CHAPTER III.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA, THE BRAHMO SAMAJ AND THE 'ONE THING NEEDFUL.'
The Schisms in the Brahmo Samaj.
The next subject of this conversation was the schism in the Brahmo Samaj following upon the passing away of the spirit of Keshab.
Master (to Protap): I hear there is a difference between you and other members of your body. Amongst your opponents, as far as I have seen them, there are many, Horay, Palla and Pancha (men of ordinary calibre).
1 Kuber.
2 Bhakti-yoga.
With one of those bewitching smiles which made his face radiant with a sort of celestial glory, the Master pointing to Protap said to the company present, "You see the conch-shells—Protap, Amrita, etc., give a loud powerful sound. But there are conch-shells and conch-shells. Others there are that are not at all sonorous. They do not give a single sound."
The company present all had a good laugh.
God is Love1.
Referring to lectures given by members of religious bodies like the Brahmo Samaj and Hari Sabha, the Master said, "One can form an estimate of the man from the lectures he delivers. S. was lecturing as the preceptor of a certain Hari Sabha. In the course of his speech he said, 'The Lord is totally devoid of sweetness. That being so, we must make Him sweet by lending to Him the sweetness of our own nature.' By sweetness he meant love and other divine attributes. When I came to this I was put in mind of the boy who said that in his maternal uncle's house there were a good many horses. Of this the boy tried to convince his hearers by saying that a whole cow-house was full of horses. Of course the intelligent audience could at once see that cow-houses were not exactly the places intended for horses, that the youngster must have told a lie and that he had no experience or knowledge of horses.
To say that God is devoid of Sweetness, Love, Joy, Bliss and other attributes, is an absurdity which proves that the speaker is totally ignorant of what he is saying and that he has never realized the Supreme Being, who is the Fountain of Eternal Love, Wisdom and Bliss.
1 Raso vai sah.
Love of God and Renunciation.
Suddenly becoming serious, He turns to Protap and says, "You are an educated and intelligent man. You are not light-hearted but grave and serious. Keshab and you were like brothers Gour (Chaitanya Deva) and Netai. You have had enough of this world—enough of lectures, controversies, schisms and the rest. Is it not so? Your soul must be wearied by this time. It is high time now to have one aim—to give your attention to God alone—to plunge, to dive deep into the Immortal Sea of His Love."
Majumdar: Yes, Sir, I see that is the one thing needful. No doubt of it. All that I seek is to keep Keshab's work alive.
Man's Self-delusion: Confusion between Egoism and Altruism.
Master: (smiling): You say indeed that you seek to keep Keshab's work going; well, wait a few days and you shall think otherwise.
A person lived comfortably in a hut built upon a rock. He had to work hard to get the hut built. A few days after there was a terrible storm. The hut seemed to reel on its foundation. In his anxiety to save it, he prayed to the God of Winds saying, 'Lord be good enough not to pull down my hut.' The God turned a deaf ear to his words and the hut was about to come down with a crash. It now occurred to him that Hanuman was the son of the God of Winds. So he cried out, 'Do not pull down the hut, O Father, its owner is no less a person than thine own son, Hanuman'! But the storm blew on with as much fury as ever and the hut was about to come down. In vain did he cry out over and over again, 'It is Hanuman's own house! It is Hanuman's own!' He then made a fresh appeal, saying, 'It. is Lakshman's hut! O God spare it!' Lakshman being the brother of Rama, the Incarnation of God and the hero of the epic Ramayana. But Lakshman's name carried as little weight as the name of Hanuman, and the hut was ready to come down with a crash; so the man cried out in the last resort, 'It is Rama's house, spare it, O It is Rama's house, spare it, O God of Winds!'
The God of Winds was inexorable and the hut began to come down with a crash. Seeing all his appeals had been made in vain, the man rushed out of the hut and cursed it saying, 'It is the devil's own hut!, (Laughter.) It is the devil's!
You may be anxious to preserve Keshab's name. But console yourself with the thought that it was after all owing to God's will that the religious movement connected with his name was set on foot, and that if the movement has had its day it is all owing to that same Divine will.
Therefore dive deep into the sea.
And the Master sang:
SONG.
Dive Deep.
