From “Spiritual Talks by the First Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna” –
“Make yourself for ever His, then there will be no more fear. Swamiji (Vivekananda) used to say, ‘Since you have been born on earth, leave a lasting mark on it.’ At the Baranagore Math he said, ‘Let me tell you, our names will be recorded in history.’ Swami Yogananda ridiculed him. But Swamiji replied, ‘Well, well, you will see, I can convince everyone of the truths of Vedanta. If you will not listen to me, I shall go to the Pariah villages and teach Vedanta to the villagers.’
“If you want to preach, you must also give something. Preaching is not merely lecturing to a class or explaining a book. You have to give them something. Therefore you must accumulate spirituality before-hand…. And never pride yourself on your having gained control over the passions. If you do, they will at once raise their heads. Ever pray to him, O Lord, save me from them.’
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“It is not good merely working. Work is drudgery if there is no spiritual feeling behind it.”
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“You can never be emancipated by adoring a man as man-you must look upon him as God. However great he may be in spiritual wisdom and dispassionateness, how-ever highly endowed he may be with spiritual powers, the worship of him will not effect your liberation, if you do not perceive him as God Himself. Without such a consciousness, his worship may serve to communicate to you his spiritual qualities and powers, but nothing more. If you worship a divine Incarnation, knowing him as such or not, he will surely grant you God-realization. Shishupâla attained God-realization even by hating Shri Krishna. The Gopis realized God even though they considered Shri Krishna as only their lover. A Gopi was shut up in her room by her husband. Her intense anguish at being separated from Shri Krishna destroyed her sins; and the joy she felt by meditating on Him destroyed her religious merits (Punya); and she was liberated.”
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Stubbornness is a cloak for weakness. The weak put it on in order to hide their weakness. Real strength knows how to bend and yet regain its true position.
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We must remember from time to time why we renounced the world and test ourselves if we are really progressing towards the goal. – Swami Premananda
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” ‘None else, He alone is my all in all’ – when you will feel like this and will not rely on anything, then will you be right. Now you are depending on earthly things, on wealth, man, and learning. Even great scholars get mad by a single screw getting loose in the brain. We do not rely on God. We rely on our money, our relations, our friends. But Ὁ king, know that He is the treasure of those who have nothing. When nothing will intervene between you and Him, then you will realize Him. Shri Krishna had broken all the ties of the Gopis. But their sense of shame still remained. That tie also he broke at last. When the Lord sees that man is finding it hard to give up anything for Him, then He Himself takes it away. O Lord, take all things away from me, even those that I have kept hidden in my inmost heart.’ ‘If, O man, thou wilt cross the ocean of relative existence, thou must give up desires for earthly things.’
“The Master used to say, ‘Do whatever you like after making the knowledge of oneness your own. That is to say, know the Lord as the soul of your soul, the life of your life, the eye of your eye, and love Him. Nothing else than this, such as asking things of God, is true devotion. Supreme devotion cannot be had so long as there is the slightest desire in the mind.”
My Master was read. Apropos of the passage, “Do you think then that a man firmly persuaded that there is a Reality behind all these appearances,… One who is infinite bliss, a bliss compared with which these pleasures of the senses are simply playthings, can rest contented without struggling to attain It?” the Swami said:
“Just see! Our God is only a verbal affair. A little meditation, a little Japa-this is a poor sort of life. The heart must burst hungering for Him. An intense anguish must fill it and life should seem to go out without Him-only then it will be right.
“Nothing short of complete self-surrender to Him will do. You call Him the Inner controller (Antaryami), omniscient, and omnipresent, and yet you are afraid to surrender yourself to Him! Thinkest thou that thou wilt realize Mother by thy hypocritical devotion? No, no, this is not a sweet in a child’s hand that thou wilt cajole it out of Her. You cannot deceive God. He sees all…. Thou art the doer, not I; Thou art the mechanic, I am the machine.’…Ἱ am a jealous God.’ If you love anything else than God and do not renounce all for Him, you cannot realize Him.”
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“Whenever Swamiji (Vivekananda) said ‘I’, he identified it with the all comprehensive ‘I’. When we say ‘I’, we identify it with the body, the senses, and the mind. Hence we have to say ‘the servant I’, ‘the devotee I. Swamiji would never identify his ‘I’ with any adjunct of the Self – he would identify himself with Brahman and go beyond body, mind, and intellect. This was his central and normal mood, and in that he used to pass the greatest part of his time. But such a mood does not come to us. We are living separate from Him. Hence we have to say ‘Thou’ and ‘Thine’ in reference to God.”
