23
NARENDRA CONQUERS THE WORLD WITH A FRACTION OF THE GRACE OF THE PRIEST
1.
Morton School, the staircase room, it is 6 p.m. M. is seated on a chair. In front of him are seated Jagabandhu, Harendra Dutta with his companion and some others on the bench.
It is 18th August 1924 today, 2nd Bhadra, 1331 (B.Y.), Monday, the 4th day of the dark fortnight. The kathamrita, the nectar of the Word is being showered.
M. (to the devotees) — You all must go to the Navavidhan. Today also they are celebrating. Many persons will speak.
The devotees go there. A little later arrive Dr. Kartik, Vinay, the Younger Amulya, Bhaumik, Upadhyaya and Fakir Babu. M. himself comes to the Navavidhan at 7. It is the day for imparting instruction to Brahmo young men.
Acharya Pramatha Sen says, ‘Form your character with full faith in God. Worship God from this very early youth. You will also attend to your worldly work. The great personality of Dakshineswar, Sri Ramakrishna has also imparted this teaching. This young age is the right time for attaining devotion and faith. The more the devotion and faith you attain now, the more peace you will enjoy later on. You will also be able to reform others. Bhai Hirananda belongs to Sindh. He has had the privilege of the company of Brahmananda (Keshab Sen) from his early youth. Then he had contact with the great personality of Dakshineswar. Under his influence he acquired a good deal of devotion and faith. On its strength he has formed a firm character. As a result of his character he is a maker of modern Sindh. You must accept his great ideal and not only bless yourself but also bless your motherland.’
Acharya Pramatha Sen is followed by Kamakhya Babu, a teacher: ‘The youth is the foundation of future life. The stronger this foundation the sweeter will be the later life. There are two conditions to it - one, faith in God and two, brahmacharya. Those who have faith in God are ever truthful. Truth and brahmacharya are both the pillars of faith in God. Those who have acquired truth, brahmacharya and love for God are men of character. Great work is accomplished by them alone. They too themselves feel a joy within. Even ordinary people have progressed by virtue of the company of the Paramahansa of Dakshineswar. What great things they accomplish having gained devotion and faith in God through his love. And they themselves attain peace and happiness.’
The next speaker is the illustrious patriot and revolutionary Vipin Chandra Pal. Says he: ‘Without faith in God nothing great can be achieved. Character can’t be built. A strong character makes the impossible possible. You are the future of the country. Build your character and serve your motherland. Your country looks up to you. No country can rise without its youth power. Rise and awaken your country.’
It is 8.30 p.m. now. M. is seated on a mat in the assembly room alongwith the bhaktas on the second level of the Morton School. They have just returned from the Navavidhan Brahmo Samaj. The devotees comment on what they have heard there. One of them says, ‘Some people have talked of Thakur in today’s meeting.’
M. (to the bhaktas) — So many people praise him now. But how great they must be who loved him in his lifetime! When the divinity gets established, everybody begins to adore one.
"He was living in Dakshineswar on seven rupees a month. Besides, he was often as if mad. Who are those, brother, who were able to recognise him then? They are not ordinary men.
"Sri Krishna said, ‘Uddhava, go and bring me quickly the news of the gopis. When I was unknown, I was just a village cowherd boy, the gopis gave me their love with their heart and soul. Please go and bring me the news of these very gopis. For so long I have remained absorbed in my state duties. I shall never be able to repay their debt. Only if they kindly release me themselves from it, will it be possible. Otherwise it can never be paid back.’
"Can an avatara be recognized? No, not by man. It was by his will that a few were able to recognize him (Thakur). The avatara comes exactly like any other man, bringing with him all of man’s appendages - grief, pain, good and evil, all. And he hides himself with this veil. But within this he dazzles a very few by revealing his real identity. Seeing the splendour of the sattva behind the veil the devotees are speechless with wonder. They begin to wonder whether he is a man or God. That’s why Thakur would sometimes enjoy himself with his devotees by referring to his real self. He would say, ‘Why, what have you to say about what Girish says (that Thakur was avatara)?’ Sometimes he would say, achina gachh (an unknown tree). Well, it’s there though it can’t be recognized. And at times he would sing a particular song:
None of you has recognized him,
Who in the garb of a lowly mendicant
roams about from home to home.
