THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA AS KALPATARU ~*~

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~*~*~*~ THE RAMAKRISHNA KALPATARU ~*~*~*~

 

 

(EDITORIAL, VK 1987)

 

(Sri Ramakrishna is said to have revealed himself as Kalpataru, `the

wish-fulfilling tree', on I January 1886 at Kasipur where he was

undergoing treatment. This month's EDITORIAL attempts to probe into

the inner significance, importance and validity of this popular

belief.)

 

The first day of January, besides being the New Year day, is of

special significance to a Ramakrishna~devotee. This is the day of the

Self~revelation of the Great Master when he became, what is now

popularly called, the Kalpataru `the wish-fulfilling tree.'

 

It happened in 1886 at Kasipur where the Master had been undergoing

treatment for his throat cancer. On January 1st, he felt particularly

better and came down from his room for a stroll on the spacious lawns

of the garden-house. About thirty devotees were present and were

scattered here and there in the garden. As soon as they saw the

Master, they all came near him and bowed down. To Girish, the Master

said, `Girish, what have you seen that makes you glorify me publicly

before one and all?' Girish at once fell at the Master's feet and

said with folded hands and choked voice, `What more can I say of Him,

even a fraction of whose glory Vyasa and Valmiki miserably failed to

express in their immortal epics and Puranas?' Hearing these words of

Girish, the Master was deeply charmed and his mind soared to a high

plane. Seeing the divinely illumined countenance of the Master,

Girish was thrilled and he cried out in great joy, `Glory unto

Ramakrishna! Glory unto Ramakrishna!' and began taking

the dust of his feet again and again. The Master looked at all

present and said smilingly, `What more shall 1 say to you? May you

all be spiritually awakened!' No sooner had he said these few words

than he went into Samadhi. What followed is best described in the

words of Swami Saradananda, who had seen the whole episode from a

distance:

 

"When the devotees heard those words of blessings and protection from

fear, they raised repeated cries of joy. exclaiming, `Glory to

Ramakrishna.' some of them saluted him, some showered flowers, some

again came and touched his feet."

 

The Master touched the devotees in that state of Samadhi and blessed

them all. The effect was instantaneous. Swami Saradananda's account

continues:

 

"...there arose by that marvellous touch a wonderful mood in the mind

of each. Some of them began to laugh, some to weep, some to meditate,

and some again to call aloud all others in order that they might also

be blessed by receiving the grace of the Master ... and be sharers in

the bliss that was overflowing."

 

On later enquiry it was known that the devotees blessed by the Master

on that day had wonderful spiritual experiences and visions. Some

felt bliss and a sort of divine intoxication, some experienced the

creeping blissful sensation of the rising Kundalini, some saw

ecstatic visions of their chosen deities, some saw divine light. All

the experiences were unique, each in its own way. Although they

differed in their content, the feeling of being filled with an

extraordinary divine bliss was common to all.

 

As the Master had granted unstinted grace to one and all, some felt

that he had revealed himself as the Kalpataru on that day. The first

of January thus came to be known as the Kalpataru Day. The, Kasipur

residence (which now houses a centre of the Ramakrishna Order) became

naturally the focus of attention. Sri Ramakrishna had stayed in the

house for more than eight months and, to crown it all, had showered

this special peace on the devotees on the 1st of January. Even today,

devotees of Sri Ramakrishna from all over the world pour into the

holy precincts of the Kasipur house to feel the living presence of

the Master and to share in the spiritual legacy left behind by him.

The pinnacle, of course, is reached every year on the Kalpataru Day

when thousands rush to Kasipur to recapture the `Kalpataru grace'

granted by the Master a century ago.

 

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At this stage, it is imperative that we enquire into some fundamental

questions: What exactly do we mean when we say that Sri Ramakrishna

became the Kalpataru on that occasion? Is it possible for us to

derive any spiritual benefit from this incident separated from us by

a distance of not less than a hundred years? In other words, does

the `Kalpataru' sri Ramakrishna continue to shower his grace even

today? And is this divine privilege extended to the devotees only on

the 1st of January?

 

The Kalpataru or Kalpa-vrksa is pictured in the Indian mythological

tradition as a `wish-fulfilling tree'. Standing under it whatever a

man wishes, comes true; whatever he desires, he gets. Indeed, one of

the popular tales tells of a man resting under what eventually turned

out to be a Kalpataru, `Ah, if I had a beautiful bed to lie on!' he

had muttered to himself as he turned on his side. And what was his

amazement when he discovered a fine bed waiting for him! He then

thought of an attendant, and lo! the attendant stood before him.

Whatever he wished appeared before him instantaneously. `and now if a

tiger were to come? He mused. Well, that finished off the man.

 

Now, is Sri Ramakrishna a Kalpataru of the traditional type, giving

whatever a man wishes to have? He doesn't seem to be so. The

Kalpataru event at Kasipur amply bears this out. Not all the people

who received his grace that day could be said to have had no worldly

desires of any kind. Yet it was not the fulfilment of those worldly

cravings that this Kalpataru brought about. The Master had cast off

the thin human veil that covered his divine person within and had

filled the devotees with the strength of grace. Swami Saradananda

therefore finds it more reasonable to call the event

`the Self~revelation of the Master.' The Master, he says, `made clear

through that event the fact of his being a God~man and of his

bestowal of protection against, and freedom from, fear on all without

the slightest discrimination.'

 

If we must use the word Kalpataru with regard to Sri Ramakrishna, it

would be more appropriate to say that he manifested himself as

a `special' Kalpataru that day. There are at least two points in

which this `special' Kalpataru differs from its conventional

counterpart. First of all, it does not grant everything that a person

seeks. It gives only that which would ultimately lead him towards

peace and fulfilment. Thus the devotees and disciples of Sri

Ramakrishna did not have all their desires fulfilled by his grace.

The desires which would hinder the Godward march of the soul were not

granted by him. It was in fact, the extermination of those desires

that this Kalpataru specialized in!

 

Secondly, the conventional Kalpataru requires a man to come under it

and wish for something. The Ramakrishna~Kalpataru did not (and does

not) always wait for the aspirant to come to him, nor was (and is) it

necessary always to explicitly express one's desires in his presence.

He could see through a man as through a glass-case and knew, without

being told, what the man was in need of. `If you take one step

towards God, he takes ten steps towards you,' he taught. In fact, his

moving out to Calcutta towards the end of his life had this primary

motive. It was more for the spiritual `treatment' of his growing

number of devotees than for his own physical one. The

Kalpataruepisode at Kasipur is not an isolated event in the Master's

life. This Kalpataru had blessed in the same way his inner circle of

intimate devotees several times at Dakshineswar. The speciality of

the Kalpataru episode lay in the fact that the Master chose to bestow

his grace for the first time on a wider circle of people.

Never before had he lifted the human veil covering his divinity in so

obvious a fashion before one and all.