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Disciple: “In order to realize the cosmic ‘I’, should those who are dualistic in spiritual practice, study books on Advaita ?”
Swami Turiyananda: “The Master used to say, ‘Do whatever you like after making the knowledge of oneness your own.’ The true devotees always say ‘Thou’ and ‘Thine’, that is to say, O Lord, Thou art everything, and everything is Thine.’ Wherein does this differ from Advaita? But if a devotee says ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and feels himself separate from and independent of Him, it is an extremely harmful dualism. Such a devotee is greatly deluded. The Master would often repeat ‘Not I, not I’, ‘Thou, Thou’, ‘I am Thy servant, I am Thy servant’. A devotee must completely renounce all ‘I’ and ‘mine’. How often Râmaprasada engaged himself in a loving quarrel with the Divine Mother and coaxed and cajoled Her! Such an intense and condensed spiritual mood must be realized-like water condensed into ice. Only then can we have a vision of His Divine forms. Gopâler Mâ saw Gopâla following her gathering fire-wood for her, and Shri Rama-krishna saw Râmlâlâ going about with him. It is the intensity of spiritual feeling that counts. Whether you believe in His form or formlessness it does not matter. O lotus, what kind of love is thine? Thou givest only the smile of thy face to the sun thy husband. But thy honey thou yieldest to the bee!’ If one con-siders God to be all in all, how can one find joy in worldly things?”
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“However great a man may be, whatever great deeds he may be doing, some day he will have to be desireless. After that, of course, he may work again through the will of God. But if you work at the command of a Mahapurusha, a man of realization, to whom you have surrendered your all and who seeks your good, work will not tighten your bondage; on theother hand, it will break it. Always pray to Him that you may not forget Him. Pray, ‘Do not give me such work to do, as will make me forget Thee; and wherever Thou keepest me, may I ever remember Thee!’
“But do not say to Him, ‘Give me this’, ‘Do not give me that’. It will be a selfish prayer. When you want to do one thing and do not want to do another, you allow your ego to come in. Some there are, who are afraid of work and try to avoid it. That makes their bondage and selfishness lasting. Pray to Him for Bhakti. But be ever ready to obey His commands. Pray, ‘May I keep Thee in mind under all conditions! May I never fall into any other company than that of Thy devotees!'”
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“Those who have not good reasoning powers, become easily biased towards one side. Swamiji had equally the power to explain and to feel. He knew the defects of people and yet forgave them.”
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“If you are miserable for not having realized God, the more this mood grows, the more you will earn His grace. Intensify it still more. But if your misery is due to other reasons, then carefully shake it off.”
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“To stand on one’s own legs means to rely on that ‘I’ which comprehends the cosmic ‘I’, not on the ‘I’ which thinks that it is so-and-so and has passed so many examinations etc. to stand on this is of no use.
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“I tell you from my inmost heart, I can this moment go away even as I am now, without caring to look about to see how things are left behind. Even now I can live on alms. Without this conviction I shall be undone.
“Man always seeks advantage. He has been doing it not only in this life, but also in many previous lives. Mukti (emancipation) is nothing but giving up seeking advantage. Man wants to avoid suffering; he is always sparing himself. Swamiji used to say that man wants only to gossip.
“This (Sannyasin’s) life is no fun. One must live very cautiously. One must be very alert and circumspect. One must never retaliate, one must always endure. If you retaliate, it must rebound on you. It is no child’s play. The Sannyasin’s life is an attempt at going beyond all life. He alone will be saved, who will dwell constantly on good thoughts.”
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“Never expect anything from anyone. But always give. Otherwise a sense of dryness will overtake you. I have seen many monks who are dry and who think that because they have become monks they have nothing to do with others…. But you must not give your mind to anyone. That you must give only to God. That is why you have not married. Pray crying to Him, O Lord, may I love Thee with all my heart!’ The Master would instruct us to work with the hands but to keep the mind ever on Him.
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“Do not accept any gifts from anyone. For the gifts will harm you, they will take away your independence. He alone can accept, who feels no obligation, whose mind is not affected, who feels them as gifts from God Himself. You may accept gifts only from good men who would not interfere with your independence and seek to control you.
