PARABLES OF RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA - PART 2

SRI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA ALWAYS USED

MAKE HIS POINT BY NARRATING SIMPLE PARABLES
FROM HIS LIFE, SCRIPTURES, PURANAS, VISIONS
HE GOT FROM KALI MATA ETC.

SPIRITUALLY HIS  EXPERIENCE IS ADVAITHA 
PHILOSOPHY LIKE THAT OF BHGAVATPADA  
SRI SHANKARACHARYA

FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED TO READ
MORE PARABLES OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA 
PARAMAHAMSA PL. VISIT --
https://www.scribd.com/doc/229352368/41/SUCH-INDEED-IS-MAYA

SRI RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA

MAA KALI

ENMESHED IN MAYA, BRAHMAN WEEPS!

VISHNU incarnated Himself as a sow in order to 

kill the demon Hiranynksha. After killing the 

demon, sow remained quite happy with her young 

ones. Forgetting her real nature, she was suckling 

them very contentedly. The gods in heaven could 

not persuade Vishnu to relinquish His sow's body 

and return to the celestial regions. He was 

absorbed in the happiness of His beast form. After 

consulting among themselves, the gods sent Siva to 

the sow. Siva asked the sow "Why have you 

forgotten yourself?" Vishnu replied through the 

sow's body, "Why, I am quite happy here." 

Thereupon with a stroke of his trident Siva 

destroyed the sow's body and Vishnu went back to 

heaven.

Everyone is under the authority of the Divine 

Mother, Mahamaya, the Primal Energy. Even the 

Incarnations of God accept the help of Maya to 

fulfil their mission on earth. Therefore they 

worship the Primal Energy.

HOW IS MAYA ?

A CERTAIN sadhu lived for some time in the

room above the nahavat-khana (concert-room) of
the temple of Dakshineswar. He did not speak with
anybody and spent his whole time in the
meditation of God. One day, all of a sudden, a 
cloud darkened the sky and shortly afterwards a 
high wind blew away the cloud. The holy man now 
came out of his room and began to laugh and
dance in the veranda in front of the concert room. 
Upon this I asked him, "How is it that you, 
who spend your days so quietly in your room, are 
dancing in joy and feel so jolly today?" 
The holy man replied, "Such is Maya that envelops
the life!"

At first there is clear sky, all of a sudden a cloud

darkens it and presently everything is as before 
once more. 

MAYA VANISHES THE MOMENT IT IS KNOWN

A PRIEST was once going to the village of a 

disciple of his. He had no servant with him. Seeing 

a cobbler on the way, he addressed him, saying: 

"Hulloa! Good man, will you accompany me as a 

servant? You will be fed well and taken good care 

of, if you come with me." The cobbler replied: "Sir, 

I am of the lowest caste. How can I come as your 

servant?" The priest said, "Never mind. Do not tell 

anybody what you are. Do not also speak to 

anyone, or make anybody's acquaintance. The 

cobbler agreed. At twilight, while the priest was 

sitting at prayers in the house of his disciple, 

another brahmana came and said to the priest's 

servant, "Go and bring my shoes from there." True 

to the behest of his master, he made no response. 

The brahmana repeated his order a second time, 

but even then the servant remained silent. The 

brahmana repeated it again and again, but the 

cobbler did not move an inch. At last, getting 

annoyed, the brahmana angrily said: "Sirrah; how 

dare you disobey a brahmana's command? What is 

your name? Are you indeed a cobbler?" 

Cobbler, hearing this, began to tremble with fear, 

and looking piteously at the priest, said: "0 

venerable sir, I am found out. I dare not stay here 

any longer. Let me flee." So saying, he took to his 

heels.

Just so, as soon as Maya is recognised, she flies

away.

WHAT OCCULT POWERS ARE LIKE

HRIDAY asked me—I was then under his control 

to pray to the Divine Mother for (occult) powers. I 

went to the temple. In a vision I saw a widow thirty 

or thirty five years old, covered with filth. 

