Chapter 7: PART-I
Thursday, December 14, 1882
IT WAS AFTERNOON.
Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed after a short
noonday rest. Vijay, Balaram, M., and a few other devotees
were sitting on the floor with their faces toward the Master. They could see the sacred river Ganges
through the door. Since it was winter
all were wrapped up in warm clothes.
Vijay had been suffering from colic and had brought some medicine with
him.
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| Sri Ramakrishna's Bed |
Vijay, the Brahmo
preacher
Vijay was a paid preacher in the Sadharan Brahmo
Samaj, but there were many things about which he could not agree with the Samaj
authorities. He came from a very noble
family of Bengal noted
for its piety and other spiritual qualities. Advaita Goswami, one of his remote ancestors,
had been an intimate companion of Sri Chaitanya. Thus the blood of a great lover of God flowed
in Vijay's veins. As an adherent of the
Brahmo Samaj, Vijay no doubt meditated on the formless Brahman; but his innate
love of God, inherited from his distinguished ancestors, had merely been
waiting for the proper time to manifest itself in all its sweetness. Thus Vijay was irresistibly attracted by the
God-intoxicated state of Sri Ramakrishna and often sought his company. He would listen to the Master's words with
great respect, and they would dance together in an ecstasy of divine love.
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| Vijay Krishna Goswami |
It
was a week-day. Generally devotees came
to the Master in large numbers on Sundays; hence those who wanted to have
intimate talks with him visited him on week-days.
Tendencies from
previous births
A boy named Vishnu, living in Ariadaha, had recently
committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. The talk turned to him.
MASTER:
"I felt very badly when I heard of the boy's passing away. He was a pupil in a school and he used to
come here. He would often say to me that
he couldn't enjoy worldly life. He had
lived with some relatives in the western provinces and at that time used to
meditate in solitude, in the meadows, hills, and forests. He told me he had visions of many divine
forms.
"Perhaps
this was his last birth. He must have
finished most of his duties in his previous birth. The little that had been left undone was
perhaps finished in this one.
"One
must admit the existence of tendencies inherited from previous births. There is a story about a man who practised
the sava-sadhana.l He worshipped the Divine Mother in a deep forest. First he saw many terrible visions. Finally a tiger attacked and killed him. Another man, happening to pass and seeing the
approach of the tiger, had climbed a tree.
Afterwards he got down and found all the arrangements for worship at
hand. He performed some purifying
ceremonies and seated himself on the corpse.
No sooner had he done a little japa than the Divine Mother appeared
before him and said: 'My child, I am very much pleased with you. Accept a boon from Me.' He bowed low at the
Lotus Feet of the Goddess and said: 'May I ask You one question, Mother? I am
speechless with amazement at Your action.
The other man worked so hard to get the ingredients for Your worship and
tried to propitiate You for such a long time, but You didn't condescend to show
him Your favour. And I, who don't know
anything of worship, who have done nothing, who have neither devotion nor
knowledge nor love, and who haven't practised any austerities, am receiving so much
of Your grace.' The Divine Mother said with a laugh: 'My child, you don't
remember your previous births. For many
births you tried to propitiate Me through austerities. As a result of those austerities all these
things have come to hand, and you have been blessed with My Vision. Now ask Me your boon.' "
Suicide after the
vision of God:
A DEVOTEE: "I am frightened to hear of the
suicide."
MASTER: "Suicide is a heinous sin,
undoubtedly. A man who kills himself
must return again and again to this world and suffer its agony.
"But
I don't call it suicide if a person leaves his body after having the vision of
God. There is no harm in giving up one's
body that way. After attaining Knowledge
some people give up their bodies. After
the gold image has been cast in the clay mould, you may either preserve the
mould or break it.
"Many
years ago a young man of about twenty used to come to the temple garden from
Baranagore; his name was Gopal Sen. In
my presence he used to experience such intense ecstasy that Hriday had to
support him for fear he might fall to the ground and break his limbs. That young man touched my feet one day and
said: 'Sir, I shall not be able to see you any more. Let me bid you good-bye.' A few days later I
learnt that he had given up his body.
Four classes of
men:
"It is said that there are four classes of
human beings: the bound, those aspiring after liberation, the liberated, and
the ever-perfect.
Parable of the
fish and the net:
"This world is like a fishing-net. Men are the fish, and God, whose maya has
created this world, is the fisherman.
When the fish are entangled in the net, some of them try to tear through
its meshes in order to get their liberation.
They are like the men striving after liberation. But by no means all of them escape. Only a few jump out of the net with a loud
splash, and then people say, 'Ah! There goes a big one!' In like manner, three
or four men attain liberation. Again,
some fish are so careful by nature that they are never caught in the net; some
beings of the ever-perfect class, like Narada, are never entangled in the
meshes of worldliness. Most of the fish
are trapped; but they are not conscious of the net and of their imminent death. No sooner are they entangled than they run
headlong, net and all, trying to hide themselves in the mud. They don't make the least effort to get
free. On the contrary, they go deeper
and deeper into the mud. These fish are
like the bound men. They are still
inside the net, but they think they are quite safe there. A bound creature is immersed in worldliness,
in 'woman and gold', having gone deep into the mire of degradation. But still he believes he is quite happy and
secure. The liberated, and the seekers
after liberation, look on the world as a deep well. They do not enjoy it. Therefore, after the attainment of Knowledge,
the realization of God, some give up their bodies. But such a thing is rare indeed.
Worldly-minded
forget their lessons:
"The bound creatures, entangled in worldliness,
will not come to their senses at all.
They suffer so much misery and agony, they face so many dangers, and yet
they will not wake up.
"The
camel loves to eat thorny bushes. The
more it eats the thorns, the more the blood gushes from its mouth. Still it must eat thorny plants and will
never give them up. The man of worldly
nature suffers so much sorrow and affliction, but he forgets it all in a few
days and begins his old life over again.
Suppose a man has lost his wife or she has turned unfaithful. Lo! He marries again.
"Or
take the instance of a mother: her son dies and she suffers bitter grief; but
after a few days she forgets all about it.
The mother, so overwhelmed with sorrow a few days before, now attends to
her toilet and puts on her jewelry. A
father becomes bankrupt through the marriage of his daughters, yet he goes on
having children year after year. People
are ruined by litigation, yet they go to court all the same. There are men who cannot feed the children
they have, who cannot clothe them or provide decent shelter for them; yet they
have more children every year.
"Again,
the worldly man is like a snake trying to swallow a mole. The snake can neither swallow the mole nor
give it up. The bound soul may have
realized that there is no substance to the world-that the world is like a hog
plum, only stone and skin-but still he cannot give it up and turn his mind to
God.
"I
once met a relative of Keshab Sen, fifty years old. He was playing cards. As if the time had not yet come for him to
think of God!
"There
is another characteristic of the bound soul.
If you remove him from his worldly surroundings to a spiritual
environment, he will pine away. The worm
that grows in filth feels very happy there.
It thrives in filth. It will die
if you put it in a pot of rice."
All
remained silent.
SOURCE: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
