The Five Commandments of Sri Ramakrishna

By Swami Dayatmananda
(Reproduced from Vedanta Magazine – Vedanta Centre –London-UK – Jan to Oct 2002)
M. (humbly): "Yes, sir. How, sir, may we fix our minds on God?"
Master:
(1) "Repeat God's name and sing His glories, and
(2) keep holy company; and now and then visit God's devotees and holy men. The
mind cannot dwell on God if it is immersed day and night in worldliness, in worldly
duties and responsibilities;
(3) it is most necessary to go into solitude now and then and think of God. To fix the
mind on God is very difficult, in the beginning, unless one practises meditation in
solitude. When a tree is young it should be fenced all around; otherwise it may be
destroyed by cattle.
"To meditate, you should withdraw within yourself or retire to a secluded corner or
to the forest.
(4) And you should always discriminate between the Real and the unreal. God alone
is real, the Eternal Substance; all else is unreal, that is, impermanent. By
discriminating thus, one should shake off impermanent objects from the mind."
M. (humbly): "How ought we to live in the world?"
Master: (5) "Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Live with all with wife
and children, father and mother and serve them. Treat them as if they were very
dear to you, but know in your heart of hearts that they do not belong to you."
On his second visit M. received the above five commandments from Sri
Ramakrishna. M. practised them to perfection all his life and taught them to
devotees who used to visit him.
These five commandments are of supreme importance for those who wish to
progress in spiritual life. All aspirants, especially the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna,
must remember and assess their spiritual progress in the light of these
commandments. If followed faithfully they are sure to lead to the highest realisation.
To the extent the devotees are able to practise them, to that extent they are
progressing in the realm of God.
The first of these commandments is to repeat God's name and sing His
glories.
2
Religious lore is replete with the praises of the power and glory of God's
name. Of all the spiritual practices, taking the name of God is the easiest. Sri
Chaitanya was a prophet who preached the glory of God's name. Sri Ramakrishna,
Holy Mother, and the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna all have unequivocally
emphasized the need for repetition of the name of God. A host of saints all over the
world have advocated repeating the name of God. Many became saints solely
through the repetition of God's name.
The name and the named are one; God and His name are one. The Master
said: "God and His name are identical; that is the reason Radha said that. There is no
difference between Rama and His holy name."
The name of God purifies and uplifts one who takes it; it washes away all sins
and impurities. Indeed there are devotees who maintain that the name of God is
even greater than God Himself. Through the power of God's name one can reach the
highest realisation. Throughout his life Sri Ramakrishna himself repeated the name
of his sweet Divine Mother even after attaining Nirvikalpa samadhi.
Sri Jagadananda Pandita, a Vaishnava saint, wrote in verse a book called
Prema-vivarta (On the Glory of Divine Love), where he distinguishes different
methods of taking God's name uttering, repeating, chanting and singing. But the best
practice, he says, is singing the Divine Name, for that requires the services of many
sense-organs. Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu of Rupa Goswami recognises sixty-four forms
of devotion. Of these there are five main forms. They are: keeping the company of
devotees, singing the Divine Name, hearing the scriptures, staying in a holy place,
and serving the Deity with devotion. According to Vaishnava tradition the
important sadhanas are three: kindness to all beings, taste for God's Name, and
service to fellow devotees. Caitanya-caritamrta considers the chanting of the Divine
Name as the best way of promoting devotion.
God's name is within the reach of all. Even illiterate people can attain God by
the power of His name. Amongst the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, there was a
lonely widow known as Gopala's Mother, who lived in a room beside the Ganges
and spent her time in repeating the name of Gopala. Her life-long remembrance of
God was rewarded in old age by the constant vision of Gopala, the Divine Child,
who lived with her night and day for two months. She is to this day loved and
honoured by the disciples and devotees of the Ramakrishna Order.
The glory of the Divine Name bears no comparison. As the Adi purana puts
it: "There is no knowledge like Name, no vow like Name, no meditation like Name,
no fruit like Name."
Chanting of the Lord's name does not go in vain. It must bear its benign
result. It is like the philosopher's stone converting all baser metal into gold. It is like
the magic wand of the magician performing unbelievable and unthought of
miracles; it transforms man's life for ever.
