This document contains sayings and teachings from Sri Ramakrishna about various aspects of God and spirituality. Some key points discussed include:
- God can be seen as both formless Brahman and as a personal God with form.
- God takes on various divine forms, including human, spiritual expressions, and forms like Krishna and the Divine Mother.
- All of creation stems from the union of Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (nature). God pervades all things but all people are not equally aware of this.
- As one progresses spiritually, God's outer attributes and grandeur fall away to reveal the inner essence without form.
This document contains sayings and teachings from Sri Ramakrishna about various aspects of God and spirituality. Some key points discussed include:
- God can be seen as both formless Brahman and as a personal God with form.
- God takes on various divine forms, including human, spiritual expressions, and forms like Krishna and the Divine Mother.
- All of creation stems from the union of Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (nature). God pervades all things but all people are not equally aware of this.
- As one progresses spiritually, God's outer attributes and grandeur fall away to reveal the inner essence without form.
This document contains sayings and teachings from Sri Ramakrishna about various aspects of God and spirituality. Some key points discussed include:
- God can be seen as both formless Brahman and as a personal God with form.
- God takes on various divine forms, including human, spiritual expressions, and forms like Krishna and the Divine Mother.
- All of creation stems from the union of Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (nature). God pervades all things but all people are not equally aware of this.
- As one progresses spiritually, God's outer attributes and grandeur fall away to reveal the inner essence without form.
This document contains sayings and teachings from Sri Ramakrishna about various aspects of God and spirituality. Some key points discussed include:
- God can be seen as both formless Brahman and as a personal God with form.
- God takes on various divine forms, including human, spiritual expressions, and forms like Krishna and the Divine Mother.
- All of creation stems from the union of Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (nature). God pervades all things but all people are not equally aware of this.
- As one progresses spiritually, God's outer attributes and grandeur fall away to reveal the inner essence without form.
must hold on to your particular view until you realise God ;
and then everything would be clear. 878. God is the absolute and eternal Brahman as well as the Father of the univ�rse. But the indivisible Brahman, who is pure Existence, lntelli�ence and Bliss, is incom prehensible like a vast shoreless ocean without bounds and limits, in which we only struggle and sink. But 'when we enter into the spirit of the sportive Personal God, w� easily obtain peace like the sinking man on being gently carried ashore. 879. At a certain stage in the path of devo�ion, the 'devotee finds satisfaction in God ' with form, and at another stage, in God without it. 880. To a Bhakta the Lord manifests Himself in various forms. But to a person who reaches the height of Brahma jnana in Samadhi, He is the attributeless Brahman. more, formless and unconditioned. Herein is ,the re- . once
c�nciliation between Jnana and Bhakti.
881. As water, when congealed, becomes ice, the visible forfn of the Almighty is the materi�lised manifesta �on of the all-pervading formless Brahman. It may be called in fpct Sachchidananda solidified. As the ic�. which is part and parcel of, water, remains in ,water and afterwards melt� into it, so the Personal God, Who is part and parcel of the lmt,ersonal. rises from the Impersonal. remains there, , and ultimately t.1erges into It and disappears. 882, Fire itself has no peEinite shape, but as glow,ng epibers it assumes different forms. Thus the formless fire is ,,e�n {mdbwed with forms. Simill,ly, the formless God i.ometimes invests Hims�f with defin_ite forms. c Some Di1Yinc Forms 277 SOME DIVINE FORMS · 883. God appears in various ways-sometimes in human form, sometimes as a spiritual expression (Chin maya-rupa). But one should have belief in Divine forms. 884.* No one can say what Sachchidananda is like. That is why He first took the form of Ardhanarisvara (half man and' half woman). Do you know why He has done so? It is to show that 1--.>th Prakriti and Purusha are Him self. At a step still lower, Sachchidananda became several Pur�1shas and Prakritis. 885. 1 Sea-water appears dark-blue from a distance, but when you take a little of it in your hand, it is all pure and limpid. So Lord Krishna appears azure from a distance, but He is not really so. He is the Absolute, taintless and -colourless. . . 886. Sri Krishna is called T ribhanga, i.e., bent in three different directions. It is only a soft thing that is capable of being twisted. So this form of Sri Krishna implies that He must have been softened in some way or other. The softening in this case is account�d for by Prema, ecstatic Love. o 887. , A devotee: Why 1s the Divine Mother called Yogamaya? � The Master : Yogamaya means the union of Purusha , and Prakriti. Whatever you see is nothing but 1that �nion of th� two. Haven't you seen the Siva-K-,li image-Kali stl!nding on Siva ? Siva is lying prostrate like a corpse and Kali is standing with a fixed gaze upon Siva. All this means the same Pw.tisha-Prakriti union. Purusba ,ts i;. active, hen(.� Siva is_ lying down•inert like a corpse. But 278 Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna
by virtue of the union with Him, Prakriti is doing every
thing-creation,· preservation and destruction. The sa1Tie is the significance �f the coupled image of Radha and Krishna. 888.* The more you advance towards God, the more you will find his attributive grandeur falling off. The first vision an aspirant gets is of the ten-handed form•(Durga) -the form of the Supreme Misy;ess of the universe. In that form there is a great expression of power and grandeur. Next She appears in a twohanded form ; no more· are there the ten arms with all their respective weapons. Next comes the vision of the Gopala form. Here there is absolutely no expression of power and grandeur-it is simply the form of a tender child. There is a vision even superior to this-the vision of the effulgent Light.
DIVINE IMMANENCE
889. God is in all men, but all men are not in God : that is wh� they suffer. • 890. Every object is Narayana (i.e., God). Man is Narayana, the animal is Narayana, the sage is N�rayana. the knave• also is Narayana. All that exists is Narayana. The Deity (Narayana) sports in vario�s aspects. All things are His cij_verse forms and the manifestations of His glory. . 891. Says pod, "I am the snake that bites and the charmer that heals ; I am the judge that condemns a�d the • servant that inflicts the punish�ent." • 89i. .,The manifestation of Sakt�the Divine power) va?ies in varying centrer. of activity·; for vlf.•iety is .the
