The Homa Bird

Sunday, September 28, 1884

It was the day of the Mahāshtami, the most auspicious day of the worship of Durga, the Divine Mother. At Adhar’s invitation Sri Ramakrishna had come to Calcutta to see the holy image at his house. Before going there he went to Ram’s. Many devotees, including Narendra, Baburam, M., Niranjan, Vijay, Kedār, Ram, and Surendra, were present.

Balarām and Rākhāl were still at Vrindāvan.

MASTER (looking at Vijay and Kedār, with a smile): “This is a nice reunion today. You 2 have the same spiritual mood. (To Vijay) Well, what about Shivanath? Did you-?” VIJAY: “Yes, sir, he heard that you had been to his house. I haven’t seen him, but I sent him word. He knows about it.”

MASTER (to Vijay and the others); “Four desires have come into my mind. I shall eat fish curry cooked with egg-plant. I shall visit Shivanath. The devotees will repeat the name of Hari over their beads, and I shall watch them. And the Tantrik devotees will drink consecrated wine, eight ānnās worth, on the ashtami day, and I shall watch them and salute them.”

Narendra was seated in front of the Master. He was about 22 years old. While Sri Ramakrishna was talking thus his eyes fell upon his beloved disciple. At once the Master stood up and went into samādhi. He placed one foot on Narendra’s knee.

He was in a deep spiritual mood, his eyes unblinking, his mind completely unconscious of the outer world.

After a long time he came down to the relative plane of consciousness; but he still appeared dazed, for the intoxication of divine bliss had not altogether left him. Speaking to himself in that ecstatic state, he repeated the name of God.

He said: “Satchidananda! Satchidananda! Satchidananda! Shall I repeat that? No, it is the day of the Divine Mother, the Giver of the bliss of divine inebriation. O Mother, full of the bliss of divine inebriation! Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni. It is not good to keep the voice on ’ni’. It is not possible to keep it there very long. I shall keep it on the next lower note.

There are different planes of consciousness: the gross, the subtle, the causal, and the Great Cause. Entering the Mahakarana, the Great Cause, one becomes silent; one cannot utter a word.

“But an Isvarakoti, after attaining the Great Cause, can come down again to the lower planes. Incarnations of God, and others like them, belong to the class of the Isvarakotis.

They climb up, and they can also come down. They climb to the roof, and they can come down again by the stairs and move about on a lower floor. It is a case of negation and affirmation.

There is, for instance, the seven-storey palace of a king. Strangers have access only to the lower apartments; but the prince, who knows the palace to be his own, can move up and down from floor to floor. There is a kind of rocket that throws out sparks in one pattern and then seems to go out. After a moment it makes another pattern, and then still another. There is no end to the patterns it can make. But there is another kind of rocket that, when it is lighted, makes only a dull sound, throws out a few sparks, and then goes out altogether. Like this second kind, an ordinary jiva, after much spiritual effort, can go to a higher plane; but he cannot come down to tell others his experiences. After much effort he may go into samādhi; but he cannot climb down from that state or tell others what he has seen there.

There is a class of devotees, the nityasiddhas, the ever-perfect. From their very birth they seek God. They do not enjoy anything of the world.

The homa bird

The Vedas speak of the homa bird. It lives very high in the sky. There the mother bird lays her egg. She lives so high that the egg falls for many days. While falling it is hatched.

The chick continues to fall. That also goes on for many days. In the mean time the chick develops eyes. Coming near the earth, it becomes conscious of the world. It realizes it will meet certain death if it hits the ground.

Then it gives a shrill cry and shoots up toward its mother. The earth means death, and it frightens the young bird; it then seeks its mother. She dwells high up in the sky, and the young bird shoots straight up in that direction.

It doesn’t look anywhere else.

Those who are born as the companions of an Incarnation of God are eternally perfect.

For some of them that birth is the last.

(To Vijay) “You have both-yoga and bhoga. King Janaka also had yoga and bhoga. Therefore he is called a rajarshi, both king and seer. Nārada was a devarshi, and Sukadeva a brahmarshi. Yes, Sukadeva was a brahmarshi. He was not a mere Jnāni; he was the very embodiment of Jnāna, Divine Knowledge. Whom do I call a Jnāni? A man who has attained Knowledge and has done so after much effort. Sukadeva was the very image of Knowledge, in other words, a form of concentrated Knowledge. He attained Knowledge spontaneously, without any labour.”

