1st November 2023- I am a very soft-natured man in spite of the stern Vedantic views I hold. And this proves to be my undoing. At the slightest touch, I give myself away. For, howsoever I may try to think only of my own good, I slip off in spite of myself to think of other people’s interest.
2nd November 2023- The Atman is not the result of any combination of Prana and Akasha, and whatever is not the result of combination, will never be destroyed, because destruction is going back to causes. The gross body is a compound of Akasha and Prana and, therefore, will be decomposed. The subtle body will also be decomposed, after a long time, but the Atman is simple, and will never be destroyed.
3rd November 2023- The Perfect never becomes imperfect. It is in darkness but not affected by the darkness. God’s mercy goes to all, but it is not affected by their wickedness. The sun is not affected by any disease of our eyes which may make us see it distorted.
5th November 2023- Stick to God! Who cares what comes to the body or to anything else! Through the terrors of evil, say– my God, my love! Through the pangs of death, say– my God, my love! Thou art here, I see Thee. Thou art with me, I feel Thee. I am Thine, Take me. Do not go for glass beads leaving the mine of diamonds! This life is a great chance. What, seekest thou the pleasures of the world?– he is the fountain of all bliss. Seek for the highest, aim at that highest, and you shall reach the highest.
6th November 2023- “To work you have the right, but not to the fruits thereof” (Gita). Leave the fruits alone. Why care for results? If you wish to help someone, never think what that person’s attitude should be towards you. If you want to do a great or a good work, do not trouble to think what the result will be.
7th November 2023- Self-restraint is the manifestation of greater power than all outgoing action. … All outgoing energy following a selfish motive is frittered away; it will not cause power to return to you. But, if restrained, it will result in development of power. This self-control will tend to produce a mighty will, a character which makes a Christ or a Buddha. Fools do not know this secret; they nevertheless want to rule mankind.
9th November 2023- Fear never leaves those who earn their livelihoods by unethical means or who cause harm to others. Therefore, at this time when we face the great fear of death, desist from all such behaviour.
11th November 2023- The extremely ignorant do not worship God, not being developed enough to feel the need for so doing. Those that have attained the highest knowledge also do not worship God- having realised and become one with God. God never worships God. Between these two poles of existence, if anyone tells you they are not going to worship God as man, take care of them. They are irresponsible talkers. They are mistaken; their religion is for frothy thinkers, it is intellectual nonsense.
17th November 2023- Ramakrishna has no peer. Nowhere else in the world exists that unprecedented perfection, that wonderful kindness for all that does not stop to justify itself, that intense sympathy for people in bondage. Either he must be the Avatāra, as he himself used to say, or else the ever-perfect divine being, whom the Vedanta speaks of as the free one who assumes a body for the good of humanity. This is my conviction sure and certain.
24th November 2023- Never during his life did Ramakrishna refuse a single prayer of mine. Millions of offenses has he forgiven me. Such great love even my parents never had for me. There is no poetry, no exaggeration in all this. It is the bare truth and every disciple of his knows it.
27th November 2023- Every act of love brings happiness; there is no act of love which does not bring peace and blessedness as its reaction.
The real spiritual man is broad everywhere. His love forces him to be so.
28th November 2023- The Upanishads say, renounce. That is the test of everything. Renounce everything. It is the creative faculty that brings us into all this entanglement. The mind is in its own nature when it is calm. The moment you can calm it, that [very] moment you will know the truth. What is it that is whirling the mind? Imagination, creative activity. Stop creation and you know the truth. All power of creation must stop, and then you know the truth at once. (Discourse on the Gita)
With every breath, every impulse of our heart asks us to be selfish. At the same time, there is some power beyond us which says that it is unselfishness alone which is good.