Bankim Chandra

Saturday, December 6, 1884

Adhar ADHAR, A GREAT DEVOTEE of Sri Ramakrishna, lived in Sobha bazar in the northern section of Calcutta.

Almost every day, after finishing his hard work at the office and returning home in the late afternoon, he paid Sri Ramakrishna a visit. From his home in Calcutta he would go to Dakshineswar in a hired carriage. His sole delight was to visit the Master.

But he would hear very little of what Sri Ramakrishna said; for, after saluting the Master and visiting the temples, he would lie down, at the Master’s request, on a mat spread on the floor and would soon fall asleep.

At 10:00 he would be awakened to return home. However, he considered himself blessed to be able to visit the God-man of Dakshineswar.

At Adhar’s request Sri Ramakrishna often visited his home.

His visits were occasions for religious festivals. Devotees in large numbers would assemble, and Adhar would feed them sumptuously. One day, while Sri Ramakrishna was visiting his home, Adhar said to him: “Sir, you haven’t come to our house for a long time. The rooms seemed gloomy; they had a musty smell. But today the whole house is cheerful.

The sweetness of your presence fills the atmosphere. Today I called on God earnestly. I even shed tears while praying. “Is that so?” the Master said tenderly, casting a kindly glance on his disciple.

Sri Ramakrishna arrived at Adhar’s house with his attendants. Everyone was in a joyous mood. Adhar had arranged a rich feast. Many strangers were present.

At Adhar’s invitation, several other deputy magistrates had come; they wanted to watch the Master and judge his holiness.

Among them was Bankim Chandra Chatterji, perhaps the greatest literary figure of Bengal during the later part of the 19th century. He was one of the creators of modern Bengali literature and wrote on social and religious subjects.

Bankim was a product of the contact of India with England.

He gave modern interpretations of the Hindu scriptures and advocated drastic social reforms.

Sri Ramakrishna had been talking happily with the devotees when Adhar introduced several of his personal friends to him.

ADHAR (introducing Bankim): “Sir, he is a great scholar and has written many books. He has come here to see you. His name is Bankim Babu.”

MASTER (smiling): “Bankim! Well, what has made you bent?”

BANKIM (smiling): “Why, sir, boots are responsible for it. The kicks of our white masters have bent my body.”

MASTER: “No, my dear sir! Sri Krishna was bent on account of His ecstatic love. His body was bent in three places owing to His love for Radha. That is how some people explain

Sri Krishna’s form. Do you know why He has a deep-blue complexion? And why He is of such small stature-only three and a half cubits measured by His own hand? God looks so as long as He is seen from a distance. So the water of the ocean looks blue from afar.

But if you go near the ocean and take the water in your hand, you will no longer find it blue; it will be very clear, transparent. So the sun appears small because it is very far away; if you go near it, you will no longer find it small.

When one knows the true nature of God, He appears neither blue nor small. But that is a far-off vision;one does not see it except in samādhi.

As long as ‘I’ and ‘you’ exist, name and form will also exist. Everything is God’s lila. His sportive pleasure. As long as a man is conscious of ‘I’ and ‘you’, he will experience the manifestations of God through diverse forms.

“Sri Krishna is the Purusha; Srimati is His Śakti, the Primal Power. The two are Purusha and Prakriti. What is the meaning of the Yugala Murti, the conjoined images of Radha and Krishna?

It is that Purusha and Prakriti are not different; there is no difference between them. Purusha cannot exist without Prakriti, and Prakriti cannot exist without Purusha. If you mention the one, the other is understood. It is like fire and its power to burn; one cannot think of fire without its power to burn; again, one cannot think of fire’s power to burn without fire. Therefore in the conjoined images of Radha and Krishna, Krishna’s eyes are fixed on Radha and Radha’s on Krishna.

Radha’s complexion is golden, like lightning; so Krishna wears yellow apparel. Krishna’s complexion is blue, like a dark cloud; so Radha wears a blue dress; she has also decked herself with blue sapphires. Radha has tinkling anklets; so Krishna has them too. In other words, there is inner and outer harmony between Purusha and Prakriti.”

As Sri Ramakrishna finished these words, Bankim and his friends began to whisper in English.

MASTER (smiling, to Bankim and the others): “Well, gentlemen! What are you talking about in English?”

ADHAR: “We are discussing what you have just said, your explanation of Krishna’s form.”

MASTER (smiling): “That reminds me of a funny story. It makes me want to laugh. Once a barber was shaving a gentleman. The latter was cut slightly by the razor.

At once he cried out, ‘Damn!’ But the barber didn’t know the meaning of the word. He put his razor and other shaving articles aside, tucked up his shirt-sleeves-it was winter-, and said:

‘You said “damn” to me. Now you must tell me its meaning.’ The gentleman said: ‘Don’t be silly. Go on with your shaving.

