Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari,Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna

On the 10th of April, 1922, at about 9 o'clock at night, Rakhal Maharaj, the beloved spiritual son of Sri Thakur and 'Raja' of Swamiji, left for his heavenly abode after having duly performed his divine sport as a human being. After everything was over, with the chanting of divine names into his ear at the last moment, Swami Saradananda left the big hall at Balaram Mandir with a heavy heart. A little later, Mahapurush Maharaj (Swami Sivananda) stepped towards that divine prostrate body of Sri Maharaj. He exclaimed with deep emotion, 'Oh! Oh! Look at that grand personality. With all divine greatness about him, he is looking just like the Lord Narayana on his serpent bed--lying on his serpent bed! Who will believe that his body suffered any illness!' With these words he also left the room.

Some students of the Calcutta Students' Home would often visit the Math to meet Raja Maharaj, who too was very fond of them. They were deeply hurt at the passing away of Raja Maharaj. Four or five days later, Indu and I went to the Belur Math in the afternoon with a heavy heart. Mahapurush Maharaj had vacated his room on the first floor of the main Math building for Kali Maharaj (Swami Abhedananda), and was then living on the ground floor of the Girish Memorial. We went there and saw Mahapurush Maharaj sitting quietly on a chair with folded hands, gazing at the Ganges. I tried to express our sorrow by saying, 'Maharaj, it is very hard to believe that Maharaj has left us for good.' He started talking in his usual vein, 'See, if it is true that we are making progress through His grace...' Immediately he corrected himself and said, 'Why "if"? There is no "if" about it. I actually see, without any "ifs" or "buts", that we are all surely making progress through His blessings only and you too are moving forward on the right path along with us. Our sincere love and affection are always with you, whether you feel them or not.'

While repeating these words with force, his face became flushed and he repeatedly got up and sat down due to overwhelming emotion. He was, as it were, unable to control himself. It was a wonderful sight. It appeared as if he had committed a great mistake by uttering the word 'if' inadvertently, and thereby had done great injustice to Sri Sri Thakur. Consequently, he was feeling extremely repentant.

He was so deeply imbued with the spirit and love of Sri Ramakrishna--the embodiment of sat-chit-ananda--that he had no separate identity and had virtually become one with Sri Ramakrishna. Once a sadhu was talking to Mahapurush Maharaj about a certain devotee but Mahapurushji could not remember him. The sadhu then referred to the fact that Mahapurush Maharaj himself had initiated that person. Mahapurush Maharaj immediately interrupted and said, 'What? Have I initiated him? I never initiate anybody. It is only Thakur who initiates and blesses everybody.'

Like Sri Sri Thakur, Mahapurush Maharaj also used to lay great emphasis on prayer and spiritual practice. He would often say, 'Prayer can never go in vain and that is my personal experience. Pray sincerely; it is bound to bear fruits and you are sure to receive His grace.' These were not mere words; he used to demonstrate them by his own life. Many have heard him say with folded hands, 'O Lord! I take refuge in Thee, please protect me.'

Another day, he was sitting in his room on the western side of Swamiji's room on the first floor of the old Math building. In the course of his talks with the assembled devotees, he said, 'You see, we have nothing other than blessings and grace to give.' Once he had said that their every breath was filled with God's name and prayer for the good of mankind.

A little grain of gold is also actually gold, and a spark of fire is also basically fire; the difference lies only in the size. Similarly, in spite of external differences, an incarnation and his intimate associates are fundamentally the same. God is an inexpressible embodiment of love, and an incarnation is God in a human form. Swamiji described Sri Ramakrishna as 'love personified', i.e., 'love incarnate'. Swamiji himself and all his brother disciples were likewise love personified.

I have already stated that many students belonging to the first batch of Calcutta Students' Home had started going to the Belur Math in 1915-16. Since then, many students lived there at different times. They also went regularly to the Math and Mahapurush Maharaj had profound love and goodwill for each one of them. He was greatly concerned about them, until they became a little mature. He, however, also used to take them to task if necessary.