 

Another interesting feature of the Kalpataru event is that none of

the youngsters who were to become monks were present then. Most of

them were resting after their night~long vigil for Japa, meditation

and the service of the Master. Two of them (Swamis Saradananda and

Adbhutananda of later days) however were awake. They were sunning the

clothes and bedding of the Master and cleaning his room. Although

they saw what was taking place on the lawns below, they voluntarily

refrained from going there and stuck to their job. Others heard the

ecstatic shouts of the devotees and came running to see what the

matter was. No sooner had they made their appearance than

the `Kalpataru-state' of the Master came to an end. But these monks-

in-the-making were neither surprised nor sorry.

 

They had seen the Master often in such states at Dakshineswar and had

been filled to the brim with his grace and love. The Ramakrishna ~

Kalpataru might be a phenomenon to the world at large, but to these

youngsters it was just an everyday occurrence!

 

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Now where does this leave us? How and when can this Kalpataru' grace

descend in our own life? True `divine grace is unconditional. Yet, in

our heart of hearts, we do feel that without some sort of readiness

to receive the grace, we make ourselves unfit for it.

 

At least, that is what the experience of Vaikunthanath Sannyal shows.

He was among those fortunate few who partook of the `Kalpataru grace'

on that red-letter day. When he approached the Master and begged him

to shower his grace, the latter said that he had already given him

what he had wanted. `But please make me understand that I have

received it.' he pleaded and, on being touched by the Master, a great

revolution took place in his mind. Wherever he looked, he beheld the

figure of the Master lit up with a gracious smile. The experience

continued unabated for some days. He found it impossible to carry on

his work in the office and to attend to other duties. He even began

to doubt his sanity and prayed to the Master, `O Lord, I am not able

to contain this mental state. Please ordain that it may come to an

end.' His prayer was answered, the vision and the mental state

subsided gradually.

 

This shows that the receptacle too ought to be strong enough to hold

the grace divine. Unless the mind becomes sufficiently pure and is

purged of desires, it is not possible to receive the grace; and if

received, as in the case of Vaikunthanath Sannyal, it is not possible

to retain it. Even Sri Krishna had to withdraw his Visvarupa from the

frightened Arjuna, and Ramakrishna had to restrain himself from

giving the highest realization to Narendranath on the latter's first

visit to him. So preparing himself to receive the grace is the first

and foremost duty of an aspirant. To the extent he is able to do it,

he comes nearer to this `special' Kalpataru; or, should we say it is

the Kalpataru that moves nearer to him?

 

One cannot help imagining some sort of a connection between the New

Year's Day and the day of `Self~revelation of the Master.' * The New

Year's Day is a day of joy, of hope and eager expectations. Everone

hopes to have a happy, prosperous and peaceful year ahead. In many

countries all over the world, an effigy of the `old man' is made with

the concluding year inscribed on his person. At midnight, amidst

jubilant shouts, song and dance, the `old man' is burnt. `Ring out

the old, ring in the new,' is the cry that goes out as the New Year

is ushered in. But just a year later, this New Year loses its newness

and we are ready for a yet another New Year. Can we not have a New

Year that would remain `new' always? Yes, we can, but not in the

physical sense. A New Year that is not bound by time is conceivable

only in dimensions that transcend time. From the spiritual

standpoint, therefore, the `New Year' signifying a new life, a new

spiritual birth, becomes all the more meaningful,

because its newness is not a temporary phenomenon. All our spiritual

endeavours initially are meant to hasten the coming of this `New

Year' . But in order to participate in the New Year's celebration,

the `old man' of worldly desires has got to be set on fire by the

matches of discrimination, dispassion, prayer and devotion to God.

When the mind thus becomes sufficiently pure, the `New Year' sets in.

The Ramakrishna-Kalpataru then approaches the aspirant and fills him

to his capacity with divine grace. Equipped with this strengthening

grace, the aspirant is able to combat the subtle obstacles that beset

him at higher levels of spiritual life. He then finds no difficulty

in cleansing his mind of the subtle desires and impulses that are

still present in his otherwise pure mind. For the aspirant thus

blessed, every succeeding moment becomes converted into a `New Year

Day', lifting him higher and higher towards perfection and

fulfillment.

 

And that is the significance of the Kalpataru Day celebration on the

1st of January that is observed by the devotees of Ramakrishna. It is

a reminder to every devotee of the unforgettable event at Kasipur and

of the redeeming power of the Lord. It is also a gentle hint to a

serious spiritual aspirant to look beyond the physical aspect of the

episode and to concentrate on its spiritual implications. It is in

this sense that the bestowal of the `Kalpataru grace' is not limited

to the few devotees that had gathered at Kasipur on 1st January 1886.

It is as valid and true today as it was then. And it is to recapture

that mood of participation in the inspiring event at Kasipur that the

1st of January holds a special meaning to a Ramakrishna devotee.

 

MUSINGS ON THE KALPATARU DAY

 

SWAMI BUDDHANANDA

 

January 1 is a red letter day in. the calendar of the devotees of Sri

Ramakrishna everywhere in the world. This day is so important not

because it happens to be the first day of the new year, but because

symbolically it came to be the first day of the new life. On this day

in 1886 Sri Ramakrishna showered his unbounded grace on lay devotees

who had assembled at the Cossipore garden house, where the Master had

been lying seriously ill with cancer in his throat. In the afternoon

the Master came downstairs unexpectedly and sauntered in the garden

towards the assembly of the devotees. And within a few minutes in a

singular sweeping act of grace he touched each one of them with the

flame of his transmuting power. This flame was ignited for the day by

redoubtable Girish. Stopping near him in the garden Sri Ramakrishna

had asked, `Well, Girish, what have you found in me that you proclaim

me before all as an incarnation?' At once on his knees, with folded

palms raised in adoration, and his

voice charged with emotion, Girish replied, `What can an

insignificant creature like me say about one whose glory even sages

like Vyasa and Valmiki could not measure?' The depth charge of the

intensity of faith with which Girish had uttered these words brought

about a volcanic explosion from within the ocean of grace that was

Sri Ramakrishna. And he went all out in divine abandon to confer on

the devotees greatest blessings of life spiritual irrespective of the

consideration of competency. He spoke in these three simple sentences

the greatest blessings of the most high : `What more shall I say! I

bless you all. Be illumined!'

 

These simple words of power set afire the souls of devotees.

Forgetting their self-taken promise not to touch his feet while he

was ill, they all touched his (saviour) feet in salutation. Deeply

moved at this manifestation of their devotion Sri Ramakrishna touched

every one of them, as a result of which all of them had some

instantaneous spiritual experiences.

 

Sri Ramakrishna himself had said that the wind of God's grace was

always blowing. One had only to unfurl the sail. Here there was no

need of even unfurling the sail. The wind itself became the unfurled

sail too and lapped up the soul in the empirean heights of spiritual

experiences. This was a violation of spiritual law, which God

incarnate alone could indulge in!

 

Sri Ramakrishna himself had also said that the mother bird does not

break the shell of the egg before the chick was mature enough to be

born in the inclemency of the world-weather. But here we find the

mother bird becoming aggressive with her compassion and breaking eggs

before chicks were ready. It this is not God's soul hunger, what is

this?

 

Now, this violation of law, this aggression of compassion, if it

happened only for a day, it would be a dead day of bygone history.

But the actions of God incarnate on earth, though they may be actions

in history, are indeed accents of the Timeless in the heart of time.

Even as actions temporal, they are but the manners of the Eternal.

