Discussion on jnAna and bhakti continued....
Chapter 41 AT RAM'S HOUSE Saturday, May 23, 1885
SRI RAMAKRISHNA was sitting in the drawing-room on the ground floor of Ram's house. He was surrounded by devotees and was conversing with them. Mahima sat in front of him, M. to his left. Paltu, Bhavanath, Nityagopal, Haramohan, and a few others sat around him. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon. The Master inquired after several devotees.
MASTER (to M.): "Hasn't the younger Naren arrived yet?"
Presently the younger Naren entered the room.
MASTER: "What about him?"
M: "Who, sir?"
MASTER: "Kishori. Isn't Girish Ghosh coming? What about Narendra?" A few minutes later Narendra arrived and saluted Sri Ramakrishna.
MASTER (to the devotees): "It would be fine if Kedar were here. He agrees with Girish.(To Mahima, smiling) He says the same thing."
Ram had arranged the kirtan. With folded hands the musician said to Sri Ramakrishna, "Sir, I can begin if you give the order."
The Master drank some water and chewed spices from a small bag. He asked M. to close the bag.
The musician started the kirtan. As Sri Ramakrishna heard the sound of the drum he went into an ecstatic mood. While listening to the prelude of the kirtan he plunged into deep samadhi. He placed his legs on the lap of Nityagopal, who was sitting near him. The devotee, too, was in an ecstatic mood. He was weeping. The other devotees looked on intently.
Nitya and Lila
Regaining partial consciousness, Sri Ramakrishna said: "From the Nitya to the Lila and from the Lila to the Nitya. (To Nityagopal) What is your ideal?"
NITYAGOPAL: "Both are good."
Sri Ramakrishna closed his eyes and said: "Is it only this? Does God exist only when the eyes are closed, and cease to exist when the eyes are opened? The Lila belongs to Him to whom the Nitya belongs, and the Nitya belongs to Him to whom the Lila belongs. (ToMahima) My dear sir, let me tell you-"
MAHIMA: "Revered sir, both are according to the will of God."
MASTER: "Some people climb the seven floors of a building and cannot get down; but some climb up and then, at will, visit the lower floors.
"Uddhava said to the gopis: 'He whom you address as your Krishna dwells in all beings. It is He alone who has become the universe and its living beings.'
"Therefore I say, does a man meditate on God only when his eyes are closed? Doesn't he see anything of God when his eyes are open?"
MAHIMA: "I have a question to ask, sir. A lover of God needs Nirvana some time or other, doesn't he?"
The seed of bhakti cannot he destroyed
MASTER: "It can't be said that bhaktas need Nirvana. According to some schools there is an eternal Krishna and there are also His eternal devotees. Krishna is Spirit embodied, and His Abode also is Spirit embodied. Krishna is eternal and the devotees also are eternal.
Krishna and the devotees are like the moon and the stars-always near each other. You yourself repeat: 'what need is there of penance if God is seen within and without?' Further, I have told you that the devotee who is born with an element of Vishnu cannot altogether get rid of bhakti.Once I fell into the clutches of a jnani, who made me listen to Vedanta for eleven months. But he couldn't altogether destroy the seed of bhakti in me. No matter where my mind wandered, it would come back to the Divine Mother. Whenever I sang of Her, Nangta would weep and say, 'Ah! What is this?' You see, he was such a great jnani and still he wept. (To the younger Naren and the others) Remember the popular saying that if a man drinks the juice of the alekh creeper, a plant grows inside his stomach. Once the seed of bhakti is sown, the effect is inevitable: it will gradually grow into a tree with flowers and fruits.
"You may reason and argue a thousand times, but if you have the seed of bhakti within you, you will surely come back to Hari."
The devotees listened silently to the Master. Sri Ramakrishna asked Mahima, laughing, "What is the thing you enjoy most?"
MAHIMA (smiling): "Nothing, sir. I like mangoes."
MASTER (smiling): "All by yourself? Or do you want to share them with others?"
MAHIMA (smiling) : "I am not so anxious to give others a share. I may as well eat them all by myself."
Reality includes both Absolute and universe
MASTER: "But do you know my attitude? I accept both, the Nitya and the Lila. Doesn't God exist if one looks around with eyes open? After realizing Him, one knows that He is both the Absolute and the universe. It is He who is the Indivisible Satchidananda. Again, it is He who has become the universe and its living beings".
Friends,I have posted this to show that Sri Ramakrishna had particulary emphasized that the path of Bhakti is as valid as the path of jnAna,and is not just a preliminary approach aimed at purifying the mind as the advaita vedantins project.For example,if we talk of Harilal poonjAji's(papaji) life,he was practising Krishna Bhakti before he attained knowledge of the Self;After this he ceased to manifest the 'bhAva' of Krishna Bhakti.In his case,it served to purify the mind leading to self Realization.
To the contrary ,Sri Ramakrishna manifested all the 'BhAvas' of Bhakti even after attainment of jnAna.He called this as vijnAna.Totapuri never admitted the states of Bhakti;he used to consider them as Delusions of the mind.Yet He came to Realize and recognize the Shakti aspect of Brahman through Sri Ramakrishna.Not just that ,he 'wept' when Sri Ramakrishna sang songs on The Divine Mother.Most important point to note is that the Master is narrating all this to Mahimacharan who was an avowed advaitin,and a practioner of jnAna marga and never accepted the ways of Bhakti!
continued....