"He who recognizes an avatara has nothing more to do - that’s all he had to. He will achieve everything just by it. But say how to recognize him? On one hand you have a man, educated in the western way, so learned, on the other there is an illiterate priest, poor to the extreme. But it is the latter who wins at the end - all education, learning, pride of family and character lie at the feet of the indigent brahmin. By a fraction of the brahmin-priest’s grace, Narendra is today a world-conqueror; and that poor priest is the adored of the world. The rajasic westerners bow their heads at his feet. Is it given to anybody to go to the bottom of the divine sport of the avatara? It is amazing indeed!"
2.
It is Tuesday tomorrow. M. had gone to Panchanan Ghosh Lane to listen to the kathakata (narration of ancient stories accompanied with music etc.). He had sent Jagabandhu and other devotees to listen to a religious discourse in the Town Hall. M. has had his dinner on his way back from the Kathakata. The devotees have been waiting for him in the verandah on the second level. It is half past nine at night. M. sits on a bench and talks for a while before bidding them good night.
M. (to the devotees) — They were talking of the Vrindaban lila (of Lord Krishna) - about the conversation with Uddhava. Uddhava had gone to Mathura to find all about the gopis - he had been sent there by Sri Krishna. Uddhava saw a gopi milking a cow and singing a song of pangs of separation from Sri Krishna. She was not singing a song composed by any other. Whatever emotions gushed out of her heart, lost as she was in them, they came out of her throat in a song. Her mind was not in milking. Her child was crying for milk but she was deaf to it. The husband was shouting at her again and again saying, ‘The child is crying. Come back quickly with milk,’ but she would not hear him. At last he came and gave her a push. Then she woke as if from sleep. In a choked voice she asked, ‘Yes, what’s the matter?’ Uddhava saw that the milkmaid had almost lost her external consciousness, her mind having completely merged in Krishna’s thought, and losing its identity got absorbed in Him and became one with Krishna. Her hands were working mechanically, milking the cow. After a time even this stopped - ‘O my mind! plunge into the sea of Krishna’s beauty,’ - bhava samadhi.
"The jnana of the jnani-bhakta Uddhava received a big blow. Uddhava, as soon as he came, said to the gopis: ‘Your beloved Krishna is an avatara. He is enacting his lila as a human being. He is the controller of every mind; it’s he who presides as the creator, the preserver and the destroyer of the world.’
"Seeing how the Gopis loved Sri Krishna, Uddhava felt ashamed. Said he to himself, ‘In vain are my jnana and reason. Blessed indeed is the gopi.’
"This is one scene. Here is another: A gopi is at the spinning wheel spinning yarn, and singing. Her baby boy is calling out, `Mum, give me something to eat. give me to eat.’ But she is not aware of it. He gives a push; still no external consciousness. She drops the cotton from her hand - her hand lies in her lap. She does not wink, her eyes are like those of the bird hatching its eggs - wondering the Self. One does not know if she is breathing or not. The baby begins to cry lying on the breast of the mother, thinking perhaps that she is dead. Somebody else, hearing the child cry, comes and tugs firmly at her arm. She regains her senses then.
"Uddhava, seeing this sight, is speechless. This is a second blow to his jnana and reason. The gopi is almost dead with the pangs of separation from Sri Krishna - ‘The mind of the gopi has sunk into the sea of Krishna’s love.’