 

In the `Acts of the Apostles' in the New Testament there is a

significant passage which says ;

 

`To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many

infallible proofs. . .'

 

(Acts, I. 3.)

 

The God incarnate on earth even after casting off his corporeal body,

stays alive in the `next room ``after his passion `, i.e. to say in

the singular acts which he had performed while alive on earth. If the

wound of Christ's body was not even today bleeding in the mystic

world-process, how could the mystics receive stigmata even to this

day?

 

Sri Krishna says in the Gita (IV. 9) :

 

Whosoever knows in true light. My Divine birth and action will not be

born again when he leaves his body ; he will attain Me, O Arjuna.

 

To know the Lord's divine birth and actions in true light would mean

understanding the Lord's real nature as absolute spirit and also his

embodiment in maya. Here Sri Krishna gave away a great secret of self-

apprehension, which the theistic religions were quick to grasp and

profit by. In such religions, therefore, `leela-smarana' or

remembrance of divine acts of God incarnate on earth is considered to

be one of the most potent spiritual practices. Srimad Bhagavatam

(XII. 4. 40) puts it categorically :

 

The jiva or the embodied soul, who is scared by the miseries of the

world, if he wants to get across the terrific ocean of transmigratory

existence, then the only way open to him is to take recourse to the

remembrance of the Lord's divine actions; there is no other raft for

crossing this ocean.

 

The embodied soul can apprehend the Nitya or the Eternal, only in his

Leela or divine sports as an incarnation. Hence Bhagavatam's emphasis

on `leela-smarana' or remembrance of the divine deeds. The Song

Celestial of the Timeless, has been recorded in the disc of time

during the avatarana or descent of the Lord on earth. If the aspirant

can bring his power of concentration to the pointedness of a

gramophone pin, and set it on the disc of `leela' the eternal music

can be heard again. If one can have the gopi-heart Krishna-flute can

be heard on the banks of Yamuna even today. On the banks of Kala-

kalindi, or time that flows as Yamuna, the eternal one roams about

flute in hand.

 

The only way of apprehending him is the devout observance of the

religious calender for `leela-smarana `, remembrance of divine deeds.

Even a religion like Buddhism which leans on atheism finds it

necessary to observe a thrice-blessed day.

 

In the calendar of the Ramakrishna tradition January 1 is one of the

most significant days, being the day of the lawbreaking aggressive

compassion of the Lord. If the devotees of the Lord want this

aggression to continue, they must rouse in his heart on this day, the

divine `passion' which devotees did on January 1, 1886. If the calf

strikes the udder of the mother-cow with its tender lips, how can

milk help flowing again?

 

For the remembrance of the divine deeds of the Lord we must know as

many details of those deeds as possible from all available sources.

Our greatest authority in regard to the life of Sri Ramakrishna is

Swami Saradananda. His magnum opus Sri Sri Ramakrishna-leela-prasanga

(translated as Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master), is a work

unexcelled in hagiography in its details, authenticity, rational

expositions, interpretative deliberations and illuminating insights.

 

Such an authority on Sri Ramakrishna's life, Swami Saradananda, did

not actually approve of the saying that Sri Ramakrishna had

become `Kalpataru' on January 1, 1886. He convincingly argued :

 

`Some devotees like Ramachandra have described the happening of that

day as the Master's turning into wish-fulfilling tree (Kalpataru).

But, it is more reasonable, it seems to us, to call it `the self-

revelation of the Master' , or the `bestowal of freedom from fear on

all devotees by revealing himself' . The Kalpataru, it is said, gives

to all whatever good or bad they ask for. But the Master did not do

so ; he made clear through that event the fact of his being a God-man

and his bestowal of protection against and freedom from fear on all

without the slightest discrimination.'

 

Now, if notwithstanding Swami Saradananda's disapproval, this great

day has quietly come to prevail in the Ramakrishna world with the

word `Kalpataru' indelibly inscribed on its forehead?and this has

happened without any theological fight?and neither the sannyasins nor

the lay devotees appear to be sorry for that, in all humility we can

only take this fact, as the will of the Lord. And this will of the

Lord may perhaps be understood this way : as it happened, this day

was marked out specially for showering grace only on the lay devotees?

as Swami Saradananda has written, `....it is a matter of wonder that

none of the Sannyasin disciples of the Master was present there that

day ?as distinguished from those who were going to become monks. And

therefore it would appear that the lay disciple's nomenclature of the

great deed has been providentially accepted in preference to the

monastic disciple's nomenclature.

 

`M' the writer of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna has not written any

account of the day, proving perhaps the fact that he was absent from

the scene. Swami Saradananda has quoted in Sri Ramakrishna the Great

Master the fragmentary personal accounts or personal reactions of the

day as given by such eye witnesses as Ramlal Chattopadhyaya and

Vaikunthanath Sannyal. There is also the description of the occasion

as given by another eye witness, Akshaykumar Sen, in his famous work

Ramakrishna Punthi. Akshaykumar also used the word `Kalpataru `.

These narrations of the day are more or less familiar to the readers

of the Ramakrishna literature. What have become obscure and not so

easily available is the narration of the day as Rama Chandra Dutta

saw and understood it. As he was largely responsible in introducing

the word `Kalpataru `his following narration of this day will be

found interesting :

 

`Sri Ramakrishna was brought to the Kasipur garden house for

treatment. Here he stayed for eight months. It will take one a yuga

to narrate all the leelas he performed in Kasipur. . .'

 

`When his ailments showed no signs of abatement, some devotees would

observe fasts in the name of Taraknath while others supplicated to

the Master himself for his own recovery. When nothing proved to be of

any avail, one day a few devotees submitted with folded hands,

 

"Lord, why are you feigning this illness? We have tried our very best

but with no effect on the illness. We have now realized that unless

you yourself deign to find the remedy, there is no other way."

 

In reply he made various funs. But when the devotees persisted in

their request he said, "You have not yet been able to understand the

cause of the disease. Every action bears its fruit. Good act bears

good fruit and bad, bad ; one has to reap the fruit according to the

act. If you have had to reap the fruits of all your evil deeds and

sins, your future will be terrible. But it is God's way to suffer the

fruits of action ; therefore all the multitude of your sins I have

accepted in my hand. On the day you have given me the power of

attorney, on that very day you have been freed from your accumulated

sins. Unless sins are eradicated and the body is made pure,

relationship with God cannot be established. In human body one has to

suffer the consequences of sin. And so the disease, in my body.

Through this disease in my body you have become freed of sins and

whosoever will self-surrender unto me they too will be released. So

it is that I am getting through the suffering for their sins

too."

 

`Though we all heard these words, we did not quite realise their

significance. It was his another fun, we thought, `This wise

Ramakrishnadeva passed his days feigning illness. Physicians of

various sorts, sadhus of different types and a multifarious

assortment of common people used to visit him. On some days he would

saunter about in the garden like one who had no disease at all. On

other days from his sore in the throat jar-full of blood would come

out. And the intriguing part of all this was that when the physician

gave a medicine for counteracting a certain symptom, on that day that

very symptom would get aggravated. His body could not stand even the

Homeopathy medicine, the taking of one grain of which would throw his

entire body into convulsion. Hence the physicians would not easily

venture to give him medicine.

