Sri Ramakrishna on Knowledge

• A salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean. As soon as it went into the water, it melted and became one with it. Then who was there to tell about it?
• A sign of the highest spiritual knowledge is that a person becomes silent. The salt doll of ‘I-ness’ gets dissolved in the sea of Sat-chit-ananda – not a trace of differentiation remains.
• The path of knowledge, is a very difficult path. If the least trace of worldliness – attachment to ‘lust and greed’ – persists, one cannot attain knowledge. This path is not for the Kaliyuga.
• You can get rid of I-consciousness when you attain spiritual knowledge. Attaining it, you go into samadhi, and only in samadhi does ‘I-ness’ disappear.
• What happens when the mind ascends to the seventh plane cannot be described in words. Once a ship enters dark waters, it doesn’t return.
• The knowers of the Self say ‘So ‘ham’; that is, ‘I am that Paramatman (the highest Self).’ This is the view of the sannyasins of the Vedantic school. But it is not suited for householders. They feel they perform all actions and duties themselves, so how can they say, ‘I am that Paramatman beyond all action?’
• After gaining knowledge and loving devotion to God, there is not much danger in living a householder’s life.
• Those who want the knowledge of the Absolute will attain it, even if they adopt and tread the path of love and devotion. Remember that the gracious loving Lord of the devotees grants the knowledge of Brahman if He so wishes.
• When you have attained knowledge, you no longer see God at a distance. He is no longer ‘He’ – He becomes ‘this.’ Then He is seen in your own heart.
• After one has attained the highest knowledge, both God and His Power are realized as one and the same, like a jewel and its lustre are inseparable. As soon as the brilliance of a jewel comes to the mind, one thinks of the jewel.
• As long as there is I’ and ‘you’, as long as there is the knowledge, ‘I pray or I meditate,’ so long does the feeling of ‘You (the Lord) listen to my prayer’ exist.
• A person liberated in this very life, may live as a householder if he so wills. For a man who has attained spiritual knowledge, there is nothing like ‘here’ and ‘there.’ It is all the same for him. Everything ‘here’ as well as ‘there’ belongs to Him.
• When one has attained the highest spiritual knowledge, one’s nature becomes that of a five year-old child. Then one no longer distinguishes between a man and a woman.
• You cannot attain knowledge until you are rid of the ego. There is a saying: ‘When shall I be free? When “I” ceases to be.’ ‘My’ and ‘mine’ are ignorance; ‘You’ and ‘Yours’ are knowledge.
• Oh Lord, you are the Doer and I, a non-doer. This is what constitutes jnana (spiritual wisdom).
• It is only when you become lowly that you can rise. The chatak bird has its nest near the ground, but it can soar at high altitudes. Farming is not possible at high elevations. You need low land to farm. Water only collects on low land; only there is cultivation possible.
• Jnana and bhakti are both paths to God-realization. In the path of bhakti, one has to observe more religious rules and rites. In the path of jnana, if somebody commits an unscriptural deed, it gets destroyed and does no harm. It is like a banana tree thrown into a roaring fire and is burnt.
• As long as one retains one’s upadhis (Adjuncts; semblances) , one has the perception of plurality and of persons, as Keshab, Prasanna, Amrita and so on. When one has attained ultimate jnana, one is aware that it is one Consciousness behind many things.
• When one has acquired ultimate jnana, one sees that the same Consciousness has differentiated into the world, its creatures and the twenty-four cosmic principles.
• One who has a sense of darkness also has a sense of light. One who knows the meaning of night also knows the meaning of day. One who has the feeling of joy also has the feeling of grief.
• As long as one thinks that the Lord is somewhere ‘there’, one is ignorant. But when one thinks that God is definitely ‘here’, that is jnana.
• What is jnana and what is ajnana? It is ajnana (ignorance) when you think that the Lord is far away from you. When you know Him to be here [within you], that is jnana.
• When you have gained the right jnana (spiritual knowledge), everything seems to be full of divine consciousness.
• It is no use repeating, ‘Jnana, jnana.’ There are two signs that mark the attainment of spiritual knowledge. One is anuraga, that is, love for God. You may reason and discuss, but if you have no love for the Lord, no devotion for Him, it is all futile. The second sign is the awakening of the Kundalini power. As long as the Kundalini lies dormant, one does not gain jnana.
• Just as at midday when the sun shines directly overhead, a man does not see his shadow anywhere around him. When you have gained true knowledge, attained samadhi, the shadow of egotism disappears.
• If, after attaining true knowledge, one’s I-ness persists, know it to be either the ‘I of knowledge,’ or the ‘I of devotion,’ or the ‘I of a servant.’ This is not the ‘I of ignorance.’

Knowledge – Ignorance

• ‘You and Yours’ comes from spiritual knowledge; the feeling of ‘I and mine’ is ignorance.
• Oh Lord, You are the doer, I am a non-doer – this is Knowledge. Oh Lord, all belongs to You – body, mind, home, family, the universe and its living beings – they are all Yours, nothing belongs to me. This feeling is Knowledge.
• But there is something beyond knowledge of the Absolute. After jnana, comes vijnana. He who is aware of knowledge is also aware of ignorance.
• He who is aware of light is also aware of darkness. He who knows happiness also knows sorrow. He who is aware of virtue is also aware of vice. He who knows good also knows bad. He who knows what purity is, also knows impurity. He who is conscious of ‘I’ is also conscious of ‘you’.
• When you have attained the highest Knowledge, you may have the attitude of Soham – but it is an attitude far removed from the ordinary man’s experience.
• There is a great deal of difference between the jnana of a householder and that of an all-renouncing sannyasin. The knowledge of the householder is like the light of an earthen lamp that only lights the room. The householder cannot understand beyond his body, home and family. But the knowledge of an all-renouncing sannyasin is like the radiance of the sun. One can see both inside and outside the room with its light.
• Some people lead householder lives after attaining spiritual knowledge. They are able to see both the inside and outside of the room. The light of spiritual knowledge illumines the household, by virtue of which they can discriminate between what is good and what is bad, what is eternal and what is ephemeral.
• There are two signs of a person who has attained spiritual knowledge. First, he has no pride; second, he develops a serene attitude.
• When a thorn digs into one’s foot, one must take another thorn to take it out. Afterwards, you throw them both away. By removing the thorn of ignorance with the thorn of knowledge, one should throw away both the thorns of knowledge and ignorance.
• There is a sign of perfect knowledge. One stops reasoning. Just as I said that butter, when heated, crackles until it is thoroughly boiled.
• How long does one reason? As long as there is the consciousness of plurality. You reason as long as you are aware of the world and its embodied beings, ‘I’ and ‘you.’ Attaining true knowledge, you become silent. Trailanga Swami is like that.
• The mark of a man of perfect knowledge is that he doesn’t keep a single book with him. For instance, Sukadeva. All knowledge was on the tip of his tongue.
• Give up your worry about purity and impurity. People who worry excessively about such things do not attain spiritual knowledge. Only observe the prescribed rituals that are necessary. Don’t overdo it.
• There are two signs of spiritual knowledge. First, a firm understanding. One may have to face a thousand pains and sorrows, a number of catastrophes and obstacles, yet one remains steady, like the anvil in a blacksmith shop which receives so many hammer blows. Second is perseverance, inner strength: if lust and anger can hurt me, I shall immediately renounce them.
• There are signs of spiritual knowledge. The first is a serene nature. The second is absence of pride. You have both these signs.
• There are very few people who are fit for spiritual knowledge. The Gita says, ‘Scarcely one out of thousands strives for perfection; of those who strive, even among the perfected, scarcely anyone truly knows Me.’
• Where there is knowledge, there is also ignorance. Rishi Vasishtha, though endowed with such knowledge, wept at the death of his sons. So go beyond knowledge and ignorance. The thorn of ignorance has pierced your foot. To take it out, you need the thorn of knowledge. After you have pulled it out, throw away both thorns.
• Only that person who has matured in knowledge and has ripened his love for God, having reached the Absolute, can also dwell in the relative and then again ascend from the relative to the Absolute.
• Just dry reasoning! It’s like a firework’s rocket which shoots up into the air with a noise but falls down with a thud after sparkling momentarily. But the knowledge of Narada and Sukadeva is like a superior rocket that sparkles for some time, then goes out, but again sparkles with a new spray. Narada, Sukadeva, and others like them have intense love for God.
