Modern life is becoming very unsatisfactory. It does not give you happiness. There are too many things, too many desires. More nice cars and dresses and entertainments - and more worries! Free yourself from these so-called "necessities" and spend more time with God. Make your life simple. Be happy in and by your Self.
~ Paramahansa Yogananda
Take the trouble to find me.
Follow the path that I have traced before you.
Nothing is as important as this work.
Nothing can be compared to this.
Only the Divine.
To find the Divine.
This is life, this the aim, this the joy!
To love the Divine so that He is always with you.
Let it be Him who does all.
He works with you.
He strives with you.
He guides you at every instant.
Au revoir, my child.
The Mother.
Mona Sarkar in The Supreme.
BEG ONLY FROM THEM
MAA KALI manifested this time in a tangible form as Thakur and Sarada Devi, the Male personality of the Supreme Reality and Its Power DIVINE, as the Female personality. They descended in this valley of woes to bring succour to the erring, suffering humanity; and to slake the thirst of the spiritually thirsty. Whom else should we beg but them who are ever eager to grant boons to all who seek ?
ONE DAY THE MOTHER WAS explaining that since human gifts do not last long, one should not beg from people, not even from one's father or from one's husband. Then she added: "When the Master gives, it overflows all limits." SWAMI GAMBHIRANANDA, HOLY MOTHER SRI SARADA DEVI, 495.
How true! When Thakur gave he gave without any calculation, for he knew no mathematics, even as a school boy! The same was true of Sri Maa. Thakur had liked Girish's play "The Life of Chaitanya" at the Star Theatre. He asked Girish if he could show him another of his plays, and said that Girish must charge something. Girish said: "All right, you may pay eight annas."Thakur said:"Then you must take one rupee."
One day Thakur told his young disciples that he desired to eat food they could obtain by begging. At this Naren and others decided that the first person to be approached should be the Holy Mother. The Mother gave them sixteen annas. Sixteen annas make one rupee; sixteen stands also for fullness and abundance.
Thus both Thakur and Maa signified their bestowing on all that they could wish for. Whoever supplicated them with whatsoever desire, be it for removal of material wants, worldly afflictions, relief from physical maladies, or spiritual illumination, they granted their prayers.
IN FINANCIALCRISES:
What a sincere soul Tejchandra was! The Master used to frequent his house. Someone had deposited two hundred rupees with him. One day he discovered that he had been robbed of that amount and suffered from terrible mental agony. He came to the bank of the Ganga and prayed to the Master with tears in his eyes, "O Lord, what have you done to me?" He was not rich enough to make up that amount. The Master appeared before him and said: "Why do you weep so bitterly?.The money is there under a brick on the bank of the Ganga." Not only did Thakur remove his mental affliction, he Graciosly granted Tejchandra his vision too!
RAMAKRISHNA AS WE SAW HIM, 30.
OWING TO CONTINUOUS DROUGHT the crops in the fields of Jayrambati began to be scorched away. The helpless farmers told the Mother, "This year, Mother, there is no hope of keeping our childern alive.." Their distress moved her, and she went with them to see the
fields. There she could not control her feeling of dismay, and supplicated with extreme humility, "Alas, Master! What's this that you have done! Should every one die of starvation?" That very night rain poured down in torrents and the crop was so good that the peasants had no such happy memory for many years past.
HOLY MOTHER SRI SARADA DEVI, 447.
IN DISEASE AND PHYSICAL SUFFERINGS:
ONCE JAGDAMBA DASI, MATHUR'S WIFE , had an attack of dysentry. It worsened so much that the doctors gave up all hope for her life. Extremely anxious, Mathur beseeched Thakur's help. Thakur entered into an ecstatic state and granted his prayer. Jagdamba Dasi came round but as a consequence Thakur himself had to suffer with stubborn diarrhoea for six months. It was as if millions of ants were gnawing at his brain. Nothing was left of him but a few bones, but the devotee had his prayer granted. In the Mother's life also we come across many instances where bhaktas, suffering terriblly from physical maladies were cured through her blessings. To quote an incident: Once at
'Udbodhan', Napharchandra held the feet of the Mother
and with his eyes full of tears said, "Mother, I am in imminent danger. Some of my grand-daughters and a grand-son have died of influenza. And now some more grand-daughters and the only surviving grandson are in a precarious condition. Mother, you will have to so ordain that my line is not broken." The Mother uttered in a solomn voice, "No, you need have no fear." That comforted the gentleman ; he wiped his tears and departed happily. He had his wish fulfilled.
