Evolution of love

His divine power

Everything about Sri Ramakrishna is superhuman. I heard from his own lips: "The key to this room has to be turned the reverse way". This means if anybody wants to attain Knowledge, worldly means will be of no avail. Sri Krishna also taught the same thing: "In that, which is night to all beings, the man of self-control is awake; and where all beings are awake, there is night for the sage, who sees". Sri Ramakrishna's pure life is a growing example of this teaching of the Gita (2:69). His life is beyond ordinary human understanding. What people regard as good was bad in his eyes, and what people as giving them happiness and peace he knew to be the cause of all misery and restlessness. His divine power was unparalleled and irresistible.

Wherever there is the play of great power, there God manifests. Now one may ask: “What greatness can be found in a temple priest, who draws monthly salary only seven rupees, that would make revere him as a manifestation of God?” From a human viewpoint it seems to be impossible. ... Sri Ramakrishna’s poverty and lack of education are two factors that highlight his greatness. One will have to admit unequivocally that divine power is manifested in a person, who singlehandedly and without any arms and ammunition defeats a well-equipped army. Nowadays, if people want to be scholars, they study many books. But Sri Ramakrishna did not study books. Sometimes he would say: “Grantha granthi” – that is “books are knots”. Mere book learning usually increases a person’s ego, binding him to the world. By reading too many books the mind becomes filled with other people’s thoughts and loses its capacity of thinking for itself. If book learning stimulates one’s thinking, it is good, but if it destroys one’s capacity to think, then it is to be avoided. Sri Ramakrishna shunned such learning and sought spiritual knowledge in his own pure mind. Within a short time he acquired so much knowledge that from his inexhaustible supply he freely distributed it to people. The rich, the poor, the learned, and the ignorant – all felt themselves blessed by listening to his holy words.

Nowadays it is almost impossible for a person to be respected without wealth. Wealth makes even a fool appear learned and the impossible possible. But Sri Ramakrishna realized that attachment for wealth binds the soul and it is the root cause of all evil. He had such great repulsion for coins, that he could not even touch a metallic object. If his hand touched any such object, it would become numb. It is because of his complete renunciation of money that wealthy people regarded themselves as blessed, when they could serve him and spend money for him. Wealth flows to that person, who has renounced it. This fact is proved in Sri Ramakrishna’s divine life.

Saving for the future is essential for a person, who lives in the world, as no one knows what need may unexpectedly arise. But Sri Ramakrishna could not save anything even for the next moment. Because he was so non-attached, other people used to procure things for him. We had read in the Gita: “Persons, who meditate on Me, without any other thought, to them, thus ever zealously engaged, I carry what they lack and preserve what they already have” (9.22).

In this world the tie of love alone is the cause of happiness. People enjoy family life because of this sweet bondage. It is for this bondage that a person builds a home, weaves a cloth, saves things in a safe, locks the door, and dresses himself with knots. A man, who has no such bondage, is a mendicant. Even a beggar ties into a bundle his old torn and tattered rags, lest he should lose them. But Sri Ramakrishna feared any kind of bondage. Bondage bind the soul to the world and do not allow him to reach God. Bondage do not let a person’s heart expand. In fact Sri Ramakrishna had such a terrible aversion to being bound that he could not lock anything in his room. Also, he could not even tie his own cloth around his waist – someone had to do it for him. His nature was like that of a five-year-old boy. For this reason the Divine Mother engaged several attendants to look after him, and they felt blessed to be able to serve this great soul. ...

There was not the least trace of egotism in Sri Ramakrishna. He could not say the words “I” and “mine”. Instead of using the word “mine”, he used to say “of this place” and point to himself with his finger (for example, “It is not the opinion of this place”). Because there was no ego-consciousness in him, the Cosmic Ego of the Divine Mother worked through him. The playful Kali, the Mother of the Universe, incarnated herself in the form of Sri Ramakrishna to give her innumerable children knowledge and devotion.

I have tried to give the readers some glimpses of Sri Ramakrishna’s personality, but it is beyond my power to describe in full even a particle of his infinite glory. If you are eager to know the Truth, then meditate on the all-purifying, all-compassionate life of Sri Ramakrishna. Gradually the self-luminous Truth will reveal itself in your heart, and you will attain infinite strength, peace, and joy. You will consider yourself as blessed.