THE MASTER AT COSSIPORE

Wednesday, December 23, 1885

Master moved to Cossipore

ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, Sri Ramakrishna was moved to a beautiful house at Cossipore, a suburb of Calcutta. The house was situated in a garden covering about five acres of land and abounding in fruit trees and flowering plants. Here the final curtain fell on the Master’s life.

At Cossipore he set himself with redoubled energy to the completion of the work of spiritual ministration he had begun long before at Dakshineswar. Realizing that the end of’ his physical life was approaching, he gave away his spiritual treasures without stint to one and all. He was like one of those fruit-sellers who bring their fruit to the marketplace, bargain at first about the prices, but then toward sunset, when the market is about to close, give away the fruit indiscriminately. Here his disciples saw the greatest manifestation of his spiritual powers.

Predicting his passing away

Here they saw the fulfilment of his prophecies about his own end: “I shall make the whole thing public before I go.” “When people in large numbers come to know and whisper about the greatness of this body, then the Mother will take it back.”

“The devotees will be sifted into inner and outer circles toward the end.” And so on.

Here he predicted that a band of young disciples, with Narendranath as their leader, would in due course renounce the world and devote themselves to the realization of God and the service of humanity.

The main building at Cossipore had two storeys, with three rooms below and two above.

The Master occupied the central hall of the upper storey; a small room to the left was used at night by his attendants. To the right of the hall was an open balcony where Sri Ramakrishna sometimes sat or walked. On the ground floor, a hall just below the Master’s and a small room to the right of it were used by the devotees, and a small room to the extreme left was occupied by the Holy Mother.

In the garden compound were some outbuildings, two reservoirs, and pleasant walks. Sri Ramakrishna breathed more freely in the open air of the new place.

The companion of devotees

Almost all the devotees had gathered by this time. They had started coming to him in 1881. By the end of 1884 Sarat and Śaśi had become known to the Master, and since their college examinations in the middle of 1885 they had been visiting him almost daily.

Girish Ghosh had first met the Master in September 1884 at the Star Theatre. Since the beginning of the following December he had been a constant visitor. And it was during the latter part of December 1884 that Sarada Prasanna first visited the Master at the Dakshineswar temple. Subodh and Kshirode first visited him in August 1885.The young devotees had taken up their quarters at the garden house to tend Sri Ramakrishna, although many of them visited their own homes every now and then. The householders came to see the Master almost every day, and some of them occasionally spent the night.

Master’s love for devotees

On the morning of December 23 Sri Ramakrishna gave unrestrained expression to his love for the devotees. He said to Niranjan, “You are my father: I shall sit on your lap.”

Touching Kalipada’s chest, he said, “May your inner spirit be awakened!”

He stroked Kalipada’s chin affectionately and said, “Whoever has sincerely called on God or performed his daily religious devotions will certainly come here.” In the morning two ladies received his special blessing. In a state of samādhi he touched their hearts with his feet. They shed tears of joy. One of them said to him, weeping, “You are so kind!” His love this day really broke all bounds. He wanted to bless Gopal of Sinthi and said to a devotee, “Bring Gopal here.”

It was evening. Sri Ramakrishna was absorbed in contemplation of the Mother of the Universe. After awhile he began to talk very softly with some of the devotees. Kāli, Chunilal, M., Navagopal, Śaśi, Niranjan, and a few others were present.

MASTER (to M.): “Buy a stool for me. What will it cost?”

M: “Between two and three rupees.”

MASTER: “If a small wooden seat costs only twelve ānnās , why should you have to pay so much for a stool?” M: “Perhaps it won’t cost so much.” MASTER: “Tomorrow is Thursday. The latter part of the afternoon is inauspicious. Can’t you come before three o’clock?” M: “Yes, sir. I shall.” MASTER: “Well, can you tell how long it will take me to recover from this illness?” M: “It has been aggravated a little and will take some days.” MASTER: “How long?” M: “Perhaps five to six months.” Hearing this, Sri Ramakrishna became impatient, like a child, and said: “So long? What do you mean?” M: “I mean, Sir, for complete recovery:“Significance of the Master’s illness MASTER: “Oh, that! I am relieved. Can you explain one thing? How is it that in spite of all these visions, all this ecstasy and samādhi, I am so ill?” M: “Your suffering is no doubt great; but it has a deep meaning.” MASTER: “What is it?” M: “A change is coming over your mind. It is being directed toward the formless aspect of God. Even your ’ego of Knowledge is vanishing.’ " MASTER: “That is true. My teaching of others is coming to an end. I cannot give any more instruction. I see that everything is Rāma Himself. And sometimes I say to myself, ‘Whom shall I teach?’ You see, because I am living in a rented house many kinds of devotees are coming here. I hope I shall not have to put up a ‘signboard’, like Shashadhar or Krishnaprasanna Sen, announcing my lectures.” (The Master and M. laugh.)

M: “There is yet another purpose in this illness. It is the final sifting of disciples. The devotees have achieved in these few days what they could not have realized by five years’ tapasya . Their love and devotion are growing by leaps and bounds.”

MASTER: “That may be true; but Niranjan went back home. (To Niranjan) Please tell me how you feel.”

NIRANJAN: “Formerly I loved you, no doubt, but now it is impossible for me to live without you.”

M: “One day I found out how great these young men were.”

MASTER: “Where?”

M: “Sir, one day I stood in a corner of the house at Syampukur and watched the devotees. I clearly saw that every one of them had made his way here through almost insurmountable obstacles and given himself over to your service.”

As Sri Ramakrishna listened to these words he became abstracted. He was silent a few moments. Presently he went into samādhi.

Regaining consciousness of the outer world, he said to M.: “I saw everything passing from form to formlessness. I want to tell you all the things I saw, but I cannot. Well, this tendency of mine toward the formless is only a sign of my nearing dissolution. Isn’t that so?”

M. (wonderingly): “It may be.”

MASTER: “Even now I am seeing the Formless Indivisible Satchidananda-just like that. But I have suppressed my feelings with great difficulty.“What you said about the sifting of disciples was right: this illness is showing who belong to the inner circle and who to the outer. Those who are living here, renouncing the world, belong to the inner circle; and those who pay occasional visits and ask, ‘How are you, sir?’ belong to the outer circle.

“Didn’t you notice Bhavanāth? The other day he came to Syampukur dressed as a bridegroom and asked me, ‘How are you?’ I haven’t seen him since. I show him love for Narendra’s sake, but he is not in my thought any more.