Swamiji speaks about the role and nature of Sri Ramakrishna and the Hindu funeral chant. Disc 141 track 6.
To listen to Swamiji speaking, please fully open the post and then click below.
Swamiji has a devotee reading from a song, line by line, as he then interprets it.
Swamiji: Give me the first line, my girl. Devotee reads: ‘Ramakrishna Gurudeva, Ramakrishna Gurunatha.’
Swj: Now look at it yourself, if you think of the meaning. Who is Ramakrishna? You’re taking Ramakrishna as the Guru. He’s the Gurudeva because in the scriptures it’s said …. The Supreme Being himself [Brahman] is the Guru, in a human frame. But the human frame is not God. You must remember that. Very carefully. He’s hidden in that. Like fire is hidden in the stone, but the stone is not fire.
Who was Ramakrishna? We talk about Ramakrishna Gurudeva. That’s the relationship you’ve got. Ramakrishna Gurunatha [Lord of the gurus]. Relationship is Guru. Next one…
Devotee reads: ‘Ramakrishna mama bandhu, Ramakrishna daya sindhu’. Why do you say it’s your guru and how is that? Ramakrishna you say is your bandhu. Bandu means relatives [family]. All relatives. Even relationship as friend. All relatives. Why? Because he’s the one ‘non-injurious’ Being you’ve met because ‘daya sindhu’ – he’s the ocean of? Daya sindhu means he’s an ocean. Daya, simple: compassion. No matter what mistake you make – Girish [Chandra Ghosh – the famous Bengali playwright and theatre director] made such a big mistake, how he [Master – Sri Ramakrishna] forgave him? Look at when the lady who had done bad things and they were [wanting to] stone her [at the well], in the Bible, and Christ said, ‘He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.’ [Indistinct comment follows].
What he [Jesus] made top [of mind] was the need to be objective, not subjective. Because their own faults were not known, they thought they were greater. Before that people were not focusing on their own faults. But no sooner you become aware of your own faults, you’ll think how little [small] other people’s faults are [by comparison]. So daya sindhu is compassion. He’s an ocean of compassion. Non-injury. That’s why to you, Ramakrishna is your relative – a relation never hurts another relation. Only enemies do that. He’s full of compassion. Next line? Devotee reads: ‘Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, Satchidananda.’
Swj: Who is this Paramahamsa? Who is this Ramakrishna? He’s the Supreme Soul. And who is the Supreme Soul? Paramahamsa. Param means ‘supreme’ and hamsa means ‘soul’. The bird [swan] which, when you mix water and milk together, they say, the bird can separate the milk from the water. Discrimination here, it says. That kind of sharp discrimination it has. So, that Supreme Soul, Ramakrishna, who has extricated himself out of Maya [the divine revelation of only partial truth] makes himself separate – just like the milk from water. Paramahamsa Ramakrishna.
Who is a paramahamsa? No other than Satchidananda, who is the embodiment of Existence, Knowledge, Bliss absolute [so not ‘relative’ or conditioned]. Which he’s taken upon himself, for our benefit. So if you take on the meaning of the song, you’ll find you won’t only be emotionally awakened, but you will be lovingly awakened with discrimination. With?… discrimination. And that is the greatness of bhajan and kirtan, it gives you all, at once. But you have to sing it, not as a budhu [in Hindi, ‘budhu’ (बुद्धू) means foolish, silly, or stupid] but as a Buddha – with discrimination, with enlightenment.
‘Take a man from where he is‘ [often repeated by Swami Vivekananda] with the little understanding that he’s got, and from that understanding you go higher and higher. [Swami] Vivekananda said that we are not travelling from untruth to truth, but we’re travelling from lower truth to higher truth. So from a reading understanding, you’re travelling towards an absolute understanding. That’s how we should go.
Ramakrishna or your deity – whatever the deity may be – it’s God almighty. Then you can go and increase love infinitely for it. Then you’ll realise it. Because ananda [bliss] is one aspect of it. But you mustn’t get mixed up – one day love Him, and the other day love the world. ‘World’ meaning any part of the world, including your body, or thought of this world. Because if man dies he’s cremated here, left here. You’ve got that?
That’s why the yogis say, that it’s better to [in the Tantric tradition] meditate [sitting] on a dead body, it’s very nice. Why? That’s the state we’re trying to reach – where the senses are non-functional. The senses are dead to the sensual world. The spirit is separated. That’s why we sit on that [corpse]. To remind us that this body, ultimately is that. You’ll be like that. So now, while living – die. Let the senses die.
Swamiji asks: What do they say [chant] in India when they say in the funeral procession, ‘Ram, Ram something? Devotee responds: ‘Ram naam satya hai, satya naam moksha hai.’ Swamiji chants it several times. Ram naam satya hai, satya naam moksha hai. Then says: they do it in the street – all the way [to the cremation ground]. Ram, Ram. Ram’s name means truth, satya moksha [liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth]. Otherwise the other way to understand for the people, they say. [Swamiji then has some fun in Hindi with a gentle distortion of the phrase, which this site admin can’t hear and doesn’t understand – my apologies.] Sat will take you to moksha. Either positive or negative. Both. Anything will reach God.
The free-to-read, 396 page Flipbook version of Swamiji’s biography is available by clicking HERE.
These recordings were made from the 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.