5 quotes by Sri Ramakrishna on love for God

1. God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.

2. God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.

3. Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.

4. If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.

5. The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.

- Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

When Swamiji was desperate to save his family

Naren loved and respected Sri Ramakrishna but sometimes mocked his fervent devotion to Ma Kali.
Some years passed but, slowly under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna’s spiritual power, Naren’s doubts and skepticism melted.  Though he continued to rebel and argue some times, in the end, he had to surrender to the Divine Mother.

When Naren’s father died in 1886 and left the family at the brink of starvation, Naren begged Sri Ramakrishna to ask a boon of Ma Kali on behalf of his family.
“My boy, I can’t make such demands,” said Sri Ramakrishna.  “Why don’t you go and ask the Mother yourself.”  

Desperate to save his family, Naren put aside Brahmo Samaj principles and bowed down low before Ma Kali.  He stood in the inner shrine of the Divine Mother, but he could not pray. He saw the beautiful form of  Ma Bhavatarini Kali and was engulfed in a surging wave of love.  Naren forgot everything else.  
Flushed, and intoxicated in a divine mood, Naren addressed Ma Kali with folded hands:  “Ma, give me discrimination, give me renunciation, grant me knowledge and devotion.  Ma, grant me that I may have uninterrupted vision of You!”

Naren failed to ask a boon for his family. Sri Ramakrishna sent him back three times, but every time, Naren forgot the world when he saw the beautiful face of the Divine Mother.  He no longer saw a statue.  He saw Ma and felt overwhelmed.
Sri Ramakrishna was very happy that his Naren had finally accepted the Divine Mother and, full of compassion he blessed him, saying: “All right, your people at home will never be in want of plain food and clothing.”

What followed was a night of blissful adoration during which Sri Ramakrishna taught Naren a song glorifying the Divine Mother.  Naren was a superb musician and had a beautiful voice.

“Mother, Thou art our sole Redeemer,

Thou the support of the three gunas,

Higher than the most high.

Thou art compassionate, I know,

Who takest away our bitter grief.

Thou art in earth, in water Thou;

Thou liest at the root of all.

In me, in every creature,

Thou hast Thy home; though clothed with form,

Yet art Thou formless Reality.

Sandhya art Thou and Gayatri;

Thou dost sustain this universe.

Mother, the Help art Thou

Of those who have no help but Thee,

O Eternal Beloved of Shiva! 
~Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play (tranlated by Swami Chetanananda)

Happy Mother's Day

My son, if a thorn pricks your foot, it hurts me like a spear entering my heart. Never fear, and whenever you are in distress just say to yourself, "I have a mother."
- Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi

Sri Ramakrishna on performing worldly duties

It was almost dusk. The Master and M stood talking alone near the door on the southeast verandah. The master spoke to M.
MASTER: “Perform your duties in an unselfish spirit....Always try to perform your duties without desiring any result.” M: “Yes, sir. But may I know if one can realize God while performing one’s duties?”
MASTER: “All, without exception, perform work. Even to chant God’s name and glories is work, as is the meditation of the Nondualist on ‘I am He.’ Breathing is also an activity. There is no way of renouncing work altogether. So do your work but surrender the result to God.”
M: “Sir, may I make an effort to earn more money?”
MASTER: “It is permissible to do so to support a religious family. You may try to increase your income, but in an honest way. The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God. Money is not harmful if it is devoted to the service of God.”
M: “How long should a man feel obliged to do his duty toward his wife and children?”
MASTER: “As long as they feel pinched for food and clothing. But one need not take the responsibility of a son when he is able to support himself. When the young fledgling learns to pick its own food, its mother pecks it if it comes to her for food.”
M: “How long must one do one’s duty?”
MASTER: “The blossom drops off when the fruit appears. One doesn’t have to do one’s duties after attaining God, nor does one feel like doing them then. “If a drunkard takes too much liquor he cannot retain consciousness. If he takes only two or three glasses, he can go on with his work. As you advance nearer and nearer to God, He will reduce your activities little by little. Have no fear. “Finish the few duties you have in hand, and then you will have peace. When the mistress of the house goes to bathe after finishing her cooking and other household duties, she won’t come back, however you may shout after her.”
- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Chapter V

Rama Navami: Victory to you Lord Rama!

Greetings on Rama Navami! May Lord Rama bring harmony and peace to the world. Jai Sri Rama.

