Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna used to say to his intimate disciples, "Whatever is here is all for educating you, for making you attain the essence of Brahman..." ‘Whatever is here’ means Sri Ramakrishna’s conduct. And he would often say, "Just by coming here you will attain." In other words, by coming here, there would be direct contact with his words and conduct. His conduct, seen from another point of view, was the conduct of the Mother of the Universe. He and the Mother were the same.

Thakur used to say, "Ma, I am seeing that in this body, mind, intellect and all, it’s You who are residing. It’s You who are getting everything done through this body, mind and intellect."

Sometimes he would say, "Ma, I am the house, You are the housewife, I am the chariot, You the charioteer; I do as You make me do, I speak as You make me speak."

For M., Sri Ramakrishna’s conduct comprised his appearance, speech and practices ­ all these. That’s why he always followed the Master in his conduct. And he would exhort the doubting bhaktas whose minds had been affected by modern foreign education to do likewise. As for himself, till his late years he considered even the minutest details of Thakur’s conduct as priceless wealth.

In the Dakshineswar Temple, M. would do exactly as Thakur did before the Mother Bhavatarini or Radhakanta ­ he would put his cloth round his neck and lie prostrate on the ground before them. And like Thakur, he would put the holy vermilion mark on his forehead, take charanamrita (sacramental water), pray humbly with folded hands, make an offering of a coin and so on.

Seeing him do so, the modern educated young men would be wonder-struck. Some of them leaving aside hesitation would say in his presence, "What use is all this? This sort of thing is done by the uneducated rustic widows. What use is it for the educated?" In reply, M. would humbly say, "This is what is known as bhakti."

By imitating the avataras in the performance of rituals, their influence keeps getting imprinted unknowingly on the mind. This influence, these repetitions when followed and repeated again and again become powerful. The adverse influence of the earlier sanskaras (tendencies and impressions) and of the earlier education, which has taken hold of the mind, comes in clash with these practices of the avatara. This gains a renewed speed by the contact of whole-time men, who have taken the vow to follow the life, teachings and the practices of that God-man and devotees. Man’s own effort combined with the teachings and ever imitation-worthy actions of the all-renouncing sadhus and bhaktas help rid him of his previous sanskaras.

Thakur used to say, "Don’t try perforce to give up your conduct born of your sanskaras. When the time comes, they will free you themselves." Man’s life is the sum total of various tendencies born of sanskaras. These tendencies are first inherited from the parents and the other near ones. Then, they are formed by the company one keeps and the education one has received. Besides, there are the sanskaras of the previous births, which come in the shape of prarabdha. Only the practices and teachings of a great man can save one from the powerful and mighty education evil effects of these false teachers. The avatara is the greatest of great men, such as Sri Ramakrishna.

This very conflict between the two powerful forces constitutes the bhakta’s life, the divine life. Man cannot always remain submerged in higher thoughts. Food, sleep and so on, the natural functions of man pull him down to lower levels; By force they immediately take him in the opposite direction of his weak good thoughts. Sri Krishna said so to Arjuna: prakritisvam niyokshyati [Nature will compel you. (Gita:18:59)]. Nature is nothing but the aggregate of the former sanskaras. It can only be conquered by God in human form. That is why the rituals of the avataras or the great men must be imitated.

Thakur said again and again, "You must bring the musical notation to your fingers." Sri Ramakrishna had brought to his fingers to perfection the notation of the music of human life. This is what is known as sadachara (the right conduct) in the Vedas. In religious life, they are of utmost importance, especially in modern times in the beginning, when one takes to spiritual practices.

If one peels a raw mango, the mango is lost. If the husk is taken off before paddy is ripe, there is no grain; one does not get the life-sustaining rice. Of all the rituals, the rituals of the avatara are worth following, worth imitating.