Name is both the means and the end. To take God's name lovingly and to see
Him are the same. To the votary of the Divine Name, it manifests itself as the Form,
Quality and Sport of the Lord. The Form of the Lord is identical with His Name.
Devotees say the Name is even greater than Form. Evidences of this can be seen in
3
the lives of Rama and Krishna. While Sri Rama had to construct a bridge to cross the
ocean, Hanuman crossed it with the strength of Rama's Name. When Sri Krishna
was put on the balance against His Name written on a Tulasi leaf, he was found to
be lighter.
The essence of all scriptures is God's name. Once a sadhu who had
remarkable faith in the name of God came to Dakshineswar. He carried with him a
book in which the solitary word "Om Rama" was written in big letters in red ink. He
worshipped this book daily with flowers and sometimes opened and read it. Sri
Ramakrishna became curious to know what was written in the book. The monk
showed him the book and said to him: "What is the use of reading a large number of
books? For it is from the one divine Lord that the Vedas and Puranas have come; He
and His name are not separate. . . That is why His name is my only companion"
Sri Ramakrishna himself was a great advocate of using the name of God. He
said: "Chant His name and purify your body and mind. Purify your tongue by
singing God's holy name."
Holy Mother said:
"The Mantra purifies the body. Man becomes pure by repeating the Mantra of God.
... It is said, `The human teacher utters the Mantra into the ear; but God breathes the
spirit into the soul.'
"As wind removes the cloud, so the Name of God destroys the cloud of worldliness."
Once a devotee showed to Holy Mother a tiny banyan seed and said to her, "Look,
Mother, it is tinier even than the tiniest seed we know. From this will spring a giant
tree! How strange!" "Indeed, it will," Mother replied. "See what a tiny seed is the
Name of God. From it in time come divine moods, devotion, love, and spiritual
consummation.
"Very powerful indeed is the Lord's name. It may not bring about an
immediate result, but it must one day bear fruit, just as we find that a seed left long
ago on the cornice of a building at last reaches the ground, germinates, grows into a
tree, and bears fruit, perhaps when the building cracks and is demolished.
Knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, in whatever state of
mind a man utters God's name, he acquires the merit of such utterance. A man who
voluntarily goes to a river and bathes therein gets the benefit of the bath: so does he
also who has been pushed into the water by another, or who, when sleeping
soundly, has water thrown upon him.
"There is a great power in the seed of God's name. It destroys ignorance. A seed is
tender, and the sprout soft; still it pierces the hard ground. The ground breaks and
makes way for the sprout."
4
The best thing for people whose minds are attracted by sense-objects is to
cultivate the dualistic attitude and chant loudly the name of the Lord as mentioned
in Narada-Pancharatra (a work on devotion).
"Through the path of devotion the subtle senses come readily and naturally
under control. Carnal pleasures become more and more insipid as Divine love grows
in your heart."
How to love God and surrender to Him whom we have never seen is a
question that often arises in our mind. To some such query of a devotee Swami
Adbhutananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, replied:
"It does not matter if you do not know Him. You know His Name. Just take
His Name, and you will progress spiritually. What do they do in an office? Without
having seen or known the officer, one sends an application addressed to his name.
Similarly send your application to God, and you will receive His grace."
The answer was characteristic of Swami Adbhutananda, temperamentally a
man of simplicity and faith. Though a simple answer, it satisfied the inquirer, for it
carried the strength that is in the words of a man of realisation.
This assertion of the Swami, however, is corroborated by the scriptures, where
the Divine Name has been considered identical with the Deity it signifies. It is not
merely a combination of letters. It is both the means and the goal. Words, especially
the syllable Om, have been designated as Brahman by the Vedas. All scriptures
glorify Holy Names. Every religious discipline prescribes the Name of God for
repetition. Its efficacy is recognized by all faiths. Theistic religions specially
recommend it to their votaries. In Hinduism even the Advaita system of philosophy,
which does not recognize the ultimate separate existence of a personal God,
appreciates the value of the repetition of God's Names as a purifying act.
