Yugavani

Devotee: How can I develop love for God?

Sri Ramakrishna: Repeat His name, and sins will disappear. Thus you will destroy lust, anger, the desire for creature comforts, and so on.

Devotee: How can I take delight in God’s name?

Sri Ramakrishna: Pray to God with a yearning heart that you may take delight in His name. He will certainly fulfil your heart’s desire.

Japa means silently repeating God’s name in solitude. When you chant His name with single-minded devotion you can see God’s form and realize Him. Suppose there is a piece of timber sunk in the water of the Ganges and fastened with a chain to the bank. You proceed link by link, holding to the chain, and you dive into the water and follow the chain. Finally, you are able Japa to reach the timber. In the same way, by repeating God’s name you become absorbed in Him and finally realize Him.

The worldly minded practise devotions, japa, and austerity only by fits and starts. But those who know nothing else but God repeat His name with every breath. Some always repeat mentally, ‘Om Rama’. Even the followers of the path of knowledge repeat, ‘Soham’, ‘I am He’. There are others whose tongues are always moving, repeating the name of God. One should remember and think of God constantly.

Sri Ramakrishna (to M. and the others): “Well, these people practise so much japa and go to so many sacred places, but why are they like this? Why do they make no progress? In their case it seems as if the year consists of eighteen months. …. It is because they have no longing for God. God reveals Himself to the devotee if only he calls upon Him with a longing heart.

Suppose a man becomes pure by chanting the holy name of God, but immediately afterwards commits many sins. He has no strength of mind. He doesn’t take a vow not to repeat his sins. A bath in the Ganga undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what does that avail? They say that the sins perch on the trees along the bank of the Ganga. No sooner does the man come back from the holy waters than the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees.

Therefore, I say, chant the name of God, and with it pray to Him that you may have love for Him. Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.