CHAPTER XIV.

THE DAKSHINESWAR TEMPLE,—FEBRUARY, 1884

On Saturday, the 2nd of February, 1884, at about three in the afternoon, when M. arrives at the Temple, he finds the Master sitting on his cot, conversing with Rakhal, Mahimacharan, Hazrah and other devotees. He makes his respectful obeisance to the Master. He has brought splint, pad and lint to bandage his injured hand.

One day, Sri Ramakrishna, deeply absorbed in an ecstatic mood was going towards the 'Jhautala^*', when, quite oblivious of the external world and being unaccompanied he fell down by the railing, and received serious injuries on his body and had the bones of his left hand dislocated.

Sri Ramakrishna: (to M.) Halloo! What were you ailing from? Have you come round?

M.: Yes, Sir, I have.

Sri Ramakrishna: (to Mahima) Say, if 'He is the Agent, and I am but the instrument,' then how could this happen to me?

The Master is listening to Mahimacharan who is telling the story of a visit he paid to the holy places twelve years ago. He says:

"I found a Brahmacharin living in a garden at Sicrole in Benares. He said he had been living there for twenty years, but did not know to whom it belonged! He asked me whether I was a Government servant; when I answered, 'No,' he questioned further, 'Are you a pilgrim, then?'

^* Jhautala is a group of five Jhau or casuarina trees, situated in the northern part of the Temple Garden.

"On the Nerbudda, I found a Sadhu who was repeating the Gayatri mentally and this horripilated his body! And when he repeated the Pranava and Gayatri aloud, it horripilated the bodies of all those who sat near him!"

Our Master is verily like a child! He is hungry, and asks M., "Have you brought any thing for me?"

The sight of Rakhal plunges him into Samadhi.

Slowly his Samadhi is breaking. And to facilitate his coming down to the normal plane, he says, "I shall eat jilipi," "I shall drink water."

Like a child he weeps out the agony of his heart to the Mother: "Brahmamayee! O Mother! why hast Thou done this to me? My hand is aching terribly!"—And he anxiously asks the devotees, "Shall I be cured?" They console him as they would a little child, saying. "Oh, yes, certainly you will be cured."

Sri Ramakrishna: (to Rakhal) True you are here to look after my person, but you are not to blame. For even had you accompanied me, you would not have gone up to the railing.

He is again plunged into Bhava and says:

"Om! Om! Om!—Mother, what is this I am saying! O Mother, do not plunge me in the knowledge of Brahman and take away my consciousness!—Do not give me Brahmajnana; I am but Thy child.—I have fears and anxieties! I do want my Mother!—A thousand salutations to Brahmajnana! Give it to him who wants it, O mother! Anandamayee! O Mother Blissful!"

He weeps, crying loudly, "Anandamayee!" "Anandamayee!" and says: "This is the grief for which I lament, that when thou, O Mother, art here, thieves rob me, though I am wide awake!"

And he says again to the Mother: "O Mother, have I done wrong? O Mother, do I do anything?—It is Thou who dost everything. O Mother, I am but Thy instrument, Thou art the Doer!...Mother, do I cry because I suffer? No,—'I lament because thieves dare to rob me, even though Thou, my Mother, art present!'"

II.

The Master is laughing again and talking with the devotees, even as an ailing child sometimes forgets its illness and laughs and plays.

Sri Ramakrishna: (to Mahima and others) Verily all is vain unless you have realised God! . . . And there is nothing so precious as Viveka and Vairagya^*!......The devotion of the wordly-minded is but momentary, just like a drop of water on a flaming iron!—Perhaps they see a flower and say, 'How beautiful is the creation of God!'

^* 'Discrimination and Dispassion.'

"One must long and yearn to know God. When the son begins to clamour for his share of the heritage, his parents consult each other and mete out his portion to him at the very first. If you eagerly and yearningly pray to Him, He must respond to your prayers. He has begotten us; we must have, therefore, a share in His house. He is our own father, our own mother!—we have claims on Him! 'Reveal Thyself or I will cut my throat!'"

