Renunciation and Spiritual Practice

Swami Omkarananda

Swami Omkarananda (1894-1973) was one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. These spiritual teachings have been culled and translated from the Bengali book, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda O Dharmaprasanga with the kind permission of its publishers, Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ashram, Howrah.

Q.: Maharaj, What is meant by merging the mind into the intellect and the intellect into the Atman, as described in the scriptures?

A.: The mind always cogitates. Various thoughts and ideas contrary to one another constantly keep arising in the mind. Many complain that they are not able to meditate; that their mind is unsteady. The fact is that if the mind is left free to do its own, it will follow its nature and remain occupied with various thoughts. Hence the intellect is required. The intellect is the determinative faculty. It decides: this is right and must be done; this is wrong and must not be done. The intellect decides that there must be only one ultimate goal or ideal--that of God-realization or Self-realization. Thus when the mind is bound by one single idea, then it gets merged into the intellect. Thence onwards the intellect alone helps in meditation and leads from meditation to samadhi. Then the intellect gets merged into Atman. Does it not?

Therefore, it is essential to control the mind if you want to achieve something in spiritual life. Without doing that, many people try to meditate. But that is no meditation at all. Either they get confused by various thoughts during the time of meditation or fall asleep. Both are tamasika states. They are signs of inertia. Instead of trying to meditate that way, if one takes up one holy scripture and reads it for an hour, it will act as meditation. Because, during that one hour the mind will not be able to run around to various objects and would flow consistently in one direction. Thus the mind gets controlled.

Q.: But, Maharaj, the mind remains occupied with the office files.

A.: True, the mind will remain occupied with the office files, wife, children, family, money and property. True, quite true. Householders have certain duties. They must be fulfilled. Wife and children must be looked after and for them money must be earned. To be able to lead a decent cultured life in the world, certain things must be done. One must have a house, and must maintain it and so on. Beware of those householders who, being in the world, say: the Lord's will be done, everything depends on the Lord's mercy, the jiva is only an instrument etc. These are all foolish talks. They are married and have children. And yet, they sit idly without moving the limbs! This is not dependence on God. This is the sign of idleness and inertia. Dependence on God, on His grace--these come only in the end. When, after doing one's level best for fulfilling one's duties, one is not able to cope with their demands, then only shall one realize that without the grace of God, one has no other go, then only God's grace truly descends. Then alone total surrender comes and then alone the Divine Mother takes Her child into Her lap. Not to do anything and expect God to do everything is an absolutely unacceptable proposition. One must definitely exert oneself to the utmost. There must be self-effort.

There is a technique by which the mind can be controlled. The best and the easiest method is to first of all decide what must be done as a duty and then to go on doing it in a disciplined way. This is Karma Yoga. But then, in the interval between two bits of work, one must remember God; as if one is doing the work after taking His permission. As one continues with this practice, gradually love for God would go on increasing. Next, of the various activities, a few must be given up. For example, when the son gets settled down in life after completing his education, one should give up worrying about the boy's future; so also one must give up worrying as to what will happen in one's absence to the wife and children, once one has arranged for their basic subsistence.

In this way if one gradually relinquishes anxieties and desires, the mind will get attached to only one idea, one desire. This idea is the remembrance of God, which was present, associated with every work. Then alone the thought of total renunciation, i.e., sannyasa would arise. This idea will have to arise. This must come in everyone's life--whether in this life or in some other future birth. Without sannyasa, there cannot be Self-realization.

Q.: A lady devotee asked: Swami Vivekananda has said, nothing can be achieved without renunciation. Then what is the way for us?

A.: What do you mean by renunciation? The householders must renounce internally, not externally. You talk of renunciation. Will you be able to renounce if I ask you? Renunciation is not so easy. One has to remain totally helpless and supportless. Are you ready to give up your husband? Therefore, better don't talk about it. Accept the state in which the Lord has kept you and go on taking His name. Don't get attached to anything. Don't seek too much wealth. Live depending upon God. 'Lord, May Thy will be done'--let this be your attitude and mood. Don't be afraid. The Infinite Lord has this time incarnated with His Shakti, for the good of the world. Why do you fear! Thakur is there; the Holy Mother is there; Swamiji is there to guide. Keeping the goal steadily in sight, holding on to the goal, the ideal, steadily move on, taking His name. You will get filled with joy. But then, you must call on God not merely verbally. It must be from the heart.

God's Name, Name, Name!

Name alone is the real thing. One must hold on to Thakur's name. And one must think of his divine sports. For example:

* Sri Ramakrishna is seated on a small cot in his room. Devotees are seated around and are listening to his ambrosial words.

