Sri RamaKrishna says about the nature of a good man

MASTER: "Do you know the nature of a good man? He never troubles others. He doesn't harass people. The nature of some people is such that when they go to a feast they want special seats. A man who has true devotion to God never makes a false step, never gives others trouble for nothing.

"It is not good to live in the company of bad people. A man should stay away from
them and thus protect himself. (To M.) Isn't that so?"

M: "Yes, sir. The mind sinks far down in the company of the wicked. But it is quite different with a hero, as you say."

MASTER: "How is that?"

M: "When a fire is feeble it goes out when even a small stick is thrown into it;but a blazing fire is not affected even if a plantain-tree is thrown into it. The tree itself is burnt to ashes."

Source: THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA

Sri RamaKrishna tells us the essence of the Gita

"The Divine Mother has revealed to me the essence of the Vedanta. It is that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory. The essence of the Gita is what you get by repeating the word ten times. The word becomes reversed. It is then 'tagi',which refers to renunciation. The essence of the Gita is: 'O man, renounce everything and practise spiritual discipline for the realization of God.' "

NAVADVIP: "But how can we persuade our minds to renounce?"

MASTER: "You are a goswami. It is your duty to officiate as priest in the temple.You cannot renounce the world; otherwise, who would look after the temple and its services?You have to renounce mentally.

"It is God Himself who has kept you in the world to set an example to men.You may resolve in your mind a thousand times to renounce the world, but you will not succeed. God has given you such a nature that you must perform your worldly duties.

"Krishna said to Arjuna: 'What do you mean, you will not fight? By your mere will you cannot desist from fighting.Your very nature will make you fight.' "

Source: THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA

Sri Ramakrishna says monastic life will not help a man if he is attached to the world

Saturday, June 2, 1883

Sri Ramakrishna had been invited to visit the homes of his devotees Balaram,Adhar, and Ram in Calcutta. Devotional music had been arranged by Adhar and Ram.The Master was accompanied in the carriage by Rakhal, M., and others.

As they drove along, Sri Ramakrishna said to the devotees: "You see, sin flies away when love of God grows in a man's heart, even as the water of the reservoir dug in a meadow dries up under the heat of the sun. But one cannot love God if one feels attracted to worldly things, to 'woman and gold'. Merely taking the vow of monastic life will not help a man if he is attached to the world. It is like swallowing your own spittle after spitting it out on the ground."

Source: THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA

Sri RamaKrishna on How to lead a householder's life

MASTER: "They should try to perform their duties in a detached way. Before you break the jack-fruit open, rub your hands with oil, so that the sticky milk will not smear them.The maidservant in a rich man's house performs all her duties, but her mind dwells on her home in the country. This is an example of doing duty in a detached way. You should renounce the world only in mind. But a sannyasi should renounce the world both inwardly and outwardly."

BRAHMO: "What is the meaning of the 'end of enjoyments'?"

MASTER: "I mean the enjoyment of 'woman and gold'.It is risky to put a typhoid patient in a room where pitchers of water and jugs of pickled tamarind are kept.Most people don't feel any longing for God unless they have once passed through the experience of wealth, name, fame, creature comforts, and the like, that is to say, unless they have seen through these enjoyments."

BRAHMO: "Who is really bad, man or woman?"

MASTER: "As there are women endowed with vidyasakti, so also there are women with avidyasakti. A woman endowed with spiritual attributes leads a man to God, but a woman who is the embodiment of delusion makes him forget God and drowns him in the ocean of worldliness.

"This universe is created by the Mahamaya1 of God. Mahamaya contains both vidyamaya, the illusion of knowledge, and avidyamaya, the illusion of ignorance.

Through the help of vidyamaya one cultivates such virtues as the taste for holy company, knowledge, devotion, love, and renunciation. Avidyamaya consists of the five elements and the objects of the five senses—form, flavour, smell, touch, and sound. These make one forget God."

Source: THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA

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Sri RamaKrishna says He who has realized God perceives women are many aspects of the Divine Mother

MASTER: "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 man becomes the slave of another, and so loses his freedom. Then he cannot act as he likes.

"Once a man realizes God through intense dispassion,he is no longer attached to woman. Even if he must lead the life of a householder,he is free from fear of and attachment to woman. Suppose there are two magnets, one big and the other small.Which one will attract the iron? The big one,of course. God is the big magnet.Compared to Him, woman is a small one. What can 'woman' do?"

A DEVOTEE: "Sir, shall we hate women then?"

MASTER: "He who has realized God does not look upon a woman with the eye of lust; so he is not afraid of her. He perceives clearly that women are but so many aspects of the Divine Mother. He worships them all as the Mother Herself.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA

Sri Ramakrishna Says Three Classes Of Devotees

"As worldly people are endowed with sattva, rajas, and tamas,so also is bakti characterized by the three gunas.

"Do you know what a worldly person endowed with sattva is like? Perhaps his house is in a dilapidated condition here and there. He doesn't care to repair it. The worship hall may be strewn with pigeon droppings and the courtyard covered with moss, but he pays no attention to these things.

The furniture of the house may be old; he doesn't think of polishing it and making it look neat. He doesn't care for dress at all; anything is good enough for him. But the man himself is very gentle,quiet, kind, and humble; he doesn't injure anyone.

"Again, among the worldly there are people with the traits of rajas. Such a man has a watch and chain, and two or three rings on his fingers. The furniture of his house is all spick and span.

On the walls hang portraits of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and other prominent people; the building is whitewashed and spotlessly clean.His wardrobe is filled with a large assortment of clothes; even the servants have their livery, and all that.

"The traits of a worldly man endowed with tamas are sleep, lust, anger, egotism,and the like.

Source: THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA

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Sri RamaKrishna says Bondage and liberation are of the mind alone

"It is all a question of the mind. Bondage and liberation are of the mind alone.

The mind will take the colour you dye it with. It is like white clothes just returned from the laundry. If you dip them in red dye, they will be red. If you dip them in blue or green, they will be blue or green. They will take only the colour you dip them in, whatever it may be.

If you are in bad company, then you will talk and think like your companions. On the other hand, when you are in the company of devotees, you will think and talk only of God.

"The mind is everything. A man has his wife on one side and his daughter on the other. He shows his affection to them in different ways. But his mind is one and the
same.

"Bondage is of the mind, and freedom is also of the mind. A man is free if he constantly thinks: 'I am a free soul. How can I he bound, whether I live in the world
or in the forest? I am a child of God, the King of Kings. Who can bind me?'

Source: THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA