The Master And Dr. Sarkar

Friday, October 23, 1885

IT WAS THE DAY of the full moon following the Durga Puja, the worship of the Divine Mother. At 10 AM, Sri Ramakrishna was talking to M., who was helping him with his socks.

MASTER (smiling): “Why can’t I cut my woolen scarf into two pieces and wrap them around my legs like socks? They will be nice and warm.”

M. Smiled. The previous evening Sri Ramakrishna had had a long conversation with Dr. Sarkar. Referring to it, the Master said laughingly, “I told him the story of the calf, and about egotism being the cause of all suffering.”

The younger Naren reminded Sri Ramakrishna that he, the Master, had told the doctor about people’s suffering from the threefold misery of the world and still bragging of their well-being. The disciple said, “That was very nice thing you said yesterday about the thorn, and also about burning it in the fire of Knowledge.”

Master’s visions

MASTER: “I had direct visions of those things. One day, I was passing back of the Kuthi when my whole body burst into flames, as it were, like the fire in a homa. Padmalochan once said to me, ‘I shall convene an assembly of pundits and proclaim your spiritual experiences before all.’ But he died shortly after.”

The doctor and M.

At eleven o’clock M. went to Dr. Sarkar’s house to report Sri Ramakrishna’s condition. The doctor showed great eagerness to hear about him.

DOCTOR (laughing): “How well I told him yesterday that in order to be able to say ‘Tuhu! Tuhu!’, ‘Thou! Thou!’, one must fall into the hands of an expert carder!”

M: “It is true, sir. One cannot get rid of egotism without the help of a capable teacher.

How well he spoke last night of bhakti! Bhakti, like a woman, can go into the inner court.”

DOCTOR: “Yes, that is very nice. But still one cannot give up Jnāna.”

M: “But he does not say that. He accepts both knowledge and love, the Impersonal Truth and the Personal God. He says that through the cooling influence of bhakti a part of the Reality takes the solid form of the Personal God; and with the rise of the sun of Jnāna, the ice of form melts again into the formless water of the Absolute. In other words, you realize God with form through bhaktiyoga, and the formless Absolute through Jnāna yoga.

“You must have noticed that he sees God so near him that he always converses with Him. When suffering from illness, he says to God, like a small child, ‘Oh, Mother, it is hurting me!’

Influence of holy company

“How wonderful his power of observation is! He saw a fossil in the museum. At once he gave it as an example of the effect of companionship with holy persons. Just as an object is turned into stone by remaining near stone, so does a man become holy by living with a holy man.”

DOCTOR: “Yesterday Ishan Babu talked of the Incarnation of God. What is that? To call man God!”

M: “Everyone has his own faith. What is the use of interfering with it?”

DOCTOR: “Yes, what is the use?”

M: “How the Master made us laugh when he told us about a certain man who refused to believe that a house had collapsed, because it was not published in the news paper!” Doctor Sarkar remained silent. Sri Ramakrishna had said to him, “Your ‘science’ does not speak of God’s Incarnation; therefore you say that God cannot incarnate Himself as man.”

It was midday. Doctor Sarkar took M. with him in his carriage. He was going to visit Sri Ramakrishna after seeing his other patients.

A few days before, at Girish’s invitation, Doctor Sarkar had seen his play about Buddha’s life. He said to M.: “It would have been better to speak of Buddha as the Incarnation of Compassion. Why did he speak of him as an Incarnation of Vishnu?” The doctor set M. down at the corner of Cornwallis Square. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. One or two devotees were seated near Sri Ramakrishna. He became impatient, like a child. Repeatedly he asked the devotees, “When is the doctor coming?” “What time is it now?” Doctor Sarkar was expected in the evening.

Suddenly Sri Ramakrishna was overwhelmed with a strange mood. He placed his pillow on his lap. Filled with maternal love, he began to caress it and hold it to his breast as if it were his child. He was in an ecstatic mood. His face was lighted with a childlike smile. He put on his cloth in a strange manner. The devotees looked at him in amazement.

A little later Sri Ramakrishna was in his normal mood. It was time for his meal. He ate a little boiled farina.

He was talking to M. about his mystic experiences.Master’s mystic experiences

MASTER (to M., aside): “Do you know what I saw just now in my ecstatic state? There was a meadow covering an area of seven or eight miles, through which lay the road to Sihore. I was alone in that meadow. I saw a sixteen year-old paramahamsa boy exactly like the one I had seen in the Panchavati.

“A mist of bliss lay all around. Out of it emerged a boy thirteen or fourteen years old. I saw his face. He looked like Purna. Both of us were naked. Then we began to run around joyfully in the meadow. Purna felt thirsty. He drank some water from a tumbler and offered me what was left. I said to him, ‘Brother, I cannot take your leavings.’ Thereupon he laughed, washed the glass, and brought me fresh water.” Sri Ramakrishna was again in samādhi. He regained consciousness and began to talk to M.

MASTER: “My mind is undergoing a change. I cannot take prasad any more. The Real and the Appearance are becoming one to me. Do you know what I saw just now? A divine form-a vision of the Divine Mother. She had a child in Her womb. She gave birth to it and the next instant began to swallow it; and as much of it as went into Her mouth became void. It was revealed to me that everything is void. The Divine Mother said to me, as it were: ‘Come confusion! Come delusion! Come!’

This reminded M. of Sri Ramakrishna’s saying that the magician alone is real and all else unreal.

MASTER: “Well, how is it that the other time I tried to attract Purna but failed? This weakens my faith a little.”

M: “But to attract a person is to work a miracle.”

MASTER: “Yes, a downright miracle.”

About miracles

M: “You remember, one day we were returning to Dakshineswar in a carriage from Adhar’s house, when a bottle broke. One of us said to you: ‘Does this mean that any harm will befall us? What do you think?’ You said: ‘what do I care? Why should I bother about it? That would be miracle working.’”

MASTER: “Yes, people lay ailing children down on the ground where men chant the name of God, in order that they may be cured; or people cure disease through occult powers. All this is miracle-working. Only those whose spiritual experience is extremely shallow call on God for the healing of disease.”

It was evening. Sri Ramakrishna was seated on his bed, thinking of the Divine Mother and repeating Her hallowed name. The devotees sat near him in silence. Lātu, Śaśi, Sarat, the younger Naren, Paltu, Bhupati, Girish, and others were present. Ramtaran ofthe Star Theatre had come with Girish to entertain Sri Ramakrishna with his singing. A few minutes later Dr. Sarkar arrived.

DOCTOR (to the Master): “I was much worried about you last night at three o’clock. It was raining. I said to myself, ‘Who knows whether or not the doors and windows of his room are shut?’ "

“Really?” said Sri Ramakrishna. He was much pleased at the doctor’s love and thoughtfulness for him.