CHAPTER II.

THE DAKSHINESWAR TEMPLE—OCTOBER, 1882

At 9 in the morning of Sunday, the 22nd of October, 1882,—the day of Vijaya of the month of Aswin—Sri Ramakrishna is reclining on his smaller cot, talking to Mani who is seated on the floor of the Master's room.

Rakhal has been staying with the Master for some time, so also his nephew Ramlal, and Hazra. Narendra and Bhavanath pay him occasional visits; whereas, Ram, Manomohan, Suresh, M. and Balaram come to him almost every week. Baburam, however, has seen him only once or twice.

Says the Master to Mani, "Have they allowed you Puja holidays?"

Mani: Yes, sir; I attended at Keshab Sen's all the three days of Saptami, Ashtami, and Navami.

Sri Ramakrishna: Indeed!

Mani: There I heard a nice interpretation of the Durga Puja.

Sri Ramakrishna: What can it be?

^* Saptami, Ashtami & Navami are respectively the 7th, 8th & 9th day of the bright fortnight of the month of Aswin, and it is on these three days that the autumnal worship of the Divine Mother Durga is celebrated. The fourth day is called Vijaya.

Mani: At Keshab Sen's, they hold regular morning prayers till nearly 11. It was during these morning sermons that Keshab Sen expounded the significance of the Puja. He said, 'If one realises the Mother and can install Her in the temple of his heart, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh come of themselves! For Lakshmi is Mother's Glory, and Sarasvati, Knowledge; Kartik, Power; and Ganesh, Success; and all these are gained along with the realisation of the Mother.

The Master's Antaranga devotees.

The Master listens to all these details making occasional queries and at last remarks, "Don't you go hither and thither, come here alone."

"For those who belong to the inner circle of my devotees^*, shall come here alone. Naren, Bhavanath and Rakhal are my antaranga and they are no nobodies. Will you entertain them once? How do you think of Narendra?"

Mani: Oh! very highly.

Sri Ramakrishna: Don't you see how many fine qualities he possesses?

"He can sing well, play musical instruments and is very learned. He has strong control over the senses, and says he will never marry, and he has the thought of the Lord from his very boyhood."

^* Such devotees are called Antaranga i.e., 'the inner body,' as opposed to Bahiranga or 'the outer body' of devotees. The distinction is evidently based on the comparative strength of their devotion and love and their spiritual capacities.

And thus proceeds the conversation; and the Master asks, "How are your meditations going on? Which do you like better—His form or formlessness?"

Mani: Sir, my mind does not at present incline towards form. I cannot, however, fix my mind on His formlessness.

Sri Ramakrishna: Do you see?—the mind cannot at once be fixed on the Formless One; meditation on His form, I think, is quite good in the primary stages.

Mani: Do you mean meditation on these earthen images?

Sri Ramakrishna: Why earthen? Spiritual forms!

Mani: Yet, sir, I have still to imagine hands, feet and all that. But I also consider the fact that, as you said, it is impossible to concentrate the mind without meditating on His form. Well sir, considering that He can assume infinite forms, may I meditate on my own mother?

Sri Ramakrishna: Yes, you may. For she (one's mother) is your Guru and is the very self of Brahmamayee (Divine Mother).

Mani is silent for a while and then inquires, "Sir, what is the nature of the realisation of God's formlessness? Can it not be described?"

Sri Ramakrishna: (after a short, thoughtful pause) "Do you knowwhat it is like?" Again he lapses into silence, and then he utters one sentence to describe the realisation of God's form and formlessness and is silent again.

Sri Ramakrishna: (after a while) Do you know Sadhana is indispensable for a true understanding of this experience. You must take the trouble of procuring the key that will unlock the door of the treasure-house, where lie the jewels and stones, if you want to see and take them out. Otherwise, if you stand outside the locked room and only imagine you have opened the door, broke open the treasure-box and have got out the jewels, will that do? You must try and struggle, you must realise.

II.

The philosophe and the doctrine of Divine Incarnation.

Sri Ramakrishna: The Jnanis think of God as formless, and they do not believe in Divine Incarnation. Arjuna invoked Sri Krishna as the Absolute, the Purna Brahman. To which said Sri Krishna, 'Come and you will see whether I am such or not.' And then leading him to a certain place asked, 'What do you see here?' 'A big tree,' Arjuna replied, 'and bunches of blackberry-like fruits hanging on it.' 'Nay, my friend,' said Sri Krishna, 'come closer and you will find that these are not blackberries, but innumerable Sri Krishnas like my own self, growing on it!' The idea is that from the Absolute, the Purna Brahman, infinite Incarnations are taking birth, and passing away!

