Hazra's eccentricities

Sunday, October 5, 1884

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting in his room after the midday meal, with M., Hazra, the elder Kāli, Baburam, Ramlal, Hari, and others. Some of them sat on the floor and some stood about. On the previous day the Master had visited Keshab’s mother at her Calcutta house and had made her happy with his devotional songs.

Hazra’s eccentricities

Hazra had been living with the Master at Dakshineswar a long time. He was a little conceited about his knowledge and even criticized the Master now and then before others.

Again, he would sit on the verandah of the Master’s room and tell his beads with apparent concentration. He spoke slightingly of Chaitanya as a “modern Incarnation”. He would say:

“God gives not only pure devotion but also wealth. He has no lack of it. By attaining God one obtains the eight occult powers as well.” Hazra had a small debt to clear up, about one thousand rupees. He had incurred it for the building of his house and was worried about paying it.

The elder Kāli had a position in an office, from which he received a small salary. He had a large family to maintain. He was devoted to the Master and visited him now and then, even absenting himself from the office.

KALl (to Hazra): “You go about criticizing people; you are like a touchstone, testing what is pure gold and what is impure. Why do you speak so much ill of others?”

HAZRA: “Whatever I say, I say to him [meaning Sri Ramakrishna] alone.”

MASTER: “That is so.”

Hazra began to explain Tattvajnana.

HAZRA: “The meaning of Tattvajnana is the knowledge of the existence of the 24 tattvas, or cosmic principles.”

He was wrong about the meaning of the word.

A DEVOTEE: “What are they?”

HAZRA: “The five elements, the six passions, the five organs of perception, the five organs of action, and so forth.”

M. (to the Master, smiling): “He says that the six passions are included in the 24 cosmic principles.”

MASTER (smiling): “Listen to him! Notice how he explains Tattvajnana! The word really means ‘knowledge of Self’. The word ‘Tat’ means the Supreme Self, and the word ’tvam’, the embodied soul. One attains Supreme Knowledge, Tattvajnana, by realizing the identity of the embodied soul and the Supreme Self.”

After a few minutes Hazra left the room and sat on the porch.

MASTER (to M. and the others): “He [meaning Hazra] only argues. This moment perhaps he understands, but the next moment he is his old self again. “When the angler hooks a big fish and finds it pulling hard, he releases the line; otherwise it will snap and the angler himself will be thrown into the water. Therefore I do not say much to him.

(To M.) “Hazra said that a man could not be liberated unless he was born in a brahmin body. ‘How is that?’ I said. ‘One attains liberation through bhakti alone. Savari was the daughter of a hunter. She, Ruhidas, and others belonged to the sudra caste. They were liberated through bhakti alone.’ ‘But still-Hazra insisted.

“He recognized Dhruva’s spiritual greatness, but not as much as he recognized Prahlada’s. When Lātu said, ‘Dhruva had great yearning for God from his boyhood’, he kept still.

“I said that there was nothing greater than the bhakti that sought no end and had no selfish motive. Hazra contradicted me. I said to him, ‘A wealthy man is annoyed when a petitioner comes to him. “There he comes”, he says angrily. “Sit down”, he says to him in an indifferent voice, and shows that he is much annoyed. He doesn’t allow such a beggar to ride with him in his carriage.’

“But Hazra said that God was not like such wealthy people of the world; did He lack wealth, that He should feel pinched to give it away? Hazra said further: ‘When rain falls from the sky, the Ganges and all the big rivers and lakes overflow with water.

Small tanks, too, are filled. Likewise, God out of His grace grants wealth and riches as well as knowledge and devotion.’

(To the devotees) “But I call this impure devotion to God. Pure devotion has no desire behind it. You don’t want anything from me, but you love to see me and hear my words.

My mind also dwells on you. I wonder how you are and why you don’t come.

“You don’t want anything of God but still you love Him. That is pure bhakti, love of God with no motive behind it. Prahlada had it. He sought neither kingdom nor riches; he sought Hari alone.”

M: “Hazra is a chatterbox. He won’t achieve anything unless he becomes silent.”

