Diving Into The Ramakrishna Teachings

Ashram flower

Ashram Life:

So enjoying the Ramakrishna teachings and stories about his life.  One of my favorite books has been The Great Swan, so it is wonderful to find all of these other books to add to the collection.  He seems to do a wonderful job of narrowing all points of separation, explaining the whys behind the path, and how the teachings need to be applied individually.  There appears to be two basic paths:  knowledge and devotion. I was curious if one person could have a mixture or if it was more useful to stick with one.  Gurudev said the point of the two paths is so a person can follow the one that allows for the straightest path;  like rowing a boat down the river with the oars working in synchrony.  All lead to the same point, so when one gets to the end, the path is not so important., but the directness can be influenced.

The books cover so many of my questions that I have asked,  questions that I haven't asked, and with such lovely depth--like Gurudev.

Street Life:

Uncovered a massive nettle patch regarding being a white, woman walking.  There is a lot of hostility about being white which equates to British domination.  Two big black marks are on the list.  I had a little incident at the gym where I kicked one of the men in the private parts, because he wasn't listening to loud sounds or vulgar language.  The good news is now I get to lock the door from the inside while working out and I had peace for two days.  Gurudev mentioned that all women live in a box of some sort, but the one in India is smaller.  I can appreciate how here it is about negotiating one's survival, so it is less miserable being a woman.  There would probably never be an option for an Indian woman to kick a man in that particular way and hope to survive.  The two men did go scampering down the stairs.  (A 14 year old was recently beheaded for turning down a marriage proposal in Afghanistan.)