 

`As mentioned above, various sorts of people used to come to him and

almost everyone would return satisfied with a feeling of blessedness.

And it so came about on January 1, 1886 that he became the Kalpataru.

On that day at five in the afternoon when seated on one end of the

garden we were all engaged in discussing various topics we found him

coming towards us. With transfixed gaze we all kept looking at his

face. His entire body being covered with cloth no other part of the

body was visible but his face. That lustre and unprecedented beauty

of his that we witnessed on that day are just beyond delineation.

Gradually he drew near us and raising his right hand said, "What more

shall I tell you. May spiritual consciousness be awakened in all of

you."

 

So saying he began to place his palm one by one on the chests of

devotees, as a result of which everyone became mad as it were.

Whomsoever we saw before us that day we caught him and brought before

the Lord and he showered his grace on all. We were all stirred to our

depths with joy finding that the Lord had become the Kalpataru.

Knowing fully well that such a day, so rare to the jivas, will not

come again, we began to run hither and thither to seek out persons

until none was left. Shouts of victory to Sri Ramakrishna continued

to resound in the firmament. Incessant raining of flowers by devotees

on the Lord went on and the ocean of ananda was in deluge. All this

time he was standing in ecstasy. Then coming back to the normal

consciousness he returned to his room.

 

`Afterwards one day he quietly called this servant and asked, "Look

here, you all say so many things about me. If all that should be

true, why then is this miserable state of mine. This sore in the

throat, this diseased body ?what all these are due to? Gauranga had

such beauty, learning, miraculous powers?why do I not have all those

powers? Why do I not have such beauty as his and such learning? And

can you tell me what is the reason for my leaving Dakshineswar?"

 

`Hearing such questions of the Master I held his feet and said with

folded palms:

 

"Lord, you are here again with your waggery! Can this ever be within

the capacity of the meanest of your servants to discern the cause of

your actions? But if such is your behest, then remembering your feet

I say, if you give me strength I must be able to tell the reason. You

have made me understand that in gross body the manifestation of leela

can never be of the same type. Things happen according to the

necessity of times. Gaurangadeva acted in the past according to the

felt necessities of his times. In this incarnation things cannot

proceed in that fashion. Lord, truth to be told, if beauty and

miraculous powers were the only means for the salvation of the jivas,

we would have long before turned into saints. Rama, Krishna, Buddha,

Gauranga, Christ ? their unlimited powers, beauty and splendour have

all been extolled in the scriptures. And we have been hearing all

those tales since our childhood. But why has not that borne any

fruit? We came to you hearing that you were a sadhu.

But you alone can say how you have entered within our hearts. The

place where we would fain have seated God, you have come and occupied

that place. How hard we have striven to drive you out from that place

so that Parameshwara might be seated there ? we have discussed ever

so much, presented your case to the pundits saying that you were God

incarnate and argued with them with the intention of having our

weakness destroyed by them but uphill now no body has been able to

displace you. No body's learning, intelligence and dialectics have

been able to disprove that. Helplessly, therefore, we have been

forced to call you God."

 

"You have said that like the wealthy ladies who conduct their affairs

from behind the screen, you too have been performing your leelas.

Seeing your disease, your outer covering, outsiders will fly away.

But the fortunate one who will receive a grain of your grace shall

understand the mystery of your leela. Lord, you alone know whether by

speaking about these few outer things you are wheedling us or

settling the issue. But the question arises in my mind : is it

possible for one to discern the beingness (or Bhava) of God through

such tales of separation-pangs told in regard to the leelas of Radha-

krishna, Rama-sita or Gauranga? Laughing and weeping is the leela of

man. When through such leelas they could be considered as God, then

is not this disease of yours also the measure of your Leelas,

specially when you yourself have divulged the reason for this? "

 

"And, Lord, as to the other question; from the day you came out of

Dakshineswar the fate of ordinary people has brightened up. Because

of this pretext of disease thousands of men and women have had the

darshan of your feet." `Ramakrishnadeva then said, "You are telling

all these because of your faith."

 

On hearing this from his lips I said,

 

"Thakur, enough of lengthening the talk! You are acknowledging my

faith, for this I am compelled to call you God. I was a heretic, a

barbarian and an arch atheist - to call a man God! God Himself was

seeking out a little place in my heart, and forsooth now it appears

that by having faith today I have installed you in the position of

God! Lord, be that so, give me that strength, that power so that I

can really do so. If through my faith being a man you become God,

that is not your ordinary leela, again. Thakur, God Himself has to

stand before man by furnishing so many introductions and

testimonials, and do you mean to say that if a man declares another

man as God people will just accept that? You may say whatever you are

pleased to say and everything behoves you."

 

`Even then Ramakrishnadeva continued to say, "Do I not so much wish

to stay at ease? " I replied,

 

"It is all a disappointment for us to try to answer your points. Yet

I shall remind you of only one thing and then close my lips. Thakur,

one day in the evening standing on the western veranda of your room

you said, `"Whoever will come with the hankering for realization of

God, for attainment of knowledge and seeking to know how he could see

Him, his aspirations will be fulfilled.' Then laying stress on your

words you again said, `O my men, verily his longings will be

fulfilled.' Thakur, will you tell me who is the man who can tell

this? Who is that siddha-purusha who has the boldness to say so? With

our ocular perception we are noticing how heretics without any

spiritual practices are getting wonderfully transformed. Even after

seeing all these are we to have a mistaken opinion about you? If you

say so, we are just helpless. And when you refer again and again to

your disease, may I ask you, one thing : Sri Radha in Brindavan, what

was her terrific suffering in the tenth state of

viraha caused by separation from Krishna. Can her a single day's

suffering be borne by any jiva? Because Radha performed this nara-

leela was she ever without Krishna? You yourself have said, "Brahma

and sakti are identical." As I said this his face flushed. As soon as

the symptoms of ecstasy were discernible I ended the talk."

 

Glory unto Bhagvan Sri Ramakrishnadev!

 

 

 

 

"God is Consciousness that pervades the entire universe of the living

and non~living."

~ Sri Ramakrishna

 

 

~*~ OM TAT SAT OM ! ~*~ ~*~ OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI ! ~*~

[Guest guest]

Nothing in this world can compare with the depth of beauty and grace

of the guru.

 

Chris

 

 

 

, <mysticambrosia333> wrote:

>

>

> ~*~*~*~ THE RAMAKRISHNA KALPATARU ~*~*~*~

>

>

> (EDITORIAL, VK 1987)

>

> (Sri Ramakrishna is said to have revealed himself as Kalpataru,

`the

> wish-fulfilling tree', on I January 1886 at Kasipur where he was

> undergoing treatment. This month's EDITORIAL attempts to probe into

> the inner significance, importance and validity of this popular

> belief.)

>

> The first day of January, besides being the New Year day, is of

> special significance to a Ramakrishna~devotee. This is the day of

the

> Self~revelation of the Great Master when he became, what is now

> popularly called, the Kalpataru `the wish-fulfilling tree.'

