www.JohnCunyus.com

Swami Nikhilananda.
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, Inc..
Kindle Edition.
(Downloaded 2025)

1.
“Brahman is the only Real Existence. In It there is no time, no space, no causality, no multiplicity.

But through māyā, Its inscrutable Power, time, space, and causality are created and the One appears to break into the many. The eternal Spirit appears as a manifold of individuals endowed with form and subject to the conditions of time. The Immortal becomes a victim of birth and death. The Changeless undergoes change. The sinless Pure Soul, hypnotized by Its own māyā, experiences the joys of heaven and the pains of hell.

But these experiences based on the duality of the subject-object relationship are unreal. Even the vision of a Personal God is, ultimately speaking, as illusory as the experience of any other object.

Man attains his liberation, therefore, by piercing the veil of māyā and rediscovering his total identity with Brahman. Knowing himself to be one with the Universal Spirit, he realizes ineffable Peace.

Only then does he go beyond the fiction of birth and death; only then does he become immortal. And this is the ultimate goal of all religions—to dehypnotize the soul now hypnotized by its own ignorance.”



2.
“God is everybody’s Beloved, just as the moon is dear to every child. Everyone has the same right to pray to Him. Out of His grace He reveals Himself to all who call upon Him. You too will see Him if you but pray to Him.”



3.
“God really exists. You don’t see the stars in the day-time, but that doesn’t mean that the stars do not exist. There is butter in milk. But can anybody see it by merely looking at the milk? To get butter you must churn milk in a quiet and cool place. You cannot realize God by a mere wish; you must go through some mental disciplines.”



4.
“Repeat God’s name and sing His glories, and 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; 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 practices meditation in solitude. When a tree is young it should be fenced all around; otherwise it may be destroyed by cattle.



5.
“You may say that there are many errors and superstitions in another religion. I should reply: Suppose there are. Every religion has errors. Everyone thinks that his watch alone gives the correct time. It is enough to have yearning for God. It is enough to love Him and feel attracted to Him. Don’t you know that God is the Inner Guide? He sees the longing of our heart and the yearning of our soul.



6.
M: “Sir, may I make an effort to earn more money?”
MASTER: “It is permissible to do so to maintain a religious family. You may try to increase your income, but in an honest way. The goal of life is not the earning of money, but the service of God. Money is not harmful if it is devoted to the service of God.”



7.
Oh, when will dawn for me that day of blessedness
When He who is all Good, all Beauty, and all Truth,
Will light the inmost shrine of my heart?
When shall I sink at last, ever beholding Him,
Into that Ocean of Delight?
Lord, as Infinite Wisdom Thou shalt enter my soul,
And my unquiet mind, made speechless by Thy sight,
Will find a haven at Thy feet.



8.

M. (to the Master): “This world is a terrible place indeed.”
MASTER (to the devotees): “That is the reason Chaitanya said to his companion Nityānanda, ‘Listen, brother, there is no hope of salvation for the worldly-minded.’ “



9.
“I tell you the truth: there is nothing wrong in your being in the world. But you must direct your mind toward God; otherwise you will not succeed. Do your duty with one hand and with the other hold to God. After the duty is over, you will hold to God with both hands.



10.
'Does He who has Lakshmi for His handmaid and attendant ever lack any splendour? Those jewels may be precious to you, but to God they are no better than lumps of clay. Shame on you! You shouldn’t have spoken so meanly. What riches can you give to God to magnify His glory?’



11.
“The caste-system can be removed by one means only, and that is the love of God. Lovers of God do not belong to any caste. The mind, body, and soul of a man become purified through divine love.



12.
“When love awakes, the Lord, like a magnet, draws to Him the soul.”



13.
What shall I do with superhuman powers? Can one realize God through them? If God is not realized then everything becomes false.”



14.
Anger and lust cannot be destroyed. Turn them toward God. If you must feel desire and temptation, then desire to realize God, feel tempted by Him.



15.
“But you must remember that nothing can be achieved except in its proper time. Some persons must pass through many experiences and perform many worldly duties before they can turn their attention to God; so they have to wait a long time.



16.
“How is it ever possible for one man to liberate another from the bondage of the world? God alone, the Creator of this world-bewitching māyā, can save men from māyā. There is no other refuge but that great Teacher, Satchidānanda. How is it ever possible for men who have not realized God or received His command, and who are not strengthened with divine strength, to save others from the prison-house of the world?



17.
“The 'I' that feels, 'I am the servant of God, I am His devotee' does not injure one.”



18.
O Lord, is it ever possible to know Thee without love,
However much one may perform worship and sacrifice?



19.
[A] number increases if you put many zeros after the figure one; but the zeros don’t have any value if the one is not there.”



20.
“One ultimately discovers God by trying to know who this ‘I’ is. Is this ‘I’ the flesh, the bones, the blood, or the marrow? Is it the mind or the buddhi? Analysing thus, you realize at last that you are none of these.



21.
Suppose you go to a wealthy man every day, but you seek no favour of him; you simply love to see him. If he wants to show you favour, you say: ‘No, sir. I don’t need anything. I came just to see you.’ Such is love of God for its own sake. You simply love God and don’t want anything from Him in return.”



22.
Though I am never loath to grant salvation,
I hesitate indeed to grant pure love.
Whoever wins pure love surpasses all;
He is adored by men;
He triumphs over the three worlds… .



23.
“If you asked me which form of God you should meditate upon, I should say: Fix your attention on that form which appeals to you most; but know for certain that all forms are the forms of one God alone.



24.
O Mother, what a machine is this that Thou hast made!
What pranks Thou playest with this toy
Three and a half cubits high!
Hiding Thyself within,
Thou holdest the guiding string;
But the machine, not knowing it,
Still believes it moves by itself.
Whoever finds the Mother remains a machine no more;
Yet some machines have even bound
The Mother Herself with the string of Love.

Swami Nikhilananda.
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, Inc..
Kindle Edition.
(Downloaded 2025)