HOLY MOTHER SRI SARADA DEVI, 448.
AS SPIRITUAL GURUS: Countless seekers came to Thakur and Maa seeking spiritual illumination-- people from all walks of life, the young and the old, of various castes and creeds. Their doors were open to all. On many occasions we see Thakur giving completely contradictory advice under similar situations. The story of Niranjan and Jogindranath, coming to Dakshineswar by boat is ofen quoted and is well known. We shall illustrate this through another example. On hearing that Ishan was building a house on the bank of the Ganga to practice spiritual discipline, the Master observed, "Let me tell you that the less people know of your spiritual life, the better it will be for you. Devotees endowed with sattva meditate in a secluded corner or in a forest or withdraw into the mind." On the other hand, he advised Shyam Babu, an elderly man, who wanted to devote his time to contemplation, to build a quiet place for meditation, saying that it would not be possoble to think of God amidst worldly confusion. To each particular sect also he prescribed remedy suited to their need. To the Brahmos he said: 'Why should I produce only a monotone when I have an instrument with seven holes? Why should I say only "I am He" or " Btahma, Brahma". I want to make merry with God through all the moods.'
THE GOSPEL, 1009-- 1010
TO THE VAISHNAVAS HE SAID, "Why should I be one- sided? The worshippers of Vishnu and the worshippers of Shakti will ultimately reach the same goal." To the Vedantists he would say: "Let us give up 'I am He' and keep 'Thou and I' to enjoy the fun." To the Shaktas he said: "Shiva, Kali, and Hari are but different forms of that One." To those who believed in God with form and others who believed in the Formless Reality and fought over it, he explained that the same Satchidananda assumed forms under the cooling influence of bhakti and again became formless with the rise of the sun of Knowledge.
In the case of Holy Mother also all cosiderations of her personal suffering, fitness of place or person, in matters of initiation were brushed aside. None was refused -- sinners, lunatics, criminals, outcastes or fallen. Even when not well, she initiated a Parsi devotee; initiated Brahmachari Girija during her period of mourning; initiated a youth just released from Police custody in an open field; a porter on the railway station,
who weepingly beseeched her. Impelled by divine mercy she did not refuse even the criminals and took upon herself the burden of their sins and as a result, suffered from various diseases.
SO WHOM SHOULD WE BEG BUT THAKUR AND MAA, who like the kalpataru fulfill all our prayers? But one must pray going near the kalpataru.
BEG ONLY FROM THEM
Vision Of The Divine Mother
[To the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, Ramaprasad has a special appeal, for the songs of Ramaprasad, the Kali worshipper, were an abiding inspiration in Sri Ramakrishna's life. In the days of his sadhana Sri Ramakrishna used to sing the songs of saints like Ramaprasad before the image of the Divine Mother as a part of his daily worship. The readers of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna know how often the Master would rise to his feet singing a song of Ramaprasad and go into samadhi.]
Sri Ramaprasad[1723-1803], the melodious mystic of Bengal, belongs to that wonderful galaxy of Indian mystics whose approach to the Divine found expression and consummation in songs and melodies which form a part of the spiritual heritage of India.
It is said that Ramaprasad had the first vision of the Mother in a garden near his house. As a result of it, even his physical appearance was transformed. At about that time a glow would radiate from his body. Everybody noticed it, but they did not know what was the cause of it.
After the vision of the Divine Mother, wonderful things happened in Ramaprasad's life, things usually called 'miracles'. Once it came about that, owing to poverty caused by his unworldliness, he had to repair a hedge himself. His daughter, Jagadishwari, was helping him by returning the cord from the other side of the hedge. After some time Jagadishwari was called away. When she returned, she found that the work had gone on, and she asked with surprise who had been returning the cord all the time while she was away.
'Why, my child, you have been doing that all this time,' said Ramaprasad, intrigued at the question.
'No father, I was not here at all for a long time, having gone away on some other work.'
Then who had been returning the cord? For some time Ramaprasad sat dumbfounded. Convinced that the Divine Mother Herself, in the form of his daughter, was all the time helping him in repairing the hedge, in gratitude he broke into a song:
O mind, why do you keep
away from the Mother's feet?
O mind, meditate on the Mother,
You will get then mukti,
Tie then [the Mother's feet]
with the cord of devotion.
So bad is your luck that though having eyes,
You did not see that the Mother came as your daughter
And tied the hedge with the devotee.
