A small collection of teachings from Sri Sri Ramakrishnadever Upadesh - a book containing the teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O human beings, because you do not find God in your ignorance, say not that there is no God.
God dwells in all beings, but all beings do not identify themselves with God, so they suffer.
Some people shed a jugful of tears to have children; some cry for money and property; but who longs to see God? Those who want God, find Him.
In this Kaliyuga a human being can attain perfection in three days. Those who cry with a longing heart for God day and night see Him.
How can one ascertain the state of perfection? As potatoes and eggplants become soft when they are boiled, so people become very soft or humble when they attain perfection. Their egos dissolve completely.
A room may be dark for a thousand years, but it is lighted instantly as soon as a lamp is lit. Similarly, one glance of God’s grace can wipe away sins accumulated in thousands of births.
If one drops a salt doll, a cloth doll, and a stone doll in the ocean, the salt doll melts instantly and loses its individual existence. The cloth doll becomes soaked with water; it does not become one with it, and it maintains its own separate existence. Water does not enter into the stone doll at all. A free soul is like the salt doll, a worldly soul is like the cloth doll, and a bound soul is like the stone doll.
The sun may shine equally everywhere, but it reflects more clearly in clean water, mirrors, and other transparent objects. Similarly, God may dwell in every heart, but He manifests more completely in the hearts of holy people.