During this period, a student of the Students' Home joined the Non-cooperation Movement of Mahatma Gandhi, and was arrested and imprisoned several times. After spending about two years in politics, he lost all interest in it. He thought of becoming a monk, and to devote himself to the noble ideals of Swamiji and Sri Ramakrishna. With that intention he went to the Math and met Mahapurush Maharaj. Mahapurush Maharaj gave him a patient hearing and said, 'This won't do you any good, you see--no good whatsoever.' The student was greatly depressed and asked, 'Then what will happen to me, Maharaj?'

Mahapurush Maharaj asked him very seriously, 'Have you any regard for Sri Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother?' The student confidently replied, 'Yes, Maharaj, I have deep regard for them.' (This student, in fact, was initiated by the Holy Mother before he had joined the political movement). Finally Maharaj asked, 'Do you accept Swamiji?' The student again replied, 'Yes, Maharaj.' The moment Mahapurushji learnt that he was devoted to Sri Ramakrishna, the Holy Mother and Swamiji, he became very happy and confidently said, `Then you needn't be afraid of anything. You will succeed. Don't worry at all.' Soon after, the student joined the Math and became a monk in due course.

The youngest son of a devotee was born premature, and there was no hope of his survival. Not even the highly qualified doctors could give any hope. Mahapurush Maharaj was at Gadadhar Ashram, Bhowanipore, then (around 1925-26). The old mother of the devotee was full of despair and hurried to Mahapurush Maharaj. She was confident that her grandson would have a fresh lease of life at the touch of Maharaj's feet, and by his blessings.

She went to that centre, paid her respects to Mahapurush Maharaj, told him about the imminent danger and humbly asked for his blessings to overcome it. Mahapurush Maharaj patiently listened to her and reassured her saying, 'This child is not supposed to die. He has been blessed with the mahamantra. Nothing will happen to him, even if you throw him on a rock. (The mother of this child was initiated by Mahapurush Maharaj while she was carrying the child. It was this that he was referring to.) Don't worry at all, mother. He will get well through the blessings of Sri Sri Thakur.' She felt reassured, and proceeded to touch his feet. Maharaj jokingly said, 'How are you going to get any dust from my feet?' as he was in a room on the first floor, sitting on a carpet and with socks on. Nevertheless, the old lady spread the end of her saree, touched his feet with great devotion and said, 'This will do, Maharaj.' Mahapurush Maharaj, too, started laughing like a child at this.

By his blessing, the child came back from the point of death, recovered slowly and grew up normally. It was through the benevolent influence of Mahapurush Maharaj that the child grew older and memorized the fifteenth chapter of the Gita at the age of nine. One afternoon, his father took him to the Math (it was a day of lunar eclipse) to see Mahapurush Maharaj. After paying due respects to him, he asked his son to recite the fifteenth chapter of the Gita before Mahapurush Maharaj. Maharaj, in turn, was extremely happy to listen to the young boy's recital and expressed his joy by telling each and everyone, 'See, just see this child! How beautifully he has recited the fifteenth chapter of the Gita at such a young age!' It was evening. The eclipse had already commenced.

Seeing Sri Gurudev so happy, the father, in all earnestness, requested Mahapurush Maharaj to initiate his son. Maharaj was taken aback and said, 'What are you talking about? How can you think of such a small child being initiated? He cannot possibly have any idea about initiation. Let him grow up, then we will think about it.' But the child's father did not leave Maharaj. Then Maharaj said, 'He is the son of a Brahmin and hasn't yet got the sacred thread. How can he get initiation before that?' Then the father requested him to bless the child with the Gayatri Mantra, and afterwards initiate him. He might have his formal sacred thread ceremony etc. later, in due course. Mahapurush Maharaj, the embodiment of love and benevolence, fulfilled the wish of his devotee. He made the boy pronounce the Gayatri Mantra properly, and then initiated him. He called the father at the time of initiation and told him, 'A small boy like him may forget the mantra; so you too listen to it, and keep it in your mind. You should check on him now and then, and also rectify him if necessary.' He completed the whole process of initiation, while sitting on his chair.

Various mantras are written in books, but when they are uttered by a realised soul, they become purified and potent. The infallible power of the mantra delivers the sadhaka from all human bondages and leads him to the highest goal.

