[bjacogaerllyo]

NARENDRA(Swami Vivekananda): "How can I believe, without proof, that God incarnates Himself as a man?"

GIRISH: "Faith alone is sufficient. What is the proof that these objects exist here? Faith alone is the proof."

A DEVOTEE: "Have philosophers been able to prove that the external world exists outside us? But they say we have an irresistible belief in it."

GIRISH (to Narendra): "You wouldn't believe, even if God appeared before you. God Himself might say that He was God born as a man, but perhaps you would say that He was a liar and a cheat."

The conversation turned to the immortality of the gods.

NARENDRA: "What is the proof of their immortality?"

GIRISH: "You wouldn't believe it even if the gods appeared before you."

NARENDRA: "That the immortals existed in the past requires proof."

M(Mahendranath Dutta) whispered something to Paltu.

PALTU (smiling, to Narendra): "What need is there for the immortals to be without beginning? To be immortal one need only be without end."

MASTER (smiling): "Narendra is the son of a lawyer, but Paltu of a deputy magistrate." (All laugh.)

All kept silent awhile.

JOGIN (smiling): "He: [meaning the Master] doesn't accept Narendra's words any more."

MASTER (smiling); "One day I remarked that the chatak bird doesn't drink any water except that which falls from the sky. Narendra said, 'The chatak drinks ordinary water as well..' Then I said to the Divine Mother, 'Mother, then are my words untrue?' I was greatly worried about it. Another day, later on, Narendra was here. Several birds were flying about in the room. He exclaimed, 'There! There!' 'What is there?' I asked. He said, 'There is your chatak!' I found they were only bats. Since that day I don't accept what he says."(All laugh.)

"At Jadu Mallick's garden house Narendra said to me, The forms of God that you see are the fiction of your mind."

I was amazed and said to him, 'But they speak too!'

Narendra answered, 'Yes, one may think so.'

I went to the temple and wept before the Mother. 'O Mother,' I said, 'what is this? Then is this all false? How could Narendra say that?' Instantly I had a revelation. I saw Consciousness-Indivisible Consciousness-and a divine being formed of that Consciousness. The divine form said to me, 'If your words are untrue, how is that they tally with the facts? Thereupon I said to Narendra : 'You rogue! You created unbelief in my mind. Don't come here any more.'

The discussion continued. Narendra was arguing. He was then slightly Over twenty-two years of age.

NARENDRA (to Girish, M., and others): "How am I to believe in the Words of scripture? The Mahanirvana Tantra says, in one place, that unless a man attains the Knowledge of Brahman he goes to hell; and the same book says, in another place, that there is no salvation without the worship of Parvathi, the Divine Mother. Manu writes about himself in the Manusamhita; Moses describes his own death in Pentateuch.

"The Samkhya philosophy says that God does not exit, because there is no proof of His existence. Again, the same philosophy says that one must accept the Vedas and that they are eternal."

"But I don't say that these are not true. I simply don't understand them. Please explain them to me.. People have explained the scriptures according to their fancy. Which explanation shall we accept? White light coming through a red medium appears red, through a green medium, green."

A DEVOTEE: "The Gita contains the words of God."

MASTER(Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa): "Yes, the Gita is the essence of all scriptures. A sannyasi may or may not keep with him another book, but he always carries a pocket Gita."

A DEVOTEE: "The Gita contains the words of Krishna."

NARENDRA: "Yes, Krishna or any fellow for that matter!"

Sri Ramakrishna was amazed at these words of Narendra.

MASTER: "This is a fine discussion. There are two interpretations of the scriptures: the literal and the real. 'One should accept the real meaning alone-what agrees with the words of God. There is a vast difference between the words written in a letter and the direct words of its writer. The scriptures are like the words of the letter; the words of God are direct words. I do not accept anything unless it agrees with the direct words of the Divine Mother."

The conversation again turned to Divine Incarnation.

NARENDRA: "It is enough to have faith in God. I don't care about what He is doing or what He hangs from. Infinite is the universe; infinite are the Incarnations.."

As Sri Ramakrishna heard the words, "Infinite is the universe; infinite are the Incarnations", he said with folded hands, "Ah!"

M(Mahendranath Dutta) whispered something to Bhavanath.

BHAVANATH: "M. says: 'As long as I have not seen the elephant, how can I know whether it can pass through the eye of a needle? I do not, know God; how can I understand through reason whether or not He can incarnate Himself as man?"

