Encouraging Bhavanāth

Narendra recited a few verses from the Ashtāvakra Samhitā. The room again became silent.

MASTER (to Hirananda, pointing to Narendra): “He seems to be walking with an unsheathed sword in his hand. (To M., pointing to Hirananda) How quiet! Like a cobra, quiet before the charmer, with its hood spread.”

Sri Ramakrishna fell into an inward mood. Hirananda and M. were seated near him.

There was complete silence in the room. The Master’s body was being racked with indescribable pain. The devotees could not bear the sight of this illness; but somehow the Master made them forget his suffering. He sat there, his face beaming as if there were no trace of illness in his throat. The devotees had placed flowers and garlands before him as their loving offerings. He picked up a flower and touched with it first his head, then his throat, heart, and navel. To the devotees he seemed a child playing with flowers.

Sri Ramakrishna used to tell the devotees that his divine visions and moods were accompanied by the rising of a spiritual current inside his body.Now he talked to M. MASTER: “I don’t remember when the current went up. Now I am in the mood of a child.

That is why I am playing with the flowers this way.

Master’s exalted vision

Do you know what I see now? I see my body as a frame made of bamboo strips and covered with a cloth. The frame moves. And it moves because someone dwells inside it. “Again, I see the body to be like a pumpkin with the seeds scooped out.

Inside this body there is no trace of passion or worldly attachment. It is all very clean inside, and- " It became very painful for Sri Ramakrishna to talk further. He felt very weak. M. quickly guessed what the Master wanted to tell the devotees, and said, “And you are seeing God inside yourself.”

MASTER: “Both inside and outside. The Indivisible Satchidananda-I see It both inside and outside. It has merely assumed this sheath [meaning his body] for a support and exists both inside and outside. I clearly perceive this.”

M. and Hirananda listened intently to these words about his exalted state of God-Consciousness. A few moments later Sri Ramakrishna looked at them and resumed the conversation.

MASTER: “You all seem to me to be my kinsmen. I do not look on any of you as a stranger.

“I see you all as so many sheaths, and the heads are moving.

“I notice that when my mind is united with God the suffering of the body is left aside.

“No I perceive only this: the Indivisible Satchidananda is covered with skin, and this sore in the throat is on one side of it.”

The Master again fell silent. A few minutes later he said: “The attributes of matter are superimposed on Spirit, and the attributes of Spirit are superimposed on matter.

Therefore when the body is ill a man says, ‘I am ill.’ "

Hirananda wanted to understand what the Master had just said; so M. told him, “Then hot water scalds the hand, people say that the water scalds; but the truth is that it is the heat that scalds.”

Master and Hirananda

HIRANANDA (to the Master): “Please tell us why a devotee of God suffers.”

MASTER: “It is the body that suffers.“Sri Ramakrishna seemed about to say something more. Hirananda and M. eagerly awaited his words. Sri Ramakrishna said, “Do you understand?”

M. said to Hirananda, in a whisper: “The body suffers for the purpose of teaching men.

His life is like a book of reference. In spite of so much physical suffering, his mind is 100% united with God.”

HIRANANDA: “Yes, it is like Christ’s crucifixion. But still the mystery remains-why should he, of all people, suffer like this?”

M: “The Master says it is the will of the Divine Mother. This is how She is sporting through his body.”

The two devotees were talking in whispers. Sri Ramakrishna asked Hirananda, by a sign, what M. was talking about. Since Hirananda could not understand the sign, Sri Ramakrishna repeated it.

HIRANANDA: “He says that your illness is for the teaching of men.”

MASTER: “But that’s only his guess.

(To M. and Hirananda) “My mood is changing. I think that I should not say to everyone,

‘May your spiritual consciousness be awakened.’ People are so sinful in the Kaliyuga; if I awaken their spiritual consciousness I shall have to accept the burden of their sins.”

M. (to Hirananda): “He will not awaken people’s spiritual consciousness except at the right time. When a person is ready, he will awaken his spiritual consciousness.”

