Vedanta Society of New York - Teachings of Ramakrishna

-Swami Brahmananda, from: The Eternal Companion, p. 187

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna (1836 - 1886)

"Let me tell you one thing. God can be seen... God is known by the mind and intellect that is pure. Therefore it is necessary to seek the company of holy men, practise prayer, and listen to instructions of the Guru. These purify the mind. Then one sees God."

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, tr. Swami Nikhilananda, p. 158

"God cannot be known by the sense-organs or by this mind; but He can be known by pure mind, the mind that is free from worldly desires." - pp. 328-329

"A man is able to see God as soon as he gets rid of ego and other limitations. He sees God as soon he is free from such feelings as 'I am a scholar', 'I am son of such and such person', 'I am wealthy', I am honourable', and so forth.
'God alone is real and all else is unreal, the world is illusory' - that is discrimination. One cannot assimilate spiritual instructions without discrimination." - p. 363

"God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole." - p. 191

"It is not good to feel that my religion alone is true and other religions are false. The correct attitude is this: My religion is right, but I do not know whether other religions are right or wrong, true or false. I say this because one cannot know the true nature of God unless one realizes Him."
- pp. 558-559

"It is not good to feel that one's own religion alone is true and all others are false. God is one only, and not two. Different people call Him by different names. . .It is like the water in a lake. Some drink it at one place and call it 'jal', others at another place and call it 'pani', and still others at a third place and call it 'water'. The Hindus call it 'jal', the Christians 'water', and the Mussalmans (Moslems) 'pani'. But it is one and the same thing. Opinions are but paths. Each religion is only a path leading to God as rivers come from different directions and ultimately become one in the one ocean."
- p. 265

"Some people indulge in quarrels, saying, 'One cannot attain anything unless one worships our Krishna', or, 'Nothing can be gained without the worship of Kali, our Divine Mother', or, 'One cannot be saved without accepting the Christian religion.' This is pure dogmatism. The dogmatist says, 'My religion alone is true and the religion of others are false.' This is a bad attitude. God can be reached by different paths."
- p. 191

"God has made different religions and creeds to suite different aspirants. By no means all are fit for the knowledge of Brahman. Therefore the worship of God with form is provided."
- p. 486

"It is one thing to believe beyond doubt that fire exists in wood, but it is quite another to get fire from the wood, cook rice with its help, appease one's hunger, and be satisfied. These are two entirely different things.
No one can put a limit to spiritual experience. If you refer to one experience, there is another beyond that, and still another, and so on."
- p. 624

"Dive deep. What will you gain by merely floating on the surface? "Renounce everything for a few days, retire into solitude, and call on God with all your soul." - p. 589

"If you ask me how long you should live in solitude away from your family, I should say that it would be good for you if you could spend even one day in such a manner. Three days at a time are still better. One may live in solitude for twelve days, a month, three months, or a year according to one's convinience and ability. One hasn't much to fear if one leads the life of a householder after attining knowledge and devotion." - p. 313

"One thinks of God through His grace."
- p. 817

"One must have stern determination; then alone is spiritual practice possible. One must make a firm resolve." - p. 210

One must have faith in the Guru's words. The Guru is none other than Sat-Chit-Ananada. God Himself is the Guru. If you only believe his words like a child, you will realize God. What faith a child has!. . . The mother says to the child, "There is a bugaboo in that room", and the child really believes there is a bugaboo in the room. Such is the faith of a child! One must have this childlike faith in Guru's words.
God cannot be realized by a mind that is hypocritical, calculating, or argumentative. One must have faith and sincerity. Hypocrisy will not do. To the sincere, God is very near; but He is far, far away from the hypocrite."
- p. 673

"You people speak of doing good to the world. Is the world such a small thing? And who are you, pray, to good to the world? First realize God. See Him by spiritual disciplines. If He imparts power, then you can do good to others; otherwise not." - p. 142

"The more you advance toward God, the less He will give you worldly duties to perform." - p. 367

"Do you know the meaning of Karmayoga? It is surrender to God of all fruit of action." - p. 849

"He who has realized God does not look upon a woman with the eye of lust; so he is not afraid of her. He perceives clearly that women are but so many aspects of the Divine Mother. He worships them all as the Mother Herself." - p. 168

"...God comes first and then the creation. After attaining God you can know everything else, if it is necessary... The one thing you need is to realize God. Why do you bother so much about the world, creation, 'science' and all that?" - p. 672

"Water alone is real; its bubbles appear and disappear. They disappear into the very water from which they rise. God is like an ocean, and living beings are like bubbles. They are born there and they die there. Children are like the few small bubbles around a big one. God alone is real." - p. 788

"He who is attributeless also has attributes. He who is Brahman is also Sakti. When thought of as inactive, He is called Brahman, and when thought of as the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, He is called the Primordial Energy, Kali."
"Brahman and Sakti are identical, like fire and its power to burn. When we talk of fire we automatically mean also its power to burn. Again, the fire's power to burn implies the fire itself. If you accept one you must accept the other." - pp. 107-108