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“It is very difficult to understand truly the intricacies of the mind without being an advanced aspirant. How many are the ways in which the mind is deluding us! If anyone points out the delusions, we find excuses for them! We do not understand how many kinds of self-love are in us. It is no joke to submit to anyone-not outwardly, but in spirit. Swami Vivekananda was once reading the Bible. He was in those days a vegetarian. When he read of Jesus’s meat-eating, he did not like it. But at once he thought, ‘Oh, how proud I have become because I am living on vegetables! We read a lot, but can feel, retain, and assimilate little. Once the Master said to Girish Chandra Ghosh: ‘What are you talking of knowledge of Brahman! Shukadeva saw and touched the Ocean of Brahman. And Shiva drank only three handfuls of Its water and became a Shava (corpse)’. Girish Ghosh clasped his head and exclaimed, ‘Stop, sir, say no more. My head is reeling.’
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“The first door of Yoga is the control of speech, non-acceptance of gifts, non-expectation, desirelessness, and love of solitude.’ This verse had a great influence on me. Formerly I used to talk much. When I read it I thought, ‘What! I have not entered even the first door of Yoga!’ and I resolved that I would control my speech. I did not talk with anyone, lived by myself, and acted as I thought best. And I did not utter a single word during the nine days of the Navarâtri.
“It was Shankara who moulded my life. Before I came to the Master, a single verse of Shankara used to lift me a step up and give me a flood of light. In those days I used to find much new meaning in the verses. What is Parigraha (acceptance of gifts)? Even if you do not accept any gift, there may still be Parigraha. To think of means for the future, that is Parigraha. Birth and rebirth all follow from Parigraha. We are already thinking of ways and means for the future. Wherever our mind is, there we also are. If you do not have Parigraha, where would your mind be? Naturally on the Atman (Self) itself. This one practice of Aparigraha can take you to the highest.
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Disciple: “You well know, Maharaj, that we are engrossed in the world. Pray, tell us how we can realize Him.”
Swami Turiyananda: “There is no fixed means of attaining God. Shri Ramakrishna used to say, ‘A man can be sincere only by virtue of merits acquired in many past lives.’ Swamiji has nicely said, ‘God is not a commodity like fish or vegetable to be had for a certain price.’ The sages have stated in the Shåstras the several paths by which they attained God. One has stated that one should perform Puja (worship) in such and such a way. Another that one should practise Japa (repeating God’s name). And so on. Nârada says, ‘Just as the river flows intently towards the sea in order to meet it, without deviating its course to any other direction, even so he who seeks God should move towards Him and Him alone giving up all other concerns.’ It is said in the Gitâ, ‘Persons who worship Me alone without being attached to anything else, to them thus ever zealously engaged, I carry what they lack and preserve what they already have.’
“There are two forms of Bhakti (devotion): Firstly, the ritualistic or obligatory devotion, such as, one should practise so much Japa or one should perform Puja in such and such a way. Then there is the loving devotion. At this stage the devotee thinks ardently of God. He finds no pleasure in things unrelated to God. Above all, perseverance is necessary. It will not do to discontinue practice if a little effort does not produce the desired effect. It is said that a man practised so intensely that an ant-hill grew upon him.”
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Devotee: “How to know whether one is pro-gressing towards Him or not?”
Swami Turiyananda: “One can know it oneself. Others also can know it. All his passions, lust, anger, and greed will wane, his attachment for the objects of the senses will diminish, and he will have peace at heart.”
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“Truthfulness, obedience, and looking upon all women as mother, if these do not lead one to Hari, then Tulasi is responsible for it.” Few, alas, speak the truth. What is obedience? It is complete resignation. And one must look upon another’s wife as one’s mother. Whoever will have these, will reach God; Tulasi stands surety for it.
“He who constantly steals others’ property may perform great charities, still he does none. He who always depends on others, may live long, yet he lives not. He who always slanders others may repeat the holy name, yet he does it not,’ so said Kabir.
“What will it avail if one makes charity with money stolen from others? To live long on the charity of others is as good as death. It is useless for a slanderer to repeat the name of God. This is why Jesus said, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift.'”
Disciple: “It is pleasant to hear all this, Mahârâj. But it costs one’s life to carry them out. Theoretically it is easy to understand them, but to practise them is extremely difficult.”
