Weekly incident- determination

[Guest guest]

NAMASTE

 

Though I have read this incident several times, it never fails to astound me.

Every time I read it I get almost an electric shock of inspiration. The

incident takes place in Sri Ramakrishna's amazing and unbelieveably unique

period of sadhana. You may note that, as it says in the Gospel of Sri

Ramakrishna, before, during and after the period of the master's sadhana, he

knew he was God incarnate, that his sadhanas and gurus were simply for the

purpose of setting an example for millenia to come, and that they were

entirely unnecessary. He knew himself as the universal God of all beings

incarnated in flesh for the benefit of mankind.

 

The incident as written in Sri Ramakrishna The Great Master in the chapter

called " The Soul's Anguish and The First Vision " is as follows: . . . We

were told by the master himself that one day at that time, he sang for the

Divine Mother to hear, and then prayed to her weeping in his eagerness to

have the vision, " Dost Thou not, O Mother, hear even a little of the many

prayers i address to Thee? Why shouldst Thou not then reveal Thyself to me? "

He used to say, " There was then an intolerable anguish in my heart

because I could not have Her vision. Just as a man wrings a towel forcibly to

squeeze out all the water from it, I felt as if somebody caught hold of my

heart and mind and was wringing them likewise. Greatly afflicted with the

thought that I might never have Mother's vision, I was in great agony. I

thought that there was no use in living such a life. My eyes suddenly fell

upon the sword that was there in the Mother's temple. I made up my mind to

put an end to my life with it, that very moment. Like one mad, I ran and

caught hold of it, when suddenly I had the wonderful vision of the Mother and

fell down unconscious. I did not know what happened then in the external

world - how that day and the next slipped away. But, in my heart of hearts,

there was flowing a current of intense bliss, never experienced before, and I

had the immediate knowlege of the Light that is Mother.

It was as if the houses, doors, temples, and all other things

vanished altogether: as if there was nothing anywhere! And what I saw was a

boundless, infinite Conscious Sea of Light! However far and in whatever

direction I looked, I found a continous succession of Effulgent Waves coming

forward, raging and storming from all sides with great speed. Very soon they

fell on me and made me sink to the Abysmal Depths of Infinity. I panted and

struggled as it were and lost all sense of external consciousness. "

When that vision came to an end, there arose in the heart of the

Master an eager, incessant urge and aspiration for a constant immediate

vision of the Divine Mother's form, consisting of Consciousness only. [The

Master used to say] " I saw the form of the Mother that smiled, spoke and

consoled and taught me in endless ways! "