It was revealed to me that occult powers are like that 
filth.
I became angry with Hriday because he had asked

me to pray for powers.

THE PROLONGED DREAM THAT WE CALL

 LIFE

THERE was a farmer who lived in the countryside

He was a real jnani. He earned his living by

farming, He was married, and after many years a

son was born to him, whom he named Haru. The

parents loved the boy dearly. This was natural,

since he was the one precious gem of the family.

On account of his religious nature the farmer was

loved by the villagers. One day he was working in

the field when a neighbour came and told him that

Haru had an attack of cholera. The farmer at once

returned home and arranged for treatment for the

boy. But Haru died. The other members of the

family were grief-stricken, but the farmer acted as

if nothing had happened. He consoled his family

and told them that grieving was futile. Then he

went back to his field. On returning home he

found his wife weeping even more bitterly. She

said to him: “How heartless you are! You haven’t

shed one tear for the child.” The farmer replied

quietly: “Shall I tell you why I haven’t wept? I had a

very vivid dream last night. I dreamt I had become

a king; I was the father of eight sons and was very

happy with them. Then I woke up. Now I am

greatly perplexed. Should I weep for those eight

sons or for this one Hani?”

The farmer was a jnani; therefore he realized that

the waking state is as unreal as the dream state.

There is only one eternal substance, and that is the

Atman.

Brahman

FOUR FRIENDS LOOKED BEYOND

ONCE four friends, in the course of a walk, saw a 

place enclosed by a wall. The wall was very high. 

They all became eager to know what was inside. 

One of them climbed to the top of the wall. What 

he saw on looking inside made him speechless with 

wonder. He only cried, 'Ah! Ah!' and dropped in. 

He could not give any information about what he 

saw. The others too climbed the wall, uttered the 

same cry, 'Ah! Ah!' and jumped in. Now who 

could tell what was inside!

What Brahman is cannot be described. Even he

who knows it cannot talk about it.

WHERE SILENCE IS ELOQUENT 

AND SPEECH DOTH FALTER

A MAN had two sons. The father sent them to a 

preceptor to learn the knowledge of Brahman. 

After a few years they returned from their 

preceptor's house and bowed low before their 

father. Wanting to measure the depth of their 

knowledge of Brahman, he first questioned the

older of the two boys. "My child," he said "you 

have studied all the scriptures. Now, tell me, what 

is the nature of Brahman?" The boy began to 

explain Brahman by reciting various texts from the 

Vedas. The father did not say anything. Then he 

asked the younger son the same question. But the 

boy remained silent and stood with eyes cast down. 

No word escaped his lips. The father was pleased 

and said to him: "My child, you have understood a 

little of Brahman. 

What It is cannot be expressed in words."

NEITHER 'YES' NOR 'NO'!

THE husband of a young girl has come to his 

father-in-law's house and is seated in the drawingroom 

with other young men of his age. The girl 

and her friends are looking at them through the 

window. Her friends do not know her husband 

and ask her, pointing to one young man, "Is that 

your husband?" "No," she answers, smiling. They 

point to another young man and ask if he is her 

husband. Again she answers, "No." They repeat 

the question, referring to a third, and she gives the 

same answer. At last they point to her husband and 

ask, "Is he the one?" She says neither yes nor no 

but only smiles and keeps quiet. Her friends realize 

that he is her husband.

One becomes silent on realising the true nature of
Brahman.

THE KING AND THE MAGICIAN

As you go nearer to God you see less and less of 

His upadhis, His attributes. A devotee at first may 

see the Deity as the ten-armed Divine Mother; 

when he goes nearer, he sees her possessed of six 

arms; still nearer, he sees the Deity as the two 

armed Gopala. The nearer he comes to the Deity, 

the fewer attributes he sees. At last, when he 

comes into the presence of the Deity, he sees only 

Light without any attribute, Listen a little to the 

Vedantic reasoning. A magician came to a king to 

show his magic. When the magician moved away a 

little, the king saw a rider on horse-back

approaching him. He was brilliantly arrayed and 

had various weapons in his hands. The king and 

the audience began to reason out what was real in 

the phenomenon before them. Evidently the horse 

was not real, nor the robes nor the armours. At last 

they found out beyond the shadow of a doubt that 

the rider alone was there. 