Swami: “But even an intellectual grasp is not useless. It is possible only in this country. A great many souls were born here, who realized Brahman, and the influence of their experiences has entered into the very marrow of the country. This is why men and women, old and young, all can easily understand these truths.”
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“Once Upamanyu had a desire to drink milk. He had just returned from his aunt’s place where he had tasted milk. He urged his mother to give him milk. She was a poor widow and could not afford milk for her son. But as he still insisted, she mixed powdered rice with water and gave him that as milk. Upamanyu found that it did not taste like the stuff he had taken at his aunt’s house. ‘This is milk,’ said the mother. But he would not believe. Then she began to cry. I am a poor woman, she said, ‘where shall I get milk, my child? Shiva is the giver of wealth. If you can satisfy him by your prayers and austerities, he may grant you the boon of abundant milk.’ Upamanyu practised hard Tapasya (austerities) until Mahadeva appeared to him and gave him the desired boon. But that was not the only Tapasyâ he practised in his life. He is one of the great sages celebrated in the Mahabharata.
“Of Shri Krishna’s wives at Dwaraka, Jâmbavati had no son. One day she thus expressed her sorrow to Shri Krishna: “Through your grace all have been favoured with sons except the unfortunate me who have none. Kindly bless me with a son.’ Shri Krishna deliberated awhile, and then went away from Dwaraka to become a disciple of Upamanyu. He was initiated by Upamanyu and practised hard Tapasyâ under his guidance to gratify Shiva. Then through Shiva’s grace, Jambavati gave birth to a son who came to be known as Sâmba. You see, even Shri Krishna had to worship Shiva for a son. In the Mahabharata there are many references to the cult of Shiva. Therefore Swami Vivekananda used to say, ‘Shiva is the God of the Mahabharata and not Shri Krishna.’
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M. (Mahendranath Gupta): “The daily visit to the Kashi temple has created such a tendency in me that I feel very unhappy if I miss it a single day.”
Disciple: “Unlucky as I am, I never feel like that. When I go to the temple, I only see a block of stone and nothing else. I never feel any attraction like yours.”
Swami Turiyananda: “Ah, what do you say? All feel like M. How is it that you do not?”
Disciple: “It is no use saying that I feel when I really do not. From time immemorial, men and women have been coming to Varanasi to visit Vishwanatha. There must be some meaning in that, I know. Yet I myself do not feel any attraction.”
Swami Turiyananda: “If a person cannot weep tears of devotion, he can do so by applying oil and chilli powder to his eyes. One actually did so at the time of Shri Chaitanya. When Shri Chaitanya held Kirtana in the house of Shri-vâsa, every one shed tears through devotion. But there was one who could not. This made him very sad. So one day he applied chilli powder in his eyes at the time of Kirtana and thus shed tears. When Shri Chaitanya came to know of it, he ran up to him and embraced him. He thought that the man must have great devotion, otherwise he would not have been so grieved for not being able to weep.”
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Shri Ramakrishna used to say, ‘Lust is blind, but love is pure and resplendent.’ It is lust if you have the idea of man, and love if you have the idea of God in your beloved.
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Swami Turiyananda: To one who is endowed with personal exertion even destiny becomes favourable. God helps those who help themselves. Relying on destiny people often tend towards degradation. Free-will also comes under this personal exertion. People make mistakes through their own fault, and then lay the blame on destiny. Stumbling on the way is an accident-going along is the natural course. Making mistakes is an accident -rising higher and higher is the natural course.
Disciple: “Between the two blades of a pair of scissors we do not know which is responsible for the cutting. So we cannot ascertain whether destiny or personal exertion is responsible for the accomplishment of an act, and in what measure. We, however, take it for granted that both are equally responsible. Our duty is to exert, it is within our control, rather than wait for destiny to help us out.”
Swami Turiyananda: “Quite so. That is the way. Unless one acts like that, nothing can be done. But then, there is such a thing as resignation to the Lord. It is no weakness to say, ‘Thy will be done.”
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“Really speaking, it doesn’t take one much time to attain realization. But men are apt to ‘fall asleep’, which means that past tendencies are too strong for them. One has to summon up all one’s resolution and rouse oneself – determined to do or die. One is perhaps dreaming of a woman – but the counter-tendencies are so strong that even in dream he is getting indignant. He is alert even in dream. We are not mere machines – we can be alert in all conditions. Whether a man will succeed in attaining realization or not depends upon the amount of earnestness he has. This is the test.