MASTER: "Everything is possible for God. It is He who casts the spell. The magician swallows the knife and takes it out again; he swallows stones and bricks."

MASTER: "Rama said to Narada : 'I am very much pleased with your prayer. Ask a boon of Me.'

Narada replied, 'O Rama, may I have pure devotion to Your Lotus Feet, and may I not be deluded by Your world-bewitching maya!'

Rama said, 'Be it so: ask for something else.' Narada replied, 'No, Rama, I do not want any other boon.' "

"Everyone is under the spell of this world-bewitching maya. When God assumes a human body, He too comes under the spell.

Rama wandered about weeping for Sita. 'Brahman(Consciousness) weeps entangled in the snare of the five elements.'

But you must remember this: God, by His mere will, can liberate Himself from this snare."

BHAVANATH: "The guard of a railway train shuts himself of his own will in a carriage; but he can get out whenever he wants to."

MASTER: 'The Isvarakotis-Divine Incarnations, for instance-can liberate themselves whenever they want to; but the jivakotis cannot. Jivas are imprisoned by 'lust and gold'. When the doors and windows of a room are fastened with screws, how can a man get out?"

BHAVANATH (smiling): "Ordinary men are like the third-class passengers on a railway train. When the doors of their compartments are locked, they have no way to get out."

GIRISH: "If a man is so strongly tied hand and foot, then what is his way?"

MASTER: "He has nothing to fear if God Himself, as the guru cuts the chain of maya(Ignorance)."
Narendra was preparing to sing.

The Master and the devotees were eager to hear his music.

Narendra sang:

Shiva, Thy ready thunderbolt rules over meadows, hills, and sky!
O God of Gods! O Slayer of Time! Thou the Great Void, the King of Dharma!
Shiva, Thou Blessed One, redeem me; take away my grievous sin.
He sang again:

Sweet is Thy name, O Refuge of the humble!
It falls like sweetest nectar on our ears
And comforts us, Beloved of our souls! . . .
Again:
Why, O mind, do you never call on Him
Who takes away all fear of danger?
Tricked by delusion you forget yourself,
Enamoured of the world's bleak wilderness.
Alas, what mockery is here!
Comrades and wealth you cannot always keep;
Take care lest you forget Him quite.
Give up the false, O mind! Adore the Real;
And all the grief will vanish from your life.
Keep my good counsel in your heart.
With sounding voice proclaim Lord Hari's name
And cast away your false desires,
If you would cross the ocean of this life;
Surrender to Him body, mind, and soul,
And worship Him with trusting love.

- An Extract from 'GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA' compiled by Sri Mahendranath Gupta
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" Brothers, you have touched another chord in my heart, the deepest of all, and that is the mention of my teacher, my master, my hero, my ideal, my God in life - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. If there has been anything achieved by me, by thoughts, or words, or deeds, if from my lips has ever fallen one word that has helped any one in the world, I lay no claim to it, it was his. But if there have been curses falling from my lips, if there has been hatred coming out of me, it is all mine and not his. All that has been weak has been mine, and all that has been life-giving, strengthening, pure, and holy, has been his inspiration, his words, and he himself. Yes, my friends, the world has yet to know that man. We read in the history of the world about prophets and their lives, and these come down to us through centuries of writings and workings by their disciples. Through thousands of years of chiselling and modelling, the lives of the great prophets of yore come down to us; and yet, in my opinion, not one stands so high in brilliance as that life which I saw with my own eyes, under whose shadow I have lived, at whose feet I have learnt everything —the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Ay, friends, you all know the celebrated saying of the Gitâ:

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मासंस्थापनार्थाय संभवािम युगे युगे ॥

"Whenever, O descendant of Bharata, there is decline of Dharma, and rise of Adharma, then I body Myself forth. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of Dharma I come into being in every age."

- An Excerpt from Swami Vivekananda's reply letter to his admirers and friends in Bengal


SatsaNgatve nissN^gatvaM nissaNgatve nirmohatvam nirmohatve nishchalatattvaM nishcalatattve jiivanmuktiH - Sri Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya

From Satsangha(The holy companionship of realised souls) comes Non-attachment, from Non-attachment comes freedom from delusion, which leads to Self-settledness. From Self-settledness comes Jeevan Mukti.

Raj
Student of V.I.H.E.
A Brahmin by Birth yet striving to become a True Brahmin by Virtues
One more soul in God's Creation

[LarryRda]

to be in bondage,disbelieve karma