1. Dive deep, dive deep, dive deep O my mind! into the Sea of Beauty.
Make a search in the regions lower, lower down under the sea; you will come by the jewel, the wealth of Prema (intense love of God).
2. Within thy heart is the abode1 of the God of Love. Go about searching, go about searching, go about searching! You will find it.
Then shall burn without ceasing the Lamp of Divine Wisdom.
3. Who is that Being that doth steer a boat on land—on land, on solid ground?
Says Kabir, "Listen, listen; meditate on the hallowed Feet of the Lord, the Divine Preceptor.
'Fear not'.
Fear not, it is the sea of Immortality. I once said to Narendra (Vivekananda):
Majumdar (interrupting): Who is this Narendra?
Master: Oh, there is a young man of that name. Well, I said to Narendra "God is like a Sea of Liquid Sweet, would you not dive deep into this Sea? Suppose, my boy, there is a vessel with a wide mouth containing the syrup of sugar, and suppose you are a fly anxious to drink of the sweet liquid. Where should you sit and drink?" Narendra said to me in reply that he should like to drink from the edge of the vessel, adding that if he chanced to come to a point beyond his depth he was sure to be drowned and thus to lose his life. Thereupon I said to him,
1 Brindâvan.
"you forget, my boy, that if you dive deep into the Divine Sea, you need not be afraid of death or of any danger. Remember the Divine Sea is the Sea of Immortality. The syrup of this Sea never causes death but gives Everlasting Life. Be not afraid like some foolish persons that you may 'run to excess' in your love of God."
Sectarianism or Charity and Self Love?
What is the difference between Charity1 and Self love?2 Charity is love extending to all and not confined to one's own self, family, sect or country. Self love is attachment to one's own self, family, sect or country. Cherish the first, which is elevating and will lead you Godward. Self-love is ruinous to the soul and will only take you down-hill.
The Fruit of True Knowledge.
What is the Knowledge in the highest sense? The wise man says, "Oh! Lord, Thou art the sole Actor in this universe. I am only an humble instrument in Thy Hands. Again, Nothing is mine. Everything is thine. Myself, my family, my riches, my virtues are all thine."
'Thou and Thine' is True Knowledge3; 'I and mine' is Ignorance.
Charitable and other Works.
Work without Devotion4 to God has in this age no legs to stand upon. It is a foundation of sand. First, cultivate devotion4. All other things—schools, dispensaries, etc., shall, if you like, be added unto you." First Devotion, then Work. Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is helpless and cannot stand.
1 Dayâ.
2 Mâyâ.
3 Gnâna.
4 Bhakti.
Protap made enquiries about the disciples. He asked whether those that came to the Master were getting better in the spirit day by day:
The Master said: "I place before them the ideal life of a maid-servant—a nurse—as teaching them how to live in this world."
How to live:—the Problem of Life Solved—especially for the householder.
The maid-servant says with reference to her Master's house, "This is our house." All the while she knows that the house is not her own, and that her own house is far away in a distant village. Her thoughts are all sent forth to her village home. Again, referring to her Master's child in her arms, she would say, "My Hari (that being the name of the child) has grown very wicked" or, "My Hari likes to eat this or that thing," and so on. But all the while she knows for certain that Hari is not her own. I tell those that come to me to lead a life unattached like this maid-servant. I tell them to live unattached to this world—to be in the world, but not of the world—and at the same time to have their mind fixed on God—the heavenly Home from whence all come. I tell them to pray for the love of God (Bhakti), which will help them so to live.
Agnosticism in Europe and America.
After a short interval the conversation turns on the agnosticism of Europe and America. Mazumdar said, "Whatever people in the West may profess to be, none of them, as it seems to me, is an atheist at heart. The European savants do admit an Unknown Power behind the Universe.
Master: Well, it is sufficient if they believe in SAKTI,—the Power ruling the Universe."
Mazumdar: They also admit the moral government of the Universe.
Protap rising to take leave, the Master says to him, "What shall I say? It is better that you should cease to have anything to do with all those things (schisms, controversies, &c.)."
RENUNCIATION (A PARTING APPEAL).
"Woman (carnality) and Attachment to Gold, remember, keep men immersed in worldliness and away from God. It is remarkable that everybody has nothing but praise for his own wife, be she good, bad or indifferent."
Here Mazumdar left.