CHAPTER V.

THE DAKSHINESWAR TEMPLE,—JANUARY 1883

It is Monday, the 1st of January, 1883, corresponding to the eighth day of the dark half of the month of Agrahayana.^*

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the Master is seated on the matting of the floor in his well-known chamber, wrapped in a moleskin garment to protect himself from the prevailing cold of the season.

By this time, most of the Antaranga devotees of the Master have gathered round him. It is now nearly a year during which Narendra, Rakhal, Bhavanath, Balaram, M., Baburam and Latu have come to know him and pay him frequent visits; and it is more than two years since Ram, Manomohan, Surendra and Kedar have been connected with the Master.

The Master is seated on the floor, near him is a tray of jilipi^†—the offering of a devotee—and he takes a little of it and tastes it. M. and Prankrishna are seated before him; Rakhal also is present in the room, and Hazra is occupying his usual place in the south-eastern veranda.

Says the Master laughingly to Prankrishna,

^* The eighth month of the Bengali year.

^† A kind of sweetmeat.

"You see, I am given so many things to eat, because I take the Mother's name. [Laughter.]

"But She does not give such fruits as gourd or Pumpkin; She grants ambrosial fruits, such as Knowledge, Love, Discrimination and Renunciation."

Prankrishna came originally from the village of Janai.^* He now lives in the Shyampukur section of Calcutta and is employed in the Exchange as the superintendent of the auction department. Having had no children by his first wife, he has married with her permission a second time and is now the father of a son. The Master sometimes calls him 'the fat Brahmin,' evidently referring to his tendency to obesity. Prankrishna is extremely devoted to the Master, and invited him, a few months ago, with his devotees to his place at Shyampukur and entertained them with various delicacies and sweets. . . . . Though a householder, he always studies the Vedanta and declares that Brahman alone is real and that the world is false. Sometimes he says, Soham, 'I am He!' The Master tells him, "In this Kali Yuga, man's life is centred in the material world, hence the most advisable course is the path of Bhakti as prescribed by Narada.". . . . . . . .

^* In Bengal.

Enters a seven-year-old child into the room. A strange transformation comes over the Master. Verily, he too has become a little child; for just as a child hides a sweetmeat from another child lest he should snatch it away, so the Master covers the tray of sweets with his hand and puts it aside; and lo! he is at once plunged into Samadhi.

II.

The Master is in Samadhi,—he continues in that mood of transport for some time. The body is motionless, the eyes are steady and winkless, and the respiration uncertain.

After a long pause he draws a deep breath,—as if returning to the world of the senses.

Sri Ramakrishna: (to Prankrishna) Not only is She formless, but She has form also. It is possible to see Her forms. By Bhava^* and Bhakti they can be seen. Mother does appear in various forms.

"Yesterday I had a vision of Mother: I saw Her clad in a seamless ochre-coloured garment, and She talked with me.

"Another day She came to me in the form of a Mohammedan girl. She had a tilaka on her forehead, but was nude, a young girl six or seven years old. She began to stroll about with me and make merry.

^* Spiritual mood

"When I was in Hride's^† house, I had a vision of Gouranga—He wore a black-bordered cloth.

"Haladhari^‡ used to say that God is beyond both bhava and abhava—being and non-being—beyond all mood, mode and want. I went Mother what Haladhari had said and and told asked if all the divine forms then were false. Mother came to me in the form of in Rati's mother, and said, 'Letthee remain bhava alone.' I also repeated the same thing to Haladhari.

"At times I forget it and suffer. I broke my teeth for my not being in the bhava. So, until I get some command from God or see His vision, I shall ever remain in bhava and with Bhakti. Ay, what do you say?"

Prankrishna: Yes, sir.

Sri Ramakrishna: Ah, why, I am asking you! The One Who is within me is doing all this through me. At times I used to get the mood of Godhood,—I could never be pacified unless being worshipped. I am the instrument and He is the worker; I do as He makes me do, I speak as He makes me speak.

"Prasad says: I have floated my bark into the sea of life and I sit there calm; I shall drift up when it flows up, and down when it ebbs."

^† Hriday Mukherji, Sri Ramakrishna's nephew.

‡ Sri Ramakrishna's cousin.

Self-surrender to God.