>

> It happened in 1886 at Kasipur where the Master had been undergoing

> treatment for his throat cancer. On January 1st, he felt

particularly

> better and came down from his room for a stroll on the spacious

lawns

> of the garden-house. About thirty devotees were present and were

> scattered here and there in the garden. As soon as they saw the

> Master, they all came near him and bowed down. To Girish, the

Master

> said, `Girish, what have you seen that makes you glorify me

publicly

> before one and all?' Girish at once fell at the Master's feet and

> said with folded hands and choked voice, `What more can I say of

Him,

> even a fraction of whose glory Vyasa and Valmiki miserably failed

to

> express in their immortal epics and Puranas?' Hearing these words

of

> Girish, the Master was deeply charmed and his mind soared to a high

> plane. Seeing the divinely illumined countenance of the Master,

> Girish was thrilled and he cried out in great joy, `Glory unto

> Ramakrishna! Glory unto Ramakrishna!' and began taking

> the dust of his feet again and again. The Master looked at all

> present and said smilingly, `What more shall 1 say to you? May you

> all be spiritually awakened!' No sooner had he said these few words

> than he went into Samadhi. What followed is best described in the

> words of Swami Saradananda, who had seen the whole episode from a

> distance:

>

> "When the devotees heard those words of blessings and protection

from

> fear, they raised repeated cries of joy. exclaiming, `Glory to

> Ramakrishna.' some of them saluted him, some showered flowers, some

> again came and touched his feet."

>

> The Master touched the devotees in that state of Samadhi and

blessed

> them all. The effect was instantaneous. Swami Saradananda's account

> continues:

>

> "...there arose by that marvellous touch a wonderful mood in the

mind

> of each. Some of them began to laugh, some to weep, some to

meditate,

> and some again to call aloud all others in order that they might

also

> be blessed by receiving the grace of the Master ... and be sharers

in

> the bliss that was overflowing."

>

> On later enquiry it was known that the devotees blessed by the

Master

> on that day had wonderful spiritual experiences and visions. Some

> felt bliss and a sort of divine intoxication, some experienced the

> creeping blissful sensation of the rising Kundalini, some saw

> ecstatic visions of their chosen deities, some saw divine light.

All

> the experiences were unique, each in its own way. Although they

> differed in their content, the feeling of being filled with an

> extraordinary divine bliss was common to all.

>

> As the Master had granted unstinted grace to one and all, some felt

> that he had revealed himself as the Kalpataru on that day. The

first

> of January thus came to be known as the Kalpataru Day. The, Kasipur

> residence (which now houses a centre of the Ramakrishna Order)

became

> naturally the focus of attention. Sri Ramakrishna had stayed in the

> house for more than eight months and, to crown it all, had showered

> this special peace on the devotees on the 1st of January. Even

today,

> devotees of Sri Ramakrishna from all over the world pour into the

> holy precincts of the Kasipur house to feel the living presence of

> the Master and to share in the spiritual legacy left behind by him.

> The pinnacle, of course, is reached every year on the Kalpataru Day

> when thousands rush to Kasipur to recapture the `Kalpataru grace'

> granted by the Master a century ago.

>

> 2

>

> At this stage, it is imperative that we enquire into some

fundamental

> questions: What exactly do we mean when we say that Sri Ramakrishna

> became the Kalpataru on that occasion? Is it possible for us to

> derive any spiritual benefit from this incident separated from us

by

> a distance of not less than a hundred years? In other words, does

> the `Kalpataru' sri Ramakrishna continue to shower his grace even

> today? And is this divine privilege extended to the devotees only

on

> the 1st of January?

>

> The Kalpataru or Kalpa-vrksa is pictured in the Indian mythological

> tradition as a `wish-fulfilling tree'. Standing under it whatever a

> man wishes, comes true; whatever he desires, he gets. Indeed, one

of

> the popular tales tells of a man resting under what eventually

turned

> out to be a Kalpataru, `Ah, if I had a beautiful bed to lie on!' he

> had muttered to himself as he turned on his side. And what was his

> amazement when he discovered a fine bed waiting for him! He then

> thought of an attendant, and lo! the attendant stood before him.

> Whatever he wished appeared before him instantaneously. `and now if

a

> tiger were to come? He mused. Well, that finished off the man.

>

> Now, is Sri Ramakrishna a Kalpataru of the traditional type, giving

> whatever a man wishes to have? He doesn't seem to be so. The

> Kalpataru event at Kasipur amply bears this out. Not all the people

> who received his grace that day could be said to have had no

worldly

> desires of any kind. Yet it was not the fulfilment of those worldly

> cravings that this Kalpataru brought about. The Master had cast off

> the thin human veil that covered his divine person within and had

> filled the devotees with the strength of grace. Swami Saradananda

> therefore finds it more reasonable to call the event

> `the Self~revelation of the Master.' The Master, he says, `made

clear

> through that event the fact of his being a God~man and of his

> bestowal of protection against, and freedom from, fear on all

without

> the slightest discrimination.'

>

> If we must use the word Kalpataru with regard to Sri Ramakrishna,

it

> would be more appropriate to say that he manifested himself as

> a `special' Kalpataru that day. There are at least two points in

> which this `special' Kalpataru differs from its conventional

> counterpart. First of all, it does not grant everything that a

person

> seeks. It gives only that which would ultimately lead him towards

> peace and fulfilment. Thus the devotees and disciples of Sri

> Ramakrishna did not have all their desires fulfilled by his grace.

> The desires which would hinder the Godward march of the soul were

not

> granted by him. It was in fact, the extermination of those desires

> that this Kalpataru specialized in!

>

> Secondly, the conventional Kalpataru requires a man to come under

it

> and wish for something. The Ramakrishna~Kalpataru did not (and does

> not) always wait for the aspirant to come to him, nor was (and is)

it

> necessary always to explicitly express one's desires in his

presence.

> He could see through a man as through a glass-case and knew,

without

> being told, what the man was in need of. `If you take one step

> towards God, he takes ten steps towards you,' he taught. In fact,

his

> moving out to Calcutta towards the end of his life had this primary

> motive. It was more for the spiritual `treatment' of his growing

> number of devotees than for his own physical one. The

> Kalpataruepisode at Kasipur is not an isolated event in the

Master's

> life. This Kalpataru had blessed in the same way his inner circle

of

> intimate devotees several times at Dakshineswar. The speciality of

> the Kalpataru episode lay in the fact that the Master chose to

bestow

> his grace for the first time on a wider circle of people.

> Never before had he lifted the human veil covering his divinity in

so

> obvious a fashion before one and all.

>

> Another interesting feature of the Kalpataru event is that none of

> the youngsters who were to become monks were present then. Most of

> them were resting after their night~long vigil for Japa, meditation

> and the service of the Master. Two of them (Swamis Saradananda and

> Adbhutananda of later days) however were awake. They were sunning

the

> clothes and bedding of the Master and cleaning his room. Although

> they saw what was taking place on the lawns below, they voluntarily

> refrained from going there and stuck to their job. Others heard the

> ecstatic shouts of the devotees and came running to see what the

> matter was. No sooner had they made their appearance than

> the `Kalpataru-state' of the Master came to an end. But these monks-

> in-the-making were neither surprised nor sorry.

