CHAPTER XII.

THE HOUSE OF RAMCHANDRA DATTA,—JUNE, 1883

It is Saturday, the 2nd of June, 1883, corresponding to the twelfth day of the dark half of Vaishakha. To-day Sri Ramakrishna will visit the house of Sj. Ramchandra Datta. This house, situated in Madhu Roy's Lane, at Simla, Calcutta, was built with Ram's own earnings. After finishing his studies in medicine, he secured an appointment in the Calcutta Medical College, and is at present an assistant chemical examiner and a lecturer on chemistry in the Indian Science Association. Though a householder, Ram lives unattached to the world, doing his household duties as service of the Lord. The Master is full of praise for his untiring service of the devotees, who always find the loving care and the comforts of home under his hospitable roof.

To-day Ram is holding a festival in his house to celebrate the visit of the Master. The small courtyard has been tastefully decorated. Arrangements have been made for a recital of the Bhagavatam. The Kathaka^* is sitting on a small platform, reciting the story of King Harischandra's life. . . . .

Here comes the Master! Ram goes forward to welcome him. He takes the dust of his sacred feet and escorts him to a seat in the courtyard, which has been set apart in a conspicuous place before the reciter's platform. The devotees sit surrounding him and M. is seated close by.

^* A professional reciter of the Scriptures stories.

The recital continues: "Said Biswamitra^†, 'O great king, having made me a gift of the sea-girt earth, you have no claim for any place in it. You may go to Kashi, which is the place of Siva, the Great God. Come then, I shall guide you there with your wife and child, and there you will find me my sacrificial fee.' So Bhagavan Biswamitra went to Benares with the king and they all visited the temple of Bisweswara."

At the very mention of the visit to Bisweswara, Sri Ramakrishna is filled with ecstasy and faintly utters, "Siva! Siva!"

And the narrative goes on, telling how the king, unable to pay the fee, sells his wife Shaivya and his son Rohitaswa to a Brahmin, and how while living in his house the child, while gathering flowers one day, is bitten by a snake. "It is a dark and fearful night on which the child dies. The old Brahmin would not come out of his bed and there is none to help cremating the body. So Shaivya herself is carrying the child, wending her lonely way to the cremation ground in the rain, while thunder and lightning flashes rend the night of gloom, In fright and grief she comes, crying bitter tears!

^† King Harischandra had made a gift of his whole kingdom to the sage Biswamitra in fulfilment of a promise.

"Now the king, to make up the remaining portion of the fee, had sold himself to a Chandala, and in the garb of a Chandala is now living in the cremation ground, receiving the cremation fees and burning the dead. Many a one is laid on the funeral pyre and many a one has been burnt to ashes. The dark night has spread a nameless horror over the place, and lo, here comes Shaivya, uttering bitter laments!"

And who in the audience there is not pierced to the heart at this doleful narration and does not feel his heart melt within him?—A mournful murmur passes through the assembly.

But what about the Master?—Absolutely unmoved, he is listening to the story; only a tear drop appears in the corner of his eye, but that he wipes off with his hand.

Then comes the end of the story: "At last Biswamitra came, recalled the child to life, and they all visited Bisweswara; and Harischandra was reinstated in his kingdom."

After the recital is over, Sri Ramakrishna comes to the outer apartment, and sits there surrounded by the devotees. He requests the Kathaka to tell something about Uddhava.

The Kathaka begins: "When Uddhava came to Brindavan, the Gopas and Gopis of Braja ran out eagerly to meet him and hurriedly asked, 'How does Sri Krishna do? Does he ever speak of us, or has he forgotten us?' Some of them burst into tears. Others showed him all over Brindavan, saying, 'Here it is where he lifted the Mount Govardhan'; 'Here he slayed the demons Dhenuka and Shakata'; 'In this pasture he grazed his cows'; 'Here are the Jamuna's sands where he passed many a delightful hour'; 'Here he played with the shepherd boys'; 'In these arbours he kept his tryst with the shepherdesses.' Uddhava said, 'Why are you so much distressed by his absence? He is omnipresent, he is God Himself, and nothing exists without him!' But they replied, 'We do not understand you, we are illiterate. We know only him, the Krishna of our Brindavan, who played his various plays here.' 'But he is God Himself,' rejoined Uddhava, 'and by thinking of him, men get salvation and are freed from any further re-incarnation in the world.' But the Gopis said, 'Oh, we do not understand all this talk about salvation; we want to see the Krishna of our heart!"

