CHAPTER III

Doth God Incarnate Himself as a Human Being?

Sri Râmakrishna (to Ishan): He (the Doctor) does not believe in Divine Incarnation. What have you got to say to him on this matter?

¹ Sandhyâ.

Ishan: Sir, what shall I say? To question and reason on such matters is not to my liking.

Sri Râmakrishna (sharply): Why? Will you not say the right thing, if necessary?

Ishan (to Doctor): It is our pride which causes the want of faith. Ramachandra was a human being only in appearance. In reality He was the Supreme Being. Out of His body has come forth the Infinite Universe with the boundless Firmament, the Sun, the Moon and the Stars, the deep blue Ocean and the snow-capped Mountains!

Sri Râmakrishna (to Doctor): This much is hard to understand. How can the human being (the Divine Incarnation) who appears to view with all his limitations be the same as the Infinite, Eternal, Supreme Being? One who has realised God knows that God the Absolute appears to us as the phenomenal Universe—as Man and Nature. He appears as Man with his limitations; but really He has no limitations. For instance, it cannot be said of Him, that because He has taken a human shape He is not outside of that shape. He may be here and at the same moment He may be elsewhere. One who has seen God sees all this, and believes. The ordinary man with his ounce of reason cannot see this. Can a pot with a capacity of only one seer of milk ever hold four seers?

Hence in these matters one must put faith in the words of those who have seen God. Such men only meditate upon God. If you seek legal advice will you not consult lawyers who are in the profession? Surely you will not take the advice of the man in the street?

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Criterion of Truth: Science of Phenomena or Science of Realities: Physical Science or Transcendental Perception.

Ishan (to Doctor): May I ask why you think that God does not Incarnate Himself as a human being? It was only a moment ago you admitted that God may be with Form as well as without Form, and said that nothing is impossible with God.

Sri Râmakrishna (smiling): My dear sir, the fact is, such a thing is not declared in his books on science. (Laughter.) It is not set forth there in so many words that God may come down into this world as a human being for the salvation of mankind. That being so, how can he believe? (Laughter.)

Let me tell you an amusing story. A person called upon a friend and reported to him saying, 'Hav'n't you heard the latest news? Well, I was yesterday passing along the street when down came the house belonging to the Mukherji's with a terrible crash. The friend cried out, 'Is that so'? But let me consult the newspaper and see if this is true.' He read the newspaper, but there was nothing about the coming down of the house. Upon this, he coolly said to the other, 'I can't put faith in your words. It is not so stated in the paper here.' The first replied, 'But I saw it with my own eyes!' The man still would not believe, and said, 'Well, there is nothing set down in the newspaper about it; how can I believe it?' (Laughter.)

People do not see that science deals only with the conditioned knowledge. It brings no message from the Land of the Unconditioned. Such message has been brought by holy men who have seen and realised God, like the Rishis of old. It is they alone that are competent to say 'God is thus and thus.'

The Doctor is speechless and makes no remark.

Girish (to Doctor): You must confess that Sri Krishna was God Incarnate. I will not let you regard Him as a man. You must say that He was either God or a Demon.

Childlike Simplicity and Faith in God.

Sri Râmakrishna: Verily one must be free from guile like the child in order to have such faith in God. The Lord is far away from the duplicity of the world. Worldliness (love of money, honour, sensual pleasures), brings on doubt and scepticism;—and the pride of learning, the pride of wealth and the rest.

(To the disciples): He (the Doctor) is, however, free from guile.

Girish (to Doctor): Do you not think, sir, that it is not given to a man of double part to attain knowledge?

Doctor: Certainly; that is not possible.

Sri Râmakrishna: How childlike was Keshab (Sen)! Well, once he went into the Temple. At about four in the afternoon, he was going round to the guest-house there; he asked if the guests, holy men and poor men, were soon going to be fed. Like a child he had no idea that it was late in the day and that the guests for that day had already had their dinner.

Knowledge relating to God keeps pace with faith. Where there is little faith it is idle to look for much knowledge. The cow which comes to be over-nice in matters of eating is not liberal in its supply of milk. But the cow to whom all kinds of food are welcome—herbs, leaves, grass, husks, straw—and eats them up with great appetite, gives an abundant supply. Her milk comes down from the udder into the pail in torrents. (Laughter.)

Faith like that of a child is the one thing needful. Such faith leads one to God. Mamma has said pointing to a stranger lad, 'He is thy dada (brother).' At once the child believes in it absolutely and looks upon the boy as his own brother.—Again mamma has said, 'There is a hobgoblin in that room.' The child is absolutely sure that there is such a terrible thing in that room.

He that believes like the child receives the grace of God. The calculating intellect of the worldly weighs things with an eye to worldly loss and gain. Man's limited reasoning does not see far enough. It has no right of entry into the land of the gods. It is faith—the faith of a child—which leads you forth into that land.

Doctor (to the disciples): It is, however, not right for the cow to eat up all sorts of things. I once had a cow which went in for all sorts of food. I was taken very ill, I was at a loss to account for my illness. At last I came to know that the root of all this evil was the cow, which had been eating the refuse of corn and such-like things for some days. (Laughter). The result was that I had to go up to Lucknow for a change. I got well, but at the cost of Rs. 12,000 (roars of laughter).

Well, it is not so easy to see the relation between cause and effect. In the family of the Pikepara Babus a child seven months old was taken ill with whooping cough and I was called in for treatment. I tried my utmost to trace the disease to its cause, but in vain. At last it came to my knowledge that the ass which supplied the milk for the child had got drenched in the rains!

Sri Râmakrishna (to the disciples, laughing): Now See; as if some one said, my coach stopped a few moments under the tamarind tree and so I have got acidity (The Doctor and others all laugh.)

