CHAPTER-VI; PART-1:THE MASTER WITH THE BRAHMO DEVOTEES (I)
October 28, 1882
October 28, 1882
IT WAS SATURDAY. The semi-annual Brahmo festival, celebrated
each autumn and spring, was being held in Benimadhav Pal's beautiful garden
house at Sinthi, about three miles north of Calcutta. The house stood in a
secluded place suited for contemplation. Trees laden with flowers, artificial
lakes with grassy banks, and green arbours enhanced the beauty of the grounds.
Just as the fleecy clouds were turning gold in the light of the setting sun,
the Master arrived.
 |
| Shivanath Sastri |
Many devotees had attended the morning devotions, and in the
afternoon people from Calcutta and the neighbouring villages joined them.
Shivanath (see Picture), the great Brahmo devotee whom the Master loved dearly, was one of
the large gathering of members of the Brahmo Samaj who had been eagerly
awaiting Sri Ramakrishna's arrival.
When the carriage bringing the Master and a few devotees reached
the garden house, the assembly stood up respectfully to receive him. There was
a sudden ilence, like that which comes when the curtain in a theatre is about
to be rung up. People who had been conversing with one another now fixed their
attention on the Master's serene face, eager not to lose one word that might
fall from his lips.
At the sight of Shivanath the Master cried out joyously: "Ah! Here is Shivanath! You see, you are a devotee of God. The very sight of you gladdens my heart. One hemp-smoker feels very happy to meet another. Very often they embrace each other in an exuberance of joy."
The devotees burst out laughing.
MASTER: "Many people visit the temple garden at Dakshineswar. If I see some among the visitors indifferent to God, I say to them, 'You had better sit over there.' Or sometimes I say, 'Go and see the beautiful buildings.' (Laughter.)
"Sometimes I find that the devotees of God are accompanied by worthless
people. Their companions are immersed in gross worldliness and don't enjoy
spiritual talk at all. Since the devotees keep on, for a long time, talking
with me about God, the others become restless. Finding it impossible to sit
there any longer, they whisper to their devotee friends: 'When shall we be
going? How long will you stay here?' The devotees say: 'Wait a bit. We shall go
after a little while.' Then the worldly people say in a disgusted tone: 'Well
then, you can talk. We shall wait for you in the boat.' (All laugh.)
"Worldly people will never listen to you if you ask them to
renounce everything and devote themselves whole-heartedly to God. Therefore
Chaitanya and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract
the worldly. They would say to such persons, 'Come, repeat the name of Hari,
and you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young
woman.' Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the name
of God. After tasting a little of the nectar of God's hallowed name, they would
soon realize that the 'fish soup' really meant the tears they shed for love of
God, while the 'young woman' signified the earth. The embrace of the woman
meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine love.
"Nitai would employ any means to make people repeat Hari's name. Chaitanya
said: 'The name of God has very great sanctity. It may not produce an immediate
result, but one day it must bear fruit. It is like a seed that has been left on
the cornice of a building. After many days the house crumbles, and the seed
falls on the earth, germinates, and at last bears fruit.'
"As worldly people are endowed with sattva, rajas, and tamas, so also is
bhakti characterized by the three gunas.
"Do you know what a worldly person endowed with sattva is like? Perhaps
his house is in a dilapidated condition here and there. He doesn't care to
repair it. The worship hall may be strewn with pigeon droppings and the
courtyard covered with moss, but he pays no attention to these things. The
furniture of the house may be old; he doesn't think of polishing it and making
it look neat. He doesn't care for dress at all; anything is good enough for
him. But the man himself is very gentle, quiet, kind, and humble; he doesn't
injure anyone:
"Again, among the worldly there are people with the traits of rajas. Such
a man has a watch and chain, and two or three rings on his fingers. The
furniture of his house is all spick and span. On the walls hang portraits of
the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and other prominent people; the building is
whitewashed and spotlessly clean. His wardrobe is filled with a large
assortment of clothes; even the servants have their livery, and all that.
"The traits of a worldly man endowed with tamas are sleep, lust, anger,
egotism, and the like.
"Similarly, bhakti, devotion, has its sattva. A devotee who
possesses it meditates on God in absolute secret, perhaps inside his mosquito
net. Others think he is asleep. Since he is late in getting up, they think
perhaps he has not slept well during the night. His love for the body goes only
as far as appeasing his hunger, and that only by means of rice and simple
greens. There is no elaborate arrangement about his meals, no luxury in
clothes, and no display of furniture. Besides, such a devotee never flatters
anybody for money.
"An aspirant possessed of rajasic bhakti puts a tilak (A mark of sandal-paste or other material to denote one's religious affiliation.) on his forehead and a necklace of holy rudraksha beads, interspersed with gold ones, around his neck. (All laugh.) At worship he wears a silk cloth.
"A man endowed with tamasic bhakti has burning faith. Such
a devotee literally extorts boons from God, even as a robber falls upon a man
and plunders his money. 'Bind! Beat! Kill!' — that is his way, the way of the
dacoits."
Saying this, the Master began to sing in a voice sweet with rapturous love, his
eyes turned upward:
Why should I go to Ganga or Gaya, to Kasi, Kanchi, or Prabhas,
So long as I can breathe my last with Kali's name upon my lips?
So long as I can breathe my last with Kali's name upon my lips?
What need of rituals has a man, what need of devotions any more,
If he repeats the Mother's name at the three holy hours?
Rituals may pursue him close, but never can they overtake him.
Charity, vows, and giving of gifts dc not appeal to Madan's mind;
The Blissful Mother's Lotus Feet are his whole prayer and sacrifice.
Who could ever have conceived the power Her name possesses?
Siva Himself, the God of Gods, sings Her praise with His five mouths!
The Master was beside himself with love for the Divine Mother.
He sang with fiery enthusiasm:
It only I can pass away repeating Durga's name,
How canst Thou then, O Blessed One,
Withhold from me deliverance,
Wretched though I may be? . . .
"If you can give a spiritual turn to your tamas, you can realize God with
its help. Force your demands on God. He is by no means a stranger to you. He is
indeed your very own.
"Again, you see, the quality of tamas can be used for the welfare of
others. There are three classes of physicians: superior, mediocre, and
inferior. The physician who feels the patient's pulse and just says to him,
'Take the medicine regularly' belongs to the inferior class. He doesn't care to
inquire whether or not the patient has actually taken the medicine. The
mediocre physician is he who in various ways persuades the patient to take the
medicine, and says to him sweetly: 'My good man, how will you be cured unless
you use the medicine? Take this medicine. I have made it for you myself.' But
he who, finding the patient stubbornly refusing to take the medicine, forces it
down his throat, going so far as to put his knee on the patient's chest is the
best physician. This is the manifestation of the tamas of the physician. It
doesn't injure the patient; on the contrary, it does him good.
SOURCE: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishana
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