-Ramaprasad - The Melodious Mystic
By Swami Budhananda
🐣 Does depression come from the vital?
Oh, yes. All your troubles, depression, discouragement, disgust, fury, all, all come from the vital. It is that which turns love into hate, it is that which induces the spirit of vengeance, rancour, bad will, the urge to destroy and to harm. It is that which discourages you when things are difficult and not to its liking. And it has an extraordinary capacity for going on strike! When it is not satisfied, it hides in a corner and does not budge. And then you have no more energy, no more strength, you have no courage left. Your will is like... like a withering plant. All resentment, disgust, fury, all despair, grief, anger — all that comes from this gentleman. For it is energy in action.
Therefore, it depends on which side it turns. And I tell you, it has a very strong habit of going on strike. That is its most powerful weapon: “Ah! you are not doing what I want, well, I am not going to move, I shall sham dead.” And it does that for the least reason. It has a very bad character; it is very touchy and it is very spiteful — yes, it is very ill-natured. For I believe it is very conscious of its power and it feels clearly that if it gives itself wholly, there is nothing that will resist the momentum of its force. And like all people who have a weight in the balance,the vital also bargains: “I shall give you my energy, but you must do what I want. If you do not give me what I ask for, well, I withdraw my energy.” And you will be flat as a pancake. And it is true, it happens like that.
It is difficult to regulate it. Yet naturally, when you have succeeded in taming it, you have something powerful in hand for realisation. It is that which can carry by storm the biggest obstacles. It is that which is capable of turning an idiot into an intelligent person—it alone can do so; for if one yearns passionately for progress, if the vital takes it into its head that one must progress, even the greatest idiot can become intelli- gent! I have seen this, I am not speaking from hearsay; I have seen it, I have seen people who were dull, stupid, incapable of understanding, who understood nothing — you could go on explaining something to them for months, it would not enter, as though one were speaking to a block of wood — and then all of a sudden their vital was caught in a passion; they wanted simply to please someone or get something, and for that one had to understand, one had to know, it was necessary. Well, they set everything moving, they shook up the sleeping mind, they poured energy into all the corners where there was none; and they understood, they became intelligent. I knew someone who knew nothing practically, understood nothing, and who, when the mind started moving and the passion for progress took possession of him, began to write wonderful things. I have them with me. And when the movement withdrew, when the vital went on strike (for sometimes it went on strike, and withdrew), the person became once again absolutely dull.
Naturally it is very difficult to establish a constant con- tact between the most external physical consciousness and the psychic consciousness, and oh! the physical consciousness has plenty of goodwill; it is very regular, it tries a great deal, but it is slow and heavy, it takes long, it is difficult to move it. It does not get tired, but it makes no effort; it goes its way, quietly. It can take centuries to put the external consciousness in contact with the psychic. But for some reason or other the vital takes a hand in it. A passion seizes it. It wants this contact (for some reason or other, which is not always a spiritual reason), but it wants this contact. It wants it with all its energy, all its strength, all its passion, all its fervour: in three months the thing is done.
So then, take great care of it. Treat it with great considera- tion but never submit to it. For it will drag you into all kinds of troublesome and untoward experiments; and if you succeed in convincing it in some way or other, then you will advance with giant strides on the path.
🌸 The Mother ( Question and Answers, Volume-5, page no.257-259)
🦋 Can’t the vital be converted?
Convert the vital? Surely one can. It is a difficult task, but it can be done. If it could not be done, then there would be no hope. But generally the mind is not sufficient. For, I have known very many people who could see very clearly, understand very well, were mentally thoroughly convinced, could even describe to you and tell you extraordinary things, could easily give excellent lessons to others, but their vital was up to all sorts of tricks and would not listen at all to all that. It said, “It is all the same to me, say what you may; as for myself, I go my own way!”
It is only when contact with the psychic has been established that this can convert anything at all — even the worst criminal — in a moment. These are those “illuminations” which seize you and turn you inside out completely. After that, all goes well. There may be slight difficulties of adjustment, but still things go well.
But the mind is a big preacher, that is its nature: it gives speeches, sermons, as it is done in the churches. So the vital usually gets impatient and answers the mind, not very politely: “You are a nuisance! what you say is very good for you, but for me it won’t do.” Or, at the best, when the mind is gifted with especially remarkable capacities and the vital is of a little higher kind, it may say: “Oh! how beautiful it is, what you tell me (sometimes this happens), but you see, I, I am unable to do it; it is very beautiful, but it is beyond my capacity.”
