies a belief in the other. Thus fire cannot be thought of apart from its burning power. Nor can its burning power be thought of apart from the fire. Again, the sun's rays cannot be thought of apart from the sun nor can the sun be thought of apart from its rays.
1 Sakti or Kâli.
2 Brahman.
What is milk like? Well, people say it is a whitish sort of thing. Now, you cannot think of the milky whiteness apart from the milk; nor can you think of the milk apart from its milky whiteness.
Thus God, the Absolute, cannot be thought of apart from the idea of God with Attributes or God Personal, and vice versa. The Unconditioned, the Absolute,the Noumenon, the Substance on the one hand and the Conditioned, the Relative, the Phenomenon, the Attributes, on the other hand, are correlatives—the one cannot be thought of apart from the other.
God Personal with Attributes, the Primal Divine Energy, as we conceive that Being to be, creates, preserves and destroys. The sacred books1 call that Being by the name of the Mother2 of the Universe.
Thus God Personal and God Impersonal are one and the same Substance. I call that Being the Absolute or Unconditioned when I cannot think of It as Active or as creating, preserving or destroying. I call that Being Personal and possessed of Attributes when I think of It as active, creating, preserving, destroying and under all possible aspects.
Reconciliation of all Religions.
The Being is the same; only the names are different under different aspects like the same substance expressed in different languages as Jal, Water, Pani, Vari, and Aqua. A tank may have four Ghâts (landing-places with steps). The Hindus drink at one Ghât, they call it jal. The Mahomedans drink at another and they call it pani. The English who drink at a third call it water.
1 Tantras.
2 Kâli or Sakti.
God is one, only the names are different. Some call Him by the name of Allah, some God, some Brahman, others Kâli, others again Râma, Hari, Jesus, Buddha.
Keshab (smiling): Do say it once more, Revered Sir, in what different ways Kâli, the Mother of the Universe, is making Herself manifest in this world of Her sports.
The Divine Mother.
Sri Râmakrishna (smiling): Oh! the Mother sports with the world, Her toy, under various aspects and various names. Now She is the Goddess1 Unconditioned, Absolute, Formless; now the Everlasting2 as distinguished from Her works. Under another aspect, She is the Goddess3 of Burning Ghâts or crematories, the Dreaded Being that presides over Death; now again does She stand forth before us ready to bless, ready to preserve,4 Her children. Under another aspect, She appears pleasing to the eyes of Her devotees as the Mother5 with dark-blue complexion—Consort of the God of Eternity and of Infinity. Those Sacred Books, the Tantras, speak of the Goddess6 Unconditioned, the Absolute. When nothing was—no Sun, no Moon, no Planets—nothing but Darkness Deep, there was alone my Divine Mother, Formless! As Mother with dark-blue complexion worshipped in Hindu homes, She is more accessible to man; She calls up human interest in a greater degree—coming to us with Her favours and saying to Her children 'Fear not.' She is the Goddess that is worshipped in Hindu households. As Preserver She appears in times of plague, famine, earthquake, drought or excess of rain. At burning ghats or crematories, She appears in the form of Death. The dead body, the jackal, the spirits1 of destruction are Her terrible companions. She lives in the midst of those horrible scenes, those fearful environments. Streams of blood, a garland of skulls thrown round Her neck, a girdle made of the hands of those that are dead, are the symbols that mark Her out as the Dreaded Mother, the All-Destroyer.
1 Mahâkâli.
2 Nitya-kâli.
3 Smasân-kâli.
4 Rakshyâ-kâli.
5 Syâmâ.
6 Dâkini.
What is Creation?
Now look at Her mode of Creation. At the end of a cycle—upon the destruction of the world—my Mother, careful Matron that She is, puts together the seeds of Creation. The mistress of a house has a hodge-podge pot of her own in which she keeps sundry things for household use. (Keshab and others laugh.)
Sri Râmakrishna (smiling): Yes, my friend, that is indeed so. The mistress of the house has such a pot in her possession. In it are kept the 'sea-foam' in a solid state, small parcels containing seeds of the cucumber, gourd. &c. She brings them out when wanted. In the same way my Mother keeps the seeds of Creation after the destruction of the world at the end of a cycle." (Laughter.)
1 Jogini.
The Spider and Her Web.
My Mother, the Primal Divine Energy, is both within and without this phenomenal world. Giving birth to the world, She lives within it! She is the Spider and the world is the Spider's Web that She has woven! The Spider brings the web out of Herself and then lives in it. My Mother is both the Container and the Contained, the Efficient and the Material Cause of this World-system.
Is Kâli, the Mother, of a dark-brown complexion? Oh, no! She is so far away from human ken that She only seems to be so.
