← Sri Ramakrishna

CHAPTER IV.

MASTER AND DISCIPLE: GOD, THE ONLY MASTER.

It is the ebb-tide. The steamer is going fast down stream towards Calcutta. It gets to the other side of the Howrah Bridge within sight of the Botanical Gardens just below Calcutta. The Captain has orders to go a little farther down. How far the steamer has actually gone down the river is not known to those who are listening to Sri Râmakrishna and watching his movements. They listen with rapt attention! They have no idea either of time or of distance!

Keshab now offers the Master popped rice with the kernel of the cocoanut. All present are invited to partake of these. They take them within the folds of their cloth, eat and are very happy. It seems as if a festival was being held on board the steamer.

The Master notices that Bejoy and Keshab are not quite at home in each other's presence. He would see that they make up their differences. Is it not His mission to see on earth Peace and Good-will among men.

Master (to Keshab): Look here, my dear Sir, here is Bejoy. As to your quarrels and fights—well, don't worry yourselves on that account. There was fighting enough even between Siva and Râma (Laughter.)

Siva was Râma's spiritual guide! After a little fighting they made it up and became once more as good friends as ever. But the fighting went on among their followers. The gibberish of the ghosts and the chatter of the monkeys could not easily be quieted down. Ye too will be very good friends once again. But your followers—well, I dare say, they will take after you. (Laughter.)

One's own flesh and blood! That is how he (Bejoy) stands in relation to you. These differences, you know, are things that cannot be avoided. There may be tug-of-war even between the father and the son. Take the case of Râma and his sons—Lava and Kusha. Take another case. The welfare of the mother and of the daughter is the same; still they observe the 'Tuesday' each on her own account as the day of fast and prayers. It is as if the welfare of the one went against that of the other.

In the same way, you, Keshab, have a religious Society (Samâj) of your own; and Bejoy must have a separate Society of his own, too! (Laughter.)

Well, there is room enough for all kinds of things under Providence—even for quarrels and differences. When it was God-Incarnate Himself Who appeared at Brindâban the question may very well be, 'Why did Jatilla and Kutilla stand in the way of His mission of Love?' I suppose, His sport as the Divine Lover would have died a natural death from want of nourishment, but for those obstructives, the Jatillas and Kutillas (Laughter). Opposition adds zest to a thing. Ramanuja held the doctrine of qualified Non-dualism. His spiritual guide, however, was a Non-dualist without any qualification; so they had their differences. Master and disciple criticised each other. This sort of thing comes about every day. Be it so; still to the master the disciple is his own.

They all rejoice. Sri Râmakrishna says to Keshab, That your disciples break away from you is no wonder. Never do you study their nature before taking them in.

Men are the same in form and appearance. But they differ in the qualities of their nature. In some the 'qualities'¹ lead them God-ward. In others they² make them inclined to multiply work and duty. In a third class, they³ cause Ignorance which turns the mind away from God. Pooli,^* may all have the same look, but they differ as to their contents. In some the contents are the sweet condensed milk; in others, it is the kernel of the cocoanut sweetened by treacle or sugar. In others again, the contents may be Kalai pulse boiled without any admixture of sweets. (Laughter).

Sri Râmakrishna's relation to the Divine Mother.

The way of thinking and feeling into which I for my part have been put by my Divine Mother is somewhat different. I go about eating and playing, child as I am of my Divine Mother. It is She Who must know all the rest.

Indeed, there are three words which prick me to the core: Spiritual Guide,⁴ Doer⁵ or Free Agent and Father.¹ I am not the Free Agent; it is my Divine Mother. I am only an humble instrument in Her hands. I for my part do not wish to lead a family life and be a father of children. I would much rather give all my time to God and minister unto Him—as manifest in all His creatures and not merely in the members of one particular human family. Again, God is our only spiritual guide.

¹ Sattva.

² Rajas.

³ Tamas

⁴ Guru.

⁵ Kartâ.

^* a kind of cake.

God, the only Master.

It is He alone Who will teach as Master. I for my part am like a child that feels its weakness as soon as it cannot see its mother.

Men as spiritual guides can be had by hundreds of thousands. Everybody is anxious to be master. How many are there who care to be disciples?

The Commissioned Teacher.

The task of a master teaching a disciple is very hard indeed. If the master has seen the Lord, if by Him he has been commissioned to teach, it is quite a different matter. So commissioned were Nârada, Sukadeva; also Sankarâchârya.

When you are without such a commission, who will listen to you? You know Calcutta and her fondness for the latest sensation. The milk in the kettle will, of course, puff up as soon as it is put upon the fire. But the puffing will cease when the fire is withdrawn from under the kettle. The people of Calcutta are remarkably fond of sensations. They begin digging the well at one place; but they will give it up as soon as they find that the earth is hard and strong. They then set to work digging at another place. The soil, suppose, is sandy here; they will as readily give up digging at that spot. They will then look about for another locality. That is indeed the way of the people. Their good opinion is by no means worth having.

¹ Bâbâ.

What is God's direct Commandment?

Again, there are people who think a particular thought and believe it to be God's Commandment. Such an idea is quite a mistaken one. One may look for God's Commandment after seeing Him and talking with Him and not until then. God's Word!—What wonderful weight must It carry! A mountain may be moved by It. A lecture taken by itself has no force whatever, apart from God's direct Commandment. People may care for lectures, only for a short time; after which everything will escape from their memory. As to living up to the things taught—well, they will care even less for it!

