Virtue and vice - is God attached to them? What should be an attitude of a devotee?

 

Sri Ramakrishna

(from "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna):

Sri Ramakrishna: One who knows the Truth knows that it is He alone who has become father and mother, child and neighbour, man and animal, good and bad, holy and unholy, and so forth.

Question: Then is there no virtue and no sin?

Sri Ramakrishna: They both exist and do not exist. If God keeps the ego in a man, then He keeps in him the sense of differentiation and also the sense of virtue and sin. But in a rare few He completely effaces the ego and these go beyond virtue and sin, good and bad. As long as a man has not realized God, he retains the sense of differentiation and the knowledge of good and bad. You may say: 'Virtue and sin are the same to me. I am doing only as God bids me.' But you know in your heart of hearts that those are mere words. No sooner do you commit an evil deed than you feel a palpitation in your heart. 

Even after God has been realized, He keeps in the mind of the devotee, if He so desires, the feeling of the 'servant ego'. In that state the devotee says, 'O God, Thou art the Master and I am Thy servant.' Such a devotee enjoys only spiritual talk and spiritual deeds. He does not enjoy the company of ungodly people. He does not care for any work that is not of a holy nature. So you see that God keeps the sense of differentiation even in such a devotee....

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Question: If God is responsible for every thing, then why should people speak of good and evil, virtue and vice? One commits sin also by the will of God. Isn't that so?

Sri Ramakrishna: There is no doubt that virtue and vice exist in the world; but God Himself is unattached to them. There may be good and bad smells in the air, but the air is not attached to them. The very nature of God's creation is that good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, will always exist in the world. Among the trees in the garden one finds mango and jack-fruit, and hog-plum too. Haven't you noticed that even wicked men are needed?  Suppose there are rough tenants on an estate; then the landlord must send a ruffian to control them.