Lilly Cottage, the Upper Circular Road. It is the residence of the would famous teacher Brahmananda Keshab Chandra Sen. He is the founder of the Nava Vidhan Brahmo Samaj. Some forty years ago, he passed away in this very house. Even today, the Brahmo devotees consider it a holy place of pilgrimage.

Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna also visited this place many times. In 1875, Sri Ramakrishna went to Jai Gopal Sen’s garden house in Belgharhia to see Keshab engaged in tapasya. Hriday Mukherjee, his attendant took him there. Thakur said, ‘He has dropped his tail.’ Since then a deep love developed between the two. Keshab also had the darshan of Sri Ramakrishna many times in Dakshineswar and in the houses of the devotees in Calcutta. Once Keshab took Sri Ramakrishna on a boat trip on the Bhagirathi river on the night of Lakshmi Puja. Between 1875 and 1880, these five years before his close disciples had come to him, Sri Ramakrishna considered Keshab as a very near and dear one. Even after the coming of the close disciples, in 1884, when Keshab breathed his last, his love for him remained unbroken and constant.

Even before this close association, Sri Ramakrishna said of him, ‘His fishing hook has already sunk.’ It was almost the state of samadhi. The second time when he met him, it was in the ‘Nainaner Gardens’ of the Tagore’s. It probably happened during the winter of 1873. Swami Dayananda, the founder of the Arya Samaj was also staying there in this garden. Vishwanath Upadhyaya, the envoy of Nepal took Sri Ramakrishna there. A very interesting situation came up there. Vishwanath was a very orthodox Brahmin. He used to utter ‘Shiva Shiva Kali Kali’ all the time. Swami Dayananda said to him in fun, ‘I say, utter sandesh sandesh (a Bengali Sweet).’ He was a worshipper of the formless God with attributes. He did not accept the idols of gods and goddesses. Though, he did not say anything, it is possible, that Upadhyaya felt hurt.

Seeing Keshab Sen and Dayananda, Sri Ramakrishna went into Samadhi. Vishwanath then asked Dayananda, ‘Maharaj, have you ever had such a state?’ The truthful Dayananda replied, ‘No, I have the pride of learning. I am seeing for the first time in him, what I have read in the shastras.’

Keshab and Dayananda are the pioneers of India’s new awakening. Both used to consult each other how to revive the lost glory of India.

Keshab’s shrine on the second level is a very holy place. It was in this room that having bolted themselves inside, he prayed to God with Sri Ramakrishna for a long time.

Once when Keshab had fallen ill, Sri Ramakrishna took the vow of offering sugar and coconut to the Mother of the universe for his recovery. He pleaded, ‘Mother, if anything happens to Keshab, with whom shall I talk about God in Calcutta? Please cure him.’

Once, Sri Ramakrishna went to the Lilly Cottage. They had on that day a party in the western style. Keshab persuaded Sri Ramakrishna to join the party. He also took some refreshments there.

Sri Ramakrishna went to the Lilly Cottage for the last time when Keshab was lying fatally ill. Seated in the parlour on the second level, he became impatient to see Keshab. Keshab was confined to bed in the inner quarters. He had become extremely weak. Leaning against the wall, he came to the parlour and offered pranam by lying prostrate on the ground. Thakur had realised that Keshab’s body could not be saved after this coming to him. He said to him, ‘An elephant has entered into your thatched house. It is breaking everything inside.’

Keshab’s mother requested Thakur to bless him so that he could get rid of his disease. Thakur replied, ‘I cannot bless, my Mother is there.’

The list of the incidents of the loving contacts of Keshab and Sri Ramakrishna is never ending. So, that place is considered very holy by Sri Ramakrishna’s devotees too.

Even earlier, M. sent the devotees many a times to visit the Lilly Cottage and offer their pranam there. Keshab Babu, took Sri Ramakrishna with him to the Nava Vidhan Mandir a number of times. Thus, just as the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna love Nava Vidhan Mandir and considered it holy, they also have the same consideration for the Lilly Cottage.

Today, a kathkata is being performed in this Lilly Cottage on the occasion of Keshab’s birth anniversary. M., Sri Ramakrishna’s close disciple has been spreading this information in the assembly of the devotees for quite some days. Today, he himself visits it with his whole group. Doctor Bakshi has brought Acharya M. there in his car. M. is seated in the car in front of the Lilly Cottage on the road, awaiting the arrival of the devotees. On their arrival, M. enters the Lilly Cottage along the group of devotees. M.’s face is serious but happy, his eyes gazing within.

