1.

Surpati’s Other Companion ­ Without studies, how can one be cultured?

M. (interrupting him) ­ Culture will result from thinking upon Him. Can just reading two pages bring culture? It comes by praying to Him.

"Why, Thakur hardly learnt reading or writing. How did he get it? I saw such highly learned men seated at his feet, folding their hands. Latu Maharaj was also quite unlettered, yet how many persons worship him now!

"So Christ said, ‘Do not lean on a broken reed, for such is man.’ Do not depend on this weak man, depend on God."

Jagabandhu ­ All the disciples of Christ were unlettered. Some were fishermen, others, something else.

M. ­ Yes, all his intimate disciples were fishermen. Christ called out Peter and said, ‘Come and follow me. (Mathew 4:19).’ Peter was mending his fishing net at that time. Peter replied, ‘Where shall I get food and clothes without working?’ Christ then reprimanding him said, ‘O, ye of little faith, you cannot see that God arranges food and clothing for all. Even the animals and birds are provided with food and covering to sustain their life.

" ‘Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they (Mathew 6:26)?’

"He said: Don’t worry about these things like worldly men, mad for sensory enjoyments. He said so with a lot of contempt. You should rather meditate on God. ‘For these things the nations of the earth seek after, seek ye rather the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 6:33).’"

"Thakur too said, ‘Don’t worry for all these things, for all these.’ These things, that is to say house, money, society, wife, son and so on. You only think upon Him. He will take care. If you take refuge in Him, He will bear your burden. Thakur used to say this to his intimate disciples.

"Christ also said something else to Peter: Give up fishing. Follow me, you will catch human fish ­ ‘I will make you fishers of men.’ In other words, the world will worship you.

"How did he get his culture?

"Christ was himself illiterate, but hearing him speak such words of wisdom, the rabbis well versed in scriptures would be dumbfounded. And in wonder they would say, ‘Wherefrom this young son of Joseph, the carpenter, got this wisdom? He was not at all literate.’

"The same with Thakur. Dr. Mahendra Sarkar, such a great devotee of science, said to him, ‘It is not possible to match you in words.’ The world famous Keshab also said, ‘There is none like him in the world. He should be preserved in a glass-case.’ "

"Thakur said something else to Mahendra Sarkar, ‘Let me see, tell me what has happened to me? I am a fool, even so, why do these English-men come to me?’ "

M. (to all present) ­ The Veda says: kasminnu bhagavo vijnate sarvamidam vijnatam bhavati [Master, what is that by knowing which every thing is known?] Rishi Saunak was the chancellor of the Naimishyaranya Gurukul. Some ten thousand students it had. Seeing that there was no end to worldly knowledge and that this knowledge was incapable of bringing peace to the mind, he has put that question to Rishi Angiras, viz. which is that knowledge gaining which one gains all knowledge. His reply: By para vidya ­ that is to say by knowing God one gains all knowledge."

M. (to a bhakta) ­ What does the Gita say ­ Yam labdhva…?

A bhakta ­

[And having gained which, he thinks that there is no greater gain than that, wherein established, he is not shaken even by the heaviest affliction. (Gita 6:22)]

M. (to all present) ­ The Veda and the Gita say that by knowing Him everything is known. Besides, the Veda says: etadatmamidam sarvam. He is the support of the whole world. When one knows Him, Sarasvati, the goddess of learning comes to reside in one’s throat. Thakur said, ‘Then, the Mother keeps on pushing portions of jnana.’

"Such a learned pundit was Swami Dayananda Sarasvati. He and Thakur met in the Nainan Bagan of the Tagore family. Keshab Sen was also there. As soon as he saw him, Thakur went into samadhi. Then a person (Vishwanath Upadhyaya) said to Swami Dayananda, ‘Have you attained this stage?’ He replied, ‘No, I am seeing that he (Thakur) has attained that state about which I have read in scriptures.’ And he also said, ‘I have the pride of learning.’

"When one has pride, samadhi does not occur. Any pride, whether it is of learning or any other."

M. (to Surpati’s companion) ­ Which do you call culture, this pride or being in presence of Brahman?

"Listen, such a great personality himself confesses that he has the pride of learning. And, therefore he does not get samadhi.

"If studies could bring the knowledge of Brahman, there would be no rescue. Just see, without reading or writing, Thakur was at the highest point of culture, all the twenty-four hours, throughout his life.

"Which is culture, learning or Self-realisation, God-realisation?"

A Particular Bhakta ­ We have heard only from you that the subtle body needs food. It sharpens the intellect, it fortifies the power of judgement and reasoning. It helps the meditation on Brahman.

