M. (to Antevasi) – You have to send the copy of the Kathamrita. Please enter it on the peon book and send it. You have to deal with rajasic people in the rajasic way. By sending it with a peon book it will have greater effect. They will think that we are business-like and methodical. They will apply greater attention to it.

"It is very difficult to carry out work in the world — the right work. Only the work for God is the right work. But those who have no faith in God, those who work for themselves and enjoy it’s fruit will have to be very methodical.

"Just note, how the people of the West work? There is not the least mistake in it. They work with their mind and soul. The external matters in their case are very right. There is only difference with the inner sSelf. The devotees work for God, but they work for their selfish end. We should only learn from them how to attend to external matters. They will also enter gradually within themselves. They will gradually begin to believe in God. In the beginning, it will be sakama (with worldly motives). Thereafter, it will be nishkama (without any desire).

"One should take whatever good one can find anywhere. Then alone the heart is broadened. Like the bee, one should gather the good and make a beautiful beehive. Then one should dedicate it to God."

Jagabandhu (to M.) – Some people say that there is repetition in the Kathamrita.

M. – If a man does not like repetition it means that he has not gained bhakti. Can there ever bhe repetition of the words of Eternal Life? Only the Eternal Life, God, is without fault!

"Aha, what shall I say? You people have not seen the avatara. You would have been enchanted on seeing him. Everything about him is beautiful. How he rises or sits, moves or conducts himself, takes bath or food, sleeps or dreams, loves or scolds, observes silence or speaks — every thing beautiful about him. Beautiful, enjoyable and sweet. Every thing about him is sweet. ‘Bring the umbrella’ — even this is a waterfall of that amrita. Is it possible in a man!

"So long as there is the sense of form, of taste, of smell, of sound and of touch there is the mind. When the mind is there, one is aware of happiness and grief, good and bad. That’s why, Thakur wept when Adhar Sen passed away. He said crying:: Mother, why have yYou bound me with bhakti? The mind stays lower in bhakti. One feels grief for the bhakta. One wishes that the devotee maymight remain safe. If anything happens to Keshab whom shall I talk to about You, Mother when I go to Calcutta. His intimate disciples had not yet reached him. An unparalleled personality! He can be compared only to himself."

M. (hintinghinting at the sStout Sudhir, to all) – There is no worry at all. This one can understand very well. He worries about our body. And Hhe also worries about our atman. Just see, the earth, the water, the fire, the air, the sky and then the sun, the moon, the cereals and so on, all these are there for the body. And then, He sends the avatara for atman. There is no worry. Move about whistling. You are the child of the All-blissful Mother! Why are you joyless? Enjoy yourself, enjoy.

M. (gazing at the stars in the sky) – Just see, they are our neighbours. Are they not so because we don’t know them? Because we do not know who is doing what in his house at Shyam Bbazar, does it mean that he is doing nothing?

"That’s why, they say so (about the yearning) for God realization — Dadar o phlar (the same trouble with the elder brother). You know that parable. A frog ate too much. Its stomach was bloated. At that moment, a dead cow was floating in the stream. Its body was also swollen because of the air that had entered it. The frog saw it and said, ‘I see, it is dadar o phlar.’ The frog thought that the cow’s belly has also swollen by eating too much like it. (Laughter). So it had the same trouble as it had.

(Gazing at the stars, to himself) "I have the same state as yours. It is by His grace that I have realized that we are living in His Brahmanda (universe).

"The rishis say that even Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara are not able to find Him. The Devi Bhagavata says: Brahma went to have the darshan of the Mother of the Universe. The gatekeeper said, ‘Wait a while. How many faced Brahma are you?’ Brahma said, ‘Four faced.’ The gatekeeper said, ‘O, O so you are four faced Brahma! Wait for a while. The fifty faced Brahma has gone in to have the darshan. Which is your region? Perhaps, the smaller Brahmanda.’

"Such is the affair — higher, one higher than the other. But there is none higher than Him. He is His own creation."

The Elder Jiten – Somebody has written the life of Mohammed. What a beautiful description of his death!

M. – Aha, Thakur’s description is indeed beautiful. The boy went to sleep. The breast of the mother got detached from his mouth. This is what is death — one falls asleep while sucking at the mother’s breast. Why do people consider death as horrible? It looks like that from a distance. When one comes close, it is nothing at all. It is only the breast of the mother getting detached from the mouth.