• God Himself is playing the game as both knowledge and ignorance. I bow to both of them. The Chandi says, ‘She is Lakshmi [good fortune] in the house of the blessed, and misfortune personified in the house of the unfortunate.’
• The dry branch of the coconut tree has dropped off on its own.’ I learned about the ‘coconut branches’ from there – that after one has attained knowledge of Brahman, all adjuncts fall off by themselves.
• Attaining spiritual knowledge, one performs worship and other rituals in order to set an example. I visit the Kali temple and also bow before all these pictures in my room. That’s why others do it. If a habit is formed, the mind feels uncomfortable if it is not done.
• If you take a thorny bush and just sit before it saying, ‘This bush is burning,’ will it burn up? You have to light the fire of knowledge and set fire to that bush. Only then will it burn up.
• As long as you live inside the house of maya, as long as clouds of maya exist, the sun of knowledge does not help. When you leave the house of maya and stand outside (when you have renounced ‘lust and greed’), the sun of knowledge destroys ignorance. A lens doesn’t burn paper if you bring it inside the house. If you come outside with it and the rays of the sun fall on it, the paper burns. Again, if it is cloudy, the lens can’t burn the paper. Only when the clouds disappear does it burn.
• Knowledge of the Ultimate Reality means knowledge of the Self. Tat means the Supreme self, tvam means the individual self. The embodied soul and the Supreme Self are one and the same. Knowing this is the knowledge of the Ultimate Reality, or tattvajnana.
• Hanuman said to Rama, ‘O Rama, sometimes I say to myself that You are the whole and I a part of you, sometimes that you are the Lord and I your servant. But when I have the knowledge of Reality I see that You are I and I am You.’
• He who is aware of high is also aware of low. After attaining spiritual knowledge, high and low appear as one.
• When Prahlada realized the Ultimate Reality, he felt, ‘I am He.’ And when consciousness of the body returned, his attitude would change to ‘I am Your servant.’ Hanuman also sometimes felt the attitude of ‘I am He,’ sometimes ‘I am Your servant,’ and at other times, ‘I am a part of You.’
• When one attains the ultimate knowledge, who can be the guru and who can be the disciple? This is a very difficult situation, where there is no difference between the disciple and the guru.
• ‘I’ and ‘mine’ both mean ignorance. O Lord, You are the doer and everything is Yours. This is spiritual knowledge. Then how can you say that a certain thing is ‘mine’? The guard of the orchard says: It is my garden. But if he makes a mistake, the owner dismisses him. Then he doesn’t even have the courage to take his mango-wood box with him.
• People who reason and discriminate don’t acknowledge these three states. They say that Brahman is beyond the gross, subtle and causal states – beyond the three qualities of sattva, rajas and tamas. Everything is maya, they say, like the reflection in a mirror. The reflection has no substance. Only Brahman has substance, everything else is illusory.
• Look, ‘me and mine’ – this alone is ignorance. Everybody says that the Kali Temple was built by Rani Rasmani – nobody says that God built it. So-and-so founded the Brahmo Samaj – that’s what people say. Nobody says that it came about by the will of God. ‘I have done it’ – this is ignorance. ‘O God, nothing at all is mine, this Kali Temple is not mine, the Samaj is not mine, all these belong to you; wife, son and family, none of these are mine, they are all yours.’ These are the words of spiritual wisdom.
• After attaining knowledge, you don’t have to go to another world – there is no rebirth. But until you attain knowledge, until you realize God, you will have to return to this world – there is no release. The hereafter will exist for you that long. But when you attain knowledge, when you realize God, you are liberated and don’t have to be reborn in this world. Boiled paddy will not sprout and grow into a plant. If somebody is boiled in the fire of knowledge, he can no longer take part in the game of creation – he cannot lead a worldly life – he is not attracted by ‘lust and greed.’ What can boiled paddy yield in a field?
• To say that I am the doer, that because of this, the world is running, the house is mine and this is my family, is ignorance. But to feel that I am His servant, His devotee, or His child is very good.