"It is like the dry leaf before a gale,—now it is blown up into a good place, and now carried down into the dirty drain,—it goes wherever the wind takes it.

"The weaver said that it was all by the will of Rama. 'By Rama's will they committed the robbery. By Rama's will I was caught by the police, and by Rama's will, again, I was released."

"Hanuman said, 'O Rama, in Thee I have taken refuge; bless me, that I may have pure Bhakti to Thy lotus-feet, and further, that I may not be blinded by Thy world-deluding Maya.'

"A frog, when pierced unknowingly by the arrow of Rama, said, 'When I am caught by a snake I cry to Thee, saying, "O Rama, save me;" but now that I am pierced by the arrow of Rama Himself, I am keeping quiet.'

"Formerly, I used to have vivid visions—with these eyes—just as I am seeing you; now, I get visions only in trance.

"After God-realisation one has the nature of a child. One approximates the nature of the being one meditates upon. God's nature is just like a child's. A child plays at housekeeping—now builds her doll-house—now breaks it: He is also doing the same in Creation, Protection and Destruction. As a child is not bound by any quality, so He is beyond all the three gunas, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas.

"Hence you see Paramahamsas keep some children around them that they may assume their nature."

From Agarpara a young man, twenty-two years of age, has come to the Master. Only recently he began coming to the place. When he comes, he calls the Master aside and whispers out his mind to him. To-day he sits on the floor near the Master.

Sri Ramakrishna: (to the young man) Through imitation a change comes over one's nature. By adopting the feminine mood, passions and lust are annihilated. The mode of conduct becomes exactly like that of a woman. Those who take female parts in a drama behave, I have marked, while they are bathing, exactly like women,—they cleanse their teeth and speak like women.

"You come on any Tuesday or Saturday.

(To Prankrishna) "Brahman and Shakti, are inseparable. If you do not accept Shakti, the whole world becomes false,—you, I, the house, the family, everything becomes nonexistent. Because of Shakti, the whole creation exists. If there be no supporting side-poles, no framework can be made, nor can there be the beautiful image of Durga on it.

Truthfulness and sincerity.

"Unless one gives up the worldly propensities, there never comes the true awakening, nor the God-realisation. Worldly propensities beget only hypocrisy and duplicity. He cannot be attained save by simplicity of heart.

"Let thee have such Bhakti within thy heart, and give up all cunning and deceit;

"Have devotion, service and resignation, and easily shalt thou reach the Chief of the Raghus."

"Those who are engaged in business, such as work in the office or trade, should stick also to the truth. Truthfulness is the tapasya of this age of Kali."

Prana: It is said in the Mahanirvana Tantra: 'O Great Goddess, they should abide by this Dharma, being truthful, self-controlled, ever engaged in doing good to others, unperturbed and magnanimous.'

Sri Ramakrishna: Yes, all those things are to be fully comprehended and borne in mind always.

III.

The Master has now seated himself on the small cot in his room, and is still in the Bhava. Constantly he is in that mood. He is now looking at Rakhal with the eye of that Bhava (Bhava Chakshu) and is being filled with the tender feeling of paternal love; and there is horripilation on the body.

Gradations of God-realisation.

Even while looking at him he enters into Samadhi and all the devotees assembled in the room are beholding this Bhava state of the Master in speechless wonderment. Coming down to the natural state, the Master observes, "Do you know, there comes an awakening at the sight of Rakhal? The more you advance towards God, the more you will find His attributive grandeur lessening. The first vision a Sadhaka gets is of the ten-handed being (Durga)—in the form of the Supreme Mistress of the Universe. In that form there is a great expression of power and grandeur. Next, She appears in the two-handed form,—then no more are there the ten hands with all their respective weapons. Next comes the vision of the Gopal form,—then there is absolutely no expression of power and grandeur,—it is simply the form of a tender child. There is a vision even superior to this,—the vision of the Effulgent Light.

"After realising God, and the attainment of Samadhi one feels no necessity of Jnana Vichara (the self-discrimination of knowledge). Jnana Vichara is only possible so long as there is the perception of multiplicity—so long as one has the consciousness of "I,' 'thou,' the world, the Jiva, etc. When the real knowledge of the absolute unity dawns, perfect quietude comes to the man. This was the case with Trailinga Swami.

