GEMS

Sri Ramakrishna at Surendra's house ----

A DEVOTEE : " Then what is the way for those who have not seen God ? Must they give up all the duties of the world ?"

MASTER : " The best path for this age is bhaktiyoga, the path of bhakti prescribed by Narada : to sing the name and glories of God and pray to Him with a longing heart, ' O God, give me knowledge, give me devotion, and reveal Thyself to me !' The path of karma is extremely difficult. Therefore one should pray: ' O God, make my duties fewer and fewer; and may I , through Thy grace, do the few duties that Thou givest me without any attachment to their results ! May I have no desire to be involved in many activities !'

" It is not possible to give up work altogether. Even to think or meditate is a kind of work. As you develop love for God, your worldly activities become fewer and fewer of themselves. And you lose all interest in them.

A DEVOTEE : " The English people always exhort us to be active. Isn't action the aim of life then ?"

MASTER:" The aim of life is the attainment of God. Work is only a preliminary step; it can never be the end. Even unselfish work is only a means; it is not the end.

" Sambhu mallick once said to me, ' Please bless me, sir, that I may spend all my money for good purposes, such as building hospitals and dispensaries, making roads, and digging wells.' I said to him : ' It will be good if you can do these things in a spirit of detachment. But that is very difficult. Whatever you may do, you must always remember that the aim of this life of yours is the attainment of God and not the building of hospitals and dispensaries. Suppose God appeared before you and said to you , " Accept a boon from Me." Would you then ask Him, " O God, build me some hospitals and dispensaries" ? Or would you rather pray to Him: " O God, may I have pure love at Your Lotus Feet ! May I have Your uninterrupted vision !" Hospitals, dispensaries, and all such things are unreal. God alone is real and all else unreal. Furthermore, after realizing God one feels that He alone is the Doer and we are but His instruments. Then why should we forget Him and destroy ourselves by being involved in too many activities ?

FROM: THE GOSPEL OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA - PAGE 452/453

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