“It is the same with you. It would be nice if an all-renouncing person imparts to you spiritual instructions. But it would not be right to take the advice of a worldly man, whether he be a brahmin, a pundit, or anybody else.” Ishan be inebriated – this is the Mother’s instruction
“Be inebriated! Be mad in the ecstatic love of the Lord! Let people say that Ishan has gone mad and that he cannot attend to anything now. When you become inebriated in this way, they will not approach you for leadership, or arbitration. Throw away your koshakushi (utensils for ritualistic worship). Live up to the name of Ishan (an appellation of Shiva).” Ishan — “O Mother, make me mad with Thy love. What need have I of knowledge or reason?” Sri Ramakrishna — Madness, or otherwise? Shivanath said, ‘Too much contemplation on the Lord makes one lose one’s head.’ I rejoined, ‘What do you mean? Can one ever become unconscious by thinking of Consciousness? He is the nature of Eternity, Purity and Consciousness, through whose power of perception one perceives everything and through whose Consciousness all is made conscious.’ He said that it happened to Mr. Kirni – too much contemplation had made him go insane. This is possible since these people dwell on worldly matters. A line in a song says, ‘Such thoughts have filled the body and driven out jnana.’ The jnana that is talked of here means the knowledge of the external. With his hands touching the feet of Sri Ramakrishna, Ishan sits there listening to all his words. He casts his glance now and then on the stone image of Kali in the centre of the temple. In the light of the earthen lamps the Mother appears to be smiling, manifesting Herself within the image. She seems happy to be hearing the Veda-like mantra of Sri Ramakrishna in a physical form.
Ishan (to Sri Ramakrishna) — Everything you have said with your holy lips is coming from there. Sri Ramakrishna — I am an instrument, She is the Being who uses the instrument; I am the house and She the dweller; I am the chariot, while She is the charioteer; I move the way She drives me; I speak the way She makes me speak. “In the Kaliyuga (age of Kali) one does not hear celestial