How to pray.

The Master now teaches the devotees how to pray to the Mother.

"I used to pray to the Mother in this way: 'Ma^† Anandamayee, Thou must reveal Thyself!' And sometimes I would pray, 'O Lord of the meek! O Lord of the Universe! O Lord! am I outside Thy universe? I have neither Knowledge nor Devotion, nor the merit of austerities! I know nothing! O Lord, in Thy infinite mercy, Thou must vouchsafe me Thy vision!"

The Master utters the prayer with such deep pathos that it penetrates the very core of the devotees' hearts. Mahimacharan cannot restrain his tears. The Master looks at him and says, "'O mind, if thou criest to the Mother with a sincere heart, can She tarry behind? Oh never! Never!'"

^† Ma=Mother.

III.

A few devotees have come to visit the Master. They have come all the way from Sibpore to hear his blessed words,—he cannot remain silent. He tells them some of the essential truths of life and religion.

Sri Ramakrishna: God alone is true, all else is false. The master and his garden,—God and His manifestation: men see only the garden; who ever seeks the master?

A Devotee: Sir, what is the way?

Sri Ramakrishna: Ever to discriminate the Real from the unreal. Ever to reason that He alone is Real and that everything else is transient. And to pray to Him with a passionate longing of heart.

Devotee: But, Sir, where is the time to do it?

"Give Him the 'power of attorney.'"

Sri Ramakrishna: Those who can make time should worship and meditate on Him. But those who cannot do it at all, should bow down before Him twice a day. He abides in the hearts of men; He knows what they are doing and how hard they have to work.

"If you cannot find time to pray to Him, give Him the 'power of attorney'.

"But unless and until you have realised Him and have seen Him, it is all in vain."

A Devotee: Sir, seeing you is as good as seeing God.

Sri Ramakrishna: Never say that. It is the wave that belongs to the Ganges, not the Ganges to the waves.

"One cannot find Him until such proud egotism as 'I am such a big man,' or 'I am so and so' has vanished. Dissolve the mound of egoism with the water of Devotion and level it down to the ground."

Devotee: Why has He detained us in the world?

Sri Ramakrishna: For the sake of creation. That is His wish;—His Maya! He has deluded you with the charm of Kamini-Kanchana.

Devotee: Why has He deluded us like that? Why has He so wished?

Sri Ramakrishna: If He grants Divine Bliss to man, he will no longer remain in the world;—and that means His creation also will come to an end.

Why man forgets God.

"The grain-dealer stacks rice bags in his godown; in order to draw away the rats from the rice he puts there some puffed rice in a platter. And all night they munch and munch this puffed rice with great relish, and never search for the rice itself! But think, one seer of rice makes fourteen seers of puffed rice!......How infinitely superior is the joy of God to that of Kamini-Kanchana! If one could think of the beauty of the Lord, even the beauty of Rambha and Tilottama^* would appear to him as but the ashes of a funeral pyre."

Devotee: How is it that we do not feel any intense longing to find Him?

Sri Ramakrishna: You cannot feel that longing until all your desires have been satisfied. You do not recollect the Mother of the Universe until your allotted enjoyment of Kamini-Kanchana has been completed.

"So long as the child is absorbed in play, he does not feel the want of his mother. But when his play is done, he cries out, 'Mother, take me!' Hridoy's son was playing with pigeons, calling to them, 'Come, ti! ti!' But when he had had enough of the play, he began to cry. Then a stranger came and said, 'Come, I shall take you to your mother,' and he unhesitatingly climbed on his shoulders and went off.

"The Ever-perfect ones have never to enter the world. Their desire for enjoyment has been satisfied even with their birth!"

At 5 P. M. Doctor Madhu comes to bandage the hand of the Master.

