About Hriday

MASTER: “Hriday is even now clamouring for land. He said to me one day while he was living with me at Dakshineswar, ‘Give me a shawl, or I will sue you.’ The Divine Mother removed him from Dakshineswar. He pestered the visitors for money. If he had stayed with me all these people could not have come. That is why the Mother removed him. R- also began to act that way. He became querulous. When he was asked to accompany me in a carriage he would hold back. He would be annoyed if the other youngsters came to me.

If I went to Calcutta to see them, he would say: ‘Why should you bother about them? Will they renounce the world?’ If I wanted to offer refreshments to the other young boys, I would be afraid of R-and say to him, ‘Take some yourself and then give it to them.’ I came to know that he would not stay with me. Thereupon I Said to the Divine Mother, ‘Mother, don’t remove him altogether, like Hriday.’ Then I came to know that he was going to Vrindāvan. If R-had stayed with me at that time, all these youngsters could not have mixed with me. He left for Vrindāvan and these young boys began to visit me frequently.”

R- (humbly): “Sir, that wasn’t really in my mind.”

RAM (to R-): “Do you think you understand your mind as well as he understands it?”

R- remained silent.

MASTER (to R-): “Why should you feel that way? I love you more than a father loves his son. . . . Now please keep quiet. . . You no longer have that attitude.”

After a time the devotees went to another room. Sri Ramakrishna sent for R- and said to him, “Did you mind what I said?”

R-: “No, sir.”

Sri Ramakrishna said to M.: “It is the day of the Kāli Puja. It is good to make some arrangements for the worship. Please speak to the devotees about it.”

M. went to the drawing-room and told the devotees what the Master had said. Kalipada and others busied themselves with the arrangements.About two o’clock in the afternoon Dr. Sarkar arrived, accompanied by Professor Nilmani.

The doctor listened to the report of the illness and prescribed medicine. Sri Ramakrishna said to him, “These two books have been purchased for you.” M. handed him the books.

The doctor wanted to hear some songs. At the Master’s bidding, M. and another devotee sang:

How are you trying O my mind, to know the nature of God? You are groping like a madman locked in a dark room. . .

Then they sang:

Who is there that can understand what Mother Kāli is? Even the six darsanas are powerless to reveal Her. It is She, the scriptures say, that is the Inner Self Of the yogi, who in Self discovers all his joy;

She that, of Her own sweet will, inhabits every living thing. The macrocosm and microcosm rest in the Mother’s womb; Now do you see how vast it is? In the Muladhara The yogi meditates on Her, and in the Sahasrara: Who but Śiva has beheld Her as She really is? Within the lotus wilderness She sports beside Her Mate, the Swan.

When man aspires to understand Her, Ramprasad must smile; To think of knowing Her, he says, is quite as laughable As to imagine one can swim across the boundless sea. But while my mind has understood, alas! my heart has not; Though but a dwarf, it still would strive to make a captive of the moon.

Again they sang:

O mind, you do not know how to farm! Fallow lies the field of your life. If you had only worked it well, How rich a harvest you might reap! . . .

Then: Come, let us go for a walk, O mind, to Kāli, the Wish-fulfilling Tree, And there beneath It gather the four fruits of life. . . .

Dr. Sarkar said to Girish, “That song of yours is very nice-the one about the vina, in the Life of Buddha.” At a hint from the Master, Girish and Kalipada sang together: Behold my vina, my dearly beloved, My lute of sweetest tone; If tenderly you play on it,The strings will waken, at your touch, To rarest melodies. . .

They continued:

We moan for rest, alas! but rest can never find; We know not whence we come, nor where we float away. Time and again we tread this round of smiles and tears; In vain we pine to know whither our pathway leads, And why we play this empty play. . . .

They sang again:

Hold me fast, O Nitai! I feel as if I shall pass away! Bestowing Hari’s name on men, I raised high waves in the river of my love, And now upon its raging stream I am carried helplessly. With grief my heart is laden down; Alas! Nitai, to whom shall I speak of it? Behold, I am swiftly borne away by the current of man’s deep woe.

Then they sang:

Jagai! Madhai! Oh come and dance, Chanting Hari’s name with fervour! . . .

And finally:

Come one and all! Take Radha’s love! The high tide of her love flows by; It will not last for very long. Oh, come then! Come ye, one and all! . . .

Listening to these songs, two or three of the devotees-among them, Manindra and Lātu, went into a spiritual mood. Lātu was seated by Niranjan’s side. When the singing was over, the Master spoke with the doctor. The previous day Dr. Pratap Mazumdar had prescribed nux vomica for the Master. Dr. Sarkar was annoyed to hear of it.

DOCTOR: “To give him nux vomica! Why, I am not dead yet”

MASTER (smiling): “Why should you die? God forbid! May your avidyā die.”

DOCTOR: “I never have any avidyā!”

Dr. Sarkar understood avidyā to mean “Mistress”.

MASTER (smiling): “Oh, no! I don’t mean that! In the case of a sannyāsi, his mother, Avidyā, Ignorance, dies giving birth to a child, Viveka, Discrimination.“Hariballav arrived. Sri Ramakrishna said, “I feel very happy when I see you.” Hariballav was a man of very humble nature; he sat on the bare floor and not on the mat. He began to fan the Master. He was the government lawyer at Cuttack. Professor Nilmani sat near them. Sri Ramakrishna did not want to offend him; casting his glance on the professor, he said, “Oh, what a grand day it is for me!”

A few minutes later Dr. Sarkar and Professor Nilmani took their leave. Hariballav also departed, saying that he would come again.

Worship of Kāli

It is the dark night of the new moon. At seven o’clock the devotees make arrangements for the worship of Kāli in Sri Ramakrishna’s room on the second floor. Flowers, sandal- paste, vilwa-leaves, red hibiscus, rice pudding, and various sweets and other articles of worship are placed in front of the Master. The devotees are sitting around him. There are present, among others, Sarat, Śaśi, Ram, Girish, Chunilal, M., Rakhal, Niranjan, and the younger Naren.

Sri Ramakrishna asks a devotee to bring some incense. A few minutes later he offers all the articles to the Divine Mother. M. is seated close to him. Looking at M., he says to the devotees, “Meditate a little.” The devotees close their eyes.

Presently Girish offers a garland of flowers at Sri Ramakrishna’s feet. M. offers flowers and sandal-paste. Rakhal, Ram, and the other devotees follow him.

Niranjan offers a flower at Sri Ramakrishna’s feet, crying: “Brahmamayi! Brahmamayi!” and prostrates himself before him, touching the Master’s feet with his head. The devotees cry out, “Jai Ma!”, “Hail to the Mother!”