Free Will

To the devotees: “Always sing devotional songs. To love God and live in the company of the devotees: that is all. What more is there?

When Krishna went to Mathura, Yaśoda came to Radha, who was absorbed in meditation.

Afterwards Radha said to Yaśoda:

‘I am the Primordial Energy. Ask a boon of Me.’

But those who are firmly established in God may do as well without the devotees. This is true of those who feel the presence of God both within and without.

Sometimes they don’t enjoy the devotees’ company. You don’t whitewash a wall inlaid with mother of pearl-the lime won’t stick.

You have the voice of a woman. Can’t you practise a song such as this? Tell me, friend, how far is the grove Where Krishna, my Beloved, dwells?

(To M., pointing to Baburam) ‘You see, my own people have become strangers; Ramlal and my other relatives seem to be foreigners. And strangers have become my own. Don’t you notice how I tell Baburam to go and wash his face? The devotees have become relatives.

(Looking at the Panchavati) ‘I used to sit there. In course of time I became mad. That phase also passed away. Kala, Śiva, is Brahman. That which sports with Kala is Kāli, the Primal Energy. Kāli moves even the Immutable.’

to M.: “Today is Saturday. Go to the temple of Kāli.”

Chidatma and ChitŚakti. The Purusha is the Chidatma and Prakriti the ChitŚakti. Sri Krishna is the Chidatma and Sri Radha the ChitŚakti. The devotees are so many forms of the ChitŚakti. They should think of themselves as companions or handmaids of the ChitŚakti, Sri Radha. This is the whole gist of the thing."

in a piteous voice: “Mother, why haven’t You revealed to me that form of Yours, the form that bewitches the world? I pleaded with You so much for it. But You wouldn’t listen to me. You act as You please.”

Mother, one needs faith. Away with this wretched reasoning! Let it be blighted! One needs faith-faith in the words of the guru, childlike faith. The mother says to her child, ‘A ghost lives there’; and the child is firmly convinced that the ghost is there. Again, the mother says to the child, ‘A holy man is there’, and the child is sure of it.

Further, the mother says, pointing to a man, ‘He is your elder brother’, and the child believes that the man is one hundred and twenty-five per cent his brother. One needs faith. But why should I blame them, Mother? What can they do? It is necessary to go through reasoning once. Didn’t You see how much I told him about it the other day? But it all proved useless."

“Mother, may those who come to You have all their desires fulfilled! But please don’t make them give up everything at once, Mother. Well, You may do whatever You like in the end. If You keep them in the world, Mother, then please reveal Yourself to them now and then.

Otherwise, how will they live? How will they be encouraged if they don’t see You once in a while? But You may do whatever You like in the end.”

“Look here, you have had enough of reasoning. No more of it. Promise that you won’t reason any more.”

“You have had enough of it. When you came to me the first time, I told you your spiritual Ideal. I know everything about you, do I not?”

Yes, I know everything: what your Ideal is, who you are, your inside and outside, the events of your past lives, and your future. Do I not?"

“I scolded you on learning that you had a son. Now go home and live there. Let them know that you belong to them. But you must remember in your heart of hearts that you do not belong to them nor they to you.”

“You have now learnt to fly. But keep your loving relationship with your father. Can’t you prostrate yourself before him?”

“What more shall I say to you? You know everything. You understand, don’t you?”

“You have understood, haven’t you?”

“No, you understand a great deal. Rakhal’s father is pleased about his staying here.”

“Yes, what you are thinking will also come to pass.”

The Divine Mother and the earthly mother. It is the Divine Mother who exists in the form of the universe and pervades everything as Consciousness.

The earthly mother gives birth to this body. I used to go into samādhi uttering the word ‘Ma’. While repeating the word I would draw the Mother of the Universe to me, as it were, like the fishermen casting their net and after a while drawing it in. When they draw in the net they find big fish inside it.

“Gauri once said that one attains true Knowledge when one realizes the identity of Kāli and Gaurānga. That which is Brahman is also Śakti, Kāli. It is That, again, which, assuming the human form, has become Gaurānga.”

(to M.): “The Nitya and the Lila are the two aspects of the Reality. God plays in the world as man for the sake of His devotees. They can love God only if they see Him in a human form; only then can they show their affection for Him as their Brother, Sister, Father, Mother, or Child.

It is just for this love of the devotees that God contracts Himself into a human form and descends on earth to play His lila.”