Excerpt - Totapuri

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This is an excerpt from the book

 

" Ramakrishna And the Vitality of Hinduism "

by Solange Lemaitre

published by (1984) Overlook Press, New York.

(page 96)

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It was at the end of 1864 that Totapuri arrived at the garden-temple

of Dakshineswar. Born probably in the Punjab, he headed a monastery

in that part of India and proclaimed himself the leader of seven

hundred sannyasins. Trained from his earliest youth in

the methods of Advaita Vedanta, he looked on the world as a mere

illusion.

 

...he halted at Dakshineswar and very soon discovered that Ramakrishna

was ready to become a student of the Vedanta. When the priest of Kali

agreed, on condition that he obtain the Divine Mother's permission,

Totapuri explained to him that in order to receive the

teaching of the Vedanta he must become a simple monk. Ramakrishna

assented to this, stipulating that the ceremony of his initiation

should be performed in secret in order not to wound the feelings

of his old mother, who was now living with him in the monastery. Very

early in the morning of the appointed day, a fire was lighted in the

Panchavati and the two men, so different in appearance,

seated themselves before it. Then Ramakrishna solemnly renounced all

ties with his family, his friends, his own ego. The fire ritually

consumed all his privilegesin the form of emblems,

among them his Brahmin's cord. After having stripped naked and

conducted his own funeral service, the disciple received from his

Guru the ocher robe of the sannyasin - the symbol of his new Vedantic

existence.

 

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Om sthapakaya ca dharmasya sarva dharma swarupine

Avatara varisthaya Ramakrishnaaya Te namah!