Bhakti

Constant practice urged

"Through the discipline of constant practice one is able to give up attachment to 'woman and gold'.  That is what the Gita says.  By practice one acquires uncommon power of mind.  Then one doesn't find it difficult to subdue the sense-organs and to bring anger, lust, and the like under control.  Such a man behaves like a tortoise, which, once it has tucked in its limbs, never puts them out.  You cannot make the tortoise put its limbs out again, though you chop it to pieces with an axe."

MARWARI DEVOTEE: "Revered sir, you just mentioned two paths.  What is the other path?"

MASTER: "The path of bhakti, or zealous love of God.  Weep for God in solitude, with a restless soul, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.  Cry to your Mother Shyama with a real cry, O mind! And how can She hold Herself from you? "

MARWARI DEVOTEE: "Sir, what is the meaning of the worship of the Personal God? And what is the meaning of God without form or attribute?"

MASTER: "As you recall your father by his photograph, so likewise the worship of the image reveals in a flash the nature of Reality.

"Do you know what God with form is like? Like bubbles rising on an expanse of water, various divine forms are seen to rise out of the Great Ākāśa of Consciousness.  The Incarnation of God is one of these forms.  The Primal Energy sports, as it were, through the activities of a Divine Incarnation.

"What is there in mere scholarship? God can be attained by crying to Him with a longing heart.  There is no need to know many things.

"He who is an Āchārya has to know different things.  One needs a sword and shield to kill others; but to kill oneself, a needle or a nail-knife suffices.

"One ultimately discovers God by trying to know who this 'I' is.  Is this 'I' the flesh, the bones, the blood, or the marrow? Is it the mind or the buddhi? Analysing thus, you realize at last that you are none of these.  This is called the process of 'Neti, neti', 'Not this, not this'.  One can neither comprehend nor touch the Ātman.  It is without qualities or attributes.

"But, according to the path of devotion, God has attributes.  To a devotee Krishna is Spirit, His Abode is Spirit, and everything about Him is Spirit."

The Marwari devotees saluted the Master and took their leave.

At the approach of evening Sri Ramakrishna went out to look at the sacred river.  The lamp was lighted in his room.  The Master chanted the hallowed name of the Divine Mother and meditated on Her.  Then the evening worship began in the various temples.  The sound of gongs, floating on the air, mingled with the murmuring voice of the river.  Peace and blessedness reigned everywhere.