• Sri Ramakrishna was in his room, seated on the small couch and facing the east. The devotees were sitting on the floor. It was about midday when M. arrived and took a seat after saluting the Master. Gradually other devotees began to gather. Vijaykrishna Goswami was there with several Brahmo devotees. The priest Ram Chakravarty was present also. Mahimacharan, Narayan, and Kishori arrived a few minutes later.

It was the beginning of winter. Sri Ramakrishna had felt the need of some shirts and had asked M. to bring them. Besides two broadcloth shirts, M. had brought another of a heavy material, for which Sri Ramakrishna had not asked.

MASTER (to M.): “You had better take that one back with you. You can use it yourself. There is nothing wrong in that. Tell me, what kind of shirt did I ask you to bring?”

M: “Sir, you told me to get you plain ones. You didn’t ask me to buy the heavier one.”

MASTER: “Then please take that one hack. (To Vijay and the others) You see, Dwarika Babu gave me a shawl. The Marwari devotees also brought one for me. I couldn’t accept —”

Vijay interrupted the Master, saying: “That is right, sir. If a man needs a thing, he must accept it. And there must be a man to give it. Who but a man will give?”

MASTER: “The giver is the Lord Himself. The mother-in-law said to her daughter-in-law: ‘My child, I see that everybody has someone to render him a little personal service. It would be so nice if you could find someone to massage your feet.’ The daughter-in-law said: ‘Mother, God Himself will massage my feet. I don’t need anyone else.’ She spoke thus because she was a sincere lover of God.

‘Once a fakir went to the Emperor Akbar to ask for money. The Emperor was saying his prayers. He prayed, ‘O Lord, give me money; give me wealth.’ The fakir started to leave the palace, but the Emperor motioned to him to wait. After finishing his prayers, Akbar came to the holy man and said, ‘Why were you going away?’ The fakir replied, You yourself were begging for money and wealth; so I thought that if I must beg, I would beg of God and not of a beggar.'”

VIJAY: “I saw a sadhu at Gaya. He did not take the initiative in anything. One day he wanted to feed some devotees. Suddenly we found that butter, flour, fruits, and other food-stuff had arrived from no one knew where.”

MASTER (to Vijay and the others): “There are three classes of sadhus: good, mediocre, and bad. The good sadhu makes no effort to get his food. The dandis, among others, belong to the mediocre and bad classes. To get food the mediocre sadhu will knock at the door of a house and say, ‘Namo Narayana’.6 The bad sadhu starts a quarrel if he doesn’t get his alms.

“The good sadhu behaves like a python. He sits in one place and the food comes to him. The python doesn’t move from where it is. A young sadhu, who had been a brahmachari from his boyhood, went out to beg. A young girl offered him alms. The sadhu saw her breasts and thought she had abscesses. He asked about them. The elderly women of the family explained that she would some day be a mother and that God had given her breasts to give milk to her children; God had provided for all this beforehand. At these words the sadhu was struck with wonder. He said: ‘Then I don’t need to beg. God must have provided for me too.'”

Some of the devotees thought that in that case they should not take any initiative either.

MASTER: “But those who think that an effort is needed must make the effort.”

VIJAY: “There is a nice story about that in the Bhaktamala.”

MASTER: “Tell it to us.”

VIJAY: “Please tell us yourself.”

MASTER: “No, you tell it. I don’t remember it very well.

“One should hear these things at the beginning. That is why I listened to them years ago. But now I am no longer in that mood. Hanuman said: ‘I don’t know the position of the stars or the phase of the moon. I only think of Rama.’

“The chatak bird craves only rain-water. Even when it is dying of thirst, it turns its beak upward and wants only water from the sky. The Ganges, the Jamuna, and the seven oceans are filled to the brim, but still it will not touch the water of the earth.

“Rama and Lakshmana visited Pampa Lake. Lakshmana saw a crow very eager for water. Again and again it went to the edge of the water but would not drink. Lakshmana asked Rama about it. Rama said: ‘Brother, this crow is a great devotee of God. Day and night it repeats the name of Rama. Its throat is parched with thirst, but still it won’t drink for tear of missing a repetition of Rama’s name.’

