Master at Devendra's house

The carriage proceeded to Devendra’s house. Once Sri Ramakrishna had said to Devendra at Dakshineswar, “I have been thinking of visiting your house one day.”

Devendra had replied: “The same idea came to my mind today, and I have come here to ask that favour of you. You must grace my house this Sunday.” “But”, the Master had said, you have a small income. Don’t invite many people. The carriage hire will also run to a big amount." Devendra had answered, laughing: “What if my income is small? ‘One can run into debt to eat butter!’ “At these words Sri Ramakrishna had laughed a long time.

Soon the carriage reached Devendra’s house. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: “Devendra, don’t make elaborate arrangements for my meal. Something very simple will do. I am not very well today.”

Sri Ramakrishna seated himself in the drawing-room on the ground floor of Devendra’s house. The devotees sat around him. It was evening. The room was well lighted. The younger Naren, Ram, M., Girish, Devendra, Akshay, Upendra, and some other devotees were present. As the Master cast his glance on a young devotee, his face beamed with joy.

Pointing to the devotee, Sri Ramakrishna said to the others: “He is totally free from attachment to land, wife, and money, the three things that entangle one in worldliness.

The mind that dwells on these three cannot be fixed on God. He saw a vision, too. (To the devotee) Tell us, what did you see?”

DEVOTEE (laughing): “I saw a heap of dung. Some were seated on it, and some sat at a distance.”

MASTER: “It was a vision of the plight of the worldly people who are forgetful of God. It shows that all these desires are disappearing from his mind. Need one worry about anything if one’s mind is detached from ‘woman and gold’? How strange!

Only after much meditation and japa could I get rid of these desires; and how quickly he could banish them from his mind! Is it an easy matter to get rid of lust? I myself felt a queer sensation in my heart six months after I had begun my spiritual practice.

Then I threw myself on the ground under a tree and wept bitterly. I said to the Divine Mother, ‘Mother, if it comes to that, I shall certainly cut my throat with a knife!’

(To the devotees) “If the mind is free from ‘woman and gold’, then what else can obstruct a man? He enjoys then only the Bliss of Brahman.”

Śaśi had recently been visiting Sri Ramakrishna. He was studying at the Vidyāsāgar

College for his Bachelor’s degree. The Master began to talk about him.

MASTER (to the devotees): “That boy will think of money for some time. But there are some who will never do so. Some of the youngsters will not marry.”

The devotees listened silently to the Master.

MASTER : “It is hard to recognize an Incarnation of God unless the mind is totally free from ‘woman and gold’. A man asked a. seller of egg-plants the value of a diamond. He said, ‘I can give nine seers of egg-plants in exchange, and not one more.’”

At these words all the devotees laughed. The younger Naren laughed very loudly. Sri Ramakrishna noticed that he had quickly understood the implication of these words.

MASTER: “What a subtle mind he has! Nangta also could understand things that way, in a flash-the meaning of the Gitā, the Bhagavata, and other scriptures.

Master praises renunciation

“Renunciation of ‘woman and gold’ from boyhood! Amazing indeed! It falls to the lot of a very few. A person without such renunciation is like a mango struck by a hail-stone. The fruit cannot be offered to the Deity, and even a man hesitates to eat it.

“There are people who during their youth committed many sins, but in old age chant the name of God. Well, that is better than nothing.

“The mother of a certain Mallick, who belonged to a very noble family, asked me if prostitutes would ever be saved. She herself had led that kind of life; that is why she asked the question. I said: ‘Yes, they too will be saved, if only they cry to God with a yearning heart and promise not to repeat their sins.’ What will the mere chanting of

Hari’s name accomplish? One must weep sincerely.”

The kirtan began to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals. The singer was a professional. He sang about Sri Gaurānga’s initiation as a monk by Keshab Bharati: Oh, what a vision I have beheld in Keshab Bharati’s hut!

Gora, in all his matchless grace, Shedding tears in a thousand streams! . . .

Sri Ramakrishna went into ecstasy when he heard the song. The musician sang again, describing the suffering of a milkmaid of Vrindāvan at her separation from Sri Krishna.

She was seeking her Krishna in the madhavi bower: O madhavi, give me back my Sweet One! Give me, give me back my Sweet One! Give Him back, for He is mine, And make me your slave for ever. He is my life, as water is to the fish; O madhavi, you have hidden Him in your bosom! I am a simple, guileless girl, And you have stolen my Beloved. O madhavi, I die for my Sweet One; I cannot bear to live without Him. Without my Madhava I shall die; Oh, give Him, give Him back to me!

Now and then Sri Ramakrishna sang with the musicians, improvising Lines:

How far from here is Mathura, Where dwells the Beloved of my soul?