MASTER: “Now and then he comes to me and becomes mellowed. But he is a pest; again he argues. It is very hard to get rid of egotism. You may cut down an Aśwattha tree, but the next day a sprout will spring up. As long as the roots remain, the tree will grow again.

“I said to Hazra, ‘Don’t speak ill of anyone.’ It is Narayana Himself who has assumed all these forms. One can worship even a wicked person. Haven’t you observed the Kumari Puja?

Why should you worship a girl who has all the physical limitations of a human being? It is because she is a form of the Divine Mother. But God dwells in a special way in His devotee. The devotee is His parlour. If the gourd has a large body then it makes a good Tānpura. It gives a nice sound.”

Two monks had arrived at the temple garden in the morning. They were devoted to the study of the Bhagavad Gitā, the Vedānta, and other scriptures. They entered the

Master’s room, saluted him, and sat on the mat on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna was seated on the small couch. The Master spoke to the sādhus in Hindusthani.

MASTER: “Have you had your meal?”

SĀDHU: “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “What did you eat?”

SĀDHU: “Dal and bread. Will you take some?”

MASTER: “No, I take only a few morsels of rice. Well, your japa and meditation must be without any desire for results. Isn’t that so?”

SĀDHU: “Yes, Sir.”

MASTER: “That is good. One must surrender the result to God. What do you say? That is the view of the Gitā.”

One sādhu said to the other, quoting from the Gitā: “O Arjuna, whatever action you perform, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give in charity, and whatever austerities you practise, offer everything to Me.”

MASTER: “If you give God something, you receive it back a thousand times over. That is why after doing meritorious deeds one offers a handful of water to God. It is the symbol of offering the fruit to God. When Yudhisthira was about to offer all his sins to Krishna,

Bhima warned him: ‘Never do such a thing. Whatever you offer to Krishna you will receive back a thousandfold.’

(To one of the sādhus) “Well, sir, one should be de- sireless; one should renounce all desires. Isn’t that so?”

SĀDHU: “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “But I have the desire for bhakti. That is not bad. Rather, it is good. Sweets are bad, for they produce acidity. But sugar candy is an exception. Isn’t that so?”

SĀDHU: “Yes, sir.”

MASTER: “Well, sir, what do you think of the Vedānta?”

SĀDHU: “It includes all the six systems of philosophy.”

MASTER: “But the essence of Vedānta is: ‘Brahman alone is real, and the world illusory;

I have no separate existence; I am that Brahman alone.’ Isn’t that so?”

SĀDHU: “That is true, sir.”

MASTER: “But for those who lead a householder’s life, and those who identify themselves with the body, this attitude of ‘I am He’ is not good. It is not good for householders to read Vedānta or the Yoga-vāsishta. It is very harmful for them to read these books.

Householders should look on God as their Master and on themselves as His servants.

They should think, ‘O God, You are the Master and the Lord, and I am Your servant.’

People who identify themselves with the body should not have the attitude of ‘I am He’.”

The devotees in the room remained silent. Sri Ramakrishna was smiling a little, a picture of self-contentment. He appeared happy in his own Self.

One of the sādhus whispered in the other’s ear: “Look! This is the state of the paramahamsa.”

MASTER (to M.): “I feel like laughing.”

Sri Ramakrishna smiled like a child. The monks left the room. The devotees were moving about in the room and on the porch.

Master ( to M.) :“Did you go to Nabin Sen’s house?”

M:“Yes, sir. I listened to the songs from down stairs.”

MASTER: “That was well done. Your wife was there. She is a cousin of Keshab Sen, isn’t she?”

M: “A distant cousin.”

Sri Ramakrishna strolled up and down with M. No one else was with them.

MASTER: “A man visits his father-in-law’s house. I, too, often used to think that I should marry, go to my father-in-law’s house, and have great fun. But see what has come of it!”

M: “Sir, you say, ‘If the boy holds his father’s hand, he may slip; but he doesn’t if the father holds his hand.’ That is exactly your condition. The Mother has taken hold of your hand.”

MASTER: “I met Bamandas at the Viswases’ house. I said to him, ‘I have come to see you.’ As I was leaving the place I heard him say: ‘Goodness gracious! The Divine Mother has caught hold of him, like a tiger seizing a man.’ At that time I was a young man, very stout, and always in ecstasy.