The Story of Sri Ramakrishna continued....
About this time he began to worship God by assuming the attitude of a servant toward his
master. He imitated the mood of Hanuman, the monkey chieftain of the Ramayana, the
ideal servant of Rama and traditional model for this self-effacing form of devotion. When
he meditated on Hanuman his movements and his way of life began to resemble those of a
monkey. His eyes became restless. He lived on fruits and roots. With his cloth tied around
his waist, a portion of it hanging in the form of a tail, he jumped from place to place instead
of walking. And after a short while he was blessed with a vision of Sita, the divine consort
of Rama, who entered his body and disappeared there with the words, "I bequeath to you
my smile."
Mathur had faith in the sincerity of Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual zeal, but began now to
doubt his sanity. He had watched him jumping about like a monkey. One day, when Rani
Rasmani was listening to Sri Ramakrishna's singing in the temple, the young priest abruptly
turned and slapped her. Apparently listening to his song, she had actually been thinking of a
lawsuit. She accepted the punishment as though the Divine Mother Herself had imposed it;
but Mathur was distressed. He begged Sri Ramakrishna to keep his feelings under control
and to heed the conventions of society. God Himself, he argued, follows laws. God never
permitted, for instance, flowers of two colours to grow on the same stalk. The following
day Sri Ramakrishna presented Mathur Babu with two hibiscus flowers growing on the
same stalk, one red and one white.
Mathur and Rani Rasmani began to ascribe the mental ailment of Sri Ramakrishna in part,
at least, to his observance of rigid continence. Thinking that a natural life would relax the
tension of his nerves, they engineered a plan with two women of ill fame. But as soon as
the women entered his room, Sri Ramakrishna beheld in them the manifestation of the
Divine Mother of the Universe and went into samadhi uttering Her name.
Haladhari
In 1858 there came to Dakshineswar a cousin of Sri Ramakrishna, Haladhari by name, who
was to remain there about eight years. On account of Sri Ramakrishna's indifferent health,
Mathur appointed this man to the office of priest in the Kali temple. He was a complex
character, versed in the letter of the scriptures, but hardly aware of their spirit. He loved to
participate in hair-splitting theological discussions and, by the measure of his own
erudition, he proceeded to gauge Sri Ramakrishna. An orthodox brahmin, he thoroughly
disapproved of his cousin's unorthodox actions, but he was not unimpressed by Sri
Ramakrishna's purity of life, ecstatic love of God, and yearning for realization.
One day Haladhari upset Sri Ramakrishna with the statement that God is incomprehensible
to the human mind. Sri Ramakrishna has described the great moment of doubt when he
wondered whether his visions had really misled him: "With sobs I prayed to the Mother,
'Canst Thou have the heart to deceive me like this because I am a fool?' A stream of tears
flowed from my eyes. Shortly afterwards I saw a volume of mist rising from the floor and
filling the space before me. In the midst of it there appeared a face with flowing beard,
calm, highly expressive, and fair. Fixing its gaze steadily upon me, it said solemnly,
'Remain in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness.' This it repeated three
times and then it gently disappeared in the mist, which itself dissolved. This vision
reassured me."
A garbled report of Sri Ramakrishna's failing health, indifference to worldly life, and
various abnormal activities reached Kamarpukur and filled the heart of his poor mother
with anguish. At her repeated request he returned to his village for a change of air. But his
boyhood friends did not interest him any more. A divine fever was consuming him. He
spent a great part of the day and night in one of the cremation grounds, in meditation. The
place reminded him of the impermanence of the human body, of human hopes and
achievements. It also reminded him of Kali, the Goddess of destruction.
to be continued....