Mahapurush Maharaj was really a 'Mahapurush'. There was no limit to his kindness and love. How then could his spiritual blessings be restricted only to those who came to the Math? Mahapurush Maharaj had a very large heart and immense affection encompassing all. His greatness and all-pervasive love had no limits. This was the sweetest and greatest attraction of his character.

One year, there was a severe and prolonged drought and there was no sign of any rain. Despair reigned everywhere. Mahapurush Maharaj was away from Bengal at the time. He was deeply moved at the news of this drought, which he came to know from a letter written to him by a young man. Maharaj asked him to offer special puja to Sri Ramakrishna at the Belur Math and have his blessings which alone could free them from the effects of the drought. But due to Mahapurush Maharaj's good wishes, there was rain. So, the special puja at the feet of Sri Sri Thakur was no longer necessary.

Even birds and animals were not deprived of the spontaneous flow of his love and affection, nor had he any dearth of kindness and sympathy for them. Many of those who used to go to the Math at that time saw with their own eyes the great love and compassion he had for his pet dog 'Kelo'.

It was the winter of 1929. An eleven year old girl, belonging to a devoted family from Lalgarh, received the grace of Mahapurush Maharaj due to the earnest pleadings of her father. She narrated her experience later as follows: 'I was too young to judge what was good and what was bad. Mahapurush Maharaj used to initiate devotees in the old temple of the Math then. He entered the shrine with me and worshipped for a long time. Then he touched the pair of slippers of Sri Sri Thakur and asked me to repeat the following words: "O Lord! This day, I offer you all my good and bad, my sins and virtues, and I wholeheartedly take refuge in Thee." Even though I was so young, I felt as if I had a new birth.'

Mahapurush Maharaj made the path of realization broad and smooth for all who received his grace, without the distinction of caste, creed, age or learning. It was for their good that he willingly offered his spiritual wealth, virtue and goodness which he acquired through hard spiritual practice and prolonged tapasya. In exchange, he gladly accepted all the accumulated store of their evil deeds and sins committed through various lives. I have learnt from senior monks that his divine body had to suffer serious illnesses and bear intense pain due to this. Indeed, he gladly bore the unbearable pain of prolonged suffering with equanimity.

Towards the end of his life he was bed-ridden for long with his right side paralysed, and without the power of speech. Then he looked like an innocent child completely immersed in Brahman, like the kitten of Sri Ramakrishna's parable, which remains carefree and ever blissful and fully dependent upon its mother. Earlier, he used to constantly pray for the Lord's protection and shelter, and would also advise others to do so. The same person was now in front of all, as the very embodiment of surrender to the Lord. Only those who had the good fortune of seeing that celestial form could understand the true significance of the word 'surrender to God.' What a charming sweet smile would play on his face, when he wanted to see his visitors, and tried to bless them by raising his left hand a little with difficulty! What deep love, affection and compassion would be there in his eyes! Many were blessed with the sight of his heavenly, gracious form.

'What else do we have besides blessings and love?' These were not mere words with him. That was his nature, and he practised it till the end of his life.

During the last days of Swami Premananda, Mahapurush Maharaj used to tell us, 'You didn't see Sri Ramakrishna. You may form an idea about him by seeing his spiritual children.' It goes without saying that this was equally applicable to himself. Thus, when we come across such expressions of the profound spiritual moods of Sri Ramakrishna's disciples, we can get a glimpse of the infinite spiritual moods of the personality of Sri Ramakrishna. We have to proceed towards him only through his direct disciples.

I will try to recall his blessings and his reassuring words in a letter, which runs as follows:

I firmly believe that God listens to the sincere prayers of His devotee. The special outcome of this prayer is that we gain the faith that Sri Sri Thakur is always with us. Gradually, it becomes stronger, and we start feeling His presence in our heart. What greater gain can we have than this? So, pray as much as you can. Surely, your yearning will increase through His grace. He is unconditionally compassionate, and incarnates only to bequeath His mercy to all. And he has left us behind in the world only to proclaim this essence of faith to mankind. That is why I am telling you all this.