In the theistic faiths, however, its place is significantly important. Of all the
systems it is the Vaishnavite School of Sri Chaitanya, which has laid particular stress
on the Divine Name and has raised its repetition to the status of an independent
spiritual practice.
Sri Chaitanya, the founder of Bengali Vaishnavism, has himself composed a
few verses singing the glory of the Name which forms a cardinal doctrine of his
system. In the first verse of his Sikshastaka, he speaks about the nature of Name and
the efficacy of its repetition:
Chant the name of the Lord and His Glory unceasingly,
That the mirror of the heart may be wiped clean,
And quench that mighty forest fire,
Worldly lust, raging furiously within.
Oh Name, stream down in moonlight on the lotus heart,
5
Opening its cup to knowledge of Thyself.
Oh self, drown deep in the waves of His bliss,
Chanting His Name continually,
Tasting His nectar at every step,
Bathing in His Name, that bath for weary souls.
He also says that the Lord's Name is to be always sung by one who is humbler than
even a blade of grass, with more endurance than that of a tree and who, being
himself devoid of conceit, bestows honour on others.
Man seeks refuge in God's name also when he is confronted with difficult
situations or involved in crises. Innumerable stories are extant which go to illustrate
this fact. When Draupadi was being subjected to insult and humiliation in the court
of the Kauravas it was Krishna's name that saved her honour. When Radha, the
cowherdess of Vrndavana, was asked, as a test of her chastity, to bring water in a
multi-holed pitcher it was with the name of the Lord that she came off more glorious
than ever, out of this fiery ordeal. The great hero of the Ramayana, whom Tulsidas
calls the `jewel in the great garland of Ramayana', Hanuman, crossed the ocean to
Lanka merely by taking the name of Rama.
Though it is said that chanting or repeating the name of God is enough it
must be understood rightly. Undoubtedly there is an inherent power in the name of
God. Even if one chants it mechanically it will save one in course of time. In fact
many aspirants do japa only mechanically. There is little or no intensity or feeling in
it. That is why little progress is seen in their lives.
Concerning this a great poet-saint, Kabir, has warned us against the
complacency and self-satisfaction that may be indulged in by the mere mechanical
repetition of the name. He says:
"The remembrance of God is not achieved
By the revolving of beads in the hand,
By the rolling of the tongue in the mouth,
Or, by the wandering of the mind in all quarters."
Yet there is hope even for those who take God's name mechanically:
Disciple: "Is it of any use to be merely repeating His Name without intense
devotion?"
6
Holy Mother: "Whether you jump into water or are pushed into it, your cloth
will get drenched. Is it not so? Repeat the Name of God, whether your mind is
concentrated or not. It will be good for you if you can repeat the Name of God for a
fixed number of times daily."
However it would be far more profitable if one chants the name of God with
faith, love and longing. Sri Ramakrishna emphasizes intense yearning:
Goswami: "Sir, the chanting of God's name is enough. The scriptures
emphasize the sanctity of God's name for the Kaliyuga."
Master: "Yes, there is no doubt about the sanctity of God's name. But can a
mere name achieve anything, without the yearning love of the devotee behind it?
One should feel great restlessness of soul for the vision of God. Suppose a man
repeats the name of God mechanically, while his mind is absorbed in `lust and gold',
can he achieve anything?
"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."
The scriptures and saints tell us that there is a tremendous joy in God's name,
for God is of the nature of Bliss; He is Satchidananda. A beginner, however, does not
experience any joy. On the contrary he may feel only dryness. It is not the fault of
God's name. The fault lies in the mind of the devotee. As long as the mind has not
turned away from worldly delights it is not possible to taste divine bliss. One must
try to develop discrimination and dispassion for the world. Only when the mind is
purified of worldly dross does one begin to taste the joy of divine name. One must
pray to God with yearning for getting rid of desires and for getting delight in His
name:
Devotee: "How can I take delight in God's name?"
Master: "Pray to God with a yearning heart that you may take delight in His name.
He will certainly fulfil your heart's desire."
So saying, Sri Ramakrishna sang a song in his sweet voice, pleading with the Divine
Mother to show Her grace to suffering men.
