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Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

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Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna l CONTENTS Introduction . ... 1 BOOK I MAN AND THE WORLD I. Man 23 II. Maya 33 III. Maya as 'Woman and Gold' 37 I IV. Maya as Ahamkara or Egotism 45 V. Bondage of Book-learning 54 I VI. Religious Teachers-False and True 61 VB. The Worldly-minded and Their Ways 67 BOOK II THE ASCENT OF MAN VIII. Varieties of Aspirants and Their Ideals 79 IX. Some Aids to Spiritual Life 97 X. Ways of Spiritual Life . 109 XI. Spiritual Aspirants and Religious Differences ..... 130 XII. Essentials of Spiritual Life 137 XIII. Yearning for God . .. 165 BOOK III MAN AND THE DIVINE XIV. The Lord and His Devotees 172 XV. Helpers in the Spiritual Path 184 XVI. Jnana, Bhakti and Karma 196, II XVII. The Divine ..... 230 XVIII. Realisation of the Divine 244 XIX. The Man of Divine Realization 256 XX. Glimpses of the Master's Experiences in His Own Words . 266 BOOK IV MAXIMS AND PARABLES XXI. Some Maxims . " 287 XXII. Parables 291 Index . 340 CHAPTER I MAN CHAPTER II MAYA The destiny of man― 0001-0015 Maya as the Cosmic Power of the Lord― 48-53 Real nature of man― 0016-0027 Maya as the deluding power (Avidya)―54-61 Man in bondage― 0028- Maya as the liberating power (Vidya)―62-65 Death and reincarnation― 0043-0047 CHAPTER IIl CHAPTER IV MAYA AS 'WOMAN AND GOLD'1 Evils of egotism― 99-109 The bondage of sex―66-74 The difficulty of conquering egotism―110-114 Sex and spiritual progress―75-82 Ripe' ego and 'unripe' ego―115-118 How to conquer sex? ―83-89 How to conquer the ego―119-128 Riches and the spiritual aspirant ―90-98 Ego in the man of realization ―129-136 CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI BONDAGE OF BOOK LEARNING RELIGIOUS TEACHERS FALSE AND TRUE Barrenness if mere book learning― 137-150 Pitfalls of teachership― 168-175 Vanity if disputation― 151-158 Who is a True teacher― 176-187 The true end if learning― 159-167 CHAPTER VII THE WORLDLY-MINDED AND THEIR WAYS Characteristics of the worldly-minded―188-209 Fickle devotion of the worldly-minded― 210-215 The worldly-minded and spiritual practices― 216-226 BOOK II CHAPTER IX Ascent of Man SOME AIDS TO SPIRITUAL LIFE CHAPTER VIII Caste and external observances―308-321 VARIETIES OF ASPIRANTS AND THEIR IDEALS Worship of images―322-332 Some types of aspirants―227-239 Value of pilgrimages ― 333-337 Characteristics of true aspirants―240-253 Benefits of Pious company―338-348 Kinship of the spiritually-inclined―254-257 Repetition of Divine names ―349-360 Ideals of the aspirant entangled in the world―258-293 Ideals of the Sannyasin ―294-307 CHAPTER X CHAPTER XI WAYS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE Some obstacles to spiritual life―361-367 SPIRITUAL ASPIRANTS AND RELIGIOUS Influence of past impressions―368-371 DIFFERENCES Pitfalls of occult powers―372-385 Dress and food ― 386-394 God of all religions the same―457-461 Attitude towards the body―395-397 Different religions as paths to God―462-469 Attitude towards sufferings―398-403 Cause of fanaticism and its cure―470-474 Forbearance―404-405 Right attitude to religious differences―475-487 Reticence― 406-407 Attitude to secret cults ―? Humility and self-respect―408-418 Simplicity― 419-421 Conquest of desires―422-434 Attitude towards women―435-441 Devotee and his family― 442-445 Prayer and devotion ―446-456 CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII ESSENTIAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE YEARNING FOR GOD Some conditions of spiritual Be mad for God―615-618 enlightenment―488-494 Nature of true yearning― 619-626 Faith―495-514 Sole condition of God-realisation― 627-638 Resignation to God―515-524 Necessity of Ishta or Chosen Deity—525-534 Truth Brahmacharya or continence― 535-540 Viveka or discrimination― 541-545 Vairagya or aversion to worldly objects―546-567 Perseverance―568-579 Spiritual practice―580-592 Concentration and meditation ― 593-614 Book III CHAPTER XV HELPERS IN THE SPIRITUAL PATH CHAPTER XIV THE LORD AND HIS DEVOTEES 1.Guru: Why the Lord is not seen―639-642 Conception of the Guru―687-692 The Lord and His devotees―643-662 Necessity of having a Guru―693-696 Worldly position of devotees―663-666 Relation between Guru and disciple―697-702 How the Divine reveals Himself―667-668 II. Divine Incarnation: The Lord cares not for wealth―669-671 What is a Divine Incarnation ?―703-708 Divine grace and self-effort ―672-686 Difficulty of recognising Divine ― 709-714 Incarnation as revelations of God ― 715-731 Difference between Incarnations and ordinary perfect men ―? CHAPTER XVI II.Path of Love: JNANA, BHAKTI AND KARMA1. Bhakti and the conditions of its growth―747- 754 1.Path of Knowledge: Bhakti and Worldly love―755-756 What is Jnana Yoga―732-735 Effects of Bhakti―757-766 Method of Jnana Yoga―736-742 Stages and aspects of Bhakti―767-773 Difficulties of Jnana―743-746 Prema or Parabhakti (ecstatic Love )―774- Yoga- II. 784 Love of the Gopis―785-788 Viraha and Mahabhava―789-790 Ill. Bhakti and Jnana: IV. Path of Work: Bhakti and Jnana the same in the end―791- What is Karma Yoga?