Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

A JOB-SEEKER got tired of visiting the manager

in an office. He couldn’t get the job. The manager

said to him, “There is no vacancy now; but come

and  see me now and then.” This went on for a

long time, and the candidate lost all hope. One day

he told his tale of woe to a friend. The friend said:

“How stupid you are! Why are you wearing away

the soles of your feet going to that fellow? You had

better go to Golap. You will get the job

tomorrow.” “Is that so?” said the candidate. “I

am going right away.” Golap was the manager’s

mistress. The candidate called on her and said:

“‘Mother, I am in great distress. You must help me

out of it. I am the son of a poor brahmana

Where

else shall I go for help? Mother I have been out of

work many days. My children are about to starve to

death. I can get a job if you but say a word.” Golap

said to him, “Child, whom should I speak to?” She

said to herself: “Ah, the poor brahmana! He has

been suffering too much.” The candidate said to

her, “I am sure to get the job if you just put in a

word about it to the manager.” Golap said, “I shall

speak to him today and settle the matter.” The very

next morning a man called on the candidate and

said, “You are to work in the manager’s office,

from today.” The manager said to his English boss:

“This man is very competent. I have appointed

him. He will do credit to the firm.”

THERE is the story of twelve hundred nedas* and
thirteen hundred nedis#. Virabhadra, the son of
Nityananda Goswami had thirteen hundred
’shaven headed’ disciples. They attained great
spiritual powers. That alarmed their teacher. “My
disciples have acquired great spiritual powers,”
thought Virabhadra. “Whatever they say to people
will come to pass. Wherever they go they may
create alarming situations; for people offending
them unwittingly will come to grief.” Thinking
thus, Virabhadra one day called them to him and
said, “See me after performing your daily devotions
on the banks of the Ganges.” These disciples had
such high spiritual nature that, while meditating,
they would go into Samadhi and be unaware of the
river water flowing over their heads during the
flood-tide. Then the ebb-tide would come and still
they would remain absorbed in meditation.
Now, one hundred of these disciples had
anticipated what their teacher would ask of them.
Lest they should have to disobey his injunctions,
they had quickly disappeared from the place before
he summoned them. So, they did not go to
Virabhadra with others. The remaining twelve
hundred disciples went to the teacher after
finishing their morning meditations. Virabhadra
said to them: “These thirteen hundred nuns will
serve you.
I ask you to marry them.” “As you please, revered
sir,” they said. “But one hundred of us have gone ‘
away.” Thenceforth each of these twelve hundred
disciples had a wife. Consequently they all lost their
spiritual power. Their austerities did not have their
original fire. The company of women robbed them
of their spirituality because it destroyed their
freedom.
*Literally “Shaven headed”, indicative of absolute renunciation of ‘lust
and gold’
# Vaishnava nuns

IT is ‘woman and gold’ that binds man and robs -
*- him of his freedom. It is woman that creates the
need for gold. For woman one becomes the slave
of another, and so loses his freedom. Then he
cannot act as he likes.
The priests in the temple of Govindaji at Jaipur
were celibates at first, and at that time they had
fiery natures. Once the King of Jaipur sent for
them, but they didn’t obey him. They said to the
messenger, “Ask the king to come to see us.” After
consultation, the king and his ministers arranged
marriages for them. From then on the king didn’t
have to send for them.
They would come to him of themselves and say:
“Your Majesty, we have come with our blessings.
Here are the sacred flowers of the temple. Deign to
accept them.” They came to the palace, for now
they always wanted money for this thing or
another—the building of a house, the rice-taking
ceremony of their babies, or the rituals connected
with the beginning of their children’s education.

AT Kamarpukur I have seen the mongoose living
in its hole up in the wall. It feels snug there.
Sometimes people tie a brick to its tail; then the
pull of the brick makes it come out of its hole.
Every time the mongoose tries to be comfortable
inside the hole, it has to come out because of the
pull of the brick.
Such is the effect of brooding on worldly objects
that it makes the yogi stray from the path of yoga.