"Another scene on the bank of Yamuna. The gopi is carrying three brass-pots of water on her head, and singing as she moves along. She is late today for her bath and storing water. Her companions have left much earlier - she is alone. She places the water-pot at the edge of the water, sits down and rubs both arms with water. She has the song of Krishna’s love on her lips. The woods, the land, the bank of the river - the whole world - are drenched in the rays of the full-moon of (the month of) Kartik. The song she sings is the song of Krishna’s love, of the joy of love of Rasa (dance of Krishna with gopis). Uddhava stands on the bank of the Yamuna and sees this lila. As she sings, the gopi is oblivious of her surroundings as on the night of the Rasa-leela - her soul having sunk in the sea of Krishna’s joy. Uddhava notes that the strains of the song have ceased. He comes nearer and lo! The gopi’s face is sweetly aglow; her vital-breath, as if, has ceased in her body. The cloth she is wearing has slipped as it is no longer in her grip - she is insensible to her modesty. After a long time, the members of her family reach there searching for her. Because there is no water they are thirsty, so are the cows and the calves. They pull her out of her swoon. Even then she is inebriated with bhava, and she shouts: ‘O my life-breath, Krishna, my very life!’
"This third blow, as with a heavy mace crushes Uddhava’s own pride of his love to Krishna. He realizes that the gopis’ love for Krishna gushing forth from the depth of their hearts and soul, and making them oblivious of their bodies, has the same relation with his own love of Krishna just as a chunk of butter bears to a piece of stone.
"Oh, what a force these reciters have! They narrate the lila as if it is being enacted before their eyes. The audience sat motionless spell bound - having sublimated the emotions, as it were.
"This was followed by a song. I remember a couple of lines and present them to you. Please sing these as you go home. The song is by Uddhava:
Blessed the gopis, blessed you are, blessed Vrindaban!
Where the love of Krishna has embodied itself!
The next day, it is Wednesday, 20th August 1924; 4th of Bhadra 1331(B.Y.). The celebrations in the Navavidhan Brahmo Samaj are continuing. The topic earlier was the discussion on General Boothe’s Life. Jagabandhu, the Doctor, Vinay, the Younger Amulya, Rajani and Upadhyaya have returned from Navavidhan. It is 7.30 p.m.
M. is seated on a bench in the verandah on the second level of the Morton School. In the meanwhile arrives the Elder Jiten also. Conversation starts.
M. (to the devotees) — General Boothe is the founder of the Salvation Army. It is a big world organisation. They redeem the fallen women. Seeing them one is reminded of Christ, one feels inspired by him. He came some two thousand years ago. He did many deeds, one of them particularly was the redemption of the fallen women. Many people are working today taking that as their source. Every deed of an avatara is a living idea - each a centre of a special power. It’s like a dynamo, it works for thousands of years.
"Christ redeemed Mary. I feel it is that incident which is at the root. These people are working taking it as their ideal.
"Christ said: The healthy don’t need a physician, the diseased need Him. So I have come for the sinners, not for the virtuous alone. ‘I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ (Mark 2 : 17).
"Mary was the daughter of a wealthy person. Her parents died. She was living in the Magdala mansion. She was extraordinarily pretty. After the death of her parents she fell in character - she became self-indulgent. It is said that her clothes and jewellery were imported from Greece and Rome. Later on she felt repentant. One day, she saw Christ passing by her mansion. Immediately she felt redeemed, she felt the purity of Christ enter into her. She took to hard penance; she cut her hair short, put on sack cloth and wept. One day when Christ was in Peter’s hut with his devotees, Mary came running and fell at his feet. And how she wailed! She washed his feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. (See Luke 7:38). He said, ‘Woman, thy sins are forgiven.’ (cf. Luke 7:48). After his crucifixion, she was the first to whom he gave his darshan. She sat weeping near the sepulcher. Aha! What a love! (See John, Chapter 20).
"He also said, ‘He who gives shelter to the orphans receives the Lord’s grace.’ This is the basis of all the orphanages which have come into existence.
"Every saying of an avatara takes a concrete shape in time."
Some among the devotees perhaps do not like such acts of charity. M. has realized it. So he answers their thought.
M. (to the devotees) — Thakur did not like a single track mind. So different kinds of devotees used to visit him - Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and the different denominations of the Hindu devotees - the Kartabhajas, Ghoshparas, even Nava-rasiks. On one hand he had the orthodox sadhaks of Vedanta, on the other the virachari of the Tantra, such as Achlananda. He did not reject anybody. He used to take the berries of bhakti alone out of the briar. That’s why he said to Keshab, ‘You may not accept the Rasa-lila (of Krishna) but you must take the gopis’ attraction to Krishna.’