Friday, April 23, 1886

It was Good Friday. Hirananda had taken his midday meal at the Cossipore garden house. About one o’clock in the afternoon he was stroking Sri Ramakrishna’s feet. M. sat near by. Lātu and one or two other devotees were going in and out of the room. It was the Master’s earnest desire that Hirananda should stay for some time at the Cossipore garden house. While massaging the Master’s feet, Hirananda conversed with him. He spoke in a very sweet voice, as if trying to console a child. HIRANANDA: “Why should you worry so much? You can enjoy peace of mind if you have faith in the physician. You are a child.” MASTER (to M.): “How can I have faith in the doctor? Dr. Sarkar said that I would not recover.“HIRANANDA: “But why should you worry so much about that? What is to happen must happen.” M. (to Hirananda, aside): “He is not worrying about himself. The preservation of his body is for the welfare of the devotees.”

It was a sultry day and the room became very hot at noontime. The straw screens had been hung over the windows. Hirananda adjusted them. The Master looked at him. MASTER (to Hirananda): “Please don’t forget to send the pajamas.”

Hirananda had told Sri Ramakrishna that he would feel more comfortable if he wore the pajamas used in Sindh. Sri Ramakrishna was reminding him of them. Hirananda had not eaten well. The rice had not been well cooked. The Master felt very sorry about it and asked him again and again whether he would have some refreshments. On account of his illness he could hardly talk; but still he repeated the question. He said to Lātu, “Did you too eat that rice?’

Sri Ramakrishna could hardly keep the cloth on his body. He was almost always naked, like a child. Hirananda had brought with him one or two of his Brahmo friends. Therefore every now and then the Master pulled the cloth to his waist.

MASTER (to Hirananda): “Will you take me for an uncivilized person if I don’t cover my body with my cloth?”

HIRANANDA: “What difference does that make with you? You are but a child.”

MASTER (pointing to a Brahmo devotee): “But he feels that way”

Hirananda was about to take his leave. In a very few days he was going to start for Sindh.

MASTER (to Hirananda): “Suppose you don’t go to Sindh.”

HIRANANDA (smiling): “But there is nobody there to do my work. I have my duties.”

MASTER: “How much do you earn?”

HIRANANDA (smiling): “My work doesn’t bring me a large salary.”

MASTER: “Still, how much?”

Hirananda laughed.

MASTER: “Why don’t you live here?“Hirananda did not reply.

MASTER: “Suppose you give up the job.”

Hirananda said nothing. He was ready to take his leave.

MASTER: “When will you see me again?”

HlRANANDA: “I shall leave for Sindh on Monday, the day after tomorrow I shall see you that morning.”

Hirananda left.

M. was seated by the Master’s side.

MASTER (to M.): “He is a fine young man, isn’t he?”

M: “Yes, sir. He has a very sweet nature.”

MASTER: “He said that Sindh is twenty-two hundred miles from Calcutta; and he has come all that way to see me.” M: “True, Sir. That would be impossible without real love.”

MASTER: “He wants very much to take me to Sindh.”

M: “The journey is very painful. It takes four or five days by train.”

MASTER: “He has three university degrees.”

M: “Yes, sir.”

Sri Ramakrishna was tired. He wanted to take a little rest. He asked M. to open the shutters of the windows and spread the straw mat over his bed. M. was fanning him. Sri

Ramakrishna became drowsy.

After a short nap Sri Ramakrishna said to M., “Did I sleep?”

M: “A little.”

Narendra, Sarat, and M. were talking downstairs.

NARENDRA: “How amazing it is! One learns hardly anything though one reads books for many years. How can a man realize God by practising sādhanā for two or three days? Is it so easy to realize God? (To Sarat) You have obtained peace. M., too, has obtained it.

But I have no peace.“It was afternoon. Many devotees were sitting in the Master’s room. Narendra, Sarat,

Śaśi, Lātu, Nityagopal, Girish, Ram, M., and Suresh were present.

Kedār came in. This was his first visit to the Master for some time. While staying in Dāccā, in connection with his official duties, he had heard of Sri Ramakrishna’s illness.

On entering Sri Ramakrishna’s room he took the dust of the Master’s feet on his head and then joyously gave it to the others. The devotees accepted it with bowed heads. As he offered it to Sarat, the latter himself took the dust of Sri Ramakrishna’s feet. M. smiled. The Master also smiled, looking at M. The devotees sat without uttering a word.

Sri Ramakrishna seemed about to go into an ecstatic mood. Now and then he breathed heavily as if trying to suppress his emotion. He said to Kedār, by a sign, “Argue with Girish.”