“On a full-moon night I said to Haladhari, ‘Brother, is it the night of the new moon?’ (All laugh.)

(Smiling) “Yes, it is true. Once I was told that a characteristic of a man of Perfect Knowledge is that he cannot distinguish between the full moon and the new moon. But how could one convince Haladhari of that? He said: ‘This is certainly the dark Kaliyuga. He cannot distinguish the full moon from the new moon! And people respect him!'”

Mahimacharan entered the room.

MASTER (respectfully): “Come in. Come in, sir. Please take a seat.

(To Vijay and the other devotees) “In the ecstatic state of mind I cannot remember a date. The other day there was a religious festival at Beni Pal’s garden. I forgot the date. I can no longer remember the last day of the month, when it is very auspicious to repeat the name of God.”

Sri Ramakrishna remained thoughtful a few minutes.

MASTER: “But I remember if a man makes an engagement to visit me.

“A man attains this state when his mind is one hundred per cent absorbed in God. When Hanuman returned from Ceylon, Rama said to him: ‘You have seen Sita. Tell me, how did you find her?’ Hanuman said: ‘O Rama, I saw that only the body of Sita lay there; it held neither her mind nor her soul. She has indeed consecrated her mind and soul to Your Lotus Feet. Therefore I saw only her body in Ceylon. Further, I saw the King of Death prowling about. But what could he do? It was only a body; it had neither mind nor soul.’

It you meditate on an ideal you will acquire its nature. If you think of God day and night, you will acquire the nature of God. A salt doll went into the ocean to measure its depth. It became one with the ocean. What is the goal of books or scriptures? The attainment of God. A man opened a book belonging to a sadhu. He saw the word Rama written on every page. There was nothing else.

“If a man loves God, even the slightest thing kindles spiritual feeling in him. Then, repeating the name of Rama but once, he gets the fruit of ten million sandhyas. At the sight of a cloud the peacock’s emotion is awakened: he dances, spreading his tail. Radha had the same experience. Just the sight of a cloud recalled Krishna to her mind.

“Chaitanyadeva was passing a village. He heard that drums were made from the earth of that place. At once he was overwhelmed with ecstasy because drums are used in kirtan.

“But who can have this spiritual awakening? Only he who has renounced his attachment to worldly things. If the sap of attachment is totally dried up in a man, the slightest suggestion kindles, his spiritual emotion. Though you strike a wet match a thousand times, it will not produce a spark. But if it is dried, the slightest rubbing will set it aflame.

“Pain and pleasure are inevitable in a body. He who has realized God dedicates his mind and life, his body and soul, to God. When Rama and Lakshmana went to take their bath in Pampa Lake, they thrust their bows into the ground. Coming out of the water, Lakshmana took out his bow and found its tip stained with blood. Rama said to him: ‘Look, brother! Look. Perhaps we have hurt some creature.’ Lakshmana dug in the earth and found a big bullfrog. It was dying. Rama said to the frog in a sorrowful voice: ‘Why didn’t you croak? We should have tried to save you. You croak lustily enough when you are in the jaws of a snake.’ The frog said: ‘O Lord, when I am attacked by a snake I croak, saying: “O Rama, save me! O Rama, save me!” This time I found that it was Rama who was killing me; so I kept still.'”

Sri Ramakrishna remained silent a few moments watching the devotees. He had heard that Mahimacharan did not believe in following a guru. He began the conversation again.

MASTER: “A man should have faith in the words of his guru. He doesn’t have to look into his guru’s character. ‘Though, my guru visits the grog-shop, still he is the Embodiment of Eternal Bliss.’

“A man who used to give recitals of the Chandi and the Bhagavata once said, ‘A broomstick is itself unclean, but it cleans dirty places.'”

Mahimacharan studied the Vedanta. His aim was to attain Brahmajnana. He followed the path of knowledge and was always reasoning.

MASTER (to Mahima): “The aim of the jnani is to know the’ nature of his own Self. This is Knowledge; this is liberation. The true nature of the Self is that It is the Supreme Brahman: I and the Supreme Brahman are one. But this Knowledge is hidden on account of maya.