Man of Knowledge

• The rishis were jnanis (men of knowledge), so they sought Akhanda Sachchidananda (Indivisible Existence Knowledge Bliss Absolute). On the other hand, devotees seek the avatar – to enjoy his love.
• The jnani neither wants God with form nor His avatar. While wandering in the forest, Ramachandra came across a number of rishis. They received Rama in their ashrama with great respect. They said, ‘Rama, our lives are blessed to see you today. But we know you as Dasharatha’s son. Bharadvaja and the other rishis say that you are an avatar. But we do not hold this view.
• An ignorant man says, ‘The Lord exists there, very far away.’ The man of Knowledge, on the other hand, knows that the Lord exists ‘here, here indeed,’ so very near, within the heart, as the antaryami. And that He has assumed each of the various forms that are.
• The jnani reasons, ‘Not this, not this.’ Reasoning in this way, he reaches a point of Divine Bliss, and that is Brahman.
• The goal of the jnani is to know the nature of his own real Self. This is jnana. And it is this that is also called liberation. One’s own real Self is Parabrahman. Parabrahman and ‘I’ are one. But one does not know this because of the veil of maya.
• Janaka was a jnani – he attained divine knowledge by practicing spiritual disciplines. Sukadeva, however, was the very embodiment of divine knowledge. Sukadeva did not attain divine knowledge by practicing austerities. Narada, like Sukadeva, had the knowledge of Brahman, but he retained love and devotion for God in order to teach mankind. Sometimes Prahlada was in the mood of ‘Soham,’ and at other times he thought of himself as a servant, or as a child, of God. Hanuman was also like that.
• Why should one who has attained spiritual knowledge be afraid of criticism? His firm and steadfast understanding is like a blacksmith’s anvil – any number of hammer blows does not affect it.
• The Naked One used to tell how the jnani meditates. There is an expanse of water stretching everywhere – all regions above and below are full of water. The individual soul is like a fish swimming joyfully in this water. One actually sees this when one really meditates.
• There is a boundless expanse of ocean with no limit to its water. Now imagine a pot in the ocean. There is water both inside and outside the pot. The jnani sees that there is the same Paramatman both within and without. Then what is the pot? It is the I-consciousness. Because of the pot, water seems to be divided into two parts – as if one part of the water is inside the pot and the other outside. As long as one’s ‘pot of ego’ persists, one feels this way. But when the ego vanishes, what remains is that which is. It cannot be spoken in words.
• Do you know another way the jnani meditates? There is the boundless sky with a bird flying in it joyfully with extended wings. That is the sky of consciousness, and the Atman is the bird. The bird is not within a cage – it is flying in the sky of consciousness. Its joy is limitless.
• A man of knowledge is freed from all desires. Whatever little desire remains can do him no harm. When a sword touches the philosopher’s stone, it turns into gold. Then it can’t kill anyone. In the same way, the desire and anger of a man of knowledge are only superficial, they are just in name. They can do no harm.
• ‘One gains true spiritual knowledge when one realizes that Kali and Gauranga are one and the same.’ That which is Brahman is indeed Shakti (Mother Kali). In human form She is Gauranga.
• There are other signs in a man of knowledge, too. In the company of a sadhu, he is a man of renunciation; when at work, he’s like a lion – for example, while lecturing. He’s full of humour in the company of his wife, witty as a pundit.
• A man of knowledge says that worldly life is a veil of deception. He who is beyond both knowledge and ignorance calls it a mart of joy. He sees that God Himself has become the world and its living beings, and that He has become the twenty-four cosmic principles.
• A man of knowledge can live in the world with vidyamaya – love for God, compassion, and non-attachment – after attaining spiritual knowledge. This is for two particular objectives. First, to teach mankind and second, to enjoy bliss.
• A man of knowledge is not a useless plant in this sense: a person who has realized God has gained the fruit of immortality, not a gourd. He isn’t born again – whether on earth, on the region of the sun, or on the region of the moon. He doesn’t have to go anywhere.
• He keeps some in the world of maya to instruct others. A jnani lives in the world taking refuge in vidya maya. God Himself keeps him there to work for Him – for example, Sukadeva or Shankaracharya.

Vidya – Avidhya

• The knowledge which leads one to the realization of God is real knowledge. All else is futile.
• There are both knowledge and ignorance in this world of maya. Whom do I call a paramahamsa? He who, like a swan, can take the milk from a mixture of water and milk by separating the water from the milk; he who, like an ant, can take the sugar from a mixture of sugar and sand, leaving aside the sand.
• To attain vijnana, one has to take refuge in vidya maya. Vidya maya includes the discrimination that the Lord is the Reality and the world ephemeral – this idea, in other words, constitutes discrimination and non-attachment. Besides, vidya maya also includes chanting His Name and glories, meditation, keeping the company of holy people, prayer, and so on.
• Vidya maya is like the last few steps leading to the roof – climb a step or two more and you are on the roof. To be on the roof is God-realization.
• Brahman is beyond the three gunas and beyond maya – He is beyond the power of nescience and also beyond the power leading toward God. ‘Lust and greed’ are nescience. Knowledge, dispassion and love and devotion for God – all these are the splendours of power leading Godward.
• Following the path of the ‘maya of knowledge’ step by step, one attains the knowledge of Brahman. ‘The maya of knowledge’ is like the last few steps of the stairs. Only the roof remains beyond. Some people like to climb up and down the staircase even after reaching the roof. They retain the ‘ego of knowledge’ even after attaining the knowledge of Brahman – in order to instruct mankind, to taste the bliss of divine love, and to enjoy the company of devotees.