The Master is laughing like a child and tells him, "You are the Madhusudan of both this and the next world!"^†

Madhu: (smiling) I only labour under the weight of my name.

^* Celestial nymphs.

^† That is he is Madhusudan both in his human and divine aspects, Madhusudan being one of the names of the Lord.

The power of the Holy Name.

Sri Ramakrishna: (smiling) Why, is 'name' insignificant? He and His name are not different. Satyabhama failed to balance the Lord with gold and jewels. But Rukmini succeeded when she placed a Tulasi leaf and the name of Krishna on the other side.

The Doctor will now apply splint and bandage to the broken hand of the Master. A bed is made on the floor, and as the Master laughingly lies down on it, he sings:

"This is the tenth stage of Rai. Says Brinde, 'Who knows, what is yet to be?'"

The devotees sit round the bed. The Master sings again:

"And all the friends came and sat by the lake!"

And they all laugh out.

After the splint has been applied, he says, "I have no very firm faith in the Calcutta doctors. When Shambhu became delirious, the doctor said it was a mere intoxication caused by the medicine and nothing else. And a while after, he died!"

IV.

Evening service is done in the temples. Some time after Adhar arrives from Calcutta and makes his obeisance at the feet of the Master. Only Mahimacharan, Rakhal and M. are present in the room, and Hazra is occasionally coming in to them.

Adhar: How are you?

Sri Ramakrishna: (affectionately) See what has become of my hand! (Smilingly) How I am doing indeed!

Adhar is sitting on the floor with the others; the Master speaks to him. "Will you stroke these a little?" Adhar sits upon the cot and strokes the Master's sacred feet.

The Master says to Mahimacharan, "It will be very nice if you practise 'Reasonless Devotion.'

Reasonless love.

"'I seek neither Mukti, nor fame, nor money, nor cure from disease. I seek Thee alone, O Lord!'—This is Reasonless Devotion. Many are the persons that come to the Babu always with a motive in their minds. But if any one visits him without any motive and only because he loves him, the Babu also becomes lovingly disposed towards him.

"Prahlada's was Reasonless Love, pure disinterested love of God."

Mahimacharan does not make any response. So the Master says to him, "All right, I shall speak to you according to your own mood. Listen.

"According to the Vedanta, one has to know his Self. But one cannot do it unless he renounces the 'ego.' This ego is like a stick laid on the surface of water, seeming to divide it into two portions:—'I' am one person and 'you' are another. When you realise Samadhi and your ego disappears, then you perceive Brahman in your consciousness."

Hearing this, some of the devotees perchance think within themselves, "Has the Master attained Brahmajnanam? If he has attained it, why does he say 'I', 'I'?"

The Master continues: "'I am Mahim Chakravarti, I am learned,'—this 'I' has to be renounced. But there is no harm in the 'ego' of Vidya^*. Sankaracharya retained this 'ego of Vidya' for the teaching of mankind.

Chastity.

"And one must be very cautious about woman or he cannot attain to the Knowledge of Brahman. Hence it is that Brahmajnana is so difficult of realisation in the world. Howsoever clever you may be, if you live in a sooty room you cannot avoid being stained with black. The society of a young woman evokes lust even in a lustless mind!......

The renunciation of the Sannyasin—its significance.

"The Sannyasin must not see even the picture of a woman. He must not talk with a woman while sitting together, even if she be supremely pious. No, he must never accost a woman, howsoever strong may be his self-control.

"The Sannyasin must renounce both Kamini and Kanchana; and just as he must not see pictures of women, even so he must not touch Kanchana, that is to say, money. Even the proximity of money is harmful! For it brings in its train, calculation, anxiety, insolence of wealth and anger, and all such evils. And the shining sun becomes enshrouded by clouds.

^* Ego illumined and purified by Knowledge.

"That is why, when the Marwari wanted to deposit some money for me with Hridoy, I said, 'No, not even that. If it be near me, it will certainly raise clouds.'

