The Master In Various Moods

(to Manilal and the others): It is wise to salute a person mentally. What need is there of touching his feet? Mental salutation doesn’t embarrass anybody. The attitude that my religion alone is right, and all other religions are false is not good.

I see that God Himself has become all these: men, images, and salagram. I see one alone in all these; I do not see two. I see only one.

Many people think that:

• their opinion alone is right and others’ opinions are wrong
• they alone have won and others have lost.

But a person who has gone forward may be slowed down by some slight obstacle.

Someone who has been lagging behind might then steal a march on him.

In the game of golokdham, one may advance a great deal. But still somehow, one’s piece may fail to reach the goal.

Triumph or defeat is in the hands of God. We cannot understand His ways.

The green coconut remains high in the tree and is exposed to the sun. But still its milk is cool.

On the other hand, the paniphal remains in the water, but when eaten it heats the body.

Look at the body of man. The head is the root, and it is at the top.

To remain somehow united with God. There are 2 ways:

1. Karma yoga
2. Manoyoga

Householders practise yoga through karma, the performance of duty.

There are 4 stages of life: brahmacharya, garhasthya, vanaprastha, and sannyās.

Sannyāsis must renounce those karmas which are performed with special ends in view. But they should perform the daily obligatory karmas, giving up all desire for results.

Sannyāsis are united with God by such karmas as:

• the acceptance of the staff
• the receiving of alms
• going on pilgrimage
• the performance of worship and japa

It doesn’t matter what kind of action you are engaged in.

You can be united with God through any action provided that, performing it, you give up all desire for its result.

A yogi practising manoyoga doesn’t show any outward sign.

He is inwardly united with God. Take Jadabharata and Sukadeva, for instance.

There are many other yogis of this class, but these two are well known. They shave neither hair nor beard.

All actions drop away when a man reaches the stage of the paramahamsa. He always remembers the ideal and meditates on it. He is always united with God in his mind. If he ever performs an action it is to teach men.

A man may be united with God either through action or through inwardness of thought, but he can know everything through bhakti. Through bhakti one spontaneously experiences kumbhaka. The nerve currents and breathing calm down when the mind is concentrated.

Again, the mind is concentrated when the nerve currents and breathing calm down. Then the buddhi, the discriminating power, becomes steady. The man who achieves this state is not himself aware of it.

One can attain everything through bhakti yoga.

I wept before the Mother and prayed, ‘O Mother, please tell me, please reveal to me, what the yogis have realized through yoga and the jnanis through discrimination.’

The Mother has revealed everything to me. She reveals everything if the devotee cries to Her with a yearning heart.

She has shown me everything that is in the Vedas, the Vedānta, the Puranas, and the Tantra.

The hathayogis identify themselves with their bodies. They practise internal washing and similar disciplines, and devote themselves only to the care of the body.

Their ideal is to increase longevity. They serve the body day and night. That is not good.

What is your duty? You should renounce ‘woman and gold’ mentally. You cannot look on the world as crow-droppings.

The goswamis are householders. Therefore I said to them: ‘You have your duties in the temple; how can you renounce the world? You cannot explain away the world as māyā.’

Chaitanyadeva said that the duties of householders were kindness to living beings, service to the Vaishnavas, and the chanting of God’s holy name.

Keshab Sen once said about me:

(smiling): “How so? You are a householder. Why should you renounce?

But the renunciation of the world is needful for those whom God wants to be teachers of men.

An Āchārya should give up ‘woman and gold’. Otherwise, people will not take his advice.

It is not enough for him to renounce only mentally. He should also renounce outwardly.

Only then will his teaching bear fruit. Otherwise people will think,

I have seen the Āchārya of the Adi Brahmo Samaj. He has married for the second or third time. He has grown-up children.

Such men are teachers! If they say, ‘God is real and all else illusory’, who will believe them? You can very well understand who will be their disciples.