M. ­ Yes, that is right. At the end, giving up learning, one takes to sadhana. Then, one throws the books away. How the Object is attained, he longs for that.

"Knowledge is only the means, it is not the end. The end is God-realisation.

"Gaining knowledge does not consist in devouring a lot of information. If it does not help to concentrate the mind, it is all useless.

"Giving up knowledge to take to sadhana ­ that leads to attainment of the Object. Then, one become child-like as Thakur was. The Veda describes the different states of Brahmin, that is to say a knower of Brahman. Pandityam nirvidya balyena tisthaseet. Giving up learning, one becomes childlike. One becomes quiet, then one attains the Object.

"Thakur used to say: The end of the education and reason are faith ­ faith in the words of the guru. Then comes sadhana on instruction from the guru. At last, one gains the Object by God’s grace.

"He who has no faith in the guru’s word takes to reading. When he sees by labouring in this way that there is nothing in it, he puts his faith in the guru’s words. He belongs to the second class. He who has faith in guru’s words from the beginning is of the first class. Without giving up all pride, without being humble, one cannot attain Him.

"The Vedas have the story of Narada. Even when he had gained every kind of knowledge, Narada did not attain peace. At Rishi Sanat Kumar’s teaching, he gave up all pride and practising sadhana with humility, had God realisation. Then he had peace.

"Svetaketu also underwent this state. Having gained worldly knowledge, he became proud, anuchanavachi. He also obeying his father Aruni Rishi practised Sadhana with humility and realised the Self and obtained peace.

"Saunak also became restless after acquiring knowledge in the same way. He also took shelter under Rishi Angiras with humility. He also attained the knowledge of Brahman under his instruction and became peaceful.

"But Satyakama Jabali put faith in the guru’s words from the beginning. He attained the knowledge of Brahman while grazing cows."

2.

M. (to the devotees) ­ It is right to acquire knowledge to know that one cannot attain param shantim (transcendental peace) by means of it. Persons given mainly to reasoning should know all this. Their doubt does not leave them in any manner. Understanding this, throwing away all the books, weeping and crying ‘Mother, Mother’ is the right thing.

"Thakur wept and wept and then attained the knowledge of Brahman. This is the straight easy path of this age. That’s why, Thakur took to this path for the training of humanity. The creature of Kali Yuga is weak, he has no strength of mind, his life depends on food and he has a short life. His mind is restless. So Thakur prescribed: Take shelter under Him and cry. You will attain thereby.

"Everything about him was for the training of humanity ­ this he said himself.

"Thakur attained Nirvikalpa samadhi in three days. Totapuri was wonder-struck on seeing it. Amazed, he said, ‘Oh man, what is this?’ Totapuri himself practised continuously for forty years and then he was able to gain samadhi. At the end, he realised that Thakur was an avatara. Thakur spoke of it to us.

"Thakur used to call the Nirvikalpa samadhi as jada samadhi. In that state, there is neither one nor two ­ there is nothing. One can not tell by mouth what happens within that state. Even so, if somebody is bold enough to speak, he can only say that there is One in which there is no second associated, ekamevadvitiyam [There is only one, no second]. In other words, relativity is completely annihilated, only one Absolute Existence remains.

Surapati ­ How is it?

M. ­ If you want to understand it, take to tapasya first. Then seek. The Veda says: All the younger rishis, taking firewood for the yajnas in their hands, went to ask a question. The older rishis said, ‘Sons, first go and perform tapasya for a year. I will tell you then.’ Tapasya concentrates the mind. Unless one is humble, He doesn’t give darshan.

M. (to the bhaktas) ­ Chaitanya Deva was a great pundit of Vedanta and Nyaya. He defeated the world famous Pundit Keshab Kashmiri. And he was only sixteen then. He gained so much knowledge in such a young age. He had knowledge of the six angas of the Vedas, viz. shiksha, kalpa, vyakarana, nirukta, chhanda and jyotish. Ultimately, giving up all these, he took to uttering ‘Krishna, Krishna’. He was then twenty. At twenty-four, he embraced sannyasa.

"Once he went to Kashi. There, Sri Prakashananda was the greatest of sannyasis. Chaitanya Deva came across him in a meeting. There, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sat on the foot-mat away, in front. Prakashananda asked him, who had taken Chaitanya Deva there, where was his bhakta. He replied, ‘There you see him seated.’ Prakashananda then called out aloud, ‘Come here, do come here.’ Chaitanyananda joining his hands said, ‘Lord, I am all right here.’