"Did he only lift Girish Babu into his arms? He redeemed many in the world of theatre, both men and women. How it goes: ‘If you pick up and expel rascals from the village it becomes a desert?’
"One becomes a pure bhakta after a lot of tapasya. Thakur could not do without bhaktas - he used to cry for pure bhaktas. This he did for twenty-two years. Then they came. Earlier various kinds of bhaktas used to visit him. He used to talk of God with them as much as possible and enjoy their company. The company of the right type of devotee comes only as a result of hard tapasya."
3.
The next day, the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna - the eighth day of the dark fortnight. M. is seated on a chair facing north on the terrace at the fourth level of the Morton School. In front of him on the three sides are seated the devotees on benches - Dr. Kartik Bakshi, Vinay, the Younger Amulya, the Elder Jiten, the Elder Amulya, Balai, Gadadhar, Shanti, the Stout Sudhir, Upadhyaya, Rajani of Silhutt, the Younger Nalini, the Elder Lalit of Bhatpara, Jagabandhu and others. It is 8 p.m. now. A new bhakta has arrived.
M. had sent Rajani this afternoon to the Prachar Ashrama of the Navavidhan Brahmo Samaj. The ashrama is situated in the Ramanath Majumdar Lane near the Mirzapur Street. But Rajani could not locate it. On this topic there is a lot of discussion among the devotees. He was even not able to find the way, hearing this M. is surprised.
Rajani is a simple villager. He hasn’t much of worldly intelligence. M. desires that somebody should accompany him to show him the way.
M. (smiling, to Jagabandhu) — He has not been able to find the way. (To Shanti) Will you lead him there? No, you are too tired as you are coming from Campbell Medical School.
"(To all present) Who is the hero who can take Katlu Khan across the Suvarna rekha (a river) with just ten thousand soldiers?
"Jagat Singh stands up. He says, ‘Only five thousand will do.’ Only Jagat Singh could do it, only he could."
Shanti stands up with a smile on his lips.
M. (to Shanti) — So you are going? Bravo! Let me see how.
Parvati Mitra, a dealer in horses, is the manager of the Hart Company in Dharmatala. He is a devotee of Naga Mahashaya. He will celebrate the function of Naga Mahashaya at his home. He has sent Durga, his eldest son, to M. Durga invites M. folding his hands. M. says, ‘There is little possibility of my going there, an old man as I am. Some of the bhaktas will join.’ Durga offers his pranam and leaves.
Upadhyaya has been to the Belur Math today in compliance with M.’s wishes so often repeated. M. hears about the Math from him. In this context, various kinds of sadhus are mentioned - those who are rajasic and others who are tamasic, some smoke ganja, the others are choleric and so on - they talk in this strain. Hearing such ‘tasty’ but derogatory remarks, M. changes the unedifying current to an uplifting talk.
M. (to the bhaktas) — Thakur was alive then - in 1882. I went to the Barabazar to see some sadhus. Somebody introduced me to the big congregation of the Sikhs. There an old sadhu instructed me on this very topic - on the necessity of the company of sadhus.
"Saying so he narrated a tale. It runs like this: A person at the Mansarovar Lake used to perform a yajna for birds. His object was that his yajna would attract various birds including hansas (swans). With the hansas would come the paramahansa to be sure. Paramahansa, that is to say Vishnu.
"The significance of the story is this - whichever the variety of the sadhu, he must be respected. While giving respect to him, while worshipping him, by doing so God’s grace comes down if one is lucky - one can see Him at the end.
"Why do you show respect to a sadhu? For the sake of God, isn’t it? So it can bring the grace of God on you."
M. (to Upadhyaya) — Thakur also told us a story. A sadhu was taking his bath. As he stood in the water he took off his loin cloth and was washing it when it suddenly fell from his hand and drifted away. Draupadi was also taking bath at that time. She tore off some half a piece of her sari and gave it to the sadhu. The sadhu put it on and came to the bank.
