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Sri Ramakrishna at Adhar’s House – enjoys Devotional Songs with Devotees
Chapter I
Sri Ramakrishna with Vijay, Kedar, Baburam and other devotees
Kedar, Vijay, Baburam, Narayan, M. and Vaishnavcharan
It is Wednesday, 1 October, 1884, the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of Aswin. Accompanied by Narayan and Gangadhar, Thakur has come to Adhar’s house from Dakshineswar. On the way he had suddenly passed into ecstasy and said, “That I should count the beads! Away with that! This emblem of Shiva has sprung up from the earth by Himself.”
Sri Ramakrishna has reached Adhar’s house. A number of devotees have gathered there: Kedar, Vijay, Baburam, M. and many others. Vaishnavcharan, the musician, has arrived. As directed by Thakur, every day when he returns home from office, Adhar listens to Vaishnavcharan’s kirtan. Vaishnavcharan sings very sweetly. Today he is going to sing. When Thakur enters Adhar’s drawing room, all the devotees rise and take the dust of his feet. After he has taken his seat with a smiling face, the devotees also sit down. When Kedar and Vijay have bowed to him, Thakur asks Narayan and Baburam to pay obeisance to them. He asks Kedar and Vijay to bless the young boys so that they may gain love for God. Pointing to Narayan, he says, “He is very open and guileless.” The devotees gaze at Baburam and Narayan.
Sri Ramakrishna (to Kedar and other devotees) — I just happened to meet you on the way. Had I not, you would have reached the Kali Temple by now. It is by the Lord’s grace that we met.
Kedar (humbly, folding his hands) — The Lord’s will! It is indeed your will.
Thakur laughs.
Chapter II
Sri Ramakrishna in the joy of kirtan with the devotees
The kirtan begins. Vaishnavcharan sings a love tryst, ending it with a rasa (play of Radha and the milkmaids) kirtan. Just as the kirtan depicting the meeting of Radha and Krishna begins, Thakur dances, filled with divine love. The devotees also sing and dance, forming a circle around him. After the singing is over, everybody sits down.
Sri Ramakrishna (to Vijay) — He sings beautifully.
Saying this, he points at Vaishnavcharan and asks him to sing the song beginning with ‘The beautiful Gauranga.’ Vaishnavcharan sings –
The beautiful and youthful Gauranga of golden hue is the best dancer.
When the song ends, Thakur says to Vijay, “How did you like it?” Vijay says, “It was wonderful!” Now Thakur himself begins to sing about the divine emotion of Gauranga –
Surely Gauranga would be in ecstasy.
What else can he who is the treasure house of ecstasy have?
He laughs, weeps and dances, surcharged with divine emotion.
Seeing a forest, he thinks of it as Vrindavan. Seeing the sea, he thinks it to be the Jamuna.
He who has Krishna within and Gaur without surely will have ecstasy.
Gaur sobs and weeps. He holds his own foot and says:
Where are you, Radha, full of ecstatic love?
Mani sings along with him.
Thakur’s song ends and Vaishnavcharan sings again –
O my Vina[1], play Hari, Hari!
Without Hari’s compassion, you will not gain the Supreme Essence.
The name of Hari destroys all sorrows. Chant ‘Hare Krishna, Hare’.
By Hari’s will you will have no worry!
O Vina, utter but once the name of Hari. There is no haven except the name of Hari.
The servant, Govinda, says, ‘Days are passing. Don’t be drowned in distress.’
Thakur sings the different tunes emulating the musician. He says to Vaishnavcharan, “Sing this way, like professional musicians.”
Vaishnavcharan sings –
O my tongue, always repeat the name of Sri Durga.
Who else can save you from danger but Sri Durga.
The boat of Durga’s name sails on the lake of faith to take you across the sea of the world.
By practicing the instructions of the compassionate Guru, your boat reaches the bank.
If you were to say that the six enemies in the form of wind will create a storm around your boat,
Rest assured that the boat of Durga’s name will reach the bank even in the storm, since it is piloted by Mrityunjay (Shiva, the immortal one).
O Mother, You are heaven, You are the mortal world, and You are the nether world.
It is from You that Hari, Brahma, the twelve Gopalas, the ten great sciences, and the ten avatars have sprung.
You will have to take me across this time, taking up one form or the other.
You are the moving and the unmoving. You are the gross and the subtle.
You are creation, preservation and dissolution. You are the root of the universe.
You are the Mother of the three worlds and their savior.
You are the Shakti (Power) of all and You are Your own Shakti too.
Thakur and the musician sing again and again the following lines of the song –
You are the moving and the unmoving. You are the gross and the subtle.
You are creation, preservation and dissolution. You are the root of the universe.
You are the Mother of the three worlds and their savior.
You are the Shakti (Power) of all and You are Your own Shakti too.
The musician starts another song –
Air, darkness, the void, the firmament, the ten quarters of the globe and all the directions have come into existence by receiving Your light.
All the immortal ones including Brahma and Vishnu have taken their bodies because of the light of Your Shakti.
The Ida[2], the Pingla[3], the Sushumna[4], the Vajra, the Chitrini[5] are all pulsating because of the Sahasrara[6].
Rows and rows of lotuses are in the middle and the upper regions of Chitrini.
There is white and golden lightening.
Two lotuses are open, one is still in bud.
There are two couples upward facing and downward facing.
Mother, You, in the shape of a swan, are moving as the Kundalini in the lotus.
Above is the naval chakra called Manipura[7].
On it is the blood-red lotus of ten petals.
In this lotus dwells Your fire power.
When this fire is taken away, everything is extinguished.
In the lotus of the heart is the inward lake like the sky, on which floats the Anahata lotus.
There, is the gold-coloured, twelve-petalled, lotus-shaped arrow of Shiva.
