Turiyananda on His Master
Once I heard a person arguing right in front of the Master. He said this world is real. After listening to him, the Master, Sri Ramakrishna, said: “Aries, why don’t you say in simple words that even now you have the desire to enjoy the sour dish of pig plum (the worthless pleasures of the world!) What is the need for all these vain arguments?” What answer could have been more powerful and irrefutable? The truth is that if a person has attachments, he is afraid to give up the world. But to conceal this attitude and imagine that one can realize God without giving up attachments only indicates one’s natural inner weakness.
Truth is God. Falsehood is maya. Everything is achieved by adhering to the truth. Sri Ramakrishna taunted Pandit Shivanath and said, “If you are such sensible people, how can you speak untruth? You call me insane, but no untruth ever escapes my lips!” Once a Kalighat priest kicked Sri Ramakrishna. He knew the priest would be punished, so he wanted to keep it a secret. The Master asked Hriday to extract a promise from him that he would not speak of it to anyone. Hriday at first objected, but the Master extracted the promise from him three times, and then he said, “Now it will never escape my lips again.” For the protection of the priest he had thus sworn to himself to observe silence In order to protect the priest, he thus vowed to remain silent on this matter.
Once the Master made a deal with Jadu Mallick, but later completely forgot about it, engrossed in conversation with some visitors. Towards eleven o’clock, when he was about to get ready for the night, he suddenly remembered, immediately lighted a lantern and accompanied by Sri Brahmananda went to Jadu’s garden. When he found the gate closed, he stepped inside and shouted, “Here, I have come.”
Sri Ramakrishna had given up everything, but he could not give up the truth. It is a tremendous trial to hold on to the truth.
To transcend the mind is to fully manifest the intellect. It is not that the mind is completely destroyed, but the mind that used to have relations with the phenomenal world no longer exists. Sri Ramakrishna always said that the pure mind and the pure Self are one. The mind is purified as soon as its worldly character is destroyed. A pure mind is that which, fully believing in the oneness of the Self, sees the same Atman (Self) in everyone, and deals with others accordingly. Sri Ramakrishna used to say, “First repent in gold. Then you can even stay in an unclean place and still remain gold.”
We must make everyone ours. The more we draw near to God, the more open-hearted, sincere, and generous we become. Our Master was the personification of guilelessness and sincerity.
collected and presented by
Mary Saaleman
Mary Saaleman
is a Vedantist since three decades. She dedicates herself to Mother, Ramakrishna and Swamiji. She is a student of the lives of the Master, Mother and Swamiji and the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
is een vedantist sinds drie decennia. Haar leven is Moeder, Ramakrishna en Swamiji. Ze bestudeert de levens van de Meester, Moeder en Swamiji en het evangelie van Sri Ramakrishna.