Purna's letter

Monday, August 31, 1885

Sri Ramakrishna was resting in his room. It was about eight o’clock in the evening.

Though ill and suffering, he constantly devoted himself to the welfare of the devotees.

Sometimes he felt restless, like a child; but the next moment he forgot all about his illness and became filled with ecstatic love of God. His love for the devotees was like that of a mother for her children.

Purna’s letter

Two days earlier, on Saturday night, he had received a letter from Purna. Purna had written: “I am feeling extremely happy. Now and then I cannot sleep at night for joy.”

After hearing the letter the Master had remarked: “I feel thrilled to hear this. Even later on, he will be able to keep this bliss. Let me see the letter.” He had pressed the letter in the palm of his hand and said: “Generally I cannot touch letters. But this is a good letter.”

That same night, while the Master was in bed, he had suddenly become covered with perspiration. He had sat up in bed, saying, “It seems to me that I shall not recover from this illness.” It had worried the devotees very much to hear this. The Holy Mother had come to the Temple Garden to wait on Sri Ramakrishna and was living in a room in the Nahabat.

The devotees, with the exception of one or two, were not aware of her presence. A woman devotee staying with the Holy Mother had begun to pay frequent visits to Sri Ramakrishna in his room. After a few days Sri Ramakrishna had said to her: “You have been here some time. What will people think about it? You had better go home for a week or so.”

Sri Ramakrishna lay in bed, on his side, with his back to the room. After dusk Gangadhar and M. arrived from Calcutta. Gangadhar sat at the feet of the Master, who was talking to M.

MASTER: “Two boys came here the other day. One of them was Subodh. He is Sankar Ghosh’s great grandson. The other, Kshirode, is his neighbour. They are nice boys. I toldthem I was ill and asked them to go to you for instruction. Please look after them a little.”

M: “Yes, sir. They are our neighbours.”

MASTER: “The other day, again, I woke up covered with perspiration. I don’t understand this illness.”

M: “We have decided to ask Bhagavan Rudra to see you once. He is an M.D. and an expert physician.”

MASTER: “How much will he charge?”

M: “His regular fee is twenty or twenty-five rupees.”

MASTER: “Then don’t bother about him.”

M: “But we shall pay him four or five rupees at the most.”

MASTER: “Listen. Suppose you say this to him, ‘Sir, please be kind enough to come and see him.’ Hasn’t he heard anything about this place?”

M: “Perhaps he has. He has almost agreed not to charge any fee. But we shall pay him a little. If we do that, he will come again.”

MASTER: “Ask Dr. Nitai to come. He is a good physician. But what will the doctors do, I wonder? They press my throat and make my illness worse.”

It was nine o’clock in the evening. Sri Ramakrishna ate a little farina pudding and had no difficulty in swallowing it. He said to M. cheerfully: “I was able to eat a little. I feel very happy.”

Tuesday, September 1

Sri Ramakrishna was about to take his bath. A devotee was rubbing his Body with oil on the verandah south of his room. M. came there after finishing his bath in the Ganges and saluted the Master.

After bathing, Sri Ramakrishna wrapped himself in a towel and with folded hands saluted the deities in the temples from afar. He could not go to the temples because of his illness.

It was the sacred Janmasthami day, the birthday of Krishna. Ram and other devotees had brought new clothes for Sri Ramakrishna. He put them on and looked charming. Again he saluted the deities.

Gopal Ma brought her Gopala some food that she had prepared at her home at Kamarhati. She said to the Master sorrowfully, “But you won’t eat any of it.“MASTER: “You see, I am ill.”

GOPAL MA “That is my bad luck. Please take a little in your hand.”

MASTER: “Please give me your blessing.”

A devotee brought some sugar candy. Gopal Ma said, “Let me take it to the Holy Mother in the nahabat.” The Master said: “No, keep it here. I give sweets to the devotees. Who wants to send a messenger a hundred times to the nahabat for sugar candy? Let it be kept here.”

It was 11an. The devotees were gradually arriving from Calcutta. Balarām, Narendra, the younger Naren, NavaGopal, and a Vaishnava from katoa arrived. Rakhal and Lātu were staying with Sri Ramakrishna. A Punjabi sādhu had been staying in the Panchavati for some days.

The younger Naren had a tumour on his forehead. Sri Ramakrishna was strolling in the Panchavati with the devotees. He said to the younger Naren: “Why don’t you have your tumour operated on? It is not in the throat but only on the forehead. That is a simple thing. People have their orchitis operated on.”