Doctor (laughing): The captain of a ship had a bad head-ache. The doctors on board held a consultation and had a blister applied to the side of the ship! (Laughter).

The Company of Holy Men and the giving up of the pleasures of the world for the sake of God.

Sri Râmakrishna (to Doctor): The company of holy men is always needed for one who seeks God. A man of the world is always subject to chronic disease. Holy men should be consulted as to the remedy. Merely hearing them as they teach is not quite enough for one's purposes. The medicine must be taken into the system and strict rules should be observed in matters of diet.

Doctor: Yes, it is the diet which, more than anything else, causes the cure.

Sri Râmakrishna: Doctors are either first class, second class, or third class. Holy teachers are like doctors, divided into three classes.

The third class doctor feels the pulse and says, 'You should take medicine.' He then goes away, not caring whether the patient takes his advice or not.

The second class doctor reasons with the patient and uses sweet words to induce him to take the medicine.

The first class doctor is ready, in case the patient hears not his word to put his knee on the chest of the patient and force the medicine down his throat! (Laughter.)

Doctor (laughing): Under certain kinds of treatment the doctor need not use force and put his knee across the chest of the patient. For instance, Homœopathy. (Laughter.)

Sri Râmakrishna (smiling): That is true; but the patient need not be afraid even if such a doctor uses force and puts his knee across his breast.

The Strict Discipline of Monastic Life.

Renunciation of 'Woman and Gold' has been laid down only for those¹ that lead a monastic life. Monks must not so much as look at the pictures of women. Even the thought of spiced pickles causes the mouth to water—not to speak of the sight or the touch of those dainties!

But this hard rule is not meant for men of the world like you;—it is intended purely for monks. For your part you may go amongst women with a mind unattached and fixed upon God. That your mind may be thus unattached and fixed upon God it is good that you should often retire into solitude—a place away from either men or women—a place where you may be left absolutely to yourself, praying to the Lord with a yearning heart for True Knowledge—a place where you may stay for at least three days, if not more, or for at least one day if not for three.

Your path again as a married man is to live with your wife just as brother and sister, after one or two children being born to you, and to pray to the Lord constantly that both of you may have strength to live a perfect life of spirituality and self-control.

¹ Sannyâsin.

Girish (smiling, to Doctor): My dear Sir, you have been staying on here for three or four hours! I wonder when you are going to see your patients. (Laughter.) If you go on in this way you may ruin your practice.

Doctor: Talk not of practice or of patient! Your Paramahamsa will make me lose my all! (Laughter.)

Sri Râmakrishna (smiling to Doctor): Well, there is a river called Karmanâsa—which means that it puts an end to all work. If you take a plunge into that river you shall run a great risk. After the bath you shall lose all power of doing any work whatsoever. (The Doctor and others all laugh.)

Doctor (to M., Girish, and other disciples): My friends, do regard me as your own; not as a professional man, whom you wanted for his advice, but as your own kith and kin.

Pure ¹ Selfless Love of God.

Sri Râmakrishna (to Doctor): Let me tell you of one thing. It is possible to have a love of God which is pure and selfless. Blessed is he who has such love for the Lord! Prahlada had such a love. A devotee of this class says, 'O Lord, I pray not for wealth or fame, pleasures of the flesh or for any other blessings that the world can give. Do Thou grant that I may love Thee with a love which seeketh not the things of the world, but Thee alone.'

¹ Ahetuki.

Doctor: Yes, Sir, I often see people bowing down before the image of Kali. These worshippers all seek some worldly object;—some pray for a means of living, some for the healing of some disease, and so forth.

Doctor (to Sri Râmakrishna): It is not right for you, ill as you are, to hold converse with anybody. Of course, you must make an exception in my favour. (Laughter.)

Sri Râmakrishna (smiling): Will you be good enough to see that I am healed? You see how I cannot repeat and glorify the Name of the Lord!

Doctor (smiling): What is the need for repeating His Name? Meditation¹ is quite enough for our purposes.

Sri Râmakrishna: What do you say? You want me to be narrow and one-sided? I eat my fish dressed into various dishes—fish in curry, fish fried, fish with tamarind, cutlet, pillau, and so forth. I long to worship the Lord in as many ways as I can, and still my heart's desire is not fulfilled! I long to worship Him with flowers and fruits and other offerings; to repeat His Sacred Name by myself; to meditate upon Him; to chant His hymns; to dance in the joy of the Lord!

Doctor: Well, Sir, I too do not like to be narrow or one-sided.

Is it absolutely necessary to believe in Divine Incarnations?

Master: Amrita, your son, does not believe in Divine Incarnation. Well, it matters not. Those that believe that God is without form will see Him,—as well as those who believe that He is with form. The two things needed are Faith and Self-surrender. Man is liable to error at every step. In any case he cannot hope to be absolutely free from error. Do you want to put four seers of milk into a water-pot which can hold only one seer?

¹ Dhyana.

But you must cry to the Lord with a longing, yearning heart,—whether you believe that God is with form or without form. The Lord is the Ruler of the soul within, and shall grant your prayer if your cry goes forth unto Him from the inmost recesses of your heart.

Yes, and whether you believe that the Lord is with form or without form. The cake made with candy will taste equally sweet whether it be straight or oblique when taken up into the mouth (Laughter.)

Amrita, thy son, is a good lad.

Doctor: Oh, he is a disciple of yours!

Sri Râmakrishna (smiling): There is not a fellow under the sun who is my disciple. On the contrary, I am everybody's disciple. All men are sons of God,—servants of the Lord. I too am a son of God and His servant. Uncle Moon is everybody's Uncle! (Laughter.)

(The Master here refers to one of the popular folk-tales current in Bengal, which speaks of the moon as the maternal uncle of everybody.)