Ramakrishna Ashrama Penang: Dying and being reborn

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Dying and being reborn

Vijay:: Sir, why are we bound like this? Why don't we see God?
Ramakrishna:: Maya is nothing but the egotism of the embodied soul. This egotism has covered everything like a veil. "All troubles come to an end when the ego dies." If by God's grace a man but once realizes that he is not the doer, then he at once becomes a jivanmukta: though living in the body, he is liberated. He has nothing else to fear.
This maya, that is to say, the ego, is like a cloud. The sun cannot be seen on account of a thin patch of cloud; when that disappears one sees the sun. If by the guru's grace one's ego vanishes, then one sees God.
(pp. 226-227)

Ramakrishna:: In those days of God-vision I felt as if I were passing thorugh a great storm; everything was blown away from me. No trace of my old self was left. I lost all consciousness of the world.
(p. 174)

Ramakrishna:: What is samadhi? It is the complete merging of the mind in God-Consciousness. The jnani experiences jada samadhi, in which no trace of I is left. The samadhi attained through the path of bhakti is called chetana samadhi. In this samadhi there remains the consciousness of I -- the I of the servant-and-Master relationship, of the lover-and-Beloved relationship, of the enjoyer-and-Food relationship. God is the Master; the devotee is the servant. God is the beloved; the devotee is the lover. God is the Food; and the devotee is the enjoyer. "I don't want to be the sugar. I want to eat it"
(p. 312)