Girish said to Kedār: “Sir, I beg your pardon. At first I did not know who you were. That is why I argued with you. But now it is quite different.”

The Master drew Kedār’s attention to Narendra and said: “He has renounced everything.

(To the devotees) Kedār once said to Narendra, ‘You may reason and argue now, but in the end you will roll on the ground, chanting Hari’s name.’ (To Narendra) Take the dust of Kedār’s feet.”

KEDĀR (to Narendra): “Take the dust of his [meaning the Master’s] feet. That will do.” Surendra was seated behind the other devotees. The Master looked at him with a smile and said to Kedār, “Ah, how sweet his nature is!” Kedār understood the Master’s hint and went toward Surendra.

Surendra was very sensitive. Some of the devotees had been collecting funds from the householder devotees to meet the expenses of the Cossipore garden house. Surendra felt piqued at this. He was bearing most of the expenses himself.

SURENDRA (to Kedār): “How can I sit near all these holy people? A few days ago some of them [referring to Narendra] put on the ochre robe of the sannyāsi and went on a pilgrimage to Buddha-Gaya. They wanted to see bigger sādhus there.”

Sri Ramakrishna was trying to console Surendra. He said: “You are right. They are mere children. They don’t know what is good.”

SURENDRA (to Kedār): “Doesn’t our gurudeva know our inner feeling? He does not care for money. It is our inner attitude that pleases him.”

Sri Ramakrishna with a nod of his head approved Surendra’s words.

The devotees had brought various food offerings for the Master and placed them in front of him. Sri Ramakrishna put a grain on his tongue and gave the plate to Surendra. Heasked Surendra to distribute the Prasad to the devotees. Surendra went downstairs with the offerings.

MASTER (to Kedār): “You had better go downstairs and explain it all to Surendra. See that they don’t get into any hot arguments.”

M. was fanning Sri Ramakrishna. The Master said to him, “Won’t you eat anything?” He sent M. downstairs.

It was about dusk. Girish and M. were strolling near the small reservoir in the garden. '

GIRISH: “I understand that you are writing something about the Master. Is it true?”

M: “Who told you that?”

GIRISH: “I have heard about it. Will you give it to me?”

M: “No, I won’t part with it unless I feel it is right to do so. I am writing it for myself, not for others.”

GIRISH: “What do you mean?”

M: “You may get it when I die.”

It was evening. A lamp was lighted in the Master’s room. Amrita Basu, a Brahmo devotee, came in. Sri Ramakrishna had expressed his eagerness to see him. M. and a few other devotees were there. A garland of jasmine lay in front of the Master on a plantain-leaf. There was perfect silence in the room. A great yogi seemed to be silently communing with God. Every now and then the Master lifted the garland a little, as if he wanted to put it around his neck.

AMRITA (tenderly): “Shall I put it around your neck?”

Sri Ramakrishna accepted the garland. He had a long conversation with Amrita. When the latter was about to take his leave, the Master said, “Come again.”

AMRITA: “Yes, sir. I like to come very much. But I live at a great distance; so I cannot always come.”

MASTER: “Do come, and take the carriage hire from here.”

The devotees were amazed at the Master’s tender love for Amrita.Master’s kindness to M. and his wife

The next day M. came to the garden house accompanied by his wife and a son. The boy was seven years old. It was at the Master’s request that he brought his wife, who was almost mad with grief owing to the death of one of her sons.

That day the Master several times allowed M.’s wife the privilege of waiting on him. Her welfare seemed to occupy his attention a great deal. In the evening the Holy Mother came to the Master’s room to feed him. M.’s wife accompanied her with a lamp.

The Master tenderly asked her many questions about her household. He requested her to come again to the garden house and spend a few days with the Holy Mother, not forgetting to ask her to bring her baby daughter. When the Master had finished his meal M.’s wife removed the plates. He chatted with her a few minutes.

About 9PM Sri Ramakrishna was seated in his room with the devotees. He had a garland of flowers around his neck. He told M. that he had requested his wife to spend a few days at the garden house with the Holy Mother. His kindness touched M.’s heart.

M. was fanning him. The Master took the garland from his neck and said something to himself. Then in a very benign mood he gave the garland to M.