शुद्धब्रह्मपरात्पर राम् ॥१॥कालात्मकपरमेश्वर राम् ॥२॥शेषतल्पसुखनिद्रित राम् ॥३॥ब्रह्माद्यामरप्रार्थित राम् ॥४॥     राम् राम् जय राजा राम् ।राम् राम् जय सीता राम् ।

I take refuge in Sri Rama, who is of the nature of pure Brahman and who is superior to the best.

I take refuge in Sri Rama, who is of the nature of Kala (i.e. master of everyone's destiny) and the supreme Lord.

I take refuge in Sri Rama, who sleeps blissfully on the bed of serpent Sesha Naga.

I take refuge in Sri Rama, whose lotus feet is desired by everyone beginning with Brahma to gain immortality.

O Rama, Sri Rama, victory to you king Rama,

O Rama, Sri Rama, victory to you Sita Rama,

(From Nama Ramayanam, Trans./Image: greenmesg(dot)org)

Mother Kali’s Unique Lila

Sri Ramakrishna’s life was a unique field of Mother Kali’s sport. The extensive, diverse and meaningful way in which Shakti sadhana expressed itself in Sri Ramakrishna’s life was never before seen in any other aspirant. When he was young, he fell into a trance on the way while visiting Vishalakshi of Anur. He had a unique vision then. From then on his life took a different turn. From the day he began worshipping Mother Kali at Dakshineswar, the deeper, expansive and intensive sides of his Mother worship came to the fore. He had heard that ‘When pleased, She is the giver of liberation to human beings.’ (14) He understood that unless the Divine Mother cleared the way, there could be no God-realization. Thus he pleased the Divine Mother with his purity and intense aspiration, and attained Her vision. He did not rest with the Divine Mother’s vision; he also practised other Shakti disciplines through various moods. He moved about freely in the world of sadhana, becoming an instrument in the hands of the Divine Mother.

Under the directions of Yogeshvari Brahmani, Sri Ramakrishna practised all the sixty-four Tantric disciplines. There is a subtle intermingling of moods in these sixty-four methods. Gradually, he scaled the highest pinnacle of these methods of sadhana. Thereafter, he undertook Advaita sadhana under the tutelage of Totapuri. Being established in Advaitic knowledge, Sri Ramakrishna entered into the mood of the vijnani and remained a child of the Divine Mother. Coming down from nirvikalpa samadhi, he began enjoying the attitudes of devotee and devotion. The Brahmo leader Pratap Chandra Mazumdar wrote about Sri Ramakrishna: ‘He worships Shiva, he worships Kali, he worships Rama, he worships Krishna, and is a confirmed advocate of Vedantist doctrines. He is an idolater and is yet a faithful and most devoted meditator of the perfections of the one, formless, infinite Deity, whom he terms Akhanda Satchidananda.’ According to Sri Ramakrishna, there is no difference between Kali, Krishna and Shiva. According to the Sammohana Tantra, he who distinguishes between Rama and Shiva is an idiot.

(Excerpted from 'Shakti Worship and Sri Ramakrishna' by Swami Abhedananda, Vedanta(dot)ru)

Shakti Worship down the Ages

Drawing our attention to the deep significance of the word shakti, Sir John Wood­roffe says, ‘There is no word of a wider content in any language than this Sanskrit term, meaning “Power”.’

There is some supreme Power behind this universe who expresses Herself in diverse ways. But what is noteworthy is the glory of Her oneness behind this multiplicity. Heat, light, lightning - all these are expressions of just that Power. Everything in this universe is a conglomeration of power and nothing else.

The concept of shakti is indivisibly connected with Mother worship (shakti sadhana). Generally the worship of Durga, Kali, Sarasvati and other goddesses is considered Shakti worship. But the worship of Narayana, Shiva, Ganesha and other gods, too, is the worship of Shakti Herself. Whatever the means - image, symbol or yantra - the worship is only of Shakti. This is because, in the use of all these means there is a superimposition of the creation - preservation - destruction aspects of Shakti either fully or partially. So in a wider sense all worshippers are Shakti worshippers.

