All New Trends by Catagiri

SRI RAMAKRISHNA'S QUOTES ON "EGOTISM" - PART 2

"I" IS IGNORANCE : "THOU" IS KNOWLEDGE:

  • Those who seek for name and fame are under a delusion. They forget that everything is ordained by the Great Disposer of all things, that all is due to the Lord and to nobody else. The wise man says always," It is Thou, O Lord, it is Thou;" but the ignorant and the deluded say, "It is I," "It is I." 
  • When shall I be free? When that "I" has vanished. "I and mine" is ignorance: "Thou and Thine" is knowledge. The saint would say, "Thou, O Lord, art the Doer (Karta)."
  • When the soul (Jiva) says instinctively, "Not I, O Lord, but Thou! Thou art the Master, I am Thy servant,"it has reached the end of sorrow. This is Mukti, freedom itself.
  • The calf cries "Ham-ma" or "Aham, I." Now look at the troubles that come upon it through this its Ahamkara or egotism, saying "I,I." In the first place, when it grows up, it is yoked to the plough. It works from dawn to eve alike in sun and rain. It may be killed by the butcher. Its flesh is eaten. Its skin is tanned into hide and made into shoes. Drums are also made with it, which are mercilessly beaten, sometimes with the hand and at others with the drumstick. It is only when out of its entrails are made strings for the bows used for carding cotton that the troubles of the poor creature are over. And that is because it no longer says, "Ham-ma, Ham-ma, I - I," but "Tuhun, Tuhun - It is Thou, It is Thou."
  • The words "My" and "Mine" spring from ignorance. We say, for instance, "The Brahmo Samaj was founded by such and such a person." How few of us say , it came into existence by the will of God? But to think, "Nothing whatever - not home, nor wife, nor child - is mine; for all is His"- this is Jnana.
  • Who is this that is teaching? What have I read? What do I know? O Mother, I am the instrument (Yantra), Thou art the mover (Yantri); I am the room, Thou art the tenant; I am the chariot, Thou art the driver; I do as Thou makest me do; I speak as Thou willest me to speak; I behave as Thou, within me, behavest; not I, not I, but Thou.
  • By acquiring the conviction that all is done by the will of God, one becomes only a tool in His hand. Then one is free, even in this life. "Thou does't Thy work, men say, 'I do it.'" 
  • The vegetables in the cooking pot move and leap till the children think they are living beings. But the grown-ups explain that they are not moving of themselves; if the fire be taken away, they will soon cease to stir. So it is ignorance that thinks "I am the doer." All our strength is the strength of God. All is silent if the fire be removed. A marionette dances well, while the wires are pulled; but when the master's hand is gone, it falls inert.
  • A rich man puts his Sircar (a superintending clerk) in charge if his garden. When visitors look in, the Sircar is all attention to them. He takes them through the different parts of the garden and the house attached to it, saying, "These, gentleman, are our mango trees. These others are our Lichi, Golap-Jam, etc. Here, you see, is our drawing-room. Over there are our oil-paintings and other pictures, so splendid," etc. etc. Now suppose the Sircar is caught by his master fishing against his order in the garden lake. Do you know how he is dealt with? Why, he is ordered peremptorily to leave the garden. And it was, bear in mind, the very same man who was so warmly talking of "our this" and "our that." The "mine" or "our" of the Sircar comes of Ajnana(ignorance of the truth).
  • Think always to yourself in this wise: "These family concerns are not mine, they are God's and I am His servant. I am here to obey His wishes." When this idea becomes fir, there remains nothing which a man may call his own.