Book Reviews

Book Reviews

For review in

The Vedant a Kesari, publishers need to send us two copies of their latest publication. See God with Open Eyes : Meditation on Ramakrishna by Swami Chetanananda Published by Vedanta Society of St. Louis, 205 S. Skinker Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63105, U.S.A. 2018, Hard bound, pp.480. $29.95 (Available at Advaita Ashrama, 5 Dehi Entally Road, Kolkata - 700 014. `500.)

‘Sir, have you seen God?’ asked an English-educated young man from 19 th century Bengal to a priest of Kali at Dakshineswar temple, a question he had already asked many spiritual luminaries of that time. But unlike the other answers which skirted round the issue with vague generalisations, this time the reply from the priest was definitive: ‘Yes, I have seen God. I see God with open eyes as clearly as I see you. And I can also show God to you.’

This cameo forms the foundation of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda tradition extant in various pockets of the globe today. From this scene Vivekananda formulated his Practical Vedanta: ‘The same Brahman pervades all beings; this knowledge is the culmination of Vedantic experience.’ These words make it evident that we see God in everyone and everything around us—obviously with our eyes open.

As an heir to this vibrant tradition, Swami Chetanananda has wielded his prolific pen to tell us in the present volume how each one of us can ‘See God with Open Eyes’ (an assurance given by Sri Ramakrishna to Narendranath Datta (later Vivekananda) in the initial days of their acquaintance), if we follow the procedure detailed by this book.

As a process of natural transition, the inexhaustible creative fount of Chetanananda has moved from his earlier books—a series of interesting life-stories of people associated with the tradition—to the inward realm of human experience. In this book See God with Open Eyes, he has given a remarkable treatise on the art of meditation using Sri Ramakrishna as the centre. One can visualise how he himself must have deeply meditated on Sri Ramakrishna and others he wrote about for each of the excellent volumes he has earlier presented to the interested reader with such disciplined regularity. This present volume can therefore be taken as a roadmap to seeing God with open eyes through the process of meditation based on the felt and lived experiences of the author.

After the science-religion conflicts and controversies which clouded the human mind for a long stretch of time, the present century seems to be veering towards a resolution. And in the process, spirituality is being foregrounded by thinkers and practitioners of various disciplines. In this global pursuit, ancient Indian spiritual experiments are gaining ground. See God with

Open Eyes is a timely effort by Swami Chetanananda to contribute to the move towards spiritualising the contemporary times, using Sri Ramakrishna who has been variously hailed as the culmination of the thousands of years of wisdom of India.

As the subtitle suggests, meditation on Sri Ramakrishna is the path to follow for ‘seeing

God with open eyes’. The author describes Sri Ramakrishna as ‘the ideal of innumerable people both in the East and the West.’ (p.13)

The definitions and other aspects of meditation on Sri Ramakrishna that dot the present volume are therefore very significant. In fact, the author spends much effort in explaining the ‘why’, ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ of meditation in the pages of this sizeable volume. In the ‘Introduction’ itself he takes up the concept: ‘why’ meditation: ‘Meditation is the science of calming the mind and attaining spiritual enlightenment.’ (p.13) The author clearly enunciates that in the turbulence of material progress, meditation is that stable support which eludes the mind unless concerted efforts are made to calm it. He also says, ‘Meditation opens the inner eye, known as the “third eye,” “the mental eye,” or the “eye of knowledge.”’ (p.78)

Then comes the question of executing the change we have been preparing for in entering the arena of meditation. Here Chetananandaji speaks about ‘what’ is needed for practising meditation: ‘A pure mind.... We meditate with a concentrated, one-pointed mind.’ (p.24) In this context the author quotes the words of Ramakrishna, ‘He who is aware of his conscious self is a man.’ Focussing on these words of Ramakrishna, the author emphasises: ‘This awareness is the awakened living mind’ (p.24)—the kind of mind which is ready to undertake the task of meditation. Chetananandaji also provides us a role-model for emulation: ‘Ramakrishna’s mind was pure, cosmic and free from desires and doubts.’ (p.28) The importance of human imagination for success in meditation is then sharply underlined. (p.78)

