 Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s advice to house-holders is: ‘‘A little

spiritual discipline is necessary in order to know what lies within. The

painter first draws the outlines and then fills in the details and colours at
leisure. The moulder first makes the image out of clay, then plasters it,
gives it a coat of whitewash, and last of all, paints it with a brush. All these
steps must be undertaken successively.’’ This is Ramakrishna’s first
‘commandment’. His second commandment is that householders must
carry out their worldly duties, but fix their mind on God, so that they act
while remaining absorbed in the Self. The mind of the yogi is always fixed
on God, and he is completely absorbed in the Self. The house- holder can
achieve the yogi’s state of mind by performing his duties unselfishly,
without desiring results. Chanting God’s name and glories while doing
household chores or other work helps in achieving this single-minded focus
on God. Ramakrishna’s third commandment is: ‘‘To practise spiritual
discipline is to understand and feel the formlessness of God. Suppose there
are treasures in a room. If you want to see them, you must take the trouble
to get the key and unlock the door. After that you must take the treasures
out in the light. But suppose you lock the room, stand outside the door and
say, ‘Hey, I’ve opened the door. Now I have broken the lock of the chest. I
have all the treasures’.’’ This would obviously not work. Ramakrishna’s
fourth commandment is intense love and bhakti for God. He says:
‘‘Vaishnavas divide spiritual seekers into different classes — the beginners,
those struggling to see God, the perfected ones and the supremely
perfect.’’ He who has just set foot on the path is a beginner. He who has for
some time been practising spiritual disciplines, like worship, japa,
meditation, the chanting of God’s name and His leela, is a struggling soul.
He who has known from inner experience that God exists is a perfected
soul. The supremely perfected one is he who thinks of God day and night
and beholds Him everywhere. It is like a man seeing flames everywhere
after he has gazed fixedly at a flame for some time, says Ramakrishna. One
never loses consciousness. So how can a householder be unconscious if he
is always thinking of consciousness? Ramakrishna makes it easy for every
householder to seek the Divine within him. The householder’s doubts can
 be removed by God’s grace, he says. This grace descends upon the devotee
only after he has prayed with intense yearning in his heart and practised
spiritual discipline. For Ramakrishna, God is like a mother who feels
compassion for her child when the child comes running to her. To sustain
this intensity, Sri Rama-krishna’s fifth commandment to the householder is
to seek satsang or holy company. The householder must be in a state of
mind where he does not enjoy any conversation but that of God. Intense
continuous yearning makes God come to the householder. Ramakrishna
stresses: ‘‘If a householder analyses himself, he does not find any such
thing as ‘I’. Take an onion and peel off the outer skins. As you peel the
layers one after another, you find that ultimately, nothing remains. That is
the way to pure consciousness, by peeling away the layers formed on it by
ego.’’ The real nature of Brahman is egoless. A man becomes silent when
he attains perfect knowledge of Brahman. Then the ‘I’ becomes like a salt
doll and melts in the ocean of existence and becomes one with it.
Ramakrishna says that you need not be a sanyasi or a renunciate to achieve
this stage. You can do it even as a householder.
 "It is all a question of the mind.  Bondage and liberation are of the mind
alone.  The mind will take the colour you dye it with.  It is like white clothes
just returned from the laundry.  If you dip them in red dye, they will be red. 
If you dip them in blue or green, they will be blue or green.  They will take
only the colour you dip them in, whatever it may be.  Haven't you noticed
that, if you read a little English, you at once begin to utter English words:
Foot fut it mit? Then you put on boots and whistle a tune, and so on.  It all
goes together.  Or, if a scholar studies Sanskrit, he will at once rattle off
Sanskrit verses.  If you are in bad company, then you will talk and think like
your companions.  On the other hand, when you are in the company of
devotees, you will think and talk only of God. 
 "The mind is everything.  A man has his wife on one side and his daughter
on the other.  He shows his affection to them in different ways.  But his
mind is one and the same. 
 "Bondage is of the mind, and freedom is also of the mind.  A man is free if
he constantly thinks: 'I am a free soul.  How can I be bound, whether I live
 in the world or in the forest? I am a child of God, the King of Kings.  Who
can bind me?' If bitten by a snake, a man may get rid of its venom by saying
emphatically, 'There is no poison in me.' In the same way, by repeating with
grit and determination, 'I am not bound, I am free', one really becomes so-
one really becomes free. 
 "Once someone gave me a book of the Christians.  I asked him to read it to
me.  It talked about nothing but sin.  (To Keshab) Sin is the only thing one
hears of at your Brahmo Samaj, too.  The wretch who constantly says, 'I am
bound, I am bound' only succeeds in being bound.  He who says day and
night, 'I am a sinner, I am a sinner' verily becomes a sinner. 

Redeeming power of faith

 "One should have such burning faith in God that one can say: 'What? I have
repeated the name of God, and can sin still cling to me? How can I be a
sinner any more? How can I be in bondage any more?'
 "If a man repeats the name of God, his body, mind, and everything become
pure.  Why should one talk only about sin and hell, and such things? Say but
once, 'O Lord, I have undoubtedly done wicked things, but I won't repeat
them.' And have faith in His name."

Random Articles

 If we consider BRAHMACHARYA in sexual continence context, the most

important point is to control ejaculation. If a disciple can control ejaculation
(control means retain sperm inside during coitus), it means he is able to
observe BRAHMACHARYA. We are very little aware of ourselves at the
moment of orgasm, and if at this moment a full control of sperm and
energy movement is achieved, it is one of indications that a disciple does
not lose control and does not forget where his movement and his life are
directed to. A more profound discussion of this issue will be the subject of
one of the next articles.
 Surrender all desire to god. Kill all desires.