The Other Disciples

Tārak

Others destined to be monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna came to Dakshineśwar. Tāraknāth Ghoshāl had felt from his boyhood the noble desire to realize God. Keshab and the Brāhmo Samāj had attracted him but proved inadequate.

In 1882 he first met the Master at Rāmchandra’s house and was astonished to hear him talk about Samādhi, a subject which always fascinated his mind.

That evening he actually saw a manifestation of that superconscious state in the Master. Tārak became a frequent visitor at Dakshineśwar and received the Master’s grace in abundance. The young boy often felt ecstatic fervour in meditation. He also wept profusely while meditating on God.

Sri Ramakrishna said to him: “God favours those who can weep for Him. Tears shed for God wash away the sins of former births.”

Bāburām

Bāburām Ghosh came to Dakshineśwar accompanied by Rākhāl, his classmate. The Master, as was often his custom, examined the boy’s physiognomy and was satisfied about his latent spirituality.

At the age of 8, Bāburām had thought of leading a life of renunciation, in the company of a monk, in a hut shut out from the public view by a thick wall of trees. The very sight of the Panchavati awakened in his heart that dream of boyhood. Bāburām was tender in body and soul. The Master used to say that he was pure to his very bones. One day Hazra in his usual mischievous fashion advised Bāburām and some of the other young boys to ask Sri Ramakrishna for some spiritual powers and not waste their life in mere gaiety and merriment.

The Master, scenting mischief, called Bāburām to his side, and said: “What can you ask of me? Isn’t everything that I have already yours?

Yes, everything I have earned in the shape of realizations is for the sake of you all. So get rid of the idea of begging, which alienates by creating a distance. Rather realize your kinship with me and gain the key to all the treasures.”

Niranjan

Nitya Niranjan Sen was a disciple of heroic type. He came to the Master when he was 18. He was a medium for a group of spiritualists. During his first visit the Master said to him: “My boy, if you think always of ghosts you will become a ghost, and if you think of God you will become God. Now, which do you prefer?” Niranjan severed all connections with the spiritualists. During his second visit the Master embraced him and said warmly: “Niranjan, my boy, the days are flitting away. When will you realize God? This life will be in vain if you do not realize Him. When will You devote your mind wholly to God?” Niranjan was surprised to see the Master’s great anxiety for his spiritual welfare. He was a young man endowed with unusual spiritual parts. He felt disdain for worldly pleasures and was totally guileless, like a child. But he had a violent temper.

One day, as he was coming in a country boat to Dakshineśwar, some of his fellow passengers began to speak ill of the Master. Finding his protest futile, Niranjan began to rock the boat, threatening to sink it in midstream. That silenced the offenders. When he reported the incident to the Master, he was rebuked for his inability to curb his anger.

Jogindra

Jogindranāth, on the other hand, was gentle to a fault. One day, under circumstances very like those that had evoked Niranjan’s anger, he curbed his temper and held his peace instead of threatening Sri Ramakrishna’s abusers. The Master, learning of his conduct, scolded him roundly. Thus to each the fault of the other was recommended as a virtue. The guru was striving to develop, in the first instance, composure, and in the second, mettle. The secret of his training was to build up, by a tactful recognition of the requirements of each given case, the character of the devotee.

Jogindranāth came of an aristocratic brāhmin family of Dakshineśwar. His father and relatives shared the popular mistrust of Sri Ramakrishna’s sanity. At a very early age the boy developed religious tendencies, spending two or three hours daily in meditation, and his meeting with Sri Ramakrishna deepened his desire for the realization of God. He had a perfect horror of marriage. But at the earnest request of his mother he had had to yield, and he now believed that his spiritual future was doomed. So he kept himself away from the Master.

Sri Ramakrishna employed a ruse to bring Jogindra to him. As soon as the disciple entered the room, the Master rushed forward to meet the young man. Catching hold of the disciple’s hand, he said: “What if you have married, Haven’t I too married? What is there to be afraid of in that?” Touching his own chest he said: “If this [meaning himself] is propitious, then even a hundred thousand marriages cannot injure you.

It you desire to lead a householder’s life, then bring your wife here one day, and I shall see that she becomes a real companion in your spiritual progress. But if you want to lead a monastic life, then I shall eat up your attachment to the world.” Jogin was dumbfounded at these words. He received new strength, and his spirit of renunciation was re-established.

Śashi and Śarat

Śashi and Śarat were two cousins who came from a pious brāhmin family of Calcutta. At an early age they had joined the Brāhmo Samāj and had come under the influence of Keshab Sen. The Master said to them at their first meeting: “If bricks and tiles are burnt after the trade-mark has been stamped on them, they retain the mark for ever.