History says that Shakti worship was prevalent all over the world in some form or other, but it was in India alone that an unbroken tradition has been set up, which has influenced the Indian mind permanently and deeply. Having made a deep study of the different religious ages, like those of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the philosophies, the epics and the subsequent religions, Swami Saradananda remarks, ‘Shakti worship, especially the worship of God as Mother, is a personal property of India.’ The great scholar and illumined soul Swami Abhedananda also says, ‘India is in fact the only place in the world where God is worshipped as Mother.’ By and large, their conclusions have been accepted by the scholarly world. The theme of the present discussion is this adoration of God as Mother.

The idea of the Great Goddess (Mahadevi) was known amongst both Aryans and non-Aryans. Though both Aryan and non-Aryan races were indirectly responsible for the growth of the ideal of the Great Goddess, the contribution of the Aryans to this field is great. Some say that the deities like Vak, Sarasvati, Ratri and Shridevi of the ‘Vak Sukta,’ ‘Ratri Sukta,’ and the Rig Vedic ‘Shri Sukta’ became Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasarasvati in due course. Again, some pundits feel that in the ‘Devi Sukta’ and ‘Ratri Sukta’ of the Rig Veda, the worship of Shakti is not at all the point. However, one cannot deny the appearance of the Goddess-idea in theYajur Veda, Atharva Veda, and in some Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. The special point here is this: though the Goddess (Shakti) mentioned in all these is the Great Goddess (Mahadevi), She is more of a Mother than a deity. Her maternal love is naturally evident everywhere. It is known that everyone has a natural attraction for his mother. The aspirant believes that Mother can be worshipped easily; She easily responds to the child’s call. However, it took quite some time for Shakti worship to become transformed into the purest form of Mother worship.

(Excerpted from 'Shakti Worship and Sri Ramakrishna' by Swami Abhedananda, Vedanta(dot)ru)

The Bhakta's approach to the Reality

"...the bhaktas accept all the states of consciousness. They take the waking state to be real also. They don't think the world to be illusory, like a dream. They say that the universe is a manifestation of God's power and glory. God has created all these — sky, stars, moon, sun, mountains, ocean, men, animals. They constitute His glory. He is within us, in our hearts. Again, He is outside. The most advanced devotees say that He Himself has become all this — the twenty-four cosmic principles, the universe, and all living beings. The devotee of God wants to eat sugar, not to become sugar.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Greetings on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Birthday and Holi

The full moon festival of Holi, celebrated in Phalgun Poornima, heralds the Vasanta-ritu, the spring season.

In Mathura and Vrindavan areas, the festival is for three days .The image of Lord Krishna is placed on a swing (popularly called as “dola”).  The swing is rocked 21 times at the end of the festival.  Thus the festival derives the name “Dolyatra”. Barsana, the birth place of Radha and Nandgaon, the village home of Sri Krishna are marked with the play of “lathmar” holi.  Women dressed up with colourful costumes and long ‘ghunghats’ or veils carrying well oiled ‘lathis’ or sticks to beat their male counter parts who protect themselves with ‘dhals’ or gears.  The famous Bankey Bihari temple at Vrindavan and Mathura’s Dwarakadhees temple are fully flooded with the devotees during the festival of colours.

The state of Bengal observes Phalgun Poornima as the birthday of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu(1486-1533 A.D).
For the devotees of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna, the event of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birth on this day is the prime reason for its celebration.

Sri Chaitanya’s plain, simple and practical religion offered a key to solve in a practical way some of the complicated social, political and economic problems that confronted the society in those days.

Democracy of spirit based on love for fellow beings improved the conditions of people and conferred on them the joy of living.  The tenets of love, equality and fraternity as taught by Mahaprabhu were found to be the most significant method of integration.

Sri Sri Thakur used to advise his disciples to read the traditional biographies of Mahaprabhu such as “Chaitanya Charitamrita” and “Chaintanya Bhagavata”.  All through his life Sri Ramakrishna showed great respect even to the descendants of the followers of Mahaprabhu.

We find in the Gospel, Sri Sri Thakur often emphasizing the efficacy of Mahaprabhu’s teachings as to chanting of Lord’s name - “….Chaitanya and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract the worldly.  They would say to such persons, ‘Come, repeat the name of Hari, and you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young woman.’  Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the name of God. 
After tasting a little of the nectar of God’s hallowed name, they would soon realize that the ‘fish soup’ really meant the tears they shed for love of God, while the ‘young woman’ signified the earth.  The embrace of the woman meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine ecstasy.”

Excerpted from an article by Swami Nishthatmananda, Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

© Smiling Buddha, 2016