Self Knowledge: Ramakrishna's Steps To Self Knowledge  

By Shyamal Datta Gupta  

Self Knowledge: Ramakrishna's Steps To Self Knowledge  

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's advice to house-holders is: "A little spiritual discipline is necessary in order to know what lies within. The painter first draws the outlines and then fills in the details and colours at leisure. The moulder first makes the image out of clay, then plasters it, gives it a coat of whitewash, and last of all, paints it with a brush. All these steps must be undertaken successively." This is Ramakrishna's first 'commandment'.

His second commandment is that householders must carry out their worldly duties, but fix their mind on God, so that they act while remaining absorbed in the Self. The mind of the yogi is always fixed on God, and he is completely absorbed in the Self. The house- holder can achieve the yogi's state of mind by performing his duties unselfishly, without desiring results. Chanting God's name and glories while doing household chores or other work helps in achieving this single-minded focus on God.

Ramakrishna's third commandment is: "To practise spiritual discipline is to understand and feel the formlessness of God. Suppose there are treasures in a room. If you want to see them, you must take the trouble to get the key and unlock the door. After that you must take the treasures out in the light. But suppose you lock the room, stand outside the door and say, 'Hey, I've opened the door. Now I have broken the lock of the chest. I have all the treasures'." This would obviously not work.

Ramakrishna's fourth commandment is intense love and bhakti for God. He says: "Vaishnavas divide spiritual seekers into different classes - the beginners, those struggling to see God, the perfected ones and the supremely perfect." He who has just set foot on the path is a beginner. He who has for some time been practising spiritual disciplines, like worship, japa, meditation, the chanting of God's name and His leela, is a struggling soul. He who has known from inner experience that God exists is a perfected soul.

The supremely perfected one is he who thinks of God day and night and beholds Him everywhere. It is like a man seeing flames everywhere after he has gazed fixedly at a flame for some time, says Ramakrishna. One never loses consciousness. So how can a householder be unconscious if he is always thinking of consciousness?

Ramakrishna makes it easy for every householder to seek the Divine within him. The householder's doubts can be removed by God's grace, he says. This grace descends upon the devotee only after he has prayed with intense yearning in his heart and practised spiritual discipline.

For Ramakrishna, God is like a mother who feels compassion for her child when the child comes running to her.

To sustain this intensity, Sri Rama-krishna's fifth commandment to the householder is to seek satsang or holy company.

The householder must be in a state of mind where he does not enjoy any conversation but that of God. Intense continuous yearning makes God come to the householder.

Ramakrishna stresses: "If a householder analyses himself, he does not find any such thing as 'I'. Take an onion and peel off the outer skins. As you peel the layers one after another, you find that ultimately, nothing remains. That is the way to pure consciousness, by peeling away the layers formed on it by ego."

The real nature of Brahman is egoless. A man becomes silent when he attains perfect knowledge of Brahman. Then the 'I' becomes like a salt doll and melts in the ocean of existence and becomes one with it. Ramakrishna says that you need not be a sanyasi or a renunciate to achieve this stage. You can do it even as a householder.

.

.

More from same author see: Shyamal Datta Gupta  

See also: Self Knowledge, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)