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ADVICE TO PUNDIT SHASHADHAR

Nature of Brahman — Glories of Kali — Mere study of
scriptures is futile — Reading, hearing, and seeing — The
nature of jnanis and vijnanis — Both Nitya and Lila easily
accessible to the vijnani — All-embracing realization of the
vijnani — Three states of God-Consciousness — Samadhi
described — The vijnani is fearless and joyous — Parable
of the weaver woman — The two kinds of ego — God
listens to our prayer — Different classes of perfect souls —
Description of the nityasiddha — Different stages of divine
love — Different paths to suit different tastes — Image of
Kali — Master's advice to householders — Balaram's father
← — Dogmatism in religion — Master's harmony of religious
— Childlike nature of a paramahamsa — Other traits of a
paramahamsa — Master and Keshab — Three kinds of
bhakti — Faith in God's name.
Monday, June 30, 1884
SRI RAMAKRISHNA was in his room, sitting on a mat spread
on the floor. Pundit Shashadhar and a few devotees were with
him on the mat, and the rest sat on the bare floor. Surendra,
Baburam, M., Harish, Latu, Hazra, and others were present. It
was about four o'clock in the afternoon.

Sri Ramakrishna had met Pundit Shashadhar six days before in

Calcutta, and now the pundit had come to Dakshineswar to visit
the Master. Bhudar Chattopadhyaya and his elder brother, the
pundit's hosts, were with him.

The pundit was a follower of the path of jnana. The Master was
explaining this path to him. He said: "Nitya and Lila are the two
aspects of one and the same Reality. He who is the Indivisible
Satchidananda has assumed different forms for the sake of His
Lila." As he described the nature of the Ultimate Reality the
Master every now and then became unconscious in samadhi.
While he talked he was intoxicated with spiritual fervour. He
said to the pundit: "My dear sir. Brahman is immutable and
immovable, like Mount Sumeru. But He who is 'immovable' can
also 'move'."

The Master was in ecstasy. He began to sing in his melodious

voice:
Who is there that can understand what Mother Kali is?
Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her. . . .
He went on:
Is Mother merely a simple woman, born as others are born?
Only by chanting Her holy name
Does Siva survive the deadly poison.1

She it is who creates the worlds. She who preserves and

destroys,
With a mere wink of Her wondrous eyes;
She holds the universe in Her womb.

Seeking a shelter at Her feet, the gods themselves feel

safe;
And Mahadeva, God of Gods,
Lies prostrate underneath Her feet.
Again he sang:
Is Mother only Siva's wife? To Her must needs bow down
The all-destroying King of Death!
Naked She roams about the world, slaying Her demon foes,
Or stands erect on Siva's breast.
Her feet upon Her Husband's form! What a strange wife
She makes!
My Mother's play, declares Prasad, shatters all rules and
laws:
Strive hard for purity, O mind,
And understand my Mother's ways.
And again:
I drink no ordinary wine, but Wine of Everlasting Bliss,
As I repeat my Mother Kali's name;
It so intoxicates my mind that people take me to be drunk! .
..
And again:
Can everyone have the vision of Syama? Is Kali's treasure
for everyone?
Oh, what a pity my foolish mind will not see what is true!
Even with all His penances, rarely does Siva Himself
behold
The mind-bewitching sight of Mother Syama's crimson feet.

To him who meditates on Her the riches of heaven are poor

indeed;
If Syama casts Her glance on him, he swims in Eternal
Bliss.
The prince of yogis, the king of the gods, meditate on Her
feet in vain;
Yet worthless Kamalakanta yearns for the Mother's blessed
feet!
The Master's ecstatic mood gradually relaxed. He stopped
singing and sat in silence. After a while he got up and sat on
the small couch.

Pundit Shashadhar was charmed with his singing. Very humbly

he said to Sri Ramakrishna, "Are you going to sing any more?"

A little later the Master sang again:

High in the heaven of the Mother's feet, my mind was
soaring like a kite,
When came a blast of sin's rough wind that drove it swiftly
toward the earth. . . .
Then he sang:
Once for all, this time, I have thoroughly understood;
From One2 who knows it well, I have learnt the secret of
bhava.
A man has come to me from a country where there is no
night,
And now I cannot distinguish day from night any longer;
Rituals and devotions have all grown profitless for me.

My sleep is broken; how can I slumber any more?

