Section I Sri Ramakrishna at the Dakshineswar Temple with Rakhal, Prankrishna, Kedar, and Other Devotees Chapter I At Dakshineswar with Prankrishna, M., and others Sri Ramakrishna is seated with the devotees in his room at the Kali Temple. He remains intoxicated day and night with ecstatic love for God – with an intense love for the Divine Mother. A mat is spread on the floor. Sri Ramakrishna comes and takes his seat on it. In front of him are Prankrishna and M. Rakhal is also in the room. Hazra is sitting outside on the southeastern verandah. It is winter, the month of Pausha. Thakur has wrapped himself in a moleskin shawl. It is Monday at eight o’clock on the eighth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Agrahayana, 1 January 1883. A number of devotees belonging to Thakur’s inner circle have now come in contact with him. For more than a year Narendra, Rakhal, Bhavanath, Balaram, M., Baburam, Latu, and others have been visiting him regularly. Ram, Manomohan, Surendra, and Kedar had come a year earlier. Almost five months ago Thakur had visited Vidyasagar’s Badurbagan house. Two months ago he went with Keshab Sen on a pleasure trip by steamer to Calcutta. They were accompanied by Vijay and some Brahmo devotees. 2 Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita – IV, Section I Prankrishna Mukherji lives in Calcutta’s Shyam- pukur locality. His ancestral home is in the village of Janai. He is a high government exchange officer who supervises auctions. Since he had no child from his first wife, he married a second time, with the former’s consent. The second wife has given birth to a son. Prankrishna has great love and devotion for Sri Ramakrishna. Because he is rather stout, Thakur sometimes calls him “the fat brahmin.” He is very good-natured. Some nine months ago, Thakur accepted his invitation to visit his home with the devotees. Prankrishna had prepared various dishes and sweets to offer him. Thakur is sitting on the floor. Close to him is a basket of jilipis brought by a devotee. Thakur breaks off a piece and eats it. Sri Ramakrishna ( to Prankrishna, smiling ): “You see, I repeat the name of the Divine Mother, so I get all these things to eat. ( Laughter .) “But She doesn’t give gourd and pumpkin. She gives the fruit of amrita, immortality – divine knowledge, intense love for God, discrimination, and dispassion.” 1 A young boy six or seven years old enters the room. Sri Ramakrishna is childlike. Just as a child conceals sweets from another child lest he should eat them, Thakur behaves in the same childlike manner. He covers the small basket of jilipis with his hand to conceal it and then pushes it aside. Though Prankrishna is a householder, 2 he discusses Vedanta. He says, “Brahman is real and the world illusory. I am indeed He – So ’ham.” 1. Jnana, prema, viveka, and vairagya. 2. Garhasthya. 1 January 1883 3 Thakur says to him, “Life depends on food in the Kaliyuga. The path of devotion enjoined by Narada 1 is best suited to this age. “God is a matter of the heart. How can He be held devoid of any feelings of the heart?” As he is covering the sweets with his hand to conceal them, like a child, Thakur merges into samadhi. Chapter II In the domain of ecstasy and vision of divine forms Thakur is in samadhi for a long time; he remains absorbed in ecstasy. His body does not move, his eyes are fixed. One is not sure if he is breathing. He exhales a long breath, as if returning to the domain of the senses. Sri Ramakrishna ( to Prankrishna ): “God is not just formless. He has form too. You can behold His form. You can have the vision of His wondrous divine form through feeling, through love, through devotion for Him. 2 The Divine Mother reveals Herself in various forms.” Vision of Gauranga – Divine Mother in the form of Rati’s mother “I saw the Divine Mother yesterday. She wore an ochre garment with an unstitched hem. She talked with me for some time. 1. Naradiya bhakti: self-surrender and loving devotion to God. 2. Bhakti. 4 Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita – IV, Section I “On another day She came to me in the form of a Muslim girl. She had the sectarian holy mark 1 on her forehead, and She was naked – a girl six or seven years old. She walked with me and joked and chatted like a child. “When I was at Hriday’s house, I had the vision of Gauranga. He wore a black-bordered cloth. “Haladhari used to say, ‘God is beyond being and non-being.’ I went to the Mother and said, ‘Mother, Haladhari says this. So are Your forms illusory?’ The Mother came to me in the form of Rati’s mother and said, ‘You must remain in an ecstatic state.’ 2 I told Haladhari what She said. “Time and again when I forget Her command, I suffer. I broke my tooth when I was not in that state. So I will remain in an ecstatic mood until I hear a divine command directly or have a different experience. I’ll follow the path of love for God. What do you say?” Prankrishna: “Yes, sir.” Why does an incarnation of God entertain devotion? – it is Rama’s will Sri Ramakrishna: “But why should I ask you about it? There is someone within me who does all this through me. Sometimes I used to go into a divine mood when I could not be at peace without offering worship. “I am the machine and He is the operator. I do as He makes me do. I speak as He makes me speak. 1. Tilak. 2. Bhava. 1 January 1883 5 “Ramprasad, the poet, says: I sail my boat in the ocean of the world. I rise with the tide and subside with the ebb. “During a storm a dry leaf is sometimes blown onto a clean surface and sometimes into a gutter. The wind carries it where it wills. “The weaver said, ‘It was by Rama’s will that a robbery took place. It was by Rama’s will that the police arrested me. And it was by Rama’s will that I was set free.’ “Hanuman said, ‘O Rama, You are my only refuge, 1 I surrender to You. Bless me that I may have pure love 2 for Your lotus feet and grant that I may never be enchanted by Your world-bewitching maya.’ “A bullfrog, at the point of death, said to Rama, ‘Rama, when I’m seized by a snake, I shout for Your help, “Rama, protect me!” But since I’m dying now by Rama’s own arrow, I can only stay silent.’ “Before, I used to see God with these physical eyes, the way I see you. Now I behold visions in ecstasy. 3 “After realizing God, one develops the nature of a child. One acquires the nature of Him on Whom one meditates. God’s nature is like that of a child. Just as a child builds a house, breaks it down, and then rebuilds it in play, in the same way God creates, preserves, and dissolves. Just as a child is 1. Sharanagata. 2. Shuddha bhakti. 3. Bhava. 6 Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita – IV, Section I not subject to any guna, 1 He too is beyond the three gunas of sattva, rajas, and tamas. “That’s why a paramahamsa keeps five or ten children with him – to absorb their nature.” A young man between twenty and twenty-two years old has come from Agarpara. Whenever he comes, he takes Thakur, by a sign, to a solitary corner and whispers his thoughts to him. He has only recently begun visiting Thakur. Today he is sitting on the floor near Sri Ramakrishna. Feminine attitude 2 and conquest of lust – guilelessness and God-realization Sri Ramakrishna ( to the young man ): “You can change your nature by imitating something. If you cultivate a feminine nature, you gradually slay enemies like lust. Then you begin to act just like a woman. Men who play the role of women in a religious theatrical performance, 3 begin to brush their teeth like women and talk like women when they bathe. “Please come again, either on Saturday or Tuesday. 1. One of three types of universal energies: sattva, rajas and tamas. 2. Prakriti bhava. 3. Yatra. 1 January 1883 7 (To Prankrishna ) “Brahman and His Power 1 are one and the same. If you don’t believe in His Power, the world becomes illusory for you. I, you, hearth and home, and the family – all of them become illusory. It is because of the Primordial Energy that the world stands firm. A framework can’t be made without bamboo poles. You can’t even make a beautiful image of Durga. “A person can’t attain spiritual awakening and realize God without getting rid of worldliness. Worldly desire leads to hypocrisy. God cannot be realized unless one is guileless at heart. Let go of cleverness and hypocrisy, and be sincerely devoted to God. Embracing service, worship, and self-surrender, you will easily attain Ragurai. 2 “People who are engaged in worldly activities – in office work or some business – should also follow the path of truth. Truthfulness is the spiritual austerity in the Kaliyuga.” Prankrishna: “‘On this spiritual path, one should speak the truth, control the senses, serve others unceasingly, remain steadfast, and be a refuge to others.’ 3 This is what the Mahanirvana Tantra says.” Sri Ramakrishna: “Yes, one must internalize all these qualities.” 1.