GSRK-11 The Master was pleased with the pundits humility. He praised him to the devotees. MASTER: He has such a nice nature. You find no difficulty in driving a nail into a mud wall. But its point breaks if you try to drive it against a stone; and still it will not pierce it. There are people whose spiritual consciousness is not at all awakened even though they hear about God a thousand times. They are like a crocodile, on whose hide you cannot make any impression with a sword PUNDIT: But one can hurt a crocodile by throwing a spear into its belly. (All laugh.) MASTER (smiling): What good is there in reading a whole lot of scriptures? What good is there in the study of philosophy? What is the use of talking big? In order to learn archery one should first aim at a banana tree, then at a reed, then at a wick, and last at a flying bird. At the beginning one should concentrate on God with form. Then there are devotees who are beyond the three gunas. They are eternally devoted to God, like Nārada. These devotees behold Krishna as Chinmaya, all Spirit, His Abode as Chinmaya, His devotee as Chinmaya. To them God is eternal, His Abode is eternal, His devotee is eternal. Those who reason and speculate following the process of Neti, neti do not accept the Incarnation of God. Hazra says well that Divine Incarnation is only for the bhakta, and not for the Jnāni, because the Jnāni is quite contented with his ideal, I am He. Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees remained silent awhile. The pundit resumed the conversation. PUNDIT: Sir, how does one get rid of callousness? Laughter makes me think of muscles and nerves. Grief makes me think of the nervous system. MASTER (smiling): That is why Narayan Shastri used to say, The harmful effect of the study of the scriptures is that it encourages reasoning and arguing. PUNDIT: Is there no way for us then? MASTER: Yes, there is the path of discrimination. In a song occurs the line: Ask her son Discrimination about the Truth. The way lies through discrimination, renunciation, and passionate yearning for God. Unless a man practises discrimination, he cannot utter the right words. One time, after expounding religion at great length, Pundit Samadhyayi said, God is dry. He reminded me of the man who once said, My uncles cow-shed is full of horses. Now, does anyone keep horses in a cowshed? (With a smile) You have become like a chānābarā fried in butter. Now it will be good for you and for others as well, if you are soaked in syrup a few days. Just a few days. PUNDIT (smiling): The sweetmeat is over-fried. It has become charred. MASTER (with a laugh): No! No! It is brown as a cockroach. Just the right colour. HAZRA: The sweetmeat is well cooked. It has become spongy. Now it will soak up the syrup nicely. MASTER: You see, there is no need to read too much of the scriptures. If you read too much you will be inclined to reason and argue. Nangta used to teach me thus: What you get by repeating the word Gitā tell times is the essence of the book. In other words, if you repeat Gitā ten times it is reversed into tagi, which indicates renunciation. Yes, the way to realize God is through discrimination, renunciation, and yearning for Him. What kind of yearning? One should yearn for God as the cow, with yearning heart, runs after its calf. PUNDIT: The same thing is said in the Vedas: O God, we call on Thee as the cow lows for the calf. MASTER: Add your tears to your yearning. And if you can renounce everything through discrimination and dispassion, then you will be able to see God. That yearning brings about God-intoxication, whether you follow the path of knowledge or the path of devotion. The sage Durvasa was mad with the Knowledge of God. There is a great deal of difference between the knowledge of a householder and that of an all-renouncing sannyasi. The householders knowledge is like the light of a lamp, which illumines only the inside of a room. He cannot see anything, with the help of such knowledge, except his own body and his immediate family. But the knowledge of the all-renouncing monk is like the light of the sun. Through that light he can see both, inside and outside the room. Chaitanyadevas knowledge had the brilliance of the sun-the sun of Knowledge. Further, he radiated the soothing light of the moon of Devotion. He was endowed with both-the Knowledge of Brahman and ecstatic love of God. (To the pundit) One can attain spiritual consciousness through both affirmation and negation. There is the positive path of love and devotion, and there is the negative path of knowledge and discrimination. You are preaching the path of knowledge. But that creates a very difficult situation: there the guru and the disciple do not see each other. Sukadeva went to Janaka for instruction about the Knowledge of Brahman. Janaka said to him: You must pay me the gurus fee beforehand. When you attain the knowledge of Brahman you wont pay me the fee, because the knower of Brahman sees no difference between the guru and the disciple. THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA, CH.25
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 03:13:37 +0000
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