"Kabirdas was greatly inclined towards the formless aspect of the Lord; so of Krishna he would say, 'What worship to him?—He danced like a monkey to the claps of shepherdesses.'

(Smilingly) "I am, however, one with both the Sakaravadi and the Nirakaravadi^*."

Mani: (smiling) You are as infinite as He of Whom we are talking: verily you have no end!

Sri Ramakrishna: (smiling) You have found it out. Do you know—one has to practise all the creeds once and pass through these diverse paths? The dice-cube cannot reach the centre square until it has completed the circle; but once there, none can overtake it.

Mani: Quite true.

Sri Ramakrishna: There are two classes of yogis, Bahudaka (many-watered) and Kutichaka (hut-dweller). The Sadhu that is always on pilgrimage and has not yet attained to peace of mind is a Bahudaka; but he whose travels are over, whose mind has become serene and peaceful, settles in one place and does not move. In such a settled life, he has the fulness of joy, and needs no visit to holy places. If he does go there that is only for inspiration.

"I had to practise all the religions once—Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, and I have also followed the paths of the different denominations of Hinduism—Shakta, Vaishnava, Vedantin and other sects. And I have found that it is the same God towards Whom all are travelling; only they are coming through diverse ways.

^* Sakaravadi—he who maintains that God has form and Nirakaravadi—he who thinks God to be formless.

Sri Ramakrishna's Reminiscences.

"When I went on pilgrimage, it was sometimes a regular torture. Once at Benares, as I sat with Sejo Babu^* in the parlour of Raja Babu, they talked of worldly affairs, of money and of land. At that I burst out, crying, 'O Mother, where hast Thou brought me? I was quite happy at Dakshineswar!' I visited Prayag^†, but it was the same tank, same grass, same trees and same tamarind leaves.

"But holy places are no doubt inspiring. At Brindavan, where I went with Hride and Mathur's family, the very sight of Kaliyadaman Ghat^‡ used to fill me with divine inspiration, and I could not contain myself. It was in that Ghat that Hride would bathe me like a little child.

"During my evening walks along the Jumna, I used to find the cattle of Brindavan returning home across the sands of the river from their pasture. Once as I saw this, the thought of Sri Krishna flashed up in my mind, and I ran mad-like, crying, 'Where is Krishna?' 'Where is Krishna?'

^* Mathuranath Biswas, son-in-law of Rani Rasmani, founder of the Dakshineswar Temple.

^† Allahabad.

‡ Bathing place in Brindavan sanctified by the memory of Radha and Krishna.

"On my way to Shyamakunda^* and Radhakunda^*, as I was being carried in a palanquin, I got down to visit the Mt. Govardhan.^* Its very sight so overwhelmed me that I ran up to its summit and lost all external consciousness. Then the Brajavasins^† went up and got me down. As I went towards the Kundas and looked on the same fields and trees and birds and deer on the way, I could not contain myself. Tears damped my clothes, and the thought again and again came to my mind, 'O Krishna, all else remains the same but where art Thou?' Thus I sat silent in the palanquin, unable to utter a single word. Hride was following close behind and he had warned the bearers beforehand to be on their guard about me.

"Ganga Mayee, an old lady living in a solitary hut near Nidhuvan^*, was extremely fond of me. After observing my spiritual condition and ecstacies, she used to speak of me as the embodiment of Radha herself and called me 'Dulali'^‡. To be near her, was for me to forget all about bath, meal, or going home; so Hride would sometimes bring over my food to me; she also occasionally entertained me.

^* Places in Brindavan sanctified by the memory of Radha and Krishna.

^† 'Residents of Brindavan'

‡ One of the names of Radha.

"Ganga Mayee would sometimes fall into a trance. The sight of it attracted regular crowds. On one of those occasions, she jumped on-ride's shoulders.

"I never wanted to come away from Ganga Mayee. All arrangements were finally made for my stay: I would eat double-boiled rice, and she would have her bed on one side of the cottage and I on the other. When everything was thus completely settled, Hride said, 'You are a dyspeptic, who will look after you?' 'I will', said Ganga Mayee, 'I will serve him.' Thus they quarrelled over me, when, all on a sudden, the thought of my mother, waiting alone in the Nehavat of the Dakshineswar Temple, came to my mind and it became impossible for me to remain behind. So I said, 'Yes, I must go.'

"The ways of Brindavan are very nice indeed! When a new pilgrim arrives, the boys of Braja cry out, 'Take the name of the Lord and open thy pack!'"

