1883.
SECTION V.
1883.
SRI RAMAKRISHNA WITH KESHAB CHANDRA SEN AT LILY COTTAGE.
CHAPTER I
THE DIVINE MOTHER AND HER MANIFESTATIONS.
"He looketh for Thee with a yearning heart as Thou comest"—Song by Jaydeva.
It was after 2 P. M. on the 28th of November, 1883, that a young man could be seen walking up and down the footpath of the Circular Road before Lily Cottage. The footpath runs close to the cottage north and south.
Lily Cottage is south of Mangalbari—a locality where the Brahmo devotees belonging to Keshab's Samaj have settled. Here Keshab lives with his family. But Keshab is very ill—his friends say that there is little chance of his recovery.
Sri Râmakrishna loves Keshab. He will come to-day to see him. He has by this time left the Temple at Dakshineswar for Calcutta. It is thus that this young man, his disciple, paces up and down the footpath and watches for his beloved Master. Carriages come to view one after another and every time he looks up to see if he is coming.
He will wait. He watches the passers-by. He looks on the building opposite—the Victoria College, where Brahmo girls and Brahmo ladies receive instruction. North of the College building is a garden-house, the residence of an English gentleman. The young man has this house also in full view before him.
All is not right there. As he observes for a long time, there is hurrying to and fro amongst the inmates of the house; and their looks are sad. Presently come on the scene the ominous hearse and the drivers and servants dressed in black: they wear the livery of Death, for it is He who has visited the house: a spirit has passed away; the human soul has left this body of clay! It came into this world out of eternity. It has left the world!
"Whither?" says the disciple to himself as he walks up and down. "Whither does the soul pass as it leaves this world?—verily it is raised out of Eternity into Eternity!"
Carriages rattle away before the disciple. He lifts his eyes; but the Master has not come.
It is five in the afternoon. The Master has come up. Latoo and two or three other disciples are with him; Rakhal and M. are also there.
He is received by Keshab's people and is led upstairs. In the corridor that runs south of the drawing-room, the Master has taken his seat.
THE MASTER IN SAMADHI
He has been waiting for a long time. He will see Keshab who is lying ill in the inner apartments. He gets impatient. But Keshab is just taking a little rest in the midst of his great sufferings; so his people say—with great humility. He will come and see the Master soon.
Keshab has been taken seriously ill. Hence his disciples are so careful about him. Sri Râmakrishna however gets more and more impatient to see him. He appeals to Keshab's disciples—Prasanna, Amrita, and others.
Sri Râmakrishna (to Keshab's disciples): Well, there is no need of his coming here. Let me go in and see him.
Prasanna (humbly): Sir, kindly wait one moment; he will be here presently.
Sri Râmakrishna: O dear, it is you who are standing in the way: how I long to see him!
Prasanna talks about Keshab to turn his attention.
Talking with the Mother.
Prasanna: Sir, a great change has come over him. Like yourself he is often found talking to the Divine Mother,! Like yourself he hears Her voice and sometimes sheds tears!
Does Keshab talk to the Divine Mother and smile and cry like a child? The good news is too much for the Master. He loses all sense-consciousness and passes into the state of Samadhi!
There is this God-intoxicated Man seated motionless, like a statue. It being cold weather he has on a coat made of green Cashmere. He is seated with folded hands. His body is erect. His eyes move not.
Deep in Samadhi! He continues in this state for a long time. No sign that this unique state of Divine Ecstasy is going to leave him!
It is evening. They have lighted the drawing-room. He is returning to the sense-world. They are trying to take him into that room.
He is seated on a couch—with cushion chairs and couches and mirrors on all sides—in the lighted room. But the state of God-consciousness has not entirely left him. He smiles like one who has been intoxicated. He looks on the couches and cushioned chairs, mirrors and the rest. He talks to himself and to his Divine Mother!
God-vision and Immortality of the Soul.
Sri Râmakrishna (at the sight of couches, etc.): These were of use, indeed, sometime back! But now?—They are of little use.
Did the Master see with his inner vision that Keshab's hour was come and that he would depart out of this world and go to his Divine Mother?
He looks at Rakhal, a young disciple, and says fondly 'Rakhal, is it you'?