―814-817 796 Devotion as a safeguard in Karma Yoga―818-823 How Bhakti leads to Jnana―797-803 Work as service equal to worship―824 Difference in the temperaments of the Jnani Work, a means and not an end―825-828 and the Bhakta―804-813 Work and worklessness ―829-834 CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVIII THE DIVINE REALISATION OF THE DIVINE Brahman (The Impersonal or Supra-personal Psychology of man with reference to God―899- Absolute)―835-842 901 Brahman and the reality of relative Kundalini and spiritual awakening―902-906 experience―843-852 Spurious ecstasy―907 Personal Deity, known also as Isvara, Maya and Perception of Divine forms and sounds―908-912 Sakti―853-861 Samadhi and Brahma-jnana―913-919 God in everything― 862-869 The Psychology of Samadhi―920-925 The Divine both with and without form―870-882 Vijnana which comes after Samadhi ―926-930 Some Divine forms―883-888 Divine immanence― 889-894 The Divine and man's moral responsibility―895- 898 CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XX THE MAN OF DIVINE REALISATION GLIMPSES OF THE MASTER'S EXPERIENCE IN IHS OWN WORDS Varieties of perfect men―931-934 At the advent of the Divine in the heart―935- Experiences in early days― 972-978 941 Tantric and other Sadhanas ―979-983 Some characteristics of spiritual Experience if the Nirvikalpa state― 984-988 perfection―942-951 The Master's perpetual God-consciousness―989- Non-attachment of the perfect man―952-959 991 Perfect man transcends good and evil―960-967 How the Master prayed― 992-995 Perfect man and work ―968-970 The Divine in good and evil alike― 996-1005 The Master on his illness― 1006-1010 The Master, a combination if humanity and Divinity―1011-1019 Book IV Maxims and Parables CHAPTER XXII PARABLES CHAPTER XXI SOME MAXIMS The bane of worldliness―1059-1065 Maxims of ethical significance―1020-1041 Sex and its bondage―1066-1070 Maxims of spiritual significance―1042-1058 Spiritual progress depends on mind―1071-1072 Dangers of misunderstood philosophy― 1073- 1076 The foolishness of fanaticism―1077-1079 Faith, devotion and resignation―1080-1096 Tyagaga and Vairagya―1097-1107 Nature of Maya―1108-1112 Realisation of the Divine ―1113-1120. Prepared by Veeraswamy Krishnaraj Diagrams by Krishnaraj INTRODUCTION The sayings and parables of Sri Ramakrishna included in this volume speak for themselves as far as their spiritual value and philosophic depth are concerned. The stamp of genius they bear cannot escape the notice of even a casual reader. But wise maxims and admirable reflections on life have been given also by great intellectuals and first-rate literary men. The sayings embodied in this volume should, however, be distinguished from the productions of such men. For, with all their artistic beauty, and sublimity of thought, the writings of one who is merely an academic philosopher or a man of letters, lack authority in matters relating to God and spiritual life, since their author is only groping in the dark, just like any ordinary man, as far as these subjects of transcendental significance are concerned. The sayings of Sri Ramakrishna stand on quite a different footing in this respect, because Sri Ramakrishna possessed not only a great intellect and an artistic mind, but had the additional qualification that he had 'seen God face to face', 'talked with Him' and shared the Divine life. Hence his words on these transcendental themes come with a weight of authority derived from the Supreme Being Himself. Our excuse for writing the following brief life-sketch of his as an Introduction to this edition of his sayings is, that there may be among its readers persons who have had no occasion to study any detailed biography of his and to be acquainted with this unique aspect of his life and teachings. 2 Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna II Sri Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmana family of the village, called Kamarpukur in Bengal, on the 18th February, 1836. His father Khudiram Chatterjee was a man of great piety and uprightness of character. His adherence to truth was so great that he would not break this cherished principle of his life even when he found that its observance meant utter ruin to himself and his family. Once when bidden by the landlord of the village to bear false witness in his favour, Khudiram refused to do so, and in his wrath at the defiance of this virtuous Brahmana, the big man of the village despoiled him of all his earthly possessions.
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