Swamiji says, ‘You can have some jnana, but not be a Jnani.’
It sounds in this clip, as if someone's asked if you can be a Jnani [have God-realised level knowledge] even in this world. And Swamiji is drawing a careful distinction between being a true Jani, and just having some Jnana or knowledge. Which can sound impressive and be intellectually intimidating in the wrong hands, or coming from someone with a big ego.
Swamiji says that when you still have some desire for the things of this world, Jnana Yoga can indeed provide an opportunity to reach the goal. The reading being commented on [From the Katha Upanishad?] discusses using scripturally-ordained work to live for 100 years. Swamiji explains: If I've built my house on the rock foundation of truth, even if I think it's a humble fowl [chicken/poultry] run – what does it matter? It'll still be safe.
Everything has a code for operation, says Swamiji. In South Africa, for cars, it will be be 'drive on the lefthand side of the road.' In America, you'll drive it on the righthand side. But drive you must! Or the car will drive you. The car is the mind. So drive it in the real lane of dharma, scripturally ordained and scripturally orientated.
Work – but do righteous work. What will happen? Even if it takes thousands of births, you will get purified. And when you get purified, naturally you will get to know what God is.
Therefore, the Jnani is great – very highly evolved, but don't get bluffed. For thousands of births, that fellow must have been following the same thing. Jnana doesn't necessarily mean someone's a Jnani. I don't know how many births he desired to live 100 years, now he's come. He's not realising that he took a long, long time to get where he is, but now he wants everyone to say that the world 'is lies' – Maya.
Swamiji explains what took place in for example, [Jiddu] Krishnamurti's spiritual evolution. Krishnamurti had a guru to guide him to realise the truth. But then he went on to say that a Guru is not necessary. You forget your past, you only think about your future, says Swamiji.
So that same scripture says, 'Perform work!' You and I, we should keep on working. Who cares? Whether God reveals himself or not. As long as I have the joy to do work for?…God! But do it according to the scripturally ordained guidelines. Swamiji asks the question: What does it mean, 'Scripturally ordained?' And he goes on to explain – so there can be no misunderstanding – that we must do work in such a way that we do not harm others. Then, the mind becomes purified.
Internally you must evolve, and at the same time – externally. This is jnana, this is jnana, this is jnana, says Swamiji. If you take a crawling child, says Swamiji, and let it run, you may kill the child, and therefore be doing sin. From that point of view the Bhagavad Gita says, 'Do not disturb the faith of the ignorant.' Ignorant is not a bad word here [Swamiji frequently emphasises this, they're just not yet informed enough] – substitute the word ignorant, with, 'a man who is trying to know the truth'.
Swamiji wraps it up by saying that [true] Jnana is just for the few. Why bluff? Truthfulness is the first order of spiritual life. He concludes with one of his merry jokes which the men in particular relate to. It makes one think of Sri Ramakrishna in his teaching of 'his boys' – his immediate disciples. He told 'M' – Master Mahasaya or Mahendranath Gupta, the recorder of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna [Click here to read the PDF], that he sometimes used even risqué analogies, which he referred to as 'fish-water', to entrench a point in their minds.
To listen to this valuable lesson on separating those who claim to be knowledgeable, from those who really are, please click on the link below. Jai Sri Ramakrishna!
Duration: 06:10
The original audio recordings of these posts were made by close Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and Swami Shivapadananda devotee, Mother Radha. The audio editing and noise reduction of the original 1970s-onwards tapes, has been lovingly engineered, over many years, by her son and our dear gurubhai, Brother Tim. May Sri Ramakrishna and Swamiji bless them both.
Admin tip: Underlined words are links. If you click on them, they'll take you to an explanation of the particular word or term. [In these overviews, Admin comments are typically in a smaller green font, and square bracketed, like this statement.]
Dear reader, if you spot typos or or other errors, please feel free to email the site admin on info@imbizo.com with your suggested correction/s.
Context: As always, care should be taken to remember that what Swamiji was saying, may have been very specific to the needs of people with him at the time. Please bear this in mind.
Links to our Guruparampara (spiritual lineage) organisations, which will broaden your knowledge base: Ramakrishna Math and Mission and our alma maters, the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and the Sri Sarada Devi Ashram in Durban.
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