>

> They had seen the Master often in such states at Dakshineswar and

had

> been filled to the brim with his grace and love. The Ramakrishna ~

> Kalpataru might be a phenomenon to the world at large, but to these

> youngsters it was just an everyday occurrence!

>

> 3

>

>

> Now where does this leave us? How and when can this Kalpataru'

grace

> descend in our own life? True `divine grace is unconditional. Yet,

in

> our heart of hearts, we do feel that without some sort of readiness

> to receive the grace, we make ourselves unfit for it.

>

> At least, that is what the experience of Vaikunthanath Sannyal

shows.

> He was among those fortunate few who partook of the `Kalpataru

grace'

> on that red-letter day. When he approached the Master and begged

him

> to shower his grace, the latter said that he had already given him

> what he had wanted. `But please make me understand that I have

> received it.' he pleaded and, on being touched by the Master, a

great

> revolution took place in his mind. Wherever he looked, he beheld

the

> figure of the Master lit up with a gracious smile. The experience

> continued unabated for some days. He found it impossible to carry

on

> his work in the office and to attend to other duties. He even began

> to doubt his sanity and prayed to the Master, `O Lord, I am not

able

> to contain this mental state. Please ordain that it may come to an

> end.' His prayer was answered, the vision and the mental state

> subsided gradually.

>

> This shows that the receptacle too ought to be strong enough to

hold

> the grace divine. Unless the mind becomes sufficiently pure and is

> purged of desires, it is not possible to receive the grace; and if

> received, as in the case of Vaikunthanath Sannyal, it is not

possible

> to retain it. Even Sri Krishna had to withdraw his Visvarupa from

the

> frightened Arjuna, and Ramakrishna had to restrain himself from

> giving the highest realization to Narendranath on the latter's

first

> visit to him. So preparing himself to receive the grace is the

first

> and foremost duty of an aspirant. To the extent he is able to do

it,

> he comes nearer to this `special' Kalpataru; or, should we say it

is

> the Kalpataru that moves nearer to him?

>

> One cannot help imagining some sort of a connection between the New

> Year's Day and the day of `Self~revelation of the Master.' * The

New

> Year's Day is a day of joy, of hope and eager expectations. Everone

> hopes to have a happy, prosperous and peaceful year ahead. In many

> countries all over the world, an effigy of the `old man' is made

with

> the concluding year inscribed on his person. At midnight, amidst

> jubilant shouts, song and dance, the `old man' is burnt. `Ring out

> the old, ring in the new,' is the cry that goes out as the New Year

> is ushered in. But just a year later, this New Year loses its

newness

> and we are ready for a yet another New Year. Can we not have a New

> Year that would remain `new' always? Yes, we can, but not in the

> physical sense. A New Year that is not bound by time is conceivable

> only in dimensions that transcend time. From the spiritual

> standpoint, therefore, the `New Year' signifying a new life, a new

> spiritual birth, becomes all the more meaningful,

> because its newness is not a temporary phenomenon. All our

spiritual

> endeavours initially are meant to hasten the coming of this `New

> Year' . But in order to participate in the New Year's celebration,

> the `old man' of worldly desires has got to be set on fire by the

> matches of discrimination, dispassion, prayer and devotion to God.

> When the mind thus becomes sufficiently pure, the `New Year' sets

in.

> The Ramakrishna-Kalpataru then approaches the aspirant and fills

him

> to his capacity with divine grace. Equipped with this strengthening

> grace, the aspirant is able to combat the subtle obstacles that

beset

> him at higher levels of spiritual life. He then finds no difficulty

> in cleansing his mind of the subtle desires and impulses that are

> still present in his otherwise pure mind. For the aspirant thus

> blessed, every succeeding moment becomes converted into a `New Year

> Day', lifting him higher and higher towards perfection and

> fulfillment.

>

> And that is the significance of the Kalpataru Day celebration on

the

> 1st of January that is observed by the devotees of Ramakrishna. It

is

> a reminder to every devotee of the unforgettable event at Kasipur

and

> of the redeeming power of the Lord. It is also a gentle hint to a

> serious spiritual aspirant to look beyond the physical aspect of

the

> episode and to concentrate on its spiritual implications. It is in

> this sense that the bestowal of the `Kalpataru grace' is not

limited

> to the few devotees that had gathered at Kasipur on 1st January

1886.

> It is as valid and true today as it was then. And it is to

recapture

> that mood of participation in the inspiring event at Kasipur that

the

> 1st of January holds a special meaning to a Ramakrishna devotee.

>

> MUSINGS ON THE KALPATARU DAY

>

> SWAMI BUDDHANANDA

>

> January 1 is a red letter day in. the calendar of the devotees of

Sri

> Ramakrishna everywhere in the world. This day is so important not

> because it happens to be the first day of the new year, but because

> symbolically it came to be the first day of the new life. On this

day

> in 1886 Sri Ramakrishna showered his unbounded grace on lay

devotees

> who had assembled at the Cossipore garden house, where the Master

had

> been lying seriously ill with cancer in his throat. In the

afternoon

> the Master came downstairs unexpectedly and sauntered in the garden

> towards the assembly of the devotees. And within a few minutes in a

> singular sweeping act of grace he touched each one of them with the

> flame of his transmuting power. This flame was ignited for the day

by

> redoubtable Girish. Stopping near him in the garden Sri Ramakrishna

> had asked, `Well, Girish, what have you found in me that you

proclaim

> me before all as an incarnation?' At once on his knees, with folded

> palms raised in adoration, and his

> voice charged with emotion, Girish replied, `What can an

> insignificant creature like me say about one whose glory even sages

> like Vyasa and Valmiki could not measure?' The depth charge of the

> intensity of faith with which Girish had uttered these words

brought

> about a volcanic explosion from within the ocean of grace that was

> Sri Ramakrishna. And he went all out in divine abandon to confer on

> the devotees greatest blessings of life spiritual irrespective of

the

> consideration of competency. He spoke in these three simple

sentences

> the greatest blessings of the most high : `What more shall I say! I

> bless you all. Be illumined!'

>

> These simple words of power set afire the souls of devotees.

> Forgetting their self-taken promise not to touch his feet while he

> was ill, they all touched his (saviour) feet in salutation. Deeply

> moved at this manifestation of their devotion Sri Ramakrishna

touched

> every one of them, as a result of which all of them had some

> instantaneous spiritual experiences.

>

> Sri Ramakrishna himself had said that the wind of God's grace was

> always blowing. One had only to unfurl the sail. Here there was no

> need of even unfurling the sail. The wind itself became the

unfurled

> sail too and lapped up the soul in the empirean heights of

spiritual

> experiences. This was a violation of spiritual law, which God

> incarnate alone could indulge in!

>

> Sri Ramakrishna himself had also said that the mother bird does not

> break the shell of the egg before the chick was mature enough to be

> born in the inclemency of the world-weather. But here we find the

> mother bird becoming aggressive with her compassion and breaking

eggs

> before chicks were ready. It this is not God's soul hunger, what is

> this?

>

> Now, this violation of law, this aggression of compassion, if it

> happened only for a day, it would be a dead day of bygone history.