"Have you not noticed it at a feast? At first you hear a good deal of noise, but the more the dishes are served to the guests and their hunger is appeased, the less becomes the noise; and when the last course of curd and sweets is served, then you hear no other noise but that of gentle 'soop,' 'sap.' Next comes sleep,—Samadhi. Then there is absolutely no noise.

(To M. and Prana.) "There are many who speak of Brahma-jnana, but they themselves remain constantly occupied with lower things, such as house, money, name, sense-enjoyments, etc. So long as you remain down at the foot of the monument, you see only the pedestrians, the equipages, the houses, etc., but when you ascend to the top of it, you notice only one expansive sky, unrolling the infinity; then you find no satisfaction with those things below—they appear like mean, crawling insects.

Peace Everlasting.

"When there dawns the real knowledge of Brahman, all attachment for the world, all pleasure in woman and wealth, disappears. There comes then a perfect cessation of all these (passions). While burning, wood makes a crackling noise, but when it is wholly burnt and reduced to ashes, no more do you hear the sound. With the destruction of attachment the keenness of the thirst (for pleasure) also disappears: finally comes Peace.

"The more you approach God, the more you will find Peace—Peace, Peace, Supreme Peace. The nearer you go to the Ganges, the greater you will feel the coolness—still cooler will you feel on bathing.

"But Jiva, Jagat and all the twenty-four principles exist simply because He is. Nothing remains, if you eliminate Him. When you put zeros only after one, it increases the value; but delete the one and the zeros will have no value."

Perhaps to show his grace to Prankrishna, the Master now hints at his own state.

Sri Ramakrishna: Yet, there are some who come down and remain with 'the ego of Knowledge,' or 'the ego of devotion,' even after the attainment of Brahma-jnana and Samadhi. Even when the market is over, some remain in the market of their own accord, such as Narada and others. They remain with 'the ego of Bhakti' to teach mankind. Sankaracharya kept his 'ego of knowledge' to teach humanity.

"He can never be attained if there be even a little of attachment. Thread can never pass through the eye of a needle if there be even the least protruding fibre.

The nature of the Enlightened.

"The passion and anger of one who has attained God remain but in name, in appearance only; just as a burnt rope, though it has the appearance of a rope, is easily blown away by a puff.

"When the mind becomes free from all attachments, it attains His vision. Whatever appears in the pure mind is His message. What is pure mind is the same as pure intellect, and that again is the same as pure Atman: for there is nothing truly pure except the Lord.

"But attaining to Him, one transcends both Dharma and Adharma (virtue and vice)."

With these words he begins to sing in his inimitable voice the following song of Ramaprasad:

"Come, let us take a stroll, O mind.

"There, under the wish-yielding tree of Kali, wilt thou get four fruits.

"Of thy two consorts, Passion and Dispassion, take Dispassion with thee;

"And truth thou shouldst ask of her son, the Righteous Discrimination.

"The goats of Dharma and Adharma keep thee tied down to the stakes of Insignificance:

"If they be not amenable, sacrifice them with thy sword of Knowledge."

IV.

The Master has come out and seated himself in the south-eastern veranda. Prankrishna and other devotees have come out with him. Hazra Mahashay is also sitting in the veranda. The Master jocosely remarks to Prankrishna, "Well, don't you reckon Hazra as a small fry. If here is the Bara Dargah^*, he is the Chhoti Dargah." All enjoy the joke with hearty laughter. A certain gentleman, Navakumar by name, comes and stands by the door, but on seeing the devotees sitting there, he retires quickly. The Master observes, "O egoism incarnate!" It is now half-past nine in the morning,; Prankrishna stands up after due obeisance and takes leave to return to Calcutta.

^* Dargah is a sepulchre of a Mohammedan saint and a place of worship.

A minstrel is singing some devotional songs inside the room of the Master and he is listening to it attentively. Just then Srijukta Kedar Chatterjee enters and prostrates to the Master. He has come in his full office dress—with long coat and trousers on. However, any talk about God opens a flood-gate of tears in his eyes. He possesses a great devout heart, and fosters within himself the Bhava of the Gopis.

The sight of Kedar recalls all on a sudden the Brindavan Leela to the mind of the Master; and, filled with emotion, he stands up and sings—

"Dear, how far is the forest where resides my beloved Shyamasundara,—lo, I am too tired to walk any more!"