Listening to the recital, Sri Ramakrishna is filled with ecstasy. "The Gopis are quite right!" he says, and bursts into song in his sweetly melodious voice:

"I mind not, oh mind not to give thee Salvation. But Love—it is hard to give. Whoever gets it, excels all and claims triumphantly the homage of the worlds!

"I'll tell thee the secret of love, O Chandravali: it is rarer than Salvation! And forever it binds me at Bali's door, down in the nether world!

"In Brindavan alone it is found, and none knows it but the Gopas and Gopis. Verily for this Love, I carry the loads of Nanda as his obedient son!'"

Sri Ramakrishna: The devotion of the Gopis is the devotion of love, constant and unmixed and unflinching. Do you know what is constant and unmixed devotion? There is a kind of devotion which is mixed with knowledge. As for example: 'Sri Krishna has become all this. He is the Supreme God. He is Rama, Siva and Shakti.' But this element, of knowledge is absent from the devotion of love. When Hanuman came to Dwaraka, he wanted to see Sita-Rama. The Lord said to Rukmini, 'Assume at once the form of Sita, or there is no escape from his hands!' When the Pandavas celebrated the Rajasuya sacrifice, all the kings placed Yudhisthira on the throne and saluted him. But Bibhishana said. 'I bow to Narayana alone, to none else!' At that the Lord himself made a deep obeisance to Yudhisthira, and only then did Bibhishana prostrate himself, crown and all, before the king.

The Love of the Gopis.

"Do you know what this devotion of love is like? It is like that of the daughter-in-law. She serves her brother-in-law, father-in-law, husband and other relations by bringing them water to wash their feet, handing over the towel and spreading seats for them; but she maintains quite a different relation with her husband.

"There are two things in the devotion of love,—'I'-ness and 'my'-ness. Yashoda thought that none would look after her Gopala and unless she herself did it, he would fall ill. She never looked upon Sri Krishna as God. And what is 'my'-ness? It is looking upon Him as one's own,—'my Gopala!' When Uddhava said, 'Mother, your Krishna is the absolute Master of the world, he is God Himself, he is not human,' Yashoda replied, 'Oh, I don't ask about your Master of the world; I want to know how my Gopala is doing! I do not know your Lord of the universe; I want to know about my Gopala!'

"How unflinching was the faith of the Gopis! After many entreaties at the palace-gate at Mathura^*, the Gopis secured entrance to the assembly hall and were taken by the gateman to Sri Krishna. But when they found him wearing a turban, they bent down their heads and said to each other, 'Who is this with a turban on? Should we at last violate our faith by talking with him? Where is he, the lord of our soul, with his yellow robe and charming crown?'

"Do you see how wonderful their faith was? Quite unique indeed are the ways of Brindavan! I am told that, the people about Dwaraka worship Sri Krishna as the friend of Arjuna,—they reject Radha."

^* Where Sri Krishna reigned as king.

A Devotee: Which is better,—the devotion of love, or the devotion of knowledge?

Sri Ramakrishna: You cannot have the devotion of love until your love of God has become very, very intense, and until you have learnt to look upon Him as your own. Three friends were passing through a forest when a tiger suddenly appeared before them. One of them cried out, 'Brothers, we are undone!' 'Why? Why undone?' the second friend exclaimed; 'come, let us pray to God!' But the third friend said, 'No, what is the use of troubling Him? Come, let us climb this tree."

The true lover of God.

"Now, he who said that they were lost did not know that the Lord was the protector of all. But he who wished to pray to God knew that God was the creator, protector and destroyer of all. But the third friend that said that they should not trouble Him, but should climb the tree, had had love and attachment for God grown in him. And it is the nature of love that the lover always considers himself as greater than his beloved. And he is always on the alert that his beloved may not come to any harm, and ever prays in his heart of hearts that not even a thorn may prick his beloved's foot!"

Ramachandra invites the Master and the devotees upstairs and entertains them with various preparations of sweets. And the devotees partake of the Prasadam in great joy.