Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Solitude and Holy Company:

The mind cannot dwell on God if it is immersed day and night in worldliness, in worldly duties and responsibilities; it is most necessary to go into solitude now and then and think of God.

- Go to solitude away from worldliness and think of God
- Go to solitude and churn the curd of divine love
- Holy company begets yearning and love for God
- Holy company helps one discriminate between the Real and the unreal
- Remove the typhoid patient from the pickles of the world

Discrimination and Dispassion:

To meditate, you should withdraw within yourself or retire to a secluded corner or to the forest. And you should always discriminate between the Real and the unreal. God alone is real, the Eternal Substance; all else is unreal, that is, impermanent. By discriminating thus, one should shake off impermanent objects from the mind.

- Shake off impermanent objects from the mind
- God is the only Eternal substance
- Discrimination and dispassion are like turmeric
- Leave behind the steps by 'Neti-Neti' and climb the roof
- Beware of 'woman' and 'gold' in this whirlpool of Visalakshi

Faith and Purity:

(One) should practise discrimination and pray to God, 'Give me faith and devotion.' Once a person has faith he has achieved everything. There is nothing greater than faith.

- God with form is the Image of Spirit
- Person with faith achieves everything
- One can easily realize God if one is guileless
- God is knowable by pure mind and intelligence

Calling on God:

God cannot remain unmoved if you have Raga-Bhakti, that is, love of God with passionate attachment to Him. Do you know how fond God is of His devotees' love? It is like the cow's fondness for fodder mixed with oil-cake. The cow gobbles it down greedily.

- Object of study is to find means of knowing God
- One ultimately discovers God by trying to know who this "I" is
- God cannot remain unmoved if you have Raga-Bhakti
- The grace of God falls alike on all His children
- Practice Japa out of yearning and love for God
- Pray to God with a restless heart

Holding on God (Dealing with practical life):

Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Live with all - with wife and children, father and mother - and serve them. Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you.

- Do your duties but keep your mind on God
- First rub your hands with the oil of divine love
- The play of life is enlivened by trouble-makers
- One should pray to God, going now and then into solitude
- Link everything to God
- Hold on to the post of God while you whirl round in the world

Advanced states:

When, hearing the name of Hari or Rama once, you shed tears and your hair stands on end, then you may know for certain that you do not have to perform such devotions as the sandhya any more. Then only will you have a right to renounce rituals; or rather, rituals will drop away of themselves. Then it will be enough if you repeat only the name of Rama or Hari, or even simply Om.

... The sandhya merges in the Gayatri, and the Gayatri merges in Om.

- When hearing the name of God once your hair stands on end
- Various divine forms are seen to rise out of the Great Akasa of Consciousness
- God gives one divine eyes to behold Him
- Satchidananda Himself is the Guru
- Brahman and Shakti are identical like fire and its power to burn
- Truthfulness alone constitutes the spiritual discipline of the Kaliyuga
- God and the Universe form one whole like fruit and its shell
- Tadpole after dropping its tail can live on both water and land
- If you think of God day and night you will acquire the nature of God
- He who has realized God dedicates himself to God
- Knowing that Narayana Himself dwells in this body

Jnana and Vijnana:

The awareness and conviction that fire exists in wood is jnana, knowledge. But to cook rice on that fire, eat the rice, and get nourishment from it is vijnana. To know by one's inner experience that God exists is jnana. But to talk to Him, to enjoy Him as Child, as Friend, as Master, as Beloved, is vijnana. The realization that God alone has become the universe and all living beings is vijnana.

- Knowing fire exists in wood is Jnana but to cook rice on that is Vijnana
- Jnani says the world is a framework of illusion but Vijnani describes it as a mansion of mirth
- He alone who after reaching the Nitya can dwell in the Lila has ripe knowledge and devotion
- It is God Himself who is playing the different parts

Why God?

1. Getting overwhelmed with the sorrows of the world
2. Goal of human life is to love God
3. God alone is real, all else is illusory

Nature of God:

1. God is with and without form
2. God is our inner guide
3. Communion with God is full of bliss
4. God is our very own
5. God creates both good and bad
6. God gives the results of our actions
7. God is like a magnet which attracts a pure mind
8. In every age God incarnates Himself to teach humanity

Nature of Guru:

1. Satchidananda alone is the guru

Nature of Man:

1. Four classes of men
2. Nature of the ever-free

Path to God:

1. Repeating God's name and singing His glories
2. Keeping holy company
3. Going into solitude and meditating on God
4. Discriminating between the Real and the unreal
5. Remembering God while performing worldly duties
6. Crying to God with an intensely yearning heart
7. Keeping away from the evil-minded
8. Having tremendous faith in God
9. Cultivating inner strength
10. Earnestly praying to God
11. Purifying the mind of impurities
12. Following the instructions of the Guru

Things to avoid:

1. Sin begets its own result
2. One should avoid anger

Signs of Spiritual Progress:

1. Hearing the name of God you shed tears
2. Feeling that God alone is the doer and I am a mere instrument

Religion:

1. With deep yearning God may be realised by any path