BODY and wealth are impermanent. Why go to
take so much trouble for their sake? Just think of
the plight of the Hatha yogis. Their attention is
fixed on one ideal only—longevity. They do not
aim at the realization of God at all. They practise
such exercises as washing out the intestines,
drinking milk through a tube, and the like, with
that one aim in view.

There was once a goldsmith whose tongue
suddenly turned up and stuck to his palate. He
looked like a man in Samadhi. He became
completely inert and remained so a long time.
People came to worship him. After several years,
his tongue suddenly returned to its natural
position, and he became conscious of things as
before. So he went back to his work as before.
These are physical things and have nothing to do
with God. There was a man who knew eighty two
postures and talked big about yoga-samadhi. But
inwardly he was drawn to ‘woman and gold’. Once
he found a bank-note worth several thousand
rupees.
He could not resist the temptation, and swallowed
it, thinking he would get it out somehow later on.
The note was got out of him alright, but he was
sent to jail for three years.

THE steward of a certain rich man was left in
charge of his master’s property. When asked by
someone as to whose property it was, he used to
say: “Sir, this is all my property; these houses and
these gardens are all mine.” He would speak in this
strain and go about with an air of vanity. One day
he happened to catch fish in a pond of his master’s
garden-house in contravention of his strict
prohibition. As ill-luck would have it, the master
came upon the scene just then, and saw what his
dishonest steward was doing. Finding out the
faithlessness of his servant, the master at once
drove him away from his estate, disgraced and
dishonoured, and confiscated all his past earnings.
The poor fellow could not take with him even his
rickety box of utensils which was his sole private
property.
Such is the punishment that overtakes
false pride.

Once, a fishwife was a guest in the house of a
gardener who raised flowers. She came there with
her empty basket, after selling fish in the market,
and was asked to sleep in a room where flowers
were kept. But, because of the fragrance of the
flowers, she couldn’t get to sleep for a long time!
She was restless and began to fidget about. Her
hostess saw her condition and said, “Hello! Why
are you tossing from side to side so restlessly?” The
fishwife said: “I don’t know, friend. Perhaps
the smell of the flowers has been disturbing my
sleep. Can you give me my fish-basket? Perhaps
that will put me to sleep.” The basket was brought
to her. She sprinkled water on it and set it near her
nose. Then she fell sound asleep and snored all
night.

GOD is like the wish-yielding tree of the celestial
world (Kalpataru), which gives whatever one asks
of it. So, one should be careful to give up all
worldly desires when one’s mind has been purified
by religious exercises.
Just listen to a story: A certain traveller came to a
large plain in the course of his travels. As he had
been walking in the sun for many hours, he was
thoroughly exhausted and heavily perspiring; so he
sat down in the shade of a tree to rest a little.
Presently he began to think what a comfort it
would be if he could but get a soft bed there to
sleep on. He was not aware that he was sitting
under the celestial tree. As soon as the above
thought rose in his mind, he found a nice bed by
his side. He felt much astonished, but all the same
stretched himself on it. Now he thought to himself,
how pleasant it would be, were a young damsel to
come there and gently stroke his legs. No sooner
did the thought arise in his mind than he found a
young damsel sitting at his feet and stroking his
legs. The traveller felt supremely happy. Presently
he felt hungry and thought: “I have got whatever 1
have wished for; could I not then get some food?”
Instantly he found various kinds of delicious food
spread before him. He at once fell to eating, and
having helped himself to his heart’s content,
stretched himself again on his bed. He now began
to revolve in his mind the events of the day. While
thus occupied, he thought: “If a tiger should attack
me all of a sudden!” In an instant a large tiger
jumped on him and broke his neck and began to
drink his blood. In this way the traveller lost his
life.
Such is the fate of men in general. If during your
meditation you pray for men or money or worldly
honours, your desires will no doubt be satisfied to
some extent; but, mind you, there is the dread of
the tiger behind the gifts you get. Those tigers—
disease, bereavements, loss of honour and wealth
etc.,—are a thousand times more terrible than the
live tiger.