The Master asked Kedār to sing.

Kedār sang: How shall I open my heart, O friend? It is forbidden me to speak. I am about to die, for lack of a kindred soul To understand my misery. . . . Kedār sang several other songs. After the music the Master again talked to the devotees. Nandalal, Keshab’s nephew, was also present with a few brahmo friends. They were sitting near the Master. MASTER (to Vijay and the other devotees): “A man brought a bottle of consecrated wine for me; but I couldn’t even touch it.” VIJAY: “Ah!” MASTER: “I become intoxicated at the mere thought of God. I don’t have to take any wine. I feel drunk at the very sight of the charanamrita. I feel as if I had drunk five bottles of liquor. When a person attains such a state he cannot help discriminating about food.” NARENDRA: “As regards food, one should take whatever comes.” 613MASTER: “What you say applies only to a particular state of the aspirant’s mind. No food can harm a Jnāni. According to the Gitā, the Jnāni himself does not eat; his eating is an offering to the Kundalini. But that does not apply to a bhakta. The present state of my mind is such that I cannot eat any food unless it is first offered to God by a brahmin priest. Formerly my state of mind was such that I would enjoy inhaling the smell of burning corpses, carried by the wind from the other side of the Ganges. It tasted very sweet to me. But nowadays I cannot eat food touched by anybody and everybody. No, I cannot. But once in a while I do. One day I was taken to see a performance of a play at Keshab’s house. They gave me luchi and curries to eat. I didn’t know whether the food was handed to me by a washerman or a barber; but I ate quite a little (all laugh). Rākhāl had asked me to eat. (To Narendra) “With you it is all right. You are in ’this’ as well as in ’that’. You can eat everything now. (To the devotees) Blessed is he who feels longing for God, though he eats pork. But shame on him whose mind dwells on ‘woman and gold’, though he eats the purest food-boiled vegetables, rice, and ghee. “Once I had a desire to eat dal cooked in a blacksmith’s house. From my childhood I had heard the blacksmiths say, ‘Do the brahmins know how to cook?’ I ate the dal, but it smelt of the blacksmith. (all laugh) “I received the Allah mantra from Govinda Rai. Rice was cooked for me with onions in the kuthi. I ate some. I ate curry in Mani Mallick’s garden house, but I felt a kind of repulsion to it. “When I went to Kamarpukur, Ramlal’s father was frightened. He thought I might eat at any and every house. He was frightened to think I might be expelled from the caste; so I couldn’t stay long. I came away. “Both the Vedas and the Puranas describe pure food and conduct. But what the Vedas and the Puranas ask people to shun as impure is extolled by the Tantra as good. Master’s divine madness “Oh, what a state of mind I passed through! I would open my mouth, touching, as it were, heaven and the nether world with my jaws, and utter the word ‘Ma’. I felt that I had seized the Mother, like a fisherman dragging fish in his net. Let me recite a song: This time I shall devour Thee utterly, Mother Kāli! For I was born under an evil star, And one so born becomes, they say, the eater of his mother. Thou must devour me first, or I myself shall eat Thee up; One or the other it must be. I shall besmear my hands with black, and with black my face; 614With black I shall besmear the whole of my body And when Death seizes me, with black I shall besmear his face. O Mother, I shall eat Thee up but not digest Thee; I shall install Thee in my heart And make Thee offerings with my mind. You may say that by eating Kāli I shall embroil myself With Kala, Her Husband, but I am not afraid; Braving His anger, I shall chant my Mother’s name. To show the world that Ramprasad is Kāli’s rightful son, Come what may, I shall eat Thee up-Thee and Thy retinue- Or lose my life attempting it. “I almost became mad-such was my longing for God.” Narendra began to sing: O Mother, make me mad with Thy love! What need have I of knowledge or reason? . . . Listening to the song, the Master again went into samādhi. Coming down to the normal plane, he assumed the attitude of Girirani and sang the