"When Draupadi was being disrobed in the court of the Kauravas she implored Narayana from the core of her heart to save her modesty. The Lord appeared before her and asked her if she had ever offered a piece of cloth of any sadhu? Draupadi reminded herself of it and narrated the same. The Lord then said, ‘You have nothing to fear.’ The more Dushashana pulled her sari the longer the cloth of Draupadi became.
"It signifies that the sadhu is God in another form. Whether you worship God or a sadhu, it is worshiping God.
"Having narrated this story, Thakur made his listener (M.) repeat it. Why? So that it leaves an impression on his mind."
M. (to the bhaktas) — Is it enough to say that there is nothing extraordinary about a sadhu - that all men are equal.
"The sadhus hold on to God. So those who hold on to the sadhu i.e. devotees, are holding God Himself.
"God is said to be full of love. Do people understand this? When this love is seen in a human being then alone it (God’s love) can be understood.
"Man has within him all these three - the animal, the human being and the divine. The exterior of all men is the same but the difference between their inherent qualities makes them different.
"When one sees that a person is giving up his all to others and himself undergoing all kind of pain for God-realization, even death - such a love they have for God - then alone people can perceive that He who is transferring this unique love through this man, is surely Himself full of love. It is from this, that is from this illustration of an all-renouncing person that we can conceive the love of God.
"So one must give respect to sadhus, one must worship them. The worship of the sadhu is the worship of God."
The Elder Jiten — The modern man is not inclined to accept it. He says, ‘The sadhu eats but he does nothing. One should give to those who earn their livelihood by their labour and are poor.’
M. — I am not talking of politicians. I am talking of the Vedas, Upanishads, the saintly persons and avataras. Those who say so, have this idea in their roots that all men are equal.
"When you go to the market to buy cloth do you go to a rice seller’s shop or to a cloth-merchant’s? Similarly when you want God you should go to those who are carrying on the profession of God - one should only go to the avatara, the rishis or some saintly person. And an all renouncing sadhu trades in God.
"Even so if you give to the poor taking him as Narayana or God, it is worshiping Him only. This purifies your mind. Then you can see God in that pure mind. This indeed is the path of selfless work. But to be able to see God in the poor, you have to go to a sadhu.
"If you give to a person knowing him to be poor, it is compassion on your part. You will get the reward for your compassion. You will earn name and fame. Seva (service to the poor) is above it. It is God Himself. This is the service of God-in-the-poor. Ram and Janak served their subjects with Brahman intellect - with the idea of serving jiva as Shiva.
"Thakur went to Vidyasagar Mahashaya just to tell him this. He said, ‘All these acts of charity, doing good to others and so on, if done selflessly bring God-realization.’ He added, ‘You have a pearl within you. There is a little veil over it. Come there (to Dakshineswar), I shall lift it. - the pearl will then come out. In other words, you will see God.’
"Higher to earning and eating is giving in charity with a motive. Higher to it is doing good to others - charity out of compassion. And the highest of them all is rendering seva (service). Seva is selfless. It brings God-realization. Therefore, it is the highest.
"Why is God-realization the highest? Because it destroys every kind of pain. The mind remains joyful, peaceful and happy in every condition. The happiness born of a deed of charity does not last in every condition. That which brings happiness in all conditions is seva - serving others as God.
"Those who aim at complete eradication of pain, that is to say, God-realization, realization of the Self, have to serve the sadhus. For them, service to sadhus, worship of sadhus and worship of God are one and the same."
A particular Bhakta - If a sadhu does something wrong, will people not call him bad - say if he commits a theft?
M. — Yes, if he is caught red handed, say if he is caught stealing a brass jug, it is surely something to think about. In that case the jug should be taken back from him and he should be freed.
The Elder Jiten — The devotee from Silhutt is rather confused. The other day I saw that he was keeping his umbrella unopened protecting his head with his hand as he went along.