The significance of this is that Brahman alone is real 
and the world unreal. 

Nothing whatsoever remains if you analyse. 

WHEN FACE TO FACE

WHERE the mind attains peace by practising the 

discipline of 'Neti, neti', there Brahman is.

The king dwells in the inmost room of the palace, 

which has seven gates. The visitor comes to the 

first gate. There he sees a lordly person with a large 

retinue, , surrounded on all sides by pomp and 

grandeur. The visitor asks his companion, "Is he 

the king?" "No", says his friend with a smile.

At the second and other gates he repeats the same

question to his friend. He finds that the nearer he

comes to the inmost part of the palace, the greater 

is the glory, pomp, and grandeur. When he passes 

the seventh gate he does not ask his companion 

whether it is the king; he stands speechless at the 

king's immeasurable glory. 

He realizes that he is face to face with the king(GOD).

He hasn't the slightest doubt about it.

'BEHOLD, O KING! BEHOLD'

ONCE, a king asked a yogi to impart Knowledge 

to him in one word. The yogi said, "All right; you 

will get knowledge in one word." After a while a 

magician came to the king. The king saw the 

magician moving two of his lingers rapidly and 

heard him exclaim, "Behold, O king, Behold." The 

king looked at him amazed when, after a few 

minutes, he saw the two lingers becoming one. The 

magician moved that one finger rapidly and said, 

"Behold, O king! Behold."

The implication of the story is that Brahman and

the Primal Energy at first appear to be two. But 

after attaining knowledge of Brahman one does not 

see the two. 

Then there is no differentiation; it is One, without a 
second—Advaita—non-duality.

AN ANT WENT TO A SUGAR HILL

MEN often think they have understood Brahman 

fully.

Once, an ant went to a sugar hill. One grain filled 

its stomach. Taking another grain in its mouth it 

started homeward. On its way it thought, "Next 

time I shall carry home the whole hill."

That is the way shallow minds think. They don't

know that Brahman is beyond one's words and 

thought, However great a man may be, how much 

can he know of Brahman? 

Sukadeva and sages like him may have been 
big ants; but even they at the utmost could carry 

eight or ten grains of sugar!

HE EATS, YET EATS NOT

ONCE Vyasadeva was about to cross the Jamuna. 

The gopis also were there. They wanted to go to 

the other side of the river to sell curd, milk, and 

cream. But there was no ferry at that time. They 

were all worried about how to cross the river, 

when Vyasa said to them, "I am very hungry." The 

milkmaids fed him with milk and cream. He 

finished almost all their food. Then Vyasa said to 

the river, "O Jamuna, if I have not eaten anything, 

then your waters will part and we shall walk 

through." It so happened. The river parted and a 

pathway was formed between the waters. 

Following that path, the gopis and Vyasa crossed 

the river.

Vyasa had said, "If I have not eaten anything.

"That means, the real man is Pure Atman. Atman is

unattached and beyond Prakriti. It has neither 

hunger nor thirst; It knows neither birth nor death; 

It does not age, nor does It die. It is immutable as 

Mount Sumeru.

ALL PURE SPIRIT

ALL doubts disappear when one sees God. It is 

one thing to hear of God, but quite a different 

thing to see Him. A man cannot have one hundred 

per cent conviction through mere hearing. But if 

he beholds God face to face, then he is wholly 

convinced.
Formal worship drops away after the vision of 

God. It was thus that my worship in the temple 

came to an end. I used to worship the deity in the 

Kali Temple.
 It was suddenly revealed to me that everything is 
Pure Spirit. The utensils of worship, 

the altar, the door-frame - all Pure Spirit. Then like 

a mad man I began to shower flowers in all 

directions. Whatever I saw I worshipped.