Similarly, man should be stamped with God before entering the world. Then he will not become attached to worldliness.” Fully aware of the future course of their life, he asked them not to marry. The Master asked Śashi whether he believed in God with form or in God without form.

Śashi replied that he was not even sure about the existence of God; so he could not speak one way or the other. This frank answer very much pleased the Master.

Śarat’s soul longed for the all-embracing realization of the Godhead. When the Master inquired whether there was any particular form of God he wished to see, the boy replied that he would like to see God in all the living beings of the world. “But”, the Master demurred, “that is the last word in realization. One cannot have it at the very outset.” Śarat stated calmly: “I won’t be satisfied with anything short of that. I shall trudge on along the path till I attain that blessed state.” Sri Ramakrishna was very much pleased.

Harināth

Harināth had led the austere life of a brahmachāri even from his early boyhood -bathing in the Ganges every day, cooking his own meals, waking before sunrise, and reciting the Gita from memory before leaving bed. He found in the Master the embodiment of the Vedānta scriptures.

Aspiring to be a follower of the ascetic Śankara, he cherished a great hatred for women. One day he said to the Master that he could not allow even small girls to come near him. The Master scolded him and said: “You are talking like a fool. Why should you hate women?

They are the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Regard them as your own mother and you will never feel their evil influence. The more you hate them, the more you will fall into their snares.” Hari said later that these words completely changed his attitude toward women.

The Master knew Hari’s passion for Vedānta. But he did not wish any of his disciples to become a dry ascetic or a mere bookworm. So he asked Hari to practise Vedānta in life by giving up the unreal and following the Real.

“But it is not so easy”, Sri Ramakrishna said, “to realize the illusoriness of the world.

Study alone does not help one very much.

The grace of God is required. Mere personal effort is futile. A man is a tiny creature after all, with very limited powers. But he can achieve the impossible if he prays to God for His grace.”

Whereupon the Master sang a song in praise of grace. Hari was profoundly moved and shed tears. Later in life Hari achieved a wonderful synthesis of the ideals of the Personal God and the Impersonal Truth.

Gangādhar

Gangādhar, Harināth’s friend, also led the life of a strict brahmachari , eating vegetarian food cooked by his own hands and devoting himself to the study of the scriptures. He met the Master in 1884 and soon became a member of his inner circle. The Master praised his ascetic habit and attributed it to the spiritual disciplines of his past life.

Gangādhar became a close companion of Narendra.

Hariprasanna

Hariprasanna, a college student, visited the Master in the company of his friends Śashi and Śarat. Sri Ramakrishna showed him great favour by initiating him into spiritual life.

As long as he lived, Hariprasanna remembered and observed the following drastic advice of the Master: “Even if a woman is pure as gold and rolls on the ground for love of God, it is dangerous for a monk ever to look at her.”

Kāli

Kāliprasād visited the Master toward the end of 1883. Given to the practice of meditation and the study of the scriptures, Kāli was particularly interested in yoga. Feeling the need of a guru in spiritual life, he came to the Master and was accepted as a disciple.

The young boy possessed a rational mind and often felt sceptical about the Personal God.

The Master said to him: “Your doubts will soon disappear. Others, too, have passed through such a state of mind. Look at Naren. He now weeps at the names of Rādhā and Krishna.”

Kāli began to see visions of gods and goddesses. Very soon these disappeared and in meditation he experienced vastness, infinity, and the other attributes of the Impersonal Brahman.

Subodh

Subodh visited the Master in 1885. At the very first meeting Sri Ramakrishna said to him: “You will succeed. Mother says so. Those whom She sends here will certainly attain spirituality.” During the second meeting the Master wrote something on Subodh’s tongue, stroked his body from the navel to the throat, and said, “Awake, Mother! Awake.”

He asked the boy to meditate. At once Subodh’s latent spirituality was awakened. He felt a current rushing along the spinal column to the brain. Joy filled his soul.

Sāradā and Tulasi

Two more young men, Sāradā Prasanna and Tulasi, complete the small band of the Master’s disciples later to embrace the life of the wandering monk. With the exception of the elder Gopāl, all of them were in their teens or slightly over. They came from middle-class Bengāli families, and most of them were students in school or college. Their parents and relatives had envisaged for them bright worldly careers.

They came to Sri Ramakrishna with pure bodies, vigorous minds, and uncontaminated souls. All were born with unusual spiritual attributes. Sri Ramakrishna accepted them, even at first sight, as his children, relatives, friends, and companions. His magic touch unfolded them.

Later each according to his measure reflected the life of the Master, becoming a torch-bearer of his message across land and sea.