> But the actions of God incarnate on earth, though they may be

actions

> in history, are indeed accents of the Timeless in the heart of

time.

> Even as actions temporal, they are but the manners of the Eternal.

>

> In the `Acts of the Apostles' in the New Testament there is a

> significant passage which says ;

>

> `To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many

> infallible proofs. . .'

>

> (Acts, I. 3.)

>

> The God incarnate on earth even after casting off his corporeal

body,

> stays alive in the `next room ``after his passion `, i.e. to say in

> the singular acts which he had performed while alive on earth. If

the

> wound of Christ's body was not even today bleeding in the mystic

> world-process, how could the mystics receive stigmata even to this

> day?

>

> Sri Krishna says in the Gita (IV. 9) :

>

> Whosoever knows in true light. My Divine birth and action will not

be

> born again when he leaves his body ; he will attain Me, O Arjuna.

>

> To know the Lord's divine birth and actions in true light would

mean

> understanding the Lord's real nature as absolute spirit and also

his

> embodiment in maya. Here Sri Krishna gave away a great secret of

self-

> apprehension, which the theistic religions were quick to grasp and

> profit by. In such religions, therefore, `leela-smarana' or

> remembrance of divine acts of God incarnate on earth is considered

to

> be one of the most potent spiritual practices. Srimad Bhagavatam

> (XII. 4. 40) puts it categorically :

>

> The jiva or the embodied soul, who is scared by the miseries of the

> world, if he wants to get across the terrific ocean of

transmigratory

> existence, then the only way open to him is to take recourse to the

> remembrance of the Lord's divine actions; there is no other raft

for

> crossing this ocean.

>

> The embodied soul can apprehend the Nitya or the Eternal, only in

his

> Leela or divine sports as an incarnation. Hence Bhagavatam's

emphasis

> on `leela-smarana' or remembrance of the divine deeds. The Song

> Celestial of the Timeless, has been recorded in the disc of time

> during the avatarana or descent of the Lord on earth. If the

aspirant

> can bring his power of concentration to the pointedness of a

> gramophone pin, and set it on the disc of `leela' the eternal music

> can be heard again. If one can have the gopi-heart Krishna-flute

can

> be heard on the banks of Yamuna even today. On the banks of Kala-

> kalindi, or time that flows as Yamuna, the eternal one roams about

> flute in hand.

>

> The only way of apprehending him is the devout observance of the

> religious calender for `leela-smarana `, remembrance of divine

deeds.

> Even a religion like Buddhism which leans on atheism finds it

> necessary to observe a thrice-blessed day.

>

> In the calendar of the Ramakrishna tradition January 1 is one of

the

> most significant days, being the day of the lawbreaking aggressive

> compassion of the Lord. If the devotees of the Lord want this

> aggression to continue, they must rouse in his heart on this day,

the

> divine `passion' which devotees did on January 1, 1886. If the calf

> strikes the udder of the mother-cow with its tender lips, how can

> milk help flowing again?

>

> For the remembrance of the divine deeds of the Lord we must know as

> many details of those deeds as possible from all available sources.

> Our greatest authority in regard to the life of Sri Ramakrishna is

> Swami Saradananda. His magnum opus Sri Sri Ramakrishna-leela-

prasanga

> (translated as Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master), is a work

> unexcelled in hagiography in its details, authenticity, rational

> expositions, interpretative deliberations and illuminating insights.

>

> Such an authority on Sri Ramakrishna's life, Swami Saradananda, did

> not actually approve of the saying that Sri Ramakrishna had

> become `Kalpataru' on January 1, 1886. He convincingly argued :

>

> `Some devotees like Ramachandra have described the happening of

that

> day as the Master's turning into wish-fulfilling tree (Kalpataru).

> But, it is more reasonable, it seems to us, to call it `the self-

> revelation of the Master' , or the `bestowal of freedom from fear

on

> all devotees by revealing himself' . The Kalpataru, it is said,

gives

> to all whatever good or bad they ask for. But the Master did not do

> so ; he made clear through that event the fact of his being a God-

man

> and his bestowal of protection against and freedom from fear on all

> without the slightest discrimination.'

>

> Now, if notwithstanding Swami Saradananda's disapproval, this great

> day has quietly come to prevail in the Ramakrishna world with the

> word `Kalpataru' indelibly inscribed on its forehead?and this has

> happened without any theological fight?and neither the sannyasins

nor

> the lay devotees appear to be sorry for that, in all humility we

can

> only take this fact, as the will of the Lord. And this will of the

> Lord may perhaps be understood this way : as it happened, this day

> was marked out specially for showering grace only on the lay

devotees?

> as Swami Saradananda has written, `....it is a matter of wonder

that

> none of the Sannyasin disciples of the Master was present there

that

> day ?as distinguished from those who were going to become monks.

And

> therefore it would appear that the lay disciple's nomenclature of

the

> great deed has been providentially accepted in preference to the

> monastic disciple's nomenclature.

>

> `M' the writer of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna has not written any

> account of the day, proving perhaps the fact that he was absent

from

> the scene. Swami Saradananda has quoted in Sri Ramakrishna the

Great

> Master the fragmentary personal accounts or personal reactions of

the

> day as given by such eye witnesses as Ramlal Chattopadhyaya and

> Vaikunthanath Sannyal. There is also the description of the

occasion

> as given by another eye witness, Akshaykumar Sen, in his famous

work

> Ramakrishna Punthi. Akshaykumar also used the word `Kalpataru `.

> These narrations of the day are more or less familiar to the

readers

> of the Ramakrishna literature. What have become obscure and not so

> easily available is the narration of the day as Rama Chandra Dutta

> saw and understood it. As he was largely responsible in introducing

> the word `Kalpataru `his following narration of this day will be

> found interesting :

>

> `Sri Ramakrishna was brought to the Kasipur garden house for

> treatment. Here he stayed for eight months. It will take one a yuga

> to narrate all the leelas he performed in Kasipur. . .'

>

> `When his ailments showed no signs of abatement, some devotees

would

> observe fasts in the name of Taraknath while others supplicated to

> the Master himself for his own recovery. When nothing proved to be

of

> any avail, one day a few devotees submitted with folded hands,

>

> "Lord, why are you feigning this illness? We have tried our very

best

> but with no effect on the illness. We have now realized that unless

> you yourself deign to find the remedy, there is no other way."

>

> In reply he made various funs. But when the devotees persisted in

> their request he said, "You have not yet been able to understand

the

> cause of the disease. Every action bears its fruit. Good act bears

> good fruit and bad, bad ; one has to reap the fruit according to

the

> act. If you have had to reap the fruits of all your evil deeds and

> sins, your future will be terrible. But it is God's way to suffer

the

> fruits of action ; therefore all the multitude of your sins I have

> accepted in my hand. On the day you have given me the power of

> attorney, on that very day you have been freed from your

accumulated

> sins. Unless sins are eradicated and the body is made pure,

> relationship with God cannot be established. In human body one has

to

> suffer the consequences of sin. And so the disease, in my body.

> Through this disease in my body you have become freed of sins and

> whosoever will self-surrender unto me they too will be released. So

> it is that I am getting through the suffering for their sins

> too."

