Swami Adbhutananda

[Guest guest]

February 18, 2000

 

NAMASTE

 

Tomorrow, February 19, 2000, a full moon day, is the birthday of Swami

Adbhutananda, a very unique monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. I wrote a

speech about his life to be presented tomorrow morning at Vivekananda

Vidyapith, Wayne New Jersey. The following is the first part of the

biography. Tomorrow the last part will be mailed out. I used the book

" Apostles of Sri Ramakrishna " by Swami Gambhirananda to write it.

 

I hope you enjoy it.

 

Hari Om

-OM LALA

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SWAMI ADBHUTANANDA

 

One of the most unique disciples of Sri Ramakrishna was Swami

Adbhutananda, lovingly known as Latu Maharaj. He is unique because, unlike

all the other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, he was entirely illiterate and

uneducated. Even with this drawback, he eventually attained the acme of

spiritual realization.

Swami Adbhutananda's birthdate is unknown. As a world-renouncing

sannyasin, he very seldom talked about anything except God and realizing Him

so little of his childhood is known. But, it is known that his childhood

name was Rakhturam which was shortened to Latu and that his parents were

extremely poor. Sadly, both of Latu's parents died when Latu was only five.

He was then taken care of by his uncle. Eventually he moved to Calcutta

with his uncle and found a job as a house-boy in the house of Ramachandra

Datta, who, as fate would have it, happened to be a disciple of Sri

Ramakrishna. Since there was constant talk of God in the house of

Ramachandra, Latu's mind was spiritually influenced. When he heard about Sri

Ramakrishna, he had a great desire to see him which he kept a secret. One

day Ramchandra Datta wanted some fruits and sweets sent to the Master and

asked Latu to take them to him. Latu was thrilled.

On first sight of Sri Ramakrishna, Latu immediately felt a great love and

resignation in his heart even though he did not know why. Sri Ramakrishna

was delighted with the potential spirituality that he saw in Latu. Even

though the young Latu was unaware of the unfathomable greatness of Sri

Ramakrishna, he still felt immensely drawn to him. After this first meeting,

Latu could no longer pay much attention to his job and showed general

indifference. After just the first meeting, Sri Ramakrishna had stolen his

heart.

At this time, the Master went to Kamarpukur for a period of eight months.

During this time, his separation from the Master caused Latu intense

suffering. He later recalled, " You cannot conceive of the sufferings I had

at that time. I would go to the Master's room, wander hither and thither.

But everything would seem insipid. I would weep alone to unburden my heart. "

After the Master returned, Latu realized that his love for the Master had

grown so much that he could not do his job and only wanted to serve him. Sri

Ramakrishna also needed an attendant, so Latu went to live with and serve the

Master.

The sweet relationship between Latu and the Master is of great interest.

Even though the Master was not very literate, he could still manage to

somehow read and write. Latu on the other hand could not even do this. the

following is an amusing incident: Once Sri Ramakrishna tried with all his

effort to teach Latu how to read and write. But Latu pronounced the letters

of the Bengali alphabet in such an incredibly contorted way, that Sri

Ramakrishna eventually gave up from sheer despair. To the delight of

everyone around him, Latu could speak nothing but a mixture of Hindi and

Bengali. Aside from most often calling him Latu, Sri Ramakrishna would

affectionately call him by the name " Leto " or " Neto " Later, Swami

Vivekananda would call him " Plato " , the name of the Greek philosopher, and

joke in similar ways with him.

Latu served Sri Ramakrishna with all his heart and that became his most

important sadhana. He would often experience spiritual ecstasies by the

grace of Sri Ramakrishna. Once the Master asked Latu, " What is God doing at

this very instant? " Latu said that he did not know. The Master then said,

" He is making a camel pass through the eye of a needle. " Latu then

understood that though he was uneducated and seemingly unfit, Sri

Ramakrishna, out of his great compassion, was molding him to later become a

spiritual giant.

Once the Master found Latu sleeping at an odd time in the evening, maybe

because he was tired from the day's work. The Master lightly reprimanded him

for sleeping at such an odd time saying, " If you sleep at such an odd time,

when will you meditate? " From then on, Latu not only did not sleep at odd

times, but gave up sleep at night all together. He would keep awake for the

whole night repeating the name of God and take a brief nap during the day.

Latu never debated, doubted, or discussed instructions from his guru. His

spirituality was not in talking but was always in doing and practicing. He

never liked to discuss, but only wanted to realize, and realize he did.

Latu also had a very unique relationship with Holy mother. Holy Mother

would never talk to any outsiders as she was very shy being brought up in a

village. But Holy Mother had always looked upon Latu as her child. He was

her humble assistant in the service of the Master and revered her greatly.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

[Guest guest]

Thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed the first part.

 

Vinaire

 

-

<Vidya123

<Ramakrishna >; <Vivekananda >

Friday, February 18, 2000 6:06 PM

[ramakrishna] Swami Adbhutananda

 

 

> Vidya123

>

> February 18, 2000

>

> NAMASTE

>

> Tomorrow, February 19, 2000, a full moon day, is the birthday of Swami

> Adbhutananda, a very unique monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. I wrote

a

> speech about his life to be presented tomorrow morning at Vivekananda

> Vidyapith, Wayne New Jersey. The following is the first part of the

> biography. Tomorrow the last part will be mailed out. I used the book

> " Apostles of Sri Ramakrishna " by Swami Gambhirananda to write it.

>

> I hope you enjoy it.

>

> Hari Om

> -OM LALA