Extracts from the book “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna”
by ‘M’ahendranath Gupta (conversations between Sri Ramakrishna, the Master, and
his disciples / devotees)
Seven
planes of the mind
"It is said in
the Vedas that a man experiences samādhi when his mind ascends to the seventh
plane. The ego can disappear only when one goes into samādhi. Where
does the mind of a man ordinarily dwell? In the first three planes. These
are at the organs of evacuation and generation, and at the navel. Then
the mind is immersed only in worldliness, attached to 'woman (man for woman, to
be read as lust) and gold (to be read as greed)'. A man sees the light of
God when his mind dwells in the plane of the heart. He sees the light and
exclaims: 'Ah! What is this? What is this?' The next plane is at the
throat. When the mind dwells there he likes to hear and talk only of
God. When the mind ascends to the next plane, in the forehead, between
the eyebrows, he sees the form of Satchidānanda and desires to touch and
embrace It. But he is unable to do so. It is like the light in a
lantern, which you can see but cannot touch. You feel as if you were
touching the light, but in reality you are not. When the mind reaches the
seventh plane, then the ego vanishes completely and the man goes into
samādhi."
Indescribability
of highest plane
VIJAY: "What
does a man see when he attains the Knowledge of Brahman after reaching the seventh
plane?"
MASTER:
"What happens when the mind reaches the seventh plane cannot be described.”
"Once
a boat enters the 'black waters' of the ocean, it does not return. Nobody
knows what happens to the boat after that. Therefore the boat cannot give
us any information about the ocean.”
"Once
a salt doll went to measure the depth of the ocean. No sooner did it
enter the water than it melted. Now who could tell how deep the ocean
was? That which could have told about its depth had melted. Reaching the seventh
plane, the mind is annihilated; man goes into samādhi. What he feels then
cannot be described in words.”
The
"wicked I"
"The 'I' that
makes one a worldly person and attaches one to 'woman and gold' is the 'wicked
I'. The intervention of this ego creates the difference between jiva and
Ātman. Water appears to be divided into two parts if one puts a stick
across it. But in reality there is only one water. It appears as
two on account of the stick. This 'I' is the stick. Remove the
stick and there remains only one water as before.”
"Now,
what is this 'wicked I'? It is the ego that says: 'What? Don't they know me? I
have so much money! Who is wealthier than I?' If a thief robs such a man of
only ten rupees, first of all he wrings the money out of the thief, then he
gives him a good beating. But the matter doesn't end there: the thief is
handed over to the police and is eventually sent to jail. The 'wicked I'
says: 'What? Doesn't the rogue know whom he has robbed? To steal my ten rupees!
How dare he?' "
VIJAY:
"If without destroying the 'I' a man cannot get rid of attachment to the
world and consequently cannot experience samādhi, then it would be wise for him
to follow the path of Brahmajnāna to attain samādhi. If the 'I' persists
in the path of devotion, then one should rather choose the path of
knowledge."
The
"servant I"
MASTER: "It is
true that one or two can get rid of the 'I' through samādhi; but these cases
are very rare. You may indulge in thousands of reasonings, but still the
'I' comes back. You may cut the peepal-tree to the very root today, but
you will notice a sprout springing up tomorrow. Therefore if the 'I' must
remain, let the rascal remain as the 'servant I'. As long as you live,
you should say, 'O God, Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant.' The 'I' that
feels, 'I am the servant of God, I am His devotee' does not injure one.
Sweet things cause acidity of the stomach, no doubt, but sugar candy is an
exception.”
"The
path of knowledge is very difficult. One cannot obtain Knowledge unless
one gets rid of the feeling that one is the body. In the Kaliyuga the
life of man is centred on food. He cannot get rid of the feeling that he
is the body and the ego. Therefore the path of devotion is prescribed for
this cycle.This is an easy path. You will attain God if you sing His name
and glories and pray to Him with a longing heart. There is not the least
doubt about it.”
"Suppose
you draw a line on the surface of water with a bamboo stick. The water
appears to be divided into two parts; but the line doesn't remain for any
length of time. The 'servant I' or the 'devotee I' or the 'child I' is
only a line drawn with the ego and is not real".
The
"ego of a devotee"
VIJAY (to the
Master): "Sir, you ask us to renounce the 'wicked I'. Is there any
harm in the 'servant I'?"
MASTER:
"The 'servant I'-that is, the feeling, 'I am the servant of God, I am the
devotee of God'-does not injure one. On the contrary, it helps one to
realize God."
VIJAY:
"Well, sir, what becomes of the lust, anger, and other passions of one who
keeps the 'servant I'?"
MASTER:
"If a man truly feels like that, then he has only the semblance of lust,
anger, and the like. If, after attaining God, he looks on himself as the
servant or the devotee of God, then he cannot injure anyone. By touching
the philosopher's stone a sword is turned into gold. It keeps the
appearance of a sword but cannot injure.”
"When
the dry branch of a coconut palm drops to the ground, it leaves only a mark on the
trunk indicating that once there was a branch at that place. In like
manner, he who has attained God keeps only an appearance of ego; there remains
in him only a semblance of anger and lust. He becomes like a child.
A child has no attachment to the three gunas-sattva, rajas, and tamas. He
becomes as quickly detached from a thing as he becomes attached to it.
You can cajole him out of a cloth worth five rupees with a doll worth an ānnā, though at first he may
say with great determination: 'No, I won't give it to you. My daddy
bought it for me.' Again, all persons are the same to a child. He has no
feeling of high and low in regard to persons. So he doesn't discriminate
about caste. If his mother tells him that a particular man should be
regarded as an elder brother, the child will eat from the same plate with him,
though the man may belong to the low caste of a blacksmith. The child
doesn't know hate, or what is holy or unholy.”
"Even
after attaining samādhi, some retain the 'servant ego' or the 'devotee
ego'. The bhakta keeps this 'I-consciousness'. He says, 'O God,
Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant; Thou art the Lord and I am Thy
devotee.' He feels that way even after the realization of God. His 'I' is
not completely effaced. Again, by constantly practising this kind of
'I-consciousness', one ultimately attains God. This is called bhaktiyoga.”
"One
can attain the Knowledge of Brahman, too, by following the path of
bhakti. God is all-powerful. He may give His devotee Brahmajnāna
also, if He so wills. But the devotee generally doesn't seek the
Knowledge of the Absolute. He would rather have the consciousness that
God is the Master and he the servant, or that God is the Divine Mother and he
the child."