Sri Ramakrishna went into samādhi. His body was motionless. He remained in that state a long time.

Gradually he came down to the consciousness of the outer world. Still in a spiritual mood, he began to talk, sometimes addressing the devotees, some-times the Divine Mother.

MASTER: “Mother, please attract him to Thee. I can’t worry about him any more. (To M.) My mind is inclined a little to your brother-in-law.

About Girish

(To Girish) “You utter many abusive and vulgar words; but that doesn’t matter. It is better for these things to come out. There are some people who fall ill on account of blood-poisoning; the more the poisoned blood finds an outlet, the better it is for them.

At the time when the Upādhi of a man is being destroyed, it makes a loud noise, as it were. Wood crackles when it burns; there is no more noise when the burning is over.

“You will be purer day by day. You will improve very much day by day. People will marvel at you.

“I may not come many more times; but that doesn’t matter. You will succeed by yourself.”

The Master’s spiritual mood became very intense. Again he talked to the Divine Mother.

MASTER: “Mother, what credit is there in making a man good who is already good? O Mother, what wilt Thou accomplish by killing one who is already dead? Only if Thou canst kill a person who is still standing erect wilt Thou show Thy glory.”

Sri Ramakrishna remained silent a few moments. Suddenly he said in a slightly raised voice: “I have come from Dakshineswar. I am going, Mother!”

It was as if a child had heard the call of its mother from a distance and was responding to it. He again became motionless, absorbed in samādhi. The devotees looked at him with un-winking eyes. Still in an ecstatic mood he said, “I shall not eat any more luchi.” At this point a few Vaishnava priests, who had come from the neighbourhood, left the place.

Sri Ramakrishna began to talk with his devotees in a very joyous spirit. It was the month of April and the day was very sultry. Devendra had made ice-cream. He offered it to the Master and the devotees. M said in a low voice, “Encore! Encore!” The devotees laughed.

At the sight of the ice-cream.

Sri Ramakrishna was happy as a child.

MASTER: “The kirtan was very nice. The song described beautifully the gopis’ state of mind: ‘O madhavi, give me back my Sweet One!’ The milkmaids of Vrindāvan were drunk with ecstatic love for Krishna. How wonderful! Mad for Krishna!” A devotee, pointing to another devotee, said, “He has the attitude of the gopis.” RAM: “No, he has both-the attitude of tender love and the attitude of austere knowledge.”

MASTER: “What is it you are talking about?”

Sri Ramakrishna inquired about Surendra.

RAM: “I sent him word, but he hasn’t come.”

MASTER: “He gets very tired from his heavy office-work.”

A DEVOTEE: “Ram Babu has been writing about you.”

MASTER (smiling): “What is he writing?”

DEVOTEE: “He is writing an article on The Bhakti of the Paramahamsa’.”

MASTER: “Good! That will make Ram famous.”

GIRISH (smiling): “He says he is your disciple.”

MASTER: “I have no disciple. I am the servant of the servant of Rāma.” Some people of the neighbourhood had dropped in; but they did not please the Master. He said: “What sort of place is this? I don’t find a single pious soul here.”

Devendra took Sri Ramakrishna into the inner apartments and offered him refreshments.

Afterwards the Master returned to the drawing-room with a happy face and took his seat. The devotees sat around him’. Upendra and Akshay sat on either side of him and stroked his feet. The Master spoke highly of the women of Devendra’s family, saying:

“They are very nice. They come from the country; so they are very pious.” The Master was absorbed in his own joy. In a happy mood he began to sing: Unless a man is simple, he cannot recognize God, the Simple One. . .

Again he sang:

Stay your step, O wandering monk Stand there with begging-bowl in hand, And let me behold your radiant face . . .

Once more:

A mendicant has come to us, ever absorbed in divine moods; Holy alike is he to Hindu and Musslman . . .. Girish saluted the Master and took his leave. Devendra and the other devotees took the Master to his carriage. Seeing that one of his neighbours was sound asleep on a bench in the courtyard, Devendra woke him up. The neighbour rubbed his eyes and said, “Has the Paramahamsa come?” All burst into laughter. The man had come a long time before Sri Ramakrishna’s arrival, and because of the heat had spread a mat on the bench, lain down, and gone sound asleep.

Sri Ramakrishna’s carriage proceeded to Dakshineswar. He said to M. happily, “I have eaten a good deal of ice-cream; bring four or five cones for me when you come to Dakshineswar.” Continuing, he said, “Now my mind is drawn to these few youngsters: the younger Naren, Purna, and your brother-in-law.”

M: “Do you mean Dwija?”

MASTER: “No, he is all right; I mean his elder brother.” The carriage rolled on to the Kāli temple at Dakshineswar.