"Prakashananda asked, ‘Why don't you say soham (I am He) even though you have embraced sannyasa? Why do you say Krishna, Krishna?’ Chaitanya replied most humbly, ‘Lord, my guru, knowing me to be a man of low eligibility, has directed me to do so.’ Seeing his humility, Prakashananda was happy and said, ‘Good, you will attain just by this.’

"Later on, a kirtan (community singing of the devotional songs) was going on one day somewhere. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu uttering ‘Krishna, Krishna’ aloud was completely overwhelmed by emotion and entered samadhi at last. No movement then. Seeing this Prakashananda came and suddenly fell at his feet.

"(To a devotee from Orissa) In Puri, in your province, seeing Chaitanya as a young man of twenty four, Vasudeva Sarvabhaum asked him why he had embraced sannyasa at such a young age. ‘Let me see your tongue,’ said he. When he stuck out his tongue, he placed a little sugar on it. In a moment, the sugar flew away in the air, as if it had been placed on a paper. Seeing this Sarvabhaum said, ‘I see that you have gained control over your senses.’

"And on another occasion, Sarvabhaum said, ‘You are a sannyasin. Study Vedanta. Sannyasis should study Vedanta.’ He replied, ‘All right, Lord.’"

M. (to Gadadhar) ­ I say, speak out some names of (the books of) Vedanta, Upanishads.

M. ­ Well done, well done, blessed you are. How many names of the books of Vedanta you have memorised!

M. (to the bhaktas) ­ Vedanta, that is Upanishads. Because, they are at the end of the Vedas, they are called Vedanta. The Vedas contain karmakanda (instructions about religious ceremonies, particularly yajnas) and jnanakanda (instructions about jnana). This jnanakanda is called Upanishad. Besides, Vedanta means the philosophy of the Vedanta written by Veda Vyasa ­ Vedanta Darshan. Seen superficially, the Upanishads contain many contradicting things. Veda Vyasa has harmonised them. They are all compiled as sutras (aphorisms). There was no printing press then. How much can a man memorise? So they took to it, to memorise sutras.

M. (to all present, after repeating the above) ­ Then, they (Sarvabhaum and Chaitanya Deva) take to the philosophy of Vedanta. Sarvabhaum explains while Chaitanya Deva listens. And perhaps, it continued for seven days. Chaitanya Deva did not say a word, neither yes nor no. He just went on listening. When Sarvabhaum said, ‘I say, perhaps you don’t understand what I am saying.’ He replied, ‘Lord, when you read the sutra, I understand it but the commentary I don’t.’ In other words, he was apparently criticising the commentary by Shankara.

"Twisting the text, Shankara had put bhakti into confusion at many places, while Chaitanya had accepted both jnana and bhakti."

M. (to the devotees) ­ Chaitanya Deva’s divine disposition was manifested somewhat even in his childhood. Raghunandan was his school friend. Chaitanya wrote a book on Nyaya at an early age. Raghunandan also wrote a book on Nyaya.

"Both of then were once sailing on the Ganga in a boat. They compared the two books then. Seeing Chaitanya’s book, Raghunandan said that nobody would touch his book, when the other book was published. Chaitanya threw his book in the Ganga, as soon as he heard Raghunandan say so. He said, ‘What use will it be?’

"He had not been to Gaya till then, nor had he met Ishwar Puri. He had understood that the book was of no use. What was the need for learning? Sarasvati (the goddess of learning) was seated in his throat, you see."

M. (to Gadadhar) ­ Please recite from memory something from Yajnavalkya.

Gadadhar ­ na va are patyuh kamaya patih priyo bhavati atmanstu kamaya patih priyo bhavati. Na va are jayayai kamaya jaya priya bhavati atmanstu kamaya jaya priya bhavati etc. (Taittiriya Upanishad, conversation of Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi).

M. (to Surapati) ­ One should commit it to memory. It is what he (Thakur) said too. By reciting it, the mind works on it. One feels joy oneself and can give joy to others too.

"Those who think and meditate upon Thakur do not take long to understand all this. They can understand it effortlessly. (Pointing at Gadadhar) Doesn’t he meditate on Him? So it has become easy for him."

The Doctor ­ How should one practice dhyana?

M. ­ Contemplate His lotus feet. And when you have to talk to others, talk of Him. Think upon Him in sleep, in dream and while awake.

Morton School, Calcutta,

Sunday, 9th November, 1924,

23rd of Kartik, 1331 (B.Y.),

The 13th day of the bright fortnight,

33 Dandas/25 Palas.