Extracts from the book “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna”
by ‘M’ahendranath Gupta (conversations between Sri Ramakrishna, the Master, and
his disciples / devotees)
Path
of devotion most elective for Kaliyuga
"Karmayoga
is very hard indeed. In the Kaliyuga it is extremely difficult to perform
the rites enjoined in the scriptures. Nowadays man's life is centred on
food alone. He cannot perform many scriptural rites. Suppose a man
is laid up with fever. If you attempt a slow cure with the old-fashioned
indigenous remedies, before long his life may be snuffed out. He can't
stand much delay. Nowadays the drastic doctor’s mixture is
appropriate. In the Kaliyuga the best way is bhaktiyoga, the path of
devotion-singing the praises of the Lord, and prayer. The path of
devotion alone is the religion for this age. (To the Brahmo devotees)
Yours also is the path of devotion. Blessed you are indeed that you chant
the name of Hari and sing the Divine Mother's glories. I like your
attitude. You don't call the world a dream like the non-dualists.
You are not Brahmajnanis like them; you are bhaktas, lovers of God. That
you speak of Him as a Person is also good. You are devotees. You
will certainly realize Him if you call on Him with sincerity and
earnestness."
Path
of bhakti is easy
MASTER:
"Yes, one may reach Him by following the path of discrimination too: that
is called Jnanayoga. But it is an extremely difficult path. I have
told you already of the seven planes of consciousness. On reaching the
seventh plane the mind goes into samādhi. If a man acquires the firm
knowledge that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory, then his mind
merges in samādhi. But in the Kaliyuga the life of a man depends entirely
on food. How can he have the consciousness that Brahman alone is real and
the world illusory? In the Kaliyuga it is difficult to have the feeling, 'I am
not the body, I am not the mind, I am not the twenty-four cosmic principles; I
am beyond pleasure and pain, I am above disease and grief, old age and death.'
However you may reason and argue, the feeling that the body is identical with
the soul will somehow crop up from an unexpected quarter. You may cut a
peepal-tree to the ground and think it is dead to its very root, but the next
morning you will find a new sprout shooting up from the dead stump. One
cannot get rid of this identification with the body; therefore the path of
bhakti is best for the people of the Kaliyuga. It is an easy path.
"And,
'I don't want to become sugar; I want to eat it.' I never feel like saying, 'I
am Brahman.' I say, 'Thou art my Lord and I am Thy servant.' It is better to
make the mind go up and down between the fifth and sixth planes, like a boat
racing between two points. I don't want to go beyond the sixth plane and
keep my mind a long time in the seventh. My desire is to sing the name
and glories of God. It is very good to look on God as the Master and
oneself as His servant. Further, you see, people speak of the waves as
belonging to the Ganges; but no one says that the Ganges belongs to the waves.
The feeling, 'I am He', is not wholesome. A man who entertains such an
idea, while looking on his body as the Self, causes himself great harm.
He cannot go forward in spiritual life; he drags himself down. He
deceives himself as well as others. He cannot understand his own state of
mind.