It appears that M. has tuned the eyes of his mind backwards to visualise the memorable moments of his past life. Since his boyhood, while he was at school, Keshab was M.’s hero. M. used to say: I used to feel so restless to see him. I was then studying in class nine (called class two in those days). Keshab used to sit in a room in the Albert hall to reply to his foreign post. The door of the room was kept closed. I would climb the pillar outside to have a peep at him. Later on, while a student in the college and in the beginning of my working life, Keshab Sen was the object of my worship. I would try to attend every one of his discourses. Once, he was to speak in the Town Hall. I reached there three hours earlier. The religious discourses of Keshab Babu would captivate me. Why I had so much attraction for him, I came to know after I had the darshan of Thakur. The source of Keshab Babu’s talk was Sri Ramakrishna, I realised it then. It was Sri Ramakrishna’s word and spirit which used to flow through him.

M. enters this holy place by the main gate and walks towards the west. Stopping at the turning to the right, he says, ‘It was in November that Thakur went to see the ailing Keshab.’ Now he walks towards the North. The car stops in the veranda. Then, he climbs up the steps from the eastern gate facing east. The steps are made of wood. On being informed of his coming, Acharya Pramatha Sen welcomes him and takes him to the assembly room on the second level.

This room lies east-west, with carpet and sheets over the floor for sitting. M. sits facing south leaning against the northern wall. To his right is the Doctor, to his left the Younger Nalini and behind him Jagabandhu, the Younger Jiten and Vinay. Behind them are Balai, Shanti, Ramani and Rajni. And behind them are Lalit Rai of Bhatapara, Bholanath Mukherjee. With him are Buddhiram, Gadadhar, Shuka Lal and the Elder Jiten.

M. is in a pensive mood. A number of times, he had accompanied Thakur to this room. So, perhaps he is recalling the conversations of Thakur and Keshab ­ on the 2nd April 1882, Thakur was sitting in this room when he said to Keshab, ‘You are such a busy man, you cannot go to Dakshineswar very often. So, I have come myself to meet you. When I heard about your illness, I vowed to offer sugar and coconut to the Mother for your recovery.’

Pointing at M., Thakur had complained to Keshab, ‘Why doesn’t he (M.) go to Dakshineswar, just ask him please. Yet, he says that his mind is not on his household.’

It was a little more than a month ago that M. had gone to Thakur. That was his first visit. He had said, ‘If you are delayed, please let me know it by post.’

It was in this room that Thakur had said about Samadhyayi, ‘I can see his inside through his eyes just as one can see everything in a room through a glass door.’

After the twilight hour, when Thakur heard Trailokya’s song, Thakur stood up and went into samadhi. When he regained the normal state he began to dance and sing the song.

After singing the song he said to Keshab Babu:

He meant: Leave everything else and call upon the Lord. He alone is eternal, all else is perishable. If you have not realised God, you have done nothing.

Thakur went to see Keshab for the last time on 28th November, 1883, during his terminal illness. With him were M., Rakhal and Latu. Thakur was sitting on a couch in this very room when he went into the state of bhava. He said, ‘Oh, Mother you have came, showing us your Banarasi Sari, sit down Mother, sit down. Don’t create a fuss.’

He was sitting on this very couch, when he said, ‘The body and the Atman are separate from each other, like the betel nut and its skin. When one has the darshan of God, one realises this.’

M. sees the whole of this divine scene, as if intoxicated and realises its reality on the screen of his mind. Then he sees Keshab coming with great difficulty from the inner quarters holding the wall and then sitting on the floor and offering his pranam to Thakur by lying prostrate on the ground for a long time. After this, Keshab talked with Thakur on God. M. recites that conversation, "Thakur had said to Keshab: So long as there are attributes, you know different things. But, when you attain perfect knowledge, you see that all is one God, consciousness. He is consciousness as well as the world.

"Man has a special manifestation of God in him. Among the men too, the man with the qualities of sattva has more of His light. More than him this light he has who has seen God.

"God’s special power manifests itself in heart of the devotee. His heart is the parlour of God. Here, you see Him more often.

"God and his (Shakti) power are not two. Take for an example, a snake. When it sits coiled up, I call it Brahman. When he creates, preserves and dissolves I call him Shakti. He is Brahman by His real nature.

"When one is a spiritual practitioner, he has to take to ‘Not this, not this.’ He leaves aside butter-milk and only takes butter. When he has perfected himself, he sees that butter is nothing but butter-milk and butter-milk is only the same as butter.