Chetananandaji clearly shows how this can be done. Tackling the question ‘how’ of meditation, he lays emphasis on ‘love’: ‘When love dawns, meditation becomes easy.’ (p.13) Again, in another place quoting Swami Saradananda he elaborates how the mind becomes fit for meditation: ‘A spiritual aspirant becomes pure by controlling the mind completely through constant practice of detachment and self-control. The Master used to say that one’s very mind then becomes one’s guru.’ (p.35) Since all attempts at meditation aim towards God-realization, Chetananandaji quotes a mystic saint of India to give another dimension, ‘Service, worship, and humility are three important disciplines for God-realization.’ (p.104) The scene of Jesus serving bread and wine to his disciples, helps to bring forth an important process of meditation: ‘Visualising these actions of the avatars is a kind of dynamic meditation that quickly connects our minds with the Ishta (Chosen Deity).’ (p.107)

C i t i n g s c r i p t u r a l i n j u n c t i o n s , Chetananandaji highlights ‘what’ the qualities of a mind which has reached the pinnacle of meditation are: ‘The scriptures say that the mind of a knower of Brahman is not affected by pleasant and unpleasant, good and evil, happiness and misery, praise and blame.’ (p.40) In other words, the equanimity which evolves human life to a higher level of existence is succinctly projected here.

Talking about the ‘when’ of meditation, he indicates the need for surrender after which the time is ripe for meditation. For this one needs to overcome maya and go beyond the gunas. Lord Krishna’s words in the Gita explains this point: ‘This divine maya of mine consisting of gunas is hard to overcome. But those who take refuge in me alone transcend this maya. (Gita 7:14)’ (p.47)

Throughout the volume Chetananandaji has repeatedly mentioned various possible contexts for meditation using scenes and experiences connected with the life of Sri Ramakrishna. He has chapters devoted to each of these: Ramakrishna’s Form, his Mind, Divine Qualities, Lila, Service to Humanity, Places of his Lila, Teachings on Meditation, Prayer and Scriptures.

A very interesting part of the volume found in Chapters 10 and 11 talk about the history of two seminal books of the Ramakrishna tradition—Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga (Divine Play) and Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (Gospel).

Not only for spiritual practitioners but also for researchers there is a chapter on ‘Krishna and Ramakrishna on Meditation.’ Here we find

among other details an answer to the ‘where’ of meditation: ‘...the place for meditation should be clean; a nice view is also preferable... a spiritual atmosphere’. In the absence of these desirable traits, Sri Ramakrishna’s expansive view is proferred: ‘You may meditate wherever you like. Every place is filled with Brahman-consciousness.’ (p.359)

For those who want to embark on a virtual tour of the place where Sri Rama krishna lived and enacted his worldly play, Chapter 13 ‘Dakshineswar: An Abode of Bliss’ is very helpful.

A chapter entitled ‘The Magnitude of Ramakrishna’s Life and Message’ does much to reiterate the genius of this unique phenomenon who lived in the 19 th century in almost complete anonymity but whose distinctive efforts to unfold an inclusive and non-sectarian vision to the world at large is slowly but surely taking shape. Swami Chetanananda’s present volume and his other books as well as the publications of the Ramakrishna Order have had a role to play in this, continuing a process that was initiated by Swami Vivekananda’s appearance at the Chicago Parliament of Religions in 1893.

Coming back to the keyword of the volume, that is, ‘meditation’, in Chapter 15 the author talks about ‘Meditation on the New Year’ (the Kalpataru Day—an important event in the Ramakrishna calendar) and Chapter 16 ‘Blessed Meditation’ which gives the phalasruti of the volume like at the end of our mantras: ‘We want to achieve spiritual experience and divine inebriation through meditation.’ (p.401)

Chapter 17 ‘An Imaginary Interview with Ramakrishna’ is an English version of Swami Chetanananda’s original Bengali piece published in Udbodhan magazine in 2011 which raises crucial questions that trouble the contemporary minds and structures the rational answers which Sri Ramakrishna gives.

This is followed by an Appendix which is equally relevant in today’s world dogged by crises on all sides. This too is an article which was published by the author in 1980 in the Souvenir of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission Convention. It gives a closure to the presentations in the preceding chapters. An exhaustive list of references and a detailed index follow the Appendix.

On first reading, the book See God with Open Eyes appears like a detailed manual of dynamic spirituality. And this conviction is firmly established with repeated readings. In fact, to Swami Chetanananda’s long list of methods of meditation leading us to see God with open eyes I would like to add one more—reading a few pages of his book every day would be a valid method too. The vivid and cogent narrative makes Sri Ramakrishna come alive in the eye of our imagination and makes meditation a natural outcome. It induces the deep love which is a prerequisite of meditation. The reader is immersed in a spiritual current which inundates the mind and brings the bliss of peace. Therefore this book is a much needed resource.

