Not working for personal gain

[barney 0]

(Quotations from Sri Ramakrishna)

 

Mahendranath:

May I know if one can realize God while performing one's duties?

 

Ramakrishna:

All, without exception, perform work. Even to chant God's name and glories is work, as is the meditation of the Non-dualist 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.

(p. 168)

 

Ramakrishna:

Let me tell you the truth: there is nothing wrong in your being in the world. But you must direct your mind toward God; otherwise you will not succeed. Do your duty with one hand and with the other hold to God. After the duty is over, you will hold to God with both hands.

(p. 195)

 

Ramakrishna:

A devotee who can call on God while living a householder's life is a hero indeed. God thinks: "He who has renounced the world for My sake will surely pray to Me; he must serve Me. Is there anything very remarkable about it? People will cry shame on him if he fails to do so. But he is blessed indeed who prays to Me in the midst of his worldly duties. He is trying to find Me, overcoming a great obstacle -- pushing away, as it were, a huge block of stone weighing a ton. Such a man is a real hero."

(p. 309)

 

Ramakrishna:

If a householder gives in charity in a spirit of detachment, he is really doing good to himself and not to others. It is God alone that he serves -- God, who dwells in all beings... If a man thus serves God through all beings..., if he doesn't seek name and fame, or heaven after death; if he doesn't seek any return from those he serves; if he can carry on his work of service in this spirit -- then he performs truly selfless work, work without attachment. Through such selfless work he does good to himself. This is called karmayoga. This too is a way to realize God.

(p. 365)

 

Mahendranath:

How ought we to live in the world?

 

Ramakrishna:

Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Live with all -- with wife and children, father and mother -- and serve them. Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you.

A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her thoughts are fixed on her own home in her native village. She brings up her master's children as if they were her own. She even speaks of them as "my Rama" or "my Hari." But in her own mind she knows very well that they do not belong to her at all.

 

The tortoise moves about in the water. But can you guess where her thoughts are? There on the bank, where her eggs are lying. Do all your duties in the world, but keep your mind on God.

(p. 127)

 

Ramakrishna:

Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then, through His grace, one realizes Him in course of time. God can be seen. One can talk to Him as I am talking to you.

(p. 163)

 

Ramakrishna:

God has put you in the world. What can you do about it? Resign everything to Him. Surrender yourself at His feet. Then there will be no more confusion.

(p. 353)

 

Ramakrishna:

Can one know God through reasoning? Be His servant, surrender yourself to Him, and then pray to Him.

(p. 159)

 

The teacher

(Quotations from Sri Ramakrishna)

 

The members of the Brahmo Samaj are opposed to the traditional guru systems of orthodox Hinduism. Therefore a Brahmo devotee asked the Master about it.

Brahmo devotee:

Is spiritual knowledge impossible without a guru?

Ramakrishna:

Satchidananda alone is the Guru. If a man in the form of a guru awakens spiritual consciousness in you, then know for certain that it is God the Absolute who has assumed that human form for your sake. The guru is like a companion who leads you by the hand. After realizing God, one loses the distinction between the guru and the disciple. The relationship between them remains as long as the disciple does not see God.

(p. 253)

Ramakrishna:

How is it ever possible for one man to liberate another from the bondage of the world? God alone, the Creator of this world-bewitching maya, can save men from maya. There is no other refuge but that great Teacher, Satchidananda. How is it ever possible for men who have not realized God or received His command, and who are not strengthened with divine strength, to save others from the prison-house of the world?

One day as I was passing the Panchavati on my way to the pine-grove, I heard a bullfrog croaking. I thought it must have been seized by a snake. After some time, as I was coming back, I could still hear its terrified croaking. I looked to see what was the matter, and found that a water snake had seized it. The snake could neither swallow it nor give it up. So there was no end to the frog's suffering. I thought that had it been seized by a cobra it would have been silenced after three croaks at most. As it was only a water snake, both of them had to go through this agony. A man's ego is destroyed after three croaks, as it were, if he gets into the clutches of a real teacher. But if the teacher in an unripe one, then both the teacher and the disciple undergo endless suffering. The disciple cannot get rid either of his ego or of the shackles of the world. If a disciple falls into the clutches of an incompetent teacher, he doesn't attain liberation.

(pp. 225-226)

 

Ramakrishna:

The roof is clearly visible, but extremely hard to reach.

Narendra:

Yes sir.

Ramakrishna:

But if someone who has already reached it drops down a rope, he can pull another person up.

(p. 488)

Ramakrishna:

Have faith in the guru's words, and work. If you have no guru, then pray to God with a longing heart. He will let you know what He is like.

(p. 352)

Ramakrishna:

He who is the Lord of the Universe will teach everyone. He alone will teach us, who has created this universe... The Lord has done so many things -- will He not show people the way to worship Him? if they need teaching, then He will be the Teacher. He is our Inner Guide.

(p. 125)

 

Dying and being reborn

(Quotations from Sri Ramakrishna)

 

Vijay:

Sir, why are we bound like this? Why don't we see God?

Ramakrishna:

Maya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul. This egotism has covered everything like a veil. "All troubles come to an end when the ego dies." If by God's grace a man but once realizes that he is not the doer, then he at once becomes a jivanmukta: though living in the body, he is liberated. He has nothing else to fear.

This maya, that is to say, the ego, is like a cloud. The sun cannot be seen on account of a thin patch of cloud; when that disappears one sees the sun. If by the guru's grace one's ego vanishes, then one sees God.

(pp. 226-227)

 

Ramakrishna:

In those days of God-vision I felt as if I were passing thorugh a great storm; everything was blown away from me. No trace of my old self was left. I lost all consciousness of the world.

(p. 174)

Ramakrishna:

What is samadhi? It is the complete merging of the mind in God-Consciousness. The jnani experiences jada samadhi, in which no trace of I is left. The samadhi attained through the path of bhakti is called chetana samadhi. In this samadhi there remains the consciousness of I -- the I of the servant-and-Master relationship, of the lover-and-Beloved relationship, of the enjoyer-and-Food relationship. God is the Master; the devotee is the servant. God is the beloved; the devotee is the lover. God is the Food; and the devotee is the enjoyer. "I don't want to be the sugar. I want to eat it"

(p. 312)