He talks to the Divine Mother, saying "Here Thou art, O Mother! How beautifully dressed Thou art! Do not trouble Thyself, O Mother! but take Thou Thy seat!"
The Brahmo devotees have filled the room by this time. His disciples Latoo, Rakhal, M., are seated near him. He talks on the Immortality of the Soul. Does he see with a clear vision that Keshab's soul must pass away? Says He—"The Body and the Soul! The body has a beginning. It must have an end. The body must die. The soul dies not!"
"The soul stands apart from the body. Until one sees God, one cannot help believing that the soul is the same as the body. The idea clings to the ignorant—to him who has not seen God. To the Knowing One it is plain that the soul is not the same as the body.
"The shell of the unripe betel-nut adheres to the nut. It is so hard to part the one from the other. Such is not the case with the ripe nut. The shell does not adhere to it; the nut is felt rolling inside, if shaken."
Who is it that now enters the room? A figure made of skin and bones—a veritable spectre coming on towards the Master! He holds on to the wall for support! He comes near the couch. He falls down at the hallowed feet of Sri Râmakrishna, who is now seated on the carpeted floor and is still in a state of Divine Consciousness. The figure before him is Keshab or rather the wreck of him who was once Keshab, the hero of a hundred platforms, the observed of all observers, the idol of Young Bengal, the gold-like figure whose very presence was so often inspiring as he sat conducting divine service in the Brahmo Samaj and poured out his soul like a child in prayer to the Divine Mother—in words never to be forgotten—so forceful, so earnest, so sweet, so charming!
God, the Primal Divine Energy: God-in-Man.
Still in a state of ecstasy! He looks on Keshab as on one he knows not. Keshab is seated and says aloud, "Here am I Sir! Here am I!" Keshab softly strokes his left hand.
But no return to the sense-world! Drinking deep at the Fountain of Immortal Bliss! A little while and he talks to himself—like one gone mad! Is this the madness of Divine Love? He says:—
The Omnipotent Energy.
So long as I do not have a knowledge of my True Self, so long as the Reality gets out of sight behind semblances1 I have a perception of many things and persons—as Keshab, Amrita, Prasanno. Perfect knowledge is knowledge of One-ness—of only One Reality behind the 'many things'—One God behind the phenomenal Universe.
The Knowing One sees again that this Reality—this Universal Soul—has differentiated Itself into living beings and the world—in short into the twenty-four categories of the philosopher.
Different in manifestations.
It is only Divine Energy2 which manifests Itself more or less everywhere. The One Soul has, indeed, differentiated Itself into many things; but in some the Manifested Energy is greater—in some, less. Vidyasagar asked me 'is it a fact that the powers given us by God are greater in the case of some and less in the case of others. Is God partial?' I answered, 'If that were not the case how is it that one man is a match for ten, nay, sometimes for fifty? If that were not the case again, how is it that we have come here all the way, from Dakshineswar to see you? Inequality is a fact in God's creation and must have a deep meaning. It certainly does not prove that God is partial.'
I Upâdhi.
2 Sakti.
Special Manifestation: The Divine Incarnation.
He in whom the Divinity of the Lord is manifested possesses powers far greater than those of anybody else.
The rich man may have many houses to live in. But he may be generally met in a certain drawing-room—of which he is especially fond. The soul of him who loves the Lord is a Drawing-room of the Lord. Unto it there come down special powers from the Most High.
Do you ask, what are the signs of such a person? Well, these are great works wrought by him in the Name of the Lord. Verily they are the fruit of great powers.
God the Absolute, same as God the Mother.
This Primal Divine Energy1 or God the Creator is the same as God the Absolute2. One cannot be thought of without the other being suggested. The refulgence of the gem cannot be thought of without the gem being suggested; nor can the gem be thought of without its lustre being suggested. Take again the snake and its tortuous motion; the one cannot be thought of without the other idea being called up.
1 Âdyâ-Sakti.
2 Brahman
The identity of God the Absolute and God the Creator cannot be made perfectly clear by means of words. Reasoning by analogy only throws some light on it.
Now, God the Creator, my Divine Mother, has manifested Herself as the twenty-four categories of the philosopher. It is a case of involution and evolution.1 In Her were involved the Human Soul2 and the External World.3 These have been gradually evolved out of Her. Why do I yearn to see Rakhal, Narendra (Vivekananda) and other young men? They have not as yet touched the world—they have not touched 'Woman and Gold.' Verily the Divine Mother is revealed in the flesh—the Un-manifested Energy has manifested Herself in the form of this world and markedly in these human forms!
