M. (to Antevasi) – Whenever you have to send anything to the press - paper, form or book you must record it in the peon book. It helps in maintaining a record. Otherwise it can bring confusion at the end. Maybe that they deny having received it sometime. Man is forgetful, you see. But when you have their signatures they cannot deny.

"You see right execution is so difficult. Just doing a thing is not enough. Primo, one should do a lot in a short time. Two, avoid all confusion. Three, whole of the execution must be beautiful. Four, one should not get bound by work. The nature of all work is to entangle one.

"But if you have the right ideal always present before your eyes, nothing goes wrong. I am taking to work for God-realization - this ideal must remain in the mind. When you do so, the mind would understand that the work is only the path, not the ideal. If one makes it the ideal it brings confusion, one gets entangled.

"Action alone is not enough, one must decide upon the ideal. Whenever the ideal goes low our love of God gets strained. We should then sit in a solitary corner and perform more of dhyana and japa. We should give up work then and take to tapasya. Even if we keep working, fifty percent of our mind must remain in the ideal. If one can keep it in God seventy-five percent it is still better - this was Thakur’s view.

" ‘Keeping seventy-five percent of the mind in God, one should work with twenty-five percent in it,’ so said Thakur. Is selfless work a simple thing? One should do as much of it as one can afford.

"If those persons who are working for progress in worldly life have the correct ideal, their actions are good. Only those who act keeping their mind tied to the ideal act well - whether they act for God or for the world.

"It is said that in the first World War Mr. Bata worked continuously for seventy-two hours sitting in the same chair - he was making shoes for the war. Napoleon as a student also shut himself in a room for three days for solving a problem.

"Shashi Maharaj (Swami Ramakrishnananda) sat on the same seat for seventy-two hours while performing puja during the days of Navratris. Swami Vivekananda did not take any food for three days to fulfill his vow of sannyasa. Thakur remained sitting in Nirvikalpa Samadhi for three days. Besides he spent full six months in Jada Samadhi having given up food and sleep. Lakshman did not sleep for twelve years. All these persons had become one with their ideal.

"If one has to work so hard for worldly wealth, name and fame, how much more should one work for gaining the priceless wealth of eternity? He who sacrifices wealth, mind and body develops the strength of ten thousand elephants."

M. (to Antevasi) – Karmayoga is meant for the spiritual aspirant. The work of one who has attained spiritual perfection is different. A spiritually perfect person is ever united with God. What need is there for him to perform action to get united to Him? Take the consonant k. By adding an akar a it becomes ka. If another akar is added to it, it still sounds the same.

"However much a spiritually perfect person may work, his mind ever remains in samadhi. What a labour Swami Vivekananda underwent in America! Some say that he delivered as many as fifty lectures in a day. Yet he remained in unbroken yoga. He said, ‘O Sannyasin Bold, say, ‘Om Tat Sat!’

"The spirit of his ‘Song of the Sannyasin’ is illustrative of his own life.

"So Swamiji said, ‘The ideal men of work are those who in the midst of intense activity have intense calmness.’ The battle-field of Kurukshetra was the birth place of the Gita. What a riddle!

"It’s only possible for a mahayogi. There is less possibility of a fall if this ideal is kept before himself by a sadhak.

"Though it is very difficult, yet it becomes easy for one who has qualified himself for nishkama Karmayoga, the yoga of selfless work. It’s God Himself who gets nishkama karma done by one or two persons. This is to serve as a lesson to others.

"Karma is not the ideal of life - the ideal is God-realization, Self-knowledge. Nishkama Karma is only the means. One must work keeping in mind a number of things."

M. (to a bhakta) – Besides all the persons with whom one has to work are not sadhus - leave alone siddhas (the perfect ones). They can’t see inside you. So you have to come down to their level to work with them - you have to speak their language and conduct yourself in their way. For this, one needs infinite patience.

"It is possible that they may like to deceive you. But you will not let them. Otherwise you will have to be under them. Here tact is very necessary. If you have to work with a number of persons your must have tact. Thakur’s tact in worldly matters was wonderful indeed! One has to guard all the sides when one takes up a work."

M. (to the attendant) – But if one is earnest in one’s quest of God everything gets arranged by itself. You should always keep Him, Thakur, in mind and pray earnestly, ‘Lord don’t enchant me with Your world-bewitching maya.’

"The bhaktas have to be on their guard with bayonets fixed to their guns, like the soldier in the battle-field. Who knows from which side he may be fired upon. So one has to be on alert, awake always."

M. (to the Brahmachari) – It is nice that the management of the temple is in the hands of the Math. When Kiran Babu is the manager, it is as if the Math is managing it itself. You are blessed that you have been entrusted with the Mother’s worship.

Brahmachari Nagen – It is not possible to carry on in the spirit of a sadhu. One has to frame a policy. This is what defiles the mind.

M. – Let it be so. How many policies did Sri Krishna take recourse to before the battle of Kurukshetra was fought! One has even to use diplomacy when it is needed - not for one’s own profit but to execute His mission. Even causing destruction is in order when it is needed. Sri Krishna did just that. Grandfather Bhishma used to call Krishna a chakri, that is, the king of diplomacy.

M. – What is the concern of the Math with Khayararaje Estate?

Brahmachari Nagen – We only supervise it. It is being managed by others.

M. – But it involves a lot of labour, even to supervise. The whole responsibility rests on your shoulders.

M. (to all present) – Is it anything so little that these British prime-ministers have to do? Undertaking so much work tends to shorten one’s life. Just see, how much strain the viceroy and his associates have! They work here for three or five years. It is generally seen that they do not live long after they return home.

"How can they last after such hard work? It is very difficult to employ the right man - the right man in the right place. It entails so much of labour. Besides what a responsibility it is! The responsibility of the entire state is on his shoulders! There is, of course, the Legislative Assembly, as well as the Executive Council, yet the Viceroy has so much to do - issuing this communique today and that ordinance tomorrow! He has to employ his mind in every direction. Is it so easy ?"

M. (to the Brahmachari) – You will have to work as long as He wants it. One works when there is an order, the order of the guru. The guru’s order is God’s order. The Guru is not a human-being - he is God in human form.

"Is it possible to live without work? Prakritih tvam niyokshyati (Gita, 18:59) - your nature will force you to work. The guru comes and tells how to do it. He says, ‘Do it for me.’ Brahmani adhaya karmani sangam tyaktava (He who acts abandoning attachment, dedicating his deeds to Brahman does not get attached, Gita 5:10) - take to work but in the spirit of selflessness; dedicating its result at God’s feet. By doing so you will rid yourself of work and free yourself from its inevitable result which binds. Because ‘You have given over the result to Me.’ Yogayukto. . . kurvann api na lipyate (one whose mind is purified by Karmayoga, who is self-disciplined, has subdued his senses and sees his self as the self in all beings is not attached though he may be acting. Gita 5:7) Karmabhih na sah bhidyate (he is not bound by actions. Gita 4:14) Yuktah karmaphalam tyaktva shantim apnoti naishthikim (having abandoned the fruit of action, the yogi finally attains peace . . . Gita 5:12).

"Selfless work though difficult indeed, so He assures swalpam api asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat (Gita, 2:40) - that is, the practice of even a little of this dharma protects one from great fear. If you are able to do it a little bit, you will receive a big reward. You will be get rid of fear and bondage.

"He comes in every age to tell the way. That’s how the bhaktas can come out of this labyrinth, this cycle of life and death.

" He came only recently, a few days ago. He teaches human beings through you: this is selfless work. It will yield two results - not only will you be freed, but you will also show them the path to freedom. Thakur fries the fish in its own fat!"

M. (to Vishweswar) – Thakur said that one should give up all work in the evening and engage oneself in thinking of God. Both morning and evening one should regularly take to dhyana, think of Him for sometime.

(Smiling) "He said to a person: you do not meditate. Are you going to end up with the daughter or daughter-in-law of some family? This is how it happens!

"Even that much (such short meditations) is not enough. One can well imagine what happens to those who just gossip! The rishis and munis meditated day and night, yet some of them ended quite another way. One can well imagine them who don’t at all try to meditate on Him. So one must listen to the guru. One must practise dhyana and japa morning and evening, giving up all other work."

The Elder Jiten – We are here only to hear that. The rest is all trash. The basic reality is indeed the essence.

M. – Just saying that all worldly matters are meaningless will not do. They are steps to climb up, to reach the roof. Besides not all the steps are mud and lime, bricks too are there.

"Since He has made all this, it has a meaning. The rishis knew it. So they said: ‘Fear not. It is He who has made them all. Besides, He Himself has become all these’."

M. (to the bhaktas) – Just see, how much confusion He has made with this ‘I’. Since there is ‘I’, there is also ‘You’.

"Besides, this feeling of duality also disappears suddenly. Then there is only ‘I’.

"The ‘I’ of daily eight prahars (one prahar equal three hours) can understand the form, taste, smell, speech and touch (the five senses). But the higher ‘I’ makes one know something (higher), it makes one see God. The yogis see God with this higher ‘I’.

"How can people know the height Thakur had attained - he was always in samadhi.

"All people look alike externally, like sparklers which look alike. But when fired, some of them throw out red sparklets, the others blue. They emit different kinds of sparklets.

"It is the same with human mind - some of them think of worldly matters, the others of God. So they say, there are jewels of men among men themselves."

M. (to the young man) – There are infinite possibilities and potentialities in this ‘I’.

"They place parallel mirrors in the laboratory. When they are placed in front of each other, they give infinite reflections. In the same way, there are infinite possibilities in this ‘I’.

‘The grand-pa eats guavas; he eats both ripe and unripe fruits!’ - I hear the young boys singing this beautiful song these days. ‘The grand-pa eats guavas - he eats the ripe and the unripe, whichever he can find.’ (All laugh loudly).

"They eat the upper fruit as well as the lower one - true to the kindred points of heaven and earth. Just as they look towards God, so also they fix their gaze on the world."

M. (to the Younger Amulya) – Have you come now with them by cab?

The Younger Amulya - Yes Sir.

M. – So you must have seen them (the sadhus). How many were they?

The Younger Amulya – Seven.

M. – You see, this is how you should see sadhus - under some pretext like this. Was Manoranjan there?

M. (to Antevasi) – Please ask Matko (that is Arun, the eldest grandson of M.) to come here with the harmonium. He can sing the song, ‘The grand-pa eats guavas. . .’

M. (to Sudhir) – Do they give you two meals a day? And do you take bath morning and evening? They are all devotees of Shiva.

M. (to himself) – They call him crazy! What they themselves are they don’t know. They are totally mad with desire, anger and greed and they call others crazy! How strange!

M. (to Matko) – I say, sing that song too (to Jagabandhu) the one we learnt to sing in Mihijam.

Jagabandhu – O that one! ‘Vikalpa-vihin . . .’ Thakur’s song!

Morton School, Calcutta.

Tuesday, 29th July 1924

13th Shravana, 1331 (B.Y.)

The 13th day of the dark fortnight, 42 dandas/33 palas.