Kathamrita Volume II - Swami Vivekananda

Mani — But sir, one still has to think of thehands and feet and so on. On the other hand Isay to myself that in the beginning, the mindwon’t concentrate except on a form – you saidso – but He can assume various forms. Mayone meditate on the form of one’s own mother?Sri Ramakrishna — Yes, she is the guru [1] .She is the embodiment of the All-BlissfulMother.Mani is silent, but after awhile he asks Thakur–Mani — What do you see when you meditateon the formless God? Can it be described?Sri Ramakrishna (after a short reflection) —You know what it’s like?Saying this, Thakur is silent. Then he gives aspecial description of what one experienceswhen having a vision of God with form as wellas the formless God. He pauses again.Sri Ramakrishna — The fact is that you need topractice spiritual disciplines to understand. Ifyou want to take jewels from a locked room,you have to make some effort to find the key toopen the lock. Then you can remove the jewelsfrom it. If you just stand before a locked roomthinking, ‘I have now opened the door, nowbroken the strong-box and now taken the