After I had been visiting the Belur Math for sometime, I learnt that Kanai Maharaj (Swami Nirbhayananda, a disciple and attendant of Swamiji) was the best person to speak anything about Swamiji. Accordingly, Indu and I started looking for an opportunity to hear about Swamiji from him. One afternoon, Kanai Maharaj was sitting on the eastern cot in Jnan Maharaj's room, when we two requested him to tell us something about Swamiji. He asked us, 'Are you really interested in listening?' But he didn't say anything else. We requested him on other occasions as well, but he was evasive. This made us all the more persistent and we did not leave him. He relented a little, after a while, and said, 'So you are bent on learning something about Swamiji! I have heard so many things about Swamiji: that he was a great monk, a world renowned personality, that he conquered the world, so on and so forth. But who wants to listen to all such things! (He became excited at these words and became breathless due to asthma, and his face got flushed). Yes, what I saw was the enormous magnanimity of his heart. What great sympathy and deep love and compassion he had for all! That was what mesmerized me and made me his slave. Once a foreigner came to stay with Swamiji. He was a hard core alcoholic. Swamiji called me and said, "Do as I say. Go to Chandannagar with him in a hackney carriage and buy a few bottles of liquor of his own choice." In those days, the best French liquors were available at Chandannagar and samples were given free for tasting.

'I was then a brahmachari and used to put on white clothes. But it was Swamiji's order, so I went with that fellow and entered a wine shop. We roamed around and entered many shops which offered some samples to taste. And that fellow too went on tasting those samples, with all sorts of appreciative expressions like "fine", "nice", "good", "excellent", "grand" and so on, and was almost drunk even while tasting. I bought five or six bottles of the wine he liked most and returned to the Math quite late at night.

'Swamiji, on the other hand, became all the more worried as the night advanced. He became restless and impatient and thought, "I have committed a great mistake by sending this boy with that drunkard." The dinner was over, and Swamiji was too anxious to eat anything. Actually, he kept most of his share for us. It was around 9:30 pm. when I returned. He was greatly relieved when he saw me and said, "You have done a lot for him, I know. Do a little more for him, please. Take your food, and spend the night with him. He might vomit and fall sick. See that he doesn't take the whole amount at a go. Keep aside a few bottles which will be necessary for his recovery later. Give him a little bit at that time." This was your Vivekananda. What a magnanimous heart! How kind he was even to a drunkard!' He was overwhelmed with emotion and kept silent.

Swami Turiyananda was famous for scolding his attendants. He did not spare them even in the presence of other gentlemen and told them, 'Just see, this boy is so greedy that he eats from my food kept in the meat safe, and that too without my permission.' Swami Nirvedananda once asked him, 'Maharaj, why do you scold your attendants so much?' He replied, 'Look, Anadi, they serve me physically; well, I cannot do that, so I try to serve them mentally.' This I have heard from Swami Nirvedananda himself.

Swami Turiyananda stayed for some time with Mahapurush Maharaj in Balaram Mandir before he finally left for Banaras. He was suffering from diabetes then, and had his toe operated upon because of infection. Consequently, he was bed-ridden for some time. One day, Indu and I went to see Maharaj and sat in Hari Maharaj's room for a while. What an independent spirit he had! He was ever eager to be freed from any type of bondage. He recited a poem to us, in spite of his weak health. The meaning of the poem is as follows:

I would rather be happy, if hundreds of vultures were to peck at my heart, for thousands of years. But, O God, don't make me suffer even for a day, not even in any birth, the suffering of endless bondage. And I don't want to endure such suffering at the hands of human vultures.

Immediately after reciting this, he asked us, 'Can you say where it is from?' None of us had read much outside of textbooks and could not answer. Then he said, 'It is from Navin Sen's Palashir Yuddhe.'

One afternoon we went to his room. The sun was setting with a deep crimson glow which spread all over and engulfed the room. This sight reminded Hari Maharaj of his stay at Vrindavan. He became nostalgic and said, 'See, when I was in Vrindavan, the Brajvasis there used to remember the return of Sri Krishna at sunset after grazing the cattle, and would say, "Lalaji has returned home, light the lamps."'