Worldly people’s lack perseverance Then, addressing the devotees, Sri Ramakrishna said: The spiritual wisdom of worldly people is seen only on rare occasions. It is like the flame of a candle. No, it is rather like a single ray of the sun passing through a chink in a wall. Worldly people chant the name of God, but there is no zeal behind it. It is like childrens swearing by God, having learnt the word from the quarrels of their aunts. Worldly people have no grit. If they succeed in an undertaking, it is all right, but if they dont succeed, it scarcely bothers them at all. When they need water, they begin to dig a well. But as soon as they strike a stone, they give up digging there and begin at another place. Perhaps they come to a bed of sand. Finding nothing but sand, they give that place up too. How can they succeed in getting water unless they continue to dig persistently where they started? Man reaps the harvest of his own past actions. Hence you read in the song: O Mother, I have no one else to blame: Alas! I sink in the well these very hands have dug. I and mine-that is ignorance. By discriminating you will realize that what you call I is really nothing but Ātman. Reason it out. Are you the body or the flesh or something else? At the end you will know that you are none of these. You are free from attributes. Then you will realize that you have never been the doer of any action, that you have been free from virtue and faults alike, that you are beyond righteousness and unrighteousness. From ignorance a man says, This is gold and this is brass. But a man of Knowledge says, It is all gold. Reasoning stops when one sees God. But there are instances of people who have realized God and who still continue to reason. Again, there are people who, even after having seen God, chant His name with devotion and sing His glories. How long does a child cry? So long as it is not sucking at its mothers breast. As soon as it is nursed it stops crying. Then the child feels only joy. Joyously it drinks the milk from its mothers breast. But it is also true that, while drinking, the child sometimes plays and laughs. It is God alone who has become everything. But in man He manifests Himself the most. God is directly present in the man who has the pure heart of a child and who laughs and cries and dances and sings in divine ecstasy. By this time Sri Ramakrishna had become better acquainted with Adhar, who related the cause of his friends grief. The Master sang, as if to himself: To arms! To arms, O man! Death storms your house in battle array! Bearing the quiver of knowledge, mount the chariot of devotion; Bend the bow of your tongue with the bow-string of love, And aim at him the shaft of Mother Kālis holy name. Here is a ruse for the fray: You need no chariot or charioteer; Fight your foe from the Ganges bank, and he is easily slain. THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA,9-13
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 11:43:03 +0000
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