While singing in the Bhava of Radha, the Master falls into Samadhi,—he is standing erect, motionless, like a picture,—only tears of ecstasy trickle down the two corners of his eyes.

Kedar kneels down touching the feet of the Master and chants:

"We worship the Great Intelligence Who is equanimous, pure, residing within the lotus of the heart; the object of knowledge even for Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; attainable by the Yogis through meditation; the destroyer of the fear of birth and death; the seed of all worlds; the One Whose real nature is existence and intelligence absolute."

After a while, Sri Ramakrishna comes down to his normal consciousness.

Kedar has come to Dakshineswar on his way from his home at Halisahar to his place of business in Calcutta. So, taking a little rest and seeing the Master, he goes away.

Thus the forenoon is passed in conversation with the devotees. Srijukta Ramlal (Master's nephew) then brings in in a dish some prasad of the Divine Mother Kali for the Master, and spreads it before a seat; the Master sits there and takes the Prasad. Even his eating is like that of a child. He puts into his mouth a small portion of everything. After the meal he goes and sits on his little cot and rests awhile.

It is now 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Some Marwari devotees have come and seated themselves on the floor of the room; there are also M. Rakhal and other devotees inside.

A Marwari devotee: Sir, what is the way?

Sri Ramakrishna: There are two paths,—one is that of Vichara (Self-discrimination) and the other is that of devotion (Bhakti). The discrimination is of the Real from the non-real—God alone is the real, the eternal, and all else is non-real and non-eternal. The juggler alone is real, and not his Jugglery. This is called the path of discrimination.

Abhyasa Yoga.

"Viveka and Vairagya go together. Viveka means the sifting of the real from the non-real. And Vairagya means dispassion towards the objects of the world. This does not come all on a sudden; it has to be practised daily. Kamini and Kanchana have to be renounced first mentally,—subsequently, God willing, they should be renounced internally as well as externally. It is not possible to say to the people of Calcutta that everything should be renounced completely for the Lord,—so I tell them, 'First renounce mentally.'

"By Abhyasa Yoga (continuous practice of meditation) the dispassion for Kamini and Kanchana is awakened; so has it been said in the Gita also. Continuous practice brings an extraordinary power to the mind; then none feels any difficulty in subjugating the senses, passion and lust. It is like a tortoise that never extends its limbs, once it has drawn them in. Even though you cut it into pieces, it would never extend them."

Devotee: Sir, you spoke just now of two paths; what is the other path?

Sri Ramakrishna: The other is the path of Bhakti or extreme devotion to God. Weep, cry for him; in solitude and secretly, cry for His revelation. 'Let thee cry, O mind, the proper cry and then see if Shyama can remain without appearing.'

Devotee: Sir, what is the significance of the worship of God with form, and what is the meaning again of the formless, the Absolute?

Sri Ramakrishna: As the photograph of your father reminds you of him, so the worship of the image reveals to us, in course of time, the true form of God.

Divine forms.

"Do you know what this Sakara of God is like? It is like the rising of bubbles on a sheet of water. It can be actually seen that the different forms are rising from the Chidakasa. The Divine Incarnation is one of the forms. The Avatara Leela is also a play of the same Primal Energy (Adyashakti).

"What is there, after all, in dry scholarship? He is attained quickly, if one only pants for Him. There is no need of knowing many things.

"He who is a teacher has to know many things. You require sword and shield, if you want to kill others; but to kill your own self, a needle or a small knife is sufficient.

Vichara vs. Bhakti.

"When we proceed to realise our real being, we get Him only as the last result of our analysis. What is my being—is it the flesh, or the bones, or blood, or marrow,—the mind or the intellect? The ultimate analysis reveals that I am none of these. "Neti, Neti" (not-this, not this.) The Atma cannot be perceived nor touched. He is attributeless, absolute.

"But according to the doctrine of Bhakti He is full of blessed attributes. Chinmaya Shyama, Chinmaya Dhama^*—all are made of Chit."

The Marwari devotees after prostrating before the Master take their leave and go away.

It has become evening now and Sri Ramakrishna is looking at the Ganges. The lamp is lighted in the room; he returns and sits on his little cot and abandons himself to the thought of the Divine Mother.

^* God is spirit and His abode also is spiritual.