"What is amateur religion? One attends the office wearing choga-chapkan (loose garment resembling a surplice). In between they all gather one day and arrange a small function in the name of God. Such amateur religion cannot avail anything.

"And about knowing Him by intellect? Mind and intellect are external conditions. That’s why, the yogis take to Ashtanga sadhana (yoga of eight observances). One should observe Yama, Niyama and so on. Without them religion is not possible. All these are morals. Every religion contains them. The first step in religion is Yama and Niyama — morals. He who does not observe them, his religion is in vain.

"So one should call on hHim at a fix hours. One should look for Him within oneself. One should take to dhyana. Otherwise, why have the yogis taken to all this.

"I am very intelligent. I will beat him with my intellect. The crow also thinks that it is very clever. But it dies while eating the excreta of others.

"What is the use of a Mutual Admiration Society? You are great! No, you are great! Aha, what an intellect you have! Can one attain Him by intellect?

"Thakur said to a particular devotee, ‘Just dive a little. By divingdiving, you will gain many gems and jewels. What will it avail if you just swim on the surface?’

"He is both inside and outside. You have been gazing outside. Now look within.

"Krishna said to Arjuna, ‘Tasmat yogi bhava Arjuna (Arjuna, become a Yogi).’

"If you do so, you will not have to take ‘excreta’. ‘Excreta’ means the girdle of woman and gold. You will not have to live within it.

"What a man was Keshab Sen — how much of lecturing, running of the Brahmo Samaj, preaching and what not he did., eEven to him Thakur said, ‘You are sitting in a dark room, getting a little light from the chink. And that’s what you see. You have never gone out to stand in the open field. When you will go there, you see quite another thing — a flood of light.’ ‘In the field,’ in other words to renounce all by forsaking woman and gold.

"What will you gain by thinking yourself to be intelligent? What is the reach of your intellect! A children’s book talks of ‘the marriage of the elder moth’. You are but a moth, why do you talk like an elephant?"

M. (to the devotees) – Many times I sit down thinking how fast I have put on so many years. I have become old. I have not been able to even meditate on Him for a little while. What can man understand by so little (intellect)?

"The mark of a yogi is that his mind is always at the higher level — never low down.

"It is beautifully said in the Upanishad. On Sseeing the LordLord, the face looks like a blooming lotus. On seeing it people stand wonderstruck.

"The acharya says, ‘What has happened to you? On seeing you in this way, I feel you have attained God. Undoubtedly, you see Him within.’

"The acharya says to Satyakama, ‘Brahmavidiva va saumya bhasi .(you become serene when you know the Brahman).’ "

M. (to Mohan) – The rishis clearly say, ‘By His grace we have known God.’ They say —–

"Nanyaha pantha vidyate aynaya, that is to say, there is no other way to it. The play stops only when He has been realized. So one should meditate on Him. The rishis have realized Him by Dhyana Yoga (the yoga of meditation)."

M. (to the devotees) – But Thakur attained Him in this way as well as in other. Like the rishis he lost himself in the Indivisible Sachchidananda continuously for six months. God then sent a Vaishnava sadhu for the preservation of his body. Beating him with a wooden ruler he would bring him out into some external consciousness and feed him a mouthful of milk and rice. That is how his body was preserved.

"And when he came down he would see the whole universe full of Consciousness.

"And he used to see so many forms of the Mother, the Mother of the Universe — he would see Her as a human being with a Banarasi Sari on her. Sometimes, he would see Her playing the Veena; sometimes She was standing midst people filling a whole room with little bells on Her feet and loose flowing loose hair. She came in Keshab’s house in a Banarasi Sari before the latter’s demise.

"Thakur had Her darshan through all paths — Jnana Yoga, Dhyana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Besides, in so many attitudes of Dualism, Monism and qualified Monism.

"Aha, what a clear statement of the rishis: Vedahmetam — I have known Him. Tamasah parastat — His dwelling place is behind ignorance. He dwells on the other side of the affection and illusion of the world. If you wish to conquer death, if you wantill to get rid of the fear of death, know Him. Death means both birth and death, for one inevitably accompanies the other. They both go together. You will have to go beyond it. This cycle of birth and death is the other name of death. Crossing over to the other side, you see God,. tThe Eternal Bliss, Sachchidananda. There ashiva (non-divine) becomes Shiva (divine); death becomes immortality; fear becomes non-fear; restlessness becomes peace; momentary pleasure becomes unceasing joy; man becomes a god."

