Excerpt From 'Sri Ramakrishna,The Great Master' continued...
10. The outward behaviour of Narendra at that time.
Sending him word through a servant, we were sitting in a room of the outer apartment, when a young man entered the room and lolling against a bolster began humming a Hindi song in an absolutely nonchalant manner, which indicated his familiarity with the owner of the house. The song, as far as we remember, related to Sri Krishna; for, the two words 'Kanai' and 'flute' distinctly fell on our ears. We could not view the young man with a kind eye inasmuch as his song about the 'black one's flute' and his familiarity with our unprincipled friend were associated in our minds with his dress which, though not smacking of up-to-date fashions, was clean, his hair which was well tended and his looks of absent-mindedness, easily mistaken for coldness. Seeing him behave unabashedly in that manner and smoke tobacco afterwards, ignoring our presence altogether, we happened to receive the impression that he was a faithful follower of our unprincipled friend and that the latter had acquired his evil ways by mixing with such young men. Anyway, we also did not try to get introduced to him as he assumed an attitude of great indifference and continued to be in his own mood even though he noticed us.
11. Narendra's talk on literature with the friend.
Our boyhood friend came out shortly after and speaking to us a word or two only though we met each other after a long interval, began delightfully to talk on various subjects with the young man. Though we did not like that indifference of his, we thought it was against etiquette to take leave suddenly and were listening to the conversation on English and Bengali literatures, which our friend, the litterateur, had with the young man. Although, when they began the conversation, they were to a great extent agreed as to the function of high class literature, namely, that it should correctly express human sentiments, there arose a difference of opinion between them regarding the question whether a composition expressing any and every kind of human sentiment should be called literature only because it correctly represents it. Our friend, as far as we can remember, took up the affirmative position, whereas the young man held the contrary opinion. He refuted our friend's position and tried to convince him that no composition, simply by virtue of its expressing a sentiment, good or bad, correctly, could be classed as a piece of high class literature if it did not accord with good taste and establish a high ideal. In support of his own position, the young man mentioned the books of the famous English and Bengali literary men beginning with Chaucer and showed, how each of them gained immortality because he adhered to this high principle. The young man said in conclusion, "Although man feels all kinds of good and bad sentiments, he has always been straining to express some particular ideal in his mind. It is only in the realization and manifestation of that particular ideal that all the difference between man and man exists. Thinking that the enjoyment of sights, tastes, etc., is permanent and real, ordinary men make the realization of it the aim of their life. They idealize what is apparently real. There is little difference between those people and beasts. High class literature can never be created by men of this type. There is another class of men who, unable to remain satisfied with the realization of the pleasure of enjoying what is seemingly real, feel higher and higher ideals within and are anxious to mould all outward things after that pattern-they want to realize the ideal.It is this class of men only who create real literature. Again, those among them who have recourse to the highest ideal and try to realize it in life, have generally to stand outside worldly life. I have seen the Paramahamsa of Dakshineswar alone to have realized that ideal in life. That is why I have reverence for him."
12. We came to be acquainted with Narendra's greatness through the Master.
We were, of course, astonished with the scholarship of the young man and his power of expressing those profound ideas; but we were disappointed to think that there was no agreement between his words and actions inasmuch as we found a close relation existing between him and our friend. We then took leave of our friend. We were charmed to hear from the Master the above-mentioned catalogue of Narendra's good qualities a few months after this event and went to his house to be introduced to him. When we came to know that the young man seen by us before was the Master's much-praised Narendranath our astonishment knew no limit.
13. The Master recognized Narendra from the beginning.
Ordinary people, contented with walking along the beaten track, happened very often to regard Narendra as arrogant and insolent and of improper conduct, when they saw his external behaviour; but the Master never fell into that error. From the very start of their acquaintance, he could understand that Narendra's 'arrogance and insolence' arose from his great self-confidence, which was the result of the extraordinary mental power hidden within him, that his absolutely free behaviour indicated nothing but the self-control natural to him, and that his indifference to the respect shown by people arose from the self-satisfaction due to his pure character. He had the conviction that later on the extraordinary nature of Narendra would fully blossom like a lotus of a thousand petals and would be established in its own incomparable glory and greatness. Coming then into collision with the world, scorched by miseries, that arrogance and insolence of his would melt into infinite compassion, his extraordinary self-confidence would re-instil hopes in the broken-hearted and his free behaviour, remaining within the bounds of control in all respects, would point out to others that self-control alone was the path to real Freedom.
Excerpts from 'Sri Ramakrishna,The Great Master'-Swami saradananda.
