Several young men from the village of Dakshineswar entered the room and saluted Sri Ramakrishna. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. They sat down and began to talk with the Master.

YOUNG MAN:

"Sir, what is Knowledge?"

MASTER:

"It is to know that God is the only Reality and that all else is unreal.

That which is the Real is also called Brahman. It has another name: Kala, Time.

There is a saying, 'O brother, how many things come into being in Time and disappear in Time!'

"That which sports with Kala is called Kali. She is the Primal Energy. Kala and Kali, Brahman and Shakti, are indivisible.

"That Brahman, of the nature of Reality, is eternal.

It exists in past, present, and future. It is without beginning or end.

It cannot be described in words. The utmost that can be said of Brahman is that It is of the very nature of Intelligence and Bliss.

"The world is illusory; Brahman alone is real.

The world is of the nature of magic.

The magician is real but his magic is unreal"

YOUNG MAN:

"If the world is of the nature of illusion—magic—then why doesn't one get rid of it?"

MASTER:

"It is due to the samskaras, inborn tendencies. Repeated births in this world of maya make one believe that maya is real.

"Let me tell you how powerful inborn tendencies are.

A prince had, in a previous birth, been the son of a washerman. While playing with his chums in his incarnation as the prince, he said to them:

'Stop those games. I will show you a new one.

I shall lie on my belly, and you will beat the clothes on my back as the washerman does, making a swishing sound.'

"Many youngsters come here. But only a few long for God.

These few are born with a spiritual tendency.

They shudder at the talk of marriage.

Niranjan has said from boyhood that he will not marry.

"More than twenty years ago two young men used to come here from Baranagore.

One was named Govinda Pal and the other Gopal Sen.

They had been devoted to God since boyhood. The very mention of marriage would frighten them.

Gopal used to have bhava samadhi. He would shrink from worldly people, as a mouse from a cat.

One day he saw the boys of the Tagore family strolling in the garden. He shut himself in the kuthi lest he should have to talk with them.

"Gopal went into samadhi in the Panchavati. In that state he said to me, touching my feet:

'Let me go. I cannot live in this world any more. You have a long time to wait. Let me go.'

I said to him, in an ecstatic mood,

'You must come again.' 'Very well, I will', he said.

A few days later Govinda came to me. 'Where is Gopal?' I asked him. He said, 'He has passed away.

Sri Ramakrishna

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Chapter: THE MASTER IN VARIOUS MOODS -

Thursday, October 2, 1884