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    Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

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    mukade
    1) Sri Ramakrishna advises giving up a wife who threatens suicide if her husband focuses on spiritual practices, as she is an embodiment of ignorance that creates obstacles to God realization. However, with true devotion even a difficult wife can become amenable and turn towards God. 2) Parents and wife are very important, and debts to them must be repaid. However, if one becomes truly mad with love for God, then they forget all worldly relations and duties, becoming absorbed only in the divine. 3) Parents deserve the highest respect while alive and after death, their post-funeral rites should be properly observed according to one's means. Proper care for parents is important for spiritual success

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    Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

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    mukade
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    1) Sri Ramakrishna advises giving up a wife who threatens suicide if her husband focuses on spiritual practices, as she is an embodiment of ignorance that creates obstacles to God realization. However, with true devotion even a difficult wife can become amenable and turn towards God. 2) Parents and wife are very important, and debts to them must be repaid. However, if one becomes truly mad with love for God, then they forget all worldly relations and duties, becoming absorbed only in the divine. 3) Parents deserve the highest respect while alive and after death, their post-funeral rites should be properly observed according to one's means. Proper care for parents is important for spiritual success

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    1) Sri Ramakrishna advises giving up a wife who threatens suicide if her husband focuses on spiritual practices, as she is an embodiment of ignorance that creates obstacles to God realization. However, with true devotion even a difficult wife can become amenable and turn towards God. 2) Parents and wife are very important, and debts to them must be repaid. However, if one becomes truly mad with love for God, then they forget all worldly relations and duties, becoming absorbed only in the divine. 3) Parents deserve the highest respect while alive and after death, their post-funeral rites should be properly observed according to one's means. Proper care for parents is important for spiritual success

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    49 views3 pages

    Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

    Uploaded by

    mukade
    1) Sri Ramakrishna advises giving up a wife who threatens suicide if her husband focuses on spiritual practices, as she is an embodiment of ignorance that creates obstacles to God realization. However, with true devotion even a difficult wife can become amenable and turn towards God. 2) Parents and wife are very important, and debts to them must be repaid. However, if one becomes truly mad with love for God, then they forget all worldly relations and duties, becoming absorbed only in the divine. 3) Parents deserve the highest respect while alive and after death, their post-funeral rites should be properly observed according to one's means. Proper care for parents is important for spiritual success

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    of 3

    144 Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna

    440. Q. Sir, what do you think of the mode of devo­


    tional practices in the company of women, as enjoined by
    the Tantras ?
    A. Those are not safe •paths · ; they are very
    difficult, and are oft�n attended with slips. There are
    three ways of practising devotion (according to the Tantras)
    -one may cultivate the attitude of the · hero ·, or the
    •hand-maid·, or the ' son' towards the Divine Mother.
    Mine is the attitude of the •sorf . To think of oneself as
    the hand-maid of the Divine Mother is also good. �ut the
    path of the 'hero ' 1 is froJ.Ight with danger. Very pure is
    the path of ' sonship ' (i.e. thinking of oneself as tke son of
    the Divine Mother). ,,
    441. • Do you aspire after Divine grace ? Then pro­
    pitiate the Mother, the Primal Divine Energy (Sakti).
    Yes, She is Mahamaya Herself. She it is Who has
    deluded the whole world, and is conjuring.. up die triple
    device of creation, maintenance and dissolution. She
    has spread a veil of ignorance over all, and unless
    She .unbars the gate, none can enter the • Inner Court·.
    Left outside, we see only the external things, but the
    Eternal One, Sachchidananda, remams ever beyond
    our ken.
    The Divine Sakti has two aspects- Vidya and
    Avidya. .,Avidya deludes and is the mother of Kamini­
    Kanchana, • woman and gold · ; and it binds. But Vidya
    is the source 'of devotion, kindness, knowledgl and love,
    and it takes us towards God. '
    1 ltc is called. Virachara in the Tantras, h, this path the devotee has lo
    worship th� Goddess as his Dlvjne Consort, taktr;t8 a womar as tl,e vice deus.
    t
    Faith 145

    This Avidya has to be propitiated, and hence the institu­


    tion of Sakti worship. Various are the ways of worship,
    for gratifying Her-as Her · handmaid ·, or · hero ·. or
    ' child·. Sakti-sadhana is no joke. )'here are very strenuous
    and dangerous practices in it. [ passed two years as
    Mother's •hand-maid' and •friend'. Mine, however, is
    the mood of the ' child ', and to me the breasts of any
    women are like unto my mother's.
    Women are so man/ images of Sakti. In the western
    parlis of this country the bridegroom holds a knife in his
    hand during marriage, and in Bengal, a nut-cracker. The
    idea i� that he will cut the bonds of Maya with the help of
    the bride who is Sakti Herself. This is Virabhava. •the
    way of the hero ·. But I never practised it. Mine is the
    attitude of the ' child '.

    DEVOTEE AND HIS FAMILY

    442. Q. Suppose a wife tells her husband who is


    given to religious practices. ' If you do not look after me
    properly, [ will commit suicide.' What should one do in
    that case?
    A. One should give up such a wife--the wife that
    stands in the way to God-realisation. Let her commit

    ..
    suicide or let her not I The wife who thus puts obstacles
    in one's path to God is an embodiment of Avidya (nesci-
    •
    ence), But then all become amenable to one who has a
    sincere devotion to God -'even the king. wicked persons
    J
    -and the wife. If .lil,lle has true devotion, t�en ont-�s wife
    also gr�du.tlly turm,, Godward. 1 1f one is goolnatured..it I
    I
    10
    146 · Sayings of Sri Rarnakrishna

    is quite possible that she too becomes good through the


    grace of God.
    44.3. Father and mother are of prime importance to
    man. Unless they are pleased, no devotional practice will
    be of any avail. Look at Sri Chaitanya. Though mad
    with love of God, he took much pains to console his
    mother before he took Sannyasa. He told her, " Mother,
    do not be sorry. I will come now and then to see you."
    There are so many debts that on� has to repay-the debt
    to the gods, the debt to the Rishis, aM also the debt to
    the parents and the wife. No pious work can succeed
    unless the debt to the parents is paid off. There is a
    debt even to the wife. Harish is staying here, having
    renounced his wife. If his wife had not been provided for,
    I would have called him a wicked fellow. Ramaprasanna
    is always wandering about for milk and opium for the
    Hatha Yogi. He says that Manu has enjoirr�d service to
    Sadhus. Meanwhile, his old mother is starving and has
    to do her own shopping. I feel so angry at this.
    444." But there is one consideration. If a man be­
    comes mad with love of God, then who is father, who
    is mother and who is wife ? He loves God so deeply that
    he becomes mad. He has no duty, he is absolved from
    all debts. When a man reaches that state, he forgets the
    whole world ; he becomes unconscious of even the body
    which is so dear to everyone.
    445.* The �arents deserve the highest respect in this
    world. As long as they live.' they should be served to the
    I
    best 9f one'� capacity, and after tqpir death, their post•
    {uneral r:tes ought to •�e performe� accordt,g fo one's

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