Becoming unattached

Ramakrishna:

What is the significance of the Gita? It is what you find by repeating the word ten times. It is the reversed into tagi, which means a person who has renounced everything for God. And the lesson of the Gita is: "O man, renounce everything and seek God alone." Whether a man is a monk or a householder, he has to shake off all attachment from his mind.
(p. 157)

Ramakrishna:

I ask people to renounce mentally. I do not ask them to give up the world. If one lives unattached and seeks God with sincerity, then one is able to attain Him
(pp. 338-339)

Ramakrishna:

He to whom the enjyoment of worldly happiness appears tasteless, he who takes no delight in anything of the world -- money, name, creature comforts, sense pleasure -- becomes sincerely grief-stricken for the vision of the Mother. And to him alone the Mother comes running, leaving all Her other duties
(p. 367)

Ramakrishna:

One truly realizes God if one performs one's worldly duties in a detached spirit, if one lives in the world after realizing that everything is illusory...

Do you know what a householder jnani is like? He is like a person living in a glass house. He can see both inside and outside.
(p. 493)

Ramakrishna:

Once (in a vision)... God suddenly showed me the lake at Kamarpukur. I saw a man pushing aside the green scum and drinking the water. The water was clear as crystal. God revealed to me that Satchidananda is covered by the scum of maya. He who pushes the green scum aside can drink the water.
(p. 262)

Ramakrishna:

One who has only a mild spirit of renunciation says, "Well, all will happen in the course of time; let me now simply repeat God's name." But a man possessed of a strong spirit of renunciation feels restless for God, as a mother feels for her child. A man of strong renunciation seeks nothing but God. He regards the world as a deep well and feels as if the were going to be drowned in it.
(p. 222)

Ramakrishna:

I prayed to the Divine Mother: "O Mother, I don't want name and fame. I don't want the eight occult powers. I don't want a hundred occult powers. O Mother, I have no desire for creature comforts. Please Mother, grant me the boon that I may have pure love for Thy Lotus Feet."
(p. 349)

©1999 by Deb Platt