M. (to the devotees) – Thakur said, ‘So long as there is thread on the reel there is no way of getting away from birth and death.’ Reel means the mind and thread signifies desire. One has to burn the worldly-desire, the desire for sensory enjoyment, the ajnana (ignorance) by the desire for God, the desire for immortality. It is then that one has His darshan.

"This time he has shown an easy way. Weep secretly in a solitary corner in earnestness for Him like a child crying for his mother. Thakur initially went by this very path. In the KaliyugaKaliyuga, hard austerities are not possible. That’s why, this easy natural path."

M. (to the Doctor) – What has happened to your car? Has he been caught? What botheration all this! On the one handhand, it makes one’s work so easy, on the other what a nuisance! Who has opened it and what has he has taken away? Now one has to run after him. How careful one has to be about so many matters! Is worldly life so simple?

"If one becomes lax in it, one’s mind also becomes lax in God. The more you take the mind outward, the more it is unnecessarily expended. It goes to woman and gold. And one dies as one pays its tax. When will one call on God?

"Those who do not have their mind in God, may give their mind in it. This will bring them peace. Everybody wants peace — God is Himself the Self of peace. Without peace there is no happiness.

"The devotees must follow the middle path. They should engage themselves in the world with one hand and hold God with the other. Thus they will attend to this side without unnecessarily expending their mind."

M. (to the Doctor) – I see that many people bring a car from the company on hire. They bring it in the morning along with the chauffeur. At night,s he takes it back. There is no problem in this way. Even if it is there, it is not a big one.

"It has this advantage that one has no time to say, ‘Mine, mine.’ ‘Me and mine,’ this indeed is ajnana (ignorance)!

(Suddenly becoming grave) "Oh, what a great thing Thakur has said, ‘Me and mine are ajnana.’ "

The Elder Jiten – Yes Sir, this is right.

M. – If you kindly say this then alone it is right, otherwise not. (Everybody laughs).

"So long as your mind is in this side you will have to look to all — your car, your house, your practice. You will have to look to all these. He asked us to keep two swords — one of jnana, the other of karma.

"Itf one only attends to karma, one loses one’s jnana. On the other hand, if one only attends to the other world this world goes.

"Even so if He graciously pulls one towards Him, one doesn’t have to worry about this side. He says, ‘Tasya karyam na vidyate.’ What is this sloka?"

A Particular bhakta –

[But the man who rejoices in the Self, is satisfied with the Self, and centred in the sSelf, for him verily there is no obligatory duty.]

"Just see how one gets exemption. If you always keep your mind in God, you have no karma to perform. Once he (Lord Krishna) said to Arjuna, ‘Without work you cannot even preserve your body.’ But here he says that he who is satisfied with the Self has no work to perform. It looks like a contradiction. But in reality it is not so. How? For He takes the responsibility of him who is absorbed in samadhi. He says, ‘Yoga kshemam vahami aham,’ (Gita 9:22). It means that He Himself takes the responsibility for the preservation ofof preserving the body of him who is absorbed in samadhi."

Antevasi – Does He take the responsibility only for the time when one is absorbed in samadhi? Does He not take the burden when one has external consciousness?

M. – He then takes the burden too. He also takes the burden of those who in their state of external consciousness spend their time only in divine talk and meditation upon Him. Hasn’t He said, ‘I provide gain and security to tesam nitya abhiyuktanam (those who are ever united).’ (Gita 9:22).

"He is the father and mother of all in the world. He looks after all according to His law. But he who meditates on Him with one mind, He takes the burden of preserving his body in His own hands."

M. (to the devotees) – Till that state of ananyachinta (of worshippingthinking of Him alone) is reached, one has to look after both sides. Can man give up his efforts just by wishing it? He Himself rids one of one’s efforts.

"This effort too comes from Him. And it is He who rids one of it. But effort alone does not solve the problem. That too happenscomes by His grace. Even so, He enjoins upon us to make effort.

"Thakur said, ‘Meditation on me alone will do.’ So one should meditate on him in time. And take to worldly work after telling Hhim about it. One should proceed this way. While one is doing so, one attains His darshan after many births and deaths — aneka janma samsiddhah tatah yati param gatim (Gita 6:45). (Perfected through many births one then reaches the supreme Goal). But to some He grants His darshan even in one birth, in this very life."

Calcutta

Wednesday, 27 August 1924

11th of Bhadra, 1331 (B.Y.)

The 12th day of the dark fortnight

15 Dandas / 48 Palas.