Making disciples and teaching without divine authority condemned.

In that part¹ of the country there is a tank called Haldar-pukur. People used to throw dirt round about the tank. Others who came there for washing purposes or for morning ablutions called the offenders names in a loud excited voice; but all in vain. The offence was repeated on the following morning. Upon this they sent word to the Municipal authorities. A peon, wearing a badge round his waist, came to make enquiries. He put a notice to all concerned not to 'commit nuisance.' Would you believe that the nuisance abated at once? (Laughter.)

¹ Kâmârpukur.

For the teaching of divine truths a badge of Authority is the one thing needful. Else, for a man to teach others—O, it would be ridiculous! To think that a person must teach who does not know—that the blind must lead the blind! You shall thus do greater evil than good! It is only when you have seen God that you can hope to see through other people and tell them what diseases (of the soul) they have been taken with.

You must have the direct Commandment¹ of God. Else it would be asserting yourself to say, 'I teach' or 'I am the master and you are my disciples.' Self-assertion is the offspring of Ignorance. One enjoys real freedom in this very world if one can but realise that God is the sole Actor in this world-system² and that we are only instruments in His hands. All trouble, all want of Peace, comes of the notion 'I am the Lord—I am the Free Agent.'³

THE WESTERN IDEA OF WORK: IS WORK THE END OF LIFE OR A MEANS TO THE END?

Sri Râmakrishna (to Keshab and other devotees): You talk glibly of doing good to the world. The world to which you desire to do good—is it contained in a nutshell? In the next place, who are you, pray, to do good to the world? First go through devotional practices and see God. Then it is that Inspiration and powers¹ will come down to you and you may talk of doing good. Not till then.

¹ Âdesa.

² Jagat.

³ Kartâ.

A Brahmo devotee: Sir, do you mean to say that we are to give up all work until we have seen God?

Sri Râmakrishna: No, my dear Sir, why shall you give up all work? Meditation, the chanting of hymns, the repeating of His holy Name, and other devotional exercises you must have to go through.

Devotee: Do you mean work connected with the world? Shall we then give up all worldly affairs?

Sri Râmakrishna: Yes, you may attend to them too, just so much as you cannot do without, in order to live in this world. But you should at the same time pray to the Lord with tears in your eyes for His grace and for strength to do your duties without the expectation of any reward or fear of punishment in this world or the next. Say when you pray, 'Lord, grant that my work in the world and for the world may grow less and less day by day. For I see that my work growing manifold only makes me lose sight of Thee. Sometimes I think I do my duties remaining unattached to the world, but I know not how I deceive myself and do them through attachment instead. I do my alms and behold! I seek for fame, O, I know not how!"

¹ Siddhis.

The End of Life.

Sambhu (Mallik) once talked of founding hospitals and dispensaries, schools and colleges; of building roads, sinking wells, and digging tanks for the good of all. I said to him, 'Yes; but you must be unattached while doing good to others, and you must be careful to take up only such works as come in your way—such works, again, as appear to be of a pressing necessity. Do not seek them—do not seek more work than you can well manage. If you do, you will lose sight of the Lord. Go to the Shrine of Kali, the Mother of the Universe; before you see the Holy of Holies, and on your way to the shrine, you may do your alms. But if you continue your charitable work until late in the evening when the doors of the Temple have been closed upon all pilgrims, you will not see the Mother. Clever people would first see the Holy Mother, pushing their way through the multitude that assembles at the gates of the Temple; and after seeing Her they may turn their attention to almsgiving and other good works.

First see God and then talk seriously of your duties.

What, do you think, ought to be the end in view of those who go on performing their duties? Work or the performance of one's duty is the means and God is the end. Do not take the means for the end! So said I once to Sambhu. "Suppose," I said, "you see God, or God manifests Himself to you; will you then say to Him, 'Lord, do Thou grant that I may have lots of dispensaries and hospitals, and schools and colleges?' (Laughter). No; they are wanted so long as you are in the world—which is only transitory compared to Eternal Life. A true devotee shall rather pray in this wise: 'Grant, O good Lord, that I may have a place at the Lotus of Thy Feet, that it may be my privilege to live always in Thy Holy Presence, and that I may have deep, true, unalloyed devotion unto Thee.'

The Path of Work and the Path of Devotion.

Hard indeed is work without attachment. It is hard in this materialistic age¹ to get through all the works—all the duties—laid upon us by the Sacred Books. Verily life in this age comes out of food! Work and Duties—O, there is hardly time enough for them! It will be all over with the patient suffering from the high fever of this world if he is allowed to go through the slow process of treatment practised by the old-fashioned Hindu physicians. People are short-lived and the fever carries one off in a few hours. The specific for the present day is Dr. Gupta's patent fever mixture. This produces effect at once.

Yes, in this age, the one means of realizing God is sincere devotion² to and love for Him—and earnest prayer, and the chanting of His Holy Names and of His Divine Attributes.

(To Keshab and other devotees): Your path too lies through devotion³ and self-surrender to the Lord. Blessed are they who like you sing His Name. Your path is clear and rational. You cannot shake yourself free from egoism¹; thus it is proper for you not to go far like a Non-dualist and hold that 'God, the Absolute, is the only Reality and that the world is unreal like a dream.' You are not philosophers² but devotees³. You believe in a Personal God. That is right. Go on in this way. But have a yearning for the Lord and, depend upon it, you shall see Him as a Reality!

¹ Kaliyuga.

² Bhakti.

³ Bhakti-yoga