The volume can also be seen as a valuable sourcebook for spiritual tourism—a consciousness enhancing experience. For instance, there is an impressive list of places on pages 154-55 which will awaken a deep intimacy with the divine lila (play) of the ishta (chosen ideal—in this case Ramakrishna) and aid the process of meditation.

Swami Chetanananda has established himself as a writer of repute in the dominion of global spirituality with a readership spanning the East and the West. His writings are considered a reliable resource for spiritual growth of the aspirant. I feel that he has merged the essence of all his other published works into this single magnum opus to help all those who have or are about to embark on their spiritual voyage. Excellent pictures, meticulous editing and impeccable quality of publication, the usual hallmarks of his books, enhance the value of the present volume too. A book worth reading again and again. __________________________ PROF. SUMITA ROY, HYDERABAD

The Thirst for God is Religion

The thirst for God is religion. 1

This is yet another amazing statement by the Prophet of this age. Let us listen to the words of his master Sri Ramakrishna in this regard. Once, Sri Ramakrishna said to the devotees assembled in his room, quoting the words of Sri Girindra Ghosh of Pathuriaghata, regarding turning our passions to God: ‘Since you cannot get rid of your passions – your lust, your anger, and so on – give them a new direction. Instead of desiring worldly pleasures, desire God. Have intercourse with Brahman. If you cannot get rid of anger, then change its direction. Assume the tamasic attitude of bhakti, and say: “What? I have repeated the hallowed name of Durga, and shall I not be liberated? How can I be a sinner anymore? How can I be bound anymore?” If you cannot get rid of temptation, direct it toward God. Be infatuated with God’s beauty. If you cannot get rid of pride, then be proud to say that you are the servant of God, you are the child of God. Thus turn the six passions toward God’ 2

Elsewhere, he said, ‘A man may not know the right path, but if he has bhakti and the desire to know God, then he attains Him through the force of sheer bhakti. Once a sincere devotee set out on a pilgrimage to the temple of Jagannath in Puri; he did not know the way; he went west instead of south. He no doubt strayed from the right path, but he always eagerly asked people the way, and they gave him the right directions, saying, “This is not the path; follow that one.” At last, the devotee was able to get to Puri and worship the Deity. So you see, even if you are ignorant, someone will tell you the way if you are earnest.’ 3

Once, while discussing with someone, he was told that Jnanis have no desires at all. Sri Ramakrishna made a marvelous statement. He said, ‘I have not got rid of all desires. I have the desire for love of God.’ 4

But, this desire is classified as desire only for the sake of logical propriety, while it is nothing like the desires we generally deal with in our life. Just as we saw last month that the pleasure of the Self is totally different from every kind of pleasure we are generally experiencing, so also, this desire for God, the thirst for God is totally different from all other desires.

‘What creates these desires? The existence of external things. It was the light that made the eyes; it was the sound that made the ears. So every desire in human beings has been created by something which already existed outside. This desire for perfection, for reaching the goal and getting beyond nature, how can it be there, until something has created it and drilled it into the soul of man, and makes it live there? He, therefore, in whom this desire is

awakened, will reach the goal. We want everything but God.’ 5

‘The chief thing is to want God. We want everything except God because our ordinary wants are supplied by the external world; it is only when our necessities have gone beyond the external world that we want a supply from the internal, from God. So long as our needs are confined within the narrow limits of this physical universe, we cannot have any need for God; it is only when we have become satiated with everything here that we look beyond for a supply. It is only when the need is there that the demand will come. Have done with this child’s play of the world as soon as you can, and then you will feel the necessity of something beyond the world, and the first step in religion will come.

‘There is a form of religion which is fashionable. My friend has much furniture in her parlor; it is the fashion to have a Japanese vase, so she must have one even if it costs a thousand dollars. In the same way, she will have a little religion and join a church. Religion is not for such. That is not want. Want is that without which we cannot live. We want breath, we want food, we want clothes; without them we cannot live. When a man loves a woman in this world, there are times when he feels that without her he cannot live, although that is a mistake. When a husband dies, the wife thinks she cannot live without him; but she lives all the same. This is the secret of necessity: it is that without which we cannot live; either it must come to us or we die. When the time comes that we feel the same about God, or in other words, we want something beyond this world, something above all material forces, then we may become religious. What are our little lives when for a moment the cloud passes away, and we get one glimpse from beyond, and for that moment all these lower desires seem like a drop in the ocean? Then the soul grows, and feels the want of God, and must have Him.