A SADHU under the instruction of his Guru built
for himself a small shed, thatched with leaves at a
distance from the haunts of men. He began his
devotional exercises in this hut. Now, every
morning after ablution he would hang his wet cloth
and the kaupina (loin-cloth) on a tree close to the
hut, to dry them. One day on his return from the
neighbouring village, which he would visit to beg
for his daily food, he found that the rats had cut
holes in his kaupina. So the next day he was
obliged to go to the village for a fresh one. A few
days later, the sadhu spread his loin-cloth on the
roof of his hut to dry it and then went to the
village to beg as usual. On his return he found that
the rats had torn it into shreds. He felt much
annoyed and thought within himself “Where shall I
go again to beg for a rag? Whom shall I ask for
one?” All the same he saw the villagers the next
day and re-presented to them the mischief done by
the rats. Having heard all he had to say, the
villagers said, “Who will keep you supplied with
cloth every day? Just do one thing—keep a cat; it
will keep away the rats.” The sadhu forthwith
secured a kitten in the village and carried it to his
hut. From that day the rats ceased to trouble him
and there was no end to his joy. The sadhu now
began to tend the useful little creature with great
care and feed it on the milk begged from the
village. After some days, a villager said to him:
“Sadhuji, you require milk every day; you can
supply your want for a few days at most by
begging; who will supply you with milk all the year
round? Just do one thing—keep a cow. You can
satisfy your own creature comforts by drinking its
milk and you can also give some to your cat.” In a
few days the sadhu procured a milch cow and had
no occasion to beg for milk any more. By and by,
the sadhu found it necessary to beg for straw for
his cow. He had to visit the neighbouring villages
for the purpose, but the villagers said, “There are
lots of uncultivated lands close to your hut; just
cultivate the land and you shall not have to beg for
straw for your cow.” Guided by their advice, the
sadhu took to tilling the land. Gradually he had to
engage some labourers and later on found it
necessary to build barns to store the crop in. Thus
he became, in course of time, a sort of landlord.
And, at last he had to take a wife to look after his
big household. He now passed his days just like a
busy householder.
After some time, his Guru came to see him.
Finding himself surrounded by goods and chattles,
the Guru felt puzzled and enquired of a servant,
“An ascetic used to live here in a hut; can you tell
me where he has removed himself?” The servant
did not know what to say in reply. So the Guru
ventured to enter into the house, where he met his
disciple. The Guru said to him, “My son, what is all
this?” The disciple, in great shame fell at the feet of
his Guru and said, “My Lord, all for a single piece
of loin-cloth!”

MEN may be divided into four classes: those
bound by the fetters of the world, the seekers after
liberation, the liberated and the ever-free.
Among the ever-free we may count sages like
Narada. They live in the world for the good of
others, to teach men spiritual truths.
Those in bondage are sunk in worldliness and are
forgetful of God. Not even by mistake do they
think of God.
The seekers after liberation want to free themselves
from attachment to the world. Some of them
succeed and others do not.
The liberated souls, such as the Sadhus and
Mahatmas, are not entangled in the world, in
‘woman and gold.’ Their minds are free from
worldliness. Besides they always meditate on the
Lotus Feet of God.
Suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch
fish. Some fish are so clever that they are never
caught in the net. They are like the ever-free. But
most of the fish are entangled in the net. Some of
them try to free themselves from it, and they are
like those who seek liberation. But not all the fish
that straggle succeed.
A very few do jump out of the net, making a big
splash in the water. Then the fishermen shout,
‘Look! There goes a big one!’ But most of the fish
caught in the net cannot escape, nor do they make
any effort to get out.
On the contrary, they burrow into the mud with
the net in their mouths and lie there quietly,
thinking, ‘We need not fear any more; we are quite
safe here.’ But the poor things do not know that
the fishermen will drag them out with the net.
These are like the men bound to the world.