After 11 A. M., the Master partakes of the Prasadam of the Divine Mother and retires for a short mid-day rest. In the afternoon, he resumes his conversation with the devotees, breaking out from time to time with the recitation of the Pranava—'Om'—and 'Ha Chaitanya!' 'Ha Chaitanya!'

It is evening—the evening of Vijaya. The Aratrikam is over in the temple. Sri Ramakrishna comes there and salutes the Mother. The devotees take the dust of his holy feet. The Master calls for Ramlal who has officiated in the evening service, and cries, "O Ramnelo, where are you?" For Siddhi^* has been offered to the Mother, and the Master wants to touch it. And he tells him to give a little of it to every one.

III.

About 4 P. M., on the following Tuesday, when M. and Balaram arrive at the temple in the same carriage from Calcutta, they find the Master standing by the meat shelf in his room. They make their respectful obeisance to him and take their seat.

The Master says laughingly, "I was going to take some sweets from the shelf, but no sooner did I put my hand on them than a lizard ticked, and I at once removed my hand. (All laugh.)

"Yes, all these things have to be observed. Now you see, Rakhal is ill and my limbs also are aching. Do you know what the matter is? This morning as I was leaving my bed, I mistook a certain person for Rakhal and saw his face.

^* A sweet liquid made, among other ingredients, of Siddhi or hemp leaves, which is slightly intoxicating. It is customary to offer it to the Mother on the Vijaya day and distribute it among the devotees.

"Yes, one has to note the features of the body. The other day, Narendra brought here a friend of his, a one-eyed boy, though his other eye was not totally blind. But I said to myself, 'What is this that Naren has done?'

"There is another person who visits this place, whose food-offerings I cannot eat. He is employed in a certain office where he gets a monthly salary of rupees twenty; but he earns another twenty by writing a false bill. And because he tells lies, I scarcely talk with him when he comes here. He would sometimes absent himself for three or four days from the office and remain here. Do you know why?—he expects me to recommend him to some one for another appointment."

Balaram comes of a very devoted Vaishnava family. His father who is now old, is a very devout Vaishnava. He wears the traditional tuft of hair on his head and a garland of tulasi round his neck. He always tells the beads he carries in his hands. They possess large properties in Orissa, maintain free eating houses, and conduct the daily worship of the sacred images of Sri Radha-Krishna at Kothar, Brindavan and many other places. . . Balaram has formed the acquaintance of the Master only lately, so the Master is imparting to him instructions in the form of stories. . . .

Sri Ramakrishna: A certain person came here the other day: I am told he is a slave of that black woman of a wife. Why don't we see God?—it is because Kamini-Kanchana stand between as barriers. And I say, how could he dare to say before you that a Paramahamsa came to his father and his father feasted him with a dish of fowls?

[Balaram laughs.]

"In my present mood I can take a little of fish soup, if it has been offered to the Mother. But now I cannot take meat, offered to Her; so I only taste it with the finger-end, lest Mother gets angry! [All laugh.]

"Well, can you tell me what is this condition of mine? I was going in a cart to the country from the Burdwan Railway Station, when I was suddenly overtaken by storm and rain, and there came from somewhere some people who joined the cart. My companions said they were robbers, so I began to take the name of the Lord. But sometimes I repeated, 'Rama,' 'Rama,' sometimes, 'Kali,' 'Kali,' and again, 'Hanuman,' 'Hanuman,' and so on. Can you tell me what this is?"

Does the Master mean that God is one, but His names are infinite, and that the different sects and denominations vainly wrangle with one another?

Sri Ramakrishna: (to Balaram) Kamini and Kanchana are Maya itself. And if you live long amongst them, you lose your spiritual consciousness, and think it is all well with you, just as a scavenger that carries night-soil is lost to all sense of loathsomeness.

"If you practise singing the Lord's name and praise, you will, by and by, gain devotion. (To M.) So never be bashful in this. For so long as bashfulness, hate and fear persist, one has no hope.

"They sing very nice keertanam in those^* parts, playing on the khol^†. And Nakurh Acharya is simply splendid in his songs. (To Balaram) Do you not have establishments for the Lord's worship at Brindavan?"

Balaram: Yes, Sir, there is one kunja^‡ for the worship of Radha-Krishna.

Sri Ramakrishna: I have been to Brindavan; Nidhuvan is a nice place.

^* Kamarpukur and neighbouring places.

^† A musical instrument.

‡ Lit., 'arbour,' an appellation commonly applied to temples at Brindavan.