Cawnpore – In the Steamboat

(i) God Cannot Be Proved by Arguments

Ramdas spent about five days with the sadhu in Banda. He was supremely delighted to see Ramdas again. He used to make Ramdas sit on his raised asan and, squatting in front of him, read out passages from Yoga Vasishta and compare with Ramdas’ state the description given therein of a liberated soul. He would exclaim with great glee: “Your life is moulded exactly after that of a jivanmukta as delineated in this work.” He took Ramdas to the city and presented him to his disciples. Jagannath of Mahoba came here on a visit to see Ramdas. On the third day Ramdas had another attack of fever which lasted for one night.

One evening a man came running to the kuti and told the sadhu that there was a likelihood of bloodshed that night in Banda. Two processions, one of Muslims and the other of Hindus headed by Swami Satyadev, were to pass the same road from opposite directions. Preparations had been made on both sides for a fight. They had armed themselves with lathis. The tender heart of the sadhu was touched by the alarming news. He drew a long breath and sighed.

“Maharaj.” then Ramdas spoke, “there will be no fight and no bloodshed.”

He looked at Ramdas and smiled and said “Amen.” He became cheerful again. At eleven o’clock a messenger came from the town, bringing the tidings that all went well with the processions. There was no brawl between the parties. They passed on the same road, side by side, without any friction.

“God be praised,” uttered the compassionate old sadhu. Taking leave of the sadhu, Ramdas and Ramcharandas started from Banda and arrived at Cawnpore where they were received by Ramchandra Gupta at the station. Gupta had arranged for their stay in a Shiva Mandir on the banks of the Ganges. Here fever again made its appearance. Gupta was a student of the local college of commerce. Hundreds of students of the college came to see Ramdas. Fever did not prevent him from having free talks with them. They would put him all kinds of questions and he was ready with replies.

One night a number of students, headed by a leader, came to interview Ramdas. They belonged to a sect called Charvak, allied to materialism. Their leader discussed till one o’clock contending that the body was all and that life was intended only for material enjoyment. Everything was merely nature and its work; there was no such thing as soul, spirit or God as controller of the worlds.

Ramdas told him at last: “Friend, Ramdas cannot prove to you by mere arguments the existence of God, nobody can. Ramdas from his own experience can boldly assert that there is God. Until you yourself get the experience, it is natural that you should deny Him. But a time will come when you too will have faith in Him.”

Ramdas’ stay in Cawnpore was only for four days. From Lalitpur, Triveni Prasad explained by letter that his second call was due to the local munsiff who had missed him, owing to his ignorance of Ramdas’ arrival at Lalitpur at his first visit, and who was now anxious to see him. Ramdas proceeded, therefore, with Ramcharandas again to Lalitpur. The fever continued. This time they were put up at the munsiff’s house. He and his wife were extremely kind. They tended him as though he were their child. Here Ramdas met Ramkinkar of Jhansi.

After a couple of days they left Lalitpur direct for Bombay. In the train they met a Sikh who was also going to Bombay. All through the journey he looked after Ramdas with great tenderness, attending to all his needs. As they neared Bombay, the compartment in which they sat was vacant except for the three. Ramdas was sitting in a corner and Ramcharandas leaned out of a window. Everybody was silent in the compartment. Suddenly, Ramcharandas came bounding to Ramdas and said with surprised looks:

“Swamiji, some one has just been uttering in my ears Ramnam; I distinctly heard it. Who did it?”

“Ram, Ramdas never moved from his seat, so also the Sikh. It must be Ram, and who is there other than He?” Ramdas replied.

At the Victoria Terminus they met Sanjivarao who was awaiting their arrival. They drove in a victoria to Sanjivarao’s quarters at Gamdevi.

(ii) God Is Providence

The fever continued to appear every third day for about four or five hours in the evening from four to eight or nine. Sanjivarao and his wife grew anxious about him. Often in the evenings, on the fever days, he would be talking on bhakti and vairagya to the mothers who used to visit him at that time. He was reading out bits from the “Rambles in Vedanta” by B. R. Rajam Iyer. When he was narrating the life of Nanda, the pariah saint, from this book he would go into ecstasies. The life presents the unique devotion of an outcast saint who was completely merged in divine consciousness. The hearers would also become blissful.