Does not the sky look blue from a distance? The sky near us is colourless. Pretty much the same is the case with sea-water. It is of a dark-blue colour when looked at from a distance. Come near it. Take a little up in the hands and you shall find it colourless. Thus go near and realise Kâli (the Divine Mother), and She will appear to be the same as God, the Absolute, about whom no Attribute can be predicated.
And the Master sang, drunken with the wine of Divine Love—
SONG.
Identity of the Mother and God the Absolute
Is my Divine Mother black? O my mind! What sayest thou? The Infinite is the Garment that She doth put on! Though black, She illumineth the lotus of the heart!
The Enigma of Life.
Sri Râmakrishna (to Keshab and others): Bondage and Freedom are both Her making. That man is bound with the chains of 'Woman and Gold' is due to the illusory power of Mâyâ that my Divine Mother has created as part of Her plan of the universe. That man can make himself free from her fetters is again, due to the Mercy and Grace of the same Being, my Divine Mother. She takes Her children across the sea of the world and removes the chains with which they are bound hand and foot.
And the Master sang divinely with that voice which in its sweetness rose superior to the voices of the gods1 in heaven who sing there the glories of the Most High:—
SONG.
The Divine Mother and the Liberated Soul.
1. O my Mother of the dark-blue complexion, Thou art flying the kite of the human being in the market-place of this world!
That kite flieth on the wind of hope and is fastened to a string made of Illusion.2
2. The framework of the kite is the skeleton—ribs, veins and the internal organs of the human body;
The kite is made purely of Thine own attributes3; the rest of the workmanship is merely ornamental.
3. The string is made sharp with the powdered glass of worldliness;
Out of a hundred-thousand kites, one or two only have their string cut through and they are thus set free; O; then, how Thou dost laugh and clap Thy hands!
1 Gandharvas.
2 Mâyâ.
3 Sattva, Rajas, Tamas.
4. Prasad saith, 'The kite thus set free will be carried rapidly on favourable wind until it drops into the Infinite, beyond the sea of this world.'
My Divine Mother is always in Her sportive mood. The world, indeed, is Her toy. She will have Her own way. It is Her pleasure to take out of the prison-house and set free only one or two among a hundred-thousand of Her children!
Why is the Human Soul Imperfect?
A Brahmo: Sir, She can if She pleases set every body free. Why is it, then, that She has bound us hand and foot with the chains of the world?
Sri Râmakrishna: Well, I suppose, it is Her pleasure. It is Her pleasure to go on with Her sport with all these beings that She has brought into existence. The player amongst the children that touches the person of the Grand-dame, the same need no longer run about. He cannot take any further part in the exciting play of Hide and Seek that goes on.
The others who have not touched the goal must run about and play to the great delight of the Grand-dame. She would by no means be glad if every body should touch Her person at the same time and thus bring the sport to a close. Hence Her joy and Her clapping of hands when one only out of a hundred-thousand snappeth the string that bindeth the kite of the human Soul to the world. (Joy of the Devotees.)
It is my Divine Mother who has said to the human soul, as if in confidence, with a twinkle of Her eye,
'Go and live in the world until further orders.' Surely, the human soul is not to be blamed. It is entirely possible that She out of Her grace can turn away the mind from things of the world and thus give it freedom once more and pure devotion to the Lotus of Her Feet.
And the Master sang, placing himself in the position of men of the world and laying the trouble of his heart before the Divine Mother.
SONG.
The Divine Mother and Her Children.
1. This indeed is the thought that weigheth heavily on my heart:—
Thou, my own Mother, art here and I am wide awake, and behold thieves (passions) do rob me of my all!
2. Sometimes I form the resolution of repeating Thy Holy Name, but I forget to do so at the proper hour!
O, now I know, I feel, that all this is Thy trick.
3. Thou has not given, so Thou has not received aught, to keep or to eat; am I to be blamed for this?
Hadst Thou given, Thou wouldst have surely received, and I would have offered Thee, out of Thine own gifts!
4. Fame or calumny, sweet or bitter, all is Thine!
O, Thou Ruler of all tender feelings, why dost Thou break them as they are called forth in me instead of giving them play?
5. Prasad sayeth: 'Thou hast given me the mind but hast with a twinkle of Thine eye confided to it a secret at the same time.
Thus do I roam about seeking joy through a world, which is Thy creation, taking Bitter for Sweet, Unreal for Real.
* * * *
It is my Divine Mother who hath created this delusion, which hath left man struggling in this sea of the world. Prasad sayeth 'O Mother! Thou hast in giving me the soul secretly bidden it 'live attached to the world.'