Then he said: "Even for Thy holy name I have no taste. A typhoid patient has very
little chance of recovery if he loses all taste for food; but his life need not be
despaired of if he enjoys food even a little, that is why one should cultivate a taste
for God's name. Any name will do Durga, Krishna, or Siva. Then if, through the
chanting of the name, one's attachment to God grows day by day, and joy fills the
soul, one has nothing to fear. The delirium will certainly disappear; the grace of God
will certainly descend."
Utmost caution and guidance are required to chant the Name effectively.
When one chants it with due regard and propriety, said Swami Vivekananda once,
one can have both devotion and knowledge through it. We have to impress on our
7
minds that purity of thought and sincerity of purpose are the essential conditions
one has to achieve and develop in the religious life if it is to be expeditiously fruitful.
An aspirant must practise self-control. He has to avoid all slips in ethical life and
should live a life of discipline. These are the sine qua non of the higher life, and it is
well-known that nothing will happen if spiritual disciplines are practised
perfunctorily. When that purity of purpose and sincerity in sadhana is achieved and
when one tries in secret and in solitude and with single-minded devotion to repeat
the name of God, His vision will come and the devotee will get absorbed in Him.
This chanting of God's name must form a regular habit.
Sri Ramakrishna says: "And one must always chant the name and glories of
God and pray to Him. An old metal pot must be scrubbed every day. What is the use
of cleaning it only once? Further, one must practise discrimination and renunciation;
one must be conscious of the unreality of the world.
"One should constantly repeat the name of God. The name of God is highly
effective in the Kaliyuga (iron age). The practice of yoga is not possible in this age,
for the life of a man depends on food. Clap your hands while repeating God's name,
and the birds of your sin will fly away."
A devotee asked, "Mother, what is the secret?" Holy Mother pointed to a small
clock in a niche and said, "As that timepiece is ticking, so also go on repeating God's
Name. That will bring you everything. Nothing more need be done. While
performing Japa, take the Name of God with utmost love, sincerity, and selfsurrender.
Before commencing your meditation daily, first think of your utter
helplessness in this world and then slowly begin the practice of Sadhana as directed
by your Guru."
The Master: "Ecstatic devotion develops in taking the Name of the Lord, eyes
overflow tears of joy, words are choked in the mouth, and all the hairs of the body
stand erect thrilled with joy.
Devotee: But I do not find delight in His name.
The Master: Then pray with a yearning heart that He may teach you to relish His
name. Undoubtedly He will grant your prayer. . . . I say, "Find joy in his name."
Durga, Krishna, Siva any name will do. And if you daily feel a greater attraction for
taking His name and a greater joy in it, you need fear no more. The delirium must
get cured, and His grace will surely descend on you.
"Japa means repeating the name of the Lord silently, sitting in a quiet place. If one
continues the repetition with concentration and devotion, one is sure to be blessed
with Divine visions ultimately one is sure to have God-realisation. Suppose a big log
of wood is immersed in the Ganges with one end attached to a chain, which is fixed
on the bank. Following the chain, link by link, you can gradually dive into the water
and trace your way to it. In the same manner, if you become absorbed in the
repetition of His holy name, you will eventually realise Him."
8
According to Vaishnavism the Divine Name must be taken without
committing ten faults. These are: (1) disparaging genuine devotees, (2) regarding
God as absolutely different from His Names, Form, Qualities, etc., (3) showing
disrespect for one's spiritual preceptor, (4) speaking too lightly or contemptuously of
the sacred scriptures, (5) considering the glory of the Divine Name mentioned in the
scriptures as mere eulogy, (6) considering the Divine Name as imaginary, (7)
committing sins repeatedly and intentionally on the strength of the Divine Name, (8)
regarding the repetition of the Divine Name as equal to other spiritual practices, (9)
imparting it to unworthy persons, (10) wanting taste for the chanting or hearing of
the Divine Name even after listening to its excellencies.
These faults however will be rectified by chanting the Divine Name itself. As
Padma purana puts it: The sins of those who commit offence to the Divine Name is
remedied by the Name alone. And it bears the desired fruit if taken constantly.
If one chants the name of God sincerely with faith, feeling, and yearning, and
takes care to avoid the faults mentioned above, one is sure to progress in spiritual
life, obtain His grace and attain Him in time.