Talks Excerpts 641 to 646 inclusive. Swamiji speaks about the simplicity of Sri Ramakrishna as an Incarnation.

From Mother Radha’s recordings of Swamiji.

[Dear Devotee – we’ve clustered these complementary excerpts together to maintain continuity and facilitate an easy read and contemplation.]

Excerpt 641:
You may not understand Sri Ramakrishna’s ways; but honestly I tell you that when Swami Vivekananda said Master was an Incarnation, make no mistake, he was an Incarnation of all the highest and most positive ideas and principles. Girish [Chandra Gosh] even argued this point with Swami Vivekananda and later converted him to that very thought.

Because of Girish Babu, almost all the theatres in Calcutta have Sri Ramakrishna’s photograph displayed. Before Master’s time, people said, ‘You mustn’t put pictures of gods and goddesses in this kind of a place because there are dancing girls here.’ But Girish said, ‘What? Master is the patitapavana, the saviour and uplifter of the downtrodden.’

Once Girish told Sri Ramakrishna laughingly: ‘If I had known you were such a great saviour I would have committed a little bit more sin and then come to you.’ Can you imagine that kind of relationship? Who can talk to his guru like that? Only a Girish could do so. Girish Babu was very great. Girish Babu and Sri Ramakrishna are the actors themselves. One acted the main role, the other acted the supporting role.

Pray to Sri Ramakrishna. Call on him, he will come. He has to come. He must come. He is not an ordinary being. All the others renounced their wives but he said, ‘My wife is my mother.’ Who can say that? You may say, ‘My wife is my mother,’ but after two seconds she will turn out to be your wife again. Not even in a dream did Sri Ramakrishna see a woman as a woman. He saw all women as Mother. That was Sri Ramakrishna Bhagavan.

Sri Ramakrishna was the only one who never gave an inkling of lust. He is purity incarnate. That is the Sri Ramakrishna we are worshipping. We are not worshipping a being who can only cure your headache, make you pass an exam, or show you a few flabbergasting things. No. He was simple, but in his simplicity the highest Infinite was hiding. That is Sri Ramakrishna.

Excerpt 642:

If you look at Master’s photograph there are no glorious garlands around his neck. Nowadays gurus are getting on a horse and taking a sword and saying, ‘I am Kalki avatar’ – and the silly devotees are even buying such photographs. Some people are even dressing up like Sri Krishna and carrying a flute. These are all fake. If you are a real guru you do not have to dress up in fancy dress; because when your disciples look at you they can actually see if you are Kartikeya or Hanumanji or Kali or Durga.

What did Arjuna see when that young brahmin boy came to them by the sea? He saw him as Sri Krishna. And what did Hanumanji see? He saw him as Sri Rama. You do not have to have fancy dress to go and show what you are. Master never believed in fancy dress. Simple as simple could be. He was naked, just like nature itself. That was Sri Ramakrishna.

He did not want anyone to preach about him. But we are forced to preach about him. If you follow him, if you follow his teachings, you will only have to do one thing: die. You [the ego] will have to die completely. Then only he lives in you. Otherwise it is too difficult.

If you have not felt the power of Master’s Name it is because you are just treating it as something ordinary. You do not know the power of it. The power is so great that it will increase love for your own Deity; and it will increase love for all religions. That is the power of this Name. At the same time, it will give the moksha of all the scriptures as promised. It will give you the moksha of the Christian Bible, it will give you the moksha of the Koran. Even more, he will give his own abode: Ramakrishnaloka. That is the crux of the whole thing: Master’s Name.

Master’s Name does not only take you to Vishnu loka or Shiva loka or Shakti loka. Nay. It takes you to all the lokas and yet it withdraws and shows you: ‘Look, I am all the lokas.’ That is why you find all the deities being absorbed in Him.

Excerpt 643 – [repeat of previous post content].

Excerpt 644:
Sri Ramakrishna found out who he himself was by Tota Puri making him go beyond Kali-consciousness.

Certain spiritual experiences show that the kundalini or spiritual power in you is awakened. At these times whatever is nearest to your mind will flash through your mind. Seeing lightening or seeing light is also the awakening of the kundalini. Feeling pain is also the awakening of the kundalini. This awakening differs from person to person depending on the state in which his or her mind is. Degrees of purity also differ from one person to another.

If you read Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master Sri Ramakrishna describes, according to his experiences, how the kundalini awakens. Master said that sometimes it hops like a bird, sometimes it wriggles like a snake and sometimes it jumps like a frog. Through his own experience, Sri Ramakrishna very clearly describes the effects of the kundalini rising.

If the kundalini shakti is rising according to the instructions laid down in the scriptures (and we will take it for granted that the disciple, the student or the practitioner has followed all the rules of purity), then the result will always be the sharpening of the intellect and the increase of love towards God. That will be the first result.

If you do not have love for God and your mind is always going on lower things, sensual things, what to do? You do not have to worry about it too much. Just leave out all the things that you know to be worldly and start living a pure life. And when you live a pure life naturally the kundalini shakti will adjust itself and go on to the correct channel. The easiest way to awaken the kundalini shakti is through japa.

Excerpt 645:
Do not be fooled by people when they say you must do pranayama and certain practices to raise the kundalini. It is very difficult. A man whose kundalini shakti has risen will not talk ill of another, he will not feel jealous about another person, he will not condemn others. He will become love personified. Do not think that all can become God-realised. If anyone’s kundalini is going wrong then his sensuality will increase more and more.

When Swami Vivekananda was giving lectures in America it appears that some people in the audience started shouting, ‘Hail Jesus, Hail Jesus,’ and ‘Glory to the Lord.’ Swami Vivekananda says that they were emotionally awakened without practicing yama and niyama, without any purity, and therefore they did not grasp the true meaning.

You can correct your errors yourself. How? Try to do away with sensual thoughts and do more japa. Forget the people who say, ‘Do pranayama.’ By force you awaken the kundalini shakti through mudras, pranayama etc. We do not want to do that. As our minds become purer so the kundalini will rise.

Take for instance a container which is empty, it is full of air. But as you pour the water in, to the extent there is air in it, to that extent the container will become filled with water. So to the extent you purify yourself, to that extent the kundalini will come up.

Excerpt 646:

Swami Vivekananda touched Swami Abhedananda to test Sri Ramakrishna’s power, soon after he had been given it. Sri Ramakrishna immediately called for Swami Vivekananda and gave him a scolding. Master said, ‘You nearly ruined his life. Do not do this again.’

Do not think that spirituality is to be played with, that anybody can awaken your kundalini and that everyone can bless you. Silly people think they can bless you. I have told you over and over, ‘Only God can bless you.’ Someone asked me, ‘How is it that you bless people?’ I said, ‘I don’t bless people. When people prostrate to me I prostrate to God who is inside them.’ Sri Ramakrishna and our gurus said, ‘See God in everything.’ I am only seeing God in you, I am not blessing you. God Himself blesses you.

Do not allow anybody to put his feet on your head. No human guru has the right to put their feet on your head, because guru – God – is seated there. And when the real guru puts his feet on your head you will have a certain kind of awakening. You will become a God-man, not a worldly man.

Do not be deluded by reading information in books. Do not believe that if a man tells you something about God then he is God-realised.

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These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 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.