“I said to Harish, ‘This is the whole thing: the gold is hidden under a few basketfuls of earth, and you must remove the earth.’

“The bhaktas retain ‘I-consciousness’; the jnanis do not. Nangta used to teach how to establish oneself in the true Self, saying, ‘Merge the mind in the buddhi and the buddhi in the Atman; then you will be established in your true Self.’

“But the ‘I’ persists. It cannot be got rid of. Imagine a limitless expanse of water: above and below, before and behind, right and left, everywhere there is water. In that water is placed a jar filled with water. There is water inside the jar and water outside, but the jar is still there. The ‘I’ is the jar.

“Even after attaining Knowledge, the jnani keeps his body as before. But the fire of Knowledge burns away his lust and other passions. Many days ago, during an electric storm, a thunderbolt struck the Kali temple. We saw that no injury had been done to the doors; only the points of the screws were broken. The doors are the body, and the passions — lust and so forth — are the screws.

“A jnani loves to talk only about God. He feels pained if one talks about worldly things. But a worldly man belongs to a different class. He always has the turban of ignorance on his head. He always comes back to worldly topics.

“The Vedas speak of the ‘seven planes’ of mind. When the jnani’s mind ascends to the fifth plane, he cannot listen to anything or talk of anything but God. At that stage only words of wisdom come from his lips.

“The Vedas speak of Satchidananda Brahman. Brahman is neither one nor two; It is between one and two. It cannot be described either as existence or as non-existence; It is between existence and non-existence.

“When the devotee develops raga-bhakti, passionate love of God, he realizes Him. But one loses vaidhi-bhakti, formal devotion, as easily as one gains it. This is formal devotion: so much japa, so much meditation, so much sacrifice and homa, so many articles of worship, and the recitation of so many mantras before the Deity. Such devotion comes in a moment and goes in a moment. Many people say: ‘Well, friend, we have lived on havishya for so many days! How many times we have worshipped the Deity at our home! And what have we achieved?’ But there is no falling away from raga-bhakti. And who gets this passionate love for God? Those who have performed many meritorious deeds in their past births, or those who are eternally perfect. Think of a dilapidated house, for instance: while clearing away the undergrowth and rubbish one suddenly discovers a fountain fitted with a pipe. It has been covered with earth and bricks, but as soon as they are removed the water shoots up.

“Those who have passionate love for God do not say any such thing as: ‘O brother, how strict I have been about food! But what have I achieved?’ New farmers give up cultivating if their fields do not yield any crops. But hereditary farmers will continue to cultivate their fields whether they get a crop or not. Their fathers and grandfathers were farmers; they know that they too must accept farming as their means of livelihood.

“Only those who have developed raga-bhakti for God may be called His sincere devotees. God becomes responsible for them. If you enter your name in a hospital register, the doctor will not discharge you until you are cured. Those who are held by God have nothing to fear. The son who holds to his father, while walking along the narrow ridge of a paddy-field, may slip if he absent-mindedly lets go his father’s hand; but if the father holds the son by the hand, there is no such danger.

“Is there anything that is impossible for faith? And a true devotee has faith in everything: the formless Reality, God with form, Rama, Krishna, and the Divine Mother.

“Once, while, going to Kamarpukur, I was overtaken by a storm. I was in the middle of a big meadow. The place was haunted by robbers. I began to repeat the names of all the deities: Rama, Krishna, and Bhagavati. I also repeated the name of Hanuman. I chanted the names of them all. What does that mean? Let me tell you. While the servant is counting out the money to purchase supplies, he says, These pennies are for potatoes, these for egg-plants, these for fish.’ He counts the money separately, but after the list is completed, he puts the coins together.

“When one develops love of God, one likes to talk only of God. If you love a person, you love to talk and hear about him. A worldly person’s mouth waters while he talks about his son. If someone praises his son, he will at once say to the boy, ‘Go and get some water for your uncle to wash his feet.’

“Those who love pigeons are highly pleased if you praise pigeons before them. But if you speak ill of pigeons, they will at once exclaim, ‘Has anyone in your line for fourteen generations ever raised pigeons?'”

