Power of God's name

MASTER: “Why, if one chants the name of God, meditates on Him, and takes refuge in Him-”

DR. SREENATH: “But, sir, how can one escape Prārabdha , the effect of action performed in previous births?”

MASTER: “No doubt a man experiences a little of the effect; but much of it is cancelled by the power of God’s name. A man was born blind of an eye. This was his punishment for a certain misdeed he had committed in his past birth, and the punishment was to remain with him for six more births. Be, however, took a bath in the Ganges, which gives one liberation. This meritorious action could not cure his blindness, but it saved him from his future births.”

DR. SREENATH: “But, sir, the scriptures say that nobody can escape the fruit of karma.”

Dr. Sreenāth was ready to argue with the Master.

MASTER (to M.): “Why don’t you tell him that there is a great difference between the Isvarakoti and an ordinary man? An Isvarakoti cannot commit sin. Why don’t you tell him that?”

M. remained silent and then said to Rakhal, “You tell him.”

After a few minutes the physicians left the room. Sri Ramakrishna was talking to Rakhal Haldar.

HALDAR: “Dr. Sreenath studies Vedānta. He is a student of the Yoga-vasishtha.”

MASTER: “A householder should not hold the view that everything is illusory, like a dream.”

Referring to a man named Kalidas, a devotee said, “He too discusses Vedānta, but he has lost all his money in lawsuits.”

MASTER (smiling): “Yes, one proclaims everything to be māyā, and still one goes to court! (To Rakhal ) Mukherji of Janai, too, talked big. But at last he came to his senses.

If I were well I should have talked a little more with Dr. Sreenath. Can one obtain jnāna just by talking about it?”

HALDAR: “You are right, sir. I have seen enough of jnāna. Now all I need in order to live in the world is a little bhakti. The other day I came to you with a problem on my mind, and you solved it.“MASTER (eagerly): “What was it?”

HALDAR: “Sir, when that boy (pointing to the younger Naren) came in, you said he had controlled his passions.”

MASTER: “Yes, it is true. He is totally unaffected by worldliness. He says he doesn’t know what lust is. (To M.) Just feel my body. All the hair is standing on end.” The Master’s hair actually stood on end at the thought of a pure mind totally devoid of lust. He always said that God manifests Himself where there is no lust.

Rakhal Haldar took his leave.

Sri Ramakrishna was seated with the devotees. A crazy woman had been troubling everybody in order to see the Master. She had assumed toward him the attitude of a lover and often ran into the garden house and burst into the Master’s room. She had even been beaten by the devotees; but that did not stop her.

ŚAŚI: “If she comes again I shall shove her out of the place!”

MASTER (tenderly): “No, no! Let her come and go away.”

Rakhal : “At the beginning I too used to feel jealous of others when they visited the Master. But he graciously revealed to me that my guru is also the Guru of the Universe.

Has he taken this birth only for a few of us?”

ŚAŚI: “I don’t mean that. But why should she trouble him when he is ill? And she is such a nuisance!”

Rakhal : “We all give him trouble. Did we all come to him after attaining perfection? Haven’t we caused him suffering? How Narendra and some of the others behaved in the beginning! How they argued with him!”

ŚAŚI: “Whatever Narendra expressed in words he carried out in his actions.”

Rakhal: “How rude Dr. Sarkar has been to him! No one is guiltless, if it comes to that.”

MASTER (to Rakhal, tenderly): “Will you eat something?”

Rakhal: “Not now. Later on.”

Sri Ramakrishna asked M., by a sign, whether he was going to have his meal there.

Rakhal (to M.): “Please take your meal here. He is asking you to.”

Sri Ramakrishna was seated completely naked. He looked like a five-year-old boy. Just then the crazy woman climbed the stairs and stood near the door.M. (in a low voice, to Śaśi): “Ask her to salute him and go away. Don’t make any fuss.”

Śaśi took her downstairs.

It was the first day of the Bengali year. Many woman devotees arrived. They saluted Sri Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother. Among them were the wives of Balarām and Manomohan, and the brahmani of Baghbazar. Several of them had brought their children along.

Some of the women offered flowers at the Master’s feet. Two young girls, nine or ten years of age, sang a few songs.

First they sang:

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. . . . Then: There comes Radha, and there see your Krishna, With arching eyes and the flute at His lips.. . . And finally: O tongue, always repeat the name of Mother Durga! Who but your Mother Durga will save you in distress? . . .

Sri Ramakrishna said by a sign: “That’s good! They are singing of the Divine Mother.” The Brahmani of Baghbazar had the nature of a child. Sri Ramakrishna told Rakhal , by a sign, to ask her to sing. The devotees smiled as the brahmani sang: O Hari, I shall sport with You today;

For I have found You alone in the Nidhu wood. . . The woman devotees went downstairs.

It was afternoon. M. and a few other devotees were seated near the Master. Narendra came in. He looked, as the Master used to say, like an unsheathed sword.

Narendra sat down near the Master and within his hearing expressed his utter annoyance with women. He told the devotees what an obstacle women were in the path of God-realization.

Sri Ramakrishna made no response. He listened to Narendra.Narendra said again: “I want peace. I do not care even for God.”

Sri Ramakrishna looked at him intently without uttering a word. Now and then Narendra chanted, “Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, the Infinite.”

It was 8pm. Sri Ramakrishna sat on his bed. A few devotees sat on the floor in front of him. Surendra arrived from his office. He carried in his hands 4 oranges and two garlands of flowers. Now he looked at the Master and now at the devotees. He unburdened his heart to Sri Ramakrishna.

Surendra’s faith

SURENDRA (looking at M, and the others): “I have come after finishing my office work. I thought, ‘What is the good of standing on two boats at the same time?’ So I finished my duties first and then came here. Today is the first day of the year; it is also Tuesday, an auspicious day to worship the Divine Mother. But I didn’t go to Kalighat. I said to myself,’ ‘It will be enough if I see him who is Kāli Herself, and who has rightly understood Kāli.’ "

Sri Ramakrishna smiled.

SURENDRA: “It is said that a man should bring fruit and flowers when visiting his guru or a holy man. So I have brought these. . . . . (To the Master) I am spending all this money for you. God alone knows my heart. Some people feel grieved to give away a penny; and there are people who spend a thousand rupees without feeling any hesitation. God sees the inner love of a devotee and accepts his offering.”

Sri Ramakrishna said to Surendra, by a nod, that he was right.

SURENDRA: “I couldn’t come here yesterday. It was the last day of the year. But I decorated your picture with flowers.”

Sri Ramakrishna said to M., by a sign, “Ah, what devotion!”

SURENDRA: “As I was coming here I bought these two garlands for four ānnās .

Almost all the devotees took their leave. The Master asked M. to stroke his legs and fan him.