Rituals, mythology and philosophy, i.e. the practices, the history of the life of the ancient great souls and the narration of the essence of the Self ­ all these three are needed in religious life. By discarding rituals and the lives of the ancient great men, philosophy will only terminate at the intellectual level, it will not enter the heart and will not bear any fruit in life. The lives of the great pundits of scriptures prove it.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say, "A mere pundit looks (worthless) like straw. But when I see a pundit, learned in scriptures, a follower of religious practices of the great men, who has taken the vow of discovering the essence of the Self and is a man of discrimination and dispassion, I consider him to be a good man and I offer him my respects." Of the pundits without religious practice, he would say: The kite and the vulture fly high but their eyes remain fixed to the carrion house, that is to say, on sense-pleasures, woman and gold. Thakur would give high praise to Pundit Padmalochan. Why? Because, he followed the religious practices of the great men, carried out spiritual practices, carried out tapasya (austerities). Thakur also loved Pundit Shashadhar Tarka-Churamani. That’s why, he asked him to impart religious teaching to men but after acquiring some more knowledge of the essence of Brahman by spiritual practice and worship.

To talk of religion without experiencing the essence of religion by spiritual practice is insipid, like a toy custard apple, or like the shadow of a mango in water. That’s why M. would exhort the devotees in so many ways to follow and imitate Sri Ramakrishna’s practices. The following incident will testify this fact.

On the 4th of November, 1924, at night, M. said to a young modern educated devotee full of bookish knowledge whose doubting mind was critical of all religious practices, "Kindly find out in which house the Goddess Singhavahini is at present. Thakur had seen the same Singhavahini and before Her, he had prostrated on the ground. Having taken some sacramental water, he had prayed worshipfully with folded hands, ‘Ma, please don’t delude me by your Maya. Please remain awake always in my heart.’ Thereafter, meditating on the Mother in his heart, he went into samadhi. Singhavahini is the awakened Devi."

With M.’s permission, the bhakta went about in the city of Calcutta early in the morning of the next day. On enquiry at a couple of places, he came to know that the Singhavahini was now being worshipped in the Matisheel house. The devotee went to this house in Calootola and had Mother’s holy glimpse. Willy-nilly, he exactly followed Thakur in his worship of the Mother ­ he lay prostrate on the ground to offer Her his pranams. Folding his hands, he said, "Ma, please wake in my heart." Then he sat down to meditate for a while. Thereafter, taking some sacramental water, he took leave of Her to depart.

When the devotee returned to M., the first thing he asked him was whether he had followed Thakur’s practice. The devotee replied in the affirmative but added: "Though I did imitate Thakur, it was all like a parrot. What I had heard from your lips, I repeated ­ not from the heart ­ but merely by speech and intellect." When M. heard him say so, he was very happy. Said he, "This is what is called bhakti, devotion."

He added, "This practice will take the mind off other external actions and establish it one day in this practice of the great man, the avatara. The mind never sits quiet, by nature it is restless. Pulling the mind off the externals and trying to bind to the practices of the great men is what is called tapasya."

And he said, "Later on, this very action will enter the heart. From the mouth, it will go to the mind and from the mind it will enter the heart. Tying this divine treasure within the heart like an anchor with the rope of the intellect, the man will then fight with the demonic (asuric) tendencies accumulated from life to life. By fighting in this way, he will receive every help from the inspiring great precepts of the avatara and the living Veda of the avatara’s life.

"If the religious practitioner comes out victorious in his fight in this very life, he will attain the Essence of the Self (atma-tattva), he will win victory over death. He attains the highest aim of human life ­ to see God, to realise the Self. He liberates himself from the terrible cycle of birth and death, and attains the highest peace, happiness and bliss. He succeeds in life and his task is done.

"And if he is defeated, in accordance to Sri Krishna’s assurance in the Gita, he is born in a family of the yogis and attains this rare knowledge of the Self in that life.

"So, the religious practices of the avatara must be imitated. This will bestow three benefits ­ first, one will attain peace and joy in this very life; second, there will be joy in death; and third, there will be joy even in the beyond-death. Birth and death will then be taken as mere incidents and there will be joy, nothing but joy."

In the 10th part of M., the Apostle & the Evangelist, the reader will find an account of the bliss of God-realisation attained by Thakur, the Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda and Thakur’s intimate disciples headed by M. through their practices.

Humbly,

The Author.

Sri Ramakrishna Math (Tulsi Math),

Rishikesh (Himalayas),

Snan Purnima, 1970.