>

> `Though we all heard these words, we did not quite realise their

> significance. It was his another fun, we thought, `This wise

> Ramakrishnadeva passed his days feigning illness. Physicians of

> various sorts, sadhus of different types and a multifarious

> assortment of common people used to visit him. On some days he

would

> saunter about in the garden like one who had no disease at all. On

> other days from his sore in the throat jar-full of blood would come

> out. And the intriguing part of all this was that when the

physician

> gave a medicine for counteracting a certain symptom, on that day

that

> very symptom would get aggravated. His body could not stand even

the

> Homeopathy medicine, the taking of one grain of which would throw

his

> entire body into convulsion. Hence the physicians would not easily

> venture to give him medicine.

>

> `As mentioned above, various sorts of people used to come to him

and

> almost everyone would return satisfied with a feeling of

blessedness.

> And it so came about on January 1, 1886 that he became the

Kalpataru.

> On that day at five in the afternoon when seated on one end of the

> garden we were all engaged in discussing various topics we found

him

> coming towards us. With transfixed gaze we all kept looking at his

> face. His entire body being covered with cloth no other part of the

> body was visible but his face. That lustre and unprecedented beauty

> of his that we witnessed on that day are just beyond delineation.

> Gradually he drew near us and raising his right hand said, "What

more

> shall I tell you. May spiritual consciousness be awakened in all of

> you."

>

> So saying he began to place his palm one by one on the chests of

> devotees, as a result of which everyone became mad as it were.

> Whomsoever we saw before us that day we caught him and brought

before

> the Lord and he showered his grace on all. We were all stirred to

our

> depths with joy finding that the Lord had become the Kalpataru.

> Knowing fully well that such a day, so rare to the jivas, will not

> come again, we began to run hither and thither to seek out persons

> until none was left. Shouts of victory to Sri Ramakrishna continued

> to resound in the firmament. Incessant raining of flowers by

devotees

> on the Lord went on and the ocean of ananda was in deluge. All this

> time he was standing in ecstasy. Then coming back to the normal

> consciousness he returned to his room.

>

> `Afterwards one day he quietly called this servant and asked, "Look

> here, you all say so many things about me. If all that should be

> true, why then is this miserable state of mine. This sore in the

> throat, this diseased body ?what all these are due to? Gauranga had

> such beauty, learning, miraculous powers?why do I not have all

those

> powers? Why do I not have such beauty as his and such learning? And

> can you tell me what is the reason for my leaving Dakshineswar?"

>

> `Hearing such questions of the Master I held his feet and said with

> folded palms:

>

> "Lord, you are here again with your waggery! Can this ever be

within

> the capacity of the meanest of your servants to discern the cause

of

> your actions? But if such is your behest, then remembering your

feet

> I say, if you give me strength I must be able to tell the reason.

You

> have made me understand that in gross body the manifestation of

leela

> can never be of the same type. Things happen according to the

> necessity of times. Gaurangadeva acted in the past according to the

> felt necessities of his times. In this incarnation things cannot

> proceed in that fashion. Lord, truth to be told, if beauty and

> miraculous powers were the only means for the salvation of the

jivas,

> we would have long before turned into saints. Rama, Krishna,

Buddha,

> Gauranga, Christ ? their unlimited powers, beauty and splendour

have

> all been extolled in the scriptures. And we have been hearing all

> those tales since our childhood. But why has not that borne any

> fruit? We came to you hearing that you were a sadhu.

> But you alone can say how you have entered within our hearts. The

> place where we would fain have seated God, you have come and

occupied

> that place. How hard we have striven to drive you out from that

place

> so that Parameshwara might be seated there ? we have discussed ever

> so much, presented your case to the pundits saying that you were

God

> incarnate and argued with them with the intention of having our

> weakness destroyed by them but uphill now no body has been able to

> displace you. No body's learning, intelligence and dialectics have

> been able to disprove that. Helplessly, therefore, we have been

> forced to call you God."

>

> "You have said that like the wealthy ladies who conduct their

affairs

> from behind the screen, you too have been performing your leelas.

> Seeing your disease, your outer covering, outsiders will fly away.

> But the fortunate one who will receive a grain of your grace shall

> understand the mystery of your leela. Lord, you alone know whether

by

> speaking about these few outer things you are wheedling us or

> settling the issue. But the question arises in my mind : is it

> possible for one to discern the beingness (or Bhava) of God through

> such tales of separation-pangs told in regard to the leelas of

Radha-

> krishna, Rama-sita or Gauranga? Laughing and weeping is the leela

of

> man. When through such leelas they could be considered as God, then

> is not this disease of yours also the measure of your Leelas,

> specially when you yourself have divulged the reason for this? "

>

> "And, Lord, as to the other question; from the day you came out of

> Dakshineswar the fate of ordinary people has brightened up. Because

> of this pretext of disease thousands of men and women have had the

> darshan of your feet." `Ramakrishnadeva then said, "You are telling

> all these because of your faith."

>

> On hearing this from his lips I said,

>

> "Thakur, enough of lengthening the talk! You are acknowledging my

> faith, for this I am compelled to call you God. I was a heretic, a

> barbarian and an arch atheist - to call a man God! God Himself was

> seeking out a little place in my heart, and forsooth now it appears

> that by having faith today I have installed you in the position of

> God! Lord, be that so, give me that strength, that power so that I

> can really do so. If through my faith being a man you become God,

> that is not your ordinary leela, again. Thakur, God Himself has to

> stand before man by furnishing so many introductions and

> testimonials, and do you mean to say that if a man declares another

> man as God people will just accept that? You may say whatever you

are

> pleased to say and everything behoves you."

>

> `Even then Ramakrishnadeva continued to say, "Do I not so much wish

> to stay at ease? " I replied,

>

> "It is all a disappointment for us to try to answer your points.

Yet

> I shall remind you of only one thing and then close my lips.

Thakur,

> one day in the evening standing on the western veranda of your room

> you said, `"Whoever will come with the hankering for realization of

> God, for attainment of knowledge and seeking to know how he could

see

> Him, his aspirations will be fulfilled.' Then laying stress on your

> words you again said, `O my men, verily his longings will be

> fulfilled.' Thakur, will you tell me who is the man who can tell

> this? Who is that siddha-purusha who has the boldness to say so?

With

> our ocular perception we are noticing how heretics without any

> spiritual practices are getting wonderfully transformed. Even after

> seeing all these are we to have a mistaken opinion about you? If

you

> say so, we are just helpless. And when you refer again and again to

> your disease, may I ask you, one thing : Sri Radha in Brindavan,

what

> was her terrific suffering in the tenth state of

> viraha caused by separation from Krishna. Can her a single day's

> suffering be borne by any jiva? Because Radha performed this nara-

> leela was she ever without Krishna? You yourself have said, "Brahma

> and sakti are identical." As I said this his face flushed. As soon

as

> the symptoms of ecstasy were discernible I ended the talk."

>

> Glory unto Bhagvan Sri Ramakrishnadev!

>

>

>

>

> "God is Consciousness that pervades the entire universe of the

living

> and non~living."

> ~ Sri Ramakrishna

>

>

> ~*~ OM TAT SAT OM ! ~*~ ~*~ OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI ! ~*~