Sri Ramakrishna on Bhakti (Devotion)

Devotion also has its sattva. The devotee who possesses the quality of sattva meditates secretly. Perhaps he meditates inside his mosquito net. And a sattvic devotee never flatters anybody for money.
When a person has devotion of the rajasic type, he may wear a holy mark on his forehead and a rosary of rudraksha interspersed with gold beads. When he worships, he dresses himself in a silk cloth.
A man with the devotion of tamas has burning faith. Such a devotee forces the Lord like a dacoit forces a man to part with his wealth.
It is easier to reach God by the path of love and devotion.
By following the path of devotion, one can attain the knowledge of Brahman.
As long as you haven’t acquired love for God, your devotion is unripe. When you have love for Him, your devotion is called ripe.
A person who has unripe devotion cannot internalize spiritual instructions or talk about God. It is only when the photographer’s glass is coated black with love for God, so to speak, that it catches an image and is retained.
All spiritual practices are done for the sake of attaining God. The more you meditate on Him, the less will be your attachment for the ordinary things of the world. The more devotion you have for His lotus feet, the less desire you will have for sense objects, and the less your mind will concern itself with physical comfort.

For the Kaliyuga the path of love and devotion as preached by Narada is enjoined. Where is the time to perform all those rituals mentioned in the scriptures?

One can see God through love alone – but it must be ripe, prema bhakti, or raga bhakti. Only after gaining that kind of love can you love God as the son loves his mother, or the mother loves her child, or the wife loves her husband.
If you must be mad, be not mad for the things of this world. Be mad for God!
How many trees are in a garden and how many branches each tree has – what is the use of such calculation? You’ve come to the garden to eat mangoes. Eat them and leave. It’s only to attain love and devotion to God that you’ve taken birth as a human being. Eat the mangoes and be satisfied.
One becomes a man of knowledge who is born with an element of Shiva. His mind always goes to that knowledge ‘only Brahman is real, the world is an illusion.’ If one is born of Vishnu, one possesses loving devotion. This intense love will never leave you.

Pure knowledge and pure devotion are the same. Pure devotion takes you to the same place that pure knowledge does. But the path of devotion is smooth and easy.
When one has given up dharma and adharma, that which remains is pure love – unalloyed love, untainted by desires, love for God that wells up unbidden out of the depths of the immortal soul.
Narada said, ‘Rama, if you must grant me a boon, please grant that I may have pure love and devotion for your lotus feet. And may your world-bewitching maya not enchant me.’
He only wants to see God. He doesn’t want wealth, honour, and physical comforts. He wants nothing at all. This is called pure love and devotion.
People who go around making disciples are of inferior calibre. And those who want occult powers are also of a lower class. For example, the power to walk across the Ganges on foot, or to be able to tell what a person is saying at some distant place – that is an occult power. It is very difficult for such a person to have pure love for God.

Devotion alone does not enable you to realize God. Unless you have intense love for God, you cannot attain Him. Passionate devotion is another name for intense love.
God cannot be realized as long as you don’t have this intense love for Him. You must have love for Him. When your worldly way of thinking disappears completely and your mind goes to Him one hundred percent, only then do you attain God.
But some people acquire loving devotion naturally. They are born that way. Being perfect from childhood, they weep for God at an early age, as Prahlada wept for Vishnu.
When you have love for God, you don’t feel the attraction of maya – for wife, children, or dear relatives. You only retain compassion for them.
When raga bhakti, prema bhakti, or love for God as one’s near and dear one develops, one doesn’t have to practice rituals any more. It’s like crossing a rice field after the harvest. One doesn’t have to walk along the ridge of the field, but can go straight across.
You cannot realize God without that kind of passionate love, intense devotion.

There is another kind of devotion known as ritualistic devotion. You have to repeat the name of God a fixed number of times. Along with this, you must fast, go on pilgrimage, worship in a prescribed manner, make so many sacrifices, and so on. These are all part of ritualistic devotion.
Performing so much repetition of the name and so much meditation is worshiping in a prescribed manner, is ritualistic devotion. It’s like going around a rice field along the outside ridge to reach the other side.
The scriptures instruct us to perform numerous rites, so I perform them. This is called ritualistic devotion. The other is loving devotion. It comes out of an especially deep love for God, such as Prahlada had. When one develops this love, there is no longer the need for rituals.

There is such a thing as selfless devotion. It is very good if one can attain it. Prahlada had this selfless devotion. Such a devotee says, ‘O Lord, I want neither wealth nor name nor bodily pleasures, and so forth. Only grant that I may have pure love for Thy lotus feet.’

When you have gained love for God, your worldly work decreases by itself. And then you don’t like it anymore. Who likes water sweetened with molasses after having tasted water sweetened with sugar candy?
If you can cultivate love and devotion for God sitting here, what is the need to go on pilgrimage? When I went to Kashi, I saw that the trees were the same, the tamarind leaves were also the same.
You can live in the world after acquiring love and devotion for God. It is like smearing your hands with oil before cutting open a jackfruit. Then its milky sap won’t stick to your hands.

Share the Article with Friends and Family!

Additional menu