Sri Ramakrishna now addressed Mahimacharan, who was a householder.

MASTER: “What need is there of renouncing the world altogether? It is enough if you can rid yourself of attachment. But you must have sadhana; you have to fight the sense-organs.

“It is a great advantage to fight from inside a fort. You get much help from the fort. The world is the place for enjoyment. After enjoying different things, you should give them up one by one. Once I had a desire to put a gold chain around my waist. I obtained one at last and put it on, but I had to take it off immediately.

“Once I ate some onion.7 While eating it I discriminated, ‘O mind, this is onion.’ Then I moved it to different places in my mouth and at last spat it out.”

A musician was expected. He was to sing with his party. Sri Ramakrishna asked the devotees every now and then, “Where is the musician?”

MAHIMA: “We are quite all right as we are.”

MASTER: “No, sir. You get this all through the year.”

A devotee outside the room said, “The musician has come.”

Sri Ramakrishna was filled with joy and said, “Ah! Has he?”

Mats were spread on the floor of the long verandah northeast of the Master’s room. Sri Ramakrishna said: “Sprinkle a little Ganges water on the mats. Many worldly people have sat on them.”

The ladies of Pyari Babu’s family, from Bali, had come to visit the temples. They wanted to listen to the kirtan. A devotee said to Sri Ramakrishna: “These ladies have been inquiring whether there would be any place in the room for them. Can they have seats?” The kirtan had already begun. The Master said, “No, no! Where is any room here?”

Narayan arrived and saluted Sri Ramakrishna. The latter said tenderly: “Why have you come? Your people at home have beaten you so much!” He signed to Baburam to give Narayan something to eat. Narayan entered the Master’s room. Suddenly Sri Ramakrishna followed him. He wanted to feed Narayan with his own hands. Afterwards he returned to the verandah.

Many devotees were present, including Vijay, Mahimacharan, Narayan, M., and the younger Gopal. Soon Narayan came back to the verandah and took his seat by the Master.

About three o’clock Adhar arrived. At the sight of him Sri Ramakrishna appeared excited. The devotee saluted the Master and sat on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna beckoned to him to come nearer.

When the music was over the gathering of devotees broke up. Some began to stroll in the garden and some went to the temples to watch the evening service.

In the evening arrangements were made for kirtan inside the Master’s room. Sri Ramakrishna eagerly asked a devotee to have an extra lamp. The two lamps lit the room brightly.

Sri Ramakrishna said to Vijay: “Why are you sitting there? Come nearer to me.” This time the kirtan created an intense atmosphere. The Master danced in an ecstasy of joy; the devotees also danced encircling him. While Vijay was dancing his cloth dropped. He was unconscious.

When the music was over, Vijay began to look for his key, which had fallen somewhere. The Master said to him with a laugh, “Why bother about it any more?” He meant that Vijay should have nothing more to do with boxes and keys.

Kishori saluted Sri Ramakrishna and was about to take his leave. The Master blessed him, touching his chest tenderly, and bade him good-bye. His words were full of love. M. and Gopal saluted the Master. They too were about to take their leave. He said to them with the same affection: “Couldn’t you go tomorrow morning? You may catch cold at night.”

M. and Gopal decided to spend the night with Sri Ramakrishna. They sat on the floor with a few other devotees.

Sri Ramakrishna had had no rest the whole day: the devotees had been with him all the time. He went out for a few minutes. Returning to the room he saw M. taking down a song from Ramlal.

MASTER: “What are you doing?”

M. said that he was writing down a song. On being told what the song was, the Master remarked that it was a rather long song. M. wrote a line or two and then stopped writing.

A little later Sri Ramakrishna took his supper of farina pudding and one or two luchis. A lighted lamp stood on a stand by his side. M. sat near him. The Master asked if there were any sweets in the room. M. had brought some sandesh which he had put on the shelf. Sri Ramakrishna asked M. to give him a sweet. M. searched for the sweets but could not find them. He was embarrassed. They had been given to the devotees.