"The Mother of universe is always protecting Her children. Whichever of dharma, artha, kama and moksha the child wants, She gives him. However, the real child cannot live without his Mother.

"God is not under the influence of splendour, He is under the Bhakta. He wants discrimination and dispassion, devotion and faith, bhava and love ­ all these.

"Everybody sees God according to his own ideas. The bhakta with the qualities of tamas worships him by sacrificing the goat for Him. The devotee with the quality of rajas worships Him with a number of articles ­ with many eatables, fruit, sweets and what not. The bhakta with sattvic qualities worship Him with flowers, Vilva leaves and Ganga water. If he doesn’t have any flowers, he worships Him only with Vilva leaves. Sometimes, he also makes Him an offering of payas. And he who is beyond the three gunas worships Him with His divine name ­ repeating His name itself constitutes His puja.

"The fire of jnana destroys the fire of anger. Then, it destroys the ego. Then starts breaking of this and shattering that ­ this is the state of a mad man.

"Once you get your name registered in hospital, you cannot come out till you are cured of your disease. Similarly, till one is done with his activity, he cannot get out. God does not let him.

"On seeing you (Keshab) falling ill, I used to be very worried. When you fell ill for the first time, I cried in the early morning. I said, ‘Mother if anything happens to Keshab with whom shall I talk on God?’ I went to Calcutta and offered sugar and coconut to the (Mother) Siddheshwari. I had vowed to Her so that you might recover.

"How can a man bless? It is God who does everything. ‘Mother, it is You who does Her work but the man says that he does it.’

"God laughs twice. Once, when two brothers fight and divide their land and a second time, when the doctor says, ‘I shall cure your son’. Can anybody save when God kills?

"Keshab, please don’t stay at home too much. By living too much with your sons and daughters, you will sink. On the other hand, if you live with devotees, you will talk of God and you will keep well.

"Keshab is a special person. Everybody respects him, people of wealth as well as sadhus. I saw Dayananda in the ‘Nainaner Bagan’ awaiting the arrival of Keshab very very anxiously.

"One should place a light in every place in the house. Without lights one becomes poor."

M. is absorbed in his reminiscences of the past. His eyes and face show that his mind is in a high state.

There are many persons in the parlour of the Lilly Cottage. They are all listening to the conversation. The speaker of the katha is seated in front of M. facing north.

M. inquires after the welfare of Pramatha Babu. Keshab Sen’s family is closely related to M.’s in-laws. Pramatha Babu is the nephew of Keshab Sen and Keshab is a relation of M.

Now they take up the katha. The speaker of the katha exaggerate whatever they speak. The same is with this katha. He says the earth was inflicted with great trouble. Narada went to Narayana and submitted this fact to him. He said, ‘All right, I will come down to the earth in the Sen family of Calootola in Calcutta for redeeming the devotees Keshab is none else but He.’ And so on. The devotees did not enjoy this katha so much. There is the life of such a great man. How much of divine light it shed. Had he talked of these things, it would have been true and beautiful. But instead of doing so, he painted an imaginary picture of him. This made it rather insipid.

M. rises a little after 8 o’clock and goes down the steps with the devotees.

Below there is the sanctuary close by. M. enters it. It is dark. A devotee strikes a match-stick to show the way to M. M. comes out into the courtyard. Then, a member of the family brings a hurricane lamp. He again calls M. to the temple. M. sees all the articles in the room. On the wall there are many pictures. The names of all the preachers are also inscribed there. At M.’s behest, Jagabandhu and others memorise all those names.

M. now comes to the bank of the tank. Standing at the bank, he says to the devotees, ‘How much tapasya has been carried out here by the devotees. All these places are awakened.’

M. comes out. Near the gate, the daughter’s son of Jai Gopal Sen comes and offers his pranam. While enquiring about his welfare etc., M. gets into car. With him are the Doctor, the Elder Jiten and the Elder Amulya. All other go to their respective places. Jagabandhu, Vinay, Buddhiram, Gadadhar and others return to the Morton School.

The devotees talk of the unfeigned loving relationship of Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab as they walk down. One of them says, ‘Keshab Babu is very near and dear to us. It was he who proclaimed Thakur in a newspaper. He said: A man like the Paramahansa Deva has never come to the earth. He must be preserved in a glass case. The facts that have manifested themselves in his life constitute the central wealth of the Hindus. The Hindu Dharma is great indeed.’