* Sri Ramakrishna is in deep meditation at Panchavati. There is profound silence around. He is the very embodiment of incomparable compassion. He becomes one with whichever deity He meditates upon.

* He is seated in a horse-carriage and is passing near the Nakhoda Mosque on the Chitpur Road. Suddenly he becomes restless. A fakir is alone in the mosque, calling on God: 'Come, O Beloved, come. Come O Beloved!' He is calling from his heart. Can the Lord stay behind unmoved? He alights from the carriage, enters the mosque running and stands in front of the fakir. The fakir opens his eyes, sees, again closes his eyes, and starts meditating.

Contemplate upon such divine sports.

One must struggle to the utmost; must hold on to one idea; it must engulf you. Mere discussions about Vedanta will not do. You have already done a lot of studies. Now get down to work. Do worship, do spiritual practice. Just remaining inactive now with this idea 'Lord's will be done', will not do. You must hold on to upasana or worship. But it is not what you think. One must work very hard. One must try one's utmost. You think, 'I have done japa 108 times, why does not God reveal Himself?' Is it so easy? One must go on struggling and must hold on.

Here (at Kankurgachi) Sri Ramakrishna's divine presence is there. Do 'Ram, Ram, Ram, Ram' Japa from sunrise to sunset, and let me see how Ram can remain away from you. One must remain lying at the door of the Lord for days at a stretch, day-after-day without any other thought; then only one succeeds. You might say, 'Is it possible? Can we do it?' If you can't, then clean the utensils, sweep Sri Ramakrishna's temple, clean it, till the ground, water the plants. If you can't do even that, then do what you want, but don't come to us to complain.

My boy, is it so easy? We have learnt this from the seniors and that is what we are telling. You think that the Guru will do everything for you. He will look after your well being. Give up this idea. Who is the Guru? Sri Ramakrishna (Thakur) alone is the Guru. He is the Jagadguru. He is the all in all. The Guru who imparts you a Mantra, who initiates you, is the conduit through which the divine power flows. One will have to get hold of that source of shakti.

At the time of japa, whether you understand the meaning of the mantra or not, sit for japa with the firm faith and think that, 'I shall definitely attain my coveted goal'. Read the Works of Swami Vivekananda, especially his Letters and Lectures from Colombo to Almora. We can understand a little of Sri Ramakrishna only when we try to do so in the light of Swami Vivekananda's teachings.

One must do intense spiritual practice. But while doing so, do not try to assess your progress. If you do so, you will stumble and fall. Where do you have the capacity to assess your progress? 'Mantra' means 'Mantore', i.e., mind is yours. That means as you go on doing japa, you will gain control over the mind. To think that 'first let there be love for God and then I shall chant the name of God', is not right. First do japa; love for God will definitely arise in your heart.

It is better not to keep the picture of the Guru. Even a person like Swami Premananda, who was pure to the marrow, would not allow himself to be photographed. One must keep the pictures only of Thakur and Sri Sri Maa. Many devotees keep the pictures and images of many gods and godesses on their altar. Aye, Sri Ramakrishna Himself had incarnated in previous births in various forms. Hence, after offering salutations to those divinities, one must worship Sri Ramakrishna alone. Kamarpukur, Jairambati, Belur Math, Kashipur Gardenhouse, Udbodhan, Dakshineswar--these are mahatirthas, great places of pilgrimage. What is required is holy company and remaining associated with any one of these places. On special occasions it is essential to visit any one of these. When a devotee comes to me I ask him, 'Where did you go on that specific day?' But if he says that he didn't go to any one of these places, I feel very unhappy.

Q.: How do we get over the restlessness of mind?

A.: Do japa and meditation to your heart's content as much as you can. Mind must be controlled before it becomes restless. Does one dig a foundation after the rains set in? Mind must be brought under one's control before such a situation arises. Do discrimination between what is truth and what is untruth and pray importunately. What should you seek: that sense- enjoyment which leads to suffering or that by which you get infinite unending happiness? Bliss of God-realization is immeasurable. To get rid of lust, one must get hold of the embodiment of love. God is the embodiment of love. Daily pray to God that he may not entangle you in Maya. One must keep holy company. It helps in keeping evil thoughts away. It is not wise to do something which entails heavy labour. But then, one cannot remain without work, therefore mind must be kept engaged with remembrance of God and work. However, by doing strenuous work excessively spiritual practice suffers.

Nothing can be achieved without character.