Ramakrishna and Shree Maa

[Guest guest]

This will be the fastest countdown if Ramakrishna's birthday is on

the 22nd Feb and not on the 2nd March. We will wait for

clarification from Swamiji.

 

A great way to start a talk about Thakur is to talk about Shree Maa

and one of the incidents from her life.

 

As you probably know, Shree Maa considers Shree Ramakrishna as her

primary guru. Maa as a young girl , was not inclined to her formal

education and used to sit in meditation all day long.

 

I am relating an incident from Maa's life - the complete story is

present in the book "Shree Maa - The Life of a Saint" . The book is

available at http://www.shreemaa.org/bookstore.htm

 

In the ecstasy of the deepest meditation, she looked at the picture

of Shree Ramakrishna blessing her from her altar. Suddenly the voice

of Shree Ramakrishna was clearly audible to her: "You must finish

your college education. I have much work that must be done by you,

and to accomplish that you must be educated."

 

Even after receiving this admonishment from her primary Guru, Shree

Ramakrishna, Shree Maa found her classes intolerably boring.

 

Unable to find a way to apply all of the information she was

required to memorize, she rarely attended school, and remained

mostly in the ecstasy of spiritual experience. Her classmates would

find her sitting on a rock gazing at the Himalayan vistas or down by

the river staring into the meandering waters. For hours she would

sit with her eyes closed.

 

All too soon the time of her examinations came, and Shree Maa felt

herself totally unprepared and at a loss.

 

That morning she sat in her meditation and moved into the delight of

mystical experience.

 

She called to Thakur Ramakrishna, "What will happen? I am not

prepared."

 

Shree Ramakrishna replied, "Be without fear. I am with you."

 

Shree Maa grew angry and turned the photograph on the altar around

until it faced the wall. "Because you have been with me, I have not

been with my studies. You are the cause of my not being prepared!

Everyone else has been studying!"

 

Shree Maa stormed out of the shrine room and went to the college.

 

To her amazement she found all the students milling about the

entrance. The college was closed due to a strike, and the

examination had been rescheduled for two months into the future.

 

She raced home and immediately went to the shrine room and bowed

down. She caressed the photograph of Shree Ramakrishna and danced

around the room. Now, realizing the seriousness of her predicament,

she began to study in earnest, and a few months later, passed her

exam and was awarded her bachelor of arts degree.

 

Jai Maa !

Jai Ramakrishna !