Superphysics
The Brāhmani, Vaishnavcharan, and Gauri
5 minutes • 916 words
At this time, a brāhmin woman, slightly over 50, came to Dakshineśwar.
She was born in East Bengāl, adept in the Tāntrik and Vaishnava methods of worship. She was beautiful, and garbed in the orange robe of a nun.
Her sole possessions were a few books and 2 pieces of wearing-cloth.
Sri Ramakrishna welcomed the visitor with great respect, described to her his experiences and visions, and told her of people’s belief that these were symptoms of madness.
She said:
My son, everyone in this world is mad. Some are mad for money, some for creature comforts, some for name and fame.
You are mad for God.
She assured him that he was passing through the almost unknown spiritual experience described in the scriptures as Mahā–bhāva, the most exalted rapture of divine love.
She told him that this extreme exaltation had been described as manifesting itself through 19 physical symptoms, including the shedding of tears, a tremor of the body, horripilation, perspiration, and a burning sensation.
The Bhakti scriptures, she declared, had recorded only 2 instances of the experience, those of:
- Sri Rādhā
- Sri Chaitanya
A tender relationship sprang up between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brāhmani. She looked at him as the Baby Krishna, and he upon her as mother.
Day after day, she watched his ecstasy during the kirtan and meditation, his Samādhi, his mad yearning. She recognized in him a power to transmit spirituality to others.
She concluded that such things were not possible for an ordinary devotee, not even for a highly developed soul.
Only an Incarnation of God was capable of such spiritual manifestations. She proclaimed openly that Sri Ramakrishna, like Sri Chaitanya, was an Incarnation of God.
When Sri Ramakrishna told Mathur what the Brāhmani had said about him, Mathur shook his head in doubt. He was reluctant to accept him as an Incarnation of God, an Avatar comparable to Rāmā, Krishna, Buddha, and Chaitanya, though he admitted Sri Ramakrishna’s extraordinary spirituality.
Whereupon the Brāhmani asked Mathur to arrange a conference of scholars who should discuss the matter with her. He agreed to the proposal and the meeting was arranged. It was to be held in the Natmandir in front of the Kāli temple.
Two famous pundits of the time were invited:
- Vaishnavcharan, the leader of the Vaishnava society
- Gauri
Vaishnavcharan arrived first with a distinguished company of scholars and devotees.
The Brāhmani, like a proud mother, proclaimed her view before him and supported it with quotations from the scriptures.
As the pundits discussed the deep theological question, Sri Ramakrishna, perfectly indifferent to everything happening around him, sat in their midst like a child, immersed in his own thoughts, sometimes:
- smiling
- chewing a pinch of spices
- saying to Vaishnavcharan with a nudge: “Look here. Sometimes I feel like this, too.”
Vaishnavcharan declared his total agreement with the Brāhmani’s view.
He declared that Sri Ramakrishna had undoubtedly experienced Mahā-bhāva and that this was the certain sign of the rare manifestation of God in a man.
The people assembled there, especially the officers of the temple garden, were struck dumb.
Sri Ramakrishna said to Mathur, like a boy:
“Just fancy, he too says so! Well, I am glad to learn that, after all, it is not a disease.”
A few days later, Pundit Gauri arrived. Another meeting was held, and he agreed with the view of the Brāhmani and Vaishnavcharan.
Sri Ramakrishna’s remarked that Vaishnavcharan had declared him to be an Avatār. Gauri replied:
“Is that all he has to say about you? Then he has said very little. I am fully convinced that you are that Mine of Spiritual Power, only a small fraction of which descends on earth, from time to time, in the form of an Incarnation.”
(Smiling) Ah! You seem to have quite outbid Vaishnavcharan in this matter. What have you found in me that makes you think so?"
I feel it in my heart and I have the scriptures on my side. I am ready to prove it to anyone who challenges me.
Well, it is you who say so. But I know nothing about it.
Thus, the great scholars of the day proclaimed the insane priest as a Divine Incarnation.
How did the proclamation affect Sri Ramakrishna himself?
He remained the simple child of the Mother that he had been since the first day of his life. Years later, when two of his householder disciples openly spoke of him as a Divine Incarnation and the matter was reported to him, he said with a touch of sarcasm:
Do they think they will enhance my glory that way? One of them is an actor on the stage and the other a physician. What do they know about Incarnations?
Years ago, pundits like Gauri and Vaishnavcharan declared me to be an Avatar. They were great scholars and knew what they said. But that did not make any change in my mind.
Sri Ramakrishna was a learner all his life. He often used to quote a proverb to his disciples:
The more I live the more I learn.
When the excitement created by the Brāhmani’s declaration was over, he set himself to the task of practising spiritual disciplines according to the traditional methods laid down in the Tantra and Vaishnava scriptures.
Hitherto he had pursued his spiritual ideal according to the promptings of his own mind and heart. Now he accepted the Brāhmani as his guru and set foot on the traditional highways.