"Why all this strictness for a Sannyasin? It is both for his own good and for the good of mankind. The Sannyasin may be perfectly unattached himself and may have full control over his senses, yet to set an example to mankind, he must make such a rigorous renunciation of Kamini-Kanchana. For only when men notice the thoroughness of the Sannyasin's renunciation will they take courage; only then will they make efforts to renounce Kamini-Kanchana. And who indeed will impart this lesson on Renunciation if not a Sannyasin?

"You may live in the world after having realised God. After churning out the butter, you may keep it in water. Only after attaining Brahmajnanam did Janaka live in the world. He wielded two swords, one of Jnana and the other of Karma. The Sannyasin renounces work; he has therefore only one sword, that of Jnana.

"Indeed, a Jnani householder like Janaka can taste fruits both from the upper and the lower branches of the tree! He can perform such Karmas as serving Sadhus and entertaining guests. I said to the Mother, 'Mother, I won't be a dry Sadhu.'

"After one has realised Brahman, one has to observe no longer any discrimination as to food. A Brahmajnani Rishi, having attained the bliss of Brahman, was allowed to eat anything, even bacon.

Karma-yoga and Mano-yoga.

"(To Mahima) There are two principal kinds of Yoga, (1) Karma Yoga and (2) Mano Yoga; that is to say, union with God through Karma, and through mind.

"Brahmacharya, Garhasthya, Vanaprastha, Sannyasa—^*in the first three of these institutions work is compulsory. The Sannyasin assumes the Danda, the Kamandalu^† and the begging bowl. He performs certain daily rituals, but his mind is not attached to them—he is not conscious of them. Some Sannyasins keep up a few of these daily ceremonials as an example to the householders. If any one belonging to the institution of Garhasthya, or to any of these institutions, for the matter of that, practises work without attachment, he attains Union with the Divine through Karma Yoga.

^* Life of continence, Life of the householder, Life in the forest and Life of complete renunciation.

^† Wand and Water-vessel.

"In the state of the Paramahamsa, like that of Sukadeva, all Karma—Puja, Japam, Tarpanam or Sandhya—drops off. Then the Union with God is only through the mind. He may be pleased sometimes to perform outward actions only for the good of mankind. But he maintains unbroken the constant recollection and contemplation of God."

By this time it is 8 o'clock at night. The Master requests Mahimacharan to recite a few hymns from the Scriptures. Mahimacharan takes up a book and begins with the very first stanza of the 'Uttara Gita,' descriptive of the Supreme Brahman:

"He, the Brahman, is one and undivided. He is stainless and transcends Akasha. He has neither birth nor death, nor can He be comprehended or reasoned out."

And thus he reads on till he comes to the seventh stanza of the third chapter, which says:

"Fire is the Deity of the twice-born. The Deity of the sages is in their own hearts. The Deity of the ignorant is the image. But the Deity of those who have attained same-sightedness is everywhere."

These last words—'But the Deity of those who have attained same-sightedness is everywhere,' are scarcely out of the reciter's lips, when Sri Ramakrishna steps down from his seat, and standing, goes into Samadhi. His hand is supported with a splint and bandage. And the devotees look on in supreme wonder at this revelation of the state of same-sightedness!

After a long time, the Master comes down to the normal plane and resumes his seat. He asks Mahima to recite the famous passage on 'Hari-Bhakti,' from 'Narada Pancharatra'. He recites:

"If thou dost see the Lord in and out, what is the need of any penance? If indeed thou seest not Him inside and outside thyself, what is the profit of all thy penance? If thou dost indeed worship the Lord, what need is there for any penance? And if thou dost not offer worship unto Him, what avails thy penance? O Brahmin, O my child, cease from thy austerities. Hasten to Sankara who is the Ocean of Knowledge, and seek of Him that perfect Bhakti of the Lord, of which the Vaishnavas have spoken and which snaps and sunders the strong fetters that bind men to the world."