‘The first step is: What do we want? Let us ask ourselves this question every day, do we want God? You may read all the books in the universe, but this love is not to be had by the power of speech, not by the highest intellect, not by the study of various sciences. He who desires God will get Love, unto him God gives Himself. Love is always mutual, reflective. You may hate me, and if I want to love you, you repulse me. But if I persist, in a month or a year you are bound to love me. It is a well-known psychological phenomenon. As the loving wife thinks of her departed husband, with the same love we must desire the Lord, and then we will find God, and all books and the various sciences would not be able to teach us anything. By reading books we become parrots; no one becomes learned by reading books. If a man reads but one word of love, he indeed becomes learned. So we want first to get that desire.

‘Let us ask ourselves each day, ‘Do we want God?’ When we begin to talk religion, and especially when we take a high position and begin to teach others, we must ask ourselves the same question. I find many times that I don’t want God, I want bread more. I may go mad if I don’t get a piece of bread; many ladies will go mad if they don’t get a diamond pin, but they do not have the same desire for God; they do not know the only Reality that is in the universe. There is a proverb in our language – ‘If I want to be a hunter, I will hunt the rhinoceros; if I want to be a robber, I will rob the king’s treasury.’ What is the use of robbing beggars or hunting ants? So if you want to love, love God. Who cares for these things of the world? This world is utterly false; all the great teachers of the world found that out; there is no way out of it but through God. He is the goal of our life; all ideas that the world is the goal of life are pernicious. This world and this body have their own value, a secondary value, as a means to an end; but the world should not be the end. Unfortunately, too often we make the

world the end and God the means. We find people going to church and saying, ‘God, give me such and such; God, heal my disease.’ They want nice healthy bodies; and because they hear that someone will do this work for them, they go and pray to Him. It is better to be an atheist than to have such an idea of religion. As I have told you, this Bhakti is the highest ideal; I don’t know whether we shall reach it or not in millions of years to come, but we must make it our highest ideal, make our senses aim at the highest. If we cannot get to the end, we shall at least come nearer to it. We have slowly to work through the world and the senses to reach God.’ 6

‘Until you have that thirst, that desire, you cannot get religion, however you may struggle with your intellect, or your books, or your forms. Until that thirst is awakened in you, you are no better than any atheist; only the atheist is sincere, and you are not.’ 7

‘Atheists and materialists can have ethics, but only believers in the Lord can have religion… The first essential is to want God honestly and intensely. We want everything but God, because our ordinary desires are fulfilled by the external world. So long as our needs are confined within the limits of the physical universe, we do not feel any need for God; it is only when we have had hard blows in our lives and are disappointed with everything here that we feel the need for something higher; then we seek God.’ 8 (There is something) ‘called Vimoka, freedom from desires. He who wants to love God must get rid of extreme desires, desire nothing except God. This world is good so far as it helps one to go to the higher world. The objects of the senses are good so far as they help us to attain higher objects. We always forget that this world is a means to an end, and not an end itself. If this were the end we should be immortal here in our physical body; we should never die. But we see people every moment dying around us, and yet, foolishly, we think we shall never die; and from that conviction we come to think that this life is the goal. That is the case with ninety-nine percent of us. This notion should be given up at once. This world is good so far as it is a means to perfect ourselves; and as soon as it has ceased to be so, it is evil. So wife, husband, children, money and learning, are good so long as they help us forward; but as soon as they cease to do that, they are nothing but evil. If the wife help us to attain God, she is a good wife; so with a husband or a child. If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.’ 9

‘After initiation, there should be in the aspirant after Truth, Abhyasa or earnest and repeated attempt at practical application of the Truth by prescribed means of constant meditation upon the Chosen Ideal. Even if you have a burning thirst for God, or have gained the Guru, unless you have along with it the Abhyasa, unless you practice what you have been taught, you cannot get realization. When all these are firmly established in you, then you will reach the Goal.’ 10

1)

2)

3) 4) 5)

References

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. [hereafter CW] Vol-1. Practical Religion: Breathing And Meditation The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. [hereafter Gospel] Entry on October 22 nd , 1885 Ibid Gospel. Entry on Monday, October 20 th , 1884 CW. Vol-2: Bhakti or Devotion

6) CW. Vol-4. Addresses on Bhakti-Yoga: The First

Steps 7) CW. Vol-2. Bhakti Or Devotion 8) CW. Vol-7. Inspired Talks: Entry on July 31, 1895 9) CW. Vol-4. Addresses on Bhakti Yoga: The

Preparation 10) CW. Vol-3. What Have I Learnt?