For now I am wide awake in the sleeplessness of yoga.
O Divine Mother, made one with Thee in yoga-sleep3 at
last,
My slumber I have lulled asleep for evermore.
I bow my head, says Prasad, before desire and liberation;
Knowing the secret that Kali is one with the highest
Brahman,
I have discarded, once for all, both righteousness and sin.
Sri Ramakrishna continued:
I have surrendered my soul at the fearless feet of the
Mother;
Am I afraid of Death any more?
Unto the tuft of hair on my head
Is tied the almighty mantra, Mother Kali's name.
My body I have sold in the market-place of the world
And with it have bought Sri Durga's name.
As Sri Ramakrishna sang the line, "And with it have bought Sri
Durga's name", the tears flowed from Pundit Shashadhar s
eyes. The Master went on with the song:
Deep within my heart I have planted the name of Kali,
The Wish-fulfilling Tree of heaven;
When Yama, King of Death, appears,
To him I shall open my heart and show it growing these.
I have cast out from me my six unflagging foes; (The six
passions.)
Ready am I to sail life's sea,
Crying, "To Durga, victory!"
Again he sang:
Dwell, O mind, within yourself;
Enter no other's home.
If you but seek there, you will find
All you are searching for. . . .
And again:

Though I4 am never loath to grant salvation,

I hesitate indeed to grant pure love.
Whoever wins pure love surpasses all;
He is adored by men;
He triumphs over the three worlds. . . .
The pundit had studied the Vedas and the other scriptures. He
loved to discuss philosophy. The Master, seated on the couch,
cast his benign look on the pundit and gave him counsel
through parables.

MASTER (to the pundit): "There are many scriptures like the
Vedas. But one cannot realize God without austerity and
spiritual discipline. 'God cannot be found in the six systems, the
Vedas, or the Tantra.'

"But one should learn the contents of the scriptures and then
act according to their injunctions. A man lost a letter. He
couldn't remember where he had left it. He began to search for
it with a lamp. After two or three people had searched, the letter
was at last found. The message in the letter was: 'Please send
us five seers of sandesh and a piece of wearing-cloth.' The
man read it and then threw the letter away. There was no
further need of it; now all he had to do was to buy the five seers
of sandesh and the piece of cloth.

"Better than reading is hearing, and better than hearing is

seeing. One understands the scriptures better by hearing them
from the lips of the guru or of a holy man. Then one doesn't
have to think about their non-essential part. Hanuman said:
'Brother, I don't know much about the phase of the moon or the
position of the stars. I just contemplate Rama.'

"But seeing is far better than hearing. Then all doubts

disappear. It is true that many things are recorded in the
scriptures; but all these are useless without the direct
realization of God, without devotion to His Lotus Feet, without
purity of heart. The almanac forecasts the rainfall of the year.
But not a drop of water will you get by squeezing the almanac.
No, not even one drop.

"How long should one reason about the texts of the scriptures?
So long as one does not have direct realization of God. How
long does the bee buzz about? As long as it is not sitting on a
flower. No sooner does it light on a flower and begin to sip
honey than it keeps quiet.

"But you must remember, another thing. One may talk even
after the realization of God. But then one talks only of God and
of Divine Bliss. It is like a drunkard's crying, 'Victory to the
Divine Mother!' He can hardly say anything else on account of
his drunkenness. You can notice, too, that a bee makes an
indistinct humming sound after having sipped the honey from a
flower.

"The jnani reasons about the world through the process of 'Neti,
neti', 'Not this, not this'. Reasoning in this way, he at last comes
to a state of Bliss, and that is Brahman. What is the nature of a
jnani? He behaves according to scriptural injunctions.

"Once I was taken to Chanak and saw some sadhus there.

Several of them were sewing. (All laugh.) At the sight of us they
threw aside their sewing. They sat straight, crossing their legs,
and conversed with us. (All laugh.)

"But jnanis will not talk about spiritual things without being
asked. They will inquire, at first, about such things as your
health and your family.

"But the nature of the vijnani is different. He is unconcerned

about anything. Perhaps he carries his wearing-cloth loose
under his arm, like a child; or perhaps the cloth has dropped
from his body altogether.

"The man who knows that God exists is called a jnani. A jnani is
like one who knows beyond a doubt that a log of wood contains
fire. But a vijnani is he who lights the log, cooks over the fire,
and is nourished by the food. The eight fetters have fallen from
the vijnani. He may keep merely the appearance of lust, anger,
and the rest."

PUNDIT: "'The knots of his heart are cut asunder; all his doubts
are destroyed.'"

MASTER: "Yes. Once a ship sailed into the ocean. Suddenly its
iron joints, nails, and screws fell out. The ship was passing a
magnetic hill, and so all its iron was loosened.