After finishing his supper, Sri Ramakrishna sat on the small couch and M. seated himself on the foot-rug. The Master, talking about Narayan, was overcome with emotion.

MASTER: “I saw Naran today.”

M: “Yes, sir. His eyes were moist. When I looked at his face I felt like weeping.”

MASTER: “The sight of him arouses a mother’s love in me, as it were. His relatives beat him at home because he comes here. There is none to defend him.”

M: “The other day he left his books at Haripada’s house and fled to you.”

MASTER: “It was not good for him to do that.”

Sri Ramakrishna was silent. After a few minutes he continued.

MASTER: “You see, he has much substance in him. Otherwise, how could I be attracted to him even though I was listening to the kirtan at the time? I had to leave the music and go into the room. That never happened before.”

Again Sri Ramakrishna fell silent. A few minutes later he began to talk.

MASTER: “In an ecstatic state I asked him how he was feeling. He just said he was happy. (To M.) Feed him now and then—as parents do their child.”

Sri Ramakrishna then spoke about Tejchandra.

MASTER (to M.): “Please ask him what he thinks of me. Does he think of me as a jnani? Or what does he say about me? I understand that he is very reticent. (To Gopal) Ask Tejchandra to come here Saturdays and Tuesdays. (To M.) Suppose I go to your school and look for —”

M. thought that Sri Ramakrishna wanted to go to his school to see Narayan. He said to the Master, “You might as well wait at our house.”

MASTER: “No, I have something else in mind. I should like to see whether there are other worth-while boys in the school.”

M: “Of course you can go. Other visitors come to the school. You can come too.”

Sri Ramakrishna was smoking. M. and Gopal finished their supper. They decided to sleep in the nahabat. M. again sat on the floor near Sri Ramakrishna.

MASTER (to M.): ‘There may be some pots and pans in the nahabat. Why not sleep here in this room?”

M: “Very well, sir.”

It was ten or eleven o’clock at night. Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on the small couch, resting against a pillow. M. sat on the floor. The Master was conversing with him. A lamp burnt on a stand near the wall.

The Master felt great compassion for his devotees. He wanted to bless M. by accepting his personal service.

MASTER: “My feet ache. Please rub them gently.”

M. seated himself on the small couch and took the Master’s feet on his lap. He stroked them. Now and then Sri Ramakrishna would ask his disciple a question.

MASTER (smiling): “How did you like today’s conversation?”

M: “Very much indeed.”

MASTER (smiling): “How I spoke about the Emperor Akbar!”

M: “It was very good.”

MASTER: “Repeat it to me.”

M: “A fakir came to visit Akbar. The Emperor was saying his prayers. In his prayers he was asking God to give him wealth and riches. Thereupon the fakir was about to leave the room quietly. Later, when the Emperor asked him about it, the fakir said, ‘It I must beg, why should I beg of a beggar?'”

MASTER: “What else did we talk about?”

M: “You told us a great deal about saving up for the future.”

MASTER (smiling): “What did I say?”

M: “As long as a man feels that he must try, he should make an effort. How well you told us about it at Sinthi!”

MASTER: “What did I say?”

M: “God takes upon Himself complete responsibility for one who totally depends upon Him. It is like a guardian taking charge of a minor. You also told us that at a feast a child cannot by himself find a place to eat his meal; someone finds a place for him.”

MASTER: “No, that is not quite to the point. I said that the child doesn’t fall if the father leads him and holds his hand.”

M: “You also described the three classes of sadhus. The best sadhu does not move about to get his food; he lives in one place and gets his food there. You told us about that young sadhu who said, when he saw the breasts of a young girl, ‘Why has she those abscesses?’ You told us many other things.”

MASTER (smiling): “What else?”

M: “About the crow of Pampa Lake. He repeated the name of Rama day and night. That is why he couldn’t drink the water though he went to its edge. And about the holy man in whose book was written only ‘Om Rama’. And what Hanuman said to Rama.”

MASTER: “What did he say?”

M: “Hanuman said to Rama: ‘I saw Sita in Ceylon; but it was only her body. Her mind and soul were lying at Your feet.’