In that lotus your Shakti lives as jiva and prana.
Above that, in the throat, is the Vishuddha lotus of sixteen petals, of the colour of smoke.
In this lotus Your Shakti lives as ether.
When ether is reached, the whole of ether becomes one unbounded space.
Above it is the thousand-petalled lotus within the cerebrum.
This is the most secret spot of the Guru.
It is in this lotus that the Supreme Shiva is present in His universal form.
He dwells alone in this white, thousand-petalled lotus.
It is in this lotus that Shiva is in the form of a shadow.
Shiva casts His reflection in the Brahmarandra[8]. When you reach there, Shiva becomes His own form.
There, You enjoy Yourself happily with Shiva.
When the merrymaking is over, Shiva takes the form of a reflection.
Chapter III
About God with form and God without form with Vijay and other devotees – mound of sugar
Kedar and some of the devotees stand up. They are going home. Kedar salutes Thakur and says, “Well, I take your leave now.”
Sri Ramakrishna — Are you going back home without telling Adhar? That would be impolite.
Kedar — ‘When God is pleased, everyone is satisfied’. When you stay, we all in a sense stay. But I am not feeling well. I am particularly uncomfortable when there is talk of marriage and worldly conventions. There are social obligations[9]. I had some trouble before.
Vijay — You are leaving him [Thakur] here …
Just at this moment, Adhar arrives to take Thakur in to eat. Leaf plates have been laid inside. Thakur rises and says to Vijay and Kedar, “Come on. Come with me.” Vijay, Kedar and other devotees sit with Thakur and partake of the prasad.
After eating, Thakur again goes to the drawing room and takes his seat. He is surrounded by Kedar, Vijay and other devotees.
Kedar makes a submission and apologizes – Vijay has vision of the gods
Folding his hands, Kedar says to Thakur very humbly, “Please pardon me for hesitating to eat here.” Perhaps he thinks to himself, “If Thakur has eaten here, certainly a lowly person like me should not have hesitated to eat!”
Kedar works in Dacca. A number of devotees visit him there and bring sandesh and other sweets for him. It is this that Kedar humbly discusses with Sri Ramakrishna.
Kedar (humbly) — Many people bring me things to eat. Tell me, oh Lord, what is your command?
Sri Ramakrishna — Even if a devotee is a chandala (pariah), you can take food from him. For seven years I was in a state of God-intoxication. When I went to my native village [Kamarpukur], what a state I was in! I even ate from the hands of a public woman. But now I can’t do that.
Kedar (in a sweet voice, before leaving) — Lord, transmit your power to me. So many people visit me! What do I know?
Sri Ramakrishna — It will come about, brother! It does come when you are a sincere seeker of the Lord.
Before Kedar leaves, Yogendra, the editor of the Bangavasi [a Bengali paper], enters. He salutes Thakur and takes his seat.
They talk about God with form and God without form.
Sri Ramakrishna — God is with form and He is formless. How much more He is, we do not know. It will not do to say that He is formless.
Yogendra — There is a wonderful thing about the Brahmo Samaj. Even a boy of twelve sees the formless God. But in the Adi Brahmo Samaj, they don’t object very much to God with form. They even attend worship at the houses of rich men.
Sri Ramakrishna (laughing) — He has beautifully said that even he (a boy of twelve) sees the formless God.
Adhar — Shivanath Babu does not accept God with form.
Vijay — That is his mistake. As he [Thakur] says, the chameleon is sometimes this colour and at other times a different colour. He who lives under the tree understands it correctly. During meditation, I saw a movie – several gods saying many different things. I said to myself, ‘I shall go to him [meaning Sri Ramakrishna] and request him to explain.’
Sri Ramakrishna — You had the right vision.
Kedar — The devotee accepts God with form. The devotee sees God with a form in his intense love for Him. Dhruva had the vision of Bhagavan and said to Him, ‘Why don’t your earrings move?’ Bhagavan said, ‘They will move if you touch them.’
Sri Ramakrishna — You must accept all these, brother – God with form and God without form. I was meditating in the Kali Temple when I saw Ramani, a prostitute. I said to the Divine Mother, ‘Mother, You have this form too!’ That is why I say you must accept all. You can never tell when She may appear before you in any form She likes.
Saying so, Thakur begins to sing.
A God-inspired mendicant has arrived…
Vijay — God has infinite power. Can He not reveal Himself in one particular form? How amazing! All these people who are a speck of the dust of His feet try to know all about Him!
Sri Ramakrishna — People read a little of the Gita, or the Bhagavata, or the Vedanta and conclude that they have understood everything. An ant went to a mound of sugar. One grain of sugar filled its stomach. It took another grain in its mouth and returned home, saying to itself, “I shall bring the whole mound next time.” (All laugh.)
[1] A stringed musical instrument
[2] The spiritual column on the left side of the spine
[3] The spiritual column on the right side of the spine
[4] The spiritual canal situated in the centre of the spinal cord and extending from the base of the spine to the brain. It is through Sushumna that the Kundalini rises.
[5] Vajra and Chitrini are two nadis (spiritual columns), Sushumna has Vajra inside it and Chitrini is within the latter. Chitrini’s lustre is Om and it is subtle as a spider’s thread; it pierces all the lotuses of the Sushumna. Within Chitrini is the Brahman-nadi, the channel along which the Kundalini passes.
[6] Thousand petalled lotus in the cerebrum, the abode of Shiva
[7] The third centre in the Sushumna
[8] The spiritual opening at the top of the head through which yogis say the soul leaves the body when merged with the Absolute
[9] Kedar was a brahmin, while Adhar belonged to a lower caste. Due to social obligations, Kedar did not want to eat at Adhar’s home.
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