"I used to go to Krishnakishore's house. Once, when I was

there, he said to me, 'Why do you chew betel-leaf?' I said: 'It is
my sweet pleasure. I shall chew betel-leaf, look at my face in
the mirror, and dance naked among a thousand girls.' (Because
the Master was a Vijnani) Krishnakishore's wife scolded him
and said: 'What have you said to Ramakrishna? You don't know
how to talk to people.'

"In this state, passions like lust and anger are burnt up, though
nothing happens to the physical body. It looks just like any other
body; but the inside is all hollow and pure."

A DEVOTEE: "Does the body remain even after the realization

of God?"

MASTER: "The body survives with some so that they may work
out their prarabdha karma or work for the welfare of others. By
bathing in the Ganges a man gets rid of his sin and attains
liberation. But if he happens to be blind, he doesn't get rid of his
blindness. Of course, he escapes future births, which would
otherwise be necessary for reaping the results of his past sinful
karma. His present body remains alive as long as its
momentum5 is not exhausted; but future births are no longer
possible. The wheel moves as long as the impulse that has set
it in motion lasts. Then it comes to a stop. In the case of such a
person, passions like lust and anger are burnt up. Only the
body remains alive to perform a few actions."

PUNDIT: "That is called samskara."

MASTER: "The vijnani always sees God. That is why he is so

indifferent about the world. He sees God even with his eyes
open. Sometimes he comes down to the Lila from the Nitya,
and sometimes he goes up to the Nitya from the Lila."

PUNDIT: "I don't understand that."

MASTER: "The jnani reasons about the world through the

process of 'Neti, neti', and at last reaches the Eternal and
Indivisible Satchidananda. He reasons in this manner:
'Brahman is not the living beings; It is neither the universe nor
the twenty-four cosmic principles.' As a result of such reasoning
he attains the Absolute. Then he realizes that it is the Absolute
that has become all this — the universe, its living beings, and
the twenty-four cosmic principles.

"Milk sets into curd, and the curd is churned into butter. After
extracting the butter one realizes that butter is not essentially
different from buttermilk and buttermilk not essentially different
from butter. The bark of a tree goes with the pith and the pith
goes with the bark."

PUNDIT (smiling, to Bhudar): "Did you understand that? It is

very difficult."

MASTER: "If there is butter, there must be buttermilk also. If

you think of butter, you must also think of buttermilk along with
it; for there cannot be any butter without buttermilk. Just so, if
you accept the Nitya, you must also accept the Lila. It is the
process of negation and affirmation. You realize the Nitya by
negating the Lila. Then you affirm the Lila, seeing in it the
manifestation of the Nitya. One attains this state after realizing
Reality in both aspects: Personal and Impersonal. The Personal
is the embodiment of Chit, Consciousness; and the Impersonal
is the Indivisible Satchidananda. "Brahman alone has become
everything. Therefore to the vijnani this world is a 'mansion of
mirth'. But to the jnani it is a 'framework of illusion', Ramprasad
described the world as a 'framework of illusion'. Another man
said to him by way of retort:
This very world is a mansion of mirth;
Here I can eat, here drink and make merry.
O physician,6 you are a fool!
Home / The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna / Volume 1 /
You see only the surface of things.
Janaka's might was unsurpassed;
What did he lack of the world or the Spirit?
Holding to one as well as the other,
He drank his milk from a brimming cup!
"The vijnani enjoys the Bliss of God in a richer way. Some have
heard of milk, some have seen it, and some have drunk it. The
vijnani has drunk milk, enjoyed it, and been nourished by it."

The Master remained silent a few moments and then asked

Pundit Shashadhar to have a smoke. The pundit went to the
southeast verandah to smoke. Soon he came back to the room
and sat on the floor with the devotees. Seated on the small
couch, the Master continued the conversation.

MASTER (to the pundit): "Let me tell you something. There are
three kinds of ananda, joy: the joy of worldly enjoyment, the joy
of worship, and the Joy of Brahman. The joy of worldly
enjoyment is the joy of 'woman and gold', which people always
enjoy. The joy of worship one enjoys while chanting the name
and glories of God. And the Joy of Brahman is the joy of God-
vision. After experiencing the joy of God-vision the rishis of
olden times went beyond all rules and conventions.

"Chaitanyadeva used to experience three spiritual states: the

inmost, the semi-conscious, and the conscious. In the inmost
state he would see God and go into samadhi. He would be in
the state of jada samadhi. In the semiconscious state he would