“And about the chatak bird. He will not drink anything but rain-water. And about jnanayoga and bhaktiyoga.”

MASTER: “What did I say about them?”

M: “As long as one is conscious of the ‘jar’, the ego will certainly remain. As long as one is conscious of ‘I’, one cannot get rid of the idea, ‘I am the devotee and Thou art God’.”

MASTER: “No, it is not that; the ‘jar’ doesn’t disappear whether one is conscious of it or not. One cannot get rid of the ‘I’. You may reason a thousand times; still it will not go.”

M. remained silent a few moments.

M: “You had that talk with Ishan Mukherji in the Kali temple. We were very lucky to be there.”

MASTER (smiling): “Yes, yes. Tell me, what did I say?”

M: “You said that work is only the first step. You told us that you said to Sambhu Mallick, ‘If God appears before you, will you ask Him for a number of hospitals and dispensaries?’

You said another thing: God does not reveal Himself to a person as long as he is attached to work. You said that to Keshab Sen.”

MASTER: “What did I say?”

M: “As long as the baby plays with the toy and forgets everything else, its mother looks after her cooking and other household duties; but when the baby throws away the toy and cries, then the mother puts down the rice-pot and comes to the baby.

“You said another thing that day: Lakshmana asked Rama where one could find God; after a great deal of explanation, Rama said to him, ‘Brother, I dwell in the man in whom you find ecstatic love — a love which makes him laugh and weep and dance and sing.'”

MASTER: “Ah me! Ah me!”

Sri Ramakrishna sat in silence a few minutes.

M: “That day you spoke only words of renunciation to Ishan. Since then many of us have come to our senses. Now we are eager to reduce our duties. You said that day, ‘Ravana died in Ceylon and Behula wept bitterly for him.'”

Sri Ramakrishna laughed aloud.

M. (humbly): “Sir, isn’t it desirable to reduce the number of one’s duties and entanglements?”

MASTER: “Yes. But it is a different thing if you happen to come across a sadhu or a poor man. Then you should serve him.”

M: “And that day you spoke very rightly to Ishan about flatterers. They are like vultures on a carcass. You once said that to Padmalochan also.”

MASTER: “No, to Vamandas of Ulo.”

After a while M. sat on the floor near the small couch. Sri Ramakrishna felt sleepy; he said to M.: “Go to sleep. Where is Gopal? Please shut the door.”

Next morning Sri Ramakrishna left his bed very early. As usual, he chanted the holy names of the different gods and goddesses. Now and then he looked at the sacred river. The morning worship began in the temples of Radhakanta and Mother Kali. M. had spent the night on the floor of the Master’s room. He left his bed and watched the worship in the different temples.

Sri Ramakrishna finished his bath and went with M. to the Kali temple. He asked the disciple to lock the door of his room.

In the temple he took the seat in front of the image of Kali and offered flowers, sometimes at Her feet and sometimes on his own head. He fanned the Deity. Then he returned to his room and asked M. to unlock the door. Entering the room, he sat on the small couch. He was completely overwhelmed with divine fervour and began to chant the name of God. M. sat alone on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna began to sing about the Divine Mother: 

Who is there that can understand what Mother Kali is?
Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her.
It is She, the scriptures say, that is the Inner Self
Of the yogi, who in Self discovers all his joy;
She that, of Her own sweet will, inhabits every living thing. . . .

Then he sang:

All creation is the sport of my mad Mother Kali;
By Her maya the three worlds are bewitched. . . .

He continued:

O Kali, who can know Thee? Numberless are Thy forms. . . .

Again he sang:

O Mother, redeem me speedily!
From terror of the King of Death I am about to die. . . .

M. said to himself, “I wish he would sing:

Mother, Thou canst not trick me any more,
For I have seen Thy crimson Lotus Feet.”

Strangely enough, no sooner had the thought passed through M.’s mind than Sri Ramakrishna sang the song. A few minutes later he said to M., “What do you think of the present state of my mind?”

M. (smiling): “It is your simple and natural state.”

Sri Ramakrishna sang to himself the following refrain of a song:

Unless a man is simple, he cannot recognize God, the Simple One.