A
Vaishnava goswami was seated in the room. The Master said to
him:
"Well, what do you say? What is the way?"
Goswami: "Sir, the chanting of God's name is enough. The scriptures
emphasize the sanctity of God's name for the Kaliyuga."
Sri Ramakrishna:
"Yes, there is no doubt about the sanctity of God's name. But
can a mere name achieve anything, without the yearning love of the
devotee behind it? One should feel great restlessness of soul for the
vision of God. Suppose a man repeats the name of God mechanically,
while his mind is absorbed in 'woman and gold'. Can he achieve
anything? Mere muttering of magic words doesn't cure one of the pain
of a spider or scorpion sting. One must also apply the smoke of
burning cow-dung." (A primitive medicine used by
the villagers for scorpion bites.)
Goswami: "But what about Ajamila then? He was a great sinner; there was
no sin he had not indulged in. But he uttered the name of Narayana on
his death-bed, calling his son, who also had that name. And thus he
was liberated."
Sri Ramakrishna: "Perhaps
Ajamila had done many spiritual things in his past births. It is also
said that he once practised austerity; besides, those were the last
moments of his life. What is the use of giving an elephant a bath? It
will cover itself with dirt and dust again and become its former
self. But if someone removes the dust from its body and gives it a
bath just before it enters the stable, then the elephant remains
clean.
"Suppose a man becomes pure by chanting the holy
name of God, but immediately afterwards commits many sins. He has no
strength of mind. He doesn't take a vow not to repeat his sins. A
bath in the Ganges undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what
does that avail? They say that the sins perch on the trees along the
bank of the Ganges. No sooner does the man come back from the holy
waters than the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees. (All
laugh.) The same old sins take possession of him again. He is
hardly out of the water before they fall upon him.
"Therefore
I say, chant the name of God, and with it pray to Him that you may
have love for Him. Pray to God that your attachment to such
transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become
less and less every day.
(To the Goswami) With
sincerity and earnestness one can realize God through all religions.
The Vaishnavas will realize God, and so will the Saktas the
Vedantists, and the Brahmos. The Mussalmans and Christians will
realize Him too. All will certainly realize God if they are earnest
and sincere.
"Some people indulge in quarrels, saying,
'One cannot attain anything unless one Worships our Krishna', or,
'Nothing can be gained without the worship of Kali, our Divine
Mother', or, 'One cannot be saved without accepting the Christian
religion.' This is pure dogmatism. The dogmatist says 'My religion
alone is true, and the religions of others are false.' This is-a bad
attitude. God can be reached by different paths.
"Further,
some say that God has form and is not formless. Thus they start
quarrelling. A Vaishnava quarrels with a Vedantist.
"One
can rightly speak of God only after one has seen Him. He who has seen
God knows really and truly that God has form and that He is formless
as well. He has many other aspects that cannot be described.
"Once
some blind men chanced to come near an animal that someone told them
was an elephant. They were asked what the elephant was like. The
blind men began to feel its body. One of them said the elephant was
like a pillar; he had touched only its leg. Another said it was like
a winnowing-fan; he had touched only its ear. In this way the others,
having touched its tail or belly, gave their different versions of
the elephant. Just so, a man who has seen only one aspect of God
limits God to that alone. It is his conviction that God cannot be
anything else.
(To
the goswami) "How can you say that the only truth about God
is that He has form? It is undoubtedly true that God comes down to
earth in a human form, as in the case of Krishna. And it is true as
well that God reveals Himself to His devotees in various forms. But
it, is also true that God is formless; He is the Indivisible
Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. He has been described in the
Vedas both as formless and as endowed with form. He is also described
there both as attributeless and as endowed with attributes.
Do
you know what I mean? Satchidananda is like an infinite ocean.
Intense cold freezes the water into ice, which floats on the ocean in
blocks or various forms. Likewise, through the cooling influence of
bhakti, one sees forms of God in the Ocean of the Absolute. These
forms are meant for the bhaktas, the lovers of God. But when the Sun
of Knowledge rises, the ice melts; it becomes the same water it was
before. Water above and water below, everywhere nothing but water.
Therefore a prayer in the Bhagavata says: 'O Lord, Thou hast
form, and Thou art also formless. Thou walkest before us, O Lord, in
the shape of a man; again, Thou hast been described in the Vedas as
beyond words and thought.'
But you may say that for certain
devotees God assumes eternal forms. There are places in the ocean
where the ice doesn't melt at all. It assumes the form of
quartz."
Kedar: "It is said in
the Bhagavata that Vyasa asked God's forgiveness for his three
transgressions. He said: 'O Lord, Thou art formless, but I have
thought of Thee in my meditation as endowed with form; Thou art
beyond speech, but I have sung Thee hymns; Thou art the All-pervading
Spirit, but I have made pilgrimages to sacred places. Be gracious, O
Lord, and forgive these three transgressions of mine.'"
MASTER:
"Yes, God has form and He is formless too. Further, He is beyond
both form and formlessness. No one can limit Him."
Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
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