Master's love for Girish

Friday, April 16, 1886

The moon was shining brilliantly, flooding the garden paths, the trees, and the water of the lake with its white rays. Girish, M., Lātu, and a few other devotees were seated on the steps leading to the lake. The house stood to the west of the lake. A lamp burnt in the Master’s room on the second floor. Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed. There were several devotees in the room.A few minutes later Girish and M. were strolling along a garden path lined with flowering plants and fruit-trees.

M: “How beautiful this moonlight is! Perhaps nature has had the same laws from time out of mind.”

GIRISH: “How do you know that?”

M: “There is no change in the uniformity of nature. European scientists have been discovering new stars through the telescope. There are mountains on the moon; they have seen them.”

GIRISH: “It is difficult to be sure of that. It is hard for me to believe it.”

M: “Why? The mountains have been observed through the telescope.”

GIRISH: “How can you be sure that they have been rightly observed? Suppose there are other things between the moon and the earth. Light passing through them may conjure up such visions.”

Narendra, Rakhal, Niranjan, Sarat, Śaśi, Baburam, Kāli, Jogin, Lātu, and a few other young devotees had been living at the Cossipore garden house in order to nurse Sri Ramakrishna. That evening Narendra, Kāli, and Tārak had gone to Dakshineswar.

They were going to spend the night in the Panchavati, meditating on God.

Girish, Lātu, and M. went to Sri Ramakrishna’s room and found him sitting on the bed. Śaśi and one or two devotees had been tending the Master. Baburam, Niranjan, and Rakhal also entered the room. It was a large room. Some medicines and a few other accessories were kept near the bed. One entered the room by a door at the north end. Since Sri Ramakrishna had to be tended all night, the devotees stayed awake by turns.

The devotee who tended him fixed Sri Ramakrishna’s mosquito net and then either lay on a mat on the floor or spent the night sitting up. Since Sri Ramakrishna got very little sleep on account of his illness, his attendant, too, slept very little.

Master’s love for Girish

That evening Sri Ramakrishna was somewhat better. The devotees saluted the Master and sat down on the floor. The Master asked M. to bring the lamp near him. He greeted Girish cordially.

MASTER (to Girish): “Are you quite well? (To Lātu) Prepare a smoke for him and give him a betel-leaf.”

A few minutes afterwards he asked Lātu to give Girish some refreshments. Lātu said that they had been sent for.Sri Ramakrishna was sitting up. A devotee offered him some garlands of flowers. Sri Ramakrishna put them around his neck one by one. Was he thus worshipping God who dwelt in his heart? The devotees looked at him wonderingly. He took two garlands from his neck and gave them to Girish.

Every now and then Sri Ramakrishna asked whether the refreshments had been brought.

M. was fanning the Master. On the bed was a sandal-wood-fan, the offering of a devotee. The Master gave it to M., who continued to fan him with it. He also gave M. two garlands.

M. had lost a son aged seven or eight about a year and a half before. The child had seen the Master many a time. Lātu was telling Sri Ramakrishna about M.

LĀTU: “M. wept bitterly last night at the sight of some books that had belonged to his dead child. His wife is almost mad with grief. She sometimes treats her other children violently. She creates a scene at home because he spends the night here now and then.”

Sri Ramakrishna seemed worried to hear of this.

GIRISH: “It is nothing to be wondered at. Even after receiving the instruction of the Bhagavad Gitā, Arjuna fainted from grief at the death of his son Abhimanyu.”

Girish was given the refreshments on a tray. Sri Ramakrishna took a grain and Girish accepted the rest as Prasad. He sat in front of the Master and began to eat. He needed water to drink. There was an earthen jug in the southeast corner of the room. It was the month of April, and the day was hot. Sri Ramakrishna said, “There is some nice water here.”

The Master was so ill that he had not enough strength even to stand up. And what did the disciples see to their utter amazement? They saw him leave the bed, completely naked, and move toward the jug! He himself was going to pour the water into a tumbler.

The devotees were almost frozen with fear. The Master poured the water into a glass. He poured a drop or two into his hand to see whether it was cool. He found that it was not very cool; but since nothing better could be found, he reluctantly gave it to Girish. Girish was eating the sweets. The devotees were sitting about, and M. was fanning Sri Ramakrishna.

GIRISH (to the Master): “Deben Babu has decided to renounce the world.”

On account of his illness Sri Ramakrishna could hardly talk. Touching his lips with his finger, he asked Girish, by signs, “Who will feed his wife and children?”

GIRISH: “I don’t know.“The other devotees remained silent. Girish began talking again while he ate the refreshments.

GIRISH: “Sir, which is wiser-to renounce the world regretfully, or to call on God, leading a householder’s life?”

MASTER (to M.): “Haven’t you read the Gitā? One truly realizes God if one performs one’s worldly duties in a detached spirit, if one lives in the world after realizing that everything is illusory.

“Those who regretfully renounce the world belong to an inferior class.

“Do you know what a householder Jnāni is like? He is like a person living in a glass house. He can see both inside and outside.”

Again there was silence in the room.

MASTER (to M.): “The refreshments are hot and good.”

M. (to Girish): “Yes, they were bought from Fagu’s shop. The place is famous.”

MASTER (smiling) “Yes, famous.”

GIRISH: “They are really nice.

(To the Master) “Sir, my mind is now on a very lofty plane. Why does it come down again?”

Nature of the mind

MASTER: “That always happens when one leads a worldly life. sometimes the householder’s mind goes up; sometimes it goes down. Sometimes he feels a great deal of devotion; sometimes he feels less. This happens because he lives in the midst of ‘woman and gold’.

Monks and householders

Sometimes a householder contemplates God or chants His name, and sometimes he diverts his mind to ‘woman and gold’. He is like an ordinary fly, which now sits on a sweetmeat and now on filth or rotting sores.

“But it is quite different with sannyāsis. They are able to fix their minds on God alone, completely withdrawing them from ‘woman and gold’. They can enjoy the Bliss of God alone. A man of true renunciation cannot enjoy anything but God. He leaves any place where people talk of worldly things; he listens only to spiritual talk. A man of true renunciation never speaks about anything but God. The bees light only on flowers, in order to sip honey; they do not enjoy anything else.“Girish went to the small terrace to rinse his hands.

MASTER (to M.): “A man needs the grace of God to fix his whole mind on Him. Well, Girish has eaten a great many sweets. Tell him not to eat anything else tonight.” Girish returned to the room and sat in front of the Master. He was chewing a betel-leaf.