Āgamani . He sang, intoxicated with divine love: Tell me, my Uma, how have you fared, alone in the Stranger’s house? . . . He said to the devotees, “Today is the Mahashtami. The Mother has come; that is why I feel such an awakening of spiritual emotion.” KEDĀR: “Lord, you are here. Are you different from the Divine Mother?” Sri Ramakrishna looked in another direction and sang in an absent-minded mood: Ah, friend! I have not found Him yet, whose love has driven me mad…. Again he became ecstatic and sang of the Divine Mother. As he sang, Vijay suddenly stood up crying the name of Hari. Sri Ramakrishna, full of divine love, began to dance with Vijay and the other devotees. The music was over. The Master, Vijay, Narendra, and the other devotees sat down. All eyes were fixed on Sri Ramakrishna, who began conversing with the devotees. He asked about their health. Kedār spoke to him humbly in a soft, sweet voice. Narendra, Chunilal, Ram, M., and Harish were sitting by the Master. KEDĀR (humbly): “How can I get rid of my dizziness?” MASTER (tenderly): “One gets that. I have had it myself. 615Use a little almond oil. I have heard that it cures dizziness.” KEDĀR: “I shall, sir.” MASTER (to Chunilal): “Hello! How is everything?” CHUNILAL: “Everything is all right with us now. Balarām Babu and Rākhāl are well at Vrindāvan.” MASTER: “Why have you sent so many sweetmeats? (To Harish) Wait a day or two before coming to Dakshineswar. You are not well. You may fall ill again there. (To Narayan, tenderly) Sit here. Sit by me. Come to Dakshineswar tomorrow and have your meal there. (Pointing to M.) Come with him. (To M.) What do you say?” M. wanted to accompany Sri Ramakrishna to Dakshineswar that very day. He became thoughtful. Surendra stood near Sri Ramakrishna. He was in the habit of drinking and often went to excess. This had worried the Master greatly, but he had not asked Surendra to give up drinking altogether. He had said to him: “Look here, Surendra! Whenever you drink wine, offer it beforehand to the Divine Mother. See that your brain doesnt become clouded and that you don’t reel The more you think of the Divine Mother, the less you will like to drink The Mother is the Giver of the bliss of divine inebriation. Realizing Her, one feels a natural bliss.” The Master looked at Surendra and said, “You have had a drink.” With these words he went into samādhi. It was dusk. Regaining partial consciousness, the Master sang: Behold my Mother playing with Śiva, lost in an ecstasy of joy! Drunk with a draught of celestial wine, She reels, and yet She does not fall. . . Then he chanted the name of Hari, clapping his hands occasionally. In a sweet voice he said: “Hari! Hari! O mind, chant the name of Hari! Sing the name of Hari!” Then he chanted: “Rāma! Rāma Rāma! Rāma!” Now the Master began to pray: “O Rāma! O Rāma! I am without devotion and austerity, without knowledge and love; I have not performed any religious rites. O Rāma, I have taken refuge in Thee; I have taken shelter at Thy feet. I do not want creature comforts; I do not seek name and fame. O Rāma, I do not crave the eight occult powers; I do not care for a hundred occult powers! I am Thy servant. I have taken refuge in Thee. Grant, O Rāma, that I may have pure love for Thy Lotus Feet; that I may not be deluded by Thy world-bewitching māyā! O Rāma, I have taken refuge it Thee.” As the Master prayed all eyes were turned toward him. Hearing his piteous voice, few could restrain their tears. 616Ramchandra Dutta came in and stood near him. MASTER: “Where have you been, Ram?” RAM: “I was upstairs, sir.” Ram had been making arrangements for feeding the devotees on the roof of the house. MASTER (to Ram, with a smile): “Isn’t it better to stay down below that to be high up? Water accumulates in low land but flows down from a high mound.” RAM (with a smile): “That is true, sir.” Supper was ready on the roof. Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees were taken there and sumptuously fed. Later the Master went to Adhar’s house with M., Niranjan, and others. The Divine Mother was being worshipped there, It had been Adhar’s earnest prayer that on this sacred day Sri Ramakrishna might bless his house with his presence.