In the night Ramdas would, in spite of fever, talk long and spontaneously, expounding the greatness of bhakti and of the inestimable power of God’s Name. A doctor friend, who had great love for him, would pay him visits. He proposed to give him an injection for the fever. Ramdas would not have the treatment. But Sanjivarao and his wife were persistent. They would have him take some medicine. At their pressure he drank twice a day a bitter mixture and every time, when he did so, he remarked that the medicine was so very sweet! The mother – Sanjivarao’s wife would be surprised to hear him say so. Ramdas would only laugh. All the same the fever persisted.

“The fever refuses to leave,” Ramdas observed, “because you have made him a welcome guest by feeding him with fine things. The small quantity of the bitter medicine has no effect on fever while he is well served with tasty sweets and other kinds of food three or four times a day! So long as you feed an undesirable guest he will certainly stick on. But the moment you starve him he will without your bidding make himself scarce. So allow Ramdas to go on a fast for some days. He will live merely on milk.” At first the loving pair objected to the proposal, but at last yielded. A four days’ fast and the fever-guest took to his heels.

Invitations came from the Sholapur District, but God willed that Ramdas should proceed to Mangalore. So he and Ramcharandas boarded the steamboat sailing for Mangalore port. Ramcharandas was busy exploring the ship for tiffin-shops. At about nine o’clock he turned up with a bright face and said:

“Swamiji, there is on the boat a coffee-hotel in which all kinds of eatables are sold. (Here his mouth involuntarily watered, and he had to drink off the nectar before he proceeded.) The hotel man says that he can also provide meals if we place an order with him beforehand – each meal costs six annas only.”

Now Ramcharandas had money given him by Sanjivarao for expenses on the boat and at landing. He made a sound of coins to show that there was no dearth of funds.

“Right ho!” Ramdas replied laughing, “place at once an order for two meals for midday. Fire away.”

He bounded with joy towards the tiffin-shop and personally supervised the cooking of the meals. He was himself something of an expert in cooking which art he exercised by making experiments of his dishes on Ramdas when he travelled long distances with him!

At about twelve o’clock he came to take Ramdas for meals. It was a simple but wholesome meal. After the meal Ramdas returned to his seat while Ramcharandas remained behind, talking to somebody. A little later he also came, but this time with a worried look.

“What is wrong with you?” Ramdas questioned.

“Some men near the tiffin-shop saw us taking meals,” he answered and remarked to me: ‘Although sadhus, you are very particular about meals. Eating seems to be the predominant sadhana of your sadhu life.’

“Ram,” Ramdas said with a laugh which he could scarcely repress, “the food was delicious. So also, why not find the same taste in this sweet remark?”

He never ordered further meals, presumably because the bitterness of the remark outweighed the taste of the meal!

On the way, when the steamboat was still moving, two mothers gave birth to twins. They were third-class passengers and the accouchement took place on the deck. There were among the passengers also a doctor and a nurse who attended on the mothers. In the mid-sea, even in such a contingency, God provides necessary assistance. Hence God is called Providence.

Ramdas and Ramcharandas on arrival at Mangalore were put up at Sitaramrao’s house. An invitation came from Kasaragod to attend the closing day of a nama-saptah held in the house of T. Bhavanishankarrao, a relation of Ramdas’ old life. He and his house-people had undertaken to repeat the Ram-mantram thirteen lakhs of times within a week, and in the japa children and servants had also joined.

About this time Ramdas had a visit at Mangalore from Savoor Shankarrao who held English degrees and was then a professor in the Presidency College, Madras. In spite of his great learning and attainments, Ramdas found him to be a simple, humble and pious soul. He conceived a great love for Ramdas at first sight and frequently courted his company. The very talk of God would work on his emotions and bring tears into his eyes. He joined Ramdas at the nama-saptaha. Ramdas spent a most blissful time for about two or three days on this occasion. The japa had exceeded fifteen lakhs. The zeal, even of the youngsters to make up the highest possible number of japa, as their quota, was admirable.

Ramcharandas who was also present at the religious function was asked by Ramdas to go back to Mangalore, and to have resort to solitude for japa and meditation. Accordingly he left Kasaragod for Mangalore.

A saintly soul from Kallianpur was in Kasaragod during this time owing to the illness of his grand-daughter. He took Ramdas to see the girl. The little girl had great love for Ramdas. She was overjoyed to behold him. She narrated in her own innocent way that she had a vision, on the previous night, of Rama and Sita. The girl recovered soon after this.

Ramdas also paid visits to Gurudev whose body was weak and worn out by the infirmities of old age. He was living with his son Anandrao. He was then past eighty years of age. He was perfectly calm and peaceful, and the worries of life had ceased for him. Ramdas having received an invitation from Sanjivarao of Ernakulam left Kasaragod for that place.