Divine madness

“Radha was mad with prema, ecstatic love of God. But there is also the madness of bhakti. Hanuman’s was such. When he saw Sita entering the fire he was going to kill Rāma. Then, too, there is the madness of Knowledge. I once saw a Jnāni behaving like a madman. He came here very soon after the temple garden was dedicated. People said he belonged to the Brahmo Sabha of Rammohan Roy. He had a torn shoe on one foot, a stick in one hand, and a potted mango-plant in the other.

After a dip in the Ganges he went to the Kāli temple where Haladhāri was seated. With great fervour he began to chant a hymn to the Divine Mother. Then he went up to a dog, held it by the ear, and ate some of its food. The dog didn’t mind. Just at that time I too was about to experience the state of divine madness. I threw my arm around Hriday’s neck and said, ‘Oh, Hride! Shall I too fall into that plight?’

Master’s God-intoxicated condition

“I became mad. Narayan Shastri came here and saw me roaming about with a bamboo pole on my shoulder. He said to the people, ‘Ah, he is mad!’ In that state I could not observe any caste restrictions. The wife of a low caste man used to send me cooked greens, and I ate them.

“I touched my head and lips with the leaf-plates from which the beggars ate their food in the guest-house of the Kāli temple. Thereupon Haladhāri said to me: ‘What have you done? You have taken the food left by beggars. How will you marry off your children?’ These words aroused my anger.

Haladhāri was my cousin, older than myself. But could that restrain me? I said to him: ‘You wretch! Isn’t it you who take pride in the study of the Gitā and the Vedānta? Isn’t it you who teach people that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory? And yet you imagine that I shall beget children! May your mouth that recites from the Gitā be blighted!’

(To M.) “You see, mere study of books avails nothing. One may recite the written part for the drum glibly from memory, but to play the drum is exceedingly difficult.” The Master continued with the description of his divine madness:

“Once, for a few days, I was out on an excursion with Mathur Babu in his house-boat. We took the trip for a change of air. During that trip we visited Navadvip. One day I saw the boatmen cooking their meal and stood and watched them. Mathur said to me, ‘What are you doing there?’ I replied with a smile, ‘The boatmen are cooking, and their food looks very good.’ Mathur felt that I might ask the boatmen to give me a portion of their food; so he said: ‘Come away! Come away!’

“But I cannot do such a thing now. I am no longer in that mood. Now the food must be cooked by a brahmin observing ceremonial purity, and be offered to the Deity; then only can I eat it.

“Oh, what moods I passed through! At Kamarpukur I said to Chine Sankhari and the other chums of my boyhood days, ‘Oh, I fall at your feet and beg of you to utter the name of Hari.’ I was about to prostrate myself before them all. Thereupon Chine said, ‘This is the first outburst of your divine love; so you don’t see any distinction between one man and another.’ When the storm breaks and raises the dust, then mango and tamarind trees look the same. One cannot distinguish the one from the other.”

A DEVOTEE: “How can a householder keep on with his worldly duties if he is overwhelmed by such bhakti-madness or Love-madness or Knowledge madness?”

Two kinds of yogis

MASTER (looking at him): “There are two kinds of yogis, the ‘revealed’ and the ‘hidden’.

The householder may be a ‘hidden’ yogi. None recognizes him. The householder should renounce mentally, not outwardly.”

RAM: “You talk as if you were consoling children. A householder may be a Jnāni but never a vijnāni.”

MASTER: “He may become a vijnāni in the end. But it is not good to force oneself into renunciation.”

RAM: “Keshab Sen used to say: ‘Why do people go to him so much? One day he will sting them and they will flee from him.’ "

MASTER: “Why should I sting people? I say to people: ‘Do this as well as that. Do your worldly duties and call on God as well.’ I don’t ask them to renounce everything. (With a smile) One day Keshab was delivering a lecture. He said, ‘O Lord, grant us that we may dive into the river of divine love and go straight to the Ocean of Satchidananda.’ The ladies were seated behind the screen. I said to Keshab, ‘How can you all dive once for all?’ Pointing to the ladies, I said: ‘Then what would happen to them? Every now and then you must return to dry land. You must dive and rise alternately.’ Keshab and the others laughed.

“Hazra says to me, ‘You love most those endowed with rajas, those who have great wealth and name and fame.’ If that is so, then why do I love people like Harish and Loto? Why do I love Narendra? He can’t even afford salt to season his roast banana!” Sri Ramakrishna left his from and went toward the pine-grove talking with M. A devotee followed them with water and towel. The Master was talking about his intended visit to the Star Theatre.

He said to M.: “What Ram says applies to rajasic people. What is the use of reserving an expensive seat?”

About 5pm, Sri Ramakrishna was on his way to Calcutta. M., Mahendra Mukherji, and a few other devotees accompanied him in Mahendra’s carriage.

Thinking of God, the Master soon went into an ecstatic mood. After a long time he regained consciousness of the world. He observed: “That fellow Hazra dares teach me! The rascal!” After a short pause he said, “shall drink some water.” He often made such remarks in order to bring his mind down to the sense plane.

MAHENDRA (to M.): “May I get some refreshments for him?”

M: “No, he won’t eat anything now.”

MASTER (still in ecstatic mood): “I shall eat.”

Mahendra took the Master to his flour-mill located at Hathibagan. After a little rest Sri Ramakrishna was to go to the theatre. Mahendra did not care to take him to his own house, for the Master was not well acquainted with his father. Priyanath, Mahendra’s second brother, was also a devotee of the Master.

Sri Ramakrishna was sitting on a cot over which a carpet had been spread, and was engaged in spiritual talk.

MASTER (to M. and the others): “Once, while listening to the various incidents of the life of Chaitanya, Hazra said that these were manifestations of Śakti, and that Brahman, the All-pervasive Spirit, had nothing to do with them. But can there be Śakti without Brahman? Hazra wants to nullify the teachings of this place.