How to realise God

Shri Mahendra Nath Gupta, who compiled the conversations of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa with devotees under the title The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna from his diaries, was a great spiritual seeker. Although initially meant for his own personal sadhana or spiritual striving, decades after the mahasamadhi of Sri Ramakrishna he chose to share those gems with other seekers. He used to meet Sri Ramakrishna regularly on holidays over a period of more than five years and slowly he underwent an extraordinary transformation. But often he was in a great dilemma. His family life was an extremely disturbed one and he was suffering terribly. But whenever he was in the company of Sri Ramakrishna, his mind would be elevated to an exalted state. This would happen again and again whenever he was in the company of Sri Ramakrishna. But when he would return home, he would once again be overpowered by his family problems. He felt deeply disturbed and started wondering whether it was really possible for a householder to realise God. He directly asked Sri Ramakrishna this question on several

occasions. At many places in the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna he appears under various names such as “M”, “a devotee”, etc. Every time Sri Ramakrishna would assure him, it was certainly possible for everyone to realise God. But he would prescribe certain disciplines, namely Satsang or the company of the holy, living in solitude now and then at least for a short period of time and finally weeping for God with intense longing. He would discuss about these disciplines in great detail. In spite of that doubts would creep into Mahendra Nath Gupta’s mind again and again. Perhaps his fear was, if Sri Ramakrishna gives up his mortal frame, who would help him or guide him? However, he continued his spiritual struggles manfully and attained great spiritual maturity and helped a lot others.