1885.
SECTION X.
1885.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA AT THE TEMPLE OF DAKSHINESWAR, WITH NARENDRA (VIVEKANANDA) AND OTHER DISCIPLES.
CHAPTER I.
THE MASTER IN SAMADHI. THE MASTER SHOWETH THE PATH OF DEVOTION (BHAKTI-YOGA.)
Sri Râmakrishna is seated on the lounge, in deep Samadhi!
The disciples and other devotees are seated on the floor, where mats have been spread out. They all look on the Master. Amongst them are Mahimacharan, Rama (Datta), Manmohun, Nabai, M. and others. Later on comes in Narendra.
It is the first of March, Sunday, 1885; the full moon of Falgun. On this day, the festival of Doljattra is being celebrated.
The state of God-consciousness begins to leave the Master and he has the power of speech restored to him. But his mind is still in the God-world!
The Master speaks unto Mahimacharan saying,—My dear Sir, do tell me about the need for Divine Love1. Do tell me how the Love of the Lord is the One Thing Needful.
Mahimacharan (quoting texts):2 A voice from heaven said to Narada who wanted to practise austerities,—
1. "If God is worshipped with devotion, what is the need for asceticism?
If He is not so worshipped, what again is the need for asceticism?
If the Lord is realised within and without, what is the need for asceticism?
If He is not so realised, asceticism would be of little avail.
2. Desist, O my child, desist from the practice of further austerities.
Go thy way at once to Siva—the Ocean of Divine Knowledge.
From Him do thou learn how to love the Lord. Such Love hath been spoken of by the worshippers of God the Preserver2—a Love that never fails—A love that like a bill-hook cuts asunder the fetters of this world."
These words were heard by Narad when leading the life of an ascetic in the retirement of a forest.
Master: This Love for God is of two kinds. First, the Love3 which is enjoined by the Sacred Scriptures1. We are to worship in a certain way or repeat the Name of the Lord so many times. All these belong to this kind of BHAKTI. This is Bhakti according to the Law. It may lead to the Knowledge of the Absolute2 in Samadhi. The self is thus merged in the Universal Soul never to come back. This is the case with ordinary devotees.
1 Bhakti.
2 Nârad Pancha Râtra or 'Five Nights with Nârad, the Holy Sage.
2 Vishnu.
3 Bhakti.
Chaitanya and Sri Râmakrishna.
The case is different with Divine Incarnations—the sons of God and those that are His Own. Their Love for God is not made up of mere formulae. It springs from within!
It wells up from the Soul! Divine Incarnations (like Chaitanya) and those that are nearest to Him have within their reach Absolute Knowledge in Samadhi and at the same time may come down from that height retaining their self and loving the Lord as Father, Mother, &c. Saying, 'Not this', 'Not this,' they leave behind them the steps of the Staircase one after another until they get up to the Roof. Getting up there, they say, It is this. But soon they find out that the Staircase is made of the same materials—brick, lime and brick dust—as the roof itself. So they walk up and down, sometimes resting on the Roof and sometimes on the steps of the Staircase.
The Roof symbolises the Absolute realised in Samadhi in which the self responding to the sense-world is blotted out. The Staircase is the phenomenal world—the world of names and forms which after the Roof has been reached is realised as the manifestation, to human sense, of the Absolute.
1 Shâstras.
2 Brahmagnâna.
Sukadeva was in Samadhi in which the self becomes one with the Absolute. To him the Lord sent Narad to ask him to read the Word1 of God before Rajah Parikshit. Narad observed that the holy sage was seated like a stock or stone, absolutely dead to the world of senses. Narad began to play upon his lute, singing and praising the Lord in four verses. The first verse caused the hairs of Sukadeva's body to stand on end; the second, brought tears into his eyes. Then he could see, realise within himself, the Spiritual Form of the Lord. Finally, he came down from his spiritual height and held converse with Narad.
Thus Sukadeva had both Transcendental Knowledge and Love for the Lord.
Hanuman realised God without Form and God with Form and then passed his days in meditating upon a particular Form of the Lord—the Form of Ramachandra, a Form made of Spirit and Bliss Everlasting.
Much the same was the case with Prahlada and Narad. They realised the Absolute;—they realised, too, the Spiritual Forms of the Lord from a lower plane.
Prahlada realised, 'I am It' (God the Absolute). He also realized, 'I am Thy servant, Thou art my Lord.'
1 Bhâgabata.
Narad passed his days in his ecstatic Love for the Lord.
This Love1 solves the problem of life. So long as there is the self which says 'I, I', the problem for me is 'How to live?' Shall I be content with a sensuous nature responding to a world of senses? No, let this self be the Servant of the Lord—not the servant of the World and its so-called enjoyment! Thou art the Lord; I am, O Lord, Thy Servant. Not the enjoyment of the world and its pleasures; but the enjoyment of Bliss Everlasting, the enjoyment of the never-failing Joy of the Lord!
The Ego of Divine Love and the Problem of Life.
Self or ego leads away from the Lord, but the ego of Divine Love—the ego of Godward Knowledge—the ego of the Child, leads to God. Sankaracharya retained after Samadhi the ego of Godward Knowledge2 for the purpose of teaching mankind.
The self or ego of the child is not attached to things of this world. The child gets out of temper but soon there is not a trace of anger left to him. He builds a play-house for the dogs, but presently forgets all about this. His fondness for its playmates knows no bounds; but if he loses sight of them for sometime, he forms new ties and forgets all about the old friends. The self of the child is thus unattached to anything. The self of Divine Love kept after a Samadhi, in which it becomes one with the Absolute, solves the problem of life.
1 Bhakti.
2 Vidyâ.
Another reason why Bhakti or Love for God should be cultivated by men in general is that the ego cannot be shaken off. You may reason it away for a time but behold it comes up again; you cannot rid yourself of yourself or ego which says, 'I, I.'
The ego is like a water-jar, the Absolute fs the Shoreless Ocean in which the water-jar is merged. You may reason that the Infinite or the Absolute is both within and without; but you cannot shake yourself free of the water-jar so long as you reason. The so-called Absolute is something relative to you so long as you reason. This water-jar that you cannot shake off is the Self or Ego of Divine Love. So long as there is the water-jar or ego there are both I and Thou. Thus 'Thou art the Lord, I am the servant of the Lord.' You may carry your reasoning to the highest point but the self or ego still remains.