Krishna/Friends,
I have posted in the rough note book thread the following incident...and I am posting it here again:
Sri Ramakrishna had a householder disciple, an ishwarakoti (godlike soul), whose name was Purna Chandra Ghosh. Long after Sri Ramakrishna passed away, there was trouble in Purna's family and he wanted to commit suicide. He decided to bathe first, and then pay his respects to his guru before killing himself. He took a bath, then went to the shrine and bowed down to the Master. But then he thought: "Let me read a little bit of the Kathamrita. Taking the beautiful message of the Master, I shall depart from this world." He opened the book at random and his eyes fell on this sentence: "Purna is a young devotee. The Master was thinking of his welfare." "What?" cried Purna. "The Master is thinking of me and I shall commit suicide? Impossible! He is thinking of my welfare and I am contemplating killing myself. It cannot be." He gave up the idea and thus his life was saved. Such is the power of the words of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna!
I have seen this sort of a thing first hand ...when my younger sister lost her only son aged 17 in a tragic road accident on the treacherous Tanjore-Kumbhakonam highway...He was studying at Loyola College chennai and as Colleges were closed (Mr Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister and he had ordered closure of colleges for a trivial political partisan reason) and the lad gone along with his friends on a holiday outing...We brought his lifeless body home and the next day he was cremated...and that very night I handed a copy of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to sister and asked her to read a portion of it before retiring to bed...She later told me what happened...As she opened the book,her eyes fell on this song Of Ramprasad that the master sang....and it immediately assuaged her grief :
Divine Mother's sport
Then the Master sang the following song in his melodious voice:
In the world's busy market-place, O Syama, Thou art flying kites; High up they soar on the wind of hope, held fast by maya's string. Their framesare human skeletons, their sails of the three gunas made; But all their curious workmanship is merelyfor ornament. Upon the kite-strings Thou hast rubbed the manja-paste of worldliness, So as to makeeachstraining strand all the more sharp and strong.
Out of a hundred thousand kites, at best but one or two breakfree; And Thou dost laugh and clap Thy hands, O Mother, watching them! On favouring winds, says Ramprasad, the kites set loose will speedily Be borne away to the Infinite, across the sea of the world.
The Master said: "The Divine Mother is always playful and sportive. This universe is Her play. She is self-willed and must always have Her own way. She is full of bliss. She gives freedom to one out of a hundred thousand."
A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: "But, sir, if She likes, She can give freedom to all. Why, then, has She kept us bound to the world?"
MASTER: "That is Her will. She wants to continue playing with Her created beings. In a game of hide-and-seek the running about soon stops if in the beginning all the playerstouch the 'granny'. If all touch her, then how can the game go on? That displeases her. Her pleasure is in continuing the game. Therefore the poet said:
Out of a hundred thousand kites, at best but one or two breakfree; And Thou dost laugh and clap Thy hands, O Mother, watching them!
Reassurance to householders
"It is as if the Divine Mother said to the human mind in confidence, with a sign from Her eye, 'Go and enjoy the world.' How can one blame the mind? The mind can disentangle itself from worldliness if, through Her grace, She makes it turn toward Herself. Only then does it become devoted to the Lotus Feet of the Divine Mother."
Sister subsequently lost her husband few years ago...and has taken it all in her stride and is well fortified in her spiritual path...and gamely carries on...she teaches poor children at the Ramakrishna Math & Mission school as a volunteer...Once the Pujari swami at the Mylapore Math enquired her about her 'family' and was speechless after listening that they are gone!...He was much moved and said 'Amma,we are all your children...You are Blessed ...Mostly people would lose all faith and become disoriented'.
I rarely share personal stories...it is just to say that this 'book' called 'The Kathamrita' or 'The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna' is not just a 'Book' but is something of a boon...it provides satsangh with the Master...and there is no aspect of spiritual life that is not covered here...and most importantly it caters to both lay devotees as well as Ripe devotees...I have personally seen any number of people drawing inspiration from this inexhaustible resource.
Namaskar