Digest 961- Ramakrishna and Dayananda

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Sri Ramakrishna Charanam Saranam; Sri Sri Ma

 

" First meetings with Sri Ramakrishna " is a wonderful book written by

Swami Prabhananda, a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Mission, after doing

extensive research on the subject. (Published by Sri Ramakrishna Math,

Mylapore, Madras-4, India).The book devotes a whole chapter for Dayananda

Saraswati.

The following are some of the details appearing in the book:-

..........On 15th Dec 1872, Swami Dayananda visited Calcutta at the

invitation of Barrister Sri Chunder Sekhar Sen...........The Swami came in

contact with the distinguished Brahmo leaders Keshab Chandra Sen,....

Maharshi Devendra Nath Tagore.. and Hindu luminaries like Padit Mahesh

Chandra Nyayaratna, Pandit Taranath Tarkavachaspathi.....It was no doubt

that Swami Dayananda became a name in the former capital of India.

Sri Ramakrishna felt a desire to see the Swami, who, he heard, was a

great scholar in the scriptures as well as a spiritual aspirant. As is

well-known, Sri Ramakrishna had a passion for meeting great minds. He used

to say, 'According to the Gita, there is the power of God in one who is

respected and honoured by many'. Sri Ramakrishna decided to pay Swami

Dayananda a visit. Though there is no definite information on record, it may

be presumed that he went in a hackney-carriage which perhaps belonged to

Captain Viswanath Upadhyaya. It was perhaps only Captain Viswanath Upadhyaya

that accompanied Sri Ramakrishna on the occasion, and the time was probably

late one afternoon in the month of January 1873.

When Sri Ramakrishna visited Swami Dayananda Saraswati, he found the

latter extremely eager to meet Keshab Chandra Sen, who was expected to call

on him that day. The Swami went out every few minutes to see whether Keshab

Chandra had arrived. Sri Ramakrishna learnt later that Keshab Chandra had

made an appointment with him that day. It is however certain that Sri

Ramakrishna did not see Keshab on this occasion. Keshab had either forgotten

that engagement, which was very unlikely, or had come late only to find that

Sri Ramakrishna had left the place already.

As was his wont, Sri Ramakrishna politely greeted the Swami, who

returned the greeting. An adept in seeing a man through, Sri Ramakrishna

took no time to size up the Swami. He later recollected his impression of

the Swami thus: 'I found he had acquired a little power; his chest was

always red. He was in the state of Vaikhari, speaking on scriptural subjects

night and day. He misapplied grammar and twisted the meanings of many words.

He had in his mind the egoism, " I'll do something, I'll found a doctrine "

......................It was an aggressive disciple of the Swami that

initiated a discussion with Sri Ramakrishna and very soon began refuting the

rightness of the worship of God with form. Sri Ramakrishna tried to meet his

arguments by citing his own experiences. The Swami then joined in. He

asserted repeatedly his own position, supporting it by reasoning, and hardly

paid any attention to anybody else's view. This led Sri Ramakrishna into a

state of semi-consciousness. He said, mildly, 'Are all my spiritual

practices for the vision of the Mother Goddess and my subsequent perceptions

and experiences untrue? Have I been cheated then? While muttering these

words he went into deep samadhi. The great scholar Swami Dayananda, who

himself was a sincere spiritual aspirant, was struck dumb at this

transformation of Sri Ramakrishna. Now, a laugh of joy, now tears of joy,

overtook the Swami. Emotionally surcharged, he trembled. He saw some divine

manifestation in Sri Ramakrishna and prostrated himself at the feet of the

latter who was still in deep samadhi.

It is a matter of deep regret that not much has been left on record as

to what transpired in the course of the discussion between the Saint of

Dakshineswar and the founder of the Arya Samaj. Sri Ramakrishna himself

narrated, however, a piece of conversation. One day (11 Oct 1884), while

describing the five sheaths of the Jivatma, he said, 'Functioning through

the causal body the mind enjoys the bliss; it dwells in the anandamaya

kosha. This corresponds to the semi-conscious state experienced by

Chaitanya. Last of all, the mind loses itself in the Great Cause. It

disappears. It merges in the Great Cause. What one experiences after that

cannot be described in words. In his inmost state of consciousness,

Chaitanya enjoyed this experience. Do you know what this state is like?

Dayananda described it by saying, " Coming into the inner apartments and shut

the door " . Anyone and every one cannot enter that part of the house'

Sri Ramakrishna referred to a characteristic view of Swami Dayananad

when he said, 'He (Dayananda) admitted the existence of deities, but Keshab

did not'. Dayananda used to say, 'Why, the Lord has created so many things.

Could He not make the deities as well?'.

Sri Ramakrishna also said, 'Dayananda believed the Ultimate Reality to

be without form.' Captain Viswanath Upadhyaya, a staunch devotee, was then

repeating the holy name of Rama. Now to drive home the futility of

worshipping God with form the Swami told Captain sarcastically, 'Better

repeat " Sandesh " (the name of an Indian Sweatmeat)'

It is not known whether Sri Ramakrishna sang any song on this occasion.

Perhaps he did not say much. But there is no doubt that his Paramahamsa-like

manner and his Samadhi impressed the Swami deeply. Swami Dayananda

exclaimed, 'We have only read the Vedas and Vedanta, but he (Ramakrishna)

has realized their essence.After seeing him I feel convinced that scholars

churn the scriptures hard only to drink the milk without the butter, while

great souls like him devour the whole of the butter extracted out of it.'