"The mind will take the colour you dye it with.
It is like white clothes just returned from the laundry.
If you dip them in red dye, they will be red.
If you dip them in blue or green, they will be blue or green.
They will take only the colour you dip them in,
whatever it may be. Haven't you noticed that,
if you read a little English, you at once begin to utter
English words: "foot *** it mit"? Then you put on boots
and whistle a tune, and so on.
It all goes together. Or, if a scholar studies Sanscrit,
he will at once rattle off Sanscrit verses.
If you are in bad company, then you will talk and think
like your companions. On the other hand, when you are
in the company of devotees, you will think and talk only of God."
om tat sat
~~~~~~ om shanthi om~~~~~~
Excerpted from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna p.137
Tuesday 10/12/19
The Master Said: [with a laugh]
"Of course you can realize God without complete renunciation !
Why should you renounce everything? You are all right
as you are, following the middle path.
[note: Thakur was speaking to a BrAmho devotee]
- like molasses partly solid and partly liquid.
Do you know the game of nax? Having scored the maximum
number of points, I am out of the game. I can't enjoy it.
But you are very clever. Some of you have scored ten points,
some six, and some five. You have scored just the right
number, so you are not out of the game like me.
The game can go on. Why, that's fine !"
This comment caused much mirth among the devotees
om tat sat
~~~~~~ om shanthi om~~~~~~
______
This is a reasonably accurate representation of my home shrine, of more than thirty-five years: