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Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother: Her Teachings and Conversations

Sri Sarada Devi was the wife of the 19th century Hindu mystic Sri Ramakrishna. This book contains a short, informal biography of her along with records of her thoughts and conversations as told by followers and disciples. 

I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about Hinduism nor do I know anything of the famous Hindu mystics like Ramakrishna, but what's striking to me are the significant parallels with the mysticism of my own Christian tradition. You'll see the same paradoxes and questions discussed in this book also grappled with in The Sayings of the Holy Desert Fathers, or the works of Elder Porphyrios, St. Francis or St. Theresa of Avila. Questions on how to balance spiritual life with worldly responsibilities like earning a living, how to live a life of quiet virtue and asceticism, to what extent one should practice devotions or austerities like fasting in daily life, how to escape the various (and sometimes nested) traps of attachment, and so on.

Notes/Quotes:
* Sri Sarada Devi lived as an average Hindu woman; inwardly "she practiced total nonattachment and remained undisturbed by what happened in the physical world." "She regarded renunciation as the foundation of spiritual life." She did not seek disciples. Almost nothing was written about her, and few even knew of her existence.

* On antimarketing: In investing, you should never invest in any investment product sold to you. I wonder if the same holds true to in spiritual or moral domains: should you avoid spirituality that's "sold" to you? 

* She takes on/absorbs peoples' sins.

* "The less you become attached to the world, the more you enjoy peace of mind."

* "One must do some work. Through work alone can one remove the bondage of work, not by avoiding work. Total detachment comes later on. One should not be without work even for a moment."

* The four ages of Hindu mythology: Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. "Their order of succession is according to the degree of degeneration of spirituality and righteousness in them. The present age is Kali, the most degenerate, and owing to the general lowering of standards in it, even a little spiritual practice is supposed to lead to great results." [emphasis mine: it's interesting to think about this paradox.]

* "What is there in money, my child? Sri Ramakrishna could not touch it. His hand would recoil before money. He said, 'This world is illusory. Had I known it to be otherwise, I would have covered your Kamarpukur [a village in West Bengal state] with leaves of gold. But I know the world to be impermanent. God alone is real.'"

* "However spiritual a man may be, he must pay the tax for the use of the body to the last farthing. But the difference between a great soul and an ordinary man is this: the latter weeps while leaving this body, whereas the former laughs. Death seems to him a mere play." [Read: we must all undergo suffering and death incidental to the embodied state.]

* "Everything--husband, wife, or even the body--is only illusory. These are all shackles of illusion. Unless you can free yourself from these bondages, you will never be able to go to the other shore of the world. Even this attachment to the body, the identification of the self with the body, must go. What is this body, my darling? It is nothing but three pounds of ashes when it is cremated. Why so much vanity about it? However strong or beautiful this body may be, its culmination is in those three pounds of ashes. And still people are so attached to it. Glory be to God!"

* Interesting paradox of the monastic life giving rise to its own form of vanity, its own (nested) form of attachment. It could be that "inner renunciation" could be superior, in other words rejecting the cloth of the monk (and thus the status of a monk), and thereby carry no outward sign of superiority or higher morality. Interesting parallel here with both Christianity and Taoism (e.g.: The man who lives in union with the true Tao possesses an interior light, which he carefully hides from view, thereby giving the appearance of a fool; an ordinary Tao would bring him the renown that the true Tao does not bring him.) 

* This book yields an interesting introduction to Hindu thinking, it's also very interesting to see many parallels with Western and Eastern beliefs, all major religions grapple with the same paradoxes: what should I do while I live, how shall I comport myself? What happens when I die? Do I live "in" the world or do I reject this world? How do I not suffer from the illusions of day-to-day life, and what is the underlying reality?

* Three categories of karma, the result of past actions: parabdha, agami and sanchita: "parabdha is like an arrow that has left the bow; it must strike the target. Agami is like an arrow that is attached to the bowstring, it is ready to be released but can be withheld. And sanchita is like the arrows in the quiver; it is held in reserve."

* "In one word, one should desire of God desirelessness. For desire alone is at the root of all suffering. It is the cause of repeated births and deaths. It is the obstacle in the way of liberation."

To read:
The Mahabharata (Hindu epic)
Sri Ramakrishna, The Great Master by Swami Saradananda
The Vedanta Way to Peace and Happiness by Adiswarananda

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