But this vital is a strange creature. It is a being of passion, enthusiasm and naturally of desire; but, for example, it is quite capable of getting enthusiastic over something beautiful, of ad- miring, sensing anything greater and nobler than itself. And if really anything very beautiful occurs in the being, if there is a movement having an exceptional value, well, it may get enthusi- astic and it is capable of giving itself with complete devotion — with a generosity that is not found, for example, in the mental domain nor in the physical. It has that fullness in action that comes precisely from its capacity to get enthused and throw it- self wholly without reserve into what it does. Heroes are always people who have a strong vital, and when the vital becomes passionate about something, it is no longer a reasonable being but a warrior; it is wholly involved in its action and can perform exceptional things because it does not calculate, does not reason, does not say “One must take precautions, one must not do this, must not do that.” It becomes reckless, it gets carried away, as people say, it gives itself totally. Therefore, it can do magnificent things if it is guided in the right way.
A converted vital is an all-powerful instrument. And some- times it gets converted by something exceptionally beautiful, morally or materially. When it witnesses, for example, a scene of total self-abnegation, of uncalculating self-giving—one of those things so exceedingly rare but splendidly beautiful — it can be carried away by it, it can be seized by an ambition to do the same thing. It begins by an ambition, it ends with a consecration.
There is only one thing the vital abhors; it is a dull life, monotonous, grey, tasteless, worthless. Faced with that, it goes to sleep, falls into inertia. It likes extremely violent things, it is true; it can be extremely wicked, extremely cruel, extremely generous, extremely good and extremely heroic. It always goes to extremes and can be on one side or the other, yes, as the current flows.
And this vital, if you place it in a bad environment, it will imitate the bad environment and do bad things with violence and to an extreme degree. If you place it in the presence of something wonderfully beautiful, generous, great, noble, divine, it can be carried away with that also, forget everything else and give itself wholly. It will give itself more completely than any other part of the being, for it does not calculate. It follows its passion and enthusiasm. When it has desires, its desires are violent, arbitrary, and it does not at all take into account the good or bad of others; it doesn’t care the least bit. But when it gives itself to something beautiful, it does not calculate either, it will give itself entirely without knowing whether it will do good or harm to it. It is a very precious instrument.
It is like a horse of pure breed: if it lets itself be directed, then it will win all the races, everywhere it will come first. If it is untamed, it will trample people and cause havoc and break its own legs or back! It is like that. The one thing to know is to which side it will turn. It loves exceptional things — excep- tionally bad or exceptionally good, it loves the exceptional. It does not like ordinary life. It becomes dull, it becomes half inert. And if it is shut up in a corner and told: “Keep quiet there”, it will remain there and become more and more like something crumbling away, and finally just like a mummy: there is no more life in it, it is dried up. And one will no longer have the strength to do what one wants to do. One will have fine ideas, excellent intentions, but one won’t have the energy to execute them.
So do not wail if you have a powerful vital, but you must have strong reins and hold them quite firmly. Then things go well.
🌸 The Mother ( Question and Answers, Volume-5, page no.254-257)
Maa Sayings...
Surendra: Mother, I cannot concentrate my mind in meditation at all.
Mother: It does not matter much. It will be enough if you look at the picture of the Master. The Master was ill at Cossipore. The young disciples used to attend on him by turn. Gopal also was there. One day instead of serving the Master, he went for meditation. He meditated for a long time. When Girish Babu heard of it, he remarked, "The one upon whom he is meditating with closed eyes is suffering on a sick-bed, and fancy, he is meditating upon him!" Gopal was sent for. The Master asked him to stroke his legs. He said to him, "Do you think I am asking you to stroke my legs because they are aching? Oh, no! In your previous births you did many virtuous acts; therefore I am accepting your service." Look at the picture of the Master and that will be enough.
Jai Maa...
Om Namah Sri Bhagavate Ramakrishnaya!!!
Bhavanath: "M. says: "As long as I have not seen the elephant, how can I know whether it can pass through the eye of a needle? I do not know God; how can I understand through reason whether or not He can incarnate Himself as a man?"”
Master: "Everything is possible for God. It is He, who casts the spell. The magician swallows the knife and takes it out again; he swallows stones and bricks.