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Shri Ramakrishna disliked a happy-go-lucky spirit. He used to say of Swamiji, ‘See, what a heroic temperament he has! As soon as he sets his mind on a thing, he applies himself heart and soul to it.’ Circumstances may or may not be favourable, but who cares? We must strain every nerve to accomplish the thing. If you are determined to do it at any cost, you will find that great obstacles which you thought would overpower you, ultimately turn out to help you. But you must struggle sincerely.
Does one find circumstances always propitious ? Consider what you have got to do as your duty and go on. Are you not undecaying and immortal always? So why should you go about seeking favourable circumstances? It is you who have projected all this.
“He who wishes to think upon the Lord after all his engagements have been finished, is like the fool who wishes to bathe in the sea after the waves have subsided.’
“One wishing to bathe in the sea waits and waits, with the idea that one would have a plunge when the waves would have subsided. Nonsense! Will that moment ever come! Instead of doing so, you buffet against the waves, have your bath, and come out. The sea remains always the same. So in this world, you must manage to call upon the Lord in the midst of these waves. It is a wild-goose-chase to be on the look-out for opportunities. Now or never! Apply yourselves to it, and disadvantages will turn into advantages.
There is no freedom, no respite until you have done your duties. That which you have given up without performing, will be waiting for you-only to appear again. Face the brute! You can’t save yourself by flight. Taking up the monastic life will be advantageous, while the householder’s life is disadvantageous-such considerations are futile. You cannot come to the next stage without performing the duties of the previous one. Aspire after higher things but never shirk the present duties. Don’t do that. The case of those who live a celibate life from their boyhood is different. They have come with such good tendencies that even if they live in the world, they will live there as Sannyasins. You are what you are-you cannot jump to a higher stage. Avoidance is not good, nor is it possible. Do your duties in the world but think of God all the while. The case of the woman in love who thinks always of her lover in all her daily duties is an illustration in point. One must pray from the bottom of one’s heart to have a steadfast devotion for God. To make oneself fit, association with monks and occasional retire-ment into solitude are necessary. If one is sincere the Lord Himself prepares the way. You have to offer this mind unto Him. You have to churn out butter first, and then only it won’t get mixed up by remaining in water. The greatness of a monk is in proportion to the amount of self-examination he has made to the degree of intimate knowledge he has of his ins and outs. Self-examination is a very difficult task. It is extremely difficult to detect the tricks that the mind plays. Great God!”
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Look at Swamiji’s writings and those of other Swamis. Personality is the chief thing. It is only a handful of men who are directing this world-the rest follow like sheep. On his return from his travels all the world over Swamiji remarked, ‘Democracy is a myth. Only a handful of men rule everywhere.’
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“You practise meditation, don’t you? Meditation can be on divine forms as well as on Om. As one goes on meditating, the mind gets absorbed in Om. As one goes on ‘repeating Om and reflecting on its meaning, the mind becomes steady, that is to say, it does not give it up. “Through surrender to God all the obstructions to the concentration of the mind are destroyed and one realizes one’s Self.’
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“Even men like Girish Babu had a place with Shri Ramakrishna, who could fit in with everybody. But what we do is to try to mould all according to our own ideas. Whereas he used to take everybody where he was and push him forward. He never disappointed anybody by failing in the attempt to mould him according to his own light. He had a distinct relation with each devotee and maintained that throughout. Through humour he would teach them a good deal. Ah, what a teacher he was! Where can one get a teacher like him?
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“Once a gentleman came to Shri Ramakrishna from Jabalpur. He was a scholar, an M.A., and was very frank; but he had an agnostic turn of mind. So he had much discussion with Shri Ramakrishna. He confessed that he had great mental unrest, but he would not pray to God, because, as he said, there was no proof of His existence! Shri Ramakrishna said to him, ‘Well, I suppose you have no objection to praying like this: “If Thou really art, then listen to my prayer.” If you pray like this, it will do you good.’ The gentleman thought over it and then said that he had no objection to that sort of prayer. Shri Ramakrishna asked him to follow the advice and come to him again. The gentleman came again. He was a changed man. Touching the Master’s feet, he wept as he said, ‘You have saved me!’ Swamiji also once transmitted faith in God into Kidi’s (Singaravelu Mudaliar) mind by a touch. Kidi was a great agnostic before that.