Sri Ramakrishna: Aha! Aha!

The recitation has filled the Master with ecstatic emotions, but he suppresses them with a great effort.

Mahima is reading the 'Yati-panchakam'—'five stanzas on the Sannyasin':

"I am She in whom this cosmic illusion has been evoked, and in whom all things, animate and inanimate, become manifest, being created by the mind. I am She, I am self-consciousness, I am the Self of the Universe, I am Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute!"

"I am She, I am self-consciousness!"

Hearing this portion, the Master remarks, "Whatever is in the microcosm is also in the macrocosm!"

'The six stanzas on Nirvana' is being recited:

"I am neither the mind, nor the intellect, nor the ego, nor the mind-stuff; I am neither the body, nor the changes of the body; I am neither the senses of hearing, taste, smell or sight, nor am I the ether, the earth, the fire. the air;—I am Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute;—I am He, I am He!"

But every time Mahimacharan recites the refrain, 'I am Knowledge Absolute, I am Bliss Absolute, I am He, I am He!' the Master rejoins, "Not I, Not I; it is Thou, Thou art Chidananda,—the Knowledge Absolute, the Bliss Absolute!"

Mahima then reads out a portion from the Jivan-Mukti Gita—'the Song of the Living free'—and then a description of the six psychic centres, and says that he himself had been a witness to a death at Benares in which a Yogi passed away in a state of superconsciousness......

Mahima: There are many fine passages in the 'Rama Gita.'

Sri Ramakrishna: (smiling) You talk of Rama Gita! You are a strict Vedantin, indeed! The Sadhus used to read so many things here.

Mahima is reading out a description of 'the Pranava^*';—it is 'like an unceasing flow of oil, like a long peal of a bell.' And then the signs of Samadhi,—

"The above is filled with Atman, the below is filled with Atman, the middle is filled with Atman,—and he himself is Atman. This is the sign of one who is immerged in Samadhi."

And by and by Adhar and Mahimacharan offer their farewell salutations at the feet of the Master and depart.

VI.

At noon the next day, the Master is sitting on his cot after his dinner. Ram, Surendra and other devotees have hastened to Dakshineswar on receiving the news of the accident. They and M. are seated on the floor. The Master is talking with them; his hand is still bandaged.

Sri Ramakrishna: Mother has placed me in such a state that I cannot hide anything from anybody. Mine is the condition of a child.

"Rakhal does not comprehend my mood. He covers my broken hand with a cloth, lest men should see it and speak ill of me. He took Doctor Madhu aside to speak of the injury. I then shouted out, 'Halloo, Madhusudan, where are you? Come here and see; my hand is broken.'

^* Pranava is the sacred syllable, A-U-M.

Master's truthfulness.

"I used to sleep in the same room with Sejo Babu and Sejo Ginni^*. They looked after me as they would their own child. I was then in the mad state of Divine Ecstasy. Sejo Babu used to ask me, 'Baba, do you hear our talk?' I would reply, 'Yes, I do.'

"Sejo Ginni was suspicious of Sejo Babu's character. So she enjoined him, 'If you go anywhere, Bhatcharjee Mahasay must accompany you.' One day he went to a certain place and bade me wait downstairs. After half an hour, he came down and said, 'Come, Baba, let us get into the carriage.' When Sejo Ginni asked me about it, I told her exactly what had occurred. I said, 'Do you know, we went to a certain house; he asked me to wait downstairs while he went upstairs. Half an hour after he came down and said to me, 'Come Baba, let us go.' Sejo Ginni, of course, made some meaning out of it.

"A partner of the Marhs^† used to clandestinely remove to his own home in a carriage some of the fruits and cabbages produced in this garden. When the other partners asked me about it, I told them the exact truth."

^* Sejo Babu—Mathur Babu, son-in-law of Rani Rasmani; and Sejo Ginni is his wife, the Rani's daughter.

^† This is the caste to which Rani Rasmani belonged.