Everyone is under the spell of this world-bewitching Maya. When God assumes a human body, He too comes under the spell. Rama wandered about, weeping for Sita. "Brahman weeps, entangled in the snare of the five elements". But you must remember this: God, by His mere will, can liberate Himself from this snare”.
Bhavanath: "The guard of the railway train shuts himself of his own will in a carriage; but he can get out whenever he wants to”.
Master: “The Ishvarakotis - the Divine Incarnations, for instance - can liberate themselves whenever they want to; but the jivakotis cannot. Jivas are imprisoned by "lust and gold". When the doors and windows of a room are fastened with screws, how can a man get out?”
Bhavanath (smiling): "Ordinary men are like the third-class passengers on a railway train. When the doors of their compartments are locked, they have no way to get out”.
Girish: "If a man is so strongly tied hand and foot, then what is his way?”
Master: "He has nothing to fear, if God Himself, as the Guru, cuts the chain of Maya".
(Swami Chetanananda "They Lived With God", pp. 422-3)
Visitor: "What is heaven like?"
The Master: "There are two kinds of heaven. The one most people think of is that which comprises the higher regions of the astral world. The true heaven, however, and the one to which Jesus more often referred, is the state of union with God.
"The astral heaven has, as Jesus described it, many `mansions,' or levels of vibration. It is similar to this material world, for this one is a projection of those subtler realms. The astral heaven, however, is without the countless imperfections of this grosser plane of existence.
"Heaven is not `up there,' as people commonly imagine. It is all around us. It is just behind our physical vision. I see it all the time, and I spend much of my time there. It is a vast universe, composed of beautiful lights, sounds, and colors. The colors of the material plane are very dull by comparison. Heaven's beauty is like the most radiant sunset you have ever seen, and even far more beautiful.
"There is infinite variety in the astral world. The seasons there can be changed at will by advanced souls. Usually it is springtime there, with perennial sunshine. Snow, when it falls, is peaceful and beautiful, and not at all cold. When the rain falls, it descends gently, as myriad-colored lights.
"Sentiments, too, are highly refined on the astral plane, and far more intense than people normally experience them on earth.
"Heaven is not an idle place. Its inhabitants are very active. All the vibrations of this material universe are controlled by angels. Astral beings, though busy, are at the same time very happy.
"Sometimes, in their compassion for mankind, they visit people in dreams or in visions, or inspire in them beautiful thoughts. "How long a person remains in the astral world depends on how well he lived on earth. Those with good karma may remain there for many centuries. Devotees, on the other hand, spurred on by their desire for enlightenment, may elect to return to earth sooner, in order to continue their spiritual efforts. For they realize that the astral world, too, is but a veil behind which the Lord hides His face of eternal perfection."
~ The Essence of Self-Realization: The Wisdom of Paramhansa Yogananda
Be careful what you choose to do consciously,
for unless your will is very strong,
that is what you may have to do repeatedly and compulsively through the habit-influencing power of the subconscious mind
.
~ Paramahansa Yogananda ji _/\_
Kali, the Mother and Ramakrishna
The Master said:
"I have seen the Mother both ways [with form and without form]. She is the indivisible Satchidananda, and again she assumes various forms for the devotees. At Kalighat [in South Calcutta] I saw the Divine Mother playing with some children and chasing a butterfly. Another time I saw her walking on the Adi Ganga."
On one occasion the Master told us: "Mother has come. She is wearing a red-bordered sari and has tied a bunch of keys in the corner of her cloth." He said this in the presence of Keshab Sen and others in his room at Dakshineswar. People heard the Master's words, but the Master alone heard the Mother's words.
Another day he said: "The Mother is going up and down the stairs in the temple. Her hair is dishevelled, and her anklets are making a jhun-jhun sound."
Once in Cossipore he said, "Today I saw the Mother playing a vina [a musical instrument]." The Master was absorbed in the formless aspect of the Mother for six months at the time of his sadhana.
One day I went to Dakshineswar and found the Master sweeping the garden path to the north of his room. Seeing me, he said, "The Mother walks here, so I am cleaning the path."
-Ramakrishna As We Saw Him
The Master said he would come again in about two hundred years -- and I will come with him. When a Master comes, he brings his own people.
-- Swami Vivekananda
( From Mrs. Edith Allan's reminiscences of an after-lunch conversation ) Complete-Works / Volume 9
THE LAST DAYS OF MRINALINI DEVI AND SRI AUROBINDO’S LETTER TO HIS FATHER-IN-LAW This is the last of the posts we have published ...