The Punjabi sādhu was going along the footpath in the garden. The Master said: “I don’t attract him. He has the attitude of a Jnāni. I find him to be dry as wood.” Sri Ramakrishna and the devotees returned to the Master’s room. The conversation turned to Shyamapada Bhattacharya.

BALARĀM: “Shyamapada said, ‘When he, the Master, placed his foot on Narendra’s chest, Narendra went into bhava; but I didn’t have that experience’ “.

MASTER: “Shall I tell you the truth about it? It is very difficult to gather the dispersed mind when it is attached to ‘woman and gold’. The pundit told me he was called upon to act as arbiter to settle people’s quarrels. Besides, he has to worry about his children. But the minds of Narendra and other youngsters are not scattered like that; they are not yet touched by ‘woman and gold’.

“But Shyamapada is a grand person.”

The Vaishnava from Katoa began to ask Sri Ramakrishna questions. He was squint-eyed.

About rebirth

VAISHNAVA: “Sir, is a man born again?”

MASTER: “It is said in the Gitā that a man is reborn with those tendencies that are in his mind at the time of his death. King Bharata thought of his deer at the time of death and was reborn as a deer.“VAISHNAVA: “I could believe in rebirth only if an eye-witness told me about it.”

MASTER: “I don’t know about that, my dear sir. I cannot cure my own illness, and you ask me to tell you what happens after death!

“What you are talking about only shows your petty mind. Try to cultivate love of God. You are born as a human being only to attain divine love. You have come to the orchard to eat mangoes; what need is there of knowing how many thousands of branches and millions of leaves there are in the orchard? To bother about what happens after death!

How silly!”

Girish and Master

Girish Ghosh arrived in a carriage with one or two friends. He was drunk. He was weeping as he entered the room. He wept, as he placed his head on Sri Ramakrishna’s feet.

Sri Ramakrishna affectionately patted him on the back. He said to a devotee, “Prepare a smoke for him.”

Girish raised his head and said with folded hands: “You alone are the Perfect Brahman! If that is not so then everything is false. “It is such a pity that I could not be of any service to you,” He uttered these words with a tenderness that made several devotees weep.

Girish continued: “O Lord! Please grant me the boon that I may serve you for a year. Who cares for salvation? One finds it everywhere. I spit on it. Please tell me that you will accept my service for one year.”

MASTER: “People around here are not good. Some may criticize you.”

GIRISH: “I don’t care. Please tell-”

MASTER: “All right. You may serve me when I go to your house.”

GIRISH: “No, it is not that. I want to serve you here.”

Girish was insistent. The Master said, “Well, that depends on God’s will.”

Referring to the Master’s throat trouble, Girish said: “Please say, ‘Let it be cured.’ All right, I shall thrash it out. Kāli! Kāli!”

MASTER: “You will hurt me.”

GIRISH: “O throat, be cured! (He blows at the throat like an exorciser.) Are you not all right? If you aren’t cured by this time, you certainly will be if I have any devotion to your feet. Say that you are cured.

MASTER (sharply): “Leave me alone. I can’t say those things. I can’t ask the Divine Mother to cure my illness. “All right. I shall be cured if it is the will of God.”

GIRISH: “You are trying to fool me. All depends on your will.”

MASTER: “Shame! Never say that again. I look on myself as a devotee of Krishna, not as

Krishna Himself. You may think as you like. You may look on your guru as God.

Nevertheless, it is wrong to talk as you are talking. You must not talk that way again.”

GIRISH: “Please say you will be cured.”

MASTER: “Very well, if that pleases you.”

Girish was still under the influence of drink. Now and then he said to Sri Ramakrishna,

“Well, sir, how is it that you were not born this time with your celestial beauty?”

A few moments later he said, “I see, this time it will be the salvation of Bengal.”

A devotee said to himself: “Why Bengal alone? It will be the salvation of the whole world.”

Girish said addressing the devotees: “Does any of you understand why he is here? It is for the liberation of men. Their suffering has moved him to assume a human body.”

The coachman was calling Girish. He got up and was going toward the man. The Master said to M.: “Watch him. Where is he going? I hope he won’t beat the coachman!” M. accompanied Girish.

Presently Girish returned. He prayed to Sri Ramakrishna and said, “O God, give me purity that I may not have even a trace of sinful thought.”

MASTER: “You are already pure. You have such faith and devotion! You are in a state of joy, aren’t you?”

GIRISH: “No, sir. I feel bad. I have worries. That is why I have drunk so much liquor.” A few minutes afterwards Girish said: “Lord, I am amazed to find that I, even I, have been given the privilege of serving the Perfect Brahman. What austerities have I practised to deserve this privilege?”