Hazra indeed often takes me to task saying "Why do you go about thinking of these young men? I wonder what you are going to do to give your mind to God!" (Here Keshab and others laugh.)
Special Manifestations of the Mother—pure souls like Narendra untouched by the world.
Well, Hazra's words did set me thinking seriously of the matter.. I prayed to the Divine Mother saying, "Mother, is all this true that Hazra says? Am I indeed losing sight of Thee?" Well!
1 Anulom and Vilom.
2 Jîva.
3 Jagat.
I also asked Bholanath; and it was he who assured me that the Mahabharat made the matter quite clear. It is pointed out there that a person in Samadhi who sees God has nothing in this unreal phenomenal world for his mind to rest upon. He therefore cannot help seeking the company of pure souls who have a love for God and who do not love 'Woman and Gold. This dictum of the Mahabharat at once relieved my mind. It was to me much as a precedent in a case at law is to a suitor before a court of justice. (Laughter.)
Hazra is not to blame. Until God is seen one must reason saying, 'Not this, 'not this' that is, God is a Being who abides quite apart from either Man or Nature. It is quite otherwise with him who has seen God. He realizes the fact of involution and of evolution1—that the phenomenal world and the human soul were involved in God the Absolute and that they are the forms in which He manifests Himself—forms which have been evolved out of Himself. To get the butter as a distinct object one puts aside the butter milk: in the end one cannot help realizing that for the butter-milk the butter is its own; and that for the butter the butter-milk is its own: the two are correlated. Yes, Man and Nature are His manifestations—only in some created things He manifests Himself in a greater degree than in others.
The more the love of God is deepened in the human soul after realization, the easier it becomes to feel His presence in all things. Until a flood causes the river to overflow you must follow its round-about course in order to reach the sea. During the flood there is deep water on land itself and you may row from any point to the sea, straight as the crow flies.
1 Anulom and Vilom.
After the harvest has been reaped one need not any longer go round along the balk—one may walk straight to any point over the fields.
Perception of those that have seen God:
He who has once realized Him sees that the Lord manifests Himself in all things. Above all, He reveals Himself in man—more specially in those pure souls who are of themselves fixed upon God and are turned away from the little things of this world—turned away from 'Woman and Gold.' (Perfect silence.)
It is indeed hard for a man who comes down from Samadhi and has seen God, to give his mind to the little things of this world. Hence he seeks the company of such pure souls, for they have not touched the world and the things that the world can give—money, honours, titles, power, sensual pleasure.
Brahmo Samaj and the Motherhood of God.
The Divine Mother is the same as God the Absolute. When thought of as Inactive He is called the Absolute.1 When again, He is thought of as Active—as Creating, Preserving and Destroying—then the Being is called the Divine Energy or the Divine Mother.2 The Absolute expressed in terms of the Relative is the same as the Divine Mother—the same as God the Father. The Father leaves the management of the household to the Mother. The Mother receives all Her power and authority from the Father.
1 Brahman or Purusha.
2 Sakti or Prakriti
You cannot think of God the Absolute behind the Universe without thinking of the God of the Universe, the Divine Mother. The thought of the One must call up to you the thought of the Other.
The thought of the Male Principle in the Universe must suggest to you the thought of the Female Principle; and the thought of the Female Principle must suggest to you the thought of the Male. One who understands what is 'Father,' also understands what is 'Mother.' (Keshab laughs.)
One who has a sense of darkness has also a sense of light, its correlative. One who knows the meaning of night knows also the meaning of day, its correlative. One who has a feeling of joy has also a feeling of grief, its correlative. Do you see this?
Keshab (smiling): Yes Sir, I do.
Sri Râmakrishna: What Mother do I mean? The Mother of the Universe—She who does create and does preserve—She who protects Her children always from evil and teaches them how to live in the world and how again to obtain Liberation and True Knowledge. A true child cannot live apart from the Mother. He knows not anything—but his mother knows everything. The child only gets his meat out of his Mother's hands and romps about in play. He casts all his cares upon the Mother.
Keshab: That is quite true, Sir.