The word doesn’t mean anything in particular; but shave a little more carefully.’ But the barber wouldn’t let him off so easily. He said, ‘If “damn” means something good, then I am a “damn”, my father is a “damn”, and all my ancestors are “damns”.

(All laugh.)

But if it means something bad, then you are a “damn”, your father is a “damn”, and all your ancestors are “damns”. (All laugh.) They are not only “damns”, but “damn-damn-damn-da-damn-damn”.’"(Loud laughter.)

As the laughter stopped, Bankim began the conversation.

Master and preaching

BANKIM: “Sir, why don’t you preach?”

MASTER (smiling): “Preaching? It is only a man’s vanity that makes him think of preaching. A man is but an insignificant creature.

It is God alone who will preach-God who has created the sun and moon and so illumined the universe. Is preaching such a trifling affair? You cannot preach unless God reveals Himself to you and gives you the command to preach. Of course, no one can stop you from preaching.

You haven’t received the command, but still you cry yourself hoarse. People will listen to you couple of days and then forget all about it. It is like any other sensation; as long as you speak, people will say, ‘Ah! He speaks well’; and the moment you stop, everything will disappear.

“The milk in the pot hisses and swells as long as there is heat under it. Take away the heat, and the milk will quiet down as before.

Preaching without God’s command

“One must increase one’s strength by sādhanā ; otherwise one cannot preach. As the proverb goes: ‘You have no room to sleep yourself and you invite a friend to sleep with you.’ There is no place for you to lie down and you say: ‘Come, friend! Come and lie down with me.’

(Laughter.)

“Some people used to befoul the bank of the Haldārpukur at Kamarpukur every morning.

The villagers would notice it and abuse the offenders. But that didn’t stop it. At last the villagers filed a petition with the Government. An officer visited the place and put up a sign: ‘Commit no nuisance. Offenders will be punished.’ That stopped it completely.

Afterwards there was no more trouble. It was a government order, and everyone had to obey it. “Likewise, if God reveals Himself to you and gives you the command, then you can preach and teach people. Otherwise, who will listen to you?” The visitors were listening seriously. Life after death

MASTER (to Bankim): “I understand you are a great pundit and have written many books. Please tell me what you think about man’s duties? What will accompany him after death? You believe in the hereafter, don’t you?”

BANKIM: “The hereafter? What is that?”

MASTER: “True. When a man dies after attaining Knowledge, he doesn’t have to go to another plane of existence; he isn’t born again.

But as long as he has not attained Knowledge, as long as he has not realized God, he must come back to the life of this earth; he can never escape it. For such a person there is a hereafter. A man is liberated after attaining Knowledge, after realizing God. For him there is no further coming back to earth.

If a boiled paddy-grain is sown, it doesn’t sprout. Just so, if a man is boiled by the fire of Knowledge, he cannot take part any more in the play of creation; he cannot lead a worldly life, for he has no attachment to ‘woman and gold’. What will you gain by sowing boiled paddy?”

BANKIM (smiling): “Sir, neither does a weed serve the purpose of a tree.’

MASTER: “But you cannot call a Jnāni a weed. He who has realized God has obtained the fruit of Immortality-not a common fruit like a gourd or a pumpkin. He is free from rebirth. He is not born anywhere-on earth, in the solar world, or in the lunar world.

“Analogy is one-sided. You are a pundit; haven’t you read logic? Suppose you say that a man is as terrible as a tiger. That doesn’t mean that he has a fearful tail or a tiger’s pot- face! (All laugh.)

“I said the same thing to Keshab. He asked me, ‘Sir, is there an after-life?’ I didn’t commit myself either way. I said that the potters put their pots in the sun to bake. Among them you see both baked and soft pots. Sometimes cattle trample over them. When the baked pots are broken, the potters throw them away; but when the soft ones are broken they keep them. They mix them with water and put the clay on the wheel and make new pots. They don’t throwaway the unbaked pots. So I said to Keshab: ‘The Potter won’t let you go as long as you are unbaked. He will put you on the wheel of the world as long as you have not attained Knowledge, as long as you have not realized Him.

He won’t let you go. You will have to return to the earth again and again; there is no escape. You will be liberated only when you realize God. Then alone will the Potter let you go. It is because then you won’t serve any purpose in this world of māyā.’ The Jnāni has gone beyond māyā. What will he do in this world of māyā?

“But God keeps some jnanis in the world of māyā to be teachers of men. In order to teach others the Jnāni lives in the world with the help of Vidyā-māyā. It is God Himself who keeps the Jnāni in the world for His work. Such was the case with Sukadeva and Sankaracharya.