M. (excitedly) — How could it be otherwise? He who has not married has the strength of ten thousand elephants. Why should he believe in ‘conventionalism’? He does not care for anybody. What are other people doing? They are slaves of money, woman and name and fame. On the other hand, the sadhu throws all these away like the droppings of a crow. What does a sadhu owe anybody?
M. cannot tolerate even a simple criticism of a sadhu.
M. (to Jagabandhu) — Yes today it is Janama-ashtami (the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna). Let there be some reading from the Kathamrita. Let us have our ‘Vatsrik (annual) Lila celebration.’
For some days M. has been listening to the great sayings and narration of the lila of Thakur of the date on which the Kathamrita is read. This M. calls ‘Vatsrik Lila celebration’. Therefore today they read the narration of 1st September, 1885. The Elder Amulya reads:
‘Sri Ramakrishna is in the temple of Dakshineswar. It is the beginning of his throat trouble. Even so he keeps himself busy thinking night and day of the welfare of the bhaktas. He tells them that the mind of the bhakta does not get shaken by the ups and downs of life if he keeps the company of sadhus, carries out tapasya in a solitary corner for some days and attains bhakti.
" ‘Whatever restlessness and sorrows one has are all due to one’s attachment to woman and gold. One must strive to concentrate and keep one’s mind at the lotus feet of the Lord. Then alone one achieves peace, happiness, and joy. This is what is called bhakti. Man takes birth only for it.’ Isn’t it that jiva is born again and again - In answer to this question of Vaishnava of Katoya, Thakur says, according to the Gita, ‘Yes, there is rebirth.’ One is reborn with the thoughts one has at the last moment of one’s life. But when he (Vaishnava) reasons, he (Thakur) says, ‘What you say is a result of low intelligence. The highest duty of man is God-realization, seeing Him. You are born in the world ‘to eat mangoes’ (that is, to enjoy the bliss of Brahman). And he added, ‘You have come to eat mangoes. You should eat them. What use is it to keep a count of the trees and so on?’ Even so, when he found the Vaishnava reasoning he scolded him. He said to him again, ‘Try to realise what you have read from different books by practising tapasya secretly in solitary corner. Learning by rote the texts of books alone is of no avail. If you merely shout ‘siddhi, siddhi’ (wine) you can’t get intoxicated. The stuff has to go into the stomach.’
The reading continues. Girish Ghosh calls Thakur the Absolute Brahman and sings a hymn in his praise. He prays for the boon to serve him for a year.
A particular Bhakta — Was it out of his faith that Girish called him the Absolute Brahman or was it just the mad expression of his inebriation?
M. — It was out of faith. Thakur himself has said, ‘Such is your faith and devotion!’
"No counterfeit can stand a wash. This faith of Girish Babu lasted throughout the rest of his life. He was born a lion but in the presence of Thakur and devotees he was just a child. He was the first to proclaim him as an avatara. Thakur accepted this opinion of Girish - namely that Thakur was an avatara - and asked Narendra, ‘Girish says that I am an avatara. What do you feel about it?’ And then he added, ‘Girish has twenty-five annas of faith - that is, more than 150% faith.’
The reading is over.
A particular Bhakta — How to have the intelligence to see the guru as one’s ideal, as God Himself?
M. — By keeping the company of one who has such an intellect, and by serving him; by keeping company of sadhus, and by weeping and praying to the Lord, ‘Grant that I may understand it.’ The more you advance towards God the more you will understand it - that it is God Himself who is present before the disciple in the guru. It is the same one power, only it has two bodies, that one power is now Guru and now the ideal Deity.
"Guru that is to say God. He Himself comes as an avatara. He is the guru of the entire world. His power manifests itself in the disciple in the world. That is why Thakur said, ‘One should develop the intelligence to see one’s ideal Deity in the guru. By seeing Him as a man it will reduce itself to ashes.’ And he added, ‘The way to see God is to have faith in the word of the guru - faith in the word of the avatara.’ The avatara is the guru, Thakur is the guru."
Calcutta,
Thursday, 21st August 1924.
5th of Bhadra 1331 (B.Y.),
The 7th day of the dark fortnight, 52 Dandas / 9 Palas.